Henry VIII. precluded them from holding discussions in their own houses without license from the Crown. Discontented, not unnaturally, with the shadowy vitality which remained to them, they petitioned Cranmer, first briefly, then at elaborate length, that statutes concerning matters of religion and ecclesiastical ordinances might not pass without their consent; and finding their complaints treated with indifference, or anticipating the neglect of them, they repeated the attempts which had been made unsuccessfully by the Irish clergy a few years before. In the writs of summons addressed to Bishops at the opening of Parliament, the clause 'Præmonentes'[1] implied that deans, archdeacons, and the proctors of the clergy were an integral part of the legislature. They petitioned that they might now be 'associated with the Commons in the nether House of Parliament.'
The letter of the writs was on their side, but precedent was against their claim, and that precedent had been set by themselves. In the days of their power the clergy had divided themselves from Parliament, claiming a right to assemble at their own time and by their own authority, and to legislate separately at their own pleasure. Their ambition recoiled upon themselves. As they had constituted themselves a separate body, a
- ↑ Præmonentes Decanum et Capitulum ecclesiæ vestræ ac Archidiaconos totumque Clerum vestræ diœcesis quod iidem Decanus et Archidiaconi in propriis personis, ac dictum Capitulum per unum, idemque Clerum per duos Procurators idoneos plenam et sufficientem potestatem ab ipsis Capitulo et Clero divisim habentes, prædictis die et loco personaliter intersint ad consentiendum his quæ tum ibidem de Communi Consilio dicti Regni nostri divinâ favente clementiâ contigerit ordinari.
