1576 Edition | Book 5 | Page 519 
But God kepe thys from the world, that the desire of honour of two men should bring such a desolation into the church of God: for then that departing away which the Apostle prophecied, shoulde come afore the comminge of Antichrist, were at hand:MarginaliaThe kyng seemeth here to prophesie of the desolation of the Romaine pope. which shoulde be the last disposition of the worlde, peaceablye to receaue Antichrist with honour. Consider therefore the state of your most excellent holines, how ye receaued power from God to the building of the Church and not to the destruction, that Christ hath geuen you wine and oyle to heale the woūded, and hath appoynted you his vicar in these things as pertayne to gentlenes, and hath geuen vs these thynges which serue to rigour.MarginaliaThe pope & Phariseis, new crucifiers of Christ For we beare not the sword without a cause to the punishment of euill doers, the which power ordayned of God we haue receiued, oure selues beyng witnes: beseching you to receiue our counsel effectually, that in doing thus, the waters may returne to the places frō whēce they came, and so the waters may beginne to be made sweete with salt: least the axe swimme on the water and the wod sincke, and least the fruitfuil olyue degender into a wilde oliue, & the leaprosie of Naaman that noble mā, cleaue cōtinually to the house of Giezy, and least the pope and the Phareseis crucifye Christ agayne. Christ the spouse of the church which was wōt to bring the chiefe byshop into the holyest place, encrease your holynes, or rather restore it being lost. Writtē, &c. Ex Fragmento libri cuiusdam Dunelm.
[Back to Top]¶ This Epistle of K. Richard. 2. written to Pope Boniface the. ix. in the tyme of the schisme, about the yere as appeareth. 1397. As it contained much good matter of wholesome counsell to be followed: so how little it wrought wyth the Pope, the sequell afterward declared. For the schisme notwithstanding continued long after, in which neyther of the Popes would geue ouer their hold, or yeld any thyng to good counsayle geuen them, for any respect of publike welth. Such a stroke beareth ambition in this Apostolicall see, which we are wont so greatly to magnifie. But of this inough, which I leaue and referre to the consideration of the Lord, seyng men will not looke vpon it.
[Back to Top]Drawyng now toward the latter end of kyng Richardes raigne, it remaineth, that as we did before in the tyme of K. Edward the third, so here also we shewe forth a summary recapitulation of such parliamentall 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 parliamētarijs. An. 1. Reg Rich. 2. tit. 66. IN the first yere of king Richard 2. in the parliament holden at Westminster, it was requested, and graunted: that the popes colector 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 them.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaTit. 67. Item, that no man doe procure any benefice by proui- sion from Rome, on payne to be out of the Kynges protectiō.
MarginaliaTit. 68. Item, that no Englishman do take to farme of any alien, any ecclesiasticall benefice or Prebēde, on the like paine. In which byll was rehearsed, that the French men had 6i. thousand poundes yearely of such liuinges in England.
MarginaliaTit. 77. Item, that remedy might be had against the popes reseruations to dignities electiue, the same being done against the treaty of the Pope, taken with king Edward. 3.
MarginaliaEx Anno. 2. Tit. 70. In the second yeare of the sayd kyng Richard the second, it was by petition requested: that some order might be takē touching Aliens, hauing the greatest part of the Church dignities in their handes. Whereunto the kyng aunswered, that by aduise of the Lordes he will prouide therfore.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaTit. 71. Item, it was enacted, that all the benefices of Cardinals and other rebels, to Pope Vrbane that now is, shall be seased into the kynges handes.
MarginaliaTit. 78. An acte that Pope Vrbane was true and lawfull pope, and that the lyuinges of all Cardinals and other rebels to the sayd Pope, should be seased into the kynges handes, and the kyng to be aunswered of the profites thereof: And that whosoeuer within this Realme, shall procure or obtayne any prouision or other instrumēt from any other pope then the same Vrbane, shall be out of the kinges protection.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaEx 3 Anno. Reg. Rich. 2. Moreouer, in the thyrd yeare of Kyng Richard the second, the Prelates and Clergie made their protestation in thys Parliament, expressly agaynst a certayne new graūt, to witte, their extortions: MarginaliaHere note well a straunge proceeding. That the same neuer should passe wyth their assent and good will, to the blemishyng of the liberties of the Churche, if they by that worde extorcion, they ment any thyng largely to proceede agaynst Ordinaries and others of the Church. But if they ment none otherwise to deale hereafter therein, then before that time had bene done, then would they consent. MarginaliaBut marke the straunge euent. Whereunto it was replied for the kyng, that neyther for the same their sayde protestation, or other wordes in that behalfe, the kyng woulde not stay to graunt to hys Iustices in that case and all other cases, as was vsed to be done in tymes past, and was bound to do by vertue of hys oth done at hys coronation.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaTit. 44. Furthermore, in the fourth yeare of the sayd kyng Richard. 2. it was requested, that prouisiō might be had against the Popes collectors, for leuiyng of the first fruits of ecclesiasticall dignities within the realme.
MarginaliaTit. 46. Item, that all Priors, Aliens myght be remoued out of their houses, and licensed to depart, & neuer to reuert. And that English men may be placed in their lyuinges, aunswering the kyng as they did.
MarginaliaEx 9. Anno eiusdem Regis. Tit. 4. And in the ix. yeare of the foresayd king, touching matter of the Staple: the speaker of the Parliament pronounced, that he thought best the same were plāted within þe realme, considering that Calis, Bruges, and other townes beyond the seas, grew very rich thereby, and good townes here very much decayed, and so much for the commō profite. Touching the king, he affirmed that the subsidie and custome of wool more yelded to the king when the staple was kept in England by one thousand markes yearely, then it did now beyng holden beyond the seas.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaTit. 36. Item: that inquisitiō and redresse myght be had agaynst such religious persons, as vnder the licence to purchase x. li. yearely, do purchace. lxxx. li. or. C. li.
MarginaliaTit. 44. Item, that all Clarkes aduaunced to any ecclesiasticall dignitie or lyuing by the king, will graunt to the king þe first fruites of their lyuinges, none otherwise then they woulde haue done to the Pope beyng aduaunced by hym.
MarginaliaTit. 26 In the xi. yeare of K. Richard. 2. it was put vp by the petitions of the commons, that such impositions as are gathered by the popes bulles of Volumus and imponimus of þe translations of B. B. and such lyke: might be imployed vpon the kynges wars against the schismatikes of Scotland. And that such as bring into the realme the lyke bulles and nouelries may be reputed for traytors.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaAn. 23. Regis Rich. 2. Tit. 24. In the 13. yeare of hys reigne, folowed an other parliament, in which, although the Archb. of Canterbury and Yorke, for them & the whole clergie of their prouinces, made their solemn protestations in open Parliament, that they in no wise ment or would assent to any statute or law made in restraint of the Popes authoritie, but vtterly withstoode the same, wylling thys protestation of theirs to be enrolled: yet the sayde protestation of theirs at that tyme tooke no great effect.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaTitu 34. Item, in the same Parliament was put vp by publike petition, that the Popes collector shuld be commaunded to auoyde the Realme within xl. dayes, or els to be taken as the kynges enemie, and that euery such collector from hence forth, may be an Englishman and sworne to execute the statutes made in thys Parliament.
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