A.D. 1170. POPE ALEXANDER'S LETTER TO THE PRELATES. 327 John, his youngest son, who was as yet an infant, he gave the earldom of Mortaigne. A considerable time after this, king Henry, the father, on recovering from his illness, went on a pilgrimage to Saint Mary of Eoquemadour. In the meantime, the blessed Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, now passing his sixth year in exile, made complaint to Alexander, the Supreme Pontiff, against Roger, the archbishop of York, and the above-named four bishops who had assisted him at the coronation of the new king, in the province of Canterbury ; whereupon, at his instance, the Supreme Pontiff excommunicated the bishops of London, Rochester, and Salisbury, and the archbishop of York, and suspended Hugh, the bishop of Durham, from all his episcopal duties. For whieh purpose he wrote to them to the following effect :— The Letter of pope Alexander to Roger, archbishop of York, and LTuffh, bishop of Durham. "Alexander, the bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his venerable brethren, Roger, archbishop of York, and Hugh, bishop of Durham, health and the Apostolical benediction. , Although you have shown yourselves praiseworthy and pleasing unto us in many respeets, and we do sincerely embrace you in the arms of Christian love ; still, for all this, we ought not to omit that those things whieh have been done by you, and which, remain uncorrected, beget death, and to remind you, and correct you in our zeal for what is right, as the Lord says by His prophet," ' When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die ; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest "to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life ; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, and his blood will I require at thine hand.' For the persecution of the ïnglish Church, and the diminution of her liberties which have taken place through the conduct of your king, whether of his own accord, or whether rather at the suggestion of others, have for this long time past greatly afflicted our mind, and caused us no smaR grief and anxiety. For whereas it was his duty to have thought of correcting those things which have been wrongfully done by his predecessors, rather adding prevarications to prevarications, he has both placed and established customs thus evil under the protection of the royal dignity. Under these, both 5 2 Ezekiel iii. 18.