Vindication of Ecclesiastical Volume 3, Volume 2 · Book 3 · Chapter 1
CHAP. I.
Conteining Evidences of King Johns Supream Juriſdiction over all Biſhops Religious and Eccleſiastical Perſons, Cauſes, Biſhopricks, Monasteries, Tithes, Advouſons, in granting Licenſes to elect, and to approve or reject Biſhops, Abbots, when elected; examining the Juriſdictions of all Eccleſiaſtical Courts; Impriſoning, Baniſhing Biſhops, Clergy-men; ſeizing their Biſhopricks, Spiritualties; Confiſcating their Goods, Benefices, for their Contempts, and Obedience to the Popes Interdicts, and unjuſt Commands, with other particulars; and his ſtrenuous vigilant defence of the Rights of his Crown, against Proviſions, and other Papal and Prelatical Uſurpations in England and Ireland, till the 15. year of his Reign.
IT is very obſervable, that King John at his Coronation in Weſtminster Abby,An. Dom. 1199 June 9. Anno Dom. 1199. was ſworn in the firſt place by Hubert Archbiſhop of Canterbury (as (aHiſt. Angl. p. 190. Holinſhed, Speed, Daniel.) Matthew Paris and others relate:) Quod ſanctam Eccleſiam & ejus ordinatos diligeret; & eam ob incurſione malignatium INDEMNEM CONSERVARET; & Dignitates illius bonafide et ſine malo ingenio SERVABIT ILLAESAS, as (bAnnalium pars poſterior, p. 793.) Roger Hoveden expreſſeth it. This Archbiſhop with all the Biſhops, Abbots, Nobles preſent at, and conſenting to this Oath, and doing Homage and Fealty to him, thereby declared him to be Supream Governour, Patron, Protector, and Head on Earth of the Church of England, as well in Eccleſiaſtical as Temporal affairs, elſe this Oath had been Nugatory.
The 13. of June following, he was ſolemnly divorced in Normandy, in the preſence of 3. of his Norman Biſhops from the Duke of Glouceſters daughter: Unde magnam Summi Pontificis Innocentii tertii, & Curiae Romanae indignationem incurrit, praeſumens temere contra Leges & Canones diſſolvere, quod eorum ſuerat Auctoritate Colligatum, as (cYmagines Hiſtoriari, col. 706. Mat. Paris, Mat. Weſt. Hoveden, Henry de Knyghton, Holinſhed, Daniel, Grafton, Speed, in Johan. Annis 1199, 1200.) Radulfus de Diceto informs us: But he no more valuing their Indignation then he did their Canons and Laws, ſoon after married Iſabel ſole daughter and heir of the Earl of Engoleſme, who was crowned Queen, Octob. 8. by Archbiſhop Hubert; this Pope and Cardinals not daring to queſtion, or null his marriage.
Immediately after (dMat. Paris, Hiſt. Angl. p. 191. Hoveden Annal pars poſterior, p. 793, 770, 771, 768. Neubrigenſis Hiſt. Angl. l. 5. c. 21. Mat. Weſtm. Anno 1196. p. 71. Antiqu. Eccleſ. Brit. p. 140. Holinſhed p▪ 150, 151.) Pope Innocent the 3d. ſent his Legate to King John, deſiring him to releaſe Philip Biſhop of B…lvoire, (taken Priſoner by King Richard the firſt in the Field, and kept Priſoner by him all his life, notwithſtanding this and other Popes importunate Letters for his enlargement) ƲNDER PAIN OF AN INTERDICT, who had-then by the ſpace of two years been detained under most cruel Impriſonment; (ſome months in his very Armes, in which he was taken fighting, not ſuffered to be put off day or night) But becauſe the ſaid Biſhop was taken in Armes as a Souldier and Plunderer, against the Dignity of his Order, the King (notwithſtanding this Popes intreaties and menaces) would not enlarge him untill he had paid 6000. marks of ſterling money to his Exchequer, and 2000. marks for his expences, during his Impriſonment under King Richard and himſelf; which he accordingly paid: And till he had alſo taken an Oath before the Cardinals and other Biſhops, never thereafter to bear Armes, during his life, againſt any Christians.
In the year 1177. no leſſe then 30. Nuns of the Monaſtery of Ambresbery, were accuſed and convicted at one time for their Ʋnclean Lives, to the diſſolution and infamy of their Order, whereof they had been publickly defamed: Whereupon Rex (King Henry the 2d. by power of his Regal Prerogative) expulſis Sanctimonialibus, de Abbatia de Ambresberie, propter Incontinentiam, & per alios domos Religioſos, in arctiore cuſtodia diſtributis, expelling the Nuns from this Abby for their Incontinency, diſtributed them throughout other Religious houſes, in ſtricter cuſtody, (by way of pennance) and gave it to the Abbeſſe and Nuns of Fount-Everoit, for a perpetual poſſeſſion; who ſending a Covent of Nuns thither from Fount-Everoit, Richard Archbiſhop of Canterbury inducted them into the Abby of Ambresbery, on the 1. of the Kalends of June, (being the Lords day) King Henry the Father, Bartholomew Biſhop of Exeter, John Biſhop of Norwich; and many other of the Clergy and people being then preſent, as (Annalium pars poſterior, Francofurti 1601. p. 1601. p. 560, 561. Monaſt. Angl. pars 1. p. 191.) Roger de Hoveden relates in preciſe termes: And by his Charter, Anno 1179. confirmed the Lands of this Abby to them, with many Liberties, and that by advice and conſent of the Archbiſhop of Canterbury, and many other Biſhops, Great men, and Barons of the Realm. King John in the firſt year of his Reign, by his Charter, reciting all the premiſes in the Prologue, confirmed this Charter of his Father, ratified theſe Nuns Deprivations and Impriſonments in other Monaſteries, for their Incontinency, by his Father, with conſent of his Biſhops, Nobles, and requeſt of Pope Alexander, transferring this Abby, and all Lands thereto belonging, from one rank of Nuns to another, takes both theſe Nuns Perſons, Lands into his Royal protection, as if they were his own demeſnes, grants them ſeveral Tithes, Churches, large Priviledges, and prohibits BY HIS REGAL AUTHORITY, GRANTED TO HIM FROM GOD, that none of his Officers or Subjects ſhould diſturbe them therein, nor implead them, but in the preſence of himſelf and his Heirs. The Charter it ſelf runs in theſe words.