Page:Ruffhead - The Statutes at Large - vol 2.djvu/568

518 Office or Promotion Spiritual aforenamed, whereunto any such Person or Persons should after the said first Day of January be nominated, elected, prefected, presented, collated or by any other Means appointed: (2) And that every such Person and Persons, before any actual or real Possession, or meddling with the Profits of any such Archbishoprick, Bishoprick, Abbacy, Monastery, College, Hospital, Deanry, Provostship, Prebend, Parsonage, Vicarage, Chantry, Free Chapel, Priory or other Dignity, Benefice, Office or Promotion Spiritual, should satisfy, content and pay, or compound, or agree to pay to the King's Use at reasonable Days, upon good Sureties, the said First-fruits and Profits for one Year:

'II. And it was further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the First-fruits of Benefices, before that Time accustomed to be paid to the Bishop of Norwich within his Diocess, and to the Archdeacon of Richmond within his Archdeaconry, or any other Person or Persons within this Realm, or any other the King's Dominions, should from the said first Day of January cease and be extinct, and no longer be paid, but only to the King's Highness, his Heirs and Successors, in such Form as is before mentioned:

'III. And further it was enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the King's Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, for more Augmentation and Maintenance of the Royal Estate of his Imperial Crown, should yearly have, take, enjoy and receive, united and knit to his Imperial Crown for ever, one yearly Rent or Pension, amounting to the Value of the tenth Part of all the Revenues, Rents, Ferms, Tithes, Offerings, Emoluments, and of all other Profits, as well called Spiritual as Temporal, appertaining or belonging, or that from thenceforth should belong to any Archbishoprick, Bishoprick, Abbacy, Monastery, Priory, Archdeaconry, Deanry, Hospital, College, House Collegiate, Prebend, Cathedral Church, Collegiate Church, Conventual Church, Parsonage, Vicarage, Chantry, Free Chapel, or other Benefice or Promotion Spiritual, of what Name, Nature or Quality soever they were, within any Diocess of this Realm, or in Wales; (2) the said Pension or annual Rent to be yearly paid for ever, to the said late King, his Heirs and Successors, at the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord God, and the first Payment thereof to begin at the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord God, which should be in the Year of our Lord God 1535, and to be paid yearly by such as should be appointed to have the Collection thereof, before the first Day of April next following after the said Feast of the Nativity of our Lord God, as in the said Act more plainly it doth appear:

IV. And where also one other Act was made and established in the said Parliament the said twenty-sixth Year, That no Farmour of Spiritual Persons should be compelled or charged to pay for their Lessors First-fruits or yearly Pension for the Tenth granted unto the King's Highness, notwithstanding any Covenant, Contract, Bond or other Thing made to the contrary, as by the same Act more plainly appeareth.

'V. And where also at one other Session of the same Parliament, holden by Prorogation at Westminster in the twenty-seventh Year of the Reign of your said Father, one other Act was made and established, That the King's Spiritual Subjects should be deducted and allowed of the Tenth of their Spiritual Promotions for that Year for which they should pay the First-fruits, as in the said Act also more at large appeareth.

'VI. And where also in one other Parliament of the said late King, holden at Westminster in the twenty-eighth Year of his Reign, amongst other Things, it was enacted and ordained, That the Year in which the First-fruits of every Benefice and Spiritual Promotion should he paid, should begin and be accounted immediately after the Avoidance thereof: (2) And that the Tithes, Commodities, Revenues, Casualties and Profits thereof (Chantries only except) in the Time of Vacation, should belong and affere to the next Incumbent, towards the Payment of the First-fruits; as by the same Act more at large appeareth.

'VII. And where also in one other Parliament, holden upon Prorogation at Westminster in the thirty-second Year of the Reign of the said late King, one Act was made and established, That Bishops upon their Accounts of and for the said yearly Tenth should be discharged by their Oaths, of Payment of such Sum or Sums of Money of the said annual Rent or Tenth, as they could not lawfully levy: (2) And also an Order appointed how the King should be answered of the Tenth of any Benefice and Spiritual Promotion, omitted in the Original or former Certificate of Benefices and Spiritual Promotions made in the Exchequer; as by the same Act last mentioned more at large appeareth.

'VIII. And where also in the same Session and Parliament holden in the said thirty-second Year of the Reign of your Highness said Noble Father, and by Authority of the same Parliament, one Court was erected, established and made, for the better answering of the said First-fruits and Tenths unto the King, called The Court of First-fruits and Tenths; as in the same Act of Erection thereof more fully appeareth.

'IX. And where also in the same Session and Parliament one other Act was made, whereby the Bishop of Norwich for the Time being (being before that discharged from the Collection of the Tenth within his Diocess) should be charged and chargeable for ever, for and with the Collection of the same Tenth within his Diocess, and make Payment thereof, as other Bishops should or ought to do within their Diocesses; as by the same Act more plainly appeareth.

'X. And where also in one other Parliament of the said late King, holden at Westminster upon Prorogation in the thirty-fourth Year of his Reign, one Act was established and made concerning Collectors and Receivers, to make Payment of their Receipts within three Months next after the same should be due and paid to the King's Use, under certain Penalties therein expressed; as by the same Act more at large appeareth.

'XI. And where also in the same Session and Parliament it was enacted and established, That the new erected Bishops of Chester, Gloucester, Peterborough, Bristol, Oxford, and their Successors for ever, should pay their Tenths reserved upon their Letters Patents on their several Erections, only in the said Court of the First-fruits and Tenths for ever; as by the same Act more at large appeareth.

'And where also in the Parliament of the said late King, holden at Westminster in the thirty-seventh Year of his Reign, one Act entituled, An Act for the Union of Churches not exceeding the Value