It was also concluded, that should the legates attempt, by menaces of ecclesiastical censures or otherwise, to compel payment of any tribute, an appeal should be made from them to a general council of the church.
Item, should any collectors or sub-collectors exact subsidies to the church, they shall be arrested, and punished by confiscation of property, and, when they have no property, by imprisonment.
It was also concluded, that to settle this matter, the king’s attorney, and other lords, should be requested to join the university. But it was at last resolved, that should the pope plead an evident want of means to support the church, a council should be called, and a charitable subsidy granted, the which should be collected by certain discreet persons selected by the council, and the amount distributed according to the directions of the said council.
On the ensuing Monday was held a royal sessions, at which the duke of Acquitaine, the archbishop of Pisa, and the other legates from the pope, the rector and the members of the university were present. In this meeting, the archbishop declared, that what he demanded was due to the apostolic chamber, by every right, divine, canon, civil and natural, and that it was sacred and simple justice,--adding, that whoever should deny this right was scarcely a Christian.
The university was greatly displeased, and said, that such expressions were derogatory to the king’s honour, to that of the university, and consequently of the whole kingdom. From what had passed, another general assembly was holden on Sunday the 30th of November, in the place where it had been held the preceding Sunday; and it was then determined that the university should send a deputation to the king, to lay before him the words uttered by the legates, and to demand that they should be publicly recanted by them. It was proposed, that in case they should refuse so to do, the faculty of theologians should bring accusations against them, on the articles of faith, and they should be punished according to the exigence of the case. It was also resolved, that the university of Paris should write letters to all the other universities in the realm, and to the prelates and clergy, to invite them to unite in their opposition to such tenets.