Scot who runs presently to Rome for confirmation and the King presently sends after him the Bishop of Lichfield and the Prior of Lanthony to sollicite against Scot but after a long tugging and expence of all their money on both sides it was determined that a third man viz. Richard Poor should have the Bishoprick After the death of Stephen Langton Matt. Paris in An. 1228. fo 350. 355. Anâ—quit Brit. in viti Richard Maâ— Archbishop of Canterbury the Monks made choice of Walter de Hempsham to succede him at which the King then being displeased Walter hasts away to Rome as the use then was for his confirmation and the King presently sends after him as his Proctors the Bishops of Coventry and Rochester who appearing before the Pope complained grievously of the misdemeanor of the Monks in making choice of that man as being of no experience suitable to that Dignity but of mean learning one of a debauched and scandalous life having gotten several Bastards upon a Nun and for his extraction his Father had bin condemn'd and hang'd for Theft as himself had also deserv'd having bin a Ringleader amongst Rebels and Traitors But all this would not satisfie the Pope to set him aside Polychron 1.7 cap. 34. until the King ingaged the Pope should have a Disme or the Tenth part of all the moveable goods both of Clergy and Laity throughout England and Ireland which granted the election of Walter Hempsham was declared null and Richard Wethershed promoted to the place The next Successor to Richard Wethershed was Edmund between whom Antic Brit. Godw. in vita Edmundi and the Monks of Rochester a great contest happen'd about the election of one Richard Wendover to be their Bishop whereupon the Bishop goes to Rome and the Covent send their Proctors and these carrying the most money got the cause and Edmund condemn'd by the Pope in 1000. Marks The Bishoprick of Chichester being once void Matt. Paris iâ— Hen. 3. the Canons there elected one Robert Passelew to gratifie the King who had a great kindness for the man but others stemaching him means was made at Rome to have his election quashed and one Richard de la Wich to have the place and thereupon all parties run to Rome with money Bribes complaints and recriminations all which being heard and the money taken the King's man was fob'd off and Wich setled in the See The story is at large in Matthew Paris and a multitude more of like nature might here be exhibited but these shall suffice with this averrement that seldom any election went so cleverly off but something extraordinary came to the Pope besides what was certain by the first Fruits From which we proceed to payments of other natures CHAP. III. Legatine Levies THE Statute of 25 Henry 8. Stat. 25 Hen. 8. cap. 21. Providing that no more summs of money shall be pay'd to the Bishop of Rome begins with recital how the subjects of this realm had for many years been greatly decayed and impoverished by intolerable exactions of great summs of money taken and claimed by the Bishop of Rome called the Pope and the See of Rome as well in Pensions Censes Peter-pence Procurations Fruits suits for Provisions and Expeditions of Bulls for Archbishopricks and Bishopricks and for Delegacies and Rescripts in Causes of Contentions and Appeals Jurisdictions Legantine Dispensations Licences Faculties Grants Relaxations Writs of perinde valere Rehabilitations Abolitions and other infinite sorts c. as the words of the Statute are I cannot now pretend to enumerate or specifie them all when the Statute declares them to be infinite and therefore we shall content our selves to point but at some of them beginning with the Legatine Levies as I may call them Vid. Matthew Westm Flor. Hist in An. 1245 1246. c. Mart. Paris Polychron c. And these were summs of money exacted and levyed upon the King's Subjects throughout the whole Kingdom by Legats and Officers for that purpose deputed by the Pope And these were called for as often as the Popes pretended a need of them for the Court of Rome did inculcate and would have the world to believe Matth. Paris An. 1226. fo 328. That being a Mother she ought to be relieved by her Children Now the first Extraordinary Contribution raised for the Pope in this Kingdom of this kind appears to have bin about the year 1183. when Pope Lucius the third having some quarrel with the Citizens of Rome Rog. Hovedeâ— P. Postenor fo 622. sent to King Henry the second postulans ab co à clericatu Angliae auxilium requiring Aid from him and his Clergy whereupon Consuluit Rex Episcopos suos Clerum Angliae de petitione Summi Pontificis Cui Episcopi Cleri consuluerunt ut ipse secundum voluntatem suam honorem faceret auxilium D. Papae tam pro seipso quam pro illis quia tolerabilius esset plus placeret eis quod D. Rex si vellet accepisset ab eis auxilii recompensationem quam si permisisset Nuncios D. Papae in Angliam venire ad capiendum de eis auxilium quia si aliter fieret posset verti in consuetudinem ad regni sui detrimentum Adquievit Rex consilio suorum fecit auxilium magnum D. Papae in auro argento The King consulted the Bishops and Clergy about the Popes request to whom the Bishops and Clergy returned That the King might if he so pleased and for his honor send aid to the Pope as well for himself as for them because it would be more tolerable and more acceptable to them for his Majesty if he pleased to take a Compensation from them for his Aid than that he should permit the Pope's Officers to come into England to receive it of them which might turn to a custom detrimental to the Kingdom To this counsel the King adher'd and sent a great Aid to the Pope in Gold and Silver as Rog. Hoveden hath at large related the Carriage of that business In which several passages are very remarkable as that the King did in matters that concern'd the Pope consult with the English Church and follow'd their advice and then the care and circumspection of the Clergy to avoid mischievous consequences for the future and that not without very good cause for the Popes were so prone to be busie and tampering in this matter of money that afterward in the time King Edward the first Papa miâ—it bullas inhibitatorias quod nulla persona Ecclesiastica daret seculari personae contributionem ullam absque licentia specialita Romana curia concessa in hac parte Henry de Knighton Coll. 2489. he prohibited the Clergy from giving any thing to the King without his leave first obtained and that under pain of the great excommunication a great presumption this but without any considerable effect to the purpose intended But notwithwanding the before mention'd caution the Popes gained
d. Item Thos whos goods movable extendyth to CC l. must pay for themselfs and wyfs iij s. iv d. Item Thos whos goods movable be within CC l. and not undre XX l. must pay xij d. Item Thos whos goods movable extendyth not to XX l. shall pay for themselfs their wyfs and children as it shall please them of their devotion After all this come certain Articles of the Bull of Dispensation with Simony Usury and of goods as be wrongfully keped reserved to the Comissary only Alway provyded that the seyd persons make a composycyon hereof with the seyd Comissary and soche moni as thei compound for effectually to pay to the seyd Comissary It was the Pope's Charity also to impart these Graces and the benefits of a Jubile to all Countreys under his Spiritual Jurisdiction upon such and the like terms and conditions whereby Grace and Heaven were bought and sold as firm as any goods in a Market overt By vertue of all these provisions you see how easie it was at last for all sorts of persons to attain the benefits and happiness of a Jubile where Pardons and Indulgences might be had as cheap as heart could wish Nay who would not scrape and run and give all he was worth at such an opportunity for so mighty an advantage as the pardon of all his sins A far more blessed time this than that of the Hebrew Jubile when only the Bondmen of their own Country were made free and possessions returned again to their first owners But here was to be obtained freedom from the bondage of sin and the Devil and Livery and Seisin of an eternal Inheritance in the Heavens In a belief whereof there were seen persons of all sorts sexes and ages flocking and crowding to participate of this Holy and Heavenly Treasure Old men rejoycing they had liv'd to see so happy a day and young men catching at the opportunity lest they should not live the revolution of another Jubile And those that could not go themselves if they sent but mony enough all was well enough Then as these Jubile's were celebrated at some stated times the Pilgrimages were undertaken and performed daily and by multitudes and that upon several accounts for Pilgrimages were Pilgrimages Peregrinatio Relâ—gionis ergo when any person either out of Devotion or by way of Penance or in performance of some vow after recovery from some desperate sickness or some great danger escaped or to obtain the favour merits or intercession of some Saint or in adoration of some famed Image or precious Relique or to super-errogate to the charitable augmentation of the Churches Treasury or other like cause undertook and performed a Journey to some Holy place as to the Holy Land the Lady of Loretto St. James of Compostella but generally and especially to Rome the Holy and from thence these Pilgrimages were anciently Romeria Romipeta and often called Romeria and Pilgrims Romipetae And when the Pilgrim arrives there presently he addresses himself to visit the Martyr's Sepulchers the stately Churches and Altars the holy Shrines and Reliques there shewed the most famous mirecles there said to be wrought and if possible to kiss the Pope's Toe however to put his head under the foot of the Image of St. Iâ—dels Voiage of Italy part 2. fo 41. Peter standing in St. Peter's Church there in token of subjection to his Successor All which and much more being performed with fitting devotion and offerings the poor Pilgrim thinks himself very happy and his pains and money well bestow'd whil'st the loose Italians scoff at the foolish Tramontano's as they call them for making such idle fruitless and chargeable expeditions But when our Pilgrim returns home he appears Erasm Coll. Obsitus conehis imbricatis stanneis imaginibus oppletus undique culmeis ornatus torquibus brachium habet ova serpentum c. as Erasmus describes him But not with one penny of money in his pocket though seldom or never without a meager Fanatick looks a thredbare Coat some scores to pay and generally a disease into the bargain it being a common Proverb at Rome Tritum Romae Adagium è curia tria reportâ—râ— malam consc eniâ—m stomachum languidum marsupium inane Masson Palmers That men ordinarily carry away thence An ill Conscience a bad Stomach and an empty Purse And which is said to have caused Ven. Bede to make a voluntary mis-interpretation of those well known Letters S. P. Q. R. to import this Stultus Populus Quaerit Romam Another sort there also was of religious Peregrinators that travell'd the world called Palmers Vid les Antiquit dâ—â— Ville dâ— Paris Per Clauâ— maliâ—grâ— fo 2â—â— and the difference between a Pilgrim and Palmer was thus The Pilgrim had some home or dwelling place but the Palmer had none The Pilgrim travelled to some certain designed place or places but the Palmer to all The Pilgrim went at his own charges but the Palmer prosest wilful poverty and went upon Alms. The Pilgrim might give over his Profession and return home but the Palmer must be constant till he had obtained the Palme that is Victory over all his spiritual Enemies and Life by Death and thence his name Palmer or else from a staff or boughs of Palme which always he carryed along with him Not forgetting his scrip wherein to put the Alms and Charities of people The Jubile's being celebrated at Rome and the Pilgrimages generally made thither as to the place of the greatest esteemed sanctity as we have noted before and as Ven. Beda anciently observed upon this occasion Romam adire magnae Virtutis aestimabatur Beda Eccles Hist lib. 4. cap. 23. there was at all times observed a greater proportion of English to flock thither upon those accounts than of any other Nation distance always increasing such kind of devotion And this hath made me sometimes reflect upon an usual Observation of our Travellers who describing the Genius Manners Customs and behaviours of the Italians represent them as mostly symbolizing with the English and far more corresponding than the French Spaniard or any other Nation not so distant from us And therefore I have been apt to think this agreement or likeness might be wrought in some measure at least by that great and long intercourse and communication as formerly was used between the Italians and the English multitudes of them coming over hither for preferment and upon several other accounts as may be collected from divers instances in these Collections but far greater numbers of ours running thither upon infinite occasions part whereof we have already touched and shall note some others in the subsequent periods of our discourses And the Observation of a late Traveller favours this apprehension very much who speaking of Rome Travels of Jo. Ray. fo 368. The present Romans saith he seemed to me in their houses and furniture particularly in their Beds and Lodging in their diet and in their
3. by his menacing Bull to Geoffry de Lysimaco earnestly demanded by Otho his Legate all the arrears of the 1000 marks annual rent granted by his Father K. John due from the beginning of his Papacy and the King's reign who therupon paid all those arrears amounting to 10000 marks for which he desired the Popes allowance and acquittance by this Letter Claus 10 H. 3. m. 2â— doâ—so still kept upon the file Dom. Papae salutem Ad instantiam magistri O. Subdiaconi Capellani vestri viri utique prudentis merito commendabilis qui ad nos transmissus ex parte vestra requirebat à nobis instanter ea quae restare à tempore Papatus Vestri credidit de annuo censu nostro vobis debito Paternitati vestrae praesentibus intimamus quod venerabili Patri P. Norwic. Episc septem millia quadringentas tresdecem marcas dimidium de praedicto censu solvimus sicut mâ—minit ipse pariter confitetur Et ad perficiendum octo millia marcarum praedicto magistro Ottoni solvi fecimus quingentas quater viginti sex marcas dimidium Et praeterea mille marcas tibi assignari fecimus De mille vero marcis vobis satisfecerint Magister Stephanus de Eketon Magister Stephanus de Ducy nuncii nostri sicut nobis significastis Et sic de toto tempore Papatus vestri plenarie vobis est satisfactum Supplicamus igitur sanctitati vestrae quatenus nobis super hoc literas vestras patentes dignemini destinarâ— Teste meipso apud Westmonast 24. die Martii Anno regni nostri Decimo An even reckoning so far And then it appears that in the 33 year of King Hen. 3. Pope Innocent the 4th in the sixth year of his Papacy sent to the King to demand this 1000 marks due for that year An. 33 H 3. in Turri Lond. by this Instrument or Bull Innocentius Episcopus Servus Servorum Dei charissimo in Christo filio Regi Anglorum illustri salutem Apostolicam benedictionem Excellentiam tuam affectione paterna rogamus quatenus mille marcas sterlingorum quas pro anno praesenti Ecclesiae Romanae nomine Census debes dilecto filio Thesaurario Domus militiae Templi London solitae devotionis affectu nomine nostro facias assignari Dat. Lugdun 5 Kal. Augusti Pontificatus nostri sexto Dorso De censu annuo Dom. Papae debito But whether any thing or no was paid upon this demand appears not But by the Liberate Rolls it appears 31 H. 3. m. 1. that this rent due for the 31 year of K. H. 3. was then paid to the Treasurer of the Temple In the year 1276. Pope John 21. sent such another Bull or demand to K. Edw. 1. still preserv'd amongst the Tower Records whereby he demanded the arrears of this annual rent of 1000 marks for seven years then last past and also for that year but whether payment was made accordingly there remains no evidence and when or how much was afterwards paid upon this account is now uncertain But from these footsteps thereof which we find amongst our Records it may well be collected that the Popes being sensible of the defeasibleness of their Title to this Rent durst not always insist upon it but sometimes when they met with an easie King or one whose affairs required the Pope's countenance or aid then they would put on a demand of this rent with the arrears of it and many times without doubt were gratifi'd therein but then with wise and resolute Kings they had the discretion to let it alone and so by continuance of time and non-claim the rent came at last to be extinguish'd CHAP. V. Appeals APpeals to the Court of Rome was another way of drawing great summs of money out of England continually thither And these began most visibly in the time of King Stephen Gervas Dorobern coll fo 1667. according to that of Gervasius Doroberniensis Inusitatae enim erant in Anglia Appellationes usque quo Henricus extitit Wintoniensis Episcopus remembred also by Hen. Huntingdon Hen. Huntingd lib. 8. â—0 395 who tells us also the occasion related at large by Bishop Godwin in the life of Theobald Archbishop of Canterbury And then when the Popes had tasted the sweets of the gains accruing this way all incouragement was given to Appellants so that afterwards there scarcely happen'd any controversie of value but one party or other would presently Appeal to the Pope and Court of Rome for the management of which Appeals it was necessary to retain Proctors Notaries Advocates Agents Sollicitors and many other Officers who all living by the employment expected always to be well paid And in the Court of Rome were continually resident a multitude of Officers Judges Clarks Scribes Advocates Canonists Civillians Referendaries who every one must have a finger in every cause brought thither by Apppeal and be all well paid and brib'd for Bulls Breves Citations Commissions Sentences References Expeditions with innumerable sorts of Processes issuing during the depending of causes which were never speedily ended but spun out to the utmost length with all incouragement of Appellant Suitors bringing grist to the mill and as long as any money flowed to make the wheel go And as these Appeals were purchased in suits between party and party most commonly to the utter undoing of the Plaintiff or Defendant and many times of them both the Pope having the fineness when he had cracked the Nut to take the kernel to himself and to give one shell to one of them and the other to the other so oftentimes they caused a far greater mischief being made use of by haughty turbulent and undutiful subjects especially Church-men to cross and oppose their Soveraigns upon every or any pretence whatsoever Witness the Appeals of Anselme Becket the Monks of Canterbury with multitudes more from the King and his Laws to the Pope as in all our Histories most frequently occurr All which tended only to carry huge sums to Rome and to bring thence no less mischiefs to the King and Kingdom And besides this multitudes of Appeals were founded upon the Elections of Bishops Abbots Priors Deans c. for it was very rare to have all parties acquiesce in an Election but Incapacity Simony Surprize or some irregularity would be pretended and then presently an Appeal must be made to Rome and there generally the cause determined for that party which brought the most money Venalesque manus ibi fas ubi plurima merces Acts Mon. fo 259. As once John Hereford was elected Abbot of St. Alban's Monastery but upon some dis-satisfaction taken thereat Reynold the Physician and Nicholas a Monk were instantly posted away with a huge bag of Money to Rome whereby the Election was confirm'd upon these terms That the new Abbot should swear every third year by himself or some other to visit the Limina Apostolorum in Rome with a subintelligitur that he should
Statutes and Priviledges was vacated and overthrown and his own revenues established upon the ruins of the Nation Dispensing with any thing nay every thing by which he might gain any thing as may be read at large in that notable Historian to whom for brevities sake we referr those that would receive further satisfaction therein and pass on to the CHAP. VII Indulgences Pardons INdulgences and Pardons shall in the next place be remembred as most powerful devices to draw money to Rome And because the import of these generally hath not been so well apprehended we will take liberty to make a little enquiry into the nature and vertue of them In the Primitive Times when the Christians had committed any hainous offence as for example either in denying their Faith or sacrificing to Idols for fear of persecution the parties offending were injoyned some severe and long Penance and the rigour of this the Bishops and Pastors had power if they saw cause to mitigate at their discretion which mitigation or relaxation of Punishment was called Indulgence or Pardon And this derived from St. Paul who released the incestuous Corinthian from the bond of Excommunication upon his humiliation and serious repentance And this manner of Indulgence was ancient and continued long in the Primitive Church But the Indulgence in the Roman Church is of another nature for seeing that Sin as they say deserveth as well some Temporal punishment as Eternal Damnation their Indulgence is a supposed Absolution from the guilt of Temporal punishment Vid. Pol. Vergil de invent rerum lib. 8. cap. 1. which punishment is inflicted they say in Purgatory and all this as they further add by the application of the merits of Jesus Christ and his Saints by the medium and method of the Church and these merits are termed Thesaurus Ecclesiae The Treasure of the Church and appliable to the souls of the dead burning in Purgatory to work out their Temporal punishment And this is the notion of Indulgence in the Roman Church if I mistake not for it is a Doctrine as difficult to understand as to maintain But this is certain that these modern new coin'd Indulgences differ infinitely from that of the Primitive Times for those which were first used for mitigation of Penance or Punishment are now reduced to be in stead of real private satisfactions and that which was formerly left to the discretion of every Bishop in his own Diocess to dispence in that manner with summum jus is now solely transferred to the Power and authority of the Pope and that not only from Penances and Punishments in this life but also from imprisonment pains and tortures in Purgatory for many thousands of years As whosoever in the state of Grace shall say seven prayers before the Crucifix Horae beaâ—ae Mar. Virg. secundum usum Sarum and seven Pater nosters and seven Ave Marys shall obtain Six and Fifty Thousand years of pardon fourteen thousand granted by St. Gregory fourteen thousand by Nicholas the First and eight and twenty thousand by Sixtus the 4th Bulâ—a Pli Quarti Dat. Rom. 1564. And amongst the Articles framed at the Council of Trent to be owned super forma juramenti professionis fidei this is one That the power of Indulgences was left by Christ in the Church and that the use thereof is most wholesom for Christs people For the Antiquity Authority and validity of these Indulgences as now practised let those maintain if they can whom it most concerns and who get by them for my business now is not to dispute only I cannot forbear to tell you what a learned Romanist says of them Cunerus Declam Dolendum mirandum c. It is to be lamented and admired how Catholicks write of Indulgences so timorously so coldly so diversly so doubtfully as if they were so far fetch'd or so uncertainly framed that they could hardly be proved We will therefore only take notice of their efficacy to draw money out of the Peoples purses our present purpose and for their power of drawing Souls out of Purgatory we leave it to another opportunity For the purpose of drawing money from the people there could not have been a more neat contrivance Rivet and therefore by one they have not improperly been called Emulgences Romarorum loculos impraegnare Mat. Paris Hen. 3. and by the Romanists themselves in their truest signification The Treasury of the Church For seeing the Pope was become the sole dispencer and disposer of them when he had occasion or a mind to amass moneys it was a ready and sure way upon pretence of Wars against the Turks or of Wars against Hereticks or Wars against the Emperour or any neighbor Prince or State with whom the Pope was at odds to send out and proclaim Marts and Sales for these Indulgences upon terms that those who would disburse any summs of money for the purposes aforesaid as the occasion was they should have Pardons and Indulgences for numbers of years proportionable to the summs they could or would deposite Hen. de Knighton Coll. 2671. Nam aliter non absolvebantur nisi tribuerent secundum posse suum facultatem suam For people could not be absolv'd except they did disburse as much as their abilities would afford as Hen. de Knighton deals plainly in the case And then for the poor and indigent truly they deserve our pitty when the Taxa Camerae Apostolicae deals thus plainly with them Taxa Cam. Apost Impress Paris Nota diligenter quod hujusmodi gratiae non conceduntur pauperibus quia non habent ergo non possunt consolari Note diligently that such graces are not granted to the poor because they have not wherewithal they cannot be comforted A very sad Case Now for those people that were conscious and certain they were guilty of many sins and perswaded they should lye frying in Purgatory many thousands of years to purge themselves and make them fit for Heaven who would not presently unstring and give even almost all they were worth for such advantages and to be freed from those bitterly represented pains and torments Then to assure people they were not cheated in these penny-worths and bargains the Mysterie of the Pope's Triple Crown was sufficient for anciently if not still the word Mysterium Mysterium was engraven thereon to denote and signifie the Rule and Authority the Pope bears in Heaven in Earth and in Purgatory And so these Indulgences and Pardons were trucked for and bought up at any rates untill people began a little to consider and look about them and to observe upon what terms and for what purposes these Indulgences were sent abroad wherein no distinction of persons or sins was made which reasonably might have been expected from Christ's Vicar that whosoever performed some religious rites and paid certain summs of money should have all their sins forgiven whatever they were so that all men who would come to the price
the whole Kingdom wherein all art and Rhetorick imaginable was used by suing Preaching and begging to draw people to unstring and deposite according to their respective abilities and inclinations by which means the Nation was always kept bare and poor whilst the wealth thereof was carryed away into forrain parts and mostly unto the Kings Enemies as appears by many complaints thereof for that purpose made Particularly Rot. Parl. An. 8 Ed. 3. in a Parliament held An. 8 Ed. 3. a special Petition and complaint was made by the Commons in that behalf And afterwards in several King's raigns a multitude more to the like effect as by our Parliamentary Records it doth appear which for brevities sake we here omit to specifie referring such as would receive further satisfaction therein to that excellent Abridgement of the Tower Records collected by the learned Sir Robert Cotton and lately printed Cardinal Woolsey at one time had raked up Twelve Barrels full of Gold Speed in H. 8. nu 77. and Silver to serve the Pope in his warrs c. CHAP. XII Courts COurts and Jurisdictions of the Pope both at Rome and within the Kingdom drew constantly out of the People's purses incredible Masses of money For to these Courts belonged Judges Officials Delegates Referendaries Commissaries Dataries Scribes Notaries Proctors Registers Summoners Apparitors Clarks Sollicitors and a multitude of other Officers who all by their places and practice grew rich sent great summs to their chief the Pope and help'd to beggar the people In these Courts all causes of Contentions and Instance between party and party as also ex officio were entertained and cherished And the charge and expence going this way was so much the worse in regard of the danger turmoil and vexation continually attending those that had to do in these Courts For by some other wayes men were wheadled and gull'd out of their money to their no small content but here they were squeezed racked and tortur'd as long as their purses or themselves could breath These Courts at first were pretended to be instituted for Ecclesiastical Persons and causes only But then at the instance of Ecclesiastical persons many of the Laicks were cited to Rome to make Answer concerning businesses not at all belonging to the Cognizance of that Court as matters of Inheritances Gages Pawns Contracts c. And Laicks also upon Oath or Allegation that they could not have Justice before their proper Judges were admitted and incouraged to bring their Causes to Rome or out of the King 's into the Pope's Court. And thereupon the Pope's Judges and Officers spared not to disturb all other places of Judicature in derogation of the King's authority excommunicating all that would not obey them And these Courts as they were managed became an accumulative charge and burden to the people For the right of Patronage belonging to divers Lay and Ecclesiastical persons was under Colour of Prevention or Provision by the power and authority of these Courts usurped by the Pope his Legats and Officers when Benefices were vacant and then the same usually conferred on Courtiers Favourites Italians and Strangers And these men dying either at Rome or in their way thither or thence their Benefices were conferr'd again by these Courts upon others to the great wrong of the right Patrons And then great Benefices would not he conferr'd on worthy persons or on any other unless temporary gratuities and continuing Pensions were first given and secured out of them to the Courtiers Dependants and Officers of the Pope And in granting these Benefices many Arts were used to get money under the names of Reservations Permutations Surrogations c. In these Courts also Excommunications were often denounced for trifles but not taken off without great charge Confirmations of Foundations Ecclesiastical Religious and charitable were here purchased with great summs of money When the Pope had any Aid or exhibition from the Ecclesiasticks here were contrivances that they should be sure to be repair'd again by the People All trifling frivolous causes drawn to these Courts but no dismission without good payment No Publick Penance here awarded without some private summs to be paid Licences for money to keep a feme putein Money exacted of Monks and Fryers for concubinage on presumption they had or might have quam pro quo Farming out Livings and Benefices to poor Vicars at such high rates as they were forced to get their money again of the People by Confessions Anniversaries Obits c. Burial denyed to all that died suddenly or by chance on presumption they dyed in mortal sin until here some good summ was paid With infinite other tricks and devices to draw money from the people practised by these Courts and their Officers tedious to enumerate but more intolerable to be born as may in some measure appear by the Stat. of Praemunire and Provisors Vid. Coke Plâ—cit Coren cap. 53. W. Prin Record of King John H. 3 Ed. 1. pointed at in the former discourse with the Suits Attachments and Prohibitions for suing for Lay Fees in these Courts in derogation of the Crown and impoverishing of the People exemplified by Mr. Prinne out of the Tower Records To these Courts also the Popes sometimes would be so audacious as to cite even Kings themselves as claiming Jurisdiction over them Thus Pope Boniface the eighth Matt. Wesâ—m in An. 1301.10.435 having a Controversie with our King Edw. 1. touching the Realm of Scotland which the Pope affirmed belonged to the Church of Rome wrote to the King That if he pretended any Title to the Realm of Scotland he should send his Proctors to the Court of Rome with all his evidences proofs and Instruments touching the same there to have and receive Justice in the premises At another time Pope Innocent the fourth summoned King Henry the third Westm Mâ—tt An. 1246. fo 3â—7 to appear to Answer to one of his Vassals David by name and to give him satisfaction for some wrongs as he said he had done him But in the first case the King by advice of his Lords and Barons slighted the citation and to the other nothing was return'd but scoffs and derision CHAP. XIII Contributions for the Holy Land COntributions for relief of the poor distressed Christians in the Holy Land and to carry on the War against the common Enemy of Christendom were frequently set on foot Sim. Dunelâ—â— Hist fo 249. And by that means great summs were as often drain'd out of the Kingdom but then a small or no part thereof imployed for those purposes Chron. W. Thorn Coll. 1926. Gerviâ—s Dorobern 1522. For to this end the Popes often prevailed with Princes to impose on their subjects and made them the Instruments on this pretence to hook money out of their pockets Johannes Ferentinus was sent hither from the Pope about that matter An. D. 1206. and sped so well in his negotiation and carryed such a great quantity of money away with
to Indulgences Pardons Dispensations Jubiles Regular Foundations Shrines Masses Confessions c. I must confess I have sometimes endeavour'd to understand the nature and import of this Popish Purgatory but could never yet meet with any satisfaction therein And to say truth the differences amongst the Papists are so many and irreconcileable in all the points and circumstances which concern this Doctrine that they serve sufficiently in stead of all other reasons and arguments to confute it Eâ—kius in Encheiâ—id First for the place Eckius will have it to be in the bottom of the Sea Some will have it in mount Aetna Vesuvius Hecla Ande or some such other ignivomous Montgibels and Bernard de Bustis in an Hill of Ireland In Rosaâ— parâ— 3. Ca. 2. Next for the torments Sir Thomas More will have them to be only by fire but Fisher his fellow-sufferer by fire and by water Lorichius neither by fire Lorich Instit Cathol nor water but by the violent convulsions of Hope and Fear Then Vid. B. Jewels Defence part 2. cap. 16. for the Executioners or Tormentors these differ no less again for Bishop Fisher will have them to be the Holy Angels but Sir Thomas More to be the very Devils Then for the sins to be there expiated some will have them to be the Venial only and others say the Mortal too And for the time of Souls continuance in that State Dionys Carthus de 4. Noviss Dennis the Carthusian extends it to the end of the world when Dominicus à Soto limits it to ten years and others make it depend on the number of the Masses and Offices that shall be done on their behalf or if the Pope do but speak the word Lastly for the extremity of the pains Aquinas makes them as violent as those of Hell But the Rhemists say Rhem. Annot. in Apoc. 14.13 Durand de Offic. mortuor cap. 7. Beda Eccles Hist lib. 5. cap. 13. that the Souls there are in a very fine condition And Durandus between these extremes gives them some intermission from those terrible pains upon Sundayes and Holy-dayes Beda tells a long story of a Northumberland man that after he dyed returned to life again and gave a relation of the condition of those piteous Souls viz. that he passed through the middle of a long and large valley that had two lakes in it on either side one all along both top-ful of Souls constantly leaping out of one into the other in the one of these lakes the Souls were tormented with Fire and in the other with freezing cold and when a Soul had bin so long in the hot lake that it could endure no longer it would skip out into the cold lake and when it had layn so long there as that became intolerable it would leap back again into the fiery apartment and so they continued continually tormented with that alternation of heat and cold But by all this uncertainty or contrariety rather of opinions it may clearly be seen upon what weak foundations they have raised this building which certainly would have fallen to the ground long ago if it had not bin for the profit which the Popes Priests and Fryers have raised by the fiction And upon this one point of Popish Doctrine viz. Purgatory as I noted before their Masses Requiems Dirges Trentals Prayers for the dead the Doctrine of merits works of Supererogation Indulgences Pardons Jubiles c. do depend all tending to bring into the heavenly Exchequer at Rome where by inversion of the Holy Scripture Gain is great Godliness and though St. Peter said Silver and Gold have I none yet those which pretend to be his Successors ingross to themselves the Treasures of the world for to the support of that usurped Hierarchy all Kings with the People were by these Arts forced to contribute and to make surrendry of their Temporal Power and Temporal Riches And though the Pope as the Head thereof glutted himself with the cream of the Kingdom 's wealth yet all the other members down to the very petty-toes of that Romish Body would be continually raking and scraping for themselves being as spunges to suck from the People that they might afford sometimes to be squeezed by the Pope CHAP. XXV The Frier's Case ONe way specified before of carrying great summs out of the Kingdom to Rome was Appeals and drawing a multitude of Causes to be heard and determined in the Court of Rome and though those were not always the most weighty or difficult yet whatever the suggestion was if introduced with money the cause was receiv'd and treated accordingly And now for a Conclusion and that my Reader may as well be a little recreated as informed what kind of causes were brought sometimes before his Holiness and his Courts I will give him a Report or Relation of a certain case transmitted thither as it receiv'd a hearing re-hearing and re-re-hearing before it had its final Resolution in the Court of Rome as depending there near upon Fifty years before it was dismist St. Francis Anti-mach fo 86 c. the Founder of the Order of Franciscan Friers about the year 1198. amongst other Articles of his Rule Ordained thus That all that were of his Order for Apparel should cloath themselves with the basest vilest and of the lowest price that could be That they should only have one Coat with a Hood and another without a Hood That they should wear no shoos nor ride on Horseback Now amongst the Friers of this Order there grew great differences and disputations about the Interpretation of this one Article To compose which a General Chapter or Convention was held that the true meaning of the Article might be understood and declared and that all might sort themselves to one Habit for some wore habits of one colour and some of another and some wore short and others long insomuch as they seemed not to be all of the same Rule and Order In this Chapter or Convention there were notable disputes and arguments upon all the points or branches of this Article But about the two last points they came to agreement without much difficulty for seeing they were forbidden to ride on Horseback they resolv'd to ride but on Asses and Mules or to go on foot as now commonly they do wherein they considered also the convenience of Asses in regard they could keep them in their Covents at an easier charge than Horses for they would live very well without Provender And for Shoos they resolved that they would take away the uper leather leaving a sole only with a thong to go over the foot to make the sole fast to the foot and so they should not be Shoos but Soles But the great difficulty was about the Coat and Hood And there were some cunning Friers good at division who divided the first branch of the Article into three principal Points or Questions The First about the Colour The Second about the Quantity And the
into the King's hands and lost during his life And this Judgement was before any Act of Parliament made in that case Nota. And there it is said That for the like offence the Archbishop of Canterbury had bin in worse case by the Judgement of the Sages in the Law if the King had not extended favour to him Although by the Ordinance of Circumspecte agatis Coke 5 Rep. Case de jure R. Eccl. made in the thirteenth year of King Edward the first and by a general allowance and usage the Ecclesiastical Court held Plea of Tithes Oblations Obventions Mortuaries Redemption of Penance Laying of violent hands on a Clark Defamations c. yet did not the Clergy think themselves assured nor quiet from Prohibitions purchased by subjects till King Edward the second by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal Staâ— 9 Edw. 2. Artic. cler ca. 16. in and by consent of Parliament upon Petition of the Clergy had granted them Jurisdiction in those cases An Excommunication by the Archbishop Finzh Excom 4.16 Ed. 3. Broâ—k Excom pl. 5.14 H. 4. although it be dis-annulled by the Pope or Legate is to be allowed Neither may the Judges give any allowance of any such sentence of the Pope or his Legate And it hath often bin adjudg'd 30 Ed 3 Lib. Assiz pl. 19.12 Ed. 4.16 and declared That the Pope's Excommunication is of no force in England It is often Resolved in our Books that all the Bishopricks in England were founded by the King's Progenitors and the Advowsons vowsons of them all belong to the King and at first they were * Per traditionem annuli pastorasis baculi Donative And that if an Incumbent of any Church with cure dyes if the Patron Present not within six months the Bishop of that Diocess ought to collate that the cure be supply'd if he neglect by the space of six moneths the Metropolitan of that Diocess shall confer one unto that Church and if he also neglect six moneths then the Law gives to the King as Supreame within his own Kingdom and not to the Pope power to provide a Pastor The King may not only exempt any Ecclesiastical Person from the Jurisdiction of the Ordinary but may grant unto him Episcopal Jurisdiction as it appears the King had done of antient time to the Archdeacon of Richmond 17 Ed 3.13 20 Ed. 3. And the Abbot of Bury was exempted from Episcopal Jurisdiction by the King's Charter The King Presented to a Benefice 21 Ed. 3.40 and his Presentee was disturbed by one that had obtained Bulls from Rome for which offence he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment If Excommunication be the final end of any suit in the Court of Rome as indeed it is and be not allowed Fitzh Nat. Br. fo 64. f. or allowable in England as it hath often bin Declared It then follows that by the Ancient Common Law of England no suit for any cause though it be spiritual arising within this Realm may or can be determined in the Court of Rome Quia frustra expectatur eventus cujus effectus nullus sequitur At a Parliament held An. Stat. 25 Ed. 3. de Provisorib 25 Edward the third It was Enacted That as well they that obtained Provisions from Rome as they that put them in execution should be out of the King's Protection and that they should be dealt withal as the King's Enemies and no man so dealing with them should be impeached for the same At a Parliament held An. Stat. 16 Ric. 2. cap. 5. 16 Ric. 2. It is declar'd That the Crown of England hath bin so free at all times that it hath bin in subjection to none but immediately subject to God and none other and that the same ought not in any thing touching the Regality of the said Crown to be submitted to the Bishop of Rome nor the Laws and Statutes of this Realm by him frustrated or defeated at his Will And the Commons in that Parliament affirmed that the things attempted by the Bishop of Rome be clearly against the King's Crown and his Regality used and approved in time of all his Progenitors in which points the said Commons professed to live and dye and to all which the Lords assented also as being thereto bound by their Allegiances It is resolved that the Pope's Collector 2 Hen. 4 fo 9. though he have the Pope's Bull for that purpose hath no Authority within this Realm And there it is said That the Archbishops and Bishops of this Realm are the King 's spiritual Judges And in another place it is said Papa non potest mutare Leges Angliae 11 Hen. 4. fo 37. Per Curiam In the raign of King Henry the sixth 1 Hen. 7. fo 10. the Pope wrote Letters in derogation of the King and his Regality and the Church-men durst not speak any thing against them But Humfrey Duke of Glocester for their safe keeping put them into the fire In the raign of King Edward the fourth 1 Hen. 7. fo 20. the Pope granted to the Prior of St. John's to have Sanctuary in his Priory and this was pleaded and claim'd by the Prior but resolved by the Judges Keilway Reports 8 H. 8. fo 191. b. That the Pope had no power to grant any Sanctuary within this Realm and therefore the same was disallowed by Judgement of Law In Brook Tit. Presentation al Esglise Bro. Present al Esglise p. 12. It is affirmed That the Pope was permitted to do certain things within this Realm by usurpation and not of right untill the Raign of King Kenry the eighth quod nota sayes the Book Stat. 24 Hen. 8. ca. 12.25 H. 8.21 And in what esteem the Pope's Authority here was in that King's time may sufficiently be collected from the Tenor and Purview of the Statutes about that affair in his raign made In the raign of King Kenry the sixth Henry Beaufort Uncle to the King being Bishop of Winchester was made Cardinal and thereupon purchased from the Pope a Bull Declaratory that he might still hold his Bishoprick yet it was held and adjudged that the See of Winchester was become void by the assumption of the Cardinalship and therefore the Cardinal fallen into a Praemunire 4 Hen. 6. in Arch. Turr. Lond. for which he was glad to purchase his pardon as by the Records of all this it doth appear It was Adjudged in the Court of Common Pleas Dier 12 Eliz. by Sir James Dyer Weston and the whole Court That a Dean or any other Ecclesiastical Person may resign as divers did to King Edward the sixth Vid. Grend ca. in Plowd Com. for that he had the Authority of the Supream Ordinary With all this may be noted also the several Statutes heretofore made against the usurpations of the Bishops of Rome in this Kingdom the principal whereof these viz. Stat. 25 Ed. 3. de Provisorib Stat. 27 28 Ed.
purpose we must know that after the Power of the Bishops of Rome came to some consistency in the world and the Pope began to look upon himself as a spiritual Prince or Monarch he presently began to attempt to give Laws to Nations and People as a badge of his Soveraignty but then well knowing That ubi non est condendi authoritas ibi non est parendi necessitas he would not impose those Laws at first peremptorily upon all People but offered them timide and precario and in such places where he presumed they would find the freest reception and in order to this at first he caused certain Rules to be collected for the Order and Government of the Clergy only which he called Decreta and not Laws or Statuta and these Decrees as they were called were first published in the year 1150 in the raign of our King Stephen and whereas Sr. Edward Coke Sr Ed. Coke Pref. aâ— 8. Relat. in the Preface to the eighth Report sayes that Roger Bacon the learned Fryer saith in his Book de impedimentis Sapientiae That King Stephen forbad by publick edict that no man should retain the Laws of Italy then brought into England we may with some assurance intend it of these Decrees about that time compil'd and publish'd And these were received Keilways Rep. 7 Hen. 8. fo 184. and observed by the Clergy of the Western Churches only for those of the Eastern Churches would never admit these Rules or Canons Afterwards the Bishops of Rome attempted to bring the Laity also under the obedience of these Canons and for that purpose they first began with Rules or Canons about abstinence and dayes of Fasting to be observed by the Laity Maâ—sil Pat. lib. Defens Pac. pa. 2. c. 23 Durard Rat. Di. l. 4. c. 6 7. as well as Clergy which at the first institution were termed by that mild word Rogationes and thence the week of Fasting before the Feast of Pentecost came to be called Rogation week in regard this time of Abstinence was at first appointed by an Ordinance called Rogatio and not Praeceptum or Statutum When the Laity had swallowed this Ordinance of Fasting then De una praesumptione ad aliam transivit Romanus Pontifex as Marsil Pata hath it that is the Bishop of Rome proceeded to make and publish several other orders by the name of Decretals and these were published about the year 1230. An. 14 Hen 3. Mat. Paris in Hen. 3. fo 417. and made or proposed to bind all the Laity as well Princes as their Subjects in several matters relating to their Civil and Temporal concerns As That no Lay-man should have the Donation of Ecclesiastical Benefices That no Lay man should marry within certain degrees out of the degrees limited by the Levitical Law That all Infants born before Espousals should after Espousals be adjudged Legitimate and capable to inherit That all Clarks should be exempt from the Secular Power and divers more such like But then we must know that these Decretals so made were not intirely and absolutely receiv'd in all parts of Christendom but only at first in the Temporal Territory of the Pope which on that account is call'd by the Canonists Patria Obedientiae but wholly rejected in England France and other Christian Countreys which thence are sometimes called Patriae consuetudinariae as resolving to adhere to their old Laws and Customs As the Canon that prohibits Donation of Benefices per Laicam manum was always disobeyed in England France the Realm of Naples and divers other Countrys The Canon to legitimate Infants born before marriage was specially rejected in England when in the Parliament held at Merton Stat. de Merton An. 20 Hen. 3. Omnes Comites Barones una voce responderunt Keilway 7 H. 8. fo 181. b. Nolumus Leges Angliae mutari quae hucusq usitatae sunt c. The Canon that exempted Clerks from the Secular Power was never observed fully in any part of Christendom Infallible arguments that these Canons received not the force of Laws from the Court of Rome as if that had power to give Laws to all Nations without their respective consents but the approbation and usage of the People received them as they pleased partially and specially as to Places Times and parts of those Canons and for the same reason that some rejected one others did more and some all of them as Bodin says Bodin de Repub lib. 1. cap. 8. That the Kings of France upon erecting of their Universities there declare in their Charters that the Profession of the Civil and Canon Laws may there be receiv'd and used according to discretion but not to bind as Laws Now when the Bishop of Rome perceived that many of his Canons were embraced in several Countreys under colour thereof he claim'd Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction within those Realms with power to interpret and dispence with his own Canons and for that purpose sent his Legates about with Commissions to hear and determine causes according to those Laws which upon their first exhibition Marsil Pat. ut supr pa. 2. c. 23. as is before noted he durst not call Laws or Statuta ne committeret crimen laesae Majestatis in Principes as Marsil Patav observes who further says that these Canons inasmuch as they were made by the Pope neque sunt humanae leges neque divinae sed documenta quaedam narrationes But as is said when he perceiv'd they were allowed and used in part or in whole in divers Countreys they were revised digested and compil'd into Volumes and called Jus Canonicum and being appointed to be read and expounded in publick Schools and Universities they were commanded to be obeyed by all under pain of Excommunication with declaration of the Pope's power to interpret abrogate or dispence with them at his pleasure and thereupon the Canonists say Lib. 6. de Const cap. Licet Papa in omnibus pure positivis in quibusdam ad jus Divinum pertinentibus dispensare potest quia dicitur omnia jura habere in scrinio pectoris sui quantum ad interpretationem dispensationem In the 25th year of King Ed. 1. An Dom. 1297 Tho. Walsing Stow in hoc anno one Simon a Monk of Walden began first to read the Canon Law in the University of Cambridge and the year after it began to be read also in the University of Oxford in the Church of the Friers Praedicants and from that time got ground in England being sometimes admitted and sometimes rejected according to the Ebb or Flow of the Papal interest here but how really this Canon Law was an innovation and usurpation here it is sufficient but to peruse the Preamble to the Statute of Faculties Stat. 25 Hen. 8. cap. 21. and Dispensations made in the raign of King Hen. 8. to which the Reader is referred As another Branch of the Pope's power in the matters aforesaid we may observe that
this clause or words non obstante was first invented and used in the Court of Rome whereupon Marsil Petav. pronounces a dreadful Vae against that Court for introducing this clause of non obstante as being a bad president and mischievous to all the People of Christendom for when the Temporal Princes perceived the Pope to dispence with his own Canons they made no scruple to imitate him and dispence with their Penal Laws and Statutes Vid. le Case de Penal stat in Coke 7. Rep. and hereupon one Canonist said thus Dispensatio est vulnus quod vulnerat jus commune and another thus That all abuses would be reform'd if these two words viz. non obstante did not hinder And Matt. Paris reciting several Decrees made in the Council of Lions beneficial to the Church Mat. Paris in An. 1245. says thus Sed omnia haec alia per hoc repagulum non obstante infirmantur But now to return We have seen how by several steps and gradations it was after the Norman Conquest that the Court of Rome usurp'd upon the Crown of England in four main points of Jurisdiction under four of our Kings not immediately succeeding for of King Will. Rufus the Pope could gain nothing viz. 1. Upon the Conquerour by sending Legats or Commissioners to hear and determine Ecclesiastical causes and other purposes 2. Upon King Hen. 1. the Donation and Investiture of Bishopricks and other Benefices 3. Upon King Stephen in drawing of Appeals to the Court of Rome 4. Upon King Hen. 2. in the exemption of Clerks from the secular Power all rivetted and clinch'd by the new Decrees and Canons which were continually multiplyed and obtruded here and all this notwithstanding the generous resistances which at several times were made to all Neither would all this satisfie till an entire surrender of the Crown it self was obtain'd from King John re-granted him again to hold in Fee-Farm and Vassallage of the Court of Rome For it was both before in and after this King's time that by the boldness and activity of strangers and treachery or pusillanimity of subjects co-operating with the weaknesses and necessities of Princes the Papacy arrived to that height as to domineer in a most intolerable way both over the Purse the Conscience the Regality and all the most weighty concernments of the Nation Now to redress all this some unequal resistances were at divers times made Vid. Mat. Paris in H. 3. in toto King Hen. 3. was totally born down and his Kingdom and subjects reduced to utter poverty and slavery by this usurpation After him comes the noble King Edw. 1. who truly may be stiled Vindex Libertatis Anglicanae at his Father's death he was abroad in the Holy Land but no sooner return'd and Crown'd and finding his Kingdom in such a bad plight his first work was to put some stop to the career of Papal incroachments For the Pope having then summoned a General Council he would not suffer his Bishops to repair to it till he took a solemn Oath of them for their Loyalty and good abearing Then the Pope forbidding the King to War against Scotland he slights his prohibition and proceeds The Pope demands the First Fruits of Ecclesiastical Livings but the King forbids the payment thereof to him The Pope sends forth a general Bull prohibiting the Clergy to pay Subsidies to Temporal Princes whereupon a Tenth being granted to the King in Parliament the Clergy refused to pay it but the King seiseth their Temporalties for the Contempt and obtained payment notwithstanding the Pope's Buâ— After this he made the Statute of Mortâ—â—ain that the Church might not grow monstrous in temporal possessions In his time one of his subjects brougth in a Bull of Excommunication against another and the King Commanded he should be executed as a Traitor according to the ancient law but the Chancellor and Treasurer on their knees begged that he should be only banished He caused Laws to be made against bringing in of Bulls of Provision and Breves of Citation and made the first Statute against Provisors His Successor King Edw. 2. being but a weak Prince suffered the Pope to grow upon him but then the Peers and People withstood him all they could and when that unhappy King was to be depos'd amongst the Articles fram'd against him one of the most hainous was That he had given allowance to the Pope's Bulls After him King Ed. 3. a magnanimous Prince couragiously resisted the Pope's incroachments and caused the Statutes against Provisors to be severely put in execution and the Bishops of Winchester and Ely and Abbot of Waltham convicted and punished for their high contempts Yet during the nonage of King Rich. 2. the Pope's Bulls Stat. 16 R. 2. ca. 5. Breves and Legats became very busie and daring again whereof the People became so sensible and impatient that upon their special prayer the Stat. 16. R. 2. of Praemunire was enacted more severe and penal than all the former Statutes against Provisors and yet against this King as against King Ed. 2. it was objected at the time of his depose that he had allowed the Pope's Bulls to the enthralling of the Crown After this comes a weak King Hen. 6. and then another attempt was made if possible to revive the usurped Jurisdiction for the commons denying the King money when he was in great wants the Archbishop of Canterbury and the rest of the Bishops offered the King a large supply if that he would consent that all the Laws against Provisors and especially that of 16 Ric. 2. might be repealed but the Duke of Glocester who before had burnt the Pope's Letters caused this motion to be rejected so that all those Laws by especial providence have stood in force untill this day All which with the Resolutions and Judicial Judgements before specified founded upon the ancient and good Laws of the Land have enabled our Kings at all times since to vindicate the just Rights of their Crown But King Hen. 8. designing a further Reformation which could not be effected whilest the Pope's authority had any life in England took this course First he writes to the Universities the Great Monasteries and Churches in his Kingdom and in particular May 18. 1534. to the University of Oxford requiring them as men of vertue In Archivis Oxon. ad An. 1534. Antiq. Eccl. Brit. fo 384. 37. Integrity and profound Learning diligently to examine discuss and resolve a certain Question of no small import viz. An Romanus Episcopus habeat majorem aliquam jurisdictionem sibi collatam in Sacra Scriptura in hoc regno Angliae quam alius quivis externus Episcopus and to return their Opinion in Writing under their common seal according to the meer and sincere truth thereof To which after mature deliberation and examination not only of the places of the Holy Scriptures but of the best Interpreters of the same for many days they returned Answer Jun. 27. 1534.