EOdem Anno celebrata est Romae, Sancta & universalis Synodus in Ecclesia Sancti Salvatoris, quae Constantiana appellatur, mense Novembri, praesidente Papa Do∣mino Innocentio tertio, Pontificatus ejus Anno Decimo octavo.
In hoc Concilio steterunt contra Stephanum Archiepiscopum Cantuariensem, pro∣curatores Regis Anglorum; Abbas videlicet de Bello loco, Thomas de Hundintona, & Godefridus de Croucumbe, Milites, constanter accusantes eum de conniventia Baronum Angliae, quodque ipsius favore et consilio iidem Barones dictum Regem a solio depellere molirentur. Et cum a sede Aposto∣lica Literas accepisset, ut dictos Magnates per censuram Ecclesi∣asticam a persequutione Regis refraenaret, ipse id facere dissimu∣lans, ab Episcopo Wintoniensi, et suis conjudicibus a divinorum ce∣lebratione et ingressu Ecclesiae suspensus: sicque ad Concilium pro∣p••rans, manifestis indiciis se fuisse praeceptis Apostolicis rebellem ostendit. His & aliis multis, in hunc modum allegatis, Archiepiscopus quasi con∣victus, & non mediocriter confusus, nihil respondit; nisiquod a suspensione petiit absolvi. Cui Papa cum indignatione tale fertur dedisse responsum: Frater, per Sanctum Petrum non ita de facili beneficium absolutionis im∣petrabis, qui non solum ipsi Anglorum Regi, (This was no crime in him heretofore, but a virtue, by this Popes resolution) verum etiam Romanae Ec∣clesiae, tot et tales injurias irrogasti. (This indeed was the only cause of his in∣dignation, not his injuries to the King.) Volumus quoque cum plena fratrum nostrorum deliberatione decernere, qualiter tam temerarium punia∣mus excessum. Tandem habito super hoc cum Cardinalibus tracta∣tu, suspensionis sententiam in ipsum Archiepiscopum subscriptis Li∣teris confirmavit. (A just, divine retaliation for all his former Treasonable compliances with this Pope, and after that with the Barons against King John, from whom he had received so many obliging favours.)
When this suspension of the Archbishop was executed, the Pope commanded all his Suffragans and Subjects to disobey him, till by his humiliation and giving suffi∣cient caution for his future deportment, he should demerit it, as this Bull, or Letter to all the Clergy and Laity of his Province evidenceth.