1570 Edition | Book 4 | Page 361 
therfore must necessarely be required. &c.
The proctours and parties thus sent home by the legate, meruellyng with them selues why the bishoppes and abbats should be stayd and they sent home, and suspecting no lesse, but as the matter was in dede: conferred their counsails together, and diuised with them selues to send certaine vnto hym in the behalfe of al the cathedrall and conuentuall churches in Fraunce, & sent to the sayd legate this message, to signifie vnto hym: MarginaliaThe clergye of fraunce ansuering to the lagate.That they were credibly informed, that he came with speciall letters from the court of Rome, for the obteinyng of certaine prebendaries within euery cathedrall and conuentuall churche. Whiche beyng so, they much merueled that he would not in the publike counsaile, make manifest to them those letters whiche specially concerned thē, as much as the others. Wherfore their request was to him in the Lord, that no such offēsiue matter might rise by him in the French church: knowyng this, þt the thing whiche he enterpriseth, could not be brought to effecte, without great offense taken, and inestimable damage to the churche of Fraūce. For graunt, sayd they, that certaine will assent vnto you, yet there assente standeth in no effecte, concerning such matters as touche þe whole: especially, seyng both the states of the realme with all the inferiour subiectes, yea and the kyng hym selfe, they are sure, will withstād the same: to the venture not only of their honour, but of their life also, consideryng þe case to be such, as vpō the offense wherof standeth the subuersion both of the realme publike and of the whole churche in generall. Declaryng moreouer the cause of this feare to rise hereof, for that in other realmes suche communication hath bene with bishops and prelates, for the procuring of such prebendships, where as neither the prince nor the subiectes were made any thing priuy therto.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaInferiors euer more bold to speake in difficulte causes of truth, then the ryche.In conclusion, when the matter came to debatyng with the legate, the obiections of the inferiour parties, agaynst the cruell exaction, were these in brief effect, as is in Parisiens. noted.
MarginaliaThe obiectiōs of the clergye of Fraunce, agaynst the popes exactiō.First they alledged there great damages and expenses whiche they were lyke to susteyne therby by reason of the continuall procurators of the pope, whiche in euery dioces must lyue not of their own, but must be susteined vpon the charges of the cathedrall Churches and other Churches also: And many tymes they beyng but procurators wilbe found as legates.
[Back to Top]Item, by that meanes, they sayd great perturbations myght ensue to the couentes and chapters of cathedrall churches in their elections: for somuch as þe popes agētes and factors, beyng in euery cathedrall churche and chapter house, percase the pope would commaund hym in his person to be present at their elections, and so might trouble the same: in delayng and differryng till it might fall to the court of Rome to geue. And so should be placed mo of the popes clientele in the churches of Fraūce, thē of the proper inhabitance of the land.
[Back to Top]Item, by this meanes they affirmed, that all they in the court of Rome should be richer and should receaue more for their proportion, thē the kyng of the realme: by reason of whiche aboundance of riches, it was lyke to come to passe, þt as þe worme of rich men is pride: so by þe meanes of this their riches, þe court of Rome woulde delaye & driue of great sutes, and scarse would take any paines wt smal causes: the experimēt wherof is euident, for þt now also they vse to delay their matters whē they come with their giftes, & being in assurance to receaue. And thus should iustice stand a side, and poore suters die at the gates of the court of Rome, thus flowyng & triumphyng in full abundaunce of all treasure and riches.
[Back to Top]Item, for somuch as it is mete & conuenient to haue frendes in the court of Rome, for the better speadyng of their causes: therefore they thought to kepe them nedy, wherby their giftes may be the sweter and their causessooner dispatched.
Item, when as it is impossible the fountaine of gredy desire to be stopped, it was to be feared, that eyther they would do that by other, whiche they were wont to do by them selues: or els they should be enforced to geue greater rewardes, then before. For small giftes in the sight of great riche men are not looked vpon.
[Back to Top]Item, where he alledged the remouyng away of the slaunder whiche goeth on the court of Rome: By thys meanes rather the contrary were to be feared: wherin they alledged the sentence of the verse, that great riches stoppe not the takyng of much, but a minde contented with a litle.
Quod virtus reddit, non copia sufficientem.
Et non paupertas sed mentis hiatus egentem.
Farther they alledged þt great riches would make þe Romanes mad: and so might kindle among thē sides & partes taking, so that by great possessions seditiō might followe, to the ruine and destruction of the citie: wherof some experiment they had all ready.
Item, they added that although they would condescend and oblige them selues to that contribution, yet their successours would not so be bound, nor yet, ratifie the bond of theirs.
Lastly thus they concluded the matter, desiring him that the zeale of the vniuersal churche and of the church of Rome would moue hym. For if this oppression of the churche should be vniuersall: MarginaliaGod graunt saye we.it were to be doubted, least an vniuersall departyng might folow from the churche of Rome (whiche God forbid sayd they) should happen.
[Back to Top]The legate hearyng these wordes, beyng therewith something moued, as semed, thus excused hym self: that he beyng in the court, neuer agreed to this exaction. And that the letters herof came not to hym before he was in Fraunce, wherat he sayd he was greatly sory. Addyng this with al, that the wordes of his precept included this secret meanyng in thē, thus to be vnderstand & taken: so farre forth as the Empire & other realmes would agree vnto the same. MarginaliaThe cardinall repulsed, & defeyted of hys purpose in Fraunce.And as for hym, he would stirre no more in the matter, before it were proued, what other countreys would say and do therin.
[Back to Top]And thus much concernyng the second part of the blynd commission of this legate, touchyng hys exaction of prebenships in euery cathedrall & conuentual church: Wherin as ye here, he was repulsed. Ex Mat. Parisiensi. pag 63.
MarginaliaEx Math. Parisiens. Pag. 63.Now to returne to the first part of his commission agayne, whiche was concernyng Reimundus the godly Earle of Tholouse, thus the story procedeth.
CloseThe Albigensian Crusade was a response to the Cathar 'heresy' flourishing principally in the Languedoc region of France and in Italy. This was the first crusade against a Christian region and resulted in the successful extermination of the Cathars. The situation was more complex than Foxe details here, with political and religious priorities making the Crusade a complex event. For an outline of these complexities, especially its connection to England see Nicholas Vincent, 'England and the Albigensian Crusade', in Björn Weiler and Ifor W. Rowlands (ed.), England and Europe in the Reign of Henry III 1216-1272 (Aldershot, 2002), pp. 67-85.
[Back to Top]Foxe's concentration on the Siege of Toulouse taken from Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora, ed. Henry Richards Luard, Rolls Series (7 vols., London, 1872-1884), vol. 3, pp. 51-7 and ending with a description of the history of the persecution taken from Chronica Majora, vol. 3, pp. 57, 105-119 presents the Cathars and Count Raymond VI of Toulouse as holding 'true' doctrines and being unfairly treated by the machinations of the papacy. There were, in fact, a variety of differences in the dualistic and Gnostic doctrines of the Cathars to the beliefs of the Protestant reformers, however Foxe uses the lack of detailed documentation available to him to his advantage, by having previously stated that 'what these Albingenses were, it can not be wel gathered by the old popishe histories' (1570, f. 341). Instead Foxe concentrates on how the Papacy through greed, trickery and hatred forced the French to persecute the Cathars as they had done on a variety of other occasions. Thus Foxe uses the Albigensian Crusade as a characterisation assassination of the papacy and its legates.
[Back to Top]In-between this account Foxe has added accounts of events going on in England at the same time largely taken from his favoured sources the Chronica Majora, Flores Historiarum and Nicholas Trivet. This includes the arrival of the Minorities to England from Chronica Majora, vol. 3, pp. 60-1, Matthew Paris, Flores Historiarum, ed. Henry Richards Luard, Rolls Series (3 vols., London, 1890), vol. 2, pp. 187-8 and Nicholas Trivet, Annalium continuatio; ut et Adami Murimuthensis Chronicon (Oxford, 1722), p. 211, Stephen Langton's holding of a meeting at Oxford from Nicholas Trivet, p. 210, an introduction to Hubert de Burgh from the Chronica Majora, vol. 3, pp. 71-3, 291, with whom Foxe would deal in detail after the Albigensian crusade, general conflicts between the Bishops of London and Westminster and bad storms across the country also from the Chronica Majora, vol. 3, pp. 74-75 and the Flores Historiarum, vol. 2, pp. 172-5. As an introduction to the Albigensian persecution Foxe also described Louis IX (ruled 1226-1270) becoming king of France from the Chronica Majora, vol. 3, p. 77, Flores Historiarum, vol. 2, pp. 177-8 and Nicholas Trivet, p. 212.
[Back to Top]From other sources Foxe mentioned the building of Salisbury Minster from Arundel MS 5 (which Foxe names Scala Mundi) and the reaffirmation of Magna Charta from The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough, ed. Harry Rothewell, Camden Society, 3rd Series, 89 (London, Camden Society, 1957), pp. 162-173. Guisborough was probably the most detailed account of Magna Charta available to Foxe, however he did not solely rely on it for his account. He took from Robert Fabian, The New Chronicles of England and France, ed. Henry Ellis (London, 1811), p. 326 a corrective on the dating of the affirmation.
[Back to Top]Matthew Phillpott
University of Sheffield