Pope in behalf of the Archbishop who had incurr'd his displeasure for opposing the excessive Power of the Court of Rome And indeed it was but reasonable that he who for promoting the common good of all and maintaining the Honour of the Kingdom so little dreaded the Pope's Anger should be defended by the publick Authority But the Bishop of Winchester beside his Title of Cardinal had the power of Legate in England conferr'd upon him by the Pope with a very large Commission or as they commonly term'd it a Faculty which Power he exercis'd with so great Avarice and got together such a prodigious Wealth that he was generally styl'd the Rich Cardinal The Year after this he return'd into England and having open'd his Commission in the presence of Humphry Duke of Glocester the Protector and many of the Bishops and Nobility Richard Caudray who was appointed Proctor for the King by the Duke of Glocester and the Privy Council expresly declar'd That by a particular Prerogative of the Kings of England which they had enjoy'd ever since the memory of man no Legate from the Pope could come into England without the King's leave and therefore if the Cardinal of Winchester by vertue of his Legantine Office should act any thing contrary to this Right of the King 's that he in the King's Name did interpose and disown all his Authority Whereupon the Cardinal promis'd openly before the Duke of Glocester and all that were present that he would not exercise his Office of Legate without the King's leave and that he would act nothing in it that might any ways infringe or derogate from the Rights Immunities and Privileges of the King or Kingdom Now upon his being made Cardinal and Legate he was oblig'd to lay down his Place of Lord Chancellor Laid down the Office of Chancellor as obliged which he did the Year before in the Parliament at Westminster he ought also to have been removed from the Privy Council but in respect of the Nobility of his Birth and his near alliance to the King by a particular favour he was allow'd to keep his Place there except when any But kept his Place in the Council with exception matter was to be debated between the King and the Pope for then it was expresly concluded that he should not be present which Limitation was confirm'd y Rot. Parliam ann 8 H. 6. the next Year by Act of Parliament and order'd to be entred in the Journals of the Privy Council Now the chief Reason that mov'd the Pope to create the Bishop of Winchester a Cardinal was that he might employ him in the War that he design'd The Pope rais'd imm against the Bohemians Who had pull'd down the Monasteries c. against the Bohemians who having embrac'd the Doctrine of Wickliff had pull'd down the Monasteries and Images and having abolished almost all the Rites and Ceremonies of the Romish Church had openly revolted from the Government of the Pope He therefore The Cardinal made General in the Bohemian War c. made him his General in the Bohemain War and appointed him Legate in Hungary Bohemia and all Germany with a far larger Commission by which He could pardon Rapes on Nuns c. he was impower'd to pardon Rapes committed upon Nuns to dispense with Marriages contracted within the fourth degree of Consanguinity with the Age of Persons to be admitted to Orders and Benefices with Interdicts and many other things which were contrary to the Constitutions of the Canon Law He was to demand a Tenth of the English Clergy for the War he was also order'd to demand a Tenth of the English Clergy for the Service of this War For this cause the Archbishop being sollicited by the Pope's Bull and being also press'd by Letters from the King to consider of raising Money for carrying on the War in France call'd a Synod at London which began on the 5 th of July In their first Session at the request of the Archbishop of York Lord Chancellor and Walter Hungerford Lord Treasurer they granted the King half In the next Synod half a Tenth is given the King a Tenth The Synod was afterwards prorogu'd by reason of the excessive heat of the Summer to St. Martin's day in November following and then again to the 29 th of October the next Year at which time the Archbishop of York was sent to them again from the King together with the Duke of Norfolk the Earls of Warwick Stafford and Salisbury th e Lords Cromwell Tiptoft and Hungerford at whose desire a Tenth and a half And in another a Tenth and an half was granted and solemn Processions were order'd to be made for the success of the Duke of Bedford who went on Duke of Bedford had besieg'd Orleans prosperously and had now besieg'd Orleans a noble City upon the River Loyre These Concessions of Tenths which were granted so readily by the z 8 H. 6. c. 1. Synod were rewarded by an Act made in the Parliament holden at this time at Westminster by which The same Priviledge was granted to the Clergy which the Members of the House of Commons do enjoy when they are chosen to serve in Parliament For those Grants the Members of the Synod c. were freed from Arrests which was that neither they nor their Servants should be arrested while they were assembled in Convocation nor in their journy thither But Conzo Zuolanus the Pope's Nuntio came often to the Synod and pleaded in behalf of the Pope but to no purpose The Pope's Nuntio prevail'd not in the Synod When he could not obtain of them a Supply for the War with the Bohemians which he had sollicited in a long and pressing Oration he produc'd the For shewing his Letters for a Tenth Pope's Letters before the Synod in which he signified that he had impos'd a Tenth upon the Kingdom of England for the support of the Bohemian War which so incensed the whole Synod that they absolutely denied to grant a Tenth However at the importunity of the Pope He was denied but got 8 d. per Mark from Livings With a Salvâ praerogativâ Regiâ they gave him Eight pence in every Mark out of all Benefices according to their respective values provided that this grant were not contrary to the King's Prerogative and the Laws of the Land After this John Jourdelay John Galle Robert Heggley Ralph Mungyn Thomas Garenter all men in Orders with several others were brought before the Synod who were accus'd of Heresy for holding divers corrupt Opinions concerning the Sacrament of the Altar the Adoration of Images Religious Pilgrimages and the Invocation of Saints for maintaining that the Pope was Antichrist and not God's Heresy in holding the Pope to be Antichrist c. Vicegerent that the Divine Oracles were contain'd only in the Scriptures and not in the Legends or Lives of the
Fathers and for keeping privately by them several Books of John Wickliff and others concerning matters of Religion written in the Vulgar Tongue All which Opinions Some recanted others were imprison'd some of them recanted before the Synod and the rest were committed to Prison After them one Joan Dertford Joan Dertford by means of her Answer acquitted being question'd about the same Tenets clear'd her self of the Accusation by an uncertain Answer saying That she had learnt only the Creed and Ten Commandments and never durst meddle with the profound Mysteries of Religion upon which she was committed to the Bishop of Winchester's Vicar general to be instructed by him The Ordinaries also The Ordinaries charg'd to persecute the Wicklevists and Lollards of every place were commanded vigorously to prosecute those that dissented from the Church of Rome whom they call'd by the invidious Names of Wiclevists and Lollards and whose number daily increas'd and William Lyndewood Official and Thomas Brown Chancellor of Canterbury with some other Lawyers And Process ordered to be form'd against them both Canonists and Civilians were order'd to draw up a Form of the Process against them Pope Martin troubled that he obtain'd not the Tenths But Pope Martin was very much troubled to see the Power of the Keys decrease daily in England both by the denial of a Tenth for his War with the Bohemians and several other Affronts that he pretended to have lately receiv'd For some years before this having by his Bull of Provision translated Richard Flemming Bishop of Lincoln to the See of York which was then vacant by the That his Bull was opposed at York death of the Archbishop the Dean and Chapter of York oppos'd his entrance into their Church so that the Pope was forc'd by a contrary Bull to transfer him back again to the See of Lincoln The That his Legate was imprisoned Year after John Opizanus the Pope's Legate was imprison'd for presuming by vertue of that Office to gather the Money due to the Pope's Treasury contrary He expostulated with the Duke of Bedford to the King's Command which Matter the Pope by his Letters sharply expostulated with the Duke of Bedford He would certainly have call'd to mind all these things if he had not been diverted by the more important Concerns of the Council of Basil which The Pope is diverted with the prospect of the Council of Basil was now to be call'd For the time prefix'd for the assembling of it was now at hand the seventh Year being almost expir'd since the end of the last Council for which cause the Archbishop of Canterbury call'd another Synod at London in the beginning of the next Year on the 19 th of February in which Delegates Wherefore Delegates are chosen in a Synod at London with 2 d. per l. Charges were chosen to be sent to Basil and Two pence in the Pound was allow'd them out of all the Revenues of the Clergy Their Instructions were To desire in the name of the Church of England Their Instructions did run Against Pluralities And Non residence c. That a stop might be put to that vast number of Dispensations which were daily granted by which some were permitted to hold two Livings beside Dignities others had leave to be absent from their Cures and some who were scarce at Age were admitted to the highest Offices in the Church and that no Vnions of Churches might be made but where there were Convents within the bounds of the Parish The Synod gave the King a Tenth The Synod also granted the King a whole Tenth at the sollicitation of John Kempe Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England who in a long Oration told them That the Siege of For the Siege of Orleans Orleans was rais'd by the death of the Earl of Salisbury a Renown'd Commander Many other Towns revolted that Troyes Beauvais Rhemes and many other Towns had revolted to King Charles that a great number And many English slain at Patau of our Men were lately slain in a Battel at Patau and that all France would soon come under the obedience of Charles unless Supplies of Money were rais'd in England that for this cause he with several others of the Privy Council were sent to them from the King The Synod also made an Order which concerned the general good of the Kingdom The Synod decreed just Weights That Tradesmen should be oblig'd to sell their Goods by a full weight and prohibited any one under pain of Excommunication to make use of a certain deceitful Weight with which they cheated their Customers But Pope Martin though it were Popes generally afraid of Councils with great reluctancy that he had call'd the Council at Basil fearing lest his Life and Actions should be inquir'd into for which cause also the a Fr. Guicciard lib. 9. Paul Jov. lib. 2. succeeding Popes were always very averse from calling a General Council yet because this was the Place and Time appointed both by his own Edicts and the determination of the Fathers assembled first at Constance and then at Pavia that he might not seem to equivocate in the opinion of all Christendom appointed Julianus Caesarinus Cardinal of S. Angelo to preside in his Name at the Council Martin appoints a President who at that time was his Legate in the Bohemian War against the Followers of Hus the Cardinal of Winchester being lately recall'd from that Post But before his journy to Basil in the beginning of the next Year Pope Martin died at Rome and Gabriel Condelmarius who The Pope dies before he took his Place was created Cardinal at Lucca by Gregory the Twelfth as is before related was chosen into his room on the 3 d of March and chang'd his Name for that of Eugenius the Fourth by whom also Eugenius the Fourth succeeds him and continues the President who was his Legate Caesarinus being continued in the Office of Legate he went to Basil and open'd the Council there in the beginning of December In which the matter was hotly debated concerning the Power of the Pope and on the 15 th of February it was Determined That a General Council doth derive its Authority immediately from Sess 2. Christ and that the Pope is subject to it The Pope adjudged subject to the Council c. that he hath no power to remove or prorogue it that if the Pope die in the time of their Session the right of erecting a new one is in the Council and that the supreme Sess 4. Government of the Church is committed to a Council and not to the Pope and by vertue of this supreme Authority they constituted By their susupreme Authority the Council makes a Legate of Avignon c. The Pope alarm'd removes the Council to Bologne Is opposed Alfonsus Cardinal of S. Eustace Legate of Avignon and forbad Eugenius to make any
were engag'd with the French who are in strict conjunction with the Scots by an ancient and even natural Alliance that is between the two Nations and therefore that it would be very hazardous to invade the French before England was secur'd from the Scots at home To this Speech of the Earl's reply'd John Duke of Exeter a Man of great Wisdom and Learning which he had acquir'd in the Universities of Italy whither he was sent by his Father who design'd him for the Church He very eloquently maintained That the French ought first to be invaded upon whose aid the Scots relying infested the English That if they were subdued the Scots would come in of themselves according to this Aphorism of the Physicians That the Remedy must be first applied to the Cause of the Disease and that in order to the healing a Wound effectually the peccant Humour must first of all be purg'd For from whence said he do the Scots draw the first rudiments either of Learning or Arms but from their Education in France How can the Scotch Nobility be maintain'd if those Pensions should fail which they use to receive from France or if that Kingdom should be subdued with what Nation will the Scots maintain any Commerce or from whom will they implore Assistance Not from Denmark that King is allied to you by marriage with your Sister not from Portugal or Castile both those Princes are your Cousin-Germans not from Italy that is too remote not from Germany or Hungary they are both in league with us so that the Scots will submit to you of themselves when the French are conquer'd as the Tree necessarily withers when the Sap fails He also shew'd in the Instances of Malcolm and David Bruce that the Scots never invaded England but when the English were at war with France and therefore he propos'd that the Earl of Westmorland should be sent with some choice Troops to hinder them from attempting any thing in the King's absence He concluded that the Conquest of France would be a rich and plentiful reward of their Victory in comparison of which that of Scotland was but poor and inconsiderable The King and the Nobility were so much inclin'd in favour of this Opinion but especially the Dukes of Clarence Bedford and Glocester the King's Brethren who were enflam'd with the desire of acquiring Honur and Renown in the War with France by the Example of their Ancestors that when it came to be voted after the usual manner they all concurred in their Opinion with the Archbishop and cried out confusedly in the House War War with France By this means the Archbishop obtain'd great commendation of Posterity for his Wisdom who by this Counsel of his promoted a very successful War and averted a very great Calamity from the Church The King having dissolv'd the Parliament with great diligence provided his Army and Navy and made all other necessary preparations for such a War designing to invade France the next Year In the beginning of which that he might proceed according to the Law of Nations he sent Ambassadors into France the Bishops of Durham and Norwich to demand the Kingdom of King Charles who receiv'd them civilly and told them that he would shortly send Ambassadors into England to return an Answer to their Demands The Fleet and Army being ready for this Expedition and the Soldiers being order'd to rendezvouz at Southampton in order to embark on Board the Fleet The King in his Journy thither staid some time at Winchester where the French Ambassadors came to him who were the Earl of Vendosme William Bouratier Archbishop of Bourges Peter Fremell Bishop of Lisieux and Walter Cole Secretary to the King The Archbishop of Bourges made an Eloquent Oration in the name of the rest in which after he had largely and floridly describ'd the Miseries of War and the Advantages of Peace he offer'd the King in marriage the Lady Catharine King Charle's Daughter if he would desist from the War promising for her Dowry a great Sum of Money and some part of those Provinces which the King demanded by right of Inheritance The King only answer'd at that time that he would consider of the Conditions which they propos'd and the next day sitting on his Throne and attended with a great number of the Nobility the Ambassadors being call'd in he told them that the Conditions which they offer'd were such as he could not accept of with honour and calling Henry Archbishop of Canterbury he commanded him to give a fuller Anser to the Archbishop of Bourges Oration which he did to this effect That the King as soon as he came to the Crown thought nothing of greater importance than to maintain peace as well at home amongst his own Subjects as abroad with Foreign Princes For which cause he had call'd a Parliament in which having setled his Affairs at home he had sent Ambassadors into France to claim his right and to demand that part of the Kingdom of France which the Kings of England had held for some Ages by a lawful possession But seeing his Ambassadors had brought back no Answer from King Charles that he had levied an Army and provided all things necessary for the War and that he was now ready to pass over into France and revenge the wrong they had done him when he perceiv'd they made no account of his Right Nevertheless that he might testify to all the World how averse he was from shedding Christian Blood by the mutual Butchery of War that he would remit something of his Right that he would disband his Army and establish a Peace between the two Nations by marriage with Catharine upon condition that they would restore to him the Dutchies of Aquitain and Anjou and the other Dominions which his Ancestors enjoy'd in France neither forcibly nor clandestinely nor precariously That unless these Conditions were accepted the King would immediately enter France with his Army and lay it waste with Fire and Sword nor would he ever desist from slaughter and revenge till he had reduc'd it to his obedience and had recover'd the Dominion transmitted to him by right of Inheritance from his Predecessors And lastly That he call'd God Almighty both for a Witness and Avenger of his Cause whose Majesty he trusted would be propitious to so just a War When the Archbishop had done speaking the King interpos'd and with his Royal Word confirm'd all that he had deliver'd in more copious and Rhetorical Terms To which when the Archbishop of Bourges began to reply with reproachful Language and to reflect upon the King with more freedom than consisted with the Character of an Ambassador the King only reprimanded him for the liberty which he took and commanded the Ambassadors to depart the Kingdom under safe Conduct The King soon after follow'd them setting sail from Southampton with his whole Army on the 13 th of
consults Lower House to consult and determine whether the Pope might dissolve a General Council at his own pleasure and And what Pope they should obey if another be set up in case the Fathers at Basil should depose Eugenius and set up another Pope which of them they ought to obey To which Questions some days after Thomas Bekyngton Official of the Archbishop's Court answer'd in the name of Alledged 1 st that the Pope might dissolve a Council and if another be set up the Synod is to obey Eugenius the rest That the Pope by his sole command might dissolve a Council and that they were not to withdraw their Obedience from Eugenius though another Pope should be created at Basil For the Affections of a great many People in England began some time ago to be alienated from the Fathers at Basil upon the account of By which they resent a Decree made at Basil transferring Votes from the Nations to a few Delegates a Decree made by them which took away the Custom of voting by the Suffrages of every Nation and referr'd all things to the determination of some particular Delegates whereupon the English Representatives then at Basil Thomas Bishop of Worcester William Prior of Norwich Thomas Brown Dean of Salisbury Peter Patrick Chancellor and Robert Borton Precentor of Lincoln John Sarysbury Doctor of Divinity and John Symondisborough Licentiate in the Canon Law protested against it which was also done at the same time here in Which was protested against on the place England by William Lyndewood Proctor for the King who repeated a set form of Appeal in which he protested against the Decree as unjust for that this way of voting might hereafter be prejudicial to the King and the Rights of the Clergy and Parliament After this the Archbishop consulted with the Synod about nominating more Eight new Delegates nominated Delegates because several of those that were sent before were dead at Basil and eight Doctors of Divinity and both Laws were chosen who were to be sent to Basil provided the Fathers would admit them without imposing upon them any new Oath At this time our Affairs in France declin'd daily by the revolt of the chief Cities to King Charles who had been lately crown'd at Rhemes with great solemnity King Charles crown'd at Rhemes for which cause the Duke of Bedford who was lately come into England and his Brother the Duke of Glocester thought it expedient to raise a A new Army against France designed new Army here in England and John Stafford Bishop of Bath Lord Chancellor the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury the Lord Treasurer Cromwell and the Lords Scrope and Tiptoft were sent to the Synod Money desired of the Synod to desire Money of them The Chancellor in an elegant Speech laid before them the miserable state of Affairs in France and the poverty of the Exchequer and brought them to supply the Necessities of the King and Kingdom After a denial At first they absolutely refus'd to grant any Supply alledging that the Wealth of the Clergy was exhausted by their advancing Money continually for the use of the War by the Rapines of the King's Purveyors and by unjust Citations to the King's Courts But some other Lords soon after coming to them as the Earl of Huntington the Lords Hungerford Audly and Cornwallis who urg'd again the same Reasons and reckon'd up the extraordinary Benefits conferr'd on the Church by the Kings of England they They gave three quarters of a Tenth at length obtain'd three quarters of a Tenth For at that time the Clergy complain'd grievously of the unjust proceeding of the King's Judges and the The Grievances of the Church at that time common Lawyers That Priests against all Law and Equity were brought to their Secular Courts that the Power of the Ecclesiastical Judges was restrain'd by their unjust Prohibitions and particularly that by a fraudulent interpretation they wrested a strict Law of Richard the Second against Provisors and turn'd it upon those Persons who were Judges in the Spiritual Courts of those Causes which they pretended to belong to their Jurisdiction For which cause the Archbishop held another Synod at London the next Year on the 7 th of October where in a pathetical Speech he express'd how solicitous he was that the The Archbishop zealous to rescue her from the Oppressions of the Lawyers Church might receive no prejudice under his Government that it might be deliver'd from the illegal Oppressions of the Lawyers and restor'd to its ancient dignity and commanded them all to consider what measures were to be taken to ease the Clergy of the weight of these Oppressions But the Plague breaking out in the City the By reason of the Plague the Synod dissolved Synod was quickly dissolv'd having only appointed a Holiday to be kept in honour of S. Frideswide the Protectress of the Vniversity of Oxford and denounc'd excommunication against any one that should detract from the Privileges and Jurisdiction of the Church After this the Archbishop applied himself industriously to the Government of his Province and call'd never another Synod in three Years till the Necessities of the Exchequer call d upon the Clergy for a Supply to maintain the Charges of the War with France The Duke of Burgundy revolts to the French and Bedford dies The former occasion'd The revolt of the Duke of Burgundy to the French and the death of the Duke of Bedford which hapned the next Year gave a terrible blow to our Affairs in France For about that time by the mediation of Pope Eugenius and the Council of Basil Commissioners from our King from Charles King of France and the The ill success of the Treaty at Arras Duke of Burgundy met at Arras in order to treat of a Peace But the English and French not agreeing by reason of the extravagant Conditions demanded on either side the Burgundians at last went over to the French and soon after the Duke of Bedford fell sick and died whose death soon caus'd a great alteration in the posture of Affairs For the The English driven out of Paris c. next Year the People of Paris conspir'd privately together and drove the English out of the City and many other Towns being stirr'd up by their example and in a manner all the People of France as if they were impell'd by a And generally the French surrender'd to Charles fatal necessity surrender'd themselves to King Charles Wherefore to preserve the remains of our Dominion in France the Duke of Glocester with a great Army and a gallant Fleet sail'd over to Calais which A new English Army set sail for Calais was then besieg'd by the Duke of Burgundy and the King by Letters to the Archbishop of Canterbury press'd him to move the Clergy for a supply of Money for levying more men who having assembled the Bishops and Prelates of his Province at
Commonwealth and govern'd by its own Laws it was afterwards subdued by the Medici and is now subject to the Great Duke of Tuscany There it was that Theodoric of Nismes who was Secretary to Pope Gregory and was then in his Court at Siena relates that he saw our Ambassadors who were all Men of eminent Note but through the Negligence of Writers their Names are not preserv'd in Memory How well Henry Chichele acquitted himself of this Employment and how much he gain'd the Pope's Favour upon this account Gregory himself did soon after evidently demonstrate For News being brought to the Court of Rome of the Death of Guido Mone Bishop of S. Davids who died this year on the 31 st of August which was after the Departure of the Ambassadors out of England of his own voluntary Motion he created Henry Chichele Bishop of S. Davids and consecrated him with his own hands according to the ancient Form on the 4 th of October and by Letters written to Thomas Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury he acquainted him that by the Advice of the Cardinals he had promoted Henry Chichele Chancellor of Salisbury Doctor of Laws and Priest a Man of eminent Wisdom Integrity and other Virtues to the vacant See of S. Davids desiring him upon his Recommendation to make use of his Assistance in the Administration of his Archiepiscopal Function He attended the Pope from Siena to Luca and continued with him till the end of April the next year He then return'd home of an Ambassador being made a Bishop and on the 26 th of August he went to the Cathedral Church of Canterbury according to the usual manner and there took an Oath of Legal and Canonical Obedience and Reverence to the Archbishop and his Successors How fit he was esteemed by all Men for the Exercise of this Function the Bishops and Prelates of the Province of Canterbury assembled in Convocation at London in January following did very amply and fully testify For when it was debated in the Synod about sending Delegates to the General Council at Pisa for the English Nation Robert Hallum Bishop of Salisbury Henry Chichele Bishop of St David's and Thomas Chillirgdon Prior of Canterbury were unanimously chosen and it was also decreed that every beneficed Person should pay Four pence in the Pound out of their yearly Income toward the Charges of their Journey This Council was appointed to be held at Pisa by the College of Cardinals assembled at Leghorn for composing the difference between Gregory the Twelfth and Benedict the Thirteenth who both set up for Pope one at Rome and the other at Avignon But because we shall have occasion sometimes in the following Narration to make mention of this Schism of the Popes it seems agreeable to the design and method of this undertaking to deduce it from its Original and to explain briefly from whence it arose and by what ways it increas'd and was carried on After that Philip the Fair King of France slighting the Excommunications of Pope Boniface the Eighth had by his Letters which are extant in most of the Writers of that Age sharply reprehended his Folly and Madness and at length devested him of the Papacy the Cardinals fearing the King's displeasure elected into his room Clement the Fifth a Frenchman and Native of Gascoigne Who being created by the College of Cardinals at Perusium in his absence summon'd them all to Lyons where in the Church of S. Justus in the Presence of Philip King of France Edward King of England and Alfonsus King of Arragon he receiv'd the Pontifical Crown in the Year 1305 and the same Year having created a great many French Cardinals he fix'd his Residence at Avignon where also after his Death the six succeeding Popes John the Twenty second of Cahors Benedict thē Twelfth of Tholouse Clement the Sixth Innocent the Sixth Vrban the Fifth and Gregory the Eleventh of the Province of Limosin all Frenchmen resided for the space of seventy Years having quite forsaken Rome Dante Aligeri and Francis Petrarch two Italian Poets who liv'd in those Times in the Court of Rome at Avignon do very severely reprehend the Rapine the Debauchery Luxury and Excess of those Popes and particularly of Clement the Fifth and John the Twenty-second which they did either out of their Hatred to the French in general or because being Men of Integrity themselves they could not bear the debauch'd and profligate Lives of the Popes Clement the Fifth is also mention'd often by the Lawyers upon the account of the Book of Clementines which was put out by him in the Council of Vienne and added to the Canon Law But Gregory being concern'd at the Decay of the City of Rome and the Tumults of Italy privately left Avignon and return'd to Rome in the Year 1376 and the 71 st from the Departure of the Popes where being receiv'd with incredible Joy he began to repair the Churches Palaces the Walls and other Edifices of the City which were run to ruin He dying two years after the Cardinals who were almost all Frenchmen fearing the outrage of the People of Rome who demanded an Italian Pope chose Bartholomew Archbishop of Bari who chang'd his Name for that of Vrban the Sixth and with his Name soon chang'd his Nature also for whereas before he was generally look'd upon as a Man of a moderate Temper he now began to treat all the Cardinals with great Rigor and one time when Otho of Brunswick Prince of Tarentum who had married Joan Queen of Sicily presented him the Cup at Dinner upon his Knees he let the Prince continue for some time in that posture till being admonish'd of it by the Cardinals with much ado he took the Cup from him The Cardinals being very uneasy under this unseasonable Pride and Severity of the Pope fled to Fundi a City in the Kingdom of Naples where having first declared the Election of Vrban to be void as being made through fear and by compulsion they proceeded to Elect Rupert Cardinal of Geneva who took the Name of Clement the Sixth and with his Cardinals retir'd to Avignon Thus whilst one assumed the Papacy at Avignon and the other at Rome and both of them made new Promotions of Cardinals the whole Christian World was divided between them For the Germans the English the Poles the Hungarians the Bohemians the Danes the Swedes and most of the Italians acknowledg'd Vrban but the French and the Spaniards submitted to Clement Vrban in the Eleven Years that he held the Pontificate debas'd the Dignities of the Church by promoting the meanest Persons to the Purple and fomented Wars between the Christian Princes for which cause instead of Vrbanus he was generally call'd Turbanus He exceeded all the Popes that ever possess'd the See of Rome in Cruelty for of those Bishops and Cardinals who were accus'd as secret Favourers of Clement some he imprison'd
pass to his Daughter To which Ordinance if any Laws in any Nation whatsoever be found repugnant they are not Laws but Corruptions seeing they depart from that principal Rule of Justice which the great Lawgiver prescrib'd to his own People But setting aside those Women who govern'd that very People and those Kings who inherited that Crown in right of their Mothers we Christians do all acknowledge that Jesus Christ was the lawful Heir of the Jewish Kingdom now they who deny a right of Succession to be deriv'd from the Female Sex do not only oppose his Title but also deprive us of those exceeding great Benefits which God hath promis'd to Mankind through Christ For God having promis'd Abraham that in his Seed all the Nations of the Earth should be blessed because the Messias was to come out of his Family and the Prophets Isaiah and Micah by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost having prophesied many Ages before that Christ should spring out of the Root of Jesse and out of the Family of David and that the Tribe of Juda should be the noblest of all the rest because Christ was to arise out of it who should govern the People of Israel if the right of Succession be taken away from the Female Sex we shall find no truth in these Divine Oracles for Christ being begotten by an Eternal Father could not spring from the Seed of Abraham from the Root of Jesse from the House of David and from the Tribe of Juda but by Inheritance from his Mother But the French chuse rather to destroy the veracity of the Divine Promises than to submit to a Foreign Prince and they that call themselves most Christian do prefer a supposititious Law of Pharamond a Heathen before those sacred Laws given by God himself I would ask the French why they exclude Women from a right of governing whom all other Nations do admit Is it because their Government is so much better than that of all other Nations and even than that of the Jews which was constituted by God himself that only men are capable of administring it or does France which as they say produces the bravest men in the World bring forth the weakest and most despicable Women or did your great Grandfather's Mother Isabella commit some heinous Crime for which she a King's Daughter and Sister to Kings deserv'd to be depriv'd of the Crown But though we should grant them all this yet seeing they have formerly rejected your great Grandfather King Edward and do now disclaim any Authority that your Highness hath over them they are very manifestly convicted of Treason against you For admitting the Salick Law to be in force in the Kingdom of France let Females be excluded and the Male Issue only inherit the Crown yet by what words of that Law are the Sons of those Females excluded Shall a Law that debars Women from inheriting in respect of the natural Levity of their Sex be made to contradict it self and for a quite contrary reason to put by Men also or will they by a kind of malicious comprehension extend those words of the Law to the Male-Sex which reach only the Female Wherefore though they exclude Isabella why did they not admit her Son Edward a magnanimous and prudent Person why do they not invite your Highness a Prince every way qualified for Government For it is a received Maxim amongst the Lawyers that one unworthy or incapable may transmit some sort of right to his Heir and that those Laws that take away from Females the right of Inheritance are contrary to right Reason and natural Justice that none but the strictest interpretation of them is to be admitted and that they may not be stretch'd beyond the very Letter from Women to Men nor to the exclusion of a Sex that is not mentioned in them but ought rather to be taken in the most favourable acceptation Seeing therefore most mighty Prince that you are call'd to the Kingdom of France by the Laws both of God and Man assert that Right which is denied you by the French by force of Arms strike off that Crown from the head of the King of France which he hath unjustly put on repress the Rebellions of that People with fire and sword maintain the ancient Honour of the English Name amongst Foreign Nations and suffer not Posterity to accuse your Tameness in passing by those Affronts put upon you by your Enemies For besides a very just Cause which is commonly attended with the Divine Assistance you have all things that can be desir'd for carrying on a War with success a vigorous Age a strong and healthful Constitution a loyal Nobility and Commonalty and a flourishing Kingdom and lastly We your Subjects of the Clergy have granted your Highness a greater Sum of Money than your Predecessors ever received of our Order which we very readily and chearfully offer you for the Charges of this War and shall daily in our Prayers implore the Divine Majesty that by the prosperous success of your Arms he would make known to all the World the Justice of your Cause The Archbishop having ended his Speech the King seem'd very much affected with it But Ralph Nevil Earl of Westmorland President of the North fearing the Incursions of the Scots if the King should pass over into France in a long Oration endeavour'd to persuade That a War with the Scots was to be undertaken before that with the French and after he had excused himself in the beginning of his Speech for his want of Learning as not being able to contend with my Lord of Canterbury either in Eloquence or Knowledge he added That he had learn't from Wise men and from his own Experience that Forces united are stronger than disjoin'd and that it was less hazardous to invade a Neigbouring Enemy than one more remote Thus the Romans first reduc'd to their obedience the Samnites the Fidenates the Volsci and those People of Italy that lay next to them before they attempted to meddle with Foreign Nations and afterwards preferr'd the little Island of Sicily because it border'd upon Italy before the vast Regions of Pannonia Numidia and Germany He shew'd that the War with the Scots would be managed here at home where Soldiers and all other necessary preparations for War would be ready at hand whereas against the French there was a necessity of providing a great Fleet and Army at a prodigious charge when the Seat of the War was to be in the Enemies Country that the Victory would be easily obtain'd over the Scots their King being Prisoner in England and the state of Affairs there being in confusion through the unseasonable severity of Alban the Regent and lastly That the cause of this War would be very just being occasioned by the Ravages and Robberies daily committed by the Scots which they would exercise with greater fury while the English