them or for some other reason there was inserted Liceat unicuique de caetero exire de regno nostro redire salvò securè per terram per aquam salva fide nostra nisi in tempore guerrae per aliquod breve tempus which clause seems likewise to have been in that of Henry the 3. to his Fathers in nullo dissimilis after which it is scarce imaginable how every petty cause was by Appeals removed to Rome and th' Archbshop forced to appear before any had the least auctority from thence The Popes themselves wise men saw th' inconvenience that these carriages must end either in rendring th' Archbishop contemptible by taking all power out of his hands or the Realm resume its ancient right and prohibit the carrying ought beyond seas or admitting any Legat into the Kingdom thought of the way of granting severall priviledges to the Archbishoprick which first began about the time of Innocentius the 2. whom others followed 34. Gregory the ninth therefore moved by one of them which seems to be St. Edmund writes thus unto him Vt cum appellationis remedium non ad defensionem malignantium sed ad oppressorum subsidium sit inventum yet th' Archbishop attempting sometimes excessus corrigere subditorum quidam eorum ut correctionem effugiant appellationes frustratorias interponunt quibus si cite pro reverentia sedis Apostolicae humiliter deferatur illi ex impunitate deteriores effecti pejora praesumunt alii eorum exemplo redduntur ad vitia proniores unde humiliter postulastis c. ut providere super haec solita diligentia deberemus ut igitur auctoritati tuae in rectis dispositionibus nihil tali praetextu deesse contingat fraternitati tuae praesentium auctoritate concedimus ut non obstante frivolae appellationis objectu libere valeas in corrigendis subditorum tuorum excessibus officii tui debitum exercere 35. And for that his Agents here in their citations of th' Archbishop did not use that respect unto him which was fit but as Gervasius Dorobernensis observes of one of them Legati privilegium plusquam deceret extenderet in immensum suumque Archiepiscopum Episcopos Angliae ut sibi occurrerent quolibet evocaret the same Pope did therefore declare that cum nimis indecens videatur ut per literas Apostolicas tacito tuo nomine dignitatis inter privatas personas stare judicio compellaris nos fraternitatis tuae precibus inclinati auctoritate tibi praesentium indulgemus ut per literas à sede Apostolicâ impetratas quaede dignitate tua non fecerint mentionem respondere minime teneris c. Dat. Viterbii 4. Non. Martii Pontif. nono 36. And because th' Archbishop had on many slight occasions been drawn beyond seas to the great impoverishing th' Episcopacy the same Pope two months after writes Ea propter venerabilis in Christo frater tuis supplicationibus inclinati fraternitati tuae auctoritate praesentium indulgemus ut per literas Apostolicas extra Angliam invitus non valeas conveniri nisi de indulgentia hujusmodi fecerint eaeliterae mentionem aut per te aliquod factum fuerit per quod sit indulgentiae huic derogatum Dat. Perusii 4. Non. Maii Pontificat nono Innocentius 4. ut nullus sine speciali Apostolicae sedis licentia praeter Legatos ipsius ab ejus latere destinatos in personam tuam praesumat excommunicationis sententiam promulgare Lugduni 13. Kalend. Octob. Pontif. 4. 37. It would be tedious to repeat all the bulls found in the said old MS. and other books since 1130. for before it seems there was none in this kind to conserve some power in th' Archbishoprick yet so as it might ever depend on Rome and how much the Papacy gained by these every man sees I. The right of th' Archbishoprick was none by appeal might remove any Ecclesiastick cause from his judicatory the Pope grants he shall proceed notwithstanding a frivolous Appeal II. The right was he was not at all under any Legat the grant is he should not be tyed to answer if they did not mention his dignity in their citations III. The right was he should not be drawn beyond the seas of which in the next the grant is he should not be compell'd to go unlesse mention were made of that Bull. IIII. The question was whether the Pope might excommunicate any within the Diocese of Canterbury the grant is None but a Legate de latere should th' Archbishop Yet certainly Popes did what they well could retaining to themselves that vast power they then pretended to conserve in the Archbishoprick some auctority 38. But the frequent citing him and others out of the Realm and the carrying their causes to Rome did not at all satisfy the subject whereupon the body of the Kingdome in their querulous letter devised and sent by them to Innocentius 4 tus 1245 or rather to the Councell at Lions claim as an especiall priviledge That no Legat ought to come here but on the Kings desire ne quis extra regnum trahatur in causam and at the revising of Magna Charta by Edward the first the former clause was left out since when none of the Clergy might go beyond seas but with the Kings leave as the writs in the Register and the Acts of Parliament assure us and what is more if any were in the Court of Rome the King called them home not permitting any to go or abide there longer then his pleasure Yet I do not say these times do not furnish examples of Appeals or recourse thither or receiving commands from thence I know the contrary but it was onely between those and in such cases as the King holding good correspondency with the Pope and State did either tacitely connive at as in matters of small moment or expressely give allowance unto for if otherwise no person was so great but he was forced to gain his pardon for the offence To which purpose th' example of the rich Bishop of Winchester may not be unfitly remembred who being a Cardinall of the Kings blood was employed by Martyn the 5. as generall against the Bohemians and to that end erected the Crosse 1429. 8. Hen. 6. but two years after caused a petition to be exhibited in Parliament That he the said Cardinall nor none other should be poursued vexed impleded or grieved by the King his heyres or successors nor by any other person for cause of any Provision or offence or misprision done by the said Cardinall against any statute of Provisions or per cause of any exemption receipt acceptation admission or execution of any Bulls Papall to him in any manner made Which was granted and shews that without it he had been lyable to punishment for his accepting and receiving of them And here it is not unworthy the remembring that this was the first Cardinall
same house they abode yet they salute them with the honourable titles of their dearest lords and brethren A certain signe of a wide distance between the opinions of Rome then and now when men are taught not so much as bid them farewell do not submitunto it sure our first Bishops know no such rule who placed in their Calendar for Saints and holy men as well Hilda Aydon and Colman the opposers of Rome as Wilfred Agilbertus and others who stood for it CHAP. III. Of the increase of the Papall power in England under the Saxons and Normans and what oppositions it met with AFter the planting of Christian religion amongst the Saxons th' Archbishop of Canterbury became a person so eminent all England was reputed his Diocese in the colledge of Bishops London his Dean whose office it was to summon Councels Winchester his Chancellour Salisbury or as some Winchester his Precâ—tor or that begun the service by singing Worcester or rather Rochester his Chaplain and the other the carrier of his Crosse expected no lesse obedience from York then himself yielded to Rome voluntate beneficio it being th' opinion of the Church of England it was but equall ut ab eo loco mutuentur vivendi disciplinam à cujus fomite rapuerunt credendi slammam The dependence therefore of the Clergy in England being thus wholly upon th' Archbishop it will not be amisse to take a little view both of what esteem he was in the Church and how it came to be taken off and by degrees transferr'd to a forreign power 2. Upon the conversion of the Saxons here by the preaching of Augustine and his companions and a quiet peace settled under Theodore to whom all the English submitted Parochiall Churches by his encouragement began to be erected and the Bishop of Rome greatly reverenced in this nation as being the successour of Saint Peter the first bishop of the world Patriark of the West that resided in a town held to nourish the best Clerks in Christendome and the seat of the Empire insomuch as the devout Britan who seemes as I said to have received his first conversion from Asia did go to Iudea as a place of greatest sanctity so amongst the Saxons Romam adire magnae virtutis aestimabatur But as this was of their part no other then as to a great Doctour or Prelate by whose solicitude they understood the way to heaven and to a place in which religion and piety did most flourish so th' instructions thence were not as coming from one had dominion over their faith the one side not at all giving nor the other assuming other then that respect is fit to be rendred from a puisne or lesse skilfull to more ancient and learned Teachers As of late times when certain divines at Frankford 1554. differed about the Common-prayer used in England Knox and Whittingham appealed to Calvin for his opinion and receiving his 200. Epistle it so wrought in the hearts of many that they were not so stout to maintain all the parts of the Book as they were then against it And Doctor Cox and some other who stood for the use of the said Book wrote unto him excusing themselves that they put order in their Church without his counsell asked Which honour they shew'd him not as esteeming him to have any auctority of Office over them but in respect of his learning and merits 3. As these therefore carried much honour and yielded great obedience to Calvin and the Church of Geneva by them then held the purest reformed Church in Christendom so it cannot be denyed but our Auncestors the Saxons attributed no lesse to the Pope and Church of Rome who yet never invaded the rights of this as contrary to the councel of Ephesus and the Canons of the Church of England but left the Government of it to the English Prelats yet giving his best advice and assistance for increasing devotion and maintenance of the Laws Ecclesiasticall amongst them in which each side placed the superiority From whence it proceeded that however the Pope was sought to from hence he rarely sent hither any Legat. In the Councell of Calcuith held about 180. years after Augustine it is observed a tempore Sancti Augustini Pontificis sacerdos Romanus nullus in Britanniam mâ—ssus est nisi nos And Eadmerus that it was inauditum in Britannia quemlibes hominum super se vices Apostolicas gerere nisi solum Archiepiscopum Cantuariae 4. But after the Pope instead of being subject began to be esteemed above th' Ecclesiastick Canons and to pretend a power of altering and dispensing with them and what past by his advise and counsell onely was said to be by his authority he did question divers particulars had been formerly undoubtedly practic 't in this Kingdom he seeing them and not shewing any dislike at it as The receiving Investitures of Churches from Princes The calling Synods The determining causes Ecclesiasticall without Appeals to Rome The transferring Bishops c. but the removing these from England unto a forraign judicature being as well in diminution of the rights of the Crown as of this Church past not with out opposition 5. For Anselm an Italian the first great promoter of the Papal authority with us pretending he ought not be barr'd of visiting the Vicar of St. Peter causa regiminis Ecclesiae was told as well by the Bishops as lay Lords That it was a thing unheard and altogether against the use of the realme for any of the great men especially himself to presume any such thing without the Kings licence who affirmed nequaquam fidem quam sibi debebat simul Apostolicae sedis obedientiam contra suam voluntatem posse servare And the Archbishop persisting in his journy thither had not onely his Bishoprick seized into the Kings hand but the Pope being shew'd how his carriage was resented here did not afford him either Consilium or Auxilium but suffered him to live an exile all that Princes time without any considerable support or adjudging the cause in his favour Which makes it the more strange that having found by experience what he had heard before that it was the King not the Pope could help or hurt him this visit being so little to his advantage at his first presenting himself to Henry the first he should oppose that Prince in doing him homage and being invested by him a right continued unto that time from his Auncestors and by which himself had received the Archbishoprick from his brother and this on a suggestion that it was prohibited in a councell held at Rome in which he went so far as to tell the King quod nec pro redemptione capitis mei consentiam ei de iis quae praesens audivi in Romano Concilio prohiberi nisi ab eadem sede
to the King this cause seemed to him non ad plenum tractata ideoque sicut in canonibus cautum est in pristinum locum debere restitui judicavimus Deinde causam ejus juxta censuram canonicae traditionis diligenter retractandam definiendam praedicto fratri nostro Archiepiscopo Lanfranco commisimus It is certain however some writers might upon this or for â— other causes think his degradation to have been non canonice those times did not interpret this though writ with so great earnestnesse for other then advise or intercession not as of a person had an absolute power of commanding in the businesse for we never read of any proceedings upon it not Lanfrank at all ever to meddle in the case that he ever esteemed Stigand a lawfull Bishop Epist. 27 28. who in the year 1075. being in a Councell at London according to the Decrees of it removed his Episcopall Chair from Selsey to Chichester of which he died Bishop 1087. without being at all for what appears questioned or disturbed after the first grant of it Divers examples of the like nature occur too long to be repeated where the King or his chief Iustice prohibit the Papall precepts from being put in execution and it is agreed by Lawyers that not the command but the constant obedience is it which denotes a right of commanding and in cases of this nature prohibentis potior est condito one example in the negative when the thing is stood upon being of more weight then twenty by compliance in the affirmative 77. It is probable neither the King nor the Bishops would introduce any new matter of great concernment into this Church without the privity of so great a Doctor Patriarch of a See from which their auncestors had received the first principles of Christian Religion but it is manifest what past if he were acquainted with it was by their own auctority not his When Off a intended the erecting of Litchfield into an Archbishoprick he did it by a Councell at Calcuith Lambertus as what he approved not producing crebra sedis Apostolicae vetera nova edicta against it yet the thing proceeded Lucius the 2 went so far in his intentions to raise Winchester to an Archiepiscopall Chair as he sent the pall to the Bishop yet it being not approved here as the event shews that Town never yet had the honour Henry the first having in his Lawes appointed how a Bishop Presbyter Monk Deacon c. should suffer committing homicide concludes Si quis ordinatum occidat velproximum suum exeat de patria sua Romam adeat Papam consilium ejus faciat de adulterio vel fornicatione vel Nunnae concubitu similiter poeniteat Where it is observable the King ordains the Penance permits the delinquents peregrination to Rome to receive from the Pope as from a great Doctor of the Church spirituall counsell which else he was not admitted to seek for peregrina judicia modis omnibus submovemus and again ibi semper causa agatur ubi crimen admittitur 78. VVilliam the first who began his expedition against Harald by the counsell of Alexander the 2. and received a banner from him minding the deposition of th' Archbishop of Canterbury procured the Pope to send certain Ecclesiasticks hither to joyn in the action as likewise soon after for determining the question of precedency between Canterbury and York upon which there grew an opinion Archiepiscopum Cantuariensem à nullo hominum nisi à solo Papa judicari posse vel damnari nec ab aliquo cogi pro quavis calumnia cuâ—quam eo excepto contra suum velle respondere This no doubt was promoted by th' Archbishops as what exempted them from all home jurisdiction the Bishops in generall did after think in some sort to introduce and thereupon put in this petition in Parliament 18. Ed. 3. qe pleise a Roy en maintenance del estat de seint Esglise graunter ordeiner en cest Parlement qe nul Ercevesque ou Evesque â—oit desormez arreynez ne empesâ—hez devaunt ses Iusticos en cause criminele par quecunque voye de si come sur tiele cause nulle alme ne les poet juger si noun le Pape seulement But to this the answer is no other then Il est avis qe en cause de crime nul Ercevesque ou Evesque soit empesche devant les Iustices si le Roy ne le commande especialment tant qe autre remedie soit ordeinez which he did likewise confirm by Charter there registred and as Walsingham hath truly recorded 79. This opinion though new to the English questionlesse incouraged Anselme to oppose the King in many particulars and Popes to go farther as to claim Princes should not confer Investitures nor define matters of Episcopacy c. then to bestow preferments within this Kingdome at first by consent and with the limitation no Italian to succeed another then to reserve to themselves the collation of all benefices of which before To conclude this whosoever will without prejudice weigh the reformation of England by Hen. the 8. Edward the 6. and more especially Queen Elizabeth in the point of supremacy must grant these Princes did not assume to themselves any thing but such particulars as the Court of Rome had in a long series of time incroached in on the Crown and English Church If at any time our auncestors styled the Pope Princeps Episcoporum it was in no other sense then they did St. Peter Princeps Apostolorum by which what principality they intended him we cannot better understand then by the Saxon who renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Apostola the Elder of the Apostles If they called him successor or Vicarius Petâ—i they were not alone appropriated to him for Petrus Blesensis and others give the Bishop of York the same titles and the Bish. of Bath who had a Church dedicated to St. Peter he bids remember quia Petri Vicarius estis So did they likewise in some sense call Kings Christs Vicars as well as Bishops If at any time they gave the Pope the title of head of the Church it was as being the first Bishop he was held to be as St. Bernard tells us in beneficam causam as they termed Oxford the fountain and mother of our Christian faith I cannot therefore but with a late writer that sayes England had a known subjection to Rome acknowledged even by our Laws ever from the conversion of our Country under St. Gregory had expressed in what particulars that subjection did consist what those Laws are and where to be found The truth is as there is no doubt our Auncestors in former times would not have joyned with the Synod of Gap in causing so disputable ambiguous a question as that the Pope is Antichrist to have been taught as the faith
auctority to cause the English Church be reformed by th' advice of their Bishops and other of the Clergy as agreeing with the practise of all ages For who introduced the opinion of Transubstantiation made it an article of Faith barr'd the Lay of the Cup Priests of marriage who restored the Mass in Queen Maries dayes before any reconciliation made with Rome but the Ecclesiasticks of this Kingdome under the Prince for the timebeing who commanded or connived at it CHAP. VI. How the Kings of England proceeded in their separation from Rome 1 IT being by what is already said undoubted the Clergy called together by the Prince or meeting by his allowance have ever had a power of reforming this Church commanding things juris positivi in it and likewise dispensing with them and that the statute 24. Hen. 8. cap. 12. that saith in effect as much is no other then a declaration of the Common law that is the custome of the realm the next enquiry will be for acquitting the Church of England in point of schism how this separation from Rome was made 2. Henry the 8th having long pursued a cause Matrimoniall with Clement the 7. who shewed so much complyance to determine it in his favour as he sent Cardinall Campeius hither to joyn with Wolsey the Kings creature in the businesse and upon the Emperours successe in Italy the cause after many delayes being revoked to Rome the King upon the opinions of many forreign Divines of the invalidity of his marriage with Queen Katharine caused the case to be determined by the English Church which judgement yet he would have in some measure submitted to the Court of Rome so as he might have given the persons to whom it was delegated by the Pope full information and the Cardinalls of the Imperiall faction excluded having any part in the decision But Clement hearing what had past in England with more then ordinary hast determins the cause against him which how much it would irritate any Prince of so great power and so high a spirit as our Henry I shall leave others to judge And here I might alledge many forreign examples of those who upon lesse indignities have stopt all entercourse with Rome as Lewis the 12. and Henry the 2. of France if I had undertook to write an apology for him 3. The King upon the advertisement of these proceedings by the Pope which was at the beginning of the year 1534 falls first to those courses his auncestors had formerly done when they had occasion to know how they ought to comport themselves in any thing towards Rome which was to have the advise of the English Church and thereupon wrote to the Universities great Monasteries and Churches of the Kingdome the 18. May 1534. to the University of Oxford requiring them like men of virtue and profound literature to diligently intreat examine and discusse a certain question viz. An Romanus Episcopus habeat majorem aliquam jurisdictionem sibi collatam in sacra Scriptura in hoc regno Angliae quam alius quivis externus Episcopus and to return their opinion in writing under their common seal according to the meer and sincere truth of the same c. To which after mature deliberation and examination not onely of the places of holy Scripture but of the best interpreters for many dayes they returned answer the 27. Iune 1534. without all peradventure according to the ancient tenet of the English Romanum Episcopum majorem aliquam jurisdictionem non habere sibi à Deo collatam in sacra Scriptura in hoc regno Angliae quam alium quemvis externum Episcopum Of this answer I have thought fit to make particular mention though assented to by all the English Clergy because Oxford hath been ever held aemula Parisiensis Ecclesiae fundamentum fountain Mere de nostre foy Chrestiene as I formerly touched whose opinion the English Church hath therefore highly esteemed and sought on all occasions of this nature of which to give some examples 4. Upon the election of Vrban the 6. France Scotland Flanders and divers other parts adhering to Clement who resided at Avignon the French King 1395. caused a meeting of the Clergy of his dominions to search whether had the better right to the Papacy whose judgment was for Clement which under the seal of the University of Paris was sent to Richard the 2. who thereupon fecit convocationem Oxoniae de peritioribus Theologis tam regentibus quam non regentibus totius regni and they on the contrary judged Vrban to have the better title whose opinion under the seal of the University of Oxford returned to the King was by him transmitted into France 1408 in Concilio Cleri celebrato Londoniis assistentibus doctoribus Vniversitatum Cantabrigiae Oxoniae tractatum est de censu obedientia Papae subtrahendis vel non subtrahendis about which time twelve of the University of Oxford on the Archbishops desire in the name of the rest examined the books Doctrines of Wickliffe sent their resolutions to a Synod at London in an epistle yet extant By all which it is manifest how much their opinions were esteemed in this Kingdome And I hold it undoubted a Prince following so great advise chalked out to him by the practise of his ancestors could not be guilty of so heinous a crime as schism arising onely from disobedience to any spirituall superior whatsoever Gerson sayes a private person runs into no contempt of the Keyes in divers cases by him enumerated as one dum dicit aliquis juristarum vel theologorum juxta conscientiam suam quod hujusmodi sententiae non sunt timendae vel tenendae hoc praesertim si observetur informatio seu caâ—tela debita ne sequatur scandalum pusillorum qui aestimant Papam esse unum Deum And Navar the greatest Canonist of his time qui unius doctoris eruditione ac animi pietate celebris auctoritate ductus fecerit aliquid excusatur etiamsi forte id non esset justum alii contrarium tenerent And to this purpose many more Doctors may be alleged 5. This as it was done by him so he was led unto it by the example of his predecessors as I have partly toucht before and shall therefore alledge no other but that in the disputes between Becket and Henry the 2. the Archbishop endeavouring to interesse Alexander the 3. in the difference that Prince caused it to be written unto him Si juri vestro vel honori praejudicatur in aliquo id se totius Ecclesiae regni sui consilio correcturum in proximo pollicetur and a little after Dominus Rex plurimum sibi justificare videtur cum in omnibus quae dicta sunt Ecclesiae regni sui consilio simul judicio se pariturum pollicetur And this the often repeating of it not onely in a particular letter of the Bishop of London but of
himself an Inquisitor in Sicily and expresly writes of that subject is clearly of an opinion it could not be before the conclusion of the Councell of Lateran and for proof gives in my judgement a very probable reason viz. That no Papall Decretall or History preceding did ever name any such Inquisitor that very Councell when it treats of Heresy speaks of no other Judge then the Bishop now it ending about Easter 1216. as I shall shew hereafter if granted by Innocentius it must be at some time between March and the 16. Iuly 1216. when that Pope dyed Yet I cannot omit that Camillus Campegius in his additions to Zanchinus speaks as if after that Councell Friar Dominick had not his auctority from the Papacy immediately but from one Bertram or Bertrand a Cardinall Priest but who that Bertram was I confess I have not been able to satisfie my self Ciaconius remembers one of the name employed against the Albigenses promoted to that honour by Innocentius 3 us 1212. but he styles him onely a Cardinall Deacon as he hath another so called that was a Priest but he was no Cardinall till Honorius 3 us in December 1216 preferr'd him to the honour so was not capable of serving Pope Innocent in that degree 10. But whosoever first began it Frederick the 2d certainly much augmented their power publishing the 22. of February 1224. three lawes at Padua by which he did constitute the Dominicans Inquisitors through the Empire yet taking all others under his protection and appointing such as should be convict of Heresy ut vivi in conspectu hominum combur antur flammarum commissi judicio c. That these edicts were publisht at the onely instance of Honorius 3 us is very probable in that they are not any way recorded but in papall bulls quoad verba as I shall shew hereafter After which severall persons in divers parts proceeded against them by commission from Rome so as the Bishop who was the ordinary detector of Heresy had little to do and became daily to have lesse and lesse that although his power be not in those cases absolutely taken off yet it is so impaired as it gives place to the Inquisitor insomuch as if one suspected of Heresy be cited by him and the Bishop at the same time his appearance must first be in the Inquisition and the reason given is because they have a power by a delegated commission from the Pope whereas to the other jure divino haec cura incumbit in haereticos inquirere and Simanca yet more plain Cum Episcopi non habeant secretum carâ—erem nec ministros idoneos ad procedendum adversus haereticos non possunt servare ordinem illum qui praefinitus est Inquisitoribus quam ob remusque eo tantum procedere debent ut in haereticos vel suspectos inquirant summariam probationem Inquisitoribus secreto mittere debent So that what power the Bishop hath in this kind from Christ he is now become little other then agent or substitute to the Inquisitor in point of Heresy 11. But these Commissioners exercising their auctority with Fire Tortures and the like in short time found themselves infinitely mistaken in expecting by such violence to render that peace in the Church and obedience in the world the primitive Fathers by the truth of their Dictats evidence of reason and piety of their lives drew men unto for in some places they were expell'd by the peoples fury hardly any where continued but by strong hand their carriage being so full of Scandall as Clement the 5. in the Councell of Vienna could not but acknowledge they had so exceeded the power committed to them by the Apostolick See ut quod in augmentum fidei per circumspectam ejusdem sedis vigilantiam salubriter est provisum dum sub pietatis specie gravantur innoxii cedat in fidelium detrimentum For these men took upon them under the Pope not onely to construe what was heresy or complying with it but on those imputations to imprison fine confiscate mens goods to the destruction of honest people and families which forced some States to limit their proceedings barre them of prisons proper to themselves and the wise Venetian appoint three Senators to supervise their actions insomuch as this delegated power did so decline as notwithstanding the many constitutions of Innocentius 4 tus Alexander the fourth and severall other popes yet extant for regulating of it out of Italy it was little taken notice of in Spain it remained obscurum debilitatumque till Ferdinand and Isabella 1479. by agreement with Xistus 4. or as others 1484. with Innocentius 8 did so renew it as Simanca doubts not to write they did introduce it into that Kingdome which I conceive to be in respect of the alterations in the proceedings now used to those were formerly for that tribunall in preceding times committed from the Papacy to Friars regulars who most depended on Rome and therefore said to be the Popes Court is since by this concord become in effect no other then the Kings being recommended to the care of Clerks secular and Lawyers the Dominicans who formerly governed it altogether excluded unlesse where the Inquisitors require their counsell 12. The style or manner there used being that his Maty names an Inquisitor generall whom the Pope approves and after is not at all admitted to interpose for that Inquisitor nominates a Councell of which himself is President for number and persons as the King likes as sometimes five to which Philip the 2. added two more and these be of the gravest divines of Spain ever residing at or near the Court who compose all differences arising in particular Courts receive all appeals punish the defect of agents and relates to none but the King Of this Councell as I said the Inquisitor generall is President whose auctority is very ample for he nominates all provinciall Inquisitors and their Officers who yet enter not on their charges but by the Kings allowance whom on occasion he removes and punishes releases all penances appoints visitors over particular Courts and though he be directed by the rule of the Canon Law and papall bulls yet on occasion varies from them as is manifest by these Instructions Relinquendum est arbitrio prudentiae Inquisitorum ut procedant juxta juris dispositionem in his quae hic non expresse dâ—clarantur is answerable to none but the King admitting the Pope either very little or not at all insomuch as Pius 4 tus 1565. sending the Cardinall Buon compagno into Spain upon the cause of the Archbishop of Toledo committed by the Inquisition there six yeares before on an imputation of heresy the Kings counsell liked not he should alone examine that Prelate without joyning two Spaniards both in the processe and sentence Neither did that State receive the Councell of Trent 1564. by other
auctority then the Kings onely who by his edict of the 12. of Iuly commanded the Cardinalls and others of his Clergy to observe it without making any mention of the Pope So that in that Kingdome this Catholick Prince doth not take on him much less over Ecclesiastick Courts and causes then the King of England however he do not style himself Head of the Church And therefore Simanca speaking of this Inquisition plainly sayes Ferdinand and Isabella judicii ordinem quo etiam hodie utimur magna ex parte instituerunt Insomuch as if we meet it at any time termed the Popes Court there it is no question but a nominall appellation of that is neither subject to his rules nor to follow his commands but as another will 13. But this Court in Spain and other places conforming themselves much to the papall interest is become very infamous things being carried in it as we read in Monst de Thous excellent history praepostera judictorum forma contra naturalem aequitatem omnem legitimum ordinem tum etiam immanitas tormentorum quibus plerumque contra veritatem quicquid delegatis judicibus libebat à miseris innocentibus reis ut se cruciatibus eximerent torquebatur And indeed the directions Popes have set them do not agree I think with the practise of any standing Court of Justice the world ever saw as that of Innocentius 4 us and Pius 4 us that no man shall know the names either of his accuser or that testifies against him which Camillus Campegius will not have communicated to those learned men th' Inquisitors shall call to their assistance in judgement Another of Pius 5 tus that no declaratory or definitive sentence in favour of the accused though after a canonicall purgation posse facere transitum in rem judicatam but that they may again proceed tam de antiquis quam noviter super eisdem articulis which in effect is no other but that a man once accused before them can never be freed Of a third of the same Pope that whosoever should strike or terrify any belonging to the said Office even a Notary or servant should assiâ—t any to escape imbezzle any writings of that Court besides the being by that Bull declared Anathema should be guilty of treason and suffer according as men found culpable in primo capite dictaelegis their children subject to the paternall infamy to be not onely incapable of succeeding in the fathers inheritance but of receiving any legacy from friend or stranger or attaining any place of dignity whatsoever and others of the like nature too long to be insisted on 14. Certain it will not be easy at least to my understanding to prove these proceedings of a Court Christian to agree with those rules and examples Christ himself hath left us in holy Scripture but the pursuing these Maximes and the like hath brought a great obloquy upon this Court so as it is held an undoubted truth the Inquisition under the Spaniard hath an eye rather to empty the purse and is upholden more for temporall ends then to cure the conscience And to this purpose it may not be here unfitly remembred that a Spanish Inquisitor employed by Philip the 2. into Sicily writes it is found amongst the records of that Kingdome quod quando in anno 1535. fuit limitata seu suspensa jurisdictio temporalis hujus sancti officii in aliquibus casibus per invictissimum Carolum 5 tum faelicis memoriae jurisdictio spiritualis causarum fidei fuit in suspenso quasi mortua which I take no other then a confession the Church which it maintains without the temporall power would fail and come to nought as indeed Cardinall Bellarmine somewhere in effect confesseth that to restrain ecclesiastick jurisdiction to spiritualls that pertain to the soul is to reduce it to nothing 15. But because I am here entred upon this fining or confiscation of the goods of a Lay person by a spirituall judge on the conviction or rather imputation of Heresy it will not be amiss to see how the Ecclesiasticks have gained that addition to the power left them by Christ which is so necessary as without it that onely was committed to them from him which the ancient Fathers practis't would be as it were dead It cannot be denyed Princes did in former times by their edicts impose pecuniary penalties on some actions concerned religion so did Theodosius 392. on such as did ordain or were ordained in Haereticis erroribus which law a Councell held in Africk about 404. provoked by the inhumanity of the Donatists did petition th' Emperour Honorius might be of force against them but never any holy Bishop of those times took upon him to confiscate any mans estate for his opinions much lesse to damnify the son for the fathers tenets and the lawyers do expresly resolve si poena alicui trrogatur ne ad haeredes transeat and give this reason Poena constituitur in emendationem hominum quae mortuo eo in quem constitui videtur desinit again no man is alieni criminis successor and accordingly many imperiall constitutions do expresly provide the Catholick children of hereticall parents though the father were deprived of them should succeed in their paternall goods and thus it stood for ought I know for above a 1000 yeares the Christian world thinking it hard the son should suffer for an erroneous perswasion of the father neither did ever any holy Bishop for that space unlesse as Deputy to some Prince take upon him that way of punishing and if any did it was not approved in him 16. In the year 1148. th' Archbishop of Canterbury called by Eugenius 3 us to a Councell at Reims the King denied him passage yet he stole thither for which on his return he was expell'd England into which notwithstanding he got shrouding himself as it seems in those tempestuous times and to make himself the more formidable interdicted divine service through the Kingdome which is the first experience the nation ever had of that censure To this the Prior of S. Augustines refused to yield obedience and th' Archbishop having now made his peace with Stephen got the sentence confirmed from Rome upon which omnes seculares in hoc monasterio servientes praeter censuram ecclesiasticam ad gravem pecuniae redemptionem contra juris aequitatem sanctorum patrum decreta cocgit On this complaint being made to the Pope he writ unto him Sicut nobis significatum est homines ejusdem monasterâ—i pro participatione excommunicatorum praeter ecclesiasticam poenam fuerunt ad redemptionem coacti and thereupon commands him quatenus omnia quae hac occasione sunt eis ablata sine vexatione restitui facias nolumus enim ut nova in vestra ecclesia inducantur c. so that certainly it did but then begin to bud after 1160 Alexander the 3. condemns
artioulos super quibus erat principaliter tractandum consulendum super negotio terrae sanctae quomodo posset recuperari tueri super ordine Templariorum qui pro nullo habebatur praecepitque omnibus Praelatis singulis qui convenerant quod super praemissis articulis usque ad secundam sessionem deliberarent II. In secunda sessione facta est long a disputatio de ordine Templariorum utrum stare posset vel deleri de jure deberet Et erant pro ordine Templariorum praelati quasi omnes praeter praelatos Franciae qui propter timorem Regis Franciae per quem ut dicebatur totum illud scandalum fuerat aliud facere non audebant Erant in toto Concilio quod Concilium dici non merebatur quia ex capite proprio omnia fecit Dominus Papa non respondente neque consentiente sacro Concilio baculi pastorales circa cxxx III. In tertia sessione Dominus Papa sedit pro tribunali ab uno latere Rex Franciae ab altero Rex Naverniae filius ejus surrexit que quidem Clericus inhibuit sub poena excommunicationis majoris ne aliquis loqueretur verbum in concilio nisi licentiatus vel requisitus à Papa Recitatoque processu Templariorum adjecit Papa Quod licet ex processu praehabito ipsum Ordinem de jure delere non posset tamen ex plenitudine potestatis Ordinem delevit nomen habitum terras eorum possessiones Hospitalariis conferendo aggregando uniendo 35. The like may be said of the Councel of Lateran under Innocentius 3. in which there was onely recitata as what the Pope had before concluded on capitula lx quae aliis placabilia aliis videbantur onerosa c. Which with the great extortion then exercised on the prelats appeared in it the little credit it gained in England might justly cause th' Antiquitates Britannicae Ecclesiae write it to end in risum scomma which words are none of Mat. Paris but of the auctors though the marginall note against them in the edition of Hanaw 1605. hath given an occasion of mistake which should have been placed five lines lower as it is in that of London 1572. for that he there speaks of the prelats borrowing to satisfy the papall avarice is as Archbishop Parker or whosoever else composed those lives thus delivered in Historia minori Tunc autem temporis solutum est concilium generale Papa vero praelatis petentibus licentiam repatriandi minime concessit immo à singulis auxilium in pecunia postulavit quam recessurt cum viaticis cogebantur à Mercatoribus curiae Romanae duris conditionibus mutuare sic cum benedictione papali ad propria remearunt per idem tempus instante festo Paschali c. 36. This I have the rather transcribed because some are of opinion that Councell ended 1215 which certainly it did not till towards Easter the year following and then too abruptly the Pope called away on a suddain for appeasing the wars growing in Italy the 16 Iuly 1216. dyed which makes it without either time when it began or ended nothing being fully concluded but th' expedition against the Sarazins for the recovery of the Holy land Of this I have made the more particular mention for that having given advertisement of it to Doctor Wats who hath with great sincerity and judgment put out Mat. Paris that he might clear the Archbishop in his Adversariis I know not by what fate he applies his note to pag. 138 5. which referrs to the Councell held there by Alexander the 3. 1179. when it should have been to pag. 272. or pag. 274. 6. and thinks he called the lives of the Abbots the Historia minor who I am perswaded never saw that book but did write candidly what he found in Historia minori 37. But that this Councell was never received generally here is manifest in that divers Canons in it were not of force in England as the 3 the 41 the 46 to which I may adde the very first for though Peckham 66 years after did make a constitution in that point yet he did to my understanding not speak of Christs presence in the Eucharist so grossely nor determine it to be by Transubstantiation as the first chapter of the other doth but of that hereafter And whosoever shall persue Simon Sudburies constitions 1378 touching confession will find so much variation from the 21 chapter of that Synod as he cannot think he took that for a rule not to be varied from To which I may adde that Peckham provides the punishment of the negligent conserver of the holy Sacrament to be secundum regulam concilii generalis meaning the 20th chapter of this I speak of which had it been of force otherwise he had no doubt commanded the due observance of it not by his command added strength to the rule there given It is true Stephen Langton to ingratiate himself with Rome whom he had so much displeased as the Pope intended to remove him from his Archbishoprick on the Kings desire but stopt on the intercession of the Court and his being a Cardinall did at the end of his Synod at Oxford 1222 enjoyn the Councell of Lateran held under Pope Innocent in the paying of Tythes and other litigious causes to be observed in Synodis episcopalibus constitutiones illius concilii una cum istis prout videbitur expedire exponi volumus recitari which last words Binius hath changed I know not on what auctority to volumus observari when questionlesse th' English took them for advise not a precept and their little regard of them appears by the particulars mentioned Neither doth Lyndwood make any mention of this part though he have I think all the rest were agreed there is it self altogether omitted in some old copies of that Councel I have seen one of which is joyned with the Mss. Annals of Burton Abby in Sr Thomas Cottons Library But the Acts of this Councell being with divers others printed at the end of the constitutions of Otho and Othobon at Paris 1504 and since by Binius transferred into his third tome the second part this is alledged by some men as if what past at Lateran had been of undoubted validity with us when no question what was done there hath never been taken here as the decrees of a generall Councell like that of Nice or c. but of Innocentius 3 us as they stand in the Decretalls compiled by Gregory the 9th his Nephew with this title Innocentius 3. in Concilio Lateranensi as those by him propounded but not fully concluded in councell according to Plantina and from which this Church varied as occasion served Yet if any shall insist this conclusion of 1222. to have been of greater validity then I speak I must adde that if it really were made with such an intent by the Ecclesiasticks it cannot be
To return to th' Archbishop who came home with this Legatine power 1127. crowns the King at Windsor and in May following holds a Councell at Westminster cui praesedit ipse sicut Apostolicae sedis legatus which is the first Councell any Archbishop is noted to have held as a Papall Legat and during his life which was seven years England did not see any other 27. After his death the See of Canterbury lay two years vacant so a fit time for the Pope to look this way especially K. Stephen making it part of his title that he was confirmed by him in his Kingdome therefore 1138. Innocentius the second sent hither Albericus Bishop of Hostia the second stranger I find exercising the Legatine auctority in England yet he was not at first received for one but vix tandem pro reverentiâ— Domini Papae He indeed went farther then ever any had for he not onely called the Clergy Apostolica auctoritate as our Historians terme it to a Synod I confesse he avoyds the word in his letters of summons styling it colloquium perhaps not to enter into dispute with the King who then took himself to be the onely caller of them and the allower of what they did but did farther command the Prior and Convent of Canterbury c. to chuse such an Archbishop cui sacrorum canonum auctoritas in nullo valcat obviare cui comprovinciales Episcopi pariter debeant assentire cui Dominus Rex nec possit nec debet assensum suum juste denegare but farther not at all intromitting himself And in the Councell he held amongst other particulars he ordained that if any injured an Ecclesiastick person Nisi tertio admonitus satisfecerit anathemate feriatur neque quisquam ei praeter Romanum Pontificem nisi mortis urgente periculo modum poenitentiae finalis injungat This is the first that by Canon ought done in England was referr'd to Rome as having a greater power then the English Bishops to absolve of the Laws of Hen. the 1. I shall speak hereafter But whether it were not here much regarded or th' excesses used by King Stephen against certain Bishops and the prohibiting a Councell held 〈◊〉 Winchester to send to Rome as against the dignity of the realm or that he freed of imprisonment desired to make so potent a party as the Clergy then was more of his side I cannot say but assuredly it was again renewed in a Councell at London about some four years after 28. The same Pope 1139. conferr'd upon Henry K. Stephens Brother and the potent Bishop of Winchester this Legatine power which was by him publish't in a Councell at Winchester where his faculties wâ—re read bearing date the 1. March and being as well Angliae Dominus by reason of the power he held wiâ—h Stephen as Apostolicae sedis Legatus he called thither th' Archbishop that had then some contest with the Monks of St. Augustines whom the Pope generally favour'd against him referr'd to his decision from Rome so that he caused both parties the second time to appear there before him 1143. as Legat and by compromise ended the businesse Yet this calling of the Archbishop unto him was not taken well and the same year 1143. he did by Apostolick command restore Ieremy removed by Theobald notwithstanding his appeal to Rome to be Prior of Canterbury which restitution the said Prior did not think fit to stand by but for avoiding trouble took an 100. marks to pay his debts and placed himself in St. Augustines By these carriages there grew great distasts between these two great Prelats the one as Archbishop prohibited Winchester all Ecclesiastick functions however the Popes Legat and both apply themselves to the Pope from whence our Historians do fetch the use of Appeals to Rome as indeed there could not well be any cause of them before for as the one case is the first ever any Archbishop was called out of his Diocese to make answer to any Legat as his Superior so I believe it will be hard to give an example of ought done by th' Archbishop in his own Bishoprick till now alter'd by a forreign auctority And here having mentioned the introducing of Appeals the reader will give me leave to digresse a little both to shew what is meant by them and the manner of prosecution of them and then to return and observe the event of the Archbishops and Legats in the Court of Rome 29. It cannot be denyed the word Appeal to have been used in former times with reference to the Papacy Cum praesul sedem Apostolicam appellasset sayes Malmsbury of VVilfred and a Councell held in Italy concerning him Apostolicam sedem de suâ causâ appellans and of some others Yet nothing is more certain then those in whose time this was did not at all hold the Pope to have any power of righting him other then by intercession not as a superior Court by sentencing in his favour to undo what had past Theodore without whose assent the King could not have deprived him of his seat for when the Popes Letters were brought hither for his restitution Egfrid with th' advise of his Bishops not onely refused but clapt VVilfred in prison and after his death the Pope sending others vita graves aspectu honorabiles Alfrith though he received the men with great reverence yet would by no means admit the restauration they came about but affirmed it against reason to do it he having been twice condemned proper quaelibet Apostolica scripta And as this was in a time when Christianity most flourished in this Nation having in generall fortissimos Christianosque Reges so of the Kings that did it of Egfrid Beda left that he was piissimus Deo dilectissimus neither can he find any other thing to blame in Alfrith worthily and the Bishops that did concur in the action were holy men well seen in divine and secular learning so that it is not imaginable any thing past them not warranted by the Doctrine and rules of this Church 30. For the understanding of which we are to know the word Appeal is taken severall wayes sometimes to accuse sometimes for referring our selves to some one for his judgment such was that of VVilfreds appealing to Rome as to a great spirituall Doctor and Church whose judgment was very venerable in the World as of late Iohn Calvins and the Church of Geneva was to them of Scotland and Frankford c. another way we take it for removing a cause from an inferior to a superior Court or Iudge that hath power of disannulling whatsoever the former did and this is that our Historians affirm not to have been in use till after 1140. It is certain long after VVilfred the Bishops and Nobility did assure Anselme that for any of the great ones especially him to have
recourse to Rome without the Kings leave to be inauditum usibus ejus omnino contrarium and therefore required of him an Oath quod nunquam amplius sedem Sancti Petri vel ejus vicarium pro quavis quae tibi ingeri queat causa appelles I know Anselm an Italian where the opinion of the Papall absolutenesse had now begun to root did maintain this was Petrum abjurare and that Christum abjurare and is the first of our Bishops spake any thing in that sort with whose sense the Kingdome did not concur in it For it is manifest in those dayes and after Appeals to Rome were not common In the year 1115. Paschalis the 2. expostulates with Henry the 1. that Nullus inde clamor nullum judicium ad sedem Apostolicam destinatur and again vos oppressis Apostolicae sedis appellationem subtrahitis And Anselme himself speaking of the proceeding of the King in a case by him esteemed onely of Ecclesiastick cognizance lays down the manner to be that it should be onely ad singulos Episcopos per suas parochias aut si ipsi Episcopi in hoc negligentes fuerint ad Archiepiscopum primatem adding nothing of carrying it to Rome of which I know no other reason but that it was not then usuall to remove causes from the Primate thither Yet after this either the importunity of the Pope prevailed with the King or the passage was inserted after his dayes into the Lawes carry his name as some other in the same chapter may seem to have been but certain in them though he give for a rule that of Pope Fabian or Sixtus 3. ibi semper causa agatur ubi crimen admittitur yet a Bishop erring in faith and on admonition appearing incorrigible ad summos Pontifices the Archbishops vel sedem Apostolicam accusetur This is the onely case wherein I find any English Law approve a forreign judicature 31. But whether from the countenance of this Law or the great oppressions used by the Legat King Stephens Brother or the frequency of them it is certain 1151. Appeals were held a cruell intrusion on the Churches Liberty so as in the Assize at Clarendoun 1164. collected by the body of the Realm the 8. Chapter is solely spent in shewing the right of the Kingdome in that particular which Iohannes Sarisburiensis interprets quod non appellaretur pro causâ aliquâ ad sedem Apostolicam nisi Regis Officialium suorum venia impetraâ—a Upon which the Bishop of London moved Alexander the third Beckets cause might be determined appellatione remota at which the Pope seems to be moved and told him haec est gloria mea quam alteri non dabo And though it seems by a Letter of the same Prelat the King would have restrained his power onely to such as had first made tryall of receiving justice at home claiming ex antiqua regni institutione ob civilem causam nullus clericorum regni sui fines exeat c. and that too if amiss would have corrected by th' advise of the English Church yet while th' Archbishop lived that would not be hearkened to but after his death at the peace which 1172. ensued between him and the Church of Rome it was onely concluded the King not to hinder Appeals thither in Ecclesiastick causes yet so as a party suspected before his going was to give security not to endeavour malum suum nec regni But the Kingdom meeting in Parliament at Northampton 1176. not fully four years after would not quit their interest but did again renew th' Assize of Clarendoun using in this particular somewhat a more close expression Iusticiae faciant quaerere per consuetudinem terrae illos qui à regno recesserunt nisi redire voluerint infra terminum nominatum stare in curia Domini Regis utlagentur c. in effect the same as Gervasius Dorobernensis well understood who tells us Rex Angliae Henricus convocatis regni primoribus apud Northamptoniam renovavit assisam de Clarendonia eamque praecepit observari pro cujus execrandis institutis beatus martyr Thomas Cantuariensis usque in septennium exulavit tandem glorioso martyrio coronatus est 32. After which the going to Rome remained during this Kings and his Son Richard's time onely according to their pleasures the Clergy lying under the penalty of this Law if they did attempt farther then the Princes liking of which we have a very pregnant example in the case of Geffrey Archbishop of York K. Richards Brother who accused to Coelestinus 3 us that he did not onely refuse Appeals to Rome but imprisoned those who made them upon it the Pope commits the cause to be heard by the Bishop of Lincoln and others who thereupon transfer themselves to York where hearing the Testimonies of those appeared before them assigned him a time to make his defence to the Pope But the Archbishop being then well with his Brother pretended he could not present himself in Rome for the Kings prohibition and the indisposition of the aire Not long after the King and he fell so at odds quod praecepit illum dissaisiri de Archiepiscopatu suo c. Coelestinus upon this takes an opportunity to declare a suspension to be notifyed through all the Churches of his Diocese injoyning what the King had before the Lay as well as the Clergy ne ipsi Archiepiscopo vel officialibus ejus in tempor alibus respondere praesumant donec de ipso Archiepiscopo aliud duxerimus statuendum The offence with his Brother still remaining the Bishop expecting now no help at home goes upon this to Rome makes his peace with the Pope and returns but the King committed the â—are even of the Spiritualls of his Archbishoprick to others without permitting him or his Agents to meddle with ought till about two years after he reconciled himself to the Crown after which he gave Innocentius 3 us occasion to write Non excusare te potes ut debes quod illud privilegium ignoraris per quod omnibus injuste gravatis facultas patet ad sedem Apostolicam appellandi cum iu ipse aliquando ad nostram audientiam appellaris and a little after Nec auctoritatem nostram attendis nec factam tibi gratiam recognoscis nec appellationibus defers quae interponuntur ad sedem Apostolicam c. And about the same time Robert Abbot of Thorney deposed by Hubert th' Archbishop was laid in prison a year and half without any regard had of the Appeal by him made to the Pope and this to have been the practice during King Richards time the continued quarrells of Popes for not admitting men to appeal unto them doth fully assure as 33. But Innocentius 3 us having prevailed against King Iohn and the Clergy great instruments in obtaining Magna Charta from that Prince either in favour of
elsewhere advises Rufus unto Conemur una tu regia potestate ego Pontificali authoritate quatenus tale quid inde statuatur quod cum per totum fuerit regnum divulgatum solo etiam auditu quicunque illius fautor est paveat deprimatur I can take this for no other but that in the laws of Ethclstan Debent episcopicum seculi judicibus interesse judiciis ne permittant si possint ut aliqua pravitatum germina pullulaverint And the laws of Henry the first are expresse the use to have continued in his daies for they approve the ancient institution That generalia Comitatuum placita certis locis vicibus convenire debere That the Iudges in those Courts were Episcopi Comites Vicedomini c. The causes they dealt in and order of proceeding agantur primo debita verae Christianitatis jura secundo Regis placita postremo causae singulorum c. And why may not certa loca here be what Anselme calls Parochia the Conqueror Hundred 10. But good laws are not alwaies suddenly put in execution and this of the Conqueror we may take to have slept till towards the beginning of King Stephen's time it had got some strength for then we meet with plain precedents of the Ecclesiastick Courts being sever'd from the Lay. Theobald of Canterbury molesting the monastery of St. Augustines concerning certain Priviledges granted from the Papacy th' Abbot obtained a bull from Innocentius 2. of the 20 November 1139. in his houses favour in which the Pope expostulates with th' Archbishop quod occasione privilegii nostri idem monasterium vehementer infestas ecclesias eidem coenobio pertinentes eundem abbatem ordinare non sines quin potius violent a dominatione ecclesias eorum firmatas diceris infregisse presbyteros tous invito Abbate ejusdem loci fratribus contra Romanae ecclesiae privilegia quibus idem coenobium est munitum in eis ponere praesumpsisse nec his contentus abbatem ipsum homines ejus ad placitandum super hoc in curiam tuam prout asserunt praesumptuose traxisti eisque ob eam rem poeuam molieris infligere c. 11. VVilliam Thorne who mentions this 1139. 4. Steph. observes which is warranted by the bull it self quod iste Theobaldus primo Abbatem conventum ad causas trahere conatus est and is the first I have noted in which th' Ecclesiasticks alone did force men to plead in their Courts which as it doth prove they then had them so we may conclude them not long to have been possest of that power for it is altogether improbable if that act of King VVilliam had been in his and his sonns time generally practic 't but some Archbishop in above fifty years might have attempted as much if not to the Abbot at least to some other as after this the examples are frequent of which one in the 122 epistle of Iohannes Sarisburiensis is not unworthy the remembring Symphorian a Clergy-man of York accused one Osbert Archdeacon of the same Church before king Stephen the Bishops and Lords 1154. for making away VVilliam the late Archbishop of that See by poyson A question grew to whether Court this cause belonged The King affirmed it to belong to the temporall for the heynousness of the fact and because it was first entred upon in his presence But before the decision Stephen dyed and Henry the 2. succeeded de cujus manibus saith my Author vix cum summa difficultate in manu valida cum indignatione Regis omnium procerum jam dictam causam ad examen ecclesiasticum revocavimus from whence it was by Appeal carryed to Rome 12. But what this manus valida should be that took the case from the King I cannot imagine for it is undoubted in all disputes of this nature the Kings Courts have been ever Iudges to what Court the cause did belong Bracton speaks very clearly Iudex ecclesiasticus cum prohibitionem à Rege susceperit supersedere debet in omnicasu saltem donec constiterit in curia Regis ad quem pertineatat jurisdictio quia si Iudex Ecclesiasticus aestimare possit an sua esset jurisdictio in omni casu indifferenter procederet non obstante regia prohibitione c. and 1080 VVilliam the first in a Councell at Illebon in Normandy by th' advise of both estates Ecclesiastick and Secular did settle many particulars to belong to the cognizance of the spirituall Iudge and concludes that if any thing were further claimed by them they should not enter upon it donec in curia Regis monstrent quod habere debeant Neither were the Lay to molest them in the exercise of ought there mentioned Donec in curia Regis monstrent quod Episcopi inde habere non debeant So in both reserving the decision to his own Courts of what pertained to each in so much as what that strong hand should be did thus take this from the King I must prosesse not to understand And that our Kings had ever an inspection over those Courts is not to be doubted by the Charge against Becket in which Henry the 2. urgeth quod cuidam Iohanni coram ipso litiganti plenam justitiam non exhibuit super hoc ad Regis praesentiam vocatus venire contempsit To which th' Archbishop answered praefato Iohanni condignam non defuisse justitiam Iohannem non legaliter curiam suam infamasse qui non super evangelium ut moris est sed super veterem cantuum codicillum quem secum tuler at voluerit pejer are c. and for his not attending the King to give him satisfaction in the point pleaded th' excuse of sicknesse yet for that contempt was adjudged to loose his moveables By which it is evident th' Archbishop did then exact oaths of such as were called into his Court that he was to give an account to the King of his carriage in it who by his constitutions hath ever directed the manner of proceedings in it See Mat. Paris Anno 1247. pag. 727 29. Anno 1246. pag. 716. 1. But of this more hereafter 13. The Conqueror though he did shew so much complyance with the Romanist as not to deny any thing former Kings had acknowledged to the Papacy as due yet farther then they had gone would in nothing submit unto it and as they had by their edicts guided the ecclesiastick affaires of this kingdome so he proceeded in his lawes à l gibus sanctae matris Ecclesiae sumens exordium as did his sonne Henry the 1. How far they did conceive this their power to extend in those to matters nothing can better teach us then the lawes they and such as came after them princes against whom no exceptions can lye establisht and usages they maintained as the rights of the Kingdome in opposition of all encroachments whatsoever 14. To enumerate all these Priviledges I conceive them
with our auncestors better called Rights I hold impossible the foundation or ground upon which they are built being that power the divine wisdome hath invested the secular Magistrate with for preservation of his Church and people in peace against all emergencies from whomsoever proceeding as the Bishops of the Province of Canterbury writ to Thomas Becket 1167. Rex à Domino constitutus paci providet subjectorum per omnia ut hanc conservet Ecclesiis commissis sibi populis dignitates Regibus ante se debitas exhibitas sibi vult exhiberi And this issuing from so great auctority as in effect the body of all the Clergy of the realm cannot be imagined to be other then the constant opinion of th' English Church In what these Rights have been put in practise in opposition to Rome of which I now treat may in some sort be told but to say these they are and no other is that I mean cannot be So that we may say the affirmative these they are but not the negative others they are not Therefore Eadmerus will have it of the Conquerour that Cuncta divina simul humana ejus nutum expectabant that is in foro exteriori insomuch as when the Clergy 1530. gave the King the title of Head of the Church they intended no other then their fore-fathers when they called him the Defender Patron governor Tutor of it 15. Which the French do attribute to their Kings with more hard expressions Ce que monstre says one que les evesques de ce temps la estimerent le Roy assistè de son conseil d' estat estre apres Dieu Chef terrien de l' Esglise de son Royaume non pas le Pape in the negative Which another explains thus Ce n'est point pour cela que je vueille dire ce que aucuns ount trop indistinctement proferè que les dits Roys Princes Souveraignes soient en leurs estats privativement à tous autres Chefs uniques absolus de l' Esglise de tous les minister d' icelle car pour lereguard de ce que concerne le maniement des choses purement sacrees come l' administration de la parole de Dieu des Sacrements la puissance de lier ou delier voire de regler en particulier le dedans de chacune Esglise la sur-intendance en appartient aux Evesques autres Chefs de la Hierarchie Ecclesiastique a chascun selon leur rang degrâ— Then shewing by a comparison that as the head-Architect leaves to his inferior Agents the use of such instruments as are proper for their undertakings so il n' appartient poynt au Roy de manier les choses sacrees ny supporter comme l' on dit l' arche d' alliance ils doivent laisser cela a ceux de la vocation mais ils peuvent voire soâ—â— tenuz devant Dieu veiller sans cesse avoir l' oeil ouvert a ce que ceux de cest ordre profession principale aussi bien que ceux des autres moindres apportent enloyaute sain conscience tout soin diligence purete sincerite au maniement des charges a eux commises conformement a leur loix regles canons lesquels au cas qu' ils serroient negligez â—ffacez par la rouille de l' antiquite ou que par la malice des hommes il fust besoign d' enfaire des noveaux ils sont tenu user de leur puissance pourn y sapporter des remedes soit par leur Ordonances pragmatiques soit par leurs jugements arrests executions d' iceux e'est ce qu'en France nos predecesseurs ont tousjours appelle la police exterieure sur l' Esglise de la quelle les Empereurs Roys Princes on t use jouy sans contredit tant que l' esglise s'est conservee en sapurete qu' aucuns d' icelle ne se sont ingerez sortants de leurs bornes l. miles d' usurper les functions Royales Insomuch as Benigne Miletot doth not onely affirm their Kings to be Chess Protecteurs Conservateurs de leur esglise Gallicane but pag. 657. recites a speech of th' Archbishop of Vienna made to Henry the 4. 1605. in which he did affirm que le Roy estcit le Coeur la Teste de l. ur corps 16. And other Headship then this I do not know to have been ever attributed to any of our Princes Certainly they did never take on them the exercise of any thing purely sacred but as supream Head Rulers or Governours under God by their Commissioners of which such as bare most sway were ever the Spirituality to visit reform redresse c. all errours Heresies schisms abuses c. And for that the rust of antiquity as that authour styles it had much over-spread the Canons of the Church to assigne sixteen of the Clergy whereof four to be Bishops and as many of the Lay of which four to be learned in the Common laws of this realme to peruse and examineth ' ecclesiasticall laws of long time here used and to gather order and compile such laws ecclesiasticall as shall be thought to his Majesty his said Counsell and them or the more part of them to be practised and set forth within this realme In pursuance of which the 11. November 5 to of Edward the 6. he nominated two Bishops two Divines two Doctours of the Law two Esquires to supervise the ecclesiastick laws of this Kingdome and to compile such a body as were fit to be put in practise within his Dominions whose intendments for it past no further were after printed by Iohn Day 1571. and are no other then what the French for the manner of doing maintain their King might do neither doth th' Inquisition of Spain publish any thing of that nature without th' allowance of their King as I shall shew hereafter 17. So that in my opinion the question cannot be whether Princes are not capable of such a Right but whether it were invested in the Crown formerly and made good by such a continued practise as might authorise ours to take that title when offered by the Clergy 1530. as well as the French Kings have without incroaching on that power th' ecclesiasticks had and by our laws ought to exercise in England Now certain our Kings did in many things go along with the French in causes ecclesiasticall Rex Anglorum exemplum accipiens ab illis Baronibus qui sua statuta sanxerunt in Francia quibus Dominus Francorum favorem jam praebuit sigillum apposuit c. Clement the 7. being held prisoner 1527. by th' Emperour the 18 th of August Cardinall Woolsy made an agreement with the French for setling â—h ' ecclesiastick government of each Kingdome during the Popes captivity For the French I shall remit the reader to the Deed
which is printed but th' English were to be such as should be agreed to praelatis accitis de mandato auctoritate praedicti invictissimi Angliae Regis whose determinations were to be consensu ejusde invictissimi Angliae Regis But where my Lord Herbert conceivs this to have been the first taste our King took in governing the Clergy I can no way be of his opinion for without peradventure the Cardinall neither did nor durst have moved one step in making the Ecclesiasticks lesse depend on the Papacy then the Common law or custome of the realm warranted knowing he must without that back have lost not onely Clement the 7. but all Popes and the Court of Rome which must and had been his support on the declining favour of so heady and dangerous a Prince as Henry the 8 th had he not cast off both the Cardinall and his obedience to that See almost together But how much he had the Clergy before this under his government the History of Richard Hunne is witnesse sufficient and the rights the Conquerour and his successours were ever in contest with the Papacy about and maintained as the laws customs of the Realm enough shew they did not command th' Ecclesiasticks here according to the will of any forraign potentate nor were meer lookers on whilst another govern'd the English Church some of which I shall therefore here set down I. They admitted none to be taken for Pope but by the Kings appointment II. None to receive letters from him without shewing them to the King who caused all words prejudiciall to him or his crown to be renounced by the bringers or receivers of them III. Permitted no councels but by their liking to assemble which gained the name of convocations as that alwayes hath been and ought to be assembled by the Kings writ IV. Caused some to sit in them might supervise the actions and legato ex parte Regis regni inhiberent ne ibi contra Regiam coronam dignitatem aliquid statuere attentaret and when any did otherwise he was forced to retract that he had done as did Peckham or were in paucis servatae as those of Boniface V. Suffered no Synodicall deree to be of force but by their allowance and confirmation Rex auditis concilii gestis consensum praebuit auctoritate regia potestate concessit confirmavit statuta concilii à Gulielmo Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo sanctae Romanae ecclesiae legato apud Westmonasterium celebratt In hoc concilio ademendationem ecclesiae Anglicanae assensu Domini Regis primorum omnium regni haec subscripta promulgata sunt capitula c. VI. Permitted no Bishop to excommunicate or inflict any ecclesiastick censure on any Baron or Officer nisi ejus praecepto VII Caused the Bishops appear in their Courts to give account why they excommunicated the subject VIII Caused such as were imprisoned after fourty dayes standing excommunicate to be freed by writ without th' assent of the Prelat or satisfaction giving the King and his Iudges communicating with them tam in divinis quam profanis and commanding none to shun them though by the Ordinary denounced excommunicate IX Suffered no Legat enter England but with their leave of which before X. Determined matters of Episcopacy inconsulto Romano Pontifice XI Permitted no Appeal to Rome of which before XII Bestowed Bishopricks on such as they liked and translated Bishops from one See to another XIII Erected new Bishopricks so did Hen. the 1. 1109. Ely taking it out of Lincolne Carlisle 1133. out of York or rather Duresme but of this before XIV Commanded by writ their Bishops to residency XV. Commanded their Bishops by reason of Schism vacancie of the Popedome c. not to seek confirmation from Rome but the Metropolitan to be charged by the Kings writ to bestow it on the elected XVI Placed by a lay hand Clerks in Prebendary or Parochiall Churches Ordinariis penitus irrequisitis And it is not here unworthy the remembring that VV m Lyndwood a very learned Canonist who writ about an 100. yeares before Henry the 8 ths difference with Clement the 7. finding the Crown in possession of this particular not agreeing with the rules of the Canon law is so perplext as in the end he finds no way to make the act valid but that he doth it by Papall priviledge For if by prescription Episcopo sâ—iente tolerante it could not be good for though the King might confer the temporalls of the Church non tamen potest dare jure suo potestatem circa spiritualia viz. circa ea quae pertinent ad regimen ecclesiasticum ministrationem sacramentorum sacramentalium nec non circa ecclesiasticae jurisdictionis exercitium hujusmodi quae jure spiritualia sunt nec in hoc casu potest sibi prodesse praescriptio etiam longissimi temporis quia talia spiritualia non possunt per regem possideri per consequens nec ut transeant sub sua potestate possunt praescribi nec consuetudine introduci c. In which he will havean hard contest with divers French and Italians who maintain Che tutte le raggioni che si possono acquistare per dispensa del Papa si possono acquistar anco per consuetudine la quale sopravenga contraria alla legge that a prince may prescribe for such acts as he can acquire by the Popes dispensation XVII Prohibited the Lay yielding obedience or answering by Oath to their Ecclesiastick superiour inquiring de peccatis subditorum which I take to have been in cases not properly of their cognizance not of witnesses either in causes Matrimoniall or Testamentary XVIII I shall conclude these particulars with one observation in Mat. Paris where the Ecclesiasticks having enumerated severall cases in which they held themselves hardly dealt with adde That in all of them if the spirituall Iudge proceeded contrary to the Kings prohibition he was attached appearing before the Iustices constrained to produce his proceedings that they might determine to which court the cause belonged and if found to pertain to the secular the spirituall Iudges were blamed and on confession they had proceeded after the prohibition were amerced but denying it were compell'd to make it good by the testimony of two vile Varlets but refusing such purgation were imprisoned till by oath they freed themselves to the Iustices that being cleared even by the Lay they had no satisfaction for their expence and trouble By which by the way it is manifest how much the Kings Courts had the superintendency over the Ecclesiastick 18. These and many other particulars of the like nature daily exercised notwithstanding the clamour of some Ecclesiasticks more affecting their own party then the rights of the Crown make there can be no scruple but the English did ever understand the
outward policy of this Church or government of it in foro exteriori to have much depended on the King and therefore the writs for summoning Parliaments expresse the cause of his calling them to be pro quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis nos statum defensionem regni nostri Angliae ecclesiae Anglicanae concernentibus or as our Bishops have sometimes exprest it in the Rolls of Parliament à l' onour reverence de Dieu de seinte esglise al salvation amendement de son roialme c. Likewise the Commons that their gift of the 9th sheaf c. to Edw. the 3. to have been for his defence of the Kingdome de seinte esglise d' Engleterre Rot. Parliament 15. Ed. 3. n. 25. According to which our Kings joyned both together professing their care for amending the Church to be equall with that of the Commonwealth Item fait assavoir que nostre tressoveraigne seign r le Roy eiantz grande volunte desir de l'estate de son esglise de son Royalme en les choses ou mesteir est d' amendement al honor de Dieu pur la pees la commune profit de seinte esglise d' Engleterre come de tout son Royalme d' el ' advis assent des seig rs esperituells c. ad fait c. In pursuance of which interest residing in the Crown the Lords and Commons under Rich. the 2. fearing the opinions called Lollardy might prevail petierunt à Rege de istis remedium apponi ne forte archa totius fidei ecclesiae talibus impulsionibus in illius temporibus pro defectu gubernaculi irremediabiliter quateretur Upon whose desires he commanded th' Archbishop of Cant. and his other Bishops ut officium suum singuli iâ— suis dioe cesibus secundum jura canonica acrius ferventius exercerent delinquentes castigarent librosque eorum Anglicos plenius examinarent errata exterminarent populumque in unitatem fidei orthodoxae reducere studerent ecclesiamque urticis vepribus destoratam liliis rosis ornarent c. After which the said authour records a Commission by which his Majesty as Defender of the Catholick Faith did impower certain to seize upon hereticall books and bring them before his councell and such as after proclamation shall be found to hold such opinions being called and examined before two Commissioners who were of the Clergy and lawfully convicted thereof to be by his Majesties ministers committed to the next prison Fourteen years after which the Commons shew Hen. the 4th the Parliament might be compared to a Masse in which th' Archbishop of Cant. began th' office reading th' Epistle and expounding the Gospel which it seems they took to be the part of the Ecclesiastick as did the Saxons before à la mesne qe feust la sacrifice d' estre offeriz à Dieux pur touz Christiens le Roy mesmes à cest Parlement pour accomplir cellemesne plusieurs foitz avoit declarez pleinement a toutz ses lieges coment sa volunte feust qe la foy de seint esglise feust governez en maniere come il ' ad este en temps de ses nobles progenitors come il est affirme par seint esglise par les seints Doctours par seint Escriture c. and a little after shewing they the Commons were onely to say Deo gratias which they were obliged to do for three reasons the second of which is pur câ—o qe la ou la Foy de seint esglise par malvaise doctrine feust en point d' avoir este anientz en grand subversion du Roy du Royalme mesme nostre Seig r le Roy ent ad fait ordeignez bon joust remede en destruction de tiel doctrine de la sect d' ycel peront ilz sont ensement tenuz de dire cel parole Deo gratias By all these it must be granted they did hold the chief care of the English Church to have depended in the outward policy of it on the prince or else that they did speak and do very unadyisedly in attributing so much unto his care of it and providing that he might be supplyed to defend it without at all mentioning any other to whose care it belonged 19. Neither did these expressions and petitions passe the Commons onely or the Clergy over-ruled by the numbers of the temporality but the Bishops by themselves acknowledged how much it stood in his M tios care to provide against any novelties creeping into the English Church and that it might enjoy the rights and liberties belonging to it and therefore when the said doctrine of Lollardy continued encreasing they in the names Praelatorum cleri regni Angliae petition Henry the 4 th Quatenus inclitissimorum progenitorum antecessorum vestrorum laudabilia vestigia graciose considerantes dignetur vestra regia celsitudo pro conservatione dictae Ecclesiae Anglicanae ad Dei laudem vestrique meritum totius regni praedicti prosperitatem honorem pro hujusmodi dissentionibus divisionibus dampnis periculis evit indis super novitatibus excessibus praedictis in praesenti Parliamento providere de remedio opportuno c. Did not these then hold it the office of the King as that his progenitors had ever done to provide no dissensions scandalls divisions might arise in the Church the Catholick faith might be truely conserved and susteined and what other did any of our Princes ever challenge or assume 20. When the Clergy likewise went at any time beyond their bounds or were negligent performers of their duties the subject upon all occasions had recourse unto his M ty as to whose care the seeing what was amiss redrest did especially belong as when th' Ecclesiastick Courts were grievous for the fees or their pecuniary pennances too heavy when they were opprest by Papall provisions of which before when through the absence of their Curat they were not so well taught c. when the frequency of the writ de excommunicato capiendo made it burthensome when men were cited by them on causes neither Matrimoniall nor Testamentary and appearing were not allowed a copy of the libell against them In which case the Kings answer is not unworthy the repeating shewing clearly he directed how they should proceed le Roy voet que a quel heure la copie de le libel est grantable par la ley q'â—l soit grauntè liverè a la partie sanz dâ—fficulee It is true Kings would refer matters of that nature to their Bishops unto whose care under them it did especially belong so Richard the 2. being petitioned in point of Residency answered Il appartient aux offices des Evesques le Roy voet qu' ils facent lour office devoirs c. His successor being again prest in the same kind gives his command thus Facent les
possession of can no way be said to have departed from the Church but the Pope to have injuriously proceeded against him who maintained onely the just rights and liberties of his kingdome according to his coronation oath 10. And this is the case and fully answers so far as it appears to me whatsoever can be objected against the reformation begun by him or made more perfect by Edward the 6. for the manner of doing it viz. that they as supreme Princes of this Kingdome had a right to call together their own Clergy and with their advise to see the Church reformed by them And if otherwise I should desire to know how the Masse without any intermission was restored by Queen Mary for it is manifest she returned the use of it immediately after her brothers death yet Cardinall Pool reconciled not this Kingdome to Rome till the 30th of November above a year after and then too on such conditions onely as the Parliament approved during which space she as Queen gave directions to the Ordinaries how they should carry themselves in severall particulars which as it is probable she did by th' advice of her Bishops so there is no reason to condemn the like proceedings in Edward the 6. 11. I have before shewed how far the royal power went in compiling the book of Common prayer for a Catechism published by the same Prince it being composed by a learned person presented to his Maty and by him committed to the scrutiny of certain Bishops and other learned men quorum judicium sayes his Maty magnam apud nos authoritatem habet after their allowance it was by him recommended to be publickly taught in Schools Likewise the Articles for taking away diversity of opinions in points of religion were agreed upon in a Synod at London by the Bishops and other learned men Regia authoritate in lucem editi The King in framing them taking no farther on himself then he had in the book of Common prayer And Queen Mary though she quitted the title of head of the Church which yet she did not so suddenly as Saunders intimates did in effect as much So that hitherto there is no way of fixing any schism on the English Church for neglect of obedience it having been eversubject to the Archbishop of Canterbury and others its lawfull superiors restoring to him the ancient right belonged to his chair of being their spirituall pastor next and immediately under Christ Iesus But the Kingdome being re-united to the See of Rome by Queen Mary though what I have said doth in a good part free it of schism yet in respect the reformation I onely took upon me to defend was made by Queen Elizabeth and continued since it will be necessary to make some more particular mention how it did passe CHAP. VII How the reformation was made under Queen Elizabeth 1. ELizabeth the daughter of Henry the 8th by Queen Anne Bolen being received by all the estates of the Kingdome assembled in Parliament and proclaimed Queen caused her sisters Ambassador Sr Edward Kerne then residing at Rome to give an account of this her being called to the Crown to Paulus 4 tus the Pope who being in union with France and out with the house of Austria then strictly joyned with England and both at odds with the French told him either perswaded by them or upon his own heady disposition England was a Fee of the Church of Rome That she could not succeed as illegitimate That he could not go against the declarations of Clement the 7. and Paulus 3 ius That her assuming the name and government without him was so great an audacity she deserved not to be hearkned to But he being willing to proceed paternally if she would renounce her pretensions and freely remit her self to his arbitrement he would do what lay in his power with the dignity of the Apostolick See A strange reply to a civil message were it not derived to us by an unquestionable hand and that it came from Paulus 4 ius to whom it was not an unusuall saying that hee would have no Prince his compagnion but all subjects under hys foot Upon this unwillingnesse to acknowledge her Queen at Rome th' Archbishop of York who had before affirmed no man could doubt of the justnesse of her title and the rest of the Bishops refused to Crown her As for that some write it was because they had evident probabilities she intended eyther not to take or not to keep the oath was then to be administred unto her especially in the particular of not maintaining holy Churches lawes in respect she had shewed an aversenesse to some ceremonies as commanding the Bish of Carlile not to elevate the consecrated Host. who stoutly refused her and out of fear she would refuse in the time of her sacre the solemn divine ceremony of Vnction these are certainly without any colour and framed since For as for the last the ceremony of anointing she had it performed as had King Iames who succeeded her who would not have his Queen crowned in Scotland without it For the other it is altogether improbable that he to whom the command was by her given would of all the rest have assented to crown her had he conceived that a cause why it might have been denied neither indeed did she alter any thing materiall in the service of the Church till after the conference at Westminister 1559. the 31. March and the Parliament ended 2. To passe therefore by these as excuses found out after the deed done the true reason being no question something came from the Pope in pursuance of that answer he had given her Agent the Queen seeing she could expect nothing from the Papacy laboured to make all safe at home or to use her own phrase to take care of her own house and therefore as she had reason desired to be assured of her subjects fidelity by propounding an oath to certain of them which is seldome a tie to other then honest minds But the way mens minds distracted in points of religion the law of Henry the 8. extinguishing the auctority of the Bishop of Rome being very severe for securing himself in bringing such as did but extoll the said auctority for the first offence within the compass of a praemunire and that refused to take it of treason was not easy to be pitcht upon besides styling the King head of the Church which many made a scruple at to which effect a bill being presented to the house of Commons the 9. of February after many arguments had upon it the 13. of February upon the second reading it was absolutely dasht and upon great consideration taken the 14. Febr. a Committee appointed to draw a new Bill in which an especiall care was taken for restoring onely the ancient jurisdiction of the Crown and the Queen neither styled supreme Head nor the penalty of refusing the Oath other
comburi and Britton of Miscreants so to be served without distinction of the quality with whom Sr. Edward Cook concurs Another thing I questioned whether any Bishop within his Diocese alone could convict one of heresy before 2. Hen. 4. cap. 15. of which hereafter for whatever the power of the Ordinary was there is very little example of his putting it in exercise before the times of VVickliff 27. Who began to be taken notice of about the end of Edward the 3. or rather the beginning of Rich. the 2. in whose doctrine at least that they fathered on him though there were good Corn yet was it not without Tares But when it grew common and to be hearkned unto the Prelats laboured to procure a law his Maties Commissions should be directed to the Sheriffs and other his Ministers to arrest all preachers their fautors c. to hold them in prison till they will justifi themselves according to reason and the lawes of the holy Church How this past I should be glad to learn for not onely the printed statutes but the Roll of Parl nt expresly mentions the Commons agreeing to those Acts yet the next meeting they do disclaim to have given any assent unto it quiel ne fust unques assentu ne grante parles coēs mes ce qe fust parle de ce fust sanz assent de lour qe celuy estatut soit anntenti to which the Kings answer is y plest au Roy. How it fell out this latter was not counted an Act Sr. Edward Cook hath shew'd which tells us why it past again without opposition in Queen Maries dayes I wish that learned Gentleman had given his opinion how the record came to be so faulty as to affirme a concurrence of the lower House to that they never assented 28. In King Hen. the 4 ths time his successour that law past which greatly increased the power of the Ordinary allowing him to imprison fine determine all causes of heresy according to the canonicall Decrees within three moneths on which words Canonicall Sanctions the Bishops so behaved themselves That the most learned man of the realm diligently lying in wait upon himself could not eschue and avoid the same act and Canonicall Sanctions if he should be examined upon such captious interrogatories as is and hath been accustomed to be ministred by the Ordinaries of this realm in cases where they will suspect of heresy c. Upon which if any did refuse obedience to his Diocesan in ought as paying a legacy c. there would be means found to bring him within the suspicion of heresy And certainly the proceeding of some Diocesans upon this statute gave quickly scandall for onely nine yeares after we find the Commons petition qe please a nre soveraigne Seig r le Roy grantier qe si ascun soit ou serra arreste par force de l' estatute fait l' an de vostre regne seconde al requeste des Prelats Clergie de vostre Royalme d' Engleterre q' il purra estre lesse a mainprise faire sa purgation franchement sanz destourbance d' ascun en mesme le Conteou il est arrestu qe tieles arrestes soient desore en avant faitz en due forme de ley par les Viscount Mairs Baillifs ou Conestables nostre Seign r le Roy sanz violent affray our force armes en depredation de leur biens ou autre extortion ou injurye queconcque en celle affaire But to this le Roy se voet ent aviser is all the answer given But whereas VValsingham speaks of this Parl nt as insected with Lollardy certainly to me there is no such thing appeares in the Roll but rather the contrary But I confesse I did think before that law of H. 4. no Bishop in his Diocese without a Provinciall Councell could have convicted any man of heresy so as to have caused him been burnt for mans life being a point of so high concernment in the law and heresy laying so great an imputation on the party it seemed not to me probable every angry Bishop in his Court should alone have power of determining what was by the canonicall Sanctions so esteemed and whose words or writings could admit no other sense then hereticall and with this it seemed to me the practice did concur for the Deacon burnt at Oxford suffered after conviction in a Provinciall Synod and the conviction of VVilliam Sautry shewes plainly to have been after the same manner the Writ running Cum vener abilis pater Thomas c. de consensu assensu ac consilio coepiscoporum ac confratrum suffragancorum suorum nec non totius cler◠Provinciae suae in concilio suo provinci ili congregato juris ordine in hac parte requisito in omnthus observato c. intimating as it seemed to me if otherwise the Order of law had not been observed And I did ever conceive this Law had increased the Power of the Ordinary as well in permitting him singly to pursue the canonicall Sanctions in convicting an heretick as in sining and imprisoning of him especially the statute of Q. Mary that gave it life after the repeal of Hen. the 8 affirming before such revivall the Ordinary did want auctority to proceed against those that were infected with Heresy But I have since found better opinion it was otherwise 29. After this 2. Hen. 5. a Parliament at Leicester enacted The Chancellour Treasurer Justices of the peace Sheriffs c. should take an Oath for destroying all manner of Heresies commonly called Lollardries to be assistant to the Ordinary therein Persons convict of Heresy to loose their fee-simple land Iustices of the Kings Bench of the Peace and of Assize to enquire of all holding any errours or heresies as Lollards their maintainers receivers fautors c. and for that end a clause to be put into the Commissions of Iustice of the Peace yet forasmuch as the cognizance of heresie errours and Lollardries belonged to Iudges of holy Church and not to the secular the inditement taken by them not to be evidence but for information before the spirituall Iudge into whose hands the person suspected to be delivered within ten dayes after his enditement every man empanell'd in the Enquest for the tryall of them to have in England 5 pounds in Wales forty shillings in land by the year c. Which three lawes were each repealed by Hen. the 8th or Ed. the 6. and again restored by Q. Mary under whom by vertue of them had in lesse then three yeares been spoyled for religion more Christian bloud of her subjects then in any Princes reign since Lucius 30. Things standing thus when Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown the Ecclesiastick auctority exercised at home and abroad with rigour and austerity rather then Christian mildnesse still to permit that was the continuing a fire to consume her people and yet for every
ejus successoribus non recederet quamdiu ipsum sicut Regem Catholicum habuerint that the English Bishops being excommunicated by the Pope might not take an oath of obedience to his commands quia regni consuetudines impugnabat though he did never exercise any authority here but according to such stipulations contracts and agreements with our Princes as the Lawes permitted and therefore when he sent hither a Legat à Latere he was tretyd with or he cam in to the lond whon he schold have exercise of his power and how myche schold bee put in execution An aventure after he had bee reseyved he whold have used it to largely to greet oppression of your peple c. as the Archbishop wrote to Hen. 5. as I have shewed numb 53. 73. Though the Lawyers of the Kingdome do constantly affirm as the Law and Custome of the Realm the Kings Courts never to have carried regard to any forraign excommunication and if any such came from Rome not to be put in execution but by allowance first had to which effect it is remembred the Bishops of London and Norwich having publish't in their Dioceses the Popes excommunication of Hugh Earl as it seems of Chester without the privity of Hen. the 2. or his Chief Iusticiar the Kings writ issued out in this manner Londoniensis Norwicensis Episcopi sint in misericordia Regis summoneantur per Ficecomites Bedellos ut sint contra Iusticias Regis ad rectum faciendum Regi Iusticiis ejus de eo quod contra statuta de Clarendone interdixerunt ex mandato Papae terram comitis Hugonis excommunicationem quam Dominus Papa in ipsum fecerat per suas parochias divulgaverunt sine licentia regis This however contracted in Hoveden 1165. and in Paris 1164. yet the difference is such as may deserve a remembrance It seems to me what our Kings claimed not to be altogether unlike the Exequatur of Naples observed to this day in that Kingdome notwithstanding all contests from Rome 74. Neither did the Crown ever relinquish this right not at the peace after Beckets death when Henry the 2. assented to quit no other then Consuetudines quae introductae sunt tempore suo which it is manifest this was not as appears by Eadmerus It is farther observable that by the common Laws that is the common Custome of this Realm the sentence of the Archbishop is valid in England and to be allowed in the Kings Courts though controuled by the Pope and to shew our Princes had no regard to anything of this nature from thence other then such a complying with a reverend Prelat as I have formerly mentioned did admit it may not here be unfitly inserted what Froissard writes of Edward the third with whom the Flemings joyned against the French upon which but I shall deliver it in his own words Adonc le Roy de Frances ' en complaignit au Pape Clement sixieme qui getta une sentence d' excommuniement si horible qu'il n' estoit nul prestre qui asast celebrer le divin service De quoy les Flamens envoyerent grande complainte au Roy d' Engleterre lequel pour les appaiser leur manda que la primiere fois qu'il rappasseroit la mer il leur ammeneroit des Prestres de son pais qui leur chanteroient la Messe vousist le Pape ou non â—ar il estoit bien privilegié de ce faire par ce moyen s' appaiserent les Flamens c. As for the priviledge here spoken of that can be no other then the obligation all Kings owe unto God for seeing his word sincerely taught them live under their protection without the disturbance of any 75. In which kind ours have been so far from yieldding obedience to the Papall attempts as Edward the first could not be induced to spare the life of one brought a Bull from the Pope might have made some disturbance but by his abjuring the Realm as his grandchild Edward the 3. did cause some to suffer for the same offence And on occasions our Kings have prohibited all entercourse with Rome denied their Bishops going thither so much as for confirmation but the Metropolitans if need were should by the Kings writ be charged to confirm them commanded their subjects not to rely on any should come from thence affirming quod in regnum nostrum nec propter negotium nostrum nec vestrum ullatenus intrabit ad terram nostram destruendam Yet notwithstanding so notorious a truth back't with so many circumstances grounded upon unquestioned monuments of antiquity hath not been received but the bare affirmation Christ by pasceoves meas intended Peter and by consequence the Pope to be the generall Pastor of the world and the meaning of those words to be that he should regio more imperare hath so far prevailed with some as to esteem the standing for the rights of the Kingdome the Laws and Customes of the Nation to be a departing from the Church Catholick and to esteem no lesse then Hereticks those who defending that which is their own from th' invasion of another will not suffer themselves to be led hood-winkt to think the preservation of their proper liberty is a leaving Christ his Church or the Catholick faith 76. I dare boldly say whoever will without partiality look back shall find the reverence yielded from this Church to Rome for more then a thousand years after Christ to have been no other then the respect of love not of duty and Popes rather to consulere then imperare their dictats to have been of the same nature the German Princes were of old auctoritatâ— suadendi magis quam jubendi potestate never requiring a necessity of obedience eo nomine that they came from Rome but for that they were just and reasonable neither did the Pope send any Agent hither to see them put in execution but th' Archbishop according to the exigent of times receiving his wholesome advises caused such as he held of them did conduce to the good of the English Church to be observed So Theodore received those of Pope Martin but did not them concerning Wilfred from Agatho When Alexander the 2. had exempted the Abbot of St. Edmunds-bury from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Norwich Lanfrank took the Act from the Abbot and Gregory the 7. is so far from using commands in the cause as he onely earnestly intreats the Archbishop he would stop the Bishop of Norwich from molesting the said Abbot yet himself as it seems did not restore the Bull of immunity to him during that Popes life but of this before In the year 1070. on the Kings desire in a Councell at Windsor Ageâ—â—icus Bishop of the South-Saxons is degraded and his Bishoprick confer'd on Stigandus Alexander the 2. not approving what had past writes