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 manded the restoration of Langton and the exiled bishops. John answered angrily that he would hang Langton if he could catch him, and that he was only bound to obey the pope in things spiritual. Pandulf replied that John was equally bound to obey the pope in things temporal as in things spiritual. A long and angry historical controversy ensued, in which Pandulf said that John was striving to uphold the infamous laws of William the Bastard, rather than the excellent laws of St. Edward. At last Pandulf formally promulgated John's excommunication, and declared the English absolved from their allegiance. John did his best to frighten Pandulf, and hanged and mutilated various criminals in his presence to break his resolution. But the undaunted subdeacon remained firm, and actually saved one of the criminals, who was a clerk, from the royal sentence. John did not venture to do violence to the papal envoys, and they safely returned to the continent. The only results of the mission were that some of the king's clerks returned with them to open up further negotiations with the pope (Ann. Margam, p. 31), and that the interdict was slightly relaxed in the case of dying persons (Ann. Waverley, p. 271). Pandulf now joined Stephen Langton and the exiled bishops in Flanders (Ann. Dunstable, p. 36). He then returned to Rome (Ann. Osney, p. 55; Ann. Margam, p. 31). Perhaps he accompanied Langton, who also went to Rome about the same time. It should be added that some writers, including Dr. Pauli (Geschichte von England, iii. 365–6), reject the whole story of this first mission, believing it to be based upon the fancy of the Burton annalist, who described the great scene between the king and the papal envoy. But, though this is certainly suspicious, there seems other evidence for the fact of the mission (Ann. Waverley, p. 271; Ann. Margam, pp. 30–1; Cont. ii. 169; Flores Hist. ii. 140;, Hist. Major, ii. 531; Chron. Rotomagensis in , xviii. 360). Many of these writers, however, may simply copy the Burton and Waverley annalists; the silence of earlier writers like Walter of Coventry (ii. 211), and the absence of any reference to the matter in either English or papal documents, make for the sceptical view.

John's difficulties now came to a crisis, and the negotiations renewed by his envoys at Rome were vigorously pressed forward. On 27 Feb. 1213 Innocent wrote to John, announcing a fresh embassy. Pandulf and Durand were again the nuncios. They brought with them the hard conditions of John's submission, drawn up at Rome with the consent of John's envoys (Flores Hist. ii. 143; Calendar of Papal Letters, i. 37). Passing through France, Pandulf saw Philip Augustus, and forbade him invading England until the mission was accomplished. Two templars preceded Pandulf over the Channel. Early in May they were graciously received by John at Ewell, near Dover. On 13 May Pandulf himself saw the king at Dover, and threatened him with immediate French invasion if he would not submit to the holy see. On 15 May John's humiliation was completed.

Before numerous witnesses John formally surrendered his crown to Pandulf, as the pope's proctor, and received it back from the nuncio's hands as a fief of the holy see (the documents of submission and reconciliation are printed in the Annals of Burton, pp. 218–223;, Fœdera, i. 108, 111–12; Epp. Innocentii III, ed. Migne. The impression produced in Europe is well illustrated in W. Brito's Philippidos in , xvii. 233). Pandulf received 8,000l. as an instalment of the compensation promised for the damage sustained by the church during the interdict. Matthew Paris tells us, in his rhetorical way, how Pandulf trampled this money under foot as an earnest of the future subjection of England to Rome (Hist. Major, ii. 546). Pandulf seems soon after to have returned to France, where he gave the 8,000l. to the exiled bishops, and persuaded them to go back to England. The return of Langton and the bishops ended the acute phase of the struggle.

Pandulf held an interview with Philip Augustus at Gravelines (, xviii. 604, but cf. ib. 565, which says at Calais), where the French were waiting to invade England. Philip thought himself cheated by the pope, and was very angry with Innocent and his agent for accepting the submission of John, and thus frustrating his expected easy conquest of England. But Pandulf was soon back again in England, where he now busied himself in settling the complicated details that still remained to be arranged before the relations of England and Rome again became normal. A personage of greater weight than the humble subdeacon now appears on the scene. Nicholas, cardinal bishop of Tusculum, was appointed papal legate before 6 July, and sent to England to complete Pandulf's work. He arrived in England about Michaelmas. Pandulf was jointly commissioned with him to inquire about arrears of Peter pence due to the pope from England (Epp. Inn. III, iii. 960, ed. Migne). He was also still employed in collecting money to compensate the sufferers from the interdict, in mediating between John and the Welsh, and other business. He