for the ſake of enjoying the temporalties, but alſo committed horrible waſte on the woods and other parts of the eſtate; and, to crown all, would never, when the ſee was filled up, reſtore to the biſhop his temporalties again, unleſs he purchaſed them at an exorbitant price. To remedy which, king Henry the firſt[1] granted a charter at the beginning of his reign, promiſing neither to ſell, nor let to farm, nor take any thing from, the domains of the church, till the ſucceſſor was inſtalled. And it was made one of the articles of the great charter[2], that no waſte ſhould be committed in the temporalties of biſhopricks, neither ſhould the cuſtody of them be ſold. The ſame is ordained by the ſtatute of Weſtminſter the firſt[3]; and the ſtatute 14 Edw. III. ſt. 4. c. 4. (which permits, as we have ſeen, a leaſe to the dean and chapter) is ſtill more explicit in prohibiting the other exactions. It was alſo a frequent abuſe, that the king would for trifling, or no cauſes, ſeiſe the temporalties of biſhops, even during their lives, into his own hands: but this is guarded againſt by ſtatute I Edw. III. ſt. 2. c. 2.
This revenue of the king, which was formerly very conſiderable, is now by a cuſtomary indulgence almoſt reduced to nothing: for, at preſent, as ſoon as the new biſhop is conſecrated and confirmed, he uſually receives the reſtitution of his temporalties quite entire, and untouched, from the king; and then, and not ſooner, he has a fee-ſimple in his biſhoprick, and may maintain an action for the profits[4].
II. The king is entitled to a corody, as the law calls it, out of every biſhoprick: that is, to ſend one of his chaplains to be maintained by the biſhop, or to have a penſion allowed him till the biſhop promotes him to a benefice[5]. This is alſo in the nature of an acknowlegement to the king, as founder of the fee; ſince he had formerly the ſame corody or penſion from every abbey
