that his conduct as a bishop did not err on the side of neglect or laxity in matters of order and discipline. His material benefactions to his church, and the diligence and ability with which he managed the temporal concerns of his see, were indisputable; and there is nothing to indicate that he failed in any of his episcopal duties. But Peter was ambitious of exercising his talents in a wider field than that of diocesan administration; and his talents were great enough to justify his ambition. After his death Matthew Paris declared that “the whole council of the realm of England, royal as well as ecclesiastical, had suffered an irreparable loss” in losing him.[914] Under Pandulf he and Hubert had worked together almost as equals; but before the end of the year 1221 Peter found himself Hubert’s subordinate, and found, too, that his chance of regaining at a future time his former influence in matters of state was diminishing day by day; for though the King’s ex-tutor retained his seat in the Council, the King had virtually become Hubert’s pupil instead of his. There was only one possible means of altering this state of things: to put Henry into possession, if not of full regal powers, at least of some voice in the government of his own realm, something like a decisive vote in his own Council. If this were done, the Justiciar’s supremacy would become dependent on his personal influence over the King’s mind; and if it were done quickly, while that mind was still young and tender and had not yet had time to take the mould of Hubert’s political teaching, Peter might fairly hope to be more than a match for Hubert. A suggestion that something of this kind should be done seems to have been conveyed to the Pope from England at some time before the middle of April, 1223,[915] and to have been either coupled with, or accompanied or followed by, a request that the Pope would issue some instructions concerning the royal castles. When the result of these two suggestions appeared, the onus of responsibility for it fell upon Hubert; Hubert, however, in later days declared that the Pope’s action in the matter had been instigated by the Bishop of Winchester, against the interests of Hubert himself. Meanwhile a number of the magnates had for some time past been murmuring among themselves against the Justiciar, resenting his haughty bearing and his (in their opinion) high-handed judicial decisions in cases where they were concerned, and “saying to one another that he stirred up the King’s mind against them, and likewise that he ruled the kingdom by unjust laws.”[916] A step which he took at the beginning of 1223 aggravated their resentment and their distrust. On 30th January orders were issued in the King’s name for the sheriffs to inquire in full county court, by a sworn jury of twelve knights, what customs and liberties King John had in the shires before the war between him and the barons began; to proclaim