The pretension of the Court of Avignon was met in 1353 by a statute which forbade any questioning of judgements rendered in the King's Courts or any prosecution of a suit in foreign courts under pain of outlawry, perpetual imprisonment, or banishment from the land.

It was this act of Praemunire--as it came in after renewals to be called--which furnished so terrible a weapon to the Tudors in their later strife with Rome.

But the Papacy paid little heed to these warnings, and its obstinacy in still receiving suits and appeals in defiance of this statute roused the pride of a conquering people.

England was still fresh from her glory at Bretigny when Edward appealed to the Parliament of 1365.

Complaints, he said, were constantly being made by his subjects to the Pope as to matters which were cognizable in the King's Courts.