[D9, EE, EVENT] A Deputation of Canons

[Cearnach]

This is a Roleplay Event for Scholar characters. What happens, happens.

Conspicuous in their habits, a troop of canons from Canterbury has been seen making their way into Westminster Abbey. Rumors swirling around camp say that they carry a sacred relic of St. Thomas a Becket, or perhaps that they are here to deliver word from a Papal Legate on Prince John's marriage. Everyone agrees, however, that they are here to see the Abbot.

And sure enough, a black-robed monk has come to your tent bearing a message asking you to follow suit and see Abbot Walter. This ought to be interesting.

[Giles de Braose]

Interesting and inconvenient. Giles had been about to head to the Abbey anyway to continue his self imposed commitment to the week long displaty of patience and determination.

Hopeful, although doubting, that the matter would be resolved swiftly, Giles de Braose headed to the Abbot's Office to see what was required. He brought his blank wax tablet to take whatever notes and recordings may be necessary as he followed the monk.

"Who else id the Abbott gathering?" He asked the monk as they walked. "If I knew the invitees, I may be able to better divine the purpose of my summons."

[Andre l'Ecrivain]

For his own part, Andre brings his jiggling bulk--and, yes, his own wax tablets--along with the summons, and he nods to Giles when he sees him.

"De Braose, my friend!" he says. "Always a pleasure!"

[Giles de Braose]

For his own part, Andre brings his jiggling bulk--and, yes, his own wax tablets--along with the summons, and he nods to Giles when he sees him.

"De Braose, my friend!" he says. "Always a pleasure!"

"A Pleasure indeed Scriptor, if one that has taken me unawares." Giles confides in Andre. "I have heard rumors of visitors from Canterbury, but do you have any idea what is going on?"

[Andre l'Ecrivain]

"A Pleasure indeed Scriptor, if one that has taken me unawares." Giles confides in Andre. "I have heard rumors of visitors from Canterbury, but do you have any idea what is going on?"

"I con--admit, my friend, that I do not," Andre replies. "In truth, I feel I've been in a haze these past several days, as if I've not been fully present in the now." He shrugs, flabby chest quivering under his robes. "Too much time spent at second tables and lesser hearths, I think, and now in the very seat of power. Not that I'd fit into it!" He laughs.

[Giles de Braose]

"I con--admit, my friend, that I do not," Andre replies. "In truth, I feel I've been in a haze these past several days, as if I've not been fully present in the now." He shrugs, flabby chest quivering under his robes. "Too much time spent at second tables and lesser hearths, I think, and now in the very seat of power. Not that I'd fit into it!" He laughs.

The rotund Andre and the wiry Giles made a curious pair as they wandered towards the Abbey together. "My mother will be pleased to hear I've gotten out of the Priory for a little fresh air at least. Even moreso to hear I was here to look after William after his blow in the Melee yesterday. Do you have much family around ?" HE asked shifting to a more shallow conversation. the paranoia of the proximate seat of power had definitely influenced his conversations of late.

[Andre l'Ecrivain]

The rotund Andre and the wiry Giles made a curious pair as they wandered towards the Abbey together. "My mother will be pleased to hear I've gotten out of the Priory for a little fresh air at least. Even moreso to hear I was here to look after William after his blow in the Melee yesterday. Do you have much family around ?" HE asked shifting to a more shallow conversation. the paranoia of the proximate seat of power had definitely influenced his conversations of late.

"Alas, no," Andre replies. "Father is attending to his holdings, which even now must be secured against brigands and the like, and Brother is, ahem, enjoying the company of his new wife. Drusilla is...well, I hope she is well." Andre shrugs flaccidly as he and Giles move ahead. "It's been a while since I heard from her."

[Cearnach]

Interesting and inconvenient. Giles had been about to head to the Abbey anyway to continue his self imposed commitment to the week long displaty of patience and determination.

Hopeful, although doubting, that the matter would be resolved swiftly, Giles de Braose headed to the Abbot's Office to see what was required. He brought his blank wax tablet to take whatever notes and recordings may be necessary as he followed the monk.

"Who else id the Abbott gathering?" He asked the monk as they walked. "If I knew the invitees, I may be able to better divine the purpose of my summons."

"Just you, sir, and the legalist from the Marches. He told me it was a matter that needed disinterested eyes."

[Andre l'Ecrivain]

"Curious," Andre remarks.

[Giles de Braose]

"Just you, sir, and the legalist from the Marches. He told me it was a matter that needed disinterested eyes."

"Curious," Andre remarks.

Giles nods in assent. "Very curious, but we are at the Abbott's pleasure, I am sure." Giles replied as the gears of his brain spun furiously.

[Cearnach]

The journey to the Abbot's door takes you through the abbey cloisters and past occasional knots of monks. Your guide knocks twice on the great oak door of the office, and it is opened from within by the Prior, who nods to dismiss your guide and then usher you in.

The office is not large, and quite cramped with the number of people packed in. The Prior stands by the entryway, the Abbot sits behind his desk, looking weary, and five men in black cassocks with white rochets are ensconced in the remaining furniture. It looks like you'll be standing.

The abbot rises to greet you.

"Gentlemen, good evening. I know each of you by reputation, now, and thought that perhaps you might have some ideas to assist our brother canons with their troubles."

"Our troubles, Reverend Father? I hope you will forgive the impertinence, but they will be your troubles soon enough, if they are not already!"

"Calm yourself, Brother Wulfstan," the Prior interjects. "Let us consider this like men, not natter about like frightened geese."

The Abbot silences them both with a wave of his hand, addressing himself to you both, he asks. "I trust that we can rely on your discretion?"

[Andre l'Ecrivain]

"Of course, Reverend Father," Andre replies to the Abbot. And, in Englisc to the Brother who'd spoken earlier "An auspicious name; are you a student of the Last of the Old Fathers?"

[Giles de Braose]

Following Andre's lead, Giles nods his agreement. "My word Father, what's discussed in God's halls, is for his ears alone."

"If something troubles one of us, it troubles us all. With fortune we can all set this problem behind us."

[Cearnach]

"An admirer, really," Wulfstan replies.

Another of the canons begins to enumerate the troubles.

"It comes down to old issues, but they're about to be compounded. You see, the Archbishop of Canterbury is no true successor of Anselm and Becket, and was not elected by the canons, but rather imposed by a King who knew he would be biddable. Now the King has decided to call a council at Pipewell in just a few days. He means to fill all the vacant bishoprics, I would guess with men as servile as Baldwin of Forde."

The Abbot frowns. "And this is well within his prerogative."

Wulfstan frowns. "Not in contravention of the law. It was his father's Simony, true enough, and he ought to correct it. But the canons supply the candidates for his confirmation; he can't just make them up. We fulfilled our end; the sees weren't vacant out of our negligence."

[Andre l'Ecrivain]

"Not alone," Andre replies to Wulfstan, and then "Of course, Reverend Father," to the group. "And the needs of the people must be seen to; the flock needs its shepherds."

[Cearnach]

Wulfstan nods. "Yes, yes, but which ones? Shall we have more theologically suspect men up from Aquitaine without ordinations?"

The Abbot frowns. "That would be tiresome."

[Giles de Braose]

Giles glances back to Andre for a moment as he considers the position the clergy find themselves in, and the possibility of a solution.

"It sounds to me like the Abbot, and his devout men of the cloth, have gone to great lengths to ease the burden our new King Richard will be facing in these nascent days of his reign by preparing a short list of suitable candidates from which bishops acceptable in the eyes of the Church could be selected?"

[Andre l'Ecrivain]

Andre nods in agreement and adds "And such a list would be in line with the precedents laid down by the kings of the past, including the revered father of the Lionheart, would they not?"

[Giles de Braose]

"Most assuredly so, and would be beyond reproach of the nepotism of which we are concerned may populate these posts with persons of poor piety. If only King Richard had an advisor strong in the faith, trusted by lay and clergy alike to make recommendations and decisions on his behalf for the good of both the realm and the souls of its occupants. But alas, the Office of Lord Chancellor also is being...transitioned."

[Cearnach]

The Abbot turns to look at you. "An interesting point. I take it you have some thoughts on the nature of the Chancellorship?"

Wulfstan leans over the arm of his chair, looking at you with keen interest.

[Giles de Braose]

"I do." Giles answered honestly. "I've already told our Majesty that I plan on filling the seat, and my head is still attached to my neck so I don't think he is directly opposed to the possibility. But as much as I have put myself forward, more important by far is that it must be someone that all parties can support and be comfortable with in such a role. It does no one any good if whomever assumes such an important title does so without the blessing of the Church, that would not address the issue we have been convened to speak of today."

[Andre l'Ecrivain]

Should I then support this man for that office? Andre wonders.

"I happen to have a number of legal texts ready to hand, and others in memory," he offers. "If the high minds of those who precede us can be of aid, I can bring up much of what they have left.

"Shall we look to the precedents, then, and to the counsel of God, using the one to better discern the other, and taking that to the King?"

[Cearnach]

"A sound legal argument and a friendly word in the king's ear would not go amiss," the Prior ventures.

Wulfstan nods his cautious agreement. "We've been working to get Baldwin removed by the Pope, but the word we've gotten about Pipewell is that King Richard expects canons from all the cathedrals to elect a slate of candidates to the vacant sees that he will provide, and that no others will be entertained. The following sees are affected: Ely, London, Salisbury, and Winchester."

"I've heard the abbots of Selby and Glastonbury are also to be decided," says the Prior.

"Right," Wulfstan acknowledges, "We've know Longchamp is going to be nominated for Ely, Richard fitzNeale, who was Treasurer, for London, and Godfrey de Lucy to Winchester. We're not sure about Salisbury yet. Obviously, the canons there should be permitted a free hand, but you can see how he wishes to take care of people in the royal administration."

[Giles de Braose]

"My time has been spent in Saint Mary's Priory in Abergavenny, so please forgive my ignorance in these matters, but are there better candidates to see nominated? The pedigree of de Lucy's role in the Church is well established, but fitzNeale's work for the Crown while long and distinguished has more ?secular, I assume we have similar concerns with de Longchamp?"

"If we do have a preferable list," Giles turns to Andre for his expertise. "And a compelling reason to proffer said list before His Royal Highness, then I'm sure we could come up with individual reasons for our candidates to be considered, if not outright endorsed. We may need to pick our battles though gentlemen, even under the best of circumstances I couldn't envision King Richard reconsidering all of his appointments."

[Cearnach]

"It's more the principle," Wulfstan objects. "The elections must be respected, and the independence of the Church maintained. This is what Thomas a Becket suffered martyrdom for."

The Abbot frowns. "I think Brother Wulfstan's Canterbury Canons speak with passion because they know what it is to have an elected candidate sidelined. Obviously, the canons of each cathedral will have candidates they know. I think the Ely chapter wishes to elect their Treasurer."

"I had a letter from Winchester that there's a Cluniac prior out of Flanders that the Winchester branch was strongly considering," adds another canon.

"Most elect out of their own," Wulfstan acknowledges, "but the point is that the Church governs itself, and can heed to Divine Law, not the politics of a kingdom, which often requires bishops to act as arbiters between the nobility and those they rule."

[Andre l'Ecrivain]

"The King has not yet promulgated his legal codes, correct?" Andre asks. "It is tradition for Kings of England to do so, a tradition hallowed by its antiquity, stretching even to before the namesake of the esteemed brother, here," and he gestures to Wulfstan. "And many such cite the laws of Edward in their foundations, among others."

[Giles de Braose]

"And has there been a precedent of a prior King taking a more hands on role with regard to the integration of the church and the crown?" Giles asks Andre, clearly respecting the man's extensive knowledge and apparent research into these histories.

[Andre l'Ecrivain]

Andre nods. "But one can hardly find fault in Edward the Confessor doing such a thing. Then again, with that precedent and the King's clear zeal..."

He trails off and shrugs.

"That said, the papacy has reoriented such relationships in the intervening years."

[Cearnach]

"So what is the solution, sir?" asks Wulfstan.

[Andre l'Ecrivain]

"Several present themselves. One would be seeking intervention from Rome--though that prompts its own concerns, of course. Another would be to see if the lists currently under consideration could be amended, somehow. That would seem to be the most likely to work--if it works.

"But the issue of the King's law codes...perhaps those of the cloth might remind the King that the examples of David and Solomon are to be followed, and the King's wisdom to be codified, that all may know it even in his absence. And, given a relatively brief time and the materials at hand, such a thing could be compiled for him."

Andre nods. "That might actually be the most workable of things."