1570 Edition | Book 5 | Page 632 
whiche power ordained of God we haue receiued oure selues beyng witnes: beseche you to receaue our coūsell effectually, that in doing thus, the waters may returne to the places from whence they came, and so the waters may beginne to be made sweete with salt: least the axe swimme on that water and the woode sincke, and least the fruitfull olyue degender into a wilde oliue, and the leaper of Naaman that noble man, cleaue continuallye to the house of Giezy, and least the pope and the Phareses crucifye Christ againe. Christ the spouse of þe church which was wont to bryng the chief byshop into the holyest place, encrease your holines, or rather restore it being lost. Written, &c. Ex fragmento libri cuiusdā Dunelm.
[Back to Top]¶ This epistle of king Richard. 2. writtē to pope Boniface the. ix. in the time of the schisme, about the yeare as appeareth. 1397. As it contayned much good matter of wholesome counsayle to be folowed: so howe little it wrought wt the pope, the sequel afterward declared. For the schisme notwithstanding, continued long after, in which neither of the Popes would geue ouer their hold, or yeld any thing to good counsaile geuen them, for any respect of publike wealth. Such a stroke beareth ambition in this apostolicall see, which we are wont so greatly to magnify. But of this inough, which I leaue and referre to the consideration of the Lorde, seyng men wyll not looke vpon it.
[Back to Top]Drawing now towarde the latter ende of kyng Richardes raygne, it remaineth, that as we dyd before in the time of king Edward þe thirde, so heere also we shew foorth a summary recapitulation of such parlamentall notes and proceedinges
CloseFoxe concluded the accounts of the reigns of late medieval English monarchs with notes extracted from the Parliament Rolls. These were stored in the Tower and Foxe gained access to them through the co-operation of William Bowyer who was effectively Keeper of the Tower Records from 1563-1570. (See Rotuli Parlamentorum, ed. J. Strachey et al., 6 vols. [London, 1783], III, pp. 18-20, 96, 214, 246-7, 264, 270, 304 and 341) The Parliamentary legislation Foxe accurately records is concerned with the usual late medieval efforts to curtail papal jurisdiction over English benefices and to grant the revenues from papal taxation to the Crown. But Foxe also adds a more unusual note, one not drawn from Parliamentary records, which emphasizes that the kings of England, not the papacy, held the right to episcopal appointments in England. Foxe notes that this material was supplied to him by Matthew Parker and it is apparent that Parker was using Foxe's work to showcase his research and the conclusions it was intended to buttress.
[Back to Top]Thomas S. Freeman
University of Sheffield
CloseAs Foxe notes, the information on the royal appointment of bishops came from Matthew Paris and was almost certainly the product of research sponsored by the archbishop and not Foxe. Foxe cites William of Malmesbury and Matthew Paris as his sources, but he is almost certainly just quoting from Paris's notes. Moreover two of the examples cited are in neither work, but were probably taken from Bede and from Symeon of Durham.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaEx Archiuis parlamentariis. An. 1. Reg Rich. 2. tit. 66.IN the fyrst yeare of king Richard. 2. in the parlament holdē at Westminster, it was requested, and graunted: that the Popes Collector be willed no lenger to gather the first fruites of benefices within this realme, beyng a very nouelty, and that no person do any longer pay thē.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaTit. 67.Item, that no man do procure anye benefice by proui-sion from Rome, on payne to be out of the kynges protection.
MarginaliaTit. 68.Item, that no Englishman do take to farme of any alien, any ecclesiasticall benefice or prebende, on the lyke paine. In whych byll was rehearsed, that the French mē had. vi. thousand poundes yearely of suche lyuynges in England.
MarginaliaTit. 77.Item, þt remedy might be had against the popes reseruations to dignities electiue, the same being done agaynst the treaty of the Pope, taken with king Edward. 3.
MarginaliaEx Anno. 2. Tit. 70.In the second yeare of the said kyng Richarde the second, it was by petitiō requested: that some order might be taken touching Aliens, hauyng the greatest parte of the church dignities in their hands. Wherunto the kyng answered that by aduise of the Lordes, hee wyll prouide therefore.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaTit. 71.Item, it was enacted, that all the benefices of Cardinals, and other rebels to pope Vrbane that now is, shal be seased into the kinges handes.
MarginaliaTitu. 78.An act that Pope Vrbane was true and lawfull pope, and that the liuinges of all Cardinals and other rebels to the said Pope, should be seased into the kings handes, and the king to be answered of the profites thereof: And that whosoeuer within this realme, which shall procure or obtaine any prouision or other instrument from anye other Pope then the same Vrbane, shall bee out of the kinges protection.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaEx 3. Anno. Reg. Rich. 2.Moreouer, in the thirde yeare of kyng Richarde the seconde, the Prelates and Clergye made their protestation in thys parliament, expresselye agaynste a certayne newe graunt, to witte, their extortions: MarginaliaHere note well a straunge proceding.That the same neuer shoulde passe wyth their assente and good wyll, to the blemishing of the liberties of the churche, yf they by þt word extorcion, thei ment any thing largely to proceede against Ordinaries and others of the churche. But if they ment none otherwyse to deale hereafter therin, then before that tyme had bene done, then wold they consent. MarginaliaBut marke the straunge euent.Whereunto it was replyed for the kyng, that neyther for the same their sayde protestation, or other words in that behalfe, the king would not stay to graūt to hys Iustices in that case and all other cases, as was vsed to be done in tymes past, and was bound to doo by vertue of his othe done at his coronation.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaTit. 44.Furthermore, in the fourth yeare of the sayd king Richard. 2. it was requested, that prouision might be had against the Popes collectors, for leuieng of the first fruits of ecclesiasticall dignities within the realme.
MarginaliaTit. 46.Item, that all Priors Aliens might be remoued out of their houses, and lisenced to depart, and neuer to reuert. And that English men may be placed in their lyuynges, answering the king as they did.
MarginaliaEx 9. Anno eiusdē Regis. Tit. 4.And in the. ix. yeare of the foresaid king, touching matter of the Staple: the speaker of the parlament pronounced, that hee thought best the same were planted wythin the realme, consideryng that Calis, Bruges, and other townes beyonde the seas, grew verye riche thereby, and good townes here very much decayed, and so muche for the common profit. Touching the king he affirmed, that the subsidy and custome of wool more yelded to the king when the staple was kept in England by one thousande markes yearely, then it did now being holden beyonde the seas.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaTit. 36.Item, that inquisition & redresse might be had against such religious persons, as vnder the lisence to purchase x. li. yearely, do purchace. lxxx. li. or. C. li.
MarginaliaTit. 44.Item, that all Clarkes aduaunced to anye ecclesiasticall dignity or lyuing by the king, will graūt to the king the fyrst fruites of their lyuinges, none otherwyse then they woulde haue done to the Pope beyng aduaunced by hym.
MarginaliaTit. 26In the xi. yeare of K. Richard 2. it was put vp by the peticions of the commons, that such impositions as are gathered by the popes bulles of Volumus & imponimus of the translations of B B. & such lyke: might be imployde vpon the kinges wars against the schismatikes of Scotland. And that such as bring into the realme the like buls and nouelryes may be reputed for traytors.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaAn. 13. Regis Rich. 2. Tit. 24.In the 13. yeare of his reigne, folowed an other Parliament, in which although the Archb. of Canterbury and Yorke, for them and the whole clergie of their prouinces made their solempn protestations in open Parliament, that they in no wise meant or would assent to any statute or law made in restraint of the popes authoritie, but vtterly withstoode the same, willing this protestation of theirs to be enrolled: yet the sayd protestation of theirs
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