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27, 1307.

Parliament, that divers of the King's subjects had opposed CHAP. and resisted them, in virtue of those prohibitions. Upon II. which occasion the prohibitions were enforced in a writ Dated June directed to the Pope's collector William Testa, whereby he was commanded and strictly inhibited, the any ways attempting by himself or any others, any thing that might be to the hurt of the royal dignity, or to the damage of the peers or people of this realm. But before the King could see this prohibition executed, he died, and nothing Jan. 25, further was done.

1326.

23. Men who were so far lost to all shame, as to complain to the Parliament of the people observing their laws, one may well conceive ready to attempt any thing, so that we need not wonder at these grievances growing worse and worse. Accordingly we find it represented in the Parliament, that met 25 Edward III. that these grievances A. D. 1350. and mischiefs did then daily abound, to the great damage and destruction of all the realm of England, more than ever were before. But now in this reign of King Henry VI. the Popes were so far gone in their encroachments, that whereas before they granted to aliens and Cardinals only rich benefices and dignities in cathedrals, now they granted English bishoprics to foreigners in commendam. Thus one Lewis Lushborough, Archbishop of Roan, was provided by the Pope to the bishopric of Ely, by way of A. D. 1438. commendam. This indeed the Archbishop of Canterbury complained of to the Bishops and Clergy in convocation, as an invidious thing and of ill example, and what might prove to the great loss and detriment of the Church of England; but to no manner of purpose, for the Archbishop held this bishopric till his death, which was a little more than five years after the temporalities of it were assigned to him.

24. When the "exaction of annates or the first fruits Duaren. de Beneficiis, " Statuerunt ut quoties aliquem virum ecclesiasticum quacunque foret lib. vi. c. 3. dignitate vel conditione ex ista luce migrare contingeret, aut suum cum altero quovis qualecunque beneficium permutare, totiens * omnis proventus primi anni secuturi certam ad summam, suo arbitratu, taxatos, sua memorata camera

* dimidium annui pro

ventus.

II.

CHAP. of benefices was first invented, is not so certain as to admit of any dispute: some ascribing the imposition of this tax to Pope John XXIII. others to Pope Boniface IX. about the year 1400. But that it could not be so lately introduced is very plain from the several complaints of the great grievance of it, made by our Parliaments from the year 1350 and afterwards, fifty years before this time. This was an arbitrary tax, the sum to be paid being fixed or settled by the mere will and pleasure of the Pope, or the officers of his Chamber: so that though it was pretended to be only the first year's fruits of the bishopric, or half a year's profits of any lesser benefice worth above twentyfour nobles a year, it sometimes proved to be the fruits of three or four years; for let what accidents would happen, as loss of the crop, &c. the sum appointed by the Chamber was to be raised. It is fairly owned by one of the Pope's y collectors of this tax in England, that of all the projects

acciperet. Quod si illam fortassis summam annua fructuum collectio, aut ex diminutione fructuum, aut alia calamitate conficere non posset, triennali vel quandoque quadriennali fructuum exactione ad summam ipsam pertingi voluerunt. Nic. de Clemangis de cor. Ecclesiæ Statu.

Onus illud Annatarum ab initio omnes generatim populi subire minus recusarunt extra Anglos qui suis minoribus sacerdotiis, quando ea Pontifex dabat, id servitutis imponendum non censuerunt. Nam Pontifex Romanus minorum quoque sacerdotiorum aliarum gentium quæ ipse confert, dimidiam capit vectigalium unius anni partem, si pluries viginti quatuor aureis æstimentur. Pol. Vergil de Invent. lib. viii. cap. 2.

x S. Thomas nullos solvit primos fructus seu annata Papæ Romano, quod nullus episcopus in tempore S. Thomæ solvit primos fructus Papæ nec antea. Postea tamen in tempore Papæ Romani, Johannis XXII. primi fructus sive annata Papæ solvi cœperunt, ex cupida ordinatione Papa Johannis XXII. et sibi adhærentium in curia Romana. Et sic inolevit in Anglia consuetudo quod consensus Papæ Romani et ejus cameræ, et consensus Regis in Anglia, et certa millia pecuniarum constituunt episcopum quemcunque jam in Anglia, ut sit episcopus. Gascoigne, Dict. Theol. MS.

y Nullum inventum majores Romano Pontifici cumulavit opes quam annatum (quas vocant) usus, qui omnino multo antiquior est quam recentiores quidam scriptores suspicantur. Et annates, more suo, appellant primos fructus unius anni sacerdotii vacantis, aut dimidiam eorum partem. Sane hoc vectigal jampridem cum Romanus Pontifex non habuerit tot possessiones, quot nunc habet, et eum oportuerit, pro dignitate, pro officio, multos magnosque facere sumptus, paulatim impositum fuit sacerdotiis vacantibus quæ ille conferret, de

II.

Edw. III. 4,

invented by the Court of Rome for augmenting its reve- CHAP. nues, this was the most gainful one; and, that though it was by little and little imposed, that so it might insensibly, as it were, take place, (for when the Pope first of all pretended to dispose of vacant benefices by his mandates of provision, this tax seems not to have been demanded,) yet it was often protested against, and complained of as a great grievance, but to no purpose. Here in England we find remonstrances made against this imposition from Rome, by several Parliaments, who call it an unheard of 25, 47, 51, thing, a damnable custom newly introduced, and represent 6, Rich. II. it as the occasion of a great part of the treasure of this 6 Hen. IV. realm being carried to the court of Rome, and of impoverishing the several Archbishops and Bishops. In the address of the Lords and Commons, on which the first of these acts is grounded, made in less than twenty years after this tax is said to have been first imposed, it is complained, that the Pope had then newly set forth the hardest explanations of the collection of this tax, and which were very prejudicial to the King and kingdom, and the whole Church of England.

MS. c. 5.

25. Of this grievance Dr. Wiclif very loudly com- Of Prelates, plained; he said "it was symony to serve the Pope in such

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a strange travail and country, and give him gold for his lead, and the first fruits for gift of a church. When "(saith he) a lord hath the gold for presenting, the gold “ dwelleth still in our land; but when the Pope hath the "first fruits, the gold goeth out and cometh never again.” And then he proceeds to shew the malice and cursedness of symony. Nor was he singular in this opinion of his.

qua quidem re, ut gravi,,sæpe reclamatum fuisse testatur Henricus Hostiencis qui cum Alexandro IV. Pontifice vixit, sic ut Franciscus Zabarellus tradit, post hæc in concilio Viennensi (quod Clemens V. indixit qui factus est Pontifex anno salutis humanæ 1305) agitatum fuisse ut, eo deposito annatum onere, vigesima pars vectigalium sacerdotalium penderetur quotannis Romano Pontifici, et id quidem frustra. Quare Pontifex annatas in sua nassa retinuit, ut ne indidem exire possent. Polydore Vergil de Invent. Rerum, lib. viii. cap. 2.

z Nec satis perspicio ut se excusare possint hoc modo promoti a Pontifice, quominus in canonum pœnam incurrant, et tanquam vitio creati, ut veteres

II.

Beneficiis,

CHAP. We are told that it is the opinion of almost all Divines and Canonists, that the Pope is equally obliged with other Duaren. de Bishops by the law of a symoniacal ambitus, if he takes any lib. iv. c. 3. money for disposing of the sacred ministries of the Church: and, that by the Council of Basil, this kind of tax was * Depriva- condemned, and the pain of simoniacal ambitus decreed tion is the against those who this way come at the sacred ministries penalty of simony. of the Church.

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*

26. Our Bishop, in his defence of himself and the other Bishops thus promoted by the Pope, seems to have been misled by the prevailing opinion of this time; that the Pope, as universal Pastor, had a right to the fruits of all the ecclesiastical benefices in the Christian Church. For thus his Lordship is said to have preached at Paul's Cross, "that b Bishops paying to the Pope before they are admit"ted to be Bishops 5000 marks, or a greater sum, are not guilty of sin on this account, because by this payment they do not give any thing to the Pope, but only make a tender to him of what is his own, as a bailiff or stew"ard does, when he accounts or reckons with his lord." By this it should seem as if it was then generally thought, Consilium that the Pope had a right to all the benefices of the Cardinali Church, and might in the disposal of them reserve to himself what he thought fit of the profits of them, without bedanda Ec- ing guilty of symony, since, as rightful lord of them, he sold only that which was his own: and indeed so far was the power or authority claimed by the Popes, of providing

delectorum

um, &c.

de emen

clesia.

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loquebantur, dignitatem, honoremque, ecclesiasticum amittant, siquis ad priscæ institutionis normam potius, quam receptæ consuetudinis, hæc exigere velit. Duaren. de Beneficiis, lib. vi. c. 3.

a Hic autem ambitus vulgo simoniacus dicitur a Simone, quodam apostolorum contemporaneo, qui mirificam illam divinamque vim ac potestatem Spiritus Sancti gratiam infundendi per manuum impositionem, quam habebant Apostoli, ab ipsis emere et mercari voluit. Ibid. cap. 2.

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b Item prædicavit Londoniis ad crucem S. Pauli, quod episcopi solventes Papæ Romano, antequam per Papam admittantur, ut sint episcopi, quinque millia marcarum seu majorem summam non peccant in hoc, nec hæc solvendo Papæ aliquid dant Papæ, ut ipse dicit, sed tum tribuunt Papæ quod Papæ est, sicut tribuit aliquis Ballivus suo domino. Gascoigne, Dict. Theol. MS.

с

II.

persons to bishoprics and other dignities, when they should CHAP. become void, by degrees established in this weak and troublesome reign, that the Popes seem to have acted in this matter with little or no opposition, application being generally made to them, as if they were the undoubted rightful patrons. Insomuch that, as it has been hinted before, Gascoigne tells us it was commonly said, that three things made a man a Bishop in England: 1. the will of the King; 2. the will of the Pope; and, 3. a round sum of money paid into the Pope's Chamber at Rome.

28. Whatever were the effects of this complaint of our Bishop's preaching, it is plain it did not discourage his Lordship from proceeding in his endeavours to vindicate the Bishops and Clergy of the established Church, and to reconcile the dissenting Lollards to it, by causing them to have a better opinion of their discipline and governance. Of this I shall give an account in the next chapter.

-Per provisionem factam Romæ in diebus meis facti sunt plures episcopi, et abbates et decani sine electione quacunque, excepta electione Papæ, quæ vocatur provisio. Gascoigne, Dict. Theol. MS.

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