It may seem remarkable that the Pope did not address his application in Scot’s favour to St. Andrews rather than to Canterbury. We are to recollect, however, that in 1223, the relations between Scotland and the See of Rome were still somewhat strained. The North had not yet forgotten what took place in 1217, when Gualo came thither as Legate to lay the Interdict upon Scotland. Churches were closed by this severe sentence; the sacraments forbidden; even that of extreme unction denied to the people; the dead were buried without service, and all marriages were celebrated in the churchyards. When the interdict was removed in the following year, the duty of proclaiming that remission was intrusted to the Prior of Durham and the Dean of York, who made a solemn progress in the Kingdom to announce the Pope’s clemency. We may feel sure that these events were not forgotten in five years by a proud and independent nation like the people of Scotland, and Honorius must be thought to have judged rightly in supposing his application on Scot’s account had a better chance of being effected by the English than by the Scottish Primate. Nothing indeed was overlooked that might give force to the recommendation. The Pope accompanied his request with a generous testimony to the scholar’s ability, saying that he was distinguished, even among learned men, for his remarkable gifts and knowledge.[232] Thus everything seemed to promise that Michael Scot would soon enjoy a rich English living; the _El dorado_ of the foreign clergy in those easy days of sinecures secured by dispensations of plurality and non-residence. Meanwhile, however, a much more favourable occasion offered itself to the Pope for securing the interests of Frederick’s _protégé_, and one which dispensed with any concurrence of the English Primate in the matter. In the same year which witnessed his application to Stephen Langton a vacancy occurred in the Archbishopric of Cashel. The chapter of that see proposed a candidate of their own to Honorius, probably the Bishop of Cork, but the Pope saw his opportunity and named Michael Scot for the vacant benefice. The obedient Chapter at once proceeded to elect him. The consequence being to their apprehension a foregone conclusion, the Curia issued another dispensation permitting this favourite of fortune to hold the Archbishopric along with all his other benefices.[233] So nearly did Scot come to the possession of a high place in the Church, and an office which would surely have altered his fame in the ages that were to come.