King
John’s relations with the church fluctuated due to his attempts to establish
some kind of control in the church similar to his father Henry II and it could
be said he was far from successful due to his relationship with the Pope in the
earlier years and issues relating to Norman churches. However, it could be
argued that John was quite successful in his relations with the church because
of the amount of support he received and the implications of his submission in
1213.
John’s
relationship with the church in the earlier years of his reign could be viewed
to be successful as he managed to secure 8 supporters by 1207, 5 of which were
royal clerks including Joselin, Bishop of Bath, Simon Sutwell, Bishop of
Chichester and Giles de Braose, Bishop of Hereford. This meant that he had no
trouble in imposing his will upon episcopal elections and thus reinforces that
his relationship with the church was good, however, it could be argued that he
had issues when attempting to appoint his candidates to positions of power
within the church – challenging the idea of whether or not John was successful
in his relations with the church. A key incident is seen where the cathedral
chapter of Lincoln and Pope Innocent III refused to support John’s appointee,
Peter des Roches to become Bishop of Winchester. As a result of this, John kept
the seat vacant until 1203 but even then, William of Blois was appointed
against his wishes, whom Innocent III also rejected. It wasn’t until 1205 in
the third election where Innocent III decided to pick Peter des Roches, John’s
candidate and this indicated that John had better luck but didn’t necessarily
prove that his relations with the church were successful in the earlier years.
Whilst it is true that John was successful in his relations with the church to
some degree, matters regarding the Norman churches had challenged this. This
was due to Philip II’s interference as he promised greater freedoms to Norman
bishops and as a result of this, Norman churches had started to grow
independent. This is evident in Lisieux, where the cathedral chapter sought to
elect its own candidate without royal approve and also in Sées, where John’s
nominee for Bishopric was rejected by the canons of Sées, electing Silvester
instead. John under papal pressure and the threat of an interdict against
Normandy had no choice but to allow the election. It is debatable whether or
not John was successful in his earlier years of his reign because although he
managed to secure the support of 5 royal clerks, he had lacked influence over
Norman churches and appointments and therefore purports that his relations with
the church weren’t so successful and that it was purely luck that on one
occasion the Pope sided with his choice of candidate.
After
Hubert Walter’s death, John saw an opportunity to assert greater control over
both English Churches and government by appointing one of his loyal followers,
John de Gray as Archbishop of Canterbury – but the outcomes of this had shown
that John’s relations with the church were far less successful as he had gotten
into a dispute with the Papacy. The monks of Canterbury, aware of King John’s
desire to gain power over the churches as seen in Sées, had secretly elected
their own candidate Reginald and sent him to Rome to seek papal blessing. The Pope
had quashed both candidates and put forward Stephen Langton and in December
1206, Innocent III sought John’s assent but knowing John’s arrogance, he had no
intention of accepting someone close to the Pope as one of his chief
counsellors and head of the English church and someone who was possibly
associated with Philip II. John’s relations with the Church continued to
deteriorate as by May 1207, Innocent III made it clear that he intended to
consecrate Stephen without royal assent and proceeded to do so in June and
threatened to impose an interdict on England if John refused Stephen Langton.
Failing to do so, papal commissioners pronounced the interdict on England in
March 1208, demonstrating the bad relations with the church. However, it could
be argued that despite having an interdict on England, John was able to assert
some authority over the English church as he seized the property of priests,
reasoning that the English church’s land had ultimately come from the English
Crown in return for spiritual support. He had also seized the mistresses of the
clergy and was held for ransom which placed the clergy in a difficult position
as they were forbidden by Canon law to have mistresses and celibacy was
required of them by the papacy itself. Having rejecting the Pope’s orders and
getting an interdict imposed upon England demonstrates that John’s relations
with the church was far from successful as his candidate was quashed, the monks
of Canterbury had elected their own candidate without John’s approval and the
fact that his relations with Pope Innocent III was worsening, the more John
refused to recognise Langton.
The
excommunication that followed after the interdict on England in 1208 further
corroborated the fact that John’s relationship with the church was a failure
rather than a success as a king who was excommunicated raised many issues such
as whether or not bishops felt the need to remain in his service and because of
this, he became very unpopular amongst the bishops went into foreign exile.
Although bishops of Bath, Lincoln, Rochester and Salisbury joined those of
London, Ely and Worcester in exile, it had benefited John severely as he had
generated enormous sums of finance from the vacant bishoprics. It would be
wrong to state that John had lost complete support after the interdict and
excommunication as John still had support from Peter des Roches and John de
Gray who rejected papal pressure, which demonstrates that John’s relationship
with the church wasn’t entirely bad as he had loyal bishops who stood beside
him. Later in February 1213, Innocent III proposed his terms again and also
declared that John take back the rebel bishops who fled into exile. It wasn’t until
May that John decided to repair his relationship with the Pope and the church
and agreed to all of the Pope’s terms and surrendered England and Ireland,
receiving them back as apostolic fiefs. To some extent, it could be said that
the build-up of both the interdict on England and John’s excommunication
purported that his relations with the church could be seen as a failure,
however it could be viewed that John strategically decided to reconcile with
the Pope to prevent England from being invaded by Philip II and thus John was
starting to repair his relationship with the church.
The
implications of John’s submission could be seen as a humiliation for a king as
the domains of England and Ireland became papal fiefs and Innocent III was
John’s overlord, this meant that John was required to pay annual payments of
1,000 marks but he also had to pardon both Robert FitzWalter and Eustace de
Vesu who attempted assassination on him and his heir in 1212. However, it was
more of a political masterstroke because it had effectively given John what he
wanted with regard to the English church and more, indicating that his
relationship with the church had improved and by 1213, was more successful. A
reason to why John’s relations with the church was successful was the idea that
Innocent III became a protector of England and John and this prevented Philip
II from potentially invading England with the hopes of reforming the English
church. Not only that but Innocent III had also supported John by quashing the
Magna Carta in 1215 and excommunicated those who remained opposed to John,
which proves that by surrendering to the Pope, John’s relationship with the
church improved and was successful. By surrendering, John had also effectively
marginalised the Archbishop of Canterbury by developing excellent relationships
with papal legates including Nicholas of Tusculum, Pandulph and Guala who also
supported John on every issue and also had vacant sees filled with his loyal
supporters. To prove that John’s relationship was successful by 1213, a key
incident where Langton had gained possession of papal letters authorising
extreme measures against John should he break the agreements made in May 1213
but Innocent III, happy with John’s submission he ordered the papal legate to
destroy them. For John to submit to the papacy, it had proved to be an
effective way to reconcile with the Pope as well as to develop strong relations
with members of the church as John gained enormous amounts of support from
papal legates and the Pope himself and had loyal supporters in positions of
power within the church, showing that John was successful in his relations with
church.
To
conclude, John wasn’t entirely successful in his relations with the church as
in the earlier years Norman churches were beyond John’s control as they were
starting to be independent due to Philip II’s promises of greater freedoms, but
also the fact that John lost a lot of support from both barons and bishops due
to becoming excommunicated. However, despite the interdict and excommunication,
John still had the support of some bishops like John de Gray and Peter des
Roches and by submitting to the Papacy, John had reconciled with the church and
relations with the church gradually become more successful as he had both the
protection and support of Pope Innocent III as seen in 1215 where he quashed
the Magna Carta and excommunicated those who opposed John. Therefore, John’s
relations with the church was to some extent successful in the earlier years,
although it deteriorated during the dispute with the papacy but relations
became more successful once John had submitted to the Papacy and reconciled
with the Pope, developing good relations with the church.
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