of a Priestly Mind you have commanded your Priests to be gathered together into one Place to treat of such things as are Necessary We have according to the Purpose of your Will and the Heads which you gave to us answer'd in Our Definition as to us seem'd Good So that if those things which we have Established are also approved of as Right by your Judgment The Consent of so great a King and Lord may Confirm the Sentence of the Priests to be observed with the Greater Authority And thus have I done with the First Thing which I proposed to Consider I have shewn what Authority the Christian Prince has always been accounted to have over Ecclesiastical Synods with respect to the Assembling of them to their Proceedings whilst they are Sitting and to the Confirming or Annulling their Decrees afterwards I shall make only an Observation or two upon the whole with Respect to our present purpose and so conclude this Chapter And 1st I must take notice that whatever Privileges I have here shewn to belong to the Christian Magistrate they belong to Him as such They are not derived from any positive Laws and Constitutions but Result from that Power which every such Prince has Originally in Himself and are to be look'd upon as part of those Rights which naturally belong to Sovereign Authority Hence we find that All Princes in All wountries how different soever they have been in other Respects have yet evermore claim'd an Equal Authority in these Matters And the little Kings of Suevia and Burgundy accounted themselves to have as good a Title to Them as the Roman Emperors in their most flourishing Estate had Which being so it will follow 2dly That every Sovereign Prince has a Right to Exercise this Authority within his Dominions And that to prove this Right it is sufficient to shew That he is a Sovereign Prince and therefore ought not to be deny'd any of those Prerogatives which belong to such a Prince among which this Authority is One. 'T is true such Princes may by their own Acts limit themselves as they think fitting And these Limitations may give such Assemblies a Privilege in One Country beyond what they have in Another But then these Limitations must be plainly proved to have been made in their favour And till they are so the Prince must be accounted to have a Right to that Power which as a Prince belongs Him and is not yet proved to have been given away by Him And therefore 3dly Whereas it is now to be Enquired What the Authority of our Kings is over our Convocations We have thus far proceded towards the discovery of it that we have shewn what Power They had Originally over Them and as Christian Princes ought still to Enjoy And those who will Restrain Them with narrower Bounds must first shew how they came to lose that Power which they would take from Them and which till This shall be cleared they must be Presumed still to have a Right to CHAP. III. Of the Authority which our Own Kings have over their Convocations with Respect both to their Meeting and Acting first and to the Confirming or Annulling of their Acts after WE have now seen what Authority all Other Christian Princes have claim'd and Exercised over their Clergy from the first Conversion of the Empire to Christianity till the Prevalence of the Papal Power began to deprive Them of that Supremacy which of Right belong'd to Them Let us go on upon this Foundation to Enquire II. Whether our Own Kings have not as Great an Authority over their Convocations as any Other Princes have ever pretended to over their Councils That this of Right they Ought to have I have before observed The only Question is whether our Own particular Constitution has interposed to deprive Them of that Authority which we have already shewn did originally belong to Them And here I might justly leave it to Those who advance such Pretences to produce their Proofs and shew us upon what Grounds they do it And account the Right of our Kings to this Authority to have been sufficiently established in that common Claim which I have already proved all Christian Princes as such have ever made to the Exercise of of it But that nothing may be wanting to the clearing of this Matter beyond all reasonable Exception I shall to the General Argument I have before made use of add those particular Confirmations which our own Laws and Customs afford us of this Truth And shew that by our own Constitution the King of England has all that Power at this day over Our Convocation that ever any Christian Prince had over his Synods 1st Then if we consider His Authority as to the first thing before-mention'd viz. of Calling together of the Clergy in Convocation We are told by One of the most Eminent Professors of our Laws that it was among other Points Resolved by the Two Chief Justices and other Judges at a Committee of Lords in Parliament Trin. 8. Jac. 1. That a Convocation cannot Assemble at their onvocation without the Assent of the King And One would think such Persons should not only be very well Qualified to know what our Law is but should also be very Careful especially at such a Time and in such a Place not to deliver any thing for Law which They were not very well assured was so But because some have excepted against the Authority of this Report as a Piece that was published after the Death of the Author and in Suspected Times Tho' I cannot see what Interest any One should have to falsifie his Relation in the Instance before Us We will take his Opinion from a Book which we are sure is Authentick and lies open to no Exceptions 4. Instit. pag. 322. Where treating expresly about the Court of Convocation He affirms that the Clergy were never Assembled or Call'd together at a Convocation but by the King 's Writ And in which tho' I am sensible He has spoken a little too Generally as to matter of Fact yet in point of Law and in which only I make use of his Authority I cannot but look upon him to have been absolutely in the Right It being certain that the Clergy not only now cannot but never could be lawfully call'd together in Convocation but by the King 's â—rit or with his Consent And in assirming this I say no more than what was the joint Opinion of the whole Representative Body of the Nation as well of the Clergy in their Convocation as of the rest of the Realm in Parliament 25 Hen. 8. And from whence if from any Authority we may certainly the best take our Measure to judge Whether a thing does of Right belong to the King and is a part of his Royal Prerogative or No. For 1st As for the Clergy We are told in the Preamble to the Act of the 25 Hen. 8. chap. 19. That the Clergy of this Realm of England had acknowleged
Enormities have broke out and there being none to suppress them they have by an evil Custom grown to too great a Height To which the King answer'd Of this I will determine when I see fit and that at my own Pleasure not at yours And he kept his word with him For during his whole Reign there was no Ecclesiastical Synod held in England But what this King deny'd the next readily complied with For in the second Year of his Reign he consented to the desire of Anselm to call a Synod and accordingly at Michaelmas Anno 1102 a Convocation met in St. Peter's Church near London At this Synod not only the King but all his Nobles were present The Archbishop desiring they might be fully satisfied in the Orders which should be made to the end they might the more readily afterwards concurr with the Bishops in the enforcement of them For so the Iniquity of those times required in which for want of Synods Vice was grown to an extraordinary heigth and the Fervour of Christianity was much abated It was a long time after this before any other Ecclesiastical Synod was held in this Country but then there met one of an extraordinary Nature and which I must take particular notice of because that in it was made the first considerable Invasion upon the Princes Authority as to this matter in these parts Pope Honorius having appointed Jo. de Crema to go as his Legat into England he met the King in Normandy and after having been stop'd for some time by him managed his business so well as to obtain the King's Permission to come over hither Being arrived here he assembled a National Council by his Legatine Authority Anno 1125. And the method He took of doing of it is worth our Notice It being the first Instance we have of any thing of this nature that was Attempted here The Legate assuming to Himself the King's Prerogative commands the Archbishop of Canterbury to Issue out his Writ for the Calling of it This the Archbishop was forced to submit to yet being desirous to maintain his Own Authority as well as He could He drew up the Writ in these Words William c. Archbishop of Cant. to Urban Bishop of Landaff Health I signifie to you by this Letter that John Cardinal Priest and Legat of the Roman Church has by Our Order and Connivance design'd to Hold a Council at London the day of the Blessed Virgin 's Nativity Wherefore I Command you that at the Time and Place prefix'd you fail not to meet us with the Arch-deacons Abbots and Priors of your Diocess to Determine concerning Certain Ecclesiastical Affairs and to Reform or Correct what the Sentence of Our said Convocation shall agree is to be Reformed or Corrected The Council being thus Assembled the Legate presided in it He sate not only above the Archbishop and Bishops but above all the Nobility of England who came thither By this Pride of his he raised the Indignation of the whole Realm against Him And being caught in Bed with a Whore at Night after having bitterly inveighed against the Marriage of the Clergy the day before He was forced to leave the Kingdom in a very dishonourable Manner But tho' the Archbishop therefore did what he could to assert his Authority yet he was not without a very tender sense of the Assront that had been put upon Him To prevent the like for the future instead of maintaining the Rights of his See and the Privileges of his Country and in both which our Nobility would certainly have stood by Him He applied to Rome for a Legatine Power to be Granted to him and so unhappily brought both the Kingdom and his own Dignity under a greater Servitude Being return'd from Rome with his New Character Anno 1127. He the same Year held a Council not as Archbishop but as the Pope's Legate the first of the Kind that ever any Archbishop held in England To this was gather'd besides the Bishops a great Croud both of the Clergy and of the Laity But these were spectators only the Bishops alone Voted in it And all the Power the King was now allowâ—â— was after having heard what was defined by Them to Consent to it and to give leave to them to put in execution what had been as we see determined by Them But tho' the Clergy by this means began to get Ground upon this Prince yet it was not very long before he found out a way to be even with Them and that such a One as was very Gratefull to his Close and Thrifty disposition For about three years after having Observed how little the Decrees of the late Councils had prevailed to Oblige the Clergy to Abandon their Wives in another Council held at London August the 1st 1129. He persuaded the Bishops to leave the Ordering of that matter to Himself Which being done He exacted vast Summs of Money from the Married Priests and instead of forcing them to leave their Wives gave license to such as would pay for it to live on freely with Them King Henry being dead it cannot be wondred if the Invasions begun to be made upon the Prince's Rights towards the latter end of his Reign were not only continued but encreased under K. Stephen He who sounded One part of his Title to the Crown upon the Papal Authority could hardly be supposed capable of denying the Pope the same Power which his Predecessors had allow'd to Him And for the Opposing whereof he had himself so weak a foundation Three Synods we meet with during the Reign of this King and Every One held by the Legatine Power The first was in the Year 1138 It was call'd by Albericus Bishop of Ostia and all the favour which was allow'd the King was That He was present at it and help'd to make Theobaldus Archbishop of Canterbury in it But much less was his interest in the next of these Synods which met at Winchester about four years after and which was not only call'd without his leave by the Legatine Authority of his Brother the Bishop of that See but was assembled on purpose to Animate the Clergy against him and to prepare the way for Maude the Empress to overthrow Him But the fortune of the King prevail'd And about the End of the same Year in another Synod of the like kind at Westminster the Legate return'd to the King his Brother's Party and Recommended it to the People to pay that Obedience they Owed to Him Thus pass'd these Affairs in this troublesome Reign and in which the Authority first Usurp'd by the Pope in the time of King Henry the First got new strength and began now to plead prescription in its favour But now the Civil State being a little more Quiet the King was thereby in a better condition to Assert his ancient Rights And accordingly being inform'd that some foreign
new Laws for the suppression or discovery of the Others And this has been the Case of the present Government But now what Effect have all these Civil Exigencies had upon the Affairs of the Church Unless it be that an Act of Toleration has been made which our Author professes He envies not to the Dissenters or if He did I hope He would not have the Convocation pretend to Repeal it In short all he can alledge are certain disorders which either there is a sufficient provision already made against Or if there be not I doubt the Convocation will hardly be able to do any thing farther for the more effectual Redress of Them But however this I shall have Occasion more particularly to consider when I come to examine what He has said to prove the necessity which He pretends there is for the sitting of a Convocation And I must not anticipate here what will more properly as well as more fully be handled there So little is there in his first Argument which he has brought to prove that the Convocation has a Right to sit as often as the Parliament meets and has been unwarrantably deny'd by the Government so to do Let us see whether his next proof be any better Now that 2dly is no less than an Act of Parliament 8 Hen. VI. ch 1. The substance of which Statute is this That the Clergy who are called by the King 's Writ to Convocation shall fully Use and Enjoy such Liberty and Defence in Coming Tarrying and Returning as the Great Men and Commonalty of England called or to be called to the Kings Parliament do Enjoy and were wont to Enjoy or in time to come ought to Enjoy Well be this so But is there any thing in this Statute which says that the Clergy shall come to the Convocation when ever the Great Men and Commonalty of England do to the Parliament That is not pretended But what is there then in this Act to the purpose of our present Enquiry Why in the Preamble to it 't is said that The Clergy Coming to Convocation were often-times and commonly molested From whence our Author admirably concludes That therefore they did oftentimes and commonly in those days meet in Convocations That this can reasonably be inferr'd from those words I am by no means satisfied which only signifie that when the Clergy went to Convocation they were very often molested by Arrests c. but do's not at all imply that the Convocation used often to meet However let this be Granted In Henry the Sixth's time the Convocation often met therefore it met whenever the Parliament sate How do's that appear Nay but we must go farther Therefore of right it ought to meet now whenever the Parliament do's Nay but this will not yet do Therefore it ought not only formally to meet but to sit and act too as often as the Parliament assembles This our Author must mean or He alledges this act to no purpose And he who can draw this Consequence from that Act must be a mighty Man of Reason indeed and too unequal a Match for Men of ordinary Skill in Logick to deal with And yet after all this I confess is true The Convocation in those days did sit and act too for the most part as often as the Parliament met For the Clergy in those days assessed Themselves and without their sitting either as a Member of the Parliament which heretofore they were Or in a Provincial Synod which commonly met with the Parliament the King could have no supply from the Church But as for Ecclesiastical business for ought I can find they did as little with their Often-meeting then as they do with their Seldom-meeting now And were this the Case of the Convocation still were the business of its assembling principally if not only to give Money to the Government I believe instead of this Vindication of its Right to â—it we should rather have seen a Complaint against the charge and trouble of it At least I am pretty confident neither this Gentleman nor his Convocation-Friend would have been much concern'd for their Meeting or have been at all scandalized at those unwarrantable Adjournmen's they have now so tender a sense of But 3dly The Convecation says this Author is an Ecclesiastical Court. To it belongs the punishment of Heresies And in ancient times it was frequently and of necessity used for that End for without it there could be no punishment of Heresie Since the 25th of Hen VIII this is in good measure again the Case And it cannot reasonably be supposed to be in the King 's absolute Will whether it shall exercise this Jurisdiction or not This is his next Argument and should we intirely allow of it it would only prove that the King ought to permit Them to meet and act whenever any Hereticks were to be convicted by Them But would by no means shew either that they have a right even in such a Case to meet without the King's leave Or that the King ought of Right to let them sit when there is no such need of it But indeed if my Lord Coke be in the right there is a manifest mistake in the very foundation of this Argument For the Bishop of the Diocess had always Power to convict of Heresie and to proceed by Ecclesiastical Censures against Hereticks All that he was defective in was that He had no power to Imprison and for want of that could not proceed often-times to any purpose against them This Power therefore was given to the Bishop by the 2d of Hen. IV. And tho' now the Civil Penalty that was wont to be inflicted upon Hereticks be taken away yet has it been resolved that the Bishop may still proceed by Ecclesiastical Censures against Them Whether this be so or not I shall leave it to this Gentleman to enquire who possibly may be better acquainted with such matters than I am But if it be then 't is manifest there can be no need of the Convocations meeting to do that which may be as well done by the Bishops without it And these are only some lesser Arguments with which our Author design'd to skirmish before we came to his main battle But now we are to begin to look to our selves For 4thly His next Proof is taken from no less a Topick than the Parliamentary-Writ and in his Own Opinion â—s an Argument of Invincible Strength to Establish the Necessity of Convocations meeting as often as Parliaments In answer whereunto I do readily agree that when the Proemonition to the Bishop to Summon his Clergy to Parliament was first put into that Writ the Clergy thereby summon'd had as much right to meet by Vertue of it as the Bishop himself had And it is accordingly by Our best Antiquaries acknowledged that in Ancient times the Inferior Clergy were a Member of the Great Council of the Nation as well as the Bishops and Abbots But then this
hoc sicut Nos Honorem nostrum vestrum nec non Communem Regni nostri tranquilitatem diligitis nullatenus Omittatis Teste meipso xiiii Decemb. Anno Regni nostri 49. §. 2. Cl. 23. Ed. 1. M. 4. Dors. Rex venerabili in Christo R. eadem gratia Cantuariensi Arcihepiscopo totius Angliae Primati salutem Sicut lex justissima provida circumspectione sacrorum Principum Stabilita Hortatur statuit ut quod omnes tangit ab omnibus approbetur sic innuit evidenter ut communibus periculis per Remedia provisa communiter obvietur Sane satis nostis jam est ut credimus per universa mund Climata divulgatum qualiter Rex Franciae de terra nostra Vasconiae nos fraudulenter cautelose decepit eam nobis nequiter detinendo â—unc vero predictis fraude nequitia non contentus ad expugnationem Regni nostri classe maxima Bellatorum copiosa multitudine congregatis cum quibus Regnum nostrum Regni ejusdem incolas hostiliter jam invasit linguam Aâ—glicam si concepte iniquitatis proposita detestabili potestas correspondeat quod Deus avertat omnino de Terra delere proponit Quia igitur previsa jacula minus ledunt Res vestra maxime sicut ceterorum Regni ejusdem Concivium agitur in hac parte Uobis mandamus in fide dilectione quibus nobis tenemini firmiter injungentes quod die dominica proxima post festum S. Martini in hyeme proximo futurum apud Westminster personaliter intersitis PRAEMUNIENTES Priorem Capitulum Ecclesie vestre Archidiaconum totumque Clerum vestre Dioecesis facientes quod iidem Prior Archidiaconus in propriis personis suis dictum Capitulum per unum idemqon Clerus per duos Procuratores idoneos plenam sufficientem potestatem ab ipsis Capitulo Clero habentes una Uobiscum intersint modis omnibus tunc ibidem ad Tractandum Ordinandum Faciendum Nobiscum cum ceteris Prelatis Proceribus aliis Incolis Regni nostri qualiter sit hujusmodi periculis excogitatis Maliciis obviandum Teste Rege apud Wengeham xxx die Septembris §. 3. The last Clause of this Writ as it was settled 15 Ed. 2. compared with the same as it is now 15 Ed. 2. PRAEMUNIENTES Priorem Capellanum Ecclesie vestre Cant. Archidiacon totumque Clerum vestre Diocesâ— quod iidem Prior Archidiacon in propriis Personis suis dictum Capellanum per Unum Idemque Clerus per duos Procuratores Idoneos plenam sufficientem potestatem ab ipsis Capellano Clero habentes una Uobiscum intersint modis omnibus tunc ibidem ad faciendum consentiendum hiis que tunc ibidem de Communi Consilio favente Deo Ordinari contigerit super Negotiis antedictis Et hoc nullatenus Omittatis Teste meipso 13 Elizab. PRAEMONENTES Decanum Capitulum Ecclesie Uestre Cant. ac Archidiacon totumque Clerum vestre Dioeces Quod iidem Decanus Archidiacon in propriis personis suis ac dictum Capitulum per Unum Idemque Clerus per duos Procuratores Idoneos plenam sufficientem Potestatem ab ipsis Capitulo Clero divisim habentes predictis die loco personaliter intersint ad Consentiendum His que tunc Ibidem de Communi Consilio dicti Regni nostri divina favente Clementia contigerint Ordinari Teste Meipsa III. The Forms of the Convocationwrits before and since the Reformation REX c. Reverendissimo in Christo Patri A. Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo totius Angliae Primati Apostolicae Sedis Legato salutem Quibusdam arduis urgentibus Negotiis Defensionem Securitatem Ecclesie Anglicanae ac Pacem Tranquillitatem Bonum Publicum Defensionem Regni nostri Subditorum nostrorum ejusdem concernentibus Uobis in fide dilectione quibus nobis tenemini Rogando mandamus quatenus premissis debito intuitu attentis ponderatis universos singulos Episcopos vestre Provinciae ac Decanos Praecentores Ecclesiarum Cathedralium Abbates Priores alios Electivos Exemptos non Exemptos Nec non Archidiaconos Conventus Capitula Collegia totumque Clerum cujuslibet Dioeceseos ejusdem Provinciae ad Conveniendum coram Uobis in Ecclesia S. Pauli London vel alibi prout melius expedire videritis cum omni celeritate accommoda modo debito convocari faciatis Ad tractandum consentiendum concludendum super Premissis aliis que sibi clarius proponentur tunc ibidem ex parte nostra Et hoc sicut nos Statum Regni nostri Houorem Utilitatem Ecclesie predicte diligitis nullatenus Omittatis Teste Meipso §. 2. Elizabetha Dei Gratia c. Reverendissimo c. Salutem Quibus dam arduis urgentibus Negotiis Nos securitatem defensionem Ecclesiae Anglicanae ac Pacem Tranquillitatem Bonum Publicum Defensionem Regni nostri Subditorum nostrorum ejusdem concernentibus Uobis in fide dilectione quibus Nobis tenemini Rogando Mandamus quatenus premissis debito intuitu Attentis Ponderatis Universos Singulos Episcopos vestre Provinciae ac Decanos Ecclesiarum Cathedralium nec non Archidiaconos Capitula Collegia totumque Clerum cujustibet Dioecesis ejusdem Provinciae ad comparendum coram Uobis in Ecclesia Cathedrali S. Pauli London tertio die Aprilis proxime futuri vel Alibi prout melius expedire videritis cum omni celeritate accommoda modo debito convocari faciatis Ad tractandum consentiendum concludendum super Premâ—ssis Aliis que sibi Clarius exponentur tunc ibidem ex parte nostra Et Hoc sicut Nos Statum Regni nostri ac Honorem Utilitatem Ecclesie predicte diligitis nullatenus Omittatis Teste meipsa apud Westm. xvi die Februarii Anuo Regni nostri tertio decimo IV. An Act concerning the Submission of the Clergy to the King's Majesty 25 H. 8. c. 19. WHere the King 's most Humble and Obedient Subjects the Clergy of this Realm of England have not only knowledged according to the Truth that the Convocations of the same Clergy are always have been and ought to be Assembled by the King 's Writ but also submitting themselves to the King's Majesty have promised in verbo Sacerdotii that They will never from henceforth presume to attempt alledge claim or put in ure or enact promulge or execute any New Canons Constitutions Ordinance Provincial or Other Or by whatsoever Name they shall be called in the Convocation unless the King 's most Royal Assent and Licence may to them be had to make promulge and execute the same and his Majesty do give his most Royal Assent and Authority in that Behalf Be it therefore now Enacted by Authority of this present Parliament according to the said Submission and Petition of the said Clergy that They ne Any of Them from henceforth shall presume to attempt alledge
Hereticks were privily got into England He commanded a Council of Bishops to meet at Oxford and to call them before them And being accordingly Convicted by them they were publickly punish'd by the Civil Power By whose Authority the next Convention of the Clergy was assembled the year following it do's not appear Certain it is that in the Election of the Archbishop of Canterbury for which they met all was managed to the King 's content and the person chose whom He recommended to them After the death of Becket Richard Archbishop of Canterbury held a Provincial Council At this the two Kings both Father and Son were present and all things were done not only under their Inspection but the very Council was held with their Consent and Good Will And the King with his Lords confirm'd the Decrees of it How these matters flood in the next Reign it will not be very easie to say In which the King was for the most part absent upon his Expedition to the Holy Land and by the means whereof the Affairs of the Kingdom suffered not a little at Home Yet Baldwyn the Archbishop designing to accompany the King before he set out assembled a Provincial Synod to settle the State of the Church and to take such care as he thought needfull to secure the Liberties of his See It was not long after that William Bishop of Eli held another Synod at Westminster But He being endued with the double Character both of Lord Justice of the Kingdom in Richard's Absence and of the Pope's Legate as we cannot tell by which Authority He called it so neither can it be doubted but that between Both he had a sufficient Authority so to do And the same was the Case of Hubert after Who being empower'd both by the King and Pope assembled a Synod at York Presided in it and made many useful Constitutions for the Government of the Church Thus stood the Affairs of our Convocations in these two Reigns We must now go on to another prospect to a Reign in which thro' the ill Circumstances of the Government and the Troubles that fell out by the means of it the Pope according to his Custom made farther Invasions upon the Prince's Right and at last rais'd up his Authority to the highest pitch that ever it arrived at in this Kingdom The King being absent upon his Affairs in France and Hubert still enjoying his Legatine Power by Vertue thereof call'd a Synod to Westminster Anno 1200 And tho' forbidden by Geoffry Earl of Essex whom the King had left as Lord Justice of England during his Absence yet nevertheless went on with it and made several Constitutions in it It was about six years after that Jo. Ferentinus being sent as Legate into England and having got together a vast Quantity of Money held a Synod at Redding and so took his leave of the Realm From henceforth all things began to run into Confusion The King Obstinately opposing the admission of Stephen Langton to the See of Canterbury and the Pope thereupon putting the Kingdom under an Interdict and at last Excommunicating the King himself But it was not long before the Pope and the King came to an Agreement dishonourable to Himself and derogatory to the Rights both of the Crown and Kingdom Insomuch that Stephen himself Opposed it and joyn'd himself to the Barons against both Pope and King in defence of his Countries Liberties It was upon this new Agreement between the King and Pope that John doing what He would with the Preferments of the Church the Archbishop held a Council at Dunstable Anno 1214 And deputed two of their number to go to the Legate whom the Pope on that Occasion had sent hither to stop both His and the King's Proceedings by putting in an Appeal against Them Both to the Court of Rome And the same year the said Legate having received full satisfaction from the King and being therefore to Relax the Sentence which had pass'd both upon Him and the Kingdom that He might do it with the more Pomp caused a solemn Council to be held at St. Paul's London and there Released the Realm from its Interdict and Restored the King to his Royal Authority And here we must put an End to these Enquiries during this troublesome Reign For from henceforth the Kingdom was in a continual disorder in the midst of which the King at last died But tho' by the Wise Management of the Earl of Pembrook his Governour King Kenry the 3d. soon brought things into a better posture in the State yet still the Usurpations were maintain'd in the Church and the Archbishop as Legate continued to Summon the Clergy to his Synod So did Stephen Langton Anno 1222 In which He held his famous Synod at Oxford and publish'd those Constitutions which still pass under his Name About four years after Otto the Legate coming hither to enlarge the Pope's Revenues before too great in this Kingdom held a Council at Westminster the day after Hilary and proposed to the Clergy the project upon which He came To avoid the design He had upon them the Bishops made answer that the King being indisposed was Absent and several of their Brethren were not come to the Synod and so they could Resolve upon nothing for want of Them The Legate who understood the meaning of this proposed to them that They should at least Agree to another Meeting about Mid-lent and he would undertake that the King should come to it But the Bishops replied That without the Consent of the King and their Brethren who were absent they could not Agree to any such Proposal And the King Himself forbad all who held any Baronies of Him to do any thing in prejudice of His Rights So zealous were these Men for the King's Prerogative when they needed it to guard them against the Encroachments of the Pope And so little do Men value how differently they behave themselves when their interests lead them to shift their Party and their Opinions But tho' the King now joyn'd with his Clergy against the Pope yet it was not very long before He himself invited the same Otho to come again as Legate into England Who being accordingly come hither held a Legantine Council at St. Paul's London in the Octaves of St. Martins to Reform the abuses of Pluralities and some other Enormities that were crept into the Church And there proposed his Constitutions to the Clergy that so by their Suffrage and Consent they might be establish'd for the Reformation of the State of the Church of England I insist not upon the two fresh Attempts that were made by this Legate upon the Clergy for Money and in Both which He was constantly refused by Them As was also Rustandus who succeeded him and by the like authority call'd another Synod to fleece the Clergy for the Pope's Advantage About three years after Boniface