gratifie Stephen Langton his great Enemy he granted the Patronage of the Bishoprick of Rochester to him and his Successors and to the Bishop of Ely he granted the Patronage of the Abbey of Torney Mr. Prynne who kept the Records of the Tower tells us that upon strictest search he could find no payment of the foresaid Annuity or Oblation to Pope Innocent by King John himself who granted it but only for one year before hand when he sealed his Charter who dying about three years after during which time his Kingdom was infested with Civil Wars between him and his Barons invaded by Lewis of France who was made King by the Barons in his stead his Lands Rents seized his Treasure exhausted and the People every where miserably plundered it is probable that there neither was nor could be expected any other punctual payment of it The Pope and his Legat Nicholas having in a manner bereaved King John of his Regal Dignity and Authority began forthwith to play Rex they usurped the Sovereign Authority both in Church and State presenting to all Bishopricks Abbies Spiritual promotions and Benefices Mâ—â—th Paris Hâ—st Anglic. p. 237 238. then void without the Patrons consent by way of Provision and Collation to the prejudice of the Crown and enthralling of the Church of England not vouchsafing to consult either with the King himself the Archbishop or Bishops concerning their disposal This was the very original of Pope's Provisions and disposals of Bishopricks Abbies with all sorts of Spiritual promotions and Benefices in England no Pope presuming to confer any Bishoprick Benefice or Prebendary in France or England Vsque ad tempora Domini Innocentii â—ertii qui primus assumpsit sibi jus istud in tempore suo as the French Agent remonstrated to Pope Innocent the Fourth These Provisions soon overflowed the Church of England and France too for many succeeding Ages notwithstanding all oppositions and complaints against them Which the Archbishop and Bishops foreseeing perceiving withall the Legat more ready to gratifie the King and his Clerks in the disposal of Bishopricks and Ecclesiastical preferments than themselves meeting together at Dunstaple drew up an Appeal against his proceedings which he slighting and sending to Rome by Pandulphus together with King John's Charter so highly magnified the King and made such complaints to the Pope against the Archbishop and Bishops as frustrated their Appeal King John having satisfied and secured the damages of the Exiled Bishops and Monks before the Interdict released according to his agreement other Abbots Priors Clergy-men and Lay-men repaired to the Legat craving full satisfaction also for their damages sustained by the King's proceedings during the Interdict though never insisted on before The King issued out two Writs on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Lincoln to restore them to the possession of their Temporalties in the Cinque-ports and other places Yet on the contrary all the Bishops and Clergy-men who saithfully adhered to the King and communicated with him or any other excommunicated person or received any Benefices from them during the Interdict were by these Prelates now made their Judges and Pope's censures ordered to be suspended from all their Ecclesiastical Offices Benefices Preferments and ordered to appear personally at Rome before the Pope to be examined â—re their Suspensions released except only such as had given satisfaction to the Church for this offence The turbulent Archbishop stirred up the Barons to a new Insurrection against the King about their Liberties who coming all to the King after Christmas Anno 1215. demanded the confirmation of their Charter who craved time to advise thereon till after Easter the Archbishop and two more becoming his Sureties that then he should give satisfaction to all of them The Barons against the time rather preparing themselves for a Battel than Conference with the King assembled together at Stamford with a mighty Army having Archbishop Stephen their principal Abettor who yet seemed to side with the King and was most assiduous about him The Barons marching as far as Brackley the King sent the Archbishp to treat with them who brought back a Schedule of their claimed Liberties with this Message That if he presently confirmed them not to them by his Charter they would force him to it by seizing all his Castles and Provisions Whereupon the King replied Why do they not also demand the Kingdom swearing never to enslave himself to such a concession The Archbishop returning with this peremptory Answer the Barons forthwith seized Bedford-Castle and were admitted into London the Citizens siding with them Whereupon the King appointed to treat with them at Running-mead whither the Barons came with armed multitudes from all parts of the Realm where after some parley the King granted them their desires not only for their Liberties specified in Magna Charta and Charta Forrestae which he then sealed and by his Writs commanded to be put in due execution but also that twenty five Peers elected by them to whom all were sworn to obey should force the King to observe these Charters if ever he receded from them by seizing all his Castles Juratum est a parte Regis Quod Anglicana Ecclesia libera sit c. It was sworn on the Kings part that the Church of England is free and all men of our Kingdom have and do hold all the foresaid Liberties Rights and Customs well and peaceably freely and quietly fully and wholly to themselves and their Heirs c. All the Barons and Commons of the Realm then and afterwards taking the same Oath The Archbishop and Barons thrust into this new Charter many Articles and Clauses for their own the Churches and Pope's advantage not extant in the Charter of King Henry the First as may be seen in Matthew Paris his History This Charter though it saved a great part of the King's Prerogative to petition him and his Heirs for Licenses to elect and for his Assent gave a great wound to his Ecclesiastical Supremacy and made all Chapters Covents Bishops Monks yea Popes and their Agents to slight his Regal Authority and Licenses too insomuch that he could prefer no person to any Bishoprick Monastery or elective Dignity but whom the Electors pleased to make choice of King John withdrawing and obscuring himself from his Bishops and Barons in the Isle of Wight sent Messengers secretly to Rome to complain and appeal to the Pope against their Treasons Rebellions and the Charters forcibly extorâ—ed from him whilst under the Pope's protection who thereupon vacated the Charters Then the Archbishop to demonstrate his gratitude to King John for the Patronage and Royalty of the Bishoprick of Rochester newly conferred on him and his Successors delivered up Rochester Castle with all the Ammunition therein to the Barons King John after three months siege took it by force out of the Barons hands who proceeding in their Rebellions against the King the Pope excommunicated them The Pope's Agents
nâ—n vacet Crux placet Rotunditas placet totum placet Et cum it a placeat Romanis placet Vbi munus loquitur lex omnis tacet Cum ad Papam veneris habe pro constanti Non est bonus Pâ—upâ—ri soli favet dâ—â—i Et si munus praestitum non sit aliquanti Respondet hic tibi sic non est mihi tanti Papa quaerit Chartula quaerit Bulla quaerit Pâ—rta quaerit Cardinal quaerit Cursor quaerit Sed si dares omnibus at uni deerit Totum mare salsum est tota causa perit About that time Nigellus Vireker a Learned Monk at Canterbury wrote a Book De abusu rerum Ecclesiae and sent it to William Bishop of Ely Chancellor of England In this Book he not onely rebuked him but all Teachers under the Pope's Tyranny because they committed the Cure of Souls unto Children Belly-gods and despisers of the Sacred Word Henry the third of that name succeeded his Father King John being about ten years old and was Crowned at Glocester by a part of the Nobility and Clergy upon the perswasion of William Earl Mareshall Earl of Pembrook a Nobleman of great Authority the rest siding with the French Lewis within little more than a twelve Moneth he recovered the entire possession of his Kingdom In Whitsun-week the Pope's Legate encouraged the King's Army to fight the French King's Forces at Lincoln and after a sharp conflict they routed the Barons and Lewis's Forces slew and took many of them Prisoners with the loss onely of three Men and took the City of Lincoln with all the Treasure and baggage of the Enemy The King's Ships watching the French Fleet at Sea transporting Souldiers and supplies unto Lewis took Eustachius a Monk their Admiral Prisoner whose Head the King's Brother Richard cut off with his Sword despising the great sum of Money which he proffered for his Ransom Soon after which defeats by Land and Sea both Parties had a conference at Stanes and came to an Agreement Septemb. 3. and Lewis shamefully departed this Realm But notwithstanding this Agreement with the Barons yet the Pope's Legate exempted all the Bishops Abbots and Clergy out of this Act of pacification for their contempt of the Pope's Authority that he might dispose of their Ecclesiastical promotions and Benefices to his Instruments and put them to excessive fines at the present to fill the Pope's and his own Coffers This Legate Gualo did bear chief sway in the King's Council and the 〈◊〉 Anno 1. â—â— â— m. 21. â—â—â— 1. â—â— 3. m. 16. â—ntus King sealed some Letters Patents Sigillis venerabilium Patrum Domini Gualonis Sancti Martini Presbyteri Cardinalis Apostolicae sedis Legati Domini Petri Wintoniensis Episcopi and sent them abroad under their Seals in the first year of his Reign because as yet he had no Seal The Canons of Carlisle contemning both the Pope's and his Legates Authority and Censures contumaciously celebrating Divine Service and Sacraments notwithstanding their Interdicts adhering and Swearing Fealty to the King of Scots King Henrie's and the Pope's declared enemy yea electing an interdicted Clerk for their Bishop against the King's and Legate's Wills and dividing the Revenues of the Bishoprick among themselves The King's Council thereupon sent an Epistle to Pope Honorius the third who succeeded Innocent the third that year in the King's name totally to remove these Schismatical Canons and place Prebends in their rooms to augment the Bishop's Revenues which were small and displace the intruded Bishop Upon which Letter the Pope ordered Gualo his Legate by the King 's Royal assent to constitute Hugh Abbot of Beaulieu Bishop of Carlisle In the second year of King Henry III. the Archbishop of Dublin in Ireland and other Bishops there Usurping upon the King's Crown and Temporal Courts presumed to hold pleas in their Courts Christian of Lay fee whereupon there issuing Prohibitions from the King's Court to stay these Suits they proceeded contemptuously notwithstanding upon which there issued out a Writ of Attachment against them to appear before the chief Justice of Ireland to answer the contempt In the third year of King Henry the third the Bishoprick of Leismore united formerly to the Bishoprick of Waterford by the Pope's Legate in Ireland while the Bishop was in England at the Consecration of the Bishop of Carlisle Macrobius a Canon of Leismore procuring an election from the rest of the Canons pretending the See to be then void obtained the Legate's and King 's Royal assent to the Election and Restitution of the Temporalties whereof the Bishop of Waterford complaining to the King the King nulled that election and commanded the Bishop to be put in possession of his Temporalties The Bishop of Ely going into France after Lewis his return thither reported King Henry to be dead and laboured to stir up a new War against him whereupon the King wrote to the Pope to deprive him and bestow his Bishoprick by provision upon some other in which Letter the King acknowledgeth the Pope's great favours and assistance to him during his Infancy puts himself and his Realms under the protection of his wings and by way of Complement stiles them the Patrimony of the Church of Rome to gain the Pope's readier protection and assistance in his Suits and Wars In the fourth year of his Reign King Henry taking notice of diverse Usurpations upon the right of his Crown in Ireland by Covents Deanes and Chapters electing Abbots and Bishops as they became void and the chief Justices approving them without his Privity License or Royal assent he issued out a Writ to his chief Justice of Ireland to reform and prevent this dangerous Usurpation for the future This year the Earl of Albemarle refusing to deliver up to the King some of his Castles and Lands committed to his custody for which he was Excommunicated by the Bishop of Norwich and the Pope's Legate thereupon the King issued out a prohibition to all his Barons and Subjects in Lancashire and five Counties more not to Aid him or his complices but to avoid them as Excommunicated Persons till they had submitted to the King Ecclesiastical Censures were then commonly inflicted in that Age for Temporal Offences and Rebellions to reduce Men to obedience to the King as well as to the Church and Pope At last the Earl came to the King under the conduct of Walter Archbishop of York and by the mediation of Pandulphus the Legate was reconciled to him Anno Domini 1221. The King being under the Wardship of Peter Bishop of Winchester was on Whitsunday Crowned the second time at Winchester by Stephen Archbishop of Canterbury Soon after which there being a difference concerning the Bishoprick of Ely between Galfridus de Burgo Archdeacon of Norwich and Robert of York the Pope at last nulled both their Elections and conferred the Bishoprick upon John Abbot of Fontain who was Consecrated at Westminster The same year and day Hugh Bishop
against him and likewise to the King against this oppression desiring his favour that no Process might issue out of his Court against them and that he might constitute Attorneys in this Case since he could not come into England without great damage to his house The King this year constituted a special Proctor for three years by Patent to defend the Rights and Liberties of his free Chappels and Crown against all Papal and Episcopal invaders and opposers of them The King seizing the Advousons of several Churches in Wales as forfeited by their Patrons Rebellions against him gave them to the Bishop of St. David's with power to appropriate them to his Church of St. David's and Lekadeken Lancaden and make or annex them to Prebendaries there Hereupon the Bishop of St. Davids by his Charter with consent and approbation of the King and his Dean and Chapter made and erected a new Collegiate Church of Canons in Lan Caden in Wales constituted several Canons and Prebendaries therein annexing and appropriating the forecited Churches thereunto the Patronages whereof were granted him by the King who set his Seal to the Bishop's Charter and ratified it with his own Charter to make it valid in Law In the year 1285. a Parliament at Westminster laid down the limits and fixed the boundaries betwixt the Spiritual and Temporal jurisdictions The King having totally subdued the Welsh the Archbishoprick of York becomming void by the death of William Wickwane Archbishop thereof the King applied the profits thereof during the vacancy towards the building of Castles in Wales to secure it This year Stephen Bishop of Waterford was made chief Justice of Ireland In the fifteenth year of this King Henry de Branceston was elected and confirmed Bishop of Sarum The King granted and confirmed to the Bishop of Bangor and his Successors all the Rights Liberties Possessions and Customes they had formerly used and enjoyed In the sixteenth year of this King's Reign Gilbert de Sancto Leofardo was elected and confirmed Bishop of Chichester by the King 's Royal assent This year there was a great contest between the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Abbot of St. Augustines about the carrying up his cross First The Abbot opposed the bearing up his own Cross before him in the Monastery of St. Augustines even within his own Metropolis and See of Canterbury when specially sent for thither to dine with the King Secondly Observe the Archbishop's pride and obstinacy in refusing to subscribe such a Letter as the King directed to reconcile this difference and preserve the Abbot's Privildges or repair to the King without his Cross carried before him together with his malice against the Abbot and Covent for not admitting him to carry up his Cross within their Monastery Bishop Godwin observes That from the year 1284. the See of Salisbury Pat. 17. 〈◊〉 had five Bishops within the space of five years whereof William de Corner as he stiles him was the fourth But Mr. William de Corner was his name as the King 's Writ for restoring of his Temporalties together with the Patent of the King 's Royal assent to his election assure us The King having Conquered Wales confirmed all the antient Rights Liberties Possessions and Customes of the Church of Asaph to the present Bishop and his Successors which they formerly used and enjoyed and that he might freely make his Testament Pope Nicholas the fourth being setled in his Pontifical Chair in the first year of his Papacy sent a Bull to King Edward the first to demand five years Arrears of the Annual pension of one thousand Marks granted by King John The King hereupon the better to promote his cousin Charles to the Realm of Sicâ—ly and expedite his own affairs in the Court of Rome concerning a dispensation for his Son to Marry the heir of the Crown of Scotland and other business touching Gascoign and France for which he had then sent special Ambassadors to Rome with Letters both to the Pope and Cardinals issued a Writ for the payment of these five years Arrears accordingly Mr. Prynne saith That this was the last payment made by King Edward the first of this Annual pension The Pope upon receipt hereof granted a dispensation to the King's Son Prince Edward to Marry with the heir of the Crown of Scotland thereby to unite these two Crowns and Kingdomes and prevent the long bloody Wars between them though within the prohibited degrees of Consanguinity King Edward upon the receipt of this Dispensation sent Letters and Proxies to Ericus King of Norway and likewise to the Guardians of the Realm of Scotland to consummate this Marriage upon diverse Articles and agreements King Edward likewise to perfect the Marriage between his Son Prince Edward and Margaret Queen of Scots with the general approbation of the Keepers Nobles and Natives of that Realm granted and ratified to the Nobles and People of Scotland diverse Articles agreed on by special Commissioners sent on both sides and approved by him by Letters under his great Seal which he took an Oath to observe under the penalty of forfeiting one hundred thousand pounds to the Church of Rome towards the holy Wars and subjecting himself to the Pope's Pat. 8. Edw. 1. m. 8. Excommunication and his Kingdom to an Interdict in case of Violation or Non-performance as the Patent attesteth enrolled both in French and Latine The King after this appointed the Bishop of Durham to be this Queen Margaret's and his Son Prince Edward's Lieutennant in Scotland for the preservation of the Peace and Government thereof At which time he and his Son likewise constituted Proctors to Treat with the King of Norway in his and his Son Edward's Name concerning his Sons Marriage and Espousals with his Daughter Margaret Queen of Scotland To facilitate this Marriage the Bishop of Durham at the King's request obliged himself to pay four hundred pounds by the year to certain persons in Norway to discharge which annuity the King granted him several Manors amounting to a greater value But the sickness and death of this Queen in her voyage toward Scotland and England frustrated this much desired Marriage between Prince Edward and her and raised new questions between the Competitors for the Crown Thomas Walsingham saith That about this time the Pope requiring it the Churches of England were taxed according to their true value to raise his Dismes and exactions higher In the same year 1290. the King our of his zeal to Christian Religion The Jews banished out of England by Act of Parliament banished all the Jews out of England by a publick Act in Parliament and Confiscated all their Houses and Lands for their Infidelity Blasphemy Crucifying of Children in contempt of Christ Crucified and clipping of his Coyn. In August they were commanded to depart the Land with their Wives and Children between that time and the Feast of all Saints with their moveable Goods Their number was said to be sixteen thousand five hundred
and eleven they were banished never to return again into England There hapning many contests between the Bishop of Lincoln and the Masters and Scholars of the University of Oxford concerning the Presentation and Confirmation of their Chancellor whether he ought to come out of the University in Person to the Bishop or to be admitted by his Proxies the King by his Prerogative to advance Learning and settle Peace between them made a friendly accord for the future Pope Nicholas preferring his own lucre and favour of King Edward and his Chaplains before God's Service or Peoples Souls against sundry Canons Licensed twenty of the King's Clerks imployed in his service which he should nominate to be Non-residents from their Ecclesiastical Benefices for ten years space This year the King confirmed the grant of several Tithes Churches and Advousons formerly made by Robert de Candos to the Monastery of Bâ—k and Goldclive Then Peter de Divion Abbot of Rewley an Alien born in France and most Abbots and Priors that were Aliens took an Oath and gave sufficient Pledges for their Fidelity and true Allegeance to the King in that Age especially in time of War and not to send the Goods of their Monasteries out of the Realm which they frequently did to the Kingdoms prejudice The King issuing a Dedimus potestatem to the Abbot of Thame to take this Oath of Peter de Divion the Abbot endorsed this return thereon Ego Frater Johannes Abbas de Thame virtute istius Mandati recepi Sacramentum Dom. Petri de Divione Abbatis de Regali loco juxta Oxon. apud Oxon. Dominica in festo Apostolorum Simonis Judae etiam recepi Manucaptores ipsius Domini Petri Abbatis de Regali loco viz. Johannem de Doclynton Majorem Villae Oxon. Johannem de Crokesford Juniorem Ricardum Cary Johannem de Fallee Johannem le Peyntour Burgensis dictae Villae Oxon. Qui conjunctim divisim manuceperunt dictum Dom. Petrum Abbatem de Regali loco quod idem Abbas bene fideliter erga dominum Regem se habebit omnia alia in Brevi isto contenta perficiet observabit The King granted two hundred pounds to the Pope's Chaplain in Scotland for his expences pains and labour therein taken in the service of Queen Margaret deceased The same year William de Luda was elected and confirmed Bishop of Ely This year the King gave several sums of Money to buy Books and Ornaments for Religious Houses that were burnt in Gascoign and England The King converted the Profits of the Archbishoprick of York then void to the repairing and building the Castle of Carnarvan in Wales after his Conquest thereof Matthew Parker Archbishop of Canterbury storieth that John Parker de Antiqu Eccle. Anglic. f. 205. Anno 1290. Peckham Archbishop of Canterbury this year after the visitation and subjugation of his whole Province summoned a Council of his Clergy at Reding wherein he propounded the drawing of all causes concerning Advousons meerly belonging to the King 's Temporal to their Ecclesiastical Courts and to cut off all Prohibitions to them from the King's Courts in personal Causes Which the King hearing of expresly commanded them by special Messengers to desist from it whereupon this Council was dissolved In the nineteenth year of King Edward the First Queen Eleanor deceasing in December the King thereupon out of his devotion according to the practice of that blind Age on January the fourth issued a Writ to all the Religious Houses and Monks of Cluny in England to sing Masses and Prayers for her Soul to purge it from all the remaining spots of sin and to certifie him the number of the Masses they would say for her that proportionably he might thank them William Thorn saith that the Prior of Christ-church in Canterbury granted to the King in the Feast of the Translation of St. Edward fifty Hymns and two thousand three hundred and fifty Masses for the Souls of his Progenitors and Queens of England as a great extraordinary Liberality and Spiritual Alms. The Abbot of Condam also sent a Letter to the King to inform him what Prayers Masses and Anniversaries He and his Monastery had ordered for the Queens speedy translation to Heavenly Joyes Anno 1292. died John Peckham Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope Nicholas also died who sate four years one month and eighteen dayes after whose death one delivered this Verse for an Epitaph Gloria laus speculum fratrum Nicolae Minorum Te vivente vigent te moriente cadunt The Frier Minors pride insolency and avarice was great while they lived who were both of their Order Archbishop Peckham's death this year put a period to the Contests between him and the Abbot of St. Augustines King Edward in the twentieth year of his Reign out of his blind devotion and love to his late deceased Consort Queen Eleanor instituted a solemn Anniversary to be kept for her every year issuing sums of Money and granting several Manors and Lands to the Abbot and Covent of Westminster for that end wherein he prescribed how many Tapers Claus 20. Edw. 1. and of what weight they should find how many and what Masses Dirges Pater-nosters Ave-Maries they should sing and what Alms they should distribute to the poor for her Soul obliging the Abbot Prior and Monks by a solemn Oath duly to perform the same under pain of forfeiting all their Goods Chattels and the Lands thus given to them for this end Anthony Bishop of Durham erecting the Parish-Churches of Chester and Langechester which were very rich and large into a Deanary and seven Prebendaries for the advancing of God's Service and the good of the peoples Souls and obliging the Dean and Prebends by Oath to personal Residence thereon and discharge of their duties and God's Service therein according as he had prescribed by his Ordinances and Charters The King to promote God's Service and the good of his Peoples Souls ratified the Bishop's Ordinances by two Charters which recite them warranting the division of great and rich Parishes and Bishopricks into many and obliging the Dean Prebends Ministers Chaplains thereof by Oath to personal Residence and discharge of their Duties and Divine offices therein John Lythgraines and Alice his Wife erecting a Chappel and Chauntry to the Virgin Mary in their Manor of Lasingby consisting of one Master and six Chaplains to sing Mass for their Souls and the Souls of their Ancestors and of King Edward and his Heirs of the present Bishop of Durham and his Successors and of all faithful Souls deceased prescribing an Oath to them of perpetual Residence and discharge of the particular Divine Services and trusts reposed in them procured the King to ratifie this his Charter by his Royal Charter enrolled in the 〈◊〉 20 Ed. â—â— 5. Tower King Edward the First in the twenty one year of his Reign as Superiour Lord of Scotland in that Age exercised a Soveraign Authority in and over the King Clergy
and Kingdom of Scotland in Causes and Inheritances which concerned the Church Clergy or Religious Persons as well as in Secular mens cases notwithstanding any Pretences or Appeals to Rome where Justice was delayed or refused to them by the King of Scots whereof there are sundry Presidents in the Patent and Plea-Rolls of Scotland in this and succeeding years Robert Winchelsey Archbishop of Canterbury was no sooner consecrated at Rome but he procured a Bull from Pope Celestine the Fifth by Vid. Godw. Cataâ—â— â— â—27 his Papal provision to confer the Bishoprick of Landaff which had been void for nine years space and thereby devolved to the Pope by lapse as he pretended on any Person he should think meet for that employment Whereupon without the King 's previous Authority he conferred it by way of provision upon John de Monmouth Yet the King was not forward to restore the Temporalties of the Archbishoprick of Canterbury to this Archbishop oâ— of Landaff to John de Monmouth thus intruded into it against his Prerogative but detained them near two years after in his hands as vacant receiving the profits and presenting to the Benefices belonging to them Upon the death of Robert Burnel Bishop of Bath and Wells the King's Chancellor William de Marchia then Treasurer of England was elected to succeed him in that Bishoprick This year John de Langton succeeded Robert Burnel in the Chancellors Office of England The King in the twenty two year of his Reign notwithstanding a Matth. Wâ—sâ—m Subsidy granted to him wanting Moneys searched all the Monasteries and Churches throughout England where any Moneys were deposited by Religious persons or others and forcibly carried it away to supply his occasions by the advice of his Treasurer William de Marchia Bishop of Bath and Wells The same year the King granted Protections to divers Abbots and Clergy-men who aided him with their Contributions against the French He also desired the assistance of their devout Prayers unto God for a blessing upon him and his Military Forces in defence of his Inheritance against their armed Powers as appears by his Writs under his Privy Seal issued to his Bishops and other Religious persons John Duke of Brabant the King 's dear Friend and Kinsman dying this year the King issued Writs to all his Bishops and sundry Abbots and Priors to make Prayers and chaunt Masses for him according to the superstition of that Age. Then the Roman See through the Cardinals divisions continuing void about three years and three months after the decease of Pope Nicholas the Fourth the Cardinals at last elected Peter de Murone an Hermite and Monk of the Order of St. Benedict whom they named Celestine the Fifth He during his short continuance in the Papacy granted our King Edward the First a Disme for seven years from all the Clergy of England out of zeal to the relief of the Holy Land But his Wars with the French Welch-men and Scots wasted all these Dismes Pope Celestine in the month of September created twelve Cardinals among whom were two Hermits But the Cardinals being weary of this precise reforming Pope perswaded him to resign his Papacy as being unfit to manage it without the Churches ruine and his own destruction So after he had sate five months and seven dayes he resigned the Papacy Then Benedict Cajetan his grand Counsellor was chosen Pope and called by the name of Boniface How unsutable yea contradictory his actions were to both his good names he immediately discovered which occasioned this Distich to be made of and applied to him Audi tace lege bene dic bene fac Benedicte Aut haec perverte male dic male fac Maledicte Celestine returned to his Cell from whence Boniface drew him forth and cast him into a close Prison where he abode till his death whence it is reported that Celestine prophecied of him Ascendisti ut Vulpes Regnabis ut Leo Morieris ut Canis Thou hast ascended into the Papacy like a Fox thou shalt reign like a Lion and die like a Dog and so it came to pass This Pope Boniface by his Bull having appropriated the Church of Wermington to the Abby of Peterburgh whereof they had the Patronage the King authorized them accordingly to appropriate it to them and their Successors against him and his Heirs notwithstanding the Statute of Mortmain This Pope sent two Cardinal Legats a latere first to the King of France and from him to the King of England then engaged in Wars against each other under a specious pretext of mediating a Truce between England and France but instead thereof these Cardinals did twice prey upon the English and Irish Churches and Clergy and transported their Treasure into France to enrich themselves and the King's Enemies there Then King Edward sent Writs to his Archbishops Bishops Abbots and others to make Prayers sing Masses and do other Works of Piety for the Soul of his Brother Edmond and after that of Margaret Queen of France according to the superstition of that Age. In the twenty fourth year of King Edward's Reign there arose a great Tâ—o Walsingh Hist Angl â— â—4 Sedition and Combat between the Scholars and Townsmen in the University of Oxford wherein many were slain on both sides and the Goods of the Scholars plundered and carried away upon complaint whereof to the King by the Scholars he sent his Justices thither to punish the Malefactors and repair the Scholars damages King Edward strenuously opposed Pope Boniface's Anti-monarchical Constitution against demanding or imposing Subsidies on the Clergy Robert Winchelsey Archbishop of Canterbury was stout in the prosecution of the Popes Bull which he had procured for it for which all his Tempoporalties were seized and he being forced to hide his head and reduced to great extremities was restored to the King's favour by the earnest mediation of his Suffragan Bishops on his behalf Whereupon the King issued out Writs to restore his Temporalties with all his Oxen Goods and Chattels formerly seized in the state now they were In the twenty fifth year of this King's Reign Henry de Newark being elected Archbishop of York and his election approved by the King his Proctors sent to Rome procured the Pope's confirmation of his election together with a License to be consecrated in his own Church at York by the Bishop of Durham The King upon the receipt of the Pope's Bull issued a Writ for the restitution of his Temporalties Pope Boniface having confirmed the election of David Martyn to the Bishoprick of St. Davids in Wales the King upon notice given accepted thereof The Bishoprick of Ely becoming void by the death of William Luda the minor part of the Chapter elected John their Prior but the better John de Langten the King's Chancellor The King confirmed the election of his Chancellor The King by his Prerogative having granted a License to the Bishop of Anno Reg. 26. Coventry and Lichfield to hold the Hospital of St.
Death as variously construed Life and Death To kill King Edward you need not to fear it is good Life To kill King Edward you need not to fear it is good Death To kill King Edward you need not to fear it is good The Body of King Edward without any Funeral Pomp was buried among the Benedictines in their Abbey at Glocester Edward of Windsor called King Edward the Third being scarce fifteen years of age took the beginning of his Reign on January the twentieth his Throne was established upon his Fathers ruine Upon Candlemas-day Anno 132â— he received the Order of Knighthood by the hands of the Earl of Lancaster while his deposed Father lived and within five dayes after he was Crowned at Westminster by Walter Archbishop of Canterbury Twelve men were appointed to manage the Affairs of the Kingdom during the King's minority the Archbishop's of Canterbury and York the Bishops of Winchester Hereford and Worcester Thomas Brotherton Earl Marshal Edmond Earl of Kent John Earl Warren Thomas Lord Wake Henry Lord Piercy Oliver Lord Ingham and John Lord Ross but the Queen and Roger Lord Mortimer usurped this charge Adam Tarlton was accused of Treason in the beginning of the Reign of this King and arraigned by the King's Officers when in the presence of the King he thus boldly uttered himself My Lord the King with all due respect unto your Majesty I Adam an humble Minister and Member of the Church of God and a consecrated Bishop though unworthy neither can nor ought to answer unto so hard Questions without the connivance and consent of my Lord Archbishop of Canterbury my immediate Judge under the Pope and without the consent of other Bishops who are my Peers Three Archbishops were there present in the place Canterbury York and Dublin by whose Intercession Tarlton escaped at that time Not long after he was arraigned again at the King's Bench whereupon the foresaid Archbishops set up their Crosses and with ten Bishops more attended with a numerous Train of well-weaponed Servants advanced to the place of Judicature The King's Officers frighted at the sight fled away leaving Bishop Tarlton the prisoner alone at the Bar whom the Archbishops took home into their own custody denouncing a Curse upon all such who should presume to lay violent hands upon him The King offended hereat caused a jury of Lay-men to be impannelled and to enquire according to form of Law into the Actions of the Bishop of Hereford This was the first time that ever Lay-men passed their verdict upon a Clergy-man These Jurors found the Bishop guilty whereupon the King seized his Temporalties proscribed the the Bishop and despoiled him of all his moveables But afterwards he was reconciled to the King and by the Pope made Bishop of Winchester where he died The former part of this King's Reign affordeth but little Church-history as wholly taken up with his Atchievements in France and Scotland where his success by Sea and Land was to admiration He had both the Kings he fought against viz. John de Valois of France and David King of Scotland his prisoners at one time taken by fair Fight in open Field There was granted to the King of England for these Wars a Fifteenth of the Temporalty a Twelfth of Cities and Boroughs and a Tenth of the Clergy in a Parliament holden at London And afterwards in a Parliament at Northampton there was granted him a Tenth peny of Towns and Boroughs a Fifteenth of others and a Tenth of the Clergy All such Treasure as was committed to Churches throughout England for the holy War was taken out for the King's use in this The next year after all the Goods of three Orders of Monks Lombards Cluniacks and Cicestercians are likewise seized into the King's hands and the like Subsidy as before granted at Nottingham Now the Cavrsines or Lombards did not drive so full a trade as before whereupon they betook themselves to other Merchandise and began to store England with Forreign Commodities but at unreasonable rates whilst England it self had as yet but little and bad Shipping and those less employed About this time the Clergy were very bountiful in contributing to the King's necessities in proportion to their Benefices Hereupon a Survay was exactly taken of all their Glebeland and the same fairly Fuller Church History engrossed in Parchment was returned into the Exchequer where it remaineth at this day and is the most useful Record for Clergy-men and also for Impropriators as under their claim to recover their right It was now complained of as a grand grievance that the Clergy engrâ—ssed all places of Judicature in the Land Nothing was left to Lay-men but either Military commands as General Admiral c. or such Judges places as concerned onely the very letter of the Common Law and those also scarcely reserved to the Students thereof As for Ambassies into Forreign parts Noblemen were employed therein when Expence not Experience was required thereunto and Ceremony the substance of the Service otherwise when any difficulty in Civil Law then Clergy-men were ever entertained The Lord Chancellor was ever a Bishop yea that Court generally appeared as a Synod of Divines where the Clerks were Clerks as generally in Orders The same was also true of the Lord Treasurer and Barons of the Exchequer Robert Eglesfield Chaplain to Queen Philippa Wiâ—e to King Edward the third founded a Colledge on his own ground in Oxford by the name of Queens Colledge and diverse Queens have been nursing Mothers to this Foundation as Queen Philippa Wife to King Edward the third Queen Elizabeth Wife to King Edward the fourth Queen Mary Wife to King Charles and our Virgin Queen Elizabeth In the mean time the Pope bestirred him in England while the King was busied about his Wars in France so that before Livings were actually void he pre-provided Incumbents for them But at last the King looking into it this Statute of Provision was made whereby such forestalling of Livings to Forreigners was forbidden Another cause of the King's displeasure with the Pope was that when the Pope created twelve Cardinals at the request of the King of France he denied to make one at the desire of the King of England The Papal party notwithstanding this Law of Provision strugled for a time till the King's Power overswayed them Indeed this grievance continued all this and most of the next King's Reign till the Statute of praemunire was made and afterward the Land was cleared from the encumbrance of such provisions Three years after the Statute against the Pope's Provisions was made the King presented unto the Pope Thomas Hatlif to be Bishop of Durham one who was the King's Secretary but one void of all other Epâ—scopal qualifications However the Pope confirmed him and being demanded why he consented to the preferment of so worthless a person he answered that rebus sic stantibus if the King of England 〈◊〉 presented an Ass unto him he would have confirmed him
the Dutch Chronicle is to begg to take of every man and to do nothing again for it They lye dissemble and beguile the people with flattering words under the pretence of long prayer William Duke of Aquitain and Count of Lectavia invented or rather renued the Order of the Augustine Friars which had been before long decayed This William first dwelt in the Wilderness with his Brethren chastised his flesh and subdued it with a coat of male on his bare Body Praying VVatching and Fasting night and day so that he was called a Father and Restorer of that Order Thus much for the four principal sorts of Fâ—iers The following Orders were but additional Descants upon the former with some variations of their Founders among whom were 1. THE Trinitarians for whom Robert Rooksley built first an house at Mottingden in Kent they were called also de Redemptione Captivorum whose work was to beg money of well-disposed people for the ransoming of Christians in captivity with the Pagans 2. The Crouched Friars who came over into England 1244. with the Pope's Authentick and this unusual priviledge that none should reprove their Order or upbraid them or command them under pain of excommunication Some say they carried a cross on their staves others on their backs called in French a Crouch the place of Crouched Friars in London still retaineth the Name 3. The Bonhomes or good men being also Eremites brought over into England by Richard Earl of Cornwal in the Reign of his Brother King Henry the Third so stiled because of their signal goodness These Bonhomes though begging Friars the poorest of Orders and Eremites the most sequestred of begging Friars had two and it is believed no more Covents in all England Monks onely excepted the one at Asheridge in Buckingham-shire now the mansion of the Right Honourable the Earl of Bridgewater it was valued at the dissolution yearly at four hundred forty seven pound eight shillings half-penny The other at Eddingdon in Wilt-shire the late habitation of the Lady Beauchamp valued when dissolved at five hundred twenty one pound twelve shillings half-penny In the year 1257. arose two new Orders both of them were fixed in Cambridge the first the brethren De paenitentia Jesu otherwise Fratres Saccati brethren of the Sack whose Cell is since turned into Peter-house Matthew Paris gives this account of them at their first coming into Englaâ—d Eodem tempore quidam novus ordo fratrum Londini apparuit incognitus Papale tanen autenticum palam ostendens ita ut tot ordinum confusio videretur qui quia saccis incedebant induti Fratres Saccati vocabantur It is most likely that this avaritious Pope Alexander instituted this new Order to help fill his bag and Sachel by these Fratres Saccati employed to promote his rapines and revenues as the Friars Minorites and Predicants were The other were the Bethlemites dwelling somewhere in Trompington-street and wearing a Star with five raies on their backs I will conclude with the Robertines who owe their original to one Robert Flower who had been twice Mayor of York who forsaking the fair Lands left him by his Father betook himself to a solitary life about the rocks in Nidsdale in York-shire and it seemeth at Knaresborough the first and last house was erected for his Order Of the Templars and Hospitallers THE Inner Temple and Middle Temple in London do now stand in the very place where in times past in the Reign of King Henry the Second Heraclius Patriarch of Jerusalem Consecrated a Church for Knights Templars which they had newly built according to the form of the Temple near unto the Sepulchre of our Lord at Jerusalem For at their first institution about the year of our Lord 1113. they dwelt in part of the Temple hard by the Sepulchre whereof they were so named they vowed Poverty Chastity and Obedience to defend Christian Religion the holy Land and Pilgrims going to visit the Lord's Sepulchre against all Mahâ—metans and Infidels whereupon all men most willingly and most cordially embraced them so that through the bounâ—eous liberality of Princes and devout people having gotten in all places very fair possessions and exceeding great wealth they flourished in great reputation for Piety and Devotion yea and in the opinion both of the holiness of the men and of the place King Henry 〈…〉 the Third and many Noble men desired much to be buried in their Church among them some of whose Images are there to be seen with their leggs across for so they were buried in that age That had taken upon them the Cross as they then termed it to serve in the holy Land or had vowed the same But in process of time when with unsatiable greediness they had hoorded up great wealth by withdrawing Tithes from Churches appropriating spiritual livings to themselves and other hard means from Almes-men they turned Lords and though very Valiant at the first for they were sworn rather to die than to fly afterward they grew lazy they laughed at the Rules of their first Institution as at the swadling-clothes of their Infancy neglecting the Patriarch at length partly their vitiousness and partly their wealth caused their final exâ—irpation Pope Clement having long so journed in France had received many Fullers Supplement of the Hist of the Holy War l. 5. c. 1. real Courtesies from King Philip the Fair At last Philip requested of the Pope all the Lands of the Knights Templars through France forfeited as was pretended by reason of their horrible Heresies and licentious living The Pope was willing to gratifie him in some good proportion for his favours received and therefore being thus long the King's Guest he gave him the Templars Lands and Goods to pay for his entertainment On a sudden all the Templars in France are clapt in prison damnable sins are laid to their charge and they most cruelly burned to death at a stake with James the Grand Master of their Order All Europe followed the Copy that France had set them Here in England King Edward the Second of that name suppressed the Order and put them to death So by vertue of a Writ sent from him to Sir John Wogan Lord Chief Justice in Ireland were they served there and such was the secrecy of the contâ—iâ—ance of the business that the storm fell upon them ere they were aware of it In England their possessions were by Authority of Parliament assigned to the Hospitaller-Knights of St. John of Jerusalem least that such Lands given to good and pious uses against the Donour's will should be given to other uses At the North-side of the City of London John Briset a rich and devout man built an House for the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem which in time grew so great that it resembled a Palace and had in it a very fair Church and a Tower-steeple raised to so great height with so fine workmanship that while it stood it was a singular beauty and ornament to