Editing John Peckham (section)

===Ecclesiastical matters===
Skirmishes with Edward over clerical privileges, royal power, Peckham's use of excommunication, and ecclesiastical taxation continued, but in October 1286, Edward issued a [[writ]] entitled ''Circumspecte Agatis'' which specified what types of cases the ecclesiastical courts could hear. These included moral issues, matrimonial issues, disputes about wills and testaments, the correction of sins, and slander and physical attacks on the clergy.<ref name=Edward257>Prestwich ''Edward I'', p. 257.</ref>

Peckham was very strict in his interpretations of canon law. He felt that Welsh laws were illogical and conflicted with Biblical teachings.<ref name=Edward186>Prestwich ''Edward I'' p. 186</ref> He also mandated that the clerical [[tonsure]] worn by the clergy should not just include the top of the head, but also have the nape and over the ears shaved, which allowed the clergy to be easily distinguished from the laity. To help with this, the archbishop also forbade the clergy from wearing secular clothing, especially military garb.<ref name=Moorman149>Moorman ''Church Life'' p. 149</ref> He also forbade an effort by the [[Benedictine]] order in England to reform their monastic rule, to allow more time for study and for more education for the monks. Peckham's reason was that they were against custom, but he may also have had concerns that these reforms would have drawn recruits away from the Franciscans.<ref name=Southern236>Southern ''Western Society'' p. 236</ref>

At an ecclesiastical council held at Lambeth in 1281, Peckham ordered the clergy to instruct their congregations in doctrine at least four times a year. They were to explain and teach the Articles of Faith, the Ten Commandments, the Works of Mercy, the Seven Deadly Sins, the Seven Virtues and the Sacraments.<ref name=HistMedLit396/> This command was issued as a canon, or law, of the council, and the group is known as the Lambeth Constitutions.<ref name=Devotion59>Swanson ''Religion and Devotion'' pp. 59–60</ref> Even later these constitutions were collected as the [[Ignorantia sacerdotum]].<ref name=HistMedLit396>Wallace ''Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature'' p. 396</ref> The six doctrines comprised the minimum theological knowledge the archbishop considered necessary for the laity to know.<ref name=HistMedLit548>Wallace ''Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature'' p. 548</ref> The constitutions, which were originally in Latin, were the basis and inspiration for pastoral and devotional works throughout the remainder of the Middle Ages, and were eventually translated into English in the 15th century.<ref name=Devotion59/>

The crime of "Pluralism", i.e. one cleric holding two or more benefices, was one of Peckham's targets,<ref name=Moorman220>Moorman ''Church Life'' pp. 220–221</ref> as were clerical absenteeism and laxity in the monastic life. His main method of fighting these was a system of visitation of his subordinate dioceses and religious houses, which he used with an unprecedented frequency. This often resulted in conflicts over whether or not the archbishop had jurisdiction to conduct these visits, but Peckham was also [[papal legate]], which added a layer of complexity to the resulting disputes. The numerous legal cases that resulted from his visitation policy strengthened the archiepiscopal court at the expense of the lower courts.<ref name=Lawrence137>Lawrence "Thirteenth Century" ''English Church & the Papacy'' p. 137</ref> Peckham also fought with [[Thomas de Cantilupe]], [[Bishop of Hereford]] over the right to visit subordinate clergy. The quarrel involved an appeal over the jurisdiction of the archbishop, that Thomas sent to Rome in 1281, but Thomas died before the case could be decided.<ref name=Lawrence128>Lawrence "Thirteenth Century" ''English Church & the Papacy'' p. 128</ref> Peckham also decreed that the clergy should preach to their flocks at least four times a year.<ref name=Moorman80>Moorman ''Church Life'' pp. 80–81</ref>

Peckham often was in conflict with his subordinate bishops, mainly because of his efforts to reform them, but Peckham's own attitude and handling of his clergy contributed to the problem.<ref name=Southern194>Southern ''Western Society'' pp. 194–196</ref> He once wrote to [[Roger de Meyland]], the [[Bishop of Lichfield|Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield]] "These things need your attention, but you have been absent so long that you seem not to care. We therefore order you, on receipt of this letter, to take up residence in your diocese, so that—even if you are not competent to redress spiritual evils—you may at least minister to the temporal needs of the poor."<ref name=QSouthern194>Quoted in Southern ''Western Society'' p. 194</ref> The historian [[Richard Southern]] says that Peckham's disputes with his suffragan bishops were "conducted in an atmosphere of bitterness and perpetual ill-will",<ref name=Southern194a>Southern ''Western Society'' p. 194</ref> which probably owed something to a "petulant strain in Peckham's character".<ref name=Southern194a/> Peckham's conflicts started because his own ideals were those of a Franciscan, but most of his clergy were concerned with more mundane and materialistic affairs. These strains between the archbishop and his subordinates were intensified by clashes over ecclesiastical and secular authority, as well as Edward's great need for income.<ref name=Southern211>Southern ''Western Society'' p. 211</ref>