monks, "a license under the great seal" 1 to elect the person named in the letters missive, which right, if not exercised within twelve days, should be forfeited to the crown. It was further provided that the prelate named or elected, after he had sworn fealty, and after he had been invested and consecrated, should sue his temporalities out of the king's hands, and make corporal oath to the king and to no other.2 This ancient method of nominating and electing bishops and arch- the method employed bishops by congé d'élire, under which the real power of ap- to the prepointment was vested in the crown, has continued in force to sent day. the present day, although its character has been completely transformed by the growth of the modern constitution, under which the appointing power has passed from the crown to the minister, who represents the will of the people.3 first succes In order to remove as far as possible the doubt and uncer- Henry's tainty which still surrounded the legitimacy of the princess sion act; Elizabeth, there was also passed at this session the first of Henry's statutes for the settlement of the royal succession, which, after adjudging that his marriage with Catherine was null, and that his subsequent marriage with Anne was valid, carefully marked out the order in which the children of Anne should follow him. First, the sons were to succeed, with their heirs; if sons failed them, then "to the eldest issue female, which is the Lady Elizabeth, now Princess . . . and so from issue female to issue female, and to the heirs of their bodies, one after another, by course of inheritance, according to their 1 The license contained no restriction, but it was attended" with a letter missive containing the name of the person which they shall elect and choose." 2 For commentaries upon this act, see Amos, Reformation Parliament, pp. 270-273; Reeves' Hist. Eng. Law, vol. iii. p. 242 and note (a). The account given by Amos of the controversy touching the congé d'élire, which occurred in the reign of James I., and to which Coke was a party, is specially interesting. 8 "Practically therefore our English prelate, alone among all the prelates of the world, is now raised to his episcopal throne by the same popular election which raised Ambrose to his epis copal chair at Milan.”- Green, Hist. 425 Hen. VIII. c. 22. Amos, Refor- all alle due to Henry as king and pontiff : statute to remedy de foreign laws, foreign authority, prescription, or any other thing or things to the contrary thereof notwithstanding." The fact above all others which this parliamentary assertion of the royal supremacy was intended to establish was that, by the final secession of England from the great Christian commonwealth of which the pope was the spiritual head, the dual allegiance existing under that system was completely extinguished; that every kind of allegiance, spiritual as well as temporal, was now giance now concentrated in the head of the state as king and pontiff. In order to pave the way for the recognition of this far-reaching change, it was considered necessary to compel every subject to swear to his belief in the reality of the king's new pretensions in the succession oath, the refusal of which was declared to be treason. To remedy the defects in that oath, and fects in the to make it adequate to the end in view by putting its authority succession beyond all question, a special act was now passed,2 declaring that the oath which the commissioners had drawn should be, with certain verbal alterations, accepted as the oath which parliament had intended, and that every subject should be compelled to take it under the penalties which the succession act provided. In addition to that, another act was passed making the denial of supremacy treason, wherein it was declared to be treason to wish or will any harm to the king or queen, "or to deprive them or any of them of the dignity, title, or name of their royal estates," or to pronounce the king to be "heretic, schismatic, tyrant, infidel, or usurper." Under this act it was held not to be necessary that positive guilt should be shown; it was only necessary that a man should refuse to give satisfactory answers to such questions 5 as should be put to him, in order to incur the guilt of treason. To enforce the new system of despotism thus built up, to enable the crown. the more efficiently to execute the great mass of duties which oath; the new oath, and penalties for its refusal; 1 See above, p. 74, note 2. 8 This retroactive statute was in- point of law, of the oath required by the previous act with another oath differing from it in point of fact." 4 26 Hen. VIII. c. 13. Under the color of this statute More, Bishop Fisher, the Carthusians, and many others less famous were convicted. 5 See Lingard, vol. v. pp. 40, 41; Amos, pp. 144-148. As to More's warning to Fisher on this point, see State Papers, vol. i. p. 434. tumely and reproach) remembered, but perpetually suppressed and obscured." 1 session, separation : premacy ; In this temper it was that the parliament, whose sixth ses- Sixth sion began on the 3d of November, entered upon the task of November, completing the work of separation, which had been gradually 1534, completes the approaching consummation according to the definite and com- work of prehensive plan of Cromwell that now culminated in the Act of Supremacy, whose brief and comprehensive language defies Act of Suabridgment: "Albeit," runs the act, "the king's majesty justly and rightfully is and ought to be the supreme Head of the Church of England, and is so recognized by the clergy of this realm in their convocation, 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 on 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 the honors, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities, to the said dignity belonging and appertaining; and that our said Sovereign Lord, his heirs and successors, kings of this realm, shall have full power and authority to resist, repress, redress, reform, order, correct, restrain, and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, contempts, and enormities, whatsoever they be, which by any manner of spiritual authority or jurisdiction ought or may lawfully be reformed 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—any usage, custom, 1 Royal Proclamation, June, 1534. 2 26 Hen. VIII. c. I. The title indorsed on the original act is "The King's Grace to be authorized Supreme Head;" that on the Statute Roll is "An Act concerning the King's Highness to be Supreme Head of the Church of England, and to have authority to reform and redress all errors, heresies, and abuses in the same." See Amos, all alle giance now due to Henry as king and pontiff : statute to remedy de foreign laws, foreign authority, prescription, or any other thing or things to the contrary thereof notwithstanding." The fact above all others which this parliamentary assertion of the royal supremacy was intended to establish was that, by the final secession of England from the great Christian commonwealth of which the pope was the spiritual head, the dual allegiance existing under that system was completely extinguished; that every kind of allegiance, spiritual as well as temporal, was now concentrated in the head of the state as king and pontiff. In order to pave the way for the recognition of this far-reaching change, it was considered necessary to compel every subject to swear to his belief in the reality of the king's new pretensions in the succession oath,1 the refusal of which was declared to be treason. To remedy the defects in that oath, and fects in the to make it adequate to the end in view by putting its authority succession beyond all question, a special act was now passed,2 declaring that the oath which the commissioners had drawn should be, with certain verbal alterations, accepted as the oath which parliament had intended, and that every subject should be compelled to take it under the penalties which the succession act provided. In addition to that, another act was passed making the denial of supremacy treason, wherein it was declared to be treason to wish or will any harm to the king or queen, "or to deprive them or any of them of the dignity, title, or name of their royal estates," or to pronounce the king to be "heretic, schismatic, tyrant, infidel, or usurper." Under this act it was held not to be necessary that positive guilt should be shown; it was only necessary that a man should refuse to give satisfactory answers to such questions as should be put to him, in order to incur the guilt of treason. To enforce the new system of despotism thus built up, to enable the crown the more efficiently to execute the great mass of duties which oath; the new oath, and penalties for its refusal ; 1 See above, p. 74, note 2. 8 This retroactive statute was in- 5 point of law, of the oath required by the previous act with another oath differing from it in point of fact." 4 26 Hen. VIII. c. 13. Under the color of this statute More, Bishop Fisher, the Carthusians, and many others less famous were convicted. 5 See Lingard, vol. v. pp. 40, 41; Amos, pp. 144-148. As to More's warning to Fisher on this point, see State Papers, vol. i. p. 434. vicar the ecclesiastical supremacy had cast upon it, Henry's first step was to appoint Cromwell, the architect of the new order, Cromwell its chief administrator with the title of vicar-general, thus appointed reproducing by the concentration of the supreme ecclesiastical general; jurisdiction in the hands of a subject, who as first minister already wielded the supreme civil jurisdiction, substantially the same condition of things that had existed in the days of Wolsey. When thus armed with supreme power, Cromwell never for a moment faltered in the perilous task of pressing his policy to its ultimate conclusion. In order to emphasize the fact that the king was really pontiff, an act 2 was passed, in which it was firstfruits provided that the firstfruits and tenths of the annual income taken from of all ecclesiastical benefices, which had but lately been taken the pope and given away from Clement as against all right and conscience, should to the king; be "united and knit to the king's imperial crown forever." After the passage of another act, which provided for the statute creating appointment of twenty-six suffragan bishops, the parliament twenty-six adjourned, not to meet again for more than a year. and tenths new bishop rics. During that interval it was that the new vicar-general addressed himself to the task of illustrating, through the sacrifice of many noble victims, the fact that the royal supremacy which had been admitted by convocation and ratified by parliament was no barren theory, but a terrible reality. By the Act of The new Supremacy, the king had been declared head of the church of persecuwith "the title and style thereof;" by the penal act which fol- tion, lowed as a corollary thereto, it was declared that any attempt to deprive him "of the dignity, title, or name" of his royal estate should constitute high treason; under the special act 1 He was appointed "the royal vicegerent, vicar-general, and principal commissary, with all the spiritual authority belonging to the king as head of the church, for the due administration of justice in all cases touching the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and the godly reformation and redress of all errors, heresies, and abuses in the said church." -St. 31 Hen. VIII. c. 10; Wilkins, Conc., vol. iii. p. 784. The ecclesiastical courts were permitted, however, to retain their jurisdiction, each judge making an addition to his style of auctoritate serenissimæ regiæ majestatis in hac parte legitime fulcitus. Amos, p. 283, and note 2. See 2 26 Hen. VIII. c. 3. 8 26 Hen. VIII. c. 14. This act was passed as a supplement to the act of 25 Hen. VIII. c. 20, which had failed to provide for the appointment and consecration of suffragan bishops such as had been "accustomed to be had" for the assistance of diocesan bishops. See Blount, vol. i. p. 267, note 6, where all the details are given. 4 The crime of treason, which is as old as English law, is briefly described by Glanvill (lib. xiv. ch. 1), who says, "Cum quis itaque de morte regis, vel de seditione regni, vel exercitus infamatur aut certus accusator apparet aut non." Then follows the definition of machinery |