the common people, doing as ye do, which haue the gouernemēt of them,MarginaliaDestruction of true faith. & should be an example to them of wel doing: now many of them leaning to your rules,MarginaliaThe life of papistes cōtrary to their teaching. do rūne hedlong into a whole sea of vices: And so continually a very great multitude flocketh at the strong and wel fenced gates of our dungeon. And doubtles, ye send vs so many day by day of euery sort and kinde of people, that we should not be able to entertaine them, but that oure insatiable Chaos with her thousande rauening iawes is sufficient to deuoure an infinite number of soules.MarginaliaThe Pope encreaseth hell And thus the souerayntie of our Empire, by you hath bene reformed, and our intollerable losse restored. Wherefore, most specially we cōmend you, & geue you most hartie thankes: Exhorting al you, that in any wyse ye perseuere and continue, as hetherto ye haue done: neither that you slack hēceforth your enterprice. For why, by your helps we purpose to bring the whole world again vnder our power & dominion. Ouer and besides this, we cōmit vnto you no small authoritie, to supply oure places in the betraying of your brethren, and we mak and ordaine you our vicares, & the ministers of MarginaliaAntichrist.Antichrist our sonne, now hard at hand, for whō ye haue made a very trimme way and passage. Furthermore, we counsell you which occupy the highest roomes of all other, that you worke subtilly, and that ye (faynedly) procure peace betwene the princes of the world,MarginaliaThe pope a fayned procurer of peace betwene princes. and that ye cherish and procure secret causes of discorde. And like as craftely ye haue destroied and subuerted the Romain Empire MarginaliaThe Romaine empire craftely subuerted by the pope.so suffer ye no kingdome to be ouermuch enlarged or enriched by tranquilitie and peace. Least perhaps in so great trāquilitie (all desire of peace set aside) they dyspose themselues to vew and consider your most wicked workes, suppressing on euery side your estate: and from your treasures take away such substance, as we haue caused to be reserued and kept in your hands, vntil the cōming of our welbeloued sonne Antichrist. We would ye shuld do our cōmēdations to our entierly beloued daughters, pride, deceit, wrath, auarice, bellichere, and lechery, & to al other my daughters: and especially to MarginaliaSimonie the popes nurse.Lady Symony, which hath made you men, and enryched you, and hath geuen you sucke wyth her own brests, & weaned you, and therefore in no wise see that you cal her sin. And be ye lofty and proud, because that the most high dignitie of your estate doth require such magnificence. And also be ye couetous, for whatsoeuer ye get and gather into your fardell, it is for Saint Peter, for the peace of the church, and for the defence of your patrimony and the Crucifixe, and therefore yee may lawfully do it. MarginaliaPromoting of proud & rich Cardinals.Ye may promote your Cardinals to the highest seat of dignities without any let in all the world, in stopping the mouth of our aduersarye Iesus Christ, and alledging againe: that he preferred his kinsfolkes (beinge of poore and base degree) vnto the Apostleship, but do not you so, but rather call, as ye do, those that liue in arrogancy, in hawtines of mynde, and filthy lechery, vnto the state of welthy riches and pride, and those rewardes & promotions, which the followers of Christ forsooke, do ye distribute vnto your frinds. Therefore as ye shall haue better vnderstanding,MarginaliaCloked holynes. prepare yee vyces cloked vnder the similitude of vertues. MarginaliaWrasting of scripture.Alleadge for your selues the gloses of the holy scripture, and wrest them, directly to serue for your purpose. And if any man preach or teache otherwise then ye wil, oppresse ye them violently with the sentence of excommunication, & by your cēsures heaped one vpon another, by the consent of your brethren.MarginaliaTyrannie & crueltie by the pope. Let him bee condemned, as an hereticke, and let him be kept in most straight prison, and there tormented till he die, for a terryble example to all such as confesse Christ. And setting all fauour apart, cast him out of your temple:least peraduenture the ingraffed word may saue your soules, which word I abhorre, as I do the soules of other faithful mē. And do your indeuor, that ye may deserue to haue the place which we haue prepared for you, vnder the most wicked foundatiō of our dwelling place. Fare ye well, with such felicitie as wee desire and intende finally to reward and recompence you with.

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¶ Geuen at the centure of the earth, in that our darke place, where all the rablement of Deuils were present, specially for this purpose called vnto our most dolorous Consistory, vnder the Charecter of our terrible seale, for the confirmation of the premisses.

Ex Registro Herfordensi ad verbum.MarginaliaEx Registro Hereford.

Who was the true author of this poesie or epistle aboue writtē it is not euidētly knowē: neither yet doth it greatly skill. The matter beynge well considered of their part, which here be noted: may minister vnto them sufficiēt occasion of holesome admonition, either to remember themselues what is amisse, or to bethinke with thēselues what is to be amended. Diuers other writings of like argumēt both before & since, haue bene deuised: as  

one bearinge the title Luciferi ad malos principes Ecclesiasticos, imprinted first at Paris in Latin. And vnder the writing therof, bearing this date. Anno a palatij nostri fractione, consortiumq; nostrorum subtractione. 1351. Which if ye count from the Passion of the Lord: reacheth wel to þ^e time of wickliffe 1385. whichwas aboue vj. yeres before þ^e examination of this Walter Brute.

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There is also an other epistle of Lucifer, prince of darknes, MarginaliaEpist Lucif. ad prælatos.ad prælatos, mencioned in the Epistle of the schoole of Prage, to the vniuersitie of Oxford, set forth by Huldericus Huttenus, about the yeare of our Lorde (as is there dated) 1370. which seemeth to be written before this epistle.

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Also MarginaliaVincent. Spec. hist. lib. 25. cap. 89.Vincētius in Speculo histo. lib. 25. cap. 89.  

inferreth like mention of a letter of the fiendes infernal, vnto the clergy men as in a vision represēted before 400. yeres. In which the deuils geue thankes to the spirituall men, for that by their silence and not preaching the Gospel, they send infynite soules to hell. &c.

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Diuers other letters also of like deuise, haue ben written, & also recorded in authors. Wherunto may be added, that one Iacobus Cartusiensis, wrytinge to the Byshop of Wormace, alleageth out of the prophecie of MarginaliaEx prophetia Hildegardis.Hildegardis in these wordes: Ideo et diabolus in semetipso de vobis sacerdotibus ait: Escas epulantium, conuiiuia et omnes voluptates in istis inuenio, sed et oculi, et aures, et venter meus, et venæ meæ, de spumis illorum plenæ sunt, et vbera mea plena sunt diuicijs illorum &c. 1. Therefore saith he, þ^e deuil may say of you priests in himselfe: The meates of banketting dishes, and feates of al kind of pleasure, I find in these men: Yea also, mine eyes, mine eares, my belly, & all my vaines be full of their froathing, and my brests be full stuffed with their ryches. &c. Furthermore, saith he, they labour euery day to rise vp higher with Lucifer, but euery daye they fall w^t him more deepely.

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Hereunto also appertayneth a story written, & cōmonly found in many olde written bookes. In the yeare of our Lord. 1228. at Paris in a Synode of the clergie, there was one appointed to make a Sermō. Who being much carefull in hys minde, & solicitous what to say, the deuil came to him, and asking why he was so careful for his matter, what he should preach to þ^e clergy, say thus, quod he: MarginaliaThe deuill geueth thankes to clergie men. The silence of priestes for not preaching the Gospell damneth many a soule.The princes of hell salute you (Oh you princes of the Church) & gladly geue you thankes, because through your default and ngeligence, it cōmeth to passe, that al soules go downe to hel. Adding moreouer, that he was also enforced by the commaundement of God to declare the same, yea and that a certayne token moreouer was geuen to the sayde clerke for a signe, wherby the sinode might euidently see, that he did not lye. Ex catall. Illyr. Fol. 546.

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MarginaliaThe popes letter to the B. of Hereford.BOnifacius Bishop, seruaunt of the seuants of God: To the reuerend brother Iohn Bishop of Hereford, sendeth greeting & Apostolicall benediction.  

We meane to write vnto our welbeloued sonne in Christ (Richard the renowmed king of England) in forme enclosed within these presents. Therfore we will and commaund your brotherhood, that as much as ye maye, ye study and endeuour your selfe to exhorte and induce the same king, to doe those thinges which we haue wrytten vnto him, as it is sayde before. And notwithstanding, that now many a day you ought to haue done it of your self, & not to loke that wee should perswade you to that effect by vs written: you may proceed as well by our authoritie, as by your owne, for as much as it was geuen you before: that hereafter we may know effectually by your diligence, what zeale your deuotion beareth vnto the Catholike fayth, and to the conseruing of the ecclesiasticall honour, and also to the execution of your pastorall office.

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¶ Geuen at Rome, at S. Peters the xv. Kalendes of October, the 6. yeare of our bishoplike dignitie.  

MarginaliaThe popes wilde Bull let loose against the seruauntes of Christ.TO our welbeloued sonne in Christ, Rycharde the noble king of Englande, wee send greetinge &c.  

It greeueth vs from the bottome of our hartes,MarginaliaA lack good hart what sorow the pope taketh. and our holy mother the Church in all places through Christendome lamenteth. Wee vnderstande that there bee certayne heresies sprong, and do without any condign restraynt raunge at their owne libertie, to the seducynge of the faithful people, and do euery day with ouermuch liberty enlarge their vndiscreete boundes. But howe much the more carefullye we labour for the preseruation both of you & your famous kingdome, and also the sinceritie of the faith: and doe with muche more ardent desire couet, that the prosperous state of the same should be preserued and ēlarged: the sting of greater sorow doth so much the more penetrate and molest vs, for as muche as wee see (alas the while) in our tyme, and vnder the regall presidence

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