the Treasure and riches of the land carried away the Subjects of the Realm molested and impoverished the Benefices of Holy Church wasted and destroyed Divine service Hospitalitie Almsdeeds and other works of charitie neglected Again 27 Edw. 3. cap. 1. upon the grievous and clamorous complaint for that phrase is there used of the great men and Commons touching Citations and Provisions it is enacted That the offenders shall forfeit their lands goods and chattels and their bodies be imprisoned and ransomed at the King's will But in the Statute of 25 Edw. 3. wherein the first Law against Provisors made 25 Edw. 1. is recited there is a larger declaration of these inconveniences then in the two last Acts before mentioned For there all the Commons of the Realm do grievously complain That whereas the Holy Church of England was first founded in estate of Prelacie by the Kings and Nobilitie of that Realm and by them endowed with great possessions and revenues in lands rents and Advowsons to the end the people might be informed in Religion Hospitality might be kept and other works of Charitie might be exercised within the Realm And whereas the King and other founders of the said Prelacies were the rightfull Patrons and Adowees thereof and upon avoidance of such Ecclesiasticall promotions had power to advance thereunto their kinsmen friends and other learned men of the birth of that Realm which being so advanced became able and worthy persons to serve the King in Counsell and other places in the Commonweal The Bishop of Rome usurping the Seigniory of such possessions and Benefices did give and grant the same to Aliens which did never dwell in England and to Cardinals which might not dwell there as if he were rightfull Patron of those Benefices whereas by the Law of England he never had right to the Patronage thereof whereby in short time all the Spirituall promotions in the Realm would be ingrossed into the hands of Strangers Canonicall elections of Prelates would be abolished works of Charity would cease the founders and true patrons of Churches would be disinherited the King's Counsell would be weakened the whole Kingdome impoverished and the Laws and rights of the Realm destroyed Upon this complaint it was resolved in Parliament That these oppressions and grievances should not be suffered in any manner and therefore it was enacted That the King and his Subjects should thenceforth enjoy the rights of patronage That free elections of Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates elective should be made according to the ancient grants of the King's Progenitors and their founders That no Bulls of Provision should be put in execution but that the Provisors should be attached fined and ransomed at the King's will and withall imprisoned till they had renounced the benefits of their Bulls satisfied the partie grieved and given sureties not to commit the like offence again Now Master Lalor what think you of these things Did you believe that such Laws as these had been made against the Pope 200 250 300 years since Was King Hen. 8. the first Prince that opposed the Pope's usurped Authority Were our Protestants the first Subjects that ever complained of the Court of Rome Of what Religion think you were the propounders and enacters of these Laws Were they good Catholicks or good Subjects or what were they You will not say they were Protestants for you will not admit the Reformed Religion to be so ancient as those times neither can you say they were undutifull for they strove to uphold their liege Lord's Sovereignty Doubtless the people in those days did generally embrace the vulgar errours and superstitions of the Romish Church and in that respect were Papists as well as you but they had not learned the new doctrine of the Pope's Supremacie and transcendent authority over Kings they did not believe he had power to depose Princes and discharge Subjects of their allegeance to abrogate the fundamentall Laws of Kingdomes and to impose his Canons as binding laws upon all nations without their consents they thought it a good point of Religion to be good Subjects to honour their King to love their country and to maintain the laws and liberties thereof howsoever in other points they did erre and were miss-led with the Church of Rome So as now Master Lalor you have no excuse no evasion but your conscience must condemn you as well as the Law since the Law-makers in all Ages and all religious Papists and Protestants do condemn you unless you think your self wiser then all the Bishops that were then in England or all the Judges who in those days were learned in the Civil and Canon Laws as well as in the Common Laws of England But you being an Irish man will say perhaps these Laws were made in England and that the Irish Nation gave no particular consent thereunto onely there was an implicite consent wrapt and folded up in generall terms given in the Statute of 10 Hen. 7. cap. 22. whereby all Statutes made in England are established and made of force in Ireland Assuredly though the first Parliament held in Ireland was after the first Law against Provisors made in England yet have there been as many particular Laws made in Ireland against Provisions Citations Bulls and Breves of the Court of Rome as are to be found in all the Parliament-Rolls in England What will you say if in the self-same Parliament of 10 Hen. 7. cap. 5. a special Law were made enacting authorizing and confirming in this Realm all the Statutes of England made against Provisors if before this the like Law were made 32 Hen. 6. cap. 4. and again 28 Hen. 6. cap. 30. the like and before that the like Law were made 40 Edw. 3. cap. 13. in the famous Parliament of Kilkenny if a Statute of the same nature were made 7 Edw. 4. cap. 2. and a severer Law then all these 16 Edw. 4. cap. 4. That such as purchase any Bulls of Provision in the Court of Rome as soon as they have published or executed the same to the hurt of any incumbent should be adjudged traitors Which Act if it be not repealed by the Statute of Queen Mary may terrifie Master Lalor more then all the Acts which are before remembred But let us ascend yet higher to see when the Pope's Usurpation which caused all these complaints began in England with what successe it was continued and by what degrees it rose to that height that it well-nigh over-topp'd the Crown whereby it will appear whether he had gained a circle by prescription by a long and quiet possession before the making of these Laws The first encroachment of the Bishop of Rome upon the liberties of the Crown of England was made in the time of King William the Conqueror For before that time the Pope's Writ did not run in England his Bulls of Excommunication and Provision came not thither no Citation no Appeals were made from thence to the Court of
9.24 H. 8. c. 12.27 H. 8. c. 20.32 H. 8. c. 7.1 E. 6. ca. 2.2 E. 6. ca. 13.1 Ma. cap. 3.1 Eliz. ca. 1.5 Eliz ca. 23.13 Eliz. ca. 10. Litt. lib. 2. ca. Frankalm fol. 30. F. Na. Br. fol. 41 42 43 44 45 46 47. Regist fol. 33 34 44. c. This King reigned an Dom. 755. Stanford lib. 3. cap. 38. fol. 111. This charter was pleaded 1 H. 7.23.25 Note Rex Edwin regnavit anno Dom. 955. St. K. Edw. laws ca. 19. 7 E. 3. tit Quare Impediâ— 19. The Charter of H. 1. Founder of the Abbey of Reading in the 26. year of his reign and in the year of our Lord 1125. 2 H. 3. Tit. Prohibition .13 4 H. 3. ibidem 15. 15 H. 3. Tit. Prohib 22. Register fol. The Statute of Merton an 20 H. 3. Vide 30 E. 3. Li. ss pl. 19. Brook tit Premunire pl. 10. Note this was by the common Law of England before any Statute made 19 E. 3. tit Quare non admisit 7. Vide 39 E. 3.20 Note The Statute of Bigamie 〈◊〉 4 E. 1. Observe how the King by advice of his Council that is by authority of Parliament expounded how the said Council should be understood and in what sense it should be received and allowed here Statutum de anno 25 E. 1. Carlisle Vide 20 E. 3. tit Essoin 24. Nota The first attempt was to usurp upon such Ecclesiasticall things as pertained to the Clergy of England who at that time stood in great awe of the Church of Rome The Statute of 9 E. 2. Artic Cleri cap. 16. See the Ordinance of Circumspectè agatis an 13 E. 1. to this effect By this Statute of 9 Ed. 2. and the Statutes of 15 E. 3. cap. 6. 31 E. 3. cap. 11. and by other Statutes heretofore mentioned the Jurisdiction of the Ecclesiasticall Court is allowed and warranted by consent of Parliament in all cases wherein they now have Jurisdiction so as these Laws may be justly called the King's Ecclesiasticall Laws or the Ecclesiasticall Laws of England 16 E. 3. Tit Excom 4. In the Reign of E. 3. 17 E. 3.23 20 E. 3. Excom 9. 16 E. 3. tit Bre. 660. 21 E. 3.60 6 H. 7.14 Fit Na. Br. 20 E. 3. Tit. Excom 6. 21 E. 3. fol. 40. 22 E. 3. lib. Ass pl. 75. 27 E. 3. fol. 84. Fit Na. Br. fol. 34. 30. E. 3. lib. Ass pl. 19. 12 H. 4.16 14 H. 4.14 8 H. 6. fol. 3. 35 H. 6.42 28 H. 6.1 7 E. 4.14 12 E. 4.16 Fit Na. Br. fol. 64. F. Vide 9. E. 4. fol. 3. Hereafter fol. 11. It ought to be determined in theâ—â—cclesiasticall Courts in England 31 E. 3. Tit. Excom 6. 33 E. 3. tit â—yde de Roy 103.38 Ass pl. 20. See the Statute of 15 E. 3. cap. 6. 31 E. 3. cap. 11. 38 Lib. Ass pl. 22. 46 E. 3. Tit. Premun 6. 49 E. 3. Lib. Ass pl. 8. Statut. de 25 E. 3. de Provisoribus Statut. de 25 E. 3. Note Note Vide 10 E. 3. fol. 1. 2. Statutum de 27 E. 3. Statut. de 28 E. 3. cap. 1. 2. Statut. de 38 E. 3. ca 3. 12 R. 2. tit Jurisdiction 18. Statutum de 16 R. 2. cap. 5. Note 1 H. 4. fol. 9. Fitz. Na. â—r 269. This had a resemblance to an Attainder of Treason wherein there must be first an Inditement by one Jury and a Conviction by another 11 H. 4.37 11 H. 4. fol. 69.76 14 H. 4. fol. 14. Vide 30 E. 3. lib. Ass pl. 19. before Vide 13 E. 3. Certificate 6. Vide 20 H. 6.1 37 H. 6.42 7 E. 4.14 Fitz. Na. Br. 64. F. 14 H. 4.14 Statut. de 2 H. 4. cap. 3. Statut. de 6 H. 4 cap. 1. Statut. de 7 H. 4. cap. 6. Statut. de 3 H. 5 cap. 4. * Stat. de 2 H. 5. cap. 7. Lollardry à lolio For as Cockle is the destruction of the Corn so is Heresie the destruction of true Religion Infelix lolium steriles dominantur avenae Virgilius Et careant loliis oculos vitiantibus agri Ovidius Statutum de 2 H. 5. cap. 1. 8 H. 6. fol. 3. 9 H. 6. fol. 16. 1 H. 7. fol. 10. 1 H. 7. fol. 20. 9 E. 4.3 Fitz. Na. Br. fol. 44. H. agreeth herewith Note 9 E. 4.28 12 E. 4. fo 16. 2 R. 3. fo 22. 1 H. 7.10 Statut. de 1 H. 7. cap. 4. 10 H. 7.18 11 H. 7.12 Statut. de 24 H. 8. cap. 12. This Statute is declaratorie of the ancient laws of England as manifestly appeareth by that which hath been said See Br. Abridgment tit Presentment al Esglise pl. 12. The Pope was permitted to doe certain things within this realm by usurpation and not of right until the reign of H. 8. This also is declaratory of the ancient Law as it appeareth both by 9 E. 4.3 Fitz. Na. B. 44. and many other cases and statutes abovesaid Statut. de 25 H. 8. cap. 21. This was also declaratory of the ancient Law as by that which hath been said appeareth This appeareth by resolution of all the Judges in 7 H. 8. Lib. Keylw fo 181. And this was long before any Act of Parliament was made against forrein Jurisdiction by King Henry the 8. The Statute of 1 Q. Eliz. 12 Eliz. Reg. Dyer Psalm 109.28 Though they curse yet bless thou O Lord and let them be confounded that rise against me but let thy servant rejoyce Which was the prayer her Majesty made when this Bull was published against her The Statute of 13 Eliz. Note the fruits of the Bull. 1. 2. 3. 4. The parts of the Act. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. The Statute of an 23 Reginae Eliz. The Statute of an 27 Eliz. Reginae
ENGLAND'S INDEPENDENCY Upon the Papal Power Historically and Judicially Stated By Sr. JOHN DAVIS Attorney Generall in Ireland And by Sr. EDWARD COKE Lord Chief Justice in England In Two REPORTS Selected from their greater Volumes For the Convincing of our English Romanists and Confirming of those who are yet unperverted to the Court or Church of ROME With a Preface written by Sir JOHN PETTUS Knight LONDON Printed by E. Flesher I. Streater and H. Twyford Assigns of Richard Atkins and Edward Atkins Esquires And are to be sold by severall Book-sellers in Fleetstreet and Holborn MDCLXXIV To the Right Honourable JAMES Earle of SUFFOLK Lord Lieutenant of that County c. MY LORD I Have the honour of being one of your Deputies in the County of Suffolk which I hope will admit me to the freedome of placing your Lordship in the Front of Two Reports cull'd out from the many other Reports of two as Learned persons in our Laws as that Age did afford I have perswaded the Stationer to reprint them as fit at this time to be generally perus'd For Sr. John Davis in his Report of Lalor's Case gives an Historicall Account of the Pope's Invasions upon us from Edward the Confessor's time in matters Civil and the Lord Chief Justice Coke gives also a full and clear Account of the Pope's Intrusions upon us in matters Ecclesiasticall Neither of them do meddle with the Cavills of Religion between us and the Papal Power but what concerns their State and ours and that deduced from Antiquity how we ought to pay our single Obedience both to Church and State as our Predecessors have done or endeavour'd to doe for many Ages to their respective Kings And though there have been many Invasions or Intrusions upon us by the Power and Policy of the Pope and his Agents yet we were alwaies struggling to get out Sometimes we mastered them and sometimes we were mastered by them according to the Resolution or Weakness of those our former Kings who were to maintain their inherent Interests And however some Papal Pretences seem to be yet we may clearly see when they got the upper hand what Subjection they intended to impose upon us as they did on King John and they nick'd the time when he was imbroyl'd and even totally immerged in the Distempers of his untruly Subjects and inraged Forreiners and then by the opportunity of those Factions and Forreiners they did subjugate this Kingdome to his Principality in Italy and made it its Vassall more then ever any Emperour of Rome did pretend to or could accomplish And though after King John there were various Contests by our successive Kings yet none did so effectually rout the Papal Interest here as Henry the VIII for which the Romanists do rip up all his Vices to make him as odious to the world as possible and among other things they affirm that He was the man that rebell'd from their Church Whenas their Historie and ours tell us and them that he lived and died a Roman Catholick And they farther say that it was He that brought in our Religion which they now call Heresie and is but a Reformation of theirs and even that Reformation was begun and prosecuted though but in parcells by former Ages but not establisht till Henry the VIII had first broke their Civil Interest here and then it went on with ease by King Henry's Successours But by their Railings on Henry the VIII Luther Calvin and I know not whom whose Doctrines we do not altogether follow the Papal Agents do most wonderfully deceive the unfixt and wavering minds of men who do not know the true Foundation of our Church and State here in England clearly and through all Antiquity independent upon any Church or State but its own or on any person but the Monarch thereof as is most fully set forth in these excellent Reports wherein your Lordship and others by an hour 's reading may see what is our Right and how it hath been maintain'd and lost and regain'd by that most resolute Prince then owning the whole Body of the Papal Doctrine but not the Pope's Superiority or power to establish any thing in these Kingdomes It is true this Prince had Discontents and was crost in his Designs which it may be did either provoke him or upon this it is likely he did take occasion to pick a quarrel that he might the more speciously accomplish what his Predecessours could not effect However God doth often produce good Events by such as we call evill Mediums as the Beams of the Sun make their way through Darknesse and Vapours which now again begin to spread over our heads like thick Clouds contracted by long Exhalations ready to break and send forth Lightning Thunder and Storms upon this Nation And thus I apprehend their contraction When Henry the VIII had thus restor'd us to our Liberties and ancient Rights and disbanded the Papall Power and Interest here it was time for the Pope to contrive some other Stratagems and therefore what he could not doe by the power of Bulls c. he tries to effect by a long and continued Art And first he infuseth into his Catholick King of Spain how fit a person he was to be Universal Monarch of Christendome which the King of Spain's Ambition readilie embraced the whole Design whereof may be read in Campanella the Jesuite in his Discourse of the Spanish Monarchy About the same time the Pope also inveigles his most Christian King Henry the IV. of France telling him also how fit a person he was to be Universal Moderator of Christendome which Bait this King's Ambition did also readily embrace the whole Modell and Platform whereâ—f is also set down by the Bishop of Rhodes in his History of the said Henry the IV. And in all this time while both these Kings were driving on these Designs it is observable by the Confession of those Historians that neither of them were privy to each other's Intentions the business was so cunningly managed by the Pope whose great Art it was to keep their Designs secret and put both their Wheels in motion at once yet to keep his Spoak in that Wheel which turned most to his advantage In both these cited Books of Rhodes and Campanella your Lordship will find that their chief aims and directions were to weaken the English and therein they say in these words That there was no better way then by causing Divisions and Dissensions among the English and by continuall keeping up the same and that as for their Religion it could not be easily rooted out unless there were some certain Schools erected in Flanders c. by the Scholars whereof there should be scattered abroad the seeds for Divisions in the Natural and Theologicall Sciences which would distract and discompose their opinions and judgments and that the English being of a nature still desirous of Novelties and Changes are easily wrought over to any thing Now that this hath been put in practice
times when both the Prince and people of England did for the most part acknowledge the Pope to be the thirteenth Apostle and onely oracle in matters of Religion and did follow his doctrine in most of those points wherein we now dissent from him 1. For the first Point we did purposely forbear to proceed against him upon any later Law to the end that such as were ignorant might be informed that long before King Henr. 8. was born divers Laws were made against the Usurpation of the Bishop of Rome upon the rights of the Crown of England well-nigh as sharp and as severe as any Statutes which have been made in later times and that therefore we made choice to proceed upon a Law made more then 200 years past when the King the Lords and Commons which made the Laws and the Judges which did interpret the Laws did for the most part follow the same opinions in Religion which were taught and held in the Court of Rome 2. For the second Point the causes that moved and almost enforced the English Nation to make this and other Statutes of the same nature were of the greatest importance that could possibly arise in any State For these Laws were made to uphold and maintain the Sovereignty of the King the Liberty of the people the Common Law and the Commonweal which otherwise had been undermined and utterly ruined by the Usurpation of the Bishop of Rome For albeit the Kings of England were absolute Emperours within their Dominions and had under them as learned a Prelacy and Clergy as valiant and prudent a Nobility as free and wealthy a Commonalty as any was then in Christendom yet if we look into the stories and records of these two Imperial Kingdoms we shall find that if these Laws of Provision and Praemunire had not been made they had lost the name of Imperial and of Kingdoms too and had been long since made Tributary Provinces to the Bishop of Rome or rather part of S. Peter's Patrimony in demesne Our Kings had had their Scepters wrested out of their hands their Crowns spurned off from their heads their necks trod upon they had been made Lacquays or Footmen to the Bishop of Rome as some of the Emperours and French Kings were our Prelates had been made his Chaplains and Clerks our Nobility his Vassals and Servants our Commons his Slaves and Villains if these Acts of manumission had not freed them In a word before the making of these Laws the flourishing Crown and Commonwealth of England was in extream danger to have been brought into most miserable servitude and slavery under colour of Religion and devotion to the See of Rome And this was not onely seen and felt by the King and much repined at and protested against by the Nobility but the Commons the general multitude of the Subjects did exclaim and cry out upon it For the Commons of England mâ—y be an example unto all other Subjects in the world in this that they have ever been tender and sensible of the wrongs and dishonours offered unto their Kings and have ever contended to uphold and maintain their honour and Sovereignty And their faith and loyaltie hath been generally such though every Age hath brought forth some particular monsters of disloyaltie as no pretence of zeal or religion could ever withdraw the greater part of the Subjects to submit themselves to a forrein yoke no not when Popery was in her height and exaltation whereof this Act and divers others of the same kind are clear and manifest testimonies For this Act of 16 Rich. 2. was made at the prayer of the Commons which prayer they make not for themselves neither shew they their own self love therein as in other Bills which contain their Grievances but their love and zeal to the King and his Crown When after the Norman Conquest they importuned their Kings for the Great Charter they sought their own Liberties and in other Bills preferred commonly by the Commons against Shriefs Escheators Purveyors or the like they seek their own profit and ease but here their Petition is to the King to make a Law for the defence and maintenance of his own honour They complain That by Bulls and Processes from Rome the King is deprived of that Jurisdiction which belongs of right to his Imperial Crown That the King doth lose the service and counsel of his Prelates and learned men by translations made by the Bishop of Rome That the King's Laws are defeated at his will the Treasure of the Realm is exhausted and exported to enrich his Court And that by those means the Crown of England which hath ever been free and subject unto none but immediately unto God should be submitted unto the Bishop of Rome to the utter destruction of the King and the whole Realm which God defend say they and thereupon out of their exceeding zeal and fervency they offer to live and die with the King in defence of the liberties of the Crown And lastly they pray and require the King by way of justice to examine all the Lords in Parliament what they thought of these manifest wrongs and usurpations and whether they would stand with the King in defence of his Royall liberties or no. Which the King did according to their Petition and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal did all answer that these Usurpations of the Bishop of Rome were against the liberties of the Crown and that they were all bound by their allegeance to stand with the King and to maintain his honour and Prerogative And thereupon it was enacted with a full consent of the three Estates That such as should purchase in the Court of Rome or elsewhere any Bulls or Processes or other things which might touch the King in his Crown and dignitie Royall and such as should bring them into the Realm and such as should receive them publish them or execute them they their Notaries Proctors Maintainors and Counsellors should be all out of the King's protection their lands and goods forfeited to the King their bodies attached if they might be found or else processe of Pramunire facias to be awarded against them Upon these motives and with this affection and zeal of the people was the Statute of 16 Rich. 2. made whereupon we have framed our Inditement Now let us look higher and see whether the former Laws made by King Edw. 1. and King Edw. 3. against the Usurpation of the Bishop of Rome were not grounded upon the like cause and reason The Statute of 38 Edw. 3. cap. 1. expressing the mischiefs that did arise by Breves of Citation which drew the bodies of the people and by Bulls of Provision and Reservation of Ecclesiasticall Benefices which drew the wealth of the Realm to the Court of Rome doth declare that by these means the ancient Laws Customes and Franchises of the Realm were confounded the Crown of our Sovereign Lord the King diminished and his person falsely defamed
as any other in Christendome his subjects should be judged by them in Ecclesiasticall matters and should not need to run out of their own country to beg Justice at the hands of strangers But what followed upon this The Pope after a sharp reply sendeth forth a Bull of Malediction against the King and of Interdiction against the Realm whereby all the Churches in England were shut up the Priests and Religious persons were forbidden to use any Liturgies or Divine service to marry to bury or to perform any Christian duty among the people This put the King into such a rage that he on the other part seized the Temporalties of all Bishops and Abbots and confiscated the goods of all the Clergie Then doth the Pope by a solemn sentence at Rome depose the King and by a Bull sent into England dischargeth his subjects of their allegeance and by a Legate sent to the King of France gave the Kingdome of England to him and his successours for ever These things brought such confusion and miserie to all estates and degrees of people in England as the King became odious to all his subjects as well to the Laietie as to the Clergie For as the Bishops and religious people cursed him abroad so the Barons took arms against him at home till with much bloudshed they forced him by granting the Great Charter to restore King Edward's Laws containing the ancient Liberties of the subjects of England The Pope being a spectator of this Tragedy and seeing the King in so weak and desperate estate sent a Legate to comfort him and to make a reasonable motion unto him to wit that he should surrender and give up his Crown and Kingdome to the Pope which should be re-granted unto him again to hold in Fee-farm and Vassalage of the Church of Rome And that thereupon the Pope would blesse him and his Realm again and curse his rebells and enemies in such sort as he should be better establisht in his Kingdome then he was before In a word this motion was presently embraced by that miserable King so as with his own hands he gave up the Crown to the Pope's Legat and by an Instrument or Charter sealed with a Bull or Seal of gold he granted to God and the Church of Rome the Apostles Peter and Paul and to Pope Innocent the third and his successours the whole Kingdome of England and the whole Kingdome of Ireland and took back an estate thereof by an Instrument sealed with Lead yielding yearly to the Church of Rome over and above the Peter-pence a thousand marks sterling viz. seven hundred marks for England and three hundred marks for Ireland with a flattering saving of all his Liberties and Royalties The Pope had no sooner gotten this conveiance though it were void in law but he excommunicateth the Barons and repeals the Great Charter affirming that it contained liberties too great for his subjects calls the King his Vassall and these Kingdomes Saint Peter's Patrimony grants a general Bull of Provision for the bestowing of all Ecclesiasticall Benefices and takes upon him to be absolute and immediate Lord of all And thus under colour of exercising Jurisdiction within these Kingdomes the Pope by degrees got the very Kingdomes themselves And so would he doe at this day if the King would give way to his Jurisdiction But what use did the Pope make of this grant and surrender of the Crown unto him what did he gain by it if our Kings retained the profits of their Kingdomes to their own use Indeed we do not find that the Fee-farm of a thousand marks was ever pay'd but that it is all run in arrear till this present day For the troth is the Court of Rome did scorn to accept so poor a revenue as a thousand marks per annum out of two Kingdomes But after the death of King John during all the reign of Hen. 3. his son the Pope did not claim a Seignioury or a Rent out of England and Ireland but did endeavour to convert all the profits of both Lands to his own use as if he had been seized of all in demesne For whosoever will reade Matth. Paris his story of the time of King Hen. 3. will say these things spoken of before were but the beginnings of evils For the exactions and oppressions of the Court of Rome were so continuall and intolerable as that poor Monk who lived in those times though otherwise he adored the Pope doth call England Baalam's Asse loaden beaten and enforced to speak doth call the Court of Rome Charybdis and barathrum avaritiae the Pope's Collectors Harpyes and the Pope himself a Stepfather and the Church of Rome a Stepmother He sheweth that two third parts of the Land being then in the hands of Church-men the entire profits thereof were exported to enrich the Pope and the Court of Rome which was done for the most part by these two ways and means First by conferring the best Ecclesiasticall Benefices upon Italians and other Strangers resident in that Court whose farmers and factors in England took the profits turned them into money and returned the money to Rome Secondly by imposing continuall taxes and tallages worse then Irish cuttings being sometimes the tenth sometimes the fifteenth sometimes the third sometimes the moietie of all the goods both of the Clergie and Laietie under colour of maintaining the Pope's holy wars against the Emperour and the Greek Church who were then said to be in rebellion against their Lady and mistresse the Church of Rome Besides for the speedy levying and safe return of these moneys the Pope had his Lombards and other Italian Bankers and Usurers resident in London and other parts of the Realm who offered to lend and disburse the moneys taxed and return the same by exchange to Rome taking such penal Bands the form whereof is set down in Matth. Paris and such excessive Usury as the poor Religious houses ware fain to sell their Chalices and Copes and the rest of the Clergie and Laiety had their backs bowed and their estates broken under the burthen Besides the Pope took for perquisites and casualties the goods of all Clerks that died intestate the goods of all Usurers and all goods given to charitable uses Moreover he had a swarm of Friers the first corrupters of Religion in England who perswaded the Nobility and Gentrie to put on the sign of the Crosse and to vow themselves to the Holy wars which they had no sooner done but they were again perswaded to receive dispensations of their vows and to give mony for the same to the Church of Rome I omit divers other policies then used by the Pope's Collectors to exhaust the wealth of the Realm which they affirmed they might take with as good a conscience as the Hebrews took the Jewells of the Egyptians Briefly whereas the King had scarce means to maintain his Royall family they received out of England seventy thousand pounds sterling at least yearly
which amounteth to two hundred and ten thousand pounds sterling of the moneys currant at this day Besides they exported six thousand marks out of Ireland at one time which the Emperour Frederick intercepted Lastly the King himself was so much dejected as at a Royal Feast be placed the Pope's Legate in his own Chair of State himself sitting on his right hand and the Bishop of York on his left non sine multorum obliquantibus oculis saith Matth. Paris Thus we see the effect of the Pope's pretended Jurisdiction within the dominions of the King of England We see to what calamity and servitude it then reduced both the Prince and people Was it not therefore high time to meet and oppose those inconveniences Assuredly if King Edw. 1. who was the Son and heir of Hen. 3. had inherited the weakness of his Father and had not resisted this Usurpation and insolencie of the Court of Rome the Pope had been proprietor of both these Ilands and there had been no King of England at this day But King Edward 1. may well be styled vindex Anglicae libertatis the Moses that delivered his people from slavery and oppression and as he was a brave and victorious Prince so was he the best Pater patriae that ever reigned in England since the Norman Conquest till the Coronation of our gracious Sovereign At the time of the death of his father he was absent in the war of the Holy land being a principal Commander of the Christian Armie there so as he returned not before the second year of his reign But he was no sooner returned and crowned but the first work he did was to shake off the yoke of the Bishop of Rome For the Pope having then summoned a generall Council before he would licence his Bishops to repair unto it he took of them a solemn oath that they should not receive the Pope's blessing Again the Pope forbids the King to war against Scotland the King regards not his prohibition he demands the First-fruits of Ecclesiasticall Livings the King forbids the payment thereof unto him The Pope sendeth forth a general Bull prohibiting the Clergie to pay subsidies or tributes to Temporal Princes A Tenth was granted to the King in Parliament the Clergie refused to pay it the King seizeth their Temporalties for their contempt and got payment notwithstanding the Pope's Bull. After this he made the Statute of Mortmain whereby he brake the Pope's chief net which within an Age or two more would have drawn to the Church all the temporall possessions of the Kingdome c. Again one of the King's subjects brought a Bull of Excommunication against another the King commandeth he should be executed as a traitour according to the ancient Law But because that Law had not of long time been put in execution the Chancellour and Treasurer kneeled before the King and obtained grace for him so as he was onely banished out of the Realm And as he judged it treason to bring in Bulls of Excommunication so he held it a high contempt against the Crown to bring in Bulls of Provision or Briefs of Citation and accordingly the Law was so declared in Parliament 25 Edw. 1. which was the first Statute made against Provisors the execution of which Law during the life of King Edw. 1. did well-nigh abolish the usurped Jurisdiction of the Court of Rome and did revive and restore again the ancient and absolute Sovereignty of the King and Crown of England His Successour K. Edw. 2. being but a weak Prince the Pope attempted to usurp upon him again but the Peers and people withstood his Usurpation And when that unhappy King was to be deposed amongst many Articles framed against him by his enemies this was one of the most hainous that he had given allowance to the Bope's Bulls Again during the minority of King Edw. 3. and after that in the heat of the wars in France the Pope sent many Briefs and Bulls into England and at last presumed so far as that he gave an Italian the title of a Cardinall in England and withall by his Bull gave him power to bestow all Ecclesiasticall promotions as they should fall void from time to time This moved the King and the Nobility to write to the Pope to this effect We and our ancestours have richly endowed the Church of England and have founded Abbeys and other Religious houses for the jurisdiction of our people for maintenance of hospitalitie and for the advancement of our countrymen and kinsmen Now you provide and place strangers in our Benefices that come not to keep residence thereupon and if they come understand not our language and some of them are subjects to our mortal enemies by reason whereof our people are not instructed hospitalitie is not kept our Scholars are unpreferred and the Treasure of the Realm is exported The Pope returneth answer That the Emperour had lately submitted himself to the Church of Rome in all points and was become the Pope's great friend and in menacing manner advised the King of England to doe the like The King replies That if the Emperour and French King both should take his part he was ready to give battell to both in defence of the liberties of his Crown Hereupon the severall Statutes against Provisors before recited were put in execution so severely as the King and his subjects enjoyed their right of patronage clearly and their exemption of Clerks took no place at all for that the Abbot of Waltham and Bishop of Winchester were both attainted of high contempts and the Bishop of Ely of a capital offence as appeareth in the Records of this King's reign Yet during the nonage of Richard 2. they began once again to encroach upon the Crown by sending Legates and Bulls and Briefs into England whereof the people were so sensible and impatient as that at their special prayer this Law of 16 Rich. 2. whereupon our Indictment is framed was enacted being more sharp and penall then all the former Statutes against Provisors And yet against this King as against Edw. 2. it was objected at the time of his Deprivation that he had allowed the Pope's Bulls to the enthralling of the Crown After this in the weak time of King Hen. 6. they made one attempt more to revive their usurped Jurisdiction by this policy The Commons had denied the King a Subsidy when he stood in great want of moneys The Archbishop of Canterbury and the rest of the Bishops offered the King a large supply of his wants if he would consent that all the Laws against Provisors and specially this Law of 16 Rich. 2. might be repealed But Humphrey Duke of Gloucester who had lately before cast the Pope's Bull into the fire did likewise cause this motion to be rejected So as by special providence these Laws have stood in force even till this day in both these Kingdomes Then the Atturney generall descended to the evidence whereby he
Realm of England and Ireland and to visit reform redresse order correct and amend all such Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities whatsoever which by any manner of Spiritual or Ecclesiastical power authority or jurisdiction can or may lawfully be reformed ordered redressed corrected restrained or amended to the pleasure of Almighty God the encrease of vertue and the conservation of the peace and unity of this Realm And that such persons so to be named assigned and authorized should have full power and authority by virtue of that Act and of such Letters Patents under her Highnesse her Heirs and Successors to exercise use and execute all the premisses according to the tenour and effect of the said Letters Patents any matter or cause to the contrary notwithstanding And afterwards the said Queen by her Letters Patents under the great Seal of England bearing date the ninth day of December in the six and twentieth year of her Reign according to the tenour of the said Act did authorize the Archbishop of Canterbury the Bishop of London and divers others or any three or more of them to enquire amongst others of the Statute of the first year of her Reign concerning the Book of Common Prayer with this Clause also contained in the said Letters Patents videlicet Also we give and grant full power and authority to reform redresse order correct and amend in all places of this Realm all Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Contempts and Enormities Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall whatsoever which by any Spirituall or Ecclesiasticall power authority or jurisdiction can or may lawfully be reformed ordered redressed corrected restrained or amended by Censure Ecclesiasticall Deprivation or otherwise c. And upon proof thereof had and the offences aforesaid or any of them sufficiently proved against any person or persons by Confession lawful witness or by any due manner c. That then you or three of you shall have full power and authority to order and award such punishment to every such offendor by Fine Imprisonment Censure of the Church or otherwise or by all or any of the said ways and to take such order for the redresse of the same as by your wisedomes and discretions shall be thought meer and convenient as by the said Letters Patents more at large appeareth And further they found the Statute of the first year of the Reign of the said Queen by which it is enacted That the offendor against that Act concerning the Uniformity of Common Prayer being thereof lawfully convicted according to the Laws of the Realm by Verdict of twelve men or by his Confession or by the notorious Evidence of the fact should forfeit for the first offence the value of his Spirituall living for one whole year and should suffer six months Imprisonment for the second offence to be committed after such Conviction he should be deprived ipso facto of all his Spiritual livings and for the third offence to be committed after two Convictions as is aforesaid he should be deprived of all his Ecclesiasticall livings and be imprisoned during his life And that the said Robert Caudrey before the time of the trespass supposed was deprived of his said Benefice before the said High Commissioners as well for that he had preached against the said Book of Common Prayer as also for that he refused to celebrate Divine Service according to the said Book and shewed particularly wherein Which said Sentence of Deprivation was given by the Bishop of London cum assensu A. B. C. D. c. collegarum suorum And the Jury concluded their Verdict That if the said Deprivation were not warranted by Law but void then they found the Defendant guilty of the trespass And if the Deprivation were not void in Law then they found the Defendant not guilty And this Case was solemnly and oftentimes debated at Barre by the Counsel of either party and at the Bench by the Judges and after great and long deliberation and consultation had with the rest of the Judges was in the Term of S. Hillary in the 37. year of the said Queen adjudged And it was argued by the Counsel of the Plaintif that the said Deprivation was void for 4 causes First The said Book of Common Prayer being authorized and commanded to be observed by the said Act of the first year of the Queen upon the forfeitures and punishments therein comprised the offence of the Plaintif is against that Act for that Act onely doth command the observation of the said Book and inflicteth punishments in severall degrees for depraving or not observing of the same and consequently if the offence be against that Act the Plaintif ought to have been proceeded withall and punished according to the same And it was said that the said Act was an Act of great moderation and equity for the offendor for his first offence should not be ipso facto deprived but should onely lose the profits of his Ecclesiasticall livings for one year and suffer Imprisonment for six months to the end that such as were froward might have a time to repent and the well-minded a time to consent And such care had the Act of the offendors in this behalf as if they committed one offence and then another and after the second many more yet should not the offendor be deprived for any of the latter offences unless he had been first judicially convicted of record by verdict of 12 men or by confession or notorious evidence of the fact So as the second offence for which he must be deprived by the said Act must be done and committed after such a judiciall and solemn Conviction and punishment according to the said Act And then if such an open punishment and infliction should not give him understanding and open his heart to repent then upon a like Conviction for a second offence to be committed after such a Conviction Deprivation should follow But in the case now in question Caudrey the Plaintif was deprived from his said Parsonage of South-Luffenham for his said first offence being never convented or convicted for any such offence before And therefore it was concluded for this first point That the said High Commissioners had not pursued the form and order prescribed by the said Act non observata forma infertur adnullatio Actus and consequently the Deprivation of the Plaintif is void and therefore Judgement ought to be given for him And it was said by the Plaintif's Counsell by way of anticipation That albeit there was a Proviso in the same Act for Archbishops Bishops and their Chancellors Commissaries Archdeacons and other Ordinaries having peculiar Jurisdiction yet that did not give any strength to the said Deprivation for two causes First that the Commissioners by force of the said Act of 1 Eliz. and of the said Letters Patents are not within the said Proviso but onely Archbishops and Bishops their Chancellors Commissaries c. in respect of their ordinary Jurisdiction 2. Admitting it should
Britanniae Anglorum Regem Monarcham By which it appeareth that the King by his Charter made in Parliament for it appeareth to be made by the counsell and consent of his Bishops and Senators of his Kingdome which were assembled in Parliament did discharge and exempt the said Abbot from the Jurisdiction of the Bishop c. and by the same Charter did grant to the said Abbot Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction within his said Abbey which Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction being derived from the Crown continued untill the Dissolution of the said Abbey in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth In the Reign of King Edward the Confessor THe King who is the Vicar of the Highest King is ordained to this end that he should govern and rule the Kingdome and people of the Land and above all things the Holy Church and that he defend the same from wrong-doers and destroy and root out workers of mischief And this shall suffice for many before the Conquest In the Reign of King William the First IT is agreed that no man can make any Appropriation of any Church having Cure of Souls being a thing Ecclesiastical and to be made to some person Ecclesiastical but he that hath Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction But William the First of himself without any other as King of England made Appropriation of Churches with Cure to Ecclesiastical persons Wherefore it followeth that he had Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction In the Reign of King Henry the First HEnry by the Grace of God King of England Duke of Normans To all Archbishops Bishops Abbots Earls Barons and to all Christians as well present as to come c. We do ordain as well in regard of Ecclesiasticall as Royall power that whensoever the Abbot of Reading shall die that all the possession of the Monastery wheresoever it is do remain entire and free with all the rights and customs thereof in the hands and disposition of the Prior and Monks of the Chapter of Reading We do therefore ordain and establish this Ordinance to be observed for ever because the Abbot of Reading hath no Revenues proper and peculiar to himself but common with his brethren whosoever by God's will shall be appointed Abbot in this place by Canonicall election may not dispend the Alms of the Abbey by ill usage with his secular kinsmen or any other but in entertaining the poor Pilgrims and Strangers and that he have a care not to give out the Rent-lands in fee neither that he make any Servitors or Souldiers but in the Sacred garment of Christ wherein let him be advisedly provident he entertain not young ones but that he entertain men of ripe age or discreet as well Clerks as Lay-men In the Reign of King Henry the Third IN all the time of H. 3. and his Progenitors Kings of England and ever fithence if any man did sue afore any Judge Ecclesiasticall within the Realm for any thing whereof that Court by allowance and custome had not lawful conusance the King did ever by his Writ under his great Seal prohibit them to proceed And if the suggestion made to the King whereupon the Prohibition was grounded were after found untrue then the King by his Writ of Consultation under his great Seal did allow and permit them to proceed Also in all the Reign of H. 3. and his Progenitors King of England and ever fithence if any issue were joyned â—pon the loyalty of Marriage general Bastardy or such like the King did ever write to the Bishop of that Diocese as mediate Officer and Minister to his Court to certifie the loyalty of Marriage Bastardy or such like all which do apparently prove that those Ecclesiastical Courts were under the King's Jurisdiction and commandment and that one of the Courts wure so necessarily incident to the other as the one without the other could not deliver Justice to the parties as well in these particular cases as in a number of cases before specified whereof the King 's Ecclesiasticall Court hath Jurisdiction Now to command and to be obeyed belong to Sovereign and Supreme Government By the ancient Canons and Decrees of the Church of Rome the issue born before solemnization of marriage is as lawfully inheritable marriage following as the issue born after marriage But this was never allowed or appointed in England and therefore was never of any force here And this appeareth by the Statute of Merton made in the 20. year of King Henry the 3. To the King 's Writ of Bastardy whether one being born afore matrimony may inherit in like manner as he that is born after matrimony all the Bishops answered that they would not nor could not answer to it because it was directly against the common order of the Church And all the Bishops instanted the Lords that they would consent that all such as were born afore matrimony should be legitimate as well as they that be born within matrimony as to the succession of inheritance forsomuch as the Church accepteth such to be legitimate And all the Earls and Barons with one voice answered We will not change the Laws of England which hitherto have been used and approved In the Reign of King Edward the First IN the Reign of King Edward the First a Subject brought in a Bull of Excommunication against another Subject of this Realm and published it to the Lord Treasurer of England and this was by the ancient Common Law of England adjudged Treason against the King his Crown and Dignity for the which the offendor should have been drawn and hanged but at the great instance of the Chancellour and Treasurer he was onely abjured the Realm for ever The said King Edward the 1. presented his Clerk to a Benefice within the Province of York who was refused by the Archbishop for that the Pope by way of Provision had conferred it on another The King thereupon brought a Quare non admisit The Archbishop pleaded that the Bishop of Rome had long time before provided to the said Church as one having supreme Authority in that case and that he durst not nor had power to put him out which was by the Pope's Bull in possession For which his high Contempt against the King his Crown and Dignity in refusing to execute his Sovereign's Commandment fearing to doe it against the Pope's Provision by judgement of the Common Law the Lands of his whole Bishoprick were seized into the King's hands and lost during his life Which Judgement was before any Statute or Act of Parliament was made in that case And there it is said that for the like offence the Archbishop of Canterbury had been in worse case by the judgement of the Sages of the Law then to be punished for a Contempt if the King had not extended grace and favour to him Concerning men twice married called Bigamy whom the Bishop of Rome by a Constitution made at the Council of Lions hath excluded from all priviledge of Clergy whereupon certain Prelates
that is to say the Archbishops Bishops and other Prelates being in the Parliament severally examined making protestations that it was not their mind to deny or affirm that the Bishop of Rome might not excommunicate Bishops nor that he might make Translation of Prelates after the Law of Holy Church answered and said That if any Executions or Processes in the King's Court as before were made by any and censures of Excommunications be made against any Bishop of England or any other of the King's liege people for that they had made execution of such commandments and that if any executions of such Translations be made of any Prelats of the same Realm which Prelats were very profitable and necessary to the King and to his said Realm or that his sage men of his Council without his assent and against his will be withdrawn and eloigned out of the Realm so that the substance and Treasury of the Realm might be destroyed that the same was against the King and his Crown as it was contained in the Petition before named And likewise the same Procurators every one by himself examined upon the said matters did answer and say in the name and for their Lords as the said Bishops had said and answered And that the said Lords Spiritual would and ought to stand with the King in these cases lawfully in maintaining of his Crown and in all other cases touching his Crown and his Regalty as they were bound by their Allegeance Whereupon the King by the assent aforesaid and at the prayer of his said Commons did ordain and establish That if any purchase or pursue or cause to be purchased or pursued in the Court of Rome or elsewhere any such Translations Processes and Sentences of Excommunication Bulls Instruments or any other things which touched the King their Lord against him his Crown and his Regalty or his Realm as is aforesaid and they which bring them within the Realm or them receive or make thereof notification or any other execution within the same Realm or without that they their notorious procurators maintainers fautors and counsellors should be put out of the King's protection and their lands and tenements goods and chattels forfeit to the King and they be attached by their bodies if they may be found and brought before the King and his Council there to answer to the cases aforesaid or that processe be made against them by Premunire facias as it is ordained in other Statutes of Provisors and others which do sue in any other Court in derogation of the Regalty of the King as by the said Act also appeareth In the Reign of King Henry the Fourth IT is resolved that the Pope's Collector though he have the Pope's Bulls for that purpose hath no Jurisdiction within this Realm and there the Archbishops and Bishops c. of this Realm are called the King's Spirituall Judges By the ancient Laws Ecclesiasticall of this Realm no man could be convicted of Heresie being high Treason against the Almighty but by the Archbishop and all the Clergy of that Province and after abjured thereupon and after that newly convicted and condemned by the Clergy of that Province in their general Council of Convocation But the Statute 2 H. 4. cap. 15. doth give the Bishop in his Diocese power to condemn an Heretick And before that Statute he could not be committed to the Secular power to be burnt untill he had once abjured and was again relapsed to that or some other Heresie Whereby it appeareth that the King by consent of Parliament directed the proceedings in the Ecclesiasticall Court in case of Heresie and other matters more spirituall The Pope cannot alter the Laws of England The Judges say that the Statutes which restrain the Pope's Provisions to the Benefices of the advowsons of Spiritual men were made for that the Spiritualty durst not in their just cause say against the Pope's Provisions So as those Statutes were made but in affirmance of the Common Laws Excommunication made by the Pope is of no fore in England and the same being certified by the Pope into any Court in England ought not to be allowed neither is any Certificate of any Excommunication available in law but what is made by some Bishop of England for the Bishops are by the Common Laws the immediate Officers and Ministers of justice to the King's Courts in Causes Ecclesiasticall If any Bishop do excommunicate any person for a Cause that belongeth not unto him the King may write unto the Bishop and command him to assoil and absolve the party If any person of Religion obtain of the Bishop of Rome to be exempt from obedience Regular or ordinary he is in case of Premunire which is an offence as hath been said contra Regem Coronam Dignitatem suas The Commons did grievously complain to the King at the Parliament holden in the 6. year of H. 4. of the horrible mischiefs and damnable customes which then were introduct of new in the Court of Rome that no person Abbot or other should have provision of any Archbishoprick or Bishoprick which should be void till he had compounded with the Pope's Chamber to pay great and excessive sums of money as well for the First-fruits of the same Archbishoprick or Bishoprick as for the other lesse Services in the same Court and that the same sums or the greater part thereof be paid before hand which sums passed the treble or the double at the least of that that was accustomed of old time to be paid in the said Chamber and otherwise by the occasions of such Provisions whereby a great part of the Treasury of this Realm had been brought and carried to the said Court and also should be in time to come to the great impoverishing of the Archbishops and Bishops within the same Realm and elsewhere within the King's dominions if convenient remedy were not for the same provided The King to the honour of God as well to eschew the dammage of this Realm as the perils of their souls which owen to be advanced to any Archbishopricks and Bishopricks within the Realm of England and elsewhere within the King's dominions out of the same Realm by the advice and assent of the Great men of his Realm in the Parliament did ordain and establish That they and every of them that should pay to the said Chamber or otherwise for such Fruits and Services greater sums of mony then had been accustomed to be paid in old time past they and every of them should incur the forfeiture of as much as they may forfeit towards the King as by the said Act appeareth No person Religious or Secular of what estate or condition that he were by colour of any Bulls containing priviledges to be discharged of Tithes pertaining to Parish-churches Prebends Hospitals Vicarages purchased before the first year of King Richard the 2. or after and not executed should put in execution any
such Bulls so purchased or any such Balls to be purchased in time to come upon the pain of a Premunire as by the said Act appeareth In the Reign of King Henry the Fifth IN an Act of Parliament made in the third year of King H. 5. it is declared That whereas in the time of King H. 4. Father to the said King in the 7. year of his Reign to eschew many discords and debates and divers other mischiefs which were likely to arise and happen because of many Provisions then made or to be made by the Pope and also of Licence thereupon granted by the said late King amongst other things it was ordained and established That no such Licence or Pardon so granted before the same Ordinance or afterwards to be granted should be available to any Benefice full of any Incumbent at the day of the date of such Licence or Pardon granted Nevertheless divers persons having Provisions of the Pope of divers Benefices in England and elsewhere and Licences Royall to execute the same Provisions have by colour of the same Provisions Licences and Acceptations of the said Benefices subtilly excluded divers persons of their Benefices in which they had been Incumbents by a long season of the collation of the very Patrons Spiritual to them duely made to their intent to the final destruction and enervation of the states of the same Incumbents The King willing to void such mischiefs hath ordained and established That all the Incumbents of every Benefice of Holy Church of the Patronage Collation or Presentation of Spirituall Patrons might quietly and peaceably enjoy their said Benefices without being inquieted molested or any ways grieved by any colour of such Provisions Licences abd Acceptations And that all the Licences and Pardons upon and by such Provisions made in any manner should be void and of no value And if any feel himself grieved molested or inquieted in any wise from thenceforth by any by colour of such Provisions Licences Pardons or Acceptations that the same molestors grievors or inquietors and every of them have and incurre the pains and punishments contained in the Statutes of Provisors before that time made as by the said Act appeareth A Statute was made for extirpation of Heresie and Lollardry whereby full power and authority was given to the Justices of Peace and Justices of Assise to inquire of those that hold Errours Heresies or Lollardry and of their maintainers c. And that the Sheriffe or other Officer c. may arrest and apprehend them The King by consent of Parliament giveth power to Ordinaries to enquire of the foundation erection and governance of Hospitals other then such as be of the King's foundation and thereupon to make correction and reformation according to the Ecclesiasticall Law In the Reign of King Henry the Sixth EXcommunication made and certified by the Pope is of no force to disable any man within England And this is by the ancient Common Laws before any Statute was made concerning forrein Jurisdiction The King onely may grant or licence to found a Spiritual Incorporation In the Reign of King Henry the 6. the Pope writ Letters in derogation of the King and his Regalty and the Church-men durst not speak against them But Humfrey Duke of Gloucester for their safe keeping put them into the fire In the Reign of King Edward the Fourth IN the Reign of King Edward the Fourth the Pope granted to the Prior of Saint Johns to have Sanctuary within his Priory and this was pleaded and claimed by the Prior But it was resolved by the Judges that the Pope had no power to grant any Sanctuary within this Realm and therefore by judgement of the Law the same was disallowed There it appeareth that the opinion of the King's Bench had been oftentimes that if one Spiritual person sue another Spiritual man in the Court of Rome for a matter spiritual where he might have remedy before his Ordinary that is the Bishop of that Diocese within the Realm quia trahit ipsum in placitum extra regnum incurreth the danger of a Premunire a hainous offence it being contra legiantiae suae debitum in contemptum Domini Regis contra Coronam dignitatem suas By which it appeareth how grievous an offence it was against the King his Crown and Dignity if any subject although both the persons and cause were Spirituall did seek for justice out of the Realm as though either there wanted Jurisdiction or Justice was not executed in the Ecclesiastical Courts within the same which as it hath been said was an high offence contra Regem Coronam dignitatem suas In the King's Courts of Record where Felonies are determined the Bishop or his Deputy ought to give his attendance to the end that if any that is indicted and arraigned for Felony do demand the benefit of his Clergy that the Ordinary may inform the Court of his sufficiency or insufficiency that is whether he can reade as a Clerk or not whereof notwithstanding the Ordinary is not to judge but is a minister to the King's Court and the Judges of that Court are to judge of the sufficiency or insufficiency of the party whatsoever the Ordinary doth inform them and upon due examination of the party may give judgement against the Ordinarie's information for the King's Judges are Judges of the cause The Pope's Excommunication is of no force within the Realm of England In the Reign of King Edward the Fourth a Legate from the Pope came to Calice to have come into England but the King and his Council would not suffer him to come within England until he had taken an oath that he should attempt nothing against the King or his Crown and so the like was done in his Reign to another of the Pope's Legates And this is so reported in 1 Henrici 7. fol. 10. In the Reign of King Richard the Third IT is resolved by the Judges That a Judgement or Excommunication in the Court of Rome should not bind or prejudice any man within England at the Common Law In the Reign of King Henry the Seventh IN the Reign of King Henry the 7. the Pope had excommunicated all such persons whatsoever as had bought Allum of the Florentines And it was resolved by all the Judges of England that the Pope's Excommunication ought not to be obeyed or to be put in execution within the Realm of England In a Parliament holden in the first year of King Henry the Seventh for the more sure and likely reformation of Priests Clerks and Religious men culpable or by their demerits openly noised of incontinent living in their bodies contrary to their Order it was enacted ordained and established by the advice and assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in the said Parliament assembled and by authority of the same That it be lawful to all Archbishops and Bishops
Subjects to live that perswaded his Subjects that he was no lawfull King and practised with them within the heart of this Realm to withdraw them from their Allegeance and Loyalty to their Sovereign the same being crimen laesae Majestatis by the ancient Laws of this Realm BY this and by all the Records of the Indictments it appeareth that these Jesuites and Priests are not condemned and executed for their Priesthood and Profession but for their treasonable and damnable Perswasions and Practices against the Crowns and Dignities of Monarchs and absolute Princes who hold their Kingdoms and Dominions by lawful Succession and by inherent Birth-right and descent of inheritance according to the fundamental Laws of this Realm immediately of Almighty God and are not Tenants of their Kingdomes as they would have it at the will and pleasure of any forrein Potentate whatsoever Now albeit the proceedings and process in the Ecclesiastical Courts be in the name of the Bishops c. it followeth not therefore that either the Court is not the King 's or the Law whereby they proceed is not the King's Law For taking one example for many every Leet or View of Frank-pledge holden by a Subject is kept in the Lord's name and yet it is the King's Court and all the proceedings therein are directed by the King's Laws and many subjects in England have and hold Courts of Record and other Courts and yet all their proceedings be according to the King's Laws and the Customes of the Realm Observe good Reader seeing that the determination of Heresies Schisms and Errours in Religion Ordering Examination Admission Institution and Deprivation of men of the Church which do concern God's true Religion and Service of right of Matrimony Divorces and general Bastardy whereupon depend the strength of mens Discents and Inheritances of probate of Testaments and letters of Administration without which no debt or dutie due to any dead man can be recovered by the Common Law Mortuaries Pensions Procurations Reparations of Churches Simony Incest Adultery Fornication and Incontinency and some others doth not belong to the Common Law how necessary it was for administration of Justice that his Majestie 's Progenitors Kings of this Realm did by publick authority authorize Ecclesiasticall Courts under them to determine those great and important Causes Ecclesiastical exempted from the Jurisdiction of the Common Law by the King's Laws Ecclesiastical Which was done originally for two causes 1. That Justice should be administred under the Kings of this Realm within their own Kingdome to all their Subjects and in all Causes 2. That the Kings of England should be furnished upon all occasions either forrein or domestical with learned Professors as well of the Ecclesiasticall as Temporall Laws THus hath it appeared as well by the ancient Common Laws of this Realm by the Resolutions and Judgements of the Judges and Sages of the Laws of England in all succession of ages as by Authority of many Acts of Parliament ancient and of latter times That the Kingdome of England is an absolute Monarchy and that the King is the onely Supreme Governour as well over Ecclesiasticall persons and in Ecclesiastical causes as Temporal within this Realm to the due observation of which Laws both the King and the Subject are sworn I have herein cited the very words and texts of the Laws Resolutions Judgements and Acts of Parliament all publick and in print without any inference argument or amplification and have particularly quoted the books years leaves chapters and such like certain references as every man may at his pleasure see and reade the Authorities herein cited This Case is reported in the English and Latine tongues as some other Writers of the Law have done to the end that my dear Countrymen may be acquainted with the Laws of this Realm their own Birth-right and inheritance and with such evidences as of right belong to the same assuring my self that no wise or true-hearted English-man that hath been perswaded before he was instructed will refuse to be instructed in the truth which he may see with his own eyes lest he should be disswaded from errour wherewith blindfold he hath been deceived For miserable is his case and worthy of pity that hath been perswaded before he was instructed and now will refuse to be instructed because he will not be perswaded FINIS Of what quality and credit Robert Lalor was His apprehension and first examination His first inditement and conviction His second examination His confession or acknowledgement The Inditement of Lalor upon the stat of 16 Ric. 2. The true cause of making the Statute of 16 R. 2. and other Statutes against Provisors The Statute of Praemunire made at the prayer of the Commons The effect of the Statute of 16 R. 2. c. 5. The effect of the Statute of 38 Edw. 3. cap. 1. The Statute of 27 Ed. 3. cap. 1. The Statute of 25 Edw. 3. reciting the Statute of 25 Ed. 1. These Laws made by such as did professe the Romish Religion Laws against Provisors made in Ireland When the Pope began first to usurp upon the liberties of the Crâ—wn of England A comparison of the spiritual Monarchy of the Church with the temporal Monarchies of the world The Pope had no jurisdiction in England in the time of the Britans The first usurpation of the Pope upon the Crown began in the time of King William the Conquerour By sending Legates into England In the time of William Rufus the Pope attempted to draw Appeals to Rome but prevailed not In the time of K. Henry the first the Pope usurpeth the donation of Bishoprikks c. Histor Jornalensis M S. in Archiv Rob. Cotton Eq. Aur. In the time of King Stephen the Pope gained Appeals to the Court of Rome In the time of K. Henry 2. the Pope claimed exemption of Clerks from the Secular power A brief of Th. Becket's troubles or rather treasons The Constitutions of Claringdon Four points of jurisdiction usurped upon the crown of England by the Pope before the reign of K. John The cause of the quarrell between K. John and the Pope When Canonical election began first in England King John's round and Kingly Letter to the Pope The Pope curseth the King and interdicteth the Realm King Edw. 1. oppâ—seth the Pope's Vsurpation E. 2. suffereth the Pope to usurp again E. 3. resisteth the Vsurpation of the Pope King Rich. 2. The Evidence against Lalor Lalor's Confession publickly read When the distinction of Ecclesiasticall Spirituall causes from Civil and Temporal causes began in the world Caudrey's Case The objections of the Counsell of the Plaintif 1. 2. 3. 4. The resolutions of the Court to the 1. and 2. To the 3. To the 4. What causes belong to the Ecclesiasticall Court. see Circumspectè agatis 13 E. 1. W. 2. 13 E. 1. cap. 5. versus finem Artic. cleri 9 E. 2. 15 E. 3. c. 6.31 E. 3. cap. 11.2 H. 5. c. 7.1 H. 7. cap. 4.23 H. 8. cap.