their Domiââons by the Popes Mission unless at the Kings special instant reâest to the Pope who eluded this priviledge by sending Nuncio's âaplains Clerks Friers Minors or Praedicants sometimes into ââeir Realm with the full power not Titles or Ensigns of Legats Some Irish Bishops without the Kings Privity endeavouring to ââocure a Legat to be sent into Ireland the King upon notice ââereof by his Chief Justice and others writes to the Pope to send ãâã Legat thither against his will Pope Gregory the Ninth his Legat was imprisoned for stirring ãâã Sedition in Lombardy against the Emperor Three Legats with ândry Archbishops and Bishops were taken by the Emperors Galâys going to a Council upon the Summons of Pope Gregory IX Gualo a Presbiter Cardinal of St. Martin crowned King Henry ãâã causing him to do homage to the Church of Rome and Pope ânocent for England and Ireland and to swear faithfully to pay âe Annual Rent for them which his Father King John had granted ãâã long as he injoyed those Realms He deprived Simon Langton ârchdeacon of Canterbury and Gervase de Habruge who obstinately âdhered to Lewis and the Barons and celebrated Divine Service to âhem and the Londoners after their Excommunication of their Beâefices for which they were compelled to go to Rome He sent ânquisitors through all Provinces of England suspending and deâriving Clerks of their Benefices for very small faults and adhering âo the Barons bestowing their Livings on his own Creatures Clerks ânriched with others Spoils He received a thousand Marks from Hugh Bishop of Lincoln and vast sums from other Religious Peâsons Canons exhausting their Purses and reaping where he ãâã not sow He bare sway in the Councils of King Henry III wâ sealed some Writs and Patents with his Seal before his own Sâ was made and usurped on his Crown during his Minority witâout Opposition Bernardus de Nympha came Armed into Englaââ with the Bulls of Pope Innocent IV to collect Money from thâ Cruce signati for Richard Earl of Cornwall the Kings Brother Dâvers Blank Bulls of the Popes were found in his Chest after ãâã Death containing manifold Machinations of the Romans to debase and oppress England John de Diva an English Frier was armed with many Papâ Bulls to extort Moneys from the English for Pope Innocent IV under dreadful Penalties and Fulminations He exacts six thousanâ Marks out of Lincoln Diocess His Exaction at St. Albans waâ appealed against who demanded 300 Marks notwithstanding thâ Appeal to be paid within Eight days under pain of Excommunication and Interdict which the Pope upon an Appeal caused theâ to pay He had a Bull from the Pope to inquire of all Lands alâenated from Churches and Monasteries Vexations by Proviso's aâ Simoniacal Contracts for Livings to seize them to the Popes use and Excommunicate Interdict all Opposers without Appeal John Ruffin was sent with the power though not the title of a Legat into Ireland to collect Moneys there He extorted six thousand Marks from the Clergy there notwithstanding the Kings Prohibition Otto I. Pope Honorius his Nuncio was sent to King Henry III. Hâ demandeth two Marks by way of Procuration from all Conventuaâ Churches of England he demandeth two Dignities and two Monkâ portions in all Cathedrals and Monasteries Pryn's Hist of Popes Usurpations Otho Cardinal Deacon of St. Nicholas in Carcere Tulliano Legaâ to Pope Gregory IX was received into England with Processions anâ ringing of Bells He disposed of vacant Benefices to all that camâ with him whether worthy or unworthy the King almost did nothing without him and adored his foot-steps He was present iâ the Parliament at York to mediate a peace between the Kings oâ England and Scotland The Charter of Peace was sworn to anâ ratified in his Presence He desireth leave of the King of Scots tâ enter as a Legat into Scotland to regulate Ecclesiastical Affairâ there as in England who answered That neither in his Fathers time nor of any his Ancestors any Legat had Entrance into Scotland neither would he permit it whilst he was in his righe senses But if he ântered at his own peril he must expect violence from his rude Subjects ârom which he was unable to protect him yet he knighted and beââowed some Lands on his Nephew A great Fray was occasioned at Oxford by his Porters Insolence ând he was assaulted by the Scholars at Osney-Abbey stiled an Uâurer a Simoniack a Ravisher of Mens Rents a Thirster after Money a Perverter of the King and Subverter of the Kingdom ãâã forced to fly secretly from thence Both the King and he proâeeded severely against the Scholars for it by Ecclesiastical Cenâures Excommunications Penances Imprisonments almost to âhe ruin of the University He was denied Entrance into Scotland by the King thereof the âecond time He gave a Writing under his Hand and Seal to the King of Scots that his Admission into Scotland should not be drawn ânto Consequence who took it away with him upon his privat reâcess He there collected the fifteenth part of the Goods of all Preâats and Beneficed Clerks and sent it to the Pope The English Noâles send Letters of Complaint to the Pope against his confering of Benefices by Provisions upon Aliens and other Grievances Frederick the Emperor was incensed against King Henry III for this Legats collecting of Moneys in England imployed in Wars against him demanding his Expulsion out of England as the Emperors and the Kingdoms Enemy He demandeth Procurations for himself from the Clergy not exceeding the sum of four Marks for any Procuration The King sent a Prohibition to him to exact the fifth or any other part of the Benefices of his Clerks attending on his Service which he could by no means endure He joyneth with Peter Rubee in exacting a great Tax from the Prelats and Abbots to shed Christian Blood and to conquer the Emperor The Bishops and Canons except against his intollerable Demands He laboured to raise a Schism and Division among the Clergy to obtain his Exactions He demanded Procurations from the Cistercians who manfully denied them as contrary to their Priviledges which the Pope dispensed with by his Non obstante The King upon his Departure out of England by the Popes Summons feasted placed him in his own Royal Throne and at Dinner to the admiration of many Knighted his Nephew and bestowed an Annuity of Thirty pounds per Annum upon him which he presently sold He conferred above Three hundred rich Prebendaries and Benefices at his own and the Popes pleasure on their Creatures He spoiled the Church of Sarum and maâ other Cathedrals leaving them destitute of Consolation He accompanied by the King and Nobles in great state to the Sea-sidâ at his departure out of England He left not so much Money ãâã England behind him when he left it Mat. Paris fol. 735. as he drained out of it Church plate and Ornaments excepted He stayed three years in England great were the rewards demanded
by and given unto Legats Popâ Innocentius sent one Martin into England for his Legat Rewards given to Legats who waâ not ashamed to demand Plate Geldings and other Reward without measure And if those things wherewith he was presented liked him not Mat. Paris f. 870. he would proudly send them back to their Ownerâ and threaten them with Excommunications except they broughâ him better And other Examples in the same Authors there weââ divers Rich Presents were sent unto the Legats The Bishop of Wiâton presented Otho with Fifty fat Oxen One hundred Quarters oâ the best Wheat and Eight Tun of the strongest Wine for his Table Others presented him with handsome Palfreys rich Vessels Furrs Vestments and divers other Provisions of Meat and Drink Again the charge of the ordinary Entertainments of a Legat waâ a great matter for all his Charges were born by the Realm Whaâ those Expences might grow unto may be conjectured by one demand of Procurations made by the said Otho which yet was buâ a piece of his Allowance for in the year 1240 giving notice to the Clergy that he must tarry in the Realm some time longer than at first was assigned unto him in which space he was not to spend of his own commanded a second Levy of Procurations to be made Mat. Paris fol. 702. wherein he made shew of some favour more than was ordinary giving to understand that he meant not to receive of any Church above four Marks and where the Churches were poor he would be content that two Churches should joyn in contributing those four Marks The use of Legats What benefit the Realm received for all these charges upon the Legats the Monuments of two of the chief of these Legats Otho and Ottobon I mean their Legantine Constitutions which were the fruits of their Reformation do well shew They contain Matter of little or no moment in the World and such as every Bishop in his Diocess might have ordered well enough viz. Triffles about Citations Proxies and other small matters Danger by the stay of Legats in the Realm Nich Machiavel History of Florence Moreover their long abode and lingering in Countreys cannot but be dangerous to the States where they come because having opportunity to know the secrets of the Realm they bestow that knowledge often times unhappily being persons imployed in âore Countreys than one and often where discovery of such âecrets proveth perillous to those Realms where they have served âefore Nicholas Machiavel that great States Man in his Hiââory of Florence noteth of his time that the most of all the Wars ând Garboiles in Christendom were kindled by the Whisperings of ââe Popes Legats SECT 19. 19. It is also proved by the Canon Law Original Suits at Rome that any Ecclesiastical âuit may be commenced Originally at Rome This cannot be void of great charges to the Subject and is very âainful to the See of Rome and the Charge lieth not alone in the long Travel thither and tedious Attendance upon that Court but in âhe Cumbersomness of many intricate Questions arising upon Commissions sometimes one crossing another and sometimes doubtfully âenned sometimes again controlled by colour of wrong Suggestion ând a great number of ways besides whereof the Decretals are full ând most of them are directed to Bishops of this Realm which beâokeneth that this Plague hath touched our English People more than âny other The Subjects were constrained to follow the Popes Consistory for âheir right and there to waste themselves in Suit in such wise that one Case of England was thirty years depending in Rome Ante litem contestatam as Speculator writeth And the case between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York for the Controversie whether the Archbishop of York might have Cross born before him within the Diocess of Canterbury a goodly Matter for Bishops to contend about did hang many years in the Court of Rome And likewise the Case between the Bishop of Worcester and the Abbot of Evesham âor the Vale of Eveshâm The Decretals are full of English Cases decreed even as the parties found favour in the Court of Rome And the poor Cause of Matrimony of Cetwood did hang in Rome and was reserved there by Act of Parliament and never was decided And that very point was the occasion that King Henry VIII did look into the Usurpation of Rome because the Pope would needs Excommunicate the King for not answering in his own Case at Rome as is notably discovered by Bellay in his Memoires Bellay in Memoires who was the Ambassador for the French King in England and was sent of purpose to Rome to stay the Excommunication and could not get six dayâ respite and yet withân these six days the Messenger came with Instructions to have appeased the Matter SECT 20. Great sums carried out of the Realm for Dispensations What infinite Treasure was there carried out of the Realm by thâ Pope's Collectors and by Bankers for Bulls and Dispensations ãâã man can tell Therefore the French King hath many times made Edicts against the Carrying out of Money for Bulls out of France aâ of a thing that spoiled the Realm of their Treasure using the Terâ Epuiser les Treasors du Royaume as a man doth draw the water of ãâã Well to dry up the Water The Sums that were yearly made of Dispensations and Absolution in Cases reserved were infinite as also of Pardons and Indulgenceâ and other Faculties It appeareth by the Book of Taxes made foâ Dispensations in the Reign of Henry VIII that there were founâ Two hundred and sixteen Letters of Dispensations given by thâ Pope and that the Taxe of some of them were Two hundred Marks of others an Hundred Pounds c. Tho. Walsingham fol. 257. Thomas Walsingham writeth That in the time of King Richard thâ Second one Pileus the Pope's Legate made such a Market witâ Sale of Faculties that his Officers that were about him in that Service grew weary of taking Silver and did not stick to say Thââ they had Silver enough and therefore would not afterwards be paid foâ their Wares in any Coin but in Gold Robert Grosted Bishop of Lincoln being suspended his Bishoprick for opposing the Pope's Provisions Matth. Paris fol. 1145. Anno 1252. and trampling them under hiâ feet caused his Clerks to take a view of all the Spiritual Livings oâ Aliens in this Realm and to make a diligent Inquiry to what an Annual Sum they amounted unto who found them to exceed above Seventy thousand Marks And it may be easily collected what the Pope's Share was in those Gifts What the ordinary Payments were that were yearly made to the See of Rome he that shall make the strictest Inquisition shall hardly understand SECT 21. The Kingdom of England being daily oppressed with many intollerable Grievances and divers new Devices to extort Moneys more than before in the dayes of King Henry the Third
unite appropriate divide such Livings and do many strange things else about them no cause appearing to any man but his own will The Popes Legates also procured of the Kings of England Stipends and Provisions of good value out of Ecclesiastical Benefices and other Dignities Rustand the Popes Legate being in Favour with King Henry the Third procured from him besides the Livings he obtained by the Popes Provisions a Grant of Provisions out of the Ecclesiastical Benefices Dignities and Prependaries which should first happen in his own Gift amounting to 300 Marks by the year to be preferred before all others formerly granted by him one only excepted SECT 16. Souldiers mustered and sent out of the Realm 16. Soulders have been Mustered and sent to Foreign Wars out of the Realm upon the Popes Commandment which Case hapned in the time of King Richard the Second the Pope gathering within this Realm a Band of Souldiers for the Wars of the Holy Land and appointing them for their Captain the Bishop of Norwich The Realm generally misliked that their Souldiers should be committed to the Guidance of an Ecclesiastical Person unacquainted with the Wars and therefore resisted for awhile but at length suddenly yielded upon a superstitious Conceit taken in their Heads The Croisado's for the Relief of the Holy Land was a Papal Cheat for Popes and others to pick simple Christians Purses for Popes Designs to maintain Wars against Christian Emperors and Princes the Greek Church and the Albigenses detesting and opposing Papal Usurpations and Corruptions to inthral depose and murder them So great was Pope Innocent's Animosity against the Emperor Frederick that when Forces of the Croisado came out of France or England or other parts to sail into Syria to defend Jerusalem and the Holy Sepulchre against the Saracens he stopt them and gave them the same Graces and Indulgences as if they had performed the Journey into the Holy Land upon Condition that they should turn their Armes against Frederick whose Power lay upon him because he stiffly maintained the Rights of the Empire The Pope proceeded so far as to give the Empire to Robert Brother of Lewis IX King of France upon condition that he should conquer it But Robert sent his Present back to the Pope both because he sent him no Money to furnish him for that Conquest and because he found it very strange that the Pope would give that which was none of his Also because he shewed himself an Enemy to a great and vertuous Prince who had done and suffered so much bravely fighting for the Cause of the Christians against the Infidels Then he added That the Popes are lavish of the Blood of others and that their end is to tread all the Princes of the world under their feet and to put on the Horns of Pride Mean-while persecution grew sore against those whom they called Vaudeois and Albigenses against whom the Pope caused the Croâsado to be preached and an infinite number of them to be massacred Pope Gregory IX who compiled the Decretals needing Money for his War against the Emperor Frederick sent a Legat into Engâand named Stephen who exacted a tenth part of all their moveâble Goods that is of all their Flocks Rents Fruits Wares Offerings and Gifts to the Church And the said Legat had power âo Excomunicate all that should refuse to pay and to put the Churches in Interdict He injoyned the Prelates upon pain of Exâommunication to make that Collection speedily and without âelay All that should cross that Holy Work he Excommunicated âpso facto He would be paid in new Coin and of good Weight He took the Tithe even of the Corn in the first Blade that is of âhe Crop of the year after In these Exactions he was so urgent and griping that the Parishes were forced to engage the Chalices and Church-Plate to satisfie his Covetousness And he had certain Usurers with him who lent Money upon double use to those who had no ready Money This caused a great Clamour and Lamentation over all the Countrey but without effect The Money was imployed by the Pope in inâading many Towns belonging to the Emperor in Italy And the Emperor could not defend them because he was ingaged against âhe Saracens in the Levant where he took Jerusalem and put the Affairs of the Christians in a flourishing Estate And it is probable âhat he had utterly destroyed the Saracens if the Injuries which he âeceived from the Pope had not re-called him For the Emperor making a League for ten years with the Saracens and returning ânexpectedly from the Holy Lând Mat. Paris p. 351 352. Matth Westm p. 128 129. interrupted the Popes proceedângs and soon recovered all his Castles so that the Pope was âorced by meditation of Friends to stoop to the Emperor and make his Peace with him beyond all Expectation Scarce was the Collection ended made by Stephen the Legate when Pope Gregory inventing Extortions grounded upon fair Reaâons sent Nuncios with power of Legats who by Sermons Exâortations and Excommunications brought an infinite number of English Men to Mendicity and turned them out of their Houses This was done under a pretence of contributing to the expence of the Holy War of which himself hindered the success and yet he promised to them that should contribute Money for it the remission of âll their sins and to them that should go in Person an Augmentation of Glory yet the Pope never gave any part of the Money raised âor that expedition to any Prince that paid Armies and sought âor that Quarrel All was thrown into the Popes Coffers as into ãâã Gulph and by him imployed to make War against Frederick for he presently broke the Covenant sworn unto him The Treasure of the Realm spent in the Popes Wars Mat. Paris fol. 703 704. Moreover Wars made by the Pope were oftentimes supported at the Charges of Forreign Countreys the Pope bearing them in hand that they were the Wars of the Church and therefore did in common concern every of their States and Interests under which colour large Contributions have been drawn out of this Realm In the year 1240 the Pope forced all Aliens within this Realm to contribute to the Wars against Frederick the fifth part of the Revenues of their Spiritual Livings and in the same year took another fifth part of all Bishopricks to the same use The Pope ceased not thus but immediately commanded new Collections to be made still pretending his Wars with the Emperor against which Commandment the Clergy made divers Exceptions which are at large set down by Matth. Paris fol. 714. and 7â5 Idem 1219. In the year 1255 Alexander IV. sent a Legate into the Realm who exacted the tenth part of all the Goods and Chatels in England Scotland and Ireland pretending the Church-wars against Manfred who had invaded the Kingdom of Naples which the Pope claimed to appertain to his See SECT 17. Sometimes again great sums were levyed