vacantium which not occurring of any Pope before I cannot ascribe other to have begun them then he who though in a bull dated the 5. Ianuary 4. Pontificatus he mention Fructus redditus proventus primi anni beneficiorum yet by the doubts he there resolves shews the practice of them then newly brought into the Church But whereas the writers before-named agree the English of all Nations never received in this the full extent of the Papall commands I conceive it to arise from the good Laws they made against them of which before and after 17. It is hardly credible how great a masse of treasure was by these wayes sent hence into Italy The revenues th' Italians were possest of in England 1245. are accounted not lesse then 60. thousand Marks 1252. it was thought they did amount to 70. thousand all which for the most drained thither and in the Parliament held about an hundred years after the Commons shew what went hence to the Court of Rome tourne a plus grand destruction du Royalme qe toute la guerre nostre Seigr. le Roy yet notwithstanding so many statutes as were made by that Prince for moderating the excesses in this kind the 50 th they complain I shall give it contractedly the Popes collectâ—r here held a receipt equall to a Prince or Duke sent annually to Rome from the Clergy for Procuration of Albeys Priories First-fruits c. xx thousand Marks some years more others lesse and to Cardinalls and other Clerks beneficed in England as much besides what was conveyed to English Clerks remaining there to sollicite the affairs of the Nation upon which they desire his Ma â—y no collector of the Pope may reside in England 18. But the King as it seems not greatly complying with their desires the year following they again instance that certain Cardinalls notorious enemies had procured a clause d'anteferri to certain benefices within the Provinces of Canterbury and York that the Popes Collector was as very an enemy to this State as the French themselves that his house-keeping here at the Clergies cost was not lesse then 300l. by the year that he sent annually from hence beyond Seas at one time 20 thousand marks sometimes 20. thousand pounds and what was worse espyed the secrets of the Kingdome vacations of benefices and so dayly made the certainty known to the said Court did now raise for the Pope the first-fruits of all dignities and other smaller promotions causing by oath to pay the true value of them surmounting the rate they were formerly taxed at which now in the very beginning ought to be crusht c. Vpon which considerations they desire all strangâ—rs Clerks and others excepting Knights Esquires Merchants Artificers might sodainly avoid the Kingdom no subjects without the Kings expresse licence to be Proctors Aturneys Fâ—rmors to any such Alyen under the pain after Proclamation made of life member losse of lands and goods and to be dealt with as theeves and robbers no mony during the wars to be transported out of the Kingdom by exchange or otherwise on the forfeiture of it But to this the answer onely was Setiegnent les estatutz ordonances ent faites Whereupon the next Parliament the Commons prefer'd again three Petitions touching I. The paiment of First-fruits taken come due a la chambre nostre seint Pere yet not used in the Realme before these times was contrary to former treaties with the Pope c. II. Reservations of benefiâ—es III. By that way bestowing them on Alyens who sundry times employed the profits of them towards the raunsoming or araying their friends enemies to the King Of all which they desire his Ma ty to provide remedy as also that the Petitions the two last Parliaments of which before might be consider'd and convenient remedy ordained To which the answer is Les Seig rs du grand conseil ordeigneront due remedie sur les matires comprises enâ—estes trois billes precedentes And here I take the grand Councell to be the Privy Councell not the Lords in or out of Parliament called the grand Councell for the greatnesse of the affairs fell within their cognizance and named the 5. of Hen. the 4. to consist onely of six Bishops one Duke two Earls and other in all to the number of 22. 19. What order they establisht I have not met with it is manifest not to have been such as gave the satisfaction hoped for by the Commons renewing in effect both 3 o. and 5 to Ric. 2. the same suites and the inconveniences still continuing in the year 1386 7. 10. Ric. 2. William Weld was chosen Abbot of S. Augustins in the place of Michael newly dead who troubled with a quartan ague the French and Dutch on the seas the King inhibited his going to Rome for confirmation c. He thereupon employs William Thorn from whose pen we have the relation hoping to be excused himself of the journey who shewing the sufferings of the house the miserable state he must leave it in that he would expose it irrecuperabili casui ruinae that the King had commanded his stay was in the end told by the Pope after all means he could use Rex tuus praecipit quod non veniat electus ille Ego volo quod compareat examini se subjiciat and again after yet more earnest sollicitation quia audivimus turbationem inter Regem Barones suos the fittest time to contest with a prince multa sinistra de persona electi quod cederet Romanae ecclesiae in praejudicium absque personali comparitione non intendimus ipsum confirmare ne daretur posteris in exemplum The cause hanging three years in suspense the Abbot in fine was forced to appear in Rome for his benediction and returned with it not to his house till about the end of March 1389. the 12. Ric. 2. After which the next Parliament obtained the statute of Premunire against the Popes conferring any Benefice within the said Kingdome from the 29 of Ianuary then ensuing and no person to send or bring any summons or sentence of excommunication against any for the execution of the same law on the pain of being arrested put in prison forfeiture of his lands tenements c. and incurring the pain of life member c. The intent of which law Polidor Virgil rightly interprets to have been a confining the Papall auctority within the Ocean and for the frequent exactions of Rome ut nulli mortalium deinceps liceret pro quavis causa agere apud Romanum Pontificem ut quispiam in Anglia ejus autoritate impius religionisque hostis publice declararetur neve exequi tale mandatum si quod ab illo haberet c. To which law three years after some other additions were made and none of these were ever repealed by Queen Mary who though she did admit a union with the
sculptilibus dicimus quae adbeatae Mariae Virginis vel aliorum sanctorum sunt fabricata memoriam quae tamen gratis grata prout de serico praediximus ad sororum altare vel hospitium vel alio apto loco honeste ponenda decernimus So that it is apparent then their use was esteemed no other then that of silk and these two articles seem to have been resolved on nigh the first foundation being in an hand differing from some other I shall mention by the Founder himself 16. In the year 1200 the house of Sixle or Sixhill in Lincolnshire was visited by the Abbat of Waredune as Commissioner of Otho the Popes Legat where about 20 articles were concluded for the government of the Order the fifth of which though it gave some more liberty then the former yet was not without restraint but take it from an hand of those times Anno gratiae MCC in visitatione facta de Sixl ' per Abbatem de WarduÌ„n auctoritate Domini Otonis Legati statuta sunt haec firmiter observanda Inprimis c. cap. 5. Item inhibetur ne picturarum varie tas aut superfluâ—tas sculpturarum de caetero fieri permittatur nec liceat alicubi yconias haberi nec imagines praeter ymaginem Salvatoris y. beatae Mariae Sancti Johannis Evangelistae Hitherto questionlesse the Church of England following the doctrine of St Gregory had been taught by testimonies of holy writ that omne manufactum â— adorare non liceat and though they might be lawfully made yet by all means to avoid the worship of them but see the progress 17. Sixty eight years after this Othobon being the Popes Legat in England did in his own person visit the chiefhouse of this Order and committed the others to Rodulphus de Huntedune the said Cardinalls Chaplain and penitentiary who associating to himself one Richard generall inquisitor of the Order of Semplingham did in the year 1268. conclude upon 74 or 75. heads or chapters for the government of them the 54 of which under the title de ymaginibus habendis is this Item cum secundum Johannem Damascenum ymaginis honor ad prototypum id est ad eum cujus est ymago pertineat ad instantiam Monialium earum devotionem ferventius excit andam conceduntur eis ymagines crucifixi beatae Mariae sancti Johannis Evangelistae quod possint habere in quolibet altari dedicato ymaginem ipsius sancti in cujus honore altare dedicatum est Sitamen gratis detur eisdem sicut beatus G. de serico de ymaginibus duxit statuendum celebretur ipso die festivitatis illius sancti die dedicationis ejusdem altaris missa ad dicta altaria etiamsi sint infra clausuram monialâ—um Thus they 18. By which it is manifest this Kingdom had not then received the 7th Councell for if they had there can be no thought they would have built their Article upon Damascens opinion onely But by all these we may see Images were brought into this Church by degrees by little and little First they were to have none onely wooden crosses were tolerated then they might not buy any but being given they might accept the image of our Lady and other Saints then an inhibition of all Saints except our Saviour the Blessed Virgin and St Iohn the Evangelist to which was added the image of that Saint their Altars were dedicated unto and these onely by concession not bought but given So that it is plain they were then taken for things onely indifferent as silk which they might use or be without no processions bowings kissing c. of them prescribed but how the practise was afterward that chapter of Arundell registred by Lyndwood may tell you which because it is long I shall not farther repeat it being printed then to adde that it is in him lib. 5. de Magistris cap. Nullus quoque and in another place he propounds this question Numquid ymago Christi sit ador anda cultu latriae and resolves si consideretur ut ymago tunc quia idem motus est in ymagiginem in quantum est ymago ymaginatum unus honor debetur ymagini ymaginato ideo cum Christus latria adoretur ejus imago debet similiter latria adorari Nec obstat Exod. xxvi ubi dicitur non facies tibi ymaginem nec sculptam similitudinem quia illud pro eo tempore erat prohibitum quo Deus humanam naturam non assumpserat c. 19. The Synod at Westminster finding things in this posture and their retention in many parts to have been joyned with a great abuse if not impiety took a middle course first to condemn all manner of adoration or worship of them and therefore every Sculptile had been removed out of Churches but whereas some use might be made of them for remembrance of histories past to retain in sundry parts such windows and pictures as might without offence instruct the ignorant in severall passages not unworthily preserved which if any man have since been offended at it must be on other grounds then I understand 20. As they proceeded with this circumspection not to depart from the primitive Church in matters juris positivi so did they take no less care in points of opinion for having declared which were the books of holy Scripture they did not absolutely reject the use of the other though they had been taught by the doctrine of St Hierom and St Gregory not to repute them in Canone but to admit them quia fidem religionem aedificant or as they say for example of life and instruction of manners 21. For praying to Saints however the Saxons might honor holy men departed â—o cultu dilectionis societatis quo in hac vita coluntur homines as S. Augustine speaks which what it is he explains elsewhere yet I am hardly perswaded to think they did admit any publick praying to them in the Church for I have seen and perused three ancient Saxon Psalters full of prayers but no one petition to any Saint whatsoever Eadmerus sayes the report went of VV â— the second that crederet publica voce assereret nullum sanctorum cuiquam apud Deum posse prodesse ideo nec se velle neo aliquem sapientem debere beatum Petrum interpellare yet he doth not censure this as hereticall but onely mentis elatio Gabriel Biel long after confesseth in his time some Christians as well as Hereticks were deceived in thinking Saints departed nobis auxiliari nec meritis possunt nec precibus The Church of England therefore following S. Augustine condemns all religious invocation of them as those were non adorandi propter religionem yet in respect they were honorandi propter imitationem to retain their commemoration by appointing a set service for the dayes on which it celebrated their memorialls thereby to
averoient frank election de lour Prelatz solonc la ley de Dieu de seint Esglise ent ordeigne perpetuelment a durer c. and a little after d'Engleterre soleient doner Eveschez autres grantz dignites trestouz come il fait aujourdui Esglises parochiels le Pape ne se medlast de doner nul benefice deinz le Royalme tanqez deinz brief temps passe c. 59. And this to have been likewise the custome in France the complaint of the French Ambassador to Innocentius 4 tus assures us Non est multum temporis saith he quod Reges Francorum conferebant omnes Episcopatus in camera sua c. and our writers do wholy look upon the placing Lanfrank in Canterbury as the Kings act though it were not without th' advise of Alexander the 2. Neither did Anselme ever make scruple of refusing the Archbishoprick because he was not chosen by the Monks of Canterbury and in that letter of them to Paschalis the 2. 1114. though they write Raulf in praesentia gloriosi Regis Henrici electus à nobis clero populo yet whosoever will note the series of that election cannot see it to have been other then the Kings act insomuch as our writers use often no other phrase then the King gave such preferments c. And whilst things stood thus there was never any interposing from Rome no question who was lawfully chosen the Popes therefore did labour to draw this from the Princes medling with as much as was possible Some essay might be 1108. at the settling Investitures for then Anselme writ to Paschalis Rex ipse in personis eligendis nullatenus propria utitur voluntate sed religiosorum se penitus committit consilio But this as the practice proved afterwards was no more but that he would take the advise of his Bishops or other of the Clergy for as Diceto well observes our King did in such sort follow the Ecclesiastick Canons as they had a care to conserve their own rights The â—ittest way therefore for the Pope to get in was if there should happen any dissensions amongst themselves that he as a moderator a judge or an Arbitrator might step in 60. About the Conquest an opportunity was offer'd on the contentions between the two Archbishops for primacy in which Canterbury stood on the bulls true or false of former Popes that had as a great Patriarch made honourable mention of them When they were both 1071. with Alexander the 2. by his advise it was referr'd to a determination in England and accordingly 1072. Wm. the first with his Bishops made some settlement which by them of York was ever stumbled at pretending the King out of reason of State sided with Canterbury But this brake into no publick contest till 1116. Thurstan elected to York endeavored at Rome to divert the making any profession of subjection to Cant. but failing in th' attempt that Court not liking to fall into a contest it was not probable to carry resigned his Archbishoprick Spondens Regi Archâ—epiâ—copo se dum viveret non reclamaturum yet after the Clergy of York sued to the Pope for his restitution which produced that letter from Paschalis the 2. in his behalf to Hen. the 1. is in Eadmerus wherein he desires if there were any difference between the two Sees it might be discust in his presence Which was not hearkned to but Calixtus the 2. in a Councell by him held 1119. at Reimes of which before the English Bishops not arrived the Kings Agent protesting against it the Archdeacon of Cant. telling the Pope that jure he could not do it consecrated him Archbishop of York upon which Henry prohibits him all return into his dominions And in the enterview soon after at Gisors though Calixtus earnestly laboured th' admitting him to his See the King would by no means hearken to it So the Pope left the businesse as he found it and Thurstan to prove other wayes to gain th' Archbishoprick 61. Who thereupon became an actor in the peace about that time treated between England and France in which his comportments were such that proniorem ad sese recipiendum Regis animum inflexit so as upon the Popes letters he was afterwards restored ea dispositione ut nullatenus extra provinciam Eboracensem divinum officium celebraret donec Ecclesiae Cantuariensi c. satisfaceret This I take to be the first matter of Episcopacy that ever the Pope as having a power elsewhere of altering what had been here settled did meddle with in England It is true whilst they were raw in Christianity he did sometimes recommend Pastors to this Church so Vitalian did Theodore and farther shewed himself sollicitous of it by giving his fatherly instructions to the English Bishops to have a care of it so did Formosus or some other by his letters 904. upon which Edward th' elder congregated a Synod wherein five new Bishops were constituted by which an inundation of Paganisme ready to break in on the West for want of Pastors was stopt But it is apparent this was done not as having dominion over them for he so left the care of managing the matter to their discretion as he did no way interesse himself in it farther then advise 62. A meeting of English Bishops 1107. at Canterbury or as Florentius Wigorniensis stiles it a Councell restored the Abbot of Ramsey deposed 1102. jussu Apostolico or as Eadmerus juxta mandatum Domini Papae It is manifest this command from Rome to be of the same nature those I mentioned of Calvins or at the most no other then the intercession of the Patriarch of a more noble See to an inferior that by his means had been converted For his restitution after the reception of the Papall letters seems to have been a good while defer'd so that what past at Rome did not disannull his deprivation here till made good in England as at a time when nothing thence was put in execution but by the Regall approbation as the Pope himself complained to the King But after the Church of Rome with th' assistance of th' English Clergy had obtained all elections to be by the Chapters of the Cathedralls upon every Scruple she interposed herself 63. The greatest part of the Convent of London 1136. chose Anselme Abbot of St. Edmundsbury for their Bishop contrary to the Deans opinion and some few of the Chanons who appealed to Rome where th' election 1138 was disannulled the Bishoprick by the Pope recommended to Winchester his then or rather soon after Legat which so remained till 1141. This is the first example of any Bishop chosen received and in possession of a Church in this Kingdome whose election was after quash't at Rome and the sentence obeyed here as it is likewise of any Commendam on Papall command in the Church of England all
which seems to have past with the Kings concurrence 64. For to deprive VVilliam elected some whatafter Archbishop of York where he did not joyn was not so easy This man chosen 1142 by the greater part of the Chapter after five years sute in the Court of Rome St. Bernard opposing him had in the end his election annull'd by Eugenius 3. in a Councell held at Reims the Chanons of York exhorted to chuse another some of which made choice of Henry Murdack then as it seems with the Pope who coming as Archbishop into England was not suffer'd to enter on his Archbishoprick and excommunicating Hugh de Puzat a person preferr'd by VVilliam was himself by him excommunicated no intermission of divine service in the City admitted and Henry's means to gain his See was by drawing the Bishop of Duresme Carlisle the King of Scots and by the Popes advise this very Hugh by sweetnesse to his party and in the end by the Kings Son whom it seems he promised to get advanced to the Crown by the power of Rome making his peace with Stephen who soon after employed him thither on that errand And this I take to be the second English election was ever here annull'd by Papall auctority 65. Here I may observe that at first when ever the Pope made voyd an election he did not take upon him to appoint another in the place vacant but either sent to the Clergy of the same Church to chuse another as those to whom it appertained so did Eugenius 3. to York when this H. Murdack was chosen Innocentius 3. when Stephen Langton or else the Bishoprick lay vacant as London after Anselme from 1139. to 1141. But elections being with much struggling settled wholy in the Clergy and Innocentius 3. having by definitive sentence excluded the English Bishops from having any part in that of th' Archbishop of Canterbury they becoming wholy appropriated to the Chapters of Cathedralls the Pope began to creep in and ex concessa plenitudine Ecclesiasticae potestatis as he speaks without any formality of choice to confer not onely Bishopricks but other Ecclesiastick promotions within the precincts of others Dioceses and by that means to fill the fat benefices of the Nation The first Archbishop of Canterbury promoted by this absolute power of the Church of Rome seems to have been Richard 1229. non electo sed dato ad Archiepiscopatum 66. The French Agent in his Remonstrance to Innocentius 4 tus attributes the beginning of these collations to Innocent the 3d. and I have not read that either Paschalis the second Gelasius Calixtus or Innocent 2. though forced to live sometimes out of Rome did ever exercise auctority that way But I will give it in his own words Certe non multum temporis clapsum est ex quo Dominus Papa Alexander persecutionis cogente incommodo venit in Franciam confugiens ad subsidium inclytae recordationis Regis Ludovici patris Regis Philippi à quo benigne susceptus est stetit ibi diu forte vivunt aliqui qui viderunt eum ipse tamen in nullo gravavit Ecclesiam Gallicanam ut nec unam solam praebendam aut aliud beneficium ipse Papa dederit ibi sed nec aliquis praedecessor suus nec multietiam de successoribus dederunt in sua auctoritate beneficium aliquid usque ad tempora Domini Innocentii 3. qui primus assumpsit sibi jus istud in tempore suo Revera dedit multas praebendas similiter post ipsum Dominus Honorius Dominus Gregorius simili modo fecerunt sed omnes praedecessores vestri ut publice dicitur non dederunt tot beneficia ut vos solus dedistis c. 67. In what year th' Ambassador from France made this complaint is not set down But Mat. Paris in his Historia minori makes mention of it as done in or about 1252. Diebus sub eisdem Episcopo Lincolniensâ— computante compertum probatum est quod iste Papa scilicet Innocentius quartus plures redditus extortos ad suam contulit voluntatem quam omnes ejus praedecessores prout manifeste patet in lugubri querimonia quam reposuerunt Franci coram Papa pro suis intolerabilibus oppressionibus quae redacta est in scriptum Epistolae admodum prolixae quae sic incipit Dicturus quod injunctum est mihi c. quaere Epistolam c. By which it appears that great liberty the Papacy took in conferring Ecclesiastick preferments within the Dioceses of others took its rise from Pope Innocent and as it seems to me not at the very beginning of his time for 1199. Gelardus Archdeacon of St. Davids coming from Rome quia idem G. Menevensis Ecclesiae in curia Romana se dicebat electum hoc ipsum cassavit Archiepiscopus alium-sacravit canonice electum though he after bestowed on him a Church of 25. marks and this in a case the Pope had so earnestly espoused as he wrote to the Bishops of Lincoln Duresme and Ely si Archiepiscopus Cantuariae saepe dictum Gilardum consecrare differret ipsi Apostolica authoritate freti illum consecrare non differrent which yet th' Archbishop as against the English liberty did not doubt to oppose and disannul 68. But thus it continued not long for Honorius the immediate successor to Innocentius 3 us shewing such as served th' Apostolick see and resided with it were worthy congruis beneficiis honorari and were therefore possest of divers both in England and other parts which they did administer with so great care quod non minus beneficiantibus quam beneficiatis utiliter est provisum unde quia nonnunquam beneficiatis hujusmodi decedentibus beneficia quae obtinuerant inconsultis hiis ad quos eorum donatio pertinebat aliis successive collata perpetuo illis ad quos pertinent videbantur amitti propter quod etiam murmurabant plurimi alii se difficiliores ad conferendum talibus beneficia exhibebant Nos volentes super hoc congruum remedium adhibere ne cuiquam sua liberalitas sit dampnosa per quam potius meruit gratiam favorem statuimus ut clericis Ecclesiae Romanae vel aliis Ytalicis qui praebendas vel Ecclesias seu alia Ecclesiastica beneficia in Anglia obtinent vel obtinuerint à modo decedentibus Praebendâ—e vel Ecclesiae seu alia beneficia nequaquam à nobis vel alio illa vice alicui conferantur sed ad illos libere redeant ad quos illorum donatio dinoscitur pertinere c. Dat. Lateran quarto Kalend. Martii Pontificatus nostri anno quinto 69. Yet neither this nor the renewing of it by Gregory the 9. with a speciall indulgence directed venerabilibus fratribus universis Archiepiscopis Episcopis aâ— dilectis fil is Abbatibus aliis Ecclesiarum Praelatis per Angliam constitutis ut si quando ad vos literae Apostolicae pro beneficiandis
which is printed but th' English were to be such as should be agreed to praelatis accitis de mandato auctoritate praedicti invictissimi Angliae Regis whose determinations were to be consensu ejusde invictissimi Angliae Regis But where my Lord Herbert conceivs this to have been the first taste our King took in governing the Clergy I can no way be of his opinion for without peradventure the Cardinall neither did nor durst have moved one step in making the Ecclesiasticks lesse depend on the Papacy then the Common law or custome of the realm warranted knowing he must without that back have lost not onely Clement the 7. but all Popes and the Court of Rome which must and had been his support on the declining favour of so heady and dangerous a Prince as Henry the 8 th had he not cast off both the Cardinall and his obedience to that See almost together But how much he had the Clergy before this under his government the History of Richard Hunne is witnesse sufficient and the rights the Conquerour and his successours were ever in contest with the Papacy about and maintained as the laws customs of the Realm enough shew they did not command th' Ecclesiasticks here according to the will of any forraign potentate nor were meer lookers on whilst another govern'd the English Church some of which I shall therefore here set down I. They admitted none to be taken for Pope but by the Kings appointment II. None to receive letters from him without shewing them to the King who caused all words prejudiciall to him or his crown to be renounced by the bringers or receivers of them III. Permitted no councels but by their liking to assemble which gained the name of convocations as that alwayes hath been and ought to be assembled by the Kings writ IV. Caused some to sit in them might supervise the actions and legato ex parte Regis regni inhiberent ne ibi contra Regiam coronam dignitatem aliquid statuere attentaret and when any did otherwise he was forced to retract that he had done as did Peckham or were in paucis servatae as those of Boniface V. Suffered no Synodicall deree to be of force but by their allowance and confirmation Rex auditis concilii gestis consensum praebuit auctoritate regia potestate concessit confirmavit statuta concilii à Gulielmo Cantuariensi Archiepiscopo sanctae Romanae ecclesiae legato apud Westmonasterium celebratt In hoc concilio ademendationem ecclesiae Anglicanae assensu Domini Regis primorum omnium regni haec subscripta promulgata sunt capitula c. VI. Permitted no Bishop to excommunicate or inflict any ecclesiastick censure on any Baron or Officer nisi ejus praecepto VII Caused the Bishops appear in their Courts to give account why they excommunicated the subject VIII Caused such as were imprisoned after fourty dayes standing excommunicate to be freed by writ without th' assent of the Prelat or satisfaction giving the King and his Iudges communicating with them tam in divinis quam profanis and commanding none to shun them though by the Ordinary denounced excommunicate IX Suffered no Legat enter England but with their leave of which before X. Determined matters of Episcopacy inconsulto Romano Pontifice XI Permitted no Appeal to Rome of which before XII Bestowed Bishopricks on such as they liked and translated Bishops from one See to another XIII Erected new Bishopricks so did Hen. the 1. 1109. Ely taking it out of Lincolne Carlisle 1133. out of York or rather Duresme but of this before XIV Commanded by writ their Bishops to residency XV. Commanded their Bishops by reason of Schism vacancie of the Popedome c. not to seek confirmation from Rome but the Metropolitan to be charged by the Kings writ to bestow it on the elected XVI Placed by a lay hand Clerks in Prebendary or Parochiall Churches Ordinariis penitus irrequisitis And it is not here unworthy the remembring that VV m Lyndwood a very learned Canonist who writ about an 100. yeares before Henry the 8 ths difference with Clement the 7. finding the Crown in possession of this particular not agreeing with the rules of the Canon law is so perplext as in the end he finds no way to make the act valid but that he doth it by Papall priviledge For if by prescription Episcopo sâ—iente tolerante it could not be good for though the King might confer the temporalls of the Church non tamen potest dare jure suo potestatem circa spiritualia viz. circa ea quae pertinent ad regimen ecclesiasticum ministrationem sacramentorum sacramentalium nec non circa ecclesiasticae jurisdictionis exercitium hujusmodi quae jure spiritualia sunt nec in hoc casu potest sibi prodesse praescriptio etiam longissimi temporis quia talia spiritualia non possunt per regem possideri per consequens nec ut transeant sub sua potestate possunt praescribi nec consuetudine introduci c. In which he will havean hard contest with divers French and Italians who maintain Che tutte le raggioni che si possono acquistare per dispensa del Papa si possono acquistar anco per consuetudine la quale sopravenga contraria alla legge that a prince may prescribe for such acts as he can acquire by the Popes dispensation XVII Prohibited the Lay yielding obedience or answering by Oath to their Ecclesiastick superiour inquiring de peccatis subditorum which I take to have been in cases not properly of their cognizance not of witnesses either in causes Matrimoniall or Testamentary XVIII I shall conclude these particulars with one observation in Mat. Paris where the Ecclesiasticks having enumerated severall cases in which they held themselves hardly dealt with adde That in all of them if the spirituall Iudge proceeded contrary to the Kings prohibition he was attached appearing before the Iustices constrained to produce his proceedings that they might determine to which court the cause belonged and if found to pertain to the secular the spirituall Iudges were blamed and on confession they had proceeded after the prohibition were amerced but denying it were compell'd to make it good by the testimony of two vile Varlets but refusing such purgation were imprisoned till by oath they freed themselves to the Iustices that being cleared even by the Lay they had no satisfaction for their expence and trouble By which by the way it is manifest how much the Kings Courts had the superintendency over the Ecclesiastick 18. These and many other particulars of the like nature daily exercised notwithstanding the clamour of some Ecclesiasticks more affecting their own party then the rights of the Crown make there can be no scruple but the English did ever understand the