Non est Innocentius, imo nocens vere,
Qui quod facto docuit, verbo vult delere.
Et quod olim iuuenis voluit habere,
Modo vetus pontifex studet prohibere.
Zacharias habuit prolem & vxorem,
Per virum quem genuit adeptus honorem,
Baptizauit etenim mundi saluatorem:
Pereat qui teneat nouum hunc errorem.
Paulus cœlos rapitur ad superiores,
Vbi multas didicit res secretiores.
Ad nos tandem rediens instruensq; mores,
Suas inquit habeant quilibet vxores.
Propter hæc et alia dogmata doctorum,
Reor esse melius et magis decorum,
Quisq; suam habeat et non proximorum,
Ne incurrat odium vel iram eorum.
Proximorum feminas, filias, et neptes
Violare nefas est, quare nil deceptes,
Vere tuam habeas, et in hac delectes
Diem vt sic vltimum tutius expectes.

MarginaliaMariage of priests forbidden by Pope Innoc.
Nocent, not innocent, he is that seeketh to deface,
By word the thyng, that he by deede hath taught men to embrace
Whych beyng now a bishop old, doth study to destroy
The thyng, whych he a yong man once did couet to enioy.
Priest Zachary both had a wyfe, and had a chylde also,
By meane of whom ther did to hym great praise & honor grow.
For he did baptise hym, that was the sauer of mankynde,
Ill him befall that holdest thys new error in his mynd.
Into the hygher heauens good Paul was lyfted from below,
And many secrete hydden thinges he learned there to know.
Returnde at length from thence to vs, & teaching rules of lyfe,
He sayd, let eche man haue his own and onely wedded wyfe:
For thys and other documentes of them that learned be,
Much better and more comely eke it seemeth vnto me.
That eche should haue his own alone, & not hys neyghbors wyfe,
Least with his neighbour he do fall in hate and wrathfull stryfe.
Thy neighbours doughters or their wyues, or nices to defyle,
Vnlawfull is: therefore beware, do not thy selfe begyle.
Haue thou thyne own true wedded wyfe, delite in her alway,
Wyth safer mynde that thou mayest looke to see the latter day.

Now let vs returne to king Iohn againe, and mark how the priestes and their adherentes were plaged for their humble handlinges of his maiesties wyll. In the foresayde councel of Lateran, and the same yeare, was Steuen Langton the archbishop of Cant. excommunicated of Pope Innocent: with all those bishops, prelats, priestes, Barons, and commons, which had ben of coūsel with him in the former rebellion. And when the sayd archbishop had made instant sute, of him to be absolued: anon he made hym this answer with great indignatiō: Brother myne, I sweare by S. Peter, thou shalt not so soone at my hand obtayne the benefit of absolution: for why, thou hast not only done harme to the king of England, but also thou hast in a great many of thinges iniured the churche of Rome here: and therefore thou shalt tary my leasure. MarginaliaSte Langtō suspended out of the churche.The archbishop was also at that time suspended out of the church, and commaunded to saye no Masse at all: neither yet to exercise any other ecclesiasticall office, because he would not at time conuenient execute the Popes curse vpon the rebellious Barons. With them the sayd Pope had ben so deepelye offended and angred a little afore, that the greate charter of the liberties of Englande (wyth great indignation and countenaunce most terrible) he rent and destroyed: by sentence diffinitiue condemning it for euer. And by and by therupon cursed all the other rebels, with booke, bell and candle. The greater captaynes of them (wyth the citizens of London) for that assay were pronounced excommunicate by name: and remayned stil interdicted. MarginaliaAppeale to the general councel.They appealed then to the councel generall.

Marginalia1215.In the same yeare 1215. were those great men also summoned to appeare at Rome in that general synode: which would not cōsent to their kings expulsion nor yet tyrannical deposing. Though they wer called (they said) therunto by the archb. of Cant. and others: and requiredby othe to subscribe to the same, yet could they not of cōscience do it because he had humbled him self, & also graūted to kepe peace with all men. Thus was þ^e whole realm miserably then deuided into two factions through malice of the clergie: so strifes encreased in þ^e land euery where. Yet were there of the lordes and gentlemen a great nūber at that tyme, that followed the kyng & alowed his doings. MarginaliaThe discord betwene the nobles and the King.But they which wer on the other side (not a little suspecting þ^e state that they were in) fled spedely to þ^e french king Phillip: desiring him that he would graunt to them his eldest sonne Ludowicke, and they would elect him to be their king, & þ^t without much tariance. They besaght him moreouer, that he would send with hym a strong & mighty power, as were able to subdue him vtterly: that they might (they sayd) be deliuered of such a wycked tyraunt. Such was the report, that those most wicked papists gaue their christian gouernour, appointed to them of God: whom they ought to haue obeyed, though he had ben euil: euen for very consciēce sake, Rom. 13. And as certaine of the Lordes and Barons, were busy to chose the said Ludowicke for their kyng: the pope sent thether one MarginaliaGnalo Cardinal sent into England.Gnalo, the Cardinal of S. Martin to stop those rash and cruell attempts: chargyng the French king vppon his alleageance, that he wyth all power possible, shoulde fauour, maintayne, and defend king Iohn of England, his feudarie or tenaunt. The French kyng therto made aunswer, as one not contented with that arrogante precept. The realme of England said he, was neuer yet any parte of sainct Peters patrimony, neither is it now, nor yet at any tyme shalbe hereafter. This spake he, for that he was in hope to obtayne it for hys sonne, by treason of the Barons.

MarginaliaThe frenche king and hys sonne resoning about Englād.No prince or potentate (said Philip the French kyng) may pledge or geue away his kingdom: which is (beside the realme) the gouernemente of hys whole common wealth: without the lawefull consente of his Barons, which are bound to defend the same. If the pope shall introduce or set vp such a president in Christianitie, he shal at his pleasure bring al christian Kynges, and their kingdomes to nought. I like not this example, in these dayes begon. I can not therfore allow this fact of Kyng Ihon of England: though he be my vtter aduersary, yet I much lament that he hath so endammaged hys realme, and hath brought that noble ground and quene of prouinces, vnder miserable tribute. The chief Lordes and menne of his nobilitie standynge by, when he vttered these woordes (beynge as it were in a fury) cried wyth one voyce: By the bloude of God, in whome we trust to be saued, wee wyll stycke in thys article to the loosing of our heades. Let the Kinge of England doe therein what him liketh: no Kyng may put his land vnder tribute, and so make his nobilitie captiue seruaūts. With that came in Ludowicke the Kinges eldest sonne, and so said vnto them all there present. I besech you, let not my purposed iourney: The Barons of Englād haue elected me for their Lord and Kyng, and I will not surely loose my right: but I will fight for it euen to þ^e very death, yea so long as hart shall stirre within my brest: and I doubt not but I shall well obtaine it, for I haue frendes amōg thē. His father the kyng stood stil as he had ben in a dōp, and aunswered neuer a worde, but fared as though he had dissembled the matter. Belike he mistrusted something therin, as he might well enough: for all was procured by the priests that they might lyue licentiously in all wealth and fredome from the Kynges yoke.

MarginaliaPrelates and priestts conspiryng agaynst the King.About the same time were such treasons and conspiracies wrought by the Byshops, priestes, and monkes, through out al the realme, that þ^e Kyng knew not where to become, or finde trusty frends: he was then compelled by the vncerteintie of hys subiectes to trauaile frō place to place, but not without a great army of men: lokyng euery day when his Barons & their confederates would