'heretical, seditious, or unseemly for Christian ears' ought to be excluded; and for these it prescribes a licence from 'such her majesty's commissioners, or three of them, as be appointed in the city of London to hear and determine divers causes ecclesiastical'. These commissioners are also to punish breaches of the Injunction, and to take and notify an order as to the prohibition or permission of 'all other books of matters of religion or policy, or governance'. An exemption is granted for books ordinarily used in universities or schools. The Master and Wardens of the Stationers' Company are 'straitly' commanded to be obedient to the Injunction. The commission here referred to was not one of those entrusted with the diocesan visitations, but a more permanent body sitting in London itself, which came to be known as the High Commission. The reference to it in the Injunction reads like an afterthought, but as the principal members of this commission were the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, there is not so much inconsistency between the two forms of procedure laid down as might at first sight appear. The High Commission was not in fact yet in existence when the Injunctions were issued, but it was constituted under a patent of 19 July 1559, and was renewed from time to time by fresh patents throughout the reign.[1] The original members, other than the two prelates, were chiefly Privy Councillors, Masters of Requests, and other lawyers. The size of the body was considerably increased by later patents, and a number of divines were added. The patent of 1559 conferred upon the commissioners a general power to exercise the royal jurisdiction in matters ecclesiastical. It does not repeat in terms the provisions for the 'allowing' of books contained in the Injunctions, but merely recites that 'divers seditious books' have been set forth, and empowers the commissioners to inquire into them.
The Injunctions and the Commission must be taken as embodying the official machinery for the licensing of books up to the time of the well-known Star Chamber order of 1586, although the continued anxiety of the government in the matter is shown by a series of proclamations and orders which suggest that no absolutely effective method of suppressing undesirable publications had as yet been attained.[2]
- ↑ App. D, No. xiii.
- ↑ Procl. 638, 656, 659, 687, 688, 702, 740, 752, 775; Arber, i. 430, 452, 453, 461, 464, 474, 502; cf. McKerrow, xiii. A draft Bill by William Lambarde prepared in 1577-80 for the establishment of a mixed body of ecclesiastics and lawyers as Governors of the English Print (Arber, ii. 751) never became law.
