Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 05.djvu/359

 purposes abroad, Henry III granted to Boniface the royal right of purveyance in London.The Londoners resisted ; hut the archbishop`s Provencal troops were too strong for them. The people were subjected to the military rapine of a foreign army.

In this state of popular irritation Boniface proceeded to the visitation of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The dean and chapter refused him admission, on the ground that they were subject to their bishop only as visitor. Boniface ordered the doors of the cathedral to be forced open. When he could not gain admission to the chapterhouse, he excommunicated the disobedient prebendaries. Next day he visited the priory of St. Bartholomew. All London was in uproar, and the archbishop thought it wise to don armour beneath his vestments, and go with an armed retinue. At St. Bartholomew he was received with all honour as the primate; but the canons were in their stalls, ready for service, not in the chapter-house, to receive their visitor. Furious at the jeers of the mob on the way, the archbishop rushed into the choir and ordered the canons to go to the chapter-house. When the subprior rotested, Boniface felled him with his fist, and beat him unmercifully, crying out, ‘This is the way to deal with English traitors.’ A tumult ensued. The archbishop’s vestments were torn, and his armour was exposed to view. The rage of the Londoners was furious, and Boniface had to Hee in a boat to Lambeth. He retired to his manor at Harrow, and announced his intention of visiting the abbey of St. Albans. This was felt to be too much. The suffragan bishops met at Dunstable, and agreed to join in resistance to the primate. Boniface on this showed considerable good sense in retiring from a position which had become untenable. He suspended his visitation, and set out for the papal court, whither he invited the discontented bishops to send their proctors (1250). He admitted that he had been hasty, and practically withdrew his claims to visit outside his diocese contrary to previous custom. When his fit of passion was over, and he had time for reflection, Boniface showed a conciliatory spirit.

He did not return to England till the end of 1252, when he heard that his official had been imprisoned by the order of the bishop elect of Winchester, Aymer of Lusignan [q.v.] the king's half-brother. He proceed with dignity to investigate this matter, and pronounced sentence of excommunication of Aymer, who declared it to be null and void. Boniface went to Oxford and laid his case before the university, a step which announced his adherence to the national party, which was growing strong against Henry III’s feeble misgovernment. The pressure of this national party forced Henry III to make some pretence of amendment, and on 13 May 1253 he swore with unusual solemnity, in Westminster Hall, to observe the provisions of the great charter. Archbishop Boniface pronounced excommunication against all who should violate the liberties of England. Henry III showed some sense of humour by suggesting that his own amendment must he followed by that of others. Hs urged Boniface and some other prelates to prove their repentance by resigning the preferment which they had obtained contrary to the laws of the church. Boniface answered that they had agreed to bury the past and provide for the future.

At this time Boniface seems to have wished to do his duty. He was conscious of his own unfitness for the post of archbishop, and listened to the counsels of Grosseteste and the learned Franciscan, Adam de Marisco. But his good resolutions did not last long. In 1255 he went to the help of his brother Thomas, who was imprisoned for his tyranny by the people of Turin. Boniface brought money and troops for the siege of Turin, and succeeded in procuring his brother’s release. During his absence he summoned a newly elected bishop of Ely to Belley for consecration—an unheard-of proceeding which led to a protest from the sukragaus of the province of Canterbury. In 1256 Boniface returned to England, and again behaved as though the air of England inspired him with a fictitious patriotism. He made common cause with the English bishops in withstanding the exactions of the pope and king. During 1257 and 1258 several meetings were held under his presidency to devise measures for opposing the claims of the papal nuncio. When the parliament of Oxford devised its ‘Provisions’ for the purpose of controlling the king, Archbishop Boniface seems to have been one of the twenty-four commissioners, and, if so, was nominated by the king, and not by the barons. He certainly was one of the council of fifteen which was entrusted by the commissioners with the supervision of government. He was not, however, a politician capable of influencing English affairs, and his name is scarcely mentioned in the period during which the hostility between the king and the barons became more pronounced. He seems gradually to have drifted more and more to the king’s side, until he became a scheming partisan, and found it safe to retire to France at the end of 1262. He was at Boulogne in 1263, and joined the papal legate in excommunicating the rebellious barons. 