The first great statute directed against the interference of the Pope was the Statute against Provisors, passed in 1351. The Pope was in the habit of making _provisions_ for vacant benefices by appointing to them men of his own choice, and it was against this custom that the statute was directed. It naturally seemed very unjust to Englishmen, that English benefices should be given away to cardinals and other members of the Papal court, who drew the revenues from their benefices without ever coming near them; but we must remember that at this time great benefices were not bestowed upon men as rewards for spiritual eminence. They were the prizes which were given to great statesmen, to courtiers, and royal favourites. The ecclesiastics appointed by the King of England had no more intention of residing on their benefices than the ecclesiastics appointed by the Pope. The Pope only claimed the right to reward his servants in the same way as the King did. This arrangement, by which Pope and King alike used the Church revenues for their own purposes, was too convenient for Edward III. to make him really eager for any reformation. The Statute of Provisors might forbid Papal provisions, but it was never strictly kept; nor did the Statute which followed it, called from its first word in the original Latin, the Statute of Præmunire, prove more successful. This statute forbade any appeals being made from the King's courts to the Papal court, and forbade the introduction of Papal bulls into England without royal permission. The great interest of these statutes lies in the fact that they express the growing hostility aroused in the laity by the ambition and wealth of the clergy. The writings of the times are filled with complaints of the abuses among the clergy. Langland tells us in a fine passage in the _Vision of Piers Plowman_ the miserable pass that religion had come to in those days-- "And now is religion a rider, a roamer by streets; A leader of love-days, and a land-buyer; A pricker on a palfrey from manor to manor; An heap of houndes at his ears, as he a lord were, And but if his knave knele that shal his cap bringe, He loureth[2] on him, and asketh him who taught him courtesy." The whole poem is full of allusions to the manner of life of the clergy, their ill-gotten wealth, and the neglect of their duties. In another place he says-- "Bishopes and bachelers, both masters and doctors, That have cure under Christ, and crowning[3] in token And signe that they should shrive their parishioners, Preach and pray for them and the poor faith, Live in London in Lent and other times; Some serve the Kinge, and his silver tellen In chequer and in chancery."