Particulars connected with the RESIGNATION of the Crown of ENGLAND to the POPE by KING JOHN. (From a Manuscript in the French National Library, by THE manuscript, of which M. Du Thiel treats, is a collection of the state papers and other diplomatic concerns of Pope Innocent III. The particular matter relating to our present subject is the real object of the embassy of Robert de Gourçon to France. "To understand properly," (says Monsieur Porte du Thiel,) the real view of the embassy of Robert, what reasons the Pope had for sending him, and what instructions were probably given him, it is necessary to state clearly what was at this era the situation of France and England. I shall not enlarge upon the state of things in general; it is known to every body. I shall only mention some particularities, neglected by modern historians, which serve to explain, in a better light, that grand denouement of affairs and cabals, through which King John was reduced to the necessity of putting himself entirely at the mercy of the Pope." Situation of King John of England, after the Year 1212. Innocent had dictated the terms and condi tions upon which he consented to restore his favour to King John, against whom he had been so virulent, and addressed them to his nuncios, Pandolph and Durand, Feb. 27, 1213. John, passive under the influence of fear, accepted those terms and conditions, as severe as dishonourable, and by an act, dated 13th May, engaged to execute them faithfully. Upon the day after the morrow, by another act, equally solemn, he acknowledged himself to be a vassal and tributary of the Holy See, and assured the Pope of his eternal fidelity: upon the 24th of the same month, he recalled the exiled prelates, who had originally raised against him the tempest, to which he was compelled to submit. Whilst this prince, worthy in so many respects of the infamy with which he voluntarily loaded his memory, resolved upon such sacrifices to reconcile himself with the Pope, he took the most regular measures to be avenged of the King of France. From the middle of the preceding year 1212, he had negociated with Otho, that other memorable example of the power, creative and destructive, which Innocent exercised over the sovereigns of Europe; and had sent to that emperor, deposed and excommunicated, like himself, ambassadors, charged to bind strong the ties of interest, which, independently of relationship, united, for a long time, these unfortunate princes. Otho, the implacable enemy of Philip, (King of France) charmed with this overture, had engaged the Count de Boulogne, Renard de Dammartin, to adopt the party of the King of England. At his solicitation, the count had crossed the sea, had promised John to obey his orders, and publicly made homage to him, and had sworn not to make, without John's consent, any peace or truce with Philip, or Lewis the dauphin. He had given, as hostages, his wife and many of his vassal lords. At the same time he had brought from Otho letters, in which that prince assured the King of England of his inclination to serve him with all his forces; he had further protested, that he had never received, as he had been accused, any embassies on the part of Philip, and repeated the oath of listening to no accommodation, without participation of the emperor. These facts we learn by the letter which John himself wrote, May 4, 1212, to the Viscount de Thouars, to strengthen his attachment to his party. The same day, John had also written to the Count de Flanders, to induce him to engage himself to him, with the Comte de Boulogne, and, with the view of further inducement, he had lent for a year three thousand marks to the Countess of Flanders. Lastly, upon the same day also, he had signed his definitive treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, with the Comte de Boulogne. It appears also, by different acts, that, about the same time, he was assured of the Duke de Lembourg, de Valeran, son of that duke, and Counts de Bar, father and son, the Duke of Louvain, and many other lords. Lastly, March 29, 1213, he had received the homage and engagement of service, of the Count de Hollande. The Certainty of his Reconciliation with the Pope facilitated the Means, not only of resisting the Attacks which France was preparing against him, but of transferring the War himself into the Bosom of that Country. On the 25th of May, he wrote to the Earl of Flanders, pressing him to send more powerful succours than those which had already arrived; and the 26th of June following, he renewed the same assurance. In fact, four days before, he had ordered the Master of the Temple to remit to the ambassadors, whom he had sent to the earl, a sum of money, which the master had under his care, and which was reserved for the use of the earl. At the same time the English King urged the King of Arragon to put in execution the projects for a campaign, which had been previously concerted with him. The Pope, at the epoch when he named Robert de Gourçon legate of France, that is, to wards the end of April 1213, certainly was not ignorant of all these intentions and projects. It was not, then, without truth, nor, assuredly, without reason, that, in the letter in which he recommended Robert to Philip August, he mentioned the impending peril which menaced France. But was he equally sincere, or did he only use a language suitable to him, or a matter of course, when he added, in the same letter, that the interests of France were dearer to him than those of the Ecclesiastic See? In fact, if the interests of that so-valued kingdom were then in danger, who, other than he, was the occasion of it? Had he not himself, the year before, engaged, even commanded, Philip, under penalty of excommunication, to levy war against John? Had he not, under his apostolical authority, transferred to Philip all the rights of a prince, then the object of ecclesiastical persecution? Had not he assured him of the whole of those powers, whom the exhortations of the Holy See could rouse against an excommunicated and deposed king? Was it not then a kind of duplicity, by which he ordered Pandolph and Durand that, as soon as the rebel king submitted to the laws of the Vatican, all his enemies should be ordered to disarm, (principally Philip,) and respect John? We are led to think, that even the personal choice of the legate, born a subject of the King |