Skill diverts that deadly Matter that is hastening to those Parts of the Body where the Receptacle of Life is to other Parts where that very Poyson which was design'd for present Destruction cannot be suspected At this Our Care he Storms Holy Father he Storms is uneasie and complains he who sought by his subtle Devices to find Us unadvised and unprepared But without doubt it was more Discreet for Us according to the Theory of War which teaches that he more avoids the Inconvenience of War who carries it further off from his own Country to go forth into another Realm to fight against our Notorious Enemy with the joynt Power of our Allies than alone to expect him at Our own Doors Let not therefore the Envious Information of Our Detractors find Place in the meek Mind of Your Holiness or create any sinister Opinion of a Son who after the Manner of his Predecessors shall always firmly persist in Amity and Obedience to the Apostolick Seat. Nay if any such Evil suggestion concerning your Son should knock for entrance at your Holinesses Ears let no Belief be allow'd it till the Son who is concerned be heard who trusts and always intends both to say and to prove that each of his Actions is just before the Tribunal of Your Holiness presiding over every Creature which to deny is to maintain Heresie And further this we say adjoyning it as a further Evidence of our Intention and greater Devotion that if there be any One either of our Kindred or Allies who walks not as he ought in the way of Obedience towards the Apostolick See We intend to bestow Our Diligence and We trust to no little purpose that leaving his Wandring Course he may return into the Path of Duty and walk Regularly for the future Again there is One thing which by Your Holinesses leave having heard of many We must declare thô the more We think of it the more cruelly it stings Our Mind and that is that the Hand of Our Adversary who notoriously Labours now as formerly for Our Destruction when no Body made War against him nor he against any Body but Us was even at that time armed out of the very Patrimony of Christ Which unkindness that the Kings of England Our Predecessors those Illustrious Champions of Christ those g g Fidei Athletas DEFENDORS of the FAITH those zealous Assertors of the Right of the Holy Roman Church and Devout Observors of her Commands that either They or We should deserve this Unkindness We neither know nor believe And thô for this very Reason many do say We say not so that this Aiding of Our Enemy against Us seems neither an Act of a Father nor a Mother towards Us but of a Step-Mother yet notwithstanding We constantly avow that We are and shall continue to Your Holiness and Your Seat a Devout and Humble Son and not a Step-Son Hence We hope not without Reason that Our Humility being made Greater and Firmer by this that it deserved not any Ill-turn from Your Fatherly Charity will receive a more exuberant Encrease of Favour that what it laid upon Us who were Innocent Your tender Compassion which at first was wanting will now endeavour to Recompense unto Us with Goodness And this Account of Our Right and of the Injuries thus multiply'd against Us We intimate to the Preheminence of Your Sacred Dignity that Your Holiness who best know the Measure of Good and Just and in whose Hands are the Keys to open and to shut the Gates of Heaven upon Earth as the fulness of Your Power and Excellence of Your Judicature requires if there shall appear Reason may favour Our Right We being ready not only from Your Sacred Tribunal which is over all but from any Body else Humbly to receive Information of the Truth thô contrary to Us if any one knows it And We who freely submit to Reason will embrace any other Truth which shall be given to Us to understand with Full and Humble acknowledgements But because You ô Fathers are superscribed in these Our Letters who are for Your condign Merits called to partake in the Cares and Counsels of our Lord the Chief Bishop and assist by his side to give the Knowledge of Salvation to the People of Christ We are willing to open these things also to Your Knowledge that knowing the Justice of Our Cause You may pay that Duty unto Truth which You owe and to which with urgent Requests We excite Your circumspect Wisdome which is wont equally to weigh the Rights of every Man without accepting of Persons And if in any thing that we have done there shall be found any flaw We Request herein better Advice from You and desire to be profitably informed being ready in all our Actions to yield to Reason Given at Antwerp the 16 of July An. Dom. 1339. III. This Letter of the Kings was shortly after thus Answer'd by the Pope whose Name was Benedict the XII BENEDICT the Bishop h h Haec Epistola extat etiam apud Rainald ad An. 1338. §. 59. ex Tom. 4. Epist Secr. 380. tisdem verbis quibus apud Walsingh Servant of the Servants of God to his most Dear Son in Christ Edward King of England Greeting and Apostolical Benediction Being long since Desirous that You should follow the Commendable Footsteps of Your Progenitors Kings of England who were Famous for the Fulness of their Devotion and Faith towards God and the Holy Roman Church and have shew'd forth the Splendour of their Nobility untainted And wishing that these Qualities might shine more Eminently in You thrô that Fatherly Love and Charity wherewith We affect both You and Your Realm We remember how We directed Our Letters to Your Highness among other things recounting unto You that those Excesses which had been wickedly perpetrated with a complication of manifold and heinous Offences by the Noble Lord Lewis of Bavaria long since as was told You thrô Discord Elected King of the Romans against God and the said Roman Church and against Pope John the XXII Our Predecessor of Happy Memory could not escape Your Notice which as being Notorious to the whole World We took Care to recite in Our Letters not all since the Repetition thereof would have been too long and tedious but some of them as follows For the same Lewis contrary to the Processes of our said Predecessor and his Inhibitions made and had by the Advice of his Brethren the Cardinals of the same Roman Church containing divers Spiritual and Temporal Penalties and Sentences enter'd Italy and openly admitted into his Familiarity several Hereticks Publiquely and Notoriously condemn'd of Heresie himself also Asserting manifest Heresies and upholding and maintaining Hereticks who openly taught the detestable and horrid Errors of the foresaid Heresies and knowingly or rather madly approving Heretical Opinions sent an Evidence of that his Approbation by divers Letters Sealed with his own known Seal to the Peril of other Nations And afterwards
Justice might by their craftiness be prevented and the Inquisition of the Truth cunningly eluded Which Truth since We believed We should obtain so much the more certainly and fully from the said Archbishop by how much it was expected that nothing of what belonged to Our Information in this part should be hid from him to whom for so long time We had thought fit to commit the Administration of Our whole Common-Weal and Our Chiefest Concerns We therefore by Our Trusty and Well-beloved Nicolas Cantilupe did send him Our Special Command that forthwith he should come to London to Our Presence because We were minded to confer Personally with him But He as one always Insolent in Prosperity and Timerous in Adversity fearing now where no Fear was did untruly allege that some Mischief was intended and threatned unto him by some of Our Assistants if at any time he should once come forth of the Church of Canterbury Whereas God and Our Conscience are Witnesses no such Matter ever enter'd into Our Mind nor as We believe into the Heart of any of Our Servants Yet We suppose he glanced herein at Our Cosin the Earl of Darby thô not only to him but to all others z z The foregoing part of this Clause is omitted by Antiq. Brit. Walsingh only Mr. Foâ—'s Copy hath it as well of the Clergy as Laiety by his Evil Demerits he hath rendred himself Odious But We who desire that all Our Subjects should have free Access to Our Person especially those who by Our Letters or Messengers are thereto required to confute his Malicious Suggestion sent unto him Our Trusty and Well-beloved Ralph Stafford Steward of our Houshold to offer and give unto him safe Conduct but notwithstanding that We caused our Royal Letters Patents under Our Great Seal to be presented unto him again commanding him to make his Personal Appearance before Us that We might be informed how he had behaved himself in that Publique Station which he had long Menaged as aforesaid Yet he setting at nought both Our Requests and Commands answer'd with as Haughty an Air as Impudent Mind that he would neither appear before Us nor confer with Us unless in Our Full Parliament which at this time upon Good Reasons is no way Expedient to be call'd Thus this Archbishop whom Our Royal Bounty had exalted with Large Benefits and Great Honours and had admitted into Our Familiarity nay even to an Intimacy of Friendship upon whom as on a most Dear Father Our whole Breath and Life did Repose who also while We did after his Will put on the Pretended Countenance of a Loving Father toward Us even this Man is now cruelly turn'd to be an Heavy and Unnatural Step-Father and wholly forgetfull of the Benefits he has receiv'd with Arrogance and Pride pursues his Benefactor and hath served Us as the Proverb is a Mouse in a Bag a Serpent in your Lap and Fire in your Bosom with an ill Requital for Our Kindness For thô when We were first Exalted to the Throne of Our Kingdom descended unto Us by Right of Inheritance the Divine Grace so working it always was and hath been Detestable unto Us to Abuse the Greatness of Our Power Who rather affect to Rule Our Subjects with Clemency Lenity and Moderation of Justice that they might enjoy Peace which is desired of all Men Yet notwithstanding this Man hath gone about to defame Our Innocence and the Fidelity and Diligence of Our Counsellors and Officers that pursue Justice publiquely by his Letters Patents declaring in several Places that in these Latter Times by the Kings Power contrary to Justice the Laiety is Oppressed the Clergy confounded and a a L. Antiqu. Britan habet Ecclesia sed Walsingham Regnum praeplacet Ecclesia ex iis quae pluries repetuntur Holy Church burthen'd with divers Exactions Taxes and Talliages And because he subtlely Usurped the Name of a Good Pastor when indeed he was nothing less but rather after the Common Opinion and his own Confession as it is vulgarly Reported a very Hireling he cloaked his Fox-Craft with a feigned Zeal for the Liberties of the Church Whose Troubles if in Our Days it hath sustained any are rather to be attributed to the Remisness of the said Archbishop to his Evil Counsels and Crafty Devices He also wickedly pretends to have certain Sentences of Excommunication which were long since made in general against the Violators of the Liberties of the Church and Magna Charta thereby to spoil the Good Opinion had of the King and to defame Our foresaid Royal Ministers and Traiterously to stir up Sedition amongst the People committed to Our Charge and finally to withdraw from Our Royal Majesty the Hearts of Our Earls Lords and Barons of the Realm These by his Letters he commanded to be Published in most Places of Great Resort besides and contrary to the accustomed means provided in a Provincial Council Wherefore We desirous as We have Reason to Respect the Integrity of Our Fame and to obviate the Malice of the said Archbishop as also carefully to decline the snares he hath laid for Us and Ours have thought good beside those things above Rehearsed to bring into Publique Notice some of his many Evil Actions And truly when We were in Our Minority by his Imprudent Counsel and Perswasion We made so many Prodigal Donations unlawfull Alienations and Excessive Largesses that Our Exchequer was wholly exhausted thereby and Our Revenues extreamly diminished We have also found that being corrupted with Bribes he has Released to several Persons vast Summs of Money owing to Us and that without any Reasonable Cause when neither Necessity nor any Prospect of Advantage so required and also that he has apply'd to the use of himself and his Friends and other ill-deserving Persons many of Our Rents and Revenues which ought to have been kept for Our own Use and Necessity Moreover being as well an Accepter of Persons as of Bribes contrary to Our Desire and his Oath of Fidelity made to Us he hath admitted to publique Offices in Our Dominions Persons altogether unworthy neglecting and putting back those that well deserved And many other things out of a Refractory Mind he hath rashly presum'd to do to the Detriment of Our State the hurt of Our Royal Dignity and the no small Damage of the People subjected unto Us by abusing the Authority and Charge committed unto him Who if he shall still persist in his proud Obstinacy and Stout and continued Rebellion We shall hereafter in convenient Time and Place cause his Faults to be more manifest in the mean while willing and commanding You to Publish and cause to be Published all and singular the Premises openly and distinctly in places where You shall think it Expedient and to set forth also as it shall seem best to Your Godly Wisdom Our Pious Resolution for the suppressing all manner of Incommodities and furthering the Commodities and Advantages of Our Subjects so behaving
conserve your Innocence and to own it publiquely unto others For the Conservation whereof we have hitherto prayed God and continually do pray him and we have often by our Letters Patents directed and shall do hereafter that those of our Province should pour forth their Prayers for the safe and happy Conservation of your State. But whether by the damnable Presumption of certain of your Officers as we believe without your Connivance against Justice the Layety is more than usually oppressed the Clergy and Church burthen'd with divers Taxations and Talliages as evidently now appears when from Ecclesiastical Persons that is now exacted which they never granted Your People also in these Days are governed by new and unusual I wish I could not say Arbitray Laws so that their Substance hardly sufficing for Life will at last unless God avert to your great Reproach be reduced to extream Poverty Nor did we say propose or publish such things with a sinister Intention to defame the Innocence of You or of your Officers since we named none in particular But that thereby your Royal Majesty being moved might so much the sooner apply a fit Remedy lest thrô unlawfull Grievances the Affections of your People should which God forbid lose their wonted Devotion by turning their Love into Hatred And because your Royal Majesty To the 6 Article after the malevolous pleasure of the Dictator of your Letters seems to charge us That we have endeavour'd to usurp the name of a Good Shepherd when indeed we were nothing less after the common Opinion and even our own Confession wherein we called our selves an Hireling and that we cloaked our Fox-craft with a feigned Zeal for the Liberties of the Church whose Troubles if in Goods or Persons it hath sustained any in your Days are solely to be attributed to our Remissness evil Counsels and crafty Devices To which we answer as the subject matter permits For the Truth called himself the Good Pastor saying q q John 10. v. 11 I am the Good Shepherd and no other can call himself a Good Shepherd witness the same Truth saying r r Luke c. 18. v. 19. There is none Good save God alone If therefore in Preaching publiquely we said That we were not a Good Shepherd but an Hireling We spake after the Doctrine of our Saviour saying ſ ſ Luke c. 17. v. 10. When you have done all those things which are commanded you say ye are unprofitable Servants And Truth it self knows that we never thought fallaciously or by any pretence to usurp the Name of a Good Shepherd as we neither are nor can be But laying aside all Fox-craft and feigned Zeal such as we were We together with the other Prelates and Proctors of the Clergy of our Province interposed our selves for the relief of your Necessity and the Profit or rather Salvation of your Kingdom which with our own eyes we beheld exposed to innumerable Dangers doing all that in us lay and procuring to be granted Taxes and many Subsidies to the great burthen and grievance of the said Clergy that by the Aid of the Subjects the Enemies of the King Kingdom and Church might be drove away and the Church and Kingdom might flourish in the calm of Peace For which because as it seems by You it cannot be reasonably laid to our Charge as a Fault we comfort our self with the common Proverb Thô Others Accusations raise t t Si culpent alii Te me laudare necesse est 'T is fit that You should yield me Praise But as to that which is laid to our Charge To the 7 Article That by our Letters we commanded to be published in most Places of great Resort certain Sentences of Excommunication which were long since made in general against the Violators of the Liberties of the Church and Magna Charta thereby to spoil the good Opinion had of the King and to defame the Kings Ministers aforesaid and traiterously to stir up Sedition among the People committed to the King and to withdraw from your Royal Majesty the Hearts of the Earls Lords and Barons of your Realm Because the Premises seem to fling the Crime of Treason upon our Head in which Case no King or Temporal Lord can be our Competent Judge as is sufficiently shewed above we protest openly and publiquely by these Presents that we intend by what we have said or shall say in nothing to prejudice our State in this part but wholly to decline the Tryal of any Secular Judge whatsoever But yet extrajudicially to the declaration of our Innocence we do confess nor can we deny that we have denounced and by Others caused to be denounced certain Sentences of Excommunication formerly made in general against the Violators of the Liberties of the Church and Magna Charta but yet so as particularly and expresly to except as we might the Kings Person that of the Queen and their Children Wherein we defamed no body since therein we nominated no body Nor thereby saving the Reverence of him that dictated did we traiterously procure Sedition or cause the People to be withdrawn from You Who are at present obedient to You in all things and who serve You in all things according to their Duty as the whole World may see But He who knows all things is our Witness that as far as it was possible for us we always as well publiquely as privately did induce the Lords and Commons of your Realm to love you heartily and to serve you in your Affairs more readily and with all their Power to aid You as is sufficiently known to all your Realm In the end of your foresaid Letters there seem to be many things said proposed and generally repeated to the slander of our Reputation As that You being in your Minority by our imprudent Counsel made certain prodigal Donations unlawfull Alienations and excessive Largesses so that thereby your Majesties Exchequer was wholly exhausted affirming further that being corrupted with Bribes we have without reasonable Cause released to several Persons vast Summs of Money owing unto You And also that we have applied to the Vse of our selves and our Friends and bestow'd on other evil-deserving Persons many of your Rents and Revenues And that being not only an Acceptor of Bribes but of Persons also we have contrary to your desire and our Oath of Fidelity made to You admitted to publique Offices in your Dominions Persons altogether unworthy neglecting and putting back the worthy and well-deserving And that of a refractory Mind we have rashly presumed to do many other things to the detriment of the State Royal the hurt of the Regal Dignity and the dammage and grievance of your People by abusing the Authority and Charge committed unto us Premising again the foresaid Protestation because your Royal Majesty as it seems doth in the Premises lay unto our Charge Perjury by way of Crime in which cause You are not our Judge as neither can you be yet unto
vatumque in Sede sedere Optatásque diu lauros titulúmque Poetae Te precor oblatum tranquillo pectore munus Hospitio dignare tuo c. Petrarch Africae l. 1. whose Hand Sicania's Scepter sways Hesperia's Pride and th' Glory of our Days By whose Award I hold a Poets Name And wish'd-for Bayes and Bayes-attending Fame Don't Mighty Prince I humbly pray refuse To ' accept this candid Offering of a Muse c. But as to the Kings Gracious Proffer to Crown him there at Naples he modestly declared that it was his Resolution not to accept the Laurel but in the Imperial City of Rome Whereupon that Noble Prince gave him his Letters Testimonial to the Senate of that City wherein he largely set forth the Merits of the Man and from his own Experience declared that he was well worthy to be publiquely in the most honourable manner presented with a Crown of Laurel These Letters being produced in the Senate by Vrsus Earl of Anguillara and Jordanus his Colleague one of the Sons of Vrsus Knight Senators of Rome Petrarch was called in and there openly challenged the Laurel His Claim was allowed and the Day of his solemn Inauguration appointed which was Easter-day k G. Lit. Dom. Pasch 8 April or the VI of the Ides of April in the Year MCCCXLI And on the same day l Victorellus p. 886. ad hunc ann in Vitt. Pentif Squarzafic by the General Consent of the whole City of Rome he received this Honour in the Capitol by the Hands of Earl Vrsus in the Name of King Robert and of the City and Senate of Rome with the loud Acclamations of a frequent Multitude at which time Earl Vrsus declared him a Great Poet Historian and Philosopher and Master in each Faculty After which being carried with a Pompous Attendance to St. Peter's Church he there consecrated his Laurel Wreath hanging it up on the Top of the Temple as a Memorial to Posterity Certainly whatever that Man may seem in the Opinion of our more polite and refined Age whoever considers him in relation to those dark Times must readily acknowledge this Honour was no way beyond his Merits and also that the Ignorance of those Days may be in some measure excused when we consider how ready they were to honour Learning where they found it In our Age a Skill in Letters is not so highly regarded either because it is more common or because Princes are less bountifull or the Learned themselves take not the best way to please them or Envy precludes them a fair Access to the notice of the Government XV. But to return to our Discourse of the Scottish Affairs When the Feast of St. John Baptist drew near which was the Time limited for the expiration of the Truce between England and Scotland Sr. William Douglas secretly gather'd together his Troops as well of Scots as of the French Auxiliaries and the very Day after the Truce was expired lay down with a competent Army before Striveling And because he well knew that King Edward being now at home it was not probable he could lie long there without some powerfull Diversion he used the more Vigour and Fury in all his Attacks and made his Approaches more resolutely hoping thereby to carry the Place before any succour should come King Edward about the beginning of September being alarm'd at the news of these Motions of Scotland came to York having before issued out his Commands to his Lords and Captains to meet him with their several Retinues by such a time at Barwick And the Commissioners of Array for the North did so well bestir themselves that shortly after the King was provided with sufficient Forces both Horse and Foot and his Army encreased daily The Lord Douglas knew well to what all these Preparations tended and therefore being one of the most daring Captains in the World and also considering that now was the best time to stir when so many Frenchmen his Friends were by to help him and the Enemy as yet was far off and unprovided renewed his Assault ten times more fiercely than before So that dividing his Army into Four Parts and keeping one of those four Divisions by turns perpetually upon the Assault he allowed the Besieged not one moment to rest whereby they were at last compell'd to Capitulate and because Douglas would allow them no better to yield on these Conditions to go away at their Liberty with Life and Limb one Suit of Apparel and their Swords only The Captain of the Castle was that valiant worthy Sr. Richard Limesi who the Year before had so well defended the Castle of Thine l'Evesque against the Duke of Normandy but now the incredible Fury of the Scots and the great Engines of battery which Douglas brought thither enforced him to accept of these necessary Conditions King Edward was at m Frois c. 73. Du Chesne p. 654. Barwick when the News of this Loss came to him whereupon he immediately rode back to Newcastle upon Tine where he lodged and was fain to tarry more than a Month still expecting the Provision for his Army which was to come by Sea. But his Fleet had been so shatter'd with a furious and lasting Tempest that a very small Part of it was able to come thither in any time and that not till November the rest being dispersed abroad some into Holland others upon the Coasts of Friseland and not a few quite lost Whereby the English Army suffer'd great want of Victuals and all things became excessive Dear and Winter was pretty well enter'd It was no doubt impossible for any time to hold together so great Forces which consisted of 40000 Foot and six thousand Horse in those Parts especially since the Scots had put as well all their Corn and Forage as their other Moveables into strong Holds And yet however King Edward was not wholly left by his good Fortune For Prince Robert Stuart Sr. William Douglas and the other Scotch Lords after the taking of Striveling had retired into the Forest of Gedeours not at all ignorant of King Edwards Forces and intent but wholly unwitting of his Misfortune for lack of Provision Wherefore they took counsel how to avoid so dreadfull a storm of War as they saw now ready to fall upon them Not at all presuming with their small Forces to meet with a Royal Army of so fam'd a Conquerour and being satisfied in themselves that they had already performed the Duty of good Subjects to their King and Country in having for more than seven Years without a King to lead or protect them not only maintained what was left but recover'd most of what was lost which yet they must expect to lose again as oft as King Edward should come thus strongly against them Wherefore they were ready to mutiny against their Lord King David who for all this kept private in France as if he either thought them not worth his Care or thô now of Age durst
and that he may be the more obliged to serve Us before any other to bear such a regard unto him whereby he may the better maintain his Estate have given unto him the Annual Rent of one Hundred Marks during his Life to be received out of our Mannor of Bradinuch in the County of Devonshire every Year at the terms of Easter and of St. Michael by equal Portions of the hands of the Keepers of our said Mannor for the time being the Offer and Promise aforesaid being in all points held and kept And We will also that at what time and as often as his said payment shall be upon arriere in part or in whole without term assigned it shall be Lawfull for the said Sr. Henry to distrain on the said Mannor and to have what is so distrained until he shall be fully payed so much as shall be found due unto him upon arriere as aforesaid In witness whereof We have made these our Letters Patent Given under our Seal at Westminster the 18 day of January in the Year of the Reign of our most Dear Lord and Father the King over England the 21 and over France the 8. We n i.e. the King. allowing and approving the foresaid Grant do by the Tenour of these Presents confirm and ratifie the same unto the said Henry during his Life as the foresaid Letters do import In witness whereof c. Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium XXVIII die Junii Anno Regni nostri Angliae 23 Regni verò nostri Franciae 10. Per ipson Regem CHAPTER the TENTH AN. DOM. 1350. An. Regni Angliae XXIV Franciae XI The CONTENTS I. Pope Clement reduces the Bonifacian Jubilee from the Hundredth to the Fiftieth Year with an Account of the first Original of a Jubilee II. King Edward forbids his subjects to go to Rome on that occasion with his Answer to the Popes expostulation thereupon III. The sect of Whippers arises and is supprest IV. King Edwards Victory over the Spaniards at Sea. V. King Philip of France dies and is succeeded by his Eldest Son John Duke of Normandy VI. A Duel fought before King Edward between a Cypriote Knight and the Bastard of France VII King John puts the Bastard to Death together with the Earl of Eu and Guisnes for envy because they commended the Carriage of King Edward of England VIII Some steps towards a Peace with Scotland in order to King Davids Redemption I. THis Year being the Fiftieth of the Fourteenth Century accounting from the Nativity of our Lord being held as a Solemn Jubilee at Rome we shall here make some short enquiry after that Matter And it appears from the Sacred Records that God Almighty himself was the First Institutor of this great Solemnity For He having appointed the Sabbath-Day or the Seventh of the Week to be kept Holy in Memory of the Creation of the World which was by his Word alone compleated in the space of six Days did afterwards at the promulgation of the Law from Mount Sina a Levitic c. 25. v. 2 3 c. add unto the Jews a Sabbath of Years to be observed that so the Land of Palestine having been tilled and manured for six continued Years should be left fallow every Seventh Year without any manuring tilling reaping or dressing And seven of these Sabbatical Years or Fourty Nine common Years being compleat God commanded the Jews to proclaim thrô their whole Land a Festival Year by sound of the Holy Trumpets to be universally held as the great Sabbatical Year a Year of general Release and of Religious Rest and of Joy and of Exultation as a Type of that Eternal Rest Relaxation and Liberty which the Messias was to procure unto the Sons of God Which Fiftieth Year was called the Year of Jubilee from a b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vid. Joh. Buâ—tor f. Lexicon Hebr. in hâc vote p. 293 c. Word in Hebrew which signifies a Ram because it was proclaimed with the sound of Trumpets made of Rams-horns Unless some had rather derive it from a Word of Latine-Original which signifies to Rejoyce This being the First Institution of the Jubilee among the Jews deliver'd by their great Prince and Law-giver Moses Pope Boniface VIII brought it in also among the Christians c Labbxi Chron. Techn ad hunc aâ— Pâ—lydor Virg. l. 19. p. 385. in the Year of our Lord MCCC which was the sixth of his Papacy and then ordain'd that it should be solemnly kept every Hundredth Year Althô we find that in the Year of our Lord CCXLVII which was Ab U. C. Annus Millesimus the Emperour d Dr. Cave's Apâ—stâ—l ei in tabalâ— Chronel Philip the Second kept a Festive Year in Memory of the first Foundation of the Imperial City of Rome with all imaginable Splendour and Magnificence And this althô it had not the Name was indeed no other than a Jubilee But now e Odor Rainald ad an Christi 1349. §. 11. c. ad an 1350. §. 1. c. Pope Clement VI because it was not likely that any Man who had seen the first Bonifacian Jubilee should live to see the Return of another and also in that the Fiftieth Year was more consonant to the Mosaical Law at the Instant Request of the Roman Ambassadors granted that on this Year and every Fiftieth Year following the Jubilee should be celebrated at the Holy City of Rome at which time he granted by his Apostolical Power many great Indulgences to all those who should devoutly Visit the Churches of the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and also the Lateran called S to Giovanni Laterano the Dignity of which Church doth sufficiently appear from this Ancient Inscription in Marble in the Porch thereof at Rome Dogmate Papali datur simul Imperiali Vt sim cunctarum Mater Caput Ecclesiarum The opinion that these Indulgences were of no small Advantage did so mightly prevail that infinite Numbers of both Sexes went on Pilgrimage to Rome there being reckoned no less than f Matth. Villani l. 1. c. 58. 1200000 Thousand Strangers passing too and fro in the City at One time among whom were many Persons of extraordinary Quality and some Princes Dukes and the like But g Odor Rainal ad an 1349. §. 9. Kings and Persons of an higher Station who were by their great Affairs detained at home being desirous to be made partakers nevertheless of these Sacred Privileges wrote their Letters Supplicatory to the Pope that in them the Good-Will might be taken for the Deed and that thô they could not tend to go in Person yet since they so devoutly desired it they might obtain of his Holiness the same Indulgences as others who performed that Pilgrimage among which there was the King of Castille and Leon the Kings of Aragon Portugal and Cyprus Albert Duke of Austria and others And thô the Pope defer'd a while to answer their Requests till he might confer thereupon with
and elsewhere to fight against the Pagans in which employment he spent several Years At the same time that the foresaid Lord of Pamiers was apprehended there were several others taken up on Suspicion of being concerned in the same Matter as Sr. John du Plessac S. Peter of Landuras and Sr. Bertram de la France who lay in Prison at Bourdeaux in great Danger thô at last by endeavours of their Friends and because nothing could be clearly made out against them they were deliver'd There ran about also a Report as if Sr. Galiard de Vignier was not free from this Treason which made People wonder much because the said Knight was then in Lombardy with the Lord of Coucy in the Service of the Church Wherefore the Pope himself afterwards excused him and so he had his Lands and Possessions continued unto him And thus jealousies and heart-burnings arose between the Prince and his Subjects and there were not wanting Evil Men to enflame Matters further Thô still there remain'd a few Genuine Sons of Honour who could not by any Arts be prevail'd upon to relinquish their old Friends the English Particularly the Lord John p Frois c. 271. de Bourbon who held part of his Lands of the Prince and had rendred him Homage therefore came upon some occasion to Paris about this time where the subtle King ply'd him with all the Arguments imaginable to make him renounce his Fealty to the Prince but this generous young Earl of Marche absolutely rejected the motion telling him that if there was no Religion a Gentleman ought to keep his Faith and Promise Of a like steady temper was another great Baron of Limosin namely the Lord of Pierre Buffierre who being then also at Paris was urged by the King to fall off from the Prince but he would by no means agree thereto But there were two other considerable Barons of Limosin who knew not how to imitate the Fidelity and Honour of those Men for they with a little tampering quitted the Prince and embraced the French King's interest their Names were Lewis Lord of Maleval and the Lord Raymund of Marvejols his Nephew who soon after began to make Bloody War upon the English from their Garrisons Whereat the King of England and his Council were extreamly displeased especially because now many Barons began to fall off only out of Wantonness and Desire of Change without the least provocation given either by his Son the Prince or Him Whereupon King Edward was advised to write Covert Letters sealed with his Seal to be convey'd by two or three of his Knights into Poictou and Aquitaine and there to be made publick in the Cities Castles and Good Towns thereabouts The mean while the Prince of Wales deliver'd out of the Prison in Agen Sr. John Champoneau the Knight who brought him the Letters of Summons from King Charles in exchange for a Knight of his called Sr. Thomas Banister who q Ashmole's Garter Plate 55. bare in a Field Argent a Cross Pateé Sable and had been taken a little before in a Skirmish in Perigort But the Doctor that came with him remained still in Prison at Agen till Sr. John his fellow-sufferer had upon his return into France collected his Ransom But since We spake of King Edward's Letters we shall here set down the Copy of them wherein we shall see that He prudently forbears the Title of France lest he might seem while he went about to compose Matters to give occasion of widening the Breach and also thereby to lessen King Charles his jealousie who already had too fast hold of those Gascogne Lords and be sure would never let them go while he despair'd of an accommodation himself The Tenor of his Letters ran thus viz. r Extat in Originali Frois Gall. fol. 226. Du Chesne p. 704. Anglicè Frois c. 272. III. EDWARD by the Grace of God King of England Lord of Ireland and of Aquitain to all those who shall see or hear these present Letters Know you that considering and regarding the Business of the Bounds Marches and Limitations of our Seignory of Aquitain stretching from end to end We have been enformed of certain Troubles Grievances and Molestations done or supposed to be done by our Right Dear Son the Prince of Wales in the said Countries Wherefore being obliged and desirous to withstand and remedy all things relating to evil Surmises Hates or Contentions between Us and our Loyal Friends and Subjects We do by these Presents announce and pronounce certifie and ratifie that of our meer Good Will and by great Deliberation of our Council of that purpose called We will and command that our Right Dear Son the Prince of Wales forbear and remit all manner of Actions done or to be done and do restore again to all such as have been grieved or molested by Him or by any of his Subjects or Officers in Aquitain all their Costs Expences and Dammages leavied or to be leavied in the name of the said Exactions Aids or Fouages And if any of our true Subjects and Friends as well Prelates as other Men of Holy Church Universities Colleges Bishops Earls Vicounts Barons Knights Commonalties and Inhabitants of Cities and Good Towns be turned to keep and uphold by evil Information and rash Advice the Opinion of our Adversary the French King We pardon them that their Trespass on Condition that these Letters once seen they return to Us or within a Month after And We desire all our Loyal and True Friends to continue still in the state they now are that as concerning their Faith and Homage they incurr no Reproach the which thing would greatly displease Us and we should see it very unwillingly And if against our Dear Son the Prince or against any of his Men they make any lawfull Complaint that in any thing they are grieved and oppressed or have been in time past We shall cause them to have amends so as of reason it may suffice to the intent to nourish Peace Love Concord and Unity between Us and those of the Marches and Limitations aforesaid And to the end that all Men should be satisfied of the Truth of the Premises We will that every Man take and have a Copy of these Presents the which We have solemnly sworn to keep and maintain upon the Body of our Lord JESVS CHRIST there being present our Right Dear Son John Duke of Lancaster William Earl of Salisbury the Earl of Warwick the Earl of Hereford Walter of Manny the Lord Percy the Lord Neville the Lord Bourchier the Lord Stafford Richard of Pemburge Roger Beauchamp Guy Brian the Lord Mohun the Lord de la Warre Allan Boxhull and Richard Sterry Knights Given at our Palace of Westminster in the Fourty Fourth Year of our Reign the fifth Day of November These Letters were sent from the King of England into the Principality and Dutchy of Aquitain and notified and published all about And Copies thereof were secretly convey'd to
Wickliff Greeting Directing our Eyes to the honesly of your Life and laudable Conversation and Knowledge of the Learning wherewith the Most High hath endued your Person who are Master of Arts and having great Confidence in your Fidelity Circumspection and Industry We set you over our Hall of Canterbury lately by Vs founded at Oxford as Warden thereof and do by these Presents commit unto you the Care and Administration belonging to the Wardenship thereof according to our Appointment in this Part reserving unto our selves the Receiving of your Corporal Oath to be by you made unto Vs and due in this Part. Dated at Magfield Vto Idûs Decemb. An o Dom. MCCCLXV And from hence it appears that Wickliff did not obtain this Place by any Ill means as some have said thô it is to be believed that when by this Archbishops Successor he was afterwards ejected no good Arts were used for as then g Anton. Wood Antiq. Oâ—ond 14. 183. nothing in the World was laid to his Charge but that he was a Secular which sure he that set him there first knew as well as they But whereas h Histor Monast D. Albani Fox Acts Mâ—n p. 392. An o ult Ed. 3. he is accused for that as an Hypocrite he resorted much to the Orders of Begging Fryars frequenting their Company and extolling the Perfection of their Poverty this must seem absolutely false and inconsistent to any who hath but once heard of i Eâ—tat in Bibliothâ—câ Publ. Aâ—adem Cantabr Fig. 19.10.13 that Notable Treatise of his now Extant which he wrote particularly against the Mendicant Fryars containing 50 Chapters However this is certain that his Tenets were not received by the Generality of the Clergy in those Days For he affirm'd sundry Doctrines very disagreeable to the Genius of that Age as k Fox Walsing Knighton Oder Rainald Antiq. Britan. p. 258. c. That the Pope had no more Power to Excommunicate any Man than another Priest That if it be given by any Person unto the Pope to Excommunicate yet to absolve the same is as much in the power of another Priest as in his He affirm'd also That the Temporal Power might and ought to take away from the Clergy what the Piety of former Times had bestowed upon them if they shall be found to abuse the said Goods or to approve themselves unworthy thereof and that he proved to have been heretofore practised in England by King William Rufus which thing said Wickliff if he did lawfully why may not the same be done now If unlawfully then doth not the Church err in Praying for him As for the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist he proved against the Fryars who held the contrary Opinion l Wickliffe's Treatise against the Fryars c. 16. p. 33. That the Accidents of Bread remained not without the Subject or Substance i. e. that the Body of Christ is present not without the Bread. He m Speed l. 9. c. 13. §. 118. p. 610. also stoutly asserted the Regal Supremacy against Papal Vsurpation he wrote against the Mass Transubstantiation Merit Adoration of the Host of Saints Images and Reliques and against Pilgrimages and Indulgences He likewise held That the n Odor Rainal ad hunc ann §. 5 Walsing hist p. 188. p. 205 Knighton p. 2648. Roman Church was no more the Head of all Churches than any other Church That no more Power was given to St. Peter than to any other Apostle and that the Pope of Rome had no more Power of the Keys of the Church than any Other who was in Priestly Orders That the Scriptures were sufficient for Salvation and that all other Rules of Saints under the Observation whereof there are divers Religious Orders do add no more Perfection to the Gospel than Washing a Wall over with Lime doth make the Wall more perfect As for his Arguments they may be seen at large o Fox Acts Monum Johan Hus Opera Walsing hist p. 200 ad p. 209. Hist Monast D. Albani Knighton p. 2644. Nicol. Harpsseldius in Histor Wickliffiana Holinsh p. 998. in Mr. Fox his Acts and Monuments and more of his Opinions may be consulted in the Authors quoted in the Margin thô it is to be given as a Caution that they all vary one from another both as to the Number Order and Sense of the Articles VI. It is said that he was supported and upheld in these his Opinions by King Edward himself but this is certain that John of Gaunt the Great Duke of Lancaster and Entitled King of Castille and Leon who had now the chief Government of the Realm during his Father's Weakness was an Open Favourer and Patron of John Wickliff and his Doctrine But at the same time his Opinions were so distastfull to the Clergy that now there p Fox Acts Mon. ex Histor Mon. D. Albani Nic. Harpsseldus in Hist Wickliff c. 5. p. 683. came forth from Simon Sudbury Archbishop of Canterbury a Process and Order of Citation for the Author to be brought before the Spiritual Court the Time and Place being formally assigned When the Duke of Lancaster heard that his Client Wickliff was to appear before the Bishops fearing that he being single might be overcome by the Number of his Adversaries he took unto him Four Batchelors of Divinity of Good Learning and Skill in the Scriptures to joyn them with Wickliff for his surer Support On the Day appointed q D. Lit. Dom. Pascha 29 Martii which was Thursday the Nineteenth of February Dr. John Wickliff being accompanied with the Four Batchelors in Divinity aforesaid and also his Mighty Patron the Duke of Lancaster going along with him for the greater Honour and Countenance of his Cause went toward the Church of St. Paul in London the Lord Henry Percy High Marshal of England going before to make way for his Lord the Duke and the Doctor And all the way as they went Wickliffes Friends animated him all they could and bad him not fear nor shrink or be daunted at the presence of the Bishops who said they are all Vnlearned in respect of You And that he should not dread the unusual Concourse or Clamors of the People for they themselves would assist and defend him so that he should receive no harm With these Words of the Duke and other Nobles with him Wickliff being much encouraged came to St. Pauls where there was such a vast Throng of People that the Duke and the Lords with him could hardly pass thrô the Church for all the Lord Marshal made way with his Officers When William Courtney Bishop of London saw the stirr that the Marshal and his Men made in the Church among the People he said unto the Lord Percy that if he had known before how he would have plaid the Master in his Church he would have hindred him from coming thither At which Words of the Bishop the Duke disdaining extreamly answer'd him