Reputation of C. Campeggio that I call'd Rodulphus Bastard since I quote the very Discourse wherein he is so called which was Compos'd by Sr. William Thomas Secretary to the Privy Council under the Title of The English Pilgrim I had the misfortune not to have seen the Life that was written by Sigonius so that it is only a fault of Omission which the Author would aggravate into a malicious Invention And I make this acknowledgment of my Error so much the more frankly because it is the only mistake among all the rest of which the Author accuses me that is well grounded II. M. Le Grand labours to destroy the Authority of the Decision of the Sorbonn in favour of Henry But in regard this Decision was printed the Year following and acknowledged for true and real since no person in those times taxes it of being counterfeited we have no reason now to suspect it for neither does Cardinal Poole who was then at Paris when it was made nor any other writer of the Roman Communion tax the King of Imposture upon that occasion Add to this that the Bishop of Tarbes being continued to sollicit in Henry's behalf at the Court of Rome after he was made Cardinal and that the King had publickly acknowledged before the Legates how privy that Prelate had been to his Scruples conceived upon his Marriage has given an undeniable Confirmation of this matter whatever our Author says to the contrary The same thing is to be said of the Sorbonn for that never having been charged with falshood in the particular of this Decision there is no question but that they made it So that all M. Le Grana's Arguments can never prove any thing more than only that it has occasioned great Disputes and that Beda was a real promoter of Sedition By the way we may observe that the Ecclesiasticks of France were very ill satisfied with the Conduct of Francis the First who had sold their Liberties by the Concordate of which the University of Paris was so sensible and for that reason full of Male contents And therefore it might be perhaps that so many of the French Clergy were so ill affected to Henry's Cause because they knew that Francis the first so passionately supported his Interests After all the Author confesses That he found in the scrutiny Fifty three voices for the Divorce and Forty two against it and Five that were of Opinion that the matter should be referr'd to the Pope And this is sufficient to justisie the printed Decision which only says That the greatest number of Doctors were for the Divorce and declared the Marriage illegal which may serve for an Explanation of the words of the Letter of the first President That that same Declaration would do the King more hurt than it would advance his Affairs In regard all the other Universities had judged in his Favour whereas the Opinion of the Sorbonn favour'd him only by the plurality of voices III. The Author who pretends to publish an Extract of the Reasons which the Favourers of Henry alledged against his Marriage has forgot the Principal and that which supported all the decisions of the Romish Church that is to say That the Scripture explained by Tradition is the Rule according to which all Controversies are to be determined They alledged a perpetual succession of Provincial and general Councils of Popes and the Chief of the Greek and Latin Fathers particularly the Four most famous Fathers of the Western Church whereas the Imperialists had neither Father nor Doctor on their side Nevertheless the Author says no more but that the English quoted the Canons of some Provincial Councils concerning Incontinency with certain passages out of Tertullian St. Basil and St. Jerom about Virginity and against second Nuptials I am sure the Reader must here take notice That there is something wanting in this Relation which is more essential to an honest Man than a great stock of Capacity For the Canons of Councils and the Passages out of the Fathers which they quoted speak expresly of the Degrees of Marriage forbidden in Leviticus He names Three Popes whose Letters they produced but he passes over in silence the Chief in reference to England who was Gregory the Great For the Saxons being converted at what time he held the See this Pope gave express Order to Austin the Monk to disannul all Marriages that had been contracted with Brothers Wives Now England having submitted to this Law upon its first embracing Christianity they who defended the Kings scruples looked upon this as the Principal Foundation of his Cause So that if M. Le Grand would have acquired the Reputation of a sincere Historian he ought to have mentioned this Particular Moreover he should not have passed over in silence as he does all that was alledged against the Power which the Popes assume to themselves of dispensing with all Ecclesiastical and every the Divine Laws themselves Nor ought he to have forgot that other great Reason urged by the King that according to the Canons of the Council of Nice the determination of that matter belonged of right to the English Church and not to the Pope If the Author be a True Member of the Gallican Church he ought to grant these Maximes and if he would be thought a Faithful Historian he ought not to pass them over in silence But though he do not set down all the Kings Reasons he adds several New Reasons to the Queens pleading which her Advocates never dream'd of and we do not meet with in any Story or Relation of that time They all tend to prove that the Rules touching the degrees of Consanguinity have not been always observed in Marriages with the same Exactness But the Church is governed by Rules and not by Examples As for the Law of Deuteronomy which permitts a Man to Marry his Sister-in-Law if her Husband died without Children it has been always considered in the Christian Church as an Exception to the General Rule so that in regard it was only made in favour of the Jews and with reference to their Right of Succession it was abolish'd together with their Republick whereas the Laws of Leviticus concerning this Matter are to be look'd upon as Laws that are Moral and Universally received In a word if you will take the pains to compare the Books that have been written upon this Subject with the Extracts which M. Le Grand and my self have given of them you will presently find that he writes with no Sincerity at all who descends to a Nicety For my part I shall not Envy him the High Opinion he has of his so long as Men will but acknowledge me to have writ sincerely and without the Byass of Interest IV. Our Author says that the Parliament abolish'd the Oath which the Bishops swore to the Pope at the time of their Consecration and form'd another which they were to swear to the King But this is not that which he calls understanding
says nothing of what the Pope promised Cardinal Tournon That for Forms Sake he should be obliged to observe some Formalities of Action to the End he might not shew himself too partial to the King of England in favour of whom he was resolved to do what lay in his Power for the Love of you said the Prelate writing to the King of France And a little after I think I am well assured that our Holy Father will comply with you touching the Request which you have made him in Behalf of your said Brother Henry VIII In a Letter of the Seventeenth of August 1533. The same Cardinal writes to Francis I. That the greatest Party of the Cardinals that were of the Imperial Faction would have been mad with the Pope had he not done what he did in regard there was but little likelyhood that the King would submit his Cause and that the Pope might have some honourable Pretence to act for him he would do it with as good a Will as was possible And it may be adds this Minister when you meet together he speaks of the Interview that was to be at Marseilles there will be found out Expedients It appears also by another Letter that Francis I. told the English Embassador That the Pope himself had confessed that King Henry 's Cause was just and that he wanted nothing but a Procuration Therefore it was that when the King was cited to appear at Rome in Person or by a Proctor he took little Notice of it That if Carn were sent beyond the Mountains in the Quality of an Excuser it was seen by those Mixtures that it was not in the Name of the King but in the Nation 's Behalf that he went to make those kind of Excuses This Refusal of Henry being look'd upon at Rome as an effect of Contempt which he had of the Holy See the Pope promised him the Divorce if he would but appear in that City either in Person or by his Proctor in pursuance of the Assignation which he had caused to be given him and acknowledge his Authority Francis the First applauded the King's Conduct in that Affair and was so far from endeavouring to oppose his Marriage that he ordered his Embassador to be God-Father in his Name to the Child that should be born in case it were a Son The French Embassador at Rome about that time wrote also several Letters to his Master's Court where he observes That the Pope was very ready to do what was desired in the King of England 's behalf and more if he durst or could but that the Emperors People pressed the Affair with so much Importunity that the half of the time His Holiness against God and against Reason nay contrary to the Opinion of a good part of the Imperial Cardinals was constrained above half the time to act at the pleasure of M. Dosme We wanted you there to have put a spoak in his Wheel pursues he writing to the Cardinal of Grandemont There is no Man that dares tell him the Truth And it is as true that this Embassador who was Bishop of Auxerres said also speaking to the Pope That he saw him so pressed by the Emperor his People and the greatest part of the Cardinals that he thought he could do no good but only by Dissimulation But indeed these cunning Politicians understand so well how to change their Stile according to Occurrences that there 's hardly any trust to be given to their Letters The same Day that he wrote what we have cited to the Pope's Legate in another Letter to the Grand Master he observes that the Pope had told him that for Four Years the Business of Henry VIII had been in his Hands that there was nothing effected as yet that if he might do what he would he would do what we would and says the Minister This he told me in such a manner that if I am not deceived he thought what he spoke All those Letters were dated the 17. of Feb. 1532. But in another of the 13. of Jan. following he assures that the Pope had told him That he was resolved to referr the whole Business to a good Time and that he clearly understood what the Pope meant by a good Time To which he adds that if the Matter had been judged according to the Wishes of the Cardinals and the eager Instances of the Emperor's People the most ancient and learned had judged for the King of England But that there were but few of that Company and the number of the other was so great that by plurality of voices the English would have utterly lost it M. Le Grand is very nice and tender when he comes to that Circumstance that there arriv'd a Courrier from England to Rome a day or two after Sentence was given and he omits the hast in which it was pronounced as if he knew nothing of it Nevertheless we find in these Miscellanies a Letter from Pomponio Trivulci dated from Lyons the 16. of April where he observes that M. de Paris passing that way upon his return from Rome told him that the definitive Sentence which the Pope had given against the King of England had been precipitated That it was not the Pope's fault that they did not temporize longer that if they had staid but Six Days more before they had pronounced it the King would have submitted to the Holy See But that the Importunity of the Imperalists and the Consistory was so great that they would not stay That the next Day after the Resolution of England came too late but that then the Consistory and the Imperalists were mad that they staid no longer All these passages plainly shew that the Court of Rome was governed in this Affair only by the prospects and maxims of Policy And therefore it is that according to the Principles of the Gallican Church M. Talon has maintained with so much Zeal upon an occasion of much less importance that the King of England had no reason to have any regard to the Sentences and Thundrings of that Court. If I am extreamly obliged to M. Le Grand for having made me a present of so good a Book in which he furnish'd me with so many proofs of the most important Points of my History I am no less troubled that he had so little value for himself as to suppress them and for his having forced me as I may so say to make use of the kindness he has done me to his own disadvantage But upon such occasions as these the saying is Magis amica veritas And though M. Le Grand imagines that I am jealous of my Productions were not the Interests of Religion intermixed therewith I could easily abandon mine But I will not now push this censure any farther neither do I know whether I shall write any more upon this Subject not being able to determine any thing in that matter till I have seen the Three other parts of this work and the effects it will produce in the World I shall conclude with humble request to pardon the Liberty which I take of addressing this Letter to you and that in so publick a manner not believing a man could otherwise so properly give a censure upon a printed Book I am Sir c. Hague 20. of June FINIS
that small measure of Knowledge and Capacity which come to my just share especially now that I have to do with a person of so mean a Talent as M. Le Grand appears to be by this same Treatise of his I could only wish that they who would be better inform'd of the truth of that celebrated Passage of the History which is the Subject of our Dispute would give themselves the trouble to read what Sanders and my self have written and then peruse the History of M. Le Grand I am assur'd they will conclude That there must be some fault in the Title Page where he promises the Defence of Sanders and the Refutation of the Two first Books of my History The whole substance of his Work agrees altogether with mine unless it be in some parts where he shews that great Art of his wherein I yield him willingly to out-do me In all things else he so perfectly concurrs with me that I am tempted to believe He only took his Pen in hand to fulfil those Offers which he made me in your Presence to furnish me with Memoirs sufficient for the Confirmation of what I have wrote upon this Subject True it is I have not read any more as yet than the First Part of his Book nor can I imagine how he can justifie Sanders whom he has abandon'd during the whole course of his History He forsakes him in the whole History of Ann of Boloigne and in all the progresses of the Story that depends upon it though it be the chief Head of Sanders's Accusation and which he presses most vigorously as being a Nullity in the Title of Queen Elizabeth and consequently an Original pretence for Rebellion He acknowledges also the Decretal Bull nor does he insist upon the Carriage of Sr. Thomas Moore In a word if you examine the Fourscore Faults of which I have accus'd Sanders in my Additions you will find that M. Le Grand has confessed above Seventy and confirms what I have maintained in opposition to him Which will most evidently appear if his work shall ever be thought worthy a larger Examination I say nothing of his Stile for that his Readers without much consideration or study will easily find it to be the Stile rather of an Advocate that pleads a Cause than of a person disinterested that cordially and barely relates matter of Fact For to argue with heat and passion and reproach his Adversaries are unpardonable faults in an Historian Besides that there is something so sacred in the very Ashes of Kings that they are never to be spok'n of but with great Caution and if at any time there be an unavoidable occasion to blame some of their Actions softer Terms are to be made use of than those of Lye and Imposture Add to this that the principal Point and upon which the whole Question moves being Whether the King 's own Cause ought not rather to be judged in England and by his Clergy than at Rome and in the Consistory that Man can never be thought to act conformably to the Gallican Church who takes part with the Pope upon this occasion It is rather to be wondered at that at a time when there is so little respect given at Versailles to the Vatican Thunder and where the ancient Custom is renewed of appealing from the Pope to the General Council I say it is a wonder at such a time as this a Subject of this nature should not be handled with more freedom and sincerity Perhaps this is one of the little Tricks of those sort of People which M. Talon has more frankly described than I have a design to do who make hideous portraictures of the Actions of Henry VIII to observe the glory of those of Lewis the Great And perhaps our Author is neither so great a Politician nor so well knowing in Affairs as to have such distant prospects in his Eyes or else this work being his first Essay he did not study the Point with that Application which was requisite believing that trouble to no purpose while he has to do with a person that gives no better proofs of his Understanding than my self I shall therefore insist only upon six of his principal Errors which are nothing to the great number of mistakes which he has committed and which I could easily make appear had I the Liberty to enlarge my self in a writing that must be inserted into the Vniversal Library I. He calls in question the Contents of the Decretal Bull which Cardinal Campeggio brought upon this Ground That having been only shewn to the King and Cardinal Woelsey no Body can tell what it was and if it had been a definitive Sentence in that matter the Legates Commission had been at an end and the King would have contracted his Second Marriage as formerly Lewis the XII did without expecting any other proceedings Had Monsieur Le Grand given himself the trouble to read that Bull which I have published he might have spar'd himself so many useless Remarks The Bull was contriv'd in England and sent to Rome where though some few Alterations were made it appeared nevertheless by all the Letters that were written reciprocally from Rome and England that the Bull which was given to Compeggio was in substance the same Certain it is that Bull declared the King's Pretences to be just gave power to the Legates to examine the Truth of them and to pronounce Sentence upon the proofs that should be made before them For though this Bull implied a definitive Sentence of the Pope upon a supposition of the Validity of the King's Pretensions nevertheless it left many things for the Legates to do They were to inform themselves 1. Whether the King had not desired this Marriage himself 2. Whether it would not occasion a War between Spain and England should a Dispensation be granted 3. Whether this Dispensation had been annull'd by the Protestation which the King made against the Marriage when he came to be of Age. 4. Whether any of the Princes in favour of whom the Dispensation was allow'd were Dead before the Marriage was consummated It is apparent that that same Bull for the dissolution of the Marriage between Henry and Catharine being only granted upon supposition that all the matters in Question were as the King maintained them to be had been void in case he could not have prov'd his suggestions which is the thing that confounds all the Author's Arguments But I must confess that M. Le Grand has something of Reason on his side in what he says concerning Rodulphus whom I believed to have been Campeggio's Bastard He proves out of Sigonius who writes the Life of that Cardinal that Rodulphus was his Legitimate Son Sigonius is a very good Author and I acquiesce in his Authority But had M. Le Grand cast but his Eyes upon the English Edition he would have seen that it was not without sufficient Ground and not out of any design to blacken the
to the Bottom the Laws and History of England For the Truth was this They read in that Assembly the two oaths which the Bishops took the one to the Pope the other to the King and in regard they found them to be Contradictory as being two oaths of Homage and Fidelity which could only be sworn to one Soveraign they abolish'd that which was made to the Pope and let that stand in it's full vigour which was sworn to the King I have given an undeniable Example of their oaths sworn to the King by the Bishops in former Ages which is to be seen in an Act at the head of the Collection of the Pieces that justifie my History If M. Le Grand had only the French Translation where those Pieces are not he might have consulted the English Edition at Mr. Bulteau's where they are all to be seen He might have there seen in the Act which I cite Cardinal Adrian renounce not only all the Clauses of the Bulls which were contrary to the Kings Prerogative or the Laws of England but also swear an Oath of Fealty to the King in the same Terms which our Kings have since continued to receive them from the Bishops The Oath to the Pope which is an Innovation not known till before the XII Age contains besides so many large and unlimited Clauses which neither accord with the Doctrine of the Gallican Church nor with that submission and duty which Prelates owe their lawful Prince since it is apparently an Oath of Homage and Fidelity to a Foreign Power V. Mr. Le Grand labours might and main to make Cranmer to be look'd upon as one of the most wicked men in the world He accuses me for making him a Gentleman but I have said nothing of it though I well knew him to be so not believing that Quality considerable enough to be mentioned in the Eulogies due to the memory of so great a Personage He cannot believe That Cranmer was in Germany when Warham died nor that he was named in his Absence to be Bishop of Canterbury nor that he stay'd Seven weeks after he received the News of his Nomination because he assisted at the Marriage of the King with Anne Bolen He cannot allow what I say That this Affair went on slowly since it was but three Months between September and January before this Prelate was known to be exalted at Rome Nor will he be perswaded That the Provincial Synod of Canterbury pronounced any positive sentence upon the Marriage of the King See here more mistakes than Varillas himself could have been guilty of For in the Criminal Process against Cranmer which is Printed we find that he calls his Judges to witness with what reluctancy he accepted the Primacy of England and that he did not return out of Germany till Seven Weeks after the King had signified to him his Intentions Nor did the Bishops who knew his Judges and who had been Eye-witnesses of his behaviour at that time say any thing to it as not being able to contradict what he said Twelve Weeks passed from the Twenty third of August that Warham died to the Fourteenth of November that the King was married so that although the Courrier had staid Fifteen days by the way Cranmer might have delay'd his departure for Seven Weeks and yet have come time enough to be at the Nuptials of the King But our Author to change Five Months into three excludes September and January out of his Account for this only Reason That he found it requisite to retrench them As for the Judgment of the Synod of Canterbury the Sentence of Divorce has it in express Terms That the two provincial Synods of England had decided the King's Cause But M. Le Grand above all things makes it a Crime in Cranmer that he took an Oath of Obedience to the Pope when he was consecrated and for that he made a Protestation by which he gave divers Restrictions to the said Oath But he reports all that he says concerning this Matter upon the Authority of certain passionate Scriblers and quite contrary to the Faith of the publick Acts. The Protestation of the Archbishop was read twice before the Altar while he was consecrating and it is clear that he had no design to make use of Equivocals since what he did he did in publick and for that the Bishops usually made Protestations by which they renounced all Clauses of their Bulls which were contrary to the Kings Prerogative It seems the Canonists accustomed to this doubling Equivocation had so much Power over Cranmer as to encline him to take the Oath and restrain it by a publick Protestation made at the same time so that if he did any thing amiss in so doing it was rather a Defect of Judgment in that Prelate than any want of Sincerity VI. The Author says that the King pardoned Moore and Fisher the Business of the Maid of Kent and though he confess that the first ridicules her for an idle silly Nun in one of his Letters yet he seems not to have seen a long long Letter of Moore 's which I published in my justifying Pieces belonging to the Second Volume where he speaks of the pretended Revelations of that religious Wench as one of the most horrid Impostures that ever were As for Fisher whatever the Author says he was condemned for favouring that Imposture To this M. Le Grand adds That the Chancellour having demanded of Fisher and Moore what they thought of the Statutes made in the last Parliament they would make no Answer only they said That being cut off from civil Society they minded nothing but their Meditation upon their Saviour's Passion which Answer cost them their Lives Here is a Corruption of History which I shall not call so bad as it deserves which is so much the more odious for that writing things as they were transacted and according to publick Acts he could represent them after a manner so favourable to his own Cause These two great Men were condemned at first by virtue of a Praemunire which is loss of Goods and perpetual Imprisonment for having refused to take the Oath concerning the Succession by reason of the Kings Marriage according to an Act of Parliament After that they were farther prosecuted because they opposed the King's Supremacy or his Title of the supreme Head of the English Church There is one thing too in Moore 's Process which might be sufficient to make a Man Guilty of High Treason where he says That a Parliament can both make a King and depose a King Now In regard I have consin'd myself within these Six Heads I shall go no farther but the abundance of Matter makes me that I have much ado to hold here I cannot but wonder the Author has forgot so many important Things in his History and that he could find in the Collection of Letters printed by Camuzat which I never saw until he did me the Honour to give them unto me He