The term seemed to be drawing nearer every day. In the reign of Edward III, between 1343 and 1353, again in 1364, and finally under Richard II, in 1393, those stringent laws were passed which interdicted all appeal to the court of Rome, all bulls from the Roman bishop, all excommunications, etc., in a word, every act infringing on the rights of the crown; and declared that whoever should bring such documents into England, or receive, publish, or execute them, should be put out of the king's protection, deprived of their property, attached in their persons, and brought before the king in council to undergo their trial according to the terms of the act. Such was the statute of _Præmunire_.[157]
[157] The most natural meaning of the word _præmunire_ (given more particularly to the act of 1393) seems to be that suggested by Fuller, cent. xiv, (p. 148): to fence and fortify the regal power from foreign assault. See the whole bill, _Ibid._ p. 145-147.
Great was the indignation of the Romans at the news of this law: "If the statute of _mortmain_ put the pope into a sweat," says Fuller, "this of _præmunire_ gave him a fit of fever." One pope called it an "execrable statute,"--"a horrible crime."[158] Such are the terms applied by the pontiffs to all that thwarts their ambition.
[158] Execrabile statutum....fœdum et turpe facinus. Martin V to the Duke of Bedford, Fuller, cent. xiv. p. 148.
Of the two wars carried on by Edward--the one against the King of France, and the other against popery--the latter was the most righteous and important. The benefits which this prince had hoped to derive from his brilliant victories at Crecy and Poitiers dwindled away almost entirely before his death; while his struggles with the papacy, founded as they were on truth, have exerted even to our own days an indisputable influence on the destinies of Great Britain. Yet the prayers and the conquests of Bradwardine, who proclaimed in that fallen age the doctrine of grace, produced effects still greater, not only for the salvation of many souls, but for the liberty, moral force, and greatness of England.
The Mendicant Friars--Their Disorders and Popular Indignation--Wickliffe--His success--Speeches of the Peers against the Papal Tribute--Agreement of Bruges--Courtenay and Lancaster--Wickliffe before the Convocation--Altercation between Lancaster and Courtenay--Riot--Three Briefs against Wickliffe--Wickliffe at Lambeth--Mission of the _Poor Priests_--Their Preachings and Persecutions--Wickliffe and the Four Regents.