VI.
BISHOP JOCELIN AND THE INTERDICT
The passing of the twelfth century into the thirteenth is a moment of great interest in English history, alike in the Church and in the State. The strong hand of a great king had been withdrawn from the helm of the nation; his successor had spent his whole time and force on enterprises of enthusiasm outside England: and when Richard of the Lion's heart was gone, his brother John lost Normandy for ever and was shut up to misgovern England. Henry the Second had waged war on the exaggerated ecclesiastical claim represented by Thomas Becket: he had lost the battle by a misadventure which made his antagonist a martyred saint; yet for all that he attained his ends, and held Church and State in reasonable harmony. But he died in misery and disappointment. His son Henry had been crowned king in his father's lifetime—a dangerous experiment intended to secure the succession. He had proved gravely disloyal, and with his brothers Richard and John had embittered his father's latter years. Then he himself was cut off by an early death in 1183. So it was that in 1189 the kingdom fell to Richard, who at once made vast preparations for the Crusade, which was to bring to him glory and dishonour, treacherous imprisonment in a foreign land and treacherous disloyalty at home.
These were the events of Bishop Jocelin's youth. He was a boy at Wells when Thomas was murdered at Canterbury. His father, Edward of Wells, is known to us only from a few charters.[1] We gather from them that he purchased lands at Wells and at Lancherley a neighbouring village; and that he had two sons, Hugh and Jocelin. He attests one charter as Edward Troteman. Jocelin himself is once called Jocelin Trotman, but usually Jocelin of Wells, as Hugh is called Hugh of Wells. A charter in the archives of the city of Wells is of interest because it is attested by the father and both his sons. This is Bishop Reginald's confirmation of the municipal privileges granted by Bishop Robert before him. 'Hugh the clerk' attests, and afterwards Edward of Wells, and then presently Jocelin of Wells. This suggests that Hugh's father and brother attest as laymen, while Hugh has precedence, as the custom was, on the ground
- ↑ See Appendix D.
