new Cardinals before the end of the Council The Pope being alarmed at these Decrees by his Edict remov'd the Council from Basil to Bologna which Translation the Fathers by a contrary Edict disanull'd and both of them by their Letters cited the Archbishop of Canterbury one to Basil and the other to Bologna Upon this the Archbishop call'd a Delegates from London Synod to the Council of Basil and others to the Pope Synod at London on the 15 th of September and advis'd with the Bishops and Prelates what course was to be taken in the Dissention between the Council and the Pope who unanimously concluded To send Delegates to the Fathers at Basil and others to Pope Eugenius to compose the Differences on both sides to whom they voted a Penny in the Pound out of all the Profits of the Clergy besides the Two pence granted in the former Synod They also gave the King half a Tenth Half a Tenth given the King which was demanded of them in an Eloquent Speech by John Stafford Bishop of Bath and Lord Chancellor of England with whom came also to the Synod William Lyndewood who was lately made Keeper of the Privy Seal This William Lyndewood was esteemed one of the Wisest and most Learned Men of that Age he was very much belov'd by the Archbishop who remov'd him first from the Chancellorship of Salisbury to that of Canterbury afterwards he made him Official at the Court of Arches and gave him several rich Livings he also recommended him to both the Kings Henry the Fifth and Sixth the first of which sent him Ambassador into Spain and afterwards into Portugal and now under Henry the Sixth he was made Keeper of the Privy William Lyndewood Keeper of the Privy Seal Seal and soon after Bishop of St. David's Amongst b Jo. Balae de scriptor Angl. Cent 7. other of his Works which are now lost he got a great deal of reputation with Posterity by his learned Writ excellent Commentaries â—n the English Constitutions And was stiled the Light of the Law Complaint in the Synod against the Vicars General c. Commentaries upon the English Constitutions which Work he dedicated to the Archbishop whom for his c In Epist Dedic great knowledge in both Laws he stil'd the light of the Law In This Synod the Clergy of the Lower House complain'd to the Bishops that their Vicars General Commissaries and Officials were for the most part ignorant both in the Civil and Canon Law and that they had never taken any degree in the Universities whereupon Decreed that a Judge of a Spiritual Court must have some degree of the Law it was Decreed That no one should be made a Judge in any of the Spiritual Courts unless he had taken some degree in Law After which the Synod broke up In speaking of This Synod we made mention of John Stafford Bishop of Bath who was made Chancellor in the room of John Kempe Archbishop of York who being lately advanc'd to the Purple with the Title of Cardinal of S. Balbina had laid down that Office Between him and the Archbishop of Canterbury there arose a very sharp Dispute about Priority For in the Parliament holden shortly after at Westminster the Archbishop of York in respect of his Cardinal's Archbishop of York as Cardinal claim'd precedence of Canterbury Dignity claim'd precedence of the Archbishop of Canterbury which he on the other side rightly maintain'd to belong to him by the ancient Prerogative of his See The Archbishop of Canterbury on the contrary by ancient Prerogative Referred to the Pope The cognizance of this Affair through their mutual Contentions being referr'd to the Pope the Archbishop of Canterbury pleaded his Cause himself by Letters and appointed Antony de Capharellis his Proctor at the Court of Rome who in his Name maintain'd that the Archbishop of Canterbury was within his The Arguments for Canterbury urgent own Jurisdiction in which it was fit that he should take place of every one and that in the Province of Canterbury no respect ought to be had to the Dignity of Cardinal possess'd by my Lord of York who being remov'd from the Pope's presence was depriv'd of the brightness of those Raies whose splendor he receiv'd by communication from his Holiness and that even a Bishop d Abb. ad c. sane n. 4. de for comp while he is in another Bishop's Diocess is look'd upon but as a private Person and not as a Bishop But the Pope out of his desire to maintain the Honour of the See of Rome and of the Cardinals his Brethren being more enclin'd to favour the Archbishop of York writ back to the Archbishop of Overborn in the Cardinal's favour Canterbury That the first Degree in the Church next to the Papacy belonged to the Cardinals that they were those venerable Priests mention'd by Moses in the Seventeenth Chapter of Deuteronomy that they were afterwards instituted by St. Peter and were to be accounted as Members of the Pope's Body and that the whole Church did turn upon them as upon its Hinges Seeing therefore that it hath obtain'd by the Customs and Constitutions of particular Churches that in the same Province a Priest should take place of a Deacon a Bishop of a Priest and an Archbishop of a Bishop that much more the Laws of the Catholick Church ought to be universally observ'd for as every Archbishop presides in his own Province so the Cardinals are set over the Universal Church by the Pope Lastly He exhorted and intreated the Archbishop to submit to the Customs of the Church of Rome and give place to the Cardinal promising both him and the whole See of Canterbury all the kindnesses that could be expected from a most affectionate Father This Letter is inserted at length by Cardinal Jacobatius in his e Lib. 1. de concil art 12. Book of Councils when he comes to discourse about the degrees of Cardinals and Patriarchs By this it plainly appear'd to Posterity how strenuously the Archbishop desended the Dignity of the Church of England against the Pope whose displeasure he had incurr'd as we said before for maintaining the King's Authority The Differences betwixt Eugenius and the Council of Basil gave occasion to the calling another Synod the next A Synod call'd at London on occasion of the difference between the Pope and Council Year For after that Eugenius had remov'd the Council from Basil to Bologna and had been urg'd in vain by the Fathers at Basil to revoke his Decree they commanded him by their Edict to submit to the Council and repair to Basil The Pope is summoned to Basil within sixty days otherwise they declar'd that they would proceed against him as contumacious and devest him of the Papacy Whereupon in a Synod begun at London the 7 th of November the Archbishop commanded the Proctors for the Clergy and all the Prelates of the Of which London Synod
Commonwealth and govern'd by its own Laws it was afterwards subdued by the Medici and is now subject to the Great Duke of Tuscany There it was that Theodoric of Nismes who was Secretary to Pope Gregory and was then in his Court at Siena relates that he saw our Ambassadors who were all Men of eminent Note but through the Negligence of Writers their Names are not preserv'd in Memory How well Henry Chichele acquitted himself of this Employment and how much he gain'd the Pope's Favour upon this account Gregory himself did soon after evidently demonstrate For News being brought to the Court of Rome of the Death of Guido Mone Bishop of S. Davids who died this year on the 31 st of August which was after the Departure of the Ambassadors out of England of his own voluntary Motion he created Henry Chichele Bishop of S. Davids and consecrated him with his own hands according to the ancient Form on the 4 th of October and by Letters written to Thomas Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury he acquainted him that by the Advice of the Cardinals he had promoted Henry Chichele Chancellor of Salisbury Doctor of Laws and Priest a Man of eminent Wisdom Integrity and other Virtues to the vacant See of S. Davids desiring him upon his Recommendation to make use of his Assistance in the Administration of his Archiepiscopal Function He attended the Pope from Siena to Luca and continued with him till the end of April the next year He then return'd home of an Ambassador being made a Bishop and on the 26 th of August he went to the Cathedral Church of Canterbury according to the usual manner and there took an Oath of Legal and Canonical Obedience and Reverence to the Archbishop and his Successors How fit he was esteemed by all Men for the Exercise of this Function the Bishops and Prelates of the Province of Canterbury assembled in Convocation at London in January following did very amply and fully testify For when it was debated in the Synod about sending Delegates to the General Council at Pisa for the English Nation Robert Hallum Bishop of Salisbury Henry Chichele Bishop of St David's and Thomas Chillirgdon Prior of Canterbury were unanimously chosen and it was also decreed that every beneficed Person should pay Four pence in the Pound out of their yearly Income toward the Charges of their Journey This Council was appointed to be held at Pisa by the College of Cardinals assembled at Leghorn for composing the difference between Gregory the Twelfth and Benedict the Thirteenth who both set up for Pope one at Rome and the other at Avignon But because we shall have occasion sometimes in the following Narration to make mention of this Schism of the Popes it seems agreeable to the design and method of this undertaking to deduce it from its Original and to explain briefly from whence it arose and by what ways it increas'd and was carried on After that Philip the Fair King of France slighting the Excommunications of Pope Boniface the Eighth had by his Letters which are extant in most of the Writers of that Age sharply reprehended his Folly and Madness and at length devested him of the Papacy the Cardinals fearing the King's displeasure elected into his room Clement the Fifth a Frenchman and Native of Gascoigne Who being created by the College of Cardinals at Perusium in his absence summon'd them all to Lyons where in the Church of S. Justus in the Presence of Philip King of France Edward King of England and Alfonsus King of Arragon he receiv'd the Pontifical Crown in the Year 1305 and the same Year having created a great many French Cardinals he fix'd his Residence at Avignon where also after his Death the six succeeding Popes John the Twenty second of Cahors Benedict thē Twelfth of Tholouse Clement the Sixth Innocent the Sixth Vrban the Fifth and Gregory the Eleventh of the Province of Limosin all Frenchmen resided for the space of seventy Years having quite forsaken Rome Dante Aligeri and Francis Petrarch two Italian Poets who liv'd in those Times in the Court of Rome at Avignon do very severely reprehend the Rapine the Debauchery Luxury and Excess of those Popes and particularly of Clement the Fifth and John the Twenty-second which they did either out of their Hatred to the French in general or because being Men of Integrity themselves they could not bear the debauch'd and profligate Lives of the Popes Clement the Fifth is also mention'd often by the Lawyers upon the account of the Book of Clementines which was put out by him in the Council of Vienne and added to the Canon Law But Gregory being concern'd at the Decay of the City of Rome and the Tumults of Italy privately left Avignon and return'd to Rome in the Year 1376 and the 71 st from the Departure of the Popes where being receiv'd with incredible Joy he began to repair the Churches Palaces the Walls and other Edifices of the City which were run to ruin He dying two years after the Cardinals who were almost all Frenchmen fearing the outrage of the People of Rome who demanded an Italian Pope chose Bartholomew Archbishop of Bari who chang'd his Name for that of Vrban the Sixth and with his Name soon chang'd his Nature also for whereas before he was generally look'd upon as a Man of a moderate Temper he now began to treat all the Cardinals with great Rigor and one time when Otho of Brunswick Prince of Tarentum who had married Joan Queen of Sicily presented him the Cup at Dinner upon his Knees he let the Prince continue for some time in that posture till being admonish'd of it by the Cardinals with much ado he took the Cup from him The Cardinals being very uneasy under this unseasonable Pride and Severity of the Pope fled to Fundi a City in the Kingdom of Naples where having first declared the Election of Vrban to be void as being made through fear and by compulsion they proceeded to Elect Rupert Cardinal of Geneva who took the Name of Clement the Sixth and with his Cardinals retir'd to Avignon Thus whilst one assumed the Papacy at Avignon and the other at Rome and both of them made new Promotions of Cardinals the whole Christian World was divided between them For the Germans the English the Poles the Hungarians the Bohemians the Danes the Swedes and most of the Italians acknowledg'd Vrban but the French and the Spaniards submitted to Clement Vrban in the Eleven Years that he held the Pontificate debas'd the Dignities of the Church by promoting the meanest Persons to the Purple and fomented Wars between the Christian Princes for which cause instead of Vrbanus he was generally call'd Turbanus He exceeded all the Popes that ever possess'd the See of Rome in Cruelty for of those Bishops and Cardinals who were accus'd as secret Favourers of Clement some he imprison'd
pence in the Pound out of their Revenues In this Synod holden at London the Archbishop complain'd heavily of a late Injury offer'd him by Pope Eugenius who by his sole Authority had given the Bishoprick of Ely in Commendam to Lewis Archbishop of Roan and by his The Pope gives away the Bishoprick of Ely in Commendam The Archbishop in Synod opposes the Affair Bull had confirm'd him in the Government of that See and therefore he order'd the Synod to consider how to put a stop to this Affair which was never attempted before by any Pope And indeed such a Precedent as this would have been of very pernicious consequence to Posterity but Philip Morgan who was then Bishop of Ely outliving the Archbishop of Roan by this means Which was frustrated by the Survivorship of the then Bishop the Pope's Design was frustrated After this Richard Carpenter Chancellor of Oxford desired of the Synod which had been prorogued to the 6 th of October in the name of both Universities that the Decree about conferring Propos'd in Synod to Renew a Decree that those not in Orders should not be beneficed Benefices upon those only that had taken Degrees in the Universities which was made in the Years 1417 and 1421. and limited to a certain term of Years which were now expir'd might be again renew'd The King also by his Wherein the King concurred and obtain'd it Letters desir'd the same of the Synod who readily assented to it upon the Conditions mention'd in the former Decrees Eugenius had now begun the Council at Ferrara and by his importunity and fair Promises had drawn thither John Palaeologus the Emperor and some of the Greek Bishops but the Plague breaking out there in the beginning of the next Year he remov'd the Council to The Council begun at Ferrara by occasion of the Plague removed to Florence Where the Greeks present submitted in Opinion to the Latines Which so offended the Greek Church that after their death they were not allow'd Christian Burial Sess 33. The Council of Basil maintain'd its Authority Florence where after long Disputes about the Procession of the Holy Ghost about Purgatory the Supremacy of the Pope and some other Controversies between the two Churches the Greeks who were there present submitted to the Opinion of the Latines For which they were so detested by the rest of the Greek Church that after their death they were not allow'd Christian burial nor would the Greeks recede from one Article of their ancient Creed In the mean time the Fathers at Basil being incens'd at the obstinacy of Eugenius by vertue of their Supreme Authority declar'd That the Pope was subordinate to a General Council that he had no power to dissolve transfer or prorogue it and that Eugenius for attempting all these things was guilty of Heresy they Deposed the Pope also divested him of the Papacy being convicted of Contumacy Simony Perjury and Impiety and i Aene. Sylv. lib. 2. de act Concil Basil having chosen Thirty two of the greatest note out of the four Nations Italians French Germans The English going to Ferrara and Spaniards for the English were all gone to Ferrara who were deputed with full power to elect a new Pope Amedeus Duke of Savoy who had left the Dukedom to his Son and retir'd to an Hermitage was created Pope and took the Name of Felix the Fifth There were then at Basil And by the Deputies of four other Nations Felix the Fifth elected Pope two of the greatest Lawyers of their time the Abbot Panormitanus and Ludovicus Romanus who were sent Ambassadors out of Italy from Alfonsus the great King of Arragon These two in a great many Speeches maintain'd that the Authority of a Council was superior to that of the Pope and condemn'd the Actions of Eugenius with so much sharpness and Eloquence that no one durst pretend to contradict them all which they have left recorded to Posterity in their Writings For Panormitanus in a k Panorm tract de Concil Basil in 5. vol. Book A defence of the Council at Basil which he put out in defence of the Council of Basil against Eugenius shews clearly That the Authority of a Council is more sacred than that of the Pope that the Pope hath no Jurisdiction over a Council but on the contrary is subordinate to it and may be call'd in question imprison'd and depos'd by it and that this punishment was justly inflicted upon Eugenius as contumacious a Deserter of the Faith an Enemy to the Church and guilty of Simony Perjury and Murther And in l Panor ad c. significasti n. 4. de elect ad c. licet de vitanda n. 8. eod tit ad c. fraternitatis n 1. de haeret several places of his Commentaries he speaks of the power of a Council as superior to that of the Pope Ludovicus Romanus in his Responses maintains That an Appeal may lawfully be made m Rom. Cons 521. from the Pope to a General Council that his Command for the n Rom. Cons 522. dissolution of it ought not to be obey'd and that he may be o Rom. Cons 523. depos'd by a Council He was a The high Character of Lodovic Romanus man saith p Aene. Sylv. lib. 2. de act Concil B sil Aeneas Sylvius worthy not only of Rome but also of Heaven it self and had he liv'd to have doubled his Age would have given matter not only of admiration but of astonishment to the World but Fortune envied Italy so extraordinary a Person and took him away at Basil where he died of the Plague having hardly past the Thirtieth Year of his Age. Aeneas Sylvius also himself was present and assisted at the Council both by his approbation of their Proceedings against Eugenius and by two Books which he put out of the History of that Council which afterwards being made Pope by the Name of Pius the Second he call'd in and would fain have suppress'd And indeed all the q Gl. in c. si Papa dist 40. Archid. Gemin Fran. ad c. in fidei favorem de haeret in 6. Card. Zab. cons 150. Anchar cons 181. Felin ad c. super literis n. 21. de rescript Jo. Royas de haeret n. 518. Fr. Marc. decis 944. Lawyers held this Opinion concerning the power of a Council over the Pope as long as they maintained the liberty of speaking and writing but in the next Age being brought under the subjection of the Popes they began to flatter them and having positively r Card. Jacobat lib. 3. de Concil n. 85. Hier. Alban de potest Pap. n. 240. Cataldin de Boncompag de potest Pap. n. 31. Alfon. Hoied de benefic incompat par 1. n. 86. condemn'd the Council In the next Age the Council of Basil is condemned of Basil they rais'd the power of the Pope above that of a Council and the whole Church and this power