CHAP A. D. 1533 Ancient mode of 3. ABOLITION OF PAPAL AUTHORITY IN THE APPOINTMENT OF BISHOPS During the medieval period, the See of Rome had appointing exercised an authority in the appointments to EngEnglish bishops lish sees which had always been a fruitful source of disagreement and discord. The bishops in England holding lands of the Crown, and sitting in Parliament as barons in right of their tenure, it was only natural that the Crown should feel an interest in appointments to the episcopal office, over and above such interest as the ruler of a kingdom must feel in the nomination of official persons exercising such great power. It was so necessary that men so powerful in the kingdom should not be enemies of the king, that even in Anglo-Saxon times the latter reserved the nomination of bishops to himself. The episcopal ring and crosier being associated with essential rites in the ceremony of consecration, were given into the custody of the king immediately upon the death of any prelate, and the investiture of any person with these gave him a title to the see as successor to the deceased bishop. In a few exceptional cases, the royal nomination was resisted, and the ancient practice of election by the clergy (through their representatives the cathedral chapter) appears to have been successfully substituted. Some evils attended it 3 In the hands of the Norman kings much scandal was sometimes caused by their exercise of this power. Sometimes they appointed such men as Flambard 3 The practice of returning the insignia of the Garter to the sovereign on the death of the knight who has worn them was doubtless copied from this custom. V terference ments d'élire Bishop of Durham in the reign of William Rufus : at others, they kept sees vacant for years (as did Queen Elizabeth) that they might take the profits of A.D. 1533 the lands belonging to them. Thus a handle was Papal ingiven to the Bishops of Rome, who already began to with apurge, in practice, the ultramontane claim to be the pointsole source on earth from which all episcopal authority flows. After bitter contests between Henry I., Pascal II., and Archbishop Anselm, the ceremony of investiture was given up to the Pope, and the right of nomination still claimed was exercised only in the modified form of a license empowering the chapter to elect-a "congé d'élire.' This The congé license was, in a very short time, again modified by the accompaniment of letters patent, in which a particular person was named for election by the chapter. This practice was also successfully contested by Innocent III., and "free" election was again introduced. But it was introduced only in name, for the popes set up a claim to nominate or "provide for” episcopal sees in England, and the monks yielding to the papal claims, these "provisions" left as little freedom of election as the nominations by the Crown. The Statute of Provisors made in the 25th year of The Edward III. [A. D. 1351] was intended to prevent Provisors this assumption; declaring that "the King and other lords shall present unto benefices of their own or their ancestors' foundation, and not the Bishop of Rome." This was confirmed by a subsequent act 13th Richard II., Statute ii. cap. 2 [A. D. 1389],-and henceforth the Bishops of Rome were only able to exercise their influence in this matter indirectly, or else by asking the kings of England to appoint papal candidates. Statutes of CHAP V The popes still, however, retained much indirect power over appointments to English sees by means A.D. 1533 of the bulls which had been made necessary before any bishop could be consecrated. In the case of Archbishops of Canterbury, these bulls were eleven in number, each of which had to be paid for with a large sum of money. To withhold these bulls was to delay the consecration: and the long continued vacancies in the French and Italian sees in modern times through such hindrance shows how important a power this is. English bishops Setting aside this indirect veto of the Pope, the always mode of appointment to English sees for many years practically before the Reformation was precisely similar to what by English it is at present. The chapter of the diocese nominally sovereigns elected to the see, the sovereign practically ap appointed System confirmed by the 4 pointed to it. The congé d'élire nominally left the chapter perfectly free to elect whom they would, but the royal will was expressed in some way which rendered it as much a legal fiction as it is in our own time. It is well sometimes to retain such legal fictions, even when their character is offensive, for they may mark, as in this case, the non-abolition of rights to the revival of which a change of times might point as a matter of political and ecclesiastical expediency. It was to give statutory consolidation to the system of appointments indicated in the last paragraph 4 Cranmer's is a notorious case of an archbishop nominated by the Crown. Warham, Dean, and Morton had all held high judicial or other offices before becoming archbishops, and were undoubtedly promoted to the highest ecclesiastical office by the Crown. Campeggio (eventually Bishop of Salisbury) worried Wolsey and the King for an English bishopric, evidently taking it for granted that the King's and the minister's nomination was substantially the appointment. Numerous other cases might be alleged in confirmation of the statement in the text. V that an act was passed in the year 1533 [25 Hen. CHAP VIII. cap. 20], entitled an Act for the non-payment of First-fruits to the Bishops of Rome; which was, A.D. 1533 in reality, an act for regulating the manner of Act forappointing to bishoprics. bidding First-fruits to be paid This act begins by reciting the act against the to Rome payment of annates, which had been passed two years before, but had only just come into operation. The sequel of the Annates Act is then stated in the second clause:5 "And albeit the Bishop of Rome, otherwise called the Pope, hath been informed and certified of the effectual contents of the said act, to the intent that by some gentle ways the said exactions might have been redressed and reformed, yet nevertheless the said Bishop of Rome hitherto hath made none answer of his mind therein to the King's highness, nor devised nor required any reasonable ways to and with our sovereign Lord for the same: wherefore his most royal majesty, of his most excellent goodness, for the wealth and profit of this his realm and subjects of the same, hath not only put his most gracious and royal assent to the foresaid act, but also hath ratified and confirmed the same, and every clause and article therein contained, as by his letters patents under his great seal enrolled in the Parliament Roll of this present Parliament, more at large is contained." ment of the The enacting clauses then state that as it was not A compleplainly expressed in the Annates Act how arch- Annates bishops were to be elected, presented, invested, and Act 5 The King's last letter to Clement VII. was written in the ena of the year 1532. Early in December 1533 he writes to Wallop, ambassador at the court of France, setting forth the provocations which he had received from the Pope, and ordering him to acquaint the French King there with. "We have already," he adds, "taken such order with our nobles and subjects as we shall shortly be able to give unto the Pope such a buffet as he never had before." [State Pap., vii. 526.] The series of acts referred to in the text was no doubt the "buffet" alluded to. V CHAP consecrated (in the event of the Pope refusing the compromise offered), therefore it is enacted (1) That A.D. 1533 no person shall henceforth be presented to the Bishop of Rome, nor apply for bulls from him. (2) That the King and his successors, on the avoidThe congé ance of any see, "may grant" to the chapter "a d'élire to license under the great seal, as of old time hath been continue accustomed, to proceed to election of an archbishop or bishop of the see so void." This license contained no restriction as to the person to be elected, but with a let- (3) it was to be issued" with a letter missive conter of nomi- taining the name of the person which they shall nation nomina tion by lapse elect and choose by virtue of which license the said dean and chapter, or prior and convent, to whom any such license and letters missive shall be directed, shall with all speed and celerity, in due form elect and choose the same person named in the said letters missive to the dignity and office of the archbishopric or bishopric so being void, and none other." (4) That Absolute if the chapter delay or defer the election above twelve days, the king may nominate a bishop to the see by letters patent under his great seal, directed to the metropolitan of that or any other province, or (in case of an archiepiscopal see) to two bishops of the province, and an archbishop of another province, or to four bishops of any sees within the realm. (5) That when any such royal nomination, or a cerBishops to tificate of due election, signed by the dean and under chapter, is conveyed to the archbishop or bishops, anthority they shall at once proceed to consecrate the person nominated, giving and using to him "pall and all other benedictions, ceremonies, and requisites," without applying for them to the See of Rome. (6) Lastly, if the chapter refuse or delay beyond twelve consecrate indicated |