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in the matter of violation of sanctuary, he now pleaded softly, begging the king to listen to and satisfy, if he could, the just demands of his barons. |
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Others were less moderate and less clear on the fact that a violation of sanctuary was Church business, whereas the king's relationship with his barons was not. They pointed out that the custom of the land had been violated, that those the king had outlawed and deprived of their property had never been tried by their peers. This brought a sneering Winchester to his feet. There were no peers in England, he said. They were all small men and not like the great, independent nobles of France. Therefore, the king of England had a right to banish or otherwise punish any person through the justiciaries he appointed. |
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This offended everyone so much that the bishops began to threaten to excommunicate all those who gave the king such evil advice. To speak the truth, Henry was himself offended. He liked the notion of being all-powerful, but he did not like the denigration of his men with respect to those of his old enemy of France. In fact, Henry was so annoyed that Winchester's snobbery might have won the barons' case for them had not the news that Pembroke had taken back Usk arrived that very evening. |
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The king was nearly hysterical. What he had not been able to do with a full army and siege train, Richard had accomplished in a few days with a third of the men. Henry's pride was lacerated. He would hear nothing further on the rights or wrongs of the question and stormed into the hall on the next day, demanding furiously that the bishops excommunicate Richard Marshal for his crime. None was willing, and their spokesman was Roger of London. |
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In the thin voice that pierced like a knife and was as impervious as steel, Roger ripped away Henry's pretensions. There was no sin, he said, in a man's taking back what was his own, what he had been deprived of |
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