20 



ENGLAND. (ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.) 



cent ; and a spirited aiul angry letter was sent to 

 Koine by king John, accusing his holiness of injus- 

 tice and presumption, in raising a stranger to the 

 highest see in his domiiuons without his consent. 

 Innocent, who had been long accustomed to trample 

 on the majesty of kings, was highly offended at this 

 letter ; and wrote a long and haughty reply, telling 

 him, in plain terms, tliat, if he persisted to dispute 

 his authority, lie would plunge him in inextricable 

 difficulties. War was now formally declared between 

 the king and the pope. But it was an impar con- 

 grttsut, and Innocent was perfectly conscious of 

 superior power ; and, therefore, immediately laid all 

 the dominions of John under an interdict, which was 

 proclaimed in England, at his command, 23d March, 

 A. I). 1208, by the bishops of London, Ely, and 

 Worcester, in spite of all the menaces of the 

 monarch. From this period, the churches were shut 

 up, and the clergy restrained from performing their 

 spiritual functions, except hearing confessions, bap- 

 tuing infants, tind administering the viaticum. John 

 was so irritated at the clergy for obeying the papal 

 urders, that he commanded his sheriffs to seize all 

 their lands and revenues, in their several counties, 

 and withdrew from them the protection of the laws, 

 by which they were exposed to every kind of injury. 

 I'o avoid these, some fled the kingdom, others con- 

 fined themselves within the precints of their churches, 

 and the whole country was a scene of confusion and 

 dismay. When this interdict had continued about 

 two years, Innocent went a step farther, and pro- 

 nounced sentence of excommunication against John ; 

 a sentence which made the greatest monarchs trem- 

 ble on their thrones : and which he commanded the 

 bishops of Ely, London, and Worcester, his most 

 obsequious tools, to publish in England. These pre- 

 lates, then residing on the continent, sent copies of 

 the s ntence, and of the pope's commands, to pub- 

 lish it in their churches, to the bishops and clergy 

 who remained in England : but none of them had 

 courage to execute these commands, so much did 

 they dread the wrath of John. The sentence, how- 

 sver did not remain a secret, but was the subject of 

 conversation in almost every company. Even the 

 archdeacon of Norwich, one of the regal judges, 

 when sitting on the bench, declared to the other 

 judges, " that the king was excommunicated, and 

 that he judged it unlawful to execute any of his 

 commands." For this he was imprisoned, and soon 

 after died. At length, after some overtures for an 

 accommodation having been made, Innocent sent 

 ewo legates, Pandulph and Durand, into England. 

 There legates being admitted to an audience hi a 

 parliament held at Northampton, told John that he 

 was bound to obey the pope in temporals as well as 

 spirituals ; and when John refused, unreservedly, to 

 submit to his holiness, Pandulph published the sen- 

 tence of excommunication against him, with a loud 

 voice, absolved all his subjects from their oaths of 

 allegiance, degraded him from his royal dignity, and 

 declared tliat neither he nor his posterity should ever 

 reign in England. The legates then returned to 

 Iheir ghostly monitor at Rome, and hating informed 

 him of king John's obstinacy, the pontiff proceeded 

 to still more violent measures. He pronounced the 

 sentence of excommunication against all who should 

 obey him, or have any connexion with him. No 

 sooner were these sentences known in England, than 

 the superstitious fears of many of the barons, who, at 

 this time, were much dissatisfied with their prince, 

 for his gross misgovernment, were strongly excited ; 

 aud one Peter, the hermit, a mad enthusiast, went up 

 and down, preaching against John, for his disobedi- 

 ence to the pope ; and prophesying that he would 

 not be king of England on next Ascension-day, 



In the mean time, the French king was appointed 

 by the pope to carry his sentence ot deposition into 

 effect ; and was promised the pardon of all his sins, 

 and the kingdom for his reward. This was a 

 temptation which he, in common with other princes, 

 who reigned at that period, was unable to resist. 

 He raised a mighty army, and collected a great fleet, 

 to take possession of England, in consequence of 

 the pope's grant ; never reflecting that he thereby 

 acknowledged the right of the pope to dispose of 

 crowns aud kingdoms at his pleasure. John, 

 informed of these transactions on the continent, 

 made the most vigorous efforts to oppose the inva- 

 sion. But all these preparations, on both sides, 

 served only to promote the purposes of Innocent; 

 for, as soon as Jolm was sufficiently terrified by his 

 dread of the French army, and his suspicions of his 

 own subjects, to induce him meanly to surrender his 

 crown and kingdom to the pope, Philip was compelled 

 to abandon his enterprise against England, to avoid the 

 thunders of the Vatican, the dreadful eilects of which 

 he had before his eyes. John, having made an un- 

 limited submission to the pope, by agreeing to receive 

 Langton, the archbishop appointed by Innocent, with 

 all the clergy who had adhered to him, into favour, 

 and to repair all their losses, and pay all the ex- 

 penses they had incurred during this long contested 

 dispute, was again received into the protection of the 

 holy see ; and, to give an effectual check to Philip, 

 of whose power Innocent began to be afraid, John 

 agreed to resign his kingdom into the hands of his 

 holiness, and consented to hold his power under him, 

 Baying a tribute of 700 merks for England, and 300 

 for Ireland. This ignominious treaty was carried 

 into effect at Dover, May 15th, A.D. 1213 ; and 

 continued in force till the reign of Edward III., a 

 period of 150 years. Thus, England and Ireland 

 were no longer one independent monarchy, but fiefs 

 of the holy see, and their kings its humble vassals. 



In the long interval between the Norman conquest 

 and the era of the reformation, a period of nearly 500 

 years, very few ecclesiastics occur worthy the atten- 

 tion of the historian, as any way remarkable for 

 genius or learning. Thomas Bradwardine, archbishop 

 of Canterbury, was one. This learned and pious person 

 was born about the middle of the reigii of Edward 

 I.: he studied at Oxford, and was one of the proctors 

 of that university, in A.D. 1325. He was the great- 

 est mathematician and theologian of his day. He 

 was confessor to Edward III. and attended him in 

 his French wars : lie was chosen archbishop of Can- 

 terbury by the monks, but Edward refused to part 

 with him ; however, soon after, being chosen a 

 second time, Edward consented to the election. He 

 did not long survive his consecration, but died seven 

 days after his arrival at Lambeth palace. It is only 

 from Ids great work, entitled, The Cause of God 

 against the Pelagians, that we are able to form a 

 proper estiniate or the piety, the deep humility, the 

 metaphysical acumen, and argumentative genius of 

 the man. John Wickliff, rector of Lutterworth, was 

 another eminent precursor of the reformation ; and 

 contributed, by his life and writings, to pave the way 

 for that great event, by the translation of the Scrip- 

 tures into English. While divinity professor at 

 Oxford, he published certain conclusions against tran- 

 substantiation, the pope's infallibility ; denied tliat the 

 church of Rome was the head of the other churches, 

 that St Peter had the power of the keys any more 

 than any other of the apostles, and affirmed that the 

 New Testament, or gospel, is a perfect rule of life and 

 manners, and ought to be read to the people ; tliat 

 there were only two orders of spiritual rulers, viz., 

 bishops and deacons ; that all human traditions are 

 superfluous and sinful ; that religious ceremonies are 



