CHAP. IV. 50. As to the Bishop himself, he had not yet received his final sentence, but was mordered to be carried to Maidstone in Kent, where the Archbishop then was at his palace in that town, there to wait for and expect it. How long he continued here, before this sentence was pronounced, I do not find. But by the Archbishop's letters for inquiring after the Bishop's books, &c. which have been before recited, it appears that he was acknowledged Bishop of Chichester almost four months after his abjuration at Lambeth and Paul's Cross. However at length his definitive sentence was given, which was, that he Lyndwood, should be deprived of his bishopric. This was a part of Provin. p. the punishment of one condemned of heresy, or of being a 293, c. 1. fautor of it, that he should be incapable of holding any ec 286, c. 2. clesiastical benefice. But, it seems, such was the Bishop's interest at the court of Rome, that he had from thence bulls of restitution, by which the Archbishop was required to put him again in possession of his bishopric, of which he had now deprived him. The constitutions, on which the Bishop seems to have been tried, allow of persons being absolved from the greater excommunication on their publicly owning their fault; nay, do not require the sentence to be denounced in case they repent and abjure in the accustomed form of the Church. Now to this the Bishop had submitted. He had revoked his books and errors, and publicly abjured them, not only before the Archbishop sitting in court, but in a more public manner at Paul's Cross. It seems therefore to have been a stretch of the canonical sanctions to inflict the penalty of them on the Bishop, and deprive him of his bishopric, notwithstanding he had receded from his errors, and made a public abjuration of them. 51. But be this as it will, on the Bishop's procuring these bulls of the Pope to be restored to his bishopric, ap'plication was made by the Archbishop to the King, to whom it was represented as follows: That Reynold Pe m Postea Archiepiscopus Cantuar. Thomas Bourcher mandavit eum ad Maidston judicium expectaturum. Gascoigne, Dict. Theol. MS. IV. retici Pe e coll. R. R. 25 Edw. III. Stat. 6. cock, Minister of the see of Chichester, had been detected CHAP. and convicted of certain errors and heresies, and had abjured and taken his penance; that yet nevertheless he had Certificat. surreptitiously purchased and obtained from our holy Fa-supermandato regio ther the Pope certain bulls for his declaration and restitu- in causa hetion, contrary to the laws and statutes provisors, and to cock, MS. the great contempt and derogation of his Majesty's prero-Ep. Petrogative and estate royal. By these statutes it was recited, burg. that the Bishop of Rome did accroach to himself the seigniory of the possessions and benefices assigned to Archbishops, Bishops, &c. (in offence and destruction of the laws and rights of the realm, and to the great damage of the King's people, and in subversion of all the estate of his said realm,) and gave and granted them, as if he was thepatron or advowee of them; when as the kings, earls, barons, and other nobles, as lords and advowees, have had and ought to have the collation of such benefices. It was therefore enacted, that the said oppressions, &c. should not be suffered in any manner, and that in case of disturbance to patrons by provisions, the provisors, &c. shall be attached, and make fine and ransom to the King at his will, and before that they be delivered make full renunciation of all the words in the Pope's bull which are contrary or prejudicial to the King and to his crown, and find sufficient surety that they shall not attempt such things in time to come; and that they who have obtained, or shall obtain in the court of Rome, dignities, offices, chapels, or benefices of holy Church, pertaining to the gift, &c. of the King, or of other lay-patron of his realm, shall be arrested, and being convicted shall be punished as aforesaid. But now, to shew the partiality of this representation, it so happens, that not only the Archbishop, but two however of his assessors, viz. Kempe and Lowe, were all promoted by Papal provision. But this was no way reflected on as being to the great contempt and derogation of his Majesty's prerogative, &c. 52. On this representation made to him of the conduct IV. CHAP. of our Bishop, his Majesty issued out his royal mandate to the Bishop of St. Asaph, and to Robert Stillington", E Collect. Clerk, " to put them in their devoire to know and underWhite, Ep. «stand the effect and contents of the said bulls, and to Petrobur. "call to them such and as many most famous Doc"tors in Theology and Law, as they should think most ne66 cessary, and have this matter communed among them; "and thereupon to certify his Majesty by writing, articu"larly subscribed with their own names and signs ma"nual, of such direction maintainable by law, as he ought "to use, take, and write farther, &c." Which mandate is A. D. 1458. dated at St. Albans, the 17th day of September. 53. In obedience to this mandate the Bishop and Doctor called in to their assistance twenty Doctors of Divinity and Law, who all subscribed the certificate required, in which they certify his Majesty, that "it is considered and "thought by them all, that his Highness might take and use lawfully, godly, and meritoriously in this matter or "affair such directions, ways, and means, as be comprised "in the articles underwritten, viz. 54. "I. That his Highness should send an ambassador "to the Pope, who should represent to him the Bishop's "pernicious heresies, and the dangers accruing to the "Church from them; and should desire, that he would "cassate his bull of restitution, and appoint to the see a 66 pious and learned Bishop to be nominated by the King. "II. That since by the process and recantation of Pe"cock, they think he was infected with heresy long be"fore he was translated to the see of Chichester, that "translation was ipso facto null; and so it was lawful for n He was LL.D. and Fellow of All Souls College in Oxford; admitted Canon of Wells, August 2, 1445; Chancellor of Wells, June 6, 1447; Archdeacon of Taunton, April 20, 1450'; Canon of York, 1451; Dean of the free royal chapel of St. Martin le Grand, London, 1460; Keeper of the Privy Seal, 1461; Archdeacon of Colchester, 1462; was elected Bishop of Bath and Wells, and consecrated by George Nevil, Archbishop of York, in the chapel of his palace of Whitehall near Westminster, 1465; and was Lord Chancellor of England, 1468. IV. "the King, and expedient for the Church, that the pos- CHAP. "sessions of the see, which they call temporalities, “ should immediately be seized by the King, and detained 66 by him until a catholic successor be appointed." 55. This advice was, it seems, well taken; the King returned the deputies thanks for their labour and diligence, and commanded them to meet again, to certify him of the principal points of heresies, blasphemies, and detestable doctrines, that the said Reginold Pecock was convicted of; but what their return was, I have not yet found. 56. His Majesty likewise commissioned P John Derby and Gilbert Haydock, S. T. P. to repair to our Bishop, and tell him how " he had been addressed by many Prelates "and Doctors of the Church, to send ambassadors to the 66 Pope to remove him from the see of Chichester, as be"ing of late detected and convicted of certain great and "detestable crimes of heresy, the which intendeth to the "final subversion of the faith of Christ's Church, and to "the great infamy and jeopardy of the realm, without "that he be put from the said see, or else renounce his 66 present title that he hath in the said see, &c. and to no"tify to him in the King's name, that if he would resign, "the King would grant to him a competent pension; but "that if he forced his Majesty to send ambassadors to the "Pope, he would inflict on him the punishment imposed 66 on him with the utmost rigour." 57. Whether the Bishop, finding it not practicable to keep his bishopric, chose to resign, and to enjoy the benefit of the King's offer to allow him a competent pension, does not appear; but the Bishop's being sent to a monastery, and there put under a very strict confinement to do penance for his offences, with only an allowance of eleven, or, as some say, forty pounds to the abbey, for fitting up his apartment, and providing him a maintenance, looks • Temporalia vocant prædia illa et possessiones, quæ ex principum aliorumque liberalitate obvenerunt. Duareni de Benef. lib. ii. cap. 2. P He was prebendary of Hoxton, in St. Paul's church. N IV. CHAP. as if he persisted in his claim, and forced the King to send to Rome to get his bull of restitution revoked and casLe Neve's sated. However this be, John Arundel, M. D. was promoted to this see a few months after this, the temporalities being restored to him March 26, 1459. Fasti. proptercon vocata. W. 58. Our Bishop being thus deprived of his bishopric, Thorney was sent to the abbey of Thorney, in the isle of Thorney densitatem in Cambridgeshire, with the following instructions from dumorum the Archbishop of Canterbury to the Abbot, how he should Malmsbu be there treated; viz. 1. That he have a secret closed ry, lib. iv. chamber, with a chimney and an house of easement, and that he pass or go not out of the said chamber. 2. That he have but one person, that is serious and well-disposed, to make his bed and fire, as he shall have occasion; and that no one else speak to him without leave, and in the presence of the Abbot, unless the King or Archbishop send to the abbey any man with writing specially in that behalf. 3. That he have no books to look on, or to read in, but only a mass-book, a psalter, a legend, and a Bible. 4. That he have neither pen, ink, nor paper. 5. That he have competent fuel or firing according to his age. 6. That the first quarter after his coming into the abbey, he be contented to fare no better than a brother or Monk doth, only of the freytour, or to have the same commons as the Monks have in their common hall; but afterwards that he be served daily of meat and drink, as one of the Friars or Monks when he is excused from the freytour 9; and somewhat better afterwards, as his disposition, &c. shall require. For all which, and for fitting up this close apartment for the Bishop, the Abbot is ordered to have The freytour was that part of the abbey where the Monks or Friars used to eat and drink. Thus is it described in Pierce the Plowman's Creed: Thanne fer'd I into fraytoure, and fond there another, An hall for an hygh kynge an houshold to halden, With brode bordes abouten y benched well clene, With wyndowes of glass wrought as a chirche. Our Bishop was, after the first quarter, to eat as a sick or aged Monk used to be allowed, who was indulged eating in his cell or chamber, and not obliged to come into the common ball. |