m his courts,[228] and as we have only the popular
impression to the contrary to set against his word, we must believe him;
yet it was of small moment to the laity who were pillaged, whether the
spoils taken from them filled the coffers of the master, or those of his
followers and friends.

When we consider, also, the significant allusion[229] to the young folks
whom the bishops called their nephews, we cease to wonder at their lenient
dealing with the poor priests who had sunk under the temptations of frail
humanity; and still less can we wonder at the rough handling which was soon
found necessary to bring back these high dignitaries to a better mind.

The House of Commons, in casting their grievances into the form of a
petition, showed that they had no desire to thrust forward of themselves
violent measures of reform; they sought rather to explain firmly and
decisively what the country required. The king, selecting out of the many
points noticed those which seemed most immediately pressing, referred them
back to the parliament, with a direction to draw up such enactments as in
their own judgment would furnish effective relief. In the meantime he
submitted the petition itself to the consideration of the bishops,
requiring their immediate answer to the charges against them, and
accompanied this request with a further important requisition. The
legislative authority of convocation lay at the root of the evils which
were most complained of. The bishops and clergy held themselves independent
of either crown or parliament, passing canons by their own irresponsible
and unchecked will, irrespective of the laws of the land, and sometimes in
direct violation of them; and to these canons the laity were amenable
without being made acquainted with their provisions, learning them only in
the infliction of penalties for their unintended breach. The king required
that thenceforward the convocation should consent to place itself in the
position of parliament, and that his own consent should be required and
received before any law passed by convocation should have the force of
statute.[230]

Little notion, indeed, could the bishops have possessed of the position in
which they were standing. It seemed as if they literally believed that the
promise of perpetuity which Christ had made to his church was a charm which
would hold them free in the quiet course of their injustice; or else, under
the blinding influence of custom, they did not