which were expressed in Magna Carta. The first clause provided, as
charters of Henry I. and Stephen had already provided, that the English
Church should be "free," adding that it should have freedom of election,
which John had promised in 1214. As John's suzerain, Innocent annulled
the charter, suspended Langton, and excommunicated the barons in arms
against the king. On John's death, Gualo, legate of Honorius III., with
the help of the earl marshal, secured the throne for Henry III., and he
and his successor Pandulf, as representatives of the young king's
suzerain, largely directed English affairs until 1221, when Pandulf's
departure restored Langton to his rightful position as head in England
of the church. Reforms in discipline and clerical work were inculcated
by provincial legislation, and two legates, Otho in 1237 and Ottoboni in
1268, promulgated in councils constitutions which were a fundamental
part of the canon law in England. Religious life was quickened by the
coming of the friars (see FRIARS). Parochial organization was
strengthened by the institution of vicars in benefices held by religious
bodies, which was regulated and enforced by the bishops. It was a time
of intellectual activity, in character rather cosmopolitan than
national. English clerks studied philosophy and theology at Paris or law
at Bologna; some remained abroad and were famous as scholars, others
like Archbishops Langton, and Edmund Rich, and Bishop Grosseteste
returned to be rulers of the church, and others like Roger Bacon to
continue their studies in England. The schools of Oxford, however, had
already attained repute, and Cambridge began to be known as a place of
study. The spirit of the age found expression in art, and English Gothic
architecture, though originally, like the learning of the time, imported
from France, took a line of its own and reached its climax at this
period. Henry's gratitude for the benefits which in his early years he
received from Rome was shown later in subservience to papal demands.
Gregory IX., and still more Innocent IV., sorely in need of money to
prosecute their struggle with the imperial house, laid grievous taxes on
the English clergy, supported the king in making heavy demands upon
them, and violated the rights of patrons by appointing to benefices by
"provisions" often in favour of foreigners. Churchmen, and prominently
Grosseteste, the learned and holy bishop of Lincoln, while recognizing
the pope as the divinely appointed source of all ecclesiastical
jurisdiction, were driven to resist papal orders which they held to be
contrary to apostolic precepts. Their remonstrances were seldom
effectual, and the state of the national church was noted by the
Provisions of Oxford in 1258 as part of the general misgovernment which
the baronial opposition sought to remedy. The alliance between the crown
and the papacy in this reign diminished the liberties of the church.
13th and 14th centuries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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