by learned Fathers and Divines by Synods and generall Councels but by great Lords and Barons yea by the whole Peerage of these Kingdomes of England and France Peter Lord Primandy and Barree who writ the French Academy and dedicated the same to Henry the 3. King of France and Poland in that booke and chapter of the causes that bred change saith that Bishops and Prelates neglecting their charge to bestow their times in worldly affaires grew to misliking and contempt have procured great offences and marvellous trouble which may more easily be lamented then taken away or reformed being such abuses as have taken deepe root And what he affirmeth did the Peeres of France unitely deliver That Bishops should follow Saint Peters steps to winne soules and not to meddle with wars and murder of mens bodies But to come neere and to speake of this Kingdome of England let us heare what the English Lords did declare we read that they did decree in the time and reigne of King John that Bishops should not intermeddle in civill affaires or rule as Princes over their Vasâ—alls and the reason is â—enderd for Peter say they received no power but onely in matters pertaining to the Church and further enlarging themselves use these words It appertaines not to Bishops to deale in secular affaires since Peter onely received of our Saviour a power in matters Ecclesiastic all what say they hath the Prelats to entermeddle with wars such are Constantines successors not Peters whom as they represent not in good actions so neither doe they in authority Fie on such Rascal Ribaulds the words in Paris are Marcidi Ribaldi how unlike are they to Peter that usurpe Peters place But this point of intermedling in secular affaires though I have often digressed and intermingled with the former parts is proved in its proper place to bee unlawfull viz. in that part that treateth therof craving pardon for this deviation I will pursue the present argument the obnoxiousnesse of their sitting in Parliament and come to the points I intended to insist on viz. the entrance of Bishops into the Parliament house and by what meanes they came there and continued That they have sate there from the first Parliament to this is not denied But as we are not now to consider an suerunt but an profuerunt so are we not to debate and discusse an factum but an sieri debuit for it was the argument of a Pagan viz. Symmachus to the Emperor Theodosius recorded by Saint Amb. servanda est tot saeculis fides nostra sequendi sunt majores nostri qui secuti sunt faelicitur suos Our religion which hath continued so many yeares is still to be retained and our ancestors are to bee followed by us who happily traced the steps of their forefathers but with Tertullian nullam vâ—lo conâ—uetudinem defendas if good no matter how short since if bad the longer the worse Antiquity without truth as saith Cyprian is but ancient error The first Parliament as I reade began 1116. or thereabouts and in the sixteeneth or seventeenth yeare of King Henry the first who being an usurper brought in by the Bishops to the disherison of Robert his elder brother admitted the said Bishops to be members of the said high Court partly ingratefulnesse but rather for that he durst not doe otherwise for was not Ralfe the then Archbishop of Canterbury so proud and insolent a Prelate that was read of him that when Roger Bishop of Salsbury was to celebrate the Kings Coronation by reason of the palsie of the Archbishop this â—holerick outdaring Prelate could hardly be intreated by the Lords to withhold his hands from striking the Crowne from the Kings head Of such spirits were these spirirituall Prelates and the jealousie to lose their pompous preheminence of honors yet had he no other reason for this his sauâ—ines and bold attempt but for that Roger did not this by his appointment At the same time Tâ—urstoâ— was Archbishop of Yorke who though a disloyall and perjured man by breach of his oath to the King yet was hee highly favoured and countenanced by the Pope and put into that See by him in dispite of the said King And as hee so the rest of the Bishops not lesse guilty nor much lesse potent were likewise admitted members of that high Court and to speake plainly how could he spare their being in that house who were to justifie his title to the Crowne Now passe we to King Stephen another usurper nephew to the former King Henry him though he had an elder brother and before them both the title of Anjou by his wife Maud the Empresse as also of his son Henry to precede the Bishops did advance to the Royal Throne no lesse persidiously then traiterously having formerly sworne to Maud the Empresse We are also to understand that the Bishop of Winchester was his brother a very potent man in the State and it is worthy our noting that the Bishops did endeavour to salve their disloyalty and perjury by bringing in the Salicke Law to this Kingdome traiterously avowing that it was basenes for so many and so great Peers to be subject to a woman Nay it seemeth the Bishops did not intend to be true subjects to him though a brave and worthy Prince had his title to the Crowne been as good as the Prelates at his election did declare for read we not that the Bishops of Salisbury Lincolne Ely and others did fortifie Castles against him and advanced to him in armed and warlicke manner nay did not his brother the Bishop of Winchester forsake him and in a Synod of Clergie accursed all those that withstood the Empresse Maud blessing all that assisted her Surely this curse ought to have fallen on himself and the Archbishop who did trouble the Realm with fire and sword Sure as these were too great to bee put out of Parliament so were they very dangerous therein Vnto Stephen succeed Henry 2. In this time Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury what his demeanour toward his Soveraigne was and what mischiefe was by him occasioned to the Kingdome would take too much time to declare and though some Papists that adore him for a Saint will say he resisted on just cause yet I will deliver what I read and render him with the Chronicles an Arch-traytor and tell you that the Doctors in Paris did debate whether he were damned for his disloyalty Rogerus the Norman avowing that he deserved death and damnation for his contumacie toward the King the Minister of God From him I passe to his sonne Richard the first who had two brothers that were Bishops the one of Duresme the other of Lincolne and after Archbishop of Yorke and going to the holy Land appointed for Governour of the Kingdome William Longchampe chiefe Iusticiar and Lord Chancellour of England and Papall Legat. This Viceroy or rather King for so
grandchilde who succeeded him we read that when in Parliament in London the Laity had granted a fifteenth on condition that the Clergie would likewise give aâ—tenth and a halfe William le Courtney then Archbishop did stifly oppose it alleaging they ought to be free nor in any wise to be taxed by the laity which answer so offended the Lords and Commons that with extreame fury they befought the King to deprive them of their temporalties alleadging that it was an almesdeed and an act of charity thereby to humble them that was then deliverd for an almesdeed and an act of charity which is now accounted sacriledge and cruelty The next that succeeded him was Henry the fourth but an usurper also for at that time there were living of the house of Yorke others whose right by the title of Clarence was before his as Mortimer c. In opposition to his claime and right the Bishop of Carlile made a most eloquent oration but to what purpose to perswade his dethroning now vested in the regall government and therby to engage the Kingdome in a civill warre which when his oratory could not effect he laboured and so farre prevailed that by his subtile insinuations and perswasions many Princes of the bloud royall and other great Lords were drawne to a conspiracy himselfe laying the plot and together with the Abbot of Westminster the chiefe wheeles of all the practice as moving the rest for the Kings death whereby he brought to the block those noble Peeres and as his pestilent counsell had infected their minds so was the bloud of them and theirs tainted by this foule treason but as I discommend his disloyall actions so I no better approve the other flattering and timeserving Bishops who did pleade the right of the title of the said King more eloquently then honestly more rhetorically then divinely for which their expressions they were imployed as Embassadours to forraigne parts to declare and justifie his title and right to the Scepter the Bishop of Hereford to Rome the Bishop of Duresme to France the Bishop of Bangor to Germany and the Bishop of St. Asaph to Spaine which Bishop of Asaph sate as Iudge in that Parliament and pronounced the sentence of deposition against King Rich. The forme as neare as I remember was We John Bishop of St. Asaph John Abbot of Glastenbury Commissioners named by the house of Parliament sitting in place of judgement c. Here you may note that the Bishop did passe judgement of a great inheritance no lesse then two or three Kingdomes and though not betweene two brothers but cosins yet did adjudge most wrongfully as was most apparant I note withall that the title of Lord is not assumed by this King-deposing Bishop nor any other that I reade of Now what hee had judged in Parliament his holy brother of Canterbury must make good in Pulpit delivering What unhappinesse it was to have a childe either of age or discretion to be a King and what felicity it was to a Kingdome to have it governed by a man Certainly a most dangerous position to an hereditary Monarchy I also note that this Archbishop was brother to the Earle of Arundell and at the same time the Archbishop of Yorke a neare kinsman to the Earle of Wiltshire and who durst then plead against the right of the Bishops sitting in Parliament In the same Kings reigne Richard le Scroope the Archbishop of Yorke did in Parliament enter into conspiracy with Thomas Mowbray Earle Marshall against the said King for which they were both beheaded I say the Archbishop as well as the Earle Marshall had his head cut off iterate it because some have doubted whether an Archbishop may be beheaded And now in the said Kings reigne in the Parliament of Coventry let me also tell you that in the said Parliament as in other both before and after a Bill was exhibited against the Temporalties of the Clergy who called that Parliament Parliamentum indoctorum saying that the Commons were fit to enter Common with their cattle having no more reason then bruit beasts This is Speeds delivery but I take it that he repeateth it as the Prelates censure of the house of Commons But to him succeeded Henry the 5. in his time did not Henry Chichley in an eloquent oration in Parliament revive the warres with France by declaring the Kings right thereunto to the effusion of much Christian blood and to the losse of all we had there To expiate which he built a Colledge in Oxenford to pray for the soules slaine in France Though what hee did then deliver was true of the Kings right to the Crowne of France as was also the other of Iohn Archbishop of the same See in Ed. 3. time and no lesse true was that of Carlile against Hen. 4. title Yet I may say it was not the office or function of a Bishop to incense warres domesticke or forraigne Nay this Bishop did set this warre on foot to divert the King from reformation of the Clergy For in that Parliament held at Leicester there was a petition declaring that the temporall lands which were bestowed on the Church were superâ—â—uously and disorderly spent upon hounds and hawkes horses and whores which better imployed would suffice for the maintenance of 15. Earles 1500. Knights 6200. Esquires an hundred Almeshouses and besides of yearly rent to the Crowne 20000. pounds From him I come to his sonne H. 6. I reade many accusations that Gloucester the good protector did lay to the charge of Beaufort the Cardinall of Winchester and Lord Chancellor great uncle to the King living sonne to Iohn of Gaunt alledging him a person very dangerous both to the King and State his brother of Yorke a Cardinall also together with the other Bishops no better For wee reade of Archbishop Bourchier and other Bishops that they did shamefully countenance the distraction of the time These as I delivered before though bad in Parliaments yet too great to put out I will not now speake of many other particulars that I might either in this Kings reigne or his successors to King H. 8. for that I desire to declare what they did since the reformation yet therein will be as briefe as I may having already too much provoked your patience for which I crave humble pardon To Henry the sixt succeeded Edward the fourth who indeed had the better title to the Crowne notwithstanding Archbishop Nevill Brother to the King-make-Warwick with others did conspire and attempt his dethroning and after tooke him prisoner and kept him in his Castle of Midleham and after in Parliament at Westminster did they not declare him a traitor and usurper confiscate his goods revoke abrogate and make frustrate all Satutes made by him and intaile the Crowne of England and France upon Henry and his issue male in default thereof to Clarence and so disabling King Edward his elder Brother But to hasten I will passe over
Paris calles him Rex Sacerdos had joyned with him Hugh Bishop of Duresme for the parts beyond Humber This Kingly Bishop as Authors deliver did use incredible insolence and intollerable tyranny and commit a most sacrilegious and barbarous out-rage upon the person of Ieffery Archbishop of Yorke and naturall brother to K. R. the first for which afterwards being taken in a Curtesans apparrell and attire velut delicata muliercula hee was banished the Realme Now as it was very difficult to turne such Papall Bishops and Regulos out of Parliament so certainly such Lord Bishops did there worke no little mischiefe to Regall power the subjects liberties and the weale publick Certainly this was not the duty and office of a Bishop surely the Silke and Scarlet Robes of Princes and Iusticiars were as undecent for these Bishops as was the coat of Iron of the Bishop of Beavois taken prisoner by this King which hee sent to the Pope with a vide an tunica silii tui sit an non to which hee made answer That he was not his sonne nor the sonne of the Church For hee had put off the peaceable Prelate and put on the warlicke Souldier tooke a Shield in stead of a Cope a Sword for a stole a Curacâ— for an Albe a Helmâ—â— for a Miter a Lance for a Bishops staffe perverting the order and course of things Thus we see that a Bishop must destroy mens lives either as a Iusticiar in Court or as a Souldier in Camp Qui si non aliqua nocuisset mortuus est they will doe any thing but what they ought to doe Feed the Flocke they desire rather to sit in Parliament then stand in a pulpit accounting preaching according to B. Iuel so far below their greatnesse as indeed it is above their goodnesse We neither deny or reject Episcopacy or Church government it selfe but the corruptions thereof and we say that the Bishops who stiffely maintained those corruptions have inforced this our distaste When Iacob was forced to depart from Laban for ill usage I conceive that the breach was in Laban not in Iacob So also those that did forsake Babylon God commanding to depart from it lest they should be partakers of their punishment as they were guilty of their crimes did not occasion the schisme or breach but the sinnes of Babylon And we confesse that true it is that we refuse and forsake the present Church government but no further then it hath forsaken pure and primitive institution therefore let none say that wee are desirous of innovation for I thinke we may boldly with the forenamed reverend Bishop Iewel affirme Nos non sumus novatores From K. R. I come to K. Iohn an usurper likewise who was advanced to the Regall Throne by Archbishop Hubert and the Prelates This lewd Bishop unjustly declaring this and all other Kingdomes to bee elective and that no man hath right or fore-title to succeed another in a Kingdome but must be by the body of the Kingdome thereunto chosen with invocation of grace and guidance of Gods holy Spirit alledging further and that most plainly by example of David and Saul that whosoever in a Kingdome excelled all in valour and vertue ought to surmount all in rule and authority and therefore they had all uâ—anâ—â—â—â—usly elected Iohn first imploring the Holy Ghosts assistance as well in regard of his merits as royall bloud And thus the Bishops blanch their disloyall assertion with sacred Writ and their lewd devised plot with the holy Ghosts assistance Hereby they rejected the just Title and hereditary succession of Arthur his elder brothers sonne And as he did this disherision unjustly and disloyally so did hee this election lewdly and fraudulently as himselfe after confessed when being demanded the reason of his so doing he replied That as Iohn by election got the Crowne so by ejection upon demerit he might lose the same which after he did endeavour to his utmost and at last effected by depriving him of life and kingdome Let me not be misconceived I know Hubert died eight or ten yeares before him but what he did begin and forward was furthered and pursued by Stephen Langton and other Bishops and Prelates too long to rehearse His other brother being Archb. of York a strange example saith Malm. to have a King ruled by two brethren of so turbulent humours Many of their treasonable acts and disloyalties I will omit and passing by as well particular Bishops and Prelates as Stephen Archdeacon of Norwich and others as also of them in the generall I will onely relate one villanous passage of traiterous disloyalty whereof as good Authours deliver the Archbishops and Prelats were principall Abetters and Conspirers The King being at Oxford the Bishops and Barons came thither with armed multitudes without number and forced him to yeeld that the government should bee swayed by twenty five selected Peeres Thus one of the greatest Soveraigns was but the six twentieth petty King in his owne dominions c. To him succeeded his sonne K. H. 3 who being at Clarkenwell in the house of the Prior of S. Iohns was told by him no lesse sawcily then disloyally if I may not say trayterously that he should be no longer King then hee did right to the Prelates Whereto hee answered What doe you meane to deprive me of my Kingdom and afterward murder me as you did my Father And indeed they performed little lesse as shall hereafter appear But now to take the particular passages in order In this Kings reigne Stephen then Archbishop of Canterbury as we read was the Ring-leader of disorders both in Church and State and no better was Peter Bishop of Winchester But not to speake of them in particular but of them all in generall and that in Parliament at Oxford thus wee read To the Parliament at Oxford saith Matth. Paris and Matth. Westm. came the seditious Earles and Barons with whom the Bishops Pontisice's ne dicam Pharisei those were his words had taken counsell against the King the Lords annointed who sternly propounded to the King sundry traiterous Articles to which they required his assent but not to reckon all the points you shall heare what the same Authours deliver of their intent I will repeat the words as I finde them These turbulent Nobles saith M. West had yet a further plot then all this which was first hatched by the disloyall Bishops which was that foure and twenty persons should there bee chosen to have the whole administration of the K. and State and yearly appointment of all great Officers reserving onely to the King the highest place at meetings Primus accubitus in caenis and salutations of honour in publicke places To which they forced him and his sonne Prince Edward to sweare for feare as mine Authour saith of perpetuall imprisonment if not worse for the traiterous Lords had by an edict threatned death to all that resisted And the perfidious
and wicked Archbishop and Bishops cursing all that should rebell against it which impudent and traiterous disloyalty saith Matth. Paris and Matth. Westm. the Monks did detest asking with what fore-heads the Priests durst thus impaire the Kingly Majesty expressely against their sworne fidelity to him Here we see the Monks more loyall and honest then the Lord Bishops wee have cashiered the poore Monkes and are we afraid of the Bishops Lordlinesse that they must continue and sit in Parliament to the prejudice of the King and people And so we may observe that this traiterous Bishop did make this King as the former had done his father meerely titular From him I passe to his son Edward the first In his reigne Boniface was Archbishop of Canterbury and Brother to the Queene what he and the rest of the Prelats did in prejudice to the regall authority and weale publique I will passe over the rather for that they declare themselves in his sons reigne so wicked and disloyall that no age can parallell of which thus in briefe doth not Thomas De la More call the Bishop of Hereford Arch plotter of treason Omnis mali Architectum and not to speake of his contriving the death of the late Chancellour and other particular villanies he is branded together with Winchester then Chancellour and Norwich Lord Treasurer to occasion the Dethroning of this Prince nay after long imprisonment his very life taken away by Bishop Thorltons aenigmaticall verse though he after denied it Edwardum occidere nolite timere bonum est But this Adam de Orleton alias Toâ—leton and his fellow Bishops in this Kings reigne I may not slightly passe over Therefore I desire wee may take a further view of them First of this Adam Bishop of Hereford we finde that he was stript of all his temporalties for supporting the Mortimers in the Barons quarrell Hee being saith Thomas de la More a man of most subtile wit and in all worldly policies profound daring to doe great things and factious withall who made against King Edward the second a great secret party To which Hâ—nry Burwash Bishop of Lincolne for like causes deprived of his temporalties joyned himselfe as also Ely and others Walter Stapleton Bishop of Exeter a turne-coat left the Queen and came to England to inâ—orme the King of his Queenes too great familiarity with Mortimer which after cost him his head Perhaps some now as Thomas de la More will say he was therein a good man yet I will take leave to thinke nor doe I feare to speake it This was no part of Episcopall function But I will passe him by not concluding him either good or bad every man may thinke as hee pleaseth I will declare the traiterous and disloyall actions of the other Bishop formerly mentioned This Bishop of Hereford whom I finde called the Queens bosome Councellour preaching at Oxford tooke for text My head my head aketh 2 Kings 4. 19. concluding more like a Butcher then a Divine that an a king and sick head of a kingdome was of necessity to be taken off and not to bee tampered with by any other physicke whereby it is probable that he was the authour of that aenigmaticall verse formerly recited Edwardum occidere c. And well may wee beleeve it for we finde that he caused Roger Baldock Bishop of Norwich the late Lord Chancellour to die miserably in Newgate Not much better were Ely Lincolne Winchester and other Bishops that adhered to the Queene Mortimer and others of her part Nor can I commend those Bishops that were for the King and the Spencers The Archbishop of Canterbury and his Suffragans decreeing the revocation of those pestilent Peers the judgemen given against them judged aâ— erroneous Thus these Lord Bishops as all in a manner both before and after in stead of feeding the flock oâ— Christ only plotted dismall warres death and destruction of Christians I might tell you how in this Kings reigne as in others they perswaded the Lords and Peeres of the Realme that they had power and right not onely to reform the Kings House and Councell and to place and displace all great Officers at their pleasure but even a joynt interest in the regiment of the Kingdome together with the King And now will any say No Bishop no King yet one word more before I part with these Bishops What ground-worke they layd and what meanes they used for the ruine of King and Kingdome was it not their working upon the impotence of a womans will insinuating what indignity it was that a she daughter of France being promised to be a Queene was become no better then a waiting woman living upon a pension and so nourishing in her great discontents perswaded her going to France which was the matter and Embrion and as I may say the chiefe cause of common destruction which after ensued God keep all good Princes from hearkning or consenting to the pernitious counsels of such pestilent Priests and prating Parasites To declare all their disloyalties in Parliament and out would fill a large volume But now Brevis esse laboro therefore I onely say that as it was not for their goodnesse but greatnesse that they satâ— in Parliament so their sitting there did I thinke I may say almost evert Monarchy yea Regality with what face can they inculcate that aspersion No Bishop no King Certainly by what I have already delivered and shall now declare in the reignes of succeeding Princes it will appeare quite contrary that where Lordly Bishops dominsere and beare rule and sway neither Kings nor Kingdoms themselves or subjects are secure Now to the reigne of King Edward the third did not John Archbishop of Canterbury perswade and incite this King and the Parliament to a most dangerous warre with France whereby the death of millions hath been occasioned To such mischiefe dâ—e they use their learning and eloquent Orations in Parliament What Epiphanius delivered of Philosophers that they were In re stulta sapientes so may we say of such Bishops that they are In malo publico facundi But to passe by particular men and actions I shall only deliver unto you some notable passages in Parliament Anno 1371. The Parliament did petition the King to have them deprived of all Lay Offices and government they being commonly the plotters and contrivers of all treasons conspiracies and rebellions the very incendiâ—ries pests and grievances both of tho Church State the chiefest instruments to advance the peoples usurped authority though with prejudice of the kings which they never cordially affected and the Arch-enemies of the Common-wealth through their private oppression covetousnesse rebellion and tyranny when they have been in office as may appeare by Antiquitates Ecclesiae Britannicae in the lives of Anselme Becket Arundel c. Here we see that they never affected the authority of Kings but rather were scourges to their sides and thornes in their eyes Now wee come to Richard the second his