MarginaliaEcclesiasticall lawes ordeyned by auncient kyngs of this Realme.FOr somuch  

as it is, and hath bene a persuasion lōg gendered in the heades of many, that the Byshops of Rome be the vniuersall heades of the whole militant Church of Christ in earth: and haue alwayes so continued from the begynnyng of the primitiue tyme And that no Prince, Kyng, nor Emperour in his own Realme hath any interest to intermedle with matters and lawes Ecclesiasticall, but onely the sayd Byshops of Rome: to refell and remoue that opinion out of the heades of all English men, as a thyng most false, and cōtrary both to histories of tyme, and examples of auncient kynges & gouernours of this Realme, I thought to fill vp a litle end of paper here left, with some such brief rehearsall of lawes diuised & appointed by kinges and rulers of this land, for the ordering of the Church, and causes Ecclesiasticall: to þ^e intent that all the world may see, the gouernement of Christes Church here in earth vnder Christ, hath not depended onely of the Pope from auncient tyme, but hath bene rather directed by such Kynges and Princes, as God here had placed vnder him to gouerne the people of this Realme of England, as foloweth here in this present table to bee noted.

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MarginaliaEcclesiasticall lawes of K. Ina.1. FIrst king Inas who reigned in this land the yeare of our Lord. DCCxij. commaunded, that Ministers should frame their conuersation of lyfe accordyng to the forme in lawes prescribed.

2. That Infantes should be Baptised within. 30. dayes.3. Item, that no man, lay or spirituall, free or bonde, should labour vpon the Sonday.

4. Item, he established immunitie of Churches, & Sanctuarie. Also he tooke order for þ^e true payment of Church dueties, and of the first frutes of all that was sowē to be payd at the day of S. Martine.

MarginaliaKynd Alluredes lawes.1. KIng Alured, after he had ordeined diuers iudiciall punishmētes for violating the holy preceptes of God commaunded by Moses, he also confirmed and enlarged the priuiledge of Sanctuary: he layd double payne vpon such as committed offences in the solemnities of certeine feastes: Also agaynst them that committed sacrilege.

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2. He made a law agaynst Priestes cōmittyng murder.

3. Also he made a law against whoredome, adultery, and fornication.

4. He appointed dayes of fastyng, and ceasing from labour.

5. Item, he set order for makyng and kepyng vowes.

MarginaliaKyng Edwardes lawes.1. FIrst, they agreed vpō the Sanctuary: they forbad Gentilitie  

and Paganisme: they layd punishment vpon the Clergy committyng theft, periury, or murther, fornication, or any capitall crime.

2. They punished Priests, that pretermitted their office in pronouncyng festiuall, or fastyng dayes.

3. They made a law agaynst all labour, buyng, and sellyng vpon the Sabbaoth: also for kepyng of feastes. Itē, for no execution to be done on the Sonday. Also agaynst wytches and sorcerers. &c.

MarginaliaKyng Ethelstanes lawes.1. KIng Ethelstan, who reigned the yeare of our Lord DCCCCxxiiij.  

commaūded that euery village of his owne, should giue a monethly corrodie   to a poore person.

2. That fifty Psalmes should be sōg dayly in þ^e Church, for the kyng &c.

3. He also ordeined punishement for witches, and sorcerers. &c.

MarginaliaK. Edmundes lawes.1. AFter kyng Ethelstan folowed kyng Edmund about the yeare of our Lord. 940,  

who established and prouided lawes agaynst the vnchast lyuyng of Churchmen.

2. Item, he made lawes concernyng tythes, with first fruites of euery mans croppe, and almose money duely to be payd.

3. Item, he enacted that Byshops of their owne proper charges should repayre Churches, & should also admonish the kyng for the furnishyng of the same.

4. For periury also, and for fightyng within the Church, he set lawes and paynes.

MarginaliaKyng Edgars lawes.KIng Edgar, who began his reigne about the yeare of our Lord. 959.  

amongest other constitutions Ecclesiasticall, ordeined, that the Sonday should be kept holy from Saterday at noone till Monday in the mornyng.

2. Item, he ordeined and decreed concernyng liberties and fredomes of þ^e Church, for tythes also, & first frutes of corne, and paying of Peterpence.

3. Item, for holy dayes and fastyng dayes.

4. Item, that assēbles or Synodes should be kept twise euery yeare, whereat as well the Byshop of the Dioces should be present as the Ciuill Magistrate.

Marginaliakyng Ethelredes lawes.KIng Æthelrede also which succeded after Edgar, and Edward appointed diuers lawes for publicke regiment. Wherof we finde but few touchyng matters Ecclesiasticall, for tythes, lyghtes, feastes  

and nothyng els, and therfore we passe further to the lawes of Canutus.  

MarginaliaKyng Canutus lawes.CAnutus the Dane kyng began to reigne in this land in the yeare of our Lord. 1016. The sayd Canutus (as Æthelrede had done before) diuided his lawes into Ecclesiasticall and temporall.

1. That Ecclesiasticall parsons beyng accused of fightyng, murder, or any other offence, should purge them selues therof.

2. That Priests should be degraded for periury, and put in sureties of good behauiour.

3. He prayeth Priestes, that they will lyue chast, and cōmaunded other Religious.

4. He limited the degrees of Mariage.

5. Item, he cōmaunded celebration of the Sabbaoth frō Saterday at noone till Monday mornyng, as Edgar had done before, forbiddyng markets, huntynges, labours, & Court kepynges, duryng the sayd space.

6. He ordeined eche Christen man to come to the housell thrise yearely at the least: That they search and enquire after Gods law, and his commaundementes.

7. That euery Christian man vnderstand the pointes of his fayth, and that at the least hee learne perfectly the Lordes prayer, and the Creede, and that who so euer can not the same, shall be excluded from the Eucharist, & shal not be receiued to vndertake for others in baptisme.

8. That Byshops and Priestes should do theyr duties: that they cry out and warne theyr flockes whē the Wolfe commeth.

9. That at the Court of euery Shyre, the Bishop of the Dioces shall be presēt with the Shriefe, and that the one shall teache them Gods lawe, and the other mans, as ye heard in K. Edgars lawes before.

Many other lawes both Ecclesiasticall and temporall beside these were enacted by these and other kings here in England before the Conquest, but these be sufficient to giue the vnderstandyng reader to consider, how the authoritie of the Byshops of Rome, all this while, extended not so farre to prescribe lawes for gouernement of the Church, but that Kynges and Princes of the Realme, as they be now, so were then full

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