and an obedient Servant of the Pope as having been educated in the Church of Rome in the which he was resolved to live and die That if he was offended that such Persons as were Enemies to the Pope had been tolerated in his Territories that this ought not to be imputed to him because he had no other Subjects but such as his deceased Father had left him and that in this his Minority and during the short time that he had been Master of his Estate he had neither been able by reason of his Incapacity to discern the Evil or to suit a Remedy to it though indeed this was his Intention and that he hoped for the time to come to give all manner of Satisfaction to the Pope and the Church of Rome as became an obedient Son of both The Pope's Legat's Answer was That all his Excuses should be of no Use to him and that he might shift for himself the best he could The Earl of Beziers being returned to the City called the People together and represented to them that after having submitted himself to the Pope's Legate he had interceded for them without being able to obtain any thing but a Pardon upon condition that those who professed the Faith of the Albigenses should abjure their Religion and promise to live according to the Laws of the Church of Rome The Roman Catholicks beseeched them to give way to this extream Violence and not to be the cause of their Death because the Legate was resolved not to pardon one of them except they all unanimously resolved to live under the same Laws To which the Albigenses answered That they would never forsake their Faith for the base Price of this frail Life That they were well assured that God could protect them if it seemed good unto him but withal neither were they ignorant that if he rather chose to be glorified by the Confession of their Faith it would be an exceeding Honour to them to die for Righteousness sake That they had much rather displease the Pope who could only destroy their Bodies than offend God who could destroy Body and Soul together That they detested the Thought of being ashamed of or denying that Faith by which they had learn'd to know Christ and his Righteousness and for fear of eternal Death to imbrace a Religion which intirely takes away the Merit of Jesus Christ and destroys his Righteousness that therefore they might make the best terms for themselves they could without promising any thing that was contrary to the Duty of true Christians As soon as the Roman Catholicks understood this they sent their Bishop to the Legate to beseech him not to comprehend them in the same Punishment with the Albigenses they having always adhered to the Church of Rome and of whom he who was their Bishop had good Knowledg judging also that the rest had not gone so far from the ways of Repentance but that they might be reduced by a Sweetness well becoming the Church which takes no Delight in shedding Blood The Legate being enraged at this with horrible Threats and Oaths protested That except all that were in the Town did acknowledg their Fault and submit themselves to the Church of Rome they should all be put to the Sword without any regard had to Catholicks to Sex or Age but that all should be exposed to Fire and Sword and immediately commanded the City to be summoned to surrender at Discretion which being refused he commanded all the warlike Engines to play and to discharge their Instruments and to cast Stones ordering them at the same time to give a general Assault and to scale the City round so that it was impossible for those within to sustain the shock for being press'd upon by above 100000 Pilgrims they at last saith the Compiler of the Treasure of Histories discomfited those within the City and entring in all at once killed vast numbers of all sorts and afterwards putting Fire to the City they burnt it to Ashes When the Town was taken the Priests Monks and Clerks came in Procession out of the great Church of Beziers called St. Nazari with the Banner Cross and Holy Water bare-headed clothed in their Ecclesiastical Vestments singing Te Deum in token of their rejoicing for the City's being taken and purged of the Albigenses But the Pilgrims who had received an express Order from the Legate to kill all rushed in amongst this Procession cutting off the Heads and Arms of the Priests striving who could do most till they were all cut to pieces These Cruelties exercised upon the City of Beziers upon the Papists themselves yea and upon their very Clergy having opened the Earl of Beziers his Eyes to see that the Pope under the Pretence of Religion had a mind to ruin the Earl of Tholouse his Uncle as well as himself he shut up himself in his City of Carcasson with a Resolution to defend it against the Legate and his Pilgrims The King of Arragon his Kinsman having discoursed with him the Earl plainly declared That he knew this to be the Pope's Design because when he was treating for his Subjects of Beziers he refused to receive his Catholick Subjects into his Favour nay would not so much as spare the Priests who were all cut in pieces in their Sacerdotal Ornaments under the Banner and the Cross that this Example of cruel Impiety joined with what they exercised upon the Village of Carcasson where they had exposed all to Fire and Sword without any Distinction of Age or Sex had fully convinced him that there was no Mercy to be look'd for from the Legate or his Pilgrims and that accordingly he would choose rather to die with his Subjects defending themselves than to be exposed to the Mercy of an inexorable Enemy such as he had found the Legate to be and though there were in the City of Carcasson many of his Subjects of a Belief contrary to that of the Church of Rome yet that they were Persons that had never done any Injury to any one that they had always assisted him in time of need and that for this their good Service he was resolved never to abandon them as they on their Parts had promised him to hazard Life and Estate in his Defence That he hoped that God who is the Reliever of those who are oppressed would assist them against this great Multitude of ill-advised Men who under the Pretence of meriting Heaven had quitted their own Habitations to come and burn pillage ravage and murder in the Habitations of others without either Reason Judgment or Mercy The King of Arragon returned with this Remonstrance to the Legat who assembled a great number of Lords and Prelats to hear what he had to say who declared to them that he had found the Earl of Beziers his Ally extreamly scandalized at their inhuman Proceedings against his Subjects of Beziers and of the Village of Carcasson and that he was fully perswaded seeing they had neither spared
first made use of a Canon of the Council of Sardica which gave them Power to send Legats into the Provinces to examine the Processes and the Depositions of any Bishops in Cases where any complaint was made After that they had thus accustomed the French Bishops to admit their Legats in this Case they by little and little gain'd another Point when the Princes were weak which was to send some amongst them without any Complaint or Appeal at all and at last after they had submitted to the Yoak Alexander II. established it as a Rule that the Pope ought to have the Government and Administration of all Churches Of these Legats some had a whole Kingdom under their Jurisdiction others some part only they came thither with full Power to depose Bishops yea the Metropolitan himself when ever they pleased to assemble the Councils of their District and to preside therein with the Metropolitan but taking place of him to make Canons to send the Decision of those Matters to the Pope to which the Bishops would not give their Consent as likewise all the Acts of the Council whereof he disposed at his Will and Pleasure And it is to be observed that their Suffrages outweigh'd those of all the Bishops together and that oftentimes by their simple Authority they judg'd and determin'd the Causes of the Elections of Bishops of Benefices of the Excommunications of Lay-men and the like Insomuch that these Assemblies which before were so Sacred and so Soveraign for the supporting and maintaining of Discipline having no Power any longer were to speak properly rather Councils to authorize and ratify the Will and Pleasure of the Pope than any lawful or free Councils So that it was not till the Papacy of Alexander II. and Gregory VII that the Churches of Aquitain saw themselves in danger of losing their Liberty by submitting to the Papal Yoak as well as the rest of the French Churches We are now to see how they avoided this Yoak which was thus imposed upon them in some measure CHAP. XIII Of the Opposition that was made by a Part of these Churches to the Attempts of the Popes and of their Separation from the Communion of Rome before Peter Waldo IT is difficult precisely to set down the Year wherein a considerable Part of these Diocesses rejected the Power of the Pope's Legats and lowdly condemned the Errors which they would have introduced under the Name of Councils which the Popes had so often assembled against Berengarius But we have great reason to conclude that it happened under Gregory VII when he undertook to oblige the Bishops of France to swear an Oath of Fidelity to him in much a like Form as Vassals swear to the Lords of the Fee for in reality it is the very same this strange Piece of Novelty which at one Blow destroy'd all the Rights of the Church excited both Pastors and People to defend their Liberties and to reject this imperious Yoak Then it was also that he endeavour'd to change the Common Service of the Church by striking out all that was not agreeable to the Roman Service which was very proper to inflame the Minds of the People and make them more watchful for the Preservation of the Doctrine and Ceremonies of Religion which they had received from their Ancestors For instance It is certain that in the 11 th Century they changed the Collects which concern'd the Prayer for the Dead We have an Example of it that was inserted in the Decretal of Gregory IX 'T is an Answer of Innocent III. to John de Beauxmains Archbishop of Lions who at that time was retired in the Abby of Clairvaux It contains the Question which that Archbishop who was the Persecutor and Condemner of Peter Waldo propounds to Innocent III. together with the Pope's Answer Your Brothership has enquir'd why there was a Change made in the Service of Saint Leo so that whereas the antient Books express the Prayer thus Grant to us Lord that this Offering may be of advantage to the Soul of thy Servant Leo in the modern Books it is exprest thus Grant to us O Lord we beseech thee that by the Intercession of St. Leo this Offering may be of advantage to us To which we answer saith the Pope That since the Authority of Scripture assures us that he doth an Injury to a Martyr who prays for a Martyr we are by a Parity of Reason to judg the same of other Saints because they need not our Prayers as being perfectly happy and enjoying all things according to their Wishes but it is we rather that stand in need of their Prayers who being miserable are in continuable trouble by reason of the Evils that surround us Wherefore such Expressions as these That such an Offering may be of advantage to this or that Saint for their Glory and Honour which we meet with in most Prayers are thus to be understood That it may conduce to this end that he may be more and more glorified by the Faithful here on Earth Though most suppose it a thing not unworthy of the Saints to assert that their Glory is continually encreased until the Day of Judgment and therefore that the Church may in the mean time lawfully wish for the encrease of their Glorification But whether in this Point that Distinction may take place which teacheth us that of those who are dead some are very good others very bad others indifferently good and others indifferently bad and therefore whether the Suffrages of Believers in the Church for the very good are Thanksgiving for the very bad Comforts to the Living for those who are indifferently good Expiations and for the indifferently bad Propitiations I leave to your Prudence to enquire Moreover the Popes Nicholas II and his Successors undertook to defend the Celibacy of the Clergy by which means a great many Pastors were depriv'd of the Functions of their Ministry which obliged also a vast number of them to separate themselves from the Communion of the Pope whose Creatures after the Decree was past for authorizng Celibacy look'd upon the married Clergy to be no more than simple Lay-men not to mention now that the Multiplicity of Schisms and Anti-popes had reduc'd most of the Diocesses of France into a strange Confusion some holding for one Pope others for another But though we cannot assign the precise Epocha of the beginning of this couragious Opposition to the See of Rome which had no other Original but the just Defence of their Liberties and the Desire of preserving their antient Truths yet thus much seems to be certain as far as we can gather from the poor Remainder of Records which the Barbarity of the Inquisitors hath suffer'd to come down to us 1. That this publick Opposition against the Efforts of Popery was made about the beginning of the 12 th Century 2. That without great Ignorance both in History and Chronology it cannot be supposed that the Albigenses were the Disciples of
for special Praier mad for Men dampned to everlastand Payne is to God gretly displesant and thow it be dowt it is likli to trewe Christes Peple that the Fownders of Almes-Howses for her venymous Dotation ben for the most part passed the brode Wey The Correlary is the Prayer of value spring and out of perfect Charite schold embrace in general al tho that God wold haf saved and leve Merchaundys now usyd for spiritual Prayers ymade to Mendicaunts Possessioners and other soul Priestes the which ben a Pepel of grete coarge to al the Reme mayntenyd in Idlenes for it was proved in a Boke that the Kyng hard that a hundreth of Almes-Hous suffised to all the Reme and there schold fal the gretest encrease possibil to Temporel Parti The eight Conclusion nedful to tell to the Pepel begiled is the Pilgrinage Prayers and Offering made to blind Rodes and to defe Ymages of Tre and of Ston that be ner of kyn to Ydolatri and fer fro Almes Dede And thow this forboden Ymageri be a Boke of Error to the lewde Pepul yit the Ymage usuel of the Trinitie is most abhominable This Conclusion God openly schews commandyng to do Almes-Dede to Men that be nedy for thai be the Ymage of God in a mor liknes than the Stok or Stone for God sais not faciamus lignum ad imaginem similitudinem nostram bot faciamus hominem etc. for the hey Worchip that Clerkes clepen Latria longes to the Godhede alone and the low Worchip that they clepen Dulia perteneth to Man and to Angels and to lower Creatures The Correlary is that the Service of the Rode tre donn twyes every yer in our Chirch is ful filled of Ydolatrie for if the Rode-tre Nail Sper and the Crowne of God schoul be so heyle worchiped than were Judas Lippes who so myght ham gete a wonder gret Relick Bot we pray the Pilgrine us to tell what thow offers to Seintes schryned in any place wheder releves you the Seint that is in Blis or the pore Almes-Hous that is so well endowed for Men canonized God wot how And to speke more in plain trew Christen Men supposen that the point of that noble Man that Men clepen Seint Thomas were no cause of Martirdome The nint Conclusion that holdes the Pepel low is that the Articles of Confession that is said necessari to Salvacion of Man with a feyned Power of Absolucion enhaunceth Priestes Pride and gyf hem oportunite of prive calling other than we will now say For Lordes and Ladys ben arrested that for fere of here Confessours they dur not seyn a Trewth And in tyme of Confession is the best tyme of Wowing and of prive Continuance of dedely Synne Thai seyn thai ben Comissaries of God to deme of every Synne to foulen and to clense whom so thai like Thei sai that thai have the Keyes of Heven and of Hell they may curse and bless bynd and unbynd at her own will insomuch that for a Busshel of Whete or twelve Pence be yer thei will sell the Bliss of Heven be Chartir of Clause of Warrantise en sele with the commun Sele This Conclusion is so seen in use that it nedyth no other Prof. Correlarium The Pope of Rome that feynet him hey Tresorer of holi Chirch havand the worthi Jewel of Christes Passion in hys kepying with the Desertes of al hollowen of Heaven by which he geveth the feyned Pardon à poenâ à culpâ he is a Tresorer most banyst out of Charite seyn he may deliver the Prisoners that ben in payn at his own will and mak himself so that he schall never com there Her may every trew Christen Man wel se that ther mich prive falshede hid in our Chirche The tent Conclusion is that Manslaut be batail or onn Law of Rigtwisenes for temporel Cause or spirituel without special Revelacion is expresse contrarious to the New Testament the which is a Law of Grece and full of Mercy This Conclusion is oponly proved be ensample of Christes Preching here in Erthe the wyche most taugte for to lowe and have mercy of his Enemys and nogt for to sle hem The reason is of this that for the more Party ther Men fiâ—t affter the first Stroke Charite is ybroke and who so deyth out of Charite goth the hey wey to Hell And over this we know wele that no Clerk can fynde be Scripture or be Reason lawful punischment of Deth for on dedely Synne and not for another Bot the Law of Mercy that is the New Testament forbede al Manslaugte in Evangelio dictum est antiquis non occides The Correlary is it is holi robbing of the pore Pepil whan Lordes purchas Indulgence à poenâ à culpâ to hem that helpeth to his oft to al the Christen Men in ferre Londes for temporel Goode as we haf seen and knygtes that renne to Heyennes to geten hem a Name in sleying of Men get mych maugre of the Kyng of Pees for be Meknes and Sufferaunce our Beleve was multiplied and Figters and Mansleyrs hem Christ hateth and manasseth Qui gladio percutit gladio peribit The elevent Conclusion ys scham for to say that the avowe of Continence made in our Chirch of Wymmen the wych ben febil and unperfite in kynd is cause of brynging of most horribel Synne possible to Mankynd for thow sleying of Childeren or thei ben Christened abortyse or stroying of Kind be Medicine ben ful synful yit knowing hem self or unreasonable Best or Creature that bereth no passyd in Worthiness to ben punisched in paynes of Hell The Correlary is that Wydewes and such as han taken the Mantel and the Ryng deliciouslych fed we wold thei were wedded for we ne can excuse hem of pryvy Synnes The twelf Conclusion is that the multitude of Crafftes nogt nedful used in our Chirche norisch mykel Synne in wast Curiosity and disgysing This schewes Experience and Reason proveth for Nature with a few Crafftes sufficed to nede of Man The Correlary is that sais Seint Poule we havand our bodily Fode and cleying we schuld hold us payed Vs think that Goldsmythes and Armorers and al manner Crafftes not nedful to Man after the Apostel schuld be destryed for the encres of Virtu For thow this twey Crafftes nemed wer mych more nedful in the Old Law the New Testament has voyded these and many other I suppose it is not necessary after the Perusal of this Piece to observe that the Romish Clergy cast those Crimes upon the Lollards whereof themselves were guilty and which the Lollards laid to their Charge in the Face of Heaven and Earth It will be said perhaps that this Petition contains several Errors I own it but we are to observe 1 st That it is part of the Frailty of Mankind to fall into the contrary Extream whilst we endeavour to avoid those things that appear to us to be mortal 2 dly That these Failings may be easily extenuated by the