1304-07-05, Stirling

To Ralph de Sandwico. The king understands that, upon the execution of his order to the collectors throughout the realm of the tenth imposed upon the clergy of England by the late pope Boniface VIII to levy, collect and pay to the king the money due from the tenth, in pursuance of the said pope's grant that the moiety reserved to him should be converted to the king's use in case the pope should die or should finish the war concerning the realm in Sicily before the end of the three years one Master Gerard de Pecoraria, who asserts that he is an envoy sent a latere from the pope and has been made collector of divers sums both of the said tenth and of money due in aid of the Holy Land and the Roman church, of whose authority for so acting the king is wholly ignorant, hinders the levying of the tenth by divers of his orders directed to the collectors contrary to the form of the grant aforesaid, although at no time in the past any one so empowered by the Roman court coming into the realm has executed, or ought to execute, any such commission without consulting the king. The king orders Ralph to take with him the mayor, aldermen and others of the richer and more discreet men of the city of London to such sufficiency as shall seem desirable, and to go to Master Gerard and to enjoin him on the king's behalf to come forthwith before Ralph at the Tower of London to hear the king's order; and when he shall have come thither, to expound to him, [after seeing] that no notary public is there present, and to order him on the king's behalf to revoke entirely and annul such his orders, as he would wish to be preserved from the king's wrath, and that having considered the matter, he shall forthwith carry (ponat) the revocation into effect, so that he shall cause his letters to be directed to the collectors of the said tenth in every diocese within the realm, and Ralph shall then send the said letters without any delay to the collectors by certain envoys of whom he has knowledge, the costs connected with which the king will cause to be paid to him in the wardrobe. He is ordered to warn Master Gerard that if he have any authority in his possession touching the premises, he shall be prepared to show it at a time and place when the king can attend to the matter in the presence of the king and of his council, in order that, when it have been seen and inspected, the king may cause to be done further in this matter what ought to be done by him and his council. If Master Gerard will not come before Ralph at the Tower, or if he come and refuse to make the revocation in form aforesaid, Ralph shall attach him until the king shall cause an ordinance to be made as to this. The king prohibits him [from allowing] any one to obtain a copy of the present letter by favour or trick, and orders him to certify the king under his seal as speedily as possible of his proceedings herein. [Prynne, Records, iii, p. 1032.)