If Bradwardine walked truthfully in the path of faith, his illustrious patron Edward advanced triumphantly in the field of policy. Pope Clement IV having decreed that the first two vacancies in the Anglican church should be conferred on two of his cardinals: "France is becoming _English_," said the courtiers to the king; "and by way of compensation, England is becoming _Italian_." Edward, desirous of guaranteeing the religious liberties of England, passed with the consent of parliament in 1350 the statute of _provisors_, which made void every ecclesiastical appointment contrary to the rights of the king, the chapters, or the patrons. Thus the privileges of the chapters and the liberty of the English Catholics, as well as the independence of the crown, were protected against the invasion of foreigners; and imprisonment or banishment for life was denounced upon all offenders against the law. This bold step alarmed the pontiff. Accordingly, three years after, the king having nominated one of his secretaries to the see of Durham--a man without any of the qualities becoming a bishop--the pope readily confirmed the appointment. When some one expressed his astonishment at this, the pope made answer: "If the king of England had nominated _an ass_, I would have accepted him." This may remind us of the _ass_ of Avignon; and it would seem that this humble animal at that time played a significant part in the elections to the papacy. But be that as it may, the pope withdrew his pretensions. "Empires have their term," observes an historian at this place; "when once they have reached it, they halt, they retrograde, they fall."[156] [156] Habent imperia suos terminos; huc cum venerint, sistunt, retrocedunt, ruunt. Fuller's Hist. cent. xiv, p. 116. The term seemed to be drawing nearer every day. In the reign of Edward III, between 1343 and 1353, again in 1364, and finally under Richard II, in 1393, those stringent laws were passed which interdicted all appeal to the court of Rome, all bulls from the Roman bishop, all excommunications, etc., in a word, every act infringing on the rights of the crown; and declared that whoever should bring such documents into England, or receive, publish, or execute them, should be put out of the king's protection, deprived of their property, attached in their persons, and brought before the king in council to undergo their trial according to the terms of the act. Such was the statute of _Præmunire_.[157] [157] The most natural meaning of the word _præmunire_ (given more particularly to the act of 1393) seems to be that suggested by Fuller, cent. xiv, (p. 148): to fence and fortify the regal power from foreign assault. See the whole bill, _Ibid._ p. 145-147.