within this Realm other or otherwise than hereafter in this present Act is declared And that no manner Person nor Persons hereafter to be named elected presented or postulated to any Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick within this Realm shall pay the said Annates or First-Fruits for the said Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick nor any other manner of Sum or Sums of Mony Pensions or Annates for the same or for any other like exaction or cause upon pain to forfeit to our said Sovereign Lord the King his Heirs and Successors all manner his Goods and Chattels for ever and all the Temporal Lands and Possessions of the same Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick during the time that he or they which shall offend contrary to this present Act shall have possess or enjoy the Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick wherefore he shall so offend contrary to the form aforesaid And furthermore it is enacted by Authority of this present Parliament That if any Person hereafter named and presented to the Court of Rome by the King or any of his Heirs or Successors to be Bishop of any See or Diocess within this Realm hereafter shall be letted deferred or delayed at the Court of Rome from any such Bishoprick whereunto he shall be so represented by means of restraint of Bulls Apostolick and other things requisite to the same or shall be denied at the Court of Rome upon convenient suit made any manner Bulls requisite for any of the Causes aforesaid any such Person or Persons so presented may be and shall be consecrated here in England by the Arch-Bishop in whose Province the said Bishoprick shall be so alway that the same Person shall be named and presented by the King for the time being to the same Arch-Bishoprick And if any Persons being named and presented as aforesaid to any Arch-Bishoprick of this Realm making convenient suit as is aforesaid shall happen to be letted deferred delayed or otherwise disturbed from the same Arch-Bishoprick for lack of Pall Bulls or other to him requisite to be obtained in the Court of Rome in that behalf that then every such Person named and presented to be Arch-Bishop may be and shall be consecrated and invested after presentation made as is aforesaid by any other two Bishops within this Realm whom the King's Highness or any of his Heirs or Successors Kings of England for the time being will assign and appoint for the same according and in like manner as divers other Arch-Bishops Bishops have been heretofore in ancient time by sundry the King 's most noble Progenitors made consecrated and invested within this Realm And that every Arch-Bishop and Bishop hereafter being named and presented by the King's Highness his Heirs or Successors Kings of England and being consecrated and invested as is aforesaid shall be installed accordingly and shall be accepted taken reputed used and obeyed as an Arch-Bishop or Bishop of the Dignity See or Place whereunto he so shall be named presented and consecrated requireth and as other like Prelates of that Province See or Diocess have been used accepted taken and obeyed which have had and obtained compleatly their Bulls and other things requisite in that behalf from the Court of Rome And also shall fully and entirely have and enjoy all the Spiritualities and Temporalities of the said Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick in as large ample and beneficial manner as any of his or their Predecessors had or enjoyed in the said Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick satisfying and yielding unto the King our Sovereign Lord and to his Heirs and Successors Kings of England all such Duties Rights and Interests as before this time had been accustomed to be paid for any such Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick according to the Ancient Laws and Customs of this Realm and the King's Prerogative Royal. And to the intent our said Holy Father the Pope and the Court of Rome shall not think that the pains and labours taken and hereafter to be taken about the writing sealing obtaining and other businesses sustained and hereafter to be sustained by the Offices of the said Court of Rome for and about the Expedition of any Bulls hereafter to be obtained or had for any such Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick shall be irremunerated or shall not be sufficiently and condignly recompensed in that behalf And for their more ready expedition to be had therein it is therefore enacted by the Authority aforesaid That every Spiritual Person of this Realm hereafter to be named presented or postulated to any Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick of this Realm shall and may lawfully pay for the writing and obtaining of his or their said Bulls at the Court of Rome and ensealing the same with Lead to be had without payment of any Annates or First-Fruits or other charge or exaction by him or them to be made yielden or paied for the same five pounds Sterling for and after the rate of the clear and whole yearly value of every hundreth pounds Sterling above all charges of any such Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick or other mony to the value of the said five pounds for the clear yearly value of every hundreth pounds of every such Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick and not above nor in any other wise any things in this present Act before written notwithstanding And forasmuch as the King's Highness and this his High Court of Parliament neither have nor do intend to use in this or any other like cause any manner of extremity or violence before gentle courtesie or friendship ways and means first approved and attempted and without a very great urgent cause and occasion given to the contrary but principally coveting to disburden this Realm of the said great exactions and intolerable charges of Annates and First-Fruits have therefore thought convenient to commit the final order and determination of the Premisses in all things unto the King's Highness So that if it may seem to his high wisdom and most prudent discretion meet to move the Pope's Holiness and the Court of Rome amicably charitably and reasonably to compound other to extinct and make frustrate the payments of the said Annates or First-Fruits or else by some friendly loving and tolerable composition to moderate the same in such wise as may be by this Realm easily born and sustained That then those ways and compositions once taken concluded and agreed between the Pope's Holiness and the King's Highness shall stand in strength force and effect of Law inviolably to be observed And it is also further ordained and enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament That the King's Highness at any time or times on this side the Feast of Easter which shall be in the Year of our Lord God a thousand five hundred and three and thirty or at any time on this side the beginning of the next Parliament by his Letters Pattents under his Great Seal to be made and to be entred of Record in the Roll of this present Parliament may and shall have full power and liberty to declare by the said Letters
St. Mark and to examine the Decrees of the ancient Councils He went incognito without any Character from the King only he had a Letter Recommending him to the care of Iohn Cassali then Ambassador at Venice to procure him an admittance into the Libraries there But in all his Letters he complained mightily of his Poverty that he had scarce whereby to live and pay the Copiers whom he imployed to Transcribe passages out of MSS. He stayed some time at Venice from whence he went to Padua Bononia and other Towns where he only talked with Divines and Canonists about these questions Whether the Precepts in Leviticus of the Degrees of Marriage do still oblige Christians And whether the Popes Dispensation could have any force against the Law of God These he proposed in Discourse without mentioning the King of England or giving the least intimation that he was sent by him till he once discovered their Opinions But finding them generally inclining to the Kings Cause he took more courage and went to Rome where he sought to be made a Penitentiary Priest that he might have the freer access into Libraries and be lookt on as one of the Popes Servants But at this time the Earl of Wiltshire and Stokesley who was made Bishop of London Tonstall being Translated to Duresm were sent by the King into Italy Ambassadors both to the Pope and Emperor Cranmer went with them to justifie his Book in both these Courts Stokesley brought full Instructions to Crooke to search the Writings of most of the Fathers on a great many passages of the Scripture and in particular to try what they wrote on that Law in Deuteronomy which provided that when one died without Children his Brother should marry his Wife to raise up Children to him This was most pressed against the King by all that were for the Queen as either an Abrogation of the other Law in Leviticus or at least a Dispensation with it in that particular Case He was also to consult the Iews about it and was to Copy out every thing that he found in any Manuscript of the Greek or Latine Fathers relating to the Degrees of Marriage Of this labour he complained heavily and said That though he had a great task laid on him yet his allowance was so small that he was often in great straits This I take notice of because it is said by others That all the Subscriptions that he procured were bought At this time there were great Animosities between the Ministers whom the King imployed in Italy the two Families of the Cassali and the Ghinucci hating one another Of the former Family were the Ambassadors at Rome and at Venice Of the other Hierome was Bishop of Worcester and had been in several Ambassies into Spain His Brother Peter was also imployed in some of the little Courts of Italy as the Kings Agent Whether the King out of Policy kept this hatred up to make them Spies one on another I know not To the Ghinucci was Crooke gained so that in all his Letters he complained of the Cassali as men that betraied the Kings Affairs and said that Iohn then Ambassador at Venice not only gave him no assistance but used him ill and publickly discovered That he was imployed by the King which made many who had formerly spoken their minds freely be more reserved to him But as he wrote this to the King he begged of him that it might not be known otherwise he expected either to be Killed or Poisoned by them Yet they had their Correspondents about the King by whose means they understood what Crooke had Informed against them But they wrote to the King that he was so morose and ill-natured that nothing could please him and to lessen his Credit they did all they could to stop his Bills All this is more fully set down than perhaps was necessary if it were not to show that he was not in a condition to corrupt so many Divines and whole Universities as some have given out He got into the acquaintance of a Frier at Venice Franciscus Georgius who had lived 49 years in a Religious order and was esteemed the most Learned man in the Republick not only in the vulgar Learning but in the Greek and Hebrew and was so much accounted of by the Pope that he called him the Hammer of Hereticks He was also of the Senatorian Quality and his Brother was Governor of Padua and payed all the Readers there This Friar had a great opinion of the King and having studied the case wrote for the Kings cause and endeavoured to satisfie all the other Divines of the Republick among whom he had much credit Thomas Omnibonus a Dominican Philippus de Cremis a Doctor of the Law Valerius of Bergamo and some others wrote for the Kings cause Many of the Iewish Rabbins did give it under their hands in Hebrew That the Laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy were thus to be reconciled That Law of Marrying the Brothers wife when he dyed without Children did only bind in the Land of Judaea to preserve Families and maintain their Successions in the Land as it had been divided by Lot But that in all other places of the world the Law of Leviticus of not Marrying the Brothers wife was obligatory He also searched all the Greek MSS. of Councils and Nazianzens and Chrysostoms works After that he run over Macarius Acacius Apollinaris Origen Gregory Nyssen Cyril Severian and Gennadius and copied out of them all that which was pertinent to his purpose He procured several hands to the Conclusions before it was known that it was the Kings business in which he was employed But the Government of Venice was so strict that when it was known whose Agent he was he found it not easie to procure Subscriptions Therefore he advised the King to order his Minister to procure a Licence from the Senate for their Divines to declare their opinions in that matter Which being proposed to the Senate all the answer he could obtain was that they would be Neutrals and when the Ambassador pressed as an evidence of Neutrality that the Senate would leave it free to their Divines to declare of either side as their Consciences led them he could procure no other answer the former being again repeated Yet the Senate making no Prohibition many of their Divines put their hands to the Conclusions And Crook had that Success that he wrote to the King he had never met with a Divine that did not favour his cause but the Conclusions touching the Popes Power his Agents did every-where discourage and threaten those who subscribed them And the Emperors Ambassador at Venice did threaten Omnibonus for writing in prejudice of the Popes Authority and asserting conclusions which would make most of the Princes of Europe Bastards He answered he did not consider things as a Statesman but as a Divine Yet to take off this fear Crook suggested to the King to order his Minister at the
the Cure and Charge both in Preaching and other duties And so many hundred Pounds as any had so many Students he was to breed up Tenthly Where Parsonage or Vicarage-Houses were in great decay the Incumbent was every year to give a fifth part of his profits to the repairing of them till they were finished and then to maintain them in the State they were in Eleventhly All these Injunctions were to be observed under pain of suspension and sequestration of the mean profits till they were observed These were equally ingrateful to the Corrupt Clergy and to the Laity that adhered to the old Doctrine The very same opinions about Pilgrimages Images and Saints departed and instructing the people in the Principles of Christian Religion in the Vulgar tongue for which the Lollards were not long ago either burnt or forced to abjure them were now set up by the Kings Authority From whence they concluded that whatsoever the King said of his maintaining the old Doctrine yet he was now changing it The Clergy also were much troubled at this Precedent of the Kings giving such Injunctions to them without the consent of the Convocation From which they concluded they were now to be slaves to the Lord Vice-gerent The matter of these Injunctions was also very uneasie to them The great profits they made by their Images and Relicks and the Pilgrimages to them were now taken away and yet severe Impositions and heavy Taxes were laid on them a fifth part for Repairs a tenth at least for an Exhibitioner and a fortieth for Charity which were cryed out on as intolerable burdens Their Labour was also increased and they were bound up to many severities of Life All these things touched the Secular Clergy to the quick and made them concur with the Regular Clergy in disposing the people to Rebel This was secretly fomented by the great Abbots For though they were not yet struck at yet the way was prepared to it and their Houses were oppressed with crouds of those who were sent to them from the suppressed Houses There was some pains taken to remove their fears For a Letter was sent to them all in the Kings name to silence the reports that were spread abroad as if all Monasteries were to be quite suppressed This they were required not to believe but to serve God according to their Order to obey the Kings Injunctions to keep Hospitality and make no wastes nor dilapidations Yet this gave them small comfort and as all such things do rather encreased than quieted their jealousies and fears So many secret causes concurring no wonder the people fell into mutinous and seditious practices The first rising was in Lincolnshire in the beginning of October where a Church-man disguised into a Cobler and directed by a Monk drew a great body of men after him About 20000 were gathered together They swore to be true to God the King and the Common-wealth and digested their Grievances into a few Articles which they sent to the King desiring a redress of them They complained of some things that related to secular concerns and some Acts of Parliament that were uneasie to them They also complained of the suppression of so many Religious Houses that the King had mean persons in high places about him who were ill Councellors They also complained of some Bishops who had subverted the Faith and they apprehended the Jewels and Plate of their Churches should be taken away Therefore they desired the King would call to him the Nobility of the Realm and by their advice redress their Grievances Concluding with an acknowledgment of the Kings being their Supream Head and that the Tenthes and first Fruits of all Livings belonged to him of Right When the King heard of this Insurrection he presently sent the Duke of Suffolk with a Commission to raise forces for dispersing them But with him he sent an answer to their Petition He began with that about his Councellors and said It was never before heard of that the Rabble presumed to Dictate to their Prince what Councellors he should choose That was the Princes work and not theirs The Suppression of Religious Houses was done pursuant to an Act of Parliament and was not set forth by any of his Counsellors The Heads of these Religious Houses had under their own hands confessed those horrid scandals which made them a reproach to the Nation And in many Houses there were not above Four or Five Religious persons So it seemed they were better pleased that such dissolute persons should consume their Rents in riotous and idle living than that their Prince should have them for the Common good of the whole Kingdom He also answered their other Demands in the same high and commanding strain and required them to submit themselves to his mercy and to deliver their Captains and Lieutenants into the hands of his Lieutenants and to disperse and carry themselves as became good and obedient Subjects and to put an hundred of their number into the hands of his Lieutenants to be ordered as they had deserved When this answer was brought to them it raised their Spirits higher The practising Clergy-men continued to inflame them They perswaded them that the Christian Religion would be very soon defaced and taken away quite if they did not vigorously defend it That it would come to that that no man should marry a Wife receive any of the Sacraments nor eat a piece of rost meat but he should pay for it That it were better to live under the Turk than under such oppression Therefore there was no cause in which they could with more honour and a better conscience hazard their Lives than for the Holy Faith This encouraged and kept them together a little longer They had forced many of the Gentry of the Countrey to go along with them These sent a secret Message to the Duke of Suffolk letting him know what ill effects the Kings rough answer had produced That they had joyned with the people only to moderate them a little and they knew nothing that would be so effectual as the offer of a general pardon So the Duke of Suffolk as he moved towards them with the forces which he had drawn together sent to the King to know his pleasure and earnestly advised a gentle composing of the matter without blood At that same time the King was advertised from the North that there was a general and formidable Rising there Of which he had the greater apprehensions because of their neighbourhood to Scotland whose King being the Kings Nephew was the Heir presumptive of the Crown since the King had Illegitimated both his Daughters And though the Kings firm Alliance with France made him less apprehensive of trouble from Scotland and their King was at this time in France to marry the Daughter of Francis yet he did not know how far a general Rising might invite that King to send orders to head and assist the Rebels in
many be Professed and how many be Novices and whether the Novices have like Habit or use to wear an Habit distinct from the Habit of the Brethren Professed 17. Item Whether ye do use to profess your Novices in due time and within what time and space after they have taken the Habit upon them 18. Item Whether the Brethren of this House do know the Rule that they have professed and whether they keep their Profession according to that their Rule and Custom of this House and in especial the three substantial and principal Vows that is to say Poverty Chastity and Obedience 19. Item Whether any of the Brethren use any propriety of Mony or of Plate in their Chambers or of any other manner thing unwarre of the Master and without his knowledg and license or by his sufferance and knowledg and for what cause 20. Item Whether ye do keep Chastity not using the company of any suspect Woman within this Monastery or without And whether the Master or any Brother of this House be suspected upon Incontinency or defamed for that he is much conversant with Women 21. Item Whether Women useth and resorteth much to this Monastry by back-ways or otherwise and whether they be accustomably or at any time lodged within the Precinct thereof 22. Item Whether the Master or any Brother of this House useth to have any Boys or young Men laying with him 23. Item Whether the Brethren of this House keep their Obedience being ready at their Master's Commandment in all things honest lawful and reasonable Sequuntur Regulae Caeremoniales 24. Item Whether ye do keep silence in the Church Cloister Fraitrie and Dormitorie at the hours and time specified in your Rule 25. Item Whether ye do keep Fasting and Abstinence according to your Rules Statutes Ordinances and laudable Customs of this House 26. Item Whether ye abstain from Flesh in time of Advent and other times declared and specified by the Law Rules and laudable Customs of this House 27. Item Whether ye wear Shirts and Sheets of Woollen or that ye have any Constitution Ordinance or Dispensation granted or made to the contrary by sufficient and lawful Authority Profitentes Regulam Benedicti quam arctissime tenentur ad praedicta Caeremonialia observanda 28. Item Whether ye do sleep altogethers in the Dormitorie under one Roof or not 29. Item Whether ye have all separate Beds or any one of you doth lay with an other 30. Item Whether ye do keep the Fraitry at Meals so that two parts or the least the two part of the whole Covent be always there unless the Master at every one time dispense with you to the contrary 31. Item Whether ye do wear your Religious habit continually and never leave it off but when ye go to bed 32. Item Whether every Brethren of this House have lightly departed hence and hath gone to any other House of like Order and Profession without special Letters and License of their Master 33. Item Whether the Master and Brethren of this House have received and admitted any Brother of another House without special License and Letters of his Master and Head 34. Item Whether any of you sithence the time of your Profession hath gone out of this House to his Friends or otherwise 35. Item How oftimes he did so and how long at every time ye â—arried forth 36. Item Whether ye had special license of your Master so to go forth or not 37. Item Whether at every time of your being forth ye changed or left off your habit or every part thereof 38. Item Whether ye or any of you be or hath been in manifest Apostasy that is to say Fugitives or Vagbonds 39. Item For what cause or occasion ye have so gone forth and been in Apostasy and whether the cause of your going forth was by reason of the great cruelty of your Master or by his negligence not calling you home to your Cloister 40. Item Whether ye be weekly shaven and do not nourish or suffer your Hair to be long and whether ye wear your Apparel according to the Rule not too excessive nor too exquisite and in like wise the trappo's of your Horses and other your bearing Beasts 41. Item Whether the Master and Head of this House do use his Brethren charitably without partiality malice envy grudg or displeasure more shewed to one than to another 42. Item Whether he do use his Disciplines Corrections and Punishments upon his Brethren with mercy pity and charity without cruelty rigorousness and enormous hurt no more favouring one than another 43. Item Whether any Brother or Religious Person of this House be incorrigible 44. Item Whether the Master of this House do use his Brethren charitably when they be sick and diseased and whether in time of their sickness he do procure unto them Physicians and all other necessaries 45. Item Whether he make his Accompts as he ought to do once every year before his Brethren and chiefly the Seniors and Officers to the intent they may be made privy to the state and condition of the House and know perfectly the due administration thereof 46. Item Whether the Prior Subprior Sellerar Kitchener Terrure Sacristen or any such-like Officer having Administration of every manner Revenues of this House do make his whole and true Accompt according as he is bound to do not applying any thing by him received to his own proper use or commodity 47. Item Whether any Religious Person of this House do bear occupy or exercise more Offices than one for and to his own singular commodity advantage or profit by the partial dealing of the Master 48. Item Whether all and singular the Revenues and Profits of this House be converted and employed to the behove and use thereof and of the Brethren and according to the Founder's mind and Giver 49. Item Whether the Master do make sufficient reparations upon his Monastery as the Church and all other housing thereto adjoined and also upon all other the Lands Granges Farms and Tenements belonging to the same and whether he suffer any dilapidation decay or ruine in any part of them 50. Item Whether there be any Inventory made of all and singular the Moveables Goods which from time to time have been and yet be in this House as of Jewels Reliques Ornaments Vestiments ready Mony Plate Bedding with other Utensils also of Corn Chattels and other Commodities to the intent the state and condition of this House may be always known 51. Item That ye express truly and sincerely the whole state and condition of this House as in Mony Plate Cattel Corn and other Goods 52. Item Whether this Monastery be indebted to whom and for what cause 53. Item Whether any of the Lands be sold or mortgaged and for what Sums 54. Item Whether any be lett to Farm by the Master of this House for term of years and for how many years and specially whether they be letten for small Sums or for less Sums
Papa placari ac Regis zelum ad Sedem Apostolicam totiusque Regni devotionem in hac parte habere posset materiam commendandi Et addidit ultra hujusmodi Requisitionem Exhortationem praefatus Reverendissimus Pater Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis ex corde ut apparuit exposuit lacrymando pericula per censurarum viz. Ecclesiasticarum etiam Interdicti fulminationem alias tam Regi quam Regno quod absit verisimiliter eventura alia in casu quo responsio Parliamenti illius in materia tunc declarata grata non foret Domino Papae accepta sic dicendo Forte videtur quibusdam vestrum quod haec quae Regni Praelatos potissime concernunt ex corde non profero Sciatis pro certo in fide qua Deo teneor Ecclesiae affirmo coram vobis quod magis mihi foret acceptum nunquam conferre aut etiam habere aliquod beneficium Ecclesiasticum quam aliqua talia pericula seu processus meo tempore in Ecclesiae Anglicanae Scandalum venirent Ulterius idem Reverendissimus Pater expresse declaravit qualiter dictus Dominus noster Papa in diversis Bullis suis obtulit promisit se Sedem Apostolicam ad quascunque causas occasiones editionis Statuti praedicti rationabile remedium apponere materias causarum occasionum hujusmodi Statuti in toto tollere abolere sic Requisitione Exhortatione periculorum hujusmodi expositione finitis Reverendissimi Patres Cantuar. Eborac Archiepiscopi cum confratribus suis Episcopis Praelatis praedictis recesserunt Regni Communitate seu saltem dictis viris Communitatem Regni repraesentantibus remanentibus circa materiam eis expositam tractantibus praesentibus Declarationem Requisitionem Exhortationem hujusmodique periculorum expositionem per dictum Dominum Archiepiscopum Cantuariensem ut praemittitur factas audientibus venerabilibus viris Richardo Coudray Archidiacono Norwici in Ecclesia Norwicensi Magistro Joanne Forster Canonico Lincolnensi c. Johanne Boold Notario Publico multis aliis Act. 33. Anno Regni vicesimo tertio XLI An Act concerning Restraint of payment of Annates to the See of Rome FOrasmuch as it is well perceived by long approved experience that great and inestimable Sums of Mony have been daily conveyed out of this Realm to the impoverishment of the same and specially such sums of Mony as the Pope's Holiness his Predecessors and the Court of Rome by long time have heretofore taken of all and singular those Spiritual Persons which have been named elected presented or postulated to be Arch-Bishops or Bishops within this Realm of England under the Title of Annates otherwise called First-Fruits Which Annates or First-Fruits have been taken of every Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick within this Realm by restraint of the Pope's Bulls for Confirmations Elections Admissions Postulations Provisions Collations Dispositions Institutions Installations Investitures Orders Holy Benedictions Palles or other things requisite and necessary to the attaining of those their Promotions and have been compelled to pay before they could attain the same great Sums of Mony before they might receive any part of the Fruits of the said Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick whereunto they were named elected presented or postulated by occasion whereof not only the Treasure of this Realm hath been greatly conveighed out of the same but also it hath hapned many times by occasion of death unto such Arch-Bishops and Bishops so newly promoted within two or three years after his or their Consecration that his or their Friends by whom he or they have been holpen to advance and make paiment of the said Annates or First-Fruits have been thereby utterly undone and impoverished And for because the said Annates have risen grown and encreased by an uncharitable Custom grounded upon no just or good title and the paiments thereof obtained by restraint of Bulls until the same Annates or First-Fruits have been paied or Surety made for the same which declareth the said Paiments to be exacted and taken by constraint against all equity and justice The Noble Men therefore of the Realm and the Wise Sage Politick Commons of the same assembled in this present Parliament considering that the Court of Rome ceaseth not to tax take and exact the said great Sums of Mony under the Title of Annates or First-Fruits as is aforesaid to the great damage of the said Prelates and this Realm Which Annates or First-Fruits were first suffered to be taken within the same Realm for the only defence of Christian People against the Infidels and now they be claimed and demanded as mere duty only for lucre against all right and conscience Insomuch that it is evidently known that there hath passed out of this Realm unto the Court of Rome sithen the second year of the Reign of the most Noble Prince of famous memory King Henry the Seventh unto this present time under the name of Annates or First-Fruits payed for the expedition of Bulls of Arch-Bishopricks and Bishopricks the sum of eight hundred thousand Ducats amounting in Sterling Mony at the least to eightscore thousand pounds besides other great and intolerable Sums which have yearly been conveighed to the said Court of Rome by many other ways and means to the great impoverishment of this Realm And albeit that our said Sovereign the King and all his natural Subjects as well Spiritual as Temporal been as obedient devout Catholick and humble Children of God and Holy Church as any People be within any Realm christned yet the said exactions of Annates or First-Fruits be so intolerable and importable to this Realm that it is considered and declared by the whole Body of this Realm now represented by all the Estates of the same assembled in this present Parliament that the King's Highness before Almighty God is bound as by the duty of a good Christian Prince for the conservation and preservation of the good Estate and Common-Wealth of this his Realm to do all that in him is to obviate repress and redress the said abusions and exactions of Annates or First-Fruits And because that divers Prelates of this Realm being now in extream Age and in other debilities of their Bodies so that of likelyhood bodily death in short time shall or may succeed unto them by reason whereof great sums of Mony shall shortly after their deaths be conveighed unto the Court of Rome for the unreasonable and uncharitable Causes abovesaid to the universal damage prejudice and impoverishment of this Realm if speedy remedy be not in due time provided It is therefore ordained established and enacted by Authority of this present Parliament That the unlawful paiment of Annates or First-Fruits and all manner Contributions for the same for any Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick or for any Bulls hereafter to be obtained from the Court of Rome to or for the foresaid purpose and intent shall from henceforth utterly cease and no such hereafter to be payed for any Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick
his going over to England but not one word of any such discourse with the King And King Henry was not a Man of such a temper as to permit one of Pole's quality to go out of England and live among his Enemies and continue his Pensions to him if he had to his face opposed him in a Matter he laid so much to heart 44. He says Fisher of Rochester and Holman Bishop of Bristol wrote for the Marriage There was no Bishoprick nor Bishop of Bristol at that time nor thirteen years after 45. Many are reckoned up who wrote for the Marriage in all Nations These are neither to be compared in number nor authority to those who wrote against it an hundred Books were shewed in Parliament written by Divines and Lawyers beyond Sea besides the determinations of twelve of the most celebrated Universities in Europe The Emperor did indeed give so great Rewards and such good Benefices to those who wrote against the King that it is a wonder there were not more Writers of his side 46. He says That upon Warham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury's death the Earl of Wiltshire told the King that he had a Chaplain who was at his House that would certainly serve the King in the matter of his Divorce upon which Cranmer was promoted Cranmer was no stranger to the King at this time he was first recommended by the King to the Earl of Wiltshire to be kept in his House but was in Germany when Warham died and made no haste over but delayed his Journey some months It is true he was of the mind that the King ought to be divorced but this was not out of servile compliance for when the King pressed him in other things that were against his Conscience he expressed all the courage and constancy of mind which became so great a Prelate 47. He say's That Cranmer being to swear the Oath of Obedience to the Pope before he was consecrated did protest to a Publick Notary that he took it against his will and that he had no mind to keep his Faith to the Pope in prejudice to the King's Authority He did not protest that he did it unwillingly nor was it only to a Notary but twice at the high Altar he repeated the Protestation that he made which was to this effect That he intended not thereby to oblige himself to any thing contrary to the Law of God the King's Prerogative or the Laws of the Land nor to be restrained from speaking advising or consenting to any thing that should concern the Reformation of the Christian Faith the Government of the Church of England and the Prerogative of the Crown and Kingdom 48. He says Cranmer did in all things so comply with the King's Lusts that the King was wont to say he was the only Man that had never contradicted him in any thing he had a mind to Cranmer was both a good Subject and a modest and discreet Man and so would obey and submit as far as he might without sin yet when his Conscience charged him to appear against any thing that the King pressed him to as in the matter of the six Articles he did it with much resolution and boldness 49. He says The King going over to Calais carried Ann Boleyn secretly with him He carried her over in great state having made her Marchioness of Pembroke and in the publick Interview between him and Francis she appeared with all possible splendor 50. He says After the King's return from France he brought the Action of Premunire against all the Clergy This is an Error of two years for so long before this Voyage to France was that action begun and the Clergy about 28 months before had made their submission and obtained their pardon in March 1531 which appears by the printed Statutes and the King went over to France in September 1532 so that it is clear Sanders never looked for any verification of what he wrote 51. He says The King by an unheard-of Tyranny and a new Calumny brought this Charge against the Clergy These Laws upon which the Charge was founded had been oft renewed they were first made under Edward the First by reason of the Papal Encroachments that gave the rise to them they were oft confirmed by Edward the Third Richard the Second Henry the Fourth and Henry the Fifth with the concurrence of their Parliaments so the Charge was neither new nor tyrannical 52. He says The Clergy submitted to the King being betrayed by their Metropolitanes Cranmer and Lee. The submission was made two years before Cranmer was Arch-Bishop in March 1531 and Cranmer was Consecrated in March 1533. but at that time Warham sate in Canterbury as for Lee he opposed it for some time 53. He says The whole Clergâ— petitioned the King to forgive their Crime according to that Supreme Power which he had over all the Clergy and Laity within his Kingdom from whence the King's Counsellors took occasion afterwards to call him Supreme Head The Clergy did in the Title of their Submission call the King in formal terms Supreme Head of the Church and Clergy of England as far as by the Law of Christ is lawful to which Fisher with the rest of the Convocation subscribed And all this was done when More was Chancellor 54. He says When the King went to marry Ann Boleyn he perswaded Rowland Lee made soon after Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield to officiate in it assuring him he had obtain'd a Bull for it from Rome which was then lying in his Cabinet Upon which Lee giving credit to what he said did marry them This is another trial of Sander's wit to excuse Lee who tho at this time he complied absolutely with the King yet did afterwards turn over to the Popish Party therefore to make him look a little clean this Story must be forged But at that time all the World saw that the Pope and the Emperor were so linked together that Lee could not but know that no such thing was possible And he was so obsequious to the King that such Arts were needless to perswade him to any thing the King had a mind to 55. For five pages he runs out in repetition of all those foul Lyes concerning Ann Boleyn by which he designed both to disgrace the Reformers who were supported by her and to defame her Daughter Queen Elizabeth which have been before confuted after that he says Queen Katharine with three Maids and a small Family retired into the Country She had both the respect of a Princess Dowager and all the Jointure contracted to her by Prince Arthur so she could not be driven to that straitness but this must go for an Ornament in the Fable 56. He says It was concluded that Cranmer might be more free to pass Sentence that there should be an Oath imposed on the Clergy for paying the same Obedience to the King that they had paid the Pope
upon which he tells a long formal Story for two pages That it was resolved to draw Fisher into it to swear Obedience to the King in all Ecclesiastical Causes with that exception as far as is lawful according to the Word of God which he did and perswaded others to do it and upon this Cranmer taking the New Oath went and pronounced judgment for Divorce There is not one tittle of this true for there was no Oath sworn about the King's Supremacy at this time The Story of Fisher is that which was done by the Convocation two years before Cranmers preferment nor was there any Oath taken then or at this time It is true two years after this Gardiner Stokesley and many other Bishops did of their own accord take such an Oath but there was no Law for it till the 28 th year of the King's Reign 57. He says One Richard Risey or Rouse according to the Records was hired by Ann Boleyn to poison Fisher. Rouse was boiled alive for poisoning the Bishop's Family but did not discover any that set him on it Which none can think but he would have done if the Queen had hired him to it and had then deserted him to perish in so horrid a manner 58. He says Cranmer being by Authority of Parliament freed from his Oath to the Pope and bound by a new one to the King went now confidently to pronounce Sentence The Parliament did not put down the Pope's Authority for eight months after this and appointed no new Oath till three years after For Cranmer sat in Judgment as Primate of England and Legate of the Apostolick See 59. He says Cranmer carried some Bishops with him and having cited the Queen without hearing her he gave sentence against the Marriage Gardiner Stokesly Clark and Longland the Bishops of Winchester London Bath and Lincoln went with him He could not hear the Queen when she would not appear but he examined all the Instruments and Evidences that had been brought in the whole Process 60. He says The Pope would not proceed against the King till he met with the French King at Marseilles but that the English Ambassadors did there carry so insolently that Francis was ashamed of their behaviour and desired the Pope to proceed against the King as he thought fit and that he should never defend him more but should be against him Here the Romance goes on too grosly for the Pope and the French King agreed at Marseilles to bring this matter to an issue the Pope declared he thought the King's Cause was just and right and promised if the King would send a full submission to Rome he would give sentence in his favours Upon which the French King sent over the Bishop of Paris who prevailed with the King to do it tho this afterwards came to nothing It is true Bonner who was always officious and forward when there was any thing to be got by it being sent to Marseilles by the King to deliver an Appeal in the King's Name to the Pope to the next General Council and perhaps knowing nothing of the private Transactions between the Pope and the French King it being a Secret of too great importance to be communicated to such a hot-brain'd Man did deliver his Message to the Pope in such provoking language that the Pope talked of throwing him into a boiling Cauldron and he was fain to fly for it 61. He says The Pope returning to Italy after he had again most carefully reviewed the whole Cause gave sentence This was so precipitated that they would not stay six days beyond the time which they prefixed for the return of the Messenger that was sent to England but dispatched that which by the forms of their Court should have been done in three Consistories all in one day 62. He says Upon this Sentence the King being enraged did command Queen Katharine to be only called Princess and declared her Daughter the Lady Mary a Bastard Both these were done five months before the Pope's Sentence and soon after the Sentence was pronounced by Cranmer And these were the natural consequences of it for the Marriage being annulled neither could she be longer a Queen nor her Daughter Princess any more 63. He says The King imprisoned F. Forest a Franciscan Observant a most holy and learned Man for contradicting Latimer when he was enveighing against the Pope's Authority Concerning this Forest I have seen an Original Letter of one List a Frier of the same House a year after this that says Forest was a great scandal to their House and was very ignorant and that tho he had been much against the King in his Marriage yet he had then insinuated himself into his favour of which many of the House who were for the King's Cause had great apprehensions In the same Letter he writes how cruel they were against any of their Brethren who they thought discovered any thing that was done among them and that one Rainscroft a Brother whom they suspected to have informed what passed among them was cruelly used and kept in Prison till he died which he chiefly imputes to Forest. This Friar swore the King's Supremacy and yet at the same time was perswading others not to do it and being questioned upon it said He took the Oath only with his Outward but not with his Inward Man and for that and his denying the Gospel he was burnt as an obstinate Heretick 64. He says Abell Powel and Fetherston were put in Prison because they consulted with the Maid of Kent This is only charged upon the former of these but the two latter are not accused of any such thing 65. He says Elizabeth being born the 8 th of September but five months after the King had publickly married her Mother could not be the lawful issue of that Marriage This is a malacious Lye for himself confessed that the King was married to her Mother the 14 th of November the former year between which and the 8 th of September there were ten months nor was the King ever after that married publickly to the Queen For what he calls a publick Marriage was only the shewing her openly as Queen But the design of this Lye is so visible that it needs not be opened 66. He says The King's Daughter Mary who was then present could never be induced to think she was the King's Child In the former page he said Mary was sent to her Mother and now forgetting himself too soon he says she was present when Elizabeth was born What Mary's thoughts were none can tell but she publickly acknowledged Her to be her Sister tho she did not use her as one 67. He says Elizabeth Barton who was famed for her sanctity and six with her who thought she was inspired by the Holy Ghost were accused in Parliament Those six knew that she was not inspired and that all that was given out about her was a