How the blessed Thomas was suspected by the bishops. The same year, the suffragan bishops of the church of Canterbury, having heard that St. Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, had excommunicated the supporters and defenders of the bad customs of England, under which general name were included both themselves and the king, and fearing lest he should repeat the sentence against each by name, had recourse to an appeal, though contrary to the usual forms of justice. To their venerable father and lord, Thomas, archbùhop of Canterbury, the suffragan bishops of the same church, and other persons living in the dioceses of the same, due subjection and obedience! W e have been informed by certain persons, and we are troubled whilst we recall it to our memory, that you have sent a threat to our lord the king, omitting the usual form of salutation in your letter, but both in thought and expression savouring of anything rather than friendship, you hold out to him the terrors of an interdict, and propose to pass a severe sentence which shall cut him off from the church. Now, if this sentence should be pronounced as harshly as it is threatened, we can no longer expect that the present disturbances will be appeased, but rather that they will burst forth into the flames of a lasting discord. It is a settled feeling on the minds of some of us, that our lord the king once showed great favour to you, loved you with his whole soul, and so completely put everything under your power, that those only passed for fortunate men in the opinion of the world, whom you looked upon with favour : and, when he wished to strengthen you against the fickleness of worldly fortune, he endeavoured to place you firmly in God's church, hoping that he might for the future reign happily and securely, having the benefit of your good advice. Wherefore, that you may not endeavour to stretch forth your hand upon our lord the king, and his kingdom, upon us also and the churches and dioceses committed to our charge, we have had recourse to an appeal, in the face of the church, against the wrongs which we feared, and we now renew the appeal to the pope by letter, naming as the term of our appeal the day of our Lord's ascension.