yment. He granted to the king the
goods of intestate clergymen; the revenues of vacant benefices; the
revenues of all non-residents [b]. But these taxations, being levied
by some rule, were deemed less grievous than another imposition, which
arose from the suggestion of the Bishop of Hereford, and which might
have opened the door to endless and intolerable abuses.
[FN [a] Rymer, vol. i. p. 547, 548, &c. [b] Ibid. vol. i. p. 597,
598.]

This prelate, who resided at the court of Rome, by a deputation from
the English church, drew bills of different values, but amounting on
the whole to one hundred and fifty thousand five hundred and forty
marks, on all the bishops and abbots of the kingdom; and granted these
bills to Italian merchants, who, it was pretended, had advanced money
for the service of the war against Mainfroy [c]. As there was no
likelihood of the English prelates submitting, without compulsion, to
such an extraordinary demand, Rustand, the legate, was charged with
the commission of employing authority to that purpose; and he summoned
an assembly of the bishops and abbots, whom he acquainted with the
pleasure of the pope and of the king. Great were the surprise and
indignation of the assembly. The Bishop of Worcester exclaimed, that
he would lose his life rather than comply: the Bishop of London said,
that the pope and king were more powerful than he; but if his mitre
were taken off his head, he would clap on a helmet in its place [d].
The legate was no less violent on the other hand; and he told the
assembly, in plain terms, that all ecclesiastical benefices were the
property of the pope, and he might dispose of them, either in whole or
in part, as he saw proper [e]. In the end, the bishops and abbots,
being threatened with excommunication, which made all the revenues
fall into the king's hands, were obliged to submit to the exaction;
and the only mitigation which the legate allowed them was, that the
tenths, already granted, should be accepted as a partial payment of
the bills. But the money was still insufficient for the pope's
purpose: the conquest of Sicily was as remote as ever: the demands
which came from Rome were endless: Pope Alexander became so urgent a
creditor, that he sent over a legate to England, threatening the
kingdom with an interdict, and the king with excommunication, if the
arrears, which he pretended to be due to him, were not instantly
remitted [f]. And at last Henry, sensible