which hee hath granted authority the other to which hee would haue reuerence yeelded hee then who derogateth from the right of the one or the other resisteth Gods ordination Let not then our Soueraigne Lord disdaine to attribute to them vnto whom the highest of all vouchsafeth to attribute calling them often goddes in the holy Scriptures For hee speaketh thus I haue said yee are godes c. And againe I haue appointed thee the God of Pharao Psal 81. Exod. 9. Ibid. 22. And Thou shalt not detract from the Goddes that is to say the Preistes And speaking by Moyses of him who was to sweare hee sayth Bring him to the Goddes Ibidem that is to the Preistes Neither let our king presume to attempt to iudge his iudges For the keyes of the kingdome of heauen are committed not to powers of this earthe but to Preistes And therefore it is written The lippes of the Preist shall haue the custody of knowledge and from his mouth they shall require the lawe 1. Cor. ◠beecause hee is the Angel of our Lord. And also Paule sayth Shall wee not iudge Angells how much more men Wee would haue you also suggest into the mynde of our Soueraigne Lord that thing worthie of memory and imitation which wee reade in the Ecclesiasticall history of Constantine the Emperor to whom when there were offered vp in wryting accusations against Bishoppes hee receaued the Schedule of the accusations and calling the accused together hee burned it in their sight saying Yee are Goddes ordayned by the true God goe and determine your causes among your selues in regarde it is vnworthy that wee men should iudge the Goddes O mighty Emperor O discreete Gouernor on the earth not fraudulently vsurping on the authority of others and deseruing in heauen an eternall kingdome Let therefore our Lord the king indeauor to imitate soe greate soe discrete soe happy an Emperor whose memory is with prayses renowned on the earth and likewise accounted eternall and glorious in heauen Otherwise let him feare what our Lord hath threatened in Deutronomy Deut 17. saying What man soeuer shall soe deale in his pride that hee will not heare the preist hee shall dye before the iudge For to this purpose is hee called and to this end the tranquility of his temporall kingdome and that magnificency whereof you put vs in mynde are giuē him from heauen Otherwise the king is not saued by his great power although kingdomes are subiect vnto him and nations doe reuerently obey him And thus far concerning these Now whosoeuer haue ioyned with you in the wryting of these afore recyted letters let them knowe that the same answer wee make you the same wee make to them What remayneth brethren wee admonish intreate and beeseech yee that no scysmes may euer seperate vs but that wee bee in our Lord one harte and one soule and that wee harken to him who sayth In the beehalfe of Iustice contend for thy life and fight for Iustice euen to the very death and God will conquer for thee thyne enemyes Eccles 4. Let vs not forget that seuere iudge beefore whose Tirbunal Throne when wee shall appeare Truth only shall adiudge vs all feare and trust of any earthly power beeing then cleane vanished Soe in our Lord wee bid your brotherhood farewell These were this yeere written the rest shall in the yeeres following appeare in their places But the Bishoppes of England directed letters to Pope Alexander inueighing against this afore recyted Epistle written to them by saint Thomas not that they might any way succor the distressed estate of the Church as neede required but only appeale to his Holines against their Archbishoppe For these are their wordes To their father and Lord the high Bishop Alexander The Epistle of the Bishops of England to the Pope the Bishops of the Prouince of their seuerall Dioceses dispersed in sundry parishes as to their Lord and father remember their bounden seruice of charity and obedience Wee suppose father your excellency is not vnmyndfull how you conuented in your letters lōg since directed by the mediation of our reuerent brethren the Bishoppes of London and Hereforde your deuoute sonne and our most deere and renowned Lord the king of England and how with your fatherly compassion you admonished him for the amendment of some matters which appeared to the eyes of your holines as deseruing reformation in his kingdome who receauing your commandement with due reuerence as it is manifest swelled not in anger The Bishoppes commend their king nor with pryde of mynde contemned to obey you but yeelding thankes for your fatherly chastisement humbled himselfe presently to the Churches examination saying that in euery thing which according to the forme of your Mandat was dilligently expressed to him hee would submit himselfe to the iudgment of the Church of his kingdome and what soeuer they should determine to bee amended hee would reforme by their aduise with à commendable denotion and in a Prince worthie great prayse from this purpose hee flyeth not neither recalleth his mynde from his promise but hee who may sit in thrones who may consider and iudge now moued with the reuerence of diuine feare not as a king but as an obedient sonne is ready to yeelde to iudgment obey the lawfull pronounced sentence and as a Prince bounded with lawes shewe himselfe in all thinges a dutifull childe wherefore it is vnnecessary to enforce with interdictions or threates or the spurres of accursinges the man to satisfaction who subiecteth himselfe allready to the censures of the diuine lawes For his actions withdrawe not themselues from the light nor by any meanes desire to bee shrowded in darknes for this king in faith most Christian in the bandes of wedlocke most honest the conseruer of peace and iustice and one who enlargeth the boundes of the same far and neere incomparably indeauoureth with all his power and thirsteth with a feruent desire that scandalls and sinnes together with their fowle followers may bee taken away and rooted out of his kingdome and that peace and iustice may euer take place and all thinges prosper and flourish vnder him in sweete security and quiet tranquillity The Bishops excuse their king Who finding sometimes the peace of his kingdome not a litle molested with the outragious excesses of some insolent Clearkes with due reuerence to the Clergie referred their offences to the Bishoppes iudges of the Church that one sworde might assist an other and the power spirituall ground and establish in the Clergie the peace which hee ruled and fostred in his people Wherin the zeale of thee party came more to light the Bishops persisting in this setled iudgment that murder or any other like cryme should only bee punished in the Clergie by degradation the king on the other syde beeing of opinion that this punishement did not condignly answer the offence neither was it a sufficient prouision for mayntenance of peace if a Reader or
THE LIFE OR THE ECCLESIASTICALL HISTORIE OF S. THOMAS ARCHBISHOPE OF CANTERBVRY COLLONIAE M.DC.XXXIX TO THE MOST REVERENT FATHER IN GOD RICHARD SMYTH BISHOPE OF CHALCEDONE c. MOST Reuerent and my most honored good Lord I haue alwayes apprehended the life and Martirdome of that most excellent Prelate and vndaunted Champion S. Thomas Archbishope of Canterburie a most perfect Paterne of a good Pastor yea and of a good subiect too as one wisely discerning Gods part from Caesars and giuing to ether their owne without which there can be no Christian iustice Take his owne golden and last words for it written to King Henry his soueraigne Prepared I am not onely to die but also to suffer a thousand deathes and all torments whatsoeuer for Christ's sake Yet whether I die or liue Cod. Vat. l. 5. Epist 54. I am and shall euer be yours and what euer becomes of vs and ours God euer blesse you and your issue So that I haue iudged no tyme mispent in culling the peeces out of the most authenticall and best Authors which haue concurred to the making vp of this litle bulke or Epistolarie processe of his life and death which I hope will appeare most contentfull and satisfactorie to all and fittest to frame a right iudgment in any as not being crooked and fitted to selfe endes by artificall amplifications but furnished by knowne fact and made good by so many and so irâ—eprochable witnesses as it cannot indeed be suspected to be in any part disguised or forced by corruption or malice but to deliuer a naked truth Now amongst all those whom I duely reuerence and honor in earth I could find none to whose patronage this poore worke of myne might laye a more iust clayme then to your Lordship like as in my iudgment your Lordshipe can pretend no Patrone in Heauen to whom you may haue a more confident recourse or with whom you might haue more sympathie being considered such as he liued in this earthly habitation for Religiousnesse zeale contrie cause constancie None which comes more home to your vse in respect of your long delay in banishment and the opposition you haue found euen amongst some of your children and those domesticalls of faith In a word in reading it you will not fayle before your death to reade a great part of your owne renowned life May it I beseech almightie God be long contentfull prosperous in earth and followed out with an eternally blessed one in heauen These are and euer shall be the zealous wishes of all good men and in particular of Your Lords. most humble and deuoted seruant A. B. THE PREFACE TO THE Epistolarie and Ecclesiastical History of sainct Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury INTENDING to present vnto your viewe out of that reuerent an renowned author Cardinall Baronius the great controuersie beetweene the Church and kingdome of England wherein the cheife actors in this our disturbed nation were that mightie King Henry the second and our Metropolitane sainct Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury and in forraine countryes that most holy wise Pope Alexander the 3. and Lewes the pious king of France with many Catholicke Princes and among the Scismatickes the potent Emperour Fredericke with his idoll Octauian seeking by all meanes to intrude themselues and put their sickles into this haruest where the Diuel the father of their execrable scysme like a deepe polititian taking aduantage of their hellish discord had in this vnfortunate Iland sowed the cockle of dissention I thought best in regard this canker soe spreade it selfe through the Christian world and this history was collected out of the Epistles written by the cheifest rulers in that age to lay open briefely the state of the westerne Church and kingdomes vnited therein whereby your mindes receauing light may better discouer thinges otherwise obscured First therefore to delineate the time I must somewhat touch the raigne of Pope Adrian Alexanders predecessour who being the only man of our English nation that euer steered saint Peeters ship and was not only for his singular vertues wisedome and learning preferred to the Apostolike Sea but also himselfe the Apostle who conuerted the Norwegyans to the Christian faith I thinke it no vnnecessary digression to treate of his origine progresse and most high preferment At Abbotts Langley in the County of Hertford neere kinges Langley Nicolas Breakespeare afterwards Pope AdriaÌ„ borne in England where Edmund of Langley receaued his first breath from whom all the kinges of England and Scotland haue these many yeeres descended was borne Nicolas Breakespeare who afterwarde exalted to the gouerment of the Church of Rome and called Adrian the fourth ruled in matters of faith and Religion the whole Christian world His father was Robert Breakespeare a yonger brother of the family of Breakespeare whose place concurring with the name is seated neere Vxbridge in Middelsex now in the possession of Ashby His father saith Iohn Stowe after the death of his wife and before the departure as I conceaue of his sonne out of the realme professed a Religious life in the Monastery of saint Abbans wherein Stowe ignorantly not maliciously ran into an errour for Pope Adrians mother as shall bee afterwards showed ouerliued him It appeareth in a Counsell celebrated in Normandie by Pope Alexanders Legates with the Archbishop of Roane and Bishops of the same Prouince anno Dom. 1172. how before that time men might enter into religion leauing their wiues in the world for there was made a Canon afterwards prohibiting it And so might Robert Breakespeare in this precedent age as it is affirmed bee a Monke in saint Abbans and his wife as it is certaine ledd a retyred life vnder the Archbishop in Canterbury The name of Breakespeare beeing truly English and about the time of the Conquest inuincibly proueth they were of the Saxon not of the Norman race Breakespeare it selfe was in the raigne of king Iames the inheritable mansion of a knight and how great in forepassed dayes God knoweth But as sainct Thomas sayth in his Epistle to Gylbert Bishop of London what hath a priest a religious man to doe with these worldly flourishes I will descend to his humiliation which was his ascent first to honor then to heauen All that followeth is collected out of Card. Baronius Leauing as Abraham his countrey and kindred hee trauelled in his youth to pourchase learning and comming to Arnulate professed religion in the Monastery of saint Rufus where hee was called first to bee Prior then Abbot of the house whereupon it fortuned that for serious occasions of the Church commended to his charge hee went to the Apostolike Sea and hauing fully finished all his busines and now intending to returne Pope Eugenius of blessed memory retayned him there and by consent of his brethren Pope Eugenius Adrian Bishoppe of Alba. did consecrate him Bishop of Alba. A while after seeing his vertues and wisedome hee designed him Legate a Latere of the Apostolike Sea into
of an Idoll nor yet will there fayle some who possessing our seates and vsurping our chaires will with all the deuotion of their myndes obey him Many there are who doe now foretaste this wishing that scandalls would once arise and playne ways bee peruerted to crooked pathes Wherfore father wee doe not lament or bee wayle our owne misfortunes but vnles you preuent these mischeifes wee doe forseeing dread a foule subuersion to threaten and hang ouer the Church of God neither sooner would wee wish a day of this loathed life to perish then that wherin wee were borne to see such manner of spectacles Allmighty God deare father in Christ preserue you long in health and prosperity And thus wrote the Bishop of London to Pope Alexander But Pope Alexander who sought by the Bishop of Londons meanes the kinges recouery desired much more by his owne pastor sainct Thomas to perfect the same who neuer fayled of his office and as at all tymes hee admonished him by his letters soe now more amply in wryting hee thought good to perswade his king in manner following To his beeloued Lord Henry by the grace of God King of England Duke of Normādy and Aquitayne and Earle of Anioue Lib. 1. Epist 65. Thomas by the same grace the humble seruant of the Church of Canterbury sometimes temporally his but now much more wisheth him in our Lord all true repentance with amendment Expecting wee haue expected that our Lord would looke vpon you The Epistell of sainct Thomas to King Henry and that beeing conuerted you would doe pennance departing from your peruerse wayes and that you would cut off from you the wicked by whose suggestestion and counsell as it is tought you are now fallen downe allmost into the depth But God forbid it should bee into that depth whereof it is sayde Prouerb 18. The sinner when hee commeth into the depth will contemne And allthough wee haue hetherto forborne in vayne considering in silence and with all affection expectin if any messinger would come and reporting say your sonne king and Lord beeing now long inueagled with deceiptes and drawne on to the Churches destruction by the inspiration of the heauenly clemency in the abundance of exceeding humility hasteneth himselfe for the Churches deliuery with making all satisfaction and amendes Allthough there is yet no such thing wee not withstanding will neuer cease with humble and daily deuotion to beeseech Allmighty God that what wee haue long and earnestly wished both of you and for you wee may with a speedy and fruitefull effect obtayne And beehould thereupon it cōmeth to passe that the care of the Church of Canterbury ouer whō our Lord hath at this present placed our preistood though vnworthie while you doe there rule the temporall estate doth not soe neerely touch vs in regard of our continued discommodious exile as otherwise moue vs to direct to your Maiestie letters of admonition exhortation and correction that wee bee not to great a dissembler of your offences if any there bee which in verie deede are beeing the ground of our no smale greife those yea cheefely those wee say which concerne the Church of God and his Clergie beeing diuers ways committed by you without regarde of person or dignity and that wee appeare not theerin too negligent to the hazard of your soules saluation For hee is doubtlesse guilty of the facte who forbeareth to amend what hee ought to correct It is written Not only they who doe but those who consent are adiuged partakers of the crime And truly they consent who when they may and ought resist not or at the least reproue not the offendor for the error beeing not resisted is allowed and truth beeing not defended is oppressed neither auoydeth hee suspition of secret association who forbeareth to withstand a manifest offence For as most excellent Prince a small Citty cannot lessen the prerogatiue of a potent kingdome soe ought not your royal power to disturbe or alter the bounds of the Churches religious gouerment It is euer consonant to the rules of iustice that iudgment bee ministred to the preistes of God by a preistly councell The iurisdiction of the Preisthood distinguished from the iurisdiction of the kingdome For Bishopps whatsoeuer they are although as men they run astray yet if they fall not from their faith neither can nor ought they to bee censured by the secular power It is the parte of a good and godly Prince to repaire ruinous and decayed Churches to build them anew to honor the preistes of God and supporte them with all reuerence like Constantine that vertuous Emperor of most famous memory who sayd when a cause of the Clergie was brought beefore him yee ought not to hee iudged by any secular authority who are only reserued to the iudgment of Allmighty God And wee reade that the holy Apostles and their successors whose power is warranted by the word of God himselfe doe command That no persecutions nor disturbances bee raised nor yet that any should enuy them who labour in the feild of our Lord nor that the stewardes of the eternall king should bee banished from their Seas For who maketh question but that Preistes are the Masters and fathers of kinges and all faithfull beeleiuers and is it not then a point of miserable madnes for the sonne to endeauour to bring his father into subiection or the scholler his Master and with vniust lawes to reduce him vnder his rule who as hee ought to beelieue hath power to loose and bind him not only in earth but in heauen alsoe If you are a good and Catholike king and soe will remayne as wee beelieue and hope you will let vs say vnder your Maiesties correction you are a chylde and not a Bishop of the Church and ought to learne of Preistes and not to teach them and in matters Ecclesiasticall to follow them not to guyde them You haue the priuiledges of your power which you haue obtayned from God for administring your temporall lawes to the end that beeing not vngratefull to him for his benefitts you should vsurpe nothing contrary to the disposition of his heauenly order but that with a more sober mynde you should vse those things which now rather perchance through the counsell of the malitious then the inclination of your owne mynde you abuse against his ordinance yeelde therefore speedely with all humility and all manner of satisfaction least otherwise the hand of God beeing bent against you shoote his arrowe at you as at a marke for the Allmighty hath bent his bowe to strike you openly with his arrowe if you repent not Bee not ashamed whatsoeuer the malignant suggest in your mynde and the Traytors not only to you but also to God himselfe doe whispering murmer in your eares to humble your selfe vnder the mighty hand of God for it is hee who exalting the humble throweth downe the prowde who in reuenge for iniuryes offered to him and his beereaueth Princes of their
preferred to his seruice the Archdeanonry of Canterbury the Prouosty of Beuerly the many Churches together with some Prebandaryes and other possessions beeing of no smale value which wee inioyed from our Ancestors disproue that wee were as then soe meane as you say in the worldes reputation But if you ayme at the stemme of our stocke and our parentage They were assuredly of the Citty of London liuing without taynte of credit in the middest of their fellow Cittyzens neither rancked in the lowest degree But that the miste of these wordly conceyptes beeing once vanished wee may with the light of truth bee more rightly discerned which is more glorious eyther to be borne of meane yea the poorest parents or of great and glorious persons since the Apostle saith Weâ— cloathe the basest partes of our body with more abundant honor 1. Cor. 12. What auayle our high desentes quoth the Gentil Poet. What hath a Christian a Bishop a Scholler a Religious man to say heerein If you labour by ripping vp the memory of our pouerty to brand vs with confusion how great an offence it is then to confound your father consider in the commandement of our Lord which you haue receaued for honoring your parents Exod. 20. Concerning the fauor of the king soe highly commended to vs through the remembrance of his bestowed benefitts you needed not to haue labored so much therin for wee call the Allmighty to wittnes that wee hould nothing vnder the sunne soe deare as his fauor and prosperity sauing euer to God and his holy Church their freedomes and immunityes for otherwise he can neuer raigne either happely or securely But let it passe since soe it is benefittes towardes vs farre more and more ample then all these your wordes haue yet expressed ought wee for all these yea were they twise soe many to beetray the liberty of Gods Church How far lesse should wee then doe it for the preseruation of a blast of fame which often varyeth from the truth If towards others wee haue proceeded with more leuity yet in this wee will neither spare you nor others nor yet an Angell if he descendeth from heauen but strayght as wee heare him mouing or mentioning this hee shall haue this answer from vs Auant backe Sathan thou doest not relish what appertayneth to God Far bee from vs this franticke folly deliuer vs Lord from this extreme madnes to be perswaded euer through any trecherous falshoode to make a marte of the body of Christ wherin wee may bee compared to Iudas the Traytor and our Soueraigne to the Iewes who chafered for Christ As touching this our high preferment wherunto as you wryte wee were raysed although the mother of our Lord the king disswaded it the realme cryed out against it the Church of God as far as she durst sighed thereat As for the realme wee heard not her exclamations against vs but rather her acclamations of ioy Touching the disswasions of our kinges mother if any such were they neuer passed to the publicke notice of the world it may bee some Ecclesiasticall persons aspiring as is accustomed to this promotion of ours sighed when they perceaued themselues to bee frustrated of this conceaued hope who perhaps at this day in reuenge of this their defeatement are procurers and counsellors of this present dissention But woe bee to him through whom scandal aryseth Yet against these impedimentes with which you formerly taxe vs or against others if any there were the diuine dispensation as now you may plainly see hath preuailed Wee are tryed beefore him who is iustice it selfe and found to preferre none before him who out of his singular mercy hath setled vs in this degree That also which you seeme to propose for the iustification of the kinges Maiestie wee haue not thought meete to bee lightly ouerslipped or without mature examination and wee would to God hee had neuer frayed from iustice and that our complaint against him might haue appeared lesse iustifyable You say hee is and was euer ready to giue satisfaction this you confidently affirme this you proclayme Forbeare heere a litle and answer our demandes In what sence vnderstand you as you call it this preparation to satisfaction See you these of whom God termeth himselfe the father and Iudge wee meane Orphanes widâ—wes children Innocents yea such as are absolutely ignorant of this our controuersy now in question cast into banishment and are you silent Clearkes rooted out of their countrey and cry you not against it Others spoyled of their goodes and contumeliously abused and doe you not reproue it Our seruantes throwne into prisons and bouâ—d in fetters and doe you not open your mouth against it Your Mother the Church of Canterburyes possessions with hauocke wasted and doe you not resist it Your father hardly escaping the swoardes euen now threatening to murder him and are you not sensible of sorrowe And what is farre worser are you not asham'd to ioyne with our persecutors against vs God and his Church and that not in secret Is this satisfaction not to correct offences committed and daily to heape more greeuous mischeifes on mischeifes But perhaps you vnderstaÌ„d this on the will of the wicked Deutro 32. according to the sentence I will imbrewe myne arrowes with blood But you will replye what lay you father to my charge I will answer all in a worde I am a afraide of my coate True sonne too truely you answer and therefore you want a swoard Whereas you wryte hee is ready to stand to the iudgement of his owne kingdome as if this were a worthy satisfaction who is there in earth or in heauen it selfe that can presume to iudge of the diuine dispensation Let human matters bee adiudged but for such as are diuine let them remayne and bee left absolutely vntouched How much better were it brother how much more profitable to him how much more secure for you if you would by all meanes endeauor to incyte to perswade him to fullfill the will of God towardes the conseruation of the peace of his Church not to couet after these thinges which are not committed to this gouerment to honor the preistes of God nor yet to consider what they are but whose seruantes they are You lay to our charge that wee haue abused our selues in a preiudicate proceeding against the Bishop of Salisbury and Iohn of Oxeforde not a Deane as you tearme him but an vsurper of a Deanry wherin you ought to remember that some manifest certaintyes did forerun this iudgment and withall you say you are moued what else A man is afrayd when his neighbors house is on fire and would to God you were well moued from that wnherin you haue vnlawfully stood Let therefore our Lord the king knowe and vnderstand by your relation that hee who raigneth in the Empyre of men and also of Angells hath ordayned two powers vnder him Princes and Preistes one earthly an other spirituall one ministring an other more excellent one to
of Quadrilogus wherunto all other wryters who reporte the life of saint Thomas agree And that not only hee who dyed at Consentia but also the other three who sayled to Ierusalem liued not aboue three yeeres after they had martyred the Saint is constantly alleaged in the aforementioned history soe as they exceeded not the limitts of the nexte yeere following For they beeing vpon the Popes commandement restrayned in a place called the Black-Mountaine a pryson of pennance did there as penitents finish their dayes and were graced with a seemely buryall beefore the dore of the Temple with this inscription as Roger sayth ouer them Heere lye the wreched men who martyred blessed Thomas Archbishoppe of Canterbury Soe let this bee the period of this yeeres history AN. DOM. 1173. Next followeth the yeere 1173. with the sixt Indiction The Cannozation of S. Thomas Whenas Pope Alexander vpon returne of the Legates late sent to the king of England hearing of them what miracles were wrought by God with a mighty hande and a high arme in Thomas the new Martyr and therupon taking aduice with his brethren the Cardinalls of the sacred Roman Church by the generall consent of them all Cannonized him among the number of the holy Martyrs Treating therfore heereof let vs first make dilligent search of precedent matters After this bloode soe shed sayth Edward God by many miracles published his sanctity but at the first they lay concealed as not purchaceing creditte till by the multitude of them the impiety of his aduersarys was vanquished and the mouthes of the wicked stopped for so far truly the number and greatnes of his miracles grewe manifest as in their open showe saint Thomas seemed not only nothing inferior to other renowned Saintes but also excelled them as wittnesseth Peeter of Bloyes an eye witnes and Iohn of Salisbury sometimes the holy Martyrs secretary for Peeter with greate confidence wryteth thus to Richard Bishop of Siracusa saying Reioice England and let the Westerne worlk tryumph beecause the East hath visited vs from high India and the Easterne regions gloryed in Thomas the Apostle But hee hath respect to the Wersterne Church who dwelleth in heauen and looketh downe on the humble God hath beestowed on England our Thomas wee enuy not India for their Thomas let Thomas the Apostle possesse India Let Thomas our Martyr inhabite Englād that by these two witnesses of Christe euen frō the rysing of the sun to the setting therof the name of our Lord may bee praysed Some there are who trauell into India to gayne the suffrages of the blessed Apostle so lōg a pilgrimage is to paynfull for mee my Thomas sufficeth me Hee touched our lordes syde ād the piercinges of the nayles and beecause hee saw beelieued Blessed is hee who not seeing beelieued nor euer doubted but offered hinselfe to Christ and for Christ a sacrifice I labor not to compare a Martyr with an Apostle an Apostle euer excelling a Martyr but it is glorious for vs to enioy a Martyr who bearing the name of an Apostle imitateth or rather exceedeth an Apostle in miracles The Apostle is not offended beecause our Lord himselfe is not offended with Apostles and Martyrs if at any tyme the holy Ghost poureth out himselfe more fully often on any in the operation of vertues and sayth our Lord you shall doe these and greater then these Thus Peeter recyted by vs to declare the famous miracles so wrought which God in his new Saint then shewed But let vs heare Iohn of Salisbury somewhat moued against Pope Alexander as seeming too slowe in the Canonizatiō of the Martyr since God abundantly published as it appeared by soe great and soe many miracles that hee had receaued him into heauen among the number of his Martyrs Yet the Pope was to bee excused if hee deferred the same vntill the returne of the Cardinalls his Legates by whose relation hee might exactly and securely vnderstand all Neuertheles let vs see Salisburys complaynt poured out with greate assurance to the Legate of the Apostolike Sea To his reuerent Lord and most deere father William by the grace of God Archbishop of Senon Legate of the Apostolicall Sea Iohn of Salisbury sendeth greeting with the obedience of his most ready deuotion Allthough a huge desolation hath confounded hetherto the English Church Iohn of Salisburys Epistle of the miracles wrought b◠S. Thoma◠her sorrowe neuerthles hath now for the most parte bin altered into ioy and her lamentation chāged with a blessed and pleasing transmutation into Cāticles for miracles soe seldome heard of are at our Martyrs memoriall soe often showed as others otherwhere heard of can hardly bee compared to his for as in euery thing his noble mynd euer endeauored to excell all who liued in his age soe now that I may speake it by the leaue of other Saintes hee exceedeth others of whom wee haue read or hearde of in miraculous operations which I am easily perswaded are therfore effected that God may styrre vp in many of these in our partes of the world fayth not layde asleepe but allmost extinguished that hee might more soundy confirme charitie and stoppe the mouthes of the wicked who detracted the holy man in his life and for priuate hatred persecuted the cause of Christ For who can now misdoubt the Christian doctrine to bee otherwise then true and faythfull since hee rewardeth with soe greate felicity a man knowne to vs and constant to him Who vnles misled by the diuell will say the cause was vniust the Patron whereof God hath crowned with soe great a glory Many haue questiond whether our Lord the Popes tytle for which wee contend bee grounded on iustice but this glorious Martyr hath cleered it from any suspition of scysme beecause had hee bin a supporter of scysme hee could neuer haue shined with so great miracles Moreouer hee was a man of that excellent wisedome as hee could not easily bee supplanted with error in a matter soe neere concerning his soule I should assuredly very much maruayle why our Lord the Pope hath not allready commanded him to bee numbred in the Catalogue of Martyrs but that I remember I haue read in the Ecclesiasticall history that when Pylate sending a relation of proceedinges asked aduise of Tyberius Cesar if Christ who had don soe many and so greate miracles and was of very many worshipped as God ought to bee honored as God the Senate beeing asked by the Emperor their opinion answered hee was verely to bee reuerenced as God but that diuers of sundry Prouinces had allready without the Senates authority presumed to doe it which was truly by the diuine prouidence soe answered that the Deity of Christ whose name was to bee preached to the Iewes and Gentilles should not seeme to be◠subiect to any earthly power neither the Gentills vaunt it was obtayned by petition which against their willes they were compelled to heare Beecause our Lord hath raigned let the people bee angry and the
the same place cry out against you and say Aryse ô Lord adiudge thy cause call to mynde the scornes and iniuryes which are all day long offered by the king of England and his to thee and thyne forget not the reproches of thy Church which thou hast founded with thy blood reuenge ô Lord the blood of thy seruantes afflictions which are beeyond number infinite the pryde of these who hate and persecute thee and thyne ascendeth soe high as wee cannot longer indure them My Lord and king whatsoeuer your followers haue committed will all bee required at your hands for hee apparantly hath donne the iniury who hath giuen occasion of doeing the iniury Assuredly vnles you restrayne your handes from disturbing the people the sonne of the Allmighty himselfe will vppon the sighes of the settered vpon the sighes of those who crye out to him come in the rod of his fury beecause the tyme is now at hand to iudge against you iustice in equity and in the seuerity of his spirit for hee knoweth how to take away the spirit of Princes and is terrible among the kinges of the earth wee speake not thus vnto you to cōfound your face or prouoke you to farther indignation and anger as perchance the malitious who swarme about you and lye in wayte day and night for our destruction indeauoring to alienate your mynde from vs will with their wicked and vniust suggestions whispering murmur against vs Giue them ô God according to their workes and according to the naughtines of their inuentions but that wee may make you more cautions and wary in the prouision and care of your soule and cause you to auoyd the danger that is euen now instantly at hand and beecause it is our especiall charge to bee watchfull ouer your soule in regarde the care and gouerment thereof is committed to vs as the king whereof wee must render an accompt in the dreadfull day of iudgment Incline theereunto a willing eare and vse our seruice as it shall please you soe long vs wee offend not Allmighty God nor deale with wicked dissimulation to the ouerthowe of your soule and ours for what will it boote you to gaine the whole world with the danger of your saluation Consider with your selfe what is beecome of the Emperors what of the kinges and other Princes what of the Archbishopps and Bishoppes our ancient predecessours They laboured in their dayes und others haue succeeded in their trauailles what more Soe vanisheth the world and his glory Remember therefore your last and you shall not sinne eternally and moreouer if you haue offended you will then doe pennance God send you deerely beeloued grace well to fare if in true humility and speedy pennance you will bee conuerted to our Lord God Allmighty Soe fare you well againe and euer Thus saint Thomas Hee directed also other letters to the Bishoppes concerning the Hierarchicall order and vnity of the Catholicke Church which beegin in this sorte THOMAS BY THE GRACE OF GOD the humble seruant of the Church of Canterbury to all his reuerend brethren the Bishoppes of the Prouince of Canterbury sendeth greeting IF wee haue à care to liue as wee ought Codi Vat. lib. 1. Epist 97. The Epistel of S. Thomas to the Bishoppes of of England And within a fewe wordes after Now concerning the visible vnity of the Catholicke Church vnder one head In the beeginning of the Primitiue Church as the blessed Apostle teacheth Christ ascending into heauen that hee might fullfill all made truly some Apostles some Prophetts others Euangelistes others Pastors and Masters for the instruction of Saintes for the worke of ministry for the buylding of the body of Christ neither yet were all offices to bee committed to one but euery member was to bee endowed with his proper offices and yet neuertheless in that sorte as the head in whom as in a castle or certaine Capitoll all the senses of vertues are assembled together may prouyde for all and euery particular and all on the other syde may obey the head according to their seuerall conditions The Doctor of the Gentills who gloryeth that hee learned not the Gospell either of man or by man Call 1. but was instructed by Christ went vp to Ierusalem and conferred with the Prince of the Churches concerning matters of fayth least hee should run or had run in vayne And as it appeareth by many examples Gen. 2. all fluddes of the Gospell returne to the sea from whence they had their originall to the end they may flowe againe for the fountaine of Paradise is one but deuided into many riuers that thereby it may on all sydes water the earth Who doubteth the Church of Rome to be the head of all Churches and fountayne of Catholicke doctrine Who is ignorant that the keyes of the kingdome of heauen were deliuered to Peeter Doth not the frame of the whole Church aryse on the fayth and Doctrine of Peeter vntill wee doe all meete beefore Christ in a perfect man in the vnity of fayth and acknowledgment of the sonne of God And afterwardes But whosoeuer hee bee that watereth or planteth God giueth encrease to none but him who hath planted on the fayth of Peeter and humbleth himselfe vnto his doctrine To him truly are referred the iudgmentes of the people which are of greatest importance to bee examined by the Pope of Rome and the Magistrates subordinate to him in the Courtes of the Church that they who are assistantes in partaking the care may excercise the power committed to their charge soe as the preist when hee cannot determine a matter incident to the flocke of his parish may referre the same to his Bishop who submitteth things surmounting his reach also to the Archbishop or Metropolitane from whom whatsoeuer is of greatest importance is reserued vnto the high Bishop of Rome This order hath Peeter taught vs and the same hath the Catholicke Church obserued vnto this day neither by Gods grace shall is euer bee ouerthrowne whatsoeuer iniquity attempteth against it Neuertheless in the kingdome of England which I cannot without exceeding greefe recall to mynd nor without teares declare they presume wonderfully against Peeter The authority of the Apostolicke Sea as much as lyeth in peruerse Potentates is extenuated and indangered whyle they who of necessity are compelled for performing their pennance or procuring the commodity of their soules or otherwise in the duty of visitation to trauell ouer to our Lord the Pope are hindred in their iourney spoyled hardly handled and forbidden to passe the seas either by those who seeke out occasions to committ mischeefes or by others who are compelled to take oathes for restrayning Clearkes and Penitents in this sayd iourney And therefore in regard they lay violent handes on the Clergie they incurre by their owne acte the condemnation of accursing which is the reason that wee vsing the authority of the Church of Rome doe command your brotherhood charging yee by the Apostolicke power in
same sealed vp to such Messingers as shall bee designed for that purpose And withall commanded to send or deliuer the letters of the sayd Legantyne authority together with the letters of the Archbishop to sundry Bishoppes according to their seuerall directions and not to omitt this vnder payne of infringing the integrity of our state and order Prostrate therefore in harte wee humbly beeseeche at the feete of your Maiestie that you will not in regard of the weighty affaires beelonging to the charge of your kingdome neglect to consyder of vs but to prouide out of your princely piety soe for vs as wee bee not to our eternall infamy throwne from all to nothing which you may conueniently doe if you condescend by your leaue to obey the Apostolicke commandementes and restoring saint Peeters pence and through your mercy the Clearkes to their owne You command all the Bishoppes that if they can finde any thing in the Archbishoppes letters to make against the customes of the kingdome they presently with all confidence appeale vnto the Popes holines or his Legates which are directed vnto vs soe shall you doe a worke of mercy preserue vs from the guilt of disobedience and by the common appeale of all defend our cause from receauing any detriment Our Lord instruct you to doe his will and redeeme vs out of the streightes wherin wee are at this instant plunged Farwell most beeloued Lord in Christ And thus London painting the wall without temperature whilst with the remedy of appeale and not absolute obedience hee counselled the king to redresse this matter But Thomas now strengthened with the most ample power of the Apostolicall Legation setting asyde delay S. Thomas executeth his LegaÌ„tyne authority falled downe what was to bee cult and corrected plucked vp the bastard plantes which had now beeyond all right and reason taken deepe rootes and beeing made a fanne in the hand of our Lord vndertooke with his greate labour to seperate the chaffe from the corne finding in al things not only the kinge himselfe but also the Bishoppes his most bitter aduersaries whom neither by benefitts nor admonitions hee could euer bring to better passe but indured them still as the most vile deprauers of his actions to the king Yet that hee may not appeare negligent in his office hee awaked the slougthfull restrained the wanderers and those whom hee found in regarde of their abhominable crymes altogether vnworthie hee cut them of from the communion of the Catholike Church as rotten members from a sound body All which is signifyed by the letters hee wrote this present yeere out of France into England to the Bishops subiect to his charge which beeing recorded among other his Epistells are to bee read in this sorte Codi Vat. lib. 1. Epist 9â— Thomas by the grace of God the humble seruante of the Church of Canterbury to his reuerent brethren the Bishop of London and other Bishoppes of the whole Prouince of Canterbury wisheth soe to passe through temporall felicity as they loose not eternall My most beeloued Bretthren why rise yee not with mee against the malicious S. Thomas by his Epistel correcteth the Bishops of his Prouince Why staÌ„d yee not with mee against the workes of iniquity Are yee ignorant that our Lord will disperse the bones of them who please men They shall bee confounded beecause our Lord hath despised them Your discretion sufficiently vnderstandeth that an error not resisted is approued and truth not defended is oppressed And by the testimony of saint Gregory Psalm 52. hee seemeth to consent to the erronious who essayeth not to reforme what is to bee amended Heereby is apparant that wee haue too long and too much forborne the king of England nor yet hath the Church of God reaped any commodity by this our enduring It seemeth dangerous and intollerable for vs to leaue any longer vnpunished hetherto wee haue done soe greate excesses of him and his officers against the Church of God and Ecclesiasticall persons especially since wee haue very often endeauored by messangers letters and all manner of meanes as bee came vs to recall him from his peruerse purpose Beecause therefore hee will hardly afforde vs the hearing and much lesse attentiuely listen vnto vs wee haue with inuocation of the grace of the holy ghoste publickly condemned and declared as voyd that deede of wryting together with the authority of that indenture wherin are contayned not customes but rather those wicked deuices by which the Church of England is disturbed and confounded and haue also excommunicated all the obseruers exactors counsellors assistantes and defenders of the same and doe absolue by the authority of God and vs all yee Bishoppes from that promise whereby yee were bound contrary to the constitution of the Church for the obseruation of them For who can make doubt but that the Preistes of Christ should bee esteemed the fathers and Maisters of kinges Princes and all faithfull beeleeuers Is it not a miserable madnes if the sonne should endeauour to bring the father or the scholler the Master vnder his subiection and with vnlawfull bandes to subdue vnto his will the partie by whom his faith telleth him that not only in earth but also in heauen hee may bee tyed and loosed wherefore that yee may not fall into the lapse of this sentence wee haue adiudged voyd the authority of this obligation and the schedule it selfe with all the enormityes contayned therein and haue especially declared it of no force in these thinges ensuing 1. That no man shall appeale to the Apostolike Sea vpon any cause without the kinges licence 2. That it shall not bee lawfull for an Archbishop or Bishop to departe out of the kingdome and come at the calling of our Lord the Pope without our Lord the kinges licence 3. That it shall not bee lawfull for à Bishop to excommunicate any one houlding of the kinge in cheyfe without the kinges licence or to interdict his land or the landes of his Officers 4. That it shall not bee lawfaull for a Bishop to punish any one for periury or profaning his faith 5. That Clearkes shall bee bounde to bee tryed beefore secular Tribunalles 6. That the Layety or kinge or any others shall handle causes beeloÌ„ging to the Church or Tythes or others of like nature Wee denounce also as excommunicate and haue excommunicated by name Iohn de Oxeforde who hath fallen into a damnable heresie by making oathe to the Scysmaticks whereby the scysme allmost extinguished in Almayne reuiued againe also by communicating with that infamous Scysmatick Reynold Archbishop of Colâ—n and lastly beecause against the commandement of our Lord the Pope and vs hee vsurped to himselfe the Deanry of the Church of Salisbury which acte as contrary to law and à pernicious example to the Church of God wee haue condemned and declared as voyde commanding the Bishop of Salisbury and his Chapter in the vertue of obedience and perill of their order that vpon sight
away hath wherewith to restore Whereupon Saint Augustine saith If the thing taken away when it may bee restored bee not restored Pennance is not donne but dissembled And in an other place I haue sayd this most confidently that hee who maketh intercession for a man to this purpose that hee may not restore thinges vniustly taken away and hee who compelleth not as farre as honestly hee may the party that in this case flyeth to him to make restitution is partaker of his deceipte and offence for with far greater mercy doe wee forbeare to helpe such men then assist them Bee assured therefore of this make no doubt at all thereof and if any man preacheth contrary to this yea bee it an Angell from heauen let him be accursed and soe shall hee as long as hee perseuereth in this opinion See therefor renowned Lord that in this case you walke warely least the detayning of a thing euill gotten which is but dust and wormes dryue you headlong which God forbid into impenitency and make you subiect to that danger from which you can neuer be cleansed by fasting and prayer In discretion moreouer you ought to vnderstand that allthough all Bishoppes are not Saintes yet possesse they the places of Saintes and allbeeit they shine not with such meritt of life yet ought they to imitate those who haue shyned before them as farre as Gods mercy will giue them grace Because therefore holy men haue fought for the law of their God vnto death and haue not feared the wordes and threates of their persecutors for hee is absolutely more to bee dreaded who is able to cast soule and body into hell fire wee likewise are of necessity bound as far as God will inspire vs to keepe foster and defend his lawes neyther is this to bee imputed to vs as pryde or malice but is imposed on vs as incident to our office For soe sayth our Lord Keepe my lawes And againe in thee Gospell Hee that breaketh one of these least commandements shall bee called the least in the kingdome of heauen Wee beelieue noble Lord you are sufficiently endowed with wisedome and therefore wee humbly beeseech you as our deerest Lord and that in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ that you will vouchsafe to heare vs yea with mercy and to heare vs throughly as God may heare and fully heare you at the day of iudgment and receaue you among his elected when assuredly neyther strengh nor power nor empyre nor riches nor secular lawes nor customes can helpe any man nor any thing else but the mercy of Allmighty God with the fruytes of forerunning workes which would to God it might euer remayne fixed in your mynde and thence neuer to departe Let our Lord and king willingly admitt and heare the counsellors who aduise him heerein that God may prosper him and lengthen the life of him and his heires with the blessings of peace for many yeeres neither let them passe in this world vnpunished who with their falshood and exquisite deceiptes haue endeauored to vndoe and disturbe the worthie and vertuous designes of our Lord and king which from the beeginning of his raigne hee conceaued and continued as wee thinke with a iust sincere deuotion for the honoring of Churches and Ecclesiasticall persons God send our Lord euer to florish and that his Church and wee may thereby liue more blessedly God send him long life And thus Saint Thomas not as a iudge threatening with seuere censures but as a father exhorteh and admonisheth his sonne whom hee desireth to deliuer from the sentence of condemnation allthough in vayne his wicked counsellors withstanding it Cod. Vat. lib. 1. Epist 140. And like to this complainte of the kinges counsellors made by Saint Thomas as you haue heard doth Iohn of Salisbury inueigh also against them wryting to Nicholas de Monte of Roan who was to Saint Thomas a most entire freind which shorte epistle because it containeth much matter appertayning to this time wee thought conuenient to bee heere inserted being thus Our Lord disperseth those nations that would haue warres and they who estrange themselues from the peace of God shall vndoubtedly perish What one of the Persecutors of Gods Church hath bin read to haue eschewed the reuenging right hand of our Lord who punisheth the mighty mightely In regarde whereof which without greife I cannot speake our Lord the king of England whom with his heires God if it bee his blessed will preserue is much to bee feared least their kingdome bee rent asunder and the power weakened which they haue abused against the Churche If reuenge bee deferred for the correction and probation of his children whom the mercifull father chasticeth first that hee may afterwardes crowne it is not therefore taken away but that after the patience of the holy it beecommeth more bitter and terrible against the wicked Why then I pray you doth not this most wise man endowed by God with soe greate vertues soe large a dominion and allmost all singular guiftes returne vnto his harte And why cannot the cōqueror of soe many and mighty cittyes cōquer his owne intemperance Why doth hee persecuting the Church the only beeloued spouse of Christ inkindle him to wrath who taketh away the spirit of princes and with his owne propper power trampleth on the neckes of the potent Vndoubtedly if hee were aduysed hee would turne the fury of his indignation against them who with their guiles and abuses haue thrust him headlong into this not counsell but downefull and would at the least imitate the king of Babilon that hee might not bee found more cruell then hee who cast them into the Lyons denne by whose counsell hee threw Daniel a prisoner thither that the guilty counsellers might suffer the paynes they deuised against the guiltles Then addeth hee examples of Bishoppes restored by kinges to theire proper Seas wryting thus The Archbishop of Saint Iames who liued long in banishment is now restored by his king The king of the Danes calling home his Archbishop gouerneth by his aduice subdueth his enemyes and honoreth him as his father The Archbishop of Lyons hath receaued againe his Sea and reduced his prouince to the Catholike vnity The cittyes of Italy abandoning Fredericke the Scysmaticke haue entertayned their Catholicke Bishoppes God is my witnes vnles our Lord and king recalleth againe his Archbishop I dread to vtter the feare I conceaue of him but if hee will send for him and render peace to the Church of God I doe assuredly hope that in him and his the glory of his former successes will through the Churches prayers flourish againe what say I more There resteth yet for him one apparant aduice which is that hee banisheth his wicked counsellors the Churches aduersarys and endeauoreth to appease Allmighty God whom hee hath offended against whose diuine pleasure hee can neither raigne nor rule God hath yet endured him with vnspeakeable patience but vnlesse hee beeware as the woeman in labor hee will
eternall prayse and glory Dated at Lateran in the Nones of May. These letters beeing receaued and diuulged in France did breede a singuler ioy in all deuoute myndes as the epistles of diuers doe testify Moreouer it so fell out as the Popes Legates vpon occasions did often mention in excusing themselues to the king of England that theyr authority was by his Holines diminished Yea although the letters of Alexander were not extant it is neuertheles most assured that the Legates haue professed the same in the presence of the kinges both of England and France as it appeareth out of the epistle heereafter to bee recyted But the Legate of Papia allbee it is his authority was very much lessened by the Apostolicall letters did notwithstanding leaue nothing vndone to obtayne for the king of England his hartes desire with the ouerthrowe of the cause of Saint Thomas who in the meane tyme was encouraged with the Popes letters wryting in this sorte Although the calamity of aduersityes and labors seemeth more terribly to threaten and preuayle against you set neuerthelesse beefore your eyes the sundry examples of the holy fathers who like your selfe suffering for the zeale of iustice many distresses and afflictions deserued therby to win with great felicity an euerlasting crowne in the kingdome of heauen Wherfore wee desire and admonish your wisedome that hauing in your sight the saying Blessed are they who suffer persecution for iustice you will not let your mynde be broaken with crosses nor fall from her setled estate with any tribulations but strengthen the same with the vertue of fortitude and constancy Where you knowe assuredly the iustice and liberty of the Church to haue receaued detriment doe not there in any case endeauor to renew a peace with the king of England to the suppression and abridgment of the Churches dignity but on the other syde so far as it may stand with the honor of your degree and liberty of the Church humble your selfe and labor by all meanes to recouer his grace and fauor neither conceaue of him a needelesse feare nor require more security then is conuenient beecause as wee beelieue after hee hath once reconcyled himselfe vnto you he neither will himselfe offend nor suffer any other to offend you and for vs as wee haue often signifyed to you both by message and wryting wee will euer loue you as our dearest with a sinceare charity and procure the conseruation of your honor with the encrease of your liberty and dignity so far as God will permitt vs. This was Alexanders Epistell worthy so renowned a Pope But to the matter let vs now see what ensued heere vpon After long indirect wayes and perplexityes the Legates who were sent from the Citty did hardly at the length in the Kalends of Ianuary and end of Autumne come together to the king of England for managing the busines wherin they were employed But how matters passed beetweene them and the king they re owne reporte to Pope Alexander in the name of the Legates of the Apostolike Sea declareth Ibidem epist 28. which beeing written by one of them William of Papia with a mynde extreamly bent against the Archbishop layeth all the blame on Saint Thomas in so much as wee ought not to make any reckoning thereof vnles hee bee withall admitted to audience who beeing innocent was accused as culpable Yet heare his relation or rather a most bitter accusation of Saint Thomas To our most blessed father and lord Alexander by the grace of God the most high Bishop William and Oddo by the same grace Cardinalles wishing prosperity remember the humble and deuoute seruice of theyr subiection The reporte of Vvilliam the Legate to the Pope with an inuectiue against Saint Thomas Comming to the dominions of the most renowned king of England wee founde the controuersy beetweene him and Canterbury aggrauated in far worser sorte beelieue vs then willingly wee could haue wished for the kinge with the greatest parte of his followers affirmed how the Archbishop with greate vehemency incensed the most worthy king of France against him and in like sorte induced his cosyn the Earle of Flanders who beefore did beare him no malice to fall out with him and rayse the most powerfull warre hee could against him and this hee knewe of certaynty as a thing apparant by euident demonstrations For wheras the Earle departed from the king with shew of freindship the Arbishop comming in his prouince to the very seate of the warre incyted as much as in him lay as well the king of France as the aforesayde Earle to armes when therfore wee first entred into parlee with the king at Cane wee deliuered into his handes as best beeseemed vs the letters froÌ„ your Holines which when hee had diligently and considerately read finding in the perusall of them that they somewhat differed and disagreed from others which hee had receaued from your Holines formerly concerning the same matter beegan to bee styrred with greater indignation and that the more because as hee sayde hee was assured how the Archbishop after our departure from your Holines receaued letters whereby hee was absolutely exempted from our iudgment and was no way bound to answer before vs. Hee affirmed moreouer that the informations deliuered to your Holines concerning the ancient customes of England were rather boulstred out with falshoodes then supported by truth which the Bishoppes there present did witnes The king offered alsoe that if any customes since his tyme were deuysed contrary to the Ecelesiasticall lawes hee would submitt them to the iudgment of your Holines to bee confirmed or cancelled The Legates appoint a tyme for parlee with Saint Thomas Calling therefore vnto vs the Archbishoppes Bishoppes and Abbotes of the kinges Dominions to the end the king should not absolutely depriue vs of all hope of peace but rather suffer himselfe to bee drawen might haue a conference with the Arbishop as well concerning the peace as the iudgment Sending therfore letters vnto him by our owne Chaplaynes wee appointed a certayne and safe place where wee might haue conference with him in the feast of Saâ—â—â— Martin Hee neuertheles pretending excuses putt of thâ—â— Parlee vntill the Octaues of this Saint which truly molested the king more then wee could imagine but when wee sawe the Archbishoppe although wee offered hiâ— safe conductes would neuertheles giue vs no meetinges in any parte of the kinges dominions which confyned on France wee beeing willing to yeeld to him to the end there might bee nothing wanting in vs which might redounde to his profit came to a place in the realme of France which himselfe appointed The parles beetween the Legates and S. Thomas Where being at the parlee wee first beegaÌ„ most earnestly to perswade and instantly exhorte him that hee would beehaue himselfe to the king who had bin his singuler Benefactor with such humility as might minister vnto vs sufficient matter whereupon to ground our petition of peace at