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to all the archbishops and bishops of England and Scotland to the following effect:

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The Letter of pope Innocent on the occasion of his Election.

"Innocent, bishop elect of the Apostolic See, servant of the servants of God, to all his venerable brethren, the archbishops and bishops throughout England appointed, health and the Apostolic benediction. The ineffable wisdom of the Deity hath so, in His exalted counsels, disposed all things from everlasting, and, by His wondrous dispensation, so rules them through the vicissitudes of ages as they roll on, that there occurs neither error in the order thereof, nor defect in the workmanship; inasmuch as, Holy Scripture testifying the same, He has made every thing by weight, by number, and by measure. Wherefore, although he ordains nothing upon earth without a certain cause, and appropriate reason for the same, still, the imperfect state of human nature, not only fails in investigating the causes of His works, but, even in viewing the results themselves of those causes, can hardly be sufficiently astounded [at the marvellousness thereof]; indeed, it was while considering this, that the Apostle exclaimed, 'O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!'72 For, although, the prophet bearing testimony thereto, 'All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth,' 3 and All His works are done in truth,' 74 still, to such a degree does the right hand of the Lord, great though it is, work out the successes of mankind, both their humiliation and their exaltation, that it is a cause to ourselves of no slight astonishment that, in the bestowal of power, He sometimes places the younger before the elder ones, and, as the prophet says, 'Sons are born in place of the fathers,' who, being appointed to govern all the earth, are to remember the name of the Lord. And so in our case, 'This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.' 75 For Celestinus, of blessed memory, our father and predecessor, having gone the way of all flesh, on the sixth day before the ides of January, and having been honorably interred, according to custom, in the church of the Lateran, our brethren, that is to say, the cardinal bishops, priests, and deacons, and ourselves with them, met together, that with the more freedom and safety,

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72 Rom. xi. 33. 73 Psalm xxv, 10. 74 Psalm xxxiii. 4.
75 Psalm cxviii. 23, St. Matt. xxi. 42, St. Mark xii. 11.

VOL. I.

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we might discuss the election of a pontiff, thus great being the necessity for holding the said discussion with all due deliberation, and coming to a conclusion after using the most guarded circumspection in so doing. Accordingly, after the solemn service of the mass had been performed in honor of the Holy` Ghost, the wishes of all directed their views upon ourselves, insufficient as we are, perhaps thinking, in their human sagacity, to find the silver cup in the sack of Benjamin; although many of them might, on the grounds of age, rank, and merit, have been more worthily called to the elevation of a dignity so exalted. And, although our sense of our inefficiency utterly recoiled from the weight of a dignity so great, as being a burden unsuited to the weakness of our shoulders, still, confiding in the example of Him, who strengthened the weakness of Saint Peter, which had been previously tested by his three denials, after the words of his thrice-reiterated confession, by bestowing on him the guidance of His sheep; that which the manifold imperfections of our nature declined, we accepted at their desire, lest our opposition thereto might produce injury, by reason of prolonged divisions, or we might seem, in a measure, to be struggling against the ordinance of God, hoping that He who giveth to all abundantly and grudgeth not, and who raised the youngest son, the man after His own heart, to be king, will raise up from the stones a son to Abraham, calling the things which are not, even as the things which are, and that by raising up the weak, He will put the strong to confusion. Wherefore, we, undertaking the onerous duties of the government of the church, and placing no small confidence in you, whom the Lord hath willed to be partakers in our cares, to the end that the weight of a burden so great may press the more lightly upon us, do ask, advise, and exhort the whole of you, in the Lord, to aid our inefficiency with your prayers unto the Lord, and, diligently and profitably watching over the flock of the Lord that has been entrusted to us and to you, to show yourselves ready to make up for our defects, and with watchful zeal to aid in supporting the weight of the ecclesiastical dignity which has been conferred upon us. And further, it is our earnest intention to show to you all honor as being distinguished members of the church, and, so far as the Lord shall aid us in so doing, to assist you in your emergencies. Given at the Lateran, on the fifth day before the ides of January."

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76 King David.

Accordingly, upon the election of the said Innocent as Roman Pontiff, having been from his infancy acquainted with all the blemishes of the Roman court, and wishing to change things for the better, immediately after his election he dismissed the greater part of the janitors and doorkeepers of the court, in order that both clerks as well as laymen, who had any complaint to make, might enjoy freer access to him.

On the fifth day before the ides of March, in the same year, Mary, countess of Champagne, departed this life, the mother of Henry, count of Champagne, who was lord of Acre. The said countess was sister of Philip, king of France, on the father's side, and sister of Richard, king of England, on the mother's side.

In the same year, Geoffrey, archbishop of York, came into Normandy by command of his brother, Richard, king of England, in hopes of making peace with the king. For the king

had sent for the deans and canons of York to come to him in Normandy, wishing to make peace between the archbishop and them; however, the archbishop, before the canons had arrived, had made a reconciliation with the king his brother; upon which the king made him full restitution of his archbishopric, and ordered Robert his chaplain to cross over into England with Master Honorius, the clerk and deputy of the said archbishop, to be present at the said restitution, on which the said archbishop conferred on the said Master Honorius the archdeaconry of Richmond; for the king had made a promise to the archbishop that for the future he would not throw any difficulty in the way of his presentations. As the dean and canons of York did not make their appearance before the king at the time appointed, nor yet send a sufficient proxy in their behalf, the archbishop, having received leave from the king, withdrew from the court, for the purpose of going to Rome on the king's business as well as his own.

However, on the third day after, the deans and canons of York came to the king, and prevailed upon him to allow the restitution which he had granted to the archbishop to be delayed until the archbishop's return; and, having thus impeded the business of the archbishop, the dean and canons returned to York, making great boasts of the favours they had received from the king, and saying that they had the king's charter that he would not come to any complete understanding with the archbishop unless they were included in the reconciliation.

In the same year, on the first Sunday in Lent, Innocent, the bishop elect of the Roman See, was consecrated Roman Pontiff at Saint Peter's at Rome, by Octavianus, bishop of Ostia, on the fifteenth day before the calends of March, and, immediately after his consecration, the prefect, senators, and tribunes of the city, and others of the Roman people, demanded of him the revenues and customs which the Roman Pontiffs, his predecessors, had been in the habit of paying them; to which he made answer that he would never do so, inasmuch as if he should do so, he would be doing it against the will of God, and to the prejudice of the Church of Rome. The Romans, upon hearing this, made an attack upon his possessions, and plundered them, on which he excommunicated them.

In the month of March, in the same year, Hugh de Nunant, bishop of Coventry, died at Betherlevin, in Normandy, on Good Friday, being the sixth day before the calends of April, and was buried there in the convent of the monks, being succeeded in the bishopric of Coventry by Geoffrey de Muschamp, archdeacon of Cleveland, who was presented thereto by Richard, king of England, and consecrated at Canterbury by Hubert, archbishop of Canterbury.

In the same year, the king of England with the earl of Saint Gilles, and Joanna his wife, the former queen of Sicily, were at Le Mans, at the festival of Easter, which fell on the fourth day before the calends of April. In the same year, Richard, king of England, levied from each carucate or hide of land throughout all England five shillings as an aid; for the purpose of collecting which, the said king sent through each county of England one clerk and one knight; who, with the sheriff of the county to which they were sent, and lawful knights elected for the purpose, making oath that they would faithfully perform the king's business, caused to appear before them the seneschals of the barons of the said county, and the lord or bailiff of every vill, and the reeve, together with the four lawful men of the vill, whether freemen or villeins, as also two lawful knights of the hundred, who made oath that they would faithfully and without fraud declare what was the amount of carucates in each vill that were in tillage; namely, how many were held in demesne, how many in villanage, and how many in almoign bestowed on religious orders, which the givers thereof were bound to make warranty of, or to pay for, or for which the said re

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ligious were bound to do service; and upon each carucate in tillage, by the king's commands, they first levied two shillings and then three shillings; all of which was reduced to writing. Of all this the clerk had one register, the knight another, the sheriff a third, and the seneschals of the barons a fourth register as to the land of their lords.

This money was received by the hands of two lawful knights of each hundred, and by the hands of the bailiff of the hundred, and they were answerable for the same to the sheriff, and the sheriff answerable for the same according to the before-mentioned registers to the exchequer, in presence of the bishops, abbats, and barons appointed for the purpose.

Also, for the punishment of the jurors who, contrary to their oath, should be guilty of concealing anything in the said matters, it was enacted that whatever villein should be convicted of perjury he should forfeit to his lord the best ox of his plough, and should, out of his own property, be answerable for as much money for the use of our lord the king as should be proved to have remained concealed by means of his perjury; but if a free man should be convicted, he was to be amerced by the king, and was to refund as well out of his own property as much as had been concealed by him, in the same manner as the villein.

It was also enacted, that every baron should, with the aid of the sheriff, make levies upon his tenants; and, if by default of the baron, such levies should not be made, then there was to be taken from the demesne of the baron, what should remain payable by his tenants, and the baron was to take the same from his tenants. Frank-fees of parish churches were exempted from the said tallage; and all escheats of barons which were held in the lands of our lord the king contributed thereto. But serjeanties78 of our lord the king, which were not attached to knights' fees, were excepted, although they were placed on the register, as also the number of the carucates of land, the values of their lands, and the names of those holding by serjeanty; and all those so holding, were summoned to be at London on the octave at the end of Easter, to hear and perform the king's commands.

The persons who were chosen for that purpose, and appointed by our lord the king, according to the estimation of

78 Freehold lands exempt from all services, but not from homage.

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