and Equity and said that all people even those who complained most of arbitrary power were apt to usurp it when they were in authority And some thought the delivering the doctrine of Justification in such nice terms was not sutable to the plain simplicity of the Christian Religion Lady Mary was so alarmed at these proceedings that she wrote to the Protector that such changes were contrary to the honour due to her Fathers Memory and it was against their duty to the King to enter upon such points and endanger the publick Peace before he was of Age. To which he wrote answer That her Father had died before he could finish the good things he had intended concerning Religion and had expressed his regret both before himself and many others that he left things in so unsetled a state and assured her that nothing should be done but what would turn to the Glory of God and the Kings Honour He imputed her Writing to the importunity of others rather than to her self and desired her to consider the matter better with an humble Spirit and the assistance of the Grace of God The Parliament was opened the fourth of November A Parliament meets and the Protector was by Patent authorized to sit under the Cloath of State on the Right hand of the Throne and to have all the Honours and Priviledges that any Unkle of the Crown either by Father or Mothers side ever had Rich was made Lord Chancellour The first Act that past five Bishops only dissenting An Act of Repeal was A Repeal of all Statutes that had made any thing Treason or Felony in the late Reign which was not so before and of the six Articles and the authority given to the Kings Proclamations as also of the Acts against Lollards All who deni'd the Kings Supremacy or asserted the Popes for the first offence were to forfeit their goods for the second were to be in a Pramunire and were to be attainted of Treason for the third But if any intended to deprive the King of his Estate or Title that was made Treason none were to be accused of Words but within a month after they were spoken they also repealed the power that the King had of annulling all Laws made till he was twenty four years of age and restrained it only to an annulling them for the time to come but that it should not be of force for the declaring them null from the beginning Another Act past with the same dissent An Act about the Sacrament for the Communion in both kinds and that the people should always communicate with the Priest and by it irreverence to the Sacrament was condemned under severe penalties Christ had instituted the Sacrament in both kinds and S. Paul mentions both In the Primitive Church that custome was universally observed but upon the belief of Transubstantiation the reserving and carrying about the Sacrament were brought in this made them first endeavour to perswade the World that the Cup was not necessary for Wine could neither keep nor be carried about conveniently but it was done by degrees the Bread was for some time given dipt as it is yet in the Greek Church but it being believed that Christ was entirely under either kind and in every crumb the Council of Constance took the Cup from the Laity yet the Bohemians could not be brought to submit to it so every where the use of the Cup was one of the first things that was insisted on by those who demanded a Reformation At first all that were present did communicate and censures past on such as did it not And none were denied the Sacrament but Penitents who were made to withdraw during the Action But as the devotion of the World slackned the people were still exhorted to continue their Oblations and come to the Sacrament though they did not receive it and were made believe that the Priest received it in their stead The name Sacrifice given to it as being a holy Oblation was so far improved that the World came to look on the Priests officiating as a Sacrifice for the dead and living From hence followed an infinite variety of Masses for all the accidents of humane life and that was the chief part of the Priests trade but it occasioned many unseemly jests concerning it which were restrained by the same Act that put these down Another Act past without any dissent An Act concerning the nomination of Bishops That the Conge d'elire and the Election pursuant to it being but a shadow since the person was named by the King should cease for the future and that Bishops should be named by the Kings Letters Patents and thereupon be consecrated and should hold their Courts in the Kings name and not in their own excepting only the Arch-bishop of Canterbury's Court And they were to use the Kings Seal in all their Writings except in Presentations Collations and Letters of Orders in which they might use their own Seals The Apostles chose Bishops and Pastors by an extraordinary gift of discerning Spirits and proposed them to the approbation of the people yet they left no rules to make that necessary In the times of Persecution the Clergy being maintained by the Oblations of the people they were chosen by them But when the Emperours became Christians the Town Councils and eminent men took the Elections out of the hands of the Rabble And the Tumults in popular Elections were such that it was necessary to regulate them In some places the Clergy and in others the Bishops of the Province made the choice The Emperours reserved the Confirmation of the Elections in the great Sees to themselves But when Charles the Great annexed great Territories and Regalities to Bishopricks a great change followed thereupon Church-men were corrupted by this undue greatness and came to depend on the humours of those Princes to whom they owed this great encrease of their wealth Princes named them and invested them in their Sees But the Popes intended to separate the Ecclesiastical State from all subjection to Secular Princes and to make themselves the heads of that State at first they pretended to restore the freedom of Elections but these were now ingrossed in a few hands for only the Chapters chose The Popes had granted thirty years before this to the King of France the nomination to all the Bishopricks in that Kingdome so the King of Englands assuming it was no new thing and the way of Elections as King Henry had setled it seemed to be but a Mockery so this change was not much condemned The Ecclesiastical Courts were the Concessions of Princes in which Trials concerning Marriages Wills and Tithes depended so the holding those Courts in the Kings name was no Invasion on the Spiritual Function since all that concerned Orders was to be done still in the Bishops name only Excommunication was still left as the Censure of those Courts which being a Spiritual Censure ought to have been reserved to
The Pope promises to satisfy the King ibid But proceeds hastily to a Sentence Pag. 102 Arguments for rejecting the Pope's Power Pag. 103 And for the Kings Supremacy Pag. 106 The Clergy submit to it Pag. 108 1534. The Pope's Power condemned in Parliam Pag. 109 The Act of the Succession Pag. 110 An Act concerning Hereticks Pag. 111 The Submission of the Convocation Pag. 112 An Act for the Election of Bishops Pag. 113 The Attainder of the Nun of Kent Pag. 114 All swear the Oath of Succession Pag. 119 Fisher Bishop of Rochester is in trouble ibid But is very obstinate Pag. 121 More and Fisher refuse the Oath ibid Another Session of Parliament establishes the King's Supremacy Pag. 123 The Progress of the Reformation in Engl. Pag. 125 The Supplication of the Beggars Pag. 127 Frith writes against Purgatory Pag. 128 A Persecution set on by More Pag. 129 Bilney 's Martyrdom ibid Frith 's Sufferings Pag. 133 A stop put to further Cruelties Pag. 135 The Interest the Reformers had at Court Pag. 136 Others oppose them much Pag. 137 The Opinion of some Bishops of a General Council Pag. 138 Heads of a Speech of Cranmer's Pag. 139 The state of England at that time Pag. 141 1535. A General Visitation proposed Pag. 144 Instructions and Injunctions for it ibid The state of the Monasteries in England Pag. 146 Some Houses surrendered to the King Pag. 150 1536. Queen Katherin's Death Pag. 151 The lesser Monasteries suppressed Pag. 152 A Translation of the Bible designed Pag. 153 Queen Ann Boleyn 's Fall Pag. 155 Her Trial Pag. 159 And Execution Pag. 162 Censures past upon it Pag. 164 Lady Mary 's Submission to the King Pag. 165 The Act of the Succession Pag. 167 The Pope desires a Reconciliation with the K. Pag. 168 Acts against the Pope's Power ibid The Convocation examines some Points of Religion Pag. 169 Articles of Religion agreed on Pag. 172 Which are variously censured Pag. 174 Other Alterations proposed Pag. 175 The King protests against all Councils called by the Pope Pag. 178 Card. Pool writes against him Pag. 179 The lesser Monasteries seized on Pag. 181 Which gave a general discontent Pag. 182 Injunctions given by the King Pag. 184 A Rebellion in Lincolnshire Pag. 186 Another in Yorkshire Pag. 187 They are every where quieted Pag. 191 Greater Monasteries surrendered Pag. 193 Some Abbots Attainted Pag. 196 The Impostures of some Images discovered Pag. 200 Becket 's Shrine broken Pag. 201 The Pope thunders against the King Pag. 203 The English Bishops assert the King's Supremacy and explain the Nature of the Power of the Church Pag. 205 The Bible set out in English and new Injunctions Pag. 208 Prince Edward born Pag. 209 Lambert is condemned and burnt for denying the Corporal Presence Pag. 210 Treaties with the German Princes Pag. 213 1539. The Act of the six Articles Pag. 215 Censures past upon it Pag. 219 An Act for the suppressing the Monasteries Pag. 220 An Act for new Bishopricks Pag. 222 An Act for Proclamations Pag. 224 Some Attainted without being heard Pag. 225 The King's kindness to Cranmer Pag. 226 Bishops hold their Sees at the Kings Pleasure Pag. 228 All the Monasteries supprest Pag. 229 A Treaty for a Match with Ann of Cleve Pag. 233 The King marries her but never likes her Pag. 234 The Knights of St. John suppressed Pag. 236 A new Parliament Pag. 235 Cromwel 's Fall Pag. 238 His Attaindor Pag. 240 Censures past upon it Pag. 241 The King's Marriage annull'd Pag. 242 Cromwel 's Death Pag. 246 A Book of Religion set out by the Bishops Pag. 247 The Explanation of Faith Pag. 248 And of the Sacraments Pag. 250 The Book is publisted Pag. 253 Barns ard others fall into Trouble Pag. 255 And burnt Pag. 257 New Sees founded Pag. 260 1541. The Bible set up in Churches Pag. 262 The Affairs of Scotland Pag. 264 A Persecution set on foot in Scotland Pag. 269 The Queen 's ill Life is discovered Pag. 271 1542. A design to suppress the Bible Pag. 274 Bonner's Injunctions ibid The way of Preaching at that time Pag. 275 A War with Scotland Pag. 279 1543. A Parliament called Pag. 280 An Act about Religion ibid Affairs in Scotland Pag. 282 Some burnt at Windsor Pag. 284 Cranmer 's Ruine is designed Pag. 286 1544. The Act of the Succession Pag. 288 The King makes War on France and Scotland Pag. 290 The King takes Bulloign Pag. 291 1545. Wishart burned in Scotland Pag. 292 Cardinal Beaton is murdered Pag. 294 Chantries given to the King Pag. 296 1546. A Peace with France Pag. 297 Ann Aiscough and others burnt Pag. 298 Designs against Cranmer Pag. 300 And against the Queen Pag. 301 The Duke of Norfolk's Fall Pag. 303 1547. The Earl of Surrey executed Pag. 304 The Duke is Attainted in Parliament Pag. 305 The King's Sickness Pag. 307 And Death Pag. 308 His Severities against Papists Pag. 309 The Carthusians in particular Pag. 310 Fisher 's Sufferings Pag. 311 More 's Death and Character Pag. 312 Attainders after the Rebellions Pag. 314 Forrest burnt for Heresy Pag. 315 Cardinal Pool's Friends Attainted Pag. 316 Some Attainted without being heard ibid The Conclusion Pag. 319 BOOK II. Of the Life and Reign of King Edward the Sixth KIng Edward 's Birth and Education Pag. 1 King Henry's Testament Pag. 2 A Protector chosen Pag. 4 Bishops take out Commissions ibid A Creation of Noblemen Pag. 5 Laymen had Ecclesiastical Dignities Pag. 7 Some take down Images Pag. 8 Arguments for and against it Pag. 9 The King's Funeral Pag. 12 Soul Masses examined ibid The Coronation Pag. 14 The Chancellour turned out Pag. 15 Protectors Patent Pag. 17 The Affairs of Germany ibid The Council of Trent Pag. 19 Divisions in England Pag. 20 The Visitation of all Churches Pag. 23 Censures on the Injunctions Pag. 26 The War with Scotland Pag. 28 The Battel of Musselburgh Pag. 31 The Success of the Visitation Pag. 32 A Parliament meets Pag. 35 An Act of Repeal ibid An Act about the Sacrament Pag. 36 An Act concerning the Nomination of Bishops Pag. 37 An Act against Vagabonds Pag. 39 An Act for dissolving the Chantries Pag. 40 The Convocation sits ibid The Affairs of Germany Pag. 43 Differences between the Protector and the Admiral Pag. 45 1548. The M. of Northampton 's Divorce Pag. 48 Some Ceremonies abrogated Pag. 49 A new Office for the Communion Pag. 52 Auricular Confession examined Pag. 54 Gardiner is imprisoned Pag. 56 A new Liturgy composed Pag. 58 The new Offices Pag. 61 Private Communion Pag. 62 Censures past on the Common-Prayer Book Pag. 63 All Preaching was for some time restrained Pag. 64 Affairs in Scotland Pag. 65 Affairs in Germany Pag. 67 1549. A Session of Parliament Pag. 69 An Act for the Marriage of the Clergy ibid An Act confirming the Liturgy Pag. 72 An Act for Fasting Pag. 73 The Admirals Attainder Pag. 74 A new Visitation Pag. 77 Disputes concerning Christs Presence
in the Sacrament Pag. 79 Arguments against the Corporal Presence Pag. 81 Anabaptists in England Pag. 85 Two were burnt Pag. 84 The Doctrine of Predestination abused Pag. 87 Tumults in several parts of England ibid The Rebellion in Devonshire Pag. 89 And in Norfolk Pag. 91 The French begin a War ibid The Rebels every where routed Pag. 92 A Visitation at Cambridge Pag. 94 Bonner's Process Pag. 95 And Deprivation Pag. 100 Ill Success of the English Pag. 101 Several Expedients proposed Pag. 105 The Emperour refuses his Assistance Pag. 106 A Faction against the Protector Pag. 108 Which turns to a Publick Breach Pag. 110 The Protector 's Fall Pag. 112 The Emperour will not assist them Pag. 114 A Session of Parliament ibid 1550. The Duke of Somerset fined but restored into Favour Pag. 116 A Progress of the Roformation ibid. The Book of Ordinations put out Pag. 117 Pool chosen Pope but lost it Pag. 120 A Treaty with France Pag. 122 Ridley made Bishop of London Pag. 123 Gardiner 's Process Pag. 124 Latimer preaches at Court Pag. 126 Hooper made Bishop of Glocester has some Scruple concerning the Vestments ibid A review of the Common-Prayer Book Pag. 128 Bucer offers some Advices to the King Pag. 130 The King 's great Knowledg ibid Altars put down Pag. 131 Affairs of Scotland Pag. 132 And Germany Pag. 133 1551. The Popish Party comply generally Pag. 134 Bucer 's Death Pag. 135 Gardiner 's Deprivation Pag. 136 The Articles of Religion agreed on Pag. 138 Changes made in the Com. Prayer Book Pag. 139 Lady Mary in trouble for having Mass said Pag. 142 The Earl of Warwick's Designs Pag. 147 A Treaty for a Marriage to the King Pag. 149 The Duke of Somerset 's Fall Pag. 150 His Tryal Pag. 151 Rich gives up the Great Seal and it was given to the Bishop of Ely Pag. 154 The Duke of Somerset 's Execution Pag. 156 The Affairs of Germany Pag. 158 1552. A Session of Parliament Pag. 161 An Act against Vsury Pag. 164 A Repeal of the Settlement of the Duke of Somerset 's Estate Pag. 165 Tonstall is imprisoned Pag. 166 A Reformation of Ecclesiastical Laws Pag. 167 The Heads of it Pag. 169 The Poverty of the Clergy Pag. 174 Affairs in Ireland Pag. 175 A Change in the Garter Pag. 177 Northumberland's Severity Pag. 178 Trade flourishes much Pag. 179 Cardan in England Pag. 180 Affaires in Scotland Pag. 183 The Affairs in Germany Pag. 185 An Account of the Council of Trent Pag. 187 The Emperours Designs are blasted Pag. 189 1553. A Bill proposed that Laymen should not hold Church Dignities Pag. 191 An Act suppressing the Bishoprick of Durham ibid Another Visitation Pag. 192 Bishops made by the King's Patent Pag. 193 Affairs in Germany Pag. 194 The King's Sickness Pag. 196 The Patents for the Succes to the Crown Pag. 197 The King's Death and Character Pag. 199 BOOK III. The Life and Reign of Queen Mary QVeen Mary succeeds Pag. 203 But Lady Jane Gray is proclaimed Pag. 205 Censures past upon that Pag. 206 Many turn to Queen Mary Pag. 208 Northumberland marches against her Pag. 209 The Council declares for her Pag. 210 She comes to London Pag. 212 Her former Life ibid The Councils then laid down Pag. 214 Northumberland 's Trial Pag. 215 And Execution Pag. 216 King Edward 's Funeral Pag. 217 A Tumult at St. Pauls Pag. 218 Severe Proceedings against the Men of Suffolk and others Pag. 220 Particularly against Judge Hales Pag. 221 Cranmer 's Imprisonment Pag. 222 The Strangers driven out of England Pag. 224 The Popular Arts used by Gardiner Pag. 225 A Parliament meets and repeals several Laws Pag. 226 The Queen's Mother's Marriage confirmed Pag. 227 King Edward 's Laws about Religion repealed Pag. 229 The Duke of Norfolk's Attainder repealed Pag. 230 A Treaty for reconciling England to the Pope Pag. 232 And for a Match with the Prince of Spain Pag. 233 Pool 's Advices to the Queen Pag. 234 The Parliament opposes the Match and is dissolved Pag. 236 A Convocation meets and dispute about the Sacrament Pag. 237 1554. The Treaty of Marriage begun Pag. 241 Which provokes some to rebel Pag. 242 Lady Jane Gray's Execution Pag. 245 Several others suffered Pag. 247 The Imposture of the Spirit in the Wall Pag. 248 Iujunctions sent to the Bishops ibid. Many Bishops turned out Pag. 249 A new Parliament Pag. 251 A Proposition to make the Queen absolute Pag. 252 New Disputations at Oxford with Cranmer Pag. 254 The Prince of Spain lands and marries the Queen Pag. 258 The Bishops visit their Diocesses Pag. 261 Another Parliament Pag. 263 The Nation is reconciled to the See of Rome Pag. 264 Gardiner 's Policy in the steps of this Change Pag. 268 Consultations about the way of proceedings against Hereticks Pag. 269 1555. A Persecution is set on foot Pag. 271 Rogers and Hooper condemned and burnt Pag. 272 The Burnings much condemned Pag. 274 Arguments against them and for them Pag. 276 The Queen restores the Church-Lands Pag. 279 Marcellus chosen Pope Paul the 4th succeeds ibid. The English Ambassadors come to Rome Pag. 280 The English grow backward to Persecution Pag. 281 The Queen's Delivery in vain looked for Pag. 282 More Hereticks burnt ibid. Religious Houses set up Pag. 285 Sir Tho. More 's Works published ibid. Ridley and Latimer burnt Pag. 286 Gardiner 's Death Pag. 289 The Parliament ill pleas'd with the Queens conduct Pag. 290 Pool 's Decrees for the Reformation of the Clergie Pag. 293 He refuses to bring the Jesuits into England Pag. 295 More of the Reformed are burnt Pag. 296 Affairs in Germany ibid. Charles the 5th 's Resignation Pag. 297 1556. Cranmer 's Sufferings Pag. 298 He repents and is burnt Pag. 301 His Character Pag. 303 More Burnings Pag. 304 The Reformed encrease upon this Pag. 306 The Troubles at Frankford ibid. Pool made Arch-bishop of Canterbury Pag. 307 More Religious Houses ibid. The Pope sets on a War between France and Spain Pag. 309 1557. A Visitation of the Vniversities Pag. 311 A severe Inquisition of Hereticks Pag. 312 More Burnings Pag. 313 Lord Stourton hanged Pag. 315 The Queen joyns in a War against France Pag. 316 The Battel at St. Quintin Pag. 317 The Pope recals Pool Pag. 318 Affairs of Germany Pag. 320 1558. Calais and other Places taken by the French Pag. 322 Great Discontents in England Pag. 324 The Parliament meets Pag. 325 The Carriage and Vsage of L. Eliz. all this Reign ibid. Ill Success and strange Accidents Pag. 329 The Dauphin and the Q. of Scotland married Pag. 331 A Parliament in England Pag. 332 The Queens Death Pag. 333 Pool 's Death and Character ibid. The Queens Character Pag. 334 BOOK IV. QVeen Elizabeth proclaimed Pag. 337 The Queen came to London Pag. 338 Philip proposes Marriage to the Queen but in vain Pag. 339 The Counsels about changing Religion Pag. 340 A Scheme proposed Pag. 341 The Impatience of some Pag. 342 Parker
founding of Monasteries was the fittest Compensation for a King and he turned out all the married Priests and put Monks in their stead From that time the Credit and Wealth of Monastick Orders continued to encrease for several Ages till the Begging Orders succeeded in the esteem of the World to the place which the Monks formerly had for they decreased as much in true worth as the false appearances of it had now raised their Revenues They were not only ignorant themselves but very jealous of the progress Learning was making for Erasmus and the other Restorers of it treating them with much scorn they look'd on the encrease of it as that which would much lessen them and so not only did not contribute to it but rather detracted from it as that which would make way for Heresy The Cardinal designed two noble Foundations the one at Oxford Cardinal Wolsy suppresses many and the other at Ipswich the place of his Birth both for the encouragement of the Learned and the instruction of Youth and for that end he procured a Bull for suppressing divers Monasteries which being executed their Lands by Law fell to the King and thereupon the Cardinal took out Grants of them and endowed his Colledges with them But we shall next consider the state of Religion in England From the dayes of Wickliff there were many that differed from the Doctrines commonly received The growth of Wickliff's Doctrine He writ many Books that gave great Offence to the Clergy yet being powerfully supported by the Duke of Lancaster they could not have their revenge during his Life but he was after his Death condemned and his Body was raised and burnt The Bible which he translated into English with the Preface which he set before it produced the greatest Effects In it he reflected on the ill Lives of the Clergy and condemned the Worship of Saints and Images and the corporal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament but the most criminal part was the exhorting all People to read the Scriptures where the Testimonies against those Corruptions were such that there was no way to deal with them but to silence them His Followers were not Men of Letters but being wrought on by the easy Conviction of plain Sense were by them determined in their Persuasions They did not form themselves into Body but were contented to hold their Opinions secretly and did not spread them but to their particular Confidents The Clergy sought them out every where and did deliver them after Conviction to the Secular Arm that is to the Fire In the Primitive Church The Cruelty of the Clergy all cruel Proceedings upon the account of Heresy were condemned so that the Bishops who accused some Hereticks upon which they were put to death were excommunicated for it Banishment and Fines with some Incapacities were the highest Severities even upon the greatest Provocations But as the Church grew corrupted in other things so a cruel Spirit being generally the mark of all ill Priests of whatsoever Religion they are they fell under the Influences of it and from the days of the rise of the Albigenses the severities of the Inquisition and Burnings with many other Cruelties were by the means of the Dominicans set up first in France and then in the other parts of Europe A Decree was also made in the Council of the Lateran requiring all Magistrates under the pains of forfeiture and deposition to extirpate Hereticks Burning agreed best with their Cruelty as being the most terrible sort of Death and bearing some resemblance to everlasting Burnings in Hell so they damned the Souls of the Hereticks and burnt their Bodies but the Execution of the former part of the Sentence was not in their power as the latter part was The Canons of that Council being received in England the Proceedings against Hereticks grew to be a part of the Common Law and a Writ for burning them was issued out upon their Conviction But special Statutes were afterwards made The first under Richard the second Laws made in England against Hereticks was only agreed to by the Lords and without its being consented to by the Commons the King assented to it yet all the Severity in it was no more than that Writs should go out to the Sheriffs to hold Hereticks in Prison till they should be judged by the Laws of the Church The Preamble of the Law says They were very numerous that they had a peculiar Habit that they preached in many Churches other Places against the Faith and refused to submit to the Censures of the Church This was sent with the other Acts according to the custom of that Time to all the Sheriffs of England to be proclaimed by them but the Year following in the next Parliament the Commons complained that that Act was published to which they had never consented so an Act passed declaring the former null yet this was suppressed and the former was still esteemed a good Law When Henry the fourth came to the Crown he owing it in great measure to the help of the Clergy passed an Act against all that preached without the Bishop's Licence or against the Faith and it was enacted That all Transgressors of that sort should be imprisoned and within three Months be brought to a Trial If upon Conviction they offered to abjure and were not Relapses they were to be imprisoned and fined at pleasure and if they refused to abjure or were Relapses they were to be delivered to the secular Arm and the Magistrates were to burn them in some publick Place But tho by this Statute no mention is made of sending out a Writ for Execution yet that continued still to be practised And that same Year Sautre a Priest being condemned as a Relapse and degraded by Arundell Arch-bishop of Canterbury a Writ was issued out for it in which Burning is called the Common Punishment which related to the customs of other Nations For this was the first Instance of that kind in England In the beginning of Henry the fifth's Reign there was a Conspiracy against the King discovered tho others that lived not long after say it was only pretended and contrived by the Clergy of Old-Castle and some others of Wickliff's Followers then called Lollards upon which many were condemned both for Treason and Heresy who were first hanged and then burnt and a Law followed that the Lollards should forfeit all that they held in Fee-simple as well as their Goods and Chattels to the King and all Sheriffs and Magistrates were required to take an Oath to destroy all Heresies and Lollardies and to assist the Ordinaries in their proceedings against them Yet the Clergy making ill use of these Laws and vexing all People that gave them any Offence with long Imprisonments the Judges interposed and examined the Grounds of their Commitments and as they saw cause Bailed or Discharged the Prisoners and took upon them to declare what Opinions were Heresies by Law and what were
second him in his Suit He encouraged him to proceed to a second Marriage without more adoe and assured him he would stand by him in it And told him he intended to restrain the payment of Annats to Rome and would ask of the Pope a Redress of that and other Grievances and if it was denied he would seek other Remedies in a Provincial Council An Enterview was proposed between the Pope and Him to which he desired the King go with him and King the was not unwilling to it if he could have assurance that his Business would be finally determined The Pope offered to the King to send a Legate to any indifferent place out of England to form the Process reserving only the giving Sentence to himself And proposed to him and all Princes a General Truce that so he might call a General Council The King answered that such was the present State of the Affairs of Europe that it was not seasonable to call a General Council that it was contrary to his Prerogative to send a Proxy to appear at Rome That by the Decrees of General Councils all Causes ought to be judged on the place and by a Provincial Council and that it was fitter to judge it in Engiand than any where else And that by his Coronation Oath he was bound to maintain the Dignities of his Crown and the Rights of his Subjects and not to appear before any forraign Court So Sir Thomas Elliot was sent over with Instructions to move that the cause might be judged in England Yet if the Pope had real Intentions of giving the King full Satisfaction he was not to insist on that And to make the Cardinal of Ravenna sure he sent him the offer of the Bishoprick of Coventry and Litchfield Nov. 14. The King marries Ann Bolleyn then vacant Soon after this the King married Ann Bolleyn Rowland Lee afterwards Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield did officiate none being present but the Duke of Norfolk and her Father her Mother and her Brother and Cranmer It was thought that the former Marriage being null of it self the King might proceed to another And perhaps they hoped that as the Pope had formerly proposed this Method so he would now approve of it But tho the Pope had joyned himself to France yet he was still so much in fear of the Emperour that he resolved not to provoke him and so was not wrought on by any of the Expedients which Bennet proposed which were either to judge the Cause in England according to the Council of Nice or to refer it to the Arbitration of some to be named by the King and the King of France and the Pope for all these he said tended to the Diminution of the Papal Power A new Citation was issued out for the King to answer to the Queen's Complaints but the King's Agents protested that he was a Soveraign Prince that England was a free Church over which the Pope had no just Authority and that the King could expect no Justice at Rome where the Empeperours Power was so great At this time the Parliament met again and past an Act The Parliament condemns Appeals to Rome condemning all Appeals to Rome In it they set forth That the Crown was Imperial and that the Nation was a compleat Body having full Power to do Justice in all Cases both Spiritual and Temporal And that as former Kings had maintained the Liberties of the Kingdom against the Usurpations of the See of Rome so they found the great Inconveniencies of allowing Appeals in Matrimonial Causes That they put them to great Charges and accasioned many Delayes Therefore they enacted That thereafter those should be all judged within the Kingdom and no regard should be had to any Appeals to Rome or Censures from it But Sentences given in England were to have their full Effect and all that executed any Censures from Rome were to incur the pains of Premunire Appeals were to be from the Arch-deacon to the Bishop and from him to the Archbishop And in the Causes that concerned the King the Appeal was to be to the upper House or Convocation There was now a new Archbishop of Canterbury Cranmer made Archbishop of Canterbury Warham died the former Year He was a great Patron of Learning a good Canonist and wise States-man but was a cruel Persecutor of Hereticks and inclined to believe Fanatical Stories Cranmer was then in Germany disputing in the King's Cause with some of the Emperour 's Divines The King resolved to advance him to that Dignity and sent him word of it that so he might make haste over But a Promotion so far above his Thoughts had not its common Effects on him He had a true and primitive Sense of so great a Charge and instead of aspiring to it he was afraid of it he both returned very slowly to England and used all his Endeavours to be excused from that Advancement But this declining of Preferment being a thing of which the Clergy of that Age were so little guilty discovered That he had Maximes very far different from most Church-men Bulls were sent for to Rome in order to his Consecration which the Pope granted tho it could not be very grateful to him to send them to one who had so publickly disputed against his Power of dispensing all the Composition that was payed for them was but 900 Ducats which was perhaps according to the Regulation made in the Act against Annats There were 9 several Bulls sent over one confirming the King's Nomination a Second requiring him to accept it a Third absolving him from Censures a Fourth to the Suffragan Bishops a Fifth to the Dean and Chapter a Sixth to the Clergy a Seventh to the Laity an Eighth to the Tenants of the See requiring all these to receive him to be their Archbishop a Ninth requiring some Bishops to consecrate him the Tenth gave him the Pall and by the Eleventh the Archbishop of York was required to put it on him The putting all this in so many different Bulls was a good Contrivance for raising the Rents of the Apostolick Chamber On the 30 of March Cranmer was consecrated by the Bishops of Lincoln Exeter and St. Asaph The Oath to the Pope was of hard Digestion So he made a Protestation before he took it that he conceived himself not bound up by it in any thing that was contrary to his Duty to God to his King or Country and he repeated this when he took it so that if this seemed too artificial for a Man of his sincerity yet he acted in it fairly The Convocation condemns the King's Marriage and above Board The Convocation had then two Questions before them the first was Concerning the Lawfulness of the King's Marriage and the Validity of the Pope's Dispensation the other was of Matter of Fact Whether P. Arthur had consummated the Marriage or not For the first the Judgments of 19 Universities were read and after a
shake him a little but he said he thought in his Conscience that it would be a Sin in him and offered to take his Oath upon that and that he was not led by any other Consideration The Abbot of Westminster told him he ought to think his Conscience was misled since the Parliament was of another Mind an Argument well becoming a rich ignorant Abbot But More said if the Parliament of England was against him yet he believed all the rest of Christendom was on his side In conclusion both he and Fisher declared that they thought it was in the Power of the Parliament to settle the Succession to the Crown and so were ready to swear to that but they could not take the Oath that was tendred to them for by it they must swear to maintain all the Contents in the Act of Succession and in it the King 's former Marriage was declared unlawful to which they could not assent Cranmer press'd that this might be accepted for if they once swore to maintain the Succession it would conduce much to the Quiet of the Nation but sharper Counsels were more acceptable so they were both committed to the Tower and Pen Ink and Paper was kept from them The old Bishop was also hardly used both in his Cloaths and Diet he had only Rags to cover him and Fire was often denied him which was a Cruelty not capable of any Excuse and was as barbarous as it was imprudent In Winter another Session of Parliament was held the first Act that pass'd Another Session of Parliament declared the King to be the Supream Head on Earth of the Church of England and appointed that to be added to his other Titles and it was enacted that he and his Successors should have full Authority to reform all Heresies and Abuses in the Spiritual Jurisdiction By an other Act they confirmed the Oath of Succession which had not been specified in the former Act tho agreed to by the Lords They also gave the King the first Fruits and Tenthes of Ecclesiastical Benefices as being the Supream Head of the Church for the King being put in the Pope's room it was thought reasonable to give him the Annats which the Popes had formerly exacted The Temporalty were now willing to revenge themselves on the Spiritualty and to tax them as heavily as they had formerly tyrannized over them Another Act past declaring some things Treason one of these was the denying the King any of his Titles or the calling him Heretick Schismatick or Usurper of the Crown By another Act Provision was made for setting up 26 Suffragan Bishops over England for the more speedy Administration of the Sacraments and the better Service of God It is also said they had been formerly accustomed to be in the Kingdom The Bishop of the Diocess was to present two to the King and upon the King 's declaring his choice the Archbishop was to consecrate the Person and then the Bishop was to delegate such parts of his Charge to his Care as he thought fitting which was to last during his Pleasure These were the same that the Ancients called the Chorepiscopi who were at first the Bishops of some Villages but were afterwards put under the Jurisdiction of the Bishop of the next City They were set up before the Council of Nice and continued to be in the Church for many Ages but the Bishops devolving their whole Spiritual Power to them they were put down and a Decretal Epistle was forged in the name of P. Damasus condemning them The great Extent of the Diocesses in England made it hard for one Bishop to govern them with that Exactness that was necessary these were therefore appointed to assist them in the discharge of the Pastoral Care In this Parliament Subsidies were granted payable in three Years with the highest Preamble of their Happiness under the King's Government all those 24 Years in which he had reigned that Flattery could dictate Fisher and More by two special Acts were attainted of Misprision of Treason five other Clerks were in like manner condemned all for refusing to swear the Oath of Succession The See of Rochester was declared void yet it seems few were willing to succeed such a Man for it continued vacant two Years This Severity against them was censured by some as Extream since they were willing to swear to the Succession in other Terms so that it was merely a point of Conscience in which the common Safety was not concerned at which they stuck and it was thought the prosecuting them in this manner would so raise their Credit that it might endanger the Government more than any Opposition which they could make But now that the King entered upon a new Scene The Progress the New Doctrines made in England it will be necessary to open the Progress that the new Opinions had made in England all the time of the King's Suit of Divorce During Wolsey's Ministry those Preachers were gently used and it is probable the King ordered the Bishops to give over their enquiring after them when the Pope began to use him ill for the Progress of Heresy was always reckoned up at Rome among the Mischiefs that would follow upon the Pope's denying the King's Desires But More coming into Favour he offered new Counsels he thought the King 's proceeding severely against Hereticks would be so meritorious at Rome that it would work more effectually than all his Treatnings had done so a severe Proclamation was issued out both against their Books and Persons ordering all the Laws against them to be put in Execution Tindall and some others at Antwerp were every Year either translating or writing Books against some of the received Errors and sending them over to England But his Translation of the New Testament gave the greatest Wound and was much complained of by the Clergy as full of Errors Tonstall then Bp of London being a Man of great Learning and Vertue which is generally accompanied with much Moderation returning from the Treaty of Cambray to which More and he were sent in the King's Name as he came through Antwerp dealt with an English Merchant that was secretly a Friend of Tindall's to procure him as many of his New Testaments as could be had for Mony Tindall was glad of this for being about a more correct Edition he found he would be better enabled to set about it if the Copies of the Old were sold off so he gave the Merchant all he had and Tonstall paying the Price of them got them in his hands and burnt them publickly in Cheapside This was called a burning of the Word of God and it was said the Clergy had reason to revenge themselves on it for it had done them more Mischief than all other Books whatsoever But a Year after this the second Edition being sinished great Numbers were sent over to England and Constantine one of Tindall's Partners hapned to be taken so More believing that some of the
before the Act of Parliament past for suppressing the lesser Monasteries Q. Katherine was put to much trouble for keeping the Title Queen Queen Katherin's Death but bore it resolutely and said That since the Pope had judged that her Marriage was good she would die rather than do any thing in prejudice of it Her Sufferings begot Compassion in the People and all the Superstitious Clergy supported her Interests zealously But now her Troubles ended with her Life She desired to be buried among the Observant Friers for they had suffered most for her She ordered 500 Masses to be said for her Soul and that one of her Women should go a Pilgrimage to our Lady of Walsingham and give 200 Nobles on her way to the Poor When she found Death coming on her as she writ to the Emperour recommending her Daughter to his care So she writ to the King with this Inscription My dear Lord King and Husband She forgave him all the Injuries he had done her and wish'd him to have regard to his Soul She recommended her Daughter to his Care and desired him to be kind to her three Maids and to pay her Servants a Years Wages and ended thus mine Eyes desire you above all things She died on the Eighth of January at Kimbolt on in the 50th Year of her Age 33 years after she came to England She shas a Devout and Exemplary Woman She used to work with her own hands and kept her Women at work with her The Severities and Devotions that were known to her Priests and her Alms-Deeds joined to the Troubles she fell in begat a high Esteem of her in all sorts of People The King complained often of her Peevishness but that was perhaps to be imputed as much to the Provocations he gave her as to the Sowrness of her Temper He ordered her to be buried in the Abbey of Peterborough and was somewhat touched with her Death But Q. Ann did not carry this so decently as became a happy Rival In February a Parliament met In Parliament the lesser Monasteries suppressed after a Prorogation of 14 Months The Act impowering 32 to revise the Ecclesiastical Laws was confirmed but no time was limited for finishing it so it had no effect The chief business of this Session was the suppressing of the Monasteries under 200 l. a Year The Report the Visitors made was read in the two Houses and disposed them to great easiness in this matter The Act sets forth the great disorders of those Houses and the many unsuccessful Attempts that had been made to reform them so the Religious that were in them were ordered to be put in the greater Houses where Religion was better observed and the Revenues of them were given to the King Those Houses were much richer than they seemed to be for an abuse that had run over Europe of keeping the Rents of the Church at their first Rates and instead of raising them the exacting great Fines for the Incumbent when the Leases were renewed was so gross in those Houses that some rated but at 200 l. were in real value worth many Thousands By another Act a new Court was erected with the Title of the Court of the Augmentations of the King's Revenue consisting of a Chancellor a Treasurer 10 Auditors 17 Receivers besides ofther Officers The King was also empowered to make new Foundations of such of those Houses now suppressed as he pleased which were in all 370 and so this Parliament after six Years Continuance was now dissolved A Convocation sate at this time A Translation of the Bille designed in which a motion was made for Translating the Bible into English which had been promised when Tindal's Translation was condemned but was afterwards laid aside by the Clergy as neither necessary nor expedient So it was said that those whose Office it was to teach People the Word of God did all they could to suppress it Moses the Prophets and the Apostles wrote in the Vulgar Tongue Christ directed the People to search the Scriptures and as soon as any Nation was converted to the Christian Religion the Bible was translated into their Language nor was it ever taken out of the hands of the People till the Christian Religion was so corrupted that it was not safe to trust them with such a Book which would have so manifestly discovered those Errours and the Legends as agreeing better with those Abuses were read instead of the Word of God So Cranmer look'd on the putting the Bible in the People's hands as the most effectual means for promoting the Reformation and therefore moved that the King might be prayed to give order for it But Gardiner and all the other Party opposed this vehemently They said All the extravagant Opinions then in Germanny rose from the indiscreet use of the Scriptures Some of those Opinions were at this time disseminated in England both against the Divinity and Incarnation of Christ and the usefulness of the Sacraments for which 19 Hollanders had been burnt in England the former Year It was therefore said That during these Distractions the use of the Scriptures would prove a great Snare So it was proposed that instead of them their might be some short Exposition of the Christian Religion put in the Peoples hands which might keep them in a certain Subjection to the King and the Church But it was carried in the Convocation for the Affirmative At Court Men were much divided in this Point some said if the King gave way to it he would never be able after that to govern his People and that they would break into many Divisions But on the other hand it was said That nothing would make the Difference between the Pope's Power and the King's Supremacy appear more eminently than if the one gave the People the free use of the Word of God whereas the other had kept them in Darkness and ruled them by a blind Obedience It would be also a great mean to extinguish the Interest that either the Pope or the Monks had in England to put the Bible in the People's hands in which it would appear that the World had been long deceived by their Impostures which had no Foundation in the Scriptures These Reasons joyned with the Interest that the Queen had in the King prevailed so far with him that he gave order for setting about this with all possible hast and within three Years the Impression of it was finished At this time the King was in some Treaty with the German Princes not only for a League in Temporal Concerns but likewise in matters of Religion The King thought the Germans should have in all things submitted to him and the Opinion he had of his own Learning which was perhaps heightned a little with his new Title of Head of the Church made him expect that they should in all points comply with him Gardiner was then his Ambassadour in France and diswaded him much from any Religious League with them
he was prevailed with by a Pension of 500 Marks to resign The Inferiour Governours had some 30 20 or 10 l. Pensions and the Monks had generally 6 l. or 8 Marks a piece If any Abbot died the new Abbot they being chosen as the Bishops were upon a Conge delire and a Missive Letter was named for that purpose only to resigne the House And all were made to hope for Advancement that should give good Example to others by a quick and cheerful Surrender by these means 121 of those Houses were this Year resigned to the King In most Houses the Visitor made the Monks sign a Confession of their former Vices and Disorders of which there is only one Original Extant that escaped a general Rasure of all such Papers in Queen Mary's time in which they acknowledged in a long Narrative their former Idleness Gluttony and Sensuaality for which the pit of Hell was ready to swallow them up Others acknowledged that they were sensible that the manner of their former pretended Religion consisted in some dumb Ceremonies by which they were blindly led having no true Knowledg of God's Laws but that they had procured Exemption from their Diocesans and had subjected themselves wholly to a Forreign Power that took no care to reform their Abuses and therefore since the most perfect way of Life was revealed by Christ and his Apostles and that it was fit they should be governed by the King their Supream Head they resigned to him Of this sort I have seen six Some resigned in hopes that the King would found them of new these favoured the Reformation and intended to convert their Houses to better Uses for preaching study and Prayer and Latimer prest Cromwell earnestly that two or three Houses might be reserved for such purposes in every County But it was resolved to suppress all and therefore neither could the Intercessions of the Gentry of Oxfordshire nor of the Visitors preserve the Nunnery at Godstow tho they found great Strictness of Life in it and it was the common place of the Education of young Women of Quality in that County The common Preamble to most Surrenders was That upon full Deliberation and of their own proper Motion for just and reasonable Causes moving their Consciences they did freely give up their Houses to the King Some surrendred without any Preamble to the Visitors as Feofees in trust for the King In short they went on at such a rate that 159 Resignations were obtained before the Parliament met and of these the Originals of 154 are yet extant Some thought that these Resignations could not be valid since the Incumbents had not the Property but only the Trust for life of those Houses But the Parliament did afterwards declare them good in Law It was also said that they being of the Nature of Corporations all Deeds under their Seals were valid and that at least by their Resignation and quitting their Houses they forfeited them to the King But this was thought to subsist rather on a Nicety in Law than natural Equity Others were more roughly handled Some Abbots attainted The Prior of Wooburn was suspected of a Correspondence with the Rebels and of favouring the Pope he was dealt with to submit to the King and he was prevailed on to do it but was not easie in it once nor fixed to it He complained that the new Preachers detracted from the Honour due to the Virgin and Saints he thought the Religion was changed and wondered that the Judgments of God on Q. Anne had not terrified others from going on to subvert the Faith When the Rebellion broke out he joined in it as did also the Abbots of Whaley Garvaux and Sawley and the Prior of Burlington all these were all taken and attainted of Treason and executed The Abbots of Glassenbury and Reading had also sent a great deal of their Plate to the Rebels the former to disguise it the better had made one break into the House where the Plate was kept So he was convicted both of Burglary and Treason and at his Execution he confessed his Crime and begged both God's and the King's Pardon for it The Abbot of Colchester was also attainted and executed but the Grounds of it are not known for the Records of their Attaindors are lost These had over and over again taken the Oaths in which they acknowledged the King to be Supream Head of the Church and were present in those Parliaments in which the several Acts about it were pass'd and did not dissent to them and since they made no Opposition when they might safely and legally do it there is no Reason to think they would have done it afterwards when it was more dangerous and criminal So that all those who have represented them as having suffered for denying the King's Supremacy have therein shewed their Unacquaintedness with the Journals of Parliament The Abbot of Reading had complied so far that he was grown into Favour with Cromwell so that in some Contests between Shaxton Bishop of Salisbury and him the Bishop who was a proud ill-natured Man complained that Cromwell supported the Abbot against him and writ upon that a very Insolent Expostulatory Letter to him which Cromwell answered with great strength of Reason and Decency of Stile by which it appears that heighth of his Condition had no other Effect on him but to make him know himself and others better Upon the Attainders of those Abbots their Abbies were seized on and this was thought a great stretch both in Law and Equity for it seemed not reasonable if an Incumbent was faulty for that to seize on his Benefice which upon his Attainder ought to continue entire and pass to the next Successor as if he were really dead But a Clause was put in the Act of Treason 26 Hen. 8 That whatsoever Lands of Estate of Inheritance any that should be convicted of Treason had in Vse or Possession by any Right or manner should be forfeited to the King By which as intailed Estates were certainly comprehended so it seems they applied it likewise to Church-Benefices yet when the Bishop of Rochester was attainted this was not thought on The words Estate of Inheritance seemed to exclude Church-Lands but the mention that was made of Traitors Successors that were cut off as well as their Heirs seemed on the other hand to include Estates to which Successors might come in a Traitor's room as well as those which descended by Inheritance The Words were ambiguous and were stretched to justify those Seizures and therefore in an Act of Treasons made in the next Reign this was more cautiously worded for it was provided that Traitors should forfeit the Estates which they possessed in their own Right But whatsoever Illegality there might be in these Proceedings they were confirmed by the following Parliament in a special Proviso made concerning those Abbies that were seized on by any Attainders of Treason Many of the Carthusians were executed for denying the
2. That Christ was entirely in each kind and so Communion in both was not necessary 3. That Priests by the Law of God ought not to marry 4. That Vows of Chastity taken after the Age of 21 ought to be kept 5. That Private Masses were lawful and useful 6. That Auricular Confession was necessary and ought to be retained Such as did speak or write agaist the first of these were to be burned without the benefit of Abjuration and it was made Felony to dispute against the other five and such as did speak against them were to be in a Premunire for the first Offence the second was made Felony Married Priests that did not put away their Wives were to be condemned of Fellony in those that lived incontinently the first Offence was a Premunire and the second Felony Women that offended were to be punished as the Priests were Those that contemned Confession and the Sacrament and abstained from it at the accustomed times were for the first Offence in a Premunire the second was Felony Proceedings were to be made in the Forms of Common Law by Presentments and a Jury and all Church-men were charged to read the Act in their Churches once a Quarter This Act was received with great Joy by all the Popish Party Censures past upon it they reckoned that now Heresy would be extirpated and that the King was as much engaged against it as he was when he writ against Luther this made the Suppression of the Monasteries pass much the easier The poor Reformers were now exposed to the Rage of their Enemies and had no Comfort from any part of it but one that they were not delivered up to the Cruelty of the Ecclesiastical Courts or the Trials ex Officio but were to be tried by Juries yet the denying the benefit of Abjuration was a Severity without a Precedent and was a forcing Martyrdom on them since they were not to be the better for their Apostacy It was some Satisfaction to the married Clergy that the incontinent Priests were to be so severely punished which Cromwell put in and the Clergy knew not how they could decently oppose it Upon the passing the Act the German Ambassadours being set on to it by those that favoured their Doctrine in England desired an Audience of the King and told him of the Grief with which their Masters would receive the News of this Act and therefore earnestly press'd him to stop the Execution of it The King answered that he found it necessary to have the Act made for repressing the Insolence of some People but assured them it should not be put in Execution except upon great Provocation When the Princes heard of the Act they writ to the King to the same purpose they warned him of many Bishops that were about him who in their Hearts loved Popery and all the old Abuses and took this method to force the King to return back to the former Yoke hoping that if they once made him cruel to all those they called Hereticks it would be easy to bring him back to submit to that Tyranny which he had shaken off and therefore they proposed a Conference between some Divines of both sides in order to an Agreement of Doctrine The King was only concerned upon State Maxims to keep up their League in Opposition to the Emperour but they still press'd a Religious as well as a Civil League After the Act of the six Articles An Act for suppressing the Monasteries the Act for suppressing the Monasteries was brought in and tho there were so many Abbots sitting in the House none of them protested against it By it no Monastery was suppressed but only the Resignations made or to be made were confirmed and the King 's Right founded either on their Surrenders Forfeitures or Attainders of Treason was declared good in Law Houses surrendred were to be managed by the Court of Augmentations but those seized on by Attainders were to come to the Exchequer All Persons except the Founders and Donors were to have the same Rights to the Lands belonging to these Houses that they had before this Act was made All Deeds and Leases made for a Year before this to the prejudice of these Houses were annulled and all the Churches belonging to them and formerly exempted were put under the Jurisdiction of the Bishop or of such as should be appointed by the King This last Proviso has produced a great Mischief in this Church for many that purchased Abby-Lands had this Clause put in their Grants that they should be the Visitors of the Churches and by this they continue still exempted from the Episcopal Jurisdiction and this has emboldened many to break out into great Scandals which have been made use of by prejudiced Men to cast an Obloquy on the Church tho this Disorder proceeds only from the want of Authority in the Bishops to censure them A Question was raised upon this Suppression whether the Lands should have reverted to the Donors or been escheated to the Crown By a Judgment of the Roman Senate in Theodosius's time all the Endowments of the Heathenish Temples were given to the Fisc and tho the Heirs of the Donors pretended to them yet it was said that by the Gifts that their Ancestors made they were totally alienated from them and their Heirs When the Order of the Templers was suppressed their Lands went to the Lord by an Escheat This might seem reasonable in Endowments that were simple Gifts without any Conditions But the Grants to Religious Houses were of the nature of Covenants given in consideration of the Masses that were to be said for them and their Families and therefore it was inferred that when the Cheat of redeeming Souls out of Purgatory was discovered and these Houses were suppress'd then the Lands ought to revert to the Heirs of the Donors and upon that account it was thought necessary to exclude them by a special Proviso Another Bill was brought in An Act for new Bishopricks empowering the King to erect new Bishopricks by his Letters Patents it was read three times in one day in the House of Lords The Preamble set forth that the ill Lives of those that were called Religious made it necessary to change thir Houses to better Uses for teaching the Word of God instructing of Children educating of Clerks relieving of old infirm People the endowing of Readers for Greek Latine and Hebrew mending of High-ways and the bettering the Condition of the Parish Priests and for this end the King was empowered to erect new Sees and to assign what Limits and Divisions and appoint them what Statutes he pleased I have seen the first Draught of this Preamble all written with the King 's own Hand and indeed he used extraordinary Care in corecting both Acts of Parliament and Proclamations with his own Hand All Papers in matters of Religion that were set out by publick Authority in this Reign were revised by him and in many places large
Author of it would certainly be hanged So when the Secretary came to ask for it and said it was the Arch-bishop's Book the other that was an obstinate Papist refused to give it and reckoned that now Cranmer would be certainly ruined but the Secretary acquainting Cromwell with it he called for him next day and chid him severely for presuming to keep a Privy-Counsellours Book and so he took it out of his Hands thus Cranmer was delivered out of this Danger Shaxton and Latimer not only resigned their Bishopricks but being presented for some Words spoken against the six Articles they were put in Prison where they lay till a recantation discharged the one and the King's Death set the other at liberty There were about 500 others presented on the same account but upon the Intercessions of Cranmer Cromwell and others they were set at liberty and there was a stop put to the further Execution of the Act till Cromwell fell The Bishops of the Popish Party took strange Methods to insinuate themselves into the King's Confidence Bishops hold their Sees at the King's Pleasure for they took out Commissions by which they acknowledged That all Jurisdiction Civil and Ecclesiastical flowed from the King and that they exercised it only at the King's Courtesy and as they had of his Bounty so they would be ready to deliver it up when he should be pleased to call for it and therefore the King did empower them in his stead to ordain give Institution and do all the other parts of the Episcopal Function which was to last during his Pleasure and a mighty charge was given them to ordain none but Persons of great Integrity good Life and well learned for since the Corruption of Religion flowed from ill Pastors so the Reformation of it was to be expected chiefly from good Pastors By this they were made indeed the King's Bishops in this Bonner set an Example to the rest but it does not appear that Cranmer took out any such Commission all this Reign Now came on the total Dissolution of the Abbies All the Monasteries supprest 57 surrenders were made this Year of which 30 are yet extant of these 37 were Monasteries and 20 were Nunneries and among them 12 were Parliamentary Abbies which were in all 28 Abington St. Albans St. Austin's Canterbury Battell St. Bennets in the Holm Bardeny Cirencester Colchester Coventry Croyland St. Edmundsbury Evesham Glassenbury Gloceste Hide Malmsbury St. Mary's in York Peterborough Ramsey Reading Selby Shrewsbury Tavestock Tewkesbury Thorney Waltham Westminster and Winchelcomb When all had thus resigned Commissioners were appointed by the Court of Augmentations to seize on the Revenues and Goods belonging to these Houses to establish the Pensions that were to be given to every one that had been in them and to pull down the Churches or such other parts of the Fabrick as they thought superfluous and to sell the Materials of them When this was done others began to get Hospitals to be surrendred to the King Thirleby being Master of St. Thomas Hospital in Southwark was the first that set an Example to the rest he was soon after made a Bishop and turned with every Change that followed till Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown and then he refused to comply tho he had gone along with all the Changes that were made in King Edward's time The valued Rents of the Abby-Lands as they were then let was 132607 l. 6 s. 4 d. but they were worth above ten times so much in true value The King had now in his hand the greatest Advantage that ever King of England had both for enriching the Crown and making Royal Foundations But such was his Easiness to his Courtiers and his Lavishness that all this melted away in a few Years and his Designs were never accomplished he intended to have founded 18 new Bishopricks but he founded only six Other great Projects did also become abortive In particular one that was designed by Sir Nicholas Bacon which was a Seminary for States-men he proposed the crecting a House for Persons of Quality or of extraordinary Endowments for the study of the Civil Law and of the Latine and French Tongues of whom some were to be sent with every Ambassadour beyond Sea to be improved in the Knowledg of Forreign Assairs in which they should be imploied as they grew capable of them And others were to be set to work to write the History of the Trasactions abroad and of Assairs at home This was to supply one Loss that was like to follow on the Fall of Abbies for in most of them there was kept a Chronicle of the Times These were written by Men that were more credulous than judicious and so they are often more particular in the recital of Trifles than of important Affairs and an invincible Humour of lying when it might raise the Credit of their Order or House runs through all their Manuscripts All the Ground that Cranmer gained this Year in which there was so much lost was a Liberty that all private Persons might have Bibles in their House the managing of which was put in Cromwell's Hands by a special Patent Gardiner opposed it vehemently and built much on this that without Tradition it was impossible to understand the meaning of the Scriptures and one day before the King he challenged Cranmer to shew any Difference between the Scriptures and the Apostles Canons It is not known how Cranmer managed the Debate but the Issue of it was this The King judged in his Favours and said He was an old experienced Captain and ought not to be troubled by fresh Men and Novices The King was now resolved to marry again and both the Emperour and the King of France proposed Matches to him but they came to no Effect The Emperour endeavoured by all means possible to separate the King from the Princes of the Smalcaldick League and the Act of the six Articles had done that already in a great measure for they complained much of the King's Severity in those Points which were the principal Parts of their Doctrine such as Communion in both kinds Private Masses and the Marriage of the Clergy Gardiner studied to animate the King much against them he often told him it was below his Dignity to suffer dull Gâ—rrâ—ans to dictate to him and he suggested that they who would not acknowledg the Emperours Supremacy in the matters of Religion could not be hearty Friends to the Authority which the King had assumed in them But the Germans did not look on the Emperour as their Soveraign but only as the Head of the Empire and they did believe that every Prinee in his Dominions and the Diet for the whole Empire had sufficient Authority for making Laws in Ecclesiastical Affairs but what other Considerations could not induce the King to was like to be more powerfully carried on by the Match with Anne of Cleve which was now set on foot There had been a Treaty between her Father and
the Papacy to offer Confirmations unsought and afterwards to found a Right on such a Precedent So that the receiving a Confirmation was made to pass for an acknowledgment of an Authority in that See to grant it upon which the Popes afterwards pretended that such things could not be done without their consent Here the Series of the King 's Advances towards a Reformation ends what he did after this was by Starts backwards or forwards as the humour took him Nor was he steady in his Councils in State-Affairs He had no Minister about him that had an Ascendent over him Sickness and Years increased his Imperious Temper so that his Counsellors had a hard task to please him and many Errours were committed by him A new Impression of the Bible was at this time finished The Bible set up in Churches And the King required all Parishes to provide one of them by the next All-hallowtide under the pain of 40 s. a Month after that till they had got one The People were also charged not to dispute about it nor to disturb Divine Service by reading it during the Mass but to read it humbly and reverently for their Instruction and Edification Six of these were set up in divers Places of St. Pauls But Bonner being afraid of the Mischief they might do posted up near them an Admonition to the People That none should read them with vain Glory and corrupt Affections or draw Multitudes about them when they read them But great numbers gathered about those that read and such as had good Voices used to be reading them aloud a great part of the Day Many set their Children to School and when they had learn'd to read they carri'd them to Church to read the Bibles some began likewise to argue from them particularly against taking away the Chalice in the Communion and the Worship in an unknown Tongue Upon which Bonner set up a new Advertisement and threatned to remove them if these abuses were not corrected And upon the Complaints made of those things the free use of the Scriptures was afterwards much restrained This Year the King added to his former Foundations two Collegiat Churches at Burton upon Trent and Thornton consisting of a Dean and four Prebendaries apiece Cranmer observing the Excesses in Bishops Tables by which under the name of Hospitality so much was consumed in great Entertainments that they were disabled from more necessary and profitable Acts of Charity made a Regulation that an Archbishop should not have above six Dishes of Meat and four of Banquet a Bishop not above five of Meat and four of Banquet a Dean or Arth-deacon not above four and two of the one and the other and Inferiour Church-men might not have above two Dishes But this did not take effect and Sumptuous Tables still continued tho the Revenues were much impaired and thus besides the other ill Effects of these a great part of the Church-rents goes for Entertaining the Rich which should be applied to the Poor This Summer the King went to York to meet his Nephew the King of Scotland who promised him an Enterview there He was an Extraordinary Prince The Affairs of Scotland a great Patron both of Learning and Justice but out of measure addicted to his Pleasures The Clergy of Scotland were very Apprehensive of his seeing his Uncle lest King Henry might have perswaded him to follow the Copy he had set to his Neighbours and they used such perswasions that these seconded by a Message from France diverted the King from his purpose Here I shall digress a little to give an account of the State of Scotland at this time The long Alliance between Scotland and France made that Paris was the place where the Learned of that Nation had their Education Yet after the Year 1412 Learning came to have more footing there and Universities were set up in several Episcopal Sees At the same time some of Wickliff's Followers began to creep into Scotland and one Resby an Englishman was burnt 1407 for teaching some Opinions contrary to the Pope's Authority Some Years after that Paul Craw an Hussite and Bohemian was burnt for infusing the Opinions of that Party into some at St. Andrews About the end of that Century Lollardy as it was then called was spread into many parts of the Diocess in Glasgow For which several Persons of Quality were accused But they answered the Archbishop of that See with such Assurance that he dismissed them having admonish'd them to content themselves with the Faith of the Church and to beware of new Doctrines The same Spirit of Ignorance Immorality and Superstition had over-run the Clergy there that was so much complained of in the other parts of Europe only it may be supposed that in Nations less Polite and Learned it was in Proportion greater then it was elsewhere The total neglect of the Pastoral Care and the gross Scandals of the Clergy possessed the People with such Prejudices against them that they were easily disposed to hearken to new Preachers Patrick Hamilton nobly born Nephew by his Father to the Earl of Aran and to the Duke of Albany by his Mother was bred up on design to be highly preferred and had an Abby given him for prosecuting his Studies He went to travel and in Germany grew acquainted with Luther and Melancthon and being possessed with their Opinions he returned to Scotland and laid open the Errours and Corruptions then received in the Church He was invited to St. Andrews to confer concerning these Points upon which he was condemned and put in Prison Articles were objected to him and upon his refusing to abjure them Beaton Archbishop of St Andrews with the Archbishop of Glasgow 3 Bishops and 5 Abbots condemned him as an obstinate Heretick and delivered him to the Secular Power and ordered the Execution to be that Afternoon for the King had gone in Pilgrimage to Ross and they were afraid lest upon his Return Hamilton's Friends might have interceeded effectually for him He was tied to the Stake and expressed great Joyes in his Sufferings since by these he was to enter into Everlasting Life A Train of Powder being fired it did not kindle the Fewel but only burnt his Face So a stop was made till more Powder was brought and in that time the Friars call'd oft to him to recant and pray to the Virgin and to say the Salve Regina One Frier Campbel was very officious among the rest who had been oft with him in Prison He answered him That he knew he was not an Heretick and had confess'd it to him in private and he charged him to answer for that to God By this time the Gun-powder was brought and the Fire was kindled and he died often repeating these Words Lord Jesus receive my Soul Campbel became soon after Frantick and died within a Year Both these laid together made great Impressions on the People And now that these Points began to be inquired into many
the Bishop to be proceeded in by him only with the assistance of his Clergy and this fatal errour then committed has not yet met with an effectual regulation Another Act was made against idle Vagabonds An Act against Vagabonds that they should be made slaves for two years by any that should seize on them This was chiefly designed against some Vagrant Monks as appears by the Proviso's in the Act for they went about the Countrey infusing in the People a dislike of the Government The severity of this Act made that the English Nation which naturally abhors slavery did not care to execute it and this made that the other Proviso's for supplying those that were truly indigent and were willing to be imployed had no effect But as no Nation has better and more merciful Laws for the supply of the Poor so the fond pity that many shew to the common Beggars which no Laws have been able to restrain makes that a sort of dissolute and idle Beggars intercept much of that Charity which should go to the relief of those that are indeed the only proper objects of it An Act for dissolving the Changries After this came the Act for giving the King all those Chantries which the late King had not seized on by Vertue of the Grant made to him of them Cranmer opposed this much for the poverty of the Clergy was such that the State of Learning and Religion was like to suffer much if it should not be relieved and yet he saw no probable Fond for that but the preserving these till the King should come to be at Age and allow the selling them for buying in of at least such a share of the Impropriations as might afford some more comfortable subsistence to the Clergy yet though he and seven other Bishops dissented it was past After all other Acts a General Pardon but clogged with some Exceptions came last some Acts were proposed but not past one was for the free use of the Scriptures others were for a Court of Chancery in Ecclesiastical Causes for Residence and for a Reformation of the Courts of Common Law The Convocation fits The Convocation sat at the same time and moved that a Commission begun in the late Reign of thirty two Persons for reforming the Ecclesiastical Laws might be revived and that the inferiour Clergy might be admitted to sit in the House of Commons for which they alledged a Clause in the Bishops Writ and Ancient Custome and since some Prelates had under the former Reign begun to alter the form of the Service of the Church they desired it might be brought to perfection and that some care might be had of supplying the poor Clergy and relieving them from the Taxes that lay on them This concerning the inferiour Clergy's sitting in the House of Commons was the subject of some debate and was again set on foot both under Queen Elizabeth and King James but to no effect Some pretended that they always sat in the House of Commons till the submission made in the former Reign upon the suit of the Praemunire but that cannot be true since in this Convocation 17. years after that in which many that had been in the former were present no such thing was alledged It is not clear who those Proctors of the Clergy that sat in Parliament were if they were the Bishops assistants it is more proper to think they sat in the House of Lords No mention is made of them as having a share in the Legislative Authority in our Records except in the 21. of Richard the 2d In which mention is made both of the Commons the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Proctors of the Clergy concurring to the Acts then made which makes it seem most probable that they were the Clerks of the lower House of Convocation When the Parliament met antiently all in one Body the inferiour Clergy had their Writs and came to it with the other Freeholders but when the two Houses were separated the Clergy became also a distinct body and gave their own Subsidies and medled in all the concerns and represented all the grievances of the Church But now by the Act made upon the submission of the Clergy in the last Reign their power was reduced almost to nothing so they thought it reasonable to desire that either they might have their Representatives in the House of Commons or at least that matters of Religion should not pass without the assent of the Clergy But the raising the Ecclesiastical authority too high in former times made this turn that it was now depressed as much below its just limits as it was before exalted above them as commonly one extreme produces another It was resolved that some Bishops and Divines should be sent to Windsor to finish some Reformations in the publick Offices for the whole lower House of Convocation without a contradictory Vote agreed to the Bill about the Sacrament But it is not known what opposition it met with in the Upper House A Proposition being also set on foot concerning the lawfulness of the Marriage of the Clergy thirty five subscribed to the affirmative and only fourteen held the Negative And thus ended this Session both of Parliament and Convocation And the Protector being now established in his power and received by a Parliament without contradiction took out a new Commission in which besides his former authority he was impowered to substitute one in his room during his absence In Germany the Princes of the Smalcaldick League were quite ruined The affairs of Germany the Duke of Saxe was defeated and taken Prisoner and used with great severity and scorn which he bare with an invincible greatness of mind The Landgrave was perswaded to submit and had assurances of liberty given him but by a trick unbecoming the greatness of the Emperour he was seized on and kept Prisoner contrary to faith given upon this all the Princes and Towns except Magdeburg and Brome submitted and purchased their pardon at what terms the Conquerour was pleased to impose The Bishop and Elector of Colen withdrew peaceably to a retirement in which after four years he died and now all Germany was at the Emperours mercy Some Cathedrals as that at Ausburg were again restored to the Bishops and Mass was said in them A Diet was also held in which the Emperor obtain'd a Decree to pass by which matters of Religion were referred wholly to his care The Pope instead of rejoycing at this blow given the Lutherans was much troubled at it for the Emperour had now in one Year made an end of a War which he hoped would have Imbroiled him his whole life so that Italy was now more at his mercy than ever and it seemed the Emperour intended to inlarge his Conquests there for the Pope's Natural Son being killed by a Conspiracy the Governour of Milan seized on Placentia which gave the Pope some jealousie as if the Emperour had been privy to
and wished there were more preaching and in a more lively way than he heard was then in England but above all things he prayed him to suppress that Impiety and profanity that as he heard abounded in the Nation In the end of this Year A Session of Parliament a Session of Parliament met but no Bill was finished before February the first was concerning the married Clergy which was finished by the Commons in six days but lay six Weeks before the Lords Nine Bishops and four Temporal Lords protested against it It was declared An Act for the marriage of the Clergy that it were better for Priests to live unmarried free of all worldly cares yet since the Laws compelling it had occasioned great filthiness they were all repealed The pretence of Chastity in the Romish Priests had possessed the World with a high opinion of them and had been a great reflection on the Reformers if the World had not clearly seen through it and been made very sensible of the ill effects of it by the defilement it brought into their own Beds and Families Nor was there any point in which the Reformers had enquired more to remove this prejudice that lay against them In the old Testament all the Priests were not only married but the Office descended by Inheritance In the New Testament Marriage was declared Honourable in all among the qualifications of Bishops and Deacons their being the Husbands of one Wife are reckoned up Many of the Apostles were married and carried their Wives about with them as also Aquila did Priscilla Forbidding to marry is reckoned a mark of the Apostasie that was to follow Some of the first Hereticks inveighed against Marriage but the Orthodox justified it and condemned those Churchmen that put away their Wives which was confirmed by a General Council in the fifth Century In Trullo Paphnutius in the Council of Nice opposed a motion that was made for it Hilary of Poictiers was married Basil and Nazianzen's Fathers were Bishops Heliodorus the first that wrote a Romance moved that Bishops might live singly but till then every one did in that as he pleased and even those who were twice married if the first was before their Conversion might be Bishops which Jerome himself though very partial to celibate justifies all the Canons made against the married Clergy were only positive Laws which might be repealed The Priests in the Greek Church did still live with their Wives at that time In the West the Clergy did generally marry and in Edgar's time they were for the most part married in England In the Ninth Century P. Nicolas prest the Celibate much but was opposed by many In the Eleventh Century Gregory the 7th intending to set up a new Ecclesiastical Empire found that the unmarried Clergy would be the surest to him since the married gave Pledges to the State and therefore he proceeded furiously in it and called all the married Priests Nicolaitans yet in England Lanfranc did only impose the Celibate on the Prebendaries and the Clergy that lived in Towns Anselm imposed it on all without exception but both he Bernard and Petrus Damiani complain that Sodomy abounded much even among the Bishops And not only Panormitan but Pius the 2d wished that the Laws for the Celibate were taken away So it was clear that it was not founded on the Laws of God and it was a sin to force Churchmen to vow that which sometimes was not in their power and it was found by examining the forms of Ordination that the Priests in England had made no such vows and even the vow in the Roman Pontifical to live chastly did not import a tie not to marry since a Man might live Chast in a married state Many lewd stories were published of the Clergy but none seemed more remarkable than that of the Pope's Legate in Henry the second 's time who the very same Night after he had put all the married Clergy from their Benefices was found a-bed with a Whore It was also observed that the unmarried Bishops if they had not Bastards to raise were as much set on advancing their Nephews and Kindred as those that were married could be Nor did any Persons meddle more in secular affairs than the unmarried Clergy and it might be reasonable to restrain the Clergy as was done in the Primitive Church from converting the Goods of the Church which were entrusted to their care to the enriching of their Families None appeared more zealous for procuring this liberty than several Clergy men that never made use of it in particular Ridley and Redmayn Another Act past An Act confirming the Liturgy confirming the Liturgy which was now finished Eight Bishops and three Temporal Lords only protesting against it There was a long preamble setting forth the inconvenience of the former Offices and the pains that had been taken to reform them and that diverse Bishops and Divines had by the aid of the Holy Ghost with an uniform agreement concluded on the new Book therefore they Enacted That by Whitsunday next all Divine Offices should be performed according to it and if any used other Offices for the first offence they should be imprisoned six months lose their Benefices for a second and be imprisoned during life for the third offence Some censured those words that the Book was composed by the Aid of the Holy Ghost but this did not import an Inspiration but a Divine assistance Many wondred to see the Bishops of Norwich Hereford Chichester and Westminster protest against the Act since they had concurred in composing the Book It does not appear whether they were dissatisfied at any thing in it or whether they opposed the imposing it on such severe penalties or if they were displeased at a Proviso that was added for the using of Psalms taken out of the Bible which was intended for the singing Psalms then put in Verse and much used both in Churches and Houses by all that loved the Reformation In the Primitive times the Christians used the Psalter much and the chief devotion of the Monastick Orders consisted in repeating it often Apollinarius put it in Verse and both Nazianzen and Prudentius wrote many devout Hymns in Verse Others though in Prose were much used as the Gloria in Excelsis and the Te Deum afterwards the greatest part of the Offices was put in Latin Rhimes and so now some English Poets turned the Psalter into Verse which was then much esteemed but both our Language and Poetry being since that time much improved this work has now lost its beauty so much that there is great need of a new Version Another Act past about Fasting An Act for Fasting declaring That though all days and meats were in themselves alike yet fasting being a great help to vertue and to the subduing the Body to the mind and a distinction of meats conducing to the advancement of the Fishing trade it was Enacted That Lent and all Fridays and
of the soyl among the Tenants The Protector was a great friend to the Commons and complained much of the Oppression of the Landlords There was a Commission issued out to enquire concerning Inclosures and Farms and whether those who purchased the Abbey Lands and were obliged to keep up Hospitality performed it or not and what encouragement they gave to Husbandry but this turned to nothing So the Commons rose every where yet in most of the Inland Counties they were easily dispersed and it was promised that their grievances should be redressed The Protector against the Councils mind set out a Proclamation against all new Inclosures and for indemnifying the People for what was past Commissioners were also sent every where to hear and determine all Complaints but the power that was given to them was so arbitrary that the Landlords called it an Invasion of Property when their Rights were thus subjected to the pleasure of such Men. The Commons understanding that the Protector was so favourable to them were thereby the more encouraged and it was afterwards objected to him that the Convulsions England fell in soon after was chiefly occasioned by his ill Conduct in which he was the more blamed because he acted against the mind of the greatest part of the Council The Rebellion in Devonshire June 10. In Devonshire the Insurrection was more formidable the superstition of the Priests joining with the rage of the Commons so they became quickly 10000. strong The Lord Russel was sent against them with a small force and was ordered to try if the matter could be composed without blood but Arundel a Man of Quality commanding the Rebels they were not a loose body of People easily dissipated They sent their Demands to Court That the old Service and Ceremonies might be set up again that the Act of the six Articles and the Decrees of General Councils might be again in force that the Bible in English should be called in that Preachers should pray for the Souls in Purgatory that Cardinal Pool should be restored that the half of the Abbey Lands should be restored to found two Abbeys in every County and that Gentlemen of 100. Marks a Year might have but one Servant and they desired a safe Conduct for their Chief Leaders in order to the Redress of their particular Grievances afterwards they moderated their desires only to points of Religion Cranmer writ a large Answer to these shewing the Novelty and Superstition of those Rites and Ceremonies and of that whole way of worship of which they were so fond and that the amendments and changes had been made according to the Scriptures and the Customes of the Primitive Church and that their being fond of a Worship which they understood not and being desirous to be kept still in ignorance without the Scriptures shewed their Priests had greater power over them than the common reason of all Mankind had as for the six Articles that Act had never past if the King had not gone in Person to the Parliament and argued for it yet he soon saw his error and was slack in executing it After that there was a high threatning Answer sent them in the King's name charging them for their Rebellion and blind obedience to their Priests In it the King's authority under Age was largely set forth for by the pretence of the Kings Minority the People generally were made believe that their rising in Arms was not Rebellion In Conclusion they were earnestly invited to submit to the Kings mercy as others had done whom the King had not only pardoned but had redressed their just Grievances At the same time the like spirit of rage inflamed the Commons in Norfolk they pretended nothing of Religion And in Norfolk but only to destroy the Gentry and put new Counsellors about the King they were led by one Ket a Tanner and in a few days grew to be 20000. They encamped near Norwich and committed great out-rages Parker afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury went in among them and with great freedom inveighed against their Rebellion and Cruelty and warned them of the Judgments of God that would fall on them for which he was in great danger of his life Ket was now their Prince and in imitation of the ancient Druids he did Justice upon complaints brought before him under an Oak called from thence the Oak of Reformation The Marquess of Northampton was sent against them with Orders to keep at a distance and cut off their provisions There was at the same time a rising likewise in Yorkshire where the Commons being incouraged by some pretended Prophecies run together and committed acts of great barbarity on some Gentlemen The French begin a War The French King hearing of all this resolved to take his advantage and regain Bulloigne three days before he marched with his Army the English Embassadour pressing him upon the Intimations that were given him of his designs he assured him on the faith of a Gentleman that he would not begin a War till he first gave warning But many Princes reckon it a part of their Prerogative to be exempted from such ties by which only poor Subjects ought to be fettered All these things falling upon the Government at once it may be easily imagined they were under no small consternation A Fast was proclaimed at Court where Cranmer preached with great freedom and vehemence he laid out before them their vitious and ill lives particularly of those who pretended a love to the Gospel and set before them the Judgments of God that they might look for and inlarged on the fresh example of the Calamities of Germany and intimated the sad apprehensions he had of some terrible stroke if they did not repent and amend their lives The Rebels in Devonshire besieged Exeter The Rebels every where routed the Citizens resisted their assaults but could not so easily resist the assaults that hunger made on them for they were not provided for a Siege They were reduced at last to great extremities which made the Lord Russel after he had got such supplies as he judged necessary resolve to fall upon them They possessed themselves of a Bridge behind him both to inclose him and to hinder others from joyning with him but he marched back and did quickly beat them from it with the loss of 600. of their Men and by that essay he perceived how easie a work it would be to disperse them he upon that marched forward to Exeter and beat the Rebels from a Bridge that opened his way to their Camp killing a 1000. of them upon which they raised the Siege and retired in great disorder to Lanceston he pursued them as long as they kept in a body and great numbers of them were killed some of their Leaders and Priests were taken and hanged So happily was that Rebellion subdued without any loss on the Kings side But the Marquess of Northampton was not so successful in Norfolk he marched into Norwich The Rebels
to God On the 22. The Duke of Somerset's Execution day of January the Duke of Somerset was executed at Tower-Hill the substance of his Speech was a Vindication of himself from all ill designs he confessed his private sins and acknowledged the mercies of God in granting him time to Repent he declared that he had acted sincerely in all he did in matters of Religion while he was in power and rejoyced for his being Instrumental in so good a work he exhorted the People to live sutably to the doctrine received among them otherwise they might look for great Judgments from God As he was going on there was an unaccountable Noise heard which so frighted the People that many run away Sir Anthony Brown came up riding towards the Scaffold which made the Spectators think that he brought a Pardon and this occasioned great shouts of Joy but they soon saw their mistakes so the Duke went on in his Speech He declared his chearful submission to the will of God and desired them likewise to acquiesce in it he prayed for the King and his Council and exhorted the People to continue obedient to them and asked the forgiveness of all whom at any time he had offended Then he turned to his private devotions and fitted himself for the blow which upon the signal given severed his Head from his Body He was a Man of extraordinary Virtues of great candor and eminent Piety he was always a promoter of Justice and a Patron of the oppressed He was a better Captain than a Counsellor and was too easie and open-hearted to be so cautious as such times and such Imployments required It was generally believed all this Conspiracy for which he and the other Four suffered was only a forgery all the other Complices were quickly discharged and Palmer the chief Witness became Northumberlands particular confident and the indiscreet words which the Duke of Somerset had spoken and his gathering armed Men about him was imputed to Palmer's artifices who had put him in fear of his life and so made him do and say those things for which he lost it His four friends did all end their Lives with the most solemn protestations of their Innocence and the whole matter was lookt on as a contrivance of Northumberlands by which he lost the affections of the People entirely Some reflected on the Attainder of the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Surrey's death occasioned likewise by a Conspiracy of their own Servants in which it was thought this Duke was too active He was also much censured for his Brothers death He had raised much of his Estate out of the spoils of Bishops Lands and his Palace out of the Ruines of some Churches and to this some added a remark that he did not claim the benefit of his Clergy which would have saved him and since he had so spoiled the Church they imputed it to a particular Judgment on him that he forgat it But in this they were mistaken for in the Act by which he was condemned it was provided that no Clergy should purge that Felony In Germany The affairs of Germany Maurice began this year to form a great design He enter'd into correspondences not only with the Princes of Germany but also with France and England and having given intimations of his designs for the liberty of Germany and the security of the Protestant Religion to some that had great credit in Magdeburg he brought that Town to a surrender and having made himself sure of the Army he quartered his Troops in the Territories of the Popish Princes by which they were all much alarmed only the Emperour did not apprehend the danger till it was too late for him A quarrel fell in between the Pope and the King of France about Parma The Pope threatned if that King would not restore Parma he would take France from him Upon that the Council being now again opened at Trent the King of France protested against it and declared that he would call a National Council in France and would not obey nor receive their Decrees The Emperor still pressed the Germans to send Embassadours and Divines to Trent The Council began with the points about the Eucharist and it was ordered that these should be handled according to the Scriptures and Ancient Authors the Italians did not like this and said the bringing many quotations was only an Act of Memory and that way would give the Lutherans great advantages The sublime speculations of the Schools together with their terms were much safer Weapons to deal with A Safe-Conduct was demanded from the Council for the Emperours Conduct was not thought sufficient since at Constance John Hus and Jerome of Prague were burnt though they had the Emperours Safe-Conduct The Council of Basil had granted a very full one to the Bohemians so the Lutherans demanded one in the same form but though one was granted yet it was in many things short of that The Elector of Brandenburg sent an Embassadour to Trent who made a general Speech of the respect his Master had for them The Legates answered and thanked him for submitting to their Decrees of which the Embassadour had not said a word but when he expostulated about it the Legates said they answered him according to that he ought to have said and not to that he did say The Council decreed the manner of Christs presence to be ineffable and yet added that Transubstantiation was a fit term for it for that was a notion as unconceivable as any that could be thought on Then they decreed the necessity of Auricular Confession that thereby Priests might keep a proportion between Penances and Sins which was thought a mockery for the trade of slight Penances and easie Absolutions for the greatest sins shewed there was no care taken to adjust the one to the other The Embassadour of the Duke of Wirtemberg came and moved for a Safe-Conduct to their Divines to come and maintain their Doctrine The Legates answered they would enter into no disputes with them but if they came with an humble mind and proposed their scruples they would satisfie them Embassadours from some Towns arrived at Trent and those sent by the Duke of Saxe were on their way upon which the Emperour ordered his Agents to gain time and hinder the Council to proceed in their decisions till those were heard but all he could prevail in was that the Article concerning the Communion in both kinds was postponed till they should come The day after the Duke of Somerset's execution a Session of Parliament was assembled A Session of Parliament The first Act they past was about the Common-Prayer-Book as it was now amended To it only one Earl two Bishops and two Lords dissented The Book was appointed to be every where received after All-hallows next The Bishops were required to proceed by the censures of the Church against such as came not to it they also authorized the Book of Ordinations and
enacted the same Penalties against offendors that were in the Act for the former Book three years before The Papists took occasion on the changes now made in the Book to say that the new Doctrines and ways of Worship changed as fast as the fashions did It was answered That it was no wonder if corruptions which had been creeping in for a thousand years were not all discovered and thrown out at once and since they had been every age making additions of new Ceremonies it might be excused if the Purging them out was done by such easie degrees The Book was not to be received till All-hallows because it was hoped that between and then the Reformation of the Ecclesiastical Laws would have been finished A Bill concerning Treasons past with only one dissent it was much opposed in the H. of Commons for the multiplying of Treasons is always lookt on as a severity in the Government One Bill was rejected but another was agreed on If any called the King or his Successors named in the Statute of 35 Hen. 8. Heretick Tyrant or other opprobrious words he was for the first offence to be punished with a forfeiture of Goods and Chattels for the second with a Praemunire and the third offence was made Treason but if it was done in printing or writing the first offence was Treason None were to be prosecuted for words but within three Months and two Witnesses were made necessary who should aver their Depositions to the Parties face This seems to relate to the proceedings against the Duke of Somerset in which the Witnesses did not appear so that he lost the advantage of cross examining them and many times Innocence and guilt discover themselves when the Parties are confronted Another Law past for Holy-days and Fasts No days were to be esteemed Holy in their own nature but by reason of those Holy duties which ought to be done in them for which they were dedicated to the service of God Days were esteemed to be dedicated only to the honour of God even those in which the Saints were commemorated Sundays and the other Holy-days were to be religiously observed and the Bishops were to proceed to Censures against offenders only Labourers or Fisher-men in case of necessity might work on them The Eves before them were to be Fasts and abstinence from Flesh was enacted both in Lent and on Fridays and Saturdays This liberty to Tradesmen to work on these days was abused to a publick profanation of them but the stricter clauses in the Act were little regarded An Act past empowering Church-wardens to gather Collections for the poor and the Bishops to proceed against such as refused to contribute which though it was a Bill that taxed the people yet had its first rise in the House of Lords A Bill was past by the Lords but rejected by the Commons for securing the Clergy from falling under the lash of a Praemunire by Ignorance and that they ought to be first prohibited by the Kings Writ and not be sued unless they continued after that stiff in their disobedience An Act past for the Marriage of the Clergy four Earls and six Lords dissenting from it That whereas the former Act about it was thought only a permission of it as some other unlawful things were connived at upon which the Wives and Children of the Clergy were reproachfully used and the Word of God was not heard with due reverence therefore their Marriages were declared good and valid The Marquess of Northampton procured an Act confirming his second Marriage and that occasioned another to be proposed in the House of Lords that no man might put away his Wife and marry another unless he were first Divorced but it was laid aside by the Commons The Bishoprick of Westminster was re-united to London only the Collegiate Church was still continued An Act past concerning Usury An Act against Usury repealing a Law made 37 Hen. 8. That none might take above 20 per Cent. All Usury or profit for Money lent was condemned as contrary to the Word of God and transgressors were to be imprisoned and fined at pleasure This has been since that time repealed and several regulations have been made of the gain by lent Money which is now reduced to 6 per Cent. The prohibitions of Usury by Moses have been thought Moral others have believed that they were founded only on the equal division of the Land and since it was then lawful to take Usury of a stranger they have inferred that the Law was not Moral otherwise it must be of perpetual obligation It was also a great incitement to industry not to lend upon profit and it made every man lay out his Money in some way of advantage and their neighbourhood to Tyre and Sidon gave them a quick vent of their Manufacture without which it is not easie to imagine how such vast numbers could have lived in so narrow a Countrey So that these Laws seem'd to be only judiciary It was thought at first suitable to the Brotherly kindness that ought to be among Christians to lend without gain but at last Canons were made against taking Usury and it was put among the reserved Cases Mortgages were an invention to avoid that for the use was paid as the Rent of the Land mortgaged and not of the Money lent Inventions also were found for those who had no Land to mortgage to make such bargains that gain was made of the Money and yet not in the way of Usury These were tricks only to deceive people and it is not easie to shew how the making such a gain as holds proportion to the value of Land is immoral in it self if the rule setled by Law is not exceeded and men deal not unmercifully with those who by inevitable accidents are disabled from making payment Another Bill was past against Simony the reserving pensions out of Benefices and granting Advowsons while the Incumbent was yet alive but it had not the Royal Assent Simony has been oft complained of and many Laws and Canons have been made against it but new contrivances are still found out to elude them all And it is a disease that will still hang on the Church as long as Covetousness and Ambition ferment so strongly in the minds of Church-men A Bill was sent to the House of Commons signed by the King A Repeal of the settlement of the Duke of Somerset's estate repealing the settlement of the Duke of Somerset's Estate 23 Hen. 8. made in favour of his Children by his second Wife to exclude the Children by his first of whom are descended the Seimours of Devonshire which some imputed to a Jealousie he had of his first Wife and others ascribed it to the power his second Wife had over him But the Commons were very unwilling to void a settlement confirmed in Parliament and so for Fifteen days it was debated A new Bill was devised and that was much altered and the Bill was not finished till the
day before the dissolution of the Parliament The Lords added a Proviso confirming the Duke of Somerset's Attainder but that was cast out by the Commons Some Writings had been sealed with relation to a Marriage between the Earl of Hartford the Dukes Son and the Earl of Oxford's Daughter and the Lords sent down a Bill voiding these but upon a division in the House of Commons 68. were for it and 69. were against it so it was cast out The House was now thin when we find but 137. Members in it but that is one of the effects of a long Parliament many grow infirm and many keep out of the way on design and those who at their first Election were the Representatives of the People after they have sat long become a Cabal of Men that pursue their own Interests Tonstall is imprisoned more than the Publick Service Tonstall Bishop of Durham upon some Informations was put in Prison in the former year The Duke of Northumberland intended to erect a great Principality for his Family in the North and the accession of the Jurisdiction of the County Palatine which is in that See seemed so considerable that he resolved to ruine Tonstall and so make way for that He complied in all the changes that were made though he had protested against them in Parliament he writ also for the Corporal Presence but with more Eloquence than Learning He was a candid and moderate Man and there was always a good correspondence between Cranmer and him and now when the Bill was put in against him he opposed it and protested against it by which he absolutely lost the Duke of Northumberland but all the Popish complying Bishops went along with it There were some Depositions read in the House of Lords to justifie it but when the Bill with these was sent down to the Commons they resolved to put a stop to that way of condemning Men without hearing them so they sent a Message to the Lords that he and his Accusers might be heard face to face and that not being done they let the Bill fall By these Indications it appeared that the House of Commons had little kindness for the Duke of Northumberland Many of them had been much obliged to the Duke of Somerset so it was resolved to have a new Parliament and this which had sat almost five years was on the 15th of April dissolved The Convocation did confirm the Articles of Religion A Reformation of Ecclesiastical Laws prepared that had been prepared the former year and thus was the Reformation of Worship and Doctrine now brought to such perfection that since that time there has been very little alteration made in these But another Branch of it was yet unfinished and was now under consultation touching the Government of the Church and the rules of the Ecclesiastical Courts Two Acts had passed in the former reign and one in this impowering XXXII to revise all the Laws of the Church and digest them into a body King Henry issued out a Commission and the Persons were named who made some progress in it as appears by some of Cranmer's Letters to him In this Reign it had been begun several times but the Changes in the Government made it be laid aside Thirty two were found to be too many for preparing the first draught so Eight were appointed to make it ready for them These were Cranmer and Ridley Cox and Peter Martyr Traheron and Taylor and Lucas and Gosnold two Bishops two Divines two Civilians and two Common Lawyers but it was generally believed that Cranmer drew it all himself and the rest only corrected what he designed Haddon and Cheek were imployed to put it in Latine in which they succeeded so well and arrived at so true a purity in the Roman stile that it looks like a work of the best Ages of that State before their Language was corrupted with the mixture of barbarous terms and phrases with which all the later Writings were filled but none were more nauseously rude than the Books of the Canon-Law The Work was cast into fifty one Titles perhaps it was designed to bring it near the number of the Books into which Justinian digested the Roman Law The Eight finished it and offered it to the XXXII who divided themselves into Four Classes every one was to offer his Corrections and when it had past through them all it was to be offered to the King for his Confirmation but the King died before it was quite finished nor was it ever afterwards taken up yet I shall think it no useless part of this work to give an account of what was intended to be done in this matter as well as I relate what was done in other things The first Title of it was concerning the Catholick Faith The heads of it it was made Capital to deny the Christian Religion The Books of Scripture were reckoned up and the Apocrypha left out The four first General Councils were received but both Councils and Fathers were to be submitted to only as they agreed with the Scriptures The second enumerates and condemns many Heresies extracted out of the Opinions of the Church of Rome and the Tenets of the Anabaptists and among others those who excused their lives by the pretence of Predestination are reckoned up 3. The judgment of Heresie was to lye in the Bishops Court except in exempted places Persons suspected might be required to purge themselves and those who were convicted were to abjure and do Penance but such as were obstinate were declared Infamous and not to have the benefit of the Law or of making Testaments and so all Capital proceedings for Heresie were laid aside 4. Blasphemy against God was to be punished as obstinate Heresie 5. The Sacraments and other parts of the Pastoral Charge were to be decently performed 6. All Magick Idolatry or Conjuring was to be punished arbitrarily and in case of obstinacy with Excommunication 7. Bishops were appointed once a Year to call all their Clergy together to examine them concerning their Flocks and Itinerant Preachers were to be often imployed for visiting such Precincts as might be put under their care 8. All Marriages were to be after asking of Banes and to be annulled if not done according to the Book of Common Prayer Corrupters of Virgins were to marry them or if that could not be done to give them the third part of their Goods and suffer Corporal punishment Marriages made by force or without consent of Parents were declared null Polygamy was forbid and Mothers were required to suckle their Children 9. The degrees of Marriage were setled according to the Levitical Law but spiritual kindred was to be no barr 10. A Clergy-man guilty of Adultery was to forfeit his Goods and Estate to his Wife and Children or to some pious use and to be banished or Imprisoned during life a Layman guilty of it was to forfeit the half and be banished or Imprisoned during life Wives that were
to be favourable to the work he came for the Queen sent two Lords Paget and Hastings for him Both King and Queen rode in state to Westminster and each had a Sword of state carried before them The first Bill that past was a Repeal of Pool's Attainder it was read by the Commons three times in one Day and the Bill was passed without making a Session by a short Prorogation He came over and entred privately to London on the 24th of November for the Pope's authority not being yet acknowledged he could not be received as a Legate His Instructions were full besides the authority commonly lodged with Legates which consists chiefly in the many Graces and Dispensations that they are impowered to grant though it might be expected that they should come rather to see the Canons obeyed than broken only the more scandalous abuses were still reserved to the Popes themselves whose special Prerogative it has always been to be the most Eminent Transgressors of all Canons and Constitutions Pool made his first Speech to the King and Queen The Nation is reconciled to the See of Rome and then to the Parliament in the Name of the Common Pastor inviting them to Return to the Sheepfold of the Church The Queen felt a strange emotion of joy within her as he made his Speech which she thought was a Child quickned in her Belly and the flattering Court Ladies heightned her belief of it The Council ordered Bonner to sing Te Deum and there were Bonefires and all other publick demonstrations of joy upon it The Priests said that here was another John Baptist to come that leapt in his Mother's Belly upon the Salutation from Christ's Vicar Both Houses agreed on an Address to the King and Queen that they would intercede with the Legate to reconcile them to the See of Rome and they offered to repeal all the Laws they had made against the Pope's authority in sign of their repentance Upon this the Cardinal came to the Parliament He first thanked them for repealing his Attainder in recompence of which he was now to reconcile them to the Body of the Church He made a long Speech of the Conversion of the Britains and Saxons to the Faith and of the Obedience they had payed to the Apostolick See and of the many favours that See had granted the Crown of which none was more Eminent than the Title of Defender of the Faith The ruine of the Greek Church and the distractions of Germany and the Confusions themselves had been in since they departed from the Unity of the Church might convince them of the necessity of keeping that bond entire In Conclusion he gave them and the whole Nation a Plenary Absolution The rest of the Day was spent in singing Te Deum and the Night in Bonefires The Act repealing all Laws made against the Popes authority was quickly past only it stuck a little by reason of a Proviso which the House of Lords put in for some Lands which the Lord Wentworth had of the See of London w th the Commons opposed so much that after the Bill was offered to the Royal assent it was cut out of the Parchment by Gardiner They did enumerate and repeal all Acts made since the 20th of Hen. 8. against the Pope's authority but all foundations of Bishopricks and Cathedrals all Marriages tho' contrary to the Laws of the Church all Institutions all Judicial Processes and the settlements made either of Church or Abbey-Lands were confirmed The Convocation of Canterbury had joyned their Intercession with the Cardinal that he would confirm the right of the present Possessors of those Lands Upon which he did confirm them but he added a heavy charge requiring those that had any of the Goods of the Church to remember the Judgments of God that fell on Belshazzar for profaning the holy Vessels though they were not taken away by himself but by his Father and that at least they would take care that such as served the Cures should be sufficiently maintained all which was put in the Act and confirmed by it and it was declared that all Suits concerning those Lands were to be tried in the Civil Courts and that it should be a Praemunire if any went about to disturb the Possessors by the pretence of an Ecclesiastical power They also declared that the Title of Supream Head of the Church did never of right belong to the Crown enacted that it should be left out of Writs in all time coming All Exemptions granted to Monasteries and now continued in Lay-hands were taken away and all Churches were made subject to Episcopal Jurisdiction except Westminster Windsor and the Tower of London The statute of Mortmain was repealed for 20. years to come and all things were brought back to the state in which they were in the 20th year of King Henry's reign The Lower House of Convocation gave occasion to many clauses in this Act by a Petition which they made to the Upper-house consenting to the settlement made of Church and Abbey Lands and praying that the Statute of Mortmain might be repealed and that all the Tithes might be restored to the Church they proposed also some things in relation to Religion for the condemning and burning all Heretical Books and that great care should be had of the Printing and venting of Books that the Church should be restored to its former Jurisdiction that Pluralities and Non-residence might be effectually condemned and all Simoniacal pactions punished that the Clergy might be discharged of paying first-fruits and Tenths that Exemptions might be taken away that all the Clergy should go in their Habits and that they should not be sued in a Praemunire till a Prohibition were first served and disobeyed that so they might not be surprised and ruined a second time By another Bill all former Acts made against Lollards were revived The Commons offered another Bill for voiding all Leases made by married Priests but it was laid aside by the Lords Thus were the Pensioners and aspiring Men in the House of Commons either redeeming former faults or hoping to merit highly by the forwardness of their Zeal By another Bill several things were made Treason and it was declared that if the Queen died before the King and left any Children the King should have the Government in his hands till they were of Age and during that time the conspiring his Death was made Treason but none were to be tried for words but within six Months after they were spoken Another Act past declaring it Treason in any to pray for the Queens death unless they repented of it and in that case they were to suffer Corporal punishment at the Judges discretion A severe Act was also passed against all that spread lying Reports of the King the Queen the Peers Judges or great Officers Some were to lose their Hands others their Ears and others were to be fined according to the degree of their offence And thus all affairs were
proposed to Heath who was still a Privy Councellour and he after some Conference about it with his Brethren accepted of it Nine of a side were to dispute about three Points Worship in an Unknown Tongue the power that every particular Church had to alter Rites and Ceremonies and the Masse's being a Propitiatory Sacrifice for the Dead and the Living All was to be given in in Writing The Bishops were to begin in every Point and they were to interchange their Papers and answer them The last of March was the first day of Conference which held in Westminster Abby in the presence of the Privy Council and both Houses of Parliament The Bishop of Winchester pretended there had been some mistake in the Order and that their Paper was not quite finished but that Dr. Cole should deliver in discourse what they had prepared though it was not yet in that order that it could be Copied out The secret of this was The Bishops had resolved openly to Vindicate their Doctrine but not to give any Papers or enter into dispute with Hereticks or so far to acknowledge the Queen's Supremacy as to engage in Conferences at her command Cole was observed to read almost all he said though he affected to be thought only to deliver a discourse so as if most part of it had been Extemporary The substance of it was Arguments for against the Worship in an unknown Tongue that though the Worship in a known Tongue had been appointed in the Scriptures yet the Church had power to change it as she changed the Sabbath and had appointed the Sacrament to be received fasting though it was Instituted after Supper to eat blood was forbid and a Community of goods was set up by the Apostles yet it was in the power of the Church to alter these things he enlarged on the evil of Schism and the necessity of adhering to the Church of Rome Vulgar Tongues changed daily but the Latine was the same was spread over many Countries The People might reap profit from Prayers which they understood not as well as absent Persons The Queen of Ethiopia's Eunuch read Isaiah though he understood him not and Philip was sent to explain that Prophecy to him Horn when this was ended read the Paper drawn by the Reformers he began it with a Prayer and a Protestation of their sincerity They founded their Assertion on Saint Paul's Epistle to the Corinthians in which he enjoyned them to pray with understanding that so the Unlearned might say Amen and that nothing should be spoken that might give an uncertain sound but that all things should be done to edification and though the speaking with strange Tongues was then an extraordinary gift of the Holy Ghost yet he forbids the using it where there was not an Interpreter Things so expresly enjoyned could not be indifferent or fall under the power of the Church The Jews had their Worship in the Vulgar Tongue so had also the most barbarous Nations when converted to Christianity The natural use of Speech was that every thing which was said might be understood Quotations were brought to shew that Psalms were daily sung in the Vulgar Tongue among all Nations When they ended their Paper it was received with a shout of applause and was put in the Lord Keeper's hands signed by them all But the Bishops refused to deliver theirs The next day was appointed for considering the second Point but the Bishops resolved to go no further in the Conference for they saw by the applause of the People that the Audience was more favourable to the other side so the next day of Meeting they offered an answer to the Paper given in the former day by the Reformers The Lord Keeper told them that according to the Order laid down they were first to go through the three Points before they might be suffered to reply but they said Cole had the former day only given his own sense in an Extemporary discourse Their foul dealing in this was condemned by the whole Audience so the Lord Keeper required them to go to the second Point but they refused to begin and moved that the other side should be made to begin and though the Lord Keeper shewed them that this was contrary to the Order agreed on before-hand yet they continued all resolute and would not proceed any further Ferknam only excepted but he said he could do nothing alone since the rest would not joyn with him The Bishops of Winchester and Lincoln said the Faith of the Church ought not to be examined except in a Synod of Divines and it gave too great an encouragement to Hereticks to dispute with them and that both the Queen and her Council deserved to be excommunicated for suffering them to argue against the Catholick Faith before an Unlearned Multitude Upon this they were sent to the Tower and the Conference broke up but the Reformers thought the advantage was much on their side and that things were now carried much more fairly than had been in those Conferences and Disputes that were in the beginning of the former Reign The Papists on the other hand said it was visible the Audience was prepossessed and that the Conference was appointed only to make way for the changes that the Parliament was then about with the Pomp of a Victory and therefore as they blamed the Bishops for undertaking it so they justified them for breaking it off The Book of Common-Prayer was now revised The English Service is again set up the most considerable alteration was that the express Declaration which was made in the second Book set out by King Edward against the Corporal Presence was left out that so none might be driven out of the Communion of the Church upon that account The matter was left undetermined as a speculative Point in which People were left at liberty The Book of Ordination was not specially mentioned in the Act which gave occasion to Bonner afterwards to question the Legality of Ordinations made by it But it had been made a part of the Common-Prayer-Book in the 5th year of King Edward and the whole Book then set out was now confirmed so that by a special Act made some years after this it was declared that that Office was understood to be a part of it When the Bill for the English Service was put in to the House of Lords Speeches made against it by some Bishops Heath and Scot Bishop of Chester and Ferknam made long Speeches against it grounded chiefly on the Authority of the Church the Antiquity of the established Religion and Novelty of the other which was changed every day as appeared in King Edward's time They said the consent of the Catholick Church and the perpetual succession in St. Peter's Chair ought to have more autherity than a few Preachers risen up of late They also enlarged much against the Sacriledge the robbing of Churches and the breaking of Images that had been committed by the
the Pope's Power and assert the King's Supremacy and to explain the Articles lately set forth by the Convocation and to publish the Abrogation of some Holy-days in Harvest time They were no more to extol Images Relicks or Pilgrimages but to exhort the People to do Works of Charity instead of them And they were required to teach the People the Lord's Prayer the Creed and the Ten Commandments in English and to explain these carefully and instruct the Children well in them They were to perform the Divine Offices reverently and to have good Curats to supply their rooms when they were absent They were charged not to go to Ale-houses or sit too long at Games but to study the Scriptures much and be exemplary in their Lives Those that did not reside were to give the fortieth part of their Income to the Poor and for every 100 l. a year that any had they were to maintain a Scholar at some Gramar-School or the University and if the Parsonage-house was in decay they were ordered to apply a fifth part of their Benefice for repairing it Such as did not obey these Injunctions were to be suspended and their mean Profits were to be sequestred The Clergy detested this Precedent of the King 's giving Injunctions without the Concurrence of a Convocation and by which they said they would be made Slaves to his Vicegerent they also complained of those heavy Taxes that were laid on them and that Images Relicks and Pilgrimages would be now brought under great Contempt Both the Secular and Regular Clergy were so sensibly concerned in these things that they inflamed the People all they could The great Abbots were not wanting for their share to set that on they were now opprest with the Crouds of those who were sent to them from the supprest Houses and they expected to fall next nor were their Fears removed by a Letter that was sent about in the King's Name for silencing all Reports that were given out of his Intentions to suppress them this rather encreased than lessened their Jealousie The People continued quiet till they had reaped their Harvest A Rebellion in Lincolnshire but in the beginning of October 20000 rose in Lincolnshire led by a Priest disguised into a Cobler They took an Oath to be true to God the King and the Common-wealth and sent a Paper of their Grievances to the King They complained of some Acts of Parliament of the suppressing of many Religious Houses of mean and ill Counsellours and bad Bishops and prayed the King to address their Grievances by the Advice of the Nobility but yet they acknowledged him to be their Supream Head and that the Tenths and first Fruits of Livings belonged to him of right The King sent the Duke of Suffolk to raise Forces against them and gave an Answer to their Petition He said it belonged not to the Rabble to direct Princes what Counsellours they should choose The Religious Houses were supprest by Law and the Heads of them had under their Hands confessed such horrid Scandals that they were a Reproach to the Nation and since in many of them there were not above four and that they wasted their Rents in riotous living it was much better to apply them to the common good of the Nation than leave them in such hands he required them to submit to his Mercy and to put two hundred of their Leaders into the hands of his Lieutenants The Clergy having brought so many together did all they could to put Heat and Spirit in them they perswaded them that if they did not maintain their Faith and their Liberties both would be lost Some of the Gentry were forced to joyn with them for their own Preservation and they sent Advices to the Duke of Suffolk to procure from the King the offer of a General Pardon which would effectually dissipate them At the same time there was a more formidable rising in York-shire Another in Yorkshire which being in the Neighbourhood of Scotland was like to draw Assistance from that Kingdom tho their King was then gone into France to marry Francis's Daughter this inclined the King to make more haste to settle matters in Lincolnshire he sent them secret Assurances of Mercy which wrought on the greatest part so they dispersed themselves and the most obstinate went to over them in Yorkshire The Cobler and some others were taken and executed The distance that those in the North were at from the Court gave them time to rise and form themselves into some Method One Ask commanded in chief and performed his part with great Dexterity their March was called The Pilgrimage of Grace they had in their Banners and on their Sleeves the five Wounds of Christ they took an Oath that they would restore the Church suppress Hereticks preserve the King and his Issue and drive base-born Men and ill Counsellours from him They became 40000 strong in a few days and met with no Opposition they forced the Arch-bishop of York and the Lord Darcy to swear their Covenant and to go along with them They besieged Skipton but the Earl of Cumberland made it good against them Sir Ralph Evers held out Scarborough Castle tho for twenty days he and his Men had no Provisions but Bread and Water There was also a rising in all the other Northern Counties against whom the Earl of Shrewsbury made Head and the King sent several of the Nobility to his Assistance and within a few days the Duke of Norfolk marched with some Troops and joyned him They possessed themselves of Doncaster and resolved to keep that pass till the rest of the Forces that the King had ordered to be summoned should come up to them for they were not in a Condition to engage with such numbers of desperate Men and it was very likely that if they met with any ill Accident the People might have risen about them every where so the Duke of Norfolk resolved to keep close at Doncaster and let the Provisions and Rage of the Rebels spend and then with the help of a little time they might probably fall into Factions and melt away They had now fallen to 30000 but the King's Army was not above 5000. The Duke of Norfolk proposed a Treaty and made some go among them as Desertors and spread Reports that their Leaders were making Terms for themselves They were perswaded to send their Petitions to the Court and the King to make them more secure discharged a Rendezvouz that he had appointed at Northampton and sent them a general Pardon excepting six by name and reserving four to be afterwards named but this put them all in such Apprehensions that it made them more resolved and desperate Yet the King to give his People some Content put out Injunctions requiring the Clergy to continue the use of all the Ceremonies of the Church 300 were imployed to carry the Rebels Demands to the King Which were a General Pardon a Parliament to be held at
York and that Courts of Justice should be set up there they desired that some Acts of Parliament might be repealed that the Princess Mary might be restored to her Right of Succession and the Pope to his wonted Jurisdiction that the Monasteries might be again set up that Audley and Cromwell might be put from the King and that some of the Visitors might be imprisoned for their Bribery and Extortion But these being rejected the Rebels took heart again upon which the Duke of Norfolk advised the King to gentle Methods he in his Heart wished that all their Demands might be granted and the Ld Darcy did accuse him afterwards as if he had encouraged them to make them The King sent him a general Pardon without any Exceptions to be made use of as he saw Cause The Rebels finding that with the loss of time they lost Heart resolved to fall upon him and beat him from Doncaster but at two several times in which they had resolved to pass the River such Rains fell out as made it unpassable which was magnified as next to a Miracle and made great Impressions on the Rebels Minds The King sent a long Answer to their Demands he assured them he would live and dye in the Defence of the Christian Faith but the Rabble ought not to prescribe to him and to the Convocation in that matter he answered that which concerned the Monasteries as he had done to the Men of Lincolnshire For the Laws a Multitude must not pretend to alter what was established he had governed them now 28 Years his Subjects had enjoyed great Safety and been very gently used by him in all that time It was given out that when he began to raign he had many of the Nobility in his Council and that he had then none but Men meanly born this was false for he found but two Noble-Men of his Council and at present there were 7 Temporal Lords and 4 Bishops in it It was necessary to have some that knew the Law of England and Treaties with Forreign Princes which made him call Audley and Cromwell to the Board If they had any Complaints to make of any about him he was ready to hear them but he would not suffer them to direct him what Counsellours he ought to employ nor could they judg of the Bishops that were promoted who were not known to them he charged them not to believe Lies nor be governed by Incendiaries but to submit to his Mercy On the 9th of December he signed a Proclamation of Pardon without any Restrictions When this was known They are every-where quieted and the Rage of the People cooled they were willing to lay hold on it and all the Artifices that some of the Clergy and their Leaders could use had no other Effect but to draw as many together as brought them under new Guilt and made them forfeit the benefit of the King's Pardon Many came in and renewed their Oaths of Allegiance and promising all Obedience for the future Ask was invited to the Court and well used by the King on design to learn from him all the secret Correspondencies they had in the other parts of the Kingdom for the Disposition to Rebel was general only they were not all alike forward in it It was in particular believed that the great Abbots cherished it for which some of them were afterwards attained Darcy pleaded his great Age being then fourscore and the Eminent Service he had done the Crown for fifty Years together and that he was forced for his own Preservation to go along with the Rebels but yet he was put in Prison This gave the Clergy Advantages to infuse it in the People that the Pardon would not be well kept So 8000 run together again and thought to have surprized Carlile but the Duke of Norfolk fell on them and routed them and by Martial Law hanged their Captains and 70 other Persons Others thought to have surprized Hull but were likewise routed and many of them were hanged Many other little Risings were quickly dispersed and such was the Duke of Norfolk's Vigilance that he was every where upon them before they could grow to any Number and before the end of January the Country was absolutely quieted Ask left the Court without leave but was soon retaken and hanged at York The Lord Darcy and Hussy were arraigned at Westminster and condemned by their Peers the one for the Yorkshire and the other for the Lincolnshire Insurrections Darcy was beheaded on Tower-hill his old Age and former Services made him to be much lamented Hussy was beheaded at Lincoln Darcy accused the Duke of Norfolk but he desired a Trial by Combate upon it yet the Services he had lately done were such that the King would not seem to have any Jealousy of him After these and several other Executions were over the King proclaimed a General Oblivion in July by which the Nation was again put in a quiet Condition and this threatning Storm was now quite dissipated As soon as it was over the King went on more resolutely in his Design of suppressing the Monasteries for he was now less apprehensive of any new Commotions after so many had been so happily quasht and that the chief Incendiaries had suffered A new Visitation was appointed to enquire into the Conversation of the Monks The greater Monasteries resigned to the King to examine how they stood affected to the Pope and how they promoted the King's Supremacy They were likewise ordered to examine what Impostures might be among them either in Images or Relicks by which the Superstition of the credulous People was wrought on Some few Houses of greater value were prevailed with the former Year to surrender to the King Many of the Houses that had not bin dissolved tho they were within the former Act were now supprest and many of the greater Abbots were wrought on to surrender by several Motives Some had been faulty during the Rebellion and so to prevent a Storm offered a Resignation Others liked the Reformation and did it on that account some were found guilty of great Disorders in their Lives and to prevent a shameful Discovery offered their Houses to the King and others had made such Wasts and Dilapidations that having taken Care of themselves they were less concerned for others At St. Albans the Rents were let so low that the Abbot could not maintain the Charge of the Abby At Battel the whole Furniture of the House and Chappel was not above an 100 l. in value and their Plate was not 300 l. In some Houses there was scarce any Plate or Furniture left Many Abbots and Monks were glad to accept of a Pension for Life and that was proportioned to the value of their House and to their Innocence The Abbots of St. Albans and Tewkesbury had 400 Marks a Year The Abbots of St. Edmondsbury was more innocent and more resolute The Visitors wrote that they found no Scandals in that House but at last