368 



referring toUssher's Antiquitates EcclesiseBritaimiarumEcclesiarum^' 

 4to, January, 1687, p. 13, will find the particulars given of a great con- 

 troversy at the Council of Constance in 1417, between the oratores of the 

 sovereigns of England and Spain for precedence having been carried on; 

 and the main argument of the English orator or ambassador was the 

 greater dignity of the English Church, on account of the earlier apos- 

 tleship of Joseph of Arimathea claimed for England, as prior to that of 

 St. James claimed for the Spanish Church, by the Spanish ambassador. 



The foundation of both claims rested, no doubt, on very untenable 

 arguments and unreliable evidence ; and eventually we find by the re- 

 port of a renewal of this controversy concerning precedence between the 

 Erench and English representatives of the English orator or ambassador 

 in the same council, which is to be found in Hardt's "Magnum (Ecu- 

 menicum Constantiniense Concilium deUniversali Ecclesise E^eformatione 

 unione et fide" (in vi. tom. fol. Helmstadt, 1700), that the ultimate 

 decision in favour of the English claim to a place in the council as a, 

 separate nation was quite irrespective of the traditionary apostleships of 

 Joseph of Arimathea in England, and of St. James in Spain. The deci- 

 sion was mainly on the grounds of the connexion then existing of Eng- 

 land with Ireland, the latter country being acknowledged as one of the 

 four Christian Churches of the highest antiquity of origin, the first being 

 that of Eome, the second that of Constantinople, the third that of Ire- 

 land, the fourth that of Spain. See also Ussher's " Eeligion of the An- 

 cient Irish," cap. ult., p. 95, 



L'Enfant, in his "Histoire du Concile de Constance," 4to, 1727, tome 

 ii. p. 37, tells us that " Sir Eobert Wyngfield, ambassador of the King 

 of England at the court of the Emperor Maximilian, found in Constance 

 the original pieces of this x^rocess of the renewed controversy of the 

 ambassadors of the King of England with those of Erauce, for prece- 

 dence at the Council of Constance, in 1417, about the beginning of the 

 sixteenth century, and caused it to be printed atLouvain, in 1517 ; but 

 the printed document was full of faults. Yon der Hardt, having for- 

 tunately found a more correct copy of the MS. in the public library 

 at Leipsic, published it in the 5th vol. of his collection of documents 

 relating to this council." 



I have been fortunate enough to find this rare and valuable work in 

 the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. The account of this contro- 

 versy is in the 5th vol., and commences at page 99. It is headed — An- 

 glorum Vindicim contra Gallos pro jure nationis ex antiquisshno codice 

 Academice Lipsiensis.'^ 



In the reply of the English orators before the council to the objec- 

 tions of the Erench, it was clearly shown that, according to the ancient 

 division of Europe into four nations, Ireland being one of the four recog- 

 nised nations, the right claimed for England in virtue of the connexion 

 then existing of Ireland with that country was placed beyond dispute. 

 And this argument prevailed : — 



"Satis etiam constat secundum Alb ertunv Magnum et Bartholomseum 



