dedecorosam a populo contemnitur illorū doctrina Quod si hijs qui non continent concederetur matrimonium ipsi viuerent quietius populo cum authoritate praedicarent verbum dei liberos suos liberaliter educandos curarent nec alter alteris vicissim essent probro c. As for the state of single life neither Christe neither yet his Apostles haue prescribed any Lawe in holy Scripture And where as the Churche hath altered Uigills vsed to bee kepte in the night the maner of fastyng vsed to bee continued till the Euenyng and suche other thynges many as occasion hath risen from tyme to tyme why force we mennes constitution so stifly here in this poincte seyng so many special causes might aduise vs to make alteration For firste of all a greate number of the Priestes liueth in infamie and with an vnquiet conscience ministereth those moste holy misteries Furthermore the profit that might arise by them is lost for as muche as their teachyng is not regarded of the people by reason of their open filthie life Where if mariage were graunted to suche as dode not containe bothe them selues should liue the more quietly and their preachyng of Goddes woorde should bee had of more aucthoritée emong the people Beside that thei should se their childrē honestly brought vp so that the one should not be a shame or rebuke to the other Thus ye see how that Erasmus wondereth what men meane to be stiffe in this constitution of the Churche seyng there bée so many reasons that might moue them to graunte to Priestes to marrie This Ciuilian saieth that it would tourne to the decaie of the estimation of the Clergie and so to the contempt of the religion of Christe Erasmus saieth that if thei liued in Matrimonie suche as could not containe thei should haue a better name then thei haue and therefore a better estimation Thei should with more aucthoritée preache Gods worde and the people would beleue them the better where now for their standerous liuing thei be despised saieth he Moreouer the Priestes them selues should haue a more quiette conscience to sende vp the better and ofter praiers to almightie God the soner to be harde Where now by their filthie handelyng of so holy misteries in so vncleane a life their benedictions bée tourned into maledictions saieth Gregorie and the mummyng of their Masses saieth I. Pecham in his constitutions bee rather worthie to bee called execrations then celebrations Lette not this Ciuilian thinke that suspected and euident euill life in corruptiō defilyng mennes wiues and their daughters will winne a credence to the Clergie as muche as honest and chaste matrimonie should if it were by lawe permitted And if it were lefte at libertée there would bee in the Clergie that willyngly would liue chaste to winne this estimation that this man speaketh of And better to haue a fewe suche that might liue without suspition then vpon the common experiēce of many faultée the people should suspecte all For that whiche is true in deede will so abide when that whiche is counterfet can neuer but shame it self at lengthe In comparison of whiche counterfette chastitée Lib. 5. Cap. ◠and wedlocke chastitée speaketh Polidore in his boke de inuentoribus rerum Illud dixerim tantum abfuisse vt ista coacta castitas illum coniugalem vicerit vt etiam nullius delecti crimen maius ordini dedecus plus mali religioni plus doloris omnibus bonis impresserit īusserit attulerit quā sacerdotum libidinis labes Proinde fortassis tam è repub Christiana quam ex ordinis vsu esset vt tandē aliquando ius publici matrimonij sacerdotibus concederetur quod illi sine infamia sanctè potius colerent quam se spurcissimè eiusmodi naturali vitio turpificarent But this I will saie that it is so farre of that this cōpelled chastitée hath excelled that Wedlocke chastitée that no crime or enormitée hath imprinted either more hatered to the state of Priesthode or hath more defaced Christes holy religion or yet hath stirred vp more griefe in all good mennes hartes then the slaunder of the vnchaste life of priestes wherevpon perhappes it should be as honourable to Christendome as commendable to the Clergie that once at the last the libertée of mariage were graunted to the Priestes by publike aucthoritée wherein thei might vertuously liue without rebuke of their estimation rather then thei should distaine them selues so filthily by suche vice of nature Here ye sée that this Clerke is of the same iudgement with Erasmus to thinke that it should be as well for the profette of the comon wealth as for the honour and estimation of the Clergie for priestes to haue libertie to mary And that it should be no slaūder nor infamie to them to be maried if it were doen by open authoritée So that the priestes of these daies maried by open aucthoritee néede no more to bee a shamed of their mariage then M. Martin nedeth to bee a shamed to bee borne of that matrimonie wherin he was borne And shall bee as good in euery condition how soeuer he would shame it To liue in manifeste or secrette whordom is a shame before God and also to the world And this it is saieth Polidore that shameth the order destroieth the estimation of your religion This it is that good menne lament so beauilye in all ages from tyme to tyme and yet could neuer haue it remedied by all the Lawes thei could make Howsoeuer thei coloured it how easily or how extremely soeuer thei proceaded againste it yet was it worse and worse Lette the Townes speake where Monkes dwelt Let the Cities be examined wher cathedrall Churches are let open Nonnes and close Nonnes be asked of their consciences what rule there was kept let the cuntrie tell the truthe of Limitours sent among them or els Friers in cities and boroughes drawyng the latche of the doore without warnyng to saie there sainct Ihons Gospell And lette this Ciuilian consider what matter he goeth about I wis he doeth no great pleasure to the Clergie as he would haue them thinke yea and if thei were wise thei would thinke the same For let not them hope that thei can escape as thei haue doen. The laye men will not beare it at their handes Before tymes when the laye man saw his wife abused before his face or his daughter rauished or mayde defloured he was faine to make the best of it for feare of accusation in some other respecte that should aswell pynche hym as the parishe prieste I doubt not but seeyng that the Priestes themselues be so earnest to beate doune this late graunted libertée thei make but a rodde for their owne tayles Lette experience trye the matter Well I haue not red of any one learned man in these daies speakyng in this cause of conscience and of learning but euer thei haue made moderation in the expendyng of it And haue shewed their desiers for
for continencie Therfore leste he should driue the state into a narrow strayght if he had prescribed most exact vertue therfore he chose rather to moderate his counsell lest els vpon mistrust that menne might haue to reache to so hie vertue the churche should be without Busshops Thus farre Chrysostome If suche fathers as were head and moste excellent pastours of the churche were expended M. Martin in their writinges in their moderations and if true chastitee of the clergie in deede were sought as is pretended yea if it were left to euery mannes libertée freely as Epiphanius saieth that in Thessalia no man was compelled but of their owne will thei performed that chastitee ye should haue an other maner Clergie in Englande shortly to Goddes glory and honour and wealth of the realme then ye be like this waie do the best you can with all the straint ye can vse I tel you M. Martin the world is to farre past the calling of your pipe If ye feare that insolencie and dissolute behauiour should deface the Clergie if this were suffered why Master Martin wherefore serue your Synodes your Busshoppes and archdeacons visitations onely but to gather vp their mony why might not the old Godly Canons be reduced again to expell thē out of the Clergie that are incorrigible To depose Haukers Hunters Dycers Cardars Dronkerds Byers and Sellers Horehunters Usurers and Symoniackes Let these Canons be reuiued if euer ye will haue your Clergie of good fame before God and of good name before man Yea with lesse lawe of compelled chastitée peraduenture ye might haue the more numbre of true chaste Priestes in deede But be as bée maye But now M. doctor wher ye make it a great matter for priestes to mary after their order because ye haue seen no example nor yet can not reade it written in any record or Chronicle I shall answere you with the wordes of a very new writer Genesius de ritu nuptiarum Hic enim non quid factum sit fiat ve querimus sed omnino quid fieri possit in tam varia tamque inconstante rerum humanarum natura And with the like wordes of an other newe writer Non est scriptum Ergo non est factum Non est factū Ergo non licet facere Vt factum sit vel non factum hominum facta non debent praeiudicare verbo dei ▪ quid si destitueremur exemplo hominum cum habeamus verbum dei That is to saie Our question is not in this poinct what hath been doen but determinatlie what maie bee doen specially standyng the variable and inconstant nature of thinges that parteine to man For what argumente is it It was neuer written Ergo it was neuer doen It was neuer doen Ergo it is not lawfull to bee doen Howsoeuer it hath been doen or vndoen mennes doyngs maie not preiudice Gods saiynges And what if we lacke mannes example so we haue for vs the word of God And if we could bring no example is it therefore intollerable I praie you Master doctor of the Chauncerie answere your learnyng Is the lacke of a president a preiudice to the law and right Were he not a wise lawier that would brable on this fashion against the Queenes maiesties title for beyng supreme gouernour of this realme because we haue not had many examples of the lyke before tyme And saie when was it euer seen in the realme since Christes faithe toke place here since Christe was knowen in deed that a ladie woman in her owne title should be the ruler and head of the land Yes how many yeres before Christes birth was there seen suche an example And will ye see He might saie The very auncient Lawes themselues of the realme renneth all in the name of the kinge neuer of a Queene The prerogatiue roiall all inuestured in the persons of a kynge as forseeyng suche example should or could neuer followe in vre c. Were not this mannes reasonyng yea foolishe cauillation thinke you a substaunciall processe to disproue a title for lacke of an example When God nature lawe testament publike consent all concurreth together of the lawfulnesse thereof And yet if this Ciuilian would so faine knowe where to see or read some examples of suche as maried after their orders and vowe I will tell hym at this tyme leste he should lose his calfe of fower in good storie till an other time that we shall be able to shewe hym .xxiiij. and that written I will shewe hym of twoo of my saied fower in Ecclesiasticall storie And the other in other credible Historiographers And at these laste twoo I will begin Master Martin if ye list to resorte to Volateranus Lib. 4. Geograph because I wil sende you no further there ye maie reade that one Nicholaus Iustinianus a Mōke maried Anne to wife whiche was the daughter of Vitalis Duke of the Uenetians And Munster in his Cosmographie writeth that Ramirus Monke and Priest was taken out of his Monkrie and Priesthode and for lacke of issue of his twoo brethren Peter and Alfonsus was made kyng of Aragon and Spaine and called Ramirus the fourthe of that name And because wee haue made mention of Spaine ye maie resorte to a late Spanishe writer Ioannes Genesius and he will be my witnesse for one of these twoo that I haue rehearsed And for that ye shall thinke your labour well bestowed to searche it out of hym he will tell you of a third votarie called Constantia daughter of Rogerus kyng of Naples or Cicile as some writers saie whiche was taken out of her Monasterie to be maried to Henry Emperour the firste of that name and that after she had made a solēne vowe And yet her constauncie not flaundered by this facte at al. For it was doen by the dispensation of Pope Celestine the .iij. highly blessed and it was as highly rewarded And if we should iudge the facte by Platina his storie the dispēsation was not geuen neither in respecte of soule health nor common wealth but euen with as couert wordes bought and solde as any was said Quid vultis mihi dare c. but because we haue named you a noble woman that was taken out of her Abbeye after her vowe and that a kynges daughter we shall name emong our nation a kynges sonne to matche her and was heire apparant to kyng Constantine the seconde about the yere of our Lorde 444 who was in like maner no more charged with inconstancie for forsakyng his vowe as she forsoke hers then he differeth from her in name For he was called Constantius and was Monke in the Monasterie of sainct Amphibolus at Winchester which of late was called sainct Swithunes and hath now the holy Trinitee for patron whiche I trust shall kepe still his possession doubting nothyng that either Amphibolus or Swithune will take vpon them to intrude thē selues againe As for this Constantius that was taken out of his Abbeye and made
his order and maried a wife Whiche kyng was by some mennes opinion the firste founder of the Uniuersitée at Oxforde Whiche should bee more to their glory for antiquitée to haue hym so reputed then Aluredus who succeded well nigh .lx. yeres after hym For whose sake yet I truste master Martin will bee better to orders that be vowed Whiche saied Leo is noted in storie to be of suche wisedome and vertue that he had accordyng to the Gospell both the prudence of the Serpente and the simplicitée of the Doue of so modeste a nature and clemencie that where in th ende of a victorie against the cruell Sarazens some would haue had diuerse of them hanged vp at Rome gates for the terrour of others he would not suffer it And yet againe in preseruyng the discipline of the churche in punishment of idle and not resident Cardinalles so seuere that he gathered a Synode of .xlvij. Busshoppes and condempned and depriued one Anastasius Cardinall of S. Marcelles Not specially because he had been absent frō his cure and parishe 1. Q. 7. Rigor fiue yere space together Thus yet the saied Leo writeth to the Bisshoppes of Englande Nisi rigor disciplinae quandoque relaxetur ex dispensatione misericordiae multorum enim crimina sunt damnabilia quae tamen ecclesia tolerat pro tempore pro persona intuitu pietatis vel necessitatis siue vtilitatis pro euentu rei pro tempore sicut Gelasius qui cum necessitate temporis videret Italicam ecclesiam propter belli famisque incursionem fere omnium clericorū officio destitutam adeo vt plerisque populis subsidia regendarum deessent animarum concessit de Monachis vel de Laicis clericos assumi Except the rigour of the Churches discipline were some tyme released by dispensation of mercie For many mennes crimes be dampnable whiche yet be tolerated by the Churche for consideration of the tyme and persone in respect of mercie of necessitée or of commoditée and vpon the chaunce of the matter as maie fall As for example in respect of the tyme we reade that Gelasius when he sawe by the necessitée of the tyme the Churches of Italie to bée destitute and voide almoste of all their spirituall ministers by occasion of the rage of warre and famine so greatly that muche people wanted their comforte for pastours of their soules he did permitte that Curates might be chosen either emonges the religious or yet emong the lay men And that in the primatiue churche vppon the necessitie of the tymes or for some other good and profitable purposes they haue boldly dispensed with the canons of the churche and such orders as haue ben straytly obserued and rigorously exacted before their dayes it may most euidently appeare by sundry ecclesiasticall stories examples As that the church of Millane Nicephorus Lib. 11. ca. 32. with the approbatiō of Valentinian the emperour did chose Ambrose to be their archbishop beyng a mere lay man in lay office and that before he was baptised So was Nectarius a lay senator occupied al his lyfe long in prophane office Lib. 12. ca 12. sodainly elected to be bishop of Constantinople Theodosius the emperour beyng there present and assentyng therto and yet the said Nectarius was not as thē a christian man by receauyng the sacrament of baptisme And Synesius a platonicall philosopher brought vp in the studie of prophane learnyng Li. 14. ca. 55. addict to the decrees and principles therof not as yet won conuerted to Christes religion was preferred by that learned bishop Theophilus Alexandrinus to priesthood and by the holy handes of Theophilus to a bishopricke immediatly after his baptisme And before he made open protestation to the knowledge of the churche of Ptolemais where he shoulde be bishoppe that except they would freely permit him to reteyne his philosophicall opinions of not beleuyng the resurrection of mens bodies or that the worlde shoulde haue an ende he woulde not accept their offer Yea he further conditioned with them that where God the lawes had geuen hym a wyfe he woulde not forsake her in any wise and that he woulde nowe haue secrete familiaritie with her as a fornicator For th one he said was not godly thother nothing lawful but rather saith he I wyll and wyshe more chyldren to be borne vnto me by her I thynke veryly it would be harde to fynde lawes or examples of former tymes past to approue these doynges whervpon I iudge euery indifferent man may se how the canons should be expounded and howe the churche rules shoulde be ruled Not so straytly laced as ye make them or as ye force them nor so ment of the greatest canon makers them selues As ye may reade among the decrees of the said pope Gelasius in the first second thirde howe he as I haue written afore would not with all his auctoritie diuorce such votaries as were maried after their vowes but left them to God and to their consciences that in suche necessitie of ministers as chaunced in Italy he was content that thei should take both munckes out of their abbeys contrary to their profession and lay men frō their lay offices contrary to the prescriptiō of the canons And moreouer confesseth in his first chapter of hym selfe thus Nos magno reatu innecteremur si tanto coartāte periculo nō aliquatenus consulamus We should saith he be worthyly charged as much giltie if in so great perilous constraint we should not prouide some remedie What necessitie the realme is in for want of ministers at this day how fast men wyl ren to orders hereafter being destitute of the hope for such protection couerynges of their skapes I weene it wyll be spyed hereafter God geue grace that wyser men of the realme howe wylfull soeuer ye be may foresee this matter in tyme for the honor of god the saluation of mens soules the wealth of the realme Amen And here maister Martin I wyl take occasion to rest in a suspence of further commentyng your booke tyll at my next leysure when by gods grace I wyll redresse the vaine of my wrytyng yf I maye heare that it should offende any indifferent reader But as for your selfe or any suche as of set purpose wyll erre your selues bryng other into the same that for good felowship wyll blyndly fall into the ditche with the blynde guide howe angry soeuer ye all be yet I wyll speake to you with the very wordes of Ioannes Genesius for the noueltie of the matter thus printed with good lucke in Englande Si quis non quod optimū factu sit quaerat sed studiose captet occasiones errandi cuius erit aequitatis non potius eius pernitiosam malitiam insectari quā nobis succensere si quod verū credimus non dissimulanter explicamus If any man wyl set his minde to ensue not that which were best to be done but wyl more gladly captiously seke occasions to lye
¶ A DEFENCE of priestes mariages stablysshed by the imperiall lawes of the Realme of Englande agaynst a Ciuilian namyng hym selfe Thomas Martin doctour of the Ciuile lawes goyng about to disproue the saide mariages lawfull by the eternall worde of God by the hygh court of parliament only forbydden by forayne lawes and canons of the Pope coloured with the visour of the Churche Whiche lawes canons were extynguyshed by the sayde parliament and so abrogated by the conuocation in their Sinode by their subscriptions Herewith is expressed what moderations and dispensations haue ben vsed heretofore in the same cause other like the canons of the Churche standyng in full force Whereby is proued these constitutions to be but positiue lawes of man temporall Let Matrimonie be honorable in all persons But fornicatours and adulterers God shall iudge Hebre. xiij ¶ The contentes of this booke noted in the pagies of the same as in these titles folowyng 1 A moste humble supplication to the hygh and most myghtie princes the Kyng and Queenes excellent maiesties Fol. 1. 2 An humble suite to the ryght prudent and most honorable of their councell Fol. 2. facie 2. 3 A lowly request and obsecration to the reuerent fathers of the Churche Fol. 3. facie 2. 4 A tractation to the discrete iudgement of the worshipfull of the lower house of parliament and to the professours of the lawe Fol. 7. facie 2. c. 5 An admonition to the naturall subiectes of the Realme and certayne notes for their aduertisementes Fol. 8. facie 2. c. Fol. 9. facie 2. d. 6 An expostulation with certayne of the Clergie for lacke of charitable indifferencie Fol. 11. facie 2. 7 Generall considerations in the booke folowyng 8 That Saint Paules sentences for auoydyng of fornication let euery man haue his wyfe â–ª c. and yf they can not conteyne let them marry be generally spokeÌ„ to al persons pag. 133. 136. c. 9 To seculer priestes and to votaries 140. b. 159. a. 10 And that continencie from mariage is a rare gyft 201. c. 204. a. 247. c. 251. 11 And that it is not lyke that the Apostles dyd enioyne the same to the Clergie seing they them selues and diuers other Bushoppes and priestes had wyues 32. b. 42. 156. d. 12 That it is only of mans constitutions for continencie to be annexed to orders 71. 72. 153. c. 13 And that seculer priestes votaries haue ben dispensed with to marrie 230. 14 And that our elders and the fathers of thâ— Churche haue thought it meete alwayes for lawes and canons to be restrayned remitted 41.85.175.179 c. 196. a. 197. b. 209. a. 210. d. 15 And that the same haue ben dispensed with in matters of greater importauÌ„ce then priestes mariages 204. a. 205. 267 a 16 And haue ben dispensed to kepe their wiues 222. a. 274. a. 17 That seculer priestes ordered in England be no votaries pag. 181. d. 181. c 184. a. 18 And myght marry after order as before 60.61.76.103.155 d. 253. d. 257.272 a 19 And that they haue ben before tyme maryed in the Realme Fol. 15. b i 20 And that it is no dishonour to the order nor burthen to the Realme for priestes to marry pag. 69. 70. 59. 21 That maryages of the Clergie made by force of the lawe of the Realme be good mariages â—69 238. b. 22 And that they lye not vpon the daunger of the canons to be impeached or dissolued 67.65.58.167.171 b. 200. d. 23 No more then the maryages of the laitie which were made in kyng Henry the .viii. his tyme by the act concernyng precontractes 170. d. 24 And that forayne positiue lawes with their paynes concernyng the same be abrogated not reuiued by the act of repeale 170. c. 25 That scripture ought to be iudge and is most certayne to be sticken vnto 73.74.98 b. 100. c. 245. b. 26 That D. Martin hath rigorously without all moderation expended the cause of these sayde parties iustly maryed by lawe 83.201 27 That D. Martin hath wrested misreported scriptures in the deprauyng of the sayde lawfull maryages 135. b. 147. a. 150 d 28 That D. Martin hath peruerted and falsified the scriptures stories councels aleaged by hym 53.54.105 b. 111. b 136. b. 144 a. 146 b. 148.155 a. 156 b 164.182 b. 221. b 238. d. 29 And doctours of the Church as Origen Ambrose 145. b. Austen 101. c. 104. a. 107. a. 150. b. Ierome 108. b Isodore 109. c Eusebius 144. Ignatius 118. c. Nicephorus 156. 106. a. 30 That D. Martin sclaundereth with euyll names aswel the matrimonie of the lay men as of priestes 66.82.163 a. 31 That D. Martin hath vsed to many lyes yf his cause were good insparsed in his booke part wherof be touched 43.44.45.50.51 52.53.54.55.56.107.115.136.145.151.157 c. 182. b. 216. c. ¶ A preface to the reader WHere by chaunce came into my handes of late a booke sent from beyonde the sea wherein was highly magnified a treatise written by one Thomas Martin doctour of the Ciuile lawe and there muche labour bestowed to disproue the lawfull matrimonies of Ecclesiasticall Ministers There came to my remembraunce a certayne wrytyng beyng in my custodie gathered together and written in the raigne of Kyng Philip Queene Marie wherin much of the treatise of this Ciuilian is reproued Which said booke was written by a learned man of that tyme who shortly after dyed meanyng yf God had lent hym longer lyfe to haue confuted more of the sandye groundes principles of the sayde Ciuilian And thynkyng it at these dayes not vnprofitable to be read for this controuersie I committed it to the Printer praying thee good reader to beare with the maner of the wrytyng in some partes therof beyng more meryly penned then some graue wryter would peradueÌ„ture alowe of In which fourme of wrytyng somewhat he foloweth as he sayth hym selfe thexample of Sir Thomas Moore knyght in his booke of Dialogues for purgatorie This wryter abstaynyng yet from vnchaste tales such as be in his 〈◊〉 booke ouermuch insparsed and partly being in aduersitie gaue himself to some solace to refreshe his minde with yet vsyng fewer insultations reprofes then the vnworthinesse of the said Ciuilian by his vnreasonable chalenge myght haue moued him to Now because I wold nether adde to another mans writing neither diminishe the same I haue preseÌ„ted vnto thee good reader the whole booke as it is affirmyng this that thou shalt finde all his allegations truely aduouched by the writers that he doth name assuring thee also persuaded by the nature of the man whom I haue hearde wel reported that no malice or corrupt indignation moued hym to write as he doth but pure zeale to the trueth of Gods most holy worde to their instruction who woulde be taught in this trueth to the amendement of his aduersarie in his manifest vntruethes to the comfort of theÌ„ who loue God and his veritie and to admonishe all such as be eyther wylfully ignoraunt or malicious well to expende
realme my mynde is not to haue any one man to misconceiue ought of the highest aucthorities in this matter I would wishe for your owne sakes that some other could so well bee discharged I meane some certaine aswell of the Laie fee Phil. ii as of the Clergie Qui in hoc negotio suum penitus negotium agunt quae sua sunt querunt noÌ„ que Iesu Christi non que ecclesiae non principis non regni That is who in this matter handle their owne businesse seekyng their owne gaine not Iesus Christes not the Churches not the princes not the Realmes And I appeale here to diuerse Spirituall ministers and to all their adherentes and instigators of whom some be bothe iudges and parties and the thyng iudged wonne to them selues where thei seeme to haue it muche for their defence that there hath been no examples that euer priestes maried after order What example haue thei in stories before time that depriuations haue been thus handeled before our daies I will not speake of particular cases M. Richard Wilkes M. Bradford Nicholas Bullingham Doctor May A greate nomber D. Ponnet D. Tailor D. Parker where some men haue been depriued neuer conuicte no neuer called Some called that were faste locked in prison and yet neuerthelesse depriued immediatly Some depriued without the case of mariage after their order Some induced to resigne vpon promise of pention and the promise as yer neuer performed Some so depriued that thei were spoiled of their wages for the whiche thei serued the halfe yere before and not tenne daies before the receipte sequestred from it Some preuented from the halfe yeres receipt after charges of tenthes and subsidie paied and yet not depriued sixe weekes after Some depriued of their receipte somewhat afore the daie with the whiche their fruictes to the Queenes Maiestie should bee contented and some yet in the like case chargeable hereafter as I heare saie if the Queenes mercifull grace be not informed thereof by mediation of some charitable sollicitour But I saie without the compasse of all suche particular cases what example haue thei in tymes paste that their owne lawes haue been thus executed depriuations so spedelie so headely without warnyng without election offered to be executed Wée read that Pope Pelagius the second made this offer to the Subdeacons that either thei should put awaie their wiues or els if thei would retaine theim still to forgoe their benifices And for that thei thought neither nother reasonable and would not agree to suche condition the saied Pope in his anger commaunded by decree that thei should bee diuorsed from their wiues as Polidore writeth Polidorus Exemplo post homines natos importunissimo An example saieth he moste insolent and damnable that euer was seen since the firste man was borne Whiche decree Gregorie the firste nexte immediately followyng thought to be very vnreasonable and contrary to Christes precept and therefore did eftsones release it We reade in our Chronicles and recordes of Englishe proceadynges how that Munkishe Archebishop Dunston DuÌ„stanus quasi rex râ—gis imperator est effectus c. thondered out yet neuer so boisterously nor lightned so terriblie to depriue the maried seculer Priestes in Winchester Worcester Elie and suche other places that he proceded flatlie to depriuation without conditions and respites offred or without forme of iudgement graunted Sâ—premnem ei poenitenciam iâ— dixit vt in toto hoc spatio coronaÌ„ regni non gestarâ—â— Antoninus in croniâ—is parte â— titulo 16. ca. 6. pag. 3. c. though he had king Edgar at those daies in neuer so muche awe to doe what he lusted And for redemption of his penaunce for a little wantonnesse made hym to stablishe no more but seuen and fourtie Abbeies with further promise to make theim vp to the number of fiftie to counteruaile cleane remission of the yere of Iubiley howe able soeuer he was to keepe hym seuen yeres from his Coronation as Fabian writeth yet he restrained his abilitie in this case of the Priestes how faine so euer he was to bryng in his Monkes in their places For we reade in a verie auncient written storie that in his firste summonynges to suche priestes bothe awarded by particuler citacions as also vttered in sinodall conference he vsed these verie wordes Aut canonice inquit est viuendum aut de ecclesijs exeundum Ether saithe hee muste ye liue accordyng to the canons or els must ye go out of your churches And then it followeth in the storie Ex quo factum est vt complurimi ecclesiarum clerici dum contemnerent proposita conditione corrigi authoritate pontificis sunt expulsi monachi introducti Whereupon folowed that for that the clarkes of verie many churches refused with that offred condition to be reformed by aucthoritie of the Bishoppe thei were expulsed and Monkes there entered That is to saie as in Fabians chronicle euill Priestes excluded and worse MoÌ„kes receaued When this was thus in doyng the matter was presented to the Kyng his Nobles on the behalf of the Priestes suing by supplication that their matter might be heard It foloweth in the storie Dunstanus itaque hijs que rationabiliter postulabantur contraire nolens coacto concilio Ex veteri historia Eliensis ecclesiae ex Antonino c Ioannes Capgraue in vita Dunstani wintoniaÌ„ venit Vbi ex sententia totius concilij de aduersarijs victoriam cepit Intererat tantae controuersiae Brithnodus sanctae Eliensis ecclesiae primus abbas cuÌ„ cetera religiosorum turba auxilium de celo non de terra a deo non ab hominibus praestolabantur Cumque inimici domini ex iure nihil sibi superesse conspicerent vsi auxilio regis principum ad preces se conuertunt quibus ipsum flagitant quatenus intromissae personae de ecclesiis expellantur expulsae restituantur DubitaÌ„te igitur viro dei nulluÌ„que ad rogata responsum porrigente res mira seculis inaudita coÌ„tigit Ecce corporis duÌ„i forma ex lapide incisa vexillo crucis ifixa atque iÌ„ editiore domus parte locata humanos exprimens modos oiÌ„m voces compescuit dicens Absit hoc vt fiat Absit hoc vt fiat iudicastis benè mutaretis non benè Ad quam vocem rex omnesque maiores ferè vsque ad halationem spiritus perterriti clamore pariter dei laudatione areaÌ„ compleÌ„t c. That is to saie Dunstan therefore not mindyng to goe againste this petition whiche was so reasonablie requested gathered a Councell and came to Winchester where he had the victorie of the aduersaries by the iudgement of the whole Councell At the debatement of whiche greate controuersie Brithnodus the firste Abbotte of Elie was presente with all the other multitude of Monkes and waited and looked for helpe from heauen and not from the yearth from God and not of man And when the enemies of God perceiued that
allowe his counsailes and doynges and make as it were of an olde Iudas a newe Christe Here had I a greate fielde to walke in describyng these dissemblers with princes and with suche realmes where thei beare rule but wee will ceasse to vtter their deseruynges and returne again to that matter whiche doeth more properly appertaine to the argumeÌ„t of our writyng and therefore will resume that was begonne in the .32 leafe B. continued vnto .35 B. before sm that the Apostles had their wiues as all writers aunciente confesse the same and all reasonable men will agree thereto Now if it can be borne of mennes eares to heare that the Apostles had wiues why should this aucthor by his tragical exaggerations make it so odious for Bushoppes and Priestes the apostles successors to haue their lawfull wiues I thincke he will not saie that the beste of his chaste Priestes be better then the Apostles Againe to consider what Paphnutius saied and counsailed for the priestes of his tyme not to be seperated and that it is chastitie to company with their wiues and that to seperate them might be an occasion of great inconueniencie in them bothe If in that holy tyme whan God was truely honored his worde and Sacramentes moste holyly ministred Priesthode was then in greate high estimation and that in maried priestes and bushops as by name shall be hereafter expressed why doeth this aucthour so stifly crie for seperation in Priestes married nowe sequestred by power and not by right from ministration wher thei of Nicene were suffered with them in ministratioÌ„ If like perill may bee feared in the parties now coupled together why should thei be seperated more then the other If their Sacramentes were none other nor holier then oures their worde none other then that we haue why maie not oure order stand with mariage as well as thers If lyke necessitie of Ministers in this realme be as great as hath been in other places where maried Priestes did minister and yet doeth in some places of the Occidentall Churche Why shoulde this wryter exclame so vnlearnedly againste Englishe Priestes mariage as though it were not decent nor tollerable but against Goddes lawe and mannes law liyng against them bothe and saiyng that order and Matrimonie that a wife and a benefice can not stand together And in the bolsteryng out of this matter is almoste all his booke emploied againste antiquitie against the practise of the primatiue Churche against the worde of God wrytten againste the practise of tolerations in the lyke case of diuerse counsailes and deâ—rees of the Busshops of Rome as shall be proued when it cometh to place I truste this Ciuilian is not yet so addicte to the Canonicall procedynges that the matter lieth onely in this poincte that if the Bushop of Rome allowed the matter all were well for me thinke so he can not meane For if his assertions be true he must proue the Bushoppes of Rome diuerse of them to be very Antechristes if thei haue dispensed against Goddes expresse woordes yea he must condempne a great many of Canonistes and of scholemen and a greate many of Catholike writers traueilyng in controuersies of this tyme whiche peraduenture hath read as muche in Diuinitie and Canon lawe as I thinke this Ciuilian hath doen in his Ciuill whiche bee of cleane contrary assertion to this singular man But yet I heare this writer obiecte againe suche an obiection as was once made by a Canonist in the expending of this verie poincte Distingue tempora saieth he personas concordabis leges Canones Weye the difference of tyme and of persones and so shall ye make the lawes and Canons agrée Then was then and now is now For the case saieth he is farre vnlike betwixte the priestes of the Greke Churche whiche were maried before thei were priestes and the priestes of our Churche time whiche he maried after their order And this he thinketh to be an high wittie inuention and insoluble and by this shifte he pronounceth the victorie of the cause before any stroke bee striken standyng stoutely in the difference of the tyme mariage to goe before order or to come after To answere if it be true as he can not deny but that it was not lawfull by their saiynges of the Counsaile of Nice to bee separated by Lawes and constrainte and that it was chastitie for the busshoppes and priestes to kepe company still with their wiues yea when thei were ministeryng busshoppes and priestes in an other maner attendaunce and holinesse then the best chast busshoppes and priestes of our tyme practise in their doynges so that by their iudgement the one state dishonored not thother nor was impediment to the other as hereafter shal be proued by the testimonie of their owne Canonistes and Doctors what difference is there in the substaunce of the order in them of the primitiue or Greke churche and in the priestes of this Latine churche and Occidentall churche but that order and matrimonie maie stand together in one figure in them bothe As for vowe or promise shall bee hereafter considered open protestation or no protestation chastitie of congruitie dependyng or included by the nature of order or for the Churche constitution shall be hereafter answered and expended Now I saie if the priestes of the Greke Churche liued godly in ministration with their wiues why maie not the priestes of the Occidentall churche be iudged to liue as godly in Matrimonie and as lawfully to in Englande hauyng the highest Lawe in the realme on their side But here this doctor will be offended to haue any thing brought in for declaration of this cause out of Grece and maketh a greate matter that men should so doe and repelleth al their doing thus what is that saith he to the matter are not we of an other territorie and iurisdiction If I should answere you so master doctor with your owne obiectioÌ„ then might it bee a full sufficient answere by it self a lone to all your whole booke to saie when ye bryng Romishe Canons out of Spaine out of Fraunce out of Grece I might so answere you what bee all these to the matter are not we of an other territorie and iurisdiction When ye alledge from Prouinciall coÌ„stitutions Sinodes nationall lawes of Emperours Ciuile and Panim lawes what are all these to the matter of our Imperiall lawes are not we of an other territorie and iurisdiction And thus your booke is fully answered and ye may now put vp your pipes with al your choristers of forren Lawes and Canons Moreouer in the seuen Chapiter ye also saie that it bewraieth the weakenesse of the cause for priestes to wander into Grece to bryng in their maner of liuyng of mariyng orderyng If that declareth the weakenesse of the cause I praie you then what is the strength of the cause ye haue taken in hande For ye be not content to raile and wander ouer all the Realmes and Churches of Europe but ye runne
into Asia and Affrica and bryng in Panim priestes to set out the matter There is nothyng in your booke written or vnwritten deuised by your owne braine or surmised by heare saie but ye make strong argumentes for your owne vaine and feble cause But briefly to answere this wittie deuise of the difference of the tyme till a â—uller debatemente of that poincte I shall answere as once sainct Hierom was answered in a matter of Priestes and Bisshoppes wiuyng and orderyng by a certaine disputer who defended the constitution of the churche as it was then and as it is at this daie where S. Hierome is on the contrary part holdyng that to haue one wife before Baptisme and a seconde wife after was not therefore an impedimente to be admitted to Priesthode Epistola ad Oceanum or to a Busshoppes office Nonne legisti ab Apostolo vnius vxoris virum assumi in sacerdotium rem noÌ„ tempora definiri that t s Doest thou not reade saieth he that by the Apostles aucthoritie the husbande of one wife is to bee chosen into Priesthode and that the cause and matter is thereby defined and not the tyme If this catholike disputer would haue the saiyng of S. Paule to bee weighed in the nature of the order and mariage rather then drawen to the circumstaunce of tyme and that he must bée the husbande but of one wife either before or after Baptisme at the tyme of his orderyng and therefore maie be eligible to be a priest or bushoppe And as sainct Hierom hym self writeth afterward that it is rather loked for in a priest or Busshop what he is for the tyme presente then what he hath been why not as well maie sainct Paules text and aucthoritie serue for a prieste and a busshoppe to be lawfully qualefied if he be the husbande but of one wife whether he had his wife in the tyme he was no prieste or he take a wife in the tyme after he bée in his priesthode So he be as it is said the husbande of one wife yea successiuely Wherewith ye maie quarell by aucthoritie of some expositours though not with the manifest woorde of God But to be the husbande onely of one wife before order and after order once for all as ye saie the Greeke Churche vseth to doe ye can not quarell rightly by Goddes worde nor yet by reasonable aucthoritie of mannes Lawe or Canon in suche necessitie as ye force and inferre of their saiynges As for the other peece of Nicene Canon where it is saied that accordyng to thauncient tradition of the Churche suche as were not as yet maried and were partakers of holy order should from thence for the contracte no mariage And as for the Canon of the Apostles whiche ye stande so strongly to or yet for the saiyng of sainct Augustine immediatly folowyng the place whiche is here before alledged leste ye should cauill as ye doe that I lefte out the pithe of the matter and would slide sleightly ouer the whole place of the aucthoritie and bryng theim in by patche meales with violent wrestyng as ye vse to doe I will heareafter bryng them put them all together to the iudgement of the reader to geue sentence betwixt vs how farre thei weye in this cause Yet in the meane tyme to make some insinuation to you of sainct Augustines question note ye well his woordes not as a subtile Lawier but like a Diuine and wreste not sainct Augustines licet Cap. 4. haÌ„ E. ii a. Vt notatur ca. â—i Christus de IureturaÌ„â—o and non licet out of their nature as ye doe Quaedam illicita sunt in sui natura quaedam ciuiliter .i. iure positiuo vel consuetudinario quaedam sunt simoniaca quia prohibita quaedam sunt prohibita quia simoniaca Quid autem liceat aut quid non liceat pleni sunt libri scripturarum August in Psa. 147 qui confirmat vectes portarum c. Some thynges are vnlawfull of their owne nature and some by Ciuile constitution that is by positiue lawe Some thynges are Simonicall because thei are forbiddeÌ„ and some are forbidden because thei are Simonical but what is lawfull and what not lawfull is fully set out in the bookes of scripture And then againe note if S. Augustine openeth not his mynde by the like licet and non licet Saiyng AntequaÌ„ Ecclesiasticus quis sit licet ei negotiari facto iam non licet That is Before one hath taken vpon hym the state of an Ecclesiasticall persone he maie geue hym self to worldly affaires but afterward he maie not In like maner Consilium Aurelianense saieth Episcopum presbyterum aut diaconum canes ad venandum aut accipitres NoÌ„ licet 〈◊〉 negotiari intâ—resse ludis c. Distinct. 88 per totum aut huiusmodi res habere non licet It is not lawfull for a Busshop Priest or Deacon to haue houndes haukes or suche like Now call to your remembraunce how your Lawe qualifieth this licet and non licet till we tell you more in this matter In your expendyng if ye take not quid pro quo ye shall doe the better But because the reader maie further heare what saith S. Hierome in the defence of his opinion as is spread in the processe of his saied Epistle and that the prudent reader maie expeÌ„de whether his Rhetorike might not bee applied againste the aduersaries of this cause as well as he vsed it in the like cause I will reporte his woordes what he writeth further there and leste ye should mistake the Epistle I will shewe you how it beginneth Thus therfore he writeth Nunquam fili Oceane fore putabam vt indulgentia principis calumniam sustinerer reorum de car ceribus exeuntes post sordes ac vestigia cathenarum dolereÌ„t alios relaxatos In EuaÌ„gelio audit inuidus salutis alienae Amice si ego bonus quare oculus tuus nequam est Conclusit deus omnia sub peccato vt omnibus misereatur vt vbi abundauit peccatum superabundet gratia Caesa sunt Aegypti primogenita ne iumentum quidem Israeliticum iÌ„ Aegypto derelictum est consurgit mihi Caina haeresis atque olim emortua vipera contritum caput leuat Quae non ex parte vt ante consueuerat sed totum Christi subruit Sacramentum c. Dicit enim esse aliqua peccata quae Christus non possit purgare sanguine suo tam profundas scelerum pristinoruÌ„ inherere corporibus atque animis cicatrices vt medicina illius attenuari noÌ„ queant quid aliud agit nisi vt Christus frustrà mortuus sit c. A paraphrasis of the same By swéete sainct Mary and good sainct Martine to I would neuer haue thought gentle master Martine that it would euer haue come to passe that the graunte and concession of that moste Christian Prince kyng Edward in his high Courte of Parliamente grounded vpon Goddes almightie woorde should euer haue been
decre that priestes Deacons Subdeacons and MoÌ„kes should neither marrie wiues nor haue concubines and that their mariages should be disseuered and committed to penance And further ye write that Pope Lucius whiche was aboute the yere of our Lorde CClxv should decree that none should be receiued to the ministerie of the aulter but suche as would obserue perpetuall continencie I answere Sir ye haue a greate delight to make those your beste argumentes where either the aucthors did write worste or where thei lyed or where the collectour of their saiynges or the Printer might easely erre in the recitall of their names For first ye shall not finde these emong the Apostolicall decrees of those twoo Bushoppes written by them excepte ye haue any secrete written decrees your self alone Furthermore stories reporte commonly that Siritius whiche was Pope anno Domini 388 did first inhibite Priestes and Deacons mariages Gregoriu◠〈◊〉 dixiâ— Sul atacomâ— semel factu 〈◊〉 non nubere For so emong others testifieth Polidore And so writeth the gloser of the Decrees Disti 84. that Siritius brought in continencie to the Priestes and Deacons as Gregorie did to the other ministers that is to Subdeacons And Gratian himself affirmeth Dist. 28. De syracusane that before the Counsaile of Ancyran whiche was anno Domini 308. the continencie of ministers was not yet brought in Moreouer the ninth Canon of the Counsaile Agatense vnder Celestine the first reporteth Siritius to bee aucthour of this prohibition And Innocentius the firste whiche was nyer those daies in his Epistle to Exuperius about the yere of our Lorde CCCC referreth the same to Siritius saiing si ad aliquos forma illa Ecclesiasticae vitae pariter disciplinae quae ab ipso Siritio ad prouintias commeauit c. If the forme of Ecclesiastical life and discipline which was deriued from bushoppe Siritius be not yet come to their knowledge c. Where if it had been Calixtus or Lucius discipline he would rather haue referred it to theim then alledged it vpon the latter Busshoppe for the greater aucthoritée of antiquitée as ye doe vt supra And in other places with wresting and violent contortyng ye would make the Apostles to teache all that you saie somtime vouchyng their Epistles sometyme their Canons so coumpted theirs makyng the doctrine of them equall with the aucthoritée of the Gospell immutable But ye will aunswere that ye finde theim in the booke of the Decrees alledged vpon them Sir because ye haue many obscure copies looke in some written boke of the Decrees whether one be not named for an other as some bookes referreth the Canon of Gossyprike to Pascall the firste and some to Pascall the seconde whiche thynges maie be seen diuerse tymes in the bookes of the Counsailes so noted by hym that did set them out And sometymes the Canons of the Counsailes were falsified by heretikes as maie be seen in the sixt couÌ„saile Constantinople And sometyme corrupted by the Popes them self as Pope Zozimus vntruely corrupted the Canons of Nicene Counsaile for the aduauncemente of his vsurped iurisdiction but it was proued false by the diligence of the Bushops of Affricke in their Counsaile where at sainct Augustine was presente As my Lorde of Durisme noteth his falshoode in this poincte in his Sermon before kyng Henry And sometyme the Romanistes of set purpose will corrupte the aucthours for their purpose as Gratian for the aduauncemente of the Rome See and for the aucthoritée of the Decrees falsifieth a place of sainct Augustine de doctrina Christiana lib. i. Cap. viii and alledged Dist. xix In canonicis whiche is thus noted by Alphonsus de castro aduersus hereses Lib. i. ca. ii And how truely the Epistles which be ascribed to Clement be his for all your gorgious blauÌ„chyng out of this matter against the Lorde of Cauntorburie he that hath but halfe an eye maie sone iudge as the Decretall Epistles of Anacletus Euaristus Sixtus Victor c. how conyngly thei be counterfeted if the matters therein conteined would not bewraie the reporting of the scriptures in them out of sainct Hieromes translation whiche was a good while after them maie shewe the falshode And therefore it is no euil counsaile of sainct Paule Omnia prabate quod bonum est tenete Proue all thynges but keepe that whiche is good Quia multi seductores exierunt in mundum seducunt si fieri possit etiaÌ„ electos For many deceiuers are gone forthe into the worlde and doe deceiue if it were possible euen the electe Also ye teache that all the Priestes haue married against the Apostles doctrine and that Greke priestes married could not be suffered to be made Priestes excepte thei promised conuersion and no more to keepe with their wiues Also ye affirme that the prohibition of Priestes mariages was the teachyng of the Apostles where the Apostle saith plainly that the prohibition of mariage is the Deuilles teachyng And as for kepyng their wiues ye your self can not deny but Priestes might vse their wiues excepte onely at suche tymes when their turne was to serue in the Churche to saie Masse as the Lawe prescribeth Dist. 31. Quoniam in Moreouer it is plainly affirmed in the Lawe and sainct Augustine is aduouched for it that the Churche hath constituted many thynges Dist. 84. cuÌ„ in that the Apostles did neuer order That is to saie Of the continencie of ministers and that thei made no institution of not vsing mariage alreadie contracted For if the Apostles had so doen the Priestes of the Easte Churche would haue acknowledged it and receiued it Yea it is manifestly decreed in the sixte generall Counsaile holden at Constantinople in these euident wordes Dist. 3â— Quonian QuoniaÌ„ in Romani ordine canonis c Whereas wee knowe that it is decreed by the order of Rome Canons that thei whiche take the order of Deacon or Priesthod doe confesse that from thenceforthe thei will haue no Matrimonicall companie with their wiues yet we folowing the old auncient canon of the Apostles diligence Pondâ—r these woordes the Canons of yâ— Apostles whiche 〈◊〉 answere his wâ—ighty 〈◊〉 in his vii Chap. Aâ— â— â–ª Pondera hâ—c verba quod Apostoâ—â— doâ—uerunâ— c. and the ordinaunces of holy men will that lawfull mariages from henceforthe to bee aduailable Myndyng in no wise either to separate their companiyng of wedlocke with their wiues or yet to depriue them of their familiaritée betwixt them selues in tyme conuenient And there further is it saied that neither Subdeacon Deacon or Prieste if thei be diligent in their office ought to be repealed from suche order though thei kéepe companie with their wiues and that in the tyme of their orders takyng thei ought not to bee compelled to promes chastitée or to abstaine from their lawfull wiues And further this generall Counsaile saieth that suche as of presumption will depriue any of the foresaied Priestes or Deacons from their lawfull wiues contrary to the rules
and curteously rebuked of him And ye saie that HildebraÌ„de reformed the priestes which were in the tyme of that Scisme newely stollen into Marriage Where Nauclerus expressyng the storie reporteth that when the Archebushoppe of Mogunce sentiens non parua constare opera vt tanto tempore inolitam consuetudinem reuelleret c. Understandyng that it would coste hym no small labour to vndoe and dissolue that custome of Mariyng by so long tyme rooted and to reforme the whole worlde in her olde and weake age agreably to the rules of the primatiue Churche determined to deale more moderatly with them And Cardinall Benno which was a Cardinall in his daies declareth how cruelly the Emperour was handeled by hym that when this foresaied sainct Gregories counsaile tooke no place where he hired a desperate man to waite the saied Emperour in his oratorie where he vsed to say his praiers to haue slaine hym by lettyng a stone fall doune froÌ„ the roofe vpon hym at the laste after the said Emperor had laine longe flatte at the feete of one of the Popes legates askyng and crauyng the Churches mercie â–ª whiche was vtterly denied hym was finally deposed from his Emperiall dignitee as the storie is lamentably written by the saied Benno But as for this saied Innocent the firste how holy soeuer he was in suche holy decrees so sone followyng his noble predecessour Siritius in whose woordes and phrase he treadeth in as holily and as nigh as ye treade in Pighius steppes yet I thinke ye obey not all his decrées For he decréed that Saterdaie should be fasted because saieth he Christe laye in his graue on the Saterdaie and the Apostles fasted the Saterdaie Which decree of his for fastyng is as well kepte as his decree for chastitée emong the moste part of his shaueÌ„ subiectes or as Telesphorus statute is by foolishe gloses trifled awaie in the decrees Dist. 4. statuâ—â—â—s But how holy soeuer he was in his vowe of chastitée belike he vowed not wilfull pouertie For his infinite vesselles of plate whiche he gaue to the churche of Rome his wonderfull buildinges of churches houses common Bathes there declareth that he died no great beggar Neither in déede was he bouÌ„d to that vowe now for it was after the gift of Constantine after whose daies the bushops of Rome neuer were made them selues Martyres or sainctes but then became to Canonise sainctes that were catholike like CoÌ„stantine and made Martyres of other menne suche as were barkers against the libertees of the Churche In deede this holy Innocent was from Peter as Marianus Scotus writeth the .xxxix. Pope where Melciades was the laste Pope martyre whiche was in order from Peter the .xxxiij. whiche did shedde their bloude saieth Fasciculus temporum for the holy Testament of Christ. And as this Innocente was farre from Peter in succession of tyme so was he further from hym in succession of life and conuersation For Clement sheweth that he was so farre vnable to aduaunce the Churche of Rome as this Innocente did that he reporteth these to be Peters woordes Panis inquit mihi solus cum oliuis raro etiam cum oleribus in vsu est Indumentum hoc est mihi quod vides tunica cum pallio haec habens nihil aliud requiro hoc mihi sufficit Onely bread is my vsuall foode with Oliues and seldome with wortes and herbes As for my gramentes be suche as ye see a coote with a cloke and hauyng these I require no more saieth Peter for this sufficeth me And Christianus Druthmarus an olde aucthour about the yere of our Lorde 800. writyng vpon Matthewe the tenth Chapiter saieth that Peter helde his Busshopricke in Rome .xxv. yeres and yet had not for all that in his possession so muche as fiue foote of grounde of his owne It was greate pitee that good Constantine was not in these daies of the Churches infancie But yet perhappes Peter would haue taken no suche thynges at his handes as Siluester was infected with for his vowe sake As this Ciuilian maketh it an article of doctrine that Peter by a vowe lefte all thynges house lande shippe nettes wife and all So that by that example of his his successours haue sworne a vowe to drawe all thinges to them selues wiues onely except and yet in stede of them some other thinges It might be wondered at what should make Peter so poore and beggarie if this Ciuilian had not a readie answere to shewe this cause as he doeth declare in his booke the like Surely the charge of his wife his nise daughter Petronil made poore Peter to goe in a thredbare coote or els for scrapyng and purchasyng lande for his wife to set out his deare doughter the better for her mariage he spoyled the Churche patrimonie and left but bare walles Pag. â—33 neither Cope nor Uestimente nor siluer Chalice neither and yet kepte but bare hospitalitée to the greate dishonour of the Churche And these were like to bee the causes that he could not leaue so muche by Testamente to his owne Churche as this Innocent in the man age of the Churche was able to doe But without doubte Peter was in an vnluckie tyme and so was his See as vnhappie for .xxxiij. of his next successours loste their heades some as charged with treason and some with heresie one after an other whiche euill lucke if it should returne againe to the Bushoppes in Rome at their See I would bee suretie for them â–ª that thei would not iudge the ambition for the place so honourable as thei doe Although yet S. Gregorie the firste writeth De â—ura pastor parte 〈…〉 that it was then honourable to desire to bee a Busshoppe when he was like to bee the firste to goe to martyrdome for his flocke But now the Churche is better confirmed and coumpteth it honourable for Bushoppes to brennâ— their owne brethren Bushoppes if thei will take vpon them to stande for the holy Testament of Christe But let vs here what names this holy Innocent geueth to innocent matrimonie No holy names Cap. 13. II. iij I warrant you For he calleth it in the same Chapiter of that decrée that maister Martin calleth him an holy writer for carnall concupiscence filthinesse infidelitée and a life of the fleshe that caÌ„ not please God Whose veigne in holines this holy Martin foloweth righte vp and doune in his booke For he calleth the seconde mariage of Laye menne more lawfull then honest and bryngeth in many aucthoritées of prophane auctors that calleth their twise mariyng but lawfull incontinencie and nameth them adulterars by Lawe Ca. 4. and concludeth that Paule thereby was moued to forbidde Priestes to marrie twise But here it is méete to note what monition sainct Augustine gaue against suche bletherblowne wise men writyng de bono viduitatis Sicut bonum sanctae virginitatis quod elegit filia tua non damnat vnas nuptias tuas sic nec viduitas tua
saied acte of six articles and all other suche whatsoeuer I aske of this Ciuilian whether because no great strong lawe is peraduenture in force at this daie in the realme for punishement of Heresies the whole realme Nobilitée Clergie and Commons lieth faier flatte wide open to all the Canons of the Churche or no by reason of this forsaied act of Kyng Edwardes repeale Whether his slepyng Canons shadowed for a tyme muste nowe a wake and come to light to shewe their faces and to playe ther partes If this Lawier saie yea as he doeth plainly in the case of Priestes mariage I thinke all the realme that knoweth the tract of those Canons and haue felt the breathe of them will I weene as boldly saie naie and swere it to in their owne cases And I thinke it should stand theÌ„ all in hande to holde that opinion as strongly as thei holde any Copie or freée hold thei possesse Thei might els peraduenture standyng suche ordinarie Iudges and Commissaries as somewhere thei shew themselues be driuen out of the best holds thei haue Whiche matter because it is weightier then I am able to discusse I leaue it to be expended noted among the Studentes of the temporall Lawes for their owne gaine and their frendes to so it might hap vt ne pridie fortasse faciaÌ„t quod pigeat postridie â–ª That thei doe not that one daie whiche thei repent the nexte daie And if these studeÌ„tes list to see but a little taste of the church lawes in cases of Heresie how indifferent and easie thei bee let them loke no further 6. decrete but on the lawes of that holy father Bonifacius the eight of whom Platina writeth that he entred into his papacie and Busshopricke like a For liued therin like a Lyon and died out thereof like a dogge Upon whose death the saied Platina writeth Afther this sort saieth he dieth this Boniface whose endeuour was rather to cast a terrour vpon Emperours Kynges Princes Nations and People then true Religion As for golde he gathered of euery hande beyonde all measure And heere therfore saieth he lette all Secular and Spirituall rulers learne by his example to vse their aucthoritie ouer the Clergie and the people not proudly contumeliously as he did but vertuously and courteously as Christ our gouernour did and as his disciples and true folowers vsed And let them rather desier to be loued of the people then feared whence springeth iustly the destruction that is wont to fall on tirauntes Thus farre Platina But to returne againe to this mans assertion wherin he defineth that the church Canons be ready watchyng straightway to fall into mens neckes vpon repeale of suche statutes as kept them backe whiche he doeth so boldly that belike the wise and well learned Commissaries in diuerse places without further aduisement taketh vpon them wonderouse stoutly to seperate not onlye Regulers but Seculers too against their willes and consentes Upon which their daynges I would aske them a question how thei can glose the wordes of Kyng Henries statute in his xxvij yere where it is plainly decréed in lawe that all maner Licences Dispensations and Faculties obtained of the Archebushop of Canterburie in matters not repugnaunt or contrary to the holy scriptures and lawes of God shall stand in full aucthoritie and strength without any reuocation or repeale hereafter to bee had of anye suche licence And I knowe diuerse maried Priestes whiche haue suche dispensations some corroborated by the Kynges broade Seale some by the saied Archebusshoppes seale I would faine learne how thei vnderstand these wâ—ightie lawes of the realme Belike as thei haue proceded in depriuatioÌ„s of many men neuer called or cited neuer conuict nor confessed some called on th one daie and flat depriued on the next daie not examinyng whether he were seculer or reguler maried before orders or after without all maner inquisitioÌ„ So belike thei desire to proceade in separations against bothe Gods lawe their owne And as for the lawes of the Realme thei make but washe waie of them so little comptyng of them that if a lorde should see his tenauntes in his Court baron so little regard the bye lawes of his courtes he would thinke them not vnworthie to lose their Copies And therefore me thinke this Ciuilian doeth little good seruice to the maiestie of the lawes of the realme nor yet any pleasure to the learned in the lawes whose professioÌ„ is to sée the lawes kept in strength indifferently and as thei professe it in their Sergeauntes rynges Or els their occupatioÌ„ will be sâ—ne out of estimation Yea if ye consider the drifte of his boke ye shall perceiue that he laboureth by all meanes Loke in his ix Chapiter Litera R. vnto the ende of that Chapiter and expend it to aduaunce all foraine lawes whatsoeuer farre aboue themperial lawes of our countrée For he saieth that it is but a poore shifte for an Englishe manne to stande to the statute lawe of the Realme if the Churche Lawes bee against hym And in his conference byndeth strongly vpon Ciuill constitutions of the Emperor Yea moreouer bryngeth in a greate armie of Prouinciall constitutions made of Clarkes of Conuocation onely in other foraine realmes to counteruaile yea to deface and skorne out our statutes and temporall ordinaunces as he maketh but a lippe at them in effect For he saith that all statutes made against the lawes of the Churche be to be demed ipso iure ipso facto vnlefull voide and of none effecte And the Spirituall lawe must medle with Spirituall matters where the kynges aucthoritée maie goe plaie hym his Iudges and Sergeauntes maie haue in hand their leauynges and suche as thei will truste them with Oh if kyng Henry were a liue againe thinke you this man would so write to teache his subiectes And hath kyng Henry of all suche as he hath promoted with liuynges and lordships no frendes Or rather the truthe it self yea the honour of the Realme no patrones to monishe this Ciuilian what he goeth about Shall this geare bee applauded to and magnified Let gloses be gloses and will will but let lawe be lawe againste all captious Ciuilians And as for the Commissaries them selues who aduentureth belike vpon his writynges so boldely maie one daie bee called before God to shewe how well thei haue proceaded eueÌ„ in their owne lawes Yea the Queenes maiestée maie fortune call them to accoumpte Whose grace willed them in these very matters to proceade agreably to learnyng and discretion Articles of Commssion in print published And in the very front of her graces articles chargeth the Ecclesiasticall Ordinaries to put in execution the Canons and Ecclesiasticall Lawes no other but suche as were vsed in the tyme of kyng Henry the eighte And commaundeth also moreouer that those should no further be put in execution but as thei maie stande with the Lawes and statutes of the Realme I could here saie somewhat but that I
of holye oyle and creame refusing to receaue at their last departure the lordes supper and dyd abhorre to receaue the vsed obsequies of the churche in their sepulture of maryed priestes the tythes appoynted to the priestes they consumed with fire and to gesse the rest by this one saith he the laye people dyd take the bodye of the Lorde consecrated of the maried priestes and often trode it vnder their feete and of wylfulnes dyd shed abrode the blood of our Lorde and many other thynges agaynste ryght and lawe were done in the Churche and of this occasion many false prophetes dyd ryse in the Churche and by their prophane nouelties dyd withdraw them selues from ecclesiasticall discipline Thus farre wryteth the sayde Sigebertus and Radulphus Loe the tragidie of that tyme. This holy father Hildibrand litle belyke considered the canon of the councell at Gangrense the whiche inuolued hym in the sentence of excommunication for his doyng Si quis discernit presbiterū coniugatum tanquam occasione nuptiarum Celeb. an 324. sup pag. 259. quod offerre non debeat ab eius oblatione ideo se abstinet anathema sit If any man maketh such difference that he thynketh a maryed priest by reason of his mariage ought not to say masse and therfore doth abstayne from his oblation accursed be he This vehement spirite of pope Hildibrand speakyng lyes in hypocrysie so vniuersally flowed ouer not onlye other christian Realmes to their great disquiet but also began somewhat sharply to be executed shortly after the conquest time by Archbyshop Lanfranc at whose first commyng for good lucke he founde the Church of Canterburie most miserably brent Whiche Lanfranc laboured to bryng into thraldome the libertie of priestes maryage where in his councell holden at Winchester An. 1076. indictione 14. though he forbad Prebendaries in their cathedrall Churches to haue wyues yet dyd constitute freely that priestes dwellyng in vyllages and townes hauyng wyues shoulde not be compelled to forsake them and they which had none shoulde be forbydden to haue And further constituted thus Let Byshops hereafter foresee that they presume not to geue orders to priestes or deacons except they first make a profession to haue no wyues Thus farre the canon of the synode Here began this prohibition in some part of wyues to priestes before that tyme neuer forbidden But yet he moderated so the matter that he made a decree that such priestes as dwelt in townes and vyllages beyng maryed shoulde not be seperated but continue with their wyues in their ministration ecclesiasticall that is to bury and to christen to shryue to housell to say masse and mattens with all such offices belonging to that state So that he did not thinke but that maryage massyng might stande together wel enough though pope Hildibrande woulde none of it And surely Lanfranc was more modest in this matter howe rudely soeuer fryer Dominik Stubbes in his Catologe of Yorke Archbushops calleth hym the minister of the deuyll in contryuyng the subiection of the Archbyshop of Yorke to the Archbyshop of Canterburie so to make deuision betwixt those two sees For peraduenture Lanfranc esteemed other by his owne infirmitie who whether he had a wyfe or no is not reported in common storie Yet in storie it is tolde that many men iudged Paulus whom he so glad made Abbot of S. Albons to be very nye hym in kynrede as Matthew Paris writeth Paulus monachus Cadomensis Archiepiscopi Lanfranci nepos De anno 1077. imo aliquorum relationibus consanguinitate propinquior Paule a muncke and nephewe of Archbyshop Lanfranc howebeit by the report of some others he was more nye to hym in blood And no maruell of suche a matter in Lanfranc sometyme beyng a muncke For it is playnelye aleaged in that solempe treatise written by Anselme against the lawfulnesse of priestes maryages in an olde hande to be shewed intituled Contra offendiculum sacerdotum that munckes professed vnderstanding those reasons which were made agaynst the maryage of church men to be so slender were maried and forsoke their professed votarie state a great many of them to lyue in honest matrimonie as it is declared in their London councell against whom they had a constitution to bryng them in agayne anno 1102. whiche cause Anselme doth labour by reasons much to condemne Whervpon beyng blowen with Hildibrandes spirite he dyd in an open Synode decree the abrogation of maryage from all priestes deacons and subdeacons and wylled them also vnder great paynes to be separated which were conioyned in matrimonie before anno 1102. 3. Henr. 1. and decreed yet by Lanfranc not to be compelled to leaue their wyues He was the more bolde saith the storie of Rochester and confident to gouerne the Church so rigorously for the fauour and loue he thought he hadde both of kyng Henry and of Malcolyne kyng of Scotlande for the maryage of his daughter Mawde to the sayde kyng And therevpon bare hym so bolde not only agaynst the kyng for inuestitures to force the popes determination therin but also to depose diuers from their dignities In whiche pastyme where the kyng commaunded Wyllyam Gifforde Archbyshop of Yorke to consecrate certaine Byshoppes whiche were by hym inuested He fearyng the rigour of the sayde Anselme saith the storie refused to do the kinges commaundement though he alleaged it to appertayne to his crowne But howesoeuer Anselme laboured the matter in his bronded conscience yet contrarye to all his extreme thundryng the priestes regarded not that his constitution nor kept it for the priestes kept styll their wyues 200. yeres after And though in certaine of his successours dayes there was constitution vpon constitution lawe vpon lawe and decree vppon decree yet were they no more holden and kepte then Calixtus canon long before that was kept whiche as Polidore wryteth De rerum inuent was by a common consent abrogated as was also saith he Gregories decree and as Hugo wryteth that the Apostles 29. canon was of no force vntyll Siritius dayes who dyd renue it Dist. 84. Quod olim and were by non vse abrogated and defeated And although that both Lanfranc first began Anselme more seuerely folowed for he seperated priestes which were alredy maryed and included subdeacons also and made constitution that no prieste deacon or subdeacon should be receaued to order without profession yet could that synode nor any other decree euer after obtayne their purpose but was alwayes gaynesayde for the priestes denied to make such profession which also was yet neuer vnto these dayes receaued or vsed nor in the Pontificals both of Saxons and late of Englyshe since the conquest such professions were expressed Although in the Romishe Pontificall there is mention made of suche profession for the priestes of Italy and Spayne c. But the priestes of Englande dyd euer resiste that seruitude to kepe their libertie from vowyng profession and promysyng And although many Byshops dyd attempt to exacte suche
munckes coate for they sayde they dyd not lyke nor loue the gouernement of the munckyshe archbyshoppes Which thyng the kyng graunted and they therevppon presented one Wyllyam Curboyl Chro. saxo Petriburgē in anno 1123 Canon of the minster of Chichester And though the Prior of Canterbury and other munckes there with the helpe of Henry an Abbot of Amely legate of Rome tolde the kyng that it was agaynst ryght to set a clarke ouer the munckes yet these munckes at this tyme preuayled not though before they dyd immediatly after Anselmes death yea after by their trauayle to Rome the munckes laboured to the pope to denie the sayde Wyllyam his pall the aduersaries hoped well to haue their purpose Yet saith the storie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That which ouercame Rome that ouercame the whole worlde that is golde and syluer and so the pope alowed hym and sent hym home with his pall and with his blessyng It is a wonder to see howe the order of munckes in those dayes were sterne and stoute yea checkmate with the kyng and nobles of the Realme and howe they laboured to deface all others to the settyng vp of their owne estimation howe holy they aduaunced their owne order their religion and the estimation of their holy vowes which to blase out to the simple credite of the people they cared not what lyes they made of the greatest personages no what lyes they made openlye in stories wherof they were for the moste part the greatest wryters their wealth so abled them If ye aske an example ye shal reade in the storie of the muncke of saint Albons and out of Thomas Rudborne muncke of Winchester of no lesse personage then of king Henry the first his wyfe Mawd daughter to Malcolyne kyng of Scottes and to that moste holy woman margaret sister to Edgare Adelyng and maried to the same Henrie by the sayde Anselme Archbyshop who after due processe for that she was once for her safegard kepte in an Abbey at Winchester to put by vnworthy woers hauing on the vayle only without professing or vowyng and so proued to be free to consent to kyng Henries request in spousage as she her selfe dyd much stande in allegation to proue her selfe free and desirous to accept the kynges beneuolence Whiche storie and processe is tolde fullye by Edmere Anno. 1101. sometyme muncke of Canterburie who was a continuall associate to Anselme in all his doynges and iourneyes and auoucheth vpon his credence this to be true Yet commeth in the sayde muncke in magnifiyng the vertue of their monasticall vowes and wryteth that she vtterlye abhorred to be maryed to a mortall kyng seyng she had alredy Christe for her husbande insomuch that she was fayne to be long laboured of her father and all her frendes she hadde to geue her assent and with pure force and compulsion was compelled to geue her assent agaynst her wyll to marry with kyng Henry But with these wordes as is falsely fayned of her spoken in great bytternesse of heart Forasmuch as thus it must be after a fashion as I may I geue my consent but as for the fruite of my wombe that shall folowe this matrimonie I commende it to the deuyll for I haue vowed my selfe to God as to my spouse whose spouses ye haue attempted thus wickedly to defyle Thus farre that storie with more sclaunderous matter both to the kyng and his lawfull wyfe in respect of settyng out the vertue of their monastical vowes And leste ye shoulde thynke that he wryteth thus alone nowe foloweth the sayd Thomas Rudborne muncke of Winchester and telleth the same sclaunder of her and wryteth that she dyd curse the fruite that shoulde spryng of her body Wherevpon he saith further that Christe her spouse toke such vengeaunce in his ielousie for his spouses thus temporally maryed to a mortall kyng that so it folowed that the chylder of them both Wylliam his eldest sonne duke of Normandie and heyre apparaunt to whom the Realme was sworne and dyd their homage and Richarde his other sonne and his daughter with his neece and many other noble personages of the cleargie and laitie were drowned in the sea to the number of an hundred and fourtie persons and this miserable fortune dyd they ascribe to the mothers cursyng anno 1201. where Henry Huntyngton and others do ascribe it to the iust wrath of God for the sinne of Sodomie wherwith all or almost all were infected Whiche extreme plague of God so was sent for that vice of whiche Anselme gaue the occasion by his Sodomitical decree But thus was their estimation in munckery laboured for by them As it is also wonder to consider howe Munckes were conspired togethers to aduaunce them selues their houses and landes their vowes dignities insomuch that they had obteyned of Iohn 13. pope of Rome his letters to Edgare then kyng so councelled by Duustane archbyshop and other his sworne companions Ethelwolde byshop of Winchester and Oswolde byshop of Worcester to wryte to him requiryng him to see in his cathedrall Churches none to be chosen byshops but suche as shoulde be of the monasticall religion and wylled hym to exclude the seculer prebendaries at Winchester and in their place to put in munckes In whiche his letters the same pope Iohn wylled that neuer any of the seculer clarkes shoulde be promoted to the dignitie of the byshoppe there but first to be chosen out of the very same Churche or els of any other abbay whatsoeuer so he be a muncke or els he doth accurse both the geuer and the receauer iudgeeth him to be perpetually dampned at the day of iudgement Yea so superstitious they were in their phansies concernyng this monasticall vowe that archbyshop Oddo whose surname was Seuerus called to the Archbyshop sea anno 934. woulde not take vpon hym after his election to be consecrated before he had taken vpon hym for the more holynes of his dignitie the habite of a muncke at the abbay of Florence in Fraunce because saith he whiche yet he saith vntruely all the Archbyshoppes of Canterburie before hym were munckes And Baldwine Archbyshop anno 1184. after he had taken his pall and intronizated by and by he toke vppon hym the habite of profession at Mereton and declared saith Nubergensis the purpose of his religious mynde in outwarde habite Lib. 4. ca. 33. and so dyd his next successour Reginalde before his consecration dying by the way to Canterburie yet first takyng vpon hym the habite of a priuate muncke Wherevpon saith Treuisa of Oddo that he was lewdelye moued therefore to make him a muncke for Christe ne none of his apostles was neuer muncke ne fryer Loe after this sort dyd diuers of them magnifie the vertue of their vowes and habites to blynde the worlde with pretendyng holynesse outwardly but inwardly I feare were euen such as Wylliam Malmesburie before doth testifie of them Pag. 215. and recited agayne by Wylliam Thorne a muncke hym selfe
prince lyke hym in repressyng the wronge exactions vsed in the Realme and that gouerned his subiectes more wyselye in peace and quietnes none that dyd more reuerence ecclesiasticall persons and that better maynteyned the poore or the religious by his expences and that after his death he saith by and by sprong vp all wicked men disturbers of peace murderers and robbers with al kynd of mischiefes Which princely qualities saith Wylliam of Malmesburie he gote by his education brought vp and instructed in all the seuen liberall sciences Which education was in the vniuersitie of Cambridge saith Thomas Rudborne so that his learnyng was a great cause of the wyse gouernyng of the Realme He hadde worthyly the name of Beuclarke whom his father Wylliam the conquerour purposed to haue preferred to a Byshopricke Scala chron and therefore caused hym to be instructed in learnyng whiche turned as muche to the commendation of the father for that he iudged a Byshop ought to be learned and that not only blood and other corporall ornamentes commended so muche the partie a man to be of that vocation as prudence gotten by learnyng and knoweledge In whiche his knowledge the sayde Henrie toke so much delectation VVil. Mal. and founde the fruite therof so necessarie in gouernement that he was wont to saye Rex illiteratus Asinus coronatus a Kyng vnlearned is an Asse crowned This man so wel vsyng his gouernement to Gods pleasure that Henrie Huntyngton who lyued in his dayes testified that God caused his fame to be spread through the whole worlde and that he gaue hym three special gyftes wisdome ryches and victorie in such aboundaunce that he excelled saith he all his predecessours Edm. lib. 6. Some proofe of his graces good qualities may be considered partly occasioned to be remembred by this foresayde archbishop Rodulph who at a certaine coronation of the kynges newe wyfe Atheleida daughter to Godefride duke of Lorayne in the xxi yere of his rayne the sayde Rodulphus beyng thexecutor of the solempnitie at masse and at the alter in his pontificalibus castyng his eyes behynde hym and seyng the sayde kyng syttyng on an hye throne with the crowne on his head he went in a great haste from the alter vp to the kyng whom he knewe was not crowned by hym or his predecessour At whiche sodayne commyng the kyng reuerentlye rose vp to hym and the byshop asked who had put on that crowne on his head The kyng with a sad countenaunce aunswered that he had no great care therof and therfore he sayde with a modest voyce that it was out of his remembraunce Ueryly saith the byshop whosoeuer put it on dyd it not by any ryght and as long as it standeth vpon thyne head I wyll not go any farther in ministration To whom the kyng did aunswere If not ryghtly as you saye it be put on do you that which you knowe most to be done with iustice ye shall haue me no gaynesayer in any thyng Wherevpon the byshop lyfted vp his handes to take of the crowne frō his head the kyng as redy to vnlose the lase vnder his chynne wherewith his crowne was stayed on his head the lordes perceauyng that attempt they all with a loude voyce cryed vppon the byshop to spare the kyng and to suffer the kyng styll to weare it on his head in that solempnitie Which thyng the byshop at length permitted and standyng there neare the kyng crowned he began the Gloria in excelsis the quyer folowyng he afterwardes retyryng to the aulter agayne Further to amplifie the quiet spirite wisedome and modestie of this kyng in this fact I shall not neede but leaue it to the reader to iudge what benefite this king had by his learnyng To note the vntimely importunitie of this Rodulphus what his wisdome or wylfulnes was I also leaue it to the readers iudgement but I woulde the reader speciallye to beare in remembraunce whether as it is sayde before after Anselmes death the byshoppes after Rodulphes death were not iustly moued to be suiters to the kyng to haue their Archbyshop otherwyse chosen then out of the munckes coate whose wordes be these as the Saxon chronicle doth report them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anno. 1123. Then spake the byshoppes betweene them selues and sayd that they neuer more would haue any man of munkes order to be Archbyshop ouer them for they neuer alowed nor loued munckes rulyng and the kyng graunted that to them Nowe to ende the storie of this tyme to set out before your eyes the marueylous wisedome that this kyng gathered by his learnyng in his youth It is written in common historie that the kyng came from Normandie into Englande which was a great cause of mirth and ioy that the people made for his prosperous returne But the next day after certayne of his sonnes daughter and neece with other very many of the nobilitie men women and chyldren and some of the cleargie folowing hym in the seas by misfortune were all drowned as before is sayde except one poore base man which escaped to tell the misfortune Which heauy casualtie many men dyd much maruayle at and were very sorowfull But yet were they sooner pacified vpon the kynges example when they sawe hym whom it dyd moste respecte to beare it with so manly a mynde referryng it with a quiet gesture and voyce to the equitie of gods iudgementes which no man can resist For as comfortyng hym selfe sayth the storie he sayde with a lowly spirite As the Lorde pleased so was it done be the name of the Lorde therefore blessed for euermore Amen Thus farre haue we enlarged the matter vpon reheasyng the tyme of Rodulph when this kyng dyd raigne whose godly qualities ought to be had in memorie for the notabilitie thereof for euer to the settyng out of Gods glorie to the commendation of learnyng the fruite whereof this prince shewed so maruelously VVilliam Chro. Ceno Mart. an 1132 After this Rodulph folowed William aforesayde in whose dayes almost all London was brent by the fire of Gilbert Becket This William renewed the same lyke constitution of Anselme in his tyme Pag. 217. by the helpe of the popes legate Ioannes Cremensis a priest Cardinall who after he had ben very costly and chargeably enterteyned with gyftes and rewardes and after that brought honorably to Canterburie and there on Easter day sang the hye masse at Christes aulter and after his great progresse goyng from byshop to byshop Chro. Saxo. Pet Burgēs from abbey to abbey and commyng after that about the natiuitie of our Ladye to London kept his councell there in which the legate dyd commaunde that Anselmes decree should be obserued better then it was but all preuayled not sayth the Saxonicall storie and he afterwarde departed home to Rome with shame enough In this mans dayes Chro. Ioren in anno 1135. Robert Bloet muncke of Euesham byshop of Lincolne had a sonne named Simon whom he made deane
inconuenience And let not the scrupulous consciences of men be blynded in them selues as to iudge any impuritie in the bodyes of them which honestly vse gods institution of matrimonie De virg cap. 33. No Saint Austen doubteth not to say Quia fancta sunt etiam corpora coniugatoruÌ„ fidem sibi domino seruientium that the bodyes euen of the maried folke be holye of such as preserue their fayth to them selues one to the other and their fayth to god And there in that discourse saint Austen proueth that the graces of continencie was not vnlyke in Iohn Cap. 21. who neuer had a do with maryage and in Abraham who had chyldren so that the chastitie of the one the matrimonie of the other came to one ende to serue the Lorde Agayne it may not be thought that for the worldly cares which may be in matrimonie priestes be more charged than for other cares and turmoyle of the worlde For suche carefulnes may assone defyle the puritie of the mynde as the cares which be in matrimonie Aswell be these carefull trauayles of the worlde forbydden to the priestes as cares which be in wedlocke De bono viduitatis cap. 23. God forbyd saith S. Austen to the wydows that ye shoulde be entangled with the desire of riches in steede of the cares of matrimonie that in your heartes money should beare the chiefe rule and so loue of money should be your husbandes Wherevppon Chrisostome wryteth Audiant hoc virgines Hom 19. 1. Cor 7. quòd non in hoc definita est virginitas corpore solum virgines esse c. Let virgins heare that virginitie is not in this poynt so concluded for the bodyes only to be in virginitie For she which hath the cares of seculer matters she is neither virgin nor honest And Theophilact saith 1. Cor. 7. When thou shalt beholde any virgin which hath vowed carefully inclined to worldly matters knowe thou certainly that she differs nothyng from a maryed woman And saint Hierome saith It wyll profite nothyng to haue the body of a virgin yf the mynde haue inwardlye maryed This affirme I saith Athanasius that euery virgin wydowe or woman continent yf she haue the cares of this worlde De virg those very cares be her husbande Whervppon I must conclude with saint Austen to these Desinant isti contra scripturas loqui Epist. 89. quest 4. Let these ceasse to speake against the scriptures And let them in their exhortations excite mens myndes to the more perfect state that yet they do not condempne the inferiour gyftes For some saith he in their exhortations can not otherwyse perswade virginitie but that therwith they condempne the matrimonial estate forasmuch as S. Paule saith plainely euery man hath his gyft of God one after this maner and another after that Thus farre S. Austen Better saith he is meke matrimonie then vauntyng virginitie In Psal. 99. And therfore the sayde saint Austen exhorteth virgins that they conioyne other agreable vertues as handmaydes which in deede do moste beautifie the true virginitie In Psal. 75. without which saith he the virginall lyfe either is dead in it selfe or els defourmed in it selfe and let the state be holy both in body and spirite seruyng God without seperation at all Of such myndes were the fathers in olde tyme so exhortyng to the single state of lyfe as mens frayleties myght beare the perfection and vsed no condempnation or compulsion but left it indifferent to the conscience of euery man So dyd that learned abbot Aelfricus afterwarde as some affirme archbishop of Canterburie prescrybyng a synodal sermon to be spoken by the bishoppes to the priestes after his reasons and swasions to the sole lyfe vsed these wordes Non cogimus violenter vos dimittere vxores vestras sed dicimus vobis quales esse debetis si non vultis nos â—rimus securi liberi a vestris peccatis quia dicimus vobis canones sanctorum patrum We do not compell you by violence to forsake your wyues but we declare to you what ye shoulde be and yf ye wyll not we shal be cleare and free from your offences for we haue shewed vnto you the canons of holy fathers This writer in all his whole sermon neuer chargeth the Englishe priestes with any vowe but only standeth vpon the constraynt of canons ecclesiasticall For before the conquest was neuer matrimonie once forbydden nor vowes of seculer priestes once receaued Nor Gildas that auncient Britaine in his sharpe inuection against all estates of his tyme after he had reproued the greatest personages and the regulers of their abuses he proceedyng to speake agaynst the seculer priestes yet in his processe he neuer chargeth them for breakyng any vowe but chiefely for that they were not contented with saint Paules graunt to be the husbandes of one only wyfe but contemned that his precepte and were the husbands of more wyues at once in such lewd libertie as he charged before the laitie to haue vsed them selues in renouncyng their former wyues to take newe and to haue many wyues at once without all regarde of Gods lawes and coÌ„maundement after such lyke sort as the Irishe men vsed tyll Henrie the seconde his dayes what tyme the kyng dyd write to pope Adrian of his purpose to reduce the Irishe nation to better religion Girardus Cambrensis The pope in his rescripte dyd well commende his good zeale and councelled hym to go forwarde but with this prouiso that because saith he all Ilandes that be turned to the fayth belong to the ryght of S. Peter and the moste holy churche of Rome the lande shoulde pay yerely to S. Peter for euery house a penye as pope Alexander folowyng ratified the same with the reseruation of the sayde payment for Irelande and bryngyng to memorie also his pencion for euery house of Englande So that whosoeuer toke payne and coste to set any nation in order or to bryng them to better beliefe the pope would lose nothyng thereby where yet tyll that tyme his fatherhood dyd most strangely suffer that people so outragiously to liue tyll the kyng toke the reformation Upon which letters sent by the kyng â–ª the sayde Adrian dyd confirme to hym and to his heyres of that kyngdome VValter Couent and did constitute them kinges therof for euer And further in the letters of the said king Henrie sent to the pope he professed to refourme their abuses to put Christes religion better amongst theÌ„ Shortly after the kyng sent his learned men to the archbishops bishops there who kepte a great councell at the citie of Cassalense wherein they dyd constitute that where before the Iryshe vsed to baptise the children of the greater men in mylke and of the poorer sort in water and that where the Irishe laitie had as many wyues as they woulde nowe they decreed that water only should be the element indifferently for all their chyldren and that they shoulde mary
forgeuen hym and that heauen was open vnto hym the trueth wherof the angell proued to hym then by a miracle And so Remigius by the commaundement of the sayde angell restored hym to his bishopricke agayne and there he continued tyll he dyed And yf we shoulde credite stories that be written Some doth write saith Antonine that because S. Iohn was called from his maryage that same that was in Cana Galileae In summa part 3. tit 1. cap. 21. whereat Christe and his mother were present by some mens opinion vnto the Apostleship against his wyues wyll Marie Magdalen yf it be true that some affirme she vpon indignation hereof fell to her incontinent lyfe and was a publique euyl lyuer in the citie But this holy father Genebaldus with his wife lyuyng in forced professed chastitie by stealth dyd as their kynde dyd leade them but yet kepte all thynges close from the eyes of the world and then all was well Had it not haue ben more honorable for this bishoppe to haue folowed the example of RESTITVTVS sometyme bishoppe of London Restitutus who to the eyes of the world manifestlye lyued with his wyfe or to haue folowed that notable learned martir Phileas bishop of Thmuis whom Eusebius so hyghly doth commende for his eloquence testifiyng that he dyd write a notable martiriloge a booke of martirs of the number of such christian folke whiche suffred at Alexandria whō Ensebius also prayseth much for his constancie who hauyng a wyfe and chyldren to the knowledge of all the worlde Eccle. hist. Euseb. lib. 8. cap. 8. woulde not forsake his fayth when he was ledde before the president and towarde his martirdome for his fayth to Christe though his kynsfolkes moued hym to saue hym selfe Hillarius floruit anno Dom 350 and to haue respect of his wife and chyldren yet vertue preuayled in hym agaynst such perswasions and would not so redeeme hym selfe Or had it not haue ben more commendable to haue folowed the example of HYLARIVS bishop of Poyters who in his bishopricke auouched both wyfe and chyldren openly whiche the sayde archbishop of Florens affirmeth was not agaynst his order Quia saith he episcopatus ex sui natura non habet opponi ad matrimonium Lib. 3 tit 1. cap. 21. in summa A bishopricke of his owne nature hath no contradiction to wedlocke This Hylarie in his dayes dyd sore lament the order of discipline of the churche to be then much decayed To which complaynt agreeth that religious father Baptist Mantuan who wrytyng of the sayde byshop Hylarius testifieth thus and there improueth the lawe of forced chastitie more at large Lib. 1 fast Non nocuit tibi progenies non obstitit vxor Legitimo coniuncta thoro Non horruit illa Tempestate deus thalamos cunabula taedas Sola erat in precio quae nunc incognita virtus Sordet et attrito viuit cum plebe cucullo c. Thy progenie was no shame to thee thy wyfe coupled in lawfull matrimonie was no impediment to thee God at that tyme dyd not abborre eyther the maryage chamber or the cradle or the publique lyghtes vsed to be caryed afore maryed persons Vertue only was then in price which now is not knowen and therfore is vylely esteemed and lyueth only with the common people where the cowle is therein worne and slytten But as concernyng S. Paules canon for a bishop to be the husband of one wyfe he had great cause so to order it for that saith S. Ambrose he shoulde shewe a more perfection then was commonly vsed of others For but xvij yere before Christe euen emongst our nigh neighbours in Scotlande it was lawful to haue as many wyues as they listed Polidorus Lanquet anno 17. ante Christ. Insomuch that their king Ewinus hauing an hundred concubines at once made it lawfull by lawe that a man myght haue a pluralitie of wyues and further prouided by lawe that the wyues of the poore commoners shoulde be common to the nobilitie and that the Lorde of the soyle might clayme the virginitie of all his tenauntes daughters except they woulde redeeme them selues by some pension The first two saith Polidore dyd Christes religion abolyshe Lib. 10. hist. the last was long continued amongst them tyll kyng Malcolyne at the request of that vertuous Queene Margarete mother to Mawde the first wyfe of kyng Henrie the firste dyd abrogate that foule pencion Which kyng then dyd decree that the virgin after her maryage shoulde paye to the lorde of the fee but one peece of golde for her redemption Which statute saith Polidore is at this day kept In deede S. Hierom writeth thus Aduersus Iouin lib 2. Quod Scotorum natio vxores proprias non habet that the nation of the Scottes had no wiues peculiar De prepa euangelica lib 6 cap. 8. Ab vrsper De antiqui Iudaica lib. 17. ca. 2. lib 4. cad 6. De bello iud lib 1. cap. 18. Aduer iud Tripartit lib. 8. cap. 11. Of some suche disorder wryteth Eusebius Multi apud Britannos c. In Britanie many men haue one woman to wyfe Among the Parthians and in Thrasia contrarie many women haue but one husband and lyue all chaste in obeying the lawes Iosephus recordeth that it was an auncient vsage among them to haue many wyues at once For Herode saith he had nine wyues As the Iewes had by permission two wyues at once as he testifieth where Iustinus martir inueyeth against the Iewes that their insolence grewe so great that their teachers dyd permit euery one of them to haue foure or fyue wyues accordyng to their desires though Valentinian brought it by lawe to onlye a couple a good emperour yf he had had good counsayle and nothyng saith the storie he wanted to the perfection of all honour but godly counsayle of his faythfull seruauntes This was it not without good grounde in so much corruption of the worlde In catalogo Cesareum 6 when all nations dyd what they lysted If Paul required of a bishop in his perfection to be content with one wyfe Which prudence saith Hierom Paule dyd iustly vse for that he knewe it graunted by lawe and so practised by the examples of the patriarches and of Moyses Ad Ocean lib 2. to this effect that the people might haue large issue by their many wiues And for that the electiō of this libertie was open to priestes also he gaue commaundement that priestes should not chalenge such licence in the churche to haue two or three matrimonies at once but that they myght haue euery one of them one only wyfe at one time And there in that discourse S. Hierom doth much blame the harde and contorted exposition of vnius vxoris virum to be the husbande of one wyfe that is of one churche only and there he doth reiecte that exposition for to much violent In conclusion these matters aforesayde with many others well and aduisedly pondered by that noble