after twenty-two years of misrule, Peter de Leia was dead, and
Gerald seemed certain of attaining his heart's desire. Once again
the chapter nominated Gerald; once more the royal authority was
exerted, this time by Archbishop Hubert, the justiciar in the king's
absence, to defeat the ambitious Welshman. The chapter decided to
send a deputation to King Richard in Normandy. The deputation
arrived at Chinon to find Coeur-de-Lion dead; but John was anxious
to make friends everywhere, in order to secure himself on his
uncertain throne. He received the deputation graciously, he spoke
in praise of Gerald, and he agreed to accept the nomination. But
after his return to England John changed his mind. He found that no
danger threatened him in his island kingdom, and he saw the wisdom
of the justiciar's policy. Gerald hurried to see him, but John
point blank refused publicly to ratify his consent to the nomination
which he had already given in private. Then commenced the historic
fight for St. David's which, in view of the still active "Church
question" in Wales, is even now invested with a living interest and
significance. Gerald contended that the Welsh Church was
independent of Canterbury, and that it was only recently, since the
Norman Conquest, that she had been deprived of her freedom. His
opponents relied on political, rather than historical,
considerations to defeat this bold claim. King Henry, when a
deputation from the chapter in 1175 appeared before the great
council in London and had urged the metropolitan claims of St.
David's upon the Cardinal Legate, exclaimed that he had no intention
of giving this head to rebellion in Wales. Archbishop Hubert, more
of a statesman than an ecclesiastic, based his opposition on similar
grounds. He explained his reasons bluntly to the Pope. "Unless the
barbarity of this fierce and lawless people can be restrained by
ecclesiastical censures through the see of Canterbury, to which