Papal Investigation
Richard Swinefield, Cantilupe's successor as Bishop of Hereford, wrote to Pope Nicholas IV in a letter dated 19 April 1290 proposing the bishop for canonisation, but it was not until 1307 that an investigation into Cantilupe's saintliness was initiated by Pope Clement V. For the canonisation process to succeed, convincing evidence of miracles that Cantilupe had performed since his death had to be presented, one of which was that William Cragh had been brought back from the dead by the bishop's intercession. Three papal commissioners were appointed to conduct the inquiry: William de Testa, a papal tax collector in England, Ralph Baldock, Bishop of London, and William Durand the Younger, Bishop of Mende.
The investigation opened in London on 14 July 1307. The first three of the nine witnesses to Cragh's hanging to be heard were Lady Mary de Briouze, William Codineston, and the younger William de Briouze; his father had died in 1291. The commissioners were naturally curious about the details of the execution, because if Cragh had not actually been killed then there could clearly have been no miracle. William de Briouze was in no doubt that the hanging had been properly conducted, and pointed out it was customary that "if any subterfuge or trickery were discovered ... then the executioner himself would be hanged in turn". He added that any deception could be ruled out because of the hatred that he and his father had for Cragh, whom he described as "the worst of malefactors". The same point was made by William of Codineston: "the lord de Briouze and his justices, officials, and servants hated William Cragh very much and rejoiced greatly at his hanging and death".
For the convenience of other witnesses the commission moved to Hereford, where it resumed on 18 August 1307. The other six testifying to Cragh's execution included the hanged man himself, despite William de Briouze's stated belief that he had died of natural causes about two years earlier. The official language of the proceedings was ecclesiastical Latin, but Cragh spoke only Welsh, therefore two Franciscan friars from Hereford – John Young and Maurice of Pencoyd – were recruited as translators. Cragh is identified in the commission's records by his Welsh name, William ap Rhys, "of the parish of Swansea in the diocese of Saint Davids". Of the eight other witnesses called, five testified in French and three in English. In his evidence Cragh stated that he believed himself to have been about 28 at the time of his hanging, and that his last conscious memory as he was dangling at the end of the rope was of the noise made by the crowd when Trahaern was hanged beside him. He denied his earlier story of having seen a vision of a white-clad bishop while he was hanging from the gallows, and instead claimed that the Virgin Mary had appeared to him on the morning of his execution, accompanied by "a lordly figure" she introduced as "St Thomas", who she said would save him from the gallows. Under questioning Cragh said that he presumed the figure to be Cantilupe because he had been on pilgrimage to Cantilupe's shrine in Hereford, and because on the day of his imprisonment he had "bent a penny ... to the honour of Saint Thomas so that he should liberate him". After hearing his testimony the commissioners physically examined Cragh, to confirm that he was indeed the man who had been hanged 18 years earlier. Although they found no marks around his neck they did discover some scarring on his tongue, according to Cragh caused by him having bitten it while hanging.
The investigation was conducted in an inquisitorial style; witnesses were not expected to make statements but only to respond to questions asked of them. Bartlett has observed that some of the questions asked by the commissioners were rather leading. During Cragh's interrogation, for instance, he was asked if "in his country after the time of his hanging, it was publicly and commonly ascribed, and still is ascribed, to a miracle performed by the merits of the Lord Saint Thomas that he obtained and recovered life after the hanging". Cragh of course had no motivation other than to answer "yes", which he did.
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