the Father Son Uncle and other such Relations there is no ground to disjoynt this so much from the rest as to make it only extend to a Marriage before the Husbands death And for any Presidents that were brought they were all in the latter Ages and were never Confirmed by any publick Authority Nor must the Practices of later Popes be laid in the Ballance against the Decisions of former Popes and the Doctrine of the whole Church and as to the Power that was ascribed to the Pope that began now to be enquired into with great Freedom as shall appear afterwards These Reasons on both sides being thus opened the Censures of them it is like will be as different now as they were then for they prevailed very little on the Queen who still persisted to justifie her Marriage and to stand to her Appeal And though the King carryed it very kindly to her in all outward appearance and employed every body that had credit with her to bring her to submit to him and to pass from her Appeal remitting the Decision of the matter to any Four Prelates and Four Secular men in England she was still unmovable and would hearken to no Proposition In the judgments that people passed the Sexes were divided the Men generally approved the Kings cause and the Women favoured the Queen But now the Session of Parliament came on the Sixteenth of Ianuary and there the King first brought in to the House of Lords the Determination of the Universities and the Books that were written for his cause by Forreigners After they were read and Considered there the Lord Chancellor did on the 20th of March with Twelve Lords both of the Spiritualty and Temporalty goe down to the House of Commons and shewed them what the Universities and Learned men beyond Sea had written for the Divorce and produced Twelve Original Papers with the Seals of the Universities to them which Sr. Brian Tuke took out of his hand and read openly in the House Translating the Latine into English Then about an Hundred Books written by Forreign Divines for the Divorce were also showed them none of which were read but put off to another time it being late When that was done the Lord Chancellor desired they would report in their Countries what they had heard and seen and then all men should clearly perceive that the King hath not attempted this matter of Will and Pleasure as strangers say but only for the Discharge of his Conscience and the Security of the Succession to the Crown Having said that he left the House The matter was also brought before the Convocation and they having weighed all that was said on both sides seemed satisfied that the Marriage was unlawful and that the Bull was of no force more not being required at that time But it is not strange that this matter went so easily in the Convocation when another of far greater consequence passed there which will require a â—ull and distinct account Cardinal Wolsey by exercising his Legantine Authority had fallen into a Premunire as hath been already shewn and now those who had appeared in his Courts and had sutes there were found to be likewise in the same guilt by the Law and this matter being excepted out of the Pardon that was granted in the former Parliament was at this time set on foot Therefore an Indictment was brought into the Kings Bench against all the Clergy of England for breaking the Statutes against Provisions or Provisors But to open this more clearly It is to be Considered that the Kings of England having claimed in all Ages a Power in Ecclesiastical Matters equal to what the Roman Emperors had in that Empire they exercised this Authority both over the Clergy and Laity and did at first erect Bishopricks grant Investitures in them call Synods make Laws about Sacred as well as Civil Concerns and in a word they Governed their whole Kingdom Yet when the Bishops of Rome did stretch their Power beyond either the limits of it in the Primitive Church or what was afterward granted them by the Roman Emperors and came to assume an Authority in all the Churches of Europe as they found some Resistance every where so they met with a great deal in this Kingdom and it was with much Difficulty that they gained the Power of giving Investitures Receiving Appeals to Rome and of sending Legates to England with several other things which were long contested but were delivered up at length either by feeble Princes or when Kings were so engaged at home or abroad that it was not safe for them to offend the Clergy For in the first Contest between the Kings and the Popes the Clergy were generally on the Popes side because of the Immunity and Protection they enjoyed from that See but when Popes became ambitious and warlike Princes then new Projects and Taxes were every where set on foot to raise a great Treasure The Pall with many Bulls and high Compositions for them Annates or first Fruits and Tenths were the standing Taxes of the Clergy besides many new ones upon emergent occasions So that they finding themselves thus oppressed by the Popes fled again back to the Crown for Protection which their Predecessors had abandoned From the days of Edward the 1st many Statutes were made to restrain the Exactions of Rome For then the Popes not satisfied with their other oppressions which a Monk of that time lays open fully and from a deep sense of them did by Provisions Bulls and other Arts of that See dispose of Bishopricks Abbeys and lesser Benefices to Forreigners Cardinals and others that did not live in England Upon which the Commonalty of the Realm did represent to the King in Parliament That the Bishopricks Abbeys and other Benefices were founded by the Kings and people of England To inform the people of the Law of God and to make Hospitality Alms and other works of Charity for which end they were endowed by the King and people of England and that the King and his other Subjects who endowed them had upon Voidances the Presentment and Collations of them which now the Pope had Usurped and given to Aliens by which the Crown would be disinherited and the ends of their endowments destroyed with other great Inconveniences Therefore it was ordained that these Oppressions should not be suffered in any manner But notwithstanding this the abuse went on and there was no effectual way laid down in the Act to punish these Transgressions The Court of Rome was not so easily driven out of any thing that either encreased their Power or their Profits Therefore by another Act in his Grand-Child Edward the 3ds time the Commons complained that these abuses did abound and that the Pope did daily reserve to his Collation Church-Preferments in England and raised the first-Fruits with other great Profits by which the Treasure of the Realm was carried out of it
unfeigned which were meritorious towards the attaining of Everlasting life Other works were of an Inferior sort such as Fasting Almsdeeds and other fruits of Penance And the merit of good works is reconciled with the freedom of Gods mercies to us since all our works are done by his Grace so that we have no cause of boasting but must ascribe all to the Grace and goodness of God The last Chapter is about Prayers for Souls departed which is the same that was formerly set out in the Articles three years before All this was finished and set forth this year with a Preface written by those of the Clergy who had been imployed in it declaring with what care they had examined the Scriptures and the ancient Doctors out of whom they had faithfully gathered this Exposition of the Christian Faith To this the King added another Preface some years after declaring that although he had cast out the darkness by setting forth the Scriptures to his people which had produced very good effects yet as hypocrisie and superstition were purged away so a Spirit of presumption dissension and carnal liberty was breaking in For repressing which he had by the advice of his Clergy set forth a Declaration of the true knowledg of God for directing all mens belief and practice which both Houses of Parliament had seen and liked very well So that he verily trusted it contained a true and sufficient Doctrine for the attaining everlasting life Therefore he required all his people to read and print in their hearts the Doctrine of this Book He also willed them to remember that as there were some Teachers whose Office it was to instruct the people so the rest ought to be taught and to those it was not necessary to read the Scriptures and that therefore he had restrained it from a great many esteeming it sufficient for such to hear the Doctrine of the Scriptures taught by their Preachers which they should lay up in their hearts and practise in their lives Lastly he desired all his Subjects to pray to God to grant them the Spirit of Humility that they might read and carry in their hearts the Doctrine set forth in this Book But though I have joyned the account of this Preface to the Extract here made of the Bishops Book yet it was not prefixed to it till above two years after the other was set out When this was published both parties found cause in it both to be glad and sorrowful The Reformers rejoyced to see the Doctrine of the Gospel thus opened more and more for they concluded that Ignorance and prejudices being the chief supports of the Errours they complained of the instructing people in Divine Matters even though some particulars displeased them yet would awaken and work upon an inquisitive humour that was then a-stirring and they did not doubt but their Doctrines were so clear that Inquiries into Religion would do their business They were also glad to see the Morals of Christianity so well cleared which they hoped would dispose people to a better taste of Divine matters since they had observed that purity of Soul does mightily prepare people for sound opinions Most of the Superstitious conceits and practices which had for some ages embased the Christian Faith were now removed and the great fundamental of Christianity the Covenant between God and man in Christ with the conditions of it was plainly and sincerely declared There was also another principle laid down that was big with a further Reformation for every National Church was declared a compleat Body within it self with power to reform heresies correct abuses and do every thing else that was necessary for keeping it self pure or governing its members By which there was a fair way opened for a full discussion of things afterwards when a fitter opportunity should be offered But on the other hand the Popish party thought they had gained much The seven Sacraments were again asserted so that here much ground was recovered and they hoped more would follow There were many things laid down to which they knew the Reformers would never consent So that they who were resolved to comply with every thing that the King had a mind to were pretty safe But the others who followed their perswasions and consciences were brought into many snares and the Popish party was confident that their absolute compliance which was joyned with all possible submission and flattery would gain the King at length and the stiffness of others who would not give that deference to the Kings judgment and pleasure would so alienate him from them that he would in the end abandon them for with the Kings years his uneasiness and peevishness grew mightily on him The dissolution of the Kings Marriage with Anne of Cleves had so offended the Princes of Germany that though upon the Ladies account they made no publick noise of it yet there was little more intercourse between the King and them especially Cromwel falling that had alwayes carried on the correspondence with them And as this intercourse went off so a secret Treaty was set on foot between the King and the Emperor yet it came not to a Conclusion till two years after The other Bishops that were appointed to examine the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church drew up a Rubrick and Rationale of them which I do not find was printed but a very Authentical M S. of a great part of it was is extant The alterations they made were inconsiderable and so slight that there was no need of reprinting either the Missals Breviaries or other Offices for a few rasures of these Collects in which the Pope was prayed for of Thomas Beckets Office and the Offices of other Saints whose days were by the Kings Injunctions no more to be observed with some other Deletions made that the old Books did still serve For whether it was that the Change of the Mass-Books and other publick Offices would have been too great a Charge to the Nation or whether they thought it would have possessed the people with an opinion that the Religion was altered since the Books of the ancient worship were changed which remaining the same they might be the more easily perswaded that the Religion was still the same there was no new impression of the Breviaries Missals and other Rituals during this Kings Reign Yet in Queen Maries time they took care that Posterity should not know how much was dashed out or changed For as all Parishes were required to furnish themselves with new compleat Books of the Offices so the dashed Books were every-where brought in and destroyed But it is likely that most of those Scandalous Hymnes and Prayers which are addressed to Saints in the same style in which good Christians worship God were all struck out because they were now condemned as appears from the Extract of the other Book set out by the Bishops But as they went on in these things the Popish party whose Counsels were
to go to Cambridge for trying who were the Fautors of Heresie there But he as Legate did inhibite it upon what grounds I cannot imagine Which was brought against him afterwards in Parliament Art 43. of his Impeachment Yet when these Doctrines were spread every-where he called a meeting of all the Bishops and Divines and Canonists about London where Thomas Bilney and Thomas Arthur were brought before them and Articles were brought in against them The whole process is set down at length by Fox in all Points according to Tonstall's Register except one fault in the Translation When the Cardinal asked Bilney whether he had not taken an Oath before not to preach or defend any of Luthers Doctrines he confessed he had done it but not judicially judicialiter in the Register This Fox Translates not lawfully In all the other particulars there is an exact agreement between the Register and his Acts. The sum of the proceedings of the Court was That after examination of Witnesses and several other steps in the Process which the Cardinal left to the Bishop of London and the other Bishops to manage Bilney stood out long and seemed resolved to suffer for a good Conscience In the end what through human infirmity what through the great importunity of the Bishop of London who set all his Friends on him he did abjure on the 7 th of December as Arthur had done on the 2 d. of that Month. And though Bilney was relapst and so was to expect no mercy by the Law yet the Bishop of London enjoyned him Penance and let him go For Tonstall being a man both of good Learning and an unblemisht life these Vertues produced one of their ordinary effects in him great moderation that was so eminent in him that at no time did he dip his hands in Blood Geoffrey Loni and Thomas Gerard also abjured for having had Luther's Books and defending his Opinions These were the proceedings against Hereticks in the first half of this Reign And thus far I have opened the State of Affairs both as to Religious and Civil concerns for the first 18 years of this Kings time with what Observations I could gather of the dispositions and tempers of the Nation at that time which prepared them for the Changes that followed afterwards The End of the First Book THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE Church of England BOOK II. Of the Process of Divorce between King Henry and Queen Katharine and of what passed from the Nineteenth to the Twenty fifth year of his Reign in which he was declared Supreme Head of the Church of England KING Henry hitherto lived at ease and enjoyed his pleasures he made War with much honour and that always produced a just and advantageous Peace He had no trouble upon him in all his affairs except about the getting of Money and even in that the Cardinal eased him But now a Domestick trouble arose which perplexed all the rest of his Government and drew after it Consequences of a high nature Henry the 7 th upon wise and good considerations resolved to link himself in a close Confederacy with Ferdinand and Isabella Kings of Castile and Arragon and with the House of Burgundy against France which was looked on as the lasting and dangerous Enemy of England And therefore a Match was agreed on between his Son Prince Arthur and Katharine the Infanta of Spain whose eldest Sister Ioan was Married to Philip that was then Duke of Burgundy and Earl of Flanders out of which arose a triple Alliance between England Spain and Burgundy against the King of France who was then become formidable to all about him There was given with her 200000 Duckats the greatest Portion that had been given for many Ages with any Princess which made it not the less acceptable to King Henry the Seventh EFFIGIES CATHARINAE PRINCIPIS ARTHURI VXORIS HENRICO REGI NUPTAE H. Holbeâ—n Pinxit R. White Sculp 1486. Nata 1501. Nov. 14. Arthuro nupsit 1509. Iun. 3. Henrico Regi nupsit 1526. toro exclusa 1533. May. 23 incesti damnata 1536. Ian. 8. obijt Printed for Rich Chiswell at the Rose Crown in St Pauls Church yard The Infanta was brought into England and on the 14th of Nov. was Married at St. Pauls to the Prince of Wales They lived together as man and wife till the 2d of April following and not only had their Bed solemnly blest when they were put in it on the night of their Marriage but also were seen publickly in Bed for several days after and went down to live at Ludlow-Castle in Wales where they still Bedded together But Prince Arthur though a strong and healthful youth when he Married her yet died soon after which some thought was hastened by his too early Marriage The Spanish Ambassador had by his Masters order taken proofs of the Consummation of the Marriage and sent them into Spain the young Prince also himself had by many expressions given his Servants cause to believe that his Marriage was consummated the first night which in a youth of Sixteen years of Age that was vigorous and healthful was not at all judged strange It was so constantly believed that when he dyed his younger Brother Henry Duke of York was not called Prince of Wales for some considerable time Some say for one Month some for 6 Months And he was not created Prince of Wales till 10 Months were elapsed viz. in the February following when it was apparent that his Brothers wife was not with Child by him These things were afterwards looked on as a full Demonstration being as much as the thing was capable of that the Princess was not a Virgin after Prince Arthur's Death But the reason of State still standing for keeping up the Alliance against France and King Henry the 7th having no mind to let so great a Revenue as she had in Jointure be carried out of the Kingdom it was proposed That she should be married to the younger Brother Henry now Prince of Wales The two Prelats that were then in greatest esteem with King Henry the 7th were Warham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Fox Bishop of Winchester The former delivered his opinion against it and told the King that he thought it was neither honourable nor well-pleasing to God The Bishop of Winchester perswaded it and for the Objections that were against it and the Murmuring of the people who did not like a Marriage that was disputable lest out of it new Wars should afterwards arise about the Right of the Crown the Popes Dispensation was thought sufficient to answer all and his Authority was then so undisputed that it did it effectually So a Bull was obtained on the 26 of Decemb. 1503 to this effect that the Pope according to the greatness of his Authority having received a Petition from Prince Henry and the Princess Katharine Bearing That whereas the Princess was Lawfully Married to Prince Arthur which was
King intended to Marry her to France the more effectually to seclude her from the Succession considering the aversion his Subjects had to a French Government that so he might more easily settle his Bastard Son the Duke of Richmond in the Succession of the Crown While this Treaty went on the Kings scruples about his Marriage began to take vent It is said that the Cardinal did first infuse them into him and made Longland Bishop of Lincoln that was the Kings Confessor possess the Kings mind with them in Confession If it was so the King had according to the Religion of that time very just cause of Scruple when his Confessor judged his Marriage sinful and the Popes Legate was of the same mind It is also said that the Cardinal being alienated from the Emperor that he might irreparably embroil the King and him and unite the King to the French Interests designed this out of Spite and that he was also dissatisfied toward the Queen who hated him for his lewd and dissolute Life and had oft admonished and check't him for it And that he therefore designing to engage the King to Marry the French Kings Sister the Dutchess of Alenoon did to make way for that set this Matter on foot but as I see no good Authority for all this except the Queens suspitions who did afterwards charge the Cardinal as the cause of all her trouble so I am inclined to think the Kings Scruples were much ancienter for the King declared to Simon Grineus four years after this that for seven years he had abstained from the Queen upon these Scruples so that by that it seems they had been received into the Kings mind three years before this time What were the Kings secret motives and the true grounds of his Aversion to the Queen is only known to God and till the discovery of all Secrets at the day of Judgment must lye hid But the reasons which he always owned of which all Humane Judicatories must only take notice shall be now fully opened He found by the Law of Moses if a man took his Brothers Wife they should die childless This made him reflect on the death of his Children which he now looked on as a Curse from God for that unlawful Marriage Upon this he set himself to Study the case and called for the judgments of the best Divines and Canonists For his own Enquiry Thomas Aquinas being the Writer in whose works he took most pleasure and to whose judgment he submitted most did decide it clearly against him For he both Concluded that the Laws in Leviticus about the forbidden degrees of Marriage were Moral and Eternal such as obliged all Christians and that the Pope could only Dispense with the Laws of the Church but could not Dispense with the Laws of God Upon this reason that no Law can be Dispenced with by any Authority but that which is equal to the Authority that enacted it Therefore he infers that the Pope can indeed Dispence with all the Laws of the Church but not with the Laws of God to whose Authority he could not pretend to be equal But as the King found this from his own private Study so having commanded the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to require the Opinions of the Bishops of England they all in a Writing under their hands and Seals declared they judged it an unlawful Marriage Only the Bishop of Rochester refused to set his hand to it and though the Arch-Bishop pressed him most earnestly to it yet he persisted in his refusal saying that it was against his Conscience Upon which the Arch-Bishop made another write down his Name and set his Seal to the Resolution of the rest of the Bishops But this being afterwards questioned the Bishop of Rochester denied it was his hand and the Arch-Bishop pretended that he had leave given him by the Bishop to put his hand to it which the other denied Nor was it likely that Fisher who scrupled in Conscience to Subscribe it himself would have consented to such a weak Artifice But all the other Bishops did declare against the Marriage and as the King himself said afterwards in the Legantine Court neither the Cardinal nor the Bishop of Lincoln did first suggest these scruples but the King being possessed with them did in Confession propose them to that Bishop and added that the Cardinal was so far from cherishing them that he did all he could to stiffle them The King was now convinced that his Marriage was unlawful both by his own study and the resolution of his Divines And as the point of Conscience wrought on him so the Interest of the Kingdom required that there should be no doubting about the Succession to the Crown left as the long Civil-War between the Houses of York and Lancaster had been buried with his Father so a new one should rise up at his death The King of Scotland was the next Heir to the Crown after his Daughter And if he Married his Daughter to any out of France then he had reason to judge that the French upon their Ancient Alliance with Scotland and that they might divide and distract England would be ready to assist the King of Scotland in his pretensions Or if he Married her in France then all those in England to whom the French Government was hateful and the Emperour and other Princes to whom the French Power grew formidable would have been as ready to support the pretensions of Scotland Or if he should either set up his Barstard Son or the Children which his Sister bore to Charles Brandon there was still cause to fear a Bloody decision of a Title that was so doubtful And though this may seem a consideration too Politick and Forreign to a matter of that nature yet the obligation that lies on a Prince to provide for the happiness and quiet of his Subjects was so weighty a thing that it might well come in among other Motives to incline the King much to have this matter determined At this time the Cardinal went over into France under colour to conclude a League between the Two Crowns and to Treat about the means of setting the Pope at liberty who was then the Emperours Prisoner at Rome and also for a project of Peace between Francis and the Emperour But his chief business was to require Francis to declare his Resolutions concerning that alternative about the Lady Mary To which it was answered That the Duke of Orleance as a fitter Match in years was the French King's Choice but this matter fell to the ground upon the Process that followed soon aâ—ter The King did much apprehend the opposition the Emperour was like to make to his designs either out of a principle of nature and honour to protect his Aunt or out of a Maxime of State to raise his Enemy all the trouble he could at home But on the other hand he had some cause to hope well even in that
and Aldermen of London She said She was come to die as she was Judged by the Law she would accuse none nor say any thing of the ground upon which she was judged She prayed heartily for the King and called him a most merciful and gentle Prince and that he had been always to her a good gentle Soveraign Lord and if any would meddle with her cause she required them to judge the best And so she took her leave of them and of the world and heartily desired they would pray for her After she had been some time in her Devotions being her last words To Christ I commend my Soul her Head was cut off by the Hangman of Calais who was brought over as more expert at Beheading than any in England her Eyes and Lips were observed to move after her Head was cut off as Spelman writes but her Body was thrown into a common Chest of Elme-tree that was made to put Arrows in and was buried in the Chappel within the Tower before twelve a Clock Her Brother with the other four did also suffer none of them were Quartered but they were all Beheaded except Smeton who was Hanged It was generally said that he was corrupted into that Confession and had his Life promised him but it was not fit to let him live to tell Tales Norris had been much in the Kings favour and an offer was made him of his life if he would confess his guilt and accuse the Queen But he generously rejected that un-handsome proposition and said That in his Conscience he thought her Innocent of these things laid to her charge but whether she was or not he would not accuse her of any thing and he would die a thousand times rather than ruin an Innocent Person These proceedings occasioned as great variety of Censures as there were diversity of Interests The Popish Party said the justice of God was visible that she who had supplanted Queen Katharine met with the like and harder measure by the same means Some took notice of her faint justifying her self on the Scaffold as if her Conscience had then prevailed so far that she could no longer deny a thing for which she was so soon to answer at another Tribunal But others thought her care of her Daughter made her speak so tenderly for she had observed that Queen Katharines obstinacy had drawn the Kings indignation on her Daughter and therefore that she alone might bear her misfortunes and derive no share of them on her Daughter she spake in a stile that could give the King no just offence And as she said enough to justifie her self so she said as much for the Kings honour as could be expected Yet in a Letter that she wrote to the King from the Tower which will be found in the Collection she pleaded her Innocence in a strain of so much Wit and moving passionate Eloquence as perhaps can scarce be paralelled certainly her spirits were much exalted when she wrote it for it is a pitch above her ordinary stile Yet the Copy I take it from lying among Cromwells other papers makes me believe it was truely written by her Her carriage seemed too free and all people thought that some freedoms and levities in her had encouraged those unfortunate persons to speak such bold things to her since few attempt upon the Chastity or make declarations of Love to persons of so exalted a quality except they see some invitations at least in their carriage Others thought that a free and jovial temper might with great Innocence though with no discretion lead one to all those things that were proved against her and therefore they concluded her chast though indiscreet Others blamed the King and taxed his cruelty in proceeding so severely against a person whose Chastity he had reason to be assured of since she had resisted his addresses near five years till he Legitimated them by Marriage But others excused him It is certain her carriage had given just cause of some jealousie and that being the rage of a man it was no wonder if a King of his temper conceiving it against one whom he had so signally obliged was transported into unjustifiable excesses Others condemned Cranmer as a man that obsequiously followed all the Kings appetites and that he had now Divorced the King a second time which shewed that his Conscience was governed by the Kings pleasure as his Supreme Law But what he did was unavoidable For whatever motives drew from her the Confession of that Precontract he was obliged to give Sentence upon it And that which she confessed being such as made her incapable to contract Marriage with the King he could not decline the giving of Sentence upon so formal a Confession Some loaded all that favoured the Reformation and said It now appeared what a woman their great Patroness and Supporter had been But to those it was answered That her faults if true being secret could cast no reflection on those who being ignorant of them made use of her Protection And the Church of Rome thought not their Cause suffered by the enraged Cruelty and Ambition of the cursed Irene who had convened the second Council of Nice and set up the worship of Images again in the East whom the Popes continued to court and magnifie after her barbarous murder of her Son with other acts of unsatiated spite and ambition Therefore they had no reason to think the worse of persons for claiming the Protection of a Queen whose faults if she was at all criminal were unknown to them when they made use of her Some have since that time concluded it a great evidence of her Guilt that during her Daughters long and glorious Reign there was no full nor compleat vindication of her published For the Writers of that time thought it enough to speak honourably of her and in general to call her Innocent But none of them ever attempted a clear discussion of the particulars laid to her charge This had been much to her Daughters honour and therefore since it was not done others concluded it could not be done and that their knowledge of her guilt restrained their Pens But others do not at all allow of that Inference and think rather that it was the great wisdom of that time not to suffer such things to be called in question since no wise Government will admit of a debate about the clearness of the Princes Title For the very attempting to prove it weakens it more than any of the proofs that are brought can confirm it therefore it was prudently done of that Queen and her great Ministers never to suffer any Vindication or Apology to be written Some indiscretions could not be denied and these would all have been catched hold of and improved by the busie Emissaries of Rome and Spain But nothing did more evidently discover the secret cause of this Queens ruin than the Kings Marrying Iane Seimour the day after her Execution She of all King Henries
find of him There is a Pardon granted to Stokesly Bishop of London on the 3d of Iuly in the 30th year of his Reign being this year for having Acted by Commission from Rome and sued out Bulls from thence If these crimes were done before the Separation from Rome they were remitted by the General Pardon If he took a particular Pardon it seems strange that it was not enrolled till now But I am apt to believe it was rather the Omission of a Clerk than his being guilty of such a Transgression about this time for I see no cause to think the King would have Pardoned such a Crime in a Bishop in those days All that Party had now by their complyance and Submission gained so much on the King that he began to turn more to their Councils than he had done of late years Gardiner was returned from France where he had been Ambassador for some years He had been also in the Emperors Court and there were violent presumptions that he had secretly reconciled himself to the Pope and entred into a Correspondence with him For one of the Legates Servants discoursed of it at Ratisbone to one of Sir Henry Knevets retinue who was joyned in the Embassy with Gardiner whom he took to be Gardiners Servant and with whom he had an old acquaintance The matter was traced and Knevet spoke with the Italian that had first let it fall and was perswaded of the truth of the thing But Gardiner smelling it out said That Italian upon whose Testimony the whole matter depended was corrupted to ruine him and complained of it to the Emperors Chancellor Granvel Upon which Ludovico that was the Italian name was put in Prison And it seems the King either looked on it as a Contrivance of Gardiners enemies or at least seemed to do so for he continued still to employ him Yet on many occasions he expressed great contempt of him and used him not as a Councellor but as a slave But he was a man of great cunning and had observed the Kings temper exactly and knew well to take a fit occasion for moving the King in any thing and could improve it dextrously He therefore represented to the King that nothing would so secure him both at home and abroad against all the mischief the Pope was contriving as to shew great zeal against Hereticks chiefly the Sacramentaries by that name they branded all that denied the Corporal presence of Christ in the Eucharist And the King being all his life zealous for the belief of the Corporal presence was the more easily perswaded to be severe on that Head And the rather because the Princes of Germany whose friendship was necessary to him being all Lutherans his proceedings against the Sacramentaries would give them no offence An occasion at that time presented it self as opportunely as they could have wished one Iohn Nicolson alias Lambert was then questioned by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury for that opinion He had been Minister of the English Company at Antwerp where being acquainted with Tindal and Frith he improved that knowledg of Religion which was first infused in him by Bilney But Chancellor More ordered the Merchants to dismiss him so he came over to England and was taken by some of Arch-Bishop Warhams officers and many Articles were objected to him But Warham died soon after and the change of Counsels that followed occasioned his Liberty So he kept a School at London and hearing Doctor Taylor afterwards Bishop of Lincoln Preach of the presence of Christ in the Sacrament he came to him upon it and offered his reasons why he could not believe the Doctrine he had Preached Which he put in Writing digesting them into ten Arguments Taylor shewed this to Doctor Barnes who as he was bred among the Lutherans so had not only brought over their opinions but their temper with him He thought that nothing would more obstruct the progress of the Reformation than the venting that Doctrine in England Therefore Taylor and he carryed the Paper to Cranmer who was at that time also of Luthers opinion which he had drunk in from his friend Osiander Latimer was of the same belief So Lambert was brought before them and they studyed to make him retract his Paper But all was in vain for Lambert by a fatal resolution appealed to the King This Gardiner laid hold on and perswaded the King to proceed solemnly and severely in it The King was soon prevailed with and both Interest and Vanity concurred to make him improve this opportunity for shewing his zeal and Learning So Letters were written to many of the Nobility and Bishops to come and see this Tryal in which the King intended to sit in Person and to manage some part of the Argument In November on the day that was prefixed there was a great appearance in Westminster-Hall of the Bishops and Clergy the Nobility Judges and the Kings Council with an incredible number of Spectators The Kings Guards were all in White and so was the Cloth of State When the Prisoner was brought to the Barr. The Tryal was opened by a Speech of Doctor Dayes which was to this effect That this Assembly was not at all convened to dispute about any Point of Faith but that the King being Supream Head intended openly to condemn and confute that mans Heresie in all their presence Then the King commanded him to declare his opinion about the Sacrament To which Lambert began his answer with a Preface acknowledging the Kings great goodness that he would thus hear the Causes of his Subjects and commending his great Judgment and Learning In this the King interrupted him telling him in Latine that he came not there to hear his own praises set forth and therefore commanded him to speak to the matter This he uttered with a stern Countenance At which Lambert being a little disordered the King asked him again whether was Christ's body in the Sacrament or not He answered in the Words of St. Austine It was his Body in a certain manner But the King bade him answer plainly whether it was Christs Body or not So he answered That it was not his Body Upon which the King urged him with the words of Scripture This is my Body and then he commanded the Arch-Bishop to confute his Opinion who spoke only to that part of it which was grounded on the Impossibility of a Bodies being in two places at once And that he confuted from Christs appearing to St. Paul shewing that though he is alwayes in Heaven yet he was seen by St. Paul in the Air. But Lambert affirmed that he was then only in Heaven and that St. Paul heard a Voice and saw a Vision but not the very body of Christ. Upon this they disputed for some time in which it seems the Bishop of Winchester thought Cranmer argued but faintly for he interposed in the Argument Tonstals arguments run all upon Gods Omnipotency that it was not to be
Christs express Command was to be drunk by all and that they were kept in a worship to which the unlearned could not say Amen since they understood not what was said either in the Collects or Hymns So the King had many Complaints brought him of the Abuses that were said to have risen from the Liberty given the people to read the Scriptures Upon which Bonner no doubt having obtained the Kings leave set up a new Advertisement in which he complained of these Abuses in the reading the Bible for which he threatned the people that he would remove these Bibles out of the Church if they continued as they did to abuse so high a favour Yet these Complaints produced no further severity at this time But by them the Popish party afterwards obtained what they desired This Summer the King turned the Monastery of Burton upon Trent into a Collegiat Church for a Dean and four Prebends and the Monastery of Thornton in Lincolnshire into another for a Dean and four Prebends In this year Cranmer took it into Consideration to what excess the Tables of the Bishops had risen whereby those Revenues that ought to have been applyed to better purposes were wasted on great Entertainment which though they passed under the decent name of Hospitality yet were in themselves both too high and expensive and proved great hindrances to Church-mens Charity in more necessary and profitable Instances He therefore set out an Order for Regulating that Expence by which an Arch-Bishops Table was not to exceed six dishes of meat and four of Banquet a Bishops five dishes of meat and three of Banquet a Deans or Arch-Deacons Table was not to exceed four dishes and two of Banquet and other Clergy-men might be served only with two dishes But he that gives us the account of this laments that this Regulation took no effect And complains that the people expecting generally such splendid House-keeping from the Dignified Clergy and not considering how short their Revenues are of what they were anciently they out of a weak Complyance with the Multitude have disabled themselves from keeping Hospitality as our Saviour ordered it not for the Rich but the Poor not to mention the other ill effects that follow too sumptuous a Table In the end of this year the Tragical fall of the Queen put a stop to all other proceedings The King had invited his Nephew the King of Scotland to meet him at York who was resolved to come thither The King intended to gain upon him all he could and to engage him to follow the Copy he had set him in Extirpating the Popes Supremacy and Suppressing Abbeys and to establish a firm agreement in all other things The Clergy of Scotland feared the ill effects of that Interview especially their King being a Prince of most extraordinary parts who had he not blemished his Government with being so extreamly addicted to his pleasures was the Greatest Prince that Nation had for several Ages He was a great Patron of Learning and Executor of Justice he used in person and Incognito to go over his Kingdom and see how Justice was every-where done He had no very good opinion of the Religious Orders and had encouraged Buchanan to write a severe and witty Libel against the Franciscan Friars So that they were very apprehensive that he might have been wrought on by his Uncle Therefore they used all their endeavours to divert his Journey But the French King that had him fast engaged to his Interests falling then off from the King wrought more on him So instead of meeting the King at York where magnificent preparations were made for his Reception he sent his Excuse which provoked his Uncle and gave occasion to a breach that followed not long after But here I shall crave the Readers leave to give a full representation of the state of Religion at this time in Scotland and of the footing the Reformation had got there Its neighbourhood to England and the union of these Kingdoms first in the same Religion and since under the same Princes together with the intercourse that was both in this and the next Reign between these Nations seem not only to justifie this Digression but rather to challenge it as a part of the History without which it should be defective And it may be the rather expected from one who had his Birth and Education in that Kingdom The Correspondence between that Crown and France was the cause that what Learning they had came from Paris where our Kings generally kept some Schollars and from that great Nursery they were brought over and set in the Universities of Scotland to propagate Learning there From the year 1412 in which Wardlaw Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews first founded that University Learning had made such a progress that more Colledges were soon after founded in that City Universities were also founded both at Glasgow and Aberdeen which have since furnished that Nation with many eminent Scholars in all professions But at the time that Learning came into Scotland the knowledg of true Religion also followed it and in that same Arch-Bishops time one Iohn Resby an English man a follower of Wickliffs opinions was charged with Heresie Forty Articles were objected to him of which two are only mentioned The one was that The Pope is not Christs Vicar The other was that he was not to be esteemed a Pope if he was a man of wicked life For maintaining these he was burnt Anno 1407. 24 years after that one Paul Craâ— came out of Germany and being a Bohemian and an Hussite was infusing his Doctrine into some at St. Andrews which being discovered he was judged an obstinate Heretick and burnt there Anno 1432. And to encourage people to prosecute such persons Fogo who had discovered him was rewarded with the Abbey of Melross soon after It does not appear that those Doctrines which were called Lollardies in England had gained many followers in Scotland till near the end of that Century But then it was found that they were much spread over the Western parts which being in the neighbourhood of England those who were persecuted there might perhaps fly into Scotland and spread their Doctrine in that Kingdom Several persons of Quality were then charged with these Articles and brought to the Arch-Bishop of Glasgows Courts But they answered him with such confidence that he thought fit to discharge them with an admonition to take heed of new Doctrines and to content themselves with the Faith of the Church At this time the Clergy in Scotland were both very ignorant and dissolute in their manners The Secular Clergy minded nothing but their Tithes and did either hire some Friers to Preach or some poor Priests to sing Masses to them at their Churches The Abbots had possessed themselves of the best seats and the greatest wealth of the Nation and by a profuse Superstition almost the one half of
to the Commons with words to be put in or put out of it On the 6th the Commons sent it up with some alterations And on the 8th the Lords sent it down again to the Commons where it lay till the 17th and then it was sent up with their agreement And the Kings Assent was given by his Letters Patents on the 29th of March. The Preamble was That whereas untrue accusations and presentments might be maliciously contrived against the Kings Subjects and kept secret till a time were espied to have them by malice convicted Therefore it was Enacted That none should be Endited but upon a presentment by the Oaths of twelve men to at least three of the Commissioners appointed by the King and that none should be Imprisoned but upon an Enditement except by a special Warrant from the King and that all Presentments should be made within one year after the Offences were committed and if words were uttered in a Sermon contrary to the Statute they must be complained of within forty dayes unless a just cause were given why it could not be so soon Admittiâ—g also the parties Endited to all such Challenges as they might have in any other case of Felony This Act has clearly a Relation to the Conspiracies mentioned the former year both against the Arch-Bishop and some of the Kings Servants Another Act passed continuing some former Acts for revising the Canon-Law and for drawing up such a body of Ecclesiastical Laws as should have Authority in England This Cranmer pressed often with great vehemence and to shew the necessity of it drew out a short Extract of some passages in the Canon-Law which the Reader will find in the Collection to shew how undecent a thing it was to let a Volume in which such Laws were be studyed or considered any longer in England Therefore he was earnest to have such a Collection of Ecclesiastical Laws made as might regulate the Spiritual Courts But it was found more for the greatness of the Prerogative and the Authority of the Civil Courts to keep that undetermined so he could never obtain his desire during this Kings Reign Another Act passed in this Parliament for the remission of a Loan of Money which the King had raised This is almost copied out of an Act to the same effect that passed in the twenty first year of the Kings Reign with this addition That by this Act those who had got payment either in whole or in part of the Sums so lent the King were to repay it back to the Exchequer All business being finished and a general pardon passed with the ordinary exceptions of some Crimes among which Heresie is one the Parliament was Prorogued on the 29th of March to the 4th of November The King had now a War both with France and Scotland upon him And therefore to prepare for it he both enhanced the value of Money and embased it for which he that writes his vindication gives this for the reason That the Coin being generally embased all over Europe he was forced to do it lest otherwise all the Money should have gone out of the Kingdom He resolved to begin the War with Scotland and sent an Army by Sea thither under the command of the Earl of Hartford afterwards Duke of Somerset who landing at Grantham a little above Leith burnt and spoiled Leith and Edenburgh in which they found more riches than they thought could possibly have been there and they went through the Countrey burning and spoiling it every-where till they came to Berwick But they did too much if they intended to gain the hearts of that people and too little if they intended to subdue them For as they besieged not the Castle of Edinburgh which would have cost them more time and trouble so they did not fortifie Leith nor leave a Garrison in it which was such an inexcusable Omission that it seems their Counsels were very weak and ill laid For Leith being fortified and a Fleet kept going between it and Berwick or Tinmouth the Trade of the Kingdom must have been quite stopt Edinburgh ruined the Intercourse between France and them cut off and the whole Kingdom forced to submit to the King But the spoils this Army made had no other effect but to enrage the Kingdom and unite them so entirely to the French Interests that when the Eaâ—l of Lâ—nnâ—x was sent down by the King to the Western parts of Scotland where his Power lay he could get none to follow him And the Governor of Dunbritton Castle though his own Lieutenant would not deliver that Castle to him when he understood he was to put it in the King of Englands hands but drove him out others say he â—â—ed away of himself else he had been taken Prisoner The King was now to cross the Seas but before he went he studied to settle the matters of Religion so that both Parties might have some content Audley the Chancellor dying he made the Lord Wriothesley that had been Secretary and was of the Popish Party Lord Chancellor but made Sir William Petre that was Cranmers great friend Secretary of State He also committed the Government of the Kingdom in his absence to the Queen to whom he joyned the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Lord Chancellor the Earl of Hartford and Secretary Petre. And if there was need of any Force to be raised he appointed the Earl of Hartford his Lieutenant under whose Government the Reformers needed not fear any thing But he did another Act that did wonderfully please that whole Party which was the Translating of the Prayers for the Processions and Litaâ—ies into the English tongue This was sent to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury on the 11th of Iune with an Order that it should be used over all his Province as the Reader will find in the Collection This was not only very acceptable to that Party because of the thing it self but it gave them hope that the King was again opening his ears to motions for Reformation to which they had been shut now about six years And therefore they looked that more things of that nature would quickly follow And as these Prayers werâ— now set out in English so they doubted not but there being the same reason to put all the other Offices in the vulgar tongue they would prevail for that too Things being thus setled at home the King having sent his Forces over before him crossed the Seas with much pomp the Sails of his Ship being of Cloth of Gold He Landed at Calais the 14th of Iuly The Emperor pressed his marching straight to Paris But he thought it of more importance to take Bulloign and after two months Siege it was surrendred to him into which he made his Entry with great Triumph on the 18th of September But the Emperor having thus engaged those two Crowns in a War and designing while they should fight it out to make himself Master of Gâ—rmanâ— concluded a Treaty
Hereticks in a little time Bird said doest thou marvel at that I tell thee it is no marvel for the great Master of all is an Heretick and such a one as there is not his like in the World By the same Act the Lord Hungerford was likewise Attainted The Crimes specified are that he knowing Bird to be a Traitor did entertain him in his house as his Chaplain that he ordered another of his Chaplains Sir Hugh Wood and one Doctor Maudlin to use Conjuring that they might know how long the King should live and whether he should be victorious over his Enemies or not and that these three years last past he had frequently committed the detestable sin of Sodomy with several of his Servants All these were Attainted by that Parliament The Lord Hungerford was Executed the same day with Cromwell he dyed in such disorder that some thought he was frenetick for he called often to the Executioner to dispatch him and said he was weary of Life and longed to be dead which seemed strange in a man that had so little cause to hope in his death For Powel Fetherstoun and Abell they suffered the same day with Barnes and his friends as hath been already shewn This year Sampson Bishop of Chichester and one Doctor Wilson were put in the Toâ—er upon suspition of correspondence with the Pope But upon their submission they had their pardon and liberty In the year 1541 five Priests and ten secular persons some of them being Gentlemen of Quality were raising a new Rebellion in Yorkshire which was suppressed in time and the Promoters of it being apprehended were Attainted and Executed and this occasioned the death of the Countess of Sarum after the Execution of the Sentence had been delayed almost two years The last instance of the Kings severity was in the year 1543 in which one Gardiner that was the Bishop of Winchesters kinsman and Secretary and three other Priests were tryed for denying the Kings Supremacy and soon after Executed But what special matter was laid to their charge cannot be known for the Record of their Attaindor is lost These were the proceedings of this King against those that adhered to the interests of Rome in which though there is great ground for just censure for as the Laws were rigorous so the Execution of them was raised to the highest that the Law could admit yet there is nothing in them to justifie all the clamors which that party have raised against King Henry and by which they pursue his memory to this day and are far short both in number and degrees of the cruelties of Queen Maries Reign which yet they endeavour all that is possible to extenuate or deny To Conclude we have now gone through the Reign of King Henry the 8th who is rather to be reckoned among the Great than the Good Princes He exercised so much severity on men of both perswasions that the writers of both sides have laid open his faults and taxed his cruelty But as neither of them were much obliged to him so none have taken so much care to set forth his good qualities as his Enemies have done to enlarge on his Vices I do not deny that he is to be numbered among the ill Princes yet I cannot rank him with the worst The End of the third Book and of the first Part. ADDENDA After some of the sheets of this History were wrought off I met with Manuscripts of great Authority out of which I have Collected several particulars that give a clear light to the proceedings in those times which since they came too late to my knowledg to be put in their proper places I shall here add them with refâ—râ—nces to the places to which they belong Ad Page 202. line 13. THere it is said that the Earl of Wiltshire Father to Queen Anne Boleyn was one of the Peers that Judged her In this I too Implicitly followed Doctor Heylin he seeming to write with more than ordinary care for the Vindication of that Queen and with such assurance as if he had seen the Records concerning her so that I took this upon trust from him The reason of it was that in the search I made of Attaindors I did not find the Record of her Tryal so I concluded that either it was destroyed by Order during her Daughters Reign or was accidentally lost since that time And thus having no Record to direct me I too easily followed the Printed Books in that particular But after that part of this History was wrought off I by chance met with it in another place where it was mislaid and there I discovered the error I had committed The Earl of Wiltshire was not one of her Judges these by whom she was tryed were the Duke of Suffolk the Marquis of Exceter the Earls of Arundell Oxford Northumberland Westmoreland Derby Worcester Rutland Sussex and Huntington and the Lords Audley Delaware Mountague Morley Dacres Cobham Maltravers Powis Mounteagle Clinton Sands Windsor Wentworth Burgh and Mordant in all twenty six and not twenty Eight as I reckoned them upon a Vulgar Error The Record mentions one particular concerning the Earl of Northumberland that he was taken with a sudden fit of sickness and was forced to leave the Court before the Lord Rochford was Tryed This might have been only Casual but since he was once in Love with the Queen and had designed to Marry her see Page 44 it is no wonder if so sad a change in her Condition did raise an unusual disorder in him When I had discovered the mistake I had made as I resolved to publish this free Confession of it so I set my self not without some Indignation to examine upon what Authority Doctor Heylin had led me into it I could find no Author that went before him in it but Sanders the chief design of whose writing was to defame Queen Elizabeth and to blast her Title to the Crown To that end it was no ill piece of his skill to perswade the World of her Mother lewdness to say that her own Father was convinced of it and condemned her for it And Doctor Heylin took this as he has done many other things too easily upon Sanders Testimony Ad Page 217. line 37. The Articles of Religion of which an abstract is there set down are indeed published by Fullâ—r but he saw not the Original with all the Subscriptions to it which I have had in my hands and therefore I have put it in the Collection with three other Papers which were soon after offered to the King by Cranmer The one is in the form of fifteen queries concerning some abuses by which the people had been deceived as namely by these Doctrines that without Contrition sinners may be reconciled to God that it is in the Power of the Priest to pardon or not to pardon sin at his pleasure and that Gods pardon cannot be obtained without Priestly Absolution Also he complained that the people
for ye took not this Maiden for a mad Woman for if ye had ye would not have given unto her so great credence as ye did To the final and seventh Cause Where ye lay unto the charge of our Sovereign that so hath unkindly entreated you with grievous Words and terrible Letters for shewing his Grace truth in his great Matter whereby ye were discomforted to shew unto him the Maidens Revelations I believe that I know the King's Goodness and natural Gentleness so well that his Grace would not so unkindly handled you as your unkindly writings him unless ye gave him other Causes than be expressed in your Letters And whatsoever the King's Grace hath said or written unto you heretofore yet notwithstanding ye were nevertheless bounden to utter to him those pernicious Revelations Finally Where ye desire for the Passion of Christ that ye be no more twitched in this matter for if ye be put to that strait ye will not lose your Soul but ye will speak as your Conscience bindeth you with many more words of great courage My Lord if ye had taken my counsel sent unto you by your Brother and followed the same submitting your self by your Letters at the King's Grace for your offences in this behalf I would have trusted that ye should never be quykkrand in this matter more But now where ye take upon you to defend the whole Matter as ye were in no default I cannot so far promise you And surely my Lord if the Matter come to trial your own confession in this Letter besides the Witness which be against you will be sufficient to condemn you Wherefore my Lord I will eft-soons advise you That laying apart all such excuses as ye have alledged in your Letters which in my opinion be of small effect as I have declared ye beseech the King's Grace by your Letters to be your Gracious Lord and to remit unto you your negligence over-sight and offence committed against his Highness in this behalf and I dare undertake that his Highness shall benignly accept you into his gracious favour all matters of displeasure past afore this time forgotten and forgiven As touching the speaking of your Conscience It is thought that ye have written and have spoken as much as ye can and many things as some right probably believes against your own Conscience and many report that at the last Convocation ye spake many things which ye could not well defend and therefore it is not greatly feared what ye can say or write in that Matter howsoever ye be qukkrane and startled And if ye had taken c. L. Pope's Supremacy signed by the Heads of six Religious Houses QUum ea sit non solum Christianae Religionis pietatis ratio sed nostrae etiam obedientiae regula ut Domino nostro Henrico ejus nominis pro Dominio Regio Octavo cui uni soli post Christum Iesum Salvatorem nostrum debentur omnia non modo omnimodam in Christo eandem sinceram perpetuamque animi devotionem fidem observantiam honorem cultum reverentiam praestemus sed etiam de eadem fide observantia nostra rationem quotiescunque postulabitur reddamus palam omnibus si res poscat libentissime testemur Norint universi ad quos praesens scriptum pervenit quod nos Priores Conventus fratrum viz. praedicatoris Langley Regis ordinis Sancti Dominici Minorum de Ailsbury Ordinis Sancti Francisci praedicatorum Dunstopliae Ordinis antedicti Minorum de Bedford Ordinis Sancti Francisci Fratrum Carmelitarum de Hechyng Ordinis Beatae Mariae Minorum de Morea Ordinis Sancti Francisci uno ore voce atque unanimi omnium singulorum consensu assensu hoc scripto nostro sub sigillis nostris communibus in domibus nostris capitularibus dato pro nobis successoribus nostris omnibus singulis in perpetuum profitemur testamur fideliter promittimus spondemus nos dictos Priores Conventus Successores nostros omnes singulos integram inviolatam sinceram perpetuamque fidem observantiam obedientiam semper praestituros erga Dominum Regem nostrum Henricum Octavum erga Serenissimam Reginam Annam Uxorem ejusdem erga castum Sanctumque Matrimonium nuper non solum inter eosdem juste legitime contractum ratum consummatum sed etiam tam in duabus Convocationibus Cleri quam in Parliamento Dominorum Spiritualium Temporalium atque Communium in eodem Parliamento Congregatorum praesentum determinatum per Thomam Cantuarien Episcopum solenniter confirmatum erga quamcunque aliam ejusdem Henrici Regis nostri Uxorem post mortem praedictae Annae nunc Uxoris suae legitimae ducendam erga sobolem dicti Domini Regis Henrici ex praedicta Anna legitime tam progenitam quam progignendam erga sobolem dicti Domini Regis ex alia quacunque legitima Uxore post mortem ejusdem Annae legitime progignendam quod eadem populo notificabimus praedicabimus suadebimus ubicunque dabitur locus occasio Item quod confirmatum ratumque habemus semperque perpetuo habituri sumus quod praedictus Rex noster Henricus est Caput Ecclesiae Anglicanae Item quod Episcopus Romanus qui in suis Bullis Papae nomen usurpat summi Pontificis Principatum sibi arrogat nihilo majoris neque Auctoritatis aut jurisdictionis habendus sit quam caeteri quivis Episcopi in Anglia alibi in sua cujusque Diocese Item quod soli dicto Domino Regi Successoribus suis adhaerebimus atque ejus Proclamationes insuper omnes Angliae leges atque etiam Statuta omnia in Parliamento per Parliamentum decreta confirmata stabilita ratificata perpetuo manutenebimus Episcopi Romani legibus decretis Canonibus si qui contra legem Divinam Sacram Scripturam esse invenientur in perpetuum renunciantes Item quod nullus nostrum omnium in ulla vel privata vel publica concione quicquam ex Sacris Scripturis desumptum ad alienum sensum detorquere praesumet sed quisquis Christum ejusque vera praedicabit Catholice Orthodoxe Item quod unusquisque in suis orationibus comprecationibus de more faciendis primum omnium Regem tanquam Supremum Caput Ecclesiae Anglicanae Deo populi precibus commendabit deinde Reginam cum sua sobole tum demum Archiepiscopum Cantuarien cum caeteris Cleri Ordinibus prout videbitur Item quod omnes singuli praedicti Priores Conventus Successores nostri Conscientiae Jurisjurandi Sacro firmiter obligamur quod omnia singula praedicta sideliter in perpetuum observabimus In cujus rei testimonium huic Instrumento vel scripto nostro communia sigilla nostra appendimus nostra nomina propria quisque manu subscripsimus Sacris in Domibus nostris Capitularibus die quinto Mensis Maii Anno Christi millesimo quingentesimo
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
than they were wont to be letten for to the intent to have great sums of ready Mony before hand 55. Item Whether he do enforce compel or constrain his Brethren or any of them to consent to the sealing of any Leases Grants Farm-Holds Annuities Corrodies or any other Alienations 56. Item Whether the Plate and Jewels or any part or parcel thereof or of any other moveable Goods of this House be laid to pledg sold or alienated for a time or for ever for what cause and to whom or otherwise imbezled or consumed 57. Item Whether the Master of this House be wont to give under his Seal of Office or Covent-Seal Farms Corrodies Annuities or Offices to his Kinsfolk Alliances Friends or Acquaintance for term of years or otherwise to the hurt hindrance dammage and impoverishment of this House 58. Item Whether he be wont to grant any Patent or Covent-Seal without the consent of his Brethren 59. Item Whether the Covent-Seal of this House be surely and safely kept under three Keys that is to say one remaining and being in the custody of the Master and the other two in the custody of two Seniours 60. Item Whether the Muniments and Evidences of the Lands Rents and Revenues of this House be safely kept from Vermine and Moistness 61. Item Whether the Master do keep Hospitality according to the ability of his House and in like manner as other Fathers hereof have done heretofore 62. Item Whether the Master of this House in receiving any Novice being of willing and toward mind to enter into Religion hath demanded or received or convented to receive any Mony Rewards or any other temporal Commodities of him so entring or willing to enter or of any other his Friends and whether for not promising granting or giving such Rewards or Gifts any hath been repelled and not received 63. Item Whether the Novices and other received into Religion have a Preceptor and Master deputed unto them to teach them Gramar and good Letters 64. Item Whether any Seniour of this House be deputed to declare inform and instruct them their Rules and whereunto they shall be bounden to observe and keep after their Profession 65. Item Whether any of you have taken upon him the Habit and Profession of your Religion chiefly for the intent hope or trust to be made Head and Master of this House 66. Item Whether the Master of this House in giving any Advocation Nomination Presentation or Collation of any Parsonage Vicarage Chapel or Benefice of the Patronage and Gift this House do take or use to take any manner Pension Portion or other Commodity or Gains or else doth make any Convention or Compaction whereby any lucre may ensue to him in that behalf 67. Item Whether he do receive or use to receive the Fruits and Revenues of every such Benefice vacant or use to borrow any Mony of him to whom he intendeth to give such Benefice unto expresly covenanting or intending that he so obtaining the said Benefice shall freely and clearly remit the said Mony so borrowed 68. Item What and how many Benefices the Master of this House doth occupy and keep in his own hands 69. Item Whether the same Benefices be appropriate and united to this House by sufficient authority 70. Item Whether the Master of this House doth make distributions amongst the Parishoners of the Benefices appropriate and doth keep and observe all and singular other Provisions and Ordinances specified and expressed in the Appropriations of the same Benefices Exhibeant omnes singulas Appropriationes una cum Ordinationibus Dotationibus Vicariatuum 71. Item Whether he do promote unto such Benefices as be of his Gift sufficient and able Persons in Learning Manners and Vertue 72. Item Whether any Brother of this House do serve any Parish-Church being appropriate and united to the same and how many Churches appropriate be so served 73. Item Whether the Master of this House hath and possesseth any Benefice with Cure or any other Dignity with his Abbey Si aliquod tale habet Dispensationem exhibeat 74. Item Whether the Master of this House at any time since he was first made Abbot or Master did know or believe that he was Suspended or Excommunicate either by the Law or by any Judg and whether he knowing or supposing himself so to be did sing Mass in the mean time and before he was absolved In Visitatione Monialium ad Praemissa addantur haec 75. Item Whether this Monastery hath good and sufficient Enclosure and whether the Doors and Windows be diligently kept shut so that no Man can have any entry into the same or any part thereof at inconvenient times Propter quod necessarium erit Visitatori circumire Monasterium ac videre rimare dispositionem aedificiorum an sint aliqua loca pervia per quae secrete intrari possit una secum habeat Abbatissam cum duabus aut tribus senioribus Monialibus a quibus tum interroget an ostia Monasterii singulis quibusque noctibus sub clavibus clausa teneantur quae earum Monialium senio confectarum vel an Abbas ipsa clavium custodiam tempore nocturno habeant teneant nam non est tutum clavium custodiam Iunioribus committere 76. Item Whether Strangers both Men and Women useth commonly to have communication with the Sisters of this House without license of the Abbess or Prioress specially in secret places and in the absence of their Sisters 77. Item Whether any Sister of this House were professed for any manner of compulsion of her Friends and Kinsfolks or by the Abbess or Prioress 78. Item Whether any of the Sisters of this House useth to go forth any whither out of the Precinct thereof without special license of their Abbess or Prioress 79. Item Whether any Sister doth use her Habit continually out of her Cell 80. Item Wherein every one of you occupieth her self beside the time of Divine Service 81. Item Whether any Sister of this House hath any familiarity with Religious Men Secular Priests or Lay-Men being not near of kin unto them 82. Item Whether any Sister of this House hath been taken and found with any such accustomably so communing and could not shew any reasonable cause why they so did 83. Item Whether any of you doth use to write any Letters of Love or lascivious fashion to any Person or receive any such or have any privy Messengers coming and resorting unto you or any of you with Token or Gifts from any manner secular Person or other 84. Item Whether any of you doth use to speak with any manner of Person by night or by day by Grates or back Windows or other privy Places within this Monastry without license of your Head 85. Item Whether the Confessor of this House be a discreet Man of good learning vertue and honest behaviour of good name and fame and whether he hath been always so taken 86. Item How oftimes in the year the Sisters of
to say the one half by you and the other half by them Item That you shall discourage no Man privily or apertly from the reading or hearing of the said Bible but shall expresly provoke stir and exhort every Person to read the same as that which is the very lively Word of God that every Christian Man is bound to embrace believe and follow if he look to be saved admonishing them nevertheless to avoid all contention altercation therein and to use an honest sobriety in the inquisition of the true sense of the same and refer the explication of the obscure places to Men of higher judgment in Scripture Item That ye shall every Sunday and Holy-day through the Year openly and plainly recite to your Parishioners twice or thrice together or oftner if need require one particle or sentence of the Pater Noster or Creed in English to the intent they may learn the same by Heart And so from day to day to give them one little lesson or sentence of the same till they have learned the whole Pater Noster and Creed in English by rote And as they be taught every sentence of the same by rote ye shall expound and declare the understanding of the same unto them exhorting all Parents and Housholders to teach their Children and Servants the same as they are bound in Conscience to do And that done ye shall declare unto them the Ten Commandments one by one every Sunday and Holy-day till they be likewise perfect in the same Item That ye shall in Confessions every Lent examine every Person that cometh to Confession unto you whether they can recite the Articles of our Faith and the Pater Noster in English and hear them say the same particularly wherein if they be not perfect ye shall declare to the same That every Christian Person ought to know the same before they should receive the blessed Sacrament of the Altar and monish them to learn the same more perfectly by the next year following or else like-as they ought not to presume to come to God's Board without perfect knowledg of the same and if they do it is to the great peril of their Souls so ye shall declare unto them that ye look for other Injunctions from the King's Highness by that time to stay and repel all such from God's Board as shall be found ignorant in the Premisses whereof ye do thus admonish them to the intent they should both eschew the peril of their Souls and also the worldly rebuke that they might incur after by the same Item That ye shall make or cause to be made in the said Church and every other Cure ye have one Sermon every quarter of the year at least wherein ye shall purely and sincerely declare the very Gospel of Christ and in the same exhort your Hearers to the Works of Charity Mercy and Faith especially prescribed and commanded in Scripture and not to repose their trust or affiance in any other Works devised by Mens fantasies beside Scripture as in wandring to Pilgrimages offering of Mony Candels or Tapers to Images or Reliques or kissing or licking the same over saying over a number of Beads not understanded or minded on or in such-like superstition for the doing whereof ye not only have no promise of reward in Scripture but contrariwise great threats and maledictions of God as things tending to Idolatry and Superstition which of all other Offences God Almighty doth most detest and abhor for that the same diminisheth most his honour and glory Item That such feigned Images as ye know in any of your Cures to be so abused with Pilgrimages or Offerings of any thing made thereunto ye shall for avoiding of that most detestable offence of Idolatry forthwith take down and without delay and shall suffer from henceforth no Candles Tapers or Images of Wax to be set afore any Image or Picture but only the Light that commonly goeth a-cross the Church by the Rood-loft the Light before the Sacrament of the Altar and the Light about the Sepulchre which for the adorning of the Church and Divine Service ye shall suffer to remain still admonishing your Parishioners that Images serve for none other purpose but as to be Books of unlearned Men that ken no Letters whereby they might be otherwise admonished of the lives and conversation of them that the said Images do represent which Images if they abuse for any other intent than for such remembrances they commit Idolatry in the same to the great danger of their Souls And therefore the King's Highness graciously tendring the weal of his Subjects Souls hath in part already and more will hereafter travail for the abolishing of such Images as might be an occasion of so great an offence to God and so great a danger to the Souls of his loving Subjects Item That all in such Benefices or Cures as ye have whereupon ye be not your self Resident ye shall appoint such Curats in your stead as can both by their hability and also promptly execute these Injunctions and do their duty otherwise that ye are bounden in every behalf accordingly and may profit them no less with good Examples of living than with declaration of the Word of God or else their lack and defaults shall be imputed unto you who shall straitly answer for the same if they do otherwise Item That ye shall admit no Man to preach within any your Benefices or Cures but such as shall appear unto you to be sufficiently licensed thereunto by the King's Highness or his Grace's Authority by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury or the Bishop of this Diocess and such as shall be so licensed ye shall gladly receive to declare the Word of God without any resistance or contradiction Item If ye have heretofore declared to your Parishioners any thing to the extolling or setting forth of Pilgrimages feigned Reliques or Images or any such superstitions that you shall now openly afore the same recant and reprove the same shewing them as the truth is that ye did the same upon no ground of Scripture but as one led and seduced by a common Error and Abuse crept into the Church through the sufferance and avarice of such as felt profit by the same Item If ye do or shall know any Man within your Parish or elsewhere that is a Letter of the Word of God to be read in English or sincerely preached or of the execution of these Injunctions or a favourer of the Bishop of Rome's pretensed Power now by the Laws of this Realm justly rejected and extirped ye shall detect and present the same to the King's Highness or his honourable Council or to his Vice-gerent aforesaid or the Justice of Peace next adjoining Item That you and every Parson Vicar or Curat within this Diocess shall for every Church keep one Book or Register wherein he shall write the day and year of every Wedding Christening and Burying made within your Parish for your time and so every Man succeeding you