‘Anglicana ecclesia libera sit’ was a mantra that the English clergy clung to throughout the later medieval period. Enshrined in chapter one of Magna Carta, it was a convincing statement of English ecclesiastical autonomy, of a Church theoretically free from the constraints of the laity. Yet, this freedom was vague. Though English kings were bound by their coronation oath to uphold the liberty of the English Church (along with maintaining good law and dispensing justice), libertas ecclesie was easily circumvented by kings unwilling to cede authority. Even statutes that predominantly confirmed ecclesiastical rights and liberties, such as the Articuli Cleri of 1316, could include passages that asserted the king's interests over those of the Church. To remedy this, kings in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, often at the behest of the English clergy, sought to quantify this abstract ‘freedom of the English Church’ so that it could be upheld and enforced. In 1286, the royal writ circumspecte agatis outlined which types of dispute were ecclesiastical in nature. In 1316, the Articuli Cleri – granted by Edward II as a response to thirteen specific clerical grievances – addressed English ecclesiastical concerns and provided confirmation of several Church freedoms. Edward III followed suit in 1344, enacting a statute exempting prelates from secular jurisdiction, followed in 1352 by his statute Pro Clero, which further defined this exemption. However, attaching the ‘freedom of the English Church’ to specific liberties and grievances limited its scope. Although libertas ecclesie was an incontrovertible right, it was only the individual agreed-upon privileges that could be enforced. Additionally, these specific privileges required royal approval, often through statutory legislation. Anglicana ecclesia was undoubtedly free from secular jurisdiction, but it was the king that authorised and defined the extent of this freedom. With each statute and royal charter that confirmed ecclesiastical liberties the king's authority over the English Church was tacitly approved.

During the fifteenth century libertas ecclesie continued to be invoked to defend specific freedoms. The Canterbury convocations in 1434 and 1439, for example, were summoned by Henry Chichele to right a number of wrongs that threatened the liberty of Holy Church. But anything decided in convocation had to receive secular confirmation from the king, often through parliament, in order to enforce these liberties.