not moue vs any whit at all, that your highnes and the sayd Philip are in leage together: For in somuch as we without your assent & consent (you say) tooke truce with the sayde Philip you also haue done the lyke with hym (whiche thyng you mughte well doo sauing youre honour, by the counsell of al your nobles and princes) and for certeine causes reuoke agayn the Lieftenauntshyp whiche you committed vnto vs. Doubtles, the zeale and good will you haue to make this concorde and agremēt, we much commend: lettyng you to vnderstand, that we alwayes haue ben desirous and stil are, to haue a reasonable peace with the sayd Philip: whiche peace, as much as to vs (our honor saued) apertained, we haue in iustice and by law prosecuted: & in very dede, it should be to vs acceptable & as we would wish, if by such a Mediator as your Celcitude is, it might be brought to pas. But for as as much we vnderstand the same our right & title to the kyngdō of Fraunce, to be manifest and cleare inough: we purpose not to commit the same by any of our letters to doubtful arbitrement. But while we wel consider and reuolue with our selues, how your highnes vpō circūspect consideration (manifestly beholding our iust and rightful doyng, and the strict dealyng and obstinate purpose and iniurie of the sayd Philip) with vs and in our behalfe against þ^e sayd Philip, your graces highnes made aspecial leage: adoptīg vs of your great & boūtiful loue towards our person, to be one of your sons: Wherfore thus again to to altar & breake the same, we cā not sufficiently maruel. Seing your inuincible highnes being instituted of God to the laude and comendation of good men & reuenge of euil and wicked doers, hath made a leage agaynst vs with the sayd Philip de Valois our notorious and iniurious enemie. And as touching that which you say, without your assignement and consēt we toke a truce or dais of respite with the sayd Philip which we ought not to haue done: If your grace well consider the circumstance of the mater, we haue done but as we myght therin. For when we layd our siege to Turney, it was requisite we followed their aduise whose ayde and societie therin we had. Besides , the soden and immineut necessitie which we there stoode in, and the distance of the place betwixt your highnes and vs further more was suche, as that by no meanes we might attaine the same nor vse your assent therin. Ye and further if your grace well remember your self, your graunt vnto vs was such: that when soeuer oportunitie therunto should serue, we might entreat of any peace, and graunte what time we thought meete therunto, without your cōsēt therin: So that to conclude any finall peace with the sayd Philip de Valois, without eyther your consent or otherwise making your highnes priuie therunto, it mighte not be lawfull for vs: Which thing, without your said counsel, consent, and aduise, we neuer minded or purposed to do. But haue in all our doinges done that which vs beseemed, so farre as by any meanes oure power woulde stretche: hoping likewise, that your brotherly beneuolence for a time woulde haue more louingly supported vs. It is thought also by some, that the reuokeing backe agayne or restraint of your foresayd Lieftenantshop, was prematurate or done all out of time: whē as accordīg to your promise made to vs herein by your letters imperial, you ought not so to haue done before the realme and kingdome of Fraunce (or at the least the greater parte therof) were of vs obtayned and quietly in peaceable wyse enioyed. These premissed therfore we desire you, according to your nobilitie dulie to consider, and hereafter to do that which shalbe thought both meete and conuenient: because that (God willing) we meane to recompence and gratify both you & yours, according to the measure of your beneuoleuce bestowed vpon vs. The almightie graunt vnto your Celsitude so much felicitie as your hart desyreth. Dated at London the xviij. day of Iuly in the 2. yeare of the reigne of our kingdome of Fraunce, and of England xv.

MarginaliaPope Clement 6.In this meane tyme dyed pope Benedict the 12. mentioned a litle before: after whom succeded in that rowme Pope Clement the 6. Of whom it is reported in stories, that he was very liberall and bountiful to his Cardinals of Rome in riching & heapyng them with goods & possessions, not of his owne, but with the ecclesiasticall dignities and prefermentes of the churches of Englād. For so recordeth the autor, MarginaliaEx Chron. Albanes.that he bestowed vpon his Cardinals the lyuings and promotions, such as were or shouldbe vacant in churches of England, and went about to set vp new titles for his Cardinals, here within this realme. MarginaliaThe king dissenuleth the pops prouisionBut the kyng beyng offended therewith made voyde and frustrate, all those foresayd prouisions of the pope, chardging moreouer and commaundyng no person what soeuer, to busie him self w^t any such prouisiōs, vnder payne of prisonement & of loosing his life. Which law was made the next yeare folowyng, which was an. 1344. It folowed then, that the sayd Pope Clement, agayne begā to make new prouisions for two of his Cardinals of benefices and churches that should be next vacant, beside Bishoprikes, and Abbatshyps, to þ^e extent of two thousand markes. Wherupon, the procurators of the sayd Cardinals were sent downe for the same. MarginaliaThe popes procurators driuen out of EnglandBut the kyng and nobilitie of the realme not sufferyng that, vnder pain of enprisonemēt caused þ^e sayd procuratours forthwith to depart the realm: wherupon, the nobles & cōmons shortly after, writeth a fruitefull Epistle to the pope, for the liberties and the mainteinance of the Englishe church: Wherunto, as sayth the autor, the pope and the Cardinals were not able to aunswere. The argument and tenour of whiche letter, out of Frenche we haue caused to be translated into English, as ensueth.

MarginaliaA letter of the Nobles and commons of England to the pope.TO the most holy father in God lord Clement, by the grace of God of the holy church of Rome and of the vniuersall church, chiefe and high bishop: His humble and deuoute children, the Princes, Dukes, Earles, Barons, Knightes, Citizens, Burgeses, and all the comminaltie of the realme of England assembled at the Parliament holden at Westminster the xv. daye of May last paste: Deuout kissinges of his holye feete, with all humble reuerence and humilitie. Most holy father, the holy discretion, gouerument, and equitie which appeareth to be in you and ought of duetie so to be (being so high & holy a prelate and head of the holy church) by whom the holy vniuersall church and people of God ought to be, as by the sonne beames, enlightned: Geueth vs good hope and liklyhode, that the iust peticions (to the honor of Iesus Christ & holy church, & your holines also) by vs declared: shall be of you graciouslye heard and considered. And that all errours and other iniquities quite taken away and remoued: in steede thereof, fruitfull exploytes and necessary remedies (by the grace of the holye spirite, whych you in so hygh an estate haue receaued) may be by you lykewise graciously ordeined and disposed. Wherefore most holy father, all we (vpon great deliberatiō and common assent) come vnto your holynes: shewing & declaryng, that the noble kynges of England our progenitours, our auncitours, and we (according to the grace of the holy spirite to them and vs geuen, euerye one accordyng to hys deuotion) haue established, founded, and endowed wythin the realme of England: churches cathedrals, Collegies, Abbeyes, Priories, and other dyuers houses of religion in the same ordayned: and to the Prelates and Gouernours of the same places, haue geuen landes, possessions, patrimonies, franchesies, aduowsons, and patronages of dignities, reuenues, offices, churches, wyth manye and diuers other benefices vnto them geuen: whereby the seruice of GOD, and fayth of Christe myght haue bene honoured, and had in reuerēce: that the Hospitals and almes houses that are made, wyth all the churches and edifices, myght bee honestlye kept and mayntayned: and that deuout prayers myght in those places be made for the founders, and the poore parishioners ayded and comforted. And such onely ought to haue the cure thereof, as are able to heare cōfessiōs, and in theyr own natural toung otherwise mete to informe and teach theyr parishioners. And for somuch as (most holy father) that you cannot wel come to the notice of diuers such errours & defaults, neither yet vnderstand the condition of the places being so farre of, vnles your holynes be enformed and aduertised: Wee hauyng the perfect intelligence and vnderstandyng of the sayde errours and defaultes, of the persons and places aboue sayd, & in the sayd realme: haue thought mete to signify þ^e same vnto your holynes. That diuers reseruatiōs, pro-