ing the lowest fortune of that monarch,
determined to support the authority of the infant prince; nor was he
dismayed at the number and violence of his enemies. Sensible that
Henry, agreeably to the prejudices of the times, would not be deemed
a sovereign till crowned and anointed by a churchman, he immediately
carried the young prince to Glocester, where the ceremony of coronation
was performed, in the presence of Gualo, the legate, and of a few
noblemen, by the bishops of Winchester and Bath.[*] As the concurrence
of the papal authority was requisite to support the tottering throne,
Henry was obliged to swear fealty to the pope, and renew that homage to
which his father had already subjected the kingdom:[**] and in order to
enlarge the authority of Pembroke, and to give him a more regular
and legal title to it, a general council of the barons was soon after
summoned at Bristol, where that nobleman was chosen protector of the
realm.

* M. Paris, p. 290. Hist Croyl. Cont. p. 474. W. Heming. p.
562. Privet, p. 168.

** M. Paris, p. 200.

Pembroke, that he might reconcile all men to the government of his
pupil, made him grant a new charter of liberties, which, though mostly
copied from the former concessions extorted from John, contains some
alterations which may be deemed remarkable.[*] The full privilege of
elections in the clergy, granted by the late king, was not confirmed,
nor the liberty of going out of the kingdom without the royal consent:
whence we may conclude, that Pembroke and the barons, jealous of the
ecclesiastical power, both were desirous of renewing the king's claim
to issue a conge d'elire to the monks and chapters, and thought it
requisite to put some check to the frequent appeals to Rome. But what
may chiefly surprise us is, that the obligation to which John had
subjected himself, of obtaining the consent of the great council before
he levied any aids or scutages upon the nation, was omitted; and this
article was even declared hard and severe, and was expressly left to
future deliberation. But we must consider, that, though this limitation
may perhaps appear to us the most momentous in the whole charter of
John, it was not regarded in that light by the ancient barons, who were
more jealous in guarding against particular acts of violence in the
crown than against such general impositions which, unless they were
evidently reasonable and necessary, could scarcely, without general
conse