Vindication of Ecclesiastical Volume 3, Volume 2 · Book 3 · Chapter 2 · Document 38
MIſit igitur ad ſingulos Epiſcopos Angliae, praecipiens diſtrictiſſime, ut quilibet eorum illi Chartae deteſtabili, quam lachrymabilis memoriae Rex Anglorum Iohannes, reclamante Archiepiſcopo Cantuarienſi Stephano, infoeliciter confecit de tributo, ſignum ſuum appenderet, ut magis roborata perpetuaretur. Quod ipſi Epiſcopi timore inexcuſabiliter effaeminati, non ſine enormi Regis et Regni, (proh dolor) fecerunt praejudicio. Vnde cum Dominus Rex hoc audiſſet, in maximam iram excandens juravit, quod etſi etiam ipſi Epiſcopi turpiter fint incurvati, ipſe firmiter ſtaret pro Regni libertate, nec unquam dum vitales carperet auras, cenſum ſub nomine tributae Curiae Romanae perſolveret. Porro Epiſcopus Londinenſis F. ultimus et invitus in arcum pravum verſus, ſignum ſuum dictae Chartae apponens, minus aliis meruit reprehendi. Simili quoque modo, cuidam amplae Chartae tranſcriptae de verbo ad verbum, (as that of K. Johns Charter was) ſecundum Chartam Bulla Papali communitam, de ſententia depoſitionis in Imperatorem Fredericum lata, appoſuerunt omnes Praelati ſigna ſua, tam ad majorem roborationem quam memoriam rei ſempiternam.
From whence I ſhall obſerve: 1. That King Johns original Charter was then either actually burnt or loſt, elſe what needed this deſired ſubſcription and ſealing a new tranſcript of it? 2ly. That this Pope held it invalid (if not burnt) for want of the Biſhops ſeals and ſubſcriptions to confirm it. 3ly. The unparallel'd Treachery, Unworthineſſe, Cowardice, Slavery of all the Engliſh Archbiſhops and Biſhops in that age, who fearing the Pope more then either *Prov. 24. 21. 1 Pet. 2. 17.God himſelf or their King, (againſt Gods and St. Peters peremptory commands) out of an Unengliſh, Unmanly, Unchriſtian fear of his indignation, after ſuch a general complaint againſt this Charter and Tribute, made by the King and whole Kingdom in the general Council of Lyons, and the proteſtation of Archbiſhop Langhton himſelf, in the name of all the people of England, durſt thus preſume upon the Popes Decree, Mandate, without the Kings, Barons, Kingdoms privity, and againſt their reſolutions, Trayterouſly to ſubſcribe, ſeal, and as much as in them lay ratifie this deteſtable Charter; ſuch broken reeds were they then for the King, Church, Barons, Kingdom to depend on; yea ſo perfidious to them, as upon all extremities to deſert, betray them, to advance the Pope and his intereſt, to the Kings, Kingdoms, Churches, their own prejudice and inthralling. 4ly. Their like unworthy compliance in ſetting all their ſeals to the Popes excommunication of the Emperor Frederick, the Kings alley, though his Embaſſadors proteſted againſt it in the Council of Lyons. 5ly. The Kings juſt indignation againſt the Biſhops, for this their Treachery, Cowardice, and Unworthy complyance, and his magnanimous reſolution to unburthen the Kingdom of Papal exactions, and never to pay this Rent or Tribute to Rome whiles he breathed. 6ly. That neither the King nor Barons ever ſubſcribed or ratified this Tranſcript, but only the degenerous, craven Biſhops▪ and that in a clan deſtine manner▪ Therefore it neither obliged the King, Barons, Kingdom, or Commonalty of the Realm, and was but a meer inſignificant nullity.
15ly. That the Parliament of England, Anno 40 Edw. 3. was ſpecially ſummoned for this particular occaſion of King Johns Charter, and the Rent therein granted, which the Pope (after above 50. years diſcontinuance and non-claime) intended to revive and put in execution, by iſſuing out a Proceſſe againſt the King and Kingdom, to demand the Homage and Rent reſerved to him and his Succeſſors by vertue of that Charter; whereupon the King craved the advice of the Biſhops, Dukes, Earls, Barons, Knights, Citizens, and Burgeſſes then aſſembled, in caſe the Pope ſhould proceed againſt him or the Realm for this cauſe, and what they would do therein; who upon mature deliberation ſeverally reſolved, that King John had no power at all to make ſuch a Charter, or grant ſuch a Rent, without his Barons and Commons conſents: That it appeared by ſeveral evidences, they never gave their aſſents thereto, and ſo the Charter null and voyd: and that if the Pope ſhould iſſue out any Proceſſe to demand the Homage or Rent againſt the King or his Kingdoms, they would reſiſt him with all their might. I ſhall here preſent you with a true Tranſcript of the Parliament Roll it ſelf, thus Recorded in French.