5. The Treasons Act must also be included, inasmuch as one of its
provisions is that it is treason to deny to the King any of his lawful
titles (the Supreme Head of the Church of England being one), and that
treason includes calling the King a heretic or a schismatic.[425]
To complete the list, it is necessary to mention that the two
Convocations of Canterbury and of York solemnly declared that "the Roman
Pontiff had no greater jurisdiction bestowed on him by God in the Holy
Scriptures than any other foreign (_externus_) Bishop"--a declaration
called the _Abjuration of the Papal Supremacy by the Clergy_.[426]
This separation of the Church of England from Rome really meant that
instead of there being a dual control, there was to be a single one
only. The Kings of England had always claimed to have some control over
the Church of their realm; Henry went further, and insisted that he
would share that supervision with no one. But it should be noticed that
what he did claim was, to use the terms of canon law, the _potestas
jurisdictionis_, not the _potestas ordinis_; he never asserted his right
to ordain or to control the sacraments. Nor was there at first any
change in definition of doctrines. The Church of England remained what
it had been in every respect, with the exception that the Bishop of Rome
was no longer recognised as the _Episcopus Universalis_, and that, if
appeals were necessary from the highest ecclesiastical courts in
England, they were not to be taken as formerly to Rome, but were to be
settled in the King's courts within the land of England. The power of
jurisdiction over the affairs of the Church could scarcely be exercised
by the King personally. Appeals could be settled by his judges in the
law courts, but he required a substitute to exercise his power of
visitation. This duty was given to Thomas Cromwell, who was made
Vicar-General,[427] and the office to some small extent may be said to
resemble that of the Papal Legate; he represented the King as the Legate
had represented the Pope.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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