the two and twentieth An. D. 1316. among whom Walsingham speaking of that Pope saith thus Tho Walsingh in Ed 2. fo 84. Summus Pontifex reservavit Camerae fuae primos fructus beneficiorum omnium in Anglia per triennium vacantium And Ranulph Cestrensis thus Johannes 22. Lib. 7. cap. 42. in H. Knighton Coll. fo 2534. Beneficiorum per mortem seu resignationem vacantium sive per translationem primos fructus reservavit But howsoever or by whomsoever these became first impos'd after the Popes had been absolutely and throughly seized of them then they claimed them Jure Divino by example of the High Priest amongst the Jews Numb 18.6 who had Tenths from the Levites But Pol. Vergil sings another note in the place above referr'd to insinuating the maintenance of the Pope's grandeur to be the first rise of them and that this was one of the fairest flowers in the Triple Crown but when the payment of them had been continued some competent time it was politickly done upon any questioning to assign them a Divine Original which was sure to satisfie such as used to take the Pope's word for far greater matters The payment of these with other great summs of which more anon so strangely impoverish'd the Kingdom that notwithstanding that allegation or pretence of Divine Right the Kings of England made no scruple sometimes to forbid the payment of them 2 Ed. 3. Claus Rot. m. 4. 25 Ed. 3. 47 Ed. 3. as K. Ed. 3. once discharged the Pope's Nuntio from collecting the First Fruits c. and many Prohibitions were granted against the Popes Collectors on complaint made by the grieved Commons in Parliament as appears by the several Collections thereof made by the Lord Coke Coke Jurisd of Courts cap. 14 Stat. 2 H. 4. cap. 1. 1 Ric. 2. and in one Statute made to remedy that grievance it was termed a Horrible Mischief and Damnable Custome and at another Parliament it was call'd a Very Novelty But herein did the policy of the Court of Rome notably appear that sometimes when the Kingdom complain'd of its burdens and the Kings in some exigency calling for the Subjects Aids and thereupon the Pope's revenue in danger of a temporary if not a total stop the Popes would in such a juncture and perhaps in a frolick of bounty concede or assign the First Fruits c. for some time to the King as for one year or more as the occasion seem'd to require and in particular Pol. Vergil Hist lib. 20. fo 405. Pope Vrban gave them to King Richard the second to aid him against Charls the French King And this project serv'd excellently well both to habituate the People to payment and to win the Kings for their continuance to whom they might be thus useful in any case of extremity But the policy of after Parliaments went a reach beyond that of the Popes for as a perpetual addition to the revenues of the Crown they were by a Statute in the time of King Henry the eighth given to the King his Heirs Stat 26 Hen. 8. cap. 3. and Successors for ever And then for the ordering of these First Fruits and Tenths there was a Court erected An. 32 Hen. 8. Stat. 32 Hen. 8. cap. 45. but this Court was dissolv'd again An. 1 Mariae but King Philip and Queen Mary gave them not again to the Pope but by Authority of Parliament discharged the Clergy thereof Afterwards by a Statute Stat. 1 Elâ—z 4. in the first year of Queen Elizabeth they were revived and reduced again to the Crown yet was the Court never restored but the First Fruits and Tenths were ordered to be within the Rule Survey and Government of the Court of Exchequer and a new Office and Officer created viz. a Remembrancer of the First Fruits and Tenths of the Clergy who taketh all compositions for them and maketh out Process against such as pay not the same And now they are to be paid in such manner as is directed and appointed in and by the said Statutes oâ— 26 Hen. 8. and 1 Eliz. The Stat. 26 Hen. 8. appointing that every Spiritual person shall pay or secure by Bond his First Fruits before his actual possession of his Benâ—fice and that an Obligation for First Fruits shall be of like force as a Statute Staple and that no more shall be taken for such an Obligation than eight pence and for an Acquittance four pence and if any person shall be convict by Presentment Verdict Confession or Witness before the Lord Chancellor or other Commissioners to have entred upon any Spiritual Living before composition or payment he shall forfeit the double value of the First Fruits Stat. 3 Ed. 6. cap. 20. And if Tenths being due shall not be paid within forty dayes after demand thereof made by the Bishop or his Officers and thereupon certificate made under Seal of the Bishop or Collector the party making default shall be deprived ipso facto of that one Dignity or Benefice Besides it is to be remembred Stâ—t 1 Eâ—iz 4. that Vicarages not exceeding Ten Pounds per annum and Parsonages not exceeding Ten Marks per annum shall not pay First Fruits but all are to pay Tenths Then for the valuation of Ecclesiastical Livings we are to know that antiently they were valued by a Taxation Book made An. 20 Ed. 1. Coke 4 Instir fo 120. which still remaineth in the Exchequer But then another Book of Taxation was made An. 26 Hen. 8. kept in that Court also and according to this latter Taxation are the values of Ecclesiastical Livings computed for the payment of the First Fruits and Tenths And so much as every Living is there valued so much it is said to be in the Kings Books and so much must be paid for First Fruits Yet every Spiritual person at his Composition and entring into Specialties to pay the same shall have deduction of the Tenth part thereof and that in respect of the Tenth as shall be by him paid that year for by the Stat. 27 Hen. 8. Stat. 27 Hen. 8. cap. 8. none shall pay Tenths the same year that they pay First Fruits therefore they are deducted as aforesaid The way now of Composition for First Fruits is for the Parson Presented Admitted c. with sufficient Sureties to enter into Four Bonds each conditioned for the payment of the Fourth part of the First Fruits deducting the Tenth as aforesaid the first Bond payable at half a years end the second Bond at a Twelve-moneths end the third at a year and halfs end and the fourth at two years end and so the party hath two years time to pay the First Fruits And then by the Statute of 1 Eliz. cap. 4. it is appointed That if an Incumbent continue in his Benefice half a year after the last avoidance and then dye or be legally outed before the end of the year then he his Executors Administrators or
3. by his menacing Bull to Geoffry de Lysimaco earnestly demanded by Otho his Legate all the arrears of the 1000 marks annual rent granted by his Father K. John due from the beginning of his Papacy and the King's reign who therupon paid all those arrears amounting to 10000 marks for which he desired the Popes allowance and acquittance by this Letter Claus 10 H. 3. m. 2â— doâ—so still kept upon the file Dom. Papae salutem Ad instantiam magistri O. Subdiaconi Capellani vestri viri utique prudentis merito commendabilis qui ad nos transmissus ex parte vestra requirebat à nobis instanter ea quae restare à tempore Papatus Vestri credidit de annuo censu nostro vobis debito Paternitati vestrae praesentibus intimamus quod venerabili Patri P. Norwic. Episc septem millia quadringentas tresdecem marcas dimidium de praedicto censu solvimus sicut mâ—minit ipse pariter confitetur Et ad perficiendum octo millia marcarum praedicto magistro Ottoni solvi fecimus quingentas quater viginti sex marcas dimidium Et praeterea mille marcas tibi assignari fecimus De mille vero marcis vobis satisfecerint Magister Stephanus de Eketon Magister Stephanus de Ducy nuncii nostri sicut nobis significastis Et sic de toto tempore Papatus vestri plenarie vobis est satisfactum Supplicamus igitur sanctitati vestrae quatenus nobis super hoc literas vestras patentes dignemini destinarâ— Teste meipso apud Westmonast 24. die Martii Anno regni nostri Decimo An even reckoning so far And then it appears that in the 33 year of King Hen. 3. Pope Innocent the 4th in the sixth year of his Papacy sent to the King to demand this 1000 marks due for that year An. 33 H 3. in Turri Lond. by this Instrument or Bull Innocentius Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei charissimo in Christo filio Regi Anglorum illustri salutem Apostolicam benedictionem Excellentiam tuam affectione paterna rogamus quatenus mille marcas sterlingorum quas pro anno praesenti Ecclesiae Romanae nomine Census debes dilecto filio Thesaurario Domus militiae Templi London solitae devotionis affectu nomine nostro facias assignari Dat. Lugdun 5 Kal. Augusti Pontificatus nostri sexto Dorso De censu annuo Dom. Papae debito But whether any thing or no was paid upon this demand appears not But by the Liberate Rolls it appears 31 H. 3. m. 1. that this rent due for the 31 year of K. H. 3. was then paid to the Treasurer of the Temple In the year 1276. Pope John 21. sent such another Bull or demand to K. Edw. 1. still preserv'd amongst the Tower Records whereby he demanded the arrears of this annual rent of 1000 marks for seven years then last past and also for that year but whether payment was made accordingly there remains no evidence and when or how much was afterwards paid upon this account is now uncertain But from these footsteps thereof which we find amongst our Records it may well be collected that the Popes being sensible of the defeasibleness of their Title to this Rent durst not always insist upon it but sometimes when they met with an easie King or one whose affairs required the Pope's countenance or aid then they would put on a demand of this rent with the arrears of it and many times without doubt were gratifi'd therein but then with wise and resolute Kings they had the discretion to let it alone and so by continuance of time and non-claim the rent came at last to be extinguish'd CHAP. V. Appeals APpeals to the Court of Rome was another way of drawing great summs of money out of England continually thither And these began most visibly in the time of King Stephen Gervas Dorobern coll fo 1667. according to that of Gervasius Doroberniensis Inusitatae enim erant in Anglia Appellationes usque quo Henricus extitit Wintoniensis Episcopus remembred also by Hen. Huntingdon Hen. Huntingd lib. 8. â—0 395 who tells us also the occasion related at large by Bishop Godwin in the life of Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury And then when the Popes had tasted the sweets of the gains accruing this way all incouragement was given to Appellants so that afterwards there scarcely happen'd any controversie of value but one party or other would presently Appeal to the Pope and Court of Rome for the management of which Appeals it was necessary to retain Proctors Notaries Advocates Agents Sollicitors and many other Officers who all living by the employment expected always to be well paid And in the Court of Rome were continually resident a multitude of Officers Judges Clarks Scribes Advocates Canonists Civillians Referendaries who every one must have a finger in every cause brought thither by Apppeal and be all well paid and brib'd for Bulls Breves Citations Commissions Sentences References Expeditions with innumerable sorts of Processes issuing during the depending of causes which were never speedily ended but spun out to the utmost length with all incouragement of Appellant Suitors bringing grist to the mill and as long as any money flowed to make the wheel go And as these Appeals were purchased in suits between party and party most commonly to the utter undoing of the Plaintiff or Defendant and many times of them both the Pope having the fineness when he had cracked the Nut to take the kernel to himself and to give one shell to one of them and the other to the other so oftentimes they caused a far greater mischief being made use of by haughty turbulent and undutiful subjects especially Church-men to cross and oppose their Soveraigns upon every or any pretence whatsoever Witness the Appeals of Anselme Becket the Monks of Canterbury with multitudes more from the King and his Laws to the Pope as in all our Histories most frequently occurr All which tended only to carry huge sums to Rome and to bring thence no less mischiefs to the King and Kingdom And besides this multitudes of Appeals were founded upon the Elections of Bishops Abbots Priors Deans c. for it was very rare to have all parties acquiesce in an Election but Incapacity Simony Surprize or some irregularity would be pretended and then presently an Appeal must be made to Rome and there generally the cause determined for that party which brought the most money Venalesque manus ibi fas ubi plurima merces Acts Mon. fo 259. As once John Hereford was elected Abbot of St. Alban's Monastery but upon some dis-satisfaction taken thereat Reynold the Physician and Nicholas a Monk were instantly posted away with a huge bag of Money to Rome whereby the Election was confirm'd upon these terms That the new Abbot should swear every third year by himself or some other to visit the Limina Apostolorum in Rome with a subintelligitur that he should
Secundus Salutem Apostolicam benedictionem Charissimum in Christo filium nostrum Henricum Angliae Regem illustrem quem peculiari caritate complectimur aliquo insigni Apostolico munere in hoc regni sui primordio decorandum putantes mittimus nunc ad eum Rosam auream Sancto crismate delibutam odorifico musco aspersam nostrisque manibus de more Rom. Pontificum benedictam quam ei e tuâ fraternitate inter missarum Solemnia per te celebranda cum ceremoniis in notula alligata contentis dari volumus cum nostra Apostolica benedictione Datum Romae apud Sanctum Petrum sub annulo Piscatoris Die quinto Aprilis Anno Millesimo quingentesimo decimo Pontificatus nostri Septimo In the Irish rebellion in the raign of Queen Elizabeth Camâ— Eâ—â—zab the Pope as a token of favour sent to Desmond a principal Leader amongst the Rebels a gracious Agnus Dei and a hallowed Ring â—rom his own finger which Desmond wore about his neck as a charm or preservative against all dangers But his traitorous Consederates being beaten and dispers'd this pittiful deluded favourite wander'd a long time in the woods and bogs till at last almost starved he was found in a poor Cattage and notwithstanding his Defensative had his head cut off by a common Souldier Afterwards Speed Chronâ— in Elizâ—b in another rebellion in Ireland the Pope sent to Tir-Oen the grand Ringleader for his incouragement certain Indulgences and a precious Plume of Phoenix feathers for a Trophey of his victories but they proved but Icarus wings whereby he soared the higher to get the more miserable fall Sometimes again the Pope Bishop Carlton's Remem cap. 4. fo 39. Greg. 13. out of good Husbandry rewards or incourageth his Creatures with Titles of Honour as Thomas Stukeley an Arch Traitor to Queen Elizabeth was by the Pope Created Marquesse of Lagen Earl of Wexford and Caterloghe Vicount of Morough and Baron of Rosse all famous places in Ireland And it was the Pope's design if Stukeley's Rebellion had succeeded Boon Companion to have made his Son James Boncompagno King of Ireland CHAP. XI Collections COllections and Contributions set on foot and vigorously promoted for divers purposes was another means of draining great summs frequently out of the Kingdom And amongst these Contributions for relief of the Holy Land as well for the quantity of the summs as for the misimployment were very considerable but of that we will note more anon in a Chapter apart for that purpose And here we will take notice of some other occasions for which such Collections were made King John to gratifie the Pope granted license and safe Conduct to the Fryers of the Hospital of St. Maries in Rome to Preach and make Collections throughout England for the maintenance of their House built by the Pope as appears by his Letters Patents Pat. 15 Johan m. 7. nu 20. Rex omnibus suis fidelibus tam Clericis quam Laicis c. Salutem Sciatis quod concessimus fratribus Hospitalis S. Mariae in Saxia apud Romam licentiam praedicandi in regno nostro Angliae fideliâ—m eleemosynas caritative petendi accipiendi ad sustentationem pauperum praedicti Hospitalis secundum formam privilegii Apostolici quod inde habent c. Teste moipso apud Rading 10. Die Decembris Anregni nostri 15. In the seventh year of King Edward the first some counterfeit Fryers Bre. Reg. 7 Edw. 1. in Turri Lond. Pro fratribuâ— S. Antonii of the Order of St. Anthony of Vienna wandring abroad and Collecting Alms throughout England the King upon Complaint thereof issued out his writ for their apprehension The Abbots of the Cistercian and Praemonstratensian Orders beyond the Seas Bundel Inq. An. 26 Ed. 1. imposing subsidies Aides and Contributions on the Monasteries of their Orders in England then under them whereby much money wools and other Commodities were transported out of England to the great grievance and mischief of the Kingdom King Edward the first issued out writs to all the Sheriffs of England to inquire of those abuses and to stop the current of them As by the said writs still preserved upon Record it doth appear And afterwards to stop the like exportation of moneys and Goods for they would not be brought totally to give over the same King Pat. 27 Ed. 1. Pro Abbate de Gerendon by his special writ prohibited all of the Cistercian Order except one viz. the Abbot of Gerendon Com. Leic. who was of that Order to presume to go beyond the Seas on that account So the Abbot of Cluny sending his Proctors into England to demand and Collect great summs of money from the Monasteries and Priories of their Order here and on all Ecclesiastical persons on whom they had conferred Benefices without the King's license the King sent out his Writs as well to the said Proctors to inhibite their proceedings as also to the Warden of the Cinque Ports not to permit any Monk of that Order or any other Servant or Messenger to pass the Seas or carry over any moneys without his special license the writ to the Warden of the 5. Ports was thus Rex dilecto fideli suo Roberto de Burghersh Custodi Quinque Portuum suorum Claus 28 Ed. 1. m. 14. Salutem Datum est nobis intelligi quod Abbas Cluniacensis quosdam ex suis Monachis in Angliam specialiter destinavit ad petendum levandum c. reciting the occasion at large Ideo vobis mandamus firmiter injungentes quod nullum Monachum Ordinis praedicti vailettum seu alium nuncium quemcunque pecuniam deferentem ad partes transmarinas transire permittatis sine nostra licentia speciali Teste Rege apud Blidam c. The like mandate went out afterwards to the Constable of Dover Claus 29 Ed. 1. m. 8. dorso and Warden of the Cinque Ports not to permit any Canon Valet or other Messenger of the Order of the Praemonstratenses to carry any moneys or to pass out of England without the King 's special license as was done before for Cluny But yet so prevalent were these begging Fryers by their importunities and favourers that the Monastery of Cluny having sustained great losses and being deeply in debt as was suggested the King notwithstanding his former Prohibitions was perswaded to grant to the Abbot thereof and his Agents to come and collect an Aid and relief from all the Cells and Monasteries here subject to that Order and from all their Tenants within his Dominions with full protection and incouragement so to do Cl. 34 Ed. 1. Pro Abbate Cluniacensi as by his Patent for that purpose remaining upon Record and too long to be here inserted it doth appear And upon such and the like occasions it was that sometimes privately and at other times openly and with the King's license Collections and Contributions were fet on foot and carryed on throughout
him that King John wrote to the Pope the next year Matr. Paris in An. 1206. fo 214. Quod uberiores sibi fructus proveniant de regno Angliae quam de omnibus regionibus citra Alpes c. That the Pope had greater profits out of England than all other Countreys on this side the Alpes c. Nay and these Levys were continued sometimes for six years together as Thorn notes Thorn ut supr wherein the Kings themselves were wont to promote the business by being indulged by the Popes to go snips in the gains After the death of Pope Clement the 4th the See of Rome continued void two years and ten months Matt. Westm fo 352. Contin Matt. Paris fo 976. Tho. Walsingh by reason of the great discord and potent factions amongst the Cardinals And at last Theobald the Arch-deacon of Liege who had been comrade and fellow-souldier with our King Edw. 1. in the Holy Land was elected and took the name of Gregory the 10th whereupon was made these verses Papatum munus tenet Archidiaconus unus An. D. 1272. Quem Patrem Patrum fecit discordia fratrum The Papal Office one Archdeacon takes Whom Father of Fathers Brethren's discord makes King Edward the First coming out of the H. Land into England after the death of his Father King Henry the Third touch'd at Rome where he was nobly entertained and caressed by his old friend this then Pope Gregory the 10th and between them it was contrived to raise some great summs in England under pretence of aid and succour for the Holy Land and in pursuance thereof a special Nuntio was sent from the Pope Reimundus to compell all Ecclesiastical persons to pay Two years Dismes but so it happened that as the moneys came in the King and the Pope's Collectors scrambled for it but the Pope as was believed got the greatest share and the King wanting for his occasions of state was forced to borrow several summs of the Collectors on sufficient security given for repayment Pat. 20 Ed. 1. m. 10. as by the Bonds Securities Counter-bonds and Acquittances upon that occasion still extant amongst the Tower Records may be seen and by this token that at one time the King received of the Pope's Collectors 100000 marks but not one penny as I can learn employed for the use pretended And from this practice of the King and Popesgoing sharers in these and other summs gotten from the People when discovered grew that infamous Proverb Matt. Paris in An. 1255. fo 917. That the King and the Pope were the Lion and the Wolf as on the like distasted occasion these Satyrical Rhimes had also been made Ecclesiae navis titubat regni quia clavis Errat Flor. Hist An. 1306. Rex Papa facti sunt unica capa Hoc faciunt Do Des Pilatus hic alter Herodes The Church's ship in safety cannot home pass When the chief Pilot once mistakes his Compass When King and Pope are given both to plundring One Pilate proves the other Herod thundring Which trick of sharing with the Popes Arnold Ferron de reb Gall. was learned by the French Kings of ours but some of them grew so cunning at last as to put all that was raised that way into their own Pockets and so out-shot the Pope in his own Bow CHAP. XIV Croisado's CRoisado's and vowed expeditions to the Holy Land and against Turks and Infidels dispenced withall or commuted was another trick of the like nature and oftentimes brought great summs into the Pope's Exchequer For it being observed that the Turks ever warred against the Christians with great alacrity S. Hen. Blunts voiage into the Levanâ— upon a belief that if they were killed ipso facto they went into Mahomet's Paradise The Pope to beat the Turk at his own Weapon would oftentimes publish a Croisado that is invite persons to undertake expeditions against the Infidels upon promise of pardon of all their sins Gapitula apud Gaitintun Chron Gervas fo 1522. Temp. Hen. 2. Speln Concil Tom. 2. fo 117. Rad. de Diceto Coll. 707. Quicunque Clericus vel Laicus crucem acceperit ab omnibus peccatis suis auctoritate Dei beatorum Apost Petri Pauli summi Pontificis liberatus est absolutus as was declar'd in one of our Councils Upon which multitudes of all sorts as Kings Nobles and Common people according to the zeal and perswasion of those times would vow to go and list themselves for the Holy War and in token thereof continually afterwards wore upon their Backs Crouchbacks the sign or badge of a Red Cross as being to fight against the enemies of Christ's Cross Now the Pope being God's Lieutenant over these Troops for mony would absolve these of their vows or such of them as upon second thoughts desired to stay at home Will. Malmâ—â— lib. 4. cap. 2. Frequently would he also divert and turn their Arms to other uses as to subdue the Albigenses Waldenses and many others of the Popes private enemies Matt. Paris in An. 1250. fo 803. And Matt. Paris tells a story how once the Pope sold these crossed Pilgrims to others even for ready money as the Jews did their Sheep and their Doves in the Temple Besides when some great expedition was in hand and great contributions made to carry on the War the Pope must be made the Treasurer but never gave any account of his disbursements keeping or converting all or most of the money to his own use Also in absence of Princes upon those expeditions the Popes and their Officers took their full swings to the inriching themselves besides many other considerable advantages and acquists as by the Histories and Complaints of Christendom in that matter most fully and at large it doth appear CHAP. XV. Ambassadors Agents AMbassadors Leiger and Extraordinary Proctors and Agents constantly residing at Rome with their retinues and servants maintained there by our Kings drew as constantly great summs of money out of the Kingdom For Rome being the seat of Policy and the Popes making themselves concern'd and busie in the affairs of all Princes these took it as it was indeed their interest to have continually their respective Agents and Ambassadors there to sollicite for their Master's interest to oppose contrary Factions and to gain intelligences And for these and the like purposes our Kings always had two three or more at a time there from and to whom multitudes of Internuntio's Carryers and Messengers were continually posting and running with Letters Instructions and Dispatches all occasioning a vast expence And by these it was â— Ninotismo dâ— Roma that the Popes were courted and caressed their Nephews Cardinal Patrons and Favourites bribed and presented For the Popes are never without their Creatures and Privado's a Caesar Borgia a Donna Olympia or some such like who must be effectually dealt withall and by them way made to the Pope's ear and savour besides
Scot who runs presently to Rome for confirmation and the King presently sends after him the Bishop of Lichfield and the Prior of Lanthony to sollicite against Scot but after a long tugging and expence of all their money on both sides it was determined that a third man viz. Richard Poor should have the Bishoprick After the death of Stephen Langton Matt. Paris in An. 1228. fo 350. 355. Anâ—quit Brit. in viti Richard Maâ— Archbishop of Canterbury the Monks made choice of Walter de Hempsham to succede him at which the King then being displeased Walter hasts away to Rome as the use then was for his confirmation and the King presently sends after him as his Proctors the Bishops of Coventry and Rochester who appearing before the Pope complained grievously of the misdemeanor of the Monks in making choice of that man as being of no experience suitable to that Dignity but of mean learning one of a debauched and scandalous life having gotten several Bastards upon a Nun and for his extraction his Father had bin condemn'd and hang'd for Theft as himself had also deserv'd having bin a Ringleader amongst Rebels and Traitors But all this would not satisfie the Pope to set him aside Polychron 1.7 cap. 34. until the King ingaged the Pope should have a Disme or the Tenth part of all the moveable goods both of Clergy and Laity throughout England and Ireland which granted the election of Walter Hempsham was declared null and Richard Wethershed promoted to the place The next Successor to Richard Wethershed was Edmund between whom Antic Brit. Godw. in vita Edmundi and the Monks of Rochester a great contest happen'd about the election of one Richard Wendover to be their Bishop whereupon the Bishop goes to Rome and the Covent send their Proctors and these carrying the most money got the cause and Edmund condemn'd by the Pope in 1000. Marks The Bishoprick of Chichester being once void Matt. Paris iâ— Hen. 3. the Canons there elected one Robert Passelew to gratifie the King who had a great kindness for the man but others stemaching him means was made at Rome to have his election quashed and one Richard de la Wich to have the place and thereupon all parties run to Rome with money Bribes complaints and recriminations all which being heard and the money taken the King's man was fob'd off and Wich setled in the See The story is at large in Matthew Paris and a multitude more of like nature might here be exhibited but these shall suffice with this averrement that seldom any election went so cleverly off but something extraordinary came to the Pope besides what was certain by the first Fruits From which we proceed to payments of other natures CHAP. III. Legatine Levies THE Statute of 25 Henry 8. Stat. 25 Hen. 8. cap. 21. Providing that no more summs of money shall be pay'd to the Bishop of Rome begins with recital how the subjects of this realm had for many years been greatly decayed and impoverished by intolerable exactions of great summs of money taken and claimed by the Bishop of Rome called the Pope and the See of Rome as well in Pensions Censes Peter-pence Procurations Fruits suits for Provisions and Expeditions of Bulls for Archbishopricks and Bishopricks and for Delegacies and Rescripts in Causes of Contentions and Appeals Jurisdictions Legantine Dispensations Licences Faculties Grants Relaxations Writs of perinde valere Rehabilitations Abolitions and other infinite sorts c. as the words of the Statute are I cannot now pretend to enumerate or specifie them all when the Statute declares them to be infinite and therefore we shall content our selves to point but at some of them beginning with the Legatine Levies as I may call them Vid. Matthew Westm Flor. Hist in An. 1245 1246. c. Mart. Paris Polychron c. And these were summs of money exacted and levyed upon the King's Subjects throughout the whole Kingdom by Legats and Officers for that purpose deputed by the Pope And these were called for as often as the Popes pretended a need of them for the Court of Rome did inculcate and would have the world to believe Matth. Paris An. 1226. fo 328. That being a Mother she ought to be relieved by her Children Now the first Extraordinary Contribution raised for the Pope in this Kingdom of this kind appears to have bin about the year 1183. when Pope Lucius the third having some quarrel with the Citizens of Rome Rog. Hovedeâ— P. Postenor fo 622. sent to King Henry the second postulans ab co à clericatu Angliae auxilium requiring Aid from him and his Clergy whereupon Consuluit Rex Episcopos suos Clerum Angliae de petitione Summi Pontificis Cui Episcopi Cleri consuluerunt ut ipse secundum voluntatem suam honorem faceret auxilium D. Papae tam pro seipso quam pro illis quia tolerabilius esset plus placeret eis quod D. Rex si vellet accepisset ab eis auxilii recompensationem quam si permisisset Nuncios D. Papae in Angliam venire ad capiendum de eis auxilium quia si aliter fieret posset verti in consuetudinem ad regni sui detrimentum Adquievit Rex consilio suorum fecit auxilium magnum D. Papae in auro argento The King consulted the Bishops and Clergy about the Popes request to whom the Bishops and Clergy returned That the King might if he so pleased and for his honor send aid to the Pope as well for himself as for them because it would be more tolerable and more acceptable to them for his Majesty if he pleased to take a Compensation from them for his Aid than that he should permit the Pope's Officers to come into England to receive it of them which might turn to a custom detrimental to the Kingdom To this counsel the King adher'd and sent a great Aid to the Pope in Gold and Silver as Rog. Hoveden hath at large related the Carriage of that business In which several passages are very remarkable as that the King did in matters that concern'd the Pope consult with the English Church and follow'd their advice and then the care and circumspection of the Clergy to avoid mischievous consequences for the future and that not without very good cause for the Popes were so prone to be busie and tampering in this matter of money that afterward in the time King Edward the first Papa miâ—it bullas inhibitatorias quod nulla persona Ecclesiastica daret seculari personae contributionem ullam absque licentia specialita Romana curia concessa in hac parte Henry de Knighton Coll. 2489. he prohibited the Clergy from giving any thing to the King without his leave first obtained and that under pain of the great excommunication a great presumption this but without any considerable effect to the purpose intended But notwithwanding the before mention'd caution the Popes gained
the tenth and afterwards Pope himself by the name of Clement the seventh Hieronymus de Nugutiis upon the resignation of Jul. Medices injoyed it many years And such prevalence had the Popes and Cardinals in this matter that once King Edw. 1. having promised the Cardinal-Bishop of Sabine at his instance to present one Nivianus an Italian his Chamberlain to a Benefice in Licolnshire then in his gift by the death of another Italian the Popes Chaplain and forgetting his promise presented his own Clark thereunto but being reminded thereof to make good his promse Pâ—t 5 E. 1. m. 16. De praesemation pro M Aptonio de Niviano he revoked his first Presentation and Presented Nivianus to it as appears by his Patent for that purpose still preserved amongst our Records At such time as Rubeus Mar. Paris in An. 1240. fo 540 and Ruffinus two of the Pope's Factors were very busie here in England in Collecting money for the Pope one Mumelinus comes from Rome with Four and twenty Italians with orders that they should be admitted to so many of the best Benefices that should next fall void Mâ—â—t Pâ—jâ—â— codem anno And in the same year it was that the Pope made agreement with the People of Rome that if they would effectually aid him against Frederick the Emperour their Children should be put into all the vacant Benefices in England And thereupon order was sent to Edmund Arch-bishop of Cant. the Bishops of Lincoln and Salisbury that Provision should be made for Three hundred Romans Children to be served of the next Benefices that should fall unde stupor magnus corda haec audientium occupavit timebaturque quod in abyssum desperationis talia audiens mergeretur as the Historian hath it But this made such an impression upon the Archbishop being a tender man to see the Church in that manner wounded and so much evil in his days that he disposed of his affairs and retired into France where for a little while he lived Godw. in vita ejus bewailing the deplorable state of his Country and of grief dyed at Pontiniac CHAP. XVII Priories-Alien PRiories-Alien were another cause or means of carrying great summs for a long time out of the Kingdom And these were of this Original viz. according to the devotion of the times many forraign Monasteries and Religious Houses were endowed with possessions here in England and then the Monks beyond Sea partly to propagate more of their own Rule and Order and partly to place Stewards as it were to transmit a good proportion of the Rents and profits of these their new acquir'd possessions at so great a distance would either by themselves or the assistance of others build a Cell or competent and convenient reception for some small Covent to which they sent over from time to time such numbers as they thought fit and constituted Priors over them successively as occasion required and thereupon they were called Priories-Aliens because they were Cells to some Monasteries beyond the Seas And these Foundations became frequent after the Conquest So as in the raign of King Edward the third they were increased to the number of one hundred and ten in England With some proportion or allowance out of the revenues of these the Prior and Monks sent over were maintained and the residue transmitted to the Houses to which they were allyed to the great damage of the Kingdom and inriching of strangers In time the Foundations of these Priories-Alien became very numerous being spread all over the Kingdom Lamb. Peram of Kent Weav Fun. Mon. One John Norbury erected two the one at Greenwich the other at Lewsham in Kent both belonging to the Abby of Gaunt in Flanders At Wolston in Warwick-shire a Cell W. Dugd. Warw. in Wolston or Religious House was founded subordinate to the Abby of St. Peter Super Dinam in France Another at Monks-Kirby in the same County Id. fo 50. founded by Geffry Wirce of Little Brittain in France appropriated to the Monastery of Angiers the principal City of Anjou And another at Wotton Wawen in the same County Id. fo 604. a Cell of Benedictin Monks belonging to Conchis in Normandy of all which Mr. Dugdale hath several remarks of Antiquity At Hinckley in Leicester-shire Burton Descrip of Leic. fo 134. a Priory of Canons Aliens was founded by Robert Blanchmains Earl of Leicester or as some say by Hugh Grandmeisnell Baron of Hinckley belonging to the Abby of Lira in Normandy and this of a very good value Roger de Poictiers founded a cell for Monks-Aliens at Lancaster Cambd. Brit. in Lancast Edward the Confessor Id. in Glocest fo 362. by his Testament assign'd the religious place at Deochirst in the County of Gloucester and the Government thereof to the Monastery of St. Denis near Paris in France in this remarkable that it will be hard to given another instance of such an assignation before the Norman Conquest King Henry the third once gave licence to the Jews Stow Survey in Broadst Ward Lindwood Constit lib. 3. Tit. 20. at their great charge to build a Synagogue in London which when they had finished he order'd should be dedicated to the Virgin Mary and then made it a Cell to St. Anthony's in Vienna And near unto Charing-Cross there was another Stow Survey in Westm fo 495. annexed to the Lady of Runciavall in Navarre in the Diocess of Pampelone founded in the fifteenth year of King Edward 4. At Sion Cambd. in Midd. fo 420. in Middlesex there was antiently a Monastery for Monks-Aliens Mr. Cambden tells us when they were expuls'd and how it was converted into a Nunnery for Virgins to the honour of our Saviour the Virgin Mary and St. Briget of Syon But Lindwood tells us Lindwoed l. 3. Tit. 20. that the Superior House to which at first it belonged not mentioned by Mr. Cambden was at Wastena in the Kingdom of Sweden of the Rule of St. Austin But the richest of all for annual revenue Harpsfield Catalog Ae l. Rel. fo 762. was that which Yvo Talbois built at Spalding in Lincoln-shire giving it to the Monks of Angiers in France the yearly revenue whereof was valued at 878 l. 18 s. 3 d. per annum Instances might be made of a multitude more of the like Foundations all tending to carry money out of the Kingdom and most commonly to the King's Enemies beyond the Seas Which mischief being apprehended Rot. Parl. 50 E 3. nu 128. and great complaints thereof frequently made in Parliament these Priories-Alien became oftentimes seised into the King's hands and the revenues thereof sequestred to the King's use and then restitutions made and seisures again as occasion required untill the fourth year of King Henry the fourth Claus 4 Hâ—n 4. nu 30. when a new consideration was had in Parliament about these Priories-Alien and resolved that all should again be seised into the King's hands
excepting those that were Conventual and thereupon Summons was given to all the said Priors to appear on the Octaves of St. Hillary at Westminster and to bring with them all their Charters and Evidences whereby the King and his Council might be satisfied whether they had been Priories Conventual time out of mind or not But notwithstanding this Act and that the former seisures had been made upon this ground that by transportation of the revenues belonging to these English Cells to those Houses in France whereunto many of them belonged and were subordinate the King's Enemies at such times as he had warrs with the French were assisted in the Parl. held at Leic. An. 2 Henry the fifth it being considered that though a final peace might afterwards be made between England and France yet the carrying over such great summs of money yearly to those forraign Monasteries would be much prejudicial to this Kingdom and the People thereof there was an Act then made that all the possessions in England belonging to the said Priories-Alien should thenceforth remain to the King his Heirs and Successors for ever excepting such whereof special declaration was then made to the Contrary Rot. Parl. 2 Hen. 5. nu 9. Al intent sayes the Act que divine Services en les lieux avantdictz purront pluis duement estre fait per genti Anglois en temps avenir que n'ount este fait devant cest heurs en icelles per gents Francois c. intimating the mis-imployment of the same And so from thenceforth our Kings disposed of these Priories-Alien and all their revenues arising hence in such manner as they thought most conducible to the good and ease of themselves and the People Which Act of State proved a Praeludium to the dissolution which befel the intire English Monasteries in the raign of King Henry the eighth CHAP. XVIII Knights Templars and Hospitallers THE Orders of the Knights Templars and Hospitallers were also possessed of large revenues and lands here a great part of the profits whereof was transported away and spent out of the Kingdom For the Original Rule and nature of these Orders several have collected and exhibited them particularly Mr. Dugdale W. Dâ—gd Hist of Warw. fo 704 An. 1 Ed. 2. to whom those that would be satisfied therein are referred For our purpose let it be sufficient to note That in the year 1307. by the King 's special command Hen. d'Knighton coll 2531 and a Bull from the Pope the Templars were generally throughout the Kingdom laid hold on and cast into prison and all their possessions seised into the King's hands Th. Walsingh Hist fo 73. An. D. 1311. The crimes objected against them were very hainous contain'd in divers Articles but whether true or false we will not now examine And it was not long after that the whole Order was condemned and suppress'd in a General Council at Vienna under Pope Clement the fifth and their possessions given to the Knights Hospitallers who injoyed the same here till the 32. year of King Hen. Stat. 32 H. 8â— cap. 24. 8. when an Act of Parliament was made reciting That divers of the King's subjects called Knights of St. John of Jerusalem abiding beyond the Sea receiving yearly out of this Realm great summs of money have unnaturally and contrary to the duty of their allegiances substained and maintained the usurped power and authority of the Bishop of Rome lately used and practised within this Realm he the said Bishop being common Enemy to the King our Soveraign Lord and this his Realm and considering that it were better that the possessions in this Realm belonging to such as adhered to the Bishop of Rome should be imploy'd and spent within this Realm for the defence of the same than converted to and amongst such unnatural subjects c. It was enacted That the said Corporation of Knights Hospitallers within his Majesties Dominions should be utterly dissolved and that the King his Heirs c. should have all their Mannors Lands c. And so the Kingdom was freed of that mischief which their transporting so much money yearly out of it had occasioned Queen Mary a Princess more zealous than wise or politick made some attempt to restore the Convents dissolved by her Father Sand. de Schism lib. 2. fo 30â— and Brother particularly re-instating the Benedictines at Westminster The Carthusians at Shone The Brigetteans at Sion The Dominicans at Smithfield in London A sort of Franciscans heretofore zealous for the legality of her Mother's marriage at Greenwich And the Hospitallers of St. John's of Jerusalem in Clarkenwell But her example was not followed by any of the Nobility or others who had incorporated any of the Abby Lands into their estates but the Queen restored only what remained in the Crown un-aliened from the same But yet such a beginning of hers gave a shrewd alarme to all the rest that they should be attaqued in convenient time with some Acts of resumption which would compel them to refund and that the rather because Cardinal Pool in that Act in this Queen's raign to secure the Abby Lands to the then Owners without a formal passing whereof to quiet at present so many persons concerned Popery would not so easily have bin restored at that time would not absolve their consciences from restitution but only made as it were a temporary palliate cure the Church of Rome but suspending that power which in due time was to be put in execution But for our Hospitallers as I said before they were with some others restored and placed in their shatter'd mansion in Clarkenwell Stow. Survey fo 483. Sir Thomas Tresham being made the Prior of the Order But the short raign of that Queen prevented further restitutions And Queen Elizabeth coming to the Crown permitted all things to remain for some time as she found them so that at her first Parliament she sent writs to the Lo. Prior Tresham and Abbot Fecknam to appear as Barons therein but they were scarce warm in their Seats but they with all the rest of the late restored Orders were once again dissolved and the Kingdom 's fears of refunding and resumption for that time cured with addition of hope never to be so frighted again As Allies and Successors to these Knights Templars and Hospitallers it will not be amiss something to note of the Knights of Malta How they were first expulsed out of the Holy Land and then out of Rhodes by the Turks how afterwards they seated at Nice and Syracuse successively and at last setled in the Island Malta where now they are we referr those that would be satisfied therein to the Historians and Travellers that have taken notice of them Gro. Sandies Trav. lib. 4. fo 229. Travels of Jo. Ray. fo 303. But we are informed by our late Travellers That now in the City of Valetta in Malta they have Alberges Halls or Seminaries of the eight several Nations of the Order
which are the French Italians German English Provençal Auvergnois Castilian and Arragonian These Albergs are buildings like Colledges and the Seignior of each Nation is Superiour of the Alberg Grand Prior of his Nation of the Gran Croce as they call it and of the Privy Council of the Great Master Amongst these there is an Alberg or an apartment for the English Nation or rather a piece of ground inclosed with the foundation of an Alberg the Walls being not quite reared up This standing now void for want of English to stock it some of the Citizens would have bought the ground to have built upon but the Grand Master and Council would not sell it expecting that one day the English Nation would be reduced again to the Obedience of the Roman Church and then it would be finished and replenish'd with such for whom it was first designed In the time of Mr. Sand's being there an Irish-man living in Naples and receiving a large Pension from the King of Spain bore the Title of Grand Prior for the English but who hath since succeeded in that Office I have not thought it very necessary to inquire And in like manner as we are informed the other dissolved Orders especially those as were of greatest note and most richly endowed still keep up and continue their Successions as well as they can with Rentals and Particulars of the possessions of their respective Houses in hopes they will revert once again to their former use CHAP. XIX Elections of Popes and Cardinals THE Election and making of Popes and Cardinals was another way of carrying great summs frequently out of England to Rome And that upon this account The Pope being both a spiritual Monarch and a Temporal Prince it could not otherwise be but by that sway which he bore in the Consciences of such as owned his authority he came to have a great influence over all the State affairs of Christendome besides his challenging a power to depose Kings absolve Subjects of their Oaths of Allegiance dispence with Vows and Oaths and dispose of Kingdoms and States as he pleased and then the Kings and States of Europe acting according to their respective rules of State and Policy there continually happen'd a reciprocation and recurrence of Treaties Leagues Alliances Quarrels and Warrs amongst them And the Popedome being Elective all those Princes and States amongst whom our Kings had their proper concerns made it their interest and utmost endeavour in a vacancy to procure the promotion of such a one to that See as might be favourable or at least not noxious to their interests and designs And hence all the subtile contrivances the secret Cabals sometimes the twisting and at other times the unravelling of interests and factions the canvassing of parties the buying of votes the purchasing of intelligence the bribing of Officers and any thing or every thing that money would do must be set on foot and carryed on with utmost vigour cost and pains At such a time and occasion Rome becomes throng'd with Ambassadors and Agents with their Guards and Retinue from all quarters and all at a vast expence watching labouring and sweating every one for his Master's business whilst the roads are pester'd with Messengers Curriers and Posts carrying and re-carrying of News intelligence and instructions Then by reason of all this packing and canvassing it often happens that the Conclave cannot agree in many moneths though generally those Princes who had bin most liberal have had their turns serv'd and many times again by reason of the fierce opposition and difficulties the Cardinals not to disgust the contending factions are fain to pitch upon some heavy old overgrown man who is likely to do neither hurt nor good or at least not long and sometimes again the Conclave becomes so divided and rent that one part of them chooses a Pope and another part an Anti-Pope and when these with their partisans have for some time scuffl'd tug'd and fought for 't in comes a third dog and catches the hare from them both and sometimes three Popes have been up and in play at one time In this hurly-burly St. Peter's chair is overturn'd and broke in pieces one Pope snatches up part of it and runs into Germany another scrambles for another part and runs with it into France whilst another pieces up the remaining shivers and seats himself at Rome Presently the world is fill'd with complaints Remonstrances and Manifesto's The Emperour storms and sayes his man had foul play and that his Imperial Eagle shall fly his utmost pitch to do him right The surly Spaniard grumbles and protests he will hazard all his Indies before his Creature shall be so baffled And the French King swears that all his Flowers de Lis shall wither before his Confident shall be rooted out neither are our Kings of England only lookers on whilst this game is in playing but either their Arms or their money must be layd to stake on one side In this Battle-Royal after many incounters and ran-counters the weakest though not alwayes the worst most commonly goes to the Walls one of them perhaps sent out of the world with a Fig or a Potion another entrapp'd and thrown into a Dungeon whilst the third for a few moneths or it may be years struts up and down claps his wings and crows as victor and then goes himself to the Pot and leaves the Pit for other Combatants and the spectators to their expectation of more sport Of this sort Bellarmine reckons up six and twenty schisms in the Roman Church but Onuphrius a more exact accountant Onuphr in vita Clem. 7. reckons up thirty whereof some lasted ten some twenty and one fifty years The Contemplation whereof hath caused some to make a very shrewd objection against the perfect unity compleat succession and Divine Infallibility so much boasted of in that Church I might and could easily here make particular instance of all these famous bickerings scuffles and counter-scuffles but the same being obvious to all that converse with books Dr. Stilling-fleet of the divisions of the Rom. Churâ—h and something having bin lately worthily done to that purpose and it being a Parergon to the drift of these papers we will no further ingage in these quarrels than to note that they were cause for the reasons aforesaid of great expence to our English Kings when they thought it their interest to have a friend seated in the Pontifical chair and the reason of that Policy now ceasing we being altogether unconcern'd in that affair the money that used to leak that way is kept within the Kingdom to the great ease quiet and benefit both of King and People I will only here take liberty to mention one famous schisme the procedure and conclusion thereof justifying all that we have before pointed at in this matter About the year 1404. Platina in vitis Innoc. 7 Greg. 12. Alex. 5. Jo 24 Innocent the seventh being Pope by the prevalence of a
exortus prosapia dum carnis clausus carcere tenebatur pauper spiritu mente mitis justitiam sitiens misericordiae deditus mundus corde vere pacificus prout firmiter recolimus nos expertos utpote cujus apud nos diu laudabilis conversatio gloriosae vitae insignia ex mulâ—a familiaritate quam nobiscum habuit eadem fuerunt evidentius nobis nota quod Sanctitatem ipsius conversationem laudabilem cernebamas quemadmodum degens in seculo magnis pollebat meritis nunc veniens in coelo magnis corruscare miraculis dignoscatur in tantum quod ipsius meritis intercessionibus gloriosis lumen caecis surdis auditus verba mutis gressus claudis alia pleraque beneficia ipsius patrocinium implorantibus coelesti dextera conferuntur de quorum miraculorum corruscatione multiplici nonnullis de regno nostro certitudinaliter innotescit Nos attendentes per Dei gratiam fideles in Christo nosque praecipue populum regni nostri ejus posse suffragiis adjuvari ut quem familiarem habuimus in terris mereamur habere Patronum in coelis Sanctitati vestrae devotissime supplicamus quatenus tantam lucernam absconsam sub modio remanere diutius non sinentes set eam mandantes super Candelabrum collocari hiis qui sunt in domo Domini solatium praebituram dignemini ipsum ascribere Sanctorum Cathologo venerando ut ejus precibus Dominus exoratus gratiam in praesenti gloriam nobis praebeat ia futuro Conservet vos Altissimus ad regimen Ecclesiae suae per tempora foeliciter longiora Dat. apud Westm Secundo die Novemb. Anno regni nostri 33. And upon this as I said before he was Canonized for a Saint The Letter it self I have the rather exemplified at large that you may see upon what ground the Popish Confidence is founded and what by-wayes have been beaten in quest of Heaven King Henry the seventh had a desire to have had King Henry the sixth Lo. Bacon Hist Hen. 7. fo 227. his Predecessor Canonized for a Saint thereby to acquire some coelestial Honour to his own House and Line of Lancaster and for that purpose he dealt with Pope Julius who knowing that he had an able Chapman in hand made his demands accordingly Some indeed say that that Pope who was a little more than ordinary jealous of the dignity of the See of Rome and of the Acts thereof knowing that King Henry the sixth was reputed in the world but for a simple man was afraid it would diminish the estimation of that kind of Honour if there were not a distance kept between Innocents Lo. Bacon supr Speed Chron. in Ed. 4. fo 885. and Saints But the general opinion was that Pope Julius was too dear which the wary King perceiving having somewhat tasted of the charge in expences upon witnesses References Commissions and Reports for the verification of his Holy Acts and Miracles a thing usual in the Court of Rome when a good Client comes thought good to reserve his money for some better bargaine and withdrew his suit betimes Et sic nihil inde venit The manner of Canonizations with the Ordinary charges Sir H. Spelm. Conc. Tomâ— fol. 717 718. too long to be here inserted but most worthy to be noted you may find exhibited by Sir H. Spelman in the second Tome of his excellent collection of the English Councils CHAP. XXI Pope's Legats Collectors IN the foregoing Chapters particular instances have been made of some of those many and great summs of money heretofore going out of England to the Pope and Court of Rome with some of the wayes and means of drawing the same thither wherein we had occasion of mentioning the Pope's Legates Agents Collectors and Officers imployed about the gathering and transmitting those summs of some of whom it will not I conceive be impertinent to revive some memorials as tending something to the amplification of the particulars before specified Pandulfus of these shall be the Antesignanus though not first in time Pandulsus Matt. Paris John Serres Hist in Phil. August Speed Chron. yet as most notorious To him as the Pope's substitute it was that King John was inforced to surrender his Crown laying the same his Scepter Robe Sword and Ring the Royal Ensigns at his feet subscribing to a Charter whereby he surrendred his Kingdom to the Pope and paying an Annual Pension of 1000 marks for both the Kingdoms of England and Ireland and professing that thenceforward he would hold Crown and Kingdoms as a Feudetary to the Pope But of this Legat and this action enough before in King John's Pension from whom we pass to Nicolas Thusculanus Nicolas Thusculanus who was the next Legat and came to get the former Grant of King John renewed This man sped so well in his Negotiation as he returned to his Master with great summs of money besides having disposed of a multitude of the spiritual Dignities and Benefices to the Pope's Kinsmen to Italians and Strangers all absent unknown and insufficient yea and to some unborn John Derlington was several years Collector of Peter-Pence Jo. Derlingt Disms and other summs accruing hence to Pope John Nicolas the third and Martin the third of whom Leland sayes thus Jo. Leland Coll. Nullo enim tempore defuerunt suae artes Romanis corrodendi pecunias relicto religioso Apostoli Petri Derlingtonus iniqui proditoris Judae permansit in Officio to reward which service of Derlington the Pope by Provision made him Archbishop of Dublin In an 7 Ed. 1. Bal. de Script Britt Cent. 4. c. 56. wherein as John Bale sayes he carryed himself ut mercenarius non Pastor non ut pascat sed ut mulgeat vel tondeat Otho comes next Otho Matt. Paris fo 446. Acts Mon. Tom. 140.260 H. d'Knight coll fo 2440. who how received and presented how he abused the King pilled the Clergy and in intolerable manner damnified the whole Kingdom is at large related by Matthew Paris and others one viz. Henry de Knighton gives him this exit Hic cum esset onustus pecunia quaedam Statuta edidisset reversus est ad locum unde exierat Of him we meet with this passage Once making an essay to enter Scotland to see what he could get there the Scots King advised him to beware for his Subjects were rough fellows and certainly would do him a mischief when they understood his errand Besides it being a bare Country he might well be slighted as once an honest poor man did the Thieves which he was told were broken into his house Let them alone said he for they will have much ado to find something in the dark when I my self can find nothing in the light But notwithstanding all this discouragement on he went as far as he durst that is to the Borders where some of the Bishops of Scotland meeting him partly with good words and partly with meances
something he got out of them as I remember about 3000 l. of which no doubt but he gave a good account At another time this Otho came to Oxford where he was entertain'd with good respect Ypod. Neustr fo 59 Knighton Coll. 2432 Polychron l. 7. c. 35. and the Schollers after dinner coming to give him a visite the rude Porter at the Gate gave them an uncivil repulse which with throwing scalding water in one of their faces and in revenge thereof the death of the Master Cook such a hubbub was raised that the Legate was glad for safety to get into the Steeple where sculking he might hear the rabble ranging about searching for him and crying out where is that Usurer that Simoniack that piller and poller and filcher of our money who perverting the King and subverting the Kingdom inricheth strangers with our spoils But in the dead of the night out he creeps and with some difficulty got over the River running to the King not far off to whom he tells a pittiful story with his hazards beseeching his protection for those of his Company in great danger left behind Whereupon the King presently sends a Company of armed men who apprehended thirty Schollers ingaged in the Riot which they carryed in Carts to Wallingford Castle and thence to London who being brought barefoot to the Legate's dore upon great intreaty of the Bishops and their penitent submission all were pardoned and the University released of Interdiction Petrus Rubeus comes next in play Pet. Rubeus for the understanding of whose Negotiation and Artifices I will give you only one Paragraph of Matthew Paris Matt. Paris in An. 1240. fo 533. Flor. Hist An. 1240. viz. Per eosdem dies venit in Angliam nova quaedam pecuniae exactio omnibus saeculis inaudita execrabilis Misit enim Papa pater noster Sanctus quendam exactorem in Angliam Petrum Rubeum qui excogitata muscipulatione infinitam pecuniam a miseris Anglicis edoctus erat emungere Intravit enim Religiosorum Capitula cogens seducens eos ad persolvendum exemplo aliorum Praelatorum quos mentitus asserebat gratanter persolvisse Dixit enim ille Episcopus ille ille Abbas ille jam libens satisfecit quidnam vos ignavi tam moramini ut grates cum muneribus amittatis Fecit enim praedictus Impostor jurare ut hoc genus pecuniam extorquendi nulli hominum infra dimidium anni facerent manifestum quasi eliciens hoc ex singulorum primitiva professione cum tantum de honestis sit Consilium Papale celandum Hoc faciendo more praedonum domesticorum qui fidem ab expoliatis extorquent ut nulli pandant nomina spoliantium Sed etiam si homines silerent lapides Ecclesiarum contra grassatores clamorem levarent Nec potuit hoc maleficium latere sub tenebris quomodo enim possent Praelati à suis sibi subjectis pecuniam exigere nisi causa exactionis exprimeretur To all which being so plain and notorious although there needs neither Translation nor Comment yet the English Reader may please to know the import of it to be this An D. 1240. That about that time came into England an abhominable way of exacting money never heard of before For our Holy Father the Pope sent a notable fellow Peter Rubeus by name who with a cunning mouse-trap trick wip'd the poor English of infinite summs of money For he would come amongst the Ecclesiasticks when they were met together in their Chapters and perswade and compel them to promise and pay certain summs telling them lies that many others had given freely That this Bishop and that this Abbot and that had given such and such summs and upbraiding them for their slackness Then the Impostor would make them swear that they would not discover to any one within half a year what they had given telling them that was the antient way of keeping the Popes secrets according to their Oath or promise at their first profession Therein doing like Thieves that extort Oaths from them they rob not to discover their names But here if men should hold their peace the very stones of the Churches would cry out against these robbers c. Contemporary with Rubeus Ruffious Mumelinus were Ruffinus and Mumelinus who acted their parts also in this Tragedy and of whom something before Stephanus Stephanus An. D. 1249. another of the Pope's Legates took his turn also to the great profit of his Master and the universal damage of the Kingdom For the Pope being at difference with the Emperour Frederick this Stephanus was sent to demand and collect the Tenths of all moveables of all the Clergy and Laity both in England Ireland and Wales on which occasion the Argument was apply'd That Rome being the Mother of all Churches ought to be relieved by her Children which was done very dutifully at that time Walo another Legat Walo must not be forgotten and his Province was to gather Procurations throughout all England of all Cathedrals Churches and Religious Houses which he managed strenuously William de Testa was another of the Pope's Legates and Collectors W. de Testa Flor. Hist An. 1307. Tho. Walsin fo 64. Ypod. Neust 97 98. Matthew Westminster and Thomas Walsingham end the raign of King Edward the first with the general Complaints of the Nobles Commons and Clergy of England against the grievances and exactions of this William de Testa and one Peter Hispan the Pope's Legat à Latere in the Parliament held at Carlile The Petitions and address to the King Ryley Placit Parliamentaria fo 376 377. Albertus c. for remedie of those grievances are very remarkable still preserved amongst our Records and lately exhibited to publick view Albertus Alexander Johannes Anglicus Johannes de Diva Ferentinus Martinus Rustandus Petrus Enguelbanck Gasper Pons Pol. Vergil and a multitude more might here be remembred but our Histories being generally fraught with their Acts and devices the curious are referred thither for more satisfaction if they please Besides these Legates Collectors Caursins Lombards and Factors there was another sort of men came over into England much instrumental in improving An. D. 1235. and transmitting the Pope's moneys And these were called Caursins and Lombards Mart. Paris in Hen. 3. fo 417. Italians by Country and terming themselves the Pope's Merchants these drove the trade of letting out of money of which they had great Banks and were esteemed far more severe and merciless than the Jews Matthew Paris gives this Etymology of the name Caursini quasi Capientes ursini because they worryed men like Bears Now because the Pope's Legates and Collectors were all for ready money when any summ by Levy First Fruits Tenths Dispensations c. became due and payable to the Pope by any Prelate Covent Priest or Lay person these Caursins would furnish them with present Cash upon their entring into some solemn Bond or
which enough before Now the yearly value of all those Lands Tenements Rents and Revenues which were setled upon these Abbys Monasterys Nunnerys Chanterys Colledges and Free-Chappels without doubt was as vast as to us now unknown the Pope being better able to give an account of them at this day than we our selves for they say that Rentals and Particulars of all those Lands and revenues are still kept upon the file in the Pope's study that great Landlord of the world in expectation and hope they will once revert to their former use and behoof but the generous English will not easily be gull'd and they will not be wheadled by Romish Arguments out of their Estates In the next place Shrines Images Reliques c. Shrines Images Reliques Indulgences c. in a multitude of places within the Kingdom daily drew great summs out of the People's purses both in the procuring and purchasing and donation of such precious Commodities and in daily resorting to them afterwards with Vows and Offerings But these being of the same nature and ejusdem farinae with those at Rome and elsewhere of which enough before we will trouble you no more with them here So the Commanding Dispensations and forbidding many things wherein Dispensations might be had from Courts and Officers here as certain obstacles of marriage the use and difference of meats vows c. and all to be redeem'd for money Many wandring Mountebank Priests went up and down the Country Mountebank Priests preaching the lives of some holy men and Saints and promising the simple people that if they vowed themselves to those Saints and payd something in hand and such a yearly tribute they should be freed from such diseases as they desired The Bishops had divers wayes Bishops and Priests and Artifices to scrue money out of the Priests under them and then those Priests to heal themselves were forced to cheat and wring money out of the people Great Consecrations and frequent expences were had in Consecrating and hallowing of Churches Church-yards c. Baptizing of Bells making repairing apparelling and adorning of Images and such like matters for upon pretence that these or any of these were prophaned by several and trifling wayes then all must be consecrated anew and the Parish and the People Assessed and constrained to pay deeply for it And of this kind of grievances great complaints were often made Many Courts were also in England Courts to which citations and summons were made and therein People continually vexed tormented and excommunicated and thence dismissed never till excessive summs were extorted and payd the aggrieved partys not daring to appeal to Rome for fear of more excessive charges Nay the corruptions in and the grievances growing by these Courts as they were innumerable so no other way tolerable but that all was to be redeemed for money And one pretty trick the Ecclesiastical Judges had in these Courts that when the business of matrimony had proceeded so farr that one of the partys had pretended a Contract which the other denyed and that some gifts as earnests of love or marriage had passed between them the Ecclesiastical Judges separating the partys would keep the gifts for themselves as forfeited or escheated Visitors Visitors c. and Synodal Judges travelling about the Country with a numerous retinue of Advocates Proctors Notaries Registers Summoners Servants Apparitors and Officers under Colour of visiting of Churches Chappels and Parishes were a very great burden and charge to the People where ever they came scruing money upon every pretence out of their pockets as they pleased besides annual summs claimed as due making themselves stalking-horses whereby any man might satisfie his revenge or malice upon his Neighbour upon Complaint Suggestion or information of wrongs done or Canons broke whereupon sentences censures Condemnations and Excommunications with all rigour followed to the utter undoing of many men the inriching the Judges and Officers but never turning to any avail or satisfaction of the Complainant These Itinerants also extorted great summs as they pleased weekly monethly or yearly from Usurers Brokers Scriveners Bakers Butchers Victuallers Physitians Surgeons Midvives Schoolmasters c. Private Confessions Confessions as they were managed were the more frequently and excessively abused for the drawing moneys out of men in regard the cheat was closely handled whilst the Sinner's conscience was quieted and the world served with a publick penance or some visible addresses to these Confessors The new Doctrine Purgatory and invention of Purgatory bred by Superstition and nursed by Covetousness as it was managed became a most forceable engine continually to drain the People's money For when men were made to believe that after death their Souls should enter into a region of Fire there to suffer long and bitter torments to be purged and fitted for the region of bliss but yet to be eased there and the sooner released according to the measure and number of the Masses Offices and Prayers which should be made on their behalf here whilst they lay broiling in that fearful State People were put upon it to make the best provision they could in their life-time or at least at their deaths that such helps and means should be used on their behalf as they might reasonably reckon upon a short and tolerable continuance there To this purpose the Founding and Endowing of Monasteries Abbys Nunnerys by the best and richer sort and the Colledges Free-Chappels and Chanterys by the middle sort of people according to their respective abilitys and the apprehensions they had of this future State all pointed at the good of the Founder's soul after death and the souls of such others as he appointed of which we have had something before But then alas for those poor Creatures whose small estates and narrowness of fortunes would not reach to such provisions what would become of them These then were put to it to make the best shift they could for themselves by endeavouring in their life-time to get an interest in the favour and merit of some Saint and by purchasing and getting all the Indulgences they could for it was a very sad thing to leave all to chance or to trust to the voluntary intercession of others this would leave them at a great uncertainty and in articulo mortis make the poor Soul shift its mansion in a most fearful apprehension and horrour Indeed Sir Thomas Moore was so Charitable a Sollicitor for these poor Souls Sr. Thomas More 's Suppâ—ication of souls In imitation of Gerson's querâ—â—a defunctorum in igne Purgatrorio ad Supersites amicoâ— Pars 4 oper Coll. 959. that he drew up a most Pathetical Supplication for them and presented it in their names thus To all good Christen people in most piteous wise continually calleth and cryeth upon your devout Charity and tender pitie for help comfort and relief your late acquaintance kindred Companions Spouses Playfellows and friends and now your humble