Statute of February 1351 intended to prevent the pope from exercising authority within the Church of England and from giving his often non-English candidates lucrative benefices in England. The statute ordained that election to bishoprics was to be free; that patrons should be free to present their choice to a benefice; that should this not happen, the king would have the right to present; that anyone who sought recourse to papal authority would be under penalty. -
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.