is certain that it was a very necessary, wholesome, and salutary measure. The study of the works of Roman annalists and historians puts it beyond all doubt or question, that whatever may be said in favor of their early beginnings, they eventually became, both in England and on the Continent, all that their enemies ever described them. Nor is the reason very hard to find. It was the inevitable and natural result of an unnatural state of things; and the supposed literary benefits, of which we at times hear such loud boasting, have been efficiently dealt with by a Roman writer of repute.31 20. The struggle too for supremacy meant national independence, and freedom from the most appalling despotism that ever afflicted the earth. We may be quite sure that the king would not and could not have succeeded, alone and single-handed, in shaking off the tyranny of the Curia, and in smiting down a power before which all Christendom had for so many centuries quailed, if he had not been supported by the might of public opinion and the justice of his cause; or, as Lord Herbert puts it, “much animated by the concurrence of his subjects in parliament, both spiritual and temporal.' 21. We, in the nineteenth century, can afford to smile at the revived pretensions made of a universal, though now, merely spiritual, monarchy; but in the middle ages the effect was very serious, and backed as it was by Papal anathemas and interdicts, and by the unknown terrors of the invisible world, and supported from time to time by the material forces, so constantly and skilfully made use of by the Popes to crush and overwhelm all opposition and enforce their claims, Rome succeeded at last in trampling on and destroying the liberties of conscience and of peoples, the freedom of senates, the independence of churches, and the rights of kings. Christendom existed for her alone, and had no rights independent of her will, which was, in fact, the universal law.3 33 31 Literary History of the Middle Ages, by the Rev. J. Berington. 32 Life, p. 245. 33 The student will find in the Decretum of Gratian, the collections of Goldasti, Regino, Burcardus, and Ivo, the editions of the Canon Law by Van 22. But the recognition of the Supremacy affected discipline only. For the doctrines of Rome were retained in their full strength, as is plain from the fact that, on February 25th, the prolocutor brought before the synod of Canterbury the errors in the will of William Tracy of Toddington. On the 23rd of March, the will was condemned as impious and heretical, and the executors were ordered to shew cause why the body should not be exhumed and deprived of Christian burial.34 By the direction of Parker, Chancellor of the Diocese of Worcester, the body was taken up and burned some two years after death. The will, apart from any other objections, had, it seems, omitted the usual clause recommending the testator's soul to the intercession of the saints.35 23. A.D. 1531. The Convocation of York agreed, on the 4th of May, to acknowledge the Supremacy, Tunstall formally protesting.36 It is important to notice the dates of the various acts passed both in Convocation and in Parliament "at this eventful period, in order to shew that the acts of our synods preceded, and did not follow, those of the imperial legis Espen and Pithou, the various European codes, the Ecclesiastical Histories of Dupin, Pollini, Natalis Alexander and Fleury, the Bulls of the Popes, the Concilia of Labbe and Wilkins, the Annals of Baronius, Bzovius, Raynaldus, and Spondanus, the Gesta of Pagius, the Lives of the Popes, by Platina, Palatio, and Guarnacci, the Letters of Innocent III. by Baluze, the collections of Canisius and Baluze, the works of Bellarmine, Simeoni, Orsi, Febronius, De Marca, Bossuet, Launoy, Gerson, the Regale of Lombardo, the Treatises of Ballerini, Segneri, and Soardi, and, as coming nearer home, the various writings of M. Paris, Sanders, Parsons, Stapleton, Pacenius, Carey, Cardinal Pole, King James, the Memoirs of Panzani, and the interesting History of Dodd, partly republished by Tierney, to say nothing of many others, much valuable information upon the rise and nature of the Roman claims and the resistance made to them, both in England and abroad. 34 For so it was and is still ordered by the Canon Law, for Rome wars, not only with the living, but the dead. Decret. Greg. IX. Dec. v. Tit. VII. § 8; Corp. Jur. Can. 11. 238, ed. Pithou. Provision, too, is expressly made that faith is in no wise to be kept with heretics or the excommunicate; Liberantur ab omni obligatione, qui haereticis tenebantur adstricti. See Dec. II. causa. XV. Q. VI. § 3—5; Corp. Jur. Can. I. p. 260, ed. id. 35 See App. F. 36 Wilkins, Conc. III. 745; Collier, Eccl. Hist. IV. 177. lature." 37 For it was not under Cranmer, but under "his unsuspected predecessor Warham," and by the formal, wellconsidered decrees of the clergy in Convocation, afterwards embodied in Acts of Parliament, that the usurped Papal supremacy was first abolished, and the king's, as representing the State, restored. In parliament many important statutes were passed, one of them being the act restraining the payment of annates to the Pope.38 24. A.D. 1532. The first thing done at the meeting of parliament, on January 15th, was to make a serious complaint against the clergy, and on the 18th of March to present it to the king. The articles were set forth in a book called "The Supplication," and were sent by the king to the primate, who presented them to the Convocation of Canterbury on April 12th. The clergy made two replies, one on behalf of the ordinaries, and another for the lower house.39 25. The king, misliking both the answers, and the further declaration, as being too artificial and ambiguous, gave a form to be delivered by Fox, his almoner, to Convocation for their assent and subscription.40 It ran thus:41 I. That no constitution or ordinance shall be hereafter, by the clergy, enacted, promulged, or put in execution, unless the king's highness do approve the same by his high authority and royal assent; and his advice and favor be also interponed for the execution of 37 Joyce, Eng. Synods, p. 338. 38 23 Hen. VIII. c. 20. The annates were the first year's income of every bishopric or living, which were paid to the Pope, vicarages not exceeding £10 and parsonages of not more than 10 marks being excepted. The Pope claimed them Jure Divino, and as the disposer and patron of all spiritual preferments; very large sums went to the Papal exchequer from this source, the bishoprics alone being rated at £30,000 in the Pope's book. 39 Not to be confounded with "the Supplication of Beggars," written by Fish. Dodd, Ch. Hist. I. p. 304; see Cobbett, Parl. Hist. I. 516; Collier, Eccl. Hist. iv. 184; Wake's State of the Church, p. 476; Wilkins, Conc. III. 748, 750, 2, 3. 40 Collier, Eccl. Hist. IV. 186-190; Wilkins, Conc. III. 753, 749. every such constitution to be made in time coming amongst his highness' subjects. 2. That whereas divers of the constitutions provincial, which have been heretofore enacted, be thought not only much prejudicial to the king's prerogative royal, but also much onerous to his highness' subjects, it be committed to the examination and judgment of thirty-two persons; whereof sixteen to be of the upper and nether house of the temporalty, and other sixteen of the clergy; all to be appointed by the king's highness; so that finally, whichsoever of the said constitutions shall be thought and determined by the most part of the said thirty-two persons worthy to be abrogated and annulled, the same to be afterwards taken away, and to be of no force and strength. 3. That all other of the said constitutions which stand with God's laws, and the king's, do stand in full strength and power, the king's highness' royal assent given to the same. 26. Convocation was perplexed at this message, and adjourned for three days, in order to consult with the Bishop of Rochester. The king, hearing of this, sent for the speaker of the House of Commons, and complained that the clergy were but half his subjects, pointing out the inconsistency of the oaths taken to the Pope with that of allegiance to him; and he desired the parliament to consider the matter and remove the inconsistency.42 27. Finally, on May 16th, Archbishop Warham carried up to the king the form of submission to which the upper house had agreed, and upon which the subsequent statute was founded. The lower house, having already passed a more comprehensive one, theirs was by consequence included in it, and their formal consent was needless.43 The submission was as follows: We, your most humble servants, daily orators, and beadsmen of your clergy of England, having one special trust and confidence in your most excellent wisdom, your princely goodness, and fervent 42 Cobbett, Parl. Hist. I. 519; Coll. IV. 190; and see new oath of clergy to the king. Wilkins, Conc. III. 755. 43 Collier, Eccl. Hist. IV. 195; Joyce, Eng. Synods, p. 346; Wilkins, Conc. III. 754. zeal to the promotion of God's honor and Christian religion, and also in your learning far exceeding, in our judgment, the learning of all other kings and princes that we read of, and doubting nothing but that the same shall still continue and daily increase in your majesty, 1. Do offer, and promise in verbo sacerdotii here unto your highness, submitting ourselves most humbly to the same, that we will never from henceforth enact, put in use, promulge, or execute any new canons or constitution provincial, or any other new ordinance, provincial or synodal, in our convocations or synod, in time coming, which convocation is, always hath been, and must be assembled only by your high commandment of writ; only your highness, by your royal assent, shall licence us to assemble our convocation, and to make, promulge, and execute such constitutions and ordinaments as shall be made in the same, and thereto give your royal assent and authority. 2. That whereas divers of the constitutions, ordinaments, and canons provincial or synodal which have been heretofore enacted, but thought to be not only much prejudicial to your prerogative royal, but also over much onerous to your highness' subjects, your clergy aforesaid is contented, if it may stand so with your highness' pleasure, that it be committed to the examination and judgment of your grace, and of thirty-two persons, whereof sixteen to be of the upper and nether house of the temporalty, and other sixteen of the clergy, all to be chosen and appointed by your most noble grace. So that finally, whichsoever of the said constitutions, ordinaments, or canons provincial or synodal shall be thought and determined by your grace, and by the most part of the said thirty-two persons, not to stand with God's laws and the laws of your realm, the same to be abrogated and taken away by your grace and the clergy. And such. of them as shall be seen by your grace and the most part of the said thirty-two persons to stand with God's laws and the laws of your realm, to stand in full strength and power, your grace's most royal assent and authority once impetrate fully given to the same. 28. To this submission the statute of the following year bound them. Parliament, which had re-assembled on April 10th, passed the important Act for "the Restraint of Appeals,"" of which we have lately heard so much. 44 24 Hen. VIII. c. 12. |