haue more largely expressed to be read and seene of all posteritie, as vnder followeth.

MarginaliaActes concluded at the Councell in Wynchester.HÆc sunt statuta de Archidiaconibus, Præsbyteris, & Canonicis in quocunque gradu constitutis, quæ Wintoniæ statuerunt Anselmus Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis, & cum eo Girardus Archiepiscopus Eboracensis, & omnes alij Angliæ Episcopi, in præsentia gloriosi Regis Henrici, assensu omnium Baronum suorum Statutum est vt Præsbyteri, & Diaconi castè viuant, & fœminas in domibus suis non habeant præter proxima consanguinitate sibi iunctas, secundum hoc quod sancta Nicena Synodus definiuit. Illi verò præsbyteri, diaconi, siue subdiaconi, qui post interdictum Londonensis Concilij, fœminas suas tenuerint vel aliâs duxerint, si elegerint in sacris ordinibus remanere, iurēt quòd cum eis carnale commertium non habebunt amplius. Statutum est etiam vt prædictæ fœminæ in dodmo cum eis scienter non conueniant, neque huiusmodi fæminæ in territorio Ecclesiæ habitent. Si autē propter aliquam honestam causam eos colloqui oporteat, cum duobus ad minus legitimis testibus extra domum colloquantur. Si verò in duobus aut tribus legitimis testibus vel publica parochianorum fama, aliquis eorū accusatus fuerit, quòd hoc statutum transierit, purgabit se adiunctis secum ordinis sui idoneis testibus, sex si præsbyter, quinque si diaconus, quatuor si subdiaconus fueriti Cui autem hæc purgatio defecerit, vt transgressor sacri statuti iudicabitur. Illi verò præsbyteri qui diuini altaris & sacrorum ordinum contemptores præelegerint cum vxoribus suis habitare à diuino officio remoti, extra *Marginalia* Forte extra hortum paradisi intelligit. hortum ponantur, infames pronunciati. Eadem sententia Archidiaconos & Canonicos omnes complectitur & de abiurandis vxoribus, & de vitanda earum conuersatione, & de districtione censuræ si statuta transgressi fuerint. Iurabunt & Archidiaconi omnes quod pecuniam non accipient pro tolleranda transgressione huius statuti. Sed neque vllo modo tollerabunt præsbyteros vxoratos cantare, vel vicarios habere, & quòd ipsi non dissimulabūt per Archidiaconos suos hoc inquirere, & fideliter episcopis suis renunciabunt, & attentè, & fideliter de exequenda huius rei vindicta Episcopos suos adiuuabunt. Qui verò Archidiaconus vel Diaconus hoc iurare noluerit, Archidiaconatum vel Diaconiam irreparabiliter perdet. Præsbyteri verò qui relictis vxorib⁹ Deo & sacris ordinibus seruire elegerunt, quadraginta dies ab officio cessantes, pro se vicarios habebunt, iniuncta eis pœnitentia secundum quod Episcopis eorum visum fuerit.

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MarginaliaThe cruell law of Anselme tooke no great place.And yet this vnreasonable statute of Anselme, so diligently defensed with sharpe censures and penalties, had no great speed, neither in the lyfe tyme of the said Anselm, nor long after his death, but that diuers priests notwithstanding kept still their wiues, or that after his death, they returned to their wiues agayne, through the sufferance of the famous & learned king named then Henry Bewclark  

who somthing stayed the oportunitie of this mōkish prelate, and willed that priests should kepe both their wyues and theyr Churches, as they did before in Lanfrankes dayes   . MarginaliaEx. epist. Ansel. 77.

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MarginaliaRodulphus Archiepisc. Cant.Then after Anselme followed Radulphus Archbishop of Canterbury, in whose time was no great sturre against the Priestes that were married. About the tyme of this Archbishop, king Henry called a Counsaile at London, where he obtained of the spiritualtie a graunt to haue the punishment of maried priests (which the spiritualtie afterward did much repent) whereby the priests paying a certaine to the king, were suffered to retaine their wiues stil, as is aboue storied, MarginaliaRead afore pag 294.pag. 294  

. MarginaliaRicardus de Turbine Archi. Cant.

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Next after this Radulph, then succeeded Williā Turbile, surnamed De Turbine, who renued againe the constitution of Anselme against maried priests, especially by the helpe of Ioannes priest and Cardinall of Crema þ^e Popes Legate, sent the same tyme into England, anno. 1129. Of which Cardinall Cremensis, because enough hath bene before declared, how after his stout replying in the councell of London, against the maried state of priestes, exclaiming what a shamefull thing it was, to rise from the sides of an whore, to make Christes body, the night followyng was shamefully taken with a notable whore, &c. as is apparant before, pag. 294  

. MarginaliaOf this Cardinall Cremensis read before pag. 294.

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I will therefore passe ouer that matter, returnyng againe to William the Archbishop, who with the Cardinall Legate aforesaid, although he busily occupied himselfe in repriuing the matrimonie of priestes: in so much, that he would geue thē no longer respit to put away their wiues but from Michaelmas to Saint Andrewes day followyng, yet could he not bryng hys purpose to passe, but that the priests still continued with their wiues by the Kyngs leaue, as the Saxō story plainly recordeth in these words:

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MarginaliaCronic. Saxonic.Ðis bebed se Arcebiscop william of Canterbriges . & ealle ða leod Biscopes ða ða wæron on Engelond . & ne forstod noht ealle ða bodlaces . eall heoldon her wifes be ðæs Kinges leue . swa swa hi ear didon ; That is to say in English, This William the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishops which were in England did commaund, and yet all these decrees and biddings stood not: all held their wyues by the kings leaue, euen so as they before did, &c.MarginaliaThe priests kept their wiues contrary to the Archbishops commandement. So hard was this cause to be wonne, that the Archb. at length gaue it ouer, and left the cōtrouersie wholy vnto the kyng. Whereupon he decreed that the Priestes should remaine with their wyues still  

.Marginalia¶ An. 25. Hen. 1. And so continued they after that, in the tyme of Theobaldus after hym, of Tho. Becket, Rich. Baldwine, Steuen Langton, Rich. Edmund, Boniface, Peccham, and other, during welnere the tyme after Anselme, 200. yeares. MarginaliaPriestes with wiues how long they continued in England after Anselme.

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And least the quarelling aduersary beyng peraduenture disposed here to cauill, should obiect and say, that such marriage among the Spiritual men might be priuate and secrete, but not openly knowen, nor quietly suffered by any lawe of this Realme: to auoyde therefore what maye be by them obiected, I thought it good, and as a thyng neyther impertinent nor vnprofitable to this storye, and for the further satisfiyng of the Readers mynde herein, to inferre and make knowen by good recorde, not onely that the libertie of marriage amongst spirituall men, hath continued within this Realme duryng the tyme aforesayde, (videlicet) two hundred yeares or thereabouts, after Anselme, and that not in secrete wise, but also openly, and beyng knowne, the same to be suffered and lawfully allowed of, in such sort, as both they, their wiues, children, and assignes might enherite and enioye landes, tenementes, and other hereditamentes, by waye of feoffament, deede of gyfte, or any other assuraunce, in suche sorte, manner, and fourme, as laye men, their heyres and assignes at this day lawfully may doe. As by diuers writinges and instrumentes shewed vnto vs at the writyng hereof, by diuers men (whose names hereafter follow) some to this day remaining fayre sealed, some by antiquitie and long keping, much worne, and their seales mouldred and wasted, is very euident and manifest to be seene. The copies whereof beyng by vs truely and faithfully excerpted out of the very originals (beyng yet extant) we haue here vnder inserted, as followeth  

.

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MarginaliaCarta feoffament. Williel. de Blunwille milit. fact. Stephan. de Saxlingham Clerico & Matilde vxori suæ, de terris in Newton in Com. Norff.SCiant presentes & futuri quod ego Williel. de Blunwille miles concessi, dedi, & hac præsenti charta mea confirmaui Stephano de Saxlingham Clerico, & Matildæ vxori suæ pro homagijs & seruitijs suis, & pro sex marcis argenti quas mihi dederunt in * gersumam, vnam peciam terræ arabilis, quæ iacet in campo de Neuton in cultura, inter mesuagium Galfridi Sulyard, & cœmeterium Ecclesiæ de Neuton, inter terram Radulphi Malherbe, & terram Ioannis de Neuton, & aburrat super regiam stratam versus orientem, & super terram quæ fuit Henrici Popiltele versus occidentem: Habend. & tenend. de me & hæredibus meis illis & heredibus suis aut quibuscunq; dare, legare, vendere vel assignare voluerint, in quocunq; statu fuerint, liberè, quietè, in feodo perpetuè & hereditariè Reddendo inde annuatim mihi & heredib⁹ meis duos denarios scilicet ad festū sancti Andreæ denariū & ad natiuitatē sancti Iohānis baptistæ vnū denariū. Et ad seutagium domini regis quando euenit vnum obolum tantū & non amplius pro omnibus secuitijs, consuetudinibus, sectis curiæ, & exactionibus secularibus. Et ego Williel. de Blunwell, & hæredes mei warrantizabimus, acquietabimus & defendemus prædictam peciam terræ prænominatis Stephano & Matildæ vxori suæ & hæredibus suis, aut cuicunq; dare, legare, vendere, vel assignare voluerint contra omnes gentes tam Iudeos quam Christianos in. perpetuum per præfatum seruitium. Et vt hæc concessio & donatio rata sit & stabilis in perpetuum, hanc cartam sigillo meo roboraui: His testibus, Radulpho Malherbe, Willielmo de Reynestorpe, Ioanne de Neuion, Willielmo Canebot, Ioan. filio Simonis, Milone le Moch, Radulpho de Kinegham, Willielm. de Campo, Thomæ Croce, Andr. Waleys, Willielm. Valiant, & alijs.

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MarginaliaOne peece of Fuidence in the custody of M. Tho. Blundeuil.¶ This sayd peece of Euidence called a deede of Feofement of lands remaineth in the keeping of Thomas Blūdeuill of Neuton Flotman in the Countie of Northfolke Esquier at this present (videlicet) 22. die Nouembris, Anno