A.D. 1245. THE- ROMISH CHURCH IN DIFFICULTIES. meanest among the chief nobles of Ireland, died an exile and a fugitive, in a wretched state, yet without being a proper object of pity. Whom, having been proscribed by Ireland, banished from Scotland, and driven from England, after the shameful* death of his son William de Marais, France received as a beggar, and in that country he terminated his miserable life. And I have set down these facts for my readers at the greater length, that every one may consider what an end treason, and especially the crime of lése majesté are sure to meet with. For the father rashly and unsuccessfully endeavoured to excite sedition against Richard, the earl mareschal in Ireland, and his son William did the same towards the king. The same year, about the time of the feast of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist, the lord the king caused all the persons in the kingdom of England who owed him military service, to be warned by a royal edict to follow him in a body faithfully as they were bound to do, as he was about to mareh on a hostile expedition against Wales ; for the very injurious insolence of the Welsh compelled him to this steps And soon after, when he was about to set out, he very courteously requested the sanction of the citizens of London, who were convened in Saint Paul's, and he also humbly requested the prayers of the clergy. About the same time, the lord the king having adopted wise counsels, as soon as he was informed of the general council which was to be held the next year at Lyons, sent formal ambassadors to the council, namely, earl Roger Bigod, John, the son of Godfrey, William de Cantilupe, and Philip Basset, and Radulph, the son of Nicholas, all knights, and William de Powick, one of the secular clergy, to lay before the pope and the whole council, a statement of the grievances which were every day inflicted on many persons in the kingdom of England by the Roman court, especially in the matter of the tribute which was extorted in time of war, and which was resisted and only refused by Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury. And this was subsequently done. The same year, when the lord the pope, who had come to Lyons, and who had now delayed there a considerable time, complained bitterly to some of the great prelates, and especially to the abbots of Cluny and Citeaux, that the Roman church was in great difficulties, being weighed down with debt. On which account he earnestly demanded pecuniary assistance from them, as from his especial and dearest sons.