versai church, his devout sons John, earl of Warrenne, Thomas, earl of Lancaster, Radulph of Monthermer, earl of Gloucester and Hereford, Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hertford and Essex and constable of England, Roger Bigot, earl of Norfolk and marshal of England, Guy, earl of Warwick, &c , sending devout kisses of his blessed feet, &c. : " The holy Roman mother church is the church by whose ministry the Catholic faith, as we firmly believe and hold, proceeds with such steadiness in its actions that it injures no one, but wishes to protect the rights of all persons uninjured. A general parliament having been lately convoked by our most serene lord Edward, by the grace of God, the illustrious king of England, to meet at Lincoln, the said lord Edward, our king, caused to be produced, and carefully explained to us, some letters from the Apostolic See, which we on our part had received touching certain matters which relate to the condition and state of the kingdom. And when these letters had been heard and carefully understood, we perceived that some things surprising to our senses and hitherto unprecedented were contained in them. For we know, Ο most holy father, and it is notorious in these parts, and not unknown to other persons also, that from the first establishment of the kingdom of England, the kings of that kingdom, both in the times of the Britons and of the Angles, have been possessed of the direct superior authority and dominion over the kingdom of Scotland, and have in successive ages had a right to the regulation of Scotland itself; nor does that kingdom, as to its temporalities, belong, nor has it at any time belonged, by any kind of right to your church before mentioned. Moreover, the aforesaid kingdom of Scotland has from ancient times been in feudal subjection to the progenitors of our aforesaid king, the kings of England, and to himself, nor have the kings or kingdom of Scotland ever been subordinate or accustomed to be subject to any other sovereigns than the kings of England. Nor have the kings of England ever answered, nor have they been bound to answer, respecting their rights over the aforesaid kingdom, or any other of their temporalities, before any judge ecclesiastical or secular, according to the pre-eminence of the state of their royal dignity and custom inviolably observed in all ages. " On which account, having carefully considered and deliberated on the contents of your aforesaid letters, the general