Note 280 — Chapter II · HENRY AND ROME. 1164–1172.

Ep. ccviii. (Robertson, Becket, vol. v. pp. 417, 418). The Pope’s brief is Ep. clxxii. (ib. pp. 328, 329); it is dated “Anagniæ, vii. Idus Octobris,” but its true date is Easter-day, April 24 (see editor’s note, p. 329) —the actual date of the letter whereby Alexander notified his act to the English bishops; Ep. clxxiii. (Robertson, as above, pp. 229–231). The diocese (not the province) of York was exempted from Thomas’s legatine jurisdiction—the reason being that Roger of York was legate for Scotland (Ep. cclxx., ib. vol. vi. p. 119). Thomas sent the brief over to his friends Robert of Hereford and Roger of Worcester, bidding them communicate it to their brethren, beginning with London (Ep. clxxix., ib. vol. v. pp. 344–346). Canon Robertson supposes this brief to have been delivered to Gilbert on the feast of the Commemoration of S. Paul, i.e. June 30, 1166. Gilbert himself says merely “die beati Pauli”; and his letter has no date. But it mentions “legatos qui diriguntur ad nos”; and there is no hint elsewhere of any talk about sending legates till late in the autumn, or even winter. There really seems to be no reason why we should not adopt a more obvious rendering of the date, as representing the greater and better-known festival of S. Paul’s Conversion. In that case, of course, the year must be 1167.