The Emperor himself, still looking to an accommodation with the Pope and justly jealous of Edward's own intrigues at Avignon, wavered and at last fell away.

But though the alliance ended in disappointment it had given a new impulse to the grudge against the Papacy which began with its extortions in the reign of Henry the Third.

The hold of Rome on the loyalty of England was sensibly weakening.

Their transfer from the Eternal City to Avignon robbed the Popes of half the awe which they had inspired among Englishmen.

Not only did it bring them nearer and more into the light of common day, but it dwarfed them into mere agents of French policy.