170 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1108-121(1.
sion, and on May 15, 1213, on bended knee, delivered up to Pandulf his kingdom and consented to receive it back again as a papal fief. Five months later the act was renewed in the presence of Nicolas, cardinal-archbishop of Tusculum, who had been sent to England with legatine authority. In the document which John signed and swore to keep, he blasphemously represented himself as imitating him " who humbled himself for us even unto death." This notorious paper ran as follows : -
" We do freely offer and grant to God and the holy Apostles Peter and Paul and the holy Roman Church, our mother, and to our Lord the pope Innocent and his Catholic successors, the whole realm of England and the whole realm of Ireland with all their rights and appurtenances for the remis sion of our sins and those of all our race, as well quick as dead ; and from now receiving back and holding these, as a feudal dependant, from God and the Roman Church, do and swear fealty for them to our Lord the pope Inno cent and his Catholic successors and the Roman Church." l
John bound himself and England for all time to pay, in addition to the usual Peter's pence, 1000 marks annually to the Apostolic see, 700 for England and 300 for Ireland. The king's signature was witnessed by the archbishop of Dublin, the bishop of Norwich, and eleven noblemen. John also promised to reimburse the outlawed bishops, the amount finally settled upon being 40,000 marks.
Rightly does Matthew Paris call this the " detestable and lamentable charter." 2 But although national abasement could scarcely further go, it is probable that the sense of shame with which after generations have regarded John's act was only imperfectly felt by that generation of English men.3 As a political measure it succeeded, bringing as it
1 Potthast, 41G. The Latin in Matthew Paris, Luard's ed. II. 541-546 ; a translation is given by Gee and Hardy, 75-79.
2 IV. 479, carta detestabilis quam lacrimabilis memoriae Johannes infeliciter confecit.
3 Henry II. had become the feudatory of Alexander III., and Richard I., after resigning his crown to the emperor, had held it for the payment of a yearly rent. Lingard offers extenuating considerations for John's surrender, which, however, he denominates "certainly a disgraceful act."
§ 40. INNOCENT AND MAGNA CHARTA. 171
did keen disappointment to the warlike king of France. The interdict was revoked in 1214, after having been in force more than six years.
The victory of Innocent was complete. But in after years the remembrance of the dishonorable transaction encouraged steadfast resistance to the papal rule in England. The voice of Robert Grosseteste was lifted up against it, and Wyclif became champion of the king who refused to be bound by John's pledge. Writing to one of John's successors, the emperor Frederick II. called upon him to remember the humiliation of his predecessor John and with other Christian princes resist the intolerable encroachments of the Apostolic see.
§ 40. Innocent and Magna Charta.
An original manuscript of the Magna Charta, shrivelled with age and fire, but still showing the royal seal, is preserved in the British Museum. A facsimile is given in the official edition of the Statutes of the Realm. Stubbs gives the Latin text in Se lect Charters, etc., 296-306.
In his treatment of the Great Charter, the venerable in strument of English popular rights, Innocent, with monar chical instinct, turned to the side of John and against the cause of popular liberty. Stephen Langton, who had released John from the ban of excommunication, espoused the popu lar cause, thereby incurring the condemnation of the pope. The agreement into which the barons entered to resist the king's despotism was treated by him with delay and subter fuge. Rebellion and civil war followed. As he had before been unscrupulous in his treatment of the Church, so now to win support he made fulsome religious promises he probably had no intention of keeping. To the clergy he granted free dom of election in the case of all prelates, greater and less. He also made a vow to lead a crusade. After the battle of Bouvines, John found himself forced to return to England,