the faith with weapons or other thinges forbidden Massacrers possessors by violence other which they are accustomed to condemn curse the Maundy Thursday before Easter in the Bull which they call In caena Domini Afterwards banished by the Emperour in a generall assemblie of the Princes of th'empire you may not doubt if he were then put into a heate to skirmish more eagerly then euer he did so as that being published throughout and otherwise pricked forward by the threates and outragious speeches of Cardinall S. Kiste and other his aduersaries and besides seeing himselfe supported as wel by Frederic Duke of Saxe his Mecenas as many other Lords gentlemen and great personages attempted a matter which neuer before he durst so much as haue dreamed of cleane to abolish the Masse by his writings which he published to that end at Witemberg First with Frederic whom by little little he gained as well by his own arguments as by the authoritie of Philip de Melancthon a professor at Witemberge Iustus Ionas and other to whom this Prince had giuen in charge to examine the consequēce of so notable a change afterwards in many places of Germany so as leauing that feare which had as it were before bound him fast with the chaines of modesty he durst then make open warre against the Pope and all other that would maintaine his doctrine by the same weapons thēselues vsed beginning to effectuate the Prophecie which he turned to himselfe of Iohn Hus Hierosme of Prague The Bohemians to witnes the great displeasure which they conceaued at those mens deaths at Constance caused peeces of mony to be coyned which they called Hussites about which were engrauen those words which he vttered at his departure After one hundred yeares ye shal answere God and me As if knowing they shuld liue no longer he would haue said that the Iudges shuld thē come before the throne of God to render an accompt of their act But Luther interpreting it to himself in his commentaries vpon Daniel taketh it for a certain prophecie that Iohn Hus should be the fore-runner of his reformation bringing in Iohn Hus as if he should say they shall roast the Goose for Hus is as much to say as a Goose in the Bohemian tongue but they shall not roast the Swan which will come after me Indeede hee was burned 1414. and the differēce moued by Luther vpon the pardons began 1517. Among the cheefest of his aduersaries which openly declared themselues Henry 8. K. of England presented himselfe who aboue all the rest disalowed his iudgement vpon the Indulgences defending the opinion and power of the Pope thence he proceeded vtterly to condemne by a book dedicated to that end all the disputation of the Sacraments of the church taking his argument to write vpon the Captiuity of Babilon caused by Luther who thereunto answered very bitterlye not sticking to declare vnto him that hee made no account of the dignitie or magnificent apparance of any person Pope Lea receaued hereat so great contentment that he gaue vnto him the title of Defendor of the faith and afterwards 1524. Clement 7. of Medices sent vnto him a Rose of golde which he had consecrated three moneths before Easter Hereupon the Emperour being embarqued to passe out of Germany into Spaine where certain seditions were stirred vp in his way visited the K. of England to whom the better to assure himselfe of him against the K. of Fraunce he promised the 13. of Iune 1522. at Windsor vpon the Thames beyond London to pay annually one hundred thirtie and three thousand crownes which the french yearlye did owe vnto the English And for a greater alliance it was agreed that in time and place the Emperour should take in marriage Mary daughter to K. Henry then of the age of seauen yeares and that if this accord helde not he should pay foure hundred thousand Crownes Luthers doctrine in the meane season dispersed throughout Germany profited in many places so farre as his Disciples in their abundance not content to goe any more to the Masse egged the people to the plucking downe of Images and cheefely Andre Carolastade for which act being misliked by the Vniuersitie of Witemberg they cōdemned this attempt shewing that it was not the way wherin they ought to proceed but before all to pull out the Images of the spirite and to teach the people that onely through faith we please God and that Images serued to no end which being beaten downe in the spirite and men well taught the corporall Images would soone fall downe of themselues not for any mislike they had to haue them cleane taken away but that it ought to be done by the hand of the Magistrate for it was not permitted to euery man to do according vnto his fancy Shortly after 1523. 1524. Zuinglius did as much at Zurich in Suizerland and many other Cantons in like time followed after In summe that a man cannot tell how lightly how secretly and in what a short space this doctrine crept into the harts and braines of many thousands of Christians especially then when euery one saw that Leo had not imployed any parte of the great masse of monie come of his pardons against the Turke who in the meane time had ruyned Hungarie attempted vpon Bohemia taken Rhodes and done a thousand mischiefes against the Christians albeit that the Pope the Emperour the Ecclesiasticall Princes and others had flung all the stones they could to the contrarye euen causing the Edict and decree of Wormes to be obserued against Luther and his doctrine the which was notwithstanding hindred as well by the reformed Princes and their partakers as by the writings and ancient arguments of Luther and his companions so as there is no maruell if the people and aboue all the comminalty of townes not finding their passions staied by any lawes or pollitique ordinances licenced themselues to growe more wilfull in their impressions then euer Leo being departed whose Father was Laurence and Cosme his Grandfather who had enobled and exalted the familie of Medices Adrian the 6. of Vtrech in Holland succeeded him 1521. as well in the dignitie as hate and bitter pursuite against Luther and the Churchmen seeing the protection which many Princes gained by little and little thorough his doctrine gaue to Luther least any should attempt against his person turning the effect of their hatred vpon his disciplines gaue a beginning to most cruell and continuall persecutions of the euill affected towards the faith Now as the seede of this reformation was taken out of the conuent of Augustines so did they make seene the first treates of their bitter punishments vpon Iohn and Henry Augustine Friers of Brusselles who after many disputations with Iaques Hocstrat the Inquisitor a Iacobin hauing bene deposed of the priestly order disgraded of the lesser orders clad with laye and prophane habites after deliuered vp to the secular Iustice were burned
all the charges of the Empire beseeching him to reconcile the Princes one to another in which the staye and encrease of the Empire wholly consisted the true and nearest cause of the ruyne thereof proceeding from diuision Then that hee woulde yeelde all ayde to his Sonne Philip as a neyghbour to such an enemye as the King of Fraunce was In the ende beeyng determyned to departe hee was stayed thourough the vyolence of his diseases contratyeties of windes long staye in the preparation of his Shippes and thourough a difference fallen out in some of the townes which would by no meanes receyue his sonne the father liuing and other which woulde haue his nephewe Ferdinande seconde sonne to the King of Romanes for their gouernour Ioint the male contentment of a number of Lordes and other who hauing employed all their meanes and often times their life in his seruice vnder a hope of great recompence sawe themselues by this his dimission and departure into Spaine frustrated of all their hope which they coulde not hope for at his sonnes handes who as ordinarily newe Kinges affecte newe seruauntes woulde employe his meanes but to the aduauncement of his fauourites or in recompencing their paines and seruice towardes him of whome himselfe had beene an eye witnesse About the ende of Nouember Ferdinande King of Romanes hauing assembled together the greatest parte of his men of warre wente downe the Danube as farre as Vienne to make head against the Turke who made great preparation for his descente into Hungarie to besiege agayne Vienne in Austria as I will shewe you To open vnto you the affayres and chaunges of the Realme of Englande in fewe woordes Henry the eyghte discontented in that he had no other heyre but Mary borne of Katherine aunte vnto the Emperour whome his brother Arthur had marryed at the age of foureteene yeeres and lefte her a Virgine by the aduice of the Cardinall of Yorke and many dyuines as well Frenche as Almaines and English diuorced her and hauing in full assemblie declared his daughter Marye illegitimate marryed Anne Bullen one of his wifes maydes the which Pope Clemente the seuenth so hardly coulde digest as that he condemned this diuorce as vniust and of euill example especially for that Anne was a Lutherane and he feared least the King and all his Realme woulde confourme them selues to the like religion Whereat Henrye tooke such disdayne as hee declared himselfe head of the Church thorough out all Englande with forbidding any to aduowe the Pope for head or to transporte any money to Rome or paye Peterpence a reuennewe which euerye house yearely payde according to the ordynaunce of Inas in the yeere seuen hundred and fourtie Whereupon there ensued a great alteration of Religion thorough out the whole Realme so confirmed by Edwarde his sonne as that the catholique was cleane banished out of Englande at the least in publique which caused many Englishe men to flye the Realme to seeke in some other Countrey a place of more free conscience Seeyng that the Dukes of Sommerset and Northumberlande gouerned the roaste in the yeere 1553. Notwithstanding as after the death of the Duke of Sommerset the Duke of Northumberlande seeyng howe the King was fallen sicke of a Fluxe which fell into his stomache from the moneth of Februarie had marryed his sonne Guilforde to â—anâ— daughter to the Duke of Suffolke and cousin vnto the sicke King hee wrought so much as that the young King reiecting his sisters Marye and Elizabeth declared for his heyre and Inherittice vnto the Crowne of Englande this Iane of Suffolke to the ende that by this meanes hee mought traunsferre the Royalle into his owne House and disinherite the true Heyres of their righte and legitimate Succession This Marriage and Testamentarie declaration beeyng done in the moneth of May gaue occasion to a number to thinke that this young King whome they helde for the piller of men of knowledge and gaue great hope of future vertue was poysoned and that beeing assured of the time of his death they had caused him to doe whatsoeuer they woulde haue him well were it of poyson or of a Caterre so it is that Edwarde the sixte of that name and the one and fourtie K. of England dyed the sixt day of Iuly the seuenth yeere of his Raigne and the sixteenth of his age solemly entered at Westminster not without the teares of his subiects who saide that his death was presaged by a Comet which appeared a little before his departure and by the great stormes windes tempests and thunders which had that yeere tormented London the chiefe Cittie of the Realme as the witnesses of such troubles as shortly after ensued in England for the people hating in secrete this Duke of Northumberland held for suspected the testament of King Edward as a thing made too much to the aduantage of the Duke and many Lords of the Countrie terming him too ambitious wrote vnto Mary the eldest daughter of K. Henrie the eight encouraging her to declare her selfe Queene and offring vnto her all dutie and seruice Marye who had no great meanes durst not so soone come to London to the ende that according to the custome she might remaine ten daies in the Tower before her Coronation but went into the Countrie and Dukedome of Norfolke bordering on the Sea coast from whence shee wrote to sundrie Princes and Lords of the Countrie complayning how that Iane of Suffolk had enterprised against her and that Edward was not able to dispose of the Crowne which appertained vnto her being the next daughter vnto the late Kinge Henrie she laide before them the wrong which had beene done vnto Katherine her mother and next vnto her selfe and that none of King Henrie his children were to succeede before her protesting that shee would pursue her right by the sworde and not suffer the Duke of Northumberland to vaunt how he would dispose at his pleasure of the Realme of England These letters being brought to London at the selfe same time as Iane of Suffolke against her will was proclaimed Queene within the Tower of London caused a great chaunge of dispositions among the Lordes there present and a strange alienating of their mindes touching the case of Iane whome sundrie from thence foorth left to take Maries parte The which caused the Duke of Northumberland to send certaine troupes of men at armes into the Countrie of Norfolke thinking thereby to hinder her desseins But in the meane time shee was proclaimed Queene in Suffolke by the principall personages of the land So as hauing recouered some succours from the Emperour on the coast of Flaunders albeit that the Duke had strongly armed vppon the Seas to hinder their comming shee practised with a number of the cheefe of the Duke his armie which in the ende incorporated themselues to hers In the meane time Northumberland to playe on the surer side woulde needes haue the Duke of Suffolke Father to Iane to goe as her Lieutennant
being at his tayle without any great preiudice notwithstanding by reason of the good order which he gaue in the discamping conduct of his armie the which was furnished with victuals in the Placentine Countrey by the commaundement of Octauian Farneze D. of Parma which the D. of Guise caused to be payd for expresly forbidding any souldiar to doe wrong to the subiectes of this Prince We will leaue then for a while the D. of Guise marching with his forces in Italie to the Popes succour to enterlace you here an accidente as straunge as any which hath happened in the memorie of our forefathers Dauid George who since made himselfe to be called Iean de Bructe borne at Delph in Hollande an authour of a peruerse secte making himselfe to be named by his followers King and Christ immortall dyed the yeere passed 1556. the 24. day of August and his wife a little before retired with a verie great familie of her owne to Basle in the yeere 1544. He sayde he was fled his owne Countrey for the Gospels sake and there bought houses and a Castle neere vnto the towne called Buiuignen with landes of great reuennewe He was verie cunning of great Spirite and had his eyes addressed on all partes to gayne the heartes of many and an exteriour reputation which was mainteined and greatly augmented by his riches his money and most precious moueables which he had brought thither and which men brought vnto him day by day as well out of the high as lowe Countries of Flaunders as it falleth out that almost all men suffer themselues to be cousined with an apparaunce magnificence of worldly things rather thē to be caried away with the vertue truth of euery thing Two things presaged vnto him his death one of his houses which he had at Basle was smotte with lightning and another sumptuously builded within his pastures was likewise burned with parte of his rarest and most exquisite moueables shortly after the floure of the house wherein he lay fell all downe at one blowe and sodainly yet nothing happened more grieuous vnto him before his death then the comming of a man of authoritie out of Base Almania to Basle For from thenceforth as well aduised and forecasting hee knewe that by little and little he shoulde easily be discouered His disciples were marueilously astonished at his death for that he had assured them of his immortalitie yet their hope was somewhat vpheld because he had giuen them to vnderstande certayne dayes before howe he shoulde take life againe by the space of three yeeres and perfect most excellent things Hee kept a porte within his house almost like a King in like sorte was the gouernement of his house and castle very well ruled Euerie man had his estate and office their charges and dueties being so distributed as he shoulde neede to employe no other therein then his owne In gouerning their common wealth they obserued verie straightly 3. things thereby more and more to conceale their pernitious secte First that none of them once published the name of Dauid George Secondly that none reueyled of what condition hee had bene whereupon it grew that many thought hee had beene yssued out of some great noble House other that hee was some great Marchaunt which had his factours abroad both by Sea and by land Thirdly that they shoulde not discouer so much as any one article of their doctrine to any man in Basle not so much as to a Swizer nor shoulde not endeuour to drawe any man vnto their doctrine the summe whereof was The doctrine of Dauid George Heretique THat whatsoeuer had bene heretofore giuen from God by Moses by the Prophetes by Iesus Christ himselfe or by his Apostles was imperfecte and vnprofitable for the obtayning of the true felicitie thereby And was onely giuen for this vse that vntill then it mought represse men as babes and young children and to contayne them within their office But the doctrine of Dauid George was perfecte and had efficacie to make him happie which shoulde receaue it as being the true Christ and Messias the welbeloeud of the Father in whome hee tooke his delight not borne of fleshe but of the holy Ghost and Spirite of Iesus Christ hauing bene kept vntill that present in a place vnkowen to all the Saintes to restore in spirite the house of Israel not by crosses or tribulations or death as the other Christ but by loue grace of the Spirite of Christ In the yeere 1559. the 5. of March his children his sonnes in lawe and all them of his familie with some other adhering to his Secte were adiourned before the Senate of Basle after information made of that pernicious secte which he had alwayes helde in his life time The Atturney declared vnto them howe the Seigneurie stoode duely infourmed that they were retyred to the Castle of Buiuignen not as men persecuted for the Gospell as they had falsly giuen out but for the secte of Dauid wherewith they had bene alreadie infected Eleuen were made prisoners to draw out the trueth of the whole The greater part examined by a more straight inquisition confessed the truth who in the ende obtayned pardon Then the first day of May the Ministers Rectour Professors and Scholemaisters of Basle hauing all with one voyce condemned the pointes of the doctrine the Senate fully informed of the whole proceeded the 13. of May to the conclusion of the proces to wit That all his writinges as full of iniquitie mortall poyson Item his bodie or his bones and whatsoeuer shoulde be founde more within his graue shoulde be burned together with his picture which they founde in his house representing him verie liuely and that generally all the goodes of so wicked a man wheresoeuer they were founde shoulde be confiscate and adiudged to the Seigneurie This sentence was proclaimed according to the Custome of the place and all the fourme of righte and ordinances of the Towne was kepte in the obseruation thereof Before that I handle againe the tearmes of warre betweene the Frenche and Spanyardes I will finishe and in fewe wordes the Empire and managing of the affayres of Charles of Austria the fifte Emperour of the Almanes About the ende of August Charles of Austria resolued to passe into Spayne for the occasions before rehearsed wente from Bruxelles to Gaunt the place of his natiuitie where he assembled the 27. of that moneth all the Embassadours one after an other resiant about his Person within his chamber vsing in generall no other speech vnto them but of the declaration of his old age indisposition praying thē to perfourme all good offices for the repose due vnto Christendome Protesting to the Nuncio that is the Popes Embassadour how all his life long hee had loued and defended the holy apostolike Sea to the Venetian how much hee honored that Seigneurie common wealth whose libertie preseruation he had all his life long desired knowing howe