824 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1049-1294.
from Henry II., about 1180, to take charge of the Carthu sian monastery of St. Witham, which the king had founded a few years before. In 1186 he was chosen bishop of Lin coln, the most extensive diocese in England.1
Hugh's friendship with Henry did not prevent him from resisting the king's interference in the affairs of his diocese. When the king attempted to force a courtier into one of the prebends of Lincoln, the bishop sent the reply, " Tell the king that hereafter ecclesiastical benefices are to be bestowed not upon courtiers but upon ecclesiastics." He excommuni cated the grand forester for encroaching upon the rights of the people. The king was enraged, but the bishop remained firm. The forests were strictly guarded so as to protect the game, and also, as is probable, to prevent Saxons from tak ing refuge in their recesses. The foresters and rangers were hated officials. The loss of the eyes and other brutal mutilations were the penalties for encroachment.
Towards Richard and John, Hugh showed the same inde pendent spirit as towards Henry. At the council of Oxford, 1197, he dared to refuse consent to Richard's demands for money, an almost unheard-of thing.2 The king's wrath was allayed by a visit the prelate paid him at his castle on the rock of Andely. This was the famous castle built in a single year, of which Philip said, " I would take it if it were iron." To which Richard replied, "I would hold it if it were butter." Upon Hugh's departure, Richard is reported to have said, "If all prelates were like the bishop of Lincoln, not a prince among us could lift his head against them."
Hugh's enlightened treatment of the Jews has already been referred to. He showed his interest in the lepers, built them a house, cared for them with his own hands, and called them "the flowers of Paradise, and jewels in the
1 Cencio's register gave the number of households owing Peter's Pence, as 10,080 for Lincoln, 4160 for Winchester, 3960 for London, and 1896 for Canterbury.
2 Stubbs, ed. of Hoveden, IV. p. xcii, calls this a "landmark of English constitutional history, the first clear case of a refusal of a money grant de manded directly by the crown."
§ 129. TWO ENGLISH BISHOPS. 825
crown of heaven." The Third Lateran had ordered sepa rate churches and burial grounds for lepers. His treatment of the tomb of Fair Rosamonde was more in consonance with the canons of that age than agreeable to the spirit of our own. When, on a visit to Gadstow, he found her buried in the convent church, with lamps kept constantly burning over her body, he ordered the body removed, saying that her life was scandalous, and that such treatment would be a les son to others to lead chaste lives. In his last moments Hugh was laid on a cross of ashes. John, who was holding a council at Lincoln, helped to carry the body to its restingplace. The archbishop of Canterbury and many bishops took part in the burial ceremonies. The Jews shed tears. Hugh was canonized in 1220, and his shrine became a place of pilgrimage.
One of the striking stories told of Hugh, the story of the swan, is attested by his chaplain and by Giraldus Cambrensis, who witnessed the swan's movements. The swan, which had its nest at Stow, one of the bishop's manors, was savage and unmanageable till Hugh first saw it. The bird at once became docile, and learned to follow the bishop's voice, eat from his hand, and to put his bill up his sleeve. It seemed to know instinctively when the bishop was coming on a visit, and for several days before would fly up and down the lake flapping its wings. It kept guard over him when he slept.
Robert Grosseteste, 1175-1253, had a wider range of influ ence than Hugh, and was probably the most noteworthy Englishman of his generation.1 No prelate of his century was so bold in telling the pope his duty. To his other qual ities he added the tastes and acquisitions of the scholar. He was a reformer of abuses, and a forerunner of Wyclif in
1 His name is spelt Grossetete, Grosthead, Greathead, etc. The Latin forms, Grossum Caput and Capita, were also used. Fuller, with more quaintness than authority, says he got his name from the bigness of his head, "having large stowage to receive and store of brains to fill it." Stevenson, p. 337, adduces three lines along which Grosseteste did conspicuous service ; namely, as an ecclesiastical reformer, a friend of learning, and a statesman.