Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 2.djvu/106

86 would be sent any longer to Rome, and no Bulls would be returned from Rome. The appointments lay between the chapters and the Crown; and it might have seemed, at first sight, as if it would have been sufficient to omit the reference to the Papacy, and as if the remaining forms might continue as they were. The chapters, however, had virtually long ceased to elect freely; the Crown had absorbed the entire functions of presentation, sometimes appointing foreigners, sometimes allowing, the great ecclesiastical ministers to nominate themselves; while the rights of the chapters, though existing in theory, were not officially recognized either by the Pope or by the Crown. The King affected to accept the names of the prelates- elect, when returned to him from Rome, as nominations by the Pope; and the Pope, in communicating with the chapters, presented them with their bishops as from himself. The Papal share in the matter was a shadow, but it was acknowledged