Page:Church and State under the Tudors.djvu/95

 and fears of the present world are gradually fading and growing dim, looking back upon the stormy times which the last years of his primacy have proved to be, at last summons courage to do what can no longer avail him or his Church, and records his solemn disavowal of the legislation of the last two years.

Another matter deserving of notice is that the Commons in this session decisively rejected a bill on what was called primer seisin, sent down to them by the King, and which affected at once his revenue and their own disposal of their property; thus showing that there was a limit to the 'servility' of which we hear so much, when the subject of legislation was one which touched private property and nearly concerned its owners.

The following year was full of important events, affecting both directly and indirectly the relations of Church and State. The great legislative measure of the year was 24 Henry VIII. c. 12, the Statute of Appeals, by which all appeals to Rome, of whatsoever kind, were from henceforth prohibited, and the court of the Archbishop made the final court of ecclesiastical appeal, except in cases 'touching the King,' in which an appeal lay to the Upper House of Convocation. This, so far as appears, was purely and simply an act of the Parliament; and though the records of the contemporary Convocation are full, there is no indication that the subject of the statute was brought before it. That assembly was, however, far from idle during the year. It was now completely subservient to the King, and under his influence it now put forward the first great practical defiance of Rome (April 5) by pronouncing