RICHARD AND THE CHURCH.

465

Meranie, might have produced, had the life of Richard been prolonged, events which would have changed the whole political state of Europe.

The papal wrath in the case of Philip was not altogether unjustifiable. He had sought and obtained, as I have shown, the hand of the Princess of Denmark, and on the very day after his marriage, had, from some unexplained caprice, cast her off, and, by the authority of several of his bishops, divorced her on the most frivolous pretences. The Holy See had always maintained that marriage, which it regarded as a sacrament, could only be dissolved by the supreme head of the Church; and it was immediately notified to the King of France that the pontiff would not recognise the authority assumed by the French prelates. Philip, setting at nought this warning, proceeded without the papal sanction to solemnise his marriage with the beautiful, amiable, and unfortunate Agnes de Meranie, offering an insult to the spiritual authority of the Pope which was never forgiven.

Richard himself had been always a favourite son of the Church; for it would seem that his character had been understood and appreciated. The corruption, avarice, and ambition of the clergy and the monks, a man so clear-sighted could not fail to see; and his sarcastic spirit never hesitated to lash the vices he despised; but where the Church raised her voice or employed her power in spiritual affairs, or even went a little beyond the limits of her just sphere to promote objects harmonious with her character and her office, few persons were more obedient or reverential than the King of England. No one, in short, made a broader distinction between the vices of the clergy and the authority of the Church; and Richard listened on many occasions with calmness and favour to the reproof of ecclesiastics whom he believed to be sincere, when his fiery spirit would have been moved to the highest pitch of fury by the remonstrance of any of the laity. Thus, when visited in Normandy by Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, who had refused in any degree to aid in

* It has been stated lately that Philip added to this ill-treatment the insult of sending Ingeburga back to Denmark at once. This is a very great error. She remained for many years in France by her own desire, as is especially pointed out by contemporary historians who had the best means of knowing the facts, and was afterwards nominally reunited to Philip.

466

MISERY OF THE LOWER CLASSES.

levying the taxes in his diocese, the king heard his expostulations, both in regard to the burdens he was laying on his people, and to some acts of licentiousness of which he was accused, with perfect patience and good-will.

From the exactions which were rendered necessary by the wars in which he was plunged, the clergy were not exempt; but we find from the account of Jocelin of Brakelond, that the dignitaries of the Church and the superiors of the monastic foundations often endeavoured to avoid rendering those feudal services or contributing that pecuniary aid to which they were bound by the tenure of their estates. But Richard was usually just towards the clergy and observant of his promises, which is shown by the restitution, after he regained his freedom, of all the plate and jewels which had been borrowed from churches and monasteries to supply funds for his ransom. Nevertheless the clergy often murmured at having to bear their share in the public burdens of the country; and indeed the taxation was exceedingly onerous. It is impossible to ascertain exactly what amount of money was levied in England after Richard's return from Syria; but we are assured that the Archbishop Justiciary alone raised, at different times, the sum of one million one hundred thousand marks-an enormous sum, considering the value of money in those days and the scantiness of the population.

If the clergy murmured and raised their voice in expostulation with the king, others showed their sense of the grievance in a more violent manner. The burden pressed but very little upon the lower classes, except by impoverishing the higher; but famine and pestilence aggravated their miseries, and a starving population is always ready to take arms in the hope of bettering a condition which can hardly be worse. Two excessively tempestuous seasons, as I have shown before, had destroyed the crops, both in England and France, and multitudes of persons in both countries died of hunger. An epidemic disease followed; and though we do not know how many victims it carried off, it was clearly very fatal, and so general, in England at least, that the number who remained in health were not sufficient to attend upon the sick, and many perished without common assistance or the consolations of religion.

WILLIAM FITZ OSBERT.

467

Still the wars continued, and still the supplies had to be wrung from the people. The nobles bore their share of the evil without resistance and with very little complaint. War was their trade, and had its advantages. The clergy cried out, but in general submitted. The towns debated, and paid. These were the parties principally interested; but there suddenly arose one whom nature had qualified in various ways for a demagogue, and who sought distinction by assuming the character of a defender of the people. His name was William Fitz Osbert, evidently a Norman patronymic; but yet, it would appear, he professed to be descended from the old Saxon race, and, whether true or false, such an assumption was sure to obtain for him the favour of the lower classes, principally composed of Saxons. This man was a citizen of London, and after having in vain endeavoured to induce the corporation to resist the king's exactions, he appealed to the mob, few of whom were in reality called upon to pay anything. He harangued them in inflammatory language, and soon raised a tumult, which disturbed the peace and threatened the safety of the city. He was known to be a man of loose life and ruined fortunes, but he combined many qualities which attract the multitude. He was learned, eloquent, and daring, with that touch of eccentricity, natural or affected, which gains the wonder and admiration of the vulgar. He affected the dress, as well as the manners, of the ancient Saxons, and in direct opposition to the customs of the Norman nobility, suffered the hair on his face to grow untrimmed, by which he acquired the name of Longbeard. The richer and more peaceful citizens went in terror of their lives, and many excesses were committed, which, for some time, no power was found to stop. The justiciary summoned the offender to his presence, and Longbeard did not refuse to appear; but he went attended by so fierce and numerous a crowd, that he was suffered to depart unpunished, and almost unquestioned. Hubert, though bold and resolute, was now becoming somewhat inactive and infirm. In age, however, policy often supplies the place of vigour, and the archbishop suffered the turbulence of Fitz Osbert to go on, till it became intolerable to the better class of citizens, and tedious to his own followers. Unopposed, the flame of enthusiasm grew faint;

468

MEASURES OF PUBLIC BENEFIT.

the mobs which attended the demagogue dwindled away; and, choosing his moment well, apparently in concert with the well-disposed members of the corporation, the justiciary sent a body of armed men to apprehend the disturber of the public peace. Fitz Osbert defended himself with bravery and resolution, but he found few supporters in the hour of danger, and, after having killed one of his assailants, he made his escape into the church of St. Mary-le-Bow, with his mistress and several of his accomplices, hoping there to find sanctuary. In this expectation, however, he was deceived. The soldiers, and the citizens who joined them, attacked the church, which was fired, either by accident or design; and, obliged to descend from the tower, in which he had taken refuge, the demagogue was dragged out, tried, condemned, and executed. Several of the ringleaders of the mobs which he had gathered together were put to death with him; but the people revered his memory as of a saint and a martyr, and it was pretended that miracles were worked by pieces of the gallows on which he had been hanged at Tyburn.

The firm and vigorous rule of the Archbishop of Canterbury maintained general peace in the land for several years; but he was troubled by disputes with Geoffrey, Archbishop of York, the king's illegitimate brother, regarding ecclesiastical rights and privileges, which had no permanent effect, and do not require further notice here. Hubert felt sensibly the responsibilities of his great office, and as infirmities increased upon him, besought the king to relieve him from the burden. But Richard gave honourable testimony to his integrity and wisdom, saying that he could not find a man honest and prudent enough to supply his place. The monarch sent for him to Normandy also, and conferred with him long in regard to various enactments for the benefit of the people. Edicts were promulgated for regulating weights and measures according to one uniform standard. Much was done to encourage the manufacture of woollen cloth, and to guard purchasers against fraud. The coin was also regulated, and ordered to be of exactly the same weight and fineness; and keeping a wary eye upon the Jews, who were at that time the great usurers of Europe, Richard enacted that all com

pacts between Christians and Israelites, with the exact stipulations, should be put in writing. Two copies of the contract were then to be made, one for each party, and the original was to be deposited in a public repository.

All these measures, it would seem, were decided upon in Richard's conference with the archbishop; but very shortly after the election of Innocent III. to the papal throne, the sovereign pontiff required Hubert to resign the office of justiciary, alleging justly that its retention was incompatible with due attention to his ecclesiastical duties. The archbishop submitted at once; and Richard, yielding a reluctant consent, appointed to the vacant office Geoffrey Fitz Pierre, whose severities and exactions gave the people cause to regret the firm but mild rule of the archbishop.

Geoffrey was a vigorous governor, however, and a good soldier; and he succeeded, before the king's death, in suppressing a somewhat dangerous insurrection in Wales.

Such is a brief sketch of some of the detached events which took place before the signature of the truce of five years. Everything promised that the truce would be well. observed on the part of Philip, whose situation had become extremely dangerous and difficult, from the disaffection of his vassals, the enmity of the Pope, and the election of Otho to the imperial dignity. His malignant conduct towards John, indeed, showed a thirst for revenge; but it would have been dangerous in the extreme to renew the war with a prince of such power, courage, and skill as Richard, while France was surrounded and divided by so many foreign and domestic enemies. John's defiance passed away unnoticed; and the restoration of the earldom of Gloucester and the county of Mortagne, with a pension of eight thousand pounds per annum, proved to Richard's brother that he had regained the confidence and affection of his sovereign.

There is every reason to believe that it was Richard's intention to visit England early in 1199; and his presence in that country might have been greatly beneficial; for in his conduct at this time many signs are to be found of the good effects of age and experience. Although he had lost none of the frank openness which distinguished him, although he preserved all his activity, his energy, and his daring, he had