Vindication of Ecclesiastical Volume 3, Volume 2 · Book 3 · Chapter 2 · Document 37
PEr idem tempus, Rex ſano fretus Conſilio, ex quo certificabatur de Concilio generali in proximo Lugduni celebrando, Nuncios ſolennes ad Concilium deſtinavit; videlicet Comitem Rogerum Bigod, Iohannem filium Galfridi, Gulielmum Cantilupo, Philippum Baſſet, Radulphum filium Nicholai, Milites, et Gulielmum de Powic, Clericum: ut Domino Papae, et toti Concilio gravamina exponerent quae Regno Angliae in multis a Romana Curia diatim inferentur: Praecipue de Tributo in guerrae tempore extorto, in quod nunquam conſenſit Regni univerſitas, cui contradictum fuit et aperte per Stephanum Archiepiſcopum Cantuarienſem, reclamantem. Quod in poſterum factum est.
In this Council when aſſembled, on the very day that Pope Innocent the fourth propounded his complaints againſt the Emperour Frederick, to depoſe him, Gulielmus de Powic, qui cum Nobilibus Domini Regis Angliae procuratoribus Comite Rogerio, et aliis ſociis praeſens affuit, volens haec praedicta, per interruptionem differre, ſurgens in medio, gravamina Regis et Regni Angliae proponens ſatis eleganter: CONQUESTUS EST GRAVITER, QUOD PER CURIAM ROMANAM EXTORTUM EST TRIBUTUM INJURIOSE NIM IS TEMPORE GUER RAE A REGE JOHANNE, DUM SUMMA MENTIS ANGUSTIA TORQUERETUR, CUI ETIAM MANIFESTE CONTRADICTUM FUIT, ET EX PARTE UNIVERSITATIS REGNI; RECLAMATUM, QUOD TALIA NULLO MODO FACERE POTERAT, PER OS VENERABILIS STEPHANI CANTƲARIENSIS ARCHIEPISCOPI, QUO NON ERAT TUNC MAJOR IN REGNO. IN QUOD TRIBUTUM NUNQUAM PATRES NOSTRI CONSENSERUNT, VEL ALIQUO TEMPORE CONSENTIENT, UNDE SIBI PETIT INSTANTER EXHIBERI JUSTITIAM CUM REMEDIO. Ad quod Papa non oculos elevans, nec vocem, diſſimulavit, donec quae magis eum angebant primitus exuperaſſet.
From the conſideration of which paſſage, and that of Simon Langhton Archdeacon, and of his Brother Stephen Langhton Archbiſhop of Canterbury, thus recorded by Archbiſhop *Antiqu. Eccl. Brit. p. 450.Parker his Succeſſor, in his Life, Sed Stephanus Langton et ſi has injurias & cala nitates tam Regi quam Regno conflavit, tamen cum rebus compoſit is in Cantuarienſi Archiepiſcopatu cum Regis benevolentia ſediſſet quietus, victus amore atque charitate Patriae, cum Iohannes Rex in Pandulphi manus Sceptrum et Diadema Regium conceſſiſſet, iniquiſſimo id animo ferens, accedens ad altare, ob tam indignum Papae facinus continere ſe non potuit quin in appellationis vocem, a tam grandi illato Angliae praejudicio prorupit. I am clear of opinion, that Archiepiſcopo dolente & reclamante, applyed by *Hiſt. Angl. p. 228.Matthew Paris and others to the Archbiſhop of Dublin, at the ſealing of the firſt Charter, and Legates trampling on the earneſt money or rent, was in verity the appeal of Stephen Archbiſhop of Canterbury, at the ſealing and delivering of the ſecond Charter, (unleſſe one of them appealed for Ireland, the other for England) ſince the Archbiſhop of Dublins appeal was never inſiſted on in the Council of Lyons or elſewhere, but only this of Archbiſhop Langhtons; which had it not been true as well as the other Allegations, the King and his Advocates would never have propounded them ſo ſolemnly in this general Council, and Pope Innocent the 4th. for his own and his Predeceſſors honour (Innocent the 3d.) would have there denyed this appeal to be true; but his ſtupid ſilence, without the leaſt reply either then or afterwards, is a convincing argument of their verity, and this Charters nullity.
3ly. *Hiſt. Angl. p. 648.Matthew Paris relates, that the Pope ſetting his Study in Lyons on fire, a little before this Council, to burn ſome loſe papers and things of ſmall value, that ſo by pretext thereof, Occaſionum Dominus Papa acciperet pecuniam petendi & extorquendi à Praelatis ad Concilium properantibus; the fire exceeding his intended bounds, Cumbuſta ſunt etiam quaedam quae habebuntur chariora. Et fuit multorum aſſertio, quod deteſtabilis illa Charta, quae de tributo Angliae, ſub flebilis memoriae Rege Iohanne confecta fuerat, eodem incendio in cinerem eſt redacta. And if ſo, (as is moſt probable by his fore-mentioned ſilence in the Council, to Powics complaint againſt it) how a Charter thus burnt, nulled by divine providence, gotten by ſuch ſiniſter, forcible, fraudulent means, ſhould be ſtill in force, no Lawyer or Stateſman can reſolve.
4ly. The Pope returning no ſatisfactory Anſwer at all to the Procurators of the King, and generality of England, touching this Charter, exacted Rent, or other grievances then complained of, thereupon they departed thence with indignation. The Pope ſoon after (as †Hiſt. Angl. p. 660.Matthew Paris informs us) being conſcious of the burning and invalidity of King Johns Charter, ſent a Tranſcript thereof (no man can ſuppoſe he would ſend the original 31. years after its date) to all the Biſhops of England to ſubſcribe and ſeal, to give it the beſt countenance he could thereby.