injoined such penances as made to the prejudice of the sinners purse but their own profit Of the Exorbitances of these cloister'd Monks and Fryers many examples might be produced as of their Ribauldry Lechery Quarelling Fighting Idleness Cheating Thieving Debauchery Gluttony c. all maintain'd by the People's money but we will here content our selves with one instance only Cook 4 Insti c. 11. fo 112. King Edward the first about the latter end of his raign having collected a vast summ of money to carry on his warr against the Scots and layd it up in his Treasury at Westminster his Treasury was broken up in the night and one hundred thousand pounds in money besides Plate and Jewels stol'n out of it by the Abbot and Monks of Westminster and their confederates whereof eight and forty Monks with the Abbot were apprehended and sent Prisoners to the Tower and by Inquisition and examination of witnesses it appeared that divers of the Monks and other persons in the night time were seen often passing to and fro the Kings treasury Pat. 31 Ed. 1. m. 23. dors De inquirend de thesaurar Regis fracto and the Abby carrying bundles in their arms and laps and that they conveyed away by water great hampers that were very heavy and some part of the King's Plate and Jewels were found and seised in London and other places upon which the Monks were long detained in prison till afterwards released by the King 's special command when he repaired to Westminster to give thanks to God for his Victories over the Scots Matthew Westminster Matt. Westm An. 1303. a Monk of that Abby minceth this story of the Robbery of the Kings Treasury in favour of the Monks and sayes that only Ten of them were imprisoned when it appears by the Record that 48 of them Cook ut Supra with the Abbot were imprisoned and Indited for it And upon this occasion it was that the Court of Exchequer sometimes called the Novel Exchequer was new built Chanterys Free-Chappels and Colledges as they were instituted and employed spent and exhausted huge summs of money and revenues the purposes of which expence will appear in the brief description of the nature of those Foundations A Chantery so called à Cantando was a Chappel commonly annexed to some Parochial Chantery Collegiate or Chathedral Church endowed with Lands or some other yearly revenues for the maintenance of one or more Priests daily to sing Masse Vid. Stat. 37 H. 8. ca. 4. 1 Ed. 6. ca. 14. for the souls of the Donors or Founders and such others as they did appoint Now the exact number of all these in England cannot be known for they were very numerous but if at Mathematician measured Hercules by his foot a probable conjecture may be made of them from those which were founded in the Chathedral of St. Paul in London for in the second year of King Ed. the sixth a certificate was returned by the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's to the King's Commissioners affirming that they had seven and forty Chanterys in that Church according to which proportion there was certainly a vast revenue swallowed up by them throughout the whole Kingdom For there was not a Cathedral or Collegiate Church in England but some number of Chanterys were founded in them and in many Parochial Churches also And if the modell of the Country Churches be observed very often some additional building or excrescence appears differing from the old or first Fabrick erected and used for these Chanterys And that the nature and use of these may be the better apprehended we will here specifie the Foundation and Ordination of one of them viz. Thomas de Pakinton in the year 1348. W. Duadale Amiq. Warw. in Chelmscote An. 22. Edward the third founded a Chantery at Chelmescote in Warwickshire and setled Lands and Tenements of a good value to maintain four Priests to sing Mass for his Lord the Earl of Warwick his Countess Children and Ancestors as also for himself his Parents Kinsfolks and their posterity and for the Souls of all faithful people deceased in manner following viz. Two of them which were to inhabite near the Chappel at Chelmscote every day to sing the Mattens of the day and of the blessed Lady with all Canonical hours distinctly and openly and to sing Mass daily viz. one of them every Sonday and on the great Festivals and on Monday the Mass of the holy Trinity Tuesday of St. Thomas the Martyr on Wednesday of St. Katherine and St. Margaret Thursday of Corpus Christi Friday of the holy Cross and Saturday of the Annunciation of our Lady The other Priest to celebrate every day the Mass of Requiem for the Souls of all faithful departed this life and in every Mass to say 7 Collects one of the celebration of the Mass the second for him the said Thomas de Pukinton viz. Deus qui Caritatis c. the third also for him after his death Deus cujus misericordiae c. the fourth of St. Thomas the Martyr the fifth of the Annunciation of the blessed Virgin the sixth for the Souls of the deceased beginning with Inclina the seventh the general Collect which beginneth Sanctissima Dei genetrix Maria especially naming therein the said Earl his Countess and Children and him the said Thomas de Pakinton and all his kindred and upon all Holy dayes to say a Placebo and Dirige with special commendation of the Souls of the Persons before spoken of and the souls of all the faithful deceased Likewise he ordained that the other two Priests should live together near the Church and be daily present therein at Mattens and all other Canonical hours to joyn with the other Priests except just cause and hinderance happened and daily sing Mass at the Altar near his Fathers grave And that all these Priests before their admission to these Chanterys should take their corporal Oaths to observe all the Orders to their utmost power And this Ordination containing several other particulars was confirm'd by the Canons of Kenilworth Rectors of the Church by John de Chelmescote Vicar the Earl of Warwick and Bishop of Worcester Free-Chappels were such as were founded Free-Chappels and endowed and had no relation unto or dependance on a Mother-Church saving only the right of Sepulture and these were greater than Chanterys having greater Revenues and more room for Priests and more Priests for that room to fing Mass and pray for the souls of the Founders and others according to the institution Colledges were Foundations of like nature Colledges and though fewer in number yet were richer than both the former amongst which the Colledge of Fotheringhay Speed Catal. in Northampt. in Northamptonshire was yearly valued at four hundred nineteen pounds eleven shillings ten pence half-penny For the Offices and imployments of the Priests in these and the Free-Chappels maintained they were much of the nature of Chanterys of
3. Cap. 1 2. Stat. 38 Ed. 3. Cap. 3. Stat. Statutes of Pâ—ovâ—sors and Preminire 16 Ric. 2. Cap. 5. Stat. 2 Hen. 4. Cap. 3. Stat. 6 Hen. 4. Cap. 1. Stat. 7 Hen. 7. Cap. 6. Stat. 3 Hen. 5. Cap. 4. Stat. 1 Hen. 7. Cap. 4. Stat. 24 Hen. 8. Cap. 12. Stat. 25 Hen. 8. Cap. 21. Stat. 1 Eliz. Cap. 1. c. By all which with the foregoing Resolutions and Presidents to which a multitude more to the same purpose might be added it doth appear clearly that long before the time of King Hen. 8. divers Statutes and Laws were made and declared against forrain incroachments upon the Rights of the Crown in this matter and those as sharp and severe as any Statutes for that purpose have been made in later times though then both King Lords and Commons that made those Laws and the Judges that did interpret them did for the most part follow the same Opinions in Religion which were held and taught in the Church of Rome And therefore those that will lay upon this Nation the imputation of Schism for denying the Pope's Supremacy here Vid. Case de Premunire in St. John Davys Rep. must charge it many Ages before the time of King Henry the eighth For the Kings Lords and Commons of this Realm have ever been most eminent for asserting their just Rights and Liberties disdaining to become a Tributary Province as it were to the See of Rome or part of St. Peter's earthly Patrimony in Demesn And the Faith and Loyalty of the English race hath bin generally such though true it is that every Age hath brought forth some singular monsters of disloyalty as no pretence of zeal or Religion could ever draw the greater part of the Subjects for to submit themselves to a forrain Yoke no not when Popery was in greatest height and exaltation of all which the aforesaid Statutes are manifest Evidences being generally made at the Prayer of the Commons as by their Preambles may appear most worthy to be read Particularly in the Preamble to the Statute of 16 Ric. 2. They complain Sta. 16 Ric. 2. cap. 5. That by Bulls and Processes from Rome the King is deprived of that Jurisdiction which belongs of right to his Imperial Crown That the King doth lose the service and Counsel of his Prelates and learned men by translations made by the Bishop of Rome That the King's Laws are defeated at his will the Treasure of the Realm is exhausted and exported to inrich his Court And that by those means the Crown of England which hath ever bin free and subject unto none but immediately unto God should be submitted unto the Bishop of Rome to the utter destruction of the King and the whole Realm which God defend say they and thereupon out of their zeal and loyalty they offer to live and dye with the King in defence of the liberties of the Crown And then they pray the King to examine all the Lords in Parliament what they thought of these wrongs and usurpations and whether they would stand with the King in defence of his Royal liberties which being done the Lords Spiritual and Temporal did all answer that these usurpations of the Bishop of Rome were against the liberties of the Crown and that they were all bound by their Allegiance to stand with the King and to maintain his Honour and Prerogative Upon producing and averrement of all this it is requisite some satisfaction be given about the conclusion that hapned so different to these premises For if the Kings and People of England have in all times been so sensible of and zealous for their just Rights how could the Roman Power in derogation of those Rights arrive to such a consistence and height as here it was for many years To this as to the means and manner of that acquist to keep within our Historical compass First let it be premised as undoubtedly true That before the time of the Norman Conquest the Bishops of Rome had very little or nothing to do here as well in matter of Fact as of Right For before that time the Pope's Writ did not run in England His Bulls of Excommunication and Provision came not hither no Citations or Appeals were made from hence to the Court of Rome Our Archbishops did not purchase their Palls there Neither had the Pope the Investiture of any of our Bishopricks And Ingulphus who lived in the Conquerours time a Favourite and one preferred by him thus informs Ingulph Hist fo 901. A multis namque annis retroactis nulla Electio Praelatorum erat libera mere Canonica sed omnes dignitates tam Episcoporum quam Abbatum per annulum baculum regis curia pro sua Complacentia conferebat For as it is observable that under the Temporal Empire of Rome Brittain was one of the last Provinces that was won and one of the first that was lost again So under the Spiritual Empire of the Pope England was one of the last Countrys of Christendom that received the Yoke and one of the first that cast it off But for our purpose that the Bishops of Rome had any Jurisdiction or Hierarchical Authority in the times of the Brittains Saxons or Danes there is an altum silentium in all our Histories and Records For the times of the Brittains Eleuth Epist Eleutherius Pope about 180 years after Christ writes to Lucius the Brittish King and stiles him God's Vicar within his own Kingdom and sure he would not have given that Title to the King if himself under pretence of being God's Vicar-General on Earth had claimed Jurisdiction over all Christian Kingdoms After that Beda Eccl. Hist Matt. Westm Polychron Fab. Huntingd. c. about the year 600. Austin the Monk was sent by Pope Gregory into England to convert the Saxons to the Christian Faith But the Brittish Bishops then residing in Wales gave no regard either to his Commission or his Doctrines as not owing any duty to or dependence upon Rome but still retained their Ceremonies and Traditions which they received from the East Church upon the first plantation of Christianity being both divers and contrary to those of the Church of Rome which Austin did indeavour to impose upon them Usser de Prim. Eccl. Brit. Then about the year 660 there is a famous disputation celebrated between one Colman and one Wilfrid touching the Observation of Easter wherein the Brittains differed from the practice of the Roman Church from which is plainly inferrable that the Authority of the Bishop of Rome was at that time of no estimation in this Island And that the Primitive Churches of Brittain were instituted according to the form of the East and not of the West Church Nay upon the first coming of Austin and his retinue into Brittain there was such a strangness and averseness to him that one Daganus a British Beda Eccl. Hist lib. 2. cap. 4 Spelm. Concil Tom. 1. fo 129.
which John Wickliffe was one and of great esteem and so represented to that King Rich. 2. That in case of necessity such payments as were but in nature of Alms might lawfully be withholden according to that Rule of the Divines Extra casus necessitatis superfluitatis Eleemosyna non est in praecepto But the payment of them de facto being indulged by that King as is before said I do not find but they so continued till the raign of K. Hen. 8. in whose time the above named Pol. Pol. Vergil Hâ—st fo 90. Vergil an Italian Archdeacon of Wells was Collector of the Peter-pence in England as he in his History testifies But one thing is to be noted that though the payment of them continued so long time and the Popes had constantly their Collectors here yet the Pope could not alter the accustomed proportion nor the manner of gathering of them for when in the time of K. Acts Mon. Ed. 2. f. 335. Edw. 2. Rigandus the Popes Officer went about to make some alteration in that he was severely prohibited by the King And at last Stat. 25 Hen. 8. cap. 21. Sleid. com lib. 9. amongst other things these Peter-pence were totally taken away by K. Hâ—n 8. of which Sleiden takes special notice Antiquit. Brit. fo 302. And although Queen Mary set her self to put all things in such plight in reference to the concerns of Rome as they were in the beginning of her Fathers time yet the Peter-pence were never restor'd in all her raign For Pope Paul the 4. Hist Concil â—rident fo 392. receiving the English Ambassadours which came from Q. Mary urged much to them the duty and necessity that lay upon the Queen to make restitution of all Church-lands Revenues and Goods that her Father K. H. 8. had taken away and in particular told them That the Peter-pence ought to be paid and that according to the ancient custome he would send a Collector for that purpose He also told them that he himself had performed that charge three years in England where he was much edified by seeing the forwardness of the People to deposite and especially those of the meaner sort further pressing that they could not hope St. Peter would open the Gates of Heaven to them so long as they usurp'd his Goods on Earth The relation of all this much quickned the Queens zeal for restitution but her short raign and some other impediments prevented her intentions and so the Peter-pence vanisht Only whereas some Monasteries anciently collected some proportions of them and then answered so much to the Pope's Collector in continuance of time it became fixed as a Rent or duty to the said Monasteries which afterwards devolving to the Crown and from thence by sale or grant to others Sr. Rog. Twisden Hist vindication cap. 4. with as ample profits as the Religious Houses had enjoyed the same it is conceived that at this day they are in some places paid as appendant to the Mannors which belonged to some such Houses and in some places by the name of Smoak-money And further we may note that these Peter-pence were sometimes called Praestation money collected by some Arch-deacons who handed the same sometimes to the Bishop of the Diocess and sometimes immediately to the Pope's Collector General as appears by a certain Instrument discovered by that excellent Antiquary Mr. Antiq. of Warw. fo 126. Dugdale setting forth some part of the Office of an Arch-deacon For the yearly value or summ of these Peter-pence what they did amount unto through the whole Kingdom the very manner of the duty and collection speaks them uncertain yet it seems there was a rate set upon every Diocess Spelm. Concil Tom. 1. fo 313. Sr. Rog. Twisden fo 77. Selden Analect lib. 2. cap. 3. Acts Mon. in Ed. 2. as appears by one of the Pope's Bulls for that purpose said to be Gregory 5. the Bull it self is pointed to by Sr. Hen. Spelman but the rates we have specified by the other learned Knight from an old Manuscript belonging to the Church of Chichester as also by others Episc  l. s d. Cant. 07 18 00 London 10 10 00 Roffens 05 10 00 Norwic. 21 00 00 Eliens 05 00 00 Lincoln 42 00 00 Cicestr 08 00 00 Hereford 06 00 00 Sarum 17 00 00 Winton 17 06 08 Exon. 09 00 00 Wigor 10 05 00 Bath 12 00 00 Covent 10 00 00 Eborac 11 10 00 There it seems were the certain rates to be answered to the Pope's Exchequer the overplus to remain to the Collectors or it may be Farmers like those of our Excise or Hearth-mony sic parvis componere c. Whilest the People were racked to pay the utmost penny for upon reasonable compute the Peter-pence could amount to no less than 7500 l. per annum Know we must also An. Dom. 852. Will. Malm sâ—b de gest Reg. Angl. lib. 2. cap. 2. that King Athelwolph gave a yearly pension to Rome of 300 marks thus to be imploy'd To buy Candles for St. Peter 100 m. To buy Candles for St. Paul 100 m. For a free gift to the Pope 100. m. This by some Writers hath been confounded with the Peter-pence Matth. Westm in An. 855. Florent Wigorn in An. 857. agreeing so near with the rates above but certainly they were several charges and this though small yet being paid many years the sum total could not choose but be very great and once John of Gaunt opposed the payment An. 46. Ed. 3. being demanded by Pope Gregory the thirteenth CHAP. II. First Fruits and Tenths FIrst Fruits Primitiae are the Profits of every Spiritual Living for one year and these antiently and often were called Annates because the rates of First Fruits of Spiritual Livings is after one years profit of the same Tenths Decimae are the Tenth part of the First Fruits or yearly value of all Spiritual Livings And these were antiently paid to the Popes as in England so throughout all Western Christendome For the Pope as Pastor Pastorum claimed Decimas Decimarum Now though these were of a later date than the Peter-pence yet by whom they were first imposed or in whose time first taken De Schism inter Urban 6 c. lib. 2. cap. 9. there is much difference amongst the Historians Theod. à Niem Secretary to Pope Gregory the eleventh sayes that Boniface the ninth about the year 1399. reserved first the First Fruits of vacant Churches and Abbies with whom agrees Platina Platina in vita Bonifac. 9. in the life of that Boniface saying Primus Annatarum imposuit usum though he confesseth also that some refer their Original unto Pope John the two and twentieth of which opinion is Polydor Vergil Poâ—yd Vergil de Inv. nâ— rerum lib. 8. cap 2. though he intimates also as if some thought them of a higher time But indeed our own Countrey-men assign their beginning here to that Pope John
the tenth and afterwards Pope himself by the name of Clement the seventh Hieronymus de Nugutiis upon the resignation of Jul. Medices injoyed it many years And such prevalence had the Popes and Cardinals in this matter that once King Edw. 1. having promised the Cardinal-Bishop of Sabine at his instance to present one Nivianus an Italian his Chamberlain to a Benefice in Licolnshire then in his gift by the death of another Italian the Popes Chaplain and forgetting his promise presented his own Clark thereunto but being reminded thereof to make good his promse Pâ—t 5 E. 1. m. 16. De praesemation pro M Aptonio de Niviano he revoked his first Presentation and Presented Nivianus to it as appears by his Patent for that purpose still preserved amongst our Records At such time as Rubeus Mar. Paris in An. 1240. fo 540 and Ruffinus two of the Pope's Factors were very busie here in England in Collecting money for the Pope one Mumelinus comes from Rome with Four and twenty Italians with orders that they should be admitted to so many of the best Benefices that should next fall void Mâ—â—t Pâ—jâ—â— codem anno And in the same year it was that the Pope made agreement with the People of Rome that if they would effectually aid him against Frederick the Emperour their Children should be put into all the vacant Benefices in England And thereupon order was sent to Edmund Arch-bishop of Cant. the Bishops of Lincoln and Salisbury that Provision should be made for Three hundred Romans Children to be served of the next Benefices that should fall unde stupor magnus corda haec audientium occupavit timebaturque quod in abyssum desperationis talia audiens mergeretur as the Historian hath it But this made such an impression upon the Archbishop being a tender man to see the Church in that manner wounded and so much evil in his days that he disposed of his affairs and retired into France where for a little while he lived Godw. in vita ejus bewailing the deplorable state of his Country and of grief dyed at Pontiniac CHAP. XVII Priories-Alien PRiories-Alien were another cause or means of carrying great summs for a long time out of the Kingdom And these were of this Original viz. according to the devotion of the times many forraign Monasteries and Religious Houses were endowed with possessions here in England and then the Monks beyond Sea partly to propagate more of their own Rule and Order and partly to place Stewards as it were to transmit a good proportion of the Rents and profits of these their new acquir'd possessions at so great a distance would either by themselves or the assistance of others build a Cell or competent and convenient reception for some small Covent to which they sent over from time to time such numbers as they thought fit and constituted Priors over them successively as occasion required and thereupon they were called Priories-Aliens because they were Cells to some Monasteries beyond the Seas And these Foundations became frequent after the Conquest So as in the raign of King Edward the third they were increased to the number of one hundred and ten in England With some proportion or allowance out of the revenues of these the Prior and Monks sent over were maintained and the residue transmitted to the Houses to which they were allyed to the great damage of the Kingdom and inriching of strangers In time the Foundations of these Priories-Alien became very numerous being spread all over the Kingdom Lamb. Peram of Kent Weav Fun. Mon. One John Norbury erected two the one at Greenwich the other at Lewsham in Kent both belonging to the Abby of Gaunt in Flanders At Wolston in Warwick-shire a Cell W. Dugd. Warw. in Wolston or Religious House was founded subordinate to the Abby of St. Peter Super Dinam in France Another at Monks-Kirby in the same County Id. fo 50. founded by Geffry Wirce of Little Brittain in France appropriated to the Monastery of Angiers the principal City of Anjou And another at Wotton Wawen in the same County Id. fo 604. a Cell of Benedictin Monks belonging to Conchis in Normandy of all which Mr. Dugdale hath several remarks of Antiquity At Hinckley in Leicester-shire Burton Descrip of Leic. fo 134. a Priory of Canons Aliens was founded by Robert Blanchmains Earl of Leicester or as some say by Hugh Grandmeisnell Baron of Hinckley belonging to the Abby of Lira in Normandy and this of a very good value Roger de Poictiers founded a cell for Monks-Aliens at Lancaster Cambd. Brit. in Lancast Edward the Confessor Id. in Glocest fo 362. by his Testament assign'd the religious place at Deochirst in the County of Gloucester and the Government thereof to the Monastery of St. Denis near Paris in France in this remarkable that it will be hard to given another instance of such an assignation before the Norman Conquest King Henry the third once gave licence to the Jews Stow Survey in Broadst Ward Lindwood Constit lib. 3. Tit. 20. at their great charge to build a Synagogue in London which when they had finished he order'd should be dedicated to the Virgin Mary and then made it a Cell to St. Anthony's in Vienna And near unto Charing-Cross there was another Stow Survey in Westm fo 495. annexed to the Lady of Runciavall in Navarre in the Diocess of Pampelone founded in the fifteenth year of King Edward 4. At Sion Cambd. in Midd. fo 420. in Middlesex there was antiently a Monastery for Monks-Aliens Mr. Cambden tells us when they were expuls'd and how it was converted into a Nunnery for Virgins to the honour of our Saviour the Virgin Mary and St. Briget of Syon But Lindwood tells us Lindwoed l. 3. Tit. 20. that the Superior House to which at first it belonged not mentioned by Mr. Cambden was at Wastena in the Kingdom of Sweden of the Rule of St. Austin But the richest of all for annual revenue Harpsfield Catalog Ae l. Rel. fo 762. was that which Yvo Talbois built at Spalding in Lincoln-shire giving it to the Monks of Angiers in France the yearly revenue whereof was valued at 878 l. 18 s. 3 d. per annum Instances might be made of a multitude more of the like Foundations all tending to carry money out of the Kingdom and most commonly to the King's Enemies beyond the Seas Which mischief being apprehended Rot. Parl. 50 E 3. nu 128. and great complaints thereof frequently made in Parliament these Priories-Alien became oftentimes seised into the King's hands and the revenues thereof sequestred to the King's use and then restitutions made and seisures again as occasion required untill the fourth year of King Henry the fourth Claus 4 Hâ—n 4. nu 30. when a new consideration was had in Parliament about these Priories-Alien and resolved that all should again be seised into the King's hands