1358 [1358]
K. Henry. 8. Allegations agaynst the vj. Articles. Priestes Mariage.
Auentinus a faithfull writer of his time, writing of þe Councel of Hildebrand, hath these wordes
Commentary
This quotation from Johannes Aventinus's history is taken from Matthias Flacius, Catalogus testium veritatis (Basel, 1562), p. 206.
:
Sacerdotes illa tempestate publicè vxores, sicut cæteri Christiani habebant: filios procreabant, sicuti instrumētis donationū quæ illi templis, Mystis, & Monachis fecere: vbi hæ nominatim cum coniugibus testes citantur, & honesto vocabulo Præsbyterissæ nuncupātur, inuenio. Cæsar tum &c.
MarginaliaAuātinus in histor. Boiorum.That is: In those dayes Priestes commonly had wyues, as other Christen mē had, and had children also, as may appeare by auncient instrumentes, and dedes of gift, whiche were then gyuen to Churches, to the Clergy, & to religious houses in the whiche instrumentes, both the Priestes, & theyr wyues also with them (whiche there be called
Præsbyterissæ) I finde to be alledged for witnesses. It hapned moreouer þ
e same time (saith
Auētine) þ
t the
Emperor had the inuesting of diuers Archbishoprickes, Byshoprikes, Abbayes & Nunries within his dominiōs. Pope
Hildebrand disdayning against both these sortes afore sayd, that is, both agaynst them that were inuested by the
Emperour, and also against all those Priestes that had wyues, prouided so in his Councell at
Rome, that they whiche were promoted by the
Emperour into lyuynges of þ
e Church, were counted to come in by Symonie: the other whiche were maryed Priests, were counted for
Nicolaitanes. Whereupon Pope
Hildebrand writyng hys letters to þ
e Emperour, to Dukes, Princes, and other great Prelates, and Potentates, namely to
Bertholdus, Zaringer, to
Rudolphus of
Sueuia, to
Welphon of
Bauaria, to
Adalberon, and to theyr Ladyes, and to diuers other, to whō hee thought good: also to Bishops, namely to
Otto Byshop of
Constance, with other Priestes and lay people, willeth thē in hys letters to refuse and to keepe no company with
MarginaliaSymoniacke Priestes.those
Symoniake, and
MarginaliaNicolaitan Priestes.those
Nicolaitane Priestes (for so were they termed then, whiche had either any Ecclesiasticall liuyng by the
Emperour, or els whiche had wyues) to auoyde theyr Masses, their talke: neither to eate nor drinke with them, nor once to speake to them, nor to salute them, but vtterly to shunne them, as men execrable and wicked, no otherwise then they would eschue the plague or pestilence.
MarginaliaEx Auentino Anual. Boiorū. Lib. 5.By reason wherof ensued a mighty schisme and affliction among the flocke of Christ, such as lyghtly þ
e lyke hath not bene sene. For the Priestes went agaynst their Byshops, the people agaynst the Priest, the laity agaynst the Clergy: briefly all ranne together in heapes and in confusion. Mē and wemen, as euery one was set vppon mischief, wickednes, contention and auarice, tooke therby occasion vpō euery lyght suspiciō, to resiste theyr Minister, to spoyle the goodes of the Church. The vulgare people contemned the Priestes whiche had maryed wyues, despised theyr Religion, and all thynges that they dyd: yea and in many places woulde purge the places where they had bene, with holy water, and brent their tythes. Also such was the mischief of them, that they would take the holy mysteries, whiche those maryed Priestes had consecrated, and cast them in the dyrt, and treade them vnder theyr feete: For so then had
Hildebrād taught thē, that those were no Priests, neither that they were Sacramentes, whiche they dyd consecrate. So that by this occasion, many false Prophetes rose, seducyng the people from the truth of Christ, by forged fables, and false miracles, and feyned Gloses, wrastyng the Scriptures as serued best for their owne purposes. Of whom few there were that kepte any true chastity. Many could make glorious boastes & bragges therof, but þ
e greatest part vnder the shew and pretense of honesty and purenes of life, cōmitted incest, fornication, adultery, euery where almost, and no punishmēt was for the same. &c. Thus much out of
Auentinus. lib. 5. Annal.[Back to Top]To this testimonie of Auentinus aboue mēcioned,
MarginaliaGebuilerus.we will also adioyne
Commentary
The material from Gebuilerus is actually taken from Matthias Flacius, Catalogus testium veritatis (Basel, 1562), pp. 62 and 216.
the recorde of
Gebuilerus, a writer of this our latter tyme, and one also of theyr owne crew, who doth testifie that in tyme of the
Emperour Henricus the 4. an. 1057. to the number of 24. Byshops both in
Germany, Spaine, and in
Fraunce, were maried, with the Clergie also of their diocesses.
[Back to Top]
MarginaliaIsiforus de vita clericorum.Of the which Spanyshe Bishops
Commentary
The material from Isidore of Seville is actually taken from Matthias Flacius, Catalogus testium veritatis (Basel, 1562), p. 36, on a word-for-word basis.
we read also in
Isidorus, whiche wrote more then sixe hundreth yeares after Christ (and the place also cited in the Popes Distinctions)
MarginaliaDist. 23. cap. Ius igitur.in hys booke
De clericorum vita, how they ought either to lead an honest chast lyfe, or els to keepe them selues within the bande of matrimony. &c. Wherby is declared the single lyfe of Priestes, either to bee then voluntary, or els their mariage not to be restrayned as yet, by any law.
[Back to Top]Moreouer such Calistian Priestes
Commentary
This is a reference to Pope Callistus II (d. 1124), who issued a series of decrees forbidding clerical marriage.
MarginaliaCalistian Preistes, that is, of Calixtus Secte, who chieflye forbad priestes mariage.as bee now a dayes, coūtyng Priestes mariage as a new deuise, and not standyng with auncient tymes, let them looke vpon the Decree of Pope
Symmachus, and aunswere there to the Glose.
Dist. 81. where it is written: Let Priestes be all restrayned from the conuersation of all wemen, except it bee their mother, sister, or their owne wife. &c. Where the Glose in the margent, geueth a note, saying:
Hoc loquitur secundum antiqua tempora.[Back to Top]Thus if either the voyce of Scripture myght take place with these men whiche bee so rigorous agaynst Priestes mariage:
MarginaliaAll the Apostles were maryed, excepte Iohn & Paul. Ex Ambros. 2. Cor. 11.or if the examples of the Apostles myght moue them (whom S. Ambrose witnesseth to haue bene all maryed, except onely Paul and Iohn) or els if the multitude of maryed Byshops and Priestes might preuaile with them, here might bee rehearsed
Commentary
The following examples of married clergy in the ancient and early medieval Church are taken from Matthias Flacius, Catalogus testium veritatis (Basel, 1562), pp. 24-29 and 35.
:
[Back to Top]That Tertullian was a maryed Priest, as witnesseth Hierome.
Spiridion Byshop of Cyprus, had wife & children.
MarginaliaEx Epist. Ellarij ad Abram filiam.Hylary Byshop of Poytiers, was also maryed.
Gregory Byshop of Nyssa.
Gregory Byshop of Nazianzum.
Prosper Byshop of Rhegium.
MarginaliaEx Ruffino. Lib. 2. cap. 9.Cheremon Byshop of Nylus. All these were maryed Byshops.
MarginaliaEx Na inzeno.Of Polychrates, and his 7. aunciters Byshops and maryed men, we spake before.
MarginaliaEx Nouel. constit. 3. Finali.Epiphanius Bishop of Cōstantinople in Iustiniās tyme was þe more cōmended, because hys father & aunciters before him, were Priestes and Bishops maried.
MarginaliaEx Histo. aduersus Iouinian. Ioh. 1.Hierome saith, that in his time, plurimi Sacerdotes habebant matrimonia. That is, many Priestes were then maryed men.
MarginaliaDistinct. 56. Hosius.Pope Damasus reciteth vp a great number of Byshops of Rome, whiche were Priestes sonnes, as:
MarginaliaEx Virelio de sacrificio missæ.
Syluerius. an. 544. Deusdedit, about the yeare. 622. Adrianus 2. about þe yeare. 873. Fœlix 3. about the yeare. 474. Hosius.
Commentary
No pope by this name existed; Foxe is simply repeating Flacius. Agapetus. an. 534. Gelasius. 484. Bonifacius. Theodorus whose fa- ther was Byshop of Hierusalem, about | the yeare. 634. Ioannes. 10. an. 924. Ioannes. 15. þe sonne of Leo a Priest, a- bout the yeare. 984. Richard Archdeacon of Couentrie. Henry Archdeacon of Huntyngton. Volusianus Byshop of Carthage.
Commentary
No such bishop of Carthage existed. Thom. Archbishop of Yorke, sonne of Sāp- son B. of Worceter. |
[Back to Top]And how many other Byshops and Priests in other countreys besides these Byshops of Rome, myght bee annexed to this Catalogue, if our leasure were such, to make a whole beadrole of them all?
In þe meane time þe wordes of Syluius Cardinall, & afterward B. of Rome, are not to be forgotten, which he wrote to a certeyne frende of hys, whiche after hys orders taken, was disposed to mariage.
MarginaliaEx Æneas Siluio. Epist. 321.To whom the foresayd Syluius aunswereth agayne in these woordes folowyng
Commentary
See Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini, Opera qua extant omnia (Basel, 1551), p. 809.
:
Credimus te vti non insulso consilio, si cum nequeas continere, coniugium quæris: quamuis id prius cogitandum fuerat, anteaquam initiaueris sacris ordinibus. Sed non sumus dij omnes[Back to Top]qui
MMM.j.