of the Congregations of the Canons of St. Gregory in Alga at Venice and the Brethren Jesuits of Saint Jerom in Fesulis Styled Congregationem Canonicorum St. Gregorii in Alga Venetiarum ac fratrum Jesuitarum St. Hieronymi in Fesulis How the Revenus of the two first were disposed of I know not but the last and I believe so of the former were given to the State of Venice for defraying the charge of the defence of Candy and the Senate sold them and the Buyers are in no danger of Resumption In the like manner Cardinal Vrsini Protector of Poland hath of late Interceded with the Pope for dissolving of several Religious Houses in that Kingdom to supply the Treasury in the Important War that Kingdom sustains against the Turks and I doubt not but it is or will be effected The Abby of Burgh de Diâ—u Alienated To return to France the Famous Abby called Burgh de Dieu which with the appurtenances is valued at 20000 l. yearly Rent is Possessed by the Prince of Conde and it is little more than two years since that two thirds of the Rich Abby of St. Denis in France hath been given for ever by the Pope Two thirds of the Abby of St. Denis Alienated for the Education of Young Gentlewomen the King having sollicited the Alienation and caused it to be confirmed by the Arch-bishop and Parliament of Paris At Liege in (h) Lord Castlâ—maine Peply p. 219. Germany the Prince enjoys the Cloyster Garden and Appendices belonging to the Nuns there by the Popes Bull and all Catholic Divines and Lawyers are satisfied In Germany as well as in other places Alienations in Germany it hath been long Practized that such a portion of Religious Lands as have been imployed for the Table of the Arch-bishops Bishops Abbots or Priors have been Converted to Secular Pensions In General we may observe that as the Statute of Mortmain here was made to restrain Peoples too Prodigal giving to the Church so where some Church-mens Revenues are thought too great and some Merit was thought fit to be rewarded Commendams and Pensions have been thought to be dispensed with By these and multitudes of other instances I might produce if the cause râ—quired you may easily Judge that the Canons of Councils the Decretals of Popes and other Constitutions Ecclesiastical prohibiting Alienation of Church Lands have been Infringed sometimes by Secular Princes without and sometimes with the Popes Dispensation in all Ages SECT VI. Concerning the Alienations of Church-lands in Germany and the establishment of a Tolleration of Religion there by the Treaties of Munster and Osnaburgh Objecti ∣ on Objection that the disseizing of the Religious in England was very different from that in other places I Believe you had considered the force of these particulars of which you could not be ignorant therefore you tell me how different our case is from any other Alienation of Church-lands since in all the foregoing Examples the Sacred Patrimony was either commuted to some other Charitable use or employed for the support of Armies for defence of the Prince or his Dominions or of Christians against Pagans or Turks But here was a total suppression and Abolition of Religious Orders under pretext that they had degenerated into Sloth Vice and Superstition and that their Lands being given to the Crown would so Augment the Kings Revenue as the Subjects for the future would be eased of Subsidies and other Taxes the King might erect new Bishopricks and imploy some of their Lands to better Religious Uses which were the popular Arguments to obtain the Assent of the two Houses of Parliament to their Dissolution Yet for want of appointing how particularly these Lands should be applyed to such uses and the absolute Investing them in the Crown without Limitation of Uses they were squandred away by piece-meal and the Subjects very little eased of any publick burthen You further add that when you consider these things and the Artifices used to obtain surrenders from the Convents of these Lands and then make them pass for their voluntary Acts and as such obtain their confirmation by Acts of Parliament so that in no Kingdom or State any such unpresidented Innovation upon the Rights of the Church or such a sweeping devastation of these Lands so legally settled upon the Religious was ever known You cannot conceive but that if the Roman Catholic Religion can ever be Introduced here those Lands will be claimed and in Justice ought to be restored Since no defence can be made for so violent a possession of them In the proper place when I come to consider the Act it self I hope to give you satisfaction that tho' I grant all this yet no Resumption can possibly be obtained How the Religious Lands in Germany were setled by the Treaty of Munster But before I speak to this I shall pass with you into the Empire and own how the Churches there have lost their Lands and that the condition of them in Germany is nearest akin to ours and that there the Entrance upon the Church Revenues was by Violence during a Civil War by the Princes of the Augustan Confession seized upon as out of the Hands of their Enemies and that during the Treaties of (i) Tractat. Pacis c. p. 140. The Nuncio of the Pope protests against it Munster and Osnaburgh the Restitution of these Lands being debated Fabius the Popes Nuncio afterwards Pope by the Name of Alexander the 7th made his protestation against it both by the (k) Testatum facio me tum jussu Pontificis ac muneris mihi demandati Intuitu tum propriae Deo dante voluntatis propensione c. Command of the Pope by Vertue of his Character then and the propensity of his own Will and entr'd his Protestation against it Dated at Munster October 26. 1648. Also Pope Innocent the 10th Published his (l) Ibid. p. 148. The Pope condemns it by Bulls Bull the 26th of November following in 5o. Pontificatus against both the Treaty of (m) He Presaceth the Bull thus Zelo Domus Dei animum nostrum assiduo commovente in eam praecipue curam sedulo incumbimus ut Orthodoxae fidei Integritas ac Ecclesiae Catholica Dignitas Authoritas ubique sarta tecta conservetur Osnaburgh concluded the 6th of August 1648. and that of Munster the 24th of October the same year declaring both against the Possession of Ecclesiastical Goods by the Heretics to them and their Successors and the permission of the Heretics as he Stiles them of the Augustan Confession to have free liberty of Exercising their Heresie in several places and the Assignment of places to to build Churches and their enjoying of Publick Employments Offices and Participation of Arch-bishopricks Bishopricks and other Ecclesiastical Benefices Provost-ships Baly-wicks Commendams Canon-ships other Benefices c. Which at large may be Read in the Tracts Published at Leyden 1651. In Answer to these I
to desire him to Establish the Sale of Abby and Chantry Lands for the Lords and the Parliament would grant nothing on the Popes behalf before their Purchases were well secured As to a Messengers sending no doubt several dispatches were made to and from Rome during this Transaction but I cannot conceive that in so short a time a Currier could go and come from Rome and bring new Powers to the Cardinal yet I will not insist upon that But I believe he Writes truly that what preparation soever was made by Debates Conferences c. concerning the Repeal of other Laws against the See of Rome they never passed into Bills till the Bill for securing Religious Lands was perfected Hence we may conclude the Reason why the Solemn Procession related in Mr. Fox was not till the 25th of January after this Parliament was Dissolved which was on the 16th of the same Month which Procession (m) Hist Reformation part 2. fol. 300. Dr. Burnet saith was to thank God for the Reconciling them again to the Church And to keep up a constant remembrance of it it was ordered that St. Andrews Day should be still observed as the Anniversary of it and be called the Feast of the Reconciliation and Processions with all the highest Solemnities they at any time use were to be on that day Duditius tell us That there was every where great (n) Vita Cardinalis Pol. p. 30. De Angliae ad Pristinam Fidem reditu magna ubique gratulatio facta est magnaque laetitiae significatio Omnibus locis supplicationes decretae ac meritae Deo gratiae actae sunt Praeterea Julius III. Pont. Max. amplissimum Jubilaeum promulgavit rejoycing for the return again of England to the ancient Faith and great expressions of the joy In all places Prayers being decreed and due Thanks returned to God. Besides which Pope Julius III. published a most ample Jubilee upon that occasion And there was good reason for it in all the Territories of the Roman Catholic Communion that had any regard for England since it was the greatest revolution of that Age and no less to be wondred at than that K. Henry VIII could suppress so many Abbies in such a way as he did Having given you this prospect of the conduct of this great affair I come now to the Act if self which in Pulton is entituled All Statutes against the See of Rome repealed The Act wherein Abby-Lands are confirm'dto the Possessors 1 2 Ph. Mar. 6.8 The first supplication for reconciliation Repeal of several Statutes according to promise The Act first recites That much false Doctrin had been preached and written since the 20th of King Henry VIII How Cardinal Pool was sent from Rome Legat de Latere to call the Realm into the right way from whence it had strayed Then relates at length the supplication of the Parliament to the King and Queen to be a mean to reduce them into the Catholic Church by their intercession with the Legat-Cardinal for which I refer you to the Statute Then immediatly follows a Repeal of all Statutes made against the Supremacy and See Apostolic since the time of the Schism in accomplishment of their promise made in their supplication Upon which at the intercession of their Majesties by the Authority of their holy Father Pope Julius III. and of the Apostolic See they were assoyled How they were absolved discharged and delivered from Excommunications Interdictions and other Censures Ecclesiastical which had hanged over their heads for their said defaults since the time of the said Schism mentioned in their supplication Second supplication for taking away all occasion of contention Then follows another supplication to their Majesties That all occasion of contention hatred grudge suspicion and trouble both outwardly and inwardly in mens consciences which might arise among them by reason of Disobedience might by Authority of the Pope's Holiness and by ministration of the same unto them by Cardinal Pool by Dispensation Toleration or Permission respectively as the case shall require be abolished and taken away After some other things follows in these words Concerning Abby-Lands c. Finally when certain Acts and Statutes have been made in the time of the late Schism concerning the Lands and Hereditaments of Archbishoprics and Bishoprics the suppression and dissolution of Monasteries Abbies Priories Chantries Colleges and all other the Goods and Chattels of Religious Houses since the which time the Right and Dominion of certain Lands and Hereditaments goods Chattels belonging to the same be dispersed abroad and come to the hands and possessions of divers and sundry persons who by Gift Purchase Exchange and other means according to the Laws and Statutes of the Realm for the time being have the same For the avoiding of all scruples that might grow by any of the occasions aforesaid or by any other ways or means whatsoever The Petition of the two Houses to the K. Q. to be Intercessors to Card. Pool to confirm Abby-Lands it may please your Majesties to be Intercessors and Mediators to the said most Reverend Father Cardinal Pool that all such causes and quarrels as by pretence of the said Schism or by any other coccasion or means whatsoever might be moved by the Pope's Holiness or by any other Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical may be utterly removed and taken away so as all persons having sufficient Conveyance of the said Lands and Hereditaments Goods and Chattels may without scruple of conscience enjoy them without Impeachment or Trouble by pretence of any General Council Canons or Ecclesiastical Laws and clear from all dangers of the Censures of the Church Before I proceed further I think fit to note That by the consent of both Houses it seems clear that they looked upon those Lands to be well secured according to the Laws of the Land which appears because I find in the Journal of the (p) Second Parliament 1o. Mariae Bill prepared before the Cardinal's arrival Commons House That upon the 25th of April 1555. a Bill was engrossed that Bishops should not convent any person for Abby-Lands and the next day I find the Bill passed their House that the Bishop of Rome nor any other Spiritual Person shall convent any person for Abby-Lands So that what is to be cleared is that for removing of scruples of conscience and preventing the causes and quarrels moved by the Pope See-Apostolic or any other Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction there was effectual course taken The Clergy in Convoâ—ation petition that the Lands may be confirmed Therefore because that part in the Act is put in Latin whereby every Reader of it doth not or will not observe the force of it I shall render the most material passages of it into English First the Bishops and Clergy in Convocation present their supplication to the King 's and Queen's Majesties shewing That they viz. the Clergy were the Praefects of the Church The Clergy petition
dated the 4th of the Nones of November 5 Pontificatus Anno 1528. 20 of H. 8. where he gives Cardinal Wolsey a Power to Dissolve and Suppress such Monasteries as maintained but six four or three Monks to the value of 8000 Ducats of Gold of yearly Rent and to transfer all their Possessions and Movable Goods toward the encrease of the Revenues of the Kings Collegiate Church at Windsor Castle begun by E. 4th his Grand-father by the Mothers side and the College at Cambridge built by H. the 6th Grand-father to the same King by the Fathers side In this Bull are the fullest recitals of the Popes dispensing Power that I have yet met with therefore I think it fit being no where that I know of Printed to give you the words that you may at once see how far the Popes Power extends in dispensing with the Canons The words are The Popes dispensing with all Canons Councils c. in the suppresing those Abbies c. Non obstantibus voluntate nostrâ predictâ ac aliis Apostolicis nec non bonae memoriae Othonis Ottobonis olim in dicto Regno Apostolicae sedis legatorum ac in Provincialibus Synodalibus Conciliis Editis Generalibus vel Specialibus Constitutionibus Ordinationibus ac Statutis Consuetudinibus Monasteriorum Ordinum quorum Monasteria ipsa fuerint Juramento confirmatione Apostolica vel quavis firmitate alia roborata Privilegiis quoque Indultis ac Literis Apostolicis etiam in forma Brevis Monasteriis Ordinibus praedictis sub quibuscumque tenoribus formis etiam per modum Statuti Ordinationis perpetuae cum quibusvis etiam derogatoriorum derogatoriis fortioribus efficacioribus Insolitis clausulis ac Irritantibus aliis decretis etiam motu proprio ex certa nostra scientia ac de Apostolicae potestatis plenitudine etiam per nos sedem eandem etiam iteratis vicibus concessis confirmatis innovatis etiamsi in illis caveretur expresse quod illis etiam per quascunque liter as Apostolicas nullatenus derogari possit nisi in literis per quas illis derogare videretur illorum omnium Tenores de verbo ad verbum insererentur expresse appareant Romanum Pontificem illis derogare voluisse causa urgens sufficiens exprimeretur aliis certis modis formis observatis quibus omnibus illorum Tenores ac si de verbo ad verbum insertis forma in illis tradita observata foret presentibus pro expressis habentes Illis alias in suo robore permansuris hac vice duntaxat specialiter expresse ex certa nostra scientia potestatis plenitudine derogamus ac etiam quibuscumque defunctorum Testamentis ultima voluntate Ordinatione quod dispositionibus quacunque Auctoritate confirmatis corroboratis consolidatis ac quibuscumque poenis censuris Ecclesiasticis Communitis super quorum omnium Testamentorum ultimam voluntatem Ordinationem dispositionem ac omnia singula ac illorum tenores etiam presentibus pro expressis recitatis insertis habentes Immutationes alterationes in vestrorum collegiorum praedictorum conversionem translationem specialiter expresse in eventum suppressionis applicationis per eandem circumspectionem tuam faciendo licentiam potestatem praedictam dispensamus ac specialiter quacunque allegatione de non expresso valore fructuum bonorum Monasteriorum hujusmodi literis nostris praetextu alicujus constitutionis inde editae curiaeve nostrae stili aut alias requisitio inserendo contrariis quibuscunque The Constitutions of Otho and Othobon that are here dispensed with I suppose are those viz. (p) Constitutiones Othonis Tit. 12.14 of Otho that no Goodsshall be taken out of the Houses Manors or Granges belonging to Bishops or the Religious without their consents and that of Othobon (q) Constit Othobonis Tit. 11.13 21 22. forbidding Bishops to confirm or assign by appropriation any Church in his Diocess to another Bishops Monastery or Priory unless he to whom the Bishop would appropriate it were so poor or other lawful cause were that the Appropriation might not appear so much contrary to Laws as agreeable to Piety In the Archives (r) Ex iisdem Archivis Instructions how to proceed legally to suppress Monasteries of the Exchequer there are the Instructions how to proceed to obtain this suppression of these Monasteries which were on the Kings part to supplicate the Pope for a Commission to be granted to Cardinal Wolsey and Cardinal Campegius Legates de Latere then the Pope to grant by his Bull to the Legat or Legates a Faculty then a Commission of Enquiry what Monasteries were fit to be suppressed and then the Legat's executing his Power and the Pope's Confirmation In the same (Å¿) Ibidem Suppressing of Religious Houses for building and endowing Cardinal Wolseys College at Oxford and Ipswich whereof the yearly Rent was 19582. Archives of the Exchequer are to be found the Bull of Pope Clement the 7th the day before the Kalends of June 5 Pontificatus to Cardinal Wolsey for the suppressing of several Religious Houses for the building and endowing of the Cardinal College of Oxford now called Christ-Church as likewise (t) Ibidem that of the Nones of February 6 Pontificatus of the same Pope and many other Bulls not only for that College but for his Cardinal College at Ipswich where he was born but all our Historians relating the matter so particularly I shall refer you to them Only give me leave to note one thing out of the Instructions given by the same Cardinal to his Chaplains and Counsellors as they are Stiled Sir Robert Carter Steward of his House Instructions for demolishing a Church for building the Cardinal College at Oxford Mr. Lawrence Stubbs his Almoner and Sir Nicholas Towrs about the building of his Cardinal College of Oxford that for enlarging the College the Parish Church of St. Nicholas was necessarily to be pulled down and taken away wherefore by his Legantine Power he Authorizeth them to cause it to be done and to Translate and annex the Parishioners of the same Church of St. Nicholas to the Parish of St. Aldate * Now St. Aldate near the great Gate of Christ-Church being next adjoyning and to compound for a part of the Church-yard of St. Fridiswold belonging to the Monastery of that Name This leads me to another remark I find in the Survey of (u) â—bidem At Bridlington a Church converted into a Bake-house and Brew-house Bridlington Abby in Yorkshire upon it's dissolution where it is worded thus Item on the South-side of the said Monastery is a Bake-house and Brew-house which by report of old Men was sometimes a Nunnery by sight the Bake house was the Body of the Church the Roof whereof is covered with Slate and the Isle with Lead the Brew-house is where the Quire seemed to be and is
an Angel of Peace and Concord by the Counsel and Unanimous assent of our Venerable Brethren the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church and have Impowered thee with all the Faculties which we have thought necessary to the effecting so great a business or are any way seasonable for it and among other things have given Authority and Faculty to thy Circumspection to Accord and Transact with the Possessors of Ecclesiastical Goods concerning all the Fruits unjustly received and the Moveable Goods wasted and them to free and acquit when it can be done as in our Letters thereupon made it is more fully contained Whereas for these beginnings which by the Industry and dilgence and right and constant mind to God of the said Mary and in that matter by thy co-operating Study and Counsel the foresaid work of Reduction in the said Kingdom to this Day hath and the perfection of the said Famous work is dayly more to be hoped and the matter may be known thereby to have more easie progress so much the more as we shew hope of Apostolical Benignity and Indulgence in the Possessions of the Ecclesiastical Goods occupied by the Men of that Province in the confusion of the late times We not willing for any Earthly respects to hinder such a recovery of a Nation the most beloved of us in Christ after the custom of an Holy Father towards Sons of us and the Holy Catholic Church after a long time of dangerous Travel abroad meeting them that look back and return with a wished Embrace In whose excellent Vertue singular Piety Learning Wisdom and Dexterity we having in the Lord full trust at thy own Arbitrement by our Authority give thee full Power of Treating Agreeing Transacting and Compounding with whatever Possessors or Detainers of Ecclesiastical Goods as well Moveable as Immoveable in the said Kingdom for whom the said most Serene Queen Mary shall Intercede and give the full and free Apostolical Authority by the Tenor of these Presents and of certain knowledge to dispense with them that they may retain the said Goods without any scruple for the future and of concluding and doing all and singular other things which in these and about these are any way necessary and seasonable saving however in these matters in which for the greatness and the weightiness of them this Holy See of due may be thought by thee to be consulted our and the said Sees good Will and Confirmation notwithstanding the Letters of Pope Paul the 2d our Predecessor of happy Memory of not Alienating Church-Goods unless by observing a certain Form or any other Apostolical Edicts General or special Constitutions and Ordinations in Provincial or Synâ—dal Councils or any Oath or Apostolic Confirmation of any Churches Monasteries or other Regular or Holy Places or by any other Firmness corroborated Foundations Statutes and Custâ—ms having their Tenors sufficiently expressed to the contrary whatsoever The insincerity of the Author of the Letter to Dr. Burnet From this Breve the Author of the Letter would Insinuate that the Salvo took all away and vacated all the Concession of the Pope to make which the more probable he renders the Salvo thus that he reserves all to the Popes Confirmation and good pleasure in all those things that were of such Importance that the Holy See ought first to be consulted by Pool which even as this Translator renders it may but seem a necessary Reservation because some matter of great Importance might require it but as it is in the (i) Haec sancta sedes merito tibi â—ideretur conjulenda Breve it is onlly in such things as should to the Cardinal seâ—m fit that the Holy See should be consulted and I have not yet Read that the Cardinal found any further cause to consult the Pope or obtain greater Powers For he makes the dispensation general without any such Reservation and it is well known that when the Emperor and Granvillanus Bishop of Arras afterwards Cardinal understood this Breve was sent they said if they had known the extent of it they had not Importuned the Pope any further and our Friend of Dr. (k) Pa. 14. Burnets saith that by Ormanets Letter it appears that these last Powers gave the Emperor full satisfaction and were not at all excepted against only Granvillanus made some difficulty in one Point whether the settlement of the Church lands should be granted as a Grace of the Popes by the Cardinals hands Immediately to the Possessors or should be granted to Philip and Mary and by that means to the Possessors for it seems saith he it was thought a surer way to engage the Crown to maintain what was done if the Pope were engaged for it to the Crown with which he would not venture so easily to break as he might perhaps do with the Possessors themselves But continues he Ormanet gave him full satisfaction in that matter for the manner of settling it being referred wholly to the Cardinal by his Powers he promised he would order it in the way that should give the Nation most content Having thus removed all the difficulties I have met with and the objectiâ—ns against the fulness of Cardinal Pools Powers granted by Pope Julius the 3d. It is full time to consider the Transactions of the Cardinal in order to his Execution of the same Powers to the quieting of the Possessors Consciences and securing them from all Ecclesiastical censures SECT VIII Cardinal Pools confirmation of Abby-lands to the present Possessors and the Act thereupon BEfore I give you an account of the Act it self I think it necessary to shew the Cardinals Progress towards the Reconciliation which was the Foundation of the Confirmation of the Abby and Chantry Lands given to King Henry the 8th and Edward the 6th by the respective Acts of Parliament which Relation I extract out of Duditius in his Life of Cardinal Pool an Author I shall have occasion to mention hereafter (a) Duditius p. 26. A. B. He had been attainted by Act of Parliament and that was taken off two days before viz. 22. Novem. In September 1554. in the Company of the Lord Paget and Hastings sent by the King for that purpose Cardinal Pool arrived at Callice and there met six of the Kings Ships sent for him At Dover the Bishop of Ely and the Lord Montacute met him and at Gravesend the Bishop of Durham and the Earl of Salisbury who brought with them the Act of Parliament for his Restitution under the Broad Seal Then he took Shipping and by their Majesties appointment had the Silver Cross the Emblem of his Apostolic Legatship placed in the fore Deck of his Vessel and accompanied with many Boats and Barges he came to the Court the (b) Id. p. 27. The Reception of the Cardinal Bishop of Winchester Lord Chancellor met him at the Shore and presently the King also and the Queen received him at the top of the Stairs Having staid some while with their Majesties
shew their duty by the Canons is to preserve the Goods of the Church and the care of Souls was committed to them and they were apointed Defenders Curators of the goods Jurisdictions and Rights of the said Churches by the dispositin of the Holy Canons Therefore they ought with the remedies of Law to recover to the ancient Right of the Church the Goods Jurisdictions Rights of the Church (q) de perâ—â—â—â— amâ—â—â—a spent or lost in the late pernicious Schism The reasons why they desire their confirmation as preferring public Peace before privat commodity Nevertheless having had among themselves mature counsel and deliberation they do ingenuously confess themselves best able to know how difficult and as it were impossible the recovery of the Goods of the Ecclesiastics would be by reason of the manifest and almost inextricable Contracts and Dispositions had upon them and if those things should be questioned the quiet and tranquility of the Kingdom would be greatly disturbed and the unity of the Catholic Church which by the Piety and Authority of their Majesties was introduced into the Kingdom with greatest difficulty could obtain no due progress or finishing Therefore preferring the public quiet before privat commodities and the health of so many Souls redeemed with the precious Blood of Christ before earthly Goods not seeking their own Profit but the things of Jesus Christ They earnestly request and most humbly supplicate their Majesties in their names to communicate these things to the Legat and vouchsafe to intercede Here note by Goods Bona in the Canon-law all Lands as well as Chattels are comprehended That concerning these Ecclesiastical Goods in part or in whole according to his pleasure and the Faculty and Power given him by the most holy Lord the Pope he would enlarge or set at liberty and relax the detainers of those goods preferring public good before private Peace and Tranquility before Dissolution and Perturbation and the health of Souls before earthly Goods They giving their assents to whatever he should do and that in the premises he would not be strict or difficult The Dispensation of the Cardinal Then follows the Cardinal's Dispensation wherein after the recital of the several breaches of the supplication of the Parliament and the uncanonical things that had been done it is added The reasons laid down why the Cardinal dispenseth c. That as to Ecclesiastical Goods they were seized and possessed by divers persons of the Kingdom which tho' by the Constitutions of the Canons they might be declared void yet if they should be revoked into any other State than in which they then were the public Peace and Quiet of the whole Kingdom would be disturbed and the greatest Confusion would follow especially if the possessors of the same Goods should be molested Therefore the Parliament have humbly supplicated their Majesties that they would vouchsafe to intercede with the Cardinal And whereas the Bishop the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury representing almost the whole body of the Ecclesiastics of the Kingdom to whom the cause of those Ecclesiastic Goods do mostly appertain have declared That these Goods cannot be recalled to the Right of the Church but the universal Peace and Quiet of the Kingdom will be disturbed and the cause of the Faith and the Unity of the Church now by the consent of all introduced into the Kingdom shall be brought into extreme danger and have supplicated c. as before is rehearsed The Cardinal's Authority Therefore We who are sent Legat de latere to your Majesties and this most Noble Kingdom from our most holy Lord Pope Julius III. his and the Apostolic See That we might reconcile the Kingdom which hath so long been separated from the Unity of the Catholic Church to God the Church of Christ and his Vicar upon Earth and should with all study procure all those things which appertain to the Peace and Tranquillity of the Kingdom After by the benignity of God and the Piety of your Majesties by the Authority of the said our most holy Lord the Pope whose Person We here represent the Reconciliation is made That we may take care for the Peace and Tranquillity of the said Kingdom and the Unity of the Church from whence the Salvation of so many Souls redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ depends now introduced into this Kingdom may be strengthened and remain safe The stability of the Reconciliation the Peace consists in the assurance of Abby-Lands And whereas the stability of either of them consists mostly in that no molestation be brought upon the Possessors of Ecclesiastical Goods whereby they may not retain them which so many and such grave Testimonies cause us to believe and the Intercession of your Majesties who have so studiously and holily labored for restoring the Unity of the Church and the Authority of the Apostolic See may have that Authority with us that is fit and that the whole Kingdom may know and in truth and reality experience the Motherly Indulgence of the Apostolic See towards it Absolving and judging to be absolved every one to whom these Writings may appertain from all Excommunications Suspensions Interdicts and other Eâ—clesiastic Sentences Censures and Punishments by Law or by Man upon any occasion or cause whatsoever Pronounced if for the cause aforesaid only they be inflicted And so the Cardinal passeth to the particulars in the Supplication And lastly as to the Ecclesiastic Goods adds these words The words of the Dispensation and confirmation of Abby-lands notwithstanding Canons and constitutions c. to the contrary And to whatever person of this Kingdom to whose hands Ecclesiastic Goods by whatever contract either Lucrative or Onerose they have come or they have held or do hold them and all the Fruits tho' unduly received of them in the whole he doth remit and release Willing and decernning that the Possessors aforesaid of the said Ecclesiastic Goods Moveable and Immoveable may not at present or for the future by the Dispositions of General or Provincial Councils or the Decretal Epistles of Roman Bishops or any other Ecclesiastic Censure be molested disquieted or disturbed in the said Goods or the Possession of them nor that any Ecclesiastic Censures or Punishment be Imposed or Inflicted for the detention and Non-Restitution of the same and so by all kind of Judges and Auditors it ought to be adjudged and defined taking from them all kind of Faculty and Authority of Judging otherwise and decerning it to be Null and void if any thing happen to be attempted to the contrary Notwithstanding the foresaid defects or whatever Apostolic Special or General Constitutions and Ordinances Published in Provincial and Synodal Councils to the contrary An Admonition to those that do hold the Goods of the Church and an exhortation to allow maintenance to Parish Parsons and Vicars Then follows the Admonition that tho' all the Moveable things of the Churches were
should Enroll the Usurpers under the Standard of Heresie not sufficiently destroyed The plain sense of which is that they were to be Indulged in their Possessions how unjust soever they were lest the denying of it should enforce them for the sake of preserving their Estates to reject ' the Reconciliation which was the prime thing desired It is true this Pope Paul the 4th is (f) Ricaut continuation 110. represented by Historians to be a Morose Man of a Saturnine Temper being the first Author and Contriver of the Inquisition and that by a new Decree he retrieved all those Goods and Ecclesiastical Revenues which had been (g) Pa. 112. Answer to Soavis arguments Alienated from the Church since the time of Julius the 2d to his Days and that since the time that Rome had been sacked by the Spaniards who had Plundered and Sequestred the Estate and Rents of the Family of Caraffa of which he was a Son he had conceived an Implacable anger and Inveterate hatred against the whole Nation which also was encreased by that ill Treatment and Injustice (h) Pa. 113. which the Vice-King of Naples once used towards his own Person For being Created by Paul the 3d. Arch-bishop of Naples he was debarred from the Possession and benefits thereof by the Vice-Roy on no other pretence than that he was suspected to favor the French party and upon that affront he would have persuaded Paul IIâ— to a War with Naples but the Pope declining that the anger and fury of this Paul IV. being suppressed until he became Pope did then burst forth and vent it self so that he made a stricter Union with France and commenced a War against Philip King of Spain Yet it is likewise noted (i) p. 112. That notwithstanding the Pride and rudeness of his Nature he did several things in the beginning of his Papacy to gratifie and please the people of Rome insomuch that they erected a Statue of Marble for him in the Capitol And I shall now endeavor to mâ—ke it clear that he did ratifie what Cardinal Pool had done and that his Animosities against Spain or Cardinal Pool whom he (k) p. 118. recalled from his Legatship in England were acts of a later date and he had the good conduct and fortune to prove a successful Instrument in making that memorable Peace betwixt Philip King of Spain and Henry King of France And it is apparent by Sir Edward Carne's (l) Hist refor collect Rec. fol. 315. See concerning Pope Paul IV's revocation of Cardinal Pool Duditius p. 34 35. Letter that the Pope did revoke the Cardinal only because of the War with Spain as he did his Nuncio's from all King Philip's Countreys but staid that of the Cardinal at Queen Mary's desire Having related what Soavo hath published concerning this matter before I proceed to the clear proof that Pope Paul IV. did ratifie what Cardinal Pool had done The Opinion of a Learned Roman Catholic Father W. I do offer to your consideration what I have under the hand of a Learned Father of sufficient Learning and Knowledge in the Canon-Law and of great Candor and Virtue That he believes that from the moment of the Release of Cardinal Pool all Possessors of those Lands had a just Title even by Canon-Law to them even as to their other Lands And as the Pope cannot deprive them of their other Lands by any Act whatsoever no more can he deprive them of those Lands nor that any Canonist will own that any succeeding Pope can repeal the Release of Church Lands Which must be most clear whenas the Release was so confirmed as I shall now endeavor to make clear by some positive proofs The first of which shall be what I have found in the Journal of the House of Commons Endorsed Seymour which you may have access to for your further satisfaction if you scruple my credit in that particular for I have copy'd it from the Original in the custody of the Honorable Sir John Trevor Master of the Rolls whose singular favor I must ever acknowledge not only in affording me the perusal of this Journal and ready admittance to the Records in his custody but likewise in furnishing me with a Repertory whereby I am enabled readily to find such Records as I have had or may have occasion to peruse for His Majesties Service The first proof of the assurance of Abby-Lands from the Journal of the House of Commons This Journal reacheth from the 1st of Edward VI. to the 8th of Queen Elizabeth In the first leaf of the Parliament 2 3 of King Philip and Queen Mary which begun the 21st of October 1555. After the relation of choosing the Speaker c. these following words are entred After which was read a Bull from the Pope's Holiness confirming the doings of my Lord Cardinal Pool touching the Assurance of Abby-Lands c. after which the Speaker with the Commons departed to the nether House It is true there is nothing of this mentioned in the Journal of the Lords but whoever looks into their Journals in the Reign of Queen Mary and those before and some while after will find little in them besides the names of the Proxies for the absent Lords on one side and then the Folio divided into three Colums in the first of which are the Names of the Bishops present in the second the recital of the appearing Peers and in the third only the Titles of the Bills read So that in several Folio's there is not one Line writ in the third Division Second Proof I now pass to the second proof That Pope Paul IV. did by Bull confirm what Cardinal Pool had done To illustrate which I shall translate into English the Copy of it to be found in (m) Ecclesiae collegiate fol. 207. Sir William Dugdale's last Volume of his Monasticon transcribed from the Original in my Lord Peter's custody The Bull of Confirmation of Abby-Landsto Sir Will. Peters The Title is The Bull of Paul IV. Bishop of Rome in which for better caution he especially and expresly approves and confirms to William Peters Knight and Counsellor of the King all and singular the sales of several Mannors c. sometimes belonging to divers Monasteries by King Henry VIII dissolved which he viz. Sir William as it is said is ready to assign and demise to Spiritual Uses Paul Bishop Servant of the Servants of God to the perpetual memory of the Fact. By the accustomed bounty of the Apostolic See it becomes us freely to impart Apostolic Favor to those which require Quiet and Tranquility especially when it is humbly desired from us and reasonable causes persuade it and that they may remain undisturbed jâ—â—ibatae to add the stability of Apostolic Munition A Petition being lately exhibited to Us on the part of Our beloved Son the Noble Sir William Peters Knight and Counsellor of the King of the Diocese of Exeter That heretofore King Henry