Englanâ— by Thomas Bolâ—n Viscount Rochford at his return from the Frenâ—h Court where he had been Ambassador for the King of England which firâ—t occasioned areport in the common people and afterwaâ—ds a mistake in our common Chronicles touching this Ladie 's being designed by Wolsie for a wife to his Master whereas she was at that time actually married to the Count of Aâ—bret King of Navarre in title and in title only But Rochford brought with him out of France another Piece which more excelled the picture of the Dutchesse of Alanzâ—n then that Dutchesse did the ordinary beauties in the Court of France that is to say his daughter Anne whom he had bred up for a time in the house of the Dutchesse which render'd her an exact mistresse of the gaities and garb of the great French Ladies Appearing in the Court of England she shewed her selfe with so many advantages above all other Ladies about the Queen that the King easily took notice of her Whether more captivated by the Allurements of her beauty or the facetiousnesse of her behaviour it is hard to say certain it is that he suffered himselfe to be so far transpoâ—ted in affection towards her that he could think of nothing else but what might tend to the accomplishment of his desires so that the separation from the bed of Katherine which was but coldly followed upon case of Conscience is now more hotly prosecuted in the heat of Concupiscâ—nce In the mean time the King adviseth with the Cardinal and the Cardinal with the most learned men in the Realm of England By whom it was modestly resolved that the King had a very just ground to consult the Pope and to 〈…〉 lawful means for extricating himselfe out of those perplexities in which this marriage had involved him The Pope had been beholden to the King for procuring his liberty when the Imperialists held him prisoner in the Fort of St Angelâ— and was in reason bound to gratifie him for so great a benefit But then withall he neither was to provoke the Emperour nor hazard the Authority and Reputation of the See Apostolick by running on the King's errand with more haâ—te then speed He therefore goes to work like a Pope of Rome and entertains the King with hopes without giving the Emperour and his adherents any cause of despair A Commission is therefore granted to two Cardinals that is to say Cardinal Thomas Wolsiâ— Archbishop of York and Laurene Campâ—gius whom Henry some few years before had made Bishop of Saâ—isbury both beneficiaries to the King and therefore like enough to consult more his interest then the Queen's contentment Of the erecting of a Court Lâ—gantâ—ne in the Convent of the Black Friers in London the citing of the King and Queen to appear before them the Kings patheticall Oration in the bemoaning of his own misfortunes and the Queen's Appeal from the two Cardinals to the Pope I shall now say nothing leaving the Reader for those passages to our common Annals Suffice in this place to note that while the businesse went on favourable in the King's behalfe Wolsie was given to understand of his desperate loves to Mistrisse Bollen which represented to him two ensuing mischiefs not to be otherwise avoided then by slackning the course of these proceedings For first he saw that if the King should be divorc'd definitively from his present wife he should not be able to draw him to accept of Madam Rhenee the French Queens sister which was the mark he chiefly aimed at And secondly he feared that Mistrisse Anne had brought so much of the Lutheran with her as might in time become destructive to the Church of Rome Of this he certifies the Pope the Pope recals Campegius and revokes his Commission leaving the King to cast about to some new wayes to effect his purpose And at this time it hapned that Dr Thomas Cramâ—er who afterwards obtained to the See of Canterbury discoursing with some of the Kings Ministers about the intricaâ—enesse and perplexity of this great affair declared for his opinion in it that it were better for the King to govern himselfe therein by the judgement and determination of the Universities beyond the seas then to depend upon the shifts and Artifices of the Court of Rome Which being told unto the King he dispatcheth Cramner unto Rome in the company of Rochford now made Earl of Wilâ—shire to maintain the King's cause by disputation and at the same time employs his agents to the Universities of France and Italy who being under the command of the French King or the power of the Pope gave sentence in behalfe of Henry condemning his marriage with the Lady Katherine the Relict of his brother to be simply unlawful in it selfe and therefore not to be made valid by a dispensation from the Popes of Rome The putting the King upon this course proved the fall of Wolsiâ— who growing every day lesse then other in the King's esteem was brought within 〈◊〉 compasse of a Pramunire and thereby stript of all his goods to an infinite value removed not long after unto York and there arrested of High Treason by the Earl of Northumberland and committed to the custody of Sir William Kingston being then Lievtenant of the Tower By whom conducted towards London he departed this life in the Abby of Leicester his great heart not being able to endure so many indignities as had been lately put upon him and having cause to fear much worse then his former sufferings But the removing of this Rub did not much smooth the way to the King's desires The Queen's appeal unto the Pope was the greatest difficulty from which since she could not be removed it must be made unprofitable and ineffectual for the time to come And thereupon a Proclamation is set forth on the 19 of September 1530. in these following words viz. The King's Highnesse streightly chargeth and commandeth That no manner of person of what estate degree or condition he or they be of do purchase or attempt to purchase from the Court of Rome or elsewhere nor use nor put in execution divulge or publish any thing heretofore within this year passed purchased or to be purchased hereafter containing matter prejudicial to the High Authority Jurisdiction and prerogative Royal of this his said Reâ—lm or to the lett hinderance or impeachment of his Grace's Noble and Vertuous intended purposes in the premises upon pain of incurring his Highnesse's indignation and imprisonment and farther punishment of their bodies for their so doing at his Graceâ—s pleasure to the dreadful example of all others This was the Prologue to the downfall of the Pope in England seconded by the Kings taking to himselfe the Title â—upream Head of the Churches of England and Ireland acknowledged in the Convocation and confirmed in Parliament and ending finally in an Act intituled An Act for extinguishing the authority of the Bishops of Rome And in all this the King did nothing but what
unto the Church of Saint Peter in Westminster was placed in the Chair of Saint Edward the Confessour in the middest of a Throne seven steps high This Throne was erected near unto the Altar upon a Stage arising with steps on both sides covered with Carpets and Hangings of Arras Where after the King had rested a little being by certain noble Courtiers carried in another Chair unto the four sides of the Stage He was by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury declared unto the People standing round about both by God's and Man's Laws to be the Right and Lawfull King of England France and Ireland and Proclaimed that day to be Crowned Consecrated and Anointed Unto whom He demanded whether they would obey and serve or Not By whom it was again with a loud cry answered God save the King and Ever live his Majesty Which Passage I the rather note because it is observed that at the Coronation of some former Kings The Arch-Bishop went to the four squares of the Scaffold and with a loud voice asked the Consent of the People But this was at such Times and in such Cases only when the Kings came unto the Crown by Disputed Titles for maintainance whereof the Favour and Consent of the people seemed a matter necessary as at the Coronations of King Henry the Fourth or King Richard the Third and not when it devolved upon them as it did upon this King by a Right unquestioned The Coronation was accompanied as the Custome is with a general Pardon But as there never was a Feast so great from which some men departed not with empty bellies so either out of Envy or some former Grudge or for some other cause unknown six Persons were excluded from the taste of this gracious Banquet that is to say the Lord Thomas Howard Duke of Nâ—rfolk a condemned Prisoner in the Tower Edward Lord Courtney eldest Son to the late Marquess of Exeter beheaded in the last times of King Henry the Eight Cardinal Pâ—le one of the Sons of Margaret Countess of Salisbury proscribed by the same King also Doctour Richard Pate declared Bishop of Worcester in the place of Hierome de Nugaticis in the year 1534. and by that Name subscribing to some of the first Acts of the Councel of Trent who being sent to Rome on some Publick Imployment chose rather to remain there in perpetual Exile then to take the Oath of Supremacy at his coming home as by the Laws he must have done or otherwise have fared no better then the Bishop of Rochester who lost his head on the refusal Of the two others Fortescue and Throgmorton I have found nothing but the Names and therefore can but name them onely But they all lived to better times the Duke of Norfolk being restored by Queen Mary to his Lands Liberty and Honours as the Lord Courtney was to the Earldom of Devonshire enjoyed by many of his Noble Progenitours Cardinal Pole admitted first into the Kingdom in the capacity of a Legate from the Pope of Rome and after Cranmer's death advanced to the See of Canterbury and Doctour Pate preferred unto the actual Possession of the See of Worcester of which he formerly had enjoyed no more but the empty Title These Great Solemnities being thus passed over the Grandees of the Court began to entertain some thoughts of a Reformation In which they found Arch-Bishop Cranmer and some other Bishops to be as foreward as themselves but on different ends endeavoured by the Bishops in a pious Zeal for rectifying such thing as were amiss in God's publick Worship but by the Courtiers on an Hope to enrich themselves by the spoil of the Bishopricks To the Advancement of which work the Conjuncture seemed as proper as they could desire For First the King being of such tender age and wholly Governed by the Will of the Lord Protectour who had declared himself a friend to the Lutheran Party in the time of King Henry was easie to be moulded into any form which the authority of Power and Reason could imprint upon Him The Lord Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk and Doctour Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester who formerly had been the greatest Sticklers at the Coâ—ncil-Table in Maintainance of the Religion of the Church of Rome were not long able to support it the one of them being a condemned Prisoner in the Tower as before was said and the other upon some just displeasure not named by King Henry amongst the Councellours of State who were to have the managing of Affairs in His Son's Minoâ—â—ty Bonner then Bishop of London was absent at that time in the Court of the Emperour to whom he had been sent Embassadour by the former King And no professed Champion for the Papacy remained amongst them of whom they had cause to stand in doubt but the new Earl of South-hampton Whom when they were not able to remove from his old Opinions it was resolved to make him less both in Power and Credit so that he should not be able to hinder the pursuit of those Counsels which he was not willing to promote And therefore on the sixth of March the Great Seal was taken from him by the King's Command and for a while committed to the custody of Sir William Pawlet Created Lord St John of Basing and made Great Master of the Houshold by King Henry the Eighth And on the other side it was thought expedient for the better carrying on of the Design not onely to release all such as had been committed unto Prison but also to recall all such as had been forced to abandon the Kingdom for not submitting to the Superstitions and Corruptions of the Church of Rome Great were the Numbers of the first who had their Fetters strucken off by this mercifull Prince and were permitted to enjoy that Liberty of Conscience for which they had suffered all Extremities in His Father's time Onely it is observed of one Thomas Dobbs once Fellow of Saint John's-College in Cambridg condemned for speaking against the Mass and thereupon committed to the Counter in Bread-street that he alone did take a view of this Land of Canaan into which he was not suffered to enter It being so ordered by the Divine Providence that he died in Prison before his Pardon could be signed by the Lord Protectour Amongst the rest which were in number very many those of chief note were Doctour Miles Coverdale after Bishop of Exeter Mr. John Hooper after Bishop of Glocester Mr. John Philpot after Arch-Deacon of Winchester Mr. John Rogers after one of the Prebends of Saint Paul's and many others eminent for their Zeal and Pâ—ety which they declared by preferring a good Conscience before their Lives in the time of Queen Mary But the busâ—nâ—ss was of greater Moment then to expect the coming back of the Learned men who though they came not time enough to begin the work yet did they prove exceeding serviceable in the furtherance of it And therefore neither to lose time nor to press too
the face of Religion which might give her any cause of publick or personall dislike But when the great alterations hapned in the time of King Edward she then declared her selfe more openly as she might more safely in opposition to the same concerning which she thus declared her selfe in a Letter to the Lord Protector and the rest of the Council dated at Kenninghall June 22. An. 1549. My Lord I Perceive by the Letters which I late receiv'd from you and other of the Kings Majesties Councel that you be all sorry to find so little conformity in me touching the observation of his Majestie 's Laws who am well assured I have offended no law unlesse it be a late law of your own making which in my conscience is not worthy the name of Law both for the King's honors sake and the wealth of the Realm and giving the occasion of an evil bruit throughout all Christendome besides the partiality used in the same and as my conscience is very well perswaded the offending God which passeth all the rest But I am well assured that the King his Fathers Lawes were all allowed and consented to without compulsion by the whole Realm both spiritual and temporal and all the Executors sworn upon a book to fulfil the same so that it was an authorized Law And that I have obeyed and will do with the grace of God till the King's Majesty my brother shall have sufficient years to be a judge in this matter himself Whereto my Lord I was plain with you at my last being in the Court declaring unto you at that time whereunto I would stand and now do assure you all that the only occasion of my stay from a tering of mine opinion is for two causes One principally for my conscience the other that the King my brother shall nor hereafter charge me to be one of those that were agreeable to such alterations in his tender years And what fruits dayly grow by such changes since the death of the King my Father to every indifferent person it well appeareth both to the displeasure of God and unquietnesse of the Realm Notwithstanding I assure you all I would be as loath to see his Highnesse take hurt or that any evil should come to this his Realm as the besâ— of you all and none of you have the like cause considering how I am compelled by nature being his Majesties poor and humble sister most tenderly to love and pray for him and unto this his Realm being born within the same with all wealth and prosperity to God's honour And if any judge of me the contrary for mine opinions sake as I trust none doth I doubt not in the end with Gods help to prove my selfe as true a natural and humble Sister as they of the contrary opinion with all their divices and altering of lawes shall prove themselves true Subjects I pray you my Lords and the rest of the Councel no more to unquiet and trouble me with matters touching my conscience wherein I am at a full point with Gods help whatsoever shall happen to me intending with his grace to trouble you little with any worldly suits but to bestow the short time I think to live in quietnesse and I pray for the King's Majesty and all you heartily wishing that your proceedings may be to God's honour the safeguard of the King's person and quietnesse of the whole Realm And thus my Lords I wish unto you and all the rest as well to do as my selfe Upon such passages of this Letter which seemed most to pinch upon them the Lords returned their Glosse or Comment but such as had more in it of an Animadversion then an Explication They signified withall how well they understood their own Authority how sensible they were of those inconveniences which the example of her inconformity to the lawes established was likely to produce amongst the rest of the subjects No favour being otherwise to be hoped for from them the Emperour is moved to intercede in her behalfe by his Ambassador then residing about the Court Upon whose earnest solicitation it was declared by the King with the consent of his Councel as appeareth by their letters to her of the 25th of December That for his sake and her own also it should be suffered and winked at if she had the private Masse used in her own closet for a season untill she might be better informed but so that none but some few of her own chamber should be present with her and that to all the rest of her houshold the Service of the Church should be only used For the abuse of which indulgence in saying Masse promiscuously in her absence to her houshold servants Mallet and Barkley two of her Chaplains are seized on and committed prisoners which first occasioned an exchange of Letters betwixt her and the King and afterwards more frequently between her and the Councel for which consult the Acts and Mon. fol. 1213. 1214. A proposition had been made about the surrendry of Bâ—lâ—oigne for a marriage betwixt her and the Prince of Portugall and the like motion made in favour of the Duke of Brunswick whilst the other treaty was depending But neither of the two succeeding to the wish of the party a plot was laid to passe her over into Flanders shipping provided to transport her some of her servants sent before and a commotion practised in the County of Essex that in the busle she might be conveyed away without any discovery But this plot being happily prevented by the care and diligence of Sir John Gates one of the Captaâ—ns of the Gents a'armes then lately ranged under the command of the Marquess of Nâ—rthampton she was by him conducted much against her will to the Lord Chancellors house at Leezdi from thence to Hunsdon and at last to Westminster Much troubled at her comming thither upon the apprehension of Sir Robert Ruchestâ—r Sir Walgrave and Sir Francis Inglâ—field servants of special trust about her and all suspected to be privy to the design for conveying her over into Flanders Much care was taken and many endeavor used by the King and Councel to win her to good conceit of the Reformation But her interest was 〈◊〉 bound up with that of the Pope that no perswasions could prevaile with her to desert that cause on which her own legiâ—imation and the validity of her mothers marriage did so much depend As much unprofitable pains was taken by the Emperours Agents in labouring to procure for her the exercise of her own Religion mingling some threats with their intreaties in case so great a Prince should be refused in so small a suit Which when it could not be obtained from the King by the Lords of the Councel nor by the mediation of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London whom the Lords imployed to move him in it the Emperour laid aside the prosecution of a cause which he perceived he could not carry And the King
much at once upon the People it was thought sit to smooth the way to the intended Reformation by setting out some Preparatory Injunctions such as the King might publish by his own Authority according to the example of His Royal Father in the year 1536. and at some times after This to be done by sending out Commissioners into all parts of the Kingdom armed with Instructions to enquire into all Ecclesiastical Concernments in the manner of a Visitation directed by the King as Supreme Head on earth of the Church of England Which Commissioners being distributed into several Circuits were accompanied with certain Learned and Godly Preachers appointed to instruct the People and to facilitate the work of the Commissioners in all Towns and Places where they fate And that the People might not cool or fall off again in and from that which had been taught them by the Learned Preachers they were to leave some Homilies to the same effect with the Parish-Priest which the Arch-Bishop had composed not onely for the help of unpreaching Ministers but for the regulating and instructing even of Learned Preachers Which Injunctions being agreed upon by such of the Great Council as favoured the Design of the Reformation and the Commissions drawn in due form of Law by the Counsel learned they were all tendered to the Lord Chancellour Wriothsley that the Authority of the Great Seal might be added to them Which he who was not to be told what these matters aimed at refused to give consent unto and so lost the Seal committed as before is said to the Custody of the Lord Great Master by whom the said Commissions were dispatched and the Visitours thereby Authorised in due form of Law And here it is to be observed that besides the Points contained in the said Injunctions the Preachers above-mentioned were more particularly instructed to perswade the People from Praying to the Saints from making Prayers for the dead from Adoring of Images from the use of Beads Ashes and Processions from Mass Diriges Praying in unknown Languages and from some other such like things whereunto long Custome had brought a Religious Observation All which was done to this intent That the People in all places being prepared by little and little might with more ease and less opposition admit the total Alteration in the face of the Church which was intended in due time to be introduced Now as for the Injuctions above-mentioned although I might exemplifie them as they stand at large in the First Edition of the Acts and Monuments fol. 684. yet I shall choose rather to present them in a smoother Abstract as it is done unto my hand by the Church-Historian the Method of them onely altered in this manner following That all Ecclesiastical Persons observe and cause to be observed the Laws for the abolishing the pretended and usurped Power of the Bishop of Rome and Confirmation of the King's Authority and Supremacy and four times in the year at the least that they teach the People That the one was now justly taken away according to the word of God and that the other was of most Legal Duty onely to be obeyed by all the Subjects That once a Quarter at the least they sincerely declare the Word of God disswading the People from Superstitious Fancies of Pilgrimages Praying to Images c. exhorting them to the Works of Faith Mercy and Charity 3. And that Images abused with Pilgrimages and Offerings thereunto be forthwith taken down and destroyed and that no more Wax-Candles or Tapers be burnt before any Image but onely two lights upon the High Altar before the Sacrament shall remain still to signifie That Christ is the very Light of the World That every Holy-Day when they have no Sermon the Pater-Noster Credo and Ten Commandments shall be plainly recited in the Pulpit to the Parishioners 5. And that Parents and Masters bestow their Children and Servants either to Learning or some honest Occupation That within three Moneths after this Visitation the Bible of the Larger Volume in English and within twelve Moneths Erasmus his Paraphrases on the Gospels be provided and conveniently placed in the Church for the People to read therein 20. And that every Ecclesiastical Person under the Degree of a Batchelour of Divinity shall within three Moneths after this Visitation provide of his own The New Testament in Latine and English with Erasmus his Paraphrases thereon And that Bishops by themselves and their Officers shall Examine them how much they have profited in the study of Holy Scripture That such who in Cases express'd in the Statute are absent from their Benefices leave Learned and expert Curates to supply their places 14. That all such Ecclesiastical Persons not resident upon their Benefices and able to dispend yearly xx pounds and above shall in the presence of the Church-Wardens or some other honest men distribute the fourtieth part of their Revenues amongst the poor of the Parish 15. And that every Ecclesiastical Person shal give competent Exhibition to so many Scholars in one of the Universities as they have hundred pounds a year in Church-Promotions That a fifth part of their Benefices be bestowed on their Mansion-Houses or Chancels till they be fully repaired 8. And that no Ecclesiastical Persons haunt Ale-houses or Taverns or any place of unlawfull Gaming That they Examine such as come to Confession in Lent whether they can recite their Credo Pater-Noster and Ten Commandments in English before they receive the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar or else they ought not to presume to come to God's Board That none be admitted to Preach except sufficiently Licenced 11. That if they have heretofore extolled Pilgrimages Reliques Worshipping of Images c. they now openly recant and reprove the same as a Common Errour groundless in Scripture 12. That they detect and present such who are Lettours of the Word of God in English and Fautours of the Bishop of Rome his pretended Power That no Person from henceforth shal alter any Fasting-day or manner of Common-Prayer or Divine Service otherwise then is specified in these Injuâ—ctions untill otherwise Ordered by the King's Authority 21. And that in time of High Mass he that sayeth or singeth a Psalm shall read the Epistle and Gospel in English and one Chapter in the New Testament at Mattens another at Even-song And that when nine Lessons are to be read in the Church three of them shal be omitted with Responds And at the Even-song the Responds with all the Memories By which last word I understand the Anniversary Commemoration of deceased Persons on the day of their deaths which frequently were expressed by the name Obits That every Dean Arch-Deacon c. being a Priest Preach by himself personally every year at least 27. That they Instruct their People not obstinately to violate the Ceremonies of the Church by the King Commanded to be observed and not as yet abrogated And on the other side that whosoever doth Superstitiously abuse them doth
of ordinary attendance about his Person which was on the same Day when his Father was created Duke For whereas most men gave themselves no improbable hopes that betwixt the Spring time of his life the Growing season of the year and such Medicinal applications as were made unto him the disease would wear it self away by little and little yet they found the contrary It rather grew so fast upon him that when the Parliament was to begin on the first of March the Lords Spiritual and Temporal were Commanded to attend him at White-Hall instead of waiting on him from thence to Westminster in the usual manner Where being come they found a Sermon ready for them the Preacher being the Bishop of London which otherwise was to have been Preached in the Abby-Church and the Great Chamber of the Court accomodated for an House of Peers to begin the Session For the opening whereof the King then sitting under the Cloth of State and all the Lords according to their Ranks and Orders he declared by the Lord Chancellor Goodrick the causes of his calling them to the present Parliament and so dismist them for that time A Parliament which began and ended in the Month of March that the Commissions might the sooner be dispatched to their several Circuits for the speedier gathering up of such of the Plate Copes Vestments and other Furnitures of which the Church was to be spoyled in the time of his sickness Yet in the midst of these disorders there was some care taken for advancing both the honour and the interest of the English-Nation by furnishing Sebastian Cabol for some new discoveries Which Sebastian the Son of John Cabol a Venetian born attended on his first imployment under Henry the seventh Anno 1497. At what time they discovered the Barralaos and the Coasts of Caenada now called New-France even to the 67½ degree of Northern Latitude Bending his Course more toward the South and discovering a great part of the shoars of Florida he returned for England bringing with him three of the Natives of that Country to which the name of New-Found-Land hath been since appropriated But finding the KING unhappily Embroyled in a War with Scotland and no present Encouragements to be given for a further Voiage he betook himself into the service of the KING of SPAIN and after fourty years and more upon some distast abandoned SPAIN and offered his service to this KING By whom being made Grand Pilot of England in the year 1549. he animated the English-Merchants to the finding out of a passage by the North-East Seas to Cathay and China first enterprised under the Conduct of Sr. Hugh Willoughby who unfortunately Perished in the Action himself and all his Company being Frozen to Death all the particulars of his Voiage being since committed to Writing as was certified by the Adventures in the year next following It was upon the twentith of May in this present year that this Voiage was first undertaken three great Ships being well manned and fitted for the Expedition which afterwards was followed by Chancelour Burrought Jackman Jenkinson and other noble Adventurers in the times Succeding Who though they failed of their Attempt in finding out a shorter way to Cathay and China yet did they open a fair Passage to the Bay of S. Nicholas and thereby layd the first foundation of a Wealthy Trade betwixt us and the Muscovites But the KING'S Sickness still encreasing who was to live no longer then might well stand with the designs of the DVKE of Northumber-land some Marriages are resolved on for the Daughters of the DVKE of Suffolk in which the KING appeared as forward as if he had been one of the Principalls in the Plot against him And so the matter was Contrived that the Lady IANE the eldest Daughter to that DVKE should be Married to the Lord Guilford Dudly the fourth Son then living of Northumberland all the three Elder Sons having Wives before that Katherine the second Daughter of Suffolk should be Married to the Lord Henry Herbert the Eldest Son of the Earl of Pembrock whom Dudly had made privy to all his Counsels and the third Daughter named Mary being Crook-Backed and otherwise not very taking affianced to Martin Keys the KING'S Gentleman-Porter Which Marriages together with that of the Lady Katherine one of the Daughters of Duke Dudly to Henry Lord Hastings Eldest Son of the Earl of Huntington were celebrated in the end of May or the beginning of June for I finde our Writers differing in the time thereof with as much Splendour and solemnity as the KING' 's weak Estate and the sad Condition of the Court could be thought to bear These Marriages all solemnized at Dâ—rham House in the Strand of which Northumberland had then took possession in the name of the Rest upon a Confidence of being Master very shortly of the whole Estate The noise of these Marriages bred such Amazement in the Hearts of the common People apt enough in themselves to speak the worst of Northumberland's Actions That there was nothing left unsaid which might serve to shew their hatred against him or express their Pity toward the KING But the DVKE was so little troubled at it that on the contrary he resolved to Dissemble no longer but openly to play his Game according to the Plot and Project which he had been Hammering ever â—ince the Fall of the DVKE of Somerset whose Death he had Contrived on no other Ground but for laying the way more plain and open to these vast ambitions The KING was now grown weak in Body and his Spirits much decaied by a languishing Sickness which Rendred him more apprehensive of such fears and Dangers as were to be presented to him then otherwise he could have been in a time of strength In which Estate Duke Dudly so prevailed upon him that he conâ—ented at the last to a transposition of the Crown from his natural sisters to the Children of the Dutchess of Suffolk Confirming it by Letters Patents to the Heirs Males of the Body of the said Dutchess And for want of such Heirs Males to be Born in the lifetime of the KING the Crown immediately to descend on the Lady IANE the eldest Daughter of that House and the Heirs of her Body and so with several Remainders to the rest of that Family The carriage of which Business and the Rubs it met with in the way shall be reserved to the particular story of the Lady IANE when she is brought unwilling upon the Stage there on to Act the part of a Queen of England It sufficeth in this place to note that the KING had no sooner caused these Leters Patents to passe the Seal but his Weakeness more visibly encreased then it did before And as the KING'S Weakeness did encrease so did the Northumberland's Diligence about him for he was little absent from him and had alwaies some well-assured to Epy how the State of his Health changed every Hour And the more joyful he
her in short time not only to protect her Merchants but command the Ocean Of which the Spaniard found good proof to his great loss and almost to his total ruine in the last 20 years of her glorious government And knowing right well that mony was the â—inew of war she fell upon a prudent and present course to fill her coffers Most of the monies in the Kingdom were of forein coynage brought hither for the most part by the Easterling and Flemish Merchants These she called in by Proclamation â—â—ted the 15th of November being but two dayes before the end of this 3d. year commanding them to be brought to her Majesties Mint there to be coyned and take the stamp of her Royal authority or otherwise not to pass for current within this Realm which counsel took such good effect that monies came flowing into the Mint insomuch that there was weekly brought into the Tower of London for the space of half a year together 8000. 10000. 12000. 16000. 20000. 22000 l. of silver plate and as much more in Pistols and other gold of Spanish coins which were great sums according to the standard of those early dayes and therefore no small profit to be growing to her by the coynage of them The Genevians slept not all this while but were as busily imployed in practising upon the Church as were the Romanists in plotting against the Queen Nothing would satisfie them but the nakedness and simplicity of the Zuinglian Churches the new fashions taken up at Franckfort and the Presbyteries of Geneva According to the pattern which they saw in those mounts the Church of England is to be modell'd nor would the Temple of Jerusalem have served their turn if a new Altar fashioned by that which they found at Damascus might not have been erected in it And they drove on so fast upon it that in some places they had taken down the steps where the Aâ—tar stood and brought the Holy Table into the midst of the Church in others they had laid aside the antient use of Godfathers and Godmothers in the administration of Baptism and left the answering for the child to the charge of the father The weekly Fasts the time of Lent and all other dayes of abstinence by the Church commanded were looked upon as superstitious observations No fast by them allowed of but occasional only and then too of their own appointing And the like course they took with the Festivals also neglecting those which had been instituted by the Church as humane inventions not fit to be retained in a Church reformed And finally that they might wind in there outlandish Doctrines with such forein usages they had procured some of the inferiour Ordinaries to impose upon their several Parishes certain new books of Sermons and Expositions of the holy Scripture which neither were required by the Queens Injunctions nor by Act of Parliament Some abuses also were discovered in the Regular Clergy who served in Churches of peculiar or exempt jurisdiction Amongst whom it began to grow too ordinary to marry all such as came unto them without Bains or Licence and many times not only without the privity but against the express pleasure and command of their Parents For which those Churches past by the name of Lawlesse Churches in the voice of the people For remedy whereof it was found necessary by the Archbishop of Canterbury to have recourse unto the power which was given unto him by the Queens Commission and by a clause or passage of the Act of Parliament for the Uniformity of Common Prayer and Service in the Church c. As one of the Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical he was authorized with the rest of his associates according to the Statute made in that behalf To reform redresse order correct and amend all such Errours Heresies Schisms abuses offences conâ—empts and enormities whatsoever as might from time to time arise in the Church of England and did require to be redressed and reformed to the pleasure of Almighty God the increase of vertue and conservation of the peace and unity of the Kingdom And in the passage of the Act before remembred it was especially provided That all such Ornaments of the Church and of the Ministers thereof should be retained and be in use as were in the Church of England by authority of Parliament in the second year of the Reign of King Edward the 6th until further Order should be therein taken by authority of the Queens Majesty with the advice of her Commissioners Appointed Ordered under the Great Seal of England for Causes Ecclesiastical or of the Metropolitan of this Realm And also if there shall happen any contempt or irreverence to be used in the Ceremonies or Rites of the Church by the misusing of the Orders of the said Book of Common Prayer the Queens Majesty might by the like advice of the said Commissioners or Metropolitan Ordain or publish such further Ceremonies or Rites as should be most for the advance of Gods glory the edifying of his Church and the due reverence of Christs holy Mysteries and Sacraments Fortified and assured by which double power the Archbishop by the Queens consent and the advice of some of the Bishops Commissionated and instructed to the same intent sets forth a certain book of Orders to be diligently observed and executed by all and singular persons whom it might concern In which it was provided That no Parson Vicar or Curate of any exempt Church commonly called Lawless Churches should from thenceforth attempt to conjoin by solemnization of Matrimony any not being of his or their Parish Church without sufficient testimony of the Bains being ask'd in the several Churches where they dwel or otherwise were sufficiently licenced That there should be no other dayes observed for Holy days or Fasting dayes as of duty and commandment but only such Holy dayes as be expressed for Holy dayes in the Calendar lately set forth by the Queens authority and none other Fasting dayes to be so commanded but as the Lawes and Proclamations of the Queens Majesty should appoint that it should not be lawful to any Ordinary to assign or enjoyn the Parishes to buy any Books of Sermons or Expositions in any sort than is already or shall be hereafter appointed by publick Authority that neither the Curates or Parents of the children which are brought to Baptism should answer for them at the Font but that the antient use of Godfathers and Godmothers should be still retained and finally that in all such Churches in which the steps to the Altar were not taken down the said steps should remain as before they did that the Communion Table should be set in the said place where the steps then were or had formerly stood and that the Table of Gods Precepts should be fixed upon the wall over the said Communion Board Which passage compared with that in the Advertisements published in the year 1565. of which more hereafter make up this construction that
excommunication of the Queen of England The Emperour had his aims upon her being at that time solicitous for effecting a mariage betwixt her and Charles of Inspruch his second son of which his Ministers entertained him with no doubtful hopes In contemplation of which mariage on the first notice which was given him of this secret purpose he writ Letters both to the Pope and to the Legates in which he signified unto them that if the Council would not yield that fruit which was desired that they might see an union of all Catholicks to reform the Church at least they should not give occasion to the Hereticks to unite themselves more which certainly they would do in case they proceeded so against the Queen of England by means whereof they would undoubtedly make a league against the Catholicks which must needs bring forth many great inconveniences Nor did this Admonition coming from a person of so great authority and built on such prudential reasons want its good effect Insomuch that both the Pope desisted at Rome and revoked the Commission sent before to the Legates in Trent But the Ministers of the King of Spain would not so give over the Archbishop of Otranto in the Realm of Naples keeping the game on foot when the rest had left it And because he thought the proposition would not take if it were made only in relation to the Queen of England he proposed a general anaâ—heâ—atizing of the Hereticks as well dead as living Luther and Zuinglius and the rest which he affirmed to be the practice of all Councils in the Primitive times and that otherwise it might be said that the Council had laboured all this while in vain To which it was replyed by one of the Legates that diveâ—s times required different Counsels that the differences about religion in those elder times were between the Bishops and the Priests that the people were but as an accessory that the Grandees either did not meddle or if they did adhere to any Heresie they did not make themselves Heads and Leaders But now all was quite contrary for now the Hereticks Ministers and Preachers could not be said to be heads of the Sects but the Princes rather to whose interess their Ministers and Preachers did accommodate themselves that he that would name the true Heads of Hereticks must name the Queens of England and Navarr the Prince of Conde the Elector Palatine of the Reine the Elector of Saxonie and many other Dukes and Princes of Germany that this would make them unite and shew they were sensible of it and that the condemnation of Luther and Zuinglius only would so provoke them that some great confusion would certainly arise and therefore they must not do what they would but what they could seeing that the more moderate resolution was the better After which grave and prudent Answer it was not long before the conclusion of the Council which ended on the 3d. of December had put an end to all those practices or designs which otherwise might have much distracted the peace of Christendom and more particularly the tranquillity of the Realm of England And so I take my leave of the Council of Trent without making any other character or censure of it than that which is given by the Historian that is to say That being desired and procured by godly men to reunite the Church which then began to be divided it so established the schism and made the party so obstinate that the discords are become irreconcilable that being managed by Princes for the Reformation of Ecclesiastical Discipline it caused the greatest deformation that ever was since Christianity began that being hoped for by the Bishops to regain the Episcopal authority usurped for the most part by the Pope it made them lose it altogether and brought them into a greater servitude and on the contrary that being feared and avoided by the See of Rome as a â—otent means to moderate the exorbitant power of the Pope mounted from small beginnings by divers degrees unto an unlimited excess it hath so established and confirmed the same over that part which remaineth subject to it that it never was so great nor so soundly rooted Anno Reg. Eliz. 6. A. D. 1563 1564. HAving dispatched our businesse in France and Trent we shall confine our selves for so much of our Story as is to come to the Isles of Britâ—ain In the fouth part thereof the plague brought out of France by the Garison souldiers of Newhaven had so dispersed it self and made such desolation in many parts of the Realm that it swept away above 20000 in the City of London Which though it seemed lesse than some great plagues which have hapned since yet was it the greatest at that time which any man living could remember In which regard as Michaelmas Term was not kept at all so Canâ—lemas Term then following was kept at Hartford the houses in London being not well cleansed nor the air sufficiently corrected for so great a concourse Under pretence whereof the Council of the King of Spain residing in Brussels commanded Proclamation to be made in Antwerp and other places that no English ship with cloths should come into any parts of the Low Countries Besides which they alleged some other causes as namely the raising of Impost upon goods as well inwards as outwards as well upon English men as upon strangers c. But the true reason of it was because a Statute had been passed in the first year of the Queen by which divers Wares and Commodities were forbidden to be brought into this Realm out of Flanders and other places being the Manufactures of those Countries to the end that our own people might be set on work as also that no English or stranger might ship out any white cloths undrest being of price above 4 l. without special licence But at the earnest sute of the Merchant Adventurers the Queen prohibited the transporting of Wool unwrought and the Cloth-Fleet was sent to Embden the principal City in East Fruzland about Easter following where it was joyfully received and where the English kept their Factory for some years after And though the Hanse Towns made such friends in the Court of the Emperour that the English trade was interdicted under the pretence of being a Monopoly yet by the constancy of the Queen the courage of the Merchants and the dexterity of their Agents they prevailed at last and caried on the trade themselves without any Competitours The apprehension of this dealing from the Council of Spain induced the Queen to hearken the more willingly to a peace with France Which she concluded upon terms of as good advantage as the times would bear the demand for Calais being waved till the eight years end at which it was to be restored unto her by the Treaty of Cambray Which peace was first Proclaimed before her Majesty in the Castle of Windsor the French Ambassador being present and afterwards at London on the
brother on the 9th and 10th she removes her Court unto Whitehall and there continâ—es till it was within two or three dayes of her Coronation Which time now drawing neer at hand she passed by water to the Tower on the 27th of September accompanied by her Sister the Princesse Elizabeth and a great train of Noble Ladies made her return through the principal streets of the City on the last of the same month in most â—tately manner and the next day proceeded with the like magnificence to the Abby Church where she was met by three â—â—lver Crosses and eighty singing men all in riâ—h and gorgeoâ—s Coaps so sudden a recruit was made of these sacâ—ed Vestments amongst whom went the new Dean of Westminster Dr. Westoâ— and divers Chaplains of her own each of them â—earing in their hands some Ensign or other After them marched ten Bishops which were as many as remained of her perswasion with their Miâ—ers rich Coaps and Crosier staves The Sermon was preached by Dr â—ay whom she had restored to the See of Chichester and the solemnity of the Coronation celebrated by the new Lord Chancellor Craâ—ner Archbishop of Canterbury being then commited and otherwise conceived unworthy of so great an honour Till this time none more dear to her then her Sister Elizabeth whom she alwayes took with her by the hand wheresoever she went and seldome dined or supped without her But this solemnity being passed over as if she were now freed from all the feaâ—s of a competition she estranged her self from her in such a manner as shewed that she had formerly desited her company for some by-respects and not out of natural affection More gratefâ—l unto other persons who deserved well of her she preferred Henry Ratcliff Earle of Sâ—ssex Commander Generall of her Army to the Society of the Gatter which Honour she conferred on his son Thomas after his decease and to be covered in her Presence at all times and places tending to the custome of the Grandees in the Realm of Spain Which priviledge not being very frequent in the Politâ—ie of the Realm of England I find to be recorded in these following words viz. Mary by the Grace of God Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and of the Church of England and Ireland in earth the Supream Head o all to whom this present writing shall come sendeth Greeting in our Lord everlasting Know ye that We do give and pardon to Our wel-beloved and trusty Cosen and one of Our Privy Council Henry Earl of Sussex and Viscount Fittzwater Lord Egremond and Burnel Liberty Licence and Pardon to wear his Cap Coyfe or Night-cap or two of them at his pleasure as well in Our presence as in the presence of any other person or persons within this Our Realm or any other place of Our Dominions whatsoever during his life and these Our Letters shall be his sufficient Warrant in this behalf Given under Our Sign Manuall at Our Pallace of Westminster 2. Octob. 1 Regni With the like Royal gratitute she advance the Earl of Arundel who had deserved as well of her in the Council as the Earl of Sussex in the Camp to the Place or Office of Lord Steward investing him with all those powers and priviledges which had been formâ—rly exercised by the Lord Great Master whom he succeeded in Authority though not in Title Sir Edward Hastings who came over to her with 4000 men she first made Master of the Horse and Knight of the Garâ—er and afterwards Lord Chamberlain of the Houshold and Lord Hastings of Louthborough Sir John Williams who had done her very good service in Buckingham and Oxfordâ—hires â—hires she honoured with the Title of Lord Williams of Jaâ—e of which more hereafter Sir Hâ—nry Jerninâ—ham who first appeared in Norfoâ—k for her she preferred to be Captain of her Guard aâ—soon as she came unto the Crown and toward the latter end of her Reign Sir Thomas Threâ—â—â—m was created Lord Prior of the Order of St Johns of Jerusalem and consequently according to the old pretension the first Baron of England And as for her domestique servants who had suffered with her she thought it no unfit decorum that they should in part Reign with her also To which end she preferred Hopâ—on her old Chaplain to the See of Norwich Râ—chester to be Compâ—roller of her Houshold Ingâ—â—field toâ— be Master of the Wards and Wâ—lgrave to be Master of the Wardrobe which is sufficiâ—nt â—o deâ—lâ—re that she was willing to comply with all obligarionâ— and not to bâ— too long in debt to her greatest subjects but much lesse to her mâ—nial servants But in â—â—gard that all these were considered for their perâ—onal merits not in reference only to their zeal for the Catholick Cause she was to shew some act of favour unto those of thaâ— party which might create a confidence in them of her good affections To which end she made choice of Sir John Gage a man most zealously addicted to the Church of Rome to be Lord Chamberlain of â—â—r Houshold when she came first to the Tower to the great satisfaction of all those of that Religion And that she might in some meaâ—ure also obâ—â—ge the rest of her suâ—jects and make the entâ—ance of her Reign the more pleaâ—â—ng to them her Coronation was accompanied with a general pardon at the least in shew Out of which all prisoners in the Tower such as remained in the Fleet together with sixty other being excepted and the reâ—trictions and proviso's with which it was in all parts clogged being well observed there were not many especially of those whom it most concerned that could create unto themselves any benefit by it Thus was the Civil State established on a right foundation and the succession setled most agreeably to the Laws of Nature according to the last Will and Testament of King Heâ—ry the 8th and the Laws made in that behalfe But we shall see the pillars of the Church removed the very foundation of it shaken and the whole â—abrick of Religion so demolished that scarce one stone thereof did seem to stand upon the other without regâ—rd unto the Laws and contrary to the will and purpose of King Edwâ—â—d the 6th At the Queens first entrance into London on the thiâ—d of August she discâ—arged Gardinâ—r of the Tower as she did Bâ—â—ner of the Marshelsey and Bishop Tâ—â—stall from the Kings Bench within two dayes after To make way to whose restitution to their former Sees Bishop Ridley is removed from London Bishop Poiâ—ct from Winchester and an Act of Parliâ—ment pâ—ocâ—red for the restoring of the Church of Durham to all its Lands Preheminences and Juriâ—dictions of which it stood divested by the lâ—te Act of Dissolution made in the last year of the King deceased By the like power was Coverdale displaced from the See of Exon Sâ—ory from that of Chichester and Hooper dispossessed of that Jurisdiction whiâ—h he held as the Commendatory of the See
men that the danger might have proved far greater the disease incurable For so it hapned that the Carews conceiving that the deferring of the execution of the plot thus laid might prove destructive to that cause or otherwise fatally thrust on by their own ill destiny began to leavy men in Cornwal which could not be so closely carried but that their purpose was discovered and the chief of them forced to flye the Kingdom The news whereof gave such an allarum to the confederates that they shewed themselves in several places before the people were prepared and made ready for them Insomuch that the Duke of Suffolk together with the Lord Thomas Gray and the Lord Leonard Gray having made Proclamation in divers places on the 25th of that month against the Queens intended mariage with the Prince of Spain and finding that the people came not in so fast unto them as they did expect were forced to dismiss their slender company and shift for themselves upon the first news that the Earl of Huntington was coming toward them with 300 horse An action very unfortunate to himself and to all his family For first The Queen finding that she was to expect no peace or quiet as long as the Lady Jane was suffered to remain alive caused her and the Lord Guilford Dudley to be openly executed on the 12th of February then next following His daughter Katherineâ—ormerly â—ormerly maried to Henry Lord Herbert eldest son to the Earl of Pembrook but the mariage by reason of her tender years not coming unto a Consummation by carnal knowlege was by him repudiated and cast off and a mariage presently made betwixt him and another Katherine a daughter of George Earl of Shrewsbury His brothers John and Thomas committed prisoners to the Tower of which two Thomas suffered death about two months after And for himself being compelled to hide his head in the house of one Underwood whom he had preferred unto the keeping of one of his Parks he was by him most basely and treacherously betrayed to the said Earl of Huntington on the 11th of February Arrained on the 17th of the same month and beheaded on the 23d Nor fared it better with the rest though they of Kent conducted by Sir Thomas Wiat the chief contriver of the plot were suddenly grown considerable for their number and quickly formidable for their power The newes of whose rising being swiftly posted to the Court the Duke of Norfolk was appointed to go against him attended with few more than the Queen 's ordinary Guards and followed by 500 Londoners newly raised and sent by water to Graves End under the charge of Captain Alexander Bret. With which few forces he intended to assault the Rebels who had put themselves into Rochester Castle and fortified the bridge with some pieces of Canon But being ready to fall on Bret with his Londoners fell off to Wiat and so necessitated the old Duke to return to London in great haste accompanied by the Earl of Arundel and Sir Henry Gerningham with some few of their horse leaving their foot eight pieces of Canon and all their ammunition belonging to them in the power of the enemy This brings the Queen to the Guild Hall in London on the first of February where she finds the Lord Mayor the Aldermen and many of the chief Citizens in their several Liveries To whom she signified That she never did intend to marry but on such conditions as in the judgement of her Council should be found honourable to the Realm and profitable ble to her subjects that therefore they should give no credit to those many calumnies which Wiat and his accomplices who according to the guise of Rebels had purposely dispersed to defame both her and her government but rather that they should contribute their best assistance for the suppressing of those who contrary to their duty were in arms against her And though she had as good as she brought that is to say fair promises for her gracious words yet understanding that many in the City held intelligence with the Kentish Rebels she appointed the Lord William Howard whom afterwards she created Lord Howard of Effingham to be Lieutenant of the City and Pembrook General of the field The event shewed that she followed that Counsel which proved best for her preservation For had she trusted to the City she had been betrayed Incouraged with his success and confident of a strong party amongst the Londâ—ners on the 3d. day of February he entreth Southwark where he and his were finely feasted by the people But when he hoped to have found the way open to the rest of the City he found the draw-Bridge to be cut down the bridge-Gate to be shut and the Ordinance of the Tower to be bent against him by the appointment and direction of the Lord Lieutenant Two dayes he trifled out in Southwark to no purpose at all more than the sacking of Winchester House and the defacing of the Bishops Library there unless it were to leave a document to posterity that God infatuates the Counsels of those wretched men who traiterously take up arms against their Princes And having liberally bestowed these two dayes upon the Queen the better to enable her to provide for her safety he wheels about on Sunday the 6th of the same month to Kingston bridge And though the bridge was broken down before his coming and that the opposite shore was guarded by 200. men yet did he use such diligence that he removed away those forces repaired the bridge past over both his men and Canon and might in probability have surprised both the Court and City in the dead of the night if the same spirit of infatuation had not rested on him For having marched beyond Brainford in the way towards London without giving or taking the allarum it hapned that one of his great piecs was dismounted by the breach of its wheels In the mending and mounting whereof he obstinately wasted so much time notwithstanding all the perswasions which his friends could make unto him that many of his men slipped from him and some gave notice to the Court not only of his near approach but also what his purpose was and what had hindred him from putting it in execution On this Advertisment the Earl of Pembrook arms and draws out his men to attend the motion of the Rebels who about 10 of the clock came to Chearing Cross and without falling on the Court which was then in a very great amazement turn up the Sâ—rand to Temple Bar and so toward Ludgate the Earl of Pembrook following and cutting him off in the arreir upon every turn Coming to London when it was too late for his intendments he found the Gates fast shut against him and the Lord William Howard in as great a readiness to oppose him there as when he was before in Southwark So that being hemmed in on both sides without hope of relief he yields himself to Sir Morris Berkley is
carried prisoner to the Court from thence committed to the Tower arraigned at Westminster on the 15th of March and executed on the 11th of April having first heard that no fewer than 50 of his accomplices were hanged in London and Bret with 22 more in several places of Kent It can not be denied but that the restitution of the Reformed Religion was the matter principally aimed at in this Rebellion through nothing but the Match with Spain appeared on the outside of it Which appears plainly by a Book writ by Christopher Goodman associated with John Knox for setting up Presbytery and Rebellion in the Kirk of Scotland in which he takes upon him to shew How far Superioâ—r Magistrates ought ot be obeyed For having filled almost every Chapter of it with railing speeches against the Queen and stirring up the people to rebel against her he falleth amongst he rest upon this expression viz. Wyat did but his duty and it was but the duty of all others that profess the Gospel to have risen with him for maintenance of the same His cause was just and they were all Traytors that took not part with him O Noble Wyat thou art now with God and those worthy men that dyed in that happy enterprise But this Book was written at Geneva where Calvin reigned To whom no pamphlet could be more agreeable than such as did reproach this Queen whom in his Comment upon Amoz he entituleth by the name of Porserpine and saith that she exceeded in her cruelties all the devils in hell Much more it is to be admired that Dr John Poynct the late Bishop of Winchester should be of Counsel in the plot or put himself into their Camp and attend them unto the place where the carriage brake Where when he could not work on Wiat to desist from that unprofitable labour in remounting the Cannon he counselled Vauham Bret and others to shift for themselves took leave of his more secret friends told them that he would pray for their good success and so departed and took ship for Germany where he after died The fortunate suppressing of these insurrections secured the Queen from any fear of the like dangers for the present And thereupon it was advised to make use of the opportunity for putting the Church into a posture when the spirits of the opposite party were so crush'd and broken that no resistance could be looked for Articles therefore are sent into every Diocess and letters writ unto the several and Respective Bishops on the 3d. of March to see them carefully and speedily put in execution The Tenour of which Articles were as followeth 1. That every Bishop and his Officers with all other having Ecclesiastical jurisdiction shall with all speed and dilâ—gence and all manner of ways to them possible put in execution all such Canons and Ecclesiastical Laws heretofore in the time of King Henry the 8th used within this Realm of England and the Dominions of the same not being directly and expresly contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm 2. That no Bishop or any his Officer or other person hereafter in any of their Ecclesiastical writings in processe or other extra-judicial acts do use or put in this clause or Sentence Regia Auhoritate fulcitus 3. That no Bâ—â—â—op nor any his Officers or other person do hereafter exact or demand in the admessien of any person to any Ecclesiastical Promotion Order or Office any Oâ—â—h touching the primacy or succession as of late few years past haâ—h been accâ—stomed and used 4. That every Bishop and his Officers with all other persons have a vigilant eye and use special diligence and foresight that no person be admitted or received to any Ecclesiastical function Benefice or Office being a Sacramentary infected or defamed with any notable kind of Heresie or other great crime and that the said Bishop do stay and cause to be staid as much as lyeth in him that Benefices and Ecclesiastical promotions do not notably decay or take hinderance by passing or confirming of unreasonable Leases 5. That every Bishop and all other persons aforesaid do diligently travail for the reprâ—ssing of Heresies and notable crimes especially in tâ—e Clergy duely correcting and punishing the same 6. That every Bishop and all other persons aforesaid do likewise travail for the condemning and repressing of corrupt and naughty opinions unlawful Books Ballads and other pernitious and hurtful devices engeâ—driâ—g hatred and discord amongst the people And that Schoolmasters Teachers and Preachers do exercise and use their offices and duties without Teaching Preaching or setting forth any evil and corrupt doctrine and that doing the contrary they may be by the Bishop and his said Officers punished and removed 7. That every Bishop and all other person aforesaid proceeding summarily and with all celerity and speed may and shall deprive or declare deprived and remove according to their learning and discretion and such persons from their Benefices and Ecclesiastical promotions who contrary to the state of their Order and the laudable custome of the Church have maried and used women as their wives or otherwise notably and slanderously disordered or abused themselves sequestring also during the sayd processe the fruits and profits of the said Benefices and Ecclesidstical promotions 8. That the said Bishop and other persons aforesaid do use more lenity and clemency with such as have maried whose wives be dead than with others whose women do yet remain alâ—ve And likewise such Priests as with the consent of their wives or women openly in the presence of the Bishop do professe to abstain to be used more favourable In which case after th Penance effectually done the Bishop according to his discretion and wisdome may upon just consideration receive and admit them again to their former administrations so it be not in the same place appointing them such a portion to live upon to be paid out of their Benefice whereof they be deprived by the discretion of the said Bishop or his Officer as he shall think may be spared of the same Benâ—fice 9. That every Bishop and other person aforesaid do foresee that they suffer not any â—â—ligious man having solemly professed chastity to continue with his woman or wife but that all such persons after deprivation of their Benefice or Ecclesiastical promotion be also divorced every one from his said woman and due punishment otherwise taken for the offence therein 10. Item That every Bishop and all other persons aforesaid do take Order and direction with the â—arishioners of every Benefice where Priests do want to repair to the next Parish for divine Service or to appoint for a convenient time till other better provision may be made one Curate â—o serve alienis vicibus in divers Parishes and to allot the said Curaâ—e for his labour some part of the Benefice which he so serveth 11. That all and all manner of Processions in the Church be used frequently and continued after the old Order of the Church
Performers of Our last Will and Testament Willing Commanding and Praying them to take upon them the occupation and performances of the same as Executours that is to say The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Lord Wriothesly Chancellour of England the Lord St John Great Master of Oar House the Earl of Hartford Great Chamberlain the Lord Russel Lord Privy Seal the Viscount L'isle Lord High Admiral of England the Bishop Tonstal of Duresme Sir Anthony Brown Knight Master of Our Horses Sir Edward Mountague Knight chief Judge of the Common Pleas Justice Bromly Sir Edward North Knight Chancellour of the Augmentations Sir William Paget Kniâ—ht Our chief Secretary Sir Anthony Denny Sir William Herbert Knight chief Gentlemen of Our Privy Chamber Sir Edward Wotton Knight and Mr. Dr. Wotten his Brother And all these We will to be Our Executours and Councellours of the Privy Council with Our said Son Prince Edward in all matters both concerning His Private affairs and the Publick affairs of the Realm Willing and charging them and every of them as they must and shall answer at the day of Judgement wholly and fully to see this My last Will and Testament performed in all things with as much speed and diligence as may be and that none of them presume to medâ—le with any of Our Treasure or to do any thing appointed by Our said Will alone unless the most part of the whole number of the Co-Executours do consent and by writing agree to the same And wâ—ll that Our said Executours or the most part of them may lawfully do what they shall think most convenient for the execution of this Our Will without being troubled by Our said Son or any other for the same After which having taken Order about the payment of His Debts He proceeds as followeth Further according to the Laws of Almighty God and for the Fatherly Love which We bear to Our Son Prince Edward and this Our Realm We declare Him according to Justice Equity and Conscience to be Our lawfull Heir and do give and bequeath unto Him the Succession of Our Realms of England and Ireland with Our Title of France and all Our Dominions both on this side the Seas and beyond A convenient portion for Our will and Testament to be reserved Also we give unto Him all Our Plate Stuff of Houshold Artillery Ordnance Ammunition Ships Cables and all other things and implements to them belonging and Money also and Jewels saving such portions as shall satisfie this Our Last Will and Testament Charging and commanding Him on pain of Our curse seeing He hath so Loving a Father of Vs and that Our chief Labour and Study in this world is to establish him in the Crown Imperial of this Realm after Our â—â—cease in such sort as may be pleasing to God and to the health of this Realm that He be Ordered and Ruled both in His Marriage and also in ordering the Affairs of the Realm as well outward as inward and also in all His own private Affairs and in giving of Offices of Charge by the Advice and Counsel of Our Right-entirely beloved Councellours the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Lord Wriothesly Chancellour of England the Lord St. John Master of Our Horse the Lord Russel Lord Privy Seal the Earl of Hartford Great Chamberlain of England the Viscount L'isle High Admiral of England the Bishop Tonstal of Dureâ—me Sir Anthony Brown Knight Master of Our Horses Sir William Paget Our chief Secretary Sir Anthony Denny Sir William Herbert Justice Mountague and Bromely Sir Edward Wotton Mr. â—octour Wotton and Sir Edward North Whom we Ordain name and appoint and by these Presents Signed with Our hand do make and constitute Our Privy Council with Our said Son and will that they have the Governance of Our most dear Son Prince Edward and of all Our Realms Dominions and Subjects and of all the Affairs publick and private untill He shall have fully compleated the eighteenth year of His Age. And for because the variety and number of things affairs and matters are and may be such as We not knowing the certainty of them before cannot conveniently prescribe a certain â—rder or Rule unto Our said Councellours for their behaviours and proceedings in this charge which we have now and do appoint unto them about Our said Son during the time of His minority aforesaid We therefore for the special Trust and Confidence which We have in them will and by these Presents do give and grant full Power and Authority unto Our said Councelours that they all or the most part of them being assembled together in Council or if any of them fortune to dye the more part of them which shall be for the time living being assembled in Council together shall and may make devise and ordain whatsoever things they or the more part of them as afore-said shall during the Minority of Our said Son think meet necessary and convenient for the Benefit Honour and Surety of the Weal Profit and Commodity of Our said Son His Realms Dominions or Subjects or the Discharge of Our Conscience And the same things made ordained and devised by them or the more part of them as afore-said shall and may lawfully do execute and accomplish or cause to be done executed or accomplished by their Discretions or the Discretions of the more part of them as afore-said in as large and ample manner as if We had or did express unto them by a more special Commission under Our Great Seal of England every particular cause that may chance or occurr during the time of Our said Son's Minority and the self-same manner of Proceeding which they shall from time to time think meet to use and follow Willing and charging Our said Son and all others which shall hereafter be Councellours to Our said Son that they never charge molest trouble or disquiet Our afore-said Councellours nor any of them for the devising or doing nor any other person or persons for doing that they shall devise or the more part of them devise or do assembled as is afore-said And We do charge expresly the same Our entirely-beloved Councellours and Executours that they shall take upon them the Rule and Charge of Our said Son and Heir in all His Causes and Affairs and of the whole Realm doing nevertheless all things as under Him and in His name untill Our said Son and Heir shall be bestowed and married by their advice and that the eighteenth year be expired Willing dâ—siring furthermore Our said Trusty Councellours and then all Our Trusty and Assured Servants and Thirdly all other Our Loving Subjects to aid and assist Our fore-named Councellours in the Execution of the Premisses during the afore-said time not doubting but that they will in all things deal so truly and uprightly as they shall have cause to think them well chosen for the Charge committed unto them Streightly charging our said Councellours and Executours and in God's Name exhorting them for the singular Trust and
said Church to have been deceived in that what he before had taught them and to be sorry for delivering such Doctrine to them But these men might pretend some Warrant from the King's Injunctions which they might conceive it neither fit nor safe to oppose and therefore that it was the wisest way to strike Sail betimes upon the shooting of the first Warning-Piece to bring them in But no man was so much before hand with Authority as one Doctour Glasier who as soon as the Fast of Lent was over and it was well he had the Patâ—ence to stay so long affirmed publickly in a Sermon at Saint Paul's Cross That The Lent was not ordained of God to be Fasted neither the Eating of Flesh to be forborn but that the same was a Politick Ordinance of men and might therefore be broken by men at their pleasures For which Doctrine as the Preacher was never questioned the Temper of the Times giving Incouragement enough to such Extravagancies so did it open such a Gap to Carnal Liberty that the King found it necessary to shut it up again by a Proclamation on the sixteenth of January commanding Abstinence from all Flesh for the Lent then following But there was something more then the Authority of a Minour King which drew on such a General Conformity to these Injunctions and thereby smoothed the way to those Alterations both in Doctrine and Worship which the Grandees of the Court and Church had began to fashion The Lord Protectour and his Party were more experienced in Affairs of State then to be told That All great Counsels tending to Innovation in the Publick Government especially where Religion is concerned therein are either to be back'd by Arms or otherwise prove destructive to the Undertakers For this cause he resolves to put himself into the Head of an Army as well for the security of His Person and the Preservation of his Party as for the carrying on of the Design against all Opponents And for the Raising of an Army there could not be a fairer Colour nor a more popular Pretence then a War in Scotland not to be made on any new emergent Quarrel which might be apt to breed suspicion in the Heads of the People but in Pursuit of the great Project of the King deceased for Uniting that Realm by the Marriage of their young Queen to His onely Son to the Crown of England On this pretense Levies are made in all parts of the Kingdom great store of Arms and Ammunition drawn together to advance the service considerable Numbers of Old Souldiers brought over from Bulloign and the Peeces which depended on it and good Provision made of Shipping to attend the Motions of the Army upon all occasions He entertained also certain Regiments of Walloons and Germanes not out of any great Opinion which he had of their Valour though otherwise of good Experience in the Wars but because they were conceived more likely to enforce Obedience if his Designs should meet with any Opposition then the Natural English But in the first place Care was taken that none of the neighbouring Princes should either hinder his Proceedings or assist the Enemy To which end Doctour Wotton the first Dean of Canterbury then Resident with the Queen Dowager of Hungary who at that time was Regent of the Estates of Flanders for Charls the Fifth was dispatched unto the Emperour's Court there to succeed in the place of Doctour Bonner Bishop of London who together with Sir Francis Bryan had formerly been â—ent Embassadours thâ—ther from King Henry the Eighth The Principal part of his Employment besides such matters as are incident to all Ambassadours was to divert the Emperour from concluding any League with France contrary to the Capitulations made between the Emperour and the King deceased but to deal with him above all things for declaring himself an Enemy to all of the Scotish Nation but such as should be Friends to the King of England And because some Remainders of Hostility did still remain between the English and the French notwithstanding the late peace made between the Crowns it was thought fit to sweeten and oblige that People by all the acts of Correspondence and friendly Neighbourhood In Order whereunto it was commanded by the King's Proclamation That Restitution should be made of such Ships and Goods which had been taken from the French since the Death of King Henry Which being done also by the French though far short in the value of such Reprisals as had been taken by the English there was good hope of coming to a better understanding of one another and that by this Cessation of Arms both Kings might come in short time to a further Agreement But that which seemed to give most satisfaction to the Court of France was the performance of a solemn Obsequie for King Francis the First who left this Life on the twenty second day of March and was Magnificently Interred amongst His Predecessours in the Monastery of Saint Dennis not far from Paris Whose Funerals were no sooner Solemnized in France but Order was given for a Dirige to be sung in all the Churches in London on the nineteenth of June as also in the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul in the Quire whereof being hung with black a sumptuous Herse had been set up for the present Ceremony For the next day the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury assisted with Eight other of the Bishops all in their Rich Mitres and other their Pontificals did sing a Mass of Requiem the Funeral Sermon being preached by Doctour Ridley Lord Elect of Rochester who if he did his part therein as no doubt he did could not but magnifie the Prince for His Love to Learning Which was so great and eminent in Him that He was called by the French L' pere des Arts des Sciences and The Father of the Muses by some Writers of other Nations Which Attributes as He well deserved so did He Sympathize in that Affection as he did in many other things with King Henry the Eighth of whose Munificence for the Encouragements of Learning we have spoke before This great Solemnity being thus Honourably performed the Commissioners for the Visitation were dispatched to their several Circuits and the Army drawn from all parts to their Rendez-vous for the War with Scotland Of which two Actions that of the Visitation as the easiest and meeting with a People which had been long trained up in the Schole of Obedience was carried on without any shew of Opposition submitted to upon a very small Dispute even by some of those Bishops who were conceived most likely to have disturbed the business The first who declared his aversness to the King's Proceedings was Dr. Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester who stomaching his being left out of the Lift of the Council appeared more cross to all their doings then other of his Order For which being brought before their Lordships and not giving them such satisfaction as they looked for from
him they sent him Prisoner to the Fleet where he remained from the twenty fifth of September till the seventh of January the King's Commissioners proceeding in the mean time without any disturbance With less aversness but with success not much unlike was the business entertained by Dr. Edmond Bonner then Bishop of London whom the Commissioners found far more tractable then could have been expected from a man of so rough a Nature and one so cordially affected to the Church of Rome The Commissioners Authorised for this Imployment were Sir Anthony Cook and Sir John Godsal Knights John Godsal Christopher Nevinson Doctours of the Laws and John Madew Doctour in Divinity who sitting in St. Paul's Church on the first day of September called before them the said Bishop Bonner John Royston the renowned Polydore Virgil and many other of the Dignitaries of the said Cathedral to whom the Sermon being done and their Commission openly read they ministred the Oath of the King's Supremacy according to the Statute of the thirty first of King Henry the Eighth requiring them withall to present such things as stood in need to be Reformed Which done they delivered to him a Copy of the said Injunctions together with the Homilies set forth by the King's Authority received by him with Protestation that he would observe them if they were not contrary to the Law of God and the Statutes and Ordinances of the Church Which Protestation he desired might be enrolled amongst the Acts of the Court But afterwards considering better with himself as well of his own Danger as of the Scandal and ill Consequents which might thence arise he addressed himself unto the King revoking his said Protestation and humbly submitting himself to His Majestie 's Pleasure in this manner following Whereas I Edmond Bishop of London at such time as I received the King's Majestie 's Injunctions and Homilies of my most Dread and Sovereign Lord at the Hands of His Highness Visitours did unadvisedly make such Protestation as now upon better consideration of my Duty of Obedience and of the evil Example that might ensue unto others thereof appeareth to me neither Reasonable nor such as might well stand with the Duty of a most humble Subject for so much as the same Protestation at my Request was then by the Register of the Visitation Enacted and put in Record I have thought it my Duty not onely to declare before your Lordships that I do now upon better consideration of my Duty renounce and revoke my said Protestation but also most humbly beseech your Lordships that this my Revocation of the same may be in like wise put in the same Records for a perpetual Memory of the Truth most humbly beseeching your Good Lordships both to take order that it may take effect and also that my former unadvised doings may be by your good Mediations pardoned of the King's Majesty Edmond London This humble carriage of the Bishop so wrought upon the King and the Lords of the Council that the edg of their displeasure was taken off though for a terrour unto others and for the preservation of their own Authority he was by them committed Prisoner to the Fleet. During the short time of whose Restraint that is to say on the Eighteenth day of the same Moneth of September the Letany was sung in the English Tongue in Saint Paul's Church between the Quire and the High Altar the Singers kneeling half on the one side and half on the other And the same day the Epistle and Gospel was also read at the High Mass in the English Tongue And about two Moneths after that is to say on the seventeenth day of November next following Bishop Bonner being then restored to his former Liberty the Image of Christ best known in those Times by the name of the Rood together with the Images of Mary and John and all other Images in that Church as also in all the other Churches of London were taken down as was commanded by the said Injunctions Concerning which we are to note That though the Parliament was then sitting whereof more anon yet the Commissioners proceeded onely by the King's Authority without relating any thing to that High Court in this weighty Business And in the speeding of this Work as Bishop Bonner together with the Dean and Chapter did perform their parts in the Cathedral of Saint Paul so Bellassere Arch-Deacon of Colchester and Doctour Gilbert Bourn being at that time Arch-Deacon both of London and Essex but afterwards preferred by Queen Mary to the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells were no less Diligent and Officious in doing the like in all the Churches of their Respective Jurisdictions according to the Charge imposed upon them by his Majestie 's Visitours In the mean time whilst matters were thus calmly Acted on the Stage of England all things went no less fortunately forward with the Lord Protectour in his War with Scotland in which he carried himself with no less Courage and Success when it came to blows then he had done with Christian Prudence before he put himself on the Expedition For having taken Order for his Forces to be drawn together he thought it most expedient to his Affairs to gain the start in point of Reputation with his very Enemies by not ingaging in a War untill they had refused all Terms of Peace And to this end a Manifest is dispatched unto them declaring the Motives which induced him to put this Kingdom into a posture of Arms. In which he remembred them of the Promises Seals and Oaths which by publick Authority had passed for concluding this Marriage That These being Religious Bonds betwixt God and their Souls could not by any Politick Act of State be dissolved untill their Queen should attain unto years of Dissent Adding that The Providence of God did therein manifestly declare it self in that the Male-Princes of Scotland failing the Kingdom was left unto a Daughter and in that King Henry left onely one Son to succeed That These two Princes were agreeable both for Years and Princely Qualities to be joyned in Marriage and thereby to knit both Realms into One That This Vnion as it was like to be both easily done and of firm continuance so would it be both profitable and Honourable to both the Realms That Both the Easiness and Firmness might be conjectured for that both People are of the same Language of like Habit and Fashion of like Quality and Condition of Life of one Climate not onely annexed entirely together but severed from all the World besides That as these are sure Arguments that both discended from one Original so by Reason that Likeness is a great Cause of Liking and of Love they would be most forcible Means both to joyn and hold them in one Body again That Profit would rise by extinguishing Wars between the two Nations by Reason whereof in former times Victories abroad have been impeached Invasions and Seditions occasioned the Confines of both Realms lay'd wast
look upon themselves and upon their enemies themselves dreadful their enemies gorgeous and brave on their side men on the other spoyle in case either through flowness or cowardise they did not permit them to escape who â—o now already had began their flight And to say truth the English having changed their Ground to gain the Hill which â—â—y near their Shipping and which also gave them the advantage both of Sun and Wind wrought an opinion in the Scots that they dislodged to no â—ther end then to recover their Ships that they might save themselves though they lost their Carriages In confidence whereof they quitted a place of great strength where they were incamped and from which the whole Army of England was not able to force them But the old English Proverb telleth us that They that reckon without their Host are to reckon twice and so it fared with this infatuated People For on the tenth of September the Battails being ready to joyn a Peece of Ordnance discharged from the Galley of England took off five and twenty of their men amongst whom the eldest Son of the Lord Graham was one Whereupon four thousand Archers terrified with so unexpected a slaughter made a stand and could never after be brought on so that they stood like men amazâ—d as neither having Hearts to Fight nor Opportunity to Fly Which consternation notwithstanding the Lord Gray being sent with a strong Party of Horse to give the Onset found the Main Body so well Embattailed and such a Valiant Opposition made by a stand of Pikes that they were almost as impenetrable as a Rock of Adamants till being terrified by the English Ordnance which came thundering on them from the top of the Hill and galled by the Great-Shot from the Ships they began to brangle Which being perceived by the English they gave a loud Shout crying They Fly They Fly and thereby so astonished the affrighted Enemy that they began to fly indeed and presently throwing down their Arms betook themselves unto their Heels Many were slain upon the Place more executed in the Chase and not a few in the Esk which so improvidently they had passed the day before so that the number of the slain was thought to have amounted to fourteen thousand About fifteen hundred of both sorts were taken Prisoners amongst which the daring Earl of Huntly was one of the Chief who being after asked How he liked the Marriage is said to have returned this Answer That He could well enough brook the Wedding but that he did not like that kind of Woing Amongst the number of the slain were found good store of Monks and Friers some thousands of which had put themselves into the Army which had been raised especially by their Power and Practices The Greatness of the Booty in Arms and Baggage was not the least cause that the English reaped no better Fruit from so great a Victory and did not prosecute the War to an absolute Conquest For being intent in pillaging the dead and gathering up the Spoils of the field and solacing themselves in Leith for five dayes together they gave the Scots time to make Head again to fortifie some Strong places on the other side of the Fryth and to remove the Queen to Dun-britton-Castle from whence they conveyed her into France in the year next following And though the loss rather then neglect of this opportunity is to be attributed in the first place to God's secret pleasure who had reserved the Union of the Kingdoms till an happier time yet were there many Second Causes and subordinate Motives which might prevail upon the Lord Protectour to return for England without advancing any further For either he might be taken off by the Earl of Warwick who then began to cast an Envious eye on his Power and Greatness Or might be otherwise unwilling of his own accord to tempt his Fortune any further by hazarding that Honour in a second Battail which he had acquired in the first Or he might think it more conducible to his Affairs to be present at the following Parliament in which he had some work to do which seemed more needfull to him then the War with Scotland The good Success whereof would be ascribed to his Officers and Commanders but the Misfortunes wholly reckoned upon His account Or finally which I rather think he might conceive it necessary to preserve his Army and Quarter it in the most convenient places near the English Borders that it might be ready at Command upon all occasions if his Designs should meet with any opposition as before was said And this may be believed the rather because that having fortified some Islands in the Mouth of the Fryth he Garisoned the greatest part of his Army in Hume-Castle and other Peeces of importance most of them lying near together and the furthest not above a days March from Berwick Now as concerning the Day in which this Victory was obtained I finde two notable Mistakes The one committed by the Right Reverend Bishop Godwin and the other by the no less Learned Sir John Hayward By Bishop Godwin it is placed exceeding rightly on the tenth of September but then he doth observe it as a thing remarkable That this memorable Victory was obtained on the very same day in which the Images which had been taken out of the several Churches were burned in London Whereas we are informed by John Stow a diligent Observer of Days and Times That the Images in the Churches of London were not taken down before the seventeenth of November And we are told by Sir John Hayward that the day of this Fight was the tenth of December which must be either a mistake of the Press or a slip of the Pen it being noted in the words next following That on the same day thirty four years afore the Scots had been defeated by the English at Flodden-field Which though it pointeth us back to the Moneth of September yet the mistake remaineth as unto the Day that Battail being fought not on the tenth but the ninth of September as all our Writers do agree But leaving these Mistakes behind us let us attend the Lord Protectour to the Court of England Towards which he hastened with such speed that he stayed but twenty five days upon Scotish Ground from his first Entrance to his Exit And being come unto the Court he was not onely welcomed by the King for so great a Service with a Present of 500l per Ann. to him and to his Heirs for ever but highly Honoured by all sorts of people the rather in regard that he had bought so great a Victory at so cheap a Rate as the loss of sixty Horse onely and but one of his Foot And now 't is high time to attend the Parliament which took beginning on the fourth of November and was Prorogued on the twenty fourth of December following In which the Cards were so well packed by Sir Ralph Sadlier that there was no need of
notwithstanding that they differed from the Government and Forms of Worship Established in the Church of England All which and more He grants by His Letters Patents bearing Date at Lâ—ez the Lord Chancellour's House on the twenty fourth of July and the fourth year of His Reâ—gn Which Grant though in it self an Act of most 〈◊〉 Compassion in respect of those Strangers yet proved the occasion of no small disturbance to the Proceedings of the Church and the quiet ordering oâ— the State for by suffering these men to live under another kind of Government and to Worship God after other Forms then those allowed of by the Laws proved in effect the 〈◊〉 up of one Altar against another in the midst of the Church and the erecting â—f a Common-Wealth in the midst of the Kingdom So much the more unfortunately peâ—â—itted in this present Conjuncture when such a Repâ—ure began to appear amongst our selves as was made wider by the coming in of these Dutch Reformerâ— and the Indulgence granted to them as will appear by the follâ—wing Story of John Hooper designed to the Bishoprick of Glocester which in brâ—ef was this John Hooper the designed Bishop of Glocester being bred in Oxford studious in the Holy Scriptures and well-affected unto those Beginnings of the Reformation whiâ—h had been countenanced by King Henry about the time of the Six Articles found himself so much in danger as put upon him the necessity of forsaking the Kingdom Settling himself at Zurich a Town of Switzerland he acquaints himself with Bulliâ—ger a Scholar in those Times of great Name and Note and having staiâ—d there till the Death of King Henry he returned into England bringing with him some very strong Affections to the Nakendness of the Zuinglian or Helvetian Churches though differing in Opinion from them in some Points of Doctrine and more especially in that of Predestination In England by his constant Preaching and learned Writings he grew into great Favour and Esteem with the Earl of Warwick by whose procurement the King most Graciously bestowed upon him without any seeking of his own the Bishoprick of Glocester which was then newly void by the Death of Wakeman the last Abbot of 〈◊〉 and the first Bishop of that See Having received the King's Letters Patents for his Preferment to that Place he applies himself to the Arch-Bishop for his Consecration concerning which there grew a difference between them For the Arch-Bishop would not Consecrate him but in such an Habit which Bishops were required to wear by the Rules of the Church and Hooper would not take it upon such Conditions Repairing to his Patron the Earl of Warwick he obtains from him a Letter to the Arch-Bishop desiring a forbearance of those things in which the Lord Elect of Glocester did crave to be forborne at his hands implying also that it was the King's desire as well as his that such forbearance should be used It was desired also that he would not charge him with any Oath which seemed to be burthenous to his Conscience For the Elâ—ct Bishop as it seems had boggled also at the Oath of paying Canâ—nical Obedience to his Metropolitan which by the Laws then and still in force he was bound to take But the Arch-Bishop still persisting in the Denyal and being well seconded by Bishop Ridley of London who would by no meanes yield unto it the King himself was put upon the business by the Earl of VVarwick who thereupon wrote to the Arch-Bishop this ensuing Letter RIght-Reverend Father and Right-Trusty and VVell-Beloved VVe Greet you well VVhereas VVe by the Advice of Our Council have Calaen and Chosen Our Right-VVell-Beloved and VVell-VVorthy Mr. John Hooper Professour of Divinity to be Our Bishop of Glocester as well for his Great Learning Deep Judgment and Long Study both in the Scriptures and other Profound Learning as also for his Good Discretion Ready Vtterance and Honest Life for that kind of Vocation c. From Consecrating of whom VVe understand you do stay because he would have you omit and let pass certain Rights and Ceremonies offensive to his Conscience whereby you think you should fall in Praemunire of Our Laws VVe have thought Good by Advice afore-said to dispence and discharge you of all manner of Dangers Penalties and Forfeitures you should run into and be in in any manner of way by omitting any of the same And this Our Letters shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge therefore Given under Our Signet at Our Castle of Windsore the fifth day of August in the fourth year of Our Reign This Gracious Letter notwithstanding the two Bishops wisely taking into consideration of what Danger and Ill Consequence the Example was humbly craved leave not to obey the King against his Laws and the Earl finding little hope of prevailing in that suit which would not be granted to the King leaves the new Bishop to himself who still persisting in his Obstinacy and wilfull Humour was finally for his Disobedience and Contempt committed Prisoner and from the Prison writes his Letters to Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr for their Opinion in the Case From the last of which who had declared himself no friend to the English Ceremonies he might presume of some Encouragement but that he had any from the first I have no where found The contrary whereunto will appear by his Answer unto John à Lasco in the present Case whereof more anon In which condition of Affairs Calvin addresseth his Letters to the Lord Protectâ—ur whom he desireth to lend the man an helping hand and extricate him out of those Perplexities into which he was cast So that at last the Differences were thus compromised that is to say That Hooper should receive his Consecration attired in his Episcopal Robes that he should be dispensed withall from wearing it at ordinary times as his dayly Habit but that he should be bound to use it when soever he Preached before the King in his own Cathedral or any other place of like Publick Nature According to which Agreement being appointed to Preach before the King he shewed himself apparelled in his Bishop's Robes namely a long Scarlet Chimere reaching down to the ground for his upper Garment changed in Queen Elizabeth's Time to one of Black Satten and under that a white Linen Rochet with a Square Cap upon his head which Fox reproacheth by the name of a Popish Attire and makes to be a great cause of Shame and Contumeliâ— to that Godly man And possibly it might be thought so at that time by Hooper himself who from thenceforth carried a strong Grudg against Bishop Ridley the principal man as he conceived and that not untruly who had held him up so closely to such hard Conditions not fully reconciled unto him till they were both ready for the Stake and then it was high time to lay aside those Animosities which they had hereupon conceived on against another But these thingâ— happened not I mean his Consecration
great a Servitude Such were the Effects of Calvin's Interposings in behalf of Hooper and such the Effects of his Exceptions against some Antient Usages in the Publick Liturgie and such the Consequents of the Indulgence granted to John a Lasco and his Church of Strangers opposite both in Practice and point of Judgment to the established Rules and Orders of the Church of England For what did follow hereupon but a continual multiplying of Disorders in all Parts of this Church What from the Sitting at the Sacrament used and maintained by John a Lasco but first Irreverence in receiving and afterwards a Contempt and depâ—aving of it What from the crying down of the Sacred Vestments and the Grave Habit of the Clergy but first a Disesteem of the men themselves and by Degrees a Vilifying and Contempt of their Holy Ministery Nay such a pâ—ccancy of Humour began then manifestly to break out that it was Preached at Paul's Cross by one Sir Steven for so they commonly called such of the Clergy as were under the Degree of Doctour the Curate of Saint Katharine-Christ Church That it was fit the Names of Churches should be altered and the Names of the Days in the Week changed That Fâ—sh-days should be kept on any other days then on Fridays and Saturdays and the Lent at any other time except onely between Shroveâ—tide and Easter We are told also by John Stow that he had seen the said Sir Steven to leave the Pulpit and Preach to the People out of an high Elm which stood in the middest of the Church-Yard and that being done to return into the Church again and leaving the High Altar to sing the Câ—mmunion-Service upon a Tomb of the Dead with â—is Face toward the North. Which is to be Observed the rather because Sir Stephâ—n hath found so many Followers in these later Times For as some of the 〈◊〉 sort have left the Church to Preach in Woods and Barns c. and instead of the Names of the Old Days and Moneths can finde no other sâ—itle for them then the First Second or Third Moneth of the Year and the First Second or Third Day of the Week c. so was it propounded not long since by some State-Reformâ—rs That the Lentenâ—Fast should be kept no longer between Shrovetide and Ealster but rather by some Act or Ordinance to be made for that purpose bâ—â—wixt Easter and Whitsuntide To such wild Fancies do men grow when once they break those Bonds and neglect those Rules which wise Antiquity ordainâ—d for the preservation of Peace and Order If it be asked What in the mean time was become of the Bishops and Why no Care wâ—s tâ—ken for the purging of these Peccant Humours It may be Answered That the Wings of their Authority had bâ—en so clipped that it was scarce able to fly abâ—oad the Seâ—tâ—nce of Excommunication wherewith they formerly kept in Aw both Priest and People noâ— having been in Use and Practice since the first of this King Whether it were that any Command was lay'd upon the Bishops by which they were restrained from the Exercise of it Or that some other Course was in Agitation for drawing the Cognizance of all Ecclesiastical Causes to the Courts at Westminster Or that it was thought inconsistent with that Dreadful Sâ—ntence to be issued in the King's Name as it had lately been appointed by Act of Parliament it is not easie to determine Certain it is that at this Time it was in an Abeyaâ—ce as our Lawyers Phrase it either Abolishâ—d for the present or of none Effect not onely to the cherishing of these Disorders amongst the Ministers of the Church but to the great encrease of Vicâ—ousness in all sorts of Men. So that it was not without cause that it was called for so earnestly by Bishop Latimer in a Sermon Preached before the King where he thus presseth for the Restitution of the Antient Discipline Lechery saith he is used in England and such Lechery as is used in no other Part of the World And yet it is made a matter of Sport a matter of Nothing a Laughing matter a Trifle not to be Passed-on nor Reformed Well I trust it will be amended one day and I hope to see it mended as old as I am Ana here I will make a Suit to your Highness to restore unto the Church the Dâ—scipline of Christ in Excommunicating such as be notable Offenders Nor never devise any other Way for no man is able to devise any better then that God hath done with Excommunication to put them from the Congregation till they be conâ—ounded Therefore Restore Christ's Discipline for Excommunication and that shall be a mean both to pacifie Goâ—'s Wrath and Indignation and also that less Abomination shall be used then in Times past hath been or is at this day I speak this of a Conscience and I mean to move it of a Will to Your Grace and Your Realm Bring into the Church of England the Open Discipline of Excommunication that open Sinners may be striken with all Noâ— were these all the Mischiefs which the Church suffered at this Time Many of 〈◊〉 Nobility and Gentry whâ—ch held Abbey-Lands and were charged with Pensions to the Monks out of a covetous Design to be freed of those Pensions oâ— to discharge their Lands from those Incumbrances which by that means were laâ—'d upon them had placed them in such Benefices as were in their Gifts This fiâ—led the Church with ignorant and illiterate Priestâ— few of the Monks being Learned beyond their Mass-Book utterly unacquainted with the Art of Preaching and otherwise not well-affected to the Reformation Of which Abuse Complaint is made by Calvin to Arch-Bishop Cranmer and Pâ—ter Martyr much bemoaneth the miserable Condition of the Church for want of Preachers though he touch not at the Reasons and Causes of it For the remâ—dy whereof as Time and Leasure would permit it was Ordained by the Advice of the Loâ—ds of the Council That of the King's 〈◊〉 Chaâ—lains which attended in Ordinary two of them shâ—uld be always aboâ—t the Court and the other four should Travail in Preaching abroad The first year two in Wales and two in Lincolnshire the second year two in the Marches of Scotland and two in Yorkshire the third year two in Devonshire and two in Hampshire the fourth year two in Norfolk and two in Essex the fiâ—th year two in Kent and two in Sussex and so throughout all the Shires in England By which means it was hoped that the People might in time be well instructed in their Duty to God and their Obedience to the Laws in which they had not shewed themselves so forward as of right they ought But this Course being like to be long in running and subject to more Heats and Coâ—ds then the nature of the Business could well comport with the next caâ—e was to fiâ—l the Church with Abler and more Orthodox Clarks as the Cures fell void And for an Example to
was at the Heart the more Sorrowful appearance did he outwardly Make. Whither any tokens of Poyson did Appear reports are various Certainly his Physicians discerned an invincible Malignity in his disease and the Suspicion did the more encrease for that the Complaint proceded chiefly from the Lights a part as of no quickness so no seat for any sharp Disease The Bruit whereof being got amongst the People they break out into immoderate Passions Complaining that for this cause his two Uncles had been taken away that for this cause the most Faithful of his Nobility and of his Council were disgraced and removed from Court that this was the reason why such were placed next his Person who were most assuredly disposed either to commit or permit any Mischeif that now it did appear that it was not vainly conjectured some years before by Men of Judgment and Foresight that after Sommerset's Death the King should not long Enjoy his Life But the DVKE regarded not much the muttering Multitude knowing full well that Rumours grow Stale and Vanish with Time and yet somewhat to abate or Delay them for the present He caused speeches â—o be spread abroad that the KING began to be in a Recovery of his Health which was the more readily Beleived because most desired it to be true To which Report the General Jugdment of his Physicians gave no little Countenance by whom it was affirmed that they saw some hopes of his Recovery if he might be removed to a Better and more Healthful Air. But this DVKE Dudly did not like of and therefore he so dealt with the LORDS of the Council that they would by no means yield unto it upon pretense of his Inability to endure any such Remove And now the time being near at hand for the last Act of this Tragedy a certain Gentlewoman accounted a fit Instrument for the purpose offered her Service for the Cure giving no small assurance of it if He might be committed wholy to her disposing But from this Proposition the KING'S Physicians shewed themselves to be very averse in regard that as she could give no reason either of the nature of the Disease or of the part afflicted so she would not declare the means whereby she intended to work the Cure Whose Opposition notwithstanding it was in time resolved by the Lords of the Council that the Physicians should be discharged and the Ordering of the King's Person committed unto her alone But she had not kept Him long in hand when He was found to have fallen into such Desperate Extremity as manifestly might Declare that His Death was hastened under pretense of finding out a more quick way for restoring of His Health For now it visibly appeared that His Vital Parts were mortally stuffed Which brought Him to a difficulty of speech and breathing that His Legs swelled his Pulse failed and his Skin changed colour with many other horrid Symptoms of approching Death Which being observed the Physicians were again sent for when it was too late and sent for as they gave it out but for Fashion onely because it was not thought fit in Reason of State that a King should by without having some Physicians in attendance of him by some of which it was secretly whispered That neither their Advice nor Applications had been at all regarded in the course of his Sickness That the King had been ill dealt with more then once or twice and that when by the Benefit both of his Youth and of careful Means there were some fair hopes of his Recovery He was again more strongly Over-laied then ever And for a farther proof that some undue Practises had been used upon him it is Affirmed by a Writer of the Popish Party who could have no great cause to pity such a Calamitous End not onely that the Apothecary who poysoned him as well for the Horrour of the Offence as the Disquietness of his Conscience did not long after drown himself but that the Landress who washed his Shirts loâ—t the Skin of her fingers Againâ—t which general apprehensions of some ill Dealing toward this unfortunate Prince it can be no sufficient Argument if any Argument at all that Queen Mary caused no Enquiry to be made about it as some supposed She would have done if the suspicion had been raised upon any good Grounds For it may easily be Believed that She who afterwards admitted of a Consultation for Burning the Body of Her Father and cutting off the Head of Her Siâ—ter would not be over-Careful in the search and punâ—shment of those who had precipitated the Death of her Brother The differences which were between them in the point of Religion and the King's forwardness in the Cause of the Lady Jane His rendring Her uncapaable as much as in Him was to succeed in the Crown and leaving Her in the Estate of Illegitimation were thought to have enough in them of a Supersedeas unto all Good Nature So that the King might dye by such sinister Practises without putting Queen MARY to the trouble of enquiring after them who thought Her Self to have no Reason of being too sollicitous in searching out the secret Causes of His Death who had been so injurious to Her in the time of His Life A Life which lasted little and was full of trouble so that Death could not be unwelcome to Him when the hopes of His Recovery began to fail Him Of which if He desired a Restitution it was rather for the Church's sake then for His own His dying Prayers not so much aiming at the prolonging of His Life as the Continuance of Religion Not so much at the freeing of Himself from His Disease as the preserving of the Church from the danger of Popery Which dying Prayer as it was taken from His Mouth was in these words following Lord God deliver me out of this miserable and wretched life and take me among thy Chosen Howbeit not my Will but Thine be done Lord I commit my Spirit to Thee O Lord Thou knowest how happy it were for Me to be with Thee Yet for thy Chosen's sake send me Life and Health that I may truly se ve Thee Oh my Lord God! bless my People and save Thine Inheritance O Lord God save thy Chosen People of England Oh Lord God! defend this Realm from Papistry and maintain thy true Religion that I and my People may praise thy Holy Name for Jesus Christ his sake With this Prayer and other Holy Meditations He prepared that Pious Soul for God which He surrendred into the Hands of His Creatout on the sixth of July toward Night when He had lived fifteen Years eight Moneths and four and twenty Days Of which He had Reigned six Years five Moneths and eight Days over His Body kept a while at Greenwich was on the eight of August removed to Westminster and on the morrow after solemnly Interred amoâ—gst His Ancestours in the Abbey Church In the performance whereof the Lord Treasure Paulet with the Earls of
Execution â—ft-times happily supplyeth former Defects Recâ—llect Your selves then and so make use of Your Authority that the Princess Mary the undoubtedly Lawfully Heir may publickly be Proclaimed Queen of England c. No other way but this as the Case now stands to recover our lost Honours and preserve the State The Earl of Pembroke was a man altogether unlettered but so well skilled in humouring King Henry the Eighth that he had raised Himself to a great Estate for whâ—ch he could not but express some sense of Gratitude in doing good Offices for his Children And having formerly been suspected to have had too great a part in Northumberland's Counsels he conceâ—ved himself obliged to wipe off that Stain by declaring his Zeal and Resolution in the Cause of the Princess And therefore assoon as the Earl of Arundel had concluded his Speech he very chearfully professed that he approved and would subscribe the Proposition and therewithall laying his Hand upon his Sword he signifiâ—d his Readiness and Resolution to defend the Lady Marie's Cause against all Opponents The rest of the Lords encouraged by these good Examples and seeing nothing but apparent Danger on all sides if they did the contrary came to a speedy Conclusion with them and bound themselves to stand together in Defence of the late King's Sisters against all their Enemies Which being thus so generously and unanimously agreed upon a Messenger is presently dispatched to the Lord Mayour requiring him to repair to Baynara'â—-Castle within an hour and to bring with him the Recorder and such of the Aldermen of the City as to him seemed best Who being come accordingly at the time appointed their Lordships told them in few words as well their Resolution as their Reason of it and so desired their Company to Cheap-side-Cross to Proclaim Queen Mary Which said without any further Dispute about the Title they rode all together in good order through Saint Paul's-Church-Yard till they came to the Gate which openeth into the Street where they found such Multitudes and Throngs of People whom the Noise of such a Confluence at Baynard's-Castle and the going down of the Lord Mayour and Aldermen had drawn together that they could hardly force a Way through them to come to the Cross. But being come thither at the last though with much ado Sir Christopher Barker Knight of the Bath and Principal King at Arms Proclaimed by the Sound of Trumpet the Princess Mary Daughter of King Henry the Eighth and Queen Kaharine His Wife to be the Lawfull and Undoubted Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith adding thereto that Sacred Title of Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England which She retained till the beginning of the following Parliament and then rescinded all those Acts by which it had been formerly united to the Crown of this Realm The Proclamation being ended they went together in a Solemn Prâ—cession to Saint Pauâ—'s Church where they caused the Te Deum to be sung with the Rights accustomed and so dismissed the Assembly to their several dwellings Being returned to Baynard's-Castle the Earl of Arundel and the Lord Paget are presently dispatched to Framlingham with thirty Horse to give the Queen a Narrative of their whole Proceedings Some Companies are also sent to assure the Tower and to Command the Duke of Suffolk to discharge the Family and Attendants of the Lady Jane to signifie unto Her that She must lay aside the Name and Title of Queen and suffer Her Self to be reduced to the Rank of a private Person All which he readily obeyed as easily subject to Despair as before he had been swelled with Ambitious Hopes and the next day adjoyns himself to the rest of the Counâ—il subscribing amongst others to such Instructions as were to be dispatched to the Duke of Northumberland for the disbanding of his Forces and carâ—ying himself like an obedient and dutifull Subject as he ought to do But there was little need of this last Message and none at all of the other Foâ— the noise of these loud Acclamâ—â—ions which were made at the Proclaiming of the new Queen passing from one Street to another came at last to the Tower â—efore the Message had been sent to the Duke of Suffolk where they were heard by the â—ady Jane now no longer Queen with such Tranquility of Mâ—nd and Composedness of Countenance as if she had not been concerned in the Alteration She had before received the offer of the Crown with as even a Temper as if it had been nothing but a â—arland of Flowers and now She lays aside the thought thereof with as much contentedness as She could have thrown away that Garland when the sent was gone The time of her Glories was so short but a nine Days wonder that it seemâ—d nothing but a Dream out of which She was not sorry to be awakened The Tower had been to Her a Prison rather then a Court and interrupted the Delights of Her former Life by so many Terrours that no day passed without some new Alarms to disturb Her Quiet She doth now know the worst that Fortune can do unto Her And having always feared that there stood a Scaffold secretly behind the Throne She was as readily prepared to act her Part upon the one as upon the other If Sorrow and Affliction did at any time invade Her Thoughts it was rather in reference to Her Friends but most of all unto Her Husband who were to be involved in the Calamity of Her Misfortunes then upon any Apprehensions which She had for Her Self And hereunto the bringing in of so many Prisoners one day after another gave no small Encrease brought hither for no other Reason but because they had seemed forward in contributing towards Her Advancement In the middest of which Disconsolations the restoring of the Duke Her Father to his former Liberty gave some Repose unto Her Mind whose Sufferings were more grievous to Her then Her own Imprisonment And then to what a miserable Extremity must his Death have brought Her And though the Attainder and Death of the Duke of Northumberland â—hich followed very shortly after might tell Her in Effect what She was to trust to yet She was willing to distinguish betwixt his Case and Her own betwixt the Principal and the Accessaries in the Late Design In which Respect She gave Her self no improbable Hopeâ— thâ—â— possibly the like Mercies which was shewed to Her Father might possibly be extended unto others and amongst others to Her Husband as innocent as Her self from any open Practice against the Queen And who could tell but that it might descend on Her self at last whom no Ambition of Her own had tempted to the acceptation of that Dangerous Offer which She beheld as the greatest Errour of Her Life and the onely Stain of all â—er Actions But neither the Queen's Fears nor the publick Justice of the Land could so be satisfied It was held Treason to accept of a Kingdom
Injunctions Anno 1559. Not giving such a general satisfaction to that groundless cavil as was expected and intended the Bishops and Clergy in their Convocation of the year 1562. by the Queens authority and consent declared more plainly that is to say That they gave not to their Princess by vertue of the said Act or otherwise either the ministring of Gods word or Sacraments but that only Prerogâ—tive which they saw to have been given alwaies to all godly Princes in holy Scripture by God himself that is to say that they should 〈◊〉 all estates and degrees committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborne and evil doers By all which if the cavils of the Adversary be not fully answered it would be known upon what reason they should question that in a soverain Queen which they allow in many cases to a Lady Abbess For that an Abbess may be capable of all and all manner of Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction even to the dâ—nouncing of that dreadful sentence of Excommunication and that thâ—y may lawfully exercise the same upon all such as live within the verge of their authority is commonly acknowledged by their greatest Canonists First for suspension it is affirmed by their Glosse that an Abbess may suspend such Clerks as are subject to her both from their Benefice and Office And questionless either to suspend a Clerk or to bring his Church under the sentence of an Interdict is one of the chief parts of Ecclesiastical or spiritual Censures Nor have they this authority only by way of delegation from the Pope in some certain cases as is affirmed by Aquinas Durandus ' Sylvâ—ster Dominicus Soto and many other of their Schoolmen but in an ordinary way as properly and personally invested them which is the general opinion of their greatest Canonists Next for the Sacraments it is sufficiently known that the ministration of Baptism is performed by Midwives and many other women as of common course not only as a thing connived at in extreme necessity but as a necessary duty in which they are to be instructed against all emergencies by their Parish Priests for which we have the testimony of the late Lord Legate in the Articles published by him for his visitation And finally for excommunication it is affirmed by Palladanus and Navarre none of the meanest in the Pack that the Pope may grant that power to a woman also higher than which there can be none exercised in the Church by the sons of men And if a Pope may grant these powers unto a woman as to a Prioress or Abbess or to any other there can be then no incapacity in the Sex for exersing any part of that jurisdiction which was restored unto the Crown by this Act of Parliament And if perhaps it be objected that a Lady Abbess is an Ecclesiastical or spiritual person in regard of her office which cannot be affirmed of Queens Pope Gregory himself will come in to help us by whom it was not thought unfit to commit the cognisance of a cause concerning the purgation of a Bishop who stood charged with some grievous crime to Brunichildis or Brunholi Queen of France of which although the Gloss upon the Decretals be pleased to say That the Pope stretched his power too far in this particular yet Gregory did no more therein but what the Popes may do and have done of late times by their own confession so little ground there is for so great a clamour as hath been made by Bellarmine and other of the Popish Jesuites upon this occasion Now for the better exercising and enjoying of the jurisdiction thus recognised unto the Crown there are two Clauses in the Act of great importance the first whereof contains an Oath for the acknowledgment and defence of this Supremacy not onely in the Queen but her heirs and successors the said Oath to be taken by all Archbishops Bishops and all other Ecclesiastical persons and also by all temporal Judges Justiciaries Mayors or any other temporal Officers c. For the refusal whereof when lawfully tendred to them by such as were thereto commissionated under the great Seal of England every such person so refusing was actually to stand deprived of his or their Eâ—clesiastical Preferments or other temporal office of what sort soever onely it was provided that the Oath should not be imposed on any of the temporal Peers of whose fidelity the Queen seemed willing to assure her self without any such tye though this exemption was esteemed by others but a piece of cunning the better to facilitate the passing of that Act amongst them which otherwise they might have hindred But this provision was not made till the following Parliament though for the reason before mentioned it was promised now By the last Clause it was enacted That it should and might be lawful to the Queen her heirs and Successors by Letters Patents under the great Seal of England to assigne name and authorise when and as often as her Highness her Heirs or Successors should think convenient such persons being natural born Subjects to them to exercise use and occupie under her Highness her Heirs and Successors all manner of Jurisdictions Privileges and Preheminences in any wise touching or concerning any Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction within the Realms of England and Ireland or any other her Highness Dominions or Countries and to visit reform repress order correct and amend all such errors heresies schisms abuses offences contempts and enormities whatsoever which by any manner of Spiritual or Ecclesiastical Power Authority or Jurisdiction or can or may lawfully be reformed ordered redressed corrected restrained or amended to the pleasure of Almighty God the increase of vertue and conservation of the peace and unity of this Realm With a Proviso notwithstanding that nothing should from thenceforth be accounted for Heresie but what was so adjudged in the holy Scripture or in one of the four first General Councils or in any other National or Provincial Council determining according to the word of God or finally which should be so adjudged in the time to come by the Court of Parliament first having the assent of the Bishops and Clergy in their Convocation This was the first foundation of that famous Court of High Commission the principal Bulwark and Preservative of the Church of England against the practices and assaults of all her Adversaries whether Popish or Puritan And from hence issued that Commission by which the Queens Ministers proceeded in their Visitation in the first year of her Reign for rectifying all such things as they found amiss and could not be redressed by any ordinary Episcopal power without the spending of more time than the exigencies of the Church could then admit of There also past another Act for recommending and imposing the Book of Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments according to such alterations and corrections as were made therein by those
the 9th the second brother and next heir to the King deceased Katherine de Medices the Relict of Henry the 2d and the Mother of Charls layes claim to the Regency for who could have a greater care either of the young Kings person or estate than his natural Mother But against her aâ— being a meer stranger to the Nation and affairs of France Anthony of Burboâ— Duke of Vendosme by descent and King of Navarr at the least in Title in the Right of Joan d' Albret his wife the sole Heir of that Crown layes his claim unto it as being the first Prince of the blood and therefore fitter to be trusted with the Regency by the rules of that government The Guisian faction joyn themselves to that of the Queen of whom they better knew how to make advantage than they could of the other and to that end endeavour by all subtil artifices to invest her in it To this end they insinuate themselves into the Duke perswade him either to relinquish his demands of the Regency or to associate himself with the Queen-Mother in the publick government and to joyn counsels with the Catholick party for suppressing the Hâ—gonots Which that they might allure him to or at least take him off from his first persute they offered to procure a Divorce from his present wife and that instead of holding the Kingdom of Navarr in Right of his wife he should hold it in his own personal capacity by a grant from the Pope his wife being first deprived of it by his Holiness as suspected of Lutheranism that being divorced from his wife he should marry Mary Queen of the Scots with whom he should not only have the Kingdom of Scotland but of England also of which Elizabeth was to be deprived on the same account that for the recovery of that Kingdom he should not only have the Popes authority and the power of France but also the forces of the King of Spain and finally that the Catholick King did so much study his contentment that if he would relinquish his pretensions to the Crown of Navarr he should be gratified by him with the soverainty and actual possession of the Isle of Sardinia of which he should receive the Crown with all due solemnities By which temptations when they had render'd him suspected to the Protestant party and thereby setled the Queen-Mother in that place and power which so industriously she aspired to they laid him by as to the Title permitting him to live by the air of hope for the short time of his life which ended on the 17th of November Anno 1562. And so much of the game was plaid in earnest that the Dâ—ke of Guise did mainly labour with the Pope to fulminate his Excommunications against Elizabeth as one that had renounced his authority apostated from the Catholick Religion and utterly exterminated the profession of it out of her Dominions But the Duke sped no better in this negotiation than the Count of Feria did before The Pope had still retained some hope of regaining England and meant to leave no way unpractised by which he might obtain the point he aimed at When first the See was vacant by the death of Pope Paul the 4th the Cardinals assembled in the Conclave bound themselves by oath that for the better setling of the broken and distracted estate of Christendome the Council formerly held at Trent should be resumed withall convenient speed that might be Which being too fresh in memory to be forgotten and of too great importance to be laid aside the new Pope had no sooner setled his affairs in Rome which had been much disordered by the harshness and temerity of his predecessor but he resolved to put the same in execution For this cause he consults with some of the more moderate and judicious Cardinals and by his resolution and dexterity surmounts all difficulties which shewed themselves in the design and he resolved not only to call the Council but that it should be held in 〈◊〉 to which it had been formerly called by Pope Paul the 3d. 1545. that it should rather be a continuance of the former Council which had been interrupted by the prosecution of the wars in Germany than the beginning of a new and that he would invite unto it all Christian Princes his dear daughter Queen Elizabeth of England amongst the rest And on these terms he stood when he was importuned by the Ministers of the Duke of Gvise to proceed against her to a sentence of Excommunication and thereby to expose her Kingdoms to the next Invader But the Pope was constantly resolved on his first intention of treating with her after a fair and amicable manner professing a readiness to comply with her in all reciprocal offices of respect and friendship and consequently inviting her amongst other Princes to the following Council to which if she should please to send her Bishops or be present in the same by her Ambassadors he doubted not of giving them such satisfaction as might set him in a fair way to obtain his ends Leaving the Pope in this good humour we shall go for England where we shall find the Prelates at the same imployment in which we left them the last year that is to say with setting forth the Consecrations of such new Bishops as served to fill up all the rest of the vacant Sees The first of which was Robert Horn Dr. in Divinity once Dean of Durham but better known by holding up the English Liturgy and such a form of Discipline as the times would bear against the schismaticks of Franckfort preferred unto the See of Winchester and consecrated Bishop in due form of Law on the 16th of February Of which we shall speak more hereafter on another occasion On which day also Mr. Edmond Scambler Batchelor of Divinity and one of the Prebendaries of the new Collegiat Church of St. Peter in Westminster was consecrated Bishop of the Church of Peterborough During the vacancy whereof and in the time of his incumbency Sir William Caecil principal Secretary of Estate possess'd himself of the best Mannors in the Soake which belonged unto it and for his readiness to confirm the same Mannors to him preferred him to the See of Norwich Anno 1584. Next followes the translation of Dr. Thomas Young Bishop of St. Davids to the See of York which was done upon the 25th of February in an unlucky hour to that City as it also proved For scarce was he setled in that See when he pulled down the goodly Hall and the greatest part of the Episcopal Palace in the City of York which had been built with so much care and cost by Thomas the elder one of his predecessors there in the year of our Lord 1090. Whether it were for covetousness to make money of the materials of it or out of fordidness to avoid the charge of Hospitality in that populous City let them guess that will Succeeded in the See of St. David's by Davis
holy Sacraments and partly for the Apparel of all persons Ecclesiastical by vertue of the Queens Majesties Letters commanding the same the 15th day of January c. And that they might be known to have the stamp of Royal Authority a Preface was prefixed before them in which it was expressed That the Queen had called to her remembrance how necessary it was for the advancement of God's glory c. for all her loving subjects of the state Ecclesiastical not onely to be knit together in the bonds of Uniformity touching the ministration of Gods Word and Sacraments but also to be of one decent behaviour of outward aparel that by their distinct habits they might be known to be of that holy vocation whereby the greater reverence might beâ— given unto them in their several Offices that thereupon she had required the Metropolitan by her special Letters that upon conference had with such other Bishops as were authorised by her Commission for causes Ecclesiastical some order might be took whereby all diversities and varieties in the premises might be taken away And finally that in obedience unto her commands the said Metropolitan and the rest there named had agreed upon the Rules and Orders ensuing which were by her thought meet to be used and followed Now in these Articles or Advertisements it was particularly enjoyned amongst other things That all Archbishops and Bishops should continue their accustomed Aparel that all Deans of Cathedral Churches Masters of Colleges all Archdeacons and other dignitaries in Cathedral Churches Doctors Batchelors of Divinity and Law having any Ecclesiastical Living should wear in their common apparel abroad a side Gown with sleeves streight at the hand without any cuts in the same and that also without any falling cape and to wear tippets of â—arsnet as was lawful for them by Act of Parliament 24 Hen. 8. That all Doctors of Physick or any other faculty having any Living Ecclesiastical or any other that may dispend by the Church 100 Marks he to be esteemed by the fruits or tenths of their Promotions or all Prebendaries whose promotions are vallued at 20 l. and upward to wear the like habit that they or all Ecclesiastical persons or other having any Ecclesiastical Living do wear the cap appointed by the Injunctions and no hats but in their journeyings that they in their journeys do wear the cloaks with sleeves put on and like in fashion to their Gowns without gards welts or cuts that in their private houses or studies they use their own liberty of comely apparel that all inferiour Ecclesiastical persons shall wear long gowns of the fashion aforesaid and caps as before is described that all poor Parsons Vicars and Curaâ—s do endeavour themselves to conform their aparel in like sort so soon and as conveniently as their abilities will serve for the same provided that their ability be judged by the Bishop of the Diocess and if their ability will not suffer them to buy them long gowns of the form aforesaid prescribed that then they shall wear their short gowns as before expressed that all such peâ—â—ons as have been or be Ecclesiastical and serve not the Ministry or have not accepted or shall refuse to accept the Oath of obedience to the Queens Majesty do from henceforth wear none of the said aparel but to go as meer lay-men till they be reconciled to obedience and who shall obstinately refuse to do the same be presented by the Ordinary to the Commissioners for causes Ecclesiastical and by them to be reformed accordingly But this belongs more properly to the year next following To return therefore where we left the next considerable action which followed on the Queens reception at Cambridge but more considerable in the consequents than in the act it self was the preferring of Sir Robert Dudley the second son then living to the Duke of Northumberland to the Titles of Lord Denbigh and Earl of Leicester which honour she conferred on him on Michaelmas day with all the Pomps and ceremonies thereunto accustomed She had before elected him into the Order of the Garter made him the Master of her Horse and Chancellor of the University of Oxon suffered him to carry a great sway in all affairs both of Court and Council and given unto him the fair Mannor of Denbigh being conceived to be one of the goodliest Territories in England as having more Gentlemen of quality which owes sure and service thereunto than any other whatsoever in the hands of a subject And now she adds unto these honors the goodly Castle and Mannor of Kenelworth part of the patrimony and possession of the Dutchy of Lancaster Advanced unto which heighth he ingrossed unto himself the disposings of all Offices in Court and State and of all preferments in the Church proving in fine so unappeasable in his malice and unsatiable in his lusts so sacrilegious in his rapines so false in promises and trecheâ—ous in point of trust and finally so destructive of the rights and properties of particular persons that his little finger lay far heavier on the English subjects than the loins of all the Favorites of the two last Kings And that his monstrous vices most insupportable in any other than himself might either be connived at or not complained of he cloaks them with a seeming zeal to the true Religion and made himself the head of the Pâ—ritan faction who spared no pains in setting forth his praises upon all occasions making themselves the Tromparts to this Bragadocio Nor was he wanting to caresse them after such a manner as he found most agreeable to those holy hypocrites using no other language in his speech and letters than pure-scripture phrase in which he was become as dextrous as if he had received the same inspirations with the sacred Pen-men Of whom I had not spoke so much but that he seemed to have been born for the destruction of the Church of England as may appear further in the prosecution of the Presbyterian or Puritan History whensoever any able Pen shall be exercised in it But leaving this Court-Meteor to be gazed on by unknowing men let us aâ—tend the Obsequies of the Emperor Ferdinand who died on the 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 in the year now being leaving the Empire and the rest of his Dominions to Mâ—xâ—milian his eldest son whom he had before made King of the Râ—mans A Pâ—ince he was who had deserved exceeding well of the Queen of England and she resolved not to be wanting to the due acknowledgment of so great a merit the after-noon of the second day of October and the fore-noon of the third are set apart by her command for this great solemnity for which there was erected in the upper part of the Quire of the said Church a goodly Heâ—se richly garnished and set forth all the Quire being hanged with black cloth adorned with rich Scutcheons of his Arms of sundry sorts At the solemnization of which Funeral there were twelve Mourners and one that presented the Queens
following they were dismist with many rich Presents and an annual pension from the Queen conducted honourably by the Lord Aburgavenny to the Port of Dover and there shipped for Calais filling all places in the way betwixt that and Baden with the report of the magnificence of their entertainment in the Court of England And that the Glories of their entertainment might appear the greater it hapned that Rambouillet a French Ambassador came hither at that time upon two solemnities that is to say to be installed Knight of the Garter in the place and person of that King and to present the Order of St Michael the principal Order of that Kingdom to Thomas Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Leicester The one performed with the accustomed Pomps and Ceremonies in the Chapel of St George at Windsor the other with like State and splendour in the Royal Chapel at Whitehall Such a well tempered piety did at that time appear in the Devotions of the Church of England that generally the English Papists and the Ambassadors of forein Princes still resorted to them But true it is that at that time some zealots of the Church of Rome had begun to slacken their attendance not out of any new dislike which they took at the service but in regard of a Decree set forth in the Council of â—rent prohibiting all resort to the Churches of Hereticks Which notwithstanding the far greater part continued in their first obedience till the coming over of that Roaring Bull from Pope Pius the 5th by which the Queen was excommunicated the subjects discharged from their obedience to the Laws and the going or not going to the Church made a sign distinctive to difference a Roman Catholick from an English Protestant And it is possible enough that they might have stood much longer to their first conformity if the discords brought into the Church by the Zuinglian faction together with their many innovations both in Doctrine and Discipline had not afforded them some further ground for the desertion For in this year it was that the Zuinglian or Calvinian faction began to be first known by the name of Puritans if Genebrard Gualier and Spondanus being all of them right good Chronologers be not mistaken in the time Which name hath ever since been appropriate to them because of their pretending to a greater Purity in the service of God than was held forth unto them as they gave it out in the Common Prayer Book and to a greater opposition to the Rites and Usages of the Church of Rome than was agreeable to the constitution of the Church of England But this Purity was accompanied with such irreverence this opposition drew along with it so much licenciousnesse as gave great scandal and offence to all sober men so that it was high time for those which had the care of the Church to look narrowly unto them to give a check to those disorders and confusions which by their practices and their preachings they had brought into it and thereby laid the ground of that woful schism which soon after followed And for a check to those disorders they published the Advertisement before remembred subscribed by the Archbishop of Canâ—erbury the Bishops of London Winchester Ely Lincoln Rochester and other of her Majesties Commissioners for Causes Ecclesiastical according to the Statute made in that behalf This was the only present remedy which could then be thought of And to prevent the like confusions for the time to come a Protestation was devised to be taken by all Parsons Vicars and Curates in their several stations by which they were required to declare and promise That they would not preach not publickly interpret but only read that which is appointed by publick authority without special Licence of the Bishop under his Seal that they would read the Service plainly distinctly and audibly that all the people might hear and understand that they would keep the Register book according to the Queens Majesties Injunctions that they would use sobriety in apparel and especially in the Church at Common Prayers according to Order appointed that they would move the Parishioners to quiet and concord and not give them cause of offence and help to reconcile them that be at variance to their utmost power that they would read dayly at the least one Chapter of the Old Testament and another of the New with good advisement to the increase of their knowledge that they would in their own persons use and exercise their Office and Place to the honour of God and the quiet of the Queens subjects within their charge in truth concord and unity as also observe keep and maintain such Order and Uniformity in all external Policy Rites and Ceremonies of the Church as by the Lawes good usages and Orders are already well provided and established and finally that they would not openly meddle with any Artificers occupations as covetously to seek a gain thereby having in Ecclesiastical Livings twenty Nobles or above by the year Which protestation if it either had been generally pressed upon all the Clergy as perhaps it was not or better kept by them that took it the Church might questionlesse have been saved from those distractions which by the Puritan Innovators were occasioned in it Anno Reg. Eliz. 8. A. D. 1565 1566. THus have we seen the publick Liturgy confirmed in Parliament with divers penalties on all those who either did reproach it or neglect to use it or wilfully withdrew their attendance from it the Doctrine of the Church declared in the Book of Articles agreed upon in Convocation and ratified in due form of Law by the Queens authority external matters in officiating Gods publick service and the apparel of the Clergy regulated and reduced to their first condition by the Books of Orders and Advertisements Nothing remaineth but that we settle the Episcopal Government and then it will be time to conclude this History And for the setling of this Government by as good authority as could be given unto it by the Lawes of the Land we aâ—e beholden to the obstinacy of Dr Edmond Bonner the late great slaughter-man of London By a Statute made in the last Parliament for keeping her Majesties Subjects in their due obedience a power was given unto the Bishops to tender and receive the oath of Supremacy of all manner of persons dwelling and residing in their several Diocesses Bonner was then prisoner in the Clink or Marshalsea which being in the Burrough of Southwark brought him within the Jurisdiction of Horn Bishop of Winchester by whose Chancellor the Oath was tender'd to him On the refusal of which Oath he is endicted at the Kings Bench upon the Statute to which he appeared in some Term of the year foregoing and desires that counsel be assigned to plead his cause according to the course of the Court The Court assigns him no worse men than Christopher Wâ—ay afterwards chief Justice of the Common Pleas that famous Lawyer Edmond