The privileges connected with it were considered very important, and were guarded with the strictest jealousy from all encroachments, not only by the members of the chapter, but by the Crown. So much was this the case, that in the year 1241, when some delegates of the Pope attempted to levy contributions in the Deanery of Bridgnorth, as well as elsewhere, for the See of Rome, they were opposed, as interfering with the prerogatives of the Royal Peculiar; and this opposition the Pope himself was obliged to sanction and ratify; for on the complaint of the King, he issued two Bulls at Lyons, in which he recognises the rights of the King’s free Chapel at Bridgnorth, and forbids all attempts made to levy procurations from it. The Deanery of Bridgnorth at this time was held by Peter de Rivallis, of whom (although his course reflected no honor on his sacred calling) it may be well to take a passing notice, inasmuch as his name stands connected, not only with the early history of Bridgnorth, as being Dean of the Peculiar, but with some of the important events in the reign of Henry III. Peter de Rivallis was born at Poictou, and through the influence of his uncle, the Bishop of Winchester, was introduced into the English court, and was made Treasurer of the Chamber in the King’s Household. He soon became a great favorite with his master, who invested him, notwithstanding his clerical calling, with all the Royal Castles in Shropshire. The confidence placed in him was unbounded, and the favors heaped upon him almost without a parallel; for while he was Dean of Bridgnorth and Constable of the Castle, a grant was made to him of the Shrievalties of Shropshire and Staffordshire for life; also of the counties of York, Berks, Gloucester, Somerset, Dorset, Devon, Lancaster, Northumberland, Essex, Hants, Lincoln, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Kent. These, and such like favors, profusely heaped upon his foreign courtiers, tended to alienate the minds of his English subjects from the King, and were specially resisted by Richard Marshall, Earl of Pembroke. He and other English nobles entered into a confederacy with Llewelin, Prince of Wales, and laid waste the county of Salop to a considerable extent; and carrying their forage as far as the gates of Shrewsbury, pillaged and burnt part of the town. This illustrious nobleman who is called by ancient historians “the flower of chivalry,” and who was more than a match for his enemies in the field, was at last cut off by a base act of treachery, in which the Dean of Bridgnorth bore the chief part. He, with others, forged a letter, as if sanctioned by the King, and sent it to Ireland, announcing the forfeiture of the Earl’s Irish estates, and promising a partition of them amongst those who would arrest his person. This document however was not sufficient to satisfy the Irish nobles, and they dispatched messengers, requiring the King’s sealed charter on the subject. Peter de Rivallis forged the