But besides these general bannings, par ticular persons who escaped from justice or who opposed themselves to the sen tence of the church, were sometimes banned, or placed under a ban. In the history of English affairs one of the most remarkable instances of this kind is the case of Guido de Montfort. This Guido was the son of Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, and grandson of King John. In the troubles in England, in which his father lost his life, no one had been more active in the king's service than Henry of the Almaine, another grandson of King John, and the eldest son of Richard, that king's younger son, who had been elected King of the Almains. This young prince, bein4 at Viterbo in Italy, and present at a religions service in one of the churches of that city, was suddenly assaulted by Guido de Montfort, and slain upon the spot. A general detestation of the crime was felt throughout Europe. Dante has placed the murderer in the Inferno He in God's bosom smote The heart still reverenced on the banks of Thames.
The murderer escaped. Among the rumours of the time, one was that he was wandering in Norway. This man the pope placed under a ban ; that is, he issued a proclamation requiring that no person should protect, counsel, or assist him ; that no person should hold any in tercourse with him of any kind, except, perhaps, some little might be allowed for the good of his soul ; that all who har boured him should fall under an inter dict ; and that if any person were bound to him by an oath of fidelity, he was absolved of the oath. This was promul
gated throughout Europe. A papal bull in which the proclamation is set forth still exists among the public records in the chapter-house at Westminster. A copy of it is in Rymer's Fadera. The pope es .
This species of banning is what is meant when we read of persons or cities being placed under the ban of the empire, a phrase not unfrequently occurring in writers on the affairs of Germany. Per or cities who opposed themselves to the general voice of the confederation were by some public act, like those which have been described, cut off from society, and deprived of rank, title, privileres, and property.
It is manifest that out of this use of the word has sprung that popular sense in which now only the word is ever heard among us, as well as the Italian bandire, French bannir, and the English banish