Church & Beliefs
Belief, parish life, and the occasional monk drinking straight from the barrel.
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When the Church Became Your Getaway Car
You've fallen spectacularly out of favour with the king.
An army is coming for you.
So you run into a church and hide behind the altar.
Hubert de Burgh seeking sanctuary at Merton Priory, from Matthew Paris's Historia Anglorum, British Library, Royal MS 14 C VII, f.119. This is Hubert de Burgh, kneeling at the altar of Merton Priory.
And this wasn't some minor noble hiding from a couple of angry neighbours.
Hubert had been Chief Justiciar of England โ one of the most powerful men in the country.
Then, in 1232, he fell spectacularly out of favour with Henry III.
The king wanted him.
So Hubert ran to Merton Priory and claimed sanctuary.
And then things got slightly ridiculous.
Henry sent an army after him.
Matthew Paris records that the mayor of London was ordered to summon armed citizens and bring Hubert back.
Thousands came.
And Hubert?
He stayed in the priory.
He took up position in front of the high altar and refused to come out.
Because sanctuary meant that the people waiting outside couldn't simply march in and drag him away.
Eventually, the king backed down.
The crowd was sent home.
Hubert stayed where he was.
Safe.
For the moment.
And then came the really unfortunate part.
Hubert was eventually persuaded that he had been granted a royal safe-conduct โ a guarantee that he could leave safely.
So he walked out.
And was arrested.
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There is something wonderfully bizarre about this whole episode.
A man who had once been one of the most powerful people in England ended up literally clinging to the protection of a church while an army waited outside.
And the protection was real.
It wasn't a magical force field.
It was the power of the Church's sanctuary โ the idea that there were places where secular authority could not simply do whatever it wanted.
Until you stepped outside.
Sources
- Matthew Paris, Historia Anglorum, British Library, Royal MS 14 C VII, f.119.
- Image: British Library manuscript image, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.