Page:The religious life of King Henry VI.djvu/68

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FOUNDATIONS AT

believe, that it will be far more acceptable to the King to obtain one moderate perpetual indulgence than a great and ample temporary one." There were great delays in obtaining what the King had set his heart upon, and he was very anxious for news. "His daily inquiry is this:" writes the secretary, "When shall we have news of Master Vincent? When will letters reach us concerning his doings?"[1] At length, however, the King's urgent request was satisfied and a Bull, dated nth May 1444, confirmed the indulgences and privileges previously granted, with the desired clause: "These presents shall continue in force to all future time."

The editor of these letters of Henry VI writes as follows on this matter: "Thus as far as appears from these volumes, the travail pangs of the pious founder in the birth of his college were brought to a happy termination, as regards its spiritual immunities and prerogatives; all destined to be swept ruthlessly away within a century, while the foundation itself, consolidated on a more substantial basis, having survived the storm that wrecked

  1. Rolls Series (Beckynton Correspondence), Introduction, pp. lxxxvi-lxxxvii.