PREFACE. XV

Innocent III. At this time, more than half the country was under allegiance to Louis of France, and the prospects of the young King Henry, then a mere child of nine years old, were far from promising.

Influence of the Pope in England.

The new Pope, Honorius III., foresaw here a means of establishing the Papal power in England still more firmly. By espousing the cause of Henry in opposition to that of Louis, through the agency of the legate Gualo—who probably did more than all the rest combined to recover the allegiance of the kingdom for Henry—he earned a claim of gratitude from the young king, of which he was not slow to make use.

Nor did these feelings pass away in later years. As long after this as the year 1245, we find Henry expressing the debt of gratitude which he owed to the see of Rome for thus securing his kingdom. In a style more dignified than we should expect from him, he said to Grosseteste, who had been speaking of the obedience and fidelity due to the Pope (Innocent IV.) and the Church of Rome:

Letter of Grosseteste to Pope Innocent IV. cxvii. p. 338.

"My Lord Bishop, what relates to our crown and royalty we determine to preserve uninjured according to our duty; and our hope is that the Pope and the Church will lend us their aid in this. You may be assured that always and in all respects we shall show all obedience, fidelity, and devotion to the Pope as our spiritual father, and the holy Roman Church as our spiritual mother; to them will we firmly adhere, both in prosperity and adversity. On the day when we do not do this, we consent to lose an eye or even our head. God forbid that anything separate us from devotion to our spiritual father and mother. For besides all the reasons which affect us in common with other Christian princes, we are above all others bound to the Church by an especial reason; for just after our father's death, while still of tender age, our kingdom being not only