Papal Supremacy

The supremacy which the Pope claimed not only over the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, but over all other Christian princes. The theory was that they stood to the Pope as feudal vassals to a supreme lord; as such, the Pope claimed the right to enforce the duties due to him from his feudal subordinates through an ascending scale of penalties culminating in the absolution of the prince’s subjects from the bonds of allegiance, and in the disposition of the sovereign himself. The papal supremacy was overthrown in England by acts of the Parliament which met in 1529 and was dissolved in 1530, ending in the Act of Supremacy. See 1 Iannis Taylor, Science of Jurispr.; Boyce, Holy Rom. Einp.; Freeman, Sel. llist. Essays; 2 Phill. Intern. Law.