BISHOP ROGER THE BLACK. 55 III. thence by violence. Bishop Roger demanded an interview CHAP. with the King, complained of the violation of the privileges of the Church, and threatened an anathema against the King's officers, if the fallen Chancellor was not reinstated in his sanctuary.. The King yielded; but the chapel was closely watched to starve De Burgh into surrender. Still the Bishop did not rest till he had wrung from the reluctant King full liberty for Hubert de Burgh." The Clergy of London owe a deep debt of gratitude to Bishop Roger. He obtained a law, assented to by the Common Council of London, that the citizens of London should pay a certain assessment in the pound on their property, as offerings to the Clergy. This constitution, more than once confirmed by Primates and Popes, and finally ratified by Pope Nicolas V., was maintained in its full latitude till the Fire of London. An Act of Parliament then regulated the emoluments of those churches which had been burned, and left the right only to those which had escaped the fire. Bishop Roger was equally zealous and munificent in the completion and endowment of his Cathedral. But the magnificence of the fabric exhausted his treasury and the contributions of his diocese. During the episcopate of his five successors, Briefs were issued to the whole of England to solicit alms for this great national work, to be repaid by proportionate Indulgences.2 Yet though insufficient for the splendour of his church, the revenues of the Bishop must have been enormous. During the vacancy of the see at Roger's death, the King gave orders that out of the funds escheated for the time to the royal treasury, 1,500 poor should be feasted, on the day of the conversion of S. Paul, in the churchyard, and 1,500 lights offered in the church. • Wharton, in vitâ. 1 Ibid. p. 81. 2 Newcourt, in vitâ, R. Niger. CHAP. III. Bishop Roger was canonised by popular acclamation; his tomb in the south aisle was visited by devout worshippers, and Indulgences granted for this pious work.3 On the death of Roger the Black at his manor of Stepney, Sept. 29, 1241, the King endeavoured to force Peter, Bishop of Hereford, into the see of London. Peter was rejected, and the Canons proceeded to the election of Fulk Basset, of Norman descent, Dean of York. But Fulk Basset was not consecrated till October 29, 1244.4 For three years London was without her Bishop. Not two years after his accession, the Bishop of London was called upon to enforce the audacious demand of the Pope (Innocent IV.) of one-third of their ecclesiastical income from the resident clergy, half from non-resident-a demand clenched by what M. Paris calls that detestable' phrase, 'non obstante.' This phrase swept away all privileges and exceptions. Bishop Fulk held a Council at S. Paul's. That demand was even too much for the King. In his name appeared John de Lexington, Knight, and Master Lawrence of S. Martin's, the King's clerk, absolutely prohibiting obedience to the Pope. Fulk Basset, no doubt, drew up the bold reply, curious not only for its boldness but for its details. 'If the Pope had known the state and condition of the 'kingdom of England, he would never have promulgated 'such a statute. In cathedral churches it was the usage that non-resident Canons performed their functions by • Minor Canons. If half their revenues were cut off, the 'duties of the Cathedral could not be performed, as they 6 6 BONIFACE, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. 57 'could not maintain the Minor Canons, nor with so large a portion of their income in default, could they them'selves reside. After deducting the expenses of collection ' and other burdens hardly a fourth part would remain. 'So would hospitality altogether become impossible; alms 'to the poor would cease; those who could not dig, and were ashamed to beg, would perish with hunger, or take 'to robbery and pillage." The remonstrance to the Pope ended with a significant appeal to a General Council shortly to be holden. Bishop Fulk had to repel the aggression of a more dangerous antagonist. The Primacy of England had been wrested from the Bishops of England. Where indeed all this time was the Primate of England, and who was he? On the death of the unworldly and sainted Edmund Rich, the King and the Pope had forced on the too obsequious, afterwards bitterly repentant, monks of Canterbury, a foreigner, almost an Italian. Boniface, Bishop of Bellay," was uncle to the Queen, and brother of that Philip of Savoy, the warlike and mitred bodyguard of Innocent IV., who became Archbishop of Lyons. Boniface was elected in 1241, confirmed by Pope Innocent not before 1244. The handsome, proud prelate found that Edmund, however saintly, had been but an indifferent steward of the secular part of the diocese. Canterbury was loaded with an enormous debt, and Boniface came not to England to preside over an impoverished see. He obtained a grant from the Pope of first-fruits M. Paris, sub ann. 1246. Wilkins' Concilia, vol. i. p. 686. Boniface, when appointed Archbishop, was not in holy orders. Among the Papal Letters, vol. v. MS. B. M., is one which authorises his suffragans to admit him to the diaconate and the priesthood. The * On debt of Canterbury, MS. B.M. СНАР. III. A.D. 1250-1. |