as Deacons and Curates in places appointed 2. Under this Name or Appellation of Bishops are contained Bishops Primates Metropolitans Patriarchs and Summus Pontifex Dist 21. c. 1. And the Presbyters also C. Legimus § 1. Dist 93. Spec. de Instr Edit Sect. 14. vers de Episcopo and for such commonly used and taken in the New Testament l. 14. c. de Episc Cler. In some Acts of Parliament we find the Bishop to be called Ordinary and so taken at the Common Law as having Ordinary Jurisdiction in Causes Ecclesiastical albeit in the Civil Law whence that word Ordinarius is taken it signifies any Judge authorized to take Cognizance of Causes proprio suo jure as he is a Magistrate and not by way of Deputation or Delegation The word Ordinary doth chiefly take place in a Bishop and other Superiours who alone are Universal in their Jurisdictions yet under this word are comprized also other Ordinaries viz. such as to whom Ordinary Jurisdiction doth of right belong whether by Priviledge or by Custome Lindw de Constit c. Exterior ver Ordinarii The Pallium Episcopale or Bishops Pall mentioned as Sr. Ed. Coke observes in some Statutes and many Records and Histories is a Hood of white Wool to be worn as Doctors Hoods upon the Shouldiers with Four Crosses woven into it c. for the Form and Colours whereof vid. Antiq. Brit. Eccles fo 1. This Pallium Episcopale is the Arms belonging to the See of Canterbury vid. Cassan de glo mun p. 4. fo 103. a. 26. Consid ubi multa Legas de Pallio Henry Dean the 65th Archbishop of Canterbury An. 1502. had Pallium Archiepiscopatus Insigne sent him from Pope Alexander 6. by his Secretary Adrian which by the Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry Authorized thereto by the Pope was presented him at Lambeth in these words viz. Ad honorem Dei Omnipotentis c. Tibi tradimus Pallium de Corpore beati Petri sumptum plenitudinem videlicet Pontificalis Officii c. whereupon he swore Canonical obedience to the Apostolical See of Rome 3. The Kings of England were Anciently the Founders of all the Archbishopricks and Bishopricks in this Realm and also in Wales the Bishops thereof were Originally of the Foundation of the Princes of Wales Bishops in England originally were Donative per traditionem Baculi Pastoralis Annuli until King John by his Charter granted that they should be Eligible Chart. 25. Jan. An. Reg. 17. De Commuâ—i Consensu Baronum after which came in the Congé d'Eslire And at this day the Bishopricks in Ireland are Donative Rolls 342. The Patronage of all Bishopricks is in the King so as that he gives leave to the Chapters to chuse them In Ancient times the King gave the Bishopricks and then afterwards gave leave to the Chapters to chuse them as aforesaid The learned Serjeant Roll in that part of his Abridgment touching this Subject makes mention of 1 E. 1. Rot. Clauso Memb. 11. in dorso where there is this Protestation made by the King Cum Ecclesia Cathedralis viduatur de jure debeat soleat de Consuetudine provideri per Electionem Canonicam ab ejusmodi potissimum Celebrandam Collegiis Capitulis personis ad quos jus pertinet petita tamen prius ab Illustri Rege Angliae super hoc Licentia obtenta demum Celebrata Electione persona Electa eidem Regi habeat Praesentari ut idem Rex contra personam ipsam possit proponere si quid rationabile habeat contra eum And the Protestation goes further That in case the Pope makes Provision without such Canonical Election the King shall not be obliged to give him his Temporalties yet of grace for the time present he give the Temporalties to the Abbot Elect of Canterbury Thus the Election of Bishops by Deans and Chapters began by the grant of the King but the Grant was to Elect after License first had and obtained as appears by the Stat. of 25 Ed. 3. Stat. de Provisoribus Rastal 325 d. And King John was the first that granted it by his Charter dated 15 Jan. An. 16. William Rufus K. after the Archbishop of Canterbury's death kept the See without an Archbishop for the space of four years and then assum'd divers other Ecclesiastical Promotions into his own hands that were then vacant putting to Sale divers Rights and Revenues of the Church But King H. 1. made a Law against Reservations of Ecclesiastical Possessions upon Vacancies In the time of Edward the Confessor the Prelates used to receive Investitute from the King by giving them the Pastoral Staff and a Ring And so it was used in the time of H. 1. but Suffragans were invested only by the Ring without the Staff for that they are not Bishops so fully and compleatly as the other 4. To the Creation of Bishops are requisite Election Confirmation Consecration and Investiture Upon the vavancy of a See the King grants his License under his Great Seal to the Dean and Chapter of such vacant Cathedral to proceed to an Election of such a person as by his Letters Missive he shall nominate and appoint to succeed in such vacant Archbishoprick or Bishoprick which Election must be within twenty days next after their receiving such License or Letters Missive upon failure whereof they run the danger of a Praemunire Or if above twelve days after their receipt thereof the Election be deferr'd the King may by his Letters Patent nominate or present to such vacant Bishoprick to the Archbishop or Metropolitan of that Province wherein such See is void or unto one Archbishop and two other Bishops or to four such Bishops as his Majesty shall think fit in case upon such Nomination or Presentment by the King the default of Election by the Dean and Chapter be to the Office and Dignity of a Bishop Otherwise if they Elect according to his Majesties pleasure in his Letters Missive the Election is good and upon their Certificate thereof unto his Majesty under their Common Seal the person so Elected is reputed and called Lord Bishop Elect yet is he not thereby compleat Bishop to all intents and purposes for as yet he hath not Potestationem Jurisdictionis neque Ordinis nor can have the same untill his Confirmation and Consecration for which Reason it is that if after such Election and before Consecration a Writ of Right be brought in the Court of a Mannor belonging to such Bishoprick it is not directed Episcopo but Ballivis of the Bishop Elect. The order of making a Bishop consists chiefly in these Eight things viz. 1. Nomination 2. Congé d'Eslire 3. Election 4. Royal Assent 5. Confirmation 6. Creation 7. Consecration 8. Installation Vid. Grendon's Case in Plowd Trin. 17 Jac. B. R. Sobrean Teige vers Kevan Roll. Rep. par 2. The Creation of a Bishop is in this Solemn
Church so erected is by the Consecration thereof actually delivered up and made over as it were to God himself it thenceforth ceases to be of any mans property or of any Human Dominion for Quod Divini Juris est id nullius est in bonis § nullius Inst de Rer. Divis And by what is Recorded in the Life of Bishop Vlrick it should seem as if the Right of Presentation originally were in the Diocesan for the Author there saith That if any Erected a Church the Bishop consented Si legitimam Ecclesiae dotem in manum ejus Celsitudinis dare non differret c. And after the Endowment and Consecration thereof the care of the Altar was committed by him to the Priest and the Advowson firmly conveyed to the lawful Heir by the putting on a Robe Author vitae Udalrici c. 7. p. 52. Edit August Vindel. 1595. But the Bishops understanding this as a matter more of Care than of Power as appears by these moderate expressions of Nominare Praesentare or Commendare they were willing the Lay-Patron for his better encouragement to such Pious works should share with them in this priviledge which Panormitan calls Jus â—onorificum yet so as that this transference of the Bishops unto Lay-Patrons should still remain under such a Limitation as that it should be necessary for the Patron to have recourse to the Bishop for the qualifying his Clerk for the Rectory by Ordination And the Bishop's prudent compliance with Lay-Patrons in this matter was not in those days without good reason if we consider what a paucity of publick Churches there then were insomuch that for want or instead thereof they frequently then said Prayers under a Cross in the open Field as is reported of our own Ancestors in the Peregrination of Wilibald Sic mos est Saxonicae gentis c. non Ecclesiam sed Sanctae Crucis Signum c. diurnae Orationis sedulitatem solent habere Hodaeperic Hierosolym Wilibald Extat ad Canisium Tom. 4. Antiq. Lect. par 2. pag. 486. Edit Ingolst 1603. Yea and where perhaps some Churches were many of them were no better than those mentioned by Asser Bishop of Shirburne in King Alured's daies which were of so mean a structure that frequently the wind entering per parietum rimulas did blow out the Candles set before the Reliques which gave occasion to that ingenious Prince to teach us by his dexterity the mystery of making Lanthorns Ex Lignis Bovinis Cornibus 4. In the Infancy of the Christian Faith in this Island under the Saxons several particular Lords of Grand Seignories Regis ad Exemplum erected particular Churches and having Endowed them with Lands reserved to themselves and their Successors for ever a right and power to confer them on such as were meetly qualified for the same And this they did in imitation of those Kings who then Reigning here erected Cathedrals Abbies Priories Churches c. 5. An Advowson being a right of Presentation as aforesaid reserved by a Founder to himself his Heirs and Successors is applicable to other Ecclesiastical Foundations as well as those of Churches as appears by the several Quare Impedits brought on several occasions so that albeit it hath been said that by the Grant of a Church the Advowson passed and when he gave the one he gave the other yet is the word Advowson not improperly applicable to any thing wherein a Quare Impedit will lie And he in whose Right such Presentation is rested is by the Provincial Constitutions of this Realm termed Advocatus Ecclesiae because as the Constitution hath it tueri defenders Ecclesiam ejus jura tenetur ad instar Advocati qui in Judicio Causam alicujus defendit Lindw Provin Const de Foro Comp. cap. Circumspecte ver Advocatus Which every Patron is obliged to do whence Patronus and Advocatus Ecclesiae are in effect Synonymous yet in Lindwood we have the Question put whether there be any difference inter Patronum Advocatum Ecclesiae Lindw Const Prov. de homicidio cap. Sacri Gloss ibid. Where though the prevailing opinion be for the Negative yet you will also there find very Orthodox Authority for the contrary and that Advocatus intelligitur non pro Patrono sed pro Defensore Ecclesiae Gloss ibid. as appears there by Lindwood that Famous Canonist totius Orbis Britannici who being Doctor of Laws Chaplain and Official to the Archbishop of Canterbury in the time of H. 5. was by reason of his great Experience and Abilities in National Laws as well as Provincial Constitutions sent as his Embassador to the Crowns of Spain and Portugal and at his Return about An. 1422. compiled what now is extant to his Immortal Memory and Dedicating the same to the said Archbishop it was after about An. 3505 being first revised by Wolfgangus Hopylius printed at Paris at the cost and charges of William Bretton Merchant of London Mention hereof is here made in regard of the plentiful use here made of this Eminent Author in this Ecclesiastical Abridgment and that rather in the midst of this Subject touching Advowsons as presuming that for the reason aforesaid a Quare Impedit will not lie in the case of this digression 6. The Right of Patronage is it seems by the Common Law a real Right fixed or vested in the Patron or Founder in the Church wherein he hath as absolute a property and Ownership as any man hath to his Lands and Tenements or any Freehold whatever And that the Advowson or Patrons Right to Present is a Temporal and not a Spiritual Inheritance For at the first Creation of a Mannor if Lands were given to erect a Church thereon the Advowson thereof became appendant to that Mannor and reputed as parcel thereof which being Temporal the other became so also as an Accessary to the Principal for which reason such an Advowson passeth by the Grant of the Mannor cum pertinentiis Yea it hath been adjudged That by the Grant of a Mannor without making any mention of the Advowson the Advowson also passed because it was parcel of and appendant to the Mannor And it hath been ever held That by the Common Law an Advowson is a Temporal Inheritance for that it lieth in Tenure and may be holden either of the King or of a Common person and hath been held of the King in Capite or in Knights Service And were a Quare Impedit hath been brought the Plaintiff hath counted that the Defendant held the Advowson of him by Homage and Fealty And it hath been agreed that an Advowson doth lie in Tenure and that the Lord may distrain in the Glebe-Lands for Rents and Services the Patron 's Cattel if any be there found upon the Land but not the Cattel of a Stranger 7. Other Reasons it seems there are at the Common Law which prove That an Advowson is a Temporal Inheritance for that a Writ of Right of
of Advowson of a Church he may only say that he was seized as of Fee and not in his Demesn as of Fee whether it be an Advowson in Gross or Appendant which Appendancy is held to be for the most part by Prescription and must relate to such things as are in their own nature of a perpetual continuance for which reason it is That Advowsons cannot be said to be Appendant to Rents Services and the like because such things are extinguishable And although an Advowson be not properly said to be a Demesn yet it may be Appendant to a Demesn as of Lands or things Corporeal and Perpetual and therefore as supposed not to a House of habitation meerly quatenus such yet to the Soyl whereon the House is erected whereby the Law which hath the clearest prospect of Casualties at a distance hath provided that the Advowson shall stand though the House fall but an Advowson Disappendant and in Gross which in man hath alone and not by reason of any other thing but severed from the Lands to which it was Appendant such an Advowson is exempt from divers prejudicial Incidents which the other viz. the Appendant cannot well avoid And where a Subject or Common person hath an Advowson Appendant to a Mannor and there be an Usurpation upon him by a Presentation made by a Stranger whose Clerk is in for Six months though this makes the Advowson of such Common person Disappendant to his Mannor yet it is otherwise in case of the King who may grant the Advowson notwithstanding such Usurpation for a man cannot put the King out of possession either by Presentation or Usurpation as hath been Adjudged Nor doth the King's Presentation by Lapse sever the Advowson from the Mannor or cause it to become disappendant as in Gawdy's Case against the Archbishop of Canterbury and Others was likewise Adjudged in which Case it was also said by Habard Chief Justice That neither doth a wrongful Collation of the Bishops make any Disappendancy nor any binding Plenarty against the true Patron but that he may not only bring his Quare Impedit when he please but also Present upon him seven years after Also whereas it was said before That an Advowson cannot be Appendant to things Extinguishable as to Rents Services and the like so it seems at the Common Law an Advowson in Possession cannot be Appendant to a Reversion expectant upon an Estate for life for the Case was The King seized of a Mannor with an Advowson Appendant granted the Mannor to J. S. for life and then granted the Mannor to J. D. after the death of J. S. Habendum una cum Advocatione and then by Parliament the King reciting both the Grants confirmed them by Parliament yet the Advowson passed not Finally whereas also it hath been Adjudged as aforesaid that the King cannot be put out of possession either by Presentation or Usurpation this seems to refer only as to the Kings Advowson and not as to his present Presentation for the Opinion of Sir H. Hobart Chief Justice is That although the King may be dispossessed of his present Presentation he cannot be so of his Advowson and therefore he may still grant it notwithstanding the Usurpation as was Judged in a Writ of Error upon a Judgment given to the contrary between the King and Campion for the Vicarage of Newton Valence 23. A Donative in the Kings Gift may be with Cure of Souls as the Church of the Tower of London is a Donative in the Kings Gift with Cure as in the Case of Fletcher and Mackaller where Information was brought upon the Stat. 31 Eliz. of Simony for procuring him to be promoted to the Church of the Tower for money and per Curiam it well lies 24. The Queen hath the Advowson of the Vicarage of H. and grants the Vicarage to J. S. It was the Opinion of all the Justices that the Advowson passeth not for that the Vicarage is another thing than the Advowson of the Vicarage The Queen seized of a Mannor to which an Advowson was appendant granted the Mannor cum Advocatione Ecclesiae the Church being then void It was Adjudged the Avoidance did not pass but the Queen should Present pro hac vice And in the Queen and Hussie's Case it was Resolved That a double Presentation would not put the Queen out of possession if she hath Right And in Stephens and Clarks Case it was Resolved That the Grant of the next Avoidance to one during the Avoidance is void in Law CHAP. XX. Of Appropriations 1. The great Antiquity of Appropriations a Conjecture of their Original whether Charles Martell was the occasion thereof they were prohibited in England anciently by the Pope whether they can be otherwise than by the King or some Authority derived from him 2. How the End and use of Appropriations is changed at this day from what it was in the Original Institution thereof 3. Appropriators why called Proprietarii The care of R. 2. in making Provision for thé Vicar in case of Appropriations Requisites of Law to make an Appropriation 4. A further discovery of the Original use and ends of Appropriations and under what qualifications 5. Whether Appropriations were anciently grantable to Nunneries 6. Appropriations not now to be questioned as to their Original 7. A Vicarage endowed may be Appropriated but not to a Parson 8. Three considerable Points of Law resolved by the Justices touching Appropriations 9. Whether an Advowson may be Appropriated without a Succession Appropriations usually were to Corporations or Persons Spiritual 10. How a Church Appropriate may be disappropriated 11. In Appropriations the Patron and his Successors are perpetual Parsons 12. Whether an Appropriation of a Parsonage without endowment of the Vicarage be good Also whether an Appropriation may be made without the Kings License 1. IT is a question at this day undecided Whether Princes or Popes were the first Authors of Appropriations the practice whereof by each of them is of great Antiquity but whether in imitation of Charles Martell's Sacrilegious President the first by whom Tithes were ever violated in the Christian World is but a Supposition rather than any Assertion among Historians It was long since Traditionally Recorded in History that about the year 650. when the said Charles Martell Father of Pipin after King of France in defence of his Country against the Hunnes Gothes and Vandals had slain no less than 34500 of those Infidel Sarazens in one Battel he did not restore to such of the Clergy of France their Tithes as from whom under a fair pretence of supporting the charges of the War thereby he had upon a Promise of Restitution thereof so soon as the War should cease obtained the same but instead thereof gratified such of the Nobility as had assisted him in the War by the grant thereof to them and their Heirs for ever But whether this Sacriledge if it be true had
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
and use thereof when Erected how Established and by whom Dissolved 1. ABba and Abbas have one and the same signification therefore Abbots are called Patres c. ult de Regular Tuseh Concl. 3. nu 7. It is either an Hebrew or Syriack word signifying Pater with the Greeks and Latins from the two first Hebrew Elements or Letters Aleph and Beth inverted which Name the Monks first assumed at their Original in Syria and Egypt And although now in this Kingdom we know no more of this word Abbot than the very Name thereof yet for his Antiquities sake he hath the Alphabetical precedence in the Index of this Abridgment whether he be Archimandrita Novel Const 115. or Coenobiarcha or Archimonachus Hottom in ver Feuda Marsil colum de Eccles redit c. 15. nu 5 6. whether Miter'd and thereby exempt from the Diocesan's Jurisdiction as having within their own Precincts Episcopal Authority in themselves and being Lords in Parliament whence called Abbots Sovereign 9 R. 2. c. 4. Or not Miter'd but subject to the Diocesan in all Spiritual Government c. Monasteria 18. q. 2. c. Abbas c. Visitandi cum 4. seq ibid. Omnes 16. q. 7. c. cum Venerabilis Extra de Relig. Dom. vid. Stow. Ann. p. 442. So called Abbas because he is Pater Monachorum Januen in suo Cathol glo Jo. Andr. de Rescript c. 1. verb. Abbates in Clem Coke de Jure Ecclesiast fo 28. and hath the chief government of a Religious House and who with the Monks makes a Covent of these Abbots together with two or three Priors there were heretofore in England about the number of Thirty in all What Consecration is to a Bishop that Benediction is to an Abbot but in divers respects for a Bishop is not properly such until Consecration but an Abbot being Elected and Confirmed is properly such before Benediction cap. de Suppl negl Prael lib. 1. 10. Clem. § Statuimus de Stat. Monach. in Clem. cap. Meminimus de Accusat 2. The Venerable Mr. Bede speaks of an Island in Ireland which ever had an Abbot vested with such power and authority that every Province yea and the Bishops themselves were under his Government and subject to his Jurisdiction Beda lib. 3. de Gestis cap. 3. Spelm. de Prim. Eccles Angl-Sax An. 603. The Emperour Justinian in the First Book of his Codes hath expresly ordained and prescribed the manner and form of the Election and Confirmation of an Abbot and what persons they ought to be and how qualified that shall be accounted worthy of that Ecclesiastical Dignity C. l. 1. tit 3. l. 47. l. 40. De Episc Cler. Novel 5. cap. 9. Novel 123. c. 34. Mr. Blount in his Nomo-Lexicon takes notice of the word Abbacy and saies it is the same to an Abbot as Bishoprick is a Bishop resembling it to the word Paternity and a very Ancient Record wherein that word is used An. 34 35 H. 8. c. 17 18. Sciant .... quod Ego Isabella Comitiss Penb. pro Salute Animae meae Dedi Deo Abbathiae de Nutteleg totam Wicham juxta dictam Abbathiam c. In these latter Ages the Abbots through the savour of Princes and their respect to the Church have been reputed as Peers and Secular Lords to whom the granted the Provenues of Abbacies proportionable to such Dignity for the support thereof Thus many of the Peers of France have very anciently and frequently been Abbots as appears by Paradine who wrote the Annals of Burgundy nigh Seven hundred years since and then affirmed that he had seen very Ancient Records wherein the Peers of France used these styles and distinctions viz. Duke and Abbot Earl and Abbot c. Guil. Paradin Annal. Burgund lib. 2. sub An. 1103. Prat. 3. Notwithstanding the ill opinion which in these daies not without cause is conceived of the Ancient Abbies yet it cannot without some breach of charity be well supposed but that such Houses commonly called Religious were in the primitive and true intent thereof better purposed by the Founders than after practised by their Inhabitants for by the Law made in the daies of K. Knute nu 6. i is evident what strict Devotion and blameless Conversation the Ancient Princes of this Realm expected from such as then possessed these Abbies The Law was this viz. We will that Gods Ministers the Bishops Abbots c. do in a special manner take a right course and live according to Rule that they call to Christ night and day much and oft and that they do it earnestly And we Command them that they hearken to God and love Chastity Full truly they wit that it is against the Right to meddle with Women for Lusts sake Annot. Ridl View c. cap. 4. Sect. 1. Whereby it seems these Spiritual Fathers were suspected of old to incline to the Flesh all daies of the week An Abbot might be Presented to a Church for he was capable of an Appropriation whereby he was perpetual Parson Imparsonee and had Curam Animarum 34 H. 6. 15. 4. The Abbot or the chief Head of Abbies being together with the Monks of the same House a Covent made a Corporation and was not by the Common Law further charged with his Predecessors Acts than for such things as were for the use of the House or such Acts as were done under the Common-Seal thereof And albeit a Creditor had a Specialty against a Monk yet not the Abbot but the Monk's Executors were chargeable for his Debt contracted before his entry into Religion unless it were for some such thing as came to the use of his House 5. Of these Abbots some were Elective others Presentative and under this Title were comprehended other Corporations Spiritual as Prior and his Covent Friers Canons and such like And as there were Lord-Abbots so there were also Lord-Priors who had exempt Jurisdiction and were Lords of Parliament Co. de Jur. Ecclesiast fo 28. a. It is supposed that the Abbot of St. Austins in Canterbury was the Ancientest of any in this Kigdom Founded by King Ethelbert in An. 602. And next to him in Antiquity the Abbot of Westminster Founded by Seabert King of the West-Saxons An. 604. Some difference there is among Authors touching their Number in this Realm whereof some reckon but Twenty six Sir Edw. Coke says they were Twenty seven Abbots and Two Priors But a very Modern Writer gives us a Catalogue of no less than Thirty three Abbots and Priors whereof some were Priors Alieâ—s born in France Governours of Religious Houses erected for Foreigners here in England suppressed by Henry the Fifth after his Conquests in France and their Revenues after given by Henry the Sixth to other Monasteries and Houses of Learning specially for the crecting of Kings Colledge in Cambridge and Eaton Stow Annals p. 582. 1 H. 5. c. 7. 6. Chaunter Cantator A Singer in the Quire At St. Davids