Simon Magus and Nero the Emperour in Pauls time were great adversaries yet heere hee meaneth another besides these greater then all the rest not such a one as should bee like to Priest King or Emperour but such as farre exceeding the estate of all Kings Priests and Emperours should be the Prince of Priests and should make Kings to stoup and should tread vpon the necke of Emperours and make them to kisse his feete Moreover where the Apostle sayeth that hee shall sit in the Temple of GOD thereby is meaned not the personall sitting of the Pope in the Citie only of Rome but the authoritie and iurisdiction of his Sea exalted in the whole vniversall Church equall with GOD himselfe For let men giue to the Pope that which hee in his lawes decrees and in his pontificall requyreth and what difference is there betwixt GOD and the Pope If GOD set lawes and ordinances so doth hee If GOD hath his creatures so hath hee If GOD require obedience so doth hee If the breach of GODS commandements bee punished much more bee his GOD hath his religion the Pope also hath his Yea for GODS one Religion he hath an hundreth GOD hath set vp one Advocate hee hath an hundreth GOD hath instituted but a few holy dayes for GODS one hee hath instituted fourtie And if the holie day that GOD hath appoynted bee Simplex The feast that the Pope appoynteth is duplex triplex CHRIST is the head of the Church so is the Pope CHRIST giveth influence to his bodie so doth the Pope CHRIST forgiveth sinne the Pope doth no lesse CHRIST expelleth evill spirits by hispower so pretendeth the Pope by his holy water Furthermore where CHRIST went barefooted vpon the bare ground hee with his golden shooes is caried vpon mens shoulders And where CHRIST was called Sanctus Sanctorum Heeis called Sanctorum Sanctissimus CHRIST never practised but onely the spirituall sword hee claimeth both spirituall and temporall CHRIST bought the Church Hee both buyeth and selleth the Church And if it bee necessarie to beleeue CHRIST to bee the Saviour of the world so is it necessarie to beleeuethe Pope to bee the head of the Church CHRIST payed tribute vnto Caesar hee maketh Caesar pay tribute vnto him Finallie the Crowne of CHRIST was of sharpe thornes The Pope hath three crownes of gold vpon his head so farre exceeding CHRIST the Sonne of GOD in glorie of this world as CHRIST exceedeth him in the Glorie of HEAVEN The image and paterne of whose intolerable pryde and exaltation according as St. Paul doeth descryue him in his Epistle foresaid wee haue heere set foorth not only in these tables to bee seene and by his owne facts to be noted but also by his owne words Registers Clementines Extravagants and Pontificals expressed as in order the LORD willing shall follow The exaltation of Popes aboue Kings and Emperours out of Histories FIrst after that Italy and the citie of Rome were overrunne by the Gothes and Vandals so that the seate of the Empyre was remooved to Constantinople then beganne Ioannes Patriarch of Constantinople to put foorth himselfe and would needs bee called vniversall Bishop of the world but the Bishop of Rome in no case would suffer that and stopped it After this came the Emperours deputy and Exarch of Ravenna to rule Italy but the Bishop of Rome through ayde of the King of Lombards sone quailed him Not long after about the yeare of the LORD fyue hundreth came Phocas the murthrer who slew the Emperour of Constantinople his master Maureits and his children By which Phocas the Bishops of old Rome aspyred first to their preheminence to bee counted the head Bishops over the whole Church and so together with the Lombardes beganne to rule the Citie of Rome Afterwards when the Lombardes would not yeeld to him in accomplishing his ambitious desire but would needs requyre of the Bishop the said Citie of Rome hee stirred vp Pipinus but first deposed Childericus the King of France and so thrusting him into an Abbey set vp in his place Pipinus and his sonne Carolus Magnus to put downe the said King of Lombardes called Aistulphus and so translated the Empyre from Constantinople to France divyding the spoyle betweene him and them so that the Kings of France had all the possessions and lands which before belonged to the Empyre and hee to receiue of them the quyet possession of the citie of Rome with such donations and Lordships which now they challenge vnto them vnder the name of S. Peters patrimonie which they falsely ascrybe to that donation of Constantinus the great It followed then in processe of time after the dayes of Pipinus Carolus and Lodovicus who had indued these Bishops of Rome called now Popes with large possessions when the King of France were not applyable to their becke to ayde and maintaine them against the Princes of Italy who began then to push the saides Bishops for their wrongfull vsurped goods they practised with the Germans to redact the Empyre to Otho first of that name Duke of Spaine referring the election thereof to seven Princes electors of Germany which was about Anno 1002. Notwithstanding reserving still in his hands the negatiue voyce thinking thereby to enjoy that they had in quyetnesse and securitie and so did for a good space At length when some of these Germane Emperours also after Otho beganne a little to spurne against the said Bishops and Popes of Rome some of them they accursed some they subdued and brought to the kissing of their feete some they deposed and placed others in their possessions So was Henricus 4. by these Bishops accursed the Emperour himselfe forced with his wife and chyld to waite attendance vpon the Popes pleasure three dayes and three nights in Winter at the gates of Canossus Besids all this the said Pope raised vp Rodolpus to bee Emperour against him who being slaine in warre then the said Pope Gregory 7. not resisting this stirred vp his owne sonne Henricus 5. to fight against his owne naturall father to depose him which Henricus 5. was also himselfe accursed afterward and excommunicated and the Saxons at last set vp by the Bishops to fight against him After this the Emperours began to bee somewhat calmed and more quyet suffering the Bishops to reigne as they listed till Fredericke the first called Barbarossa came and beganne to stirre coales against them Howbeit they hampered both him and his sonne Henry in such sort that they brought first the necke of Frederick in the Church of Venice vnder their feete to tread vpon and after that the said Bishops crowning Henricus his sonne in the Church of S. Peter set his crowne vpon his head with their feete with their feete spurned it off againe to make him know that the Popes of Rome had power both to crowne Emperours and depose them againe Then followed Philippus brother to Henry aforesaid whom also the Popes accursed about the yeare of our LORD 1198.
and set vp Otho Duke of Saxon. But when the said Otho began to bee so saucie to dispossesse the Bishops of their cities and lands which they had incrotched into their bands they could not beare that but incontinent they put him besides the cusheon The like also fell vpon Otho the 4. that followed after Philip who was suffered no longer then foure yeares to reigne about the yeare of the LORD 1209. At this time Fredericus 2. the sonne of Fredericus Barbarossa was but young whom the Bishops of Rome supposing to finde more mortified and tamed to their hand advanced to bee Emperour after his father But that fell out much contrarie to their expectation for hee perceiving the immoderate pompe and pryde of the Romane Bishops which hee could in no case abyde so netled them and cut their combs and waxed so stout against them intending to extirpe their tyranie and to reduce their pompous riches to the state and condition of the primitiue Church againe putting some of them to flight and prisoning some of their Cardinals that of three Popes one after another hee was accursed circumvented by tieason at last deposed and after that poysoned and last forsaken and died After this Frederick followed his sonne Conradus whom the foresaid Bishops for his disobedience soone dispatched exciting against him in mortall warre the Lantgraue of Thuring whereby at length hee was driven into his Kingdome of Naples and there deceast This Conradus had a sonne called Conradinus Duke and Prince of Swevill where this Conradinus after the decease of his father came to enjoy the Kingdome of Naples The Bishops stirred vp against him Charles the French Kings brother in such sort that through craftie conveyance both Conradinus which descended of the blood of so many Emperours and also Frederik Duke of Austria were both taken and after much wretched handling in their miserable indurance vnseeming to their state at length were both brought vnder the axe by the Popes procurement and so both beheaded and thus ended the imperiall stocke of Frederik the first surnamed Barbarossa The like also happened to Frederik the Emperour had almost fallen vpon Philip the French King by Pope Boniface 8. who because hee could not haue his commodities and revenewes out of France after his will sent out his bils and letters patents to displace King Philip aforesaid and to possesse Albertus King of Romans in his rowme And this hitherto of forraine stories Now touching our countrie Princes heere in England so speake somewhat likewayes of them did not Pope Alexander the third presumptuously taking vpon him where hee had nothing to doe to intermeddle with the Kings subjects For the death of Becket the rebell albeit the King fusficiently cleared himselfe thereof yet notwithstanding did he not wrongfully bring the said King Henry 2. to such pennance as it pleased him to enjoyne and also violently constrained him to sweare obedience to the Sea of Rome The like also was shewed before in this storie to happen to King Iohn his sonne for when the said King like a valiant Prince had held out the tyrranie of those Bishops eleven yeares together was not all the Churches of England barred vp and his inheritance with all his dominions given away by Pope Innocent the 3. to Lodovicus the French King and he afterward compelled to submit both himselfe and to make his whole Realme fedetary to the Bishops of Rome and moreover the King himselfe driven also to surrander his Crowne to Pandulphus the Popes Legate and so continued a privat person 5 dayes standing at the Popes courtesie whether to receive it againe or not And when the Nobles of the Realme rose afterward against the King for the same was not hee then glad to seeke and sue to the foresaid Pope for succour as by his owne letter taken out of the publicke rolles may appeare King Iohns supplication to Pope Innocent the third REverendiss domino suo patri sanctiss Innocentio dei gratia Ioanni eadem gratia R. Angliae c. Cum comites Barones Angliae nobis devoti essent antequam nos nostram terram dominio vestro subjacere curassemus ex tunc in nos specialiter ob hoc sicut publicè dicunt violenter insurgunt Nos vero preter Deum vos specialem dominum patronum habentes defensionem nostram totius regni quod vestrum esse credimus vestrae paternitati commissam nos quantum in nobis est curam solicitudinem istam vestrae resignamus dominationi devotius supplicantes quatenus in negotijs nostris que vestra sunt consilium auxilium efficax apponatis prout melius videritis expedire latores praesentium c. Teste meipso apud Dour 18. Septemb. 6. And yet notwithstanding that the said King Iohn did so yeeld to the Pope he was both persewed by his Nobles and also in the end w as poysoned by asubject of the Popes ownereligion a Monke of Swinsted as I haue sufficiently to proue not onely by William Caxton but also haue testimonie of the most part of Chronicles for the same a few onely excepted as of Thomas Gray in his French Chronicle also of another French Chronicle in meeter of Ranulphus Cestrenses Thomas Rudburne also doth witnesse the same So doth Richard Rid in novo Chronico ad tempora Hen. 6. the like also doth the Chronicle called Eulogium Monachi Cant. The words of Walter Gisborne an ancient Historiographer bee plaine No lesse is to be found in Ioan. Major de gestis Scotorum lib. 4. cap. 3. fol. 56. where hee not onely maketh mention of the Monke and of the poyson but also of the Abbot of his absolution and of the 3. Monks everie day singing for the said Monks soule To these I could also annex dyvers other wrytters both English and Latin without name which witnesse that King Iohn was poysoned one beginning thus Heere beginneth a booke in the English tongue called Bruce Another beginneth Because this booke is made to tell what tyme any thing notable The thrid in English beginneth the reigne of Britaine that now is called England c. Of Latin bookes which haue no name one beginneth thus Britannia quae Anglia dicitur ae Bruto nomen est sortita Another hath this beginning Adam pater gener is humani Besides this King Henry 2 and King Iohn his sonne what Kings haue heere reigned in England since their time vntill the reigne of King Henry the 8 who althogh they were prudent Princes and did what they could against the proud dominion of those Bishops were forced at length sore against their wils for feare to subject themselues together with their subjects vnder their vsurped authoritie in so much as some of them as M att Paris wryteth by King Henry the third were faine to stoup and kisse their Legats knee The image of Antichrist exalting himselfe in the Temple of GOD aboue all that is named God out of his owne decrees
the Apostles might by vertue of his office controle all others was content to come and giue answere before his inferiors objecting to him his going to the Gentiles yet other inferiors must not learne by this example to bee check-meat with their Prelats because Peter so tooke it at their hands shewing thereby rather a dispensation of humilitie then the power of his office by the which power hee might haue said to them againe It becometh not sheepe nor belongeth to their osfice to accuse their sheepheard 29. For els why was Dioscorus Patriarch of Alexandria condemned and excommunicated at Chalcedon not for any cause of his faith but onely that hee durst stand against the Pope Leo and durst excommunicate the Bishope of Rome for who is hee that hath authoritie to accuse the seat of S. Peter 30. Albeit I am not ignorant what S. Ierome wryteth that Paul would not haue reprehended Peter vnlesse he had thought himselfe equall vnto him 31. Yet Ieremy must thus be exponed by my interpretation that this equalitie betwixt Peter and Paul consisteth not in like osfice of dignitie but in purenes of conversation 32. For who gaue Paul licence to preach but Peter that by authoritie of GOD saying Separato mihi Paulum Barnabam Wherefore be it knowne to al men that my Church of Rome is prince and head ofall Nations 33. The mother of the faith 34. The foundation cardinall wherevpon all Churches doe depend as the doore doth depend vpon the hinges 35. The first of all other seats without all spot or blemish 36. Lady mistris and instructor of all Churches 37. A glasse and spectacle vnto all men to be followed in all whatsoever shee observeth 38. Which was never found yet to slyde or declyne from the path of Apostolicke tradition or to bee intangled with any newnesse of heresies 39. Against which Church of Rome whosoever speaketh any evill is foorthwith an hereticke 40. Yea a verie Pagan a witch and an Idolater or Infidell 41. Having fulnesse of power onely in her owne hand in ruling 42. Decyding absolving condemning casting out or receaving in 43. Albeit I deny not but other Churches bee partakers with her in labouring and carying 44. To the which Church of Rome it is lawfull to appeale for remedie from the Churches although it was otherwise concluded in the generall councill of Millevit an that no man fhould appeale over the Sea vnder the paine of excommunication yet my Glose commeth in heere with an exception Nisi forte Romanam sedem appellauerint Id est Except the appeale bee to the Sea of Rome 45. By the authoritie of which Church of Rome all Synodes and decryes of councils stand confirmed 46. And hath alwayes full authoritie in his hands to make new lawes decreements and to alter statutes priviledges rights or documents of Churches to separat things joyned and to joyne things separated vpon right consideration either in whole or in part either personally or generally 47. Of the which Church of Rome I am head as a King is over his judges 48. The vicar of S. Peter 49. Yea not the vicar of S. Peter properly but the vicar of CHRIST properly and successour of Peter 50. Vicar of IE sus CHRIST 51. Rector of the vniversall Church director of the LORDS vniversall flocke 52. Chiefe magistrat of the whole world 53. Caephas i. caput the head and chiefe of the Apostolick Church 54. Vniversall Pope and Diocesan in all places exempt aswell as everie Bishop is in places not exempt 55. Most mightie Priest 56. Lex animata in terris i. 57. A living Lawe in the earth judged to have all Lawes in the chest of my breast 58. Bearing the rowm of no poore man 59. Being neither God nor man but the admiration of the world and a middle thing betwixt both 60. Having both swords in my power both of the spirituall and temporall jurisdiction 61. So farre surmounting the authoritie of the Emperour that I of my owne power alone without a Councill have authoritie to depose him or to trans-ferre his kingdome and to giue a new election as I did to Frederick and diverse others 62. What power then or Protestat in all the world is comparable to me who haue authoritie to bind and louse both in Heaven and earth 63. That is who haue power both of heavenly things and also of temporall things 64. To whom Emperours and Kings are more inferiour than Lead is inferiour to Gold 65. For doe you not see the neckes of great Kings and Princes bend vnder our knees yea and think themselves happy and well defenced if they maye kisse our hands 66. Wherefore the sawcinesse of Honorius the Emperour is to bee reprehended and his constitution abolished who with his laytie would take vpon him to intermeddle not only with the temporall order but also with matters ecclesiasticall and election of the Pope 67. But heere perchance some will object the examples and wordes of Christ saying that his Kingdome is not of this world and where he being required to divide betwixt two brethren their heritage did refuse it but that ought not to bee no prejudice to my power 68. For if Peter and I in Peter if wee say haue power to bind and louse in heaven how much more then is it to bee thought that wee have power in earth to louse and to take away Empyres Kingdomes Dukedomes and what els so ever mortall men may have and to give them where wee will 69. And if wee haue authoritie over Angels which bee governours over Princes what then maye wee doe vpon their inferiours and servants 70. And for that you shall not marvell that I say Angels bee subject vnto vs you shall heare what my blessed Clerk Antonius writeth of the matter saying that our power of Peter and mee is greater than the Angels in foure things 1. In jurisdiction 2. In administration of Sacraments 3. In knowledge 4. and reward 71. And again in bulla Clemen tis doe I not their command in my Bull the Angels of Paradise to absolve the soule of man out of Purgatorie and to bring it into the glorie of Paradise 72. And now besides my heavenly power to speak of my earthly jurisdiction who did first translate the Empyre from the Greeks to the Almanes but I 73. And not onely in the Empyre am I Emperour the place being emptie but in all ecclesiasticall benefices have full right and power to translate and to depose after my arbitriment 74. Did not I Zacharias put downe Childerick the old King of France and set vp Pipinus 75. Did not I Gregorius the seventh set vp Robert Wisard and made him King of Sicilie and Duke of Cappa c. 76. Did not I the same Gregorius also set vp Rodulphus against Henrie the 4 Em perour 77. And though that this Henricus was an Em perour of most stout courage who stood 62 times in open field against his enemies 78. Yet did not I