England Enslaved UNDER POPISH SUCCESSORS BEING A True HISTORY OF THE OPPRESSIONS this NATION Groaned under in Times of POPERY LONDON Printed for Jonathan Wilkins at the Star in Cheapside next Mercers Chappel MDCLXXXI ENGLAND'S Grievances in Times of POPERY SECTION 1. IT appeareth as well by the Pope's Laws delivered in Decretal Epistles which were particularly and upon sundry occasions directed to the Bishops and other Clergy-men of this Realm of England in Popish times as also by the report of our English Histories that at such time as the Bishop of Rome had his full â—way in this Realm the Authority of the King was so obscured as there was hardly left any shew of his Sword and Dignity And on the other side the Subjects destitute of succour by their Natural Prince and left to a most miserable spoil and rapine of the Pope and of such as it pleased him to give them in prey whereof these special Grievances here collected may serve for testimony besidâ—s a number of others which come not to my memory but may be easily supplied by any indifferent mans careful Reading GRIEVANCES 1. The first Grievance was The Exemption of the Clergy who being Exemption of the Clergy a considerable part of the Realm by reason that great numbers as well looking to Preferments that then were bestowed upon that State as also drawn by Priviledges and Immunities which they infinitely enjoyed above others sought to be of that number were wholly exempt or at least so took themselves to be from all Jurisdiction of the King and his Justices not in Ecclesiastical Causes only as then they were termed but even in Causes Civil and in Matters of Crime though the same touched the Prince and his Danger in the highest degree The Popes Laws to this purpose are to be seen in C. Clerici extr de Judiciâ—s C. seculares de fore compet enti in 6o. and a special Constitution Provincial of this Realm made by Boniface Archbâ—shop of Canterbury in the time of King Henry the Third in the Council of Westminster or Lambeth Anno 1270 or 1272. vid. Prynne's Exact History of Pope's Intollerable Usurpations upon the Liberties of the King and Subjects of England and Ireland Vol. 2. lib. 4. c. 3. Johan de Aton Constitut. Guil. Lindwood Touching the Practice it is recorded in the Deâ—retals that Pope Alexander III. in the timâ— of the Reign of King Stephen wrote to the Bishop of London to take Order by his Jurisdiction in a Civil Controversie of Goods left in the Custody of a Clerk c. 1. de Deposito Likewise it doth there appear that in the time of King Henry II. Pope Lucius III. wrote to the Bishops of Ely and Norwich to compel a Clerk to save his Sureties harmless And to like purpose he wrote in another Case to the Archbishop of Canterbury King Henry III. pretending Title by his Prerogative or by the Common Law to certain Lands which the Archbishop of Canterbury claimed to be parcel of the possessions of his Church was compelled to answer the Bishop in that Cause in the Court of Rome Mat. Paris fol. 494. Adam Tarlton or d'Orlâ—on Bishop of Hereford in a Parliament holden at London in the year 1324 was accused of Treason against King Edward II. as having aided the Mortimers with Men and Money against that King Being brought before the King and claiming his Priviledge to be judged by the Pope he was forthwith rescued by the rest of the Clergy After a few dayes the King caused him to be brought before him and when he should have been arraigned a thing till that time never heard of that a Bishop should be arraigned the boldness of the three Archbishops of Canterbury York and Dublin was very strange for they with ten other Bishops with their Crosses erected came to the Bar before the Kings Justices and took him from thence into their own Custody In his absence he was attainted with High Treason notwithstanding and his Temporalties were seized into the King's hand until such time as the King much by his device and machination was deposed of his Kingdom But though the King took away his goods yet he was not suffered to meddle with his Body Tho. Walsingham Hâ—st Angl. p. 98 99. SECT 2. 2. Whatsoever Laws the King in his Parliament made which in any Restraint of making Laws for Policy sort impeached the Priviledge or Liberty of the Clergy or touched their Lands or Goods were for that time holden by the Pope and his Clergy void and of no force And it helped not the King how just cause soever he pretended of any right appertaining to his Ancestors For so are the Popes Laws in precise terms save that some of the later sort reserve to the King Laws touching Services and some other rights in Church lands c. qu. Ecclesiarum de Constit c. Eccles Sanct. Alar c. Noverit c. Gravâ—m de Sententia Excommunicationis And some Popes were so jealous over Princes in the Point that they refused to allow Laws by them made to the benefit of the Church As where Basil Lieutenant to Odoacer King of the Lombards provided by Law in favour of the Church that no Prescription should make his Title good who had bought ought of the Church the Pope misâ—iking that a Lay-mâ—n should deal in those Causes disannulled the Law c. Pene quidâ—m Distinct 96. The practâ—ce of this injury is notable in the dealing of Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury with King Henry II. For whereas the King in his Parliament had made very reasonable Laws in maintainance of the Ancient Rights of the Crown against the licentious Liberties claimed by the Clergy Among which one was That Clerks in Causes of Felony and Murther should be tried by the Laws of the Realm for that it was shewed unto the Parliament that then an hundred So Nuburgensis noteth lib. 2. cap. 15. Mâ—rthers had been committed by Church-men not duly punished whereto the said Archbishop and the rest of the Prelats gave their consents and bound themselves to the observation of them by their Oaths the Archbishop afterwards grudging at these Laws departed the Realm obtained at the Pope's hand Absolution from his Oath and forced the King to answer for those Laws in the Court of Rome where the King finding no favour that Garboil insued which after fell out betwixt the King the Pope and the Archbishop and many Murthers committed upon Clerks by the Lay-subjects who greatly stomached this Indignity offered to the King The Pope fearing two such Potentates as the Kings of England and Mat. Paris Hist Angl. fol. 1â— 4 135. France determineth to labour a Reconciliation betwixt the King and the Archbishop and to make the French King a Mediator for the Archbishop This he effected and brought the two Kings together at Paris Thither also came Thomas Becket who being come into the King's presence falling down upon his knees used these words My Lord and Soveraign I do here
and Eight Tun of the strongest Wine for his Table Others presented him with handsome Palfreys rich Vessels Furrs Vestments and divers other Provisions of Meat and Drink Again the charge of the ordinary Entertainments of a Legat was a great matter for all his Charges were born by the Realm What those Expences might grow unto may be conjectured by one demand of Procurations made by the said Otho which yet was but a piece of his Allowance for in the year 1240 giving notice to the Clergy that he must tarry in the Realm some time longer than at first was assigned unto him in which space he was not to spend of his own commanded a second Levy of Procurations to be made Mat. Paris fol. 702. wherein he made shew of some favour more than was ordinary giving to understand that he meant not to receive of any Church above four Marks and where the Churches were poor he would be content that two Churches should joyn in contributing those four Marks What benefit the Realm received for all these charges upon the The use of Legats Legats the Monuments of two of the chief of these Legats Otho and Ottobon I mean their Legantine Constitutions which were the fruits of their Reformation do well shew They contain Matter of little or no moment in the World and such as every Bishop in his Diocess might have ordered well enough viz. Triffles about Citations Proxies and other small matters Moreover their long abode and lingering in Countreys cannot Danger by the stay of Legats in the Realm Nich Machiavel History of Florence but be dangerous to the States where they come because having opportunity to know the secrets of the Realm they bestow that knowledge often times unhappily being persons imployed in more Countreys than one and often where discovery of such Secrets proveth perillous to those Realms where they have served before Nicholas Machiavel that great States Man in his History of Florence noteth of his time that the most of all the Wars and Garboiles in Christendom were kindled by the Whisperings of the Popes Legats SECT 19. 19. It is also proved by the Canon Law that any Ecclesiastical Original Suits at Rome Suit may be commenced Originally at Rome This cannot be void of great charges to the Subject and is very gainful to the See of Rome and the Charge lieth not alone in the long Travel thither and tedious Attendance upon that Court but in the Cumbersomness of many intricate Questions arising upon Commissions sometimes one crossing another and sometimes doubtfully penned sometimes again controlled by colour of wrong Suggestion and a great number of ways besides whereof the Decretals are full and most of them are directed to Bishops of this Realm which betokeneth that this Plague hath touched our English People more than any other The Subjects were constrained to follow the Popes Consistory for their right and there to waste themselves in Suit in such wise that one Case of England was thirty years depending in Rome Ante litem contestatam as Speculator writeth And the case between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York for the Controversie whether the Archbishop of York might have a Cross born before him within the Diocess of Canterbury a goodly Matter for Bishops to contend about did hang many years in the Court of Rome And likewise the Case between the Bishop of Worcester and the Abbot of Evesham for the Vale of Evesham The Decretals are full of English Cases decreed even as the parties found favour in the Court of Rome And the poor Cause of Matrimony of Cetwood did hang in Rome and was reserved there by Act of Parliament and never was decided And that very point was the occasion that King Henry VIII did look into the Usurpation of Rome because the Pope would needs Excommunicate the King for not answering in his own Case at Rome as is notably discovered by Bellay in his Memoires who was the Ambassador for the French Bellay in Memoires King in England and was sent of purpose to Rome to stay the Excommunication and could not get six days respite and yet within these six days the Messenger came with Instructions to have appeased the Matter SECT 20. What infinite Treasure was there carried out of the Realm by the Great sums carried out of the Realm for Dispensations Pope's Collectors and by Bankers for Bulls and Dispensations no man can tell Therefore the French King hath many times made Edicts against the Carrying out of Money for Bulls out of France as of a thing that spoiled the Realm of their Treasure using the Term Epuiser les Treasors du Royaume as a man doth draw the water of a Well to dry up the Water The Sums that were yearly made of Dispensations and Absolutions in Cases reserved were infinite as also of Pardons and Indulgences and other Faculties It appeareth by the Book of Taxes made for Dispensations in the Reign of Henry VIII that there were found Two hundred and sixteen Letters of Dispensations given by the Pope and that the Taxe of some of them were Two hundred Marks of others an Hundred Pounds c. Thomas Walsingham writeth That in the time of King Richard the Tho. Walsingham fol. 257. Second one Pileus the Pope's Legate made such a Market with Sale of Faculties that his Officers that were about him in that Service grew weary of taking Silver and did not stick to say That they had Silver enough and therefore would not afterwards be paid for their Wares in any Coin but in Gold Robert Grosted Bishop of Lincoln being suspended his Bishoprick for opposing the Pope's Provisions and trampling them under his Matth. Paris fol. 1145. Anno 1252. feet caused his Clerks to take a view of all the Spiritual Livings of Aliens in this Realm and to make a diligent Inquiry to what an Annual Sum they amounted unto who found them to exceed above Seventy thousand Marks And it may be easily collected what the Pope's Share was in those Gifts What the ordinary Payments were that were yearly made to the See of Rome he that shall make the strictest Inquisition shall hardly understand SECT 21. The Kingdom of England being daily oppressed with many intollerable Grievances and divers new Devices to extort Moneys more than before in the dayes of King Henry the Third he summoneth a Parliament at London by reason of the Complaints of the English against those Grievances which they could no longer tollerate without the brand of sluggishness and their own imminent ruin Great was the Indignation of the Pope against the miserable English for that they durst complain against their daily injuries and oppressions in the Council which he so multiplied that the English were more vile in his eyes and the Court of Rome than any other even of the remotest Nations Insolently saying It is expedient for us to compound with the Emperour Frederick that we may trample the
opposed in such manner Pyrnn's Exact Hist vol. 2. as hath been related yea totally neglected or seldome put in use in times of Popery by those which made them as Lyndewood himself acknowledgeth in his Epistle to Henry Archbishop of Canterbury before his Provinciale SECT V. 5. The King's Prohibition disobeyed by the Popes Warrant is another Grievance complained of in those days For Pope Eugenius hath The Kings Prohibitions Contemned so decreed That no Spiritual Judge shall stay from proceeding in any Cause termed Ecclesiastical in regard of the Kings Prohibitions c. Decernimus Extra de judiciis The Prohibitions sent by our Kings their Council Courts Judges to Archbishops Bishops Archdeacons Officials and other Eccâ—esiastical Persons were some of them against admitting Clerks to Benefices or Prebendaries till the Title were tried in the Kings Courts Some against holding â— lea of Advowsons of Chappels Churches Prebendaries or determining the Rights of Patronages to Churches Chappels and Prebendaries in Eclesiastical Courts or before Popes Delegates Against Alienation of Lands in Capite in Mortmain or otherwise Against granting Administrations of Intestates Goods Debtors or Accomptants to the King till the Kings Debts satisfied Against Appeals to Popes or any other in cases of Certificates of Pryn's Hist of Popes Usurpations Vol. 2. p. 393 394 878 879. Bastardy to the Kings Courts or trying Bastardy in Spiritual Courts their Canons crossing the Common Law therein Against Abbots or Convents borrowing or others lending them Moneys upon Bond without their joynt consent and the Kings c. Against Archbishops Consecrating Bishops Elect not approved of by the King after their Election Against their holding and meeting in Convocations or Council or acting and doing any thing in them prejudical to the King or Kingdom Some Prohibitions were against Bakers imprinting the sign of the Cross Agnus Dei or name of Jesus upon Sale-bread Some against Bishops and other their Officers citing Lay Persons to make Inquisitions Presentments or give testimony upon Oath or excommunicating them for not taking Oaths in any case except in matters of Matrimony and Testament being against the Kings Prerogative Law or Custom of the Realm c. Against their holding Plea of any Chattels or Goods which concerned not Marriage or Testament or of Goods Testamentary for which there is Suit in the Kings Exchequer Against their Citing Excommunicating or Interdicting any of the Kings Barons Bailiffs Judges Officers Sheriffs for executing the Kings Writs or Misdemeanours in the execution of their Offices or any of his Tenants in Capite or of his Demesne Lands Cities Castles without his special License or Lieutenants c. Against Archbishops Bishops Convents or others presenting to Livings or Prebends belonging to the King during Vacations Against disturbing the Possessions of the Kings Clerks presented by him to Benefices or Prebends or Judgments in his Courts by any process out of Ecclesiastical Courts or from the Pope or his Deligates Against Suits in Ecclesiastical Courts Pro lasione fidei or breach of Oaths in civil Contracts Against suing there for Lands devised by Custom or Actions of Debt devised by the Testator Against Ordinaries malicious Excommunications or Arresting or Imprisoning Persons unjustly Excommunicated by them or for bringing Prohibitions to prevent them Against the bringing of any Bulls Letters from or sending any Letters to the Pope or Court of Rome prejudicial to the King or Realm Against citing or drawing any of the Kings Subjects for any Suits to Rome or out of the Realm by the Pope his Delegates or others Against collecting any Aid Disme or Money for the Pope or others by the Popes Authority without the Kings special Licence and Consent by Popes Nuncioes Legats Bishops or any others Against Popes Provisions to Benifices Prebendaries c. belonging to the Kings Presentation in right of his Crown or by his Prerogative in Vacant Bishopricks Monasteries Wardships or to his free Chappels or Churches impropriated Against Clerks and others going to Rome without taking a special Oath to procure nothing to the Kings or Kingdoms damage Against Popes Legates or Agents coming into the Realm unless sent for and taking an Oath to do or bring nothing to the prejudice of the King Church or Kingdom Against receiving or assisting a Bishop or Archbishop made by the Popes Provision Against Popes and their Delegates Sequestration of the Temporalties Goods and Profits of Monasteries Against Sheriffs or Gaolers detaining Clerks in Prison after demand by their Ordinaries Against the Cruce signati or others going over Sea out of the Realm without the Kings special Licence Against offering violence to the Goods or Persons of Clerks Churches or Church-yards Against removing Moneys of Delinquents and Alliens out of Monastories Against offering Violence to Jews or their Goods Against Noblemens siding with Bishops in their Quarrels Against Suits between Persons for Tithes when the Patron may be prejudiced or for the Money of Tithes sold until it be discussed by the King and Council whether the Right belongs to the King or whether the Cause belong to the King or the Ecclesiastical Court. Against Examining things in the Ecclesiastical Court that have been judged in the Kings Courts in cases of Presentations to Churches and the like Against Womens Marriages who held Castles or Lands in Capite without the Kings Licence SECT 6. 6. Another Grievance was That the King was forbidden in Restraint of the Common Law causes of Clerks to use the Canon Laws of his Realm but is commanded to decide them only by the Common Law c. Quod Clericus de foro competenti Some Causes ever taken to be meerly Civil and to appertain to the Crown were drawn to the Ecclesiastical Usurpation against Common Law Authority As namely The right to determine Questions of Patronage whereof Pope Alexander the Third wrote to the King of England that it was to be tried by Ecclesiastical Laws and before an Ecclesiastical Judge cap 3. Extra de judiciis Again in some Causes Civil the King was restrained from the use of the Common The King not permitted to use the Common Law in some Cases of Lay Persons Law of his Realm though the same concern Lay Persons As when a Woman by Oath maketh release of her Joynture or Dower the temporal Judge is compellable by the Ordinary his Excommunication to judge of the Oath according to the Canon Law c. Licet jure jurand And where again an Ecclesiastical Judge hath determined any Cause according to the Canon Law if the same Matter be brought before a Temporal Judge he must allow the Judgment of the Spiritual Judge that it be pleaded before him cap. ult Extrade exeptionibus But contrariwise If a Clerk be first Condemned by a Temporal Judge the Canon Law hath no regard thereof nor receiveth any thing for proof that was done before him c. At si Clerici de judiciis SECT 7 7. That under the general colour of their Authority to maintain Civil