was taken away, but the forbidding and restreinment of priestes vnlawfull mariage (which chiefely was the cause therof) remained stil. And thus euer since, horrible Sodomitry remayneth in the Clergy, both for lacke of mariage more vsed, and for lacke of publication, lesse punished.

Besides all these synodal actes aboue comprehended, and geuen out by Anselmus in his councels before: here also in this present councel at Westminster, and in the yeare of the king aforesayd, he also directed other newe Iniunctions to the priestes.

MarginaliaPenalties & forfaytes agaynst priests that kept their wiues.First, that they and their wyues shoulde neuer more meete in one house, neyther yet haue dwelling in theyr territories.

Item that priestes, deacons, and subdeacons, should kepe no women in their house, vnlesse they were of their next kynne.

Item, for such as had disseuered themselues from the society of their wiues: yet for some honest cause they had to common with them, they might: so it were without doore, and with. ij. or. iij. lawful wytnes.

MarginaliaIn the latter dayes shall come false teachers forbidding mariage, & eating of meates, &c.Item, if any of them shoulde be accused by twoo or thre wytnesses, and coulde not purge hym selfe agayne by sixe able men of his owne order (if he be a prieast, or if he be a Deacon, by. iiij. or if he be a Subdeacon by. ij) thē he should be iudged a transgressour of the statutes, depriued of his benefice, and be made infamous, or be put to open reproche of all men.

Item, he that rebelled, or in contempt of this newe statute helde styll his wyfe, and presumed to say Masse: vpon the. viij. day after (if he made not due satisfaction) should be solemnly excommunicated.

Item, all archdeacons and Deanes to be straightly sworne, not to wincke or dissemble at their meetinges, nor to beare with them for money. And if they woulde not be sworen to this, then to loose their offices wythout recouery.MarginaliaPurificatiō of priestes, that had been maried.

Item, such priestes as forsaking their wyues, were wyllyng to serue styll and remayne in their holy order: first must cease. xl. dayes from their ministration, setting Vicars for them in the meane tyme to serue: and taking such penance vpon thē, as by their bishop should be enioyned them.

Thus haue ye heard the tedious treatise of the lyfe and doinges of Anselmus: how supersticious in his religion, how stubburne agaynst hys prince he was, what occasion of warre and discord he ministred by his complayntes (if they had bene taken) what zeale w^tout right knowledge, what feruēcie w^tout cause he pretēded, what paines w^tout profit he tooke. Who if he had bestowed þ^t time & trauel in preaching Christ at home to his flock, which he tooke in gadding to Rome, to complayne of his countrey: in my mynde he had bene better occupied.MarginaliaK Henry permitted priests to haue both churches & wiues.
Ex epist. Ansel. 77. & 377. Moreouer what violent and tyrannicall iniunctions he set forth of inuesting & other things, ye haue heard: but specially agaynst the lawfull & godly mariage of priests. Wherin, what a vehement aduersary he was: here may appeare by these minutes or pieces extracted out of his letters, which we haue here annexed in forme and effecte as followeth.

AS concernyng priestes, of whom the kyng commaunded that they should haue both their churches and their women as they had in the tyme of his father & of Lancfrancus Archbishop: both because the kyng hath reuested and reseazed of the whole archbishopricke: and because so cursed a mariage was forbidden in a councel in the time of his father and of the said archbishop: MarginaliaPope Paschall hath so decreed it at Rome.
ergo priests must haue no wiues.Boldlye I commaund by the autoritie which I haue by myarchbishoprike, not onely within my archbishoprike, but also throughout England: that all priestes which keepe women shalbe depriued of their churches, and all ecclesiasticall benefices.MarginaliaAnselme is reuested to hys archbishoprik.
Ergo priestes shall haue no wiues.

MarginaliaEx epistl. Ansel. 33.WE beleue your broherhoode is not ignoraunt, what is decreed in the Romish church concerning priestes childrē. But bicause there is so great multitude of such w^tin þ^e realme of England, þ^t almost þ^e greater & better part of the clearkes are reckened to be on this side: therfore we committe this dispensation to your care. For we graunt these to be promoted to holy offices by reasō of the neede at this time, and for the profite of the church (such as learnyng and lyfe shal commend among you) MarginaliaIf profit of the church may come by priestes children, what hurte thē were it to the church for priestes to haue wiues.þ^t yet notwithstādyng the preiudice of the ecclesiastical decree be taken heede to hereafter. &c.

AFter that I returned to my bishoprike in England, I shewed the Apostolicall decree: which I beyng present heard in the Romish councell. 1. that no man should receaue inuesting of churches of the kyngs hand, or any lay person, or should become his man for it. And that no man should presume to consecrate hym, that dyd offend herein. Whē the king and his nobles, and the bishops thē selues, and other of the lower degree heard these things: they tooke them so greuously, that they said: MarginaliaKing Henry & hys nobles ready to forsake the romish church.they would in no case agree to the thing, and that they would dryue me out of the kingdom, and forsake the Romish church, rather then kepe this thyng: wherefore reuerend father I desire your councel by your letter, &c.

MarginaliaA letter of Anselme agaynste priestes, receauing agayne their wiues.
Ex epist. 373.WIlliam our archdeacon hath writen to me, that some priests that be vnder his custody (taking again their wemen, that were forbidden) haue fallen vnto the vncleannes from the whiche they were drawne by holesome counsel and commundement: when the archdeacon would amend this thyng, they vtterly despised with wicked pride his warnyng and woorthy commaundemēt to be receaued. MarginaliaPriestes excommunicat5e for receauing againe their wiues.Then he calling together many religious men and obedient priests, excōmunicated worthely the proude and disobedient, that beastly despised the curse and were not afrayd to defile the holy ministery, as much as lay in them. &c.

Vnto these letters aboue prefixed, I haue also adioyned an other of the sayd Anselmus, touchyng a great caseof conscience, of a monkes whyppyng of hym selfe. Wherein may appeare both the blynd and lamentable superstition of those religious men, and the iudgement of this Anselmus in the same matter.

MarginaliaA letter of Anselmus.
Ex epist. 255.
Whether is more merit for a monke to cause him selfe in the chapter to be whipped: or to suffer obediently the whippinges of his abbot.I Hard it sayd of your Lord abbot that thou iudges it to be of greater merite, when a monke either beateth hym selfe, or desireth hym selfe to be beaten of an other: then when he is beaten (not of hys owne wil) in the chapter, by the commaundement of the prelacy. But it is not so as you thinke. For that iudgemēt that any man commaundeth to hym selfe is kyngly. But that whiche he suffereth by obedience in the chapter is monkishe. The one is of his owne will, thother is of obedience, and not