XII. marched into Italy, A. D. 1174, with a design C EN T. to chastise the perfidy of the states and cities that PART II. had revolted during his absence, and seized the first favourable opportunity of throwing off his yoke. Had this expedition been crowned with the expected success, ALEXANDER would, undoubtedly, have been obliged to desist from his pretensions, and to yield the papal chair to CALLIXTUS. But the event came far short of the hopes which this grand expedition had excited, and the emperor, after having, during the space of three years, been alternately defeated and victorious, was, at length, so fatigued with the hardships he had suffered, and so dejected at a view of the difficulties he had yet to overcome, that, in the year 1177, he concluded a treaty of peace at Venice with ALEXANDER III. and a truce with the rest of his enemies [p]. Certain writers affirm, that, upon this occasion, the haughty pontif trod upon the neck of the suppliant emperor, while he kissed his foot, repeating at the same time those words of the royal Psalmist: Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet [q]. The greatest part, however, of modern authors have called this event in question, and consider it as utterly destitute of authority and unworthy of credit [r]. XIL [] All the circumstances of these conventions are accurately related by the above mentioned Count BUNAU, in his History of Frederic I. p. 115-242.-See also FORTUNATI CLMI Istoria della Venetia occultamente nel A. 1177. di Papa Alessandro III. Venet. 1629, in 4to.-MURATORI Antiq. Italice medii ævi, tom. iv. p. 2.9.-Origines Guelphicæ, tom. ii. p. 379. -Ad Sanctorum, tom. i. April. p. 46. in Vita Hugonis, abbatis Bonæ vallis, & tom. ii. April. in Vita Galdini Mediolanensis, p. 596. two famous ecclesiastics, who were employed as ambassadors and arbiters in the treaty of peace here mentioned. [9] Psalm xci. 13. [r] See BUNAU's Life of Frederic I. p. 242 --HEUMANNI Paciles, tom. iii. lib. i. p. 145.—Bibliotheque Italique, tom. vi. P. 5. CENT. PART II derstanding arises between A lexander III and XII. ALEXANDER III. who was rendered so XII. famous by his long and successful contest with FREDERIC I. was also engaged in a warm dispute Amisun with HENRY II. king of England, which was occasioned by the arrogance of THOMAS BECKET, archbishop of Canterbury. In the council of Clarendon, which was held in the year 1164, several laws were enacted, by which the king's power and jurisdiction over the clergy were accurately. explained, and the rights and privileges of the bishops and priests reduced within narrower bounds [s]. BECKET refused obedience to these laws, Henry II. king of England p. 5. as also the authors mentioned by CASPAR SAGITTARIUS, in his Introduct, in Histor. Eccles. tom. i. p. 630. tom. ii. р. 600. [] See MATTH. PARIS, Histor. Major. p. 82, 83. 101. 114-DAV. WILKINS, Concilia Magna Britaniæ, tom. i. p. 434. HENRY II. had formed the wise project of bringing the clergy under the jurisdiction of the civil courts, on account of the scandalous abuse they had made of their immunities, and the crimes which the ecclesiastical tribunals let pass with impunity. The Constitutions of Clarendon, which consisted of sixteen articles were drawn up for this purpose and as they are proper to give the reader a just idea of the prerogatives and privileges that were claimed equally by the king and the clergy, and that occasioned of consequence such warm debates between state and church, it will not be altogether useless to transcribe them here at length. I. When any difference relating to the right of patronage arises between the laity, or between the clergy and laity, the controversy is to be tried and ended in the King's Court. II. Those churches which are fees of the crown, cannot be granted away in perpetuity without the king's consent. III. When the clergy are charged with any misdemeanor, and summoned by the justiciary, they shall be obliged to make their appearance in his court, and plead to such parts of the in- dictment as shall be put to them; and likewise to answer such articles in the Ecclesiastical Court as they shall be prosecuted for by that jurisdiction: always provided, that the king's usticiary shall send an officer to inspect the proceedings of the Court Christian. And in case any clerk is convicted, or pleads uilty, he is to forfeit the privilege of his character, and to be protected by the church no longer. IV. laws, which he looked upon as prejudicial to the c EN T. divine rights of the church in general, and to the, XII. prerogatives IV. No archbishops, bishops, or parsons are allowed to depart the kingdom, without a licence from the crown; and, provided they have leave to travel, they shall give security, not to act or solicit any thing during their passage, stay, or return, to the prejudice of the king, or kingdom.. When any of the laity are prosecuted in the Ecclesiastical courts, the charge ought to be proved before the bishop by legal and reputable witnesses; and the course of the process is to be so managed, that the archdeacon may not lose any part of his right, or the profits accruing to his office: and if any offenders appear screened from prosecution upon the score, either of favour or quality, the sheriff, at the bishop's instance, shall order twelve sufficient men of the neighbourhood to make oath before the bishop, that they will discover the truth according to the best of their knowledge. VI. Excommunicated persons shall not be obliged to make oath, or give security to continue upon the place where they live: but only to abide by the judgment of the church in order to their absolution. VII. No person that holds in chief of the king, or any of his barons, shall be excommunicated, or any of their estates put under an interdict, before application made to the king, provided he is in the kingdom; and, in case his highness be out of England, then the justiciary must be acquainted with the dispute in order to make satisfaction: and thus what belongs to the cognizance of the king's court, must be tried there; and that which belongs to the Court Christian, must be remitted to that jurisdiction. : VIII. In case of appeals in ecclesiastical causes, the first step is to be made from the archdeacon to the bishop and from the bishop to the archbishop: and, if the archbishop fail to do justice, a farther recourse may be had to the king, by whose order the controversy is to be finally decided in the archbishop's Court. Neither shall it be lawful for either of the parties to move for any farther remedy without leave from the crown. IX. If a difference happens to arise between any clergyman and layman concerning any tenement; and that the clerk pretends it held by frank almoine *, and the laymen pleads it a lay-fee; in this case, the tenure shall be tried by the inquiry and verdict of twelve sufficient men of the neighbourhood, summoned according to the custom of the realm. And, if the te nement or thing in controversy shall be found frank Almoine, the dispute concerning it shall be tried in the Ecclesiastical Court. i. e. A tenure by divine service, as Britton explains it. PART II. CEN T. prerogatives of the Roman pontifs in particular. PART II. Upon this there arose a violent debate between XII. the Court. But, if it is brought in a lay-fee, the suit shall be followed in the King's Courts, unless both the plaintif and defendant hold the tenement in question of the same bishop; in which case the cause shall be tried in the court of such bishop or baron, with this farther proviso, that he who is seized of the thing in controversy, shall not be disseized, hanging the suit, (i. e. during the suit, pedente lite) upon the score of the verdict above mentioned. X. He who holds of the king in any city, castle, or borough, or resides upon any of the demesne lands of the crown, in case he is cited by the archdeacon or bishop to answer any misbehaviour belonging to their cognizance; if he refuses to obey their summons, and stand to the sentence of the court, it shall be lawful for the ordinary to put him under an interdict, but not to excommunicate him, till the king's principal officer of the town shall be pre-acquainted with the case, in order to enjoin him to make satisfaction to the church. And if such officer or magistrate shall fail in his duty, he shall be fined by the king's judges. And then the bishop may exert his discipline on the refractory person as he thinks fit. XI. All archbishops, bishops, and ecclesiastical persons, who hold of the king in chief, and the tenure of a barony, are for that reason obliged to appear before the king's justices and ministers, to answer the duties of their tenure, and to observe all the usages and customs of the realm; and, like other barons, are bound to be present at trials in the king's Court, till sentence is to be pronounced for the losing of life or limbs. XII. When any archbishoprick, bishoprick, abbey, or priory, or royal foundation, becomes vacant, the king is to make seizure from which time all the profits and issues are to be paid into the Exchequer, as if they were the demesne, lands of the crown. And when it is determined the vacancy shall be filled up, the king is to summon the most considerable persons of the chapter to court, and the election is to be made in the chapel royal, with the consent of our sovereign lord the king, and by the advice of such persons of the government, as his highness shall think fit to make use of. At which time, the person elected, before his consecration, shall be obliged to do homage and fealty to the king, as his liege lord; which homage shall be performed in the usual form, with a clause for the saving the privilege of his order. XIII. If any of the temporal barons, or great men, shall encroach upon the rights or property of any archbishop, bishop, or archdeacon, and refuse to make satisfaction for wrong done by themselves, or their tenets, the king shall do justice to the party aggrieved. And if any person shall disseize the king of any XII. the resolute monarch and the rebellious prelate, C E N T. which obliged the latter to retire into France in- PART II. terposed their good offices in order to compose these differences, in which they succeded so far, after much trouble and difficulty, as to encourage BECKET to return into England, where he was instated in his forfeited dignity. But the generous and indulgent proceedings of his sovereign towards him, were not sufficient to conquer his arrogant and rebellious obstinacy in maintaining, what he called, the privileges of the church, nor could he be induced by any means to comply with the views and measures of HENRY. The any part of his lands, or trespass upon his prerogative, the archbishops, bishops, and deacons shall call him to an account, and oblige him to make the crown restitution; i. e. "They were to excommunicate such disseizers and injurious persons in case they proved refractory and incorrigible.” XIV. The goods and chattels of those who lie under forfeitures of felony or treason are not to be detained in any church or church-yard, to secure them against seizure and justice; because such goods are the king's property, whether they are lodged within the precincts of a church or without it. XV. All actions, and pleas of debts, though never so solemn in the circumstances of the contract, shall be tried in the King's Courts. XVI. The sons of copy-holders are not to be ordained without the consent of the lord of the manor where they were born. Such were the articles of the constitutions of Clarendon, against the greatest part of which the pope protested. They were signed by the English clergy and also by BECKET. The latter, however, repented of what he had done, and, retiring from court, suspended himself from his office in the church for about forty days, till he received absolution from ALEXANDER III. whe was then at Sens. His aversion to these articles manifested itself by an open rebellion against his sovereign, in which he discovered his true character, as a most daring, turbulent, vindictive, and arrogant priest, whose ministry was solely employed in extending the despotic dominion of Rome, and whose fixed purpose was to aggrandize the church upon the ruins of the state. See COLLIER'S Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. XII century. RAPIN THOTRAS, in the reign of HENRY II. |
