| Description | From: Edward II, king of England
To: his justices itinerant in Kent
Henry [II] granted Dover Priory to Canterbury Cathedral and Theobald, archbishop of Canterbury, and ordered that the rule of St Benedict, instituted by the authority of Pope Innocent II and Theobald, should be followed there and that the house should be regulated by the archbishop alone. The king has heard that the prior of Canterbury Cathedral Priory, as guardian of spiritualities of the archbishopric sede vacante, and Mgr Hugh de Forsham, his commissary, have unjustly compelled the prior of Dover to submit to many burdens, The king forbids the prior of Canterbury and his commissary to molest or oppress the prior of Dover contrary to Henry II's charter. The sheriff of Kent, acting on the king's writ, attached the prior of Canterbury and Hugh to appear before the king to answer why they denounced the prior, subprior, sacrist, cellarer, precentor and other monks of Dover as excommunicate for refusing to obey the prior of Canterbury. This writ was sent from the court by stealth, however, and is not valid because the king does not have cognisance of obedience and other spiritual matters. The king therefore commands the addressees not to act against the prior of Canterbury and Hugh on the authority of this writ.
Given at Westminster [Middlesex]. |