cleane chaunged at these daies, the seruice of God decaied, almes diminished and brought to nought, the whole deuotion of kings, princes, and Christians is banished. May not this be thought wonderfull in the eyes of all men, that where as Christ commaunded tribute to bee payd to kynges for hym and for Peter, he now goeth about dominion of his stile, to subdue to hym, both realmes and princes of realmes (agaynst his wyll, whose Vicar he sayth he is, & who refused the realmes & iudgements of the world) whych thys byshop contrarywyse chalengeth, clayming all that which he in his stile wryteth to be hys. Alacke, O daughter, what doth he yet more against thee: mark, he draweth from thee what so euer pleaseth him, and yet he thinketh not him selfe content, to haue the tenth part onelye of thy goodes from thee: except he haue also the fyrst fruites of the benefices of the Ministers, whereby he may get a new patrimony aswell for him self as for his kynred, contrary to the godly wyls of the fyrst founders. Ouer and beside al this, he inferreth other execrable taxes and stipends for his Legats & messengers, whom he sendeth into Englād, which not onely take away the feeding and clothyng of thee and thine, but also teare in peeces like dogges your flesh and skinnes. Maye not this prince be compared to king Nabugodonoser, which destroied the temple of the Lord, and robbed away the siluer & golden vessels therof? The very same doth this man also: he robbed the ministers of God his house, & left destitute of due helpe. In lyke maner doth he: Truly they be better that are killed wyth the sword, then they which be pined wyth hunger: for they are dead straight, but these are wasted with the barrennes of the earth. O daughter, all they that passe by the way, let them haue pity and compassion on thee, for there is no sorrow like thy sorrow. For now thy face is blacker then coales through muche sorrow and weeping, and thou art no more knowen in the streetes: thy foresayd ruler hath placed thee in darknes, and hath geuen thee woormwood and gall to drinck. O Lorde heare the sorrow and sighings of thy people, behold Lord, and discende, for the hart of this foresayd man is more indurate, then the hart of Pharao. For he will not suffer thy people to depart, except in the fortitude onelye of thy hand. For he scourgeth them, not onely miserably vpon the earthe, but also after their deathe hee intendeth to incroche the goodes of all Christians vnder the name and title to die intestate or making no will. Therefore let the chiualry of England well remember, howe the Frenche men in tymes past, drecting their greedye eyes on the realme of Englande, labored with all theyr power howe to bryng the same vnder their subiection. But it is to be feared, least the new deuises and practise of this new enemy, supply that which hetherto hath ben lacking in them. For in diminishing of the treasure of the realme, and spoyling the churches goods: the realme shalbe brought into suche inabilitie, that it shall not be able to helpe it selfe against the enemye. Therefore O daughter, and you the ministers therof, suffer not your selues to be led any more into such miserable bondage. Better it is for the wealth of thee and thine, that the christian king and the powers of the realme which haue indued thee with great benefites, and you also which are indued with their benefites, do labour with al your power how to resist the deuises, conspiracies, arrogancie, presumption, and pride of the foresayde person: who not for any zeale of God, but for the enriching of his parēts and for his own kynred (exalting himself lyke an eagle) by these and suche other exactions goeth about after a new kinde of extorcion to scrape vp and deuour all the money and treasure of England. Now least the dissembled simplicitie of the realme in this behalfe doo bryng vtter subuertion, and afterwarde be compelled to seeke remedie when it is to late: I beseche the Lorde God ofhostes to turne away the vale from the hart of that mā, and to geue him a contrite & an humble mynde, in such sorte as he may acknowledge the waies of the true god, whereby he may be brought ought of darknes, and be enforced to relinquish his old sinister attemptes: & that the vyneyard which the Lords hand hath planted, may be replenished continually wyth true preachers of the worde. Let the woordes of the Lorde prophesied by the mouth of Ieremy, styrre vp your mindes to wythstand and resist the subtile practises of this man, by the which wordes the Lord speaketh: O thou Pastor which hast scattered my people, and hast cast them out of their habitacions, beholde I wyll come and visit vpon thee, and vpon the malice of thy studies: neyther shall there be any of thy seede which shall syt vpon the seate of Dauid, neither which shall haue power anye more in Iuda. So that thy neast shal become barren, and vtterlye subuerted lyke Sodome and Gomer.

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And if he being terrified by these wordes do not leaue of from this which he beginneth, and doth not make restitution of those thinges which he hath receaued: then let all and singular persons sing for him being indurat, to him that seeth all thinges, the Psalme. 108. Deus laudem. &c. For truly as fauour, grace, and beneuolence, remitteth and neglecteth many thinges: so agayne the gentle benignitie of man being to much oppressed & greued, seeking to be deliuered and freed from the same, striueth and searcheth to haue the truth knowen, and casteth of that yoke by all meanes possyble that greeueth him. &c. Hæc Cassidorus.

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What effect this letter wrought in them, to whom it was directed, is not in story expressed. This by the sequel may be coniectured, that no reason nor perswasiō could preuayle, but þ^t the pope retained here stil his exactions, what soeuer was sayde or written to the contrarye not withstanding.

MarginaliaA parliamēt in Fraunce assembled, wherin is discussed the iurisdiction ecclesiastical, how far it extendeth.
1329.And thus much being written hetherto of these actes and doings here in England, now to slyp a lytle into the matters happening the same time in Fraūce,  

vnder the raygne of the foresayde king Philip, aboue mencioned: forsomuch as about this tyme, an. 1329. was commensed a parlament, by the sayde kyng of Fraunce, against the Pope, touching the iurisdiction both temporal, perteining to princes, and ecclesiasticall, belongyng to the church: I thought it not to be vnprofitable for the reader, to heare and learne the full discourse and tractation heredf, according as we haue caused it to be excerpt faythfully out of the true coppye and recordes of Peter Bertrand, bishop of Eduenen, and chiefe doer and prolocutor in the sayd parlament, vpon the Popes side, against the king and state temporall.

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For somuch as the hygh prelate of Rome, otherwise called Antichrist, beyng then in his chiefe ruffe, extolling himselfe aboue all princes and potestates of the worlde: as in other countries, so also in Fraunce extended hys vsurped iurisdiction aboue the princely autoritye of the king, clayming to hymself full gouernment of both the states, as well seculare as also ecclesiasticall. The kyng therefore not suffering the excessiue proceedinges of pope Clement the fyft aboue specified, directeth hys letters mandatorye to the prelates and Barones of the realme of Fraunce, to conuent and assemble themselues together at Paris, about the beginning of December, the yeare aboue prefixed. The tenour of which letters of the king directed to the prelates, foloweth in this forme and maner.

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