Chapter 11: Of the Temporal Power the Pope's Followers Would Claim Over the Kingdom of Ireland

Of the temporal power, which the Pope's followers would directly entitle him to over the Kingdom of Ireland: together with the indirect power which he challenges in absolving subjects from the obedience which they owe to their temporal governors.

It now remains that in the last place we should consider the Pope's power in disposing the temporal state of this Kingdom: which either directly or indirectly, by hook or by crook, this grand usurper would draw to himself. First therefore Cardinal Allen would have us to know, that the Sea Apostolic has an old claim to the sovereignty of the country of Ireland; and that before the covenants passed between King John and the same Sea. Which challenges (says he) princes commonly yield not up, by what ground soever they come. What princes use to yield or not yield, I leave to the scanning of those, to whom princes' matters do belong: for the Cardinal's prince I dare be bold to say, that if it be not his use to play fast and loose with other princes, the matter is not now to do; whatever right he could pretend to the temporal state of Ireland, he has transferred it (more than once) to the Kings of England. And when the ground of his claim shall be looked into, it will be found so frivolous and so ridiculous, that we need not care three chips, whether he yield it up or keep it to himself. For whatever become of his idle challenges: the Crown of England has otherwise obtained an undoubted right to the sovereignty of this country; partly by conquest, prosecuted at first upon occasion of a social war, partly by the several submissions of the chieftains of the land made afterwards. For whereas it is free for all men, although they have been formerly quit from all subjection, to renounce their own right: yet now in these our days (says Giraldus Cambrensis, in his history of the Conquest of Ireland) all the princes of Ireland did voluntarily submit, and bind themselves with firm bonds of faith and oath, to Henry the second King of England. The like might be said of the general submissions made in the days of King Richard the second and King Henry the eighth: to speak nothing of the prescription of divers hundreds of years' possession; which was the plea that Jephtha used to the Ammonites, and is indeed the best evidence that the Bishop of Rome's own proctors do produce for their master's right to Rome itself.

For the Pope's direct dominion over Ireland, two titles are brought forth; beside those covenants of King John (mentioned by Allen) which he that has any understanding in our state, knows to be clearly void and worth nothing. The one is taken from a special grant supposed to be made by the inhabitants of the country, at the time of their first conversion to Christianity: the other from a right which the Pope challenges to himself over all islands in general. The former of these was devised of late by an Italian, in the reign of King Henry the eighth; the later was found out in the days of King Henry the second: before whose time not one footstep does appear in all antiquity of any claim that the Bishop of Rome should make to the dominion of Ireland; no, not in the Pope's own records, which have been curiously searched by Nicolaus Arragonius, and other ministers of his, who have purposely written of the particulars of his temporal estate. The Italian of whom I spoke, is Polydore Vergil; he that composed the book *De inventoribus rerum*, of the first inventors of things: among whom he himself may challenge a place for this invention; if the inventors of lies be admitted to have any room in that company. This man being sent over by the Pope into England for the collecting of his Peter's pence, undertook the writing of the history of that nation, wherein he forgot not by the way to do the best service he could to his lord that had employed him there. There he tells an idle tale; how the Irish being moved to accept Henry the second for their King, did deny that this could be done otherwise than by the Bishop of Rome's authority: because (forsooth) that from the very beginning, after they had accepted Christian religion, they had yielded themselves and all that they had into his power. And they did constantly affirm (says this fabler) that they had no other lord, beside the Pope: of which also they yet do brag.

The Italian is followed herein by two Englishmen, that wished the Pope's advancement as much as he; Edmund Campian and Nicholas Sanders. The one whereof writes, that immediately after Christianity planted here, the whole island with one consent gave themselves not only into the spiritual, but also into the temporal jurisdiction of the See of Rome. The other in Polydore's own words (though he name him not) that the Irish from the beginning, presently after they had received Christian religion, gave up themselves and all that they had into the power of the Bishop of Rome; and that until the time of King Henry the second, they did acknowledge no other supreme prince of Ireland, beside the Bishop of Rome alone. For confutation of which dream, we need not have recourse to our own chronicles: the Bull of Adrian the fourth, wherein he gives liberty to King Henry the second to enter upon Ireland, sufficiently discovers the vanity thereof. For, he there showing what right the Church of Rome pretended to Ireland, makes no mention at all of this (which had been the fairest and clearest title that could be alleged, if any such had been then existent in rerum naturâ) but is fain to fly to a far-fetched interest which he says the Church of Rome has to all Christian islands. Truly (says he to the King) there is no doubt, but that all islands to which Christ the Sun of Righteousness has shined, and which have received the instructions of the Christian faith, do pertain to the right of Saint Peter and the holy Church of Rome: which your nobleness also does acknowledge.

If you would further understand the ground of this strange claim, whereby all Christian islands at a clap are challenged to be parcel of Saint Peter's patrimony: you shall have it from Johannes Sarisburiensis, who was most inward with Pope Adrian, and obtained from him this very grant whereof now we are speaking. At my request (says he) he granted Ireland to the illustrious King of England Henry the second, and gave it to be possessed by right of inheritance: as his own letters do testify to this day. For all islands, of ancient right, are said to belong to the Church of Rome, by the donation of Constantine, who founded & endowed the same. But will you see, what a goodly title here is, in the mean time? First, the Donation of Constantine has been long since discovered to be a notorious forgery, and is rejected by all men of judgment as a senseless fiction. Secondly, in the whole context of this forged Donation I find mention made of islands in one place only: where no more power is given to the Church of Rome over them, than in general over the whole Continent (by East and by West, by North and by South) and in particular over Judaea, Graecia, Asia, Thracia, and Aphrica; which use not to pass in the account of Saint Peter's temporal patrimony. Thirdly, it does not appear, that Constantine himself had any interest in the Kingdom of Ireland: how then could he confer it upon another? Some words there be in an oration of Eumenius the Rhetorician, by which peradventure it may be collected, that his father Constantius bare some stroke here: but that the island was ever possessed by the Romans, or accounted a parcel of the Empire, cannot be proved by any sufficient testimony of antiquity. Fourthly, the late writers that are of another mind, as Pomponius Laetus, Cuspinian, and others, do yet affirm withal, that in the division of the Empire after Constantine's death, Ireland was assigned to Constantinus the eldest son: which will hardly stand with this donation of the islands supposed to be formerly made to the Bishop of Rome and his successors. Pope Adrian therefore, and John of Salisbury his solicitor, had need seek some better warrant for the title of Ireland, than the Donation of Constantine.

John Harding in his Chronicle says, that the Kings of England have right To Ireland also, by King Henry (le fitz Of Maude, daughter of first King Henry) That conquered it, for their great heresie. which in another place he expresseth more at large, in this manner: The King Henry then, conquered all Ireland By Papal dome, there of his royaltee The profits and revenues of the land The domination, and the sovereignty For error which agayn the spiritualtee They held full long, and would not been correct Of heresies, with which they were infect. Philip Osullevan on the other side, does not only deny that Ireland was infected with any heresy: but would also have us believe, that the Pope never intended to confer the Lordship of Ireland upon the Kings of England. For where it is said in Pope Adrian's Bull; Let the people of that land receive you, and reverence you as a Lord: the meaning thereof is, says this Glozer, Let them reverence you, as a Prince worthy of great honor; not as Lord of Ireland, but as a Deputy appointed for the collecting of the ecclesiastical tribute. It is true indeed that King Henry the second, to the end he might the more easily obtain the Pope's good will for his entering upon Ireland, did voluntarily offer to him the payment of a yearly pension of one penny out of every house in the country: which (for ought that I can learn) was the first ecclesiastical tribute that ever came to the Pope's coffers out of Ireland. But that King Henry got nothing else by the bargain but the bare office of collecting the Pope's Smoke-silver (for so we called it here, when we paid it) is so dull a conceit; that I do somewhat wonder how Osullevan himself could be such a blockhead, as not to discern the senselessness of it.

What the King sought for and obtained, is sufficiently declared by them that writ the history of his reign. In the year of our Lord 1155, the first Bull was sent to him by Pope Adrian: the sum whereof is thus laid down in a second Bull, directed to him by Alexander the third, the immediate successor of the other. Following the steps of reverend Pope Adrian, and attending the fruit of your desire; we ratify and confirm his grant concerning the dominion of the KINGDOM of Ireland conferred upon you: reserving to Saint Peter and the holy Church of Rome, as in England so in Ireland, the yearly pension of one penny out of every house. In this sort did Pope Adrian, as much as lay in him, give Ireland to King Henry, haereditario jure possidendam, to be possessed by right of inheritance; & withal sent to him a ring of gold, set with a fair Emerald, for his investiture in the right thereof: as Johannes Sarisburiensis, who was the principal agent between them both in this business, does expressly testify. After this, in the year 1171, the King himself came here in person: where the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland received him for their KING and Lord. The King (says John Brampton) received letters from every Archbishop and Bishop, with their seals hanging upon them in the manner of an Indenture; confirming the KINGDOM of Ireland to him and his heirs, and bearing witness that they in Ireland had ordained him and his heirs to be their KINGS and Lords for ever. At Waterford (says Roger Hoveden) all the Archbishops, Bishops, and Abbots of Ireland came to the King of England, and received him for KING and Lord of Ireland; swearing fealty to him and to his heirs, and power to reign over them for ever: and hereof they gave him their Instruments. The Kings also and Princes of Ireland, by the example of the Clergy, did in like manner receive Henry King of England for Lord and KING of Ireland; and became his men (or, did him homage) and swore fealty to him and his heirs against all men.

These things were presently after confirmed in the National Synod held at Casshell: the Acts whereof in Giraldus Cambrensis are thus concluded. For it is fit and most meet, that as Ireland by God's appointment has gotten a Lord and a KING from England; so also they should from there receive a better form of living. King Henry also at the same time sent a transcript of the Instruments of all the Archbishops and Bishops of Ireland, to Pope Alexander: who by his Apostolical authority (for so was it in those days of darkness esteemed to be) did confirm the KINGDOM of Ireland to him and his heirs, (according to the form of the Instruments of the Archbishops & Bishops of Ireland) and made them KINGS thereof for ever. The King also obtained further from Pope Alexander, that it might be lawful for him to make which of his sons he pleased, KING of Ireland, and to crown him accordingly; and to subdue the Kings and great ones of that land, which would not subject themselves to him. Whereupon, in a grand Council held at Oxford in the year of our Lord 1177, before the Bishops and Peers of the Kingdom he constituted his son John KING of Ireland; according to that grant and confirmation of Pope Alexander. And to make the matter yet more sure, in the year 1186, he obtained a new licence from Pope Urban the third; that one of his sons, whom he himself would, should be crowned for the KINGDOM of Ireland. And this the Pope did not only confirm by his Bull: but also the year following purposely sent over Cardinal Octavian and Hugo de Nunant (or Novant) his Legates into Ireland, to crown John the King's son there.

By all this we may see, how far King Henry the second proceeded in this business: which I do not so much note, to convince the stolidity of Osullevan, who would fain persuade fools, that he was preferred only to be collector of the Pope's Peterpence: as to show, that Ireland at that time was esteemed a Kingdom, and the Kings of England accounted no less than Kings thereof. And therefore Paul the fourth needed not make all that noise, and trouble the whole Court of heaven with the matter: when in the year 1555, he took upon him by his Apostolical authority (such I am sure, as none of the Apostles of Christ did ever assume to themselves) to erect Ireland to the title and dignity of a Kingdom. Whereas he might have found, even in his own Roman Provincial, that Ireland was reckoned among the Kingdoms of Christendom, before he was born. Insomuch, that in the year 1417, when the Legates of the King of England and the French King's Ambassadors fell at variance in the Council of Constance for precedency; the English Orators, among other arguments, alleged this also for themselves. It is well known, that according to Albertus Magnus and Bartholomaeus in his book De proprietatibus rerum, the whole world being divided into three parts (to wit, Asia, Africa and Europe) Europe is divided into four Kingdoms: namely, the Roman for the first, the Constantinopolitan for the second, the third the Kingdom of Ireland which is now translated to the English, and the fourth the Kingdom of Spain. Whereby it appears, that the King of England and his Kingdom are of the more eminent ancient Kings and Kingdoms of all Europe: which prerogative the Kingdom of France is not said to obtain. And this have I here inserted the more willingly, because it makes something for the honor of my Country (to which, I confess, I am very much devoted) and in the printed Acts of the Council it is not commonly to be had.

But now comes forth Osullevan again, and like a little fury flies upon the English-Irish Priests of his own religion, which in the late rebellion of the Earl of Tirone did not deny that hellish doctrine, fetched out of Hell for the destruction of Catholics, that it is lawful for Catholics to bear arms and fight for Heretics against Catholics and their country. Or rather (if you will have it in plainer terms) that it is lawful for them of the Romish religion, to bear arms and fight for their Sovereign and fellow-subjects that are of another profession, against those of their own religion that traitorously rebel against their Prince and Country. And to show, how mad and how venomous a doctrine they did bring (these be the caitiff's own terms) that exhorted the laity to follow the Queen's side: he sets down the censure of the Doctors of the University of Salamanca and Valladolid, published in the year 1603, for the justification of that Rebellion, and the declaration of Pope Clement the eighth's letters touching the same; wherein he signifies that the English ought to be set upon no less than the Turks, and imparts the same favors to such as set upon them, that he does to such as fight against the Turks. Such wholesome directions does the Bishop of Rome give to those that will be ruled by him: far different (I wisse) from that holy doctrine, wherewith the Church of Rome was at first seasoned by the Apostles. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers; for there is no power but of God: was the lesson that Saint Paul taught to the ancient Romans. Where if it be demanded; whether that power also, which persecutes the servants of God, impugns the faith, and subverts religion, be of God? our countryman Sedulius will teach us to answer with Origen; that even such a power as that, is given of God, for the revenge of the evil, and the praise of the good. Although he were as wicked, as either Nero among the Romans, or Herod among the Jews: the one whereof most cruelly persecuted the Christians, the other Christ himself.

And yet when the one of them swayed the scepter, Saint Paul told the Christian Romans that they must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake: and of the causeless fear of the other, these verses of Sedulius are solemnly sung in the Church of Rome, even to this day. Herodes hostis impie, Christum venire quid times? Non eripit mortalia, Qui regna dat coelestia. Why, wicked Herod, do you fear and at Christ's coming frown? The mortal he takes not away, that gives the heavenly crown. A better paraphrase whereof you cannot have, than this which Claudius has inserted into his Collections upon Saint Matthew. That King which is born, does not come to overcome Kings by fighting, but to subdue them after a wonderful manner by dying: neither is he born to the end that he may succeed you, but that the world may faithfully believe in him. For he is come, not that he may fight being alive, but that he may triumph being slain: nor that he may with gold get an army to himself out of other nations, but that he may shed his precious blood for the saving of the nations. Vainly did you by envying fear him to be your successor, whom by believing you ought to seek as your Savior: because if you did believe in him, you should reign with him; and as you have received a temporal kingdom from him, you should also receive from him an everlasting. For the kingdom of this Child is not of this world; but by him it is that men do reign in this world. He is the Wisdom of God, which says in the Proverbs: By me Kings reign. This Child is the Word of God: this Child is the Power and Wisdom of God: if you can, think against the Wisdom of God: you work your own destruction, and do not know it. For you by no means should have had your kingdom, unless you had received it from that Child which now is born.

As for the censure of the Doctors of Salamanca and Valladolid: our nobility and gentry, by the faithful service which at that time they performed to the Crown of England, did make a real confutation of it. Of whose fidelity in this kind I am so well persuaded, that I do assure myself, that neither the names of Franciscus Zumel and Alphonsus Curiel (how great schoolmen soever they were) nor of the Fathers of the Society (Johannes de Ziguenza, Emanuel de Rojas, and Gaspar de Mena) nor of the Pope himself, upon whose sentence they wholly ground their resolution; either then was or hereafter will be of any force, to remove them one whit from the allegiance and duty which they do owe to their King and Country. No, I am in good hope, that their loyal minds will so far distaste that evil lesson, which those great rabbis of theirs would have them learn; that it will teach them to unlearn another bad lesson, wherewith they have been most miserably deluded. For whereas heretofore wise men did learn to give credence to the truth, by whoever's mouth it should be delivered: now men are made such fools, that they are taught to attend in the doctrine of religion, not what the thing is that is said, but what the person is that speaks it.

But how dangerous a thing it is, to have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ in respect of persons; and to give entertainment to the truth, not so much for itself as for the regard that is had to the deliverer of it: I wish men would learn otherwise, than by woeful experience in themselves. The truth (says Claudius) is to be loved for itself, not for the man, or for the angel, by whom it is preached. For he that does love it in respect of the preachers of it, may love lies also, if they peradventure shall deliver any. As here without all peradventure, the Pope and his Doctors have done: unless the teaching of flat rebellion and high treason may pass in the account of Catholic verities. The Lord of his mercy open their eyes, that they may see the light; and give them grace to receive the love of the truth, that they may be saved. The Lord likewise grant (if it be his blessed will) that truth and peace may meet together in our days, that we may be all gathered into one fold under one shepherd, and that the whole earth may be filled with his glory. Amen, Amen.