exempts the Bishop from the Jurisdiction of his Metropolitan And for that the Cardinal fell into a Praemunire for which he purchased his Pardon which is sound among the Charters 4 H. 6. in Archivis Turr Lond. 6 7 Eliz. Dyer 233. a. Jo. Packhurst being elected to the Bishoprick of Norwich before that he was created Bishop obtained a Faculty or Dispensation from the Archbishop of Canterbury by force of the Statute of Faculties to retain a Parsonage which he had before in Commendam for Three years viz. Ã Festo Michaelis An. Dom. 1560. usque ad idem Festum in An. 1563. Before the first Feast of St. Michael Packhurst is created Bishop and afterwards he resigned the Benefice And the Question was whether that Benefice became void by the resignation of Packhurst or by his promotion to the Bishoprick And it was adjudged That the Church became void by his Resignation Which proves That by virtue of the said Faculty or Dispensation he continued Parson until he had Resign'd Vid. N. Br. 36. h. If a Parson who hath a Faculty or Dispensation to hold his Rectory be created a Bishop and after the Patron present another Incumbent who is Instituted and Inducted now the Bishop shall have a Spoliation against that Incumbent which proves that his real possession in the Parsonage always continued by virtue of the said Faculty or Dispensation And in this Case of a Commendam in Sir Joh. Davis Reports this difference is put between a Faculty to take a Benefice and a Faculty to retain a Benefice viz. That a Faculty granted to one who is not Incumbent to Take a void Benefice is void And a Faculty to one who is Incumbent of a Benefice to Retain the same Benefice is good By virtue of these Faculties Dispensations and Provisions from the Pope Edmond the Monk of Bury who was a Minister in the Court of King Ed. 3. had many Benefices as appears in the foresaid Case of the Bishop of St. Davids 11 H. 4. And Hankford said in the same Case fo 191. a. That by virtue of such Faculty one and the same person had been Abbot of Glastenbury and Bishop also of another Church simul semel and had the Possessions and Dignity of both at the same time Likewise Hen. Chichley who was afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury being a Prebend in the Cathedral Church of Sarum was elected Bishop of St. Davids and before his Consecration the Pope reciting by his Bull that he was elected Bishop of St. Davids granted him a Faculty and power to hold and enjoy all his other Benefices till the Pope should otherwise order c. Vid. Nov. Decis Rot. 331. And that these Faculties or Dispensations to hold Benefices in Commendam were granted in the Court of Rome in the time of King H. 5. appears in Lindw de Praeb c. Audistis ver Dispensatione And although in case of Hen. Beauford aforesaid it was held That the Dispensation came too late it being granted after the Bishop was created Cardinal yet afterwards in the time of King H. 8. Cardinal Wolsey having before he was created Cardinal obtained a Bull from the Pope to retain the Archbishoprick of York as perpetual Administrator and the Abbey of St. Albans in perpetuam Commendam he held both during his life by virtue of the said Faculty or Dispensation Vid. 27 H. 8. 15. b. By these Presidents and Authorities it is evident That before the making of the foresaid Statute of Faculties such Dispensations were had and obtained at the Court of Rome to hold in Commendam Ecclesiastical Benefices in England But the Truth is as in the foresaid Case de Commenda Davis Rep. such Faculties or Dispensations granted by the Pope touching Ecclesiastical Benefices in England were ever contrary to the Law of the Realm for it was a meer usurpation on the Crown of England before the Statutes made against Provisors And these Statutes were made in declaration of the Common Law in that point 12 Ed. 2. Fitz. Qua. Imp. 169. 19 Ed. 2. Eitz Qua non admisit 7. 15 Ed. 3. Fitz. Qua. Imp. 160. 21 Ed. 3. 40. 11 H. 4. 230. a. It is also meet to be known That long before King H. 8. the Statute of 16 R. 2. and divers other Laws against Provisors and Appeals to Rome and the Popes Usurpation upon the Rights of the Crown of England were made well-nigh as severe as any since The first encroachment of the Bishop of Rome upon the Liberties of the Crown of England was made in the time time of King William the Conqueror For before that time the Pope's Writ did not run in England his Bulls of Excommunication and Provision came not thither nor were any Citations or Appeals made from thence to the Court of Rome Eleutherius the Pope within less than two hundred years after Christ writes to Lucius the Brittish King and calls him God's Vicar within his Kingdom Pelagius the Monk of Bangor about An. 400. being cited to Rome refused to appear upon the Pope's Citation affirming That Britain was neither within his Diocess nor his Province And when about the year 600 Augustine the Monk was sent by Gregory the Great into England to Convert the Saxons the Brittish Bishops then in Wales regarded neither his Commission nor his Doctrine as not owing any duty to nor having any dependence on the Court of Rome but still retained their Ceremonies and Traditions which they received from the East-Church upon the first plantation of the Faith in that Island And though Ina the Saxon King gave the Peter-pence to the Pope partly as Alms and partly in recompence of a House erected in Rome for English Pilgrims yet certain it is that Alfred Aethelstane Edgar Edmond Cauutus and Edward the Confessor and other Kings of the Saxon Race gave all the Bishopricks in England per Annulum Baculum 9. In the Case of Evans against Askwith it was agreed That the nature of a Dispensation is for to derogate and make void a Statute Canon or Constitution as to that which it prohibites as to the party and it is as an Exception as to him out of the Statute or Constitution It is said that a Dispensation is Provida Relaxatio mali prohibiti necessitate vel utilitate pensata And in the same Case it was also Resolved by all the Judges That the King hath power to Dispence with Statutes and Canons in force within this Realm By the very Common Law of right it was in the King for the Canons are the Ecclesiastical Laws of the Land and do not bind except they are received in the Realm as appears by the Statute of 25 H. 8. c. 21. And by the Statute of Merton touching one born before Marriage as by the Canon yet at Common Law he is Legitimate And 10 H. 7. 12. it is said That the King may Dispence with one to hold Two Benefices and it seems the Pope
whatsoever Name or Names they may be called in their Convocation in time coming which alwaies shall be assembled by the Kings Writ unless the same Clergy may have the Kings most Royal assent and License to make promise and execute such Canons Constitutions and Ordinances Provincial or Synodical upon pain of every one of the said Clergy doing the contrary to this Act and thereof convicted to suffer Imprisonment and making Fine at the Kings will Since this year from Archbishop Cranmer to this day all Convocations are to have the Kings leave to debate on matters of Religion and their Canons besides his Royal assent an Act of Parliament for their Confirmation And as to the General Councils there are not any of them of use in England except the first Four General Councils which are established into a Law by King and Parliament The Learned Bishop Prideaux in his Synopsis of Councils gives us the definition of Synodographie and says It is such a Methodical Synopsis of Councils and other Ecclesiastical Meetings as whereby there may be a clear discovery to him that doubts how any Case may be enquired after and what may be determined concerning the same And then immediately after gives us the definition of a Council which he calls a Free Publick Ecclesiastical Meeting especially of Bishops as also of other Doctors lawfully deputed by divers Churches for the examining of Ecclesiastical Causes according to the Scriptures and those according to the power given by Common Suffrages without favour of parties to be determined in matters of Faith by Canons in cases of Practice by Presidents in matters of Discipline by Decrees and Constitutions Of these Councils he observes some to have been Judaical others Apostolical others Oecumenical some Controverted others Rejected and some National to all which he likewise adds Conferences 1 Under the Title of Judaical Councils he comprehends the more solemn Meetings about extraordinary affairs for the Confirming Removing or Reforming any thing as the matter required Such he observes to have been at Sichem under Josuah and Eleazer Josh 24. At Jerusalem the first under David Gad and Nathan being his Assistants 1 Chro. 13. At Carmelita under Ahab and Elias 1 King 18. At Jerusalem the Second under Hezekiah 2. Chro. 29. At Jerusalem the Third under Josiah and Hilkiah 2 Kin. 33. 2 Chro. 34. At Jerusalem the Fourth under Zorobabel and Ezra and the Chief of the Jews that return'd from the Captivity of Babylon And lastly that which is called the Synod of the Wise under John Hircanus Genebrand Chron. l. 2 p. 197. 2 The Apostolical Councils he observes to have been for the substituting of Matthias in the place of Judas Act. 1. For the Election of Seven Deacons Act. 6. For not pressing the Ceremonial Law Act. 15. 11. For the toleration of some Legal Ceremonies for a time to gain the Weak by such condescension Matth. 21. 18. For composing the Apostles Creed For obtruding to the Church 85 Canons under the notion of the Apostles authority concerning which there are many Controversies Lastly for the Meeting at Antioch where among Nine Canons the Eighth commanded Images of Christ to be substituted in the room of Heathenish Idols the other pious Canons being destitute of the Synods authority vid. Bin. Tom. 1. p. 19. Longum p. 147. 3 Of Oecumenical or General Councils some were Greek or Eastern others were Latin or Western The more Famous of the Oecumenical Greek Councils were the Nicene the first of Constantinople the first of Ephesus the first of Chalcedon Of Constantinople the second of Constantinople the third The Nicene the second The more Famous of the Oecumenical Latin Councils were at Ariminum the Lateran at Lions at Vienna the Florentine the Lateran the fifth and lastly at Trent 4 Of Controverted Councils if that distinction be admissable according to the Classis thereof digested by Bellarmine the Computation is at Constantinople the fourth at Sardis at Smyrna at Quinisext at Francfort at Constance and at Basil 5 Of Rejected Councils whereby are intended such as either determine Heretical Opinions or raise Schisms the Computation is at Antioch at Milain at Seleucia at Ephesus the second at Constantinople at Pisa the first and at Pisa the second 6 Of National Synods which comprehend the Provincials of every Metropolitan or Diocesan Bishop the distribution is into Italian Spanish French German Eastern African Britain 7 To these may be added Ecclesiastical Conferences which were only certain Meetings of some Divines wherein nothing could be Canonically determined and therefore needless to be here particularly inserted vid. B. Prideaux Synops of Counc vers fin The grand Censure of the Church whereby it punisheth obstinate Offenders is by way of Excommunication which though the Canonists call Traditio Diabolo or giving the Devil as it were Livery and Seizin of the Excommunicate person yet the Romanists have a Tradition that St. Bernard Excommunicated the Devil himself Sanctus Bernardus plenus virtutibus quadam die praesentibus Episcopis clero populo Excommunicavit quendam Diabolum Incubum qui quandam mulierem in Britannia per septeunium vexabat sic Liberata est ab eo Chron. Jo. Bromton de Temp. H. 1. A miraculous Excommunication and a Sovereign Remedy against Diabolical incubations The Excommunication which St. Oswald pronounced against one who would not be perswaded to be reconciled to his Adversary had nothing so good though a more strange effect for that Excommunicated him out of his Wits and had it not been for Wolstan who as miraculously cur'd him you might have found him if not in Purgatory then in Bedlam at this day Illi cujus es says Sanctus Oswaldus Te commendo carnem Sathanae tuam trado Statim ille dentibus stridere spumas jacere caput rotare incipit Qui tamen à Wolstano sanatus cum Pacem adhuc recusaret iterum tertio est arreptus simili modo quousque ex corde injuriam remitteret offensam If you have not faith enough to believe this on the Credit of Abbot Brompton who Chronicled from the year 588 in which St. Austin came into England to the death of King Richard the First which was in the year 1198. if you have not I say faith enough for the premisses you are not like to be supplied with any on this side Rome unless you have it from Henry de Knighton Canon of Leyster who wrote the Chronicle De Eventibus Angliae from King Edgars time to the death of King Richard the Second for he in his Second Book de Temp. W. 2. doth put it under his infallible pen for an undeniable Truth And indeed is much more probable than what the said Abbot reports touching St. Austins raising to life the Priest at Cumpton in Oxfordshire 150 years after his death to absolve a penitent Excommunicate that at the same time rose also out of his grave and walked out of the Church at St. Austins command That no
next in precedency hath been a Count Palatine about six or seven hundred years and hath at this day the Earldom of Sadberg long since annexed to this Bishoprick by the King Note a President hath been shewed at Common Law That the Bishop of Durham imprisoned one for a Lay-Cause and the Archbishop of York as his Sovereign cited him to appear before him to answer for that Imprisonment and the Archbishop was fined four thousand Marks Cro. par 1. The Bishop of Winchester was anciently reputed Earl of Southampton All the other Bishops take place according to the Seniority of their Consecration unless any Bishop happen to be made Lord Chancellor Treasurer Privy Seal or Secretary of State which anciently was very usual All the Bishops of England are Barons and Peers of the Realm have place in the Upper house of Parliament as also in the Upper house of Convocation The Bishopricks were erected into Baronies by William the Conqueror at his coming into England And as a special remark of Honour Three Kings viz. of England Scotland and South-Wales in the year 1200. did contribute their Royal shoulders for the conveyance of the deceased Corps of Hugh Bishop of Lincoln to his Grave And no wonder when Princes themselves and such as were of the Blood Royal were anciently Bishops in this Kingdom they have been not only of the best Nobility but divers of the Sons and Brothers of several English Kings since the Conquest and before have entred into Holy Orders and became Ecclesiasticks as at this day is practicable in the most of all other Monarchies throughout the whole Christian World Ethelwolph Son and Successor to Egbert first Sole King of England was in Holy Orders and Bishop of Winchester at his Fathers death Odo Brother to William the Conqueror was Bishop of Bayeux in Normandy Henry de Blois Brother to King Stephen was Bishop of Winchester Geofry Plantagenet Son to King Henry the Second was Bishop of Lincoln And Henry de Beauford Brother to King Henry the Fourth was Bishop also of Winchester 20. The Statute of 17 Car. 1. cap. 27. for disinabling persons in Holy Orders to exercise Temporal Jurisdiction or Authority being Repealed as aforesaid by the Statute of 13 Car. 2. cap. 2. they are thereby restored to the exercise of Temporal Jurisdiction as formerly which indeed is no more than what they ever Anciently exercised in this Kingdom For Ex Clero Rex semper sibi eligebat Primos à Consiliis Primos ad Officia Regni obeunda Primi igitur sedebant in omnibus Regni Comitiis Tribunalibus Episcopi in Regali quidem Palatio cum Regni Magnatibus in Comitatu una cum Comite in Turno cum Vice-comite in Hundredo cum Domino Hundredi sic ut in promovenda Justitia usquequaque gladii gladium adjuvaret nihil inconsulto Sacerdote vel Episcopo ageretur This Union of Persons Authority and Courts of Judicature Ecclesiastical and Civil as Mr. Selden proves continued above Four thousand years till Pope Nicholas the First about the Eighth Century to exclude the Emperour from medling in the Ecclesiastical Government began to exclude the Clergy from medling with the Civil And for the space of four or five hundred years during the Reign of the Saxon Kings in England the Ecclesiastical and Secular Magistrates sate joyntly together determining Ecclesiastical Affairs in the Morning and Secular or Civil Affairs in the Afternoon so that in those days as there was no clashing of Jurisdictions so no complaint touching Prohibitions but an unanimous harmony in a kind of Joynt-Jurisdiction in reference to all Ecclesiastical and Civil Affairs until William the Conqueror did put a distinction between Church and State in a more divided way than formerly had been practiced Also the excellent Laws made by King Ina King Athelstan King Edmund and St. Edward the Confessor from whom we have our Common Laws and our Priviledges mentioned in Magna Charta were all made by the perswasions and advice of Archbishops and Bishops named in our Histories 21. That which during the Reign of King Edw. 6. made the greatest alteration and threatned most danger to the State Ecclesiastical was the Act entituled An Act for Election and what Seals and Styles shall be used by Spiritual persons c. In which it was ordained That Bishops should be made by the Kings Letters Patents and not by the Election of the Deans and Chapters That all their Processes and Writings should be made in the Kings Name only with the Bishop's Teste added to it and sealed with no other Seal than the Kings or such as should be Authorized and Appointed by him In the compounding of which Act there was more danger as Dr. Heylin observes couched than at first appeared For by the last Branch thereof it was plain and evident says he that the intent of the Contrivers was by degrees to weaken the Authority of the Episcopal Order by forcing them from their strong hold of Divine Institution and making them no other than the Kings Ministers only or as it were his Ecclesiastical Sheriffs to execute his Will and disperse his Mandates And of this Act such use was made though possibly beyond the true intention of it that as the said Dr. Heylin observes the Bishops of those Times were not in a Capacity of conferring Orders but as they were thereunto impowred by special License The Tenour whereof if Sanders be to be believed was in these words following viz. The King to such a Bishop Greeting Whereas all and all manner of Jurisdiction as well Ecclesiastical as Civil flows from the King as from the Supream Head of all the Body c. We therefore give and grant to thee full power and License to continue during our good pleasure for holding Ordination within thy Diocess of N. and for promoting fit persons unto Holy Orders even to that of the Priesthood Which being looked on by Queen Mary not only as a dangerous diminution of the Episcopal Power but as an odious Innovation in the Church of Christ she caused this Act to be Repealed in the first year of her Reign leaving the Bishops to depend on their former claim and to act all things which belonged to their Jurisdiction in their own Names and under their own Seals as in former times In which estate they have continued without any Legal Interruption from that time to this But says the same Author in the First Branch there was somewhat more than what appeared at the first sight For though it seemed to aim at nothing but that the Bishops should depend wholly on the King for their preferment to those great and eminent places yet the true drift of the Design was to make Deans and Chapters useless for the time to come and thereby to prepare them for a Dissolution For had nothing else been intended in it but that the King should have the sole Nomination of all the Bishops in his Kingdoms it had
the best Analogy with the truth comparing one Antiquary with another touching that Subject This Radulphus de Diceto was Dean of London a very Ancient Historian he wrote the History of England from A. 1147. to 1193. in a Book Entituled Imagines Historiarum and in the Prologue to his Chronicle Abbreviations says That Augustine who by Pope Gregory was sent into England An. 600. after he had Converted Ethelbert King of Kent to the Christian Faith went in the year 602. to Arles where he was Consecrated Episcopus Anglorum by Etherius Archbishop of that place and being returned into Britain sent Laurentius the Presbyter and Petrus the Monk to Pope Gregory giving him an account of Britains being converted to the Faith and himself made Bishop thereof Whereupon the said Gregory sent them back into England and with them several Divines to preach the Gospel in this Isle among which the Chief were Mellitus Justus Paulinus and Ruffinianus by whom he also sent the Pall to Augustine and at the same time wrote him in what manner he should Constitute Bishops in England and that in haec verba viz. Per locos singulos 12 Episcopos ordines qui tuae subjaceant ditioni◠quatenus Lundoniensis Civitatis Episcopus semper in posterum à Synodo propria debeat Consecrari c. Ad Eboricum vero Civitatem te volumus Episcopum mittere quem ipse judicaveris Ordinare Ita duntaxat ut si eadem Civitas cum finitimis locis Verhum Dei receperit ipse quoque 12. Episcopos ordinet Metropolitani honore fruatur Quem tamen tuae Fraternitatis volumus dispositioni subjacere Post obitum vero tuum ita Episcopus quos ordinaverit praesit ut Lundoniensis Episcopi nullo modo ditioni subjaceat Sit vero inter Lundoni Eboricae Civitatis Episcopos in posterum honoris ista Distinctio ut ipse prior habeatur qui prius fuerit Ordinatus Tua vero Fraternitas Episcopos quos ordinaveris qui vel per Episcopum Eboracae fuerint Ordinati Sacerdotes etiam totius Britanniae Subjectos habeat After the receipt of these Orders from Pope Gregory the Bishops of Britain were conven'd to a Conference by Augustine he having first Ordained the said Laurentius as his Suffragan the said Mellitus Bishop of London and the said Justus Bishop of Rochester About which time King Ethelbert built St. Pauls Church London or re-edified the same About this time also it was viz. An. 608. that Pope Boniface obtain'd of the Emperour Phocas That the Church of Rome should be the Head of all other Churches That of Constantinople having till then assumed that Title the which was after Decreed sub Anathemate in a Council of 62 Bishops Afterwards the the said Laurentius Mellitus and Justus became Archbishops of Canterbury successively viz. Laurentius in An. 615. Mellitus in An. 622. and Justus in An. 626. according to the computation of the said Radulphus by the last of which Paulinus was Ordained Archbishop of York and to which Justus Pope Boniface wrote in haec verba viz. Authoritati beati Petri praecipientes firmamus ut in Dorobernia Civitate semper in posterum Metropolitanus totius Britanniae locus habeatur omnesque Provinciae Regni Anglorum praefati loci Metropolitanae Ecclesiae subjiciantur Again the precedency of the See of Canterbury is recorded by the said Rodolphus in these words viz. Sicut Cantia subjicitur Romae quod ex ea fidem accepit ita Eboricum subjicitur Cantuariae quae eo Praedicatores misit Sicut igitur sedes Cantuariae prima fuit in fide prima sit in honore After Justus Honorius was made Archbishop of Canterbury whom Paulinus consecrated at Lincoln to whom Honorius Pope wrote in haec verba viz. Cum Dorobernensis Antistes vel Eboracensis de hac vita transierit is qui superest habeat potestatem alterum ordinandi Bed lib. 2. cap. 16. Si de Consecrationibus Archiepiscoporum Cantuar. contrarium aliquid inveneris in Authentico Libro quam in hoc volumine reperiatur adquiescam in omnibus And in the year 632. Pope Honorius wrote unto Honorius Archbishop of Canterbury in these words viz. Tuae Jurisdictioni subjici praecipimus omnes Angliae Ecclesias Regiones ut in Civitate Dorobernia Metropolitanus Locus honor Archiepiscopatus Caput omnium Ecclesiarum Anglorum semper in posterum servetur That the Archiepiscopal Seat at York is likewise of very great Antiquity is evident by what is forementioned touching Paulinus Archbishop thereof above one Thousand years since Our Learned Antiquary tells us Ex Patriis Scriptoribus That York was adorned with an Episcopal Seat by Constantius But if so or if that be the truth which is recorded of Paulinus aforesaid how then could Faganus sent hither by Pope Eleut herius to King Lucius to plant the Christian Religion be as reported the first Archbishop thereof or how could King Lucius place there one Theodosius which yet is also affirmed Or how could Sampson under the same King be Bishop of York as appears by Godwin who yet suspects it in regard that at the first entertainment of Christianity among us nor Hebrew nor Greek Names of the New Testament were so rise among the Britains and indeed this Sampson is more generally reserved to some Ages after till King Arthurs time Thus the Original of things as aforesaid seems full of obscurity and uncertainty yet it is most probable that the first Bishop of York was not till Constantines days and we shall find this Bishop at Arles in the Council there held about the year 314. whither as himself writes in his Epistle to Chrestus Bishop of Syracuse he summoned to hear the Cause of the Donatists many Bishops from divers places In the last Edition of this Council published by Jacobus Sirmondus at Paris among other Subscriptions thereunto you have out of Britain these following viz. Eborius Episcopus de Civitate Eboracensi Provincia Britannia Restitutus Episcopus de Civitate Londinensi Provincia superscripta Adelphus Episcopus de Civitate Colonia Londinensium exinde Sacerdos Presbyter Arminius Diaconus From which Council at Arles it may be observed 1 That York was no Archbishoprick at that time as neithet indeed was Rome it self 2 That Eborius Bishop of York at this Council takes place of Restitutus Bishop of London where as some suppose the Primacy alwaies remained till translated to Canterbury Whether Constantine the Great who is supposed to have adorned York with an Episcopal Seat as aforesaid were Born there and not elsewhere as some conceive is not easily at least not expresly proved out of the Ancients says a Learned Antiquary of Late times yet says he That Authority seems to be drawn from them which the Embassadours of England made use of and that in the hearing of the Learned World then both at the Council of Constance An. 1414. as also at that of Basil An. 1431. At the Council of
Vrbis Cantuar. Antiq. pag. 362 363. ubi de Decano Christianitatis But the Deans here specially meant and intended are only such as with the Chapters according to the ancient and genuine use thereof are as Senatus Episcopi to assist the Bishop in his Jurisdiction Cathedral Churches being the first Monuments of Christianity in England So Dr. Hacket in Parliament 1640. The Office and Ecclesiastical Dignity of Archdeacons which you next meet with in this Abridgment is of very great Antiquity There was a sharp Contest above Five hundred years since in the time of King H. 2. between the Archdeacons and the Priors of Winchester and Ely touching the Presentation of their Bishops Elect unto the Metropolitan in order to their Consecration wherein by the Interlocutory of the said Metropolitan the Priors had the Victory Hora congrua Consecrationis instante R. Wintoniensis R. Elyensis Archidiaconi cum Officiales Episcoporum dicantur ad suum spectare contendebant Officium Electiones c. praesentare Metropolitano W. Wintoniensis S. Elyensis Priores in contrarium sentiebant quam enim in Ecclesiis Cathedralibus ubi Canonici divinis mancipantur obsequiis Decani sibi vindicant dignitatem hanc si Monachorum Conventus in Episcopali sede praemineat sibi jure possunt vendicare Priores Sed ut omnis in posterum amputetur occasio Litigandi de Interlocutoria Metropolitani sententia c. Wintoniensis Elyensis Electiâ— ad Priorum suorum praesentationem recepti ad Priorum suorum postulationem Episcopi Consecrati sunt Radulph de Diceto Imag. Hist. By the 25th Canon of the Council of Lateran under Pope Alexander it was Ordained That an Archdeacon in his Visitation should not exceed the numqer of Five or Seven Horsemen for his Retinue Chron. Gervas de Temp. H. 2. And as to the Visitation-Articles every Bishop and Archdeacon heretofore framed a Model thereof for themselves but at the Convocation in the year 1640. a Body thereof was composed for the publick use of all such as exercised Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction And by the foresaid Canon of the Council of Lateran it was further Ordained That no Archdeacon in his Visitation should presume to exact from the Clergy more than was justly due Archidiaconi autem sive Decani nullas exactiones in Presbyteros seu Clericos exercere praesumant Notwithstanding what toleration the Law allows as to Archbishops Bishops Archdeacons c. as to the number of their Retinue in their Visitations yet therein respect is ever to be had to the condition of the Churches Persons and Places Visited as may plainly appear by the express words of the Canon aforesaid viz. Sane quod de numero evectionis secundum tolerantiam dictum est in illis Locis poterit observari in quibus ampliores sunt redditus Ecclesiasticae facultates In pauperibus autem Locis tantam volumus teneri mensuram ut ex accâ—ssu majorum minores non debeant gravari ne sub tali indulgentia illi qui paucioribus Equis uti solebant hactenus plurium sibi credant potestatem indultam So that no Archdeacon or other having Right of Visitation ought by what the Law allows them in that case to exercise their power in this matter beyond what the condition of the place Visited will reasonably admit In all Visitations of Parochial Churches made by Bishops and Archdeacons the Law hath provided that the Charge thereof should be answered by the Procurations then due and payable by the Inferiour Clergy wherein Custome as to the Quantum shall prevail but the undue Demands and supernumerary Attendants of Visitors have Anciently as well as in Later times given the occasion of frequent Contests and Complaints For prevention whereof it was Ordained by the 25th Canon of the Council of Lateran under Pope Alexander circa An. 1179. in haec verba viz. Cum quidam Fratrum Coepiscoporum nostrorum ita graves in Procurationibus subditis suis existunt ut pro hujusmodi causa interdum ipsa Ecclesiastica Ornamenta subditi compellantur exponere longi temporis victum brevis hora consumat Quocirca statuimus Quod Archiepiscopi Parochias Visitantes pro diversitate Provinciarum facultatibus Ecclesiarum 40 vel 50 evectionis Numerum Episcopi 20 vel 30 Cardinales vero 20 vel 25 nequaquam excedunt Archidiaconi vero Quinque aut Septem Decani Constituti sub Episcopis Duobus Equis contenti existant Prohibemus etiam ne subditos suos talliis exactionibus Episcopi gravare praesumant Archidiaconi autem sive Decani nullas exactiones vel tallias in Presbyteros seu Clericos exercere praesumant vid. Chron. Gervas de Temp. H. 2. col 1455. can 25. whereby it is evident that these Procurations ought to be so moderated by the Bishops as that they may not become a burthen or grievance to the Clergy The lawfulness of these Episcopal and Archidiaconal Rights of Procurations are not to be called into question at this day for in all the Establishments and Ordinations of Vicarages upon the Ancient Appropriations of Churches you shall find these Procurations excepted and reserved in statu Quo As appears by these of Feversham and Middleton when by William the Conqueror they were Appropriated to the Abbey of St. Austins as also by these of Wivelsberg Stone and Brocland in Kent when they were Appropriated to the same Abbey by the Charter of King Ed. 3. and in that of the Parish of Stone aforesaid Pentecostals by name are reserved in these words Nihilominus solvet Procurationem debitam Archidiacono Cantuariensi Visitanti expensas pro Pentecostalibus faciendis vid. Chron. W. Thorne Appropria Eccles col 2089. Hist Angl. What Procurations the Archbishop of Messena who arrived in England as the Popes Legate in the year 1261. exacted and extorted from the Bishops and Abbots with great violence in the Reign of King H. 3. you may find in Matthew Paris But by the Fourth Canon of the Council at Rome under Pope Alex. 3. An. 1180. it was Ordained That Bishops and Archbishops in their Visitations should not overcharge the Church of their Bounds with unnecessary charges and expences specially the Churches that are poor No sooner had Princes in Ancient times assign'd and limited certain Matters and Causes controversal to the cognizance of Bishops and to that end dignified the Episcopal Order with an Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction but the multiplicity and emergency of such affairs requir'd for the dispatch and management thereof the assistance of such subordinate Ordinaries as being experienc'd in the Laws adapted to the nature of such Causes might prove a sufficient Expedient to prevent the avocation of Bishops by reason of such Litigious interpositions from the discharge of the more weighty Concerns of that Sacred Function Hence it is supposed that the Ecclesiastical Office of Diocesan Chancellors Commissaries and Officials originally came into use and practice the place of their Session anciently styled the Bishops
of King Kanute made for the indemnity of such as should have recourse to Tribunals for their safe coming and going to and from Courts of Justice Et volo ut omnis homo pacem habeat eundo ad gemotum vel rediens de gemoto id est placito nifi fit fur probatus It is a word from the Saxon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 convenire unde Nostratium to meet But this digression the Reader must put on the Abbots score in regard the word Abbates gave the occasion thereof which may be but a Venial offence in regard that that Ecclesiastical Dignity is with us laid aside though their Possessions had better Fortune yet when King H. 8. did dissolve them he did not only augment the number of Colledges out of the Revenues thereof but also erected divers new Bishopricks as at Westminster Oxford Peterborough Bristol Chester and Glocester all remaining at this day save that at Westminster which being restored to its pristine Institution by Queen Mary and Benedictines placed therein was after by Queen Elizabeth converted to a Collegiate Church In this Chapter there is mention also made of Chauntries Cantaria or if you please Aedes Sacra ideo Instituta Dotata Praediis ut missa ibidem Cantaretur pro anima Fundatoris propinquorum ejus Ita Spelm. Of these and Free Chappels about 2374. were dissolved by King H. 8. to whom they were given by Parliament in the 38th year of his Reign The Religious Houses under 200 l. per An. were granted to him in An. 1535. All greater Monasteries in An. 1538. The Chantery and Free Chappels in An. 1545. Of these Chanteries Forty seven belonged unto St. Pauls London And as for Annates or First-Fruits it is Historically reported to us that they were first introduced into England in the time of King Edward the First by Pope Clement who succeeded Benedict For this Pope Clement after the death of Pope Benedict was no sooner Elected and Enthron'd in France but he began to exercise his new Rapines here in England by a compliance with the said King Edward in granting him a Two years Disme from his Clergy for his own use though pretended for the aid of the Holy Laud that with the more ease himself might exact the First Frutts of vacant Ecclesiastical Benefices to augment his own Revenues though not within his own Territories This is said to be the first President of any Popes reserving or exacting Annates or First-Fruits of all Ecclesiastical Dignities and Benefices throughout England extant in our Histories which though reserved but for Two years by the Pope at first yet afterwards grew into a Custome by degrees both in England and elsewhere And thus they remained in the Pope until an Act of Parliament entituled the Crown thereunto in the time of King Henry the Eighth which afterwards were restored again to the Pope by Queen Mary but in the first year of Queen Elizabeth an Act pass'd for restoring the Tenths and First-Fruits to the Crown Notwithstanding what some Historians have as aforesaid reported touching the first introduction of First-Fruits into England by Pope Clement in the time of King Edward the First it is most evident that they were to be yielded and paid here in England some hundreds of years before that time as appears by the Laws of Ina King of the West Saxons who began his Reign in the year 712. The Law was this viz. Primitias seminum quisque ex eo dato domicilio in quo ipso Natali die Domini commoratur Lambert de Leg. Inae Reg. And by the Laws of King Edgar who began his Reign in the year 959. it is Ordained in these words Ex omni quidem ingeniorum terra ipsae Seminum Primitiae primariae penduntor Ecclesiae Idem de Leg. Edgari Reg. Ipsas autem Seminum Primitias sub Festum Divi Martini reddito Ibid. The like you have in the Laws of King Kanute who began his Reign in the year 1016. Seminum Primitiae ad Festum Divi Martini penduntor si quis dare distulerit eas Episcopo undecies praestato ac Regi Ducenos viginti Solidos persolvito Idem Lamb. It is supposed that Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury in the Reign of Ed. 3. was the first that made way for Popes to Appropriate Annates and First-Fruits in this Kingdom to themselves for the said Archbishop An. 1246. upon a feigned pretence that his Church of Canterbury was involved in very great Debts by his Predecessor but in truth by himself to carry on Forein Wars and gratifie the Pope procured from Pope Innocent a grant of the First years Fruits of all Benefices that should fall void within his Diocess for the space of Seven years till he should thence raise the Sum of Ten thousand Marks yearly out of the Bishoprick So that this Grant of First Fruits of Benefices to Boniface the said Archbishop made way for Popes Appropriating First-Fruits and Annates to themselves soon after But in process of time the Parliament having as aforesaid settled them on King H. 8. there was an Office thereof established in London An. 1538. whereby the Kings Revenue increased exceedingly from this Office for the receipt of Tenths and First-Fruits which was then first erected in London such Moneys being formerly paid to the Pope for that the Tenths and First-Fruits of the English Clergy were yearly return'd to Rome But now the Pope being dead in England the King was found his Heir at Common Law as to most of the Power and Profit he had usurped and the Rents which the Clergy paid were now changed together with their Landlord for Commissioners whereof the Bishop of the Diocess was ever one were appointed to estimate their Annual Revenues that so their Tenths and First-Fruits might be proportioned accordingly At this time the Oblations from the Living and Obits from the Dead were as duly paid as Predial Tithes and much advanced the Income but Queen Mary did after by Act of Parliament exonerate the Clergy from all these First-Fruits and ordered the payment of the Tenths to Cardinal Poole for discharge of Pensions allowed to certain Monks and Nuns but Queen Elizabeth in the first year of her Reign resumed these First-Fruits and Tenths only Personages not exceeding ten Marks and Vicarages ten Pounds were freed from First-Fruits vid. Stat. 1 Eliz. cap. 4. That which in the method of the ensuing Treatise next offers it self to consideration is Altarage Altaragium taking its denomination from the Altar because to speak properly Altargium est Emolumentum Sacerdoti provenieus ratione Altaris ex Oblationibus sc vid. Jo. de Athon in Constit. Legatim Otho c. Auditu ver Proventus Touching this Altarage there is an Ancient Record in the time of King H. 3. about the year 1234. in the Chronicle of William Thorne the Augustine Monk of Canterbury whereof among other things there is mention made in a certain Composition between Edmond Archbishop
tradehant The Seventh was at Nice under Constantine and his Mother Irene where 367 Bishops were assembled against the Adversaries of Images whom they subjected to their Anathema 2 Of Particular Synods one was held in the Temple of the Apostles in Constantinople under the Patriarch Photius which was called the First and Second Another under Leo and Constantine in the most Famous Temple Sanctae Dei Sapientiae or Sanctae Sophiae which confirmed the Seventh Synod Another at Ancyra more ancient than the first Universal Synod Another at Caesarea more ancient than that at Ancyra Another at Gangra after the Nicene against Eustachius who despised Marriage and taught things not consonant to Ecclesiastical Tradition Another at Antioch a City in Syria where in truth were two Synods the one under Aurelianus against Paulus Samosatenus who said that Christ was meer Man the other under Constantius Son to Constantine the Great Another at Laodicea scituate in Phrygia Pacatiana Another at Sardica that when Constantius embraced the foresaid Sect his Brother Constans Emperour of Old Rome by his Letters threatning him with a War if he would not desist from perverting the Church his Answer was That he sought no other Doctrine than what was most agreeable to the Catholick Faith whereupon by their and the Bishop of Romes appointment 341 Bishops were Conven'd in a Synod which having established the power and authority of the Nicene Synod did constitute divers Canons for the Church Another at Carthage under Theodosius where 217 Bishops were assembled and with them the Popes Vicegerents this Carthage was part of Charchedon and that a Province of Africa 3 The Canons of the Fathers are taken according to the Roman computation out of the Epistles partly of Dionysius Alexandrinus partly of Petrus Alexandrinus partly of the Wonder-working Gregorius partly also out of the Epistles of Bazil or Basilius the Great partly out of the Epistle of Gregory or Gregorius Nyssenus to the B. of Melita partly out of the Responses of Timotheus Alexandrinus partly out of the Responses of the Constantinopolitan Synod to certain Monks Nicholaus the Patriarch being President partly out of the Epistles of Cyril or Cyrillus and partly out of the Epistles of Nicephorus the Patriach 4 The Canons of the Holy Apostles a book falsly ascribed to the Apostles are in number Eighty Five according to a modest Computation if you have any Faith to spare at least enough to believe the Church of Rome in that as in other Points infallible But the Canons indeed of the Apostles which are of Order and External Government do oblige as Dr. Taylor says the Conscience by being accepted in several Churches not by their first Institution and were fitted only to Times and Places and present Necessities For says he the Apostolical Decree of Abstaining from Blood was observed by more Churches than those of Syria and Cilicia to which the Canon was directed and the Colledge of Widows or Deaconesses derived it self into the manners of the Western Churches And the Apostles in their first Preaching and Conversation in Jerusalem instituted a coenobitick life and had all things in Common with Believers indeed no man was obliged to it Of the same nature were their Canons Counsels and Advices The Canon concerning Widows Let not a Widow be chosen under 60 years and yet Justinian suffered one of 40 years old to be chosen Novel 123. c. 12 13. And the Canon of the Apostles forbidding to eat things strangled is no where observed in the Western Churches of Christendom In the beginning of the Fourth Century above 1300 years since we find our Bishops British Bishops at the Councils of Arles Nice Sardis and Ariminum a clear Evidence of the flourishing state of Christianity so long since in this Island At Arles in France conven'd touching the Donatists appeared for the Britains Eborius Bishop of York Restitutus Bishop of London Adelfius Bishop of the City called the Colony of London which some suppose to be Colchester others Maldon in Essex Sacerdos a Priest both by Name and Office Arminius a Deacon An. 313. At the Synod of Nice in Bithynia An. 325. to suppress Arrianism were British Bishops present as Athanasius and Hilary Bishop of Poictiers affirm At the Council of Sardis in Thracia conven'd by Constanitus and Constans Sons to Constantine the Great the British Bishops were likewise present when the Arrians were condemn'd and Athanasius acquitted And at the Council of Ariminum in Italy the British Bishops were also present who according to Athanasius were about An. 360. summoned to divers Forein Councils in remote parts As also here at home in and after the Seventh Century were divers particular Councils and Synods the first whereof according to Stapleton out of Bede called The first of the English Nation was conven'd at Hertford by Theodorus Archbishop of Canterbury who succeeded Deusdedit in that See in this Council the Observation of Easter was settled according to the Romish Rite yet whosoever will have this Council to be as aforesaid The first of the English Nation must understand it the First whose Canons are compleatly extant Bede lib. 4. c. 5. About the year 740 Ethelbald King of Mercia with Cuthbert Archbishop of Canterbury called a Council at Cliffe in Kent the acts of which Synod were 31 Canons among which is was inter alia Ordain'd That Prayers should publickly be made for Kings and Princes But some few years before this the said Theodorus held a Synod or Council of Bishops at Hatfield by authority whereof he divided the Province of Mercia which Sexwolphus then governed alone into five Bishopricks viz. to Chester Worcester Lichfield Cedema in Lindsey and to Dorchester In the year 692 a great Council was held at Becanceld by Withred King of Kent and Bertuald Archbishop of Britain wherein many things were concluded in favour of the Church About the same time a Council was held at Berghamsteed by the said Withred King of Kent at which Council Bishop Wilfrid was restored to York whence he departed for Rome upon the endeavours which Theodorus Archbishop of Canterbury had used to have that Diocess of York divided In the year 801 Ethelard the Archbishop called a Synod at Clivesho in Kent where by power from the Pope he rivited that 's the word the Archbishoprick into the City of Canterbury There was likewise at Celichyth an eminent Council under Wolphred who succeeded Ethelard Archbishop of Canterbury But nigh one hundred years before this viz. about the year 709 a Synod was assembled at Alncester in Worcestershire to promote the building of Evesham-Abbey And not long after another Synod was called at London to introduce the Doctrine of Image-Worship into England now first beginning to appear in the publick practice thereof Also above one hundred years before that viz. about the year 601. Augustine by the aid of Ethelbert King of Kent called a Council of Saxon and British Bishops to meet in the Confines of the Mercians and
West-Saxons in the borders of Worcester and Herefordshire under an Oak thereby tacitly reproving the Idolatry of the Pagan Britains who acted their Superstitions under an Oak as the Learned Sr. H. Spelman observes In the Tenth Century King Edward the Elder Son of King Alfred called a Synod at Intingford where he confirmed the same Ecclesiastical Constitutions which King Alured had made before Many Councils were Conven'd during the Reign of King Athelstan as at Exiter Feversham Thunderfield London and at Great Lea which last is of most account in regard of the Laws therein made specially that concerning the payment of Tithes the which you may peruse in the Learned Sr. H. Spelm. Concil p. 405. During the Reign of King Edgar Hoel Dha held a National Council for all Wales at Tyquin which was wholly in favour of the Clergy this Council was held when Dunst in was Archbishop of Canterbury in whose time there were Two other Councils conven'd the one at Cartlage in Cambridgshire the other at Caln in Wiltshire After this William the Conqueror conven'd a Council of his Bishops at Winchester wherein himself was personally present with two Cardinals sent from Rome in this Council Stigand Archbishop of Canterbury was deposed and Lâ—â—frank a Lombard substituted in his room During the Reign of King Henry the First Anselm Archbishop of Canterbury summoned a Council at Westminster which Excommunicated all Married Priests half the Clergy at that time being Married or the Sons of Married Priests During the Reign of King Stephen Albericus Bishop of Hostia sent by Pope Innocent into England conven'd a Synod at Westminster wherein it was concluded That no Priest c. should have a Wife or a Woman in his house on pain of being sent to Hell Also that their Transubstantiated God should dwell but Eight days in the Box for fear of being Worm-eaten or moulded Under the Reign of King Henry the Second who disclaimed the Popes authority refused to pay Peter-pence and interdicted all Appeals to Rome a Synod was called at Westminster wherein was a great Contest between the two Archbishops of Canterbury and York for Precedency York appeals to Rome the Pope interposes and to end old Divisions makes a new distinction entituling York Primate of England and Canterbury Primate of all England Under the Reign of King Henry the Third a Council was held at Oxford under Stephen Langton Archbishop of Canterbury wherein many Constitutions were made as against Excess of demands for Procurations in Visitations against Pluralities Non-Residence and other abuses of the Clergy In the Ninth year of King Edward the First John Peckham Archbishop of Canterbury held a Council at Lambeth with his Suffragans some account whereof Walsingham gives us in these words viz. Frater Johannes Peckham Cantuariensis Archiepiscopus ne nihil fecisse videretur convocat Concilium apud Lambeth in quo non Evangelii Regni Dei praedicationem imposuit sed Constitutiones Othonis Ottobonis quondam Legatorum in Anglia innovans jussit eas ab omnibus servari c. Walsing in Ed. 1. He then made Sixteen Ecclesiastical Laws which are inserted among the Provincial Constitutions After this he summoned another Council of his Clergy at Reading wherein he propounded the drawing of all Causes concerning Advowsons to the Ecclesiastical Courts and to cut off all Prohibitions from the Temporal Courts in Personal Causes but upon the Kings express Command to desist from it this Council was dissolved Parker de Antiq. Eccles Anglic. fo 205. An 1290. During the Reign of King Henry the Fourth Thomas Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury conven'd a Synod at St. Pauls Church Lond. wherein the King joyned with them in punishing all Opposers of the Religion received Trussel de vita H. 4. Under King Henry the Fifth an Universal Synod of all the Bishops and Clergy was called at London where it was determined That the day of St. George and also of St. Dunstan should be a double Feast in holy Church In the same Kings Reign was a Convocation held at London conven'd by Henry Chichley Archbishop of Canterbury wherein were severe Constitutions made against the Lollards In the Reign of King Henry the Seventh a Synod was held at London by John Morton Archbishop of Canterbury to redress the Excess of the London Clergy in Apparel and frequenting of Taverns We had almost omitted the Synod in England An. 1391. under the Reign of King Richard the Second Simon Sudbury then Archbishop of Canterbury in which Synod it was Ordain'd That whosoever Appealed to Rome besides Excommunication should lose all his Goods and be Imprisoned during his Life vid. Hist of the Church of Great Britain p. 117. A Modern and Ingenious yet unfortunate Author well observes a Fourfold difference or distinction of Synods or Convocations in this Realm in reference to the several manners of their Meeting and degrees of their Power The First he states in point of Time before the Conquest The Second since the Conquest and before the Statute of Praemunire The Third after that Statute but before another made in the Reign of King H. 8. The Fourth after the 25th of the said King 1 Before the Conquest the Popes power prevailed not over the Kings of England who were then ever present Personally or Virtually at all Councils wherein matters both of Church and State were debated and concluded Communi consensu tam Cleri quam Populi Episcoporum Procerum Comitum nec non omnium Sapientum Seniorum populorumque totius Regni 2 After the Conquest but before the Statute of Praemunire the Archbishops used upon all emergent Cases toties quoties at their own discretions to assemble the Clergy of their respective Provinces where they pleased continuing and dissolving them at their pleasure which they then did without any leave from the King whose Canons and Constitutions without any further Ratifification were in that Age obligatory to all subjected to their Jurisdiction Such it seems were all the Synods from Lanfranck to Thomas Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury in which Arundels time the Statute of Praemunire was Enacted 3 After which Statute which much restrained the Papal power and subjected it to the Laws of the Land the Archbishops called no more Convocations by their sole and absolute Command but at the pleasure of the King by whose Writ and Precept only they were now and henceforth Summoned Of this Third sort of Convocations were all those kept by and from Thomas Arundel unto Thomas Cranmer or from the 16th of R. 2. unto the 25th of King H. 8. These Convocations also did make Canons as in Lindwoods Constitutions which were Obligatory although confirmed by no other Authority than what was meerly Synodical 4 The last sort of Convocations since the said Statute called the 25th of King H. 8. That none of the Clergy should presume to attempt alledge claim or put in ure any Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial or Synodals or any â—â—her Canons Constitutions or Ordinances Provincial by
Secular who within that Province whereof he is Archbishop hath next and immediately under the King Supream power Authority and Jurisdiction in all causes and things Ecclesiastical Of such there are only Two in England one of the Province of Canterbury styled Metropolitanus Primas Totius Angliae the other of York styled Primas Metropolitanus Angliae Under the two Archbishops are twenty six Bishopricks whereof twenty two in the Province of Canterbury and four in the Province of York so that besides the two Archbishops there are twenty four Bishops The Christian Religion in England took root first in the See of Canterbury St. Austin who first preached the Gospel to the one was the first Archbishop of the other Canterbury once the Royal City of the Kings of Kent was by King Ethelbert on his Conversion bestowed on St. Augustine the Archbishop and his Successors for ever and so the Chair thereof became originally fixed in that City of Canterbury Cantuarienses Archiepiscopi Dorovernenses antiquitus dicti sunt quia totius Anglicanae Ecclesiae Primates Metropolitani fuerunt The Archbishop whereof being styled Primate and Metropolitan of all England is the first Peer of the Realm and hath Precedency not only before all the Clergy of the Kingdom of England but also next and immediately after the Blood Royal before all the Nobility of the Realm Sr. Edward Cokâ— says more and lets us to understand That in Ancient time they had great Precedency even before the Brother of the King as appears by the Parliament Roll of 18 E. 1. and many others which continued until it was altered by Ordinance in Parliament in the Reign of H. 6. as appears by a Roll of Parliament of that Kings Reign entred in the Back of the Parliament Roll. The Precedency in Parliament and other Places of Council at this day is That the two Archbishops have the Precedency of all the Lords Temporal and every other Bishop in respect of his Barony hath place of all the Barons of the Realm and under the estate of the Viscount and other Superiour Dignities And at this day in all Acts Ordinances and Judgments c. of Parliament it is said The Lords Spiritual and Temporal The Bishops among themselves have this Precedency 1. The Bishop of London 2. The Bishop of Duresme 3. The Bishop of Winchester The Archbishop of Canterbury as he hath the Precedency of all the Nobility so also of all the great Officers of State He writes himself Divina Providentia whereas other Bishops only use Divina Permissione The Coronation of the Kings of England belongs to the Archbishop of Canterbury and it hath been formerly resolved that wheresoever the Court was the King and Queen were Speciales Domestici Parochiani Domini Archiepiscopi He had also heretofore this Priviledge of special remark That such as held â—ands of him were liable for Wardship to him and to compound with him for the same albeit they held other Lands in chief of our Sovereign Lord the King All the Bishopricks in England except Duresme Carlisle Chester and the Isle of Man which are of the Province of York are within the Province of Canterbury The Archbishop whereof hath also a peculiar Jurisdiction in thirteen Parishes within the City of London and in other Diocesses c. Having also an Ancient Priviledge That wherever any Mannors or Advowsons do belong to his See they forthwith become exempt from the Ordinary and are reputed Peculiars and of his Diocess of Canterbury If you consider Canterbury as the Seat of the Metropolitan it hath under it twenty one Suffragan Bishops whereof seventeen in England and four in Wales But if you consider it as the Seat of a Diocesan so it comprehends only some part of Kent viz. 257 Parishes the residue being in the Diocess of Rochester together with some other Parishes dispersedly scituate in several Diocesses it being as aforesaid an Ancient Priviledge of this See that the places where the Archbishop hath any Mannors or Advowsons are thereby exempted from the Ordinary and are become Peculiars of the Diocess of Canterbury properly belonging to the Jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury whose Provincial Dean is the Bishop of London whose Chancellour is the Bishop of Winchester whose Vice-Chancellour anciently was the Bishop of Lincoln whose Precentor the Bishop of Salisbury whose Chaplain the Bishop of Worcester and the Bishop of Rochester when time was carried the Cross before him Lind. Const de Poenis gl ibid. c. 1. ver tanquam 2. The Metropolitan See of York had its Original at the first reception of the Gospel in England when King Lucius established Sampson the first Archbishop thereof Not long after the Conversion of the Saxons Paulinus by Pope Gregory's appointment was made Archbishop thereof An. 622. This Province of York anciently claimed and had a Metropolitan Jurisdiction over all the Bishops of Scotland whence they had their Consecration and to which they swore Canonical Obedience The Archbishop of York styles himself Primate and Metropolitan of England as the Archbishop of Canterbury Primate and Metropolitan of All England About two hundred years since viz. An. 1466. when George Nevil was Archbishop of York the Bishops of Scotland withdrew themselves from their obedience to him and had Archbishops of their own The Archbishop of York hath precedency before all Dukes not being of the Blood Royal as also before all the Great Officers of State except the Lord Chancellour Of this Province of York are the Bishopricks of Duresme Chester Carlisle and the Isle of Man who write themselves Eboracenses or Eborum The Diocess belonging to this See of York contains the two Counties of York and Notingham and in them 581 Parishes whereof 336 are Impropriations 3. It hath been question'd whether there be any difference between Archbishop and Metropolitan the DD. herein seem to be divided some conceiving that there is some difference between them others affirming that they are both one the Canon Law seems in a sense to favour each of these Opinions saying in one place that the Archbishop as President hath the charge and oversight of the Metropolitans and other Bishops 21. Dist Cleros In another place That Archbishop and Metropolitan are but one and the same in deed and in truth although they differ in Name Wilhel in Clem. ult de Privileg verb. Archiepiscopo vers fin Metropolitanus Archiepiscopus idem sunt Sed Metropolitanus nomen trahit à numero Ecclesiarum viz. à metro mensura polis Civitas Otho glo in verb. Archiepiscopus De Offic. Archiepisc He is called Archiepiscopus quasi Princeps Episcoporum in respect of the other Bishops whereof he is chief and Metropolitanus in respect of the number of the Cities or Cathedral Churches where the Bishopricks are Lindw ubi supr gl ib. ver Metropolitanum For the word Civitas doth signifie with us as it doth in other Kingdoms such a Town
Corporate as hath a Bishop and a Cathedral Church Yet Crompton in his Jurisdictions in his Computation of our Cities doth omit Ely though it hath a Bishop and a Cathedral Church Thus Westminster is called a City and accordingly there is mention made of a Bishop of Westminster in a Statute made during the Reign of King Henry 8. But by Letters Patents dated 21. May 2 Eliz. in pursuance of an Act of Parliament of 1 Eliz. not printed the Revenues of that late Monastery were vested in the Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate Church of Westminster which hath caused Errors in the Pleadings of some Cases by styling it the Cathedral for Collegiate Church of Westminster Cassanaeus who wrote as well De Gloria Mundi in general as of the Customes of Burgundy in particular saith That France hath within its Territories 104 Cities and gives this Reason Because there are so many Seats of Archbishops and Bishops Yet Sir Edw. Coke observes Cambridge to be a City by ancient Record although it does not evidently appear that it ever was an Episcopal See And in the Stat. of 11 H. 7. c. 4. it is there called the Town of Cambridge 4. In England and Wales there were Anciently three Provinces and over them Three Archbishops whose Archbishopricks were founded above 1500 years since For soon after the Conversion of King Luâ—ius who began his Reign over the Britains An. 170. being prevailed with to embrace the Christian Faith by the perswasions of Elvanus who had been brought up at Glastenbury and of Medwanus both Britains and therein confirmed by the Divines which Eleutherius who became Pope An 177. sent into Britain for that end and purpose The said King being by them baptized the False Religion of the Druids with their Idols was soon abolished Heathen Temples purged and then consecrated to the service and worship of the True God and in the place of twenty eight â—lamâ—ns were Bishops consecrated the Three Archbishops whereof were founded in the Three chief Cities of the then Three Provinces erected by the Romans where Arch-Flamins had formerly been maintain'd viz. at London the Metropolis of Britannia Prima at York the Metropolis of Maxima Caesariensis and at Caerlegion in Wales which is said to be Caerleon upon Vske formerly called Isca in Monmouthshire the Metropolis or chief City of Britannia Secunda or under Vrbs Legionum Cambria Gildas antiquissimus inter eos qui fide digni sunt Britannicarum rerum scriptor tradit Britannos ab ortu Evangelii Christianam suscepisse fidem Ant. Brit. ubi supr Ac primum Paulum ipsum cum aliis Gentibus tum nominatim Britannis Evangelium nunciasse post priorem suam Romae incarcerationem Theodoret. l. 9. de Curand Graecor affect Origenes qui proximis fuit post Apostolos seculis testatur Britanniam in Christianam consentire Religionem Orig. Hom. 4. in Ezech. Lucius Rex Britanniae An. 179. Baptizatus Ab Eleutherio Pontiâ—ice Romano reformationem Angliae petiit Episcop 29. ordinavit Ant. Brit. fo 4 5 7. Before the coming of the Saxons into England the Christian Britains had three Archbishops viz. of London York and Caerleon in Wales The Archiepiscopal See of London was by the Saxons placed at Canterbury for St. Austins sake where he was buried That of Caerleon being translated to St. Davids and after subjected to the See of Canterbury 5. From this time to Dioclesians Perfecution which though the Tenth and last yet the first which the Britains felt Christianity flourished in this Island which â—y that Persecution was almost extirpated out of the Land till Constantine the Great wore the Imperial Crown in whose time it revived till the beginning of the next Century when it was infected with the Pelagian Heresie till the condemnation thereof in the Council of Carthage and Mela and happily suppressed by Germanus Bishop of Auxerre and by Lupus Bishop of Troys in Campeigne who at the request of the English Catholicks were sent by the French Bishops into England as at the same time and for the same end Palladius was by Pope Celestine into Scotland And now the Christian Religion flourished again till the time of the usurping Tyrant Vortiger who after he had slain Vodinus Archbishop of London was himself burnt in a Castle besieged by Aurelius Ambrose having first surrendred Kent Suffolk and Norfolk to the Infidel Heâ—gist who with his Saxons almost desolated the Land insomuch that Theanus Bishop of London and Theodiceus Bishop of York were forced to flie into Cornwal and Wales until St. Augustines coming hither where he then found only one Archbishop and seven Bishops being with forty others as Assistants to him sent hither by Pope Gregory to Convert the Nation whom Ethelbert King of Kent kindly received and seated him as aforesaid in a Mansion in Canterbury the Metropolis of his Kingdom and assigned him a place to erect a Bishops See who afterwards fixed his Seat at Canterbury whichever since hath continued the Metropolis of this Kingdom And thus St. Austin upon his Entrance into England by the favour and bounty of the said King Ethelbert having fixed his Seat at Canterbury the Archbishops thereof have by a continual Series or Succession continued as Metropolitans of all England 6. And whereas there were as aforesaid anciently Three Archbishopricks in Three distinct Provinces within this Kingdom whereof that of Caerleon upon Vske in Wales was one and whereof Dubritius in the year 466 was Archbishop who having his Seat at Landaff became for his integrity Archbishop of all Wales and was upon Resignation in his old Age succeeded in the Archbishoprick by his Disciple David Uncle toking Arthurn by whose consent he removed the See to Menevia of which place he still retaineth the name of Episcopus Menevensis and the Town it self thereupon called Twy Devi or Saint Davids as taking its denomination from his Name yet it afterwards so unhappily happened that Sampson a succeeding Archbishop upon a great Plague raging in Wales went to Dola in Little Britain and thither carried the Pall with him whereby St. Davids for ever after lost the dignity of an Archbishop And in the time of H. 1. both that See and the rest in Wales became subject to the Archbishop of Canterbury as at this day 7. In the time of King Lucius London had an Archbishop to whose Jurisdiction at that time the greatest part of England was subject This Archbishop was that Theanus forementioned who was the chief Founder and Builder of St. Peters Church in Cornhill London which was the Cathedral of his Diocess till King Ethelbert built St. Pauls Church In this See continued the Dignity of an Archbishop above 180 years but by reason of the Saxon Persecution stood void till that Ten years after the coming of St. Austin Melitus was consecrated Bishop of that See and so it continued ever after as a Bishoprick
which in the days of King Lucius was an Archbishoprick as aforesaid till St. Augustine in the year 598 took on him the Title of Archbishop of England setling his See at Canterbury 8. Upon the abrogating of the Popes power in England by King H. 8. in the Seventh year of his Reign it was concluded that the Archbishop of Canterbury should no more be styled the Popes Legate but Primate and Metropolitan of all England at which time Tho. Cranmer Fellow of Jesus-Colledge in Cambridge who pronounced the Divorce from Queen Katharine of Spain upon his advice given the King to leave the Court of Rome and to require the Opinions of Learned Divines being then in Germany procured such favour with the King that he caused him to be elected to this See of Canterbury and was afterwards with the then Bishop of Duresme made Tutor to King Edward the Sixth 9. The Archbishop of Canterbury was supposed to have had a concurrent Jurisdiction in the inferiour Diocesses within his Province which is not denied in the case of Dr. James only it is there said That was not as he was Archbishop but as he was Legatus Natus to the Pope as indeed so hâ— was before the tâ—me of King H. 8. as aforesaid by whom that Power together with the Pope was abrogated and so it ceased which the Archbishop of York never had nor ever claimed as appears in the forecited Case where it is further said That when there is a Controversie between the Archbishop and a Bishop touching Jurisdiction or between other Spiritual Persons the King is the indifferent Arbitrator in all Jurisdictions as well Spiritual as Temporal and that is a right of his Crown to distribute to them that is to declare their Bounds Consonant to that which is asserted in a Case of Commendam in Colt and Glovers Case against the Bishop of Coventry and Lichâ—ield where it is declared by the Lord Hobart Chief Justice That the King hath an immediate personal originary inherent Power which he executes or may execute Authoritate Regia Suprema Ecclesiastica as King and Sovereign Governour of the Church of England which is one of those Flowers qui faciunt Coronam which makes the Royal Crown and Diadem in force and vertue The Archbishop of Canterbury as he is Primate over All England and Metropolitan hath a Supereminency and some power even over the Archbishop of York hath under the King power to summon him to a National Synod and Archiepiscopus Eboracensis venire debet cum Episcopis suis ad nutum ejusâ— ut ejus Canonicis dispositionibus Obediens existat Yet the Archbishop of York had anciently not only divers Bishopricks in the North of England under his Province but for a long time all the Bishopricks of Scotland until little more than 200 years since and until Pope Sixtus the Fourth An. 1470. created the Bishop of St. Andrews Archbishop and Metropolitan of all Scotland He was also Legatus Natus and had the Legantine Office and Authority annexed to that Archbishoprick he hath the Honour to Crown the Queen and to be her perpetual Chaplain Of the forementioned Diocesses of his Province the Bishop of Durham hath a peculiar Jurisdiction and in many things is wholly exempt from the Jurisdiction of the Archbishop of York who hath notwithstanding divers Priviledges within his Province which the Archbishop of Canterbury hath within his own Province 10. The Archbishop is the Ordinary of the whole Province yet it is clear That by the Canon Law he may not as Metropolitan exercise his Jurisdiction over the Subjects of his Suffragan Bishops but in certain Cases specially allowed in the Law whereof Hostiensis enumerates one and twenty The Jurisdiction of the Archbishop is opened sometimes by himself nolente Ordinario as in the Case of his Visitation and sometimes by the party in default of Justice in the Ordinary as by Appeal or Nullities Again it may sometimes be opened by the Ordinary himself without the party or Archbishop as where the Ordinary sends the Cause to the Archbishop for although the Canon Law restrains the Archbishop to call Causes from the Ordinary Nolente Ordinario save in the said 21 Cases yet the Law left it in the absolute power of the Ordinary to send the Cause to the Archbishop absolutely at his will without assigning any special reason and the Ordinary may consult with the Archbishop at his pleasure without limitation Notwithstanding which and albeit the Archbishop be Judge of the whole Province tamen Jurisdictio sua est signata non aperitur nisi ex causis Nor is the Subject hereby to be put to any such trouble as is a Grievance and therefore the Law provides that Neminem oportet exire de Provincia ad Provinciam vel de Civitate ad Civitatem nisi ad Relationem Judicis ita ut Actor forum Rei sequatur 11. If the Archbishop visit his Inferiour Bishop and Inhibit him during the Visitation if the Bishop hath a title to Collate to a Benefice within his Diocess by reason of Lapse yet he cannot Institute his Clerk but he ought to be presented to the Archbishop and he is to Institute him by reason that during the Inhibition his power of Jurisdiction is suspended It was a point on a special Verdict in the County of Lincoln and the Civilians who argued thereon seemed to agree therein but the Case was argued upon another point and that was not resolved Likewise by the Statute of 25 H. 8. c. 21. the Archbishop of Canterbury hath power to give Faculties and Dispensations whereby he can as to Plurality sufficiently now Dispense de jure as Anciently the Pope did in this Realm de facto before the making of that Statute whereby it is enacted That all Licenses and Dispensations not repugnant to the Law of God which heretofore were sued for in the Court of Rome should be hereafter granted by the Archbishop of Canterbury and his Successors 12. By the Constitutions and Canons Ecclesiastical Edit 1603. Can. 94. It is Ordained That no Dean of the Arches nor Official of the Archbishops Consistory shall originally Cite or Summon any person which dwelleth not within the particular Diocess or Peculiar of the said Archbishop c. without the License of the Diocesan first had and obtained in that behalf other than in such particular Cases only as are expresly excepted and reserved in and by the Statute of 23 H. 8. c. 9. on pain of suspension for three months In the Case of Lynche against Porter for a Prohibition upon the said Statute of 23 H. 8. c. 9. it was declared by the Civilians in Court That they used to Cite any Inhabitant of and in London to appear and make Answer in the Archbishop of Canterbury's high Court of Arches originally And Dr. Martyn said It had been so used for the space of 427 years before the making of the Statute and upon
complaint thereof made to the Pope the Answer was That any man might be Cited to the Arches out of any Diocess in England Also That the Archbishop may hold his Consistory in any Diocess within his Jurisdiction and Province That the Archbishop hath concurrent Jurisdiction in the Diocess of every Bishop as well as the Archdeacon and That the Archbishop of Canterbury prescribes to hold Plea of all persons in England But as to his power of having a Consistory in the Diocess of every Bishop this was in this Case denied but only where he was the Popes Legate whereof there were Three sorts 1. Legates à Latere and these were Cardinals which were sent à Latere from the Pope 2. A Legate born and these were the Archbishops of Canterbury York and Mentz c. 3. A Legate given and these have Authority by special Commission from the Pope Likewise in the Case of Jones against Boyer C. B it was also said by Dr. Martyn That the Archbishop hath Ordinary Jurisdiction in all the Diocesses of his Province and that this is the cause that he may Visit 13. The Archbishop of Canterbury Anciently had Primacy as well over all Ireland as England from whom the Irish Bishops received their Consecration for Ireland had no other Archbishop until the year 1152. For which reason it was declared in the time of the Two first Norman Kings That Canterbury was the Metropolitan Church of England Scotland and Ireland and the Isles adjacent the Archbishop of Canterbury was therefore sometimes styled a Patriarch and Orbis Britannici Pontifex insomuch that Matters recorded in Ecclesiastical Affairs did run thus viz. Anno Pontificatus Nostri primo secundo c. He was also Legatus Natus that is he had a perpetual Legantine power annext to his Archbishoprick nigh a thousand years since And at General Councils he had the Precedency of all other Archbishops abroad and at home he had some special Marks of Royalty as to be the Patron of a Bishoprick as he was of Rochester to coyn Mony to make Knights and to have the Wardships of all those who held Lands of him Jure Hominii although they held in Capite other â—ands of the King as was formerly hinted He is said to be Inthroned when he is invested in the Archbishoprick And by the Stat. of 25 H 8. he hath power to grant Licenses and Dispensations in all Cases heretofore sued for in the Court of Rome not repugnant to the Law of God or the Kings Prerogative As also to allow a Clerk to hold a Benefice in Commendam or in Trust to allow a Clerk rightly qualified to hold Two Benefices with Cure of Souls to allow a Beneficed Clerk for some certain causes to be non-Resident for some time and to Dispense in several other Cases prohibited by the Letters of the Canon Law Likewise the Archbishop of Canterbury Consecrates other Bishops confirms the Election of Bishops within his Province calls Provincial Synods according to the Kings Writ to him ever directed is chief Moderator in the Synods and Convocations he Viâ—its the whole Province appoints a Guardian of the Spiritualties during the vacancy of any Bishoprick within his Province whereby all the Episcopal Ecclesiastical Rights of that Diocess for that time belong to him all Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions as Visitations Institutions c. He may retain and qualifie Eight Chaplains which is more by Two than any Duke is allowed by Statute to do and hath power to hold divers Courts of Judicature for the decision of Controversies pertaining to Ecclesiastical Cognizance CHAP. III. Of Bishops and Ordinaries 1. Bishop Why so called Not above One to be in one Diocess 2. Why called Ordinary and what the Pallium Episcopale is 3. Bishopricks originally Donative Kings of England the Founders thereof 4. The manner of Election of Bishops their Confirmation and Consecration 5. Their Seals of Office in what cases they may use their own Seals 6. What follows upon Election to make them Bishops compleat the grant of their Temporalties 7. The Conge d'eslire and what follows thereupon 8. Bishopricks were Donative till the time of King John 9. What the Interest and Authority is in his several capacities 10. Episcopal Authority derived from the Crown 11. The Vse and Office of Suffragan Bishops 12. Whether a Bishop may give Institution out of his own proper Diocess and under other Seal than his own Seal of Office 13. Several things incident to a Bishop qua talis 14. Ordinary what properly he is and why so called 15. In what cases the Ordinaries Jurisdiction is not meerly Local 16. The Ordinaries power de jure Patronatûs 17. Whether the Ordinary may cite a man out of his own Diocess Also his Right ad Synodalia 18. The Ordinaries power of Visitation 19. The Dignity and true Precedency of the Bishops in England 20. Temporal Jurisdiction anciently exercised by Bishops in this Realm the Statute of 17 Car. 1. against it Repealed and they Restored to it by the Stat. of 13 Car. 2. as formerly 21. The Act made in the Reign of Ed. 6. concerning the Election of Bishops the Endeavours thereby to take away Episcopal Jurisdiction the Nomination of all Bishops was Anciently Sole in the King 22. The Bishops of London are Deans of the Episcopal Colledge 23. A Case at Common Law touching a Lease made by one Bishop during the life of another of the same Diocess in Ireland 1. BISHOP Episcopus from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supra and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intendere an Overseer or Superintendent so called from that watchfulness care charge and faithfulness which by his Place and Dignity he hath and oweth to the Church A word which all Antiquity hath appropriated to signifie the Chief in Superintendency over the whole Church within his Diocess wherein are divers inferiour Pastors This Oversight or Care the Hebrews call Pekudah Of this Office or Ecclesiastical Dignity there can be but one at a time in one and the same Diocess whence it is that Cornelius Bishop of Rome as Eusebius relates upbraided Novatius for his ignorance in that point when he could not but know there were no less than 46 Presbyters in that Church Oecumenius and St. Chrysostome affirming also as many at Philippi For in this restrained sense as the word Bishop is now taken it cannot be imagined that there should be more than one in one City or Diocess at the same time consonant whereunto the Synod of Nice prohibited Two or more Bishops to have their Seats at once in the same City This Novatius aforesaid was a Priest of Rome 254 years after Christ he abhorred Second Marriages and was condemned as an Heretick in a Synod at Rome the same year Every Bishop many Centuries after Christ was universal Incumbent of his Diocess received all the Profits which were but Offerings of Devotion out of which he paid the Salaries of such as Officiated under himâ—
manner viz. The Bishops See being vacant the Dean and Chapter of that Cathedral gives notice thereof to the King humbly requesting his Majesty's leave to chuse another the King grants his Congé d'Eslire Thereupon the Dean summons a Chapter they elect the person recommended by his Majesties Letters that Election after a first or second modest refusal being accepted by the party elected is certified to the King and to the Archbishop of that Province hereupon the King grants his Royal Assent under his Great Seal exhibited to the said Archbishop with Command to Confirm and Consecrate him upon this the Archbishop subscribes his Fiat Confirmatio withal giving Commission under his Archiepiscopal Seal to his Vicar-General to perform all the Acts requisite for perfecting his Confirmation Hereupon the Vicar-General in the Archbishops name issues a Citation summoning all Opposeâ—s of the said Election to make their appearance at a certain time and place then and there to offer their Objections if they have any This done by an Officer of the High-Court of Arches usually at Bow-Church London by Proclamation thrice and affixing the said Citation on that Church-door an Authentick Certificate thereof is by the said Officer returned to the said Archbishop and Vicar-General At the time and place aforesaid the Proctor for the said Dean and Chapter exhibits the Royal Assent and the Commission of the Archbishop to the Vicar-General who after the reading thereof accepts the same Then the Proctor exhibits the Proxy from the Dean and Chapter presents the elected Bishop returns the Citation and desires that the Opposers may be thrice publickly called which done and their Contumacy accused desires that in poenam Contumaciae the business in hand may proceed which the Vicar-General in a Schedule by him read and subscribed doth order Then the Proctor gives a Summary Petition therein deducing the whole Process of Election and Consent and desires a time may be assign'd him to prove it which the Vicar-General admits and decrees After this the Proctor exhibits the Royal Assent again with the elected Bishops Assent and the said Certificate to the Archbishop desiring a time to be presently assigned for Final Sentence which the Vicar-General decrees Then the Proctor desires that all Opposers may again be thrice publickly called which done and none appearing nor opposing they are pronounced Contumacious and a Decree made to proceed to Sentence by a Schedule read and subscribed by the Vicar-General Whereupon the Bishop elect takes the Oaths of Supremacy Simony and Canonical Obedience After this the Dean of the Arches reads and subscribes the Sentence Next after the Confirmation follows the Consecration of the elected Bishop according to the Kings Mandate which is solemnly done by the Archbishop with the assistance of two other Bishops according to the approved Rights and Ceremonies of the Church of England and in conformity to the manner and Form of Consecrating Bishops according to the Rule laid down in the Fourth Council of Carthage about the year 470 generally received in all the Provinces of the Western Church After the Premises there issues a Mandate from the Archbishop to the Archdeacon of his Province to install the Bishop Elected Confirmed and Consecrated who or his Proxy which is usual being in presence of a Publick Notary introduced into the Cathedral Church on any day between the hours of 9 and 11 by the said Archdeacon doth first declare his assent to the Kings Supremacy c. Then the Archdeacon with the Canons c. having accompanied the Bishop to the Quire and placed him in the Episcopal Seat doth pronounce as followeth viz. Ego authoritate mihi Commissa Induco Inthroâ—izo Reverendum in Christo Patrem Dominum J. S. Episcopum Et Dominus custodiat suum introitum exitum ex hoc nunc in saeculum c. Then after the Divine Service proper for the occasion the Bishop being conducted into the Chapter-house and there placed on a high Seat the Archdeacon and all the Prebends c. of the Church acknowledge Canonical Obedience to him And the Publick Notary by the Archdeacons command records the whole matter of Fact in this Affair in an Instrument to remain as Authentick to Posterity After all which the Bishop is introduced into the Kings presence to do his Homage for his Temporalties or Barony by kneeling down and putting his hands between the hands of the King sitting in his Chair of State and by taking a solemn Oath to be true and faithful to his Majesty and that he holds his Temporalties of Him When Matth. Parker in the second year of Queen Eliz. 1559. elected to the Archbishoprick of Canterbury had his Confirmation in the Court of Arches according to the usual form in that behalf This being performed an entertainment for the Vicar General the Dean of the Arches and other Officers of that Court whose presence was requisite at this Solemnity was provided at the Nagâ—head Tavern in Cheapside Lond. whereby occasion was taken by the Roman Adversaries maliciously to report That the Nagshead Tavern was the place of Consecration Heyl. The form or manner of making a Bishop and of translating him from one Bishoprick to another differs only in this that in the latter there needs no Consecration And the translation of a Bishop to an Archbishoprick differs only in the Commission which is directed by his Majesty to four or more Bishops to Confirm him 5. Each Archbishop every Bishop and their Officials have their Seals of Office respectively which being affixed to a writing makes the Instrument Authentick whereby the use and practice of Tabellions or Publick Notaries as in Forreign parts is with us much abated For that of a Tabellion allowed by Authority to Engross and Register private Contracts and Obligations his Office in some Countries did formerly differ from that of a publick Notary but now they are as one and the same Office Quoniam Tabellionum usus in Regno Angliae proper quod magis ad Sigilla Authentica credi est necesse ut â—orum facilius habeatur Statuimus ut Sigillum habeant non solum Archiepiscopi Episcopi sed eorum Officiales And all Bishops Ordinaries Archdcacons and all others exercising any Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction ought to have the Kings Arms engraven on their Seal of Office but the Archbishop of Canterbury may use his own Seal And all Process Ecclesiastical and Certificates into any Court of Record are to be in the Kings name Teste the Bishop But as to the making admitting ordering and reforming of Chancellors Commissaries Officials Advocates Proctors and other Officers Ministers and Substitutes This the Bishops may do in their own Names and under their own Seals 6. If one be Elected and the Temporalties granted to him yet he is not Bishop before Consecration 41 E. 3. 6. 46 E. 3. 32. Quaere For he may refuse to be Bishop after Election and before Consecration but not after 41 E. 3. 5. b. When upon
the Revenues of the Church first came to be divided and alotted to several Ministeries then it was that this payment was first made to the Bishop by the Beneficed Clergy within his Diocess Duaren ut supr l. 2. c. 1. fo 53. It is probable that this division of the Church Revenues was not far distant in time from the first or original distinguishment of Parochial Bounds upon which affair Pope Euaristus otherwise called Anacletus Graecus did first enter about the year 110. Volateran l. 22. Anast Biblioth Baron Annal. ad An. 112. nu 4 5 6. and was afterwards carried on by Pope Dionysius about the year 260. Baron Annal. ad An. 260. nu 17. Parochial Distribution in England was by Theodorus Archbishop of Canterbury about the year 668. Spelm. Concil 152 But Speed saith by Honorius the fifth Archbishop also of Canterbury about the year 636. It may not hence be inferr'd that this Cathedraticum or Synodal was only paid ratione Synodi for it was sometimes and very anciently paid also at Visitations as appears by the seventh Council at Toledo mentioned in the Decree 10. q. 3. c. inter caetera casus ibi where there is a Canon against the exacting of more than Two shillings only pro Cathedratico in Episcopal Visitations This Cense or payment though it be Onus Ecclesiasticum yet it is not Onus innovatum but Onus Ordinarium and by imposition of Law as appears by the Provincial Constitutions Solutio Cathedratici Synodatici Procurationum ratione Visitationis alia hujusmodi de quibus non dubitatur quin sunt Onera Ordinaria suum capiunt effectum ab impositione Legis Lindw de Offic. Vic. c. quoniam gl in ver Onera Ecclesiastica Yet Procurations differ from the other in this that Procurations are only Pensions but the other are properly Census The Synody or Synodal is by the Stat. of 34 H. 8. reckoned as a Church-due for recovery whereof provision is made by that Act and good reason for the said Synody or Synodal is a Pension certain and valued in the King's Books 10. The aforesaid Ingenious Author of the Historical Discourse touching Procurations c. after his deep search into Antiquity doth conjecturally conceive that the Pentecostal otherwise called Whitson-farthings is nothing else but the Annual Commemoration continuation or repetition of an Ancient payment or pension issuing out of the Oblations brought by the people long since specially at the time of the Foundation or Dedication of their several Churches or at some other Solemnity viz. the moiety or Third part of the Oblations then made The same being reserved by the Bishop and by a Contract seu quasi Contractu between him and the Founder of such Church or Priest assigned to attend the same settled in and upon the Episcopal See and payable yearly at or about the Feast of Pentecost These Pentecostalia were not as some conceive the Peter-pence here anciently paid for they were usually paid either at the Feast of St. Peter and Paul or on Lammas day but these Pentecostals seem to be paid upon or about the time that doth chiefly denominate the same viz. at the Feast of Pentecost and in the nature thereof seem to have reference to an Oblation frequently made by the Christians in the Elder times of the Church and to have some tendency to that Liberal Devotion which was then as frequent as Sacriledge is now In Leg. 18 Guilielm Conquestor De Denariis S. Petri seu Vectigali Romano viz. Liber homo qui habuerit Averia Campestria 30 denariis aestimanda dabit Denarium S. Petri. Pro 4 denariis quos donaverit Dominus quieti erunt Bordarii ejus ejus Boner ejus Servientes Burgensis qui de propriis Catallis habet id quod dimidia Marca aestimandum est det Denarium S. Petri. Qui in Lege Danorum est Liber homo habet Averia Campestria quae dimidia Marca in argento aestimantur debet dare Denarium S. Petro. Et per Denarium quem donaverit Dominus erunt quieti ii qui resident in suo Dominico Vid. Sâ—ldeni ad Eadmerum Notae Spicelegium p. 179. Leg. 18. By this Law of William the Conquerour it appears that the Peterpence had no affinity with the Pentecostals In Ancient times when the Bishop did visit Ecclesiatim his usage was to celebrate the Mass in the Church which he visited which indeed was every Parish within his Diocess and that by his Episcopal Authority the whole Diocess in respect of the Bishop being by the Law but Paroechia sua 10. q. 3. c. Quia Duarenus passim as the whole Province is said to be in respect of the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury At this Mass the people used to make their Offerings to the Bishop and one of the causes or reasons why or wherefore the people in Ancient times were obliged to bring their Oblations to the Church was propter Consuetudinem and that certis Festivitatibus among which the Feast of Pentecost was and is a most special one at which Feast there was in many places here in England an Oblation Anciently made by inferiour Churches and Parishes to the principal Mother-Church and whence probably the word Pentecostalia had its original denomination These Offerings by the Canon Law were and are only due to the Clergy and interdicted to the Laity sub districtione Anathematis 10. q. 1. c. Quia Sacerdotes c. Sanct. Patrum ibi In some places the Deans and Prebendaries of Cathedral Churches have them It is said That in the Cathedral Church of Salisbury there is a greater and a lâ—ss distinguished and known by this difference of Major Minor pars Altaris And in some Diocesses they are settled upon the Bishop and Archdeacon and made part of their Revenue for which the King hath Tenths and Subsidies The Cathedral or the Mother-Church of Worcester was Anciently and before the dissolution a Priory and among other Revenues had these Pentecostalia or Whitson-farthings yearly paid sub nomine Oblationum or Spiritual Profits tempore Pentecostes After the Dissolution when King H. 8. about the three and thirtieth year of his Reign new-founded and reendo'wd the said Church he restored these Pentecostalia after he had hâ—ld them about a year in his own hand to the said Church which as it is reported the Dean and Prebendaries thereof receive at this day and as appears by the Letters Patent Henricus Octavus c. Sciatis quod Nos de gratia nostra speciali ac ex certa scientia ac mero motu nostris dedimus concedimus ac per praesentes damus concedimus Decano Capitulo Ecclesiae Cathedralis Christi beatae Maria Virginis Wigorn. omnes illas Oblationes Obventiones sive Spiritualia proficua vulgariter vocat Whitson farthings annuatim collect sâ—ve recepta de diversis Viliatis in Comitat. nostris Wigorn. Warwic 〈◊〉 infra Archidiaconatum Wigorn
And the Judgment of Parliament expressed in the Preamble of that Statute of Faculties is very remarkable to this purpose where it is recited that the Bishop of Rome had deceived and abused the Subjects of the Crown of England pretendig and perswading them That he had full power to Dispence with all human Laws Vses and Customes of all Realms in all Causes which be called Spiritual which matter hath been usurped and practised by him and his Predecessors for many years to the great derogation of the Imperial Crown of England For whereas the said Realm of England recognizing no Superiour under God but the King hath been and yet is free from subjection to any mans Laws but only to such as have been devised made and Ordained within this Realm for the weal of the same or to such other as by sufferance of the King and his Progenitors the People of this Realm have taken at their free liberty and by their own consent to be used among them and have bound themselves by long use and custome to the observance of the same not as to the observance of the Laws of any Foreign Prince Potentate or Prelate but as to the accustomed and ancient Laws of this Realm originally established as Laws of the same by the said sufferance consent and custome and not otherwise it standeth with natural equity and good reason that all such human Laws made within this Realm or induced into this Realm by the said Sufferance Consent and Custome should be Dispenced with abrogated amplified or diminished by the King and his Parliament or by such persons as the King and Parliament should authorize c. Vid. 21 H. 7. 4. a. where it is said That certain Priests were deprived of their Benefices by Act of Parliament in the time of R. 2. whereby it hath been concluded that the King of England and not the Pope before the making of the said Statute of Faculties might de jure Dispence with the Ecclesiastical Law in that and other cases For although many of our Ecclesiastical Laws were first devised in the Court of Rome yet they being established and confirmed in this Realm by acceptance and usage are now become English Laws and shall no more be reputed Roman Canons or Constitutions As Rebuffus speaking De Regula Cancellariae Romanae de verisimili notitia Haec Regula says he ubique in Regno Franciae est recepta est Lex Regni effecta observatur tanquam Lex Regni non tanquam Papae Regula Papa eam revocare non potest The Kings of England from time to time in every Age before the time of H. 8. have used to grant Dispensations in Causes Ecclesiastical For whereas the Law of the Church is That every Spiritual person is Visitable by the Ordinary King William the Conqueror by his Charter Dispenced with the exempted the Abbey of Battell from the Visitation and Jurisdiction of the Ordinary in these express words Sitque dicta Ecclesia libera quieta in perpetuum ab omni subjectione Episcoporum quarumlibet personarum dominatione sicut Ecclesia Christi Cantuariensis c. whereby he Dispences with the Law of the Church in that Case Vid. libr. De vera differentia Regiae potestatis Ecclesiasticae Edit 1534. where that whole Charter is recited at large The like Charter was granted to the Abbey of Abingdon by King Kenulphus 1 H. 7. 23 25. and Cawdry's Case Co. par 5. fo 10. a. So likewise every Appropriation doth comprize in it a Dispensation to the Parson Imparsonee to have and retain the Benefice in perpetuity as appears in Grendon's Case Plow Com. 503. In which Act the King by the Common Law shall be always Actor not only as Supream Patron but also as Supream Ordinary as is also observed in Grendon's Case For the King alone without the Pope may make Appropriations 7 E. 3. Fitz. Quare Impedit 19. And in the Case of Malum prohibitum and Malum in se in 11 H. 7. 12. a. it is held That the King may dispence with a Priest to hold Two Benefices and with a Bastard that he may be a Priest notwithstanding the Ecclesiastical Laws which are to the contrary And as he may dispence with those Laws so he may pardon all Offences contrary to these Laws and his Pardon is a barr to all Suits pro salute Animae or reformatione morum and all Suits ex Officio in the Ecclesiastical Court Hall's Case Coke 5. par fo 51. In all Faculties or Dispensations for the holding of Two Benefices granted at the Court of Rome there was always a particular Derogation or Non obstante the right of Patronage of Lay-Patrons and of the right of the King by name express where the Patronage belonged to him otherwise the Faculty was void For by the Canon Law the Lay-Patrons ought to be called to give their Consents in all Cases of that nature And if such a particular Non obstante were not added in the Faculty then there was inserted another Clause viz. Dummodo Patronorum expressus accedat Consensus also by another Clause Authority was always given to the Official or Archdeacon or other Ecclesiastical Minister to put him to whom the Faculty is granted into possession of the Benefice cum acciderit And because by the Canon Law the Patron 's consent was ever requisite in a Commenda for that reason in every Faculty or License granted by the Pope to make a Permutation Union or Appropriation of Churches these words were ever added viz. Vocatis quorum interest which chiefly intends the Patron And which Union and Approbation shall not according to the Common Law be made without the Patron 's assent Vid. 11 H. 7. 8. 6 H. 7. 13. 46 Ass p. 50. Ed. 3. 26. 40 Ed. 3. 26. Grendon's Case Plow Com. 498. a. A Faculty or Dispensation is of such force that if a Clerk be presented to a Benefice with Cure and be Admitted Instituted and Inducted into the same so that the Church is full of him if afterwards he be presented to another Benefice Incompatible or elected to a Bishoprick and before he is Instituted to the second Benefice or be created Bishop he obtain a Faculty or Dispensation to retain the first Benefice Perpetuae Commendae titulo that is for his life that Faculty or Dispensation shall be of such effect that the former Benefice shall not be void by acceptance of the Second or by promotion to the Bishoprick but he shall remain full and perfect Incumbent of the first Benefice during his life In the time of H. 6. when Henry Beaufort Great Uncle to the King being Bishop of Winchester was made a Cardinal and after that purchased from the Pope a Bull Declaratory that notwithstanding he were made Cardinal yet his Bishoprick of Winchester should not be void but that he might retain the same as before yet it was held That the See of Winchester was void by assuming the Cardinalship which
which an Advowson appertains but only for term of their lives or of years by Intrusion or Disseism 6. A Church may become Litigious both before and by and after a Jure Patronatus Before as by a plurality of Presentations By as when in case of plurality of Presentations upon a plural Jure Patronatus the one Jury gives a Verdict for the Title of one Patron the other for the Title of the other Patron After as when after a Jure Patronatus awarded and Verdict thereupon given for one of the parties a third person presents before Admittance of his Clerk for whom the Verdict was given Upon a plural Jure Patronatus if one Jury give a Verdict for the Title of the one the other for the Title of the other Patron it is conceived in that case the Ordinary may refuse the Clerks of both Patrons and suffer the Church to Lapse And where a Third person presents after a Verdict as aforesaid but before the Clerk be Admitted whereby the Church becomes Litigious de Novo in that case the Bishop may award a new Jure Patronatus Also if the Bishop doubt the Patrons Title that presents he may as some conceive award a Jure Patronatus albeit the Church be not Litigious which is a safe way for prevention of any surprize to the rightful Patron or other Pretenders in which case if the Right of Patronage be found for another that had not before presented his Clerk may be admitted by the Ordinary who is no Disturber if he admit a Clerk that is presented before the Church becomes Litigious by a Second presentation for by the Verdict of the Jury aforesaid he is sufficiently warranted to admit and institute the Clerk for whose Patrons Title the Verdict is given in doing whereof he is no Disturber albeit the other Patron against whom the Verdict is given should after recover in a Quare Impedit And after a Verdict in a Jure Patronatus found for a Patron he ought to renew his Request to the Ordinary for the admission of his Clerk otherwise the Bishop may Collate in case the Church Lapse after Six months 7. Sir John Arundell and his Wife brought a Quare Impedit against the Bishop of Gloucester and others who pleaded in Bar that William Sturton was seized of a Mannor to which the Advowson was appendent and bound himself in a Statute-Merchant of 200 l. to one Long and the Statute was extended and conveyed the interest of the Statute to one of the Defendants and then the Church became void And by the Court the Advowson may be extended and if it become void during the Conusees Estate the Conusee may present 8. In Beverley's Case against the Archbishop of Canterbury where the question was Whether the Queen might take her turn to Present in regard she took not her turn when the first Lapse happened immediately at the first Avoidance by reason of the Incumbents having Two Benefices within the Stat. of 21 H. 8. And all the Justices of the Common Pleas after long and serious debate did Resolve That the Queen shall not now have her Presentation but the Patron because the Queen hath such Presentment by Lapse as the Bishop had and no other and could Present but to the present Avoydance then void And although Nullum tempus occurrit Regi yet we must distinguish it thus for where the King is limited to a time certain or to that which in it self is Transitory there the King is to do it within the time limited or in that time wherein the thing to be done hath Essence or Consistence or while it remaineth for otherwise he may not do it afterwards So where a Second presentment is granted to the King and he does not Present he may not after 9. During a Vacancy the Freehold of the Glebe is in Abeiance and not in the Patron who can take no benefit thereby in that time nor can he have any Action for Trespass done thereon in the time of such Vacancy Yet if a man hath an Annuity out of a Parsonage and he in the Vacancy thereof Release to the Patron it shall extinguish the Annuity 21 H. 7. 41 Co. 5. Forde 81. b. 10. If a Church becomes void by the death of the Incumbent or otherwise and the Patron within Six months bring a Quare Impedit against the Bishop and then Six months pass without any Clerk presented by the Patron to the Bishop in that case the Lapse shall incur notwithstanding the pendency of the Writ for it is not reasonable that the Ordinary should lose his Title of Lapse without any wrong done by him by a fraudulent Action brought without cause by the Patron and whereby the Ordinary is put to Expences without cause and by such fraudulent means the Patron might keep the Church perpetually void Hob. Rep. 270. Roll. Abr. verb. Presentment lit X. pag. 366. 11. The Jus Appellandi in defect of Justice and the Jus Praesentandi in case of Lapse seem to have a parallel resemblance with one another in their gradations for as they both primarily meet in the Ordinary so they both pass from him to the Metropolitan and from him to the King not only as Supream Ordinary but also as Patron Paramount of all the Bishopricks in England which as they were originally Donative per Annulum Baculum so now since King Johns time they are by Canonical Election for King John by his Charter dated the 15th of January in the 16th year of his Reign granted this priviledge to the Church in these words viz. Quod qualiscunque Consuetudo temporibus Praedecessorum nostrorum hactenus in Ecclesia Anglicana fuerit observata quicquid juris nobis hactenus Vindicaverimus de caetero in universis singulis Ecclesiis Monasteriis Cathedralibus Conventualibus totius Regni Angliae Liberae sint in perpetuum Electiones quorumcunque Praelatorum majorum minorum Salva Nobis haeredibus nostris Custodia Ecclesiarum Monasteriorum vacantium quae ad nos pertinent Promittimus etiam quod Nec impediemus nec impediri permittemus per Ministros nostros nec procurabimus quin in universis singulis Monasteriis Ecclesiis postquam vacuerint Praelaturâ—â— quemcunque voluerint Libere sibi praeficiant Electores Pastorum petita tamen à Nobis prius haeredibus nostris Licentia Eligendi quam non denegabimus nec differemus Et similiter post celebratam Electionem noster requiratur Assensus quem non denegabimus nisi adversus eandem Rationale proposuerimus legitime probaverimus propter quod non debemus consentire c. Vid. Davis Rep. in the case of Praemunire â—o 92 93. CHAP. XVII Of Parsons and Parsonages 1. Parson what he is in the intendment of Law 2. What is meant by Parson imparsonee 3. The Freehold of Church and Glebe is in the Parson what interest he hath in the Church-yard and
Church-gemote Int. Leges H. 1. c. 8. The Convocation is under the power and Authority of the King 21 Ed. 4. 45. b. Assembled only by the Kings Writ 13 Ed. 3. Rot. Parl. M. 1. vid. Stat. 25 H. 8. c. 19. The King having directed his Writ therein assigning the time and place to each of the Archbishops to the effect aforesaid the Archbishop of Canterbury doth thereupon direct his Letters to the Bishop of London as his Dean Lindw Provin Sec. 1. de Poenis ver Tanquam in Gloss First Citing himself peremptorily then willing him to Cite in like manner all the Bishops Deans Archdeacons Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and generally all the Clergy of his Province to the Place at the day in the said Writ prefixed withal directing that one Proctor for every Cathedral or Collegiate Church and two for the other Clergy of each Diocess may suffice In pursuance whereof the Bishop of London directs his Letters accordingly willing them to certifie the Archbishop the Names of all such as shall be so Monished by them in a Schedule annexed to their Letters Certificatory whereupon the Cathedral and Collegiate Churches and the other Churches having Elected their Proctors it is certified to the Bishop who makes due Returns thereof which method is likewise observed in the other Province of York It is said That these Proctors anciently had Place and Vote in the Lower House of Parliament a good expedient for the maintenance and preservation of the Liberties of the Church The Prolocutor of the Lower House of Convocation is immediately at the first Assembly by the motion of the Bishops chosen by that Lower House and presented to the Bishops as their Prolocutor by whom they intend to deliver their Resolutions to the higher House and to have their own House specially ordered and governed His Office is to cause the Clerk to call the Names of the Members of that House as oft as he shall see cause likewise to see all things propounded to be read by him to gather the Suffrages or Votes and the like Trin. 8 Jac. It was Resolved by the two Chief Justices and divers other Justices at a Committee before the Lords of Parliament concerning the Authority of a Convocation 1 That a Convocation cannot Assemble without the Assent of the King 2 That after their Assembling they cannot conferr to constitute any Canons without License del Roy. 3 When upon Conference they conclude any Canons yet they cannot execute any of them without the Royal Assent 4 They cannot execute any after Royal Assent but with these Limitations viz. 1 That they be not against the Kings Prerogative 2 Nor against Statute Law 3 Nor against the Common Law 4 Nor against the Customes of the Realm All which appears by 25 H. 8. c. 19. 19. Ed. 3. Title Quare non Admisit 7. 10. H. 7. 17. Merton cap. 9. By 2 H. 6. 13. a Convocation may make Constitutions to bind the Spiritualty because they all in person or by Representation are present but not the Temporalty Q. And 21 Ed. 4. 47. the Convocation is Spiritual and so are all their Constitutions Vid. The Records in Turri 18 H. 8. 8 Ed. 1. 25 Ed. 1. 11 Ed. 2. 15 Ed. 2. Prohibitio Regis ne Clerus in Congregatione sua c. attemptet contra jus seu Coronam c. By which it appears that they can do nothing against the Law of the Land or the Kings Prerogative 5. The word Convocation and the word Synod are rather words of two Languages than things of two significations for although they have different derivations the former from the Latin the other from the Greek yet in effect they both center in the same thing Convocation à Convocando because they are called together by the Kings Writ It is of very great Antiquity according to Sir Edward Coke who mentions out of Mr. Bede and other Authors and ancient Records such as were nigh a thousand years since and more expresly of one great Synod held by Austins Assembling the Britain Bishops in Council An. 686. And affirms That the Clergy was never Assembled or called together at a Convocation but by the Kings Writ And in the year 727. there was a Convocation of the Clergy called Magna Servorum Dei frequentia It was by the assistance and authority of Ethelbert the first Christian King of Kent that Austin called the aforesaid Assembly of the British Bishops and Doctors that had retained the Doctrine of the Gospel to be held in the borders of the Victians and West-Saxons about Southampton as supposed to which resorted as Mr. Bede says Seven Bishops and many other Learned Divines but this Synod or Convocation suddenly brake up without any thing done or resolved This Assembly was conven'd for determining the time for the Celebration of Easter touching which the Controversie continuing no less than 90 years after was at last concluded at another Convocation purposely called at Whitby by the Authority of Oswy King of Northumberland and whereof the Reverend Cedda newly Consecrated Bishop was Prolocutor and King Oswy himself present at the Assembly Likewise about the year 1172. at Cassils in Ireland a Convocation was held by Authority of King H. 2. soon after he had Conquered that Island which Convocation was for the Reformation of the Irish Church where amongst many other Constitutions it was Decreed That all the Church-Lands and all their Possessions should be altogether free from the Exaction of Secular men and that from thenceforth all Divine things should be handled in every part of Ireland in such sort as the Church of England handleth them Likewise about the year 1175. at London a Synod or Convocation was held at which King H. 2. was present where among other Canons and Constitutions it was both by Authority of the King and Synod decreed That every Patron taking a Reward for any Presentation should for ever lose the Patronage thereof Which together with other Canons then made for the better government of the Church of England were Published by Richard Archbishop of Canterbury with the Kings Assent Likewise a Provincial Synod was held at Oxford by Stephen Langton Archbishop of Canterbury under King H. 3. about the year 1222. for Reformation of the Clergy with many others in subordination to the Laws of the Land One special Priviledge of the Convocation appears by 8 H. 6. cap. 1. All the Clergy from henceforth to be called to the Convocation by the Kings Writ and their Servants and Familiars shall for ever hereafter fully use and enjoy such liberty and Immunity in coming tarrying and returning as the Great men and Commonalty of the Realm of England called or to be called to the Kings Parliament have used or ought to have or enjoy 8 H. 6. In Parliamento Statutum est ut Praelati atque Clerici câ—rumque Famulatus cum ad Synodos accesserint iisdem Privilegiis ac
the Gothes resigned his Royal Authority chusing rather to be Shaven than to wear a Crown and to enter into a Monastery than to fit on the Throne of Majesty This Council as to the Confession of Faith adhered to the Council of Nice and confirmed the Acts made in precedent Councils against the Jews Other Councils there were at Toledo under the Reigns of Euringius and Egista but not of such Remark as needs any apology for their omission At London in the year 712. under the Saxons Reign a Council was assembled at which the Popes Legate Bonifacius and the chief Prelate of England Brithwaldus was present The two grand Points treated in this Council were concerning the Worshipping of Images and Prohibiting Marriage to persons in Spiritual Orders At Constantinople about the same year of 712. a Council was called by the Emperour Philippicus for the undoing or the Sixth General Council wherein the Error of the Monothelites was condemned At Rome in the year 714. a Council was Assembled by Pope Gregory the Second whereat two Bishops of Britain were present Sedulius and Fergustus Most of the Canons made at this Council did concern Marriage Masses Sâ—rceries and the Mandates of the Apostolick Chair At Rome a great Council of 903 Bishops was assembled by Pope Gregory the Third having received a Mandate from the Emperour Leo for the Abolishing of Images In this Council was the Emperour Leo Excommunicated and deprived of his Imperial Dignity because he had disallowed the Worshipping of Images Now is the Popes Banner displaied against the Emperour which is the Forerunner of that Enmity which ensued between the Pope and the Emperours In France in the year 742. under the Reign of Charles the Great Zacharias the First being then Pope a National Council of the Bishops Presbyters and Clergy of France was assembled by Bonifacius Archbishop of Mentz according to the Mandate of King Charles This Council was called for Reformation of Abuses in that Countrey or rather to reduce it to a conformity unto the Rites of the Roman Church At Constantinople in the year 755. and the Thirteenth year of the Emperour Constantinus Copronymus a General Council of 338 Bishops was Assembled by the Emperours Command In this Council the Worshipping of Images was damned and the placing of them in Oratories and Temples as a Custome borrowed from the Pagans was forbidden yet in the 15 th and 17 th Canons of this Council the Invocation of Saints is allowed The Council of Constantinople is by some accounted two which others contract into one but the distinction it seems is manifest because the first is said to be celebrated under Father Leo Isaurus An. 730. The Second by Constantius Copronymus in the year 755 as aforesaid The one opposeth the Worshipping of Images and Reliques on which account both may be esteemed as one or at least united The first under Leo discovers Intercession of Saints to be imaginary and the Worshipping of Images meer Idolatry Germanus Patriarch of Constantinople and John Damascene and others too much inclined to Images are deprived of their Dignities Gregory the Third intercedes for Images in a Roman Anti-Synod in which he Excommunicated the Eastern with the mark of Heretical Image-breakers but this did not terrifie the said Constantine Copronymus from declaring himself to be an Image-breaker but assembled 338 Bishops at Constantinople as aforesaid over whom himself was President and persecuted the Maintainers of Images Some will have This and the Seventh Council as Occumenical but the Romans so abhorr'd it that for this Controversie about Images they denied their Subjection to the Greek Emperours whenc afterwards ensued the Western and Eastern Division never to be reconciled How well the Nicene Council corrected the Errors of this appears by the Decrees thereof At Francfurt in the year 794. a Council was convened but it is not agreed whether it was an Occumenical or Provincial Council the more Ancient Writers will have it to be Oecumenical because it was called by Charles the Great and Adrian the First and it consisted of at least 300 Bishops yet the latter Writers will have it Provincial because it seems not to favour Images The Reason of the convening of this Council was because Elipardus Archbishop of Toledo and Felix Vrgelitanus Bishop of Aurelia or Orleance in France preached That Christ was only the Adopted Son of God which Aquinas refutes 3. part q. 23. art 4. But Binius with Longus and others will have it that this Council or Synod confirmed the Opinion of the 2 d Nicene Council concerning the Adoration of Images which Bellarmine will not believe though he wishes it to be true At Nice in Bythinia in the year 788. a Council of 350 Bishops was assembled in which it was Ordained That the Image of Christ the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the Saints should not only be received into places of Adoration but also should be adored and worshipped At Frankford in the year 794. a great Council was assembled by Charles the Great King of France partly by reason of the Heretick Felix who called Christ the Adopted Son of God in his Humane Nature and was condemned in a Council at Ratisbone An. 742. partly also by reason of great Disputes that were in most places concerning the Worshipping of Images disallowed in the Council of Constantinople but allowed in the Second Council of Nice At Mentz in the year 813. by the Command of Carolus Magnus was Assembled a Council of 30 Bishops 25 Abbots with a great number of Priests Monks Counts and Judges about Reformation of the dissolute manners of Ecclesiastical and Lay-persons At Rhemes in the same year 813. a Council was Assembled by the Command of Charles the Great who not only called that Famous Council of Frankford An. 794. in which the Adoration of Images was condemned but also about one and the same time viz. An. 813. appointed Five National Councils to be convened in divers places for Reformation of the Clergy and Laity viz. at Mentz aforesaid this at Rhemes another at Tours a Fourth at Chalons and a Fifth at Aries In all which no opposition was made to the foresaid Council of Frankford nor was the Adoration of Images avowed in any of these Councils At Tours An. 813. at the Command as aforesaid of the Emperour Carolus Magnus a Council of many Bishops and Abbots was assembled for the Establishing of Ecclesiastical Discipline in Tours At Chalons An. 813. was the Fourth Council convened the same year under Charles the Great and by his Command for the Reformation of the Ecclesiastical state the Canons whereof for the most part are consonant to those made in the said former Councils under Charles the Great At Arles the same year of 813. wherein the Four preceding Councils were held another was convened by Command of Charles the Great wherein as to matters of Faith Church-Discipline Regulation of
Simony and the Error of the Nicholaitans whereof they counted such Priests guilty as had married Wives though they did not as the Nicholaitans make them Common At Mantua An. 1066. the Emperour Henry the Fourth assembled a Council for pacifying the Differences in the Roman Church between Alexander the Second and Candalus called Honorius the Second wherein Alexander was declared Pope and Candalus pardoned At Winchester Pope Alexander the Second by two Cardinals sent into England Assembled a Council to appease the Troubles of the Church in this Kingdom wherein they deposed certain Bishops and Abbots among whom Stigandus Bishop of Canterbury because he had possessed that Chair Robert Archbishop thereof being then alive and because he possessed another Bishoprick with it viz. the Bishoprick of Winchester At Friburgh anciently called Tributia the Bishops of Germany assembled themselves in a Council in which they declared the Archbishop of Bremen to be an Enemy to their Countrey except he delivered up the young Emperour Henry the Fourth to be educated according to the Covenant made between the Princes and Bishops of Germany during his Minority At Mentz An. 1069. a Council was assembled in order to a Divorce of the Emperour Henry 4. from his Wife from which he was disswaded by the Arguments of Petrus Damianus the Popes Nuncio for that purpose At Erfurd An. 1074. the Bishop of Mentz assembled a Council in order to an observance of a Command from Pope Gregory 7 th touching a separation of the Priests within the Bishoprick of Mentz from their Wives or else to depose them from their Offices By reason whereof as also by reason of the Bishops exaction of Tithes from Turingia this Council rose in a tumult and great confusion re infecta At Mentz An. 1075. the Bishop thereof being commanded by Pope Gregory 7 th to separate the Priests from their Wives convened a Synod but the married Priests so terrified the Bishop of Mentz and the Bishop of Chur the Popes Nuncio that this Council also as the former was dissolved and nothing done At Wormes the Emperour assembled all the Bishops of his Kingdom in order to a deposing of Pope Gregory 7 th otherwise called Hildebrand accused of Perjury Ambition Avarice and Pride The determination of this Council was That he should be removed from the Popedom which was Subscribed by all the Bishops present at the Council At Friburgh An. 1076. another Council was assembled wherein the Princes of Saxony and Sweve appeared in favour of the See of Rome against the Emperour Henry the Fourth At Rome by order of the Pope a Council was assembled in Lent wherein the Emperour Henry 4 th was not only Anathematiz'd but also denuded as far as in them lay of his Imperial Dignity At Brixia in the year 1080. the Emperour Henry 4 th assembled 30 Bishops of Germany and Italy together with many Princes of the Empire All which consented That Hildebrand should be deposed from the Popedom and Gilbertus Bishop of Ravenna placed in his room At Rome An. 1081. the Emperour Henry 4 th with the Advice of the Roman Senate appointed a Council to be Assembled wherein Hildebrand was deposed and Gilbertus otherwise Wigbertus to succeed in the Papacy This Council was called by the said Emperour soon after he had besieged and taken the City of Rome At Beneventum a Council was Assembled by Pope Victor the Third who before his Election to the Papacy was named Desiderius Abbot in Cassinates chosen by the Romans not regarding Gilbertus whom the Emperour had made Pope In this Council Victor the Third Anathematized Gilbertus Bishop of Ravenna At Clermont in Overnie of France in the year 1095. Vrbanus the Second convened a great Assembly wherein it was Ordained That an Army should be raised for support of the distressed Christians in Jerusalem and recovery of the Holy Land out of the hands of the Infidels The which was likewise Ordained in the Council of Placentia and other Councils of the lesser concern here omitted for Brevities sake In the next viz. the 12 th Century there were above 115 Councils To instance in the most material of them may suffice for this Abridgment At Paris Vrbanus the Second at the complaint of Alexius Emperour of Constantinople against the rage of the Turks assembled a Council of most Nations and was present himself thereat In this Council were appointed 100000 Men out of the Western Kingdoms for the Holy Land At Florence Pope Paschalis the Second convened a Council wherein the Bishop of Florence was called to an account for Preaching openly That Antichrist was already come for which he was sharply rebuked and commanded That for time to come he should utter no such Doctrine At London in the year 1102. in the Third year of the Reign of Hen. 1. King of England Anselmus Archbishop of Canterbury assembled a Council for prohibiting the Marriages of Priests and the year following was constrained to convene another Council at St. Pauls in London to make Constitutions for the punishment of such as defiled themselves with Sodomitical Lusts At Mentz An. 1106. a great Council was assembled against the Emperour Henry 4. whom they condemned of Heresie which was Simony because he would not resign the Right of Investure of Bishops into the Popes hands and having Excommunicated him took off his Imperial Crown At Troyes in France in the year 1107. Pope Paschalis the Second convened a Council which treated concerning the Investure of Bishops not to be in the power of Lay-persons At Triburia in Friburgh in the year 1119. the Bishops of Germany assembled concerning the Investure of Bishops and in opposition to the Emperour Henry the Fifth At Senon a Council was called against Abelardus by reason of his Heresie He was also accounted an Heretick in the Council of Soâ—sson The First Four Lateran Councils are comprehend under one and the same Title as more favouring the Roman Dissentions than the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church The first under Henry the Fifth and Calixtus the Second which had 300 or according to Bellarmine 900 Bishops and 22 Canons In this Council Burdinus the Anti-Pope was laid aside the vestures with the Ring and Staff were taken from the Emperour and given to the Pope who absolved the Emperour and gave him power of electing German Bishops In this Council there were appointed Crosses for the 〈◊〉 War by means whereof Pardon of Sins might be grant 〈◊〉 them that undertook that War and to their Families The Second Lateran Council was under Lotharius the Emperour and Innocentius the Second which increased to the number of about 2000 Bishops This Council omitted Thirty Canons lately published by Gratian from the Vatican Library which Bellarmine is said to reject It discharged Peter usurping the Roman See after Leo under the name of Anacletus the Second branded for Hereticks Peter of
Fees wherewith Churches have been endowed otherwise in possessions of the Church newly purchased by Ecclesiastical persons 10 That such as Abjure the Realm shall be in peace so long as they be in the Church or in the Kings High-way 11 That Religious Houses shall not by compulsion be charged with Pensions resort or Purveyors 12 That a Clerk Excommunicate may be taken by the Kings Writ out of the Parish where he dwells 13 That the examination of the Ability of a Parson presented unto a Benefice of the the Church shall belong unto a Spiritual Judge 14 That the Elections to the Dignities of the Church shall be free without fear of any Temporal power 15 That a Clerk flying into the Church for Felony shall not be compelled to abjure the Realm 16 And lastly That the Priviledge of the Church being demanded in due form by the Ordinary shall not be denied unto the Appealor as to a Clerk confessing Felony before a Temporal Judge 2. In conformity to the premisses there were other Statutes after made in the time of King Ed. 3. whereby it was Enacted 1 That the goods of Spiritual persons should not without their own consents be taken by Purveyors for the King 2 That the King shall not collate or present to any vacant Church Prebend Chappel or other Benefice in anothers Right but within Three years next after the Avoidance 3 That the Temporalties of Archbishops Bishops c. shall not be seized into the Kings hands without a just cause and according to Law 4 That no waste shall be committed on the Temporalties of Bishops during Vacancies and that the Dean and Chapter may if they please take them to Farm 5 And lastly That the Lord Chancellor or Lord Treasurer may during such vacancies demise the Temporalties of Bishopricks to the Dean and Chapter for the Kings use 3. And as there are Articuli Cleri so there are also Articuli Religionis being in all thirty nine Agreed upon at a Convocation of the Church of England Ann. 1562. Ratified by Q. Elizabeth under the Great Seal of England Confirmed and Established by an Act of Parliament with his Majesties Royal Declaration prefixed thereunto Which Act of Parliament requires a Subscription by the Clergy to the said thirty nine Articles the same also being required by the Canons made by the Clergy of England at a Convocation held in London Ann. 1603. and ratified by King James The said Subscription referrs to three Articles 1. That the Kings Majestie under God is the only Supream Governour of the Realm and of all other his Highness Dominions and Countreys c. 2. That the Book of Common Prayer and of Ordaining of Bishops Preists and Deacons containeth nothing in it contrary to the Word of God c. 3. That he alloweth of the said thirty nine Articles of Religion and acknowledgeth them to be agreeable to the Word of God By the Statute of 13. Eliz. 12. the Delinquent is disabled and deprived ipso facto but the Delinquent against the Canon of King James is to be prosecuted and proceeded against by the Censures of the Church And it is not sufficient that one subscribe to the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion with this Addition so far forth as the same are agreeable to the Word of God For it hath been resolved by Wray Cheif Justice and by all the Judges of England That such subscription is not according to the Statute of 13. Eliz. because the Subscription which the Statute requires must be absolute But this is no other then Conditional 4. The Circumspecte agatis is the Title of a Statute made in the 13 th year of Ed. 1. Ann. D. 1285. prescribing certain Cases to the Judges wherein the Kings Prohibition doth not lie As in Case the Church-yard be left unclosed or the Church it self uncovered the Ordinary may take Cognizance thereof and by that Statute no Prohibition lies in the Case Nor in case a Parson demands his Oblations or the due and accustomed Tythes of his Parishioners nor if one Parson sue another for Tythes great or small so as the fourth part of the Benefice be not demanded nor in case a Parson demand Mortuaries in places where they have been used and accustomed to be paid nor if the Prelate of a Church or a Patron demand of a Parson a Pension due to him nor in the Case of laying violent hands on a Clerk nor in Cases of Defamation where Money is not demanded nor in Case of Perjury In all which Cases the Ecclesiastical Judge hath Cognizance by the said Statute notwithstanding the Kings Prohibition So that the end of that Statute is to acquaint us with certain Cases wherein a Prohibition doth not lie And the Statute of 24 Ed. 1. shews in what Case a Consultation is to be granted And by the Statute of 50. Ed. 3. cap. 4. no Prohibition shall be allowed after a Consultation duely granted provided that the matter of the Libel be not enlarged or otherwise changed CHAP. XLIV Of several Writs at the Common Law pertinent to this Subject 1. What the Writ of Darrein Presentment imports in what case it lies and how it differs from a Quare Impedit 2. Assise de utrum what and why so called 3. Quare Impedit what for and against whom it lies 4. What a Ne admittas imports the use and end thereof 5. In what case the Writ Vi Laica removenda lies 6. What the Writ Indicavit imports and the use thereof 7. What the Writ Advocatione Decimarum signifies 8. Admittendo Clerico what and in what Case issuable 9. The Writ Beneficio primo Ecclesiastico habendo what 10. That Writ Cautione Admittenda and the effect thereof 11. The writ of Clerico infra Sacros ordines constituto non eligendo in Officium What the use or end thereof 12. The Writ Clerico capto per Statutum Mercatorum what 13. What the Writ of Clerico convicto commisso Goalae in defectu Ordinarii deliberando was 14. What the Writ of Annua Pensione was anciently 15. The Writ of Vicario deliberando occasione cujusdam Recognitionis what 16. Three Writs relating to Persons excommunicated 17. Assise of Darrein Presentment brought after a Quare Impedit in the same cause abates 18. Difference of Pleas by an Incumbent in respect of his being in by the Presentment of a stranger and in respect of his being in by the Presentment of the Plaintiff himself 19. Notwithstanding a recovery upon a Quare Impedit the Incumbent continues Incumbent de facto until Presentation by the Recoverer 20. Of what thing a Q. Imp. lies and who shall have it 21. Who may have a Quare Impedit and of what things 22. How and for whom the Writ of Right of Advowson lies 23. What the Writ de jure patronatus and how the Law proceeds thereon 24. The Writ of Spoliation what and where it lies 25. The Writ
H. 6. 19. per Prisot y 8 E. 4. 24. b. per Curtam 5 H. 7. 20. b. per Reble and 22 H. 6. 30. per Mark. z Rol. Abr. Ver. presentment lit P. pag. 384. a 21 H. 6. 44. 34. H 6. 40. b 21 H. 6. 44. c 34 H. 6. 11. b. per Prisot 34 H. 6. 38. d 34 H. 6. 11. b. e ibid. per Prisot f 21 H. 6. 44. 45. Rollâ—ubi supra g 34 H. 6. 12. per curiam h F. N. B. Spoliation fo 36. b. vid. Casâ— Edes vers the Bishop of Oxford in Vaugh. Rep. i 38 H. 6. f. 19. Br. Spoliation pl. 4. O. N. B. 33. b. F. N. B. 54. Finch Nomotexnia p. 138. Bird and Smiths Case More 's Rep. Roberts and Amond shams Case More 's Rep. Mich. 13. Jac. B. R. the Kings case against Zakar Bulst par 3. F. N. B. 175. b. Finch ubi sup p. 135. Stamf. 133. Cap. 40. sect 7. in fin sect pag. 564. THE INDEX Referring to PAGE and PARAGRAPH ABBY-Lands how many ways priviledged or dischargâ—◠〈◊〉 Tithes p. 383. How the Abby of Battel came to be dispensâ—â— with from Visitation p. 108. Sect. 8. When and by whom 〈◊〉 Abby of Westminster was founded p. 328. Sect. 5. Abbot whence that word is derived and what it signifies p. 326 327. Sect. 1. How many Abbots anciently in England p. 327. Sect. 1. and 328. Sect. 5. They were reputed as Peers p. 327. Sect. 2. Some were Elective others Presentative p. 328. Sect. 5. When and by whom made Elective p. 331. Sect. 7. Three Abbots condemn'd at once for denying the Kings Supremacy p. 10. Sect. 14. Abeyance what p. 183. Sect. 9. and 189. Sect. 8. and 284. Sect. 3. Abjuration The form thereof anciently p. 141 142. Sect. 8. Absence of the Husband from the Wife what requisite to cause a Divorce p. 494. Sect. 2. Abstinence or Fasting Days the Original thereof in England p. 130. Sect. 44. Acceptance of Rent by a Bishop whether it shall bind him p. 38. Sect. ult By a Parson whether it confirms the Lease made by his Predecessor p. 189. Sect. 8. Accessories determinable in that Court which hath cognizance of 〈◊〉 Principal p. 114. Sect. 11. and p. 123. Sect. 25. Accompt in what case an Executor shall not be compelled thereunâ—â— p. 116. Sect. 12. Acorns Whether Tithable p. 383. Action upon the Case in what Case it may lye at Common Law for suing in the Ecclesiastical Court p. 444. Administrator how he may make his own Goods 〈…〉 Debts p. 86. Sect. 11. Admission what and under what qualification 〈…〉 p. 272. Sect. 6. the form thereof p. 272. Sect. 7. Admittendo Clerico in what Cases that 〈…〉 Adultery where Cogniâ—able and 〈…〉 Advocatio Medietatis Ecclesiae Medietatis Advocationis Ecclesiae the difference in Law between them p. 206. Sect. 2. Advocatione decimarum what that Writ imports p. 647. Sect. 7. Advowe or Avowe who properly such p. 206. Sect. 2. and p. 213. Sect. 14. Advowson what and whence derived p. 205. Sect. 1. Twofold p. 206. The Original thereof p. 207. Sect. 3 A Temporal non Spiritual Inheritance p. 209. Sect. 6 7. How Advowson in Gross differs from Appendant p. 210. Sect. 8. Whether it may be extended p. 182. Sect. 7. By what words in a Grant it may pass or not p. 211. Sect. 10. p. 214 Sect. 15 16. Whether it may be Assets p. 214. Sect. 15. Whether the Advowson of a Vicarage endowed belongs to the Parson or the Parsons Patron p. 216. Sect. 21. Whether the Advowson of a Vicarage doth pass by the Grant of the Vicarage p. 219. Sect. 24. Three Original Writs of Advowsons p. 216. Sect. 20. Aftermath and Aftergrass whether Tithable p. 384. Age at what age a Minor Executor may administer p. 219. Sect. 16. Agistment what and whether Titheable p. 384 385. Agreement between Parson and Parishioner touching Tithes p. 373. Sect. 47. and p. 385 386. Good for years without Deed not so for Life p. 379. Sect. 69. and p. 386. Alcheron how severely it doth punish Adultery p. 471. Sect. 6. Aldermanus anciently what p. 96. Sect. 1. Aliens whether presentable to a Church in England p. 264. Sect. 26. and p. 272. Sect. 6. Alimony what p. 508. Sect. 13. where cognizable p. 510. Sect. 16. 18 19. In what Cases the Law allows Alimony or not p. 509 510. Sect. 14 15. whether due to her that Elopes p. 508. Sect. 13. Alms or things appointed for that end whether Tithable p. 386. Altarage what p. 339. Sect. 1. whether Tithe Wool or Tithe Wood shall pass by the word Altaragium p. 341. Sect. 3. p. 342. Sect. 4 5. St. Andrews in Scotland when and by whom the Bishop thereof was made Metropolitan of all Scotland p. 18. Sect. 9. Animalia Utilia Inutilia the difference between them in reference to Tithes p. 360. Sect. 17. and p. 386. Annates what by and to whom payable p. 335. Sect. 1. The Original thereof p. 337. Sect. 2 3. vid. First-fruits Annua Pensione what that Writ imports p. 648. Sect. 14. Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury the first that made Appeals to Rome p. 97. Sect. 1. and p. 118. Sect. 13. The first Archbishop of Canterbury that was Legatus Natus p. 98. Sect. 1. Apparitor Action against such for false informing p. 88. Sect. 14. vid. Summoner Appeals to Rome prohibited p. 9. Sect. 14. p. 118. Sect. 13. They are made to the King in Chancery p. ibid. Appeal out of Ireland to the Delegates in England in what case p. 407. vid. Delegates Appellatione remota the effect of that clause in Law p. 117. Sect. 13. Apples what Tithes they pay whether small to the Vicar or great to the Parson p. 361. Sect. 21. p. 386. In what case they may not be Tithable p. 371. Sect. 44. Appropriation what p. 223. Sect. 3. The original thereof p. 221 222. Sect. 1. Whether it may be made without the Kings License ibid. and p. 198. Sect. 3. Whose Assents are requisite thereunto p. 222. Sect. 1. How they are now chang'd in their use and end from what they were originally p. 223. Sect. 2. Whether they might formerly be granted to Nunneries p. 223. Sect. 2. and p. 225. Sect. 5. They may not now as to their Original be called into question p. 226. Sect. 6. How a Church Impropriate may become disappropriate p. 229. Sect. 12. Arabians their strange conceit of Adultery p. 471. Sect. 6. The punishment thereof with them Capital ibid. Arable Land left Fallow and untill'd every other year whether Tithable that year p. 394. Archbishop whence so called A description of that Dignity p. 12. Sect. 1. What difference between Archbishop and Metropolitan p. 15. Sect. 3. Three Archbishops in England and Wales anciently p. ibid. Sect. 4. How that in Wales came to be lost and when p. 17. Sect. 6. None in Ireland until the year 1152. p. 20. Sect. 13. In what Cases an Archbishop may call
in question hath been of a Mixt nature in reference to Jurisdictions 29. Certain Reasons for denial of Prohibitions to the Ecclesiastical Court in some Cases where they might lie 30. Bounds of Parishes in reference to the Tithes thereof whether Tryable by the Law of the Land or by the Law of the Church 31. Where the Question is more touching the Right of Tithes than the Bounds of the Parish the Ecclesiastical Court hath had the cognizance 32. The Ecclesiastical Court hath cognizance of Administrators Accounts and no Prohibition lies 33. Modus Decimandi sued for by a Parson in the Eccllesiastical Court no Prohibition Nor if he there sues for the Tithe of things not Titheable 34. In what cases a Custome as also a Rent may be sued for in the Ecclesiastical Court 35. If Question be touching the Grant of a Registers Office in a Bishop's Court or touching the Tenth after severance from the Nine parts In what Court whether Temporal or Ecclesiastical it shall be tryed 36. A Woman exercising the Profession of a Midwife without License is therefore sued in the Ecclesiastical Court whether a Prohibition lies in that case 37. The Bounds of a Parish also whether such a Church be Parochial or only a Chappel of Ease In what Court this is to be tryed 38. A Prohibition granted upon the disallowance of an Executors Plea of having Assets only to pay Debts in opposition to a Legacy sued for in the Ecclesiastical Court 39. A Prohibition awarded upon a Suit in the Ecclesiastical Court for an account of the Profits of a Benefice Otherwise in case the Profits were taken during the time of a Sequestration 40. A Prohibition granted to a Party to stay proceedings in his own Suit and commenced by himself 41. Pensions are sueable only in the Ecclesiastical Court 42. The right of Tithes coming in question between the Parson and the Vicar is a Suit properly belonging to the Ecclesiastical Court 43. Whether and how far and in what manner the Ecclesiastical Court may take cognizance of a Modus Decimandi at large debated 44. When and how the Canon Law was introduced into this Realm 1. BEfore the time of King William the Conqueror all matters as well Spiritual as Temporal were determined in the Hundred-Courts where was wont to sit one Bishop and one Temporal Judge called Aldermanus the one for matters of Spiritual the other of Temporal cognizance But that was altered by King William and it seems by Parliament for it was by the assent of the Bishops Abbots and all the chief persons of the Realm for he Ordained That the Bishop or Archdeacon should not hold Plea of the Episcopal Laws quae ad Regimen animarum pertinent in the Hundred but by themselves and there administer Justice not according to the Law of the Hundred but according to the Episcopal Laws and Canons as appears by King William's Charter Irrot. 2. R. 2. pro Decano Capitulo Eccles Lincolne Jan. Angl. 76 77. The Principal Courts Ecclesiastical whereof some are now out of use were and are the Convocation Court the High Commission Court the high Court of Arches the Prerogative Court of Canterbury the Court of Delegates the Court of Audience the Court of Peculiars the Court of Faculties besides the Bishops Consistories the Archdeacons Courts and the like anciently called Halimots or holy Courts And the Saxon Kings long before William the Conqueror made several Laws for the Government of the Church Among others St. Edward begins his Laws with this Protestation that it is his Princely charge Vt Populum Domini super omnia Sanctam Ecclesiam regat gubernet And King Edgar in his Oration to his English Clergy Ego saith he Constantini vos Petri gladium habetis jungamus dextras gladium gladio Copulemus ut ejiciantur extra castra Leprosi purgetur Sanctuarium Domini But upon the Conquest made by the Normans the Pope took the opportunity to usurp upon the Liberties of the Crown of England for the Conqueror came in with the Popes Banner and under it won the Battel Whereupon the Pope sent two Legates into England with whom the Conqueror called a Synod deposed Stigand Archbishop of Canterbury because he had not purchased his Pall in the Court of Rome and displaced many Bishops and Abbots to make room for his Normans Among the rest the King having earnestly moved Wolstan Bishop of Worcester being then very aged to give up his Staff was Answered by him That he would give up his Staff only to him of whom he first received the same And so the old Bishop went to St. Edward's Tomb and there offered up his Staff and Ring with these words viz. Of Thee O holy Edward I received my Staff and my Ring and to thee I do now surrender the same again Which proves that before the Norman Conquest the Kings of England invested their Bishops per Annulum Baculum By this admission of the Pope's Legates was the first step or entry made into his usurped Jurisdiction in England yet no Decrees passed or were put in execution touching matters Ecclesiastical without the King 's Royal Assent nor would he submit himself in point of Fealty to the Pope as appears by his Epistle to Gregory the Seventh Vid. Da. Rep. Case of Praemunire fo 89. yet in his next Successors time in the time of William Rufus the Pope by Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury attempted to draw Appeals to Rome but prevailed not Upon this occasion it was that the King told Anselme That none of his Bishops ought to be subject to the Pope but that the Pope himself ought to be subject to the Emperour and that the King of England had the same absolute Liberties in his Dominions as the Emperour had in the Empire Yet in the time of the next King H. 1. the Pope usurped the Patronage and Donation of Bishopricks and all other Benefices Ecclesiastical at which time Anselme told the King That the Patronage and Investure of Bishopricks was not his Right because Pope Urban had lately made a Decree That no Lay-person should give any Ecclesiastical Benefice And after this in a Synod held at London An. 1107. a Decree was made Cui annuit Rex Henricus says Matth. Paris that from thenceforth Nunquam per donationem Baculi Pastoralis vel Annuli quisquam de Episcopatu vel Abbathia per Regem vel quamlibet Laicam manum investiretur in Anglia Hereupon the Pope granted That the Archbishop of Canterbury for the time being should be for ever Legatus Natus And Anselme for the honour of his See obtained That the Archbishop of Canterbury should in all general Councils sit at the Pope's foot tanquam alterius Orbis Papa Yet after Anselme's death this same King gave the Archbishoprick of Canterbury to Rodolph Bishop of London says Matth. Paris Et illum per Annulum Pastoralem Baculum investivit as before he had invested William Gifford in
the Bishoprick of Winchester contra novi Concilii statuta as the same Author reporteth And this because succeeding Popes had broken Pope Vrban's promise Touching the not sending of Legates into England unless the King should require it And in the time of the next succeeding King Stephen the Pope gained Appeals to the Court of Rome For in a Synod at London Conven'd by Hen. Bishop of Winchester the Pope's Legate it was Decreed That Appeals should be made from Provincial Councils to the Pope Before which time Appellationes in usu non erant saith a Monk of that time donec Henricus Winton Episcopus malo suo dum Legatus esset crudeliter intrusit Thus did the Pope usurp Three main points of Jurisdiction upon Three several Kings after the Conquest for of King William Rufus he could win nothing viz. upon the Conquerour the sending of Legates or Commissioners to hear and determine Ecclesiastical Causes Upon Hen. 1. the Donation and Investures of Bishopricks and other Benefices and upon King Stephen the Appeals to the Court of Rome And in the time of King H. 2. the Pope claimed exemption of Clerks from the Secular Power 2. The high Court of Convocation is called the Convocation of the Clergy and is the highest Court Ecclesiastical where the whole Clergy of both Provinces are either present in Person or by their Representatives They commonly meet and sit in Parliament-time consisting of Two parts viz. the Upper-house where the Archbishops and Bishops do sit and the Lower-house where the Inferiour Clergy do sit This Court hath the Legislative power of making Ecclesiastical Laws is commonly called a National Synod Conven'd by the King 's Writ directed to the Archbishop of each Province for summoning all Bishops Deans Archdeacons Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches assigning them the time and place in the said Writ But one Proctor sent for each Cathedral and Collegiate Church and two for the Body of the inferiour Clergy of each Diocess may suffice The higher House of Convocation or the House of Lords Spiritual for the Province of Canterbury consists of 22 Bishops whereof the Archbishop is President the Lower-house or House of Commons Spiritual consisting of all the Deans Archdeacons one Proctor for every Chapter and two for the Clergy of each Diocess in all 166 persons viz. 22 Deans 24 Prebendaries 54 Archdeacons and 44 Clerks representing the Diocesan Clergy Both Houses debate and transact only such matters as his Majesty by Commission alloweth concerning Religion and the Church All the Members of both Houses of Convocation have the same priviledges for themselves and Menial Servants as the Members of Parliament have The Archbishop of York at the same time and in the like manner holds a Convocation of all his Province at York constantly corresponding debating and concluding the same matters with the Provincial Synod of Canterbury The Antiquity of this Court of Convocation is very great for according to Beda St. Augustine An. 686. assembled in Council the Britain Bishops and held a great Synod The Clergy was never assembled or called together at a Convocation by other Authority than by the King 's Writ Vid. Parl. 18 E. 3. nu 1. Inter Leges Inae An. Dom. 727. A Convocation of the Clergy called Magna servorum Dei frequentia The Jurisdiction of the Convocation is only touching matters meerly Spiritual and Ecclesiastical wherein they proceed juxta Legem Divinam Canones Sanctae Ecclesiae The Lord Coke cites some Ancient Records to prove that the Court of Convocation did not meddle with any thing concerning the Kings Temporal Laws of the Land and thence inferrs That the Statute of 25 H. 8. cap. 19. whereby it is provided That no Canons Constitution or Ordinance should be made or put in execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocation of the Clergy which were contrariant or repugnant to the King's Prerogative Royal or the Customes Laws and Statutes of this Realm is but declaratory of the old Common Law And by the said Act the Court of Convocation as to the making of new Canons is to have the King's License as also his Royal Assent for the putting the same in execution But towards the end of that Act there is an express Proviso that such Canons as were made before that Act which be not contrariant nor repugnant to the King's Prerogative the Laws Statutes or Customes of the Realm should be still used and executed as they were before the making of that Act. And if any Cause shall depend in contention in any Ecclesiastical Court which shall or may touch the King his Heirs or Successors the party grieved shall or may appeal to the Upper-house of Convocation within fifteen days after Sentence given Remarkable are the Constitutions of Claringdon in the time of King H. 2. occasioned by the Popes claiming Exemption of Clerks from the Secular power so contended for by Thomas Becket then Archbishop of Canterbury against the King as occasioned a convening a Common Council as well of the Bishops as of the Nobility at Claringdon in the time of H. 2. wherein they revived and re-established the Ancient Laws and Customes of the Kingdom for the Government of the Clergy and ordering of Causes Ecclesiastical The principal Heads or Articles whereof were these viz. 1 That no Bishop or Clerk should depart the Realm without the King's License and that such as obtained License should give Sureties That they should not procure any dammage to the King or Realm during their absence in Foreign parts 2 That all Bishopricks and Abbies being void should remain in the Kings hands as his own Demesns until he had chosen and appointed a Prelate thereunto and that every such Prelate should do his Homage to the King before he be admitted to the place 3 That Appeals should be made in Causes Ecclesiastical in this manner viz. From the Archdeacon to the Ordinary from the Ordinary to the Metropolitan from him to the King and no farther 4 That Peter-Pence should be paid no more to the Pope but to the King 5 That if any Clerk should commit Felony he should be hanged if Treason he should be drawn and quartered 6 That it should be adjudged High Treason to bring in Bulls of Excommunication whereby the Realm should be cursed 7 That no Decree should be brought from the Pope to be executed in England upon pain of Imprisonment and Confiscation of Goods 3. Arches or alma Curia de Arcubus so called of Bow-Church in London by reason of the Steeple or Clochier thereof raised at the top with Stone-pillars in fashion like a Bow-bent Arch-wise in which Church this Court was ever wont to be held being the chief and most Ancient Court and Consistory of the Jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury which Parish of Bow together with twelve others in London whereof Bow is the chief are within the Peculiar Jurisdiction of the said Archbishop in Spiritual Causes and