Page:VCH London 1.djvu/499

 RELIGIOUS HOUSES result Anselm's tenure of the bishopric was declared to be invalid because his appointment had lacked the dean's consent.*^ The succession of Ralph of Langford to Dean William in this year *^ further indicates a change in the disposition of power in the chapter. The cathedral received a charter from Stephen which confirmed its lands and possessions." In the quarrel between the king and Arch- bishop Thomas, in the next reign, St. Paul's sided with Gilbert Foliot. When this bishop had summoned a meeting of London clergy in the cathedral, and had publicly appealed to Rome against his excommunication,*^ the dean and chapter wrote to the pope in his support." They received from the archbishop an intimation of the sentence of their bishop, who, both in this year, and, presumably, when he was again under a ban from 1 1 70 to 1171, did not enter the cathedral.*' In later times an altar and a chapel were dedicated to St. Thomas the Martyr in St. Paul's Church.-** In this reign, as in that of Henry I, much care was bestowed on the restoring, and the building and adorning of the cathedral. The bishop of Winchester ordered the inhabitants of his diocese in 1 175—6 to afford assistance to those sent to collect money for the building of the church of St. Paul.*^ A system of wander- ing collectors for the building fund, instituted by the bishop or the chapter or both of them, seems to be indicated. The dean and chapter gave two palfreys to King John in the year 1200, that he might protect their enjoyment of the liberties contained in their charter,^" and they received from him an additional charter which confirmed their rights and possessions.'^ Their attitude in the struggle between the king and his barons is definite. At the end of the list of excommuni- cated rebels, in the bull of I 21 5, a paragraph is devoted to the sentence of ' Master Gervase de Hobrugge, chancellor of London, who is the most manifest persecutor of the king and the king's friends,' ^^ and it is this Gervase who was elected dean in 1 216.*' He and Simon Lang- ton, canon of St. Paul's, and brother of the archbishop, appealed, in the year of the election, against the excommunication of Louis and his " R. de Diceto, 0/iera Hist. (Rolls Ser.), i, 250. " Newcourt, Repert. i, 33. '* Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, App. pt. i, 45. iii, 32. " Ibid, vi, 618. " R. de Diceto, Ot'cra Hist. (Rolls Ser.), i, 334. " DugJale, Hist. of St. Paul's, 24., 131. " Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, pt. i, 58. " Rot. de Oblat. et Fin. (Rec. Com.), 63. " Cirt. Antiq. R. A. 7. " Rymer, Focd. i, 225. '^ Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 51. followers." Both Gervase and Simon, with Robert de St. Germain,** were deprived of their benefices by the legate Gualo,** who, in the next year, signified to the bibhop and the dean and chapter that he had appointed Henry of Cornhill to the office of chancellor, vacated by the deposition of Gervase of Hobrugge for con- tumacy and contempt." In detestation of the masses of the excommunicated the altars in London on which they had celebrated were destroyed.** In the reign of Henry III the clergy of St. Paul's took part in that movement of the church towards independence which identified itself with the struggle for political liberty. Ranulf le Breton, canon and treasurer of St. Paul's, had been a familiar friend of the king. He in- curred the royal displeasure ; a messenger was sent to accuse him of treason, and an obedient mayor placed him in the Tower. The chapter would not brook such infringement of the rights of one of its members. In the absence of the bishop. Dean Geoffrey de Lucy ' incontinently ' pronounced sentence of excommunication on all who had been concerned in the imprisonment, and placed the cathedral under an interdict. When, in spite of admonitions, the king re- mained obdurate, the bishop was about to extend the interdict to the whole city, and was supported by the legate, the archbishop, and many other prelates. Such extreme measures were not necessary. Henry commanded Ranulf to be set free, but stipulated that he should be kept in readiness to come forward whenever an accusa- tion should be made against him. The canons refused for him such conditional liberty, and demanded his absolute restoration to the church as its child ; and the king gave way.*^ Two years later the chapter elected Fulk Bassett, dean of York, to the see of London, in spite of the king's efforts to procure the choice of Peter d' Aigueblanche, bishop of Hereford. For three years Fulk awaited his consecration ; in 1244 he was installed and the chapter had secured another victory. '" The politics of St. Paul's were not only local. The dean and chapter addressed to Clement II, in 1307, a eulogy of Bishop Grosteste, and a request that his name might be enrolled in the hagiology of the church." In 1269 Henry III granted to them a charter, confirming divers liberties and quit- tances of which their enjoyment had lately been hindered by the war and tumult in the " M.itt Paris, Hist. (Rolls Ser.), ii, 655. " The wording of the appeal makes it possible that Robert de St. Germain was not a canon. '* Ann. Mon. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 51. " Ibid. " Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. ix, pt. i, 22. '' Matt. Paris, Ciron. MaJ. (Rolls Ser.), iii, 547. '" Ibid, iv, 1 7 1 . " Lambeth MSS. 5 80, fol. 45 ^. '' Cart. Antiq. A 26. 411
 * ■'■ Materials for Hist, of Thos. Becket (Rolls Ser.),