vicious living shamelessly increases and augments, and by a cursed
custom so rooted and infected, that a great multitude of the reli-
gious persons in such small houses do rather choose to rove
abroad in apostasy, than to conform themselves to the observation
of good religion ; so that without such small houses be utterly
suppressed, and the religious persons therein committed to great
and honourable monasteries of religion in this realm, where they
may be compelled to live religiously, for reformation of their lives,
there can else be no redress nor reformation in that behalf:
In consideration whereof, the king's most royal majesty
being supreme head on earth, under God, of the Church of Eng-
land, daily studying and devising the increase, advancement, and
exaltation of true doctrine and virtue in the said Church, to the
only glory and honour of God, and the total extirping and destruc-
tion of vice and sin, having knowledge that the premises be true,
as well by the accounts of his late visitations, as by sundry credible
informations, considering also that divers and great solemn mon-
asteries of this realm, wherein (thanks be to God) religion is
right well kept and observed, be destitute of such full numbers of
,244 English Constitutional Documents
religious persons, as they ought and may keep has thought good
that a plain declaration should be made of the premises, as well
to the lords spiritual and temporal, as to other his loving subjects,
the commons, in this present Parliament assembled : whereupon
the said lords and commons, by a great deliberation, finally be
resolved, that it is and shall be much more to the pleasure of
Almighty God, and for the honour of this his realm, that the pos-
sessions of such small religious houses, now being spent, spoiled,
and wasted for increase and maintenance of sin, should be used
and committed to better uses, and the unthrifty religious persons,
so spending the same, to be compelled to reform their lives : and
thereupon most humbly desire the king's highness that it may be
enacted by authority of this present Parliament, that his majesty
shall have and enjoy to him and to his heirs for ever, all and
singular such monasteries, priories, and other religious houses of
monks, canons, and nuns, of what kinds or diversities of habits,
rules, or order soever they be called or named, which have not
in lands, tenements, rents, tithes, portions, and other heredita-
ments, above the clear yearly value of two hundred pounds. And
in like manner shall have and enjoy all the sites and circuits of
every such religious houses, and all and singular the manors,
granges, meases, lands, tenements, rents, reversions, services,
tithes, pensions, portions, churches, chapels, advowsons, patron-
ages, annuities, rights, entries, conditions, and other hereditaments
appertaining or belonging to every such monastery, priory, or
other religious house, not having, as is aforesaid, above the said
clear yearly value of two hundred pounds, in as large and ample
manner as the abbots, priors, abbesses, prioresses, or other gov-
ernors of such monasteries, priories, and other religious houses
now have, or ought to have the same in the right of their houses.
And that also his highness shall have to him and to his heirs all
and singular such monasteries, abbeys, and priories, which at any
time within one year next before the making of this Act have
been given and granted to his majesty by any abbot, prior, abbess,
or prioress, under their convent seals, or that otherwise, have
been suppressed or dissolved, and all and singular the manors,
lands, tenements, rents, services, reversions, tithes, pensions, por-
tions, churches, chapels, advowsons, patronages, rights, entries,
conditions, and all other interests and hereditaments to the same
monasteries, abbeys, and priories, or to any of them appertaining
or belonging ; to have and to hold all and singular the premises,
with all their rights, profits, jurisdictions, and commodities, unto
the king's majesty, and his heirs and assigns for ever, to do and
Act for Dissolution of Lesser Monasteries 245
use therewith his and their own wills, to the pleasure of Almighty
God, and to the honour and profit of this realm.
IX. And be it further enacted, ordained, and established by
authority aforesaid, that all and singular persons, bodies politic
and corporate, to whom the king's majesty, his heirs and successors,
hereafter shall give, grant, let, or demise any site or precinct, with
the houses thereupon builded, together with the demesnes of any
monasteries, priories, or other religious houses, that shall be dis-
solved or given to the king's highness by this Act, and the heirs,
successors, executors, and assigns of every such person, body
politic and corporate, shall be bound by authority of this Act,
under the penalties hereafter ensuing, to keep, or cause to be
kept, an honest continual house and household in the same site or
precinct, and to occupy yearly as much of the same demesnes in
ploughing and tillage of husbandry, that is to say, as much of the
said demesnes which hath been commonly used to be kept in
tillage by the governors, abbots, or priors of the same houses,
monasteries, or priories, or by their farmer or farmers occupying
the same within the time of twenty years next before this Act.
X. And if any person or persons, bodies politic or corporate,
that shall be bounden by this Act, do not keep an honest house-
hold of husbandry and tillage, in manner and form as is aforesaid,
that then he or they so offending shall forfeit to the king's high-
ness for every month so offending six pounds thirteen shillings
and fourpence, to be recovered to his use in any of his courts of
record.
XL And over that it is enacted by authority aforesaid, that
all justices of peace, in every shire where any such offence shall
be committed or done, contrary to the true meaning and intent of
this present Act, shall, in every quarter and general sessions within
the limits of their commission, inquire of the premises, and shall
have full power and authority to hear and determine the same,
and to tax and assess no less fine for every the said offences, than
is afore limited for the same offences, and the estreats thereof to
be made and certified into the king's exchequer, according and at
such time and form as other estreats of fines, issues, and amercia-
ments are made by the same justices.
246 English Constitutional Documents
151. The King at Twenty-four may repeal
Acts of Parliament passed during his
Minority
(1536. 28 Henry VIII. c. 17. 3 5. K. 673.)
PRASMUCH as laws and statutes may happen hereafter to be
made within this realm at parliaments held at such times as
the kings of the same shall happen to be within age, having small
knowledge and experience of their affairs, to the great hindrance
and derogation of the imperial crown of this realm, and to the
universal damage of the common wealth of the subjects of the
same : be it therefore enacted by authority of this present par-
liament, that if the imperial crown of this realm, after the decease
of the king's most royal majesty, whose life our Lord long pre-
serve, descend, come or remain to the heirs of our said sovereign
lord or to any person to be limited by his highness, as of very
right it must and ought to do according to the laws of this realm
established for the same, the said heirs or such person being within
the age of twenty-four years, and that then any act or acts of par-
liament shall happen to be made and established, in any parlia-
ment that then shall be held 1 before such heir or heirs, person or
persons then being in possession of the said crown shall be of
their full ages of twenty-four years, that then every such heir or
heirs of our said' sovereign lord, or such persons so possessed of
the crown and being within the same age of twenty-four years,
shall have full power and authority at all times, after they shall
come to their said full ages of twenty-four years, by their letters
patent under the great seal of England, to revoke, annul and
repeal all and singular such acts made and established by their
royal assents, in any parliament held during the time that they
were within their said age of twenty-four years ; their royal assents
had to the same during the time that they were within the said
age of twenty-four years or any act or acts hereafter to be made
to the contrary thereof notwithstanding.
II. And be it also enacted by authority aforesaid that every
such repeal, annullation and revocation of any act or acts, that
shall be made and established in any parliament held before the
time that such heirs or person possessed of the crown shall be of
the said age of twenty-four years, shall be as good and effectual
to all intents and purposes as though it had been done by author-
ity of parliament.
The Lex Regia 247
152. The Lex Regia
(1539. 3iHemyVIILc.8. 3 A 726.)
"PORASMUCH as the king's most royal majesty for divers con-
-F siderations, by the advice of his council, hath heretofore set
forth divers and sundry his grace's proclamations, as well for and
concerning divers and sundry articles of Christ's religion, as for an
unity and concord to be had amongst the loving and obedient
subjects of this his realm and other his dominions, and also con-
cerning the advancement of his commonwealth and good quiet
of his people, which nevertheless divers and many froward, wilful
and obstinate persons have wilfully contemned and broken, not
considering what a king by his royal power may do, and for lack
of a direct statute and law to coarct offenders to obey the said
proclamations, which, being still suffered, should not only encour-
age offenders to the disobedience of the precepts and laws of
Almighty God, but also be too much to the great dishonour of the
king's most royal majesty, who may full ill bear it, and also give
too great bean and boldness to all malefactors and offenders;
considering also that sudden causes and occasions fortune many
times which do require speedy remedies, and that by abiding for
a parliament in the mean time might happen great prejudice to
ensue to the realm ; and weighing also that His Majesty (which
by the kingly and regal power given him by God may do many
things in such cases) should not be driven to extend the liberty
and supremacy of his regal power and dignity by wilfulness of
froward subjects; it is therefore thought in manner more than
necessary that the king's highness of this realm for the time
being with the advice of his honourable council should make and
set forth proclamations, for the good and politic order and gov-
ernance of this his realm of England, Wales and other his domin-
ions from time to time for the defence of his regal dignity and the
advancement of his commonwealth and good quiet of his people,
as the cases of necessity shall require, and that an ordinary law
should be provided by the assent of his majesty and parliament,
for the due punishment, correction and reformation of such of-
fences and disobediences ; be it therefore enacted by the authority
of this present parliament, with the king's majesty, the lords
spiritual and temporal and the commons' assent, that always the
king for the time being with the advice of his honourable council,
whose names hereafter followeth, may set forth at all times by
248 English Constitutional Documents
proclamations, under such penalties and pains and of such sort
as to his highness and his said honourable council shall seem
necessary and requisite ; and that those same shall be obeyed,
observed and kept as though they were made by act of parlia-
ment for the time in them limited, unless the king's highness dis-
pense with them or any of them under his great seal.
II. Provided always that the words, meaning and intent of this
act be not understood, interpreted, construed or extended, that
by virtue of it any of the king's liege people, of what estate,
degree or condition soever he or they be, bodies politic or cor-
porate, their heirs or successors, should have any of his or their
inheritance, lawful possessions, offices, liberties, privileges, fran-
chises, goods or chattels taken from them or any of them, nor by
virtue of the said act suffer any pains of death, other than shall
be hereafter in this act declared, nor that by any proclamation to
be made by virtue of this act, any acts, common laws standing at
this present time in strength and force, nor yet any lawful or
laudable customs of this realm or any of them, shall be infringed,
broken or subverted : and especially all those acts standing this
hour in force which have been made in the king's highness' time ;
but that every such person and persons, bodies politic and cor-
porate, their heirs and successors and the heirs and successors of
every of them, their inheritances, lawful possessions, offices, liber-
ties, privileges, franchises, goods and chattels shall stand and be
in the same state and condition, to every respect and purpose, as
if this act or proviso had never been had or made ; except such
forfeitures, pains and penalties as in this act and in every proc-
lamation which shall be declared and expressed ; and except
such persons which shall offend any proclamation to be made by
the king's highness, his heirs or successors for and concerning
any kind of heresies against the Christian religion.
III. Furthermore be it enacted by the authority of this present
parliament, that to the intent the king's subjects should not be
ignorant of his proclamations every sheriff or other officer and
minister to whom any such proclamation shall be directed by the
king's writ under his great seal, shall proclaim or cause the same
to be proclaimed within fourteen days after the receipt thereof in
four several market towns if there be so many or else in six other
towns or villages within the limits of their authority ; and they to
cause the said proclamations to be fixed and set up openly upon
places convenient in every such town, place or village, upon pain and
penalty of such sum and sums of money or imprisonment of body
as shall be contained in the said proclamation or proclamations.
The Lex Regia 249
IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that
if any person or persons, of what estate, degree or condition soever
he or they be, which at any time hereafter do wilfully offend and
break or obstinately not observe and keep any such proclamation
or any article therein contained which shall proceed from the
king's majesty by the advice of his council as is aforesaid, that
then all and every such offender or offenders, being thereof,
within one half year next after his or their offence committed,
accused and thereof within eighteen months next after the same
offence so committed convicted by confession or lawful witness
and proofs before the archbishop of Canterbury metropolitan, the
chancellor of England, the lord treasurer of England, the lord presi-
dent of the king's most honourable council, the lord privy seal,
the great chamberlain of England, lord admiral, lord steward or
grand master, lord chamberlain of the king's most honourable
household, two other bishops being of the king's council, such as
his grace shall appoint for the same, the secretary, the treasurer
and comptroller of the king's most honourable household, the mas-
ter of the horse, the two chief judges and the master of the rolls
for the time being, the chancellor of the augmentations, the chan-
cellor of the duchy, the chief baron of the exchequer, the two
general surveyors, the chancellor of the exchequer, the under
treasurer of the same, the treasurer of the king's chamber for the
time being, in the star chamber at Westminster or elsewhere, or
at the least before the half of the number afore rehearsed, of
which number the lord chancellor, the lord treasurer, the lord
president of the king's most honourable council, the lord privy
seal, the chamberlain of England, the lord admiral, the two chief
judges for the time being or two of them shall be two, shall lose
and pay such penalties, forfeitures of sums of money, to be levied
of his or their land, tenants, goods and chattels to the king's use,
and also suffer such imprisonment of his body, as shall be expressed,
mentioned and declared in any such proclamation or proclama-
tions which such offender or offenders shall offend and break or
not observe and keep, contrary to this act as is aforesaid ; and
that execution shall be had, done and made against every such
offender and offenders with the addition of the names or surnames,
towns or counties, mystery or occupation of the said offenders, by
such order, process, ways and means and after such manner,
form and condition as by the king's highness and the said council
shall be devised and thought most convenient for example of such
offenders : provided alway that none offender, which shall offend
contrary to the form of any such proclamations, shall incur the
250 English Constitutional Documents
danger and penalty thereof, except such proclamation or proclama-
tions be had, done or made in such shire or county where the
offender hath or shall dwell or be most conversant within a year
before.
V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the
lord chancellor, the lord privy seal and either of them, with the
assent of six of the afore named, shall have power and authority
by their discretions, upon every information to be given to them
or either of them touching the premises, to cause process to be
made against all and singular such offenders by writs under the
king's great seal or under his grace's privy seal in form following,
that is to say ; first by proclamation under a pain or a penalty by
the discretion of the aforesaid councillors appointed for the award-
ing of process, and if he appear not to the same without a lawful
excuse, then the said councillors to award out another proclama-
tion upon allegation of the same offender, for the due examination,
trial and conviction of every such person and persons as shall
offend contrary to this act, for the due execution to be had of and
for the same in manner and form as is above remembered ; except
it be within the liberty of the county palatine of the duchy of Lan-
caster ; and in case it so be, then to pass by the chancellor of the
king's duchy of Lancaster under the seal of the said duchy, with
the assent of six at the least of the aforenamed councillors.
VIII. And be it further enacted, that if it happen our said sov-
ereign lord the king to decease (whose life God long preserve)
before such time as that person which shall be his next heir or
successor to the imperial crown of this realm, shall accomplish
and come to the age of eighteen years, that then all and singular
proclamations which shall be in any wise made and set forth into
any part of this realm or other the king's dominions by virtue of
this act, within the aforesaid years of the said next heir or successor,
shall be set forth in the successor's name then being king, and
shall import or bear underwritten the full names of such of the
king's honourable council then being as shall be the devisors or
setters forth of the same which shall be in this case the whole
number afore rehearsed, or at least the more part of them, or else
the proclamations to be void and of none effect.
Act for Dissolution of Greater Monasteries 251
153. Act for the Dissolution of the Greater
Monasteries
( I 539- 3 1 Henry VIII. c. 13. 3 S. R. 733. The whole act reprinted in G.
and H. 281-303.)
WHERE divers and sundry abbots, priors, abbesses, prioresses,
and other ecclesiastical governors and governesses of divers
monasteries, abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hospitals, houses
of friars, and other religious and ecclesiastical houses and places
within this our sovereign lord the king's realm of England and
Wales, of their own free and voluntary minds, good wills and
assents, without constraint, coarction, or compulsion of any man-
ner of person or persons, since the fourth day of February, the
twenty-seventh year of the reign of our now most dread sovereign
lord, by the due order and course of the common laws of this his
realm of England, and by their sufficient writings of record, under
their convent and common seals, have severally given, granted,
and by the same their writings severally confirmed all their said
monasteries, abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hospitals, houses
of friars, and other religious and ecclesiastical houses and places,
and all their sites, circuits, and precincts of the same, and all and
singular their manors, lordships, granges, meases, lands, tenements,
meadows, pastures, rents, reversions, services, woods, tithes, pen-
sions, portions, churches, chapels, advowsons, patronages, annuities,
rights, entries, conditions, commons, leets, courts, liberties, privi-
leges, and franchises appertaining or in any wise belonging to any
such monastery, abbacy, priory, nunnery, college, hospital, house
of friars, and other religious and ecclesiastical houses and places,
or to any of them, by whatsoever name or corporation they or any
of them were then named or called, and of what order, habit,
religion, or other kind or quality soever they or any of them then
were reputed, known, or taken ; to have and to hold all the said
monasteries, abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hospitals, houses
of friars, and other religious and ecclesiastical houses and places,
sites, circuits, precincts, manors, lands, tenements, meadows, pas-
tures, rents, reversions, services, and all other the premises, to our
said sovereign lord, his heirs and successors for ever, and the same
their said monasteries, abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hos-
pitals, houses of friars, and other religious and ecclesiastical houses
and places, sites, circuits, precincts, manors, lordships, granges,
meases, lands, tenements, meadows, pastures, rents, reversions,
252 English Constitutional Documents
services, and other the premises, voluntarily, as is aforesaid, have
renounced, left, and forsaken, and every of them has renounced,
left, and forsaken :
II. Be it therefore enacted by the king our sovereign lord,
and the lords spiritual and temporal, and the commons, in this
present Parliament assembled, and by authority of the same, that
the king our sovereign lord shall have, hold, possess, and enjoy
to him, his heirs and successors for ever, all and singular such
late monasteries, abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hospitals,
houses of friars, and other religious and ecclesiastical houses and
places, of what kinds, natures, qualities, or diversities of habits,
rules, professions, or orders they, or any of them, were named,
known, or called, which since the said fourth day of February, the
twenty-seventh year of the reign of our said sovereign lord, have
been dissolved, suppressed, renounced, relinquished, forfeited,
given up, or by any other mean come to his highness ; and by the
same authority, and in like manner, shall have, hold, possess, and
enjoy all the sites, circuits, precincts, manors, lordships, granges,
meases, lands, tenements, meadows, pastures, rents, reversions,
services, woods, tithes, pensions, portions, parsonages appropri-
ated, vicarages, churches, chapels, advowsons, nominations, patron-
ages, annuities, rights, interests, entries, conditions, commons,
leets, courts, liberties, privileges, franchises, and other whatsoever
hereditaments, which appertained or belonged to the said late
monasteries, abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hospitals,
houses of friars, and other religious or ecclesiastical houses and
places, or to any of them, in as large and ample manner and
form as the late abbots, priors, abbesses, prioresses, and other
ecclesiastical governors and governesses of such late monasteries,
abbacies, priories, nunneries, colleges, hospitals, houses of friars,
and other religious and ecclesiastical houses and places, had,
held, or occupied, or of right ought to have had, holden, or occu-
pied, in the rights of their said late monasteries, abbacies, priories,
nunneries, colleges, hospitals, houses of friars, or other religious
or ecclesiastical houses or places, at the time of the said dissolu-
tion, suppression, renouncing, relinquishing, forfeiting, giving up,
or by any other manner of means coming of the same to the
king's highness since the fourth day of February above specified.
The Six Articles Act 253
154. The Six Articles Act