form following and not otherwise yet the King is not thereby restrained but his power remains full and perfect as before and he may still grant them as King for that all Acts of Grace and Justice flow from him By the Eighth Canon Concilii Calchuthensis held under Pope Adrian the First An. 787. the Pope had power to grant what Immunities and Priviledges he pleased in Church-matters and they were by the said Canon to be duly observed Whatever Authority the Pope pretended to in this Kingdom in such matters by way of Usurpation the same may the King as Supream Governour of the Church next under God in his own Dominions use and lawfully exercise by his Regal Authority ex justa plenitudine Potestatis suae Likewise Pope Agathon An. 680. in Concilio Romano-Britannico exercised his Papal Authority in the time of Lotharius King of Kent not only touching the Reformation of Errors and Heresies then in this Church but also as to the composure of differences and dissentions that then were among the Clergy of this Realm Such Presidents of the usurped power of the Papal See exercised in this Kingdom are now of no further use than to illustrate or exemplifie the Legal power inherent in the Kings of this Realm in such matters of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction for the most High and Sacred Order of Kings being of Divine Right it follows that all persons of what estate soever and all Causes of what quality soever whether Ecclesiastical or Civil within his Majesties Realms and Dominions are subordinated to the Power and Authority of the King as Supream It is not only acknowledged but also constituted by way of an Ecclesiastical Canon That the power of Calling and Dissolving Councils both National and Provincial is the true Right of all Christian Kings within their own Realms and Territories 8. The Ecclesiastical Legislative power was ever in the Kings of this Realm within their own Dominions That in Ancient times they made their own Ecclesiastical Laws Canons and Constitutions appears by several Presidents and Records of very great Antiquity which were received and observed within their own Territories without any Ratification from any Forreign power One instance among many may be given of the Ecclesiastical Laws of Alured Mag. Regis Anglorum An. 887. This they did de jure by virtue of their own inherent Supremacy And therefore when Pope Nicholas the Second An. 1066. in the Bull wherein he ordained Westminster to be the place for the Consecration of Kings gave power to Edward the Confessor and his Successors to constitute such Laws in the Church as he should think fit he gave him therein no more than was his own before For the Kings of England might ordain or repeal what Canons they thought fit within their own Dominions in right of their Regal Supremacy the same being inherent in them Jure Divino non Papali For we find that in King AEtheldreds days An. 1009. in Concilio AEnhamensi Generali the Canons then made and afterwards caused by King Kanutus to be Transcribed were called the Kings Canons not the Bishops En hujus Concilii Canones quos in suas Leges passim transcripsit Rex Canutus Malmsburius AEtheldredo Regi non Episcopis tribuit And the Peers of this Realm per Synodum Landavensem were unexcommunicable nisi prius Consulto Rege aut ejus praecepto Which is a plain demonstration That the Kings of England Anciently had the Supremacy and superintendent Ecclesiastical power and Jurisdiction inherent in themselves exclusively to all other either home or Forreign powers whatever 9. It is by good Authority asserted That the King as Supream is himself instead of the whole Law yea that he is the Law it self and the only chief Interpreter thereof as in whose Breast resides the whole knowledge of the same And that his Majesty by communicating his Authority to his Judge to expound the Laws doth not thereby abdicate the same from himself but that he may assume it again unto him when and as oft as he pleases Dr. Ridl View p. 2. c. 1. Sect. 7. Consonant whereunto is that which Borellus hath Principum Placita Legis habent vigorem eatenus vim Legis obtinebunt quatenus fuerint cum honestate conjuncta Borel de Magist Edict l. 2. c. 4. Roland à Val. Cons 91. nu 54. vo 2. And Suarez tells us That Princeps est Lex viva reipsa praecipit ut Lex per scripturam Of which Opinion also is Alexander Imola and many others Suar. Alleg. 9. nu 13. The grant of Dispensations is a peculiar and very considerable part of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction the which is eminently in the Crown and by the Stat. of 25 H. 8. the Archbishop of Canterbury may grant Dispensations Archiepiscopus possit dispensare contra Statutum Provinciale per se editum Et qui potest jus condere potest illud tollere Lindw de Cler. Conju c. 2. gl ult Extr. de Elect. c. Significasti c. Intonuit And in another place Episcopus in quibusdam Casibus Dispensare potest contra Canones Const Otho de Concu Cler. gl ver Meritis 10. The Laws and Statutes of this Realm have been tender of the Kings Supremacy ever since the Forreign power over the State Ecclesiastical was abolished In the Statute of 13 Car. 2. cap. 12. there is a Proviso That nothing in the said Act shall extend to abridge or diminish the Kings Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters and affairs And in the Stat. of 22 Car. 2. cap. 1. there is a Proviso That not any thing therein contained shall extend to invalidate or avoid his Majesties Supremacy in Ecclesiastical affairs but that his Majesty his Heirs and Successors may from time to time and at all times hereafter exercise and enjoy all Powers and Authority in Ecclesiastical affairs as fully and amply as any of his Predecessors have or might have done 11. As no Convocations for Ecclesiastical Constitutions or for correction or reformation of Abuses in the Church can be Conven'd without his Majesties Writ for that end and purpose so being Conven'd no Canons or Constitutions that shall then be agreed on can have any effect in Law or be in force to oblige any of his Majesties Subjects until his consent thereunto be first had and obtained and until they shall have the power of Ecclesiastical Laws by being ratified and confirmed by the Supream Authority Therefore the Archbishop of Canterbury may not hold a Council for his Province without the Kings leave for when such Council was held by Hubert Archbishop of Canterbury it was prohibited by Fitz-Peter Chief Justice for that he had not the Kings License therein but he would not obey And 13 E. 3. Rot. Parl. M. 1. there was a Writ for a Convocation of the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury and Pauls And another for the other of York vid. Stat. 25 H. 8. c. 19. where the Clergy of England acknowledge that
of new improvements in their own occupation by culture Pasture and Garden-Fruits only the said Three Orders were exempted from the general payment of all Tithes whatever The Templers and Hospitallers were meer Lay-men yet they were exempted as well as the other Yet the Lateran Council in An. 1215. Ordered That this Priviledge should not extend to Covents erected since that Lateran Council nor to Lands since bestowed on the said Orders though their Covents were erected before that Council Insomuch that when the said Cistercians contrary to the Canons of that Council purchased Bulls from the Pope to discharge their Lands from Tithes King H. 4. Null'd such Bulls by the Stat. of 2 H. 4. cap. 4. and reduced their Lands to a Statu quo These Exemptions from payment of Tithes in this or that particular Religious Order was not known in the World when Aethelwolph Son of Egbert whom he succeeded as King of the West-Saxons gave as aforesaid Tithes of all his Kingdom and that freed of all Tributes Taxes and Impositions as appears by his Charter to that purpose having at a Solemn Council held at Winchester subjected the whole Kingdom of England to the payment of Tithes True it is that long before his time many Acts for Tithes may be produced such as the Imperial Edicts Canons of some Councils and Popes beside such Laws as were made by King Ina and Offa yet the said Edicts and Canons were never received in their full power into England by the consent of Prince and People nor were King Ina and Offa though Monarchs of England as it were in their turns such Kings as conveyed their Crowns to the Issue of their Bodies but the said Aethelwolph was Monarcha Natus non factus and although before his time there were Monarchs of the Saxon Heptarchy yet not successive and fixed in a Family but the said King Egbert being the first that so obtained this Monarchy as to leave it by descent unto his Son the said Aethelwolph he thereby had the more indisputable power to oblige all the Kingdom unto an observance of the said Act. In the said Chapter of Tithes there is also mention made of Mortuaries as having some relation of Tithes wherein is shewed what it is when by and to whom and wherefore to be paid By the Stat. of 21 H. 8. they are reduced to another Regulation than what was in the time of King Henry the Sixth A Mortuary was then the Second best Beast whereof the party died possessed but in case he had but two in all then none due It was called a Corse-Present because ever paid by the Executors though not alwaies bequeathed by the dying party All persons possessed of an Estate Children under Tuition and Femes Covert but not Widows excepted were liable to the payment thereof to the Priest of that Parish where the dying party received the Sacrament not where he repaired to Prayers but in case his House at his death stood in two Parishes it was then divided betwixt them both And it was given in lieu of Personal Tithes which the party in his life time had through ignorance or negligence not fully paid Lindw Cons de Consuetud Such of the ancient Lawyers as were unacquainted with this word Mortuarium in the aforesaid sense as we now use it took Mortuarium only pro derelicto in morte say of it That it is Vocabulum novum harbarum but we understand it better where of Custome it is due and payable These Mortuaries where by the Custome they are to be paid were ever in consideration of the omission of Personal Tithes in the parties Life-time which Personal Tithes were by the Canon Law to be paid only of such as did receive the Sacraments and only to that Church where they did receive them as may be inferr'd plainly from cap. Ad Apostolicae de Decimis But observe says Lessius that in many places these Personal Tithes have been quite taken away and in some places they are paid only at the end of a mans Life as among the Venetians which manner of payment seems to have a great resemblance to these Mortuaries and in some places they are paid only ot the end of the year And in like manner many Predial and Mixt Tithes in divers places are also abolish'd which says he is for the most part done by the permission of the Church where men have been observed to pay them with regret and much against their minds nor hath the Church in such cases thought fit to compel them to it on purpose to avoid scandal Lessius de Just jur lib. 2. cap. 39. Dub. 5. nu 27. And in such places where the Custome is to pay a Personal Tithe when any persons shall Hunt Fish or Fowl to make gain or merchandize thereby and it be neglected to be paid whether Restitution or Compensation by way of a Mortuary where Mortuaries are Customable be in that case due by Law is a Question which by Covarruvies may be well held in the Affirmative Although the face of the Church as well as State began to look with a purer though less Sanguine complexion when Queen Elizabeth adorn'd the Crown than when her Sister wore it yet even in Queen Elizabeths time there crept such abuses into the Church that Archbishop Parker found it necessary to have recourse unto the Power given him by the Queens Commission and by a Clause of the Act of Parliament For the uniformity of Common Prayer and Service in the Church c. whereupon by the Queens consent and the Advice of some of the Bishops he sets forth a certain Book of Orders to be diligently observed and executed by all persons whom it might concern wherein it was Provided That no Parson Vicar or Curate of any Church Exempt should from thenceforth attempt to conjoyn by solemnization of Matrimony any not being of his or their Parish-Church without good Testimony of the Banns being ask'd in the several Churches where they dwell or otherwise were sufficiently Licensed Heyl. Hist of Q. Eliz. An. Reg. 3. Banns or Banna that word Bannum is sometimes taken pro Mandato scil Edicto it is a word of divers significations as appears almost by all the Glossographists and Feudists it sounds sometimes like Edictum sometimes like Mandatum or Decretum and sometimes as here like Proclamatio Saxonibus gebann whence there is their gebannian pro Proclamare edicere mandare ut nostratium Bannes pro Nuptiarum foedere Publicato This Publication of Banns was cautiously ordain'd for the prevention of Clandestine Marriages which were prohibited in this Kingdom above 500 years since as a thing contrary in all Ages to the practice of all Nations and Churches where the Gospel was received and therefore at a Council conven'd at Westminster in the year 1175. by Richard Archbishop of Canterbury under the Reign of King H. 2. it was Ordain'd That no person whatsoever should solemnize Marriage in
Ecclesiastical Court might proceed to punish the Offender who offered violence to a Priest the which de jure it might do by proceeding Ex Officio pro salute animae Dammages on an Action of Battery in the case reserved to the Common Law To conclude The Protestation which Bellamera the Canonist in the Proem to his Lecture on the Clementine Constitutions makes shall as to this Repertorium Canonicum Jurisve Anglico-Ecclesiastici Compendium be mine Id submittens correctioni determinationi tam Canonum Ecclesiasticorum quam Statutorum Jurumque Publice Forensium Secularium cujuslibet melius sentientis Protestans quod si in praesenti Opusculo de lapsu chalami aut inadvertentia vel forte ex ignorantia aliqua jam Scripsero id praeter intentionem scribere me contigerit Si etiam aliqua Scripsero quae errorem saperent aut male sonarent illa ex nunc Revoco volo haberi pro non Scriptis Determinationibusque Ecclesiae Anglicanae dicti Juris Forensis Oraculis semper in omnibus volo stare Et hanc Protestationem volo pro Repetita haberi in quolibet Dictorum meorum etiam condicendorum ut si reprobantur dicta Actor non propter hoc reprobetur The several CHAPTERS of the Ensuing Abridgment CHAP. PAGE 1. OF His Majesties Supremacy 1 2. Of Archbishops 12 3. Of Bishops and Ordinaries 22 4. Of Guardians of the Spiritualties 39 5. Of Congé d'Eslire Election and Confirmation 43 6. Of Consecration 46 7. Of Deans and Chapters 51 8. Of Archdeacons 60 9. Of Procurations Synodals and Pentecostals 67 10. Of Diocesan Chancellors Commissaries Officials as also of Consistories 80 11. Of Courts Ecclesiastical and their Jurisdiction 94 12. Of Churches Chappels and Church-yards 134 13. Of Churchwardens Questmen and Sidemen 159 14. Of Consolidation and Vnion of Churches 169 15. Of Dilapidations 173 16. Of Patrons and De jure Patronatus 178 17. Of Parsons and Parsonages 185 18. Of Vicars Vicarages and Benefices 196 19. Of Advowsons 220 20. Of Appropriations 220 21. Of Commendams 230 22. Of Lapse 242 23. Of Collation Presentation and Nomination 251 24. Of Examination Admission Institution and Induction 269 25. Of Avoidance and Next Avoidance also of Cession 282 26. Of Pluralities 291 27. Of Deprivation 305 28. Of Incumbents also of Residence and Non-Residence 316 29. Of Abbots and Abbies also of Chauntreys and of the Court of Augmentations 326 30. Of Annates or First-Fruits also of Aumone or Frank-Almoin 335 31. Of Altarage 339 32. Of Tithes with the Incidents thereof 344 33. Of Banns 465 34. Of Adultery 469 35. Of Bastards and Bastardy 477 36. Of Divorce also of Alimony 492 37. Of Defamation 514 38. Of Sacriledge 528 39. Of Simony 535 40. Of Blasphemy Heresie and Hereticks 559 41. Of Councils Synods and Convocations 584 42. Of Excommunication 623 43. Of the Statutes Articuli Cleri and Circumspecte agatis 639 44. Of several Writs at Common Law pertinent to this Subject 643 AN ABRIDGEMENT OF Ecclesiastical LAWS CHAP. I. Of the Kings Supremacy 1. A Description thereof or what it is 2. The Establishment thereof by Statute Laws 3. The Oath of the Kings Supremacy when first Enacted the Cause thereof 4. The King in his own Dominions Dei Vicarius 5. The King Supream Governour under God of the Church in England c. 6. Impugners of the Kings Supremacy how censured by the Canon 7. In matters Ecclesiastical the King hath here the same power de jure which the Pope formerly exercised by Usurpation 8. The Kings of this Realm anciently made their own Canons and Ecclesiastical Constitutions without the Popes Authority 9. The King is Lex viva in some cases may dispence with some Canons 10. Provisoes of some Statutes in right of the Kings Supremacy 11. No Canons or Ecclesiastical Constitutions to be made or to be of force to oblige the Subject without the Royal Assent 12. The Regal Supremacy asserted by the Ecclesiastical Injunctions of King Ed. 6. 13. The same further asserted by other Eccles Powers and Authorities 14. The Regal Supremacy asserted in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth 1. THis Ecclesiastical Abridgment begins with the Regal Supremacy a Point which cannot be touch'd with too much tenderness such of the Church of Rome as question the validity thereof may be presumed not to have consulted that Learned Canonist of their own Jo. Quintinus Hoedeus where he says That Nemini dubium quin in Primitiva Ecclesia de rebus Personis Ecclesiasticis Principes jus dixerint The Emperours were all Secular Princes who by those Laws which they established touching Persons and Things Ecclesiastical proclaimed to all the world their Supremacy therein The Thirteen first Titles of the First Book of the Emperour Justinian's Code being the Constitutions of divers Emperours do treat and judge of Things and Persons meerly Ecclesiastical yea the Emperours Areadius and Honorius ejected a Bishop as well out of his Title of Ecclesiastical Dignity as out of his Episcopal See and commanded him to be Banished for disturbing the publick Peace l. quicunque C. de Episc Cleric By this word Supremacy is here understood that undoubted Right and ancient Jurisdiction over the State Ecclesiastical within these his Majesties Realms and Dominions with the abolishing of all Forein and Usurped Power repugnant to the same which the Laws and Statutes have restored to the Crown of this Kingdom and now invested in the King as the Highest Power under God within these his Majesties Realms and Dominions unto whom all persons within the same in all Causes and Matters as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal do owe their Loyalty and Obedience before and above all other Powers and Potentates on Earth whatever 2. By the Injunctions of King Ed. 6. to the Clergy all persons Ecclesiastical having cure of Souls were Four times a year to preach in vindication of the Kings Supremacy and in opposition to the usurped power of the Bishop of Rome in this Kingdom There were divers Laws made in the time of King H. 8. for the extinguishment of all Forein Power and for the restoring unto the Crown of this Realm the Ancient Rights and Jurisdictions of the same which is the substance of the Preamble of the Statute of 1 Eliz. cap. 1. The express Letter and meaning whereof is as Sir Edward Coke observes to restore and unite to the Crown the Ancient Jurisdiction Spiritual or Ecclesiastical where as he says the First clause of the Body of the Act being to let in the Restitution of the Ancient Right and Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical within the Realm doth abolish all Forein Jurisdiction out of the Realm And then followeth the principal Clause of Restitution and Uniting of the ancient Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical being the main purpose of the Act in these words viz. Be it Enacted That such Jurisdiction Spiritual or Ecclesiastical as by any Spiritual Power or Authority hath heretofore been or lawfully may be exercised or used
the Bishoprick of Winchester contra novi Concilii statuta as the same Author reporteth And this because succeeding Popes had broken Pope Vrban's promise Touching the not sending of Legates into England unless the King should require it And in the time of the next succeeding King Stephen the Pope gained Appeals to the Court of Rome For in a Synod at London Conven'd by Hen. Bishop of Winchester the Pope's Legate it was Decreed That Appeals should be made from Provincial Councils to the Pope Before which time Appellationes in usu non erant saith a Monk of that time donec Henricus Winton Episcopus malo suo dum Legatus esset crudeliter intrusit Thus did the Pope usurp Three main points of Jurisdiction upon Three several Kings after the Conquest for of King William Rufus he could win nothing viz. upon the Conquerour the sending of Legates or Commissioners to hear and determine Ecclesiastical Causes Upon Hen. 1. the Donation and Investures of Bishopricks and other Benefices and upon King Stephen the Appeals to the Court of Rome And in the time of King H. 2. the Pope claimed exemption of Clerks from the Secular Power 2. The high Court of Convocation is called the Convocation of the Clergy and is the highest Court Ecclesiastical where the whole Clergy of both Provinces are either present in Person or by their Representatives They commonly meet and sit in Parliament-time consisting of Two parts viz. the Upper-house where the Archbishops and Bishops do sit and the Lower-house where the Inferiour Clergy do sit This Court hath the Legislative power of making Ecclesiastical Laws is commonly called a National Synod Conven'd by the King 's Writ directed to the Archbishop of each Province for summoning all Bishops Deans Archdeacons Cathedrals and Collegiate Churches assigning them the time and place in the said Writ But one Proctor sent for each Cathedral and Collegiate Church and two for the Body of the inferiour Clergy of each Diocess may suffice The higher House of Convocation or the House of Lords Spiritual for the Province of Canterbury consists of 22 Bishops whereof the Archbishop is President the Lower-house or House of Commons Spiritual consisting of all the Deans Archdeacons one Proctor for every Chapter and two for the Clergy of each Diocess in all 166 persons viz. 22 Deans 24 Prebendaries 54 Archdeacons and 44 Clerks representing the Diocesan Clergy Both Houses debate and transact only such matters as his Majesty by Commission alloweth concerning Religion and the Church All the Members of both Houses of Convocation have the same priviledges for themselves and Menial Servants as the Members of Parliament have The Archbishop of York at the same time and in the like manner holds a Convocation of all his Province at York constantly corresponding debating and concluding the same matters with the Provincial Synod of Canterbury The Antiquity of this Court of Convocation is very great for according to Beda St. Augustine An. 686. assembled in Council the Britain Bishops and held a great Synod The Clergy was never assembled or called together at a Convocation by other Authority than by the King 's Writ Vid. Parl. 18 E. 3. nu 1. Inter Leges Inae An. Dom. 727. A Convocation of the Clergy called Magna servorum Dei frequentia The Jurisdiction of the Convocation is only touching matters meerly Spiritual and Ecclesiastical wherein they proceed juxta Legem Divinam Canones Sanctae Ecclesiae The Lord Coke cites some Ancient Records to prove that the Court of Convocation did not meddle with any thing concerning the Kings Temporal Laws of the Land and thence inferrs That the Statute of 25 H. 8. cap. 19. whereby it is provided That no Canons Constitution or Ordinance should be made or put in execution within this Realm by Authority of the Convocation of the Clergy which were contrariant or repugnant to the King's Prerogative Royal or the Customes Laws and Statutes of this Realm is but declaratory of the old Common Law And by the said Act the Court of Convocation as to the making of new Canons is to have the King's License as also his Royal Assent for the putting the same in execution But towards the end of that Act there is an express Proviso that such Canons as were made before that Act which be not contrariant nor repugnant to the King's Prerogative the Laws Statutes or Customes of the Realm should be still used and executed as they were before the making of that Act. And if any Cause shall depend in contention in any Ecclesiastical Court which shall or may touch the King his Heirs or Successors the party grieved shall or may appeal to the Upper-house of Convocation within fifteen days after Sentence given Remarkable are the Constitutions of Claringdon in the time of King H. 2. occasioned by the Popes claiming Exemption of Clerks from the Secular power so contended for by Thomas Becket then Archbishop of Canterbury against the King as occasioned a convening a Common Council as well of the Bishops as of the Nobility at Claringdon in the time of H. 2. wherein they revived and re-established the Ancient Laws and Customes of the Kingdom for the Government of the Clergy and ordering of Causes Ecclesiastical The principal Heads or Articles whereof were these viz. 1 That no Bishop or Clerk should depart the Realm without the King's License and that such as obtained License should give Sureties That they should not procure any dammage to the King or Realm during their absence in Foreign parts 2 That all Bishopricks and Abbies being void should remain in the Kings hands as his own Demesns until he had chosen and appointed a Prelate thereunto and that every such Prelate should do his Homage to the King before he be admitted to the place 3 That Appeals should be made in Causes Ecclesiastical in this manner viz. From the Archdeacon to the Ordinary from the Ordinary to the Metropolitan from him to the King and no farther 4 That Peter-Pence should be paid no more to the Pope but to the King 5 That if any Clerk should commit Felony he should be hanged if Treason he should be drawn and quartered 6 That it should be adjudged High Treason to bring in Bulls of Excommunication whereby the Realm should be cursed 7 That no Decree should be brought from the Pope to be executed in England upon pain of Imprisonment and Confiscation of Goods 3. Arches or alma Curia de Arcubus so called of Bow-Church in London by reason of the Steeple or Clochier thereof raised at the top with Stone-pillars in fashion like a Bow-bent Arch-wise in which Church this Court was ever wont to be held being the chief and most Ancient Court and Consistory of the Jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Canterbury which Parish of Bow together with twelve others in London whereof Bow is the chief are within the Peculiar Jurisdiction of the said Archbishop in Spiritual Causes and
Constance there being a Contest about Precedency between the English and French Embassadours the English have these words viz. Domus Regalis Angliae Sanctam Helenam cum suo filio Constantino Magno Imperatore nato in urbe Regia Eboracensi educere comperta est The Royal House of England it is known for certain brought forth Helena with her Son Constantine the Great Emperour Born in the Royal City Eboracum Likewise the English at Basil opposing the Precedency of Castile say thus viz. Constantium illum Magnum qui Primus Imperator Christianus so are their words Licentiam dedit per universum Orbem Ecclesias constituere immensa ad hoc Conferens bona Peternae natum in Eboracensi Civitate That Constantine who being the first Christian Emperour gave leave to build Churches throughout the World was Born at Peterne in the City of York By this they mean Bederne a Colledge of Vicars there sometime serving the Quire which as also Christchurch called in Ancient Charters Ecclesia Sanctae Trinitatis in Curia Regis is verily thought to have been part of the Imperial Palace in old time which seems the more probable by what Herodian writes viz. That Severus the Emperour and his eldest Son Antoninus sate at York about Private and Common affairs and gave their Judgment in ordinary Causes as in that of Coecilia about recovery of Right of Possession The Rescript or Law of which matter is to this day preserved in the Code whereon the Learned Cuiacius of Great Britain hath made very remarkable Observations This was that Septimius Severus Emperour of Rome and Master of the World who in this Isle breathed his last and who when he saw there was nothing to be expected but Death called for the Vrn wherein he had appointed his Ashes after the Ossilegium should be put and viewing it very exactly Thou shalt hold said he the Man whom the World could not contain No wonder then that this City of so great Renown and Antiquity was adorned with an Archiepiscopal Seat above a Thousand years since as aforesaid yet it never had those high Priviledges or Pterogatives which were and are peculiar to the Archiepiscopal See of Canterbury whereof the Power next under the Crown of convening Councils and Synods is not the least Gervasius in his Chronicle de Tempore H. 2. tells us That RICHARDUS CANTUARIENSIS Archiepiscopus totius ANGLIAE Primas Apostolicae Sedis Legatus Convocato Clero ANGLIAE celebravit Concilium in Ecclesia Beati PETRI ad WESTMONASTERIUM 15. kal. Junii Dominica ante Ascentionem Domini An. 1175. In hoc Concilio ad dextram Primatis sedit Episcopus LONDONIENSIS quia inter Episcopos CANTUARIENSIS Ecclesiae Suffraganeos DECONATVS praeminet dignitate Ad sinistram sedit Episcopus WINTONIENSIS quia CANTORIS officio praecellit The Church when Disdiocesan'd by Death Translation or otherwise or quasi viduata whilst the Bishop is employed about Transmarine Negotiations in the Service of the King or Kingdom the Law takes care to provide it a Guardian quoad Jurisdictionem Spiritualem during such vacancy of the See or remote absence of the Bishop to whom Presentations may be made and by whom Institutions Admissions c. may be given and this is that Ecclesiastical Officer whether he be the Archbishop or his Vicar General or Deans and Chapters in whomsoever the Office resides him we commonly call the Guardian of the Spiritualties The Power and Jurisdiction of this Office in the Church is very Ancient and was in use before the time of King Edward the First it doth cease and determine so soon as a new Bishop is Consecrated to that See that was vacant or otherwise Translated who needs no new Consecration This Ecclesiastical Office is in being immediately upon the vacancy of an Archiepiscopal See as well as when a Bishoprick happens to be vacant Beside the Presentations Admissions Institutions c. aforesaid that this Officer is legally qualified for he may also by force of the Act of Parliament made in the Five and twentieth year of King Henry the Eighth grant Licenses Dispensations Faculties c. which together with such Instruments Rescripts and other Writings as may be granted by virtue of the said Statute may be had made done and granted under the Name and Seal of the Guardian of the Spiritualties And in case he shall refuse to give the same an effectual dispatch where by Law it may and ought to be granted in every such case the Lord Chancellor of England or Lord Keeper of the Great Seal upon Petition and Complaint thereof to him made may issue his Majesties Writ directed to such Guardian of the Spiritualties requiring him by virtue of the said Writ under a certain penalty therein limited by the said Lord Chancellor or Lord Keeper to grant the same in due form of Law otherwise and no just and reasonable cause shewed for such refusal the said penalty may be incurr'd to his Majesty and a Commission under the Great Seal issued to two such Prelates or Spiritual persons as shall be nominated by his Majesty impowring them by virtue of the said Act to grant such Licenses c. as were so refused to be granted by the Guardian c. as aforesaid The first thing in order to the Election of a Bishop in the Vacancy of any Episcopal See is and ever hath been since the time of King John the Royal Congé d'Eslire which being obtain'd the Dean and Chapter proceeds to Election It cannot legally be doubted but that the consent of the Dean is not only requisite but also necessary to the Election of a Bishop as appears by an Ancient Contest above five hundred years since between the Dean and Canons of London touching the Election of Anselme Soon after King Stephen came to the Crown he conven'd a Council at Westminster vocati sunt ad Concilium says an Historian WILLIELMVS DECANVS LVNDONIAE siuml Canonici Cum autem haberetur Tractatus de Concilio Lundoniensis Ecclesiae tunc vacantis nec in aliquem possent unanimiter convenire recesserunt à Decano Canoni corum multi citra conscientiam ejus ANSELMUM Abbatem in Episcopum Eligentes Canonici vero quos Decanus habebat secum in Mensa diebus singulis Appellaverunt nec Regis occurrerunt offensam Canonici quidem alii quia quod fecerant tam Regi quam toto Concilio videbatur iniquum Regis indignationem plurimam meruerunt quorum aliqui bonis suis spoliati sunt The Pope afterwards having on this occasion a solemn Conference with his Cardinals Albericus Hostiensis Episcopus quod sequitur pronunciavit in Publicum Quoniam Electio Canonicorum Lundoniensium citra conscientiam Assensum Decani facta fuit cujus est Officium in Eligendo Pastore suo de jure primam vocem habere Nos eam auctoritate beati Petri devocamus in irritum So that according to this Ancient President the Election
of Canterbury and the Abbot of St. Austins in Canterbury as to whom it may be paid and to what value it may extend The Composition runs thus viz. Noverint universi praesens Scriptum inspecturi vel audituri Quod cum inter Dominum Ed mundum Dei gratia Cantuariensem Archiepiscopum totius Angliae Primatem Magistrum S. de Langeton Archidiaconum Cantuariensem ex una parte â—â—minum Robertum Abbatem Conventum S. Augustini Cantuariae ex altera Controversia diutius mota fuisset super Ecclesia de Chistlet Jurisdictione c. Item pro bono pacis concedunt Abbas Conventus quod Archidiaconus quando Visitationis exercet Officium in Ecclesiis eorum sicut in aliis Ecclesiis Diocesis Cantuariensis recipiat Procurationem consuetam exceptis c. In Capellis vero de Menstre scil Sanct. P. Johannis Laurentii praesentabunt Domino Archiepiscopo idoneos Capellanos perpetuos ad Altaragia ita tamen quod singula Altaragia valeant decem Marcas qui hac portione tantum erunt contenti sub poena amissionis dictae portionis si coram Judice quocunque ex certa scientia plus aliquando petierint praesertim cum Vicarius Matricis Ecclesiae de Menstre c. Whereby it is very evident That these Altarages issued out of the Offerings to the Altar and were anciently payable to the Priesthood as well as Tithes and other Oblations It is most probable that the greatest Annual Revenue by Altars if not by Altarages in any one Church within this Realm was in that of St. Pauls London for it seems when Chanteries were granted to King Henry the Eight whereof there were 47 belonging to St. Pauls as aforesaid there were in the same Church at that time no less than Fourteen several Altars And although they were but Chantery-Priests that Officiated at them and had their Annual Salaries on that account distinct from Altarages in the sense of Oblations aforesaid yet in regard these Annual Profits accrued by their Service at the Altar they may not improperly be termed Pension-Altarages though not Oblation-Altarages Concerning Tithes whether they are eo nomine due and payable now under the Gospel is not to our purpose either to question or determine it will be agreed on all hands that the Law requires the payment thereof and hath stated it within the cognizance of the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Historins of good credit and great Antiquity tell us That Aethelwolfe King of the West-Saxons gave the Tenth part of his Kingdom unto God whatever his design was by it whether for the Redemption of his and his Ancestors Souls or otherwise yet it is now above 800 years since he Decimated totum Regni sui Imperium An. 855. Aethelwolphus Rex Decimam totius Regni sui partem ab omni Regali servitio tributo liberavit in sempiterno graphio in Cruce Christi c. uni trino Deo immolavit Simeon Dunelm Hist de Gest Reg. Angl. Likewise Aethelstan who Reigned about 70 years after Aethelwolfe in the first of all his Laws made special provision for the punctual payment of Tithes Ego Adelstanus Rex c. Mando Praepositis meis omnibus in regno meo c. ut in primis reddant de meo proprio Decimas Deo tam in vivente captali quam mortuis frugibus terrae Episcopi mei similiter faciant de suo proprio Aldermanni mei Praepositi mei Et volo ut Episcopi Praepositi hoc judicent omnibus qui eis parere debent c. Recolendum quoque nobis est quam terribiliter in Libris positum est Si Decimam dare nolumus ut auferantur à nobis Novem partes solummodo Decima relinquatur This AEthelstan dying without Issue was succeeded in the Kingdom by his Brother Edmond in the Second of whose Laws we find it thus Enacted in a great Synod conven'd at London where Odo and Wolstan Archbishops were present Decimas Praecipimus omni Christiano super Christianitatem suam dare c. Si quis hoc dare noluerit Excommunicatus sit And in the First of King Edgar's Laws you have these words Reddatur omnis Decimatio ad Matrem Ecclesiam cui Parochia adjacet Also in the Fourth of King Ethelred's Laws it is commanded in these words Praecipimus ut omnis homo c. det rectam Decimam suam sicut in diebus Antecessorum nostrorum fecit quando melius fecit hoc est sicut aratrum peragrabit decimam acram Et omnis Consuetudo reddatur ad Matrem nostram Ecclesiam cui adjacet Et nemo auferat Deo quod ad Deum pertinet Praedecessores nostri concesserunt And in the Ninth of King Alured's Laws Si quis Decimam contra teneat reddat LASHLITE cum DACIS WITAM cum ANGLIS And in the Laws of the Conquerour it is particularly Ordained That de omni annona Decima garba Deo debita est ideo reddenda Si gregem Equarum habuerit pullum reddat decimum qui unam tamen vel duas habuerit de singulis pullis Singulos denarios Similiter qui Vaccas plures habuerit decimum vitulum qui unam vel duas de Vitulis singulis Obolos singulos Et qui Caseum fecerit det Deo decimum si vero non fecerit Lac decima die Similiter decimum Agnum decimum Vellus decimum Caseum decimum Butyrum decimum Porcellum Item de Apibus vero Similiter Commodi Quinetiam de bosco prato aquis de molendinis parcis vivariis piscariis virgultis hortis Negotionibus de omnibus rebus quas dederit Deus decima pars ei reddenda est qui Novem partes simul cum Decem largitur Qui eam detinuerint per Justitiam Episcopi Regis si necesse fuerit ad redditionem arguantur It is on good ground that the Canonists do hold That Tithes Originally and ex sua natura are of Ecclesiastical cognizance beside the Statute of primo R. 2. That pursuit for Tithes ought and of ancient time did pertain to the Spiritual Court notwithstanding what others assert That in their own nature they are a Civil thing and that as Bract. lib. 5. fol. 401. they were annexed to the Spiritualty In the Chapter of Tithes in this ensuing Abridgment you find the Order of Cistercians so called from Cistercium in Burgundy being but refined Benedictines exempted from paying of Tithes so also were the Orders of Templers and Hospitallers otherwise called of St. John's of Jerusalem for anciently the Lands of Abbies did pay Tithes to the Parish-Priest as well as the Lands of Lay-men but in the year 1100 they obtained besides the Appropriations they then had of Pope Paschal the Second at the Council of Mentz that their Lands for the future should be discharged thereof But this Exemption was after limited and restrained by Pope Adrian the Fourth about the year 1150. excepting the Tithes
for the visitation of the Ecclesiastical State and Persons and for-Reformation Order and Correction of the same and of all manner of Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities shall for ever by Authority of this Parliament be united and annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm This Act by a former Clause thereof doth Repeal the Statute of 1 and 2 Ph. Ma. c. 8. whereby the Acts of 26 H. 8. c. 1. and 35 H. 8. c. 3. were repealed so that the Act of Repeal being repealed the said Acts of H. 8. were implicitely revived whereby it is declared and enacted That the King his Heirs and Successors should be taken and accepted the only Supream Head in Earth of the Church of England and should have and enjoy annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm as well the Title and style thereof as all Honours Dignities Prebeminencies Jurisdictions c. to the said dignity of Supream Head belonging c. By which Style Title and Dignity the King hath all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction whatever And by which Statute the Crown was but remitted and restored to its Ancient Jurisdiction which had been formerly usurped by the Bishop of Rome And this is that Supremacy which is here meant and intended 3. The said Statute of 1 Eliz. c. 1. doth not only repeal the said Stat. of 1 and 2 P. M. c. 8. but it is also a reviver of divers Acts asserting several branches of the Kings Supremacy and re-establishing the same it doth likewise not only abolish all Forreign Authority but also annex the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to the Crown of this Realm with power to assign Commissioners for the exercise of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction And then further Enacts to this effect viz. That all Ecclesiastical persons of what degree soever and all and every Temporal Judge Justice Mayor or other Lay or Temporal Officer or Minister and every other person having Fees or wages from the Crown within this Realm or the Dominions thereof shall upon his Corporal Oath testifie and declare in his Conscience That the Kings Majesty is the only Supream Governour of this Realm and of all other his Majesties Dominions and Countries as well in all Spiritual or Ecclesiastical things or causes as Temporal And that no Forreign Prince Person Prelate State or Potentate hath or ought to have any Jurisdiction power superiority preheminence or authority Ecclesiastical or Spiritual within this Realm And therefore doth utterly renounce and forsake all Forreign Jurisdictions powers superiorities and authorities and doth promise that from henceforth be shall bear Faith and true Allegiance to the Kings Majesty his Heirs and lawful Successors and to his power shall assist and defend all Jurisdictions priviledges preheminencies and authorities granted or belonging to the Kings Majesty his Heirs and Successors or united or annexed to the Imperial Crown of this Realm The practices of the Romanists in the 4th year of Queen Elizabeth and the danger thereby threatning both the Queen and State occasioned her to call a Parliament 12. Jan. An. 156 2 3 which passed an Act For assurance of the Queens Royal power over all Estates and Subjects within her Dominions By which Statute was enacted The Oath of Supremacy as also what persons were obliged to take it and who should have power to administer the same And this was both the original and the cause of that Oath By the said Statute of 1 El. c. 1. appears also what the penalty is for refusing to take the said Oath as also the penalty of maintaining a Forreign Authority as likewise what other persons than the fore-mentioned shall be obliged to take the said Oath which was afterwards again further ratified and established by the Statute of 5 Eliz. c. 1. 4. The King within his own Territories and Dominions is according to Bracton Dei Vicarius tam in Spiritualibus quam Temporalibus And in the Ecclesiastical Laws of Edward the Confessor the King is styled Vicarius summi Regis Reges regunt Ecclesiam Dei in immediate subordination to God Yea the Pope himself Eleutherius An. 169. styled King Lueius Dei Vicarius in Regno suo 5. The Supremacy which heretofore the Pope did usurp in this Kingdom was in the Crown originally to which it is now legally reverted The Kings Supremacy in and over all Persons and Causes Ecclesiastical within his own Dominions is essentially inherent in him so that all such Authority as the Pope here once usurped claiming as Supream Head did originally and legally belong to the Crown and is now re-united to it by several Statutes as aforesaid On this Supremacy of the King as Supream Head Sr. Edward Coke grounds the power of granting a Commission of Review after a Definitive Sentence in the Delegates for one Reason that he gives is because after a Definitive Sentence the Pope as Supream Head by the Canon Law used to grant a Commission Ad Revidendum And such Authority as the Pope had claiming as Supream Head doth of right belong to the Crown Quia sicut Fontes communicant aquas fluminibus cumulative non privitive sic Rex subditis suis Jurisdictionem communicat in Causis Ecclesiasticis vigore Statuti in hujusmodi Casu editi cumulative non privitive By the Second Canon of the Ecclesiastical Constitutions of the Church of England it is ordained That whoever shall affirm that the Kings Majesty hath not the same Authority in Causes Ecclesiastical that the godly Kings had among the Jews and Christian Emperors in the Primitive Church or impeach in any part his Regal Supremacy in the said Cases restored to the Crown and by the Laws of this Realm therein established shall be Excommunicated ipso facto and not be restored but only by the Archbishop after his repentance and publick revocation of those his wicked Errors 7. The King being next under God Supream Governour of the Church of England may Qua talis redress as he shall see cause in all matters of Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction for the conservation of the Peace and Tranquillity of his Realms The Pope as appears by the Stat. of 25 H. 8. c. 21. claimed full power to dispense with all human Laws of all Realms in all Causes which he called Spiritual Now the King as Supream hath the same power in himself within his own Realms legally which the Pope claimed and exercised by Usurpation Eadem praesumitur mens Regis quae est Juris The Kings immediate personal ordinary inherent power which he executes or may execute Authoritate Regia suprema Ecclesiastica as King and Supream Governour of the Church of England is one of these Flowers qui faciunt Coronam Nor is the Kings immediate power restrained by such Statutes as authorize inferiour persons The Lord Chief Justice Hobart asserts That although the Stat. of 25 H. 8. 21. doth say That all Dispensations c. shall be granted in manner and
Corporate as hath a Bishop and a Cathedral Church Yet Crompton in his Jurisdictions in his Computation of our Cities doth omit Ely though it hath a Bishop and a Cathedral Church Thus Westminster is called a City and accordingly there is mention made of a Bishop of Westminster in a Statute made during the Reign of King Henry 8. But by Letters Patents dated 21. May 2 Eliz. in pursuance of an Act of Parliament of 1 Eliz. not printed the Revenues of that late Monastery were vested in the Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate Church of Westminster which hath caused Errors in the Pleadings of some Cases by styling it the Cathedral for Collegiate Church of Westminster Cassanaeus who wrote as well De Gloria Mundi in general as of the Customes of Burgundy in particular saith That France hath within its Territories 104 Cities and gives this Reason Because there are so many Seats of Archbishops and Bishops Yet Sir Edw. Coke observes Cambridge to be a City by ancient Record although it does not evidently appear that it ever was an Episcopal See And in the Stat. of 11 H. 7. c. 4. it is there called the Town of Cambridge 4. In England and Wales there were Anciently three Provinces and over them Three Archbishops whose Archbishopricks were founded above 1500 years since For soon after the Conversion of King Luâ—ius who began his Reign over the Britains An. 170. being prevailed with to embrace the Christian Faith by the perswasions of Elvanus who had been brought up at Glastenbury and of Medwanus both Britains and therein confirmed by the Divines which Eleutherius who became Pope An 177. sent into Britain for that end and purpose The said King being by them baptized the False Religion of the Druids with their Idols was soon abolished Heathen Temples purged and then consecrated to the service and worship of the True God and in the place of twenty eight â—lamâ—ns were Bishops consecrated the Three Archbishops whereof were founded in the Three chief Cities of the then Three Provinces erected by the Romans where Arch-Flamins had formerly been maintain'd viz. at London the Metropolis of Britannia Prima at York the Metropolis of Maxima Caesariensis and at Caerlegion in Wales which is said to be Caerleon upon Vske formerly called Isca in Monmouthshire the Metropolis or chief City of Britannia Secunda or under Vrbs Legionum Cambria Gildas antiquissimus inter eos qui fide digni sunt Britannicarum rerum scriptor tradit Britannos ab ortu Evangelii Christianam suscepisse fidem Ant. Brit. ubi supr Ac primum Paulum ipsum cum aliis Gentibus tum nominatim Britannis Evangelium nunciasse post priorem suam Romae incarcerationem Theodoret. l. 9. de Curand Graecor affect Origenes qui proximis fuit post Apostolos seculis testatur Britanniam in Christianam consentire Religionem Orig. Hom. 4. in Ezech. Lucius Rex Britanniae An. 179. Baptizatus Ab Eleutherio Pontiâ—ice Romano reformationem Angliae petiit Episcop 29. ordinavit Ant. Brit. fo 4 5 7. Before the coming of the Saxons into England the Christian Britains had three Archbishops viz. of London York and Caerleon in Wales The Archiepiscopal See of London was by the Saxons placed at Canterbury for St. Austins sake where he was buried That of Caerleon being translated to St. Davids and after subjected to the See of Canterbury 5. From this time to Dioclesians Perfecution which though the Tenth and last yet the first which the Britains felt Christianity flourished in this Island which â—y that Persecution was almost extirpated out of the Land till Constantine the Great wore the Imperial Crown in whose time it revived till the beginning of the next Century when it was infected with the Pelagian Heresie till the condemnation thereof in the Council of Carthage and Mela and happily suppressed by Germanus Bishop of Auxerre and by Lupus Bishop of Troys in Campeigne who at the request of the English Catholicks were sent by the French Bishops into England as at the same time and for the same end Palladius was by Pope Celestine into Scotland And now the Christian Religion flourished again till the time of the usurping Tyrant Vortiger who after he had slain Vodinus Archbishop of London was himself burnt in a Castle besieged by Aurelius Ambrose having first surrendred Kent Suffolk and Norfolk to the Infidel Heâ—gist who with his Saxons almost desolated the Land insomuch that Theanus Bishop of London and Theodiceus Bishop of York were forced to flie into Cornwal and Wales until St. Augustines coming hither where he then found only one Archbishop and seven Bishops being with forty others as Assistants to him sent hither by Pope Gregory to Convert the Nation whom Ethelbert King of Kent kindly received and seated him as aforesaid in a Mansion in Canterbury the Metropolis of his Kingdom and assigned him a place to erect a Bishops See who afterwards fixed his Seat at Canterbury whichever since hath continued the Metropolis of this Kingdom And thus St. Austin upon his Entrance into England by the favour and bounty of the said King Ethelbert having fixed his Seat at Canterbury the Archbishops thereof have by a continual Series or Succession continued as Metropolitans of all England 6. And whereas there were as aforesaid anciently Three Archbishopricks in Three distinct Provinces within this Kingdom whereof that of Caerleon upon Vske in Wales was one and whereof Dubritius in the year 466 was Archbishop who having his Seat at Landaff became for his integrity Archbishop of all Wales and was upon Resignation in his old Age succeeded in the Archbishoprick by his Disciple David Uncle toking Arthurn by whose consent he removed the See to Menevia of which place he still retaineth the name of Episcopus Menevensis and the Town it self thereupon called Twy Devi or Saint Davids as taking its denomination from his Name yet it afterwards so unhappily happened that Sampson a succeeding Archbishop upon a great Plague raging in Wales went to Dola in Little Britain and thither carried the Pall with him whereby St. Davids for ever after lost the dignity of an Archbishop And in the time of H. 1. both that See and the rest in Wales became subject to the Archbishop of Canterbury as at this day 7. In the time of King Lucius London had an Archbishop to whose Jurisdiction at that time the greatest part of England was subject This Archbishop was that Theanus forementioned who was the chief Founder and Builder of St. Peters Church in Cornhill London which was the Cathedral of his Diocess till King Ethelbert built St. Pauls Church In this See continued the Dignity of an Archbishop above 180 years but by reason of the Saxon Persecution stood void till that Ten years after the coming of St. Austin Melitus was consecrated Bishop of that See and so it continued ever after as a Bishoprick
next in precedency hath been a Count Palatine about six or seven hundred years and hath at this day the Earldom of Sadberg long since annexed to this Bishoprick by the King Note a President hath been shewed at Common Law That the Bishop of Durham imprisoned one for a Lay-Cause and the Archbishop of York as his Sovereign cited him to appear before him to answer for that Imprisonment and the Archbishop was fined four thousand Marks Cro. par 1. The Bishop of Winchester was anciently reputed Earl of Southampton All the other Bishops take place according to the Seniority of their Consecration unless any Bishop happen to be made Lord Chancellor Treasurer Privy Seal or Secretary of State which anciently was very usual All the Bishops of England are Barons and Peers of the Realm have place in the Upper house of Parliament as also in the Upper house of Convocation The Bishopricks were erected into Baronies by William the Conqueror at his coming into England And as a special remark of Honour Three Kings viz. of England Scotland and South-Wales in the year 1200. did contribute their Royal shoulders for the conveyance of the deceased Corps of Hugh Bishop of Lincoln to his Grave And no wonder when Princes themselves and such as were of the Blood Royal were anciently Bishops in this Kingdom they have been not only of the best Nobility but divers of the Sons and Brothers of several English Kings since the Conquest and before have entred into Holy Orders and became Ecclesiasticks as at this day is practicable in the most of all other Monarchies throughout the whole Christian World Ethelwolph Son and Successor to Egbert first Sole King of England was in Holy Orders and Bishop of Winchester at his Fathers death Odo Brother to William the Conqueror was Bishop of Bayeux in Normandy Henry de Blois Brother to King Stephen was Bishop of Winchester Geofry Plantagenet Son to King Henry the Second was Bishop of Lincoln And Henry de Beauford Brother to King Henry the Fourth was Bishop also of Winchester 20. The Statute of 17 Car. 1. cap. 27. for disinabling persons in Holy Orders to exercise Temporal Jurisdiction or Authority being Repealed as aforesaid by the Statute of 13 Car. 2. cap. 2. they are thereby restored to the exercise of Temporal Jurisdiction as formerly which indeed is no more than what they ever Anciently exercised in this Kingdom For Ex Clero Rex semper sibi eligebat Primos à Consiliis Primos ad Officia Regni obeunda Primi igitur sedebant in omnibus Regni Comitiis Tribunalibus Episcopi in Regali quidem Palatio cum Regni Magnatibus in Comitatu una cum Comite in Turno cum Vice-comite in Hundredo cum Domino Hundredi sic ut in promovenda Justitia usquequaque gladii gladium adjuvaret nihil inconsulto Sacerdote vel Episcopo ageretur This Union of Persons Authority and Courts of Judicature Ecclesiastical and Civil as Mr. Selden proves continued above Four thousand years till Pope Nicholas the First about the Eighth Century to exclude the Emperour from medling in the Ecclesiastical Government began to exclude the Clergy from medling with the Civil And for the space of four or five hundred years during the Reign of the Saxon Kings in England the Ecclesiastical and Secular Magistrates sate joyntly together determining Ecclesiastical Affairs in the Morning and Secular or Civil Affairs in the Afternoon so that in those days as there was no clashing of Jurisdictions so no complaint touching Prohibitions but an unanimous harmony in a kind of Joynt-Jurisdiction in reference to all Ecclesiastical and Civil Affairs until William the Conqueror did put a distinction between Church and State in a more divided way than formerly had been practiced Also the excellent Laws made by King Ina King Athelstan King Edmund and St. Edward the Confessor from whom we have our Common Laws and our Priviledges mentioned in Magna Charta were all made by the perswasions and advice of Archbishops and Bishops named in our Histories 21. That which during the Reign of King Edw. 6. made the greatest alteration and threatned most danger to the State Ecclesiastical was the Act entituled An Act for Election and what Seals and Styles shall be used by Spiritual persons c. In which it was ordained That Bishops should be made by the Kings Letters Patents and not by the Election of the Deans and Chapters That all their Processes and Writings should be made in the Kings Name only with the Bishop's Teste added to it and sealed with no other Seal than the Kings or such as should be Authorized and Appointed by him In the compounding of which Act there was more danger as Dr. Heylin observes couched than at first appeared For by the last Branch thereof it was plain and evident says he that the intent of the Contrivers was by degrees to weaken the Authority of the Episcopal Order by forcing them from their strong hold of Divine Institution and making them no other than the Kings Ministers only or as it were his Ecclesiastical Sheriffs to execute his Will and disperse his Mandates And of this Act such use was made though possibly beyond the true intention of it that as the said Dr. Heylin observes the Bishops of those Times were not in a Capacity of conferring Orders but as they were thereunto impowred by special License The Tenour whereof if Sanders be to be believed was in these words following viz. The King to such a Bishop Greeting Whereas all and all manner of Jurisdiction as well Ecclesiastical as Civil flows from the King as from the Supream Head of all the Body c. We therefore give and grant to thee full power and License to continue during our good pleasure for holding Ordination within thy Diocess of N. and for promoting fit persons unto Holy Orders even to that of the Priesthood Which being looked on by Queen Mary not only as a dangerous diminution of the Episcopal Power but as an odious Innovation in the Church of Christ she caused this Act to be Repealed in the first year of her Reign leaving the Bishops to depend on their former claim and to act all things which belonged to their Jurisdiction in their own Names and under their own Seals as in former times In which estate they have continued without any Legal Interruption from that time to this But says the same Author in the First Branch there was somewhat more than what appeared at the first sight For though it seemed to aim at nothing but that the Bishops should depend wholly on the King for their preferment to those great and eminent places yet the true drift of the Design was to make Deans and Chapters useless for the time to come and thereby to prepare them for a Dissolution For had nothing else been intended in it but that the King should have the sole Nomination of all the Bishops in his Kingdoms it had
c. according to the request of the Procurers of the same or signifie into Chancery by a day certain for what cause he refused to grant the same where if upon such Certificate it shall appear that the cause of such Refusal was reasonable just and good that then it shall be admitted and allowed otherwise there may issue thence by virtue of the said Statute a Writ of Injunction commanding the said Guardian of the Spiritualties so refusing as aforesaid to make sufficient grant of such License Dispensation c. by a certain day and if after the receipt of such Writ the Guardian of the Spiritualties shall yet refuse to grant the same and shew no just or reasonable cause for so doing that then and in such case the said Guardian of the Spiritualties shall incur such penalty to his Majesty as shall be limited and expressed in the said Writ of Injunction And moreover in such case a Commission under the Great Seal may issue to Two Spiritual Prelates or persons to be nominated by his Majesty Authorizing them to grant such Licenses Faculties and Dispensations as were so refused to be granted by the Guardian of the Spiritualties as aforesaid And what in this case is here enjoyn'd to the Guardian of the Spiritualties during the vacancy of the Archbishoprick is likewise expresly by the said Statute to the Archbishop himself in time of Plenarty or Non-vacancy of the See 4. Of the Metropolitan the Dean and Chapter is of Common right the Guardian of the Spiritualties Of Inferiour Bishopricks in times of Vacation the Dean and Chapter of the See is of Common right the Guardian of the Spiritualties and not the Metropolitan Yet 5 E. 2. Quare impedit 165. Admit that during the vacancy of the Bishoprick of Durham the Archbishop of York is Guardian of the Spiritualties And 23 E. 1. Rot. Claus Memb. 4. the Prior of Christ-Church in Canterbury was Guardian of the Spiritualties in time of vacation of the Archbishoprick Of which Archbishoprick the Dean and Chapter is Guardian of the Spiritualties in the time of vacancy Also of the Archbishoprick of York the Dean and Chapter is Guardian of the Spiritualties in the vacancy thereof and not the Archbishop of Canterbury for that it is a distinct Province not subordinate to c. contra 31 H. 6. 10. Admit for there a Parson of the Province of York had aid of the Metropolitan Guardian of the Spiritualties of the Archbishoprick of York in time of vacancy of that Archbishoprick In the Case of Grange against Denny it was said by Coke That of common Right by the Common Law the Dean and Chapter Sede vacante of the Bishop is Guardian of the Spiritualties as appears by Pasch 17 E. 3. fo 23. but that now the Archbishops have used to have this by way of Composition And in the same Case it was said by Doderidge That every Archbishop hath a Diocess and a Province and of his Diocess he is a Bishop and of his Province he is Archbishop and within his Province he is to be Visitor of all the Churches within his Province and Sede vacante of any Bishop within his Province he himself is Guardian of the Spiritualties of all the Bishopricks within his Province but Sede vacante of his own Diocess the Dean and Chapter of this is Guardian of the Spiritualties and that no mention is made in the Books of the Common Law of any such Composition aforesaid but that the Guardian of the Spiritualties is to be according to the difference before put between a Province and a Diocess 5. The Learned Serjeant Roll in his Abridgment doth acquaint us out of the Ancient Books That a Guardian of the Spiritualties may Admit and Institute a Clerk presented to him That the King did present to the Guardian of the Spiritualties of the Archbishoprick of Dublin Sede vacante for a Church in Ireland That the Guardian of the Spiritualties may try Bastardy That Letters were directed to all the Bishops and in the Vacancy to the Guardian of the Spiritualties to make Prayers for the King in his Journey in France And that the Prior of Christ-Church in Canterbury Guardian of the Spiritualties during the Vacancy of that Archbishoprick had a Felon delivered to him But in the time of the Vacancy of the Bishop the Archbishop is Guardian of the Spiritualties and not the Dean and Chapter CHAP. V. Of Congé d'Eslire Election and Confirmation 1. What Congé d'Eslire signifies the Original thereof 2. To whom it is directed and the manner of Proceedings thereupon and of Election 3. Confirmation of Bishops the form or manner thereof 4. Confirmation in a Temporal not Spiritual sense what 5. The Confirmation of Bishops Elect beyond Sea far different from this in England 6. The Law and Practice in France touching the making of Bishops 1. COngé d'Eslire in French Leave to Chuse is the Kings permission to a Dean and Chapter to chuse a Bishop in the time of Vacancy And time was when this Venia Eligendi was also the permission Royal to an Abby or Priory of his own Foundation to chuse their Abbot or Prior But we now understand it under no other signification than as his Majesties leave vouchsafed to a Dean and Chapter to elect a certain person to succeed as Bishop of that Diocess whose Episcopal See is vacant For the better interpretation of this Congé d'Eslire the Modern Pens refer themselves to Mr. Guin in the Preface to his Readings where he saith The the King of England as Sovereign Patron of all Archbishopricks Bishopricks and other Ecclesiastical Benefices had of Ancient time free Appointment of all Ecclesiastical Dignities whensoever they hapned to be void Investing them first Per Baculum Annulum and afterwards by his Letters Patents And that in process of time he made the Election over to others under certain Forms and Conditions viz. That they should at every Vacation before they chuse desire of the King Congé d'Eslire that is Leave or License to proceed to Election and then after the Election to crave the Royal Assent c. He affirmeth also by good proof out of the Books of the Common Law that King John was the first that granted this and that afterwards it was confirmed by Westminster 1. cap. 1. which Statute was made An. 3. Ed. 1. And again by the Statute Articuli Cleri cap. 2. which was Ordained An. 25. Ed. 3. Stat. 3. it is generally agreed That the Kings of this Realm were originally the Founders of all Archbishopricks and Bishopricks within this Kingdom being at first Donative per traditionem Baculi Pastoralis Annuli But afterwards King John by his Chapter 15 Jan. in the seventh year of his Reign De Communi consensu Baronum granted that they should ever after be eligible And from that time came in the Congé d'Eslire Vid. Co. 5. par 14. in Candry's Case vid. Stat.
exempts the Bishop from the Jurisdiction of his Metropolitan And for that the Cardinal fell into a Praemunire for which he purchased his Pardon which is sound among the Charters 4 H. 6. in Archivis Turr Lond. 6 7 Eliz. Dyer 233. a. Jo. Packhurst being elected to the Bishoprick of Norwich before that he was created Bishop obtained a Faculty or Dispensation from the Archbishop of Canterbury by force of the Statute of Faculties to retain a Parsonage which he had before in Commendam for Three years viz. Ã Festo Michaelis An. Dom. 1560. usque ad idem Festum in An. 1563. Before the first Feast of St. Michael Packhurst is created Bishop and afterwards he resigned the Benefice And the Question was whether that Benefice became void by the resignation of Packhurst or by his promotion to the Bishoprick And it was adjudged That the Church became void by his Resignation Which proves That by virtue of the said Faculty or Dispensation he continued Parson until he had Resign'd Vid. N. Br. 36. h. If a Parson who hath a Faculty or Dispensation to hold his Rectory be created a Bishop and after the Patron present another Incumbent who is Instituted and Inducted now the Bishop shall have a Spoliation against that Incumbent which proves that his real possession in the Parsonage always continued by virtue of the said Faculty or Dispensation And in this Case of a Commendam in Sir Joh. Davis Reports this difference is put between a Faculty to take a Benefice and a Faculty to retain a Benefice viz. That a Faculty granted to one who is not Incumbent to Take a void Benefice is void And a Faculty to one who is Incumbent of a Benefice to Retain the same Benefice is good By virtue of these Faculties Dispensations and Provisions from the Pope Edmond the Monk of Bury who was a Minister in the Court of King Ed. 3. had many Benefices as appears in the foresaid Case of the Bishop of St. Davids 11 H. 4. And Hankford said in the same Case fo 191. a. That by virtue of such Faculty one and the same person had been Abbot of Glastenbury and Bishop also of another Church simul semel and had the Possessions and Dignity of both at the same time Likewise Hen. Chichley who was afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury being a Prebend in the Cathedral Church of Sarum was elected Bishop of St. Davids and before his Consecration the Pope reciting by his Bull that he was elected Bishop of St. Davids granted him a Faculty and power to hold and enjoy all his other Benefices till the Pope should otherwise order c. Vid. Nov. Decis Rot. 331. And that these Faculties or Dispensations to hold Benefices in Commendam were granted in the Court of Rome in the time of King H. 5. appears in Lindw de Praeb c. Audistis ver Dispensatione And although in case of Hen. Beauford aforesaid it was held That the Dispensation came too late it being granted after the Bishop was created Cardinal yet afterwards in the time of King H. 8. Cardinal Wolsey having before he was created Cardinal obtained a Bull from the Pope to retain the Archbishoprick of York as perpetual Administrator and the Abbey of St. Albans in perpetuam Commendam he held both during his life by virtue of the said Faculty or Dispensation Vid. 27 H. 8. 15. b. By these Presidents and Authorities it is evident That before the making of the foresaid Statute of Faculties such Dispensations were had and obtained at the Court of Rome to hold in Commendam Ecclesiastical Benefices in England But the Truth is as in the foresaid Case de Commenda Davis Rep. such Faculties or Dispensations granted by the Pope touching Ecclesiastical Benefices in England were ever contrary to the Law of the Realm for it was a meer usurpation on the Crown of England before the Statutes made against Provisors And these Statutes were made in declaration of the Common Law in that point 12 Ed. 2. Fitz. Qua. Imp. 169. 19 Ed. 2. Eitz Qua non admisit 7. 15 Ed. 3. Fitz. Qua. Imp. 160. 21 Ed. 3. 40. 11 H. 4. 230. a. It is also meet to be known That long before King H. 8. the Statute of 16 R. 2. and divers other Laws against Provisors and Appeals to Rome and the Popes Usurpation upon the Rights of the Crown of England were made well-nigh as severe as any since The first encroachment of the Bishop of Rome upon the Liberties of the Crown of England was made in the time time of King William the Conqueror For before that time the Pope's Writ did not run in England his Bulls of Excommunication and Provision came not thither nor were any Citations or Appeals made from thence to the Court of Rome Eleutherius the Pope within less than two hundred years after Christ writes to Lucius the Brittish King and calls him God's Vicar within his Kingdom Pelagius the Monk of Bangor about An. 400. being cited to Rome refused to appear upon the Pope's Citation affirming That Britain was neither within his Diocess nor his Province And when about the year 600 Augustine the Monk was sent by Gregory the Great into England to Convert the Saxons the Brittish Bishops then in Wales regarded neither his Commission nor his Doctrine as not owing any duty to nor having any dependence on the Court of Rome but still retained their Ceremonies and Traditions which they received from the East-Church upon the first plantation of the Faith in that Island And though Ina the Saxon King gave the Peter-pence to the Pope partly as Alms and partly in recompence of a House erected in Rome for English Pilgrims yet certain it is that Alfred Aethelstane Edgar Edmond Cauutus and Edward the Confessor and other Kings of the Saxon Race gave all the Bishopricks in England per Annulum Baculum 9. In the Case of Evans against Askwith it was agreed That the nature of a Dispensation is for to derogate and make void a Statute Canon or Constitution as to that which it prohibites as to the party and it is as an Exception as to him out of the Statute or Constitution It is said that a Dispensation is Provida Relaxatio mali prohibiti necessitate vel utilitate pensata And in the same Case it was also Resolved by all the Judges That the King hath power to Dispence with Statutes and Canons in force within this Realm By the very Common Law of right it was in the King for the Canons are the Ecclesiastical Laws of the Land and do not bind except they are received in the Realm as appears by the Statute of 25 H. 8. c. 21. And by the Statute of Merton touching one born before Marriage as by the Canon yet at Common Law he is Legitimate And 10 H. 7. 12. it is said That the King may Dispence with one to hold Two Benefices and it seems the Pope
to Spiritual persons for their necessary maintenance If the original of a Parish in the 2 former acceptations were a device of the ancient Rom. Bish from them derived to other Nations then probably from the inconveniencies thereof might be the beginning of a Parish as it is taken for suâ—h a part of the Diocess as is limited to some Residentiary Incumbent allowed by the Bishop and maintained by the Church-dues in his own Right which consideration of a Parish seems most of all agreeable with those which we now have and were in use with us before Edgar's daies as appears by the Saxon Laws of that time 9. The Ancient Kings and Sovereign Princes of this Realm both before and since the Conquest have ever made special Provision for the due payment of Tithes unto the Church and that ever since there was any Church-Government in this Land witness that Law made before the Conquest by King Aethelstane That every man should pay his Tithes in manner as Jacob did that is of all that God should give him The like did King Edgar and King Edmund command on pain of Excommunication And about the Seventh Century Ina King of the West-Saxons made a Law That the Church-Sceat be paid at Martlemass on pain of paying twelve times as much in case of Refusal this Church-sceat Fleta interpreteth Church-seed and therefore calls it Certa mensura bladi Tritici c. Others read Church-scet that is the Church-shot or Church-due Also the said King Aethelstane in the Ninth Century made a Law by the Advice of Walfehelme his Archbishop and his other Bishops Commanding all his Reeves throughout all his Kingdom in the Lords name and of all Saints that in the first place they pay the Tithe of his own Revenues as well in Living Cattel as the yearly Fruits Likewise King Edmund at a Synod holden in London at which Oda and Wulâ—â—tan Archbishops and many other Bishops were present made a Law Commanding all Christian men by their Christianity to pay Tithes Church-sceat and Almes-fee if any refuse to do it let him be accursed This Alms-fee or Alms-money was that which was called the Peterpence for when Ina the West-Saxon King went in Pilgrimage to Rome he made it a Law to his Subjects That every House should pay a peny to the Pope and this was to be tendred at St. Peters-tide as appears by Edgar's Law nu 4. In the Laws also of King Edgar it was Decreed in the first place That Gods Church should have all her Rights and that every man should pay his Tithes to the Elder Minister or Mother-Church where he heareth the Word cap. 2. of Edgar's Laws And in the Eighth Chapter of King Rnutes Laws it is Ordained That care be taken rightly to pay Gods Rights every year viz. the Plough-Alms fifteen Nights after Easter the Tithe of young Cattel by Whitsontide and the Fruits of the Earth by Allhallentide otherwise the Kings Reeve and the Bishop may take the Tenth part whether he will or no and give it to the Minister whereunto it belongeth Also by the Laws of Edward the Confessor nu 8. 9. it was Decreed particularly that Tithes should be duly paid De Garba Grege Equarum Pullis Vaccis Vitulis Caseo Lacâ—e Vellis Porcellis Apibus Bosco Prato Aquis Molendinis Parcis Vivariis Piscariis Virgultis Hortis Negotionibus in a word omnibus rebus quas de derit Dominus which Decree was afterwards ratified by the Conquerour Afterwards King Edward the First at the Petition of the Clergy established the Articles of the Clergy which his Son Ed. 2. Confirmed by his Letters Patents under the Great Seal and by Consent of Parliament at the Petition of the Clergy in the Ninth year of his Reign And by the Statute of 1 R. 2. cap. 14. it is Acknowledged That the Cognizance of Tithes of right doth and of Ancient time was wont to pertain to the Spiritual Court Also the Cistercians who had purchased Bulls from the Pope to be discharged of Tithes in the Second year of H. 4. were by Act of Parliament after reduced to the state they were in before And in the Fifth year of H. 4. it was Ordered That such as held Lands belonging to any Friers-Aliens should pay all manner of Tithes to the Parsons and Vicars of the Parishes wherein the same were notwithstanding their being seized into the Kings hands or any Prohibition to the contrary For before the dissolution of Monasteries c. by King H. 8. Lay-men were not capable thereof nor indeed after the Dissolution notwithstanding the Statute of 27 H. 8. c. 20. could the People be well brought to pay their Tithes to the Lay-Purchasers thereof not qualified to Sue for the same until the Statute of 32 H. 8. c. 7. enabled them to Convent the Refusers before the Ordinary or other competent Judge according to the Ecclesiastical Laws without the Reserve of any cognizance for the Temporal Judge therein otherwise than as to what refers to the Inheritance or Freehold of such Tithes or in case of disseisin thereof which was not only ratified and confirmed by a subsequent Statute made in the time of Edward the Sixth but it was also then Enacted That the Tithes should be paid as the Usage or Custome had been within forty years next before and that under certain penalties and forfeitures in case of detention or substraction and of treble Dammages in some cases the party so subtracting to be prosecuted in the Spiritual Court according to the Kings Ecclesiastical Laws 10. Sir Simon Degge in his late useful Treatise entituled The Parsons Counsellor par 2. or Law of Tithes cap. 2. discovers a vulgar Error touching the Original Settlement of the Parochial Right of Tithes For whereas it is frequently said in the Books of the Common Law That before the General Council of Lateran every one was at liberty to give his Tithes to what Spiritual Ecclesiastical or Religious person he pleased and that the Parochial Right thereof was settled by the said Council he says there is not any Canon of that Council to any such purpose whereby the Parochial right of Tithes was settled Nor could it then be for that the said Council was in An. 1179. but the Parochial Right of Tithes was not settled till the year 1200. and then not by any Canon but by a Decretal Epistle of Pope Innocent the Third a Brief whereof he there inserts out of Mr. Selden and Sir Ed. Coke If this were an Error in them it was so also in Lindwood c. locat conduct verb. portion But possibly not such an Error in either as is conceived for whether the Canon for the settling of Parochial Right of Tithes made in the Council of Lions 1274. were an Original Decree or only a Confirmation of some former Canon to the same effect or not clear it is that the said Decretal Epistle of P. Innocent 3. obliged only the Province of
Clergy At Braga or Bracara in Portugal An. 610. under the Reign of Gundemarus King of Gethes assembled some Bishops of Gallicia Lusitania and of the Province of Lucensis whereby it was Ordained That every Bishop should visit the Churches of his Diocess That they should receive no Rewards for Ordination of the Clergy And that a Church builded for Gain and Contribution of the People redounding to the advantage of the Builder should not be Consecrated At Auxerre in France An. 613. assembled a number of Abbots and Presbyters with one Bishop and three Deacons In this Synod they damned Sorcery made many Superstitious Constitutions as touching Masses Burials Marriages Prohibition of Meats c. At Hispalis commonly called Civil La grand in Spain in the year 634. and in the 24 th year of the Emperour Heraclius a Council was assembled by Isidorus Bishop of Hispalis at the Command of King Sisebutus for suppression of the Heresie of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Branch of the Eutychian heresie and for the decision of some Questions touching the Bounds of their Dioceses At Toledo in Spain An. 639. under the Reign of Sisenandus King of Spain by the Kings Command were more than 70 Bishops and Presbyters Conven'd upon occasion of diversity of Ceremonies and Discipline in that Kingdom This was the Fourth Council at Toledo At Toledo in the First year of Chintilla King of the Gothes about the time of the Emperour Heraclions Reign a Fifth Council was held conven'd by Eugenius Bishop of Toledo In this Council nothing considerable was done but in reference to Annual Letanies and the appointment of Supplications for the King At Rome in the year 652. was a Council convened by Martinus Pope consisting of more than 100 Bishops occasioned by the Error of the Monothelites obstinately maintained by Paulus of Constantinople and countenanced by the impious Edict of the Emperour Constans The Constitutions and Decrees made in this Council tended to condemn those that denied the Trinity the Divine Unity in the Divine Nature the Manifestation of the Second Person of the Trinity and his Sufferings in the Flesh At Toledo in the year 653. a Sixth Council was held consisting of Fifty two Bishops whereof Eugenius Bishop of Toledo was President The occasion whereof was the Renovation of Old Heresies and Contradiction to precedent Councils The Fourth Canon of this Council is against Simony and the Eighteenth is against Rebellion At Toledo in the year 662. a Seventh Council is held of 4 Archbishops 50 Bishops and many Presbyters The First Canon of this Council is against Sedition and Treason By the Fourth Canon it is forbidden That Bishops in their Visitations should extort or oppress their Churches At Quinisext so termed by Balsemon the same year viz. 662. was held a Council which by Bede and many others is accounted an Erroneous Synod it was convened under Justinian the Second and Pope Sergius wherein the Fathers thought fit to supply the defect of the Fifth aud Sixth precedent Synods in reference to manners and Ecclesiastical Discipline for which reason they ratified 102 Canons in the Trullo of the Imperial Palace whence they are called Trullans These are rejected by such Latins whose consent went not to the stablishment thereof specially not empowr'd and authoriz'd thereto by the Pope In the 36 th Canon thereof the Patriarch of Constantinople is equalled to the Roman and in the 13 th Canon Matrimony is granted to the Clergy At Chalon in Burgandy by the Command of Clodoveus K. of France a Council of 44 Bishops assembled wherein the Canons of the Nicene Council had great approbation And it was Forbidden That Two Bishops should be Ordained in one City and Decreed That no Secular work should be done on the Lords Day At Rome in the time of Constantinus Pogonatus Emperour under the Popedom of Agatho was held a Council wherein it was Declared by the Suffrages of 125 Bishops That Two wills and Two operations were to be acknowledged in Christ and the Defenders of the Heresie of the Monothelites were condemned At Toledo in the year 671. an Eighth Council of 52 Bishops was assembled wherein were high Debates concerning Perjury At last it was Resolved That no Necessity obligeth a man to perform an unlawful Oath In this Council Marriage was utterly forbidden to Bishops and eating of Flesh in Lent At Toledo in the year 673. and in the Seventh year of Recesuvindus King of Gothes and by his Command were convened 16 Bishops which was the Ninth Council at that place and in which several Canons were made touching the Discipline of the Church At Toledo in the Eighth year of the said Kings Reign was the Tenth Council consisting of 21 Bishops who made some Decrees touching certain Festivals and others relating to the Clergy and removed Protamius Bishop of Bracara from his Office being convict of Adultery At Toledo in the Seventh year of Bamba King of Gothes 19 Bishops and Seven Abbots were assembled by the Kings Command wherein several Canons were made concerning Ecclesiastical Discipline At Bracara a Second Council was held the first according to Caranza wherein many old Opinions of the Priscilianists and Manichaeans concerning Prohibition of Marriage and Meats are condemned together with the Heresies of Samosatenus Photinus Cerdon and Marcion And in the 30 th Canon of this Council it was Ordained That no Poesie should be Sung in the Church except the Psalter of the Old Testament At Bracara in Spain in the time of Bombas King of Gothes another Synod of Eight Bishops was assembled wherein the Nicene Faith is again rehearsed In the Fifth Canon of this Synod it is Ordained That upon Festival days Reliques enclosed in an Ark shall be born on the Shoulders of the Levites as the Ark of God in the Old Testament was accustomed to be born At Constantinople in the year 680. in the Twelfth year of the Reign of Constantine Pogonatus a General Council was held Pope Agatho procuring it by his Legates In this Council were convened 150 Bishops they who reckon 270 or 286 do compute the Absent Romans and others consenting thereto the Emperour himself was President In this Council was discussed the Question touching the Wills and Actions of Christ Here were condemned the Monothelites Sergius Cyrus Pyrrhus Peter Paul Theodorus together with Pope Honorius who in the defence of Eutychianism pleaded that there was one only Will in Christ This Council confirmed the Canons not only of General but also of Particular foregoing Synods as of Antioch Laodicea and others It also added what was to be approved in the Orthodox Writings of the Fathers as appears by the Second Canon of this Council Vid. Paul Diacon in vit Constant At Toledo the Twelfth Council consisting of 33 Bishops with some Abbots and 13 of the Nobility assembled the first year of the Reign of Euringius to whom Bombas King of
tithable no Tithes of Pasture of Milch-kine grown dry unless kept for Sale 45. Composition for Tithes for life not good without Deed. 46. Estovers burnt in the house not Tithable The Hearth-peny good by Prescription 47. A Composition for Tithes de anno in annum 48. The Modus decimandi is Suable in the Ecclesiastical Court as well as the Tithe it self 49. Proâ—ibition in case of Libel to prove in perpet rei memo 50. Custome of Tithe-Grass Cocks as to both Mathes 51. In a Prohibition upon matter at Common Law and not within the Stat. of 2 E. 6. 13. the Suggestion need not be proved in Six months 52. Tithe-Hay of Headlands Custome and Prescription 53. Tithe-Hay of Heathlands also Tithe of Pidgeons 54. Minute Tithes to the Vicar 55. Tithes to Parson and Vicar may amount but to one Action 56. The Curate may not Prescribe in Tithes against the Parson 57. Curates may sue for Pensions in the Ecclesiastical Court 58. By the Civil Law the Parson to have Notice when Tithes set out 59. Action on the Case against a Compounder for Tithes Suing in the Ecclesiastical Court 60. Modus decimandi by one may hold as to others for a Prohibition 61. Composition for one year good without Deed not if for years 62. Tithe-Hasel Holly Willow Whitethorn Whether the Parishioner shall preserve the Parsons Tithe for him 63. Testis Singularis not sufficient to prove payment of Tithes in the Ecclesiastical Court 64. Composition for Tithes and a Prohibition thereon 65. Tithes taken away by a Stranger after they are set out the Parsons remedy lies at the Common Law 66. In what Case no Costs upon failure of Proof of the Suggestion within the Six months 67. Modus Decimandi may be Sued for in the Ecclesiastical Court where if denied they are to surcease 68. Custome in Cornwall touching Tithes of Sea-fâ—sh 69. In what Case an Agreement for Tithes for years may be good without Deed. 70. In what Court Tithes of Rents in London may be Sued 71. A Collector of Tithes cannot License a Parishioner to carry away his Corn. 72. Whether Debt lies for Treble dammages upon Fraudulent setting forth of Tithes 73. Tithes whether they belong to the Parson or the Vicar cognizable in the Ecclesâ—astical Court where the Right of Tithes is confessed 74. The Ecclesiastical Court not Judges of the Bounds of a Parish 75. Modus Decimandi in reference to a Park 76. A Frâ—udulent setting out of Tithes is no setting them out at all 77. The Vicar shall have Tithe of Rape-Seed being within a Prescription though a new thing in England 78. What the word Garba signifies 79. Whether Wood in its own nature be great Tithes and in what case it shall pass by the words de minutis Decimis 80. If two Titles of Tithes unite in one person there need but one Action for them 81. A Parson may not sett a Lease for years of Tithes per parol only 82. If a Parson be disturbed in carrying away his Tithes seâ— out his Remedy lies properly in the Ecclesiastical Court 1. TITHES Dismes Decimae probably an abbreviation from the Saxon Teoâ—unâ— or Tithing properly Decuria in that Language Lamb. Expl. of Sax. words verb. Deâ—uria That the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem were competently supplied by the Contributions of the Jewish Proselytes is very conjecturable in that they sold their possessions and brought the price thereof and laid it down at the Apostles feet and such as then planted the Gospel and labourâ—â— in the Word and Doctrine had their maintenance by the Contributions of their Converts Vid. Concil Grang. Can. 7 8. And St. Cyprian writing to his Church of Carthage Epist 33 34. to receive Aurelius and Cellerinus Confessors saith in Epist 34. Presbyterii honorem designasse nos ilâ—is jam sciatis ut sportulis iisdem cum Presbyteris honorentur Divisiones Mensurnas aequatis quantitatibus partiantur Know you that we have already designed to them the Dignity of Presbytership that they might be honoured with such allowances as Presbyters have and receive equal shares in the Monthly Dividends So that Sportulae were the allowances which in this Infancy of the Gospel the Presbyters had out of the Contributions of the Converts And the Fratres Sportulantes mentioned by him in Epist 66. were the Clergy which received such allowance These Converts after the Conversion of Constantine the Emperour many of them being Governours and Nobles settled great and large Demesn-Lands upon those who Converted them and that according to Mr. Seldens conjecture the first Oratories or places of Publick Worship were built in the Lands bestowed on them which first Oratories were called Cathedrals Sees or Seats from their constant Residence thereon That the Christian Church even in times of Persecution laid claim to Tithes as due Jure Divino is partly confessed by Mr. Selden himself citing some passages in the Ancient Fathers to that purpose But when the Empire became Christian then the Christian Clergy did more earnestly press the Donation of Tithes and in process of time they prevailed not only by Preaching and Canons but by the Edicts of Emperours and Kings to have Tithes given to the Church And it appears that the Roman Empire where-ever it did reduce any Conquered Countrey in formam Provinciae appointed the Farmers of the Customes to collect among other Impositions the Tenths of the Tenants of the Empires that is of all who occupied any Land in the Conquered Province either as immediate Tenants to the Empire or as Sub-Tenants under them The Publicans therefore who collected these Tributes were called Decumani as Mr. Selden pag. 39. of his History of Tithes doth observe out of Appian But whether these Tenths were received by the Senate or Emperours upon a Civil or Religious account is not liquid and clear For the Emperours alwaies till Christianity came in nay Constantine and other Emperours even after Christianity was received till Gratian's time as the Noble and Learned Du-plessy in his Mystery of Iniquity observes out of Zosimen continued the chief Pontifice or High-Priesthood in their own persons And as touching us here in England Dr. Heylin P. H. Treleyny in his Treatise touching Tithes p. 3. saith Tithes are not given to the Ministers by the People for Sr. Ed. Coke on Litt. Tenures lib. 1. c. 9. Sect. 73. fo 58. asserteth That it appears by the Laws and Ordinances of Ancient Kings and especially of King Alfred That the first Kings of this Realm had all the Lands of England in Demesn and Les Grandé Mannors Royalties they reserved to themselves and with the Remnant they for the defence of the Realm enfâ—offed the Barons of the Realm with such Jurisdiction as the Court Baron now hath And at this time when all the Lands of England were the King Demesns that Ethelwolph the Second Monarch of the Saxon race his Father Egbert being the first which brought the former Heptarchy under one
sole Prince conferred the Tithes of all the Kingdom upon the Church by his Royal Charter Of which Ingulph Abbot of Crowland An. 855. saith That King Ethelwolph with the consent gratuito consensu of his Prelates and Princes did first enrich the Church of England with the Tithes of all his Lands and Goods Many other Laws of the Saxon Kings for the payment of Tithes are recited by Mr. Selden as entirely the Gift of Kings And so saith King Elred Nemo auferat à Deo quod ad Deum pertinet Praecessores nostri concesserunt The whole Bishoprick Anciently was in a large sense a Paroecia and the income of it by Contributions first and by Tithes also afterwards was the Common stock of all the Clergy of the Diocess and Mr. Selden asserts it to be the general Opinion of all the Common Lawyers That before the Lateran Council under Innocent 3. every man might have given his Tithes to what Church he would probably within the Diocess because they were not the Propriety as yet of any one Presbyter but the Common Patrimony of all the Diocesan Clergy So that Tithes are a Tenth part of all increase Tithable due to God and consequently to his Ministers that wait on the Altar These are divided into Three sorts 1. Praedial Tithes arising only either of the Fruits of the Ground as Corn Hay Hemp and the like or of the Fruits of Trees and Orchards as Apples Pears and the like 2. Personal Tithes arising of the profits that come by the labour and industry of Man either by Handicrafts as Carpenters Masons and the like or by Buying Selling or Merchandizing 3. Mixt Tithes arising partly of the Ground and partly of the Industry of Man as of Calves Lambs Piggs Milk Cheese and the like No Tithes shall be paid for such things as do not increase and renew year by year by the Act of God Of Praedial Tithes some are called Majores vulgarly termed the Great Tithes others Minores vel Minutae vulgarly the Small Tithes The Great such as Wheat Rye Hay c. The Small such as Min◠Annis Cumin c. And commonly with us here in England we compute Flax in the number of Small Tithes which is a Praedial Tithe as also Wool Milk Cheese Eggs Chicken of all kinds Lambs Honey Bees-wax and the like Vid. Lindw cap. de Decimis In Ancient times the Laity were so far from subtracting their Tithes as is the common practice of these daies that oft-times they would give more than was due or demanded and were so Conscientious in the payment thereof as at their death they usually bequeathed a Soule-Sceat to their Parochial Priest in lieu of any Tithes forgotten and at their Funerals caused their best Ox or Horse to be led with the Corps and as a Mortuary or Oblation given to the Priest in recompence of any Tithes which possibly in their life-time might have been omitted to be paid But in these latter Ages not regarding what S. Hierom says That Fraudare Eccelsiam est Sacrilegium all Artifices imaginable are put in practice to subduct the Tithes and therefore to enforce the due payment thereof were the Statutes of H. 8. and Ed. 6. made and enacted 2. Covarruvias with other Canonists and Schoolmen holds That by the Moral Law the rate or proportion of Tithes is not necessarily to be the Tenth part of the Fruits which the more received Opinion holds to be both Erroneous and Mischievous and that by the Law of God and Nature no Custome deviating from the exact rate and proportion of the Tenth of the Fruits ought to prevail any longer than by the free and mutual consent of Parson and Parishioner For which reason it is supposed That the paying of a Halfpeny for a Lamb or a Peny for a Calf by such as have under Seven in one year is now become an unreasonable Custome in regard the value of such Lambs and Calves is now raised four times higher than in Ancient times This seems far remote from Tithes the very Quotity whereof seems to be Moral rather than Ceremonial or Judicial and not only allowed or approved but even commanded by our Saviour himself Yea by the very Law of Nature which is the ground of the Moral Law and long before the Levitical Tithes appear to be due in that Abraham paid it to Melchisedec And God himself who is the best Interpreter of his own Law calls the detention of Tithes Sacriledge And that Command of Christ affirming that Tithes ought to be paid of all even to the very Herbs spoken by him at the period of the Levitical Law ought not to be restrained only to the Priesthood of Aaron for it doth now remain in force as to Priests under the Gospel as that other part of the Moral Law Thou shalt not steal the withholding of Tithes being expresly interpreted Theft and Robbery by the Prophet And lest it should be thought a meer Human Interest or in the power of Man to alienate God himself hath vouchsafed to take Tithes upon his own account in his Ministers behalf These Tithes could not be meerly Ceremonial as some would have it for they prefigure nothing nor are they repealed by any one Text in the Gospel but reinforced as aforesaid so that whatever was commanded in the Old Testament and grounded on the Law of Nature and being not Repealed in the New must yet stand in force as a Duty of the Moral Law And if it be Objected That Tithes were not paid in the Primitive times of the Christian Church the Reason is not because they were not then due but because there was not then any such settled Order for things of this or the like nature in the Church 3. Wherefore all the Common Objections made against the payment of Tithes in the Christian Church may be reduced to one of these Four 1. That our Saviour gave no Command to his Apostles to take Tithes but rather on the contrary said Freely ye have received freely give Answ Yet our Saviour says These things speaking of Tithes ought you to have done And says The workman is worthy of his meat And St. Paul says The Labourer is worthy of his Reward Where hath Christ in totidem verbis forbidden Sacriledge wilt thou therefore commit it because he hath not in terminis terminantibus forbidden it Thou that abhorrest Idols dost thou commit Sacriledge 2 Tithes were not paid till about three hundred years after Christ as Tertullian Origen and S. Cyprian do testifie Answ These Fathers do withal acknowledge that during that time the Churches Maintenance was the Peoples free Contribution which probably might have continued to this day had not that Contribution in process of time turned into a Sacrilegious Century by Covetousness instead of a Commanded Decuma as a Duty Morally enjoyn'd 3. That Tithes came first into this Kingdom by the power of the Pope as by Pope