DORSET AND KING JOHN. 141 



and \voul(l have glad]}' appropriated thein. Eut even a King could 

 not take jewels which were the property of a saint without tlio 

 permission of their owner. Very likely the monks in the hope of 

 saving their jewels pointed, this out to him. At any rate the 

 Avording of his letter shows that he admitted that the jewels did 

 belong to the .saint and that no one could give him permission to 

 take them. But a King who covets the jewels of a dead .saint and 

 is not troubled with a sensitive conscience will soon discover a way 

 of possessing himself of them — John did — and the monks must 

 have been much taken aback by the King's proposal. He could 

 not appropriate the jewels, that he admitted, but he might borrow 

 them. So he took the precious stones and promised the monks 

 for the loan of them 16 marks a year, to be paid faithfully at his 

 treasury, and the money might be used for the repair of the 

 martyr's tomb. As to the jewels they should be returned and 

 replaced on the tomb at the King's death. The Abbot and 

 Convent of S. Edmunds, knowing the King as they must have 

 known him, must have parted with their jewels regretfully ; they 

 could scarcely have entertained a hope of ever seeing them again, 

 and as a matter of fact it is probable that they were in the 

 King's treasure chests when those chests were over\vhelmed l)y the 

 sea at Newark. But the monks were equal to the occasion. If 

 they must lose their jewels they might at least obtain a concession 

 from t'ue King which would bo of equal value to them and their 

 house, so they followed the King to Lilley, where, two days later, 

 they obtained a charter from him, which was to the effect that on 

 account of " the reverence he had for the blessed martyr, Edmund " 

 (whose jewels, remember, he had taken), he allowed the Alibot and 

 Convent of S. Edmund's to revoke those of their lands and tene- 

 ments which had been alienated by the custodians of their manors, 

 whether monks or laics, without the consent of the Alilxit and 

 Convent. 



