or incur

days to elect the person named in the letters missive, CHAP or if the archbishop or bishops refuse to consecrate such person within twenty days, they "shall run into A.D. 1533 the dangers, pains, and penalties, of the Statute of 'the Provision and Præmunire made in the five-and- penalty of twentieth year of the reign of King Edward the the Act Third, and in the sixteenth year of King Richard the Second."

breaking

still in

The above statute is that under which bishops are The Act still appointed. For a few years the congé d'élire force was altogether abolished, as being a mere pretence, by Edward VI. [1 Edw. VI. cap. 2]: but both the Act of Henry and that of Edward having been repealed by Queen Mary [1 Mar. cap. 2; and

V

CHAP 1, 2 Phil. & Mar. cap. 8], that of Henry only was revived by Queen Elizabeth [1 Eliz. cap. 1] in the A.D. 1533 act restoring its "ancient jurisdiction" to the Crown. The settlement thus made has not been disturbed by any subsequent legislation, and the license to elect is still counterbalanced and nullified by the letters missive naming the one and only person whose election the Crown will accept.

with autho

to bishops

cration

§ 4. SPIRITUAL JURISDICTION TRANSFERRED FROM THE POPE TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

It will be observed that the abolition of the Pope's power in respect to episcopal appointments was kept No inter- quite clear of the Act of Consecration, no change ference whatever being made in the customs and ceremonies rity given so far as they were associated with the spiritual by conse- phase of the episcopal office. But there were some functions that had been exercised by the Pope which were of a more directly spiritual nature than his interference with episcopal appointments had been, the granting, namely, of Dispensations, by which laws of the Church might be set aside, or licenses for doing that which the Church had for bidden. It is a remarkable evidence of the caution functions with which the legislative part of the Reformation from popes was carried out, that this dispensing power, when bishops of taken away from the Pope, was not vested in the King, but in the highest ecclesiastical person of the

But some

transferred

to arch

Canter

bury

7 This act was altogether repealed by 1 Jac. I. cap. 25, § 48, and a committee of Lords and Commons endeavoured three years afterwards to prove that Edward's

Act was thus revived, but the judges decided that this was not the case, and that elections must still take place.

V

A. D.

realm, the Archbishop of Canterbury. This was CHAP done by an Act of Parliament [25 Hen. VIII. cap. 21] in 1533-4; which again was confirmed and extended by a later Act [28 Hen. VIII. cap. 16] passed in 1536.

1533-4

tion by

abolished

tion to

The first of these Acts is entitled, "The Act concerning Peter-Pence and Dispensations;" but Peter's-Pence had already ceased to be paid, and so little is said about them in the Act that the prominence given to them in its title must arise from the accident of their being mentioned in the introductory words. The Act does, in fact, sweep away All taxaall that remained of accustomed payments to the See Rome of Rome, but the enactment respecting them only occupies one-twentieth part of the enacting clauses, and nineteen-twentieths are enactments respecting Dispensations and other instruments of a like nature. A large proportion of these are technical, but the earlier part is very important. It enacts (1) That Applica neither the sovereign nor the subjects of this realm Rome for shall ever thereafter sue to the Pope, or to any of his Dispensadeputies, for "Licenses, Dispensations, Compositions, tions, &c., Faculties, Grants, Rescripts, Delegacies, or any other Instruments or Writings, of what kind, name, nature, or quality soever they be of," for any cause whatever. (2) That such Dispensations, Faculties, Such docu&c., shall be henceforth granted to the sovereign and henceforth his subjects by the Archbishop of Canterbury, pro-foote vided that nothing shall be so granted which is Archrepugnant to the law of God, or has not been customarily granted formerly by the Bishop of Rome. (3) In case any such Dispensations, &c., should be required which were of a novel kind, they are not to be granted by the Archbishop until he has obtained.

Faculties,

"forbidden

ments

come

bishop

CHAP

V

A. D. 1533-4

a license for the purpose from the King or the Council. (4) All Dispensations, &c., so obtained from the Archbishop of Canterbury shall be as valid as if they had been obtained from the Bishop of Rome; the more important ones being confirmed Past acts under the great seal, and enrolled in Chancery. The of the Pope second Act was for the purpose of confirming all legalized

Church of England declared to be

still catholic

Papal Dispensations that were not contrary to law, and of establishing in their offices those ecclesiastics who had received them under authority from the See of Rome.

The nineteenth clause of this Act about ecclesiastical jurisdiction is of great importance, containing a statutory declaration that it is not intended to force the Church of England into an uncatholic position, or to change its character as a sound branch of the Church. It as follows:

"Provided always, that this Act, nor any thing or things therein contained, shall be hereafter interpreted or expounded that your grace, your nobles and subjects intend by the same to decline or vary from the Congregation of Christ's Church in any things concerning the very articles of the Catholick faith of Christendom, or in any other things declared by Holy Scripture and the Word of God, necessary for your and their Salvations, but only to make an ordinance by policies necessary and convenient to repress vice, and for good conservation of this realm in peace, unity, and tranquillity, from rapine and spoil, ensuing much the old ancient customs of this realm in that behalf: not minding to seek for any relief, succours, or remedies for any worldly things and human laws, in any cause of necessity, but within this realm, at the hands of your highness, your heirs and successors, kings of this realm, which have, and ought to have, an imperial power and authority in the same, and not obliged in any worldly causes to any other superior."

This clause and the general tenor of this Act, as

IV

A. D.

1533-4

well as of the Act of Appeals, make it clear that the CHAP intention of the Reformation was to transfer all jurisdiction that was of a spiritual kind to spiritual persons within the realm, and not to the Crown. It was a difficult undertaking, and possibly some over- Difficulty sights may have occurred which left open a door for the entrance of abuses in later days; but a great effort was made to legislate effectually on the subject, and in a Catholic spirit.

of prevent. ing abuses

from

arising

5. EDUCATION OF PUBLIC OPINION

pulpits

Meanwhile measures were being taken for gaining the goodwill of the people at large towards the great constitutional reformation involved in the repudiation of the Papal jurisdiction. Some Privy Council memoranda of the year 1533 are preserved among the State Papers, which contain some curious evidence of the manner in which the pulpit was used for this purpose, and show what a powerful engine it was in the hands of those who could gain the clergy to their side on any great national question. The Tuning the bishops were to be sent for and spoken with separately as to their opinions, the crucial question being put to them whether the Pope was above a General Council, or the Council above him. Then those who could be persuaded to do so were to set forth, preach, and cause to be preached, that the Pope ought to be subordinate to a General Council, and that he had no legitimate jurisdiction in England. The "Paul's Cross" sermons are specially as to the named, and so also are the four orders of friars; and question it is particularly mentioned respecting the Friars

supremacy