The Court did not attend divine service on Good Friday, although it did on Holy Saturday. No mention is made of the Ascension. The large increase in festivals in the Middle Ages was due to the fact that the bishops exercised the right given them by Canon Law,[68] of introducing new feasts within the limits of their dioceses. This arose from the ancient custom, that it belonged to them to watch over the cultus of the martyrs, and it depended upon their authorisation whether or not a given martyr should be recognised and venerated as such. Later, when the religious orders became widespread and influential, it usually happened that some monastery began to venerate a mystery or a saint, and then, as this cultus was taken up by the people, other monasteries, or the whole Order, adopted the festival,[69] and, finally, the bishops gave their approbation to the institution of the holy day in question. Lastly, the civil power and the Roman See intervened, and the new holy day was in this way fully sanctioned. Things, however, did not always proceed so far, for in many cases the festival was confined to a single diocese, the result being great variety in particulars and general uncertainty. These abuses became more deeply felt in course of time, and so Urban VIII., in his constitution _Universa per orbem_, published in 1642, warns the bishops not to use their rights in this respect for the future, and at the present day these rights, without having been abrogated, are regarded as antiquated.[70] The fact that formerly the bishops enjoyed the right of introducing festivals into their dioceses, or of excluding them, must constantly be borne in mind, because, if it is left out of sight, the institution and development of even a single festival cannot be understood, much less the historical development of the whole festal cycle. When we realise that this principle was acted upon from the beginning, and for more than a thousand years, during a period remarkable for its rich development in many directions, the wonder is that the result is as harmonious and systematic as it is. No departure was made from the natural basis upon which the whole was built up, and the attempts of the Councils were all in the direction of uniformity. The abuses resulting from the excessive multiplication of holy days was remarked upon even in Catholic times, especially by John Gerson, at a provincial synod at Reims in 1408, and by Nicholas de Clemangiis, who, in a work[71] devoted to that purpose, published about 1416, spoke out boldly against the introduction of any more festivals. In the sixteenth century, the Protestants in their _Gravamina_ denounced the great number of festivals, and already in 1524 the legate Campeggio settled their number, and so put an end to their arbitrary increase for the future.[72]