English barons at Lincoln Parliament, January 1301, to the Pope

“ The Holy Roman Mother Church, by whose ministry the Catholic faith is governed in its acts, proceeds, as we firmly believe and hold, with that gentleness that she wishes to prejudice no one, but, like a gracious mother, to preserve the rights of individuals, not less in other countries than in her own body, unimpaired. ”

“ For we know, most Holy Father, and it is notorious in our country and not unknown to many, that from the first foundation of the kingdom of England, the kings of that kingdom, as well in the times of the Britons as of the Angles, had in their possession superiority and direct dominion over the kingdom of Scotland, or were captains of the sovereignty and rightful lordship of the same at successive periods, nor at any time did the same kingdom in temporalities belong, nor does it now belong in any way, to the aforesaid Church. ”