[10585]. So manye prelates. [10699]. that huppe aboute in Engelond. The pope appointed many titular bishops of foreign sees in which, from the nature of circumstances, they could not possibly reside, and who therefore were a burthen upon the church. Some of these prelates appear to have resorted to England, and to have exercised the episcopal functions, consecrating churches, &c. The church of Elsfield, in Oxfordshire, was consecrated by a foreign bishop. (See Kennett's Parochial Antiquities.)
[10593]. John x, 11.
[10599]. Matth. xx, 4, 7.
[10606]. Matth. vii, 7.
[10617]. Galat. vi, 14.
[10632]. That roode thei honoure. A cross was the common mark on the reverse of our English money at this period, and for a long time previous to it. The point of satirical wit in this passage of Piers Ploughman appears to be taken from the old Latin rhymes of the beginning of the thirteenth century. See the curious poem De Cruce Denarii, in Walter Mapes, p. 223. Another poem in the same volume (p. 38) speaks thus of the court of Rome:—
Nummis in hac curia non est qui non vacet;
Crux placet, rotunditas, et albedo placet.
[10637]. Shul torne as templers dide. The suppression of the order of the Templars was at this time fresh in people's memories. It was the general belief, and not without some foundation, that the Templars had entirely degenerated from their original sanctity and faithfulness, and that before the dissolution of the order they were addicted to degrading vices and superstitions; and they were accused of sacrificing everything else to their grasping covetousness.
[10659]. Whan Constantyn. The Christian church began first to be endowed with wealth and power under the emperor Constantine the Great.