Mary Tout

“ The history, therefore, of William between 1208 and 1213 is the history of these negotiations. Innocent instructed William that should John fulfil an agreement with him, the interdict was to be relaxed (Epp. Inn. III. bk. xi. No. 91) . Between 14 July and 8 Sept. 1208, and again for three weeks after 8 Sept., William had safe-conduct to remain in England (Rot. Lit. Pat. i. 85) ; but after keeping William and his fellow-bishops waiting for two months, John in the end would not see them (Ann. Wav. p. 261) . ”

“ The chronicler complains that while all the evils of the interdict fell on England, the archbishop and the three bishops sojourned abroad, ‘omnimodis viventes in deliciis: cum lupum viderunt venientem, dimiserunt oves et fugerunt’ (ib.) Though banished, William was so constantly employed as bearer of the papal overtures that he was frequently passing to and fro between England and the continent under safe-conduct from John. ”

“ Catharine by Hubert Walter, archbishop of Canterbury, thirteen bishops being present (ib.; Coggeshall, p. 89) . William was present on the 27th at the coronation of John (Rog. Hov. iv. 89, 90) . During this and the next few years various concessions were granted by John to William (Rotuli Cartarum, pp. 17, 51, 64, 91, 124, 136, 140) . William was present on 19 Sept. 1200 at the council at Westminster (Diceto, ii. 169) , and witnessed the homage done by William, king of Scots, to John, outside Lincoln, on 22 Nov. 1200 (Rog. Hov. iv. 141) . ”

“ The earliest details of the story of these martyrs occur in a ‘Sermo in Natali SS. Virginum XI Millium,’ dating from between 751 and 839, which declares that few names of these martyrs are known, and that they were driven from Britain by the persecution of Diocletian and Maximian. ”

“ Gerv. Cant. i. 450) .
William rose into prominence in Richard I's reign. On 16 Sept. 1189 Richard, at the council of Pipewell, gave him the prebend of Hubert Walter in the church of York, and made him dean of St. Martin's, London (Rog. Hov. Chronica, iii. 16; Benedict of Peterborough, ii. 86) . Geoffrey, elect of York, objected to the former promotion (Rog. Hov. iii. 17) , but to no purpose (Walter of Coventry, i. 378) . Before 1193 William also received a prebend in Lincoln Cathedral. He gave great offence to Giraldus Cambrensis [q. v.] ”

“ The three bishops formally pronounced the interdict on 23 March 1208. The king at once confiscated all church property, and banished them for five years. They left the country secretly for France (Rog. Wend.. iii. 222) . ”

“ Ann. Wav. p. 263) . On 16 July William, with Langton and the other bishops, landed at Dover. On 20 July they absolved the king at Winchester (Rog. Wend. iii. 260) . William received 750l. from John for his losses, and to make amends for the loss of his house of Bishop's Stortford, which the king had demolished in 1211, John gave him and his successors the manor of Stoke, near Guildford in Surrey (Newcourt, Repert. Eccl. i. 12) . On 29 June 1214, John having at last fulfilled the conditions, the interdict was removed (Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj. ii. 575) . ”

“ Hov. iv. 160) . On 24 Aug. 1203, Hubert Walter being ill, William consecrated at Westminster William of Blois, elect of Lincoln, despite the protest of Gilbert, bishop of Rochester, who disputed his right to consecrate (Rog. Wend. iii. 139; Gir. Cambr. iii. 304) . However, in 1206 he also consecrated Jocelyn bishop of Bath at Reading (Rog. Wend. iii. 188) . In December 1204 William received formal confirmation of his position as first in dignity among the bishops of the province (Cal. of Papal Registers, Papal Letters, i. 19) . ”

“ Majora, vols. ii. and v. (all above are in Rolls Ser.) ; Newcourt's Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Londinense, vol. i.; Roger of Wendover, vol. iii. (in Engl. Hist. Soc.) ; Liber de Antiquis Legibus (in Camden Soc.) ; Wharton's Anglia Sacra ”