time no sovereign of England has denied that the Charters are law, however in practice they may have been violated.*

The chancellor was now involved in a dispute in which he was personally interested, and which caused him great trouble and anxiety for some years.. He had not had the good luck to be promoted to the episcopal bench,-when the see of Ely becoming vacant, he thought he was secure of it. But while some of the monks voted for him according to the wishes of the government, others gave their voices for their own Prior, who, they said, would have much more leisure to attend to the duties of a faithful overseer of the church of Christ.

The court then lay at York, the Chancellor, as usual, attending the King. He posted off to Lambeth to consult the Archbishop of Canterbury, leaving the Seal with three persons, John de Crancombe, John de Caen, and William de Birlay, to be kept by them in their joint custody on the King's behalf until he should return.† The Archbishop advised him to proceed in person to Rome, the Prior of Ely having already appealed to the Pope. Langton, without resigning his office of Chancellor, had leave of obsence to prosecute his suit, and on the 14th of February, 1299, delivered up the Great Seal, to be held during his stay abroad, by John de Burstide as Keeper. He landed at Dover on his return, on the 11th of June following, and on the 16th of the same month the Seal was re-delivered to him by the King. He had not succeed

ed at the Vatican, notwithstanding all the influence [A. D. 1302.] exerted in his favour. The Holy Father, taking this opportunity to show the plenitude of his power, entirely set aside the election of the monks, consecrated the Bishop of Norwich to the see of Ely, bestowed Norwich on the Prior of Ely, and, by way of consolation to the English Chancellor, made him Archdeacon of Canterbury. On the 12th day of August, 1302, Langton resigned his office of Chancellor for some reason not explained to us. This occurrence certainly did not proceed from a desire to sacrifice him to a rival, for the King was much perplexed in the appointment of a successor. The Close Roll gives a very circumstantial account of the ceremony of the resignation :—

“ Be it remembered that in the 30th year of King Edward, on Monday after the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, about the hour of vespers, in the chamber wherein the King then lodged, in the Hostel of the Archbishop of York, near Westminster, immediately after the King rose from council, Lord John de Langton, the Chancellor of England, restored to the King his Great Seal, and the King in the presence of Amadio Earl of Savoy, John de Bretagne, and divers others of his council, delivered the same to the Lord John de Drakensford, then Keeper of his wardrobe, to bet kept there."s

* 1 Parl. Hist. 43.

† Rot. Pat. 26 Ed. 1. m. 27., and Rot. Claus. 26 Ed. 1. m. 10.

Rot. Cl. 27 Ed. 1. m. 11.

§ Cl. Rol. 30 Ed. 1. m. 8.

After a lapse of ten days, the King had not yet made up his mind who should be Chancellor, but there being a necessity that the judicial business connected with the office should proceed, the Great Seal was given under certain restrictions into the keeping of Adam de Osgodebey, Master of the Rolls, of which we have the following entry :—

“On the 23d of August, in the 30th year of the King, in the King's chamber at Kensington, in the presence of Otho de Grandison, Amadio Earl of Savoy, John de Bretagne, and others of the King's Council, the King's Great Seal was delivered by the King's order by the hand of Lord John de Darkensford, Keeper of the wardrobe, to Lord Adam de Osgodebey, Keeper of the Rolls of the Chancery, who was enjoined to keep it under the seal of Master John de Caen, and the Lords William de Birlay and Robert de Bardelley, until the King should provide himself with a Chancellor.* The Seal being so disposed of, the King set forward on his journey to Dover by the way of Chichester."

At last, on the 30th of September following, a new Chancellor was declared in the person of WILLIAM DE GRENE[A. D. 1302.] FIELD, Dean of Chichester. The reader may be gratified by the record of the appointment and installation:"On Sunday the morrow of St. Michael, in the same year, in the King's Chapel, at St. Redegund, immediately after mass, in the presence of Lord John de Darkensford and others, chaplains and clerks of the said chapel of the King, Lord Adam de Osgodebey delivered the Great Seal to our Lord the King, who then received it into his own proper hands, and straightway delivered it to Master William de Grenefield, Dean of Chicester, whom he had chosen for his Chancellor, to keep, and the said Chancellor delivered the said Seal again to the said Adam, to be carried with him the said Chancellor to Dover; and on the same day at Dover, the Chancellor received it back from the said Adam, and the next day sealed writs with it in the House of God there."+

Langton, the Ex-chancellor, remained some years without any promotion; but in 1305 he was made Bishop of Chichester, and he obtained quiet possession of that see, which he continued to govern with great credit till he was again restored to the office of Chancellor in the succeeding reign.

William de Grenefield (sometimes called Grenevill), now his successor, was descended from an ancient family in the West of England, represented by the present Duke of Buckingham. He entered the Church when very young, and was a Canon of York before he was Dean of Chichester. He frequented the court of Edward I., and had shown qualities which induced the belief that he would make a useful servant to the Crown. When raised to his new dignity he is said to have been "eminent in counsel, and very eloquent."

*-quousque Dominus Rex sibi de Cancellario providisset. Cl. 30 Ed. 1. m. 6. † Cl. Rol. 30 Ed. 1. m. 5.

He and Edward's other ministers were excessively unpopular, insomuch that at a parliament called soon after this appointment, an attempt was made to carry a favourite scheme several times brought forward in weak reigns about this period of English History, but which we should not have expected to find proposed to him who had conquered Wales, and led his victorious armies to the extremity of Scotland,-"that the Chancellor, Chief Justice, and Treasurer should be chosen or appointed by the community of the kingdom." The King, by the Chancellor's advice, returned for answer," I perceive you would at your pleasure make your King truckle to you and bring him under subjection. Why have you not asked the Crown of me also? whilst at the same time you look upon that as very fit and necessary for yourselves which you grudge me that am your King; for it is lawful for every one of you, as master of his own family, to take in or turn out what servant he pleases; but if I may not appoint my Chancellor, Chief Justice and Treasurer, I will be no longer your King: yet if they or any other officers shall do you any wrong or injustice, and complaint be made of it to me, you shall then have some reason to grumble if you are not righted." This firmness had such an effect, that the Barons humbly begged the King's pardon for their presumption.*

The only other public matter in which Lord Chancellor Grenefield was concerned, was in framing an answer to a letter which the Pope had written to Edward, remonstrating with him upon his invasion of Scotland, and claiming that kingdom as a right belonging to the see of Rome; but his Holiness was gravely assured that "ever since the coming of Brute and his Trojans into this island, Scotland had been under feudal subjection to the Kings of England, who had frequently made gift of it to one of their subjects, and resumed the gift at their pleasure." The Barons of England, to the number of 112, unanimously concurred in "an address to the Pope, devoutly kissing his blessed feet," in which they told him "that he had no right to interfere in the affairs of Scotland, which belonged exclusively to the Crown of England." It is curious that although this address was voted in Parliament and appears on the Parliament Roll, subscribed by all the Barons, it is not subscribed by the Chancellor or any spiritual Peer.

De Grenefield had great reason to avoid appearing too openly in this controversy, and notwithstanding his caution, he seems to have given offence to the Roman Pontiff. On the 4th of December, 1303, he was elected Archbishop of York, and on the 24th of the same month the royal assent was given to his election; but although he was not liable to any reasonable objection, the Pope refused to allow his consecration. Letters and proxies being ineffectual, the Archbishop elect resolved to go in person to Rome;

* 1 Parl. Hist. 48, 49.

and, to show his devotedness to his spiritual duties, he absolutely resigned the office of Chancellor before his departure.

The journey of the Ex-chancellor to Rome must have been very rapid, and the energy of his personal application extraordinary, for having delivered up the Great Seal at Westminster on the 29th of December, 1304, he was consecrated there on the 30th of January following, his representations on the equity of his case being fortified by a present to the Pope of 9500 marks. He was admitted to the temporalities of the see on the 31st of March, 1305; but he is said to have been reduced to such poverty by the exactions of the Court of Rome, that he was twice forced to have recourse to the clergy of his diocese for subsistence, first by way of "benevolence," and the second time of "subsidy." He is celebrated for his support of the Knights Templars, then persecuted by the Pope and Philip of France. In the year 1311 he sat in the Council of Vienna, called to quiet the disputes which then agitated the church, and representing the clergy of England he was allowed precedence next after the Prince, Archbishop of Treves. He died in 1315.*

During a temporary absence of De Grenefield, when he had been sent on an embassy, Osgodebey, the Master of the Rolls, had acted as Keeper of the Seal; but on his resignation a new Chancellor was appointed,- WILLIAM DE HAMILTON, Dean of York.†

At the time of his nomination, being absent from court, the Great Seal was delivered into the king's wardrobe [A. D. 1304.] to be kept by John de Burstide; and on the 16th of January following it was delivered to the new Chancellor, who continued to hold it above two years. Soon after he was appointed there was an admonition given to him by the King in full parliament (probably in consequence of a petition from the Com

* While he was Chancellor, the practice was established of members of the House of Commons being allowed their wages. At the end of the session, writs out of Chancery under the Great Seal were delivered to them, certifying their attendance, and requiring the sheriff by assessment, to raise the necessary sum for paying them- Rolls of Parliament, 33 Edward I.

Rot. Claus. 33 Ed. 1. m. 22. "Master William de Grenefield, Canon of York and the king's Chancellor, being elected Archbishop of York, did in the king's chamber at Lincoln, on Tuesday next after the feast of the Lord's nativity, to wit, on the feast of St. Thomas the Martyr, in the thirty-third year of the king's reign, say to the king before his council, that it behoved him to go to Rome on the Thursday following relative to the business of the said election, and begged the King to ordain what was to be done with the Great Seal; and the king then nominated and elected William de Hamilton, Dean of York, Chancellor and Keeper of the Seal, and commanded the Archbishop elect to deliver the Seal the next day into the wardrobe to Sir John de Burstide, to remain there under the seals of Sir Adam de Osgodebey, &c., until the arrival of the new Chancellor; and the archbishop elect the next day, at the sealing time, delivered the Seal to the king in bed." On the 16th of January following, by virtue of a writ of privy seal the Great Seal was delivered to Sir William de Hamilton, so chosen Chancellor, and the same day after dinner he sealed a writ for Master William de Grenefield, elect of York, the Ex-chancellor.-Rot. Pat. 33 Ed. 1. p. 1. m. 29.

mons) against granting letters of protection from suits to persons absent in Ireland.*

In 1306 the Chancellor put the Great Seal to the famous statute "De Tallagio non concedendo †," framed in the form of a charter, which had become necessary from the King, of his own authority, having taken a talliage of all cities, boroughs, and towns, and which finally put an end to the direct claim of the kings of England to impose any tax, and drove those who, in future, wished to rule without a parliament, to resort to such subterfuges as "benevolences," and "ship-money."

Any credit which De Hamilton might have had in inducing the King to agree to this concession was outweighed by the disgrace which he allowed to be brought upon [A. D. 1305.] the King and the nation from the mock trial and murder of Sir William Wallace, who, owing no allegiance to the King of England, was tried at Westminster under a commission

sealed by an English Chancellor, and was executed [AUG. 23, 1305.] on Tower Hill as a traitor, for having defended, against a public and oppressive enemy, the liberties of his native land with signal conduct, intrepidity, and perseverance, entitling him to be placed in the highest class of heroes and patriots.

De Hamilton did not live to see the effect of this barbarous policy in the rising of the Scottish nation, headed by Robert Bruce,all ready again to brave every danger in the hope of freedom and vengeance. He died in possession of the office of Chancellor on the 20th of April, 1307, while in attendance on the King near the Scottish border,-not having reached any higher dignity in. the church than that of Dean of York.

The Great Seal was found in a purse sealed up under the private seal of the deceased Chancellor. The King immediately declared his resolution to bestow the vacant office on Ralph de Baldock, Bishop of London, then in the South, and

the following day, as the Great Seal could not [APRIL 21, 1307.] be personally delivered to him, his appointment was made out in the following form :

Edward, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine, to the Treasurer or his deputy, and to the Barons of our Exchequer, health. Forasmuch as William de Hamilton who was our Chancellor is now with God, we command and ordain that the Bishop of London be our Chancellor, and that he come without delay to London to our said Exchequer to receive in your presence our Great Seal, which we now send thither by our dear clerks Adam de Osgodeby, Master John de Caen, and Robert de Bardelley. We command you that you cause

* Rot. Parl. 38 Ed. 1. Memorandum quod vj. die April a. 33. Dominus Rex in pleno parliamento suo apud Westm. inhibuit Wilhilmo de Hamilton, Cancellario suo ne de cetero concedat alicui literas Regis de protectione in Hibn.

† 34 Ed. 1. 2 Inst. 531. Its genuineness has been questioned,-without suffi

cient reason.