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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	father_n	king_n	son_n	3,060	5	5.3359	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56127	The antipathie of the English lordly prelacie, both to regall monarchy, and civill unity: or, An historicall collection of the severall execrable treasons, conspiracies, rebellions, seditions, state-schismes, contumacies, oppressions, & anti-monarchicall practices, of our English, Brittish, French, Scottish, & Irish lordly prelates, against our kings, kingdomes, laws, liberties; and of the severall warres, and civill dissentions occasioned by them in, or against our realm, in former and latter ages Together with the judgement of our owne ancient writers, & most judicious authors, touching the pretended divine jurisdiction, the calling, lordlinesse, temporalities, wealth, secular imployments, trayterous practises, unprofitablenesse, and mischievousnesse of lordly prelates, both to King, state, Church; with an answer to the chiefe objections made for the divinity, or continuance of their lordly function. The first part. By William Prynne, late (and now againe) an utter-barester of Lincolnes Inne.	Prynne, William, 1600-1669.	1641 (1641)	Wing P3891A; Wing P3891_vol1; Wing P4074_vol2_CANCELLED; ESTC R18576	670,992	826

dominion of England and had never peace afterwards By the same counsell in our times the Kingdome was troubled and the interdict came and finally the Kingdome was made tributary and the Prince of Provinces alas for griefe is brought under tribute to ignoble persons and warres begun and long protracted your father died like a banished man neither in peace of the Kingdome nor of minde and so by them he incurred a very perillous death By the same counsell the Castle of Bedford was detained against you where you lost much treasure and many valiant men by meanes whereof in the interim you lost Rochell to the ignominy of the whole Realme Item the now imminent perturbation perilous to the whole Kingdome comes to passe through their wicked counsell because if your people had beene handled according to Justice and the right Judgement or Law of the Land● this perturbation had not hapned and you should have had your lands undestroyed your treasure unexhausted Likewise we tell you in that allegiance wherby we are obliged to you that your counsell is not of peace● but of trouble to the Land because they that seeke to thrive by the trouble of the Kingdome and the disinherison of others cannot doe it by its peace Item because they have your Ca●tles and your forces in their hand● as if you ought to distrust your owne people Item because they have your Exchequor and all the grea●est Wards and Escheates in their power such an expectation pleaseth and how they will answer you in the end wee beleeve you shall prove Item because by your Seale or Precept without the Seale of Peter de Rivallis scarce any great businesse is done in the Realme as if they accounted you not to be King Item because by the same counsell the naturall borne subjects of your Kingdome are expelled out of your Court whence wee have cause to be fearefull both of you and the Kingdome when as wee see you to be more in their power than they in yours as appeares by very many examples Item because they have a mayde out of Brittany and your sister under their power with many other noble girles and women who are marriageable with Wards and marriages which they give to their owne creatures and disparage Item because they confound and pervert the Law of the Land sworne and confirmed and ratified by Excommunication and Justice likewise whence it is to be feared least they be Excommunicated and you also by communicating with them Item because they keepe to no man either their promise faith or oath or writing neither feare they Excommunication whence they who have receded from the truth are desperate● as remaining diffident in feare Now these things we faithfully relate to you and wee counsell beseech and admonish you before God and man that you would remove such counsell from you and as it is the custome in other Kingdomes that you governe your Kingdomes by your faithfull and sworne men of your Realme Wee denounce to you in verity that unlesse you correct these things within a short time we will proceede against you and all other contradictors by Ecclesiasticall Censure● expecting nothing but the Consecration of our venerable Father the Elect of Canterbury These things being thus spoken the King humbly desired a short time of truce saying that hee could not so sodainely remove his counsell untill he had received an account of the treasure committed to him and so the conference was dissolved all men departing with confidence of a concord speedily to be obtained soone after the Archbishop being consecrated upon the fifth of Aprill the King with his Nobles being at Westminster the Archbishop taking all the Bishops and other Prelates that were present with him whereof this Bishop of Chester was one went to the King and shewed him their counsell touching the imminent desolation and danger of the Kingdome repeating the former inconveniences mentioned in the conference and denounced to the King expresly that unlesse hee would speedily reforme his error and make a peaceable composition with the faithfull men of his Kingdome he with all the Bishops who were present would incontinently in ipsum Regem sententiam ferre excommunicationis pronounce a sentence of Excommunication against the King himselfe and against all others contradictors of this peace and perverters of concord The King hearing this humbly answered that hee would obey their counsels in all things Whereupon a few dayes after understanding his error moved with repentance he commanded Peter Bishop of Winchester to goe to his Bishopricke to intend the cure of soules and that from thenceforth Regiis negotii● nequaquam interesset hee should by no meanes intermeddle with the Kings affaires Walter de Langton Bishop of Chester lived in great authority under King Edward the first who favoured him much but his sonne Edward the second molested disgraced him all that eyer he might His Fatherdying in the North country he ●ommanded this Bishop to conduct his corps up to London and when hee had done so for reward of his paines hee caused Sir Iohn Felton Constable of the Tower to arrest him seased upon all his goods and imprisoned him first in the Tower then in the Castle of Wallingford of which imprisonment he was not released in two yeares after In his fathers life time he had often reprehended the young Prince for his insolent and dissolute behaviour which good admonitions he taking in evill part wronged and disgraced him many wayes namely one time he brak● downe his Parkes spoyled and drove away his deare c. The Bishop complained of this outrage unto the King his Father who being greatly displeased therewith committed the Prince his sonne for certaine dayes And this was the cause of the grudge between the yong King and him for which he sent him from Castle to Castle as Prisoner seised his Lands Tenements into his own hands gave his moveables to Pierce Gaviston and his Lord Treasurership to Walter Reignold About the same time or I thinke a little sooner to wit in the yeare 1●01 hee was accused of certaine hainous crimes before the Pope and compelled to answer the accusation at Rome in his owne person Though the proofes brought against him were either none or very slender yet well knowing whom they had in hand Noverant ipsum prae multis bovem valde pinguem saith Matth. Westminster they were content to detaine him there so long as it forced him to spend an infinite deale of mony yet was never a whit the nearer atlast for the Pope remitted the hearing of the cause to the Archbishop o● Canterbury and yet reserved the determination of the ●ame unto himself at last The tempests of these troubles being over-blowne the rest of his time he lived for ought I finde quietly and being happily dismissed from the Court attended onely the government of his charge This Bishop setling his See towards his later end at Litchfield I finde no mention at all of any

saying plainly and swearing by Saint Iohn the Evangelist for that was his common Oath that Earle Goodwine should not have his Peace till hee restored his brother Alfred alive againe unto his presence with which answer the Peeres departed in choler from Court and Goodwine towards the Coast. Comming also unto the shore and ready to take shipping hee kneeled downe in presence of his conduct to wit at Bosenham in the moneth of September from whence hee intended to saile into Flanders unto Baldwine the Earle and there wished openly before them all that if ever hee attempted any thing against the Kings person of England or his Royall estate that he might never come safe unto his Cousin nor see his Country any more but perish in this voyage and herewith he went aboard the ship that was provided for him and so from the Coast into the open Sea But see what followed hee was not yet gone a mile away from the Land before he saw the shore full of armed Souldiers sent after by the Archbishop and his friends to kill him ere he should depart and goe out of the Country which yet more incensed the hearts of the English against them Being come also to Flanders hee caused the Earle the French King and others of his friends among whom also the Emperour was one to write unto the King in his hehalfe but all in vaine for nothing could be obtained from him of which the Norman● had no liking whereupon the Earle and his Sonnes changed their minds obtained aid and invaded the Land in sundry places Finally joyning their powers they came by the Thames into Southwarke neere London where they lodged and looked for the King to encounter with th●m in the field the King seeing what was done commanded the Londoner● not to aide nor victuall them but the Citizens made answer how the quarrell of Goodwine was the cause of the who●e Realme which hee had in a manner given over unto the spoyle of the French and thereupon they not onely victualled them abundantly but also received the Earle and his chiefe friends into the City where they lodged them at their ease till the Kings power was ready to joyne with them in battle great resort also was made unto them from all places of the Realme so that the Earles Army was wonderfully increased and the day and place chosen wherein the Battle should be fought But when the Armies met the Kings side began some to flee to the Earle other to lay downe their weapons and not a few to ●unne away outright the rest telling him plainly that they would never fight against thei● owne Count●y men to mainaine Frenchmens quarrel● the Normans also seeing the sequell fled away so fast as they might gallop leaving the King in the field to shift for himselfe as h● best might whilst they did save themselves elsewhere In the meane season the Earles Power would have set upon the King either to his slaughter or apprehension but hee stayed them saying after this manner The King is my Sonne as you all know and it is not for a father to deale so hardly with his child neither a subject with his Soveraigne It is not he tha● hath hurt or done mee this injury but the proud Normans that are about him wherefore to gaine a Kingdome I will doe him no violence and therewithall casting aside his battell axe hee ran to the King that stood altogether amazed and falling at his feete he craved his peace accused the Archbishop required that his cause might be heard in open assemblie of his Peeres and finally determined as truth and equity should deserve The King after hee had paused a pretty while seeing his old Father-in-Law to lie groveling at his feete and conceiving with himselfe that his suite was not unreasonable seeing also his children and the rest of the greatest Barons of the Land to kneele before him and make the like request hee listed up the Earle by the hand bad him be of good comfort pardoned all that was past and friendly having kissed h●m his sonnes upon the cheekes he lead them to his pallace called home the Queene and Summonned all his Lords unto a Councell wherein it is much to read how many ●ils were presented against the Bishop and his Normans some containing matter of rapes other of robbery extortion murder manslaughter high t●eason adultery and not a few of battery wherewith the King as a man now awaked out of sleepe was so offended that upon consultation had of these things he banished all the Normans out of the Land onely three or foure excepted whom he retained for sundry necessary causes albeit they never came more so neere him afterward as to be of his Privie Councell after this also the Earle lived almost two yeares and then falling into an apoplexie as he sate with the King at the table hee was taken up and carried into the Kings bedchamber where after a few dayes hee made an end of his life and thus much of our first broyle raised by the Clergie practice of the Archbishop I would intreat of all the like examples of Tyranny practised by the Prelates of this See against their Lords and Soveraignes but then I should rather write an History than a Description of this Iland Wherefore I referre you to those reports of Anselme and Becket sufficiently penned by other the which Anselme also making a shew as if hee had beene very unwilling to be placed in the See of Canterbury gave this answer to the Letters of such his friends as did make request unto him to take the charge upon him Secularia negotia nescio quia scire nolo c. Of secular affaires I have no skill becuase I will not know them for I even abhorre the troubles that rise about them as one that desireth to have his mind at Liberty I apply my whole endeavour to the rule of the Scriptures you lead mee to the contrary and it is to be feared lest the plough of holy Church which two strong men of equall force and both like earnest to contend unto that which is good that is the King and the Archbishop ought to draw should thereby now swarve from the right furrow by matching of an old sheepe with a wild untamed Bull. I am that old sheepe who if I might be quie● could peradventure shew my selfe not altogether ungratefull to some by feeding them with the milke of the word of God and covering them with wooll but if you match mee with this Bull yo● shall see that through want of equality in draught the plough will not goe too right c. as followeth in the processe of his Letters The said Thomas Becket was so proud that hee wrote to King Henry the second as to his Lord to his King and to his Sonne offering him his Counsell his reverence and due correction c. Others in like sort have protested that they oug't nothing to the Kings of this Land

that they did not onely promise them ayde and succour by words but also by their writings and seales confirmed the same After this Anno 1405. This Arch-Bishop conspiring with the Earle of Northumberland and others aforesaid devised like Articles as before of such matters as was supposed not onely the Commonaltie of the Realme but the Nobilitie found themselves grieved with which Articles he and his Confederates first shewed to such of their adherents as were neere about them and after sent them abroad to their friends further off assuring them that for redresse of such oppressions they would shed the last drop of bloud in their bodies if need were Whereupon great multitudes flocking to the Arch-Bishop to Yorke to take his part in this quarrell hee not meaning to stay after hee saw himselfe so well accompanied with so great number of men forthwith discovered his enterprise causing the Articles aforsaid to be set up in the publicke streets of the Citie of Yorke and upon the gates of the Monasteries that each man might understand the causes that moved him to rise in Armes against the King the reforcing whereof did not yet appertaine unto him Hereupon the Knights Esqui●es Gentlemen Yeomen and others of the the Commons as well of the Citie as of the Townes and Countries about being allured for desire to see a Reformation of the things mentioned in the Articles assembled in great number and the Arch-Bishop comming forth amongst them clad in armour encouraged● exhorted and by all meanes he could pricked them forth to take the enterprise in hand and manfully to continue in their begun purpose promising forgivenesse of sinnes to all them whose hap it was to dye in the quarrell And indeed the respect men had of the Arch-Bishop caused them to like better of the cause since the gravitie of his age integritie of his life● incomperable learning● and reverent aspect of his personage moved all men to have him in no small estimation The Earle of Westmerland and Duke of Lan●aster the Kings sonne being in those parts with the Kings Forces inquired of them in a peaceable manner What their intent should be in taking Armes The Arch-Bishop answered That hee meant nothing but the good of the Realme as hee would gladly certifie them if hee might have secure and safe conduct to them and thereupon shewed a writing containing certaine Articles which hee had devised wherein he charged King Henry with treason against his Soveraigne King Richard oppression of the Church and Common-weale whose Liberties hee had sworne to defend Tyrannie and cruelty in putting to death th● said King many of the Nobilitie and great numbers of the Commons with impietie and sacriledge in defrauding the Church of Rome of her Rights and lastly with ●vill government perfidiousnesse perjury and divers other like hainous crimes for which hee pronounced the King excommunicate requiring all men to joyne with that company whose endeavour should bee but to reforme what was amisse to seate and settle in the kingdome● the right Heire to establish peace in Wales and Ireland and to free the whole Realme from the great and intollerable burthen of exactions no longer to be endured The Earle of Westmerland having read this writing containing sundry treasons and conlumelies with a witnesse and fit for an Arch-Bishop to publish professed to allow of the Enterprise and praised it for honest and reasonable insomuch as meeting with the trayterous Arch-Bishop at a parley after a very few speeches they seemed to become friends shaking hands together and drinking to each other in the sight of both their Armies The Arch-Bishop now doubting of nothing suffered his men to disperse them for a time But the Earle contrary-wise waxing stronger and stronger and seeing him selfe able to deale with the Bishop came upon him suddenly and arrested him little thinking of any such matter The King by this time was come North and as farre as Pomfret Thither the Arch-Bishop with other prisoners arrested with him were brought and carryed with the King to Yorke or as some say to Thorpe where Sir William Fulford a Knight learned in the Law and another Justice called Gascoine sitting on an high Stage in the Hall condemned the Arch-Bishop to be beheaded without being judged by his Peeres Bishops being as some say properly no Peeres of the Realme and so not to be judged by their Peeres who certainely would have acquitted or saved his life had they beene Bishops they ever using to boulster out their fellow Bishops in their treasons and to save them from the Gibbet Presently after this judgement given the Arch-Bishop was set upon an ill favoured Jade his face toward the Horse taile and carried with great scorne and shame to a Field hard by where his head at last was chopped off by a fellow that did his office very ill not being able to dispatch him with lesse then five strokes Grafton writes that Thomas Arundel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury as great a Traytor as hee came to the King and said Sir if the Bishop of Yorke have offended you so greatly as it is said yet I pray you consider that I am your Ghostly Father and the second Peere in your Realme and that you ought not to hearken to any mans voyce before me wherefore I counsell to reserve the paine and punishment of the said Bishop to the Popes judgement and hee will take such order as yee shall be pleased And if ye will not so doe yet let him be ref●rred to the Parliament and keep your hands defiled from his bloud a sweet Counsellour Then the King answered I may not stay him for the rumour of the people whereupon the Arch-Bishop called for a Notary to make an instrument of the Kings answer that if need were it might be shewed to the Pope● but the King would not stay but caused execution to be done Though many of our Arch-Bishops and Bishops before him had beene desperate Traytors yet he is the first Bishop the more the pittie for that made them so presumptuous in their Treasons that was put to death by order of Law This just execution on such a Traytorly Rebell so unwontedly and extraordinarily performed on an Arch-Prelate in this contumelious though deserved manner without any preceding degradation was so distastefull to his fellow Prelates none of the best Subjects and so dangerous a president for the future that they accounted this Arch-Traytor no lesse then a Martyr ascribing many miracles to have beene done by vertu● of his holinesse both at his Tombe and at the place where he was beheaded pittie that more of them had not been so served that wee might have had more such Holy Saints and wonderous Miracles of this kind They reported abroad That the Bishop at the time of his Execution desired the Executioner to have five strokes in remembrance of the five wounds of Christ that the King at the same time sitting at dinner had five strok●s in his necke by a person invisible

the King with his determination The King thereupon seised into his hands the Bishops liberties appointed a new Chancellour new Justices and other officers of Durham Hee writ also to the Pope in favour of the Prior who delivering the Kings Letters himselfe the Pope adjudged him a sober and discreet man what ever the Bishop had reported of him and restored him to his place during the Bishops disgrace for this contempt the King tooke ●hree Mannors with the Church of Symondbury from the Bishopricke with divers Castles and Lands forfeited to him by Iohn Bayliol King of Scots and others The Bishop at last submitted himselfe and bought his peace Anno Dom. 1298. in the battell of Foukirke betweene the English and Scots this Bishop of Durham Anthony Beake led the second battell of the Englishmen con●isting of 39. standards who hasting forth to be the first that should give the on ●et when his men approached neere the enemies the Bishop commanded them to stay till the third battell which the King Edward the first led might approach But that valiant Knight the Lord Ralph Basset of Draiton said to him My Lord you may goe and say Masse which better becommeth you than to teach us what wee have to doe for wee will doe that which belongeth to the order and custome of warre About the yeare 1318. at the importunate suite of the Kings of England and France the Pope gave the Bishopricke of Du●ham unto one Lewes Beaumont a Frenchman borne and of the blood Royall there hee was lame of both his legges and so unlearned that hee could not read the Bulls and other instruments of his consecration When hee should have pronounced this word Metropoliticae not knowing what to make of it though hee had studied upon it and laboured his Lesson long before after a little pause Soyt pur dit saith he let it goe for read and so passed it over In like sort he stumbled at In aenigmate when hee had fumbled about it a while Par Saint Lewis quoth hee il n'est pas curtois qui ceste parolle ici escrit that is by Saint Lewes he is to blame that writ this word here Not without great cause therefore the Pope was somewhat strait laced in admitting him He obtained con●ecration so hardly as in foureteene yeares hee could scarce creepe o●t of debt Riding to Durham to be install'd there hee was robbed together with two Cardinals that were then in his company upon Wiglesden More neere Derlington The Captaines of this rour were named Gilbert Middleton and Walter Selby Not content to take all the treasure of the Cardinals the Bishop and their traine they carried the Bishop prisoner to Morpeth where they constrained him to pay a great ransome Gilbert Middleton was soone after taken at his owne Castle of Nitford carried to London and there drawne and hanged in the presence of the Cardinalls After this one Sir Iosceline Deinvill and his brother Robert came with a great company to divers of this B. of Durhams houses in the habits of Friers spoyled them leaving nothing but bare walls and did many other notable robberies● for which they divers of their company were soone after hanged at York This B. stood very stoutly in defence of the Liberties of his See recovered divers lands taken away from Anthony Beake his prede●essor and procured this sentence to be given in the behalfe of his Church quod Episc●pus Dunelmensi● debet habere forisfacturas guerrarum intra libertates sicut Rex extra that the Bishop of Durham is to have the forfeitures of warre in as ample sort within his owne Liberties as the King without I●mediately after this Bishops death in great hast but with no great good speed the Covent of Dur●am proceeded unto the Election of a new Bishop the old being yet scarcely buried and they made choise of one of their owne company a Monke of Durham This election the Arch-Bishop of Yorke confirmed yea the matter grew so forward as the same Arch-bishop was content to give him consecration also All this while the Kings good will was not sought no nor which was a greater oversight as the world then went the Popes neither The King therefore not onely refused to deliver possession of the Temporalties unto this elect but also laboured the Pope ex plenitudine potestatis to conferre the Bishopricke upon a Chaplaine of his named Richard de Bury the Deane of Wells Partly to pleasure the one that requested partly to displeasure the other for not requesting he did so and commanded the Bishop of Winchester to consecrate him which being performed at Chertsey soone after Christmasse the King presently invested him in the temporalties belonging to that See Now was the Monke a Bishop without a Bishopricke having no other home he was faine to returne to his Cloyster and there for very griefe as it is supposed within a few dayes after dyed This Richard dé Bury at what time Edward of Windsor Prince of Wales fled into France with his Mother was principall receiver of the Kings Revenewes in Gascoigne Their mony failing he ayded them secretly with a great summe of that he had received for the King It had almost cost him his life he was so narrowly pursued by some of the Kings friends that got understanding of it as hee was glad to hide himselfe in a steeple in Paris the space of seven dayes The Queene we know was then contriving an open rebellion and plotting a mischeivous treason against her husband King Edward the second whom she shortly after seised upon in an hostile manner and afterwards caused to be deprived and murthered so that this Prelates furnishing of her thus with the Kings owne monies to further this her designe was high Treason at the least Not to mention how the Pope upon King Edward the third his request consecrated Thomas Hatfield his Secretary Bishop of this See without any regard or examination of his worthinesse being a man altogether illiterate and that when some of the Cardinalls tooke exceptions against him saying that he was not onely a meere lay man but a fell●w of light behaviour and no way fit for that place how the Pope answered that if the King of England had requested him for an Asse at that time he would not have denyed him and thereupon made this A●se a Bishop Iohn Fordham Bishop of Durham Anno 1388. was by Parliament banished the Court as a pernicious instrument and corrupter of King Richard the second a Traytor a flatterer a whisperer a slanderer and wicked person Iohn Sherwood the 52 Bishop of Durham Solliciter of all King Edward the fourths causes in the Court of Rome fell off from his Masters Sonne King Edward the fifth to that bloody usurper Richard the third at whose Coronation this Bishop of Durham went on the one side of him and the Bishop of Bath on the other the Arch-bishop of Canterbury

saw that there were swords drawne round about them for words were no jests but there was a contention almost about life and blood Yet the Legate and Archbishop gave not over but prosecuted the tenor of their office for casting themselves humbly downe at the Kings feete in his Bedchamber they beseeched him to compassionate the Church to compassionate his owne s●ule and fame that he would not suffer a dissention to be made betweene the Kingdome and Priesthood He rising up courteously although he removed the envie of the things done ●rom himselfe yet he made no effectuall performance of his good promises And so this great suite wherein the Prelates presumed to convent the king himselfe before them to try his title to Castles being temporall possessions ceased and the pretended execution of their owne Canons never pressed before that I read of vanished into nothing These bickerings betweene the Bishop his Nephewes and the king to whom he owed even the Crowne he wore caused all the Bishops to fall off from him againe and joyne with Maude This their treachery to King Stephen is most fully recorded by William Malmesbury who relates that the Bishop of Winchester brother to king Stephen and the Popes Legate taking some offence against the king came to a Parley with Maude in the fields neere Winchester where Maude the Empresse swore and vowed to him that all the greatest businesses in England and especially the Donations of Bishoprickes and Abbies should be at his disposall if he with the holy Church would receive her for their Soveraigne and be continually loyall to her some of the greatest Nobles of her party making the same oath Whereupon the Bishop made no scruple to receive the Empresse as Lady of England and to sweare to her by himselfe and some others that as long as she brake not this agreement that he would be faithfull to her which done the next day she was received by the Bishop in the Cathedrall Church of Winchester with an honourable Procession the Bishop of Winchester going on her right hand and Barnard Bishop of Saint Davids on her left there were other Bishops present beside these as Alexander Bishop of Lincolne Robert of Hereford Nigellus of Ely Robert of Bath with sundry Abbots● a few dayes after Theobald Arch-bishop of Canterbury came to the Empresse at Winchester being invited by the Legate but de●erred to sweare fealty to the Empresse without the kings privity being as hee thought a dishonour to his fame and person but after some conference had with the king by the Cardinall and most of the Prelates who intreated leave of him to yeeld to the necessity of the time they condescended to the Legates motion and fell off to the Empresse Whereupon about a fortnight after Easter Theobald Arch-bishop of Canterbury held a Councell of all the Bishops of England and of many Abbots in great state at Winchester wherein the Bishop of Winchester made this speech That by vertue of his Legatine power which he derived from the Pope he had summoned the Clergie of England to this Councell that they might consult in Common of the peace of the Country which was in great danger of Shipwrack that in the time of King Henry his Uncle England was a singular houshold of peace c. Which King some yeares before his death caused all the Bishops and Barons to sweare to the Empresse his Daughter and onely Childe that the whole kingdome of England with the Dutchy of Normandy should descend to her if he had no issue male by the Duke of Loraines daughter That dismall fortune envied his most excellent Uncle so as he dyed in Normandy without issue male Therefore because it seemed long to expect the Lady who resided in Normandy and delayd to come into England to provide for the peace of the Country my Brother was permitted to raigne And although I became a surety betweene God and him that hee should honour and exalt the holy Church maintaine good Lawes and abrogate evill yet it grieves me to remember it shames me to relate what a one he hath shewed himselfe in his kingdome how no justice hath beene exercised upon the presumptuous how all peace was presently abolished almost the same yeare the Bishops apprehended and compelled to a reddition of their possessions Abbies sold the Churches rob'd of their treasures the Counsells of wicked men heard of good men either suspended or altogether contemned You know how often I have convented him both by my selfe and by the Bishops especially in the Councell the last yeare summoned to that purpose and that I got nothing but hatred thereby Neither can it be unknowne to any who will rightly consider it that I ought to love my mortall brother but ought much more to esteeme the cause of my immortall Father Therefore because God hath exercised his judgement touching my brother that he might permit him without my knowledge to fall into the power of the Mighty left the kingdome should ●ottet if it wanted a king I have invited you all by the right of my Legation to assemble together at this place Yesterday the cause was secretly ventilated before the greater part of the Clergie of England to whose right especially it belongs both to elect and ordaine a king Therefore having first invocated as it is meete Gods assistance we have ●lected the Daughter of a peace-making king a glorio●s king a rich king a good king and in our time incomparable to be Queene of England and Normandy and we promise fidelity and maintenance to her When the Bishop of Winchester had thus spoken all the Bishops and Clergie present as William of Malmsbury then present at the Councell relates did either modestly give their acclamation to the sentence of Mauds election and Stephens rejection or keeping silence did not contradict it In this Councell many who tooke king Stephens part were excommunicated and by name William Martell who had intercepted some of the Legates goods a●ter this Councell the City of London formerly addicted to king Stephen and the greatest part of England willingly submitted to the dominion of Maude who was principally counselled by Robert her brother and by the Legate of Winchester who pretended that hee sought her welfare but within few dayes after there fell out a difference betweene the Legate and Maude which occasioned a great alteration and was the cause of many new mischiefes in Engl●nd Whereupon the Bishop Legate departed from the Court absolved all those whom he ●ormerly excommunicated in the Councell without the consent of the Bishops raised up a complaint against the Empresse that she intended to apprehend him and made no account of any thing she had sworne to Which report was spred over all England Whereupon he stirred up the Londoners and Barons against the Empresse whom he beseiged and restored S●ephen not onely to his liberty but to the Crowne In the meane time ●his Roger Bishop of Salisbury dyes of a Quar●aine Fever which

May the 13th This Bishop riding a horse somewhat too lusty for him was cast and so brused with the fall as he died by and by to wit May 13● 1254. Thomas Merkes the Fiftenth Bishop of this See amongst many unworthy preferred to Bishopprickes in those dayes was undoubtedly a man well-deserving that honour for he was both learned and wise but principally to be commended first for his constant and unmoveable fidelity unto his Patrone and preferrer King Richard then for his excellent courage in professing the same when he might safely yea and honestly also have concealed his affection Some other there were of the Nobility that remembring their duety and allegiance when all the world b●s●de forsoke this unfortunate Prince followed him with their best assistance even till the time of his captivity This man nothing regarding the danger might ensue not onely refused to forsake him when he had forsaken himselfe but defended him and his cause the best he could when he might well perceive his endeavour might hurt himse●fe much without any possibility of helping the other when the furious and unstable multitude not contented that King Richard had resigned his Crowne to save the head that wore it and their darling Henry the fourth seated himselfe in his royall throne importuned the Parliament assembled to proceed yet farther against him desiring no doubt that to make all sure his life might be taken from him This worthy and memorable Prelate stepping forth doubted not to tell them that there was none amongst them meete to give judgement upon so noble a Prince as King Richard was● whom they had taken for their Soveraigne and Leige Lord by the space of twentie two yeares and more And proceeding further I assure you quoth he I report his words as I find them in our Chronicles there is not so ranke a Trayter nor so arrant a theefe nor yet so cruell a murtherer apprehended or detained in prison for his offence but he shall be brought before the justice to heare Judgment and will you proceed to the judgment of an annointed King hearing neither his answere nor excuse I say and will avow that the Duke of Lancaster whom ye call king hath more trespassed to King Richard and his Realme the King Richard hath done either to him or us for it is manifest and well knowne that the Duke was banished the Realme by King Richard and his Councell and by the judgement of his owne Father● for the space of tenne yeares for what cause ye remember well enough● This notwithstanding without Licence of King Richard he is returned againe into the Realme and that is worse hath taken upon him the name title and preheminence of King and therefore I say that you have done manifest wrong to proceede against King Richard in any sort without calling him openly to his answer and defence This Speech scarcely ended he was att●ched by the Earle Marshall and for a time committed to ward in the Abbey of St. Albanes Continuing yet his loyall affection unto his distressed Master soone af●er his inlargement he trayterously joyned with the Hollands and others in a conspiracy against King Henry the 4th which being bewrayed to the destruction of all the rest he onely was pardoned peradventure in regard of his calling for it had seldome or never been seene hitherto that any Bishop was put to death by order of Law peradventure in some kind of favour and admiration of his faithfull constancy for vertue will be honoured even of her enemies peradventure also to this end that by forcing him to live miserably they might lay a punishment upon him more grevious than death which they well saw he despised The Pope who seldome denied the King any request that hee might afford good cheepe was easily intreated to translate forsooth this good Bishop from the See of Carlile that yeelded him honourable maintenance unto Samos in Greece whereof he knew he should never receive one penny profit he was so happy as neither to take benefit of the gift of his enemy nor to be hurt by the masked malice of his counterfeit friend disdaining as it were to take his life by his gift that tooke away from his Master both life and Kingdome hee died shortly after his deliverance so deluding also the mockery of his Translation whereby things so falling out he was nothing damnified Hall reports that hee died for feare more than sicknesse as one rather desirous to die by deaths dart than the temporall Sword which this his Treason deserved being a great blemish to his former fidelity Owen Oglethorpe the 31. B. of this See was deprived with divers other Bishops for withstanding Q. Eliza. proceedings and refusing to take the Oath of Allegiance in the yeare 1559. Of other Bishops of this See since his dayes I find little mention most of them being translated to other Sees I shall therefore proceede to the Bishops of Norwich The Bishops of Norwich Iohn de Gray the fifth Bishop of Norwich if we beleeve Matthew Paris was one of those three Court Bishops who were consiliarios iniquissimos most wicked counsellors to King Iohn during the time of the inderdict of the Realme who desiring to please the King in all things consilium non pro ratione sed pro voluntate dederunt gave the King counsell not according to Reason but Will and thereby wrought much trouble both to the King and Kingdome Pandulphus the next Bishop of this See consecrated by the Pope at Rome Anno. 1222. was the Popes Legate and the chiefe instument who perswaded King Iohn most ignominiously and shamefully to resigne up his Crowne and Kingdome to the Pope to become his Vassall to his eternall infamy and to submit himselfe to S●ephen Langhton and those other Trayterly Prelates who intardicted the Realme excommunicated this King published the Popes deprivation of him from his Crowne and instigated the French King to invade the Realme of England and usurpe the Crowne which the Pope had conferred on him upon King Iohns deprivation from it of which you may read more at large before in Stephen Langhton Archbishop of Canterbury p. 33. to 41. Onely let me informe you that during the time of this inderdict aboue six yeares space all Ecclesiasticall Sacraments ceased in England except Confession and the viaticum in extreame necessity and the Baptisme of Infants so as the bodyes of dead men were carried out of Townes and Villages and burried like dogges in Highwayes and Ditches without prayers and the ministry of Priests as Matthew Paris and others testifie Such was the Prelates piety and charity About the yeare of our Lord 1271. In the time of Roger de Skerwing 12. Bishop of Norwich there was raysed a dangerous sedition betweene the Citizens of Norwich and the Monkes of the Cathedrall Church the History whereof is briefely this At a Faire that was kept before the gates of the Priory there hapned

in a Synod at London under him Anno Dom. 1487. certaine Preachers were sharpely reproved and threat●ed who in their Sermons cum plausu populari eloquentia canina latran● immodestius in Episcopos absentes did with popular applause a●d doggish eloquence barke immodestly again●● B●shops that were absent In the latter end of this Arch-Bishop Mortons rule one Patricke an Augu●●ine Fryer had a Scholar called Ralph Wilford whom ●e in open Pulpit decla●ed to be the Earle of Warwicke and desired all men of helpe but the head of this sedition was Sommer topped that it could have no time to spring any higher the Master and Scholler being both apprehended imprisoned and attain●ed the Scholler was afterwards hanged but the Master the Grand Traytor onely condemned to perpetuall Prison For at that time writes Hall here in England so much Reverence was attributed to the Holy Orders that to a P●iest although hee had committed High Treason against his Soveraigne Lord and to all other offenders in murder rape or theft which had received any of the three higher Holy Orders the life was given and the punishment of death released The chiefe cause of this favour saith he was this because Bishops of a long time did not take knowledge nor intermit themselves with the search and punishment of such heynous and detes●able offences by reason whereof they did not disgrade and deprive from holy Orders su●h Malefactors and wicked persons which without that ceremony by the Canonicall Law could not bee put to death Furthermore what should a man say it was also used that hee that could but onely reade though he understood not what he read how heynous or detestable crime soever hee had committed Treason onely excepted should likewise as aff●nes and allies to the holy Orders be saved and committed to the Bishops prison And to the intent that if they should escape and be againe taken committing the like offence that their lives should be no more to them pardoned it was ordained that Murthe●ers should bee burnt on the brawne of the left hand with an hot Iron signed with this letter M and theeves in the same place with this letter T so that if● they once signed with any of these markes did reiterate like crime againe they should suffer the punishments they had deserved which devise was enacted and established in Parliament in the fourth yeare of H. the 7. and taken as I conjecture from the French Nation which are won● if they take any such offender to cut off one of his eares as a sure marke hereafter of h●s evill doing And the charge of keeping such offenders because it soundeth to spirituall Religion is committed to the Bishops and Rulers of the spiritualty with a penalty set upon them if any such Prisoner doe afterwards escape The which Act and priviledge did nourish and increase abundantly the Sect and swarme of Theeves and Murtherers for after that time there were an hundred wayes practised and invented how at one time or other to deliver or convey them out of prison by making their purgation by what sleight meanes they care not of such offences as before they were convicted and found guilty if no man be present to lay exceptions to the same For if the party offended and hurt be absent at the day of the purgation making the theefe or murtherer truely found guilty from the beginning shall be both excused and set at liberty And oftentimes the sooner because the Bishop would not lose the sum of an hundred pound for the escape of a poore Knave scant worth a dandy prat so Hall whose words I have recited to manifest what favorers and Protectors our Bishops have beene of Traytors and Malefactors in all ages especially of those of their owne Tribe who by meanes of their Orders Sanctuaries Purgations and other pretended exemptions and devises were seldome brought to execution for their most horrid Treasons which made them the more bold and insolent to commit them And for my part I deeme it true both in Law and conscience that the Patrons Receivers and Res●ners of Traytors and other Malefactors as our Prelates have ever beene are as bad nay worse than the Traytors and Malefactors themselves and worthy more severe punishment than they But it is time to conclude with this Arch-Bishop Henry Deane who next injoyed this See was ●ormerly made Chancellour of Ireland by King Henry the seventh where hee played the Warriour and drave Perkin Warberke thence forcing him to fly into Scotland after this being made Bishop of Bangor he had many great suites and ●ontests with divers about the Lands won or taken from his See And among other particulars pretending the Island of Seales betweene Holy-head and Anglesy to be unjustly detained from his Church by the possessers thereof they refusing to give him possession the Bishop thereupon brings a great power of armed men and a Navie thither and drives out the Inhabitants thence by force annexing it to his See This Prelate being afterward Translated to Salisbury and from thence to Canterbury the Pope sent him a Pall by Adrian of Castello Secretary to his holinesse upon the receite whereof he tooke this Solemne Oath to the Pope as his Predecessors and other Bishops formerly used yet practised in fo●●aine parts which made him a Traytor or halfe subject onely to his King I Henry Archbishop of Canterbury from this houre forward shall be faithfull and obedient to S. Peter and to the holy Church of Rome and to my Lord the Pope and his Successors Canonically entring I shall not be of Councell nor consent that they shall lose either life or member or shall be taken or suffer any violence or any wrong by any meanes Their Councell to me credi●ed by them their Messengers or Letters I shall not willingly discover to any person The Pope-dome of Rome the Rules of the Holy Fathers and the Regalities of S. P●te● I shall helpe and retaine and defend against all men The Legate of the See Apostolicke going and comming I shall honourably entreate The Rights Honours Priviledges Authorities of the Church of Rome and of the Pope and his Successours I shall cause to be conserved defended augmented and promoted I shall not be in Councell Treaty or any Act in the which any thing shall be imagined against him or the Church of Rome their Rights States Honours or powers and if I know any such to be moved or compassed I shall resist it to my power and as soone as I can I shall advertise him or such as may give him knowledge The Rules of the Holy Fathers the De●rees Ordinances Sentences Dispositions Rese●vations Provisions and Commandements Apostolike to my power I shall keepe and cause to be kept of others Heretickes Schismatickes and Rebels to our holy Father and his Successours I shall resist and perse●ute to my power I shall come to the Synod when I am called except I be letted by a Canonicall

unduly and against reason by the commandement of the said Lord of VVinchester and afterward in approving of the said refusall he received the said VVoodvile and cherished him against the State and worship of the King and of the said Lord of Glocester Secondly The said Lord of Winchester without the advise and assent of the said Lord of Glocester or of the Kings Councell purposed and disposed him to set hand on the Kings person and to have removed him from Eltham the place that he was in to Windsor to the intent to put him in governance as he list Thirdly that where the said Lord of Glocester to whom of all persons tha● should be in the Land by the way of Nature and birth it belongeth to see the governance of the Kings person informed of the said undue purpose of the said Lord of Winchester declared in the Article next above said and in setting thereof determining to have gone to Eltham unto the King to have provided as the cause required and the said Lord of Winchester untruely and against the Kings peace to the intent to trouble the said Lord of Glocester going to the King● purposing his death in case that he had gone that way set men of armes and Archers at the end of London bridge next Southw●rke and in forbearing of the Kings high way let draw the chaine of the stoopes there and set up pipes and hurdles in manner and former of Bulworkes and set m●n in cellers and windowes with Bowes and Arrowes● and other weapons to the intent to bring finall destruction to the said Lord of Glocesters person as well as of those that then should come with him Fourthly The said Lord of Glocester saith● and affirmeth that our soveraigne Lord his Brother that was King Henry the fift told him on a time when our Soveraigne Lord being Prince was lodged in the Pallace of Westminster in the great Chamber by the noyse of a Spaniell there was on a night a man spied and taken behind a carpet of the said Chamber the which man was delivered to the Earle of Arundell to be examined upon the cause of his being there at that time the which so examined at that time confessed that he was there by the stirring and procuring of the said Lord of Winchester ordained to have slaine the said Prince there in his bed wherefore the said Earle of Arundell let sacke him forthwith and drownes him in the Thames Fiftly Our Soveraigne Lord that was King Henry the fifth said unto the said Lord of Glocester that his Father King Henry the fourth living● and visited then greatly with sicknesse by the hand of God the said Lord of Winchester said unto the King Henry the fifth being then Prince that the King his Father so visited with sicknesse was not personable and therefore not disposed to come in conversation and governance of the people and for so much councelled him to take the governance and Crowne of this Land upon him Such a loyall Prelate was he To these Articles the Archbishop gave in his answer in writing too tedious to recite whereupon the Lords in Parliament tooke an Oath to be indifferent umpiers betweene the Bishop and Duke and at last● with much adoe made a finall accord and decree betweene them recorded at large by Hall and Holinshed wher●by they both were reconciled for a season But in the yeare 1427. the Bishop passing the sea into France received the habit hat and dignity of a Cardinall with all ceremonies to it appertaining which promotion the late King right deepely piercing into the unrestrainable ambitions mind of the man which even from his youth was ever wont to checke for the highest and also right well ascertained with what intollerable pride his head should soone be swoll●n under such a hat did therefore all his life long kepe this Prelate backe from that presumptuous estate But now the King being young and the Regent his friend hee obtained his purpose to the impoverishi●g of the spiritualitie of this Realme For by a Bull Legantine which he purchased from Rome he gathered so much treasure that no man in manner had money but he so that hee was called the rich Cardinall of Wincester Afterwards An. 1429. the Pope unleagated him and set another in his place to his great discontent Anno. 1441. the flames of contention brake out afresh betweene the said Duke and the Cardinall for after his former reconciliation to the Duke he and the Archbishop of Yorke Iohn Kerap ceased not to doe many things without the consent of the King or Duke being during the minority of the King Governour and Protector of the Realme whereat the Duke as good cause he had was greatly offended and there upon declared to King Henry the ●ixth in writing wherein the Cardinall and the Archbishop had offended both his Majesty and the Lawes of the Realme This complaint of the Duke was contained in twentie foure Articles which chiefely rested in that the Cardinall had from time to time through his ambitious desire to surmount all other in high degree of honor sought to enrich himself to the great and notorious hinderance of the King as in defrauding him not onely of his treasure but also in doing practising things prejudiciall to his affaires in France and namely by setting at liberty the King of Scots upon so easie conditions as the Kings Majesty greatly lost therehy as in particulars thus followeth● and out of the Dukes owne coppie regestred by Hall and Holinshed 1. These be in part the points and Articles which I Humphrey Duke of Gloster for my truth and acquitall said late I would give in writing my right doubted Lord unto your Highnes advertising your Excellence of such things as in part have bin done in your tender age in derogation of your noble estate and hurt of both your Realmes and yet be done and used dayly 2. First the Cardinall then being Bishop of Winchester him took upon the state of Cardinall which was naied and denaied him by the King of most noble memory my Lord your Father saying that he had as lefe set his Crowne beside him as to see him weare a Cardinalls Hat he being a Cardinall for he knew full well the pride and ambition that was in his person then being but a Bishop should have so greatly extolled him into more intollerable pride when that he were a Cardinall and also he though it against his freedome of the chiefe Church of this Realme which that he worshipped as duly as ever did Prince that blessed be his soule And howbeit that my said Lord your Father would have had certaine Clarkes of this Land Cardinalls and to have no Bishopricks in England yet his intent was never to doe so great d●rogation to the Church of Canterbury as to make them that were his suffragans to sit above their Ordinary and Metropolitan But the cause was that in generall and in all matters which might concerne the weale

unto our most holy Fathers the Bishops that is to say false to God and man If any of the Nobles of the Re●lme be true to the King and so bold that hee dare counsell him that which should be to his honour and for the wealth of the Realme They will wait a season for him as men say they will provide a ghostly Father for him God bring this wickednesse to light There is no mischiefe whereof they are not the roote nor bloodshed but thorough their cause either by their counsell or in that they preach not true obedience and teach not the people to feare God If any faithfull servant be in all the Court hee shall have twenty spies waiting upon him hee shall ●e cast out of the Court or as the saying is conveyed to Calice and made a Captaine or an Ambassador hee shall be kept farre enough from the Kings presence The Kings ought I say to remember that they are in Gods stead and ordained of God nor for themselves but for the wealth of their Subjects Let them remember that their Subjects are their brethren their flesh and blood members of their owne body and even their owne selves in Christ. Therefore ought they to pity them and to rid them from such wily tyranny which encreaseth more and more daily And though that the Kings by the falsehood of the Bishops and Abbots be sworne to defend such liberties yet ought they not to keepe their Oathes but to breake them For as much as they are unright and cleane against Gods Ordinance and even but cruell oppression contrary unto brotherly love and charity Moreover the spirituall Officer ought to punish no sinne but if any sinne breake out the King is ordained to punish it and they not but to Preach and exhort them to feare God and that they sinne not And let the Kings put downe some of their tyranny and ●urne some unto a Common wealth If the tenth part of such tyranny were given the King yearely and layd up in the shire townes against the Realme had neede what would it grow to in certaine yeares Moreover One King one Law is Gods Ordinance in every Realme Therefore ought not the King to suffer them to have a severall Law by themselves and to draw his subjects thither It is not meete will they say that a spirituall man should bee judged of a worldly or a temporall man O abomination the King is in the roome of God and his Law is Gods Law and nothing but the Law of nature and naturall equity which God graved in the hearts of men Yet Antichrist is too good to be judged by the Law of God he must have a new of his owne making It were meete verily that they went to no Law at all No more needed they if they would study to Preach Gods Word truely and be contented with sufficient and to be like one of their Brethren Moreover when the spirituall officers have excommunicate any man or have condemned any opinion for heresie let not the King nor temporall officers punish and slay by and by at their Commandement but let them looke on Gods Word and compare their judgement unto the Scripture and see whether it be right or no and not beleeve them at the first chop whatsoever they say namely in things that pertaine unto their owne authorities and power For no man is a right judge in his owne cause The Emperour and Kings are nothing now adayes but even hangmen unto the Pope and Bishops to kill whatsoever they condemne without any more adoe as Pilate was unto the Scribes and Pharisees and the High Bishop to Hang Christ. For as those Prelates answered Pilate when he asked what he had done If he were not an evill doer we would not have brought him unto thee As who should say we are too holy to doe any thing amiss●● thou mayst beleeve us well enough yea and his blood on our heads sayd they kill him hardily we will beare the charge our Soules for thine we have also a Law by which hee ought to dye for he calleth himselfe Gods Sonne Even so say our Prelates he ought to dye by our Lawes he speaketh against the Church And your Grace is sworne to defend the Liberties and Ordinances of t●e Church and to maintaine our most holy Fathers Authority● our soules for yours ye shall do● a meritorious deede therein Neverthelesse a● Pilate escaped not the judgement of God even so is it to be feared lest our Temporall powers shall not Wherefore be learned ye that judge the Earth lest the Lord be angry with you and ye perish from the right way Who slew the Prophets Who slew Christ Who slew his Apostles who the Martyrs and all the righteous that ever were slaine The Kings and the Temporall sword at the request of the false Prophets Page 140. He goes on thus Behold the monsters how they are disguised with Miters Croses and Hats with Crosses Pillars and Pollaxes and with three Crownes What names have they My Lord Prior my Lord Abb●t my Lord Bishop my Lord Arch-Bishop Cardin●ll and Legate if it please your Father-hood if it pleas your lordship if it please your Grace if it please your Holinesse and innumerable such like● Behold how they are esteemed how high they be crept up above al not into worldly seates onely but into the seate of God the hearts of men where they sit above God himselfe For both they and whatsoever they make of their owne heads is more feared and dread than God and his Commandements In them and th●ir deservings put we more trust than in Christ and his merits To their promises give we more ●aith than to the promises which God hath sworne in Christs blood The Hypocrites say unto the Kings and Lords These Heretickes would have us downe first and then you to make of all Common Nay ye Hypocrites and right heretickes approved by open Scripture the Kings and Lords are down● already and that so low that they cannot goe lower ye tread them under your feete and lead them captive and have made them your bond Servants to waite on your filthy Lusts and to avenge your malice on every man contrary unto the right of Gods Word ye have not onely robbed them o● their land authority honour and due obedience which ye owe unto them but also of their wits so that they are not without understanding in Gods Word onely but even in worldly matters that pertaine unto thei● offices they are more than Children ye beare them in hand what ye will and have brought them even in case like unto them which when they dance naked in nets beleeve they are invisible We would have them up againe and restored unto the room● and authority which God hath given them and whereof ye have robbed th●m And your inward falshood we doe but utter onely wi●h the Light of God● Word that your

Parliament holden in the first yeare of the Queenes Majesties Raigne was no Parliament for that your Bishops refused wilfully to agree unto the godly Lawes there concluded yee seeme therein to bewray in your selfe some want of skill the wise and learned could soone have told you that in the Parliaments of England matters have evermore used to passe not of necessity by the speciall consent of the Archbishops and Bishops as if without them no Statute might lawfully be enacted but onely by the more part of the voyces yea alt●ough all the Archbishops and Bishops were never so earnestly bent against it And Statutes so passing in Parliament onely by the voyces of the Lords temporall without the consent and agreement of the Lords Spiri●uall have neverthelesse alwayes bin confirmed and ratified by the reall assent of the Prince have bin enacted published under the names of the Lords spirituall Temporall Read the Statutes of King Edward the first There shall yee finde that in a Parliament solemnly ho●tlen by him at S. Edmundbury the Archbishops and Bishops were quite shut forth and yet the Parliament held on and good and wholsome lawes were there enacted the departing or abs●nce or malice of the Lords Spirituall notwithstanding In the records thereof it is written thus The King keeping the Parliament wi●h his Barons the Clergy that is to say the Archbishops and Bishops being shut forth it was enacted c. Likewise In provisione de Martona in the time of King Henry the third Whereas matter was moved of Bastardy touching the Legitimation of Bastards borne before Marriage The Statute past wholly with the Lords Temporall whether the Lords Spirituall would or no yea and that contrary to the expresse Decrees and Canons of the Church of Rome The like hereof as I am informed may be found Rich. 2. An. 11. c. 3. Howbeit in these cases I must confesse I walke somewhat without my compasse Touching the judgement hereof I re●erre my selfe wholly unto the Learned Further whereas yee call the Doctrine of Christ that now by Gods great mercy and to your great griefe is universally and freely preached a Parliament Religion and a Parliament Gospell for such sobriety becommeth you well and may stand you in stead when learning fayleth yee might have remembred that Christ himselfe at the beginning wa● universally received and honoured through this Realm by assent of Parliament and further that without Parliament your Pope himselfe was never received no not in the late time of Queene Ma●y Yea and even then his holinesse was clogged with Parliament conditions that whatsoever had beene determined in Parliament and was not repealed were it never so contrary to his will and Canons should remaine still inviolable and stand in force Otherwise his holinesse had gone home againe Such M. Harding is the authority of a Parliament Verily if Parliaments of Realmes be no Parliaments then will your Pope be no Pope Therefore as you now call the truth of God that wee professe a Parliament Religion and a Parliament Gospell even so with like sobriety and gravity of speech yee might have said Our Fathers in old times had a Parliamen● Christ. And your late Fathers and Brethren had of late in the time of Queene Mary a Parliament Faith a Parliament Masse a Parliament Pope Neither is it so strange a matter to see Ecclesiasticall causes debated in Parliament Read ●he Lawes of K. Inas K. Elfred K. Edward K. Ethelstane K. Edmund K. Edgar K. Canute and yee shall find that our godly fore-fathers the Princes and Peeres of this Realme never vouchsafed to intr●at of matters of Peace or Warre or otherwise touching the Common State before all controversie● of Religion and causes E●clesiasticall had beene concluded King Canut● in his Parliament holden at Winchester upon Christmas day after sundry Lawes and Orders made touching the Faith the keeping of H●ly-dayes Publik● prayers learning of the Lords Prayer receiving of the Communion thrice in the yeare the manner and ●orme of Baptisme Fasting and other like matters of Religion in the end thereof saith thus Iam sequitur institutio Legum Secularium Now followeth an order of Temporall Lawes In a Parliament holden by King William the Conquerour it is written thus Rex quia Vicarius Summi Regis est ad hoc constituitur ut Regnum populum Domini super omnia sanctam Ecclesiam regat defendat c. The King for as much as hee is the Vicar of the Highest King is thererefore appointed to this purpose that hee should rule and defend the Kingdome and people of the Lord and above all things the holy Church c. Hereby it appeareth that Kings and Princes are specially and of purpose appointed by God not onely to defend but also to Governe and Rule the Holy Church Thus farre Bishop Iewell who here clearly affirmes that Parliaments may be kept and matters of Religion there determined without Bishops Neither is this any strange doctrine for not onely M● Richard Crompton in his Iurisdiction of Courts fol. 19 20. who cites this passage of Bishop Iewell is of the same opinion but in the famous case of Doctor Standish in the 7. yeare of King Henry the eight at a meeting at Blacke Fryers before the King himselfe the whole Temporall Councell and a Committee of both Houses of Parliament it was resolved by all the Judges That our Lord the King may very well hold his Parliament by himselfe his Temporall Lords and by his Commons altogether without the Spirituall Lords for the spiri●uall Lords have no place in the Parliament Chamber of reason of their spirituality but only by reason of their Temporall possessions or Baronies And if this be not sufficient evidence● Bishop Latimer in his fourth Sermon of the Plough p. 19 20. complaines against Bishops placing in being Lords of the Parliament makes this one chiefe cause that they be unpreaching Prelates lazie loyterers and idle Ministers Yea Thomas Bilson Bishop of Winchester a great Patriot of Episcopacie resolves and proves as much in his Booke intituled The true difference betweene Christian Subjection and unchristian Rebellion part 3. p. 540 541 542. If her Majes●y receiv●d and ●stablished nothing but the truth of Christ in her Pa●liament in vaine do you barke against God and the Magistrate for lacke of competent Courts Ecclesiasticall Judges and legall meanes to debate and decide matters of Religion Wh●n God commandeth all humane barres and Lawes do cease If they joyne with God they may be used if they impugne the truth they must be despised And yet in our case the Scepter united and adjoyned it selfe to the word of God and therefore if Princes may command for truth in their owne dominions as I have largely proved they may why should not the Prince having the full consent of her Nobles and Commons restore and settle the truth of God within her Realme Phil. Lay men may not pronounce of