PAPAL DEMANDS FOR PREBENDS (1226).
Source.—Roger of Wendover, vol. ii., pp. 466-468. (Bohn's Libraries.)
In the meantime the period fixed on for holding the council at Westminster at the Feast of S. Hilary was now come, at which the King, the clergy, and nobles of the kingdom were bound to appear to hear the Pope's message. Many Bishops, therefore, with others of the clergy and laity, assembled at the above place, and Master Otho, the messenger of our lord the Pope, of whom mention has been made before, read the Pope's letters in the hearing of them all. In these letters the Pope set forth a great scandal and old abuse of the Holy Church of Rome—namely, an accusation of avarice, which is said to be the root of all evil, and especially because no one could manage any business at the Court of Rome without a lavish expenditure of money and large presents. "But since the poverty of the Roman Church is the cause of this offence and evil name, it is the duty of all to alleviate the wants of their mother and father as natural sons; because unless we received presents from you and other good and honourable men, we should be in want of the necessaries of life, which would be altogether inconsistent with the dignity of the Roman Church. In order, therefore, utterly to destroy this abuse, we, by the advice of our brethren the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, have provided certain terms, to which if you will agree, you may free your mother from insult, and obtain justice at the Court of Rome without the necessity of making presents. Our provided terms are these: In the first place, we require two prebends to be granted to us from all cathedral churches, one from the portion of the Bishop and another from the chapter; and from monasteries in the same way where there are different portions for the abbot and the convent; and from convents the share of one monk, on an equal distribution being made of their property, and the same from the abbot."
After making these proposals, Master Otho, on behalf of our lord the Pope, advised the prelates to consent, setting forth the above-mentioned advantages contained in the letters. The Bishops and prelates of the Church who were present in person then moved apart to consult on the matter, and after having deliberated on the proposals for some time, they deputed John, Archdeacon of Bedford, to give their answer, who went before Master Otho, and gave the following reply to his demands: "My lord, ... since the King, on account of illness, and some of the Archbishops and Bishops and other prelates of the Church are absent, we cannot, and, in their absence, ought not to give you an answer; for if we were to presume so to do, it would be to the injury of all who are absent." After this, John Marshal and other messengers of the King were sent to all the prelates who held baronies in chief of the King, strictly forbidding them to engage their lay fee to the Church of Rome, by which he would be deprived of the service which was due to himself. Master Otho, on hearing this, appointed a day in the middle of Lent for those who were then present to meet, when he would procure the presence of the King and the absent prelates, that the affair might be brought to a conclusion; they, however, would not agree to the aforementioned day, without the consent of the King and the others who were absent, and in this way all returned home.