suffragan bishops of the church of Canterbury, and to the other prelates of that diocese, that, by virtue of their obedience, they were to receive the aforesaid archbishop as their father and pastor, and were to obey him with all due affection.

67. England under the Interdict

A. 1208. The bishops of London, Ely, and Winchester, in execution of the legateship entrusted to them, went to king John, and after duly setting forth the apostolic commands, entreated of him humbly and with tears, that he, having God in his sight, would recall the archbishop and the monks of Canterbury to their church, and honour and love them with perfect affection; and they informed him that thus he would avoid the shame of an interdict, and the Disposer of rewards would, if he did so, multiply his temporal honours on him, and after his death would bestow lasting glory on him. When the said bishops wished, out of regard to the king, to prolong the discourse, the king became nearly mad with rage, and broke forth in words of blasphemy against the pope and his cardinals, swearing by God's teeth, that, if they or any other priests soever presumptuously dared to lay his dominions under an interdict, he would immediately send all the prelates of England, clerks as well as ordained persons, to the pope, and confiscate all their property; he added moreover, that all the clerks of Rome or of the pope himself who could be found in England or in his other territories, he would send to Rome with their eyes plucked out, and their noses slit, that by these marks they might be known there from other people; in addition to this he plainly ordered the bishops to take themselves quickly from his sight, if they wished to keep their bodies free from harm. The bishops then, not finding any repentance in the king, departed, and, in the Lent following, fearlessly fulfilled the duty required of them by the pope, and accordingly on the morning of Monday in Passion week, which that year fell on the 23rd of March, they laid a general interdict on the whole of England; which, since it was expressed to be by authority of our lord the pope, was inviolably observed by all without regard of person or privileges. Therefore all church services ceased to be performed in England, with the exception only of confession, and the viaticum in cases of extremity, and the baptism of children; the bodies of the dead too were carried out of cities

and towns, and buried in roads and ditches without prayers or the attendance of priests. What need I say more?

68. John excommunicated by Name

A. 1209. King John had now for nearly two years, as has been said before, unceasingly continued throughout England, on account of the interdict, a most severe persecution against the clergy as well as some of the laity, and had entirely destroyed all kind of hope in every one of any improvement or satisfaction, and pope Innocent could no longer put off the punishment of his rebellion; wherefore, by the advice of his cardinals, he, in order to cut up by the root such an insult to the church, gave orders to the bishops of London, Ely, and Winchester, to declare the said king excommunicated by name, and solemnly to publish this sentence every Sunday and feast day in all the conventual churches throughout England, that thus the king might be more strictly shunned by every one. But after the aforesaid bishops had, by the apostolic authority, entrusted the publication of this sentence to their fellow bishops who had remained in England, and to the other prelates of the church, they all, through fear of or regard for the king, became like dumb dogs not daring to bark, wherefore they put off fulfilling the duty enjoined on them by the apostolic mandate, and failed to proceed according to the usual course of justice. Nevertheless in a short time the decree became known to all in the roads and streets, and even in the places of assembly of the people it afforded a subject of secret conversation to all; amongst others, as Geoffrey archdeacon of Norwich was one day sitting in the Exchequer at Westminster, attending to the king's business, he began to talk privately with his companions who sat with him, of the decree which was sent forth against the king; and said that it was not safe for beneficed persons to remain any longer in their allegiance to an excommunicated king; after saying which, he went to his own house without asking the king's permission. This event coming soon after to the knowledge of the king, he was not a little annoyed, and sent William Talbot a knight, with some soldiers, to seize the archdeacon, and they, after he was taken, bound him in chains and threw him into prison; after he had been there a few days, by command of the said king a cap of lead was put on him, and at length, being overcome by want of food as well as by the weight of the leaden cap, he departed to the Lord.

69. The Pope deposes the King

A. 1212. About this time Stephen archbishop of Canterbury, and the bishops William of London, and Eustace of Ely, went to Rome and informed the pope of the divers rebellions and enormities perpetrated by the king of England from the time of the interdict up to the present time, by unceasingly laying the hands of rage and cruelty on the holy church in opposition to the Lord; and they therefore humbly supplicated the pope in his pious compassion to assist the church of England, now labouring as it were in its last extremities. The pope then being deeply grieved for the desolation of the kingdom of England, by the advice of his cardinals, bishops, and other wise men, definitively decreed that John king of England should be deposed from the throne of that kingdom, and that another, more worthy than he, to be chosen by the pope, should succeed him. In pursuance of this his decree, our lord the pope wrote to the most potent Philip, king of the French, ordering him, in remission of all his faults, to undertake this business, and declaring that, after he had expelled the English king from the throne of that kingdom, he and his successors should hold possession of the kingdom of England for ever. Besides this, he wrote to all the nobles, knights, and other warlike men throughout the different countries, ordering them to assume the sign of the cross, and to follow the king of the French as their leader, to dethrone the English king, and thus to revenge the insult which had been cast on the universal church: he also ordered that all those who afforded money or personal assistance in overthrowing that contumacious king, should, like those who went to visit the Lord's sepulchre, remain secure under the protection of the church, as regarded their property, persons, and spiritual interests. After this the pope, on his part, sent Pandulph, a sub-deacon, with the archbishop and bishops above-named, into the French provinces, that in his own presence all his commands above related might be fulfilled; Pandulph, however, on leaving the pope when all others were away from him, secretly inquired of his holiness what it was his pleasure should be done, if by chance he should find any of the fruits of repentance in John, so that he would give satisfaction to the Lord and the church of Rome for all matters in regard of this business. The pope then dictated a simple form of peace, and said that if John determined to agree to it, he might find favour with the apostolic see.

70. The Papal Legate in England

A. 1213. Whilst the English king was with his .army waiting the approach of the king of the French near the seacoast, two of the brothers of the Temple arrived at Dover, and coming to the king in a friendly manner said to him: "We have been sent to you, most potent king, for the benefit of yourself and your kingdom, by Pandulph the sub-deacon and familiar of our lord the pope, who desires to have an interview with you; and he will propose to you a form of peace, by which you can be reconciled to God and to the church, although you have by the court of Rome been deposed from your right to the sovereignty of England, and been condemned by decree of that court." The king then, on hearing the speech of the Templars, ordered them immediately to cross the sea and fetch Pandulph to him. Pandulph therefore, on this invitation of the king came to him at Dover, and spoke to him in these words: "Behold, the most potent king of the French is at the mouth of the Seine with a countless fleet, and a large army of horse and foot, waiting till he is strengthened with a larger force, to come upon you and your kingdom, and to expel you from it by force, as an enemy to the Lord and the supreme pontiff, and afterwards, by authority of the apostolic see to take possession of the kingdom of England for ever. There also coming with him all the bishops who have for a long while been banished from England, with the exiled clergy and laity, by his assistance, to recover by force their episcopal sees and other property, and to fulfil to him for the future the obedience formerly shown to you and your ancestors. The said king moreover says that he holds papers of fealty and subjection from almost all the nobles of England, on which account he feels secure of bringing the business he has undertaken to a most successful termination. Consult therefore your own advantage, and become penitent as if you were in your last moments, and delay not to appease that God whom you have provoked to a heavy vengeance. If you are willing to give sufficient security that you will submit to the judgment of the church, and to humble yourself before Him who humbled himself for you, you may, through the compassion of the apostolic see, recover the sovereignty, from which you have been abjudicated at Rome on account of your contumacy. Now therefore reflect, lest your enemies shall have cause to rejoice over you, and bring not yourself into difficulties,

from which, however you may wish to do so, you will not be able to extricate yourself."

71. The Repentance of the King

[A.D. 1213.] King John, hearing and seeing the truth of all this, was much annoyed and alarmed, seeing how imminent the danger was on every side. There were four principal reasons, which urged him to repentance and atonement; the first was that he had been now for five years lying under excommunication, and had so offended God and the holy church, that he gave up all hopes of saving his soul; the second was, that he dreaded the arrival of the French king, who was waiting near the sea-coast with a countless army, and planning his downfall; the third was, he feared, should he give battle to his approaching enemies, lest he should be abandoned to himself in the field by the nobles of England and his own people, or be given up to his enemies for destruction; but his fourth reason alarmed him more than all the rest, for the day of our Lord's ascension was drawing near, when he feared that, according to the prophecy of Peter the hermit mentioned above, he should with his life lose the temporal as well as the eternal kingdom. Being therefore driven to despair by these and the like reasons he yielded to the persuasions of Pandulph, and, although not without pain, he granted the underwritten form of peace; he also swore by the holy gospels in the presence of Pandulph, that he would be obedient to the church's sentence, and sixteen of the most powerful nobles of the kingdom swore on the soul of the king himself, that, should he repent of his promise, they would, to the utmost of their power, compel him to fulfil it.

72. John resigns Crown and Kingdom to the Pope

[A.D. 1213.] Matters having been thus arranged on the fifteenth of May, which was the eve of Ascension-day, the English king and Pandulph, with the nobles of the kingdom, met at the house of the Knights Templars near Dover, and there the said king, according to a decree pronounced at Rome, resigned his crown with the kingdoms of England and Ireland into the hands of our lord the pope, whose functions the said Pandulph was then performing. After having resigned them then he gave the aforesaid kingdoms to the pope and his successors, and confirmed them to the latter by the underwritten charter: