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nothing went further to undermine the influence of both than this unnatural union of the temporal and spiritual power, this coalition of the Pope who ought to have been an emperor with the king who ought to have been a monk.

СНАР.

VI.

1253

loyalty of

towards

Rome;

cooled by

the action

of the

papacy.

Along with this process of union grew the political Original ideas of the Church, and its clearness of political vision. the English Nothing is more remarkable than the reverence dis- Church played at first for the papacy. In the long lists of grievances drawn up by the representatives of the clergy, it is constantly suggested that the true state of the case is hidden from the Pope and the Curia, that if they knew the reality they would never countenance such exactions. The convocation in 1255 declared their intention of appealing to the Pope, 'who beyond doubt was a most holy man.'1 But the truth began to dawn upon them at last, although as late as 1257 they resolved to claim the papal protection against the king. Long before this it had been darkly hinted that Pope and king were intriguing merely to get money, and the temper of convocation in 1257 showed that they were becoming convinced of the fact. The deception by which money was demanded as a subsidy for the crusade, while it was intended for the Sicilian scheme, and the exposure of the still grosser piece of trickery practised by the Bishop of Hereford,2 must have shown everyone the truth. The crusades were in many ways one of the chief supports of papal power during this age, and the Popes knew well how to convert the crusading spirit to their own ends. But at this time devotion to the Church, we are informed, began to grow cold, and 2 See p. 111.

1 Ann. Burt. 265.

CHAP.

VI.

1258

Theory of

Church;

and of papal

supremacy.

therewith the impulse towards crusades. Moreover, with the growth of national feeling in England had grown the idea of a National Church. In 1244 we a National find the theory of a distinction between Churches advanced; the clergy in their remonstrance1 say that as the Church of Rome has its patrimony, so other Churches have theirs; that they are not tributary Churches, the Pope having indeed the care of all souls, but being in no sense the owner of all Church property. On the contrary, they recognise the right of lay patronage, and the consequent claim to a voice in the management of Church property which belongs to lay patrons. Once too, in 1246, they recollect that there is an authority yet higher than the Pope; they threaten to appeal to the General Council; but they do not seem to have dared to carry out the threat. They replied to Rustands demands with the argument, that it is true in a certain sense that the property of the Church belongs to the Pope, but only inasmuch as it is under his protection; he has no more right to the enjoyment or appropriation of it than a king has to seize the property of subjects whom it is his duty to defend. The venality of the Curia, from which they had often to buy the confirmation of elections, the secular character of the struggle in which the Pope was engaged, scandalised many whom the mere amount of the papal exactions might not have offended.3

But the less ideal grievances they had to complain of-the vast number of Italian ecclesiastics in possession

1 Ann. Burt. 265.

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2 Matt. Par. 920.

Gratiam ab illa venali curia obtinuerunt.'-Gest. Abb. St. Alb. i. 309; cf. Ann. Burt. 265.

CHAP.

VI.

1258 Grievances

Church

against the

рарасу:

of English revenues, amounting, according to one calculation, to more than three times the ordinary royal income; the incompetence of these persons, and the consequent neglect of their cures; the summoning of the English of English ecclesiastics out of England to plead before the Curia; the pernicious effect of the clause Non obstante,' so often introduced into papal decrees, and thence imitated in royal edicts,' by which all confidence in agreements and grants was destroyed; that 'most obnoxious statute," that all prelates must come to Rome to be confirmed in their sees; and, more than all, the ever-increasing pecuniary demands-these were doubtless more present to their minds than the advanced theories mentioned above. The avarice of papal Rome is a constant theme of the satirical poems, whose punning verse assailed not only the Curia, but many English prelates too. Certain bishops are said to prefer lucre to Luke, marks to Mark, the bag to the Book. But at Rome matters are at their worst, and and if the head of the world be foul, how is the rest venality. of the body to be clean? Everything is for sale in Rome: 'Give, and it shall be given unto you,' is the rule; he that gives most gets most favour from the judges. Pope and cardinals lead the race for wealth, all other dignitaries follow in their order; all pillage as they can. If such were the feelings raised by

This provision was one inserted to cancel all existing privileges which might interfere with the execution of any given decree. It was specially mentioned in the remonstrance of the English Church as one of the greatest evils.-Fad. i. 265.

2

'Statutum cruentissimum.'-Matt. Par. 956.

3.Sic lucrum Lucam superat,
Marco marcam præponderat,
Et libræ librum subjicit.

Polit. Songs, ed. Wright, p. 10.

avarice,

СНАР.

VI.

1258 Effect of

royal con

nivance at papal extortion.

(b) Relations of the English Church

papal extortion, what was likely to be the effect when the king joined hands with the extortioner, and brought the whole weight of popular indignation on himself, with far less dignity and reverence to defend him than belonged to his ecclesiastical ally? It was but natural, if the efforts of the English Church were henceforward more heartily and more effectively directed against the encroachments of the king than they had been against those of the Pope.

It remains to consider the constitutional position of the Church in England, and its relations to the king. The new ideas concerning the independence of monarchy: the Church, as yet comparatively moderate and vague

with the

its submis

sion to the

Norman kings.

in Lanfrancs day, had been recognised to a certain extent by William I. The corner-stone of ecclesiastical liberty, a separate lay and clerical jurisdiction, though. only partially granted by him, showed how far things had advanced from the almost complete fusion of Church and State before the Conquest. Yet under the Conqueror the Church was full of Norman vassals, and was little more than an instrument of royal despotism. It was revivified by the purity of Anselm, but the successful tyranny of Rufus shows how little able it was as yet to stand firm against the king. The slight support which Anselm received from Rome threw the English Church back upon itself, and contributed to the growth of its nationality;

Again,

'Roma caput mundi est, sed nil capit mundum.

.. Romanorum curia non est nisi forum.

. . Dabis aut non dabitur; petunt quia petis.'-Id. p. 14.

Another poem quotes Cui caput infirmum cætera membra dolent,' and
Quicquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi,' and the like.

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CHAP.

VI.

1258 Growth of

but Anselm was and remained an Italian, and the struggle for investiture which he fought had far less of interest for England than the struggle which made St. Thomas a popular hero. It was not till Stephen's independ reign that the Church began to take up a really in- ence: dependent position. About the same time the religious revival, and the increased study of the canon law, gave the Church at once a hold on popular veneration and a greater sense of its own dignity. It began to appear as the representative of popular liberties, at least by force of example. By Beckets time England had learnt to consider the English Church as its own, and this feeling was strengthened by Becket's wellknown attitude towards the papacy. He was disgusted by the compromising policy of Alexander III, who dared not offend Henry: never would he go to Rome, he swore; let them go who prevailed in their sins. He was less of an ultramontane than Robert Grosseteste. His martyrdom was a victory for the English Church, effect of and frustrated the plans by which Henry had hoped to subject it to the state; it was also a great advantage for the papacy. After that event papal influence rose, and royal influence fell, till John gave up the right of consent to election which Henry I had formulated in law, and conceded to the Church perfect freedom in the matter. The omission of any special mention of the right in subsequent confirmations of Magna Carta was probably due to the same feeling on the part of the regents which prompted the omission of the constitutional clauses. Taking advantage of this, Henry III constantly ignored the claims of the cathedral chapters to the choice of bishops. The persons selected by those bodies seem, it is true, to have

Beckets

death.

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