Know, moreover,
that you are my children in God. Neither law nor reason allows you to
judge your father. I therefore decline your tribunal, and refer my
quarrel to the decision of the Pope. To him I appeal and shall now,
under the protection of the Catholic Church and the apostolic see,
depart." As he walked along the hall, some of the courtiers threw at
him knots of straw, which they took from the floor. A voice called him
a traitor. At the word he stopped, and, hastily turning round,
rejoined, "Were it not that my order forbids me, that coward should
repent of his insolence." At the gate he was received with
acclamations of joy by the clergy and people, and was conducted in
triumph to his lodgings.
It was generally believed that if the Archbishop had remained at
Northampton, that night would have proved his last. Alarmed by
frequent hints from his friends, he petitioned to retire beyond the
sea, and was told that he might expect an answer the following
morning. This unnecessary delay increased his apprehensions. To
deceive the vigilance of the spies that beset him, he ordered a bed to
be prepared in the church, and in the dusk of the evening, accompanied
by two clerks and a servant on foot, escaped by the north gate.
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