monastery in the diocese of Lincoln. The Archdeacon, seeing an opportunity of weakening the almost pontifical dignity of this Abbot, cited him before his court. Taking advantage of a technical blunder of the Archdeacon's, the Abbot refused to appear. The Archdeacon corrected his mistake, but the Abbot still refused to appear. Then the Archdeacon complained to the Bishop, Grosseteste summoned the Abbot to appear before him, and when the Abbot declined to do so, excommunicated him as contumacious. The Abbot took this very quietly, which made Grosseteste still more indignant, and he threatened to take severer steps. He sent lay visitors to bring the Abbot to submission, but the monks shut the doors in their faces and the porters drove them away. The visitors returned to Grosseteste and complained of the treatment they had received. Finding that matters were getting serious, the Abbot lodged an appeal which in the ordinary course of affairs would have gone to the archbishop of the province. But, at this time, the archbishopric was vacant, and the Abbot actually carried his appeal to the monks of Canterbury as being custodians of the temporalities of the see during the vacancy. It was an absurd thing to do, of course, but it answered the Abbot's purpose. Grosseteste was in great wrath, and solemnly deposed the Abbot of Bardney. Thereupon the monks of Canterbury, summoning fifty priests of the province, excommunicated Grosseteste and sent him a solemn letter signed with the archiepiscopal seal. When the Bishop received these documents he tore them in pieces, threw them upon the ground, and stamped on them, to

the amazement of the onlookers, who noticed the figure of St. Thomas upon the seal. Of course Grosseteste at once communicated with Rome, and Innocent IV. ordered the monks to withdraw their excommunication, an order which filled Grosseteste with indignation, as it looked like a recognition of the monks' jurisdiction over him. It is a curious and interesting case, showing the perpetual hindrances and difficulties cast in the way of the exercise of episcopal authority by the innumerable subterfuges which could be raised at every turn.

BISHOP GROSSETESTE AND HIS TIMES.

III.

I HAVE followed the difficulties in which Grosseteste found himself involved up to the year 1244. In that year he had a quarrel over a certain matter with the King, which is of interest in throwing light on the customs of the times. The see of Winchester had been kept vacant for five years, in order that the King might enjoy its revenues during the vacancy. That of course was an object which the Crown had always more or less close to its heart; it was not to its interest that disputed elections should be settled; in fact the more difficulties were raised, the more the Crown liked it, because so long as a see remained vacant the Crown received its income. In 1238, Ralph de Neville, the Chancellor, had succeeded in getting himself elected Bishop of Winchester, and because he knew that he was a very secular person, and not likely to be acceptable, he wrote to ask Grosseteste to help him to secure papal confirmation. Grosseteste declined to do anything of the kind, and advised Ralph de Neville to take no particular steps to secure his confirmation, but to leave it in the hands of God and accept whatever came of it. The Pope annulled the election at the King's request, as the

King wanted to secure the see for the Queen's uncle, William of Valence. But the monks of Winchester, instead of electing William of Valence, now elected the Bishop of Norwich. The King was furious and was determined to vent his displeasure on the man who had dared to take the see contrary to his wishes. He proceeded to give orders that the offending Bishop's revenues should be cut off both at Winchester and Norwich, and when the poor man came to London, the King commanded the merchants and tradesmen of the city to have no dealings with him. The Bishop was practically outlawed, simply because he had ventured to accept the bishopric of Winchester contrary to the King's wishes. Grosseteste when he heard of this was indignant, and gathering round him some of his brother prelates, went to remonstrate with the King, but the King fled incontinently, for he was not prepared to stand one of Grosseteste's lectures. In the meanwhile Henry sent a large sum of money as a bribe to the Pope to get him to deprive the Bishop. But the bribe was so palpable and barefaced that even the Pope had to refuse it, and the money was embezzled by the King's envoy. Grosseteste and his brother bishops ran the King down at last at Westminster, and Grosseteste gave him a piece of his mind and threatened to lay his Royal Chapel at Westminster under an interdict. Henry III. was very devout in his way. Once when going to visit St. Louis of France he went into every church on the line of his route, and had Mass said for him, so that he did not reach the King of France till late in the afternoon. On learning the

cause of the delay Louis gave orders that next time the King of England visited him the churches on his way were to be closed, so that Henry might not spend so much time in devotion. It is easily to be imagined, therefore, that the threat to place the Royal Chapel under an interdict was so terrible that the King implored Grosseteste to delay taking that step at least till an answer had been received from Rome. In the meantime, the Bishop of Winchester went over to France where he was welcomed by St. Louis, and a year or two afterwards the unhappy Henry gave way, as he generally did.

At this same time Grosseteste sent a circular letter to his archdeacons which contains some information of value, as it shows the low condition to which the Church was reduced. He complained that the priests did not say their hours, that they held services at times which did not suit their parishioners, that they were slothful, that they almost habitually kept concubines, that they took part in miracle-plays, that they haunted taverns and attended May-day festivities. Another characteristic of the parish priest was that he objected to the friars. Preaching by the parochial clergy had almost died out in England, indeed in medieval times it was perhaps a rare thing for a parish priest to preach. So it came about that the wandering friars found plenty of hearers when they went about preaching in the open air, like the Wesleyan preachers of later times. The secular clergy objected strongly to the coming of the friars into their parishes, and regarded themselves as suffering severely from their intrusion. A friar used to come into a parish without