In England from Wicliffe to Henry VIII - James Aitken Wylie

manner of sins, one sin only excepted, the
unpardonable one of heresy. The staple of the trade
now being so industriously driven was pardon; the
material cost nothing, the demand was extensive,
the price was good, and the profits were
correspondingly large. This multiplication of
festivals was Rome's remedy for the growing
irreverence of the age. It was the only means she
knew of heightening the spirit of devotion among
her members, and strengthening the national
religion.
It was at this time that Pope Martin V., of the
haughty house of Colonna, who was elevated to the
Papal chair by the Council of Constance, which
place he soon thereafter left for Rome in a blaze of
magnificence, turned his eyes on England, thinking
to put it as completely under his feet as it had been
under those of Innocent III., in the days of King
John. The statutes of Provisors and Praemunire,
passed in the reigns of Edward III. and Richard II.,
were heavy blows to the Papal power in England.
The Popes had never acquiesced in this state of
matters, nor relinquished the hope of being able to
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