part demanded, even to the very breaking of their hedges, the stealing

of their apples, and their other occasional damages, which grew to an incredible sum, and impossible to be answered. Such was the out- rageous cruel noise of that mischievous progeny of antichrist, against their natural kinff.
un- reasona- bleness of
natural prince.
^.^t CKAFTINESS OF THE POPE.
jonn. Nohvithstandinor that wliicli is uttered afore concerning: the
^y^ D , bitter malice of tJic clergy against their i)rincc, yet did the pope's
1215. legate, Nicholas, cardinal of Frascati, much favour his doings, and
allow of his proceedings ; wherel'orc they reported of him that he was
exceedingly partial, and regarded not their matters ecclesiastical, as
lie should have done. For, leaving the account of their restitutions,
lie went with the king's officers, as the king's ])leasurc was, to the
cathetlral minsters, abbeys, priories, deaneries, and great churches
vacant ; and there, for the next incumbent, he always apjiointed two,
cue for the king, another for the ])arties. l'>ut u])()n him only Avhom
the king nominated he com])e]led most commonly the election to
pass, which vexed them wonderfully. Upon this, therefore, they
raised a new conspiracy against the king's person, by help of their
bishops, seditious ])relates, and such noblemen as they had drawn to
Great tlicir jxirties. " We beheld," saith Hoveden, " about the same time
ofopinion many noble houses and assemblies divided in many places. The
[ng^^he lathers and the aged men stood upon the king's ])art, but the yoimger
^^"S- sort contrary ; and some there were that for the love of their kindred,
and in other sundry res])ects, forsook the king again." " Yea, the
fame went that time," saith he, " that they were confederated with
Alexander, the Scottish king, and Llewellyn, the prince of Wales, to
work him an utter mischief." A council at Oxford the archbishop
called, whereat some Avould not tarry, considering the confusion
thereof; the other sort, having very obstinate liearts, reviled the king
most spitefully behind liis back, and said, that from thencclbrth he
ought to be taken for no governor of theiis. Their outrageous and
frantic clamour so much prevailed in those days, that it grew to a
grievous tumult, and a most ])erilous commotion.
In the year of our Lord 1215, as witnesseth Paulus ^'milius, and other historians. Pope Innocent III. held a general s}iiod at Rome, Councilor called the Council of Lateran. The chief causes of that council were iioiden" these : — In the days of this Innocent, liercsy (as he calleth the truth iPMwnt. tjf Ciod, or the doctrine that rebuketh sin) began to rise up very high, and to spread forth its branches abroad, by reason Avhercof many princes Averc excommunicate; as Otho, the em})cror; John the king of Eng- land ; Peter, king of Aragon ; Raimund, the earl of Toulouse; and a great sort more : and many lands were interdicted, as England, Ireland, Provence, Toulouse, Aquitaine, Sataloni, and such other like, as is said afore : so that it could be no otherwise, saitli Hoveden, but with the sharp axe of the gospel (so called the pope his excommunications) they ought of necessity to have been cut off from the church. Therefore was thiscouncil provided and proclaimed, and prelates from all nations there- unto called. And, to colour those mischiefs which he then went about, Craft and lic causcd it by liis legates and cardinals (very crafty merchants) to be of u!e"*' "oised abroad, that his intent therein was only to have the church uni- pope. versally reformed, and the Holy Land from the Turks' hands recovered. But all this was craft and falsehood, as the sequel thereof hath manifestly declared; for his ))ur])()se therebv was, to siibdue all princes, and to make liimself rich and wealthy. For there he made this antichristian The pope act, and estal)lislicd it bv public decree, that the pope should have, jurisdk- from thcnccibrtli, the correction of all christian princes; and that no churches' cmpcror should be admitted, except he were sworn before, and were also crowned of him. He ordained moreover, that wliosoever he
TRANSUUSTANTIATION FIRST INTRODUCED. SS')
were that should speak evil of the pope, he should be punished in /"' hell with eternal damnation.^ He provided confession to help these ^ q matters ; he allowed their bread a pix to cover it, and a bell when it 1215. goeth abroad, and made the mass equal with Christ's gospel. '
In this council was first invented, and brought in, transubstantiation ; Transuh- of which Johannes Scotus, whom we call Duns, makctli mention in tionn'rst his fourth booh, writing in these words : — " The words of the Scrip- broi'g'it ture might be expounded more eai^ily and more plainly without transubstantiation ; but the church did choose this sense, which is more hard ; being moved thereunto, as it seemeth, chiefly, because that of the sacraments men ought to hold, as the lioly church of Rome holdeth," &c. And in the same place he maketh mention of Innocent III.
Moreover, in the said council was established and ratified the Mar- wretched and impious act, compelling priests to abjure lawful matri- \!rWsu° mony. Whereupon these metres or verses Avere made the same time '^'idden against him, which here follow underwritten, in English thus:^ —
" Nocent, not innocent, he is that seeketh to deface By word the thing, that he by deed, liath taught men to embrace ; Who being now a bishop old, doth study to destroy ,The tiling, whicli he, a young man once, did covet to enjoy. Priest Zachary both had a wife, and had a child also, By means of whom, there did to him great praise and honour grow. For he did baptize him, who was the Saviour of mankind : ,111 him befal, that holdeth this new error in his mind. Into the higher heavens, good Paul was lifted from below. And many secret hidden things, lie learned there to know : Returned at length from thence to us, and teaching rules of life. He said, Let each man have his own, and only wedded wife. For this and other documents, of them that learned be, Much better and more comely eke, it seemetli unto me. That each should have his own alone, and not his neighbour's wife, Lest with his neighbour, he do fall in hate and wrathful strife. Thy neighbour's daughters or their wives, or nieces to defile, Unlawfiil is ; therefore beware, do not thy self beguile. Have thou thine own tnie wedded wife, delight in her alway. With safer mind that thou mayst look, to see the latter day."
Now let us return to king John again, and mark how the priests and their adherents were plagued for their homely handling of his majesty. In the aforesaid council of Lateran, and the same
(1) Conradus Urspergensis, Hieronymus Mariiis.
(2) " Non est innocentius, imo nocens vere,
Qui, quod facto docuit, verbo vult delere: Et quod olim juvenis voluit habere, Modi) vetus pontiiex studet prohibere. ^Zacliarias habuit prolcm ct uxorem, Per virum quem genuit adeptus honorem ; Baptizavit etenini muiidi Salvatorem : Pert' at qui teneat novum huuc errorem. Paulus cffilos rapitur ad superiores, Ubi multas didicit res secretiores ; Ad iios tandem rediens instruensque mores, Suas, inquit, habeant. quilibet uxores. Propter hsec et alia dogmata doctoruni, Reor esse melius et magis decorum, Quisque suam habeat et non proximorum, iie incurrat odium vel iram eorum. Proximorum fa-minas, lilins, tt ncptes Violare nefas est, quare nil deceptes, "Vere tuam habeas, et in hac delectes, Diem ut sic idtimum tutius expectes."
336 STKPHKN T.ANGTOX SUSPENDED.
John, year, was Stoplicn Lan ^13 catcd by Pope Iiuioeciit, with all those bishops, prelates, priests, 1215. barons, anil commons, who had been of counsel with liim in the former rebellion. And when the said archbishop had made instant suit to him to be absolved, anon he made him this answer with great indignation : " J-Jrother mine, I swear by St. Peter, thou shalt not so soon at my liand obtain the benefit of absolution : for why ? thou hast not in a great many things injured the church of Home lierc ; and there- fore thou shalt tarry my leisure." The archbishop was also at that Stephen time suspended out of the church, and commanded to say no mass at 8u,"''''°" all, neither yet to exercise any other ecclesiastical office ; because he pcnded. -^yould not, at time convenient, execute the pope's curse upon the rebellious barons. With them the said pope had been so deeply offended and angered a little before, that the great charter of the liberties of England, with great indignation and countenance most terrible, he rent and destroyed, by sentence definitive, condemning it for ever ; and, by and by thereupon, cursed all the other rebels, with book, bell, and candle. The greater captains of them, with the citizens of London, for that assay w^ere pronounced cxcomnmnicate by name, and remained still interdicted. They appealed then to the council general. Appeal In the same year, a.d. 1215, "were those great men also summoned gene'rai to appear at Rome in that general synod, who w^ould not consent council, iq their king''s expulsion, nor yet tyrannical deposing. Though they were called, they said, thereunto by the archbishop of Canterbury and others, and required by oath to subscribe unto the same, yet could they not of their conscience do it, because he had humbled himself, and also granted to keep peace with all men. Thus was the ivhole realm miserably then divided into two factions, through the malice of the clergy, so that strifes increased in the land every where ; yet were there of the lords and gentlemen a great number at that time, who The (lis- followed the kinij and alloAved his doinsfs.' But they who were on
cord be- ^ o ./
tween the tlic otlicr Side, uot a little suspecting the state that they were in, fled
."nli'the speedily to the French king, Pliilip, desiring him that he would grant
''"'s- - them his eldest son Louis, and they would elect him, to be their king,
and that without much tarriance. They besought him, moreover,
that he would send with him a strong and mighty power, such as
"were able to subdue him utterly, that they might, they said, be
delivered from such a wicked tyrant. Such was the report that those
most wicked papists gave their christian governor, appointed over them
by God, whom they ought to have obeyed, though he had been evil,
even for very conscience"" sake. [Rom. xiii. 7 ] And as certain of the
lords and barons were busy to choose the said Louis for their
Gimio, king, the pope sent thither one Gualo, the cardinal of St. Martin, to
s'onV'inti stay those rash and cruel attempts ; charging the French king, upon
England, jjjg allegiance, that he, with all power possible, should favour, maintain,
(1 1 Sfowe, spcakinR of these times, confirms the account which our author gives of these internal commotions which unhappily prevailed in England, but especially of the revolting assaults to which the Jews were subjected, so frequently referred to by our author. " I read, that in the year 1215, the sixteenth of King John, the barons entering the city by Ealdgate (Aldgate), first took assurance of the citizens ; then brake into the Jews' houses, searched their colfers to fill their own purses ; and after, with great diligence, repaired the walls and gates of the city, with stones taken from the Jews' broken houses."— Sec Stowe's Hist, of Lond. p. 7. — Ed.
CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE KING. 337
and defend King John of England, his feudary or tenant. The French John. kina: thereto made answer, as one not content with that arroeant
-AD precept : " The realm of England," said he, " was never yet any 121.5.
part of St. Peter's patrimony, neither is it now, nor yet, at any time,
shall be hereafter." Thus spake he, for that he was in hope to obtain
it for his son, by treason of the barons.
" No prince or potentate," said Philip, the French king, " may The pledge or give away his kingdom, which is (beside the realm) the k[,tg'and government of his whole commonwealth, without the lawful consent ^''* *"'" of his barons, who are bound to defend the same. If the pope shall about introduce or set up such a precedent in Christianity, he shall, at his "^'''" ' pleasure, bring all christian kings and their kingdoms to nought. I like not this example in these days begun. I cannot therefore allow this act of King John of England : though he be my utter adversary, yet I much lament that he hath so endamaged his realm, and hath brought that noble ground, and queen of provinces, under miserable tribute." The chief lords and men of his nobility standing by, when he uttered these words, being, as it were, in a fury, cried with one voice, " By the blood of God, by which we trust to be saved, Ave will stick to this article to the losing of our heads. Let the kins' of England do therein what him liketh : no king may put his land under tribute, and so make his nobility captive servants." With that came in Louis, the king's eldest son, and said unto them all there present, " I beseech you, hinder not my purposed journey : the barons of England have elected me for their lord and king, and I will not surely lose my right, but I will fight for it even to the very death, yea, so long as heart shall stir within my breast ; and I doubt not but I shall Avell obtain it, for I have friends among them." His father, the king, stood still as if he had been in a dump, and answered never a word, but fared as though he had dissembled the matter. Belike he mis- trusted something therein, as he might well enough ; for all was pro- cured by the priests, that they might live licentiously, in all wealth, and in freedom from the king's yoke.
About the same time, were such treasons and conspiracies wrought Prelates by the bishops, priests, and monks, throughout all the realm, that the pj^g^ts kinof knew not where to so, or find trusty friends ; he was then com- «"? ; pelled, by the uncertainty of his subjects, to travel from place to against place, but not without a great army of men, looking, every day, when * ^ '"^' his barons and their confederates would cruelly set upon him. At last he came to Dover, and there looked for aid from other quarters, which loved him better than did his own people. And thither resorted to him from Flanders, Brabant, and Holland, on one side, and from Guienne, Gascony, and Poictou, on the other side, and from other countries besides, a w^onderful number of men. The report then went, that the pope had written unto those countries mightily to assist him, for divers considerations : one was, for that King John had both submitted himself and his dominions, to his protec- tion ; another was, because he had taken upon him, a little before, the livery of the Cross, to win again Jerusalem ; the third was, because the pope had gotten by him the dominion of England and Ireland, and feared to lose both, if he should chance to decay. For the space of three months the king remained in the Isle of Wight, abroad
VOL. IT. 7,
8S8 THE HU;\( :i KINu's SON fUKSED.
•^o*"- in tlie air, to quiet liiiiisrlf, for a time, from all manner of tiiniults, A.D. and led there a solitary life among rivers and watermen, rather covet- 1216. ing to die than to live, being so traitorously handled of his bishops ' and barons, and not knowing how to be justly avenged of them.
Upon the Purification day of our Lady, therefore, he took upon him the Cross, or voyage against the Turks, for recovery of Jerusalem ; moved thereto rather for the doubts which he had of his people, than for anv other devotion else. And thus he said to his familiar ser- vants : '■ Since I submitted myself and my lands, England and Ire- land, to the church of Rome (sorrow come to it !) never a thing hath prosj)ered with mc, but all hath gone against me.""
In the same year, a.d. 1215, was Simon Langton chosen arch- bishop of York ; but that election soon after was dissolved ; for information was given to the pope, that the said Simon was brother to Stephen Langton, the archbishop of Canterbury, who had been the occasion of all the tumults which were at that time in England. The pope had the more hate unto him, for that he had brought him up from nought, and did find him, at that time, so stubborn ; wherefore he placed in his brother's place Walter Gray, the bishop of Wor- cester. Guaio, In the next year Gualo, the pope''s legate, renewed his great curse
ieKa^e^' upon Louis, the French king"'s son, for usurping upon King John; n'ir'^Lt li^^cwise upon Simon Langton, and Gcrvais Hobruge, for provoking curse him to tlic sauic, and that with a wonderful solemnity ; for in doing rveiK^h that, he made all the bells to be rung, the candles to be lighted, th.e »dn°' doors to be opened, and the book of excommunications or interdic- tions publicly to be read, committing them wholly to the devil, for their contumacy and contempt. He also commanded the bishops and curates to publish it abroad over all the whole realm, to the terror of T»>e all his subiects. The said Simon and Gervais laughed him to scorn,
pope S
curse and derided much his doings in that behalf, saying, that for the just to"sconi. title of Louis, they had appealed to the general council at Rome.'
The magistrates and citizens of London did, likewise, vilipend and disdainfully mock all that the pope had there commanded and done ; and, in spite both of him and his legate, they kept company with them that were excommunicated, both at table and at church ; showing themselves, thereby, as open contemners both of him and his laws. Louis, at London, taking himself for king, constituted Simon Langton for his high chancellor, and Gervais Hobruge for his chief preacher ; by whose daily preachings (as well the barons as the citizens them- selves being excommunicated) he caused all the clnirch doors to be opened, and the service to be sung, and the said Louis was in all Pan- points fit for their hands. About this time Pandulph, the cardinal, tht po'pes was collecting the Pctcr-pence, that old pillage of the pope, taking ra^e'"' great pains therein ; and for his great labours in those affairs of holy Miiiop of church, and fttr other great miracles besides, he was then made bishop of Norwich, to the augmenting of his dignity and expenses.
It chanced, about this time, that the viscount of Melun, a very noble man of the realm of France, who came thither with Prince Louis, fell deadly sick in London, and being moved, in conscience, to
(1) Radulijhus Niger, cap. 4S, 44.
THE I'ERI'I.KXITY OF THE BARONS. 339
call certain of the English barons unto him, such as were there John. appointed to the custody of that city, said unto them : " 1 lament ~a~i7~ your sorrowful case, and pity, with my heart, the destruction that is 12I6! coming towards you and your country.' The dangerous snares, which xi,e great are prepared for your utter confusion, are hidden from you; you do i;™'^';^^ not .behold them ; but take you heed of them in time. Prince Louis oodfor hath sworn a great oath, and sixteen of his carls and noblemen are of ofEng? counsel with him, that, if he obtain the crown of England, he will -^"'^• banish all them from service, and deprive them of lands and goods, as many as he findeth now to go against their liege king, and are traitors to his noble person. And, because you shall not take this tale for a fable, I assure you on my i'uith, lying now at the mercy of God, that I was one of those who were sworn to the same. I have great conscience thereof, and, therefore, I give you this warning. I pity poor England, which hath been so noble a region, that now it is come to such extreme misery.'''' And when he, with tears, had lamented it a space, he turned again unto them and said : " My friends, I counsel you earnestly to look to yourselves, and to provide the remedy in time, lest it come upon you unawares : your king for a season hath kept you under, but if Louis prevail, he will deprive you of all ; of two extreme evils, choose the more easy, and keep that secret which I have told you of good will." With that he gave over, and departed this life.
When this was once noised among the barons, they were in great Perpiex- heaviness, for they saw themselves entrapped every way, and to be in d^tros^s exceeding great danger. And this daily augmented that fear which ^^f^^^^ then came upon them ; they were extremely hated of the pope and his legates, and every week, came upon them new excommunications. Daily detriments they had besides in their possessions and goods, in their lands and houses, corn and cattle, wives and children, so that some of them Avere driven to such need, that they were enforced to seek preys and booties for sustaining their miserable lives. For look, whatsoever Prince Louis obtained by his wars, either territories or castles, he gave them all to his Frenchmen, in spite of their heads, and said that they Avere but traitors, like as they had warning before ; and this grieved them worst of all. At last, perceiving that in seeking to avoid one mischief, they Avere ready to fall into another much worse, they began to lay their heads together, consenting to submit themselves wholly, with all humility, unto the mercy of their late sovereign and natural liege lord. King John ; and, as they were some- what in doubt of their lives for the treason before committed, many of the friends of those who were of most credit with him, made suit for them ; so that a great number of them Avere pardoned, after instant and great suit made for them. I here omit his recovery of Rochester castle and city, Avith many other dangerous adventures against the aforesaid Louis, both at London, York, Lincoln, Win- chester, NorAvich, and other places, as things not pertaining to my purpose. And noAv I return to my matter again.
Into Suffolk and Norfolk he consequently journeyed, Avith a A'ery strong army of men, and there, Avith great mischief, he afflicted them, because they had given place and Avere sAvorn to his enemies. After
(1) Matth. Paris; Radul. Niger, cap. 47
z 2
S-tO KINi; JOIIX POISONED HV A MONK.
John, that, lie despoiled the abbeys of Poteiborou^li ami C'rnwland, for the ^ J) great treasons whieh they also had wrought against him ; and so he 121 G. departed from thence into Lincolnshire.
Popein" 1" this year, a.d. 1216, about the seventeenth day of July, died nocmi Pope Innocent HI., and was buried in a city called Perugia, in Italy ; whitlicr he had travclictl to make a peace between the (jenoese and Pisans, for his own conimodity and advantage. After him, anon, succeeded one Centius, otherwise called lionorius III., a man of very great age ; vet lived he, in the papacy, ten years and a half, and more. AVhcn this was once known in England, all those greatly rejoiced who were King John's enemies, especially the priests ; yet had they small cause, as will appear hereafter. They noised it all the realm over, that this new po])e would set up a new order, and not rule all things as the other pope did ; thinking, thereby, that he would have done all things to their commodity, but they found it otherwise. For he made all those who were excommunicated, pay double and treble, ere they could be restored again to their former livings. King And, in the self-same year, as King John was come to Swineshcad
poisoned abbcy, not far from Boston, he rested there two days ; w here, as monk most wHtcrs testify, he was most traitorously poisoned by a monk of that abbey, of the sect of the Cistercians, or St. Bernard's brethren, called Simon of Swineshcad. As concerning the noble personage of this prince, this witness giveth Roger Hoveden thereon : " Doubt- less, ' saith he, " King .Tohn was a mighty prince, but not so fortunate as many were ; not altogether unlike to Marius, the noble Roman, he tasted of fortune both ways ; bountiful in mercy ; in wars sometime he won, sometime again he lost." " He was also very bounteous and liberal unto strangers, but of his own people, for their daily treason's sake, he was a great oppressor, so that he trusted more to foreigners than to them."'
Among other divers and sundry conditions belonging to this king,
one there was, which is not in him to be reprehended, but commended
rather ; for that, being far from the superstition which kings at that
time were commonly subject to, he regarded not the popish mass, as
in certain chronicles writing of him may be collected ; for this I find
testified of him by Matthew Paris : that the king, once upon a time,
in his hunting, coming where a very fat stag was cut up and opened
King (or how the hunters term it, I cannot tell), the king beholding tlie
rideth fiitucss and tlic liking of the stag : " See," saith he, ^ how easilv and
the mass, happily hc hath lived, and yet for all that, he never heard any mass."
It is recorded and foimd in the chronicle of William Caxton,
called " Fructus temporum," and in the seventh book, that the
aforesaid monk Simon, being much ofFended with certain talk that the
king had at his table, concerning Louis, the French king's son, who
then had entered and usurped upon him, did cast, in his wicked heart,
how he most speedily might bring him to his end. And, first of all,
he counselled with his abbot, showing him the whole matter, and
w,. iK-to "what he was minded to do. He alleged for himself the prophecy of
caiigdmi t'aiaphas (John xi.), saying, " It is better that one man die, than
evi!' "dod ^^^ ^'^^ people should perish." " I am well contented," saith he,
" to lose my life, and so become a mart}T, that I may utterly destroy
(1) Ex chronico cui titulus " Eulogiuni. "
Ol'IXlON'S IIESI'KCTIXG HIS DEATH. 341
this tyrant." With that the abbot did weep for ghidness, and iniieh J commended his fervent zeal, as lie took it. The monk, then, being- absolved beforehand of his abbot for doing this act, -went secretly into the backside of the garden, and finding tliere a most venoinons toad, he so pricked him and pressed him witli his peidcnife, that he ^''^"''."j made him vomit all tlie poison that was within hii-ii. This doric, he I'v ii.s' conveyed it into a cup of wine, and with a smiling and flattering poi^^onin"- countenance he said thus to the king : " If it shall like your princely ^''* "^'"s- majesty, here is such a cup of wine as ye never drank better before, in all your lifetime ; I trust this wassail shall make all England glad;" and, with that, he drank a gi-eat draught thereof, the king pledging him. The monk anon after went to the farmary, and there nictii of died, his entrails gushing out of his body, and had continually from pi-,""'" thenceforth three monks to sing mass for his soul, confirmed by their general chapter. What became, after that, of King John, ye shall know right well in the process following. I would ye did mark well the wholesome proceedings of these holy votaries, how virtuously they obey their king, whom God hath appointed, and how religiously they bestow their confessions, absolutions, and masses.
The king, within a short space after, feeling great grief in his body, asked for Simon, the monk ; and answer was made that he was departed this life. '' Then God have mercy upon me," said he, "■ I suspected as much, after he had said that all England should thereof be glad; he meant, now I perceive, those of his own generation." With that he commanded his chariot to be prepared, for he was not able to ride. So went he from thence to Sleaford castle, and from Death of thence to Newark-on-Trent, and there, within less than three days, j^*,"^ he died. Upon his death-bed he much repented his former life, and forgave all them, with a pitiful heart, that had done him injury ; desiring that his elder son, Henry, might be admonished by his a prince example, and learn by his misfortunes to be natural, favourable, J°^V^^ gentle, and loving to his native people. When his body w^as to \\\t embalmed and spiced, as the manner is of kings, his bowels or "" ^'^'^"" entrails were buried at Croxton abbey, which vt-as held by the sect of Premonstratenses, or canons of St. Norbert. His hired soldiers, Kiiii? both Englishmen and strangers, were still about him, and followed J"','i",i his corpse triumphantly in their armour, till they came to the cathedral ^t w <>i- church of Worcester, and there honourably was he buried by Silvester, the bishop, betwixt St. Oswald and St. Wolstan, two bishops of that clim-ch. He died a.d. 1216, the nineteenth day of October, after he had reigned in such calamity, by the subtile contrivance of his clergy, eighteen years and six months and odd days. Now, as soon as King John was dead and buried (as is said before), the princes, lords, and barons, as many as were of his part, as well of strangers as of them that were born here, bv coiinsel of the lejjate (iualo, oathered themselves together, and all with one consent proclaimed Henry, his son, for their king. Of him more shall follow (the Lord willing) hereafter.
Many opinions are among the chroniclers of the death of King comr^- John. Some of them do wTite that he died of sorrow and heaviness „phi'i!7ns of heart, as Polydore ; some of surfeiting in the night, as Railulphus [ll^'^i-]' Niger ; some of a bloody flux, as Roger Hovcden ; some of a ';"'J.
342 THE FIRST MAYOR OF LONDON.
John, burning ague, some of a cold sweat, some of eating apples, some of ji^ Y) eating' pears, some of plums, &c.
121(3. Thus you see what variety is among the writers concerning the death of this King John. Of which writers, although the most agree in this, that lie was poisoned by the monk above named, yet Matthew Paris,' something differing from the others, writeth thus concernino- his death : that he, going from Lynn to Lincolnshire, and there hcarinf of the loss of his carriage and of his treasures u])on the washes, gave way to great heaviness of mind, insomuch that lie fell thereby into a fervent fever, being at the abbey of Swineshead. This ague he also increased, through evil surfeiting and naughty diet, by eating peaches and drinking new ciser, or, as we call it, cider. Thus, being sick, he was carried from thence to the castle of Sleaford, and from thence to the castle of Newark ; where, calling for Henry, his son, he gave to him the succession of his crown and kingdom, writing to "all his lords and nobles to receive him for their king. Shortly after, in the night following St. Luke's day, he departed this life, and was buried at Worcester. Another In Gisbum I find otherwise, who, dissenting from others, saith, of K^ng that he was poisoned with a dish of pears, which the monk had joiin's prepared for the king, therewith to poison him ; who, asking the king wliether he would taste of his fruit, and being bid to bring them in, according to the king''s bidding, so he did. At the bringing in whereof (saith the storv) the precious stones about the king began to sweat ; insomuch that the king misdoubting some poison, demanded, of the monk, what he had brought. He said, of his fruit, and that very good ; the best that ever he did taste, " Eat," said the king. And he took one of the pears, which he did know, and did eat. Also, being bid to take another, he did eat that likewise, savourily, and so likewise the third. Then the king, refraining no longer, took one of the poisoned pears, and was therewith poisoned, as is before narrated.^ The first In the reign of this King Jolm, the citizens of London first Sfiidon'^ obtained of the king to choose yearly a mayor. In this reign also the bridge of London was first builded of stone, which before was of wood.^
HENRY THE THIRD.*
A. D. After King John had reigned, as some say, seventeen years, or ^216. .jg others say, though falsely, nineteen years, he was, as is above stated, poisoned, and died. This king left behind him four sons and three daughters ; the first, Henry ; the second, Richard, who was earl of Cornwall ; the third, William of Yalentia ; the fourth, Guy de Lusignan; he had also another son, who afterwards was made bishop. Of his daughters, the first was Isabella, man-ied afterward to Frederic, the emperor; the second, named Elenor, was married to William, earl marshal ; the third, to Mountfort, the earl of Leicester, Sec. Another story saith, that he had but two daughters, Isabella and
(1) Matth. Paris, in Vita Johannis Regis. (2) Ex Hist. Gualt. Gisbum. (3) Rastal. (4) Edition 1563, p. 72. Ed. I5S:!, p. 257. Ed. I.-iae, p. 231. Ed. 1684, vol. i. p. 290.— Ed
HENRY III. CROWNED AT GLOUCESTER. 343
Elenor, or, as another calleth her, Joan, who was afterwards queen of Henry Scotland.^ "'■
This King John being deceased, who had many enemies both of A. D. earls and barons, and especially of the popish clergy, Henry, tlie ^■^^^- eldest son, was then of the age of nine years, at which time, most of the lords of England did adhere to Ludovic, or Louis, the French king's son, whom they had sent for before, in displeasiu-e of King John, to be their king, and had sworn to him their allegiance. Then William, earl Mai'shal, a nobleman, and of gTcat authority, and a grave and sound counsellor, friendly and quietly called unto him divers earls and barons, and taking this Henry, the young prince, son of King John, setteth him before them, using these words : " Behold," saith he, " right honourable and well-beloved, although saying we have persecuted the father of this young prince^ for his evil MaTshai. demeanour, and worthily ; yet this young child, whom here ye see l)efore you, as he is in years tender, so is he pure and innocent from these his father's doings : wherefore, inasmuch as every man is charged only with the burden of his OAvn works and transgressions, neither shall the child, as the scripture teacheth us, bear the iniquity of his father; Ave ought, therefore, of duty and conscience, to pardon this young and tender prince, and take compassion of his age, as ye see. And now, forasmuch as he is the king's natural and eldest son, and must be our sovereign and king, and successor of this kingdom, come, and let us appoint him our king and governor, and let us remove from us this Louis, the French king's son, and suppress his people, which is a confusion and a shame to our nation ; and the yoke of our servitude let us cast off from our shoulders." To these words spake and answered the carl of Chester: "And by what reason or right," said he, " can we so do, seeing we have called him hither, and have sworn to him our fealty V
Whereunto the earl Marshal inferred again, and said : " Good right and reason we have, and ought of duty to do no less ; for that he, contrary to our mind and calling, hath abused our affiance and fealties. Truth it is we called him, and meant to prefer him to be our chieftain and governor ; but he, eftsoons, surprised in pride, hath contemned and despised us : and, if we shall so suffer him, he will subvert and overthrow both us and our nation, and so shall we remain a spectacle of shame to all men, and be as outcasts to all the world."
At these words all they, as inspired from above, cried all together with one voice, " Be it so, he shall be our king." And so the day Avas appointed for his coronation, Avliich Avas the day of Simon and Jude, A. D. 1216. This coronation Avas kept, not at Westminster, King forasmuch as Westminster the same time Avas holden of the French- j^j'j"''^ men, but at Gloucester, the safest place (as w.vs thought) at that time crowned. in the realm,^ by Gualo, the pope's legate, through counsel of all the lords and barons that held with liis father. King John ; to Avit, the bishop of Winchester, the bishop of Bath, the bishop of Chester,* and the bishop of Worcester, Ranulpli, earl of Chester, William Mareschall, earl-marshal and earl of Pembroke, William, earl
(1) Ex Chronico vetusto Angliae. [See Appendix.]
(2) Truly said, that you persecuted him, for persecutors ye were of a true man, ana your own natural king. But well miglit England crv out upon your blind guides and setters on.
(S) Ex Chron. Gisbuin. (■!) i.e. of Lichfield and Coventry : see pp. 385, 386, 643.— Ed.
Sit THE POrK''s LFCATE IXTERDTCTS WALES.
Henry FcFrcts, Williaiii de Briwcrc, and Savaiic de Malo-leone [Mauleon].
'. These were at tlic crowning of the king at Cilouccstcr. Many other
A. D. lords and barons tliere were, who as yet held with Louis, the French _lll^ king's son, to whom they had done their homage before. *'For tliis cause only, and not by testament, Avas King John buried at Worcester ; because that place of the realm, in those days, appeared most sure and safe, where they, who were friends to the crown, might best deliberate with themselves what was bc>^t to be done in that matter. So went they from thence to tlic town of Glou- cester, with \Villiam Marshal, earl of Pembroke, and there was he anointed and cntwned king by the legate Gualo, assisted by Peter, bishop of Winchester, and Jocelin, the bishop of Bath, with others who were then in the realm, and called Henry III. ; and this was done on the feastful day of St, Simon and St. Jude. The court of Rome, at that time, not being too slack in these affairs, sent hither with all speed, commanding them that they should mightily stand by the young king, then being not fully ten years of age, and to defend England with armour, and his thundering curses, as holy churclfs patrimony, against Louis and his accomplices; and then the new pope, Honorius III., not only confirmed his legate Gualo, but also com- mitted to his discretion all that appertained to that office of his, no appellations to the contrary admitted. The legate, being emboldened by this authority, compelled the prelates of England to be sworn true to the young king ; and those that refused to take the oath, to be punished very sore. And Peter, tlie bishop of Winchester, was not at all behind in that commission for his part, but brought a grievous tallage upon the beneficed men and priests of his diocese, to help the king in his wars against Louis ; which was not at all amiss. Such as were great beneficed priests, and might well pay, the said Gualo reserved to his own authority, and, for great sums of money, at the latter, dispensed with them. Some there were obstinate and froward, ■whom he degraded ; some he excommunicated, and sent to Rome for their absolutions; not leaving one priest unpunished, who had taken part with Louis, having, every where, his searchers and spies to find them out.*
Lnmediately after the crowning of this king, he held a council at
Bristol, at St. Martin's feast ; where were assembled eleven bishops
of England and Wales, with divers earls, barons, and knights of
England, all of whom did SAvear fealty to the king. After homage
thus d(me to the king, the legate Gualo interdicted Wales, because
they held with the aforesaid Louis ; and also the barons and all
others, as many as gave help or counsel to Louis ; or any others
that moved or stirred any war against King Henry, the new king,
he accursed them. All which notwithstanding, the said Louis did
not cease, but first laid siege to the castle of Dover fifteen davs.
Berkham- ^^''fi^ 1'^ could not prevail there, he took the castle of Berkhani-
iicrtfoM'' ^^^^^-i ^^^^^ ''^^" ^^^ castle of Hertford, doing much harm in the
taken by couutics, by Spoiling and robbing the people, where he Avcnt: by
^"'*' reason whereof, the lords and commons, who held with the king,
assembled themselves together to drive Louis and his men out of
the land. But some of tlic barons, with the Frenchmen, in tlic mean
(I) Tliis paragraph is from the Editionof 1563 p. 60, • I. v.— Ed.
THE TRENCH DRIVEN OUT OF ENGLAND 345
season went to Lincoln and took tlic city, and held it for the use of Henry Louis. This being known, eftsoons a great power on the king's part ^'^' made thither, as Kanulph, earl of Chester, William Mareschall, earl of A.D. Pembroke, William de Briwere, and the earl Ferrers, with many ^^' other lords, and gave battle unto Louis and his party ; so that in conclu- Lincoln sion Louis lost the field, and of his side was slain' the earl of Perche; tiken, Saer de Quincy, earl of Winchester, Henry de la Bohun, earl of Here- t^'i'^' lord, and Sir Robert le Fitz- Walter, with divers other more, were taken ^"' ''^ prisoners. Whereupon Louis for succour fled to London, causing the gates there to be shut and kept, waiting there for more succour out of i''rance. As soon as the king had knowledge of this, immediately he sent to the mayor and burgesses of the city, willing them to surrender them and their city to him, as their chief lord and king ; promising to grant to them again all their franchises and liberties, as in times past, and to confirm the same by his great charter and seal. In the mean time, on Bartholomew eve, Eustace, a French monk, accompanied with many other lords and nobles of France, came with a grand power, to the number of one hundred ships, to aid and assist the said Louis ; who, before they arrived, were encountered upon the seas by Richard, King John''s bastard son ; who, having no more but a noble eighteen ships to keep the cinque ports, set eagerly upon them, and, Jy^^ods through God's grace, overcame them, where presently he smote off sf-'''^'' ^ the head of Eustace : the rest of the French lords, to the number of King " ten, he brought with him to the land, where he imprisoned them in son"'' the castle of Dover, and slew almost all the men that came with them, and sunk their ships in the sea ; only fifteen ships, say some of my stories, escaped away. Ludovic, or Louis, hearing of this loss of his ships and men, and misdoubting his own life for the great mischief he had done to the realm, sought means by Gualo, and the archbishop of Canterbury, and by other lords, to be at accord with the king. With whom, at length, it was so concluded and agi-eed, that, for his costs and expenses, he should have a thousand pounds of silver given. Matthew Paris speaketh of five thousand pounds, which he borrowed of the Londoners, that he should depart the realm, never to return into England again, neither he nor any of his.^
This being done, he, with all the other barons that took his part, Louis, the was assoiled of Gualo, the legate ; and thus peace being confirmed at lH^^l^ Merton, Louis took his leave, and being brouorht honourably to the 5™-
o>-> * driven
sea with the bishop of Canterbury, and other bishops, earls and out of barons, he returned home into France. "° '"" '
And here, saith Gisburn, that Avas truly verified which was before spoken of the French king, the father of Louis. At the time the said Louis was in England, his father, the French king, demanded of his messengers coming into France, where his son was. They replied, '' at Stamford." And, on his asking again, whether his son had got the castle of Dover, they said, " No."" Then the fixther swearing by the arm of St. James : " My son," quoth he, " hath not one foot in England;" as, afterwards, well proved true.^
But the chief help that repelled Louis and the Frenchmen out of the realm, and that most preferred King John's son to the crown,
(1) Ex Matth. Paris. (2) Ex Gualtcr. Gisbuin.
346 DEATH OF POPK INNOCENT J I I.
Henry was tlic singular working ot" Goers hand, M'hereof mention was made before : Mhich was tlirough the confession of a certain gentleman of
A.D. the French host (as Florilegus doth testify), who, lying sore sick — }1l. at the point of death, and seeing no hope to escape, was touched in conscience for danger of his soid's health, openly to confess and utter, to the barons of England, what was the purpose of the Frenchmen to do ; who had conspired and sworn together among themselves, with a privv compaction, that so soon as they subdued the land, they should thrust all the chiefs and nobles thereof into perpetual exile out Anadmo- (,f the realm, whereout they should never return again. This, comm^
iiition to , f. 1 1 • ■ 1 ii , • 1 . ?
KiiK'iish- to tlie ears ot the barons, as is said, gave them to consider more with
tlJT.im'it themselves, whereby many of them were the more willing to leave
micro's" Louis, and apply to their natural king and prince ; which, no less,
into the may also be an admonition to all times and ages for Englishmen to
take heed, and n(jt to admit or to place foreign rulers in the realm,
lest, perhaps, it follow that they be displaced themselves.
A bad After the happy departure of Louis and his Frenchmen out of the
bioweth*' land, A.D. 1217, whcrcby the state of this realm, long vexed before,
no man ^yjis now somcwliat luore quieted ; immediately Gualo, the legate,
looking to his harvest, directeth forth inquisitors through every shire
to search out all such bishops, abbots, priors, canons, and secular
priests, of what order or degree soever they were, who, with any
succour or counsel, did either help, or else consent unto Louis ; for all
these were exempted out of the charter of pardon and absolution
made before, between the king and Louis. By reason of this, no
small gain grew to the pope and the cardinal, for all such were either
put out of their livings and sent up to the pope, or else were fiin to
"sfo' f ^"^ sAveetly for them. Among whom (besides a great number of
Lincoln, othcr clcrks, both religious and secular) was Hugh, bishop of Lincoln,
eth'iiT '^^lio> for the recovery of his bishopric, disbursed one thousand marks
fir'o'lfe™ ^^ ^'^^ popp^ arifl oiic hundred marks to the aforesaid Gualo, the
thousand legate, who now (as Paris recordeth) by this time had gathered in a
fair crop of that which he did never sow.* Death of About this scasou, or not much before, died Pope Innocent IIL, nocent" "^ the nineteenth year of his popedom, to whose custody Frederic, '^'- the nephew of Frederic Barbarossa, being yet young, Avas committed by the empress his mother, of whom more shall follow (the Lord willing) hereafter. After this Innocent succeeded Pope Ilonorius III., who, writing to young King Henry in a special letter, exhorteth him to the love of virtue, and to the fear of God ; namely, to be circum- spect with what familiars and resort he acquainted himself; but principally, above all other things, he admonishcth him to reverence the church, which is the spouse of Christ, and to honour the minis- ters thereof, in whom Christ himself, saith he, is both honoured or despised. — And this seemcth the chiefest article of that his writing
to 1
um
tlieo""^* Of this Pope Ilonorius the abbot of Urspeig (who lived in the
Pope Ho- same time) rcportcth a strange wonder, more strange peradvcnture
it"be'true. than Credible ; which is this : Ilonorius being priest in Rome (whose
name Avas then Centius) and procurator to Jacinth, a cardinal, so
it befel, that his master sent him abroad about Rome, to borrow and
(1) E\ Matth. Pario. in Vita Reg. Hcnr. III. (2) Ex Mattli. Paris.
KING HENRY CONFIRMS MAGNA CHAilTA. 347
])roc'ure money for him against liis journey into Sj)ain ; for Pope fienry
III.
Clement then intended to send this Jacinth, as his legate, into Spain. As this Centius was walking by himself, all sad and solicitous to speed A. 1). his master's message, there cometh to him a certain aged and reverend J^l?j_ father, and asketh him, what cause he had to walk so heavily and carefully ? To whom he answered again, and signified the occasion of the business that he then had to do. Then the old father said to him, "• Go and return home again, for thy master,''' saith he, "■ shall not, at this time, go to Spain." " How so," quoth the other; " how, is that true .'*'''' " As true," saith he, " as it is certain that the pope shall die, and thy master shall be pope after him." Centius, thinking that to be unlikely, said, " He could not believe that to be true." To whom the other inferrcth again, '" So know this," said he, " to be as certain, as it is true that the city of Jerusalem, this day, is taken of the Saracens, and shall not be recovered again from them before the time of thy papacy." And thus speaking, he vaded suddenly away.' All this, saith the same author, came afterwards to pass, and was testified of the same Honorius, being pope afterwards, in his public sermons at Rome. All which I grant may be ; and yet, notwithstanding, this fabulous narration may be a piece of the pope's old practices, subtilely invented, to drive men forth to Jerusalem to fight. Again, after Honorius (when he had governed ten years) followed Gregory IX., which two popes Avere in the time of this King Henry HI. and of FredericH. the emperor; of whom we mind (Christ willing) further to touch, after that we shall have prosecuted more concerning the history of King Henry, and matters of England.
After that, it so pleased the merciful providence of Almighty God to work this great mercy upon the stock of King John (notwith- standing the unkind prelates, with their false prophets, had declared before, that never any of them should succeed in the throne after that king), and also unto the whole commonwealth of the realm, in delivering them from the dangerous service of Louis, and the afore- said Frenchmen. After their departure, the following year, a.d. 1218, which was the second of this king's reign, the Archbishop Stephen Langton, and the bishops, earls, and barons, resorted to London unto the king at the Michaelmas next following, and there held a gTeat parliament, wherein were confirmed and granted by the king, all King the francliises which were made and given by King John, his father, J^p^h^n, at Runnemede, and them he confirmed and ratified by his charter; tiieiiber- which, long time after (saith mine author) unto his days did con- granted tinue, and were holden in England. For this cause, by the nobles joim!"° and commons, were given and granted again unto the king two shillings for every plough-land throughout England. At this time Hubert de Burgh was made chief justice of England, of whose troubles more is to be said hereafter. This was the third year of King Henry,and the forty-ninth year after the death of Thomas Becket : wherefore the said Becket, in the year following, was taken up and Thomas shrined for a new saint made of an old rebel. Thither came sucli siuhied. resort of people of England and of France, that the country of Kent ■was not sufficient to sustain them."-^ About the same time, Isabella, the king's mother, was married to the earl of March ; and William
(0 Ex Abbate Ursperg. in Cluonico. (2* Ex Historia D. Scales.
348 ALIENS HANMSIIEO FROM THK l.AVl).
jr^nrg Marslial, tlic good carl, wlio was the governor of tlie king and the
'— realm, died, not withont great lamentation of the people of England.
A- 1)- Then was the king committed to the government of Peter, bishop of Winchester. 'I'liis noble earl left behind him five sons and five daughters. *'This year, which was 1218 from C'lirisfs incarnation, Guah) made a general in(]uisiti()n, nearly all the realm over, for them who did not observe the interdiction published for rebels, in the first vear of this voung king; for whose transgression, both to ])ricsts and monks, he appointed divers and many penalties grievous ; some he suspended from their offices, and some he deprived of their benefices; so that, as well the guiltless as the guilty were compelled largely to ])ay.* A.n.i2!D. In the next year, a.d. 1219, it was ordained and ])roclaimed Aioiis throuLih all the land, that all aliens and foreifrners should depart the
com o ' f5 I
iiianrtci realm, and not rettmi to the same again ; such onlv excepted as used Ki'igbnd. traffic or trade of merchandise under the king"'s safe conduct. This proclamation was thought chiefly to be set forth for this cause, to rid th? land of Foukes de Breant, Philip de Marks, Engelard de Ci- conia, William earl of Albemarle, Robert de Vipount, Brian de Tlsle, Hugh de Bailluel, Roger de Gaugi, with divers other strangers, wiio kept castles and holds of the king's, against his will. Of these, the Kebeis bcforenamcd Foukes, was the principal, who fortified and held the Kin"*' castle of Bedford, which he had by the gift of King John, with Henry, might and strength against the king and his ])ower, nearly the space of three months. Moreover, lie went about to apprehend the king''s justices, at Dmistablc ; but they, being warned thereof, escaped, all except Henry Braybroke, whom he imprisoned in the said castle. The king, hearing hereof, and consulting with his clergy and nobles, made his power against the same ; which, after long siege and some slaughter, at length he obtained, and. hanged almost all that were Avithin, to the number of ninety-seven; which was, as Paris writcth, about the seventh or eighth year of his reign. Foukes, at that time, Avas in Wales ; who, hearing of the taking of the castle, convevcd himself to the church of Coventry. At length, submitting himself to the king''s mercy, upon consideration of his service done before to the king"'s fiither, he was committed, to the custody of Eustace, bishop of London ; and afterwards, being deprived of all his goods, possessions, and tenements, within the realm, was forced to perpetual banishment, never to return to England again.
Here, by the Avay, I find it noted in Matthew Paris, that aft'.r
this aforesaid Foukes had spoiled and rased the church of 8t. Paul
in Bedford, for the building up of his castle, the al)bcssof llelvestue,^
hearing thereof, caused the sword to be taken from the image of
St. Paul standing in the church, so long as Foukes remained
unpunislied. Afterwards, hearing that he was committed to the
custody of St. Paul in London, she caused the sword to be put into
the hands of the image again.'
A.D 1220 About this vcar the vounir kin": was crowned the second time at
crow^i'ed Wcstmiustcr, about which period began the new building of our
""^?"^: Tjadv church at Westminster. Shortlv after Gualo, the legate, was
at Wcst-
minslcr. ") For this passage see Edition ISC", p. 70 • I. v. — En.
(2) Now called lastow.— Ed. (.'!) Mutth. Paris, in Vita Ilcn. III.
DECREKS OF POPE INNOCENT III. 349
called home again to Rome ; for tlic holy father (as Matthew Paris iinny reportcth) being sick of a spiritual dropsy, thought this Gualo -JJJ- _ (having such large occupying in England, and for so long a time) A.D.
would be able somewhat to cure his disease. *'For that legate, rr._
by that time, had well flivouredly unladen the purses of the bene- ficed fathers and cloisterers.* And so this Gualo returned with all his bags well stuffed, leaving Pandulph behind him to supply that bailiwick of his great grandfather, the pope. *Hugh Wells, then bishop of Lincoln, not long before, paid a thousand marks for the recovery of his office, and a hundred marks to the legate for his favour also in that case : other holy bishops and prelates, likewise, ueat, or were taught, by his good example, to qualify that great heat, or dry oP't,^'"'^'*^ thirst of the pope ; Robert Curson at that time being a priest cardinal pope, in Rome.*
The life and acts of Pope Innocent III. are partly described Deeds before, how he intruded Stephen Langton, against the king's will, into cries of the archbishopric of Canterbury, stimng up also sixty-four monks ^o^lnt"' of the same church of Canterbury privily to work against the king, m- Moreover, how he did excommunicate the said king as a public enemy of the church, so long as the said king withstood his tyran- nical doings, putting him and his whole kingdom under interdiction for the space of six years and three months, and at length deposing and depriving him of his sceptre, and keeping it in his own hands for five days. How he absolved his subjects from their due obe- dience and subjection unto him. How he gave away his kingdoms and possessions to Louis, the French king's son. commanding the said Louis to spoil him both of lands and life. Whereupon the king, being forsaken of his nobles, prelates, and commons, was forced, against his will, to submit himself, and swear obedience to the pope, paying him a yearly tribute of one thousand marks, for receiving of his kingdom again ; whereby both he, and his successors after him, were vassals afterwards unto the pope. These were the apostolical acts of this holy vicar in the realm of England. More- over, he condemned Almcric, a worthy learned man and a bishop, Aimeric for a heretic, for teachinof and holding against images. Also he^J^f'-^"^"
. ~ . ~ ~ ^ cnim con-
condemned the doctrine of Joachim the abbot, of whom we spake demned. before, for heretical. This pope brought first into the chm-ch the tiUiTs "^ paying of private tithes ; he ordained the receiving once a year at j'^^oug^' Easter ; unto the papal decretals he added the decree, " Omnes utriusque sexus," &c. ; also the reservation of the sacrament, and the Beii and going with the bell and light before the sacrament was by him xTe'canon appointed. In the said council of Lateran he also ordained that the of the canon of the mass should be received with equal authority as though thoHsed. it had proceeded from the apostles themselves. He brought in tran- ^Sia-'' substantiation.^ t'on-
Item, the said Innocent III. ordained that none should marry Marriage in the third degree, but only in the fourth degree, and so under. tMnrc'e-
The said pope stirred up Otho against Philip, the emperor, jJi'^den."^" because the said Philip was elected emperor against his will ; upon the occasion whereof followed much war and slaughter in Germany.
;l) For this, and the sentence next but one, see Edition 1563, p. 70, * I. v. — Kb.
'>) See the decretals, titulo, I. " De Summa Trinit. et fide Catholica," cap. "(irmitcr credimus."
SoO MARTYRDOMS IN ALSACE.
nf«ry And afterwards, against the said Otlio, whom he had made emperor,
'^'- lie set up FrediTic, king of Sicily, and caused the archbishop of
A. I). Mayencc to pronounce him excommunicate in all his titles, and to be
^—0- deposed of his emj^irc ; for the which cause the princes of Germany
The pope did invade his domains, spoiling and burning his possessions. The
k'ings and causc why the pope so did accurse and depose him, was that the said
emperors qj_Jjq ^jj ^akc and occupy cities, towns, and castles, which the pope
by' the said appertained to him.
'■■'"■ Item, the said pope ordained, that if any princes offended one
another, the correction should appertain unto the pope. In the Council f,„„.tli council of Lateran, a. D. 1215, were archbishops and primates teran. sixty-onc, bisliops four hundred, abbots twelve, priors and con- ventuals eight hundred, besides other ambassadors, legates, and doc- tors ; and of lawyers an innumerable sort, &c. Mart)T9 In the history of Huldricus Mutius, we read how, a. d. 1212, in "luxe'"'' this pope's time divers noblemen, and others in the country of Alsace, .Tmie" contrary to the tradition of the Romish popes, did hold that every hundred jj^y ^.jjg fi-ee for eating of flesh, so it be done soberly ; also that cxccs- one day!" sivc eating of fish was as bad as excessive eating of flesh ; also that they did wickedly, who restrained priests and ministers from their lawful wives ; for which cause (as is in the aforesaid author) through the means of this Pope Innocent III. and his bishops, a hundred of them in one day were burned and martyred by the archbishop of Strasburg. coiiec- Nauclerus, another historian, recordeth, that the authors of the tions sent gjj^jjj doctriuc dwclt at Milan, and that the aforesaid saints of Alsv.ce
from the 1 1 •
brethren uscd yearly to send ttieni a collection.
tothlnr In the chronicle of Walter Hemingford, otherwise called Gisbum-
ot Milan, eji^ig^ it is rccordcd, that in the days of this King John and Pope Inno-
vant cent, began the two sects, or orders of friars, one called ' the preachers*'
gau" '"^ order, and black friars of St. Dominic ;' the other called ' the mi-
norites of St. Francis."* The preachers of the black friars'* order began
from one Dominic, a Spaniard, about the parts of Toulouse, who,
after he had laboured ten years in preaching against the Albigenses,^
and such others as did hold against the church of Rome, afterward
coming up to the council of Lateran with Fulco, bishop of Toulouse,
desired of the aforesaid Innocent III. to have his order of preaching
friars confirmed, which the pope a great Avhile refused to grant. At
length he had a dream, that the church of Lateran was ready to fall ;
which when he beheld, fearing and much sorrowing thereat, cometh in
this Dominic, who, with his shoulders, under-propped the church, and
so preserved the building thereof from falling. And right well this
upholders ^^rcam may seem verified, for the friars have always been the chief
of the pillars and upholders of the pope''s church. Upon this, the pope,
chmcii. waking out of his dream, called Dominic to him, and granted his
(1) It may be proved from the writings of Romish ecclesiastics, and from the canons of councils, for two hundred years before the preaching of Dominic, that religious doctrines, in opposition to the corruptions of the Latin church, prevailed very generally in the south of France, particularly in Languedoc. and in that part of it which was called Albigensium, or Pays d'Albigtois. But the name Albigenses, as applied to designate the religious body opposed to the authority of the pope, does not occur in any document before the end of the twelfth or the beginning of the thirteenth century. A letter of Innocent III., to Simon de Montfort, in 1215, is one of the earliest authentic records, which gives the appellation Albigenses to the unhappy people, against whom pajjal vengeance was directed until they were exterminated. Peter of Vaux Semay, who had put forth his work against the Albigenses in 1218, states, that Uie heretics of Languedoc were usually called the heretics of Toulouse and Provence, until the strangers who assumed the Cross .ind took up arms agiiinst them in the year 1068, styled them generally Albigenses ; Uie diocese of Albi being the centre of the heretical population. See •' Vaissctte, Histoire Cien6rale de Languedoc," vol. iii. p. 553. " Note surl'origine du nom d'Abi- gcois." — Ed,
DIFFKRENT SECTS OF FRAXCISC A KS. 351
III.
A. D.
1220.
petition : and so c^nic up this wolfish order of the Dominies. I eall 'ie,iry it 'wolfish/ for his mother, when she was great with this Dominic, dreamed that she had within her a wolf, that had a burning torch in its mouth. This dream the preachers of that order do greatly ad- vance, and expound to their order's glory, as well as they can ; never- theless, howsoever they expound it, they can make a wolf but a wolf, and this, a wolfish order. The rule which they follow scemeth to be taken out of St. Augustine, as who should say, that Christ's rule were not enough to make a christian man. Their profession standeth upon three principal points, as thus described : " Having charity, holding humility, and possessing wilful poverty.''' Their habit and clothing is black.
The order of the minors or minorite friars descended from one ^'.m^rite Francis, an Italian of the city of Assisi. This Assisian ass, who descend- I suppose was some simple and rude idiot, hearing, upon a time, how gt/""" Christ sent forth his disciples to preach, thought to imitate the same Francig. in himself and his disciples, and so left off his shoes : he had but one coat, and that of coarse cloth. Instead of a latchet to his shoe, and of a girdle, he took about him a hempen cord, and so he apparelled his disciples ; teaching them to fulfil (for so lie speaketh) the perfec- tion of the gospel, to apprehend poverty, and to walk in the way of holy simplicity. He left in wi-iting, to his disciples and followers, his rule, which he called " Regulam Evangelicam," the rule of the gospel. As though the gospel of Christ were not a sufficient rule to all christian men, but it must take its perfection of frantic Francis. And yet, for all that great presumption of this Francis, and not^vith- standing this his rule, sounding to the derogation of Christ's gospel, he was confirmed by this Pope Innocent. Yea, and such fools this Francis found abroad, that, not only he had followers of his doltish religion, both of the nobles and unnobles of Rome, but also some there were, who builded mansions for him and his friars. This Francis, as he was superstitious in casting all things from him, as his girdle, girding a cord about him ; so, in outward chastising of him- self, so strait he was to his flesh, leaving the ordinary remedy appointed by God, that in the winter season he covered his body with ice and snow. He called poverty his Lady ; he kept nothing over- night. So desirous he was of martyrdom, that he went to Syria to the Sultan, who received him honourably ; whereby it may be thought, that surely he told not the truth, as St. John Baptist did in Herod's house, for truth is seldom welcome in courts, and in the world. But it is hard to make a martyr of him who is no true confessor. I Avill here pass over the fable, how Christ and his saints did mark him with five wounds. These Franciscan or begging friars, although they were J^h-erf all under one rule and clothing of St. Francis, yet they be divided f''^ ' ° into many sects and orders; some go on treen shoes or pattens, some '^ barefooted ; some are regular Franciscans or observants, some minors or minorites, others be called ' minimi,' others of the gospel, others ' de caputio.' They all differ in many things, but accord in super- stition and hypocrisy. And forasmuch as we have here entered into the matter of these two orders of friars, by the occasion hereof, I thought a little, by the way, to digress from our story, in reciting the
(1) " Charitatem habsntes, humilitateni servantcs, et paupcrtatem voluntariam possidentes."
rancis- ans.
852 THK NAMES OF TIIK URLIGIOUS ORDERS.
ifennj whole catalogue or rabbliiiicnt of monks, friars, and luinp, of all sects,
L_ rules and orders, set up and confirmed by tlie pope. The names of
A.l). whom here in order of ihe alphabet follow. 1220.
The Kabblement of Religious Orders.
A.D. A.D,
Augiistinians, the first order. Joseph's order.
Ambrosians, two sorts . . . 490 Jacobites' sect.
Antony's Hereniites .... 324 James's Brethren order.
Austin's Ilereniites .... 498 James's Brethren witli the Sword.
Austin's Observants .... 490 Indians' order.
Armenians' sect.
Ammonites and Moabites. Katharine of Sienna's order. . 1455
Keyedmonks, Kniglits ot" Kliodes.
Basihus' order 384
Bcnct's order 524 Lazarites, or Mary Magdalenes,
Bernardus' order 1120 our Lady Brethren .... 1034
Barefooted Friars 1222 Lords of Hungary.
Bridget's order 1370
Begliearts, or White Spirits . . 1399 Minorites, which be divided into Brethren of Jerusalem . . . 1103 Conventuales,
Brethren of St. John de civitate, Observantes,
Black Friars 1220 Reformate,
Brethren of wilful Poverty. CoUectane,
De Caputio, Cluniacensis order .... 913 De Evangelic,
Canons of St. Augustine ... 1 OSO Amedes,
Charterhouse order .... 1086 Clarini, and others.
Cisterciensis order 1098 Minoi-s, or Minorites .... 1224
Crossbearers, or Crossed Friars . 1210 Marj^'s Servants 1304
Carmehtes or White Friars . .1212 Monks of Mount Olivet . . . lOlG
Clara's order 1225 Marovinies sect.
Cclestine's order 1297 Minorites' sect.
Camaldulensis order .... 950 Monachi and Monachse.
Cross-starred Brethren. Morbonei and Meresti.
Constantinopolitanish order. Menelaish and Jasonish sect.
Crossbearers.