Selected quad for the lemma: kingdom_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A49529
|
Episcopall inheritance, or, A reply to the humble examination of a printed abstract of the answers to nine reasons of the Hovse of Commons against the votes of bishops in Parliament also a determination of the learned and reverend bishop of Sarum Englished.
|
Langbaine, Gerard, 1609-1658.
|
1641
(1641)
|
Wing L367; ESTC R22130
|
27,048
|
63
|
shall bee given to the Church and Bishops forseverall offences committed for then they had a great part in all fines and mulcts together with the King III. Further for point of honour and dignity it appeares by the lawes of King AEthelstan that every Arch-Bishop was equall to a Duke of a Province Every Bishop to an Earle and so esteemed in their valuations Vid. LL. AEthelst Regis apud Lambardum pag. 71. Concil. Britan. pag. 405. cap. 13. de weris seu wergildis 1. capitum aestimationibus The title of Baron was not then knowne or used among the Saxons but they called the Nobility Thanes Vid. LL. Inae pag. 187. 9. and the Bishop was equall or rather superiour tothe Thanus Major And the Priest to the Thanus Minor The Bishop and Earle are valued at eight thousand thrymses Messetheines and Woruldtheines id est presbyteri secularis Thani duo millia thrimsa Missae presbyteri secularis Thani jusjurandum in Anglorum lege reputatur aeque sacrum and sacerdos Thani rectitudine dignus est The Priest was then accounted equall to a Knight or Lord of the towne and was commonly stiled by the name of Sr as a Knight was though now it be derided and out of use Out of these lawes and some others doth the learned Antiquary who is so well versed in the antiquities and monuments of our lawes and Kingdome fully set downe the ancient dignity and order of the Clergy Magno sane in honore fuit universus clerus cùm apud populum Proceres tùm apud ipsos Reges Anglo saxonicos nec precariâ hoc quidem concessione sed ipsis confirmatum legibus Sacerdos ad altare celebrans minori Thano 1. Villa Domino atque militi aequiparabatur in censu capitis pariter aestimatus pariterque aliàs honorandus quia Thani rectitudine dignus est inquit lex Abbas five coenobiarcha inter Thanos maiores quos Barones Regis appellârunt posteri primicerius fuit Episcopus similiter inter comites ipsos maiores qui integro fruebantur comitatu Iuribusque comitivis Archiepiscopus Duci Satrapa amplissime provinciae pluribus gaudenti comitatibus praficiebatur Vt caeteriomnes Ecclesiastici comparibus suis omnibus secularibus Amplectebantur siquidem Reges universum clerum laetâ fronte et ex eo semper sibi legebant primos à conciliis primos adofficia Reip obeunda quippe sub his seculis apud ipsos solùm erat literarum clavis et scientiae dum militiae prorsus indulgerent Laici factumque est interea ut os sacerdotis oraculum esset plebis os Episcopi oraculum Regis et Reipub primi igitur sedebant in omnibus Regni comitijs et tribunalibus Episcopi In regali quidem Palatio cum Regni Magnatibus in comitatu unà cum comite et Iustitiario comitatûs in Turno vicecomitis cum vicecomite in Hundredo cum Demino Hundredi sic ut in promovenda iustitia usquequaque gladius gladium adjuvaret Et nihil inconsulto sacerdote qui velut saburra in navi fuit ageretur Mutavit priscam hanc consuetudinem Gulielmus primus c. IV. After the Conquest William the first divided the Ecclesiasticall Courts from the secular not with a purpose to diminish the Ecclesiastieall authority Imò Iureiurando confirmavit leges sancta matris Ecclesiae quoniam per eam Rex et Regnum solidum subsistendi habent fundamentum Yet the Bishops and Clergy doe not now expect or desire to enjoy their ancient splendour amplitude and dignityes seeing the greatnesse of their Revenue which should uphold the dignity is long since taken away so that well might Bishop Latimer in his Sermon before King Edward say We of the Clergy had too much but that is taken away and now we have too litle for there was no lesse in the whole taken from them then many hundred thousands sterling too incredible to be here briefly expressed I will only mention one for example the Arch. Bishoprick of York from which was taken 72 Manners and Lordships at one instant by one of the last statutes of Hen. 8. and the like happened to Canterbury London Lincolne and all the rest which methinkes should be enough to satisfy that menshould not goe about to strip them of those poore pittances that are left unto them being but small fragments in comparison of their ancient Patrimony which the liberality and piety of the Primitivetimes had conferred onthem when charity and piety was fervent and abounded with good works of all kinds in so much that they thought no honour or respect too much to be given to the Clergy especially to the Reverend Fathers and Bishops of the Prime order V. From what hath been said it is manifest that the Bishops were equall to the greatest persons and estates of the kingdome and had their votes and suffrages for making lawes and constitutions for the first 500. yeares before the Conquest Whereby it appeares that it is a very rash and ignorant assertion oftheexaminer That Bishops at first were but casually mounted to that height of extent andpower by William the Conquerour themoreto indeere and oblige them And that it is only of grace that Bishops werefirst allowed place in Parliament And that they crept in by favour to serve aConquerours turne and can derive no higher for sitting as now they doe inthehouse of Peeres then an Act of Parliament if so high Whereas it is manifest by all the lawes of the Saxon Kings both in the edition of Lambard and of the English Councells that the Bishops were the principall men in all ages for ordayning of lawes and constitutions in all the great Assemblies of the kingdome then in use And when matters in question were only Ecclesiasticall concerning the Church and Religion the Clergy sate by themselves but when there was any thing to bee given and confirmed to the Church then the Kings and Nobles did afford their presence and assistance as appeares by divers Councells Vid. Concil. Cloueshoviae pag. 230. VI As for the title of Baron in that sense as it is now understood it came among us since the Conquest as the learned Glossary sheweth pag. 81. Ad Anglos pervenisse videtur vocabulum Baro vel cum ipsis Normannis vel cum Edovardus confessor auras moresque imbibisset Normanicos Huntingtoniensis aevi sui vocabulum usurpans Histor lib. 5. Adolwaldum qui occisus est An Dn 903. Baronem Regis Edwardi senioris vocat sed Author antiquior Florentius Wigorniensis eundem ministrum Regis appellat quo etiam vocabulo scriptores ipsi Saxonici passim usi sunt So in the Saxon Councells and charters divers great men who were no lesse then Thanes doe stile and subscribethemselves Ministros Regis as in the charter of Edgar page 486. Ego Oswolde minister confirmavi Ego Elfwurde minister corroboravi And the like frequently occurre These
Praepositus aut minister Regis nec aliquis Laicus homo de legibus quae ad Episcopum pertinent se intromittat nec aliquis laicus homo alium hominem sine justitia Episcopi ad judicium adducat Iudicium verò in nullum locum portetur nisi in Episcopali sede aut in illo loco quem ad hoc Episcopus constituerit And the punishment for disobedience to the Ecclesiasticall Iudges was much alike as formerly was enacted under the Saxon Kings As by King Alured Si quis Dei rectitudines aliquas disforciet reddat Lashlite cum Dacis Witam cum Anglis And the same law is afterwards confirmed and renewed by King Canutus by other Kings whereby it appeares how before the Conquest and likewise after for a long time the authority and jurisdiction of the Church was maintained and upheld by the setled lawes of the Kingdome How they had power in their Courts to excomunicate and further by the helpe of the King and the Sheriffe to proceed against stubborne offendors and such asopposed or contemned their authority so that here is the present practise and law confirmed by many hundred yeares continuance And this is according to that which Iustinian saith of all spirituall causes in the Novell 123. si pro criminal si Ecclesiasticum negotium sit nullam communionem habento civiles Magistratus cum ea disceptatione sed religiosissimi Episcopi negotio finem imponunto If it be an Ecclesiasticall suite let the civill Magistrates have nothing to doe there with that plea but let the Bishops end it Whereby it appeares that Prohibitions from the temporall courts were not then allowable which certainly came not into use till after the Councell of Clarendon under Hen. 2. Wherein the Clergy were inforced to appeare in the temporall Courts one Canon thereof being Clerici accusati de quacunque re summoniti à Iustitiario Regis veniant in Curiam responsuri ibidem de hoc unde videbitur Curiae Regis quid ibi sit respondendum et in Curia Ecclesiastica unde videbitur quod ibi sit respondendum Ita quod Regis Iustitiarius mittet in Curiam sanctae Ecclesiae ad videndum quo modo res ibi tractabitur Et si Clericus vel confessus vel convictus fuerit non debet eum de caetero Ecclesia tueri But touching this and the rest of the Constitutions in that Councell Matth Paris doth sharply inveigh against them Hancrecognitionem sive recordationem de consuetudinibus et libertatibus iniquis et dignitatibus Deo detestabilibus Archiepiscopi Episcopi et Clerus cum Comitibus Baronibus et proceris juraverunt And as he addeth His itaque gestis potestas laica in res et personas Ecclesiasticas omnia pro libitu Ecclesiastico jure contempto tacentibus aut vix murmurantibus Episcopis potius quà m resistentibus usurpabant And this appeareth also by that which Mr Selden relateth in his notes upon Eadmer pag. 168. that long after in Ed. 1. time the Clergy had so many oppositions and hinderances in their proceedings from the temporall Courts that they exhibited a petitionin Parliament wherein they recitethe grant and Constitution of Will 1. allowing them their owne Courts by themselves and specify their complaints particularly which hecalleth Gravamina Ecclesiae Anglicanae and saith they arethose mentioned in the Proeme of Articuli cleri And in this age we have great cause to complaine of Prohibitions but whereof I will say no more now as for the temporall Courts the Conquerour appointed them to follow his Court Royall which custome continued for many yeares till under King Iohn at the instant request of the Nobility it was granted Vt communia placita non sequentur curiam 1. Regis Sed in loco certo tenerentur That the Courts of Iustice for common pleas should not follow the Kings Court Royall but be held in a place certaine as now commonly they are in Westminster Hall Whereas before the Kings appointed one Grand-Lord chiefe Iustice of all England who for his authority and power was a greater Officer both of State and Iustice then any in these last Ages ever since that Office was diminished by King Ed. 1. and most of those great Iustices were Bishops till at length the Pope forbad it XXIIII But the Courts being now divided in the kingdome many hundred yeares the Ancient manner is forgotten and unknowne save only to the learned and the scarres of the Norman Conquest are so overgrowne that few men are sensible what reliques of slavery doe still remaine upon us by changing the order of the Courts the language of the law in great part with other things that I will not now mention But being so setled by the Conqueror and continued by his successours the Temporall Courts in processe of time grew too powerfull for the Ecclesiasticall and by their Injunctions and prohibitions stopt many proceedings especially after the Councell of Clarendon under Hen. 2. Wherein the power of the Clergy was much abated And all Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction so crushed that it continued lame ever after although the Clergy by appeales to Rome did oftentimes help themselves and much molest their adversaries At length under Hen. 8. upon his breach with the Pope the Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction was much abridged and restrained in very many particulars and reduced to a narrow compasse becoming much more subject and obnoxious to the Injunctions orders and prohibitions of all the Temporall Courts that now I marvell that any should complaine or envy at their power or greatnes there being no cause of any value or moment but by one order or other isdrawne from them to the Temporall Courts And now at last there want not some that would have all Ecclesiasticall Authority and Iurisdiction either wholy suppressed from the first Court to the last or at least so abated mingled or changed that what forme or force of government shall be left remaining seems very uncertaine But if Presbyteries and such like consistories of the forraigne and new fangled devising were erected there will follow great confusion and disorder to the infinite disturbance of peace and quietnesse in the kingdome by alteration ofso many lawes and customes and of the common law it selfe whereby the kingdome hath been governed so many yeares and setled in peace and all mens estates and lands held in certaine possession For such great and universall changes as will follow upon the dissolution of the Hierarchy and taking away their votes in Parliament and other eminent parts of government will produce such ill events and troublesome distractions as will not be pacified within the compasse of any mans life now in being Which I heartily pray God to prevent and by his good spirit so to direct and blesse the endeavours and counsells of the supreame Court of Iustice now assembled that all our feares and doubts may bee quieted and the voice of peace and truth restored to our dwellings