II. CHAP. to the pope and the priest at his ordination, beside the ancient promise of canonical obedience, did homage to his bishop. Then, as the civil sovereign in his necessities required aid from his barons, and through them from their vassals, so the popes in similar circumstances demanded pecuniary assistance from the bishops, and through them from the rest of the clergy. At first these claims were brought forward with modesty and reserve: nor did the ecclesiastics refuse to relieve the wants, or support the splendour, of him, whom they revered as their spiritual father, and beneath whose protection they reposed in the peaceful possession of their property. But gradually the necessities, and with the necessities the demands, of the pontiffs were multiplied, till they at length excited the remonstrances and opposition both of the clergy and laity. By accepting the donation of Pepin, and by subsequent acquisitions, the bishops of Rome had joined the concerns of temporal princes to the duties of christian prelates and the wars in which they were compelled to engage, sometimes with their own subjects, sometimes with foreign states, entailed on them expenses far beyond the annual amount of their income. This was generally the situation of the popes who governed the church during Henry's reign. Involved in a long and ruinous contest with the emperor Frederic and his partisans in Italy, overwhelmed with an immense II. load of debt, and forced occasionally to abandon CHAP. their own dominions for an asylum on this side of the Alps, they looked to the aid of the clergy as the surest expedient for satisfying the claims of their creditors, recruiting their forces, and recovering their former ascendency. Year after year the English, like every other national church was called upon to contribute towards the support of the Roman see: and though the generosity or patience of the clergy was soon exhausted, their resistance was seldom successful against the authority of the pontiff, supported as it generally was by the authority of the monarch for the fate of John had proved an awful warning to Henry, who unwilling to provoke the enmity of the pope, concurred in every scheme of exaction, unless he were occasionally deterred by the united clamour of the barons and clergy. The principal grievances which sprung out of Tallages. this system, may be reduced to two heads. 1. The popes, in imitation of the temporal princes, often required a tallage of the clergy, amounting generally to a twentieth, sometimes to a tenth, and on one or two occasions to a larger share of their annual income. These impositions had been originally introduced in the time of the crusades, and had been justified on the ground, that the recovery of Palestine was an object equally interesting to every christian: and that while the laity cheerfully shed their II. CHAP. blood in the sacred cause, the clergy could not refuse to contribute a small portion of their revenues towards its success. But it was soon discovered that every war in which the pontiffs engaged, was somehow or other connected with the welfare of religion. When the contest commenced between Gregory IX. and the emperor Frederic, that pope demanded an aid of the clergy: as his affairs grew desperate, his demands were repeated: and under his successor Innocent IV. the frequency and amount of these tallages became an intolerable burden. Innocent, indeed, alleged in justification of his conduct, that he was an exile from his dominions that at Lyons, where he kept his court for ten years, he had no resource but in the contributions of the clergy; and that whatever they gave, was expended in supporting the cause of the church and religion. These reasons, however, did not always convince those who suffered from the annual diminution of their incomes.41 In many nations they were answered with complaints: in England they experienced 41 We must except Grosseteste, the celebrated bishop of Lincoln, who, in answer to the king's writ inquiring by what authority he raised a tallage for the use of the pope, replied: Non est admiratione dignum, quod coëpiscopi nostri et nos in hac parte facimus, sed admiratione multa et indignatione quamplurima esset dignissimum, si etiam non rogati vel jussi aliquid hujusmodi vel etiam majus non fecerimus. Videmus enim . . . . . . exilio relegatos, persecutionibus coangustatos, patrimonio suo spoliatos, et de proprio, unde ut decet sustineantur, non habentes. Grosset. i. ep. 119. ...... II. 1244. the most decided opposition. The clergy re- CHAP. plied, that they deemed it unjust to furnish money, with the conviction that it would be employed against the emperor, who, though the pope had condemned him, was still to be considered as a catholic prince, since he had offered to submit his quarrel to the decision of a general council-that each church had its own patrimony: nor could the pope with any more justice claim a share in the revenue of their churches, than they could claim a share of the revenue of the church of Rome-that, as the law, when it described every thing as belonging to the prince, spoke of his right of superintendence, not of property; so the pre-eminence enjoyed by the pope, imposed on him the duty of watching over all, but gave him no right to dispose of alland that, if the income of the clergy were more than sufficient for their support, they were obliged to employ the remainder in relieving the wants of the poor, not in furnishing the means of protracting a bloody and destructive war.42 For some time the king and the barons appeared indifferent spectators of this struggle. At length they were induced to interfere by the consideration, that in proportion as the clergy were impoverished, the national burdens would press with additional weight on the laity. 42 Annal. Burt. 297. Am II. 1246. : CHAP. bassadors were dispatched to the general council at Lyons, who in firm but respectful language remonstrated against the frequency of the papal exactions. Perhaps the promises which Innocent gave in his reply, were meant only to allay discontent. But if he was sincere, the necessities of his situation soon compelled him to break them and a new demand of a twentieth from the poorer, and of a larger portion from the more opulent, benefices, awakened an unusual spirit of opposition. The clergy drew up a list of their grievances, sent it to the pontiff, and appealed from him to the next general council: the barons, in bolder terms, warned him of the evils which might probably ensue; and clearly insinuated their readiness to draw the sword, if it should be necessary, in support of the clergy. Even the king appeared to make common cause with his vassals, and forbade the tallage to be paid under the penalty of his high displeasure. Yet this strong opposition gradually melted away. Henry withdrew his prohibition: the barons relapsed into their former apathy: and the clergy were reduced to compound with the pontiff for eleven thousand marks.43 Provi sions. The second grievance consisted in what were termed papal provisions, by which the pope, suspending for the time the right of the patron, nominated of his own authority to the vacant 43 Annal. Burt. 305-310. Paris, 625. 636. Dunst. 272, 273. |