of him and other
ringleaders. It was at this period that Dean Radulph de Diceto, a
monkish chronicler of learning, built the Deanery, "inhabited," says
Milman, "after him, by many men of letters;" before the Reformation, by
the admirable Colet; after the Reformation by Alexander Nowell, Donne,
Sancroft (who rebuilt the mansion after the Great Fire), Stillingfleet,
Tillotson, W. Sherlock, Butler, Secker, Newton, Van Mildert, Copleston,
and Milman.

St. Paul's was also the scene of one of those great meetings of
prelates, abbots, deans, priors, and barons that finally led to King
John's concession of Magna Charta. On this solemn occasion--so
important for the progress of England--the Primate Langton displayed the
old charter of Henry I. to the chief barons, and made them sacredly
pledge themselves to stand up for Magna Charta and the liberties of
England.

One of the first acts of King Henry III. was to hold a council in St.
Paul's, and there publish the Great Charter. Twelve years after, when a
Papal Legate enthroned himself in St. Paul's, he was there openly
resisted by Cantelupe, Bishop of Worcester.

Papal power in this reign attained its greatest height in England. On
the death of Bishop Roger, an opponent of these inroads, the King gave
orders that out of the episcopal revenue 1,500 poor should be feasted on
the day of the conversion of St. Paul, and 1,500 lights offered in the
church. The country was filled with Italian prelates. An Italian
Archbishop of Canterbury, coming to St. Paul's, with a cuirass under his
robes, to demand first-fruits from the Bishop, found the doors closed in
his face; and two canons of the Papal party, endeavouring to install
themselves at St. Paul's, were in 1259 killed by the angry populace.

In the reign of this weak king several folkmotes of the London citizens
were held at Paul's Cross, in the churchyard. On one occasion the king
himself, and his brother, the King of Almayne, were present. All
citizens, even to the age of twelve, were sworn to allegiance, for a
great outbreak for liberty was then imminent. The inventory of the goods
of Bishop Richard de Gravesend, Bishop of London for twenty-five years
of this reign, is still preserved in the archives of St. Paul's. It is a
roll twenty-eight feet long. The value of the whole property was nearly
L3,000, and this sum (says Milman) must be multiplied by about fifteen
to bring it to its present value.

When the citizens of London j