In the Middle Ages amidst the nations of Europe, two powers contended for supremacy — the Pope and the King.
The Pope, as the Vicar of Jesus Christ, first assumed the title of Universal Bishop and afterward claimed temporal dominion over all the monarchs of Christendom. Long and fierce struggles ensued in consequence of this claim and much blood was shed. In some countries the strife was carried on for centuries, but in England it was happily terminated at an early period. The great man to whose wisdom, patriotism and piety the nation mainly owes this happy result was John Wicliffe.
In the early years of the thirteenth century, the kingdom of England became subject to the Pope. A dispute had arisen between King John and the canons of Canterbury concerning the election of an archbishop for that diocese, in place of Hubert, who died in 1205. Both the canons and the king appealed to the Pope, and sent agents to Rome. The pontifical chair was then filled by Innocent III, who, like his predecessor, Gregory VII, was vigorously striving to subordinate the rights and powers of princes to the Papal See and to take into his own hands all the ecclesiastical appointments of the Christian nations, so that through the bishops and priests he might govern at his will all the kingdoms of Europe.
Innocent annulled both the election of the canons and also that of the king and caused his own nominee, Cardinal Langton, to be chosen to the See of Canterbury. But more than this, he claimed the right for the Pontiff of appointing to this seat of dignity for all coming time.
John was enraged when he saw this action taken by the Pope. If he now appoints to the See of Canterbury, the most important dignity in England save the throne, will he not also appoint to the throne itself? The king protested with many oaths that the papal nominee should never sit in the archiepiscopal chair. He turned the canons of Canterbury out of doors, ordered all the prelates and abbots to leave the kingdom, and bade defiance to Rome. Innocent III smote England with interdict. The church doors were closed, the lights at the altars were extinguished, the bells ceased to be rung, the crosses and images were taken down and laid on the ground, infants were baptized in the church-porch, marriages were celebrated in the churchyard, the dead were buried in ditches or in the open fields. No one durst rejoice, or eat flesh, or shave his beard, or pay any decent attention to his person or apparel. It was meet that only signs of distress, mourning and woe should be visible throughout a land over which there rested the wrath of the Almighty; for so did the men of those days account the ban of the Pontiff.
King John braved this state of things for two years, when Innocent pronounced sentence of excommunication upon him, absolving his subjects from their allegiance, and offering the crown of England to Philip Augustus, King of France. Philip collected a mighty armament, and prepared to cross the Channel and invade the territories of the excommunicated king.
At this time John was on bad terms with his barons on account of his many vices and dared not depend upon their support. He saw the danger in which he stood, and, losing what little courage he possessed, determined upon an unconditional surrender to the Pope. He claimed an interview with Pandolf the papal legate, and, after a short conference, engaged to make full restitution to the clergy for the losses they had suffered. He then “resigned England and Ireland to God, to St. Peter and St. Paul, and to Pope Innocent and his successors in the apostolic chair, agreeing to hold these dominions as feudatory of the Church of Rome, by the annual payment of a thousand marks; also stipulating that if he or his successors should ever presume to infringe this charter, they should instantly, except upon admonition they repented of their offense, forfeit all right to their dominions.”
The transaction was ended by the King of England kneeling before the legate of the Pope, and, taking the crown from his head, offering it to Pandolf, saying, “Here I resign the crown of the realm of England into the Pope’s hand, Innocent III, and put me wholly in his mercy and ordinance.”
This event occurred on the May 15th, 1213, and never has there been a moment of profounder humiliation for England.
This dastardly conduct on the part of their king aroused the patriotism of the nation. The barons determined that they would never be the slaves of a Pope, and, unsheathing their swords, they vowed to maintain the ancient liberties of England or die in the attempt. On the 15th of June, 1215, they compelled John to sign Magna Charta at Runnymede, and thus in effect to tell Innocent that he revoked his vow of vassalage, and took back the kingdom which he had laid at his feet. The Pope was furious. He issued a bull declaring that he annulled the charter, proclaiming all its obligations and guarantees void.
From this reign England may date her love of liberty and dread of popery. At its commencement the distinction which had existed since the conquest between Norman and Saxon was broadly marked, and the Norman baron looked upon his Saxon neighbor with contempt, his common form of indignant denial being, “Do you take me for an Englishman?” Toward its close there was a drawing together of the two races, and from their amalgamation was afterward formed the bold and strong English people, who, in the fourteenth century, offered so stout a resistance to the arrogant claims of the Roman See.
But, while feeling a dread of the papacy, the people still held to the doctrines of Rome. Enveloped in ignorance and sunk in social degradation and vice, they had not the Scriptures to enlighten their path. The Bible was a sealed book. Freedom of conscience was denied, and the religion of the country consisted in outward ceremonials, appealing to the senses but not influencing the heart. D’Aubigne, the historian of the Reformation, states: “Magnificent churches and the marvels of religious art, with ceremonies and a multitude of prayers and chantings, dazzled the eyes, charmed the ears and captivated the senses, but testified also to the absence of every strong moral and Christian disposition and the predominance of worldliness in the Church. At the same time, the adoration of images and relics, saints, angels and Mary, the mother of God, transporting the real Mediator from the throne of mercy to the seat of vengeance, at once indicated and kept up among the people that ignorance of truth and absence of grace which characterize popery.”
Foxe, the martyrologist, quaintly says, “The people were taught to worship no other thing but that which they did see; and they did see almost nothing which they did not worship.”
The nation groaned under the encroachments and exactions of the Pontiff. Not content with the ancient patrimony of Peter’s pence, the Pope strove in various ways to drain the country of its wealth. The right was claimed of nominating to all the important benefices of England. Foreign ecclesiastics were appointed to rich English livings, and, although they neither resided in the country nor performed any duty therein, they received the revenues from their livings and expended them abroad.
Besides the actual nomination to Church livings when vacant, the Pope, by what was called a reservation, assumed the power of reserving to himself the next presentation to any benefice he pleased; and by another instrument, which he called a provisor, he issued an appointment to such benefice beforehand. The rights of the legal patron were set aside, and he had either to buy up the Pope’s provisor or allow his nominee to enjoy the benefice.
In the year 1229, a tenth of the movables of England was demanded, and obtained, to aid the Pope in carrying on a war in which he was engaged. A few years later a fifth was exacted.
In 1352 the parliament requested that “remedy might be had against the Pope’s reservations, by which he received the first-fruits from all ecclesiastical dignities, a greater consumption to the country than all the king’s wars.” In another parliament held in 1376 a protest was made “against the usurpations of the Pope, as being the cause of all the plagues, murrains, famines and poverty of the land,” it being further stated “that the taxes paid to the Pope do amount to five times as much as those paid to the king from the whole realm.”
The results of these continual imposts were ruinous to the nation; learning and the arts were discouraged, hospitals fell into decay, the churches became dilapidated, the lands were neglected and to the latter circumstance Parliament attributed the frequent famines and plagues that visited the people.
Monasteries abounded in the country, and begging friars spread over the land; these still further tending to encourage superstition and to impoverish the people.
The abuses of the papacy did not however go unchallenged. In 1229 the barons refused a pecuniary grant solicited by Gregory IX; in the reign of Henry III. Grostête, the pious Bishop of Lincoln, raised his voice against the corruption and simony of the Roman See; the evangelical Bradwardine, early in the next century, studied the Scriptures and prayed for the salvation of the Church; stringent Acts were passed, with the view of vindicating the majesty of the law and guarding the property of the nation and the liberties of the subject against the encroachments of Rome. But it was not until the later years of the reign of Edward III that a successful stand was made against the power of the papacy; he who was the honored instrument in God’s hands of bringing this to pass, and of bringing to light the Word of Truth, which had so long been hidden from the people, was — John Wicliffe.
How precious is the Book Divine,
By inspiration given;
Bright as a lamp its doctrines shine,
To guide our souls to heaven.
This lamp, through all the tedious night
Of life shall guide our way;
Till we behold the clearer light
Of an eternal day.