A History of England, Period I. Mediæval MonarchyBright, J. Franck (James Franck)
History
A History of England, Period I. Mediæval Monarchy
Bright, J. Franck (James Franck)
Great Britain -- History
The support which the Justiciary invariably received from Langton
bears witness to the national character of his government. The
Archbishop’s efforts to free the Church from its foreign slavery
were perhaps even more laborious than those of the Justiciary.
Already the system which reached such excesses afterwards had been
established. Gualo and Pandulf had been but single instances of a
number of Roman officials who had grown rich on gifts of English
benefices; and now the Roman Court determined, under the pretext of
raising money for the Crusade, to demand both in France and England
two benefices in each diocese and each abbey for the exclusive
use of Rome. In neither country was the demand allowed. Otho, a
Papal legate, held a council in 1226 at Westminster, and brought
forward the demand. The clergy would probably have had to yield,
had not the Archbishop, by private negotiations with the Pope,
succeeded in getting the Legate’s commission withdrawn. The clergy
then expressly declared that by the laws of England they were free
from such exactions. That England was allowed thus to escape, and
that the exactions were comparatively so light in these first
years of the reign, is due to the character of Honorius and to the
interest which he always took in the young King, whom he regarded
as his special vassal and ward. The case was different when he was
succeeded by Gregory IX., the nephew of Innocent III., and the
heir to his imperious temper. It was fortunate that his constant
war with the German Emperor prevented him from meddling much with
English politics.
[Sidenote: Death of Langton. 1228.]
But this period, during which England was governed by such
patriotic leaders as De Burgh and Langton, working in harmony with
one another, was coming to a close. In 1228, the Archbishop died,
and was succeeded, after a disputed election, by Richard Chancellor
of Lincoln, who was authoritatively nominated by the Pope. The
new Archbishop did not live long, and was in his turn succeeded,
also on the nomination of the Pope, by Edmund Rich, a man of
great sanctity and singleness of purpose. In the following year,
a quarrel occurred between the King and the Justiciary, which was
probably the beginning of that nobleman’s fall.
[Sidenote: Quarrel of Henry and De Burgh.]
[Sidenote: Henry’s false foreign policy.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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