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
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
fol. 735. value of One hundred Marks but so as they the Abbot and his Convent should farm the Benefice at his hands and pay him yearly 200 marks rent The same Author writeth of another Benefice and of the Treasureship Ibid fol. 815. of Sarum bestowed upon Innocent his little Nephew by one Martin at that time the Popes Legat in this Realm This Man was sent into England by Pope Innocent IV. to extort Moneys he was armed with Bulls to excommunicate to suspend and by manifold ways to punish all as well Bishops Abbots as others who opposed his Rapines and Extortions Provisions of Benefices Rents to the use of the Popes Clerks and Kinsmen He extorted Gifts Garments Palfreys from them suspending those who refused though upon reasonable Excuses till satisfaction He twice summoned the English Bishops and Clergy for a Contribution to the Pope and their Mother the Church of Rome against the Emperor The King sent a Prohibition to them not to give him any aid under pain of forfeiting their Baronies He suspended all to present to Benefices of ten Marks value or upward till his and the Popes Covetousness was satisfied The King sent memorable Prohibitions to him against his intollerable Provisions and Rapines who persevereth therein with a stony heart notwithstanding The Cinque-ports were guarded to interrupt the Popes Bulls and Provisions sent unto him His Messenger was imprisoned in Dover-castle but icâ—eased upon his Complaint to the King The King by advice of his Nobles sent Prohibitions to all the Bishops in England and Chief â—ustice in Ireland not to suffer him or any other Nuncio to collect â—ny Moneys for the Pope or confer any Benefices without his Privity or Consent The Nobles sent a Message to him in behalf of 〈◊〉 whole Kingdom to depart the Realm within three days else they would new him and all his in pieces And when he demanded the Kings Protection against the fury of the Nobles the King wished Mat. Paris p. 640. the Devil to take him whereupon he departed the Realm in a terrible Pannick fear The Abbot of Abingdon refusing to bestow upon a Roman the Benefice of St. Helens in Abingdon which was esteemed at the value of an hundred Marks and belonged to the Monastery of Abingdon because the King had demanded it for his Brother was cited to appear Idem fol. 1002. personally at Rome and could not obtain his Release until he had assured to the Pope a yearly Annuity of Fifty Marks to be paid out of his Monastery Pope John XXII bestowed the Bishopâ—ick of Winchester upon his Chaplain Rigandus in the time of King Edward the Second having before made reservation thereof and giving special charge that Tho. Walsingham fol. 90. no Election should take place though approved by the King We find in the Canon Law that in the time of King Richard the First though from the Records of the Tower we understand in the Reign of King John that Pope Innocent contriving how to usher in his Provisions into England by degrees without any observation imployed the Archbishop of Ragusa whom he discharged from that Church because he could not live quietly there to move King John to bestow a Bishoprick and other Benefices upon him in England to relieve his Necessities and support his Dignity whereupon the King out of his Royal Bounty bestowed the Bishoprick of Carlile the Archbishop of York and the Church of Melbourn upon him Of these Wrongs the People of this Land made often Complaints but could find no Redress The Usurpations of the Popes Legaâ— and Agents by Exactions Provisions Disposing Churches to Aliens and other Innovations became so intollerably Oppressive 〈◊〉 all sorts of People in England that by several Letters of Complanit disperled against them in the year 1231 1232 there waâ— stirred up a general Commotion and Opposition against theâ— throughout England for finding that most of the Ecclesiastical Livings of this Realm to be in the hands of Strangers they were 〈◊〉 offended that they set fire on their Barns in all parts of the Realm The Pope on the other side stormeth with the King and commandeth the Bishops of the Realm to excommunicate the Authors of the injury and withal to send them personally to Rome to receiâ—â— their Absolution at his hand Speed in his History relateth that it Speeds Chronic. in the Reign of King Henry III. was alledged by these Reformers that they had under-hand the Kings Letters Patents the Lord Chief Justices Assent the Countenance of the Bishop of London and the Sheriffs aid in divers Shires whereby the Armed Troops took heart every where violently to seize on the Romans Corn and their other Wealth which Booties they imployed to good purposes and for relief of the poor the Romans Roger de Wend. M. S. the mean while hiding their Heads for fear of losing them In the time of King Edward the Third Pope Clement granted to two Cardinals at one time Provisions of so many Spiritual Livings as would amount to the yearly value of Two thousand Marks Hereof the King complained to the Pope alledging that the Rights of Tho. Walsingham Hist in Edw. III. Patronages were disturbed the Treasure of his Realm spent upon Aliens in Foreign parts and that the Students his Subjects were thereby discouraged Which Reasons are delivered in a Statute by him made for restraint of Provisions from Româ— SECT 15. 15. The Pope claimeth to have one proper Authority which he Plenitudo Potestatis in Beneficialibus calleth Plenitudo Potestatis in Beneficialibus and is an infinite and unbridled Licence to do in Matters of Church-livings what himself listeth By force whereof he taketh from any Prelate or Beneficedman his Bishoprick or Benefice at his pleasure without yielding any Cause or Reason thereof He hath used to bestow Bishopricks of this Realm at his pleasure and when any of the Bishops died then the Pope claimed a Priviledge to have the Gift of them as Decedentes in Caria Romana and so kept them many years as Decedentes in Curia for they never came into England to die here as Salisbury and Worcester which were claimed by that Title in Queen Maries time Again the Pope might dissolve Ecclesiastical Dignities and Benefices at will and turn them into what shape it best liked him Moreover he might unite appropriate divide such Livings and do many strange things else about them no cause appearing to any man but his own will The Popes Legates also procured of the Kings of England Stipends and Provisions of good value out of Ecclesiastical Benefices and other Dignities Rustand the Popes Legate being in Favour with King Henry the Third procured from him besides the Livings he obtained by the Popes Provisions a Grant of Provisions out of the Ecclesiastical Benefices Dignities and Prebendaries which should first happen in his own Gift amounting to 300 Marks by the year to be preferred before all other a formerly granted by him one
commit unto your own judgment the Cause and Controversiâ— between uâ— so far forth as I may salvo honore Dei saving the honour of God The King being much offended with that last Expression Salvo honore Dei turned himself about unto the French King and said See you not how he goeth about to delude me with this Clause Saving the honour of God for whatsoever shall displease him he will by and by alledge to be prejudicial to the honour of God But this I will say to you whereas there have been Kings of England Godwin's Catalogue of English Bishops many before me whereof some were peradventure of greater power than I the most far less and again many Archbishops before this man holy and notable men Look what Duty was ever performed by the greatest Archbishop that ever was to the weakest and simplest of my Predecessors Hereunto the Archbishop answered cunningly and stoutly That the times were altered his Predecessors which could not bring all things to pass at the first dash were content to bear with many things and that as men they fell and omâ—tted their Duty often times thaâ— what the Church had gotten was by the diligence of good Prelates whosâ— Example he would follow thus far forth as that â—f he could not augment the Priviledges of the Church in his time yet ye would nâ—vâ—r consent they should be diminished This Answer being heard all Men cried shame upon him imputing the cause of these stirs upon him and so they parted at that time without reconciliation Another instance I will give namely that of Cardinal Pool who in the Dispensation granted to the Realm in the time of Queen Mary for determining Church Lands c. Doth therein plainly declare that it was of favour and in regard of the Peace of the Realm that he so dispensed otherwise all Laws made in derogation of the Churches Rights were void SECT 3. 3. The Pope dischargeth the Clergy from all Payments of Money The King forbidden to lâ—vy Subsidâ—â—s upon the Clergy So are his Laws in c. adversus Ext. de Immunitate Ecclesiarum c. 1. de Immunit Ecclesiar in sext c. Clericis eâ—dem Roger Hoveden Anâ—al pars â—osteriorpâ— 1â— 817. Matth. Paris p. 146 15â— 194 Holinâ—hâ—d p. 143 1â—7 153 170 Gâ—dwin in his Life imposed by any Temporal Prince be it by way of Taxe or of Subsidy or for what necessity of his Realm soever except the Pope be first made privy thereto and give his assent And Clerks yielding to such Imposition do thereby fall into the Popes Curse King John demanding of his Subjects as well Spiritual as Tempâ—ral a thirteenth part of their Goods and Chattels Geâ—ffery Plantaginet Archbishop of York the Kings base Brother opposed it Sâ— saith Mr. Prynne out of divers Authors That he obstructed the levying of Carvage demanded and granted to the King by common consent and paid by all others on the Demesne Lands of his Church or Tenants beating the Sheriff of York's Servants excommunicating the Sheriff himself by Name with all his Aiders and interâ—icted his whole Province of York for attempting to levy it Wherefore the King incensed for these intollerable Affâ—onts summoned him to answer these high Contempts his not going over with him into Normandy when summoned and also to pay him 3000 Marks due to his Brother King Richard and by his Writs commanded all the Archbishops Servants where-ever they were found to be imprisoned as they were for beating the Sheriffs Officers and denying to give the King any of the Archbishops Wine passing through York summoned Geoffery into his Court to answer all these Contempts and issued Writs to the Sheriff of Yorkshire to seize all his Goods Temporalties and to return them into the Exchequer which was executed accordingly The King and Queen repairing to York the next Mid-Lent the Archbishop upon more sober thoughts made his Peace with the King submitted to pay such a Fine for his Offences as four Bishops and four Barons elected by them should adjudge and absolved William de S utvil the Sheriff and James de Paterna whom he had excommunicated and recalled his former Interdict King Edward the First was in a like case resisted by means of Robert Kilwarby Archbishop of Canterbury For when the King in Parliament holden at St. Edmonds-bury demanded there a Subsidy of his Subjects the Temporalty yielded an Eighth part of the Goods of Citizens and Burgâ—sses and of other Lay Persons the twelfth part but the Clergy encouraged by the Archbishop who had procured This is repâ—rted by William Thorn a Monk of Canterbury from Pope Boniface the VIII Immunity from Subsidies which I take to be the same that is before recited Ex. c. 1. de Immunitate Ecclesiarum in Sexto refused to yield any thing whereupon the King called another Parliament at London without the Clergy where the Goods of the whole Clergy were declared to be forseited to the King so as afterwards most of the Clergy were content with any condition to redeem that forfeiture SECT IV. 4. The Kings own Subjects were by the Pope armed with Censures Subjects Armed against their Soveraign of Excommunication Interdiction c. by them to be denounced against him for redress of such wrongs as iâ— pleaseth them to take themselves injured by Pope Innocent IV. hath decreed that a Prelate having wrong offered him by a Temporal Judge may defend himself with the Spiritual Sword of Excommunication c. Dilecto Dâ— sententia Excommunicationis in Sexto In the Fortieth year of King Henry the Third Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury made a large Constitution wherein he setteth forth how the Clergy shall proceed against the King by whose Writ a Clerk is called in his Court to answer for Matters pertaining to the Ecclesiastical Judge and declareth that it shall be lawful to interdict all the Kings Lands and Possessions This Archbishop had summoned a Council of Bishops and Archdeacons that like the Martyr Thomas saith Matthew Paris he might encounter the Enemies and Rebels of the Church and be a Wall of Defence unto it as was pretended The King directed his Prohibitions to him and the Bishops not to meet in this Council which they contemn The Articles and Canon made in that Council were against the Kings Prerogative Ecclesiastical and Temporal his Temporal Judges Courts Laws Prohibitions Writs and Judgments Exempting of themselves their Clerks Officers Lands and Goods from their Secular Jurisdiction and Judicatures Decreeing Interdicts and Excommunications against the King his Judges Officers Lands Castles and Lay-subjects for which Liberties they resolved to contend even unto Death The Archbishop was forced by the King and Barons to fly the Kingdom for this and other like Constitutions against whom they complained appealed and sent their Proctors to Rome Which Constitutions are yet printed in Lyndewood and Aton and urged for the Canon-Law of this Realm by some aspiring Prelates and Ignorant Canonists of late times saith Mr. Prynne though always
Wrongs made Causes Ecclesiastical Ecclesiastical Liberties some Wrongs oftered to Church Mon in their Lands and Possessions which otherwise were to be tried by the Laws of the Land are by them drawn to their Courts as where Entries be made by Lay Men upon Church Lands Simon Mepham Archbishop of Canterbury in a Constitution by him and the Clergy published in the year 1332 hath decreed that every one which invadeth the Possessions of an Ecclesiastical Person shall be judged a Violator of Ecclesiastical Liberty and for the same Excommunicate SECT 8. 8. Generally the Pope claimeth to be judge of his own Liberties The Pope sole Judge of his own Priviledges and suffereth no Man to examine or determine of them but himself c. Cum venissent extra dejudiciis Whereas it is an old Maxime in all Laws that Nemo in propria causa potest esse Judex That no Man can be judge in his own Cause especially if Judge and Witness too yea Pope Gregory the First and a whole Council denounced an Anathema against the Pope himself or any other that should presume to be a Judge in his own Cause Sive in rusticano sive in urbano pradio whence Bartholemeus Baxiensis Dr. John Thierry and other Canonists in their Glosses on Gratian do resolve down-right that Papa in sua causa Judex esse non debet That the Pope ought not to be Judge in his own Cause Yet Gratian Caus 16. qu. 6. Alvar. Pelag de Planctu Eccles l. 1. Artic. 34 35. Alvarus Pelagius affirms the contrary upon this strong Presumption and Supposition Quod non debet aliquam causa a se remittere immo non potest licet suspectus quamdiu est Papa Papa enim aut sanctus est aut sanctus praesumitur non enim praesumendum est quod alias facit Papa quam Christus vel Petrus cujus est Vicarius Successor That the Pope ought not to remit any Cause from himself yea he may not although suspected as long as he is Pope for saith he either the Pope is Holy or is presumed to be Holy for it is not to be presumed that a Pope can do otherwise than Christ whose Vicar he is or Peter whose Successor he is But this is a Maxime frequently resolved in Law Books by all the Judges of this Realm That none can be Judge in his own Case who have farther adjudged 〈…〉 â—â—rliament make any Man Judge in his own Caseâ— the very Act it self â—â— void in Law being against the Law of Nature â—hich 〈…〉 and all Judgments given thereon are void SECT 9. 9. The Pope challengeth to himself Judgement of 〈…〉 they extend and how they are to be taken and giveth order for redress of the breach of them Where therefore every Prince at his Coronation taketh an Oath for the good Government of his Realm Princes called in question for their Government he is compelled to answer to his own Subjects at the Court of Rome to every Quarrel and Pretence of his Misgovernment as Matters falling within the Popes Authority to examine and reform the breach of Oaths So did Pope Honorius the Third in a Cause of a King of Hungary as appeareth in the Popes Decretals c. Intellect Extra de jure jurando One of their Canonists of great Reputation and a Cardinal wriâ—eth thus Si a Procerbus acousâ—tur Princâ—ps apud Pontificem non satisfâ—ciat vel a apa se poni pote vâ—l a Prâ—ceribus voluntate Papa If a Prince be accused by his Nobles unto the Pope and doth not give Satiâ—faction either he may be laid aside by the Pope or by the Nobles at the â—opes pleasure c. Alius 15. q. 6. SECT 10. 10. He taketh upon him also to assoil Men from keeping their Oaths Assurance betwixt the King and his Subjects disturbed whereby do grow Disturbances not only of Leagues betwixt one Prince and another but also of that Assurance which a Prince hath of his own Subjects and which sometimes the Subjects have of the Prince in Composition of Quarrels that do happen between them Bellarmine in the Second â—hapter of the Book against Barckley saith Pontifex po est dâ—spensare in votis juramentis quae Deus ipse jussit reddi quâ—rum olutio est de jure divino The Pope can give Dispensations from Vows and Oaths which God hath commanded to be fulfilled and the keeping whereof is of Divine right And you need not wonder at this if Bellarm. lib. â— de Pontifice cap. 5. you consider what he saith elsewhere If the Pope did err saith he commanding Vices and prohibiting Vertues the Church should be obliged to believe that Vices are good and Vertues are evil unless she should sin against Conscience In the year 882. Marin or Martin attained to the Papal Dignity of whom Platina saith that he came to the Popedom by ill ways There was then one Formosus Bishop of Porto who by the will of Pope John IX had been obliged by Oath never to receive Episcopacy though it were presented unto him But that Marin delivered him from that Oath by a Dispensation giving him leave to be forsworn with a good Conscience At that time the Counts of Tusâ—ulum had such a Power at Rome that they made Popes such as they listed Marin being dead they promoted Adrian the Third to the Popedom and after him Stephen the VII to whom Formosuâ— succeeded who made no difficulty to receive the Popedom against his Oath This Formosus had but a shorâ— Reign he had Boniface the VII for his Successor whom Stephen the VIII succeeded who unburied the Body of Formosus and having arrayed him with his Priestly Robes put him in full Synod upon the Popes Seat Then having cut off his Fingers wherewith he gave the Blessing he caused him to be dragged and cast into the River Tiber declaring him a Perjured Man and an Unlawâ—ul Pope That Stephen for his Tyranies was taken by the Roman People and strangled in Prison To that Stephen Romanus succeeded and to him John the X both which restored Formosus again to his good Name For this John assembled a Councâ—l at Râ—venna where all the Acts of Formosus were made valid and his Perjury approved But Sergins that succeeded abrogated all that and again unburied the Body of Formosus with a thousand Reproaches It is a particular stain to that Age that in it the Pope began to authorize Perjury and to dispense from Oaths See the 6th Question of the 15th Cause of the Decree which is full of such Examples But leaving this let us return to the Matter in hand how Thomas Beckâ—t was discharged of his Oath it hath been shewn before and the Examples be many of Subjects that have sought and obtained like Liberty at the Popes hands in matter of their Allegiance and Duty promised by Oath King John had taken an Oath to observe the Laws of King Henry the First of Edward the Confessor and the great Charter of
Liberties but he violated this Oath and was absolved from it soon after by the Pope And we find that Pope Vrban the Fourth absolved King Henry the Third from his Oath made to his Subjects for the observation of certain Articles Mat. Paris fol. 1322. called The Provisions of Oxford whereto he had condescended after long trouble for the peace and quiet of his People Pope Clement the V also did the like to King Edward the First touching his Oath which he had made to the Barons of this Realm Thomas Waisingham f. 61. SECT 11. 11. The Pope taketh upon him Authority to Examine Princes Titles Princes Wars examined by the Pope c. Sicut extra in Jurejurando and the Causes of their Wars and to compound their Controversies at his pleasure compelling them to abide his Order upon pain of Excommunication Interdiction c. A matter very dangerous considering the Corruption of Justice in that See whereof there be so many Examples in Histories as would fill a large Treatise and that the Pope can hardly be indifferent his Affairs and State being such as they are for the most part linked with the one part or the other The claim of this Authorlty appeareth in c. Tram. Extra de ordine Cognition David Prince of North Wales having Wars with King Henry III committed himself his People and his Land into the hands of the Pope promising to hold his Right of him and to pay Five hundred Marks by the year Several Charters were made to the King by the Prince and Nobles of North Wales ratified by their Oaths and voluntary Submissions to Ecclesiastical Censures of Excommunication and Interdict by the Bishops therein nominated in case of Violation And the manner of his Oath is set down by Matth. Paris Et Matth. Paris p. 605 607. Mâ—t. Westm p. 180 181 182. ad omnia firmiter tenenda Ego David juravi super crucem sanctam quam coram me feci deportari And firmly to hold all these things I David have sworn upon the Holy Cross which I have caused to be carried before me And the Reverend Father Howel Bishop of St. Asaph aâ— my request saith David hath firmly promised in his Order that he will do all these things aforesaid and procure them to be observed by all the means that he can And Ednevet Wagan at my Command sware the same thing upon the Cross aforesaid But the Pope layeth hold of the Cause the Controversie being committed by him unto two of his Clergy The King was called before Matth. Paris fol. 880 881. them to answer David's complaint which the King seeing how small likelihood there was of Indifferency refused to do King Edward the First having war with Scotland and being far entred into the Land was by Commandement of the Pope enjoyned to leave off his wars against that Realm upon pretence that Scotland and the people thereof were by his special exemption discharged from all Authority of other Princes and appertained to his See Thomas Walsingham addeth That the King refusing thus to be ordered was moved thereto again by the Pope and commanded to receive Order by way of Justice in his Court The King having received Pope Boniface's Letters assembleth a Parliament at Lincoln by whose advice he addresseth Letters Responsal to the Pope And the Lords Temporal in the name of the whole Parliament answered the Pope That the King of England ought by no means to answer in judgement in any Case nor should bring his Rights into doubt nor ought to send any Proctors or Messengers to the Pope c. And that they will not suffer their Lord the King to do or by any means to attempt the premisses beinâ— so unaccustomed and not heard of before Dated at Lincoln in the year 1301 in the 28th year of the Reign of King Edward the First But the same King in time of war with the French King was required Walsingham fol. 41. on the behalf of Pope Boniface VIII by his Legat to put their whole quarrel to be by way of Arbitrament decided by the Pope And further he was enjoyed upon pain of Excommunication to take truce with the French King for two years whereto he gave place saith Thomas Walfingham SECT 12. 12. Another Grievance was The departure of Prelats and other of Subjects departure out of the Realm against the Kings will the Clergy forth of the Realm and leaving the service thereof against the Kings will Of which sort some voluntarily have gone upon coâ—our of devotion as Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury in the time of King William Rufus notwithstanding that he was expresly forbidden by the King and told that if he went he should no more return into his Realm departed from hence pretending that he went Ad Matth. Paris fol. 29. Visitandum Limina Apostolorum To visit the Thresholds of the Apostles It may be he pretended his Oath for at that time Bishops used to bind themselves by Oath that once every year they should visit the See of Rome except they be otherwise dispensed withal which Oath by the Canon Law is now taken by every Popish Bishop Ego N Episcopus N. ab hac hora in antea fidelis obediens cro beate Petro sanctaeque Apostolica Romanae Ecclesiae ac Domino nostro S. P. suisque Successoribus canonice intrantibus Non ero in consilio aut consensu vel facto ut vitam perdant aut membrum seu capiantur mala captione c. Others again have been called forth of the Realm to the Popes service as Peter Bishop of Winchester in the time of King Henry the Third was called to Rome by the Pope pretending that he would imploy him in compounding certain differences which were betwixt him and the Inhabitants of Rome and betwixt him and the Grecians But truly as Matthew Paris noteth the Pope knew him to be a very rich Matth. Paris sol 549. Bishop and therefore sent for him to Rome to assist him not only with his Advice in his Military Affairs but also with his Purse against the Romans and Grecians And the Pope having made as much of him as he could for those ends importuned the King for his return into England which the King assenting to wrote thus to the Pope and Bishop Domâ—no Papae Rex c significavit nobis sanctitas vestra per venerabilem Claus 19 H 3. Part. 2. memb 2. intus Patrem A. Coventrensem Litchfeldensem Episcopum dilectum fidelâ—m nostrum P. Saracenum Civem Romanum quod gratum haberetis acceptum si venerabilis Pater P Wintoniensis Episcopus cum gratia nostra reverti posset in Angliam sicut ad ejus spectat officium curam securus genere pastoralem super hoc ex parte sinceritatis vâ—strae nos rogaverunt Ad quod Sanctae Paternitati vestrae duximus respondendum Quod cum idem Episcopus Regnum nostrum ultimo exivit gratis motu
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
little King of England under our Feet who now kicks with the heel against us Then the King the Nobles Archbishops Bishops and Abbots drew up seven Articles in Parliament against the Popes Grievances and Oppressions 1. In Extorting and Collecting several Sums of Money by General Taxes and Assesses without the Kings Assent or Consent against the ancient Customs Liberties and Rights of the Realm and against the Appeal and Contradiction of the Proctors of the King and Kingdom made in a General Council 2. In kindering Patrons to present their Clerks to Vacant Livings and bestowing them by Proviso's on other Roman Clerks utterly ignorant of the English Tongue to the peril of the peoples souls and impoverishing the Realm beyond measure by transporting Money out of it 3. In granting Pensions out of Livings by provision and more provision of Benefices than he promised after his Bull against them 4. That one Italian succeeded another That Subjects causes were drawn out of the Realm by the Pope's Authority against the Custom of the Realm against the Written Laws that men ought not to be condemned among their Enemies and against Indulgences granted by his Predecessors to the Kings and Realm of England 5. The frequent mention of that infamous word Non-obstante in his Bulls by which the Religion of an Oath ancient Customs vigour of Writings the Established Authority of Charters Laws Priviledges were debilitated vanished away and his not carrying himself courteously towards the Realm in revoking the plenitude of his power as he promised 6. That in the Benefices of Italians neither their Rights nor sustentation of the poor nor hospitality nor preaching of God's Word nor the useful Ornaments of the Churches nor Cure of Souls nor Divine Services were performed as they ought to be and according to the Custom of the Countrey 7. That the Walls of their Houses fell down together with their Roofs and were dilapidated To which other Complaints to the King and Parliament against the Court of Rome were super-added which they sent to the Pope by their respective Messengers with five several Letters two from the King to the Pope and his Cardinals a third from all the Archbishops and Bishops a fourth from all the Abbots and Priors the fifth from all the Earls and Temporal Lords speedily to reform all their Grievances to prevent unavoidable Mischiefs to the King the Pope and the Church of Rome and their revolt from Subjection to them They complained that the Pope demanded Knight-service due only to the King to Lords from their Tenants from Prelats and Clergy-men to find him so many Horse or Foot for half a year or pay a great Ransom in lien of it under pain of Excommunication which they must reveal to no Man That he granted one years Fruits of all Benefices that fell void within the Province of Canterbury to Archbishop Boniface That he by sealed Bulls required the Abbots of the Cistercian Order in England to send him golden Jewels to adorn his Planets and Copes as if they might be got for nothing That if any Clerk should from thenceforth die intestate his Goods should be converted to the use of the Pope which he commanded the Friers Preachers and Minors diligently to execute seizing on the Money Goods and Plate of three rich Archdeacons which the King hearing of prohibited and by the common Advice of his Nobles and Prelats in Parliament issued several successive Prohibitions to the Abbot of St. Albans and others not to pay any Tallage to the Pope or his Agents before the return of their Messengers to Rome against these Grievances under pain of seizing his Barony and to the Bishops not to exact or levy any such Tax for any Clerk Religious Person or Lay-man to the prejudice of his Royal Dignity against his and his Nobles Provisions in Parliament which he neither could nor would indure The Pope contemned the zealous Letters and memorable Complaints of the King and whole Kingdom against his Exactions requiring the Bishop of Norwich and others to levy a Subsidy for him at which all were amazed The King summons a new Parliament at Winton concerning the manifold Grievances of the whole Realm and especially of the Church wherein the Messengers sent to the Court of Rome reported That they could discern no Humility nor Moderation in the Popes Gestures or Words concerning the Oppressions wherein the Church and Realm of England were grieved and whereof they complained That when they expected a pleasing Answer the Pope told them The King of England who now kicks his Heel and Frederizeth hath his Council and I have mine which I will pursue That from that time scarce any English Man could dispatch any Business in Court yea they were all repelled and reviled as Schismaticks so as so many Epistles of the King and the universality of the Nobles and Prelats of the Realm had no efficiency at all At which Report the King and Nobles being much exasperated the King by their Advice commanded Proclamations to be made through all Countreys Cities Boroughs and Villages of the Realm that no Prelate Clerk or other Person throughout the Realm should consent to any Contribution to the Pope or transmit any Money towards his Aid or in any wise obey his papal Commandement which was accordingly done The Pope hearing thereof wrote to the English Prelats more sharply than before requiring them under pain of Excommunication and Suspension to pay in the Aid he demanded to his Nuncio in the New Temple before the Feast of Assumption Hereupon the King was so terrified with the Popes Menaces that he and the Richest Prelats complied with his Designs paying 6000 Marks to the Pope to the great impoverishing of the Realm which was transported by the Pope's Nuncio and Merchants to aid the Landgrave against the Emperor Frederick part whereof he intercepting grievously reprehended the Effeminacy of the English and of Richard Earl of Cornwall for yielding to the Popes party to the Destruction of the Realm of England and detriment of the Empire The Pope intended to have interdicted the Realm of England had they not paid his 6000 Marks and the King by his Nuncio's signified his Compliance to it Now all the consolation and hope of relieving the English expired their Enemies being their Judges SECT 22. 22. Hereunto I shall add what I found in an Ancient Manuscript which briefly gives us an account of what things were heretofore beneficial to the Court of Rome and prejudicial to the Realm of England which are as followeth 1. The procuring of Favour for all manner of Faculties and Dispensations at Rome 2. The ordinary Fees for Dispensations and Faculties besides Expences in suing out the same 3. The kinds of Faculties and Dispensations that in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign appeared in the Book of Faculties remaining then with the Queens Clerk of the Faculties 4. The stranger the Faculty and Dispensation was which was sued for the dearer was the Favour and Fees that were
saying over the Beads with Contrition and being present at the Service said for the Departed out of this Life or at the least hearing a Mass or saying over or causing one to be said shall deliver one soul out of the Pains of Purgatory Every Monday also he that saith over his Beads or Dirige for the Departed out of this Life shall obtain the same Indulgences which be obtained in Rome for Visiting Holy places for that purpose 9. Item Every Sunday and Friday saying over the Beads for the increase of all Orders of Religion of Cathedral Churches Cural and others namely Tramontaines they shall be partakers of all the Prayers and Sacrifices of the same as though they were corporally present with them praying also for the Indans and parts without Europe they shall be partakers of their well-doing which travel in those Countreys in the Vineyard of God 10. Item It is granted That for once or twice an Unhallowed Grain or Bead may be put in the place of an Hallowed Bead or Grain if it be lost or broken and have the same Indulgences The Conclusion is in this manner Laus Deo Virginique Matri Praise be to God and the Virgin-Mother 16. Hereto may be added the Special Pardons and Bulls given to special Places of Pilgrimage and the advancing of new found Miracles and Pilgrimages with new granted Bulls and Pardons There is no Church of note among them no notorious Image to which Men go on Pilgrimage no Author of any new Sect scarce any Religious House which is not famous by one or more pretended Miracles If a man will trouble himself to read the Lives of their Saints their Legends and Books of the like nature he shall tire out himself with the Reports of Miracles far more strange than we can read of any in the Scripture Bellarmine glorieth in the daily Tydings of Miracles wrought by the Jesuits which are brought to Rome Large Narraâ—ons are of the Miracles of Navierius a famous Jesuite of our Lady of Mountaign of our Lady of Hall in the Low Countries and of many other such Idols Almost a mans life were too little to read over all of this kind and now more multiplied than ever heretofore And we may suspect their Miracles when divers of their own Authors have called in question the truth of them Lyranus saith That people are much deceived by Miracles made by Priests and their Fellows for worldly gain Alexander Haleâ— a great Schoolman saith That they make sometime Flesh to appear in the Sacrament partly Humana procuratione interdum operatione Diabolica by humane procurement and sometimes by the working of the Devil And Clandius Espencaeus sometime Bishop of Paris saith No stable is so full of dung as their Legends are of Fables in this kind And Canus in his Common Places saith That in the Legend a man shall read Monstra Miraculorum Thus I say The words of divers eminent Men of their own side do make us suspect their Miracles to be but Tales Many of the things themselves in common conceiving are ridiculous as that old Tale of So Dionysius that carried his Head in his hand after it was strucken off Of Clement the First that when he was cast into the Sea with a Milstone about his Neck the Sea fled three miles from the Shore and there was found a little Chappel ready built in the Sea where his Body was Bestowed I have also read of another who stuck his Staff down by him at the Bank-side which kept the River from over-flowing the Banks and soon after it sprang up and spread it self into a mighty Tree There are a world of such Tales enough to weary any one to recite them And yet even such as these had Bulls and Indulgences granted to them 17. The special Jurisdictions and Exemptions that one Bishop and Abbot procured above another 18. Their providing that no Condemned Clerk might be Executed SECT 23. In this state as hath been expressed this Realm stood for the most part by the space of 300 years after the Conquest The times that followed were somewhat freed from certain degrees of the Popes Tyranny by reason that the Kings of this Realm armed themselves with Laws made in defence of some of their ancient Liberties and Executed others with better Courage than their Predecessors But I doubt if God for our sins should cast us again under his Yoke none of those Laws would save us from the extreamest of all those mischiefs which I have here set down My Reasons are 1. The Popes are no Changelings but were the same after those Statutes and are the same men that they were before and to put us out of doubt made continual claim to their Usurped Authority in the time of the later Princes For in the Reign of King Henry V. Pope Martin the Fifth sent to levy a Subsidy upon the Clergy of this Land for maintenance of his Wars against the Bohemians And he made Henry Beaufort the rich Cardinal of Winchester his Legat for those Wars who did valiantly there for certain moneths together assisted with the foresaid Subsidy until he was re-called by the Pope And two other Subsidies were afterwards required to persecute two private persons of this Realm viz. Peter Clerk and William Russel Fex Acts and Monuments In the time of King Henry VI. the Cardinal of Winchester notwithstanding the Statute against Provision procured the Popes Bull to take again his Bishoprick of Winchester which he had lost by his Cardinalship and after obtained a Pardon from the Pope against the penalty of the Statute And in the same Prince's Reign Lewes Archbishop of Roan after the death of the Bishop of Ely had all the Fruits and Revenues of that Bishoprick granted unto him during life but was therein resisted by the King Other Examples there be of like sort 2. In the last Council of Trent there is a special Constitution for Concil Trident. Sess 5. c. 18. Restitution of all Ecclesiastical Liberties and therein the Emperour all Kings Princes and States are commanded that they see them protected The Title of Ecclesiastical Liberties reacheth to every of 〈◊〉 Points before touched and therefore we may conjecture what we are to look for 3. The Pope yearly publisheth one Excommunication which is called Bulla de Coena wherein by Name are comprised all that be any let to such as would prosecute any Suit at Rome or that suffer not the Popes Bulls Commissions and other Processes whatsoever to be executed And all that execute any Statutes Derogative to the Liberties of Rome be the custom to the contrary never so ancient and such as impose Tenths Subsidies upon the Clergy or receive them at their hands with good consent except the Pope allow thereof and those also which force any Ecclesiastical Person to answer before them in Criminal Causes being Lay-Judges c. So saith Martinus ab Azpil in Enchyridion c. 27. Which Book was made by the special Commandement of Pope Gregory XIII The warning given us by Bulls published in Queen Elizabeths Reign assureth us that if he may have place again he meaneth not to dally with us 4. Some of our unnatural Countrey-men in some desperate Books of theirs long since cast abroad against the Execution of Justice have not spared to tell us that the Laws made in Catholick times viz the Statute of Praemunire and some other were bad Laws and not to be allowed And again there were found upon some which came in Queen Elizabeths time to disturb the Peace of this Realm small Pamphlets containing Directions as they would have them taken for Mens Consciences wherein they delivered many things to trouble those persons whose Consciences were possibly in those Points stayed in confidence of the Ancient Laws of this Realm and upon some Grants made by the Pope himself 5. The Pope hath challenged a Soveraignty over this Realm to bestow it where he listeth as feudary unto himself having formerly received a Tribute viz. The Peter-pence which was in times of Popery of every House a penny Whereby Bodin in his Book de Republica argueth that the Realm of England is not a Soveraign Estate not to speak of the yearly Tribute paid unto the Pope by King John and some other Princes his Successors This may serve the Pope for a mean to bridle all the Old Statutes and the Liberties of our Countrey and to spoil the Prince of all his Prerogatives We know how he dealt with Sicily and Naples long agone wherein it were an hard matter for the proudest of 〈◊〉 side to justifie his Title And that he hath put out and put in Kings at his will and sometime offered their Kingdoms to sale And from King Henry the Third by the shadow of a bare Title the Pope got infinite sums of Money to the great exhausting of his Treasure and impoverishing of the Realm When Stukeley and Fitz-moris were at Rome they and the Pope practiced to give this Realm in Prey as he did the Kingdom of Navarre and the Empire from the Emperor Frederick and also to get an Investiture of the Realm of Ireland from the Pope as of a Soveraign but they could not agree upon whom the Pope should bestow that Realm FINIS