At a time when the laity were taxed an eleventh on their movable goods, or a seventh if they lived in town or on a royal demesne, the clergy, under Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Winchelsey, offered a tenth for national defense.
The bull decreed that all prelates or other ecclesiastical superiors who under whatsoever pretext or color shall not, without authority from the Holy See, pay to laymen any part of their income or of the revenue of the Church, likewise all emperors, kings, dukes, counts, etc.
The bull was also attacked for its failure to make clear the distinction between the revenues of the purely ecclesiastical benefices and the "lay fees" held by the clergy on feudal tenure.
The advisers of Philip were quick to take advantage of the Pope's hasty language and, by forcing him to make explanations, put him on the defensive and weakened his prestige.
The bull was essentially a revocation of Clericis laicos, which had fully prohibited the taxation of clerical property by lay authorities without the explicit consent of the papacy.
[8] Clericis laicos had been chiefly directed at Edward I of England and Philip IV of France, who had levied taxes on the clergy to finance their war over control of Duchy of Aquitaine.