Page:The religious life of King Henry VI.djvu/120

94 these two great English educational establishments.

In connection with these two colleges there is a clause in the instructions he gave to his envoys sent to the Council of Basle, which is of importance. It deals with a question which the King thought might be raised at that assembly in regard to the alienation of certain estates in England formerly belonging to the alien priories. In this document the seizure of this alien property is justified, writes the editor of this correspondence, " on the ground of public policy and by the consideration of the abuse of the revenues to anti-national purposes, during the wars with France." It is, moreover, asserted that his father, King Henry V, instead of appropriating these revenues to his own private uses, as he might lawfully have done, had applied for and procured permission from Pope Martin V to convert them to the endowment of monasteries and churches and other pious purposes, as, in fact, he had done. At the same time he made liberal compensation to the churches and monasteries in France and the Duchy of Normandy for any losses they may have