Imprimatur Anto. Saunders Rmo in Christo Patri ac D no D no Gilberto Archi-Episc Cantuar. à sac Dom. Septemb. 24. Ex Aed Lambeth The Romish Horseleech OR AN Impartial ACCOUNT OF THE Intolerable CHARGE OF POPERY TO THIS NATION In an Historical Remembrance of some of those Prodigious summs of money heretofore extorted from all degrees during the exercise of the Papal power here To which is Annexed an Essay of the Supremacy of the King of England Quantas divitias comparavit nobis haec fabula Christi Verè enim hortus deliciarum Papis fuit tum Anglia puteus inexhaustus Innocent 4. Pap. London Printed by R.W. for Ralph Smith at the Sign of the Bible in the Piazza of the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1674. TO HIS Honoured Friend A.B. SIR WHen you and my self in an exercise of Friendship and Conversation which I always have esteemed no small felicity of my life have frequently within a few years last past entertained our selves in taking together some view of our present Times and sometimes again making a retrospect to the Times of our Fore-fathers in this Kingdom not forgetting also that sometimes by way of prospect we have made no less than a kind of Prophets of our selves in guessing at what might hereafter come to pass amongst us for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eurip. Him the best Prophet we confess That well of future things can guess But for what is past we have made some remarks upon those vicissitudes and changes which we and our Ancestors have seen in this Kingdom And particularly noting the different state and posture of the same we concluded that the alteration and change must needs have been very great as to the most important concerns of the Nation since the Power and Jurisdiction of the Popes of Rome was here exauctorated Upon which as I remember we wished some particular account of the State and habit of our Body Politick when the Influences from Rome were praedominant over it and that as well in reference to our Head the King's Majesty as also to the Members the People wherein we desired seriously to know whether the Pope's Power was prejudicial to them or either of them In which matter that I might give some satisfaction to you and my self also I set my self to methodize such notes and instances as formerly had occurred to me First Touching the Property of the People and how that was invaded by the Romish Practices And then touching the Supremacy of the Royal Majesty of the King of England and how that was Eclipsed by the interposition of the Papal Power And now I have put these Collections together you see what they amount unto I confess the Subjects are transcendant and vast and not to be measured with my line The trivial Controversies amongst Neighbours about Meum and Tuum frequently puzzle the gravest Judges but for the Fundamental Arcana imperii he that shall endeavour to poise them shall sooner discover the weakness of his own Arm than their weight I have known the united strenghts of Parliaments put to puffing and blowing when they have lifted at them But as the Divines say of the Holy Scriptures though they contain many Mysteries and things hard to be understood yet there is plainly and clearly deliver'd in them so much as is sufficient to make men good Christians So in the Doctrine of the King's Supremacy though we cannot reach its utmost import there is yet so much of it clearly discoverable as is sufficient to make all Englishmen good Subjects And as to that I have entituled my Discourse an Essay only not pretending to say all that the subject affords and have travelled no farther therein than our Laws Statutes Authorities and Records have lead me and I hope that thereby I have produced Demonstration sufficient that our Soveraign is invested with a most just Authority over all his Subjects and in all Causes within his Dominions and then seeing that Veritas est index sui obliqui it follows by all the rules of consequence that the Pope's Usurpations were most unjust For that other concern relating to the People's Property I took that task at first to have been much the easier of the two that is that it would not have been very hard to have comprehended and given some reasonable estimate of those summs which heretofore went out of England to the Popes and Court of Rome But after a little dealing therein I strangely found the account to swell beyond all bounds and soon experienced the difficulty to lye as much in the mutiplicity in this as in the intireness in the other This Grievance was and could be adequately known only to our Ancestors who felt it but the smart is not as yet quite worn off of their Posterity and therefore what is offered in this affair I have thought fit to stile a Remembrance and indeed it ought not to be forgotten But now Sir I may possibly deliver a sound Paradox That though it is conceiv'd a very hard thing now to understand as formerly it was to endure and once thought more hard to remedy all the mischiefs which our Fore-fathers suffered from the Papal Usurpation and Tyranny yet certainly the Cure was at all times not so very difficult to have been effected the Antidote was as near as the Poyson and there never wanted a Panpharmacon which if duly applyed would at any time have removed those malignant distempers that invaded the Kingdom 's constitution And that was in a word the Execution of the good Laws It is the Honour and Excellency of the Laws of England that no man can have a wrong or damage but the Law if rightly managed will do him right Did the Papal Power usurp and incroach upâ—n the King 's Rights the inherent vertue of the Common Law declared all to be illegal and void Did the Romish Practices weaken and impoverish the People the same Law at once arraigned and damned those Novelties and grievances and hence it was that all the supervenient Statutes ran but as Declaratory of the old Law Vid. Coke 5. Râ—p Cawdrys Case The Law indeed may sometimes be laid asleep by connivance or manaâ—led by some contrivance but it is a true and good Rule Dormit aliquando jus moritur nunquam and when the Law is awakened and let loose it soon discovers and breaks all offences and offendors The incomparable Spenser in his Faery Queen sets forth one Sir Arthegal the Patron of Justice attended with Talus his Iron man the Executioner whom nothing could withstand Pardon me if I give you his description of this notable Officer Our renowned Poet relating how the Divine Astraea loathing to sojourn longer amongst wicked men retired to Heaven from whence at first she came But when she parted hence she left her Groom Faery Queen lib. 5. Canto 1. Stanz 12. An yron man which did on her attend Always to execute her stedfast doom And willed him with Arthegall to
wend And do what ever thing he did intend His name was Talus made of yron mould Immoveable resistless without end Who in his hand an yron flail did hold With which he thresh'd out falshood and did truth unfold This Yron man when commanded and set on could rout seditious multitudes destroy tyrannick Giants quell hideous Monsters and knock down inchanted Castles Our Heroick Laws do no less when by their commanded Officers they dissipate superstitious concourses truss up the Gigantick Jesuite drag out the monstrous Plotters and batter down that second Babel of Confusion which the sons of the Earth would be rearing in our English plain What thoughts these Collections and Observations will raise in you or others I can but guess at I am sure they have sufficiently discover'd to me the drift of the Papal Policy That is to establish and uphold a Spiritual Dominion in the World to effect which it was necessary the Consciences of men should first be inslaved by superstition and ignorance and then by the Usurpation of Temporal Power and the ingrossing of Temporal Riches the work was done and the Papal interest so carryed all in the middle and dark Times when Kings durst not exercise their just authority nor the People call that which they had their own and in this despondency it was that the Laws were muffled up But when towards the latter Ages the revolution came of Learning and Knowledge with a reviviscence and improvement of all Arts and Sciences and men became tyred with groping so long in the dark and those great Lights began to dawn in the World then both Kings and People rouzed up themselves and their Spirits revived the shades vanished the Birds of darkness flew away and the Beasts of prey retired to their dens Every man then with alacrity addressed himself to his proper Office Princes took their Scepters in their hands and swayed them again without controul the People applyed themselves all to their honest callings and what they got by God's blessing and their own industry they injoyed whilest they liv'd and when they dyed left it to their posterity which formerly used to be snatch'd away before their faces by the Romish Harpyes The consideration of all which as it clearly manifests the great abuses poverty and slavery which this Nation once and for a long time suffered under the Pope's yoke so it cannot but make us reflect on that proportionable mischief which still lyes upon those that have not yet shak'd him off with this further observation how an entire subjection unto Popery corrupts and debases the spirits of men for nothing is more obvious than that in Italy Spain Flanders and other Countreys wholly the Popes as to his spiritual raign the Inhabitants are either the most Atheistical debauched and dissolute or those who with a blind zeal apply themselves to an observance of the Rites of that confused and absurd Religion presently become fond and stupid giving themselves up only to admire their Holy Father the Pope their Confessors and Priests fancying Rome to be the true model of the Heavenly Jerusalem and the Pope and his Cardinals ruling therein like Christ and his Apostles gazing upon the formality and gaudiness of their Church and intangled with a multitude of ridiculous Ceremonies and Observances all which tends to make them unactive and unfit for all those generous and ingenious courses that bring Honour and Riches to a People When on the contrary the Reformed part of the World being manumitted from such slavery and incumbrances beat out the Popish every where in Trading and generally excell them in all Arts and Sciences And this may be noted in our selves when presently after the Reformation the English grew potent at Sea sent forth great Colonies and Plantations maintained traffick and commerce over the World and brought home Honour Plenty and Riches to the Nation So the Netherlanders after they had freed themselves from the Romish briers presently got good fleeces on their backs grew rich and powerful eclipsing the glory of Venice that once famous Republick which hath ever since been in the wane Amsterdam supplanted Antwerp Flanders truckled under Holland and the Hanse Towns generally Protestant outstrip'd all their Popish Neighbours in wealth and strength Whilest the once great and dreadful Monarchy of Spain is fallen into a Consumption supported only with a little Indian Gold which they steal home sometimes The Austrian Eagle hath molted his Feathers Portugal losing both in their Plantations abroad and reputation at home And in those Countreys where Protestants and Papists are mingled as in Fâ—ance Germany Poland c. the Protestants generally are the Traders and grow rich as all Travellers testifie For besides that an addicted zeal to the Romish Religion contracts and debaseth the spirits of men their Guides endeavour also by all possible means to contain them in a dull ignorant and formal way knowing Learning and knowledge to be their common Enemy as at once discovering and overthrowing all the superstructures reared upon their sandy foundation But then what Wealth what Honour and Riches do their Clergy and Orders enjoy How glorious the Popes How splendid the Cardinals How abounding in Riches and Titles all their Relations Kindred and Dependants all suck'd from the People Whilest to lull and gratifie the abused multitude they have infinite devices they have perpetual provisions for the dull souls in their Cells the austere may take their fill of Discipline and rigour the impure and voluptuous have their conveniences at hand the lawless who find themselves too strait lac'd may be eased by Dispensations the credulous shall never want Miracles the fantastical visions nor the superstitious Ceremonies with infinite baubles more to keep the uneasie Babes quiet Now when any person comes to claim or exercise any extraordinary power or authority in a place or shall levy and take up what moneys he please he must reasonably expect to have a Quo Warranto sued out against him to which he must plead his Title to his Priviledge and that I must confess hath been very fairly done by the Papal Attorneys in this cause on the behalf of their Holy Client and they have drawn their Plea from the written Text of the Divine Law in this manner God made two great Lights in the firmament Gen. 1.16 the greater Light to rule the day and the lesser Light to rule the night from which they inferr the infallible Dominion of the Church for Pope Innocent the Third wrote to the Emperour of Constantinople thus Epist ad Imp. Decret lib. 1. de major Obed. Tit. 33. You ought to know says he that God made two great lights in the Firmament of Heaven the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night both great but the one greater To the Firmament of Heaven that is the Catholick Church God made two great Lights that is instituted two Powers the Papal Authority and the Regal Dignity but
Rome but the Pope to end the strife put Stephen Langton his Cardinal and Creature into the place whose insolence promoted if not occasion'd all the mischiefs that happen'd in that King's time too large to be here specified but fully related by all Writers of that time Roger Curson Roger Curson An. D. 1211. Mart. Paris Matt. Westm Balaeus Onuphrius about the year 1211. was created Cardinal Of him I find little amiss spending the most of his time in the Holy War untill at his return he came the Pope's Legate into England as an instrument to promote the intolerable exactions which the Kingdom suffered in the time of King Hen. 3. but he presently vanished the time place or manner of his death being not now to be retrived Robert Somercot Rob. Somercot An. D. 1231. Ciaconius Onuphr M. Paris created Cardinal under Pope Gregory the ninth is character'd to have been a person of very great merit and after the death of that Pope stood fairest for the Election but the Italian Cardinals resolving to have none but one of their own Country our Somercot was poison'd in the very Conclave Robert Kilwardby sate six years Archbishop of Cant. R. Kilwardby A. D. 1278. Godwin in vita ejus and then for a Cardinalship relinquish'd his See and going into Italy to take possession of his new dignity within a few months he dyed of poyson at Viterbium there Of this man there is a memorable story implying the practice of the Popes in making the English money their property and disposing the same at their pleasure as also his ingenuity once in shifting himself neatly out of such an incumbrance Antiquit. Brit. in vita Kilw fo 189. William Chillenden the Prior of Canterbury had spent 1300 marks about his Election but the Pope setting him aside a little to stop his grumbling and make him some recompence promised him that the next Archbishop should pay him 1300 marks which sum when Chillenden came to demand of Kilwardby being the next comer in the Archbishop dealt seriously and plainly with him and told him that if he persisted to have the money he knew privately so much of his irregularity that he could and would out him of his Priory at which Chillenden was so frighted that he durst make no further demand and so the Archbishop sav'd his money Hugo de Evesham Hugo d'Evesh An. D. 1287. a famous Physician was dignified with a Cardinalship by Pope Martin the fourth after whose death he for his worth Bal. de Script Brit. and learning being just at point of being chosen Pope was poisoned as Somercot had bin before him to colour which Ciacon Ciaconius sayes he dyed of the Plague William Macklesfield W. Macklesfield An. D. 1303. was made Cardinal by Pope Benedict the eleventh but he dyed four moneths before his Cap came and therefore when it was brought it was with great solemnity set upon his Tomb. Walter Winterborn W. Winterb An. D. 1305. created Cardinal to succeed Macklesfield but injoy'd his honor a very few moneths Thomas Joyce presently succeeds Winterborn Thom. Joyce Fratres Praedicatores these three last were all of the same Order In the year 1311. this Cardinal returning from his negotiation with the Emperour Godw. in vita Tho. Joyce in Sabaudia lethali morbo correptus vitam terminavit as our Author hath it Sertor of Wales Sertor Wallens An. D. 1361. dyed in Italy the fates denying him the honour in the juncture of time ante susceptum pileism as Macklesfield did before Grimoaldus de Grisant Gri. d'Grisant An. D. 1366. Kinsman of Pope Vrban the fifth and by him created Cardinal dyed at Avignion but how not known Simon Langham first Bishop of Ely Sim. Iangham An. D. 1376. Antiq. Britt Godw. in vita and thence translated to Canterbury and at last created a Cardinal on which account he went to Avignion and there as he sate at dinner was suddenly snatch'd away by a Paralysis Adam Easton Cardinal Adam Easton An. D. 1385. siding with some other Cardinals in a great faction between two Anti-Popes seven of his Comrades were sewed up in bags and thrown into the Sea whilst this Adam degraded and tortured was thrown into a most loathsome dungeon where he lay starving for five years together but upon the turn of times was afterwards drawn out and liv'd a few years Phillip Repingdon Canon Phil. Reping An. D. 1408. and Abbot of Leic. Chancellor of Oxford Bishop of Lincoln and at last created Cardinal of St. Nereus by Pope Gregory the twelfth Acts and Mon. fo 409. became upon his promotions so intolerably terrible and cruel that he dyed most hateful and hated being towards his latter end generally called Philip Rampington Henry Beaufort the rich Cardinal H. Beaufort An. D. 1426. of whom something before Notwithstanding all his wealth dyed frustrate of the Papacy and despairing of better injoyments in another world Christopher Bambridge Chr. Bamb Godw. in vita P. Jovius Archbishop of York and then Cardinal Sojourning and intent on his office at Rome was there poisoned by Rivaldus de Modena a Priest and one of his domesticks Thomas Woolsey Tho. Wolsey An. D. 1520 a Butcher's sonne of Ipswich Archbishop of York Chancellor of England Lo. Herb. Hist Hen 8. Cardinal and Legat à Latere whose high spirit not content with all the preferrement the world could afford except the very highest put him upon wooing labouring and bribing at a vast expence to obtain the Papacy in which attempt he receiv'd two notable repulses a Brewers Son by name of Adrian the sixth being preferr'd before him Thereupon he applies himself to Pope it so in England by vertue of his Legatin power that he ranne himself into a Premunire and the displeasure of a terrible and resolute King Cook 4 Instit fo 89. and many Articles were framed against him of which this was one That he was so audacious as to rown the King in his Eare and blow upon him at such time as he had the foul and contagious disease of the great Pox broken out in several places of his body but as he was going towards London under guard to make Answer to his crimes in sad apprehension thereof he dyed heart-broken with grief or poison Guicciard Hist of Italy fo 910. at the Abby of Leicester Guiâ—ciardin hath this note of him An example in our dayes worthy of memory touching the power which Fortune and envy have in the Courts of Princes And it was his insolence that made Charls Brandon the Noble Duke of Suffolk once say It was never merry in England since we had Cardinals amongst us John Fisher Bishop of Rochester John Fisher An. D. 1535. Speed Chron. in Hen. 8. Herb. c. having made himself obnoxious to the King's Laws and displeasure by opposing his Supremacy the Pope to secure his life as conceiving the King
flood of Mischiefs whereby the purity of the Church was desiled and the Common-wealth perturbed That by his Reservations Commenda's and Provisions of Benefices for such persons as sought to fleece and not to feed the flock of God he committed a sin than which none was at any time more hateful to God or destructive unto man except that of Lucifer nor ever will be but the sin of Antichrist He signified further that no man could with a good Conscience obey the mandates he had sent though they came from the highest order of Angels for they tended not to the edification but the utter ruine of the Church With much more to the like purpose At all which the Pope was so gall'd that he exclaim'd against him thus What means this old dotard this surd absurd man thus to arraign our actions By Peter and Paul I could find in my heart to make him a dreadful example to all the World Is not the King of England our Vassal and both he and his at our pleasure But some of the more temperate Cardinals endeavour'd to allay the Pope's heat telling him the Bishop had said nothing Ut enim vera fateamur vera sunt quae dicit Mat. Parisupr but what they all knew to be true and that it would not be discretion to meddle with a person of his piety worth and fame whereupon all was smother'd and no more words made on 't But for that notable Epistle it self I have been credibly told that it is inrolled in perpetuam rei memoriam in the Red Book in the King's Exchequer at Westminster with this Marginal Note Papa Antichristus And there is a very memorable Epistle of Petrus Cassiodorus a noble Italian Knight Jo. Bal. de Rom. Pont. Act. lib. 6. Acts Mon. vol. 1. fo 46◠written to the English Church about the twenty ninth year of K. Edw. 1. exhorting them to cast off the Romish yoak of Tyranny oppression and exaction formerly preserved in Manuscript in St. Albans Monastery but since made publick too large to be here inserted but most worthy to be perused The Poets also according to the scantling of the wit of those times spared not to satyrize upon these intolerable exactions of the Popes one whereof made this Distich Roma capit marcas bursas exhaurit Antiquit. Britt An. 1337. arcas Vt tibi tu parcas fuge Papas Patriarchas Rome drains all Bags all Chests and Burses Of all their Pounds and Marks If therefore you would save your Purses Fly Popes and Patriarchs Observable also is it upon these incroachments and extorsions how sometimes our Kings would despond and tamely suffer the Popes and their Legates to grow upon them and at other times rouze up themselves and give some check to their insolencies As K. Hen. 3. though a facile man yet was once so inrag'd against Rubeus that he bad him be gone out of his Kingdom in the Devil's name And as these exactions were at the height in that King's time yet his Successors did not always suffer them so to continue being forced to set some bounds to those avaricious torrents Pol. Vergil Hist in Ric 2. lib. 20. by the Statutes of Provisors and Premunire and oftentimes to give stout denials to unreasonable demands as the English Clergy themselves at last Lo. Herb. Hen. 8. fo 57 59. adventured to do in the years 1515. and 1518. And observable also is it that Q. Mary though most zealous for the Doctrines of the Church of Rome yet in restoring the Pope's Supremacy she and the State were very cautious like those whom others harms had made to beware and some prudent provisions were made in that behalf Stat. 1 2 Phil. mar cap. 8. Coke 3. Instit cap. 4. fo 127. neither were the Statutes of Premunire repeal'd in all her raign but the Pope's Supremacy was restor'd not simpliciter but secundum quid as bounded within some legal limitations But her raign was short and not pleasant and the Pope wanted time to work her for his purpose for having got his head in he did not doubt but by degrees to thrust in his whole body for it is ever observable that in the Papal concerns there is no moderation for they must have all or nothing let their pretences and promises at first admission be what ever they will And whatever Prince or State shall once admit of any Papal authority within their Dominions their destiny may easily be read that they and their people must for ever after be slaves or if they once begin to boggle or kick the Casuists have legitimated many ways to rid them out of the World for the advancement of the Catholick cause and the propagation of the Roman Faith Now after this imperfect Account given of the Rents and Revenues of the Popes heretofore issuing out of this Kingdom if any one shall desire to have some estimate made of the summs I must profess it beyond the reach of my Arithmetick and when I see any Accountant do it Erit mihi magnus Apollo Yet this is certain that they were very vast Otherwise there was no ground for that Complaint which was made by the Kingdom 's Representative in the raign of K. Edw. 3. Rot. Parl. 50 Ed. 3. nu 105. Mat. Paris 224. That the Pope's Collector held a receipt or audit equal to a Prince Or for that which King John wrote to the Pope in his time That this Kingdom yielded him more profits than all the other Countreys on this side the Alpes Id. 224. Or for that boast of the Pope Vere inquit Papa hortus noster deliciarum est Anglia vere puteus est inexhaustus Et ubi multa abundant de multis multa sumere licet Antiq Britt fo 178. Or for the computation made in the time of King Hen. 3. Repertus est annuus redditus Papae talis quem ne regius quidem attigit That the Pope's rents exceeded the Crown revenues Or the Remonstrance to the same purpose from the whole Kingdom to Pope Innocent the fourth in the year 1245. Matt. Paris fo 666. 698. Act. Mon. Tom. 1. exhibited by Mat. Paris Fox and others too long to be here inferred but most worthy to be read and the import thereof throughly understood Nay we may well judge the Pope's incomes to exceed all account when it appears that notwithstanding some notable provisions of State to the contrary the Pope's intradó should yet carry so huge a proportion That in the Parliament held in the twenty third year of King Hen. Io. Herb. Hist Hen. 8. fo 330. 8. it was computed that the Papacy had received out of England for the Investitures of Bishops only since the second year of King Hen. 7. not much above 40 years 160000 l. sterling an incredible sum considering the scarcity and value of silver at that time and the laws against such exportations And the sums going to Rome
Guardians and Chiefs without framing or proposing any more doubts subtilties or scruples With all this contained in a very fair Bull the Delegates and Agents returned home And the Guardians and Chiefs of the Order in pursuance thereof applyed themselves to order and settle these matters But then besides the differences that arose amongst themselves when ever they agreed on any thing those Fryers against whose Opinion it was carryed would quarrel insolently at it and would be so far from yielding conformity that they did not spare to revile their Superiours calling them Fools and Dunces for no better understanding the Text of St. Francis his Rule And in this disorder they continued a long time untill In the year 1323. in the time of Pope John the 22. who resided at Avignion the Guardians and superiours of the Order went to complain once more to his Holiness that the Fryers would not obey the Orders they had agreed upon by vertue of the Bull of Pope Clement and humbly prayed his Holiness further directions and aid therein Whereupon the Pope sent Summons to all those Fryers who refused to obey their Superior's Decrees in all those controverted points that they should either personally or by writing certifie the Reasons of their obstinacy and when these were come in the Pope assembled all his Cardinals in Conclave where the Allegations for and against the Fryer's disobedience were all canvassed and debated at large and many offers and proposals made for a final conclusion of all but nothing of that nature was accepted and no agreement there was like to be except the Pope would juridically and openly and plainly give his Sentence in the case And thereupon the Pope gave Order for his definitive Bull to be drawn up wherein in the first place he highly extolled the Bulls of his Predecessors the Popes Nicholas and Clement wondring why men should decline the import and â—enor of them and then for himself he ordained and declared That the vilitie of Habits should be measured by the custom of every Country and after gave power and Commission to the Guardians and Superiors of the Order as did Pope Clement to make a Rule for the longitude latitude colour thickness fashion substance and vility as well of the Tunics as the Hood and upon all other circumstances accidents and dependances upon the same commanding all the Fryers to obey the Rules that should be made without any more Objections Arguments or Contradictions But neither would this Third Bull do the business for men esteemed it in effect no more than what had bin order'd before without any fruit And so the heats and disputes continued amongst the Fryers as high as ever Nay some spared not to reflect on the Pope himself saying that he did not rightly understand the points in controversie Others that he used too many Councellors and that one honest Tailor if the Pope could have found him would better have inform'd how to stitch up these rents than the whole Conclave and the greatest Scandal was that if the Pope the Vice-deus the Oracle of Truth the unerring Head the infallible Guide could not settle and put an end to differences of such inferiour nature how could he did many say infallibly judge and determine in matters of Faith and the more sublime points of Religion about which there were such differences in the world But at last these heats amongst the Fryers were somewhat allayed and cool'd with time and the generality of the Order betook thmeselves to the White and Black Colours as they come purely from the Beast and thence the denomination to the white and black Fryers and some of them intermingled the two Colours and made a third and from them came the Grey Fryers And for the Garments and Hoods they came to wear them long and large only the difference about the Sleeves was never yet accorded for some wear strait and little Sleeves and others wear large and wide for some conveniences and of this sort was that Fryer who when he was Preaching against stealing had all the time a Goose in his Sleeve And thus though their Infallible Judge could not or would not put an end to these differences amongst his own Creatures with all his Decretals and Extravagants as those Bulls were called yet at this time we shall here to them all put a FINIS An Essay of the Supremacy of the King of England within his Majesty's Realms and Dominions IN our view of the resplendent Majesty of our Soveraign Lord the King of England it must needs fare with us as with a curious eye that looks on the Sun in its full luster thereby discovering its own weakness sooner than the nature of that Glorious Body being dazell'd if it gaze too long and scorched Excellens objectum destruit sensum if it approach too near such a refulgent and disproportion'd Object And therefore that I may proceed with Truth and safety in this affair I must make use of the Instruments of Law and the skreen of Authorities to direct and defend me in my intended progress therein In the first place therefore we are to know That the King of England hath two capacities in him viz. One as a natural Body being descended of the Blood Royal of this Realm and this Body is of the same nature with his Subjects Plowd Comment seig Barkly's Case fo 234. Id. Case de Duchy fo 213. and subject to Infirmity Death and the like The other as a Politick Body or Capacity so called because it is framed by the Policy of man and in this Capacity the King is esteemed to be Immortal not subject to Infirmity Death Nonage c. And therefore when a King of England dyes the Lawyers have a peculiar way of expressing the same not saying the Death of the King but the King's demise Demise le Roy. And therefore in respect of this Politick Capacity it is often said That the King of England never dyes and by the Law of England there can be no Interregnum for upon the King's Demise his lawful Successor is ipso facto King without any essential Ceremony or Act ex post facto to be done For the coronation is but a Royal ornament Calvin's Case fo 10 11. and solemnization of the Royal Descent but no part of the Title And all this may be collected from the Resolutions of all the Judges in the case of Watson and Clark Seminary Priests who with others Hill An. 1 Jac. Cok. Pl. Coron 7. entered into Treason against King James before his coronation So King Henry the sixth was not crowned untill the eighth year of his Raign and yet several men before his Coronation were Attaint of Treason and Felony as by the Records thereof it doth appear The Reasons and causes wherefore by the Policy of the Law the King of England is thus a Body Politick are three viz. First Causa Masestatis The King cannot give or take Calvin's Case fo
of the King's Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters without professing yet a stature to reach the top of this sublime or the bottom of this profound concern In the first place then we are to know that the King 's just and lawful Authority in Ecclesiastical matters is in part declared by a statute made in the first year of Queen Elizabeth Stat. 1 Eliz. Ca. 1. Non novam introduxit sed antiquam declaravit Coke 5. Rep. Cawdrys Case fo 8. And it was one of the Resolutions of the Judges in Cawdry's Case That the said Act of the First year of the Queen concerning Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was not a Statute introductory of a new Law but Declaratory of the Old But for our purpose it will be sufficient to transcribe the Preamble of the Act which runs thus Most humbly beseech your most excellent Majesty your faithful and obedient Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this your present Parliament assembled that where in time of the raign of your most dear Father of worthy memory King Henry 8. divers good Laws and Statutes were made as well for the better extinguishment and putting away of all usurped and forrain powers and authorities out of this your Realm and other your Highness Dominions and Countrys as also for the * Nota. restoring and uniting to the Imperial Crown of this Realm the ancient Jurisdictions authorities Superiorities and preheminences to the same of right belonging by reason whereof we your most humble and obedient Subjects from the 25. year of the raign of your said dear Father were continually kept in good order and were disburdened of divers great and intolerable charges before that time unlawfully taken and exacted by such forrain power and authoritie as before that was usurped until such time as all the said good laws and Statutes by one Act of Parliament made in the first and second years of the raigns of the late King Philip and Queen Mary your Highness Sister Intituled An Act repealing all Statutes Articles and Provisions made against the See Apostolick of Rome since the 20th year of King Henry 8. and also for the establishment of all Spiritual and Ecclesiastical possessions and hereditaments conveyed to the Laity were all clearly repealed and made void as by the same Act of repeal more at large appears By reason of which Act of repeal your said humble Subjects were est-soons brought again under an usurped forrain power and authority and yet do remain in that bondage to the intolerable charges of your loving Subjects if some redress by the Authority of this your High Court of Parliament with the assent of your Highness be not had and provided May it therefore please your Highness for the repressing of the said usurped forrain power and the restoring of the Rights Jurisdictions and preheminences appertaining to the Imperial Crown of this your Realm that it may be Enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament c. And then it proceeds to Repeal the said Act of Philip and Mary and revives the former Statutes of King Hen. 8. and King Edw. 6. abolisheth all usurped forrain powers and authorities and restoreth and uniteth all Jurisdictions Priviledges Superiorites and Preheminences Spiritual and Ecclesiastical to the Imperial Crown of this Realm This Statute doing Right to the Queen and her Successors ever since as in Temporal Causes the Kings of England by the mouths of their Judges in the Courts of Justice have judged and determined the same by the Temporal Laws of England So in all Ecclesiastical and spiritual Causes as Blasphemy Ecclesiastical Causes Stat. de circumsuecte agatis 13 Edw. 1. Articuli Cleri 9 Edw. 2. Fitzh Nat. Bre. 41 42 43 c. Apostasie from Christianity Heresie Schisme Ordering Admissions and Institution of Clarks Celebration of Divine service Rites of Matrimony Divorces Bastardy Substraction and Right of Tiths Oblations Obventions Dilapidations Reparation of Churches Probate of Wills and Testaments Administrations and Accounts upon the same Simony Fornication Incest Adulteries Sollicitation of Chastity Appeals in Ecclesiastical causes Commutation of Penance Pensions Procurations c. the Conusans of all which belongs not to the Common Law but the determination and decision of the same hath been by Ecclesiastical Judges according to the King 's Ecclesiastical Laws of this his Realm And although the said Stat. 1 Eliz. declares how and by whom the King may appoint the same to be done yet as is intimated before the King by Law may do the same although that Statute had not bin made And hence it was that Stephen Gardiner the noted Bishop of Winchester Significantiori vocabulo competentem Principi jure Divino poâ—estâ—tem exprâ—mi clarius voluâ—runt in his Oration De vera Obedientia once said That by the Parliaments stiling of King Hen. 8. Head of the Church it was no new invented matter wrought only their mind was to have the power pertaining to a Prince by God's law to be more clearly expressed by this Emphatical compellation And certainly this was the ground of that answer which King James gave to the Non-conforming Divines at the conference at Hampton Court upon the seven and thirtieth Article of the Church of England the said Divines urging that these words in the Article viz. Confer at Hamp Court fo 37. The Bishop of Rome hath no Authority in this land were not sufficient unless it was added nor ought to have To which the King being somewhat moved roundly replyed What speak you of the Pope's authority here Habemus jure quod habemus and therefore in as much as it is said He hath not it is plain and certain enough that he ought not to have Nor is this Authority united to the Crown of England only but of right also to all other Christian Crowns and accordingly avowed by all other Christian Princes And to this purpose I could multiply the Suffrages of many antient Fathers and Doctors of the Church but my aim being rather at matter of fact I will forbear the particularizing the explicite Judgements and Declarations of those Devout and just men who were as careful in its degree and proportion to give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's as to God the things that are God's But for the matter of practice And in the first place here I cannot but take notice That in the first Ages of Christianity Religion did not only subsist but spread by immediate influence from Heaven only but when by vertue of the same influence it had once prevailed and triumphed over all oppositions of Pagan superstition and persecution and subdued the Emperours themselves and became the Imperial Religion then Ecclesiastical Authority assumed and fixed it self in its natural and proper place and the excercise of its Jurisdiction and what that was I shall shew also was restored to the Imperial Diadem and Constantine was no sooner setled in his Imperial Throne but he took the settlement of all Ecclesiastical
matters into his care and cognisans He call'd Synods and Councils and ratified their Canons into Laws He routed the Conventicles of the Donatists made Edicts concerning Festivals the Rites of Sepulture the immunities of Churches the Authority of Bishops the Priviledges of the Clergy with divers other things relating to the outward Politie of the Church In which affair he was carefully followed by his Successors as evidently may appear to all conversant in the Civil Law And the aforesaid Stephen Gardiner in that his notable Oration of true Obedience makes instance in the Roman Emperour Justinian who with the approbation of all the world at that time set forth those Laws of the most Blessed Trinity the Catholique Faith Justiniani factum qui leges edidit de Trinitate de fide Catholica c. Steph. Wint. Orat. fo 19. of Bishops and Clergy-men and the like The like also appears by the most famous Partidas set forth by Ferdinando the Saint and his Son Alphonso for the antient Kingdoms of Castile Toledo Leon and others of Spain celebrated in the Spanish Histories Correspondent to which also hath bin the practice of the Kingdom of France Lew. Turquet Hist of Spain whose Kings have ever been esteemed in some sence the Heads of their Church and this is the reason that the opening their most ancient Councils under the first and second the Merovingian and Caroline line was ever by the power and authority and sometimes the presidency of their Kings and Princes It being a noted saying in one of their Councils Câ—ncil Parisienâ— 6. lib. 2. cap. 2. Cognoscant Principes Seculi se Deo debere rationem propter Ecclesiam quam à Deo tuendam accipiunt And according to this Doctrine C d. Lâ—g Antiq Gall. fâ— 827. Lâ—ndenbrog for matters of Church or State of Charls the Great Ludovicus Pius Lewis le Gros Pepin and others collected by the French Antiquaries And at this day generally amongst the Lawyers and most learned of the French Nation it is held and declared Vid. le Reâ—â—w de le Council de Trent Boreâ— lib. 4. de Decret Eccl. Gall. That the Bishop of Rome was anciently the First and chiefest Bishop according to the dignity of of Precedency and order not by any Divine institution but because Rome was the chief City of the Empire That he obtained this Primacy over the Western Church by the grace and gift of Pepin Charls the Great and other Kings of France And that he hath no power to dispose of temporal things That it belongs to Christian Kings and Princes to call Ecclesiastical Synods to establish their Decrees to make wholesome Laws for the government of the Church and to punish and reform abuses therein That the Laws whereby their Church is to be governed are only the Canons of the more ancient Councils and their own National Constitutions and not the Extravagants and Decretals of the Bishop or Court of Rome That the Council of Constance assembled by Sigismund the Emperour with a concurrent consent of other Christian Princes Decreeing a General Synod or Council to be Superior to the Pope and correcting many abuses in the Roman Church which yet remain in practice was a true Oecumenical Council as also was the Council of Basil That the Assembly of Trent was no lawful Council and the Canons thereof rather to be esteemed the Decrees of the Popes who call'd and continued it than the Decrees of the Council it self and that in regard the number of Bishops there met was but small bearing no proportion to the import of a General Council as also the greatest part of those present were Italian and Vassals to the Pope and nothing there resolved on but what was before determined at Rome which then occasion'd this infamous by-word That the Holy Ghost was carryed in Cloak-bags every Post from Rome to Trent That the Sacrament of the Lords Supper ought to be administred under both kinds and that at the least a great part of Divine Service ought to be performed in the vulgar Tongue Thus far the French and Many the like instances might here be added to the same purpose but yet under favour all Crowns Imperial must give place in regard of this one Flower or Jewel of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to the Crown of England For as the first Christian King that ever the world saw is recorded to have been of this Island the renowned Lucius so is he intimated to be the first that ever exercised Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction being directed thereunto by Pope Eleutherius Vâ—d Eleuth Epist to fetch his Laws by the advice of his Council out of the Old and New Testament and by the same to Govern his Kingdom wherein he was God's Vicar According to which advice the Brittish Saxon Danish and first Kings of the Normans have governed their Churches and Church-men as may appear by the Laws by them for that purpose made Archaionem Analect Angl. Brit. li. 1 2. Hist Cambr. fo 59. Jo. Brompton c. and lately exhibited to the publick by Mr. Lambard Mr. Selden Dr. Powell and others Neither can any Ecclesiastical Canons for Government of the English Church be produced till long after the conquest which were not either originally promulged or afterwards allowed either by the Monarch or some King of the Heptarchy sitting or directing in the National or Provincial Synod Nay in the after usurping times there is to be seen the Transcript of a Record An. Manus Chronic Abb. de Bello Vide the like Charter of exemption to the Abbot of Abbindon by Kâ—nulphus in Stanf. pl. Cor. l. 2. fo 111. b. 1 Hen. 7. fo 23 25. 3 Hen. 2. wherein when the Bishop of Chichester opposed some Canons against the Kings exemption of the Abby of Battel from Episcopal Jurisdiction the King in anger replyed Tu pro Papae authoritate ab hominibus concessa contra dignitatum Regalium authoritates mihi à Deo concessas calliditate arguta niti praecogitas Dost thou go about by subtilty of Wit to oppose the Pope's authority granted by the connivence of men against the authority of my Regal Dignity given by God himself And thereupon requires reason and justice against the Bishop for his insolence And thus it is most easily demonstrable that the Kings of England have had these Flowers of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction planted in the Imperial Crown of this Realm even from the very beginning of the Christian Monarchy in this Island where we hope they have now taken such root that neither any Fanatick whispers at home nor the roaring of any Romish Bulls from abroad will ever be able to shake or blast the same And from hence was the Resolution of our Judges mentioned before in the Case of Cawary Cook 5. Rep. De Jure Reg. Eccl. that the said Statute made in the first year of the Queen concerning Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction was not introductory of a new Law but Declaratory of the old which appears
Sero recusat ferre quod subiit jugum But notwithstanding the infinite subtle arts and mighty efforts for that purpose the Papacy found it at any time a most difficult thing to carry any thing here by a high hand and to bring the Ecclesiastical State of this Nation to depend on Rome For our Princes never did doubt but they had the same Authority within their own Dominions as Constantine had in the Empire and our Bishops the same as St. Peter's Successors in the Church Ego Constantini Ailred Rival Coll. 361.16 Vos Petri gladium habetis in manibus said King Edgar in an eminent Speech unto his Clergy And what Power in the Church our Kings took themselves anciently to have appears by their Laws and Edicts published by themselves Leg. Edv. confess cap. 17. fo 142. Leg. Canut Inae apud Jornal Mart. Paris w. 2. and acknowledged by their subjects All speaking thus That the ordering and disposition of all Ecclesiastical Affairs within their own Dominions was their sole and undoubted Right the Foundation thereof being that Power which the Divine wisdom hath invested the Secular Magistrate withal for the defence and preservation of his Church and People against all attempts whatsoever And all our Laws and Lawyers concurring in this Rex sub nullo nisi tantum sub Deo Bracton Leg. Sanct. Edw. cap. 19.17 That the King of England is subject to no Power on Earth but to God only and in King Edwards Laws he is called Vicarius summi Regis as also in Bracton that being the Cognomen as it were given by Pope Eleutherius long ago to King Lucius here as not being under the power of any other And this in effect acknowledged by the whole Body of the English Clergy Reg. Hoveden in Hen. 2. pa. post fo 510. in a Letter of the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury to Tho. Becket An. D. 1167. as it stands recorded at large by Roger Hoveden To this it will be but seasonable and pertinent to add the Historical Instances and evidences some of them as occurr demonstrating as the continual claim and when they could the exercise of this Right by the Kings of this Island so the worthy resistances as from time to time have been made against all forraign usurpations and incroachments upon the same sufficient to shew that our Princes did not command the Ecclesiasticks here who made up so great a part of their subjects according to the will and pleasure of any forrain Potentate nor that they were only lookers on whilest others governed the English Church Therefore we may observe All Councils and Convocations Eadmer fo 25.5.11 Florent Wigorn An. 1070. fo 434. Stat. 25 H. 8.19 assembled at the King's appointment and by the King 's Writt Jubente praesente Rege as one says and that upon the same Authority as the Emperour Constantine had long before assembled the Council of Nice Some appointed by the King to sit in those Councils and supervise their actions Matt. Paris ad An. 1237. fo 447. ne ibi contra regiam coronam dignitatem aliquid statuere attentarent And Mat. Paris gives us the names of the Commissioners for that purpose in one of the Councils held in the time of King Hen. 3. And when any did otherwise he was forced to retract such Constitutions as did Peckham or they were but in paucis servatae Lyâ—dw de soro competent cap. 1. as were those of Boniface as Lyndwood ingenuously doth acknowledge No Synodical Decree suffered to be of force but by the King's allowance Eadmer fo 6.29 and confirmation In hoc concilio ad emendationem Ecclesiae Anglicanae assensu Domini Regis Gervas Dorobern An. 1175. fo 1429. Mat. Paris Hen. Huntingd Eadm passim Pat. 8 9 Johan R. m. 5.8 primorum omnium regni haec subscripta promulgata sunt capitula as Gervasius Dorobern informs us No Legate suffered to enter into England but by the King's leave and swearing to do nothing prejudicial to the King and his Crown All matters of Episcopacy determined by the King himself Eadmer 115.23 inconsulto Romano Pontifice No Appeals to Rome permitted None to receive Letters from the Pope Thorn Coll. 2152. Coke 3. Instit cap. 54.10.127 Hoveden Hen. 2. fo 496. without shewing them to the King who caused all words prejudicial to him or his Crown to be renounced and dis-avowed by the bringers or receivers of such Letters Permitted no Bishops to Excommunicate Eadmer fo 6.31 or inflict any Ecclesiastical censure on any Peer nisi ejus praecepto Caused the Bishops to appear in their Courts Addit Mat. Paris fo 200 to give account why they excommunicated a subject Bestowed Bishopricks on such as they approved Forent Wigorn An. 1070. fo 536. and translated Bishops from one See to another Erected new Bishopricks Godwin de Praef. Angl. So did King Hen. 1. An. 1109. Ely taking it out of Lincoln Carlile 1133. out of York or rather Durham Commanded by Writ Coke 2. Instit 625. Addit Mat. Paris fo 200. nu 6. the Bishops to Residency Placed by a Lay hand Clerks in Prebendary or Parochial Churches Ordinariis penitus irrequisitis as it is phrased in Matt. Paris By these and many other instances of the like nature exercised by our Kings it appears that the English ever took the outward Policy of this Church or Government of it in foro exteriori to depend on the King And therefore the writs of Summoning all Parliaments express the calling of them to be Pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem Regni nostri Angliae Ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus c. In the Reign of King Edward the first Broâ—k Tit. Praemunire pl. 10. A subject brought in a Bull of Excommunication against another subject of this Realm and published it to the Lord Treasurer of England and this was by the ancient Common Law of England adjudged Treason against the King his Crown and Dignity for which the Offendor should have bin drawn and hang'd but at the great instance of the Chancellor and Treasurer he only abjur'd the Realm King Edw. Trin. 19 Ed. 3. Fitzh Quare non admisit pl. 7. presented his Clark to a Benefice within the Province of York who was refused by the Arch-bishop for that the Pope by way of Provision had conferred it on another The King thereupon brought a Quare non admisit the Archbishop to it Pleaded that the Bishop of Rome had long time before Provided to the said Church as one having Supream Authority in that case and that he durst not nor had power to put him out who was possessed by the Pope's Bull. But for this high contempt against the King his Crown and Dignity in refusing to execute his Soveraign's commands against the Pope's Provision by Judgement of the Common Law the Lands of his whole Bishoprick were seized
into the King's hands and lost during his life And this Judgement was before any Act of Parliament made in that case Nota. And there it is said That for the like offence the Archbishop of Canterbury had bin in worse case by the Judgement of the Sages in the Law if the King had not extended favour to him Although by the Ordinance of Circumspecte agatis Coke 5 Rep. Case de jure R. Eccl. made in the thirteenth year of King Edward the first and by a general allowance and usage the Ecclesiastical Court held Plea of Tithes Oblations Obventions Mortuaries Redemption of Penance Laying of violent hands on a Clark Defamations c. yet did not the Clergy think themselves assured nor quiet from Prohibitions purchased by subjects till King Edward the second by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal Staâ— 9 Edw. 2. Artic. cler ca. 16. in and by consent of Parliament upon Petition of the Clergy had granted them Jurisdiction in those cases An Excommunication by the Archbishop Finzh Excom 4.16 Ed. 3. Broâ—k Excom pl. 5.14 H. 4. although it be dis-annulled by the Pope or Legate is to be allowed Neither may the Judges give any allowance of any such sentence of the Pope or his Legate And it hath often bin adjudg'd 30 Ed 3 Lib. Assiz pl. 19.12 Ed. 4.16 and declared That the Pope's Excommunication is of no force in England It is often Resolved in our Books that all the Bishopricks in England were founded by the King's Progenitors and the Advowsons vowsons of them all belong to the King and at first they were * Per traditionem annuli pastorasis baculi Donative And that if an Incumbent of any Church with cure dyes if the Patron Present not within six months the Bishop of that Diocess ought to collate that the cure be supply'd if he neglect by the space of six moneths the Metropolitan of that Diocess shall confer one unto that Church and if he also neglect six moneths then the Law gives to the King as Supreame within his own Kingdom and not to the Pope power to provide a Pastor The King may not only exempt any Ecclesiastical Person from the Jurisdiction of the Ordinary but may grant unto him Episcopal Jurisdiction as it appears the King had done of antient time to the Archdeacon of Richmond 17 Ed 3.13 20 Ed. 3. And the Abbot of Bury was exempted from Episcopal Jurisdiction by the King's Charter The King Presented to a Benefice 21 Ed. 3.40 and his Presentee was disturbed by one that had obtained Bulls from Rome for which offence he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment If Excommunication be the final end of any suit in the Court of Rome as indeed it is and be not allowed Fitzh Nat. Br. fo 64. f. or allowable in England as it hath often bin Declared It then follows that by the Ancient Common Law of England no suit for any cause though it be spiritual arising within this Realm may or can be determined in the Court of Rome Quia frustra expectatur eventus cujus effectus nullus sequitur At a Parliament held An. Stat. 25 Ed. 3. de Provisorib 25 Edward the third It was Enacted That as well they that obtained Provisions from Rome as they that put them in execution should be out of the King's Protection and that they should be dealt withal as the King's Enemies and no man so dealing with them should be impeached for the same At a Parliament held An. Stat. 16 Ric. 2. cap. 5. 16 Ric. 2. It is declar'd That the Crown of England hath bin so free at all times that it hath bin in subjection to none but immediately subject to God and none other and that the same ought not in any thing touching the Regality of the said Crown to be submitted to the Bishop of Rome nor the Laws and Statutes of this Realm by him frustrated or defeated at his Will And the Commons in that Parliament affirmed that the things attempted by the Bishop of Rome be clearly against the King's Crown and his Regality used and approved in time of all his Progenitors in which points the said Commons professed to live and dye and to all which the Lords assented also as being thereto bound by their Allegiances It is resolved that the Pope's Collector 2 Hen. 4 fo 9. though he have the Pope's Bull for that purpose hath no Authority within this Realm And there it is said That the Archbishops and Bishops of this Realm are the King 's spiritual Judges And in another place it is said Papa non potest mutare Leges Angliae 11 Hen. 4. fo 37. Per Curiam In the raign of King Henry the sixth 1 Hen. 7. fo 10. the Pope wrote Letters in derogation of the King and his Regality and the Church-men durst not speak any thing against them But Humfrey Duke of Glocester for their safe keeping put them into the fire In the raign of King Edward the fourth 1 Hen. 7. fo 20. the Pope granted to the Prior of St. John's to have Sanctuary in his Priory and this was pleaded and claim'd by the Prior but resolved by the Judges Keilway Reports 8 H. 8. fo 191. b. That the Pope had no power to grant any Sanctuary within this Realm and therefore the same was disallowed by Judgement of Law In Brook Tit. Presentation al Esglise Bro. Present al Esglise p. 12. It is affirmed That the Pope was permitted to do certain things within this Realm by usurpation and not of right untill the Raign of King Kenry the eighth quod nota sayes the Book Stat. 24 Hen. 8. ca. 12.25 H. 8.21 And in what esteem the Pope's Authority here was in that King's time may sufficiently be collected from the Tenor and Purview of the Statutes about that affair in his raign made In the raign of King Kenry the sixth Henry Beaufort Uncle to the King being Bishop of Winchester was made Cardinal and thereupon purchased from the Pope a Bull Declaratory that he might still hold his Bishoprick yet it was held and adjudged that the See of Winchester was become void by the assumption of the Cardinalship and therefore the Cardinal fallen into a Praemunire 4 Hen. 6. in Arch. Turr. Lond. for which he was glad to purchase his pardon as by the Records of all this it doth appear It was Adjudged in the Court of Common Pleas Dier 12 Eliz. by Sir James Dyer Weston and the whole Court That a Dean or any other Ecclesiastical Person may resign as divers did to King Edward the sixth Vid. Grend ca. in Plowd Com. for that he had the Authority of the Supream Ordinary With all this may be noted also the several Statutes heretofore made against the usurpations of the Bishops of Rome in this Kingdom the principal whereof these viz. Stat. 25 Ed. 3. de Provisorib Stat. 27 28 Ed.
or Scottish Bishop happening into their Company he would neither eat with them nor under the same roof where they were as Mellitus Laurentius and Justus complained in an Epistle of theirs to the Scots Bishops For the Saxons though King Ina Larga Reg is Benignitas or some other gave the Peter-pence partly as Alms and partly in recompence of a house erected in Rome for entertainment of English Pilgrims Yet it is certain that Alfred Athelstan Edgar Edmund Canutus Edward the Confessor so called and divers other Kings of the Saxon race gave all the Bishopricks of England per annulum baculum without any other Ceremony or any application to Rome as was usual by the Emperour the French King and other Christian Princes so to do as also in all their Laws for the Government of the Church here they consulted only with their own Clergy without any regard to the Authority of Rome But under the Norman Conquest the Papal usurpation march'd in for as the Conquerour came in with the Pope's Banner So either by the way of complemental gratitude or surprize the Pope presently layd hold upon part of the purchase as boasting all was gain'd by his aid and blessing And thereupon he sent two Legats into England favourably received by the Norman by whom a Synod of the Clergy was convened Will. Malm. de gest Ponâ—if Angl. lib. 1. fo 204. Rog. Hoveden pa. prior fo 453. and old Stigand Archbishop of Canterbury deposed because he had not purchased his Pall in the Court of Rome and many other Bishops and Abbots displaced on supposal for the like reasons of the invalidity of their Titles but speciously to place the Normans in their rooms or rather ultimately to introduce the Papal authority in cases of the Church Amongst these is to be noted that the King having earnestly moved the old Bishop of Worcester Matt. Paris Hist in Will 2. fo 20. Wulstan to give up his Staff his answer was that he would only give it up to him of whom he first receiv'd the same and so the old man went to St. Edwards Tombe and there offer'd up his Staff and Ring with these words Of thee O holy Edward I received my Staff and Ring and to thee I now Surrender the same again not acknowledging any authority in the Pope or in any other on his behalf to receive or dispose them as Matthew Paris relates the story at large And though the Conqueror did thus Complement the Pope in the admission of his Legates and some other small matters yet how far he really submitted himself appears by an Epistle to Gregory the seventh by him wrote thus Excellentissimo S. Eccl. Pastori Gregorio Gratia Dei Anglorum Rex Dux Normannorum Willielmus Salutem cum amicitia Hubertus tuus Legatus ad me veniens ex tua parte me admonuit ut tibi successoribus tuis fidelitatem facerem de pecunia quam antecessores mei ad Romanam Ecclesiam mittere solebant melius cogitarem unum admisi alterum non admisi fidelitatem facere nolui nec volo quia nec ego promisi nec antessores mees antecessoribus tuis id fecisse comperio Pecunia tribus fere annis in Gallia me agente negligenter collecta est nunc vero divina misericordia me in regnum meum reverso quod collectum est per praefatum Legatum mittetur quod reliquum est per Legatos Lanfranci Archiep. fidelis nostri cum opportunum fuerit transmittetur c. But in the time of his next successor K. Will. Rufus a further attempt was made that is to draw Appeals to the Court of Rome and that appears in the noted transactions with Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury at large reported in our stories And afterwards in the time of King Henry the first another step was made viz. to gain to the Pope the Patronage and Donations of Bishopricks and other Benefices Ecclesiastical at which the King taking courage writes roundly to the Pope thus Notum habeat Sanctitas vestra Hist Jorvall Coll. quod me vivente Deo auxiliante dignitates usus regni nostri non minuentur si ego quod absit in tanta me directione ponerem magnates mei imo totius Angliae populus id nullo modo pateretur Notwithstanding which upon the regress or restoring of Anselme and some difficulties that pressed the King in reference to his elder Brother Robert Matt. Paris in Hen. 1. fo 63. in a Synod held by Anselme at London in the year 1107. a Decree passed Cui annuit Rex Henricus statuit as Matthew Paris saith ut ab eo tempore in reliquum nunquam per donationem baculi pastoralis vel annuli quisquam de Episcopatu vel Abbatiaper Regem vel quamlibet laicam manum investiretur in Anglia But yet with this clause of salvo Sr. H. Spelâ— Concil Tom. 2. fo 28. Suis tantum juribus regalibus sepositis exceptis as appears in the Exemplification of the Acts of that Synod by the learned Collector of our English Councils In recompence whereof the Pope that there might be quid pro quo yielded to the King that thenceforth no Legate should be sent into England without the King's leave and that the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being should be for ever Legatus natus and for the honour of the See it was obtained that the Archbishop of Canterbury should in all General Councils sit at the Pope's foot tanquam alterius orbis Papa But this agreement was soon broken on both sides the Pope sending his Legates and the King resuming the Investiture of Bishops Matr. Paris fo 65. as the same Historian relates in divers instances In the next troublesome raign of King Stephen it was won clearly that Appeals should be made to the Court of Rome established in a Synod at London Speim Concil Tom. 2. fo 44. held by Henry Bishop of Winchester the Pope's Legat for before that time In Anglia namque Appellationes in usu non erant as un unquestionable Historian hath it donec eas Henricus Wintoniensis dum Legatus esset Hen Huntingdon lib. 8. fo 395. malo suo crudeliter intrusit in eodem namque Concilio ad Romani Pontificis audientiam ter appellatus est And in the raign of King Henry the second began the claime and usage of exempting Clarks from the secular Power whatever their crimes were And from this root sprang the famous contention between this King and his Archbishop Thomas Becket together with the Constitutions of Clarendon for the rectifying that abuse at large to be read and observed in the Historians of those times To all this it will be but pertinent to subjoine some brief disquisition touching the Canon Law how and by whom compiled and when introduced into this Iland under which where admitted no small part of the Papal authority was neatly and artificially drawn in For which
purpose we must know that after the Power of the Bishops of Rome came to some consistency in the world and the Pope began to look upon himself as a spiritual Prince or Monarch he presently began to attempt to give Laws to Nations and People as a badge of his Soveraignty but then well knowing That ubi non est condendi authoritas ibi non est parendi necessitas he would not impose those Laws at first peremptorily upon all People but offered them timide and precario and in such places where he presumed they would find the freest reception and in order to this at first he caused certain Rules to be collected for the Order and Government of the Clergy only which he called Decreta and not Laws or Statuta and these Decrees as they were called were first published in the year 1150 in the raign of our King Stephen and whereas Sr. Edward Coke Sr Ed. Coke Pref. aâ— 8. Relat. in the Preface to the eighth Report sayes that Roger Bacon the learned Fryer saith in his Book de impedimentis Sapientiae That King Stephen forbad by publick edict that no man should retain the Laws of Italy then brought into England we may with some assurance intend it of these Decrees about that time compil'd and publish'd And these were received Keilways Rep. 7 Hen. 8. fo 184. and observed by the Clergy of the Western Churches only for those of the Eastern Churches would never admit these Rules or Canons Afterwards the Bishops of Rome attempted to bring the Laity also under the obedience of these Canons and for that purpose they first began with Rules or Canons about abstinence and dayes of Fasting to be observed by the Laity Maâ—sil Pat. lib. Defens Pac. pa. 2. c. 23 Durard Rat. Di. l. 4. c. 6 7. as well as Clergy which at the first institution were termed by that mild word Rogationes and thence the week of Fasting before the Feast of Pentecost came to be called Rogation week in regard this time of Abstinence was at first appointed by an Ordinance called Rogatio and not Praeceptum or Statutum When the Laity had swallowed this Ordinance of Fasting then De una praesumptione ad aliam transivit Romanus Pontifex as Marsil Pata hath it that is the Bishop of Rome proceeded to make and publish several other orders by the name of Decretals and these were published about the year 1230. An. 14 Hen 3. Mat. Paris in Hen. 3. fo 417. and made or proposed to bind all the Laity as well Princes as their Subjects in several matters relating to their Civil and Temporal concerns As That no Lay-man should have the Donation of Ecclesiastical Benefices That no Lay man should marry within certain degrees out of the degrees limited by the Levitical Law That all Infants born before Espousals should after Espousals be adjudged Legitimate and capable to inherit That all Clarks should be exempt from the Secular Power and divers more such like But then we must know that these Decretals so made were not intirely and absolutely receiv'd in all parts of Christendom but only at first in the Temporal Territory of the Pope which on that account is call'd by the Canonists Patria Obedientiae but wholly rejected in England France and other Christian Countreys which thence are sometimes called Patriae consuetudinariae as resolving to adhere to their old Laws and Customs As the Canon that prohibits Donation of Benefices per Laicam manum was always disobeyed in England France the Realm of Naples and divers other Countrys The Canon to legitimate Infants born before marriage was specially rejected in England when in the Parliament held at Merton Stat. de Merton An. 20 Hen. 3. Omnes Comites Barones una voce responderunt Keilway 7 H. 8. fo 181. b. Nolumus Leges Angliae mutari quae hucusq usitatae sunt c. The Canon that exempted Clerks from the Secular Power was never observed fully in any part of Christendom Infallible arguments that these Canons received not the force of Laws from the Court of Rome as if that had power to give Laws to all Nations without their respective consents but the approbation and usage of the People received them as they pleased partially and specially as to Places Times and parts of those Canons and for the same reason that some rejected one others did more and some all of them as Bodin says Bodin de Repub lib. 1. cap. 8. That the Kings of France upon erecting of their Universities there declare in their Charters that the Profession of the Civil and Canon Laws may there be receiv'd and used according to discretion but not to bind as Laws Now when the Bishop of Rome perceived that many of his Canons were embraced in several Countreys under colour thereof he claim'd Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction within those Realms with power to interpret and dispence with his own Canons and for that purpose sent his Legates about with Commissions to hear and determine causes according to those Laws which upon their first exhibition Marsil Pat. ut supr pa. 2. c. 23. as is before noted he durst not call Laws or Statuta ne committeret crimen laesae Majestatis in Principes as Marsil Patav observes who further says that these Canons inasmuch as they were made by the Pope neque sunt humanae leges neque divinae sed documenta quaedam narrationes But as is said when he perceiv'd they were allowed and used in part or in whole in divers Countreys they were revised digested and compil'd into Volumes and called Jus Canonicum and being appointed to be read and expounded in publick Schools and Universities they were commanded to be obeyed by all under pain of Excommunication with declaration of the Pope's power to interpret abrogate or dispence with them at his pleasure and thereupon the Canonists say Lib. 6. de Const cap. Licet Papa in omnibus pure positivis in quibusdam ad jus Divinum pertinentibus dispensare potest quia dicitur omnia jura habere in scrinio pectoris sui quantum ad interpretationem dispensationem In the 25th year of King Ed. 1. An Dom. 1297 Tho. Walsing Stow in hoc anno one Simon a Monk of Walden began first to read the Canon Law in the University of Cambridge and the year after it began to be read also in the University of Oxford in the Church of the Friers Praedicants and from that time got ground in England being sometimes admitted and sometimes rejected according to the Ebb or Flow of the Papal interest here but how really this Canon Law was an innovation and usurpation here it is sufficient but to peruse the Preamble to the Statute of Faculties Stat. 25 Hen. 8. cap. 21. and Dispensations made in the raign of King Hen. 8. to which the Reader is referred As another Branch of the Pope's power in the matters aforesaid we may observe that
this clause or words non obstante was first invented and used in the Court of Rome whereupon Marsil Petav. pronounces a dreadful Vae against that Court for introducing this clause of non obstante as being a bad president and mischievous to all the People of Christendom for when the Temporal Princes perceived the Pope to dispence with his own Canons they made no scruple to imitate him and dispence with their Penal Laws and Statutes Vid. le Case de Penal stat in Coke 7. Rep. and hereupon one Canonist said thus Dispensatio est vulnus quod vulnerat jus commune and another thus That all abuses would be reform'd if these two words viz. non obstante did not hinder And Matt. Paris reciting several Decrees made in the Council of Lions beneficial to the Church Mat. Paris in An. 1245. says thus Sed omnia haec alia per hoc repagulum non obstante infirmantur But now to return We have seen how by several steps and gradations it was after the Norman Conquest that the Court of Rome usurp'd upon the Crown of England in four main points of Jurisdiction under four of our Kings not immediately succeeding for of King Will. Rufus the Pope could gain nothing viz. 1. Upon the Conquerour by sending Legats or Commissioners to hear and determine Ecclesiastical causes and other purposes 2. Upon King Hen. 1. the Donation and Investiture of Bishopricks and other Benefices 3. Upon King Stephen in drawing of Appeals to the Court of Rome 4. Upon King Hen. 2. in the exemption of Clerks from the secular Power all rivetted and clinch'd by the new Decrees and Canons which were continually multiplyed and obtruded here and all this notwithstanding the generous resistances which at several times were made to all Neither would all this satisfie till an entire surrender of the Crown it self was obtain'd from King John re-granted him again to hold in Fee-Farm and Vassallage of the Court of Rome For it was both before in and after this King's time that by the boldness and activity of strangers and treachery or pusillanimity of subjects co-operating with the weaknesses and necessities of Princes the Papacy arrived to that height as to domineer in a most intolerable way both over the Purse the Conscience the Regality and all the most weighty concernments of the Nation Now to redress all this some unequal resistances were at divers times made Vid. Mat. Paris in H. 3. in toto King Hen. 3. was totally born down and his Kingdom and subjects reduced to utter poverty and slavery by this usurpation After him comes the noble King Edw. 1. who truly may be stiled Vindex Libertatis Anglicanae at his Father's death he was abroad in the Holy Land but no sooner return'd and Crown'd and finding his Kingdom in such a bad plight his first work was to put some stop to the career of Papal incroachments For the Pope having then summoned a General Council he would not suffer his Bishops to repair to it till he took a solemn Oath of them for their Loyalty and good abearing Then the Pope forbidding the King to War against Scotland he slights his prohibition and proceeds The Pope demands the First Fruits of Ecclesiastical Livings but the King forbids the payment thereof to him The Pope sends forth a general Bull prohibiting the Clergy to pay Subsidies to Temporal Princes whereupon a Tenth being granted to the King in Parliament the Clergy refused to pay it but the King seiseth their Temporalties for the Contempt and obtained payment notwithstanding the Pope's Buâ— After this he made the Statute of Mortâ—â—ain that the Church might not grow monstrous in temporal possessions In his time one of his subjects brougth in a Bull of Excommunication against another and the King Commanded he should be executed as a Traitor according to the ancient law but the Chancellor and Treasurer on their knees begged that he should be only banished He caused Laws to be made against bringing in of Bulls of Provision and Breves of Citation and made the first Statute against Provisors His Successor King Edw. 2. being but a weak Prince suffered the Pope to grow upon him but then the Peers and People withstood him all they could and when that unhappy King was to be depos'd amongst the Articles fram'd against him one of the most hainous was That he had given allowance to the Pope's Bulls After him King Ed. 3. a magnanimous Prince couragiously resisted the Pope's incroachments and caused the Statutes against Provisors to be severely put in execution and the Bishops of Winchester and Ely and Abbot of Waltham convicted and punished for their high contempts Yet during the nonage of King Rich. 2. the Pope's Bulls Stat. 16 R. 2. ca. 5. Breves and Legats became very busie and daring again whereof the People became so sensible and impatient that upon their special prayer the Stat. 16. R. 2. of Praemunire was enacted more severe and penal than all the former Statutes against Provisors and yet against this King as against King Ed. 2. it was objected at the time of his depose that he had allowed the Pope's Bulls to the enthralling of the Crown After this comes a weak King Hen. 6. and then another attempt was made if possible to revive the usurped Jurisdiction for the commons denying the King money when he was in great wants the Archbishop of Canterbury and the rest of the Bishops offered the King a large supply if that he would consent that all the Laws against Provisors and especially that of 16 Ric. 2. might be repealed but the Duke of Glocester who before had burnt the Pope's Letters caused this motion to be rejected so that all those Laws by especial providence have stood in force untill this day All which with the Resolutions and Judicial Judgements before specified founded upon the ancient and good Laws of the Land have enabled our Kings at all times since to vindicate the just Rights of their Crown But King Hen. 8. designing a further Reformation which could not be effected whilest the Pope's authority had any life in England took this course First he writes to the Universities the Great Monasteries and Churches in his Kingdom and in particular May 18. 1534. to the University of Oxford requiring them as men of vertue In Archivis Oxon. ad An. 1534. Antiq. Eccl. Brit. fo 384. 37. Integrity and profound Learning diligently to examine discuss and resolve a certain Question of no small import viz. An Romanus Episcopus habeat majorem aliquam jurisdictionem sibi collatam in Sacra Scriptura in hoc regno Angliae quam alius quivis externus Episcopus and to return their Opinion in Writing under their common seal according to the meer and sincere truth thereof To which after mature deliberation and examination not only of the places of the Holy Scriptures but of the best Interpreters of the same for many days they returned Answer Jun. 27. 1534.