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Under these circumstances there was but one course open to them; they must take the cause to Rome as soon as they could. Roger Norreys himself was of the same mind, though he may not have been influenced by the reasons that prevailed with the monks. The bishop also, taking advantage of the sentence of the delegates,* did what he could to induce the reluctant community to accept it; he treated them with all kindness, and as many of them as he could he invited to dine with him at Fledbury. The politeness of the bishop bore fruit; some of the brethren thought it would be as well for them to be subject to him. Thomas, however, was not to be persuaded; and, in the monastery he impressed upon his brethren the inconveniences of the episcopal rule, and the consequent ruin of the abbey. The more prudent listened to him, and the result was that an immediate recourse was had to Rome. The advice of the more timid brethren was rejected, and the abbey prepared for a determined prosecution of its suit.

Roger Norreys also found it necessary to go to Rome: he feared the bishop, and, above all, his own monks. Besides, he was hampered by his own consent to an arbitration, and was not certain that his deposition might not be the result of any complaints made against him before the arbitrators. This latter fear was well-grounded, for the monks earnestly desired to lay all their complaints before this tribunal, though they would make no accusation against him before the bishop. They were precluded from this by the promise made at Newbury, and by their own refusal to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the bishop. Roger therefore prepared for his journey, and the monks with some difficulty obtained his consent to the appointment of Thomas as proctor for the abbey. Roger, though he assented, would not travel with Thomas; but as it was dangerous to let him go by himself, he made one of his chaplains accompany him, so that he might have some knowledge of his proceedings on the road. These three met together to arrange their affairs before quitting England, and made a solemn promise, confirmed by oath, that they would be true and faithful

* Mr. Macray (p. 131, and Preface p. xlvi.) says that the sentence was pronounced April 24, 1205, and (in p. 147) that Thomas left Rome April 18 of the same year; but the sentence had been then reported to the Pope by the bishop: jam significaverat episcopus Domino Papa quod pro eo lata fuit sententia in judicio possessorio (p. 146). The facts seem to be that the sentence was pronounced perhaps before Michaelmas term 1204, but not executed till April 24, 1205. The text is express missus est episcopus in plenam possessionem jurisdictionis... Dominicu quá cantatur Misericordia Domini (p. 131), that is, April 24; but it does not say that the sentence was pronounced on that day it was pronounced some time before, because it was known in Rome even before that day. In a second edition Mr. Macray must alter his marginal notes.

to one another. Thomas says he kept his oath; but the others were of more elastic consciences, and so conducted themselves as to authorize him to charge them with a breach of their oath whenever it proved to be convenient for them to do so.

Thomas with many tears took leave of his brethren, but resolved never to return if he lost his cause. In the event of failure, he made up his mind to spend the rest of his days in a religious house in Rome, because he could never bear to see the abbey he loved shorn of rights which he believed belonged to it. Having received the benediction of his superiors, he left the house with the abbot's chaplain and two servants. They had two horses to carry them, and Thomas showed himself merciful even to his beast, for he used it so well that it carried him to Rome. The abbot's clerk had not been so careful, for he had changed his horse three times. On the fortieth day after leaving Evesham, the travellers entered the Holy City, and Thomas proceeded at once to implore the Pope, Innocent III., to suspend the execution of the sentence pronounced by the delegates, and to determine the whole question himself. The Pope assented to the monk's request, and Thomas in the joy of his heart offered the Pontiff a silver cup of the value of six marks. But the matter was not so easy as he thought, for when he petitioned the Pope to issue the necessary letters for the revocation of the suit to Rome, he found his Holiness not so ready to comply as he expected. It is likely enough that the Pope had doubts about the facts; however that may be, the answer that Thomas got was, "We have heard that your abbot is detained on the road; find out by whom and where, and we will procure his release; when that is done you shall have your letters." Thomas pressed his suit-insisted upon the fact that the bishop's letters were informal, and that the revocation of the cause was due of right. The Pope replied that he had granted the commission with a full knowledge of the facts, and that he would not now recall it. "That is my answer," said the Pope. "Truly," said Thomas, "but it is an act of power." The Pope was patient, and asked him if the answer was not also according to law. Thomas was now insolent, and replied, "I do not know." Upon this the Pope ordered him to hold his peace and withdraw from his presence.

This was at the end of the year 1204, and in January of the following year Thomas and his companion went to Piacenza in quest of their missing abbot; there they heard that he had been imprisoned at Chalons. He was released after a time, and Thomas next heard of him in Lombardy. As it was of some consequence to find him, Thomas and his companion separated in order to prosecute the search, but with an understanding that

whichever of them should first fall in with the abbot should send news of his good fortune to the other. Faith was not kept with Thomas, and the abbot and his chaplain entered Rome, in the first week of Lent, together, without giving him any information. Thomas of Marlborough discovered the fraud, and, on the fifth day after the abbot's entrance, entered also, but in disguise, for he was in some fear of his superior. Some of the abbot's retainers, lounging at the gates of the city, recognized him even in his disguise; but he was not disconcerted, because he had anticipated the British invention of habeas corpus, and had given a lawyer in Rome a certain sum of money to procure his release should the dreaded Roger make him a prisoner in his lodgings. Provided against all violence in this way, he now entered the abbot's dwelling, and found him in bed. Thomas addressed him, but received no answereven to his tender inquiries after his health, and was at last requested by the abbot's servants to withdraw. The next day, attended by his lawyer and others as witnesses, he went again to the abbot's lodgings. He entered alone, leaving his friends in the street, but with instructions to demand him if he did not reappear at the proper time. Thomas saluted the abbot, but was not saluted in return; nevertheless, he persisted in his civilities, and even asked the abbot to lodge him in his house. Roger was very angry, and called him a traitor; but it ended as Thomas desired. For a fortnight the abbot never spoke to him, and on the first day sent him an order never to leave the house, and never to enter the court but in his company. All this time Roger assumed to be a most exemplary monk, solicited powers to correct the excesses of his subjects, and, in particular, to expel two disturbers of his convent's peace, a physician and a lawyer-none others than Thomas of Northwich and Thomas of Marlborough himself, though their names were not mentioned in the brief.

The pleasure of living in the same house with the abbot could not have been very great, but it was useful to Thomas in many ways, for he thereby kept a watch upon the movements of Roger, and did his duty to the abbey he loved so well. Thomas cared nothing for the abbot, it being the firm resolution of himself and his brethren to obtain his expulsion as soon as the lawsuit about the exemption should have been decided against the bishop of Worcester. One of the abbot's chaplains, Henry Coleham, warned Thomas of the danger he incurred, for that Roger had serious designs upon his liberty, if not upon his life. Thomas prepared himself for the event by intrusting what money he had about him to his friend, and furnishing himself with a knife, which he carried about his person, resolved,

apparently, to use it, we are sorry to say, whenever the occasion should arise. Judges and magistrates in these days make many severe remarks upon the un-English usage of the knife, which has become too common in modern times; but there is no period of our history in which that weapon has not been employed. Thomas of Marlborough, though a learned lawyer and a monk, seems to have had no misgivings about it when he thought he could use it to his own advantage and in his own defence.

Notwithstanding the unpleasant relations subsisting between the abbot and his monks, there was no diminution of zeal in prosecuting the claims of the abbey. They obtained a confirmation of all the privileges belonging to it, and Roger more than once appeared in the Papal presence wearing his mitre. But they could not obtain any letters to suspend the effect of the sentence of the delegates, and Roger could not procure his release from the obligation of submitting to the arbitrators. The bishop of Worcester had informed the Pope of the sentence given in his favour by the delegates, and the proctors of the abbey could do nothing more till the bishop or his lawyers came to Rome. The abbot and Thomas, therefore, went to make the customary presents, and for this purpose borrowed 400 marks; but the presents could not be received till the members of the court were certified that Roger and Thomas were neither plaintiffs nor defendants in any cause then before it.

They now left Rome-on the 18th April, 1205,-Roger for England, attended by his creditors, who went to receive their money; Thomas for Bologna, where he waited for further instructions about the lawsuit, but heard attentively the lectures of the professors of canon and civil law. Roger, at Vercelli, met Adam Sortes, one of his monks, who was going to Rome to appeal against the sentence of the delegates; and, as he knew that the whole cause would have to be argued, he told the monk to follow him to England. Adam did so, but with great difficulty, for he had to walk nearly the whole way, and yet he reached the abbey before Roger. At Evesham the monks were in trouble; the bishop had taken formal possession of the contested jurisdiction, and, as soon as Roger returned, summoned that unworthy prelate to submit to the visitation. Roger, now clearly in the wrong, shut the gates of the abbey in the face of the bishop, and was excommunicated for his contumacy. But when he saw that the sentence was respected, and that none would venture to hold any communication with him, he withdrew from Evesham, and left the bishop undisturbed in the peaceful exercise of his rights as visitor. Yet for all this, the bishop, though received with all outward reverence, was still comparatively powerless; for when he held his court, and made

inquiries into the life and conversation of the abbot, not one of the monks, though they longed for the deposition of their superior, would give him the slightest information. The bishop warned them, and threatened even to excommunicate them, if they persisted in their silence. Upon this the monks threw their cowls at the feet of the unwelcome visitor, and said they would quit the abbey till the question between him and them should be finally decided. The bishop was touched, for he was a good man-even the monks who resisted him bore willing testimony to his worth and good faith in his dealings with them -and abstained from further proceedings, to the great satisfaction of Roger, who once more escaped from the justice that was dogging his steps; slowly, it is true, but without halting.

Thomas meanwhile was perfecting himself at Bologna in the science of law audiens quotidie leges et canones-in order to the better pleading of his cause. The delegates in England had appointed the octaves of S. Martin for the appearance of the proctors, both of the bishop and of the abbey, before the Pope. Their report was now in Rome, and there Thomas, who had quitted Bologna at Michaelmas, met the bishop's lawyers, the chief of whom was Robert of Clipston. They were come to defend the bishop in the exercise of that jurisdiction which he claimed over the abbey-admitted by the delegates to belong to him-and to recover for him, if possible, the same jurisdiction over the churches of the Vale of Evesham, but which the delegates found to be vested in the monks.

The Papal delegates had decided that the jurisdiction of the abbey was, in point of fact, vested in the bishop; but they decided also that the churches of the Vale were not subject to him. They had no power to decide the question of law. Both parties to the suit lost and gained, but the loss of the monks was the heavier, for they were condemned to make satisfaction to the bishop for their contumacy. The abbey was to lie under an interdict for three days, and the monks were to submit, in the chapter-house, to the discipline which the bishop should inflict upon every one of them. They were to stand barefoot at the abbey gates, and on bended knees to implore his forgiveness when he should come to take possession; and for three weeks after the removal of the interdict, only thirteen of the monks were to be permitted to say mass in the abbey. From this sentence the monks appealed, and for the purpose of meeting that appeal, as well as for the purpose of setting aside the decree which gave the churches of the Vale to the convent, the proctors of the bishop were now in Rome.

When the report of the delegates, together with the sentence, was brought up before the Pope, Thomas, as the proctor of

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