I have accumulated a large debt of gratitude to many friends, colleagues, librarians and archivists, too numerous to mention by name, for the book has been long in the making. Successions of Manchester Special Subject students have made important contributions, not least in their own probing of the sources. I am grateful to them all. Through every stage, from initial research onwards, I have been privileged to enjoy the constructive and painstaking criticisms of Professor C. R. Cheney. No debt could be greater. My thanks go, too, to Dr R. G. Davies and to Mr Philip Gaskell for their assistance and helpful comments, to the Rev. A. J. Cuthbert Smith and the Rev. Dr J. R. Wright for permission to read their theses, and to Dr P. C. Saunders who, in addition, shared with me, most generously, his expert knowledge of the coram rege rolls, to Dr Michael Prestwich who very kindly made available transcripts from the memoranda rolls of 1297 and answered many queries, and to Professor E. L. G. Stones, Mrs J. M. B. Stones and Professor Walter Ullmann for frequent help and advice. A grant from the British Academy assisted me in the collection of unprinted letters of Robert Winchelsey for a projected edition, an undertaking which has aided directly the preparation of this book.

Without the support of close relatives and friends, and others who chose to give encouragement, the work would not have been completed. My hope that I have not betrayed their trust is signalled by the dedication to my daughters Erika and Andrea. A book carries memories of place; for me especially of Cambridge, Greenwich, Great Corby and Babbacombe.