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LI YE S

AKCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY,

BY

WALTER FAEQUHAE HOOK, D.D. F.RS.

DEAN OF CHICHESTER.

VOLUME IV. MIDDLE-AGE PERIOD.

History which may be called just and perfect history is of three kinds, according to the object which it propoundeth or pretendeth to represent; for it either representeth a time, or a person, or an action. The first we call Chronicles, the second Lives, and the third Narratives or Relations. Of these, although Chronicles be the most complete and absolute kind of history, and hath most estimation and glory, yet Lives excelleth in profit and use, and Narratives or Relations in verity or sincerity. LORD BACON.

LONDON: BICHAKD BENTLEY, NEW BUBLINGrTON STREET,

jcr in (Drttmarg to |jer 1865.

The right of translation is reserved.

CONTENTS

OF

THE FOUKTII VOLUME.

BOOK III.— continued. CHAPTER X.

JOHN STRATFORD.

Born at Stratford-upon-Avon. — Parentage. — Educated at Merton Col lege, Oxford. — Graduates in Law. — Counsel for the University against the Dominicans. — Early Ecclesiastical Preferments. — Eminent as a Lawyer. — An M.P.— A Clerk in Chancery. — Dean of the Court of Arches. — A diplomatist. — Embassy to John XXII. — Bishop of Win chester. — His appointment opposed by the Government. — Restored to favour. — Takes part in the Revolution of 1327. — His conduct towards Edward II. — Assists at the deposition of the King. — Perse cuted by Isabella and Mortimer — Obliged to conceal himself. — Restored to power by the Counter-Revolution. — Pilgrimage to France. — Lord Chancellor. — Eminence as a diplomatist and statesman. — Parliamentary Reform. — Formation of a separate House of Commons. — A Law Reformer. — Translation to Canterbury. — Peculiarities of his appointment. — Encourages trade. — His policy as chief adviser of the King. — Disagreement with Benedict XII. — His view of the French War. — Vigour of the Minister. — Intrigues against the Ministry of Stratford. — Perplexities of Government. — His quarrel with the King. — Libellus Famosus. — Spirited but temperate conduct of the Arch bishop. — Summoned to Parliament. — Persecuted by the new Ministry. — Acquitted by the King. — Restored to power. — Was Prime Minis ter till his death. — Attends to ecclesiastical affairs. — Holds two Councils. — Important regulations. — Foppery of some of the Clergy

VOL. iv. a

CONTENTS OF

censured.— Misconduct of Archdeacons.— Banns of Marriage. — Wakes.

Monks bad patrons of livings. — Archbishop chief counsellor to

Prince Lionel when Regent.— Measures adopted against Papal Pro visions and Reservations. — Controversy with the Pope. — Anti-papal Proceedings of the Archbishop. — Good understanding of Clergy ard people on subject of provisions. — Modification of the Statute of Mort main. — Battle of Cressy. — Retreat of Stratford. — Life at Mayfield.— Charities at Stratford-upon-Avon of John, Robert, and Ralph de Stratford.— His Will. — Dies at Mayfield .... Page 1

CHAP. XL

THOMAS BRADWARDINE.

A Native of Chichester. — Prosperous state of Chichester. — Gilbert de S. Leofard. — John de Langton. — The Prebendary of Wittering. — Richard Bury. — An uncouth student described. — Bradwardine ;i Merton man. — Distinguished as a student. — Mathematical studies. — The Classical pursuits. — De Causa Dei, edited by Savile. — Cele brity of the De Causa. — Motive of the De Causa. — Prevalent Pela- gianism. — Styled Doctor Profundus. — A practical man. — Proctor o:' the University. — Controversy with the Archdeacon of Oxford. — Neglect of learning. — Admitted to the household of the Bishop ol' Durham. — Literary society. — Formation of a library by the Bishop. — Bradwardine Chancellor of St. Paul's. — Prebendary of Lincoln. — King's chaplain. — Goes to Flanders. — Royal progress up the Rhine to Cologne and Coblentz. — Bradwardine Chaplain- General of the forces. — Elected to the See of Canterbury. — Election superseded by the King. — Ufford appointed to Canterbury. — UiFord dies uncon- secrated. — Bradwardine elected to the Primacy. — Consecrated at Avignon. — Strange conduct of a Cardinal. — Returns to England. — The Black Death.— Bradwardine dies of the Plague . Page 80

CHAP. XII.

SIMON ISLIP.

Simon's gigantic stature. — Place of birth and education doubtful. — Patronized by Stratford and Burghersh. — Early Preferments.— A Lawyer—Dean of Arches. — Privy Councillor. — Private Secretary to the King.— Penuriousness. — Peculiar circumstances of his ap-

THE FOURTH VOLUME. Vll

pointment to the Primacy. — Consecration. — Enthronization privately conducted. — The Black Death. — Mortality. — Effect of the Plague. — Flagellants. — Tolerant spirit of Islip. — Compromise between the two Metropolitans about carrying the Cross. — Moral effects of the great mortality. — The Jubilee. — Its fatal consequences. — English prohibited from attending. — Increasing hostility of Rome on the part of the Commons. — Attempt to restrict the Clergy and clerical duties. — Sudden increase of Clergy. — Islip's Constitutions. — His writings. — Provincial visitation. — Controversy with the Bishop of Lincoln. — Contradictory Papal Bulls. — Difficulties at Oxford. — Provisions. — Statutes of Provisors. — Statute of Praemunire. — Violation of the Statutes by the King and Prince of Wales. — Case of Bishop Stretton. — Controversy with the Black Prince. — Case of Bishop Lylde. — Order of the Garter. — Ceremonial on the release of King John. — Islip's benefactions. — Founds Canterbury Hall. — Statutes of the same. — Paralytic seizure. — Died at May field . . Page 111

CHAP. XIII.

SIMON LANGHAM.

A man of wealth. — A monk of "Westminster. — His munificence. — Abbot Henley. — Lawsuit with the Lord High Treasurer. — Abbot Byrcheston. — Langham represents him at the General Chapter of Benedictines. — Black Death. — Deaths in the. Abbey. — Langham Prior. — Abbot. — His confirmation. — Rules of the Benedictines not strictly observed. — State of the Abbot. — Langham pays off the debt on the Abbey. — Langham a great architect. — Important works at Westminster Abbey. — Langham's discipline. — Regarded as a second Founder. — His benefactions. — Appointed Lord High Treasurer. — Obtains royal donations to the Abbey. — Venison. — Relics. — Lang- ham offered Bishoprics of London and Ely. — Chooses Ely. — His consecration. — His Episcopal injunctions. — Feasts of Fools. — Lang- ham's generosity. — Appointed Lord Chancellor. — His Ministry. — Opens Parliament, 1363. — His speech. — His determination to enforce Statute of Provisors. — Opens Parliament, 13G5. — His speech. — Statute of Provisors made more stringent. — Pope retaliates by demanding the tribute. — Opens Parliament, 1366. — Speech. — Demand of Pope for tribute indignantly rejected by King, Clergy, Parliament, and People. — Wiclif employed to write on subject. — Wiclif preferred under Langham's government. — Langham desires Church Reform. — Primacy offered to Bishop of Winchester, and refused. — Accepted by Bishop of Ely. — Langham enthroned with

viii CONTENTS OF

much magnificence. — Archbishop's hospitalities at Lambeth.— Libels. Gratitude of monks of Ely to Langham. — An accident. — Resigns great seal. — Nevertheless opens Parliament 1368. — Arranges tithe for London Clergy. — Condemns Scotales. — Rationalistic heresies pre valent. Discontent among the people. — John Balle. — Hymn to St.

Catherine. Clergy required to arm their tenants in the event of an

invasion. Case of Canterbury Hall stated. — Nominated Cardinal. —

The King's anger. — Langham resigns the Primacy. — Pecuniary diffi culties. — Reconciliation with the King. — English preferments. — Comes on an embassy to England. — Re-elected to Canterbury by Chapter. — Refused Archbishopric by the King and the Pope. — Interest in the works of Westminster Abbey. — Obtains leave to return to England. — Prevented by a paralytic stroke, which proved fatal . . . . Page 163

CHAP. XIV.

WILLIAM WHITTLESEY.

Obscurity of early life. — Educated at Cambridge. — Master of Peter- house.— Nephew of Archbishop Islip. — Studied Canon Law at Avig non. — Judge of the Court of Arches. — Archdeacon of Huntingdon. — Bishop of Rochester. — Translated to Worcester. — Translated to Can terbury. — Recurrence of the Plague. — Enthronization conducted pri vately. — Maintains Edward's right to call himself King of France. — Whittlesey a confirmed invalid. — Unable to attend Parliament. — Sent his proxy. — Only officiated once at a consecration. — Depressed condition of the country. — Return of the Plague. — Party feeling. — Clergy first regarded as professional men. — Attempt to form a lay government. — Clergy required to arm themselves. — Offences against Statute of Mortmain. — Clergy taxed by Parliament, — Whittlesey attends Convocation. — Preaches. — Breaks down. — His illness. — Anti-papal spirit among the clergy. — Embassy to the pope. — Its failure. — A congress proposed. — Oxford empowered to elect its Chancellor. — Otford. — Its medicinal waters. — Whittlesey at Lam beth. — His will. — His death Page 221

CHAP. XV.

SIMON SUDBURY.

Family name Theobald, or Tybald. — Born at Sudbury. — Educated abroad. — Graduated at Paris. — Patronised by Innocent VI. — Audi-

THE FOURTH VOLUME. IX

tor of the Rota. — Chaplain to the Pope. — Chancellor of Salisbury. — Consecrated Bishop of London. — A benefactor of Sudbury. — Pur chased the living. — His unpopularity. — Instance of his bad manners. — His condemnation of pilgrimages. — Acquainted with Wiclif. — Goes on an embassy to Bruges. — Failure of the embassy. — Unpopu larity of John of Gaunt's party. — Sudbury translated to Canterbury. — Overthrow of the Lancaster ministry. — Anti-papal proceedings of the Good Parliament. — Splendid enthronization of Sudbury. — Sudbury's munificence to the cathedral. — Injunctions to the convent. — Another change of ministry. — Party spirit displayed by Sudbury. — Convocation compels him to summon the Bishop of Winchester, William of Wykeham, to that synod. — Sudbury officiates at the coronation of Richard II. — Opens Parliament with a speech. — Excluded from the Council of Regency. — -State of parties. — Proceed ings against Wiclif. — Unwillingness of the English prelates to prose cute. — Papal Bulls. — Proceedings atLambeth. — Visitation. — Exempt monasteries. — Controversy with St. Augustine's. — Parliament at Gloucester. — Violation of sanctuary by the partisans of John of Gaunt. — Rights of sanctuary. — A convocation. — Constitutions enacted. — Laws concerning confession. — The Archbishop settles a dispute between the minor canons and Chapter of St. Paul's. — Dress and allowances of minor canons. — Urban VI. Pope. — Dissenting cardinals. — Urban acknowledged in England. — Change of ministry. — Causes of discontent — Villeinage. — Villeins in gross emancipated. — Discontented clergy. — Duke of Lancaster again in the ascendant. — His policy changed. — Sudbury Chancellor, — Opens the Parliament at Northampton. — Capitation tax. — Popular excitement. — Insurrec tionary movements. — Sudbury goes with the king to the Tower of London. — Wat Tyler. — Rioters reach London. — Their excesses. — Destruction of the Savoy Palace. — They attack the Tower. — Murder of the Archbishop ....... Page 244

CHAP. XVI.

WILLIAM COURTENAY.

Family of Courtenay. — Family of Bohun. — William Courtenay, son of the Earl of Devon, born in the parish of St. Martin's, Exminster. — Educated at Stapledon Hall, Oxford. — A Doctor Decretorum. — Chancellor of the University. — Peculiar circumstances of his election. -^•His preferments. — Bishop of Hereford in his twenty-eighth year. — State of parties. — His conduct in Convocation anti-papal. — Translated to London. — Unjustifiable conduct towards the Florentines. — Violent

CONTEXTS OF

conduct of John of Gaunt. — Courtenay resents the insult offered to William of Wykeham.- Courtenay prosecutes Wiclif. — Scene between him and John of Gaunt in St. Paul's. — Disturbances in London. — Courtenay's conduct with respect to Hawle. — Change of views in Courtenay. — His translation to Canterbury — Receives the cross from Canterbury, under protest. — Made Lord Chancellor. — Opens Parliament. — Infamous conduct of Parliament. — Courtenay officiates at the marriage and coronation of the Queen. — Receives the pall. — His proceedings against Wiclif. — Court of Inquiry at Black Friars. — Earthquake. — Procession to St. Paul's. — Courte nay's proceedings against Oxford. — He officiates at the King's second coronation. — Visitation at Leicester. — His provincial visitation. — Visitation of St. Augustine's, Bristol. — Opposed by the Bishops of Salis bury and Exeter. — Constitution against Choppe Churches. — Schism in the Church of Rome. — Boniface IX. acknowledged in England. — Sale of Indulgences. — Statutes of Provisors renewed. — Unconstitu tional conduct of Courtenay. — Jubilee. — Royal proclamation against the jubilee. — Boniface IX. implores pecuniary assistance from the Clergy of the Church of England in vain. — The Archbishop censured by the Government. — He makes a strong anti-papal protest in favour of the liberties of the Church of England. — Provisions of the Act of PrsBmunire. — Difficulties at Canterbury and Romney. — Simple tastes of Courtenay. — His benefactions ..... Page 315

CHAP. XVII.

THOMAS ARUNDEL.

Family of Fitzalan. — House of Albini. — Richard, Earl of Arundel, a distinguished man. — Thomas, his son. — Knightly education. — Arch deacon of Taunton. — Conciliatory measures of the Pope. — Thomas appointed by provision Bishop of Ely at twenty-two years of age.— Enthronization. — His munificence. — History of Henry Spencer, Bishop of Norwich. — Bishop of Ely's rebuke of the Earl of Suffolk. — The Gloucester party. — Character of Richard II. — Meeting of Par liament, — 'Conference at Eltham. — Arundel Lord Chancellor. — The Appellant Ministry. — Arundel resigns the Great Seal. — Translated to York. — Preaches the funeral sermon of the Queen. — Praises her study of the Bible. — William of Wykeham's able administration. — Arundel a second time Chancellor. — Discontent at the removal of the Court of Chancery to York. — Arundel translated to Canterbury. — Resigns the Great Seal — Conciliatory policy of Arundel. — Treachery

THE FOURTH VOLUME. XI

of the King. — Opposition of the Earl of Anmdel. — Arundel accused of treason. — Banished. — Goes to Rome, and received with cordiality by the Pope.— The King's letter to the Pope. — The Pope afraid to befriend Arundel. — Translates him to St. Andrew's. — Walden ap pointed to Canterbury. — Arundel declares the translation a nullity. — Retires to Florence. — Plans of revenge. — Exile of the Duke of Here ford.— Arundel in communication with the Londoners. — His journey from Utrecht to Paris. — Interview with Bolingbroke. — Lands at Ravenspur with Bolingbroke. — Preaches Rebellion. — Attends Boling broke to Chester. — Fearful perjuries on all sides. — The Archbishop visits the King at Flint. — Interviews with Richard in London. — Re signation and deposition of Richard. — Preaches before the Convention Parliament. — Crowns Henry IV. — Resumes the office of Archbishop. — Refuses to recognise Waldon. — Secular offices after the Revolution. — Raises money for the Government. — Attacks made on Church

property by Lollards. — Antipapal legislation Manner of bestowing

high preferments in the Church. — Bianchini and Albini. — Controversy with Oxford. — Proposal to exhume Wiclif. — State of parties. — Un satisfactory condition of the country. — Statute " De Heeretico Coni- burendo." — Proceedings against Sautree. — Trial of Badby. — Trial of Oldcastle. — Arundel's statement of the case. — Death. — Will. — Inven tory of his goods ....... Page 399

APPENDIX to Chap. XVII. . . . 529

LIVES

OF THE

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY

BOOK III.— Continued.

CHAPTEE X.

JOHN STRATFORD.

Born at Stratford-upon-Avon. — Parentage. — Educated at Merton Col lege, Oxford. — Graduates in Law. — Counsel for the University against the Dominicans. — Early Ecclesiastical Preferments. — Eminent as a Lawyer. — An M.P.— A Clerk in Chancery. — Dean of the Court of Arches. — A Diplomatist. — Embassy to John XXII. — Bishop of Win chester. — His Appointment opposed by the Government. — Restored to favour. — Takes part in the Revolution of 1327. — His Conduct towards Edward II. — Assists at the deposition of the King. — Perse cuted by Isabella and Mortimer. — Obliged to conceal himself. — Restored to power by the Counter Revolution. — Pilgrimage to France. — Lord Chancellor. — Eminence as a Diplomatist and Statesman. — Parliamentary Reform. — Formation of a separate House of Commons. — A Law Reformer. — Translation to Canterbury. — Peculiarities of his appointment. — Encourages trade. — His Policy as chief Adviser of the King. — Disagreement with Benedict XII. — His View of the French War. — Vigour of the Minister. — Intrigues against the Ministry of Stratford. — Perplexities of Government. — His Quarrel with the King. — Libellus Famosus. — Spirited but temperate conduct of the Arch bishop. — Summoned to Parliament. — Persecuted by the new Ministry. VOL. IV. B

LIVES OF THE

— Acquitted by the King. — Restored to power. — Was Prime Minis ter till his Death. — Attends to ecclesiastical affairs. — Holds two Councils. — Important regulations. — Foppery of some of the Clergy censured. — Misconduct of Archdeacons. — Banns of Marriage. — Wakes. _ Monks bad patrons of livings. — Archbishop chief counsellor to Prince Lionel when Regent. — Measures adopted against papal pre visions and Reservations. — Controversy with the Pope. — Anti-papal Proceedings of the Archbishop. — Good understanding of Clergy and people on subject of provisions. — Modification of the Statute of Mort main. — Battle of Cressy. — Retreat of Stratford. — Life at Mayfield.— - Charities at Stratford-upon-Avon of John, Robert, and Ralph de Stratford.— His Will. — Dies at Mayfield.

CHAP. X.

John

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON was, towards the close of the thir teenth century, the birth-place of two brothers, both of Stratford, whom were bishops, one of whom was Archbishop' of Can- 1333-48. terbury5 ^th of them Lord High Chancellors of England. Stratford-upon-Avon is now the most celebrated spo, in all England — one of the most celebrated in the civilised world ; but even before the birth of Shakspeare, it hac become a town of considerable importance. It was ante cedently to the conquest, and for some centuries after wards, the property of the Bishops of Worcester. By the Conqueror's survey, it appears that Stratford, then in pos session of Wulfstan, the celebrated Bishop of Worcester. was rated at fourteen hides and a half, there being at that time a church, and also a mill yielding ten shillings a year and a thousand eels. The value of the whole extended to

Authorities : — The materials for this life are ample. Birchington in the Anglia Sacra has given a detailed account of his primacy, and narrated minutely the circumstances of his conflict with Edward III. The domestic history of that great monarch can scarcely be said to exist, all modern historians having directed their attention to the warlike splen dours of his reign. It is very difficult therefore to decide on the merits of the Archbishop's controversy with Edward III. What is here stated is deduced from a comparison of the Libellus Famosus, with the Arch bishop's Excusatio. The other authorities are Adam de Muriniuth, Walsingham, Dugdale, and the public documents, to which special reference is made. Barnes is full of information respecting the reign of Edward, though badly arranged.

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. O

twenty-five shillings. Eichard I. gave it a weekly market, CHAP, and King John an annual fair. In this record it is named — ^ >* Stradford, from its providing the traveller on the great Stratford street or road between Henley-in-Arden and London, with a ford over the Avon.

The parents of our Archbishop were Eobert and Isabel. They were nearly related to another distinguished Strat ford man, Ealph Hatton de Stratford, Bishop of London. It has been supposed, though not positively asserted, that Ealph and the elder Eobert were brothers. If this were the case, there must have been a great difference between the ages of the two brothers ; for Ealph was nearly con temporary with the sons of Eobert.*

The two sons of Eobert and Isabel were sent, at the proper age, to the University of Oxford. John became a Fellow of Merton, and his name appears frequently on the Bursars' Books. He took his degree of Doctor of Civil Law about 1312, and is said to have acquired a great reputation for his proficiency in the civil and canon law.*)*

While John was yet a Fellow of Merton, a controversy arose between the University and the Dominicans. The Dominicans claimed for their scholars exemption from certain exercises, and a right to confer degrees indepen dently of the University authorities. As the Friars rested their claim upon certain privileges conferred generally upon their order by the pope, the suit was, in the first instance, to be tried in the papal court.

Among the advocates and proctors appointed to main tain the cause of the University, we find the name of Mr. John de Stratford. The case was most probably heard at Avignon, though Wood inclines to think that it wasatEome.

* He is mentioned by "Wood in a note to Eobert Stratford. Col leges, 14. Newcotirt, i. 18, makes the Bishop of London nephew to the Archbishop.

f Wood, ibid., Leguni doctor eximius. Ang. Sac. i. 19.

B 2

4 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. The proctors of the University contended that it was

^.J^L^ an English case, and ought to be tried in the English

stmtford. courts ; and they succeeded. Certain commissioners

1333-48. }iaving been appointed, both parties were heard, and a

. compromise seems to have been the result, which placed

the Dominican houses in a position very similar to that

which was occupied in our own times by New College

in Oxford, and by King's College in Cambridge. Tli3

founders of these secular institutions probably urged the

precedent set by the Friars, to obtain exclusive privileges

for their respective establishments.

At what time Stratford was ordained, where, and by whom, I have not discovered ; but he was certainly in holy orders before the year 1319, for he then became; Archdeacon of Lincoln, and he was soon after a Canon of York.* These preferments he held, performing the duties by deputy, in order to secure for himself an income while- pursuing his studies or performing his duties as a lawyer. As a lawyer, he soon rose to eminence in the King'e courts; and during the years 1317 and 1318 he was summoned, with other lawyers, before the Council to give his opinion, as an expert, on various important subjects. •(• In the following year, he sat in the House of Commons as a member of Parliament, J and from the place in which his name occurs, it is conjectured by Mr. Foss that he was either an officer of the Exchequer, or perhaps a clerk in Chancery. § In 1321 he became a judge, Arch bishop Walter Eeynolds having appointed him Dean of

* Ang. Sac. i. 316.

•f In Fcedera, ii. 464, he is styled " Juris civilis professor." At p. 463 there is a letter from Edward II. to the pope, in which the name of Master John de Stratford, Archdeacon of Lincoln, occurs. He is frequently mentioned in the letters of the period. At p. 509 there is a letter addressed to himself.

} Parl. Writs, II. pt. ii. 1471.

§ Foss, iii. 515,

ARCIIBISIIOrS OF CANTERBURY. 5

the Court of Arches. The jurisdiction of this Court, CHAP. from the union of several other offices, discharged by the - — ; — - same judge, became subsequently more extensive ; but in Stratford. the time of Stratford it had relation, exclusively, to the 1333-48- Peculiars of the Archbishop. These amounted to fifty- seven ; the thirteen in the City of London having been formed into a Deanery.

It was as a common lawyer that Stratford was distin guished ;* and he was probably not deeply versed in the Canon law by which the ecclesiastical courts were regu lated ; for it is stated of him that, in his adjudication of the cases brought before him, he displayed a quick discernment and a consummate prudence, rather than a knowledge of the law. But these were the qualifica tions which would render him peculiarly valuable as a diplomatist ; and in that capacity he was soon employed by the government.

He was associated with Eeginald Asser, Bishop of Winchester, in the various negotiations, which the inter ference of John XXII. in the affairs of Scotland had rendered peculiarly perplexing and difficult. Between the years 1321 and 1323, he was engaged in frequent embassies to the papal court at Avignon, Although lie is described not only as Doctor of Laws, but also as the king's ambassador, the position he occupied was one rather of real than of ostensible dignity. He did the work, while all that related to the dignity of the embassy — a point much thought of — was represented by the Bishop of Winchester, who defrayed the chief expenses. The ability and diligence of Stratford, however, could not escape the penetration of John XXIL, who determined to bind the rising English statesman to himself, by the ties of gratitude and motives of self-interest. On the 12th of

Wood, 152, Lcgis Crcsarca} professor.

6 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. April, 1323, the Bishop of Winchester died suddenly at >_ x" _„ Avignon. The death of a prelate in curia, that is, while Stratford, hi attendance at the papal court, according to the decretals, 1333-48. gave to t]ie p0pe a Tight Of nominating his successor.*

Had the English government been strong, the pope would probably have consulted the king, before exercising a right, which, though not disputed, was still regarded as a usurpation. It was not disputed on this occasion, for, while the Archbishop of Canterbury solicited the nomi nation of Stratford, to whom his patronage had been already extended, the king, Edward II., was as urgent for the appointment of Eobert de Baldok, a creature oi the Despencers.

Neither of the candidates were divines ; both of them were lawyers and statesmen. The pope did not hesitate between the nominee of the Archbishop of Canterbury, of whose ability he had himself experience, and the represen tative of the favourite of a weak sovereign. Consequently, at Avignon, on the 2Gth of June, 1323, John Stratford was consecrated Bishop of Winchester by Vitalis, Cardinal of Albano.

The indignation of the king at the rejection of his request, was inflamed by the Despencers, who regarded the rejection of Baldok as an insult offered to their party. The disappointed Baldok received the great seal in the August following the consecration of Stratford ; and the vengeance of the whole faction was now directed against the new prelate. He was recalled and deprived of his office as ambassador. Proceedings were instituted against him in the Court of King's Bench, for, although the king had recognised the right of the pope to nomi nate under the circumstances, yet to accept the see from

* By the decree Ex Debito Extravag. Comm. lib. I. tit. iii. c. 4, Stratford is described as " in curia tune praesens."— Ang. Sac. i. 316.

ARCHBISHOPS OP CANTERBURY. 7

the pope, without obtaining first the consent of the crown, CHAP. was still an offence against the common law of the land. ^--^ — In all legal documents his episcopal title was denied him ; Stratford. for without the king's permission he could not take pos session of the bishopric. His property was confiscated, and a royal proclamation was issued forbidding any one to harbour or relieve him.*

The persecution, however, did not last long. The archbishop interposed his good offices, and as there was no personal feeling of animosity against the bishop on the part of the king, and as the government of the Despencers was tottering to its fall, he was successful. The tempo ralities of the see of Winchester were, therefore, restored to Stratford, on the 28th of June, 1324 ; although he had to purchase a recognition of his episcopal authority by a bond, to pay the king ten thousand pounds, a payment which was never enforced.^

Before the close of the year the Bishop of Winchester was again employed on foreign service. It does not appear whether, while he was abroad, he was made acquainted with the intrigues of the queen, who went to France in the spring of 1325 ; but it is certain, that he took a conspicuous part in the Eevolution which was ac complished in 1327.

A mystery, as we have had occasion to remark before, surrounds this whole affair, which has not yet been penetrated.

As the king did not labour under any special delusion, he could not be treated as a madman ; but his weakness

* He suffered " innumeras tribulationes et persecutiones, adeo quod nullus sibi victualia vendere aut domos ad inliabitandum vel moran- dum conducere ac accommodare audebat." — Aug. Sac. i. 19. See also Foedera, ii. 526, 527.

f Parl. Writs, IT. pt. ii. app. 258.

8 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, of character, degenerating, as such weakness often ^_ ^' _, does, into immorality, rendered him the easy victim of Stratford, designing men, who would pander to his vices and in- 1333-48. dulge him in his extravagances. To this weakness, which amounted to moral insanity, a considerable degree of obstinacy was, in this case as in many others, attached. At a period when the powers of the prerogative were great, and when those powers were exercised by un scrupulous men, who converted the king into a puppet ; the evils resulting from the mismanagement of the government might easily become intolerable. The senti ment of loyalty, under the feudal system, differed materially from those notions upon the subject which have pre vailed since the days of the Stuarts. The king, as the chief of the nation, was bound, in the first place and before all things, to afford protection to his subjects ; and to him, as their protector, the people were, consequently, bound to render certain duties. If the king, as in the reign of Henry III., was unwilling, or, as in the reign of Edward II., was unable, to afford protection to his people — that is, if he were unwilling or unable to perform his part in the national compact — the people might with draw their allegiance.

We are not surprised, therefore, to find that the par liament determined that Edward II. should cease to reign ; although there was a doubt as to the proper or best mode of effecting the object and of carrying out the national will ; occasioned by that respect to law, which always has predominated in the English character, and has induced us to look out for precedents, even under exceptional cases and at revolutionary periods.

What creates surprise is the conduct, not of the par liament, but of Edward himself. It is surprising that one who, if easily led, could still be perversely obstinate when opposed, and who was not wanting in animal cou-

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 9

rage, should have yielded on this occasion so tamely; CHAP. — that he should have been so utterly abject — that he - — ~ should have abstained not only from resistance which he stmtfbrd. could not offer with any probability of success, but even 1333-48- from remonstrance.

There are certain facts to be observed : first, the sub mission of the king to the will of parliament, without remonstrance or murmur ; secondly, the gratitude which he expressed to parliament for having elected his son ; thirdly, the firm determination of his son not to accept the crown, unless it were first resigned by his father, whose right to possess it was implied in his right to resign it ; fourthly, that a report prevailed, that Edward of Carnarvon was not the son of the greatest of the Planta- genets, King Edward I. It was said that the royal child of Edward and Eleanor having been put out to nurse, was mangled in the face by a sow, which, some how or other, got into the royal chamber ; and that the affrighted nurse, snatching him from the cradle, supplied his place by the son of a carter.

To the story just mentioned frequent allusion is made in the political songs of the day, though means were taken in the reign of Edward III. to suppress the report. So far, however, in spite of every precaution, had it obtained credit, that an impostor appeared in 1318, with marks on his face, said to be those inflicted by the sow, who claimed to be the veritable Edward of Carnarvon.

I cannot but think that, through the influence of the queen and her paramour Mortimer, using as their agent the unprincipled Orlton — bishop first of Hereford then of Winchester — the weak mind of the king was made to give credit to this improbable story ; while, on the other hand, the great statesmen of the day, such as Stratford, seeing the fatal consequences to the reigning dynasty of the propagation of such a report, not only exerted themselves

10 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, to prevent its circulation, but were most careful to avoid ._ x> _^ any reference to it in the proceedings of a revolution, Stratford, which, though regarded as a necessity, was conducted 1333-48. on principles that would lead to as few changes as possible in the constituted order of things. The illegiti macy of the prince would be involved in the illegitimacy of his father ; and by mooting the question, a pretender to the throne would be encouraged to raise the standard of rebellion.

A key to many difficulties is afforded by our taking this view of the circumstances of the case. Why should Stratford, in the first place, be selected to take an active part in the revolution ? The queen and Mortimer hated him. But the young Prince Edward selected him, we know, to be his adviser. The adviser of the prince was not likely to recommend measures, that would imperil the dynasty, which the parliament was determined to sustain. The queen lent her support to the minister who had sent in his adhesion to the revolutionary party ; but she became his bitter enemy, when she found that Stratford's design was to invest the young prince with the full powers of royalty, and to constitute, as the adviser of the crown, not Mortimer, but himself. She determined to be de facto, as well as nominally, regent ; Mortimer was de termined through the queen to be, though not nominally, yet in reality, king. The queen and Mortimer saw that to this arrangement the principles and the ambition of Stratford would be opposed, and on the destruction of Stratford they were resolved.

It is not, however, my business to pursue this subject farther. I have only here to remark, that up to a certain point the two parties — that of the queen and that of the prince — acted in harmony. The parliament assembled in January 1327. The question which the parliament was to decide was, whether Edward the father, or Edward

AKCIIBISIIOPS OP CANTERBURY. 11

the son, should reign over England. When it was deter mined that the father should cease to reign ; then to John, Bishop of Winchester, the adviser and friend of the Stafford, prince, was assigned the delicate and difficult task of 1333~48- drawing up the reasons to be constitutionally assigned for a measure so extreme. The work was completed to the satisfaction of parliament by the bishop and his secretary. The next step was to notify, in due form, to the king, now a prisoner at Kenil worth, the determination of the country.

It was determined that every class in the community should be represented. At first, it was thought, that every knight of the shire should be on the commission — a fact which shows how much the influence of the Commons had increased, though they did not yet consti tute a separate house. But it was finally determined that the commission should consist of three bishops, two earls, four barons, two abbots, two justices, a certain num ber of the citizens of London, and of the burgesses of the Cinque Ports. Sir William Trussel was appointed pro curator or proctor of parliament. He is called by Grafton speaker of the House of Commons ; but, as the Commons did not as yet sit as a separate house, this probably means that lie acted as their representative, in conjunction with the persons already mentioned.* They were to demand of Edward the voluntary resignation of his crown ; and, if he refused, they were authorised then to give up their homages, and to act according to their discretion.

It was mercifully and wisely determined that the king should be prepared for an event of such importance ; and that he should be induced to submit with a good grace to what was now inevitable. The persons selected to wait upon Edward, from whom some opposition was

* My chief authorities for the following statements are Walsingham and De la More.

12 LIVES OF THE

anticipated, were the Earl of Lancaster, a kinsman of the fallen monarch, and John de Stratford, the counsellor and stmtford. friend of the young prince. Constrained to resort to 1333-48. extreme measures in demanding the abdication of the king, they both of them commiserated the fallen man, and discharged the unpleasant duty to which they were called, in a manner creditable to their feelings.

The earl and the bishop found the king humiliated and compliant. They promised him the luxuries of a court, and a retention of those external ensigns of royalty, which were all that he had cared for, if he would resign the substantial power, which he had only valued as means conducive to the indulgence of his private tastes and plea sures. He conceded everything ; and it only remained to make preparations for the resignation of the crown, under such forms as might give to a revolution in fact, the ap pearance of a mere abdication.

When the way was thus prepared by Lancaster and Stratford, the other commissioners arrived at Kenil worth. On the 2 5 tli of January — the conversion of St. Paul — the proper officers arranged in the presence-chamber the crown, the sceptre, and the other royal ornaments. Adam Oiiton, Bishop of Hereford, assumed, or was elected to, the office of prolocutor of the commission.*

One by one in solemn silence the commissioners each stood in the place assigned to him. A signal was given, and the door leading to the private apartment of the king was opened. Edward appeared, unattended ; not in royal robe, or in armour, but in a morning gown. He was as pale as death. Not a word was yet uttered ; but Adam Oiiton, Bishop of Hereford, stood forth to address the king. At the sight of this prelate Edward was seen to

* Orlton was consecrated in 1317, Burwash, Bishop of Lincoln, in 1320, and Stratford in 1323. We may presume, therefore, that Orl ton claimed to lead on the ground of his priority of consecration.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. L3

totter : Stratford and the Earl of Lancaster rushed for- CHAP. ward, and caught him in their arms. They were just in . — 5 — time to prevent him from falling, for he had fainted, stratford. They laid him on the ground, and there he continued 1333-48- to lie, while his subjects looked down in silence, upon their fallen king ; waiting to see whether this were only a swoon, or whether, as was possible, it was the sleep of death.

With returning life revived something of the spirit of a Plantagenet. Edward, raised to his feet, refused support. The Bishop of Hereford then read the address, which repeated the articles drawn up by Stratford and ratified by parliament, in which the charges of misgovernment are stated as things notorious and beyond contradiction. He concluded by offering to Edward, in the name of the commonwealth, the alternative of an abdication in favour of his son, or of submitting the government of the country to a Eegent to be appointed by parliament.

While the Bishop of Hereford was speaking, tears were coursing one another down the poor king's cheeks. He continued to weep, and his sobs, for a time, rendered him unable to give utterance to words. When he be came more composed, he expressed his contrition for having misconducted himself, and he humbly asked for giveness from all who were present. He expressed his readiness to abdicate, and thanked his people for choosing his son to succeed him.

The prelates then came forward, and into their hands he delivered the crown. The sceptre and other insignia of the royal office he solemnly placed in the hands of the persons appointed to receive them. Sir William Trussel, who acted for the chief justice of England, and had been chosen proctor of the whole parliament, now stood forth, and said : —

"I, William Trussel, Proctor of the Prelates, Earls,

14 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, and Barons, and other people in my proxy named,

._ ^' _„ having for this full and sufficient power, do surrender

Stratford, and deliver up to you, Edward, King of England before

1333-48. -j-kig tmie? t}ie homage and fealty of the persons in my

proxy named, in the name of them and every of them,

for certain causes therein mentioned; and do return

them up to you, Edward, and acquit or discharge the

persons aforesaid in the best manner that the law arid

custom can give it, and do make this protestation in the

name of all those that will not for the future be in your

fealty or allegiance, nor claim to hold anything of you us

king ; but account you as a private person, without any

manner of royal dignity. "*

The high-steward, Sir Thomas Blunt, immediately broke his staff of office ; and soon afterwards, he dis charged all the officers of the royal household, as if tli3 king was defunct.

Stratford was now appointed one of the twelve guar dians of young King Edward III., or one of that board of regency of which Lancaster was nominally the head.

It is easier to commence than to conclude a revolution ; and the objects, which the queen and Mortimer had ir. view^ could not be accomplished, if Stratford, whose in fluence over Lancaster and the king was well known should remain in office. What were Mortimer's ulterior views it is difficult to surmise. At the present time, it was his determination to govern the country in the queen's name, and, as a first step, the destruction of Stratford was determined upon. A demand was accordingly made upon him for the payment of the ten thousand pounds, for which he had given his bond when he was put in possession of the temporalities of the see. It was to serve some such purpose as this, and to place a rising statesman at the mercy of the govern-

* Parl. Hist. i. 18G.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 15

ment, rather than from any expectation of payment CHAP. that the bond was originally demanded ; and Strat- » — ; — ford knew that the demand now made was a deck- Stratford ration of war on the part of the queen and Mortimer, 1333-48, who had secured the majority of the council. The popu larity of the queen had not yet waned. The Bishop of Winchester was well aware that his sacred character would be no protection to him from the violence of such opponents, and that his only chance of safety was in flight. His flight strengthened the hands of his enemies, who represented themselves as only desiring the capture of a public defaulter. When Stratford, therefore, sought sanctuary at Wilton, the monks warned him that they were not strong enough to prevent its violation by the mercenaries of Isabella and Mortimer, now on their inarch to Wiltshire. As these men approached, Stratford concealed himself, with a few followers, in the surround ing marshes. From these damp quarters he escaped to Honiton. Hither the spies of government dogged his steps. He now thought of resistance, and repaired to Winchester. Wolvesey Castle was the bishop's palace, and had been made a fortress of considerable strength by Henry of Blois, in the time of King Stephen.* But it had been soon after dismantled by Henry II., and Strat ford perceived, that it would not be in a condition to stand a siege. It had, indeed, afforded protection to the half brothers of Henry III. in the Barons' war, but at that time they could appeal to the loyalty of the people, and the old Norman castle, which, erected by William the Conqueror, occupied a commanding position on the south-west of the cathedral, was in the hands of the royal party. This castle was now occupied by the forces

* In times, not yet forgotten by the writer, the Winchester boys would assemble amidst the ruins of Wolvesey, to hold a debating society — a parliament, at which speeches not ineloquent were delivered.

16 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, of the queen and Mortimer; and a bishop, scarcely « — ^ — • known to the people of his city, one who had hitherto re- stratford. garded his diocese only as a source of wealth, was not

1333-48. likely to obtain a cordial support from the citizens, -even if any support could have been rendered efficacious, when, by holding the other castle, the enemy was in com mand of the well-fortified walls, Hanked by numerous towers, and defended by bastions.

Finding that open resistance to the government was, as yet, impossible, the bishop now fled to another re sidence of the Bishops of Winchester — Bishop's Waltham. But still the vigilant eye of the enemy was upon him ; an I Stratford was obliged to seek security in the neighbour ing woods. In the recesses of the forest, the mercenaries of the government were unwilling to entangle themselves ; for here their superior numbers would have been of little avail. The bishop had with him a force sufficient to protect him from the attack of the other outlaws, who sought shelter from the pursuit of their enemies. There seems, indeed, to have been a kind of common law, tha; the forest should be as a sanctuary, with the privileges of which, no one, who was himself an outlaw, woulc interfere. Under the greenwood-tree the bishop had the daily service performed; and as the chaplains chanted the psalms, they would compare their persecuted master to the outraged David when flying from the unjust wrath of Saul. Then would the dogs be called, and the bows were bent, and hunting became a business as well as a sport ; for the venison, which the bishop, as a Strat ford man, dearly loved, was to be supplied by the cross bows pointed by his attendants — perhaps by his own right reverend hand.

In this his retirement, of which the remembrance was not unpleasant, Stratford found means of communicating with the king, and of warning him of his own danger,

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 17

unless he speedily found the means of rescuing himself CHAP. from the dominion of the queen and Mortimer. The , — ^ — , king was advised to prepare the troops, in whom he could Stra°tford. trust for action on any sudden emergency. Both king 1333-48. and bishop, according to the fashion of the day, en deavoured to enlist, in their service, the spiritual hierarchy ; who, in the world unseen, were supposed still to take a part in the affairs of this world. They vowed to make pilgrimages to sundry shrines, if the saints, thus reverenced would make intercession for them.

On the fall of Mortimer, Stratford was, of course, restored to honour. He received the great seal on the 28th of November, 1330, and was immediately released from all arrears of his old obligations.*

And what was the first thing that occurred to the minds of the warlike king and the astute statesman on their resumption of power ?

We are told, that they arrayed themselves in the disguise of merchants, and passed over to France, there to visit certain shrines, to which, in their time of danger and distress, they had vowed a pilgrimage. It was a service of danger ; for by the law of nations, as it then existed, the king, if found in a country not his own, might have been made a prisoner, and the ransom, either in money or in territory, might have caused the nation expense and trouble. f

* Rot. Clans. 4 Edw. III. M. 16. Rot. Parl. ii. GO.

f Stow, 230. Polyd. Verg. xix. 3G2. The authorities arc not en tirely to be depended upon ; but they record a tradition of an event which was apparently so ill-timed, and so objectless as an invention, that I am inclined to give credit to the statement. It may have been well to let things cool down after the counter revolution, and before the adoption of energetic measures. In spite of dates, we might suspect the pilgrimage to have occurred just before the overthrow of Mortimer. But it is not probable, that Edward would have obtained VOL. IV. C

18 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. Stratford retained office, at this time, for four years ;

L_ x' - and, as Edward himself describes him in the Libellus

Stratford Famosus, he was to the king as a father, and was next to

1333-48. him the most admired of all men.* He deserves, there

fore, to be ranked among the most distinguished of the many great statesmen whom this country has produced.

Stratford is not indeed to be compared with Bishop Burnell, the illustrious chancellor and minister of Edward I. ; but he was a true patriot. He maintained the principles of Magna Charta, and habituated the youn^ king to seek not merely money, but counsel and ad vie 3 from his parliaments.

The state of the country, when Stratford became th'3 chief adviser of the crown, was deplorable. In a com munication made to parliament, it is stated, that divers people, defying the law, had gathered together in great companies, to the destruction of the king's subjects, the people of holy Church, and of the king's justices ; taking and detaining some of them in prison, until, t( > save their lives, they paid great fines or ransoms at the pleasure of the evil-doers ; robbing some of their good^ and chattels, putting others to death, and doing other misdeeds and felonies. f

Among the personages thus captured by the banditti, if we may employ a word which will suggest a comparison between England of the fourteenth century and Italy of the nineteenth, was the Lord Chief Justice of England, Sir Eobert Willoughby.

To meet this evil, the system of county magistrates was adopted — a vigorous and important measure, by which, besides the itinerant justices, long since established,

permission to quit the country, and, if he had done so. Mortimer would have contrived to have him detained in France. * Birchington, Ang. Sac. i. 24. Rot. Parl. i. 214.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 19

justices of the peace were instituted in every shire, with CHAP. full power to punish offenders, and to appoint officers for > — ^-~

, . , . John

their apprehension. Stratford.

The energies of the Bishop of Winchester were, at this 1333~48- time, severely taxed. While he was chancellor, he went abroad on a mission relative to the affairs of the duchy of Aquitaine, and on his return he had to open the parliament at Westminster. This was usually done by the chancellor in a speech from a text of Scripture, and the speech was scarcely discernible from a sermon. The fact is, that all that was required of parliament was to sanction or to reject the measures proposed to it by the king's government ; and, if the measures were sanctioned, to vote the supplies. Except in times of great excite ment, the policy of the country was left in the hands of the king and his council. Parliament was not yet a channel to preferment, and the majority of the members were anxious to be released as soon as possible from their attendance. Hence the merit or the demerit of the political measures of the government must attach to the king and his ministers.

To the political wisdom of this minister must, however, be attributed a measure of parliamentary reform, which had considerable influence in raising the parliament to that importance, which it soon after reached.

From the time of Simon de Montfort, the Commons had been represented in the great council of the nation ; but it was not till 1332, that the knights, citizens, and burgesses were permitted to form a separate and independent house.*

* Parl. Hist.i. 214. The Commons were at first only required to advise the " Proceres," but the declaratory statute of York affirmed that the legislative authority resided only in the king, with the assent of the prelates, earls, barons, and commons assembled in parliament, and that every act not done by that authority should be void and of none effect. — Perry, xv.

c 2

20 LI\7ES OF THE

CHAP. The same principle was adopted when the clergy -J^— assembled in synod. Two houses were formed, and thus tmtford. ^n English synod assumed the form of a convocation, 1333-48. gimiiar to that which is in existence now.

When this principle was forcing itself into notice, the question arose, whether, when certain questions, beyond those relating to taxation, were submitted to the judgment of the estates of the kingdom, the bishops were to discuss them as barons in parliament or simply as prelates in convocation. The prelates of this age were seldom divines, and they were influenced in their decisions less by any objects bearing upon matters purely ecclesiastical, than by political considerations.

Stratford, one of the people, acted on the principle of Edward I., and sought, through the popular side of the constitution, to control the aristocracy. The greater nobles were accustomed to attend parliament with an armed retinue, which, if it did not amount to a little army, resembled what we should now call a regiment of soldiers. Each potent earl encamped his forces on the open ground in the vicinity of a town, if parliament assembled in the provinces ; if it assembled at Westminster, his inn or castle became a sort of barracks, where the strictest dis cipline was not enforced. The king could maintain his own, when his forces were the more numerous ; but the lesser barons, the knights, and the burgesses might be easily overawed ; and by arrows more bitter than those which fester from the tongue, the questions of the day might be silenced or decided.

It was as a friend to parliamentary government, that Stratford advised the issue of a proclamation, before the meeting of parliament in 1332, directing that no man, during its session, should presume to wear in the suburbs of London or Westminster a coat of mail or any weapon whatsoever. What Stratford commenced became, from

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 21

that time, a custom ; and whenever Parliament met, a CHAP.

similar proclamation was issued. No one was permitted »

to hold games to the disturbance of the parliament, or Stratford.

-i O O O I Q

any other plays for the amusement of men, women, and children.

Stratford left the impress of his mind upon the Courts of Law as well as upon parliament. The Court of Chancery had hitherto been ambulatory, and the chan cellor sat wherever the king might hold his court. The present chancellor — Bishop of Winchester — procured a royal mandate, by which the Court of Chancery was henceforth to be stationary at Westminster.

During all this period, and throughout his tenure of office, Stratford was engaged in embassies to France and other foreign powers. The consequence was, that he was frequently obliged to perform, by deputy, the duties devolving upon him as a lawyer and as an ecclesiastic. In the Court of Chancery his duties were performed, at various times, by his brother Eobert, Henry de Clyff, William de Melton, Archbishop of York, and some others. His duties as a bishop were performed by a bishop in par- tibus, who acted as a suffragan to the Archbishop of Canter bury, and the Bishop of London, as well as to the Bishop of Winchester. He first employed in this capacity Peter, Bishop of Corbavia, in Dalmatia,* who assisted at the con secration of a bell at St. Paul's, in 1331, and at the consecration of a bishop in 1332. After the death of Peter the same office was discharged by Benedict " Car- dicensis " (Sardis or Sardica), who was prior of the Austin Friars at Norwich.^

The neglect of a non-resident prelate performing the duties of his office by a curate, so to say, was not likely, in

* Farlati, iv. 95. He assisted at the consecration of Roger Northburg to the see of Lichfield, June 27th, 1332.— Stubbs, 52. f Stubbs, 143.

22 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, that age, to interfere with his preferment in the Church. ._ ^' -x The Church was, at this time, co-extensive with the Stratford, country ; and in serving his country, a bishop was regarded 1333-48. ag donig his duty to the Church. When, therefore, Edward III. determined, that his chancellor should be translated from the see of Winchester to the primacy, the country endorsed the proceeding ; and his advance ment was regarded as a tribute to the merits of one, who had not only acted with discretion, but who had suffered persecution at the hands of an ousted and unpopular government.

On the death of Archbishop Mepham, the Bishop of Winchester was translated to Canterbury.

In his appointment there was a peculiarity, which the student of history will not fail to notice. The conge d'elire was as usual addressed to the chapter, and the king nominated Stratford as the person he expected the chapter to elect or rather to postulate.

The tie which bound a bishop to the church to which he had been consecrated, was considered so binding and holy, that it could be dissolved only by the pope. It was regarded in the light of a divorce. The chapter, therefore, which required the translation of a bishop, postulated for his removal from the see of which he was in possession to the one to which he was elected. This had become in most cases only a form ; but in this instance, Pope John XXIL, or his advisers, took no notice of the postulation, but proceeded to appoint Stratford, "non virtute postula- tionis capituli Cantuariensis, sed proprio suo motu."*

This was one of those many attempts made, at this period, by the papal authorities to obtain, under the name of reservations or provisions, the entire patronage of all the higher preferments of the English Church ; and it was to

* Murimuth, Cliron. 72. When a person elected happened to be a bishop already, he was said to be " postulatus," not " electus."

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY.

frustrate this attempt that the Statute of Provisors was CHAP. passed in 1351, which led to a compromise hereafter to - — - be noticed. Edward III., however, at this period of his Stratford, reign, did not perceive that the proceeding involved a 133 principle ; and, so long as his end was accomplished, he did not regard the means employed. The appointment to the see of Canterbury was virtually in his hands, and when the bulls for the translation arrived, he and his chancellor thought no more of the subject.* The tempo ralities of the see were restored on the 5th of April, 1334.

On the 28th of the following September, the new arch bishop resigned the great seal. His object in doing so is not apparent. His successor was his friend, Eichard of Bury, a man of eminence, whom he had consecrated shortly before to the see of Durham. It is possible that Stratford entertained, on accepting the primacy, a wish to retire from political life, and to devote himself to the duties of his sacred calling ; but if he did so, he soon found that he could not live without those excitements of public life, to which he had been accustomed from his youth. On the 6th of June, 1335, he was again in office, and distinguished himself by the zeal he displayed in the interests of trade.

* The bull by which this usurpation of the court of Rome over the church of Canterbury was attempted is still preserved. It is dated at Avignon, the 6th of the calends of December, and the 18th year of the pope's pontificate. The policy of the Roman court was, by increasing the number of bulls, to extract from the coffers of the provincial churches as much money, as possible, in the shape of fees. There were six bulls issued on this occasion. Besides those addressed to the chapter, there was one to the clergy and laity of the diocese of Canterbury, another to the people of the city and diocese, another to all the vassals of the church of Canterbury, another to all the suffragans of the church of Canterbury. All were published in the cathedral on the day they wore received. — Battely, Part ii. Appendix 16.

24 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. It is curious to remark how, in the revolution of ages, - — ^ — • our position as a commercial nation has changed. In the Stratford, fourteenth century the English monks and farmers — the 1333-48. Cistercians especially — directed their attention to the growing of wool, and we had enough and to spare. But we had no skilled artisans to supply the foreign markets with manufactured goods. The wealth of the country depended to a great extent upon the expoit of wool. In the nineteenth century, depending for our wealth upon coal rather than upon our flocks, we tend our sheep rather to supply the home market with good mutton, and importing our wool from people who have regard to the fleece rather than the carcase, our exports consist of the manufactured article. It is highly to the honour of Stratford, that he supported Edward in the measures he adopted, if he did not suggest them, by which he encouraged manufactures, partly through the introduction of foreign artisans. Woollen factories were established at York, and in Worcestershire ; Norwich manufactured fustians ; Sudbury, baize ; Colchester, sayes and serges ; Kent, broadcloth ; Devonshire, kerseys.

It would have been well for the peace and comfort of Stratford's mind, if, on his appointment to the primacy, he had retired from political life. When the king began to think for himself, the promptings of a youthful genius were not so easily restrained, as at first, by the sober judgment of a less enthusiastic counsellor. Stratford evidently as sumed, and retained too long, a kind of paternal relation to Edward, and was more ready to dictate than to consult. I have taken some pains to ascertain what was the view really taken by Stratford with reference to the French war. I have examined patiently the statements and counter-statements made in the correspondence between him and the king, to which more particular reference will presently be made, comparing them with the his-

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 25

torical facts, and I come to the conclusion, that Stratford CHAP. was a consistent as well as a patriotic statesman.

He did not doubt the right of Edward to the crown of stiatford, France. He expressly calls Philip of Valois a usurper.

Off-hand historians, in these days, pronounce the claim of Edward to the throne of France preposterous and absurd. So it was, according to modern notions, and at a time when the law of succession has been settled and defined. But we are writing of times, when many points, now decided, were open to discussion. To decide between Balliol and Bruce, as to the right of succession to the Scottish throne, would be a matter of no difficulty at the present time, but it required the application of acute minds to the subject, before a judgment could be given in the reign of Edward I. Among the ancestors of Edward III. many sat on the English throne, their right to do so being undisputed by the majority of the nation, who would be, and indeed by some persons are, in the present age, regarded as usurpers.

We are not to suppose that Stratford was in advance of his age ; and what was the prevalent opinion at this time upon the subject of the succession, we have in an ancient writer, Capgrave, who says : —

" Thanne rose the noyse thorw the lond that the kyng had rite to the crowne of Frauns be his modir. For Seynt Lodewik was the rithfulle kyng and eyir of Frauns. He had a son thei clepid Philippe ; and that Philip begat anothir, thei cleped him Philip the Faire ; whech Philip had IIII childyrn, Ysabelle, inoder to kyng Edward ; sche was eldest. The secunde was Lodewik ; he was kyng aftir his fader. The third was Philip. And he had to dow- teres ; on was weddid to the erl of Flaunderes, the othir to the Delfyn of Vienne, and both deied withoute issew. Thus deied this Philip withoute issew, which regned in

26 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. Frauns aftir Lodewik. This same Lodewyk had to

. ^;__, wyves, on was dowtir to the duke of Borgayn. She had

stmtford no cnn*d ; anotm"r was dowtir to the kyng of Hungarie, 1333-48. of whom cam Jon, cleped Posthumus. Than was this the ordre of kyngis. First regned Lodewik, the eldest son ; and aftir him Jon Posthumus was treted as kyng. He deied withoute issew. Than regned Philip the Secund brothir, whech had to douteris, as we saide ; and neyth:r of hem had issew. He ded, the third brothir regned, cleped Charles ; and, because he had no child, he mal a statute that no woman schuld be eyir of Frauns, t3 forbarre the rite of kyng Edward, his sistiris son." *

But it was one thing to admit the right, and another thing to assert it by force of arms ; and Stratford was prepared to make the greatest sacrifices for the preservation of peace, considering, as he himself expresses it, " the peril to soul, body, and property from the drowning gulf o? war." Consistently with these principles, he headed the em bassy, in 1337, which was sent to Philip to declare khi£ Edward's right to the crown of France ; and in several other embassies he incurred danger, toil, and much expense. But his voice was still for peace. He said to Edward: "Assert your right : make that right the basis of a treaty with France, which shall be advantageous to England. Then, having effected this, renounce a claim, the main tenance of which can be advantageous to neither country." It was thus that the policy of Stratford was directly opposed to that of Pope Benedict XIL, when, in 1337, that pontiff sent his legates into England to effect a reconciliation between the English and the French monarchs. Benedict was a learned and a pious man, and was sincerely desirous, no doubt, to stop any unnecessary effusion of blood. But he was a Frenchman, desiring, through peace, to promote the interests of the King of

* Capgrave, 20G.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 27

France. The pope and the primate agreed in their desire CHAP. of peace ; but Stratford looked to English interests, > — V — ' Benedict to French. When the legates arrived in steSord. England, they were, in consequence, treated with the 1333-48- respect which was their due. The king sent his son, the young Duke of Cornwall, afterwards the celebrated Black Prince, to meet them.* The royal youth was attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Earl of Warenne, and a few other prelates and lords. The king received the legates at Westminster in the inner hall, and granted them an audience in the painted chamber. The cardinals explained the object of their mission, and the king promised to lay their statement before his parlia ment. The parliament in due time assembled, and, says Capgrave, " whan it was aspied that they were more favourable to the kyng of Frauns than to the kyng of Ynglond, the archbishop roos up, and declared that they were not sufficient reformeres whech held with the party. "^

* The Black Prince was invested with the duchy of Cornwall by charter on the 17th of March, 1337, being the first who bore the title of Duke in England. From this time the dukedom of Cornwall has been vested in the heir to the English crown. The eldest son of the King of England is Duke of Cornwall by birth. He is Prince of Wales by special creation and investiture. The earldom of Chester was con nected with the Principality, 21 Ric. II. To the dignity of Prince of Wales, Edward was appointed by his father, May 12th, 1343. He was the second English prince who bore the title. It was not bestowed on his father. It was first conferred on Edward of Carnarvon.

| Capgrave, 205. — Several councils were held at this period, which were probably called parliaments without being such strictly speaking. A council was summoned for the 6th of July to meet the king, where- ever he might be. As the cardinals left England on the 10th, this may have been the parliament at which they received this answer. I do not find any more particular account of the proceedings of the cardi nals ; but from the strong feeling in favour of the war which imme diately ensued, and from Capgrave's statement, we may infer that they .said or did something offensive to the national pride. The feeling against any political interference on the part of the pope was extremely

28 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. There was also a further view of the subject, which had

- — ' considerable influence on Stratford's mind. Popular as

Stratford, the French war became after the first successes of Edward,

1333-48. tjiere was? from the first? a powerful minority opposed to it. The question occurred, whether, if the crowns were united, Paris would not become the residence of the king, and England eventually a mere province of France. This feeling displayed itself strongly, even in parliament, when, yielding to foreign counsels, and at the suggestion of the celebrated Jacob van Arte veldt, Edward assumed the arms and royal title of France. The proceeding was viewed with such national jealousy and suspicion, that Edward was obliged to enter into an explanation with his parliament, and pledge himself to maintain the national independence. So zealous was Stratford in all the political measures in which he embarked, that he crossed the Channel thirty-two times on various negotia tions, and always at his own expense. But there was a strong influence at work to counteract the counsels of tho archbishop, and to alienate the young king's mind from his old adviser and friend ; and among those whose ambitior

strong at this period, and the following principle was soon after expressed by a contemporary : " It is to be noted that the pope may often err against justice, and may excommunicate the true part, and give his benediction to the false part. He may grant his indulgence to those who are fighting on the false side ; and then God will give His benedic tion to the true part, and the acts of the pope will not hurt it." — John of Bridlington, Pol. Songs, i. 165. The anti-papal spirit, not on re ligious but on political grounds, increased in vehemence during the papal residence at Avignon. The manner in which some writers assume, that the bishops must have always sided with the pope, displays an entire ignorance of mediaeval feeling, and a forgetfulness that, in England, the clerical character was too generally assumed by statesmen and lawyers simply to obtain position and an income. At the siege of Tournay, Edward III. was attended by seven earls, eight bishops, 28 baronets, 200 knights, 9 000 archers, all out of England. — Grafton, 348. The word "baronets" is in Grafton, but he evidently means bannerets.

AKCIIBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 20

prompted them to war we must number Queen Philippa. CHAP. She longed to see her husband a hero in the field of <: — V — • battle. Those who are acquainted with that extra- stra°tford. ordinary and interesting poem, the " Vows of the Heron," 1333-*8- of which Eobert of Artois is the hero, will see at once how powerfully foreign influence, supported by the queen, was brought to bear upon the young king's mind ; while they will feel astonished at the prevalent mixture of courtesy and coarseness.*

The king, under the advice of Stratford, hesitated for some time ; but, at last, the gauntlet was thrown down, and hostilities were commenced, not by Edward, but by Philip. Pending the negotiations, Philip attacked the seaports of England, and encouraged the most flagrant and cruel acts of piracy upon the coast, and invaded Gascony. It was on this account, that the parliament consented to a declaration of war. The conduct of the French king served the cause of the war-party, as it inflamed the anti-Galilean spirit, which now pervaded the country. To France was attributed, in the popular songs, the mingled qualities of the lynx, the viper, the fox, and the wolf.

Francia, foeminea, Pharisa?a, vigoris idea, Lynxea, viperea, vulpina, lupina, Medea, Callida, syrena, crudelis, acerba, supcrba, Es fellis plena, mel dans latet anguis in herba, Sub duce Philippe Valeys, cognomine lippo, Amoris nomen famam cognomen et omen.j"

Stratford was not in office when the war was finally declared, and it was not therefore true, as his enemies afterwards asserted, that the war was undertaken by his advice. But when it was once declared, his earnest desire was that it should be prosecuted with vigour. By his advice an alliance was immediately formed with the

* It is published among the Reruin Britt. Medii ^Evi Scriptores. t Pol. Songs, i. 26.

30 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. German princes. He exhorted the king to enlist in his

s_ ^ — ' services those mercenaries, who were adepts in the art of

stmtford. war, as well as to discipline his own forces. He promised

1333-48. to exert himself, and to make personal sacrifices in order

that the necessary funds might be raised.

Although the archbishop had again resigned the great seal in 1337, it was not with an intention of retiring from public life. He was active and regular in his attendance on the Privy Council ;* and the great seal was held by his brother Eobert, whose interests were identified with his own. On the 28th of April, 1340, he was, for the third time, appointed chancellor. f But the infirmities of old age were creeping upon him, and he pleaded this as an excuse for resigning the office in the following June.J This resignation, however, was only a renunciation of certain details of duty, for his brother was again appointed his successor ; and on tho king's going to the Continent, Archbishop John was appointed President of the Council.

But his position was becoming day by day more irk some. Although there was, as yet, no misunderstanding between the king and the primate, there was an imper ceptible but increasing alienation between them. The king was surrounding himself with new counsellors, men of his own standing ; and the archbishop, always cautious, and growing more cautious with increasing years, was not heard with the deference to which he had been accustomed, when he counselled prudence.

This was the case in that rupture between Edward of Windsor and John Stratford to which we must now advert.

In the summer of 1338 the king had embarked for the Continent, and the national feeling was gratified by the

* Foedera, ii. 883, 1115.

f Rot. Glaus. K. Edw. III. 1. M. 27. J Ibid 1. M. 13.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 31

manner in which he was received, as one of the greatest CHAP. potentates of Europe, during his triumphant progress up —^ the Ehine to Coblentz, where he was appointed Vicar of stnrtford the Empire. England was proud of the homage paid to her royal representative ; and, wherever Edward went, princes of the empire and burghers of the free towns, great men, representing every grade of society, from Jacob von Arteveldt, the republican, to Louis of Bavaria, all conspired to do honour to a prince, who could make himself welcome in the warehouse of the merchant, as well as in the tournament of knights and nobles. Edward went on, right royally, determined to carry his objects, and utterly regardless of the means to be employed, or the possible consequences. He required a large army, and he stipulated the payment of large sums to the cap tains of those armed bands which, under distinguished commanders, came into the war-market to sell their ser vices to the highest bidder. Little better than such a trader was the king's brother-in-law, the Emperor Louis, when, on the promised payment of 300,000 florins, lie undertook to send two thousand lances to the field, to fight, in point of fact, his own battle. Most of the princes of the empire, including the Margrave of Bran denburg and the Count of Nassau, were in Edward's pay, as were the courtiers to whose opinions the Emperor and Empress were supposed to defer.

The king expected to be able to fulfil his engagements by the plunder of the enemy. This was considered so good an investment, that the merchants in Flanders were ready to advance, at a rate of interest in proportion to the risk, any ready money he required ; and the home government felt so certain of success, that many of the officials, including the archbishop, became personally re sponsible for large sums, while the country — clergy and laity — voted the most liberal subsidies. In the hope of

32 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, sharing the plunder, men from all quarters flocked to

— ^ — ' the standard of the first general of the age.

stratfol-d. Under such a state of things despatch was everything.

1333-48. j)e}ay was ruin. Whether fighting or not, men were to be fed and clothed. Every day of inaction added to the debt which the king was incurring. This was known to the enemy, who sought to avoid an engagement as long as possible, and amused the lukewarm allies of Edward by negotiations. The troops began to murmur. The, merchants of Flanders refused to make any further loans. Time was required to collect the money, which had been voted by England ; and, when collected, it was only suffi cient to meet the demands of creditors becoming more clamorous as the prospect of immediate war was removed. The king reproached Stratford, and complained of his want of zeal. In short, in the November of 1339, King Edward was placed under circumstances, which would have crushed an ordinary mortal. His fall had been as rapid as his rise. He who, a few months before, had been courted by all the powers of Europe, except those who were in league with France and the pope, was now de serted by his allies, and obliged from want of funds to disband his mercenary troops.

A great mind is proved under such trials. Instead of quarrelling with the allies who might hereafter render him assistance, Edward overlooked, though he was aware of, their treasonable correspondence with the enemy ; and he thanked them for their past services. He obtained permission of his creditors to visit England, and left Queen Philippa in pawn for his return. His appearance in England revived the slumbering loyalty of the people. An enthusiasm was excited in his favour. When they heard of the queen left an exile in Ghent, their compassion was excited, and her royal husband obtained an unpre cedented supply from parliament and convocation.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 33

The country was rewarded for its generosity by the CHAP. first great naval victory of England — a victory gained >- — A— against unequal numbers — one of the most splendid among Stratford. the splendid naval victories of which England can boast — the victory of Sluys. Once more the allies of Edward rallied round his standard, eager to assist in expending the treasures, with which the king had come laden from England ; and anticipating the plunder of fresh towns. An army of a hundred thousand men was now under Edward's command. But the campaign, though not dis graceful to his arms, was, in regard to political conse quences, a failure. The mercenary troops and the Ger man princes were not content with barren honour. When, after a siege of nine months, instead of capturing Tournay, the king was obliged to seek or consent to a truce, he found himself involved in debt to the enormous amount of three hundred thousand pounds.* The towns of the enemy retained their wealth ; the allies of Edward claimed the discharge of their arrears. The usurers, of whom he had borrowed money, at an exorbitant interest, were urgent for payment. He wrote to Stratford for an immediate supply of money ; and received for answer that he had forestalled his income. The treasury was exhausted. When an appeal was made to the people, it was natural

* Knighton, 2573. Froissart, c. 39, 40, 41. It is due to Stratford to mention some of the enormous sums squandered by Edward. To the emperor he gave 8,227/. Is. ; to the Margrave of Juliers, 8,9G2/. 10s.; to Count Reinald of Gtieldres, who had lately been made duke, 4,G12/. 105. ; to Dietrich Von Faltenberg, 3,8G4/. 8s. 3d. ; to the Count of Hainault, 3,150/. ; to the Duke of Brabant, GOO/. ; to the Archbishop of Treves, 506Z. 5s. ; which must all be multiplied by fifteen or twenty, and some say twenty-five, to bring the sums to the present value of money. They were drawn on the Hanseatic Exchange, which brought him into the troubles mentioned in the text, and for these sums he endeavoured to make his ministers responsible. See Pauli, 171.

VOL. IV. D

34 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, to ask what had become of the enormous sums which had

> ^ — . been placed at the king's disposal ? He had been as a

Stratford, gambler. Expecting to revel in the riches of France he 1333-48. kad rjskeci an? and he had lost. Moreover, sinister reports reached England from the camp. A profuse expenditure1, it was said, and with too much truth, had enriched the sycophants and flatterers, by whom he had surrounded himself. Worst of all, Edward, whose weakness as to women remained to the last, was said to be under the influence of a mistress who had command of his purse. ^ All these parties conspired to prejudice the royal nrind against the Stratfords. If the archbishop and his bro ther, it was said, had exerted themselves, they might have obtained what was necessary to meet the present exigence : an assertion which carried with it its own re futation, when it was added, that the archbishop had made himself personally responsible for the king's debts. It was insinuated, that Stratford had been bought by the French king, and that he had been intimidated by the French pope — libels, which have'been repeated in modern times, though the accusation was not only not proved, but is actually inconsistent with the whole character, mind, and temper of the times.

The king was urged, as we should now say, to change his ministers, and to replace them by the friends who sur-

* For these statements see the Political Songs, particularly a very curious poem under the pseudonym of John Bridlington. Political songs are often mere libels, or the witty repetition of scandal, and are therefore to be received with caution. But after making every allow ance, the political songs of Edward's time bear out the statements made in Stratford's exculpatory letter and other contemporary documents. The amatory propensities of Edward III. involved him in difficulties to the very close of his reign. At this time he was in other ways demo ralised, as maybe seen in his conduct to the parliament of 1340, when to obtain a subsidy he made concessions to his people, which, when his object was attained, he revoked, asserting that his promises had been made with mental reservation.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 35

rounded him,* whose dislike of the Stratfords was in- CHAP. creased by their appetence for place. The new friends > — t- — ' of the king urged upon him to compel the archbishop to stra°tford. mortgage his estates for the payment, in part at least, of 1333-i8- the king's debts ; and they proposed to have recourse to an exercise of the royal prerogative, by which, in defiance of Magna Charta, and without the consent of parliament, money might be extracted, sword in hand, from the people.

While demands for impossible sums of money were made from abroad, the ministry at home could not main tain the common establishments of the country. London was without a garrison; the country had been drained of men as well as of money ; a fleet of pirates might have sailed up the river and have plundered the metropolis. The royal family were in the Tower, but while the fortress was un defended it was scarcely possible to obtain the necessaries of life or suitable attendance in that part of the Tower, which was the palatial residence of the royal children. The ministers were in despair, f

The archbishop was accustomed to sleep at Lambeth, and thence to drop down in his barge to the city to tran sact business with his brother the chancellor and the

* One measure was suggested to the king which marked the com mencement of a new era. He was advised to employ laymen in future instead of ecclesiastics in the public service ; and this, throughout, was the policy of John of Gaunt, the principle, so to say, of his party. The time had not come, however, for such a change. Edward did indeed for the first time appoint a layman to be chancellor, Sir Robert dc Bourchier, a gallant soldier, being appointed with a salary of ^?500 a- year besides the accustomed fees. But the military chancellor was a failure.

f The whole of this narrative is given upon a careful comparison of the various authorities, taking Birch ington in the Anglia Sacra for the basis, Walsingham, edit. Kiley, Grafton, Stow, Dugdale, the Libellus Famosus, and the Excusatio Archiepiscopi ad Libellum Famosum, with other documents not to be found in Birchington and Walsingham.

D 2

36 LIVES .OF THE

CHAP, other counsellors, who formed the regency. But he was now an old man, and required rest and repose. On the 29th of November, he retired for a short time to another manor of the see, at Charing, in Kent. This was a favour ite and convenient retreat. Standing on an old Eoman road which joins that, which runs through the valley of Ashford to Canterbury, forming, indeed, part of "the pil grim's way," Charing was easily accessible both from Canter bury and from London. Here, wrhile thinking, with some anxiety, of his future and of the conduct of the king,— exasperated against him by the influence of the mistress obscurely hinted at, in the political songs of the day, ae Diana — he found some measure of consolation and support. as he looked upon the veritable block, on which John Bap tist was beheaded. This had been brought, as a precious relic, from Palestine, and presented to the parish church of Charing by Eichard I. Stratford sighed for peace :

Otium Divos rogat in patent! Prensus

But whatever may have been his reveries, he was soon awakened from them by the intelligence, that the king was in London. He could hardly believe his informant, that the king, accompanied by the queen, had arrived in London on the 30th, for, during the preceding night, a tem pest had raged, through which it was considered scarcely possible that a ship, such as ships then were, could have lived. The storm, it was said and believed, had been raised by the French necromancers, under the expectation that it would cool the courage of Edward, and effectually prevent him from putting to sea again. But Stratford had no time to investigate the rhodomontade of the French ; he heard, and was not surprised to hear, that the anger of the king exceeded all bounds, when, on coming sud denly and unexpectedly to England, lie found his capital

ARCHBISHOPS OP CANTERBURY. 37

unprotected, and witnessed the neglected condition of his CHAP. children. The fact Stratford had deplored ; but the fact v__^ being so, he knew, that Edward was not a man for half gjatford measures. He felt that he was not safe at Charing. His 1333~48- palace at Canterbury was without a garrison, without even a household. He determined, therefore, to throw himself on the hospitality of the monks of Christ Church. It was a rare thing for an archbishop to be on good terms with his convent ; but fortunately for Stratford, when he took up his abode among them, as he had a right to do, he found them prepared to act as his friends. He retired to Canterbury, and there, taking up his abode in the priory, he prepared, as Primate of all England, to meet the attack of his enemies.

The first news that reached him was, that his brother, — Bishop of Chichester and Chancellor of England, — the treasurer, and all the great officers of state, together with the lord mayor of London, were in prison. Orders came down for the removal of the sheriff of Kent ; and notice was given, that justices were appointed to investigate the conduct of the sheriffs also of the shires, and of all whose business it had been to collect the taxes. A rumour reached him of its having been determined, that the archbishop and the lord treasurer (the Bishop of Lichfield), should be immediately deported to Flanders, there to he as pledges for the money, which the king had borrowed, and which they ought to have enabled him to pay.

Soon after Sir Nicolas Cantilupe arrived at Canterbury, attended by a considerable number of the nobility and by a notary public. He caused it to be proclaimed, that the archbishop had bound himself to certain foreign mer chants, under penalty of forfeiting his goods, for certain sums of money borrowed by the king to defray the ex penses of the war ; that for want of receiving this money the king's army had been reduced to the greatest distress,

John

38 LIVES OF THE

and the operations of the war had been suspended. He now, in the king's name, required of the archbishop to ad- stratford. vance the money due to the creditors of the king, or else 1333-48. to deliver himself up to their custody, until the whole sum, for which he was bound, had been discharged.

He demanded an immediate answer. The answer was, that, in a matter of such importance, the archbishop must take time to consider what that answer should be. Stratford then addressed letters to the king entreating him to dismiss from his counsels the new advisers, who made in their business to calumniate his old and long- tried friends. Throughout the correspondence, indeed, he was careful to distinguish between the king and his ministers, — that important precaution by which Englishmen have been accustomed to criticise freely the actions of the govern ment, without renouncing their loyalty to the sovereign.

When no notice was taken of his letters, which he suspected were not shown to the king, he determined upon an aggressive movement. He summoned the people to the cathedral. There was an immense assembly. He went in state to the church. The great western door was thrown open. He was incensed by the prior. He was met by the members of the chapter and the other officials with tapers in their hands. He was thus escorted to the pulpit. With their tapers lighted, the clergy arranged themselves on either side. The whole nave was thronged with people, breathless with expectation of what was to take place. The archbishop selected for his text Ecclus. xlviii. 12 : "Elias it was who was covered with a whirlwind, and Eliseus was filled with his spirit ; whilst he lived, he was not moved with the presence of any prince, neither could any bring him into subjection." He turned, as he spoke, towards the shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury, to whom the people recognised the text as applicable. His spirit was abased, he said,

AECHBISHOPS OF CANTEKBUKY. 39

before the wisdom of the martyr. When St. Thomas CHAP.

-T7-

was enthroned on the marble chair, he resigned the chan cellorship, and renounced every secular pursuit. Tears rolled down the old man's cheeks, arid for a short time stopped his utterance. When he broke the sympathetic silence, it was to acknowledge and confess that, to his having disregarded the care of his flock to serve the king and the kingdom, his present difficulties and sorrows, the very fact, that his life was in danger, were all to be attri buted. He there and then pledged himself thenceforth to the zealous performance of those duties, which his province and his diocese had a right to expect from him, and which he had hitherto neglected. At the conclusion of the sermon, the people knelt ; but, instead of giving the benediction, the Primate of all England pronounced sentence of excommunication upon all, the king and his family alone excepted, who should disturb the peace of the kingdom ; who should lay violent hands upon the persons, lands, goods, or purses of the clergy ; or should violate the liberties of the Church. The anathema applied especially to all who, by any decree, should lessen the privileges conceded to the country by Magna Charta ; to all who should bring a false accusation against any person whatsoever ; to all, who should bring an archbishop or any bishop of his province into the king's hate or anger, and accuse him or them of treason, or any other notorious and capital crime, falsely.

As he ended, the torches were extinguished. The bell tolled. A stench unbearable filled the church. There was no procession. Every one retired in confusion and haste.

When the archbishop reached the prior's lodgings, he issued a mandate to the Bishop of London and all his suffragans, to cause the sentence of excommunication to be published in every church.

The eloquence of the whole transaction was felt

40 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, throughout the country. Canterbury was filled with pil-

v__^ . grims, who, on their way home, would descant on the

stmtford. wrongs and on the penitence of the primate, on his 1333-48. patriotism and his firmness. He had placed himself under the powerful protection of St. Thomas, taking him for his example. Thomas-a-Becket was not then regarded as the emblem of clerical intolerance or ambition : he was venerated as the saint, who was still engaged in pro tecting the weak against the strong, and vindicating popular rights against the aggression of kings. Kings still bowed the knee at his shrine in fear; the people worshipped him ; and when his successor became his devotee, he was at once popular. To the popular rights as maintained in Magna Charta, and to parliamentary go vernment Stratford had always been loyal; and now he insinuated that, through the new advisers of the king, those rights of the people, as well as the liberties of the Church, were in danger.

The position of the archbishop was strengthened by the fact, that the king's advisers were afraid to face a parliament, and were evidently persuading the king to govern by his prerogative. A council, to be composed of their own party, they determined to call ; and before it to compel the archbishop to appear. For this purpose, Ealph Lord Stafford arrived at Canterbury, attended by the proper officials, and served a writ upon the arch bishop, requiring him to repair immediately to the king ; to consult, in the royal presence, with sundry prelates and lords, upon the conduct of the war, and to enter, at the same time, into a defence of his own proceedings. A safe-conduct was offered.

The archbishop received the summons with proper re spect, and promised to take the subject into consideration.

Soon after, messengers arrived in Canterbury from the Duke of Brabant, and demanded an audience of the

AKCHBISIIOPS OF CANTERBURY. 41

archbishop. This he refused. They then affixed a sum- CHAP. mons to the door of the priory, citing the archbishop to v_^_ the Duke of Brabant's court of justice, that he might str^tford. lawfully answer, in Flanders, for the debts of the king of 1333-48- England, for whose debts he stood engaged ; there to remain, until his lord's debts were fully cleared, according to the oath on that part by him made.

Almost contemporaneously with this, the prior received a letter in the king's name, which he and the convent were required to read publicly to the people. It was a circular, addressed to the Bishop of London, and intended as an answer to the archbishop's sermon. In this letter it was stated, that the war was undertaken by the king at the archbishop's advice, to recover his right- and his inheritance ; that now the archbishop, the author of the war, having conspired with his enemy, the French king, advised the king of England to renounce his right, and to disband his forces ; that he had not, according to his promise, purveyed sufficiently for his army; that he had not satisfied the foreign creditors of the king, of whom, upon his security, the king had taken up vast sums of money for the war ; and that now, when called to account for his administration, he thought by his censures and excommunications to elude a trial.

., The prior laid the letter before the primate. Lent was now approaching, and it was known, that, on Ash Wednes day, the archbishop would again address the people. Indulgences were offered to induce the people to attend. The cathedral was crowded. The archbishop ascended the pulpit. He took for his text Joel ii. 12, " Therefore now, saith the Lord, turn ye even unto me with all your heart, and with fasting, and weeping, and mourning, and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord." The whole chapter was applicable to the existing state of the country. When the sermon was

42 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, concluded, the archbishop directed one of the monks to read the letter addressed to the Bishop of London in the king's name. In order that every one might clearly understand the nature of the charges brought against him, he directed that it should be read in the mother tongue. He desired no concealment. Then, one by one, article after article, he either refuted every charge, that was brought against him, or entered into an explanation, by which, what was intended to disgrace him redounded to his credit. He vindicated his loyalty to the king, and his integrity in managing the affairs of the country. Th 3 sermon over, he directed the substance of it to be reduced to writing. The scribes in the scriptorium were employed day and night, encouraged by his presence ; and copies of his defence were circulated throughout his province. Orders were given that it should be read in every church. It was thus, before printing, that public documents were published by the clergy from the pulpit, by the officials of the state in the market-place.

Not content with this, the archbishop addressed a letter, also published, to the king himself. He evinced no anger against the king, whom he addressed as Carissime Domine ; but wrote rather in sorrow, and witli a view to warn him of his danger, in surrounding himself, like Eehoboam, with young and inexperienced counsellor?, who consulted the royal wishes and their own interests rather than the well-being of the realm. He adverted to the sad fate of the king's father (whom God assoile !) occa sioned by his violation of the laws, especially of Magna Charta, and his disregard of parliament. He alluded to the former unpopularity of the king himself, and the dangers which surrounded the throne, when the bad counsels of Isabella and Mortimer prevailed. He con trasted this witli the subsequent popularity of the king, who received eater supplies from the people than any

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 43

preceding sovereign; with his successful and victorious CHAP.

career both at home and abroad — with the fact of his ; — •

having now become the most noble prince in Christen- Stratford. dom. Of himself he said nothing : the people knew well who was the king's counsellor, when he extricated himself from unparalleled difficulties, and through his own genius, properly directed, was elevated to a pinnacle of glory. He counselled the king to call a parliament. He offered before a full parliament to vindicate his own administration, and to prove who were the persons that squandered the supplies, and reduced the king to poverty and disgrace — the men who now endeavoured to shift the blame upon the archbishop by whom they were excommunicated. He entreated the king not to distrust his people, but to call a parliament — which his present advisers most dreaded — and he concludes, " May the Holy Spirit have you, my Lord, in His holy keeping as to soul and body. May He grant you grace to hear and receive good advice, and vouchsafe you victory over all your enemies."

The great seal had now been for the first time con signed to a layman. The layman selected to be chan cellor was not a lawyer, but a soldier. As the great seal had hitherto been always entrusted to an ecclesiastic, civil affairs had been so mixed up with spiritual, that, great as were Sir Robert Bourchier's ability and valour in the field of battle and at the tournament, things were likely, in the Court of Chancery, to be brought into a state of confusion ; for an extrication from which the gallant chancellor did not possess sufficient knowledge and skill. He evinced a disposition to deal unfairly, in all that related to Church matters and ecclesiastics. To him, therefore, the arch bishop wrote, " wishing him a will to conserve the liberties of the Church and the law of the land entire." He made a full statement of the financial arrangements of

44 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, the Court of Chancery. In this statement, the subsidies of ' — ^r— ' the clergy were compared with the parliamentary grants. Stratford. He entreated the chancellor, to deal fairly by the clergy,

an(j ^^ reference to some unjust orders that he had given, he called him to revoke them within eight days of his receiving the mandate to do so, and threatened him, in case of disobedience, with such measures of reprisal as the Church still possessed. He, throughout, assumed that, whatever acts of injustice were committed by the chancellor, were done without the knowledge of the king.

But, in order that the king might not remain in ignor ance of what his new ministers were doing in his nam 3 and by his authority, Stratford, at the same time, addressed a remonstrance to the king in council. In defiance of Magna Charta and the laws of the land, ecclesiastics (some of whom were named, one of them being Henry Stratford), and many of the laity also, had been dragged from their homes, and imprisoned, without any specific crime being laid to their charge. The object was to compel them to pay a high ransom for their release. It was one of the iniquitous modes of raising money resorted to in the worst times of Henry III. He asserted, that persons armed with authority from the government had entered the houses of ecclesiastics with impunity, and taken their property, pretending it to be for the king's use. He solemnly called upon the king, who had, up to this time, acted constitutionally, to command the release and delivery out of prison of those ecclesiastics, and of others who were detained against Magna Charta and the laws of the land. He gave notice that, if a remedy were not devised, to prevent the recurrence of these acts of tyranny, the censures of the Church should be immediately put forth against all, except the king, his lady the queen, and their children.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 45

In a circular, addressed to the Bishop of London and his suffragans, the archbishop enters more into particulars — he speaks of false accusations as well as imprisonments, stmtford. and alludes to the insecurity of all property. He specifies 1333-48- the various laws which, besides Magna Charta, had been violated, and calls upon his brethren to unite with him in maintaining the cause of justice, and in enforcing the observance of the laws of the land.

So powerful was the effect of the energetic measures adopted by the archbishop, that the ministry found it necessary also to appeal to the people, by the publication of what Stratford called an infamous libel, a document known in history as the Famosus Libellus.* It is a remarkably clever production, and was acknowledged generally to be the work of the ministry and not of the king himself, although he, of course, assented to the publi cation. This letter, written in the king's name, refers first to the confidence, which the king, at the commencement of his reign, while yet in his tender years, had put in John, then Bishop of Winchester, now Archbishop of Canter bury ; who was received into such familiarity, and enjoyed so much of the royal favour, that lie was called " our father," and next to the king was admired of all men. He is accused of having advised the war with France, and the league with the German princes ; of having promised that, if the king would discipline the army, he would be responsible for the means of defraying the expenses of the war. On the strength of these pro mises the war was undertaken, great expenses incurred, the princes subsidised. But alas ! — the king is made to say, — we put our confidence in the staff of a broken reed,

* Auditis itaque litteris Ai'chiepiscopi, et singulis intellects, aliis insuper nommllis ah aulicis regiis, ut putabatur, Archiepiscopo imposi- tis, liex Edwardus misit episcopo Londoniarum littcram ut subsequi- tur. — Walsingham, i. 2 1<>.

46 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, whereon, according to the prophet, if a man lean, it shall _^' _^ go into his hand and pierce it. Defrauded of his pro- stmtford ntised aid from the archbishop, the king contracted debts 1333-48. at heavy interest from the mere necessity of carrying on the war; until, at length, from the misconduct of the archbishop, the king, being still in want of funds, was obliged to suspend his operations and throw himself on the generosity of the prelates, barons, and other liege subjects of his kingdom in parliament assembled. From them he received a ninth of their corn, lambs, and wool ; and obtained besides, a tenth from the clergy. If th s had been faithfully collected it would have sufficed ; and the archbishop promised not only to attend to tliis duty, but to procure money from other sources. Thus encouraged, the king renewed the war, and gained a great naval victory over enemies, who had combined for th<3 destruction of the king and the English nation. He then encamped against the strong city of Tournay, ami expected the promised supplies, but they never came though messenger after messenger was sent to demanc payment from the archbishop and the other counsellors joined with him in the commission. These ministers were attending to their own interests, neglecting the king's affairs, and palliated their idleness, not to say fraud and malice, with painted glossings and frivolous excuses. At the point of success, the king was obliged to raise the siege ; and, retiring to Flanders, was exposed to disgrace by being unable to fulfil his engagements or pay ofF his foreign auxiliaries, except by contracting fresh debts at usurious interest. On the king's con sulting the companions of his labours, the sharers of his troubles, they all agreed that the whole fault lay in the misgovernment of the archbishop, and the other members of the commission. These persons were sus pected also of bribery, of corruption, oppression, and

AKCIIBISHOrS OF CANTERBURY. 47

other heinous offences. The document then proceeds to CHAP. mention the various steps taken by the king, to effect a * — ^ — - change in the ministry. He was obliged to imprison Stratford. many of those, who had been in office, lest, if at liberty, 1333~48- they should impede the investigation into the iniquities of the late government. It recites the various summonses by which the archbishop was required to appear before the king, to render an account of his stewardship ; and the insolence and haughtiness, with which he refused " to appear before us or to confer with us unless in our own full parliament, which, at this time, for good reason it is not expedient to call. Thus the archbishop, whom our royal favour aggrandised not only with benefices and honours, but by admission to our friendship — who was to us as our mouth and lip, on whom as on a much-loved father we relied, and who pretended to be a loving- father to us, has proved after all to be nothing better than a step-father, who, forgetful of the favours he has received from us, meets his benefactor with arrogance and pride and has served us, as the proverb has it, — 'A mouse in your bag, a serpent in your lap, a fire in your bosom.' r

There is more to the same effect : and the archbishop is accused of calumniating the king and his counsellors, by whom he represents the laity to be oppressed and the clergy wronged ; of simulating a zeal for Magna Charta and the laws, that he might bring discredit on the government ; and of feigning a zeal for the Church, which all the world knew was damaged by his remissness and neglect of duty. He is further accused of availing himself of the king's easy disposition, on his first coming to the throne, to en rich himself and his friends ; of peculation, and of accept ing bribes.

The Bishop of London, to whom the letter was addressed, was commanded to publish, or cause to be published, all

48 LIVES OP THE

CHAP, and singular the premises, openly and distinctly in places

^^ - which he might think convenient.

Stratford. All this is deeply interesting to persons who, observing a 3 33-48. faQ current of history, are here led to see the deference, which, at this period, the ruling powers were beginning to show, in this country, to public opinion.

The archbishop was not slow to repel the attack, in a letter to his dread lord the king ; to whom John, by divine permission, his humble minister of the Church of Canter bury, once temporally, but now more in the Lord, wishe 1 health both of soul and body, and grace to persevere i i what was right, while manfully resisting all envious and wicked suggestions subversive of sound morality.

He commences with some verbiage on the deference duo to the spiritual from the civil authorities, — which was out of date, — and on the respect due to a spiritual father, — which came with a bad grace from Stratford, negligent as he had always been of his clerical duties. He proceed*: to what may be regarded as a complete refutation of the various allegations of the Famosus Libellus. So far from shunning the king, he declares it to be the first wish of his heart once more to see his highness ; to serve him, and to receive from his royal master an acknowledgment of the services he had already rendered to the state. His desire also was to vindicate his conduct before the pre lates, barons and peers of the realm, from the libellous aspersions of those, whom the king had taken into his con fidence, and who, in the king's name, domineered as tyrants over the land. These persons threatened the archbishop with death. He was therefore justified in refusing to place himself in their power. His fear, how ever, of placing himself in the hands of madmen with swords in their hands, rendered it the more necessary that he should notice the letter, or rather the infamous libel they had thought fit to circulate against him. This

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 49

he was determined to do, not sophistically or by special CHAP. pleading, but in the simplicity of truth.

To the charge of having advised the war the answer was Stratford, obvious ; that he happened not to be in the counsels of the king, when war was declared with France, and that no one laboured more diligently, than he had done to avert it. When, however, the war began, he effected a loan for the king, under certain conditions, through the merchants ; and, at the same time, obtained large subsidies from the clergy and people, which, in the opinion of the archbishop and of all the council, would have sufficed for the whole war, if the money, received for war purposes, had not been diverted into other channels. He appealed to the king himself, to corroborate his assertion, that it was owing to no fault on the part of the archbishop, that the conditions had been violated, and the money applied to other pur poses than that, for which it was originally designed. To the same authority he appeals, to bear him out in the statement, that the subsidies did not pass through the archbishop's hands. If, from want of money, any mis fortune happened to the king abroad, the blame must rest, not with the archbishop who bore the burden and heat of the day in providing the funds, but with those who persuaded the king to violate his engagements, who wasted the supplies by their extravagance, and embezzled the subsidies ; the very persons by whose advice the king was now acting. When the king's difficulties began, the archbishop, defraying his own expenses as an am bassador, went abroad again, to conduct negotiations for peace. On the failure of these negotiations, lie joined the king in Flanders. At that time, commiserating the necessitous condition of the king, he, with other prelates and barons, entered into grievous obligations for debts, which had been contracted by the king, without their advice, at an usurious interest. In this way he succeeded

VOL. IV. E

50 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, in extricating the king from his difficulties, and he cer- . x- ^ tainly, therefore, did not deserve to be reproached for Stratford, indolence, ingratitude, or avarice. "And so," says the 1333-48. archbishop, in conclusion, upon the article of impeach ment, " you did not put your confidence in the staff of a broken reed, but on a most firm staff, with which you went like Jacob over Jordan, returning, like him, with two bands : for your second embarkation for England was a glorious return."

He reminds the king, that when the ninth was voted to him, it was, with his own consent and that of his counci , assigned, for the first year, to his creditors ; and that such appropriation of the funds was frequently enjoined in tho king's own letters. When the siege of Tournay was un dertaken, it was undertaken without the advice of the home government ; and when money was demanded fo;* the prosecution of the siege, money was not sent, simpl}' because it could not be obtained. The several payments had been adjusted in full by parliament, by certain termt and proportions ; and the king was frequently apprised that nothing further could be obtained, unless he were himself present. Of the subsidy voted very little of it was due, and very little, therefore, had been collected before the king's return. It would now come into the hands of the present ministry; "and I pray God," says the archbishop, " that it may hereafter be disposed of to your honour." He then indignantly repels the charges brought, by the king's present friends, against the archbishop and those who were associated with him in the ministry ; ap pealing to God, and declaring, that they had loyally and industriously laboured in the king's service and obeyed his commands, and, according to the vulgar saying,

" Ultra posse viri non vult deus ulla requiri."

He retorts on the king's present advisers, the charges he

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 51

before brought against them as notorious ; accusing them of violations of Magna Charta, and of acts of tyranny, which were bringing the king himself into disgrace. He Stratford.

1 QQ*3 J.Q

justifies his refusal, to obey the summons of his enemies to leave his place of security ; and he shows the inconsistency of the commands issued in the king's name, by which he was directed to be in attendance upon the king, and to surrender himself to the Duke of Brabant at the same time. He repeats his readiness to attend, whenever a par liament should be called ; and as to the pretence of his enemies, who feared to call a parliament because there was no cause for its convention, he treats it as a mere pretext of those who hate the light because their deeds are evil. The archbishop's readiness to defend himself in parliament shows his confidence, that the country was with him. As to the charge of ingratitude, and of his having acted as a mere step-father to the king, he assumes that the king could not himself have been the author of such an accusation, as he himself was well aware of its injus tice. The sin which lay on the archbishop's conscience was that he had neglected, not only the care and culture of his own houses and lands, and all that pertained to his own interests, but also his church and his spiritual chil dren, that he might serve the king. "In our solicitude to promote your interests, we have passed many a sleepless night ; and both in England and beyond the sea, we have wasted our body — I pray God it may not be to the peril of our soul — and actually reduced ourself to beggary. Devoted to the service of you and your realm, we have forfeited the love of our clergy, and have been obliged to have recourse to unpopular acts ; whether these be the actions of a step-father let God be judge. He knoweth, that to you we have been a kind and loving father ; it has been to our spiritual children — I say it with grief — that we have been, for you, such a stepfather. We have been,

E 2

52 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, it is said, a mouse in your bag ; how ? Has it been be-

_ x' _. cause while labouring in your service we fed not on your

stiLtford. goods, but on our own ? We have been as a serpent ; if

1333-48. so? jt has not been by spitting forth venom in your lap,

but by the wisdom, with which we have conducted your

affairs. I have been as a fire ; yes, but not a consuming

fire — a lambent flame, kindled by zeal for your interests,

and employed as a light to your path." Inferring that tl e

king could not have read the letter issued in his nam3,

the archbishop consoles himself with the proverb

" Si culpant alii te me laudare necesse est."

He meets the charge of having calumniated the king, by his allusion to the violation of the liberties of the Church and of Magna Charta, which had of late take i place, by referring to the fact as notorious, and by laying the blame upon the new ministers.

Alluding briefly to the charge of peculation, he con cludes thus : " One thing we cannot pass by ; although that such a charge should be brought against us fills us with surprise — namely, that we have appropriated to our own use, or to that of our friends, the rents and revenues of the king. God in heaven knows how utterly withou , foundation this charge is. On the contrary, in the king's affairs, or the affairs of his father or his grandfather, we have crossed the sea thirty-two times, besides going to and frc for Scotland ; and in these and other public employment* we have paid our own expenses, to the gradual deterio ration of our fortune. From the beginning of the wai to the present hour, we have received nothing from the exchequer, except three hundred pounds ;"-— the income of the then chancellor, Sir Eobert Bourchier, being £500 a year.

" And then, as for preferring undeserving persons and placing them in office from pecuniary considerations, if

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 53

any one will offer to prove, that I ever received any sum CHAP. of money, any gratuity or favour on this score, or any — - bribe to favour any plaintiff or defendant, I am ready at Stratford. once to meet him, if the king will order me to be pro- 133i secuted. Nay, more, if we might with a good conscience reveal the secrets of the king's council, I could indeed retort the charge on some, who stand forward as my calumniators."

The publication of the libel he regretted for the king's sake, rather than his own. So far as he was himself con cerned, although it was designed to damage him, he felt sure, that when weighed in a just scrutiny, it would only tend to bring disgrace upon those by whom it was dictated.

That the statements made by the archbishop were strictly true is established by the fact, that there was not an attempt to refute them in the angry rejoinder, which was published in the king's name, and was probably written by himself.

Therein the archbishop is accused of arrogance and pride, of which the letter he had published was a further proof: "It had hitherto been the custom of prelates, even of popes, to interpret the discourses of princes in a fair and favour able sense ; but this archbishop had dared to call the king's letter a libel, though it contains nothing but truth, and what we shall make good from point to point when we see Jit."

It is said, that a cautious controversialist admits nothing, because whatever he admits will be exaggerated as to its importance and be urged against him. Stratford had not observed this rule. " This prelate," it was therefore said, ''lays great stress upon his exalted station, and calling him self an ambassador of Christ, demands that reverence and respect, which being due from him to us he refuses to pay. Although he and the other prelates of the realm, who hold

54 LIVES OF THE

their temporalities of us, are bound by their oath of allegiance, to acknowledge our sovereignty, and to render to us the obedience of subjects ; this prelate, instead of giving honour where honour is due, treats us not only with disrespect but with contempt. Although we have always been disposed to pay due regard to our spiritual fathers, yet their misconduct we cannot and will not pass over, when it tends to the detriment of our person and government." The letter then repeats, that the arch bishop has been guilty of the same offences, which he; charges upon others, and concludes with saying that the king cannot condescend to enter into a controversy with a subject. He will not, therefore, expose the fallacies of the archbishop's defence, as he might easily do, if dis posed. He will not allow any encroachment upon the royal prerogative, which the late ecclesiastical censures were, and he commands the sentence of excommunication to be cancelled.

The archbishop still refused to place himself on trial, except before his peers in parliament ; and the country was with him. The new ministers desired to govern by the prerogative ; but the good sense of the king gradually regained its ascendency over his passion, and a parliament was called, according to Birchington, for the 17th of April, 1341.

A summons was issued to the archbishop, accom panied by a safe-conduct. He was determined not to travel as a criminal. He proceeded leisurely, through his various manors, arriving at Lambeth on St. George's day, the 23rd of April, the first day on which parliament met for the despatch of business. On the morrow, he crossed the river, and, accompanied by the Bishops of London and Chichester, with a great number of the clergy and knights, escorted by an armed force, as if expecting violence, he presented himself at the great door of West-

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 55

minster hall. The wisdom of the precautionary measures CHAP. he had adopted was seen in the fact, that, at the door of ^ — ,_* Westminster Hall, armed men were drawn up to prevent Stratford. his entrance. They were under the command of Ealph, 1333-48- Baron of Stafford, and the Lord John Darcy, the first being seneschal of the royal hospital, and the second the king's chamberlain. They informed him, that their orders were to prevent him from entering parliament, until he had first made answer, in the king's exchequer, to certain charges, which had been brought against him. The archbishop replied, that he had come, in the discharge of his duty, which was to attend the king's parliament with the other peers of the realm. But, to avoid giving offence and to act in accordance with the king's command, he ordered his attendants to proceed to the Court of Ex chequer. The articles of impeachment had been duly prepared, and were laid before him. He required time to deliberate upon his answer, and time was granted.

He now returned to Westminster Hall and entered the Painted Chamber. The officials were not prepared to re ceive him, supposing that lie would be detained at the Exchequer. But seats were now assigned to him, and to the Bishops of London, Chichester, Coventry and Lich- field, and St. David's. So entirely was the hostile party taken by surprise, that no one, except the bishops, were present. To them, therefore, the archbishop addressed himself, and stated his reasons for attending parliament, which were, that he might defend the honour and liber ties of the Church of England, and devise measures for the advantage of the kingdom and people, for the honour of the king and the good of the queen ; and also, that he might clear himself in full parliament, from the crimes which had been laid against him and published. As he had been summoned to parliament by a mandate of the king, he had, as in duty bound, obeyed. The chancellor,

56 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, upon whom the duty of opening parliament properly

^ . devolved, now made his appearance, but only to prorogue,

Stratford, or, as we should now say, adjourn the parliament till the

1333-4f. morrow<

On St. Mark's day, the 25th of April, the archbishop, with the bishops, who seem to have acted as his council, took his seat again in the Painted Chamber ; but the king, probably from a reluctance to meet his old friend under present circumstances, did not make his appearance, and no business was transacted. On the Thursday following, the archbishop appeared in the Court of Exchequer ; but; he had evidently so interfered with the designs of hi* enemies, that they had not arranged their plans, and the proceedings were merely formal. On the Friday follow ing, he repaired again to Westminster Hall, but without an armed retinue. The opponents of the archbishop had now determined upon their course. At the door of the great hall stood the Lords John Darcy, Egidius de la Campo or Beauchamp, and Ealph de Neville. They re fused him admittance, until he had answered the charges brought against him in the Court of Exchequer, to which place they directed him to go. The archbishop replied, that he had been summoned to parliament ; and to his place in parliament, and not the exchequer he desired, at this time, to go. The opposing party saw, that resistance would be useless, and they permitted him to proceed to the Painted Chamber. He found there the Bishops of London, Ely, Coventry, Bath, Hereford, Salisbury, and St. David's. But the king came not. It was evident, that the influence of the new ministers over the king's mind was declining. Presently appeared Adam Orlton, Bishop of Winchester, one of the primate's most bitter enemies, the chancellor, and John Darcy. The bishop was the spokesman, and stated, that they appeared in the king's name, to call upon the archbishop, to become obe-

AKCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. O/

dient to the king, and to humble himself before him ; adding, that he would find the king gracious. This would have been to plead guilty to the offences laid to his Stratford, charge. The archbishop, therefore, replied, that to the king he had always been obedient, and, saving his order, was prepared to be so still. The Bishop of Winchester then said, that he was aware that he was the reputed author of the Libellus Famosus, which had been so much talked of ; but he denied, that there was any truth in the report. The silence of the archbishop implied, that he gave no credit to the denial. The lords separated.

On Saturday, the 28th of April, the archbishop re turned again to Westminster. He was now stopped by two armed men, at the door of the Painted Chamber, where the king was holding his parliament. The arch bishop replied, " My friends, I, Archbishop John, have been summoned to this parliament by a mandate from my lord the king, and I, who, next to the king, am superior to all, and have the greatest right to speak, claim the rights of my Church of Canterbury. I desire, therefore, ingress to the chamber." The men-at-arms refused to permit him to pass, and, in fact, acted as sentinels upon him and the Bishops of London and Chichester, who stood by him on either side. The archbishop took the cross from his cross-bearer; and standing with his cross erect, declared that from that place he should not move until he received another mandate from the king. He evidently was aware, that the king's anger was beginning to subside — a suspi cion, which the conduct of the ministry, if we may so call them, served to confirm.

While the primate and the bishops, who attended were waiting, the tread of armed men was heard, and the archbishop, now unprepared for an assault, felt that his worst fears would be realised. His fears were still more excited as he saw that the soldiers were headed by his

58 . LIVES OF THE

CHAP, enemies, Egidius Beauchamp, John Darcy the younger, _ x" _. and Thomas Muridham ; but the most outrageous on tliis Stotford occasion was John Darcy the elder. He, as soon as he 1333-48. gaw £he primate, exclaimed, " Holloa ! what are you doing here ? " " Here I am," replied Stratford, " summoned by the king to parliament, and here I stand to maintain the rights of my Church, and here, until I am admitted into parliament, I shall remain." John Darcy, with a fierce malignant scowl, replied, " I wish you may stand there for ever." The archbishop, turning from him, stood with his cross in his hand, facing the whole party, and said : " Here is my body, prepared for the worst — do with it as you will ; to my Creator I commend my soul." " No, no," inter rupted Darcy, with a sardonic smile on his countenance ; " of that thou art not worthy, and we are not such fools. All that we say is, that here thou art in defiance of thy liege lord." To whom the archbishop : " In obedience to my lord the king, I, in all humility, have come ; and my cross in my hand I carry, to show that here I am novr prepared, for the rights of my Church, to die." " Of the cross that thou bearest," retorted Darcy, "thou art un worthy — unworthy, therefore, to enter parliament : always a malefactor hast thou been, and thou hast acted as i, traitor to thy king ; and that man who dares to say that our lord the king is not led by wiser counsel, than he was by thee, I tell him that he lies in his teeth ; and this, since thy person is sacred, I am ready to prove on the body of any other wretch who dares to say it." Then Egidius let loose his tongue : " In an evil hour wast thou born, thou thing accursed ; thou who didst frustrate, and hast frustrated all along, the measures devised against France by a prince, than whom a nobler prince in the world cannot be found." The archbishop now drew himself up, and said, with solemnity, " The curse of God and of the blessed Mary, the curse of St. Thomas and my

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 59

own curse, be on the heads of all those, who shall have thus frustrated the king, now and for ever. Amen." By thus pronouncing those accursed, who had acted as Egi- Stratford, dius accused the archbishop of having acted towards the king, it was felt that he contradicted, in terms the most solemn, the statement of Egidius ; for both he and Darcy exclaimed, " On thine own head this curse falls." The archbishop, who seems throughout to have preserved his temper, merely remarked, "John, for thy opprobrious words I do not care." A crowd had now gathered round, and the people being indignant at the treatment of the archbishop, the armed force retired.

At length, the Earls of Northampton and Salisbury came out of the Painted Chamber to confer with the archbishop, who requested them to interpose their good offices between himself and the king ; entreating him to respect the rights of the Church of Canterbury, as repre sented by its archbishop. The earls having taken upon themselves, probably with the king's permission previously obtained, the office of mediation, the archbishop delivered his cross to be carried by the Bishop of Ely, and, with jjhe prelates associated with him, he retired to the little hall at Westminster, where they waited a considerable time. It was unusual for the archbishop to carry his own cross, which was only done when he wished to imply, that his very life was in danger ; the fact, therefore, of his resign ing it to the hands of another was a sign of amity. But it does not appear that he and his friends were admitted to parliament on this day ; it was only notified to the archbishop that the earls had so far succeeded, that the king had left it to the parliament to determine the terms, upon which Archbishop John was to be restored to the favour of King Edward. The king withdrew when the discussion commenced, in order that there might be no restraint upon those who were inclined to take part in the

60 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, debate. The debate was warm and protracted, chiefly

v ^ . through the management of the archbishop's enemy,

Stratford Adam Orlton, Bishop of Winchester, who was so unscru-

1333-48. puious in his statements, that, in one instance, he wras

proved to be guilty of a direct falsehood. The disputes

ran so high, that nothing was settled at this time ; but the

members separated with feelings of much exasperation.

The archbishop had retired to Lambeth, where he remained in retirement on the Sunday. His enemies, however, were active and at work. The majority in par liament were in favour of the archbishop ; and the king was beginning to think less unkindly of his old servant. Stratford had always been popular among the middle classes. To damage him in the eyes of the country was, therefore, the next thing to be attempted; and the attempt was made by John Darcy and William Killesby. They sought an interview with the citizens of London ; and the mayor, with some of the aldermen and council, met them on the Sunday at the Chapter House of Westminster. In order, that they might inflame the minds of the Londoners against the primate, certain articles were fabricated againsi, him, which were to be published and circulated.

The articles of impeachment, for as such they may be regarded, were based upon the statements in the Libellue Famosus, and the archbishop met them as openly as before. On the first of May, he came down early to the house, and there declared his readiness to clear himself, in full parliament, from all the articles laid against him from any quarter. He demanded to be arraigned before his peers, a right which Magna Charta conferred ; and which had been violated by the present ministry in their endeavour to have the archbishop tried in the Court of Exchequer.

The general question was now opened, whether, when a peer was impeached by the crown, for high crimes and

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 01

misdemeanours, he could be compelled to plead before CHAP. any other tribunal than the House of Peers ; and a com- — -^ — •

i J r John

mittee, consisting of four prelates, tour earls, and tour stratford. barons, was appointed to report on this subject, and, at the same time, to enquire concerning the causes laid to the charge of the archbishop.

The archbishop appeared in his place again on Wed nesday, prepared to explain his conduct ; but when he began to speak, the counsellors of the king, or the minis try, interrupted him, and caused so much disturbance and confusion, that the house adjourned, without coming to any definite conclusion. But this conduct evidently dis gusted the king, who, probably, was beginning to feel the want of those wise counsels, on which he had hitherto relied. The late controversy had answered its object, in diverting the public attention from the king's own mis conduct ; he found that the time had not come, when the government of the country could be confided exclusively to lay hands ; and if his impulsive nature hurried him frequently into wrong actions, he was equally ready to retrace his steps. The large majority of the parliament were with the archbishop ; and he who had certainly conducted himself, under very trying circumstances, with much temper, discretion, dignity, and skill, was not anxious to drive things to an extremity. Instead of insisting upon a verdict in his favour, which could only be done by revelations with reference to the royal con duct, to which the king would not submit, and no friend of the king would urge, he acceded to a compromise which tended, in the event, to his greater honour. I assume that there was a compromise, because, in the transactions about to be mentioned, some of the arch bishop's most bitter enemies took part — and against them he never instituted proceedings — there was an under standing that bygones were to be bygones.

62 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. At all events, on the 3rd of May the archbishop

s_ *' -, crossed from Lambeth to Westminster, his cross borne

Stea°t&rd. before him ; and in a full parliament, without any gain-

1333-48. saying? he took his place as the first peer of the realm.

At the proper time, the doors of the Painted Chamber

opened, and the king entering took his seat upon the

throne.

The whole parliament rose, and when the king was seated, stood before the throne — the lords spiritual ar d temporal, the knights of the shires, the burgesses of the towns. They were understood to be interceding with tl e king for the primate. The king, before a word wus spoken, signified, that he admitted him to his grace, and held him free from all the crimes alleged against him from every quarter.

It was a proud day for Stratford ; but he manifested no signs of triumph. He quietly received as a favour, what, from anything we can discover, he might have claimed as a right.

He remained at his manor-house at Lambeth for JL few days, when a message reached him from the king, to the effect, that he was replaced on the privy council. At the council-board the two friends met, and their friendship continued till the death of the archbishop.

Stratford was not unmindful of the reproaches of his conscience during his late trials, and was determined to fulfil his vows of attending to his duty as a prelate. He held a council in London on the 10th of October, 1342,* and another in March, 1343.f At each of these councils certain constitutions were established. Those of the first council were published as the Extravagants of John, Arch bishop of Canterbury ; the term being used to distinguish the canons of the first council from those of the second,

* "VVilkins, Cone. ii. 696 ; Spelman, ii. 572. f Wilkins, ii. 702 ; Spelman, ii. 581.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 63

which are called Constitutions, only a few months inter- CHAR vening between the two. > J- —

T "U

The practical character of Stratford's mind, as well as str°tfm-<i. his caution, is impressed on the legislative enactments of 1333~48- either synod. The canons are little more than a repe tition or a confirmation of constitutions made by his predecessors, or of canons passed in former councils. Nevertheless, there are some matters interesting to the archaeological student as well as to the reader of history.

For example, the archbishop found that, to the detri ment of the parish priest, but for the convenience of the parishioners, certain of the clergy accepted a remunera tion for performing the sacred offices of the Church in unconsecrated places without a license. It was ordered that, without the license of the bishop, no such irregularity should be permitted ; and the bishop was required only to license the oratories of nobles and great men who were surrounded by large households or retainers, and whose residence might be more than one mile from the parish church.*

The clerks of archdeacons and their officials were found to charge exorbitantly and ad libitum, for the transcription of official documents. They were limited to a charge of twelve pence for writing letters of request, institution or collation ; and sixpence for letters of orders. The marshals, or keepers of bishops' palaces, were pro hibited from taking fees ; so were the janitors and the episcopal barbers. The barbers might, indeed, have expected some remuneration ; for they were, at this time, exposed to much trouble, it being their business to ascertain, before a clergyman waited upon his bishop, that the cut of his hair was precisely canonical.f

A regulation on this point was the more necessary, as we find the Church legislating upon the subject. In the

* Extravagant, i. f Ibid. ii.

64 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, second constitution of the second council held by Stratford, v_^_ we have the description of a clerical fop of the fourteenth Stratford, century. It is stated that the prevailing excesses of the 1333-48. ciergy as to tonsure, garments, and trappings, gave abomi nable scandal to the people. Men, it was said, holding dignities, parsonages, prebends, benefices with cure of souls, thought scorn of the tonsure, — which is described as a mark of perfection and of the kingdom of heaven ; — a; id that they distinguish themselves with hair hanging down their shoulders in an effeminate manner ; it is affirmed that they loved to apparel themselves like soldiers rather than clerics, with an upper jump remarkably short and wide ; that they affected long hanging sleeves not covering the elbows ; that they had their hair curled and powdered ; that they wore caps with tippets of a wonderful length ; that they had rings on their fingers other than those of office; that they had long beards; that they were gi*t with costly girdles, to which were attached purses enamel led with figures and sculptured ; that they had knives hanging at their sides to look like swords ; that their shoes were chequered with red and green, exceedingly- long, and variously pinked ; moreover, that they ha 1 cruppers to their saddles, and baubles like horns hanging down from the necks of their horses ; that their cloaks were furred on the edge, contrary to the canonical sanctions.

These things vexed the righteous soul of Archbishop John, and it was enacted that all who offended in this way, should be, at the end of six months from the time; of admonition, suspended, unless he repented in the; interim.

Archdeacons and their officials were, at this time, ver} misconducted. They would often require an immoderate sum of money before they would induct a clerk already instituted or collated. It was therefore ordered that the

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 65

fee to an archdeacon for induction should be forty pence ; CHAP. or, if the induction was .performed by his official, the fee, ^ — ^ — • including ah1 charges for his attendants, was fixed at two Stratford, shillings, and, as money was scarce, it was left to the option of the person inducted whether the procuration should be paid in coin or in a supply of the necessaries of life. Some archdeacons and other superior ordinaries gaping after gain, it is said, indulged themselves in hunt ing and other affectations of grandeur, when making the circuit of their visitations. They would leave the actual work of the visitation to a deputy; and though they saw not, themselves, the inside of the church, they insisted on their procurations ; nay, they sometimes demanded the pay ment of them although the visitation was entirely omitted, being performed neither in person nor yet by deputy. They would, sometimes, contrive to arrive at a parsonage, the day before that fixed for the visitation, so as to tax the parson with another day's keep, not only of themselves but of their retinue, including the hounds ; and then, on the morrow, when demanding the procurations, permit no deduction to be made. They had, in every deanery, their riding apparitors, and these had their foot apparitors, and these were attended by garcons — servants of bad character — ready for any mischief, who forced themselves for a maintenance, on the rectors and vicars, remaining often an unreasonable time. These persons would look out for grounds for molesting the clergy, from doing which they could only be restrained by their being permitted to appro priate the lambs, or the wool, or the sheaves, as the case might be, which they had selected from the field or the fold. It was therefore enacted, that a bishop should have only one riding apparitor ; and that an archdeacon should be contented with a foot apparitor, who might stay with a rector or vicar only one night and one day once a quarter, unless invited to stay longer. The archdeacons were too VOL. TV. F

66 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, apt when men relapsed into adultery, fornication, or other

_J^ . notorious offences, to remit that corporal penance, which

Stratford, ought to be inflicted upon them, for a terror to others, for 1333-48. t}ie gake Of money9 so that they were called by some the lessors of sin. Therefore commutation of corporal penance was entirely forbidden, when the offender had relapsed more than twice ; and whenever a money fine was imposed, it was not to go into the archdeacon's purse, b it was to be applied to the fabric of the cathedral church. The archdeacons also exacted excessive sums of money from the clergy licensed to officiate in the archdeaconries, for inserting their names in the Matricula, as the list of the clergy in an archdeaconry wras termed. Therefore they were forbidden, to receive, for such insertion, more than one penny.* The parishioners were, at this tim-3, bound to repair the body and the roof of the parish church, within and without, together with the steeple, the altars, the images, the glass windows, and the fences of the churchyard. Complaint was made, that when a living was appropriated to a monastery, the monks, though large landowners and holders of the great tithes, refused to pay their share of the burden, or to contribute towards tha. charities of the parish. It was enacted, that henceforti the monks should be compelled, to give alms, in every parish in which they possessed property, at the discretion of the bishop.f

Complaints were made of persons leaving their parish church, and going to some distant church for marriage ; and that marriages were often solemnised when no banns had been previously asked. Eegulations were made to remedy this evil.J

At funerals, misconduct wras frequent and great. Ii had long been the custom of the faithful, to observe night

* Extrav. ii., vii., ix., x., xii.

f Extrav. iv., v. } Extrav. xi.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 67

watches, in behalf of the dead, before their burial; and CHAP.

to do so, sometimes, in private houses, to the intent, that , ^_

the faithful then meeting together and watching, might Stl^rtL devoutly intercede with God. But, by the arts of Satan, 1333-48. this wholesome practice of the ancients was turned into buffoonery and filthy revels. Prayers were neglected, and watchings became the rendezvous for adulteries, for nications, thefts, and other misdoings. Stratford observed, that when a probable good becomes an experienced evil, then an alteration is aUowable. These wakes were, ac cordingly, forbidden.

Thus did the archbishop endeavour to perform his vows ; but, when the stings of conscience were less acutely felt, and the external pressure was withdrawn, the old statesman returned to political life, with all his former zest.

The king found, by experience, that a more able and upright minister he could not obtain. In the year 1343, he commanded, that the articles drawn up against the Archbishop of Canterbury should be brought to the House of Lords to be declared insignificant, and to be annulled. The reason assigned for this order was that the said arti cles were neither reasonable nor true.* No higher testi mony could be borne to the integrity of the primate.

When the king went abroad, in the July of 1345, he left his young son Lionel nominally the regent; but, at the head of the council, which was to direct the affairs of the nation, he placed the archbishop. The same office was assigned to him in the year 1346, one of the most eventful in the history of England.

We may say, indeed, of Stratford — employing a modern term in a qualified sense — that he was, till the hour of his death, the prime minister of Edward III. ; at all events, he was the chief adviser of the crown. His success in * Foedera, ii. 1141, 1143, 1147, 1154. F 2

68 LIVES OF THE

obtaining subsidies, both from parliament and from cori- vocation, was great ; and his ability as a finance minister must have been considerable. He was, indeed, favoured ky circumstances ; for plunder on a large scale, both public and private, was regarded as a right of war, and high prices were paid for the ransom of prisoners. But it must have required no ordinary skill, to bring back the finances to order, after the reckless prodigality of the king, and the worse than negligence of the late ministry. The cur rency question did not escape his attention ; a new coinage was instituted, and a gold coin was put into circulation, the florin, which represented the value of ten shillings.

During this period, several important constitutional measures were adopted.

The system of papal provisions had for some time excited angry passions in England ; and even in the reign of Henry III. had been so far restricted, that the pope had pledged himself not to interfere with the rights of private patronage. The system of provisions had been introduced originally on a reasonable plea ; that of preventing the patrons of ecclesiastical livings from keeping them long vacant, and converting the revenues to their private use. This was important in an age of violence ; and, no doubt, it prevented, at one time, a simoniacal traffic in benefices. But it was not long before the system, however honestly de signed at first, was abused by a succession of unscrupulous pontiffs, who were gradually, by these means, converting to their own use the patronage of some of the best preferments in the various churches of Europe. The plan was, when a valuable piece of preferment was likely to be void, for the pope, having notice of it through one of his agents, to declare that, before the vacancy, he, to the utter disregard of all other rights, had provided an incumbent. Kings and clergy had often remonstrated against this proceeding. But, by the insincerity of the kings, the remonstrances

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 69

produced but little effect. Kings would withdraw their CHAP.

opposition, when popes were prepared to provide for the • ; — -

royal favourite, in opposition to a recalcitrant chapter. Stratford. The laity, in general, had been little interested in the 1333~48- controversy, and the clergy had been left to fight the battle by themselves, overawed by the pope, unprotected by the king.*

But the time had now come, when the earls and barons found it necessary to make common cause with the clergy, against this usurpation of the see of Home. The successor of the conscientious Benedict XII. was a Frenchman, devoted to French interests, and surrounded by French cardinals — Clement VI. He was voluptuous and expen sive ; his court was conducted on the most splendid scale of magnificence, and as scandal whispered, or more than whispered, it displayed, in its decorations and arrange ments, the influence of female taste. It was certainly known that, in all that related to the patronage of the papal court, the interest, which prevailed was that of the Viscountess of Turenne, and that her interest could only be secured after some transactions had privately taken place between her treasurer and the aspirant to certain vendible preferments, f

All this might have been tolerated, if money had not been required to meet the expenses of the court, beyond what the Viscountess of Turenne was able or willing to

O

supply. A mine of wealth seemed to be opened through those abuses, of which complaint had been often made — the papal provisions and reservations. Benedict XII. had piously abstained from enriching his family or rewarding his dependents through this source. His successor had no such scruples. Never was the abuse in this respect

* Butler's Hist, of English Catholics, i. 35. Kcnne.t's Hist. Eng land, 220.

f Matteo Villani.

70 LIVES OP THE

carried to a greater extent than at the present time. The indignation of the English people was excited to the Stratford, highest pitch, when, having introduced foreigners, often the 1333-48. mere servants of French cardinals, into English benefices ; or requiring the profits to be paid to them ; Clement availed himself of the proclamation of a jubilee, to declare a pro vision for two of his cardinals upon the next vacant bene fice — not a bishopric or abbey (he wished to avoid a collision with the crown) — to the value of a thousand marks a year.

We are not to suppose, that this proceeding was re garded with the feelings with which a similar transaction would be regarded now. At that time, the cure of sou's was not necessarily connected, in the public mind, with the profits of a benefice. The beneficed clergy were nc t considered as persons paid for duty done, but rather as the possessors of property to which certain duties at tached. The ecclesiastic held certain property in land. As the lay lord, in return for his landed possessions, rendered services to the king ; so the ecclesiastic was, as the condi tion of his holding certain estates, to make provision fo ' the performance of certain duties in the parish church. So long as the duty was done, it mattered not who wa:} the doer of it, the principal or his deputy.

It did not appear, therefore, monstrous, in itself, tha-i the pope should act on the same principle as the king He only said, "You have patronage in the Church ol' England — you use it to remunerate your servants ; and ] have acquired patronage in the Church of England, why should not I, in the same manner, make provision for my servants ? "

The argument was not easily answered, — though pre ceding popes had sometimes met with a sturdy resistance, both in the acquisition and in the exercise of their pa tronage, — until now, whei^ a Frenchman was pope, with a

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 71

court at Avignon instead of Borne, a creature of the King CHAP. of France, who was supposed to be usurping the throne » — ^ — * of the King of England. It was characteristic of the Stratford. nascent English mind, not to contend against an anomaly 1333-48- so long as it was only in speculation ; but to rise up, at once, in indignation, when the grievance became practical.

The residence of the popes at Avignon, and their sub servience to the French crown, created in English poli tics an anti-papal spirit, which tended even more than any religious feeling to the great change effected in our Church at the Eeforniation ; and one of the arguments sought out to maintain their cause by English statesmen, — the importance of having beneficed clergy who would perform the duties themselves, — had an influence upon the public mind beyond what was first intended.

The difficulty of distinguishing between the political and the spiritual character of the pope had already been surmounted in Italy.

What was the feeling in England on the subject is thus stated by a contemporary writer : " It is to be noted that the pope may often err against justice, and may excom municate the true part, and give his benediction to the false part. He may grant indulgence to those who are fighting on the false side ; and then God will give His benediction to the true part, and the acts of the pope will not hurt it." *

* John of Bricllington, Pol. Songs, i. 1C5. Who the real John of Bricllington was is not known. He assigns various reasons for con cealing his name, and his fear, as a young man, of provoking the anger of his elders, and of the aristocracy. He does not mention any fear of giving offence to the clergy, whose sentiments he generally expressed. The notion, that the bishops, at this period, sided with the pope can only have suggested itself to minds ignorant of the state of public feeling in England in the fourteenth century, and judging every thing according to modern and merely protestant ideas. It were more correct to say that in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries statesmen and lawyers usurped the preferments of the Church, than that ambitious churchmen

72 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. The government of England assumed a firm attitude,

.— ^' -^ and the pope himself attributed it to the influence and

Stratford, advice of Stratford. A remonstrance was addressed to the

1333-48. p0pe m courteous, almost adulatory, terms by the princes,

earls, barons, knights, citizens, burgesses, and all the

commonalty of England, which was conveyed to Avignon

by an eminent lawyer, Sir John Shorditch. It alluded

with freedom, to many papal abuses, and expressed the

determination of the nation not to permit any portion of

the national wealth, to be drawn from the country to

enrich foreigners, especially those who were the king's

enemies.

The last point contained the sting, and excited the anger of the cardinals and the pope, who were conscious of its truth. Clement, with his usual courtesy, exone rated Sir John Shorditch from all blame, as being the bearer, not the author, of the manifesto ; but, referring to the archbishop, he said he knew who it was who stooc: opposed to the pope and his proceedings, and that manV pride he would take good care to humble.

Clement wrote (in the courteous strain of one who was aware that he did not stand on sure ground) both to the parliament and the king. He stated his case as it has been given above. But he received a very spirited reply from the king, " with devout kissings of his holiness's feet ; " in which it was plainly stated, that neither the king nor his people would permit foreigners to hold pre-

intruded on civil and legal offices ; Stratford, for instance, educated as a lawyer, and because a diplomatist and statesman, receiving the chief emoluments of his office from holding high preferment in the church, the duties of which he, to a certain extent, or until he was disgraced at court, discharged by deputy. Upon the rights of the prelacy the pope was always encroaching, and against these encroachments they were pre pared to offer resistance, although when any direct opposition was offered to the pope they put forward the lay barons, as being in this respect the more independent.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 73

ferment in England, much less foreigners who, though CHAP. attached to the papal court, were, avowedly, the king's -- — ^~ enemies. Without perceiving, that he was using a two- Stratford. edged knife, which cut both ways, the king declaimed on the evils resulting from the non-residence of the beneficed clergy, and on the wrong done to the clergy of the Church of England and the cause of learning, when the patronage of the Church was misapplied. The king went further ; and asserted, that any papal patronage in England, was a usurpation. He maintained, that the right of filling English sees, and of nominating to English benefices, was vested in the Crown of England ; on the ground, that to the kings cathedral churches were indebted for their first endowments ; and that, from the first planting of Chris tianity in the land, this was part of the royal prerogative. The idea of the pope's taking a hostile position to the king of England ; and then, by an evasion of the law, abstracting from England the profits of her bene fices, to be conferred upon her enemies, so rankled in the public mind, that, in 1346, when Stratford was the head of the council, and his friend John de UfFord, the dean of Lincoln — afterwards elected to the see of Canter bury — was lord chancellor, very stringent measures were adopted against provisors and aliens. In answer to peti tions addressed to the council by the commons, it was enacted, that the profits belonging to foreigners, who had acquired benefices in England, should be forthwith for feited to the king ; that all alien monks should avoid the country ; that any vessel which should bring an alien into the kingdom should be confiscated ; that no person during the wars should send money out of the kingdom to the pope or to any foreign bishop for any duty whatsoever ; that no Englishman should farm any benefice of any alien monastery, under pain of perpetual imprisonment ; that no person should bring into the realm any bull or other

74 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, letters from the court of Borne, or from any alien, with-

_V ' out showing the same to the lord chancellor or the

-j- ,

Stratford, wardens of the Cinque Ports, on penalty of forfeiting all 1333-48. njg possessions.*

This was a boon to the monasteries, as well as to the clergy and the people. There were priories in England — alien priories — which, founded by Norman kings, had been attached to foreign abbeys. These priories were new occupied by Englishmen ; who, however, had hitherto been accustomed to pay an annual rent to the foreign establishment, to which they were affiliated. In mary instances, this connexion, from this time, permanent y ceased.

The king was, indeed, nobly supported by all classes of his subjects. When, in 1344, the truce was broken, the most liberal grants of money were made to enable him to conduct the war with success, both by convocation an 1 by parliament.*}1

So good an understanding, indeed, prevailed between the clergy and the parliament, that the same parliament, which passed the stringent measures just mentioned against the pope, passed another act to strengthen the, hands of the clergy. The statute of Mortmain was so far modified, that the bishops were empowered to purchase lands, provided the royal license was first obtained. Cer tain disputes also, relating to trials for bigamy, and the rights of appeal, which had arisen between the spiritual and civil jurisdictions, were settled in favour of the Church.

* Parliamentary Hist. i. 2G5.

f Collier, iii. 100, remarks that we may observe at this time some thing of the distinct powers of the two provinces of Canterbury and York. A triennial disine, or tenth, having been granted to the king by the clergy, the clergy of the province of Canterbury paid it at the feasts of Our Lady and of St. Barnabas, while the days of payment for the pro vince of York were the feasts of St. Luke and the nativity of St. John the Baptist.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 75

In short, everything proceeded prosperously with the CHAP. administration of Stratford after his restoration to favour. - — V — ' During his administration, the English arms were crowned stratfora. with success at Kevin's Cross ; and the news came, the glo rious news that the battle of Cressy had been fought and won. The national enthusiasm was excited. Among the greatest of heroes, England's king was now to take his place. England had assumed, never again to lose, the foremost position among European powers ; and it is not, in this place, an anticlimax to add, the veteran statesman, who had hitherto directed the counsels of Edward III., felt that his work was done, and well done.

Stratford, like all really great men, frequently sighed for that retirement, of which, however, from the activity of his mind, he soon became weary. Wearied by busi ness, lie sought to reinvigorate his soul by retirement ; and his rein vigora ted soul soon became appetent of work. The spot on which he sometimes sought his otium, so fairly won and so wisely used, was his manor of Mayfield, in Sussex ; the favourite country residence of many of the primates. Stratford was a man of literary tastes, and en joyed the society of learned men. Among his friends were the Doctor Profundus, Thomas Bradwardine, after wards destined to succeed him, for a short time, in the primatial see, and the first patron of Bradwardine, Eichard Bury ; of whose library we possess an interesting account. Stratford and Eichard Bury had been botli of them canons residentiary of Chichester, of which important city Thomas Bradwardine was a native.

The great and important work of Bradwardine, studied by deep theologians even in the present age, is the " De Causa Dei ; " and when I saw among the Harleian manu scripts a work entitled " Commentarius de Deo," attributed to Stratford, I thought, as others had done, that this was the work of our archbishop, and that it might contain the

76 LIVES OF THE

result of his conversations with his more learned friend. But this I find to be the work, not of John, but of Edward de Stratford.

The only remains we have of Stratford are certain official documents, and letters to the abbot of St. Augustine. There is a letter said to be written by the archbishop among the Bodleian MSS., which I have not examined.

When the archbishop was at Mayfield, thirteen poor persons would present themselves every morning, and each would receive, from the archbishop's own hands, a loaf of bread and thirteen pence in money. At noon, thirteen other poor persons made their appearance, who dined at his table, and, at their departure, received, each, a loaf arid a penny. He had lived too much among his fellow-men, not to be aware, that a kind word, coming from the kird heart of a man in an exalted station, appeals to the hea 't of an inferior, much more powerfully than the most liberal dole, when held out by the surly hand of one, who can have compassion on temporal sufferings, but knows not how to minister, by sympathy, to the mind diseased. Fragments would be left on his hospitable board, by the careless recipients of his bounty ; these he would have' carefully collected, that nothing might be lost, and Ii3 would direct them to be sent, with his benediction, to those poor persons, who were too infirm to present them selves at his gate.

Towards the close of life, and especially in 1343, the archbishop found pleasure in visiting his native place. There is something refreshing to the mind in the contem plation of a man immersed in business, throwing off the trappings of greatness, and conversing freely with the surviving friends of his youth ; indulging in those tender sentiments, which the wise man cherishes as a rich inheri tance from his mother, to whose training he traces all that is gentle, tender, and affectionate in a manly nature.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. t /

It is pleasant to think of the three old men, John de CHAP. Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury, Eobert de Stratford, . — ^ — . Bishop of Chichester, both of whom had sat more than Stratford, once in the marble chair of the chancellor, and their 1333-48- kinsman Ealph, Bisliop of London, who stood so nobly by the archbishop in his troubles — it is pleasant to think of the three old men, walking on the banks of the soft flow ing Avon, by whose silver streams, in aftertimes, " on things more than mortal, our Shakspeare would dream ; " it is pleasant to see them, in the mind's eye, reverting to the merits of their beloved parents, Eobert and Isabella, and devising the means to do them honour by benefiting their fellow-creatures.

Eobert of Stratford, the younger, before he became a bishop, had been the parson of his native place ; and as, with his brother, he trod the well-known pathway through the street to the ford, he would revert with pleasure and pride to the difficulties he had overcome, and the troubles he had encountered, to secure the blessing of a good road to the traveller.*

From the ford they would wander to the church, there to kneel at the grave of their father, or at the grave of their mother. Although John's had been the life of a man of the world, yet he could point to the south aisle of the church to show that he had not been forgetful of his duties as a bishop. So long ago as when he was Bishop of Winchester, he erected the south aisle of the church. This he assigned to the adjoining chantry to be their chapel. Of that chantry he was the founder. It con sisted of four clergymen in priest's orders, whose duty it was to celebrate divine service to the honour of Almighty- God, at the altar of St. Thomas, for the good

* Dugdale, 476. — He procured a patent for taking toll for the space of four years on certain vendible commodities for paving the town. The patent was twice renewed.

78 LIVES OF THE

CHAP, estate of John cle Stratford and Bobert his brother ; for * — ^ — that of the father of these brothers, who had been friends Stratford, through life, Bobert, and Isabella his wife ; for the souls

1333-48. Qf avj t|ie Brothers, sisters, friends, and benefactors of the founder ; and, as the consent of the king and the diocesan was necessary, before a chantry was established — for the souls of the kings of England and the bishops of Worc2s- tcr.* John de Stratford had purchased the advowson of the rectory ; for livings were sold then as now. It was valued at the rate of thirty-five marks, and with this be endowed the chantry. To this endowment, with his brother's consent, he now added the paternal estave. And, to secure a comfortable residence for the clergy, Balph de Stratford, sympathising with his kinsman, bu It a house of square stone, at considerable expense, ai d when stone houses were rare, to the ornament of the town.f

Some of these proceedings will be, in these days, con demned as superstitious. But the family affection, tl e loyalty to church and king, the desire of honouring tl e dead by benefiting the living, — these are sentiments, which in every age, and under every change of form, the religion of a heart not hardened by intolerance an I bigotry must accept.

Stratford, though still at the head of affairs, happy under all the circumstances of life, felt, in the early pait of the year 1348, the coming on of that illness, which Ii3 expected to be his last. As he found himself growing weaker he made his will, bequeathing his effects to his servants and domestics ; his cope, his mitre, and his manu scripts to the cathedral of Canterbury. He bequeathed benefactions to the convent of Christ Church, w*here the monks had stood by him in his trial. The residue he left-

* Pat. 10 Edw. III. 2, M. 33.

t Dugdalc, 182.

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to his college at Stratford. He then directed, that he CHAP. should be carried in a litter, to Mayfield, where he affixed - — V — ' his signature to the will. He sank peacefully to his rest. Stratford. Having devoutly received the sacraments of the Church, he breathed his last on the 23rd of August, 1348. He was buried at Canterbury, where his recumbent statue, on a tomb of alabaster, is still to be seen, with his cross, his mitre, and other habiliments, carved in marble under a Gothic canopy.

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CHAPTER XL

THOMAS BRADWARDIXE.*

A Native of Chichester. — Prosperous state of Chicliester. — Gilbert de S. Leofard. — John de Langton. — The Prebendary of Wittering. — Richard Bury. — An uncouth Student described. — Bradwardine a Merton Man. — Distinguished as a Student. — Mathematical Studi3s. — The Classical Pursuits. — De Causa Dei, edited by Savile. — Cele brity of the De Causa. — Motive of the De Causa. — Prevalent Pela- gianism. — Styled Doctor Profundus. — A practical Man. — Proctor of the University. — Controversy with the Archdeacon of Oxford.— Neglect of Learning. — Admitted to the Household of the Bishop of Durham. — Literary Society. — Formation of a Library by the Bishcp. — Bradwardine Chancellor of St. Paul's. — Prebendary of Lincoln. — King's Chaplain. — Goes to Flanders. — Royal Progress up the Rhine to Cologne and Coblentz. — Bradwardine Chaplain-General of the Forces. — Elected to the See of Canterbury. — Election superseded 1 >y the King. — Ufford appointed to Canterbury. — UfFord dies uncon- secrated. — Bradwardine elected to the Primacy. — Consecrated ;it Avignon. — Strange conduct of a Cardinal. — Returns to England.— The Black Death. — Bradwardine dies of the Plague.

CHAP. XI.

JUDGING from the name, we may conclude, that the family of the celebrated schoolman, who is known i i ecclesiastical history as the Doctor Profundus, cam 3

* Authorities : Thomae Bradwardini, Archiepisc. olim Cantuar. D 3 Causa Dei contra Pelagium, et de Virtute Causarum. London, 1618. This, the great work of the Doctor Profundus, was edited by Savile, who has, in the Preface, collected the few facts which we possess of hi i personal history. See also Birchington ; William de Chambre, Hist. Dunelrn ; William de Dene, Hist. Roff.

ARCHBISHOPS QF CANTERBURY. 81

originally from Bradwardine, a parish near Hereford.* CHAP. But we have the authority of the Doctor Profundus him self, for the fact, that he was himself a native of Chichester, Bradwa? as had been his father and his grandfather.f f^

The date of Bradwardine's birth is uncertain. Savile supposes it to have been about the year 1290 ; but it is difficult to make this harmonise with some of the events of his life, which would induce us to look for an earlier date.J

Certain it is, that at the period of his birth, and for some time before, Chichester was in a flourishing con dition ; and was the residence of eminent men, who took an interest in its welfare. The Lady Chapel, at the

* In public documents the name of the Doctor Profundus is usually written Thomas de Bradwardina and de Bredewardina. Savile con jectures that it was written Bradwardine, "euphonic, ut puto, gratia." Gerson has it Bragwardin ; Gesner, Branduardinus ; other spellings are Bredwardyn (Birchington), Bradwardyn (William de Dene ), Brad- widyn (Chaucer).

f The words of Bradwardine himself are express upon this point : " Per similem etiam rationem quicquid nunc scribo Oxonias, scriberet pater meus Cicestria?, quia genuit me scribentem, imo avus et pro- avus." It is strange that in the face of this declaration by Bradwar dine himself, so many other places should be spoken of. Birchington says of him : " De parochia de Hertfield, Cicestrensis Dioeceseos oriun- dus," Ang. Sac. i. 376. This Dart and Godwin convert into Hatfield; Hasted into Heathfield. But Bradwardine speaks not of the Diocese of Chichester, but of Chichester itself. William de Dene (Ang. Sac. i. 42), gives as his birthplace Condenna, that is, probably, Cowden, in the Diocese of Rochester. Savile says : " Ut non multum aberrasse videahtur Balaeus et Antiquitatum Britannicarum auctor, qui Hartfeldiae natum asserunt in Dirccesi Cicestrensi, quibus auctoribus, aut quibus permoti argumentis nescio. Apud me certe ilia auctoris verba prarpon- derabunt, dum aliquid certius ab aliis afferatur."

J Savile says : " Quo anno natus sit, quemadmodum nihil pro certo asseveraverim (ut sunt magnorum ssepe virorum principia obscura, quorum sunt notissimi exitus), ita, cum Procuratorem fuisse constet Universitatis Oxoniensis anno 1325, circa annum Domini 1290 natum crediderim, mediis temporibus Regis Edwardi Primi.

VOL. IV. G

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east end of the Presbytery, had just been completed. It had been designed and commenced by the piety of Bishop Gilbert de S. Leofard,* and was completed by the distinguished statesman, who now presided over the see of Chichester, John de Langton. f

Whether young Bradwardine «aw the campanile or bell tower, may be doubted. Tradition gives the work to Bishop John de Langton, but Professor Willis, from internal evidence, assigns to it a later date. But he must have looked upon the fair proportions of the south tran sept window which John de Langton was erecting; and gazed probably with awe on the tomb beneath it, which the living bishop had opened to be to him a perpetual memento of the certainty of death and the insecurity of life.

There were other great men at, or about, that timo, connected with the cathedral of Chichester. There wrs Simon de Mepham, who became Archbishop of Canter bury ; and who, in remembrance of the happy days, which he passed, as a canon residentiary of Chichester, selectel

* Bishop Gilbert had been educated at Oxford, and was successively Precentor of Chichester and official of Canterbury. Mat. Paris speal s of the holiness of his life, " vitae illius sanctimoniam," and alludes to h:s miracles, on the ground of which application was made to the pope fcr his canonization. There seems, indeed, to have been some ambitio i at this time to increase the number of English saints. Applications had been made, within a few years, for the canonization of Thomas cf Lancaster, Archbishop Winchelsey, Bishop D'Alderby of Lincoln, Bishop Marsh of Bath and Wells. — Foedera, iv. 268, 272, 275, 375 ; Wikes, 116; Waverl. 239.

•f John de Langton was educated at Oxford, and was one of tho many distinguished men who at that time gave fame to Merton Col lege ; he was, as stated in the text, an eminent statesman. His church preferments were the Rectory of Burwell, a prebend in York Cathedral another in Lincoln in 1294 ; the treasurership of Wells ; the Arch deaconry of Canterbury, 1299. He was consecrated to the see o.' Chichester on the 10th of September, 1307.

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from the many manors belonging to the see of Canter- CHAP

bury, Slindon, in the neighbourhood of Chichester, to be > ,- —

his favourite retreat from the cares of business. John de Bradwar- S. Leofard, nephew of the late Bishop Gilbert, was dean, j1™*- — a man of energy and zeal. But the person destined to be the great patron of Bradwardine, was Eichard of Bury, who, having a stall in our cathedral, was already evincing his taste as a book-collector.

John de Langton, the bishop, was a man of whom Chichester was justly proud. He was not, indeed, eminent as a divine ; but, as a lawyer and a statesman, he had few equals. He had commenced life as a clerk in Chancery, and is the first person, to whom the title of Master of the Eolls can be distinctly traced. In a letter patent of Ed ward I, 1286, quoted by Mr. Hardy, he is called Gustos Eotulorum. In 1292, he succeeded, in the chancellorship, one of the most distinguished statesmen that this country has produced — Burnell, Bishop of Bath and Wells. In 1307, when John de Langton was consecrated Bishop of Chichester, he had twice sat in the marble chair at Westminster, Lord High Chancellor of England. He had received many ecclesiastical preferments, the duties of which he had discharged by deputies, employing the income to maintain his dignity at court. But in 1307, he had begun to see the vanity of mere secular pursuits ; and he gradually weaned himself from the world, having determined, at all events, not to follow the example of too many of his brethren ; who, in serving the king and the state, neglected those spiritual duties, which men of true piety regarded as their first concern. He was, probably, influenced by the example of his immediate predecessor, — one of the few prelates who had not busied himself in worldly pursuits. Bishop Gilbert was a truly good man. Bishop Gilbert was munificent in what related to the general interests of the cathedral

G 2

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and diocese, and unbounded in his charity to the poor. Bishop Gilbert was so respected and beloved while living, that it was expected, that miracles would be performed at his tomb. Some who had sought relief in vain at the shrine of our great St. Eichard, knelt at the grave of Bishop Gilbert; and among nervous patients, whose imaginations were heated, some wonderful cures were effected. The people of Chichester, ambitious to have another saint, demanded the canonization of their late diocesan. Although we may regard such persons in these days as superstitious, the name of Gilbert ainon? the prelates of Chichester is still spoken of with reverence and respect.

Under such superintendence, the parochial clergy united with the dean and chapter in their efforts to make, by th 3 erection of a spire, a suitable addition to an edifice, which was properly regarded, as the parish church of the wholo diocese. On certain festivals, other churches were closed ; and to the mother church all persons were expected to repair. This circumstance rendered them the mor<$ ready to give assistance.

The Prebendal school was not yet established ; bu ; about the year 1224 Bishop Ealph Neville had attaches a Divinity lectureship to the prebend of Wittering, anc. the prebendary was sworn " Se lecturum in claustro Cicestrias temporibus opportunist *

Although, therefore, the present cloisters are of later date, yet a cloister existed in the fourteenth century ; and

* Ordinatio Bonifacii, Archiepisc. ad Johan. Cicestr. Episc. E. 213 : " Episcopus qui pro tempore fuerit, tenetur conferre et conferat dictam Prrcbendam Regent! actualiter in theologia, qui in receptione prae- bendfe juret corporaliter, in claustro Cicestria? fideliter et sine fraude se lecturum, temporibus opportunis. Volumus et ordinamus, quod hoc onus legendi, dictse prasbenda? perpetuo sit annexatum. In cujus rei Dat. apud. Slyndon die Scti. Bartholomei, 1259.

— ,

1349.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 85

here young Bradwardine received the first elements of CHAP. that learning, by which he was destined to elevate himself above his contemporaries, and to establish an immortal name. In the same cloisters, he would converse with dme- Eichard of Bury, of whom we shah1 have occasion to speak hereafter. Eichard Aungervile of Bury, filled some of the highest offices in Church and State ; but he is still more distinguished for the library he collected, — the largest belonging to any private person in the country. He was a man of much dry humour and wit ; and, warning young Thomas to be careful to wash his hands before pre suming to handle a book, he thus satirises some of the uncouth students, whose manners and habits reflected discredit on literature : — " You will sometimes see," he re marked, " a stiff-necked youth lounging sluggishly in the scriptorium. In winter the frost perhaps pinches him ; the big drop hangs from his nose, and being too lazy to wipe it off with his handkerchief, lie lete it fall upon the moistened page. Better than a book upon his knee a cobbler's apron would befit such a creature as this. Any passage that pleases him he indents with a filthy nail big as a giant's. Then he marks the places, that he may recur to them, with straws sticking out from the volume. These straws, which the stomach of the book never digests, and which nobody ever takes out, distend the book at first, and then they become putrid. Over the open book the fellow munches cheese and fruit, and on it he places his empty jug, first on one side, then on the other ; having, in fact, no alms-bag at hand, he fills the book with the fragments of his food. He keeps on chattering his nonsense with eternal garrulity to any chance com panions, and splutters the page with his saliva ; or still worse, feeling inclined for a nap, he digs his elbows into the page over which he sprawls. Then, to repair the creases, he twists back the margin of the leaves, to the no

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small detriment of the volume. Or if it be spring-tide, he stuffs his volume with violets, roses, quadrefoils which ne wi§nes to preserve. In summer he comes in with the sweat oozing from his wet hands, and turns over the volume ; then with a dusty glove he will soil the white parchment still further by attempting to dust it, or will pass over the page, line by line, with a forefinger armed with dirty leather. Then, perhaps, a flea bites him, and ah1 of a sudden the holy book is flung away, soiled and swelled with dust, resisting all attempts to close it."

Such was the complaint of a book-collector in the four teenth century ; and a good rule was laid down by Eichard Bury when he insisted, that washing shoulc. always precede reading — a rule which the librarians of mechanics' institutes, and we may say the librarians also in fashionable wTatering-places, even in the nineteenth century, would be glad to enforce.*

We know not the year, in which Thomas Bradwardine left the cloisters of his native city for the banks of the

* Philobiblon, cap. xvii. In the Paris edition of 1500, this work is called Philobiblion. Canon Shirley, in his valuable Preface to the Fasciculi Zizaniorum, xlvii., says that the real author of the Philobiblon was not Richard Bury himself, but his chaplain Robert Holcot ; but Mr. Foss remarks, that the history of the bishop's private life, in chapter viii., makes it probable, that it was Richard Bury's own compo sition. William de Chambre describes Richard Bishop of Durham as only "sufficienter literatus;" and there are classical references, which show the author to be a well-read man ; or they may be regarded as pieces of pedantry of which you would suppose a man " sufficienter literatus," wishing to appear a scholar, to be guilty. The pedantry of the work struck me, when first I read it, as remarkable ; the author goes out of his way to show his learning. There are, however, some striking passages as well as worthy remarks. The following might be placed over the door of a library. Speaking of books, he says : " Hi sunt magistri qui nos instruunt sine virgis vel ferula, sine verbis et colera, sine pane et pecunia. Si accedis non dormiunt, si inquiris non se absconderunt, non remurmurant si obcurres, cachinnos nesciunt si ignores."

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Isis. We only do know, that he was one of the many dis tinguished men who proved the wisdom of Walter de Merton, in introducing the collegiate system into our Bradwar- universities. He was a Merton man ; and the catalogue of dj1;®-

13*x9.

the Chancellors and Proctors of the University of Oxford contains his name in the year 1325 — Procura tores Wil- lielmus de Harrington et Thomas de Bradwardin. His contemporaries are unanimous, in the testimony they bear to his early pre-eminence as a scholar. He was familiar with the writings of Plato and Aristotle ; and, at the same time, distinguished himself as a mathematician. According to Savile, no one approached him in this department of science. He instances, among the other works of Bradwardine, his "Astronomical Tables descriptive of the Equations of the Planets and the Conjunctions and Oppositions of the Heavenly Bodies." These Savile, a very competent authority, had examined. Bradwardine's treatise " De Arithmetica Speculativa " was published at Paris in the year 1495, and again in 1530 — a proof of the high estimation in which the work was long held. Another treatise, "De Geometria Speculativa," was also published in 1495, and this was reprinted in 1516. His treatise " De Proportionibus Velocitatum" was printed first at Paris, and then at Venice in 1505.*

From the school of science he passed into that of moral philosophy and theology. He was requested by the Fellows of Merton to lay before them the results of his studies, and he delivered to them a course of lectures, which, when he afterwards resided in London, and had the library of Eichard Bury to consult, he arranged in the form of a treatise and published. It was edited, with his usual ability, by Savile, himself a Merton man, in 1618, at the suggestion of Archbishop Abbot. In the

* " Plurimos alios conscripsit," says Savile, " in omni disciplinarum genere, si credimus Baleo, mihi non tractates."

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six manuscripts consulted by Savile the title of the work is " Summa Doctoris Profundi." The title it now bears is " ^e Causa Dei contra Pelagium et de Virtute causarum ad suos Mertonenses libri tres." It is a folio of more than 900 pages. It is a mine of thought, and is consulted by deep thinkers, especially those of the Calvinistic school, in the nineteenth century. It was analysed in the last century, with great care and judgment by Dean Milner, who was one of the first mathematicians, and perhaps the most learned of the Calvinistic divines of his own age.

Immediately upon its publication, this work was re ceived, by all learned men, with such applause, that it immediately found a place in almost all the libraries of Europe. Gerson, Gregorius Ariminensis, and many other writers quoted from it, as regarding its arguments in the? light of an authority. On a work which made such an impression on the public mind it is necessary to offer a few remarks.

The school philosophy, it is well known, was employed in the application of dialectics to theology. By theology, or by orthodox theology, was meant, in the middle ages, the theological system deduced, or deducible from the writings of St. Augustine. Augustine stood in the same relation to the mediaeval doctors, as that in which Calvin stood towards the theologians of England, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. But, as is often the case with respect to authorities to which men nominally defer, Augustine was less read than praised; and when he was quoted, the quotations were too frequently taken from abstracts made from his works, apart from the context ; consequently, he was frequently misunderstood, and more frequently misinterpreted.

Bradwardine was a student of the entire works of the great Latin doctor, whom he regarded as the true apostolic logician and philosopher. As he read deeply and thought

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profoundly, he was fearless in declaring what he believed CHAP. to be the truth. He feared not to startle the world by declaring, that nearly the whole Church had become Pela- gian. In attempting to prove his position, he anticipated, to a certain extent, the work of the Eeformers of the six teenth century. For some time, there had been a strong anti-papal spirit in England, so far as politics were con cerned. To a French pope residing at Avignon the English were naturally opposed ; but it is in the pages of Bradwardine, that we have the first surmise, that there was doctrinal error as well as erroneous conduct. He pointed out the occult Pelagianism, which existed in the doctrine which related to what was styled the merit of congruity — the doctrine against which our 13th Article is directed. By rejecting the merit of condignity, that is, the merit, which claims reward on the score of justice, the divines of the fourteenth century supposed, that they escaped the heresy of Pelagianism. But from their desire to recognise, in some sense, the merit of human virtue — the constant demand of man's proud heart — they asserted the merit of congruity. According to this doctrine, it was contended, that the performance on the part of man of certain good actions, rendered it meet and equitable, that God should confer upon him saving grace. It is on this point, that Bradwardine is original, and he establishes his position with*, logical or rather mathematical precision. As he excelled in mathematics, so he brought his mathe matics to bear upon his method of treating theological questions. He first of all, lays down two hypotheses or principles, and he then demonstrates their consequences, and deduces the corollaries. The consequences are some times such as would startle a more cautious and practical reasoner into a re-examination of his principles, or into a reconsideration of his hypotheses ; but Bradwardine marches boldly on, perfectly contented if he is formally

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correct. His primary design was a refutation of Pela- - gianism ; but, in the prosecution of his subject, he is led on to treat, at considerable length, of the Great God Himself, His Perfections, Eternity, Immutability, Im mensity, and of His other Divine attributes, particularly His knowledge, power, and will. Bradwardine's principle of predestination is deduced from the absolute Being of God, from His self-existence and immutability. By this mode of arguing, the distinction sometimes attempted to be made between foreknowledge and predestination is excluded. Our author is not deterred from maintaining as a necessary corollary from his premises, that God willed sin privative though not positive. Human freedom is conditioned by the Divine necessity. The will of the Creator leads, that of the creature follows. His principles were what would be called, in modern times, extreme Calvinism.

These abstruse subjects present themselves, from time to time, for discussion in the Church, being designed, probably, by Divine Providence to interest the minds of men, by compelling them to stretch out their necks, as it were, that, if it be possible, they may look over the ram parts, which separate eternity from time. The mind must be severely exercised on religion ; but the mind will not be excited unless perplexities occur. To those, whose inclination is to metaphysical inquiries, or to the reveries of mysticism, such subjects have a peculiar interest ; and whatever tends to elevate the mind above the realities of ordinary life has, if not carried to excess, a salutary iDfluence. Many minds have, in all ages, found it difficult to reject Augustinianism, or, as it was subse quently called, Calvinism ; for it is against the conclusions that they have revolted, while, by the process of argumen tation, through which the conclusions have been reached, they have been fascinated. Their moral nature and their

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 91

intellectual nature, their sentiment and their logic, are at CHAP.

variance. The feelings of the persons, who are opposed . ^ —

to the a priori argument, which leads to conclusions Bradro-

against which their reason rebels, are expressed by Pope <1"^ with his usual terseness and felicity of expression : —

Let others creep by timid steps and slow, On plain experience lay foundations low, By common sense to common knowledge bred, And last to nature's Cause through nature led ; All-seeing, in thy mists we want no guide, Mother of arrogance and source of pride ; We boldly take the high Priori road, And reason downward till we doubt of God.

To this quotation from the most elegant of our poets we may add another from the father of English song, who united with his contemporaries in his admiration of Bradwardine, but demurred to some of the conclusions to which his mathematical precision brought him. The following passage occurs in the " Nun's Priest's Tale : " —

But what that God afore wrote must needs bee,

After the opinion of certaine clerkis.

Witnesse of him that any clerke is,

That in Schoole is great altercation

In this matter, and great disputation,

And hath been of an hundred thousand men.

But I ne cannot boult it to the bren,

As can the holy doctour S. Austin,

Or Boece, or the Bishop Bradwardin.

Whether that God's worthy foreweting

Straineth me needly to doe a thing,

(Needly clepe I simple necessite)

Or if the free choice be granted me

To doe the same thing, or do it nought,

Though God fore wot it or it was wrought.

Or if his weting straineth never a dele

But by necessite conditionele,

I woll not have to done of such matere.

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CHAP. By the universal consent of learned men, throughout - /_, Christendom, the title of Doctor Profundus was accorded war- to tne learned author of the " De Causa Dei," who is as 1349 we^ known by that appellation as Scotus is by that of Doctor Subtilis, and Aquinas by that of Doctor Angelicus.* Our admiration of Bradwardine is increased, when we find that, student as he was, and devoted to the profound speculations of Christian philosophy, he never hesitated to leave his favourite studies ; when, by the call of Providence, he was summoned to the duties of active life. He so arranged his secular pursuits as always to find time, like Mary, to sit at Jesus' feet ; but he did not forget, that Mary had previously assisted Martha in her household work. He only objected to serve when, 'he service being overmuch, and undertaken voluntarily, pre vented him from attending to that care of the soul, which he knew to be the first duty of the individual to himself. Classical literature was, at this time, studied, and, as we see in the Philobiblon, was rather pedantically displayed. Bradwardine may, therefore, have passed from things sacred, and have observed Mertonensibus suis, that although with Theophrastus he preferred the contei i- plative life, he would also follow the advice of Dicasarchts, and engage in a life of action, following the example of Cicero in the union of the two classes of duty.

In the year 1325, he accepted the office of junior proctor in the University of Oxford, and wras immediately involved in the intricacies of a troublesome lawsuit. A

* We may here remark that the Dominicans were avowedly tl e advocates of the doctrines of St. Augustine, and especially accused tie Franciscans of being semi-Pelagians. To this circumstance I attribute the supposition of some later writers, that Bradwardine was a Do minican, for which I can find no contemporary authority. If he ha 1 been a Dominican, we may be quite sure that the Dominicans woul-l have made their boast of him.

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 93

controversy had arisen between the University and the Archdeacon of Oxford. The archdeaconry was held in commendam by a certain Galhardus de Mota, Cardinal of St. Lucia ; and while the duties of the office were neglected or performed by deputy, the emoluments were farmed by certain unscrupulous persons, whose object was, of course, to make the best of their bargain. In the arch deacon's name, they claimed spiritual jurisdiction within the University of Oxford. This was done, not for the pur pose of enforcing discipline, but with an evident tendency to relax it. Their object was to obtain jurisdiction in the University, in order that they might compel the students to purchase a relaxation of discipline, or occasionally buy off a threatened prosecution. The archidiaconal officers were low men, whose mode of proceeding in the diocese is described in the introductory chapter, and it was thought, that a course of proceeding, found to be lucrative in the diocesan cities, would be productive of great gain in the University. The chancellor and the proctors maintained, that, by the common law of England, the discipline of the University rested with them. They spoke with contempt of the non-resident archdeacon and of his pretensions. When this was reported to the cardinal, he was violently indignant, and obtained letters from the pope, requiring the attendance of the chancellor, proctors, and certain masters of arts at Avignon, to make answer to such things as should be laid to their charge. They declined to put in an appearance, and instituted a counter suit by appeal ing to the king. The king gave them a gracious hearing, and succeeded in compelling the archdeacon to submit his case to the arbitration of English judges.*

For a man who, like Bradwardine, loved learning for

* Wood, Annals, 408. Foedera, iv. 190. The affair was not settled before 1330, if even then. A few years afterwards the University was exempted from episcopal jurisdiction.

94 LIVES OP THE

CHAP, its own sake, the University was the proper place ; but XL ^ he was summoned to London, to become one of the lradwar- household of the Bishop of Durham, who was none other ^ne- than his former friend and patron, Eichard Aungerville, better known by the name of Eichard of Bury. This- eminent man had been consecrated to the see of Durham in 1333, and having been appointed Lord Treasurer on the 3rd of February 1334, and Lord Chancellor on the 28th of the following September, was now at the head of a splendid establishment. Thirty-six esquires waited in uniform in his hall, and twenty chaplains all arrayed alike. Nobles resorted to his court, and he was visited by royalty itself. But his delight was in the society of men of learning. He could himself repeat conversations, which he had, when he was on an embassy to Avigncn, with Petrarch, already renowned. At dinner, a reader was appointed. In this appointment, Eichard Bu^ introduced, into his episcopal establishment, a custom prevalent in the monasteries ; but his learned companior s, inclining to pedantry, referred also, very probably, ,o the practice of the Eomans, who, as we learn fron Cicero, employed not unfrequently an anagnostes. A free discussion, after dinner, was permitted to the learned men, who assembled at the hospitable board. The change, therefore, from Merton College to the palace of the Bishop of Durham, or to his residence in London, was little more than the removal from one college t3 another. The change, indeed, was hardly so great i:i the case of Bradwardine ; for he was associated with seven other Merton men — a circumstance, which reflects tho more honour on that society, when we find, that tho Bishop of Durham was not a Merton man himself. There were, besides Bradwardine, Eichard Fitzralph, afterwards Archbishop of Armagh, the opponent of th( mendicants and the precursor of Wiclif ; Walter Burley ;

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 95

John Mauduit ; Eobert Holcot (supposed to have been CHAP. the real author of the Philobiblon) ; Eichard Kilwington, • — ,-1— . or Kilmington, all doctors of divinity, as was Bradwar- Bradwar- dine himself; Eichard Bentworth, afterwards Bishop of ^"g London, and Walter Seagrave, afterwards Dean of Chichester.

These men were happily employed in assisting the bishop, in the collection and arrangement of a library, which became one of the wonders of the age. The bishop thought, with Cicero, that to attach a library to his residence was to supply a soul to his household ; and if he found in Holcot his Tyrannio, he found in Bradwar- dine an Atticus. Eichard of Bury's opportunities for effecting his purpose were great, and of these he availed himself to the utmost. As treasurer and chancellor he was in constant attendance upon the king ; and in their progress through the country, while the king was enjoy ing the pleasures of the chase, the chancellor was hunting for rare books — " for crazy quartos and tottering folios," as he himself expressed it — in the libraries of the neighbour ing cathedrals and monasteries. He found many of these public libraries in a dilapidated condition. Books of inestimable value were covered with the excrements of mice, and pierced through by the gnawing of worms. Eichard's love of books was soon known, and people discovered that they could purchase the favour of the chancellor, though not by money, yet by quartos. In his foreign embassies, he states, that he gave it out, that he " preferred folios to florins, books before bags, and petty pamphlets to pampered palfreys." Valuable additions to his library were, in consequence, easily obtained.

The books were collected rather than arranged, until he retired from public life, and confined himself to his episcopal duties. In every manor house of the see, books were seen lying about. No one could take a seat

96 LIVES OP THE

CHAP, without knocking against a book. His bed-room

"XT

\' -

"XT

' full of them. He boasted, that the first Greek and

Hebrew grammars were the result of his labours ; and the library which his chaplains were now assorting in London, preparatory to his final removal to Durham, he bequeathed at his death to the students of a college in Oxford, at that time called Durham College, but row known as Trinity.

In this library Thomas Bradwardine found the books which it was necessary for him to consult, when he gave the " De Causa Dei " to the public. At the same time we must admit, that Bradwardine did not make all the use of such a library as might have been expected, or rather as would have been expected in a more accurate age. His quotations are carelessly made, and not unfrequeniy from apocryphal Greek authors. Of this his learned editor complains.

Bishops, like kings, sought to pay their servants not from their own purses, but by converting, in their favour, the preferments of the Church into sinecures. The Bishop of Durham obtained for his chaplain the Chancellorship of St. Paul's, with the Prebend of Cadington minor attached to it. Bradwardine was collated on the 19th of September, 1337. He accepted, soon after, a prebend in Lincoln Cathedral. To the acceptance of the latter pre ferment he at first demurred. So much had been said, of late, against non-resident beneficiaries, — though at first the remarks were intended only to apply to foreigners, — that a conscientious man like Bradwardine may have hesitated to make himself responsible for duties, which he was never likely to discharge in person. When he was in London, he could perform the duties of the chancellor ship, and he probably read, in St. Paul's, what he hat formerly delivered as lectures at Oxford, before he col lected his productions into a volume. At Lincoln his

ARCHBISHOPS OF CANTERBURY. 97

stall would be a sinecure. But whatever his scruples CHAP. may have been at first, they were overruled, for he was nominated to an office, in which all the money he could collect would be required.

On the joint recommendation of Archbishop Stratford and Bishop Eichard of Bury, Thomas Bradwardine was ap pointed one of the chaplains of the king. Here the expenses, like the power, would be great ; the salary nil. The king would find employment, the Church pay. If credit is to be given to the political songs of the day, the life of King Edward III., at this period, was so immoral, that we may suppose, that these prelates, though men of the world- statesmen and lawyers rather than divines, but still men of unimpeachable morality — desired to place in contact with the king a man, whose firmness of character was only surpassed by his unpretending modesty and gentle temper. The very abjects respected Thomas Bradwardine.*

The new chaplain joined the brilliant court of Edward III. in Flanders ; and formed part of the suite, when on the 16th of August, 1338, escorted by peers and prelates, with a numerous retinue of servants, and a body guard of sixty men, the king proceeded up the Ehine. The king's object was to hold a conference at Coblentz, with his brother-in-law, Louis of Bavaria, whose right to the imperial diadem was maintained by the English. Until the illumination of the Ehine, on the reception given to Queen Victoria by the King of Prussia, the progress of

* He is described as " Regi Edwardo Tertio a sacris confessionibus," which is sometimes translated Confessor to the King. This was a title borne by all the royal chaplains. When the writer of this note was appointed one of the chaplains of George IV., there was an office still in existence, to which the title of Confessor of the Household was attached. The title was changed to Chaplain of the Household by Bishop Bloinfield. Whether Bradwardine was the chaplain who ordi narily received the confessions of Edward III. is not known. That he was such we should infer from Birchington. VOL. IV. II

98 LIVES OF THE

CHAP. King Edward from Antwerp to Coblentz was unsurpassed,

_XL , perhaps unequalled, in magnificence. It was like the

mXar- triumphant procession of a conqueror. All persons, of all

dine- classes, combined to give a welcome to the King of

England, and to do him honour. By their enthusiasm,

they made manifest the importance attached by llie

Germans to the English alliance, and the high position

which our country had now taken among the nations of

Europe.

There are few things more striking, than the minuteness and accuracy with which the public accounts were kept in the middle ages. The light which is thrown, by ttie study of them, upon the facts of history, as well as upon the customs and habits of our ancestors, renders them historically valuable. There is in existence a wardro oe account book of Edward III.* between the years 13)>8 and 1340, by which we might trace that monarch, in Lis peregrinations, day by day, through some of the most lovely, if not the most sublime scenery in the world. But