Archbishop and Legate held a Synod at Merton upon St. Barnabas's day The Pope had the year before granted to the King the Tenths of the Clergy for three years But the Clergy tho' they Honour'd the Pope much yet resolved not to part with their Money And the Archbishop held this Synod on purpose to Oppose the payment of what he had granted Upon another Legate's being sent hither Anno 1261 several Councils were this year call'd and held in Our Country The two Archbishops Assembled their Respective Clergy at London and Beverley And Boniface held another distinct Council at Lambeth and publish'd many excellent Constitutions in it But most famous in these times as of chiefest Authority afterwards was the Council Assembled by Ottobon another Legate about the Year 1268. He had two years before at the Parliament at Northampton Assembled the Clergy who met there and with Them Excommunicated all such as should adhere to Simon Montfort and his Party And now he held this Other at London with the Clergy of the whole Kingdom and therein publish'd those Notable Constitutions we still have under his Name It was now become a matter of Custom and accounted a matter of Right for the Legates Extraordinary and the Archbishop of Canterbury as Legate of Course to Summon the Clergy to Convocations Insomuch that we do not find this Great King who otherwise was sensible enough of the Encroachments that had been made and were daily making upon the Royal Authority to have been at all Offended at it Hence Peckham the Archbishop being return'd from Rome Anno 1280 the same year held a Council at Redding and therein commanded the Constitutions of the General Council of Lyons to be observed And the next year He assembled another at Lambeth in which the Orders and Constitutions establish'd by Otho and Ottobon were Confirm'd and some Others added for the better Government of the Church About ten years after the same Peckham again held another Synod at Redding in which when the King heard that They were attempting some Orders in derogation to his Authority He sent to the Archbishop and Bishops to desist And upon his Threatnings they put a stop to their Proceedings and Brake up the Council And thus have we seen what Encroachments were made towards the End of this Period upon the Prince's Authority in the Subject before Us. There were within this Period as all along after besides these National and Provincial Councils several Episcopal or Diocesan Synods Assembled for the Affairs of that particular Diocess in which they were held and some Rules were made by Them to be observed by the Clergy of that District only Such were the Constitutions of Alexander Bishop of Coventry Anno 1237 Of Walter Bishop of Worcester made in his Synod at Worcester Anno 1240 Of Walter Bishop of Norwich made in his Synod at Norwich Munday after Michaelmas Anno 1255 Of Giles Bishop of Salisbury Anno 1256 And of which it is not necessary that I should take any particular Notice on this Occasion But tho' the Affairs of the Church were in great measure handled in these several Kinds of Ecclesiastical Synods yet this did not hinder but that still Our Kings with their Great Councils did from time to time interpose in these Matters and order many things relating to Ecclesiastical Persons and Causes When Wulstan Bishop of Worcester challenged some Lands as belonging to his See which were with-held from it by the Archbishop of Tork the Cause between them was judged by William the Conquerour in his Parliament at Pendrede the Archbishop Bishops Lords and Great Men being present This was manifestly a State Assembly and by these was the Right between the two Bishops examined and determined But more properly Ecclesiastical was the Cause which William the Second examined in his Parliament at Rockingham upon Anselm's resolving to go to Rome and to receive his Pall from thence This the King vehemently opposed and declared that the Archbishop could not both preserve his fidelity to him and pay obedience to the Pope And it is observable that the referring of this cause to the Judgment of the Parliament was at Anselm's own desire who cannot be suspected of doing any thing that he thought in the least inconsistent with the Liberties of the Church The next great Controversie that arose of this kind was in the second Year of King Henry the First about the Right of Investitures This was a point much debated in those times not only here but in most of the Countries of Europe To this the King laid a claim and accounted himself to have as good a Title to it as his Father and Brother before him had Upon this occasion the Quarrel grew so high between the King and Anselm that the latter was once more sorced to leave the Kingdom But the cause was at last brought before the Parliament and there it was by mutual Consent resolved that from thenceforth no one should be invested by the King or any other lay hand to a Bishoprick or Abbey by the delivery of the Pastoral Staff or Ring but yet upon such a promotion they should do Homage to the King for it which was the other thing that Pope Urban had before insisted upon as much as upon the point of Investitute its self This matter was scarce ended when another arose about the Marriage of the Clergy And this was in like manner ended in Parliament by the Authority as well of the King and his Lords as of the Archbishops and Bishops And an order made to prohibit all such as were in any Clerical Order to cohabit with their Wives There was yet a third great Controversie remaining concerning the Primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Subjection that was due from the Archbishop of York to him This also was brought before the King at Whitsontide and determined by him with his Bishops and Lords and the Authority of the See of Canterbury asserted by them And when some time after this Thurstine Archbishop of York refused to be concluded by this Decree he was in full Parliament obliged either to renounce his Bishoprick or to pay Obedience to the See of Canterbury No sooner was this King dead and Stephen placed in his Throne but in full Parliament he confirm'd the Liberties of the Church and made very ample Concessions to it In his Parliament at Northampton two years after he disposed of several Ecclesiastical Preferments And that this was the customary manner of those times may be gathered from the last Parliament of this King Which was call'd by him as well for the Affairs of the Kingdom as to make Provision for the Church of York then vacant by the death of St. William the late Bishop of it How far the Parliament still continued to meddle with Ecclesiastical Affairs under the next King's Reign the
their Meeting and was greatly satisfied at their Behaviour in it It was not long after this that as Baronius himself confesses Theodorick summon'd another Synod at Rome to judge of the Crimes alledged against Symmachus Bishop of that See and submitted the Determination of that Affair to their Resolution And when Caesarius Bishop of Arles desired to convene a Provincial Synod in France according to the direction of the Antient Canons and the Allowance of the Laws to that purpose Yet he did not think it sitting so to do till he had obtained the Consent of Alaric the Goth for it And it is expresly noted that it was held by his Allowance What Caesarius here did with respect to Alaric an Arrian Prince the same did Avitus Bishop of Vienne with regard to Sigismond the Son of Gundebald King of the Burgundians whom he had not long before converted to the Catholick Faith He call'd even his Provincial Synod with the King's Consent And tho' himself Metropolitan of that District yet presided in it by the Prince's Order Such was the Authority by which these lesser Synods were wont to be held immediately upon the breaking of the Empire And that thus it continued till the Prevalence of the Papal Power began to overthrow the Prince's Right will appear from a short View of this matter in some of the principal States which arose out of the Ruins of it And 1. That this was so in the Kingdom of Spain the Councils of Toledo the most eminent of Any in that Country both for Number and Authority sufficiently demonstrate That the Second of these was call'd by the Permission of Amalaric the Synod it self owns But the Third and I think the most considerable of them all is yet more full to our present purpose It was a General Council of that whole Nation In it the Goths adjured their Heresie and embraced the Catholick Faith This Faith was first establish'd in Spain by the Authority of this Council and several very useful Canons were framed by it for the Government of the Church for the Time to come And all this was done by the Command of Reccaredus their King Who with Badda his Queen subscribed to the Orthodox Faith in it and made not only his Bishops but the chief of his Nobility and others subscribe to it It would be needless for me after so clear an Evidence as this Synod has given us of the Authority by which Councils were antiently Convened in Spain to spend any long time in the particular Examination of the several Councils that follow'd after It shall therefore suffice barely to say thus much that the Fourth of Toledo Another National Council and of great Authority in those parts met by the Order of Sisenandus as the Third had done by that of Reccaredus The Fifth by the Command of Cinthila who also confirm'd the Acts of it The Sixth of Cinthilan The Seventh of Chindaswind The Eighth of Recceswinthus The rest by the Order of the several Princes which follow'd after As from the Acts of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth the last of these Synods it does evidently appear As for their Provincial Synods they were not indeed always summon'd by the express particular Order of those Princes But yet even these were held by Vertue of that Authority which the Third Great Council of Toledo under Reccaredus before mention'd had given to them It was by vertue of this Allowance that the Synods of Narbonne and Saragosa were assembled and in Both which for that Reason it is said that they met according to the Order of that Prince and to the Appointment of that Council 2. And the same Authority which these Kings used in Spain did their next Neighbours the Suâ—vian Princes exercise in Galaecia during the time of their Empire there The Second Council of Braga the Metropolis of that Country is expresly declared to have met at the Command of Ariamirus or as some have rather thought of Theodimirus their King It was by the same Authority that the Synod of Lugo not long after was assembled to divide the Country into several Provinces and to erect a greater number of Bishopricks in it And when by Vertue of this Division the Clergy of that Country were come together in two Provincial Synods under their respective Metropolitans according to the ancient Canons in that behalf Miro his Successor order'd them to meet both together in a General Council at Braga and there agree upon such Constitutions as they should find the Necessities of the Church to require 3. If from hence we cross over to the Kingdom of Burgundy we shall find those Princes in possession of the same Rights over their Synods that the other Kings have been shewn to have exercised The Inscription of the Second Council of Lyons assembled about the Year 567 shews that it was call'd by the Command of Guntramn their King who also not long after assembled another Synod at Challon as Gregory of Tours informs us It was by the Order of the same Guntramn that the Great Council of Mascon was held And when that had not sufficiently restored the Discipline of the Church he not only assembled another at Lyons but more in several other places at Valence Poitiers Mascon c. all whose Acts expresly avow the Authority by which they met 4. In Germany Carloman first and then Charles the Emperor as they were the great Restorers of Religion and Assertors of the Discipline of the Church so will they afford us a sufficient proof of the Prince's Authority in this particular It was the former of these who with the Advice of his Clergy and Nobles called the Council of Ratisbon which is accounted among the First of Germany An. 742. And how the Other continued by the same Authority to summon the like Assemblies the several Synods of Wormes Valenciennes Aix la Chappelle but especially the two Great Councils of Mentz and Frankford in the latter of which not only the Bishops of Germany but of France and Aquitain were assembled together and over all Whom Charles the Emperor presided abundantly shew No sooner was this great Prince dead but Ludovicus Pius his Successor after his Example call'd together his Clergy to Aix-la-Chappelle for the correction of the Negligence and Ignorance of the Bishops and for the better regulating of the Lives of the Clergy And having fully determined whatsoever was thought expedient in Order thereunto he commanded a strict Obedience to be paid to the Constitutions which had been made by them And when this did not yet sufficiently correct the Abuses of those times He not only summon'd a Second Council to meet at the same place but being met he proposed to them such Heads as he conceived to be farther necessary with respect both to the Lives and Doctrine of the Bishops and Clergy and order'd the
That they had not proceeded according to the Method he had prescribed to them and commands them not to proceed to any farther Censures until they had settled the doctrine of Faith and receiv'd some New Directions from himself which he promis'd to send by another Commissioner whom he design'd to depute together with Candidian to look after them The Answer of the Council to this Order of the Emperor is very remarkable and clearly settles the Princes Right as to this particular They pretend not that he had no Power thus to Limit their Proceedings or to annul their Acts upon this pretence that they had not proceeded according to his Directions No but they beg leave to inform him that Candidian had not made a fair Report of their Actions to him and therefore intreat the Emperor that he would order Candidian with Five of the Fathers to come to him who should satisfie him that all things had been done Canonically by the Council The Emperor hereupon sends another Commissioner to them Who having examined both Parties and discover'd the Design of the Patriarch of Antioch gave leave to Seven Bishops of each side to go to Theodosius and inform him of their Proceedings This they did and the Emperor was satisfied that the Council had proceeded regularly against Nestorius In testimony whereof he approved of what they had done allow'd of their Acts and confirm'd them with his own Edict Such Authority has the Christian Prince to direct the Acts of the most General Councils and to require an Observance of their Directions I proceed 2dly To shew That for the better Exercise of this Authority He has also a Right if he pleases to sit in them and to preside over them So Constantine the first Christian Emperor did in the first General Council of Nice He not only sate with the Fathers but moderated in their Disputes and at last concurr'd with them in their Desinition And though after his Example in the Synod of Tyre the following Emperors chose rather to preside by their Commissioners than to come Themselves in Person and sit among them yet oftentimes we know they did vouchsafe their Presence to them and it was their Civil Affairs that prevented them when they did not Thus Marcian not only removed the Fourth General Council to Chalcedon on purpose that he might have it nearer to Him but was Himself present in the Sixth Action of it both to confirm what the Fathers had determined and to settle by their Judgment the Faith of the Church to After Ages And when by Order of the Council their Determination was read to him he not only approved of it but added this farther Sanction to it That if any Private Person Military Officer or Clergy-man should under pretence of any farther Dispute concerning those Matters cause any Disturbance if he were only a private Laick he should be banish'd if a Military Officer or Clergy man he should be degraded from his Employ and be liable to such farther Punishments as in such Case should be thought requisite And having done this he deliver'd to the Fathers Three Ecclesiastical Constitutions ready drawn up to be approved of by Them and they all gave their unanimous Assent to them But more frequent was the Custom of those Kings who Govern'd in those States which arose out of the Dissolution of the Roman Empire to sit and act with their Synods If we look to the Kingdom of Spain I have already observed how great a Veneration that Country has always paid to the Third Council of Toledo There were present at it five Metropolitans and seventy-eight Bishops subscribed to it Now at this Meeting Reccaredus was not only himself present but caused his Subjects who were before Arians to subscribe to the Catholick Faith in it And having done this He went on with the Fathers to settle the Discipline of the Church and acted rather like a Patriarch than a Prince among them For to instance only in a Canon or Two of that Council In the Second they tell us that the Bishops order'd so and so by the Advice of their most Glorious King Reccaredus In the Eighth by his Command and Consent In the Ninth by his Assent And lastly when all was done He thus subscribed the Acts of the Council together with the Bishops I Flavius Reccaredus King confirming this Deliberation which I have defined with the Holy Synod have subscribed to it It is impossible to imagine any thing more full to this purpose than what these Acts have afforded us As for the German Emperors they also sate in like manner with their Bishops In the famous Synod of Frankford one of the most eminent that was ever held after the first Antient and General Councils we read that it was assembled Praecipiente Praesidente Carolo Rege And whereas there were three great Points debated in it namely first Whether they should confirm the Sentence of Condemnation which had before been pass'd upon Elipandus Bishop of Toledo who held that our Saviour Christ was the Son of God only by Adoption and according to the Flesh not as if He were of the same Nature with God Secondly What they should resolve concerning the Second Council of Nice as to the Business of Image-Worship And Thirdly How to end some Secular Affairs It may be observed that in the Two first of These which related to Matters of Doctrine we find nothing of the Emperor's defining with the Bishops as neither of the Bishops concurring with Him in the Third But in all the Other Canons which concern the Discipline of the Church the King and the Synod join together and the Phrase runs in these Terms Statutum est Definitum est à Domino Rege à Sanctâ Synodo I might to this add many other Instances of the like nature but I shall take notice only of one and that of a Synod held under another Emperor lest any one should think that Charles the Great had taken more upon him than did of Right belong to him And it shall be of the Synod of Trebur called by Arnulf the Emperor about the Year 895. At the head of the Subscriptions made to which there is this remarkable Passage In this Holy Council the most Glorious King Arnulf our pious Prince presiding and assisting sate the Holy Fathers which came together with the Venerable Pastors of the Church And what they establish'd agreeably to the Catholick Faith they by a like profession confirm'd and with one accord subscribed to In short that the Princes of whom I have now been speaking did no more than all the other Emperors have been confest to have a Right to do is manifest from the Constitution made to this purpose in a full Synod An. 742. Where after a long Debate of the Prince with his Bishops and Priests how the Law of God and the Discipline of the Church might best be restored it was in the very
Archbishop's Command and so they proceeded to the business for which they were called And here then we have a full Representation of the State of our Convocation and how it was managed in these times Great was the Usurpation which the Pope in all this made upon the King's Authority And it ought the rather to be taken notice of because this Archbishop was otherwise a hearty Friend to the Liberties of his Country and had a true respect and value for the King whose Follies and Excesses wrought so far upon him that they are at last thought to have broke his Heart The next Archbishop that succeeded him as he came in by the Pope's Authority so to maintain his Power the better he took care by such means as seldom fail in the Roman Court to gain mighty Privileges from that See Being supported with these he proceeds to make a Provincial Visitation holds several Synods at Oxford Lambeth and in other places And in one at Westminster publishes his Provincial Constitutions And all that the King was able to do was to send a Prohibition to him not to attempt or do any thing to his Prejudice or to the Prejudice of the State his Crown or Kingdom As for Simon Mepham who succeeded this Archbishop he held some few Synods and made some Provincial Constitutions in neither of which there is any thing extraordinary to be observed And the same must be said of the Convocations held by Archbishop Stratford who follow'd after In all which there is little to be taken notice of more than this that what Constitutions were made by them he ordered to be observed by his own Authority and to be publish'd by the Clergy throughout his Province But here tho' it be not necessary to our present purpose yet it may not be amiss to observe how our Kings began by degrees to assert their Authority and to put a stop if not an end to the Usurpations of the Court of Rome It was about the Year 1343 that the Pope desiring to encrease his Revenue here sent a Message to the Clergy to perswade them out of the two Provinces of Canterbury and York to maintain too Cardinals at Rome This being brought before the Parliament it was resolved by the common Consent of that great Council to let the Pope freely know that they were grown weary of his Impositions and neither could nor would bear any longer those Burdens which he was continually laying upon the Kingdom For which end it was also resolved that whosoever procur'd any Benefice in this Realm by vertue of the Pope's Provision should be obliged to come and live upon it and not be suffer'd to draw the Wealth of the Nation into other Countries And least this should not do it was also farther establish'd that no one should be admitted to any Benefice upon the Authority of any Bull from Rome without the King 's special License and Consent And all the Lords and Nobles declared that if the Pope went on by his Provisions to dispose of Benefices whether to Foreigners or others which their Ancestors had given by way of Charity to religious Persons to pray for them they would forthwith seize them into their own hands and dispose of them as they thought good This was a brisk stand and some restraint it did put to the Pope's Exorbitancies And yet it was but a year after that he sent two Bishops to the King to prevail with him to revoke these orders But our Historians tell us that they received a short Answer and presently return'd home again And the next year following the King put a Fine upon all Foreign Clergy-men and took of every one according as they were able to give It would be too long for me to say how far this great King following herein the steps of his Royal Grandfather King Edward I. proceeded to maintain his own Authority and the Liberties of his Country against the Papal Encroachments I shall only add that notwithstanding all the endeavours of the Court of Rome to the contrary he constantly adhered to the Laws made against Provisors c. And when the Pope publish'd his Indulgence at Rome Anno 1349 he not only expresly forbad any of his Subjects to go thither but recall'd those who were already there But to return to our Convocations and the method observed in holding of them When the Archbishop complain'd in the Parliament of the Violation that was made of the Privileges of the Church in that Clergy-men known to be such were oftentimes forced to appear before the King's Judges it was freely told him that in this nothing was done but what was absolutely necessary to the Peace of the Realm For that the Ordinary was so negligent in punishing of them that there would be no bounds set to their Excesses unless the civil Magistrate took some care to restrain them The Archbishop was sensible that this was but too true and thereupon he went apart with his Parliamentary Clergy and by their common Advice and Consent set forth an order for the more severe confining and punishing of such Offenders As for the other Synods held by this Archbishop there being little remarkable in them I shall not need to insist upon them It was about the Year 1393 that the famous Statute of Proemunire was pass'd and by which it was hoped that an effectual stop would have been put to the Usurpations of the See of Rome And indeed it has been said by some that from this time forward our Archbishops did leave off to summon Convocations by their own Authority and call'd them only at the King's Command But tho' I am not altogether satisfied in this particular yet that they now began to be more moderate in the Exercise of their Power I do easily believe And certain it is that not only after this Act but all along before when things ran at the highest against the Royal Prerogative yet still our Kings often interposed their Authority and summon'd Convocations by their own Writs directed to the Archbishop as they still continue to be at this day And now the Preaching of Wickliffe and the Opinions by him brought in began to be taken notice of Insomuch that Courtney being Archbishop thought it needfull to hold a Synod at London on purpose to pass a Sentence of Condemnation upon them Whether he did this at the King's Command or by vertue of his own Legatine Authority I shall not enquire But this we are assured that the King thereupon issued out his orders for the Arresting of all such as held any Heretical Tenets and particularly that opposed the Doctrine of the Church agreed upon in that Convocation And the same was the business of the Councils held by Arundel his Successor first at Oxford Anno 1394 then at London Anno 1408. And lest the orders of such Synods should not be sufficient to put a stop to the growth of
knowledge of the method in which Ecclesiastical Affairs were wont to be transacted in these most remote times upon which I am now entring and that the understanding of these will very much depend upon a right apprehension of the nature of those great Councils I shall have so much occasion to insist upon in this Period I will endeavour in the first place to give the most distinct account I can of them and that from Foreign Historians as well as from those of our Own Country And here were the manner of holding Parliaments as truly ancient as its Preface pretends and as some affirm that it is we should be able to go on the more easily in our Account of these Councils But because there are many things which make me justly suspect the Antiquity of that piece I must be forced to look out for some other Guides of a better Note and of whose Sincerity there can be no doubt That there was all along in these days a very near Affinity between the Polity of France and that of our own Country in its Ecclesiastical as well as in its civil Establishment might from many Instances evidently be made appear Those Northern Nations who about 400 years after Christ began to over-run the greater part of Europe were very much alike in their Manners and Constitutions And the Government which at the beginning they setled in those Countries in which they six'd tho' in some Circumstances it might vary yet in the main was the same too Now the Parliaments of France for so in aftertimes the great Councils of the Nation were call'd by them as well as with us were first brought into a setled Order and Method by Pepin Brother to Carloman about the year 744 in the very times we are noâ— discoursing about And the manner in which he did it was this He call'd together his Bishops and great Lords to a Council at Soissons and there with the advice of both commanded the ancient Canons to be observed and set out several new Constitutions for the Government of the Clergy as well as of the Laity And to the end that the State of both might be kept in better order they farther decreed that from thenceforth such a Synod should be held for the same purpose once every Year And thus this Affair stood for some time till about eleven years after being a little at leisure from those Wars which had almost continually exercised him he began to put his Kingdom into a better Posture To which end having again call'd together almost all the Bishops of France he resolved to have two Meetings held every year the first upon the Kalends of March in the presence of the King and at such place as he should appoint the other upon the Kalends of October at Soissons or at such other place as the Bishops at the former Meeting should agree And here began a manifest difference to appear between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Synods For at the former of these there met not only the Bishops but the chief of the Lay Lords of the Realm In that were Laws made both for the Civil and Ecclesiastical State and being framed by the Council were examined and confirmed by the King Whereas at the latter there appear'd only the Bishops and Clergy and these made no new Constitutions but only consulted together about the State of the Church and if need were prepared matter for the next State Meeting or else took care to order the Reformation of Mens Manners according to the Laws already made Such was the Polity which that King establish'd for the Ordering both of Civil and Ecclesiastical Affairs But now this Settlement begun by Pepin was very much improved by Charles the Great And because of this we have a very exact account given us by Hincmarus out of the Writings of Adalardus Abbot of Corbey and a near Relation of Charles himself it may not be amiss to take a short View of it In the first place then He appointed two Assemblies to be held every Year the One a General Council of all the Bishops Abbots and Lords of the Realm The Other more select consisting only of a certain number of the more aged and honourable of all these such as the Prince should think sit to chuse together with his principal Ministers of State whom he also call'd to it In the General Council all the publick Affairs for the following Year were setled In the Other were handled such incidental Matters as not being foreseen could not by Consequence be provided for in that Great Assembly and yet were of such a Nature that They ought not to be deferr'd till that Council should meet again In Both these Councils tho' chiefly in the General One Laws were made both for the Church and Realm The King proposed to them what He would have them debate upon and having for three days consulted together they laid the Result of their Debates before Him and his Choice and Approbation determined the Matter But that which I would chiefly observe in these Councils is this That as the Causes which sell in to be handled by them were of a different Kind so were they dispatch'd by Them after a different Manner If the Matter to be deliberated upon were purely Spiritual in that Case the Bishops and Abbots went apart by Themselves and debated upon it If it were wholly Civil or Military the Lords alone consulted about it If it were of a mix'd Nature as relating to the Government or Discipline of the Church then they Both together treated of it But which soever it were still the King consider'd of their Resolutions and determined all as He saw fit From this difference both of the Matters debated in these Assemblies and of the Manner of deliberating upon Them the same Assembly is oftentimes called both a Royal and Synodical Council Thus Sigebert styles the Council of Trebur under the Emperour Conrade Anno 1031. And thus may many of our ancient Councils be distinguish'd I shall mention only One in which a learned Antiquary of our Own Country has made the same Remark the famous Synod of Aenham at which not only the Bishops and Abbots but the lay Nobility were present But yet the most part of what was done in it related to the Church and was concluded by the Clergy alone who went apart from the Other Lords for that purpose It were an easie matter to shew that the same method of deliberation continued to be observed not only in our more Ancient General Councils of this period but even after the Reduction of our Parliament to the Form in which it now is But this would lead me too far away from those Times I am now upon And I shall have a more proper Occasion hereafter to take notice of it In the mean time from what has been said it appears that the Method of transacting publick Affairs in France in
than declaring to them how the Law then stood and still is in the like Cases And in which it is Agreed that Men Attaint or Outlaw'd shall be put to answer in Any Action against them because it is to their Prejudice But in an Action brought by Them they shall not be Answered because it is to their Benefit So that if the Chief Justice committed any Fault it must be either in Obeying the Law or in declaring to their Council what Incapacities the Clergy lay under That is for acting uprightly in his Place and judging according to the Laws of the Realm which is not wont to be accounted a Crime in such Persons The truth is there is hardly a Man of those Times upon whom this Author could more unluckily have Reflected than this Sir Robert Brabazon He was made Second Justice of the Common-pleas by King Edward 1st about the 18th Year of his Reign Seven Years he served his Prince in that Station and was then for his Merits created Lord Chief Justice of that Court Anno 24. Edw. 1. In the first Year of his Son King Edw. 2. He was sworn anew into his Place And about Seven Years after had the Care of the Treasury committed to him till a Lord Treasurer should be chosen which was done about a Year after And being thus Grown Old in the Service of his two Masters and disabled to attend any Longer at his Court that he might sit down with Honour He was in Consideration of his Great Fidelity chosen into the King's Council and in that Quality ended his Life This is the Man whom this discreet Author has endeavour'd to Bespatter and this was the Crime for which he so tragically exclaims against Him And now upon the whole matter let this Gentleman freely say What he has to except against in the Conduct of this Great Prince Or whether upon a true State of this Matter He will espouse the Cause of the Archbishop and Clergy Here is a brave and war-like Prince engaged in a War of the utmost Consequence to his Country and People He carrys it on himself with Vigor and ends it with Glory He forces his Enemy not only to yield to Him but to Own his Authority and do him Homage Being Return'd with Victory He calls his Parliament and is Readily assisted by his Lay Subjects to pay his Debts and prepare himself against his Other Enemies Only his Clergy not only Refuse to contribute to the Defence of their Country but put an Indignity of the basest Nature upon their King Like the Pharisees with their Vow of Corban they first procure the Pope to pass an Order against their assisting of Him and then with a Jewish Hypocrisie look demure and pretend That truly they would Assist him with all their Hearts but the Pope has forbidden it And they dare not do it In return to this Usage the King determines no longer to afford his Protection to those who had deliver'd themselves up to Another Interest and thereupon refused to contribute any thing to the Support of the Government by which they were secured in the peaceable Enjoyment of their Own Rights and Estates And the Parliament thought his Resolution so just that they closed in with it and readily confirm'd it with their Authority This was the Case of the whole Clergy then and it is but too like the Case of some of them Now. And the Effect was that being by this means brought to a Sense of their Duty the greatest Part of them presently submitted to the King and All the next Year granted a Supply to Him And have thereby left us this Observation That the only way to deal with some Persons is to treat them as they deserve And to let them know that those are unworthy of the Protection of the Government who are Embark'd in an Interest different from it and Refuse to Contribute to the Necessities of it APPENDIX CONTAINING Some PUBLICK ACTS and Other Collections referr'd to in the Foregoing Discourse APPENDIX I. The Ancient Form of summoning an Abbot to Parliament Ex Reyner Apost Benedict p. 149. Append. Part. iii. num LXIX HEnricus Dei Gratia Rex Angliae c. N. Abbati S. Albani Quia de Avâ—samento consilii nostri pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis Nos Statum Defensionem Regul nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae contingentibus quoddam Parleamentum apud Westminster tali die teneri Ordinavimus ibidem Uobiscum cum Ceteris Prelatis Magnatibus Proceribus dicti Regni nostti Colloquium habere tractatum Uobis in â—ide dilectione quibus Nobis tenemini firmiter injungendo Mandamus Quod consideratis dictorum negotiorum Arduitate Periculis imminentibus Personaliter intersitis Nobiscum ac cum Prelatis Magnatibus Proceribus predictis super predictis Negotiis traâ—taturi Uestrumque Consilium impensuri hoc sicut nos Honorem nostrum ac Salvationem Defensionem Regni Ecclesie predicte Expeditionemque dictorum Negotiorum diligitis nullatenus Omittatis Teste meipso The Parliament Abbots thus summon'd Ex Eod. 1. Abbas Glastoniae 2. Abbas S. Augustini Cant ' 3. Abbas S. Petri Westmonaster ' 4. Abbas S. Albani 5. Abbas S. Edmundi de Bury 6. Abbas S. Petri de Burgo 7. Abbas S. Johannis Colcestriae 8. Abbas Eveshamiae 9. Abbas Winchelcumbiae 10. Abbas Croylandiae 11. Abbas de Bello 12. Abbas Redingiae 13. Abbas Abendoniae 14. Abbas Salopiae 15. Abbas S. Petri Gloucestriae 16. Abbas Bardeneyae 17. Abbas S. Benedicti de Hulmo 18. Abbas Thorneiae 19. Abbas Ramseiae 20. Abbas Hydae 21. Abbas Maimesbiriae 22. Abbas S. Mariae Eborac ' 23. Abbas Selbeyae 24. Abbas Tavestoke 25. Prior Conventriae II. The Ancient Writs of Summons of a Bishop to Parliament Cl. 49. H. 3. M. 11. Dors. in Schedula HEnricus dei Gratia Rex Angliae Dominus Hiberniae Dux Aquitaniae venerabili in Christo Patri R. eadem Gratia Episcopo Dunelm Salutem Cum post Gravia turbationum diserimina dudum habita in Regno Charissimus Filius Edwardus Primogenitus noster prâ— pace in Regno nostro Assensuranda Firmanda Obses traditus extitisset jam sedata benedictus Deus turbatione predicta super deliberatione ejusdem salubriter providenda plena securitate tranquilitate pacis ad Honorem Dei Utilitatem totius Regni nostri firmanda totaliter complenda ut super Quibusdam al 〈…〉 is Regni nostri Negotus que sine Consilio vestro aliorum Prelatorum Magnatum nostrorum nolumus expediri cum iisdem tractatum habere nos oportet Uobis Mandamus Rogantes in fide dilectione quibus nobis tenemini quod Omni Occasione post-posita Negotiis al 〈…〉 s pretermissis sitis ad nos London in Octabis S. Hilarii proxim futur Nobiscum cum predictis Prelatis Magnatibâ—s nostris quos ibid. vocari fecimus super premissis tractatur Concilium impensur Et