Selected quad for the lemma: england_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
england_n	ambassador_n	king_n	pope_n	4,544	5	7.1893	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42563	The Council of Trent no free assembly more fully discovered by a collection of letters and papers of the learned Dr. Vargas and other great ministers, who assisted at the said Synod in considerable posts : published from the original manuscripts in Spanish, which were procured by the Right Honourable Sir William Trumbull's grandfather, envoy at Brussels in the reign of King James the First : with an introductory discourse concerning councils, shewing how they were brought under bondage to the Pope / [translated] by Michael Geddes ...	Geddes, Michael, 1650?-1713.; Vargas Mejia, Francisco de, 1484-1560.	1697 (1697)	Wing G445; ESTC R16012	203,517	370

Lateran convocated in the Year 1123 by Calixtus the second against the Saracens of which Synod tho neither the Letters Convocatory nor the Acts are extant that we know of nevertheless there is no doubt to be made of its having been both called and absolutely governed by the Pope but it is not so clear how or when it came to be first stiled a General Council for it does not appear that it ever look'd upon it self as such unless it was that the late Canonists would right or wrong stile it so to have as early a Precedent as might be for the Pope's having an Absolute Authority over such Assemblies The same is applicable to the second and third Lateran Synods none of which can be called General Councils but by the same Bull that the Roman is called the Catholick Church The fourth Lateran Synod convocated by Innocent the Third in the Year 1215 against the Waldenses was call'd it 's true as a General Council Innocent having in his Letters Convocatory commanded all the Bishops of the East and West to repair to it but when it met tho very numerous there was no Assembly that it was less like than a General Council for besides that it was in a manner made up of Italians the Abbots and Priors that sat and had Votes in it were above double the number of the Bishops who being all jumbled together had not one grain of Authority among them The first Council of Lions called by Innocent the Fourth in the Year 1245 against Frederick the Emperor and the second of the same place call'd by Gregory the Tenth in the Year 1274 and the Council of Vien called by Clement the 5th in the Year 1311 which are all reckoned by the Roman Canonists to have been General Councils were all but motley Assemblies of Bishops Priors and Abbots without any thing of Authority being called for no other end but to give some Countenance to such things as the Popes had a mind to have done But the Latin Church tho it was for some Ages under this Bondage had not it seems so far lost all sense of Liberty as not to strive when it had an Opportunity put into its Hands to recover it again The Story of the Struggle betwixt the Popes and Councils which lasted several Years as it is a thing not improper to my purpose so I hope it will not be ungrateful to the Reader who therein on the Popes Side will meet with such a train of Falshood and Dissimulations as is not that I know of to be met with any where else in History Gregory the 11th who had brought back the Papal Court from Avignion where it had been 70 Years to Rome again dying in the Year 1378 the Nobles and People of Rome knowing the Majority of the Cardinals at that time to be French and fearing that if they should chuse a Pope of their own Nation he might go back to Avignion did by force of Arms oblige all the Cardinals before they came to an Election to take an Oath to chuse a Pope who was a Roman or at least an Italian Which the Cardinals having taken they chose Bartholomew Arch-Bishop of Bar who was by birth a Neopolitan but had lived most of his time in France and who took the Name of Vrban The Cardinals at least the major part of them as soon as they were at liberty leaving Rome retired first to Anagnia and afterwards to Fundi from whence they writ to Bartholomew conjuring him by all that was Sacred since he could not but be sensible that his Election being a forced Act was null not to pretend to be Pope But Bartholomew was not to be perswaded out of the Papal Chair now he was in it which way soever he got into it The Cardinals proceeded to a new Election at Fundi and chose Robert Brother to the Earl of Savennes and Cardinal Presbyter of the 12 Apostles Pope who took the Name of Clement Which two Popes insisting on their several Rights and not without great shew of Reason both of them having had their Titles to the Papacy made good by innumerable and undeniable Miracles wrought by the Saints under their several Obediences they thereby begun a Schism which lasted at least 40 Years and which in the End gave the Western Church an opportunity to recover her Liberty in a great measure again tho when she had it she was not able to keep it long For the Christian Princes who were near equally divided betwixt the two Popes growing weary of the Quarrels of so long a Schism did all agree to have a Council assembled at Pisa to find out some way to put an end to it That Council consisted of a great number of Cardinals and Bishops and there were present in it the Embassadors of the King of the Romans and of England France Poland Jerusalem Sicily Cyprus and divers other Princes They being assembled in the Year 1409 after having summoned both the Popes who were at that time Angelus Corarius called Gregory the 12th and Peter de Luna called Benedict the 14th deposed them both upon their not appearing neither in Person nor by their Procurators as incorrigible Schismaticks Hereticks and as guilty of Collusion and Perjury each of them having sworn to resign the Papacy when the other should do it They having thus declared the Roman See vacant obliged every Cardinal before they would give way to their filling of it again to give it under his Hand that in case he should be chosen Pope he should not dissolve the Council until the Church was reformed both in its Head and Members making a Decree likewise that in case any Cardinal that was then absent should be chosen by them his Election should not be published until he had given the Synod the same Security After which the Cardinals who were 24 in number proceeded to an Election and chose Peter Philargi a Greek the Cardinal of the 12 Apostles and who had studied Philosophy at Oxford who took the Name of Alexander the 5th After whose Coronation the Council passed a Decree that another General Synod should meet in the Year 1412 in some City to be named a Year before and that in the mean time Provincial Councils should be assembled in all Countries Alexander the 5th dying in ten Months after he was chosen was succeeded by Cardinal Tassa an Italian who took the Name of John the 23d and who when two Years were expired did in obedience to the Council of Pisa call a Synod at Rome which upon a pretence that there was not a sufficient Number of Prelats for the celebrating of a General Council he dissolved presently after it met But the Council of Pisa having instead of extinguishing increased the Schism by adding a third Pope to the two that were before the Christian Princes after having obliged every one of the Three to take an Oath to resign their Claim to the Papacy whenever the other two did it forced John the

23d who was owned as Pope by most of them to call a Council to meet at Constance in the Year 1415 and to promise to assist at it in Person Which Council being met at the time appointed and having presently discovered that John notwithstanding all his Promises and Oaths to the contrary was at that time caballing with Princes to maintain him in the Papacy the first thing it did was to require John immediately to bind himself by Bulls to observe the following Orders 1. That the present Synod should not be dissolved until the Union was perfected 2. That it should not be removed from Constance 3. That he himself should not depart from thence till it was done 4. That he should constitute a Procurator with full Powers to resign the Papacy in his Name And lastly That it should not be lawful for any Prelat to leave the Council or not to repair to it but in case of Poverty or Sickness To which Demands John the next Day after they were made returned the following Answers 1. That the Council should not be dissolved until it had finished the Union 2. That it was nevertheless his Opinion that it would be convenient to have it translated to Nice in Provence and for him to go thither to it in Person And lastly That he was resolved to make his Cession in Person which he reckoned would be more honourable both for himself and the Synod than to do it by Proxy But the Fathers not being satisfy'd with this shuffling Answer and insisting upon having his Cession immediately under his Hand he promised them faithfully that they should have it next Morning but before that came he stole out of Constance by Night in a Woman's Apparel and was got to Schafhousen a Town then belonging to the Duke of Austria now one of the Cantons who had promised to protect him if he were once in his Territories From which Place he immediately wrote to the Council to assure them that the Reason of his having retired from Constance was not to avoid the being obliged to make a Cession but on the contrary that he might do it with the more Liberty and Security which he reckoned he might do at Schafhousen where he now was But his Letters to the King of Poland and all the other Princes under his Obedience tho writ at the same time were in a quite contrary Strain in which he endeavoured to justify his having left the Council because he and it were both robbed of their Liberty his Life having been likewise in great danger by a Conspiracy which he had discovered complaining likewise of the Bishop of Salisbury who had said publickly and in the Emperor's hearing that the Emperor was superior both to him and the Council none daring to reprove him for such scandalous Doctrine The Council when it came to hear next Morning that John had given them the slip was in great disorder and continued under a great Consternation till the Emperor came amongst them and assured them that he would protect them against the Duke of Austria and all the Enemies John was able to raise up against them The Fathers were likewise much confirmed by a Sermon preached to them at that time by the Learned John Gerson Chancellor of the University of Paris who demonstrated to them that being a General Council they were superior to the Pope and might sit and act without him Pope John who had too many Spies in the Council not to be acquainted with every Word that was said in it reckoning he was too near the Emperor at Schafhousen which is but four Leagues from Constance removed from thence to the Castle of Loufemberg which tho he did in great haste yet before he begun his Journey he declared by a Publick Instrument that he was under no Obligation to observe the Oaths and Promises he had taken and made at Constance having been forced to take and make them by a Fear that was sufficient to make any Act that it caused to be involuntary pretending to justify his having left Schafhousen by having discovered that he was there in danger of his Life which he was willing to preserve because should he be murdered before the two Pretenders to the Papacy had made their Cessions they in all probability would never be perswaded to it When John left Schafhousen the Cardinals who had been sent thither by the Council to perswade him to come back returned to Constance and six of them at the following Session declared therein that the Council now the Pope had left it was dissolved Which bold Declaration gave occasion to the Fathers to lay the Ax to the Root of the Tree all of them but particularly the Cardinal Peter de Aliaco and John Gerson maintaining thereupon That the Pope being inferior to a General Council which the present Synod was he could not dissolve it without its own Consent and accordingly in the next Session at which with the Emperor there assisted nine Cardinals and two hundred Fathers the Embassadors of the Kings of England France Poland Norway Cyprus and Navar with several German Princes being present the following Constitutions being read and unanimously agreed to were published by the Cardinal of Florence which Constitutions being as the Magna Charta of General Councils I shall here set down at length In the Name of the Holy and Vndivided Trinity Father Son and Holy Ghost Amen THIS Holy Synod of Constance being a General Council lawfully assembled in the Holy Spirit to the Praise of Almighty God for the Extirpation of a Schism and the Union and Reformation of the Church of God both in its Head and Members doth for the easier and safer obtaining of the said Union and Reformation of God's Church ordain define decree and declare as followeth In the first place it declareth That it being lawfully congregated in the Holy Spirit is a General Council and represents the Catholick Church and that having its Authority immediately from God all Persons of whatsoever State or Dignity the Papal not excepted are bound to obey it in all things appertaining to the Faith and the Extirpation of Schism and the Reformation of the Church in its Head and Members It furthermore declareth That whosoever of what State Condition or Dignity soever the Papal not excepted shall obstinately contemn and deny to yield Obedience to the Commands Statutes Ordinances and Precepts of this Sacred Synod in any of the foresaid Matters or in any thing that has or shall be done relating to them if he does not repent thereof shall be subjected to condign Penances and if it be found necessary recourse shall be had against him to other legal Remedies The said Holy Synod doth furthermore declare and ordain That Pope John the 23d shall not remove or translate the Roman Court or any of its Publick Offices to any other Place from this City of Constance nor shall directly or indirectly compel the Officers of the said Courts to follow him to any