326 Constitutional History. [chai>.
spirit was rampant, and none was heard. In 1390 the Statute
of Provisors was re-enacted and confirmed, and in 1393 the
great Statute of Praemunire secured, for the time, the ob-
servance of the Statute of Provisors’. In 1395 the election to
Exeter was made without papal interference ; but in 1396 the
bishops of Worcester and S. Asaph were appointed by pro-
vision 2 ; and in 1397 Eichard procured the pope’s assistance in
translating Arundel to S. Andrews, and in appointing Walden
to Canterbury3 ; Boniface IX, the same year, translated bishop
Bockingham from Lincoln to Lichfield against his own will, and
appointed Henry Beaufort in his placei.
Right of
election re-
vived under
Henry V,
for a short
time.
386. Archbishop Arundel and Henry IV managed the epi-
scopal appointments during the later years of the great schism ;
and Henry V, among the other pious acts by which he earned
the support of the clergy, recognised the elective rights of the
chapters, the parliament also agreeing that the confirmation of
the election should, during the vacancy of the apostolic see, be
performed as it had been of old by the metropolitans 5. Eor
two or three years the whole of the long-disused process was
revived and the church was free. But Martin V, when he
found himself seated firmly on his throne, was not content to
wield less power than his predecessors had claimed. He pro-
vided thirteen bishops in two years, and threatened to suspend
Chichele’s legation because he was unable to procure the repeal
of the restraining statutes. An attempt of the pope however
to force bishop Fleming into the see of York was signally
defeated6. The weakness and devotion of Henry YI laid him
1 16 Rich. II. Stat. 5 ; Statutes, ii. 84, 85. 2 Rymer, vii. 793, 797.
3 See above, vol. ii. p. 519. 4 Wals. ii. 228.
5 Rot. Parl. iv. 71. The proceedings in the cases of Norwich, Hereford,
and Salisbury in 1416 and 1417 may be found in archbishop Chichele’s
Register.
c On the death of archbishop Bowet in 1423, the pope translated bishop
Fleming of Lincoln to the vacant see ; the chapter who, with the royal
licence and assent had chosen bishop Morgan of Worcester, refused to
receive Fleming; and after some discussion the dispute was compromised
by the translation of bishop Kemp from London to York. This was agreed
on by the council Jan. 14, 1426 ; on the 8tb of April Kemp was elected to
York, on the 22nd he received the temporalities, and on the 20th of July
the pope consented to ‘ provide ’ him. 8ee Ord. iii. 180 ; Godwin, de Praes.
p. 692.
XiX.] Depriratioti of Dishops. 327
open to much aggression ; during the whole of Stafford’s Plan foɪ-
. .η r>-l, , ,1 1 ... .. Iowedunder
primacy the pope filled up the sees by provision ; the council Henry VI.
nominated their candidates ; at Bome the proctors of the parties
contrived a compromise ; whoever otherwise lost or gained, the
apostolic see obtained a recognition of its claim ɪ. During the
later years of our period the deficiency of records makes it
impossible to determine whether the exercise of that claim
were real or nominal ; certainly the kings had no difficulty in
obtaining the promotion of their creatures ; a few Italian
absentees were, on the other hand, allowed to hold sees in
England and act as royal agents at Rome. Under Henry VII ^ɪeɪmfa
and Henry VIII the royal nominees were invariably chosen ; winner,
the popes had other objects in view than the influencing of
the national churches, and the end of their spiritual domination
was at hand. The clergy too were unable to stand alone
against royal and papal pressure, and placed themselves at the
disposal of the government ; the government was ready to use
them, and paid for their service by promotion.
English church history during the middle ages furnishes Cases of.
happily only very few instances in which a bishop was for any
penal reason removed from his see. In these few cases, for
the sake of security no doubt, the papal assistance was gener-
ally invoked. 'William the Conqueror got rid of the native
prelates, with the aid of a legation from Rome, by the act
of a national council. Everhard of Montgomery, bishop of
Norwich, is said to have been deposedin 1145 for cruelty;
and the same year Sefirid of Chichester was removed from
his see ; but history has in neither case recorded the exact
process2. Geoffrey of S. Asaph was compelled in 1175 to
1 Abundant illustrations of this diplomacy will be found in the Proceed-
ings of the Privy Council and among Beckingtoifs Letteis. In 1434 the
king at the instance of the commons appointed Bouichier to Worcester,
the pope provided Thomas Brouns to the same see ; Bochester, which was
in the archbishop’s patronage, was vacant at the time ; the quarrel was
settled by the appointment of Brouns to Rochester; Ord. iv. 278, 281,
285.
2 H. Hunt. ; Ang. Sac. ii. 700 ; Chvon. Peterb. ed. Giles, p. 920. It is
probable that they were mere cases of retirement or resignation. Fver-
hard retired to Fontenay ; B. Coggesh. p. 12 ; Seffrid, it is said, to Glas-
tonbury.