rter.

The session commenced on the 15th of January.

The first step was to receive the final submission of convocation. The
undignified resistance was at last over, and the clergy had promised to
abstain for the future from unlicensed legislation. To secure their
adherence to their engagements, an act[678] was passed to make the breach
of that engagement penal; and a commission of thirty-two persons, half of
whom were to be laymen, was designed for the revision of the Canon
law.[679]

The next most important movement was to assimilate the trials for heresy
with the trials for other criminal offences. I have already explained at
length the manner in which the bishops abused their judicial powers. These
powers were not absolutely taken away, but ecclesiastics were no longer
permitted to arrest _ex officio_ and examine at their pleasure. Where a
charge of heresy was to be brought against a man, presentments were to be
made by lawful witnesses before justices of the peace; and then, and not
otherwise, he might fall under the authority of the "ordinary." Secret
examinations were declared illegal. The offender was to be tried in open
court, and, previous to his trial, had a right to be admitted to bail,
unless the bishop could show cause to the contrary to the satisfaction of
two magistrates.[680]

This was but a slight instalment of lenity; but it was an indication of the
turning tide. Limited as it was, the act operated as an effective check
upon persecution till the passing of the Six Articles Bill.

Turning next to the relations between England and Rome, the parliament
reviewed the Annates Act,[681] which had been left unratified in the hope
that the pope might have consented to a compromise, and that "by some
gentle ways the said exaction might have been redressed and reformed." The
expectation had been disappointed. The pope had not condescended to reply
to the communication which had been made to him, and the act had in
consequence received the royal assent. An alteration had thus become
necessary in the manner of presentation to vacant bishoprics. The anomalies
of the existing practice have been already described. By the Great Charter
the chapters had acquired the right of free election. A _conge d'elire_ was
granted by the king on the occurrence of a vacancy, with no attempt at a
nomination. The chapters were supposed to make their choice freely, and the
name of the bishop-elect was forwarded to the pope, who re