profession yet they preuayled not as may appeare in an epistle written to Anselme from Girardus seconde Archbyshop of Yorke after the conquest Sitio clericorum meorum integritateÌ„ sed praeter in paucis admodum vel aspidis surditatem vel fabulosi cuiusdam Prothei mutabilitatem inuenio Variis linguarum aculeis modo minas modo conuitia infligunt sed hoc facilius in iis qui remotiores sunt tolero Illud omnino graue genus mali est quod hii qui quasi in sinu meo sunt qui canonicorum nomine gaudent canones aspernant aduersus consilii nostri statuta quasi Sophistici disputatores argumentantur professiones vero mihi paenitus abnegant canonici illi qui sine professione ad sacros ordines inordinabiliter suÌ„t prouecti qui in presbiteratu vel diaconatu constituti vxores siue concubinas in publico hactenus habuerunt ab altari nulla se reuerentia continuerunt Cum vero ad ordines aliquos inuito dura ceruice renituntur ne in ordinando castitateÌ„ profiteantur I do muche desire the puritie of my clarkes saith Girarde howebeit except in very fewe I fynde to raigne eyther the deafnesse of the aspe or the inconstancie as it were of Protheus of whom the poetes speake with their manyfolde styngyng tongues they do ouerlade me sometyme with threates sometyme with tauntes but it is more easye to beare this in them whiche be farther of But this is a more harde griefe for that they which as it were be in my very bosome who glory in the name of canons do despise canons and agaynst the decrees of our councell as Sophistes vse in their disputation make argumentes As for professions they vtterly denie me these canons Prebendaries whiche are promoted inordinately to holy orders and when I call any to orders they resist me very obstinately that they wyl make no profession of chastitie in their orderyng Thus Girarde the Archbyshop in whiche epistle the good father writeth howe that the sonne of a certaine prieste and archdeacon obteyned of hym by meanes of the brybe of a summe of money geuen hym the gyft of his fathers prebende and of the tythes whiche his father had in possession his father beyng alyue and as yet he is saith he and so foorth And wryteth that he can not abyde to see the byer of his Churche to remayne in his stall dayly in his eye Which fact yet this Girarde seemeth to repent of and prayeth for pardon and remedie at Anselmes handes To the which epistle Anselme doth aunswere epistol 78. centuria 2. that he wyl release nothyng of his decree Fabian as he wryteth the same to Herebert byshop of Thetford he beyng the begotten sonne of Robert intruded into the abbacie of Winchester who bought the abbacie for money and he the byshopricke of Thetforde for one thousande poundes Suche a monstruous symoniack that his spurious progenie and his symonie is noblie set out in vearse in W. Malmesbury emongest which vearses this is one Filius est praesull pater abba Symon vterque beyng a very hotte enemie in all his tyme agaynst priestes maryages as commonly personages of such honestie sheweth them selues It is much to be marueyled that this man with other of his suite woulde haue their decrees and constitutions so rigorously obserued and they them selues no folowers of them howe seriously soeuer they were made of late by Hildibrand then by this councell holden in the west part of S. Peters Church in London whereof the first canon is this Primum ex auctoritate sanctorum patrum symoniacae heresis surreptio in eodem concilio damnata est First by the auctoritie of the holy fathers the cryme of the symoniack heresie in that same councell is condempned In which cryme saith the councell were certaine Abbottes founde and deposed there they be named For which Abbottes yet being thus depriued for symonie certaine Bishoppes faultie in such crymes as were worthy â—eposition the sayd Anselme was a great suter to pope Pascall to whom he made his viage at Rome as offended with the kyng in the third yere of his raigne and caryed with hym those Abbottes degraded And Anselme was receaued of pope Pascal very reuerently at what tyme wryteth Matthew Paris Anselmus archiepiscopus pro episcopis et abbatibus degradatis multa precuÌ„ instantia PapaÌ„ rogare caepit vt cum illis misericorditer dispensaret vt possent amissas recipere dignitates Tum sedes clementissima quae nulli deesse consueuit dummodo albi aliquid vel rubei intercedat prescriptos poÌ„tifices abbates ad prestinas dignitates reuocauit c. Anselme the archbyshop began to entreate the pope with much instaunce of supplication for the byshoppes and the abbottes so degraded that he woulde mercyfully dispence with them that they shoulde receaue agayne the dignities that they had loste Then the most mercyfull sea whiche is not wont to denie any mans request so that some red thyng or some whyte thyng may make intercession he reuoked agayne the foresayde byshops and abbots to their olde dignities and sent them home to their owne proper seas Is not this a conscience bronded with an hot iron vtteryng falsehood in hypocrisie so earnestly to entreate for them that offended against the holy ghost where their money shoulde rather haue ben reiected act viii as it was once sayde Pecunia tua tecum sit in perditionem rather then vnrepentauntly doublyng symonie vpon symonie to haue lyght pardon and Anselme so wylfully rigorous agaynst the maryed priestes whiche by Gods lawes they myght do and without all mercie to seperate them where pope Pascall wylled hym to shewe mercie and referde it to his owne libertie and discretion yea to seperate a number of such whom he founde maryed lawfully in a synode by Lanfranc stablyshed wherein was also constituted that they shoulde not be seperated Besydes these saith the councell were remoued from their Abbacie others euery man for his owne cause If ye aske what other causes those were lyke to be Some wryters affirme that it was the cause of infamous Sodomie a peculier vice then moste vsed emonges the religious Against which enormitie in the selfe same councell they made constitutions to suppresse that horrible cryme founde chiefly in the persons of the religious order partly of the laitie Good reader yf a man shoulde expende the great heate of this father Anselme and his brethren in hypocrisi loquentium mendacium prohibentium nubere may not a man maruayle to heare why they forbad matrimonie Gods very remedie and institution appoynted agaynst all fylthynesse and vncleanenesse when that horrible vice not muche to be named so franckly raigned that they were compelled to make constitutions agaynst it Was this prohibition of maryage thinke you fytte to extynguyshe this enormitie Or rather flowed it not out ex doctrina demoniorum in hypochrisi loquentium mendacium cauteriatam habentium conscientiam O consciences marked and scarred with an
vtilitée and necessitée of the Frenche tongue whiche he noted to bee almoste throughout the worlde frequented And in his conferēce he marueiled of diuerse noble men that were present for that thei could not kéepe hym talke or yet could not so muche as vnderstāde hym to perceiue his gaie witte Emong the number of the Lordes there satte the old honourable Capitain the Lorde Erle of Shrowesburie lookyng at his meate and gaue neither eare nor countenaunce to this iolie man but gaue other leaue to talke and sat as he might shakyng heade and handes in his Palsey whiche was testimonie enough whether he were not in his daies a warriour liyng abrode in the fielde to take aire of the ground This Frenche Ambassadour was offended with hym and saied what an honour were it for yonder olde noble man if he could speake the Frenche tongue Surely it is a greate lacke to his nobilitie One of the Lordes that kepte hym talke askyng firste leaue of this mon sire to report part of their communication to the lorde Shrewesburie Made reporte thereof yet in moste courteous maner with easie fauorable rehearsal as might touch a truth When he heard it where before his head by greate age was almoste grouelyng on the table he roused hym self vp in suche wise that he appeared in length of bodie as muche as he was thought euer in all his life before And knittyng his browes he laied his hande on his dagger and set his countenaunce in suche sorte that the Frenche hardie Ambassadour tourned coloure wonderfully Saieth the Frenche whoreson so saieth he Marie tell the Frenche dogge againe by sweete sainct Cuthbert if I knewe that I had but one pestilente Frenche woorde in all my bodie I would take my dagger and digge it out before I rose from the table And tell that tawnie whoreson againe how soeuer he haue been hungerstarued hym self at home in Fraunce that if we should not eate our beastes and make vitaill of theim as faste as we doe thei would so encrease beyonde measure that thei would make vitaile of vs and eate vs vp When these woordes were reported againe to this Frenche gest he spoiled no more vittaile at the dinner after that but dranke wonderous oft Whiche whether it was his countenaunce because he had lefte talkyng or whether for that he was inwardly drie the reporter of this tale could tell me no further but saied that his eye was neuer of hym all that dinner while after Now maister studente of Paris this verie noble manne in deede and worthie to bee had in longe remembraunce was of better experience in the fertilitée of this Realme then ye would seme to knowledge And had an other maner of faithe to God for the continuaūce then ye haue to feare suche a lacke and scarcitée And as for the multitude of the people that of old tyme hath been in the realme in comparison that bee now as it is yet at this daie muche replenished by the spare of Goddes hande from plagues warres and other mortalitees he bee praised therefore yet ye maie goe into three hundreth Parishe Churches at this daie and finde not on the Sundaies so muche people that the Churches bee pestured with to many But as for populositie of people that haue been in this Realme I thinke some men could saie somwhat I dare saie for Linne and Lincolne not the third man now there that haue dwelt there some tyme. I remember that beyng once at a marchaunte mannes table in London whiche was in the verie laste yere of Iubilee so coumpted commonlie I heard a man rehearse how that Platina writeth that Pope Boniface the eight whiche did write hymself the Lorde of all the worlde bothe of Spiritualtées and Temporaltées to and that therevpon the possession whiche Constantine gaue to the Churche was not a gifte but rather a restitution to the right Lorde and owner as the Canonistes saie that I saie the saied Boniface did constitute euery hundred yere for the yere of Iubilee and did priueledge those yeres of Iubilee with great indulgence and pardon of cleane remission In respecte of which greate grace to be gotten in those yeres for suche as will dispose them selues thereto Pope Clemente the sixte brought it to fiftie yeres and Pope Paule the seconde chaunged that from .l. yere to .xxv. yere and that as Fasciculus temporum noteth in fauorē animarum vt quia abundauit iniquitas superabūdaret gratia saieth he that is of greate zeale and fauour to mennes soules that because wickednesse did redounde so should grace also abounde the more At whiche talke there was an honeste plaine manne saied that readyng sometyme in the Englishe Chronicles he noted that he read of twoo recourses of yeres of Iubilee whiche were not very gracious to mennes bodies within the Realme The one he saied was aboute the thirtene yere in the daies of kyng Henry the seuenth in whiche yere died in London aboue .xxx. thousande people thother yere of Iubilee was about the .xxiiij. yere of kyng Edward the third in whiche yere and aboute the same there was suche an vniuersall Pestilence that neither the parties beyonde the sea was free as in Paris died fiftie thousande at sainct Denis fourtene thousande As for Italie Platina writeth in vita Clementis .vi. that there was not left skant tenne of euery thousande men Whiche Pestilence he importeth to the great confluence of people that came into Italie this yere of Iubilee for pardon But in Englāde euery where innumerable destroied in so muche that he tolde it out of Fabiā that after thei had buried in euery Churche yarde within London and emong the Religious houses to thei were faine to vse the greate Churche yarde of the Chartor house in whiche onely were buried aboue fiftie thousande corses And as it chaunsed there was a man whiche semed to be a credible man of the Citée of Norwich whiche declared that thei had in their Citée a record of those that died at that tyme in Norwiche whiche he saied amounted as he was well remembred thereof lvij thousande CCC.lxxiiij beside Ecclesiasticall persones and poore waifairing people and beside .xxxix. which died of the Monkes He supposed it to bee a greater number then was in these daies in the whole Citée and fiue miles about He told further of so marueilous a plague that was once at a towne thereby called Yarmouthe and there recorded that he marueiled how the towne could holde so many Notwithstandyng yet this greate mortalitie kyng Edwarde that victorious kyng who wanne Calice whiche almightie GOD long defende wanted not people the very same yere to encounter with a greate Nauie that came out of Spaine and had the victory Nor yet wanted people in the yeres next immediatly followyng to pursue that he had begunne in Fraūce At whiche tyme he furnished his first begotten sonne Prince Edwarde with an houge armie wherewith he wente to Gascoyne and so by Tholouse to Nerbon brennyng and spoylyng all the
where he a freshe renewed the old prohibitions and decrees agaynst priestes concubines Roger Houenden Geruasius anno 1174. Chro. Ierouallensis who yet of his fatherly pitie dyd consecrate one Galfride Ridel archdeacon of Canterburie to be bishop of Elye who was the thirde in order of the first erection as the catologes of the bishoppes of Elye doth recorde Which sayde Galfride shoulde haue gone to Rome with the sayde Richard elect of Canterburie and with Reginald elect of Bathe for the confirmation of their elections Whereas Alexander then pope dyd much blame the absence of the others elect bishops of Englande vidz elect of Winchester Herforde Chichester and of Elye Whiche pope dyd more earnestly aske why the elect of Elye came not with them The bishop of Orleans aunswered Forsooth sayde he Habet excusationem Euangelicam He hath the excuse of the Gospell What is that saith the pope Sir saith he he hath maryed a wyfe and therfore can not come And though there was then much altercation brought before the pope and cardinalles yet the pope dyd foorthwith consecrate the elect of Canterburie And he after he was returned home to Englande dyd consecrate the said Richarde anno 1174. pridie nonas Octob. anno regni Hen. 2 xxi who lyued bishop there vntyll he dyed though he ended his lyfe at Winchester intestate anno 1189. the firste yere of kyng Richarde In which sayde catologe is also recorded that the sayde Richarde before his election dyd openly purge his innocentie by oth that he procured not the death of Thomas Becket neither by worde nor deede nor wrytyng which was also required of Roger archbishop of Yorke and of Gilbert bishop of London and so in the Assention day in his owne churche he was intronizate whereto he gaue very great giftes saith the storie Thus hytherto this holsome decree of Anselme belyke howesoeuer saith the storie it had fauour of some at the first and what earnestie soeuer he shewed therin was not kept nor yet receaued vniuersally seyng that this Richarde wyttyngly dyd consecrate the sayde Galfride hauyng a wyfe and so aduouched before the popes holynes and the whole consistorie of cardinalles In this Richarde his dayes was a synode holden by hym and some of his brethren at Wodstocke anno 1175. Hen. 2.21 to chose a bishop for the bishopricke of Norwich and for chosyng of abbottes whiche were many vacant Amongst which their election they dyd elect Galfride the kynges sonne to the bishopricke of Lyncolne after that it was voyde xvij yeres almost by reason of the morgagyng therof into the kynges handes But king Henrie his father would not haue hym then consecrated for that he was within yeres and knewe not whether he was necessarie to the gouernement of suche a dignitie VVil. Neu. lib. 2. cap. 22. and therfore the kyng sent hym to Towres to haue some exercise in the scholes there vntyll he was thought worthy that he might take the dignitie of such honor Though yet his sonne aunswered not his expectation and thervpon for his vnworthynesse compelled hym to resigne it agayne Nubrigen lib. 4. cap. 2. whom notwithstandyng kyng Stephen his brother next succeedyng hym preferred to the archbishopricke of Yorke See here this good kynges zeale whiche he had in the election of a bishop Belyke it may appeare that the kyng had more regard then all the bishoppes had besides Which acte is worthy to be had in remembraunce to shewe to all princes to cleargie men and noble men specially patrones of benefices to haue a conscience with them in preferring men to such heauenly chargeable and worthy office of the cure of mans soule And in the dayes of this bishop the kyng was counsayled to build an Abbey to the honor of God and S. Thomas of Canterburie Rog. Houeden anno 1177. Rex Hen. 2 23. for the remission of his sinnes as the storie saith And so was the churche of seculer prebendaries in Waltham turned out they expulsed for their wyues belyke and reguler chanons brought in That is vi chanons from the abbey of Circester and vi of Osney and iiij of S. Oses and of some of them made officers and replenyshed the house with chanons about the number of an hundred or fourscore at the least besydes their externe officers of the house Thus was religion the decaye of seculer learned men a cause of their expulsions so much had they blynded the eyes of princes at that tyme to multiplie dumbe munckes and to hynder preachyng prebendaries VValter Couentriensis Neuerthelesse the kyng gaue to the Deane in recompence a manour of his duryng his lyfe and gaue the prebendaries accordyng to the value of their prebendes and suche prebendaries as woulde not receaue such recompence that they shoulde holde their prebendes duryng their lyues at the discretion and estimation yet of archbishop Richard who was present with other bishops as were also the deane and the prebendaries when the kyng in his owne person put the reguler chanons in possession In deede the Romishe sleyght wrought in this kynges facte Fabian ann Henr. 2.28 for such alteryng the house of Waltham abbey is to be considered the grounde wherof was as it is tolde by storie that the kyng had vowed and sworne before two cardinalles to go in his owne proper person to warre agaynst Christes enemies in the holy lande they so deuising to bereue the realme of their prince and to ieoperde his person to the reuenge of Thomas Beckets death whiche was layde to his charge But the wyle was perceaued and he promised for dispensation of his oth to buylde three Abbeys in Englande Which sleyghtie iniunction of the cardinalles the kyng was councelled as prudently to fulfyll For he turned as is sayde the seculer chanons of Waltham into reguler chanons for one foundation and for buyldyng of the seconde Abbey he turned the Munkes out of the Abbey of Almesbury and set in their steede Nunnes and for the thirde foundation he renewed sparyngly the charterhouse of Witham besides Salisburie and thus perfourmed the condition of his dispensation of buyldyng of three Abbeys But thus was not the Romyshe quarrell quieted towardes the kyng For the pope Lucius the thirde was well contented when one Heracleus patriarch of Ierusalem came into the Realme to moue hym to trauayle agaynst the Sarasens and was very instant vppon hym to take that iorney puttyng hym in mynde of the oth that he once made before the two cardinalles aforesayde But the kyng perceauyng the craftie dryft aunswered that he would liberally bestowe of his owne to the charge of such vyage but he myght not depart from his owne lande and leaue it as a pray to the aduersarie This aunswere the Patriarch toke very displeasauntly and angerly The kyng yet somewhat to pacifie hym accompanyed hym vnto the sea syde but the more the kyng laboured to satisfie hym the more was the Patriarch offended speaking spytefull wordes agaynst the kyng
thynges so many hundred yeres before thei were amisse And that Theodoret could talke of thinges that were doen aboute .300 yere after he was dead You fauourers of Martine beholde your owne follie Furthermore the decree of Eugenius the fourth whereby the vnion of the Easte and Weste Churches were declared doeth shewe as the same Pope Eugenius doeth confesse that this dissention for the proceadyng of the holy ghoste began Nongentis amplius annis that is to saie more then .900 yeres before his tyme. And Eugenius the .4 began his rule in the yere of our Lorde .1431 out of the whiche number if ye take .900 and more accordyng to Pope Eugenius accompt it shall appere that Michael Paleologus though he were in the tyme of Nicholas the firste as Martine fasly reporteth was aboue 300. yeare after this dissention began whiche Martine for the mayntenaunce of his lyes saieth began in his tyme. If I shoulde bring in the firste caunsaile holden at Constantinople against Eunomius for deniyng of the procession of the holy Ghost from the Father and the Sonne what can Martine saie Againste this Eunomius Basil and other haue written plentifullie Thus ye see concerning the beginnyng of this heresie againste the holy Ghoste Martine is founde a falsifier of histories not onely by the supputation of yeres but also by the verie testimony of the Pope hymself his God Now concernyng the cause of the disention betwene the Grekes and the Latines wherwith Martin charged the Emperour Michaell Paleologus The learned man cardinall Bessarion Patriarche of Constantinople and Archbushoppe of Nicea writeth a whole Chapiter for declaration of the cause of this schisme and dissention shewyng that the Bushoppe of Rome was the causer thereof for that he Suà vnius authoritate fretus aduocata synodo generali particulam illam communi symbolo fidei non cum communi ascensu ascripsit that is when he had called a generall counsaile he tooke vpon hym of his owne priuate aucthority to adde this parcell of the proceadyng of the holy Ghoste from the father and the sonne to the common créede without the consent of the rest of the other Bushoppes there assembled The Pope was the cause of the dissention betwene the greke and the latine Church contrarie to Martine Behold good reader a plaine profe that it was the rashe and temerouse boldnes of the Busshoppe of Rome that caused this dissention who of his owne aucthoritie would doe that tumultuously whiche he might haue doen with others consente quietly and that was it which caused first all that dissention that ensued also the latter ruine mischief distructiō and Turkishe captiuitie which Martin saieth is this daie lighted vpon the churche of God in Grecia But Martin will saie the thyng that he did was good Yea but the maner of the doyng was suche as I thinke Martine if he throughly knowe it as he would seme to doe hym self for al his follie will not yet defende it And the inconueniencies that followed the Popes braules and beastly audacitie declare that the meanes whiche he vsed in compassyng his doynges were wicked and deuilishe So that wheras Martin imputeth the breach and contention betwene the Greke and the Latine churche and the ouerthrowe bothe of the Grecians Churche and kyngdome to the lecherous life of the vncle to the Emperour Michael Paleologus it is proued that the Pope the aucthour of all mischief in the Churche of God was the onely matche that kindeled this fire A worthie matter doubtlesse to depriue the Pope for euer after from bearyng any rule though there were nothyng els wherwith to charge hym And thus is Martin once again ouerthrowen with his owne reason Two lies of Martines at a cast and taken with a double lye aswell for the alledgyng of the heresie againste the holie ghoste to begin so lately whiche began so many hundred yeres before As for aduouchyng the dissention whiche rose betwene the Easte and the Weste Churche to procede first of lecherie and ambitiō as he termeth it in his note in the margente of the Emperour Michael Paleologus and his vncle whiche proceded firste as ye sée by the testimonie of Bessarion from Gods greate enemie the Pope the Archeheretique in Christendome Now to make aunswere to that fewe lines whiche remaineth in Martines first Chapiter I neede not to take farther paines because thei be nothyng els but lies and railynges grounded vpon false groundes as I haue before declared onely to this ende that Henry the eight the Queenes father might appere to the worlde bothe a Lechour an Heretique and a man full of all other wickednesse out of whose naughtie life Martine would haue all the preachyng in kyng Edwardes daies whiche he calleth heresie to haue his first originall And the procedynges of the late Parliament in the seconde yere of the Queenes reigne wherein all her fathers doynges in religion be condemned seme to confirme the same So that the Quéenes Father if he had been suche a man as the Papistes reporte hym were nowe condempned with vs. Wherefore it is to be thought seyng that almighty God hath permitted some of vs to suffer Martirdome by fire by bloodie persecution and the tirannie of the Popes Lawe and tormentes for professyng the truthe of Gods woorde that now the bodie of that noble Prince the Quéenes Father because he was the beginner of all this as Martine reporteth and the continuer of it .xxv. yeres as the procedynges of the Parliamente seme to pronounce shal bee taken vp at Windsore and burned as Wicklifes was All men of wisedome and discretion maie iudge of thee if thou were not as thou shewest thy self a shamelesse railer voide of all regarde against whom thy tongue talketh that it had been thy parte to haue couered the faulte of the Queenes Father if thou haddest any faulte wherewith to charge hym leste the worlde perceiue some vnnaturalnesse in her so to suffer her noble Father nowe beyng dead to bee railed vpon by one who shewed hym selfe a traitour to hym when he was a liue All the worlde right well knoweth that there is no sparke neither of Gods spirite neither of good nature in those children whiche are not greued to heare their deade parentes euill reported and their faultes reuealed Suche is the reuerence due to them that bee dead vnto whom we ought obedience in the time of their life And what good opinion maie any man euer hereafter conceiue of suche a Papiste and of a great rable of the rest who glory in nothyng more now then that thei haue been rancke traitours these many yeres And what thyng shall haue the name of vice where treason is made a vertue Or what iustice can be ministered where a traitour is the Iudge Who knoweth not in a Counsaile where there bee but twelue what a perilous thyng it was to haue one Iudas though none of the reste loued hym How muche more is it then perilous where all the reste
to expende and to expound the lawes of the realme in suche preiudiciall maner as he doth I would faine knowe how he can glose that Acte of Parliamente made in the .xxxij. yere of that noble Kyng Henry the eighte whiche is not as yet repealed but confirmed a newe for some parte thereof concernyng the prohibitions of the Leuiticall Lawe and standeth in sure force at this very daie wherein is plainly expressed that no reseruation or prohibition Goddes Lawe except shall trouble or empeche any mariage without the saied Leuiticall degrees And that all suche bee lawfull persones to contracte whiche bee not prohibited by Gods lawe to marrie I thinke this man can not saye that priestes mariages bee within suche degrees Ergo thei ought not to be troubled or impeched as this Lawe commaundeth And where this doctor writeth in th ende of his .ix. Chapiter full learnedly bee ye suer R. ij specially for a greate maister of the Chauncerie that the two actes in Kyng Edwardes daies aucthorisyng priestes mariages doeth not take a waie the penalties of the Canon lawe whiche assertion for the like how far it may be extended let wise menne iudge But if thei did he saieth yet could not the priestes take any aduauntage by them longer then thei did continue And he addeth his reason because saith he the auncient lawes of the churche as sone as the saied two statutes were taken awaie came straight in force againe Further saieth he for that thei were neuer extinguished but only for a time shadowed and brought a slepe And this he saieth is the opinion of the chief Doctors of the Ciuill lawe Now Master Ciuilian if ye had alledged this opinion as of suche as be learned and beareth good hartes to their owne naturall lawe of the realme your saiyng had been better proued in my conceite And I doubt muche whether it bee true that ye saie that the beste Ciuilians agréeth with you I thinke if it were searched there might be found as good Ciuilians comparable with those whom ye note to bee the chief Doctors of the Ciuill that bee not in your iudgemente in this your gaye booke And whether ye haue any manne learned in the temporall lawe that will ioyne in this opinion with your chief doctors in the Ciuill Lawe I would yet wishe euâ—n those though ye haue craftly trained them into suche opinion by the odiousnes of this cause of the poore priestes yet to aduise theÌ„ well for suche causes might arise to them selues in compasse of seuen yeares in the like cases that peraduenture thei would wishe not to haue it so vniuersally concluded as ye conclude it But sir yet let me aske you a question by the occasion offred of that Lawe of Kyng Henrie Anno. xxcij where it is determined in lawe wherof I thinke ye cannot shewe the like in this realme since Brute came first into England and ye knowe that it is a great wonder to your wit for thinges to come in law that fewe menne hath seen the like example before tymes I meane I saie for the nature of precontractes whiche by that statute bee vtterly voide if a second contract followeth and bee consummated with bodely knowledge Ye knowe that this acte for precontractes is repealed againe Anno secundo Edwardi sexti and restored to that force as once it was and so long before continued many hundreth yeres What do ye entend with such mariages as at this daie be a great meiny in Englande which began and were aduailable by force of that act seyng this act is now repealed Whether maie ye dissolue suche marriages and pronounce them nought seyng ye saie the â—orce of the olde Canons yea the force of a statute lawe too is in strength againe and debarryng euery man to vse that kinde of second contractyng for hereafter When ye haue well answered this one question I thinke suche as bée learned in the law could deuise more of suche kinde to set your gaie witte on worke And if ye list ye maie read that suche equitie was prouided for in the first yere of Kyng Edwarde the sixte in the .xj. Chapiter concernyng the peaceable enioiyng of mennes interestes geuen by acte before though afterward followeth a repeale by the Kynges letters patentes of the saied actes the parties might pleade the said actes repealed for there grauntes so enioyed by lawe I praie you coÌ„sider whether these rules of the lawes folowing might not haue place in this cause where it is saied Factum legitimum retractari non debet licét casus postea eueniat quo noÌ„ potuit inchoari A facte that was once lawfull ought not to bee called into question againe although afterwardes there happen somethyng that myght hinder the beginnyng of it Et multa prohibentur fieri que facta tamen tenent Many thynges are prohibited to be doen whiche when thei once bée doone must yet stand Indultum a iure beneficium non est alicui auferendum A benefite graunted by law must be taken from no man If any cause might be reduced to the equitie of these lawes I thinke the cause of Matrimonie beyng Gods ordinaunce ought to bée indissoluble and not to be retracted Moreouer if these mariages aforesaied ought not to bee dissolued but muste enioye the benefite of that statute when it so stode though it be repealed for hereafterward why should that act of repeale made in the first yere of our soueraigne Ladie the Quéenes maiestie Quéene Marie takyng a waye only but the libertie for Priestes to marrie for hereafter impeache or hinder those lawfull mariages of priestes before aucthorised by as good lawe and as often tymes before these daies seen more then king Edwardes repeale caÌ„ or ought molest these mariages for their maner of contractyng Furthermore if vpon repeale of actes as ye do saie your slepyng Canons should therby be straight waie in force watching and wakyng to shewe their face to byte and barke as the ordinaries in some places would haue them I doubt whether al the Quéenes highnes subiectes should haue so quiet reste in their beddes as thei would wishe and as their forefathers before tyme prouided for them selues by kepyng this slepyng tye dogge in his kenell not to come to farre a broode for bityng And because this Ciuilian deliteth to skoure his wit in lawest I desire his resolution in one doubt rising by occasion of his forsaied determination whiche is that all Ecclesiasticall persons lieth open to the old Canons of the Churche by reason of this acte of repeale Kyng Edwarde in his first yere made a statute repealyng all maner actes before his tyme made for punishement of Heresies as well the acte of King Richarde the seconde made in his first yere the act of Henrie the .v. made in his second yere the actes of Kyng Henrie the eight made in his xxv yere the act of .vj. articles made in the .xxxj. yere one other act made in the .xxxv. yere concernyng qualification of the
saied acte of six articles and all other suche whatsoeuer I aske of this Ciuilian whether because no great strong lawe is peraduenture in force at this daie in the realme for punishement of Heresies the whole realme Nobilitée Clergie and Commons lieth faier flatte wide open to all the Canons of the Churche or no by reason of this forsaied act of Kyng Edwardes repeale Whether his slepyng Canons shadowed for a tyme muste nowe a wake and come to light to shewe their faces and to playe ther partes If this Lawier saie yea as he doeth plainly in the case of Priestes mariage I thinke all the realme that knoweth the tract of those Canons and haue felt the breathe of them will I weene as boldly saie naie and swere it to in their owne cases And I thinke it should stand theÌ„ all in hande to holde that opinion as strongly as thei holde any Copie or freée hold thei possesse Thei might els peraduenture standyng suche ordinarie Iudges and Commissaries as somewhere thei shew themselues be driuen out of the best holds thei haue Whiche matter because it is weightier then I am able to discusse I leaue it to be expended noted among the Studentes of the temporall Lawes for their owne gaine and their frendes to so it might hap vt ne pridie fortasse faciaÌ„t quod pigeat postridie â–ª That thei doe not that one daie whiche thei repent the nexte daie And if these studeÌ„tes list to see but a little taste of the church lawes in cases of Heresie how indifferent and easie thei bee let them loke no further 6. decrete but on the lawes of that holy father Bonifacius the eight of whom Platina writeth that he entred into his papacie and Busshopricke like a For liued therin like a Lyon and died out thereof like a dogge Upon whose death the saied Platina writeth Afther this sort saieth he dieth this Boniface whose endeuour was rather to cast a terrour vpon Emperours Kynges Princes Nations and People then true Religion As for golde he gathered of euery hande beyonde all measure And heere therfore saieth he lette all Secular and Spirituall rulers learne by his example to vse their aucthoritie ouer the Clergie and the people not proudly contumeliously as he did but vertuously and courteously as Christ our gouernour did and as his disciples and true folowers vsed And let them rather desier to be loued of the people then feared whence springeth iustly the destruction that is wont to fall on tirauntes Thus farre Platina But to returne againe to this mans assertion wherin he defineth that the church Canons be ready watchyng straightway to fall into mens neckes vpon repeale of suche statutes as kept them backe whiche he doeth so boldly that belike the wise and well learned Commissaries in diuerse places without further aduisement taketh vpon them wonderouse stoutly to seperate not onlye Regulers but Seculers too against their willes and consentes Upon which their daynges I would aske them a question how thei can glose the wordes of Kyng Henries statute in his xxvij yere where it is plainly decréed in lawe that all maner Licences Dispensations and Faculties obtained of the Archebushop of Canterburie in matters not repugnaunt or contrary to the holy scriptures and lawes of God shall stand in full aucthoritie and strength without any reuocation or repeale hereafter to bee had of anye suche licence And I knowe diuerse maried Priestes whiche haue suche dispensations some corroborated by the Kynges broade Seale some by the saied Archebusshoppes seale I would faine learne how thei vnderstand these wâ—ightie lawes of the realme Belike as thei haue proceded in depriuatioÌ„s of many men neuer called or cited neuer conuict nor confessed some called on th one daie and flat depriued on the next daie not examinyng whether he were seculer or reguler maried before orders or after without all maner inquisitioÌ„ So belike thei desire to proceade in separations against bothe Gods lawe their owne And as for the lawes of the Realme thei make but washe waie of them so little comptyng of them that if a lorde should see his tenauntes in his Court baron so little regard the bye lawes of his courtes he would thinke them not vnworthie to lose their Copies And therefore me thinke this Ciuilian doeth little good seruice to the maiestie of the lawes of the realme nor yet any pleasure to the learned in the lawes whose professioÌ„ is to sée the lawes kept in strength indifferently and as thei professe it in their Sergeauntes rynges Or els their occupatioÌ„ will be sâ—ne out of estimation Yea if ye consider the drifte of his boke ye shall perceiue that he laboureth by all meanes Loke in his ix Chapiter Litera R. vnto the ende of that Chapiter and expend it to aduaunce all foraine lawes whatsoeuer farre aboue themperial lawes of our countrée For he saieth that it is but a poore shifte for an Englishe manne to stande to the statute lawe of the Realme if the Churche Lawes bee against hym And in his conference byndeth strongly vpon Ciuill constitutions of the Emperor Yea moreouer bryngeth in a greate armie of Prouinciall constitutions made of Clarkes of Conuocation onely in other foraine realmes to counteruaile yea to deface and skorne out our statutes and temporall ordinaunces as he maketh but a lippe at them in effect For he saith that all statutes made against the lawes of the Churche be to be demed ipso iure ipso facto vnlefull voide and of none effecte And the Spirituall lawe must medle with Spirituall matters where the kynges aucthoritée maie goe plaie hym his Iudges and Sergeauntes maie haue in hand their leauynges and suche as thei will truste them with Oh if kyng Henry were a liue againe thinke you this man would so write to teache his subiectes And hath kyng Henry of all suche as he hath promoted with liuynges and lordships no frendes Or rather the truthe it self yea the honour of the Realme no patrones to monishe this Ciuilian what he goeth about Shall this geare bee applauded to and magnified Let gloses be gloses and will will but let lawe be lawe againste all captious Ciuilians And as for the Commissaries them selues who aduentureth belike vpon his writynges so boldely maie one daie bee called before God to shewe how well thei haue proceaded eueÌ„ in their owne lawes Yea the Queenes maiestée maie fortune call them to accoumpte Whose grace willed them in these very matters to proceade agreably to learnyng and discretion Articles of Commssion in print published And in the very front of her graces articles chargeth the Ecclesiasticall Ordinaries to put in execution the Canons and Ecclesiasticall Lawes no other but suche as were vsed in the tyme of kyng Henry the eighte And commaundeth also moreouer that those should no further be put in execution but as thei maie stande with the Lawes and statutes of the Realme I could here saie somewhat but that I
will not for length cumber your eares with conuenient contemplatioÌ„s Well I leaue them to this Ciuilian to muse on for I knowe he hath suche a wit that no lawe or statute can be laied before hym but he can set his comment vpon it if ye will accepte his gloses If a manne obiecte that the states of the Realme hath made Lawe and taken order in this cause or any other suche like and therefore muste stande againste all the Lawes and Canons of the Churche then straightwaie he will beate you backe with the aucthoritée of the Churche and saie as the moste parte of all his disciples and adherentes allege that a particular Churche a little member of the whole can not derogate the vniuersall law of the churche Whiche saiyng how sounde it is let that old lawe testifie whiche was made in a Parliament holden at Northampton in the daies of kyng Henry the seconde almoste CCCC yeres ago whereat was presente a Legate called Hue sent from Rome by Alexander Pope then and notwithstandyng his presence and though Thomas Becket sporned at it before yet was it enacted cleane derogatory to the Lawes and Canons of the Churche that Priestes if the hunted in the Kynges Parkes or committed felonie murther or treason thei should be iudged before temporall Iudges accordyng to the Lawes of the Realme whiche Lawe and others is practised to this daie And furthermore let this foresaied article of the Queenes maiestie testifie whiche doeth plainly determine this question wherin her grace commaundeth that her Lawes the Lawes of her Croune shall stande in strengthe against all the vniuersall Lawes of our mother holy churche And I thinke all her graces progenitours froÌ„ tyme to tyme hath foreseen that Romishe Canons shall be but rules and Canons taken and refused vpon consent and as shall bee meete for the policie of the Realme Whiche poincte of learnyng is in suche absolute wise debated learnedly in a Booke written here in Englande intituled De potestate Regia Ecclesiastica that neither this Ciuilian nor all the Canonistes in Englande shall euer be able to answere it For it hath hetherto laine vnanswered these twentie yeres of all the Romanistes in Christendome And if this Ciuilian will reade it and expende it ouer and doubteth further of any poincte conteined therein let hym consulte with certaine of the Bushoppes that bee in moste aucthoritee at this daie by whose learnyng and collection the booke was written and thei can further resolue him And if that booke will not satisfie hym let hym resorte to an other intituled the Institution of a Christian man presented to kyng Henry the eight by all the Bushoppes of the Realme for stable doctrine to be vniuersally preached and so assured by the subscriptions of all their names as ye maie there reade their names Looke ouer the exposition of the .ix. and .x. article of the Crede and their doctrine written in the Sacramente of Order and consider their iudgementes If it be further obiected that the king could doe no more in dispensation then the Pope was able whiche as some saie caÌ„ dispense with the singular case of one or twoo in a Realme but not with a whole Realme or with the whole state thereof as kyng Edwarde hath doen with the whole Clergie if their opinion bee true how could the Busshoppe of Rome Innocent the viij as Volateran writeth dispense with the whole countree of Noruegia to coÌ„secrate the Cuppe without wine in Ale or Bere contrary to the vsage of Christe and his Churche How could he dispense with whole Bohemie for receiuyng the Communion in bothe kindes And how could Paule the thirde offer the same dispensation to all Germanie as appeareth in his Bulle for the reduction of the same nation to Rome Churche againe Howe could Gregorie the firste dispense with all the Realme of Englande for their mariage within the degrees prohibited Or yet how could he dispense and geue licence to Augustine our apostle not to folowe Rome Churche so precisely in forme of Spirituall gouernaunce but hadde hym deuise a forme hym self of the vsages of other countrées and to take the best and so instill it and other suche thinges as he could other where learne into the tender myndes of the Englishe nation as many of suche nature might be alledged If it bee obiected that the Pope can not dispense with the generall Counsaile that will not serue For it is commonly holden of the Canonistes that the Pope is aboue the Counsaile and maie dispense with the Counsaile as thei alledge Extra de consang affi non debet of Innocent the third which released the prohibitions of consanguinitée affinitee in Counsailes before restrained yea in suche degrees as Gregorie saith who that dissolue them beleueth not that Goddes woorde will endure for euer Can. 35. q. 10. Fraternitatis Now if this Ciuilian would haue this poinct yet further debated by the learnyng of the Iudges of the realme scilicet how farre Ecclesiasticall Lawes are to be admitted let hym go to the statute of the .xxvij. yere of kyng Henry the eighte and see what thei reserue from the makers of Ecclesiasticall Lawes Prouided alwaie saie thei that no Canons constitutions or ordinaunces shall bee made and putte in execution within this realme by aucthoritée of the Conuocation of the Clergie which shal be contrary or repugnaunt to the kynges prerogatiue royall or the customes lawes or statutes of this realme And in the xxv yere in the like statute fearyng belike the dint of these double strong CanoÌ„s that might be made thei speake more precisely in the like prouiso and saie not onely contrary or repugnant but derogatorie to the Lawes of the realme And if the Iudges and Sergeauntes of the realme will now for to doe this man pleasure geue vp their holde in these and suche poinctes whiche their forefathers hath with tothe and naile alwaies maintained before tymes I wene it would come to passe before twentie yeres should come to an ende that men would rather retaine one poore Canonist for counsaile in their causes then fixe of the best Iudges and Sergeauntes of theim all whereby Westminster hal might chaunce to be colder bothe in Winter and Sommer to for their gaine I warraÌ„t you these whom he calleth the chief doctours of the Ciuil Lawe whom he aduoucheth to bee of this â—aithe and belief would loose nothyng by that bargaine If his chief doctors could but obtaine that thold acte of prouiso made in king Edward the third his daies in the .xlviij. yere of his raigne wonderful derogatorie to the lawes of our mother holy churche might in suche a good season as this is be throwen vnder foote although yet it were better it were at a more certaintie ye shall sone espie that these CiuiliaÌ„s would not long tracte the tyme to be then the chief doctors of bothe the common Canon lawe to Whiche lawe of Prouiso although Pope Gregorie the leuenth did muche repine at
and saied that to make suche a Lawe was nothing els but to diuide Christes churche to destroie Christian religion and that it was againste all Gods forbode and though Pope Martyn the v. of that name wrote sharper letters to Henry the .vi. to haue it reuoked yet the kinges and the nobles aforsaied would none of it thei would stande to their Lawes whiche thei made in their policy how cōtrary soeuer Rome lawes were against them or how faine soeuer the Bushops of Rome would haue had their eyes still bent vpon vs as my Lorde of Winchester writeth in that their vniuersall carefulnesse of Prouiso Well looke vpon kyng Henry the eightes Acte in his .xxv. yere and fourtene Chapiter for the preamble and then smell if ye can what this Ciuilian meaneth by this gaie inuention of his to saie that vpon a Statute of Repeale the Canons succeadeth by and by in full force and strength And here I muche maruell that one thyng skapeth not onely this farcastyng Ciuilian but all his chief doctors of the Ciuill Lawe to For if this deuice be so greate a warraunte as he maketh it to the Commissaries in the maried Priestes case how chaunceth it that because kyng Edwardes statute before rehearsed of his firste yere repealed al his progenitours Actes for punishemente of heresies thei doe not tell the Spirituall Lordes others of the Conuocation whiche would so faine haue newe mens heades vnder their old girdels by the Act whiche was so muche labored for for heretikes at this laste Parliamente that seyng now all the old statutes bee put awaie for this matter of heresie and the realme hath no Lawe in strengthe and necessary it were as true it is that heresie should be brideled that therevpon tombleth me in all the whole rablement of the Churche Canons and Lawes by heapes with all their force and paines And therefore this Ciuilian might bidde the Ordinaries and all their Commissaries how sore and extreme soeuer thei listed to bee bee of good chere and dispaire not to want their willes for if thei looke well about them thei haue now by the benefite of kyng Edwardes statute and in this respect he might be called good king Edward or king Edward the sainct more in their handes then euer thei had these CC. yeres Now how this wittie deuice would be receiued and where it would be most thankefully taken or whether it would turne to the wealth of the realme Let other men expende and make answere to this Ciuilian and to other of his cheif doctors whether there were any misterie of mischief in it or no. I thinke that as in all Kynges dayes sence the conquest the wise and learned menne of the realme from tyme to tyme hath alwaie moderated the Canons lawes of the vniuersall church as small a mēber of the same as the Romanistes of these daies in contemptuous comparison would make their owne naturall countrée to the aduauncement of a counterfette and vnnaturall congregation at Rome whiche Churche thei full aptly call the temple of God and toke Canons but as rules of consente and refused them againe as fréely by consent and extinguished them and their paynes with them And yet were no princes of infidelitie as ye make a faier insinuation therof in your v. Chapiter I. iiij and euer preferred the Imperiall Lawes of the state of the realme for their surest inheritances as the Quéenes highnes at this daie doeth euen the same with good deliberation And yet the Queenes grace and her Nobles nor her graces progenitours nor their olde auncitours neither not counted the lesse catholike to God and to the true churche of Christ for suche bridelyng in of these sléepyng and dreamyng Canons of whiche progenitours saieth my Lorde of Winchester some of them bee saintes in heauen and be so honoured and reputed at these daies So I thinke the wise and learned menne at the makyng of the saied act of Kyng Edwarde in his first yere ment not that wher thei deuised it specially to resist extremities of lawes thei should imprudently or wittyngly bryng in tenne tymes more extremities then euer thei were vnder before that act was made When wise menne by the occasion of suche cases haue pondered by them selues what signes and profers bee made by this Ciuilian by the case of Priestes mariages whiche though the Deuill and all his members laboreth by all meanes to foile yet standyng as thei do vpon the rocke of Gods lawes specially for seperation and that separation beyng against the iudgement of the beste and eldest writers in Christes Churche standyng the aucthoritée of the kynges Imperiall croune and so many lawes knitte and combined in suche validitée as thei be made I doubt not but some man at length will saie Quòd non est talis casus in tota lege quod est valdè difficilis That there is not suche a case in all the lawe and that it is very harde as easelye as this lawier passeth it ouer And then againe rauyng in this one case of poore Priestes mariages whom to ouercome in their priuate case is no great maistery nor no great care taken although yet priestes to suffer violence of priestes will in th end litle aduaunce the whole Clergie I saie what myre maie be raked vp to make a shrewed perfume to their owne nooses in their owne cases and states I lette other menne consider It was wonte to be saied Qui vni iniuriam facit omnibus facit He that dothe wrong to one in effect doth wrong to all But what forceth this Ciuilian what lawes soeuer be against hym so thei bée no better then statute lawes of this poore outcaste Isle and perticuler Churche of England And whatsoeuer be iudged of hym so he may haue the victorie in this cause what care taketh he either what miserie and mischeife cometh to the priestes whō he hateth so spitefully or what inconueniencies maye ensue to the whoole realme by suche barbarousnes as is induced for want of ministers or what inconueniencies of vnspeakeable whoredomes and filthines pretily in some places alreadie begunne and practised by reason of suche forced separations wil folowe so he maie haue his purpose of this noble conquest For if the glorie of victorie were not so vnreasonably sought for in his glorious booke and if he were not beyond al measure incensed with malice against them as he appeareth or if he were not the man that belike hath so highlye aduaunced hymself in his own conceite that he thinketh no man dare or will dissent from hym or els haue set his forehead impudently so headstrong against all menne that he careth not who loketh in his face He could neuer be so farre past shame as he is so openly in so many places of his booke to lye in aduouchyng such aucthorities as he doth in the perticulers of his probations I maruell before God that he is not a shamed so boldly and irreuerently to vtter his lyes to the Queenes highnes
men doe the same that there could bée founde many in the Clergie whiche while thei liue in soole life might perfourme a true chastitie in deede yet bearyng at the least with other he leaueth it as he founde it Now to inferre of this his acte what might bee more iustly saied for the priestes of Englande alreadie so maried in so greate scarsitee of Ministers so many Chresten menne and women forced to liue without all maner religion throughout the whole realme I leaue it to the Magistrates to expende And to the christianly harted readers occation to praie to God for whatsoeuer Gods good spirite within them shall moue them therto And because this man is a Ciuilian let hym loke in the Code whether he reade not that some of this noble Emperors progenitors did priuelege spirituall men their Wiues their Children and Seruauntes both menne and women to be free from the homage called Perangaria Wherby he may fortune espie that their mariages were not only thought tollerable but also iudged honorable beyng so priuileged with suche prerogatiue And if he will looke further lette hym searche whether Iustinian the Emperour commended not a certen Bushop specially in respect that he had priestes and Busshops to his auncestours In nouellis constitut iii. That prudente and Christian Prince of noble memorie Kyng Henrie the eight vnderstandyng that certen in his realme were maried as well Regulers as seculers without aucthoritee and common Lawe made an open proclamatiō in the .xxx. yere of his reigne wherin he did but for afterwarde charge that no man should attempt the same again And did not dissolue the saied mariages being so priuatly contracted The wordes of whiche proclamation be these The kynges maiestie vnderstandyng that a fewe in numbre of this his Realme beyng Priestes as well religious as other haue taken wiues and maried themselues c. his highnes in no wise mindyng that the generalitée of the clergie of this his realme should with the example of suche a few number of light persōs proceade to mariage without a comon consent of his highnes his realme doeth therfore straightly charge cōmaunde as well all singuler the said priestes as haue attempted mariages that be openly knowen as all suche as wil presumptuously proceade to the same that thei ne any of thē shal minister any Sacrament or other ministerie misticall Ne haue any office dignitée cure priuilege profit or commoditée heretofore accustomed belongyng to the Clergie of this realme but shall be vtterly after suche mariages expelled and depriued from the same and be had and reputed as laye persones to all intentes and purposes And that suche as shall after this proclamation contrary to his commaūdement of their presumptuous mind take wiues and be maried shall runne in his graces indignation and suffer further punishment and imprisonment at his graces will and pleasure Datū xvi Nouembris anno regni sui xxx Here it maie be considered what moderation this wise Prince thought mete to be vsed in suche mariages as wer passed without comon consent of whiche he knewe by information a good number from tyme to tyme and yet did bothe tolerate the same whiche were vsed secretly and such as were openly knowen did not seperate them but commaunded them to bee reputed as lay persones And his highnes was not ignorant how necessary it had beene to haue graunted the libertée in his daies whiche but for some certane zelous Counsailers pretendyng how euill the people would take it had been doone by his aucthoritee As was not vnknowen to diuerse whiche heard hym oft speake of that matter If suche moderation as kynges and Emperours haue made in this matter will not serue to moue this maister of Chauncery to temper his extremitie wee will laie before hym some suche potentates whiche paraduenture he accoumpteth to bee of hier aucthoritée in suche matters and will soner bee perswaded by them as Popes Coūsailes and Bushops decrées To satisfie his expectation somewhat wee reade in Platina that Pius Pope of Rome the second of that name was wont to speake these woordes Quòd magna ratione sublatae sunt nuptiae a sacerdotibus sed tamen sibi videri maiori ratione restituendas He affirmed that the cause was great whiche toke a waie mariage from priestes but yet there was greater cause why thei should bee restored to them againe This was this Popes opinion and iudgement And further he writeth Epistola 130. contra Bohemos that in the primatiue churche the Clergie had wiues and that the communion was distributed in bothe kyndes This Pope called before Aeneas Siluius a mā of learnyng as his bokes doth testifie could vpon his owne experience to be fidelis Pontifex that is a faithfull Busshop beare better with the infirmities of others then our holie virgins maiden priestes can now at these daies For in the tyme that he was Cardinall he was not without his remedie For he had one hymself and whether he was werye of her and would haue a newe or that for age he listed now to bee holier it is testified in the .361 Epistle that he gaue her for her dowrie to set her out with thre score florence I doubt not but that he dispensed fauorablie inough when he came to be Pope with suche as hymself was was not so froward as our holy hypocrites be that lay heauie burthens vpon other mens backes will not ease the burthen with the least finger of their handes These head fathers at Rome haue been before now and be at this daie I doubt not more gentle then we be in this particuler Churche For we reade in the life of Franciscus Petrarcha who was a prebendarie at Padua and Archedeacon of Parma that holy Pope Benette the twelft of that name he that would not knowe his kynsfolkes when thei came to hym and saied that a Pope hath no kyndred in yearth This holy father perceauyng how this Poet Lawreate was in such amorous loue with a certē wenche called Laureta peraduenture his sisters brothers daughter that he could neuer dreame and speake to muche of her worthines in his sonettes and sounges of poetrie And leste the saied Archedeacon should be ouercome with to much heauie loue and lose the full fruition of her saieth the storie he graunted hym of his gratious pardon to take her to his wife and ex vberiore gratia graunted further that he should not lose thereby any one of his promotions but should haue more benifices added to those he had alreadie so that of gentle curtesie againe he would graunte to the saied holy Pope the vse of his sister which he brought also with hym to Rome in whose beautie the holy father was taken whose companie and fauoure should do hym more pleasure for his conscience then his owne kinsfolkes Reade the storie and se whether I lye Platina Fasciculus temporum and the said life of Petrarcha Yet good reader here treade warely in the iudgyng of this Popes
for continencie Therfore leste he should driue the state into a narrow strayght if he had prescribed most exact vertue therfore he chose rather to moderate his counsell lest els vpon mistrust that menne might haue to reache to so hie vertue the churche should be without Busshops Thus farre Chrysostome If suche fathers as were head and moste excellent pastours of the churche were expended M. Martin in their writinges in their moderations and if true chastitee of the clergie in deede were sought as is pretended yea if it were left to euery mannes libertée freely as Epiphanius saieth that in Thessalia no man was compelled but of their owne will thei performed that chastitee ye should haue an other maner Clergie in Englande shortly to Goddes glory and honour and wealth of the realme then ye be like this waie do the best you can with all the straint ye can vse I tel you M. Martin the world is to farre past the calling of your pipe If ye feare that insolencie and dissolute behauiour should deface the Clergie if this were suffered why Master Martin wherefore serue your Synodes your Busshoppes and archdeacons visitations onely but to gather vp their mony why might not the old Godly Canons be reduced again to expell thē out of the Clergie that are incorrigible To depose Haukers Hunters Dycers Cardars Dronkerds Byers and Sellers Horehunters Usurers and Symoniackes Let these Canons be reuiued if euer ye will haue your Clergie of good fame before God and of good name before man Yea with lesse lawe of compelled chastitée peraduenture ye might haue the more numbre of true chaste Priestes in deede But be as bée maye But now M. doctor wher ye make it a great matter for priestes to mary after their order because ye haue seen no example nor yet can not reade it written in any record or Chronicle I shall answere you with the wordes of a very new writer Genesius de ritu nuptiarum Hic enim non quid factum sit fiat ve querimus sed omnino quid fieri possit in tam varia tamque inconstante rerum humanarum natura And with the like wordes of an other newe writer Non est scriptum Ergo non est factum Non est factū Ergo non licet facere Vt factum sit vel non factum hominum facta non debent praeiudicare verbo dei ▪ quid si destitueremur exemplo hominum cum habeamus verbum dei That is to saie Our question is not in this poinct what hath been doen but determinatlie what maie bee doen specially standyng the variable and inconstant nature of thinges that parteine to man For what argumente is it It was neuer written Ergo it was neuer doen It was neuer doen Ergo it is not lawfull to bee doen Howsoeuer it hath been doen or vndoen mennes doyngs maie not preiudice Gods saiynges And what if we lacke mannes example so we haue for vs the word of God And if we could bring no example is it therefore intollerable I praie you Master doctor of the Chauncerie answere your learnyng Is the lacke of a president a preiudice to the law and right Were he not a wise lawier that would brable on this fashion against the Queenes maiesties title for beyng supreme gouernour of this realme because we haue not had many examples of the lyke before tyme And saie when was it euer seen in the realme since Christes faithe toke place here since Christe was knowen in deed that a ladie woman in her owne title should be the ruler and head of the land Yes how many yeres before Christes birth was there seen suche an example And will ye see He might saie The very auncient Lawes themselues of the realme renneth all in the name of the kinge neuer of a Queene The prerogatiue roiall all inuestured in the persons of a kynge as forseeyng suche example should or could neuer followe in vre c. Were not this mannes reasonyng yea foolishe cauillation thinke you a substaunciall processe to disproue a title for lacke of an example When God nature lawe testament publike consent all concurreth together of the lawfulnesse thereof And yet if this Ciuilian would so faine knowe where to see or read some examples of suche as maried after their orders and vowe I will tell hym at this tyme leste he should lose his calfe of fower in good storie till an other time that we shall be able to shewe hym .xxiiij. and that written I will shewe hym of twoo of my saied fower in Ecclesiasticall storie And the other in other credible Historiographers And at these laste twoo I will begin Master Martin if ye list to resorte to Volateranus Lib. 4. Geograph because I wil sende you no further there ye maie reade that one Nicholaus Iustinianus a Mōke maried Anne to wife whiche was the daughter of Vitalis Duke of the Uenetians And Munster in his Cosmographie writeth that Ramirus Monke and Priest was taken out of his Monkrie and Priesthode and for lacke of issue of his twoo brethren Peter and Alfonsus was made kyng of Aragon and Spaine and called Ramirus the fourthe of that name And because wee haue made mention of Spaine ye maie resorte to a late Spanishe writer Ioannes Genesius and he will be my witnesse for one of these twoo that I haue rehearsed And for that ye shall thinke your labour well bestowed to searche it out of hym he will tell you of a third votarie called Constantia daughter of Rogerus kyng of Naples or Cicile as some writers saie whiche was taken out of her Monasterie to be maried to Henry Emperour the firste of that name and that after she had made a solēne vowe And yet her constauncie not flaundered by this facte at al. For it was doen by the dispensation of Pope Celestine the .iij. highly blessed and it was as highly rewarded And if we should iudge the facte by Platina his storie the dispēsation was not geuen neither in respecte of soule health nor common wealth but euen with as couert wordes bought and solde as any was said Quid vultis mihi dare c. but because we haue named you a noble woman that was taken out of her Abbeye after her vowe and that a kynges daughter we shall name emong our nation a kynges sonne to matche her and was heire apparant to kyng Constantine the seconde about the yere of our Lorde 444 who was in like maner no more charged with inconstancie for forsakyng his vowe as she forsoke hers then he differeth from her in name For he was called Constantius and was Monke in the Monasterie of sainct Amphibolus at Winchester which of late was called sainct Swithunes and hath now the holy Trinitee for patron whiche I trust shall kepe still his possession doubting nothyng that either Amphibolus or Swithune will take vpon them to intrude thē selues againe As for this Constantius that was taken out of his Abbeye and made
his order and maried a wife Whiche kyng was by some mennes opinion the firste founder of the Uniuersitée at Oxforde Whiche should bee more to their glory for antiquitée to haue hym so reputed then Aluredus who succeded well nigh .lx. yeres after hym For whose sake yet I truste master Martin will bee better to orders that be vowed Whiche saied Leo is noted in storie to be of suche wisedome and vertue that he had accordyng to the Gospell both the prudence of the Serpente and the simplicitée of the Doue of so modeste a nature and clemencie that where in th ende of a victorie against the cruell Sarazens some would haue had diuerse of them hanged vp at Rome gates for the terrour of others he would not suffer it And yet againe in preseruyng the discipline of the churche in punishment of idle and not resident Cardinalles so seuere that he gathered a Synode of .xlvij. Busshoppes and condempned and depriued one Anastasius Cardinall of S. Marcelles Not specially because he had been absent frō his cure and parishe 1. Q. 7. Rigor fiue yere space together Thus yet the saied Leo writeth to the Bisshoppes of Englande Nisi rigor disciplinae quandoque relaxetur ex dispensatione misericordiae multorum enim crimina sunt damnabilia quae tamen ecclesia tolerat pro tempore pro persona intuitu pietatis vel necessitatis siue vtilitatis pro euentu rei pro tempore sicut Gelasius qui cum necessitate temporis videret Italicam ecclesiam propter belli famisque incursionem fere omnium clericorū officio destitutam adeo vt plerisque populis subsidia regendarum deessent animarum concessit de Monachis vel de Laicis clericos assumi Except the rigour of the Churches discipline were some tyme released by dispensation of mercie For many mennes crimes be dampnable whiche yet be tolerated by the Churche for consideration of the tyme and persone in respect of mercie of necessitée or of commoditée and vpon the chaunce of the matter as maie fall As for example in respect of the tyme we reade that Gelasius when he sawe by the necessitée of the tyme the Churches of Italie to bée destitute and voide almoste of all their spirituall ministers by occasion of the rage of warre and famine so greatly that muche people wanted their comforte for pastours of their soules he did permitte that Curates might be chosen either emonges the religious or yet emong the lay men And that in the primatiue churche vppon the necessitie of the tymes or for some other good and profitable purposes they haue boldly dispensed with the canons of the churche and such orders as haue ben straytly obserued and rigorously exacted before their dayes it may most euidently appeare by sundry ecclesiasticall stories examples As that the church of Millane Nicephorus Lib. 11. ca. 32. with the approbatiō of Valentinian the emperour did chose Ambrose to be their archbishop beyng a mere lay man in lay office and that before he was baptised So was Nectarius a lay senator occupied al his lyfe long in prophane office Lib. 12. ca 12. sodainly elected to be bishop of Constantinople Theodosius the emperour beyng there present and assentyng therto and yet the said Nectarius was not as thē a christian man by receauyng the sacrament of baptisme And Synesius a platonicall philosopher brought vp in the studie of prophane learnyng Li. 14. ca. 55. addict to the decrees and principles therof not as yet won conuerted to Christes religion was preferred by that learned bishop Theophilus Alexandrinus to priesthood and by the holy handes of Theophilus to a bishopricke immediatly after his baptisme And before he made open protestation to the knowledge of the churche of Ptolemais where he shoulde be bishoppe that except they would freely permit him to reteyne his philosophicall opinions of not beleuyng the resurrection of mens bodies or that the worlde shoulde haue an ende he woulde not accept their offer Yea he further conditioned with them that where God the lawes had geuen hym a wyfe he woulde not forsake her in any wise and that he woulde nowe haue secrete familiaritie with her as a fornicator For th one he said was not godly thother nothing lawful but rather saith he I wyll and wyshe more chyldren to be borne vnto me by her I thynke veryly it would be harde to fynde lawes or examples of former tymes past to approue these doynges whervpon I iudge euery indifferent man may se how the canons should be expounded and howe the churche rules shoulde be ruled Not so straytly laced as ye make them or as ye force them nor so ment of the greatest canon makers them selues As ye may reade among the decrees of the said pope Gelasius in the first second thirde howe he as I haue written afore would not with all his auctoritie diuorce such votaries as were maried after their vowes but left them to God and to their consciences that in suche necessitie of ministers as chaunced in Italy he was content that thei should take both munckes out of their abbeys contrary to their profession and lay men frō their lay offices contrary to the prescriptiō of the canons And moreouer confesseth in his first chapter of hym selfe thus Nos magno reatu innecteremur si tanto coartāte periculo nō aliquatenus consulamus We should saith he be worthyly charged as much giltie if in so great perilous constraint we should not prouide some remedie What necessitie the realme is in for want of ministers at this day how fast men wyl ren to orders hereafter being destitute of the hope for such protection couerynges of their skapes I weene it wyll be spyed hereafter God geue grace that wyser men of the realme howe wylfull soeuer ye be may foresee this matter in tyme for the honor of god the saluation of mens soules the wealth of the realme Amen And here maister Martin I wyl take occasion to rest in a suspence of further commentyng your booke tyll at my next leysure when by gods grace I wyll redresse the vaine of my wrytyng yf I maye heare that it should offende any indifferent reader But as for your selfe or any suche as of set purpose wyll erre your selues bryng other into the same that for good felowship wyll blyndly fall into the ditche with the blynde guide howe angry soeuer ye all be yet I wyll speake to you with the very wordes of Ioannes Genesius for the noueltie of the matter thus printed with good lucke in Englande Si quis non quod optimū factu sit quaerat sed studiose captet occasiones errandi cuius erit aequitatis non potius eius pernitiosam malitiam insectari quā nobis succensere si quod verū credimus non dissimulanter explicamus If any man wyl set his minde to ensue not that which were best to be done but wyl more gladly captiously seke occasions to lye
of holye oyle and creame refusing to receaue at their last departure the lordes supper and dyd abhorre to receaue the vsed obsequies of the churche in their sepulture of maryed priestes the tythes appoynted to the priestes they consumed with fire and to gesse the rest by this one saith he the laye people dyd take the bodye of the Lorde consecrated of the maried priestes and often trode it vnder their feete and of wylfulnes dyd shed abrode the blood of our Lorde and many other thynges agaynste ryght and lawe were done in the Churche and of this occasion many false prophetes dyd ryse in the Churche and by their prophane nouelties dyd withdraw them selues from ecclesiasticall discipline Thus farre wryteth the sayde Sigebertus and Radulphus Loe the tragidie of that tyme. This holy father Hildibrand litle belyke considered the canon of the councell at Gangrense the whiche inuolued hym in the sentence of excommunication for his doyng Si quis discernit presbiterū coniugatum tanquam occasione nuptiarum Celeb. an 324. sup pag. 259. quod offerre non debeat ab eius oblatione ideo se abstinet anathema sit If any man maketh such difference that he thynketh a maryed priest by reason of his mariage ought not to say masse and therfore doth abstayne from his oblation accursed be he This vehement spirite of pope Hildibrand speakyng lyes in hypocrysie so vniuersally flowed ouer not onlye other christian Realmes to their great disquiet but also began somewhat sharply to be executed shortly after the conquest time by Archbyshop Lanfranc at whose first commyng for good lucke he founde the Church of Canterburie most miserably brent Whiche Lanfranc laboured to bryng into thraldome the libertie of priestes maryage where in his councell holden at Winchester An. 1076. indictione 14. though he forbad Prebendaries in their cathedrall Churches to haue wyues yet dyd constitute freely that priestes dwellyng in vyllages and townes hauyng wyues shoulde not be compelled to forsake them and they which had none shoulde be forbydden to haue And further constituted thus Let Byshops hereafter foresee that they presume not to geue orders to priestes or deacons except they first make a profession to haue no wyues Thus farre the canon of the synode Here began this prohibition in some part of wyues to priestes before that tyme neuer forbidden But yet he moderated so the matter that he made a decree that such priestes as dwelt in townes and vyllages beyng maryed shoulde not be seperated but continue with their wyues in their ministration ecclesiasticall that is to bury and to christen to shryue to housell to say masse and mattens with all such offices belonging to that state So that he did not thinke but that maryage massyng might stande together wel enough though pope Hildibrande woulde none of it And surely Lanfranc was more modest in this matter howe rudely soeuer fryer Dominik Stubbes in his Catologe of Yorke Archbushops calleth hym the minister of the deuyll in contryuyng the subiection of the Archbyshop of Yorke to the Archbyshop of Canterburie so to make deuision betwixt those two sees For peraduenture Lanfranc esteemed other by his owne infirmitie who whether he had a wyfe or no is not reported in common storie Yet in storie it is tolde that many men iudged Paulus whom he so glad made Abbot of S. Albons to be very nye hym in kynrede as Matthew Paris writeth Paulus monachus Cadomensis Archiepiscopi Lanfranci nepos De anno 1077. imo aliquorum relationibus consanguinitate propinquior Paule a muncke and nephewe of Archbyshop Lanfranc howebeit by the report of some others he was more nye to hym in blood And no maruell of suche a matter in Lanfranc sometyme beyng a muncke For it is playnelye aleaged in that solempe treatise written by Anselme against the lawfulnesse of priestes maryages in an olde hande to be shewed intituled Contra offendiculum sacerdotum that munckes professed vnderstanding those reasons which were made agaynst the maryage of church men to be so slender were maried and forsoke their professed votarie state a great many of them to lyue in honest matrimonie as it is declared in their London councell against whom they had a constitution to bryng them in agayne anno 1102. whiche cause Anselme doth labour by reasons much to condemne Whervpon beyng blowen with Hildibrandes spirite he dyd in an open Synode decree the abrogation of maryage from all priestes deacons and subdeacons and wylled them also vnder great paynes to be separated which were conioyned in matrimonie before anno 1102. 3. Henr. 1. and decreed yet by Lanfranc not to be compelled to leaue their wyues He was the more bolde saith the storie of Rochester and confident to gouerne the Church so rigorously for the fauour and loue he thought he hadde both of kyng Henry and of Malcolyne kyng of Scotlande for the maryage of his daughter Mawde to the sayde kyng And therevpon bare hym so bolde not only agaynst the kyng for inuestitures to force the popes determination therin but also to depose diuers from their dignities In whiche pastyme where the kyng commaunded Wyllyam Gifforde Archbyshop of Yorke to consecrate certaine Byshoppes whiche were by hym inuested He fearyng the rigour of the sayde Anselme saith the storie refused to do the kinges commaundement though he alleaged it to appertayne to his crowne But howesoeuer Anselme laboured the matter in his bronded conscience yet contrarye to all his extreme thundryng the priestes regarded not that his constitution nor kept it for the priestes kept styll their wyues 200. yeres after And though in certaine of his successours dayes there was constitution vpon constitution lawe vpon lawe and decree vppon decree yet were they no more holden and kepte then Calixtus canon long before that was kept whiche as Polidore wryteth De rerum inuent was by a common consent abrogated as was also saith he Gregories decree and as Hugo wryteth that the Apostles 29. canon was of no force vntyll Siritius dayes who dyd renue it Dist. 84. Quod olim and were by non vse abrogated and defeated And although that both Lanfranc first began Anselme more seuerely folowed for he seperated priestes which were alredy maryed and included subdeacons also and made constitution that no prieste deacon or subdeacon should be receaued to order without profession yet could that synode nor any other decree euer after obtayne their purpose but was alwayes gaynesayde for the priestes denied to make such profession which also was yet neuer vnto these dayes receaued or vsed nor in the Pontificals both of Saxons and late of Englyshe since the conquest such professions were expressed Although in the Romishe Pontificall there is mention made of suche profession for the priestes of Italy and Spayne c. But the priestes of Englande dyd euer resiste that seruitude to kepe their libertie from vowyng profession and promysyng And although many Byshops dyd attempt to exacte suche
that he woulde so shewe his duetie to the kyng as he myght perfourme his obedience to the pope In his exequendis saith the storie omnes episcopi Angliae primati suo suffragium negarunt But in perfourmyng these thynges attempted by Anselme all the byshops of Englande dyd denye to ioyne with their primate Which sturryng nature of Anselme no maruayle though it displeased both the byshoppes and the nobilitie whose desire suite was after Anselmes death that the kyng shoulde chose any byshop of the seculer state or any clarke of the kynges chappell to this office rather then of this order And howesoeuer it be interpreted it is not vnlyke but that both Wylliam Rufus kyng and Henrie the first kept the office voyde so many yeres the rather for suche wylfull abusyng of their place to the disquiet of the kyng and agaynst the liberties of the Realme For so irritable was Anselme and so soone prouoked without any iust cause to go to Rome to his holy father If any thyng went agaynst his mynde then straygh-way he woulde appeale to Rome to displease the prince As this lyghtnes of his is vttered by a frende of his wrytyng vnto hym beyng at the seconde tyme as he calleth it in his exile Edm. fo 187. that he went away sponte nullo paenitus cogente neither feared with imprisonment nor otherwyse tormented nor that his sea was denyed vnto hym but only for one poore worde VVilli warewaste spoken by one certaine man named William he determined to flee and so by his fleeyng gaue the aduenture that there folowed saith his frende hereof innumerable inconueniences the vnmerciful tirannie of the prince the spoylyng of the poore the damages of the Churches the lamentation of wydowes the bewaylynges of old men for losyng their lyuynges the rauyshyng of virgins and inceste in their vnlawfull companies and that saith he that is the chiefest mischiefe to the shame of our honestie priestes to mary wyues Oh conscience brent with an hot iron makyng lawfull maryage worse then all vices rehearsed But a very litle cause myght geue any Byshop Abbot or Muncke or any of the cleargie to go to Rome at those dayes to accuse the prince and to procure the interdiction of their lande as all suche as wyll searche stories shall soone perceaue this vsuall trade In conclusion after the sayde Anselme returned agayne into Englande he dyd besturre hym selfe to restore the religious to their loste quietnes and forced on his extreme decree vpon the priestes returned to their wyues takyng the oportunitie of the kynges absence in Normandie warryng there agaynst his enemies and had the victorie of them Which Anselme thought it not only enough to remoue them from their office but also to depriue them from their benefices and drawe them quite out of the cleargie not once permittyng them to be in the quyers amongste the clarkes and suche as were not conformable pronounced them infamous and decreed farther that whosoeuer would not relinquishe his lawfull wyfe the moueable goodes of suche priestes deacons subdeacons and prebendaries that should haue any familiaritie with their wyues or shoulde haue any other women in their houses but such as were of consanguinitie nye vnto them shoulde be forfayted and delyuered vnto the Byshoppes and that their wyues with their goodes shoulde be vsed as adultresses Surely a man to much addict to his owne wyll Edm. lib. 5. without any humanitie not not shewyng his loyall affection vnto his prince in his requestes howe reasonable soeuer they were not to his owne brothers requestes For when he had decreed determinatly to go to Rome to complayne his brothers requesting him that the kinges ambassadour who should likewise go to Rome prayed that he might go in cōpanie with hym he vtterly denied the same and was vnremouable saying Quod dixi dixi which yet pretended holynes constancie discipline of the Churche for his defence In whiche extremitie yet he continued vnto his lyues ende About whiche tyme when the kyng dyd requeste hym for Thomas the younger newe elected Archbyshop of Yorke to respyte his profession wherat the sayde Thomas dyd stande doubtfull he seuerely aunswered the kinges messengers that he would the kyng to vnderstande that he woulde rather suffer hym selfe to be torne into small peeces then that he would remit any of the olde antique constitutions of the fathers or that he would remoue one houre from this his purpose Wherevpon a litle before his death he wrote his letters vnto the sayde Thomas to discharge hym of his priestlye orders whiche he had of late receaued at the handes of one of his Suffragans nor no more to presume to meddle with anye pastorall cure tyll he had made his subiection profession and that yf he woulde perseuere he forbad vnder perpetuall curse all the Byshops of whole Britanie that none of them shoulde laye handes vpon hym to the promotion of his Byshopricke And therevpon he writes Tibi quoque Thoma sub eodem anathemate ex parte dei interdico vt nunquam benedictionē episcopatus Eboracensis suscipias nisi prius professionē facias c. And to thee Thomas also I forbyd vnder the same curse on gods behalf that thou neuer take vpō thee to be consecrated into the Byshopricke of Yorke before thou makest first thy profession c. The copie of which sayd epistle sealed with his seale he sent to euery byshop of his prouince chargyng commaundyng that they vpon their obedience shoulde demeane them selues towardes the same Thomas accordyng to the tenor of the letter aforesayde Immediatly after this he departed this life the eleuenth kalends of May. Loe thus ye see that he coulde sooner make an ende of his lyfe then make an ende of his rigour If the reader wyll farther heare the storie to the ende of this controuersie concernyng the ryght of his profession as it is written by Edmer it foloweth At the feast of Pentecost ensuyng where the kyng kept his court at London in great glory and honour after the feastfull dayes past he began to enter communication with the Byshoppes and the noble men of the Realme what were to be done concernyng the consecration of the elect of Yorke and wylled the Byshoppes to go apart to discusse this cause which were in number xi They determined to call vnto them Sampson the byshop of Worcester to knowe his opinion The which byshop beyng father to the sayde elect Edmer thus aunswered Licet hunc qui in pontificatum Eboracensē electus est olim ex coniuge silium susceperim eique iuxta seculum et carnis naturam honoris ac dignitatis prouectu ius aequissime debeam multo maxime tamen id matri meae ecclesiae Cantuar. debeo c. Although this elect of Yorke be my sonne in tyme past had by my wyfe therfore owe vnto hym accordyng to the course of the world and coniunction of blood to wyshe the preferment of his honour and dignitie
yet I owe that thyng most chiefely to my mother Churche of Canterbury and therevpon I iudge that he ought to make his canonicall profession to the Church of Canterburie for I was present when that my brother Thomas the elder his vncle xxxvij yeres past Archbishop of Yorke was dryuen by inuincible argumentes to make his profession to Lanfranc then archbyshop of Canterburie and his successours Whiche sentence yet of his father though the kyng and the byshoppes dyd well alowe and with expendyng the recordes of the same yet the sayd Thomas the younger elect woulde not so submit hym selfe Thomas stobues in catologo Ebor. ca. 52. Wherevpon the kyng beyng moued pronounced that eyther he shoulde do it or els he woulde discharge him of the Byshopricke and not only lose his fauour but also he woulde expell all his kinrede out of the Realme Wherevpon Sampson byshop of Worcester his naturall father and Richarde Baiocense his brother so nye of kinrede were instaunt vppon hym And though that Ranulph byshop of Durham promysed the kyng a thousand marke in money and to the Queene a hundred yet it auayled nothyng saith the storie for the kyng would not be corrupted with money and so at the laste the sayde Thomas made his profession and lyued but v. yeres in his dignitie and dyed a young man as the storie saith beyng a very corpulent man If the reader wyll nowe vnderstande what successe this foresayde decree of Anselme had after his death thus wryteth the storie That though the decree was somewhat calde on after hym by the kynges commaundement yet he relented and so it folowed saith he that the priestes toke their wyues agayne which they had or els renouncyng their former toke others and freely maried harlottes so saith the muncke In which discourse he maketh insinuation that standing the tyme of the prohibition thers were both fornicatours and adulterers and such as committed incest with their nygh kynsefolke not onlye with their sisters but also with their owne daughters so that saith he though this good father after the example of the feast maker called many to the feast yet in no respect was there any effectuous obedience geuen vnto his wordes For saith he let hym reade that wyll the text of this councell at London and well consider the statutes therof and let hym then iudge who it is that obeyeth them who it is that fulfylleth them or what he is that accompteth them not vayne So that the priestes and the prebendaries obteyned so muche with their Byshops and Archdeacons that suche priestes as dyd relinquishe dyd returne againe to their wyues as is sayde before Whiche sayde matter is here brought in not as alowyng any thyng that was committed agaynst the precepte of God but to shewe what speede hadde this his decree in his lyfe tyme and what successe this vnreasonable tradition hadde after his lyfe If you woulde knowe the cause or grounde that might moue this father Anselme otherwise learned and of austere conuersation although in this to be feared rather to be of the number of them of whom Saint Paul saith In hypocrisi loquencium mendatium cauteriatam habentium suam conscientiam prohibentium nubere c. Forsooth his redy good wyll and accesse to the holy father of Rome the supportation that he founde there the spiced conscience he had in his wrong obedience vnto that sea esteemyng hym so hyghly supra id quod colitur made hym to esteeme his prince the lesse ii Thess. ii and from tyme to tyme troubled and endaungered his Realme in his office to the disquiet of the people enducyng in his bronded conscience fedities and enormities innumerable Whiche his blynde zeale not accordyng to knowledge Henrie Beuclarke well vnderstandyng dyd not only staye his importunitie but also resisted the popes auctoritie to his owne face doing in his princely estate as appertayned to his kyngly ryght Though that Anselme the popes proctor dyd aunswere that he would not for the price of his head consent to the kyng agaynst the popes prohibitions except it were dispensed withal agayne by the sayde pope vpon the kynges wordes Quid mihi de meis cum papa quae antecessores mei hoc in regno possiderunt mea sunt hec si quis auferre mihi voluerit quod inimicus meus sit omnis qui me diligit certissime nouerit What haue I to do with the pope concernyng myne owne That which myne auncestours haue possessed in this Realme be myne whosoeuer woulde take these from me let all that loue me certaynely knowe that he is myne enemie Which stout wordes of his so spoken might declare what he knewe Surely he was like for his knowledge to haue done as much in expellyng his vsurped aucthoritie yf oportunitie of tyme had serued hym as his successour long after hym kyng Henrie the eyght brought about and finished Whiche thyng is well signified by the wordes of his owne letters written to kyng Henrie Edmer wherein Pascall the pope complayneth that he dyd in his Realme all as pleased hym and that he restrayned the messengers and letters of the sea apostolyke that they coulde haue no passage or be permitted to enter into the Realme without his suffraunce and further Pascall chargeth hym that without the knowledge of the popes holynes he doth kepe synodall councels where he insinuate that all the wayghtie causes of the Churches throughout his whole prouince should be determined by the vicars and the deputies of his holy sea And further he chargeth hym that besyde his auctoritie he presumed to make translation of Bishoprickes at his pleasure which sayth he can not be done without the licence of the sacred holy sea of Rome And farther to set out howe the knowledge of this kyng made him well to vnderstannde his vsurped auctoritie in his Realme and well perceauyng howe the Realme was wont to be abused by shamefull exactions and expilations which his legates vsed to do within the same was weery of the sayde abused aucthoritie Wherevpon pope Calixtus after his councell holden at Remis anno dn̄i 1119. came vnto Gisortiū Edmer to speake with the king had conference with him When the kyng had obteyned of that pope to haue all such customes which his father had in England in Normandie and especially of all other that he should not suffer any man to vse the office of a legate at any tyme in Englande except him selfe did require the same for such matters which coulde not be ended by the byshop of Canterburie and the other byshoppes of the Realme All which thynges sayth the storie beyng thus determined the pope doth make request to the kyng for his loue to be frendly vnto Thurstone Archbyshop of Yorke to restore hym to his Byshopricke Wherevnto the kyng aunswered that he woulde neuer do it whyle he lyued for he saith he hadde so promised vppon his fayth Whervpon Calixtus dyd aunswere Ego apostolicus sum si
feceris quod postulo ab hac te fidei sponsione absoluam I am in the apostles sea and yf thou wylt do that which I request I wyl absolue thee from this promise of thy fidelitie Well sayth the kyng I wyll entreate of this hereafter and shortly sent vnto hym his messengers to signifie that it is not for the kynges honour to consent to such absolutions agaynst a mans fayth And farther sayde that except Thurstone woulde make his profession to the sea of Canterburie he shoulde neuer sit in the Churche at Yorke whyles he was kyng of Englande by compulsion of any edict from the pope whatsoeuer this haue I promised and this sayth he wyll I obserue But it may be thought peraduenture vnlike to be true that the pope would come so farre as to Gisors aforesaid his owne person to speake with the kyng it may so be obiected by some Romanistes who labour so hye to aduaunce his deitie but to such as be indifferently read in storie it is not incredible For Matthewe Paris reporteth howe that pope Innocent vsed his craftie deuice by his Cardinals towardes kyng Henrie the third in the .xxix. yere of his raigne Which Cardinals only louers of money craftyly sent to the kyng vnder the colour of great frendshyp their counsell which they auouched to be both holsome honorable glorious to the Realme and very profitable that was that he shoulde sue by his messengers to the popes holynes to come personally into his Realme which say they shoulde be honor most excellent to Englande and immortall glorie that in your dayes the lorde pope whiche is knowen to be the father of all fathers shoulde appeare personallye within the coast of the Englyshe nation For say they we remember well that hym selfe hath sayde whereof we reioyce that he would very gladly see the daintie sightes of Westmonasterie and the riches of London When this was knowen to the kyng he was very glad and woulde easelye haue bowed to this subtyll councell except he hadde ben holden vp by the contrary counsayles of his subiectes learned to gaynesay it or dissent to satisfie this his desire Qui dicebant quòd satis imo nimiū iam suorum caursinorum vsuris Romanorum ac Italicorum rapinis simoniis Angliae puritas maculatur quamuis non presentialiter bona ecclesiae regni dissipet predetur Which sayde that the puritie of the Realme of Englande was alredy enough yea to much defyled by the vsuries of his cormorantes and by the extortions and simonies of the Romanistes and Italians though that he do not by his presence waste and robbe the goodes of the Churche and of the Realme And farther they sayde for that the sayde pope was denyed any entrie into the Realme of Fraunce though that he required the same by his solempne ambassadours so his entrie was denyed to enter into the realme of Aragon For saith the writer Infamia enim curiae papalis id promeruerat cuius fetor vsque ad nubes fumā teterrimā exhalabat The infamie of the papall court had deserued this repulse the stinche whereof dyd breathe out euen vp to the cloudes a most detestable fume Edm. lib. 6. And as concernyng any commyng of any legate into the Realme he woulde neuer admit one as long as he lyued And though that pope Calixt sent into the Realme afterwarde his moste solempne legate Petrus Romanus monachus Cluniacensis commyng in a more portly glorie then euer any dyd before the kyng so disposed the matter that after he was come into Englande wylled that he shoulde neither visite churche nor monasterie commaunded that he shoulde be brought to be at hoast with him for he sayde his Realme of Englande was free from the iurisdiction of any legate and so shoulde be duryng his lyfe for so had Calixtus promised hym Wherevpon after some liberalitie bestowed vpō him on the kynges behalfe the king sēt him ouer againe the way he came out of England though his cōmyng was to haue exercised his office of legatship thorough the hole Realme If the reader wyl know the cause why that Thurstone fell into the kinges displeasure was for that he askyng licence of the kyng to go to this councell of the bishop of Rome and coulde not possiblie obteyne the same before he made his promise vpon his allegiance that hè would do nothyng with the pope in preiudice of Canterb. churche nor woulde by any mans perswasion receaue his episcopall consecration at his handes which so faythfull a promise to the kyng he contemptuously brake notwithstandyng wherat both the kyng and the nobilitie dyd much maruell for such infidelitie But suche was the obedience in those dayes to their princes for the more fauour they bare to this forrayne vsurper that is in playner tearmes falsely forsworne to the kyng their liege lorde and enemie to the Realme so farre as it myght stande to the aduauncement of the popes iurisdiction whose creatures they were and so reioyced in common speache to call them selues and as it myght with the satisfiyng of their owne gaynes dignities and pleasures Thus farre out of the common written stories haue ben alleaged the rather by the occasion of entreatyng of byshop Anselmes tumultuous doynges who was the firste that euer in England toke vpon hym to diuorce lawfull matrimonies in all priestes so many hundred yeres vsed in quiet possession in the Realme and many of them stablyshed by Lanfranckes constitution and as he the first so the most extreme agaynst all ryght and conscience vntyll the raigne of Quene Marie in whose dayes Hildibrandes spirite was raysed vp agayne and Anselmes whot Munckyshe zeale in lyke sorte prosecuted as it was in his tyme. If any man be offended with so much in particularitie vttered let hym vnderstande these matters to be fetcht out of the bokes of such stories most written by munckes who both in wordes deede and wrytyng professed the state of perfection expressyng all charitie therfore can not be thought to rayle in the writing of their stories which saith both Matth. Paris and Henrie huntyngton muste be perfourmed in all trueth without any parcialitie eyther of personages for honour and holynes nor maye not be transgressed for loue of kyn or frendes whatsoeuer After Anselme archbyshop folowed Rodulph a seuere muncke in profession also Rodulph first an Abbot in Normandie after that byshop of Rochester and in conclusion archbyshop of Canterburie of whose dayes no great recorde is extant of makyng or forcyng any decrees or constitutions agaynst maryed priestes although it is reported of Edmer that he was very seuere agaynst the said Henrie the first Ioannes Hagustaldensis beyng a prince of such godlynes that one Cronicle writeth so much to his cōmendation that he saith Post quem princeps non surrexit alius qui sic iniustas regni exactiones interdiceret subditos in pacae modestia sapientius disponeret c. After whose death there folowed no
prince lyke hym in repressyng the wronge exactions vsed in the Realme and that gouerned his subiectes more wyselye in peace and quietnes none that dyd more reuerence ecclesiasticall persons and that better maynteyned the poore or the religious by his expences and that after his death he saith by and by sprong vp all wicked men disturbers of peace murderers and robbers with al kynd of mischiefes Which princely qualities saith Wylliam of Malmesburie he gote by his education brought vp and instructed in all the seuen liberall sciences Which education was in the vniuersitie of Cambridge saith Thomas Rudborne so that his learnyng was a great cause of the wyse gouernyng of the Realme He hadde worthyly the name of Beuclarke whom his father Wylliam the conquerour purposed to haue preferred to a Byshopricke Scala chron and therefore caused hym to be instructed in learnyng whiche turned as muche to the commendation of the father for that he iudged a Byshop ought to be learned and that not only blood and other corporall ornamentes commended so muche the partie a man to be of that vocation as prudence gotten by learnyng and knoweledge In whiche his knowledge the sayde Henrie toke so much delectation VVil. Mal. and founde the fruite therof so necessarie in gouernement that he was wont to saye Rex illiteratus Asinus coronatus a Kyng vnlearned is an Asse crowned This man so wel vsyng his gouernement to Gods pleasure that Henrie Huntyngton who lyued in his dayes testified that God caused his fame to be spread through the whole worlde and that he gaue hym three special gyftes wisdome ryches and victorie in such aboundaunce that he excelled saith he all his predecessours Edm. lib. 6. Some proofe of his graces good qualities may be considered partly occasioned to be remembred by this foresayde archbishop Rodulph who at a certaine coronation of the kynges newe wyfe Atheleida daughter to Godefride duke of Lorayne in the xxi yere of his rayne the sayde Rodulphus beyng thexecutor of the solempnitie at masse and at the alter in his pontificalibus castyng his eyes behynde hym and seyng the sayde kyng syttyng on an hye throne with the crowne on his head he went in a great haste from the alter vp to the kyng whom he knewe was not crowned by hym or his predecessour At whiche sodayne commyng the kyng reuerentlye rose vp to hym and the byshop asked who had put on that crowne on his head The kyng with a sad countenaunce aunswered that he had no great care therof and therfore he sayde with a modest voyce that it was out of his remembraunce Ueryly saith the byshop whosoeuer put it on dyd it not by any ryght and as long as it standeth vpon thyne head I wyll not go any farther in ministration To whom the kyng did aunswere If not ryghtly as you saye it be put on do you that which you knowe most to be done with iustice ye shall haue me no gaynesayer in any thyng Wherevpon the byshop lyfted vp his handes to take of the crowne frō his head the kyng as redy to vnlose the lase vnder his chynne wherewith his crowne was stayed on his head the lordes perceauyng that attempt they all with a loude voyce cryed vppon the byshop to spare the kyng and to suffer the kyng styll to weare it on his head in that solempnitie Which thyng the byshop at length permitted and standyng there neare the kyng crowned he began the Gloria in excelsis the quyer folowyng he afterwardes retyryng to the aulter agayne Further to amplifie the quiet spirite wisedome and modestie of this kyng in this fact I shall not neede but leaue it to the reader to iudge what benefite this king had by his learnyng To note the vntimely importunitie of this Rodulphus what his wisdome or wylfulnes was I also leaue it to the readers iudgement but I woulde the reader speciallye to beare in remembraunce whether as it is sayde before after Anselmes death the byshoppes after Rodulphes death were not iustly moued to be suiters to the kyng to haue their Archbyshop otherwyse chosen then out of the munckes coate whose wordes be these as the Saxon chronicle doth report them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anno. 1123. Then spake the byshoppes betweene them selues and sayd that they neuer more would haue any man of munkes order to be Archbyshop ouer them for they neuer alowed nor loued munckes rulyng and the kyng graunted that to them Nowe to ende the storie of this tyme to set out before your eyes the marueylous wisedome that this kyng gathered by his learnyng in his youth It is written in common historie that the kyng came from Normandie into Englande which was a great cause of mirth and ioy that the people made for his prosperous returne But the next day after certayne of his sonnes daughter and neece with other very many of the nobilitie men women and chyldren and some of the cleargie folowing hym in the seas by misfortune were all drowned as before is sayde except one poore base man which escaped to tell the misfortune Which heauy casualtie many men dyd much maruayle at and were very sorowfull But yet were they sooner pacified vpon the kynges example when they sawe hym whom it dyd moste respecte to beare it with so manly a mynde referryng it with a quiet gesture and voyce to the equitie of gods iudgementes which no man can resist For as comfortyng hym selfe sayth the storie he sayde with a lowly spirite As the Lorde pleased so was it done be the name of the Lorde therefore blessed for euermore Amen Thus farre haue we enlarged the matter vpon reheasyng the tyme of Rodulph when this kyng dyd raigne whose godly qualities ought to be had in memorie for the notabilitie thereof for euer to the settyng out of Gods glorie to the commendation of learnyng the fruite whereof this prince shewed so maruelously VVilliam Chro. Ceno Mart. an 1132 After this Rodulph folowed William aforesayde in whose dayes almost all London was brent by the fire of Gilbert Becket This William renewed the same lyke constitution of Anselme in his tyme Pag. 217. by the helpe of the popes legate Ioannes Cremensis a priest Cardinall who after he had ben very costly and chargeably enterteyned with gyftes and rewardes and after that brought honorably to Canterburie and there on Easter day sang the hye masse at Christes aulter and after his great progresse goyng from byshop to byshop Chro. Saxo. Pet Burgēs from abbey to abbey and commyng after that about the natiuitie of our Ladye to London kept his councell there in which the legate dyd commaunde that Anselmes decree should be obserued better then it was but all preuayled not sayth the Saxonicall storie and he afterwarde departed home to Rome with shame enough In this mans dayes Chro. Ioren in anno 1135. Robert Bloet muncke of Euesham byshop of Lincolne had a sonne named Simon whom he made deane
of Lincolne a young striplyng deyntyly brought vp he begat him saith Huntington when he was Chauncellour to William the great kyng Hen. Hunt li. 8 ca. 2. Nowe though the sayde William Archbishop attempted the matter agayne at Michaelmas tyde and woulde geue the priestes no longer respite to put their wyues a daye but to saint Andre â—es daye Yet sayth the storie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chr Saxon. anno 1129. This dyd byd the archbyshop of Canterburie and the byshoppes which were in Englande And yet all these decrees and byddynges stoode not al held their wyues by the kinges leaue euen so as they before dyd In whiche tyme the stirre was so great and the cause so harde to be wonne that William the archbyshop gaue ouer and referred the controuersie wholly to kyng Henrie aâ—â—â— 25. Henrie Wherevpon he decreed that the priestes shoulde continue with their wyues styll Of whom for that the kynges officers toke pencions the byshoppes began to repent them of their committyng so the cause wherof they woulde haue had the orderyng them selues to some other purpose For which pentionarie matter Anselme had certaine yeres before by his epistle well chydden the kyng wherof yet belyke the kyng as beyng well learned in the lawes as Matthewe Paris testifieth made not so great â— conscience as certaine of the votarie bishoppes dyd as oâ—fended that fayth shoulde be inuiolablie preserued betwixt such as were in matrimonie seyng hym selfe had such conscience of breakyng his fayth that he made and as he iudged it not dispensable by the popes auctoritie as he not long before had declared to pope Calixtus hym selfe For yf he had thought it to haue ben agaynst the precept of God he woulde neuer haue suffâ—ed so many yeres the continuaunce of the same by his auctoritie anno 11â—8 〈…〉 Chro. Aug. Chro. 〈◊〉 After William folowed Theobaldus in whose dayes the house of saint Gregories in Canterburie was brent anno 1145. the churche and almost the whole citie of Rochester was first brent the chathedrall church of Yorke was brent and without that citie the church of saint Marie where was an Abbey with the goodly Hospitall founded by the archbyshop Thurstone brent for good rule ye maye be sure their chastitie deserued no lesse That Thurstone archbyshop was he that builded the monasterie of Fountaynes and repented hym therof by open worde and sayde he neuer repented hym more of any thyng and when certaine laye men present hearde him so say and were offended at his saying he sayde ye be laye men and knowe not the pith of my wordes and therfore he afterwarde alwayes sayde that he woulde rather geue to lecherous men then to munckes But as concernyng the plague of God in the burnyng of so many Abbeys professing such holynes as is to be marueyled what may be read in storie Chro. Peter 1070. annal eiusd 1113.1114 VValterus weekes 1116.1121.1112 Houenden 1184. Houenden 1188. Gualter Couent 1212. Fabian 1261.1370 besydes these that are alredy spoken of and those that do folowe in other mens dayes As Howe the abbey of Peterborowe was once brent Howe the monasterie of Worceter was brent Howe the abbey of Chichester was brent Howe the abbey of Peterborowe was brent once agayne Howe the churche of Powles with many other cathedrall churches were brent Howe the abbey of Glocester was brent Howe the abbey of Glastenburie was brent Howe the churche of Beuerlay was brent Howe saint Maries churche of the Chanons in Southwark was brent Howe the steeple of Euesham was set on fire by lyghtnyng Howe the Abbacie of saint Edmundes was brent with diuers more as hereafter partly doth folow The rather may these examples thus so generally vniuersally and so thicke executed vppon these munckes houses be a more proofe of gods plague agaynst their munckyshe lyfe and order as nothyng pleased with the most of them then the aduersaries can iustly charge the vniuersall religion of the Gospel receaued by the particuler burnyng of one steeple in the Realme so seldome seene in these dayes To note what intemperate weather what immoderate wyndes what lightning what thunder what earthquakes fell vpon these houses besydes to note howe vniuersally before the conquest all these monasteries howe much soeuer they were multiplied and increased God dyd euer bryng them downe agayne and complaned them euen with the grounde that fewe or none remayned vnbrent or vndestroyed by the inuasion of infidels and other nations from tyme to tyme commyng vppon them shall not be nedefull to cumber the reader at this tyme with tediousnes Neuber lib. 3. cap. 5. Well these houses were not brent for other mens faultes Where the cronicle of Peterborow ascribeth this plague of God in burnyng their churche and all that was therein to their retchlesse lyfe and wretchednes and dronkennes they vsed And William Thorne muncke of S. Augustines anno 1168. ascribeth the burnyng of their churche abbey to the foule abuse of takyng infantes scant weaned from their nurses to be munckes professed among them A pretie age for a perpetuall vowe and a worthy cause to make such subiect to the austeritie of archbyshop Pecchams constitution Apud Lamhith anno 1281. ca. Item moniales where he ordereth that yf the Nunne tarry one yere in the habite before she haue taken the bishoppes benediction must yet be reputed for professed and may not returne to the world again for if she do she must be accompted vsed as an apostata Although saith he the religious haue not receaued the byshops benediction with the solempnitie of a vowe they may not yet iudge themselues to be free if they be once come to the yeres of discretion and reason and be able to perceaue fraude and deceyte Where there be many examples lefte in writers what wretchednes hath folowed of these young professions I wyll report but one the tragidie wherof is suche that it shoulde hurt chaste eares to heare the fylthynes that therin is tolde of a certaine young chylde of foure yeres of age brought into the Nunrie of Wattune in Yorkeshire in the dayes of Henrie Murdack an ambitious munke of Cistercense as Polidore writeth who gate his Bishopricke of pope Eugenius by suite and craft by the disprouyng of William elected thervnto Which Abbey was founded or rather restored by Gilbert a priest of Semplingam Whiche storie is expressed at large by Ethelrede a Cister muncke in Rhieuall in the dioces of Yorke abbote a man eloquent in his tyme. Which young girle when she came to age he wryteth howe maruelouslye she was delyuered her chylde conueyed awaye by the sayde Henrie Murdack then dead who brought her first into the Abbey Whiche byshop in a Palmers weede appeared in a vision hauyng with hym also in the vision two auncient celestial women they three only at the birth and no man knewe where the chylde became no not the mother who was so sodenly restored to her health againe that there was
of men for cause of procreation and in the fayth of chastitie And here I do appeale to the consciences of such as name them selues catholyke men whether that it hadde not ben more honorable to God more agreable to his worde and more commendable to the Churche for that spirituall blynded byshop Hugh sometyme byshop of Dunelme in this Theobaldus tyme and with more honestie haue folowed the example of this Richarde of Chichester in his matrimonie VVylliam Nubri lib. 5. cap. 9. then to be a notorious concubinarie fornicatour or rather adulterer when he was treasorer in Yorke Churche hauyng belyke without shame three diuers concubines of which he had three diuers sonnes as witnesses of their fathers iniquitie of whiche he was so little ashamed that he ioyed in them and had suche blynde loue towardes them that he preferred one of them Henrie deputiaco to be one of his hostagies for delyueryng vp the castle of Wyndsor to the kinges chauncelour to rydâ—e hym selfe out of prison at Southwell who by his fylthy lyfe deserued to be destitute of Gods grace Houenden anno 2. Ric. primi and so to spende his whole lyfe after he was byshop in sumptuous wastfull buyldyng of his castles couetous gatheryng to feede his ambitious desire in bying of his Earldome of Northumberlande and heapyng and hoordyng treasures togethers so he was made a common pray to the prince and a mocke to the people after xlii yeres beyng in his Byshopricke and beyng deluded by a prophesie loked styll in his dotyng age for x. yeres lenger but God cut hym vp as he was huntyng for more dignities choked in his iorney vp to London with gluttonous ingurgitations toke a surfet as the storie telleth makyng his ende impenitently and after his death al his goodâ— notwithstandyng his testament makyng confiscated to the kynges coffers and his especiall frendes and seruauntes stretched vpon the racke to confesse and declare the whole of his goods vpon whoÌ„ nothing was bestowed to priest clarke his churche or the poore And here it might be asked howe Anselmes so rigorous constitution not long before decreed or Williams constitution against concubinaries were so much forgotten of such as dyd elect this infamous man to the dignitie of a byshop or continued hym in the same so notorious as he was Belyke the canons were voyde and decrees serued but to suppresse true and lawful matrimonies not much caryng for the reformation of notorious and monstruous concubinaries If they had not had a conscience marked with an hot iron yf they had not ben men speakyng lyes in hypocrisie they coulde not haue dissembled this state of lyfe to be so aduaunced and their eyes so wyde open to rebuke and deface gods holy institution so separatyng them a sunder whom god had coupled togethers transgressyng the precept of god for the stablyshyng of their owne traditions the matter so horrible so apparaunt cannot be coloured howesoeuer it be gorgeously set out to the eye by the vaine endeuour of the aduersaries And say what they can yet shall matrimonies be honorable before God and adulterers condempnable in the iudgement of godly learned persons I say not only honorable in the laitie but also in the cleargie to the which state whomsoeuer almyghtie god calleth vnto as that noble emperour Iustinian auoucheth his iudgement in the same In nouellis const 3. Saucimus esteemyng Epiphanius the archbishop of Constantinople so muche the more Quod ex sacerdotibus genus originem duxerit And if the the testimonie of Reymund in his sonne may be taken he wryteth agreablie to this and sayth farther that the priestes of Grece regarde not any vowe of chastitie in their holy orders and celebrate diuine seruice hauyng their lawfull wyues Finallie in the laste yere of this mans Bishopricke Fol. 85. in Glosa Floriger anno 1160. Mat. Par. 1161. Marie the Abbesse of Ramesey of some infamie noted in her Abbey daughter to kyng Stephen was maried to Matthue Earle of Bollon with the kynges fauour and the nobilitie and had two daughters by hym at which mariage Thomas Becket then the kynges chauncelour hadde great indignation at the vnlawfulnes therof Wherewith the kyng was offended and for his earnestnesse in the matter saith the storie suffred many great displeasures and persecutions of the earle Belyke he was blowen with a peece of Hildibrandes spirite of Anselmes austeritie for tolleratyng thynges agaynst his deuotion What woulde he haue ben towarde the same kyng Henrie yf he had liued in the yere of his raigne xxiij when the kyng caused Barthelmew Bishop of Exeter and Roger of Worceter to repayre to the Abbey of Almesburie to depose the Abbesse there for the imfamie of her lyfe Whiche Abbesse after her profession in religion Chro. Roff. anno 1155. VVylliam Thorne anno 1168. was proued to haue ben deliuered of three chyldren And the lyke systers in her house were lykewyse dispearsed and dryuen out of their cloysters and houses and fylled vp the Abbey agayne with Nunnes sent out of Founte Euerarde And further the kyng hauyng pitie yet on that good Abbesse beyng thus degraded thereby myght perishe by hunger and neede promised her yerely twentie nobles and dyd suffer her to go whyther she would at her owne libertie This permission and discharge of their vowes and profession belyke woulde haue much displeased the sayd Thomas Thomas Becket being so angry with the Abbesse of Ramsey for her lawfull matrimonie Nowe this man aforesayde was elect archbishop of Canterburie next the sayde Theobaldus whose chaplen he was by whom he obteyned the Archdeconrie of Canterburie in whose time almost al Canterburie was brent by the punyshment of God M Pa 1161. M. VVest 1161. Lib. Roff. with the Abbey of saint Augustine as their storie doth declare He made no great a do by any constitution agaynst priestes maryages because he was otherwise fully occupyed Then after hym came into the sea the Prior of Douer sometyme munke supprior of Canterburie Richarde in whose firste or seconde yere the church of Canterburie was consumed by fire Richarde 1184. Chron S. Augustine Geruasius anno 1177. Chro. Roff. and within foure yeres after that was brent with fire the churche of Rochester the seconde tyme with all the offices of the whole citie aswell without the walles as within To whiche Richarde was come from heauen a voyce in these words Tu quis es tu es qui dissipasti bona ecclesiae tibi commissa ego dissipabo to de terra Thou what art thou art he whichh hast wasted the goodes of the church coÌ„mitted vnto thee Gualte Couent therefore wyll I waste thee out from the earth And so at the towne of Halynges saith Rochester storie he was sodenly stryken with a colicke and dyed Yet dyd this man in this day kepe a synode at Northampton where Hugh the popes legate was present and an other at Westminster anno 1175. v. kl Iulii
chargyng hym that he was vntrue to the Frenche kyng but the more true to his owne lande that he slewe Thomas Becket and lastlye that he had forsaken the protection of Christes fayth and in his rage charged the kyng that he was worse then a Sarasen and sayde of his chyldren that they came of the deuyll and to the deuyll they shoulde But the kyng saith the storie kept his pacience and sayde that he woulde not in any wise depart out of his owne lande Wherevpon the Patriarche departed from the kyng in great ire for that his Foxie deuice toke no better place Lo here was a worthy Patriarch a creature of the pope thus to deale with so noble a prince Maye it not here be timely brought in Psal. 2. Et nunc reges intelligite erudimini qui iudicatis terram c. If kynges and princes wyll suffer them selues quietlye to be thus shamefully abused in their owne realmes to their owne faces by suche externe commers whose vocation ought of moste congruence to haue dryuen them to the reuerence of kynges and princes who maye haue pitie of them yf they be deluded Although this noble prince for his most notable pacience ought to haue immortal commendation so is he more worthy to be aduaunced for his wisedome and prudence for that he coulde not be moued to leaue his Realme for a pray then his seconde sonne Richarde the first folowyng hym who was so soone induced by Romishe perswasion to seke aduentures abrode first impoueryshyng his Realme and by sellyng of the castles of Barwicke and Rothisborowe for a great summe of money for some part of the exployte of his viage and made other such sales neither princely to his honour nor profitable to his Realme And so he passyng on more valiauntlye then prudently was at the last dryuen by force and taken of the armie of the duke of Ostriche and thereof suffred harde imprisonment for the terme of a yere and fyue monethes but at the last was raunsomed for suche a huge summe of money as pinched the whole state of his crowne collectyng both of the laitie and cleargie aswell churche as chappell within the whole Realme Which extremitie he myght haue well escaped yf he had folowed the example of his father Henrie Let this suffise for this tyme for one example of Romishe practises to learne princes to be wyse After this Richarde folowed Baldwinus archbishop Baldwine of whom we reade of no constitution that he made nor of his next successours tyll the yere of our Lorde 1222. when Stephen Langton kepte his councell at Oxforde whiche Stephen was the cause of all the broyle betwene the pope and kyng Iohn for his admission to the Archbishopricke agaynst the kynges wyl and pleasure to the intollerable iniurie of the crowne and sclaunder of the Realme besydes the innumerable hurtes that came therof He made in his constitutions a decree against priestes concubines of whom the world swarmed full after the open forced restraynt from maryage yet then many of the cleargie as they myght kept in secrete wise their wyues for conscience sake and hadde belyke suche successe as other of his predecessors decrees had Edmund For his seconde successour from hym Edmunde in his constitutions tempered the matter more easely Who dyd decree that yf these concubines would not turne them selues into religion after monitions geuen vnto them they shoulde lose the priuilege to kysse the paxe at masse and also be put from the holy bread and yf they woulde stubbernlye persist they shoulde be excommunicate when it pleased the Ordinarie so long tyme as the concubinaries shoulde deteyne them in their owne houses Mat. Par. anno 1226. or publiquely out of their houses and then should afterward be deliuered to the seculer power After whiche Edmundes departure Boniface came into the sea Bonifacius of Sauoye vncle to Queene Alienour wyfe to kyng Henrie the thirde The same archbishop who was wont to say that his three nexte predecessours Stephen Langton Richarde and Edmunde in whiche three mens dayes was made the great haule at Canterburie with other the buyldynges there had let hym a haule to hire to buylde vp For they left the bishopricke indetted Mat. Par. 1245. partly for that buyldyng more then xv thousande markes though some recordes speake of a more summe which he was fayne to pay to redeeme the bishopricke cleare although some wryters referre a greater part of that debt to the great prodigalitie of the sayde Stephen Langton anno 1120. in the translation of Thomas Becket from vnder the shrowdes to a more glorious shrine aboue At which translation he procured the presence of the kyng and of the most part of the nobles of the Realme with an infinite concourse of people to be present and gaue to all that woulde aske it both hay and prouender all the way from London to Canterburie At which tyme he made such cheare that the storie saith he made the wine to runne plenteouslye out of diuers places in the citie in conduites all the whole day to glad the people withall Wherevpon saith Ranulphus he spent so much that his fourth successour Bonifacius was scant able to pay the expences It may be that they were very mery that day for the wryter of that translation almoste spent his whole matter in setting forth the ioy that was made amōgst them and how the people were inebriated wonderfully and muche he speaketh of inebriations but leste the posteritie should grosly take these inebriations he turneth it vp and downe in his storie and translateth it to the inebriation of the holy ghost with whose grace saith he they were deepely inebriated and as it were spiritually dronken with ghostlye aboundaunce of ioye In deede some men otherwhere were ouermuch inebriated for the kepers of Westminsters notable palace suffred it to be brent about that yere very negligentlye But as concernyng this archbishop Bonifacius though he made certaine constitutions yet he suffred that matter of priestes maryages alone Yea Othobone kepyng a synode in his time decreed nothing against priestes wiues though against concubines he renewed Othos constitution but not so his constitution de clericis coniugatis and yet had priestes after wyues For Iohn Peccham in his constitutions folowyng the next successour of Bonifacius made his lawe De filiis sacerdotum And this sparyng of lawes makyng agaynst maryages in Bonifacius tyme not vnlyke to be done of fauour he bare to the state For in the yere of our Lorde .1250 he purposyng to make his visitation in diuers places of his prouince Mat. Paris in hist. maioai as by his legantine ryght he well myght do beyng at London came to the cathedrall church of Powles for that matter but was there repelled and after that commyng to Saint Barthelmewe though there he was solemly receaued of the couent in procession the chanons being in their copes yet would they not that he should make any inquirie
of their liues and conuersation alleaging that they had an Ordinarie to whom they woulde be subiect and to none other whiche caused a great tumult to be made in the Churche betwixte the chanons and the Archbishoppes seruauntes In whiche stirre as the storie of Abindon telleth in anno 1252. one of the chanons was slayne and diuers sore hurt Wherevpon the citezins which were there cried out and were purposed to haue rong the common bell in their speaches they defamed first hym that the kyng had intruded hym into his dignitie without election canonicall chargyng hym with ignoraunce that he had no learnyng and last of all say they he hath a wyfe Whereby may appeare that this state was then so odiously traduced that the Munckyshe wryters some of them speake very sclaunderouslye of hym as beyng in a state that they coulde not abyde Howebeit though some speake their pleasure yet wryters of as good credite as some of those munkes do commende hym for his large and decent familie descrybyng hym to be Procerae staturae eleganti corpore auunculum dominae Alienorae Reginae qui de nobilissimo sanguine natus regnorum vtrorumque principibus ipse procerus fatis sufficiens fuerit c. Of a comely stature and a decent personage beyng the vncle of Queene Alienour who was borne of a very noble blood descending of the princes of both Realmes beyng personable and sufficient enough hauyng testimonie therof of certaine prelates of the Realme And though the Munkes of Canterburie his electors be sayde to haue repented thē of their electiō either for the state of lyfe he might be of as he was charged or for that he began to bryng them to some order of religion which they called oppression Yet the preferment which he procured to his church seemed not to shew hym so vnworthy as some of their pennes would note hym or that he was not elected canonically but intruded as than the fonde people sayde of hym For both his election consecration and intronization be orderly set out in the yeres as they chaunced as certainly as of any other And for some profe hereof that he was lawfully consecrated he came therefore with other his brethren electe to the pope beyng at Lions when this popes chamber was set on fire brent with diuers of his iewels recordes emongst whiche saith the storie was brent that vnluckie and miserable charter of kyng Iohn concernyng his submission to the papacie and for paying of his tribute so assured by that charter But thus as is aforesayde Bonifacius euyll entreated and expelled in his iurisdiction metropoliticall made his repaire to the kyng at Westminster and so dyd certaine of the chanons that were hurt to complayne but the kyng woulde geue them neither syght nor audience After that tyme the prebendaries of Powles with diuers other of their learned councell with certaine of the chanons and their interloquuters went in great hast to Rome to complayne to the pope After them dyd folowe Bonifacius and made his aunswere in such wise that both the prebendaries with their lawyers and the chanons with their councel after some money spent returned home agayne without any profite or glorie in their attemptes Nowe this Bonifacius hauyng a wyfe himselfe no maruell though he made no constitution for prohibition of maryages except he had folowed some mens examples who to cloke their owne incontinencie be very rigorous to make lawes agaynst others so to set out a countenaunce to the world that they be not faultie in that which they chastise others for Wherof may be gathered that the former institutions of his predecessours in this matter were not greatly regarded or kept no not Othos constitution legantine who departed but three yeres before that Bonifacius came to the sea Chro. Cant. was sent from Gregorie the ninth and receaued as a legate And for that the same was saith some stories that he decreed certaine constitutions not very grateful to the cleargie Fabian which he dyd vtter in a synode at London in the octaues of saint Martin in saint Powles churche he was not much welcome which synode dyd endure three dayes continually and no more For by some apparaunce and so it was saith Matthew Paris he brought with hym in his bosome these decrees from Rome before any councell began assented or disputed to Much lyke as the report goeth that of late in the great generall councell holden at Trent though they made gaye pretences by the inuocation of the holy ghost at masse to assist their spirites to decree nothyng but for the wealth of christendome yet the president of the councell brought all the articles in his bosome alredy framed at home whiche they must that day conclude on In whiche sayde councell holden at London by Otho saith Florigerus left he shoulde be thought to haue done nothyng or not to haue come into Englande for any reformation he commaunded vnder a dreadfull paine that the churches vnhalowed shoulde be halowed After which councell the legate wandryng about the Realme as the maner was for the speedy collection of his money and commyng from Lincolne about Easter tyde by Oxforde he toke his In at Osney where the schollers of the vniuersitie and those his Romanes fell at suche square in wordes together that they toke them to blowes and that by the prouocation of the Romanes but such a conflicte was betwixt them that the Romanes went by the worse Whervpon was slayne saith Florigerus the whole familie and retinue of the legate anno 1238. and many mortally wounded and in conclusion the legate hym selfe besieged and dryuen for his succour into the belfrey of Osney who sent to the kyng then at Abyndon to delyuer hym and so he restored to his libertie suspended the whole vniuersitie for one yere and brought the schollers and studentes of the same vniuersitie vnder excommunication and subiection and draue them to open penaunce as is farther sayde in the sayde storie But that matter ended and his procurations and other gyftes whiche he had māny well bestowed the next yere the legate went into Scotlande and dyd exact of all the prelates and beneficed clarkes the thirteenth part of their reuenues and transmitted it ouer to the pope Though Fabian nameth Othobone yet in this yere it must nedes be of Otho The cause of all this broyle at Oxforde saith Fabian rose of suche his constitutions as he decreed agaynst the liberties of the cleargie in his articles v. in number emong which other writers affirme for one scilz the prohibition of mariage from the priestes As for the maner of the entertainment of Otho the legate had of Englishe men it shall not neede to declare what he had in the whole For of one only byshop of Winchester when he knewe he woulde kepe house at London the wynter folowyng he sent hym fiftie fat oxen Math. Paris 1237. an hundred quarters of wheate of the finest and eyght tunnes
.27 b. compareth the scripture to a nose of waxe .100 c. Pius pope his opinion of priestes mariages .198 c. Plagues notable .130 Popes decrees not aboue princes lawes Fol. 5. pag. 1. a. the causer of dissention betweene the Greke Churche and Latine .55 c. he is Luminare maius .67 d bounde to acknowledge his wyfe .200 a. one disanulles the other doth graunt .204 c. called Antichrist by the byshop of Duresine .214 diuers of them byshoppes and priestes sonnes .313 Pope Sergius purged by Aldelme of his fornication .200 b. Popes matters .33 pag. 158. Pontificall of Rome falsely brought in for the Pontificall of England .183 a. 185. a Polidorus iudgement of forced chastitie .262 b. Pontificall bookes .282 Pretence of Martins booke Fol. 2. pag. 1. b. Prelates discretion in tyme of the pope Fol. 4. pag. 1. b. Priestes maryed vniustly entreated .2 a. leafe 4. pag. 1. a. Fol. 13. pag. 2. a. their mariages to be defended as a cause publique Fol. 7. pag. 2. b. continued maryed .1000 yeres Fol. 15. pag. 1. b. massyng priestes pag. 25. b. haue ordered .26 d. maryed priestes in estimation .30 a. 60. a. maryed in the Primatiue Churche .42 b. vncontinent priestes a shame to the Cleargie .31 a. Priestes had wyues and sayde Masse .41 c. maryed not to be seperated .59 c. their contractes iustifiable by lawe .67 a. and some maryed after order .76 c. their incontinencie excused .84 b. 85. b. 86. a. not reformable by lawes .87 c. whose maryages yet more punished then fornication .88 a. and clarkes incontinent may not be put to open penance .89 b. nor their immunities to be iudged of .91 c. priestes laye heauie burdens on other mens neckes .68 c. Priestes offendyng seldome repentyng .82 d. who by vowe renounce mariage not fornication .93 d. and beyng incontinent maye not by othe abiure incontinencie .93 d. forbidden certayne women in their houses .94 a. their crownes .108 a 110. priestes chyldren slaundered to bryng famine into the Realme .125 c. 133. a. their mariages honourable by Iustinian .197 the forbiddyng whereof was not before Siritius tyme .230 d. 258. yet after resumed their wyues agayne .194 for in orderyng they make no promise to renounce maryage .182 b. the prohibition of it was not the Apostles doctrine .153 c. Prayer fastyng holyday and chastitie not forbidden but the hypocrisie of them .166 a. Primatius denieth that all may take the gyft generally .141 c. Profession of priestes denied by them to be made .282 Profession of religious in young age .310 Prosper a byshop maryed .271 Phileas byshop maryed .349 Priestes marying without consent of their byshops depriuable .357 Pascall pope complayneth of kyng Henrie .300 Pascall offereth to dispense with the kynges promises 301. Pope meetyng with the kyng at Gisors .301 Popes craft towardes the kyng for commyng into Englande .301 Papall court burdenous to the Realme and infamous .302 Q Queene Marie in her Commission charged the ordinarie to execute no canons agaynst the lawes of the Realme .175 a. R Rabanus fled out of his order .292 Richarde Archb. of Cant. decrees agaynst concubines .317 Richarde the kyng taken prisoner .321 Rome what store of harlottes it hath .202 b. Rigour of discipline to be moderated .273 Remigius Archbyshop at .xxij. yeres .347 Restitutus byshop of London maryed .348 Redmayn Iohn Doctour◠opinion .352 Rodulph Archbyshop of Cantorburie .304 Robert byshop of Lincolne maryed .307 S Sampsom byshop of worceter his testimonie agaynst his sonne .298 Separations of maryages hurtfull to the common wealth .181 a. Scriptures and Doctours compared .73 b. Scripture ought to haue preeminence .74 a. Scripture most certayne iudge by Athanasius .100 c. Scriptures and Christe must be iudge .246 a. Simon Magus disciples .80 c. Semel malus semper presumiter malus .106 c. Seritius pope first decreed continencie .152 a. Seritius first forbad maryage .230 d. 258. c. Sinesius byshop elect woulde not consent to leaue his wyfe .274 b. Simonie .283 Si non caste tamen caute .329 b. Sole lyfe a rare gyft which all can not take .65 b. 136. d. Sodomiticall sinne publique .285 Spanishe heretiques .115 a. Statutes of the Realme corrupted by Martin .169 a. Statute of Queene Marie or repeale but for afterwarde .171 d. Statutes made by kynges not to be reuoked by popes .178 a. Statutes chaungeable for tyme and place .205 a. Single lyfe why so much forced .276 Saxon rules of priestes .346 Scottishe lawes .350 T Tertullian of seconde maryages .163 d. Thinges neuer done are not therfore vnlawfull to be done .253 a. Thomas de Aquino his counsayle to a clarke y◠cannot cōtayne .206 a. Thurstone Archbyshop of yorke repelled of the munckes .312 Theophilact counsayleth to mary for auoydyng fornication .138 b. Thurstone Archbyshop brake his fayth with the kyng .303 V Virginitie not so necessarie as the ministerie Fol. 7. pag. 1. a. 276. Uirginitie compared with Matrimonie Fol. 18. pag. 1. c. Fol. 18. pa. 2. c. d. Uirginitie aboue our reache .146 c. Uirginitie vrged by the fathers .276 Votum simplex et solemne .104 c. 231. c. 242. Votaries not to mary howe it is lawfull or vnlawfull or expedient .142 v. Vnius vxoris vir expounded pag. 32. a. pag. 61. a. Uotaries mariages alowed by Austen .207.209 d. by Cyprian ibidem by Hierome .208 c. by Gelasius .209 a. by the counsayle at Orleans .210 b. Uowes perfourmable must come from the gyft of God .147 d. 148. a. what circumstaunce they shoulde haue .149 howe they shoulde be made .236 Uowes solemne be of the Churches constitution .229 d. Uirginitie howe it is defined .342 Uirginitie ought to be otherwise qualified .343 W William Archbyshop of Canterburie .289.307 Williams decree agaynst maryed priestes helde not .308 Wattune Abbey .310 Waltham Abbey turned to reguler chanons .319 Writers of Louane to Malapart .335 Wyues many to one man .350 FINIS ¶ Imprinted at London by Richarde Iugge printer to the Queenes Maiestie Cum priuilegio Regiae Maiestatis