applied to the king, whose levity and thoughtless
disposition gave Innocent more hopes of success; and he offered him
the crown of Sicily for his second son, Edmond [x]. Henry, allured by
so magnificent a present, without reflecting on the consequences,
without consulting either with his brother or the Parliament, accepted
of the insidious proposal; and gave the pope unlimited credit to
expend whatever sums he thought necessary for completing the conquest
of Sicily. Innocent, who was engaged by his own interests to wage war
with Mainfroy, was glad to carry on his enterprises at the expense of
his ally: Alexander IV., who succeeded him in the papal throne,
continued the same policy; and Henry was surprised to find himself on
a sudden involved in an immense debt, which he had never been
consulted in contracting. The sum already amounted to one hundred and
thirty-five thousand five hundred and forty-one marks, besides
interest [y]; and he had the prospect, if he answered this demand, of
being soon loaded with more exorbitant expenses; if he refused it, of
both incurring the pope's displeasure, and losing the crown of Sicily,
which he hoped soon to have the glory of fixing on the head of his
son.
[FN [w] M. Paris, p. 650. [x] Rymer, vol. i. p. 502, 512, 530. M.
Paris, p. 599, 613. [y] Rymer, vol. i. p. 587. Chron. Dunst. vol. i.
p. 319.]

He applied to the Parliament for supplies; and that he might be sure
not to meet with opposition, he sent no writs to the more refractory
barons; but even those who were summoned, sensible of the ridiculous
cheat imposed by the pope, determined not to lavish their money on
such chimerical projects; and making a pretext of the absence of their
brethren, they refused to take the king's demands into consideration
[z]. In this extremity the clergy were his only resource; and as both
their temporal and spiritual sovereign concurred in loading them, they
were ill able to defend themselves against this united authority.
[FN [z] M. Paris, p. 614.]

The pope published a crusade for the conquest of Sicily; and required
every one, who had taken the cross against the infidels, or had vowed
to advance money for that service, to support the war against
Mainfroy, a more terrible enemy, as he pretended, to the Christian
faith than any Saracen [a]. He levied a tenth on all ecclesiastical
benefices in England for three years; and gave orders to excommunicate
all bishops who made not punctual pa