dinances, provincial and synodal heretofore made; and such of them as the King's Highness and the said two-and-thirty, or the more part of them, shall deem and adjudge worthy to be continued, kept, and obeyed, shall be from thenceforth kept, obeyed, and executed within this realm, so that the King's most royal assent under his great seal be first had to the same; and the residue of the said canons, constitutions, and ordinances provincial which the King's Highness, and the said two-and-thirty persons, or the more part of them, shall not approve, or deem and judge worthy to be abolished, abrogated, and made frustrate, shall from thenceforth be void and of none effect, and never be put in execution within this realm. Provided always, That no canons, constitutions, or ordinances shall be made or put in execution within this realm by authority of the convocation of the clergy, which shall be contrary or repugnant to the King's prerogative royal, or the customs, laws, or statutes of this realm; anything contained in this Act to the contrary hereof notwithstanding. III. And be it further enacted by authority aforesaid, That from the feast of Easter, which shall be in the year of our Lord God one thousand five hundred and thirty-four, no manner of appeals shall be provoked or made out of this realm, or out of any of the King's dominions, to the bishop of Rome, nor to the See of Rome, in any causes or matters happening to be in contention, and having their commencement and beginning in any of the courts within this realm, or within any of the King's dominions, of what nature, condition, or quality soever they be of; but that all manner of appeals, of what nature or condition soever they be of, or what cause or matter soever they concern, shall be made and had by the parties aggrieved or having cause of appeal, after such manner, form, and condition as is limited for appeals to be had and prosecuted within this realm in causes of matrimony, tithes, oblations, and obventions, by a statute thereof made and established since the beginning of this present Parliament, and according to the form and effect of the said statute; and usage, custom, prescription, or any thing or things to the contrary hereof notwithstanding. IV. And for lack of justice at or in any the courts of the archbishops of this realm, or in any the King's dominions, it shall be lawful to the parties grieved, to appeal to the King's Majesty in the King's Court of Chancery; and that upon every such appeal, a commission shall be directed under the Great Seal to such persons as shall be named by the King's Highness, his heirs or successors, like as in case of appeal from the Admiral's Court, to hear and definitively determine such appeals, and the causes concerning the same: Which commissioners, so by the King's Highness, his heirs or successors, to be named or appointed, shall have full power and authority to hear and definitively determine every such appeal, with the causes and all circumstances concerning the same; and that such judgment and sentence as the said commissioners shall make and decree in and upon any such appeal shall be good and effectual, and also definitive; and no further appeals to be had or made from the said commissioners for the same. V. And if any person or persons, at any time after the said feast of Easter, provoke or sue any manner of appeals, of what nature or condition soever they be, to the said bishop of Rome, or to the See of Rome, or do procure or execute any manner of process from the See of Rome, or by authority thereof, to the derogation or let of the due execution of this Act, or contrary to the same, that then every such person or persons so doing, their aiders, councillors, and abettors, shall incur and run into the dangers, pains, and penalties contained and limited in the Act of Provision and Præmunire made in the sixteenth year of the King's most noble progenitor, King Richard the Second, against such as sue to the court of Rome against the King's crown and prerogative royal. VI. Provided always, That all manner of provocations and appeals hereafter to be had, made, or taken from the jurisdiction of any abbots, priors, or other heads and governors of monasteries, abbeys, priories, and other houses and places. exempt, in such cases as they were wont or might afore the making of this Act, by reason of grants or liberties of such places exempt, to have or make immediately any appeal of provocation to the bishop of Rome, otherwise called Pope, or to the See of Rome, that in all these cases every person and persons, having cause of appeal or provocation, shall and may take and make their appeals and provocations immediately to the King's Majesty of this realm, into the Court of Chancery, in like manner and form as they used afore to do to the See of Rome; which appeals and provocations so made shall be definitively determined by authority of the King's commission, in such manner and form as in this Act is above-mentioned; so that no archbishop nor bishop of this realm shall intermit or meddle with any such appeals, otherwise or in any other manner than they might have done before the making of this Act; any thing in this Act to the contrary thereof notwithstanding. VII. Provided also, That such canons, constitutions, ordinances, and synodals provincial being already made, which be not contrary or repugnant to the laws, statutes, and customs of this realm, nor to the damage or hurt of the King's prerogative royal, shall now still be used and executed as they were before the making of this Act, till such time as they be viewed, searched, or otherwise ordered or determined by the said two-and-thirty persons, or the more part of them, according to the tenor, form, and effect of this Present Act. (Ed. from Statutes at Large, ed. cit., III, p. 162.) III. The Act of Supremacy (26 HENRY VIII, c. 1, 1535) Statutes at Large of England The Act of Supremacy was little more than an ex post facto announcement, yet it had far-reaching effect. It left no ground for retreat; the position so assumed must be at all hazards maintained. THE KING'S GRACE TO BE ACKNOWLEDGED SUPREME HEAD Albeit the king's majesty justly and rightfully is and ought to be the supreme head of the church of England, and so is recognized by the clergy of this realm in their convocations, yet nevertheless for corroboration and confirmation thereof, and for increase of virtue in Christ's religion within this realm of England, and to repress and extirp all errors, heresies, and other enormities and abuses heretofore used in the same: Be it enacted by authority of this present Parliament, that the king our sovereign lord, his heirs and successors kings of this realm, shall be taken, accepted, and reputed the only supreme head in earth of the Church of England, called Anglicana Ecclesia; and shall have and enjoy, annexed and united to the imperial crown of this realm, as well the title and style thereof, as all honours, dignities, preeminencies, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities, to the said dignity of supreme head of the same church belonging and appertaining. And that our said sovereign lord, his heirs and successors kings of this realm, shall have full power and authority from time to time to visit, repress, redress, reform, order, correct, restrain, and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, of fences, contempts, and enormities, whatsoever they be, which by any manner spiritual authority ought or may lawfully be reformed, repressed, ordered, redressed, corrected, restrained, or amended, most to the pleasure of Almighty God, the increase of virtue in Christ's religion, and for the conservation of the peace, unity, and tranquillity of this realm; and usage, custom, foreign laws, foreign authority, prescription, or any other thing or things to the contrary hereof notwithstanding. (Ed. from Statutes at Large, ed. cit., III, p. 187.) 112. Denial of the Authority of the Pope Statutes at Large of England The absolute renunciation of all allegiance to the See of Rome was the natural corollary to the Act of Supremacy, and the Act containing this renunciation is one of the shortest in the statute books. Yet its meaning was unmistakable, and it gave promise of stern determination. The Act was repealed by the general words of I and II. Philip and Mary, c. VIII; but it was afterward practically re-affirmed by Elizabeth. AN ACT EXTINGUISHING THE AUTHORITY OF THE BISHOP OF ROME If any person shall extol the authority of the bishop of Rome, he shall incur the penalty of præmunire provided by Stat. 16 R. 2 c. 5. Every ecclesiastical and lay officer shall be sworn to renounce the said bishop and his authority, and to resist it to his power, and to repute any oath taken in maintenance of the said bishop, or his authority, to be void; and the refusing of the said oath, being tendered, shall be adjudged high treason. (Ed. from Statutes at Large, ed. cit., III, p. 262.) 113. The Dissolution of the Monasteries Statutes at Large of England The dissolution of the lesser monasteries was a severe blow to the Church of Rome. The following Act sets forth the reasons assigned for the suppression of these houses, as well as the determination that they shall be suppressed. It will be noted that the greater monasteries are highly spoken of; the good faith of the statements can be judged by the subsequent destruction of the last citadels of the old faith. AN ACT THAT ALL RELIGIOUS HOUSES UNDER THE YEARLY REVENUE OF TWO HUNDRED POUNDS SHALL BE DISSOLVED AND GIVEN TO THE KING AND HIS HEIRS. "Forasmuch as manifest synne, vicious, carnal, and abominable Living is daily used and committed commonly in such little and small Abbeys, Priories, and other Religious Houses of Monks, Canons, and Nuns, where the Congregation of such Religious Persons is under the Number of twelve Persons, whereby the Governors of such Religios Houses and their Covent spoyle, destroye, consume, and utterly waste, as well their Churches, Monasteries, Priories, principal Houses, Farms, Granges, Lands, Tenements, and Heriditaments, as the Ornaments of their Churches, and their Goods and Chattels, to the high Displeasure of Almighty God, Slander of good Religion, and to the great Infamy of the King's Highness and the Realm, if Redress should not be had thereof. And albeit that many continual Visitations hath been heretofore had, by the Space of two hundred Years and more, for an honest and charitable Reformation of such unthrifty, carnal, and abominable living, yet nevertheless little or none amendment is hitherto had, but their vicious living shamelessly increaseth and augmenteth, and by a cursed Custom so rooted and infected, that a great Multitude of the Religious Persons in such small Houses do rather choose to rove abroad in Apostacy, than to conform themselves to the Observation of good Religion; so that, without such small Houses be utterly suppressed, and the Religious Persons therein committed to great and honourable Monasteries of Religion in this Realm, where they may be compelled to live religiously, for Reformation of their lives, the same else be no Redress nor Reformation in that Behalf. In Consideration whereof, the King's most Royal Majesty being supreme Head on Earth, under God, of the Church of England, dayly studying and devysing the Increase, Advancement, and Exaltation of true Doctrine and Virtue in the said Church, to the only Glory and Honour of God, and the total extirping and Dystruction of Vice and Sin, having Knowledge that the Premises be true, as well by the Accompts of his late Visitations, as by sundry credible Informations, considering also that diverse and great solemn Monasteries of this Realm, wherein (Thanks be to God) Religion is right well kept and observed, be destitute of such full Number of Religious Persons, as they ought and may keep, hath |