On Monday Canterbury celebrated the 700th anniver- sary of the
death of Stephen Langton. This astonishing mediaeval figure about whom we know all too little, and whom we judge to have been very great because of what he accomplished and not because we know much of his methods, was in a sense the founder of the English Church. The true Englishman emerged out of the cosmo- politan. Born in Lincolnshire, he was eminent in the University of Paris before he went to Rome and became a Cardinal. Innocent III. appointed him to the see of Canterbury in spite of the strength of the local candidates, and in spite of the opposition of King John. When Langton was installed at Canterbury, however, he resisted the powerful Pope and in 'ested the Church in England with a national character. It was suitable that such a man should be the real inspirer of that side of Magna Carta which became the nucleus of English liberties. Without him the barons would have made the charter an incident in a class-struggle with the King.
Previous page
