was written to which reference has been made above. A trusty messenger of the archbishop is reporting his visits, first to the French king and then to the pope. As to the latter he says that on hearing the news of the council at Westminster the papal court was filled with admiration at a courage which was in strange contrast to their own timidity. They were in no position to quarrel with any prince, least of all with the English king. Two special causes of their dismay are mentioned by the writer of the letter—viz. the capture by the imperialists in Tuscany of the brother and nephews of the pope, and the long delay of John Cumin at the emperor's court.[1] We gather from this that although Henry had recognised Alexander the Third, he felt it desirable to keep in touch with the emperor, and was at least open to the suspicion of playing a double part. Frederic was then at the height of his triumph in North Italy, and was holding his court together with the antipope Victor at Lodi.[2] We may be certain that the envoy to whom Henry had entrusted a mission of such delicacy was a man of whose capacity and fidelity he had reason to feel sure.
The exact nature of John Cumin's business at the imperial court is not recorded, nor do we know the length of his stay.[3] But it is of some importance for our estimate of his subsequent history that we should follow the course of the papal schism. The antipope Victor died in April 1164. The emperor's more prudent counsellors advised him to take the opportunity which providence thus offered him of reconsidering his position. But the hasty action of Reginald, the militant archbishop-elect of Cologne, brought about the immediate election of Guido de Crema, who assumed the style of Paschal the Third. The emperor held his hand for a time, and the archbishop of Cologne and other envoys were sent to K. Henry in April 1165, to negotiate a marriage between the princess Matilda and Henry duke of Saxony. When they returned the king despatched Richard of Ilchester, archdeacon of Poitiers, and John of Oxford as ambassadors to the emperor to carry forward the negotiations. At Whitsuntide the emperor held a solemn court at Wurzburg to consider the question of the papacy. There was great uncertainty as to who should now be recognised: most of the bishops were inclined to the side of Alexander the Third. Then the archbishop of Cologne intervened. He told the emperor that all that he had done against Alexander would be thrown away unless he should now follow his counsel. He had the effrontery to declare that he had won over fifty English bishops and more to accept Paschal as pope, if the emperor should recognise him: moreover, he said, the two English envoys would swear in the name of their king that he also would abide by the emperor's decision.
Thereupon Frederic agreed to recognise Paschal, and called on the bishops to take an oath with him to that effect. But the bishops refused, saying that they "would sooner resign their 'regalia'. Upon being further pressed they agreed that if the archbishop of Cologne would take the oath first, and would also swear to receive ordination and consecration from Paschal,
- ↑ Materials for Hist. of Becket (Rolls Series), v. 59 'Quod Iohannes Cumin tam diu apud imperatorem moratur.'
- ↑ Testa, War of Frederick I in Lombardy, pp. 300 f.
- ↑ He attests a royal charter at Brewood (Staffs.) c. September 1165, according to the very probable date assigned by Eyton, Itinerary, p. 83.
