knowledge of the method in which Ecclesiastical Affairs were wont to be transacted in these most remote times upon which I am now entring and that the understanding of these will very much depend upon a right apprehension of the nature of those great Councils I shall have so much occasion to insist upon in this Period I will endeavour in the first place to give the most distinct account I can of them and that from Foreign Historians as well as from those of our Own Country And here were the manner of holding Parliaments as truly ancient as its Preface pretends and as some affirm that it is we should be able to go on the more easily in our Account of these Councils But because there are many things which make me justly suspect the Antiquity of that piece I must be forced to look out for some other Guides of a better Note and of whose Sincerity there can be no doubt That there was all along in these days a very near Affinity between the Polity of France and that of our own Country in its Ecclesiastical as well as in its civil Establishment might from many Instances evidently be made appear Those Northern Nations who about 400 years after Christ began to over-run the greater part of Europe were very much alike in their Manners and Constitutions And the Government which at the beginning they setled in those Countries in which they six'd tho' in some Circumstances it might vary yet in the main was the same too Now the Parliaments of France for so in aftertimes the great Councils of the Nation were call'd by them as well as with us were first brought into a setled Order and Method by Pepin Brother to Carloman about the year 744 in the very times we are noâ— discoursing about And the manner in which he did it was this He call'd together his Bishops and great Lords to a Council at Soissons and there with the advice of both commanded the ancient Canons to be observed and set out several new Constitutions for the Government of the Clergy as well as of the Laity And to the end that the State of both might be kept in better order they farther decreed that from thenceforth such a Synod should be held for the same purpose once every Year And thus this Affair stood for some time till about eleven years after being a little at leisure from those Wars which had almost continually exercised him he began to put his Kingdom into a better Posture To which end having again call'd together almost all the Bishops of France he resolved to have two Meetings held every year the first upon the Kalends of March in the presence of the King and at such place as he should appoint the other upon the Kalends of October at Soissons or at such other place as the Bishops at the former Meeting should agree And here began a manifest difference to appear between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Synods For at the former of these there met not only the Bishops but the chief of the Lay Lords of the Realm In that were Laws made both for the Civil and Ecclesiastical State and being framed by the Council were examined and confirmed by the King Whereas at the latter there appear'd only the Bishops and Clergy and these made no new Constitutions but only consulted together about the State of the Church and if need were prepared matter for the next State Meeting or else took care to order the Reformation of Mens Manners according to the Laws already made Such was the Polity which that King establish'd for the Ordering both of Civil and Ecclesiastical Affairs But now this Settlement begun by Pepin was very much improved by Charles the Great And because of this we have a very exact account given us by Hincmarus out of the Writings of Adalardus Abbot of Corbey and a near Relation of Charles himself it may not be amiss to take a short View of it In the first place then He appointed two Assemblies to be held every Year the One a General Council of all the Bishops Abbots and Lords of the Realm The Other more select consisting only of a certain number of the more aged and honourable of all these such as the Prince should think sit to chuse together with his principal Ministers of State whom he also call'd to it In the General Council all the publick Affairs for the following Year were setled In the Other were handled such incidental Matters as not being foreseen could not by Consequence be provided for in that Great Assembly and yet were of such a Nature that They ought not to be deferr'd till that Council should meet again In Both these Councils tho' chiefly in the General One Laws were made both for the Church and Realm The King proposed to them what He would have them debate upon and having for three days consulted together they laid the Result of their Debates before Him and his Choice and Approbation determined the Matter But that which I would chiefly observe in these Councils is this That as the Causes which sell in to be handled by them were of a different Kind so were they dispatch'd by Them after a different Manner If the Matter to be deliberated upon were purely Spiritual in that Case the Bishops and Abbots went apart by Themselves and debated upon it If it were wholly Civil or Military the Lords alone consulted about it If it were of a mix'd Nature as relating to the Government or Discipline of the Church then they Both together treated of it But which soever it were still the King consider'd of their Resolutions and determined all as He saw fit From this difference both of the Matters debated in these Assemblies and of the Manner of deliberating upon Them the same Assembly is oftentimes called both a Royal and Synodical Council Thus Sigebert styles the Council of Trebur under the Emperour Conrade Anno 1031. And thus may many of our ancient Councils be distinguish'd I shall mention only One in which a learned Antiquary of our Own Country has made the same Remark the famous Synod of Aenham at which not only the Bishops and Abbots but the lay Nobility were present But yet the most part of what was done in it related to the Church and was concluded by the Clergy alone who went apart from the Other Lords for that purpose It were an easie matter to shew that the same method of deliberation continued to be observed not only in our more Ancient General Councils of this period but even after the Reduction of our Parliament to the Form in which it now is But this would lead me too far away from those Times I am now upon And I shall have a more proper Occasion hereafter to take notice of it In the mean time from what has been said it appears that the Method of transacting publick Affairs in France in
their Meeting and was greatly satisfied at their Behaviour in it It was not long after this that as Baronius himself confesses Theodorick summon'd another Synod at Rome to judge of the Crimes alledged against Symmachus Bishop of that See and submitted the Determination of that Affair to their Resolution And when Caesarius Bishop of Arles desired to convene a Provincial Synod in France according to the direction of the Antient Canons and the Allowance of the Laws to that purpose Yet he did not think it sitting so to do till he had obtained the Consent of Alaric the Goth for it And it is expresly noted that it was held by his Allowance What Caesarius here did with respect to Alaric an Arrian Prince the same did Avitus Bishop of Vienne with regard to Sigismond the Son of Gundebald King of the Burgundians whom he had not long before converted to the Catholick Faith He call'd even his Provincial Synod with the King's Consent And tho' himself Metropolitan of that District yet presided in it by the Prince's Order Such was the Authority by which these lesser Synods were wont to be held immediately upon the breaking of the Empire And that thus it continued till the Prevalence of the Papal Power began to overthrow the Prince's Right will appear from a short View of this matter in some of the principal States which arose out of the Ruins of it And 1. That this was so in the Kingdom of Spain the Councils of Toledo the most eminent of Any in that Country both for Number and Authority sufficiently demonstrate That the Second of these was call'd by the Permission of Amalaric the Synod it self owns But the Third and I think the most considerable of them all is yet more full to our present purpose It was a General Council of that whole Nation In it the Goths adjured their Heresie and embraced the Catholick Faith This Faith was first establish'd in Spain by the Authority of this Council and several very useful Canons were framed by it for the Government of the Church for the Time to come And all this was done by the Command of Reccaredus their King Who with Badda his Queen subscribed to the Orthodox Faith in it and made not only his Bishops but the chief of his Nobility and others subscribe to it It would be needless for me after so clear an Evidence as this Synod has given us of the Authority by which Councils were antiently Convened in Spain to spend any long time in the particular Examination of the several Councils that follow'd after It shall therefore suffice barely to say thus much that the Fourth of Toledo Another National Council and of great Authority in those parts met by the Order of Sisenandus as the Third had done by that of Reccaredus The Fifth by the Command of Cinthila who also confirm'd the Acts of it The Sixth of Cinthilan The Seventh of Chindaswind The Eighth of Recceswinthus The rest by the Order of the several Princes which follow'd after As from the Acts of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth the last of these Synods it does evidently appear As for their Provincial Synods they were not indeed always summon'd by the express particular Order of those Princes But yet even these were held by Vertue of that Authority which the Third Great Council of Toledo under Reccaredus before mention'd had given to them It was by vertue of this Allowance that the Synods of Narbonne and Saragosa were assembled and in Both which for that Reason it is said that they met according to the Order of that Prince and to the Appointment of that Council 2. And the same Authority which these Kings used in Spain did their next Neighbours the Suâ—vian Princes exercise in Galaecia during the time of their Empire there The Second Council of Braga the Metropolis of that Country is expresly declared to have met at the Command of Ariamirus or as some have rather thought of Theodimirus their King It was by the same Authority that the Synod of Lugo not long after was assembled to divide the Country into several Provinces and to erect a greater number of Bishopricks in it And when by Vertue of this Division the Clergy of that Country were come together in two Provincial Synods under their respective Metropolitans according to the ancient Canons in that behalf Miro his Successor order'd them to meet both together in a General Council at Braga and there agree upon such Constitutions as they should find the Necessities of the Church to require 3. If from hence we cross over to the Kingdom of Burgundy we shall find those Princes in possession of the same Rights over their Synods that the other Kings have been shewn to have exercised The Inscription of the Second Council of Lyons assembled about the Year 567 shews that it was call'd by the Command of Guntramn their King who also not long after assembled another Synod at Challon as Gregory of Tours informs us It was by the Order of the same Guntramn that the Great Council of Mascon was held And when that had not sufficiently restored the Discipline of the Church he not only assembled another at Lyons but more in several other places at Valence Poitiers Mascon c. all whose Acts expresly avow the Authority by which they met 4. In Germany Carloman first and then Charles the Emperor as they were the great Restorers of Religion and Assertors of the Discipline of the Church so will they afford us a sufficient proof of the Prince's Authority in this particular It was the former of these who with the Advice of his Clergy and Nobles called the Council of Ratisbon which is accounted among the First of Germany An. 742. And how the Other continued by the same Authority to summon the like Assemblies the several Synods of Wormes Valenciennes Aix la Chappelle but especially the two Great Councils of Mentz and Frankford in the latter of which not only the Bishops of Germany but of France and Aquitain were assembled together and over all Whom Charles the Emperor presided abundantly shew No sooner was this great Prince dead but Ludovicus Pius his Successor after his Example call'd together his Clergy to Aix-la-Chappelle for the correction of the Negligence and Ignorance of the Bishops and for the better regulating of the Lives of the Clergy And having fully determined whatsoever was thought expedient in Order thereunto he commanded a strict Obedience to be paid to the Constitutions which had been made by them And when this did not yet sufficiently correct the Abuses of those times He not only summon'd a Second Council to meet at the same place but being met he proposed to them such Heads as he conceived to be farther necessary with respect both to the Lives and Doctrine of the Bishops and Clergy and order'd the
all Right and Justice on purpose that he might Oppress Them so to Do They yet submitted to his Commands and chose rather to suffer by their Obedience than to Usurp an Authority which they were sensible did not belong to Them But lest this should be thought to have been only the Perverseness of an Heretical Prince we shall find the same Power both Claim'd and Exercised by the most Orthodox Emperors and such as were in all Respects the most zealous for the Churches Interest When Eutyches began to corrupt the Christian Faith and it was thought necessary that a General Council should be call'd to put a stop to his Errors Leo Bishop of Rome petitioned Theodosius with all imaginable Earnestness that He would consent to let a Synod be assembled in Italy for the Judging of it This the Emperor utterly Refused to do and Order'd the Council to be held at Ephesus and the Good Bishop was so far from Complaining of it that he submitted to his Summons and thank'd him that he would at least vouchsafe to have it there And when by the Practices of Dioscorus that Council answer'd not what was Expected from it The same Leo not only supplicated the Emperor again with tears and groans in the Name of all the Bishops of the West that he would Command another Council to be held somewhere in the West to determine that Affair but moreover engaged Valentinian and Eudoxia his Wife with many others of the Greatest Note to join in the same Request with him But Theodosius not only now refused him as to the place but deny'd him as to the calling of any Other Synod nor would He be persuaded to suffer any other to meet as long as He lived And this brings me to a 2d Observation which ought to be taken notice of upon this Occasion viz. That whenever the Civil Magistrate has refused to Call a Synod tho' the Affairs of the Church have never so much seem'd to stand in need of One and the Bishops have never so Earnestly desired One yet have they quietly submitted to the Refusal and not presumed on any Pretence of Right which they had in Themselves to meet together without his Leave or against his Consent So Liberius and the Catholick Bishops did to Constantius first and Leo and the Western Bishops to Theodosius afterwards And I believe it would be difficult in those best and most early times of the Church to find out any Instance wherein the Orthodox Bishops have ever departed from this Rule or which is much the same thing have ever been justified by the Church in those Cases in which they have departed from it Nay but 3dly Tho' the Council of Nice first and after that several Other Synods provided for the Constant Meeting of Provincial Councils at a certain Season every year and these being allow'd of by the Emperors and Other Princes who confirm'd those Canons and Approved of what They had Defined may seem to have put these kind of Synods at least out of their Power Yet even in these we find Them still continuing to Exercise their Authority And not suffering even such Councils to be held without their Leave or against their Consent I have before observed how Theodosius the Emperor restrained Theodoret when he thought him too buisy in calling together the Bishops to these Lesser Synods And when in after times Wolfolendus Bishop of Bourges summon'd a Provincial Council according to these Canons to meet at the beginning of September yet having neglected to consult the King's Pleasure in it we find Sigebert for that Reason alone sent a Prohibition to his Bishops to go to it And it is worthy our notice for what Reason he put a Stop to its assembling He professes he was well content that they should meet some Other Time always provided that they first made Him acquainted with it that so he might Consider whether he should allow of it as proper either for the State of the Church or for the Benefit of the Kingdom or Otherwise fit to be consented to And therefore when the Fifth Council of Paris had resolv'd that it was Expedient that Provincial Synods should be held every Year according to the Orders of the Church and the Canonical Custom establish'd in it They made it their Request to Louis the Emperour and Lotharius his Son that they would consent that at a fit Season every Year they might be Assembled This Request was again Renew'd some Years after in another Synod And yet notwithstanding these General Permissions before they did come together they were to have a particular Warrant for their so doing as is evident from the Acts of the Synod of Soissons which was held about the same time that those very Orders I have now mention'd were made So intirely has the Assembling of Synods been look'd upon to depend upon the Will and Authority of the Christian Prince But this is not all For 4thly When it was resolv'd that a Synod should be held the Prince evermore either determin'd or allow'd both the Time and Place of their Meeting This is evident from the very Acts of all those Synods of which any Perfect Accout remains to Us and is most apparently confirm'd by the History of the most Antient Councils of the Church I have before observ'd how Theodosius not only Appointed the Council which he had order'd to meet about the Affair of Eutyches to assemble at Ephesus but utterly refus'd the Request of Leo and his Bishops who earnestly desired it might have been held in Italy But Marcian the Emperor went farther He not only Summon'd the Fourth General Council to Nice first and then to Chalcedon tho' requested in like manner as Theodosius had been by the Bishop of Rome and his Suffragans that it might meet in Italy but when being press'd in time Leo petition'd the Emperor that he would defer it but a little while for his greater Convenience Marcian refus'd him That also and the Good Man contentedly yielded to him in both Such Power did the antient Emperors assume to themselves over their Bishops as to these Circumstances Nor did the following Princes claim any less When Pepin resolv'd that Two Synods should be held in France every Year He not only specify'd the time for Both viz. the first of March and of October but reserv'd the Nomination of the Place where the Former should meet to his own Appointment and for that of the latter determin'd that it should either be at Soissons or at such other place as the Bishops should agree upon in their first Assembly And Ludovicus Pius having thought fit for the better settling of the Ecclesiastical discipline to have Four Synods meet at Once that so they might separately Consider of the State of the Church and then their Opinions be altogether laid before him in one Common View not only Order'd this distribution of them but determin'd withal
first place resolved that a Synod should be held every Year and that the Emperor being present the Decrees of the Canons and the Rights of the Church should be renew'd and the Christian Religion be amended And how far the Design of this Canon was to extend may at large be seen in the Injunction made thereupon by the Emperour which we find in the Collection of the same Capitularies according to the Edition of Benedictus Levita pag. 823. Num. ii ibid. And now if from Germany we pass into France we shall there also meet with the like Practice It was the constant Method of Charles the Great in that Kingdom as well as in the Empire to preside over his Clergy Thus we see he did in most of those Synods whose Acts remain to Us And in an Antient MS. of St. Germains wherein the Canons of the Bishop of Langres are transcribed the first Chapter carries this Inscription Out of the Council of Bishops where Charles the Emperor Presided And Charles the Bald not only Sate in the Second Council of Soissons anno 853 but proposed to the Fathers what He desired they should debate about and oftentimes prescribed to their very Resolutions also From what has been said I may now I conceive take it for granted That the Prince has a Right either to preside over his Synods in Person Or if he rather thinks fit to appoint his Commissioner to do it in his stead The only difficulty will be to determine how far he may be accounted a Part of the Synod and be allow'd not only to Preside over it but also to Sit and Vote in it And 1st As I have observed that One great End of his Sitting there is to keep the publick Peace and to see that all things be Regularly and Quietly transacted by the Bishops and Clergy in them So it must also be allow'd that He has all that Power over Them that is necessary for the obtaining of this End He may therefore without Controversie Commend the Modest and Ingenuous Reprove the Factious May keep all to their proper Business and not suffer them to Wander into other Matters or pursue any other Method than what He has prescribed to Them And if any shall become so disorderly as to need it He may as the antient Emperors did not only commit such turbulent seditious Persons to safe Custody and punish them according to the Nature of their Offence but if need be may annul the Acts that were so tumultuously and irregularly done by Them 2dly In the Debates of every such Synod of whatever kind they be the Prince may freely join with the Synod and offer any Objections or propose any Difficulties He shall think fit in order to his being better convinced of the Truth of what is to be believed or of the Expediency of what is determined by it For Princes are Men of Reason and Capacity as well as Bishops and Priests And when a Matter is debated may be as capable of making a sound Judgment as any One that is there Assembled It has I know been speciously Objected against this that Princes have commonly Other things to do than to study Divinity to read Commentators Fathers Councils and the like Books which are the proper Subjects of the Clergies Meditations This indeed is true nor shall I go about to deny it But are they sure it is necessary that the Prince should have study'd all these Books to be able to make a sound Judgment of what may be alleged out of Them May not a Point be proposed and Scripture be Quoted and Antiquity Alleged and Learned Men canvas these Matters so long till a Stander by who is endued with a good Natural Judgment shall be able very evidently to discern on which side the Truth and Authority lies If not I am sure the Generality of Christians will be left under very hard Circumstances who must at last believe as the Church believes and pin their Faith upon the Authority of their Clergy and neither be alow'd to judge of the Grounds of it nor if once in an Error be capable of ever being convinced of it But if therefore it must be confess'd that an Argument may be managed by Learned Men in such wise as to convince those that are not Learned on which side the Truth lies then certainly the Prince may also be capable of discerning whether his Synod has Reason for their Definitions or not tho' He has not perhaps himself Read so much Divinity as to be able to enter into the Learned Part of the Debate with the Fathers of it Whether therefore it be a Matter of Faith or a Matter of Discipline I see no Reason why the Prince if he think fit may not only be present when the Synod debates about it but may not also enter into the Merits of the Cause with Them and propose his Doubts and manage his Arguments and do whatsoever is requisite to his full Information and Satisfaction Concerning it And having done this I add 3dly That as Charles the Emperor did in the Great Synod of Frankford so may Every Other Christian Prince if he please do still I mean may Vote with Them in such things as concern the Discipline of the Church Because in these both the Rights of the People and the Power of the Prince are for the most part very nearly concerned Whether the Prince may judicially concur with the Clergy in their Decisions in Matters of Faith I do not think it worth the while to dispute Thus much I dare confidently affirm That if He may not judge with them He not only may but must judge after them For as much as He is not only concern'd in Common with his Subjects to believe aright but as a Christian Prince ought to assert the Right Faith too And do what in Him lies to promote the belief and profession of it in his Dominions For give me leave thus far to anticipate what I shall presently have Occasion more particularly to Consider When the Synod has settled the Doctrine of Faith and framed as they conceive a just and Orthodox Confession of it Is it the Duty of the Prince to Receive and give Countenance to their Definition or is it not To say that it is not is to sink the Credit of such Meetings very low indeed and to make their Assembling of very little Consequence if when They have done all they can to fix the Doctrine of the Church neither the Prince has any Obligation to support their Definition nor the People to Receive it But if when the Synod has done and their Sentence is pass'd and perhaps their Anathema's too have been thunder'd out against all that shall presume to call their Decisions in Question the Prince is obliged to add his Sanction to their Definition Then I hope They will think it to be their Duty in order to his confirming their Decrees with a Good Conscience to convince him of
those days of which I am at present to discourse was briefly this 1. They had every Year a General Council of the Kingdom made up of the chief Men both in Honour and Employ whether Civil or Ecclesiastical and therein Laws were made with the Assent of the Prince both for the Church and State In Matters purely Spiritual such as the Articles of Christian Faith the Clergy advised alone and what was upon their Advice determined by the Prince became a Law as to those Matters In Matters of a Mix'd Nature as in Regulating the Discipline of the Church The Great Lords deliberated together with the Bishops And the Prince confirm'd what by the Common Advice and Consent of Both was Recommended to Him But because it might so fall out that some Affairs might arise which neither could be foreseen at those General Meetings nor might be deferr'd till their next Assembling Therefore 2. To prevent any Inconvenience that might happen by this means there was another Great Council held every Year made up of a select Number of those who came to the General Assembly and by them were such Matters determined after the same Manner and with the Concurrence of the same Authority by which the Other proceeded Such was the method of proceeding in these Publick Affairs abroad and the same was in Effect the Polity of our Own Country under the Government of our Saxon Princes They had their General Councils first in which they Deliberated of all Publick Matters And these Councils consisted of the Archbishops Bishops and Abbots of the Clergy and of the Wise-men Great-men Alder-men Counts that is to say of the chief of the Laity indifferently call'd in those Times by any or all these Names In these Councils they debated both of Civil and Ecclesiastical Affairs and made Laws with the Prince's Consent and Concurrence for the Ordering of Both. And this they did as far as I can judge after the like manner that we have seen the French were wont to do The Bishops and Clergy advised apart in Matters purely Spiritual But the Great-men debated together with them in Civil and Mix'd Affairs and in which the interest of the State was concern'd as well as that of the Church Thus Athelstan when he publish'd his Ecclesiastical Laws tells us that He did it with the Counsel of his Bishops But when he came to his Other Constitutions we find from their Subscription that his Nobles as well as Bishops were Present and that Both assisted at the making of Them Whether besides these General Councils there were not in those Times some more particular Ones with Us as there were in France I shall not undertake to say That in process of time there were we are very sure and to which such only of the Bishops and Great-men were call'd as the Prince thought sit to Advise with Indeed as to any setled times of these Councils meeting it do's not appear that as yet there were any fix'd tho' afterwards a Custom began to be introduced of holding these Great Councils Once every Year But yet within this period Our Princes began very Solemnly to keep the Three Great Festivals of the Year with their Bishops and Lords And by that means in some sort held a Council three times every Year with Them It is true our ancient Laws make mention of a solemn Assembly that was convened every Year upon the first of May in which the chief both of the Clergy and Laity met together And this differ'd but little from such a Council as We are now speaking of But yet it do's not appear that in these Meetings any great Affairs of State were transacted much less any Laws made but rather the main business that was done in them was solemnly to Renew their Oath of Fidelity to the King and for the Maintenance of the Laws already made But tho' the Greatest part of what concern'd the Church was therefore transacted with us as it was abroad in these State Councils yet it cannot be doubted but that within this Period there were held several Ecclesiastical Convocations or Synods properly so called To these not only the Archbishops and Bishops were admitted but the Abbots and other Clergy were called Insomuch that in some of them we find Priests Deacons and Monks and even Abbesses also mention'd And besides these not only the Prince was for the most part present but often-times his Nobility together with Him In these Synods sometimes the Canonical Discipline was inforced and Matters of Faith establish'd But generally they met for Other purposes and did little more than either confirm the Estates or Privileges of some Religious Houses or transact the like particular Affairs And still the General concerns of Religion were setled either by the Bishops and Abbots apart or else by them together with the Great Men in the Common-Council or Parliament of the Realm And now having said thus much to clear the way for a Right Understanding of the Method in which Ecclesiastical Affairs were wont to be transacted in those Times in which Christianity first began to be setled among Us by our Saxon Ancestors I shall go on to take a short View of the most considerable Assemblies whether Synods or Councils that were held in this Country before the Time of the Norman Conquest It was about the Year of Christ 596 that Austin the Monk having determined to undertake the Conversion of the Saxons in these Parts with the Leave of Pope Gregory Arrived here And having with Good success persuaded Ethelbert King of Kent to become his Proselyte He from thenceforth began to have a very Great Authority with Him We are told by a Monkish Historian that about the Year of our Lord 605 that King being now fully confirm'd in the Christian Faith did with Bertha his Queen and Eadbald his Son and with Austin his Bishop and the Great Lords of his Land solemnly keep his Christmas at Canterbury And there in a Common Council both of his Clergy and People He endow'd the Monastery which Austin had Founded in that City and granted several large Privileges and Immunities to it I have before observed that it was an Ancient Custom of our Kings to keep the Three Great Festivals of the Year with an Extraordinary State and Solemnity Their Bishops and Great Men attended upon Them and they appear'd in the highest Pomp of Majesty they could put on among Them and took those Occasions to transact such affairs as they thought expedient for the publick Welfare If there be any Credit to be given to this Relation for which I dare not answer then we must look upon this to have been such a Civil Council Sure we are that in after-times many were held of the like Kind But tho' in these days the affairs of the Church were for the most part determined in such Meetings yet I have before said that some Synods they had which were properly Ecclesiastical and
Enormities have broke out and there being none to suppress them they have by an evil Custom grown to too great a Height To which the King answer'd Of this I will determine when I see fit and that at my own Pleasure not at yours And he kept his word with him For during his whole Reign there was no Ecclesiastical Synod held in England But what this King deny'd the next readily complied with For in the second Year of his Reign he consented to the desire of Anselm to call a Synod and accordingly at Michaelmas Anno 1102 a Convocation met in St. Peter's Church near London At this Synod not only the King but all his Nobles were present The Archbishop desiring they might be fully satisfied in the Orders which should be made to the end they might the more readily afterwards concurr with the Bishops in the enforcement of them For so the Iniquity of those times required in which for want of Synods Vice was grown to an extraordinary heigth and the Fervour of Christianity was much abated It was a long time after this before any other Ecclesiastical Synod was held in this Country but then there met one of an extraordinary Nature and which I must take particular notice of because that in it was made the first considerable Invasion upon the Princes Authority as to this matter in these parts Pope Honorius having appointed Jo. de Crema to go as his Legat into England he met the King in Normandy and after having been stop'd for some time by him managed his business so well as to obtain the King's Permission to come over hither Being arrived here he assembled a National Council by his Legatine Authority Anno 1125. And the method He took of doing of it is worth our Notice It being the first Instance we have of any thing of this nature that was Attempted here The Legate assuming to Himself the King's Prerogative commands the Archbishop of Canterbury to Issue out his Writ for the Calling of it This the Archbishop was forced to submit to yet being desirous to maintain his Own Authority as well as He could He drew up the Writ in these Words William c. Archbishop of Cant. to Urban Bishop of Landaff Health I signifie to you by this Letter that John Cardinal Priest and Legat of the Roman Church has by Our Order and Connivance design'd to Hold a Council at London the day of the Blessed Virgin 's Nativity Wherefore I Command you that at the Time and Place prefix'd you fail not to meet us with the Arch-deacons Abbots and Priors of your Diocess to Determine concerning Certain Ecclesiastical Affairs and to Reform or Correct what the Sentence of Our said Convocation shall agree is to be Reformed or Corrected The Council being thus Assembled the Legate presided in it He sate not only above the Archbishop and Bishops but above all the Nobility of England who came thither By this Pride of his he raised the Indignation of the whole Realm against Him And being caught in Bed with a Whore at Night after having bitterly inveighed against the Marriage of the Clergy the day before He was forced to leave the Kingdom in a very dishonourable Manner But tho' the Archbishop therefore did what he could to assert his Authority yet he was not without a very tender sense of the Assront that had been put upon Him To prevent the like for the future instead of maintaining the Rights of his See and the Privileges of his Country and in both which our Nobility would certainly have stood by Him He applied to Rome for a Legatine Power to be Granted to him and so unhappily brought both the Kingdom and his own Dignity under a greater Servitude Being return'd from Rome with his New Character Anno 1127. He the same Year held a Council not as Archbishop but as the Pope's Legate the first of the Kind that ever any Archbishop held in England To this was gather'd besides the Bishops a great Croud both of the Clergy and of the Laity But these were spectators only the Bishops alone Voted in it And all the Power the King was now allowâ—â— was after having heard what was defined by Them to Consent to it and to give leave to them to put in execution what had been as we see determined by Them But tho' the Clergy by this means began to get Ground upon this Prince yet it was not very long before he found out a way to be even with Them and that such a One as was very Gratefull to his Close and Thrifty disposition For about three years after having Observed how little the Decrees of the late Councils had prevailed to Oblige the Clergy to Abandon their Wives in another Council held at London August the 1st 1129. He persuaded the Bishops to leave the Ordering of that matter to Himself Which being done He exacted vast Summs of Money from the Married Priests and instead of forcing them to leave their Wives gave license to such as would pay for it to live on freely with Them King Henry being dead it cannot be wondred if the Invasions begun to be made upon the Prince's Rights towards the latter end of his Reign were not only continued but encreased under K. Stephen He who sounded One part of his Title to the Crown upon the Papal Authority could hardly be supposed capable of denying the Pope the same Power which his Predecessors had allow'd to Him And for the Opposing whereof he had himself so weak a foundation Three Synods we meet with during the Reign of this King and Every One held by the Legatine Power The first was in the Year 1138 It was call'd by Albericus Bishop of Ostia and all the favour which was allow'd the King was That He was present at it and help'd to make Theobaldus Archbishop of Canterbury in it But much less was his interest in the next of these Synods which met at Winchester about four years after and which was not only call'd without his leave by the Legatine Authority of his Brother the Bishop of that See but was assembled on purpose to Animate the Clergy against him and to prepare the way for Maude the Empress to overthrow Him But the fortune of the King prevail'd And about the End of the same Year in another Synod of the like kind at Westminster the Legate return'd to the King his Brother's Party and Recommended it to the People to pay that Obedience they Owed to Him Thus pass'd these Affairs in this troublesome Reign and in which the Authority first Usurp'd by the Pope in the time of King Henry the First got new strength and began now to plead prescription in its favour But now the Civil State being a little more Quiet the King was thereby in a better condition to Assert his ancient Rights And accordingly being inform'd that some foreign