The tragedies of tyrants Exercised upon the church of God, from the birth of…The tragedies of tyrantes Exercised vpon the church of God, from the birth of…

The Popes of Rome have used sundry strange practices, to bereave kings and Emperors of their power, and to extol themselves above Kings and Princes, or rather to cast them down under their feet. Their chief power consisted in excommunication, or having excommunicated¹ any Prince: they withdrew the subjects from obeying him, and exhorted them to raise tumults, and fall away from him: moreover they egged subjects and servants to rebel against their Lords, & Masters shamefully discharging them from their Loyalty and oath, under this title & pretence, y• there ought no honour, nor obedience be shown or used unto excommunicate persons, nor² oath kept towards them. Then sent they abroad into all Provinces subtle men, Legates with Bulls or Letters, and we the Apostolic power, as they term it, through whose means they bread sundry conspiracies, partly with the Bishops of the Provinces whom they put in mind of their dutiful obedience to the Sea of Rome, partly with Princes of the Empire, and with all other that ⟨p. 101⟩were of any power, or authority. Thus having gotten certain of those in their faction, and raising a dissension among the people, the next was that there must a new Emperor, be chosen: and then fell they together by the ears which held with the old Emperor, and they which took part with the new. Whereupon many horrible, & woeful miseries³ have ensued, as civill wars, seditions, murders, burnings, and generally all kinds of calamities: wherewith the good Emperors sometimes being weary, many times overcome by force: have bin constrained to give place and abide these things, and in the mean while the Popes have with more arrogancy and boldness advanced their head. Al these things may be seen as it were in a Mirror, in the histories of the emperors Henry the fourth. Henry the. 5. Frederick the first, and Frederick the second, and others, whom we have before named. And so at length the Popes have overcome and became strong, as Daniel writeth, but not by their own power.

The Popes of Rome haue vsed sundry strange practizes, to bereue kinges and Emperours of their power, and to extolle themselues aboue Kinges and Princes, or rather to cast thē downe vnder their féete. Their chiefe power consisted in excomunicatiō, or hauing excomunicated