The last of these was not yet ripe for settlement; the former was under reconsideration by the Convocation itself, which at length was arriving at a truer conception of its position; and this question was not therefore to be dealt with by the legislature.
One more important measure, however, was passed by Parliament before it separated, and it is noticeable as the first step which was taken in the momentous direction of a breach with the See of Rome. A practice had existed for some hundreds of years in all the churches of Europe, that bishops and archbishops, on presentation to their sees, should transmit to the Pope, on receiving their bulls of investment, one year's income from their new preferments. It was called the payment of annates, or firstfruits, and had originated in the time of the Crusades, as a means of providing a fund for the holy wars. Once established, it had settled into custom,[1] and was one of the chief resources of the Papal revenue. From England alone, as much as 160,000 pounds had been paid out of the country in fifty years;[2] and the impost was alike oppressive to individuals and injurious to the State. Men were appointed to bishoprics frequently at an advanced age, and dying, as they often did, within two or three years of their nomination, their elevation had sometimes involved their families and friends in debt and embarrass-
- ↑ Anuates or firstfruits were first suffered to be taken within the realm for the only defence of Christian people against infidels; and now they be claimed and demanded as mere duty only for lucre, against all right and conscience.—23 Hen. VIII. cap. 20.
- ↑ 23 Hen. VIII, cap. 20.
