[395] “Hibernico populo tam dominandi quam ipsum in fidei rudimentis incultissimum ecclesiasticis normis et disciplinis juxta Anglicanæ ecclesiæ mores informandi” (v. 315).
[396] “It is quite certain that the Pope did, some time before September 20, 1172, receive reports of Henry’s proceedings in Ireland, both from Henry himself and from the Irish bishops, for he says so in three letters—one addressed to Henry, another to the kings and bishops of Ireland, and the third to the legate Christian bishop of Lismore—all dated Tusculum, September 20.”
[397] E. H. R., viii. 44.
[398] Ibid. p. 50.
[399] The letter to Henry similarly speaks of “enormitates et vicia” described in the prelates’ letters, and of “abominationis spurcitiam.”
[400] “Suis nobis literis intimarunt, et dilectus filius noster R. Landavensis archidiaconus, vir prudens et discretus, et Regiæ magnitudini vinculo præcipue devotionis astrictus, qui hoc oculata fide perspexit viva nobis voce tam solicite quam prudenter exposuit” ... “eisdem Archiepiscopis et Episcopis significantibus, et præfato Archidiacono plenius et expressius nobis referente, comperimus.”
[401] Gesta, i. 28; and Hoveden, ii. 31.
[402] Becket materials (Rolls, vii. 227, 233).
[403] The language must have been deliberately chosen, for the bishop’s letters and the Pope’s action are described in the same words:
| “confirmantes ei et heredibus suis regnum Hiberniæ, et testimonium perhibentes ipsos eum et heredes suos sibi in reges et dominos constituisse imperpetuum” (p. 26). | “summus pontifex auctoritate apostolica confirmavit ei et heredibus suis regnum illud, et eos imperpetuum reges constituit” (p. 28). |