VII. 3.

Resistance of the Sovereigns and Legislature of England to the attempts of the Popes to establish in it their Temporal Power.

ABOUT the year 726, king Ina subjected the West Saxon division of England,-about the year 793, king Offa subjected its East Saxon division,to the payment of Peter-pence, for the support of a school founded by the former at Rome, for the education of English in that city. The penny was to be collected yearly from every family,-(except those residing on estates belonging to the monastery of St. Albans),-whose lands exclusively of the tenements on them, could yield a rent of thirty pence. It is evident that these were merely settlements of revenues for a pious and charitable foundation but, in subsequent times, it was contended that the reservations contained in these grants were in the nature of quit-rents, importing an acknowledgment of territorial submission to the holy see*.

siastique, 3 vol. fol. 1725." The " Histoire de Charlemagne "par M. Gaillard, 4 vol. 8vo. Paris, 1782;" "Giannone's "Istoria de Napoli, 4 vol. 4to. Napoli, 1723;" and particularly by the "Abrégé Chronologique de l'Histoire d'Italie, 6 vol. "8vo." of the abbé St. Marc, a learned, accurate and well considered work.

*Collier, vol. i. p. 143. He cites Baronius, A. D. 740, p. 130, and Polydore Virgil, Hist. 1. iv. p. 86.-Father Persons,-(Answer to sir Edward Coke, c. vi. s. 67, 68, 69),mentions the Peter-pence as a temporal tribute, and that it was a voluntary gift of temporal jurisdiction. Father Alford,

With the exception of a short interval in the reign of Edward the third, the Peter-pence were regularly paid, till a statute in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Henry the eighth, forbad the payment of them. The collection is said to have amounted annually to 3,000 marks.

The

William the conqueror was favoured in his invasion by the reigning pontiff: he sent his blessing to the monarch and consecrated his banners. conqueror often expressed himself to the pope, in terms of reverence and duty; and acknowledged, on more than one occurrence, his spiritual supremacy; but, on every occasion, he jealously preserved the independence of his crown, against the pretensions of the Roman see.

With the same spirit, when Gregory the seventh, by Hubert his legate, solicited Henry the second to do homage to the apostolic see for the crown of England: "I will not do it," was the monarch's proper answer; "I did not promise it myself; nor "can I learn, that any of my ancestors promised "to do it."

By degrees however the papal pretensions gained strength; and, at length, to adopt the language of

(Annales ad annum 726),-mentions it in the same light, and is eloquent on the subject. Probably at first, it was in the nature of a pension from the crown, and, till a much later period, did not become a tax on the subject. It was payable on the 1st of August, the feast of St. Peter's chains; the bishops received it, and paid it over to the pope's collectors; if the bishops made default in the payment of it, they might be sued for it in the royal courts.

sir William Blackstone*, "pope Innocent had the "effrontery to demand, and king John had the "meanness to consent to a resignation of his crown "to the pope; by which England was to become "for ever St. Peter's patrimony; and the dastardly "monarch re-accepted his sceptre from the hands "of the papal legate to hold as the vassal of the "holy see, at the annual rent of 1,000 marks."

But the nation did not acquiesce in this surrender of her independence; and it was acknowledged, at least with the exception of Henry the third,―by no succeeding monarch.

During the expedition of Edward the first to Scotland, he received a letter from Boniface the eighth, in which the pope declared, that Scotland was a fief of the holy see, and required Edward to desist from force, and pursue his claim in the court of Rome. To this extraordinary requisition, the king paid no regard. The papal message was, however, laid before the parliament then assembled at Lincoln: "Having diligently read your letter," say the barons, in answer to the pope," it is,—and,

by the grace of God, shall ever be, our common " and unanimous resolution, that, with respect to "the right of his kingdom of Scotland, or any other "of his temporal rights, our aforesaid lord shall not "C plead before you; nor submit to any trial, or in“quiry; nor send any messenger, or prolocutor, "to your court, especially, as such proceedings "would be to the manifest disherison of the rights

*Com. book iv. ch. 8.

" of the crown of England, and the royal dignity; "the evident subversion of the sovereignty of the

kingdom; and to the prejudice of the liberties, "customs and laws, which we have inherited from "our fathers; and to the observance and defence "of which, we are bound to our oaths; and which "we will continue to hold to the best of our power; "and with the assistance of God, will defend with "all our strength. Neither do we, nor will we, "nor can we, nor ought we, to permit our lord the "king, to do any of the things aforesaid, even were " he ever so desirous to do them." The pope wrote to the king, that "the emperor and king of France had "submitted to him."-" If both the emperor "and the French king should take the pope's part," replied Edward, "I am ready to give battle "to them both in defence of the liberties of my 66 crown

In the 40th year of the reign of Edward the third, pope Urban the fifth attempted to revive the papal claim to vassalage and annual rent, to which king John had subjected the kingdom. In consequence of it, the king assembled his parliament, and referred the demands of the pope to them. The prelates desired a day to consult in private, and, on the next morning, answered that, "neither "John, nor any other person, could subject the

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kingdom to another power, without the consent "of the nation." The temporal peers and commons assented; and, in a public instrument, re

* Collier's Ecc. History, vol. i. p. 725.-Lingard's History of England, vol. ii. p. 438.

peated the answer of the prelates; adding that "the act of John was done without the consent of "the realm, and against the tenor of the oath taken "at his coronation." It was then resolved by the lords and commons, (the king and prelates having withdrawn), that, "if the pope attempted to enforce "his claim by process of law, or any other means, "they would resist and stand* against him, to "the very utmost of their power."

At subsequent times different statutes were passed to strengthen the foregoing laws, and extend their provisions. These statutes were generally called the statutes of præmunire. They received this appellation from the language of the writ of citation, preparatory to the prosecution upon them. By this, the sheriff was ordered "to cause the "offender to be forewarned,"-(præmunire,—a barbarous word for præmonere, facias)," N. N. to 66 appear, and to answer the contempt with which "he was charged;" which offence was recited in the preamble to the writ. The contempt was supposed to consist, in paying that obedience to a process issuing from the papal court, which was due to the king alone. The punishments inflicted by these statutes, are various. Collectively taken, they are thus shortly summed up by lord Coke,

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that, from the time of conviction the defendant "should be out of the king's protection, and his "lands and tenements forfeited to the king; and that "his body should remain at the king's pleasure."

* Lingard's History of England, vol. iii. p. 146, 147, cites Rot. Parl. ii. p. 289, 290. See also Cotton's Abridgment of Records, p. 102.