with the Lutherans he did not think it was then seasonable to call one That as for sending a Proxy to Rome if he were a private Person he could do it but it was a part of the Prerogative of his Crown and of the Priviledges of his Subjects That all Matrimonial Causes should be originally judged within his Kingdom by the English Church which was consonant to the general Councils and Customs of the ancient Church whereunto he hoped the Pope would have regard And that for keeping up his Royal Authority to which he was bound by Oath he could not without the consent of the Realm submit himself to a Forreign Jurisdiction hoping the Pope would not desire any violation of the Immunities of the Realm or to bring these into publick Contention which had been hitherto enjoyed without intrusion or molestation The Pope had confessed that without an urgent cause the Dispensation could not be granted This the King laid hold on and ordered his Ambassador to show him that there was no War nor appearance of any between England and Spain when it was granted To verifie that he sent an attested Copy of the Treaty between his Father and the Crown of Spain at that time By the words of which it appeared that it was then taken for granted that Prince Arthur had Consummated the Marriage which was also proved by good witnesses In fine since the thing did so much concern the Peace of the Realm it was fitter to judg it within the Kingdom than any where else therefore he desired the Pope would remit the discussing of it to the Church of England and then confirm the Sentence they should give To the obtaining of this the Ambassador was to use all possible diligence yet if he found real intentions in the Pope to satisfie the King he was not to insist on that as the Kings final Resolution And to let the Cardinal of Ravenna see that the King intended to make good what was promised in his name the Bishoprick of Coventry and Litchfield falling vacant he sent him the offer of it with a promise of the Bishoprick of Ely when it should be void Soon after this he Married Anne Boleyn on the 14th of November upon his landing in England but Stow says without any ground that it was on the 25th of Ianuary Rowland Lee who afterward got the Bishoprick of Coventry and Liechfield officiate in the Marriage It was done secretly in the presence of the Duke of Norfolk and her Father her Mother and Brother and Dr. Cranmer The grounds on which the King did this were That his former Marriage being of it self null there was no need of a Declarative Sentence after so many Universities and Doctors had given their judgments against it Soon after the Marriage she was with-Child which was looked on as a signalEvidence of her Chastity and that she had till then kept the King at a due distance But when the Pope and the Emperor met at Bononia the Pope expressed great Inclinations to favour the French King from which the Emperor could not remove him nor engage him to accept of a Match for his Neece Katherine de Medici with Francis Sforza Duke of Milan But the Pope promised him all that he desired as to the King of England and so that matter was still carried on Dr. Bennet made several propositions to end the matter either that it should be judged in England according to the Decree of the Council of Nice and that the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with the whole Clergy of his Province should determine it or that the King should name one either Sir Thomas More or the Bishop of London the Queen should name another the French King should name a third and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to be the fourth or that the cause should be heard in England and if the Queen did Appeal it should be referred to three Delegates one of England another of France and a third to be sent from Rome who should sit and judge the Appeal in some indifferent place But the Pope would hearken to none of these Overtures since they were all directly contrary to that height of Authority which he resolved to maintain Therefore he ordered Capisucci the Dean of the Rota to cite the King to answer to the Queens Appeal Karne at Rome protested against the Citation since the Emperor's Power was so great about Rome that the King could not expect justice there and therefore desired they would desist otherwise the King would Appeal to the Learned men in Universities and said there was a nullity in all their proceedings since the King was a Soveraign Prince and the Church of England a free Church over which the Pope had no just Authority But while this depended at Rome another Session of Parliameot was held in England which began to sit on the 4th of February In this the Breach with Rome was much forwarded by the Act they passed against all Appeals to Rome The Preamble bears that the Crown of England was Imperial and that the Nation was a compleat Body within it self with a full Power to give justice in all cases Spiritual as well as Temporal and that in the Spiritualty as there had beed at all times so there were them men of that sufficiency and integrity that they might declare and determine all doubts within the Kingdom and that several Kings as Edward the 1st Edward the 3d Richard the 2d and Henry the 4th had by several Laws preserved the Liberties of the Realm both Spiritual and Temporal from the annoyance of the See of Rome and other forreign Potentates yet many inconveniences had arisen by Appeals to the See of Rome in Causes of Matrimony Divorces and other cases which were not sufficiently provided against by these Laws by which not only the King and his Subjects were put to great charges but justice was much delayed by Appeals and Rome being at such a distance Evidences could not be brought thither nor Witnesses so easily as within the Kingdom Therefore it was Enacted that all such Causes whether relating to the King or any of his Subjects were to be determined within the Kingdom in the several Courts to which they belonged notwithstanding any Appeals to Rome or Inhibitions and Bulls from Rome whose Sentences should take effect and be fully Executed by all Inferior Ministers and if any Spiritual Persons refused to Execute them because of Censures from Rome they were to suffer a years Imprisonment and fine and ransom at the Kings will and if any Persons in the Kings Dominions procured or executed any Process or Censures from Rome they were declared liable to the pains in the Statute of Provisors in the 16th of Rich. the 2d But that Appeals should only be from the Arch-Deacon or his Official to the Bishop of the Diocess or his Commissary and from him to the Arch-Bishop of the Province or the Dean of the Arches where the
them a few Bishops in the Northern and Western Parts When afterwards the Patriarch of Constantinople was declared by the Emperor Mauritius The Vniversal Bishop Gregory the great did exclaim against the Ambition of that Title as being equal to the Pride of Lucifer and declared that he who assumed it was the Forerunner of Antichrist saying that none of his Predecessors had ever claimed such a Power And this was the more observable since the English were Converted by those whom he sent over so that this was the Doctrine of that See when this Church received the Faith from it But it did not continue long within those limits for Boniface the Third assumed that Title upon the Grant of Phâ—â—as And as that Boniface got the Spiritual Sword put in his hand so the Eighth of that name pretended also to the Temporal Sword but they owe these Powers to the Industry of those Popes and not to any Donation of Christs The Popes when they are Consecrated promise to obey the Canons of the Eight first General Councils which if they observe they will receive no Appeals nor pretend to any higher Jurisdiction than these give to them and the other Patriarchs equally As for the Decrees of Latter Councils they are of less Authority For those Councils consisted of Monks and Friers in great part whose exemptions obtained from Rome obliged them to support the Authority of that Court and those who sate in them knew little of the Scriptures Fathers or the Tradition of the Church being only conversant in the Disputes and Learning of the Schools And for the Florentine Council the Eastern Churches who sent the Greek Bishops that sate there never received their Determination neither then nor at any time since Many places were also brought out of the Fathers to show that they did not look on the Bishops of Rome as superior to other Bishops and that they understood not those places of Scripture which were afterwards brought for the Popes Supremacy in that sense so that if Tradition be the best Expounder of Scripture those latter glosses must give place to the more ancient But that passage of St. Ierome in which he equals the Bishops of Eugubium and Constantinople to the Bishop of Rome was much made use of since he was a Presbyter of Rome and so likely to understand the Dignity of his own Church best There were many things brought from the Contests that other Sees had with Rome to show that all the Priviledges of that and other Sees were only founded on the practice and Canons of the Church but not upon any Divine Warrant Constantinople pretended to equal priviledges Ravenna Milan and Aquileia pretended to a Patriarchal Dignity and Exemption Some Arch-Bishops of Canterbury contended that Popes could do nothing against the Laws of the Church so Laurence and Dunstan Robert Grostest Bishop of Lincoln asserted the same and many Popes confessed it And to this day no Constitution of the Popes is binding in any Church except it be received by it and in the daily practice of the Canon Law the customs of Churches are pleaded against Papal Constitutions which shows their Authority cannot be from God otherwise all must submit to their Laws And from the latter Contests up and down Europe about giving Investitures receiving Appeals admitting of Legates and Papal Constitutions it was apparent that the Papal Authority was a Tyranny which had been managed by cruel and fraudulent Arts but was never otherwise received in the Church than as a Conquest to which they were constrained to yield And this was more fully made out in England from what passed in William the Conqueror and Henry the 2d's time and by the Statutes of Provisors in many Kings Reigns which were still renewed till within an hundred years of the present time Upon these grounds they Concluded that the Popes Power in England had no Foundation neither in the Law of God nor in the Laws of the Church or of the Land As for the Kings Power over Spiritual persons and in Spiritual causes they proved it from the Scriptures In the old Testament they found the Kings of Israel intermedled in all matters Ecclesiastical Samuel though he had been Judge yet acknowledged Sauls Authority So also did Abimelech the High-Priest and appeared before him when cited to answer upon an Accusation And Samuel 1 Sam. 15.18 sayes he was made the head of all the Tribes Aaron in that was an Example to all the following High-Priests who submitted to Moses David made many Laws about sacred things such as the Order of the Courses of the Priests and their Worship and when he was dying he declared to Solomon how far his Authority extended He told him 1 Chron. 28.21 That the Courses of the Priests and all the people were to be wholly at his commandment pursuant to which Solomon 2 Chron. 8.14 15. did appoint them their charges in the service of God and both the Priests and Levites departed not from his commandment in any matter and though he had turned out Abiathar from the High-Priesthood yet they made no opposition Iehosophat Hezekiah and Iosias made likewise Laws about Eccledsiastical Matters In the New Testament Christ himself was obedient he payed Taxes he declared that he pretended to no earthly Kingdom he charged the people to render to Caesar the things that were Caesars and his Disciples not to affect temporal dominion as the Lords of the Nations did And though the Magistrates were then Heathens yet the Apostles wrote to the Churches to obey Magistrates to submit to them to pay Taxes they call the King Supream and say he is Gods Minister to encourage them that do well and to punish the evil doors which is said of all persons without exception and every Soul is charged to be subject to the Higher Power Many passages were cited out of the Writings of the Fathers to show that they thought Church-men were included in these places as well as other persons so that the Tradition of the Church was for the Kings Supremacy and by one place of Scripture the King is called Supream by another he is called Head and by a third every Soul must be subject to him which laid together make up this conclusion That the King is the Supream Head over all persons In the primitive Church the Bishops in their Councils made rules for ordering their Dioceses which they only called Canons or Rules nor had they any compulsive Authority but what was derived from the Civil Sanctions After the Emperors were Christians they made many Laws about sacred things as may be seen in the Codes and when Iustinian digested the Roman Law he added many Novel Constitutions about Ecclesiastical persons and causes The Emperors called general Councils presided in them and confirmed them And many Letters were cited of Popes to Emperors to call Councils and of the Councils to them to Confirm their Decrees The Election of the Popes themselves was
King intended to Marry her to France the more effectually to seclude her from the Succession considering the aversion his Subjects had to a French Government that so he might more easily settle his Bastard Son the Duke of Richmond in the Succession of the Crown While this Treaty went on the Kings scruples about his Marriage began to take vent It is said that the Cardinal did first infuse them into him and made Longland Bishop of Lincoln that was the Kings Confessor possess the Kings mind with them in Confession If it was so the King had according to the Religion of that time very just cause of Scruple when his Confessor judged his Marriage sinful and the Popes Legate was of the same mind It is also said that the Cardinal being alienated from the Emperor that he might irreparably embroil the King and him and unite the King to the French Interests designed this out of Spite and that he was also dissatisfied toward the Queen who hated him for his lewd and dissolute Life and had oft admonished and check't him for it And that he therefore designing to engage the King to Marry the French Kings Sister the Dutchess of Alenoon did to make way for that set this Matter on foot but as I see no good Authority for all this except the Queens suspitions who did afterwards charge the Cardinal as the cause of all her trouble so I am inclined to think the Kings Scruples were much ancienter for the King declared to Simon Grineus four years after this that for seven years he had abstained from the Queen upon these Scruples so that by that it seems they had been received into the Kings mind three years before this time What were the Kings secret motives and the true grounds of his Aversion to the Queen is only known to God and till the discovery of all Secrets at the day of Judgment must lye hid But the reasons which he always owned of which all Humane Judicatories must only take notice shall be now fully opened He found by the Law of Moses if a man took his Brothers Wife they should die childless This made him reflect on the death of his Children which he now looked on as a Curse from God for that unlawful Marriage Upon this he set himself to Study the case and called for the judgments of the best Divines and Canonists For his own Enquiry Thomas Aquinas being the Writer in whose works he took most pleasure and to whose judgment he submitted most did decide it clearly against him For he both Concluded that the Laws in Leviticus about the forbidden degrees of Marriage were Moral and Eternal such as obliged all Christians and that the Pope could only Dispense with the Laws of the Church but could not Dispense with the Laws of God Upon this reason that no Law can be Dispenced with by any Authority but that which is equal to the Authority that enacted it Therefore he infers that the Pope can indeed Dispence with all the Laws of the Church but not with the Laws of God to whose Authority he could not pretend to be equal But as the King found this from his own private Study so having commanded the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to require the Opinions of the Bishops of England they all in a Writing under their hands and Seals declared they judged it an unlawful Marriage Only the Bishop of Rochester refused to set his hand to it and though the Arch-Bishop pressed him most earnestly to it yet he persisted in his refusal saying that it was against his Conscience Upon which the Arch-Bishop made another write down his Name and set his Seal to the Resolution of the rest of the Bishops But this being afterwards questioned the Bishop of Rochester denied it was his hand and the Arch-Bishop pretended that he had leave given him by the Bishop to put his hand to it which the other denied Nor was it likely that Fisher who scrupled in Conscience to Subscribe it himself would have consented to such a weak Artifice But all the other Bishops did declare against the Marriage and as the King himself said afterwards in the Legantine Court neither the Cardinal nor the Bishop of Lincoln did first suggest these scruples but the King being possessed with them did in Confession propose them to that Bishop and added that the Cardinal was so far from cherishing them that he did all he could to stiffle them The King was now convinced that his Marriage was unlawful both by his own study and the resolution of his Divines And as the point of Conscience wrought on him so the Interest of the Kingdom required that there should be no doubting about the Succession to the Crown left as the long Civil-War between the Houses of York and Lancaster had been buried with his Father so a new one should rise up at his death The King of Scotland was the next Heir to the Crown after his Daughter And if he Married his Daughter to any out of France then he had reason to judge that the French upon their Ancient Alliance with Scotland and that they might divide and distract England would be ready to assist the King of Scotland in his pretensions Or if he Married her in France then all those in England to whom the French Government was hateful and the Emperour and other Princes to whom the French Power grew formidable would have been as ready to support the pretensions of Scotland Or if he should either set up his Barstard Son or the Children which his Sister bore to Charles Brandon there was still cause to fear a Bloody decision of a Title that was so doubtful And though this may seem a consideration too Politick and Forreign to a matter of that nature yet the obligation that lies on a Prince to provide for the happiness and quiet of his Subjects was so weighty a thing that it might well come in among other Motives to incline the King much to have this matter determined At this time the Cardinal went over into France under colour to conclude a League between the Two Crowns and to Treat about the means of setting the Pope at liberty who was then the Emperours Prisoner at Rome and also for a project of Peace between Francis and the Emperour But his chief business was to require Francis to declare his Resolutions concerning that alternative about the Lady Mary To which it was answered That the Duke of Orleance as a fitter Match in years was the French King's Choice but this matter fell to the ground upon the Process that followed soon aâ—ter The King did much apprehend the opposition the Emperour was like to make to his designs either out of a principle of nature and honour to protect his Aunt or out of a Maxime of State to raise his Enemy all the trouble he could at home But on the other hand he had some cause to hope well even in that
went into Germany where he became acquainted with Cornelius Agrippa a man very famous for great and curious Learning and so satisfied him in the Kings cause that he gave it out that the thing was clear and indisputable for which he was afterwards hardly used by the Emperor and dyed in Prison But when the King received the Determinations and Conclusions of the Universities and other Learned men beyond Sea he resolved to do two things First to make a new attempt upon the Pope and then to publish those Conclusions to the World with the arguments upon which they were grounded But to make his address to the Pope carry more terror with it he got a Letter to be signed by a great many Members of Parliament to the Pope The â—ord Herbertâ—aith â—aith it was done by his Parliament but in that he had not applyed his ordinary diligence the Letter bears date the 13 of Iuly Now by the Records of Parliament it appears there could be no Session at that time for there was a Prorogation from the 21 of Iune till the â—st of October that year But the Letter was sent about to the chief Members for their hands and Cavendish tells how it was brought to the Cardinal and with what chearfulness he set his hand to it It was subscribed by the Cardinal and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury 4 Bishops 2 Dukes 2 Marquesses 13 Earls 2 Viscounâ—s 23 Barons 22 Abbots and 11 Commoners most of these being the Kings Servants The Contents of the Letters were that their near Relation to the King made them address thus to the Pope The Kings cause was now in the opinion of the Learned men and Universities both in England France and Italy found just which ought to prevail so far with the Pope that though none moved in it and notwithstanding any Contradiction he ought to confirm their judgment especially it touching a King and Kingdom to whom he was so much obliged But since neither the justice of the cause nor the Kings most earnest desires had prevailed with him they were all forced to complain of that strange usage of their King who both by his Authority and with his Pen had supported the Apostolick See and the Catholick Faith and yet was now denyed justice From which they apprehended great mischief and Civil Wars which could only be prevented by the Kings Marrying another wife of whom he might have issue This could not be done till his present Marriage were annulled nulled And if the Pope would still refuse to do this they must conclude that they were abandoned by him and so seek for other Remedies This they most earnestly prayed him to prevent since they did not desire to go to extremities till there was no more to be hoped for at his hands To this the Pope made answer the 27 of September He took notice of the vehemency of their Letter which he forgave them imputing it to their great affection to their King they had charged him with ingratitude and injustice two grievous Imputations He acknowledged all they wrote of the obligations he owed to their King which were far greater than they called them both on the Apostolick See and himself in particular But in the Kings cause he had been so far from denying justice that he was oft charged as having been too partial to him He had granted a Commission to two Legates to hear it rather out of favour than in Rigor of Law upon which the Queen had appealed he had delayed the admitting of it as long as was possible but when he saw it could not be any longer denyed to be heard it was brought before the Consistory where all the Cardinals with one consent found that the Appeal and an Avocation of the cause must be granted That since that time the King had never desired to put it to a Tryal but on the contrary by his Ambassadors at Bononia moved for a delay and in that posture it was still nor could he give sentence in a thing of such Consequence when it was not so much as sought for For the conclusions of Universities and Learned men he had seen none of them from any of the Kings Ambassadors It was true some of them had been brought to him another way but in them there were no reasons given but only bare Conclusions and he had also seen very important things for the other side and therefore he must not precipitate a Sentence in a cause of such high Importance till all things were fully heard and considered He wished their King might have Male Issue but he was not in Gods stead to give it And for their Threatnings of seeking other Remedies they were neither agreeable to their wisdom nor to their Religion Therefore he admonished them to abstain from such Counsels but minded them that it is not the Physicians fault if the Patient will do himself hurt He knew the King would never like such courses and though he had a just value for their Intercession yet he considered the King much more to whom as he had never denyed any thing that he could grant with his honor so he was very desirous to examine this matter and to put it to a speedy issue and would do every thing that he could without offending God But the King either seeing the Pope resolved to grant nothing or apprehending that some Bull might be brought into England in behalf of the Queen or the disgraced Cardinal did on the Nineteenth of September put forth a Proclamation against any who purchased any thing from Rome or elsewhere contrary to his Royal Prerogative and Authority or should publish or divulge any such thing requiring them not to do it under the pains of incurring his indignation Imprisonment and other punishments on their persons This was founded on the Statutes of Provisors and Premunires But that being done he resolved next to publish to the world and to his Subjects the justice of his cause Therefore some Learned men were appâ—inted to compare all that had been written on it and out of all the Transcripâ—s of the Manuscripts of Fathers and Councils to gather together whatsoever did strengthen it Several of these Manuscripts I have seen one is in Mr. Smiths Library where are the Quotations of the Fathers Councils Schoolmen and Canonists written out at length There are Three other such MSS. in the Cotton Library of which one contains a large vindication of these Authorities from some Exceptions made to them another is an answer to the Bishop of Rochesters Book for the Queens cause A Third digests the Matter into Twelve Articles which the Reader will find in my Appendix and these are there enlarged on and proved But all these and many more were sum'd up in a short Book and Printed first in Latine then in English with the Determinations of the Universities before it These are of such weight and Importance and give so great a light to
try the outmost severity that the Law allowed and would not offer them such a favour again Yet all this did not prevail for the Act was rejected and their complaint against the Clergy was also laid aside and the Parliament was Prorogued till April next In this Parliament the Foundation of the Breach that afterwards followed with Rome was laid by an Act for restraining the payment of Annates to that Court which since it is not Printed with the other Statutes shall be found in the end of this Volume The substance of it is as follows That great Sums of Money had been conveyed out of the Kingdom under the Title of Annates or first Fruits to the Court of Rome which they extorted by restraint of Bulls and other writs that it happened often by the frequent deaths of Arch-Bishops and Bishops to turn to the utter undoing of their Friends who had advanced those Sums for them These Annates were founded on no Law for they had no other way of obliging the Incumbents of Sees to pay them but by restraining their Bulls The Parliament therefore considering that these were first begun to be payed to defend Christendome against Infidels but were now turned to a duty claimed by that Court against all Right and Conscience and that vast Sums were carryed away upon that account which from the Second year of King Henry the 7th to that present time amounted to 800000 Ducats besides many other heavy Exactions of that Court did declare that the King was bound by his Duty to Almighty God as a good Christian Prince to hinder these oppressions And that the rather because many of the Prelates were then very Aged and like to die in a short time whereby vast Sums of Money should be carryed out of England to the great Impoverishing of the Kingdom And therefore all payments of first Fruits to the Court of Rome were put down and for ever restrained under the pains of the forfeiture of the Lands Goods and Chattels of him that should pay them any more together with the Profits of his See during the time that he was vested with it And in case Bulls were restrained in the Court of Rome any person presented to a Bishoprick should be notwithstanding Consecrated by the Arch-Bishop of the Province or if he were presented to an Arch-Bishoprick by any two Bishops in the Kingdom whom the King should appoint for that end and that being so Consecrated they should be Invested and enjoy all the Rights of their Sees in full and ample manner yet that the Pope and Court of Rome might have no just cause of Complaint the persons presented to Bishopricks are allowed to pay them 5 lib. for the Hundred of the clear Profits and Revenues of their several Sees But the Parliament not willing to go to extremities Remitted the final ordering of that Act to the King that if the Pope would either charitably and reasonably put down the payment of Annates or so moderate them that they might be a tolerable burden the King might at any time before Easter 1533. or before the next Session of Parliament declare by his Letters Patents whether the premises or any part of them should be observed or not which should give them the full force and Authority of a Law And that if upon this Act the Pope should vex the King or any of his Subjects by E xommunications or other Censures these notwithstanding the King should cause the Sacraments and other Rites of the Church to be administred and that none of these Censures might be published or Executed This Bill began in the House of Lords from them it was sent to the Commons and being agreed to by them received the Royal Assent but had not that final Confirmation mentioned in the Act before the 9th of Iuly 1533. and then by Letters Patents in which the Act is at length recited it was confirmed But now I come to open the final Conclusion of the Kings Suit at Rome On the 25th of Ianuary the Pope wrote to the King that he heard reports which he very unwillingly believed that he had put away his Queen and kept one Anne about him as his Wife which as it gave much Scandal so it was an high Contempt of the Apostolick See to do such a thing while his Suit was still depending notwithstanding a Prohibition to the contrary Therefore the Pope remembring his former merits which were now like to be clouded with his present Carriage did exhort him to take home his Queen and to put Anne away and not to continue to provoke the Emperor and his Brother by so high an Indignity nor to break the General peace of Christendome which was its only security against the Power of the Turk What answer the King made to this I do not find but instead of that I shall set down the Substance of a Dispatch which the King sent to Rome about this time drawn from a Copy of it to which the date is not added But it being an answer to a Letter he received from the Pope the 7th of October it seems to have been written about this time and it concluding with a Credence to an Ambassador I judge it was sent by Doctor Bennet who was dispatched to Rome in Ianuary 1532. to shew the Pope the Opinions of Learned men and of the Universities with their Reasons The Letter will be found in the end of this Volume the Contents of it are to this purpose The Pope had writ to the King in order to the clearing all his scruples and to give him quiet in his Conscience of which the King takes notice and is sorry that both the Pope and himself were so deceived in that matter the Pope by trusting to the judgments of others and writing whatever they suggested and the King by depending so much on the Pope and in vain expecting remedy from him so long He imputes the mistakes that were in the Popes Letters which he says had things in them contrary both to Gods Law and Mans Law to the Ignorance and rashness of his Councellors for which himself was much to be blamed since he rested on their advice and that he had not carryed himself as became Christs Vicar but had dealt both unconstantly and deceitfully for when the Kings cause was first opened to him and all things that Related to it were explained he had Granted a Commission with a promise not to recall it but to confirm the Sentence which the Legates should give and a Decretal was sent over defining the cause If these were justly granted it was unjustice to revoke them but if they were justly revoked it was unjust to grant them So he presses the Pope that either he could grant these things or he could not If he could do it where was the Faith which became a Friend much more a Pope since he had broke these promises But if he said he could not do them had he
Preheminence of the See of Rome flowed only from the Laws of men so there was now good cause to repeal these for the Pope as was said in the Council of Basil was only Vicar of the Church and not of Christ so he was accountable to the Church The Council of Constance and the Divines of Paris had according to the Doctrine of the Ancient Church declared the Pope to be subject to a General Council which many Popes in former Ages had confessed And all that the Pope can claim even by the Canon-Law is only to call and preside in a General Council but not to overrule it or have a Negative vote in it The Power of Councils did not extend to Princes Dominions or Secular Matters but only to points of Faith which they were to declare and to Condemn Hereticks nor were their Decrees Laws till they were Enacted by Princes Upon this he enlarged much to show that though a Council did proceed against a King with which they then Threatned the King that their Sentence was of no force as being without their Sphere The determination of Councils ought to be well considered and examined by the Scriptures and in matters indifferent men ought to be left to their freedom he taxed the severity of Victors Proceedings against the Churches of the East about the day of Easter And concluded that as a Member of the Body is not cut off except a Gangrene comes in it so no part of the Church ought to be cut off but upon a great and inevitable cause And he very largely showed with what moderation and charity the Church should proceed even against those that held errors And the Standard of the Councils definitions should only be taken from the Scriptures and not from mens Traditions He said some General Councils had been rejected by others and it was a tender point how much ought to be deferred to a Council some Decrees of Councils were not at all obeyed The Divines of Paris held that a Council could not make a new Article of Faith that was not in the Scriptures And as all Gods Promises to the people of Israel had this condition implyed within them If they kept his Commandments so he thought the Promises to the Christian Church had this condition in them If they kept the Faith Therefore he had much doubting in himself as to General Councils and he thought that only the word of God was the Rule of Faith which ought to take place in all Controversies of Religion The Scriptures were called Canonical as being the only Rules of the Faith of Christians and these by appointment of the Ancient Councils were only to be read in the Churches The Fathers SS Ambrose Ierome and Austin did in many things differ from one another but always appealed to the Scriptures as the common and certain standard And he cited some remarkable passage out of St. Austin to show what difference he put between the Scriptures and all the other Writings even of the best and holiest Fathers But when all the Fathers agreed in the Exposition of any place of Scripture he acknowledged he looked on that as flowing from the Spirit of God and it was a most dangerous thing to be wise in our own Conceit Therefore he thought Councils ought to found their decisions on the word of God and those expositions of it that had been agreed on by the Doctors of the Church Then he discoursed very largely what a person a Judge ought to be he must not be Partial nor a Judge in his own Cause nor so much as sit on the Bench when it is tryed lest his presence should over-awe others Things also done upon a common error cannot bind when the error upon which they were done comes to be discovered and all human Laws ought to be changed when a publick visible inconvenience follows them From which he concluded that the Pope being a Party and having already passed his Sentence in things which ought to be examined by a General Council could not be a Judge nor sit in it Princes also who upon a common mistake thinking the Pope Head of the Church had sworn to him finding that this was done upon a false ground may pull their Neck out of his Yoke as every man may make his escape out of the hands of a Robber And the Court of Rome was so corrupt that a Pope though he mean't well as Hadrian did yet could never bring any good design to an issue the Cardinals and the rest of that Court being so engaged to maintain their Corruptions These were the Heads of that Discourse which it seems he gave them in writing after he had delivered it but he promised to entertain them with another Discourse of the Power the Bishops of the Christian Church have in their Sees and of the Power of a Christian Prince to make them do their duty but that I could never see and I am afraid it is lost All this I thought necessary to open to show the State of the Court and the Principles that the several Parties in it went upon when the Reformation was first brought under Consideration in the third Period of this Kings Reign to which I am now advanced The end of the Second Book EFFIGIES VERA REVERENDISSIMI D. THOMAE CRANMERI ARCHIEPISCOPI CANTUARIâ—NSIS HHolbein pinxit Natus 1489 Iuly 2. Consecratus 1533 Mar. 30. Martyrio Coronatus 1556 Mar. 21. 〈…〉 THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE Church of England BOOK III. Of the other Transactions about Religion and Reformation during the rest of the Reign of King Henry the 8th THe King having passed through the Traverses and tossings of his Sute of Divorce and having with the concurrence both of his Clergy and Parliament brought about what he had projected seem'd now at ease in his own Dominions But though matters were carryed in Publick Assemblies smoothly and successfully yet there were many secret discontents which being fomented both by the Pope and the Emperors Agents wrought him great trouble so that the rest of his life was full of vexation and disquiet All that were zealously addicted to that which they called the Old Religion did conclude that what-ever firmness the King expressed to it now was either pretended out of Policy for avoiding the Inconveniences which the fears of a Change might produce or though he really intended to perform what he professed yet the Interests in which he must embarque with the Princess of Germany against the Pope and the Emperor together with the Power that the Queen had over him and the credit Cranmer and Cromâ—ell had with him would prevail on him to change some things in Religion And they look'd on these things as so complicated together that the change of any one must needs make way for change in more since that struck at the Authority of the Church and left people at liberty to dispute the Articles of Faith This they thought was a Gate opened to Heresie
take with the contrary for ye shall say sure they may be and so I for my discharge declare both to the Pope's Holiness and to them If this Noble and Vertuous Prince in this so great and so reasonable a Cause be thus extreamly denied of the grace and lawful favour of the Church the Pope's Holiness shall not fail for the same to lose Him and his Realm the French King and his Realm with many other their Confederates besides those that having particular Quarrels to the Pope and so aforesaid will not fail with diverse other as they daily seek occasions and provoke the King's Highness thereunto which will do the semblable being a thing of another sort to be regarded than the respect to the Emperor for two Cities which nevertheless shall be had well enough and the Emperor neither so evil contented nor so much to be doubted herein as is there supposed This with other words mentioned in your Instructions concerning like matter ye shall declare unto his Holiness and to the said Cardinals and other being your Friends if it come to that point whereby it is not to be doubted but they perceiving the dangers aforesaid shall be glad to exhort and induce his Holiness for the well of himself and the Church to condescend to the King's desire which is as much as can be here thought or devised to be by you done in all Events and Chances And therefore I pray you eft-soons and most instantly require you as afore to handle this Matter with all effect possible Coming to this new Commission when you shall have once attained such thing as shall be sufficient for the King's purpose as is aforesaid and that ye have it in your hands and custody and not afore lest thereby ye might hinder the expedition thereof ye shall by all ways and means possible labour and insist That the King's Highness as need shall be may use and enjoy the benefit of the Decretal being already in my Lord Cardinal Campegius's hands whereunto his Highness and I desire you to put all your effectual labour for the attaining of the Pope's consent thereunto accordingly Ye shall furthermore understand That it is thought here in case as God forbid the Pope should die before ye should have impetrate any thing that may serve to the absolution of the King's Matter That the Colledg of Cardinals have Authority Power and Jurisdiction sede vacante to inhibit avoke ex consequenti to pass and decide the King's Matter seeing that the same is of so high moment and importance concerning the surety of a Prince and his Realm as more amply ye shall perceive in the Chapters ubi Periculum de Electione ne Romani de Iurejurando capite primo de Scismaticis Wherefore the King's pleasure is That ye Mr. Stevins shall diligently weigh and ponder the effect of the said Chapters not only with your self but also with such the King 's Learned Counsel as ye and your Collegues have conducted there and what Jurisdiction sede vacante the Colledg of Cardinals have either by the Common Law usage or prescription which may far better be known there than here And if ye find that the Cardinals have in this the King's Cause and such other like Authority and Jurisdictions to inhibite avoke and decern then in casu mortis Pontificis quod Deus avertat ye shall specially foresee and regard that for none Intercession or pursute made by the Emperor and his Adherents they shall either inhibit or avoke And also if before such Death ye shall not have obtained such thing to the Kings desire and purpose as these present Letters before do purport his Grace's pleasure is That ye shall pursue the effectual expedition of the same at the hands of the said Colledg Sede vacante ne res quae nullam dilationem exposcit tantopere usque ad Electionem novi Pontificis quoquam modo differatur using for this purpose all such Reasons Allegations and Persuasions mentioned in those Letters and your former Instructions as ye shall see and perceive to serve to that effect and so to endeavour and acquit your self that such things may be attained there as may absolve this the King's Matter without any further tract or delay whereby ye shall as afore highly deserve the King's and my special thanks which shall be so acquitted as ye shall have cause to think your pains and diligences therein in the best wise imployed trusting in God that howsoever the World shall come ye shall by one means or other bring the King's Matter which so highly toucheth his Honour and quiet of Mind unto the desired end and perfection Finally Ye shall understand that the French King among other things doth commit at this time to the Bishop of Bayon and Mr. Iohn Ioachim to treat and conclude the Confederation heretofore spoken of between his Holiness and the King's Highness the French King the Venetians and other Potentates of Italy for a continual Army to be entertained to invade Spain in case it stand by the Emperor that the Peace shall not take effect Wherefore the King's pleasure is That ye having conference with them at good length in that Matter do also for your parts sollicite procure and set forth the same entring also on the King's behalf unto the Treaty and conclusion thereof after such manner as your former Instructions and Writings do purport So as like as the French King is determined that his Agents shall join and concur with you in the King's Pursuits and Causes So ye must also concur with them in advancement of their Affairs the successes whereof and of all other your doings there it shall be expedient ye more often notify hitherto than ye do for many times in one whole month no knowledg is had from you which is not meet in those so weighty Matters specially considering that sometime by such as pass to Lyons ye might find the means to send your Letters which should be greatly to the King 's and my consolation in hearing thereby from time to time how the things succeed there I pray you therefore to use more diligence therein as the Kings and my special trust is in you And heartily fare you well From my Palace besides Westminster the sixth day of April The French King hath sent hither an Ambassiate Monsieur de Langes Brother to the said Bishop of Bayon with certain clauses in his Instructions concerning the said Treaty of Confederation the Copy whereof ye shall receive herewith for your better carrying on that Matter Praying God to speed you well and to give you grace to make a good and short end in your Matters And eft-soons fare ye well Your Loving Friend T. Cardin. Eborac XXIII Another Dispatch to the Ambassadours to the same purpose A Duplicate RIght well beloved Friends I commend me unto you in my hearty manner letting you wit that by the hands of Thadeus bearer hereof the King's Highness hath received your several Letters to the
to you the King 's said Ambassador shall have a good colour to induce the Pope's Holiness saying as of your self That you have well considered your own pursuits for producing the Brief at Rome and because the Emperor might per-case think that the Pope were about to arect unto him the falsity of the said Brief therefore you can be contented that that matter be put off and no mention to be made thereof by his Nuntio or otherwise whereunto it is not to be doubted but the Pope's Holiness will have special regard and facilly condescend to your desires in that behalf Finally It appeareth also by certain your Letters sent as well to the King's Highness as to me that the Pope's Holiness is much desirous to study and find a mean and way to satisfy the King's Highness in this behalf Amongst which one clause in his Letters to me is this Tametsi enim jurisperitorum consilium quaesiverimus sed nihil reperimus quod bonis orâ—toribus simul justitiae ac honori nostro satisfaceret sed tamen agimus omnia tentamus omnes modos Regiae suae Serenitati ac circumspectioni tuae satisfaciendi And it is added in the Margin with Wolsey's hand Mi Petre referas tuis literis pervelim quid tibi mihi Pontifex dixerit de modis excogitandis quomodo subridens dicebat In nomine Patris c. Wherefore since his Holiness so plainly declared that he seeketh the ways and means to satisfie the King's Highness it shall be in any wise expedient that you the said Orators perceiving any towardness of Advocation lay this to the Pope's Holiness saying That that is not the way to satisfy his Grace and yet besides that by your Wisdoms to find the means to understand and know of his Holiness what be the ways and means which his Holiness hath studied or can study to satisfie the King according to his writing in this behalf whereof they shall say his Grace is glad and is very desirous to know and understand the same and as you shall perceive any towardness or untowardness in the Pope in that behalf so to set forth your pursuits to the best purpose accordingly And thus heartily fare you well From Richmond the 21 day of May. Your loving Friend T. Cardinalis Eborac May 31. Romae 1529. XXVI A Letter of the Popes to the Cardinal An Original Dilecto Filio nostro Thomae tituli Sanctae Ceciliae Presbytero Cardinali Eboracensi nostro sedis Apostolicae Legato de latere Clemens manu propria DIlecte Fili noster salutem Apostolicam benedictionem Cum Angliae Rex ac Circumspectio vestra vetera vestra erga nos Sedem Apostolicam merita novis officiis augeretis optabamus occasionem in qua vos nostrum amorem cognoscere possetis sed molestissime tulimus eam primum esse oblatam in qua circumsepti angustis terminis Justitiae non possemus progredi quantum vellemus studio vobis gratificandi multis ac rationabilibus Causis desiderium vestrum impedientibus quod quidem Regiis Oratoribus istuc redeuntibus demonstrare conati sumus Sed super his publicis negotiis copiosius vobiscum loquetur Dilectus Filius noster Cardinalis Campegius Datum Romae die ultima Maii 1529. J. April 6. 1529. XXVII The King's Letter to his Ambassadours to hinder an Avocation of the Suit An Original By the King Henry Rex TRusty and right well-beloved we greet you well Since your departure from hence we have received sundry your Letters to us directed whereof the last beareth date at Rome the 4 th day of the last month and have also seen such other as from time to time ye have sent to the most Reverend Father in God our most entirely well-beloved Counsellor the Lord Legate Cardinal Archbishop of York Primate of England and our Chancellour By continue whereof we have been advertised of the Successes as well of your Journey thitherwards as of such things as ye to that time had done in our Causes to you committed for the which your diligent advertisement and good acquittal we give unto you condign thanks ascertaining you We do not a little marvel that in your said last Letters you shew so much desperation of any great favour to be had at the Pope's hand in our said Causes considering that neither ye then had spoken with his Holiness in the same nor by such Conferences as ye had had with Mr. Iacobo Salviati or other on his behalf we can perceive but all good favour and towardness tho per-case the superiority of the Imperials and the common fame led you to think the contrary Howbeit as you know no credence is to be given unto such common report nor we trust the same shall prove more true than hath done the Opinion that was of the Lord Legate Campegius now here Resident whom we find and certainly know to be of a far other sort in his love and inclination towards us than was spoken not having such affection towards the Emperor as in him was suspected And to be plain with you if ever he had been of other mind we have said somewhat to him after such manner as might soon change that intention So that little Faith is to be given to the outward Sayings and Opinions of such People as measure every thing at their pleasure which we doubt not but ye right wisely do consider and that ye have before this time by your diligent sollicitation made to speak with the Pope's Holiness for declaration of your Charge proved the contrary Whereof we shall be glad and joyous to hear willing and desiring you therefore according to the great and special confidence that we have in you to pretermit no time in the diligent handling and execution of your said Charge but by one good way or other to find the mean if you have not already done it to declare the same unto the Pope wherein the good advice and address of the Bishop of Verone shall We trust do you great furtherance and by whose means if ye for the Pope's extreme debility or sickness might in no wise be often admitted unto his presence ye may signify unto him at great length our whole Mind Desire and Intent after such form as your Instructions and Letters given and sent unto you in that behalf do purport For sure ye may be it shall highly confer unto the benefit of our Causes that ye have there present one so fast and assured Friend unto us as we trust the Bishop of Verone is who shall be able right largely to countervail and meet with the malicious practices of the Archbishop of Capua who is thought to be one of the chief Authors and Contrivers of the Falsities Crafts and Abuses set forth to the hindrance of our said Causes which no Man shall more politickly and facilly deprehend than the said Bishop of Verone may do And therefore he is by you with all good means and
be Senator Capitane Patrician Governour or Officer of Rome none shall be elected or pointed without the express license and special consent of the See of Rome De Electione Electi proprietate Venerabilem It appertaineth to the Bishop of Rome to judg which Oaths ought to be kept and which not De jurejurand Si vero 15. q. 6. Authoritatem And he may absolve Subjects from their Oath of Fidelity and absolve from other Oaths that ought to be kept De foro competent Ex tenore De donat inter virum Vxorem dependentia Qui Filii sunt legittime per venerabilem De Elect. Electi proprietate Fundamenta Extravag de Majorit Obedient unam Sanctam De judiciis Novit The Bishop of Rome is judg in temporal things and hath two Swords Spiritual and Temporal De Haereticis multorum The Bishop of Rome may give Authority to arrest Men and imprison them in Mannacles and Fetters Extrav de Consuetudine super gentes The Bishop of Rome may compel Princes to receive his Legats De Truga pace Trugas It belongeth also to him to appoint and command Peace and Truce to be observed and kept or not De Praebend dig dilectus li. 6. licet The Collation of all Spiritual Promotions appertain to the Bishop of Rome De Excessibus praelatorum Siâ—ut unire The Bishop of Rome may unite Bishopricks together and put one under another at his pleasure Li. 6. de paenis Felicum In the Chapter Felicis li. 6. de poenis is the most partial and unreasonable Decree made by Bonifacius 8. that ever was read or heard against them that be Adversaries to any Cardinal of Rome or to any Clerk or Religious Man of the Bishop of Rome's Family Dist. 28. Consulendum Dist. 96. Si. Imperator 11. q. 1. Ex Clericus Nemo nullus Clericum c. q. 2. Si vero de sentent Excommunication Si judex q. 2. q. 5. Si quis foro competent Nullus Si quibus Ex transmissa de foro compet in 6 Seculares Lay-men may not be Judges to any of the Clergy nor compel them to pay their undoubted Debts but the Bishops only must be their Judges De foro Competent Cum sit licet Rectors of Churches may convent such as do them wrong whither they will before a Spiritual Judg or a Temporal Idem ex parte Dilecti A Lay-man being spoiled may convent his Adversaries before a Spiritual Judg whether the Lords of the Feod consent thereto or not Ibidem Significasti 11. q. 1. placuit A Lay-man may commit his Cause to a Spiritual Judg but one of the Clergy may not commit his Cause to a Temporal Judg without the consent of the Bishop Ne Clerici vel Monachi Secundum Lay-men may have no Benefices to farm De Summa Excommunicationis Nom. extra de pecuniis Remiss c. si All they that make or write any Statutes contrary to the Liberties of the Church and all Princes Rulers and Counsellors where such Statutes be made or such Customs observed and all the Judges and others that put the same in execution and where such Statutes and Customs have been made and observed of old time all they that put them not out of their Books be excommunicate and that so grievously that they cannot be assoiled but only by the Bishop of Rome De Immunitate Ecclesiae Non minus ad usus Quia Quum in 6. Clericis The Clergy to the relief of any common necessity can nothing confer without the consent of the Bishop of Rome nor it is not lawful for any Lay-man to lay any Imposition of Taxes Subsidies or any charges upon the Clergy Dist. 97. Hoc capitulo 63. Nullus quae sequitur Non aliae Cum Laic Lay-men may not meddle with Elections of the Clergy nor with any other thing that belongeth unto them De jurejurando Nimis The Clergy ought to give no Oath of Fidelity to their Temporal Governors except they have Temporalities of them Dist. 96. Bene Quidem 12. q. 2. Apostolicos Quisquis The Goods of the Church may in no wise be alienated but whosoever receiveth or buyeth them is bound to restitution and if the Church have any Ground which is little or nothing worth yet it shall not be given to the Prince and if the Prince will needs buy it the Sale shall be void and of no strength 13. q. 2. Non liceat It is not lawful for the Bishop of Rome to alienate or mortgage any Lands of the Church for every manner of necessity except it be Houses in Cities which be very chargeable to support and maintain Dist. 96. Quis nunquam 3. q. 6. Accusatio 11. q. 1. Continua nullus Testimonium Relatum Experientiae Si quisquis Si quae Sicut Statuimus nullus de persona Si quis Princes ought to obey Bishops and the Decrees of the Church and to submit their Heads unto the Bishops and not to be judg over the Bishops for the Bishops ought to be forborn and to be judged of no Lay-man De Major obedien solite Kings and Princes ought not to set Bishops beneath them but reverently to rise against them and to assign them an honourable Seat by them 11. q. 1. Quicunque Relatum Si qui omnes volumus Placuit All manner of Causes whatsoever they be Spiritual or Temporal ought to be determined and judged by the Clergy Ibidem Omnes No judg ought to refuse the Witness of one Bishop altho he be but alone De Haereticis ad abolendam in Clementini ut officium Whosoever teacheth or thinketh of the Sacraments otherwise than the See of Rome doth teach and observe and all they that the same See doth judg Hereticks be Excommunicate And the Bishop of Rome may compel by an Oath all Rulers and other People to observe and cause to be observed whatsoever the See of Rome shall ordain concerning Heresy and the Fautors thereof and who will not obey he may deprive them of their Dignities Clement de reliq venerat Sanctorum Si Dominus extravag de reliq venerat Sanctorum Cum per excelsa de poenitent remiss antiquorum Clemen unigenitus Quemadmodum We obtain Remission of Sin by observing of certain Feasts and certain Pilgrimages in the Jubilee and other prescribed times by virtue of the Bishop of Rome's Pardons De praemiis remissionibus extravag ca. 3. Et si Dominici Whosoever offendeth the Liberties of the Church or doth violate any Interdiction that cometh from Rome or conspireth against the Person or Statute of the Bishop or See of Rome or by any ways offendeth disobeyeth or rebelleth against the said Bishop or See or that killeth a Priest or offendeth personally against a Bishop or other Prelate or invadeth spoileth withholdeth or wasteth Lands belonging to the Church of Rome or to any other Church immediatly subject to the same or whosoever invadeth any Pilgrims that go to
engaged her self another way but how far this went on her side or whether it was afterwards made use of when she was divorced from the King shall be considered in its proper place It also appears that there was a Design about her then formed between the King and the Cardinal yet how far that went whether to make her Queen or only to Corrupt her is not evident It is said that upon this she ever after hated the Cardinal and that he never designed the Divorce after he saw on whom the King had fixed his thoughts but all that is a mistake as will afterwards appear And now having made way through these things that were previous to the first motion of the Divorce my narration leads me next to the Motion it self The King resolving to put the matter home to the Pope sent Doctor Knight Secretary of State to Rome with some Instructions to prepare the Pope for it and to observe what might be the best Method and who the fittest tools to work by At that time the Family of the Cassali being three Brothers were entertained by the King as his Agents in Italy both in Rome Venice and other places Sir Gregory Cassali was then his ordinary Ambassador at Rome To him was the first full dispatch about this business directed by the Cardinal the Original whereof is yet extant dated the 5th of Decemb. 1527. which the Reader will find in the Collection but here I shall give the Heads of it After great and high Complements and Assurances of Rewards to engage him to follow the Business very vigorously and with great Diligence he writes that he had before opened the Kings case to him and that partly by his own study partly by the opinion of many Divines and other Learned men of all sorts he found that he could no longer with a good Conscience continue in that Marriage with the Queen having God and the Quiet and Salvation of his Soul chiefly before his eyes And that he had consulted both the most Learned Divines and Canonists as well in his own Dominions as elsewhere to know whether the Popes Dispensation could make it good and that many of them thought the Pope could not Dispence in this case of the first degree of Affinity which they esteemed forbidden by a Divine Moral and Natural Law and all the rest concluded that the Pope could not do it but upon very weighty reasons and they found not any such in the Bull. Then he lays out the reasons for Annulling the Bull which were touched before upon which they all concluded the Dispensation to be of no force that the King looked on the death of his Sons as a Curse from God and to avoid further Judgments he now desired help of the Apostolick See to consider his case to reflect on what he had merited by these Services he had done the Papacy and to find a way that he being divorced from his Queen may Marry another Wife of whom by the blessing of God he might hope for issue Male. Therefore the Ambassador was to use all means possible to be admitted to speak to the Pope in Private and then to deliver him these Letters of Credence in which there was a most earnest Clause added with the Kings own hand He was also to make a Condoleance of the Miserie 's the Pope and Cardinals were in both in the Kings name and the Cardinals and to assure the Pope they would use all the most effectual means that were possible for setting him at Liberty in which the Cardinal would Employ as much Industry as if there were no other way to come to the Kingdom of Heaven but by doing it Then he was to open the Kings business to the Pope the Scruples of his Conscience the great danger of cruel Wars upon so disputable a Succession the Entreaties of all the Nobility and the whole Kingdom with many other urgent reasons to obtain what was desired He was also to lay before the Pope the present condition of Christendome and of Italy that he might consider of what Importance it was to his own affairs and to the Apostolick See to engage the King so firmly to his Interests as this would certainly do And to move that the Pope without communicating the Matter to any person would freely grant it and Sign the Commission which was therewith sent engrossed in due form and ready to be Signed by which the Cardinal was Authorized with the Assistance of such as he should choose to proceed in the Matter according to some Instructions which were also sent fairly written out for the Pope to Sign A Dispensation was also sent in due form and if these were expeded he might assure the Pope that as the King had sent over a vast sum to the French King for paying his Army in Italy so he would spare no Travel nor Treasure but make War upon the Emperor in Flanders with his whole strength till he forced him to set the Pope at Liberty and restore the State of the Church to its former Power and Dignity And if the Pope were already at Liberty and had made an Agreement with the Emperor he was to represent to him how little cause he had to trust much to the Emperor who had so oft broke his faith and designed to do all he could towards the Depressing the Ecclesiastical State And the Pope was to be remembred that he had dispenced with the Emperors Oath for Marrying the Kings Daughter without communicating the Matter to the King And if he had done so much for one that had been his Enemy how much more might the King expect the like favour who had always payed him a most filial Duty Or if the Pope would not grant the Commission to the Cardinal to try the Matter as a Person that being the Kings chief Minister was not indifferent enough to judge in any of the Kings Concerns he was by all means to overcome that and assure the Pope that he would proceed in it as a Judge ought to do But if the Pope stood upon it and would by no means be perswaded to sign the Commission for the Cardinal then he was to propose Staphileus Dean of the Rota who was then in England and was to except against all other Forreigners if the Pope chanced to propose any other He was also to represent to the Pope that the King would look upon a delay as a Denial and if the Pope inclined to consult with any of the Cardinals about it he was to divert him from it all that was possible but if the Pope would needs do it then he was to Address himself to them and partly by informing them of the reasons of the Kings Cause partly by rewarding the good Offices they should do he was to engage them for the King And with this Dispatch Letters were sent to Cardinal Puccy Sanctorum Quatuor and the other Cardinals to be made use of as there should be
occasion for it And because Money was like to be the most powerful Argument especially to men impoverished by a Captivity 10000 Ducats were remitâ—ed to Venice to be distributed as the Kings Affairs required and hâ— was empowered to make farther promises as he saw cause for it which the King would faithfully make good and in particular they were to be wanting in nothing that might absolutely engage the Cardinal Datary to favour the Kings Business The same things had been committed to the Secretary's care and they were both to proceed by concert each of them doing all that was possible to promote the business But before this reached Rome Secretary Knight was come thither and finding it impossible to be admitted to the Popes presence he had by corrupting some of his Guards sent him the Sum of the Kings Demands Upon which the Pope sent him word that the Disâ—ensation should be sent fully expeded So gracious was a Pope in Captivity But at that time the General of the Observants in Spain being at Rome required a Promise of the Pope not to grant any thing that might prejudice the Queens Cause till it were first communicated to the Imperialists there But when the Pope made his Escape the Secretary and the Ambassador went to him to Orvieto about the end of December and first did in the Kings and Cardinals name congratulate his freedom Then the Secretary discoursed the Business The Pope owned that he had received the Message which he had sent to him at Rome but in respect of his Promise and that yet in a manner he was in Captivity he beged the King would have a little Patience and he should before long have not only that Dispensation but any thing else that lay in his Power But the Secretary not being satisfied with that excuse the Pope in the end said he should have it but with this condition That he would beseech the King not to proceed upon it till the Pope were fully at Liberty and the Germans and Spaniards were driven out of Italy And upon the Kings promising this the Dispensation was to be put in his hands So the Secretary who had a great mind once to have the Bull in his possession made no scruple to engage his promise for that The Pope also told them he was not expert in those things but he easily apprehended the danger that might arise from any Dispute about the Succession to the Crown and that therefore he would communicate the business to the Cardinal Sanctorum Quatuor upon which they resolved to prevent that Cardinals being with the Pope and went and delivered the Letters they had for him and promised him a good reward if he were favourable to their Requests in the Kings behalf Then they shewed him the Commissions that were sent from England but he upon the perusal of them said They could not pass without a perpetual dishonour on the Pope and the King too and excepted to several Clauses that were in them So they desired him to draw one that might both be sufficient for the Kings purpose and such as the Pope might with honour grant Which being done the Pope told them That though he apprehended great danger to himself if the Emperour should know what he had done yet he would rather expose himself to utter ruine than give the King or the Cardinal cause to think him Ingrate but with many sighs and tears he begged that the King would not precipitate things or expose him to be undone by beginning any Process upon the Bull. And so he delivered the Commission and Dispensation Signed to Knight But the means that the Pope proposed for his publishing and owning what he now granted was That Lauâ—rech with the French Army should march and coming where the Pope was should require him to grant the Commission So that the Pope should excuse himself to the Emperour that he had refused to grant it upon the desire of the English Ambassadour but that he could not deny the General of the French Army to do an act of publick justice And by this means he would save his honour and not seem guilty of breach of promise and then he would dispatch the Commission about the time of Lautrech's being near him and therefore he entreated the King to accept of what was then granted for the present The Commission and Dispensation was given to the Secretary and they promised to send the Bull after him of the same form that was desired from England and the Pope engaged to reform it as should be found needful And it seems by these Letters that a Dispensation and Commission had been Signed by the Pope when he was a Prisoner but they thought not fit to make any use of them lest they should be thought null as being granted when the Pope was in Captivity Thus the Pope expressed all the readiness that could be expected from him in the circumstances he was then in being over-aw'd by the Imperialists who were harassing the Country and taking Castles very near the place where he was Lautrech with the French Army lay still fast about Bononia and as the season of the year was not favourable so he did not express any inclinations to enter into action The Cardinal Sanctorum Quatuor got 4000 Crowns as the reward of his pains and in earnest of what he was to expect when the matter should be brought to a final conclusion In this whole matter the Pope carried himself as a wise and politick Prince that considered his Interest and provided against dangers with great fore-sight But as for Apostolical wisdom and the Simplicity of the Gospel that was not to be expected from him For now though the high-sounding names of Christs Vicar and St. Peters Successor were still retained to keep up the Popes Dignity and Authority yet they had for many Ages governed themselves as Secular Princes so that the Maximes of that Court were no more to keep a good Conscience and to proceed according to the Rules of the Gospel and the Practice of the Primitive Church committing the event to God and submitting to his Will in all things but the keeping a ballance the maintaining their Interest in the Courts of Princes the securing their Dominions and the raising their Families being that which they chiefly looked at It is not to be wondered at that the Pope governed himself by these measures though Religion was to be made use of to help him out of straits All this I set down the more particularly both because I take my information from Original Letters and that it may chiefly appear how matters went at that time in the Court of Rome Secretary Knight being Infirme could not travel with that haste that was required in this business and therefore he sent the Proto-Notary Gambara with the Commission and Dispensation to England and followed in easie journies The Cardinals that had been consulted with did all express great readiness in
granting the Kings desire The Cardinal Datary had forsaken the Court and betaken himself to serve God and his Cure and other Cardinals were Hostages so that now there were but Five about the Pope Monte Sanctorum Quatuor Ridolphi Ravennate and Perusino But a motion being made of sending over a Legate the Pope would by no means hearken to it for that would draw new troubles on him from the Emperor That had been desired from England by a dispatch of the 27th of December which pressed a speedy conclusion of the business upon which the Pope on the 12th of Ianuary did communicate the matter under the Seal of Confession to the Cardinals Sanctorum Quatuor and Simoneta who was then come to the Court and upon conference with them he proposed to Sir Gregory Cassali that he thought the safer way was That either by vertue of the Commission that the Secretary had obtained or by the Legantine Power that was lodged with the Cardinal of York he should proceed in the business And if the King found the matter clear in his own Conscience in which the Pope said No doctor in the whole world could resolve the matter beter than the King himself he should without more noise make judgment be given and presently Marry another Wife and then send for a Legate to Confirm the matter And it would be easier to ratifie all when it was once done than to go on in a Process from Rome For the Queen would protest that both the Place and the Judges were suspected and not free upon which in the course of Law the Pope must grant an Inhibition for the Kings not Marrying another while the Suit depended and must avocate the business to be heard in the Court of Rome which with other prejudices were unavoidable in a publick Process by Bulls from Rome But if the thing went on in England and the King had once Married another Wife the Pope then would find very good reasons to justifie the confâ—rming a thing that was gone so far and promised to send any Cardinal whom they should name This the Pope desired the Ambassadour would signifie to the King as the advice of the two Cardinals and take no notice of him in it But the dispatch shews he was a more faithful Minister than to do so The Ambassadour found all the earnestness in the Pope that was possible to comply with the King and that he was jealous both of the Emperour and Francis and depended wholly on the King so that he found if the terror of the Imperial Forces were over the Court of England would dispose of the Apostolical See as they pleased And indeed this advice how little soever it had of the Simplicity of the Gospel was certainly prudent and subtile and that which of all things the Spaniards apprehended most And therefore the General of the Observants moved Cardinal Campegius then at Rome for an Inhibition lest the Process should be carried on and determined in England But that being signified to the Pope he said It could not be granted since there was no Suit depending in which case only an Inhibition can be granted But now I must look over again to England to open the Counsels there At that time Staphileus Dean of the Rota was there and he either to make his Court the better or that he was so perswaded in opinion seemed fully satisfied about the Justice of the King's Cause So they sent him to Rome with Instructions both publick and secret The publick Instructions related to the Popes Affairs in which all possible Assistance was promised by the King But one Proposition in them flowed from the Cardinals Ambition That the Kings of England and France thought it would advance the Popes Interests if he should command the Cardinals that were under no restraint to meet in some secure place to consider of the Affairs of the Church that they might suffer no prejudice by the Popes Captivity And for that end and to conserve the Dignity of the Apostolick See that they should choose such a Vicar or President as partly by his Prudence and Courage partly by the assistance of the two Kings upon whom depended all their hopes might do such Services to the Apostolick See as were most necessary in that distracted time by which the Popes Liberty would be hastned It cannot be imagined but the Pope would be offended with this Proposition and apprehend that the Cardinal of York was not satisfied to be intriguing for the Popedom after his death but was aspiring to it while he was alive For as it was plain he was the Person that must be chosen for that trust so if the Pope were used hardly by the Emperour and forced to ill conditions the Vicar so chosen and his Cardinals would disown those Conditions which might end in a Schism or his Deposition But Staphileus his secret Instructions related wholly to the Kings business which were these That the King had opened to him the error of his Marriage and that the said Bishop out of his great Learning did now clearly perceive how invalid and insufficient it was Therefore the King recommended it to his care that he would convince the Pope and the Cardinals with the Arguments that had been laid before him and of which a Breviate was given him He was also to represent the great mischiefs that might follow if Princes got not justice and ease from the Apostolick See Therefore if the Pope were yet in Captivity he was to propose a meeting of the Cardinals for choosing the Cardinal of York to be their head during the Popes Imprisonment or that a full Commission might be sent to him for the Kings maâ—ter And in particular he was to take care that the Business might be tryed in England And for his pains in promoting the Kings Concerns the King promised to procure a Bishoprick for him in France and to help him to a Cardinals hat By him the King wrote to the Pope The rude draught of it remains under the Cardinals hand earnestly desiring a speedy and favourable dispatch of his business with a Credence to the Bearer The Cardinal also wrote to the Pope by him and after a long Congratulating his Liberty with many sharp reflections on the Emperor he pressed a Dispatch of the Kings Business in which he would not use many words this only I will add says he That that which is desired is holy and just and very much for the safety and quiet of this Kingdom which is most devoted to the Apostolical See He also wrote by the same hand to the Ambassador that the King would have things so carryed that all occasion of discontent or cavilling whether at home or abroad might be removed and therefore desired that another Cardinal might be sent Legate to England and joyned in Commission wiâ—h himself for judging the Matter He named either Campegius Tranus or Farnese Or if that could not be obtained that
a fuller Commission might be sent to himself with all possible haste since delays might produce great inconveniences If a Legate were named then care must be taken that he should be one who were Learned Indifferent and Tractable and if Campegius could be the man he was the fittest person And when one was named he should make him a decent present and assure him that the King would most liberally recompence all his labour and expence He also required him to press his speedy Dispatch and that the Commission should be full to try and determine wiâ—hout any reservation of the Sentence to be given by the Pope This Dispatch is interlined and amended with the Cardinals own hand But upon the Arrival of the Messenger whom the Secretary had sent with the Commission and Dispensation and the other Packets before mentioned It was debated in the Kings Council whether he should go on in his Process or continue to solicite new Bulls from Rome On the one hand they saw how tedious dangerous and expensive a Process at Rome was like to prove and therefore it seemed the easiest and most expedite way to proceed before the Cardinal in his Legantine Court who should ex officio and in the Summary way of their Court bring it to a speedy Conclusion But on the other hand if the Cardinal gave Sentence and the King should Marry then they were not sure but before that time the Pope might either change his mind or his Interest might turn him another way And the Popes Power was so absolute by the Canon Law that no general Clauses in Commissions to Legates could bind him to confirm their Sentences and if upon the Kings Marrying another Wife the Pope should refuse to confirm it then the King would be in a worse case than he was now in and his Marriage and Issue by it should be still disputable Therefore they thought this was by no means to be adventured on but they should make new Addresses to the Court of Rome In the debate some sharp words fell either from the King or some of his Secular Counsellors Intimating that if the Pope continued under such fears the King must find some other way to set him at ease So it was resolved that Stephen Gardiner commonly called Doctor Stevens the Cardinals chief Secretary and Edward Fox the Kings Almoner should be sent to Rome the one being esteemed the ablest Canonist in England the other one of the best Divines they were Dispatched the 10th of February By them the King wrote to the Pope thanking him that he had expressed such forward and earnest willingness to give him ease and had so kindly promised to gratifie his desires of which he expected now to see the effects He wrote also to the Cardinals his thanks for the chearfulness with which they had in Consistory promised to promote his Sute for which he assured them they should never have cause to Repent But the Cardinal wrote in a strain that shews he was in some fear that if he could not bring about the Kings desires he was like to lose his favour He besought the Pope as lying at his feet that if he thought him a Christian a good Cardinal and not unworthy of that Dignity an useful member of the Apostolick See a Promoter of Justice and Equity or thought him his faithful Creature or that he desired his own eternal Salvation that he would now so far consider his Intercession as to grant kindly and speedily that which the King earnestly desired which if he did not know to be Holy Right and Just he would undergo any hazard or punishment whatsoever rather than promote it but he did aprehend if the King found that the Pope was so overawed by the Emperor as not to grant that which all Christendom judged was grounded both on the Divine and Human Laws both he and other Christian Princes would from thence take occasion to provide themselves of other Remedies and lessen and despise the Authority of the Apostolick See In his Letters to Cassali he expressed a great sense of the Services which the Cardinal Sanctorum Quatuor had done the King and bid him enquire what were the things in which he delighted most whether Furniture Gold plate or Horses that they might make him acceptable presents and assure him that the King would contribute largely towards the carrying on the building of St. Peters in the Vatican The most Important thing about which they were employed was to procure the expediting of a Bull which was formed in England with all the strongest Clauses that could be imagined In the Preamble of which all the Reasons against the validity of the Bull of P. Iulius the 2d were recited and it was also hinted that it was against the Law of God but to lessen that it was added at least where there was not a sufficient Dispensation obtained therefore the Pope to reward the great Services by which the King had obliged the Apostolick See and having regard to the Distractions that might follow on a Disputable Title upon a full Consultation with the Cardinals having also heard the Opinions of Divines and Canonists Deputed for his Legate to concur with the Cardinal of York either together or the one being hindred or unwilling severally And if they found those things that were suggested against the Bull of P. Iulius or any of them well or sufficiently proved then to declare it void and null as surreptitiously procured upon false grounds and thereupon to Annul the Marriage that had followed upon it And to give both Parties full leave to Marry again notwithstanding any Appellation or Protestation the Pope making them his Vicars with full and absolute Power and Authority empowering them also to declare the Issue begotten in the former Marriage good and legitimate if they saw cause for it The Pope binding himself to confirm whatever they should do in that process and never to revoke or repeal what they should Pronounce Declaring also that this Bull should remain in force till the Process were ended and that by no Revocation or Inhibition it should be recalled and if any such were obtained these are all declared void and null and the Legats were to proceed notwithstanding and all ended with a full Non obstante This was judged the uttermost force that could be in a Bull Though the Civilians would scarce allow any validity at all in these extravagant Clauses but the most material thing in this Bull is that it seems the King was not fully resolved to declare his Daughter illegitimate Whether he pretended this to mitigate the Queens or the Emperors opposition or did really intend it is not clear But what he did afterwards in Parliament shews he had this deep in his thoughts though the Queens Carriage did soon after provoke him to pursue his resentments against her Daughter The French King did also joyn a most earnest Letter of his to the Pope
Carnalis Copula But in this perhaps is left out and 't is plainly said That they had Consummated their Marriage This the King's Council who suspected that the Breve was forged made great use of when the Question was argued whether Prince Arthur knew her or not Though at this time 't was said the Spaniards did put it in on design knowing it was like to be proved that the former Marriage was Consummated which they intended to throw out of the debate since by this it appeared that the Pope did certainly know that and yet granted the Breve and that therefore there was to be no more enquiry to be made into that which was already confessed so that all that was now to be debated was the Popes power of granting such a Dispensation in which they had good reason to expect a favourable Decision at Rome But there appeared great grounds to reject this Breve as a forged writing It was neither in the Records of England nor Spain but said to be found among the Papers of D. de Puebla that had been the Spanish Ambassador in England at the time of concluding the Match So that if he only had it it must have been cassated otherwise the Parties concerned would have got it into their hands Or else it was forged since Many of the names were written false which was a presumption that it was lately made by some Spaniards who knew not how to write the names true For Sigismund who was Secretary when it was pretended to have been Signed was an exact man and no such errors were found in Breves at that time But that which shewed it a manifest Forgery was that it bore date the 26th of December Anno 1503. on the same day that the Bull was granted It was not to be imagined that in the same day a Bull and a Breve should have been expedited in the same business with such material differences in them And the stile of the Court of Rome had this singularity in it That in all their Breves they reckon the beginning of the year from Christmas-day which being the Nativity of our Lord they count the year to begin then But in their Bulls they reckon the year to begin at the Feast of the Annunciation So that a Breve dated the 26th of December 1503. was in the vulgar account in the year 1502. therefore it must be false for neither was Iulius the 2d who granted it then Pope nor was the Treaty of the Marriage so far advanced at that time as to admit of a Breve so soon But allowing the Breve to be true they had many of the same Exceptions to it that they had to the Bull since it bore that the King desired the Marriage to avoid a Breach between the Crowns which was false It likewise bore that the Marriage had been Consummated between the Queen and Prince Arthur which the Queen denied was ever done so that the suggestion in her name being as she said false it could have no force though it were granted to be a true Breve And they said it was plain the Imperialists were convinced the Bull was of no force since they betook themselves to such arts to fortifie their Cause When Cardinal Campegio came to England he was received with the publick Solemnities ordinary in such a case and in his speech at his first Audience he called the King the Deliverer of the Pope and of the City of Rome with the highest complements that the occasion did require But when he was admitted to a private Conference with the King and the Cardinal he used many arguments to diswade the King from prosecuting the matter any further This the King took very ill as if his errand had been rather to confirm than annul his Marriage and complained that the Pope had broken his word to him But the Legate studied to qualifie him and shewed the Decretal Bull by which he might see that though the Pope wished rather that the business might come to a more friendly conclusion yet if the King could not be brought to that he was empowered to grant him all that he desired But he could not be brought to part with the DecretalBull out of his hands or to leave it for a minute either with the King or the Cardinal saying That it was demanded on these terms that no other person should see it and that Gardiner and the Ambassador had only moved to have it expedited and sent by the Legate to let the King see how well the Pope was affected to him With all this the King was much dissatisfied but to encourage him again the Legate told him he was to speak to the Queen in the Popes name to induce her to enter into a Religious life and to make the Vows But when he proposed that to her she answered him modestly that she could not dispose of her self but by the advice of her Nephews Of all this the Cardinal of York advertised the Cassalies and ordered them to use all possible endeavours that the Bull might be showen to some of the Kings Council Upon that Sir Gregory being then out of Rome the Proto-Notary went to the Pope and complained that Campegio had disswaded the Divorce The Pope justified him in it and said He did as he had ordered him He next complained that the Legate would not proceed to execute the Legantine Commission The Pope denied that he had any order from him to delay his proceedings but that by vertue of his Commission they might go on and pass Sentence Then the Proto-Notary pressed him for leave to shew the Bull to some of the Kings Council complaining of Campegio's stiffness in refusing it and that he would not trust it to the Cardinal of York who was his equal in the Commission To this the Pope answered in passion That he could shew the Cardinals Letter in which he assures him that the Bull should only be shewed to the King and himself and that if it were not granted he was ruined therefore to preserve him he had sent it but had ordered it to be burnt when it was once shewed He wished he had never sent it saying he would gladly lose a Finger to recover it again and expressed great grief for granting it and said They had got him to send it and now would have it showed to which he would never consent for then he was undone for ever Upon this the Proto-Notary laid before him the danger of losing the King and the Kingdom of England of ruining the Cardinal of York and of the undoing of their Family whose hopes depended on the Cardinal and that by these means Heresie would prevail in England which if it once had great footing there would not be so easily rooted out That all persons judged the Kings Cause right but though it were not so some things that were not good must be born with to avoid greater evils And at last he fell
down at his feet and in most passionate expressions begged him to be more compliant to the Kings desires and at least not to deny that small favour of showing the Decretal to some few Counsellors upon the assurance of absolute secrecy But the Pope interrupted him and with great signs of an unusual grief told him these sad effects could not be charged on him he had kept his word and done what he had promised but upon no consideration would he do any thing that might wound his Conscience or blemish his Integrity Therefore let them proceed as they would in England he should be free of all blame but should confirm their Sentence And he protested he had given Campegio no commands to make any delays but only to give him notice of their proceedings If the King who had maintained the Apostolick See had written for the Faith and was the Defender of it would over-turn it it would end in his own disgrace But at last the secret came out for the Pope confessed there was a League in Treaty between the Emperor and himself but denied that he had bound himself up by it as to the Kings business The Pope consulted with the Cardinals Sanctorum Quatuor and Simonetta not mentioning the Decretal to them which he had granted without communicating it to any body or entring it in any Register and they were of opinion that the Process should be carried on in England without demanding any thing further from Rome But the Imperial Cardinals spake against it and were moving presently for an Inhibition and an Avocation of the Cause to be tried at the Court of Rome The Pope also took notice that the Intercession of England and France had not prevailed with the Venetians to restore Cervia and Ravenna which they had taken from him and that he could not think that Republick durst do so if these Kings were in earnest It had been promised that they should be restored as soon as his Legate was sent to England but it was not yet done The Proto-Notary told him it should most certainly be done Thus ended that Conversation But the more earnest the Cardinal was to have the Bull seen by some of the Privy-Council the Pope was the more confirmed in his resolutions never to consent to it For he could not imagine the desire of seeing it was a bare curiosity or only to direct the Kings Counsellors since the King and the Cardinal could inform them of all the material Clauses that were in it Therefore he judged the desire of seeing it was only that they might have so many witnesses to prove that it was once granted whereby they had the Pope in their power and this he judged too dangerous for him to submit to But the Pope finding the King and the Cardinal so ill satisfied with him resolved to send Francisco Campana one of his Bed-chamber to England to remove all mistakes and to feed the King with fresh hopes In England Campegio found still means by new delays to put off the business and amused the King with new and subtle motions for ending the matter more dextrously Upon which in the beginning of December Sir Francis Brian and Peter Vannes the Kings Secretary for the Latine Tongue were sent to Rome They had it in Commission to search all the Records there for the Breve that was now so much talked of in Spain They were to propose several overtures Whether if the Queen vowed Religion the Pope would not dispence with the Kings second Marriage or if the Queen would not vow Religion unless the King also did it Whether in that case would the Pope dispence with his vow Or whether if the Queen would hear of no such proposition would not the Pope dispence with the Kings having two Wives For which there were diverss presidents vouched from the Old Testament They were to represent to the Pope that the King had laid out much of his best Treasure in his Service and therefore he expected the highest favours out of the deepest Treasure of the Church And Peter Vannes was commanded to tell the Pope as of himself that if he did for partial respects and fears refuse the Kings desires he perceived it would not only alienate the King from him but that many other Princes his Confederates with their Realms would withdraw their Devotion and Obedience from the Apostolick See By a dispatch that followed them the Cardinal tried a new project which was an offer of 2000 men for a Guard to the Pope to be maintained at the cost of the King and his Confederates And also proposed an enterview of the Pope the Emperor the French King and the Ambassadors of other Princes to be either at Nice Avignon or in Savoy and that himself would come thither from the King of England But the Pope resolved stedfastly to keep his ground and not to engage himself too much to any Prince therefore the motion of a Guard did not at all work upon him To have Guards about him upon another Princes pay was to be their Prisoner and he was so weary of his late Imprisonment that he would not put himself in hazard of it a second time Besides such a Guard would give the Emperor just cause of jealousie and yet not secure him against his power He had been also so unsuccesful in his contests with the Emperor that he had no mind to give him any new provocation And though the Kings of England and France gave him good words yet they did nothing nor did the King make War upon the Emperor so that his Armies lying in Italy he was still under his power Therefore the Pope resolved to unite himself firmly to the Emperor and all the use he made of the Kings earnestness in his Divorce was only to bring the Emperor to better terms The Lutherans in Germany were like to make great use of any decision he might make against any of his Predecessors Bulls The Cardinal Elector of Mentz had written to him to consider well what he did in the Kings Divorce for if it went on nothing had ever fallen out since the beginning of Luthers Sect that would so much strenghen it as that Sentence He was also threatned on the other side from Rome that the Emperor would have a General Council called and whatsoever he did in this Process should be examined there and he proceeded against accordingly Nor did they forget to put him in mind of his Birth that he was a Bastard and so by the Canon incapable of that Dignity and that thereupon they would depose him He having all these things in his prospect and being naturally of a fearful temper which was at this time more prevalent in him by reason of his late Captivity resolved not to run these hazards which seemed unavoidable if he proceeded further in the Kings business But his constant Maxime being to promise and swear deepest when he intended least he sent
lately there had been one granted by Pope Alexander the 6th to the King of Hungary against the Opinion of his Cardinals which had never been questioned and yet he could not pretend to such Merits as the King had And all that had ever been said in the Kings Cause was Sum'd up in a short Breviate by Cassali and offered to the Pope a Copy whereof taken from an Original under his own hand the Reader will find in the Collection The King ordered his Ambassadors to make as many Cardinals sure for his cause as they could who might bring the Pope to consent to it if he were still averse But the Pope was at this time possessed with a new jealousie of which the French King was not free as if the King had been tampering with the Emperor and had made him great offers so he would consent to the Divorce about which Francis wrote an anxious Letter to Rome the Original of which I have seen The Pope was also surprized at it and questioned the Ambassadors about it but they denyed it and said the union between England and France was inseparable and that these were only the Practices of the Emperors Agents to create distrust The Pope seemed satisfied with what they said and added that in the present conjuncture a firm union between them was necessary Of all this Sir Francis Brian wrote a long account in cipher But the Popes relapse put a new stop to business of which the Cardinal being informed as he ordered the Kings Agents to continue their care about his Promotion so he charged them to see if it were possible to get Access to the Pope and though he were in the very Agony of Death to propose two things to him the one that he would presently command all the Princes of Christendom to agree to a Cessation of Arms under pain of the Censures of the Church as Pope Leo and other Popes had done and if he should die he could not do a thing that would be more meritorious and for the good of his Soul than to make that the last Act of his Life The other thing was concerning the Kings business which he presseth as a thing necessary to be done for the clearing and eâ—se of the Popes Conscience towards God And withal he orders them to gain as many about the Pope and as many Cardinals and Officers in the Rota as they could to promote the Kings desires whether in the Popes sickness or health The Bishop of Verona had a great Interest with the Pope so by that and another Dispatch of the same Date sent another way they were ordered to gain him promising him great Rewards pressing him to remain still about the Popes person to ballance the ill Offices which Cardinal Angell and the Arch-Bishop of Capua did who never stirred from the Pope And to assure that Bishop that the King laid this Matter more to heart than any thing that ever befel him and that it would trouble him as much to be overcome in this Matter by these two Friers as to loose both his Crowns and for my part writes the Cardinal I would expose any thing to my life yea life it self rather than see the Inconveniencies that may ensue upon disappointing of the Kings desire For promoting the Business the French King sent the Bishop of Bayon to assist the English Ambassadors in his name who was first sent over to England to be well Instructed there They were either to procure a Decretal for the Kings Divorce or a new Commission to the two Legates with ampler Clauses in it than the former had to judge as if the Pope were in person and to emit compulsorie Letters against any whether Emperor King or of what degree soever to produce all manner of Evidences or Records which might tend towards the clearing the Matter and to bring them before them This was sought because the Emperor would not send over the pretended Original Breve to England and gave only an Attested Copy of it to the Kings Ambassadors least therefore from that Breve a new Suit might be afterwards raised for Annulling any Sentence which the Legates should give they thought it needful to have the Original brought before them In the penning of that new Commission Dr. Gardiner was ordered to have special care that it should be done by the best advice he could get in Rome It appears also from this Dispatch that the Popes Pollicitation to Confirm the Sentence which the Legates should give was then in Gardiner's hands for he was ordered to take care that there might be no disagreement between the date of it and of the new Commission And when that was obtained Sr. Francis Brian was commanded to bring them with him to England Or if neither a Decretal nor a new Commission could be obtained then if any other expedient were proposed that upon good advice should be found sufficient and effectual they were to accept of it and send it away with all possible diligence And the Cardinal conjured them by the Reverence of Almighty God to bring them out of their Perplexity that this Virtuous Prince may have this thing sped which would be the most joyous thing that could befal his heart upon Earth But if all things should be denyed then they were to make their Protestations not only to the Pope but to the Cardinals of the Injustice that was done the King and in the Cardinals name to let them know that not only the King and his Realm would be lost but also the French King and his Realm with their other Confederates would also withdraw their Obedience from the See of Rome which was more to be regarded than either the Emperors Displeasure or the Recovery of two Cities They were also to try what might be done in Law by the Cardinals in a Vacancy and they were to take good Counsel upon some Chapters of the Canon-Law which related to that and Govern themselves accordingly either to hinder an Avocation or Inhibition or if it could be done to obtain such thing as they could grant towards the Conclusion of the Kings Business At this time also the Cardinals Bulls for the Bishoprick of Winchester were expedited they were rated high at 15000 Ducats for though the Cardinal pleaded his great Merits to bring the composition lower yet the Cardinals at Rome said the Apostolick Chamber was very poor and other Bulls were then coming from France to which the favour they should show the Cardinal would be a Precedent But the Cardinal sent word that he would not give past 5 or 6000 Ducats because he was exchanging Winchester for Duresm and by the other they were to get a great Composition And if they held his Bulls so high he would not have them for he needed them not since he enjoyed already by the Kings Grant the Temporalities of Winchester which it is very likely was all that he considered in a Bishoprick They were
at last expedited at what Rates I cannot tell but this I set down to show how severe the Exactions of the Court of Rome were As the Pope recovered his health so he inclined more to joyn himself to the Emperor than ever and was more alienated than formerly from the King and the Cardinal which perhaps was increased by the distaste he took at the Cardinals aspiring to the Popedom The first thing that the Emperor did in the Kings Cause was to protest in the Queen of Englands name that she refused to submit to the Legates The one was the Kings chief Minister and her mortal enemy The other was also justly suspected since he had a Bishoprick in England The Kings Ambassador pressed the Pope much not to admit the Protestation but it was pretended that it could not be denyed either in Law or Justice But that this might not offend the King Salviati that was the Popes Favourite wrote to Campegio that the Protestation could not be hindred but that the Pope did still most earnestly desire to satisfie the King and that the Ambassadors were much mistaken who were so distrustful of the Popes good mind to the Kings Cause But now good words could deceive the King no longer who clearly discovered the Popes mind and being out of all hopes of any thing more from Rome resolved to proceed in England before the Legates and therefore Gardiner was recalled who was thought the fittest person to manage the Process in England being esteemed the greatest Canonist they had and was so valued by the King that he would not begin the Process till he came Sr. Francis Brian was also recalled and when they took leave of the Pope they were ordered to Expostulate in the Kings name Upon the Partiality he expressed for the Emperor notwithstanding the many assurances that both the Legates had given the King that the Pope would do all he could toward his Satisfaction which was now so ill performed that he expected no more justice from him They were also to say as much as they could devise in the Cardinals name to the same purpose upon which they were to try if it were possible to obtain any Enlargement of the Commission with fuller Power to the Legates for they saw it was in vain to move for any new Bulls or Orders from the Pope about it And though Gardiner had obtained a Pollicitation from the Pope by which he both bound himself not to recal the cause from the Legates and also to confirm their Sentence and had sent it over they found it was so conceived that the Pope could go back from it when he pleased So there was a new Draught of a Pollicitation formed with more binding Clauses in it which Gardiner was to try if he could obtain by the following Pretence He was to tell the Pope that the Courier to whom he trusted it had been so little careful of it that it was all wet and defaced and of no more use so that he durst not deliver it And this might turn much to Gardiners prejudice that a matter of such Concern was through his neglect spoiled upon which he was to see if the Pope would renew it If that could be obtained he was to use all his Industry to get as many pregnant and material words added as might make it more binding He was also to assure the Pope that though the Emperor was gone to Barcellona to give reputation to his affairs in Italy yet he had neither Army nor Fleet ready so that they needed not fear him And he was to inform the Pope of the Arts he was using both in the English and French Court to make a separated Treaty But that all was to no pâ—rpose the two Kings being so firmly linked together But the Pope was so great a Master in all the Arts of Dissimulation and Policy that he was not to be overreached easily and when he understood that his Polliâ—itation was defaced he was in his heart glad at it and could not be prevailed with to renew it So they returned to England and Dr. Bennet came in their place He carryed with him one of the fullest and most important Dispatches that I find in this whole matter from the two Legates to the Pope and the Consistory who wrote to them that they had in vain endeavoured to perswade either party to yield to the other That the Breve being shewed to them by the Queen they found great and evident Presumptions of it's being a meer forgery and that they thought it was too much for them to sit and try the Validity or Authenticalness of the Popes Bulls or Breves or to hear his Power of Dispencing in such cases disputed therefore it was more expedient to Avocate the cause to which the King would consent if the Pope obliged himself under his hand to pass Sentence speedily in his favour but they rather advised the Granting a Decretal Bull which would put an end to the whole matter in order to which the Bearer was Instructed to show very good Precedents But in the mean while they advised the Pope to press the Queen most effectually to enter into a Religious life as that which would compose all these differences in the softest and easiest way It pitied them to see the rack and torments of Conscience under which the King had smarted so many years and that the Disputes of Divines and the Decrees of Fathers had so disquieted him that for clearing a matter thus perplexed there was not only need of Learning but of a more singular Piety and Illumination To this were to be added the desire of Issue the Settlement of the Kingdom with many other pressing reasons that as the matter did admit of no further delays so there was not any thing in the opposite scale to ballance these Considerations There were false Suggestions surmised abroad as if the hatred of the Queen or the desire of another wife who was not perhaps yet known much less designed were the true causes of this Suit But though the Queen was of a rough Temper and an unpleasant Conversation and was passed all hopes of Children yet who could imagine that the King who had spent his most youthful days with her so kindly would now in the decline of his Age be at all this trouble to be rid of her if he had no other Motives But they by searching his sore found there was rooted in his heart both an awe of God and a respect to Law and Order so that though all his people pressed him to drive the Matter to an issue yet he would still wait for the decision of the Apostolick See Therefore they most pressingly desire the Pope to grant the Cure which his distemper required and to consider that it was not fit to insist too much on the Rigour of the Law but since the Soul and Life of all the Laws of the Church was in the Popes breast in doubtful cases
where there was great hazard he ought to mollifie the severity of the Laws which if it were not done other Remedies would be found out to the vast prejudice of the Ecclesiastical Authority to which many about the King advised him There was reason to fear they should not only lose a King of England but a Defender of the Faith The Nobility and Gentry were already enraged at the delay of a Matter in which all their Lives and Interests were so nearly concerned and said many things against the Popes Proceedings which they could not relate without horror And they plainly complained that whereas Popes had made no scruple to make and change divine Laws at their pleasure yet one Pope sticks so much at the Repealing what his Prodecessor did as if that were more sacred and not to be medled with The King betook himself to no ill Arts neither to the charms of Magitians nor the Forgeries of Impostours therefore they expected such an Answer as should put an end to the whole matter But all these things were to no purpose the Pope had taken his measures ard was not to be moved by all the reasons or Remonstrances the Ambassador could lay before him The King had absolutely gained Campegio to do all he could for him without losing the Popes favour He led at this time a very dissolute life in England hunting and gaming all the day long and following whores all the night and brought a Bastard of his own over to England with him whom the King Knighted so that if the King sought his pleasure it was no strange thing since he had such a Copy set him by two Legates who representing his Holiness so lively in their manners it was no unusual thing if a King had a slight sense of such disorders The King wrote to his Ambassadors that he was satisfied of Campegio's love and affection to him and if ever he was gained by the Emperors Agents he had said something to him which did totally change that Inclination The Imperialists being Alarm'd at the recalling of some of the English Ambassadors and being Informed by the Queens means that they were forming the Process in England put in a Memorial for an Avocation of the cause to Rome The Ambassadors answered that there was no Colour for asking it since there was nothing yet done by the Legates For they had strict orders to deny that there was any Process forming in England even to the Pope himself in private unless he had a mind it should go on but were to use all their Endeavours to hinder an Avocation and plainly in the Kings name to tell the Pope that if he granted that the King would look on it as a Formal decision against him And it would also be an high affront to the two Cardinals and they were thereupon to Protest that the King would not obey nor consider the Pope any more if he did an Act of such high Injustice as after he had granted a Commission upon no complaint of any Illegality or Injust Proceedings of the Legates but only upon surmises and suspitions to take it out of their hands But the Pope had not yet brought the Emperor to his Terms in other things therefore to draw him on the faster he continued to give the English Ambassador good words and in discourse with Peter Vannes did insinuate as if he had found a means to bring the whole matter to a good Conclusion and spoke it with an Artificial smile adding In the name of the Father c. But would not speak it out and seemed to keep it up as a secret not yet ripe But all this did afterwards appear to be the deepest Dissimulation that ever was practised And in the whole Process though the Cardinal studied to make tricks pass upon him yet he was always too hard for them all at it and seemed as Infallible in his Arts of Jugling as he pretended to be in his Decisions He wrote a Cajoling Letter to the Cardinal but words went for nothing Soon after this the Pope complained much to Sr. Gregory Cassali of the ill usage he received from the French Ambassador and that their Confederates the Florentines and the Duke of Ferrara used him so ill that they would force him to throw himself into the Emperors hands and he seemed inclined to grant an Avocation of the cause and complained that there was a Treaty of peace going on at Cambray in which he had no share But the Ambassador undertook that nothing should be done to give him just offence yet the Florentines continued to put great affronts on him and his Family and the Abbot of Farfa their General made excursions to the gates of Rome so that the Pope with great signs of fear said that the Florentines would some day seize on him and carry him with his hands bound behind his back in Procession to Florence and that all this while the Kings of England and France did only entertain him with good words and did not so much as restrain the Insolencies of their Confederates And whereas they used to say that if he joyned himself to the Emperor he would treat him as his Chaplain he said with great Commotion that he would not only choose rather to be his Chaplain but his horse-Groom than suffer such injuries from his own Rebellious Vassals and Subjects This was perhaps set on by the Cardinals Arts to let the Pope feel the weight of offending the King and to oblige him to use him better but it wrought a contrary effect for the Treaty between the Emperor and him was the more advanced by it And the Pope reckoned that the Emperor being as he was informed ashamed and grieved for the taking and Sacking of Rome would study to repair that by better usage for the future The Motion for the Avocation was still driven on and pressed the more earnestly because they heard the Legates were proceeding in the cause But the Ambassadors were instructed by a Dispatch from the King to obviate that carefully for as it would reflect on the Legates and defeat the Commission and be a gross violation of the Popes Promise which they had in writing so it was more for the Popes Interest to leave it in the Legates hands than to bring it before himself for then whatever Sentence passed the ill effects of it would ly on the Pope without any Interposition And as the King had very just exceptions to Rome where the Emperors forces lay so near that no safety could be expected there so they were to tell the Pope that by the Laws of England the Prerogative of the Crown Royal was such that the Pope could do nothing that was prejudicial to it To which the citing the King to Rome to have his cause decided there was contrary in a high degree And if the Pope went on notwithstanding all the diligence they could use to the contrary they
were by an other Dispatch which Gardiner sent ordered to Protest and Appeal from the Pope as not the true Vicar of Christ to a true Vicar But the King upon second thoughts judged it not fit to proceed to this Extremity so soon They were also ordered to advertise the Pope that all the Nobility had assured the King they would adhere to him in case he were so ill used by the Pope that he were constrained to withdraw his obedience from the Apostolick See and that the Cardinals ruine was unavoidable if the Pope granted the Avocation The Emperors Agents had pretended they could not send the original Breve into England and said their Master would send it to Rome upon which the Ambassadors had solicited for Letters Compulsory to require him to send it to England yet left that might now be made an Argument by the Imperialists for an Avocation they were ordered to speak no more of it for the Legates would proceed to Sentence upon the attested Copy that was sent from Spain The Ambassadors had also orders to take the best Counsel in Rome about the Legal ways of hindring an Avocation But they found it was not fit to rely much on the Lawyers in that matter For as on the one hand there was no secrecy to be expected from any of them they having such expectations of preferments from the Pope which were beyond all the Fees that could be given them that they discovered all secrets to him So none of them would be earnest to hinder an Avocation it being their Interest to bring all Matters to Rome by which they might hope for much greater Fees And Salviati whom the Ambassadors had gained told them that Campana brought word out of England that the Process was then in a good forwardness They with many Oaths denyed there was any such thing and Silvester Darius who was sent express to Rome for opposing the Avocation confirmed all that they swore But nothing was believed for by a secret conveyance Campana had Letters to the contrary And when they objected to Salviati what was promised by Campana in the Popes name that he would do every thing for the King that he could do out of the fulness of his Power He answered that Campana swore he had never said any such thing So hard is the case of Ministers in such ticklish negotiations that they must say and unsay swear and forswear as they are Instructed which goes of Course as a part of their Business But now the Legates were proceeding in England Of the steps in which they went though a great deal be already published yet considerable things are passed over On the 31th of May the King by a Warrant under the Great Seal gave the Legates leave to execute their Commission upon which they Sate that same day The Commission was presented by Longland Bishop of Lincoln which was given to the Proto-Notary of the Court and he read it publickly then the Legates took it in their hands and said They were resolved to Execute it And first gave the usual Oaths to the Clerks of the Court and ordered a peremtory Citation of the King and Queen to appear on the 18th of Iune between 9 and 10 a Clock and so the Court Adjourned The next Session was on the 18th of Iune where the Citations being returned duely Executed Richard Simpson Dean of the Chappel and Mr. Iohn Bell appeared as the Kings Proxies But the Queen appeared in Person and did protest against the Legates as incompetent Judges alledging that the cause was already Avocated by the Pope and desired a competent time in which she might prove it The Legates assigned her the 21th and so Adjourned the Court till then About this time there was a severe Complaint exhibited against the Queen in Council of which there is an account given in a paper that has somewhat written at the conclusion of it with the Cardinals own hand The substance of it is That they were informed some designed to kill the King or the Cardinal in which if she had any hand she must not expect to be spared That she had not shewed such love to the King neither in Bed nor out of Bed as she ought And now that the King was very pensive and in much grief she showed great signs of joy setting on all people to Dancings and other Diversions This it seemed she did out of spite to the King since it was contrary to her temper and ordinary behaviour And whereas she ought rather to pray to God to bring this matter to a good conclusion she seemed not at all serious and that she might corrupt the peoples affections to the King she showed her self much abroad and by civilities and gracious bowing her head which had not been her custom formerly did study to work upon the people And that having the pretended Breve in her hands she would not show it sooner From all which the King concluded that she hated him Therefore his Council did not think it advisable for him to be any more conversant with her either in Bed or at Board They also in their Consciences thought his life was in such danger that he ought to withdraw himself from her company and not suffer the Princess to be with her These things were to be told her to induce her to enter into a Religious Order and to perswade her to submit to the King To which paper the Cardinal added in Latine That she played the fool if she contended with the King that her Children had not been blessed and somewhat of the evident suspitions that were of the Forgery of the Breve But she had a constant mind and was not to be threatned to any thing On the 21th of Iune the Court Sate The King and Queen were present in Person Campegio made a long Speech of the errand they were come about That it was a new unheard of vile and intolerable thing for the King and Queen to live in Adultery or rather Incest which they must now try and proceed as they saw just cause And both the Legates made deep protestations of the sincerity of their minds and that they would proceed justly and fairly without any favour or partiality As for the formal Speeches which the King and Queen made Hall who never failed in trifles sets them down which I incline to believe they really spoke for with the Journals of the Court I find those Speeches written down though not as a part of the Journal But here the Lord Herbert's usual diligence fails him for he fancies the Queen never appeared after the 18th upon which because the Journal of the next Sessions are lost he infers against all the Histories of that time That the King and the Queen were not in Court together And he seems to conclude that the 25th of Iune was the next Session after the 18th but in that he was mistaken For by an original Letter of the Kings to
his Ambassadors it is plain that both the King and Queen came in Person into the Court where they both sate with their Council standing about them The Bishops of Rochester and St. Asaph and Doctor Ridley being the Queens Council When the King and Queen were called on the King answered Here but the Queen left her seat and went and kneeled down before him and made a Speech that had all the Insinuations in it to raise pity and compassion in the Court She said She was a poor woman and a stranger in his Dominions where she could neither expect good Council nor indifferent Judges she had been long his Wife and desired to know wherein she had offended him she had been his Wife twenty years and more and had born him several Children and had ever studied to please him and protested he had found her a true Maid about which she appealed to his own Conscience If she had done any thing amiss she was willing to be put away with shame Their Parents were esteemed very wise Princes and no doubt had good Counsellors and Learned men about them when the Match was agreed Therefore she would not submit to the Court nor durst her Lawyers who were his Subjects and assigned by him speak freely for her So she desired to be excused till she heard from Spain That said she rose up and made the King a low Reverence and went out of the Court. And though they called after her she made no answer but went away and would never again appear in Court She being gone the King did publickly Declare what a true and obedient Wife she had always been and commended her much for her excellent Qualities Then the Cardinal of York desired the King would witness whether he had been the first or chief mover of that matter to him since he was suspected to have done it In which the King did vindicate him and said That he had always rather opposed it and protested it arose meerly out of a scruple in his Conscience which was occasioned by the Discourse of the French Ambassador who during the Treaty of a Match between his Daughter and the Duke of Orleance did except to her being Legitimate as begotten in an unlawful Marriage upon which he resolved to try the lawfulness of it both for the quiet of his Conscience and for clearing the Succession of the Crown And if it were found lawful he was very well satisfied to live still with the Queen But upon that he had first moved it in Confession to the Bishop of Lincoln then he had desired the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to gather the Opinions of the Bishops who did all under their Hands and Seals Declare against the Marriage This the Arch-Bishop confirmed but the Bishop of Rochester denied his Hand was at it And the Arch-Bishop pretended he had his consent to make another write his name to the Judgment of the rest which he positively denied The Court Adjourned to the 25th ordering Letters Monitory to be Issued out for Citing the Queen to appear under pain of Contumacy But on the 25th was brought in her Appeal to the Pope the Original of which is extant every page being both Subscribed and Superscribed by her She excepted both to the Place to the Judges and to her Council in whom she could not confide and therefore appealed and desired her Cause might be heard by the Pope with many things out of the Canon-Law on which she grounded it This being read and she not appearing was Declared Contumax Then the Legates being to proceed ex officio drew up Twelve Articles upon which they were to examine witnesses The substance of them was That Prince Arthur and the King were Brothers that Prince Arthur did Marry the Queen and Consummated the Marriage that upon his death the King by vertue of a Dispensation had Married her that this Marrying his Brothers Wife was forbidden both by Humane and Divine Law and that upon the complaints which the Pope had received he had sent them now to try and judge in it The Kings Council insisted most on Prince Arthur's having Consummated the Marriage and that led them to say many things that seemed indecent of which the Bishop of Rochester complained and said they were things detestable to be heard but Cardinal Wolsey 〈◊〉 him and there passed some sharp words between them The Legates proceeded to the Examination of Witnesses of which I shall say little the substance of their Depositions being fully set down with all their names by the Lord Herbert The sum of what was most material in them was that many violent presumptions appeared by their Testimonies that Prince Arthur did carnally know the Queen And it cannot be imagined how greater proofs could be made 27 years after their Marriage Thus the Court went on several days Examining Witnesses but as the matter was going on to a conclusion there came an Avocation from Rome Of which I shall now give an Account The Queen wrote most earnestly to her Nephews to procure an Avocation protesting she would suffer any thing and even death it self rather than depart from her Marriage that she expected no justice from the Legates and therefore lookt for their assistance that her appeal being admitted by the Pope the Cause might be taken out of the Legates hands Campegio did also give the Pope an account of their Progress and by all means advised an Avocation for by this he thought to excuse himself to the King to oblige the Emperor much and to have the reputation of a man of Conscience The Emperor and his Brother Ferdinand sent their Ambassadors at Rome orders to give the Pope no rest till it were procured and the Emperor said He would look on a Sentence against his Aunt as a dishonour to his Family and would lose all his Kingdoms sooner than endure it And they plied the Pope so warmly that between them and the English Ambassadors he had for some days very little rest To the one he was kind and to the other he resolved to be civil The English Ambassadors met oft with Salviati and studied to perswade him that the Process went not on in England but he told them their Intelligence was so good that whatever they said on that head would not be believed They next suggested that it was visible Campegio's advising an Avocation was only done to preserve himself from the envy of the Sentence and to throw it wholly on the Pope for were the matter once called to Rome the Pope must give Sentence one way or another and so bear the whole burden of it There were also secret surmises of Deposing the Pope if he went so far for seeing that the Emperor prevailed so much by the terrors of that the Cardinal resolved to try what operation such threatnings in the Kings name might have But they had no Armies near the Pope so that big words did only provoke and alienate him
at Rome to see it fall on him So in Easter-week he was ordered to go North though he had a great mind to have stayed at Richmond which the King had given him in Exchange for Hampton-Court that he had also built But that was too near the Court and his enemies had a mind to send him further from it Accordingly he went to Cawood in York-shire in which journey it appears that the ruins of his state were considerable for he travelled thither with an 160 horse in his train and 72 Carts following him with his houshold stuff To Conclude his story all at once he was in November the next year seized on by the Earl of Northumberland who attached him for high Treason and committed him to the keeping of the Lieutenant of the Tower who was ordered to bring him up to London And even â—hen he had gracious messages from the King but these did not work much on him for whether it was that he knew himself guilty of some secret Practises with the Pope or with the Emperor which yet he denyed to the last or whether he could no longer stand under the Kings displeasure and that change of condition he was so cast down that on his way to London he sickened at Sheffield Park in the Earl of Shrewsburies house from whence by slow journeys he went as far as Leicester where after some days languishing he dyed and at the last made great Protestations of his having served the King faithfully and that he had little regarded the service of God to do him pleasure but if he had served God as he had done him he would not have given him over so as he did in his gray hairs And he desired the King to reflect on all his past services and in particular in his weighty matter for by that phrase they usually spoke of the Kings Divorce and then he would find in his Conscience whether he had offended him or not He dyed the 28 of November 1530. and was the greatest Instance that several Ages had shown of the Variety and Inconstancy of Humane things both in his rise and fall and by his temper in both it appears he was unworthy of his greatness and deserved what he suffered But to conclude all that is to be said of him I shall add what the writer of his life ends it with Here is the end and fall of Pride and Arrogance for I assure you in his time he was the haughtiest man in all his proceedings alive having more respect to the honour of his Person than he had to his Spiritual Profession wherein should be shewed all meekness and charity But now with the change of this great Minister there followed a change of Counsels and therefore the King resolved to hold a Parliament that he might meet his people and establish such a good understanding between himself and them that he might have all secured at home and then he resolved to proceed more confidently abroad There had been no Parliament for seven years but the blame of that and of every other miscarriage falling naturally on the disgraced Minister he did not doubt that he should be able to give his people full satisfaction in that and in every thing else So a Parliament was summoned to meet the 3d of November And there among several other Laws that were made for the publick good of the Kingdom there were Bills sent up by the House of Commons against some of the most exorbitant abuses of the Clergy one was against the Exactions for the Probates of Wills another was for the Regulating of Mortuaries a third was about the Plurality of Benefices and non-residence and Churchmens being Farmers of Lands In the passing of these Bills there were severe reflections made on the vices and corruptions of the Clergy of that time which were believed to flow from men that favoured Luthers Doctrine in their hearts When these Bills were brought up to the House of Lords the Bishop of Rochester speaking to them did reflect on the House of Commons saying that they were resolved to bring down the Church and he desired they would consider the miserable state of the Kingdom of Bohemia to which it was reduced by Heresie and ended that all this was for lack of Faith But this being afterwards known to the House of Commons they sent their speaker Sr. Thomas Audley with 30 of their members to complain to the King of the Bishop of Rochester for saying that their Acts flowed from the want of Faith which was an high Imputation on the whole Nation when the Representative of the Commons was so charged as if they had been Infidels and Heathens This was set on by the Court to mortifie that Bishop who was unacceptable to them for his adhering so firmly to the Queens cause The King sent for the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and six other Bishops and before them told the complaint of the Commons But the Bishop of Rochester excused himself and said he only meant of the Kingdom of Bohemia when he said all flowed from the want of Faith and did not at all intend the House of Commons This Explanation the King sent by the Treasurer of his houshold Sr. Will. Fitz-Williams But though the matter was passed over yet they were not at all satisfied with it so that they went on laying open the abuses of the Clergy In the House of Peers great opposition was made to the Bills and the Clergy both within and without doors did defame them and said these were the ordinary beginnings of Heresie to complain of Abuses and pretend Reformation on purpose to disgrace the Clergy from which Heresie took it's chief strength And the Spiritual Lords did generally oppose them the Temporal Lords being no less earnest to have them passed The Cardinal was admitted to sit in the House where he showed himself as submissive in his fauning as he had formerly done in his scorn and contempt of all who durst oppose him But the King set the Bills forward and in the end they were agreed to by the Lords and had the Royal Assent The King intended by this to let the Pope see what he could do if he went on to offend him and how willingly his Parliament would concur with him if it went to extremities He did also endear himself much to the People by relieving them from the oppressions of the Clergy But the Clergy lost much by this means for these Acts did not only lessen their present profits but did open the way for other things that were more to their detriment afterward Their opposing of this and all other motions for Reformation did very much encrease the prejudices that were conceived against them whereas if such motions had either risen from themselves or had at least been cherished by them their Adversaries had not perhaps been so favourably heard so fatally did they mistake their true Interest when they thought they were concerned
St. Mark and to examine the Decrees of the ancient Councils He went incognito without any Character from the King only he had a Letter Recommending him to the care of Iohn Cassali then Ambassador at Venice to procure him an admittance into the Libraries there But in all his Letters he complained mightily of his Poverty that he had scarce whereby to live and pay the Copiers whom he imployed to Transcribe passages out of MSS. He stayed some time at Venice from whence he went to Padua Bononia and other Towns where he only talked with Divines and Canonists about these questions Whether the Precepts in Leviticus of the Degrees of Marriage do still oblige Christians And whether the Popes Dispensation could have any force against the Law of God These he proposed in Discourse without mentioning the King of England or giving the least intimation that he was sent by him till he once discovered their Opinions But finding them generally inclining to the Kings Cause he took more courage and went to Rome where he sought to be made a Penitentiary Priest that he might have the freer access into Libraries and be lookt on as one of the Popes Servants But at this time the Earl of Wiltshire and Stokesley who was made Bishop of London Tonstall being Translated to Duresm were sent by the King into Italy Ambassadors both to the Pope and Emperor Cranmer went with them to justifie his Book in both these Courts Stokesley brought full Instructions to Crooke to search the Writings of most of the Fathers on a great many passages of the Scripture and in particular to try what they wrote on that Law in Deuteronomy which provided that when one died without Children his Brother should marry his Wife to raise up Children to him This was most pressed against the King by all that were for the Queen as either an Abrogation of the other Law in Leviticus or at least a Dispensation with it in that particular Case He was also to consult the Iews about it and was to Copy out every thing that he found in any Manuscript of the Greek or Latine Fathers relating to the Degrees of Marriage Of this labour he complained heavily and said That though he had a great task laid on him yet his allowance was so small that he was often in great straits This I take notice of because it is said by others That all the Subscriptions that he procured were bought At this time there were great Animosities between the Ministers whom the King imployed in Italy the two Families of the Cassali and the Ghinucci hating one another Of the former Family were the Ambassadors at Rome and at Venice Of the other Hierome was Bishop of Worcester and had been in several Ambassies into Spain His Brother Peter was also imployed in some of the little Courts of Italy as the Kings Agent Whether the King out of Policy kept this hatred up to make them Spies one on another I know not To the Ghinucci was Crooke gained so that in all his Letters he complained of the Cassali as men that betraied the Kings Affairs and said that Iohn then Ambassador at Venice not only gave him no assistance but used him ill and publickly discovered That he was imployed by the King which made many who had formerly spoken their minds freely be more reserved to him But as he wrote this to the King he begged of him that it might not be known otherwise he expected either to be Killed or Poisoned by them Yet they had their Correspondents about the King by whose means they understood what Crooke had Informed against them But they wrote to the King that he was so morose and ill-natured that nothing could please him and to lessen his Credit they did all they could to stop his Bills All this is more fully set down than perhaps was necessary if it were not to show that he was not in a condition to corrupt so many Divines and whole Universities as some have given out He got into the acquaintance of a Frier at Venice Franciscus Georgius who had lived 49 years in a Religious order and was esteemed the most Learned man in the Republick not only in the vulgar Learning but in the Greek and Hebrew and was so much accounted of by the Pope that he called him the Hammer of Hereticks He was also of the Senatorian Quality and his Brother was Governor of Padua and payed all the Readers there This Friar had a great opinion of the King and having studied the case wrote for the Kings cause and endeavoured to satisfie all the other Divines of the Republick among whom he had much credit Thomas Omnibonus a Dominican Philippus de Cremis a Doctor of the Law Valerius of Bergamo and some others wrote for the Kings cause Many of the Iewish Rabbins did give it under their hands in Hebrew That the Laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy were thus to be reconciled That Law of Marrying the Brothers wife when he dyed without Children did only bind in the Land of Judaea to preserve Families and maintain their Successions in the Land as it had been divided by Lot But that in all other places of the world the Law of Leviticus of not Marrying the Brothers wife was obligatory He also searched all the Greek MSS. of Councils and Nazianzens and Chrysostoms works After that he run over Macarius Acacius Apollinaris Origen Gregory Nyssen Cyril Severian and Gennadius and copied out of them all that which was pertinent to his purpose He procured several hands to the Conclusions before it was known that it was the Kings business in which he was employed But the Government of Venice was so strict that when it was known whose Agent he was he found it not easie to procure Subscriptions Therefore he advised the King to order his Minister to procure a Licence from the Senate for their Divines to declare their opinions in that matter Which being proposed to the Senate all the answer he could obtain was that they would be Neutrals and when the Ambassador pressed as an evidence of Neutrality that the Senate would leave it free to their Divines to declare of either side as their Consciences led them he could procure no other answer the former being again repeated Yet the Senate making no Prohibition many of their Divines put their hands to the Conclusions And Crook had that Success that he wrote to the King he had never met with a Divine that did not favour his cause but the Conclusions touching the Popes Power his Agents did every-where discourage and threaten those who subscribed them And the Emperors Ambassador at Venice did threaten Omnibonus for writing in prejudice of the Popes Authority and asserting conclusions which would make most of the Princes of Europe Bastards He answered he did not consider things as a Statesman but as a Divine Yet to take off this fear Crook suggested to the King to order his Minister at the
another Wife keeping the Queen still Zuinglius confutes that and says If the Marriage be against the Law of God it ought to be dissolved But concludes the Queen should be put away honourably and still used as a Queen and the Marriage should only be dissolved for the future without Illegitimating the Issue begotten in it since it had gone on in a publick way upon a received error But advises that the King should proceed in a Judiciary way and not establish so ill a President as to put away his Queen and take another without due form of Law Dated Basil 17th of Aug. There is a second Letter of his to the same purpose from Zurick the first of September There is also with these Letters a long paper of Osianders in the form of a Direction how the Process should be managed There is also an Epistle of Calvins published among the rest of his Neither the date nor the person to whom it was directed are named Yet I fancie it was written to Grineus upon this occasion Calvin was clear in his judgment that the Marriage was null and that the King ought to put away the Queen upon the Law of Leviticus And whereas it was objected that the Law is only meant of Marrying the Brothers wife while he is yet alive he shews that could not be admitted for all the prohibited degrees being forbidden in the same style they were all to be understood in one sense Therefore since it is confessed that it is unlawful to Marry in the other degrees after the death of the Father Son Uncle or Nephew so it must be also a sin to Marry the Brothers wife after his death And for the Law in Deuteronomy of Marrying the Brothers wife to raise up seed to him he thought that by Brother there is to be understood a near Kinsman according to the usual phrase of the Hebrew tongue and by that he reconciles the two Laws which otherwise seem to differ illustrating his Exposition by the History of Ruth and Boaz. It is given out that Melancthon advised the Kings taking another wife justifying Polygamy from the old Testament but I cannot believe it It is true the Lawfulness of Polygamy was much controverted at this time And as in all controversies newly started many crude things are said so some of the Helvetian and German Divines seem not so fierce against it though none of them went so far as the Pope did who did plainly offer to grant the King Licence to have two wives and it was a motion the Imperialists consented to and promoted though upon what reason the Ambassador Cassali who wrote the account of it to the King could not learn The Pope forbade him to write about it to the King perhaps as Whisperers enjoyn silence as the most effectual way to make a thing publick But for Melancthons being of that mind great evidences appear to the contrary for there is a Letter of Osianders to him giving him many reasons to perswade him to approve of the Kings putting away the Queen and Marrying another the Letter also shews he was then of opinion that the Law in Leviticus was Dispensable And after the thing was done when the King desired the Lutheran Divines to approve his second Marriage they begged his excuse in a writing which they sent over to him so that Melanâ—â—hon not allowing the thing when it was done cannot be imagined to have advised Polygamy before hand And to open at once all that may clear the sense of the Protestants in the Question when some years after this Fox being made Bishop of Hereford and much inclined to their Doâ—ctrine was sent over to get the Divines of Germany to approve of the Divorce and the subsequent Marriage of Anne Boleyn he found that Melancthon and others had no mind to enter much into the Dispute about it both for fear of the Emperor and because they judged the King was led in it by dishonest affections they also thought the Laws in Leviticus were not Moral and did not oblige Christians and since there were no Rules made about the Degrees of Marriage in the Gospel they thought Princes and States might make what Laws they pleased about it yet aâ—ter much Disputing they were induced to change their minds but could not be brought to think that a Marriage once made might be annulled and therefore demurred upon that as will appear by the Conclusion they passed upon it to be found at the end of this volume All this I have set together here to give a right representation of the judgments of the several parties of Christendome about this matter It cannot be denyed that the Protestants did express great sincerity in this matter such as became men of conscience who were acted by true Principles and not by maxims of Policie For if these had governed them they had struck in more compliantly with so great a Prince who was then alienated from the Pope and in very ill terms with the Emperor so that to have gained him by a full Compliance to have protected them was the wisest thing they could do and their being so cold in the matter of his Marriage in which he had engaged so deeply was a thing which would very much provoke him against them But such measures as these though they very well became the Apostolick See yet theâ— were unworthy of men who designed to restore an Apostolick Religion The Earl of Wiltshire with the other Ambassadors when they had their Audience of the Pope at Bononia refused to pay him the submission of Kissing his foot though he graciously stretched it out to them but went to their Business and expostulated in the Kings name and in high words and in Conclusion told the Pope that the Prerogative of the Crown of England was such that their Master would not suffer any Citation to be made of him to any forreign Court and that therefore the King would not have his cause tryed at Rome The Pope answered that though the Queens Sollicitor had pressed him to proceed in the Citation bâ—th that her Marriage being further examined might receive a new Conâ—irmation for silencing the Dispuâ—es about it and because the King had withdrawn himself â—rom her yet if the King did not go further and did not innovate in Relâ—gion the Pope was willing to let the matter rest They went next to the Emperor to justifie the Kings Proceedings in the Suit of the Divorce But he told them he was bound in honour and justice to â—uppâ—rt his Aunt and that he would not abandon her Cranmer offered to maintain what he had written in his Book but whether they went so far as to make their Divines enter into any Discourse with him about it I do not know This appears that the Pope to put a Complement on the King declared Cranmer his Paenitentiary in England He having stayed some months at Rome after the Ambassadors were gone
Cardinal A King of France desired a Dispensation to Marry his Wives Sister The matter was long considered of and debated in the Rota himself being there and bearing a share in the Debate but it was concluded That if any Pope either out of Ignorance or being Corrupted had ever granted such a Dispensation that could be no president or warrant for doing the like any more since the Church ought to be governed by Laws and not by such Examples Antonin and Ioannes de Tabia held the same And one Bacon an English-man who had taught the contrary was censured for it even at Rome and he did retract his Opinion and acknowledged that the Pope could not dispence with the Degrees of Marriage forbidden by the Law of God The Canonists agree also to this both Ioannes Andreas Ioannes de Imola and Abbas Panormitanus assert it saying That the Precepts in Leviticus oblige for ever and therefore cannot be dispenced with And Panormitan says These things are to be observed in Practice because great Princes do often desire Dispensations from Popes Pope Alexander the 3d. would not suffer a Citizen of Pavia to Marry his younger Son to the Widow of his eldest Son though he had Sworn to do it For the Pope said it was against the Law of God therefore it might not be done and he was to repent of his unlawful Oath And for the Power of dispencing even with the Laws of the Church by Popes it was brought in in the latter Ages All the Fathers with one consent believed That the Laws of God could not be dispenced with by the Church for which many places were cited out of St. Cyprian Basil Ambrose Isidore Bernard and Urban Fabian Marcellus and Innocent that were Popes besides an infinite number of latter Writers And also the Popes Zosimus Damasus Leo and Hilarius did freely acknowledge they could not change the Decrees of the Church nor go against the Opinions or Practices of the Fathers And since the Apostles confessed they could do nothing against the truth but for the truth the Pope being Christs Vicar cannot be supposed to have so great a Power as to abrogate the Law of God and though it is acknowledged that he is Vested with a fulness of Power yet the phrase must be restrained to the matter of it which is the Pastoral care of Souls And though there was no Court Superiour to the Popes yet as St. Paul had withstood St. Peter to his face so in all Ages upon several occasions holy Bishops have refused to comply with or submit to Orders sent from Rome when they thought the matter of them unlawful Laurence that Succeeded Austin the Monk in the See of Canterbury having Excommunicated King Edbald for an Incestuous Marriage would not Absolve him till he put away his Wife though the Pope plied him earnestly both by Intreaties and Threatnings to let it alone and Absolve him Dunstan did the like to Count Edwin for an other Incestuous Marriage nor did all the Popes Interposition make him give over They found many other such instances which occurred in the Ecclesiastical History of Bishops proceeding by Censures and other Methods to stop the course of Sin notwithstanding any encouragement the Parties had from Popes And it is certain that every man when he finds himself engaged in any course which is clearly sinful ought presently to forsake it according to the opinion of all Divines And therefore the King upon these Evidences of the unlawfulness of his Marriage ought to abstain from the Queen and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with the other Bishops ought to require him to do it otherwise they must proceed to Church Censures Many things were also brought from reason or at least the Maximes of the School Philosophy which passed for true reason in those days to prove Marriage in the degrees forbidden by Moses to be contrary to the Law of Nature and much was alledged out of Profane Authors to show what an abhorrency some Heathen Nations had of Incestuous Marriages And whereas the chief strength of the Arguments for the contrary opinion rested in this That these Laws of Moses were not confirmed by Christ or his Apostles in the New Testament To that they answered That if the Laws about Marriage were Moral as had been proved then there was no need of a particular Confirmation since those Words of our Saviour I came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it do confirm the whole Moral Law Christ had also expresly asserted the Relation of Affinity saying That man and wife are one Flesh. St. Paul also condemned a Match as Incestuous for Affinity But though it were not expresly set down in the Gospel yet the Traditions of the Church are received with equal Authority to written Verities This the Court of Rome and all the Learned Writers for the Catholick Faith lay down as a Fundamental Truth And without it how could the Seven Sacraments some of which are not mentioned in the New Testament with many other Articles of Catholick Belief be maintained against the Hereticks The Tradition of the Church being so full and formal in this particular must take place And if any Corruptions have been brought in by some Popes within an Age or two which have never had any other Authority from the Decrees of the Church or the Opinions of Learned men they are not to be maintained in opposition to the Evidence that is brought on the other side This I have summed up in as short and Comprehensive words as I could Being the Substance of what I gathered out of the Printed Books and Manuscripts for the Kings cause But the Fidelity of an Historian leads me next to open the arguments that were brought against it by those who wrote on the other side for the Queens cause to prove the validity of the Marriage and the Popes Power of Dispensing with a Marriage in that degree of Affinity I could never by all the search I have made see either MSS. or Printed Books that defended their Cause except Cajetans and Victorias Books that are Printed in their works But from an answer that was written to the Bishop of Rochesters Book and from some other writings on the other side I gather the Substance of their arguments to have been what follows Cardinal Cajetan had by many arguments endeavored to prove that the Prohibitions in Leviticus were not parts of the Moral Law They were not observed before the Law no not by the holy seed Adams Children Married one another Abraham Married his Sister Iacob Married two Sisters Iudah gave his two Sons to Tamar and promised to give her the third for her Husband By the Law of Moses a Dispensation was granted in one case for Marrying the Brothers wife which shows the Law was not Moral otherwise it could not be dispenced with and if Moses dispensed with it why might not the Pope as well do it nor was there any force in the
not then just cause to distrust all that came from him when at one time he condemned what he had allowed at another So that the King saw clearly he did not Consider the ease of his Conscience but other worldly respects that had put him on Consulting so many Learned men whose judgments differed much from those few that were about the Pope who thought the Prohibition of such Marriages was onely positive and might be dispensed with by the Pope whereas all other Learned men thought the Law was Moral and indispensable He perceived the Apostolick See was destitute of that Learning by which it should be directed and the Pope had oft professed his own Ignorance and that he spake by other mens mouths but many Universities in England France and Italy had declared the Marriage unlawful and the Dispensation null None honoured the Apostolick See more than he had done and therefore he was sorry to write such things if he could have been silent If he should obey the Popes Letters he would offend God and his own Conscience and give scandal to those who condemned his Marriage he did not willingly dissent from him without a very urgent cause that he might not seem to despise the Apostolick See therefore he desired the Pope would forgive the freedom that he used since it was the Truth that drew it from him And he added that he intended not to Impugn the Popes Authority further except he compelled him and what he did was only to bring it within its first and Ancient Limits to which it was better to reduce it than to let it always run on headlong and do amiss therefore he desired the Pope would Conform himself to the opinions of so many Learned men and do his Duty and Office The Letter ends with a Credence to the Ambassador The Pope seeing his Authority was declining in England resolved now to do all he could to recover it either by force or Treaty and so ordered a Citation to be made of the King to appear in Person or by Proxie at Rome to answer to the Queens appeal upon which Sir Edward Karne was sent to Rome with a new Character of Excusatour His Instructions were to take the best Counsel for pleading an Excuse of the Kings appearance at Rome First upon the grounds that might be found in the Canon Law and these not being sufficient he was to Insist on the Prerogatives of the Crown of England Doctor Bonner went with him who had expressed much zeal in the Kings cause though his great zeal was for Preferment which by the most servile ways he always Courted He was a forward bold man and since there were many Threatnings to be used to the Pope and Cardinals he was thought fittest for the employment but was neither Learned nor discreet They came to Rome in March where they found great heats in the Consistory about the Kings business The Imperialists pressed the Pope to proceed but all the wise and indifferent Cardinals were of another mind And when they understood what an Act was passed about Annates they saw clearly that the Parliament was resolved to adhere to the King in every thing he intended to do against their Interests The Pope expostulated with the Ambassadors about it but they told him the Act was still in the Kings Power and except he provoked him he did not intend to put it in execution The Ambassadors finding the Cardinal of Ravenna of so great reputation both for Learning and Vertue that in all matters of that kind his opinion was heard as an Oracle and gave Law to the whole Consistory they resolved to gain him by all means possible And Doctor Bennet made a secret address to him and offered him what Bishoprick either in France or England he would desire if he would bring the Kings matter to a good issue He was at first very shie at length he said he had been oft deceived by many Princes who had made him great Promises but when their business was ended never thought of performing them therefore he would be sure and so drave a Bargain and got under Doctor Bennets hand a promise of which a Copy being sent to the King written by Bennet himself will be found at the end of this Volume Bearing that he having Powers from the King for that effect dated the 29th of December last did promise the Cardinal for his help in the Kings affair Monasteries or other Benefices in France to the value of 6000 Ducates a year and the first Bishoprick that fell vacant in England and if it were not Ely that when ever that See was vacant upon his resigning the other he should be provided with the Bishoprick of Ely dated at Rome the 7th of February 1532. This I set down as one of the most Considerable Arguments that could be used to satisfie the Cardinals Conscience about the justice of the Kings cause This Cardinal was the fittest to work secretly for the King for he had appeared visible against him I find also by other Letters that both the Cardinals of Anâ—ona and Monte afterwards Pope Iulius the 3d were prevailed with by arguments of the same nature though I cannot find cut what the Bargains were Providellus that was accounted the greatest Canonist in Italy was brought from Bononia and entertained by the Ambassadors to give Counsel in the Kings cause and to plead his Excuse from appearing at Rome The plea was summed up in 28 Articles which were offered to the Pope and he admitted them to be examined in the Consistory appointing three of them to be opened at a Session But the Imperialists opposed that and after fifteen of them had been heard procured a new order that they should be heard in a Congregation of Cardinals before the Pope pretending that a Consistory sitting but once a week and having a great deal of other Business it would be long before the matter could be brought to any issue So Karne was served with a new order to appear in the Congregation the 3d. of April with this Certification That if he appeared not they would proceed Upon which he protested that he would adhere to the former Order yet being warned the second time he went first and protested against it which he got entered in the Datary This being considered in the Congregation they renewed the Order ofhearing it in the Consistory on the 10th of April and then Providellus opened three Conclusions Two of them related to Karne's Powers the third was concerning the Safety of the place to both parties But the Imperialists and the Queens Council being dissatisfied with this Order would not appear Upon which Karne complained of their Contumacy and said By that it was visible they were distrustful of their Cause On the 14th of April a new intimation was made to Karne to appear on the 17th with his Advocates to open all the rest of the Conclusions but he according to the first Order would onely plead
to three of them and selected the 19 20 and 21 what these related to I find not Upon which Providellus pleaded and answered the Objections that did seem to militate against them but neither would the Imperiallists appear that Session In Iune news were brought to Rome which gave the Pope great offence A Priest had preached for the Popes Authority in England and was for that cast into prison And another Priest being put in prison by the Archbishop of Canterbury upon suspition of Heresie had appealed to the King as the Supreme Lord upon which he was taken out of the Archbishops hands and being examined in the Kings Courts was set at liberty This the Pope resented much but the Embassadors said all such things might have been prevented if the King had got Justice at the Popes hands The King also at this time desired a Bull for a Commission to erect six new Bishopricks to be endowed by Monasteries that were to be suppressed This was expedited and sent away at this time And the old Cardinal of Ravenna was so jealous that the Embassadors were forced to promise him the Bishoprick of Chester one of the new Bishopricks with which he was well satisfied having seen by a particular state of the Endowment that was designed for it what advantage it would yield him But he had declared himself so openly before against the Reasons for the Excuse that he could not serve the King in that matter but in the main Cause he undertook to do great service and so did the Cardinals De Monte and Ancona Upon the 27th of Iune the Debate was brought to a Conclusion about the Plea Excusatory and when it was expected that the Pope should have given sentence against the Articles he admitted them all Si prout de jure Upon which the Imperiallists made great Complaints The Cardinals grew weary of the length of the Debate since it took up all their time but it was told them the matter was of great importance and it had been better for them not to have proceeded so precipitately at first which had now brought them into this trouble and that the King had been at much pains and trouble on their account therefore it was unreasonable for them to complain who were put to no other trouble but to sit in their Chairs two or three hours in a week to hear the Kings Defences The Imperiallists had also occasioned the Delays though they complained of them by their Cavils and Allegations ofLaws and Decisions that never were made by which much time was spent But it was objected That the Kings Excuse for not coming to Rome because it was too remote from his Kingdom and not safe was of no force since the place was safe to his Proxy And the Cardinal of Ravenna pressed the Embassadors much to move the King instead of the Excusatory Process to send a Proxy for examining and discussing the Merits of the Cause in which it would be much easier to advance the Kings matter and that he having appeared against the King in this Process would be the less suspected in the other The business being further considered in three Sessions of the Consistory it was resolved that since the Vacation was coming on they would neither allow of nor reject the Kings Excusatory Plea but the Pope and College of Cardinals would write to the King intreating him to send a Proxy for judging the Cause against the Winter And with this Bonner was sent over with Instructions from the Cardinals that were gained to the King to represent to him that his Excusatory Plea could not be admitted for since the Debate was to be whether the Pope could grant the Dispensation or not it could not be committed to Legats but must be judged by the Pope and the Consistory He was also ordered to assure the King that the Pope did now lean so much to the French Faction that he needed not fear to refer the matter to him But while these things were in debate at Rome there was another Session of Parliament in April and then the King sent for the Speaker of the House of Commons and gave him the Answer which the Clergy had drawn to the Addresses they made in the former Session about their Courts The King himself seemed not at all pleased with it but what the House did in it does not appear further than that they were no way satisfied with it But there happened another thing that offended the King much One Temse of the House of Commons moved that they should address to the King to bring the Queen back to the Court and ran out upon the Inconveniences that were like to follow if the Queen were put away particularly the ill consequence of the Illegitimation of the Princess Upon this the King took occasion when he gave them the Clergies Answer to tell them that he wondered at that motion made in their House for the matter was not to be determined there It touched his Soul he wished his Marriage were good but the Doctors and Learned men had determined it to be null and detestable and therefore he was obliged in Conscience to abstain from her which he assured them flowed from no Lust nor foolish Appetite He was then 41 years old and at that Age those Heats abate But except in Spain or Portugal it had not been heard of that a man married two Sisters and that he never heard that any Christian man before himself had married his Brothers Wife Therefore he assured them his Conscience was troubled which he desired them to report to the House In this Session the Lord Chancellour came down to the Commons with many of the Nobility about him and told them the King had considered the Marches between England and Scotland which were uninhabited on the English side but well peopled on the Scottish and that laid England open to the Incursion of the Scots therefore the King intended to build Houses there for planting the English side This the Lords liked very well and thought it convenient to give the King some Aids for the Charges of so necessary a Work and therefore desired the Commons to consult about it Upon which the House voted a Subsidy of a Fifteenth But before the Bill could be finished the Plague broke out in London and the Parliament was prorogued till February following On the 11th of May three days before the Prorogation the King sent for the Speaker of the House of Commons and told him That he found upon Inquiry that all the Prelats whom he had looked on as wholly his Subjects were but half-Subjects for at their Consecration they swore an Oath quite contrary to the Oath they swore to the Crown so that it seemed they were the Popes Subjects rather than his Which he referred to their care that such order might be taken in it that the King might not be deluded Upon which the two Oaths that the
read with many other Instruments and the whole Merits of the Cause were opened Upon which after many Sessions on the 23th of May Sentence was given with the Advice of all that were there present declaring it onely to have been a Marriage de facto but not de jure pronouncing it Null from the beginning One thing is to be observed That the Archbishop in the Sentence is called The Legate of the Apostolick See Whether this went of course as one of his Titles or was put in to make the Sentence firmer the Reader may judge Sentence being given the Archbishop with all the rest returned to London and five days after on the 28th of May at Lambeth by another Judgment he in general words no Reasons being given in the Sentence confirmed the Kings Marriage with the new Queen Anne and the first of Iune she was crowned Queen When this great Business which had been so long in agitation was thus concluded it was variously censured as men stood affected Some approved the Kings Proceedings as Canonical and Just since so many Authorities which in the intervall of a General Council were all that could be had except the Pope be believed Infallible had concurred to strengthen the Cause and his own Clergy had upon a full and long examination judged it on his side Others who in the main agreed to the Divorce did very much dislike the Kings second Marriage before the first was dissolved for they thought it against the common course of Law to break a Marriage without any publick Sentence and since one of the chief politick Reasons that was made use of in this Suit was to settle the Succession of the Crown this did embroil it more since there was a fair colour given to except to the Validity of the second Marriage because it was contracted before the first was annulled But to this others answered That the first Marriage being judged by the Interpreters of the Doctrine of the Church to have been Null from the beginning there was no need of any Sentence but onely for Form And all concluded it had been better there had been no Sentence at all than one so late Some excepted to the Archbishop of Canterbury's being Judge who by his former Writings and Disputes had declared himself partial But to this it was answered That when a man changes his Character all that he did in another Figure is no just Exception so Judges decide Causes in which they formerly gave Counsel and Popes are not bound to the Opinions they held when they were Divines or Canonists It was also said That the Archbishop did onely declare in Legal Form that which was already judged by the whole Convocation of both Provinces Some wondered at the Popes stifness that would put so much to hazard when there wanted not as good Colours to justifie a Bull as they had made use of to excuse many other things But the Emperors Greatness and the fear of giving the Lutherans advantages in disputing the Popes Authority were on the other hand so prevalent Considerations that no wonder they wrought much on a Pope who pretended to no other knowledge but that of Policy for he had often said He understood not the matter and therefore left it in other mens hands All persons excused Queen Katharine for standing so stifly to her ground onely her denying so confidently that Prince Arthur consummated the Marriage seems not capable of an Excuse Every body admired Queen Annes Conduct who had managed such a Kings Spirit so long and had neither surfeited him with great freedom nor provoked him by the other Extreme for the King who was extremely nice in these matters conceived still an higher Opinion of her and her being so soon with child after the Marriage as it made people conclude she had been chaste till then so they hoped for a Blessing upon it since there were such early appearances of Issue Those that favoured the Reformation expected better days under her Protection for they know she favoured them But those who were in their hearts for the Established Religion did much dislike it and many of the Clergy especially the Orders of Monks and Friars condemned it both in their Sermons and Discourses But the King little regarding the Censures of the Vulgar sent Embassadors to all the Courts of Europe to give notice of his new Marriage and to justifie it by some of those Reasons which have been opened in the former parts of this History He also sent the Lord Mountjoy to the Divorced Queen to let her know what was done and that she was no more to be treated as Queen but as Princess Dowager He was to mix Promises with Threatnings particularly concerning her Daughters being put next the Queens Issue in the Succession But the afflicted Queen would not yield and said she would not damn her Soul nor submit to such an Infamy That she was his Wife and would never call her self by any other Name whatever might follow on it since the Process still depended at Rome That Lord having written a Relation of what had passed between him and her shewed it to her but she dashed with a Pen all those places in which she was called Princess Dowager and would receive no Service at any ones hands but of those who called her Queen and she continued to be still served as Queen by all about her Against which though the King used all the Endeavours he could not without both threatning and violence to some of the Servants yet he could never drive her from it and what he did in that was thought far below that Height of Mind which appeared in his other Actings for since he had stript her of the real Greatness of a Queen it seemed too much to vex her for keeping up the Pageantry of it But the news of this made great impressions elsewhere The Emperor received the Kings justification very coldly and said â—e would consider what he was to do upon it which was looked on as a Dâ—câ—aration of War The French King though he expressed still gâ—eat Friendship to the King yet was now resolved to link himself to the Pope for the crafty Pope apprehending that nothing made the King of England so confident as that he knew his Friendship was necessary to the French King and fearing they had resolved to proceed at once to the puâ—ting down the Papal Authority in their Kingdoms which it appears they had once agreed to do resolved by all means to make sure of the French King which as it would preserve that Kingdom in his obedience so would perhaps frighten the King of England from proceeding to such extremities since that Prince in whose conjunction he trusted so much had forsaken him Therefore the Pope did so vigorously pursue the Treaty with Francis that it was as good as ended at this time and an Interview was projected between them at Marseilles The Pope did also grant him so great Power
the King had done That the Pope had said at Marseilles that if the King would send a Proxy to Rome he would give the Cause for him against the Queen because he knew his Cause was good and just Which is a great presumption that the Pope did really give some engagements to the French King about the King's business When the Bishop of Paris came to Rome the Motion was liked and it was promised that if the King sent a promise of that under his Hand with an Order to his Proxies to appear in Court there should be Judges sent to Cambray to form the Process and then the matter should be Determined for him at Rome This was sent to the King with the Notice of the day that was prefixed for the return of his answer and with other Motives which must have been very great since they prevailed so much For in answer there was a Courier dispatcht from the King with a formal promise under his Hand And now the matter seemed at a point the French Interest was great in the Court of Rome four new Cardinals had been made at Marseilles and there were six of that Faction before which with the Popes Creatures and the indifferent or venal Voices ballanced the Imperial Faction so that a wound that was looked on as fatal was now almost healed But God in his wise and unsearchable Providence had designed to draw other great ends out of this Rupture and therefore suffered them that were the most concerned to hinder it to be the chief instruments of driving it on For the Cardinals of the Imperial Faction were now very active they liked not the President of excluding the Cardinals of the Nations concern'd out of any business But above all things they were to hinder a Conjunction between the Pope and the King of England for the Pope being then allied to France there was nothing the Emperor feared more than the closing the Breach with England which would make the union against him so much stronger Therefore when the day that had been prefixed for the return of the Courier from England was elapsed they all pressed the Pope to proceed to a Sentence Definitive and to Censures Bellay the Bishop of Paris represented the injustice of proceeding with so much Precipitation since where there were Seas to cross in such a Season many accidents might occasion the delay of the Express The King of England had followed this Suit six years and had patience so long therefore he desired the delay of six dayes and if in that time no return came they might proceed But the Imperialists represented that those were only delays to gain time and that the King of England was still proceeding in his contempt of the Apostolick See and of the Cardinals and publishing Books and Libels against them This so wrought on the angry Pope that without consulting his ordinary prudence he brought the business into the Consistory where the Plurality of voices carryed it to proceed to a Sentence And though the Process had been carryed on all that winter in their usual Forms yet it was not so ripe but by the Rules of the Consistory there ought to have been three Sessions before Sentence was given But they concluded all in one day and so on the 23d of March the Marriage between the King and Queen Katharine was declared good and the King required to take her as his wife otherwise Censures were to be denounced against him Two days after that the Courier arrived from England with the Kings Submission under his hand in due Form and earnest Letters from the French King to have it accepted that so the business might be composed When this was known at Rome all the indiâ—â—erent and wise Cardinals among whom was Farnese that was afterwards Pope Paul the 3d. came to the Pope and desired that it might be again considered before it went furâ—her So it was brought again into the Consistory But the secret reason of the Imperialists opposing it was now more pressing since there was such an appearance of a settlement if the former Sentence were once recalled Therefore they so managed the matter that it was confirmed a-new by the Pope and the Consistory and they ordered the Emperor to execute the Sentence The King was now in so good hope of his business that he sent Sr. Edward Karne to Rome to prosecute his Suit who on his way thither met the Bishop of Paris coming back with this Melancholick account of his unprosperous Negotiation When the King heard it and understood that he was used with so much scorn and contempt at Rome being also the more vexed because he had come to such a submission he resolved then to break totally from Rome And in this he was before hand with that Court. For judging it the best way to procure a peace to manage the War vigorously he had held a Session of Parliament from the 15th of Ianuary till the 30th of March in which he had procured a great Change of the whole Constitution of the Government of the Church But before I give an account of that I shall first open all the Arguments and reasons upon which I find they proceeded in this Matter The Popes Power had been then for 4 years together much examined and disputed in England in which they went by these steps one leading to another They first controverted his Power of Dispensing with the Law of God From that they went to examine what Jurisdiction he had in England upon which followed the Convicting the Clergy of a Premunire with their Submission to the King And that led them to controvert the Popes right to Annates and other Exactions which they also condemned The Condemning all appeals to Rome followed that naturally And now so many branches of that Power were cut off the Root was next struck at and the Foundations of the Papal Authority were examined For near a year together there had been many publick debates about it and both in the Parliament and Convocation the thing was long disputed and all that could be alledged on both sides was Considered The Reader will be best able to judge of their reasons and thereby of the ripeness of their judgments when they Enacted the Laws that passed in this Parliament when he sees a full account of them which I shall next set down not drawn from the Writings and Apologies that have been published since but from these that came out about that time For then were written the Institution for the Necessary Erudition of a Christian man Concluded in the Convocation and published by Authority and another Book De Differentia Regiae Ecclesiasticae Potestatis The former of these was called the Bishops and the latter the Kings Book Gardiner also wrote a Book De vera Obedientia to which Bonner prefixed a Preface upon the same Subject Stokesly Bishop of London and Tonstal Bishop of Duresm wrote a long
Court had an eye on their Lands made them to be as complyant as could be But Fisher was a man of great reputation and very ancient so that much pains was taken to satisfie him A week before the Parliament sat down the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury proposed to him that he and any Five Doctors such as he should choose and the Bishop of London and Five Doctors with him might confer about it and examine the Authorities of both sides that so there might be an Agreement among them by which the scandal might be removed which otherwise would be taken from their Janglings and Contests among themselves Fisher accepted of this and Stokesley wrote to him on the 8th of Ianuary that he was ready whenever the other pleased and desired him to name time and place and if they could not agree the matter among themselves he moved to refer it to two Learned men whom they should choose in whose determination they would both acquiesce How far this overture went I cannot discover and perhaps Fishers sickness hindred the progress of it But now on the 15th of Ianuary the Parliament sat down by the Journals I find no other Bishops present but the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Bishops of London Winchester Lincoln Bath and Wells Landaffe and Carlisle There were also twelve Abbots present but upon what pretences the rest excused their attendance I do not know perhaps some made a difference between submitting to what was done and being active and concurring to make the change During the Session a Bishop preached every Sunday at Pauls-Cross and declared to the people That the Pope had no Authority at all in England In the two former Sessions the Bishops had preached that the general Council was above the Pope but now they struck a note higher This was done to let the people see what justice and reason was in the Acts that were then passing to which I now turn and shall next give an account of this great Session of Parliament which I shall put rather in the natural Method according to the matter of the Acts than in the order of time as they passed On the 9th of March a Bill came up from the Commons for dischargeing the Subjects of all dependance on the Court of Rome it was read the first time in the House of Lords the 13th of March and on the 14th was read the second time and Committed The Committee reported it on the 19th by which it appears there was no stiff nor long opposition and he that was likest to make it was both obnoxious and absent as will afterwards appear On the 19th it was read the third time and on the 20th the fourth time and then passed without any protestation Some Proviso's were added to it by the Lords to which the Commons agreed and so it was made ready for the Royal assent In the Preamble the intolerable exactions for Peter-pence Provisions Pensions and Bulls of all sorts are complained of which were contrary to all Laws and grounded only on the Popes Power of Dispensing which was Usurped But the King and the Lords and Commons within his own Realm had only power to consider how any of the Laws were to be Dispensed with or Abrogated and since the King was acknowledged the Supreme Head of the Church of England by the Prelates and Clergy in their Convocations Therefore it was Enacted that all Payments made to the Apostolick Chamber and all Provisions Bulls or Dispensations should from thenceforth cease But that all Dispensations or Licences for things that were not contrary to the Law of God but only to the Law of the Land should be granted within the Kingdom by and under the Seals of the two Arch-Bishops in their several Provinces who should not presume to grant any contrary to the Laws of Almighty God and should only grant such Licences as had been formerly in use to be granted but give no Licence for any new thing till it were first examined by the King and his Council whether such things might be dispensed with and that all Dispensations which were formerly taxed at or above 4 l. should be also confirmed under the Great-Seal Then many clauses follow about the Rates of Licences and the ways of procuring them It was also declared that they did not hereby intend to vary from Christ's Church about the Articles of the Catholick Faith of Christendom or in any other things declared by the Scriptures and the word of God necessary for their Salvation confirming withal the exemptions of Monasteries formerly granted by the Bishop of Rome exempting them still from the Arch-Bishops Visitations declaring that such Abbeys whose Elections were formerly confirmed by the Pope shall be now confirmed by the King who likewise shall give Commission under his Great-Seal for visiting them providing also that Licences and other Writs obtained from Rome before the 12 of March in that year should be valid and in force except they were contrary to the Laws of the Realm giving also to the King and his Council power to order and reform all Indulgences and Priviledges or the abuses of them which had been granted by the See of Rome The offenders against this Act were to be punished according to the Statutes of Provisors and Premunire This Act as it gave great ease to the Subject so it cut off that base trade of Indulgences about Divine Laws which had been so gainful to the Church of Rome but was of late fatal to it All in the Religious Houses saw their Priviledges now struck at since they were to be reformed as the King saw cause which put them in no small confusion Those that favoured the Reformation rejoyced at this Act not only because the Popes Power was rooted out but because the Faith that was to be adhered to was to be taken from those things which the Scriptures declared necessary to Salvation so that all their fears were now much qualified since the Scripture was to be the standard of the Catholick Faith On the same day that this Bill passed in the House of Lords another Bill was read for confirming the Succession to the Crown in the Issue of the Kings present Marriage with Queen Anne It was read the second time on the 21 of March and Committed It was reported on the 23th and read the third time and passed and sent down to the Commons who sent it back again to them on the 26th so speedily did this Bill go through both Houses without any opposition The Preamble of it was The distractions that had been in England about the Succession to the Crown which had occasioned the effusion of much Blood with many other mischiefs all which flowed from the want of a clear Decision of the true Title from which the Popes had Usurped a Power of investing such as pleased them in other Princes Kingdoms and Princes had often maintained such Donations for their other ends therefore to avoid the like
vehemency nor could they silence him till the King himself commanded him to hold his peace And yet all that was done either to him or Peto was that being called before the Privie Council they were rebuked for their insolence by which it appears that King Henry was not very easily inflamed against them when a crime of so high a Nature was so slightly passed over Nor was this all but the Fathers that were in the Conspiracy had confederated to publish these Revelations in their Sermons up and down the Kingdom They had also given Notice of them to the Popes Ambassadors and had brought the Maid to declare her Revelations to them they had also sent an account to Queen Katharine for encouraging her to stand out and not submit to the Laws of which Confederacy Thomas Abel was likewise one The thing that was in so many hands could not be a secret therefore the King who had despised it long ordered that in Nouember the former year the Maid and her Complices Richard Master Doctor Bocking Richard Deering Henry Gold a Parson in London Hugh Rich an observant Frier Richard Risby Thomas Gold and Edward Twaites Gentlemen and Thomas Laurence should be brought into the Star-Chamber where there was a great appearance of many Lords they were examined upon the premises and did all without any rack or torture confess the whole Conspiracy and were adjudged to stand in Pauls all the Sermon time and after Sermon the Kings Officers were to give every one of them his Bill of Confession to be openly read before the people which was done next Sunday the Bishop of Bangor preaching they being all set in a Scaffold before him This publick manner was thought upon good grounds to be the best way to satisfie the people of the Imposture of the whole matter and it did very much convince them that the cause must needs be bad where such methods were used to support it From thence they were carryed to the Tower where they lay till the Session of Parliament but when they lay there some of their Complices sent messages to the Nun to encourage her to deny all that she had said and it is very probable that the reports that went abroad of her being forced or cheated into a Confession made the King think it necessary to proceed more severely against her The thing being considered in Parliament it was judged a Conspiracy against the Kings Life and Crown So the Nun and Master Bocking Deering Rich Risby and Henry Gold were Attainted of high Treason And the Bishop of Rochester Thomas Gold Thomas Laurence Edward Twaites Iohn Adeson and Thomas Abell were judged guilty of misprision of Treason and to forfeit their goods and Chattels to the King and to be imprisoned during his pleasure and all the Books that were written of her Revelations were ordered to be sent in to some of the chief Officers of State under the pains of Fine and Imprisonment It had been also found that the Letter which she pretended to have got from Mary Magdalen e was written by one Hankherst of Canterbury and that the door of the Dormitorie which was given out to be made open by miracle that she might go into the Chappel for Converse with God was opened by some of her Complices for beastly and carnal ends But in the Conclusion of the Act all others who had been corrupted in their Allegiance by these impostures except the persons before named were at the earnest intercession of Queen Anne pardoned The two Houses of Parliament having ended their business were prorogued on the 29th of March to the 3d of November and before they broke up all the Members of both Houses that they might give a good example to the Kings other Subjects swore the Oath of Succession as appears from the Act made about it in the next Session of Parliament The Execution of these persons was delayed for some time it is like till the King had a return from Rome of the Messenger he had sent thither with his Submission Soon after that on the 20 of April the Nun and Bocking Master Deering Risby and Gold Rich is not named being perhaps either dead or pardoned were brought to Tiburn The Nun spake these words Hither I am come to die and I have not been only the cause of mine own death which most justly I have deserved but also I am the cause of the death of all those persons which at this time here suffer And yet to say the truth I am not so much to be blamed considering that it was well known to these learned men that I was a poor wench without Learning and therefore they might easily have perceived that the things that were done by me could not proceed in no such sort but their capacities and Learning could right well judge from whence they proceeded and that they were altogether feigned but because the thing which I feigned was profitable to them therefore they much praised me and bore me in hand that it was the Holy-Ghost and not I that did them and then I being pussed up with their praises fell into a certain pride and foolish fantasie with my self and thought I might feign what I would which thing hath brought me to this case and for the which now I cry God and the Kings Highness most heartily Mercy and desire you all good people to pray to God to have mercy on me and on all them that here suffer with me On all this I have dwelt the longer both because these are all called Martyrs by Sanders and that this did first provoke the King against the Regular Clergy and drew after it all the severities that were done in the rest of his Reign The foulness and the wicked designs of this Imposture did much alienate people from the Interest of Rome and made the other Acts both pass more easily and be better received by the people It was also generally believed that what was now discovered was no new practice but that many of the Visions and Miracles by which Religious Orders had raised their Credit so high were of the same Nature and it made way for the destroying of all the Monasteries in England though all the severity which at this time followed on it was that the Observant Friers of Richmont Greenwich Canterbury Newark and Newcastle were removed out of their Houses and put with the other Gray-Friers and Augustin-Friers were put in their Houses But because of the great name of Fisher Bishop of Rochester and since this was the first step to his ruin it is necessary to give a fuller account of his carriage in this matter When the cheat was first discovered Cromwell then Secretary of State sent the Bishops Brother to him with a sharp reproof for his carriage in that business but withal advised him to write to the King and acknowledge his offence and desire his pardon which he knew the King considering his Age and sickness
and Aldermen of London She said She was come to die as she was Judged by the Law she would accuse none nor say any thing of the ground upon which she was judged She prayed heartily for the King and called him a most merciful and gentle Prince and that he had been always to her a good gentle Soveraign Lord and if any would meddle with her cause she required them to judge the best And so she took her leave of them and of the world and heartily desired they would pray for her After she had been some time in her Devotions being her last words To Christ I commend my Soul her Head was cut off by the Hangman of Calais who was brought over as more expert at Beheading than any in England her Eyes and Lips were observed to move after her Head was cut off as Spelman writes but her Body was thrown into a common Chest of Elme-tree that was made to put Arrows in and was buried in the Chappel within the Tower before twelve a Clock Her Brother with the other four did also suffer none of them were Quartered but they were all Beheaded except Smeton who was Hanged It was generally said that he was corrupted into that Confession and had his Life promised him but it was not fit to let him live to tell Tales Norris had been much in the Kings favour and an offer was made him of his life if he would confess his guilt and accuse the Queen But he generously rejected that un-handsome proposition and said That in his Conscience he thought her Innocent of these things laid to her charge but whether she was or not he would not accuse her of any thing and he would die a thousand times rather than ruin an Innocent Person These proceedings occasioned as great variety of Censures as there were diversity of Interests The Popish Party said the justice of God was visible that she who had supplanted Queen Katharine met with the like and harder measure by the same means Some took notice of her faint justifying her self on the Scaffold as if her Conscience had then prevailed so far that she could no longer deny a thing for which she was so soon to answer at another Tribunal But others thought her care of her Daughter made her speak so tenderly for she had observed that Queen Katharines obstinacy had drawn the Kings indignation on her Daughter and therefore that she alone might bear her misfortunes and derive no share of them on her Daughter she spake in a stile that could give the King no just offence And as she said enough to justifie her self so she said as much for the Kings honour as could be expected Yet in a Letter that she wrote to the King from the Tower which will be found in the Collection she pleaded her Innocence in a strain of so much Wit and moving passionate Eloquence as perhaps can scarce be paralelled certainly her spirits were much exalted when she wrote it for it is a pitch above her ordinary stile Yet the Copy I take it from lying among Cromwells other papers makes me believe it was truely written by her Her carriage seemed too free and all people thought that some freedoms and levities in her had encouraged those unfortunate persons to speak such bold things to her since few attempt upon the Chastity or make declarations of Love to persons of so exalted a quality except they see some invitations at least in their carriage Others thought that a free and jovial temper might with great Innocence though with no discretion lead one to all those things that were proved against her and therefore they concluded her chast though indiscreet Others blamed the King and taxed his cruelty in proceeding so severely against a person whose Chastity he had reason to be assured of since she had resisted his addresses near five years till he Legitimated them by Marriage But others excused him It is certain her carriage had given just cause of some jealousie and that being the rage of a man it was no wonder if a King of his temper conceiving it against one whom he had so signally obliged was transported into unjustifiable excesses Others condemned Cranmer as a man that obsequiously followed all the Kings appetites and that he had now Divorced the King a second time which shewed that his Conscience was governed by the Kings pleasure as his Supreme Law But what he did was unavoidable For whatever motives drew from her the Confession of that Precontract he was obliged to give Sentence upon it And that which she confessed being such as made her incapable to contract Marriage with the King he could not decline the giving of Sentence upon so formal a Confession Some loaded all that favoured the Reformation and said It now appeared what a woman their great Patroness and Supporter had been But to those it was answered That her faults if true being secret could cast no reflection on those who being ignorant of them made use of her Protection And the Church of Rome thought not their Cause suffered by the enraged Cruelty and Ambition of the cursed Irene who had convened the second Council of Nice and set up the worship of Images again in the East whom the Popes continued to court and magnifie after her barbarous murder of her Son with other acts of unsatiated spite and ambition Therefore they had no reason to think the worse of persons for claiming the Protection of a Queen whose faults if she was at all criminal were unknown to them when they made use of her Some have since that time concluded it a great evidence of her Guilt that during her Daughters long and glorious Reign there was no full nor compleat vindication of her published For the Writers of that time thought it enough to speak honourably of her and in general to call her Innocent But none of them ever attempted a clear discussion of the particulars laid to her charge This had been much to her Daughters honour and therefore since it was not done others concluded it could not be done and that their knowledge of her guilt restrained their Pens But others do not at all allow of that Inference and think rather that it was the great wisdom of that time not to suffer such things to be called in question since no wise Government will admit of a debate about the clearness of the Princes Title For the very attempting to prove it weakens it more than any of the proofs that are brought can confirm it therefore it was prudently done of that Queen and her great Ministers never to suffer any Vindication or Apology to be written Some indiscretions could not be denied and these would all have been catched hold of and improved by the busie Emissaries of Rome and Spain But nothing did more evidently discover the secret cause of this Queens ruin than the Kings Marrying Iane Seimour the day after her Execution She of all King Henries
If full Forty days be necessary for a Summons then the Writs must have been issued forth the day before the late Queens disgrace so that it was designed before the Justs at Greenwich and did not flow from any thing that then appeared When the Parliament met the Lord Chancellor Audley in his speech told them That when the former Parliament was dissolved the King had no thoughts of Summoning a new one so soon But for two reasons he had now called them The one was that he finding himself subject to so many infirmities and considering that he was Mortal a rare thought in a Prince he desired to settle an apparent heir to the Crown in case he should die without Children lawfully begotten The other was to repeal an Act of the former Parliament concerning the Succession of the Crown to the issue of the King by Queen Anne Boleyn He desired them to reflect on the great troubles and vexation the King was involved in by his first unlawful Marriage and the dangers he was in by his second which might well have frighted any body from a third Marriage But Anne and her Conspirators being put to death as they well deserved the King at the humble request of the Nobility and not out of any Carnal concupiscence was pleased to Marry again a Queen by whom there were very probable hopes of his having children Therefore he recommended to them to provide an heir to the Crown by the Kings direction who if the King dyed without children lawfully begotten might Rule over them He desired they would pray God earnestly that he would grant the King issue of his own body and return thanks to Almighty God that preserved such a King to them out of so many eminent dangers who imployed all his care and endeavours that he might keep his whole people in quiet peace and perfect charity and leave them so to those that should succeed him But though this was the chief cause of calling the Parliament it seems the Ministers met with great difficulties and therefore spent much time in preparing mens minds For the Bill about the Succession to the Crown was not brought into the House of Lords before the 30th day of Iune that the Lord Chancellor offered it to the House It went through both Houses without any Opposition It contained first a repeal of the former Act of Succession and a Confirmation of the two Sentences of Divorce the issue of both the Kings former Marriages being declared illegitimate and for ever excluded from claiming the inheritance of the Crown as the Kings Lawful heirs by lineal descent The Attainder of Queen Anne and her Complices is confirmed Quen Anne is said to have been inflamed with pride and Carnal desires of her body and having confederated her self with her complices to have committed divers Treasons to the danger of the Kings Royal person with other aggravating words for which she had justly suffered death and is now attainted by Act of Parliament And all things that had been said or done against her or her Daughter being contrary to an Act of Parliament then in force are pardoned and the inheritance of the Crown is established on the issue of Queen Iane whether Male or Female or the Kings issue by any other Wife whom he might Marry afterwards But since it was not fit to declare to whom the Succession of the Crown belonged after the Kings death lest the person so designed might be thereby enabled to raise trouble and Commotions therefore they considering the Kings wise and excellent Government and confiding in the love and affection which he bore to his Subjects did give him full Power to declare the Succession to the Crown either by his Letters Patents under the great Seal or by his last will Signed with his hand and promised all faithful obedience to the persons named by him And if any so designed to succeed in default of others should endeavor to usurp upon those before them or to exclude them they are declared Traytors and were to forfeit all the Right they might thereafter claim to the Crown And if any should maintain the Lawfulness of the former Marriages or that the issue by them was legitimate or refused to swear to the Kings issue by Queen Iane they were also declared Traytors By this Act it may appear how absolutely this King Reigned in England Many question'd much the validity of it and as shall afterwards appear the Scots said that the Succession to the Crown was not within the Parliaments Power to determine aboutit but must go by inheritance to their King in default of issue by this King Yet by this the King was enabled to settle the Crown on his Children whom he had now declared Illegitimate by which he brought them more absolutely to depend upon himself He neither made them desperate nor gave them any further Right than what they were to derive purely from his own good pleasure This did also much pacifie the Emperor since his Kinswoman was though not restored in blood yet put in a capacity to succeed to the Crown At this time there came a new Proposition from Rome to try if the King would accommodate matters with the Pope Pope Clement the Seventh dyed two years before this in the year 1534. and Cardinal Farnese succeeded him called Pope Paul the Third He had before this made one unsuccessful attempt upon the King but upon the beheading of the Bishop and declared Cardinal of Rochester he had Thundered a most terrible Sentence of Deposition against the King and designed to commit the Execution of it to the Emperor Yet now when Queen Katharine and Queen Anne who were the occasions of the Rupture were both out of the way he thought it was a proper conjuncture to try if a Reconciliation could be effected This he proposed to Sir Gregory Cassali who was no more the Kings Ambassador at Rome but was still his Correspondent there The Pope desired he would move the King in it and let him know that he had ever favoured his Cause in the former Popes time and though he was forced to give out a Sentence against him yet he had never any intention to proceed upon it to further Extremities But the King was now so entirely alienated from the Court of Rome that to cut off all hopes of reconciliation he procured two Acts to be passed in this Parliament The one was for the utter extinguishing the Authority of the Bishop of Rome It was brought into the House of Lords on the 4th of Iuly And was read the first time the 5th and the second time on the 6th of Iuly and lay at the Committee till the 12th And on the 14th it was sent down to the Commons who if there be no mistake in the Journal sent it up that same day They certainly made great haste for the Parliament was dissolved within Four days The Preamble of this first Act contains severe Reflections on
unfeigned which were meritorious towards the attaining of Everlasting life Other works were of an Inferior sort such as Fasting Almsdeeds and other fruits of Penance And the merit of good works is reconciled with the freedom of Gods mercies to us since all our works are done by his Grace so that we have no cause of boasting but must ascribe all to the Grace and goodness of God The last Chapter is about Prayers for Souls departed which is the same that was formerly set out in the Articles three years before All this was finished and set forth this year with a Preface written by those of the Clergy who had been imployed in it declaring with what care they had examined the Scriptures and the ancient Doctors out of whom they had faithfully gathered this Exposition of the Christian Faith To this the King added another Preface some years after declaring that although he had cast out the darkness by setting forth the Scriptures to his people which had produced very good effects yet as hypocrisie and superstition were purged away so a Spirit of presumption dissension and carnal liberty was breaking in For repressing which he had by the advice of his Clergy set forth a Declaration of the true knowledg of God for directing all mens belief and practice which both Houses of Parliament had seen and liked very well So that he verily trusted it contained a true and sufficient Doctrine for the attaining everlasting life Therefore he required all his people to read and print in their hearts the Doctrine of this Book He also willed them to remember that as there were some Teachers whose Office it was to instruct the people so the rest ought to be taught and to those it was not necessary to read the Scriptures and that therefore he had restrained it from a great many esteeming it sufficient for such to hear the Doctrine of the Scriptures taught by their Preachers which they should lay up in their hearts and practise in their lives Lastly he desired all his Subjects to pray to God to grant them the Spirit of Humility that they might read and carry in their hearts the Doctrine set forth in this Book But though I have joyned the account of this Preface to the Extract here made of the Bishops Book yet it was not prefixed to it till above two years after the other was set out When this was published both parties found cause in it both to be glad and sorrowful The Reformers rejoyced to see the Doctrine of the Gospel thus opened more and more for they concluded that Ignorance and prejudices being the chief supports of the Errours they complained of the instructing people in Divine Matters even though some particulars displeased them yet would awaken and work upon an inquisitive humour that was then a-stirring and they did not doubt but their Doctrines were so clear that Inquiries into Religion would do their business They were also glad to see the Morals of Christianity so well cleared which they hoped would dispose people to a better taste of Divine matters since they had observed that purity of Soul does mightily prepare people for sound opinions Most of the Superstitious conceits and practices which had for some ages embased the Christian Faith were now removed and the great fundamental of Christianity the Covenant between God and man in Christ with the conditions of it was plainly and sincerely declared There was also another principle laid down that was big with a further Reformation for every National Church was declared a compleat Body within it self with power to reform heresies correct abuses and do every thing else that was necessary for keeping it self pure or governing its members By which there was a fair way opened for a full discussion of things afterwards when a fitter opportunity should be offered But on the other hand the Popish party thought they had gained much The seven Sacraments were again asserted so that here much ground was recovered and they hoped more would follow There were many things laid down to which they knew the Reformers would never consent So that they who were resolved to comply with every thing that the King had a mind to were pretty safe But the others who followed their perswasions and consciences were brought into many snares and the Popish party was confident that their absolute compliance which was joyned with all possible submission and flattery would gain the King at length and the stiffness of others who would not give that deference to the Kings judgment and pleasure would so alienate him from them that he would in the end abandon them for with the Kings years his uneasiness and peevishness grew mightily on him The dissolution of the Kings Marriage with Anne of Cleves had so offended the Princes of Germany that though upon the Ladies account they made no publick noise of it yet there was little more intercourse between the King and them especially Cromwel falling that had alwayes carried on the correspondence with them And as this intercourse went off so a secret Treaty was set on foot between the King and the Emperor yet it came not to a Conclusion till two years after The other Bishops that were appointed to examine the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church drew up a Rubrick and Rationale of them which I do not find was printed but a very Authentical M S. of a great part of it was is extant The alterations they made were inconsiderable and so slight that there was no need of reprinting either the Missals Breviaries or other Offices for a few rasures of these Collects in which the Pope was prayed for of Thomas Beckets Office and the Offices of other Saints whose days were by the Kings Injunctions no more to be observed with some other Deletions made that the old Books did still serve For whether it was that the Change of the Mass-Books and other publick Offices would have been too great a Charge to the Nation or whether they thought it would have possessed the people with an opinion that the Religion was altered since the Books of the ancient worship were changed which remaining the same they might be the more easily perswaded that the Religion was still the same there was no new impression of the Breviaries Missals and other Rituals during this Kings Reign Yet in Queen Maries time they took care that Posterity should not know how much was dashed out or changed For as all Parishes were required to furnish themselves with new compleat Books of the Offices so the dashed Books were every-where brought in and destroyed But it is likely that most of those Scandalous Hymnes and Prayers which are addressed to Saints in the same style in which good Christians worship God were all struck out because they were now condemned as appears from the Extract of the other Book set out by the Bishops But as they went on in these things the Popish party whose Counsels were
questioned for Heresie But Cranmers carriage in this matter was suitable to the other parts of his Life for he withdrew to Croydon and would not so much as be present in Parliament when so unjust an Act was passed and his absence at this time was the more considerable since the King was so dangerously ill that it must be concluded it could be no slight Cause that made him withdraw at such a time But the Duke of Norfolk had been his constant Enemy therefore he would not so much as be near the publick Councils when so strange an Act was passing But at the same time the Bishop of Winchester was officiously hanging on in the Court and though he was forbid to come to Council yet always when the Councellors went into the Kings Bed-Chamber he went with them to the door to make the World believe he was still one of the number and staying at the door till the rest came out he returned with them But he was absolutely lost in the Kings Opinion There is but one other step of Forreign business in this Reign which was an Embassy sent over by the Duke of Saxony to let the King know of the League between the Pope and the Emperor for the Extirpation of Heresie And that the Emperor was making War on him and the other Princes in pursuance of that League Therefore he desired the Kings Assistance But at the same time the Emperor did by his Agents every-where disown that the War was made upon a Religious Account And said it was only to maintain the Rights of the Empire which those Princes had affronted So the King answered that as soon as it did appear to him that Religion was the cause of the War he would Assist them But that which made this so involved was That though at Rome the Pope declared it was a Holy War and ordered Prayers and Processions to be made for Success yet the Emperor in all his Declarations took no notice of Religion He had also divided the Protestant Party so that some of them joyned with him and others were Neutrals And when in Germany it self this matter was so little understood it was easie to abuse Strangers by giving them a wrong Account of it The King was now overgrown with corpulency and fatness so that he became more and more unwieldy He could not go up or down stairs but as he was raised up or let down by an Engine And an old sore in his Leg became very uneasie to him so that all the humors in his Body sinking down into his Leg he was much pained and became exceeding froward and intractable to which his inexcusable severity to the Duke of Norfolk and his Son may be in a great measure imputed His Servants durst scarce speak to him to put him in mind of his approaching end And an Act of Parliament which was made for the security of the Kings Life had some words in it against the Foretelling of his death which made every one afraid to speak to him of it lest he in his angry and imperious humors should have Ordered them to be Endicted upon that Statute But he felt nature declining apace and so made the Will that he had left behind him at his last going into France be written over again with â—his only difference That Gardiner Bishop of Winchester whom he had appointed one of the Executors of his Will and of the Councellors to his Son till he came of Age was now left out Of which when Sir Anthony Brown put the King in mind apprehending it was only an Omission he answered That he knew Gardiners temper well enough and though he could Govern him yet none of them would be able to do it and that he would give them much trouble And when Brown at another time repeated the motion to the King he told him if he spake more of that he would strike him out of his Will too The Will was said to be Signed the 30th of December It is Printed at large by Fuller and the most Material parts of it by Heylin So I need say little of it only the most signal Clause in it was That he excluded the Line of Scotland out of the Succession and preferred the two Daughters of the French Queen by Charles Brandon to them And this leads me to discover several things concerning this Will which have been hitherto unknown I draw them from a Letter written to Sir William Cecil then Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth afterwards Lord Burleigh by William Maitland of Leithingtoun Secretary of State to the Queen of Scotland This Maitland was accounted a man of the greatest parts of any in his Nation at that time though his Treachery in turning over to the Party that was against the Queen very much blemished his other Qualities but he expiated his fault by a real Repentance which appeared in his returning to his duty and losing all afterwards in her quarrel His Letter will be found in the Collection The Substance and design of it is to clear the Right his Mistress had to the Crown of England in case the Queen should die without Heirs of her Body Therein after he had answered other Objections he comes to this of the Will To it he says That according to the Act of Parliament the Kings Will was to be Signed with his own hand but this Will was only Signed by the Stamp Then the King never Ordered the Stamp to be put to it He had been oft desired to Sign it but had always put it off but when they saw his death approaching one William Clark servant to Thomas Hennage put the Stamp to it and some Gentlemen that were waiting without were called in to Sign it as Witnesses For this he appeal'd to the deposition of the Lord Paget and desired the Marquess of Winchester and Northampton the Earl of Pembroke Sir William Petre Sir Henry Nâ—vil Sir Maurice Berkley Sir Anthony Denny Doctor Buts and some others might be examined and that their Depositions might be entred in the Chancery He also appealed to the Original Will by which it would appear That it was not Signed but only Stamped and that not being according to the Act of Parliament which in such extraordinary things must be strictly taken the Will was of no force Thus it appears what vulgar Errors pass upon the World And though for seventy five years the Scotish Race has enjoyed the Crown of England and after so long a possession it is very superfluous to clear a Title which is universally acknowledged yet the Reader will not be ill pleased to see how ill-grounded that pretence was which some managed very seditiously during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth for excluding that Line But if this Will was not signed by the King other Grantâ— was certainly made by him on his death-bed one was to the City of London of 500 Marks a year for endowing an Hospital which was called Christs
Guilty to the Endictment shews no extraordinary resolution so the account that is given by them of one Hall a Secular Priest that died with them is so false that there is good reason to suspect all He is said to have suffered on the same account but the Record of his Attaindor gives a very different relation of it He and Robert Feron were endited at the same time for having said many spiteful and Treasonable things as that the King was a Tyrant an Heretick a Robber and an Adulterer that they hoped he should die such a death as King Iohn and Richard the 3d died that they looked when those in Ireland and Wales should invade England and they were assured that three parts of four in England would be against the King they also said that they should never live merrily till the King and the Rulers were plucked by the Pates and brought to the Pot and that it would never be well with the Church till that was done Hall had not only said this but had also written it to Feron the 10th of March that year When they were brought to the Bar they at first pleaded Not Guilty but full proof being brought they themselves confessed the Enditement before the Jury went aside and put themselves on the Kings mercy upon which this being an imagining and contriving both War against the King and the Kings death judgment was given as in cases of Treason but no mention being made of Ferons death it seems he had his pardon Hall suffered with the four Carthusians who were hanged in their habits They proceeded no further in Easter-Term but in Trinity-Term there was another Commission of Oyer and Terminer by which Humphrey Middlemore William Exmew and Sebastian Nudigate three Monks of the Charter-house near London were Endited of Treason for having said on the 25 of May that they neither could nor would consent to be obedient to the Kings Highness as true lawful and obedient Subjects to take him to be Supream Head on Earth of the Church of England They all pleaded not-Guilty but were found Guilty by the Jury and Judgment was given When they were condemned they desired that they might receive the body of Christ before their death But as Judge Spelman writ the Court would not grant it since that was never done in such cases but by Order from the King Two dayes after that they were Executed Two other Monks of that same Order Iohn Rochester and Iames Wolver suffered on the same account at York in May this year Ten other Carthusian Monks were shut up within their Cells where nine of them dyed the tenth was hanged in the beginning of August Concerning those persons I find this said in some Original Letters that they had brought over into England and vented in it some Books that were written beyond Sea against the Kings Marriage and his other proceedings which being found in their house they were pressed to peruse the Books that were written for the King but obstinately refused to do it they had also been involved in the business of the Maid of Kent for which though all the Complices in it except those whom suffered for it were pardoned by Act of Parliament yet such as had been concerned in it were still under jealousie and it is no wonder that upon new provocations they met with the uttermost rigor of the Law These Tryals made way for two others that were more Signal of the Bishop of Rochester and Sir Thomas More The first of these had been a Prisoner above a year and was very severely used he complained in his Letters to Cromwell that he had neither Cloaths nor fire being then about fourscore This was understood at Rome and upon it Pope Clement by an Officious kindness to him or rather in spite to King Henry declared him a Cardinal and sent him a Red-hat When the King knew this he sent to Examine him about it but he protested he had used no endeavours to procure it and valued it so little that if the Hat were lying at his feet he would not take it up It never came nearer him than Picardy yet this did precipitate his ruin But if he had kept his opinion of the Kings Supremacy to himself they could not have proceeded further He would not do that but did upon several occasions speak against it so he was brought to his Tryal on the 17th of Iune The Lord Chancellor the Duke of Suffolk and some other Lords together with the Judges sate upon him by a Commission of Oyer and Terminer He pleaded not-Guilty but being found Guilty Judgment was passed on him to die as a Traitor but he was by a Warrant from the King beheaded Upon the 22d of Iune being the day of his Execution he dressed himself with more than ordinary care and when his man took notice of it he told him he was to be that day a Bridegroom As he was led to the place of Execution being stopt in the way by the croud he opened his new Testament and prayed to this purpose that as that Book had been his companion and chief comfort in his imprisonment so then some place might turn up to him that might comfort him in his last passage This being said he opened the Book at a venture in which these words of St. Iohns Gospel turned up This is Life eternal to know thâ—e the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent So he shut the Book with much saisfaction and all the way was repeating and meditating on them When he came to the Scaffold he pronounced the Te Deum and after some other devotions his head was cut off Thus dyed Iohn Fisher Bishop of Rochester in the 80th year of his Age. He was a Learned and devout man but much addicted to the superstitions in which he had been bred up And that led him to great severities against all that opposed them He had been for many years Confessor to the Kings Grand-Mother the Countess of Richmonâ— and it was believed that he perswaded her to these Noble designs for the advancement of Learning of Founding two Colledges in Cambridge St. Iohns and Christs Colledge and Divinity Professors in both Universities And in acknowledgment of this he was chosen Chancellor of the University of Cambridge Henry the 7th gave him the Bishoprick of Rochester which he following the rule of the Primitive Church would never change for a better he used to say his Church was his Wife and he would never part with her because she was poor He continued in great favour with the King till the business of the Divorce was set on foot and then he adhered so firmly to the Queens cause and the Popes Supremacy that he was carryed by that headlong into great Errors as appears by the business of the Maid of Kent Many thought the King ought to have proceeded against him rather upon that which was a point of State than upon
Hereticks in a little time Bird said doest thou marvel at that I tell thee it is no marvel for the great Master of all is an Heretick and such a one as there is not his like in the World By the same Act the Lord Hungerford was likewise Attainted The Crimes specified are that he knowing Bird to be a Traitor did entertain him in his house as his Chaplain that he ordered another of his Chaplains Sir Hugh Wood and one Doctor Maudlin to use Conjuring that they might know how long the King should live and whether he should be victorious over his Enemies or not and that these three years last past he had frequently committed the detestable sin of Sodomy with several of his Servants All these were Attainted by that Parliament The Lord Hungerford was Executed the same day with Cromwell he dyed in such disorder that some thought he was frenetick for he called often to the Executioner to dispatch him and said he was weary of Life and longed to be dead which seemed strange in a man that had so little cause to hope in his death For Powel Fetherstoun and Abell they suffered the same day with Barnes and his friends as hath been already shewn This year Sampson Bishop of Chichester and one Doctor Wilson were put in the Toâ—er upon suspition of correspondence with the Pope But upon their submission they had their pardon and liberty In the year 1541 five Priests and ten secular persons some of them being Gentlemen of Quality were raising a new Rebellion in Yorkshire which was suppressed in time and the Promoters of it being apprehended were Attainted and Executed and this occasioned the death of the Countess of Sarum after the Execution of the Sentence had been delayed almost two years The last instance of the Kings severity was in the year 1543 in which one Gardiner that was the Bishop of Winchesters kinsman and Secretary and three other Priests were tryed for denying the Kings Supremacy and soon after Executed But what special matter was laid to their charge cannot be known for the Record of their Attaindor is lost These were the proceedings of this King against those that adhered to the interests of Rome in which though there is great ground for just censure for as the Laws were rigorous so the Execution of them was raised to the highest that the Law could admit yet there is nothing in them to justifie all the clamors which that party have raised against King Henry and by which they pursue his memory to this day and are far short both in number and degrees of the cruelties of Queen Maries Reign which yet they endeavour all that is possible to extenuate or deny To Conclude we have now gone through the Reign of King Henry the 8th who is rather to be reckoned among the Great than the Good Princes He exercised so much severity on men of both perswasions that the writers of both sides have laid open his faults and taxed his cruelty But as neither of them were much obliged to him so none have taken so much care to set forth his good qualities as his Enemies have done to enlarge on his Vices I do not deny that he is to be numbered among the ill Princes yet I cannot rank him with the worst The End of the third Book and of the first Part. ADDENDA After some of the sheets of this History were wrought off I met with Manuscripts of great Authority out of which I have Collected several particulars that give a clear light to the proceedings in those times which since they came too late to my knowledg to be put in their proper places I shall here add them with refâ—râ—nces to the places to which they belong Ad Page 202. line 13. THere it is said that the Earl of Wiltshire Father to Queen Anne Boleyn was one of the Peers that Judged her In this I too Implicitly followed Doctor Heylin he seeming to write with more than ordinary care for the Vindication of that Queen and with such assurance as if he had seen the Records concerning her so that I took this upon trust from him The reason of it was that in the search I made of Attaindors I did not find the Record of her Tryal so I concluded that either it was destroyed by Order during her Daughters Reign or was accidentally lost since that time And thus having no Record to direct me I too easily followed the Printed Books in that particular But after that part of this History was wrought off I by chance met with it in another place where it was mislaid and there I discovered the error I had committed The Earl of Wiltshire was not one of her Judges these by whom she was tryed were the Duke of Suffolk the Marquis of Exceter the Earls of Arundell Oxford Northumberland Westmoreland Derby Worcester Rutland Sussex and Huntington and the Lords Audley Delaware Mountague Morley Dacres Cobham Maltravers Powis Mounteagle Clinton Sands Windsor Wentworth Burgh and Mordant in all twenty six and not twenty Eight as I reckoned them upon a Vulgar Error The Record mentions one particular concerning the Earl of Northumberland that he was taken with a sudden fit of sickness and was forced to leave the Court before the Lord Rochford was Tryed This might have been only Casual but since he was once in Love with the Queen and had designed to Marry her see Page 44 it is no wonder if so sad a change in her Condition did raise an unusual disorder in him When I had discovered the mistake I had made as I resolved to publish this free Confession of it so I set my self not without some Indignation to examine upon what Authority Doctor Heylin had led me into it I could find no Author that went before him in it but Sanders the chief design of whose writing was to defame Queen Elizabeth and to blast her Title to the Crown To that end it was no ill piece of his skill to perswade the World of her Mother lewdness to say that her own Father was convinced of it and condemned her for it And Doctor Heylin took this as he has done many other things too easily upon Sanders Testimony Ad Page 217. line 37. The Articles of Religion of which an abstract is there set down are indeed published by Fullâ—r but he saw not the Original with all the Subscriptions to it which I have had in my hands and therefore I have put it in the Collection with three other Papers which were soon after offered to the King by Cranmer The one is in the form of fifteen queries concerning some abuses by which the people had been deceived as namely by these Doctrines that without Contrition sinners may be reconciled to God that it is in the Power of the Priest to pardon or not to pardon sin at his pleasure and that Gods pardon cannot be obtained without Priestly Absolution Also he complained that the people
the Imposition of hands so they raised their Order or Office so high as to make it equal with the Order of a Bishop But as they designed to extol the Order of Priesthood so the Canonists had as great a mind to depress the Episcopal Order They generally wrote for preferment and the way to it was to exalt the Papacy Nothing could do that so effectually as to bring down the Power of Bishops This only could justifie the Exemptions of the Monks and Friers the Popes setting up Legantine Courts and receiving at first Appeals and then Original causes before them together with many other Encroachments on their Jurisdiction All which were unlawful if the Bishops had by Divine right Jurisdiction in their Dioceses Therefore it was necessary to lay them as low as could be and to make them think that the Power they held was rather as Delegates of the Apostolick See than by a Commission from Christ or his Apostles So that they looked on the declaring Episcopal Authority to be of Divine right as a blow that would be fatal to the Court of Rome and therefore they did after this at Trent use all possible endeavours to hinder any such Decision It having been then the Common stile of that Age to reckon Bishops and Priests as the same Office it is no wonder if at this time the Clergy of this Church the greatest part of them being still leavened with the old superstition and the rest of them not having enough of spare-time to examine lesser matters retained still the former phrases in this particular On this I have insisted the more that it may appear how little they have considered things who are so far carryed with their zeal against the established Government of this Church as to make much use of some passages of the Schoolmen and Canonists that deny them to be distinct Offices for these are the very dregs of Popery the one raising the Priests higher for the sake of Transubstantiation the other pulling the Bishops lower for the sake of the Popes Supremacy and by such means bringing them almost to an equality So partial are some men to their particular conceits that they make use of the most mischievous Topicks when they can serve their turnâ—punc not considering how much further these Arguments will run if they ever admit them Ad Page 255. line 28. The Princes of Germany did always press the King to enter into a Religious League with them the first League that was made in the year 1536 was conceived in general terms against the Pope as the Common Enemy and for setting up true Religion according to the Gospel But they did afterwards send over Ambassadors to treat about particulars and they having presented a Memorial of these there were Conferences appointed between them and some Bishops and Divines of this Church I find no Divines was sent over hither but Frederick Miconius Minister of Gotha by whom Melanthon who could not be spared out of Germany sent several Letters to the King the fullest and longest of them will be found in the Collection It is all to this purpose to perswade the King to go on vigorously in the Reforming of Abuses according to the word of God The King sent over the particulars which they proposed in order to a perfect agreement to Gardiner who was then at Paris Upon which he sent back his Opinion touching them all the Original of which under his own hand I have seen but it relates so much to the other Paper that was sent him which I never saw that without it his meaning can hardly be understood and therefore I have not put it in the Collection The main thing in it at which it chiefly drives is to press the King to finish first a Civil League with them and to leave those particulars concerning Religion to be afterwards treated of The King followed his advice so far as to write to the German Princes to that effect But when the King declared his resolution to have the six Articles established all that favoured the Reformation were much alarmed at it and pressed their friends in Germany to interpose with the King for preventing it I have seen an Original Letter of Hains Dean of Exeter in which he laments the sad effects that would follow on that Act which was then preparing that all the Corruptions in the Church rose from the establishing some points without clear proofs from Scripture he wished the Germans would consider of it for if the King and Parliament should make such a Law this was a President for the Emperor to make the like in the Diet of the Empire Neither were the German Ambassadors backward in doing their friends in England all the service they could for after they had held several conferences with these that were appointed by the King to treat with them they finding they could not prevail with them wrote a long and Learned Letter to the King against the taking away the Chalice in the Sacrament and against private Masses and the Celibate of the Clergy with some other abuses which the Reader will find in the Collection as it is Copied from the Original which I have seen To this I have added the Answer which the King wrote to it He employed Tonstall Bishop of Duresm to draw it for I have seen a rude draught of a great part of it written with his hand By both these compared together every indifferent Reader will clearly see the force and simplicity of the Arguments on the one hand and the art and shuffling that was used on the other side As soon as the Act was past notwithstanding all their endeavours to the contrary they in an Audience before the King represented the great concern their Masters would have when the King on whom they had relyed so much as the Defender of the Faith should proceed with the severity expressed in that Act against those that agreed with them in Doctrine and pressed the King earnestly to put a stop to the Execution of it The King promised he would see to it and that though he judged the Act necessary to restrain the Insolence of some of his Subjects yet it should not be Executed but upon great provocation he also proposed the renewing a Civil League with them without mentioning matters of Religion To this the Princes made answer that the League as it was at first projected was chiefly upon a design of Religion and therefore without a common consent of all that were in their League they could not alter it they lamented this passing of the late Act but writ their thanks to the King for stopping the Execution of it and warn'd him that some of his Bishops who set him on to these courses were in their hearts still for all the old Abuses and for the Popes Supremacy and were pressing on the King to be severe against his best Subjects that they might thereby bring on a design which they could not hope
Denique quum intelligam Dominum Lautrek nonnihil mirari quod Regiae Majestatis istic agentes nullam suorum mandatorum partem cum eo conâ—erunt ad eum nunc scribo nonnulla Domino Roberto Jernyngham ei exponenda committo concernentia actiones cum Ferrariae Duce alia quaedam eodem Domino Lautrek significans vos missos esse ad dictas causas juvandas Pontificis liberationem promovendam quemadmodum ex literarum ad Dominum Jernyngham exemplo cognoscetis expediens itaque fuerit ut prae se feratis vos dictae rei gratia missos esse ne forsan Dominus Lautrek in falsam aliquam conjecturam aut suspicionem incideret quae communibus rebus nocere posset in vestrarum quoque actionum impedimentum redundare Illud deinde reticere nolui quod si ullo pacto vobis liceat ad Sanctissimi Domini nostri praesentiam accedere nihil omittatis in favorem gratiam Reverendi Domini Datarii de cujus animo nihil dubitamus comparandam eique asseretis quod quum in nostris omnibus occurrentiis illius opera ac Patrocinio semper usi fuerimus ipse vero tanta semper side ac sedulitate omnia effecerit quae nobis grata optata esse cognovit ut nostram omnem operam suis rebus reddiderit promptissimam suae utilitatis exaltationis cupidissimam Quocirca haec Regia Majestas hac in re qua nullam magis cordi habet nec gravioris momenti quicquam sibi accidere posse judicat ex animi sui sententia conficienda post Sanctissimum Dominum nostrum in Domino Datario spem omnem collocavit qui ex hac occasione si operam suam ad optatum usque exitum interponere non gravetur Regiae Majestatis animum pectus sic omni ex parte promerebitur ut dicta Majestas non solum omnia curatura sit quae ex Domini Veronensis commodo ornamento fuerint sed eam etiam munificentiam gratitudinem addet quae majorem vel integram partem a captivitate Redemtionis persolvendae compensabit In me vero non aliam fidem amicitiam experietur quam ab ullo fratre posset expectare Et bene valete Londini ex meis Aedibus Die quinto Decemb. M. D. XXVII Vester tanquam frater Amantiss T. Cardinalis Eborac Rome Ian. 1. 1528. IV. Two Letters of Secretary Knights to the Cardinal and the King giving an account of his Conference with the Pope about his Divorce Taken from the Originals PLease it your Grace to understand That immediately upon the receipt of your Graces Letters severally directed unto Mr. Gregory and me he and I resorted unto the Pope his Holiness making congraâ—ulation of his restitution unto liberty on yours and his behalf to his singular comfort and consolation and so much the more because that I was the first that made like salutation in any great Princes Name He being well assured that I spake the same on the behalf of his two chief sincere unfeigned Friends Wherefore with great high thanks and long discourse with rehearsal of the King 's and your Merits and Acts in most vertuous and Catholick manner employed for his restitution and your continual and effectual study how the See Apostolique might recover the pristine Reputation and Dignity He confirmed as much as I had spoken After this Mr. Gregory and I entred into our Charge shewing at length the high deserts of the Princes and Realm of England the devotion of the same towards the Church how expedient it was as well for the See Apostolique as for the said Realm to foresee and provide that all occasions of Dissension and War were extinct and put away which for lack of Heir Male of our Sovereign's Line and Stem should undoubtedly follow with other considerations at length contained in our Instructions We desired his Holiness to commit the knowledg of the Dispensation that was obtained in time of Iulius of famous memory for Matrimony to be had between the King and the Widow Relict late of Prince Arthur and that we might have it in form as that was that your Grace sent hither His Holiness answered That our sayings had great likelihood of truth for lacking of Issue Male of the King's Stem considering the nature of Men being prone unto Novelties and disposed unto Parties and Factions The Realm of England would not only enter into their accustomed Divisions but also would owe or do small devotion unto the Church Wherefore his Holiness was right well content and ready to adhibit all Remedy that in him was possible as this time would serve And because he was not expert in making of Commissions he would consult with the Cardinal Sanctorum Quatuor and use his advice which we should shortly know We perceiving that the obtaining of our Charges after the King 's and your Graces pleasure depended much upon the Advice of Sanctorum Quatuor did prevent his going unto the Pope and delivering your Grace's Letters with Recommendations accordingly we desired him to be good and favourable unto our Requests in the King's behalf and for the better obtaining of our desires we promised to see unto him with a competent reward And this communication had we shewed unto him the Commission which he said could not pass without perpetual dishonour unto the Pope the King and your Grace and a great part of such Clauses as be omitted he hath touched and laid reason for the same in a Writing which I do send unto your Grace with this Considering his great Experience Wisdom Learning and the entire affection that he beareth unto the King and your Grace and that it was far from the King's desire and nothing for your purposes that I should first have sent the said Cardinal's Sayings unto your Grace and abide answer and eft-soons prevent to do the same Considering also that the said King desireth a Commission convenient and sufficient we desired him to make the minute of one which he gladly did When it was made the Pope said That at his being in the Castle of St. Angelo the General of the Observants in Spain required his Holiness in the Emperor's Name not to grant unto any Act that might be preparative or otherwise to Divorce to be made between the King and the Queen and moreover desired an Inhibition that the said Cause should not come in knowledg before any Judg within the King's Dominions The Pope answered that Inhibitio non datur nisi post litem motam And as unto the first his Holiness was content if any like thing were demanded to advertise the Emperor before that he did let it pass and this was in a manner for his Holiness being in Captivity But his Holiness being yet in Captivity as your Grace reports and esteemeth him to be as long as the Almaines and Spaniards continueth in Italy he thought if he should grant this Commission that he should have the Emperor his perpetual Enemy
without any hope of reconciliation Notwithstanding he was content rather to put himself in evident ruine and utter undoing then the King or your Grace should suspect any point of ingratitude in him heartily desiring cum suspiriis lachrimis that the King and your Grace which have always been fast and good unto him will not now suddenly precipitate him for ever which should be done if immediately upon delivering of the Commission your Grace should begin Process He intendeth to save all upright thus If Monsieur de Lautrech would set forwards which he saith daily that he will do but yet he doth not at his coming the Pope's Holiness may have good colour to say He was required by the Ambassadour of England of a like Commission And denying the same because of his promise unto the General he was eft-soons by Monsieur de Lautrech to grant the said Commission inasmuch as it was but a Letter of Justice And by this colour he would cover the Matter so that it might appear unto the Emperor That the Pope did it not as he that would gladly do displeasure unto the Emperor but as an indifferent Prince that could not nor might deny Justice specially being required by such Personages and immediately he would dispatch a Commission bearing date after the time that Monsieur Lautrech had been with him or nigh unto him The Pope most instantly beseecheth your Grace to be a mean that the King's Highness may accept this in a good part and that he will take patience for this little time which as it is supposed will be but short and in omnem eventum I do bring a Commission with me and a Dispensation which I trust the King and your Grace will like well We have given unto my Lord Cardinal Sanctorum Quatuor 4000 Crowns and unto the Secretary 30 Crowns With this Your Grace shall receive a Letter from the Pope's Holiness Item a Counsel of Oldrand that giveth light unto the King's Cause I shall make the most diligence homeward that I can Our Lord Jesus preserve Your Grace At Orvieto this first day of Ianuary Your most humble Servant and Chaplain W. Knight Rome Ian. 1. 1528. To the KING PLease it your Highness to understand That as soon as the Pope was at liberty and came unto Orvieto I resorted unto his Holiness with all diligence and at my coming unto him did make congratulation on your Highness behalf forasmuch as he was restored unto his Liberty which he accepted very joyfully and thankfully giving unto your Highness manifold and high thanks for your great goodness as well proved in his adversity as when he was in his most felicity After this he rehearsed my being at Rome how dangerous it was inasmuch as when my being there was detect espial was made and I was not passed out of Rome by the space of two hours or two hundred Spaniards invaded and searched the House He shewed also that he had received all such Letters as I at my being in Rome did send unto his Holiness whereby he did perceive the Effect of your Highness desire concerning your Dispensation And albeit he did send me word that I should depart and his Holiness would send unto me the said Dispensation fully speed Nevertheless he trusted that your Highness would be content to tarry for a time for the General of the Observants in Spain being lately in Rome had required him according unto his Instructions that he should suffer nothing to pass that might be prejudicial or against the Queen directly or indirectly but that the Pope should first advertise thereof certain of the Caesarians here And forasmuch as this Dispensation might encourage your Grace to cause my Lord Legate Auctoritate Legationis to hear and decern in the Cause that your Highness intendeth and his Holiness standeth as yet in manner in captivity and perplexity His Holiness therefore besought your Grace to have patience for a time and it should not be long e're your Highness should have not only that Dispensation but any thing else that may lie in his power I replied unto this That his Holiness had once granted it and that I had dispatched a Post and made relation thereof by my Writings unto your Highness so that I could not imagine by what reason I might perswade unto you that he would perform the promise that he had once broken In conclusion He was content that your Highness should have it but he would have it delivered with this condition That the Prothonotary and Gambora and I should beseech your Highness not to attempt any thing in your Cause against the Queen till such time as the Pope were frankly at his Liberty which could not be as long as the Almaynes and Spaniards did thus reign in Italy and promise made we should deliver the Dispensation and in my poor judgment it was best always to be in possession of this Dispensation After this he shewed the Minute unto the Cardinal Sanctorum Quatuor willing him to reform it according to the stile of this Court which done he shewed it unto me and after said That he thought good I should depart because I rode but competent Journies and the Prothonotary Gambora should follow by Post and bring the Bull with him which is of the same form and substance that your Highness's Minute is of And if there be any thing omitted or to be added his Holiness is always content to reform it and to put it under the same date that the same Dispensation now beareth the Copy whereof I do send unto your Highness with this the Commission General and Protestation being void because they were conceived durante captivitate only And here on my behalf none other thing being to be done I took my leave of the Pope and departed At my coming unto Scarperii near unto Bonony I did meet with Thadeus this Courier which brought certain Expeditions Triplicat the one unto the Prothonotar Gambora the other unto Gregory de Cassali and the third unto me among which was a general Commission Triplicat the one to be committed to my Lord Legate and if that could not be obtained because my Lord Legate might be thought partial then the same to be committed unto Staphileius Item There was a Copy of a Dispensation where I perceived by your Grace's Letter that your pleasure was to have your Dispensation in form after the minute that Barlow brought which was then sped and already passed so remained nothing to be sped but the Commission your Highness pleases This knowing I caused my Servants to continue their Journey and with one Servant and this Courier I returned unto Orvieto with Post-Horses where Mr. Gregory and I with much Business have obtained a Commission directed unto my Lord Legate not in the form that was conceived in England but after such manner as is sufficient for the Cause and as I trust shall content your Highness wherein the Lord Cardinal Sanctorum Quatuor hath taken great pains
to pen as well your Dispensation as the Commission for which and that hereafter he may do unto your Highness the better service Mr. Gregory and I have rewarded him with 4000 Crowns of such Mony as your Highness hath caused to be made unto Venice for the furtherance of your Causes But albeit that every thing is passed according to your Highness pleasure I cannot see but in case the same be put in execution at this time the Pope is utterly undone and so he saith himself The Imperialists do daily spoil Castles and Towns about Rome Monsieur de Lautrek is yet at Bonony and small hope is of any great Act that he intends The Caesarians have taken within these three days two Castles lying within six miles of this and the Pope being in this perplexity not assured of any one Friend but of your Highness that lieth too far off if he do at this time any displeasure unto the Emperor he thinketh he is undone for ever wherefore he puts his Honour and Health wholly into your Highness Power and Disposition This morning I return homewards and Gregory de Cassali goeth in my Company as far as unto Florence and from thence he goeth unto Monsieur de Lautrek to sollicit him forwards if it may be The Holy Ghost send your Highness a prosperous New Year and many At Orvieto the first day of Ianuary Your most humble Subject Servant and Chaplain W. Knight Rome 10. Ian. 1528. V. A part of an Original Letter from the same Person to Cardinal Wolsey by which it appears that the Dispensation was then granted and sent over YOur Grace commandeth That I should send the Commission and Dispensation with diligence in case they were sped before the receit of your Graces Letters sent at this time Wherefore the Prothonotar Gambora and I being commanded sub poena Excommunicationis to deliver the same with a certain Request to be made to the King's Highness and his Grace at the time of delivery I send the same at this time unto Gambora requiring him in any wise to make diligence towards the King's Highness and not to abide my coming the Request and Cause thereof your Grace shall perceive by mine other Letters adjoined herewith And supposing that when your Grace hath seen my Letters and the Dispensations and considered this time well it may chance that the King and your Grace will be rather well content with that that is passed without suing for any other thing that could not be obtained without long tract and peradventure not so Your Grace hath committed as much unto Gregory de Cassali at this time as unto me which being near unto the Pope will without fail do his best diligence And if it shall be thought good unto the King's Highness and your Grace that I do return unto Orvâ—eto I shall do as much as my poor Carcase may endure and thereby at Turine I shall abide the knowledg of your Grace's pleasure The Datary hath clean forsaken the Court and will serve no longer but only God and his Cure The Cardinal Campegius continueth in Rome sore vexed with the Gout The Cardinals Pisane Triâ—â—lâ—is Vrsine Gadis and Cesis remaineth for Hostages The Cardinals Monte Sanctorum Quatuor Ridulph Ravenna and Perusino be with the Pope the rest abides absent Our Lord Jesus preserve your Grace At Aste the 10 th day of Ianuary Your most humble Beadsman and Servant W. Knight Orvieto the 13th of Cassali's Letter about the Method in which the Pope desired the Divorce should be managed Taken from a Copy written by Cardinal Wolsey's Secretary HEri hodie ad multam diem sum alloquutus SanctuÌ„ DominuÌ„ nostruÌ„ de mittendo legato insequens ordinem a Reverendissimo Domino Eboracen suis literis 27 Decemb. mihi praescriptum Pontifex ostendit se cupidissimum satisfaciendi Regiae Excellentiae cui omnia se debere fatetur nunc habuit mecum longum de hac re colloquium ut inveniatur modus omnia bene firme secure faciendi quo facto tueri possit ideoque consulere voluit judicium Cardinalis Sanctorum Quatuor Symonettae qui excellentior Doctior Auditor Rotae est cum quibus sub sigillo Confessionis egit ut ex eorum consilio inveniatur modus ad moram tollendam causam secure peragendam Atque ita Pontifex cum illis in hoc quod sequitur se revolvit videturque optimus verus securus modus me rogavit ut nullo pacto dicam hoc obtinuisse ab ejus Sanctitate sicuti revera obtinui nam Caesariani eum statum pro suspecto allegarent sed quod dicam me habuisse a Cardinali Sanctorum Quatuor a dicto Auditore Dicunt quod Rex deberet committere istic causam Cardinali ratione Commissionis quam attulit Secretarius vel propria Authoritate Legationis quod facere potest ubi causa fuerit commissa si Rex conscientiam suam persentiat coram Deo exoneratam quod recte possit facere quod quaerit quia nullus Doctor in mundo est qui de hac re melius decernere possit quam ipse Rex itaque si in hoc se resolverit ut Pontifex credit statim causam committat aliam Uxorem ducat litem sequatur mittatur publice pro Legato qui Consistorialiter mittetur ita enim maxime expediret nam Cardinalis Sanctorum Quatuor Symonetta dicunt hoc certum esse quod si Regina citetur illa nihil volet respondere nisi quod protestabitur locum judices suspectos esse Caesariani petent a Pontifice per viam Signaturae justitiae Inhibitionem qua Rex aliam nullam possit Uxorem capere si capiat proles non sit legitima donec causa non definiatur petent Commissionem qua Causa audiatur in Curia de Inhibitione vero Pontifex non potest negare neque Commissionem nisi injustitia mera vis inferatur adversus quam omnis mundus exclamaret Quod si Rex aliam Uxorem ceperit hoc non possunt petere si petant negabit Pontifex quod jure possit nec aliud dicere poterunt vel allegare nisi quod Cardinalis Eboracen Cardinalis mittendus locus sit suspectus petere quod Causa videatur hic in quo si deducatur statim feretur sententia quam Pontifex maturabit non servatis terminis propter momentum negotii alias rationes quas sciet Pontifex adducere ita hic obtinebuntur sententiae quae per totum Orbem approbabuntur quibus nullus Hispanus aut Germanus poterit contradicere mittentur in Angliam declarandae per Cardinales prout Rex voluerit hoc etiam non obstante Pontifex mittet Cardinalem Tandem hic est modus rebus omnibus secure medendi ad quem sequendum vos Pontifex hortatur rogat ut nihil dicatur quod ab eo procedat Iste modus non
Bullam fatis concessit re integra causa si quae fuit cessavit Sed producitur aliud Breve tenoris tam efficacis ut istas Objectiones non admittat Sed manet nihilominus eorum sententia qui Pontificem non posse dispensare affirmant secundum quos nec Breve nec Bulla consistit deinde Breve falsum esse pro falso judicari deberi multis rationibus convincitur denique falsum cum sit tamen prioris Bullae errores corrigat illam opinionem merito confirmet ne prior Dispensatio efficax videatur vel eorum judicio qui hoc Matrimonium defendere studuerunt viz. qui veris allegationibus diffisi ad falsas confictas Dispensationes vitia objecta removentes confugere coacti sunt Ista si singula minus sufficiant saltem collata obtineant persuadeant licere Illa vero opinio multis persuasa Pontificem viz. non potuisse dispensare ut sola infirmet Dispensationem non petitur sed habet nihilominus aliquid considerationis quanquam enim refellatur a quibusdam reprobetur manet tamen scripta atque adeo testimonio ipsius Pontificis comprobata Perpendatur deinde causa suggestionis veritas si mendacium intervenisse apparet quod est notorium illam Dispensationem adversariorum factis in novi Brevis fabricatione tacite reprobari quis non videt ex his causis licere ut sententia Divortii proferatur Postremo expedit ut id pronuntietur quod in omnium sententias consentiat Reprobatio autem Dispensationis cum omnibus convenit opinionibus sive quia Authoritas abfuit sive quia non recte interposita dicatur Approbatio vero cum istis dissentit omnibus Expedit ut firma sit inconcussa Regni Successio quae contra has opiniones confirmari non potest Expedit ut conscientia Serenissimi Regis his scrupulis impedita turbata expedita tranquilla reddatur Breviter expedit votis Serenissimi Regis satisfieri qui pro genuinis innatis suis virtutibus non nisi optima cupit modo etiam optimo votorum suorum compotem effici laborat si non virtutem spectaret caetera nihil haberent difficultatis sed omnium virtutum cogitationem quandam esse animadvertens suum justitiae decorum quod temperantia est quaerit ut justum justo modo obtineat assequatur Itaque expedit ne auxilium denegetur vel differatur ei qui id juste implorat To my loving Friends Master Stephen Gardiner Doctor of both Laws Sir Francis Brian and Sir Gregory Cassalis Knights and Mr. Peter Vannes Secretary to the King's Highness for the Latin Tongue His Graces Orators Residents in the Court of Rome XXII The second part of a long Dispatch of the Cardinals concerning the Divorce An Original AN other part of your Charge consisteth in expedition of the King 's great and weighty Cause of Matrimony whereupon depend so many high Consequences as for no earthly Cause to suffer or tolerate tract or delay in what case soever the Pope's Holiness be of amendment or danger of life nor as is aforesaid oweth to be by his Holiness preteromitted whether the same be in the state of Recovery or in any doubt or despair thereof for one assured and principal fundamental and ground is to be regarded whereupon the King's Highness doth plant and build his Acts and Cogitations in this behalf which is from the reasonable favour and justice being the things from the which the Pope's Holiness in prosperis nec adversis may lawfully and honestly digress and when the plainness of his Cause is well considered with the manifest Presumptions Arguments and Suspitions both of the insufficiency of the Bull and falsity of the Brief such as may lead any Man of reason or intendment well to perceive and know that no sufficiency or assured truth can be therein How may the Pope's Holiness ex aequo justo refuse or deny to any Christian Man much less to a Prince of so high merits and in a Cause whereupon depend so many consequences to his Holiness well known for a vain respect of any Person or by excuse of any Sickness justifie colour or defend any manner refusal tract or delay used in declaration of the truth in so great a Matter which neither for the infinite conveniences that thereby might ensue admitteth or suffereth to be delaied nor by other than himself his Act or Authority may lawfully be declared And well may his Holiness know That to none it appertaineth more to look unto the justness of the King's desire in this behalf than to his Highness his self whose Interest whose Cause with the same of his Realm and Succession resteth herein for if his Grace were minded or would intend to do a thing inique or injust there were no need to recurr unto the Pope's Holiness for doing thereof But because his Highness and his Council who best know the whole of this Matter and to whose part it belongeth most profoundly to weigh and ponder every thing concerning the same be well assured of the truth of the Matter needing none other thing but for observance of his Duty towards God and his Church to have the same Truth also approbate and declared by him to whom the doing thereof appertaineth his Grace therefore seeing an untruth alleadged and that so craftily as by undue and perverse ways the same without good reason adhibited may for a season bring things into confusion doth communicate unto the Pope's Holiness presumptions and evidences enough and sufficient to inform the Conscience of his Holiness of the very truth which then if his Holiness will not see but either for affection fear or other private cause will hearken to every dilatory and vain allegation of such as led upon undue grounds would colour the Truth What doth his Holiness less therein than under a right vain colour expresly deny and refuse the said Justice which to be done either in health or sickness in a matter of so great moment is in no wise tolerable But for the same reasons that be before mentioned is the thing whether the Pope's Holiness be in hope or despair of life without further tract to be absolved and determined for if Almighty God grant his Holiness life this Act is and always shall be able to bear it self and is meet to be an Example a President and a Law in all like Cases emerging the Circumstances and Specialities of the same in every part concurring as they do in this nor can the Emperor make exceptions at the same when he best knowing percase the untruth shall see the grounds and occasions that of necessity and meer Justice have enforced and constrained the Pope's Holiness thereunto which he could not refuse to do unless he would openly and manifestly commit express injury and notorious injustice For be it that the Pope's Holiness hearkning to the said frivolous and vain Allegations would refuse to declare the Law
herein to the King's purpose then must his Holiness either standing in doubt leave and suffer the Cause to remain in suspence to the extream danger of the King's Realm and Succession for ever or else declare the Bull or Breve or both to be good which I suppose neither his Holiness nor any true Christian Man can do standing the manifest occasions presumptions and apparent evidences to the contrary Then if the matter be not to be left in suspence no judgment can be truly given to the approbation of the Bull or Breve how can the Pope's Holiness of Conscience Honour or Vertue living or dying thus procrastinate or put over the immediate finishing thereof according to the King's desire or how may his Holiness find his Conscience towards God exonerate if either living he should be the cause of so many evils as hereof may arise or dying wilfully leave this so great a Matter by his own default in this confusion incertainty and perplexity It is not to be supposed that ever Prince most devout to the See Apostolick could so long tolerate so high an Injury as being so merited towards the said See is both unacquitted for his kindness with any special Grace and also denied upon his petition of that which is evident to be plain Justice This thing is otherwise to be looked upon than for the Pope's Sickness where most need were to put an end unto it to be delaied seeing that living and amending it is of it self expedient and justifiable and dying it shall be an act both necessary meritorious and honourable For this cause ye now knowing the King's mind in this behalf shall if ye have not already before this time spoken with the Pope's Holiness at length in these Matters as the King's Grace trusteth ye have done sollicite as well by the means of Messiere Iacobo Salviati as by the Bishop of Verone and otherwise as ye can think best to have such commodious access unto his Holiness as ye may declare the Premises unto him which by your wisdoms in as effectual and vive manner as ye can open it unto his Holiness It is undoubtedly to be thought the same shall rather be to his comfort and encrease of Health than to any his trouble or unquietness and that his Holiness hearing these Reasons not evitable will whether he be in way and hope of amendment or otherwise both proceed to the said indication and also to the Declaration of the Law and passing of a sufficient and ample Decretal as hath been devised in the King 's said Cause with other such things as by former Letters and Instructions by the Decrees mentioned in the same that failing have been committed unto you to be solicited and procured there in the labouring whereof albeit since your departures from hence the things have by reasons of the Pope's sore sickness otherwise chanced than was here supposed by means whereof ye not instructed what to do in any such case were peradventure not over-hasty or importune to labour these Matters till the Pope's Holiness might be better amended nor could percase find the means to have convenient access unto his presence for the same ye must nevertheless adhibit such diligence as howsoever the sickness of his Holiness shall cease amend or continue these things be not for the same or any other cause tracted or left in longer suspense but finding possible means to come unto the Pope's presence to declare all such things unto the same mentioned both in the former Letters and Instructions given unto you and also in these presents as may make to the purpose and failing of often access in your own Persons to his Holiness ye cause the Bishop of Verone and other such assured Friends as ye can attain being about him at such times as they may have with his Holiness to inculcate unto him the said Points and Considerations and all other that ye can excogitate and devise to the furtherance and advancement of these Matters not forbearing or sparing also if ye shall see difficulty at the Pope's hand or in audience to be given to you or your Friends there being about his Person to break and open after a good fashion and manner the same unto such of the Cardinals as ye may perceive assuredly and constantly to favour the King's Highness and the French King in Election of a future Pope in case as God forbid the Pope's Holiness should decease and to shew unto the same Cardinals all such things as you shall think meet both for their more ample instructions in the truth and specialities of the Matters as well concerning the Indication of Truce as the King 's said Cause and the presumptuous Reasons and plainer Evidences leading to the insufficiency of the Bull and apparent falsity of the said Breve to the intent that as many of the said Cardinals as ye can win made sure in those Matters they may both in time of sickness and also of amendment move and induce the Pope's Holiness thereunto laying before him as well the Merits and Honour that may ensue by the perfection of the Premises as the danger imminent by the contrary and semblably it shall be expedient that ye win and make sure to the same purpose as many of the Officers of the Rota and other as ye can who as ye write be not accustomed nor will give counsel to any Person but the Pope's Holiness for albeit ye cannot have them to be of the King's Council yet nevertheless they may do as much good or more in training and counselling the Pope's Holiness upon the great Reasons that you can shew unto them to hearken unto your Overtures in this behalf To which purpose you shall adjure make and win as many Friends of the Cardinals of them and other as ye possibly may as for the thing which the King's Highness and I more esteem than twenty Papalities and amongst other ye shall insist by all means and good persuasions ye can for the continuance there of the said Bishop of Verone so as he may countervail the Arch-Bishop of Capuan who as it seemeth is continually about the Pope's Person and were necessary to be met with in the labours and persuasions which by likelihood he maketh to the hindrance of the King's Purpose For the better continuing of the which Bishop of Verone not only the King's Highness and I write unto him at this time as by the Copy of the same several Letters being herewith ye shall perceive but also the French King will do the semblable And furthermore to the intent that the Pope's Holiness may well perceive that not only the said French King mindeth the King 's said Cause and taketh it to heart as much as it were his own and will effectually join and concur with the King's Highness therein but that also he is and will be conformable to the said Indication He will send thither with all speed the Bishop of Bayon to further sollicite and set forth the
same who before his departure from hence which was a good season passed was and is sufficiently and amply instructed in all things requisite to this purpose and not only in these Matters but also in such other as were written unto you by Vincent de Cassalis and Hercules upon advertisement given hither that the Pope's Holiness was deceased so as ye may be sure to have of him effectual concurrence and advice in the furtherance and sollicitation of your Charges whether the Pope's Holiness amend remain long sick or as God forbid should fortune to die trusting that being so well furnished by all ways that can be devised ye will not fail to use such diligence as may be to the consecuting and attaining of the King's Purpose wherein tho ye be so amply and largely instructed that more cannot be yet nevertheless having lately received from the Bishop of Worcester a Memorial of divers great things to be well noted and considered for trial of the falsity of the said Brieve I send you herewith a Copy of the same Memorial to the intent ye substantially visiting and perusing the same may follow and put in execution such part thereof for better trial of the falsity as is to be done there like as the rest meet to be done here shall not fail to be executed with diligence accordingly Thus be ye with these and other former Writings sufficiently instructed what is to be done by you there whether the Pope's Holiness continue long in his sickness or whether the same fortune to decease or soon God willing to amend There resteth no more but that ye always take for a perfect ground That tho to every new chance not before known sufficient Provision and Instruction could not be given to you at your departure ye always note remember and regard That this the King's Cause admitteth nor suffereth any manner negative tract or delay wherefore knowing that so well as ye do and also how much the Indiction of the Truce shall be commodious and necessary both to the King's Highness in particular and to all Christendom in general by means whereof his Grace shall avoid Contribution and other Charges of the War ye must now if ever you will have thanks laud or praise for your Service employ your selves opportune importune to put an end to the Points to the King's satisfaction and desire and in every difficulty to study by your Wisdoms the best and next Remedy and not always to tract your doings till upon your Advertisement hither ye shall have new knowledg from hence For thereby the matter it self and also your demur there be of over-long a continuance and infinite inconveniences by the same may ensue I therefore require you according to the special trust and confidence that the King's Highness and I have in you now for ever to acquit your selves herein with all effect possible accordingly so as the King's Highness be not longer kept in this perplexity and suspence to his Graces intolerable inquietness and the great heaviness of all those that observe and love the same Furthermore tho it so be that the King's Trust and also mine is Ye will by your Wisdom find such good means and ways as ye shall not fail God willing to open and declare unto the Pope's Holiness the whole of the King's Mind and all and singular the Premisses with the residue above-mentioned in your former Instructions and Letters sent unto you Yet nevertheless considering what ye wrote of the doubt of continuance of the Pope's sickness and to make sure for all Events and Chances in case his Holiness as God forbid should long remain in such state as he might either take upon him the naming of the Peace journying and repairing to the sacre Diet nor also hear the whole of the things by you to be opened and propounded touching the King 's said Cause It hath been thought to the King's Highness convenient rather than these great and weighty Matters should hang in longer suspense to excogitate some other good means and way how these Matters so necessary may by some ways be conduced and brought to an end And it is this That the Pope's Holiness not being able to travel to the place devised where the Princes may be near him for Treaty and managing of the Peace he do depute me and my Lord Cardinal Campegius conjunctim divisim as his Legats for that purpose to do and execute all such things in his Holiness's Name as the same should do in that behalf if he were there present whereunto for the well of Christendom we shall be contented to condescend So always that as hath been written heretofore unto you before I pass or set forth to any Convention or Place to the intent before specified the Kings Highness be fully satisfied and pleased in his said matter of Matrimony without which neither with nor without the Pope's presence I will ever begin or take that Voyage for performance whereof this Article following is of new devised to be by you propounded unto his Holiness if the Decretals cannot be obtained or some other thing that ye shall well know and perceive by advice of expert Counsel there to be better to the Kings purpose than this thing now devised and that may without tract be passed or granted that is to say That his Holiness do enlarge extend and amplify his Commission given to me and my Lord Legate Campegius whereby we jointly and severally may be sufficiently furnished and authorized to do as much in this cause of Matrimony with all the emergents and dependencies upon the same as his Holiness may do of his ordinary and absolute Power with sufficient and ample Clauses ad Decernend Interpretand jura leges Rescripta quaeâ—unque hoc Matrimonium concernentia una cum omnibus singulis dubiis in eadem causa emergentibus And further to make out Compulsories to any Princes or Persons of what preheminence dignity state or condition soever they be Etiam si in Imperiali Regali vel alia quacunque dignitate perfulgeant sub quibuscunque poenis and in what Countries and places soever they be to exhibit and produce any manner Witness Records Originals Rescripts or other thing in what place or time we or the one of us shall require them or any of them in this behalf with all and singular the Circumstances requisite and necessary to such a Commission after such ample and assured manner as the same once had we shall not need for any Objections doubt or other thing that might infringe or lack to send of new to the Pope's Holiness for other provision whereby the King 's said Cause might hang in any longer tract or delay In which case of coming to this Commission ye Mr. Stevins must have special regard to see the same sufficiently and substantially penned by advice of the most expert Men that ye can find to that purpose For the better doing whereof I send unto you herewith a Copy
you so much the more to accelerate as ye know how necessary it is that all diligence and expedition be used in that Matter And so ye all to handle and endeavour your selves there for the time of your demor as ye may do the most benefit and advantage that may be to the speedy furtherance of the said Cause And forasmuch as at the dispatch of your said last Letters ye had not opened unto the Pope's Holiness the last and uttermost Device here conceived and to you written in my Letters sent by the said Alexander but that ye intended as soon as ye might have time and access to set forth the same wherein it is to be trusted since that thing could by no colour or respect to the Emperor be reasonably denied ye have before this time done some good and brought unto perfection I therefore remitting you to such Instructions as ye received at that time advertise you that the King's mind and pleasure is ye do your best to attain the Ampliation of the said Commission after such form as is to you in the said last Letters and Instructions prescribed which if ye cannot in every thing bring to pass at the least to obtain as much to the King's purpose and the benefit of the Cause as ye can wherein all good policy and dexterity is to be used and the Pope's Holiness by all perswasions to be induced thereunto shewing unto the same how ye have received Letters from the King's Highness and me responsives to such as ye wrote of the Dates before rehearsed whereby ye be advertised that the King's Highness perceiving the Pope's strange demeanour in this his great and weighty Cause with the little respect that his Holiness hath either to the importance thereof or to do unto his Holiness at this his great necessity gratuity and pleasure not only cannot be a little sorry and heavy to see himself frustrate of the future hope and expectation that his Grace had to have found the Pope's Holiness a most loving fast near and kind Father and assured Friend ready and glad to have done for his Grace that which of his Power Ordinary or Absolute he might have done in this thing which so near toucheth the King's Conscience Health Succession Realm and Subjects But also marvelleth highly That his Holiness both in Matters of Peace Truce in this the King's Cause and in all other hath more respect to please and content him of whom he hath received most displeasures and who studieth nothing more than the detriment of the See than his Holiness hath either to do that which a good common Father for the well of the Church Himself and all Christendom is bounden and oweth to do or also that which every thing well pondered it were both of Congruence Right Truth Equity Wisdom and conveniency for to do Thinking verily that his Highness deserved to be far otherwise entreated and that not at his most need in things nearest touching his Grace and where the same had his chief and principal confidence thus to have his just and reasonable Petitions rejected and totally to be converted to the arbitre of his Enemy which is not the way to win acquire and conserve Friends to the Pope's Holiness and See Apostolick nor that which a good and indifferent Vicar of Jesus Christ and common Father unto all Princes oweth and is bound to observe Nevertheless ye shall say the King's Highness who always hath shewed and largely comprobate himself a most devout Son unto the See Apostolick must and will take patience and shall pray to God to put in the Pope's mind a more direct and vertuous intent so to proceed in his acts and doing as he may be found a very Father upright indifferent loving and kind and not thus for partial respect fear or other inordinate Affection or cause to degenerate from his best Children showing himself unto them as a Step-Father nor the King's Highness ye shall say can persuade unto himself that the Pope's Holiness is of that nature and disposition that he will so totally fail his Grace in this Matter of so high importance but that by one good mean or other his Holiness will perfectly comprobate the intire love that always the same hath shewed to bear towards his Highness wherein ye shall desire him now to declare by his Acts the uttermost of his intent and disposition so as ye Mr. Stevins and Mr. Brian who be revoked home do not return with void hands or bring with you things of such meagerness or little substance as shall be to no purpose And thus by these or like words seconding to the same effect which as the time shall require and as he shall have cause ye by your Wisdoms can qualifie and devise It is not to be doubted but that the Pope's Holiness perceiving how the Kings Highness taketh this Matter and that two of you shall now return will in expedition of the said Ampliation of the Commission and other things requisite strain himself to do unto the King's Highness as much gratuity and pleasure as may be for the better attaining whereof ye shall also shew how heavy and sorry I with my Lord Legate Campegius be to see this manner of proceeding and the large promises which he and I so often have made unto the King's Highness of the Pope's fast and assured mind to do all that his Holiness etiam ex plenitudine potestatis might do thus to be disappointed most humbly beseeching his Holiness on my behalf by his high Wisdom to consider what a Prince this is the infinite and excellent gratitudes which the same hath exhibited to the Pope's Person in particular and to the See Apostolick in the general the magnitude and importance of this Cause with the Consequences that may follow by the good or ill entreating of the King's Highness in the same wherein ye shall say I have so largely written so plainly for my discharge declared the truth unto his Holiness and so humbly reverently and devoutly made intercession that more can I not add or accumulate thereunto but only pray unto God that the same may be perceived understood and taken as the exigence of the Case and the merits of this Noble Prince doth require trusting always and with fervent desire from day to day abiding to hear from his said Holiness some such thing as I shall now be able constantly to justifie and defend the great things which I and my said Lord Legate have said and attested on his Holiness behalf This with all other such matter as may serve to the purpose ye shall extend as well as ye can and by that means get and attain as much to your purpose for the corroboration and surety of all things to be done here as is possible leaving to speak any more or also to take or admit any rescripts for exhibition of the Brief advocation of the Cause or other of the former degrees seeing that all which shall or can be
done or attained there shall hang meerly upon the Emperor's Will Consent and Arbitre and therefore nothing is now or hereafter to be procured that may tend to any Act to be done in decision of the Cause or otherwise there or which may bring the adverse Party to any advantage to be taken by the favour or partiality that the same may have in that Court but to convert and employ all your suit to that thing which may be to the most convalidation and surety of the Process and things to be done here as well by attaining as ample large and sufficient words clauses and sentences as ye can get for ampliation of the new Commission As for the defeating of any thing that may be procured to the impeachment of the Process thereof and the corroboration of the things to be passed and done by virtue of the same And amongst other things whereas ye with these last Letters sent the Pope's Pollicitation for the non-inhibition or avoking of the Cause the ratifying and confirming of the Sentence by us his Legates herein to be given and other things mentioned in the same ye shall understand that the said Pollicitation is so couched and qualified as the Pope's Holiness whensoever he will may resile like-as by certain Lines and Annotations which in the Margin of a Copy of the said Pollicitation I send you herewith ye shall perceive more at large And therefore after your other suits for the ampliation of the new Commission if any such may be attained brought unto as good a purpose as ye can ye shall by some good way find the mean to attain a new Pollicitation with such or as many of the words and additions newly devised as ye can get which ye may do under this form and colour that is to say to shew unto the Pope's Holiness by way of sorrow and doleance how your Courier to whom ye committed the conveyance of the said Pollicitation so chanced in wet and water in the carriage thereof as the Pacquet wherein it was with such Letters as were with the same and amongst other the Rescripts of Pollicitation were totally wet defaced and not legible so as the Pacquet and Rescript was and is detained by him to whom ye direct your Letters and not delivered amongst the other unto the King's hands and unless his Holiness of his goodness unto you will grant you a double of the said Pollicitation ye see not but there shall be some notable blame imputed unto you for not better ordering thereof to the conservation of it from such chance And thus coming to a new Pollicitation and saying ye will devise it as near as ye can remember according to the former ye by your Wisdoms and namely ye Mr. Stevins may find the means to get as many of the new and other pregnant fat and available words as is possible the same signed and sealed as the other is to be written in Parchment the politick handling whereof the King's Highness and I commit unto your good discretions for therein as ye Mr. Stevins know resteth a great strength and corroboration of all that shall be done there in decision of the King 's said Cause and as ye write may be in manner as beneficial to the King's purpose as the Commission Decretal And to the intent ye may the better know how to proceed in this Business I advertise you that the King's Highness hath now received fresh Letters out of Spain answering to those sent by Curson jointly with a Servant of the Queens for exhibition of the Original Brief here of whose expedition you Mr. Stevins were privy before your departure The Letters were of sundry dates the last whereof is the 21 of April at which time the Emperor was at Caesar Augusta upon his departure towards Barselona In effect the Emperor minding by his departure thither and other his Acts to make a great demonstration of his coming into Italy who is to nothing as the King's Ambassadours write more unmeet and unfurnished to that voyage not having any Gallies there but three which lay on dry Land unrigged as they have done a long time passed none Assembly of the States of that Land none order provision of Victual towardness in conscription of Men of War or appearance of such thing but that his going to Barselona is chiefly under pretext to attain certain old Treasure there remaining and to give the better reputation to his Affairs in Italy As to the matter of Peace and Truce he seemeth not so alien from it but that he would under colour thereof be glad to separate and dis-join other from the sincerity of confidence that is between them working somewhat with the French King which he himself confesseth to be but abuses On the other side he maketh overture of Peace or Truce to be had with the King's Highness apart and in the mean time entertaineth the Pope's Holiness as one whom won from the residue of the Confederates he thinketh himself most assured of Howbeit in all this his Business ye may constantly affirm that his Compasses cannot prevail in any thing that may be excogitate to the separation of the King's Highness and the French King who so entirely proceed together that the Emperor coming or not coming into Italy the said French King intendeth to prosecute him in the place where his Person shall be To whom the King's Highness now sendeth the Duke of Suffolk with the Treasurer of his honourable Houshold who if the Pope will not really and actually intend to the maintaining of the Peace coming to the convention of his Holiness moved as the case shall require shall be furnished of a substantial number of Men of War out of his Realm to the assistance of the said French King if the Emperor happen to descend in Italy So as his things there be not like to be in such surety as might bring the Pope's Holiness to this extremity of fear and respect And all the Premisses touching this knowledg had out of Spain and the French King's Interest with the King's Concurrence as afore It shall be well done ye declare to the Pope's Holiness whereby peradventure the same shall be removed from some part of his said overmuch respect to that part As to sending of the Brief the Emperor refusing to send it into England sheweth some towardness of sending it to Rome minding and intending to have the King's Matter decided there and not here howbeit all be but vain Collusions For as ye shall perceive by such things as be extracted out of the Letters of the King's Orators Resident in Spain a Copy whereof I send you herewith the more the said Breve cometh into light and knowledg the more falsities be deprehended therein and amongst other one there is specially to be noted making if it be true a clearer and manifest proof of the same Falsity which because if it were perceived by the adverse Party or any of their Friends Counsellors or Adherents it
this shall be only to signifie unto you how his Highness will that ye now forbear any further pursuit either for Commission Pollicitation or Rescript to be sent to the Emperor for exhibition of the Brief either here or at Rome but that following in every part the tenor of the said Instructions ye Mr. Stevins and Sir Francis Brian use all the diligence possible in your Voyage homeward and the residue of you to intend to such things as be mentioned in the said Instructions ascertaining you that whereas ye were in doubt what is meant by the Protestation spoken of in my former Letters and your Instructions it was none other thing than in the same Instructions was plainly specified and declared That is to say Failing of all your Requests and Pursuits touching the King 's great Matter to have shewed unto his Holiness the danger that might ensue by losing the entire favour of this Prince by mean of his so strange and unkind dealing with his Grace howbeit considering in what state the things now be and how much the Pope's Holiness seemeth to be inclined to the Emperors part And yet as appeareth both by your Letters and by such other knowledg as the King hath his Holiness would gladly conserve the King's Love and Favour and is loth to do any thing to the prejudice of his Cause It is no time to come to any rigorous or extream words with his Holiness but in gentle and modest manner to shew himself in such words as be mentioned in my said last Letters sent by Thadeus and so without irritation of him but with conservation of his favour to entertain his Holiness in the best manner that may be without medling in any other Protestation but only to look what may be done touching such Protestations apart as is mentioned in the said Instructions given to Mr. Benet which with these Letters shall be a sufficient information of you all what to do in the Causes to you committed not doubting but in all other particular suits of Bulls and other things committed unto you ye Mr. Stevins and Sir Francis Brian have or will do your best to bring the same with you the expedition whereof if they be not sped already the King's Highness committeth to the Wisdoms of such of you as shall fortune to be in the Court of Rome at the receipt hereof wherein and in all other things his Highness trusteth and I do the semblable that ye will order your selves with all effectual diligence as the special confidence that is put in you doth appertain And forasmuch as the greatest thing that is to be looked unto is the importune Suit of the Caesareans not only to stop any further things to be granted to the King's Highness but also to revoke the Commission given to the Lord Legate Campegius and to me which should be a clear disappointment and frustration of the King's Cause ye shall therefore look substantially by all politick means to withstand that no such thing be granted assuring the Pope and all the Cardinals and such other as have respect to the well of the See Apostolick that if he should do such an high injury to the King and his Realm and an Act so contumelious to us his Legates and so contrarious to his Faith and Promise he should thereby not fail so highly to irritate the King and all the Nobles of this Realm that undoubtedly they should decline from the obedience of the See Apostolick and consequently all other Realms should do the semblable forasmuch as they should find in the Head of the same neither justness uprightness nor truth and this shall be necessary as the case shall require well to be inculked and put in his head to the intent his Holiness by the same may be preserved from granting passing or condescending to any such thing After these Letters perfected hither and read unto the King's Highness albeit that mention is made in sundry places heretofore that 〈◊〉 well ye Mr. Stevins and Sir Francis Brian if ye be not returned fro◠the Court of Rome as also the rest of the King's Ambassadors which a◠the arrival of Mr. Doctor Bennet shall fortune to be there shall forbea◠to make any further means or pursuit for the New Commission and Pollicitation but clearly to use silence therein yet nevertheless regarding and more profoundly considering the effect of your Letters last sent i◠doth plainly appear that tho after the overture made to the Pope's Holiness of the said New Commission the Business chanced to be made by the Emperor's Ambassador upon preferring a Supplication for advocation of the Cause which thing by your writing Mr. Stevins to Capisuke was well avoided yet was there none express refusal made by the Pope's Holiness to condescend unto the said New Commission but order given that you should consult and confer with the Cardinal Anconitane and Symonette upon the same which Conference by mean of the said Business was deferred and disappointed without any final conclusion or resolution taken thereupon Wherefore inasmuch as yet there appeareth none utter despair of obtaining the said New Commission and Pollicitation with some more fat pregnant and effectual Clauses than the other hath The King's pleasure is That notwithstanding any words before mentioned both ye the said Mr. Stevins and Sir Francis Brian if ye be not departed from the Court of Rome do for the time of your demur there which the King's pleasure is shall not be long but only for taking of your leave and also the rest of the King 's said Orators after your departure shall as ye shall see the case require endeavour your selves as much as may be to obtain the said New Commission and Pollicitation foreseeing always that you handle the matter after such manner as thereby the Pope be not the rather induced to hearken and incline to any persuites of the Imperials for advocation of the Cause which were a total frustration of all the King's intent but so to use your selves as ye shall see to be to the benefit and not to the hindrance thereof Which done the King's Grace doth refer the good handling of this thing to your wisdoms and discretions neither to leave the persuit for the said Commission and Pollicitation if it may without dammage be followed nor to follow it if thereby you shall see apparent danger of any such Advocation or advantage to ensue to the purpose of the Imperialists like as his Highness doubteth not knowing now the King's mind and pleasure you will with wisdom and dexterity order your selves herein accordingly And furthermore you shall in any wise dissuade the Pope for sending either by his Nuntio to be sent unto Spain or otherwise for the Original Brief And if the Nuntio be already passed having charge to speak for sending the same to the Court of Rome then to find the means that a Commandment be by the Pope's Holiness sent after him not to make any mention thereof Which done
ways possible to be entertained as we doubt not but you will have special eye and regard to the making winning and conservation of as many Friends to our purpose as ye can possibly obtain so handling your self as now may appear your dexterity and perfect endeavour to conduce with your diligent labour and policy our Matters to the speedy indelayed and desired end and effect which ye may be sure we shall not put in oblivion but will have the same in remembrance accordingly Marvelling nevertheless that though ye Mr. Stevins could not bring hitherto our great Causes to perfection ye had not in the mean season advertised us what is done touching such Bulls as were to be sped for our other particular Matters whereof no mention is made in your said Letters willing and desiring you therefore by your next Letters to advertise us in what state and train the same be knowing right well that ye being not only by the former Letters and Writings but also by such as be sent unto you at this time sufficiently and amply instructed of our Mind and Pleasure will now so acquit your self as shall correspond to the perfect expectation and firm opinion that we have of you which we shall not fail to have in our tender consideration to your well as is aforesaid Ye shall also in your Conferences with the said Bishop of Verone understand and know of him by what ways and means ye may best further his advancement to the Cardinality exhorting him for the manifold good effects that thereof may ensue to conform himself to the acceptation thereof if it may be obtained for doubtless his Vertue Wisdom Experience Fidelity and other great and commendable merits well considered we think no Man more meet at this time to be preferred thereunto than him And therefore our express Mind and Pleasure is that ye do it by all the ways and means to you possible And finally we will that ye show unto him how effectually we have written unto you in that behalf to the intent being advanced thereunto he may give us the better thanks and in every way bear to us the more perfect affection And by your next Letters We will that ye advertise us what Advocates ye have on our part with their Names and Qualities finding the means also if it be possible to retain some notable and excellent Divine a Frier or other that may can or will firmly stick to our Causes in leaning to that Quod Pontifex ex Iure Divino non potest dispensare c. And of all the Successes to advertise us as our special trust is in you Given under our Signet at our Mannor of Greenwich the 6 th of this April XXVIII The King's Letter to his Ambassadours about his appearance before the Legates An Original Iune 23. 1529. To our trusty and right well-beloved Counsellors Mr. William Bennet Doctor of both Laws Sir Gregory de Cassalis Knight and Mr. Peter Vannes our Secretary for the Latin Tongue our Ambassadours resident in the Court of Rome and to every of them By the KING Henry R. TRusty and right well-beloved we greet you well By former Letters and Writings sent to you Sir Gregory and Mr. Peter with other of your Collegues then being at Rome and by such conference as was had with you Mr. Benet before your departure you were advertised in what state then stood our Cause and Matter of Matrimony and how it was intended that the Process of the same should with diligence be commenced before the Pope's Legates here being authorized for that purpose Since that time ensuing the deliberation taken in that behalf the said Legates all due Ceremonies first observed have directed Citations both to us and to the Queen for our and for her appearing before them the 18 th of this month which appearance was duly on either Party kept performed and all requisite Solemnities accomplished At which time the Queen trusting more in the power of the Imperialists than in any justness of her Cause and thinking of likelyhood by frustratory allegations and delays to tract and put over the Matter to her advantage did protest at the said day putting in Libels Recusatories of the Judges and also made a provocation alledging the Cause to be avoked by the Pope's Holiness litis pendentiam coram eodem desiring to be admitted for probation thereof and to have a term competent for the same Whereupon day was given by the Judges till the 21 of the same month for declaration of their minds and intentions thereunto The Queen in Person and we by our Proctor enjoined to appear the same day to hear what the said Judges should determine in and upon the same At which time both we and the Queen appeared in Person and notwithstanding that the said Judges amply and sufficiently declared as well the sincerity of their minds directly justly to proceed without favour dread affection or partiality as also that no such Recusation Appellation or term for proving of Litis pendentiam could or might be by them admitted yet she nevertheless persisting in her former wilfulness and in her Appeal which also by the said Judges was likewise recused And they minding to proceed further in the Cause the Queen would no longer make her abode to hear what the said Judges would fully discern but incontinently departed out of the Court wherefore she was thrice preconnisate and called eft-soons to return and appear which she refusing to do was denounced by the Judges Contumax and a Citation decerned for her appearance on Friday next to make answer to such Articles and Positions as should be objected unto her So as now it is not to be doubted but that she will use all the ways and means to her possible to impetrate and attain such things as well by her own pursute as by her Friends as may be to the impeachment of the rightful Process of this Cause either by Advocation Inhibition or otherwise Wherefore seeing now in what state this our Matter standeth and dependeth necessary and requisite for the great Consequences hanging upon the same not only for the exoneration of our Conscience but also for the surety of our Succession and the well of this our Realm and People to be with all celerity perfected and observed It was thought convenient to advertise you of the Premisses to the intent ye being well and sufficiently instructed in all things concerning the same shall by your wisdoms and diligences have special regard that nothing pass or be granted there by the Pope's Holiness which may either give delay or disappointment to the direct and speedy process to be used in this Cause neither by Advocation of the Cause Inhibition or otherwise but that if any such thing shall by the Caesareans or by her Agents or other be attempted or desired the like Men of Wisdom good Zeal Learning and Experience diligently procure the stopping thereof as well upon such Reasons and Considerations as before have been
signified unto you as by inferring the high and extream dishonour and intolerable prejudice that the Pope's Holiness thereof should do to his said Legates and also the contrariety both of his Bull and Commission and also of his Promise and Pollicitation passed upon the same beside the notable and excellent displeasure thereby to be done by his Holiness to us and our Realm clear contrary to our merits and deserts extending also the other dangers mentioned in the said former Writings apparent to ensue thereby to his Holiness and the See Apostolick with the manifold and in manner inâ—inite inconveniences like to follow of the same to all Christendom and all other such reasons introductions and perswasions ye can make and devise for that purpose putting him also in remembrance of the great Commodity coming unto his Holiness herein by reason that this Cause being here decided the Pope not only is delivered from the pains that he should in this time of Disease and Sickness to the extream peril of his Life sustain with the same seeing that it is of such moment and importance as suffereth no tract or delay but also his Holiness shall by such decision here eschew and avoid all displeasure that he should not fail to have if it were or should be passed elsewhere which matter is no little wisdom well to foresee and consider and not only to forbear to do or pass any thing derogatory or prejudicial to his said Commission but also by all means possible to corroborate and fortify the same and all such Acts judicial as shall pass by his said Legates by virtue thereof Like-as we doubt not but that the Pope's Holiness of his Uprightness Vertue and perfect Wisdom will do and rather like a most loving Father and Friend tender and favour our good just and reasonable Causes and Desires putting thereunto all the furtherance he may do than to do or consent to be done any thing hurtful prejudicial dammageable or displeasant unto us or this our said Cause And finally If need shall be we will ye also infer as the case shall require how inconvenient it were this our Matter should be decided in the Court of Rome which now dependeth totally in the Emperor's Arbitre having such puissance near thereunto that as hath been written by the Pope's own Letters their State and Life there is all in the Emperor's hands whose Armies may famish or relieve them at their pleasure And semblably ye shall not forget the prerogative of our Crown and Jurisdiction Royal by the ancient Laws of our Realm which admitteth nothing to be done by the Pope to the prejudice thereof and also what danger they should incur that would presume to bring or present any such thing unto the same as in our last Letters sent by Alexander was touched at good length Wherein since ye be already so well and amply instructed knowing also how much the Matter imports and toucheth us and what profit and agreeable service ye may do unto us herein with the high thanks that ye may deserve for the same We shall not be more prolix but refer the substantial perfect and assured handling hereof to your circumspections fidelities and diligences not doubting but that ye will now above all other things look vigilantly hereunto and so acquit your selves in the same as it may well appear that your Acts shall be correspondent to our firm trust and expectation and no less tender this thing than ye know it to be imprinted in the bottom of our Heart nor then as ye know both the importance and high moment and also the very necessity of the Matter doth require In which doing beside the laud and praise that ye shall consecute thereby of all good Men we shall so have your acquittals in our remembrance as ye shall have cause to think your travels pains and studies herein in the best wise collocate and emploied Given under our Signet at our Palace of Bridewel the 23 d day of Iune Rome 9 Iuly 1529. XXIX Doctor Bennet's Letter to the Cardinal shewing how little they might expect from the Pope An Original PLease it your Grace to understand that the 6 th day of this month the Pope's Holiness send for us Albeit we had made great sute for audience before to his Holiness soon after that we had understanding that his Holiness was recovered of this his last Sickness into the which he fell the second day after I had my first audience of his Holiness which was the 21 day of the last month And after our long communication and reasoning in the King's Highness Cause which at length we have written to your Grace in our common Letter for a confirmation of many inconveniences and dangers which we perswaded to his Holiness to follow both to himself and to the See Apostolick in case his Holiness should avoke the cause I thought much convenient at that same time to deliver the King 's familiar and likewise your Grace's Letter and so to shew your Grace's Credence to his Holiness After the foresaid Letters delivered and by his Holiness read his Holiness shewed me that he perceived by your Grace's Letters that I had certain Credence to shew unto him of great moment and importance concerning him and the See Apostolick I shewed to his Holiness your Grace's Faith and observance his Holiness doth best know most humbly besought his Holiness to believe these undoubtedly to follow That if his Holiness should at the labours of the Caesareans avoke the Cause he should not alonely offend the King's Highness which hitherto hath been a stay a help and a defence of the See Apostolick but also by reason of this injury without remedy shall alienate his Majesty and Realms with others from the devotion and obedience of the See Apostolick This I shewed his Holiness that your Grace doth evidently perceive to follow in case his Holiness should incline to the Caesareans desire on this behalf Yea further I said that your Grace most clearly perceiveth also by that Act the Church of England utterly to be destroyed and likewise your Person and that these your Grace with weeping tears most lamentably committed unto me to shew to his Holiness Furthermore I shewed to his Holiness that your Grace howsoever you should proceed in this Cause did intend to proceed so sincerely indifferently and justly that you would rather suffer to be jointed Joint by Joint than either for affection or fear do any act either against your Conscience or Justice Furthermore I said that seeing his Holiness may be so well assured that your Grace will do nothing but according to Justice in this Cause he may the more boldly deny Avocations to the Caesareans seeing that the Queen and the Emperor can desire but Justice which they may have at your Grace's hand and my Lord Campegius as well there as here and by this means his Holiness should deliver himself from great pains and unquietness of mind which he should sustain
specially forasmuch as we pretend none atrocity nor use no rethorick in the exaggerating and encreasing the indignity of the Matter but if I speak of any thing that toucheth the quick it proceedeth of the meer verity which we cannot nor ought not to hide in this Cause for it toucheth not Worldly Things but Divine not frail but eternal in which things no feigned false nor painted Reasons but only the Truth shall obtain and take place and God is the Truth to whom we are bound to obey rather than to Men and nevertheless we cannot but obey unto Men also as we were wont to do unless there be an express cause why we should not which by those our Letters we now do to your Holiness and we do it with charity not intending to spread it abroad nor yet further to impugn your Authority unless ye do compel us albeit also that that we do doth not impugne your Authority but confirmeth the same which we revocate to its first foundations and better it is in the middle way to return than always to run forth head-long and do ill Wherefore if your Holiness do regard or esteem the tranquillity of our Mind let the same be established with verity which hath been brought to light by the consent of so many Learned Men So shall your Holiness reduce and bring us to a certainty and quietness and shall deliver us from all anxiety and shall provide both for us and our Realm and finally shall do your Office and Duty The residue of our Affairs we have committed to our Ambassadours to be propounded unto you to whom we beseech your Holiness to give credence c. XLIII A Promise made for engaging the Cardinal of Ravenna An Original Rome Februar 7. 1532. EGo Willielmus Benet Serenissimi Domini mei D. Henrici Octavi Angliae c. Regis in Romana Curia Orator habens ad inscripta ab ipso Rege potestatem facultatem prout constat per ipsius Majestatis Literas Patentes datas in Regia sua Greenewici die penultima Decemb M. D. XXXI manu sua propria suprascriptas secreto sigillo suo sigillatas Quoniam in ipsius Regis arduis negotiis expertus sum singularem praeclaram operam Reverendissimi in Christo Patris Domini D. Henrici Sancti Eusebii S. R. E. Presbyteri Cardinalis Ravennae quibus deinceps uti cupio ut eandem semper voluntatem operam sua Dominatio Reverendissima erga ipsum regem praestet libere promitto eidem Cardinali nomine dicti mei Regis quod sua Majestas provideri faciet eidem Cardinali de aliquo Monasterio seu Monasteriis aut aliis beneficiis Ecclesiasticis in Regno Galliae primo vacaturis usque ad valorem annuum sex millium ducatorum Et insuper promitto quod Rex Angliae praedictus praesentabit seu nominabit eundem Cardinalem ad Ecclesiam Cathedralem primo quovis modo vacaturam seu ad praesens vacantem in Regno Angliae de illa ei provideri faciet casu quo Ecclesia primo vacatura hujusmodi ceu ad praesens vacans non sit Ecclesia Eliensis promitto etiam quod succedente postea vacatione Ecclesiae Eliensis Rex Angliae transferri faciet eundem Cardinalem si ipsi Cardinali magis placuerit ab illa alia Ecclesia de qua provisus erit ad Ecclesiam Eliensem dictorum Monasteriorum Beneficiorum Ecclesiasticorum in Regno Galliae Ecclesiae Cathedralis in Regno Angliae possessionem pacificam cum fructuum perceptione ipsum Cardinalem assequi faciet Et haec omnia libere promitto quod Rex meus supradictus plenissime sine ulla prorsus exceptione ratificabit observabit exequetur in quorum fidem praesentes manu mea propria scripsi subscripsi sigilloque munivi Dat. Rom. die septimo Februarii M. D. XXXII XLIV Bonner's Letter about the proceedings at Rome An Original Rome April 29. 1532. PLeaseth it your Highness This is to advertise the same That sithen we William Benet Edward Karne and Edmond Bonner sent our Letters of the 7 th of this present to your Highness There hath been two Disputations publick the one the 13 th of this the other the 20 th day of the same according to the order given and assigned which was three Conclusions to be disputed every Consistory and what was spoken as well by your Highness's Counsel for the justification of the Conclusion purposed the said 13 th as also for the impugnation thereof by the Party adverse with Answers made thereunto by your Highness's said Counsel as fully as were any wise deduced your said Highness shall perceive by the Books sent herewithal containing the same and also the Justifications Objections and Answers made in the 6 th of this present according as I Edward Karne in my said Letters promised The Copies of all the which Justifications Objections and Answers after that they were fully noted and deduced in writing and maturely considered by your Highness's Learned Counsel I Edward Karne did bring to the Pope's Holiness and to the Cardinals for their better information and likewise did of the first alwise afore the Consistory according to the order assigned at the beginning looking in likewise that the Queen's Counsel should do this same but as yet they have done nothing therein tho your Ambassadors and I have called upon the Pope many times for the same And as concerning such things as were spoken and done for either part in the Disputation of the 20 th day it is not possible for us by reason of the shortness of time to reduce all in good order and to send the same to your Highness at this time nevertheless with all speed it shall be made ready and sent to your Highness by the next Courier After the Disputation done the said 13 th day of this present the Advocate of the Party adverse did alledg That we did seek this Disputation but only to defer the Process protesting therefore That the Queen's Counsel would dispute no more and desiring therefore the Pope's Holiness and the whole Consistory to make Process in the principal Cause Whereunto I Edward Karne said That the Pope's Holiness with the whole Senate had granted the Disputations upon the Matters and given an order that the Conclusions published should be disputed according to the same Whereupon I desired that forasmuch as there remained sixteen Conclusions not disputed which to propose and justify with your Highness's Counsel I would be ready at all times that if the Party adverse knowing the Conclusions to be Canonical would not confess them and thereby avoid Disputations that then the said Party should dispute them and upon the refusal of both the same the Matters excusatories to be admitted byhis Holiness especially because the said Party adverse hath nothing material that could be perceived to lett the same The Pope's Holiness answered That he would deliberate upon the
demand of both Parties The 16 th of this present the Datary on the Pope's behalf sent unto me Edward Karne an Intimation for disputation of the Consistory to be kept the 20 of this present and that I should send the Conclusions not disputed that they might be in the said Consistory disputed adding withal that the said Consistory should be ultimus peremptorius terminus quoad alias Disputationes Of the which Intimation your Highness shall receive a Copy herewith Upon this with the advice of your Ambassadors and Counsel here I repaired unto the said Datary and brought unto him three Conclusions to be disputed with a Protestation De non recedendo ab ordine hactenus observato according to the Proem of the said Conclusions the Copy whereof your Highness shall receive herewith Afterwards with the same Conclusions and Protestation I went to Cardinal de Monte who said at the beginning That all the Consistory crieth out upon the Disputations and that we had been heard sufficiently and that it was enough that we should have the fourth Disputation adding withal That it was a thing never seen before after such sort and that it stood not with the honour of the See to have such Disputations in the Consistory to the great disquieting of the Pope and the Cardinals especially considering the manner that is used and that all the Conclusions be touched which should content us To this I answered and desired his most Reverend Lordship to call to his remembrance what he had promised to your Highness's Ambassadors and me in the Castel-Angel upon Shrove-Sunday the Pope being present and allowing the same contented that all the Conclusions should be disputed singulariter and that I should at my pleasure from time to time chuse the Conclusions to be disputed And how also afterward viz. 17 Febr. the Pope's Holiness Cardinal Ancona and his Lordship not going from that promise gave direction for three Conclusions to be disputed every Consistory the choice whereof to be at my liberty according to the Copy of the said Order which I sent to your Highness with my Letters of the date of the 22 of the last And furthermore that what time the order to dispute three Conclusions in a Consistory was sent unto me and I required to send the Conclusions first to be disputed according to the said order I did to avoid all manner of doubts protest afore I would accept it and in the deliverance of the said Conclusions that I would not otherwise accept it but that all the Conclusions according to the order promised in Castel-Angel should be disputed and examined singulariter and that standing and not otherwise I delivered my said Conclusions according to the Order of the 17 th of February which Order the Pope's Holiness hitherto had approved and observed and from that I neither could nor would go from And where he said that we had been heard sufficiently I said that Audience and Information of less than the one half of a Matter could not be sufficient and if they intended to see the truth of the whole every point must be discussed And as for the crying out of the Cardinals I said They had no cause so to do for it was more for the honour of the See Apostolick to see such a Cause as this is well and surely tried so that the Truth may appear and the Matters be well known than to proceed praecipitanter as they did at the beginning of this Matter afore they well knew what the Matter was And as touching the disquieting the Pope's Holiness and the said Cardinals I said your Highness for their pains was much beholden unto them nevertheless I said that they might on the other side ponder such pains as your Highness hath taken for them in part declared by me which was much more than for them to sit in their Chairs two or three hours in a week to hear the justice of your defence in this cause And as touching the manner used in the said Disputation I said his Lordship knew well that it was by the Party adverse which all manner of ways goeth about to fatigate and make weary the Consistory of the Disputations specially in chiding scolding and alledging Laws and Decisions that never were nor spoken of by any Doctor and vainly continuing the time to the intent that the Pope's Holiness and the Cardinals dissolving the Consistory and not giving audience the said Party without Law Reason or any good ground might attain their desire and keep under the Truth that it should not appear and if any thing was sharply spoken of our Party I said it was done only for our defence and to shew the errors and falsity of the Queen's Advocates in their Allegations wherein I said they should not be spared And forasmuch as on the behalf of your Highness there was nothing spoken but that which was grounded upon Law and declared in what place so that it cannot be denied I desired his Lordship that he would continue his goodness in this Matter as your Highness's especial trust was he would do and that we might always as we were accustomed have recourse unto the same in all our Business for his good help and counsel His Lordship not yet satisfied said That as concerning the Order the Pope's Holiness might interpretate and declare what he meaned by it and as touching the Conclusions they were superfluous impertinent and calumnious only proposed to defer the Matter I answered and said That to interpretate the said Order where it is clear out of doubt the Pope's Holiness considering the promise made on Shrove-Sunday with my Protestation foresaid and the execution of the said Order to that time in divers Consistories observed could not by right interpretate the said Order admitting disputation upon all the Conclusions and of this I said That if such alterations were made without any cause given of your Highness's Party there was little certainty to be reckoned upon amongst them And as touching the superfluity and impertinency of the said Conclusions I said That that was the saying of the Party adverse that did not understand the same Conclusions And further that such Conclusions as were clamorously by the Advocates of the Party adverse alledged to be superfluous his Lordship in the Disputation and trial thereof in the Consistory did manifestly perceive that it was not so And where it was alledged the said Conclusions to be calumnious and laid in to defer the Process I answered That we might well alledg again the Counsel of the Party adverse the thing against us alledged and say truly that we were calumniously dealed withal seeing the matters were so just and clear and yet not admitted Then his Lordship went further and said that Impedimentum allegatum erat perpetuum because your Highness ex causa reipublicae could not come out your Realm and quia dignitas vestra est perpetua and also quod Causa requirit celeritatem To this I said that his
Lordship mistook the Matter for we said not in the Matters that your Highness could not go out of your Realm to no place but we said that the same could not go ad loca tam remota as Rome is so that it was not perpetuum impedimentum And to the other I shewed him a Text and the common opinion of Doctors in a Cause of Matrimony being inter Regem Reginam which took away the thing that he had said Then his Lordship said That it was enough that the place were sure to the Procurator by the Chapter Cum olim de testibus I said That that Chapter did not prove that Allegation and that they mistook the Text that so did understand it for the Alternative that is in that Text is not referred ad locum tutum but ad ordinem Citationis inchoandae in persona principali aut ejus procuratore and so Petrus de Anchorano understandeth that Text and otherwise understanding the same it should be against the Chapter Ex parte de appellatione and the common opinion there Then he said that Aretine saith Quod sufficit quum locus sit tutus procuratori I said that under his favour Aretine saith the contrary for he saith Quod partibus debet locus tutus assignari si poterit si non poterit partibus detur procuratoribus Then his Lordship said to me That I knew well he began to set forward these Disputations and that he would do the best he could for the furtherance thereof The 19 th of this present I went with your Highness's Ambassadors to the Pope and delivered his Holiness in writing those things that were done in the Disputation of the 13 th of this And then your Ambassadors were in hand with the Pope to alter the Intimation and to put out the term peremptory and other that were exclusory of further Disputations to be had upon the same Conclusions The Pope's Holiness said That Disputations was no act Judicial requiring to be in the Consistory and therefore he said he would call certain Congregations of Cardinals on Friday and Monday following to hear the Disputations Then I William Benet said That that could not stand very well with the Decree of the Intimation which was peremptory for any further Disputations after the 20 th of this present and therefore I spake that the same term peremptory might be put out of the Intimation alledging withal that upon the said Friday or Monday it was no time to hear the Disputation being so nigh after and that his Holiness hitherto hath observed the Consistory for the Disputations which Consistory cannot be unto after Easter if the manner of the Court be observed Then the Pope said he might call a Consistory when he would as he hath done in making of Cardinals an Act much more solemn than a Disputation To that I said his Holiness might so do if he would howbeit it should be praeter solitum morem and therefore desired his Holiness to consider therein the order before assigned and that this term peremptory would not stand with the order His Holiness then willed we should inform the Cardinals Anchona and de Monte and so we did Anchona shewed himself somewhat reasonable and was contented the term peremptory should be put out De Monte said that the Pope would promise to hear the Conclusions disputed in Congregations calling thereto certain Cardinals so that the term peremptory should not be prejudicial Then I Edward Karne desired him that if the said term should not be prejudicial that it might be stricken out for I told him plainly that I would not stand to words the writing shewing the contrary adding withal that I would not dispute in this term tanquam peremptorio but would manifestly shew and protest That I with other your Highness's Counsel were ready to defend the Conclusions published according to the order given and hitherto observed alledging also that the Conclusions being justified the Matters ought to be admitted and that if the Pope's Holiness and the Cardinals would not give audience to me and your Highness's said Counsel for the manifest trial and showing of the truth they should give us cause to complain upon them and to cry out usque ad Sidera your Highness's Ambassadors all affirming the same Then the said Cardinal de Monte said that the Pope's Holiness would provide for the Disputations notwithstanding the term peremptory assigned and said also that in the Morning he would speak with the Pope and give your Ambassadors and me an answer In the morning which was the 20 th of this present the said Cardinal would that nothing of the Decree of Intimation should be manifested because the other part had a Copy thereof but would the Pope's Holiness to give an order that the word peremptory should be only for Disputations to be had in the Consistory and not in Congregations in which Congregations the Conclusions remaining might be disputed and tho they had drawn out this Order yet because it was nothing plain neither certain to be conformable to the former Order I would have had the said Cardinal to speak to the said Datary for to make it as afore and he was then contented howbeit the Pope's Holiness commanded all the Cardinals to their places so that I could not have the said Order and was driven thereby either to dispute and accept the term tanquam peremptorium or else to fly the Disputations giving occasion to the adverse Party to say that I diffided in the justness of the Matters and defence of the Conclusions Whereupon your Highness's Ambassadors and we with other your Learned Counsel concluded that I Edward Karne should protest De non consentiendo in termino tanquam peremptorio and afterward to proceed to the proposing of the Conclusions and so I did by mouth according to the tenour of a Copy which here withal your Highness shall receive When I had protested and the Pope had spoken this word Acceptamus the Queen's Advocate began to protest that they would dispute no more and desired his Holiness to proceed in the principal Cause Then I Edward Karne said That the Pope's Holiness did well perceive that the Conclusions were published and proposed not only for them to dispute but also for all other come who would for the information of his Holiness and the whole Consistory And therefore I said that tho they would not dispute yet I was there with other your Highness's Learned Counsel to propose the Conclusions according to the Order given justifying them to be Canonical and ready to defend them against all those that would gainsay them and thereupon desired the Pope's Holiness that tho the Counsel of the Party Adverse would not dispute yet I with your Highness's Learned Counsel might be heard again against which my desire the Queen's Advocate made great exclamations till at the last the Pope commanded him to silence and willed us to go to the Conclusions which we did And
pleasure Item If the said Commissioners have but one County in charge then to certifie the said Chancellor in form aforesaid and there to remain till they know further of the King's pleasure VII Injunctions given by the Authority of the King's Highness to the Clergy of this Realm IN the Name of God Amen In the Year of our Lord God one thousand five hundred thirty six and of the most noble Reign of our Sovereign Lord Henry the Eighth King of England and France the 28 Year and the day of I Thomas Cromwel Knight Lord Cromwel Keeper of the Privy-Seal of our said Sovereign Lord the King and Vicegerent unto the same for and concerning all his Jurisdictions Ecclesiastical within the Realm visiting by the King's Highness's Supream Authority Ecclesiastical the People and Clergy of this Deanery of by my trusty Commissary lawfully deputed and constitute for this part have to the glory of Almighty God to the King's Highness's honour the publick Weal of this his Realm and encrease of Vertue in the same appointed and assigned these Injunctions ensuing to be kept and observed of the Dean Parsons Vicars Curates and Stipendaries resiant or having cure of Soul or any other Spiritual Administrations within this Deanery under the pains hereafter limited and appointed The first is That the Dean Parsons Vicars and other having cure of Soul any-where within this Deanery shall faithfully keep and observe and as far as in them may lie shall cause to be observed and kept of other all and singular Laws and Statutes of this Realm made for the abolishing and extirpation of the Bishop of Rome's pretensed and usurped Power and Jurisdiction within this Realm And for the establishment and confirmation of the King's Authority and Jurisdiction of the same as of the Supream Head of the Church of England and shall to the uttermost of their Wit Knowledg and Learning purely sincerely and without any colour or dissimulation declare manifest and open for the space of one quarter of a year next ensuing once every Sunday and after that at the least-wise twice every quarter in their Sermons and other Collations that the Bishop of Rome's usurped Power and Jurisdiction having no establishment nor ground by the Law of God was of most just causes taken away and abolished and therefore they owe unto him no manner of obedience or subjection and that the King's Power is within his Dominion the highest Power and Potentate under God to whom all Men within the same Dominions by God's Commandment owe most loyalty and obedience afore and above all other Powers and Potentates in Earth Item Whereas certain Articles were lately devised and put forth by the King's Highness's Authority and condescended upon by the Prelates and Clergy of this his Realm in Convocation whereof part are necessary to be holden and believed for our Salvation and the other part do concern and teach certain laudable Ceremonies Rites and Usages of the Church meet and convenient to be kept and used for a decent and politick order in the same the said Dean Parsons Vicars and other Curats shall so open and declare in their said Sermons and other Collations the said Articles unto them that be under their Cure that they may plainly know and discern which of them be necessary to be believed and observed for their Salvation and which be not necessary but only do concern the decent and politick order of the said Church according to such Commandment and Admonition as hath been given unto them heretofore by Authority of the King's Highness in thaâ— behalf Moreover That they shall declare unto all such as be under their Cure the Articles likewise devised put forth and authorized of late for and concerning the abrogation of certain superfluous Holy-days according to the effect and purport of the same Articles and perswade their Parishioners to keep and observe the same inviolable as things honesty provided decreed and established by common consent and publick Authority for the Weal Commodity and Profit of all this Realm Besides this to the intent that all Superstition and Hypocrisie crept into divers Mens hearts may vanish away they shall not set forth or extol any Images Reliques or Miracles for any superstition or lucre nor allure the People by any inticements to the pilgrimages of any Saint otherwise than is permitted in the Articles lately put forth by the Authority of the King's Majesty and condescended upon by the Prelates and Clergy of this his Realm in Convocation as though it were proper or peculiar to that Saint to give this Commodity or that seeing all Goodness Health and Grace ought to be both asked and looked for only of God as of the very Author of the same and of none other for without him it cannot be given But they shall exhort as well their Parishioners as other Pilgrims that they do rather apply themselves to the keeping of God's Commandments and fulfilling of his Works of Charity perswading them that they shall please God more by the true exercising of their bodily Labour Travail or Occupation and providing for their Families than if they went about to the said Pilgrimages and that it shall profit more their Souls health if they do bestow that on the Poor and Needy which they would have bestowed upon the said Images or Reliques Also in the same their Sermons and other Collations the Parsons Vicars and other Curats aforesaid shall diligently admonish the Fathers and Mothers Masters and Governors of Youth being within their Cure to teach or cause to be taught their Children and Servants even from their Infancy their Pater Noster the Articles of our Faith and the Ten Commandments in their Mother Tongue And the same so taught shall cause the said Youth oft to repeat and understand And to the intent that this may be the more easily done the said Curats shall in their Sermons deliberately and plainly recite of the said Pater Noster the Articles of our Faith and the Ten Commandments one Clause or Article one day and an other another day till those be taught and learnt by little and shall deliver the same in writing or shew where printed Books containing the same be to be sold to them that can read or will desire the same And thereto that the said Fathers and Mothers Masters and Governors do bestow their Children and Servants even from their Childhood either to Learning or some other honest Exercise Occupation or Husbandry exhorting counselling and by all the ways and means they may as well in their said Sermons and Collations as otherwise perswading the said Fathers Mothers Masters and other Governors being under their Cure and Charge diligently to provide and foresee that the said Youth be in no manner-wise kept or brought up in idleness lest at any time afterwards they be driven for lack of some Mystery or Occupation to live by to fall to begging stealing or some other unthriftiness forasmuch as we may daily see through sloth and
or other Histories other than he can avouch and justify to be written by some allowed Writer And when he hath done all that he will say and utter for that time he shall then in few words recite again the pith and effect of his whole Sermon and add thereunto as he shall think good Item That no Parson Vicar Curat or other Priest having Cure of Souls within my Diocess and Jurisdiction shall from hence-forth permit suffer or admit any manner of person of whatsoever estate or condition he be under the degree of a Bishop to preach or make any Sermon or Collation openly to the people within their Churches Chappels or else-where within their Cures unless he that shall so preach have obtained before special License in that behalf of our Sovereign Lord the King or of me Edmund Bishop of London your Ordinary And the same License so obtained shall then and there really bring forth in writing under Seal and shew the same to the said Parson Vicar Curat or Priest before the beginning of his Sermon as they will avoid the extream Penalties of the Laws Statutes and Ordinances provided and established in that behalf if they presumptuously do or attempt any thing to the contrary Item I desire require exhort and command you and every of you in the Name of God Thâ—â— ye firmly faithfully and diligently to the uttermost of your poweâ—â— do observe fulfil and keep all and singular these mine Injunctions And that ye and every of you being Priests and having Cure or not Cure as well Benefice as not Beneficed within my Diocess and Jurisdiction do procure to have a Copy of the same Injunctions to the intent ye may the better observe and cause to be observed the Contents thereof The names of Books prohibited delivered to the Curats Anno 1542. to the intent that they shall present them with the Names of the Owners to their Ordinary if they find any such within their Parishes THe Disputation between the Father and the Son The Supplication of Beggars the Author Fish The Revelation of Antichrist The Practice of Prelates The Burying of the Mass in English Rithme The Book of Friar Barnes twice printed The Matrimony of Tindall The Exposition of Tindall upon the 4 th Chap. to the Corinth The Exposition of Tindall upon the Epistles Canonick of St. Iohn The New Testament of Tindalls Translation with his Preface before the whole Book and before the Epistles of St. Paul and Rom. The Preface made in the English Prymmers by Marshall The Church of Iohn Rastall The Table Glosses Marginal and Preface before the Epistle of St. Paul and Romans of Thomas Mathews doing and printed beyond the Sea without priviledg set in his Bible in English XXVII A Collection of Passages out of the Canon Law made by Cranmer to shew the necessity of reforming it An Original Dist. 22. Omnes de Major obedien solit Extra De Majorit obedient Unam Sanctam HE that knowledgeth not himself to be under the Bishop of Rome and that the Bishop of Rome is ordained by God to have Primacy over all the World is an Heretick and cannot be saved nor is not of the flock of Christ. Dist. 10. de Summa Excommunicationis Nominat 25. q. 11. omne Princes Laws if they be against the Canons and Decrees of the Bishop of Rome be of no force nor strength Dist. 19 20 24. q. 1. A recta memoria Quotiens haec est 25. q. 1. General violatores All the Decrees of the Bishop of Rome ought to be kept perpetually of every Man without any repugnancy as God's Word spoken by the Mouth of Peter and whosoever doth not receive them neither availeth them the Catholick Faith nor the four Evangelists but they blaspheme the Holy Ghost and shall have no forgiveness 35. q. 1. Generali All Kings Bishops and Noblemen that believe or suffer the Bishop of Rome's Decrees in any thing to be violate be accursed and for ever culpable before God as transgressors of the Catholick Faith Dist. 21. Quamvis 24. q. 1. A recta memoria The See of Rome hath neither spot nor wrinkle in it nor cannot err 35. q. 1. Ideo de Senten re judicata de jurejurando licet ad Apostolicae li. 6. de jurejurando The Bishop of Rome is not bound to any Decrees but he may compel as well the Clergy as Lay-men to receive his Decrees and Canon Law 9. q. z. Ipsi cuncta Nemo z. q. 6. dudum aliorum 17. q. 4. Si quis de Baptis ejus effectu majores The Bishop of Rome hath authority to judg all Men and specially to discern the Articles of the Faith and that without any Counsel and may assoil them that the Counsel hath damned but no Man hath authority to judg him nor to meddle with any thing that he hath judged neither Emperor King People nor the Clergy And it is not lawful for any Man to dispute of his Power gr Duo sunt 25. q. 6. Alius Nos Sanctorum juratos in Clemen de Haereticis aut efficiund The Bishop of Rome may excommunicate Emperors and Princes depose them from their States and Assoil their Subjects from their Oath and Obedience to them and so constrain them to rebellion De Major obedien solit Clement de summa re judicata Pastoral The Emperor is the Bishop of Rome's Subject and the Bishop of Rome may revoke the Emperor's Sentence in temporal Causes De Elect. Electi proprietate Venerabilem It belongeth to the Bishop of Rome to allow or disallow the Emperor after he is elected and he may translate the Empire from one Region to another De supplenda Negligen praelat Grand li. 6. The Bishop of Rome may appoint Coadjutors unto Princes Dist. 17. Si modo Regula Nec licuit multum Concilia 96. ubinam There can be no Council of Bishops without the Authority of the See of Rome and the Emperor ought not to be present at the Council except when Matters of the Faith be entreating which belong universally to every Man 2. q. 6. Nothing may be done against him that appealeth unto Rome 1. q. 3. Aliorum Dist. 40. Si Papa Dist. 96. Satis The Bishop of Rome may be judged of none but of God only for altho he neither regard his own Salvation nor no Mans else but draw down with himself innumerable People by heaps unto Hell yet may no mortal Man in this World presume to reprehend him forsomuch as he is called God he may not be judged of Man for God may be judged of no Man â— z. q. 5. The Bishop of Rome may open and shut Heaven unto Men. Dist. 40. Non vos The See of Rome receiveth holy Men or else maketh them holy De Pecunia Dist. 1. Serpens He that maketh a Lye to the Bishop of Rome committeth Sacriledg De Consecra Dist. 1. De locorum praecepta Ecclesia de Elect. Electi proprietate Fundamenta To
Rome or any Suitors to the Court of Rome or that lett the devolution of Causes unto that Court or that put any new Charges or Impositions real or personal upon any Church or Ecclesiastical Person and generally all other that offend in the Cases contained in the Bull which is usually published by the Bishops of Rome upon Maundy Thursday all these can be assoiled by no Priest Bishop Arch-Bishop nor by none other but only by the Bishop of Rome or by his express license 2. 4. q. z. Robbing of the Clergy and poor Men appertaineth unto the judgment of the Bishops 23. 9. q. He is no Man-slayer that slayeth a Man which is Excommunicate Dist. 63. Tibi Domino de summa Excommunicationis Si judex Here may be added the most tyrannical and abominal Oaths which the Bishop of Rome exact of the Emperors in Clement de jurejurando Romani dist 6.3 Tibi Domino De Consecra Dist. 1. Sicut It is better not to Consecrate than to Consecrate in a place not Hallowed De Consecrat Dist. 5. De his manus ut reum Confirmation if it be ministred by any other than a Bishop is of no value nor is no Sacrament of the Church also Confirmation is more to be had in reverence than Baptism and no Man by Baptism can be a christned Man without Confirmation De poeniten Dist. 1. Multiplex A penitent Person can have no remission of his Sin but by supplication of the Priests XXVIII A Mandate for publishing and using the Prayers in the English Tongue Mandatum Domino Episcopo London direct pro publicatione Regiarum Injunctionum MOst Reverend Father in God right trusty and right well-beloved we greet you well and let you wit That calling to our remembrance the miserable state of all Christendom being at this present besides all other troubles so plagued with most cruel Wars Hatred and Dissensions as no place of the same almost being the whole reduced to a very narrow corner remaineth in good Peace Agreement and Concord the help and remedy whereof far exceeding the power of any Man must be called for of him who only is able to grant our Petitions and never forsaketh nor repelleth any that firmly believe and faithfully call on him unto whom also the example of Scripture encourageth us in all these and other our troubles and necessities to fly and to cry for aid and succour being therefore resolved to have continually from henceforth general Processions in all Cities Towns Churches and Parishes of this our Realm said and sung with such reverence and devotion as appertaineth Forasmuch as heretofore the People partly for lack of good Instruction and Calling and partly for that they understood no part of such Prayers or Suffrages as were used to be sung and said have used to come very slackly to the Procession when the same have been commanded heretofore We have set forth certain godly Prayers and Suffrages in our Native English Tongue which we send you herewith signifying unto you That for the special trust and confidence we have of your godly mind and earnest desire to the setting forward of the Glory of God and the true worshipping of his 〈◊〉 Holy Name within that Province committed by us unto you we have sent unto you these Suffrages not to be for a month or two observed and after slenderly considered as other our Injunctions have to our no little marvel been used but to the intent that as well the same as other our Injunctions may be earnestly set forth by preaching good Exhortations and otherwise to the People in such sort as they feeling the godly tast thereof may godly and joyously with thanks receive embrace and frequent the same as appertaineth Wherefore we will and command you as you will answer unto us for the contrary not only to cause these Prayers and Suffrages aforesaid to be published frequented and openly used in all Towns Churches Villages and Parishes of your own Diocess but also to signify this our pleasure unto all other Bishops of your Province willing and commanding them in our Name and by virtue hereof to do and execute the same accordingly Unto whose Proceedings in the execution of this our Commandment we will that you have a special respect and make report unto us if any shall not with good dexterity accomplish the same Not failing as our special trust is in you At St. Iames's Iunii Regni 36. Directed to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury XXIX The Articles acknowledged by Shaxton late Bp of Sarum THe First Almighty God by the Power of his Word pronounced by the Priest at Mass in the Consecration turneth the Bread and Wine into the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ so that after the Consecration there remaineth no Substance of Bread and Wine but only the substance of Christ God and Man The Second The said Blessed Sacrament being once Consecrate is and remaineth still the very Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ although it be reserved and not presently distributed The Third The same blessed Sacrament being consecrate is and ought to be worshipped and adored with godly honour wheresoever it is forasmuch as it is the Body of Christ inseparably united to the Deity The Fourth The Church by the Ministration of the Priest offereth daily at the Mass for a Sacrifice to Almighty God the self-same Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ under the form of Bread and Wine in the remembrance and representation of Christ's Death and Passion The Fifth The same Body and Blood which is offered in the Mass is the very propitiation and satisfaction for the sins of the World forasmuch as it is the self-same in Substance which was offered upon the Cross for our Redemption And the Oblation and Action of the Priest is also a Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving unto God for his Benefits and not the satisfaction for the Sins of the World for that is only to be attributed to Christ's Passion The Sixth The said Oblation or Sacrifice so by the Priest offered in the Mass is available and profitable both for the Quick and the Dead altho it lieth not in the power of Man to limit how much or in what measure the same doth avail The Seventh It is not a thing of necessity that the Sacrament of the Altar should be ministred unto the People under both kinds of Bread and Wine and it is none abuse that the same be ministred to the People under the one kind forasmuch as in every of both the kinds whole Christ both Body and Blood is contained The Eighth It is no derogation to the vertue of the Mass altho the Priest do receive the Sacrament alone and none other receive it with him The Ninth The Mass used in this Realm of England is agreeable to the institution of Christ and we have in this Church of England the very true Sacrament which is the very Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ under the form
Letter from Knight to Card. Wolsey that shews the Dispensation was then granted and sent over 26 49 Cassali's Letter concerning the Method in which the Pope desired the Divorce should be managed ibid ibid 7. The King's Letter to the Colledg of Cardinals from which it appears how much they favoured his Cause 28 52 8. The Cardinal's Letter to the Pope concerning the Divorce 29 ibid 9. Card. Wolsey's Letter to Cassali directing him to make Presents at Rome 30 ibid 10. The Decretal Bull that was desired in the King's Cause 31 ibid 11. The Cardinal's Letter to John Cassali concerning it 34 53 Staphileus's Letter to the Cardinal 57 54 13. The Cardinal's Letter to Campegio 38 ibid 14. The Cardinal's Letter to Cassali desiring a Decretal Bull might be sent over ibid 56 15. The Breve of P. Julius for the King's marriage suspected to be forged 39 37 16. A part of the Cardinal's Letter to G. Cassali desiring leave to shew the Decretal Bull to some of the King's Council 40 58 Cassali's Letter concerning a Conference he had with the Pope 41 ibid 18. The Pope's Letter to the Cardinal giving credence to Campana 47 60 19. A part of Vaunes's Instructions directing him to threaten the Pope ibid ibid 20. The Cardinal 's Letter to the Ambassadors concerning his promotion to the Popedom 48 63 21. An Information given to the Pope concerning the Divorce 49 65 22. The 2d part of a long Dispatch of the Cardinal 's concerning the Divorce 51 ibid 23. Another Dispatch to the same purpose 60 67 24. A Letter from the two Legats to the Pope advising a Decretal Bull 67 68 25. Another Dispatch to Rome concerning it 71 70 26. A Letter from the Pope to the Cardinal 75 ibid 27. The King's Letter to his Ambassadors to hinder an avocation of the Sute 75 ibid 28. The King's Letter concerning his appearance before the Legats 77 73 29. Dr. Bennâ—t's Letter to the Cardinal shewing how little they might expect from the Pope 80 75 30. A Letter from the Pope to the Cardinal concerning the Avocation 81 76 31. An Act Releasing to the King Sums of Mony that were raised by a Loan 82 83 32. A Letter from Gardner and Fox concerning their Proceedings at Cambridg 85 86 33. A Letter from Crook out of Venice concerning the Opinions of Divines about the Divorce 88 91 34. The Iudgments of the Vniversities concerning the King's Marriage 89 92 35. The Iudgment of the Lutheran Divines about it 94 94 36. An Abstract of the Grounds of the Divorce 95 97 37. A Bull sent to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury against the Statutes of Provisors ibid 110 38. A Letter to King Henry the Sixth for Repealing that Statute 98 111 39. A Letter to the Parâ—lament upon the same occasion 99 ibid 40. An Instrument of the Speech the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury made to the House of Commons concerning it 100 ibid 41. An Act restraining the payment of Annales to the See of Rome 102 117 42. The King 's last Letter to the Pope 107 118 43. A Promise made to the Cardinal of Ravenna for engaging him to procure the Divorce 110 120 Bonnâ—r's Letter concerning the Proceedings at Rome 111 ibid 45. Anotâ—er Letter about the same Process 116 121 46. Another Letter concerning the progress of the Process at Rome 118 122 47. The Sentence of Divorce given by Cranmer 120 131 48. An Act for the Deprivation of the Bishops of Salisbury and Worcester 121 148 49. A Letter from Cromwell to Fisher concerning the Maid of Kent 123 154 50. A Renounciation of the Pope's Supremacy signed by the Heads of six Religious Houses 128 155 51. A Mandate for the Consecration of Suffragan Bishops 130 157 The Third Book 1. Instructions for the General Vlsitation of the Monasteries 131 184 2. General Injunctions sent by the King to all the Monasteries 137 185 3. Some Paarticulars relating to the Dissolution of Monasteries   Sect. 1. Of the Preambles of some Surrenders 141 191 Sect. 2. A List of Religious Houses that were of new founded by the King after the Act for their Dissolution 142 224 Sect. 3. A List of all the Surrenders of Monasteries which are extant 143 238 Sect. 4. The Confessions made by some Abbots 149 237 Sect. 5. Of the manner of suppressing the Monasteries after they were surrendred 151 268 4. Queen Boleyn's last Letter to King Henry 154 206 5. The Iudgment of the Convocatâ—on concerning General Councils 155 219 6. Instructions for a Visitation of Monasteries in order to their Dissolution 157 222 7. Instructâ—ons given by the King to the Clergie 160 225 8. A Letter from Cromwell to Shaxton Bishop of Sarum 163 240 9. The Sentence given out by Pope Paul the Third against King Henry 166 245 10. The Opinion of some Bâ—shops concerning the King's Supremacy 177 248 11. Injunctions to the Clergie made by Cromwell 178 249 12. Injunctions made by Arch-Bishop Cranmer 182 255 13. A Letter of Cromwell's to the Bishop of Landaff directing how to proceed in the Reformation 183 256 14. The Commission by which Bonner held his Bishoprick of the King 184 267 15. The King's Letters Patents for printing the Bible in English 186 270 16. The Attainder of Thomas Cromwell 187 278 Cromwell's Letter to the King concerning his marriage with Ann of Cleve 193 280 18. The King 's own Declaration about it 197 ibid 19. The Iudgment of the Convocation annulling it ibid 281 20. Ann of Cleves Letter to her Brother 200 222 21. The Resolutions of several Bishops and Divines concerning the Sacraments 201 289 22. Dr. Barnes's Renounciation of some Articles informed against him 244 296 23. The Foundation of the Bishoprick of Westminster 246 300 24. A Proclamation for the English Bible to be set up in all Churches 250 302 25. An Admonition set up by Bonner for all that came to read the Bible 251 303 26. Injunctions given by Bonner to his Clergie 252 315 27. A Collection of Passages out of the Canon-Law made by Cranmer to shew the necessity of Reforming it 257 330 28. A Mandate for publishing and using the Praiers in the English Tongue 264 331 29. Articles subscribed by Shaxton the late Bishop of Sarum 265 341 30. A Letter from Lethington the Scottish Secretary to Cecill Secretary to Queen Elizabeth by which it appears that King Henry's Will was forged 267 349 An Appendix corncerning some Errors and Falshoods in Sanders's Book of the English Schism 273  Addenda 1. Articles about Religion set out by the Convocation and published by the King's Authority 305 364 2. Some Queries put by Cranmer in order to the correcting of several Abuses 317 ibid 3. Some Queries concerning Confirmation with the Answers that were given to them by Cranmer and Stokesley Bishop of London 319 ibid 4. Some Considerations offered to the King by Cranmer to induce him to proceed to a further Reformation 320 ibid 5. A Declaration made by some
Herbert The Arguments against the Bull. Wolsey's advice to the King 1527. Aug. 1. Sanders his story about Anne Bolâ—yn examined For this he ciâ—es Rastal's life of Sir Tho. Moor a Book that was never seen by any body else Anti-Sanderus 1501. March 10. 1509. Feb. 12. 1511 1514. Septemb. 23 6 to Regn. 1515. Cambd. Iâ— apparatâ— ad Hiâ—t Eliz. Reg. 1528. Her Birth 1514. and Breeding Her coming to England L. Herbert Title and Duplex Cavendish says she was very young Camden She is contracted to the Lord Piercy Cavendish Life of Wolsey 1527. L. Herbert 1527. The King moved for his Divorce at Rome The first dispatch about it Collect. Numb 3 d. The Pope grants it when he was in Prison Collect. Numb 4th Pope escaped Decemb. 9. And being at liberty gives a Bull for it The Pope's craft policy And the measures that governed them 1528. Collect. Numb 5th The method proposed by the Pope Collect. Numb 6th Staphileus sent from England His Instructions Cotton Libr. Vitel. B. 10. Ian. 8. Duplicates corrected by the Cardinal's Hand The Cardinals Letterâ— by him A Larger Bull desired by the King Gardiner and Fox sent to Rome With Letters from the King Collect. Numb 7th and the Cardinal Collect. Numb 8th Collect. Numb 9th The substance of the Bull desired by them Collect. Numb 10th 1527. Rot. Paâ— 2 dâ— Pars. Regn. 10. The Cardinals Earnestness in this matter Collect. Numb 11th Collect. Numb 12. Campegio declared Legate Collect. Numb 10. Wolsey writes to him to haste over May 7. May 23. The Pope grants a Decretal Bull Anti-Sanderus L. Herbert Two Letters of Anne Boleyn's to Wolsey A Postscript of the Kings to him 1528. Collect. Numb 14th The Cardinal's Colledges finished Octob. 30. More Monasteries were to be suppressed The Emperor opposâ—s the Kings suit A Breve found out in Spain Collect. Numb 15th Presumptions of its being forged Campegio comes into England And showes the King the Bull But refuses to let it be seen to the Council * Collect. Numb 16th Collect. Numb 17th Wolsey's endeavour at Rome that it might be showed But all in vain The Pope sends Campana to England Collect. Numb 18th New Ambassadors sent to Rome With other overtures Collect. Numb 19th A Guard of 2000 men offered to the Pope The Pope resolved to unite himself to the Emperor Being frightned with the threats of the Imperialists 1529. Ian. 3. Repents his granting the Decretal Kings Letter to the Cardinal Ian. 8th Ian. 9. 1529. Ian. 15. But feeds the King with high promises The Pope sickens Ian. 27. Cardinal Wolsey's intrigues for the Papacy Feb. 6th Collect. Numb 20. The Kings Instructions for the Election Numb Feb. 20. New propositions about the Divorce Collect. Numb 21. The Popes relapse April 6. another Dispatch to Rome Collect. Numb 2.2 1528. 1529. The Cardinals Bulls for the Bishoprick of Winchester The Pope inclines to joyn with the Emperor Who protests against the Legates Commission May 15. Collect Numb 23. The Pope promised not to recal but to confirm it The Legates write to the Pope Collect. Numb 24. Campegio's ill life Pelerin In glese April 6. The Emperor presses for an Avocation Which the Kings Ambassadors oppose much The Popes deep dissimulation Collect. Numb 25th Collect. Numb 26th The Pope complains of the Florentines Iune 5. Iune 13. Great Contests about the Avocation Iune 23. Collect. Numb 27. Iune 28. The Legateâ— sit in England Orig. Iourn Cott. Libr. Vitel B. 12. A severe charge against the Queen Quod stulte facit si contendit cum Rege quod â—ale illi successit in faetibus de Brevi acsuspicione falsitatis The King and Queen appear in Court * Fidelis servi insideli subdito Responsio Collect. Numb 28. The Queen's Speech The King gives the account of his Scruples The Queens Appeal Articles drawn by the 〈◊〉 Upon which witnesses are examined The proâ—eâ—dings at 〈…〉 〈◊〉 this is 〈◊〉 from 〈…〉 Iune 2â— and 30. Iuly 8 and 9. The Pope agrees with the Emperor Collect. Numb 29th Yet is in great perplexities Iuly 26. The Avocation is granted Collect. Numb 30th The proceedings of the Legates All things are ready foâ— a Sentence Campegio Adjourned the Court. Which gives great offence Wolsey's danger Aug. 4. Sept. 23 in a Letter from the Cardinal Secetary to Cromwell Anne Boleyn returns to Court Cranmers proposition about the Kings Divorce Approved by the King The meanness of his Temper The King still â—avoured him He is afterwards attached for Treasoâ— And dies His Character A Parliament called Hall The House of Commons complains of the Bishop of Rochester Some Bills past reforming the abuses of the Clergy One Act discharging the King of his debts Collect. Numb 31. The Pope and the Emperor firmly united Iâ—n 20. The womens peace Aug. 5. 1530. The Emperors Coronation at Bononia Florence taken Aug. 9. Popes Nephew made Duke of it Iuly 17. 1531. Siege of Vienna rais'd Octob. 13. 1529. Emperor Crown'd King of Lombardy Feb. 22. 1530. Rom. Emp. Feb. 2. The King consults his Universities about his Divorce Lord Herbert out of the Record April 4. 1530. v. Wood. p. 8.257 Lib. 1 0. p. 225. Collect. Numb 32. And at Cambridge Feb. Though with great difficulty Crooke employed in Venice Crooks Negotiation taken from many of his Original Letters Cott. Libr. Vitel B. 13. Many â—n Italy write for the Kings cause Feb. 18. Though the Pope and Emperor discourâ—ged them Iuly 4. Aug. 7. Septemb. 16. Iuly 28. Aug. 5. No Money nor bribes given for subscriptions 〈◊〉 7. Fâ—b 8. Only some small acknowledgments Feb. 22. Feb. 9. Septemb. 16. But great Rewards given by the Emperor Septemb. 29. Feb. 18. March 29. 1530. May 26. Iâ—nâ— 2â— They Determined for the King at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1â—th At Padua Iuly 1st Collect. Numb 33. And Ferrara Sept. 29th And in Orleance April 7. At Paris of the Canonists May 25th Of the Soâ—bon Iâ—ly 2d At Angiers May 7th At Bourges Iune 10th And Tâ—â—lose Octob. 1st Collect. Numb 34. Ian. 28th his Orig. Let. Cott. Libr. Otho C. 10. Pelerine Iâ—glise Grineus employed amongst the Reformed in Switzerland Whose Letters are in a MSS. in R. Smiths Libr. The Opinions of Oâ—colompadius Bâ—cer Phrygion Zuinglius And Calvin Epist. 384. Lord Herb. from an Orig. Let. Sept. 18. 1530. The opinion of the Lutheran Divines Instructions sent by Dr. Barns to Cromwel Cott. Lib. Vâ—tel B. 13. They condemn the Kings first Marriage but are against a second Collect. Numb 35. Fox The King refuses to appear at Rome Cranmer offers to maintain the Kings cause The Nobility Clergy and Commons of England write to the Pope In the life of Wolseâ— This Letter and the answer are Printed by the Lord Herbert The Popes answer A Proclamation against Bulls from Rome Lord Herb. Books written for the Kings cause Otho C. â—0 ibidem Visp B. 5. Coâ—lect Numb 36. The grounds of it in the old Testament Lev. 18 20· Lev. 18.2 4.5.6.21 v. 17.24.26 v. 24.25 Lâ—v.