83. Ecclesiastical Sanction of the Confirmation of the Charters (1297) Book of Rights The intimate connection between Church and State in the thirteenth century is well shown by the following selection which furnishes the text of the endorsement by the ecclesiastical authority of the act of the king. In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. Whereas our sovereign lord the King, to the honour of God and of holy church, and for the common profit of the realm, hath granted for him and his heirs for ever these articles abovewritten. We, Robert archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England, admonish all those of the realm of England once, twice, and thrice- because that shortness of time will not suffer more delay, — that all and every of them of what estate soever they be, as much as in them is, do uphold and maintain these things granted by our sovereign lord the King in all points; and that they or none of them do resist or break, or in any manner hereafter procure, counsel, or any ways assent to resist or break them, or go about it, by word or deed, openly or privily, by any manner of pretence of colour; and we the foresaid archbishop, by our authority in this writing expressed, do excommunicate all such, and them from the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and from all the company of heaven, and from all the sacraments of holy church, do dissever. Fiat! Fiat! Amen! (Trans. Edgar Taylor in Book of Rights, Lond. 1831. p. 51.) 84. De Tallagio Non Concedendo (25 EDW. I, 1297) Statutes of the Realm The Statutum de Tallagio non Concedendo was originally an unauthorized interpretation of the Confirmatio Chartarum. It was not a statute, though afterward cast in that form. Its principles were of such importance in the struggles against illegal taxation that it early acquired by sufferance a place in the collections of laws. In 1628 it was quoted as a statute in the Petition of Right (which embodied its principles), and in 1637 it was judicially declared a statute. "A STATUTE CONCERNING CERTAIN LIBERTIES GRANTED BY THE KING TO HIS COMMONS" I. No tallage or aid shall be imposed or levied by us or our heirs in our realm, without the good will and assent of the archbishops, bishops, and other prelates, earls, barons. knights, burgesses, and other freemen of the land. 2. No officer of ours, or of our heirs, shall take corn, wool, leather, or any other goods, of any manner of person, without the good will and assent of the party to whom the goods belonged. 3. Nothing from henceforth shall be taken of sacks of wool in the name or by occasion of male-tolt. 4. Also we will and grant for us and our heirs, that all clerks and laymen, of our realm, shall have all their laws. liberties, and free customs, as freely and wholly as they have used to have the same at any time when they had them best and most fully: And if any statutes have been made by us or our ancestors, or any customs brought in contrary to them, or to any manner of article contained in this present charter, we will and grant, that such manner of statutes and customs shall be void and frustrate for evermore. 5. Pardon granted to certain offenders. 6. And for the more assurance of this thing, we will and grant for ourselves and our heirs, that all archbishops and bishops of England, for ever having seen and read this present charter in their cathedral churches, twice in a year, shall publicly excommunicate for ever, and upon the reading thereof in every of the parish churches of their dioceses, shall openly denounce excommunication against all those that in any way willingly do or procure to be done any thing contrary to the tenor, force, and effect of this present charter in any article. In witness whereof to this present charter, our seal is put together with the seals of the archbishops, bishops, earls, barons, and others; who voluntarily have sworn that, as much as in them is, they will observe the tenor of this present charter in all and singular its articles, and to its observance will afford their faithful aid and counsel for evermore. (Ed. from Statutes of the Realm, I, 125.) 85. The Law of Mortmain Statutes of the Realm The Statute of Mortmain was the first step taken by Edward I. in the assertion of the right of the State to control the Church when civil interests were affected by ecclesiastical action. It "stands to ecclesiastical tenures in the same position that the statute Quia Emptores stands to lay tenures." The statute given is the first, and is typical of a series, all aimed at the practice by which lands were transferred to the Church and removed from the control of lords who claimed the feudal rights, and from the possession of those to whom the lands would naturally have descended. STATUTUM DE RELIGIOSIS (7 EDW. I, 1279) Where of late it was provided, that religious men should not enter into the fees of any without licence and will of the chief lords, of whom such fees be holden immediately; and afterwards religious men have notwithstanding entered as well into their own fees, as into the fees of other men, appropriating and buying them, and sometime receiving them of the gift of others, whereby the services that are due of such fees, and which at the beginning were provided for defence of the realm, are wrongfully withdrawn, and the chief lords do lease their eschats of the same: We therefore, to the profit of our realm, intending to provide convenient remedy, by the advice of our prelates, earls, [barons,] and other our lieges, being of our council, have provided, established, and ordained, that no person, religious or other, whatsoever he be, do presume to buy or sell any lands or tenements, or under the colour of gift or lease, or by reason of any other title, whatsoever it be, to receive from any man, or by any other craft or device do appropriate to himself, lands or tenements, under pain of forfeiture of the same, whereby such lands or tenements may anywise come into Mortmain. We have provided also, that if any person, religious or other, do presume either by craft or device to offend against this statute, it shall be lawful to us, and other immediate chief lords of the fee so aliened, to enter therein within a year from the time of such alienation, and to hold it in fee and inheritance. And if the immediate chief lord be negligent, and will not enter into such fee within the year, then it shall be lawful to the next [immediate] chief lord of the same fee to enter into the same within half a year next following, and to hold it as before is said; and so every [immediate] chief lord may enter into such fee, if the next [immediate] lord be negligent in entering into the same fee, as is aforesaid. And if all such chief lords of such fees, being of full age, within the four seas, and out of prison, be negligent or slack in this behalf, we immediately after the [year] accomplished, from the time that such purchases, gifts, or other appropriations happen to be made, shall take such lands and tenements into our hands, and shall infeoff other therein, by certain services to be therefore done for the same to us for the defence of our realm; saving to the chief lords of the same fees their words and eschats, and other services to them due and accustomed. And therefore we command you, that ye cause the foresaid statute to be read before you, and from henceforth to be kept firmly and observed. Witness my self at Westminster the [fifteenth] day of November, the seventh year of our reign. (Ed. from Statutes of the Realm, I, 51.) 86. Freedom of Parliament (7 EDW. I., 1279) Book of Rights This provision is in line with the many designed to protect the commonalty when exercising their political rightss. From the days of the Saxon Kings this protection was constant in theory and usually in practice. To all Parliaments and Treatises men shall come without Force and Arms. Edward by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine; to the justices of his bench sendeth greeting. Whereas of late before certain persons deputed to treat upon sundry debates had between us and certain great men of our realm, amongst other things it was accorded, in our next parliament after, provision should be made by us and the common assent of the prelates, earls, and barons, that in all parliaments, treatises, and other assemblies which should be made in the realm of England for ever, every man shall come without all force and armour, well and peaceably to the honour of us and the peace of our realm. And now in our next parliament at Westminster after the said treatise, the prelates, earls, barons, and the commonalty of our realm, there assembled to take advice of this business, have said to us that it belongeth and our part is, through our royal seigniory, straightly to prohibit force of armour and all other force against our peace, at all times when it shall please us, and to punish them which shall do contrary, according to our laws and usages of our realm; and hereunto they are bound to aid us as their sovereign lord at all seasons when need shall be. We command you, that ye cause these things to be read afore you in the said bench, and there to be enrolled. (Book of Rights, ed. cit., p. 59. 87. Taxation of Religious Houses (35 EDW. I., 1306-7) Statutes of the Realm The statute De Asportatis Religiosorum was the first of a series of anti-papal statutes which extended even beyond the close of the Stuart period. The texts of the most important of these have been translated and are printed in full (Nos. 85, 90, 92, 93, 107, 108, 111), that the student may himself trace the claim of ecclesiastical independence put forward by English kings. The object of the following statute was to prevent the taxation of religious houses by non-resident superiors. STATUTUM DE ASPORTATIS RELIGIOSORUM In the Parliament held at Carlisle, on the Octave of St. Hilary (A.D. 1306-7) Of late it came to the knowledge of our lord the king, by the grievous complaint of the honourable persons, lords, and other noblemen of his realm, that whereas monasteries, priories, and other religious houses had been founded to the honour and glory of God, and the advancement of the Holy Church, by the king and his progenitors, and by the said noblemen and their ancestors; and a very great portion of lands and tenements had been given to them by the said monasteries, priories, and houses, and the religious men serving God in them, to the intent that as well clerks as laymen might be admitted in such monasteries and religious houses, according to their sufficient ability, and that sick and feeble men might be maintained, hospitality, almsgiving, and other charitable deeds might be exercised and done and in them, prayers might be said for the souls of the said founders and their heirs; the abbots, priors, and governors of the said houses, and certain aliens their superiors, as the abbots and priors of the orders of Cluniacenses, Cistercienses, and Premonstratenses, and of St. Augustine, and St. Benedict, and many more of other religion and order, of late, have appointed to be made and at their own pleasure ordained divers unwonted, heavy and importable tallages, payments, and impositions upon every of the said monasteries and houses in subjection unto them in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, without the privity of our lord the king and his nobility, contrary to the laws and customs of the said realm; whereby it happens that numbers of religious persons, and other servants in the said houses and other religious places being oppressed by such tallages, payments, and impositions, the service of God is diminished, and alms are withdrawn from the poor, the sick, and feeble, and the healths of the living and the souls of the dead be miserably defrauded, hospitality, almsgiving, and other deeds of charity, do cease; and so that which in times past was given to pious uses, and to the increase of the service |