Dover, and all his company. The archbishop soon came back, and changing the site of his new church began to dig its foundations about half a mile nearer to Canterbury on 18 February. A fearful hailstorm marked the day.
Then the archbishop despatched Peter of Blois and other envoys[1] to the papal court. Peter on his way through France obtained letters in the archbishop's favour from certain persons of note: he was also the bearer of letters from some of the English bishops. Meantime the prior Honorius had reached Verona, where he was received with much favour. The pope at once wrote to command the archbishop to cancel his sentences of suspension and to annul all action that he had taken since the appeal had been announced to him. His only reply was to build a chapel of wood and form a fraternity to gather funds for the new church throughout England. In May the pope wrote again, and then sent two further letters, one commanding him to stop building, the other warning prelates that the fraternity must be quashed. But the archbishop was undeterred, and the only result was, as Gervase says, that the chapel of wood began to turn into a church of stone.
During all these months the pope got no word at all from the archbishop. It became known that his envoys would not enter Verona while Honorius was there. So the prior by the pope's advice withdrew to France, and Master Pillius was left as the convent's advocate. Then the envoys came; but still they refused to approach the pope unless they could be heard by themselves. Their position was indeed a difficult one; for since their departure from England the archbishop had persistently disregarded the pope's commands, and the case could no longer be considered on its merits alone. Doubtless the pleas which they would chiefly urge were other than ecclesiastical arguments. The king was behind them, and at that moment he was seeking peace with France; while the papacy was once more being harried by the emperor. So the pope heard them alone: the letters of the archbishop and the king were read; the bishops' letters, so Gervase had heard, were thrown out of the window. Presently Master Pillius was called in, and a controvessy ensued between him and Peter. Then the pope asked whether the archbishop designed to move his throne and to translate the body of the martyr to the new church dedicated to St Stephen and St Thomas. To this Peter replied that he intended neither, and that the project of building this church was not a new one, but had
- ↑ One of these was William of St Faith, precentor of Wells (Epp. Cantuar. f p. 107).
