the game. Finding the interdict unavailing, he threatened to excommunicate the king in person. John replied as before by opening negociations. Once more Simon de Langton has a safe-conduct to last for three weeks after Easter, and the terms of it directly concern us: 'in coming to London to speak with our venerable fathers the bishops of Winchester and Bath, and with Geoffrey fitz Peter our justiciar, and other our faithful counsellors, on the matter of the church of Canterbury, concerning which the lord pope has made request to us by his letters'. This is attested by the bishops of Winchester and Bath and the justiciar, at London 23 March 1209. Jocelin, then, is one of three whom the king puts forward to represent his case in conference. Nothing came of this, except the postponement of the excommunication for a time.
The king was at Bristol on 10 May, and afterwards spent two days at Bath. On 3 June Jocelin was at Wells, meeting his dean and canons, and making a rearrangement by which the church of Wedmore, which Bishop Robert had assigned to the subdean, was henceforth to belong to the dean, and the church of Wookey previously attached to the deanery was to be the subdean's portion. This ordinance is dated in the chapter of Wells on the 3rd of June in the fourth year of Bishop Jocelin, by his hand and that of Dean Alexander and the chapter.[1]
Meanwhile something else had happened which was to have a serious influence on Bishop Jocelin 's conduct. Five bishoprics were now vacant in England, and the pope wrote to the chapters concerned that, if they did not proceed at once to elect, he would himself appoint and would punish their disobedience.[2] The chapter of Lincoln got the king's permission to elect Jocelin's brother, Hugh of Wells.[3] On 21 June the pope wrote to Stephen the archbishop to examine three at least of the electing canons as to whether the election was canonically regular, and to enquire as to the character of the bishop -elect. He wrote again on 29 July to say that if Hugh cannot purge himself to the pope's satisfaction his election is to be annulled.
In the meantime the king had been again at Wells, on 6 July. Further efforts were being made to bring about a reconciliation, and at the end of August the two brothers were present at a great conference at Dover, where a scheme was drafted which seemed for the moment to have brought the matter to a settlement.[4] The king's excommunication was postponed afresh on 2 Sept. for three
