Editing Praemunire (section)

==Background==
A controversy arose between the English kings and the Court of Rome concerning the filling of ecclesiastical benefices by means of papal provisions "by which the Pope, suspending for the time the right of the patron, nominated of his own authority, to the vacant benefice" the papal nominee being called a ''provisor''. [[Pope Gregory IX]] (1227–1241) pronounced against the propriety of such provisions as interfering with the rights of lay patrons; and [[Pope Innocent IV]] expressed, in 1253, general disapprobation of these nominations.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12516b.htm |last=Sloane |first=Charles |title=Statute of Provisors |encyclopedia=The Catholic Encyclopedia |volume=12 |location=New York |publisher=Robert Appleton Company |year=1911 |access-date=29 March 2020}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>

The [[Statute of Provisors]] (1306) ([[25 Edw. 3]]. Stat. 4), passed in the reign of [[Edward I of England|Edward I]], was, according to Sir [[Edward Coke]], the foundation of all subsequent statutes of ''praemunire''. This statute enacted "that no tax imposed by any religious persons should be sent out of the country whether under the name of a rent, [[tallage]], tribute or any kind of imposition". A much greater check on the freedom of action of the popes was imposed by the [[Statute of Provisors]] (1351) and the Statute of ''Praemunire'' passed in the reign of [[Edward III of England|Edward III]].<ref name=EB1911/>

The former of these, after premising "that the Pope of Rome, accroaching to him the seignories of possession and benefices of the holy Church of the realm of England doth give and grant the same benefices to aliens which did never dwell in England, and to cardinals, which might not dwell here, and to others as well aliens as denizens, as if he had been patron or advowee of the said dignities and benefices, as he was not of right by the laws of England", ordained the free election of all dignities and benefices elective in the manner as they were granted by the king's progenitors.<ref name=EB1911/>