Paper had not as yet been
invented, so the message had to be carefully written, by paid scribes,
on vellum or parchment. Further, a letter from a King to the Pope was
not a thing to be dashed off on the spur of the moment, but to be
carefully thought out, and expressed with great accuracy. The King
would summon his advisers, and his Secretary of State, and probably
consult some of the Bishops and weigh each word before committing his
message to parchment. In short, the document would represent his own
deliberate convictions as well as those of his official advisers and
counsellors.
After addressing the Pope in the usual respectful and filial way, he
says: "Let not the envious information of our detractors find place in
the meek mind of your Holiness, or create any sinister opinion of a
son" [observe the King calls himself a son of the Pope], "who after
the manner of his predecessors" [so previous Kings were as loyal as
he] "shall always firmly persist in amity and obedience to the
Apostolic See. Nay, if any such evil suggestion concerning your son
should knock for entrance at your Holiness's ears, let no belief be
allowed it till the son who is concerned be heard, who trusts and
always intends both to say and to prove that each of his actions is
just before the tribunal of your Holiness, _presiding over every
creature, which to deny is to maintain heresy_.
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