A .D. 1201. LETTER OF POPE INNOCENT. 533 part therefrom, Hugh •would not let him depart ; indeed, he had taken him for the purpose of delivering him up to the king of England, who had long wished to take him. However, the men of the said John did not cease night and day to ravage with fire, sword, and famine the lands of the said Walter and Hugh de Lacy, until they had delivered their lord, John de Courcy, from the custody of the said Hugh de Lacy. In the same year, John, king of England, wishing to challenge the barons of Poitou with treachery to himself and to his brother, hired many men, and took with him persons well skilled in the art of fighting in single combat, and chosen from his territories on both sides of the sea. But the barons of Poitou, being warned thereof, would not come to his court ; saying that they were answerable to no one but to their father.91 And thus, the king of England, being baulked of his hopes, returned to Normandy, and the men of Poitou from this time became stBl more hostile to him. Por the purpose of quelling their violence, the king of England appointed Bobert de Turnham his deputy. In the same year, Master Honorius claimed the archdeaconry of Richmond against Roger of Saint Edmund's, and obtained a letter from our lord the pope Innocent upon the subject, to the foBowing effect :— The Letter of pope Innocent to the dean and chapter of York, in favour of Master Honorius. "Innocent, the bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his dearly beloved sons, the dean and chapter of York, health and the Apostolic benediction. Our dearly beloved son, Master Honorius, the archdeacon of Richmond, has signified unto us, that whereas he has on many occasions shown obedience *and ready duteousness to our venerable brother the archbishop of York, the archbishop, returning him bad for good, and repaying love with hatred, has in many ways molested him, contrary to the dignities and liberties of his archidiaconal office ; and that, at length, in order to injure him still further, and to aggravate him still more, he has raised his adversary, Boger of Saint Edmund's, a clerk, with whom the said Master Honorius had made a compromise, to the said office ; who, on the pretext of letters obtained to our dearly beloved sons, the abbats of Saint Edmund's and Sibbeton, and the prior of Norwich, by a concealment of truth, is in many ways molesting him. Wherefore, 9 1 Perhaps this means the pope.