Evesham, was called upon to plead. Thomas had not been idle at Bologna, and was perfectly instructed as to the truth of the common saying, that possession is nine points of the law: he therefore said that all the evidences of the abbey had not yet reached him, and he was therefore unable to plead the question so far as it related to the churches of the Vale. It was the fixed resolve of Thomas to put off as long as possible all discussion of that part of the sentence which was favourable to the abbey, for he knew that the longer the abbey held that jurisdiction, the more difficult it would be to take it away. On the other hand, he was ready and eager to plead against the bishop in the matter of the jurisdiction over the abbey, and offered at once to enter upon it. To his great astonishment, he found the bishop's proctors willing to gratify his desire. He very honestly tells us that he considered them to have been infatuated, but he does not hesitate to take advantage of their folly, though he wonders that they should risk the cause of their employer, who could gain nothing by such a course, because he was already in possession of the right he claimed, and it was the business of the monks to attack him.

Thomas was, perhaps, not altogether without doubts as to the meaning of this readiness on the part of the bishop's proctor, to put their master's cause in such evident peril. After much seeking and reflection, he learned that they were anxious to quit Rome on account of the sickliness of the season. When he saw that they were more careful of their own health than of the cause intrusted to their faithfulness, he took courage, and despised his adversaries. Hereupon he advises his brethren never to commit their causes to mercenaries, but only to monks, or to persons associated with monks, who hold the interest of their house, which was to have a perpetual existence, to be of more value than the life of one of its members.

On the day appointed, early in December, 1205, the litigants appeared before the court, presided over by Pope Innocent III. in person. Thomas had retained four of the most eminent lawyers, and his adversary complained to the Pope of this proceeding. His Holiness smiled, and said there was no lack of lawyers in the Roman court. The fees were not heavy, for the highest was but twelve shillings each court day; the second and the third lawyer received nine shillings each, and the fourth was content with four shillings and sixpence. Thomas saw one of his lawyers afterwards as a Spanish bishop sitting in the great Lateran Council, 1215. The pleadings were opened by Robert of Clipston, a man learned in the law, both civil and canon, though he had made the mistake of assuming the responsibility of being plaintiff in a suit where he might have been only

defendant. His eloquence was rather troublesome, for the Pope was wearied with the introductory part of his speech, and told him to address himself to the substance of his case. However, he was not quite master of his words, and could not compress them within reasonable limits. Thomas thinks he was somewhat put out, because he confined himself to the justification of the sentence of the delegates, the confirmation of which he demanded. He said nothing of the merits of the question, viz., as to the right of the bishop to the jurisdiction conceded to him by the delegates, but which may have been, for all that had yet appeared, a mere usurpation on the part of the bishops of Worcester; and it does not seem that the monastery objected to the sentence, so far as the delegates were concerned.

Thomas now rose to reply, and began by asking if it was necessary for him to say anything of the bishop's actual possession, because it was so recent and only for the moment. This was ignoring all the pleadings of Robert. The Pope desired him to speak to the real merits of the case, and discuss the exemption of the monastery from the jurisdiction of the bishop. Thomas then, flens et ejulans, renouncing all the arts of the orator in word, but using them in fact-as men are wont to do who protest that they mean to forego such aids-entered on the history of the abbey, produced the bulls, and argued on their meaning, which he maintained exempted the monastery from the visitation of the bishop for ever. He showed that the monks of Evesham were subjects of the Pope, not of the bishop, and that they were protected against the latter by the Apostolic privileges in every possible way and in all possible cases. ended his speech by a prayer that the Holy See would for the future protect the abbey against the bishop, even if the old privileges were not extensive enough, though he thought they were perfectly clear and sufficient for the purpose. He consented, nevertheless, to obey the bishop, if in anything the bishop had a right to command him. His Holiness was a little amused, and, when Thomas had ended, turned to the cardinals and said: "Well, he takes everything away from the bishop, and then says, let him have what remains!

He

Robert of Clipston was now called upon to reply, and his answer was, that the bulls produced were forgeries, and, in particular, that of Pope Constantine, which he said was unknown in England. Thomas was ordered to produce them, which he did, and the Pope examined them minutely in open court. Thomas shook with fear at this, and is unable to repress the terror that then overwhelmed him when he saw the Pope handle the bulls and pull the thread that held the seal.

The examination seems to have been a rigid one: the bulls were handed to the cardinals, who also scrutinized them, and at last they came back into the hands of the Pontiff, who, to the unutterable joy of Thomas, said, "These are genuine; though you may not know them, we know them well: they are not forgeries." The Pope then rose, and assigned them the third day from that for the further hearing of the cause.

On the third day Robert of Clipston argued before the Consistory that the privileges of the abbey had been lost by nonusage, and that the bishops of Worcester had prescription against the monks, who had in many ways submitted to episcopal control. The facts were enumerated, and were admitted by the opposite side; for, simply as facts, they were notorious, and could not be denied. Abbots of Evesham had been careless, and had neglected their rights. When Robert had concluded his proofs, Thomas was called upon to say what he could allege to destroy the value of these acts and in reply to the plea of prescription set up and proved. Thomas admitted that the bishops of Worcester had exercised jurisdiction in and over the abbey; but he maintained that no right could be inferred therefrom, because the monks had always resisted aud protested. Some of the acts alleged were without prejudice, because the bishop had been invited to perform them; and the appearance of the abbot in the diocesan synods was explained by the fact that the abbey held some churches which were not exempt from the diocesan rule. The facts of the case having been thus settled and admitted by both sides, the Pope called upon the consistorial lawyers employed by both parties to argue the question of law, the proctors having been obliged to confine themselves to facts. The lawyers occupied two court days in the discussion, at the end of which there remained only one point for further argument, which Thomas settled triumphantly by the help of knowledge furnished him by the great Azo* at Bologna, and for which, according to his account, he had to pay.

The trial was now over, and nothing remained but to wait for the sentence of the Sovereign Pontiff. Thomas shall tell his story in his own words:

Aware that human means were exhausted, I had recourse to Divine, to the intercession of the saints, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting. This was on a

* "Quas a domino Assone tunc temporis legum dominorum domino Bononiæ non sine pretio didiceram" (p. 168). If this be Azo, whom Baldus called the fountain of law and the vessel of election, the received accounts that he was dead in 1200 must be incorrect; and there must therefore be a mistake in the restored monument to his memory which is copied by Forster, "Histor. Juris."

Thursday, and Christmas-day fell on the following Sunday. I visited the shrines of the saints, and commended to them myself and the cause of my church to every poor man I met, whether asked or not, I gave alms of the goods of the church of Evesham, persevering in prayer and fasting till after the sentence was delivered on Christmas-eve. Early on Saturday morning I went into court, and as each of the cardinals came in I embraced his feet, revealing by tears rather than by words the affliction of my soul. I entreated them to have compassion on their servants and their church. So earnest was I in my importunities, that not only the cardinals, but my opponents also, and all who saw me, felt compassion for me. I was still persevering in prayer when, about noon, our lord the Pope came out of his room with the cardinals. When he had taken his seat, the proctors of Evesham and Worcester were called. I was comforted when I heard myself first mentioned, though the apparitors of the court had generally called me first because I had been liberal to them, in order to get into court the more readily. We now stood, as we were accustomed to stand, over against one another on two sides of the court; but the Pope, on seeing us, said, "Stand together in the middle, for there is no dispute now between you: I have made peace." At first I did not understand, but afterwards, when the Holy Ghost was given us by the sentence of our lord the Pope, all this became clear. When we had stood together, the Pope said, "The cause depending between our venerable brother the bishop of Worcester and our beloved children the abbot and monks of Evesham, touching the subjection and exemption of that monastery, we have carefully examined, and, after inspecting and clearly understanding the bulls and evidences produced, have by our written sentence determined : and now, departing from our usual custom, we order our sentence to be read." Then Master Philip, Prothonotary, afterwards bishop of Troja, rose and said:"To the abbot and brethren of the monastery of Evesham." When I heard these words my spirit revived within me, for I knew the Pope's style, for he always directed the briefs to the successful litigant. When the sentence had been read, all of us went and threw ourselves at the Pope's feet, both plaintiff and defendant, as the custom is, and thanked him; but when I was stooping down to kiss the feet of our lord the Pope, I fainted away for joy, and through weakness induced by fasting. . . . At the door of the court I met Adam Sortes (a monk of Evesham), bringing certain papers from home. Him I embraced, and took to my lodgings, and as soon as we had tasted food we were comforted, and gave God thanks for all His benefits, for He had dealt with us according to His great mercy, Who liveth and reigneth world without end. Amen.

Thomas, though victorious, was not yet at liberty, for the sentence in his favour relieved him only of half his burden. He had still to appear before the Pope, and this time in defence of the sentence which the delegates in England had given in favour of the abbey. Robert of Clipston impugned the decision, and claimed the churches of the Vale for his client the bishop. Thomas had to bear the whole weight of this lawsuit himself, because his money was spent, and lawyers could not be found VOL. XV.—NO. XXIX. [New Series.]

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to plead for nothing. He was not disheartened, and asserted that the churches of the Vale were mere chapels of the great church of the abbey, and, as members of it, must be free. Robert denied this, and said that the churches in question had fonts of their own, there being no font in the Abbey Church. Upon this the Pope interrupted the pleaders, and, looking at Thomas, said, "Proctor, speak the truth; is the font with you, or are there fonts in those churches?" Thomas, thus brought up, was obliged to answer, and the answer was, "We have none; the churches have their own fonts." The observation of the Pope was, "Plead something else." Thomas very honestly adds that this plea was of very little use to him; but he reminds his brethren that if they had had a font for forty years in the abbey, while the churches of the Vale had none, he would have gained his cause. Having been thus foiled in what he regarded as a good argument, he then proceeded to show that the whole territory of the Vale was included in the charters of the monastery, and was really part of it; but, as this was a matter of fact requiring other proofs than the assertion of Thomas, the Pope adjourned the hearing to another day. When the court sat again, the discussion turned upon the sentence of the delegates, and Thomas tried to show that it might be accepted as conclusive; the churches he mentioned were free of episcopal control by prescription and immemorial usage. Here the Pope asked Robert of Clipston whether the monks had really prescription in their favour. Robert admitted the fact, but denied that any prescription could deprive the bishop of his right. "Holy Father," said he, "we have learned in the schools, and it is the opinion of our doctors, that no prescription can prevail against the episcopal rights." The Pope replied, "Well, you and your doctors must have drunk a good deal of beer when you were learning this." Thomas then argued against this drunken opinion; and at last the Pope, somewhat offended with Robert, who was, it must be admitted, not very earnest in the defence of the bishop, said: “We have heard that the church of Worcester has been vacant more frequently than any other in England, and it may be that, taking vacancies into account, the abbey has not really gained the jurisdiction it claims by prescription." Thomas confesses that the Pope said this as a just judge; but nevertheless he was unable to refrain himself, and said, "Holy Father, yours is the

"Pater Sancte, nos didicimus in scholis, et hæc est opinio magistrorum nostrorum, quod non currit præscriptio contra jura episcopalia.' Et Dominus Papa, Certe et tu et magistri tui multum bibistis de cerevisiâ Anglicanâ quando hæc didicistis'" (p. 189).