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S LANGTON

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 179 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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S See also:

LANGTON  . declared both elections void; and with See also:John's consent ordered that a new See also:election should be made in his presence by the representatives of the monks . The latter, having confessed that they had given John a See also:secret See also:pledge to elect none but the See also:bishop of See also:Norwich, were released from the promise by See also:Innocent; and at his See also:suggestion elected See also:Stephen See also:Langton, who was consecrated by the See also:pope on the 17th of See also:June 1207 . On See also:hearing the See also:news the See also:king banished the monks of See also:Canterbury and lodged a protest with the pope, in which he threatened to prevent any See also:English appeals from being brought to See also:Rome . Innocent replied by laying See also:England under an See also:interdict (See also:March 1208), and ex-communicating the king (See also:November 1209) . As John still remained obstinate, the pope at length invited the See also:French king See also:Philip See also:Augustus to enter England and depose him . It was this See also:threat which forced John to See also:sue for a reconciliation; and the first See also:condition exacted was that he should acknowledge Langton as See also:archbishop . During these years Langton had been residing at Pontigny, formerly the See also:refuge of See also:Becket . He had addressed to the English See also:people a dignified protest against the king's conduct, and had at last pressed the pope to take extreme See also:measures . But he had consistently adopted towards John as conciliatory an attitude as his See also:duty to the See also:church would allow, and had more than once entered upon negotiations for a peaceful See also:compromise . Immediately after entering England (See also:July 1213) he showed his See also:desire for See also:peace by absolving the king . But, unlike the pope, he gave See also:ear to the popular cry for redress of See also:political grievances; and persisted in associating with the baronial opposition, even after he was ordered by Innocent to excommunicate them as disturbers of the peace .

Langton encouraged the barons to formulate their demands, and is said to have suggested that they should take their stand upon the See also:

charter of See also:Henry I . It is uncertain what further See also:share he took in drafting Magna Carta . At Runnymede he appeared as a See also:commissioner on the king's See also:side, and his See also:influence must therefore be sought in those clauses of the Charter which differ from the See also:original petitions of the barons . Of these the most striking is that which confirms the " liberties " of the church; and this is chiefly remarkable for its moderation . Soon after the issue of the charter the archbishop See also:left England to attend the See also:Fourth Lateran See also:Council . At the moment of his departure he was suspended by the representatives of Innocent for not enforcing the papal censures against the barons . Innocent confirmed the See also:sentence, which remained in force for two years . During this See also:time the archbishop resided at Rome . He was allowed to return in 1218, after the deaths of Innocent and John . From that date till his See also:death he was a See also:tower of strength to the royal party . Through his influence Pandulf was recalled to Rome (1221) and See also:Honorius III. promised that no See also:legate should be sent to reside in England during the archbishop's lifetime . In 1222, in a See also:synod held at Oseney, he promulgated a set of Constitutions still recognized as forming a See also:part of the See also:law of the English Church .

Beyond this little is recorded of his latter years . He died on the 9th of July 1228, and was buried in Canterbury See also:

Cathedral, where his See also:tomb, unless tradition errs, may still be seen . The authorities are mainly those for the reign of John . No See also:con-temporary See also:biography has come down to us . Some letters, by Langton and others, See also:relating to the See also:quarrel over his election are preserved in a Canterbury See also:Chronicle (ed . W . See also:Stubbs in the " Rolls" edition of Gervase of Canterbury, vol. ii.) . There are many references to him in the See also:correspondence of Innocent III . (See also:Migne's Patrologia See also:Latina, vols. ccxiv.-ccxvii.) . Of See also:modern See also:works see F . Hurter, Geschichte Papst Innocenz III . (See also:Hamburg, 1841—1844) ; W .

F . See also:

Hook, Lives of the See also:Arch-bishops of Canterbury (See also:London, 186o-1876), and W . Stubbs's See also:preface to the second See also:volume of See also:Walter of See also:Coventry (" Rolls " ed.), which de-votes See also:special See also:attention to Langton . The See also:MSS. of Langton's writings are noticed in J . See also:Bale's See also:Index Britanniae scriptorum (ed . R . L . See also:Poole, 1902); his Constitutions are printed in D . Wilkin's Concilia, vol. ii . (London, 1737) . (H . W .

C . D.) Another English See also:

prelate who See also:bore the name of Langton was See also:THOMAS LANGTON, bishop of See also:Winchester, See also:chaplain to See also:Edward IV . In 1483 he was chosen bishop of St Davids; in 1485 he was made bishop of See also:Salisbury and See also:provost of See also:Queen's See also:College, See also:Oxford, and he became bishop of Winchester in 1493 . In 1501 he was elected arch-bishop of Canterbury, but he died on the 27th of See also:January 1505, before his election had been confirmed .

End of Article: S LANGTON
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