ations,
secondly to assure the Pope of his innocence, and thirdly to beg him
to take no notice of those who had been calumniating him.

The document is a very remarkable one, and from the point of view of
continuity (of which it completely disposes) it is of very
considerable interest.

Before you read it, and ponder over its contents, let me remind you
that the writing of a letter in those days was a very serious
business. There was no post such as we have now, and special couriers
had to be despatched from London to Rome. Paper had not as yet been
invented, so the message had to be carefully written, by paid scribes,
on vellum or parchment. Further, a letter from a King to the Pope was
not a thing to be dashed off on the spur of the moment, but to be
carefully thought out, and expressed with great accuracy. The King
would summon his advisers, and his Secretary of State, and probably
consult some of the Bishops and weigh each word before committing his
message to parchment. In short, the document would represent his own
deliberate convictions as well as those of his official advisers and
counsellors.

After addressing the Pope in the usual respectful and filial way, he
says: "Let not the envious information of our detractors find place in
the meek mind of your Holiness, or create any sinister opinion of a
son" [observe the King calls himself a son of the Pope], "who after
the manner of his predecessors" [so previous Kings were as loyal as
he] "shall always firmly persist in amity and obedience to the
Apostolic See. Nay, if any such evil suggestion concerning your son
should knock for entrance at your Holiness's ears, let no belief be
allowed it till the son who is concerned be heard, who trusts and
always intends both to say and to prove that each of his actions is
just before the tribunal of your Holiness, _presiding over every
creature, which to deny is to maintain heresy_." Nothing could be
stronger than this last sentence; but we will return to that later.
Then the King goes on to speak of others, who are dependent upon him,
and proceeds as follows: "And further, this we say, adjoining it as a
further evidence of our intention and greater devotion, that if there
be any one of our kindred or allies who walks not as he ought in the
way of _obedience towards the Apostolic See_, we intend to bestow our
diligence--and we trust to no little purpose--that leaving his
wandering course, he may return into the path of du