at length he must brag of the Jugler's promises as he did to a Gentleman named Charles Knevet to whom he boldly unmasked himself and gave a reason of his actions Upon Knevet's accusation he was arraigned and condemned the thirteenth of May and on the seventeenth publickly beheaded His death was lamented by many and the rather for that he was no way faulty but in his vanity and pride which overthrew him Being a child I have heard antient men say that by his bravery of Apparel and sumptuous Feasts he exasperated the King with whom in these things he seemed to contend But he could by no means bear with the intolerable pride of the Cardinal whose hatred not improbably proved fatal unto him rather than did the King's displeasure for many times Princes are with less danger offended than their Mignons There goes a tale That the Duke once holding the basin to the King the Cardinal when the King had done presently dipped his hands in the same water the Duke disdaining to debase himself to the service of a Priest shed the water in his shooes The Cardinal therewith incensed threatned him that He would sit upon his skirts The Duke to shew that he slighted his threats and withal that the King might take notice of the Cardinal's malice came the next day to Court richly as he usually was apparelled but without skirts to his Doublet The King and many others demanding what he meant by that strange fashion he answered readily That it was done by way of prevention for the Cardinal should not now sit upon his skirts He thought he had put a jest upon the Cardinal to whose informations as proceeding from envy and spleen he hoped the King would hereafter give the less credit But he missed his mark for most men were of opinion that the Cardinal's malice crushed him rather than did the weight of his own offences It was the saying of Charles the Emperour upon the report of his death That the Butcher's Dog had killed the fairest Hart of England Howsoever it came to pass the King who had hitherto ruled without bloodshed induced by the former reasons so the Records run permitted his hands to be stained with the blood of this poor Prince many lamenting that the indiscreet credulity of one man having not attempted ought against the Estate should be the overthrow of so noble a Family If I might lawfully pry so far into God's judgments which are indeed inscrutable I would be bold to impute the punishment of the Son to the Father's treachery who conspired with the Usurper against his lawful Prince Edward the Fifth who by his assistance was deprived of his Life and Kingdom But forasmuch as that being touched in conscience he manifestly repented this fact for seeking to oppress the Tyrant whom he himself had raised he perished miserably the Divine Justice I think so far regarded his repentance that his posterity are nevertheless Peers of the Realm by the title of Lord Stafford The first point of Wisdom is not to run into Errour the next quickly to amend it The King having written a Book against Martin Luther sent it as a Present to Pope Leo the Tenth This Leo not yet thirty eight years old was by the combination of the Junior Cardinals elected Pope In which dignity he behaved himself according to his years profusely spending the Treasures of the Church in hawking and hunting and other pleasures not deemed over-honest Need began at length to pinch him and money must be had Whereupon he resolves to make use of his Keys against the most subtil locks and strongest bars ever yet held prevalent Indulgences of all sorts without distinction of time or place must now publickly be set to sale St. Peter's Church this was the pretence was out of repair towards which a certain summ of money given would purchase Pardon of Sins not only for the Living but for the Dead also whose Souls should thereby be redeemed from the pains of Purgatory But whatsoever was pretended every one palpably saw that these Pardons were granted to get money for his own relief And forasmuch as the Commissioners demanded it after an impudent and shameless manner they in most places incurred the dislike and indignation of the people especially in Germany where they saw this faculty of redeeming Sould from Purgatory was either sold for little or nothing or played away in their Taverns But what speak I of the Commissioners That which made the Germans most impatient was that the heedless Pope had given to his Sister Magdalen the profit of the exactions of Indulgences in many parts of Germany and that so openly that every one must needs know it For all Germany spake it 〈◊〉 this money was not gathered for the Pope or the Treasury of the Church whereby peradventure some part of it might be employed to good uses but was exacted to satisfie the greediness of a Woman At that time lived Martin Luther a Doctor of Divinity and an Augustine Monk one who under a religious Habit did not consecrate himself to idleness but to God It is reported how truly I know not that recreating himself in the fields his companion with whom he then discoursed was suddenly stricken dead with Thunder He thereupon falling into due consideration of the uncertainty of death and of judgement left the study of the Civil Law to which he then applied himself and renouncing the world betook himself to a Cloister where for his deportment he was beyond exception for Learning especially divine he was scarce matchable Upon this horrible abuse of the authority of the Keys being inflamed with a pious zeal he could not contain himself but boldly and bitterly inveighed against this gross impiety Neither stayd he there but storm the Pope never so much proceeds to other enormities in the Church of Rome some whereof that Church hath since reformed the rest religious Princes by Luther awakened out of their dead sleep of Superstition notwithstanding the practices of Rome have God be thanked exploded New opinions especially in matters of Religion are of themselves always odious Henry being offended with Luther's new as the world then deemed them Tenets thought it would prove to his honour by writing against Luther to manifest his Learning and Piety to the world Hereupon under his name a Book was set forth better beseeming some antient and deep Divine than a youthful Prince whom although he earnestly endeavoured it yet his affairs would not permit to bury himself among his Books which many thought to have been compiled by Sir Thomas Moor some by the Bishop of Rochester and others not without cause suspected to be the work of some other great Scholar Whosoever wrote it Luther replied in such sort that although his holy zeal were approved by many yet those many could have wished him more temperate and respective of the Majesty of Kings This Book was so acceptable to the Pope that according to the example of Alexander
Himself and the whole Realm had found the profitable and wholesom effects of the Cardinal's endeavours who should reap this fruit of Luther's railing that whereas he loved him very well before he would now favour him more than ever That among other of the Cardinal 's good deeds this was one that he took especial care that none of Luther's leprosie contagion and heresie should cleave to or take root in this Kingdom Then he upbraided him with his 〈◊〉 marriage with a Nun a crime as heinous and abominable as any At this Answer which the King caused to be printed Luther grieved much blaming his friends that had occasioned it saying That he wrote in that humble manner only to please his Friends and that he now plainly saw how much he was mistaken That he committed the like errour in writing friendly at the request of others to Cardinal Cajetan George Duke of Saxony and Erasmus the fruits whereof were that he made them the more violent That he shewed himself a fool in hoping to find Piety and Zeal in Princes Courts in seeking CHRIST in the Kingdom of Satan in searching for John Baptist among the Cloathed in Purple But being he could not prevail by fair means he would take another course The late mention of Erasmus puts me in mind of a Book written by him either this or the year passed at the entreaty of the King and the Cardinal as he himself in an Epistle confesseth entituled De Libero Arbitrio whereto Luther made a quick Reply writing a Book De Servo Arbitrio ANNO DOM. 1526. REG. 18. MAny reasons might move the Emperour to seek the continuation of a Peace with England The French although they concealed 〈◊〉 their King being not yet at liberty intend to revenge their late overthrow The Turk prepares for Hungary the King whereof Lewis had married Ann the Emperour's Sister Almost all Italy by the Pope's means combined against Charles whose power is now become formidable And Germany it self the Boors having lately been up in arms being scarce pacified doth yet every where threaten new tumults In this case the enmity of Henry must necessarily much impeach his proceedings But many things again urge him on the other side his Aunts disgrace for of this he long since had an inkling the late League concluded under-hand with the French but that which swaied above all was the dislike of his promised match with the King's Daughter That the Queen his Aunt might be reconciled to her Husband there might yet be some hope The League with France especially the French King's case being now so desperate might be as easily broken as it was made But this Match did no way sort to his mind which he had either for love or for some other private respects setled elsewhere Isabella Sister to John King of Portugal was a brave beautiful Lady and had a Dowry of nine hundred thousand Ducats Mary was neither marriagable nor beautiful yet her by agreement must he marry without any other Dowry than those four hundred thousand Crowns which he had borrowed of Henry The Wars had drawn his Treasury dry and his Subjects in Spain being required to relieve their Prince do plainly perhaps not without subornation of some principal persons deny it unless he marry Isabella one in a manner of the same Lineage of the same Language and Nation and of years sufficient to make a Mother By way of service Custom growing to a Law they are to give their King at his Marriage four hundred thousand Ducats if he will in this be pleased to satisfie their request they promise to double the usual summ For these reasons when Henry sent Ambassadors to treat again whether sincerely or no I cannot say concerning the renewing of the League the Marriage of the Lady Mary and of War in France to be maintained at the common charge of both Charles answered but coldly and at last even in the very Nuptial solemnities sends to excuse his Marriage to the King whereunto the undeniable desires of his Subjects had in a manner forced him Some do farther add that concerning that part of the Embassage of War against France our demands were such as if they had been purposely coined by Wolsey to force the Emperour to the priority of an apparent breach For the King demanded no smaller share in the Conquest than Picardy Normandy Guien Gascoign with the title of King of France and that the Emperour partaking both of Peril and Charge should himself serve in Person But Charles wanting money and tired with continual peril if he regard either his safety and ease or his profit must not give his assent especially considering that the captive-King made larger offers and those with Peace than these yea although he became victorious with War the event whereof being always doubtful no man can assure himself of wished success Neither indeed did Henry expect any other issue of his Embassy than a flat refusal For at the same time he deals with the Regent the captive-King's Mother to send over some trusty person with whom he might consult of the main chance which she gladly did dispatching away the Lord of Brion President of Rouen and John Joachim with a large Commission and Instructions by all submissive and fair language to perswade the King to persist in the prosecution of this new League For indeed she much feared lest the consideration of his advantages over the tottering Estate of France might make him flie off again France was already distressed what would it be if the Emperour pressing hard on the one side and Duke of Bourbon a home-bred enemy revolting besides many other occasions the English should infest it on the other side In England these Agents found their entertainments such that they could not but hope well especially making means to the Cardinal who yet swayed the King Wolsey long since disaffected the Emperour but now made his hate apparent Charles before the Battel of Pavy sent no Letters to the Cardinal but entirely written by himself and subscribed Your Son and Cousin CHARLES After this Victory he sent one or two subscribed barely with his Name without the usual solemn form or any signification of favour or respect These were evident tokens of an alienated mind and Wolsey durst view hates with him Neither did he deal otherwise with Henry than as one beneath him being now puffed up with the conceit of that great Victory for the obtaining whereof Henry did bear a part in the charge though indeed not so great as he promised The King's affairs now stood upon those terms that renouncing the strict alliance with the Emperour hitherto by so many ties kept inviolable he must make a party with the French Brion therefore at the Council-Table having audience Deplores his Prince's calamity and the miseries inflicted upon his Countrey by their late overthrow He calleth to mind what Trophies the English erected in France when the Estate of it was most flourishing
and it stood not with the publick weal that he should live single especially the lawfulness of his Daughters birth being so questionable He married not again for his pleasure but to settle the Kingdom on his lawful Issue The Learned as many as he had conferred with did generally pronounce the first Marriage void yet would he have it lawfully decided that with a safe conscience he might make choice of a second Thus far had Wolsey willingly led him hoping to have drawn him to a Match in France But he was of age to choose for himself and had already elsewhere setled his affections And the more to manifest his love on the eighteenth of June he created his future Father-in-Law Sir Thomas Bolen Viscount Rochfort At the same time were created Henry Fitz-roy the King 's natural Son by Elizabeth Blount Daughter to Sir John Blount Knight Earl of Nottingham and Duke of Richmond and Somerset Henry Courtney Earl of Devonshire the King 's Cousin-german Marquess of Exceter Henry Brandon eldest Son to the Duke of Suffolk by the King's Sister the Dowager of France Earl of Lincoln Thomas Manners Lord Roos Earl of Rutland Sir Henry Clifford Earl of Cumberland and Robert Ratcliff Lord Fitzwalter Viscount Fitzwalter Cardinal Wolsey this year laid the foundation of two Colleges one at Ipswich the place of his birth another at Oxford dedicated to our Saviour CHRIST by the name of Christ-Church This latter though not half finished yet a magnificent and royal Work a most fruitful Mother of Learned Children doth furnish the Church and Commonwealth with multitudes of able men and amongst others acknowledgeth me such as I am for her Foster-child The other as if the Founder had also been the foundation fell with the Cardinal and being for the most part pulled down is long since converted to private uses The Cardinal 's private estate although it were wonderful great being not sufficient to endow these Colleges with revenues answerable to their foundation the Pope consenting he demolished forty Monasteries of meaner note and conferred the lands belonging to them on these his new Colleges It hath been the observation of some That this business like that proverbial Gold of Tholouse was fatal to those that any way had a hand in it We will hereafter shew what became of the Pope and the Cardinal But of five whom he made use of in the alienation of the Gifts of so many Religious men it afterward happened that two of them challenging the field of each other one was slain and the other hanged for it a third throwing himself headlong into a Well perished wilfully a fourth before that a wealthy man sunk to that low ebb that he after begged his bread and Dr. Allen the fifth a man of especial note being Archbishop of Dublin was murthered in Ireland I could wish that by these and the like examples men would learn to take heed how they lay hands on things consecrated to God If the Divine Justice so severely punished those that converted the abused yet not regarding the abuse but following the sway of their ambitious desires goods of the Church to undoubtedly better uses what can we expect of those that take all occasions to rob and spoil the Church having no other end but only the enriching of themselves Luther had notice of Henry his intended Divorce and that from Christiern the expelled King of Denmark who eagerly solicited him to write friendly unto the King putting Luther in hope that Henry being a courteous Prince might by mild perswasions be induced to embrace the Reformation which Luther had begun And indeed Luther foreseeing the necessary consequences of this Divorce was easily intreated and did write unto the King in this submissive manner He doubted not but he had much offended his Majesty by his late Reply but he did it rather enforced by others than of his own accord He did now write presuming upon the King 's much bruited humanity especially being informed That the King himself was not Author of the Book against him which thing he understood was captiously cavilled at by some Sophisters And having occasion to speak of the Cardinal of York he called him the Caterpillar of England He understood the King did now loath that wicked sort of men and in his mind to favour the Truth Wherefore he craveth pardon of his Majesty beseeching him to remember that we being mortal should not make our enmities immortal If the King would be pleased to impose it he would openly acknowledge his fault and blazon his Royal Virtues in another Book Then he wished him to stop his ears against those standerous tongues that branded him with Heresie for this was the summ of his Doctrine That we must be saved through Faith in Christ who did bear the punishment of our sins in every part and throughout his whole body who dying for us and rising again reigneth with the Father for ever That he taught this to be the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles and that out of this position he shewed what Charity was how we ought to behave our selves one towards another that we are to obey Magistrates and to spend our whole life in the profession of the Gospel If this Doctrine contain any Impiety or Errour why do not his Adversaries demonstrate it Why do they condemn him without either lawful hearing or confutation In that he inveigheth against the Pope and his Adherents he doth it not without good reason for asmuch as for their profits sake they teach things contrary to what Christ and the Apostles did that so they may domineer over the Flock and maintain themselves in Gluttony and Idleness That this was the mark at which their thoughts and deeds aimed and that it was so notorious that they themselves could not deny it That if they would reform themselves by changing their idle and filthy course of life maintained by the loss and wrong of others the differences might easily be composed That his Tenets were approved by many Princes and Estates of Germany who did reverently acknowledge this great blessing of God amongst whom he wonderfully desired he might rank his Majesty That the Emperour and some others opposed his proceedings he did not at all wonder for the Prophet David had many Ages since foretold That Kings and Nations should conspire against the Lord and against his Christ and cast away his yoak from them That when he did consider this and the like places of Scripture he did rather wonder that any Prince did favour the doctrine of the Gospel And to conclude he craved a favourable Answer The King made a sharp Reply to Luther's Letter accusing him of base Inconstancy He stands in defence of his Book which he said was in great esteem with many Religious and Learned men That he reviled the Cardinal a Reverend Father was to be regarded as from him from whose impiety neither God nor man could be free That both
not knowing what course to run And this is thought to be the cause of his so extraordinary liberality toward the French The King being then in progress and hunting at Waltham it happened that Stephen Gardiner Principal Secretary of Estate after Bishop of Winton and Fox the King's Almoner after Bishop of Hereford were billeted in the house of a Gentleman named Cressey who had sent his two Sons to be brought up at Cambridge under the tutelage of Thomas Cranmer Doctor in Divinity a man both very learned and virtuous The Plague then spreading it self in Cambridge Cranmer with his two Pupils betook himself to Mr. Cressey their Father his house Where Gardiner and Fox among other table-talk discoursing of the King's Suit concerning his Divorce which had so many years depended in the Court of Rome undecided Cranmer said that he wondred the King required not the opinions of the most famous learned men that were any where to be found of whom the world had many far more learned than the Pope and and followed not their judgments What Cranmer had as it were let fall by chance they report to the King who suddenly apprehending it said that this fellow whosoever he was had hit the nail on the head and withal demanding his name caused Cranmer to be sent for whom he commended for his but too late advice which course if he had taken but five years before he should now have had an hundred thousand Pounds in his Purse which he had unprofitably in this Suit cast away on the Court of Rome he commands Cranmer to write a Tract concerning this Question wherein having drawn together what Reasons he could for the confirmation of his advice he should conclude with his own opinion Cranmer did it very readily and is thereupon with Sir Thomas Bolen lately created Earl of Wiltshire Carne Stokesley and Benet Doctors of Law with others sent on an Embassie to Rome Cranmer's Book is to be presented to his Holiness and they are commanded to challenge the Court of Rome to a Disputation wherein the Contents of that Book should be maintained the Argument whereof was That by the authority of holy Scripture ancient Fathers and Councils it was utterly unlawful for any man to marry his Brother's Widow and that no such marriage could be licensed or authorized by the Pope's Dispensation This being done the King's intent was they should procure the opinions of all the Universities throughout Europe by whom if he found his former Marriage condemned then without farther expecting the approbation of the See of Rome he was resolved to run the hazard of a second To this the amity of the French seeming very conducible the King had by his former liberality sought to oblige him The Ambassadors came to Rome had audience were promised a publick Disputation whereof they were held so long in expectation that perceiving their stay there to be to little purpose they all returned into England except Cranmer who with the same instructions that he had formerly been sent to the Pope was to go to the Emperour whose Court was then in Germany There this good and learned man hitherto no friend to Luther while he defends his own Book and the King's Divorce against the most learned either of Protestants or Papists is thought to have been seasoned with the leaven of that Doctrine for which after he had been twenty years Archbishop of Canterbury he was most cruelly burned While Cranmer thus laboured abroad the King at home deals with Langey the French Ambassador by whose means with the forcible Rhetorick saith one of some English Angels he obtained of the Universities of Paris with the rest throughout France Pavia Padua Bononia and others this Conclusion That the Pope who hath no power over the Positive Law of God could not by his Dispensation ratifie a Marriage contracted between a Brother and a Brother's Widow it being forbidden by the express words of Scripture The eighth of December the King graced three noble and worthy men with new Titles of Honour Thomas Bolen Viscount Rochfort the King 's future Father-in-Law was created Earl of Wiltshire Robert Ratcliff Viscount Fitz-Walter of the noble Family of the Fitz-Walters Earl of Sussex in which honour his Son Thomas his Nephews Thomas first then Henry Brother to Thomas and now Robert the Son of Henry have succeeded him And George Lord Hastings was made Earl of Huntingdon who left it to his Son Francis Father of Henry who deceased without issue and George Grandfather to Henry the now Earl by Francis who died before his Father ANNO DOM. 1530. REG. 22. VV Illiam Tyndal having translated the New Testament into English and procured it to be printed at Antwerp had secretly dispersed many copies thereof thoughout England Whereat the Bishops and Clergy especially those that were most addicted to the Doctrine of Rome stormed exceedingly saying that this Translation was full of errours and that in the Prefaces and elsewhere it contained many things contrary to the Truth The King being angry with the Pope had long since determined to free himself from his usurped power And therefore admonished the murmuring Clergy to correct this Book not to suppress it for it was a most profitable work and very necessary for the discovery of the deceits of the Court of Rome the tyranny whereof was become intolerable to all the Princes of Christendom Whereupon he giveth order to the Bishops and some other learned men to set forth a new Translation which his Subjects might read with safety and profit The hope of prevailing with the Pope by the French King's means had drawn Henry to send on a second Embassage to the Pope the Earl of Wiltshire Doctor Stokesley Elect of London and Edward Lee Wolsey his Successor in York They found the Pope at Bononia with the Emperour but had no other answer to their demands than that his Holiness when he came to Rome would endeavour to do the King justice Till then he could do nothing Fair means not prevailing the King runs another course By publick Proclamation throughout the Kingdom he forbids all commerce between his Subjects and the Bishop of Rome commanding that no man should receive any thing from or send any thing especially money unto him either by exchange or any other means calling him Tyrant the Harpy of the World the common Incendiary and deeming him utterly unworthy of that glorious title which he had vaingloriously usurped Christ's Vicar This in September But the wealth of the Clergy being very great and considering how they had in the Reigns of his Predecessors strongly sided with the Pope the King was somewhat jealous of them To curb them he condemns the whole Clergy throughout the Kingdom in a Praemunire for that without licence from his Majesty they had been obedient to the authority of the Pope in acknowledging Wolsey for his Legate The Clergy of the Province of Canterbury being assembled in Convocation buy their
of Ten years had been brought up in a Court where infinite Eyes had been upon him For King Edward touched with remorse of his Brother the Duke of Clarence's Death would not indeed restore his Son of whom we speak to be Duke of Clarence but yet created him Earl of Warwick reviving his Honour on the Mothers side and used him honorably during his time though Richard the Third afterwards confined him So that it cannot be but that some great Person that knew particularly and familiarly Edward Plantagenet had a hand in the business from whom the Priest might take his aim That which is most probable out of the precedent and subsequent Acts is that it was the Queen Dowager from whom this Action had the principal source and motion For certain it is she was a busie negotiating Woman and in her withdrawing-Chamber had the fortunate Conspiracy for the King against King Richard the Third been hatched which the King knew and remembred perhaps but too well and was at this time extremely discontent with the King thinking her Daughter as the King handled the matter not advanced but depressed and none could hold the Book so well to prompt and instruct this Stage-play as she could Nevertheless it was not her meaning nor no more was it the meaning of any of the better and sager sort that favoured the Enterprize and knew the Secret that this disguised Idol should possess the Crown but at his peril to make way to the Overthrow of the King and that done they had their several Hopes and Ways That which doth chiefly fortifie this Conjecture is that as soon as the matter brake forth in any strength it was one of the King 's first Acts to cloister the Queen Dowager in the Nunnery of Bermonsey and to take away all her Lands and Estate and this by close Council without any Legal proceeding upon far-fetcht Pretences That she had delivered her two Daughters out of Sanctuary to King Richard contrary to promise Which Proceeding being even at that time taxed for rigorous and undue both in-matter and manner makes it very probable there was some greater matter against her which the King upon reason of Policy and to avoid Envy would not publish It is likewise no small Argument that there was some Secret in it and some suppressing of Examinations for that the Priest Simon himself after he was taken was never brought to Execution no not so much as to publick Tryal as many Clergy-men were upon less Treasons but was only shut up close in a Dungeon Add to this that after the Earl of Lincoln a principal Person of the House of York was slain in Stoke-field the King opened himself to some of his Council that he was sorry for the Earl's Death because by him he said he might have known the bottom of his Danger But to return to the Narration it self Simon did first instruct his Scholar for the part of Richard Duke of York second Son to King Edward the Fourth and this was at such time as it was voyced that the King purposed to put to Death Edward Plantagenet Prisoner in the Tower whereat there was great murmur But hearing soon after a general bruit that Plantagenet had escaped out of the Tower and thereby finding him so much beloved amongst the People and such rejoycing at his Escape the cunning Priest changed his Copy and chose now Plantagenet to be the Subject his Pupil should personate because he was more in the present speech and Votes of the People and it pieced better and followed more close and handsomly upon the bruit of Plantagenet's Escape But yet doubting that there would be too near looking and too much Perspective into his Disguise if he should shew it here in England he thought good after the manner of Scenes in Stage-Plays and Masques to shew it a-far-off and therefore sailed with his Scholar into Ireland where the Affection to the House of York was most in height The King had been a little Improvident in matters of Ireland and had not removed Officers and Chancellors and put in their places or at least intermingled persons of whom he stood assured as he should have done since he knew the strong Bent of that Countrey towards the House of York and that it was a ticklish and unsetled State more easie to receive distempers and mutations than England was But trusting to the reputation of his Victories and Successes in England he thought he should have time enough to extend his Cares afterwards to that second Kingdom Wherefore through this neglect upon the coming of Simon with his pretended Plantagenet into Ireland all things were prepared for Revolt and Sedition almost as if they had been set and plotted before-hand Simon' s first Address was to the Lord Thomas Fitz-Gerard Earl of Kildare and Deputy of Ireland before whose Eyes he did cast such a Mist by his own insinuation and by the carriage of his Youth that expressed a natural Princely Behaviour as joyned perhaps with some inward Vapours of Ambition and Affection in the Earl's own mind left him fully possessed that it was the true Plantagenet The Earl presently communicated the matter with some of the Nobles and others there at the first secretly But finding them of like Affection to himself he suffered it of purpose to vent and pass abroad because they thought it not safe to resolve till they had a tast of the Peoples Inclination But if the Great ones were in forwardness the People were in fury entertaining this Airy Body or Phantasm with incredible affection partly out of their great devotion to the House of York partly out of a proud humour in the Nation to give a King to the Realm of England Neither did the Party in this heat of affection much trouble themselves with the Attaindor of George Duke of Clarence having newly learned by the King's example that Attaindors do not interrupt the conveying of Title to the Crown And as for the Daughters of King Edward the Fourth they thought King Richard had said enough for them and took them to be but as of the King's Party because they were in his power and at his disposing So that with marvellous consent and applause this Counterfeit Plantagenet was brought with great Solemnity to the Castle of Dublin and there saluted served and honoured as King the Boy becoming it well and doing nothing that did bewray the baseness of his condition And within few days after he was proclaimed King in Dublin by the Name of King Edward the Sixth there being not a Sword drawn in King Henry his Quarrel The King was much moved with this unexpected Accident when it came to his Ears both because it strook upon that String which ever he most 〈◊〉 as also because it was stirred in such a Place where he could not with safety transfer his own Person to suppress it For partly through natural Valour and partly through an universal Suspition not knowing whom to trust
For passing through England and being honourably entertained and received of King Henry who ever applied himself with much respect to the See of Rome he fell into great grace with the King and great familiarity and friendship with Morton the Chancellor In so much as the King taking a liking to him and finding him to his mind preferred him to the Bishoprick of Hereford and afterwards to that of Bath and Wells and employed him in many of his affairs of State that had relation to Rome He was a man of great learning wisdom and dexterity in business of State and having not long after ascended to the degree of Cardinal payd the King large tribute of his gratitude in diligent and judicious advertisement of the occurrents of Italy Nevertheless in the end of his time he was partaker of the conspiracy which Cardinal Alphonso Petrucci and some other Cardinals had plotted against the life of Pope Leo. And this offence in it self so heinous was yet in him aggravated by the motive thereof which was not malice or discontent but an aspiring mind to the Papacy And in this height of impiety there wanted not an intermixture of levity and folly for that as was generally believed he was animated to expect the Papacy by a fatal mockery the Prediction of a Soothsayer which was That one should succeed Pope Leo whose name should be Adrian an aged man of mean birth and of great learning and wisdom By which character and figure he took himself to be described though it were fulfilled of Adrian the Fleming Son of a Dutch Brewer Cardinal of Tortosa and Preceptor unto Charles the Fifth the same that not changing his Christen-name was afterward called Adrian the Sixth But these things happened in the year following which was the fifth of this King But in the end of the fourth year the King had called again his Parliament not as it seemeth for any particular occasion of State But the former Parliament being ended somewhat suddenly in regard of the preparation for Britain the King thought he had not remunerated his People sufficiently with good Laws which evermore was his Retribution for Treasure And finding by the Insurrection in the North there was discontentment abroad in respect of the Subsidy he thought it good to give his Subjects yet further contentment and comfort in that kind Certainly his times for good Commonwealths Laws did 〈◊〉 So as he may justly be celebrated for the best Law-giver to this Nation after King Edward the First For his Laws who so marks them well are deep and not vulgar not made upon the spur of a particular Occasion for the present but out of Providence of the future to make the Estate of his People still more and more happy after the manner of the Legislators in ancient and Heroical times First therefore he made a Law suitable to his own Acts and Times For as himself had in his Person and Marriage made a final Concord in the great Suit and Title for the Crown so by this Law he setled the like Peace and Quiet in the private Possessions of the Subjects Ordaining That Fines thence-forth should be final to conclude all Strangers Rights and that upon Fines levied and solemnly proclaimed the Subject should have his time of Watch for five years after his Title accrued which if he forepassed his Right should be bound for ever after with some exception nevertheless of Minors Married-women and such incompetent Persons This Statute did in effect but restore an ancient Statute of the Realm which was it self also made but in affirmance of the Common-Law The alteration had been by a Statute commonly called the Statute of Non-claim made in the time of Edward the Third And surely this Law was a kind of Prognostick of the good Peace which since his time hath for the most part continued in this Kingdom until this day For Statutes of Non-claim are fit for times of War when mens heads are troubled that they cannot intend their Estate but Statutes that quiet Possessions are fittest for times of Peace to extinguish Suits and Contentions which is one of the Banes of Peace Another Statute was made of singular Policy for the Population apparently and if it be throughly considered for the Soldiery and Militar Forces of the Realm Inclosures at that time began to be more frequent whereby Arable Land which could not be manured without People and Families was turned into Pasture which was easily rid by a few Herds-men and Tenancies for Years Lives and At Will whereupon much of the Yeomandry lived were turned into Demesnes This bred a decay of People and by consequence a decay of Towns Churches Tythes and the like The King likewise knew full well and in no wise forgot that there ensued withal upon this a decay and diminution of Subsidy and Taxes for the more Gentlemen ever the lower Books of Subsidies In remedying of this inconvenience the King's Wisdom was admirable and the Parliaments at that time Inclosures they would not forbid for that had been to forbid the improvement of the Patrimony of the Kingdom nor Tillage they would not compel for that was to strive with Nature and Utility But they took a course to take away depopulating Inclosures and depopulating Pasturage and yet not by that name or by any Imperious express Prohibition but by consequence The Ordinance was That all Houses of Husbandry that were used with twenty Acres of Ground and upwards should be maintained and kept up for ever together with a competent proportion of Land to be used and occupied with them and in no wise to be severed from them as by another Statute made afterwards in his Successors time was more fully declared This upon Forfeiture to be taken not by way of Popular Action but by seisure of the Land it self by the King and Lords of the Fee as to half the Profits till the Houses and Lands were restored By this means the Houses being kept up did of necessity enforce a Dweller and the proportion of Land for Occupation being kept up did of necessity enforce that Dweller not to be a Beggar or Cottager but a man of some substance that might keep Hinds and Servants and set the Plough on goingThis did wonderfully concern the Might and Manner-hood of the Kingdom to have Ferms as it were of a Standard sufficient to maintain an able Body out of Penury and did in effect amortize a great part of the Lands of the Kingdom unto the Hold and Occupation of the Teomanry or Middle people of a condition between Gentlemen and Cottagers or Pesants Now how much this did advance the Militar power of the Kingdom is apparent by the true Principles of War and the examples of other Kingdoms For it hath been held by the general Opinion of men of best Judgement in the Wars howsoever some few have varied and that it may receive some distinction of Case that the principal strength of an Army consisteth in the Infantry
is and from whom cometh both the will and the Deed. But yet it is agreeable to the Person that he beareth though unworthy of the Thrice-Christian King and the Eldest Son of the Church Whereunto he is also invited by the Example in more ancient time of King Henry the Fourth of England the First Renowned King of the House of Lancaster Ancestor though not Progenitor to your King who had a purpose towards the end of his time as you know better to make an Expedition into the Holy Land and by the Example also present before his eyes of that Honourable and Religious War which the King of Spain now maketh and hath almost brought to perfection for the Recovery of the Realm of Granada from the Moors And although this Enterprize may seem vast and unmeasured for the King to attempt that by his own Forces wherein heretofore a Conjunction of most of the Christian Princes hath found work enough yet his Majesty wisely considereth that sometimes smaller Forces being united under one Command are more effectual in Proof though not so promising in Opinion and Fame than much greater Forces variously propounded by Associations and Leagues which commonly in a short time after their beginnings turn to Dissociations and Divisions But my Lords that which is as a Voice from Heaven that called the King to this Enterprize is a Rent at this time in the House of the Ottomans I do not say but there hath been Brother against Brother in that House before but never any that had refuge to the Arms of the Christians as now hath Gemes Brother unto Bajazeth that reigneth the far braver man of the two the other being between a Monk and a Philosopher and better read in the Alcoran and Averroes than able to weild the Scepter of so warlike an Empire This therefore is the King our Master 's memorable and heroical Resolution for an Holy War And because he carrieth in this the person of a Christian Soldier as well as of a great Temporal Monarch he beginneth with Humility and is content for this cause to beg Peace at the hands of other Christian Kings There remaineth only rather a Civil Request than any essential part of our Negotiation which the King maketh to the King your Sovereign The King as the World knoweth is Lord in chief of the Duchy of Britain The Marriage of the Heir belongeth to him as Guardian This is a private Patrimonial Right and no business of Estate yet nevertheless to run a fair course with your King whom he desires to make another Himself and to be one and the same thing with him his Request is That with the King's Favour and Consent he may dispose of her Marriage as he thinketh good and make void the intruded and pretended Marriage of Maximilian according to Justice This my Lords is all that I have to say desiring your pardon for my weakness in the delivery THus did the French Ambassadors with great shew of their King's affection and many sugred words seek to adulce all matters between the two Kings having two things for their ends The one to keep the King quiet till the Marriage of Britain was past and this was but a Summers-fruit which they thought was almost ripe and would be soon gathered The other was more lasting and that was to put him into such a temper as he might be no disturbance or impediment to the Voyage for Italy The Lords of the Council were silent and said only That they knew the Ambassadors would look for no answer till they had reported to the King and so they rose from Council The King could not well tell what to think of the Marriage of Britain He saw plainly the ambition of the French King was to impatronize himself of the Duchy but he wondred he would bring into his House a litigious Marriage especially considering who was his Successor But weighing one thing with another he gave Britain for lost but resolved to make his profit of this business of Britain as a quarrel for War and that of Naples as a Wrench and mean for Peace being well advertised how strongly the King was bent upon that Action Having therefore conferred divers times with his Council and keeping himself somewhat close he gave a direction to the Chancellor for a formal Answer to the Ambassadors and that he did in the presence of his Council And after calling the Chancellor to him apart bade him speak in such language as was fit for a Treaty that was to end in a Breach and gave him also a special Caveat that he should not use any words to discourage the Voyage of Italy Soon after the Ambassadors were sent for to the Council and the Lord Chancellor spake to them in this sort MY Lords Ambassadors I shall make answer by the King's Commandment unto the eloquent Declaration of you my Lord Prior in a brief and plain manner The King forgetteth not his former love and acquaintance with the King your Master But of this there needeth no repetition For if it be between them as it was it is well if there be any alteration it is not words that will make it up For the Business of Britain the King findeth it a little strange that the French King maketh mention of it as matter of well-deserving at his hand For that Deserving was no more but to make him his Instrument to surprize one of his best Confederates And for the Marriage the King would not meddle in it if your Master would marry by the Book and not by the Sword For that of Flanders if the Subjects of Burgundy had appealed to your King as their Chief Lord at first by way of Supplication it might have had a shew of Justice But it was a new form of Process for Subjects to imprison their Prince first and to slay his Officers and then to be Complainants The King saith That sure he is when the French King and himself sent to the Subjects of Scotland that had taken Arms against their King they both spake in another Stile and did in Princely manner signifie their detestation of Popular Attentates upon the Person or Authority of Princes But my Lords Ambassadors the King leaveth these two actions thus That on the one side he hath not received any manner of satisfaction from you concerning them and on the other that he doth not apprehend them so deeply as in respect of them to refuse to treat of Peace if other things may go hand in hand As for the War of Naples and the Design against the Turk the King hath commanded me expresly to say That he doth wish with all his heart to his good Brother the French King that his Fortunes may succeed according to his hopes and honourable intentions And whensoever he shall hear that he is prepared for Grecia as your Master is pleased now to say that he beggeth a Peace of the King so the King will then beg of him a part in that War
that the Earl compounded for no less than fifteen thousand Marks And to shew further the Kings extreme Diligence I do remember to have seen long since a Book of Accompt of Empson's that had the King's hand almost to every Leaf by way of Signing and was in some places Postilled in the Margin with the King's hand likewise where was this Remembrance Item Received of such a one five Marks for the Pardon to be procured and if the Pardon do not pass the Money to be re-paid except the party be some other-ways satisfied And over against this Memorandum of the King 's own hand Otherwise satisfied Which I do the rather mention because it shews in the King a Nearness but yet with a kind of Justness So these little Sands and Grains of Gold and Silver as it seemeth helped not a little to make up the great Heap and Bank But mean while to keep the King awake the Earl of Suffolk having been too gay at Prince Arthur's Marriage and sunk himself deep in Debt had yet once more a mind to be a Knight-Errant and to seek Adventures in Forein parts And taking his Brother with him fled again into Flanders That no doubt which gave him Confidence was the great Murmur of the People against the King's Government And being a Man of a light and rash Spirit he thought every Vapour would be a Tempest Neither wanted he some Party within the Kingdom For the Murmur of People awakes the Discontents of Nobles and again that calleth up commonly some Head of Sedition The King resorting to his wonted and tryed Arts caused Sir Robert Curson Captain of the Castle at Hammes being at that time beyond Sea and therefore less likely to be wrought upon by the King to flie from his Charge and to feign himself a servant of the Earl's This Knight having insinuated himself into the Secrets of the Earl and finding by him upon whom chiefly he had either Hope or Hold advertised the King thereof in great secrecy But nevertheless maintained his own Credit and inward trust with the Earl Upon whose Advertisements the King attached William Courtney Earl of Devonshire his Brother-in-Law married to the Lady Katherine Daughter to King Edward the Fourth William de la Pole Brother to the Earl of Suffolk Sir James Tirrel and Sir John Windham and some other meaner Persons and committed them to Custody George Lord Abergaveny and Sir Thomas Green were at the same time apprehended but as upon less Suspition so in a freer Restraint and were soon after delivered The Earl of Devonshire being interessed in the blood of York that was rather Feared than Nocent yet as One that might be the Object of others Plots and Designs remained Prisoner in the Tower during the King's life William de la Pole was also long restrained though not so straitly But for Sir James Tirrel against whom the Blood of the Innocent Princes Edward the Fifth and his Brother did still cry from under the Altar and Sir John Windham and the other meaner ones they were attainted and executed the two Knights beheaded Nevertheless to confirm the Credit of Curson who belike had not yet done all his Feats of Activity there was published at Paul's Cross about the time of the said Executions the Pope's Bull of Excommunication and Curse against the Earl of Suffolk and Sir Robert Curson and some others by name and likewise in general against all the Abettors of the said Earl Wherein it must be confessed that Heaven was made too much to bow to Earth and Religion to Policy But soon after Curson when he saw time returned into England and withal into wonted Favour with the King but worse Fame with the People Upon whose return the Earl was much dismayed and seeing himself destitute of hopes the Lady Margaret also by tract of Time and bad Success being now becom cool in those attempts after some wandering in France and Germany and certain little Projects no better than Squibs of an Exiled man being tired out retired again into the Protection of the Arch-Duke Philip in Flanders who by the death of Isabella was at that time King of Castile in the right of Joan his Wife This year being the Nineteenth of his Reign the King called his Parliament Wherein a man may easily guess how absolute the King took himself to be with his Parliament when Dudley that was so hateful was made Speaker of the House of Commons In this Parliament there were not made any Statutes memorable touching publick Government But those that were had still the Stamp of the King's Wisdom and Policy There was a Statute made for the disannulling of all Patents of Lease or Grant to such as came not upon lawful Summons to serve the King in his Wars against the Enemies or Rebels or that should depart without the King's licence With an exception of certain Persons of the Long-robe Providing nevertheless That they should have the King's Wages from their House till their return home again There had been the like made before for Offices and by this Statute it was extended to Lands But a man may easily see by many Statutes made in this King's time that the King thought it safest to assist Martial Law by Law of Parliament Another Statute was made prohibiting the bringing in of Manufactures of Silk wrought by it self or mixt with any other Thred But it was not of Stuffs of whole piece for that the Realm had of them no Manufacture in use at that time but of Knit-Silk or Texture of Silk as Ribands Laces Cawls Points and Girdles c. which the people of England could then well skill to make This Law pointed at a true Principle That where forein materials are but Superfluities forein Manufactures should be prohibited For that will either banish the Superfluity or gain the Manufacture There was a Law also of Resumption of Patents of Gaols and the Reannexing of them to the Sherifwicks Priviledged Officers being no less an Interruption of Justice than Priviledged Places There was likewise a Law to restrain the By-laws or Ordinances of Corporations which many times were against the Prerogative of the King the Common-law of the Realm and the Liberty of the Subject being Fraternities in Evil. It was therefore Provided that they should not be put in Execution without the Allowance of the Chancellor Treasurer and the two Chief-Justices or three of them or of the two Justices of Circuit where the Corporation was Another Law was in effect to bring in the Silver of the Realm to the Mint in making all clipped minished or impaired Coins of Silver not to be currant in payments without giving any Remedy of weight but with an exception only of a reasonable wearing which was as nothing in respect of the incertainty and so upon the matter to set the Mint on work and give way to New Coins of Silver which should be then minted There likewise was a long Statute against Vagabonds wherein two things
may be noted The one the Dislike the Parliament had of Gaoling of them as that which was chargeable pesterous and of no open Example The other that in the Statutes of this King's time for this of the Nineteenth year is not the only Statute of that kind there are ever coupled the punishment of Vagabonds and the forbidding of Dice and Cards and unlawful Games unto Servants and mean people and the putting down and suppressing of Ale-houses as Strings of one Root together and as if the One were unprofitable without the Other As for Riot and Retainers there passed scarce any Parliament in this time without a Law against them the King ever having an Eye to Might and Multitude There was granted also that Parliament a Subsidy both for the Temporalty and the Clergy And yet nevertheless ere the year expired there went out Commissions for a general Benevolence though there were no Wars no Fears The same year the City gave five thousand Marks for Confirmation of their Liberties A thing fitter for the Beginnings of King's Reigns than the latter Ends. Neither was it a small matter that the Mint gained upon the late Statute by the Recoinage of Groats and Half-Groats now Twelve-pences and Sixpences As for Empson and Dudley's Mills they did grind more than ever So that it was a strange thing to see what Golden Showrs poured down upon the King's Treasury at once The last payments of the Marriage-Money from Spain The Subsidy The Benevolence The Recoinage The Redemption of the Cities Liberties The Casualties And this is the more to be marvelled at because the King had then no Occasions at all of Wars or Troubles He had now but one Son and one Daughter unbestowed He was Wise He was of an High Mind He needed not to make Riches his Glory He did excel in so many things else save that certainly Avarice doth ever find in it self matter of Ambition Belike he thought to leave his Son such a Kingdom and such a Mass of Treasure as he might choose his Greatness where he would This year was also kept the Serjeants 〈◊〉 which was the second Call in this Kings Days About this time Isabella Queen of Castile deceased a right Noble Lady and an Honour to her Sex and Times and the Corner-stone of the Greatness of Spain that hath followed This Accident the King took not for News at large but thought it had a great Relation to his own Affairs especially in two points The one for Example the other for Consequence First he conceived that the Case of Ferdinando of Arragon after the death of Queen Isabella was his own Case after the death of his own Queen and the Case of Joan the Heir unto Castile was the Case of his own Son Prince Henry For if both of the Kings had their Kingdoms in the right of their Wives they descended to the Heirs and did not accrew to the Husbands And although his own Case had both Steel and Parchment more than the other that is to say a Conquest in the Field and an Act of Parliament yet notwithstanding that Natural Title of Descent in Blood did in the imagination even of a wise man breed a Doubt that the other two were not safe nor sufficient Wherefore he was wonderful diligent to enquire and observe what became of the King of Arragon in holding and continuing the Kingdom of Castile And whether he did hold it in his own Right or as Administrator to his Daughter and whether he were like to hold it in Fast or to be put out by his Son-in-Law Secondly he did revolve in his mind that the State of Christendom might by this late Accident have a turn For whereas before-time himself with the Conjunction of Arragon and Castile which then was one and the Amity of Maximilian and Philip his Son the Arch-Duke was far too strong a Party for France he began to fear that now the French King who had great Interest in the Affections of Philip the young King of Castile and Philip himself now King of Castile who was in ill terms with his Father-in-Law about the present Government of Castile And thirdly Maximilian Philip's Father who was ever variable and upon whom the surest Aim that could be taken was that he would not be long as he had been last before would all three being potent Princes enter into some strait League and Confederation amongst themselves Whereby though he should not be endangered yet he should be left to the poor Amity of Arragon And whereas he had been heretofore a kind of Arbiter of Europe he should now go less and be over-topped by so great a Conjunction He had also as it seems an inclination to marry and bethought himself of some fit Conditions abroad And amongst others he had heard of the Beauty and virtuous Behaviour of the young Queen of Naples the Widow of Ferdinando the younger being then of Matronal years of seven and twenty By whose Marriage he thought that the Kingdom of Naples having been a Goal for a time between the King of Arragon and the French King and being but newly setled might in some part be deposited in his hands who was so able to keep the Stakes Therefore he sent in Ambassage or Message three confident Persons Francis Marsin James Braybrook and John Stile upon two several Inquisitions rather than Negotiations The One touching the Person and Condition of the young Queen of Naples the Other touching all particulars of Estate that concerned the Fortunes and Intentions of Ferdinando And because they may observe best who themselves are observed least he sent them under Colourable Pretexts giving them Letters of Kindness and Compliment from Katharine the Princess to her Aunt and Niece the Old and Young Queen of Naples and delivering to them also a Book of new Articles of Peace which notwithstanding it had been delivered unto Doctor De Putbla the Leigier Ambassador of Spain here in England to be sent yet for that the King had been long without hearing from Spain he thought good those Messengers when they had been with the two Queens should likewise pass on to the Court of Ferdinando and take a Copy of the Book with them The Instructions touching the Queen of Naples were so curious and exquisite being as Articles whereby to direct a Survey or 〈◊〉 a Particular of her Person for Complexion Favour Feature Stature Health Age Customs Behaviour Conditions and Estate as if the King had been young a man would have judged him to be Amorous but being ancient it ought to be interpreted that sure he was very Chast for that he meant to find all things in one Woman and so to settle his Affections without ranging But in this March he was soon cooled when he heard from his Ambassadors that this young Queen had had a goodly Joynture in the Realm of Naples well answered during the time of her Uncle Frederick yea and during the time of Lewis the French King in
scarce gain belief Wherefore I am well content that Truth which maugre her enemies will at length be every where victorions shall prevail with me I have done to my power Politely eloquently politickly I could not write Truly and fide Atticâ as they say I could If I have done amiss in ought it is not out of malice but errour which the gentle Reader will I hope pardon This I earnestly intreat withal beseeching the All-good and All-mighty God that this my labour directed to no other end than to his glory and the good of his Church may attain its due and by me desired success Farewel ANNALS OF ENGLAND From the Year 1508 to the Year 1558. BOOK I. King HENRY the Eighth ANNO DOM. 1509. REG. 1. AFter the death of Henry the Seventh his only Son Henry Prince of Wales undertook the Government of this Kingdom He had then attained to the Age of Eighteen years and was richly adorned with Endowments both of Body and Mind For of Stature he was tall of a beautiful Aspect and of Form through all his age truly beseeming a King He was witty docil and naturally propense to Letters until Pleasures to which the Liberty of Sovereignty easily prompteth did somewhat unseasonably withdraw him from his Studies to these you may add a Great Spirit aspiring to the glory both of Fortitude and Munificence This towardliness was so seconded by the happy care of his Tutors that if the end of his Reign had been answerable to the beginning Henry the Eighth might deservedly have been ranked amongst the greatest of our Kings For if you consider his first Twenty years you shall not easily find any one that either more happily managed Affairs abroad or Governed more wisely at home of that bare greater sway among his Neighbour Princes This I think ought chiefly to be ascribed to the providence of his wise Father and his Grand-mother then still alive For they took care that he should have wise and virtuous Over-seers in his youth by whose assistance having once passed the hazards thereof he happily avoided those Rocks whereon so many daily suffer wrack But these either dying or being so broken with age that they could be no longer employed in affairs of State and he himself being now come to those years that commonly cast aside Modesty Modeslty I say the Guardian of that great Virtue then making use of no Counsellor but his Will he fell into those Vices which notwithstanding the glory of his former Reign branded him deeply with the foul stains of Luxury and Cruelty But remitting those things to their proper places those Worthies appointed his Counsellors were William Warham Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellour of England Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester Thomas Ruthal Bishop of Durham Thomas Howard Earl of Surrey Lord Treasurer of England George Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury Lord Steward of the King's Houshold Charles Somerset Lord Chamberlain Knights Sir Thomas Lovel Sir Henry Wyat Sir Edward Poynings These men the Solemnity of the dead King's Funeral being duly and magnificently performed erected him a Tomb all of Brass accounted one of the stateliest Monuments of Europe which one would hardly conceive by the Bill of Accompts For it is reported that it cost but a Thousand Pounds The Monument is to be seen at Westminster the usual place of our Kings Interrments in that admirable Chappel dedicated to St. Stephen by this King heretofore built from the ground a testimony of his religious Piety I have read that this Chappel was raised to that height for the summ of Fourteen thousand Pounds and no more and that he at the same time built a Ship of an unusual burthen called from him The great Henry which by that time it was rigged cost little less than that stately Chappel But now O Henry what is become of that Ship of thine that other Work besides the reward of Heaven will perpetually proclaim thy pious Munificence Hence learn O Kings that the true Trophies of Glory are not to be placed in Armories and Arsenals but and those more durable in Pious Works Seek first seek the Kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof and without doubt all other things shall be added unto you But to go on in my proposed course although Henry the Eighth began his Reign the two and twentieth of April 1509 his Coronation was deferred to the four and twentieth of June In the mean time his Council thought it would prove a profitable policy for the King to marry Katherine the Widow of Prince Arthur his deceased Brother and Daughter to Ferdinando King of Castile for otherwise that huge mass of Money assigned for her Jointure must yearly be transported out of the Kingdom Neither was there at first any other doubt made of this Match than whether it were approved by the Ecclesiastical Constitutions for as much as the Scripture said some forbad any man to marry his Brother's Wife But this rub was easily removed by the omnipotence of the Pope's Bull in so much that presently upon the Dispensation of Pope Julius on the third of June under a malignant Constellation the Nuptials of these Princes were solemnized and they both Crowned the four and twentieth of June next following being St. John Baptist's day At these Solemnities there wanted neither pomp nor acclamations of the Estates of the Realm But to shew that of Solomon to be true The end of Mirth is Heaviness five days had not yet run their course since the Coronation when Margaret Countess of Richmond the King's Grand-mother made an exchange of this life with death She was a very godly and virtuous Lady and one who for her benefits to the Estate deserved with all honour to be commended to the perpetual memory of Posterity But her ever-living Works will so far set forth her praise that the pains of any Writer will prove altogether needless Yet notwithstanding omitting other things it will savour somewhat of Ingratitude if I should not recount what she hath conferred upon our Universities She founded two Colledges at Cambridge one dedicated to our Saviour CHRIST and the other to St. John the Evangelist and endowed them both with such large Revenues that at this time besides Officers and Servants there are about two hundred Students maintained in them She also left Lands to both Universities out of the Rents whereof two Doctors publick Professors of Divinity to this day do receive their Annual Stipends She lies interred near her Son in a fair Tomb of Touch-stone whereon lies her Image of gilded Brass ANNO DOM. 1510. REG. 2. H Enry the Seventh Father to this our Eighth some few years before his death had caused an inquisition to be made throughout the Kingdom of the breach of the Penal Statutes saying That Laws were to no purpose unless the fear of Punishment did force men to observe them But the Inquisition proceeding so rigorously that even the least faults were punished
Bromley Sir Anthony Denny Sir Edward North. Sir Edward Wotton Doctor Wotton Dean of Canterbury and York To whom he added as Assistants especially in matters of great consequence Henry Earl of Arundel William Earl of Essex Sir Thomas Cheny Steward of the King's Houshold Sir John Gage Comptroller Sir Anthony Wingfield Vice-Chamberlain Sir William Peter Secretary Sir Richard Rich. Sir John Baker Sir Ralph Sadler Sir Thomas Seymour Sir Richard Southwell Sir Edmond Pecham He ordained his Body should be interred at Windsor in a Monument yet imperfect erected by Cardinal Wolsey not for himself as many falsly 〈◊〉 but for the King as by the Inscription is manifest which cannot be of later date For therein Henry is 〈◊〉 Lord of Ireland without any mention of Supreme Head of the Church which two particles it is manifest were changed in the Title after Wolsey his death In the same his last Will he commanded that the Monuments of Henry the Sixth and Edward the Fourth both interred in Windsor should be made more magnificent and stately and other things of less moment most of which were neglected This last Will and Testament he confirmed subscribed and sealed the last of December and survived a month after dying at Westminster the eight and twentieth of January and that in this manner The King having long languished the Physicians finding apparent symptoms of approaching death wished some of his friends to admonish him of his estate which at last Sir Anthony Denny undertook who going directly to the fainting King told in few but those plain words That the hope of humane help was vain wherefore he beseeched his Majesty to erect his thoughts to Heaven and bethinking him of his ' fore-passed life through Christ to implore God's Mercy An advice not very acceptable to him But finding it grounded upon the judgment of the Physicians he submitted himself to the hard law of necessity and reflecting upon the course of his Life which he much condemned he professed himself confident that through Christ his infinite Goodness all his sins although they had been more in number and weight might be pardoned Being then demanded whether he desired to confer with any Divines With no other saith he but the Archbishop Cranmer and not with him as yet I will first repose my self a little and as I then find my self will determin accordingly After the sleep of an hour or two finding himself fainting he commanded the Archbishop then at Croydon should be sent for in all hast Who using all possible speed came not until the King was speechless As soon as he came the King took him by the hand the Archbishop exhorting him to place all his hope in God's Mercies through Christ and beseeching him that if he could not in words he would by some sign or other testifie this his Hope Who then wringed the Archbishop's hand as hard as he could and shortly after expired having lived fifty five years and seven months and thereof reigned thirty seven years nine months and six days Thus ended Henry the Eighth his Life and Reign which for the first years of his Government was like Nero's Five years Admirable for often Victories and happy Success in War Glorious for the many Changes under it Memorable for the Foundation of the Churches Reformation Laudable to Queens most unhappy for the Death of so many for the most great Personages Bloody and for the frequent Exactions and Subsidies and Sacrilegious Spoil of the Church much Prejudicial to the Estate Grievous and Burthensom to the Subject FINIS ANNALS OF ENGLAND EDVVARD THE SIXTH The Second Book LONDON Printed for Thomas Basset John Wright and Richard Chiswel M. DC LXXV ANNALS OF ENGLAND BOOK II. EDWARD the Sixth ANNO DOM. 1547. REG. 1. ROyalty like a Pythagorean Soul transmigrates Although Henry were dead the King was still alive and survived in the person of young Edward who began his Reign the eight and twentieth of January then in the tenth year of his age and having been on the last of the same Month proclaimed King came the same day from Enfield where the Court had then been to the Tower there according to the ancient custom of our Kings to abide until his Inauguration at Westminster The next day the Council assembled for the managing of the Estate conferred on the King's Uncle Edward Seymour Earl of Hertford the honour and power of Protector of the King's Person and Kingdom Who to season his new Dignity with some memorable act on the sixth of February dubbed the King Knight the King presently imparting the same Honour to Richard Hoblethorn Lord Mayor of London On the fifteenth of February King Henry his Funerals were solemnized and his Body Royally interred in the middle of the Quire in the Church at Windsor Two days after were some of the Nobility dignified with greater Honours some new created The Lord Protector Earl of Hertford was made Duke of Somerset William Parr Earl of Essex Marquis of Northampton John Dudley Viscount Lisle Earl of Warwick and the Lord Chancellour Wriothsley Earl of Southampton Sir Thomas Seymour Brother to the Protector and Lord Admiral Sir Thomas Rich Sir William Willoughby and Sir Edmond Sheffeild were inrolled among the Barons Other two days being fled after their predecessors the King passed triumphantly from the Tower through London to Westminster where he was solemnly crowned anointed and inaugurated by Cranmcr Archbishop of Canterbury At what time also with incredible indulgence pardon of all crimes whatsoever was publickly proclaimed and granted to all persons throughout the Realm six only being exempted from the benefit thereof namely the Duke of Norfolk Cardinal Pool the lately beheaded Marquis of Exceter his eldest Son one Throcmorton Fortescue and Richard Pate late Bishop of Worcester who lest he should be constrained to acknowledge the King Head of the Church had some years passed fled to Rome On the nineteenth of June in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in London were celebrated the Exequies of Francis King of France He deceased the two and twentieth of the precedent March having been after the death of our Henry much disposed to melancholy whether for that he failed in the hope of strengthening their late contracted amity with some stricter tie or that being some few years the younger he was by his death admonished of the like approaching fate They were also of so conspiring a similitude of disposition and nature that you shall hardly find the like between any two Princes of whatever different times This bred a mutual affection in them and as it were forcibly nourished the secret fire thereof between them unless peradventure when emulation or the respect of publick utility swayed them the contrary way so that the death of the one could not but much grieve the surviver He therefore in the Cathedral at Paris celebrated the Funerals of Henry though Excommunicated by the Pope He also left one only Son named Henry inheritor of his