THE ANNALS OF BURTON ABBEY 57 
then was that God’s vice-gerents on earth were the Pope and the 
Holy Roman Emperor, the Pope in spiritual matters, the Emperor in 
temporal, and there had been for years a struggle between these two 
for pre-eminence, or rather the Pope wished the temporal power to 
be subject to him, and this dispute came to a head in the quarrel 
over investitures. In early times it was the custom for bishops to 
be appointed by the King, and as the revenues of a large territory 
were allotted to the Bishop he had to pay homage for his Jands to the 
King. Pope Gregory VII. issued a decree that on no account were 
bishops to receive investiture from the King, or to do homage. As 
bishops were also lay lords they accepted responsibilities for supply- 
ing the usual military service when they did homage, and as the 
Church lands were vast and the military service expected great in 
proportion, no king could give his consent to sucha decree. In the 
struggle which followed the Emperor was excommunicated, and so 
dreadful was the weapon before its edge was blunted by too frequent 
use that he found himself deserted by his vassals, opposed by his 
son, and utterly helpless; nor did he recover any semblance of his 
former power till he had endured the humiliation of Canossa, when 
for three days he stood barefoot in the snow in the garb of a penitent 
in this mountain village, waiting before the gate of the residence of the 
Pope to implore his forgiveness. This was in 1077. A hundred 
years later our own Henry II., when surrounded by enemies, found it to 
his advantage to win over the support of the Church by walking 
barefoot through the streets of Canterbury, and submitting to flagella- 
tion at the tomb of Becket. There are about five pieces of continuous 
narrative in the chronicle on the following subjects :— 
1 The excommunication of John. 
2 The Archbishop of Russia on the Tartars. 
3 Areligious rising in France—the rising of the Pastoureaux, or shepherds. 
4 A short account of the pilgrimage of the King and Queen to Portigny. 
5 The murder of the boy Hugh at Lincoln. 
As it illustrates what I have written above I give the following 
extracts from the narrative on the excommunication of John. The 
whole narrative is much too long to be given in full. 
“Pandulf, the Pope’s legate, comes to John’s Court at Northampton, 
the occasion of his coming being the quarrel between the King and the 
Pope. 
The King: [ contess that the Pope is my spiritual father, and that he is 
the successor of St. Peter, and I ought to obey him—that is in spiritual 
matters, but in temporal matters, which concern my crown, not at all. 
