14

collectors, and seeks to consider the subject in the light of the fuller material now available.15

The immediate cause assigned by Clement V. for the imposition of annates was a deficit in the papal treasury which could not be met by the ordinary income.16 At the close of the thirteenth century the income of the papacy was already insufficient for its needs, and the attenuated revenues from the Papal States threatened to be still further curtailed with the removal of the papal residence from Italy." During the last years of the pontificate of Boniface VIII. the payment of taxes was badly in arrears, and the spoliation of the papal treasure at the time of the attack at Anagni in 1303 added to an existing financial stringency.18 Benedict XI., though active in the attempt, was unable to restore the system to working order,19 and the delay over the election of Clement V. increased the confusion.20 At the beginning of his pontificate the new pope was forced to assume heavy debts to meet the expenses connected with the elaborate ceremonial of his consecration.21 With a depleted treasury and a disorganized and inadequate fiscal system, Clement V. decided to expand the base of supplies.

The selection of annates for this purpose was not a radical departure. They formed a new source of revenue for the papacy,22 but 14 Letters from the collectors to English prelates concerned with the collection of annates. Salisbury Diocesan MSS., Register of Simon of Ghent, ff. 62v., 68v.-69v.

15 The present paper is undertaken as part of a general study of the financial relations between England and the papacy during the thirteenth century and the early part of the fourteenth. I plan to edit Testa's reports as well as several others as a part of this study.

16 Below, p. 63.

Kirsch, "Comptes d'un Collecteur pontifical ", Archives de la Société d'Histoire du Canton de Fribourg, VIII. 65-66 (1907); Eitel, Der Kirchenstaat unter Klemens V. (Berlin, 1907), p. 6.

18 Grandjean,

Recherches sur l'Administration Financière du Pape Benoit XI.", Mélanges d'Archéologie et d'Histoire, III. 47-48 (1883).

19 In England the papal collector, Gerard of Pecorara, met with much opposition, and after the death of Benedict XI. was expelled from the realm, having recovered only about £200. Roman Transcripts, General Series, 59. In the diocese of Basel there were a great number of benefices from which the collector of Benedict XI. secured nothing. Kirsch, Die Päpstlichen Kollektorien, pp. 4–32. In England, for example, no collector was present from December, 1304, to June, 1306.

21 Below, p. 63.

Haller, pp. 49, 51; Samaran and Mollat, p. 23. Kirsch (Die Päpstlichen Annaten, pp. xi, xv-xvi) advances the hypothesis that before 1306 the papacy had taken annates from single incumbents whom it had collated to benefices, if the customary collators, in whose place the papacy was acting, had the right to annates. He argues that papal letters bestowing benefices are found in the cameral registers of Urban IV. which would not be entered there unless payments to the camera were involved; and the payments are annates. As

similar charges had long been imposed locally on new incumbents of benefices by prelates and ecclesiastical corporations in various parts of Europe. Examples of the practice occur as early as the eleventh century,23 and in the two following centuries it became common.24 In England several cathedral chapters claimed by ancient custom the right to the income of the first year of any prebend falling vacant. At York, Exeter, and Lichfield the proceeds were used for the good of the deceased incumbent's soul.25 At Salisbury and Wells only part was devoted to this object and the remainder went to the canons,26 while at Chichester and Hereford the canons or the fabric received the whole sum.27 The bishop of Norwich claimed a prescriptive right to annates from all benefices becoming vacant in his diocese, but his claim seems to have rested. on a continuation without authority of a grant made by the pope to Pandulph,28 which later popes confirmed.29 The concession of annates to Pandulph for a limited term of years is one of the earliest known instances of such a privilege,30 but during the thirteenth century such grants became increasingly common.31 English prelates were frequent recipients of such favors,32 and English kings likewise had a share. Henry III. and Edward I. both received grants of annates from the papacy, although that of the latter was revoked before it had been put into execution.3 It was a natural progres

33

Göller (Einnahmen, pp. 84*-85*) points out, however, many documents appear in the cameral registers of the thirteenth century which have no direct relation to the financial business of the camera, and the letters of provision, therefore, do not necessarily imply any payments.

"Göller, Einnahmen, p. 81*.

"Kirsch, Die Päpstlichen Annaten, pp. xii-xiii; Haller, p. 50; Samaran and Mollat, p. 23.

Wilkins, Concilia, I. 412, 597; Registers of Walter Bronescombe (ed. Hingeston-Randolph), p. 59.

Hist. MSS. Comm., Cal. of MSS. of Dean and Chapter of Wells, p. 31; Report III., App., p. 352.

27 Wilkins, Concilia, I. 696; Charters and Records of Hereford Cathedral (ed. Capes), p. 47.

Lambeth Palace MSS., Register of Archbishop Winchelsea, ff. 39-46. The archbishop disputed the bishop's claim, and this is an interesting account of the hearings before the papal commissioners.

"Dean and Chapter of Norwich MSS., Registrum Secundum, f. 43v.; Bliss, Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers, II. 18.

Pandulph was bishop of Norwich from 1222 to 1226. Haller (p. 50) mentions a grant made to the bishop of Toul in 1223 as the earliest known to him. Haller, pp. 50-51; Kirsch, Die Päpstlichen Annaten, p. xiii.

Theiner, Monumenta Hibernorum, p. 42; Bliss, Calendar, I. 267, 367, 484; Matthew Paris, IV. 506-509; P. R. O., Close Roll, 41 Henry III., m. 6, schedule; Registres d'Alexandre IV., 875; Registres de Nicolas IV., 1258, 1337, 1856, 1862, 2025, 2155, 4525.

33

Rymer, Foedera, I. 345; Bartholomew Cotton, pp. 261-271.

sion for the papacy finally to claim for itself that which it had granted so freely to others.34

37

The choice of the British Isles as a place in which to try this experiment was probably due to the favorable opportunity offered by the requests for favors which Edward I. made soon after the election of Clement V. in June, 1305.35 As early as August 14, Otho de Grandison, one of Edward's most trusted diplomatic agents, appeared at the papal court, and remained there until March 13, 1306.30 At the consecration in November the king was represented by a large delegation of notables, who came bearing costly presents.3 38 Otho was a member of this official delegation, as was also Bartholomew of Ferentino, who had worked successfully with Otho in negotiating a bargain with Boniface VIII.39 similar to that now concluded with Clement V. The embassy was authorized to treat concerning a crusade, peace with France, and "other things touching the salvation of the king's soul". The results of these negotiations flowed in rapid succession. By a bull dated December 29 Edward was released from his irksome oath to observe the forest charters. On February 12 Archbishop Winchelsea, who had incurred Edward's enmity, was suspended from office,40 and about the same time the pope ordered the English clergy to pay to Edward a tenth of its income for two years ostensibly for the purpose of a crusade. Not long after, the question of peace with France was handled by the cardinal legate Peter of Spain.42 Annates were

34

41

The papal tenths went through a similar course of development, having first been granted by papal authority for crusading purposes.

35 English chroniclers suggest that the frequency of the demands of English prelates for grants of annates led Clement V. to appropriate the tax for himself in the British Isles (Rishanger, p. 228; Flores Historiarum, III. 130), but under the three immediate predecessors of Clement V. English prelates had been no more frequent recipients of such favors than the prelates of other countries. Registres de Nicolas IV., Boniface VIII., and Benoît XI., passim.

36

3 P. R. O., Exch. K. R. Accounts, 369-11, f. 34v. Cf. Kingsford, "Sir Otho de Grandison", Trans. Royal Hist. Soc., third series, III. 156-158 (1909).

37 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1301-1307, p. 387. In addition to these ambassadors, several messengers went back and forth from England to the papal court between June, 1305, and February, 1306. British Museum, Harleian MSS. 152, ff. 5, 15, 18v.

38 P. R. O., Exch. K. R. Accounts, 367-6, m. 1; Rishanger, p. 227.

Prynne, Exact Chronological Vindication, III. 898, 912, 989; Rymer, Foedera, I. 928-931.

40 Tout, Political History of England, 1216-1377, pp. 229-230.

41

"I have not been able to find a copy of this bull, although it had been issued before April 21, 1306. Memorials of Beverley Minster, Surtees Soc., I. 133-134. The scarcity, or perhaps lack, of any copies of this bull is probably explained by a bull of August 1, 1306 (Rymer, Foedera, I. 991-992), which apparently superseded the earlier bull at the king's request (Hist. MSS. Comm., Report IV., App., p. 394, no. 1051).

42 Hemingburgh, II. 252-253; Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1301-1307, p. 520.

imposed by a bull dated February 1.43 It is a plausible supposition, therefore, that Edward I. allowed Clement V. to try his experiment in the British Isles in return for favors received; an hypothesis which is strengthened by Edward's attitude subsequent to the parliament of Carlisle.

47

The new tax was naturally unpopular and immediately aroused opposition. The announcement of its imposition was officially published in England on June 6, 1306.45 In less than three months the pope complained to the king that his agents had been prevented from collecting the annates due from the priory of Merton, and, while this may have been an isolated example of open defiance, it was without doubt indicative of a general feeling of hostility which found expression in the early part of 1307 at the parliament of Carlisle. Here the laymen, fearful of encroachment on their rights of advowson, joined with the clergy both in a petition to the king asking for protection for the national church against annates and other papal exactions, and in a protest to the pope himself. The spirit of the discussion may be gathered from a letter addressed to the English clergy purporting to be written by "Peter, son of Cassiodorus, catholic knight and devout champion of Christ", which, fallen from heaven, according to the monk Hemingburgh, was read in full parliament.48 Composed presumably by an English clerk, it laments the evil days upon which the English church has fallen, and urges king and magnates to furnish protection by resisting the demands of Clement V., who is unjustly imposing too great a burden of taxation, not for the needs of the church, but for his own personal ends. The petition, more dignified in tone but none the less

Below, pp. 62-64.

"Edward made other concessions also. He promised payment of £10,000 due the pope for the arrears of the annual tribute (Rymer, Foedera, II. 98), and he permitted papal nuncios to assume the care of the temporal, as well as the spiritual, property of the archbishopric of Canterbury during the period of Winchelsea's suspension (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1301-1307, pp. 512-514; Madox, Exchequer, II. 224).

According to the Annales Londonienses (p. 147) the bulls imposing annates were formally published by the collectors in London at the church of St. Mary of the Arches on June 6. The letters of the collectors to the Bishop of Salisbury, however, are dated June 9. Register of Simon of Ghent, f. 62v. Similar letters were received at Winchester, June 12 (Winchester Diocesan MSS., Register of Woodlock, f. 42v.) and at Beverley, June 25 (Memorials of Beverley, I. 142).

Pope to king, August 27. Rymer, Foedera, I. 997. The collectors had been notified of this vacancy by a letter dated June 28. Register of Woodlock, f. 42v.

Rot. Parl., I. 219–220.

45 Hemingburgh, II. 254-259. Summaries of the letter are given by Haller, pp. 383-384, and Capes, The English Church in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries (London, 1900), p. 41.

firm, recites in detail the grievances of the community.49 Several of them were old;50 the innovations of Clement V. which were the immediate occasion of the present outburst were the increase in the number of papal collectors paid by procurations assessed on the English clergy, the attempt to collect Peter's pence directly from the payers, and annates.52 For these oppressions the petition sought remedy against William Testa, the principal papal collector in England, and his agents.

51

The action on the petition was prompt and vigorous. Testa was summoned to appear before full parliament and state his case. His plea that he did these things on the authority of the pope was not considered sufficient justification for acts deemed prejudicial to the crown and realm of England and subversive of English law and custom. Parliament ordained, therefore, that the exactions enumerated should cease, and that the money assembled by Testa and his agents should be kept safely within the realm until the king and his council should arrange otherwise. Royal writs, dated March 22, ordered sheriffs and bailiffs to ascertain by means of juries the names of Testa's agents who had committed any of these injuries, and to cite them to appear before the king to answer for their offenses.53

4 Rot. Parl., I. 219–221.

50 These were the papal claim to legacies ambiguously stated and to the goods of intestates, taxation of the temporalities of the clergy, the use for other objects of gifts and legacies in aid of the Holy Land, and provisions. All of them had been previous subjects of complaint. Matthew Paris, V. 553; Wilkins, Concilia, II. 19; Episcopal Registers, Diocese of Worcester (ed. Bund), p. 490.

51 Previously collected by English prelates who paid to the papal collectors fixed sums and kept for themselves the excess. See Lunt," Financial System of the Mediaeval Papacy", Quarterly Journal of Economics, XXIII. 279 (1909). The change would have affected laymen as well as clergy, since many landlords collected Peter's pence from their tenants and retained a portion of the proceeds for themselves. Lambeth Palace MSS., Register of Archbishop Reynolds, f. 239; Fosbroke, Berkeley Manuscripts (London, 1821), p. 53; Neilson, Customary Rents", Oxford Studies in Social and Legal History, II. 199 (1910).

63 Lay patrons feared that annates would encroach upon their rights of advowson and perhaps abolish them entirely. Rot. Parl., I. 220. When the Archbishop of Canterbury had been granted annates by the pope, Henry III. had forbidden their collection from benefices in lay patronage. Prynne, Exact Chronological Vindication, II. 718. In the present levy, however, benefices in lay patronage paid annates, several of the vacant benefices reported by the Bishop of Salisbury (Register of Simon of Ghent, f. 69v.) being in lay presentation (Hutchins, History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset, London, 1774, passim). The same practice also obtained under John XXII. Register of Richard Newport, Canterbury and York Soc., p. 185; Vatican Archives, Introitus et Exitus, 15, f. 18v. There was apparently some justification for these fears, since under later popes benefices in lay patronage were exempt from annates. Samaran and Mollat, P. 33.

3 Rot. Parl., I. 221-222. Accounts of the proceedings are given also by Trivettus (Eng. Hist. Soc.), pp. 411-412; Hemingburgh, II. 262-264. For second