A.D. 1170. POPE ALEXANDER'S LETTER TO THE PRELATES. 329 the above-named archbishop, nor allow any portion to be •withdrawn, of those unrighteous statutes, but will rather afflict the church of Canterbury with the entire loss of its possessions, and by these means despoil it of its ancient dignity in the ecclesiastical office. Por lately, when he wished his son to be crowned, despising the said archbishop, to whom that duty is said of ancient right to belong, by your hand, brother archbishop, he caused the crown of the kingdom to be placed on his head in the province of another. Besides, at his coronation, no surety was given, according to usual custom, for preserving the liberties of the Church, or indeed, according to report, even demanded ; but on the contrary, it is said to have been confirmed upon oath, that it is the duty of all to keep inviolate the customs of the kingdom, which they say were established by his grandfather, and by reason of which the dignity of the Church is endangered. Although in acting thus, the obstinacy of the above-named king greatly vexes us, yet we are still more moved by the weakness of yourselves and of our other fellow-bishops, who, and with grief we say it, have become as it were rams having no horns, and have fled without courage from before the face of their pursuer. Por although, brother archbishop, it might possibly have been allowable for you to act thus in your own province, still, how it was allowable for you in the province of another, and of him in especial, who was almost the only one to go forth in exile for justice and thereby to give glory to God, we are unable to discover either upon the grounds of common sense, or according to the constitutions of the holy fathers. But should any one, by way of excuse for so great a betrayal, make it an objection that in other kingdoms many and grave enormities are perpetrated, in truth we can make answer, that we find no Kingdom that as yet has rushed into so great a contempt of the Divine laws, as to cause enormities so manifest to be promulgated by the writings and oaths of bishops, unless, indeed, any one should have the impudence to bring that forward, of which the schismatics who have been lately cut off from communion with the faithful, have with damnable and unheard-of pride been guilty. "Wherefore, inasmuch as, according to the words of the prophet, the evil has been done among you, to an extent beyond all other provinces in his usurpations, and after having confirmed these unrighteous eus