By 1640, the bishops held only 40 places on county commissions - half the number of 1590 and 1608.
By 1636 the numbers were lower still : 25 bishops and 72 ministers, totalling fewer than a hundred.
Nobles who had been married twice and therefore were unfit for an ecclesiastic career were appointed bishops through bribes, connections or both.
Rather, it means that most bishops who meet a man bless the man.
However, it must surely now look like a bill which the bishops wanted and for which they mobilized council support.
The first day consisted of presentations by several bishops from the region, to provide their perspectives on regional conflict.
See ibid. p. 121: '... bishops at their cathedrals say a homily when they lead in the penitents, and they do absolution'.
The bishop's approach is not only extremely idiosyncratic but methodologically very intricate.
