Biography of John Capet II Duke Brittany 1239-1305

Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough. In the same year Pope Benedict XI died, in the month of July [7th July 1304]. The papal see was vacant for some time because of dissension among the cardinals, for there were eighteen of them, and they divided their votes equally. At length, after a long period of confinement in the conclave, they elected as pope, in the following year [1305], the Archbishop of Bordeaux,¹ who received the papal crown at Lyons that same year, on the Sunday next after the feast of Saint Martin, many of his cardinals being present there for that occasion. But on that very day, when he was being led on horseback to the church of Saint Martin after being crowned, a stone wall beside the road, upon which many had climbed to see him, collapsed, crushing many beneath it. Among the dead was the Count of Brittany (age 65)²; Charles³, the king of France's brother, was injured. The pope remained in Bordeaux for a long time and created there nearly eighteen new cardinals, because some of the older cardinals had returned to Rome; he continually excused himself, saying he could not come. When Roman nobles sent envoys to him and then sent them again, the pope always gave the same excuse for not coming; and because he refused to go to his own see, they judged him unworthy to enjoy the patrimony of Peter. Nevertheless, he lived off money extorted from bishops confirmed at the curia. For example, from William, Archbishop of York, confirmed there, besides the great expenses he had freely made, he took within the first year nine thousand five hundred marks of silver. And the archbishop, returning so impoverished, within that same first year received from his religious subjects and rectors, first under the name of a "gift for goodwill and favour," and second under the name of a "loan", an immense sum of money. The pope also sent his envoy, named Testa, into England with papal bulls reserving to himself the "primi fructus⁴" [first fruit] of all churches falling vacant at any time and in any manner within the kingdoms of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and likewise the first year's income of all abbeys and priories vacant in the same period. Because of this, the lord king, together with his magnates in his parliament at Carlisle, opposed him, saying that it was not reasonable that from monasteries founded by his own ancestors or by the magnates of the land in honour of God's service, and for the maintenance of certain alms and hospitality, the pope should thus exact the primi fructus, thereby letting the worship of God and the work of hospitality perish. And so the pope changed his plan as regarded abbeys; but having granted to the king from the English churches a two-year tithe, he still obtained the primi fructus of churches, as said above.

Eodem anno obiit papa Benedictus XI mense Julii, vacavitque sedes propter dissensionem cardinalium, erant enim octodecim, et æqualiter diviserunt vota sua; tandem vero post longam carceris inclusionem, elegerunt in papam in anno Clement V scquenti archiepiscopum Burdegalensem, qui diadema suscepit apud Lugdunum in eodem anno, scilicet MCCCV, die Dominica proxima post festum Sancti Martini, præsentibus multis cardinalibus Sunday, suis, qui ob eandem causam ibidem venerant. Eodem autem die, cum ad ecclesiam beati Martini Fatal accisic diadematus in equo duceretur, corruit quidam coronation. murus lapideus a latere viæ, super quem multi ascenderant ut viderent eum, et oppressit multos, inter quos mortuus est comes Britanniæ, et Carolus frater regis Franciæ læsus est. Mansitque papa Burdegalis longo tempore, et creavit ibi novos cardinales quasi XVIII, pro eo quod quidam ex antiquis cardinalibus reversi fuerant Romam, ipso se semper excusante quod venire non poterat. Missisque a Romanis principibus He removes nunciis et remissis, semper excusavit se papa de the pontifi non veniendo. Et quia ad propriam sedem venire Rome. contempsit, censuerunt eum indignum Petri patrimonio frui; vixitque sic de pecunia extorta a confirmatis episcopis in curia. Quoniam ab archiepiscopo Eborum Willelmo, ibidem confirmato, præter expensas quas ibi largissime fecerat, infra primum suum annum habuit novies mille marcas argenti et quingentas, et ipse sic pauper reversus, infra eundem annum primum habuit a subditis suis religiosis et rectoribus, primo nomine curialitatis et gratiæ, et secundo nomine mutui, immensam pecuniæ summam. Misitque papa nuncium suum in Angliam nomine Testa cum bullis suis, in quibus reservavit sibi primos fructus primi anni omnium ecclesiarum vacantium quocunque tempore vel modo infra regna Angliæ, Scotia, Walliæ et Hiberniæ, et fructus similiter omnium abbatiarum et prioratuum vacantium eodem tempore: propter quod opposuit se dominus rex cum magnatibus suis in parliamento suo apud Carliolum, dicens, non esse rationi consonum, quod a monasteriis, a prædecessoribus suis vel a magnatibus terræ fundatis in honore servitii Dei, certæ eleemosinæ et hospitalitatis sustinendæ, papa sic primos fructus exigeret, et cultus Dei et hospitalitas deperirent. Et sic mutavit papa propositum quantum ad abbatias; sed concessa domino regi ab ecclesiis Anglicanis decima biennali, obtinuit primos fructus ecclesiarum, ut prædictum est.

Note 1. Clement V. (Bertrand de Goth, Archbishop of Bordeaux) was elected Pope by the influence of Philip le Bel, at Pérouse, on Tuesday, June 15, 1305, and crowned at Lyons on Sunday, November the 14th following.

Note 2. Jean Capet, Duke of Brittany, 1239-1305.

Note 3. [his grandson-in-law] Charles, Duke of Valois, 1270-1325 (age 34).

Note 4. These first-fruits continued to form part of the papal revenue until the time of Henry VIII.