Ordinaires lour office devoirs per cause qe les pluralites q' ont este grantees devant ces heures sont ount este la greindre cause de l' absence des tiels curats y plest au Roy nostre Seigr. de l' advis assent des Seig rs en Parlement esâ—rire par ses honourables lettres a nostre seint pier le Pape de revoker repeller toutes les pluralites generalement qe d' es ore en avant nulle pluralite soit graunte a ascuny en temps a venir But the Pope it seems giving no satisfaction in the particular the 11. Hen. 4. the Commons again petition That the riches of the kingdome being in the hands of Church-men those livings upon which the incumbent of common right ought to reside half of the true value should remain to himself but the other to the King To which the answer is Geste matiere appertient a seinte Esglise quant a la residence remede ent fust purveuz en la darrain Convocation Yet this matter of non-residence still molesting the Commonwealth 3. Hen. 6. the King tells them by th' advise of the Lords of Parliament He had delivered their bill to my Lord of Canterbury charging him to pourvey of remedy for his Province and semblably shall write to the Church of York for that Province By which we may see the King Archbishop and Convocation did conceive themselves to have a power of redressing things in this Church which yet in civility they thought â—it first to acquaint the Pope with as a spirituall Doctor or Patriarch however of great esteem yet not endued with a power of commanding in this Church otherwise then the lawes of the Kingdome the contracts with the Papacy did bear 21. Now it cannot be doubted that all these petitions of the Commons and sundry more which may be produced had been by them vainly prefer'd had they not taken the King to have been vested with a power of redressing things blameable in the government of the Church But when we say the Prince as the principall without whom nothing is done may be rightly termed Head in the act of reformation our meaning is not that he will deal in points of Ecclesiastick cognizance without the advise of his Bishops and other learned of the Clergy we know in things proper Iosuah is to take counsell of Eleazer and the Kings of this nation have ever done so 22. When Edgar intended the advancing Christi gloriam he chose him three Bishops to be his patres spirituales and consiliarios But to speak of later times when the Commons endeavoured a reformation of some things in the Church Hen. the 8 th would not answer their desires till he had first acquainted the Spirituality When he intended to publish a book of the principall articles and points of our faith with the declaration of other expedient points and also for the lawfull rites and ceremonies to be observed within this realme he ordained it to be by th' Archbishops and sundry Bishops of both Provinces and also a great number of the best learned honestest and most vertuous sort of Doctors of Divinity men of discretion judgement and good disposition c. And Edward the sixth minding a farther reformation of some usages in the administration of the Eucharist he caused it to be made by the most grave and learned of his realm for that purpose by his directions assembled at Windfor who afterwards for taking away divers and sundry differing forms and fashions had formerly been used in sundry Churches of England and Wales appoynted th' Archbishop of Canterbury and certain of the most learned and discreet Bishops and other learned men of the realm to consider of the premises who by the ayd of the Holy Ghost with one uniform agreement concluded on and set forth the book of Common prayer c. Upon which the two houses of Parliament considering as well the most godly travell of the Kings highnesse in gathering and collecting the said Archbishops Bishops and learned men together as c. do give to his Highnesse most hearty and lowly thanks c. So that it is apparent the King in composing this book did not assume to himself or the Parliament attribute unto him any other then assembling of the Bishops and other learned men together to take their consultations 23. And they observing the great diversity in saying and singing in severall Churches the difficulty of finding what was proper for each day apt to breed confusion reduced the publick service of the Church to one form more facile and of better edification following therein the examples of divers holy Bishops and others for if Guarinus Abbot of St Albans in the Office used in his Church about 1190 might superflua resecare to reduce the prayers there to one form if Agobardus in France might amputare superflua vel levia c. if Osmund Bishop of Salisbury in England quoniam singulae fere Dioeceses in statis precariis horis dicendis variabant ad hanc varietatem tollendam ut quasi absolutum quoddam precandi quo omnes uti possent exemplar exstaret eas in eum fere ordinem commodam rationem quam hodie omnes prope Angliae Cambriae Hiberniae viz. the Course of Salisbury Ecclesiae sequuntur magno prudenti rerum ex sacris scripturis probatis Ecclesiae historiis delectu distribuit digessit if these I say might do it on their own motion there is no question such of the Clergy as were appointed by the King might on his desire take it into consideration and remove matters offensive or lesse to edification 24. Neither did Queen Elizabeth at the beginning of her reign alter some passages in it but by the opinions of Divines eruditis moderatis to whom was added a learned Knight Sr Thomas Smith to whose care the supervising of it had by the house of Commons been committed the second of Edward the sixth and therefore knew better then any other to give an account of that book Nor did her self or the house of Lords use differing wayes when the Commons at other times have sought some change in the Ecclesiastick government as the 23. and 27. of her reign where though the Lord Treasurer made a short beginning yet he left the satisfactory answers to be given them by th' Archbishop of York Insomuch as we may safely conclude when the Clergy in Convocation styled Henry the 8th Ecclesiae Anglicanae protectorem unicum supremum dominum quantum per Christi leges licet supremum caput they added nothing new unto him but a title for he and his successors after it did never exercise any auctority in causes Ecclesiastick not warranted by the practise of former Kings of the nation By all which the second question remains sufficiently proved that our Kings were originally endued with
them or for some other reason there was inserted Liceat unicuique de caetero exire de regno nostro redire salvò securè per terram per aquam salva fide nostra nisi in tempore guerrae per aliquod breve tempus which clause seems likewise to have been in that of Henry the 3. to his Fathers in nullo dissimilis after which it is scarce imaginable how every petty cause was by Appeals removed to Rome and th' Archbshop forced to appear before any had the least auctority from thence The Popes themselves wise men saw th' inconvenience that these carriages must end either in rendring th' Archbishop contemptible by taking all power out of his hands or the Realm resume its ancient right and prohibit the carrying ought beyond seas or admitting any Legat into the Kingdom thought of the way of granting severall priviledges to the Archbishoprick which first began about the time of Innocentius the 2. whom others followed 34. Gregory the ninth therefore moved by one of them which seems to be St. Edmund writes thus unto him Vt cum appellationis remedium non ad defensionem malignantium sed ad oppressorum subsidium sit inventum yet th' Archbishop attempting sometimes excessus corrigere subditorum quidam eorum ut correctionem effugiant appellationes frustratorias interponunt quibus si cite pro reverentia sedis Apostolicae humiliter deferatur illi ex impunitate deteriores effecti pejora praesumunt alii eorum exemplo redduntur ad vitia proniores unde humiliter postulastis c. ut providere super haec solita diligentia deberemus ut igitur auctoritati tuae in rectis dispositionibus nihil tali praetextu deesse contingat fraternitati tuae praesentium auctoritate concedimus ut non obstante frivolae appellationis objectu libere valeas in corrigendis subditorum tuorum excessibus officii tui debitum exercere 35. And for that his Agents here in their citations of th' Archbishop did not use that respect unto him which was fit but as Gervasius Dorobernensis observes of one of them Legati privilegium plusquam deceret extenderet in immensum suumque Archiepiscopum Episcopos Angliae ut sibi occurrerent quolibet evocaret the same Pope did therefore declare that cum nimis indecens videatur ut per literas Apostolicas tacito tuo nomine dignitatis inter privatas personas stare judicio compellaris nos fraternitatis tuae precibus inclinati auctoritate tibi praesentium indulgemus ut per literas à sede Apostolicâ impetratas quaede dignitate tua non fecerint mentionem respondere minime teneris c. Dat. Viterbii 4. Non. Martii Pontif. nono 36. And because th' Archbishop had on many slight occasions been drawn beyond seas to the great impoverishing th' Episcopacy the same Pope two months after writes Ea propter venerabilis in Christo frater tuis supplicationibus inclinati fraternitati tuae auctoritate praesentium indulgemus ut per literas Apostolicas extra Angliam invitus non valeas conveniri nisi de indulgentia hujusmodi fecerint eaeliterae mentionem aut per te aliquod factum fuerit per quod sit indulgentiae huic derogatum Dat. Perusii 4. Non. Maii Pontificat nono Innocentius 4. ut nullus sine speciali Apostolicae sedis licentia praeter Legatos ipsius ab ejus latere destinatos in personam tuam praesumat excommunicationis sententiam promulgare Lugduni 13. Kalend. Octob. Pontif. 4. 37. It would be tedious to repeat all the bulls found in the said old MS. and other books since 1130. for before it seems there was none in this kind to conserve some power in th' Archbishoprick yet so as it might ever depend on Rome and how much the Papacy gained by these every man sees I. The right of th' Archbishoprick was none by appeal might remove any Ecclesiastick cause from his judicatory the Pope grants he shall proceed notwithstanding a frivolous Appeal II. The right was he was not at all under any Legat the grant is he should not be tyed to answer if they did not mention his dignity in their citations III. The right was he should not be drawn beyond the seas of which in the next the grant is he should not be compell'd to go unlesse mention were made of that Bull. IIII. The question was whether the Pope might excommunicate any within the Diocese of Canterbury the grant is None but a Legate de latere should th' Archbishop Yet certainly Popes did what they well could retaining to themselves that vast power they then pretended to conserve in the Archbishoprick some auctority 38. But the frequent citing him and others out of the Realm and the carrying their causes to Rome did not at all satisfy the subject whereupon the body of the Kingdome in their querulous letter devised and sent by them to Innocentius 4 tus 1245 or rather to the Councell at Lions claim as an especiall priviledge That no Legat ought to come here but on the Kings desire ne quis extra regnum trahatur in causam and at the revising of Magna Charta by Edward the first the former clause was left out since when none of the Clergy might go beyond seas but with the Kings leave as the writs in the Register and the Acts of Parliament assure us and what is more if any were in the Court of Rome the King called them home not permitting any to go or abide there longer then his pleasure Yet I do not say these times do not furnish examples of Appeals or recourse thither or receiving commands from thence I know the contrary but it was onely between those and in such cases as the King holding good correspondency with the Pope and State did either tacitely connive at as in matters of small moment or expressely give allowance unto for if otherwise no person was so great but he was forced to gain his pardon for the offence To which purpose th' example of the rich Bishop of Winchester may not be unfitly remembred who being a Cardinall of the Kings blood was employed by Martyn the 5. as generall against the Bohemians and to that end erected the Crosse 1429. 8. Hen. 6. but two years after caused a petition to be exhibited in Parliament That he the said Cardinall nor none other should be poursued vexed impleded or grieved by the King his heyres or successors nor by any other person for cause of any Provision or offence or misprision done by the said Cardinall against any statute of Provisions or per cause of any exemption receipt acceptation admission or execution of any Bulls Papall to him in any manner made Which was granted and shews that without it he had been lyable to punishment for his accepting and receiving of them And here it is not unworthy the remembring that this was the first Cardinall
vacantium which not occurring of any Pope before I cannot ascribe other to have begun them then he who though in a bull dated the 5. Ianuary 4. Pontificatus he mention Fructus redditus proventus primi anni beneficiorum yet by the doubts he there resolves shews the practice of them then newly brought into the Church But whereas the writers before-named agree the English of all Nations never received in this the full extent of the Papall commands I conceive it to arise from the good Laws they made against them of which before and after 17. It is hardly credible how great a masse of treasure was by these wayes sent hence into Italy The revenues th' Italians were possest of in England 1245. are accounted not lesse then 60. thousand Marks 1252. it was thought they did amount to 70. thousand all which for the most drained thither and in the Parliament held about an hundred years after the Commons shew what went hence to the Court of Rome tourne a plus grand destruction du Royalme qe toute la guerre nostre Seigr. le Roy yet notwithstanding so many statutes as were made by that Prince for moderating the excesses in this kind the 50 th they complain I shall give it contractedly the Popes collectâ—r here held a receipt equall to a Prince or Duke sent annually to Rome from the Clergy for Procuration of Albeys Priories First-fruits c. xx thousand Marks some years more others lesse and to Cardinalls and other Clerks beneficed in England as much besides what was conveyed to English Clerks remaining there to sollicite the affairs of the Nation upon which they desire his Ma â—y no collector of the Pope may reside in England 18. But the King as it seems not greatly complying with their desires the year following they again instance that certain Cardinalls notorious enemies had procured a clause d'anteferri to certain benefices within the Provinces of Canterbury and York that the Popes Collector was as very an enemy to this State as the French themselves that his house-keeping here at the Clergies cost was not lesse then 300l. by the year that he sent annually from hence beyond Seas at one time 20 thousand marks sometimes 20. thousand pounds and what was worse espyed the secrets of the Kingdome vacations of benefices and so dayly made the certainty known to the said Court did now raise for the Pope the first-fruits of all dignities and other smaller promotions causing by oath to pay the true value of them surmounting the rate they were formerly taxed at which now in the very beginning ought to be crusht c. Vpon which considerations they desire all strangâ—rs Clerks and others excepting Knights Esquires Merchants Artificers might sodainly avoid the Kingdom no subjects without the Kings expresse licence to be Proctors Aturneys Fâ—rmors to any such Alyen under the pain after Proclamation made of life member losse of lands and goods and to be dealt with as theeves and robbers no mony during the wars to be transported out of the Kingdom by exchange or otherwise on the forfeiture of it But to this the answer onely was Setiegnent les estatutz ordonances ent faites Whereupon the next Parliament the Commons prefer'd again three Petitions touching I. The paiment of First-fruits taken come due a la chambre nostre seint Pere yet not used in the Realme before these times was contrary to former treaties with the Pope c. II. Reservations of benefiâ—es III. By that way bestowing them on Alyens who sundry times employed the profits of them towards the raunsoming or araying their friends enemies to the King Of all which they desire his Ma ty to provide remedy as also that the Petitions the two last Parliaments of which before might be consider'd and convenient remedy ordained To which the answer is Les Seig rs du grand conseil ordeigneront due remedie sur les matires comprises enâ—estes trois billes precedentes And here I take the grand Councell to be the Privy Councell not the Lords in or out of Parliament called the grand Councell for the greatnesse of the affairs fell within their cognizance and named the 5. of Hen. the 4. to consist onely of six Bishops one Duke two Earls and other in all to the number of 22. 19. What order they establisht I have not met with it is manifest not to have been such as gave the satisfaction hoped for by the Commons renewing in effect both 3 o. and 5 to Ric. 2. the same suites and the inconveniences still continuing in the year 1386 7. 10. Ric. 2. William Weld was chosen Abbot of S. Augustins in the place of Michael newly dead who troubled with a quartan ague the French and Dutch on the seas the King inhibited his going to Rome for confirmation c. He thereupon employs William Thorn from whose pen we have the relation hoping to be excused himself of the journey who shewing the sufferings of the house the miserable state he must leave it in that he would expose it irrecuperabili casui ruinae that the King had commanded his stay was in the end told by the Pope after all means he could use Rex tuus praecipit quod non veniat electus ille Ego volo quod compareat examini se subjiciat and again after yet more earnest sollicitation quia audivimus turbationem inter Regem Barones suos the fittest time to contest with a prince multa sinistra de persona electi quod cederet Romanae ecclesiae in praejudicium absque personali comparitione non intendimus ipsum confirmare ne daretur posteris in exemplum The cause hanging three years in suspense the Abbot in fine was forced to appear in Rome for his benediction and returned with it not to his house till about the end of March 1389. the 12. Ric. 2. After which the next Parliament obtained the statute of Premunire against the Popes conferring any Benefice within the said Kingdome from the 29 of Ianuary then ensuing and no person to send or bring any summons or sentence of excommunication against any for the execution of the same law on the pain of being arrested put in prison forfeiture of his lands tenements c. and incurring the pain of life member c. The intent of which law Polidor Virgil rightly interprets to have been a confining the Papall auctority within the Ocean and for the frequent exactions of Rome ut nulli mortalium deinceps liceret pro quavis causa agere apud Romanum Pontificem ut quispiam in Anglia ejus autoritate impius religionisque hostis publice declararetur neve exequi tale mandatum si quod ab illo haberet c. To which law three years after some other additions were made and none of these were ever repealed by Queen Mary who though she did admit a union with the
recourse to Rome without the Kings leave to be inauditum usibus ejus omnino contrarium and therefore required of him an Oath quod nunquam amplius sedem Sancti Petri vel ejus vicarium pro quavis quae tibi ingeri queat causa appelles I know Anselm an Italian where the opinion of the Papall absolutenesse had now begun to root did maintain this was Petrum abjurare and that Christum abjurare and is the first of our Bishops spake any thing in that sort with whose sense the Kingdome did not concur in it For it is manifest in those dayes and after Appeals to Rome were not common In the year 1115. Paschalis the 2. expostulates with Henry the 1. that Nullus inde clamor nullum judicium ad sedem Apostolicam destinatur and again vos oppressis Apostolicae sedis appellationem subtrahitis And Anselme himself speaking of the proceeding of the King in a case by him esteemed onely of Ecclesiastick cognizance lays down the manner to be that it should be onely ad singulos Episcopos per suas parochias aut si ipsi Episcopi in hoc negligentes fuerint ad Archiepiscopum primatem adding nothing of carrying it to Rome of which I know no other reason but that it was not then usuall to remove causes from the Primate thither Yet after this either the importunity of the Pope prevailed with the King or the passage was inserted after his dayes into the Lawes carry his name as some other in the same chapter may seem to have been but certain in them though he give for a rule that of Pope Fabian or Sixtus 3. ibi semper causa agatur ubi crimen admittitur yet a Bishop erring in faith and on admonition appearing incorrigible ad summos Pontifices the Archbishops vel sedem Apostolicam accusetur This is the onely case wherein I find any English Law approve a forreign judicature 31. But whether from the countenance of this Law or the great oppressions used by the Legat King Stephens Brother or the frequency of them it is certain 1151. Appeals were held a cruell intrusion on the Churches Liberty so as in the Assize at Clarendoun 1164. collected by the body of the Realm the 8. Chapter is solely spent in shewing the right of the Kingdome in that particular which Iohannes Sarisburiensis interprets quod non appellaretur pro causâ aliquâ ad sedem Apostolicam nisi Regis Officialium suorum venia impetraâ—a Upon which the Bishop of London moved Alexander the third Beckets cause might be determined appellatione remota at which the Pope seems to be moved and told him haec est gloria mea quam alteri non dabo And though it seems by a Letter of the same Prelat the King would have restrained his power onely to such as had first made tryall of receiving justice at home claiming ex antiqua regni institutione ob civilem causam nullus clericorum regni sui fines exeat c. and that too if amiss would have corrected by th' advise of the English Church yet while th' Archbishop lived that would not be hearkened to but after his death at the peace which 1172. ensued between him and the Church of Rome it was onely concluded the King not to hinder Appeals thither in Ecclesiastick causes yet so as a party suspected before his going was to give security not to endeavour malum suum nec regni But the Kingdom meeting in Parliament at Northampton 1176. not fully four years after would not quit their interest but did again renew th' Assize of Clarendoun using in this particular somewhat a more close expression Iusticiae faciant quaerere per consuetudinem terrae illos qui à regno recesserunt nisi redire voluerint infra terminum nominatum stare in curia Domini Regis utlagentur c. in effect the same as Gervasius Dorobernensis well understood who tells us Rex Angliae Henricus convocatis regni primoribus apud Northamptoniam renovavit assisam de Clarendonia eamque praecepit observari pro cujus execrandis institutis beatus martyr Thomas Cantuariensis usque in septennium exulavit tandem glorioso martyrio coronatus est 32. After which the going to Rome remained during this Kings and his Son Richard's time onely according to their pleasures the Clergy lying under the penalty of this Law if they did attempt farther then the Princes liking of which we have a very pregnant example in the case of Geffrey Archbishop of York K. Richards Brother who accused to Coelestinus 3 us that he did not onely refuse Appeals to Rome but imprisoned those who made them upon it the Pope commits the cause to be heard by the Bishop of Lincoln and others who thereupon transfer themselves to York where hearing the Testimonies of those appeared before them assigned him a time to make his defence to the Pope But the Archbishop being then well with his Brother pretended he could not present himself in Rome for the Kings prohibition and the indisposition of the aire Not long after the King and he fell so at odds quod praecepit illum dissaisiri de Archiepiscopatu suo c. Coelestinus upon this takes an opportunity to declare a suspension to be notifyed through all the Churches of his Diocese injoyning what the King had before the Lay as well as the Clergy ne ipsi Archiepiscopo vel officialibus ejus in tempor alibus respondere praesumant donec de ipso Archiepiscopo aliud duxerimus statuendum The offence with his Brother still remaining the Bishop expecting now no help at home goes upon this to Rome makes his peace with the Pope and returns but the King committed the â—are even of the Spiritualls of his Archbishoprick to others without permitting him or his Agents to meddle with ought till about two years after he reconciled himself to the Crown after which he gave Innocentius 3 us occasion to write Non excusare te potes ut debes quod illud privilegium ignoraris per quod omnibus injuste gravatis facultas patet ad sedem Apostolicam appellandi cum iu ipse aliquando ad nostram audientiam appellaris and a little after Nec auctoritatem nostram attendis nec factam tibi gratiam recognoscis nec appellationibus defers quae interponuntur ad sedem Apostolicam c. And about the same time Robert Abbot of Thorney deposed by Hubert th' Archbishop was laid in prison a year and half without any regard had of the Appeal by him made to the Pope and this to have been the practice during King Richards time the continued quarrells of Popes for not admitting men to appeal unto them doth fully assure as 33. But Innocentius 3 us having prevailed against King Iohn and the Clergy great instruments in obtaining Magna Charta from that Prince either in favour of
did after step so far as to prohibit their giving the King at all without his license endeavouring the gaining a supremacy over them as well in Temporalls as Spiritualls who hitherto had not meddled with collections of that nature For the same Henry about 17 years before after th' example of the French did cause a supply be made for the relief of the Eastern Church but I do not find it to have been either upon any motion from Rome or any part of what was so levyed to have been converted that way 9. But the former granted 1183. passing with so great circumspection perswaded the Popes not to think fit sodainly as it seems of attempting the like yet that the Church of England might not be unaccustomed to paiments they sometimes exhorted Christians to the subvention of the Holy Land and thereupon did distribute Spirituall Indulgences which cost them â—ot a farthing and procured Princes to impose on their Subjects for that end so did Clement the 3. or rather Gregory the 8 th about 1187. stir up Hen. the 2. and Philip Augustus Innocentius 3. King Iohn and as a generall Superintendent over the Clergy did then intromit himself and his Agents in the raising of it and so did convert some good proportion to his own use insomuch as Iohannes Ferentinus sent hither 1206. from the same Innocentius 3 us carryed hence a good quantity upon which King Iohn writ unto the Pope 1207. quod uberiores sibi fructus proveniant de regno Angliae quam de omnibus regionibus citra Alpes constitutis c. Yet truly to raise any considerable summe of mony from the whole body of the Clergy for support of the Papall designs I do not find any great attempt before Gregory the ix 1229. demanded a tenth of the moveables of both Lay and Ecclesiasticks to which the Temporall Lords would not at all assent Nolentes Baronias vel laicas possessiones Romanae Ecclesiae obligare and the Clergy were unwillingly induced to the contribution The Pope thus entred meddled no more with the Lay but of the Clergy eleven years after he demanded by his Legat a fifth part of their goods Many meetings were had about it they shewed the King they held their Baronies of him and could not without his assent charge them that having formerly given a tenth this of a fifth might create a custome and at a meeting in Barkshâ—re exhibited sundry solid reasons too long to be here repeated against the contribution But nothing would serve the King made for it and th' Archbishop out of private ends paying it they were in the end forced to yield such a supply as at his departure the year following it was say'd there did not remain so much treasure in the Kingdome as he had in three years extorted from it the vessells and ornaments of Churches excepted 10. But neither the paying it with so great reluctancy nor the Remonstrance prefer'd in the Councell of Lions 1245. from the body of the Kingdome of the severall exactions the Nation lay under from Rome and likewise to the Pope himself the year following could any way stop the proceedings but Innocentius 4 tus 1246 invented a new way to charge every Religious house with finding and paying a quantity of souldiers for his service in the wars for one year which being required from both the English and French produced here those prohibitions in the same Author against raising any Tallagium or auxilium But the French caused their Agent to use a serious expostulation in the businesse which because it is not printed I shall deliver at large as I find it Nuncii de novo accesserunt nova gravamina addentes supradictis Nuper enim mandavistis Ecclesiis ut quia persecutor vester ad partes istas venturus est mittant vobis militiam munitam ad resistendum ei quia non est concilium cedere venienti super quo satis excusabiles sunt Ecclesiae quia non habent militiam nec est in parte eorum mittere quod non habent quos etiamsi haberent mitterent non est tutum confidâ—re de ipsis Nec scitur etiam de illis utrum venturus sit quia etiamsi veniret praeferendum esset ut videretur concilio humano concilium Domini qui dicit Si persecuti fuerint vos in unam civitatem fugite in aliam c. And in the same year he attempted the making himself heir to any Clerk that should die intestate and the year following received from the Clergy eleven thousand marks exceptis exemptis tribus clericis as an addition to six thousand he had received the year before 11. I shall not here take upon me to repeat all the times and wayes by which the subject had his purse thus drained the labour would be too great and the profit too little it shall suffice to note the Court of Rome by much strugling overcame in the end all difficulties did arrive to that height the Commons were forced in Parliament 1376. to prefer this petition Si tost come le Pape voet avoir monoie pur maintenir ses guerres de Lombardy ou ailleurs pur despendere ou pur raunson auscuns de ses amys prisoners Fraunceys prises par Englois il voet avoir subsidie de Clergie d' Engleterre tantost celuy est grantez par les Prelats a cause qe les Evesqes n'osent luy contrestere est leve de Clergie sans lour assent ent avoir devant Et les Seculers Seigneurs my preignent garde ne ne font face coment le Clergie est destruict la monoye de Royalme malement emporte 12. And indeed the Kingdome had great reason thus to complain see one of many examples that may be alledged In the year 1343 the 17. Ed. 3. Clement the 6. sent hither to provide for two Cardinall Priests one out of the Province of York the other Canterbury in spirituall livings to the value of 1000. marks a piece sur une si generale coverte maniere qe la somme passer a dix mille marqes avant qe le doun soit accept But the State would not endure this but chasing their Agents out of the Kingdome the King sent through every County Ne quis ab eo tempore deinceps admitteretur per bullam sine speciali licentia Regis And a little after the Parliament held the 20. of Ed. 3. 1346. the Commons yet more plainly Nous ne voulons soeffrer qe payement soit fait as Cardinalx pour lour demoere en France de treter c. And soon after they represent this very particular of 2000. marks to be en anientissement de la terre and encrese de nos enemies and therefore qu'â—ls ne soient en nul maniere soâ—fferts c. In both which his Ma tie gives them content 13. Neither
outward policy of this Church or government of it in foro exteriori to have much depended on the King and therefore the writs for summoning Parliaments expresse the cause of his calling them to be pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem regni nostri Angliae ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus or as our Bishops have sometimes exprest it in the Rolls of Parliament à l' onour reverence de Dieu de seinte esglise al salvation amendement de son roialme c. Likewise the Commons that their gift of the 9th sheaf c. to Edw. the 3. to have been for his defence of the Kingdome de seinte esglise d' Engleterre Rot. Parliament 15. Ed. 3. n. 25. According to which our Kings joyned both together professing their care for amending the Church to be equall with that of the Commonwealth Item fait assavoir que nostre tressoveraigne seign r le Roy eiantz grande volunte desir de l'estate de son esglise de son Royalme en les choses ou mesteir est d' amendement al honor de Dieu pur la pees la commune profit de seinte esglise d' Engleterre come de tout son Royalme d' el ' advis assent des seig rs esperituells c. ad fait c. In pursuance of which interest residing in the Crown the Lords and Commons under Rich. the 2. fearing the opinions called Lollardy might prevail petierunt à Rege de istis remedium apponi ne forte archa totius fidei ecclesiae talibus impulsionibus in illius temporibus pro defectu gubernaculi irremediabiliter quateretur Upon whose desires he commanded th' Archbishop of Cant. and his other Bishops ut officium suum singuli iâ— suis dioe cesibus secundum jura canonica acrius ferventius exercerent delinquentes castigarent librosque eorum Anglicos plenius examinarent errata exterminarent populumque in unitatem fidei orthodoxae reducere studerent ecclesiamque urticis vepribus destoratam liliis rosis ornarent c. After which the said authour records a Commission by which his Majesty as Defender of the Catholick Faith did impower certain to seize upon hereticall books and bring them before his councell and such as after proclamation shall be found to hold such opinions being called and examined before two Commissioners who were of the Clergy and lawfully convicted thereof to be by his Majesties ministers committed to the next prison Fourteen years after which the Commons shew Hen. the 4th the Parliament might be compared to a Masse in which th' Archbishop of Cant. began th' office reading th' Epistle and expounding the Gospel which it seems they took to be the part of the Ecclesiastick as did the Saxons before à la mesne qe feust la sacrifice d' estre offeriz à Dieux pur touz Christiens le Roy mesmes à cest Parlement pour accomplir cellemesne plusieurs foitz avoit declarez pleinement a toutz ses lieges coment sa volunte feust qe la foy de seint esglise feust governez en maniere come il ' ad este en temps de ses nobles progenitors come il est affirme par seint esglise par les seints Doctours par seint Escriture c. and a little after shewing they the Commons were onely to say Deo gratias which they were obliged to do for three reasons the second of which is pur câ—o qe la ou la Foy de seint esglise par malvaise doctrine feust en point d' avoir este anientz en grand subversion du Roy du Royalme mesme nostre Seig r le Roy ent ad fait ordeignez bon joust remede en destruction de tiel doctrine de la sect d' ycel peront ilz sont ensement tenuz de dire cel parole Deo gratias By all these it must be granted they did hold the chief care of the English Church to have depended in the outward policy of it on the prince or else that they did speak and do very unadyisedly in attributing so much unto his care of it and providing that he might be supplyed to defend it without at all mentioning any other to whose care it belonged 19. Neither did these expressions and petitions passe the Commons onely or the Clergy over-ruled by the numbers of the temporality but the Bishops by themselves acknowledged how much it stood in his M tios care to provide against any novelties creeping into the English Church and that it might enjoy the rights and liberties belonging to it and therefore when the said doctrine of Lollardy continued encreasing they in the names Praelatorum cleri regni Angliae petition Henry the 4 th Quatenus inclitissimorum progenitorum antecessorum vestrorum laudabilia vestigia graciose considerantes dignetur vestra regia celsitudo pro conservatione dictae Ecclesiae Anglicanae ad Dei laudem vestrique meritum totius regni praedicti prosperitatem honorem pro hujusmodi dissentionibus divisionibus dampnis periculis evit indis super novitatibus excessibus praedictis in praesenti Parliamento providere de remedio opportuno c. Did not these then hold it the office of the King as that his progenitors had ever done to provide no dissensions scandalls divisions might arise in the Church the Catholick faith might be truely conserved and susteined and what other did any of our Princes ever challenge or assume 20. When the Clergy likewise went at any time beyond their bounds or were negligent performers of their duties the subject upon all occasions had recourse unto his M ty as to whose care the seeing what was amiss redrest did especially belong as when th' Ecclesiastick Courts were grievous for the fees or their pecuniary pennances too heavy when they were opprest by Papall provisions of which before when through the absence of their Curat they were not so well taught c. when the frequency of the writ de excommunicato capiendo made it burthensome when men were cited by them on causes neither Matrimoniall nor Testamentary and appearing were not allowed a copy of the libell against them In which case the Kings answer is not unworthy the repeating shewing clearly he directed how they should proceed le Roy voet que a quel heure la copie de le libel est grantable par la ley q'â—l soit grauntè liverè a la partie sanz dâ—fficulee It is true Kings would refer matters of that nature to their Bishops unto whose care under them it did especially belong so Richard the 2. being petitioned in point of Residency answered Il appartient aux offices des Evesques le Roy voet qu' ils facent lour office devoirs c. His successor being again prest in the same kind gives his command thus Facent les
all the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury both to the Pope and Becket enough assure us how undoubted it was in those dayes that our Kings following the advise of the English Church did proceed on safe grounds for their justification in such quarrells 6. Neither was the opinion returned by these Divines so differing from the writings of other learned men as might make them any way guilty of schism Gerson speaking of the severall degrees of Divine truths places for the first such as are expresse in Scripture secondly those that are by evident consequence deduced from thence thirdly such as being delivered by Christ have been by the constant tradition of the Church derived to us of which he holds this proposition Vniversalis Ecclesia Pontifici Romano subjecta sit and adds non enim posset evidenter aut per consequentiam pure de fide ex legibus primi generis humana deductione fulciri c. and Contarenus in a small tract de potestate Pontificis of that question sayes An Auctoritas illa potestas qua Pontifex maximus fungitur sit ei consensu quodam hominis tributa an potius divinitus tradita qua de re hisce temporibus maximos tumultus excitatos esse perspicimus nec etiam veriti sint viri in omni disciplinarum genere celebres ac in Christianae Theologiae studio illustres in magno hominum conventu asserere hoc jus Pontificis humanume esse then adds that he ab horum hominum sententia maxime dissentire ac prope compertum habere divinitus concessum esse Pontifici jus illud c. So that this learned Cardinall was not altogether resolved in the point but as a disputable question had it prope compertum The truth of which I leave him to dispute with the Orientall Christians It is manifest Francis the first was of the contrary judgement and our Countryman Stapleton delivers it as a Catholick tenet of former times undoubtedly agreeing with that of the English Church non divino sed humano jure positivis ecclesiae decretis primatum Romani Pontificis niti c. 7. But I return to our King who now fortifyed by the opinion of the Universities publick disputations in the convocation and severall precedents of former Princes his predecessors in his rights whereas the Parliament before in some particulars restrained the profits of Rome as in the payments of Annates Peter-pence making Appeals to it whose beginnings with us I have formerly noted did the 26. Hen. 8. 1533 declare his Maty his heirs and successors Kings of this realm shall have full power auctority from tyme to tyme to visit represse redresse c. all such errors heresies abuses c. which by any manner spirituall authority or jurisdiction may be lawfully reformed repressed ordered redressed c. This the Court of Rome interpreted a falling off from the Church and the English no other then a declaration of that right had ever resided in the Crown and which I believe it will be a difficult task to disprove them in 8. For those two articles Paulus 3. accuses the King of as Hereticall and schismaticall viz. quod Romanus Pontifex caput ecclesiae Christi vicarius non erat quod ipse in Anglica ecclesia supremum caput existebat c. for the first I never heard it affirmed by the King in that generality the words import for the Pope is a temporall prince as well as a spirituall father and so far as I know he never denyed him to be the head of the Church of his own dominions nor of France and Spain c. if those Kingdomes will admit him to so great a preeminence the thing he onely stood upon is that he was not so instituted by Christ Universall Bishop and had alone from him such an omnipotency of power as made him absolute Monarch in effect of the universall Church and was so in England For his being vicar of Christ in that sense other Bishops may be said to be his vicegerents as before I do not see how it can be well denyed him but that this Vicarship did import the giving him that power he did then exercise here is what the Church of England hath ever constantly denied As for the Kings being Head of Church I have before shewed he neither took it nor the Parliament gave it in other sense then the French have alwayes attributed it to their Princes neither for ought I find was it so much sought by King Henry as prest on him by the Clergy of which the Bishop of Rochester was one that subscribâ—d to it and his Ancestors did the same things before he did after under the names of Protectors Tutors Christi vicarii Domini Agricolae c. 9. For the other particulars mentioned in the Bull as his beheading the Bishop or Cardinall of Rochester the burning of Beckets bones the taking the treasure and ornaments at his Shrine to which may be added the suppressing and converting into Lay hands the Monasteries of the Kingdome I shall not say much having not taken on me to defend that Princes actions Yet for the taking off the head of Rochester if he were convict of treason I must give the answer of Edward the 3. to the Clergy in that kind en droict de Clerks convictz de treason purceo qe le Roy toutz ses progenitors ount este seisis tut temps de faire jugement execution de Clercz convictz de treson devers le Roy sa Royale Mageste come de droict de la corone si est avis au Roy qe la ley en tien cas ne se poet changer and then he cannot be said to have dyed other wise then by law As for the goods and ornaments of Churches by him layd hold on it is certain his predecessors in their extremities had shew'd him the way as the Conquerour who took all the ready money was found in Religious houses Richard the first who took all to the very Chalices of Churches and yet th' Archbishop afterwards regio munimine septus universos monachorum to wit of Christ Church redditus oblationes tumbae beati martyris Thomae fecit saisiari in manu Regis and Edward the first 1296 fecit omnia regni monasteria perscrutari pecuniam inventam Londonias apportari fecitque lanas corias arrestari c. And in those dayes Bishops did tell Kings The saurus ecclesiae vester est nec absque vestra conscientia debuit amoveri to which the King verum est The saurus noster est ad defensionem terrae contra hostes peregrinos c. And perhaps it would be no hard labour to shew all Princes not onely here but elsewhere to have had how justly I will not determine a like persuasion And he then being excommunicated by Paulus 3. for maintaining what the Crown had ever been in
2. verbo praeterea n De auctor usu Pallii cap. 3. Vid. concil Lateranense sub Innocentio 30. cap. 3. o Eadmer pag. 22 19. p Ibid. pag. 6 46. pag. 23 31. pag. 111 6 18 32. q Ibid. pag. 23 42. p. 111 32. passim apud Historicos r De jurejurando cap. 4. s Mat. Paris Vit. Abbat pag. 140 31. t Mat. Paris Hist. major pag. 410 39. u Vit. Abbat pag. 140 39. x Ibid. pag. 141 49. y Ibid. pag. 142 1. z Mat. Par. Vit. Abbat pag. 133 23. pag. 141 52 56. ⸫ Sess. 25. cap. 2. a Vitae Abbat St. Albani MS. in Iohanne 3. Abbate 25. b Wmus Thorn col 1899 22. c Ibid. col 1880 3. d Acts xx 17 to the end e Cap. 5. tom 1. Concil f Novel 123. cap. 10. g Baron to 9. Ann. 743. n. 19. * Capit. Car. c. lib. vii cap. 108 109. h Concil Spelm. pag. 237 238. i Confer Concil Spelm p. 238 §. ut Episcopi p. 251 cap. 25. k Eadmer pag. 113 2. l tom 4. Concil gen Rom. m cap. 26. Concil Lateran n Mat. Paris Ann. 1257. pag. 951. 41 44. o pag. 956 7. p Reynald Annal. Eccles. to 14. Ann. 1257. n. 50. * Monasticon Anglicanum pag. 296. col 1. q Vitae Abbat MS. r Mat. Paris pag. 972 51. s W m Thorn col 2185. sequent col 2153 46. t card Ossat Epist. 296. Rom. 22 Decembr 1601. u Cypr. Epist. 68. n. 4. edit Pamelii x Epist. 110. y Cap. 13. * turbis apud Gratianum Dist. 63 cap. 6. * Milevis z August Epist. 110. a Leo Epist. 89 cap. 5. b Caroli Magni Capit. lib. 1. cap. 84. c Lib. 2. Epist. 26. Ind. 10. Epist. 22 26. Ind. 11. alibi d Vide continuat Flor. Wigorn. Ann. 1128. p. 506. Ann. 1139. pag. 532. e Ailred de miraculis Edwardi col 406. 37. f Epist. Edwardi 3. apud Walsingh pag. 151. 42. Ann. 1343. g Rot. Parl. 50. Ed. 3. n. 94. h Ibid. n. 111. i Additament Mat. Paris MS. in Bibliotheca Çotton fol. 135 a. cui initium Dicturus c. of which hereafter k A Willielmo Lanfrancus electus est Malms fol. 116 b. 38. Rex constituit Lanfrancum Archiepiscopum Cant. Florent Wigor p. 436. Ann. 1070. Sim. Dunelm col 202 6. l Eadmeâ— p. 6 41. m Vide ibid. p. 16 48. p. 17 18. n Ibid. p. 109 40. c. o Hunt lib. 7. fol. 219 a. 1. p Apud Eadmer pag. 93 42. q Ann. 1175 col 587 21. r Vide eas apud Malmsburiensem fol. 118 a. 32. s Lanfranc Epist. 3. pag. 301. t Stubs de Arch. Ebor. col 1706 31 u Eadmer p. 118 5 15. * Eadmer p. 120 50. p. 121 6. y Eadmer pag. 125. z Sim. Dunelm Ann. 1120. col 242 25. a Eadmer pag. 136 43. b Beda lib. 4. cap. 1. Note Malmsbury fol. 26. a. â—3 says this was Ann. 904. but that agrees not with Formosus his Popedome Baronius therefore corrects it to 10. and makes Ann. 894. n. 11. but at that time Edward was not King c Flor. Wigorn p. 47â— d Eadmer pag 92 14. e supra n. 20. f Hoc per literas olini mandaverat Eadmer g Eadmer pag. 113. pag. 115. h Diceto col 506 507. i Vide Iohan. Hagulstad ab Ann. 1142. ad Ann. 1152. ⸫ Bernard Epist. 106 234 235 237 238. k Iohan. Hagulst col 276 8. l Mat. Paris Ann. 1207. pag. 222 40. m Diceto col 507 53. 508 20. * Mat. Paris Ann. 1206 p. 214 44. n Tulla Gregor 9. apud Mat. Paris Ann. 1229. pag. 355 46. o Mat. Paris pag. 355 44. p Additament Mat. Paris MS. in Bibliotheca Cotton sol 135. cui initium Dicturus quod injunctum est mihi q Mat. Paris Hist. minor Ann. 1252. pag. 287. fol. 143. b. col 1. MS. in Bibliotheca Regia Westmonast r Roger Hoved fol. 453. b. 39. 454. b. 2. Gervas Dorobern col 1682 27. in vitâ Huber s In antiquo MS. Bullarum Romanorum Pontificum Archiepisc Cant. Pulla 〈◊〉 Honor. 3. ⸫ 26. Febr. 12â—1 t In eodem MS. Gregor 9. Bulla 3. ⸫ April 17 Ann. 1230. u Mat. Pariss p. 371 18. x Mat Paris Ann 1241. pâ— 549 18 22â— c. y Idem Annâ— 1240 p. 5329 43. z Apud Mat. Paris p. 6â—7 36. a cap. 4. n. 17. b Mat. Paris Ann. 1246. pag. 6â—9 9. c Cardinal Ossat Epist. 296. dâ—t Rom 1601. Decembr 2â— d Rot. Parl. 3. R. 2. n. 37. e W m Thorn 2082 2. sequent vide Walsingham Ann. 1374. pag. 184 1. Thorn Ann. 1373. col 2187 57. See the History of Nicholaus de Spyna resigning the Abby of St. Augustins and on his nominating him Thomas Fyndon prefer'd to be Abbot thereby Martin the 4. who on the receipt of the Papall Bulls acquainted Edward the 1. with what had past at Rome himself being in England yet by command the house was seized into the Kings hand and he at the Parliament held at Acton Burnell fined at 400. marks pro eo quod sic fuerat creatus in Abbatem licentia Domini Regis minime petita Thorn Col. 1939 1. 1934. f Fide varias lectiones ad col 2117. 54. quae vero ibi debent interseri pertinent ad Hist. de qua hic agitur col 2082. g Hen. Knighton col 2601. 37 49. h Rot. Parl. octav Pâ—rif 25. Ed. 3. n. 13. See the words of the peition cap. 4. n. 15. i Walsing hist. 1374. pag. 184 6. Rot. parl 1. R. 2. n. 66. Thorn 1373. col 2187 58. k Rot. Parl. 50. Ed. 3. n. 110 115. * Gregory 11. k â— Ric. 2. cap. 3. 7. Ric. 2. cap. 12. l Christi vicarii sacerdotes sunt qui vice Christi legatione funguntur in Ecclesia Eusebii Papae Epist 3. to 1. Concil Electum à Fratribus Christi Vicariâ—m suscipiant scil in Abbatem Hydensium leges ab â—dgaro cap. 15. Concil Spelm. pag. 440. quis locus poterit esse tutus si rabies sancta sanctorum cruentat Vicarios Christi alumnos Ecclesiae dilacerat Epist. W i Senonensis apud Hoved Ann. 1171. fol. 299. b. 32. de marie Thomae Archiepiscopi m Gervas Dorobern col 1422 18. Hoved fol. 303. a. 1. Ann. 1172. n Iohan. Sarisbur Epist. 279. p. 483. ⸫ Epist. Hen Chichly in vita ejus pag. 79. o Fitz. Excommengement 4 6 10. p â—ide Hoveden fol. 284. b. 23. q Ex antiquo MS. r â—oram Hoveden s pag. 103 43. t Girolamo Catena vita di Pio 5 to pag. 96 97. 98 100. in 8 vo Romae 1587. Adriani Hist. lib. 19. pag. 1378. A. u Ger. Dorobern col 1422 50. x pag. 6. y 2. H. 4. Accion sur le case 25. Fitz. * 31. Ed. 3. Excommengement 6. z Froissard to 1 cap. 47. pag. 58. Gall. * Benedictus xii Iacobus Meierus Anâ—al Flandr Ann. 1 40. fol. 141 a. a Assise lib. 30.