Third Work, Lesser Work, and Compendium of Philosophy

and his barons, Pope Urban IV. despatched Guy le Gros, or de Foulques, then cardinal and bishop of Sabina, on a mission of peace to this country. According to

"...while staying in overseas parts, behold,
he who was expected to arrive to restore
the former state and tranquility,
by changing the hope of peace
into despair, interdicted those
carrying wine, grain, and such
victuals necessary for human life
into the kingdom of England,
forbidding under pain of
excommunication that anyone should
bring wine, grain, and other
merchandise into the aforesaid
kingdom. He furthermore
peremptorily cited certain bishops
to appear before him outside
the kingdom, having appointed for
them a day [and] place upon
their obedience. He thundered
a sentence of excommunication
against the Earl of Leicester and
his sons, Hugh Despenser, and
all those giving them counsel,
aid, and favor; he placed the
inhabitants of the Cinque Ports
and the city of London under
an ecclesiastical interdict,
sending mandates by his letters
to the bishops of London and
Worcester and all other
suffragans of the Church of
Canterbury, and enjoining the
said [bishops of] Worcester and
London by word of mouth, and
commanding by virtue of
obedience, that they should
avoid the said excommunicated
persons in all things, and
should uphold the said
sentences of excommunication,
and cause them to be
observed in each of
their cities and dioceses.
Furthermore, after taking
counsel, the bishops,
observing that the former
sentence had been inflicted
contrary to justice, appealed
in the manner written
below: 'To all the faithful of
Christ, etc.' This

appeal was recited and
approved at Reading, likewise
after taking counsel with the
whole clergy, and was
strengthened by all their seals.
The Barons also, deservedly
holding the arrival of the
legate in suspicion and
denying him entry, approved
the aforesaid appeal, and
because the business of the
whole community was at
stake, they strengthened
the same with the protection
of their seals. As it is said,
the seals of the abbots,
both exempt and non-exempt,
were affixed, except for the
abbot of St. Albans, who
by no means strengthened
the aforesaid appeals with
his seal out of reverence for
the Apostolic See, which he
did not dare to offend,
nor ought he to have,
although he was importuned
in many ways by many;
and he feared to incur
the loss of both spiritual
as well as temporal goods,
together with the irreconcilable
indignation of the barons
and bishops. Upon Pope
Alexander paying the debt
of all flesh, the said legate,
having suffered a repulse
in the manner aforesaid and
returning, was elected
Supreme Pontiff—namely,
on the feast day of Saint
Agatha the Virgin—and on
the Sunday before Shrovetide
was honorably crowned with
the papal insignia; he later
dispatched Cardinal Ottobuono
as legate of the Apostolic
See to England, of whom
mention will be made below."

The cardinal's own account of his mission will be found in his Epist. xxxiii. cxc. Compare also cxlviii.