The Practice of Prelates, Part 12
¶An ensample of practyse out o… oure owne chronycles.
Take an ensāple of their practise out of our owne stories.Kyng Herolde. Kyng Herold exiled or banished Robert Archbisshope of Canterburye. For what cause the Inglysh polychronicon specifieth not.Robert of cāterbury. But if the cause weare not sum what suspect, I thynke they wolde not hauehave Passed it ouer with scylence. Thys Robert gat hī immediately vntounto kynge Wylliam the conqueroure then duke of Normandye. And the pope Alexander sente duke Wylliam a baner to go and conquere Ingland and cleane remission vntounto whosoeuer wold folow the baner and goo wyth kynge Wyllyam / here marke how streight the pope folowed-Christs steppes ād his apostles:Remission of sīnes to conquere englande. they preached forgeuenes of synnes, to all that repented throw Christes bloude shedyng: the Pope preacheth forgeuenesse of synnes to all that will slea their bretheren bought wt Chrystes bloud: to subdue them vntounto hys tyrānie. What so euer oth…r cause duke wyliā had against kynge Herold / thou maiest be sure that ye pope wolde not hauehave medled yf Herold had not troubled hys kingdom …e: neyther shuld duke willyam hauehave bene able to conquer the land at that tyme except the spyritualtie had wroughte on hys syde. What bloud did that conquest cost England / thorowe whych almoost all the lordes of the Inglysh bloude were slayne, &… the Normandes became rulers / and all the la…es were chaunged into Frenche? But what careth ye holy father for sheading of laye mens bloude? It were b…tter that .x. hundred thousand laye knaues loste theyr liues, then that holy church shuld louse one ynch of her honour, or sainct Peters seate one iote of her ryght.
AncelmusAnd Ancelmus that was bysshoppe in shorte time after, neuer left striuinge with that myghtie prince kynge Wyllyam the second / vntyll he had compelled hym maugre hys teth, to delyuer vp the inuestiture or election of bysshops vntounto sainct Peters vycare / whych inuestiture was of old tyme ye kynges duet…e.
And … when the sayde kyng Wyllyam … the tribut that pryestes gaue … to their bysshops for theyr whores …, dyd not Raffe bisshop of Chich… … goddes seruice (as they call it) … the church dores with thornes thorow out al hys di… cese, vntyll the kynge had yelded hym vpp… hys trybute agayne? For when the holy father had forbidden pryestes theyr wyues / the bysshop permitted thē whores of their owne for a yearely tribute, & do yet in all lā des, saue in Ingland where they maye not hauehave any other saue mennes wyues onelyonly.
And agayne for the election of Steuen langton archbysshop of Canterbury, what miserye and wretchednesse was in the royalme a longe ceason? Thē was the land interdited many yeares. And when that holpe not, then Irelande rebelled agaynst kinge Iohn immedyatly,Note. and not wythout ye secrete workinge of oure Prelates I dare well saye. But fynally when neyther the interditing nether yt secrete subtiltie holpe▪ & whē Ihon wold in no meanes consent ye saint peters vicar shuld raygne alone ouer the spiritualtye, & ouer all yt perteyned vntounto thē, and yt they shulde synne & do all mischefe vnpunisshed / the pope sent remissyō of synnes to the kynge of Fraūce for to go and conquere hys land.… ▪ of synnes to cōquere Wherof king Ihō was so sore afrayd yt he yelded vp his croune vntounto ye pope, & sware to hold ye lād of hī ād yt his successours shuld do so lykewise.
And agayn in Kyng Richardes dayes ye second / Thomas Arundell archbysshop of Cāterbury & chaūcelare was exyled wt ye Earle of Darbye.Thomas Arūdell. The outwarde pretē ce of the varyaunce betwene the Kynge ād his lordes was for the delyueraunce of the towne of Braste in Brytayne. But our prelates had an other secret mystery a bruing They coulde not at theyre owne luste slea the poore wretches which at that tyme were conuerted vntounto repentaunce / and to the true faith / to put their trust in christs death & bloudsheadyng for the remission of their sinnes by the preachinge of Iohan Wyclefe / As sone as the archbysshop was out of the royaume,Practyse. the Irishmen began to rebell againste kynge Rychard as before against Kynge Ihon: But not hardelye withoute the inuisyble inspyration of them that rule bothe in the courte and also in the consciences of al men. They be one kingdom sworne together one to helpe an other scatered abroade in all royalmes.
And howe be it that they stryue amonge them selues who shalbe greatest, yet agaīst the temporall powr they be always at one though they dissēble it and fayne as thogh one helde againste the other to know theyr enemies secretes to betray them with all. They cā inspyre priuelye into ye brestes of ye people, what myschefe they lyst, & no mā shal know whēce it cōmeth. Their letters go secretly frō one to an other thorow out all kyngdōs. Saīct peters vicar, shall hauehave worde in .xv. or .xvi. dayes, frō the vttermost part of christendom. The bysshops of England at their nede / cā wryte vntounto ye bysshops of Ireland, scotland, denmarke, douchland / fraunce and spayne, promysīg them as good a turne an other tyme / puttyng them in remembraunce that they be all one holy churche / & yt the cause of the one, is the cause of the other, sayenge: if our …ugglyng breake out / yours can not be longe hyd. And the other shall serue their turne / ād bring the game vntounto their handes, & no man shall know how it cometh about. As sone as king Richard was gone to Ireland to subdue these rebellyous, the bysshope cam in agayn, and preuented the kinge, and toke vp his power against him and toke him prisoner / and put him downe / ād to death most cruelly, and crouned the earle of darby kīg. O mercyfull Christ / what bloud hath that coronacion cost England? But what care they? Their causes muste be auenged. He is not worthy to be kynge that wyll not auenge their quarels· For do not the kynges receaue their kyngdome of the beast, and sweare to worshyp hym and maynteine hys throne? And then when the erle of Darbye whych is kyng Henry the fourth / was crouned, the prelates toke hys swerde and hys sonnes Henry the fifth after hym, as all ye kinges swerdes syns and abused them to shed christē bloude at their pleasur. And they coupled their cause vntounto the kynges cause (as now) & made it treasō to beleue in Christ as ye scriptur teacheth & to resyst the bisshopes (as now) and thruste thē in the kynges prysons (as now) so that it is no new inuēcion, that they now do but euen an old practyse, though they hauehave done their busy cure to hyde theyr science / yt their conueyaunce shuld not be espyed.
And in kyng henrye the .vj. dayes, how raged they as fierce lions agaīst good duke Humfre of Gloceter the kynges vncle, and protectour of the realme in the kings youth and childehod,Duke Umfre. because that for him they myght not slea whom they wold, and make what cheuysaunce they lusted. Wold not ye bysshop of Wynchester hauehave fallen vppon him / and oppressed hym openly with myght and power, in the Citie of London, had not the cityzens come to hys helpe?
But at the last they found the meanes to contryue a dryft to bryng their matters to passe, and made a parlament farre from the cityzens of London, where was slayne the good duke and only welth of the royalme, and the myghty shylde that so longe before had kept it from sorow, which shortly after his death, sell theron by heapes. But ye cronicles can not tell wherfore he dyed / nor by what meanes. No meruell verely. For he had nede of other eyes then such as the world seeth with all that shud spye out theyr priuye pathes. Neuerthelesse the cronycles testifye that he was a vertuous man, a godly and good to the comen welth. Moreouer the Protectour of Purgatorie sayth in hys Dialoge / quod I, ād quod he / and quod youre frende, how that he was a noble man / and a great clerke, and so wyse that he coulde spye falce myracles and dysclose them, and Iudge them from the true / whych is an hatefull science vntounto our spyrytualtye and moare abhorred them necromancie or wytchcrafte and a thynge wherfore a man by their lawe, I dare well saye, is worthy to dye / and that secretly yf it be possible. Now to be good to the comen welth / and to se false miracles, and thirdely to wit…stande that Fraunce then brought vnderunder the fete of the Inglyshmen, shuld not be set vp agayn, by whose power the pope holdeth doune ye Emperour & reygneth in his stead, becauses why he myght dye though by what meanes be not knowen. For to be good to ye comen wealth, is to be hurtefull to the spiritualtye,thre causes seing the one is the others pray / as the lambe is the wolues. Secondaryly if a man be so cleare eyed that he can spye false myracles / howe can iugglers gette theyr lyuinge and be in price where such a fellow is? Thyrdlye to kepe doune ye kīgdō of fraūce, is to pul. S Peters vicar out of his seate.
Now if the great baude y• whore of babylon were destroied, then wold the bordel and stues of our prelates shortly perish. Yf Abadon that destroyer king of ye grassehoppers which deuoure all that is greane, were destroyed, then were the kingdom of our caterpyllers at an ende.