sioned him a visit to Lyons in the year 1244. Innocent IV. had summoned a general council to meet at that city in 1245, and Grosseteste, having committed the care of his diocese to his Archdeacons, repaired thither to prosecute the cause before the Pope himself. There he found his friend and favourite Roger de Weseham, who had been substituted by him in the place of the Dean of Lincoln, whom he had deposed. Through his interest, De Weseham was consecrated, at Lyons, to the bishopric of Lichfield and Coventry, which had long been vacant, and which the Pope conferred on him, by an arbitrary assumption of authority, without consulting the King. Both Grosseteste and his friend De Weseham have very justly been censured for being parties to such an act of encroachment on the royal prerogative, as well as on the privileges of the Chapters. Here also, unhappily for his reputation, he was guilty, in common with the other Prelates of England of subscribing his name to an instrument, by which the kingdom of England was made tributary to the Pope. It had happened that, in a fire which broke out in an apartment at Lyons, the original instrument by which King John had shamefully surrendered his kingdom into the hands of the Pope had been destroyed, and that now signed by the Prelates was an expedient for restoring the lost treasure. The iniquity of the measure was still more flagrant, as at that very council held at Lyons King Henry had ambassadors, sent to reclaim the obnoxious instrument.. No excuse can be offered for the inconsistency of Grosseteste's conduct in this transaction. It only shews the terror with which the immediate presence of the papal power was accompanied, and that the same persons, who were in general so tenacious of their own rights, could consent to the sacrifice of them, on an occasion, when the royal power was depressed, to the aggrandizement of their own order.

In the same year, (1245), Grosseteste was joined in a commission from the Pope, with other Prelates, for raising a subsidy of six thousand marks for the use of the Pope. The pretext of this infamous exaction was the loss which Innocent had sustained by the fire at Lyons. The King expressly prohibited the payment of the money: the Clergy also remonstrated, but dreading the inconstancy of the King, were not resolute in their opposition, many of them even screening themselves from the indignation of both the King and the Pope, by a clandestine payment of their quota.

The complaisance which the Bishop had shewn towards the papal court, at the council of Lyons, was probably the occasion of his ob taining at this period a bull from Innocent, by which his pending cause with the Chapter was at length decided in his favour. In an attempt, however, which he, with other Prelates, made to have the Cistercian monasteries subjected to the episcopal power, he did not equally succeed.

After his return from Lyons he made a strict visitation of his diocese. The proceeding of course gave great offence as on the former occasion. He caused the Archdeacons and rural Deans to scrutinize closely into the chastity and general morals of all orders of people, from the highest to the lowest; and so rigid an inquiry brought many

facts to light to the great reproach of several individuals. Complaint of the severity exercised was even made to the King, who, upon this, wrote to the Sheriff of Hertfordshire, not to suffer any laymen of his district hereafter to assemble at the pleasure of the Archdeacons, their Officials, or Deans, for the purpose of making inquiry by oath or otherwise concerning any matters but causes matrimonial or testamentary. When this injunction of the King was made known to the Bishop, he coolly observed," that the King was following the example of certain conspirators in France, who had been guilty of the like rashness."

The proceedings however of Innocent were such that Bishop Grosseteste could no longer give his sanction to them, notwithstanding his exalted notions of spiritual authority. He now joined in the general dissatisfaction expressed by the different states of the kingdom at the grievances endured under the papal domination, and in a remonstrance to the Pope, entreated him to have regard to his promise of moderation made at the late general council, and to quiet the minds of the King and the Earl of Cornwall.-It is also highly creditable to him that, being required to sanction the seizure of the first-fruits of all the benefices in the province of Canterbury for the purpose of defraying a debt with which the see of Canterbury was encumbered, he declined being a party to the iniquitous exaction, though supported by the authority of a papal bull in its favour.

His answer again was just and spirited to two Franciscans, whom the Pope had secretly attached to his interest, and who, having craftily obtained the King's sanction to beg charity for the Pope, went about the kingdom in all the pomp of Legates, demanding contributions from the different Prelates, under pain of the heaviest punishments in case of refusal. When they applied to him he was shocked to see men of an order, which he had constantly esteemed, so transformed into mere tools of papal oppression; but calmly answered to their demand of 6000 marks, as the contribution from his diocese-" Friars, this demand, I speak it with all reverence to his Holiness, is dishonourable, and not to be complied with, because it is impossible to do that. It does not concern me only, but the whole body of the Clergy and people of the kingdom. It would therefore be a most rash thing and highly absurd for me to give a definitive answer to it at once, and`in an instant, before the sense of the kingdom is taken upon it."

Shortly after this, he incurred the sentence of excommunication, together with the other bishops of the province, in consequence of their general refusal to collect the money exacted for defraying the debt of the see of Canterbury; and the sentence was only relaxed when its severity had produced the requisite compliance.

Bishop Grosseteste, elevated, as he was, above most of his contemporaries in understanding and learning, was by no means free from the gross superstition which polluted the religious faith of that age. The masters of the temple and hospital at Jerusalem having sent over, as a present to Henry III, what was pretended to be some of the real blood of our Saviour, a solemn assembly of the Nobles and Prelates convened at the feast of the Translation of St. Edward, conveyed the precious relic in pompous procession to Westminster Abbey; and an

indulgence of six years and one hundred and sixteen days was granted by the Bishops present to all who should resort there to venerate it. Doubts however arose respecting the authenticity of the relic; and the ingenuity of the papal advocates was needed to sanction the imposition. Here Grosseteste came forward, and in the method usual to Romanists when they would extricate themselves from a palpable absurdity, solved the difficulty which had been started as to the possibility of there being any real blood of Christ on earth when his entire body rose on the third day, by a distinction of two sorts of blood, one essential to life and residing in the heart which rose with Christ's body from the dead, the other that which is generated by food and flows in the veins, of which there were some remains on earth.

The Bishop continued through his life, a strict visitor of the various religious houses, enforcing the discipline of their order among the monks. In 1248 he had obtained extraordinary powers from the Pope for this object, and accordingly summoned all the Religious of his diocese to meet at Leicester, in order to hear and receive his Holiness's injunctions. It was his intention on this occasion to lay hold of all the appropriated rectories and rents of the different houses, in case they had not formally obtained the assent of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln, and to take them into his own hand-with the view, it seems, of constituting vicarages, that the people might have the benefit of a priest resident among them. But the religious societies were not disposed to acquiesce in his wishes. They appealed to the Pope, and the Bishop consequently, though now advanced in years, was induced again to proceed to Lyons, where the Pope still resided from fear of the Emperor. The appellants were the Templars, and Hospitallers, and many others; and by means of money (for money could do every thing at that sordid and venal court) they succeeded with his Holiness. When the Bishop, who had been at much labour and expence, understood this, he was much dejected, and said to the Pope;-" I relied upon your letters and promises, but am entirely frustrated in my hopes, since those whom I thought to have humbled, will now, to my shame, return exempt and free." The Pope answered sternly; "What is that to you? You have done your part and we are disposed to favour them: is your eye evil, because I am good?" When the Bishop, in a low tone, but so as to be heard by his Holiness, observed: "O money, money, how prevalent art thou, especially in the court of Rome:" the Pope rejoined; "You English are the most miserable of all people, always striving to grind and impoverish one another. How many religious men, already subject unto thee, thine own sheep as it were, thy friends and domestics, men addicted to prayer and hospitality, art thou

"It is surprizing with what ease and comfort the Prelates and Ecclesiastics could pass to Lyons or to Rome, in these times. They regarded such journeys as little as our gentlemen do now, when the method of travelling is so much more commodious. It was much in their favour that instead of going to inns, which were then but few and bad, they could divert to the monasteries and be received there."-Life of Grosseteste, p. 172.

striving to depress, that with their effects thou mayest sacrifice to thine own tyranny and avidity, for the enriching of others, and perhaps aliens." This treatment from the Pope, who, up to that point had seconded the acts of the Bishop, and now deserted him on a pressing occasion, was highly exasperating to the feelings of the Bishop-but he commanded his temper, and turned his attention to some other business, that his journey might not have proved altogether fruitless.

He appeared again at the papal court at Lyons once more, in the year 1250, in company with the King's brother, the Earl of Cornwall. His disgust at the venality of the papal court had now been accumulated by the continued extortions which he had witnessed, and particularly in the countenance which had recently been shewn to the shameful proceedings of Archbishop Boniface. On this occasion he gave three copies of a sermon, one to the Pope, the other two to two of the Cardinals, in order to have it read, the Archdeacon of Oxford standing by his side. He introduced it with some observations bespeaking the benevolence and attention of his audience, but in the discourse spoke with great freedom of the papal court and of the corruptions and abominations practised in it. He observed how remiss and contemptible the parochial Clergy were, and imputed all the blame to the court of Rome; not only because it omitted to remove the abominations, but itself by its dispensations, and provisions, and collations, sacrificed many thousands of souls, (for the eternal quickening of each of which the Son of God was willing to be condemned to a most ignominious death,) for the mere temporal benefit of some one individual. He inveighed particularly against appropriations of churches to religious houses, the exemptions of those houses from the episcopal jurisdiction, the suppression of the oath ex officio, the appeals to his Holiness by the religious houses, and to the Archbishop by the Laity, and the scandalous clause of non obstante in the bulls. He reproached the court of Rome with exciting wars, with bribery and corruption.

One account reports that he resigned his bishopric after having delivered this bold address, but this does not appear to have been the fact. He was fortunate however to escape with his life*, after so vehement a denunciation of the apostate court.

Having been several months absent at Lyons, he returned to England about Michaelmas, much dejected and with exhausted finances. And now he had thoughts of withdrawing himself from the cares of his diocese, contemplating the impending ruin of the Church, which he had no longer the power to prevent. It was probably at this period of mental depression that he conceived the design of enrolling himself among the friars. In order to devote himself to prayer and meditation, and study, he committed the ordinary business of the see to his friend and official, Robert de Marisco, as a step to an entire resignation

* Platina relates that Arnulphus, a Preacher, was murdered at Rome about a century before, by the procurement of the Priests, for his invective against their incontinence and sensuality, their pompous living, and insatiable appetite after wealth.-Life of Grosseteste, p. 180.

of the world. But his spirits revived, and he lived still to exert himself vigorously both in Parliament and in his diocese.

In the same year he again visited his diocese, and as usual, reformed the crying abuses among all ranks of the Clergy. He scrupulously examined the convents, exploring the dormitories, and if he found any place shut up causing it to be opened, denouncing heavy sentences and curses in the words of Moses against those of the religious who should break their statutes, and proclaiming the blessings of the Prophet on such as should observe them. He induced also many of the beneficed Clergy, who were only in the inferior orders, to enter into the priesthood. He often preached to the people as he went about, obliging the neighbouring clergy to attend the sermons.

The Romans beneficed in England, by means of the papal provisions, were the objects of his severest animadversion. He would say, that "if he should commit the care of souls to them, he should be the friend of Satan" and thus he would often indignantly cast the bulls out of his hand, refusing to collate them. On his refusing on one occasion to admit, at the command of the Pope, an Italian who was entirely ignorant of the English language, he was suspended from his functions for the Lent following. On another occasion he put the church of Flamstead under an interdict, and excommunicated Hurtold, a Burgundian, who had been presented to the living by the King: so jealous was he of the intrusion of foreigners into the churches.

We come now to a very important instance in which the Bishop displayed his spirited opposition to the papal encroachments. The King had taken the cross in the year 1250; and, under the pretext of an equipment for an intended crusade, obtained a mandate from the Pope by which a tenth of the Church's revenue was granted to him for three years. This mandate he imparted to the Bishops assembled in his presence on St. Edward's day. The King's sincerity in taking the cross was generally suspected, but Grosseteste did not dissemble his opinion of the transaction. He replied with great warmth to the King's messengers, "Blessed Lady, what is this that I hear? You are too hasty in your conclusions. Can you imagine we shall ever assent to such an accursed contribution? thus bend the knee to Baal?" Ethelmar, Bishop elect of Winchester, the King's half-brother, both a young and

* At this time three foreigners held bishoprics in England; Archbishop Boniface, Peter de Equeblanc of Hereford, and Ethelmar of Winchester. The Italians preferred to English benefices were generally boys, mere novices, or retainers of the Pope's agents, utterly incompetent to any parochial duties, and often resident abroad. Matthew Paris, though himself a monk, thus remonstrates on this glaring abuse: "Ubinam scitur Anglicus aliquis reditum habere in partibus Romæ, Italiæ, Januæ, vel regnorum aliorum, cum tales in Anglia rapiant universa? O Deus ultionum Domine, quando exacues, ut fulgur, gladium, nt cruore talium inebrietur.”—Life of Grosseteste, p. 186.

Bishop Grosseteste, in 1252, had a calculation made of the rents and emoluments enjoyed by alien ecclesiastics in the kingdom, and it was found that Innocent IV. had done more to impoverish the Church than all the former Pontiffs taken together; and that the rents of the foreign clerks amounted to above 70,000 marks, when the King's income, i. e. his rental, exclusive of contingencies, did not amount to a third part of that sum." Ibid. p. 194.