Soon after the issue of the charter the archbishop left England to attend the Fourth Lateran Council. At the moment of his departure he was suspended by the representatives of Innocent for not enforcing the papal censures against the barons. Innocent confirmed the sentence, which remained in force for two years. During this time the archbishop resided at Rome. He was allowed to return in 1218, after the deaths of Innocent and John. From that date till his death he was a tower of strength to the royal party. Through his influence Pandulf was recalled to Rome (1221) and flonorius III. promised that no legate should be sent to reside in England during the archbishop's lifetime. In 1222, in a synod held at Oseney, he promulgated a set of Con stitutions still recognized as forming a part of the law of the English Church. He may be said to have accomplished the transi tion from the feudal church of Lanfranc to the national church of later days. He died on July 9, 1228, and was buried in Canter bury Cathedral, where his tomb, unless tradition errs, may still be seen.
Dr. Gore, speaking at Canterbury at the seventh centenary cele brations in 1928 justly defined Langton's position as "mediate be tween excessive nationalism and excessive papalism, leaving both parties unsatisfied, but always the just moderator and harmon izer." The authorities are mainly those for the reign of John. No contem
porary biography has come down to us. Some letters, by Langton and others, relating to the quarrel over his election are preserved in a Can terbury Chronicle (ed. W. Stubbs in the "Rolls" edition of Gervase of Canterbury, vol. ii.). There are many references to him in the corre spondence of Innocent III. (Migne's Patrologia Latina, vols. ccxiv.— ccxvii.). Of modern works see F. Hurter, Geschichte Papst Innocenz III. (Hamburg, 1841-44) ; W. F. Hook, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury (London, 1860-76) ; W. Stubbs's preface to the second volume of Walter of Coventry ("Rolls" ed.), which devotes special attention to Langton; and F. M. Powicke, Stephen Langton (1928). The mss. of Langton's writings are noticed in J. Bale's Index Britan niae scriptorum (ed. R. L. Poole, 1902) ; his Constitutions are printed in D. Wilkin's Concilia, vol. ii. (London, 1737). (H. W. C. D.) Another English prelate who bore the name of Langton was THOMAS LANGTON, bishop of Winchester, chaplain to Edward IV. In 1483 he was chosen bishop of St. Davids; in 1485 he was made bishop of Salis bury and provost of Queen's College, Oxford, and he became bishop of Winchester in 1493. In 1501 he was elected archbishop of Canterbury, but he died on Jan. 27, 1501, before his election had been confirmed.