and Judicatures Decreeing Interdicts and Excommunications against the King his Judges Officers Lands Castles and Lay subjects for which Liberties they resolved to contend even unto Death The Archbishop was forced by the King and Barons to fly the Kingdom for this and other like Constitutions against whom they complained appealed and sent their Proctors to Rome Which Constitutions are yet Printed in Lândewood and Aton and urged for the Canon-Law of this Realm by some aspiring Prelates and Ignorant Canonists of late times saith Mr. Prynne though always opposed in such manner as hath been related Prynn's Exact Hist vol. 2. yea totally neglected or seldome put in use in times of Popery by those which made them as Lyndewood himself acknowledgeth in hâs Epistle to Henry Archbishop of Canterbury before his Provânciale SECT V. The Kings Prohibitions Contemned 5. The King's Prohibition disobeyed by the Popes Warrant is another Grievance complained of in those days For Pope Eugenius hath so decreed That no Spiritual Judge shall stay from proceeding in any Cause termed Ecclesiastical in regard of the Kings Prohibitions c. Decernimus Extra de judiciis The Prohibitions sent by our Kings their Council Courts Judges to Archbishops Bishops Archdeacons Officials and other Ecclesiastical Persons were some of them against admitting Clerks to Benefices or Prebendaries till the Title were tried in the Kings Courts Some against holding âlea of Advowsons of Chappels Churches Prebendaries or determining the Rights of Patronages to Churches Chappels and Prebendaries in Ecclesiastical Courts or before Popes Delegates Against Alienation of Lands in Capite in Mortmain or otherwise Against granting Administrations of Intestates Goods Debtors or Accomptants to the King till the Kings Debts satisfied Against Appeals to Popes Pryn's Hist of Popes Usurpations Vol. 2. p. 393 394 878 8â9 or any other in cases of Certificates of Bastardy to the Kings Courts or trying Bastardy in Spiritual Courts their Canons crossing the Common Law therein Against Abbots or Convents borrowing or others lending them Moneys upon Bond without their joynt consent and the Kings c. Against Archbishops Consecrating Bishops Elect not approved of by the King after their Election Against their holding and meeting in Convocations or Council or acting and doing any thing in them âejudical to the King or Kingdom Some Prohibitions were aââinst Bakers imprinting the sign of the Cross Agnus Dei or ââme of Jesus upon Sale-bread Some against Bishops and other ââeir Officers citing Lay Persons to make Inquisitions Presentââents or give testimony upon Oath or excommunicating them ââr not taking Oaths in any case except in matters of Matrimony ââd Testament being against the Kings Prerogative Law or âustom of the Realm c. Against their holding Plea of any Chatââls or Goods which concerned not Marriage or Testament or ãâã Goods Testamentary for which there is Suit in the Kings Exââequer Against their Citing Excommunicating or Interdicting ââây of the Kings Barons Bailiffs Judges Officers Sheriffs for âxecuting the Kings Writs or Misdemeanours in the execution of ââeir Offices or any of his Tenants in Capite or of his Demesne âands Cities Castles without his special License or Lieutenants c. Against Archbishops Bishops Convents or others presenting to âivings or Prebends belonging to the King during Vacations Against disturbing the Possessions of the Kings Clerks presented ây him to Benefices or Prebends or Judgments in his Courts by âny process out of Ecclesiastical Courts or from the Pope or his âeligates Against Suits in Ecclesiastical Courts Pro laesione fidei âr breach of Oaths in civil Contracts Against suing there for Lands âevised by Custom or Actions of Debt devised by the Testator Against Ordinaries malicious Excommunications or Arresting or ââprisoning Persons unjustly Excommunicated by them or for âinging Prohibitions to prevent them Against the bringing of any âulls Letters from or sending any Letters to the Pope or Court of âome prejudicial to the King or Realm Against citing or drawing âny of the Kings Subjects for any Suits to Rome or out of the Realm ây the Pope his Delegates or others Against collecting any Aid âisme or Money for the Pope or others by the Popes Authority âithout the Kings special Licence and Consent by Popes Nuncioes âegats Bishops or any others Against Popes Provisions to Beâifices Prebendaries c. belonging to the Kings Presentation ãâã right of his Crown or by his Prerogative in Vacant Bishopricks âonasteries Wardships or to his free Chappels or Churches imâropriated Against Clerks and others going to Rome without âaking a special Oath to procure nothing to the Kings or Kingdoms âamage Against Popes Legates or Agents coming into the Realm ânless sent for and taking an Oath to do or bring nothing to the prejudice of the King Church or Kingdom Against receiving or assisting a Bishop or Archbishop made by the Popes Provision Against Popes and their Delegates Sequestration of the Temporalties Goods and Profits of Monasteries Against Sheriffs or Gaolers detaining Clerks in Prison after demand by their Ordinaries Against the Cruce fignati or others going over Sea out of the Realm without the Kings special Licence Against offering violence to the Goods or Persons of Clerks Churches or Church-yards Against removing Moneys of Delinquents and Alliens out of Monasteries Against offering Violence to Jews or their Goods Against Noblemens siding with Bishops in their Quarrels Against Suits between Persons for Tithes when the Patron may be prejudiced or for the Money of Tithes sold until it be discussed by the King and Council whether the Right belongs to the King or whether the Cause belong to the King or the Ecclesiastical Court. Against Examining things in the Ecclesiastical Court that have been judged in the Kings Courts in cases of Presentations to Churches and the like Agasnst Womens Marriages who held Castles or Lands in Capite without the Kings Licence SECT 6. Restraint of the Common Law 6. Another Grievance was That the King was forbidden in causes of Clerks to use the Canon Laws of his Realm but is commanded to decide them only by the Common Law c. Quod Clericus de foro competenti Some Causes ever taken to be meerly Civil Usurpation against Common Law and to appertain to the Crown were drawn to the Ecclesiastical Authority As namely The right to determine Questions of Patronage whereof Pope Alexander the Third wrote to the King of England that it was to be tried by Ecclesiastical Laws and before an Ecclesiastical Judge cap 3. Extra de judiciis Again in some Causes Civil The King not permitted to use the Common Law in some Cases of Lay Persons the King was restrained from the use of the Common Law of his Realm though the same concern Lay Persons As when a Woman by Oath maketh release of her Joynture or Dower the temporal Judge is compellable by the Ordinary his Excommunication to judge of the Oath according to the Canon Law c. Licet jure jurand And where again an
c significavit nobis sanctitas vestra per venerabilem Patrem A. Covântrensem Litchfeldensem Episcopum dilectum fidelem nostrum P. Saracenum Civem Romanum quod gratum habereâis acceptum si venerabilis Pater P. Wintoniensis Episcopus cum gratia nostra reverti posset in Angliam sicut ad ejus spectat officium curam securus genere pastoralem super hoc ex parte sinceritatis vâstrae nos rogaverunt Ad quod Sanctae Patern tati vestrae duximus respondendum Quod cum idem Episcopus Regnum nostrum ultimo exivit gratis moâu ductus proprio potius quam nostram vel alterius compulsionem Et etiamsi bene recolitis ad preces vestras nobâs specialiter inde directas sedem adiât Apostolicam Vnde si memoratus Episcopus voluntatem habuerit revertendi in Regno nostro commorand bene placet nobis ipsus adventus Nec erit qui ipsum super hoc aliquatenus impediat aut cum redierit tranquilitatem ipsius perturbet licet etiam graviter versus ipsum moveremur ad Instantiam vestram conceptum rancorem siquis esset penitus et remitteremus parati et expositi tanquam filius Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae devotissimus in hiis aliis vestris inhaerere Conciliis voluntatis vestra pro viribus nostris bene placitum ad implere Teste Rege 40 die Martii Anno c. XIX The King wrote after the like manner unto the Bishop Others and those very often were called to Rome to answer Complaints or Private Mens Suits by which occasion the King lost the use of their Service and a great part of the Wealth and Substance of this Realm was spent in the Court of Rome SECT 13. ââvestiture into Bishopricks and the Kings assent in choice of Bishops taken from him 13. It is well known that the King hath special Interest in the Choice and Investitures of Prelates unto Bishopricks both because a great part of the good Government of his People dependeth upon the good Government of that State and also because in those times he furnished himself with Counsellours taken out of the Number and employed others in places of weighty and most necessary Services of the Realm Wherefore the Kings of England were ever by the Ancient Customs and Laws of the Land allowed their Assent and Directions in all Elections of Persons unto those places This right hath been strangely oppugned by divers Popes some of them disturbing Elections made by the Consent of the King and others bestowing Bishopricks at Pleasure without Election at all and against the Kings will The first that stirred that Quarrel in England was Anselm Arch-bishop of Canterbury For when the Kings of England needy of Moneys borrowed of the Clergy great Loans never to pay again he to exempt himself from Subjection to the King laboured to make his Archbishoprick to depend meerly on the Pope not on the King although he had acquired it by the Concession and free Gift of the King Anselm then being promoted in the year 1092 to the Archbishoprick by King William Rufus the King having franckly bestowed that rich Bishoprick upon him soon after would extort from him a great Sum of Money for the exigence of his Affairs as claiming some recompence for his Gift Anselm refused to give it and stealing away privately out of England went to Pope Vrban the second who at that time was Violently Prosecuting against the Emperour Henry IV the Quarrel of Investiture begun by his Predecessours Gregory VII This Vrban liking the Prudence and Dexterity of Anselm gave ear âo his Counsel and gave him the Archbishops Pall thereby voiding âhe Investiture which he had received from King William Du Moulin contr Card du Perron l. 1. 7. cap. 11. and obliâing him there-after to depend upon him This Anselm did so behaâing himself ever after as holding his Arch-bishoprick by the Popes Ordination not by the King's Concession The King being herewith incensed Prohibited Anselm to enter inâo his Kingdom confiscated the Lands and Estate of the Arcbishoârick and by an express Edict declared That the Bishops held their âlaces and Estates meerly from him and were not subject unto the Pope for the same And that he had the same rights in his Kingdom âs the Emperour had in the Empire At length it was determined âhat all the Abbots and Bishops of England should be called togeâher to judge of this Controversie Bp. Godwins Catal. of Bps. They met at Rockingham-Caâtle and the Matter being proposed by the King for fear or âlattery saith Bishop Godwin they all assented unto him and âorsook their Archbishop All the Bishops of England subscribed except only Gondulphus Bishop of Rochester By the Intervention of Friends Anselm made his Peace but afâer his return from Rome holding a strict league with the Pope âe began again soon after to disswade the Clergy from receiving ânvestitures from the King wherefore he was constrained to fly the second time out of the Kingdom and his Estate was again seized upon and conficated to which he was restored at his return He came then to Pope Vrban who received him honourably as a Confessor suffering for the Cause of Christ The year after Vrban kept a Council at Clermont in Avergne whereby he granted full Pardon of Sins to all that should contribute to the expedition into the Holy Land c. In the same Council he decreed that thence-forth it should not be lawful for any Prelate or Ecclesiastical Man to receive the Investiture or Collation of a Benefice or Church-dignity from the hand of any Lay Person But the Princes derided these Decrees and retained the Possession or these Investitures In the year 1099 King William and Pope Vrban died Henry the First succeeded William who sought to be reconciled with Anselm and called him home again But Anselm being obliged by an Oath to the Pope prevailed with the King that a Council should be gathered at London where he declared the Order he had from the Pope That no Lay Man should have the Power to confer any Investiture and began to degrade the Bishops promoted by the Kings Nomination refusing to consecrate some Bishops named by the King King Henry being highly displeased banished him out of England presently and confiscated his Goods Whilst these things passed in England Pope Paschal prosecuted the Quarrel of his Predecessors against the Emperor Henry IV. He caused the Emperors own Son to rebel against his Father who soon after dying with Grief was so forsaken that Pope Paschal would not suffer him to be buried for his Carcass lay five years at Spire rotting without any Christian Burial The new Emperor Henry V past presently into Italy after the Death of his Father where the Pope hoping to be recompensed for helping him in his Conspiracy against his Father found himself deceived for when he press'd him to renounce the Rights of Investitures which his Ancestors as
Sigebert saith had enjoyed above three hundred years the Emperor grew very Angry and laying hold of this Pope Paschal committed him to close Prison Neither would he release him till he had renounced his claim to the Investitures and Collations of Benefices saying to him in in scorn that which Jacob said to the Angel wrestling with him I will not let thee go before thou hast given me thy Blessing Then Paschal to redeem himself out of Captivity granted to Henry that both he and the Popes after him should leave unto the Emperors the peaceable enjoying of the Investitures of Ecclesiastical Dignities by the Ring and the Staff Also that none should be Consecrated Bishop without an Investiture from the Emperor The Pope and the Emperor reciprocally bound themselves by Oath upon the Host of the Mass which they received together But because that Oath was extorted the Pope thought not himself obliged to keep it So he brake that Agreement and excommunicated Henry and all Princes usurping Investitures This accident confirmed Henry the First King of England in a resolution to retain the Investitures of his Kingdom And that Order was held in England for a long time Only the Popes that they might not be injurious to their pretences by a long Prescription would send the Pall to some Prelats invested by the King confirming that which they could not alter and giving an Approbation which was not sought from them And further as to Elections of Bishops the great Troubles that were in the Reign of King John grew upon no other occasion than because the King refused Stephen Langton whom the Pope would have thrust into the See of Canterbury Mat. Paris fol. 299. notwithstanding that there had passed a former Election of another with the Kings assent and that the King justly alledged he might not trust Langâon in his Realm because he had a long time been on the part of his Enemies The King menaced the Pope and his Creatures seized the Temporalities of the Archbishop banished him his Paâents and Kindred with the Monks of Canterbury as Traitors By his and the Prelats Treachery confederating with him the Kingdom was interdicted the King excommunicated his Subjects absolved from their Allegiance he and his deprived of the Crown given to the French King enforced to resign his Kingdom to the Pope become his sworn Tributary Vassal and Homager to renounce the ancient Rights of his Crown to receive Stephen and his Confederats to favour to restore them to their Bishopricks with the Profits and Damages sustained by their Exile before the King could be absolved The King is forced to humble himself before him and swear to him before he would absolve him He instigates the Nobles against the King threatens to excommunicate him and revive the interdicts if he proceeded by Arms against them He was very severe against the Clergy-men who adhered faithfully to King John He excites the Barons to take up Arms against the King for their Liberties extorts the Great Charter from him with new additional Clauses wresteth a new Charter for the Election of Bishops and Abbots from him and of the Patronage and Royalties of the Bishoprick of Rochester as absolutely as the King enjoyed them To requite which he surrendered the Castle and Ammunition of Rochester to the Barons He refuseth to execute the Popes Excommunication though oft pressed to it by the Legat and others He is aecused and suspended in the Council at Rome for confederating with the Barons against the King A just retaliation At length his Suspension is token off but he not to return into England till Peace made betwixt the King and his Barons Ralph N. v l Bishop of Chichester and Chancellour of England being chosen Archbishop by the Monks of Canterbury was approved by the King and put in Possession of the Temporalties by and by The Monks of Canterbury thereupon pressing the Pope to confirm his Election Anno 123â the Pope made diligent enquiry of Simon Langton Brother to Stephen elected but rejected by King John and the Pope too at his request to be Archbishop of York concerning Ralphs Person and Disposition Simon told the Pope that he was an hot Fellow Stout Subtle an old Courtier and very gracious with the King and therefore that he would make variance betwixt him and the King and cause him to deny the payment of that Tribute granted unto him by King John This was enough so without any more ado he dissolved the Election never alledging any matter of Exception against him but willed the Monks to chose another Then the Monks chose one John their Sub-prior He being called to Rome and first charged with insufficiency but sufficiently cleared thereof by the testimony of certain Cardinals to whose Examination he was referred he was yet in the end compelled to give over his right to that See And after some other several Elections of Archbishops to that See Mat. Paris fol. 502 515. made with the Kings Allowance they were all one after another declared void by the Pope In the Reign of King Edward the Second Anno 1313 after the Death of Robert Winchelsey Archbishop of Canterbury the Monks of Canterbury elected for his Successour one Thomas Cobham Dean of Salisbury and Prebend of York a Man of such Vertue and Learning that he was commonly called by the Name of the Good Clerk but the Pope bestowed that place upon Walter Reynolds SECT 14. Patronages disturbed and Benefices bestowed upon Aliens 14. In other Promotions and Ecclesiastical Livings the Popes usurped a larger liberty of bestowing them at their will upon such as they made choice of or upon themselves without regard of any Mans right to present or whether the Persons upon whom those Livings were bestowed were the Natural Subjects of the Realm or not Whereupon ensued many Mischiefs one was that a great part of the Wealth of this Realm was bestowed and spent in Forreign Parts Another that many Aliens flocking into the Realm to occupy these Promotions their presence here was dangerous to the State and the King unfurnished of fit Persons being his Liege-Subjects to imploy in necessary and secret Services of this Realm Thirdly That the Natural Subject was discouraged and sought not to make himself fit for any place of Service by diligence in Study seeing that the Rewards of Learning were carried away by Strangers Of these are many Examples in our Histories and the wrong complained of from time to time In the Reign of King Henry the Third Pope Gregory before his Death to carry on his Wars and Designs against the Emperor Frederick and throw him out of the Empire Anno 1240 intended by way of Provision to confer all the Benefices in England especially of the Clergy and Religious Persons on the Sons of Romans and other Forreigners sending his Bulls to three Bishops âiz to Edmond Archbishop of York the Bishops of Lincoln and Saâum to confer no less than 300 of the next Benefices that
he summoneth a Parliament at London by reason of the Complaints of the English against those Grievances which they could no longer tollerate without the brand of sluggishness and their own imminent ruin Great was the Indignation of the Pope against the miserable English for that they durst complain against their daily injuries and oppressions in the Council which he so multiplied that the English were more vile in his eyes and the Court of Rome than any other âen of the remotest Nations Insolently saying It is expedient for ãâã to compound with the Emperour Frederick that we may trample the ââtle King of England under our Feet who now kicks with the heel aââinst us Then the King the Nobles Archbishops Bishops and Abbots âew up seven Articles in Parliament against the Popes Grievances ââd Oppressions 1. In Extorting and Collecting several Sums of Money by General âaxes and Assesses without the Kings Assent or Consent against the anâent Customs Liberties and Rights of the Realm and against the Appeal and Contradiction of the Proctors of the King and Kingdom made ãâã a General Council 2. In hindering Patrons to present their Clerks to Vacant Livings and âestowing them by Proviso's on other Roman Clerks utterly ignorant of the English Tongue to the peril of the peoples souls and impoverishing the âealm beyond measure by transporting Money out of it 3. In granting Pensions out of Livings by provision and more proviââon of Benefices than he promised after his Bull against them 4. That one Italian succeeded another That Subjects causes were ââawn out of the Realm by the Pope's Authority against the Custom of the Realm against the Written Laws that men ought not to be condemned among their Enemies and against Indulgences granted by his Predecessors âo the Kings and Realm of England 5. The frequent mention of that infamous word Non-obstante in his Bulls by which the Religion of an Oath ancient Customs vigour of Writings the Established Authority of Charters Laws Priviledges were debilitated vanished away and his not carrying himself courteâously towards the Realm in revoking the plenitude of his power as he promised 6. That in the Benefices of Italians neither their Rights nor sustentation of the poor nor hospitality nor preaching of God's Word nor the useful Ornaments of the Churches nor Cure of Souls nor Divine Services were performed as they ought to be and according to the Custom of the Countrey 7. That the Walls of their Houses fell down together with their Roofs and were dilapidated To which other Complaints to the King and Parliament against ãâã Court of Rome were super-added which they sent to the Pope by their respective Messengers with five several Letters two from the King to the Pope and his Cardinals a third from all the Archbishops and Bishops a fourth from all the Abbots and Priors the fifth from all the Earls and Temporal Lords speedily to reform all their Grievances to prevent unavoidable Mischiefs to the King the Pope and the Church of Rome and their revolt from Subjection to them They complained that the Pope demanded Knight-service due only to the King to Lords from their Tenants from Prelats and Clergy-men to find him so many Horse or Foot for half a year or pay a great Ransom in lieu of it under pain of Excommunication which they must reveal to no Man That he granted one years Fruits of all Benefices that fell void within the Province of Canterbury to Archbishop Boniface That he by sealed Bulls required the Abbots of the Cistercian Order in England to send him golden Jewels to adorn his Planets and Copes as if they might be goââ for nothing That if any Clerk should from thenceforth die intestate his Goods should be converted to the use of the Pope which he commanded the Friers Preachers and Minors diligently to execute seizing on the Money Goods and Plate oâ three rich Archdeacons which the King hearing of prohibited and by the common advice of his Nobles and Prelats in Parliament issued several successive Prohibitions to the Abbot of St. Albans and others not to pay any Tallage to the Pope or his Agents before the return of their Messengers to Rome against these Grievances under pain of seizing his Barony and to the Bishops not to exact or levy any such Tax for any Clerk Religious Person or Lay-man to the prejudice of his Royal Dignity against his and his Nobles Provisions in Parliament which he neither could nor would indure The Pope contemned the zealous Letters and memorable Complaints of the King and whole Kingdom against his Exactions requiring the Bishop of Norwich and others to levy a Subsidy for him at which all were amazed The King summons a new Parliament at Winton concerning the manifold Grievances of the whole Realm and especially of the Church wherein the Messengers sent to the Court of Rome reported That they could discern no Humility nor Moderation in the Popes Gestures or Words concerning the Oppressions wherein the Church and Realm of England were grieved and whereof they complained That when they expected a pleasing Answer the Pope told them The King of England who now kickâ his Heel and Frederizeth hath his Council and I have mine which I will pursue That from that time scarce any English Man could dispatch any Business in Court yea they were all repelled and reviled as Schismaticks so as so many Epistles of the King and the universality of the Nobles and Prelats of the Realm had no efficiency at all At which Report the King and Nobles being much exasperated the King by their Advice commanded Proclamations to be made through all Countreys Cities Boroughs and Villages of the Realm that no Prelate Clerk or other Person throughout the Realm should consent to any Contribution to the Pope or transmit any Money towards his Aid or in any wise obey his Papal Commandement which was accordingly done The Pope hearing thereof wrote to the English Prelats more sharply than before requiring them under pain of Excommunication and Suspension to pay in the Aid he demanded to his Nuncio in the New Temple before the Feast of Assumption Hereupon the King was so terrified with the Popes Menaces that he and the Richest Prelats complied with his Designs paying 6000 Marks to the Pope to the great impoverishing of the Realm which was transported by the Pope's Nuncio and Merchants to aid the Landgrave against the Emperor Frederick part whereof he intercepting grievously reprehended the Effeminacy of the English and of Richard Earl of Cornwall for yielding to the Popes party to the Destruction of the Realm of England and detriment of the Empire The Pope intended to have interdicted the Realm of England had they not paid his 6000 Marks and the King by his Nuncio's signified his Compliance to it Now all the consolation and hope of relieving the English expired their Enemies being their Judges SECT 22. 22. Hereunto I shall add what I found in an Ancient Manuscript which briefly gives us an
no other cause being known but the Popes pleasure Levies of Moneys to the Popes use without cause In the year 1245 the Pope demanded of all Clerks that were Non-resident half their Revenues and of those that were resident a third part Matthew Paris writeth that in the year 1257 the Popes Proctors sent with his Bulls into this Realm extorted of Clerks and Religious Persons great sums of Money and if any found themselves Grieved and offered to appeal they were forthwith by one Commission or other Excommunicated Mat. Paris fol. 1002. In the year 1248 he exacted of the Monastery of St. Edmondsbury the place of the Abbot being void 1000 Marks and would not confirm the Election of the new Abbot until the Monks had promised to pay 800 Marks In the Reign of King Edward the Second Pope John XXII reserved to his See the First-fruits of all vacant Benefices for the space of three years At that time also certain Usurers set up in England called Caursins who by Usuries and strange Arts devised in Italy did eat up the poor People and the Clergy The King himself was much indebted to them The Bishop of London would have repressed them but because they were maintained by the Pope he was not able to efâect it The Franciscans and Dominicans preached up the Popes Power ând drew all the Confessions to themselves and every day obtained âriviledges to the prejudice of the Parochial Priests who became âlmost useless The State of England was deplorable for hungry âtalians of the baser sort with Bulls and Warrants from the Pope came daily to fleece the People and to raise such sums of Money âs they would demand upon the Clergy If any denied what they demanded he was presently Excommunicated And they that held the great Benefices were Strangers who were but the Popes Farmers This caused Matthew Paris that lived then and beheld these things to lament That the Daughter of Sion was become like a shameless Harlot that could not blush by the just Judgment saith he of hâm that made an Hypocrite to reign and a Tyrant to domineer Sometimes the Pope made his advantage by Grants made to other Bishops to spoil the Realm as to the Bishop of Rochester whose Name was Laurentius de Sancto Martino a Chaplain and Counsellour of King Henry the Third This Man got a Dispensation from the Pope to hold all his former Livings in Commendam with this Bishoprick And yet alledging that his Bishoprick was the poorest of England and therefore his Living yet unable to maintain the Port of a Bishop he never ceased till he had extorted from the Clergy of his Diocess a Grant of a fifth part of all their Spiritual Livings for five years and appropriated unto his See for ever the Parsonage of Friends-bury The Pope at the same time granted a Bull to the Archbishop of Canterbury to collect the Fruits of all vacant Benefices within his Province for one year Mat. Paris fol. 1000. SECT 18. The way that yielded to the Pope his greatest Harvest The Popes Legats was by Legats sent into this Realm for they coming hither under a plausible title of care to reform things that were amiss within the Realm and the presence of a Legate having an Authority little inferior to the Pope himself being terrible to the Subject they had opportunity not only to gather to their Masters whatsoever they liked to demand but also prevailed intollerably for themselves and some of them with such insolence as it is strange that any Prince could ever suffer them in his Realm I shall here speak something of the Original of these Legats and shew how by degrees the Legati à latere were brought in Authority amongst the Nations and how they did inlarge the Popes Phylacteries At first because Rome was the chief City of the Empire from thence as from a Seminary were preachers sent to sundry Nations to preach and plant the Gospel or to confute Heresies afterwards to provide vacant Benefices and to supply the absence of the Roman Bishop in Synods in all which they did no other thing but as other Bishops might have done and also did But when the Bishops of Râme were made Patriarchs and became ambitious these Legats did the same Offices at some times but therewith they began craftily to injoyn unto Archbishops and Metropolitans to execute some things which they were commanded by the Word of God to do and they would give them power within their own Diocesses as if Bishops had been Vicars of the Roman Patriarchs or his Legat. Petrie's Church History p. 272. These Primats did gladly imbrace the show of Honour that for reverence of the Roman Church they might be the more respected in their own Jurisdiction and sometimes the more easily advance themselves above their Competitors Sometimes the Popes sent Legats into other Diocesses with such modesty that they had Authority to attempt nothing without concurrence of the Bishops or Synod of that Countrey Albeit these Legations were partly good and just and at the worst were tollerable yet they were not potestativae or imperious but charitativae or exhortatory nevertheless the Popes brought the Churches and Bishops into subjection by such means for afterwards they were sent only for ambitious Usurpation Covetousness and Worldly Affairs The ordinary Legats at Pisa Romandiola Bononia Ferrara Avignon and if there be any other such are Provincial Deputies Praetores or Vice-Roys The Nuncio's at the Court of the Emperor or of any King Prince or State are Ambassadors or Spies for Secular Affairs The Affairs of any Church that are gainful if they be of less account are reserved unto the Judgment of the Nuncio yet not definitively but to be determined at Rome And things of greater importance are wholly reserved for the Court of Rome The Ancient Bishops of Rome did severely injoyn their Legats to acknowledge duly the inferior Bishops within their own Jurisdiction but now they pass by the Metropolitans and draw all Actions unto themselves and the Court of Rome Likewise their Ambition and Avarice have so provoked some Nations that they will scarce âit any Legat as Sicily and France have intrenched their Office ââe particultrs are more largely written by Antonius de Dominis âhbishop of Spalato de Republ. Ecclesiast lib. 4. cap. 12. âf these some had the Titles and Ensigns others the power of âats or more without the Title or Badges Some were sent âessively into England Wales Ireland France and elsewhere âublish Popes Excommunications Interdicts Bulls Croisados âms Suspensions Citations Mandats c. to and against Emâââors Kings Princes Bishops Abbots Priors and all sorts of âsons to exact collect Moneys Pillage Sacred Churches âânasteries Mansions founded by our devout simple Ancestors for ââief of the poor of Strangers and Sustentation of Religious âârsons c. ât was an Ancient Priviledge of the Kings of England and Scotâââd that no Legat à latere should come into any of
account of what things were heretofore beneficial to the Court of Rome and prejudicial to the Realm of England which are as followeth 1. The procuring of Favour for all manner of Faculties and Dispensations at Rome 2. The ordinary Fees for Dispensations and Faculties besides Expences in suing out the same 3. The kinds of Faculties and Dispensations that in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign appeared in the Book of Faculties remaining then with the Queens Clerk of the Faculties 4. The stranger the Faculty and Dispensation was which was sued for the dearer was the Favour and Fees that were paid for the same 5. The Gift of all Bishopricks Abbeys Monasteries c. in England whereof the present Incumbent died in the Court of Rome 6. The Provisions procured from Rome for the best Bishopricks Abbeys c. when they fell void or were voidable by the Law 7. The Appellations to Rome to stay all ordinary Law and Justice of Courts 8. The Citations from Rome in arrest of Judgment procured from Rome when Men knew or suspected the Law would pass against them 9. The Bishops Suit at Rome for their Pall. 10. The Abbots Suit at Rome for the confirmation of their Elections 11. The prefering of Strangers to the best Promotions of the Realm as hath been largely shewn before 12. The procuring of Bulls by Bishops Abbots Priors and Colledges to be out of the Kings Vâsitation and Prerogative 13. The First-fruits and Tenths of all Spiritual Promotions The First fruits of vacant Benefices were granted by Pope Innocent IV. to Archbishop Boniface for seven years to raise Ten thousand Marks to pay pretended Debts of the Bishoprick an unheard of Innovation in England opposed by the Bishops Nobles and the King at first yet inforced by Excommunications But the Benefices of Noblemens and Lay-mens Patronage and the King 's free Chappels were exempted from them by Order of Parliament and the Kings Writs 14. Peter-pence granted by the Kings Ina and Offa to the English School at Rome not to St. Peter called Peter-Pence because payable upon St. Peter's day excepted in King John's Charter to the Pope frequently demanded by the Popes Granted to St. Albans Abbey by King Offa confirmed since by Popes Bulls âleidan's Comment lib. 15. 15. The strange number and kinds of Pardons to allure all sorts of People to take and purchase them Frier Tecel to set forth the glory and prevalency of the Popes Pardons whereof he was the Pedler in Germany for the comfort and incouragement of Harlots and Whoremongers so far forgot the Honour and Reverence he should have given to the chaste Virgin Mary that he impiously averred If a Man had lain with our Blessed Lady the Mother of Christ and gotten her with-child yet the Popes Pardon was able to set him free from this Offencâ Pardons were granted from the Pope for Eighty two thousand years âor saying a short Prayer at Christs Sepulchre in Venice toties quoties For saying every Ave Maria in our Ladies Crown consisting of 63 Aves Two hundred eighty eight days Pardon of all sins and every Holy Mary in it 40 days Pardon and for saying the whole Crown of 63 Aves and 12 Pater-nosters by several Popes Indulgences Two hundred seventy three thousand seven hundred fifty eight days of Pardon And by the Bull of Pope Sixtus IV. Twelve thousand years of Pardon for âvery time any Person in the State of Grace shall say this Prayer Hail most holy Mary Mother of God Queen of Heaven Bernardinus de Busti Martiale part 12. Gate of Paradice Lady of the World Singular and Pure Thou art a Virgin thou hast conceived Christ without sin Thou hast brought forth the Creator and Saviour of the World in whom I doubt not Deliver me from all Evil and pray for my Sins Amen Here I shall present you with some Indulgences granted by Pope Gregory XIII at the instance of the Popish Bishop of St. Asaph in favour of one Mr. John Swynborn an English man the last day of March 1574. 1. WHosoever having one of these blessed Grains or Beads viz some consecrated Grains and Beads sent by the Pope among his other Beads and shall being confessed and communicated say over his Beads or the Rosary or shall read the passion of Christ our Saviour or say the Seven Psalms with the Letanies praying for the Pope's Holiness or for the Unity of the whole Common-wealth of Princes and Christian people with the See Apostolick and for the Reduction of the Hereticks Septentrional shall for every time obtain full Remission of their Sins as is granted in the Holy Wars against Infidels 2. And in the days of the Conception Nativity Annunciation Visitation Purification and Assumption of Our Blessed Lady being confessed and communicated and saying over your Beads or the Office of our Lady and praying for the Reduction of the Hereticks of England and other Countries Septentrional shall obtain in every the above-named days all the Indulgences that be granted to our Lady of Loretto of Monteserato of St. Angelo and of Sta. Maria Maggiore of Rome and any other Churches of our Lady in the whole World 3. And so often as any having Contrition of their Sins shall devoutly hear Mass or Sermon or say the Ave Mary in the Morning Mid-day and at Night when the Bell tolleth they being bare-headed and kneeling upon their Knees or shall bear with them three Beads at their Girdle or other place open to be seen or shall do reverence to the Image of the Cross of our Lady or any other Saint or shall examine their Conscience at Night before they go to sleep or shall going in or out of the Church or their Chamber take Holy Water or perswade or move others to do the same or shall charitably reprehend Blasphemers and other Sinners shall for every time so doing obtain an hundred years of Indulgences 4. And such as shall teach the Ignorant the Matters of the Faith according to his or their Estate or openly defend in every place the Catholick Church by Writing Catechising Preaching or by any other means they then shall obtain thereby the third part of their sins to be forgiven 5. Also thrice in a mans life-time after he shall have fasted three days and said over the whole Psalter and his Beads once or given sufficient Alms or done some other good Deed equivalent making to a Confessor appointed by his Ordinary or Superiour a general Confession that is either of his whole life or of that which is passed since his last general Confession was made and being communicated shall obtain thereby full remission of all his other sins 6. Moreover every day in Lent saying over with Devotion and Contrition of Heart and Desire of the Increasing of the Holy Faith his Beads Fasting also if he may otherwise praying or doing some other Charitable Works according to his Confessors Counsel shall obtain therefore all the stations of Rome day by day as they be appointed
Englands Grievances In TIMES of POPERY Drawn out of the Canon Law Decretal Epistles and Histories of those Times WITH REASONS why all Sober PROTESTANTS May Expect no better Dealing from the Roman-Catholicks Should GOD for their Sins suffer them to fall under the Popes Tyranny AGAIN Collected for the Information and Satisfaction of the English Nation at this Time LONDON Printed for Joseph Collyer and Stephen Foster and are to be sold at the Angel on London-Bridge a little below the Gate 1679. To his much Honoured Friends RICHARD DUKE of OTTERTON High-Sheriff of the County of DEVON AND TO CLEMENT HERNE of HAVERINGLAND In the County of NORFOLK ESQUIRES The AUTHOR Dedicateth this Insuing Treatise Intituled England's Grievances in Times of Popery ENGLAND'S Grievances in Times of POPERY SECTION 1. IT appeareth as well by the Pope's Laws delivered in Decretal Epistles which were particularly and upon sundry occasions directed to the Bishops and other Clergy-men of this Realm of England in Popish times as also by the report of our English Histories that at such time as the Bishop of Rome had his full sway in this Realm the Authority of the King was so obscured as there was hardly left any shew of his Sword and Dignity And on the other side the Subjects destitute of succour by their Natural Prince and left to a most miserable spoil and rapine of the Pope and of such as it pleased him to give them in prey whereof these special Grievances here collected may serve for testimony besides a number of others which come not to my memory but may be easily supplied by any indifferent mans careful Reading GRIEVANCES 1. The first Grievance was The Exemption of the Clergy Exemption of the Clergy who being a considerable part of the Realm by reason that great numbers as well looking to Preferments that then were bestowed upon that State as also drawn by Priviledges and Immunities which they infinitely enjoyed above others sought to be of that number were wholly exempt or at least so took themselves to be from all Jurisdiction of the King and his Justices not in Ecclesiastical Causes only as then they were termed but even in Causes Civil and in Matters of Crime though the same touched the Prince and his Danger in the highest degree The Popes Laws to this purpose are to be seen in C. Clerici extr de Judiciis C. seculares de foro competenti in 6o. and a special Constitution Provincial of this Realm made by Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury in the time of King Henry the Third in the Council of Westminster or Lambeth Anno 1270 or 1272. vid. Prynne's Exact History of Pope's Intollerable Usurpations upon the Liberties of the King and Subjects of England and Ireland Vol. 2. lib. 4. c. 3. Johan de Aton Constitut. Guil. Lindwood Touching the Practice it is recorded in the Decretals that Pope Alexander III. in the time of the Reign of King Stephen wrote to the Bishop of London to take Order by his Jurisdiction in a Civil Controversie of Goods left in the Custody of a Clerk c. 1. de Deposito Likewise it doth there appear that in the time of King Henry II. Pope Lucius III. wrote to the Bishops of Ely and Norwich to compel a Clerk to save his Sureties harmless And to like purpose he wrote in another Case to the Archbishop of Canterbury King Henry III. pretending Title by his Prerogative or by the Common Law to certain Lands which the Archbishop of Canterbury claimed to be parcel of the possessions of his Church was compelled to answer the Bishop in that Cause in the Court of Rome Mat. Paris fol. 494. Adam Tarlton or d'Orlton Bishop of Hereford in a Parliament âolden at London in the year 1324 was accused of Treason against King Edward II. as having aided the Mortimers with Men and Money against that King Being brought before the King and claiming his Priviledge to be judged by the Pope he was forthwith rescued by the rest of the Clergy After a few dayes the King caused him to be brought before him and when he should have been arraigned a thing till that time never heard of that a Bishop should be arraigned the boldness of the three Archbishops of Canterbury York and Dublin was very strange for they with ten other Bishops with their Crosses erected came to the Bar before the Kings Justices and took him from thence into their own Custody In his absence he was attainted with High Treason notwithstanding and his Temporalties were seized into the King's hand until such time as the King much by his device and machination was deposed of his Kingdom But though the King took away his goods yet he was not suffered to meddle with his Body Tho. Walsingham Hist Angl. p. 98 99. SECT 2. Restrainâ of making Laws âor Poliây 2. Whatsoever Laws the King in his Parliament made which in any sort impeached the Priviledge or Liberty of the Clergy or touched their Lands or Goods were for that time holden by the Pope and his Clergy void and of no force And it helped not the King how just cause soever he pretended of any right appertaining to his Ancestors For so are the Popes Laws in precise terms save that some of the later sort reserve to the King Laws touching Services and some other rights in Church lands c. qu. Ecclesiarum de Constât c. Eccles Sanct. Alar c. Noverit c. Gravem de Sententia Excommunicationis And some Popes were so jealous over Princes in the Point that they refused to allow Laws by them made to the benefit of the Church As where Basil Lieutenant to Odoacer King of the Lombards provided by Law in favour of the Church that no Prescription should make his Title good who had bought ought of the Church the Pope misliking that a Lay-man should deal in those Causes disannulled the Law c. âene quidem Distinct 96. The pract ce of this injury is notable in the dealing of Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury with King Henry II. For whereas the King in his Parliament had made very reasonable Laws in maintainance of the Ancient Rights of the Crown against the licentious Liberties claimed by the Clergy Among which one was That Clerks in Causes of Felony and Murthâr should be tried by the Laws of the Realm for that it was shewed unto the Parliament that then an hundred Mârthers had been committed by Church-men So Nuburgensis noteth lib. 2. cap. 16. not duly punished whereto the said Archbishop and the rest of the Prelats gave their consents and bound themselves to the observation of them by their Oaths the Archbishop afterwards grudging at these Laws departed the Realm obtained at the Pope's hand Absolution from his Oath and forced the King to answer for those Laws in the Court of Rome where the King finding no favour that Garboil insued which after fell out betwixt the King the Pope and the Archbishop and many Murthers committed upon Clerks by the
fell âoid within their Diocesses on these Aliens A dangerous Usurpaâion on the Kings Prerogative the Churches Priviledges and the Patrons Rights The next year the King issued Writs to the Archbishops and Bishops of sundry Diocesses by way of Opposition âo inquire how many Aliens were promoted to Benefices or Prependaries with their Values and Names In that injurious course of conferring Benefices upon Italians the Archbishop of York withstood the Pope and was constrained to leave the Realm Pope Gregory fore-mentioned in the same Kings Reign Mat. Paris fol. 735. wrote to the Abbot of Bury to bestow upon him a Benefice of the yearly value of One hundred Marks but so as they the Abbot and his Convent should farm the Benefice at his hands and pay him yearly 200 marks rent The same Author writeth of another Benefice Ibid fol. 815. and of the Treasureship of Sarum bestowed upon Innocent his little Nephew by one Martin at that time the Popes Legat in this Realm This Man was sent into England by Pope Innocent IV. to extort Moneys âe was armed with Bulls to excommunicate to suspend and by manifold ways to punish all as well Bishops Abbots as others who opposed his Rapines and Extortions Provisions of Benefices Rents to the use of the Popes Clerks and Kinsmen He extorted Gifts Garments Palfreys from them suspending those who refused though upon reasonable Excuses till satisfaction He twice summoned the English Bishops and Clergy for a Contribution to the Pope and their Mother the Church of Rome against the Emperor The King sent a Prohibition to them not to give him any aid under pain of forfeiting their Baronies He suspended all to present to Benefices of ten Marks value or upward till his and the Popes Covetousness was satisfied The King sent memorable Prohibitions to him against his intollerable Provisions and Rapines who persevereth therein with a stony heart notwithstanding The Cinque-ports were guarded to interrupt the Popes Bulls and Provisions sent unto him His Messenger was imprisoned in Dover-castle but released upon his Complaint to the King The King by advice of his Nobles sent Prohibitions to all the Bishops in England and Chief Justice in Ireland not to suffer him or any other Nuncio to collect any Moneys for the Pope or confer any Benefices without his Privity or Consent The Nobles sent a Message to him in behalf of the whole Kingdom to depart the Realm within three days else they would hew him and all his in pieces And when he demanded the Kings Protection against the fury of the Nobles Mat. Paris p. 640. the King wished the Devil to take him whereupon he departed the Realm in a terrible Pannick fear The Abbot of Abingdon refusing to bestow upon a Roman the Benefice of St. Helens in Abingdon which was esteemed at the value of an hundred Marks and belonged to the Monastery of Abingdon because the King had demanded it for his Brother Idem fol. 1002. was cited to appear personally at Rome and could not obtain his Release until he had assured to the Pope a yearly Annuity of Fifty Marks to be paid out of his Monastery Pope John XXII bestowed the Bishoprick of Winchester upon his Chaplain Rigandus in the time of King Edward the Second having before made reservation thereof Tho. Walsingham fol. 90. and giving special charge that no Election should take place though approved by the King We find in the Canon Law that in the time of King Richard the First though from the Records of the Tower we understand in the Reign of King John that Pope Innocent contriving how to usher in his Provisions into England by degrees without any observation imployed the Archbishop of Ragusa whom he discharged from that Church because he could not live quietly there to move King John to bestow a Bishoprick and other Benefices upon him in England to relieve his Necessities and support his Dignity whereupon the King out of his Royal Bounty bestowed the Bishoprick of Carlile the Archbishop of York and the Church of Melbourn upon him Of these Wrongs the People of this Land made often Complaints but could find no Redress The Usurpations of the Popes Legats and Agents by Exactions Provisions Disposing Churches to Aliens and other Innovations became so intollerably Oppressive to all sorts of People in England that by several Letters of Complan it dispersed against them in the year 1231 1232 there was stirred up a general Commotion and Opposition against them throughout England for finding that most of the Ecclesiastical Livings of this Realm to be in the hands of Strangers they were so offended that they set fire on their Barns in all parts of the Realm The Pope on the other side stormeth with the King and commandeth the Bishops of the Realm to excommunicate the Authors of that injury and withal to send them personally to Rome to receive their Absolution at his hand Speed in his History relateth Speeds Chronic. In the Reign of King Henry III. that it was alledged by these Reformers that they had under-hand the Kings Letters Patents the Lord Chief Justices Assent the Countenance of the Bishop of London and the Sheriffs aid in divers Shires whereby the Armed Troops took heart every where violently to seize on the Romans Corn and their other Wealth which Booâies they imployed to good purposes and for relief of the poor Roger de Wend. M. S. the Romans the mean while hiding their Heads for fear of losing them In the time of King Edward the Third Pope Clement granted to âwo Cardinals at one time Provisions of so many Spiritual Livings as would amount to the yearly value of Two thousand Marks Hereof the King complained to the Pope Tho. Walsingham Hist in Edw. III. alledging that the Rights of Patronages were disturbed the Treasure of his Realm spent upon Aliens in Foreign parts and that the Students his Subjects were thereby discouraged Which Reasons are delivered in a Statute by him made for restraint of Provisions from Rome SECT 15. 15. The Pope claimeth to have one proper Authority Plenitudo Potestatis in Beneficialibus which he calleth Plenitudo Potestatis in Beneficialibus and is an infinite and unbridled Licence to do in Matters of Church-livings what himself âisteth By force whereof he taketh from any Prelate or Beneficedman his Bishoprick or Benefice at his pleasure without yielding any Cause or Reason thereof He hath used to bestow Bishopricks of this Realm at his pleasure and when any of the Bishops died then the Pope claimed a Priviâedge to have the Gift of them as Decedentes in Curia Romana and so kept them many years as Decedentes in Curia for they never came into England to die here as Salisbury and Worcester which were claimed by that Title in Queen Maries time Again the Pope might dissolve Ecclesiastical Dignities and Benefices at will and turn them into what shape it best liked him Moreover he might
their Domiââons by the Popes Mission unless at the Kings special instant reâest to the Pope who eluded this priviledge by sending Nuncio's âaplains Clerks Friers Minors or Praedicants sometimes into ââeir Realm with the full power not Titles or Ensigns of Legats Some Irish Bishops without the Kings Privity endeavouring to ââocure a Legat to be sent into Ireland the King upon notice ââereof by his Chief Justice and others writes to the Pope to send ãâã Legat thither against his will Pope Gregory the Ninth his Legat was imprisoned for stirring ãâã Sedition in Lombardy against the Emperor Three Legats with ândry Archbishops and Bishops were taken by the Emperors Galâys going to a Council upon the Summons of Pope Gregory IX Gualo a Presbiter Cardinal of St. Martin crowned King Henry ãâã causing him to do homage to the Church of Rome and Pope ânocent for England and Ireland and to swear faithfully to pay âe Annual Rent for them which his Father King John had granted ãâã long as he injoyed those Realms He deprived Simon Langton ârchdeacon of Canterbury and Gervase de Habruge who obstinately âdhered to Lewis and the Barons and celebrated Divine Service to âhem and the Londoners after their Excommunication of their Beâefices for which they were compelled to go to Rome He sent ânquisitors through all Provinces of England suspending and deâriving Clerks of their Benefices for very small faults and adhering âo the Barons bestowing their Livings on his own Creatures Clerks ânriched with others Spoils He received a thousand Marks from Hugh Bishop of Lincoln and vast sums from other Religious Peâsons Canons exhausting their Purses and reaping where he ãâã not sow He bare sway in the Councils of King Henry III wâ sealed some Writs and Patents with his Seal before his own Sâ was made and usurped on his Crown during his Minority witâout Opposition Bernardus de Nympha came Armed into Englaââ with the Bulls of Pope Innocent IV to collect Money from thâ Cruce signati for Richard Earl of Cornwall the Kings Brother Dâvers Blank Bulls of the Popes were found in his Chest after ãâã Death containing manifold Machinations of the Romans to debase and oppress England John de Diva an English Frier was armed with many Papâ Bulls to extort Moneys from the English for Pope Innocent IV under dreadful Penalties and Fulminations He exacts six thousanâ Marks out of Lincoln Diocess His Exaction at St. Albans waâ appealed against who demanded 300 Marks notwithstanding thâ Appeal to be paid within Eight days under pain of Excommunication and Interdict which the Pope upon an Appeal caused theâ to pay He had a Bull from the Pope to inquire of all Lands alâenated from Churches and Monasteries Vexations by Proviso's aâ Simoniacal Contracts for Livings to seize them to the Popes use and Excommunicate Interdict all Opposers without Appeal John Ruffin was sent with the power though not the title of a Legat into Ireland to collect Moneys there He extorted six thousand Marks from the Clergy there notwithstanding the Kings Prohibition Otto I. Pope Honorius his Nuncio was sent to King Henry III. Hâ demandeth two Marks by way of Procuration from all Conventuaâ Churches of England he demandeth two Dignities and two Monkâ portions in all Cathedrals and Monasteries Pryn's Hist of Popes Usurpations Otho Cardinal Deacon of St. Nicholas in Carcere Tulliano Legaâ to Pope Gregory IX was received into England with Processions anâ ringing of Bells He disposed of vacant Benefices to all that camâ with him whether worthy or unworthy the King almost did nothing without him and adored his foot-steps He was present iâ the Parliament at York to mediate a peace between the Kings oâ England and Scotland The Charter of Peace was sworn to anâ ratified in his Presence He desireth leave of the King of Scots tâ enter as a Legat into Scotland to regulate Ecclesiastical Affairâ there as in England who answered That neither in his Fathers time nor of any his Ancestors any Legat had Entrance into Scotland neither would he permit it whilst he was in his righe senses But if he ântered at his own peril he must expect violence from his rude Subjects ârom which he was unable to protect him yet he knighted and beââowed some Lands on his Nephew A great Fray was occasioned at Oxford by his Porters Insolence ând he was assaulted by the Scholars at Osney-Abbey stiled an Uâurer a Simoniack a Ravisher of Mens Rents a Thirster after Money a Perverter of the King and Subverter of the Kingdom ãâã forced to fly secretly from thence Both the King and he proâeeded severely against the Scholars for it by Ecclesiastical Cenâures Excommunications Penances Imprisonments almost to âhe ruin of the University He was denied Entrance into Scotland by the King thereof the âecond time He gave a Writing under his Hand and Seal to the King of Scots that his Admission into Scotland should not be drawn ânto Consequence who took it away with him upon his privat reâcess He there collected the fifteenth part of the Goods of all Preâats and Beneficed Clerks and sent it to the Pope The English Noâles send Letters of Complaint to the Pope against his confering of Benefices by Provisions upon Aliens and other Grievances Frederick the Emperor was incensed against King Henry III for this Legats collecting of Moneys in England imployed in Wars against him demanding his Expulsion out of England as the Emperors and the Kingdoms Enemy He demandeth Procurations for himself from the Clergy not exceeding the sum of four Marks for any Procuration The King sent a Prohibition to him to exact the fifth or any other part of the Benefices of his Clerks attending on his Service which he could by no means endure He joyneth with Peter Rubee in exacting a great Tax from the Prelats and Abbots to shed Christian Blood and to conquer the Emperor The Bishops and Canons except against his intollerable Demands He laboured to raise a Schism and Division among the Clergy to obtain his Exactions He demanded Procurations from the Cistercians who manfully denied them as contrary to their Priviledges which the Pope dispensed with by his Non obstante The King upon his Departure out of England by the Popes Summons feasted placed him in his own Royal Throne and at Dinner to the admiration of many Knighted his Nephew and bestowed an Annuity of Thirty pounds per Annum upon him which he presently sold He conferred above Three hundred rich Prebendaries and Benefices at his own and the Popes pleasure on their Creatures He spoiled the Church of Sarum and maâ other Cathedrals leaving them destitute of Consolation He accompanied by the King and Nobles in great state to the Sea-sidâ at his departure out of England He left not so much Money ãâã England behind him when he left it Mat. Paris fol. 735. as he drained out of it Church plate and Ornaments excepted He stayed three years in England great were the rewards demanded
in divers Churches thorowout the whole year 7. Moreover Every Friday of the Moneth of March and in the days of the Invention and Exaltation of the Cross saying over the Corona or Beads or the Office of the Cross and upon Good-Friday the Seven Psalms with the Litanies being confessed or having purposed to be confest as soon as they may shall obtain therefore all the Indulgences of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem of St. Cross in Rome of the Holy Chappel in Paris and all the places where any Râlictâ be of our Saviour Christ's Passion 8. Item Upon All-souls day saying over the Beads with Contrition and being present at the Service said for the Departed out of thiâ Life or at the least hearing a Mass or saying over or causing one to be said shall deliver one soul out of the Pains of Purgatory Every Monday also he that saith over his Beads or Dirige for the Departed out of this Life shall obtain the same Indulgenceâ which be obtained in Rome for Visiting Holy places for that purpose 9. Item Every Sunday and Friday saying over the Beads for âhe increase of all Orders of Religion of Cathedral Churches Cural and others namely Tramontaines they shall be partakers of all the Prayers and Sacrifices of the same as though they were corporally present with them praying also for the Indans and parts without Europe they shall be partakers of their well-doing which travel in those Countreys in the Vineyard of God 10. Item It is granted That for once or twice an Unhallowed Grain or Bead may be put in the place of an Hallowed Bead or Grain if it be lost or broken and have the same Indulgences The Conclusion is in this manner Laus Deo Virginique Matri Praise be to God and the Virgin-Mother 16. Hereto may be added the Special Pardons and Bulls given to special Places of Pilgrimage and the advancing of new found Miracles and Pilgrimages with new granted Bulls and Pardons There is no Church of note among them no notorious Image to which Men go on Pilgrimage no Author of any new Sect scarce any Reâigious House which is not famous by one or more pretended Miracles If a man will trouble himself to read the Lives of their Saints their Legends and Books of the like nature he shall tire out himself with the Reports of Miracles far more strange than we can read of any in the Scripture Bellarmine glorieth in the daily Tydings of Miracles wrought by the Jesuits which are brought to Rome Large Narrations are of the Miracles of Navierius a famous Jesuite of our Lady of Mountaign of our Lady of Hall in the Low Countries and of many other such Idols Almost a mans life were too little to read over all of this kind and now more multiplied than ever heretofore And we may suspect their Miracles when divers of their own Authors have called in question the truth of them Lyranus saith That people are much deceived by Miracles made by Priests and their Fellows for worldly gain Alexander Hales a great Schoolman saith That they make sometime Flesh to appear in the Sacrament partly Humana procuratione interdum operatione Diabolica by humane procurement and sometimes by the working of the Devil And Claudius Espencaeus sometime Bishop of Paris saith No stable is so full of dung as their Legends are of Fables in this kind And Canus in hiâ Common Places saith That in the Legend a man shall read Monsâââ Miraculorum Thus I say The words of divers eminent Men of their own side do make us suspect their Miracles to be but Tales Many of the things themselves in common conceiving are ridiculous as that old Tale of St. Dionysius that carried his Head in his hand after it was strucken off Of Clement the First that when he was cast into the Sea with a Milstone about his Neck the Sea fled three miles from the Shore and there was found a little Chappel ready built in the Sea where his Body was Bestowed I have also read of another who stuck his Staff down by him at the Bank-side which kept the River from over-flowing the Banks and soon after it sprang up and spread it self into a mighty Tree There are a world of such Tales enough to weary any one to recite them And yet even such as these had Bulls and Indulgences granted to them 17. The special Jurisdictions and Exemptions that one Bishop and Abbot procured above another 18. Their providing that no Condemned Clerk might be Executed SECT 23. In this state as hath been expressed this Realm stood for the most part by the space of 300 years after the Conquest The times that followed were somewhat freed from certain degrees of the Popes Tyranny by reason that the Kings of this Realm armed themselves with Laws made in defence of some of their ancient Liberties and Executed others with better Courage than their Predecessors But I doubt if God for our sins should cast us again under his Yoke none of those Laws would save us from the extreamest of all those mischiefs which I have here set down My Reasons are 1. The Popes are no Changelings but were the same after those Statutes and are the same men that they were before and to put us out of doubt made continual claim to their Usurped Authority in the time of the later Princes For in the Reign of King Henry V. Pope Martin the Fifth sent to levy a Subsidy upon the Clergy of this Land for maintenance of his Wars against the Bohemians And he made Henry Beaufort the rich Cardinal of Winchester his Legat for these Wars who did valiantly there for certain moneths together assisted with the foresaid Subsidy until he was re-called by the Pope And two other Subsidies were afterwards required to persecute two private persons of this Realm viz. Peter Clerk Fox Acts and Monuments and William Rusâ In the time of King Henry VI. the Cardinal of Winchester notwithââânding the Statute against Provision procured the Popes Bull to ââe again his Bishoprick of Winchester which he had lost by his Carâalship and after obtained a Pardon from the Pope against the peâty of the Statute And in the same Prince's Reign Lewes Archbishop of Roan after ãâã death of the Bishop of Ely had all the Fruits and Revenues of ât Bishoprick granted unto him during life but was therein reâed by the King Other Examples there be of like sort 2. In the last Council of Trent Concil Trident. Sess 5. c. 18â there is a special Constitution for âestitution of all Ecclesiastical Liberties and therein the Emperour ãâã Kings Princes and States are commanded that they see them âotected The Title of Ecclesiastical Liberties reacheth to every of the âints before touched and therefore we may conjecture what ãâã are to look for 3. The Pope yearly publisheth one Excommunication which is âled Bulla de Coena wherein by Name are comprised all that âany let to such as would prosecute any Suit at Rome or that âfer not the Popes Bulls Commissions and other Processes âatsoever to be executed And all that execute any Statutes Degative to the Liberties of Rome be the custom to the contrary âver so ancient and such as impose Tenths Subsidies upon the âergy or receive them at their hands with good consent exâot the Pope allow thereof and those also which force any Ecââsiastical Person to answer before them in Criminal Causes beââg Lay-Judges c. So saith Martinus ab Azpil in Enchyridion ãâã 27. Which Book was made by the special Commandement of âope Gregory XIII The warning given us by Bulls published in âeen Elizabeths Reign assureth us that if he may have place âain he meaneth not to dally with us 4. Some of our unnatural Countrey-men in some desperate Books ãâã theirs long since cast abroad against the Execution of Justice ââve not spared to tell us that the Laws made in Catholick ââes viz. the Statute of Praemunire and some other were bad ââws and not to be allowed And again there were found âon some which came in Queen Elizabeths time to disturb the âace of this Realm small Pamphlets containing Directions as ââey would have them taken for Mens Consciences wherein they ââlivered many things to trouble those persons whose Consciences were possibly in those Points stayed in confidence of the ãâã Laws of this Realm and upon some Grants made by the ãâã himself 5. The Pope hath challenged a Soveraignty over this Realm bestow it where he listeth as feudary unto himself having foâmerly received a Tribute viz. The Peter-pence which was ãâã times of Popery of every House a penny Whereby Bâdiu in ãâã Book de Republica argueth that the Realm of England is not Soveraign Estate not to speak of the yearly Tribute paid unto thâ Pope by King John and some other Princes his Successors Thâ may serve the Pope for a mean to bridle all the Old Statutes anâ the Liberties of our Countrey and to spoil the Prince of all ãâã Prerogatives We know how he dealt with Sicily and Naplââ long agone wherein it were an hard matter for the proudest ãâã his side to justifie his Title And that he hath put out and put ãâã Kings at his will and sometime offered their Kingdoms to salâ And from King Henry the Third by the shadow of a bare Title the Pope got infinite sums of Money to the great exhausting ãâã his Treasure and impoverishing of the Realm When Stukeley and Fitz-moris were at Rome they and the Poâ practiced to give this Realm in Prey as he did the Kingdom ãâã Navarre and the Empire from the Emperor Frederick and also ãâã get an Investiture of the Realm of Ireland from the Pope as of Soveraign but they could not agree upon whom the Pope shouââ bestow that Realm FINIS