Cardinal to oppose the Match with England since they looked for ruine if it succeeded The Queen being a sister of Guise and bred in the French Court was wholly for their Interests and all that had been obliged by that Court or depended on it were quickly drawn into the Party It was also said to every body that it was much more the Interest of Scotland to match with France than with England If they were united to France they might expect an easie Government For the French being at such distance from them and knowing how easily they might throw themselves into the Armes of England would certainly rule them gently and avoid giving them great Provocations But if they were united to England they had no remedy but must look for an heavier yoke to be laid on them This meeting with the rooted Antipathy that by a long continuance of War was grown up among them to a savage hatred of the English Nation and being inflamed by the considerations of Religion raised an universal dislike of the Match with England in the greatest part of the whole Nation only a few men of greater Probity who were weary of the depredations and Wars in the Borders and had a liking to the Reformation of the Church were still for it The French Court struck in vigorously with their Party in Scotland and sent over the Earl of Lenox who as he was next in blood to the Crown after the Earl of Arran so was of the same family of the Stewarts which had endeared him to the late King He was to lead the Queens party against the Hamiltons Yet they employed another Tool which was Iohn Hamilton base Brother to the Governor who was afterwards Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews He had great power over his Brother who being then not above four and twenty years of age and having been the only lawful Son of his Father in his old age was never bred abroad and so understood not the Policies and arts of Courts and was easily abused by his base Brother He assured him that if he went about to destroy Religion by matching the Queen to an Heretical Prince they would depose him from his Government and declare him Illegitimate There could be indeed nothing clearer than his Fathers Divorce from his first Wife For it had been formerly proved that she had been married to the Lord Yesters Son before he married her who claimed her as his Wife upon which her Marriage with the Earl of Arran was declared Null in the year 1507. And it was ten years after that the Earl of Arran did Marry the Governors Mother Of which things the Original Instruments are yet extant Yet it was now said that that Precontract with the Lord Yesters Son was but a forgery to dissolve that Marriage and if the Earl of Lenox who was next to the Crown in case the Earl of Arran was Illegitimated should by the assistance of France procure a review of that Process from Rome and obtain a Revocation of that Sentence by which his Fathers first Marriage was annulled then it was plain that the second marriage with the issue by it would be of no force All this wrought on the Governor much and at length drew him off from the Match with England and brought him over to the French Interests Which being effected there was no further use of the Eaâ—l of Lâ—nnox so he finding himself neglected by the Queen and the Cardinal and abandoned by the Crown of France fled into England where he was very kindly received by the King who gave him in marriage his Neece Lady Margaret Dowglass whom the Queen of Scotland had born to the Earl of Angus her second Husband From which Marriage issued the Lord Darnly Father to King Iames. When the Lords of the French Faction had carried things to their mind in Scotland it was next considered what they should do to redeem the Hostages whom the Lords who were Prisoners in England had left behind them And for this no other Remedy could be found but to let them take their hazard and leave them to the King of England's mercy To this they all agreed only the Earl of Cassilis had too much Honour and Vertue to do so mean a thing Therefore after he had done all he could for maintaining the Treaty about the Match he went into England and offered himself again to be a Prisoner But as generous actions are a reward to themselves so they often meet with that entertainment which they deserve And upon this occasion the King was not wanting to express a very great value for that Lord. He called him another Regulus but used him better For he both gave him his Liberty and made him noble Presents and sent him and his Hostages back being resolved to have a severer reparation for the injury done him All which I have opened more fully because this will give a great light to the affairs of that Kingdom which will be found in the Reigns of the succeeding Princes to have a great intermixture with the affairs of this Kingdom Nor are they justly represented by any who write of these times and having seen some Original Papers relating to Scotland at that time I have done it upon more certain information The King of England made War next upon France The grounds of this War are recited by the Lord Herbert One of these is proper for me to repeat That the French King had not deserted the Bishop of Rome and consented to a Reformation as he had once Promised The rest related to other things such as the seizing our Ships The detaining the yearly Pension due to the King The Fortifying Ardres to the prejudice of the English pale The revealing the Kings secrets to the Emperor The having given first his Daughter and then the Duke of Guises Sister in Marriage to his Enemy the King of Scotland and his confederating himself with the Turk And Satisfaction not being given in these particulars a War is declared In Iuly the King married Katharine Parre who had been formerly married to Nevil Lord Latimer She was a secret Favourer of the Reformation yet could not divert a storm which at this time fell on some in Windsor For that being a place to which the King did oft retire it was thought fit to make some examples there And now the League with the Emperour gave the Popish Faction a greater interest in the Kings Counsels There was at this time a Society at Windsor that favoured the Reformation Anthony Person a Priest Robert Testwood and Iohn Marbeck Singing Men and Henry Filmer of the Town of Windsor were the chief of them But those were much favoured by Sir Philip Hâ—bby and his Lady and several others of the Kings Family During Crâ—â—â—els power none questioned them but after his fall they were looked on with an ill eye Doctor Londâ—n who had by the most servile Flatteries insinuated himself into Cromâ—el and was much employed
was to the Humours of the Princes whom he served as he had been Lord-Treasurer to the Father the last Seven years of his Life so being continued in the same Office by this King did as dextrously comply with his Prodigality as he had done formerly with his Fathers sparingness But this in the beginning of the Princes Reign did much endear him both to the Court and Nation there being a freer Circulation of Money by which Trade was encouraged and the Courtiers tasted so liberally of the Kings bounty that he was every-where much magnified though his Expence proved afterwards heavier to the Subject than ever his Father's Avarice had been Another thing that raised the Credit of this King was the great Esteem he was in beyond Sea both for his Wisdom and Power so that in all the Treaties of Peace and War he was always much considered and he did so exactly pursue that great Maxime of Princes of Holding the Ballance that still as it grew heavier whether in the Scale of France or Spain he governed Himself and Them as a wise Arbiter His first Action was against France which by the Accession of the Dutchy of Britain through his Father's over-sight was made greater and more formidable to the Neighbouring Princes therefore the French Successes in Italy having United all the Princes there against them Spain and England willingly joyned themselves in the Quarrel The Kingdom of Spain being also then United conquered Navarre which set them at great ease and weakned the King of France on that side Whose Affairs also declining in Italy this King finding him so much lessened made Peace with him having first managed his share of the War with great Honour at Sea and Land For going over in Person he did both defeat the French Army and take Terwin and Tourney the former he demolished the latter he kept and in these Exploits he had an unusual Honour done him which though it was a slight thing yet was very pleasant to him Maximilian the Emperour taking pay in his Army amounting to a Hundred Crowns a-day and upon all publick Solemnities giving the King the precedence The Peace between England and France was made firmer by Lewis the French Kings Marrying Mary the Kings Sister but he dying soon after new Counsels were to be taken Francis who succeeded did in the beginning of his Reign court this King with great Offers to renew the Peace with him which was accordingly done Afterward Francis falling in with all his force upon the Dutchy of Milan all endeavours were used to engage King Henry into the War both by the Pope and Emperour this last feeding him long with hopes of resigning the Empire to him which wrought much on him insomuch that he did give them a great Supply in Money but he could not be engaged to divert Francis by making War upon him and Francis ending the War of Italy by a Peace was so far from resenting what the King had done that he courted him into a straiter League and a Match was agreed between the Dolphin and the Lady Mary the Kings Daughter and Tourney was delivered up to the French again But now Charles Arch-Duke of Austria by his Father and Heir to the House of Burgundy by his Grand-mother and to the Crown of Spain by his Mother began to make a great Figure in the World and his Grand-Father Maximilian dying Francis and He were Corrivals for the Empire but Charles being preferred in the Competition there followed what through personal Animosities what through reason of State and a desire of Conquest lasting Wars between them which though they were sometimes for a while closed up yet were never clearly ended And those two great Monarchs as they eclipsed most other Princes about them so they raised this Kings glory higher both courting him by turns and that not only by earnest and warm Addresses but oft by unusual Submissions in which they knowing how great an Ingredient Vanity was in his temper were never deficient when their Affairs required it All which tended to make him appear greater in the eyes of his own People In the year 1520. there was an Interview agreed on between the French King and Him but the Emperor to prevent the effects he feared from it resolved to out doe the French King in the Complement and without any Treaty or previous assurances came to Dover and sollicited the Kings friendship against Francis and to advance his design gained Cardinal Wolsey who then Governed all the Kings Counsels by the promise of making him Pope in which he judged he might for a present Advantage promise a thing that seemed to be at so great a distance Pope Leo the Tenth being then but a young man and with rich presents which he made both to the King the Cardinal and all the Court wrought much on them But that which prevailed most with the King was that he saw though Charles had great Dominions yet they lay at such a distance that France alone was a sufficient Counterpoise to him but if Francis could keep Milan recover Naples Burgundy and Navarre to all which he was then preparing he would be an uneasie Neighbour to himself and if he kept the footing he then had in Italy he would lie so heavy on the Papacy that the Popes could no longer carry equally in the affairs of Christendome upon which much depended according to the Religion of that time Therefore he resolved to take part with the Emperor till at least Francis was driven out of Italy and reduced to juster terms so that the following Interview between Francis and him produced nothing but a vast Expence and high Complements and from a second Interview between the King and the Emperor Francis was full of jealousie in which what followed justified his apprehensions for the War going on between the Emperor and Francis the King entred in a League with the former and made War upon France But the Pope dying sooner than it seems the Emperor look't for Cardinal Wolsey claimed his promise for the Papacy but before the Messenger came to him Adrian the Emperors Tutor was chosen Pope yet to feed the Cardinal with fresh hopes a new promise was made for the next vacancy and in the mean while he was put in hope of the Arch-Bishoprick of Toledo But two years after That Pope dying the Emperor again broke his word with him yet though he was thereby totally alienated from him he concealed his indignation till the publick Concerns should give him a good opportunity to prosecute it upon a better colour and by his Letters to Rome dissembled his resentments so artificially that in a Congratulation he wrote to Pope Clement He protested his Election was matter of such joy both to the King and himself that nothing had ever befaln them which pleased them better and that he was the very person whom they had wished to see raised to
that Greatness But while the War went on the Emperor did cajole the King with the highest Complements possible which always wrought much on him and came in person into England to be installed Knight of the Garter where a new League was Concluded by which beside mutual assistance a Match was agreed on between the Emperor and the Lady Mary the Kings only Child by his Queen of whom he had no hopes of more Issue This was sworn to on both hands and the Emperor was obliged when She was of Age to marry Her Per verba de praesenti under pain of Excommunication and the forfeiture of 100000 Pounds The War went on with great success on the Emperors part especially after the Battel of Pavia in which Francis his Army was totally defeated and himself taken Prisoner and carried into Spain After which the Emperor being much offended with the Pope for joyning with Francis turned his Arms against him which were so successful that he besieged and took Rome and kept the Pope prisoner Six Months The Cardinal finding the publick Interests concur so happily with his private Distastes engaged the King to take part with France and afterwards with the Pope against the Emperor his Greatness now becoming the Terror of Christendome for the Emperor lifted up with his success began to think of no less than an Universal Empire And first that he might unite all Spain together he preferred a Match with Portugal to that which he had before Contracted in England and he thought it not enough to break off his sworn Alliance with the King but he did it with an heavy Imputation on the Lady Mary for in his Council it was said that she was illegitimate as being born in an unlawful Marriage so that no Advantage could be expected from her Title to the Succession as will appear more particularly in the Second Book And the Pope having dispensed with the Oath he Married the Infanta of Portugal Besides though the King of England had gone deep in the Charge he would give him no share in the Advantages of the War much less give him that Assistance which he had promised him to recover his Ancient Inheritance in France The King being irritated with this manifold ill usage and led on by his own Interests and by the offended Cardinal joyned himself to the Interests of France Upon which there followed not only a firm Alliance but a personal Friendship which appeared in all the most obliging expressions that could be devised And upon the Kings threatning to make War on the Emperor the French King was set at liberty though on very hard terms if any thing can be hard that sets a King out of Prison but he still acknowledged he owed his Liberty to King Henry Then followed the famous Clementine League between the Pope and Francis the Venetians the Florentines and Francis Sforza Duke of Milan by which the Pope absolved the French King from the Oath he had sworn at Madrid and they all united against the Emperor and declared the King of England Protector of the League This gave the Emperor great distaste who complained of the Pope as an ungrateful and perfidious person The first beginning of the storm fell heavy on the Pope for the French King who had a great mind to have his Children again into his own hands that lay Hostages in Spain went on but slowly in performing his part And the King of England would not openly break with the Emperor but seemed to reserve himself to be Arbiter between the Princes So that the Colonna's being of the Imperial Faction with 3000 men entered Rome and sack't a part of it forcing the Pope to fly into the Castle of St. Angelo and to make peace with the Emperor But as soon as that fear was over the Pope returning to his old arts complained of the Cardinal of Colonna and resolved to deprive him of that Dignity and with an Army entred the Kingdom of Naples taking divers places that belonged to that Family But the Confederates coming slowly to his Assistance and he hearing of great forces that were coming from Spain against him submitted himself to the Emperor and made a Cessation of Arms but being again encouraged with some hopes from his Allies and by a Creation of 14 Cardinals for Money having raised 300000 Duckats he disowned the Treaty and gave the Kingdom of Naples to Count Vaudemont whom he sent with forces to subdue it But the Duke of Bourbon prevented him and went to Rome and giving the Assault in which himself received his mortal wound the City was taken by Storm and plundered for several days about 5000 being killed The Pope with 17 Cardinals fled to the Castle St. Angelo but was forced to render his person and to pay 400000 Duckats to the Army This gave great offence to all the Princes of Christendome except the Lutherans of Germany but none resented it more loudly than this King who sent over Cardinal Wolsey to make up a new Treaty with Francis which was chiefly intended for setting the Pope at Liberty Nor did the Emperor know well how to justifie an Action which seemed so inconsistent with his Devotion to the See of Rome yet the Pope was for some months detained a Prisoner till at length the Emperor having brought him to his own terms ordered him to be setat liberty but he being weary of his Guards escaped in a disguise and owned his Liberty to have flowed chiefly from the Kings endeavours to procure it And thus stood the King as to forreign affairs he had infinitely obliged both the Pope and the French King and was firmly united to them and engaged in a War against the Emperor when he began first to move about his Divorce As for Scotland the near Alliance between him and Iames the Fourth King of Scotland did not take away the standing Animosities between the two Nations nor interrupt the Alliance between France and Scotland And therefore when he made the first War upon France in the Fourth year of his Reign the King of Scotland came with a great Army into the North of England but was totally defeated by the Earl of Surrey in Floudon field The King himself was either killed in the Battel or soon after so that the Kingdom falling under Factions during the Minority of the new King the Government was but feeble and scarce able to secure its own quiet And the Duke of Albany the chief Instrument of the French Faction met with such opposition from the Parties that were raised against him by King Henry's means that he could give him no disturbance And when there came to be a lasting peace between England and France then as the King needed fear no trouble from that Warlike Nation so he got a great Interest in the Government there And at this time Money becoming a more effectual Engine than any the War had ever produced and
the discovery of the Indies having brought great wealth into Europe Princes began to deal more in that trade than before so that both France and England had their Instruments in Scotland and gave considerable yearly Pensions to the chief heads of Parties and Families In the search I have made I have found several Warrants for Sums of Money to be sent into Scotland and divided there among the Favourers of the English Interest and 't is not to be doubted but France traded in the same manner which continued till a happier way was found out for extinguishing these Quarrels both the Crowns being set on one head Having thus shewed the State of this Kings Government as to forreign Matters I shall next give an account of the Administration of Affairs at home both as to Civil and Spiritual Matters The King upon his first coming to the Crown did choose a wise Council partly out of those whom his Father had trusted partly out of those that were recommended to him by his Grand-Mother the Countess of Richmond and Derby in whom was the Right of the House of Lancaster though she willingly devolved her pretensions on her Son claiming nothing to her self but the Satisfaction of being Mother to a King She was a wise and Religious Woman and died soon after her Grand-Son came to the Crown There was a Faction in the Council between Fox Bishop of Winchester and the Lord Treasurer which could never be well made up though they were oft reconciled Fox always complaining of the Lord Treasurer for squandring away so soon that vast Mass of Treasure left by the Kings Father in which the other justified himself that what he did was by the Kings Warrants which he could not disobey but Fox objected that he was too easie to answer if not to procure these Warrants and that he ought to have given the King better advice In the Kings first Parliament things went as he desired upon his delivering up Empson and Dudley in which his preventing the severity of the Houses and proceeding against them at the Common Law as it secured his Ministers from an unwelcome President so the whole honour of it fell on the Kings justice His next Parliament was in the Third year of his Reign and there was considered the Brief from Pope Iulius the Second to the King complaining of the Indignities and Injuries done to the Apostolick See and the Pope by the French King and entreating the Kings assistance with such cajoling words as are always to be expected from Popes on the like occasions It was first read by the Master of the Rolls in the House of Lords and then the Lord Chancellour Warham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the Lord Treasurer with other Lords went down to the House of Commons and read it there Upon this and other reasons they gave the King subsidies towards the War with France At this time Fox to strengthen his Party against the Lord Treasurer finding Thomas Wolsey to be a likely man to get into the Kings favour used all his endeavours to raise him who was at that time neither unknown nor inconsiderable being Lord Almoner he was at first made a Privy Counsellour and frequently admitted to the Kings presence and waited on him over to France The King liked him well which he so managed that he quickly engrossed the Kings favour to himself and for 15 years together was the most absolute Favourite that had ever been seen in England all forreign Treaties and Places of Trust at home were at his Ordering he did what he pleased and his Ascendant over the King was such that there never appeared any Party against him all that while The great Artifice by which he insinuated himself so much on the King is set down very plainly by one that knew him well in these words In him the King conceived such a loving fancy especially for that he was most earnest and readiest in all the Counsel to advance the Kings only will and pleasure having no respect to the case and whereas the Ancient Counsellors would according to the Office of good Counsellors divers times perswade the King to have some time a recourse unto the Council there to hear what was done in weighty Matters the King was nothing at all pleased therewith for he loved nothing worse than to be constrained to do any thing contrary to his pleasure and that knew the Almoner very well having secret Insinuations of the Kings Intentions and so fast as the others Counselled the King to leave his pleasures and to attend to his Affairs so busily did the Almoner perswade him to the contrary which delighted him much and caused him to have the greater affection and love to the Almoner Having got into such Power he observed the Kings Inclinations exactly and followed his Interests closely for though he made other Princes retain him with great Presents and Pensions yet he never engaged the King into any Alliance but what was for his Advantage For affairs at home after he was established in his Greatness he affected to Govern without Parliaments there being from the Seventh year of his Reign after which he got the great Seal but one Parliament in the 14th and 15th year and no more till the One and Twentieth when matters were turning about But he raised great Sums of Money by Loans and Benevolences And indeed if we look on him as a Minister of State he was a very extraordinary Person but as he was a Church-man he was the disgrace of his Profession He not only served the King in all his secret pleasures but was lewd and vicious himself so that his having the French Pox which in those days was a matter of no small infamy was so publick that it was brought against him in Parliament when he fell in disgrace he was a man of most extravagant vanity as appears by the great State he lived in and to feed that his Ambition and Covetousness were proportionable He was first made Bishop of Tourney when that Town was taken from the French then he was made Bishop of Lincoln which was the first Bishoprick that fell void in this Kingdom after that upon Cardinal Bembridge his death he parted with Lincoln and was made Arch-Bishop of York then Hadrian that was a Cardinal and Bishop of Bath and Wells being deprived that See was given to him then the Abbey of St Albans was given to him in Comendam he next parted with Bath and Wells and got the Bishoprick of Duresm which he afterwards exchanged for the Bishoprick of Winchester But besides all that he had in his own hands the King granted him a full Power of disposing of all the Ecclesiastical benefices in England which brought him in as much money as all the Places he held for having so vast a Power committed to him both from the King and the Pope as to Church-preferments it may be easily gathered what
laid the Murder on the Officers that had the charge of that Prison and by other proofs they found the Bishops Sumner and the Bell-ringer guilty of it and by the deposition of the Sumner himself it did appear that the Chancellour and he and the Bell-ringer did Murder him and then hang him up But as the Inquest proceeded in this Trial the Bishop began a new Process against the dead body of Richard Hunne for other points of Heresie and several Articles were gathered out of Wickliff's Preface to the Bible with which he was charged And his having the Book in his Possession being taken for good evidence he was judged an Heretick and his body delivered to the Secular Power When judgment was given the Bishops of Duresme and Lincoln with many Doctors both of Divinity and the Canon-Law sate with the Bishop of London so that it was lookt on as an Act of the whole Clergy and done by common consent On the 20th of December his body was burnt at Smithfield But this produced an effect very different from what was expected for it was hoped that he being found an Heretick no body should appear for him any more whereas on the contrary it occasioned a great out-cry the man having lived in very good reputation among his Neighbours so that after that day the City of London was never well affected to the Popish Clergy but inclined to follow any body who spoke against them and every one lookt on it as a Cause of common concern All exclaimed against the Cruelty of their Clergy that for a mans suing a Clerke according to law he should be long and hardly used in a severe imprisonment and at last cruelly murdered and all this laid on himself to defame him and ruin his family And then to burn that body which they had so handled was thought such a complication of Cruelties as few Barbarians had ever been guilty of The Bishop finding that the Inquest went on and the whole matter was discovered used all possible endeavours to stop their proceedings and they were often brought before the Kings Council where it was pretended that all proceeded from Malice and Heresie The Cardinal laboured to procure an order to forbid their going any further but the thing was both so foul and so evident that it could not be done and that opposition made it more generally believed In the Parliament there was a Bill sent up to the Lords by the Commons for restoring Hunne's Children which was passed and had the Royal assent to it but another Bill being brought in about this Murther it occasioned great heats among them The Bishop of London said that Hunne had hanged himself that the Inquest were false perjured Caitiffs and if they proceeded further he could not keep his house for Hereticks so that the Bill which was sent up by the Commons was but once read in the House of Lords for the power of the Clergy was great there But the Trial went on and both the Bishops Chancellour and the Summer were endicted as Principals in the Murder The Convocation that was then sitting finding so great a stir made and that all their liberties were now struck at resolved to call Doctor Standish to an Account for what he had said and argued in that matter so he being summoned before them some Articles were objected to him by word of mouth concerning the judging of Clerks in Civil Courts and the day following they being put in writing the Bill was delivered to him and a day assigned for him to make answer The Doctor perceiving their intention and judging it would go hard with him if he were tryed before them went and claimed the Kings Protection from this trouble that he was now brought in for discharging his duty as the Kings Spiritual Counsel But the Clergy made their excuse to the King that they were not to question him for any thing he had said as the Kings Counsel but for some Lectures he read at St Pauls and elswhere contrary to the Law of God and Liberties of the holy Church which they were bound to maintain and desired the Kings Assistance according to his Coronation Oath and as he would not incur the Censures of the holy Church On the other hand the Temporal Lords and Judges with the concurrence of the House of Commons addressed to the King to maintain the Temporal Jurisdiction according to his Coronation Oath and to protect Standish from the Malice of his enemies This put the King in great perplexity for he had no mind to lose any part of his Temporal Jurisdiction and on the other hand was no less apprehensive of the dangerous effects that might follow on a breach with the Clergy So he called for Doctor Veysey then Dean of his Chappel and afterwards Bishop of Exeter and charged him upon his Allegiance to declare the truth to him in that matter which after some study he did and said upon his Faith Conscience and Allegiance he did think that the convening of Clerks before the secular Judg which had been always practised in England might well consist with the Law of God and the true Liberties of the holy Church This gave the King great satisfaction so he commanded all the Judges and his Council both Spiritual and Temporal and some of both Houses to meet at Black-Friers and to hear the matter argued The Bill against Doctor Standish was read which consisted of Six Articles that were objected to him First That he had said that the lower Orders were not sacred Secondly That the Exemption of Clerks was not founded on a divine Right Thirdly That the Laity might coerce Clerks when the Prelates did not their duty Fourthly That no positive Ecclesiastical Law binds any but those who receive it Fifthly That the Study of the Canon-Law was needless Sixthly That of the whole Volume of the Decretum so much as a man could hold in his fist and no more did oblige Christians To these Doctor Standish answered that for those things exprest in the Third the Fifth and the Sixth Articles he had never taught them as for his asserting them at any time in discourse as he did not remember it so he did not much care whether he had done it or not To the First he said Lesser Orders in one sense are sacred and in another they are not sacred For the Second and Fourth he confessed he had taught them and was ready to justifie them It was objected by the Clergy that as by the Law of God no man could judge his Father it being contrary to that Commandment Honour thy Father So Church-men being Spiritual Fathers they could not be judged by the Laity who were their Children To which he answered that as that only concluded in favour of Priests those in Inferiour Orders not being Fathers so it was a mistake to say a Judge might not sit upon his Natural Father for the Judge was by another Relation above his Natural Father and though
This as it was fatal to the Counts of Tholouse who were great Princes in the South of France and first fell under the Censures so it was terrible to all other Princes who thereupon to save themselves delivered up their Subjects to the Mercy of the Ecclesiastical Courts Burning was the death they made choice of because Witches Vizards and Sodomites had been so executed Therefore to make Heresie appear a terrible thing this was thought the most proper punishment of it It had also a resemblance of everlasting Burning to which they adjudged their Souls as well as their bodies were condemned to the â—ire but with this signal difference that they could find no such effectual way to oblige God to execute their sentence as they contrived against the Civil Magistrate But however they confidently gave it out that by vertue of that Promise of our Saviours Whose sins ye bind on Earth they are bound in Heaven their Decrees were ratified in Heaven And it not being easie to disprove what they said people believed the one as they saw the other Sentence executed So that whatever they condemned as Heresie was looked on as the worst thing in in the world There was no occasion for the execution of this Law in England till the days of Wickliffe And the favour he had from some great men stopt the Proceedings against him But in the 5th year of King Richard the Second a Bill passed in the House of Lords and was assented to by the King and published for an Act of Parliament though the Bill was never sent to the House of Commons By this pretended Law it appears Wickliff's followers were then very numerous that they had a certain habit and did Preach in many places both in Churches Church-yards and Markets without Licence from the Ordinary and did preach several Doctrines both against the Faith and the Laws of the Land as had been proved before the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the other Bishops Prelats Doctors of Divinity and of the Civil and Canon-Law and others of the Clergy That they would not submit to the admonitions nor Censures of the Church but by their subtile ingenious words did draw the people to follow them and defend them by strong hand and in great routs Therefore it was Ordained that upon the Bishops certifying into the Chancery the names of such Preachers and their Abettors the Chancellour should issue forth Commissions to the Sheriffs and others the Kings Ministers to hold them in Arrest and strong Prison till they should justify them according to the Law and reason of Holy Church From the gentleness of which law it may appear that England was not then so tame as to bear the severity of those cruel laws which were setled and put in execution in other Kingdoms The Custome at that time was to engross Copies of all the Acts of Parliament and to send them with a Writ under the great Seal to the Sheriffs to make them be proclaimed within their jurisdictions And Iohn Braibrook Bishop of London then Lord Chancellour sent this with the other Acts of that Parliament to be proclaimed The Writ bears date the 26th of May 5 to Reg. But in the next Parliament that was held in the 6th year of that Kings Reign the Commons preferred a Bill reciting the former Act and constantly affirmed that they had never assented to it and therefore desired it might be declared to be void for they Protested it was never their intent to be Iustified and to bind themselves and their Successors to the Prelats more than their Ancestors had done in times past To which the King gave the Royal Assent as it is in the Records of Parliament But in the Proclamation of the Acts of that Parliament this Act was suppressed so that the former Act was still looked on as a good law and is Printed in the Book of Statutes Such pious frauds were always practised by the Popish Clergy and were indeed necessary for the supporting the Credit of that Church When Richard the 2d was deposed and the Crown usurped by Henry the 4th then he in gratitude to the Clergy that assisted him in his coming to the Crown granted them a law to their hearts content in the 2 d. year of his Reign The Preamble bears That some had a new Faith about the Sacraments of the Church and the Authority of the same and did Preach without Authority gathered Conventicles taught Schools wrote Books against the Catholick Faith with many other heinous aggravations Upon which the Prelats and Clergy and the Commons of the Realm prayed the King to provide a sufficient remedy to so great an evil Therefore the King by the assent of the States and other discreet men of the Realm being in the said Parliament did Ordain That none should Preach without Licence except persons Priviledged That none should Preach any Doctrine contrary to the Catholick Faith or the Determination of the Holy Church and that none should favour and abett them nor keep their Books but deliver them to the Diocesan of the place within 40 days after the Proclamation of that Statute And that if any Persons were defamed or suspected of doing against that Ordinance then the Ordinary might Arrest them and keep them in his Prison till they were Canonically purged of the Articles laid against them or did abjure them according to the Laws of the Church Provided always that the proceedings against them were publickly and judicially done and ended within three Months after they had been so Arrested and if they were Convict the Diocesan or his Commissaries might keep them in Prison as long as to his discretion shall seem expedient and might Fine them as should seem competent to him certifying the Fine into the Kings Exchequer and if any being Convict did refuse to abjure or after Abjuration did fall into Relapse then he was to be left to the Secular Court according to the Holy Canons And the Majors Sheriffs or Bayliffs were to be personally present at the passing the Sentence when they should be required by the Diocesan or his Commissaries and after the Sentence they were to receive them and them before the People in a high place do to be Brent By this Statute the Sheriffs or other Officers were immediatly to proceed to the Burning of Hereticks without any Writ or Warrant from the King But it seems the Kings Learned Council advised him to issue out a Writ De Haeretico comburendo upon what grounds of Law I cannot tell For in the same year when William Sartre who was the first that was put to death upon the account of Heresie was judged Relapse by Thomas Arundel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in a Convocation of his Province and thereupon was degraded from Priesthood and left to Secular Power a Writ was issued out to Burn him which in the Writ is called The Customary Punishment relating it as like to the Customs that were beyond
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
perhaps consummated by the Carnalis Copula who was dead without any issue but they being desirous to Marry for preserving the Peace between the Crowns of England and Spain did Petition his Holiness for his Dispensation therefore the Pope out of his care to maintain peace among all Catholick Kings did absolve them from all Censures under which they might be and Dispensed with the Impediment of their Affinity notwithstanding any Apostolical Constitutions or Ordinances to the contrary and gave them leave to Marry or if they were already Married he Confirming it required their Confessor to enjoyn them some healthful penance for their having Married before the Dispensation was obtained It was not much to be wondred at that the Pope did readily grant this for though very many both Cardinals and Divines did then oppose it yet the Interest of the Papacy which was preferred to all other Considerations required it For as that Pope being a great Enemy to Lewis the 12th the French King would have done any thing to make an Alliance against him firmer so he was a War-like Pope who considered Religion very little and therefore might be easily perswaded to Confirm a thing that must needs oblige the succeeding Kings of England to maintain the Papal Authority since from it they derived their Title to the Crown little thinking that by a secret Direction of an over-ruling Providence that Deed of his would occasion the extirpation of the Papal Power in England So strangely doth God make the Devices of Men become of no effect and turn them to a contrary end to that which is intended Upon this Bull they were Married the Prince of Wales being yet under Age. But Warham had so possessed the King with an aversion to this Marriage that on the same day that the Prince was of Age he by his Fathers command laid on him in the presence of many of the Nobility and others made a Protestation in the hands of Fox Bishop of Winchester before a publick Notary and read it himself by which he Declared That whereas he being under Age was Married to the Princess Katharine yet now coming to be of Age he did not confirm that Marriage but retracted and Annulled it and would not proceed in it but intended in full form of Law to void it and break it off which he declared he did freely and of his own accord Thus it stood during his Fathers life who continued to the last to be against it and when he was just dying he charged his Son to break it off though it is possible that no consideration of Religion might work so much on him as the apprehension he had of the troubles that might follow on a controverted Title to the Crown of which the Wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster had given a fresh and sad Demonstration The King being dead one of the first things that came under Consultation was that the young King must either break his Marriage totally or conclude it Arguments were brought on both hands but those for it prevailed most with the King So six weeks after he came to the Crown he was Married again publickly and soon after they were both Crowned On the first day of the year she made him a very acceptable new-years gift of a Son but he dyed in the Februâ—ry thereafter She miscarried often and an other Son dyed soon after he was born only the Lady Mary lived to a perfect Age. In this state was the Kings Family when the Queen leâ—t bearing more Children and contracted some diseases that made her person unacceptable to him but was as to her other Qualities a vertuous and grave Princess much esteemed and beloved both of the King and the whole Nation The King being out of hopes of more Children declared his Daughter Princess of Wales and sent her to Ludlow to hold her Court there and projected divers Matches for her The first was with the Dolphin which was agreed to between the King of France and him the 9th of Novemb. 1518. as appears by the Treaty yet extant But this was broken afterwards upon the Kings Confederating with the Emperor against France and a new Match agreed and sworn to between the Emperor and the King at Windsor the 22 of Iune 1522. the Emperor being present in person This being afterwards neglected and broken by the Emperor by the advice of his Cortes and States as was formerly related there followed some Overtures of a Marriage with Scotland But those also vanished and there was a second Treaty begun with France the King offering his Daughter to Francis himself which he gladly accepting a Match was Treated and on the last of April it was agreed that the Lady Mary should be given in Marriage either to Francis himself or to his second Son the Duke of Orleance and that Alternative was to be determined by the two Kings at an Enterview that was to be between them soon after at Calais with forfeitures on both sides if the Match went not on But while this was in agitation the Bishop of Tarbe the French Ambassador made a a great demur about the Princess Mary's being illegitimate as begotten in a Marriage that was contracted against a Divine precept with which no humane Authority could Dispense How far this was secretly concerted between the French Court and ours or between the Cardinal and the Ambassador is not known It is surmised that the King or the Cardinal set on the French to make this exception publickly that so the King might have a better Colour to justifie his suit of Divorce since other Princes were already questioning it For if upon a Marriage proposed of such infinite advantage to France as that would be with the Heir of the Crown of England they neverâ—heless made Exceptions and proceeded but coldly in it it was very reasonable to expect that after the Kings Death other Pretenders would have disputed her Title in another manner To some it seemed strange that the King did offer his Daughter to such great Princes as the Emperor and the King of France to whom if England had fallen in her Right it must have been a Province for though in the last Treaty with France she was offered either to the King or his second Son by which either the Children which the King might have by her or the Children of the Duke of Orleance should have been Heirs to the Crown of England and thereby it would still have continued divided from France yet this was full of hazard for if the Duke of Orleance by his Brothers Death should become King of France as it afterwards fell out or if the King of France had been once possessed of England then according to the maxime of the French Government that whatever their King acquires he holds it in the Right of his Crown England was still to be a Province to France unless they freed themselves by Arms. Others judged that the
occasion for it And because Money was like to be the most powerful Argument especially to men impoverished by a Captivity 10000 Ducats were remitâ—ed to Venice to be distributed as the Kings Affairs required and hâ— was empowered to make farther promises as he saw cause for it which the King would faithfully make good and in particular they were to be wanting in nothing that might absolutely engage the Cardinal Datary to favour the Kings Business The same things had been committed to the Secretary's care and they were both to proceed by concert each of them doing all that was possible to promote the business But before this reached Rome Secretary Knight was come thither and finding it impossible to be admitted to the Popes presence he had by corrupting some of his Guards sent him the Sum of the Kings Demands Upon which the Pope sent him word that the Disâ—ensation should be sent fully expeded So gracious was a Pope in Captivity But at that time the General of the Observants in Spain being at Rome required a Promise of the Pope not to grant any thing that might prejudice the Queens Cause till it were first communicated to the Imperialists there But when the Pope made his Escape the Secretary and the Ambassador went to him to Orvieto about the end of December and first did in the Kings and Cardinals name congratulate his freedom Then the Secretary discoursed the Business The Pope owned that he had received the Message which he had sent to him at Rome but in respect of his Promise and that yet in a manner he was in Captivity he beged the King would have a little Patience and he should before long have not only that Dispensation but any thing else that lay in his Power But the Secretary not being satisfied with that excuse the Pope in the end said he should have it but with this condition That he would beseech the King not to proceed upon it till the Pope were fully at Liberty and the Germans and Spaniards were driven out of Italy And upon the Kings promising this the Dispensation was to be put in his hands So the Secretary who had a great mind once to have the Bull in his possession made no scruple to engage his promise for that The Pope also told them he was not expert in those things but he easily apprehended the danger that might arise from any Dispute about the Succession to the Crown and that therefore he would communicate the business to the Cardinal Sanctorum Quatuor upon which they resolved to prevent that Cardinals being with the Pope and went and delivered the Letters they had for him and promised him a good reward if he were favourable to their Requests in the Kings behalf Then they shewed him the Commissions that were sent from England but he upon the perusal of them said They could not pass without a perpetual dishonour on the Pope and the King too and excepted to several Clauses that were in them So they desired him to draw one that might both be sufficient for the Kings purpose and such as the Pope might with honour grant Which being done the Pope told them That though he apprehended great danger to himself if the Emperour should know what he had done yet he would rather expose himself to utter ruine than give the King or the Cardinal cause to think him Ingrate but with many sighs and tears he begged that the King would not precipitate things or expose him to be undone by beginning any Process upon the Bull. And so he delivered the Commission and Dispensation Signed to Knight But the means that the Pope proposed for his publishing and owning what he now granted was That Lauâ—rech with the French Army should march and coming where the Pope was should require him to grant the Commission So that the Pope should excuse himself to the Emperour that he had refused to grant it upon the desire of the English Ambassadour but that he could not deny the General of the French Army to do an act of publick justice And by this means he would save his honour and not seem guilty of breach of promise and then he would dispatch the Commission about the time of Lautrech's being near him and therefore he entreated the King to accept of what was then granted for the present The Commission and Dispensation was given to the Secretary and they promised to send the Bull after him of the same form that was desired from England and the Pope engaged to reform it as should be found needful And it seems by these Letters that a Dispensation and Commission had been Signed by the Pope when he was a Prisoner but they thought not fit to make any use of them lest they should be thought null as being granted when the Pope was in Captivity Thus the Pope expressed all the readiness that could be expected from him in the circumstances he was then in being over-aw'd by the Imperialists who were harassing the Country and taking Castles very near the place where he was Lautrech with the French Army lay still fast about Bononia and as the season of the year was not favourable so he did not express any inclinations to enter into action The Cardinal Sanctorum Quatuor got 4000 Crowns as the reward of his pains and in earnest of what he was to expect when the matter should be brought to a final conclusion In this whole matter the Pope carried himself as a wise and politick Prince that considered his Interest and provided against dangers with great fore-sight But as for Apostolical wisdom and the Simplicity of the Gospel that was not to be expected from him For now though the high-sounding names of Christs Vicar and St. Peters Successor were still retained to keep up the Popes Dignity and Authority yet they had for many Ages governed themselves as Secular Princes so that the Maximes of that Court were no more to keep a good Conscience and to proceed according to the Rules of the Gospel and the Practice of the Primitive Church committing the event to God and submitting to his Will in all things but the keeping a ballance the maintaining their Interest in the Courts of Princes the securing their Dominions and the raising their Families being that which they chiefly looked at It is not to be wondered at that the Pope governed himself by these measures though Religion was to be made use of to help him out of straits All this I set down the more particularly both because I take my information from Original Letters and that it may chiefly appear how matters went at that time in the Court of Rome Secretary Knight being Infirme could not travel with that haste that was required in this business and therefore he sent the Proto-Notary Gambara with the Commission and Dispensation to England and followed in easie journies The Cardinals that had been consulted with did all express great readiness in
which they were also to deliver They had likewise a secret Instruction by all means to endeavour that Cardinal Campegio should be the Legate he had the reputation of a Learned Canonist and they knew he was a tractable man and besides that he was Bishop of Salisbury the King had obliged him by the grant of a Palace which the King was building in Burgo at Rome for his Ambassadors which before it was finished he had by a Patent given to him and his heirs so they had better hopes of him than of any other By these Ambassadors the Cardinal wrote a long and most earnest Letter to Iohn Cassali the Proto-Notarie that was the Ambassadors Brother In which all the Arguments that a most anxious mind could invent or dictate are laid together to perswade the Pope to grant the Kings desires Among other things he tells him How he had engaged to the King that the Pope would not deny it That the King both out of scruple of Conscience and because of some Diseases in the Queen that were incurable had resolved never to come near her more and that if the Pope continued out of his partial respects to the Emperor to be inexorable the King would proceed another way He offers to take all the blame of it upon his own Soul if it were amiss with many other particulars in which he is so pressing that I cannot imagine what moved the Lord Herbert who saw those Letters to think that the Cardinal did not really intend the Divorce He it seems saw another Paper of their Instructions by which they were ordered to say to the Pope that the Cardinal was not the Author of the Counsel But all that was intended by that was only to excuse him so far that he might not be thought too partial and an incompetent Judge For as he was far from disowning the justice of the Kings Sute so he would not have trusted a Secret of that Importance to paper which when it should be known to the King would have lost him his favour But undoubtedly it was concerted between the King and him to remove an Exception which otherwise the Cardinals of the Imperial Faction would have made to his being the Judg in that matter With those Letters and Instructions were Gardiner and Fox sent to Rome where both the Cassalies and Staphileus were promoting the Kings business all they could And being strengthned with the Accession of those other two they made a greater progress so that in April the Pope did in Consistory Declare Cardinal Campegio Legate to go to England that he with the Cardinal of York might try the validity of the Kings Marriage But that Cardinal made great excuses he was then Legate at Rome in which he had such advantages that he had no mind to enter in a business which must for ever engage either the Emperor or the King against him He also pretended an Inability to travel so great a journey being much subject to the Gout But when this was known in England the Cardinal wrote him a most earnest Letter to hasten over and bring with him all such things as were necessary for making their Sentence firm and irreversible so that it might never again be Questioned But here I shall add a Remark which though it is of no great importance yet will be diverting to the Reader The draught of the Letter is in Wolsey's Secretaries hand amended in some places by his own and concluded thus I hope all things shall be done according to the Will of God the desire of the King the Quiet of the Kingdom and to our honour with a good Conscience But the Cardinal dasht out this last word with a good Conscience Perhaps judging that was a thing fit for meaner persons but that it was below the Dignity of two Cardinals to consider it much He wrote also to Cassali high complements for his diligence in the Step that was made but desired him with all possible means to get the Bull granted and trusted to his keeping with the deepest Protestations that no use should be made of it but that the King only should see it by which his mind would be at ease and he being put in good hopes would employ his Power in the service of the Pope and Apostolick See but the Pope was not a man to be cozen'd so easily When the Cardinal heard by the next Dispatch what excuses and delays Campegio made he wrote to him again and pressed his coming over in haste For his being Legate of Rome he desired him to name a Vice-Legate For his want of Money and Horses Gardiner would furnish him as he desired and he should find an equipage ready for him in France and he might certainly expect great rewards from the King But if he did not make more haste the King would incline to believe an advertisement that was sent him of his turning over to the Emperors Party Therefore if he either valued the Kings kindness or were grateful for the favours he had received from him if he valued the Cardinals Friendship or safety or if he would hinder the diminution of the Authority of the Roman Church all excuses set aside he must make what haste in his Journey was possible Yet the Legate made no great haste for till October following he came not into England The Bull that was desired could not be obtained but another was granted which perhaps was of more force because it had not those extraordinary Clauses in it There is the Copy of a Bull to this purpose in the Cottonian Library which has been printed more than once by some that have taken it for a Copy of the same Bull that was sent by Campegio but I take it to be rather a Copy of that Bull which the Pope Signed at Rome while he was there a Prisoner and probably afterward at Orvieto he might give it the date that it bears 1527. Decemb. 17. But that there was a Decretal Bull sent by Campegio will appear evidently in the sequel of this Relation About this time I meet with the first evidence of the progress of the Kings love to Anne Boleyn in two Original Letters of hers to the Cardinal from which it appears not only that the King had then resolved to Marry her but that the Cardinal was privy to it They bear no date but the matter of them shews they were written after the end of May when the Sweating-sickness began and about the time that the Legate was expected They give such a light to the History that I shall not cast them over to the Collection at the end but set them down here MY Lord in my most humblest wise that my heart can think I desire you to pardon me that I am so bold to trouble you with my simple and rude writing esteeming it to proceed from her that is much desirous to know that your Grace does well as I perceive by this
Carnalis Copula But in this perhaps is left out and 't is plainly said That they had Consummated their Marriage This the King's Council who suspected that the Breve was forged made great use of when the Question was argued whether Prince Arthur knew her or not Though at this time 't was said the Spaniards did put it in on design knowing it was like to be proved that the former Marriage was Consummated which they intended to throw out of the debate since by this it appeared that the Pope did certainly know that and yet granted the Breve and that therefore there was to be no more enquiry to be made into that which was already confessed so that all that was now to be debated was the Popes power of granting such a Dispensation in which they had good reason to expect a favourable Decision at Rome But there appeared great grounds to reject this Breve as a forged writing It was neither in the Records of England nor Spain but said to be found among the Papers of D. de Puebla that had been the Spanish Ambassador in England at the time of concluding the Match So that if he only had it it must have been cassated otherwise the Parties concerned would have got it into their hands Or else it was forged since Many of the names were written false which was a presumption that it was lately made by some Spaniards who knew not how to write the names true For Sigismund who was Secretary when it was pretended to have been Signed was an exact man and no such errors were found in Breves at that time But that which shewed it a manifest Forgery was that it bore date the 26th of December Anno 1503. on the same day that the Bull was granted It was not to be imagined that in the same day a Bull and a Breve should have been expedited in the same business with such material differences in them And the stile of the Court of Rome had this singularity in it That in all their Breves they reckon the beginning of the year from Christmas-day which being the Nativity of our Lord they count the year to begin then But in their Bulls they reckon the year to begin at the Feast of the Annunciation So that a Breve dated the 26th of December 1503. was in the vulgar account in the year 1502. therefore it must be false for neither was Iulius the 2d who granted it then Pope nor was the Treaty of the Marriage so far advanced at that time as to admit of a Breve so soon But allowing the Breve to be true they had many of the same Exceptions to it that they had to the Bull since it bore that the King desired the Marriage to avoid a Breach between the Crowns which was false It likewise bore that the Marriage had been Consummated between the Queen and Prince Arthur which the Queen denied was ever done so that the suggestion in her name being as she said false it could have no force though it were granted to be a true Breve And they said it was plain the Imperialists were convinced the Bull was of no force since they betook themselves to such arts to fortifie their Cause When Cardinal Campegio came to England he was received with the publick Solemnities ordinary in such a case and in his speech at his first Audience he called the King the Deliverer of the Pope and of the City of Rome with the highest complements that the occasion did require But when he was admitted to a private Conference with the King and the Cardinal he used many arguments to diswade the King from prosecuting the matter any further This the King took very ill as if his errand had been rather to confirm than annul his Marriage and complained that the Pope had broken his word to him But the Legate studied to qualifie him and shewed the Decretal Bull by which he might see that though the Pope wished rather that the business might come to a more friendly conclusion yet if the King could not be brought to that he was empowered to grant him all that he desired But he could not be brought to part with the DecretalBull out of his hands or to leave it for a minute either with the King or the Cardinal saying That it was demanded on these terms that no other person should see it and that Gardiner and the Ambassador had only moved to have it expedited and sent by the Legate to let the King see how well the Pope was affected to him With all this the King was much dissatisfied but to encourage him again the Legate told him he was to speak to the Queen in the Popes name to induce her to enter into a Religious life and to make the Vows But when he proposed that to her she answered him modestly that she could not dispose of her self but by the advice of her Nephews Of all this the Cardinal of York advertised the Cassalies and ordered them to use all possible endeavours that the Bull might be showen to some of the Kings Council Upon that Sir Gregory being then out of Rome the Proto-Notary went to the Pope and complained that Campegio had disswaded the Divorce The Pope justified him in it and said He did as he had ordered him He next complained that the Legate would not proceed to execute the Legantine Commission The Pope denied that he had any order from him to delay his proceedings but that by vertue of his Commission they might go on and pass Sentence Then the Proto-Notary pressed him for leave to shew the Bull to some of the Kings Council complaining of Campegio's stiffness in refusing it and that he would not trust it to the Cardinal of York who was his equal in the Commission To this the Pope answered in passion That he could shew the Cardinals Letter in which he assures him that the Bull should only be shewed to the King and himself and that if it were not granted he was ruined therefore to preserve him he had sent it but had ordered it to be burnt when it was once shewed He wished he had never sent it saying he would gladly lose a Finger to recover it again and expressed great grief for granting it and said They had got him to send it and now would have it showed to which he would never consent for then he was undone for ever Upon this the Proto-Notary laid before him the danger of losing the King and the Kingdom of England of ruining the Cardinal of York and of the undoing of their Family whose hopes depended on the Cardinal and that by these means Heresie would prevail in England which if it once had great footing there would not be so easily rooted out That all persons judged the Kings Cause right but though it were not so some things that were not good must be born with to avoid greater evils And at last he fell
at last expedited at what Rates I cannot tell but this I set down to show how severe the Exactions of the Court of Rome were As the Pope recovered his health so he inclined more to joyn himself to the Emperor than ever and was more alienated than formerly from the King and the Cardinal which perhaps was increased by the distaste he took at the Cardinals aspiring to the Popedom The first thing that the Emperor did in the Kings Cause was to protest in the Queen of Englands name that she refused to submit to the Legates The one was the Kings chief Minister and her mortal enemy The other was also justly suspected since he had a Bishoprick in England The Kings Ambassador pressed the Pope much not to admit the Protestation but it was pretended that it could not be denyed either in Law or Justice But that this might not offend the King Salviati that was the Popes Favourite wrote to Campegio that the Protestation could not be hindred but that the Pope did still most earnestly desire to satisfie the King and that the Ambassadors were much mistaken who were so distrustful of the Popes good mind to the Kings Cause But now good words could deceive the King no longer who clearly discovered the Popes mind and being out of all hopes of any thing more from Rome resolved to proceed in England before the Legates and therefore Gardiner was recalled who was thought the fittest person to manage the Process in England being esteemed the greatest Canonist they had and was so valued by the King that he would not begin the Process till he came Sr. Francis Brian was also recalled and when they took leave of the Pope they were ordered to Expostulate in the Kings name Upon the Partiality he expressed for the Emperor notwithstanding the many assurances that both the Legates had given the King that the Pope would do all he could toward his Satisfaction which was now so ill performed that he expected no more justice from him They were also to say as much as they could devise in the Cardinals name to the same purpose upon which they were to try if it were possible to obtain any Enlargement of the Commission with fuller Power to the Legates for they saw it was in vain to move for any new Bulls or Orders from the Pope about it And though Gardiner had obtained a Pollicitation from the Pope by which he both bound himself not to recal the cause from the Legates and also to confirm their Sentence and had sent it over they found it was so conceived that the Pope could go back from it when he pleased So there was a new Draught of a Pollicitation formed with more binding Clauses in it which Gardiner was to try if he could obtain by the following Pretence He was to tell the Pope that the Courier to whom he trusted it had been so little careful of it that it was all wet and defaced and of no more use so that he durst not deliver it And this might turn much to Gardiners prejudice that a matter of such Concern was through his neglect spoiled upon which he was to see if the Pope would renew it If that could be obtained he was to use all his Industry to get as many pregnant and material words added as might make it more binding He was also to assure the Pope that though the Emperor was gone to Barcellona to give reputation to his affairs in Italy yet he had neither Army nor Fleet ready so that they needed not fear him And he was to inform the Pope of the Arts he was using both in the English and French Court to make a separated Treaty But that all was to no pâ—rpose the two Kings being so firmly linked together But the Pope was so great a Master in all the Arts of Dissimulation and Policy that he was not to be overreached easily and when he understood that his Polliâ—itation was defaced he was in his heart glad at it and could not be prevailed with to renew it So they returned to England and Dr. Bennet came in their place He carryed with him one of the fullest and most important Dispatches that I find in this whole matter from the two Legates to the Pope and the Consistory who wrote to them that they had in vain endeavoured to perswade either party to yield to the other That the Breve being shewed to them by the Queen they found great and evident Presumptions of it's being a meer forgery and that they thought it was too much for them to sit and try the Validity or Authenticalness of the Popes Bulls or Breves or to hear his Power of Dispencing in such cases disputed therefore it was more expedient to Avocate the cause to which the King would consent if the Pope obliged himself under his hand to pass Sentence speedily in his favour but they rather advised the Granting a Decretal Bull which would put an end to the whole matter in order to which the Bearer was Instructed to show very good Precedents But in the mean while they advised the Pope to press the Queen most effectually to enter into a Religious life as that which would compose all these differences in the softest and easiest way It pitied them to see the rack and torments of Conscience under which the King had smarted so many years and that the Disputes of Divines and the Decrees of Fathers had so disquieted him that for clearing a matter thus perplexed there was not only need of Learning but of a more singular Piety and Illumination To this were to be added the desire of Issue the Settlement of the Kingdom with many other pressing reasons that as the matter did admit of no further delays so there was not any thing in the opposite scale to ballance these Considerations There were false Suggestions surmised abroad as if the hatred of the Queen or the desire of another wife who was not perhaps yet known much less designed were the true causes of this Suit But though the Queen was of a rough Temper and an unpleasant Conversation and was passed all hopes of Children yet who could imagine that the King who had spent his most youthful days with her so kindly would now in the decline of his Age be at all this trouble to be rid of her if he had no other Motives But they by searching his sore found there was rooted in his heart both an awe of God and a respect to Law and Order so that though all his people pressed him to drive the Matter to an issue yet he would still wait for the decision of the Apostolick See Therefore they most pressingly desire the Pope to grant the Cure which his distemper required and to consider that it was not fit to insist too much on the Rigour of the Law but since the Soul and Life of all the Laws of the Church was in the Popes breast in doubtful cases
were by an other Dispatch which Gardiner sent ordered to Protest and Appeal from the Pope as not the true Vicar of Christ to a true Vicar But the King upon second thoughts judged it not fit to proceed to this Extremity so soon They were also ordered to advertise the Pope that all the Nobility had assured the King they would adhere to him in case he were so ill used by the Pope that he were constrained to withdraw his obedience from the Apostolick See and that the Cardinals ruine was unavoidable if the Pope granted the Avocation The Emperors Agents had pretended they could not send the original Breve into England and said their Master would send it to Rome upon which the Ambassadors had solicited for Letters Compulsory to require him to send it to England yet left that might now be made an Argument by the Imperialists for an Avocation they were ordered to speak no more of it for the Legates would proceed to Sentence upon the attested Copy that was sent from Spain The Ambassadors had also orders to take the best Counsel in Rome about the Legal ways of hindring an Avocation But they found it was not fit to rely much on the Lawyers in that matter For as on the one hand there was no secrecy to be expected from any of them they having such expectations of preferments from the Pope which were beyond all the Fees that could be given them that they discovered all secrets to him So none of them would be earnest to hinder an Avocation it being their Interest to bring all Matters to Rome by which they might hope for much greater Fees And Salviati whom the Ambassadors had gained told them that Campana brought word out of England that the Process was then in a good forwardness They with many Oaths denyed there was any such thing and Silvester Darius who was sent express to Rome for opposing the Avocation confirmed all that they swore But nothing was believed for by a secret conveyance Campana had Letters to the contrary And when they objected to Salviati what was promised by Campana in the Popes name that he would do every thing for the King that he could do out of the fulness of his Power He answered that Campana swore he had never said any such thing So hard is the case of Ministers in such ticklish negotiations that they must say and unsay swear and forswear as they are Instructed which goes of Course as a part of their Business But now the Legates were proceeding in England Of the steps in which they went though a great deal be already published yet considerable things are passed over On the 31th of May the King by a Warrant under the Great Seal gave the Legates leave to execute their Commission upon which they Sate that same day The Commission was presented by Longland Bishop of Lincoln which was given to the Proto-Notary of the Court and he read it publickly then the Legates took it in their hands and said They were resolved to Execute it And first gave the usual Oaths to the Clerks of the Court and ordered a peremtory Citation of the King and Queen to appear on the 18th of Iune between 9 and 10 a Clock and so the Court Adjourned The next Session was on the 18th of Iune where the Citations being returned duely Executed Richard Simpson Dean of the Chappel and Mr. Iohn Bell appeared as the Kings Proxies But the Queen appeared in Person and did protest against the Legates as incompetent Judges alledging that the cause was already Avocated by the Pope and desired a competent time in which she might prove it The Legates assigned her the 21th and so Adjourned the Court till then About this time there was a severe Complaint exhibited against the Queen in Council of which there is an account given in a paper that has somewhat written at the conclusion of it with the Cardinals own hand The substance of it is That they were informed some designed to kill the King or the Cardinal in which if she had any hand she must not expect to be spared That she had not shewed such love to the King neither in Bed nor out of Bed as she ought And now that the King was very pensive and in much grief she showed great signs of joy setting on all people to Dancings and other Diversions This it seemed she did out of spite to the King since it was contrary to her temper and ordinary behaviour And whereas she ought rather to pray to God to bring this matter to a good conclusion she seemed not at all serious and that she might corrupt the peoples affections to the King she showed her self much abroad and by civilities and gracious bowing her head which had not been her custom formerly did study to work upon the people And that having the pretended Breve in her hands she would not show it sooner From all which the King concluded that she hated him Therefore his Council did not think it advisable for him to be any more conversant with her either in Bed or at Board They also in their Consciences thought his life was in such danger that he ought to withdraw himself from her company and not suffer the Princess to be with her These things were to be told her to induce her to enter into a Religious Order and to perswade her to submit to the King To which paper the Cardinal added in Latine That she played the fool if she contended with the King that her Children had not been blessed and somewhat of the evident suspitions that were of the Forgery of the Breve But she had a constant mind and was not to be threatned to any thing On the 21th of Iune the Court Sate The King and Queen were present in Person Campegio made a long Speech of the errand they were come about That it was a new unheard of vile and intolerable thing for the King and Queen to live in Adultery or rather Incest which they must now try and proceed as they saw just cause And both the Legates made deep protestations of the sincerity of their minds and that they would proceed justly and fairly without any favour or partiality As for the formal Speeches which the King and Queen made Hall who never failed in trifles sets them down which I incline to believe they really spoke for with the Journals of the Court I find those Speeches written down though not as a part of the Journal But here the Lord Herbert's usual diligence fails him for he fancies the Queen never appeared after the 18th upon which because the Journal of the next Sessions are lost he infers against all the Histories of that time That the King and the Queen were not in Court together And he seems to conclude that the 25th of Iune was the next Session after the 18th but in that he was mistaken For by an original Letter of the Kings to
another Wife keeping the Queen still Zuinglius confutes that and says If the Marriage be against the Law of God it ought to be dissolved But concludes the Queen should be put away honourably and still used as a Queen and the Marriage should only be dissolved for the future without Illegitimating the Issue begotten in it since it had gone on in a publick way upon a received error But advises that the King should proceed in a Judiciary way and not establish so ill a President as to put away his Queen and take another without due form of Law Dated Basil 17th of Aug. There is a second Letter of his to the same purpose from Zurick the first of September There is also with these Letters a long paper of Osianders in the form of a Direction how the Process should be managed There is also an Epistle of Calvins published among the rest of his Neither the date nor the person to whom it was directed are named Yet I fancie it was written to Grineus upon this occasion Calvin was clear in his judgment that the Marriage was null and that the King ought to put away the Queen upon the Law of Leviticus And whereas it was objected that the Law is only meant of Marrying the Brothers wife while he is yet alive he shews that could not be admitted for all the prohibited degrees being forbidden in the same style they were all to be understood in one sense Therefore since it is confessed that it is unlawful to Marry in the other degrees after the death of the Father Son Uncle or Nephew so it must be also a sin to Marry the Brothers wife after his death And for the Law in Deuteronomy of Marrying the Brothers wife to raise up seed to him he thought that by Brother there is to be understood a near Kinsman according to the usual phrase of the Hebrew tongue and by that he reconciles the two Laws which otherwise seem to differ illustrating his Exposition by the History of Ruth and Boaz. It is given out that Melancthon advised the Kings taking another wife justifying Polygamy from the old Testament but I cannot believe it It is true the Lawfulness of Polygamy was much controverted at this time And as in all controversies newly started many crude things are said so some of the Helvetian and German Divines seem not so fierce against it though none of them went so far as the Pope did who did plainly offer to grant the King Licence to have two wives and it was a motion the Imperialists consented to and promoted though upon what reason the Ambassador Cassali who wrote the account of it to the King could not learn The Pope forbade him to write about it to the King perhaps as Whisperers enjoyn silence as the most effectual way to make a thing publick But for Melancthons being of that mind great evidences appear to the contrary for there is a Letter of Osianders to him giving him many reasons to perswade him to approve of the Kings putting away the Queen and Marrying another the Letter also shews he was then of opinion that the Law in Leviticus was Dispensable And after the thing was done when the King desired the Lutheran Divines to approve his second Marriage they begged his excuse in a writing which they sent over to him so that Melanâ—â—hon not allowing the thing when it was done cannot be imagined to have advised Polygamy before hand And to open at once all that may clear the sense of the Protestants in the Question when some years after this Fox being made Bishop of Hereford and much inclined to their Doâ—ctrine was sent over to get the Divines of Germany to approve of the Divorce and the subsequent Marriage of Anne Boleyn he found that Melancthon and others had no mind to enter much into the Dispute about it both for fear of the Emperor and because they judged the King was led in it by dishonest affections they also thought the Laws in Leviticus were not Moral and did not oblige Christians and since there were no Rules made about the Degrees of Marriage in the Gospel they thought Princes and States might make what Laws they pleased about it yet aâ—ter much Disputing they were induced to change their minds but could not be brought to think that a Marriage once made might be annulled and therefore demurred upon that as will appear by the Conclusion they passed upon it to be found at the end of this volume All this I have set together here to give a right representation of the judgments of the several parties of Christendome about this matter It cannot be denyed that the Protestants did express great sincerity in this matter such as became men of conscience who were acted by true Principles and not by maxims of Policie For if these had governed them they had struck in more compliantly with so great a Prince who was then alienated from the Pope and in very ill terms with the Emperor so that to have gained him by a full Compliance to have protected them was the wisest thing they could do and their being so cold in the matter of his Marriage in which he had engaged so deeply was a thing which would very much provoke him against them But such measures as these though they very well became the Apostolick See yet theâ— were unworthy of men who designed to restore an Apostolick Religion The Earl of Wiltshire with the other Ambassadors when they had their Audience of the Pope at Bononia refused to pay him the submission of Kissing his foot though he graciously stretched it out to them but went to their Business and expostulated in the Kings name and in high words and in Conclusion told the Pope that the Prerogative of the Crown of England was such that their Master would not suffer any Citation to be made of him to any forreign Court and that therefore the King would not have his cause tryed at Rome The Pope answered that though the Queens Sollicitor had pressed him to proceed in the Citation bâ—th that her Marriage being further examined might receive a new Conâ—irmation for silencing the Dispuâ—es about it and because the King had withdrawn himself â—rom her yet if the King did not go further and did not innovate in Relâ—gion the Pope was willing to let the matter rest They went next to the Emperor to justifie the Kings Proceedings in the Suit of the Divorce But he told them he was bound in honour and justice to â—uppâ—rt his Aunt and that he would not abandon her Cranmer offered to maintain what he had written in his Book but whether they went so far as to make their Divines enter into any Discourse with him about it I do not know This appears that the Pope to put a Complement on the King declared Cranmer his Paenitentiary in England He having stayed some months at Rome after the Ambassadors were gone
went into Germany where he became acquainted with Cornelius Agrippa a man very famous for great and curious Learning and so satisfied him in the Kings cause that he gave it out that the thing was clear and indisputable for which he was afterwards hardly used by the Emperor and dyed in Prison But when the King received the Determinations and Conclusions of the Universities and other Learned men beyond Sea he resolved to do two things First to make a new attempt upon the Pope and then to publish those Conclusions to the World with the arguments upon which they were grounded But to make his address to the Pope carry more terror with it he got a Letter to be signed by a great many Members of Parliament to the Pope The â—ord Herbertâ—aith â—aith it was done by his Parliament but in that he had not applyed his ordinary diligence the Letter bears date the 13 of Iuly Now by the Records of Parliament it appears there could be no Session at that time for there was a Prorogation from the 21 of Iune till the â—st of October that year But the Letter was sent about to the chief Members for their hands and Cavendish tells how it was brought to the Cardinal and with what chearfulness he set his hand to it It was subscribed by the Cardinal and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury 4 Bishops 2 Dukes 2 Marquesses 13 Earls 2 Viscounâ—s 23 Barons 22 Abbots and 11 Commoners most of these being the Kings Servants The Contents of the Letters were that their near Relation to the King made them address thus to the Pope The Kings cause was now in the opinion of the Learned men and Universities both in England France and Italy found just which ought to prevail so far with the Pope that though none moved in it and notwithstanding any Contradiction he ought to confirm their judgment especially it touching a King and Kingdom to whom he was so much obliged But since neither the justice of the cause nor the Kings most earnest desires had prevailed with him they were all forced to complain of that strange usage of their King who both by his Authority and with his Pen had supported the Apostolick See and the Catholick Faith and yet was now denyed justice From which they apprehended great mischief and Civil Wars which could only be prevented by the Kings Marrying another wife of whom he might have issue This could not be done till his present Marriage were annulled nulled And if the Pope would still refuse to do this they must conclude that they were abandoned by him and so seek for other Remedies This they most earnestly prayed him to prevent since they did not desire to go to extremities till there was no more to be hoped for at his hands To this the Pope made answer the 27 of September He took notice of the vehemency of their Letter which he forgave them imputing it to their great affection to their King they had charged him with ingratitude and injustice two grievous Imputations He acknowledged all they wrote of the obligations he owed to their King which were far greater than they called them both on the Apostolick See and himself in particular But in the Kings cause he had been so far from denying justice that he was oft charged as having been too partial to him He had granted a Commission to two Legates to hear it rather out of favour than in Rigor of Law upon which the Queen had appealed he had delayed the admitting of it as long as was possible but when he saw it could not be any longer denyed to be heard it was brought before the Consistory where all the Cardinals with one consent found that the Appeal and an Avocation of the cause must be granted That since that time the King had never desired to put it to a Tryal but on the contrary by his Ambassadors at Bononia moved for a delay and in that posture it was still nor could he give sentence in a thing of such Consequence when it was not so much as sought for For the conclusions of Universities and Learned men he had seen none of them from any of the Kings Ambassadors It was true some of them had been brought to him another way but in them there were no reasons given but only bare Conclusions and he had also seen very important things for the other side and therefore he must not precipitate a Sentence in a cause of such high Importance till all things were fully heard and considered He wished their King might have Male Issue but he was not in Gods stead to give it And for their Threatnings of seeking other Remedies they were neither agreeable to their wisdom nor to their Religion Therefore he admonished them to abstain from such Counsels but minded them that it is not the Physicians fault if the Patient will do himself hurt He knew the King would never like such courses and though he had a just value for their Intercession yet he considered the King much more to whom as he had never denyed any thing that he could grant with his honor so he was very desirous to examine this matter and to put it to a speedy issue and would do every thing that he could without offending God But the King either seeing the Pope resolved to grant nothing or apprehending that some Bull might be brought into England in behalf of the Queen or the disgraced Cardinal did on the Nineteenth of September put forth a Proclamation against any who purchased any thing from Rome or elsewhere contrary to his Royal Prerogative and Authority or should publish or divulge any such thing requiring them not to do it under the pains of incurring his indignation Imprisonment and other punishments on their persons This was founded on the Statutes of Provisors and Premunires But that being done he resolved next to publish to the world and to his Subjects the justice of his cause Therefore some Learned men were appâ—inted to compare all that had been written on it and out of all the Transcripâ—s of the Manuscripts of Fathers and Councils to gather together whatsoever did strengthen it Several of these Manuscripts I have seen one is in Mr. Smiths Library where are the Quotations of the Fathers Councils Schoolmen and Canonists written out at length There are Three other such MSS. in the Cotton Library of which one contains a large vindication of these Authorities from some Exceptions made to them another is an answer to the Bishop of Rochesters Book for the Queens cause A Third digests the Matter into Twelve Articles which the Reader will find in my Appendix and these are there enlarged on and proved But all these and many more were sum'd up in a short Book and Printed first in Latine then in English with the Determinations of the Universities before it These are of such weight and Importance and give so great a light to
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
Modena and Reggio from the Duke of Ferrara to which he pretended as being Fiefs of the Papacy and the Emperor having engaged by the former Treatyto restore them to him But now that the Popes pretensions were appointed to be examined by some Judges delegated by the Emperor they determined against the Pope for the Duke of Ferrara which so disgusted the Pope that he fell totally from the Emperor and did unite with the King of France a Match being also projected between the Duke of Orleance afterwards Henry the 2d and his Neece Catharine de Medici which did work much on the Popes ambition to have his Family Allied to so mighty a Monarch So that now he became wholly French The French King was also on account of this Marriage to resigne all the pretensions he had to any Territory in Italy to his younger Son which as it would give less-Umbrage to the other Princes of Italy who liked rather to have a King 's younger Son among them than either the Emperor or the French King so the Pope was wonderfully pleased to raise another great Prince in Italy out of his own Family On these grounds was the Match at this time designed which afterwards took effect but with this difference that by the Dolphin's death the Duke of Orleance became King of France and his Queen made the greatest Figure that any Queen of France had done for many Ages This change in the Popes mind might have produced another in the Kings Affairs if he had not already gone so far that he was less in fear of the Pope than formerly He found the Credit of his Clergy was so low that to preserve themselves from the contempt and fury of the people they were forced to depend wholly on the Crown For Lutheranisme was then making a great progress in England of which I shall say nothing here being resolved at the end of this Book to give an account of the whole Course of it in those years that fall within this time But what by the means of the new Preachers what by the scandals cast on the Clergy they were all at the Kings Mercy so he did not fear much from them especially in the Southern parts which were the richest and best peopled Therefore the King went on resolutely The Pope on the other hand was in great perplexity he saw England ready to be lost and knew not what to do to rescue or preserve it If he gave way to what was lately done in the business of the Premunire he must thereby lose the greatest advantages he drew from that Nation and it was not likely that after the King had gone so far he would undo what was done The Emperor was more remiss in prosecuting the Queens Appeal at Rome for at that time the Turk with a most numerous and powerful Army was making an impression on Hungary which to the great scandal of the most Christian King was imputed to his Councils and Presents at the Port and all the Emperor's thoughts were taken up with this Therefore as he gave the Protestant Princes of Germany some present satisfaction in Religion and other matters so he sent over to England and desired the Kings assistance against that vast Army of 300000 men that was falling in upon Christendom To this the King made a general answer that gave some hopes of assisting him But at the same time the Protestant Princes resolving to draw some advantage from that conjuncture of Affairs and being courted by the French King entred into a League with him for the defence of the Rights of the Empire And to make this firmer the King was invited by the French King to joyn in it to which he consented and sent over to France a sum of Money to be employed â—or the safety of the Empire And this provoked the Emperor to renew his endeavours in the Court of Rome for prosecuting the Queens Appeal The French King encouraged the King to go on with his Divorce that he might totally Alienate him from the Emperor The French Writers also add another Consideration which seems unworthy of so great a King that he himself being at that time so publick a Courtier of Ladies was not ill pleased to set forward a thing of that nature But though Princes allow themselves their pleasures yet they seldom Govern their Affairs by such Maximes In the beginning of the next year a new Session of Parliament was held in which the House of Commons went on to complain of many other grievances they lay under from the Clergy which they put in a writing and Presented it to the King In it they complained of the proceedings in the Spiritual Courts and especially their calling men before them ex officio and laying Articles to their charge without any Accuser and then admitting no Purgation but causing the Party Accused either to abjure or to be burnt which they found very grievous and intollerable This was occasioned by some violent proceeding against some reputed Hereticks of which an account shall be given afterwards But those complaints were stifled and great misunderstandings arose between the King and the House of Commons upon this following occasion There was a common practice in England of mens making such Setlements of their Estates by their Last Wills or other Deeds that the King and some great Lords were thereby defrauded of the advantages they made by Wards Marriages and Primer Season For regulating which a Bill was brought in to the House of Peers and assented to there but when it was sent down to the House of Commons it was rejected by them and they would neither pass the Bill nor any other Qualification of that Abuse This gave the King great offence and the House when they addressed to him about the proceedings of the Clergy also prayed That he would consider what Cost Charge and Pains they had been at since the beginning of the Parliament and that it would please his Grace of his Princely Benignity to Dissolve his Court of Parliament and that his Subjects might return into their Countries To which the King answered That for their complaints of the Clergy he must hear them also before he could give Judgment since in Justice he ought to hear both Parties but that their desiring the Redress of such Abuses was contrary to the other part of their Petition for if the Parliament were Dissolved how could those things they complained of be amended And as they complained of their long attendance so the King had stayed as long as they had done and yet he had still patience and so they must have otherwise their grievances would be without Redress But he did expostulate severely upon their rejecting the Bill about Deeds in prejudice of the Rights of the Crown He â—aid he had offered them a great mitigation of what by the rigour of the Law he might pretend to and if they would not accept of it he would
not then just cause to distrust all that came from him when at one time he condemned what he had allowed at another So that the King saw clearly he did not Consider the ease of his Conscience but other worldly respects that had put him on Consulting so many Learned men whose judgments differed much from those few that were about the Pope who thought the Prohibition of such Marriages was onely positive and might be dispensed with by the Pope whereas all other Learned men thought the Law was Moral and indispensable He perceived the Apostolick See was destitute of that Learning by which it should be directed and the Pope had oft professed his own Ignorance and that he spake by other mens mouths but many Universities in England France and Italy had declared the Marriage unlawful and the Dispensation null None honoured the Apostolick See more than he had done and therefore he was sorry to write such things if he could have been silent If he should obey the Popes Letters he would offend God and his own Conscience and give scandal to those who condemned his Marriage he did not willingly dissent from him without a very urgent cause that he might not seem to despise the Apostolick See therefore he desired the Pope would forgive the freedom that he used since it was the Truth that drew it from him And he added that he intended not to Impugn the Popes Authority further except he compelled him and what he did was only to bring it within its first and Ancient Limits to which it was better to reduce it than to let it always run on headlong and do amiss therefore he desired the Pope would Conform himself to the opinions of so many Learned men and do his Duty and Office The Letter ends with a Credence to the Ambassador The Pope seeing his Authority was declining in England resolved now to do all he could to recover it either by force or Treaty and so ordered a Citation to be made of the King to appear in Person or by Proxie at Rome to answer to the Queens appeal upon which Sir Edward Karne was sent to Rome with a new Character of Excusatour His Instructions were to take the best Counsel for pleading an Excuse of the Kings appearance at Rome First upon the grounds that might be found in the Canon Law and these not being sufficient he was to Insist on the Prerogatives of the Crown of England Doctor Bonner went with him who had expressed much zeal in the Kings cause though his great zeal was for Preferment which by the most servile ways he always Courted He was a forward bold man and since there were many Threatnings to be used to the Pope and Cardinals he was thought fittest for the employment but was neither Learned nor discreet They came to Rome in March where they found great heats in the Consistory about the Kings business The Imperialists pressed the Pope to proceed but all the wise and indifferent Cardinals were of another mind And when they understood what an Act was passed about Annates they saw clearly that the Parliament was resolved to adhere to the King in every thing he intended to do against their Interests The Pope expostulated with the Ambassadors about it but they told him the Act was still in the Kings Power and except he provoked him he did not intend to put it in execution The Ambassadors finding the Cardinal of Ravenna of so great reputation both for Learning and Vertue that in all matters of that kind his opinion was heard as an Oracle and gave Law to the whole Consistory they resolved to gain him by all means possible And Doctor Bennet made a secret address to him and offered him what Bishoprick either in France or England he would desire if he would bring the Kings matter to a good issue He was at first very shie at length he said he had been oft deceived by many Princes who had made him great Promises but when their business was ended never thought of performing them therefore he would be sure and so drave a Bargain and got under Doctor Bennets hand a promise of which a Copy being sent to the King written by Bennet himself will be found at the end of this Volume Bearing that he having Powers from the King for that effect dated the 29th of December last did promise the Cardinal for his help in the Kings affair Monasteries or other Benefices in France to the value of 6000 Ducates a year and the first Bishoprick that fell vacant in England and if it were not Ely that when ever that See was vacant upon his resigning the other he should be provided with the Bishoprick of Ely dated at Rome the 7th of February 1532. This I set down as one of the most Considerable Arguments that could be used to satisfie the Cardinals Conscience about the justice of the Kings cause This Cardinal was the fittest to work secretly for the King for he had appeared visible against him I find also by other Letters that both the Cardinals of Anâ—ona and Monte afterwards Pope Iulius the 3d were prevailed with by arguments of the same nature though I cannot find cut what the Bargains were Providellus that was accounted the greatest Canonist in Italy was brought from Bononia and entertained by the Ambassadors to give Counsel in the Kings cause and to plead his Excuse from appearing at Rome The plea was summed up in 28 Articles which were offered to the Pope and he admitted them to be examined in the Consistory appointing three of them to be opened at a Session But the Imperialists opposed that and after fifteen of them had been heard procured a new order that they should be heard in a Congregation of Cardinals before the Pope pretending that a Consistory sitting but once a week and having a great deal of other Business it would be long before the matter could be brought to any issue So Karne was served with a new order to appear in the Congregation the 3d. of April with this Certification That if he appeared not they would proceed Upon which he protested that he would adhere to the former Order yet being warned the second time he went first and protested against it which he got entered in the Datary This being considered in the Congregation they renewed the Order ofhearing it in the Consistory on the 10th of April and then Providellus opened three Conclusions Two of them related to Karne's Powers the third was concerning the Safety of the place to both parties But the Imperialists and the Queens Council being dissatisfied with this Order would not appear Upon which Karne complained of their Contumacy and said By that it was visible they were distrustful of their Cause On the 14th of April a new intimation was made to Karne to appear on the 17th with his Advocates to open all the rest of the Conclusions but he according to the first Order would onely plead
of Burton upon Trent sate in Parliament Generally Coventry and Burton were held by the same man as one Bishop held both Coventry and Litchfield though two different Bishopricks but in that year they were held by two different persons and both had their Writts to that Parliament The method used in the suppression of these Houses will appear by one compleat Report made of the Suppression of the Abbey of Tewksbury which out of many I copyed and is in the Collection From it the Reader will see what provision was made for the Abbot the Prior the other Officers and the Monks and other servants of the House and what Buildings they ordered to be defaced and what to remain and how they did estimate the Jewels Plate and other Ornaments But Monasteries were not sufficient to stop the appetite of some that were about the King for Hospitals were next lookt after One of these was this year surrendred by Thomas Thirleby with two other Priests he was Master of St. Thomas Hospital in Southwark and was designed Bishop of Westminster to which he made his way by that Resignation He was a learned and modest man but of so fickle or cowardly a temper that he turned alwayes with the Stream in every change that was made till Queen Elizabeth came to the Crown but then being ashamed of so many turns he resolved to shew he could once be firm to somewhat Now were all the Monasteries of England suppressed and the King had then in his hand the greatest opportunity of making Royal and Noble Foundations that ever King of England had But whether out of policy to give a general Content to the Gentry by selling to them at low rates or out of easiness to his Courtiers or out of an unmeasured lavishness in his expence it came far short of what he had given out he would do and what himself seemed once to have designed The clear yeerly value of all the Suppressed Houses is cast up in an account then stated to be viz. 131607. lib. 6. s. 4. d. as the Rents were then rated but was at least ten times so much in true value Of which he designed to convert 18000. lib. into a Revenue for eighteen Bishopricks and Cathedrals But of these he only erected six as shall be afterwards shewn Great sums were indeed laid out on building and fortifying many Ports in the Channel and other parts of England which were raised by the Sale of Abbey-Lands At this time many were offering projects for Noble Foundations on which the King seemed very earnest But it is very likely that before he was aware of it he had so out-run himself in his Bounty that it was not possible for him to bring these to any effect Yet I shall set down one of the projects which shews the greatness of his mind that designed it that is of Sir Nicholas Bacon who was afterwards one of the wisest Ministers that ever this Nation bred The King designed to found a House for the Study of the Civil Law and the purity of the Latine and French Tongues So he ordered Sir Nicolas Bacon and two others Thomas Deâ—ton and Robert Cary to make a full project of the nature and orders of such a House who brought it to him in a writing the original whereof is yet exâ—ant The design of it was that there should be frequent pleadings and other exercises in the Latine and French tongues and when the Kings Students were brought to some ripeness they should be sent with his Embassadors to Forreign parts and trained up in the knowledg of forreign affairs and so the House should be the Nursery for Ambassadors Some were also to be appointed to write the History of all Embassies Treaties and other foreign Transactions as also of all Arraignments and publick Tryals at home But before any of them might write on these Subjects the Lord Chancellour was to give them an Oath that they should do it truly without respect of persons or any other corrupt affection This noble Design miscarried But if it had been well laid and regulated it is easie to gather what great and publick advantages might have flowed from it Among which it is not inconsiderable that we should have been delivered from a Rabble of ill-Writers of History who have without due care or enquiry delivered to us the Transactions of that time so imperfectly that there is still need of enquiring into Registers and Papers for these matters Which in such a House had been more certainly and clearly conveighed to posterity than can be now expected at such a distance of time and after such a rasure of Records and other confusions in which many of these Papers have been lost And this help was the more necessary after the suppression of Religious Houses in most of which a Chronicle of the times was kept and still filled up as new Transactions came to their knowledg It is true most of these were written by men of weak Judgments who were more punctual in delivering Fables and Trifles than in opening observable Transactions Yet some of them were men of better understandings and it is like were directed by their Abbots who being Lords of Parliament understood aâ—fairs well only an invincible humor of lying when it might raise the credit of their Religion or Order or House runs through all their Manuscripts One thing was very remarkable which was this year granted at Cranmers Intercession There was nothing could so much recover Reformation that was declining so fast as the free use of the Scriptures and though these had been set up in the Churches a year ago yet he pressed and now procured leave for private persons to buy Bibles and keep them in their Houses So this was granted by Letters Patents directed to Cromwel bearing date the 13th of November The Substance of which was That the King was desirous to have his Subjects attain the knowledg of Gods word which could not be effected by any means so well as by granting them the free and liberal use of the Bible in the English tongue which to avoid dissension he intended should pass among them only by one Translation Therefore Cromwel was charged to take care that for the space of five years there should be no Impression of the Bible or any part of it but only by such as should be assigned by him But Gardiner opposed this all he could and one day in a Conference before the King he provoked Cranmer to shew any difference between the Authority of the Scriptures and of the Apostolical Canons which he pretended were equal to the other writings of the Apostles Upon which they disputed for some time But the King perceived solid Learning tempered with great Modesty in what Cranmer said and nothing but vanity and affectation in Gardiner's reasonings So he took him up sharply and told him that Cranmer was an old and experienced Captain and was not to be troubled by
fresh-men and Novices The great matter of the Kings Marriage came on at this time Many reports were brought the King of the beauty of Anne of Cleve so that he inclined to ally himself with that Family Both the Emperor and the King of France had courted him to Matches which they had projected The Emperor proposed the Dutchess of Milan his kinswoman and Daughter to the King of Denmark He was then designing to break the League of Smalcald and to make himself master of Germany And therefore he took much pains with the King to divide him from the Princes there which was in great part effected by the Statute for the six Articles Upon which the Ambassadors of the Princes had complained and said That whereas the King had been in so fair a way of union with them he had now broke it off and made so severe a Law about Communion in one kind Private Masses and the Celibate of the Clergy which differed so much from their Doctrine that they could entertain no further correspondence with him if that Law was not mitigated But Gardiner wrought much on the Kings vanity and passions and told him that it was below his Dignity and high Learning to have a Company of dull Germans and small Princes dictate to him in matters of Religion There was also another thing which he oft made use of though it argues somewhere a great Ignorance of the Constitution of the Empire That the King could not expect these Princes would ever be for his Supremacy since if they acknowledged that in him they must likewise yield it to the Emperor This was a great mistake For as the Princes of Germany never acknowledged the Emperor to have a sove raignty in their Dominions so they did acknowledg the Diet in which the Soveraignty of the Empire lies to have a Power of making or changing what Laws they pleased about Religion And in things that were not determined by the Diet every Prince pretended to it as highly in his own Dominions as the King could do in England But as untrue as this Allegation was it served Gardiner's turn for the King was sufficiently irritated with it against the Princes so that there was now a great coldness in their correspondence Yet the Project of a Match with the Dutchess of Milan failing and these proposed by France not being acceptable Cromwel moved the King about an Alliance with the Duke of Cleve who as he was the Emperors Neighbour in Flanders had also a pretension to the Dutchie of Guelders and his eldest Daughter was Marryed to the Duke of Saxony So that the King having then some apprehensions of a War with the Emperor this seemed a very proper Alliance to give him a Diversion There had been a Treaty between her Father and the Duke of Lorrain in order to a match between the Duke of Lorrain's Son and her But they both being under Age it went no further than a Contract between their Fathers Hans Holbin having taken her Picture sent it over to the King But in that he bestowed the common complement of his Art somewhat too liberally on a Lady that was in a way to be Queen The King liked the Picture better than the Original when he had the occasion afterwards to compare them The Duke of Saxony who was very zealous for the Ausâ—â—â—â— Confession finding the King had declined so much from it disswaded the Match But Cromwel set it on mightily expecting a great Support from a Queen of his own making whose friends being all Luthâ—rans it tended also to bring down the Popish Party at Court and again to recover the ground they had now lost Those that had seen the Lady did much commend her beauty and person But she could speak no Language but Dutch to which the King was a stranger Nor was she bred to Musick with which the King was much taken So that except her person had charmed him there was nothing left for her to gain upon him by After some Months Treaty one of the Counts Palatine of the Rhine with other Ambassadors from the Duke of Saxony and her Brother the Duke of Cleves for her Father was lately dead came over and concluded the Match In the end of December she was brought over to England And the King being impatient to see her went down Incognito to Rochester But when he had a sight of her finding none of these charms which he was made believe were in her he was so extreamly surprized that he not only did not like her but took an Aversion to her which he could never after overcome He swore they had brought over a Flanders Mare to him and was very sorry he had gone so far but glad it had proceeded no further And presently he resolved if it were possible to break off the matter and never to yoke himself with her But his Affairs were not then in such a condition that he could safely put that affront on the Dukes of Saxony and Cleves which the sending back of this Lady would have done For the Germans being of all Nations most sensible of every thing in which the Honour of their Family is touched he knew they would resent such an Injury And it was not safe for him to Adventure that at such a time For the Emperor was then in Paris whither he had gone to an Enterview with Francis And his Reception was not only as Magnificent as could be but there was all the Evidence possible of hearty Friendship and kindness The King also understood that between them there was somewhat projected against himself And now Francis that had been as much obliged by him as possibly one Prince could be by another was not only forgetful of it but intended to take advantage from the distractions and discontents of the English to drive them out of France if it were possible And it is not to be doubted but the Emperor would gladly have embroyled these two Kings that he might have a better opportunity both to make himself Master of Germany and to force the King of England into an Alliance by which the Lady Mary should be Legitimated and the Princes of Germany be left destitute of a Support which made them Insolent and Intractable The King apprehended the Conjunction of those two great Princes against himself which was much set forward by the Pope and that they would set up the King of Scotland against him who with that forreign Assistance and the discontents at home would have made War upon great advantages especially those in the North of England being ill affected to him And therefore he judged it necessary for his Affairs not to lose the Princes of Germany Only he resolved first to try if any Nullities or Pre-contracts could excuse him fairly at their hands He returned to Greenwich very Melancholy He much blamed the Earl of Southampton who being sent over to receive her at Callice had written an high Commendation of her
Duresm and Winchester and Thirleby and Richard Leighton Dean of York to examine the witnesses that day And the next day they received the Kings own Deposition with a long Declaration of the whole matter under Cromwels hand in a Letter to the King and the Depositions of most of the Privy Councellors of the Earl of Southampton the Lord Russel then Admiral of Sir Anthony Brown Sir Anthony Denny Doctor Chambers and Doctor Butts the Kings Physicians and of some Ladies that had talked with the Queen All which amounted to this that the King expected that the Precontract with the Marquess of Lorrain should have been more fully cleared That the King always disliked her and Marryed her full sore against his heart and since that time he had never consummated the Marriage So the substance of the whole evidence being considered it amounted to these three Particulars First That there had been a Contract between the Marquess of Lorrain and the Queen which was not sufficiently cleared for it did not yet appear whether these Espousals were made by the Parties themselves or in the words of the present tense Then it was said That the King having Marryed her against his will he had not given a pure inward and compleat consent And since a mans Act is only what is inward extorted or forced promises do not bind And Thirdly That he had never consummated the Marriage To which was added the great interest the whole Nation had in the Kings having more issue which they saw he could never have by the Queen This was furiously driven on by the Popish Party And Cranmer whether overcome with these arguments or rather with fear for he knew it was contrived to send him quickly after Cromwel consented with the rest So that the whole Convocation without one disagreeing Vote Judged the marriage null and of no force and that both the King and the Lady were free from the bond of it This was the greatest piece of Compliance that ever the King had from the Clergy For as they all knew there was nothing of weight in that praecontract so they laid down a most pernicious Precedent for invalidating all publick Treaties and Agreements since if one of the Parties being unwilling to it so that his consent were not inward he was not bound by it there was no safety among men more For no man can know whether another consents inwardly And when a man does any thing with great aversion to infer from thence that he does not inwardly consent may furnish every one with an excuse to break loose from all engagements For he may pretend he did it unwillingly and get his friends to declare that he privately signified that to them And for that argument which was taken from the want of Consummation they had forgotten what was pleaded on the Kings behalf 10 years before That consent without Consummation made a Marriage compleat by which they concluded that though Prince Arthur had not Consummated his Marriage with Queen Katherine yet his consent did so complete it that the King could not afterwards lawfully marry her But as the King was resolved on any terms to be rid of this Queen so the Clergy were also resolved not to incur his displeasure In which they rather sought for reasons to give some colour to their Sentence than past their judgment upon the strength of them This only can be said for their excuse that these were as just and weighty reasons as used to be admitted by the Court of Rome for a Divorce and most of them being Canonists and knowing how many Precedents there were to be found for such Divorces they thought they might do it as well as the Popes had formerly done On the 9th of Iuly Sentence was given Which was signed by both Houses of Convocation and had the two Arch-bishops Seals put to it of which whole Tryal the Record does yet remain having escaped the Fate of the other Books of Convocation The Original depositions are also yet extant Only I shall add here a reflection upon Cromwels misfortune which may justly abate the loftiness of haughty men The day after he was attainted being required to send to the King a full account under his hand of the business of his Marriage which Account he sent as will be found in the Collection he Concludes it with these abject words I a most woful Prisoner ready to take the death when it shall please God and your Majesty and yet the frail flesh inciteth me continually to call to your Grace for Mercy and Grace for mine offences And thus Christ save preserve and keep you Written at the Tower this Wednesday the last of Iune with the heavy heart and trembling hand of your Highness most heavy and most miserable Prisoner and poor slave Thomas Cromwel And a little below that Most Gracious Prince I cry for Mercy Mercy Mercy On the 10th of Iuly the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury reported to the House of Lords That the Convocation had judged the Marriage Null both by the Law of God and the Law of the Land The Bishop of Winchester delivered the Judgment in Writing which being read he enlarged on all the reasons of it This satisfied the Lords and they sent down Cranmer and him to the Commons to give them the same account Next day the King sent the Lord Chancellor the Duke of Norfolk the Earl of Southampton and the Bishop of Winchester to let the Queen know what was done who was not at all troubled at it and seemed not ill pleased They told her that the King would by Letters Patents Declare her his Adopted Sister and give her precedence before all the Ladies of England next his Queen and Daughters and assign her an Estate of 3000 lib. a year and that she had her choice either to live in England or to return home again She accepted the offer and under her hand declared her consent and approbation of the Sentence and chose to live still in England where she was in great honour rather than return under that disgrace to her own Countrey She was also desired to write to her Brother and let him know that she approved of what was done in her matter and that the King used her as a Father or a Brother and therefore to desire him and her other friends not to take this matter ill or lessen their friendship to the King She had no mind to do that but said it would be time enough when her Brother wrote to her to send him such an answer But it was answered That much depended on the first Impressions that are received of any matter She in conclusion said she would obey the King in every thing he desired her to do So she wrote the Letter as they desired it and the day following being the 12th of Iuly the Bill was brought into the House for annulling the Marriage which went easily through both Houses On the 16th
have given to the Reformation born down this Proposition and turned all the Kings Bounty and Foundations another way These new Foundations gave some credit to the Kings proceedings and made the Suppression of Chantries and Chappels go on more smoothly But those of the Roman party beyond Sea censured this as they had done all the rest of the Kings Actings They said it was but a slight Restitution of a small part of the goods of which he had robbed the Church And they complained of the Kings encroaching on the Spiritual Jurisdiction of the Church by dismembring Dioceses and removing Churches from one Jurisdiction to another To this it was answered that the necessities which their practices put on the King both to â—ortifie his Coast and Dominions to send money beâ—ond Sea for keeping the War at a distance from himself and to secure his quiet at home by easie grants of these Lands made him that he could not do all that he intended And for the Division of Dioceses many things were brought from the Roman Law to shew That the Division of the Ecclesiastical â—urisdiction whether of Patriarches Primates Metropolitans or Bishops was Regulated by the Emperors of which the Ancient Councils always approved And in England when the Bishoprick of Lincoln being judged of too great an Extent the Bishoprick of Ely was taken out of it it was done only by the King with the consent of his Clergy and Nobles Pope Nicolas indeed officiously intruded himself into that matter by sending afterwards a Confirmation of that which was done But that was one of the great Arts of the Papacy to offer Confirmations of things that were done without the Popes For these being easily received by them that thought of nothing more than to give the better countenance to their own Acts the Popes afterwards founded a Right on these Confirmations The very receiving of them was pretended to be an acknowledgment of a Title in the Pope And the matter was so artificially managed that Princes were noozed into some approbation of such a pretence before they were aware of it And then the Authority of the Canon-Law prevailing Maxims were laid down in it by which the most tacite and inconsiderate Acts of Princes were construed to such senses as still advanced the greatness of the Papal pretensions This business of the new Foundations being thus setled the matters of the Church were now put in a method and the Bishops Book was the standard of Religion So that whatsoever was not agreeable to that was judged Heretical whether it leaned to the one side or the other But it seems that the King by some secret Order had chained up the party which was going on in the Execution of the Statute of the six Articles that they should not proceed capitally Thus matters went this year and with this the Series of the History of the Reformation made by this King ends for it was now digested and formed into a Body What followed was not in a Thred but now and then some remarkable things were done sometimes in favour of the one and sometimes of the other party For after Cromwel fell the King did not go on so steadily in any thing as he had done formerly Cromwel had an Ascendant over him which after Cardinal Wolseys fall none besides himself ever had They knew how to manage the Kings uneasie and imperious humor But now none had such a Power over him The Duke of Norfolk was rich and brave and made his Court well but had not so great a Genius so that the King did rather trust and fear than esteem him Gardiner was only a Tool and being of an abject Spirit was employed but not at all reverenced by the King Cranmer retained always his candor and simplicity and was a great Prelate but neither a good Courtier nor a States-man And the King esteemed him more for his vertues than for his dexterity and cunning in business So that now the King was left wholly to himself and being extream humorous and impatiâ—nt there were more errors committed in the last years of his Government than had been for his whole Reign before France forsook him Scotland made War upon him which might have been fatal to him if their King had not dyed in the beginning of it leaving an Infant Princess but a few days old behind him And though the Emperor made peace with him yet it was but an hollow agreement Of all which I shall give but slender hints in the rest of this Book and rather open some few particulars than pursue a Continued Narration since the matter of my Work failes me In May the 33d year of the Kings Reign a new Impression of the Bible was finished and the King by Proclamation Required all Curates and Parishioners of every Town and Parish to provide themselves a Copy of it before All-Hallowtide under the penalty of forfeiting forty Shillings a month after that till they had one He declared that he set it forth to the end that his people might by Reading it perceive the Power Wisdom and Goodness of God Observe his Commandments obey the Laws and their Prince and live in Godly Charity among themselves But that the King did not thereby intend that his Subjects should presume to expound or take arguments from Scripture nor disturb Divine Service by reading it when Mass was Celebrating but should read it meekly humbly and reverently for their Instruction Edification and Amendment There was also care taken so to Regulate the Prices of the Bibles that there should be no exacting on the Subjects in the Sale of them And Bonner seeing the Kings mind was set on this ordered six of these great Bibles to be set up in several places of St. Pauls that all persons who could read might at all times have free access to them And upon the Pillars to which these Bibles were chained an Exhortation was set up admonishing all that came thither to read That they should lay aside vain-glory hypocrisie and all other corrupt affections and bring with them Discretion good Intentions Charity Reverence and a quiet behaviour for the Edification of their own Souls but not to draw multitudes about them nor to make Expositions of what they read nor to read aloud nor make noise in time of Divine Service nor enter into Disputes concerning it But people came generally to hear the Scriptures read and such as could read and had clear voices came often thither with great Crowds about them And many set their Children to School that they might carry them with them to St. Pauls and hear them read the Scriptures Nor could the people be hindred from entring into disputes about some places for who could hear the words of the Institution of the Sacrament Drink ye all of it or St. Pauls Discourse against worship in an unknown tongue and not from thence be led to consider that the people were deprived of the Cup which by
often reproved him boldly for it he grew weary of him The Clergy perceiving this were resolved to fall upon him So he withdrew to Berwick but wrote to the King that if he would hear him make his defence he would return and justifie all that he had taught He taxed the cruelty of the Clergy and desired the King would restrain their Tyranny and consider that he was obliged to protect his Subjects from their severity and malice But receiving no satisfactory answer he lived in England where he was entertain'd by the Duke of Suffolk as his Chaplain Not long after this one Forrest a simple Benedictin Monk was accused for having said that Patrick Hamilton had died a Martyr yet since there was no sufficient proof to convict him a Frier one Walter Lainge was sent to confess him to whom in Confession he acknowledged he thought Hamilton was a good man and that the Articles for which he was condemned might be defended This being revealed by the Frier was taken for good evidence So the poor man was condemned to be burnt as an Heretick As he was led out to his Execution he said Fie on falshood fie on Friers revealers of Confession Let never man trust them after me they are despisers of God and deceivers of men When they were considering in what place to burn him a simple man that attended the Arch-bishop advised to burn him in some low Cellar for said he the smoak of Mr. Patrick Hamilton has infected all those on whom it blew Soon after this Abbot Hamiltons Brother and Sister were brought into the Bishops Courts but the King who favoured this Brother perswaded him to absent himself His Sister and six others being brought before the Bishop of Ross who was deputed by the Arch-Bishop to proceed against them the King himself dealt with the Woman to abjure which she and the other six did Two others were more resolute The one was Normand Gowrlay who was charged with denying the Popes Authority in Scotland and saying there was no Purgatory The other was David Straiton He was charged with the same Opinions They also alledged that he had denied that Tithes were due to Church-men and that when the Vicar came to take the Tith out of some Fish-boats that belonged to him he alledged the Tith was to be taken where the stock grew and therefore ordered the tenth fish to be cast into the Sea and bade the Vicar to seek them there They were both judged obstinate Hereticks and burnt at one Stake the 27th of August 1534. Upon this persecution some others who were cited to appear fled into England Those were Alexander Alesse Iohn Fife Iohn Mackbee and one Mackdowgall The first of these was received by Cromwel into his Family and grew into great favour with King Henry and was commonly called his Scholar of whom see what was said Page 214. But after Cromwels death he took Fife with him and they went into Saxony and were both Professors in Leipsick Mackbee was at first entertained by Shaxton Bishop of Salisbury but he went afterwards into Denmark where he was known by the name of Doctor Maccabeus and was Chaplain to King Christian the second But all these violent proceedings were not effectual enough to quench that light which was then shining there Many by searching the Scriptures came to the knowledg of the Truth and the noise of what was then doing in England awakned others to make further enquiries into matters of Religion Pope Clement the 7th apprehending that King Henry might prevail on his Nephew to follow his example wrote Letters full of earnest exhortations to him to continue in the Catholick Faith Upon which King Iames called a Parliament and there in the presence of the Popes Nuncio declared his zeal for that Faith and the Apostolick See The Parliament also concurred with him in it and made acts against Hereticks and for maintaining the Popes authority That same Pope did afterwards send to desire him to assist him in making war against the King of England for he was resolved to divide that Kingdom among those who would assist him in driving out King Henry But the firm peace at that time between the King of England and the French King kept him quiet from any trouble which otherwise the King of Scotland might have given him Yet King Henry sent the Bishop of St. Davids with the Duke of Norfolks Brother Lord William Howard to him so unexpectedly that they came to him at Sterlin before he had heard of their being sent The Bishop brought with him some of the Books that had been writ for the justifying King Henry's proceeding and desired that King would impartially examine them But he put them into the hands of some about him that were addicted to the interests of Rome who without ever reading them told him they were full of pestilent Doctrine and Heresie The secret business they came for was to perswade that King to concur with his Uncle and to agree an Interview between them and they offered him in their Masters name the Lady Mary in Marriage and that he should be made Duke of York and Lord Lieutenant of all England But the Clergy diverted him from it and perswaded him rather to go on in his design of a match with France And their Counsels did so prevail that he resolved to go in person and fetch a Queen from thence On the first of Ianuary 1537. he was married to Magdalen daughter to Francis the First But she being then gone far in a Consumption died soon after he had brought her home on the 28th of May. She was much lamented by all persons the Clergy only excepted for she had been bred in the Queen of Navarres Court and so they apprehended she might incline the King to a Reformation But he had seen another Lady in France Mary of Guise whom he then liked so well that after his Queens death he sent Cardinal Beaton into France to treat for a match with her This gave the Clergy as much joy as the former marriage had raised fear for no Family in Christendome was more devoted to the interests of the Papacy than that was And now the King though he had freer thoughts himself yet was so engaged to the pretended old Religion that he became a violent persecutor of all who differed from it The King grew very expensive he indulged himself much in his pleasures he built four noble Palaces which considering that Kingdom and that Age were very extraordinary Buildings he had also many natural Children All which things concurred to make him very desirous of Money There were two different parties in the Court The Nobility on the one hand represented to him the great wealth that the Abbots had gathered and that if he would do as his Uncle had done he would thereby raise his Revenue to the triple of what it was and provide plentifully for his Children The Clergy on
reading of Sermons grew into a practise in this Church in which if there was not that heat and fire which the â—ryars had shewed in their Declamations so that the passions of the Hearers were not so much wrought on by it yet it has produced the greatest Treasure of weighty grave and solid Sermons that ever the Church of God had which does in a great measure compensate that seeming â—atness to vulgar ears that is in the delivery of them The Injunctions take notice of another thing which the sincerity of an Historian obliges me to give an account of tho it was indeed the greatest blemish of that time These were the Stage-plays and Enterludes that were then generally acted and often in Churches They were representations of the corruptions of the Monks and some other feats of the Popish Clergy The Poems were ill contrivâ—d and worse expressed if there lies not some hidden wit in these Ballads for verses they were not which at this distance is lost But from the representing the immoralities and disorders of the Clergy they proceeded to act the Pageantry of their Worship This took with the people much who being provoked by the miscarriages and cruelties of some of the Clergy were not ill pleased to see them and their Religion exposed to publick scorn The Clergy complained much of this and said it was an introduction to Atheism and all sort of Irreligion For if once they began to mock sacred things no stop could be put to that petulant humour The grave and learned sort of Reformers disliked and condemned these courses as not sutable to the genius of true Religion but the political men of that party made great use of them encouraging them all they could for they said Contempt being the most operative and lasting affection of the mind nothing would more effectually drive out many of those Abuses which yet remained than to expose them to the contempt and scorn of the people In the end of this year a war broke out between England and Scotland set on by the instigation of the French King who was also beginning to be an uneasie Neighbour to those of the English pale about Callice The King set out a long Declaration in which he very largely laid out the pretensions the Crown of England had to an Homage from the Kings of Scotland In this I am no fit person to interpose the matter being disputed by the learned men of both Nations The Scots said it was only for some Lands their Kings had in England that they did Homage as the Kings of England did for Normandy and Guienne to the Kings of France But the English Writers cited many Records to shew that the Homage was done for the Crown of Scotland To this the Scots replied that in the Invasion of Edward the first he had carried away all their ancient Records so these being lost they could only appeal to the Chronicles that lay up and down the Nation in their Monasteries That all these affirmed the contrary and that they were a free Kingdom till Edward the first taking advantage of their disputes about the Succession to their Crown upon the death of Alexander the third got some of the Competitors to lay down their pretensions at his feet and to promise Homage That this was also performed by Iohn Balliol whom he preferred to the Crown of Scotland but by these means he lost the hearts of the Nation and it was said that his Act of Homage could not give away the Rights of a free Crown and People And they said that whatsoever submissions had been made since that time they werâ— only extorted by force as the effects of Victory and Conquest but gave no good right nor just Title To all this the English Writers answered That these submissions by their Records which were the solemn Instruments of a Nation that ought never to be called in question were sometimes freely made and not by their Kings only but by the consent of their States In this uncertainty I must leave it with the Reader But after the King had opened this Pretension he complained of the disorders committed by the Scots of the unkind returns he had met with from their King for his care of him while he was an Infant taking no advantage of the confusions in which that Kingdom then was but on the contrary protecting the Crown and quieting the Kingdom But that of â—ate many depredations and acts of hostility had been committed by the Scots and though some Treaties had been begun they were managed with so much shufling and inconstancy that the King must now try it by a War Yet he concluded his Declaration ambiguously neither keeping up nor laying down his Pretensions to that Crown but expressing them in such a manner thaâ— which way soever the success of the War turned he might be bound up to nothing by what he now declared But whatsoever justice might be in the Kings Title or Quarrel his Sword was much the sharper He ordered the Duke of Norfolk to march into Scotland about the end of October with an Army of 30000 men Hall tells us they burnt many Towns and names them But these were only single Houses or little Villages and the best Town he names is Kâ—lso which is a little open Market-Town Soon after they returned back into England whether after they had spoiled the Neighbouring Country they felt the incoveniencies of the season of the year or whether hearing the Scots were gathering they had no mind to go too far I cannot determine for the Writers of both Nations disagree as to the reason of their speedy return But any that knows the Country they spoiled and where they stopt must conclude that either they had secret Orders only to make an Inroad and destroy some Places that lay along the River of Tweed and upon the Border which done without driving the Breach too far to retire back or they must have had apprehensions of the Scotish Armies coming to lie in these Moors and Hills of Saâ—trey or Lammer-Moor which they were to pass if they had gone farther and there were about 10000 men broughâ— thither but he that commanded them was much blamed for doing nothing his excuse was that his number did not equal theirs About the end of November the Lord Mâ—xâ—ell brought an Army of 15000 men together with a Train of Artillery of 24 peeces of Ordnance And since the Duke of Norfolk had retired towards Berwick they resolved to enter England on the Western side by Solway Frith The King went thither himself but fatally left the Army and yet was not many miles from them when they were defeated The truth of it was that King who had hitherto raised the greatest expectation was about that time disturbed in his fancie thinking that he saw apparitions particularly of one whom it was said he had unjustly put to death so â—hat he could not rest nor be at quiet But as his leaving
to effect any other way they advised the King to beware of such Counsels They also proposed that there might be a Conference agreed on between such Divines as the King would name and such as they should depute to meet either in Gueldres Hamburgh Bremen or any other place that should be appointed by the King to examine the Lawfulness of private Masses of denying the Chalice and the Prohibiting the Marriage of the Clergy On these things they continued treating till the Divorce of Anne of Cleve and Cromwells fall after which I find little Correspondence between the King and them Ad Page 256. line 4. When I mentioned the Kings Letters directing the Bishops how to proceed in a Reformation I had not seen them but I have since seen an Original of them subscribed by the Kings hand In these he challenged the Clergy as guilty of great Indiscretions that the late Rebellion had been occasioned by them therefore he required the Bishops to take care that the Articles formerly published should be exactly obeyed and to go over their Dioceses in person and preach Obedience to the Laws and the good ends of those Ceremonies that were then retained that the people might neither despise them nor put too much trust in them and to silence all disputes and contentions concerning things indifferent and to signifie to the Kings Council if there were any Priests in their Diocesses that were Marryed and yet did discharge any part of the Priestly Office All which will be better understood by the Letter it self that I have put into the Collection Ad Page 258. line 8. I do there acknowledg that I knew not what Arguments were used against the necessity of Auricular Confession But I have made since that time a Considerable discovery in this particular from an Original Letter written all with the Kings own hand to Tonstal by which it appears there had been conferences in the House and that the Arch-Bishop of York the Bishop of Winchester and Duresm had pleaded much for it as necessary by a Divine Institution and that both the King and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had maintained that though it was good and profitable yet it was not necessary by any precept of the Gospel and that though the Bishops brought several texts out of Scripture and Ancient Doctors yet these were so clearly answered by the King and the Arch-Bishop that the whole House was satisfied with it Yet Tonstall drew up in a writing all the reasons he had made use of in that debate and brought them to the King which will be found in the Collection with the Anotations and reflections which the King wrote on the Margent with his own hand taken from the Original together with the Kings Letter written in answer to them By this it will appear that the King did set himself much to study points of Divinity and examined matters with a scrupulous exactness The issue of the debate was that though the Popish party endeavoured to have got Auricular Confession declared to be Commanded by Christ as a part of the Sacrament of Pennance yet the King overruled that so it was enacted that Auricular Confession was necessary and expedient to be retained in the Church of God These debates were in the House of Lords which appears not only by the Kings Letter that speaks of the House but by the Act of Parliament in the Preamble of which it is said that the King had come himself to the Parliament and had opened several points of high Learning to them Ad Page 262. line 23. There I mention the Kings diligence in drawing an Act of Parliament with his own hand but since that was Printed I have seen many other Acts and Papers if not Originally Penned by the King yet so much altered by his Corrections that in some sort they may be esteemed his draughts There are two draughts of the Act of the six Articles both corrected in many places by the King and in some of these the Correction is three lines long There is another Act concerning Precontracts of Marriage likewise Corrected very much by his Pen. Many draughts of Proclamations particularly these about the use of the Bible in English are yet extant interlined and altered with his Pen. There is a large Paper written by Tonstall of arguments for Purgatory with Copious Animadversions on it likewise written by the King which shew that then he did not believe there was a Purgatory I have also seen the draught of that part of the Necessary Erudition for a Christian man which explains the Creed full of Corrections with the Kings own Pen as also the Queries concerning the Sacraments mentioned page 289. with large Annotations written with his hand on the Margent likewise an Extract all written with his own hand of passages out of the Fathers against the Marriage of the Clergy and to conclude there is a Paper with which the Collection ends containing the true Notion of the Catholick Church which has large Emendations added with the Kings hand those I have set by themselves on the Margent of the Paper A TABLE OF THE CONTENTS OF THE HISTORY BOOK I. A Summary View of King Henry the Eighth's Reign till the Process of his Divorce was begun in which the State of England chiefly as it related to Religion is opened KING Henry's Succession to the Crown pag. 1 He proceeds against Dudley and Empson ibid He holds a Parliament p. 2 His great Expence ibid Affairs beyond Sea p. 3 A Peace and Match with France ibid He offers his Daughter to the Dolphin ibid The King of Spain chosen Emperor ib He comes to England p. 4 A second War with France ibid Vpon Leo the 10th's death Hadrian chosen Pope ibid He dies and Clement the 7th succeeds ib Charles the 5th at Windsor contracted to the Kings Daughter p. 5 But breaks his Faith ibid The Clementine League ibid Rome taken and sackt p. 6 The Pope is made a Prisoner ibid. The Kings success against Scotland ibid. A Facâ—ion in his Counsels p. 7 Cardinal Wolseys rising ibid. His Preferments p. 8 The Character of the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk p. 9 Cardinal Wolsey against Parliaments p. 10 The Kings breeding in Learning ibid. He is flattered by Scollars p. 11 The Kings Prerogative in Ecclesiastical affairs ibid. It was still kept up by him p. 12 A Contest concerning Immunities ibid. A Publick debate about them p. 13. Hunne Murdered in Prison p. 14 The Proceedings upon that p. 15 The King much courted by Popes p. 18 And declared Defender of the Faith p. 19 The Cardinal absolute in England ibid. He designed to Reform the Clergy ibid. And to Suppress Monasteries p. 20 The several kinds of Convocations ibid. The Clergy grant a Subsidy to the King p. 21 Of the State of Monasteries ibid. The Cardinal founds two Colledges p. 22 The first beginning of Reformation in England p. 23 The Cruelties of the Church of Rome ibid.
censured p. 259 An Act about the Suppression of all Monasteries p. 260 Another for erecting New Bishopricks p. 262 The Kings design about these ibid. An Act for Obedience to the Kings Proclamations p. 263 An Act concerning Precedence p. 264 Some Acts of Attaindor ibid. The Kings care of Cranmer p. 265 Who wrote against the six Articles ibid. Proceedings upon that Act p. 266 Bonners Commission for holding his Bishoprick of the King p. 267 The total Dissolution of Abbeys ibid. Which were sold or given away p. 268 A Project of a seminary for Ministers of State p. 269 A Proclamation for the use of the Bible p. 270 The King designs to Marry Anne of Cleve ibid. Who comes over but is disliked by the King p. 271 Anno 1540. BVt he Marries her yet could never love her p. 273 A Parliament is called p. 274 Where Cromwel speaks as Lord Vice-gerent ibid. The Suppression of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem p. 275 Cromwells fall p. 276 The King is in love with Katherine Howard ibid. Cranmers friendship to Cromwell p. 277 Cromwels Attaindor p. 278 Censures past upon it p. 279 The Kings Divorce is proposed p. 280 And referred to the Convocation ibid. Reasons pretended for it ibid. The Convocation agree to it p. 281 Which was much censured ibid. It is Confirmed in Parliament p. 282 The Queen consents to it ibid. An Act about the Incontinence of Priests ibid. Another Act about Religion ibid. Another concerning Precontracts p. 283 Subsidies granted by Clergy and Laity ibid. Cromwell's Death p. 284 His Character Ibid. Designs against Cranmer p. 285 Some Bishops and Divines consult about Religion p. 286 An Explanation of Faith ibid. Cranmers Opinion about it p. 288 They Explain the Apostles Creed ibid. And the Seven Sacraments with great care p. 289 As also the Ten Commandments p. 290 The Lords Prayer the Ave Maria and free-will p. 291 And Iustification and Good works p. 292 Published by the King but much censured p. 293 A Correction of the Missalls p. 294 The Sufferings of Barnes and others p. 295 They are Condemned unheard p. 297 Their Speeches at their Death ibid. Bonners Cruelty p. 299 New Bishopricks Founded p. 300 Cranmers design is defeated p. 301 These Foundations are censured ibid. The State of the Court p. 302 The Bible is set up in Churches ibid. An Order for Churchmens house-keeping p. 303 The King goes to York p. 304 The State of Scotland ibid. The beginning of the Reformation p. 305 Patrick Hamiltons Sufferings ibid. A further Prosecution p. 308 The Kings was wholly quieted by the Clergy p. 309 Some put to death others escaped p. 310 The Queens ill life is discovered p. 312 Anno 1542. A Parliament called ibid. An Act about the Queen much censured p. 313 A design to suppress the English Bible p. 314 The Bible ordered to be revised by the Vniversities p. 315. B. Bonners Injunctions ibid. The way of Preaching at that time p. 316 Plaies and Enterludes then Acted p. 318 War between England and Scotland ibid. The Scots are defeated and their King dies p. 320 Anno 1543. CRanmer Promotes a Reformation p. 321 An Act of Parliament for it ibid. Another about the Kings Proclamations p. 322 A League between the King and the Emperor p. 323 A Match designed with Scotland ibid. But the French party prevailed there p. 324 A War with France p. 325 A Persecution of the Reformers Ibid. Marbecks great Ingeniousness p. 326 Three burnt at Windsor p. 327 Their Persecutors are Perjured ibid. A design against Cranmer ibid. It came to nothing p. 328 His Christian behaviour ibid. Anno 1544. A New Parliament ibid. An Act about the Succession ibid. An Act against Conspiracies p. 330 An Act for revising the Canon-Law ibid. A discharge of the Kings debts ibid. The War against Scotland p. 331 Audley the Chancellor dies ibid. The Prayers are put in English ibid. Bulloign is taken p. 332 Anno. 1545. THe Germans Mediate a peace between England and France ibid. Some great Church-Preferments p. 333 Wisharts Sufferings in Scotland ibid. Cardinal Beaton is killed p. 336 Anno 1546. A New Parliament p. 338. Chappels and Chanteries given to the King ibid. The Kings Speech to the Parliament ibid. The King confirms the Rights of Vniversities p. 334 A Peace with France p. 340 Designs of a further Reformation ibid. Shaxtons Apostacy ibid. The troubles of Anne Askew p. 341 She endures the Rack p. 342 And is burnt with some others ibid. A design against Cranmer ibid. The King takes care of him p. 343 A design against the Queen p. 344 The cause of the Duke of Norfolks Disgrace p. 345 Anno 1547. THe Earl of Surrey is Executed p. 346 The Duke of Norfolks Submission ibid. A Parliament meets p. 347 The Duke of Norfolk is Attainted ibid. His Death prevented by the Kings p. 348 The Emperors designs against the Protestants ibid. The Kings sickness ibid. His Latter will a Forgery p. 349 The Kings severities against the Popish Party p. 351 Some Carthusians Executed for denying the Kings Supremacy p. 352 And a Priest for Treason ibid. Three Monks Executed ibid. Fishers Tryal and Death p. 353 His Character p. 354 Mores Tryal and Death ibid. His Character p. 355 Attaindâ—rs after the Rebellion was quieted p. 356 Censures past upon it p. 357 F. Forrests Equivocation and Heresie ibid. The Proceedings against Cardinal Pole's friends p. 358 Attaindors without hearing the Parties p. 359 The Conclusion p. 362 Addenda p. 363 A COLLECTION OF RECORDS AND Original Papers With other INSTRUMENTS Referred to in the Former History I. The Record of Card. Adrian's Oath of Fidelity to Henry the 7th for the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells HEnricus Rex c. Reverend in Christo Patri Domino Sylvestro Episcop Wigorn. venerabili viro Domino Roberto Sherbourn Ecclesiae Sancti Pauli London decano nostris in Romana curia oratoribus ac Magistro Hugoni Yowng Sacrae Theologiae Professori salutem Cum omnes singuli Archiepiscopi Episcopi hujus nostri Inclyti Regni quorum omnium nominationes promotiones ad ipsas supremas dignitates nobis attinent ex regali peculiari quadam Praerogativa jureque municipali ac inveterata consuetudine hactenus in hoc nostro Regno inconcusse inviolabiliter observata teneantur astringantur statim immediate post impetratas Bullas Apostolicas super eorundem promotione ad ipsam nostram nominationem coram nobis in praesentia nostra si in hoc Regno nostro fuerunt vel coram Commissarijs nostris ad hoc sufficienter legittime deputatis si alibi moram traxerunt non solum palam publice expresse totaliter cedere in manus nostras renunciare omnibus quibusâ—unque verbis clausulis sententiis in ipsis Bullis Apostolicis contentis descriptis quae sunt vel quovis modo in futurumesse poterunt praejudicialia sive damnosa nobis haeredibusque de
which see page 224. which being so openly discovered nothing that had shame in it could speak of them as our Author does 101. He says Six and twenty Carts drawn with Oxen were loaded with the Riches taken from Becket's Shrine whom he makes a most glorious Martyr that died for the defence of the Faith and was honoured by many Miracles after his death Other Writers have sufficiently shewed what a perfidious ingrateful and turbulent Priest he was All these were Vertues in our Author's Opinion and Ingredients in his Faith But he has in this accompt of the Riches of that Shrine gone beyond himself having by a figure of speech very familiar to him called Lying increased two Chests see page 224. to 26 Cart Loads 102. He says The Sentence which P. Paul gave out against the King was affixed in some Towns both in France Flanders and Scotland from which he infers that both the Emperor the French and the Scotch King did consent to that Sentence In this he designed an eminent piece of service to the Apostolick See to leave on Record an Evidence that three Sovereign Princes had acknowledged the Pope's Power of deposing Kings But he did ill to name the proofs of his Assertion and had done better to have said simply that it was so than to have founded it on so ill grounds as if the affixing Papal Bulls in a place were an evidence that the Princes in whose Dominions it was done consented to it He might with the same reason have concluded that Q. Elizabeth consented to the Sentence against her self which it is very like will not be easily believed tho the Bull was affixed in London But all those very Princes whom he names continuing to keep up their correspondence with the King as well after as before this Sentence is a much clearer demonstration that they despised the Pope's Sentence 103. He says The King by his own Authority threw all the â—egging Orders out of their Houses The falshood of this has appeared already for they resigned their Houses to the King and of these Resignations tho many were destroyed yet near an hundred are still extant 104. He says The Parliament in the year 1539 gave the King all the great Monasteries The Parliament passed no such Act all that they did was only to confirm the Grants made or to be made by these Houses to the King It was their Surrenders that cloathed the King with the Right to them All the Tragical Stories he tells us that followed upon this are founded on a false Foundation 105. He sets down a Form of a Resignation which he says All the Abbots and many Religious Persons were made to Sign and set their Seals to it Among all the Resignations which are yet extant there is not one in this Form for which see page 238. 106. He says The King's Commissioners who went about getting Hands to that Form made them believe in every House that all the rest had signed it and so by that and other persuasions prevailed with many to set their Hands to it If all the Subscriptions had been procured about the same time such Arts might be suspected but in a thing that was three years a-doing these tricks could not have served their turn 107. He says They told the Monks that tho the King might by virtue of the Act of Parliament seize on their Houses and Rents yet he desired rather to do it with their good-will In this there are two Errors First Most of these Houses were resigned to the King before the Act of Parliament see page 235. and next the Act of Parliament only confirmed their Deeds but did not give their Houses to the King 108. He says The Abbots of Glassenbury Colchester and Reading suffered Martyrdom because they refused to set their hands to that Writing There was no such Writing ever offered to them nor was there any Law to force them to resign so they could not suffer on that account but they were Martyrs for Sander's Faith for they were attainted by a legal Trial of High Treason 109. He tells a long Story of Whitting Abbot of Glassenbury's being brought up to London to be prevailed with to set his hand to the Surrender Which he still refusing to do was sent back and tho a Book against the King's Divorce was found among his Papers which was laid there by those who searched for it yet that was past over in a chiding but as he went home hearing there was a meeting of the County at Wells he went thither and as he was going up to his place on the Bench he was called to the Bar to answer some things that were to be objected to him He was amazed at it and asked what the matter was but one told him he needed fear nothing for some-what was only to be done for form to terrify others Upon which he was condemned and sent away to his Abbey little thinking he was so near his end but when he came near it a Priest was sent to him to take his Confession for they told him he must die immediately he beg'd a day or two's respite but in vain so they hanged him up in his Habit on the top of the Hill near his Abbey and quartered him and all this was done in one day This Book came out in Forreign Parts and was printed at Rome in the Reign of Sixtus the Fifth who took great pleasure in such Executions as he describes this to have been which may fall oft out where the lives of the Subjects are wholly at the Prince's Mercy But to tell such tales of England which is so famed over the World for the safety and security the Subjects enjoy and for the regular and legal proceedings in all Trials especially of Life and Death was a great Error in the Poet for the decorum of the Laws and Customs of a place must be observed when any Nation is made the Scene of a Fable But as nothing like this can be done by the Law of England so there was nothing of it in this Case The Jury that sate on him were Men of great credit in the Country when he died he acknowledged his Offences and with appearance of repentance begged God's Pardon and the King 's see page 239. 110. After many bitter Invectives against Cromwel for which I could never see good evidence tho I cannot disprove them by any convincing Arguments he says That he advised the King to make a Law that Persons might be Convented and Condemned in absence and without being heard and that this Law first of all fell upon himself There was no such Law ever made only the Parliament by their Supream Authority did Attaint some in that manner but no other Court might do it Nor was this first applied to Cromwel for an year before his Attainder the Countess of Sarum with a great many more were so attainted tho she did not Suffer till a year
18. v. 16. Lev. 20.21 And in the New Mat. 14.4 1 Cor. 5. â— Lib. 4 to cont Marcionâ—â— The Authorities of Popes a ad omnes Galâ—iâ—e Episcopos b 30. Quaest. 3. cap. Pitanâ—m c De Pres. cap. cum in juventutem and Counciâ—s Can. 2. Chap. 5. 〈◊〉 61. Chap. 5. a And the Greek In 20. Levit. b Homil. 71. on 22. Mat. c Epist. ad Diodor. On Levit. 18. and 20. And the Latine Fathers a Lib. 8. Ep. 66. b Cont. Hâ—â—vidium c Cont. Faâ—st chap. 8 9 10. Quaest. 64. in Lev. Ad Bonifac Lib. 3. chap. 4. Lib. 15. de Civ Dâ—i chap. 16. And of the Modern Writers In Epist. ad Pium Fratâ—em e On 18. Lev. g Epist. ad Arch. Rotomag Epis. Sag. f Lib. 2. de Sacram. p. 2. chap. 5. Art 2. h Epist. 240. The Schoolmen 2 dâ— 2 dae Quaest. 154. art 9. In Tertiam Quaest. 54. art 3. In 4tam. dist 40. Q. 3. and 4. And Canonists Marriage compleated by Consent Violent presumptions of the Consummation of Prince Artâ—â—r's Marriage The Popes Dispensation of no force In Quodiâ— Lib. 4. Art 13. in 4 tam dist 15. Q. 3. art 2. Sâ—p Cap. Conjunctioniâ— 35. Q. 2. 3. Sup. Cap. Literas de Rest. Spons Cap. ad Audien Spousal Several Bishops refuse to submit to the Popes Decrees The Authority of Tradition The Arguments for the Marriage 1529. The Anwers made to h ese 1531. The Queen still intractable Hall A Session of Parliament Morâ— Convocation The whole Clergy sued in a Premâ—nire The Prerogative of the Kings of England in Ecclesiastical affairs The Encroachment of the Papacy Mat. Paris The Laws made against them 25 Edw. 1st repeated in the Stat. of Provisors 25. Edw. 3d. 25. Edward 3d. Statute of Provisors 27. Edward 3d. cap. 1st 38. Edward 3d. cap. 1st 3. Richard 2d cap. 3d. 12 Richard 2d cap. 15. 16. Richard 2d cap. 5. 2. Hen. 4. cap. 4. 6. Henry 4. cap. 1st 7. Hen. 4. cap. 6.8 17. Hen. 4. cap. 8. 4. Hen. 5. cap. 4. Ex MSS. D Petyt 1530. Reg. Chicâ—el Fol. 39. Collect. Numb 37. 1531. And to the King and Parliament Collect. Numb 38. Collect. Numb 39. But to no purpose Collect. Numb 40. The Clergy excuse themselves Yet they Compound And acknowledge the King Supreme Head of the Church of England Lord Heâ—bert Antiquit. Britanniae in vita Warham Printed in the Cabala The Commons desire to be included in the King's Pardon Hall Which thâ— King afterwards grants One Attainâ—â—ed for Poisoning 22. Hen. 8 Act. 16. Lord Herbert The King leaves the Queen A disorder among the Clergy of London about the Subsidy Hall The Pope falls off to the French Faction A Match projected between the Pope's Neece and the Duke of Orleance The Emperor is engaged in a War with â—he Turk 1532. The Parliament complains of the Ecclesiastical Courts Hall But reject a Bill about Wards The Commons Petition that they may be Dissolved 1532. The King's Answer An Act against Annates Collect. Numb 41. Parl. Rolls The Pope writes to the King about the Queens Appeal L. Herbert Collect. Numb 42. A Dispatch of the King to the Pope Sir Edward Karne sent to Rome His Negotiation there taken from the Original Letters Cott. lib. Viteli B. 13. The Cardinal of Ravenna corrupted by Bribes Collect. Numb 43. Collect. Numb 44. Collect. Numb 45. A Bull for erecting new Bishopricks The Pope desires the King would submit to him Collect. Numb 46. A Session of Parl. One moves for bringing the Queen to Court At which the King is offended A Subsidy is voted The King remits the Oaths which the Clergy swore to be considered by the Commons Their Oath to the Pope Their Oath to the King More laid down his Office An Enterveiw with the French King Eliot sent to Rome with Instructions Cott. Lib. Vil. B. 13. The King Married Anne Boâ—eyn Nov. 14. Cowper Holinsâ—ies and Sanders An enterview between Pope and Emperor Some overtures about the Divorce Lord Herbert 1533. A Session of Parliament An Act against Appeals to Rome 24. Hen. 8. Act 22. 1533. Warhams Death Aug. 23. The King resolves to promote Cranmer Fox Cranmers Bulls from Rome His Protestation about his Oath to the Pope Antiq. Brit. iâ— vita Cranmâ—â— 1532. New Endeavours to make the Queen submit But in vain 1533. Cranmer proceeds to a Sentence of Divorce taken from the Originals Cott. lib. Otho C. 1â— Collect. Numb 47. The Censures past at that time Cott. lib. Otho C. 10. The Pope unites himself to the French King And condemns the Kings proceedings in England Queen Elizabeth Born Sâ—p 7. An Interview between the Pope and Frâ—nch King at Marsâ—illâ—s The Pope promises to give Sentence for the King of England's Divorce Fidel. serv. Infidâ— subdit Responsio Bzovius The French King prevails with the King of England to submit to the Pope Which was well received at Rome Hist. Council of Trent by Padre Paule But the Imperialists opposed it 1531. And with great preparation procure a sentence against the King The King resolves to abolish the Popes Power in England Which had been much disputed there 1532. â—elerine Inglese Hall The Arguments upon which it was rejected 1533. 1534. The Arguments for the Kings Supremacy From the old Testament 1533. And the New And the Practises of the primitive Church And from Reason And from the Laws of England 1534. The Qualification of that Supremacy Necessary Erudition upon the Sacrament of Orders The necessity of extirpating the Popes Power Pains taken to satisfie Fisher about it The Origiâ—nal is in the Cott. lib. 〈◊〉 C. 10. Journal Procer The Act for taking away the Popes Power It is the Act 21 in the Statute Book 27 in the Record and 8 in the Journal The judgments past on that Act. Act about the Succession to the Crown 22 in the Statute Books 34 in the Reâ—ord 26 in the Journal The Oath about the Succesâ—ion Journal Procer Act about punishing Hereticks 14 in the Stâ—tute Book 33 in the Record 31 in the Journal The submission made by the Clergy to the King 19 in the Statute Book 25 in the Record Journal Procâ—r 〈…〉 26 in the Record Collect. â—umb 48. The Act about the Maid of Kâ—nt and her Complices 12 in Statute Book 31 in the Record 7 in the Journâ—â— See his Works paâ— 1435. The 〈…〉 of the 〈◊〉 Sâ—ow Stow. The Nuns speech at her death Hall Stow Fisher gently dealt with But is obstinate and intractable Collect. Numb 49. Cott. Lib. Cleopatâ—e E. 4. The Oath for the Succession generally sworn Orig. Cott. Lib. Otho C. â—â— Collect. Numb 50. Rot. Claus. Those last clausâ—◠〈◊〉 not in the other Writing More and Fisher refuse the Oath See his works p. 1428. Weavers Monuments page 504 and 506. And are proceeded against Another Session of Parliament The Kings Supremacy declared The Oath about the Succession conâ—iâ—med The first Fruits of Benefices given to the King Sundry
things are declared Treason An Act for Suffragan Bishops Collect. Numb 51. Act 26. Roâ— Parl. A Subsidy granted More and Fisher attainted Act. 3. and 4. Rot. Parl. The Proceedings against them variously censured The progress of the Reformation Fox Tindal and others at Antwerp Hall The New Tâ—stament burnt The last Paper in Sr. Henry Spâ—lmans 2d vol. Supplication of the Beggars Morâ— answerâ— it Frith replieâ— The cruel proceedings against the Reformers More Tindal Bilneys Tryal Latimers Sermons The things objected to him Fox It is given out that he abjured The falshood of which afterwards appeared Fox The manner of his Suffering Byfield's Sufferings And Tewksburies Bainham's Sufferings Fox Regist. Tonst Articles which some abjured 〈◊〉 Testament Regist Fitz 〈◊〉 Regist. Stokâ—s Fol. 72. Harding's Sufferings Fox 1533. Friths Sufferings His Arguments against the Corporal presence Register Stokâ—s Fol. 71. and a Letter of his in Fox His Opinioâ— of the Sacrament And of Purgatory He is Condemned His Constancy in his Sufferings Pâ—ilâ—ip's Sufferings A stop is puâ— to these crueâ— proceedings The Queen favoured the Reformers Cranmer promoted the Reformation Assisted by Cromwell The Duke of Norfolk and Gardiner Opposed it Reasons against the Reformation Reasons for it Hall A resolution of some Bishops about the calling of a general Council Ex MSS. D.D Sâ—â—llingfleet A Speech of Cranmers abouâ—â— Geneâ—al Council Ex MSS. D.D Stillingfleet 1535. Thâ— râ—â—â— of the Kingâ— Reign 〈◊〉 troublesome By the practises of the Monks and Friars Which provoked the King to great severities The Bishops swear the Kings supremacie Antiâ— Oxon. Lib. 1. Pag. 258 The Original Letter is in Cutt. Lib. Clâ—â— E. 4. Fâ—b 15. The Francis can Friars refuse it A General visitation of Monasteries is designed Orig. Cott. Lib. E. 4. Cranmer makeâ— his Metropolitical visitation Rot. Pat. Regn. 26. Part. 1st Regist. Stoks Folio 44. The Kings Visitation begun In MSS. D G. Pierpoint Cott. Lib. Câ—â—op E. 4. Instructions for the Visitation See Collect. Nâ—â—b 1st Injunctions for all Religious Houses See Collect. Numb 2 d. An account of the Progress of the Monastical state in England The Exemptions of Monasteries See Monasticon Monasteries generally wasted and deserted Antiquit. Britan But are again set up by King Edgar Arts used by the Monks for enriching their Houses They became generally corrupted Upon which the Begging Friars grew much in credit The Kings secret motives for dissolving these Houses Câ—anmers design in it First Monastery that was dissolved Act. 10. Rot. Parl. Regn. 25. The Proceedings of the Visitors Cott. Lib. Cleop. E. 4. Ibid. Some Houseâ— resigned up to the King Collect. Numb 3. Sect. 1. The Original of these Resignations are in the Augmentation Office and enrolled Rot. Claus. Part. â—st Regn. 27. 1536. The death of Queen Katharine Originals Otho C. 10. Cott. Lib. 1536. A new Session of Parliament The lesser Monasteries are suppressed Reasons for doing it The Translation of the Bible in English designed The reasons for it The Opposition made to it The fall of Queen Anne The whole Popish party drove it on 1535. The Kings jealousie of her The Letters about this Cott. Lib. Otho C. 10. She is put in the Tower and pleads her Innocency But confessed some indiscreet words 1536. Cranmers Letter to the King about her Cott. Lib. She is brought to a Tryal Upon an extorted Confession is divorced Her Prâ—paration for Death The Lieutenant of the Towers Letter Her Execution The several Censures that were then passed on those proceedings Collect. Numb 4 th The Lady Mary endeavours a reconciliation with her Father Her submission under her own hand Cott. Lib. Otho C. 10. She is restored to his favour The Lady Elizabeth well used by the King and Queen Her Letter to the Queen when not Four years of Age. A new Parliament called Iournal Procerum The Act of Succession The Pope endeavoured a reconciliation with the King But in vain The Proceedings in the Convocation Fuller Antiq. Britt in vita Cranm. Act 17.27 Regni Articles agreed on about Religion Printed by Fuller Published by the Kings Authority And variously censured The Convocation declares against the Council called by the Pope Collect Numb 5. The King publishes his reasons against it Fox Cardinal Pool opposes the Kings proceedings And writes his Book against him Many Books are written for the King Collect 〈◊〉 6. Instâ—uctions about the disâ—â—â—tion of Monasteries Great discontents among all sorts of people Endeavors are used to quiet these Collect Numb 3. sect 2. Yet people generally encline to Rebel The Kings injunctions about Religion Collect Numb 7. Which were much censured A Rebellion in Lincolnshire Their Demands The Kings answer It 's quieted by the Duke of Suffolk â— new Reâ—â—on in the 〈◊〉 Which grew very formidable The Duke of Norfolk and others sent against them They advance to Doncaster The 〈…〉 them by delays Their Demands The Kings answer to them 1537. The Rebellion is quieted 1537. New risings but soon dispersed The chief of the Rebels executed A new Visitation of Monasteries Some of the great Abbots surrender their Houses 1538. Confessions of horrid Crimes made in several Houses Collect Numb 3. sect 4. The form of most surrenders Collâ—ct Numb 3. Sect. 1. Collect. Numb 3. Sect. 3. Divers opinions about these Some Abbots attainted of Treason 1537. Collect. Numb 8. 1536. The Superstition and cheats of these Houses discovered Images publickly broken 1538. Pelerine â—â—glese Thomas Beckâ—t's shrine broken Soâ—meâ—s Antiquities of Canterbury New Articles about Religion published Invectives against the King Printed at Rome Collect. Numb 9. The Popes Bulls against the King Lesley Hist. Scot. The Clergy in England declared against these Collect. Numb 10. The Bible Printed in English New injunctions set out by the King Collect. Numb 11. Prince Edward born Great Compliances by the Popish party Gardiner stirs up the King against those called Sacramentaries And Lambâ—rt in particular Who had appealed to the King And was publickly tryed at Westminster Arguments brought against him He is condemned And Burned The Popish party gain ground at Court The Kings correspondence with the German Princes Bonners dissimulation Coll. Numb â—2 Coll. Numb 13. A new Parliament The 6 Articles are proposed 1539. Reasons against them An Act past for them which is variously censured An Act about the Suppression of the greater Monasteries Another about the Erecting new Bishopricks The Kings design about these An Act about the Kings Proclamations An Act about Precedence Some Acts of Attainders The Kings care of Cranmer Antiq. Brit. in vita Cran. Cranmer writes his reasons against the six Articles 1538. Proceedings upon that Act. 1539. Collect. Numb 1â— Dissolution of the great Abbies Collect. Numb 3. Sect. 5. Some Hospitals surrendred The Abbeys sold or given away A project of a Semminarâ— for Ministers of State 〈…〉 D. D. 〈…〉 A Proclamation about the free use of the Scriptures Collect. Numb 15. The King designs to Mary Anne of Cleve 1538. Who comes
THE Historie of the REFORMATION of the CHURCH of ENGLAND LONDON Printed for Ric Chiswell Whitehall May 23. 1679. THis Book entituled The History of the Reformation of the Church of ENGLAND having been perused and approved by Persons of eminent Quality and several Divines of great Piety and Learning who have recommended it as a Work very fit to be made publick as well for the Usefulness of the Matter as for the Industry and Integrity the Author hath used in compiling of it the Honourable Mr. SECRETARY COVENTRY doth therefore allow it to be Printed and Published IO. COOKE THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE Church of England The First Part OF THE Progress made in it during the Reign OF K. Henry the VIII By GILBERT BVRNET LONDON Printed by T. H. for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXXIX TO THE KING SIR THE first step that was made in the Reformation of this Church was the restoring to your Royal Ancestors the Rights of the Crown and an entire Dominion over all their Subjects of which they had been disseised by the craft and violence of an unjust Pretender to whom the Clergy though your Majesties Progenitors had enriched them by a bounty no less profuse than ill-managed did not only adhere but drew with them the Laity over whose Consciences they had gained so absolute an Authority that our Kings were to expect no Obedience from their people but what the Popes were pleased to allow It is true the Nobler part of the Nation did frequently in Parliament assert the Regal Prerogatives against those Papal invasions yet these were but faint endeavours for an ill-executed Law is but an unequal match to a Principle strongly infused into the Consciences of the people But how different was this from the teaching of Christ and his Apostles They forbad men to use all those Arts by which the Papacy grew up and yet subsists They exhorted them to obey Magistrates when they knew it would cost them their Lives They were for setting up a Kingdom not of this World nor to be attained but by a holy and peaceable Religion If this might every-where take place Princes would find Government both easie and secure It would raise in their Subjects the truest courage and unite them with the firmest charity It would draw from them Obedience to the Laws and Reverence to the persons of their Kings If the Standards of Justice and Charity which the Gospel gives of doing as we would be done by and loving our Neighbours as our selves were made the measures of mens actions how steadily would Societies be governed and how exactly would Princes be obeyed The design of the Reformation was to restore Christianity to what it was at first and to purge it of those Corruptions with which it was over-run in the later and darker Ages GREAT SIR This work was carryed on by a slow and unsteady Progress under King Henry the VIII it advanced in a fuller and freer course under the short but blessed Reign of King Edward was Sealed with the blood of many Martyrs under Queen Mary was brought to a full settlement in the happy and glorious days of Queen Elizabeth was defended by the learned Pen of King Iames but the established frame of it under which it had so long flourished was overthrown with your Majesties blessed Father who fell with it and honoured it by his unexempled Suffering for it and was again restored to its former beauty and order by your Majesties happy Return What remains to compleat and perpetuate this Blessing the composing of our differences at home the establishing a closer correspondence with the Reformed Churches abroad the securing us from the restless and wicked practices of that Party who hoped so lately to have been at the end of their designs and that which can only entitle us to a Blessing from God the Reforming of our manners and lives as our Ancestors did our Doctrine and Worship All this is reserved for your Majesty that it may appear that your Royal Title of Defender of the Faith is no empty sound but the real strength and Glory of your Crown For attaining these ends it will be of great use to trace the steps of our first Reformers for if the land-marks they set be observed we can hardly go out of the way This was my chief design in the following sheets which I now most humbly offer to your Majesty hoping that as you were graciously pleased to command that I should have free access to all Records for composing them so you will not deny your Royal Patronage to the History of that Work which God grant your Majesty may live to raise to its perfection and to compleat in your Reign the Glory of all your Titles This is a part of the most earnest as well as the daily Prayers of May it please Your Sacred Majesty Your Majesties most Loyal most Faithful and most devoted Subject and Servant G. BVRNET THE CONTENTS OF THIS VOLUME BOOK I. A Summary View of King Henry the Eighths Reign till the Process of his Divorce was begun in which the State of England chiefly as it related to Religion is opened Page 1. BOOK II. Of the Process of Divorce between King Henry and Queen Katherine and of what passed from the 19th to the 25th year of his Reign in which he was declared Supream Head of the Church of England Page 34. BOOK III. Of the other Transactions about Religion and Reformation during the rest of the Reign of King Henry the 8th Page 179. COLLECTION OF RECORDS c. Ad Librum Primum Page 3. Ad Librum Secundum Page 9. Ad Librum Tertium Page 131. An Appendix concerning the Errors and Falsehoods in Sanders's Book of the English Schism Page 273. ADDENDA Page 305. ERRATA in the Historical part PAge 12. Line 6. Margent for 15. read 1st p. 49. l. 19. for chiefly r. clearly p. 54. l. 15. for 10. r. 13. p. 103. l. 32. Abisha r. Abishag p. 109. l. 47. had r. has p. 115. l. 10. having r. had p. 126. l. 9. before officiate r. did p. 151. l. 31. speak r. spake p. 173. l. 31. dele a. p. 186. l. 25. Pachon r. Pachom p. 198. l. 8. co r. to p. 203. l. 41. then r. that p. 205. l. 20. being her last words r. her last words being p. 235. l. 44. that so r. so that p. 239. l. 33. was r. is p. 259. l. 42. As r. All. p. 264. l. 15. down r. out p. 275. l. 5. no r. on p. 283. l. 49. in that r. that in l. 51. the great charges of r. of the great charges p. 284. l. 21. person r. prison p. 327. l. 31. desertion r. discovery p. 333. Marginal Note resentments r. preâ—erments Informers r. Reformers p. 344. l. 22. before he r. that p. 369. l. 5. utrumque r. utcumque Some Literal faults and mistakes in the Punctuation the Reader will more easily Correct THE
of whom some perhaps were damn'd Souls and others were never in being These arts being detected and withal their great Viciousness in some places and in all their great abuse of the Christian Religion made it seem unfit they should be continued But it was their dependence on the See of Rome which as the state of things then was made it necessary that they should be supprest New Foundations might have done well and the scantness of those considering the number and wealth of those which were suppressed is one of the great blemishes of that Reign But it was in vain to endeavour to amend the old ones Their numbers were so great their Riches and Interests in the Nation so considerable that a Prince of Ordinary mettal would not have attempted such a design much less have compleated it in Five years time With these fell the Superstition of Images Reliques and the Redemption of Souls out of Purgatory And those Extravagant Addresses to Saints that are in the Roman Offices were thrown out only an Ora pro nobis was kept up and even that was left to the liberty of Priests to leave it out of the Litanies as they saw cause These were great preparations for a Reformation But it went further and two things were done upon which a greater Change was reasonably to be expected The Scriptures were Translated into the English tongue and set up in all Churches and every one was admitted to read them and they alone were declared the Rule of Faith This could not but open the eyes of the Nation who finding a profound silence in these writings about many things and a direct opposition to other things that were still retained must needs conclude even without deep Speculations or nice Disputing that many things that were still in the Church had no ground in Scripture and some of the rest were directly contrary to it This Cranmer knew well would have such an operation and therefore made it his chief business to set it forward which in Conclusion he happily effected Another thing was also established which opened the way to all that followed That every National Church was a Compleat Body within it self so that the Church of England with the Authority and Concurrence of their Head and King might examine and Reform all Errors and Corruptions whether in Doctrine or Worship All the Provincial Councils in the ancient Church were so many Precedents for this who condemned Heresies and Reformed abuses as the occasion required And yet these being all but parts of one Empire there was less reason for their doing it without staying for a General Council which depended upon the pleasure of one man the Roman Emperor than could be pretended when Europe was divided into so many Kingdoms By which a common Concurrence of all these Churches was a thing scarce to be expected and therefore this Church must be in a very ill Condition if there could be no endeavours for a Reformation till all the rest were brought together The Grounds of the new-Covenant between God and man in Christ were also truly stated and the terms on which Salvation was to be hoped for were faithfully opened according to the New-Testament And this being in the strict notion of the word the Gospel and the glad tidings preached through our Blessed Lord and Saviour it must be confessed that there was a great Progress made when the Nation was well instructed about it though there was still an alloy of other Corruptions embasing the Purity of the Faith And indeed in the whole progress of these changes the Kings design seemed to have been to terrifie the Court of Rome and cudgel the Pope into a Compliance with what he desired for in his heart he continued addicted to some of the most extravagant Opinions of that Church such as Transubstantiation and the other Corruptions in the Mass so that he was to his lives end more Papist than Protestant There are two Prejudices which men have generally drunk in against that time The one is from the Kings great Enormities both in his personal Deportment and Government which make many think no good could be done by so ill a man and so cruel a Prince I am not to defend him nor to lessen his faults The vastness and irregularity of his Expence procured many heavy Exactions and twice extorted a publick Discharge of his debts embased the Coin with other Irregularities His proud and impatient Spirit occasioned many cruel proceedings The taking so many lives only for denying his Supremacy particularly Fisher's and More 's the one being extreme old and the other one of the Glories of his Nation for Probity and Learning The taking advantage from some Eruptions in the North to break the Indempnity he had before proclaimed to those in the Rebellion even though they could not be proved Guilty of those second disorders His extreme Severity to all Cardinal Pool's Family his cruel using first Cromwel and afterwards the Duke of Norfolk and his Son besides his un-exampled Proceedings against some of his Wives and that which was worst of all The laying a Precedent for the subversion of Iustice and oppressing the clearest Innocence by attaining men without hearing them These are such remarkable blemishes that as no man of ingenuity can go about the whitening them so the poor Reformers drunk so deep of that bitter cup that it very ill becomes any of their followers to endeavour to give fair Colours to those red and bloody Characters with which so much of his Reign is stained Yet after all this sad enumeration it was no new nor unusual thing in the methods of Gods Providence to employ Princes who had great mixtures of very gross faults to do signal things for his Service Not to mention David and Solomon whose sins were expiated with a severe Repentance it was the bloody Cyrus that sent back the Iews to their Land and gave them leave to re-build their Temple Constantine the Great is by some of his Enemies charged with many blemishes both in his Life and Government Clovis of France under whom that Nation received the Christian Faith was a monster of Cruelty and Perfidiousness as even Gregory of Tours represents him who lived near his time and nevertheless makes a Saint of him Charles the Great whom some also make a Saint both put away his wife for a very slight cause and is said to have lived in most unnatural lusts with his own Daughter Irene whom the Church of Rome magnifies as the Restorer of their Religion in the East did both contrary to the Impressions of Nature and of her Sex put out her own Sons eyes of which he died soon after with many other execrable things And whatever Reproaches those of the Church of Rome cast on the Reformation upon the account of this Kings faults may be easily turned back on their Popes who have never failed to court and extol Princes that served their ends how gross and scandalous soever their
things in which if these excuses do not wholly clear them yet they very much lessen their Guilt And after all this it must be Confessed they were men and had mixtures of fear and human infirmities with their other excellent Qualities And indeed Cranmer was in all other points so extraordinary a person that it was perhaps fit there should be some ingredients in his Temper to lessen the Veneration which his great worth might have raised too high if it had not been for these feeblenesses which upon some occasions appeared in him But if we examine the failings of some of the greatest of the Primitive Fathers as Athanasius Cyril and others who were the most zealous asserters of the Faith we must conclude them to have been nothing inferiour to any that can be charged on Cranmer whom if we consider narrowly we shall find as eminent vertues and as few faults in him as in any Prelate that has been in the Christian Church for many Ages And if he was prevailed on to deny his Master through fear he did wash off that stain by a sincere Repentance and a patient Martyrdome in which he expressed an eminent resentment of his former frailty with a pitch of Constancy of mind above the rate of modern Examples But their vertues as well as their faults are set before us for our instruction and how frail soever the vessels were they have conveyed to us a treasure of great value The pure Gospel of our Lord and Saviour which if we follow and govern our lives and hearts by it we may hope in easier and plainer paths to attain that Blessedness which they could not reach but through scorching flames and if we do not improve the Advantages which this light affords we may either look for some of those trials which were sent for the exercise of their Faith and Patience and perhaps for the punishment of their former Compliance or if we escape these we have cause to fear worse in the Conclusion EFFIGIES HENRICI VIII D. G ANGLIAE GALL. ET HIB REGIS DEFENSORIS FIDEI HHolbein pinxit Natus 1491 Iun 28. Patri Successit in Regno 1509 Apr. 22. Obijt 1547 8 Ian 28. Anno Aetat 57. pag. 1. Printed for Ricâ— Chiswell at the Rose and Crowne in St. Pauls Church yard THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE Church of England BOOK I. A Summary View of King Henry the Eighth's Reign till the Process of his Divorce was begun in which the State of England chiefly as it related to Religion is opened ENGLAND had for a whole Age felt the Miseries of a long and cruel War between the Two Houses of York and Lancaster during which time as the Crown had lost great Dominions beyond Sea so the Nation was much impoverished many Noble Families extinguisht much Blood shed great Animosities every-where raised with all the other Miseries of a lasting Civil War But they now saw all these happily composed when the Two Families did unite in King Henry the Eighth In his Fathers Reign they were rather cemented and joyned than united whose great Partiality to the House of Lancaster from which he was Descended and Severity to the Branches of the House of York in which even his own Queen had a large share together with the Impostors that were set up to disturb his Reign kept these heats alive which were now all buried in his grave and this made the Succession of his Son so universally acceptable to the whole Nation who now hoped to revive their former pretensions in France and to have again a large share in all the Affairs of Europe from which their Domestick Broils had so long excluded them There was another thing which made his first coming to the Crown no less acceptable which was that the same day that his Father died he ordered Dudley and Empson to be committed to the Tower His Father whether out of Policy or Inclination or both was all his life much set on the gathering of Treasure so that those Ministers were most acceptable who could fill his Coffers best and though this occasioned some Tumults and disposed the People to all those Commotions which fell out in his Reign yet he being successful in them all continued in his course of heaping up Money Towards the end of his Life he found out those Two Instruments who out-did all that went before them and what by vexatious Suits upon Penal but obsolete Laws what by unjust Imprisonments and other violent and illegal proceedings raised a general odium upon the Government and this grew upon him with his years and was come to so great a height towards the end of his Life that he died in good time for his own quiet For as he used all possible endeavours to get Money so what he got he as carefully kept and distributed very little of it among those about him so that he had many Enemies and but few Friends This being well considered by his Son he began his Government with the disgrace of those Two Ministers against whom he proceeded according to Law all the other inferiour Officers whom they had made use of were also Imprisoned When they had thus fallen many and great Complaints came in from all parts against them they also apprehending the danger they were like to be in upon their Masters Death had been practising with their Partners to gather about them all the Power they could bring together whether to secure themselves from popular Rage or to make themselves seem considerable or formidable to the new King This and other Crimes being brought in against them they were found guilty of Treason in a legal Trial. But the King judged this was neither a sufficient Reparation to his Oppressed People nor Satisfaction to Justice Therefore he went further and both ordered Restitution to be made by his Fathers Executors of great Sums of Money which had been unjustly extorted from his Subjects and in his first Parliament which he Summoned to the Twenty first of Ianuary following he not only delivered up Empson and Dudley with their Complices to the Justice of the Two Houses who attainted them by Act of Parliament and a little after gave order for their Execution but did also give his Royal assent to those other Laws by which the Subject was secured from the like Oppressions for the future and that he might not at all be suspected of any such Inclinations as his Father had to amass Treasure he was the most magnificent in his Expence of any Prince in Christendom and very bountiful to all about him and as one extreme commonly produces another so his Fathers Covetousness led him to be Prodigal and the vast Wealth which was left him being reckoned no less then 1800000 l. was in Three years dissipated as if the Son in his expence had vied Industry with his Father in all his Thrift Thomas Earl of Surrey afterwards Duke of Norfolk to shew how compliant he
advantages a man of his temper would draw from it Warham was Lord Chancellour the first seven years of the Kings Reign but retired to give place to this aspiring favourite who had a mind to the great Seal that there might be no interfering between the Legantine and Chancery Courts And perhaps it wrought somewhat on his vanity that even after he was Cardinal Warham as Lord Chancellour took place of him as appears from the Entries made in the Journals of the House of Peers in the Parliament held the 7th year of the Kings Reign and afterwards gave him place as appears on many occasions particularly in the Letter written to the Pope 1530 set down by the Lord Herbert which the Cardinal subscribed before Warham We have nothing on record to shew what a Speaker he was for all the Journals of Parliament from the 7th to the 25th year of this King are lost but it is like he spoke as his Predecessor in that Office Warham did whose speeches as they are entred in the Journals are Sermons begun with a Text of Scripture which he expounded and applyed to the business they were to go upon stuffing them with the most fulsome flattery of the King that was possible The next in favour and Power was the Lord Treasurer restored to his Fathers honour of Duke of Norfolk to whom his Son succeeded in that Office as well as in his hereditary honours and managed his Interest with the King so dexterously that he stood in all the Changes that followed and continued Lord Treasurer during the Reign of this King till near the end of it when he fell through Jealousie rather than guilt this shewed how dexterous a man he was that could stand so long in that imployment under such a King But the chief Favourite in the Kings pleasures was Charles Brandon a Gallant graceful Person one of the strongest men of the Age and so a fit match for the King at his Justs and Tiltings which was the manly diversion of that time and the King taking much pleasure in it being of a robust Body and singularly expert at it he who was so able to second him in these Courses grew mightily in his favour so that he made him first Viscount Lisle and some Months after Duke of Suffolk Nor was he less in the Ladies favours than the Kings for his Sister the Lady Mary liked him and being but so long Married to King Lewis of France as to make her Queen Dowager of France she resolved to choose her second Husband her self and cast her eye on the Duke of Suffolk who was then sent over to the Court of France Her Brother had designed the Marriage between them yet would not openly give his Consent to it but she by a strange kind of Wooing prefixed him the Term of four days to gain her Consent in which she told him if he did not prevail he should for ever lose all his hopes of having her though after such a Declaration he was like to meet with no great difficulty from her So they were Married and the King was easily pacified and received them into favour neither did his favour die with her for it continued all his life but he never medled much in business and by all that appears was a better Courtier than States-Man Little needs be said of any other Person more than will afterwards occur The King loved to raise mean Persons and upon the least distaste to throw them down and falling into disgrace he spared not to sacrifice them to publick discontents His Court was magnificent and his Expence vast he indulged himself in his pleasures and the hopes of Children besides the Lady Mary failing by the Queen he who of all things desired issue most kept one Elizabeth Blunt by whom he had Henry Fitzroy whom in the 17th year of his Reign he created Earl of Nottingham and the same day made him Duke of Richmond and Sommerset and intended afterwards to have put him in the Succession of the Crown after his other Children but his death prevented it As for his Parliaments he took great care to keep a good understanding with them and chiefly with the House of Commons by which means he seldom failed to carry Matters as he pleased among them only in the Parliament held in the 14th and 15th of his Reign the Demand of the Subsidy towards the War with France being so high as 800000 lib. the 5th of mens goods and lands to be paid in Four years and the Cardinal being much hated there was great Opposition made to it for which the Cardinal blamed Sir Thomas More much who was then Speaker of the House of Commons and finding that which was offered was not above the half of what was asked went himself to the House of Commons and desired to hear the reasons of those who opposed his Demands that he might answer them but he was told the Order of their House was to reason only among themselves and so went away much dissatisfied It was with great difficulty that they obtained a Subsidy of 3 s. in the lib. to be paid in four years This disappointment it seems did so offend the Cardinal that as no Parliament had been called for Seven years before so there was none summoned for Seven years after And thus stood the Civil Government of England in the 19th year of the Kings Reign when the Matter of the Divorce was first moved But I shall next open the State of Affairs in Reference to Religious and Spiritual Concerns King Henry was bred with more care than had been usually bestowed on the Education of Princes for many Ages who had been only trained up to those Exercises that prepared them to War and if they could read and write more was not expected of them But learning began now to flourish and as the House of Medici in Florence had great honour by the Protection it gave to learned men so other Princes every-where cherished the Muses King Henry the 7th though illiterate himself yet took care to have his Children instructed in good letters And it generally passes current that he bred his second Son a Scholar having designed him to be Arch-Bishop of Canterbury but that has no foundation for the Writers of that time tell that his Elder Brother Prince Arthur was also bred a Scholar And all the Instruction King Henry had in Learning must have been after his Brother was dead when that Design had vanished with his life For he being born the 18th of Iune 1491. and Prince Arthur dying the Second of April 1502. he was not full eleven years of Age when he became Prince of Wales at which Age Princes have seldom made any great progress in Learning But King Henry the 7th judging either that it would make his Sons Greater Princes and fitter for the Management of their Affairs or being jealous of their looking too early into business or their pretending to the Crown
upon their Mothers Title which might have been a dangerous competition to him that was so little beloved by his Subjects took this Method for amusing them with other things thence it was that his Son was the most learned Prince that had been in the World for many Ages and deserved the Title Beau-Clerke on a better account than his Predecessor that long before had carried it The Learning then in credit was either that of the Schools about abstruse Questions of Divinity which from the days of Lombard were debated and descanted on with much subtlety and nicety and exercised all Speculative Divines or the Study of the Canon-Law which was the way to Business and Preferment To the former of these the King was much addicted and delighted to read often in Thomas 〈◊〉 and this made Cardinal Wolsey more acceptable to him who was 〈◊〉 conversant in that sort of Learning He loved the purity of the 〈◊〉 tongue which made him be so kind to Erasmus that was the great Resâ—â—â—er of it and to Polidore Virgil though neither of these made their Court dextrously with the Cardinal which did much intercept the Kingâ— favour to them so that the one left England and the other was but coâ—rsly used in it who has sufficiently revenged himself upon the Cardinal's Memory The Philosophy then in fashion was so intermixed with their Divinity that the King understood it too and was also a good Musician as appears by two whole Masses which he composed He never wrote well but scrawled so that his hand was scarce legible Being thus inclined to Learning he was much courted by all hungry Scholars who generally over Europe dedicated their Books to him with such flattering Epistles that it very much lessens him to see how he delighted in such stuffe For if he had not taken pleasure in it and rewarded them it is not likely that others should have been every year writing after such ill Copies Of all things in the World Flattery wrought most on him and no sort of Flattery pleased him better than to have his great Learning and Wisdom commended And in this his Parliaments his Courtiers his Chaplains Forreigners and Natives all seemed to vie who should exceed most and came to speak to him in a Stile which was scarce fit to be used to any Creature But he designed to entail these praises on his Memory cherishing Church-men more than any King in England had ever done he also Courted the Pope with a constant submission and upon all occasions made the Popes Interests his own and made War and Peace as they desired him So that had he dyed any time before the 19th year of his Reign he could scarce have scaped being Canonized notwithstanding all his faults for he abounded in those vertues which had given Saintship to Kings for near 1000 years together and had done more than they all did by writing a Book for the Roman Faith England had for above 300 years been the tamest part of Christendome to the Papal Authority and had been accordingly dealt with But though the Parliaments and two or three high-spirited Kings had given some interruption to the cruel exactions and other illegal proceedings of the Court of Rome yet that Court always gained their designs in the end But even in this Kings days the Crown was not quite stript of all its Authority over Spiritual persons The Investitures of Bishops and Abbots which had been originally given by the delivery of the Pastoral Ring and Staffe by the Kings of England were after some opposition wrung out of their hands yet I find they retained another thing which upon the matter was the same When any See was vacant a Writ was issued out of the Chancery for seizing on all the Temporalties of the Bishoprick and then the King recommended one to the Pope upon which his Bulls were expeded at Rome and so by a Warrant from the Pope he was consecrated and invested in the Spiritualties of the See but was to appear before the King either in Person or by Proxie and renounce every clause in his Letters and Bulls that were or might be prejudicial to the Prerogative of the Crown or contrary to the Laws of the Land and was to swear Fealty and Allegiance to the King And after this a new Writ was issued out of the Chancery bearing that this was done and that thereupon the Temporalties should be restored Of this there are so many Precedents in the Records that every one that has searched them must needs find them in every year but when this began I leave to the more Learned in the Law to discover And for proof of it the Reader will find in the Collection the fullest Record which I met with concerning it in Henry the 7th his Reign of Cardinal Adrian's being Invested in the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells So that upon the matter the Kings then disposed of all Bishopricks keeping that still in their own hands which made them most desired in those Ages and so had the Bishops much at their Dovotion But King Henry in a great degree parted with this by the above-mentioned power granted to Cardinal Wolsey who being Legate as well as Lord Chancellour it was thought a great errour in Government to lodge such a trust with him which might have past into a Precedent for other Legates pretending to the same Power since the Papal greatness had thus risen and oft upon weaker grounds to the height it was then at Yet the King had no mind to suffer the Laws made against the suing out of Bulls in the Court of Rome without his leave to be neglected for I find several Licenses granted to sue Bulls in that Court bearing for their Preamble the Statute of the 16 of Richard the Second against the Popes pretended Power in England But the immunity of Ecclesiastical persons was a thing that occasioned great complaints And good cause there was for them For it was ordinary for persons after the greatest Crimes to get into Orders and then not only what was past must be forgiven them but they were not to be questioned for any Crime after holy Orders given till they were first degraded and till that was done they were the Bishops Prisoners Whereupon there rose a great dispute in the beginning of this Kings Reign of which none of our Historians having taken any Notice I shall give a full account of it King Henry the Seventh in his Fourth Parliament did a little lessen the Priviledges of the Clergy enacting that Clerks convicted should be burnt in the hand But this not proving a sufficient restraint it was Enacted in Parliament in the Fourth year of this King that all Murderers and Robbers should be denyed the benefit of their Clergy But though this seemed a very Just Law yet to make it pass through the House of Lords they added two Proviso's to it the one for excepting all such as were within
the Commandment is conceived in general words yet there are some exceptions to be admitted as though it be said Thou shalt not kill yet in some cases we may lawfully kill so in the case of justice a Judge may lawfully sit on his Father But Doctor Veysey's Argument was that which took most with all that were present He said it was certain that the Laws of the Church did not bind any but those who received them To prove this he said that in old times all secular Priests were Married but in the days of St. Augustine the Apostle of England there was a Decree made to the contrary which was received in England and in many other places by vertue whereof the Secular Priests in England may not Marry but this Law not being universally received the Greek Church never judged themselves bound by it so that to this day the Priests in that Church have Wives as well as other secular men If then the Churches of the East not having received the Law of the Celibate of the Clergy have never been condemned by the Church for not obeying it then the conveening Clerks having been always practised in England was no sin notwithstanding the Decree to the contrary which was never received here Nor is this to be compared to those priviledges that concern only a Private mans Interest for the Common-Wealth of the whole Realm was chiefly to be lookt at and to be preferred to all other things When the Matter was thus argued on both sides all the Judges delivered their Opinions in these words That all those of the Convocation who did award the Citation against Standish were in the case of a Premunire facias and added somewhat about the Constitution of the Parliament which being forreign to my business and contrary to a received opinion I need not mention but refer the Reader to Keilway for his Information if he desires to know more of it and thus the Court broke up But soon after all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal with many of the House of Commons and all the Judges and the Kings Council were called before the King to Baynards Castle and in all their presence the Cardinal kneeled down before the King and in the name of the Clergy said That none of them intended to do any thing that might derogate from his Prerogative and least of all himself who owed his advancement only to the Kings favour But this matter of Conveening of Clerks did seem to them all to be contrary to the Laws of God and the Liberties of the Church which they were bound by their Oaths to maintain according to their Power Therefore in their name he humbly begged That the King to avoid the Censures of the Church would refer the Matter to the decision of the Pope and his Council at the Court of Rome To which the King answered It seems to us that Doctor Standish and others of our Spiritual Council have answered you fully in all points The Bishop of Winchester replyed Sir I warrant you Doctor Standish will not abide by his Opinion at his peril But the Doctor said what should one poor Frier doe alone against all the Bishops and Clergy of England After a short silence the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury said That in former times divers holy Fathers of the Church had opposed the execution of that Law and some of them suffered Martyrdome in the Quarrel To whom Fineux Lord Chief Justice said That many holy Kings had mantained that Law and many holy Fathers had given Obedience to it which it is not to be presumed they would have done had they known it to be contrary to the Law of God and he desired to know by what Law Bishops could judge Clerks for Felony it being a thing only determined by the Temporal Law so that either it was not at all to be tryed or it was only in the Temporal Court so that either Clerks must do as they please or be tryed in the Civil Courts To this no Answer being made the King said these words By the Permission and Ordinance of God we are King of England and the Kings of England in times past had never any Superiour but God only Therefore know you well that we will maintain the Right of our Crown and of our Temporal Iurisdiction as well in this as in all other points in as ample manner as any of our Progenitours have done before our time And as for your Decrees we are well assured that you of the Spirituality go expresly against the words of divers of them as hath been shewed you by some of our Council and you interpret your Decrees at your pleasure but we will not agree to them more than our Progenitors have done in former times But the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury made most humble Instance that the Matter might be so long respited till they could get a Resolution from the Court of Rome which they should procure at their own Charges and if it did consist with the Law of God they should conform themselves to the Law of the Land To this the King made no answer but the Warrants being out against Doctor Horsey the Bishop of London's Chancellour he did abscond in the Arch-Bishops house though it was pretended he was a Prisoner there till afterwards a temper was found that Horsey should render himself a Prisoner in the Kings Bench and be tryed But the Bishop of London made earnest Applications to the Cardinal that he would move the King to command the Attourney-General to confess the Inditement was not true that it might not be referred to a Jury since he said the Citizens of London did so favour Heresie that if he were as Innocent as Abel they would find any Clerk guilty The King not willing to irritate the Clergy too much and judging he had maintained his Prerogative by bringing Horsey to the Bar ordered the Attourney to do so And accordingly when Horsey was brought to the Bar and Endited of Murder he pleaded Not guilty which the Attourney acknowledging he was dismissed and went and lived at Exeter and never again came back to London either out of fear or shame And for Doctor Standish upon the Kings Command he was also dismissed out of the Court of Convocation It does not appear that the Pope thought fit to interpose in this Matter For though upon less Provocations Popes had proceeded to the highest Censures against Princes yet this King was otherwise so necessary to the Pope at this time that he was not to be offended The Clergy suffered much in this business besides the loss of their reputation with the people who involved them all in the guilt of Hunne's Murder for now their Exemption being well examined was found to have no foundation at all but in their own Decrees and few were much convinced by that authority since upon the matter it was but a judgment of their own in their own favours nor was the City of London at all satisfied with
the Proceedings in the Kings Bench since there was no justice done and all thought the King seemed more careful to maintain his Prerogative than to do Justice This I have related the more fully because it seems to have had great Influence on peoples minds and to have disposed them much to the Changes that followed afterwards How these things were entred in the Books of Convocation cannot be now known For among the other sad losses sustained in the late burning of London this was one that almost all the Registers of the Spiritual Courts were burnt some few of the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury and Bishops of London's Registers being only preserved But having compared Fox his Account of this and some other matters and finding it exactly according to the Registers that are preserved I shall the more confidently build on what he published from those Records that are now lost This was the only thing in the first 18 years of the Kings Reign that seemed to lessen the Greatness of the Clergy but in all other matters he was a most faithful Son of the See of Rome Pope Iulius soon after his coming to the Crown sent him a Golden Rose with a Letter to Arch-Bishop Warham to deliver it and though such Presents might seem fitter for young Children than for men of discretion yet the King was much delighted with it and to shew his Gratitude there was a Treaty concluded the year following between the King and Ferdinand of Arragon for the Defence of the Papacy against the French King And when in opposition to the Council that the French King and some other Princes and Cardinals had called first to Pisa which was afterwards translated to Milan and then to Lions that summoned the Pope to appear before them and suspended his Authority Pope Iulius called another Council to be held in the Lateran the King sent the Bishops of Worcester and Rochester the Prior of St. Iohns and the Abbot of Winchelcomb to sit in that Council in which there was such a Representative of the Catholick Church as had been for several of the latter Ages in the Western Church in which a few Bishops packt out of several Kingdoms and many Italian Bishops with a vast number of Abbots Priors and other Inferiour Digniâ—â—ed Clergy-men were brought to Confirm together whatever the Popes had a mind to Enact which passing easily among them was sent over the world with a stamp of Sacred Authority as the Decrees and Decisions of the Holy Universal Church assembled in a General Council Nor was there a worse understanding between this King and Pope Leo the 10 th that succeeded Iulius who did also complement him with those Papal Presents of Roses and at his desire made Wolsey a Cardinal and above all other things obliged him by conferring on him the Title of Defender of the Faith upon the presenting to the Pope his Book against Luther in a pompous Letter Signed by the Pope and 27 Cardinals in which the King took great pleasure affecting it always beyond all his other Titles though several of the former Kings of England had carried the same Title as Spelman informs us So easie a thing it was for Popes to oblige Princes in those days when a Title or a Rose was thought a sufficient Recompence for the greatest Services The Cardinal Governing all Temporal Affairs as he did it is not to be doubted but his Authority was absolute in Ecclesiastical Matters which seemed naturally to lie within his Province yet Warham made some opposition to him and complained to the King of his encroaching too much in his Legantine Courts upon his Jurisdiction and the things being clearly made out the King chid the Cardinal sharply for it who ever after that hated Warham in his heart yet he proceeded more warily for the future But the Cardinal drew the hatred of the Clergy upon himself chiefly by a Bull which he obtained from Rome giving him Authority to visit all Monasteries and all the Clergy of England and to dispence with all the Laws of the Church for one whole year after the date of the Bull. The power that was lodged in him by this Bull was not more invidious than the words in which it was conceived were offensive for the Preamble of it was full of severe Reflections against the Manners and Ignorance of the Clergy who are said in it to have been delivered over to a Reprobate mind This as it was a publick Deâ—aming them so how true soever it might be all thought it did not become the Cardinal whose Vices were notorious and scandalous to tax others whose faults were neither so great nor so eminent as his were He did also affect a Magnificence and Greatness not only in his Habit being the first Clergy-man in England that wore Silks but in his Family his Train and other pieces of State equal to that of Kings And even in performing Divine Offices and saying Mass he did it with the same Ceremonies that the Popes use who judg themselves so nearly related to God that those humble acts of Adoration which are Devotions in other persons would abase them too much He had not only Bishops and Abbots to serve him but even Dukes and Earls to give him the Water and the Towel He had certainly a vast mind and he saw the corruptions of the Clergy gave so great Scandal and their Ignorance was so profound that unless some effectual ways were taken for correcting these they must needs fall into great disesteem with the People For though he took great liberties himself and perhaps according to the Maxime of the Canonists he judged Cardinals as Princes of the Church were not comprehended within ordinary Ecclesiastical Laws yet he seemed to have designed the Reformation of the Inferiour Clergy by all the means he could think of except the giving them a good Example Therefore he intended to visit all the Monasteries of England that so discovering their corruptions he might the better justifie the design he had to suppress most of them and convert them into Bishopricks Cathedrals Collegiate Churches and Colledges For which end he procured the Bull from Rome but he was diverted from making any use of it by some who advised him rather to suppress Monasteries by the Popes Authority than proceed in a Method which would raise great hatred against himself cast foul aspersions on Religious Orders and give the Enemies of the Church great advantages against it Yet he had communicated his design to the King and his Secretary Cromwell understanding it was thereby instructed how to proceed afterwards when they went about the total suppression of the Monasteries The Summoning of Convocations he assumed by vertue of his Legantine Power Of these there were two sorts the first were called by the King for with the Writs for a Parliament there went out always a Summons to the Two Arch-Bishops for calling a Convocation of
their Provinces the Stile of which will be found in the Collection It differs in nothing from what is now in use but that the King did not prefix the day requiring them only to be Summoned to meet with all convenient speed and the Arch-Bishops having the King's pleasure signified to them did in their Writs prefix the day Other Convocations were called by the Arch-Bishops in their several Provinces upon great Emergencies to meet and treat of things relating to the Church and were Provincial Councils Of this I find but one and that called by Warham in the first year of this King for restoring the Ecclesiastical Immunities that had been very much impaired as will appear by the Writ of Summons But the Cardinal did now as Legate issue out Writs for Convocations In the year 1522. I find by the Register there was a Writ issued from the King to Warham to call one who upon that Summoned it to meet at St. Pauls the 20 th of April But the Cardinal prevailed so far with the King that on the 2 d. of May after he by his Legantine Authority dissolved that Convocation and issued out a Writ to Tonstall Bishop of London to bring the Clergy of Canterbury to St. Peter's in Westminster there to meet and reform Abuses in the Church and consider of other important Matters that should be proposed to them What they did towards Reformation I know not the Records being lost But as to the Kings Supply it was proposed That they should give the King the half of the full value of their Livings for one year to be paid in Five years The Cardinal laid out to them how much the King had merited from the Church both by suppressing the Schism that was like to have been in the Papacy in Pope Iulius his time and by Protecting the See of Rome from the French Tyrannie but most of all for that excellent Book written by him in Defence of the Faith against the Hereticks and that therefore since the French King was making War upon him and had sent over the Duke of Albany to Scotland to make War also on that side it was fit that on so great an occasion it should appear that his Clergy were sensible of their Happiness in having such a King which they ought to express in granting somewhat that was as much beyond all former Presidents as the King had merited more from them than all former Kings had ever done But the Bishops of Winchester and Rochester opposed this For they both hated the Cardinal The one thought him ungrateful to him who had raised him The other being a man of a strict Life hated him for his Vices Both these spake against it as an unheard-of Tax which would so oppress the Clergy that it would not be possible for them to live and pay it and that this would become a Precedent for after-times which would make the condition of the Clergy most miserable But the Cardinal who intended that the Convocation by a great Subsidy should lead the way to the Parliament took much pains for carrying it thorough and got some to be absent and others were prevailed on to consent to it And for the fear of its being made a Precedent a Clause was put in the Act That it should be no Precedent for after-times Others laughed at this and said It would be a Precedent for all that if it once passed But in the end it was granted with a most glorious Preamble and by it all the Natives of England that had any Ecclesiastical Benefice were to pay the full half of the true value of their Livings in Five years and all Forreigners who were Beneficed in England were to pay a whole years Rent in the same time out of which number were excepted the Bishops of Worcester and Landaffe Polidore Virgil Peter the Carmelite Erasmus of Roterdam Silvester Darius and Peter Vannes who were to pay only as Natives did This encreased the hatred that the Clergy bore the Cardinal But he despised them and in particular was a great Enemy to the Monks and looked on them as idle mouths that did neither the Church nor State any Service but were through their scandalous Lives a reproach to the Church and a burden to the State Therefore he resolved to suppress a great number of them and to change them to another Institution From the days of King Edgar the State of Monkery had been still growing in England For most of the Secular Clergy being then Married and refusing to put away their Wives were by Dunstan Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Ethelwald Bishop of Winchester and Oswald Bishop of Worcester who were all Monks turned out of their Livings There is in the Rolls an Inspeximus of King Edgars Erecting the Priory and Convent of Worcester which bears date Anno 964. Edgari 6 to on St. Innocents-day Signed by the King the Queen Two Arch-Bishops Five Bishops Six Abbots but neither Bishoprick nor Abbey are named Six Dukes and Five Knights but there is no Seal to it It bears that the King with the Council and Consent of his Princes and Gentry did Confirm and Establish that Priory and that he had Erected 47 Monasteries which he intended to encrease to 50. the number of Jubilee and that the former Incumbents should be for ever excluded from all pretensions to their Benefices because they had rather chosen with the danger of their Order and the prejudice of the Ecclesiastical Benefice to adhere to their Wives than to serve God Chastly and Canonically The Monks being thus setled in most Cathedrals of England gave themselves up to Idleness and Pleasure which had been long complained of but now that Learning began to be restored they being every-where possessed of the best Church-Benefices were looked upon by all Learned-men with an evil eye as having in their hands the chief encouragements of Learning and yet doing nothing towards it they on the contrary decrying and disparaging it all they could saying It would bring in Heresie and a great deal of mischief And the Restorers of Learning such as Erasmus Vives and others did not spare them but did expose their Ignorance and ill Manners to the world Now the King naturally loved Learning and therefore the Cardinal either to do a thing which he knew would be acceptable to the King or that it was also agreeable to his own Inclinations resolved to set up some Colledges in which there should be both great Encouragements for eminent Scholars to prosecute their Studies and good Schools for teaching and training up of Youth This he knew would be a great honour to him to be lookt upon as a Patron of Learning and therefore he set his heart much on it to have Two Colledges the one at Oxford the other at Ipswich the place of his Birth well constituted and nobly Endowed But towards this it was necessary to suppress some Monasteries which was thought every-whit as justifiable
and lawful as it had been many Ages before to change Secular Prebends into Canons Regular the endowed Goods being still applied to a Religious use And it was thought hard to say That if the Pope had the absolute Power of dispensing the Spiritual Treasure of the Church and to translate the Merits of one man and apply them to another that he had not a much more absolute Power over the Temporal Treasure of the Church to translate Church-Lands from one use and apply them to another And indeed the Cardinal was then so much considered at Rome as a Pope of another world that whatever he desired he easily obtained Therefore on the 3 d. of April 1524. Pope Clement by a Bull gave him Authority to suppress the Monastery of St. Frediswood in Oxford and in the Diocess of Lincoln and to carry the Monks elsewhere with a very full non obstante To this the King gave his assent the 19 th of April following After this there followed many other Bulls for other Religious Houses and Rectories that were Impropriated These Houses being thus suppressed by the Law they belonged to the King who thereupon made them over to the Cardinal by new and special Grants which are all Enrolled And so he went on with these great Foundations and brought them to Perfection That at Oxford in the 18 th year and that at Ipswich in the 20 th year of the Kings Reign as appears by the Dates of the Kings Patents for Founding them In the last Place I come to shew the new opinions in Religion or those that were accounted new then in England and the State and Progress of them till the 19th year of the Kings Reign From the days of Wickliffe there were many that disliked most of the received Doctrines in several parts of the Nation The Clergy were at that time very hateful to the people for as the Pope did exact heavily on them so they being oppressed took all means possible to make the people repay what the Popes wrested from them Wickliffe being much encouraged and supported by the Duke of Lancaster and the Lord Piercy the Bishops could not proceed against him till the Duke of Lancaster was put from the King and then he was condemned at Oxford Many opinions are charged upon him but whether he held them or not we know not but by the Testimonies of his Enemies who write of him with so much passion that it discredits all they say yet he dyed in peace though his body was afterwards burnt He translated the Bible out of Latine into English with a long Preface before it in which he reflected severely on the corruptions of the Clergy and condemned the Worshipping of Saints and Images and denyed the corporal Presence of Christs Body in the Sacrament and exhorted all people to the Study of the Scriptures His Bible with this Preface was well received by a great many who were led into these Opinions rather by the Impressions which common sense and plain Reason made on them than by any deep Speculation or Study For the followers of this Doctrine were illiterate and ignorant men some few Clerks joyned to them but they formed not themselves into any body or association and were scattered over the Kingdom holding these Opinions in private without making any publick Profession of them Generally they were known by their disparaging the superstitious Clergy whose Corruptions were then so notorious and their Cruelty so enraged that no wonder the people were deeply prejudiced against them Nor were the methods they used likely to prevail much upon them being severe and cruel In the Primitive Church though in their Councils they were not backward to pass Anathematisms on every thing that they judged Heresie yet all Capital proceedings against Hereticks were condemned and when two Bishops did prosecute Priscillian and his followers before the Emperor Maximus upon which they were put to death they were generally so blamed for it that many refused to hold Communion with them The Roman Emperors made many Laws against Hereticks for the fining and banishing of them and secluded them from the Priviledges of other Subjects such as making Wills or receiving Legacies only the Manichees who were a strange mixture between Heathenism and Christianity were to suffer death for their errors Yet the Bishops in those days particularly in Africk doubted much whether upon the Insolencies of Hereticks or Schismaticks they might desire the Emperor to execute those Laws for Fining Banishing and other restraints And St. Austin was not easily prevailed on to consent to it But at length the Donatists were so intolerable that after several Consultations about it they were forced to consent to those inferiour penalties but still condemned the taking away of their lives And even in the Execution of the Imperial Laws in those inferiour punishments they were always interposing to moderate the severity of the Prefects and Governours The first Instance of severity on mens bodies that was not censured by the Church was in the Fifth Century under Iustine the first who Ordered the tongue of Severus who had been Patriarch of Antioch but did daily Anathematise the Council of Chalcedon to be cut out In the Eighth Century Iustinian the 2d called Rhinotmetus from his cropt nose burnt all the Manichees in Armenia And in the end of the Eleventh Century the Bogomili were condemned to be burnt by the Patriarch and Council of Constantinople But in the end of the 12 and in the beginning of the 13th Century a Company of Simple and Innocent persons in the Southern parts of France being disgusted with the Corruptions both of the Popish Clergy and of the publick Worship separated from their Assemblies and then Dominick and his brethren-Preachers who came among them to convince them finding their Preaching did not prevail betook themselves to that way that was sure to silence them They perswaded the Civil Magistrates to burn all such as were judged Obstinate Hereticks That they might do this by a Law the Fourth Council of Lateran did Decree that all Hereticks should be delivered to the Secular Power to be extirpated they thought not fit to speak out but by the Practise it was known that Burning was that which they meant and if they did it not they were to be Excommunicated and after that if they still refused to do their duty which was upon the matter to be the Inquisitors Hangmen they were to deny it at their utmost Perils For not only the Ecclesiastical Censures but Anathema's were thought too feeble a punishment for this Omission Therefore a Censure was found out as severe upon the Prince as Burning was to the poor Heretick He was to be deposed by the Pope his Subjects to be absolved from their Oaths of Allegiance and his Dominions to be given away to any other faithful Son of the Church such as pleased the Pope best and all this by the Authority of a Synod that passed for a Holy General Council
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
particular For the Question of the unlawfulness of the Match had been first debated in the Cortes or Assembly of the States at Madrid and the Emperour had then shewed himself so â—avourable to it that he broke the Match to which he had bound himself with the Princess Therefore the King had reason to think that this at least would mitigate his opposition The Emperour had also used the Pope so hardly that it could not be doubted that the Pope hated him And it was believed that he would find the protection of the King of England most necessary to secure him either from the greatness of France or Spain who were Fighting for the best part of Italy which must needs fall into one of their hands Therefore the King did not doubt but the Pope would be compliant to his desires And in this he was much confirmed by the hopes or rather assurance which the Cardinal gave him of the Popes favour who either calculating what was to be expected from that Court on the account of their own Interest or upon some promises made him had undertaken to the King to bring that matter about to his hearts content It is certain that the Cardinal had carried over with him out of the Kings Treasure 240000 l. to be employed about the Popes Liberty But whether he had made a bargain for the Divorce or had fancied that nothing could be denied him at Rome it does not appear It is clear by many of his Letters that he had undertaken to the King that the business should be done and it is not like that a man of his wisdom would have adventured to do that without some good warrant But now that the Suit was to be moved in the Court of Rome they were to devise such Arguments as were like to be well heard there It would have been unacceptable to have insisted on the nullity of the Bull on this account because the matter of it was unlawful and fell not within the Popes Power For Popes like others Princes do not love to hear the extent of their Prerogative disputed or defined And to condemn the Bull of a former Pope as unlawful was a dangerous Precedent at a time when the Popes Authority was rejected by so many in Germany Therefore the Canonists as well as Divines were consulted to find such Nullities in the Bull of Dispensation as according to the Canon-Law and the proceedings of the Rota might serve to invalidate it without any diminution of the Papal Power Which being once done the Marriage that followed upon it must needs be annulled When the Canonists examined the Bull they found much matter to proceed upon It is a Maxime in Law that if the Pope be surprized in any thing and Bulls be procured upon false suggestions and untrue premises they may be annulled aâ—terwards Upon â—hich foundation most of all the Processes against Popes Bulls were grounded Now they found by the preamble of this Bull that it was said The King had desired that he might be dispensed with to Marry the Princess This was false for the King had made no such desire being of an Age that was below such considerations but Twelve years old Then it appeared by the preamble that this Bull was desired by the King to preserve the Peace between the King of England and Ferdinand and Isabella called Elizabetha in the Bull the Kings of Spain To which they excepted That it was plain this was false since the King being then but Twelve years old could not be supposed to have such deep speculations and so large a prospect as to desire a Match upon a politick account Then it being also in the Bull that the Popes Dispensation was granted to keep Peace between the Crowns if there was no hazard of any Breach or War between them this was a false suggestion by which the Pope had been made believe That this Match was necessary for averting some great mischief And it was known that there was no danger â—t all of that and so this Bull was obtained by a surprise Besides both King Henry of England and Isabella of Spain were dead before the King Married his Queen so the Marriage could not be valid by vertue of a Bull that was granted to maintain Amity between Princes that were dead before the Marriage was consummated And they also judged that the Protestation which the King made when he came of Age did retract any such pretended desire that might have been preferred to the Pope in his name and that from that time forward the Bull could have no further operation since the ground upon which it was granted which was the King's desire did then cease any pretended desire before he was of Age being clearly annulled and determined by that Protestation after he was of Age so that a subsequent Marriage founded upon the Bull must needs be void These were the grounds upon which the Canonists advised the Process at Rome to be carried on But first to amuse or over-reach the Spaniard the King sent word to his Ambassadour in Spain to silence the noise that was made about it in that Court Whether the King had then resolved on the Person that should Succeed the Queen when he had obtained what he desired or not is much questioned Some suggest that from the beginning he was taken with the charmes of Anne Boleyn and that all this Process was moved by the unseen spring of that secret affection Others will have this Amour to have been later in the King's thoughts How early it came there as this distance it is not easie to deâ—ermine But before I say more of it she being so considerable a Person in the â—ollowing Relation I shall give some account of her Sanders has assured the world That the King had a liking to her Mother who was Daughter to the Duke of Norfolk and to the end that he might enjoy her with the less disturbance he sent her Husband Sir Thomas Boleyn to be Ambassadour in France And that after Two years absence his Wife being with Child he came over and sued a Divorce against her in the Arch-Bishop of Canterburies Court but the King sent the Marques of Dorchester to let him know that she was with Child by him and that therefore the King desired he would pass the matter over and be reconciled to his Wiâ—e to which he consented And so Anne Boleyn though she went under the name of his Daughter yet was of the King 's bâ—getting As he describes her she was ill-shaped and ugly had Six Fingers a Gag-tooth and a Tumor under her Chin with many other unseemly things in her Person At the 15 th year of her Age he says both her Father's Butler and Chaplain lay with her Afterwaâ—ds she was sent to France where she was at first kept privatly in the house of a Person of Quality then she went to the French Court where she led such a dissolute life that
she was called the English Hackney That the French King liked her and from the freedoms he took with her she was called the King's Mule But returning to England she was admitted to the Court where she quickly perceived how weary the King was of the Queen and what the Cardinal was designing and having gained the King's affection she governed it so that by all innocent freedoms she drew him into her Toiles and by the appearances of a severe virtue with which she disguised her self so encreased his affection and esteem that he resolved to put her in his Queens place as soon as the Divorce was granted The same Author adds That the King had likewise enjoyed her Sister with a great deal more to the disgrace of this Lady and her Family I know it is not the work of an Historian to refute the Lies of others but rather to deliver such a plain account as will be a more effectual confutation than any thing can be that is said by way of Argument which belongs to other Writers And at the end of this King's Reign I intend to set down a Collection of the most Notorious False-hoods of that Writer together with the evidences of their being so But all this of Anne Boleyn is so palpable a lie or rather a complicated heap of lies and so much depends on it that I presume it will not offend the Reader to be detained a few minutes in the refutation of it For if it were true very much might be drawn from it both to disparage King Henry who pretended Conscience to annul his Marriage for the nearness of Affinity and yet would after that Marry his own Daughter It leaves also a foul and lasting stain both on the Memory of Anne Boleyn and of her incomparable Daughter Queen Elizabeth It also derogates so much from the first Reformers who had some kind of dependence on Queen Anne Boleyn that it seems to be of great importance for directing the Reader in the judgment he is to make of persons and things to lay open the falshood of this account It were sufficient for blasting it that there is no proof pretended to be brought for any part of it but a Book of one Rastall a Judg that was never seen by any other person than that Writer The Title of the Book is The Life of Sir Thomas More there is great reason to think that Rastall never writ any such Book for it is most common for the Lives of great Authors to be prefixed to their Works Now this Rastall published all More 's Works in Queens Maries Reign to which if he had written his Life it is likely he would have prefixt it No evidence therefore being given for his Relation either from Record Letters or the Testimony of any person who was privy to the matter the whole is to be looked upon as a black Forgery devised on purpose to defame Queen Elizabeth For upon her Mothers death who can doubt but that some either to flatter the King or to defame her would have published these things which if they had been true could be no secrets For a Lady of her Mothers condition to bear a Child two years after her Husband was sent out of England on such a publick Employment and a Process thereupon to be entred in the Arch-Bishops Courts are things that are not so soon to be forgotten And that she her self was under so ill a Reputation both in her Father's Family and in France for common lewdness and for being the Kings Concubin are things that could not lie hid And yet when the Books of the Arch-Bishops Courts which are now burnt were extant it was published to the world and satisfaction offered to every one that would take the pains to inform themselves that there was no such thing on Record Nor did any of the Writers of that time either of the Imperial or Papal side once mention these things notwithstanding their great occasion to do it But 80 years after this Fable was invented or at least it was then first published when it was safer to lie because none who had lived in the time could disprove it But it has not only no foundation but Sanders through the vulgar errors of Liars has strained his wit to make so ill a story of the Lady that some things in his own relation make it plainly appear to be impossible For to pass by those many improbable things that he relates as namely That both the King of England and the French King could be so taken with so ugly and monstrous a Woman of so notorious and lewd manners and that this King for the space of Seven years that is during the Suit of the Divorce should continue enamoured of her and never discover this or having discovered it should yet resolve at all hazards to make her his Wife which are things that would require no common testimony to make them seem credible There is beside in that story an heap of things so inconsistent with one another that none but such an one as Sanders could have had either blindness or brow enough to have made or publisht it For first if the King that he might the more freely enjoy Sir Thomas Boleyn's Lady sent him over into France as Sanders says I shall allow it as soon as may be that it was in the very beginning of his Reign 1509. Then the time when Anne Boleyn was born being according to Sanders his account two years after that must be Anno 1511. and being as he says deflowred when she was 15. that must be Anno 1526. Then some time must be allowed for her going to France for her living privately there for some time and afterwards for her coming to Court and meriting those Characters that he says went upon her and after all that for her return into England and insinuating her self into the Kings favour yet by Sanders his own Relation these things must have happened in the same year 1526. for in that year he makes the King think of putting away his Wife in order to Marry Anne Boleyn when according to his account she could be but 15. years old though this King had sent Sir Thomas Boleyn into France the first day of his coming to the Crown But that he â—as not sent so early appears by several Grants that I have seen in the Rolls which were made to him in the first 4 years of the Kings Reign They sufficiently shew that he was all that while about the Kings person and mention no services beyond Sea but about the Kings person as the ground upon which they were made Besides I find in the Treaty-Rolls no mention of his being Ambassador the first 8 years of the Kings Reign In the first year the Bishops of Winchester and Duresme and the Earl of Surrey are named in the Treaty between the two Crowns as the Kings Ambassadors in France After this none could be Ambassadors there for two
years together for before two years elapsed there was a War proclaimed against France and when overtures were made for a Peace it appears by the Treaty-Rolls that the Earl of Worcester was sent over Ambassador And when the Kings sister was sent over to Lewis the French King though Sir Thomas Boleyn went over with her he was not then so much considered as to be made an Ambassador For in the Commission that was given to many persons of Quality to deliver her to her Husband King Lewis the 12 Sir Thomas Boleyn is not named The persons in the Commission are the Duke of Norfolk the Marquess of Dorchester the Bishop of Duresm the Earls of Surrey and Worcester the Prior of St. Iohns and Doctor West Dean of Windsor A year after that Sir Thomas Boleyn was made Ambassador but then it was too late for Anne Boleyn to be yet unborn much less could it be as Sanders says that she was born two years after it But the Learned Camden whose Study and Profession led him to a more particular knowledg of these things gives us another account of her birth He says that she was born in the year 1507. which was two years before the King came to the Crown And if it be suggested that then the Prince to enjoy her Mother prevailed with his Father to send her Husband beyond Sea that must be done when the Prince himself was not 14 years of Age so they must make him to have corrupted other mens wives at that Age when yet they will not allow his Brother no not when he was 2 years older to have known his own wife But now I leave this foul Fiction and go to deliver certain Truths· Anne Boleyn's Mother was Daughter to the Duke of Norfolk and Sister to the Duke that was at the time of the Divorce Lord Treasurer Her Fathers Mother was one of the Daughters and heirs to the Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond and her great Grand-Father Sir Geofry Boleyn who had been Lord Major of London Married one of the Daughters and Heirs of the Lord Hastings and their Family as they had mixed with so much great Blood so had Married their Daughters to very Noble Families She being but seven years old was carried over to France with the Kings Sister which shews she could have none of those deformities in her person since such are not brought into the Courts and Families of Queens And though upon the French Kings Death the Queen Dowager came soon back to England yet she was so liked in the French Court that the next King Francis his Queen kept her about her self for some years and after her death the Kings Sister the Dutchess of Alenson kept her in her Court all the while she was in France which as it shews there was somewhat extraordinary in her person so those Princesses being much celebrated for their vertues it is not to be imagined that any person so notoriously defamed as Sanders would represent her was entertained in their Courts When she came into England is not so clear it is said that in the year 1522. when War was made on France her Father who was then Ambassador was recalled and brought her over with him which is not improbable but if she came then she did not stay long in England for Camden says that she served Queen Claudia of France till her death which was in Iuly 1524 and after that she was taken into service by K Francis his Sister How long she continued in that service I do not find but it is probable that she returned out of France with her Father from his Embassy in the year 1527. when as Stow says he brought with him the Picture of her Mistress who was offered in Marriage to this King If she came out of France before as those Authors before-mentioned say it appears that the King had no design upon her then because he suffered her to return and when one Mistress died to take another in France but if she stayed there all this while then it is probable he had not seen her till now at last when she came out of the Princess of Alenson's service but whensoever it was that she came to the Court of England it is certain that she was much considered in it And though the Queen who had taken her to be one of her Maids of Honour had afterwards just cause to be displeased with her as her Rival yet she carried her self so that in the whole Progress of the Sute I never find the Queen her self or any of her Agents fix the least ill Character on her which would most certainly have been done had there been any just cause or good colour for it And so far was this Lady at least for some time from any thoughts of Marrying the King that she had consented to Marry the Lord Piercy the Earl of Northumberland's eldest Son whom his Father by a strange compliance with the Cardinals vanity had placed in his Court and made him one of his servants The thing is considerable and clears many things that belong to this History and the Relator of it was an Ear-witness of the Discourse upon it as himself informs us The Cardinal hearing that the Lord Piercy was making addresses to Anne Boleyn one day as he came from the Court called for him before his servants before us all says the Relator including himself and chid him for it pretending at first that it was unworthy of him to match so meanly but he justified his choice and reckoned up her birth and Quality which he said was not inferior to his own And the Cardinal insisting fiercely to make him lay down his pretensions he told him he would willingly submit to the King and him but that he had gone so far before many witnesses that he could not forsake it and knew not how to discharge his conscience and therefore he entreated the Cardinal would procure him the Kings favour in it Upon that the Cardinal in great rage said why thinkest thou that the King and I know not what we have to do in so weighty a matter yes I warrant you but I can see in thee no submission at all to the purpose and said you have matched your self with such a one as neither the King nor yet your Father will agree to it and therefore I will send for thy Father who at his coming shall either make thee break this unadvised bargain or disinherit thee for ever To which the Lord Piercy replyed That he would submit himself to him if his Conscience were discharged of the weighty burden that lay upon it and soon after his Father coming to Court he was diverted another way Had that Writer told us in what year this was done it had given a great light to direct us but by this relation we see that she was so far from thinking of the King at that time that she had
engaged her self another way but how far this went on her side or whether it was afterwards made use of when she was divorced from the King shall be considered in its proper place It also appears that there was a Design about her then formed between the King and the Cardinal yet how far that went whether to make her Queen or only to Corrupt her is not evident It is said that upon this she ever after hated the Cardinal and that he never designed the Divorce after he saw on whom the King had fixed his thoughts but all that is a mistake as will afterwards appear And now having made way through these things that were previous to the first motion of the Divorce my narration leads me next to the Motion it self The King resolving to put the matter home to the Pope sent Doctor Knight Secretary of State to Rome with some Instructions to prepare the Pope for it and to observe what might be the best Method and who the fittest tools to work by At that time the Family of the Cassali being three Brothers were entertained by the King as his Agents in Italy both in Rome Venice and other places Sir Gregory Cassali was then his ordinary Ambassador at Rome To him was the first full dispatch about this business directed by the Cardinal the Original whereof is yet extant dated the 5th of Decemb. 1527. which the Reader will find in the Collection but here I shall give the Heads of it After great and high Complements and Assurances of Rewards to engage him to follow the Business very vigorously and with great Diligence he writes that he had before opened the Kings case to him and that partly by his own study partly by the opinion of many Divines and other Learned men of all sorts he found that he could no longer with a good Conscience continue in that Marriage with the Queen having God and the Quiet and Salvation of his Soul chiefly before his eyes And that he had consulted both the most Learned Divines and Canonists as well in his own Dominions as elsewhere to know whether the Popes Dispensation could make it good and that many of them thought the Pope could not Dispence in this case of the first degree of Affinity which they esteemed forbidden by a Divine Moral and Natural Law and all the rest concluded that the Pope could not do it but upon very weighty reasons and they found not any such in the Bull. Then he lays out the reasons for Annulling the Bull which were touched before upon which they all concluded the Dispensation to be of no force that the King looked on the death of his Sons as a Curse from God and to avoid further Judgments he now desired help of the Apostolick See to consider his case to reflect on what he had merited by these Services he had done the Papacy and to find a way that he being divorced from his Queen may Marry another Wife of whom by the blessing of God he might hope for issue Male. Therefore the Ambassador was to use all means possible to be admitted to speak to the Pope in Private and then to deliver him these Letters of Credence in which there was a most earnest Clause added with the Kings own hand He was also to make a Condoleance of the Miserie 's the Pope and Cardinals were in both in the Kings name and the Cardinals and to assure the Pope they would use all the most effectual means that were possible for setting him at Liberty in which the Cardinal would Employ as much Industry as if there were no other way to come to the Kingdom of Heaven but by doing it Then he was to open the Kings business to the Pope the Scruples of his Conscience the great danger of cruel Wars upon so disputable a Succession the Entreaties of all the Nobility and the whole Kingdom with many other urgent reasons to obtain what was desired He was also to lay before the Pope the present condition of Christendome and of Italy that he might consider of what Importance it was to his own affairs and to the Apostolick See to engage the King so firmly to his Interests as this would certainly do And to move that the Pope without communicating the Matter to any person would freely grant it and Sign the Commission which was therewith sent engrossed in due form and ready to be Signed by which the Cardinal was Authorized with the Assistance of such as he should choose to proceed in the Matter according to some Instructions which were also sent fairly written out for the Pope to Sign A Dispensation was also sent in due form and if these were expeded he might assure the Pope that as the King had sent over a vast sum to the French King for paying his Army in Italy so he would spare no Travel nor Treasure but make War upon the Emperor in Flanders with his whole strength till he forced him to set the Pope at Liberty and restore the State of the Church to its former Power and Dignity And if the Pope were already at Liberty and had made an Agreement with the Emperor he was to represent to him how little cause he had to trust much to the Emperor who had so oft broke his faith and designed to do all he could towards the Depressing the Ecclesiastical State And the Pope was to be remembred that he had dispenced with the Emperors Oath for Marrying the Kings Daughter without communicating the Matter to the King And if he had done so much for one that had been his Enemy how much more might the King expect the like favour who had always payed him a most filial Duty Or if the Pope would not grant the Commission to the Cardinal to try the Matter as a Person that being the Kings chief Minister was not indifferent enough to judge in any of the Kings Concerns he was by all means to overcome that and assure the Pope that he would proceed in it as a Judge ought to do But if the Pope stood upon it and would by no means be perswaded to sign the Commission for the Cardinal then he was to propose Staphileus Dean of the Rota who was then in England and was to except against all other Forreigners if the Pope chanced to propose any other He was also to represent to the Pope that the King would look upon a delay as a Denial and if the Pope inclined to consult with any of the Cardinals about it he was to divert him from it all that was possible but if the Pope would needs do it then he was to Address himself to them and partly by informing them of the reasons of the Kings Cause partly by rewarding the good Offices they should do he was to engage them for the King And with this Dispatch Letters were sent to Cardinal Puccy Sanctorum Quatuor and the other Cardinals to be made use of as there should be
granting the Kings desire The Cardinal Datary had forsaken the Court and betaken himself to serve God and his Cure and other Cardinals were Hostages so that now there were but Five about the Pope Monte Sanctorum Quatuor Ridolphi Ravennate and Perusino But a motion being made of sending over a Legate the Pope would by no means hearken to it for that would draw new troubles on him from the Emperor That had been desired from England by a dispatch of the 27th of December which pressed a speedy conclusion of the business upon which the Pope on the 12th of Ianuary did communicate the matter under the Seal of Confession to the Cardinals Sanctorum Quatuor and Simoneta who was then come to the Court and upon conference with them he proposed to Sir Gregory Cassali that he thought the safer way was That either by vertue of the Commission that the Secretary had obtained or by the Legantine Power that was lodged with the Cardinal of York he should proceed in the business And if the King found the matter clear in his own Conscience in which the Pope said No doctor in the whole world could resolve the matter beter than the King himself he should without more noise make judgment be given and presently Marry another Wife and then send for a Legate to Confirm the matter And it would be easier to ratifie all when it was once done than to go on in a Process from Rome For the Queen would protest that both the Place and the Judges were suspected and not free upon which in the course of Law the Pope must grant an Inhibition for the Kings not Marrying another while the Suit depended and must avocate the business to be heard in the Court of Rome which with other prejudices were unavoidable in a publick Process by Bulls from Rome But if the thing went on in England and the King had once Married another Wife the Pope then would find very good reasons to justifie the confâ—rming a thing that was gone so far and promised to send any Cardinal whom they should name This the Pope desired the Ambassadour would signifie to the King as the advice of the two Cardinals and take no notice of him in it But the dispatch shews he was a more faithful Minister than to do so The Ambassadour found all the earnestness in the Pope that was possible to comply with the King and that he was jealous both of the Emperour and Francis and depended wholly on the King so that he found if the terror of the Imperial Forces were over the Court of England would dispose of the Apostolical See as they pleased And indeed this advice how little soever it had of the Simplicity of the Gospel was certainly prudent and subtile and that which of all things the Spaniards apprehended most And therefore the General of the Observants moved Cardinal Campegius then at Rome for an Inhibition lest the Process should be carried on and determined in England But that being signified to the Pope he said It could not be granted since there was no Suit depending in which case only an Inhibition can be granted But now I must look over again to England to open the Counsels there At that time Staphileus Dean of the Rota was there and he either to make his Court the better or that he was so perswaded in opinion seemed fully satisfied about the Justice of the King's Cause So they sent him to Rome with Instructions both publick and secret The publick Instructions related to the Popes Affairs in which all possible Assistance was promised by the King But one Proposition in them flowed from the Cardinals Ambition That the Kings of England and France thought it would advance the Popes Interests if he should command the Cardinals that were under no restraint to meet in some secure place to consider of the Affairs of the Church that they might suffer no prejudice by the Popes Captivity And for that end and to conserve the Dignity of the Apostolick See that they should choose such a Vicar or President as partly by his Prudence and Courage partly by the assistance of the two Kings upon whom depended all their hopes might do such Services to the Apostolick See as were most necessary in that distracted time by which the Popes Liberty would be hastned It cannot be imagined but the Pope would be offended with this Proposition and apprehend that the Cardinal of York was not satisfied to be intriguing for the Popedom after his death but was aspiring to it while he was alive For as it was plain he was the Person that must be chosen for that trust so if the Pope were used hardly by the Emperour and forced to ill conditions the Vicar so chosen and his Cardinals would disown those Conditions which might end in a Schism or his Deposition But Staphileus his secret Instructions related wholly to the Kings business which were these That the King had opened to him the error of his Marriage and that the said Bishop out of his great Learning did now clearly perceive how invalid and insufficient it was Therefore the King recommended it to his care that he would convince the Pope and the Cardinals with the Arguments that had been laid before him and of which a Breviate was given him He was also to represent the great mischiefs that might follow if Princes got not justice and ease from the Apostolick See Therefore if the Pope were yet in Captivity he was to propose a meeting of the Cardinals for choosing the Cardinal of York to be their head during the Popes Imprisonment or that a full Commission might be sent to him for the Kings maâ—ter And in particular he was to take care that the Business might be tryed in England And for his pains in promoting the Kings Concerns the King promised to procure a Bishoprick for him in France and to help him to a Cardinals hat By him the King wrote to the Pope The rude draught of it remains under the Cardinals hand earnestly desiring a speedy and favourable dispatch of his business with a Credence to the Bearer The Cardinal also wrote to the Pope by him and after a long Congratulating his Liberty with many sharp reflections on the Emperor he pressed a Dispatch of the Kings Business in which he would not use many words this only I will add says he That that which is desired is holy and just and very much for the safety and quiet of this Kingdom which is most devoted to the Apostolical See He also wrote by the same hand to the Ambassador that the King would have things so carryed that all occasion of discontent or cavilling whether at home or abroad might be removed and therefore desired that another Cardinal might be sent Legate to England and joyned in Commission wiâ—h himself for judging the Matter He named either Campegius Tranus or Farnese Or if that could not be obtained that
a fuller Commission might be sent to himself with all possible haste since delays might produce great inconveniences If a Legate were named then care must be taken that he should be one who were Learned Indifferent and Tractable and if Campegius could be the man he was the fittest person And when one was named he should make him a decent present and assure him that the King would most liberally recompence all his labour and expence He also required him to press his speedy Dispatch and that the Commission should be full to try and determine wiâ—hout any reservation of the Sentence to be given by the Pope This Dispatch is interlined and amended with the Cardinals own hand But upon the Arrival of the Messenger whom the Secretary had sent with the Commission and Dispensation and the other Packets before mentioned It was debated in the Kings Council whether he should go on in his Process or continue to solicite new Bulls from Rome On the one hand they saw how tedious dangerous and expensive a Process at Rome was like to prove and therefore it seemed the easiest and most expedite way to proceed before the Cardinal in his Legantine Court who should ex officio and in the Summary way of their Court bring it to a speedy Conclusion But on the other hand if the Cardinal gave Sentence and the King should Marry then they were not sure but before that time the Pope might either change his mind or his Interest might turn him another way And the Popes Power was so absolute by the Canon Law that no general Clauses in Commissions to Legates could bind him to confirm their Sentences and if upon the Kings Marrying another Wife the Pope should refuse to confirm it then the King would be in a worse case than he was now in and his Marriage and Issue by it should be still disputable Therefore they thought this was by no means to be adventured on but they should make new Addresses to the Court of Rome In the debate some sharp words fell either from the King or some of his Secular Counsellors Intimating that if the Pope continued under such fears the King must find some other way to set him at ease So it was resolved that Stephen Gardiner commonly called Doctor Stevens the Cardinals chief Secretary and Edward Fox the Kings Almoner should be sent to Rome the one being esteemed the ablest Canonist in England the other one of the best Divines they were Dispatched the 10th of February By them the King wrote to the Pope thanking him that he had expressed such forward and earnest willingness to give him ease and had so kindly promised to gratifie his desires of which he expected now to see the effects He wrote also to the Cardinals his thanks for the chearfulness with which they had in Consistory promised to promote his Sute for which he assured them they should never have cause to Repent But the Cardinal wrote in a strain that shews he was in some fear that if he could not bring about the Kings desires he was like to lose his favour He besought the Pope as lying at his feet that if he thought him a Christian a good Cardinal and not unworthy of that Dignity an useful member of the Apostolick See a Promoter of Justice and Equity or thought him his faithful Creature or that he desired his own eternal Salvation that he would now so far consider his Intercession as to grant kindly and speedily that which the King earnestly desired which if he did not know to be Holy Right and Just he would undergo any hazard or punishment whatsoever rather than promote it but he did aprehend if the King found that the Pope was so overawed by the Emperor as not to grant that which all Christendom judged was grounded both on the Divine and Human Laws both he and other Christian Princes would from thence take occasion to provide themselves of other Remedies and lessen and despise the Authority of the Apostolick See In his Letters to Cassali he expressed a great sense of the Services which the Cardinal Sanctorum Quatuor had done the King and bid him enquire what were the things in which he delighted most whether Furniture Gold plate or Horses that they might make him acceptable presents and assure him that the King would contribute largely towards the carrying on the building of St. Peters in the Vatican The most Important thing about which they were employed was to procure the expediting of a Bull which was formed in England with all the strongest Clauses that could be imagined In the Preamble of which all the Reasons against the validity of the Bull of P. Iulius the 2d were recited and it was also hinted that it was against the Law of God but to lessen that it was added at least where there was not a sufficient Dispensation obtained therefore the Pope to reward the great Services by which the King had obliged the Apostolick See and having regard to the Distractions that might follow on a Disputable Title upon a full Consultation with the Cardinals having also heard the Opinions of Divines and Canonists Deputed for his Legate to concur with the Cardinal of York either together or the one being hindred or unwilling severally And if they found those things that were suggested against the Bull of P. Iulius or any of them well or sufficiently proved then to declare it void and null as surreptitiously procured upon false grounds and thereupon to Annul the Marriage that had followed upon it And to give both Parties full leave to Marry again notwithstanding any Appellation or Protestation the Pope making them his Vicars with full and absolute Power and Authority empowering them also to declare the Issue begotten in the former Marriage good and legitimate if they saw cause for it The Pope binding himself to confirm whatever they should do in that process and never to revoke or repeal what they should Pronounce Declaring also that this Bull should remain in force till the Process were ended and that by no Revocation or Inhibition it should be recalled and if any such were obtained these are all declared void and null and the Legats were to proceed notwithstanding and all ended with a full Non obstante This was judged the uttermost force that could be in a Bull Though the Civilians would scarce allow any validity at all in these extravagant Clauses but the most material thing in this Bull is that it seems the King was not fully resolved to declare his Daughter illegitimate Whether he pretended this to mitigate the Queens or the Emperors opposition or did really intend it is not clear But what he did afterwards in Parliament shews he had this deep in his thoughts though the Queens Carriage did soon after provoke him to pursue his resentments against her Daughter The French King did also joyn a most earnest Letter of his to the Pope
Bearer that you do The which I pray God long to continue as I am most bound to pray for I do know the great pains and troubles that you have taken for me both day and night is never like to be recompenced on my part but alonly in loving you next unto the Kings Grace above all creatures living And I do not doubt but the daily proofs of my deeds shall manifestly declare and affirm my writing to be true and I do trust you do think the same My Lord I do assure you I do long to hear from you news of the Legate for I do hope and they come from you they shall be very good and I am sure you desire it as much as I and more and it were possible as I know it is not and thus remaining in a stedfast hope I make an end of my Letter written with the hand of her that is most bound to be THe writer of this Letter would not cease till she had caused me likewise to set to my hand desiring you though it be short to take it in good part I ensure you there is neither of us but that greatly desireth to see you and much more joyous to hear that you have scaped this Plague so well trusting the fury thereof to be passed specially with them that keepeth good diet as I trust you do The not hearing of the Legates Arrival in France causeth us somewhat to muse notwithstanding we trust by your diligence and vigilancy with the assistance of Almighty God shortly to be eased out of that trouble No more to you at this time but that I pray God send you as good health and prosperity as the Writer would By Your Loving Soveraign and Friend Henry K. Your Humble Servant Anne Boleyn MY Lord In my most humblest wise that my poor heart can think I do thank your Grace for your kind Letter and for your rich and goodly Present the which I shall never be able to deserve without your help of the which I have hitherto had so great plenty that all the days of my life I am most bound of all Creatures next the King's Grace to love and serve your Grace of the which I beseech you never to doubt that ever I shall vary from this thought as long as any breath is in my body And as touching your Graces trouble with the sweat I thank our Lord that them that I desired and prayed for are scaped and that is the King and you not doubting but that God has preserved you both for great causes known alonly of his high wisdom And as for the coming of the Legate I desire that much and if it be God's pleasure I pray him to send this matter shortly to a good end and then I trust My Lord to recompence part of your great pains In the which I must require you in the mean time to accept my good-will in the stead of the power the which must proceed partly from you as our Lord knoweth to whom I beseech to send you long life with continuance in honour Written with the hand of her that is most bound to be Your Humble and Obedient Servant Anne Boleyn The Cardinal hearing that Campegius had the Decretal Bull committed to his Trust to be shewed only to the King and himself wrote to the Ambassador that it was necessary it should be also shewed to some of the Kings Council not to make any use of it but that thereby they might understand how to manage the Process better by it This he begged might be trusted to his care and fidelity and he undertook to manage it so that no kind of danger could arise out of it At this time the Cardinal having Finished his Foundations at Oxford and Ipswich and finding they were very acceptable both to the King and to the Clergy resolved to go on and suppress more Monasteries and erect new Bishopricks turning some Abbies to Cathedrals This was proposed in the Consistory and granted as appears by a dispatch of Cassali's He also spoke to the Pope about a general Visitation of all Monasteries And on the 4th of November the Bull for suppressing some was expected a Copy whereof is yet extant but written in such a hand that I could not read three words together in any place of it and though I tried others that were good at reading all hands yet they could not do it But I find by the dispatch that the Pope did it with some aversion and when Gardiner told him plainly it was necessary and it must be done he paused a little and seemed unwilling to give any further offence to Religious Orders But since he found it so uneasie to gratifie the King in so great a Point as the matter of his Divorce he judged it the more necessary to mollifie him by a compliance in all other things So there was a power given to the Two Legates to examine the state of the Monasteries and to suppress such as they thought fit and convert them into Bishopricks and Cathedrals While matters went thus between Rome and England the Queen was as active as she could be to engage her Two Nephews the Emperor and his Brother to appear for her She complained to them much of the King but more of the Cardinal She also gave them notice of all the Exceptions that were made to the Bull and desired both their advice and assistance They having a mind to perplex the Kings Affairs advised her by no means to yield nor to be induced to enter into a Religious life and gave her assurance that by their Interest at Rome they would support her and maintain her Daughters Title if it went to extremities And as they employed all their agents at Rome to serve her concerns so they consulted with the Canonists about the force of the Exceptions to the Bull. The issue of which was that a Breve was found out or forged that supplied some of the most material defects in the Bull. For whereas in the Bull the Preamble bore that the King and Queen had desired the Popes Dispensation to Marry that the Peace might continue between the Two Crowns without any other cause given In the preamble of this Breve mention is made of their desire to Marry because otherwise it was not likely that the Peace would be continued between the Two Crowns And for that and divers other reasons they asked the Dispensation Which in the body of the Breve is granted bearing date the 26th of December 1503. Upon this they pretended that the Dispensation was granted upon good Reasons since by this Petition it appeared that there were fears of a Breach between the Crowns And that there were also other reasons made use of though they were not named But there was one Fatal thing in it In the Bull it is only said That the Queens Petition bore That perhaps she had Consummated her Marriage with Prince Arthur by the
down at his feet and in most passionate expressions begged him to be more compliant to the Kings desires and at least not to deny that small favour of showing the Decretal to some few Counsellors upon the assurance of absolute secrecy But the Pope interrupted him and with great signs of an unusual grief told him these sad effects could not be charged on him he had kept his word and done what he had promised but upon no consideration would he do any thing that might wound his Conscience or blemish his Integrity Therefore let them proceed as they would in England he should be free of all blame but should confirm their Sentence And he protested he had given Campegio no commands to make any delays but only to give him notice of their proceedings If the King who had maintained the Apostolick See had written for the Faith and was the Defender of it would over-turn it it would end in his own disgrace But at last the secret came out for the Pope confessed there was a League in Treaty between the Emperor and himself but denied that he had bound himself up by it as to the Kings business The Pope consulted with the Cardinals Sanctorum Quatuor and Simonetta not mentioning the Decretal to them which he had granted without communicating it to any body or entring it in any Register and they were of opinion that the Process should be carried on in England without demanding any thing further from Rome But the Imperial Cardinals spake against it and were moving presently for an Inhibition and an Avocation of the Cause to be tried at the Court of Rome The Pope also took notice that the Intercession of England and France had not prevailed with the Venetians to restore Cervia and Ravenna which they had taken from him and that he could not think that Republick durst do so if these Kings were in earnest It had been promised that they should be restored as soon as his Legate was sent to England but it was not yet done The Proto-Notary told him it should most certainly be done Thus ended that Conversation But the more earnest the Cardinal was to have the Bull seen by some of the Privy-Council the Pope was the more confirmed in his resolutions never to consent to it For he could not imagine the desire of seeing it was a bare curiosity or only to direct the Kings Counsellors since the King and the Cardinal could inform them of all the material Clauses that were in it Therefore he judged the desire of seeing it was only that they might have so many witnesses to prove that it was once granted whereby they had the Pope in their power and this he judged too dangerous for him to submit to But the Pope finding the King and the Cardinal so ill satisfied with him resolved to send Francisco Campana one of his Bed-chamber to England to remove all mistakes and to feed the King with fresh hopes In England Campegio found still means by new delays to put off the business and amused the King with new and subtle motions for ending the matter more dextrously Upon which in the beginning of December Sir Francis Brian and Peter Vannes the Kings Secretary for the Latine Tongue were sent to Rome They had it in Commission to search all the Records there for the Breve that was now so much talked of in Spain They were to propose several overtures Whether if the Queen vowed Religion the Pope would not dispence with the Kings second Marriage or if the Queen would not vow Religion unless the King also did it Whether in that case would the Pope dispence with his vow Or whether if the Queen would hear of no such proposition would not the Pope dispence with the Kings having two Wives For which there were diverss presidents vouched from the Old Testament They were to represent to the Pope that the King had laid out much of his best Treasure in his Service and therefore he expected the highest favours out of the deepest Treasure of the Church And Peter Vannes was commanded to tell the Pope as of himself that if he did for partial respects and fears refuse the Kings desires he perceived it would not only alienate the King from him but that many other Princes his Confederates with their Realms would withdraw their Devotion and Obedience from the Apostolick See By a dispatch that followed them the Cardinal tried a new project which was an offer of 2000 men for a Guard to the Pope to be maintained at the cost of the King and his Confederates And also proposed an enterview of the Pope the Emperor the French King and the Ambassadors of other Princes to be either at Nice Avignon or in Savoy and that himself would come thither from the King of England But the Pope resolved stedfastly to keep his ground and not to engage himself too much to any Prince therefore the motion of a Guard did not at all work upon him To have Guards about him upon another Princes pay was to be their Prisoner and he was so weary of his late Imprisonment that he would not put himself in hazard of it a second time Besides such a Guard would give the Emperor just cause of jealousie and yet not secure him against his power He had been also so unsuccesful in his contests with the Emperor that he had no mind to give him any new provocation And though the Kings of England and France gave him good words yet they did nothing nor did the King make War upon the Emperor so that his Armies lying in Italy he was still under his power Therefore the Pope resolved to unite himself firmly to the Emperor and all the use he made of the Kings earnestness in his Divorce was only to bring the Emperor to better terms The Lutherans in Germany were like to make great use of any decision he might make against any of his Predecessors Bulls The Cardinal Elector of Mentz had written to him to consider well what he did in the Kings Divorce for if it went on nothing had ever fallen out since the beginning of Luthers Sect that would so much strenghen it as that Sentence He was also threatned on the other side from Rome that the Emperor would have a General Council called and whatsoever he did in this Process should be examined there and he proceeded against accordingly Nor did they forget to put him in mind of his Birth that he was a Bastard and so by the Canon incapable of that Dignity and that thereupon they would depose him He having all these things in his prospect and being naturally of a fearful temper which was at this time more prevalent in him by reason of his late Captivity resolved not to run these hazards which seemed unavoidable if he proceeded further in the Kings business But his constant Maxime being to promise and swear deepest when he intended least he sent
Campana to England with a Letter of Credence to the Cardinal the effects of which message will appear afterwards And thus ended this year in which it was believed that if the King had employed that Money which was spent in a fruitless Negotiation at Rome on a War in Flanders it had so distracted the Emperors Forces and encouraged the Pope that he had sooner granted that which in a more fruitless way was sought of him In the beginning of the next year Cassali wrote to the Cardinal that the Pope was much inclined to unite himself with the Emperor and proposed to go in Person to Spain to solicite a general Peace but intended to go privately and desired the Cardinal would go with him thither as his Friend and Counsellor and that they two should go as Legates But Cassali by Salviati's means who was in great favour with the Pope understood that the Pope was never in greater fear of the Emperor than at that time for his Ambassador had threatned the Pope severely if he would not recal the Commission that he had sent to England so that the Pope spoke oft to Salviati of the great Repentance that he had inwardly in his heart for granting the Decretal and said He was undone for ever if it came to the Emperors knowledge He also resolved that though the Legates gave Sentence in England it should never take effect for he would not confirm it Of which Gregory Cassali gave Advertisement by an express Messenger who as he passed through Paris met Secretary Knight and Doctor Bennet whom the King had dispatched to Rome to assist his other Ambassadors there and gave them an account of his message and that it was the Advice of the Kings Friends at Rome That he and his Confederates should follow the War more vigorously and press the Emperor harder without which all their applications to the Pope would signifie nothing Of this they gave the Cardinal an account and went on but faintly in their Journey judging that upon these Advertisements they would be recalled and other Counsels taken At the same time the Pope was with his usual Arts cajoling the Kings Agents in Italy For when Sir Francis Brian and Peter Vannes came to Bononia the Proto-Notary Cassali was surprized to hear that the business was not already ended in England since he said he knew there were sufficient Powers sent about it and that the Pope assured him he would confirm their Sentence but that he made a great difference between the confirming their judgment by which he had the Legates between him and the Envy or Odium of it and the granting a Bull by which the Judgment should arise immediately from himself This his best Friends dissuaded and he seemed apprehensive that in case he should do it a Council would be called and he should be deposed for it And any such distraction in the Papacy considering the footing which Heresie had alread gotten would ruin the Ecclesiastical State and the Church So dextrously did the Pope govern himself between such contrary tides But all this Dissimulation was short of what he acted by Campana in England whose true errand thither was to order Campegio to destroy the Bull but he did so perswade the King and the Cardinal of the Popes sincerity that by a dispatch to Sir Francis Brian and Peter Vannes and Sir Gregory Cassali he chid the two former for not making more haste to Rome for he believed it might have been a great advantage to the Kings Affairs if they had got thither before the General of the Observants then Cardinal Angell He ordered them to setle the business of the Guard about the Pope presently and tells them that the Secretary was recalled and Dr. Stephens again sent to Rome And in a Letter to Secretary Knight who went no further than Lions he writ to him That Campana had assured the King and him in the Popes name that the Pope was ready to do not only all that of Law Equity or Justice could be desired of him but whatever of the fulness of his Power he could do or devise for giving the King content And that although there were three things which the Pope had great reason to take care of The calling a General Council The Emperors descent into Italy and the Restitution of his Towns which were offered to be put in his hands by the Emperors means yet neither these nor any other consideration should divert him from doing all that lay within his Authority or Power for the King And that he had so deep a sense of the Kings merits and the obligations that he had laid on him that if his resignation of the Popedom might do him any Service he would readily consent to it And therefore in the Popes name he encouraged the Legates to proceed and end the business Upon these assurances the Cardinal ordered the Secretary to haste forward to Rome and to thank the Pope for that kind message to setle the Guard about him and to tell him that for a Council none could be called but by himself with the consent of the Kings of England and France And for any pretended Council or meeting of Bishops which the Emperor by the Cardinals of his Party might call he needed not fear that For his Towns they should be most certainly restored Nor was the Emperors offering to put them in his hand to be much regarded for though he restored them if the Pope had not a better Guaranty for them it would be easie for him to take them from him when he pleased He was also to propose a firmer League between the Pope England and France in order to which he was to move the Pope most earnestly to go to Nice and if the Pope proposed the Kings taking a second Wife with a Legitimation of the Issue which she might have so the Queen might be induced to enter into a state of Religion to which the Pope inclined most he was not to accept of that both because the thing would take up much time and they found the Queen resolved to do nothing but as she was advised by her Nephews Yet if the Pope offered a Decretal about it he might take it to be made use of as the Occasion might require But by a Postscript he is recalled and it is signified to him that Gardiner was sent to Rome to negotiate these aâ—fairs who had returned to England with the Legate and his being so successful in his former Message made them think him the fittest Minister they could imploy in that Court and to send him with the greater Advantage he was made a Privy Councellour But an unlooked-for Accident put a stop to all Proceedings in the Court of Rome For on Epiphany-day the Pope was taken extreme ill at Mass and a great sickness followed of which it was generally believed he could not recover and though his distemper did soon abate so much that it
lately there had been one granted by Pope Alexander the 6th to the King of Hungary against the Opinion of his Cardinals which had never been questioned and yet he could not pretend to such Merits as the King had And all that had ever been said in the Kings Cause was Sum'd up in a short Breviate by Cassali and offered to the Pope a Copy whereof taken from an Original under his own hand the Reader will find in the Collection The King ordered his Ambassadors to make as many Cardinals sure for his cause as they could who might bring the Pope to consent to it if he were still averse But the Pope was at this time possessed with a new jealousie of which the French King was not free as if the King had been tampering with the Emperor and had made him great offers so he would consent to the Divorce about which Francis wrote an anxious Letter to Rome the Original of which I have seen The Pope was also surprized at it and questioned the Ambassadors about it but they denyed it and said the union between England and France was inseparable and that these were only the Practices of the Emperors Agents to create distrust The Pope seemed satisfied with what they said and added that in the present conjuncture a firm union between them was necessary Of all this Sir Francis Brian wrote a long account in cipher But the Popes relapse put a new stop to business of which the Cardinal being informed as he ordered the Kings Agents to continue their care about his Promotion so he charged them to see if it were possible to get Access to the Pope and though he were in the very Agony of Death to propose two things to him the one that he would presently command all the Princes of Christendom to agree to a Cessation of Arms under pain of the Censures of the Church as Pope Leo and other Popes had done and if he should die he could not do a thing that would be more meritorious and for the good of his Soul than to make that the last Act of his Life The other thing was concerning the Kings business which he presseth as a thing necessary to be done for the clearing and eâ—se of the Popes Conscience towards God And withal he orders them to gain as many about the Pope and as many Cardinals and Officers in the Rota as they could to promote the Kings desires whether in the Popes sickness or health The Bishop of Verona had a great Interest with the Pope so by that and another Dispatch of the same Date sent another way they were ordered to gain him promising him great Rewards pressing him to remain still about the Popes person to ballance the ill Offices which Cardinal Angell and the Arch-Bishop of Capua did who never stirred from the Pope And to assure that Bishop that the King laid this Matter more to heart than any thing that ever befel him and that it would trouble him as much to be overcome in this Matter by these two Friers as to loose both his Crowns and for my part writes the Cardinal I would expose any thing to my life yea life it self rather than see the Inconveniencies that may ensue upon disappointing of the Kings desire For promoting the Business the French King sent the Bishop of Bayon to assist the English Ambassadors in his name who was first sent over to England to be well Instructed there They were either to procure a Decretal for the Kings Divorce or a new Commission to the two Legates with ampler Clauses in it than the former had to judge as if the Pope were in person and to emit compulsorie Letters against any whether Emperor King or of what degree soever to produce all manner of Evidences or Records which might tend towards the clearing the Matter and to bring them before them This was sought because the Emperor would not send over the pretended Original Breve to England and gave only an Attested Copy of it to the Kings Ambassadors least therefore from that Breve a new Suit might be afterwards raised for Annulling any Sentence which the Legates should give they thought it needful to have the Original brought before them In the penning of that new Commission Dr. Gardiner was ordered to have special care that it should be done by the best advice he could get in Rome It appears also from this Dispatch that the Popes Pollicitation to Confirm the Sentence which the Legates should give was then in Gardiner's hands for he was ordered to take care that there might be no disagreement between the date of it and of the new Commission And when that was obtained Sr. Francis Brian was commanded to bring them with him to England Or if neither a Decretal nor a new Commission could be obtained then if any other expedient were proposed that upon good advice should be found sufficient and effectual they were to accept of it and send it away with all possible diligence And the Cardinal conjured them by the Reverence of Almighty God to bring them out of their Perplexity that this Virtuous Prince may have this thing sped which would be the most joyous thing that could befal his heart upon Earth But if all things should be denyed then they were to make their Protestations not only to the Pope but to the Cardinals of the Injustice that was done the King and in the Cardinals name to let them know that not only the King and his Realm would be lost but also the French King and his Realm with their other Confederates would also withdraw their Obedience from the See of Rome which was more to be regarded than either the Emperors Displeasure or the Recovery of two Cities They were also to try what might be done in Law by the Cardinals in a Vacancy and they were to take good Counsel upon some Chapters of the Canon-Law which related to that and Govern themselves accordingly either to hinder an Avocation or Inhibition or if it could be done to obtain such thing as they could grant towards the Conclusion of the Kings Business At this time also the Cardinals Bulls for the Bishoprick of Winchester were expedited they were rated high at 15000 Ducats for though the Cardinal pleaded his great Merits to bring the composition lower yet the Cardinals at Rome said the Apostolick Chamber was very poor and other Bulls were then coming from France to which the favour they should show the Cardinal would be a Precedent But the Cardinal sent word that he would not give past 5 or 6000 Ducats because he was exchanging Winchester for Duresm and by the other they were to get a great Composition And if they held his Bulls so high he would not have them for he needed them not since he enjoyed already by the Kings Grant the Temporalities of Winchester which it is very likely was all that he considered in a Bishoprick They were
where there was great hazard he ought to mollifie the severity of the Laws which if it were not done other Remedies would be found out to the vast prejudice of the Ecclesiastical Authority to which many about the King advised him There was reason to fear they should not only lose a King of England but a Defender of the Faith The Nobility and Gentry were already enraged at the delay of a Matter in which all their Lives and Interests were so nearly concerned and said many things against the Popes Proceedings which they could not relate without horror And they plainly complained that whereas Popes had made no scruple to make and change divine Laws at their pleasure yet one Pope sticks so much at the Repealing what his Prodecessor did as if that were more sacred and not to be medled with The King betook himself to no ill Arts neither to the charms of Magitians nor the Forgeries of Impostours therefore they expected such an Answer as should put an end to the whole matter But all these things were to no purpose the Pope had taken his measures ard was not to be moved by all the reasons or Remonstrances the Ambassador could lay before him The King had absolutely gained Campegio to do all he could for him without losing the Popes favour He led at this time a very dissolute life in England hunting and gaming all the day long and following whores all the night and brought a Bastard of his own over to England with him whom the King Knighted so that if the King sought his pleasure it was no strange thing since he had such a Copy set him by two Legates who representing his Holiness so lively in their manners it was no unusual thing if a King had a slight sense of such disorders The King wrote to his Ambassadors that he was satisfied of Campegio's love and affection to him and if ever he was gained by the Emperors Agents he had said something to him which did totally change that Inclination The Imperialists being Alarm'd at the recalling of some of the English Ambassadors and being Informed by the Queens means that they were forming the Process in England put in a Memorial for an Avocation of the cause to Rome The Ambassadors answered that there was no Colour for asking it since there was nothing yet done by the Legates For they had strict orders to deny that there was any Process forming in England even to the Pope himself in private unless he had a mind it should go on but were to use all their Endeavours to hinder an Avocation and plainly in the Kings name to tell the Pope that if he granted that the King would look on it as a Formal decision against him And it would also be an high affront to the two Cardinals and they were thereupon to Protest that the King would not obey nor consider the Pope any more if he did an Act of such high Injustice as after he had granted a Commission upon no complaint of any Illegality or Injust Proceedings of the Legates but only upon surmises and suspitions to take it out of their hands But the Pope had not yet brought the Emperor to his Terms in other things therefore to draw him on the faster he continued to give the English Ambassador good words and in discourse with Peter Vannes did insinuate as if he had found a means to bring the whole matter to a good Conclusion and spoke it with an Artificial smile adding In the name of the Father c. But would not speak it out and seemed to keep it up as a secret not yet ripe But all this did afterwards appear to be the deepest Dissimulation that ever was practised And in the whole Process though the Cardinal studied to make tricks pass upon him yet he was always too hard for them all at it and seemed as Infallible in his Arts of Jugling as he pretended to be in his Decisions He wrote a Cajoling Letter to the Cardinal but words went for nothing Soon after this the Pope complained much to Sr. Gregory Cassali of the ill usage he received from the French Ambassador and that their Confederates the Florentines and the Duke of Ferrara used him so ill that they would force him to throw himself into the Emperors hands and he seemed inclined to grant an Avocation of the cause and complained that there was a Treaty of peace going on at Cambray in which he had no share But the Ambassador undertook that nothing should be done to give him just offence yet the Florentines continued to put great affronts on him and his Family and the Abbot of Farfa their General made excursions to the gates of Rome so that the Pope with great signs of fear said that the Florentines would some day seize on him and carry him with his hands bound behind his back in Procession to Florence and that all this while the Kings of England and France did only entertain him with good words and did not so much as restrain the Insolencies of their Confederates And whereas they used to say that if he joyned himself to the Emperor he would treat him as his Chaplain he said with great Commotion that he would not only choose rather to be his Chaplain but his horse-Groom than suffer such injuries from his own Rebellious Vassals and Subjects This was perhaps set on by the Cardinals Arts to let the Pope feel the weight of offending the King and to oblige him to use him better but it wrought a contrary effect for the Treaty between the Emperor and him was the more advanced by it And the Pope reckoned that the Emperor being as he was informed ashamed and grieved for the taking and Sacking of Rome would study to repair that by better usage for the future The Motion for the Avocation was still driven on and pressed the more earnestly because they heard the Legates were proceeding in the cause But the Ambassadors were instructed by a Dispatch from the King to obviate that carefully for as it would reflect on the Legates and defeat the Commission and be a gross violation of the Popes Promise which they had in writing so it was more for the Popes Interest to leave it in the Legates hands than to bring it before himself for then whatever Sentence passed the ill effects of it would ly on the Pope without any Interposition And as the King had very just exceptions to Rome where the Emperors forces lay so near that no safety could be expected there so they were to tell the Pope that by the Laws of England the Prerogative of the Crown Royal was such that the Pope could do nothing that was prejudicial to it To which the citing the King to Rome to have his cause decided there was contrary in a high degree And if the Pope went on notwithstanding all the diligence they could use to the contrary they
the more The matter was such that by the Canon-Law it could not be denied For to grant an Avocation of a Cause upon good reason from the Delegated to the Supreme Court was a thing which by the course of Law was very usual And it was no less apparent that the Reasons of the Queens appeal were just and good But the secret and most convincing Motives that wrought more on the Pope than all other things were that the Treaty between him and the Emperor was now concerted Therefore this being to be published very speedily the Pope thought it necessary to avocate the matter to Rome before the publication of the Peace lest if he did it after it should be thought that it had been one of the secret Articles of the Treaty which would have cast a foul blot upon him Yet on the other hand he was not a little perplexed with the fears he had of losing the King of England he knew he was a man of an high Spirit and would resent what he did severely And the Cardinal now again ordered Dr. Bennet in his name and as with tears in his eyes lying at the Popes feet to assure him that the King and Kingdom of England were certainly lost if the Cause were Avocated Therefore he besought him to leave it still in their hands and assured him that for himself he should rather be torn in pieces joynt by joynt than do any thing in that matter contrary to his Conscience or to Justice These things had been oft said and the Pope did apprehend that ill effects would follow for if the King fell from his Obedience to the Apostolick See no doubt all the Lutheran Princes who were already bandying against the Emperor would joyn themselves with him and the Interests of France would most certainly engage that King also into the Union which would distract the Church give encouragement to Heresie and end in the utter ruin of the Popedom But in all this the crafty Pope comforted himself that many times threatnings are not intended to be made good but are used to terrifie and that the King who had written for the Faith against Luther and had been so ill used by him would never do a thing that would sound so ill as because he could not obtain what he had a mind to therefore to turn Heretick he also resolved to caress the French King much and was in hopes of making Peace between the Emperor and him But that which went nearest the Popes heart of all other things was the setting up of his Family at Florence and the Emperor having given him assurance of that it weighed down all other considerations Therefore he resolved he would please the Emperor but do all he could not to lose the King So on the 9th of Iuly he sent for the Kings Ambassadors and told them the Process was now so far set on in England and the Avocation so earnestly pressed that he could deny it no longer for all the Lawyers in Rome had told him the thing could not be denied in the common course of Justice Upon this the Ambassadors told him what they had in Commission to say against it both from the King and the Cardinal and pressed it with great vehemence So that the Pope by many sighs and tears showed how deep an impression that which they said made upon him he wished himself dead that he might be delivered out of that Martyrdom and added these words which because of their savouring so much of an Apostolical Spirit I set down Wo is me no body apprehends all those evils better than I do But I am so between the Hammer and the Forge that when I would comply with the Kings desires the whole storm then must fall on my head and which is worse on the Church of Christ. They did object the many promises he had made them both by word of mouth and under his hand He answered He desired to do more for the King than he had promised but it was impossible to refuse what the Emperor now demanded whose Forces did so surround him that he could not only force him to grant him Iustice but could dispose of him and all his Concerns at his pleasure The Ambassadors seeing the Pope was resolved to grant the Avocation pressed against it no further but studied to put it off for some time And therefore proposed that the Pope would himself write about it to the King and not grant it till he received his answer Of all this they gave Advertisement to the King and wrote to him that he must either drive the matter to a Sentence in great haste or to prevent the affront of an Advocation suspend the Process for some time They also advised the searching all the Packets that went or came by the way of Flanders and to keep up all Campegio's Letters and to take care that no Bull might come to England for they did much apprehend that the Avocation would be granted within very few days Their next Dispatch bore that the Pope had sent for them to let them know that he had Signed the Avocation the day before But they understood another way that the Treaty between the Emperor and him was finished and the Peace was to be proclaimed on the 18th of Iuly and that the Pope did not only fear the Emperor more than all other Princes but that he also trusted him more now On the 19th of Iuly the Pope sent a Messenger with the Avocation to England with a Letter to the Cardinal To the King he wrote afterwards All this while Campegio as he had Orders from the Pope to draw out the matter by delays so did it very dextrously And in this he pretended a fair excuse that it would not be for the Kings honour to precipitate the matter too much lest great advantages might be taken from that by the Queens Party That therefore it was fit to proceed slowly that the world might see with what Moderation as well as Justice the matter was handled From the 25th of Iune the Court Adjourned to the 28th ordering a second Citation for the Queen under the pains of Contumacy and of their proceeding to examine Witnesses And on the 28th they declared the Queen Contumacious the second time and examined several Witnesses upon the Articles and Adjourned to the 5th of Iuly on that day the Bull and Breve were read in Court and the Kings Council argued long against the validity of the one and the truth of the other Upon the grounds that have been already mentioned in which Campegio was much disgusted to hear them argue against the Popes Power of granting such a Dispensation in a matter that was against a Divine Precept alledging that his Power did not exend so far This the Legates over-ruled and said that that was too high a point for them to judg in or so much as to hear argued and that the Pope himself was the only
proper judge in that And it was odds but he would judge favourably for himself The Court Adjourned to the 12th and from that to the 14th On these days the Depositions of the rest of the Witnesses were taken and some that were ancient Persons were examined by a Commission from the Legates and all the Depositions were published on the 17th other instruments relating to the Process were also read and verified in Court On the 21th the Court saâ—e to conclude the matter as was expected and the Instrument that the King had Signed when he came of Age protesting that he would not stand to the Contract made when he was under Age was then read and verified Upon which the Kings Council of whom Gardiner was the chief closed their Evidence and summed up all that had been brought and in the Kings name desired Sentence might be given But Campegio pretending that it was fit some interval should be between that and the Sentence put it off till the 23th being Friday and in the whole Process he presided both being the ancienter Cardinal and chiefly to show great equity since exceptions might have been taken if the other had appeared much in it so that he only sate by him for form But all the Orders of the Court were still directed by Campegio On Friday there was a great appearance and a general expectation but by a strange surprize Campegio Adjourned the Court to the 1st of October for which he pretended that they sate there as a part of the Consistory of Rome and therefore must follow the Rules of that Court which from that time till October was in a Vacation and heard no Causes And this he averred to be true on the word of a true Prelate The King was in a Chamber very near where he heard what passed and was inexpressibly surprized at it The Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk were in Court and complained much of this delay and pressed the Legates to give Sentence Campegio answered that what they might then pronounce would be of no force as being in Vacation-time but gave great hopes of a favourable Sentence in the beginning of October Upon which the Lords spake very high And the Duke of Suffolk with great Commotion Swore by the Mass that he saw it was true which had been commonly said That never Cardinal yet did good in England and so all the Temporal Lords went away in a fury leaving the Legates Wolsey especially in no small perplexity Wolsey knew it would be suspected that he understood this before-hand and that it would be to no purpose for him either to say he did not know or could not help it all Apologies being ill heard by an enraged Prince Campegio had not much to lose in England but his Bishoprick of Salisbury and the reward he expected from the King which he knew the Emperor and the Pope would plentifully make up to him But his Collegue was in a worse condition he had much to fear because he had much to lose For as the King had severely chid him for the delays of the business so he was now to expect a heavy storm from him and after so long an Administration of Affairs by so insolent a Favourite it was not to be doubted but as many of his Enemies were joyning against him so matter must needs be found to work his ruin with a Prince that was Alienated from him Therefore he was under all the disorders which a fear that was heightned by Ambition and Covetousness could produce But the King govern'd himself upon this occasion with more temper than could have been expected from a man of his humour Therefore as he made no great show of disturbance so to divert his uneasie thoughts he went his Progress Soon after he received his Agents Letter from Rome and made Gardiner who was then Secretary of State write to the Cardinal to put Campegio to his Oath whether he had revealed the Kings Secrets to the Pope or not And if he Swore he had not done it to make him Swear he should never do it A little after that the Messenger came from Rome with a Breve to the Legates requiring them to proceed no further and with an Avocation of the Cause to Rome together with Letters Citatory to the King and Queen to appear there in Person or by their Proxies Of which when the King was advertised Gardiner wrote to the Cardinal by his order That the King would not have the Letters Citatory executed or the Commission discharged by vertue of them but that upon the Popes Breve to them they should declare their Commission void For he would not suffer a thing so much to the prejudice of his Crown as a Citation be made to appear in another Court nor would he let his Subjects imagine that he was to be Cited out of his Kingdom This was the first step that he made for the lessening of the Popes Power Upon which the two Cardinals for they were Legates no longer went to the King at Grafton It was generally expected that Wolsey should have been disgraced then for not only the King was offended with him but he received new Informations of his having juggled in the business and that he secretly advised the Pope to do what was done This was set about by some of the Queens Agents as if there was certain knowledge had of it at Rome and it was said that some Letters of his to the Pope were by a trick found and brought over to England The Emperor lookt on the Cardinal as his inveterate Enemy and designed to ruin him if it was possible nor was it hard to perswade the Queen to concur with him to pull him down But all this seems an artifice of theirs only to destroy him For the earnestness the Cardinal expressed in this matter was such that either he was sincere in it or he was the best at dessembling that ever was But these suggestions were easily infused in the Kings angry mind so strangely are men turned by their affections that sometimes they will believe nothing and at other times they believe every thing Yet when the Cardinal with his Colleague came to Court they were received by the King with very hearty expressions of kindness and Wolsey was often in private with him sometimes in presence of the Council and sometimes alone once he was many hours with the King alone and when they took leave he sent them away very obligingly But that which gave Cardinal Wolsey the most assurance was that all those who were admitted to the Kings privacies did carry themselves towards him as they were wont to do both the Duke of Suffolk Sir Thomas Boleyn then made Vis-count of Rochford Sir Brian Tuke and Gardiner concluding that from the motions of such Weather-cocks the air of the Princes affections was best gathered Anne Boleyn was now brought to the Court again out of which she had been dismissed for some
a Book for his opinion and confirm it with as much Authority as he could and was recommended to the care of the Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond to which honor the King had advanced Sr. Thomas Boleyn in the right of his Mother and in the beginning of the next year he published his Book about it Richard Crook who was Tutor to the Duke of Richmond was sent into Italy and others were sent to France and Germany to consult the Divines Canonists and other Learned men in the Universities about the Kings business How the rest managed the matter I have not yet been able to discover but from a great number of original Letters of Doctor Crooks I shall give a full account of his Negotiation It was thought best to begin at home and therefore the King wrote to the two Universities in England to send him their conclusions about it The matters went at Oxford thus The Bishop of Lincoln being sent thither with the Kings Letters for their Resolution it was by the Major vote of the Convocation of all the Doctors and Masters as well Regents as non-Regents committed to 33 Doctors and Batchelours of Divinity who were named by their own Facultie or to the greater number of them to determine the Questions that were sent with the Kings Letters and to set the common Seal of the University to their Conclusions and by vertue of that Warrant they did on the 8 of April put the common Seal of the University to an Instrument declaring the Marriage of the Brothers wife to be both contrary to the Laws of God and Nature The Collector of the Antiquities of Oxford informs us of the uneasiness that was in the University in this matter and of the several messages the King sent before that Instrument could be procured so that from the 12 of February to the 8 of April the matter was in agitation the Masters of Arts generally opposing it though the Doctors and Heads were for the greatest part for it But after he has set down the Instrument he gives some reasons upon what design I cannot easily imagine to shew that this was extorted by force and being done without the consent of the Masters of Arts was of it self void and of no force and as if it had been an ill thing he takes pains to purge the University of it and lays it upon the fears and corruptions of some aspiring men of the University and without any proof gives credit to a lying Story set down by Sanders of an Assembly called in the night in which the Seal of the University was set to the Determination But it appears that he had never seen or considered the other Instrument to which the University set their Seal that was agreed on in a Convocation of all the Doctors and Masters as well Regents as non-Regents giving Power to these Doctors and Batchelors ofDivinity to determine the Matter and to set the Seal of the University to their Conclusion The original whereof the Lord Herbert saw upon which the persons so deputed had full Authority to set the University Seal to that Conclusion without a new Convocation Perhaps that Instrument was not so carefully preserved among their Records or was in Queen Maries days taken away which might occasion these mistakes in their Historian There seems to be also another mistake in the Relation he gives for he says those of Paris had determined in this matter before it was agreed to at Oxford The Printed Decision of the Sorbone contradicts this for it bears date the 2d of Iuly 1530. whereas this was done the 8th of April 1530. But what passed at Cambridge I shall set down more fully from an original Letter written by Gardiner and Fox to the King in February but the day is not marked When they came to Cambridge they spake to the Vice-Chancellor whom they found very ready to serve the King so was also Bonner whom they call Doctor Edmonds and several others but there was a contrary party that met together and resolved to oppose them A meeting of the Doctors Batchelors of Divinity and Masters of Arts in all about 200 was held There the Kings Letters were read and the Vice-Chancellor calling upon several of them to deliver their opinions about it they answered as their affections led them and were in some disorder But it being proposed that the answering the Kings Letter and the Questions in it should be referred to some indifferent men great exceptions were made to Doctor Salcot Doctor Reps and Crome and all others who had approved Doctor Cranmers Book as having already declared themselves partial But to that it was answered that after a thing was so much discoursed of as the Kings matter had been it could not be imagined that any number of men could be found who had not declared their judgment about it one way or another Much time was spent in the debate but when it grew late the Vice-Chancellor commanded every man to take his place and to give his voice whether they would agree to the Motion of referring it to a Select body of men but that night they would not agree to it The Congregation being Adjourned till next day the Vice-Chancellor offered a Grace or Order to refer the matter to 29 persons himself 10 Doctors and 16 Batchelors and the 2 Proctors That the Questions being publickly disputed what two parts of three agreed to should be read in a Congregation and without any further debate the Common Seal of the University should be set to it Yet it was at first denyed then being put to the vote it was carryed equally on both sides But being a third time proposed it was carryed for the Divorce Of which an account was presently sent to the King with a Schedule of their names to whom it was committed and what was to be expected from them so that it was at length determined though not without opposition That the King's Marriage was against the Law of God It is thought strange that the King who was otherwise so absolute in England should have met with more difficulty in this matter at home than he did abroad But the most reasonable account I can give of it is That at this time there were many in the Universities particularly at Cambridge who were addicted to Luthers Doctrine And of those Cranmer was lookt on as the most Learned So that Crome Shaxton Latimer and others of that Society favoured the Kings Cause besides that Anne Boleyn had in the Dutchess of Alancon's Court who inclined to the Reformation received such impressions as made them fear that her Greatness and Cranmers Preferment would encourage Heresie to which the Universities were furiously averse and therefore they did resist all Conclusions that might promote the Divorce But as for Crooke in Italy he being very Learned in the Greek Tongue was first sent to Venice to search the Greek Manuscripts that lay in the Library of
St. Mark and to examine the Decrees of the ancient Councils He went incognito without any Character from the King only he had a Letter Recommending him to the care of Iohn Cassali then Ambassador at Venice to procure him an admittance into the Libraries there But in all his Letters he complained mightily of his Poverty that he had scarce whereby to live and pay the Copiers whom he imployed to Transcribe passages out of MSS. He stayed some time at Venice from whence he went to Padua Bononia and other Towns where he only talked with Divines and Canonists about these questions Whether the Precepts in Leviticus of the Degrees of Marriage do still oblige Christians And whether the Popes Dispensation could have any force against the Law of God These he proposed in Discourse without mentioning the King of England or giving the least intimation that he was sent by him till he once discovered their Opinions But finding them generally inclining to the Kings Cause he took more courage and went to Rome where he sought to be made a Penitentiary Priest that he might have the freer access into Libraries and be lookt on as one of the Popes Servants But at this time the Earl of Wiltshire and Stokesley who was made Bishop of London Tonstall being Translated to Duresm were sent by the King into Italy Ambassadors both to the Pope and Emperor Cranmer went with them to justifie his Book in both these Courts Stokesley brought full Instructions to Crooke to search the Writings of most of the Fathers on a great many passages of the Scripture and in particular to try what they wrote on that Law in Deuteronomy which provided that when one died without Children his Brother should marry his Wife to raise up Children to him This was most pressed against the King by all that were for the Queen as either an Abrogation of the other Law in Leviticus or at least a Dispensation with it in that particular Case He was also to consult the Iews about it and was to Copy out every thing that he found in any Manuscript of the Greek or Latine Fathers relating to the Degrees of Marriage Of this labour he complained heavily and said That though he had a great task laid on him yet his allowance was so small that he was often in great straits This I take notice of because it is said by others That all the Subscriptions that he procured were bought At this time there were great Animosities between the Ministers whom the King imployed in Italy the two Families of the Cassali and the Ghinucci hating one another Of the former Family were the Ambassadors at Rome and at Venice Of the other Hierome was Bishop of Worcester and had been in several Ambassies into Spain His Brother Peter was also imployed in some of the little Courts of Italy as the Kings Agent Whether the King out of Policy kept this hatred up to make them Spies one on another I know not To the Ghinucci was Crooke gained so that in all his Letters he complained of the Cassali as men that betraied the Kings Affairs and said that Iohn then Ambassador at Venice not only gave him no assistance but used him ill and publickly discovered That he was imployed by the King which made many who had formerly spoken their minds freely be more reserved to him But as he wrote this to the King he begged of him that it might not be known otherwise he expected either to be Killed or Poisoned by them Yet they had their Correspondents about the King by whose means they understood what Crooke had Informed against them But they wrote to the King that he was so morose and ill-natured that nothing could please him and to lessen his Credit they did all they could to stop his Bills All this is more fully set down than perhaps was necessary if it were not to show that he was not in a condition to corrupt so many Divines and whole Universities as some have given out He got into the acquaintance of a Frier at Venice Franciscus Georgius who had lived 49 years in a Religious order and was esteemed the most Learned man in the Republick not only in the vulgar Learning but in the Greek and Hebrew and was so much accounted of by the Pope that he called him the Hammer of Hereticks He was also of the Senatorian Quality and his Brother was Governor of Padua and payed all the Readers there This Friar had a great opinion of the King and having studied the case wrote for the Kings cause and endeavoured to satisfie all the other Divines of the Republick among whom he had much credit Thomas Omnibonus a Dominican Philippus de Cremis a Doctor of the Law Valerius of Bergamo and some others wrote for the Kings cause Many of the Iewish Rabbins did give it under their hands in Hebrew That the Laws of Leviticus and Deuteronomy were thus to be reconciled That Law of Marrying the Brothers wife when he dyed without Children did only bind in the Land of Judaea to preserve Families and maintain their Successions in the Land as it had been divided by Lot But that in all other places of the world the Law of Leviticus of not Marrying the Brothers wife was obligatory He also searched all the Greek MSS. of Councils and Nazianzens and Chrysostoms works After that he run over Macarius Acacius Apollinaris Origen Gregory Nyssen Cyril Severian and Gennadius and copied out of them all that which was pertinent to his purpose He procured several hands to the Conclusions before it was known that it was the Kings business in which he was employed But the Government of Venice was so strict that when it was known whose Agent he was he found it not easie to procure Subscriptions Therefore he advised the King to order his Minister to procure a Licence from the Senate for their Divines to declare their opinions in that matter Which being proposed to the Senate all the answer he could obtain was that they would be Neutrals and when the Ambassador pressed as an evidence of Neutrality that the Senate would leave it free to their Divines to declare of either side as their Consciences led them he could procure no other answer the former being again repeated Yet the Senate making no Prohibition many of their Divines put their hands to the Conclusions And Crook had that Success that he wrote to the King he had never met with a Divine that did not favour his cause but the Conclusions touching the Popes Power his Agents did every-where discourage and threaten those who subscribed them And the Emperors Ambassador at Venice did threaten Omnibonus for writing in prejudice of the Popes Authority and asserting conclusions which would make most of the Princes of Europe Bastards He answered he did not consider things as a Statesman but as a Divine Yet to take off this fear Crook suggested to the King to order his Minister at the
and many Clerks advanced in the Realm were put out of their Benefices by those Provisors therefore the King being bound by Oath to see the Laws kept did with the assent of all the great men and the Commonalty of the Realm ordain that the free Elections Presentments and Collations of Benefices should stand in the Right of the Crown or of any of his Subjects as they had formerly enjoyed them notwithstanding any Provisions from Rome And if any did disturb the Incumbents by vertue of such Provisions those Provisors or others employed by them were to be put in Prison till they made Fine and Ransome to the King at his will or if they could not be apprehended writs were to be issued out to seize them and all Beneficeâ— possessed by them were to fall into the Kings hands except they were 〈◊〉 or Priories that fell to the Canons or Colledges By another Act the Provisors were put out of the Kings Protection and if any man offended against them in Person or Goods he was excused and was never to be impeached for it And two years after that upon another Complaint of their Suing the Kings Subjects in other Courts or beyond Sea it was Ordained that any who Sued either beyond Sea or in any other Court for things that had been Sued and about which judgment had been given in former times in the Kings Courts were to be Cited to answer for it in the Kings Courts within two Months and if they came not they were to be put out of the Kings Protection and to forfeit their Lands Goods and Chattels to the King and to be imprisoned and ransomed at the Kings will Both these Statutes received a new Confirmation Eleven years after that But those Statutes proved ineffectual and in the beginning of the Reign of Richard the 2d the former Acts were Confirmed by another Statute and appointed to be Executed and not only the Provisors themselves but all such as took Procuratories Letters of Attourney or Farms from them were involved in the same Guilt And in the 7th year of that King Provisions was made against Aliens having Benefices without the Kings Licence and the King promised to abstain from granting them Licences for this was another Artifice of the Roman Court to get the King of their side by accepting his Licence which by this Act was restrained This failing they betook themselves to another course which was to prevail with the Incumbents that were presented in England according to Law to take Provisions for their Benefices from Rome to Confirm their Titles This was also forbidden under the former Pains As for the Rights of Presentations by the Law they were tryed and judged in the Kings Courts and the Bishops were to give Institution according to the Title declared in these judgments This the Popes had a mind to draw to themselves and to have all Titles to Advousons tryed in their Courts and Bishops were Excommunicated who proceeded in this matter according to the Law Of which great Complaint was made in the 16th year of the Reign of Richard the 2d And it was added to that that the Pope intended to make many Translations of Bishops some to be within and some out of the Realm which among other Inconveniences reckoned in the Statute would produce this effect That the Crown of England which had been so free at all times should be subjected to the Bishop of Rome and the Laws and Statutes of the Realm by him defeated and destroyed at his Will They also found those things to be against the Kings Crown and Regality used and approved in the time of his Progenitors Therefore all the Commons resolved to live and dye with him and his Crown and they required him by way of Iustice to Examine all the Lords Spiritual and Temporal what they thought of those things and whether they would be with the Crown to uphold the Regality of it To which all the Temporal Lords answered they would be with the Crown But the Spiritual Lords being asked said they would neither deny nor affirm that the Bishop of Rome might or might not Excommunicate Bishops or make Translations of Prelates But upon that Protestation they said that if such things were done they thought it was against the Crown and said they would be with the King as they were bound by their Leageance whereupon it was ordained that if any did purchase Translations Sentences of Excommunication Bulls or other Instruments from the Court of Rome against the King or his Crown or whosoever brought them to England or did receive or execute them they were out of the Kings Protection and that they should forfeit their Goods and Chattels to the King and their Persons should be imprisoned And because the Proceedings were to be upon a writ called from the most material words of it Premunire facies this was called the Statute of Premunire When Henry the 4th had Treasonably Usurped the Crown all the Bishops Carlisle only excepted did assist him in it and he did very gratefully oblige them again in other things yet he kept up the force of the former Statutes For the Cistercian Order having procured Bulls discharging them of paying Tithes and forbiding them to let their Farms to any but to possess them themselves This was complained of in Parliament in the 2d year of his Reign and those Bulls were declared to be of no force and if any did put them in Execution or procured other such Bulls they were to be proceeded against upon the Statutes made in the 13th year of the former Kings Reign against Provisors But all this while though they made Laws for the future yet they had not the Courage to put them in Execution And this Feebleness in the Government made them so much despised and so oft broken whereas the severe execution of one Law in one Instance would more effectually have prevenâ—ed the Mischief than all these Laws did without Execution In the 6th year of his Reign Complaints being made of the excessive Rates of Compositions for Arch-Bishopricks and Bishopricks in the Popes Chamber which were raised to the treble of what had been formerly payed it was Enacted That they should pay no more than had been formerly wont to be payed In the 7th year of his Reign the Statuâ—e made in the 2d year was confirmed and by another Act the Licences which the King had Granted for the Executing any of the Popes Bulls are declared of no force to prejudice any Incumbent in his Right Yet the abuses and Encroachments of the Court of Rome still encreasing all former Statutes against Provisors were Confirmed again and all Elections declared free and not to be interrupted either by the Pope or the King But at the same time the King pardoned all the former Transgressions against these Statutes By those Pardon 's the Court of Rome was more encouraged than terrified by the Laws therefore there was a
necessity of making another Law in the Reign of Henry 5th against Provisors that the Incumbents Lawfully Invested in their Livings should not be molested by them though they had the Kings Pardon and both Bulls and Licences were declared void and of no value and those who did upon such grounds molest them should incur the pains of the Statutes against Provisors Our Kings took the best opportunity that ever could have been found to depress the Papal Power for from the beginning of Richard the Second's Reign till the Fourth year of Henry the Fiâ—th the Popedome was broken by a long and great Schism and the Kinâ—doms of Europe were divided in their Obedience Some holding for those that sate at Rome and others for the Popes of Avignon England in opposition to France that chiefly supported the Avignon-Popes did adhere to the Roman Popes The Papacy being thus divided the Popes were as much at the mercy of Kings for their Protection as Kings had formerly been at theirs so that they durst not Thunder as they were wont to do otherwise this Kingdom had certainly been put under Excommunications and Interdicts for these Statutes as had been done formerly upon less Provocations But now that the Schism was healed Pope Martin the Fifth began to reassume the Spirit of his Predecessors and sent over threatning messages to England in the beginning of Henry the Sixths Reign None of our Books have taken any notice of this piece of our History The Manuscript out of which I draw it had been written near that time and contains many of the Letters that passed between Rome and England upon this occasion The first Letter is to Henry Chichely then Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who had been promoted to that See by the Pope but had made no opposition to the Statute against Provisions in the Fourth year of Henry the Fifth and afterwards in the Eighth year of his Reign when the Pope had granted a Provision of the Arch-Bishoprick of York to the Bishop of Lincoln the Chapter of York rejected it and pursuant to the former Statute made a Canonical Election Henry the Fifth being then the greatest King in Christendome the Pope durst not offend him So the Law took place without any further contradiction till the Sixth year of his Sons Reign that England was both under an Infant King and had fallen from its former greatness Therefore the Pope who waited for a good conjuncture laid hold on this and first expostulated severely with the Arch-Bishop for his remisness that he had not stood up more for the Right of St. Peter and the See of Rome that had bestowed on him the Primaâ—y of England and then says many things against the Statute of Premunire and exhorts him to imitate the Example of his Predecessor St. Thomas of Canterbury the Martyr in asserting the Rights of the Church requiring him under the pain of Excommunication to declare at the next Parliament to both Houses the unlawfulness of that Statute and that all were under Excommunication who obeyed it But to make sure work among the people he also commands him to give orders under the same pains that all the Clergy of England should preach the same Doctrine to the people This bears date the 5th day of December 1426. and will be found in the Collection of Papers But it seems the Pope was not satisfied with his Answer for the next Letter in that MSS. is yet more severe and in it his Legantine Power is suspended It has no date added to it but the Paper that follows bearing date the 6th of April 1427. leads us pretty near the date of it It contains an Appeal of the Arch-Bishops from the Popes Sentence to the next general Council or if none met to the Tribunal of God and Jesus Christ. There is also another Letter dated the 6th of May directed to the Arch-Bishop and makes mention of Letters written to the whole Clergie to the same purpose Requiring him to use all his Endeavors for repealing the Statute and chides him severely because he had said that the Popes zeal in this matter was only that he might raise much Money out of England which he resents as an high Injury and Protests that he designed only to maintain these Rights that Christ himself had granted to his See which the Holy Fathers the Councils and the Catholick Church has always acknowledged If this does not look like Teaching ex Cathedra it is left to the Readers Judgment But the next Letter is of an higher strain It is directed to the two Arch-Bishops only and it seems in despite to Chichely the Arch-Bishop of York is named before Canterbury By it the Pope annuls the Statutes made by Edward the Third and Richard the Second and commands them to do no Act in pursuance of them and declares if they or any other gave obedience to them they were ipso facto Excommunicated and not to be relaxed unless at the point of death by any but the Pope He charges them also to intimate that his Monitory Letter to the whole nation and cause it to be affixed in the several places where there might be occasion for it This is dated the 8th of Decemb. the tenth year of his Popedom Then follow Letters from the University of Oxford the Arch-Bishop of York the Bishops of London Duresm and Lincoln to the Pope all to mitigate his displeasure against the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in which they gave him the highest testimony possible bearing date the 10th and the 25th day of Iuly These the Arch-Bishop sent by an Express to Rome and wrote the humblest submission possible to the Pope Protesting that he had done and would do all that was in his Power for repealing these Statutes One thing in this Letter is remarkable he says he hears the Pope had proceeded to a Sentence against him which had never been done from the days of St. Austin to that time but he knew that only by report for he had not opened much less read the Bulls in which it was contained being commanded by the King to bring them with the Seals entire and lay them up in the Paper-Office till the Parliament was brought together There are two other Letters to the King and one to the Parliament for the Repeal of the Statute In those to the King the Pope writes that he had often pressed both King and Parliament to it and that the King had answered that he could not repeal it without the Parliament But he excepts to that as a delaying the business and shews it is of it self unlawful and that the King was under Excommunication as long as he kept it therefore he expects that at the furthest in the next Parliament it should be repealed It bears date the 13th of October in the 10th year of his Popedom In his Letter to the Parliament he tells them that no Man can be saved who is for the observation of that Statute
Therefore he requires them under pain of Damnation to repeal it and offers to secure them from any abuses which might have crept in formerly with these Provisions This is dated the Third of October Decimo Pontificat but I believe it is an error of the Transcriber and that its true date was the 13th of October The Parliament sate in Ianuary 1427 being the 6th year of King Henry the 6th during which on the 30th of Ianuary the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury accompanyed by the Arch-Bishop of York the Bishops of London St. Davids Ely and Norwich and the Abbots of Westminster and Reading went from the House of Lords to the place where the House of Commons ordinarily sate which was the Refectory of the Abbey of Westminster where the Arch-Bishop made a long Speech in the form of a Sermon upon that Text Render to Coesar the things that are Coesars and to God the things that are Gods He began with a Protestation that he and his Brethren intended not to say any thing that might derogate from the King the Crown or the people of England Then he alledged many things for the Popes Power in granting Provisions to prove it was of Divine Right and admonished and required them to give the Pope satisfaction in it otherwise he laid out to them with tears what mischiefs might follow if he proceeded to censures which will appear more fully from the Instrument that will be found in the Collection at the end But it seems the Parliament would do nothing for all this for no Act neither of Repeal nor Explanation was passed Yet it appears the Pope was satisfied with the Arch-Bishops carriage in this matter for he soon after restored him to the Exercise of his Legantine Power as Godwin has it only he by a mistake says he was made Legate Anno 1428. whereas it was only a Restitution after a Censure Thus stood the Law of England in that matter which was neither Repealed nor well Executed for the Popes Usurpations still encreasing those Statutes lay dead among the Records and several Cardinals had procured and executed a Legantine Power which was clearly contrary to them And as Cardinal Wolsey was already brought under the lash for it so it was now made use of partly to give the Court of Rome apprehensions of what they were to expect from the King if they went on to use him ill and partly to proceed severely against all those of the Clergy who adhared obstinately to the Interests of that Court and to make the rest compound the matter both by a full Submission and a considerable Subsidy It was in vain to pretend it was a publick and allowed Error and that the King had not only connived at the Cardinals Proceedings but had made him all that while his chief Minister That therefore they were excusable in submitting to an Authority to which the King gave so great encouragement and that if they had done otherwise they had been unavoidably ruined For to all this it was answered that the Laws were still in force and that their Ignorance could not excuse them since they ought to have known the Law yet since the violation of it was so publick though the Court proceeded to a Sentence That they were all out of the Kings protection and were liable to the pains in the Statutes the King was willing upon a reasonable Composition and a full Submission to Pardon them So in the Convocation of Canterbury a Petition was brought in to be offered to the King In the Kings Title he was called the Protector and Supreme Head of the Church and Clergy of England To this some opposition was made and it was put off to another day but by the Interposition of Cromwell and others of the Kings Council who came to the Convocation and used arguments to perswade them to it they were prevailed with to pass it with that Title at least none speaking against it For when Warham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury said That silence was to be taken for consent They cried out they were then all silent Yet it was moved by some to add these words to the Title in so far as is lawful by the Law of Christ. But Parker says The King disliked that Clause since it left his Power still disputable therefore it was cast out and the Petition passed simply as it was first brought in Yet in that he was certainly misinformed for when the Convocation of the Province of York demurred about the same Petition and sent their reasons to the King why they could not acknowledge him Supreme Head which as appears by the Kings answer to them were chiefly founded on this that the term Head was improper and did not agree to any under Christ the King wrote a long and sharp answer to them and showed them that words were not always to be understood in their strict sense but according to the common acceptation And among other things he showed what an Explanation was made in the Convocation of Canterbury That it was in so far as was agreeable to the Law of Christ by which it appears that at that time the King was satisfied to have it pass any way and so it was agreed to by nine Bishops the Bishop of Rochester being one and 52 Abbots and Priors and the major part of the lower House of Convocation in the Province of Canterbury Of which number it is very probable Reginald Pool was for in his Book to the King he says he was then in England and adds that the King would not accept of the sum the Clergy offered unless they acknowledged him Supreme Head he being then Dean of Exceter was of the lower House of Convocation and it is not likely the King would have continued the Pensions and other Church-Preferments he had if he had refused to Signe that Petition and Submission By it they prayed the King to accept 100000 l. in lieu of all punishments which they had incurred by going against the Statutes of Provisors and did promise for the future neither to make nor execute any Constitution without the Kings Licence upon which he granted them a general Pardon and the Convocation of the Province of York offering 18840 l. with another Submission of the same nature afterwards though that met with more opposition they were also Pardoned When the King 's Pardon for the Clergy was brought in to the House of Commons they were much troubled to find themselves not included within it for by the Statutes of Provisors many of them were also liable and they apprehended that either they might be brought in trouble or at least it might be made use of to draw a Subsidy from them so they sent their Speaker with some of their Members to represent to the King the great grief of his Commons to find themselves out of his favour which they concluded from the Pardon of the pains of Premunire to his Spiritual Subjects in which
to three of them and selected the 19 20 and 21 what these related to I find not Upon which Providellus pleaded and answered the Objections that did seem to militate against them but neither would the Imperiallists appear that Session In Iune news were brought to Rome which gave the Pope great offence A Priest had preached for the Popes Authority in England and was for that cast into prison And another Priest being put in prison by the Archbishop of Canterbury upon suspition of Heresie had appealed to the King as the Supreme Lord upon which he was taken out of the Archbishops hands and being examined in the Kings Courts was set at liberty This the Pope resented much but the Embassadors said all such things might have been prevented if the King had got Justice at the Popes hands The King also at this time desired a Bull for a Commission to erect six new Bishopricks to be endowed by Monasteries that were to be suppressed This was expedited and sent away at this time And the old Cardinal of Ravenna was so jealous that the Embassadors were forced to promise him the Bishoprick of Chester one of the new Bishopricks with which he was well satisfied having seen by a particular state of the Endowment that was designed for it what advantage it would yield him But he had declared himself so openly before against the Reasons for the Excuse that he could not serve the King in that matter but in the main Cause he undertook to do great service and so did the Cardinals De Monte and Ancona Upon the 27th of Iune the Debate was brought to a Conclusion about the Plea Excusatory and when it was expected that the Pope should have given sentence against the Articles he admitted them all Si prout de jure Upon which the Imperiallists made great Complaints The Cardinals grew weary of the length of the Debate since it took up all their time but it was told them the matter was of great importance and it had been better for them not to have proceeded so precipitately at first which had now brought them into this trouble and that the King had been at much pains and trouble on their account therefore it was unreasonable for them to complain who were put to no other trouble but to sit in their Chairs two or three hours in a week to hear the Kings Defences The Imperiallists had also occasioned the Delays though they complained of them by their Cavils and Allegations ofLaws and Decisions that never were made by which much time was spent But it was objected That the Kings Excuse for not coming to Rome because it was too remote from his Kingdom and not safe was of no force since the place was safe to his Proxy And the Cardinal of Ravenna pressed the Embassadors much to move the King instead of the Excusatory Process to send a Proxy for examining and discussing the Merits of the Cause in which it would be much easier to advance the Kings matter and that he having appeared against the King in this Process would be the less suspected in the other The business being further considered in three Sessions of the Consistory it was resolved that since the Vacation was coming on they would neither allow of nor reject the Kings Excusatory Plea but the Pope and College of Cardinals would write to the King intreating him to send a Proxy for judging the Cause against the Winter And with this Bonner was sent over with Instructions from the Cardinals that were gained to the King to represent to him that his Excusatory Plea could not be admitted for since the Debate was to be whether the Pope could grant the Dispensation or not it could not be committed to Legats but must be judged by the Pope and the Consistory He was also ordered to assure the King that the Pope did now lean so much to the French Faction that he needed not fear to refer the matter to him But while these things were in debate at Rome there was another Session of Parliament in April and then the King sent for the Speaker of the House of Commons and gave him the Answer which the Clergy had drawn to the Addresses they made in the former Session about their Courts The King himself seemed not at all pleased with it but what the House did in it does not appear further than that they were no way satisfied with it But there happened another thing that offended the King much One Temse of the House of Commons moved that they should address to the King to bring the Queen back to the Court and ran out upon the Inconveniences that were like to follow if the Queen were put away particularly the ill consequence of the Illegitimation of the Princess Upon this the King took occasion when he gave them the Clergies Answer to tell them that he wondered at that motion made in their House for the matter was not to be determined there It touched his Soul he wished his Marriage were good but the Doctors and Learned men had determined it to be null and detestable and therefore he was obliged in Conscience to abstain from her which he assured them flowed from no Lust nor foolish Appetite He was then 41 years old and at that Age those Heats abate But except in Spain or Portugal it had not been heard of that a man married two Sisters and that he never heard that any Christian man before himself had married his Brothers Wife Therefore he assured them his Conscience was troubled which he desired them to report to the House In this Session the Lord Chancellour came down to the Commons with many of the Nobility about him and told them the King had considered the Marches between England and Scotland which were uninhabited on the English side but well peopled on the Scottish and that laid England open to the Incursion of the Scots therefore the King intended to build Houses there for planting the English side This the Lords liked very well and thought it convenient to give the King some Aids for the Charges of so necessary a Work and therefore desired the Commons to consult about it Upon which the House voted a Subsidy of a Fifteenth But before the Bill could be finished the Plague broke out in London and the Parliament was prorogued till February following On the 11th of May three days before the Prorogation the King sent for the Speaker of the House of Commons and told him That he found upon Inquiry that all the Prelats whom he had looked on as wholly his Subjects were but half-Subjects for at their Consecration they swore an Oath quite contrary to the Oath they swore to the Crown so that it seemed they were the Popes Subjects rather than his Which he referred to their care that such order might be taken in it that the King might not be deluded Upon which the two Oaths that the
Clergy swore to the King and the Pope were read in the House of Commons but the Consequence of them will be better understood by setting them down The Oath to the Pope I Iohn Bishop or Abbot of A from this hour forward shall be faithful and obedient to S. Peter and to the holy Church of Rome and to my Lord the Pope and his Successors canonically entering I shall not be of counsel nor consent that they shall lose either Life or Member or shall be taken or suffer any violence or any wrong by any means Their Counsel to me credited by them their Messengers or Letters I shall not willingly discover to any person The Papacy of Rome the Rules of the holy Fathers and the Regality of S. Peter I shall help and maintain and defend against all men The Legat of the See Apostolick going and coming I shall honourably entreat The Rights Honours Privileges Authorities of the Church of Rome and of the Pope and his Successors I shall cause to be conserved defended augmented and promoted I shall not be in Council Treaty or any act in the which any thing shall be imagined against him or the Church of Rome their Rights Seats Honours or Powers And if I know any such to be moved or compassed I shall resist it to my power and as soon as I can I shall advertise him or such as may give him knowledge The Rules of the holy Fathers the Decrees Ordinances Sentences Dispositions Reservations Provisions and Commandments Apostolick to my power I shall keep and cause to be kept of others Hereticks Schismaticks and Rebels to our Holy Father and his Successors I shall resist and persecute to my power I shall come to the Synod when I am called except I be letted by a Canonical Impediment The Thresholds of the Apostles I shall visit yearly personally or by my Deputy I shall not alienate or sell my Possessions without the Popes counsel So God help me and the Holy Evangelists The Oath to the King I Iohn Bishop of A utterly renounce and clearly forsake all such Clauses Words Sentences and Grants which I have or shall have hereafter of the Popes Holiness of and for the Bishoprick of A that in any wise hath been is or hereafter may be hurtful or prejudicial to your Highness your Heirs Successors Dignity Privilege or Estate Royal. And also I do swear that I shall be faithful and true and faith and truth I shall bear to you my Sovereign Lord and to your Heirs Kings of the same of Life and Limb and yearly Worship above all Creatures for to live and die with you and yours against all people And diligently I shall be attendant to all your needs and business after my wit and power and your Counsel I shall keep and hold knowledging my self to hold my Bishoprick of you onely beseeching you of Restitution of the Temporalties of the same promising as before that I shall be a faithful true and obedient Subject to your said Highness Heirs and Successors during my Life and the Services and other things due to your Highness for the Restitution of the Temporalties of the same Bishopriâ—k I shall truly do and obediently perform So God me help and all Saints The Contradiction that was in these was so visible that it had soon produced a severe Censure from the House if the Plague had not hindered both that and the Bill of Subsidy So on the 14th of May the Parliament was prorogued Two days after Sir Thomas More Lord Chancellour having oft desired leave to deliver up the Great Seal and be discharged of his Office obtained it and Sir Thomas Audley was made Lord Chancellour More had carried that Dignity with great temper and lost it with much joy He saw now how far the Kings Designs went and though he was for cutting off all the Illegal Jurisdiction which the Popes exercised in England and therefore went cheerfully along with the Sute of Praemunire yet when he saw a tâ—tal Rupture like to follow he excused himself and retired from Business with a Greatness of Mind that was equal to what the ancient Philosophers pretended in such cases He also disliked Anne Boleyne and was prosecuted by her Father who studied to fasten some Criminal Imputations on him about the discharge of his Imployment but his Integrity had been such that nothing could be found to blemish his Reputation In September following the King created Anne Boleyne Marchioness of Pembroke to bring her by degrees up to the Heighth for which he had designed her And in October he passed the Seas and had an Enterview with the French King where all the most obliging Complements that were possible passed on both sides with great Magnificence and a firm Union was concerted about all their Affairs They published a League that they made to raise a mighty Army next year against the Turk but this was not much considered it being generally believed that the French King and the Turk were in a good Correspondence As for the matter of the Kings Divorce Francis encouraged him to go on in it and in his intended Marriage with Anne Boleyne promising if it were questioned to assist him in it And as for his appearance at Rome as it was certain he could not go thither in Person so it was not fit to trust the secrets of his Conscience to a Proxie The French King seemed also resolved to stop the payments of Annates and other Exactions of the Court of Rome and said he would send an Ambassador to the Pope to ask Redress of these and to protest that if it were not granted they would seek other remedies by Provincial Councils And since there was an interview designed between the Pope and the Emperor at Bononia in December the French King was to send two Cardinalsthither to procure Judges for ending the business in England There was also an interview proposed between the Pope and the French King at Nice or Avignon To this the King of England had some Inclinations to go for ending all differences if the Pope were well disposed to it Upon this Sir Thomas Eliot was sent to Rome with answer to a message the Pope had sent to the King from whose Instructions both the substance of the message and of the answer may be gathered The Pope had offered to the King that if he would name any indifferent place out of his own Kingdom he would send a Legate and two Auditors of the Rota thither to form the Process reserving only the Sentence to himself The Pope also proposed a Truce of three or four years and promised that in that time he would call a general Council For this message the King sent the Pope thanks but for the Peace he could receive no propositions about it without the concurrence of the French King and though he did not doubt the justice of a general Council yet considering the state of the Emperor's Affairs at that time
with the Lutherans he did not think it was then seasonable to call one That as for sending a Proxy to Rome if he were a private Person he could do it but it was a part of the Prerogative of his Crown and of the Priviledges of his Subjects That all Matrimonial Causes should be originally judged within his Kingdom by the English Church which was consonant to the general Councils and Customs of the ancient Church whereunto he hoped the Pope would have regard And that for keeping up his Royal Authority to which he was bound by Oath he could not without the consent of the Realm submit himself to a Forreign Jurisdiction hoping the Pope would not desire any violation of the Immunities of the Realm or to bring these into publick Contention which had been hitherto enjoyed without intrusion or molestation The Pope had confessed that without an urgent cause the Dispensation could not be granted This the King laid hold on and ordered his Ambassador to show him that there was no War nor appearance of any between England and Spain when it was granted To verifie that he sent an attested Copy of the Treaty between his Father and the Crown of Spain at that time By the words of which it appeared that it was then taken for granted that Prince Arthur had Consummated the Marriage which was also proved by good witnesses In fine since the thing did so much concern the Peace of the Realm it was fitter to judg it within the Kingdom than any where else therefore he desired the Pope would remit the discussing of it to the Church of England and then confirm the Sentence they should give To the obtaining of this the Ambassador was to use all possible diligence yet if he found real intentions in the Pope to satisfie the King he was not to insist on that as the Kings final Resolution And to let the Cardinal of Ravenna see that the King intended to make good what was promised in his name the Bishoprick of Coventry and Litchfield falling vacant he sent him the offer of it with a promise of the Bishoprick of Ely when it should be void Soon after this he Married Anne Boleyn on the 14th of November upon his landing in England but Stow says without any ground that it was on the 25th of Ianuary Rowland Lee who afterward got the Bishoprick of Coventry and Liechfield officiate in the Marriage It was done secretly in the presence of the Duke of Norfolk and her Father her Mother and Brother and Dr. Cranmer The grounds on which the King did this were That his former Marriage being of it self null there was no need of a Declarative Sentence after so many Universities and Doctors had given their judgments against it Soon after the Marriage she was with-Child which was looked on as a signalEvidence of her Chastity and that she had till then kept the King at a due distance But when the Pope and the Emperor met at Bononia the Pope expressed great Inclinations to favour the French King from which the Emperor could not remove him nor engage him to accept of a Match for his Neece Katherine de Medici with Francis Sforza Duke of Milan But the Pope promised him all that he desired as to the King of England and so that matter was still carried on Dr. Bennet made several propositions to end the matter either that it should be judged in England according to the Decree of the Council of Nice and that the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury with the whole Clergy of his Province should determine it or that the King should name one either Sir Thomas More or the Bishop of London the Queen should name another the French King should name a third and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to be the fourth or that the cause should be heard in England and if the Queen did Appeal it should be referred to three Delegates one of England another of France and a third to be sent from Rome who should sit and judge the Appeal in some indifferent place But the Pope would hearken to none of these Overtures since they were all directly contrary to that height of Authority which he resolved to maintain Therefore he ordered Capisucci the Dean of the Rota to cite the King to answer to the Queens Appeal Karne at Rome protested against the Citation since the Emperor's Power was so great about Rome that the King could not expect justice there and therefore desired they would desist otherwise the King would Appeal to the Learned men in Universities and said there was a nullity in all their proceedings since the King was a Soveraign Prince and the Church of England a free Church over which the Pope had no just Authority But while this depended at Rome another Session of Parliameot was held in England which began to sit on the 4th of February In this the Breach with Rome was much forwarded by the Act they passed against all Appeals to Rome The Preamble bears that the Crown of England was Imperial and that the Nation was a compleat Body within it self with a full Power to give justice in all cases Spiritual as well as Temporal and that in the Spiritualty as there had beed at all times so there were them men of that sufficiency and integrity that they might declare and determine all doubts within the Kingdom and that several Kings as Edward the 1st Edward the 3d Richard the 2d and Henry the 4th had by several Laws preserved the Liberties of the Realm both Spiritual and Temporal from the annoyance of the See of Rome and other forreign Potentates yet many inconveniences had arisen by Appeals to the See of Rome in Causes of Matrimony Divorces and other cases which were not sufficiently provided against by these Laws by which not only the King and his Subjects were put to great charges but justice was much delayed by Appeals and Rome being at such a distance Evidences could not be brought thither nor Witnesses so easily as within the Kingdom Therefore it was Enacted that all such Causes whether relating to the King or any of his Subjects were to be determined within the Kingdom in the several Courts to which they belonged notwithstanding any Appeals to Rome or Inhibitions and Bulls from Rome whose Sentences should take effect and be fully Executed by all Inferior Ministers and if any Spiritual Persons refused to Execute them because of Censures from Rome they were to suffer a years Imprisonment and fine and ransom at the Kings will and if any Persons in the Kings Dominions procured or executed any Process or Censures from Rome they were declared liable to the pains in the Statute of Provisors in the 16th of Rich. the 2d But that Appeals should only be from the Arch-Deacon or his Official to the Bishop of the Diocess or his Commissary and from him to the Arch-Bishop of the Province or the Dean of the Arches where the
final Determination was to be made without any further Process and in every Process concerning the King or his Heirs and Successors an Appeal should lie to the upper House of Convocation where it should be finally Determined never to be again called in question As this Bill passed the sense of both Houses of Parliament about the Kings Marriage did clearly appear but in the Convocation the business was more fully debated The Convocation of the Province of Canterbury was at this time destitute of its Head and principal Member For Warham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was dead since August last year He was a great Canonist an able States-man a dextrous Courtier and a favourer of Learned men He always hated Cardinal Wolsey and would never stoop to him esteeming it below the Dignity of his See He was not so peevishly engaged to the Learning of the Schools as others were but set up and encouraged a more generous way of Knowledge yet he was a severe persecutor of them whom he thought Hereticks and enclined to believe idle and Fanatical people as will afterwards appear when the Impostures of the Maid of Kent shall be related The King saw well of how great importance it was to the designes he was then forming to fill that See with a Learned Prudent and resolute man but finding none in the Episcopal Order that was qualified to his mind and having observed a native simplicity joyned with much courage and tempered with a great deal of wisdom in Dr. Cranmer who was then Negotiating his business among the Learned men of Germany he of his own accord without any adresses from Cranmer designed to raise him to that Dignity and gave him notice of it that he might make hast and come home to enjoy that reward which the King had appointed for him But Cranmer having received this did all he could to excuse himself from the burden which was coming upon him and therefore he returned very slowly to England hoping that the Kings thoughts cooling some other person might step in between him and a Dignity of which having a just and primitive sense he did look on it with fear and apprehension rather than joy and desire This was so far from setting him back that the King who had known well what it was to be importuned by ambitious and aspiring Churchmen but had not found it usual that they should decline and fly from Preferment was thereby confirmed in his high opinion of him and neither the delays of his Journey nor his Intreaties to be delivered from a Burden which his Humility made him imagine himself unable to bear could divert the King So that though six moneths elapsed before the thing was settled yet the King persisted in his Opinion and the other was forced to yield In the end of Ianuary the King sent to the Pope for the Bulls for Cranmers Promotion and though the Statutes were passed against procuring more Bulls from Rome yet the King resolved not to begin the breach till he was forced to it by the Pope It may be easily imagined that the Pope was not hearty in this Promotion and that he apprehended ill consequences from the Advancement of a Man who had gone over many Courts of Christendom disputing against his Power of Dispensing and had lived in much Familiarity with Osiander and the Lutherans in Germany Yet on the other hand he had no mind to precipitate a Rupture with England therefore he consented to it and the Bulls were expedited though instead of Annates there was onely 900 Ducats paid for them They were the last Bulls that were received in England in this Kings Reign and therefore I shall give an account of them as they are set down in the beginning of Cranmers Register By one Bull he is upon the Kings Nomination promoted to be Archbishop of Canterbury which is directed to the King By a second directed to himself he is made Archbishop By a third he is absolved from all Censures A fourth is to the Suffragans A fifth to the Dean and Chapter A sixth to the Clergy of Canterbury A seventh to all the Laity in his See An eighth to all that held Lands of it requiring them to receive and acknowledge him as Archbishop All these bear Date the 21th of February 1533. By a ninth Bull dated the 22th of February he was ordained to be consecrated taking the Oath that was in the Pontifical By a tenth Bull dated the second of March the Pall was sent him And by an eleventh of the same Date the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of London were required to put it on him These were the several Artifices to make Compositions high and to enrich the Apostolick Chamber for now that about which S. Peter gloried that he had none of it neither silver nor gold was the thing in the world for which his Successors were most careful When these Bulls were brought into England Thomas Cranmer was on the 13th of March consecrated by the Bishops of Lincoln Exeter and S. Asaph But here a great Scruple was moved by him concerning the Oath that he was to swear to the Pope which he had no mind to take and Writers near that time say the dislike of that Oath was one of the motives that made him so unwillingly accept of that Dignity He declared that he thought there were many things settled by the Laws of the Popes which ought to be reformed and that the Obligation which that Oath brought upon him would bind him up from doing his Duty both to God the King and the Church But this being communicated to some of the Canonists and Casuists they found a temper that agreed better with their Maxims than Cranmers sincerity which was that before he should take the Oath he should make a good and formal Protestation That he did not intend thereby to restrain himself from any thing that he was bound to either by his Duty to God or the King or the Countrey and that he renounced every thing in it that was contrary to any of these This Protestation he made in S. Stephens Chapel at Westminster in the hands of some Doctors of the Canon Law before he was consecrated and he afterwards repeated it when he took the Oath to the Pope by which if he did not wholly save his Integrity yet it was plain he intended no Cheat but to act fairly and above board As soon as he was consecrated and had performed every thing that was necessary for his Investiture he came and sate in the Upper House of Convocation There were there at that time hot and earnest Debates upon these two Questions Whether it was against the Law of God and Indispensable by the Pope for a man to marry his Brothers Wife he being dead without Issue but having consummated the Marriage And whether Prince Arthur had consummated his Marriage with the Queen As for the first it was brought first into the Lower
read with many other Instruments and the whole Merits of the Cause were opened Upon which after many Sessions on the 23th of May Sentence was given with the Advice of all that were there present declaring it onely to have been a Marriage de facto but not de jure pronouncing it Null from the beginning One thing is to be observed That the Archbishop in the Sentence is called The Legate of the Apostolick See Whether this went of course as one of his Titles or was put in to make the Sentence firmer the Reader may judge Sentence being given the Archbishop with all the rest returned to London and five days after on the 28th of May at Lambeth by another Judgment he in general words no Reasons being given in the Sentence confirmed the Kings Marriage with the new Queen Anne and the first of Iune she was crowned Queen When this great Business which had been so long in agitation was thus concluded it was variously censured as men stood affected Some approved the Kings Proceedings as Canonical and Just since so many Authorities which in the intervall of a General Council were all that could be had except the Pope be believed Infallible had concurred to strengthen the Cause and his own Clergy had upon a full and long examination judged it on his side Others who in the main agreed to the Divorce did very much dislike the Kings second Marriage before the first was dissolved for they thought it against the common course of Law to break a Marriage without any publick Sentence and since one of the chief politick Reasons that was made use of in this Suit was to settle the Succession of the Crown this did embroil it more since there was a fair colour given to except to the Validity of the second Marriage because it was contracted before the first was annulled But to this others answered That the first Marriage being judged by the Interpreters of the Doctrine of the Church to have been Null from the beginning there was no need of any Sentence but onely for Form And all concluded it had been better there had been no Sentence at all than one so late Some excepted to the Archbishop of Canterbury's being Judge who by his former Writings and Disputes had declared himself partial But to this it was answered That when a man changes his Character all that he did in another Figure is no just Exception so Judges decide Causes in which they formerly gave Counsel and Popes are not bound to the Opinions they held when they were Divines or Canonists It was also said That the Archbishop did onely declare in Legal Form that which was already judged by the whole Convocation of both Provinces Some wondered at the Popes stifness that would put so much to hazard when there wanted not as good Colours to justifie a Bull as they had made use of to excuse many other things But the Emperors Greatness and the fear of giving the Lutherans advantages in disputing the Popes Authority were on the other hand so prevalent Considerations that no wonder they wrought much on a Pope who pretended to no other knowledge but that of Policy for he had often said He understood not the matter and therefore left it in other mens hands All persons excused Queen Katharine for standing so stifly to her ground onely her denying so confidently that Prince Arthur consummated the Marriage seems not capable of an Excuse Every body admired Queen Annes Conduct who had managed such a Kings Spirit so long and had neither surfeited him with great freedom nor provoked him by the other Extreme for the King who was extremely nice in these matters conceived still an higher Opinion of her and her being so soon with child after the Marriage as it made people conclude she had been chaste till then so they hoped for a Blessing upon it since there were such early appearances of Issue Those that favoured the Reformation expected better days under her Protection for they know she favoured them But those who were in their hearts for the Established Religion did much dislike it and many of the Clergy especially the Orders of Monks and Friars condemned it both in their Sermons and Discourses But the King little regarding the Censures of the Vulgar sent Embassadors to all the Courts of Europe to give notice of his new Marriage and to justifie it by some of those Reasons which have been opened in the former parts of this History He also sent the Lord Mountjoy to the Divorced Queen to let her know what was done and that she was no more to be treated as Queen but as Princess Dowager He was to mix Promises with Threatnings particularly concerning her Daughters being put next the Queens Issue in the Succession But the afflicted Queen would not yield and said she would not damn her Soul nor submit to such an Infamy That she was his Wife and would never call her self by any other Name whatever might follow on it since the Process still depended at Rome That Lord having written a Relation of what had passed between him and her shewed it to her but she dashed with a Pen all those places in which she was called Princess Dowager and would receive no Service at any ones hands but of those who called her Queen and she continued to be still served as Queen by all about her Against which though the King used all the Endeavours he could not without both threatning and violence to some of the Servants yet he could never drive her from it and what he did in that was thought far below that Height of Mind which appeared in his other Actings for since he had stript her of the real Greatness of a Queen it seemed too much to vex her for keeping up the Pageantry of it But the news of this made great impressions elsewhere The Emperor received the Kings justification very coldly and said â—e would consider what he was to do upon it which was looked on as a Dâ—câ—aration of War The French King though he expressed still gâ—eat Friendship to the King yet was now resolved to link himself to the Pope for the crafty Pope apprehending that nothing made the King of England so confident as that he knew his Friendship was necessary to the French King and fearing they had resolved to proceed at once to the puâ—ting down the Papal Authority in their Kingdoms which it appears they had once agreed to do resolved by all means to make sure of the French King which as it would preserve that Kingdom in his obedience so would perhaps frighten the King of England from proceeding to such extremities since that Prince in whose conjunction he trusted so much had forsaken him Therefore the Pope did so vigorously pursue the Treaty with Francis that it was as good as ended at this time and an Interview was projected between them at Marseilles The Pope did also grant him so great Power
over his own Clergy that he could sâ—arce have expected more if he had set up a Patriarch in France so that Francis did resolve to go on in the designs which had been concerted between him and the King of England no further but still he considered his alliance so much that he promised to use his most effectual intercession with the Pope to prevent all Censures and Bulls against the King and if it were possible to bring the matter to an Amicable conclusion And the Emperor was not ill-pleased to see France and England divided Therefore though he had at first opposed the Treaty between the Pope and Francis yet afterwards he was not troubled that it took effect hoping that it would dis-unite those two Kings whose conjunction had been so troublesome to him But when the news was brought to Rome of what was done in England with which it was also related that Books were coming out against the Popes Supremacy all the Cardinals of the Imperial Faction pressed the Pope to give a definitive Sentence and to proceed to Censures against the King But the more moderate Cardinals thought England was not to be thrown away with such precipitation And therefore a temper was found that a Sentence should be given upon what had been attempted in England by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury which in the Stile of the Canon-Law were called the Attentates for it was pretended that the matter depending in the Court of Rome by the Queens Appeal and the other steps that had been made it was not in the Arch-Bishop's Power to proceed to any Sentence Therefore in general it was declared that all that had been attempted or done in England about the Kings Suit of Divorce was null and that the King by such attempts was liable to Excommunication unless he put things again in the state they were in and that before September next and that then they would proceed further and this Sentence was affixed in Dunkirk soon after The King resolving to follow the thing as far as it was possible sent a great Embassy to Francis who was then on his Journey to Marseilles to dissuade the Interview and Marriage till the Pope gave the King satisfaction But the French King was engaged in honour to go forward yet he protested he would do all that lay in his Power to compose the matter and that he would take any injury that were done to the King as highly as if it were done to himself and he desired the King would send some to Marseilles who thereupon sent Gardiner and Sir Francis Brian But at this time the Queen brought forth a Daughter who was Christened Elizabeth the renowned Queen of England the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury being her God-Father She was soon after declared Princess of Wales though Lawyers thought that against Law for she was only Heir presumptive but not apparent to the Crown since a Son coming after he must be preferred Yet the King would justifie what he had done in his Marriage with all possible respect and having before declared the Lady Mary Princess of Wales he did now the same in favour of the Lady Elizabeth The Interview between the Pope and the French King was at Marseilles in October where the Marriage was made up between the Duke of Orleance and Katharine de Medici to whom besides 100000 Crowns Portion the Principality of many Towns in Italy as Milan Reggio Pisa Legorn Parma and Piacenza and the Dutchy of Urbin were given To the former the Pope pretended in the Right of the Popedom and to the last in the Right of the House of Medici But the French King was â—o clear all those Titles by his Sword As for the Kings business the Pope referred it to the Consistory But it seems there was a secret Transaction between him and Francis that if the King would in all other things return to his wonted obedience to the Apostolick See and submit the matter to the judgment of the Consistory excepting only to the Cardinals of the Imperial Faction as partial and incompetent judges the Decision should be made to his hearts content This I collect from what will afterwards appear The King upon the Sentence that was passed against him sent Bonner to Marseilles who procuring an Audience of the Pope delivered to him the Authentick Instrument of the Kings Appeal from him to the next general Council lawfully called At this the Pope was much incensed but said he would consider of it in Consistory and having consulted about it there he answered that the Appeal was unlawful and therefore he rejected it and for a general Council the calling of it belonged to him and not to the King About the same time the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury being threatned with a Process from Rome put in also his Appeal to the next general Council Upon which Bonner delivered the threatnings that he was ordered to make with so much vehemency and fury that the Pope talked of throwing him in a Cauldron of melted Lead or of Burning him alive and he apprehending some danger made his escape About the middle of November the Interview ended the Pope returning to Rome and the French King to Paris a firm Alliance being established between them But upon the Duke of Orleance his Marrying the Pope's Neece I shall add one observation that will neither be unpleasant nor impertinent The Duke of Orleance was then but Fourteen years and Nine Months old being born on the last of March 1518. and yet was believed to have consummated his Marriage the very first night after so the Popes Historians tell us with much Triumph though they represented that improbable if not impossible in Prince Arthur who was nine Months elder when he died Upon the French Kings return from Marseilles the Bishop of Paris was sent over to the King which as may be reasonably collected followed upon some Agreement made at Marseilles and he prevailed with the King to submit the whole matter to the Pope and the Consistory on such terms that the Imperialists should not be allowed a Voice because they were Parties being in the Emperor's Power None that has observed the genius of this King can think that after he had proceeded so far he would â—aâ—e made this Submission without very good assurances and if there had not been great grounds to expect good effects from it the Bishop of Paris would not in the middle of Winter have undertaken a Journey from England to Rome But the King it seems would not abase himself so far as to send any Submission in writing till he had fuller assurances The Lord Herbert has published a Letter which he transcribed from the Original written by the Arch-Bishop of York and the Bishop of Duresmâ— to the King the 11th of May 1534. giving an account of a Conference they had with Queen Katharine in which among other motives they used this was one to perswade her to comply with what
the King had done That the Pope had said at Marseilles that if the King would send a Proxy to Rome he would give the Cause for him against the Queen because he knew his Cause was good and just Which is a great presumption that the Pope did really give some engagements to the French King about the King's business When the Bishop of Paris came to Rome the Motion was liked and it was promised that if the King sent a promise of that under his Hand with an Order to his Proxies to appear in Court there should be Judges sent to Cambray to form the Process and then the matter should be Determined for him at Rome This was sent to the King with the Notice of the day that was prefixed for the return of his answer and with other Motives which must have been very great since they prevailed so much For in answer there was a Courier dispatcht from the King with a formal promise under his Hand And now the matter seemed at a point the French Interest was great in the Court of Rome four new Cardinals had been made at Marseilles and there were six of that Faction before which with the Popes Creatures and the indifferent or venal Voices ballanced the Imperial Faction so that a wound that was looked on as fatal was now almost healed But God in his wise and unsearchable Providence had designed to draw other great ends out of this Rupture and therefore suffered them that were the most concerned to hinder it to be the chief instruments of driving it on For the Cardinals of the Imperial Faction were now very active they liked not the President of excluding the Cardinals of the Nations concern'd out of any business But above all things they were to hinder a Conjunction between the Pope and the King of England for the Pope being then allied to France there was nothing the Emperor feared more than the closing the Breach with England which would make the union against him so much stronger Therefore when the day that had been prefixed for the return of the Courier from England was elapsed they all pressed the Pope to proceed to a Sentence Definitive and to Censures Bellay the Bishop of Paris represented the injustice of proceeding with so much Precipitation since where there were Seas to cross in such a Season many accidents might occasion the delay of the Express The King of England had followed this Suit six years and had patience so long therefore he desired the delay of six dayes and if in that time no return came they might proceed But the Imperialists represented that those were only delays to gain time and that the King of England was still proceeding in his contempt of the Apostolick See and of the Cardinals and publishing Books and Libels against them This so wrought on the angry Pope that without consulting his ordinary prudence he brought the business into the Consistory where the Plurality of voices carryed it to proceed to a Sentence And though the Process had been carryed on all that winter in their usual Forms yet it was not so ripe but by the Rules of the Consistory there ought to have been three Sessions before Sentence was given But they concluded all in one day and so on the 23d of March the Marriage between the King and Queen Katharine was declared good and the King required to take her as his wife otherwise Censures were to be denounced against him Two days after that the Courier arrived from England with the Kings Submission under his hand in due Form and earnest Letters from the French King to have it accepted that so the business might be composed When this was known at Rome all the indiâ—â—erent and wise Cardinals among whom was Farnese that was afterwards Pope Paul the 3d. came to the Pope and desired that it might be again considered before it went furâ—her So it was brought again into the Consistory But the secret reason of the Imperialists opposing it was now more pressing since there was such an appearance of a settlement if the former Sentence were once recalled Therefore they so managed the matter that it was confirmed a-new by the Pope and the Consistory and they ordered the Emperor to execute the Sentence The King was now in so good hope of his business that he sent Sr. Edward Karne to Rome to prosecute his Suit who on his way thither met the Bishop of Paris coming back with this Melancholick account of his unprosperous Negotiation When the King heard it and understood that he was used with so much scorn and contempt at Rome being also the more vexed because he had come to such a submission he resolved then to break totally from Rome And in this he was before hand with that Court. For judging it the best way to procure a peace to manage the War vigorously he had held a Session of Parliament from the 15th of Ianuary till the 30th of March in which he had procured a great Change of the whole Constitution of the Government of the Church But before I give an account of that I shall first open all the Arguments and reasons upon which I find they proceeded in this Matter The Popes Power had been then for 4 years together much examined and disputed in England in which they went by these steps one leading to another They first controverted his Power of Dispensing with the Law of God From that they went to examine what Jurisdiction he had in England upon which followed the Convicting the Clergy of a Premunire with their Submission to the King And that led them to controvert the Popes right to Annates and other Exactions which they also condemned The Condemning all appeals to Rome followed that naturally And now so many branches of that Power were cut off the Root was next struck at and the Foundations of the Papal Authority were examined For near a year together there had been many publick debates about it and both in the Parliament and Convocation the thing was long disputed and all that could be alledged on both sides was Considered The Reader will be best able to judge of their reasons and thereby of the ripeness of their judgments when they Enacted the Laws that passed in this Parliament when he sees a full account of them which I shall next set down not drawn from the Writings and Apologies that have been published since but from these that came out about that time For then were written the Institution for the Necessary Erudition of a Christian man Concluded in the Convocation and published by Authority and another Book De Differentia Regiae Ecclesiasticae Potestatis The former of these was called the Bishops and the latter the Kings Book Gardiner also wrote a Book De vera Obedientia to which Bonner prefixed a Preface upon the same Subject Stokesly Bishop of London and Tonstal Bishop of Duresm wrote a long
them a few Bishops in the Northern and Western Parts When afterwards the Patriarch of Constantinople was declared by the Emperor Mauritius The Vniversal Bishop Gregory the great did exclaim against the Ambition of that Title as being equal to the Pride of Lucifer and declared that he who assumed it was the Forerunner of Antichrist saying that none of his Predecessors had ever claimed such a Power And this was the more observable since the English were Converted by those whom he sent over so that this was the Doctrine of that See when this Church received the Faith from it But it did not continue long within those limits for Boniface the Third assumed that Title upon the Grant of Phâ—â—as And as that Boniface got the Spiritual Sword put in his hand so the Eighth of that name pretended also to the Temporal Sword but they owe these Powers to the Industry of those Popes and not to any Donation of Christs The Popes when they are Consecrated promise to obey the Canons of the Eight first General Councils which if they observe they will receive no Appeals nor pretend to any higher Jurisdiction than these give to them and the other Patriarchs equally As for the Decrees of Latter Councils they are of less Authority For those Councils consisted of Monks and Friers in great part whose exemptions obtained from Rome obliged them to support the Authority of that Court and those who sate in them knew little of the Scriptures Fathers or the Tradition of the Church being only conversant in the Disputes and Learning of the Schools And for the Florentine Council the Eastern Churches who sent the Greek Bishops that sate there never received their Determination neither then nor at any time since Many places were also brought out of the Fathers to show that they did not look on the Bishops of Rome as superior to other Bishops and that they understood not those places of Scripture which were afterwards brought for the Popes Supremacy in that sense so that if Tradition be the best Expounder of Scripture those latter glosses must give place to the more ancient But that passage of St. Ierome in which he equals the Bishops of Eugubium and Constantinople to the Bishop of Rome was much made use of since he was a Presbyter of Rome and so likely to understand the Dignity of his own Church best There were many things brought from the Contests that other Sees had with Rome to show that all the Priviledges of that and other Sees were only founded on the practice and Canons of the Church but not upon any Divine Warrant Constantinople pretended to equal priviledges Ravenna Milan and Aquileia pretended to a Patriarchal Dignity and Exemption Some Arch-Bishops of Canterbury contended that Popes could do nothing against the Laws of the Church so Laurence and Dunstan Robert Grostest Bishop of Lincoln asserted the same and many Popes confessed it And to this day no Constitution of the Popes is binding in any Church except it be received by it and in the daily practice of the Canon Law the customs of Churches are pleaded against Papal Constitutions which shows their Authority cannot be from God otherwise all must submit to their Laws And from the latter Contests up and down Europe about giving Investitures receiving Appeals admitting of Legates and Papal Constitutions it was apparent that the Papal Authority was a Tyranny which had been managed by cruel and fraudulent Arts but was never otherwise received in the Church than as a Conquest to which they were constrained to yield And this was more fully made out in England from what passed in William the Conqueror and Henry the 2d's time and by the Statutes of Provisors in many Kings Reigns which were still renewed till within an hundred years of the present time Upon these grounds they Concluded that the Popes Power in England had no Foundation neither in the Law of God nor in the Laws of the Church or of the Land As for the Kings Power over Spiritual persons and in Spiritual causes they proved it from the Scriptures In the old Testament they found the Kings of Israel intermedled in all matters Ecclesiastical Samuel though he had been Judge yet acknowledged Sauls Authority So also did Abimelech the High-Priest and appeared before him when cited to answer upon an Accusation And Samuel 1 Sam. 15.18 sayes he was made the head of all the Tribes Aaron in that was an Example to all the following High-Priests who submitted to Moses David made many Laws about sacred things such as the Order of the Courses of the Priests and their Worship and when he was dying he declared to Solomon how far his Authority extended He told him 1 Chron. 28.21 That the Courses of the Priests and all the people were to be wholly at his commandment pursuant to which Solomon 2 Chron. 8.14 15. did appoint them their charges in the service of God and both the Priests and Levites departed not from his commandment in any matter and though he had turned out Abiathar from the High-Priesthood yet they made no opposition Iehosophat Hezekiah and Iosias made likewise Laws about Eccledsiastical Matters In the New Testament Christ himself was obedient he payed Taxes he declared that he pretended to no earthly Kingdom he charged the people to render to Caesar the things that were Caesars and his Disciples not to affect temporal dominion as the Lords of the Nations did And though the Magistrates were then Heathens yet the Apostles wrote to the Churches to obey Magistrates to submit to them to pay Taxes they call the King Supream and say he is Gods Minister to encourage them that do well and to punish the evil doors which is said of all persons without exception and every Soul is charged to be subject to the Higher Power Many passages were cited out of the Writings of the Fathers to show that they thought Church-men were included in these places as well as other persons so that the Tradition of the Church was for the Kings Supremacy and by one place of Scripture the King is called Supream by another he is called Head and by a third every Soul must be subject to him which laid together make up this conclusion That the King is the Supream Head over all persons In the primitive Church the Bishops in their Councils made rules for ordering their Dioceses which they only called Canons or Rules nor had they any compulsive Authority but what was derived from the Civil Sanctions After the Emperors were Christians they made many Laws about sacred things as may be seen in the Codes and when Iustinian digested the Roman Law he added many Novel Constitutions about Ecclesiastical persons and causes The Emperors called general Councils presided in them and confirmed them And many Letters were cited of Popes to Emperors to call Councils and of the Councils to them to Confirm their Decrees The Election of the Popes themselves was
sometimes made by the Emperors and sometimes confirmed by them Pope Hadrian in a Synod decreed that the Emperor should choose the Pope And it was a late and unheard of thing before the dayes of Gregory the 7th for Popes to pretend to depose Princes and give away their Dominions This they compared to the pride of Anti-Christ and Lucifer They also argued from Reason that there must be but one Supream and that the King being Supream over all his Subjects Clergy-men must be included for they are still Subjects Nor can their being in Orders change that former relation founded upon the Law of Nature and Nations no more than Wives or Servants by becoming Christians were not according to the Doctrine of the Apostles discharged from the Duties of their former Relations For the great Objection from those Offices that are peculiar to their Functions It was answered that these notwithstanding the King might well be Supream Head for in the Natural body there were many vital motions that proceeded not from the Head but from the Heart and the other inward parts and vessels and yet the Head was still the chief seat and root of Life So though there be peculiar functions appropriated to Church-men yet the King is still Head having Authority over them and a Power to direct and coerce them in these From that they proceeded to show that in England the Kings have allwayes assumed a Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters They began with the most Ancient Writing that relates to the Christian Religion in England then extant Pope Elentherius Letter to King Lucius in which he is twice called by him Gods Vicar in his Kingdom and he writ in it that it belong'd to his Office to bring his Subjects to the Holy Church and to maintain protect and govern them in it Many Laws were cited which Canutus Ethelred Edgar Edmond Athelstan and Ina had Enacted concerning Church-men many more Laws since the Conquest were also made both against appeals to Rome and Bishops going out of the Kingdom without the Kings leave The whole business of the Articles of Clarendon and the Contests that followed between King Henry the 2d and Thomas Becket were also opened And though a Bishops Pastoral care be of Divine Institution yet as the Kings of England had divided Bishopricks as they pleased so they also converted Benefices from the Institution of the Founders and gave them to Cloisters and Monasteries as King Edgar did all which was done by the Consent of their Clergy and Nobility without dependance on Rome They had also granted these Houses Exemption from Episcopal Jurisdiction so Ina exempted Glastenbury and Offa St. Albans from their Bishops visitation and this continued even till the dayes of William the Conqueror for he to perpetuate the Memory of the Victory he obtained over Harald and to endear himself to the Clergy founded an Abbey in the Field where the Battel was fought and called it Battel-Abbey and in the Charter he granted them these words are to be found It shall be also free and quiet for ever from all subjection to Bishops or the Dominion of any other persons as Christs Church in Canterbury is Many other things were brought out of King Alfreds Laws and a speech of King Edgars with several Letters written to the Popes from the Kings the Parliaments and the Clergy of England to show that their Kings did always make Laws about Sacred matters and that their Power reach't to that and to the persons of Church-men as well as to their other Subjects But at the same time that they pleaded so much for the Kings Supremacy and Power of making Laws for restraining and Coercing his Subjects it appeared that they were far from vesting him with such an absolute Power as the Popes had pretended to for they thus defined the extent of the Kings Power To them specially and principally it pertaineth to defend the Faith of Christ and his Religion to conserve and maintain the true Doctrine of Christ and all such as be true Preachers and setters forth thereof and to abolish Abuses Heresies and Idolatries and to punish with corporal pains such as of malice be the occasion of the same And finally to oversee and cause that the said Bishops and Priests do execute their pastoral office truly and faithfully and specially in these points which by Christ and his Apostles was given and Committed to them and in case they shall be negligent in any part thereof or would not diligently execute the same to cause them to redouble and supply their lack and if they obstinately withstand their Princes kind monition and will not amend their faults then and in such case to put others in their rooms and places And God hath also commanded the said Bishops and Priests to obey with all humbleness and Reverence both Kings and Princes and Governors and all their Laws not being contrary to the Laws of God whatsoever they be and that not only propter Iram but also propter Conscientiam that is to say not only for fear of punishment but also for Discharge of Conscience Thus it appears that they both limited obedience to the Kings Laws with the due Caution of their not being contrary to the Law of God and acknowledged the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the discharge of the Pastoral Office committed to the Pastors of the Church by Christ and his Apostles and that the Supremacy then pretended to was no such Extravagant Power as some imagine Upon the whole matter it was Concluded that the Popes Power in England had no good Foundation and had been managed with as much Tyranny as it had begun with Usurpation the Exactions of their Courts were every-where heavy but in no place so intolerable as in England and though many complaints were made of them in these last 300 years yet they got no ease and all the Laws about Provisors were still defeated and made ineffectual Therefore they saw it was impossible to moderate their proceedings so that there was no other Remedy but to extirpate their pretended Authority and thenceforth to acknowledge the Pope only Bishop of Rome with the jurisdiction about it defined by the Ancient Canons and for the King to re-assume his own Authority and the Prerogatives of his Crown from which the Kings of England had never formally departed though they had for this last Hundred years connived at an Invasion and Usurpation upon them which was no longer to be endured These were the Grounds of casting off the Pope's Power that had been for two or three years studied and enquired into by all the Learned men in England and had been debated both in Convocation and Parliament and except Fisher Bishop of Rochester I do not find that any Bishop appeared for the Popes Power and for the Abbots and Priors as they were generally very ignorant so what the Cardinal had done in suppressing some Monasteries and what they now heard that the
would grant But he wrote back excusing himself that all he did was only to try whether her Revelations were true He confessed he conceived a great opinion of her Holiness both from common Fame and her entring into Religion from the report of her Ghostly Father whom he esteemed Learned and Religious and of many other Learned and Vertuous Priests from the good opinion the late Arch-Bishop of Canterbury had of her and from what is in the Prophet Amos That God will do nothing without revealing it to his Servants That upon these grounds he was induced to have a good opinion of her and that to try the truth about her he had sometimes spoken with her and sent his Chaplains to her but never discovered any falsehood in her And for his concealing what she had told him about the King which was laid to his charge he thought it needless for him to speak of it to the King since she had said to him that she had told it to the King her self She had named no person who should kill the King which by being known might have been prevented And as in Spiritual things every Church-man was not bound to denounce judgments against those that could not bear it so in temporal things the case might be the same and the King had on other occasions spoken so sharply to him that he had reason to think the King would have been offended with him for speaking of it and would have suspected that he had a hand in it therefore he desired for the passion of Christ to be no more troubled about that matter otherwise he would speak his Conscience freely To all which Cromwell wrote a long Letter which the Reader will find in the Collection copied from the rude draught of it written with his own hand In which he charges the Matter upon him heavily and shews him that he had not proceeded as a grave Prelate ought to have done for he had taken all that he had heard of her upon trust and had examined nothing that if every person that pretends to Revelations were believed on their own words all Government would be thereby destroyed He had no reason to conclude from the Prophecie of Amos that every thing that is to fall out must be revealed to some Prophet since many notable things had fallen out of which there was no Revelation made before hand But he told him the true reason that made him give credit to her was the matter of her Prophecies to which he was so addicted as he was to every other thing in which he once entred that nothing could come amiss that served to that end And he appealed to his Conscience whether if she had prophecied for the King he would have given such easie credit to her and not have examined the matter further Then he showes how guilty he was in not revealing what concerned the Kings Life and how frivolous all his excuses were And after all tells him that though his excusing the matter had provoked the King and that if it came to a Tryal he would certainly be found guilty yet again he advises him to beg the Kings pardon for his Negligence and offence in that matter and undertakes that the King would receive him into his favour and that all matters of displeasure pass'd before that time should be forgiven and forgotten This shows that though Fisher had in the progress of the Kings cause given him great offence yet he was ready to pass it all over and not to take the advantage which he now had against him But Fisher was still obstinate and made no submission and so was included within the Act for misprision of Treason and yet I do not find that the King proceeded against him upon this Act till by new provocations he drew a heavier storm of indignation upon himself When the Session of Parliament was at an end Commissioners were sent every-where to offer the Oath of the Succession to the Crown to all according to the Act of Parliament which was universally taken by all sorts of persons Gardiner wrote from Winchester the 6th of May to Cromwell that in the presence of the Lord Chamberlain the Lord Audley and many other Gentlemen all Abbots Priors Wardens with the Curates of all Parishes and Chappels within the Shire had appeared and taken the Oath very obediently and had given in a list of all the Religious persons in their Houses of 14 years of Age and above for taking whose Oaths some Commissioners were appointed The forms in which they took the Oath are not known and it is no wonder for though they were enrolled yet in Queen Maries time there was a Commission given to Bonner and others to examine the Records and raze out of them all things that were done either in contempt of the See of Rome or to the defamation of Religious Houses pursuant to which there are many things taken out of the Rolls which I shall sometimes have occasion afterwards to take notice of yet some Writings have escaped their diligence so there remains but two of the Subscriptions of Religious Orders both bearing date the 4th of May 1534. One is by the Prior and Convent of Langley Regis that were Dominicans the Franciscans of Ailesbury the Dominicans of Dunstable the Franciscans of Bedford the Carmelites of Hecking and the Franciscans de Mare The other is by the Prioress and Convent of the Dominican Nuns at Deptford In these besides the renewing their allegiance to the King they swear the Lawfulness of his Marriage with Queen Anne and that they shall be true to the Issue begotten in it that they shall always acknowledge the King Head of the Church of England and that the Bishop of Rome has no more Power than any other Bishop has in his own Diocess and that they should submit to all the Kings Laws notwithstanding the Popes censures to the contrary That in their Sermons they should not pervert the Scriptures but preach Christ and his Gospel sincerely according to the Scriptures and the Tradition of Orthodox and Catholick Doctors and in their Prayers that they should pray first for the King as Supreme Head of the Church of England then for the Queen and her issue and then for the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the other ranks of the Clergy To this these Six Priors set their hands with the Seals of their Convents and in their Subscriptions declared that they did it freely and uncompelled and in the name of all the Brethren in the Convent But Sir Thomas More and the Bishop of Rochester refused to take the Oath as it was conceived Whose Fall being so remarkable I shall shew the steps of it There was a meeting of the Privy Council at Lambeth to which many were cited to appear and take the Oath Sr. Thomas More was first called and the Oath was tendred to him under the great Seal then he called for the Act of Succession
to which it related which was also shewed him having considered of them he said he would neither blame these that made the Act nor those that Swore the Oath but for his part though he was willing to Swear to the Succession if he might be suffered to draw an Oath concerning it yet for the Oath that was offered him his Conscience so moved him that he could not without hazarding his Soul take it Upon this the Lord Chancellour told him that he was the first who had refused to Swear it and that the King would be highly offended with him for denying it and so he was desired to withdraw and consider better of it Several others were called upon and did all take the Oath except the Bishop of Rochester who answered upon the matter as More had done When the Lords had dispatched all the rest More was again brought before them they shewed him how many had taken it he answered he judged no man for doing it only he could not do it himself Then they asked the reasons why he refused it He answered he feared it might provoke the King more against him if he should offer reasons which would be called a disputing against Law but when he was further pressed to give his reasons he said if the King would command him to do it he would put them in Writing The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury urged him with this Argument that since he said he blamed no other person for taking it it seemed he was not perswaded it was a Sin but was doubtful in the matter but he did certainly know he ought to obey the King and the Law so there was a certainty on the one hand and only a doubt on the other therefore he was obliged to do that about which he was certain notwithstanding these his doubtings This did shake him a little especially as himself writes coming out of so Noble a Prelates mouth but he answered that though he had examined the matter very carefully yet his Conscience leaned positively to the other side and he offered to purge himself by his Oath that it was purely out of a Principle of Conscience and out of no light Fantasie or Obstinacy that he thus refused it The Abbot of Westminster pressed him that however the matter appeared to him he might see his Conscience was Erroneous since the great Council of the Realm was of another mind and therefore he ought to change his Conscience A Reasoning very fit for so rich an Abbot which discovers of what temper his Conscience was But to this More answered that if he were alone against the whole Parliament he had reason to suspect his own understanding but he thought he had the whole Council of Christendome on his side as well as the great Council of England was against him Secretary Cromwell who as More writes tenderly favoured him seeing his ruin was now inevitable was much affected at it and protested with an Oath he had rather his own only Son had lost his head than that he should have refused the Oath Thus both he and the Bishop of Rochester refused it but both offered to Swear another Oath for the Succession of the Crown to the issue of the Kings present Marriage because that was in the Power of the Parliament to determine it Cranmer who was a moderate and wise man and foresaw well the ill effects that would follow on contending so much with persons so highly esteemed over the World and of such a temper that severity would bend them to nothing did by an earnest Letter to Cromwell dated the 27th of April move that what they offered might be accepted for if they once Swore to the Succession it would quiet the Kingdom for they acknowledging it all other persons would acquiesce and submit to their Judgments But this sage advice was not accepted The King was much irritated against them and resolved to proceed with them according to Law and therefore they were both indicted upon the Statute and Committed Prisoners to the Tower And it being apprehended that if they had Books and Paper given them they would write against the Kings Marriage or his Supremacy these were denyed them The Old Bishop was hardly used his Bishoprick was seized on and all his goods taken from him only some old rags were left to cover him and he was neither supplyed well in diet nor other necessaries of which he made sad complaints to Cromwell But the remander of this Tragical business which left one of the greatest blots on this Kings proceedings falling within the limits of the next Book I haste on to the Conclusion of this The Separation from Rome was made in the former Session of Parliament but the Kings Supremacy was not yet fully setled This was reserved for the next Session that sate in November from the 3d of that month to the 18th of December about which we can have no light from the Journals they being lost The first Act Confirmed what had been already acknowledged by the Clergy that the King was the Supream Head in Earth of the Church of England which was to be annexed to his other Titles it was also enacted that the King and his heirs and Successors should have Power to visit and reform all Heresies Errors and other Abuses which in the Spiritual jurisdiction ought to be reform'd By the Second Act they Confirmed the Oath about the Succession concerning which some doubts had been made because there was no Oath specified in the former Act though both Houses had taken it it was now Enacted that all the Subjects were obliged to take it when offered to them under the pains contained in the Act pass'd in the former Session By the Third Act the first Fruits and Tenths of all Ecclesiastical Benefices were given to the King as the Supream Head of the Church The Clergy were easily prevailed on to consent to the putting down of the Annates pay'd to the Court of Rome for all men readily concur to take off any Imposition but at that time it had perhaps abated much of their heartiness if they had imagined that these duties should have been still payed therefore that was kept up till they had done all that was to be done against Rome And now as the Commons and the Secular Lords would no doubt easily agree to lay a taxe on the Clergy so the others having no forreign support were not in a condition to wrestle against it In the Thirteenth Act among other things that were made Treason one was the denying the King the Dignity Title or name of his Estate Royal or the calling the King Heretick Schismatick Tyrant Infidel or Usurper of the Crown This was done to restrain the Insolencies of some Friars and all such offenders were to be denyed the Priviledge of Sanctuaries By the Fourteenth Act provision was made for Suffragan Bishops which as is said had been accustomed to be had within this Realm for the
more speedy administration of the Sacraments and other good wholesom and devout things and laudable ceremonies to the encrease of Gods honour and for the commodity of good and devout people therefore they appointed for Suffragans Sees the Towns of Thetford Ipswich Colechester Dover Gilford Southampton Taunton Shaftbury Malton Marleborough Bedford Leicester Glocester Shrewsbury Bristol Penreth Bridgewater Nottingham Grantham Hâ—ll Huntington Cambridge and the Towns of Pereth and Berwick St. Germans in Cornwall and the Isle of Wight For these Sees the Bishop of the Diocess was to present two to the King who might choose either of them and present the person so named to the Arch-Bishop of the Province to be Consecrated after which they might exercise such jurisdiction as the Bishop of the Diocess should give to them or as Suffragans had been formerly used to do but their Authority was to last no longer than the Bishop continued his Commission to them But that the Reader may more clearly see how this Act was executed he shall find in the Collection a Writ for making a Suffragan Bishop These were believed to be the same with the Chorâ—piscopi in the Primitive Church which as they were begun before the first Council of Nice so they continued in the Western Church till the Ninth Century and then a Decretal of Damasus being forged that condemned them they were put down every-where by degrees and now revived in England Then followed the grant of a Subsidy to the King It was now Twelve years since there was any Subsidy granted A Fiveteenth and a Tenth were given to be payed in Three years the final payment being to be at Allhallontide in the year 1537. The Bill began with a most Glorious Preamble of the Kings high Wisdom and Policy in the Government of the Kingdom these Twenty Four years in great wealth and quietness and the great charges he had been at in the last War with Scotland in fortifying Callais and in the War of Ireland and that he intended to bring the wilful wild and unreasonable and savage people of Ireland to Order and Obedience and intended to build Forts on the Marches of Scotland for the security of the Nation to amend the Haven of Calais and make a new one at Dover By all which they did perceive the entire love and zeal which the King bore to his People and that he sought not their wealth and quietness only for his own time being a Mortal man but did provide for it in all time coming therefore they thought that of very equity reason and good Conscience they were bound to show like correspondence of zeal gratitude and kindness Upon this the King sent a general pardon with some exceptions ordinary in such cases But Fisher and More were not only excluded from this pardon by general Clauses but by two particular Acts they were attainted of misprision of Treason By the Third Act according to the Record Iohn Bishop of Rochester Christopher Plummer Nicholas Wilson Edward Powel Richard Fetherston and Miles Willyr Clerks were attainted for refusing the Oath of Succession and the Bishoprick of Rochester with the Benefices of the other Clerks were declared void from the 2d of Ianuary next yet it seems few were fond of succeeding him in that See for Iohn Hilsey the next Bishop of Rochester was not Consecraed before the year 1537. By the Fourth Act Sr. Thomas More is by an Invidious Preamble charged with ingratitude for the great favours he had received from the King and for studying to sow and make sedition among the Kings Subjects and refusing to take the Oath of Succession therefore they declared the Kings Grants to him to be void and attaint him of misprision of Treason This severity though it was blamed by many yet others thought it was necessary in so great a Change since the Authority of these two men was such that if some signal notice had not been taken of them many might by their endeavors especially encouraged by that Impunity have been corrupted in their affections to the King Others thought the prosecuting them in such a manner did rather raise their reputation higher and give them more credit with the people who are naturally enclined to pity those that suffer and to think well of those opinions for which they see men resolved to endure all extremities But others observed the justice of God in retaliating thus upon them their own severities to others for as Fisher did grievously prosecute the preachers of Luthers Doctrine so Mores hand had been very heavy on them as long as he had Power and he had shewed them no mercy but the extremity of the Law which himself now felt to be very heavy Thus ended this Session of Parliament with which this Book is also to conclude for now I come to a Third period of the Kings Reign in which he did Govern his Subjects without any Competitor but I am to stop a little and give an account of the Progress of the Reformation in these years that I have past through The Cardinal was no great persecutor of Hereticks which was generally thought to flow from his hatred of the Clergy and that he was not ill pleased to have them depressed During the agitation of the Kings process there was no prosecution of the Preachers of Luthers Doctrine whether this flowed from any Intimation of the Kings pleasure to the Bishops or not I cannot tell but it is very probable it must have been so for these opinions were received by many and the Popish Clergy were so inclined to severity that as they wanted not Occasions so they had a good mind to use those Preachers cruelly so that it is likely the King restrained them and that was always mixed with the other threatnings to work upon the Pope that Heresie would prevail in England if the King got not justice done him so that till the Cardinal fell they were put to no further trouble But as soon as More came into favour he pressed the King much to put the Laws against Hereticks in execution and suggested that the Court of Rome would be more wrought upon by the Kings supporting the Church and defending the Faith vigorously than by threatnings and therefore a long Proclamation was issued out against the Hereticks many of their Books were prohibited and all the Laws against them were appointed to be put in execution and great care was taken to seize them as they came into England but many escaped their diligence There were some at Antwerp Tindal Ioye Constantine with a few more that were every year writing and printing new Books chiefly against the corruptions of the Clergy the Superstition of pilgrimages of worshiping Images Saints and Relicks and against relying on these things which were then called in the common style Good works in opposition to which they wrote much about Faith in Christ with a true Evangelical obedience as the only mean by which men
mitigated but that it may be to the Salvation of thy Soul to the extirpation terror and conversion of Hereticks and to the Unity of the Catholick Faith This was thought a scorning of God and men when those who knew that he was to be burnt and intended it should be so yet used such an Obtestation by the Bowels of Jesus Christ that the rigor might not be extreme This being certified the Writ was issued out and as the Register bears he was burnt in Smithfield the 4th of Iuly and one Andrew Hewet with him who also denyed the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar This Hewet was an Apprentice and went to the meetings of these Preachers and was twice betrayed by some spies whom the Bishops Officers had among them who discovered many When he was examined he would not acknowledge the Corporal Presence but was illiterate and resolved to do as Frith did so he was also condemned and burnt with him When they were brought to the Stake Frith expressed great joy at his approaching Martyrdom and in a Transport of it hugged the â—aggots in his Arms as the Instruments that were to send him to his eternal rest One Doctor Cook a Parson of London called to the people that they should not pray for them any more than they would do for a Dog At which Frith smiled and prayed God to forgive him so the fire was set to and they were consum'd to Ashes This was the last Act of the Clergies Cruelty against mens lives and was much condemned it was thought an unheard-of barbarity thus to burn a moderate and learned young man only because he would not acknowledge some of their Doctrines to be Articles of Faith and though his private judgment was against their tenet yet he was not positive in it any further than that he could not believe the contrary to be necessary to Salvation But the Clergy were now so bathed in blood that they seemed to have strip't themselves of those impressions of pity and compassion which are natural to mankind they therefore held on in their severe courses till the Act of Parliament did effectually restrain them In the Account that was given of that Act mention was made of one Thomas Philips who put in his complaint to the House of Commons against the Bishop of London The proceedings against him had been both extreme and illegal he was first apprehended and put in the Tower upon suspition of Heresie and when they searched him a Copy of Tracy's Testament was found about him and Butter and Cheese were found in his Chamber it being in the time of Lent There was also another Letter found about him exhorting him to be ready to suffer constantly for the Truth Upon these presumptions the Bishop of London proceeded against him and required him to abjure But he said he would willingly swear to be obedient as a Christian man ought and that he would never hold any Heresie during his life nor favour Hereticks but the Bishop would not accept of that since there might be Ambiguities in it therefore he required him to make the Abjuration in common form which he refused to do and appealed to the King as the Supreme Head of the Church Yet the Bishop pronounced him Contumax and did excommunicate him but whether he was released on his Appeal or not I do not find yet perhaps this was the man of whom the Pope complained to the English Ambassadors 1532. that an Heretick having appealed to the King as the Supreme Head of the Church was taken out of the Bishops hands and judged and acquitted in the Kings Courts It is probable this was the man only the Pope was informed that it was from the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury that he Appealed in which there might be a mistake for the Bishop of London But whatever ground there may be for that conjecture Philips got his liberty and put in a Complaint to the House of Commons which produced the Act about Hereticks And now that Act being passed together with the extirpation of the Popes Authority and the Power being lodged in the King to correct and reform Heresies Idolatries and Abuses the Standard of the Catholick Faith being also declared to be the Scriptures the Persecuted Preachers had ease and encouragement every-where They also saw that the necessity of the Kings Affairs would constrain him to be gentle to them for the Sentence which the Pope gave against the King was committed to the Emperor to be executed by him who was then aspiring to an universal Monarchy and therefore as soon as his other Wars gave him leisure to look over to England and Ireland he had now a good colour to justifie an Invasion both from the Popes Sentence and the interests and honour of his Family in protecting his Aunt and her Daughter Therefore the King was to give him work elsewhere in order to which his interest obliged him to joyn himself to the Princes of Germany who had at Smalcald entred into a League offensive and defensive for the liberty of Religion and the Rights of the Empire This was a thorn in the Emperor's side which the Kings Interest would oblige him by all means to maintain Upon which the Reformers in England concluded that either the King to recommend himself to these Princes would relax the severities of the Law against them or otherwise that their Friends in Germany would see to it for in these first fervours of Reformations the Princes made that always a condition in their Treaties that those who favoured their Doctrine might be no more persecuted But their chief encouragement was from the Queen who Reigned in the Kings heart as absolutely as he did over his Subjects and was a known favourer of them She took Shaxton and Latimer to be her Chaplains and soon after promoted them to the Bishopricks of Salisbury and Worcester then vacant by the deprivation of Campegio and Ghinuccii and in all other things cherished and protected them and used her most effectual endeavours with the King to promote the Reformation Next to her Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was a professed favourer of it who besides the Authority of his Character and See was well-fitted for carrying it on being a very Learned and Industrious man He was at great pains to collect the sense of Ancient Writers upon all the Heads of Religion by which he might be well-directed in such an Important matter I have seen two Volumns in Folio written with his own Hand containing upon all the Heads of Religion a vast heap both of places of Scripture and Quotations out of Ancient Fathers and later Doctors and School-men by which he governed himself in that work There is also an original Letter of the Lord Burghly's extant which I have seen in which he writes that he had six or seven Volumns of his Writings all which except two other that I have seen are lost for ought I can understand From
Preheminence of the See of Rome flowed only from the Laws of men so there was now good cause to repeal these for the Pope as was said in the Council of Basil was only Vicar of the Church and not of Christ so he was accountable to the Church The Council of Constance and the Divines of Paris had according to the Doctrine of the Ancient Church declared the Pope to be subject to a General Council which many Popes in former Ages had confessed And all that the Pope can claim even by the Canon-Law is only to call and preside in a General Council but not to overrule it or have a Negative vote in it The Power of Councils did not extend to Princes Dominions or Secular Matters but only to points of Faith which they were to declare and to Condemn Hereticks nor were their Decrees Laws till they were Enacted by Princes Upon this he enlarged much to show that though a Council did proceed against a King with which they then Threatned the King that their Sentence was of no force as being without their Sphere The determination of Councils ought to be well considered and examined by the Scriptures and in matters indifferent men ought to be left to their freedom he taxed the severity of Victors Proceedings against the Churches of the East about the day of Easter And concluded that as a Member of the Body is not cut off except a Gangrene comes in it so no part of the Church ought to be cut off but upon a great and inevitable cause And he very largely showed with what moderation and charity the Church should proceed even against those that held errors And the Standard of the Councils definitions should only be taken from the Scriptures and not from mens Traditions He said some General Councils had been rejected by others and it was a tender point how much ought to be deferred to a Council some Decrees of Councils were not at all obeyed The Divines of Paris held that a Council could not make a new Article of Faith that was not in the Scriptures And as all Gods Promises to the people of Israel had this condition implyed within them If they kept his Commandments so he thought the Promises to the Christian Church had this condition in them If they kept the Faith Therefore he had much doubting in himself as to General Councils and he thought that only the word of God was the Rule of Faith which ought to take place in all Controversies of Religion The Scriptures were called Canonical as being the only Rules of the Faith of Christians and these by appointment of the Ancient Councils were only to be read in the Churches The Fathers SS Ambrose Ierome and Austin did in many things differ from one another but always appealed to the Scriptures as the common and certain standard And he cited some remarkable passage out of St. Austin to show what difference he put between the Scriptures and all the other Writings even of the best and holiest Fathers But when all the Fathers agreed in the Exposition of any place of Scripture he acknowledged he looked on that as flowing from the Spirit of God and it was a most dangerous thing to be wise in our own Conceit Therefore he thought Councils ought to found their decisions on the word of God and those expositions of it that had been agreed on by the Doctors of the Church Then he discoursed very largely what a person a Judge ought to be he must not be Partial nor a Judge in his own Cause nor so much as sit on the Bench when it is tryed lest his presence should over-awe others Things also done upon a common error cannot bind when the error upon which they were done comes to be discovered and all human Laws ought to be changed when a publick visible inconvenience follows them From which he concluded that the Pope being a Party and having already passed his Sentence in things which ought to be examined by a General Council could not be a Judge nor sit in it Princes also who upon a common mistake thinking the Pope Head of the Church had sworn to him finding that this was done upon a false ground may pull their Neck out of his Yoke as every man may make his escape out of the hands of a Robber And the Court of Rome was so corrupt that a Pope though he mean't well as Hadrian did yet could never bring any good design to an issue the Cardinals and the rest of that Court being so engaged to maintain their Corruptions These were the Heads of that Discourse which it seems he gave them in writing after he had delivered it but he promised to entertain them with another Discourse of the Power the Bishops of the Christian Church have in their Sees and of the Power of a Christian Prince to make them do their duty but that I could never see and I am afraid it is lost All this I thought necessary to open to show the State of the Court and the Principles that the several Parties in it went upon when the Reformation was first brought under Consideration in the third Period of this Kings Reign to which I am now advanced The end of the Second Book EFFIGIES VERA REVERENDISSIMI D. THOMAE CRANMERI ARCHIEPISCOPI CANTUARIâ—NSIS HHolbein pinxit Natus 1489 Iuly 2. Consecratus 1533 Mar. 30. Martyrio Coronatus 1556 Mar. 21. 〈…〉 THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE Church of England BOOK III. Of the other Transactions about Religion and Reformation during the rest of the Reign of King Henry the 8th THe King having passed through the Traverses and tossings of his Sute of Divorce and having with the concurrence both of his Clergy and Parliament brought about what he had projected seem'd now at ease in his own Dominions But though matters were carryed in Publick Assemblies smoothly and successfully yet there were many secret discontents which being fomented both by the Pope and the Emperors Agents wrought him great trouble so that the rest of his life was full of vexation and disquiet All that were zealously addicted to that which they called the Old Religion did conclude that what-ever firmness the King expressed to it now was either pretended out of Policy for avoiding the Inconveniences which the fears of a Change might produce or though he really intended to perform what he professed yet the Interests in which he must embarque with the Princess of Germany against the Pope and the Emperor together with the Power that the Queen had over him and the credit Cranmer and Cromâ—ell had with him would prevail on him to change some things in Religion And they look'd on these things as so complicated together that the change of any one must needs make way for change in more since that struck at the Authority of the Church and left people at liberty to dispute the Articles of Faith This they thought was a Gate opened to Heresie
And therefore they were every-where meeting together and consulting what should be done for suppressing Heresie and preserving the Catholick Faith That zeal was much inflamed by the Monks and Friers who clearly saw the Acts of Parliament were so levelled at their Exemptions and Immunities that they were now like to be at the Kings mercy They were no more to plead their Bulls nor claim any Priviledges further than it pleased the King to allow them No new Saints from Rome could draw more Riches or Honour to their Orders Priviledges and Indulgences were out of doors so that the Arts of drawing in the people to enrich their Churches and Houses were at an end And they had also secret Intimations that the King and the Courtiers had an eye on their Lands and they gave themselves for lost if they could not so embroyl the Kings Affairs that he should not adventure on so invidious a thing Therefore both in Confessions and Conferences they infused into the people a dislike of the Kings Proceedings which though for some time it did not break out into an open Rebellion yet the humor still fermented and people only waited for an opportunity So that if the Emperor had not been otherwise distracted he might have made War upon the King with great Advantages For many of his discontented Subjects would have joyned with the Enemy But the King did so dextrously manage his Leagues with the French King and the Princes of the Empire that the Emperor could never make any impressions on his Dominions But those factious Spirits seeing nothing was to be expected from any forreign Power could not contain themselves but broke out into open Rebellion And this provoked the King to great severities His Spirit was so fretted by the tricks the Court of Rome had put on him and by the Ingratitude and seditious practises of Reginald Pool that he thereby lost much of his former temper and patience and was too ready upon slight grounds to bring his Subjects to the Bar. Where though the matter was always so ordered that according to Law they were Endicted and Judged yet the severity of the Law bordering sometimes on rigor and cruelty he came to be called a cruel Tyrant Nor did his severity lie only on one side but being addicted to some Tenets of the Old Religion and impatient of Contradiction or perhaps blown up either with the vanity of his new Title of Head of the Church or with the praises which Flatterers bestowed on him he thought all persons were bound to regulate their Belief by his Dictates which made him prosecute Protestants as well as proceed against Papists Yet it does not appear that Cruelty was Natural to him For in Twenty five years Reign none had suffered for any Crime against the State but Pool Earl of Suffolk and Stafford Duke of Buckingham The former he prosecuted in Obedience to his Fathers last Commands at his death His severity to the other was imputed to the Cardinals Malice The Proceedings were also legal And the Duke of Buckingham had by the knavery of a Priest to whom he gave great credit been made believe he had a Right to the Crown and practises of that nature touch Princes so nearly that no wonder the Law was executed in such a case This showes that the King was not very jealous nor desirous of the Blood of his Subjects But though he always proceeded upon Law yet in the last Ten years of his Life many instances of Severity occurred for which he is rather to be pityed than either imitated or sharply censured The former Book was full of Intrigues and forreign Transactions the greatest part of it being an account of a tedious Negotiation with the subtlest and most refined Court in Christendome in all the Arts of humane Policy But now my work is confined to this Nation and except in short touches by the way I shall meddle no further with the Mysteries of State but shall give as clear an account of those things that relate to Religion and Reformation as I could possibly recover The Suppression of Monasteries The advance and declension of Reformation and the Proceedings against those who adhered to the Interests of the Court of Rome must be the chief Subjects of this Book The two former shall be opened in the series of time as they were Transacted But the last shall be left to the end of the Book that it may be presented in one full view After the Parliament had ended their Business the Bishops did all renew their Allegeance to the King and swore also to maintain his Supremacy in Ecclesiastical Matters acknowledging that he was the Supreme Head of the Church of England though there was yet no Law for the requiring of any such Oath The first act of the Kings Supremacy was his naming Cromwell Vicar-General and General Visitor of all the Monasteries and other Priviledged places This is commonly confounded with his following Dignity of Lord Vice-Gerent in Ecclesiastical matters but they were two different Places and held by different Commissions By the one he had no Authority over the Bishops nor had he any Precedence but the other as it gave him the Precedence next the Royal Family so it cloathed him with a compleat Delegation of the Kings whole Power in Ecclesiastical Affairs For Two years he was only Vicar-General But the tenour of his Commissions and the nature of the Power devolved on him by them cannot be fully known For neither the one nor the other are in the Rolls though there can be no doubt made but Commissions of such Importance were enrolled therefore the loss of them can only be charged on that search and rasure of Records made by Bonner upon the Commission granted to him by Queen Mary of which I have spoken in the Preface of this work In the Prerogative-Office there is a subalterne Commission granted to Doctor afterwards Secretary Petre on Ian. 13. in the Twenty Seventh year of the Kings Reign by which it appears that Cromwells Commission was at first conceived in very General words for he is called the Kings Vice-Gerent in Ecclesiastical causes his Vicar-General and Official-Principal But because he could not himself attend upon all these affairs therefore Doctor Petre is deputed under him for receiving the Probates of Wills from thence likewise it appears that all Wills where the Estate was 200 lib. or above were no more to be tryed or proved in the Bishops Courts but in the Vicar-Generals Court Yet though he was called Vice-Gerent in that Commission he was spoken of and writ to by the Name of Vicar-General but after the second Commission seen and mentioned by the Lord Herbert in Iuly 1536. he was alwayes designed Lord Vice-Gerent The next thing that was every-where laboured with great industry was to engage all the rest of the Clergy chiefly the Regulars to own the Kings Supremacy To which they generally submitted In Oxford the Question being put whether
Order to another By whom And for what Cause What Mortmains they had And whether their Founders were sufficiently Authorized to make such Donations Upon what suggestions and for what Causes they were exempted from their Diocesans Their Local Statutes were also to be seen and examined The Election of their Head was to be enquired into The Rule of every House was to be considered How many professed And how many Novices were in it And at what time the Novices Professed Whether they knew their Rule and observed it Chiefly the three Vows of Poverty Chastity and Obedience Whether any of them kept any money without the Masters knowledge Whether they kept company with women within or without the Monastery Or if there were any back-doors by which women came within the precinct Whether they had any boys lying by them Whether they observed the Rules of Silence Fasting Abstinence and Hair-shirts Or by what warrant they were dispenced with in any of these Whether they did Eat Sleep wear their Habit and stay within the Monastery according to their Rules Whether the Master was too cruel or too remiss And whether he used the Brethren without partiality or malice Whether any of the Brethren were incorrigible Whether the Master made his accompts faithfully once a year Whether all the other Officers made their accompts truely And whether the whole Revenues of the House were imployed according to the intention of the Founders Whether the Fabrick was kept up and the Plate and Furniture were carefully preserved Whether the Covent-Seal and the Writings of the House were well kept And whether Leases were made by the Master to his Kindred and Friends to the damage of the House Whether Hospitality was kept and whether at the receiving of Novices any money or reward was demanded or promised What care was taken to instruct the Novices Whether any had entred into the House in hope to be once the Master of it Whether in giving Presentations to Livings the Master had reserved a Pension out of them Or what sort of Bargains he made concerning them An account was to be taken of all the Parsonages and Vicarages belonging to every House and how these Benefices were disposed of and how the Cure was served All these things were to be inquired after in the Houses of Monks or Friars And in the Visitation of Nunneries they were to Search Whether the House had a good Enclosure and if the Doors and Windows were kept shut so that no man could enter at inconvenient hours Whether any men conversed with the Sisters alone without the Abbesses leave Whether any Sister was forced to profess either by her Kindred or by the Abbess Whether they went out of their precinct without leave And whether they wore their Habit then What employment they had out of the times of Divine Service What familiarity they had with Religious men Whether they wrote Love-Letters Or sent and received Tokens or Presents Whether the Confessor was a discreet and learned man and of good reputation And how oft a year the Sisters did Confess and Communicate They were also to visit all Collegiate Churches Hospitals and Cathedrals and the Order of the Knights of Ierusalem But if this Copy be compleat they were only to view their Writings and Papers to see what could be gathered out of them about the Reformation of Monastical Orders And as they were to visit according to these Instructions so they were to give some Injunctions in the Kings Name That they should endeavour all that in them lay that the Act of the Kings Succession should be observed where it is said that they had under their Hands and Seals confirmed it This showes that all the Religious Houses of England had acknowledged it and they should teach the people that the Kings Power was Supreme on Earth under God and that the Bishop of Rome's Power was Usurped by Craft and Policy and by his ill Canons and Decretals which had been long tolerated by the Prince but was now justly taken away The Abbot and Brethren were declared to be absolved from any Oath they had Sworn to the Pope or to any Forreign Potentate and the Satutes of any Order that did bind them to a Forreign Subjection were abrogated and ordered to be razed out of their Books That no Monk should go out of the precinct nor any woman enter within it without leave from the King or the Visitor and that there should be no entry to it but one Some Rules were given about their Meals and a Chapter of the Old or New Testament was ordered to be read at every one The Abbots Table was to be served with common Meats and not with delicate and strange Dishes and either he or one of the Seniors were to be always there to entertain strangers Some other Rules follow about the distribution of their Alms their accommodation in Health and Sickness One or two of every House was to be kept at the University that when they were well Instructed they might come and teach others And every day there was to be a Lecture of Divinity for a whole hour The Brethren must all be well employed The Abbot or Head was every day to explain some part of the Rule and apply it according to Christ's Law and to shew them that their Ceremonies were but Elements introductory to true Christianity and that Religion consisted not in Habits or in such like Rites but in cleanness of Heart pureness of Living unfeigned Faith Brotherly Charity and true honouring of God in Spirit and Truth That therefore they must not rest in their Ceremonies but ascend by them to true Religion Other Rules are added about the Revenues of the House and against Wastes and that none be entred into their House nor admitted under twenty four years of Age. Every Priest in the House was to say Mass daily and in it to pray for the King and Queen If any brake any of these Injunctions he was to be denounced to the King or his Visitor-general The Visitor had also Authority to punish any whom he should find guilty of any Crime and to bring the Visitor-general such of their Books and Writings as he thought fit But before I give an account of this Visitation I presume it will not be ingrateful to the Reader to offer him some short view of the Rise and Progress of Monastick Orders in England and of the state they were in at this time What the Ancient British Monks were or by what Rule they were Governed whether it was from the Eastern Churches that this Constitution was brought into Britain and was either suited to the Rule of St. Anthony St. Pachon or St. Basil or whether they had it from France where Sulpitius tells us St. Martin set up Monasteries must be left to conjecture But from the little that remains of them we find they were very numerous and were obedient to the Bishop of Caerleon as all the Monks of the
Primitive times were to their Bishops according to the Canons of the Council of Chalcedon But upon the confusions which the Gothick Wars brought into Italy Beâ—edict and others set up Religious Houses and more artificial Rules and Methods were found out for their Government Not long after that Austin the Monk came into England and having Baptized Ethelbert he perswaded him to Found a Monastery at Canterbury which the King by his Charter exempted from the Jurisdiction of the Arch-Bishop and his Successors This was not only done by Austins consent but he by another Writing confirms this Foundation and exempted both the Monastery and all the Churches belonging to it from his or his Successors Jurisdictions and most earnestly conjures his Successors never to give any trouble to the Monks who were only to be subject to their own Abbot And this was granted that they might have no disturbance in the Service of God But whether this with many other Ancient Foundations were not latter Forgeries which I vehemently suspect I leave to Criticks to discuss the next Exemption that I find was granted in the year 680 to the Abby of Peterborough by Pope Agatho and was Signed by Theodore Arch-Bishop of Canterbury called the Popes Legate this I doubt was Forged afterwards In the year 725 King Ina's Charter to the Abbey of Glassenbury relates to their Ancient Charters and exempts them from the Bishops Jurisdiction King Offa Founded and exempted the Monastery of St. Albans in the year 793 which Pope Honorius the 3d Confirmed Anno 1218 Kenulph King of Mercia founded and exempted Abington in the year 821. Knut Founded and exempted St. Edmundsbury in the year 1020. About the end of the Eighth Century the Danes began to make their descents into England and made every-where great depredations and finding the Monks had possessed themselves of the greatest part of the Riches of the Nation they made their most frequent inroads upon these places where they knew the Richest spoyl was to be found And they did so wast and ruine these Houses that they were generally abandon'd by the Monks who as they loved the ease and wealth they had enjoyed formerly in their Houses so had no mind to expose themselves to the persecutions of those heathenish Invaders But when they had deserted their Seats the Secular Clergy came and possessed them so that in King Edgars time there was scarce a Monk in all England He was a most dissolute and lewd Prince but being perswaded by Dunstan and other Monks that what he did towards the restoring of that decayed State would be a matter of great Merit became the great Promoter of the Monastical State in England For he converted most of the Chapters into Monasteries and by his Foundation of the Priory of Worcester it appears he had then founded no fewer then Fourty Seven which he intended to encrease to Fifty the number of Pardon Yet in his Foundations he only exempted the Monasteries from all exactions or dues which the Bishops claim'd There are Exemptions of several rates and sizes Some Houses were only Exempted from all Exactions others from all Jurisdiction or Visitations others had only an Exemption for their precinct others for all the Churches that belonged to them Edward the Confessor exempted many of these Houses which Edgar had founded as Ramsey c. He also founded and Exempted Coventry and Westminster and the Exemption of the last was likewise confirmed by Pope Nicolas in a Bull to King Edward William the Conqueror Founded and Exempted the Abbey of Battel from all Episcopal Jurisdiction But after that time I do not find that our Kings exempted Abbeys from any thing but Episcopal Exactions for though formerly Kings had made Laws and given Orders about Ecclesiastical matters yet now the claim to an Immunity from the Civil Jurisdiction and also the Papal Authority were grown to that height that Princes were to meddle no more with sacred things And henceforth all Exemptions were granted by the Popes who claimed a Jurisdiction over the whole Church and assumed that Power to themselves with many other Usurpations All the Ancient Foundations were subscribed by the King the Queen and Prince with many Bishops and Abbots and Dukes and Earls consenting The Abbeys being exempted from all jurisdiction both Civil and Spiritual and from all Impositions and having generally the Priviledge of Sanctuary for all that fled to them were at ease and accountable to none so they might do what they pleased They found also means to enrich themselves First by the belief of Purgatory For they perswaded all people that the Souls departed went generally thither few were so Holy as to go straight to Heaven and few so bad as to be cast to Hell Then people were made believe that the saying of Masses for their Souls gave them great relief in their Torments and did at length deliver them out of them This being generally received it was thought by all a piece of piety to their Parents and of necessary care for themselves and their families to give some part of their Estates towards the enriching of these Houses for having a Mass said every day for the Souls of their Ancestors and for their own after their death And this did so spread that if some Laws had not restrained their profuseness the greater part of all the Estates in England had been given to those Houses But the Statutes of Mortmain were not very effectual restrains for what King soever had refused to grant a Mortmain was sure to have an uneasie reign ever after Yet this did not satisfie the Monks but they fell upon other contrivances to get the best of all mens Jewels Plate and Furniture For they perswaded them that the protection and intercession of Saints were of mighty use to them so that whatsoever respect they put on the Shrines and Images but chiefly on the Relicks of Saints they would find their account in it and the Saints would take it kindly at their hands and intercede the more earnestly for them And people who saw Courtiers much wrought on by presents imagined the Saints were of the same temper only with this difference that Courtiers love to have Presents put in their own hands but the Saints were satisfied if they were given to others And as in the Courts of Princes the new Favourite commonly had greatest credit so every new Saint was believed to have a greater force in his Addresses and therefore every body was to run to their Shrines and make great Presents to them This being infused into the credulous Multitude they brought the richest things they had to the places where the bodies or Relicks of those Saints were laid Some Images were also believed to have a peculiar Excellencie in them and Pilgrimages and Presents to these were much magnified But to quicken all this the Monks found the means either by dreams and visions or strange Miraculous stories to feed the devotion of the people
and his Gospel so if she be proved culpable there is not one that loveth God and his Gospel that ever will favour her but must hate her above all other and the more they favour the Gospel the more they will hate her For then there was never creature in our time that so much slandered the Gospel And God hath sent her this punishment for that she feignedly hath professed his Gospel in her mouth and not in heart and deed And though she have offended so that she hath deserved never to be reconciled unto your Graces favour yet Almighty God hath manifoldly declared his goodness towards your Grace and never offended you But your Grace I am sure knowledgeth that you haue offended him Wherefore I trust that your Grace will bear no less entire favour unto the truth of the Gospel than you did before Forsomuch as your Graces favour to the Gospel was not led by affection unto her but by zeal unto the truth And thus I beseech Almighty God whose Gospel he hath ordained your Grace to be Defender of ever to preserve your Grace from all evil and give you at the end the promise of his Gospel From Lanbeth the 3d day of May. After I had written this Letter unto your Grace my Lord Chancellor my Lord of Oxford my Lord of Sussex and my Lord Chamberlain of your Graces House sent for me to come unto the Star-Chamber and there declared unto me such things as your Graces pleasure was they should make me privie unto For the which I am most bounden unto your Grace And what Communication we had together I doubt not but they will make the true report thereof unto your Grace I am exceedingly sorry that such faults can be proved by the Queen as I heard of their relation But I am and ever shall be Your faithful Subject Your Graces most humble Subject and Chaplain T. Cantuariensis But Jealousie and the Kings new affection had quite defaced all the remainders of esteem for his late beloved Queen Yet the Ministers continued practising to get further evidence for the Tryal which was not brought on till the 12th of May and then Norris Weston Brereton and Smeton were tryed by a Commission of Oyer and Terminer in Westminster-Hall They were twice indicted and the indictments were found by two Grand Juries in the Counties of Kent and Middlesex The Crimes with which they were charged being said to be done in both these Counties Mark Smeton confessed he had known the Queen Carnally Three times The other Three pleaded not Guilty but the Jury upon the evidence formerly mentioned found them all Guilty and Judgment was given that they should be drawn to the place of Execution and some of them to be hanged others to be beheaded and all to be quartered as Guilty of high Treason On the 15th of May the Queen and her Brother the Lord Rochford who was a Peer having been made a Viscount when his Father was Created Earl of Wiltshire were brought to be Tryed by their Peers The Duke of Norfolk being Lord high Steward for that occasion With him sate the Duke of Suffolk the Marquess of Exeter the Earl of Arundel and Twenty Five more Peers of whom their Father the Earl of Wiltshire was one Whether this unnatural complyance was imposed on him by the Imperious King or officiously submitted to by himself that he might thereby be preserved from the Ruin that fell on his Family is not known Here the Queen of England by an unheard-of president was brought to the Bar and Indicted of high Treason The Crimes charged on her were that she had procured her Brother and the other Four to lye with her which they had done often that she had said to them that the King never had her heart and had said to every one of them by themselves that she loved them better than any person whatsoever Which was to the slander of the issue that was begotten between the King and her And this was Treason according to the Statute made in the 26th year of this Reign so that the Law that was made for her and the issue of her Marriage is now made use of to destroy her It was also added in the Indictment that she and her complices had conspired the Kings death but this it seems was only put in to swell the charge for if there had been any evidence for it there was no need of stretching the other Statute or if they could have proved the violating of the Queen the known Statute of the Twenty Fifth year of the Reign of Edward the Third had been sufficient When the Indictment was read she held up her hand and Pleaded not Guilty and so did her Brother and did answer the evidence was brought against her discreetly One thing is remarkable that Mark Smeton who was the only person that confessed any thing was never confronted with the Queen nor was kept to be an evidence against her for he had received his Sentence Three dayes before and so could be no witness in Law but perhaps though he was wrought on to confess yet they did not think he had confidence enough to aver it to the Queens face therefore the evidence they brought as Spelman says was the Oath of a Woman that was dead yet this or rather the Terror of offending the King so wrought on the Lords that they found her and her Brother Guilty and Judgment was given that she should be Burnt or Beheaded at the Kings pleasure Upon which Spelman observes that whereas Burning is the death which the Law appoints for a Woman that is attainted of Treason yet since she had been Queen of England they left it to the King to determine whether she should dye so infamous a death or be Beheaded but the Judges complained of this way of proceeding and said such a disjunctive in a Judgment of Treason had never been seen The Lord Rochford was also Condemned to be Beheaded and Quartered Yet all this did not satisfie the enraged King but the Marriage between him and her must be annulled and the issue illegitimated The King remembred an Intrigue that had been between her and the Earl of Northumberland which was mentioned in the former Book and that the then Lord Piercy had said to the Cardinal ' That he had gone so far before witnesses that it lay upon his Conscience so that he could not go back this it 's like might be some promise he made to Marry her per verba de futuro which though it was no Precontract in it self yet it seems the poor Queen was either so ignorant or so ill-advised as to be perswaded afterwards it was one though it 's certain that nothing but a Contract per verba de praesenti could be of any force to annul the subsequent Marriage The King and his Council reflecting upon what it seems the Cardinal had told him resolved to try what could be made of it and pressed the Earl of
Wives gained most on his esteem and affection But she was happy in one thing that she did not out-live his love otherwise she might have fallen as signally as her Predecessor had done Upon this turn of Affairs a great change of Counsels followed There was nothing now that kept the Emperor and the King at a distance but the Illegitimation of the Lady Mary and if that matter had been adjusted the King was in no more hazard of trouble from him Therefore it was proposed that she might be again restored to the Kings favour She found this was the best opportunity she could ever look for and therefore laid hold on it and wrote an humble submission to the King and desired again to be admitted to his presence But her Submissions had some reserves in them therefore she was pressed to be more express in her acknowledgments At this she stuck long and had almost embroyled her self again with her Father She freely offered to submit to the Laws of the Land about the Succession and confessed the fault of her former Obstinacy But the King would have her acknowledge that his Marriage to her Mother was incestuous and unlawful and to renounce the Popes Authority and to accept him as Supream Head of the Church of England These things were of hard digestion with her and she could not easily swallow them so she wrote to Cromwell to befriend her at the Kings hands Upon which many Letters passed between them He wrote to her that it was impossible to recover her Fathers favour without a full and clear Submission in all points So in the end she yielded and sent the following Paper all written with her own hand which is set down as it was Copied from the Original yet extant The Confession of me the Lady Mary made upon certain points and Articles under written in the which as I do now plainly and with all mine heart confess and declare mine inward Sentence Belief and Judgment with a due conformity of Obedience to the Laws of the Realm so minding for ever to persist and continue in this determination without change alteration or variance I do most humbly beseech the Kings Highness my Father whom I have obstinately and inobediently offended in the denial of the same heretofore to forgive mine offences therein and to take me to his most gracious Mercy First I confess and knowledg the Kings Majesty to be my Soveraign Lord and King in the Imperial Crown of this Realm of England and do submit my self to his Highness and to all and singular Laws and Statutes of this Realm as becometh a true and faithful Subject to do which I shall also obey keep observe advance and maintain according to my bounden duty with all the power force and qualities that God hath endued me with during my Life Item I do recognize accept take repute and knowledg the Kings Highness to be Supream Head in Earth under Christ of the Church of England and do utterly refuse the Bishop of Romes pretended Authority Power and Jurisdiction within this Realm heretofore usurped according to the Laws and Statutes made in that behalf and of all the Kings true Subjects humbly received admitted obeyed kept and observed and also do utterly renounce and forsake all manner of Remedy Interest and advantage which I may by any means claim by the Bishop of Rome's Laws Process Jurisdiction or Sentence at this present time or in any wise hereafter by any manner of title colour mean or case that is shall or can be devised for that purpose Mary Item I do freely frankly and for the Discharge of my duty towards God the Kings Highness and his Laws without other respect recognize and knowledg that the Marriage heretofore had between his Majesty and my Mother the late Princess Dowager was by Gods Law and Mans Law incestuous and unlawful Mary Upon this she was again received into favour One circumstance I shall add that shows the frugality of that time In the Establishment that was made for her Family there was only 40 l. a quarter assigned for her privy purse I have seen a Letter of hers to Cromwell at the Christsmas quarter desiring him to let the King know that she must be at some Extraordinary expence that season that so he might encrease her allowance since the 40 l. would not defray the Charge of that quarter For the Lady Elizabeth though the King devested her of the Title of Princess of Wales yet he continued still to breed her up in the Court with all the care and tenderness of a Father And the new Queen what from the sweetness of her disposition and what out of compliance with the King who loved her much was as kind to her as if she had been her Mother Of which I shall add one pretty evidence though the childishness of it may be thought below the Gravity of a History Yet by it the Reader will see both the kindness that the King and Queen had for her and that they allowed her to subscribe Daughter There are two Original Letters of hers yet remaining writ to the Queen when she was with Child of King Edward the one in Italian the other in English both writ in a fair hand the same that she wrote all the rest of her life But the conceits in that writ in English are so pretty that it will not be unacceptable to the Reader to see this first Blossome of so great a Princess when she was not full Four years of Age She being born in September 1533. and this writ in Iuly 1537. Although your Highness Letters be most joyful to me in absence yet considering what pain it is to you to write your Grace being so great with Child and so sickly your Commendation were enough in my Lords Letter I much rejoyce at your health with the well liking of the Countrey with my humble thanks that your Grace wished me with you till I were weary of that Countrey Your Highness were like to be combered if I should not depart till I were weary being with you although it were in the worst soil in the World your presence would make it pleasant I cannot reprove my Lord for not doing your Commendations in his Letter for he did it and although he had not yet I will not complain on him for that he shall be diligent to give me knowledg from time to time how his busie child doth and if I were at his birth no doubt I would see him beaten for the trouble he has put you to Mr Denny and my Lady with humble thanks prayeth most entirely for your Grace praying the Almighty God to send you a most lucky deliverance And my Mistress wisheth no less giving your Highness most humble thanks for her commendations Writ with very little leisure this last day of Iuly Your Humble Daughter Elizabeth But to proceed to more serious matters A Parliament was Summoned to meet the 8th of Iune
If full Forty days be necessary for a Summons then the Writs must have been issued forth the day before the late Queens disgrace so that it was designed before the Justs at Greenwich and did not flow from any thing that then appeared When the Parliament met the Lord Chancellor Audley in his speech told them That when the former Parliament was dissolved the King had no thoughts of Summoning a new one so soon But for two reasons he had now called them The one was that he finding himself subject to so many infirmities and considering that he was Mortal a rare thought in a Prince he desired to settle an apparent heir to the Crown in case he should die without Children lawfully begotten The other was to repeal an Act of the former Parliament concerning the Succession of the Crown to the issue of the King by Queen Anne Boleyn He desired them to reflect on the great troubles and vexation the King was involved in by his first unlawful Marriage and the dangers he was in by his second which might well have frighted any body from a third Marriage But Anne and her Conspirators being put to death as they well deserved the King at the humble request of the Nobility and not out of any Carnal concupiscence was pleased to Marry again a Queen by whom there were very probable hopes of his having children Therefore he recommended to them to provide an heir to the Crown by the Kings direction who if the King dyed without children lawfully begotten might Rule over them He desired they would pray God earnestly that he would grant the King issue of his own body and return thanks to Almighty God that preserved such a King to them out of so many eminent dangers who imployed all his care and endeavours that he might keep his whole people in quiet peace and perfect charity and leave them so to those that should succeed him But though this was the chief cause of calling the Parliament it seems the Ministers met with great difficulties and therefore spent much time in preparing mens minds For the Bill about the Succession to the Crown was not brought into the House of Lords before the 30th day of Iune that the Lord Chancellor offered it to the House It went through both Houses without any Opposition It contained first a repeal of the former Act of Succession and a Confirmation of the two Sentences of Divorce the issue of both the Kings former Marriages being declared illegitimate and for ever excluded from claiming the inheritance of the Crown as the Kings Lawful heirs by lineal descent The Attainder of Queen Anne and her Complices is confirmed Quen Anne is said to have been inflamed with pride and Carnal desires of her body and having confederated her self with her complices to have committed divers Treasons to the danger of the Kings Royal person with other aggravating words for which she had justly suffered death and is now attainted by Act of Parliament And all things that had been said or done against her or her Daughter being contrary to an Act of Parliament then in force are pardoned and the inheritance of the Crown is established on the issue of Queen Iane whether Male or Female or the Kings issue by any other Wife whom he might Marry afterwards But since it was not fit to declare to whom the Succession of the Crown belonged after the Kings death lest the person so designed might be thereby enabled to raise trouble and Commotions therefore they considering the Kings wise and excellent Government and confiding in the love and affection which he bore to his Subjects did give him full Power to declare the Succession to the Crown either by his Letters Patents under the great Seal or by his last will Signed with his hand and promised all faithful obedience to the persons named by him And if any so designed to succeed in default of others should endeavor to usurp upon those before them or to exclude them they are declared Traytors and were to forfeit all the Right they might thereafter claim to the Crown And if any should maintain the Lawfulness of the former Marriages or that the issue by them was legitimate or refused to swear to the Kings issue by Queen Iane they were also declared Traytors By this Act it may appear how absolutely this King Reigned in England Many question'd much the validity of it and as shall afterwards appear the Scots said that the Succession to the Crown was not within the Parliaments Power to determine aboutit but must go by inheritance to their King in default of issue by this King Yet by this the King was enabled to settle the Crown on his Children whom he had now declared Illegitimate by which he brought them more absolutely to depend upon himself He neither made them desperate nor gave them any further Right than what they were to derive purely from his own good pleasure This did also much pacifie the Emperor since his Kinswoman was though not restored in blood yet put in a capacity to succeed to the Crown At this time there came a new Proposition from Rome to try if the King would accommodate matters with the Pope Pope Clement the Seventh dyed two years before this in the year 1534. and Cardinal Farnese succeeded him called Pope Paul the Third He had before this made one unsuccessful attempt upon the King but upon the beheading of the Bishop and declared Cardinal of Rochester he had Thundered a most terrible Sentence of Deposition against the King and designed to commit the Execution of it to the Emperor Yet now when Queen Katharine and Queen Anne who were the occasions of the Rupture were both out of the way he thought it was a proper conjuncture to try if a Reconciliation could be effected This he proposed to Sir Gregory Cassali who was no more the Kings Ambassador at Rome but was still his Correspondent there The Pope desired he would move the King in it and let him know that he had ever favoured his Cause in the former Popes time and though he was forced to give out a Sentence against him yet he had never any intention to proceed upon it to further Extremities But the King was now so entirely alienated from the Court of Rome that to cut off all hopes of reconciliation he procured two Acts to be passed in this Parliament The one was for the utter extinguishing the Authority of the Bishop of Rome It was brought into the House of Lords on the 4th of Iuly And was read the first time the 5th and the second time on the 6th of Iuly and lay at the Committee till the 12th And on the 14th it was sent down to the Commons who if there be no mistake in the Journal sent it up that same day They certainly made great haste for the Parliament was dissolved within Four days The Preamble of this first Act contains severe Reflections on
jests about Confession praying to Saints Holy Water and the other Ceremonies of the Church were complained of And the last Articles contained sharp reflexions on some of the Bishops as if they had been wanting in their Duty to suppress such things This was clearly levelled at Cranmer Latimer and Shaxton who were noted as the great Promoters of these opinions The first did it prudently and solidly The second zealously and simply And the third with much indiscreet pride and vanity But now that the Queen was gone who had either raised or supported them their Enemies hoped to have advantages against them and to lay the growth of these opinions to their charge But this whole Project failed and Cranmer had as much of the Kings favour as ever for in stead of that which they had projected Cromwell by the Kings order coming to the Convocation Declared to them that it was the Kings pleasure that the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church should be Reformed by the Rules of Scripture and that nothing was to be maintained which did not rest on that Authority for it was absurd since that was acknowledged to contain the Laws of Religion that recourse should rather be had to Glosses or the Decrees of Popes than to these There was at that time one Alexander Alesse a Scotch-man much esteemed for his Learning and Piety whom Cranmer entertained at Lambeth Him Cromwell brought with him to the Convocation and desired him to deliver his opinion about the Sacraments He enlarged himself much to Convince them that only Baptism and the Lords Supper were Instituted by Christ. Stokesley Bishop of London answered him in a long Discourse in which he shewed he was better acquainted with the Learning of the Schools and the Canon-Law than with the Gospel He was Seconded by the Arch-Bishop of York and others of that Party But Cranmer in a long and learned Speech shewed how useless these niceties of the Schools were and of how little Authority they ought to be and discoursed largely of the Authority of the Scriptures of the use of the Sacraments of the uncertainty of Tradition and of the Corruption which the Monks and Friars had brought into the Christian Doctrine He was vigorously seconded by the Bishop of Hereford who told them the world would be no longer deceived with such Sophisticated stuff as the Clergy had formerly vented The Laity were now in all Nations studying the Scriptures and that not only in the vulgar Translations but in the original Tongues and therefore it was a vain imagination to think they would be any longer governed by those arts which in the former Ages of Ignorance had been so effectual Not many days after this there were several Articles brought in to the upper House of Convocation devised by the King himself about which there were great debates among them The two Arch-Bishops heading two Parties Cranmer was for a Reformation and with him joyned Thomas Goodrich Bishop of Ely Shaxton of Sarum Latimer of Worcester Fox of Hereford Hilsey of Rochester and Barlow of St. Davids But Lee Arch-Bishop of York was a known favourer of the Popes Interests which as it first appeared in his scrupling so much with the whole Convocation of York the acknowledging the King to be Supreme Head of the Church of England so he had since discovered it on all occasions in which he durst do it without the fear of losing the Kings favour So he and Stokesley Bishop of London Tonstâ—ll of Duresm Gardiner of Winchester Longland of Lincoln Sherburn of Chichester Nix of Norwich and Kite of Carlisle had been still against all changes But the King discovered that those did in their hearts love the Papal Authority though Gardiner dissembled it most artificially Sherburn Bishop of Chichester upon what inducement I cannot understand resigned his Bishoprick which was given to Richard Sampson Dean of the Chappel a Pension of 400 l. being reserved to Sherburn for his Life which was confirmed by an Act of this Parliament Nix of Norwich had also offended the King signally by some correspondence with Rome and was kept long in the Marshalsea and was convicted and found in a Premunire The King considering his great Age had upon his humble submission discharged him out of Prison and pardon'd him But he died the former year though Fuller in his slight way makes him fit in this Convocation For by the 17th Act of the last Parliament it appears that the Bishoprick of Norwich being vacant the King had recommended William Abbot of St. Bennets to it but took into his own hands all the Lands and Manours of the Bishoprick and gave the Bishop several of the Priories in Norfolk in exchange which was confirmed in Parliament I shall next give a short abstract of the Articles about Religion which were after much consultation and long debating agreed to First All Bishops and Preachers must instruct the people to believe the whole Bible and the three Creeds that made by the Apostles the Nicene and the Athanasian and interpret all things according to them and in the very same words and condemn all Heresies contrary to them particularly those condemned by the first four general Councils Secondly Of Baptism the people must be instructed That it is a Sacrament instituted by Christ for the Remission of sins without which none could attain Everlasting Life And that not only those of full Age but Infants may and must be Baptized for the pardon of Original sin and obtaining the gift of the Holy Ghost by which they became the Sons of God That none Baptized ought to be Baptized again That the opinions of the Anabaptists and Pelagians were detestable Heresies And that those of ripe Age who desired Baptism must with it joyn Repentance and Contrition for their sins with a firm Belief of the Articles of the Faith Thirdly Concerning Penance they were to instruct the people that it was instituted by Christ and was absolutely necessary to Salvation That it consisted of Contrition Confession and Amendment of Life with exterior works of Charity which were the worthy Fruits of Pennance For Contrition it was an inward shame and sorrow for sin because it is an offence of God which provokes his displeasure To this must be joyned a Faith of the mercy and goodness of God whereby the penitent must hope that God will forgive him and repute him justified and of the number of his Elect Children not for the worthiness of any merit or work done by him but for the only Merits of the Blood and Passion of our Saviour Jesus Christ. That this Faith is got and confirmed by the Applicatition of the Promises of the Gospel and the use of the Sacraments And for that end Confession to a Priest is necessary if it may be had whose Absolution was instituted by Christ to apply the promises of Gods Grace to the penitent Therefore the people were to be taught That the Absolution is spoken by an Authority
Conjuncture of affairs knowing that few would come to it and so they might carry things as they pleased But the World was now awake the Scriptures were again in mens hands and people would not be so tamely couzen'd as they had been Then he shewes how unsafe it was for any English man to go to Mantua how little regard was to be had to the Popes safe Conduct they having so oft broken their Oaths and Promises He also shew's how little reason he had to trust himself to the Pope how kind he had been to that See formerly and how basely they had requited it And that now these Three years past they had been stirring up all Christian Princes against him and using all possible means to create him trouble Therefore he declared he would not go to any Council called by the Bishop of Rome but when there was a General peace among Christian Princes he would most gladly hearken to the motion of a true General Council and in the mean-while he would preserve all the Articles of the Faith in his Kingdom and sooner lose his Life and his Crown than suffer any of them to be put down And so he protested against any Council to be held at Mantua or any where else by the Bishop of Romes Authority That he would not acknowledg it nor receive any of their Decrees At this time Reginald Pool who was of the Royal Blood being by his Mother descended from the Duke of Clarence Brother to King Edward the Fourth and in the same degree of kindred with the King by his Fathers side was in great esteem for his Learning and other Excellent vertues It seems the King had determined to breed him up to the greatest dignity in the Church and to make him as Eminent in Learning and other acquired parts as he was for Quality and a Natural Sweetness and Nobleness of temper Therefore the King had given him the Deanery of Excester with several other dignities towards his maintenance beyond Sea and sent him to Paris where he stayed several years There he first incurred the Kings displeasure For being desired by him to concur with his Agents in procuring the Subscriptions and Seals of the French Universities he excused himself yet it was in such terms that he did not openly declare himself against the King After that he came over to England and as he writes himself was present when the Clergy made their Submission and acknowledged the King Supream Head In which since he was then Dean of Exeter and kept his Deanry several years after that it is not to be doubted but that as he was by his place obliged to sit in the Convocation so he concurred with the rest in making that Submission From thence he went to Padua where he lived long and was received into the Friendship and Society of some celebrated persons who gave themselves much to the Study of Eloquence and of the Roman Authors These were Centareno Bembo Caraffa Sadoletti with a great many more that became afterwards well known over the World But all those gave Pool the Preheminence and that justly too for he was accounted one of the most Eloquent men of his time The King called him oft home to assist him in his affairs but he still declined it at length finding delays could prevail no longer he wrote the King word that he did not approve of what he had done neither in the matter of his Divorce nor his separation from the Apostolick See To this the King answered desiring his reasons why he disagreed from him and sent him over a Book which Doctor Sampson had writ in defence of the Proceedings in England Upon which he wrote his Book De unione Ecclesiastica and sent it over to the King and soon after Printed it this year In which Book he condemned the Kings Actions and pressed him to return to the obedience he owed the See of Rome with many sharp reflections but the Book was more considered for the Author and the Wit and Eloquence of it than for any great Learning or deep reasoning in it He did also very much depress the Royal and exalt the Papal Authority He compared the King to Nebuchadonosor and addressed himself in the Conclusion to the Emperor whom he conjured to turn his Arms rather against the King than the Turk And indeed the indecencies of his expressions against the King not to mention the scurrilous Language he bestows on Sampson whose Book he undertakes to answer are such that it appears how much the Italian Air had changed him and that his Converse at Padua had for some time defac'd that generous temper of mind which was otherwise so natural to him Upon this the King desired him at first to come over and explain some passages in his Book But when he could not thus draw him into his toyles he proceeded severely against him and devested him of all his Dignities but these were plentifully made up to him by the Popes bounty and the Emperors He was afterwards rewarded with a Cardinals hat but he did not rise above the degree of a Deacon Some believe that the Spring of this opposition he made to the King was a secret affection he had for the Lady Mary The publishing of this Book made the King set the Bishops on work to write Vindications of his Actions which Stokesley and Tonstal did in a long and Learned Letter that they wrote to Pool And Gardiner published his Book of true obedience To which Bonner who was hot on the scent of Preferment added a Preface But the King designed sharper tools for Pool's punishment Yet an Attaindor in absence was all he câ—uld do against himself But his Family and kindred felt the weight of the Kings displeasure very sensibly But now I must give an account of the dissolution of the Monasteries pursuant to the Act of Parliament though I cannot fix the exact time in which it was done I have seen the Original Instructions with the Commission given to those who were to visit the Monasteries in and about Bristol All the rest were of the same kind They bear date the 28th of April after the Session of Parliament was over and the report was to be made in the Octaves of St. Michael the Arch-Angel But I am inclined to think that the great concussion and disorder things were in by the Queens death made the Commissioners unwilling to proceed in so invidious a matter till they saw the Issue of the new-Parliament Therefore I have delayed giving any account of the Proceedings in that matter till this place The Instructions will be found in the Collection The Substance of them was as follows The Auditors of the Court of Augmentations were the persons that were employed Four or any Three of them were Commissioned to execute the Instructions in every particular Visitation One Auditor or Receiver and one of the Clerks of the former Visitation were to call for Three discreet persons in
Bribes at this time which is not to be wondred at when there was so much to be shared But great disorders followed upon the Dissolution of the other Houses People were still generally discontented The Suppression of Religious Houses occasioned much out-crying and the Articles then lately published about Religion encreased the distaste they had conceived at the Government The old Clergy were also very watchful to improve all opportunities and to blow upon every spark And the Popes Power of deposing Kings had been for almost five hundred years received as an Article of Faith The same Council that established Transubstantiation had asserted it and there were many Precedents not only in Germany France Spain and Italy but also in England of Kings that were Deposed by Popes whose Dominions were given to other Princes This had begun in the Eighth Century in two famous Deprivations The one in France of Childeric the 3d who was deprived and the Crown given to Pepin and about the same time those Dominions in Italy which were under the Eastern Emperors renounced their alleagance to them In both these the Popes had a great hand yet they rather confirmed and approved of those Treasonable Mutations than gave the first rise to them But after Pope Gregory the 7th's time it was clearly assumed as a Right and Prerogative of the Papal Crown to Depose Princes and absolve Subjects from the Oaths of Alleagance and set up others in their stead And all those Emperors or Kings that contested any thing with Popes sat very uneasie and unsafe in their Thrones ever after that But if they were tractable to the demands of the Court of Rome then they might oppress their Subjects and Govern as unjustly as they pleased for they had a mighty support from that Court This made Princes more easily bear the Popes usurpations because they were assisted by them in all their other Proceedings And the Friers having the Consciences of people generally in their hands as they had the word given by their General at Rome so they disposed people either to be obedient or seditious as they pleased Now not only their own Interests mixed with their zeal for the ancient Religion but the Popes Authority gave them as good a Warrant to encline the people to Rebel as any had in former times of whom some were Canonized for the like practices For in August the former year the Pope had Summoned the King to appear within Ninety days and to answer for putting away his Queen and taking another Wife and for the Laws he had made against the Church and putting the Bishop of Rochester and others to death for not obeying these Laws and if he did not reform these faults or did not appear to answer for them the Pope Excommunicated him and all that favoured him deprived the King put the Kingdom under an Interdict forbade all his Subjects to obey and other States to hold Commerce with him dissolved all his Leagues with forreign Princes commanded all the Clergy to depart out of England and his Nobility to rise in Arms against him But now the force of those Thunders which had formerly produced great Earth-quakes and Commotions was much abated yet some storms were raised by this though not so violent as had been in former times The people were quiet till they had reaped their Harvest And though some Injunctions were published a little before to help it the better forward most of the Holy days in Harvest being abolished by the Kings Authority yet that rather Inflamed them the more Other Injunctions were also published in the Kings name by Cromwell his Vice-gerent which was the first Act of pure Supremacy done by the King For in all that went before he had the Concurrence of the two Convocations But these it is like were penned by Cranmer The Reader is referred to the Collection of Papers for them as I transcribed them out of the Register The Substance of them was that first all Ecclesiastical Incumbents were for a quarter of an year after that once every Sunday and ever after that twice every quarter to publish to the people That the Bishop of Romes usurped Power had no ground in the Law of God and therefore was on good reasons abolished in this Kingdom And that the Kings Power was by the Law of God Supream over all persons in his Dominions And they were to do their uttermost endeavour to extirpate the Popes Authority and to establish the Kings Secondly They were to declare the Articles lately published and agreed to by the Convocation and to make the people know which of them were Articles of Faith and which of them Rules for the decent and politick Order of the Church Thirdly They were to declare the Articles lately set forth for the Abrogation of some superfluous Holy days particularly in Harvest time Fourthly They were no more to extol Images or Relicks for superstition or gain nor to exhort people to make Pilgrimages as if blessings and good things were to be obtained of this or that Saint or Image But in stead of that the people were to be instructed to apply themselves to the keeping of Gods Commandments and doing works of Charity and to believe that God was better served by them when they stayed at home and provided for their Families than when they went Pilgrimages and that the Moneys laid out on these were better given to the poor Fifthly They were to exhort the people to teach their Children the Lords Prayer the Creed and the ten Commandments in English and every Incumbent was to explain these one Article a day till the people were Instructed in them And to take great care that all Children were bred up to some trade or way of Living Sixthly They must take care that the Sacraments and Sacramentals be reverently administred in their Parishes from which when at any time they were absent they were to Commit the Cure to a Learned and expert Curate who might instruct the people in wholsome Doctrine that they might all see that their Pastors did not pursue their own profits or interests so much as the Glory of God and the good of the Souls under their Cure Seventhly They should not except on urgent occasion go to Taverns or Ale-houses nor sit too long at any sort of Games after their Meals but give themselves to the Study of the Scripture or some other honest exercise and remember that they must excel others in purity of life and be examples to all others to live well and Christianly Eighthly Because the goods of the Church were the goods of the poor every Beneficed person that had twenty Pound or above and did not reside was yearly to distribute the Fortieth part of his Benefice to the poor of the Parish Ninthly Every Incumbent that had an hundred Pound a year must give an Exhibition for one Schollar at some Grammar School or University who after he had compleated his Studies was to be Partner of
of some disaffected Persons For when he came to the Crown there were none that were born Noble of his Council but only the Earl of Surrey and the Earl of Shrewsbury whereas now the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk the Marquess of Exeter the Lord Steward the Earls of Oxford and Sussex and the Lord Sands were of the Privy-Council And for the Spirituality the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Winchester Hereford and Chichester were also of it And he and his whole Council judging it necessary to have some at the board who understood the Law of England and the Treaties with Forreign Princes he had by their Unanimous advice brought in his Chancellor and the Lord Privy-Seal He thought it strange that they who were but brutes should think they could better judg who should be his Counsellors than himself and his whole Council Therefore he would bear no such thing at their hands it being inconsistent with the duty of good Subjects to meddle in such matters But if they or any of his other Subjects could bring any just complaint against any about him he was ready to hear it and if it were proved he would punish it according to Law As for the complaints against some of the Prelates for preaching against the Faith they could know none of these things but by the report of others since they lived at such a distance that they themselves had not heard any of them preach Therefore he required them not to give credit to Lies nor be misled by those who spread such Calumnies and ill reports And he concluded all with a severe Expostulation adding that such was his love to his Subjects that imputing this Insurrection rather to their folly and lightness than to any malice or rancour he was willing to pass it over more gently as they would perceive by his Proclamation Now the people were come to themselves again and glad to get off so easily and they all chearfully accepted the Kings offers and went home again to their several dwellings Yet the Clergy were no way satisfied but continued still to practise amongst them and kept the Rebellion still on foot so that it broke out soon after The Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Shrewsbury were ordered to lie still in the Country with their Forces till all things were more fully composed They made them all come to a full submission and first to revoke all Oaths and Promises made during the Rebellion for which they asked the Kings Pardon on their knees 2ly To swear to be true to the King and his Heirs and Successors 3ly To obey and maintain all the Acts of Parliament made during the Kings Reign 4ly Not to take Arms again but by the Kings Authority 5ly To apprehend all Seditious persons 6ly To remove all the Monks Nuns and Friars whom they had placed again in the dissolved Monasteries There were also Orders given to send Ask their Captain and the Lord Darcy to Court Ask was kindly received and well used by the King He had shewed great conduct in Commanding the Rebels and it seems the King had a mind either to gain him to his service or which I suspect was the true Cause to draw from him a discovery of all those who in the other parts of the Kingdom had favoured or relieved them For he suspected not without cause that some of the great Abbots had given secret supplies of Money to the Rebels For which many of them were afterwards tryed and attainted The Lord Darcy was under great apprehensions and studied to purge himself that he was forced to a Compliance with them but pleaded that the long and important services he had done the Crown for fifty years he being then fourscore together with his great Age and Infirmity might mitigate the Kings displeasure But he was made Prisoner Whether this gave those who had been in Arms new jealousies that the Kings Pardon would not be inviolably observed or whether the Clergy had of new prevailed on them to rise in Arms I cannot determine But it broke out again though not so dangerously as before Two Gentlemen of the North Musgrave and Tilby raised a body of 8000 men and thought to have surprised Carlisle but were repulsed by those within And in their return the Duke of Norfolk fell upon them and routed them He took many prisoners and by Martial Law hanged up all their Captains and Seventy other Prisoners on the Walls of Carlisle Others at that same time thought to have surprised Hull but it was prevented and the leaders of that Party were also taken and Executed Many other Risings were in several places of the Countrey which were all soon repressed the ground of them all was that the Parliament which was promised was not called But the King said they had not kept conditions with him nor would he call a Parliament till all things were quieted But the Duke of Norfolks vigilance every-where prevented their gathering together in any great Body And after several un-succesful attempts at length the Countrey was absolutely quieted in Ianuary following And then the Duke of Norfolk proceeded according to the Martial Law against many whom he had taken Ask had also left the Court without leave and had gone amongst them but was quickly taken So he and many others were sent to several places to be made publick Examples He suffered at York others at Hull and in other Towns in Yorkshire But the Lord Darcy and the Lord Hussy were arraigned at Westminster and attainted of Treason The former for the Northern and the other for the Lincolnshire Insurrection The Lord Darcy was beheaded at Towerhill and was much lamented Every body thought that considering his Merits his Age and former services he had hard measure The Lord Hussy was beheaded at Lincoln The Lord Darcy in his Tryal accused the Duke of Norfolk that in the Treaty at Doncaster he had encouraged the Rebels to continue in their demands This the Duke denyed and desired a Tryal by Combate and gave some presumptions to shew that the Lord Darcy bore him ill-will and said this out of Malice The King either did not believe this or would not seem to believe it And the Dukes great diligence in the Suppression of these Commotions set him beyond all jealousies But after those Executions the King wrote to the Duke in Iuly next to Proclaim an absolute Amnesty over all the North which was received with great joy every body being in fear of himself and so this threatning storm was dissipated without the effusion of much blood save what the sword of justice drew At the same time the King of Scotland returning from France with his Queen and touching on the Coast of England many of the people fell down at his feet praying him to assist them and he should have all But he was it seems bound up by the French King and so went home without giving them any encouragement And thus ended
this Rebellion which was chiefly carryed on by the Clergy under pretence of Religion And now the King was delivered of all his apprehensions that he had been in for some years in fear of Stirs at home But they being now happily composed as he knew it would so overawe the rest of his discontented Subjects that he needed fear nothing from them for a great while so it encouraged him to go on in his other designs of suppressing the rest of the Monasteries and reforming some other Points of Religion Therefore there was a new Visitation appointed for all the Monasteries of England And the Visiters were ordered to Examine all things that related either to their Conversation to their affection to the King and the Supremacy or to their Superstition in their several Houses To discover what Cheats and Impostures there were either in their Images Relicks or other miraculous things by which they had drawn people to their Houses on Pilgrimages and gotten from them any great Presents Also to try how they were affected during the late Commotions and to discover every thing that was amiss in them and report it to the Lord Vice-gerent In the Records of the whole Twenty Eighth year of the Kings Reign I find but one Original Surrender of any Religious House The Abbot of Furnese in Lincolnshire valued at 960 lib. with Thirty Monks resigning up that House to the King on the 9th of April which was very near the end of the year of the Kings Reign for it commenced on the 22d of April Two other Surrenders are enrolled that year The one was of Bermondsey in Surrey the first of Iune in the twenty eighth of the Kings Reign The Preamble was that they Surrendred in hopes of greater Benevolence from the King But this was the effect of some secret practice and not of the Act of Parliament For it was valued at 548 lib. and so fell not within the Act. The other was of Bushlisham or Bishtam in Berkshire made by Barlow Bishop of St. Davids that was Commendator of it and a great Promoter of the Reformation It was valued at 327 lib. But in the following year they made a quicker Progress and found strange Enormities in the greater Houses It seems all the Houses under 200 lib. of Rent were not yet suppressed For I find many within that value afterwards resigning their Houses So that I am enclined to believe that the first visitation being made towards the Suppression of the lesser Monasteries and that as appears by their Instructions being not to be finished till they had made a report of what they had done to the Court of Augmentations who were after the report made to determine what pensions were to be reserved to the Abbot and other Officers which report was to be made in the Octaves of St. Michael and after that a new Commission was to be given for their Suppression when that was done they went no further at that time that so I cannot think there were many Houses Suppressed when these Stirres began and after their first rising it is not likely that great Progress would be made in a business that was like to inflame the people more and encrease the number of the Rebels Neither do I find any Houses suppressed by vertue of the former Act of Parliament till the twenty ninth year of the Kings Reign And yet they made no great hast this year For there are but twenty one Surrenders all this year either in the Rolls or Augmentation-Office And now not only small Abbeys but greater ones were surrendred to the King The Abbots were brought to do it upon several Motives Some had been faulty during the late Rebellion and were liable to the Kings displeasure and these to redeem themselves compounded the matter by a Resignation of their House Others began to like the Reformation and that made them the more willing to surrender their Houses such as Barlow Bishop of St. Davids who not only surrendered up his own House of Bushlisham but prevailed on many others to do the like Others were convicted of great disorders in their Conversation and these not daring to stand a Tryal were glad to accept of a Pension for life and deliver up their House Others were guilty of making great wastes and Dilapidations For they all saw the Dissolution of their Houses approaching and so every one was induced to take all the care he could to provide for himself and his kindred so that the Visitors found in some of the Richest Abbies of England as St. Albans and Battell such depredations made that at St. Albans an Abbot could not subsist any longer the rents were so low and in Battell as all their furniture was old and torn not worth an 100 lib. so both in House and Chappel they had not 400 Marks worth of Plate In other Houses they found not above twelve or fifteen Ounces of Plate and no furniture at all but only such things as they could not embezel as the Walls and Windows Bells and Lead In other Houses the Abbot and Monks were glad to accept of a Pension for themselves during life and so being only concerned for their own particular interest resigned their House to the King Generally the Monks had eight Marks a year Pension till they were provided for The Abbots Pensions were proportioned to the Value of their House and to their Innocence The Abbots of St. Albans and Tewksbury had 400 Marks a year a piece The Abbot of St. Edmundsbury was more Innocent for the Visitors wrote from thence that they could find no scandals in that House So he it seems was not easily brought to Resign his House and had 500 Marks Pension reserved to him And for their inferior Officers some had 30. some 10. or 8. and the lowest 6 lib. Pension In other places upon a vacancy either by death or deprivation they did put in an Abbot only to resign up the House For after the Kings Supremacy was established all those Abbots that had been formerly confirmed by the Pope were placed in this manner The King granted a Conge d'elire to the Prior and Convent with a Missive Letter declaring the name of the person whom they should choose then they returned an election to the King who upon that gave his assent to it by a Warrant under the great Seal which was certified to the Lord Vice-gerent who thereupon Confirmed the Election and returned him back to the King to take the Oaths upon which the Temporalities were restored Thus all the Abbots were now placed by the King and were generally pickt out to serve this turn Others in hope of advancement to Bishopricks or to be Suffragan Bishops as the inferior sort of them were made generally were glad to recommend themselves to the Kings favour by a quick and cheerful Surrender of their Monasterie Upon some of these inducements it was that the greatest number of the Religious Houses were resigned to the King
brought with them then they afforded them the favour of turning the clear side outward who upon that went home very well-satisfied with their journey and the expence they had been at There was brought out of Wales a huge Image of wood called Darvel Gatheren of which one Ellis Price Visitor of the Diocess of St. Asaph gave this account On the 6th of April 1537. That the people of the Countrey had a great Superstition for it and many Pilgrimages were made to it so that the day before he wrote there were reckoned to be above five or six hundred Pilgrims there Some brought Oxen and Cattel and some brought Money and it was generally believed that if any offered to that Image he had Power to deliver his Soul from Hell So it was ordered to be brought to London where it served for fewel to burn Friar Forrest There was an huge Image of our Lady at Worcester that was had in great reverence which when it was stript of some veils that covered it was found to be the Statue of a Bishop Barlow Bishop of St. Davids did also give many advertisements of the Superstition of his Countrey and of the Clergy and Monks of that Diocess who were guilty of Heathenish Idolatry gross Impiety and Ignorance and of abusing the people with many evident forgeries about which he said he had good evidence when it should be called for But that which drew most Pilgrims and presents in those parts was an Image of our Lady with a Taper in her hand which was believed to have burnt nine years till one forswearing himself upon it it went out and was then much Reverenced and Worshipped He found all about the Cathedral so full of Superstitious conceits that there was no hope of working on them therefore he proposed the Translating the Episcopal Seat from St. Davids to Caermaerden which he pressed by many Arguments and in several Letters but with no success Then many rich Shrines of our Lady of Walsingham of Ipswich and Islington with a great many more were brought up to London and burnt by Cromwels Orders But the richest Shrine of England was that of Thomas Becket called St. Thomas of Canterbury the Martyr who being raised up by King Henry the ad to the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury did afterwards give that King much trouble by opposing his Authority and exalting the Popes And though he once consented to the Articles agreed on at Clarendon for bearing down the Papal and securing the Regal Power yet he soon after repented of that only piece of Loyalty of which he was guilty all the while he was Arch-Bishop He fled to the Pope who received him as a Confessor for the dearest Article of the Roman Belief The King and Kingdoms were Excommunicated and put under an Interdict upon his Account But afterwards upon the Intercession of the French King King Henry and he were reconciled and the Interdict was taken off Yet his unquiet Spirit could take no rest for he was no sooner at Canterbury than he began to Embroyl the Kingdom again and was proceeding by Censures against the Arch-Bishop of York and some other Bishops for Crowning the Kings Son in his Absence Upon the news of that the King being then in Normandy said If he had faithful Servants he would not be so troubled with such a Priest whereupon some zealous or officious Courtiers came over and killed him For which as the King was made to undergoe a severe pennance so the Monks were not wanting in their ordinary Arts to give out many miraculous stories concerning his Blood This soon drew a Canonization from Rome and he being a Martyr for the Papacy was more extolled than all the Apostles or Primitive Saints had ever been So that for 300 years he was accounted one of the greatest Saints in Heaven as may appear from the accounts in the leger-Books of the offerings made to the three greatest Altars in Christs Church in Canterbury The one was to Christ the other to the Virgin and the third to St. Thomas In one year there was offered at Christ's Altar 3 lib. 2 s. 6 d. To the Virgins Altar 63 lib. 5 s. 6 d. But to St. Thomas's Altar 832 lib. 12 s. 3 d. But the next year the odds grew greater for there was not a penny offered at Christs Altar and at the Virgins only 4 lib. 1 s. 8 d. But at St. Thomas's 954 lib. 6 s. 3 d. By such offerings it came that his Shrine was of inestimable value There was one Stone offered there by Lewis the 7th of France who came over to visit it in a Pilgrimage that was believed the Richest in Europe Nor did they think it enough to give him one day in the Calendar the 29th of December but unusual honours were devised for this Martyr of the liberties of the Church greater than any that had been given to the Martyrs for Christianity The day of raising his body or as they called it of his Translation being the 7th of Iuly was not only a holy-day but every 50th year there was a Jubilee for 15 days together and Indulgence was granted to all that came to visit his shrine as appears from the Record of the sixth Jubilee after his Translation Anno. 1420 which bears that there were then about an hundred thousand strangers come to visit his Tomb. The Jubilee began at twelve a clock on the Vigil of the feast and lasted 15 days by such Arts they drew an incredible deal of wealth to his shrine The Riches of that together with his disloyal practices made the King resolve both to un-shrine and un-Saint him at once And then his skull which had been much worshipped was found an Imposture For the true skull was lying with the rest of his bones in his grave The shrine was broken down and carryed away the Gold that was about it filling two Chests which were so heavy that they were a load to Eight strong men to carry them out of the Church And his bones were as some say burnt so it was understood at Rome but others say they were so mixed with other dead bones that it would have been a Miracle indeed to have distinguished them afterwards The King also ordered his name to be struck out of the Kalendar and the office for his Festivity to be dasht out of all Breviaries And thus was the Superstition of England to Images and Relicks extirpated Yet the King took care to qualifie the distaste which the Articles published the former year had given And though there was no Parliament in the year 1537. yet there was a Convocation upon the Conclusion of which there was Printed an Explanation of the chief points of Religion Signed by nineteen Bishops eight Arch-Deacons and seventeen Doctors of Divinity and Law In which there was an Exposition of the Creed the seven Sacraments the ten Commandments the Lords Prayer and the Salutation of the Virgin with an Account of Justification and Purgatory
But this work was put in a better Form afterwards where the Reader will find a more particular account of it When all these Proceedings of the Kings were known at Rome all the Satyrical Pens there were employed to paint him out as the most Infamous Sacrilegious Tyrant that ever was They represented him as one that made War with Heaven and the Saints that were there That committed outrages on the bodies of the Saints which the Heathenish Romans would have punished severely for any that committed the like on those that were dead how mean or bad soever they had been All his proceedings against the Priests or Monks that were Attainted and Executed for high Treason were represented as the effects of savage and barbarous Cruelty His suppressing the Monasteries and devouring what the Devotion of former Ages had Consecrated to God and his Saints was called Ravenous and Impious Sacrilege nor was there any thing omitted that could make him appear to posterity the blackest Tyrant that ever wore a Crown They compared him to Pharaoh Nabuchadonosor Belshazar Nero Domitian and Dioclesian but chiefly to Iulian the Apostate This last Paralel liked them best and his Learning his Apostacy and pretence of Reforming were all thought copied from Iulian only they said his manners were worse These things were every day Printed at Rome and the Informations that were brought out of England were generally addressed to Cardinal Pool whose style was also known in some of them All which possest the King with the deepest and most implacable hatred to him that ever he bore to any person and did provoke him to all these severities that followed on his Kindred and Family But the malice of the Court of Rome did not stop there For now the Pope published all these Thunders which he had threatned three years before The Bull of Deposition is Printed in Cherubins Bullarum Romanum which since many have the confidence to deny matters of fact the Most publickly acted shall be found in the Collection of Papers the substance of it is as follows The Pope being Gods Vicar on Earth and according to Ieremy's Prophecy set over Nations and Kingdoms to root out and destroy and having the supream power over all the Kings in the whole World was bound to proceed to due correction when milder courses were ineffectual therefore since King Henry who had been formerly a Defender of the Faith had fallen from it had contrary to an Inhibition made put away his Queen and marryed one Anne Bollein and had made impious and hurtful Laws denying the Pope to be the Supream Head of the Church but assuming that Title to himself and had required all his Subjects under pain of death to swear it and had put the Cardinal of Rochester to death because he would not consent to these Heresies and by all these things had rendred himself unworthy of his Regal Dignity and had hardened his heart as Pharoah did against all the Admonitions of Pope Clement the 7th therefore since these his crimes were so notorious he in imitation of what the Apostle did to Elimas the Magician proceeds to such Censures as he had deserved and with the advice of his Cardinals does first exhort him and all his Complices to return from their errours to annull the Acts lately made and to proceed no farther upon them which he requires him and them to do under the pains of Excommunication and Rebellion and of the Kings losing his Kingdom whom he required within 90 dayes to appear at Rome by himself or Proxy and his Complices within 60 dayes to give an account of their Actions otherwise he would then proceed to a further sentence against them And Declares that if the King and his Complices do not appear he has fallen from the right to his Crown and they from the right to their Estates and when they die they were to be denied Christian Burial He puts the whole Kingdom under an Interdict and declares all the Kings Children by the said Anne and the Children of all his Complices to be under the same pains though they be now under age and Incapacitates them for all honours or employments and declares all the Subjects or Vassals of the Kings or his Complices absolved from all Oaths or Obligations to them and requires them to acknowledg them no more And declares him and them Infamous so that they might neither be witnesses nor make Wills He requires all other persons to have no dealings with him or them neither by Trading nor any other way under the pain of Excommunication the annulling their Contracts and the exposing goods so Traded in to all that should catch them And that all Clergymen should within five dayes after the expiration of the time prefixed go out of the Kingdom leaving only so many Priests as would be necessary for Baptizing Infants and giving the Sacrament to such as died in Penitence under the pains of Excommunication and Deprivation And Charges all Noble-men and others in his Dominions under the same pains to rise up in Arms against him and to drive him out of his Kingdom and that none should take Arms for him or any way assist him and Declares all other Princes absolved from any Confederacies made or to be made with him and earnestly obtests the Emperour and all Kings and requires other Princes under the former pains to trade no more with him and in case of their disobedience he puts their Kingdomes under an Interdict And requires all Princes and Military persons in the vertue of Holy Obedience to make War upon him and to force him to return to the Obedience of the Apostolick See and to seize on all Goods or Merchandizes belonging to the King or his Complices where-ever they could find them and that such of his Subjects that were seized on should be made Slaves And requires all Bishops Three dayes after the time that was set down was elapsed to intimate this Sentence in all their Churches with putting out of Candles and other Ceremonies that ought to be used in the most solemn and publick manner that might be And all who hindered the Publication of this Sentence are put under the same Pains He ordained this Sentence to be affixed at Rome Tournay and Dunkirk which should stand for a sufficient publication and concludes that if any should endeavour to oppose or enervate any of the premises he should incur the indignatition of Almighty God and the Holy Apostles St. Peter and Paul Dated at Rome the 30th of August 1635. But the Pope found the Princes of Christendom liked the precedent of using a King in that manner so ill that he suspended the Execution of this Bull till this time that the suppression of Abbies and the burning of Thomas Beckets Bones for it was so represented at Rome though our writers say they were buried did so inflame the Pope that he could forbear no longer and therefore by a new sentence he did all he could
to shake him in his Throne The Preamble of it was That as our Saviour had pity on St. Peter after his fall so it became St. Peters successors to imitate our Saviour in his Clemency and that therefore though he having heard of King Henry's crimes had proceeded to a sentence against him Here the former Bull was recited Yet some other Princes who hoped he might be reclaimed by gentler methods had interposed for a suspension of the Sentence and he being easie to believe what he so earnestly desired had upon their Intercession suspended it But now he found they had been deceived in their hopes and that he grew worse and worse and had done such dishonour to the Saints as to raise St. Thomas of Canterburies body to arraign him of High Treason and to burn his Body and Sacrilegiously to rob the Riches that had been offered to his Shrine as also to suppress St. Austins Abbey in Canterbury and that having thrust out the Monks he had put in wild Beasts into their grounds having transformed himself into a Beast Therefore he takes off the Suspension and publishes the Bull commanding it to be executed Declaring that the affixing it at Diepe or Bulloign in France at St. Andrews or Callistren that is Callstream a Town near the border of England in Scotland or Tuam or Artifert in Ireland or any two of these should be a sufficient Publication Dated the 7th of December Anno Dom. 1538. No man can read these Bulls but he must conclude that if the Pope be the Infallible and Universal Pastor of the Church whom all are bound to obey he has a full authority over all Kings to proceed to the highest Censures possible and since the matters of fact enumerated in the Sentence as the grounds of it were certainly true then 〈◊〉 the Pope is either cloathed with the powers of Deposing Princes or if otherwise he lied to the world when he pretended to it thus and taught false Doctrine which cannot stand with Infallibility And the pretended grounds of the sentence as to matter of fact being evidently true this must be a just Sentence and therefore all that acknowledged the Infallibility of that See were bound to obey it and all the Rebellions that followed during the reign of the King or his Children were founded on this sentence and must be justified by it otherwise the Popes Infallibility must fall to the ground But this was to be said for the Pope that though he had raised the several branches of this Sentence higher than any of his Predecessors had ever done yet as to the main he had very good and Authentick Precedents for what he did from the Depositions of Emperours or Kings that were made by former Popes for about 500 years together This I thought needful to be more fully opened because of the present Circumstances we are now in since hereby every one that will consider things must needs see that the belief of the Popes Infallibility does necessarily infer the acknowledgment of their power of deposing Heretical Kings For it is plain the Pope did this ex Cathedra and as a Pastor Feeding and Correcting his Flock But not content with this he also wrote to other Princes inflaming them against the King Particularly to the Kings of France and Scotland To the last of these he sent a Breve declaring King Henry a Heretique a Schismatique a manifest Adulterer a publick Murtherer a Rebel and convict of High Treason against him the Pope his Lord for which Crimes he had deposed him and offered his Dominions to him if he would go and invade them And thus the breach between him and the Pope was past reconciling and at Rome it was declared equally meritorious to fight against him as against the Turk But Card. Pool made it more meritorious in his Book Yet the Thunders of the Vatican had now lost their force so that these had no other effect but to enrage the King more against all such as were suspected to favour their interests or to hold any correspondence with Cardinal Pool Therefore he first procured a Declaration against the Popes pretensions to be Signed by all the Bishops of England In which after they declared against the Popes Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction upon the grounds formerly touched they concluded That the People ought to be Instructed that Christ did expresly forbid his Apostles or their Successors to take to themselves the power of the Sword or the authority of Kings And that if the Bishop of Rome or any other Bishop assumed any such power he was a Tyrant and Usurper of other mens Rights and a subverter of the Kingdom of Christ. This was subscribed by 19 Bishops all that were then in England and 25 Doctors of Divinity and Law It was at some time before May 1538. For Edward Fox Bishop of Hereford who was one that signed it died the 8th of May that year There was no Convocation called by Writ for doing this For as there is no mention of any such Writ in the Registers so if it had been done by Convocation Cromwell had signed it first but his hand not being at it it is more probable that a meeting of the Clergy was called by the Kings Missive Letters or that as was once done before the Paper was drawn at London and sent over the Kingdom to the Episcopal Sees for the Bishops hands to it There is another original Paper extant Signed at this time by eight Bishops from which I conjecture those were all that were then about London It was to shew That by the Commission which Christ gave to Church-men they were only Ministers of his Gospel to instruct the people in the purity of the Faith But that by other places of Scripture the Authority of Christian Princes over all their Subjects as well Bishops and Priests as others was also clear And that the Bishops and Priests have charge of Souls within their Cures Power to administer Sacraments and to teach the word of God To the which word of God Christian Princes acknowledg themselves subject and that in case the Bishops be negligent it is the Christian Princes Office to see them do their duty This being Signed by Iohn Hilsey Bishop of Rochester must be after the year 1537. in which he was consecrated and Latimer and Shaxton also Signing it must be before the year 1539. in which they resigned But I believe it was Signed at the same time that the other was And the design of it was to refuse those Calumnies spread at Rome as if the King had wholly Suppressed all Ecclesiastical Offices and denyed them any divine Authority making them wholly dependent on the Civil Power and Acting by Commission only from him And therefore they explained the limits of both these Powers in so clear and moderate a way that it must have stopt the Mouths of all Opposers But whether there was any publick use made of this Paper I can by no means discover
The King did also set forward the Printing of the English Bible which was finished this year at London by Grafton the Printer who Printed 1500 of them at his own Charge This Bible Cromwel presented to the King and procured his Warrant allowing all his Subjects in all his Dominions to read it without controul or hazard For which the Arch-Bishop wrote Cromwel a Letter of most hearty thanks dated the 13th of August Who did now rejoyce that he saw this day of Reformation which he concluded was now risen in England since the Light of Gods word did shine over it without any Cloud The Translation had been sent over to France to be Printed at Paris the workmen in England not being judged able to do it as it ought to be Therefore in the year 1537. it was recommended to Bonners care who was then Ambassador at Paris and was much in Cromwels favour who was setting him up against Gardiner He procured the King of France's leave to Print it at Paris in a large Volume but upon a complaint made by the French Clergy the Press was stopt and most of the Copies were seized on and publickly burnt but some Copies were conveyed out of the way and the work-men and fourms were brought over to England where it was now finished and published And Injunctions were given out in the Kings name by Cromwel to all Incumbents to provide one of these Bibles and set it up publickly in the Church and not to hinder or discourage the reading of it but to encourage all persons to peruse it as being the true lively word of God which every Christian ought to believe embrace and follow if he expected to be saved And all were exhorted not to make contests about the Exposition or sense of any difficult place but to refer that to men of higher judgment in the Scriptures Then some other Rules were added about the Instructing the people in the Principles of Religion by teaching the Creed the Lords Prayer and ten Commandments in English And that in every Church there should be a Sermon made every quarter of an year at least to declare to the people the true Gospel of Christ and to exhort them to the works of Charity Mercy and Faith and not to trust in other mens works or Pilgrimages to Images or Relicks or saying over Beads which they did not understand since these things tended to Idolatry and Superstition which of all offences did most provoke Gods Indignation They were to take down all Images which were abused by Pilgrimages or offerings made to them and to suffer no Candles to be set before any Image only there might be Candles before the Cross and before the Sacrament and about the Sepulchre And they were to Instruct the people that Images served only as the Books of the un-learned to be remembrances of the Conversations of them whom they represented but if they made any other use of Images it was Idolatry for remedying whereof as the King had already done in part so he intended to do more for the abolishing such Images which might be a great offence to God and a danger to the Souls of his Subjects And if any of them had formerly Magnified such Images or Pilgrimages to such purposes They were ordered openly to recant and acknowledg that in saying such things they had been led by no ground in Scripture but where deceived by a vulgar error which had crept into the Church through the Avarice of those who had profit by it They were also to discover all such as were Letters of the reading of Gods word in English or hindred the Execution of these Injunctions Then followed orders for keeping of Registers in their Parishes for Reading all the Kings Injunctions once every quarter at least That none were to alter any of the Holy-days without directions from the King And all the Eves of the Holy-days formerly abrogated were declared to be no Fasting-days The Commemoration of Thomas Becket was to be clean omitted The kneeling for the Avies after Sermon were also forbidden which were said in hope to obtain the Popes Pardon And whereas in their Processions they used to say so many Suffrages with an Ora pro nobis to the Saints by which they had not time to say the Suffrages to God himself they were to teach the people that it were better to omit the Ora pro nobis and to sing the other Suffrages which were most necessary and most effectual These Injunctions struck at three main Points of Popery containing encouragements to the vulgar to Read the Scriptures in a known tongue and putting down all worship of Images and leaving it free for any Curate to leave out the Suffrages to the Saints So that they were looked on as a deadly blow to that Religion But now those of that party did so Artificially comply with the King that no advantages could be found against any of them for their disobedience The King was Master at home and no more to be disobeyed He had not only broken the Rebellion of his own Subjects and secured himself by Alliance from the dangers threatned him by the Pope but all their expectations from the Lady Mary were now clouded For on the 12th of October 1537. Queen Iane had born him a Son who was Christned Edward the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury being one of his God-Fathers This very much encouraged all that were for Reformation and disheartned those who were against it But the joy for this young Prince was qualified by the Queens death two days after which afflicted the King very much for of all his Wives she was the dearest to him And his grief for that loss is given as the reason why he continued two years a Widower But others thought he had not so much tenderness in his Nature as to be much or long troubled for any thing Therefore the slowness of his Marrying was ascribed to some reasons of State But the Birth of the Prince was a great disappointment to all those whose hopes rested on the Lady Maries succeeding her Father Therefore they submitted themselves with more than ordinary Compliance to the King Gardiner was as busie as any in declaiming against the Religious Houses and took occasion in many of his Sermons to commend the King for suppressing them The Arch-Bishop of York had recovered himself at Court And I do not find that he interposed in the Suppression of any of the Religious Houses except Hexham about which he wrote to Cromwel that it was a great Sanctuary when the Scots made Inroads And so he thought that the continuing of it might be of great use to the King He added in that Letter that he did carefully silence all the Preachers of Novelties But some of these boasted that they would shortly have Licences from the King as he heard they had already from the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury but he desired Cromwel to prevent that mischief This is all that I
Beauty But he excused himself that he thought the thing was so far gone that it was decent to write as he had done The King lamented his condition in that Marriage and expressed great trouble both to the Lord Russel Sir Anthony Brown Sir Anthony Denny and others about him The last of those told him this was one Advantage that mean persons had over Princes That great Princes must take such Wives as are brought them whereas meaner persons go and chuse Wives for themselves But when the King saw Cromwel he gave his grief a freer vent to him He finding the King so much Troubled would have cast the chief blame on the Earl of Southampton for whom he had no great kindness And said when he found her so far short of what reports and Pictures had made her he should have stayed her at Callice till he had given the King notice of it But the Earls Commission being only to bring her over he said It had been too great a presumption in him to have interposed in such a manner And the King was convinced he was in the right So now all they had to insist on was the clearing of that Contract that had passed between her and the Marquess of Lorain which the Ambassadors who had been with the King had undertaken should be fully done and brought over with her in due form of Law So after the Lady was brought in great State to Greenwich the Council met and sent for the Ambassadors of the Duke of Cleves that conducted her over and desired to see what they had brought for clearing the breach of that Contract with the Marquess of Lorrain But they had brought nothing and made no account of it saying that the Contract was in their Minority when they could give no consent and that nothing had followed on it after they came to be of Age. But this did not satisfie the Kings Council who said these were but their words and they must see better proofs The Kings Marriage was Annulled with Anne Boleyn upon a pre-contract therefore he must not again run the like hazard So Olisleger and Hogâ—sden the Ambassadors from Cleve did by a formal Instrument Protest before Cromwel that in a peace made between their late Master Iohn Duke of Cleve and Anthony Duke of Lorrain one of the conditions was that this Lady being then under Age should be given in Marriage to Francis Son to the Duke of Lorrain who was likewise under Age which Treaty they affirmed they saw and read But that afterwards Henry de Groffe Ambassador of Charles Duke of Gueldres upon whose mediation that peace had been concluded declared in their hearing that the Espousals were Annulled and of no effect and that this was Registred in the Chancery of Clâ—ve of which they promised to bring an Authentical Extract within three Months to England Some of the Counsellors who knew the Kings secret dislike of her person would have insisted more on this But the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Duresm said if there was no more than that it could be no just hindrance to the Solemnization of the Marriage So the King seeing there was no remedy and being much pressed both by the Ministers of Cleve and by the Lord Cromwel Marryed her on the 6th of Ianuary But expressed so much aversion and dislike of her that every body about him took notice of it Next day the Lord Cromwel asked him how he liked her then He told him He was not every man therefore he would be free with him He liked her worse than he did He suspected she was no Maid and had such ill smells about her that he loathed her more than ever and did not believe he should ever consummate the Marriage This was sad news to Cromwel who knew well how delicate the King was in these matters and that so great a Misfortune must needs turn very heavy on him that was the chief Promoter of it He knew his Enemies would draw great advantages from this and understood the Kings temper too well to think his Greatness would last long if he could not induce the King to like the Queen better But that was not to be done for though the King lived five Months with her in that State and very oft lay in the Bed with her yet his Aversion rather encreased than abated She seemed not much concerned at it and as their Conversation was not great so she was of an heavy Composition and was not much displeased to be delivered from a Marriage in which she had so little satisfaction Yet one thing shews that she wanted not Capacity For she learned the English Language very soon and before her Marriage was Annulled she spoke English freely as appears by some of the Depositions There was an Instrument brought over from Cleve taken out of the Chancery there by which it appeared That Henry de Groffe Ambassador from the Duke of Gueldres had on the 15th of February in the year 1535. declared the Nullity of the former Contract in express words which are set down in high Dutch but thus put in Latine Sponsalia illa progressum suum non habitura I will not answer for the Latine ex quo dictus Dux Carolus admodum doleret propterea quaedam fecisset amplius facturus esset And Pallandus that was Ambassador from the Duke of Cleves in the Duke of Guelders Court wrote to his Master Illustrissimum Ducem Gueldriae certo scire prima illa Sponsalia inter Domicellam Annam fore inania progressum suum non habitura When this was shewed the King his Council found great exceptions to it upon the Ambiguity of the word Sponsalia it not being expressed whether they were Espousals by the words of the present or of the future tense and intended to make use of that when there should be a fit opportunity for it On the 12th of April a Session of Parliament was held The Journal shews that neither the Abbot of Westminster nor any other Abbot was present After the Lord Chancellor had opened the reasons for the Kings meeting them at that time as they related to the Civil Government Cromwel as Lord Vice-gerent spake next in the Kings name and said There was nothing which the King so much desired as a firm union among all his Subjects in which he placed his chief security He knew there were many Incendiaries and much Cockle grew up with the Wheat The rashness and licentiousness of some and the inveterate Superstition and stiffness of others in the Ancient Corruptions had raised great dissensions to the sad regret of all good Christians Some were called Papists others Hereticks which bitterness of Spirit seemed the more strange since now the Holy Scriptures by the Kings great care of his people were in all their hands in a Language which they understood But these were grosly perverted by both sides who studied rather to justifie their passions out
than Complements And though he clearly discovered having sent over the Duke of Norfolk to Francis that he was not to depend much on his friendship yet at the same time he knew that the Emperor would not yield up the Dutchy of Milan to him upon which his heart was much set So he saw they could come to no agreement Therefore he made no great account of the loss of France since he knew the Emperor would willingly make an Alliance with him The hopes of which made him more indifferent whether the German Princes were pleased with what he did or not since he had now attained the end he had proposed to himself in all his Negotiations with them which was to secure himself from any trouble the Emperor might give him Therefore Cromwels Counsels were now disliked for he had always enclined the King to favour those Princes against the Emperor Another secret cause was that as the King had an unconquerable aversion to his Queen so he was taken with the Beauty and behaviour of Mistress Katharine Howard Daughter to the Lord Edmond Howard a Brother of the Duke of Norfolks And as this designed Match raised the credit of her Uncle so the ill consequences of the former drew him down who had been the chief Counsellor in it The King also found his Government was grown uneasie and therefore judged it was no ill Policy to cast over all that had been done amiss upon a Minister who had great Power with him and being now in disgrace all the blame of these things would be taken off from the King and laid on him and his Ruin would much appease discontents and make them more moderate in censuring the King or his Proceedings It is said that other Particulars were charged on him which lost him the Kings favour If this be true it is like they related to the encouragement he was said to have given to some Reformers in the opposition they made to the six Articles Upon the Execution of which the King was now much set His fall was so secretly carryed that though he had often before looked for it knowing the Kings uneasie and jealous temper yet at that time he had no apprehensions of it till the Storm broke upon him In his fall he had the common fate of all disgraced Ministers to be forsaken by his Friends and insulted over by his Enemies Only Cranmer retained still so much of his former simplicity that he could never learn these Court Arts. Therefore he wrote to the King about him next day He much magnified his diligence in the Kings service and preservation and discovering all Plots as soon as they were made That he had always loved the King above all things and served him with great fidelity and success That he thought no King of England had ever such a servant upon that account he had loved him as one that loved the King above all others But if he was a Traytor he was glad it was discovered But he prayed God earnestly to send the King such a Councellor in his stead who could and would serve him as he had done This shews both the firmness of Cranmers friendship to him and that he had a great Soul not turned by the changes of mens fortunes to like or dislike them as they stood or declined from their greatness And had not the Kings kindness for Cranmer been deeply rooted this Letter had ruined him For he was the most impatient of Contradiction in such cases that could be Cromwels ruin was now Decreed and he who had so servily complyed with the Kings pleasure in procuring some to be Attainted the year before without being brought to make their answer fell now under the same severity For whether it was that his Enemies knew That if he were brought to the Bar he would so justifie himself that they would find great difficulties in the Process or whether it was that they blindly resolved to follow that injustifiable Precedent of passing over so necessary a Rule to all Courts of giving the Party accused an hearing the Bill of Attaindor was brought in to the House of Lords Cranmer being absent that day as appears by the Journal on the 17th of Iune and read the first time and on the 19th was read the second and third time and sent down to the Commons By which it appears how few friends he had in that House when a Bill of that nature went on so hastily But it seems he found in the House of Commons somewhat of the same measure which ten years before he had dealt to the Cardinal though not with the same success For his matter stuck ten days there At length a new Bill of Attaindor was brought up conceived in the House of Commons with a Proviso annexed to it They also sent back the Bill which the Lords sent to them But it is not clear from the Journals what they meant by these two Bills It seems they rejected the Lords Bill and yet sent it up with their own either in respect to the Lords or that they left it to their choice which of the two Bills they would offer to the Royal Assent But though this be an unparliamentary way of proceeding I know no other sense which the words of the Journal can bear which I shall set down in the Margent that the Reader may Judge better concerning it * And that very day the King assented to it as appears by the Letter written the next day by Cromwel to the King The Act said that the King having raised Thomas Cromwel from a base degree to great Dignities and high Trusts yet he had now by a great number of Witnesses persons of honour found him to be the most Corrupt Traitor and deceiver of the King and the Crown that had ever been known in his whole Reign He had taken upon him to set at liberty divers persons put in Prison for misprision of Treason and others that were suspected of it He had also received several bribes and for them granted Licenses to carry Money Corn Horses and other things out of the Kingdom contrary to the Kings Proclamations He had also given out many Commissions without the Kings knowledg and being but of a base Birth had said That he was sure of the King He had granted many Passports both to the Kings Subjects and Forreigners for passing the Seas without search He being also an Heretick had dispersed many Erroneous Books among the Kings Subjects particularly some that were contrary to the Belief of the Sacrament And when some had informed him of this and had shewed him these Heresies in Books Printed in England he said they were good and that he found no fault in them and said It was as Lawful for every Christian man to be the Minister of that Sacrament as a Priest And whereas the King had constituted him Vice-gerent for the Spiritual affairs of the Church he had under the Seal of that
office licensed many that were suspected of Heresie to Preach over the Kingdom and he had both by word and in writing suggested to several Sheriffs That it was the Kings pleasure they should discharge many Prisoners of whom some were Indicted others apprehended for Heresie And when many particular complaints were brought to him of detestable Heresies with the names of the offenders he not only defended the Hereticks but severely checkt the Informers and vexed some of them by Imprisonment and other ways The particulars of all which were too tedious to be recited And he having entertained many of the Kings Subjects about himself whom he had infected with Heresie and imagining he was by force able to defend his Treasons and Heresies on the last of March in the 30th year of the Kings Reign in the Parish of St. Peters the poor in London when some of them complained to him of the new Preachers such as Barnes and others he said Their Preaching was good and said also among other things That if the King would turn from it yet he would not turn And if the King did turn and VERA EFFIGIES THOMAE CROMWELL ESSEXIAE COMITIS EQVES PERISCELIS H. Holbeâ—n pinxit R. White sculpsit Natus 1490 Regis vicarius Generalis 1536 Eques Periscelis 1537. Capite truncatus Iuly 18th 1540. Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crowne in St Pauls Church yard all his people with him he would fight in the Fiâ—lâ— in his own person with his Sword in his hand against him and all others And then he pulled out his Dagger and held it up and said or else this Dagger thrust me to the heart if I would not die in that quarrel against them all and I trust if I live one year or two it shall not be in the Kings Power to resist or lett it if he would and swearing a great Oath said I would do so indeed He had also by Oppression and Bribery made a great Estate to himself and extorted much Money from the Kings Subjects and being greatly enriched had treated the Nobility with much contempt And on the last of Ianuary in the 31th year of the Kings Reign in the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields when some had put him in mind to what the King had raised him he said If the Lords would handle him so he would give them such a Break-fast as was never made in England and that the proudest of them should know it For all which Treasons and Heresies he was Attainted to suffer the pains of death for Heresie and Treason as should please the King and to forfeit all his Estate and goods to the Kings use that he had on the last of March in the 31st year of the Kings Reign or since that time There was added to this Bill a Proviso That this should not be hurtful to the Bishop of Bath and Wells and to the Dean and Chapteâ— of Wells with whom it seems he had made some exchanges of Lands From these particulars the Reader will clearly see why he was not brought to make his answer most of them relating to Orders and Directions he had given for which it is very probable he had the Kings Warrant And for the matter of Heresie it has appeared how far the King had proceeded towards a Reformation so that what he did that way was most likely done by the Kings Order But the King now falling from these things it was thought they intended to stifle him by such an Attaindor that he might not discover the secret Orders or directions given him for his own Justification For the particulars of Bribery and Extortion they being mentioned in general expressions seem only cast into the heap to defame him But for those Treasonable words it was generally thought that they were a Contrivance of his Enemies since it seemed a thing very extravagant for a Favourite in the height of his Greatness to talk so rudely And if he had been guilty of it Bedlam was thought a fitter place for his Restraint than the Tower Nor was it judged likely that he having such great and watchful Enemies at Court any such discourses could have layn so long secret Or if they had come to the Kings knowledg he was not a Prince of such a temper as to have forgiven much less imployed and advanced a man after such discourses And to think that during these fifteen months after the words were said to have been spoken none would have had the zeal for the King or the malice to Cromwel as to repeat them were things that could not be believed The formality of drawing his Dagger made it the more suspected for this was to affix an overt-Act to these words which in the opinion of many Lawyers was necessary to make words Treasonable But as if these words had not been ill enough some writers since have made them worse as if he had said He would thrust his Dagger in the Kings heart About which Fuller hath made another story to excuse these words as if they had not been meant of the King but of another But all that is founded on a mistake which if he had looked in the Record he had corrected Cromwels Fall was the first step towards the Kings Divorce For on the 24th of Iune he sent his Queen to Richmond pretending the Countrey air would agree better with her But on the 6th of Iuly a motion was made and assented to in the House of Lords that they should make an address to the King desiring him to suffer his Marriage with the Queen to be tryed Upon which the Lord Chancellor the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk the Earl of Southampton and the Bishop of Duresm were sent down to the Commons to represent the matter to them and to desire their concurrence in the Address To which they agreed and ordered twenty of their number to go along with the Peers So the whole House of Lords with these Commoners went to the King and told him they had a matter of great consequence to propose to him but it was of that Importance that they first begged his leave to move it That being obtained they desired the King would order a Tryal to be made of the validity of his Marriage To which the King consented and made a deep Protestation as in the presence of God that he should conceal nothing that related to it and all its circumstances And that there was nothing he held dearer than the Glory of God the good of the Common-wealth and the declaration of truth So a Commission was issued out to the Convocation to try it On the 7th of Iuly it was brought before the Convocation of which the Reader will see a fuller account in the Collection at the end than is needful to be brought in here The case was opened by the Bishop of Winchester and a Committee was appointed to consider it and they deputed the Bishop of
of Iuly a Bill was brought in for moderating the Statute of the six Articles in the Clauses that related to the marriage of the Priests or their Incontinency with other Women On the 17th it was agreed by the whole House without a contradictory vote and sent down to the Commons who on the 21th sent it up again By it the pains of Death were turned to forfeitures of their Goods and Chattels and the rents of their Ecclesiastical promotions to the King On the 20th of Iuly a Bill was brought in concerning a Declaration of the Christian Religion and was then read the first 2d and 3d time and passed without any opposition and sent down to the Commons who agreeing to it sent it up again the next day It contained that the King as Supream Head of the Church was taking much pains for an Union among all his Subjects in matters of Religion and for preventing the further progress of Heresie had appointed many of the Bishops and the most learned Divines to declare the principal Articles of the Christian Belief with the Ceremonies and way of Gods service to be observed That therefore a thing of that weight might not be rashly done or hasted through in this Session of Parliament but be done with that care which was requisite Therefore it was Enacted that whatsoever was determined by the Arch-Bishops Bishops and the other Divines now Commissionated for that effect or by any others appointed by the King or by the whole Clergy of England and published by the Kings Authority concerning the Christian Faith or the Ceremonies of the Church should be believed and obeyed by all the Kings Subjects as well as if the particulars so set forth had been ennumerated in this Act any Custom or Law to the Contrary notwithstanding To this a strange Proviso was added which destroyed the former Clause That nothing should be done or determined by the Authority of this Act which was contrary to the Laws and Statutes of the Kingdom But whether this Proviso was added by the House of Commons or originally put into the Bill does not appear It was more likely it was put in at the first by the Kings Council for these contradictory Clauses raised the Prerogative higher and left it in the Judges power to determine which of the two should be followed by which all Ecclesiastical matters were to be brought under Tryals at Common Law for it was one of the great designs both of the Ministers and Lawyers at this time to bring all Ecclesiastical Matters to thâ— Cognizance of the Secular Judge But another Bill passed which seems a little odd concerning the circumstances of that time That whereas many Marriages had been annulled in the time of Popery upon the pretence of Precontracts or other degrees of kindred than those that were prohibited by the Law of God Therefore after a Marriage was consummated no pretence of any pre-contract or any degrees of kindred or alliance but those mentioned in the Law of God should be brought or made use of to annull it since these things had been oft pretended only to dissolve a Marriage when the parties grew weary of each other which was contrary to Gods Law Therefore it was Enacted that no pretence of precontract not consummated should be made use of to annull a Marriage duly solemnized and consummated and that no degrees of kindred not mentioned by the Law of God should be pleaded to annull a Marriage This Act gave great occasion of censuring the Kings former proceedings against Queen Anne Boleyn since that which was now condemned had been the pretence for dissolving his Marriage with her Others thought the King did it on design to remove that Impediment out of the way of the Lady Elizabeth's succeeding to the Crown since that judgment upon which she was Illegitimated was now indirectly censured And that other branch of the Act for taking away all prohibitions of Marriages within any degrees but those forbidden in Scripture was to make way for the Kings Marriage with Katherine Howard who was Cousin German to Queen Anne Boleyn for that was one of the prohibited degrees by the Canon Law The Province of Canterbury offered a Subsidy of four shillings in the pound of all Ecclesiastical preferments to be payed in two years and in that acknowledgment of the great liberty they enjoyed by being delivered from the Usurpations of the Bishops of Rome and in recompencâ— the great charges of the King had been at and was still to be at in building Havens Bullwarks and other Forts for the defence of his Coasts and the security of his Subjects This was confirmed in Parliament But that did not satisfie the King who had husbanded the money that came in by the sale of Abbey Lands so ill that now he wanted money and was forced to aske a subsidy for his Marriage of the Parliament this was obtained with great difficulty For it was said That if the King was already in want after so vast an income especially being engaged in no Warr there would be no end of his necessities nor could it be possible for them to supply them But it was answered that the King had laid out a great Treasure in fortifying the Coast and though he was then in no visible Warr yet the charge he was at in keeping up the Warr beyond Sea was equal to the expence of a Warr and much more to the advantage of his people who were kept in peace and plenty This obtained a Tenth and four 15ths After the passing of all these Bills and many others that concerned the publick with several other Bills of Attaindor of some that favoured the Popes Interests or Corresponded with Cardinal Pool which shall be mentioned in another place the King sent in a General Pardon with the Ordinary Exceptions and in particular excepted Cromwel the Countess of Sarum with many others then in person Some of them were put in for opposing the Kings Supremacy and others for transgressing the Statute of the six Articles On the 24th of Iuly the Parliament was dissolved And now Cromwel who had been six weeks a Prisoner was brought to his Execution He had used all the endeavours he could for his own preservation Once he wrote to the King in such melting terms that he made the Letter to be thrice read and seemed touched with it But the charms of Katharine Howard and the endeavours of the Duke of Norfolk and the Bishop of Winchester at length prevailed So a Warrant was sent to cut off his Head on the 28th of Iuly at Tower-hill When he was brought to the Scaffold his kindness to his Son made him very cautious in what he said he declined the purging of himself but said he was by Law condemned to die and thanked God for bringing him to that death for his offences He acknowledged his Sins against God and his offences against his Prince who had raised him from a base degree
laid very close and managed with great dexterity chiefly by the Duke of Norfolk and Gardinâ—r pursued the ruine of those whom they called Hereticks knowing well that if the King was once set against them and they provoked against the Government he would be not only alienated from them but forced for securing himself against them to gain the hearts of his other Subjects by a Conjunction with the Emperor and by his means with the Pope The first on whom this design took effect were Doctor Barnes Mr. Gerard and Mr. Ierome all Priests who had been among the earliest Converts to Luther's Doctrine Barnes had in a Sermon at Cambridg during the Cardinals greatness reflected on the Pomp and State in which he lived so plainly that every body understood of whom he meant So he was carried up to London but by the interposition of Gardiner and Fox who were his friends he was saved at that time having abjured some opinions that were objected to him But other accusations being afterwards brought against him he was again Imprisoned and it was believed that he would have been burnt But he made his escape and went to Germany where he gave himself to the study of the Scriptures and Divinity In which he became so considerable that not only the German Divines but their Princes took great notice of him and the King of Denmark sending over Ambassâ—dors to the King he was sent with them though perhaps Fox was ill informed when he says he was one of them Fox Bishop of Hereford being at Smalcald in the year 1536. sent him over to England where he was received and kindly entertained by Cromwel and well used by the King And by his means the correspondence with the Germans was chiefly kept up For he was often sent over to the Courts of the several Princes But in particular he had the misfortune to be first employed in the project of the Kings Marriage with the Lady Anne of Cleves for that giving the King so little satisfaction all who were the main promoters of it fell in disgrace upon it But other things concurred to destroy Barnes In Lent this year Bonner had appointed him and Gerrard and Ierome turns in the Course of Sermons at St. Pauls Cross they being in favour with Cromwel on whom Bonner depended wholly But Gardiner sent Bonner word that he intended himself to preach on Sunday at St. Pauls Cross and in his Sermon he treated of Justification and other points with many reflections on the Lutherans Barnes when it came to his Turn made use of the same Text but preached contrary Doctrine not without some unhandsome reflections on Gardiners person and he played on his name alluding to a Gardiners setting ill Plants in a Garden The other two preached the same Doctrine but made no reflections on any person Gardiner seemed to bear it with a great appearance of neglect and indifferency But his friends complained to the King of the unsufferable insolencies of these Preachers who did not spare so great a Prelate especially he being a Privy Councellor So Barnes was questioned for it and commanded to go and give the Bishop of Winchester satisfaction And the Bishop carried the matter with a great shew of moderation and acted ouâ—wardly in it as became his Function though it was believed the matter stuck deeper in his heart which the effects that followed seemed to demonstrate The King concerned himself in the matter and did argue with Barnes about the points in difference But whether he was truly convinced or overcome rather with the fear of the King than with the force of his reasonings he and his two Friends William Ierome and Tho. Gerrard signed a paper which will be found in the Collection in which he acknowledged That having been brought before the King for things preached by him His Highness being assisted by some of the Clergy had so disputed with him that he was convinced of his rashness and oversight and promised to abstain from such indiscretions for the future and to submit to any orders the King should give for what was past The Articles were First That though we are Redeemed only by the death of Christ in which we participate by Faith and Baptism yet by not following the Commandments of Christ we lose the benefits of it which we cannot recover but by Pennance Secondly That God is not the Author of Sin or evil which he only permits Thirdly That we ought to reconcile our selves to our neighbours and forgive before we can be forgiven Fourthly That good works done sincerely according to the Scriptures are profitable and helpful to Salvation Fifthly That Laws made by Christian Rulers ought to be obeyed by their Subjects for conscience sake and that whosoever breaks them breaks Gods Commandments It 's not likely that Barnes could say any thing directly contrary to these Articles though having brought much of Luthers heat over with him he might have said some things that sounded ill upon these heads There were other points in difference between Gardiner and him about Justification but it seems the King thought these were of so subtile a nature that no Article of Faith was controverted in them and therefore left the Bishop and him to agree these among themselves which they in a great measure did So the King commanded Barnes and his friends to preach at the Spittle in the Easter-week and openly to recant what they had formerly said And Barnes was in particular to ask the Bishop of Winchester's pardon which he did and Gardiner being twice desired by him to give some signe that he forgave him did lift up his Finger But in their Sermons it was said they justified in one part what they recanted in another Of which complaints being brought to the King he without hearing them sent them all to the Tower And Cromwels interest at Court was then declining so fast that either he could not protect them or else would not prejudice himself by interposing in a matter which gave the King so great offence They lay in the Tower till the Parliament met and then they were attained of Heresie without ever being brought to make their answer And it seems for the Extraordinariness of the thing they resolved to mix attaindors for things that were very different from one Another For four others were by the same Act attainted of Treason who were Gregory Buttolph Adam Damplip Edmund Brindholme and Clement Philpot for assisting Reginald Pool adhering to the Bishop of Rome denying the King to be the Supream Head on earth of the Church of England and designing to surprize the Town of Callice One Derby Gunnings was also attainted of Treason for assisting one Fitz-Girald a Traitor in Ireland And after all these Barnes Gerard and Ierome are attainted of Heresie being as the Act sayes Detestable Hereticks who had conspired together to set forth many Heresies and taking themselves to be men of learning had expounded the Scriptures perverting
the other hand assured him that if he would set up a strict inquisition of Hereticks he would discover so many men of Estates that were guilty that by their Forfeitures he might raise above an hundred thousand Crowns a year And for his Children the easiest way of providing for them was to give them good Abbies and Priories This they thought would engage both the King and his Sons to maintain their Rights more steadily if their own Interests were interwoven with them They also perswaded the King that if he maintained the established Religion it would give him a good interest in England and make him be set up by forreign Princes as the head of the League which the Pope and the Emperor were then projecting against King Henry These Counsels being seconded by his Queen who was a wise and good Lady but wonderfully zealous for the Papacy did so prevail with him that as he made four of his Children Abbots or Priors so he gave way to the persecuting humor of his Priests and give Sir Iames Hamilton a natural Brother of the Earl of Arrans in whom the Clergy put much confidence a Commission to proceed against all that were suspected of Heresie In the year 1539. many were cited to appear before a meeting of the Bishops at Edinburgh Of those nine abjured many were banished and five were burnt Forrester a Gentleman Simpson a Secular Priest Killore and Beverage two Friers and Forrest a Canon Regular were burnt on the Castle-hill of Edinburgh The last of these was a zealous constant Preacher which was a rare thing in those days His Diocesan the Bishop of Dunkeld sent for him and rebuked him for it and bid him When he found a good Epistle or good Gospel that made for the liberties of the Holy Church to preach on that and let the rest alone The good man answered he had read both the Old Testament and the New and never found an ill Epistle or ill Gospel in any of them The Bishop replied that he thanked God he had lived well these many years and never knew either the Old or New he contented himself with his Portuise and his Pontifical and if the other would trouble himself with these fantasies he would repent it when he could not help it Forrest said He was resolved to do what he conceived was his duty whatever might be the danger of it By this it appears how deliberately the Clergy at that time delivered themselves up to Ignorance and Superstition In the same year Russel a Franciscan Frier and one Kennedy a young man of 18 years of age were brought before the Arch-Bishop of Glasgow That Bishop was a learned and moderate man and was much against these cruel proceedings he was also in great credit with the King having been his Tutor Yet he was forced by the threatnings of his Brethren to go on with the persecution So those two Russel and Kennedy being brought before him Kennedy that was young and fearful had resolved to submit and abjure But being brought to the Bar and encouraged by Russels discourses he felt so high a measure of courage and joy in his heart that he fell down on his knees and broke forth in these words Wonderful O God is thy love and mercy towards me a miserable wretch for now when I would have denied thee and thy Son my Saviour thou hast by thine own hand pulled me back from the bottom of Hell and given me most Heavenly comfort which hath removed the ungodly fear that before oppressed my mind Now I defie death do what you please I thank God I am ready There followed a long dispute between the Frier and the Divines that sate with the Arch-Bishop but when he perceived they would hear nothing and answered him only with revilings and jeers he gave it over and concluded in these words This is your hour and power of darkness now you sit as Judges and we stand wrongfully condemned but the day cometh which will shew our innocence and you shall see your own blindness to your everlasting confusion Go on and fulfil the measure of your iniquity This put the Arch-Bishop in great confusion so that he said to those about him that these rigorous executions did hurt the cause of the Church more than could be well thought of and he declared that his opinion was that their lives should be spared and some other course taken with them But those that sate with him said if he took a course different from what the other Prelates had taken he was not the Churches friend This with other threatning expressions prevailed so far on his fears that he gave Judgment So they were burnt but at their death they expressed so much constancy and joy that the people were much wrought on by their behaviour Russel encouraged Kennedy his partner in sufferings in these words Fear not Brother for he is more mighty that is in us than he that is in the world the pain which we shall suffer is short and light but our joy and consolation shall never have an end Death cannot destroy us for it is destroyed already by him for whose sake we suffer Therefore let us strive to enter in by the same strait way which our Saviour hath taken before us With the blood of such Martyrs was the field of that Church sowen which did quickly rise up in a plentiful harvest Among those that were at this time in hazard George Buchanan was one The Clergy were resolved to be revenged on him for the sharpness of the Poems he had written against them And the King had so absolutely left all men to their mercy that he had died with the rest if he had not made his escape out of Prison Then he went beyond Sea and lived 20 years in that Exile and was forced to teach a School most part of the time yet the greatness of his mind was not oppressed with that mean employment In his writings there appears not only all the beauty and graces of the Latine Tongue but a vigor of mind and quickness of thought far beyond Bembo or the other Italians who at that time affected to revive the purity of the Roman Stile It was but a feeble imitation of Tully in them but his stile is so natural and nervous and his reflections on things are so solid besides his immortal Poems in which he shews how well he could imitate all the Roman Poets in their several ways of writing that he who compares them will be often tempted to prefer the Copy to the Original that he is justly reckoned the greatest and best of our modern Authors This was the state of affairs at this time in Scotland And so I shall leave this digression on which if I have stayed too long my kindness to my native Countrey must be my excuse and now I return to the affairs of England The King went his progress with his fair and beloved Queen and he when came to York he
the Army was ill advised so his giving a Commissâ—on to Oliver Sinclar â—hat was his Minion to command in Chief did extreamly disgust the Nobility They loved not to be commanded by any but their King and were already weary of the insolence of that Favourite who being but of ordinary birth was despised by them so that they were beginning to separate And when they were upon that occasion in great disorder a small body of English not above 500 Horse appeared But they apprehending it was the Duke of Norfolks Army refused to fight and fell in confusion Many Prisoners were taken the chief of whom were the Earls of Glencairn and Cassillis the Lords Maxwell Sommervell Oliphant Gray and Oliver Sinclar and about 200 Gentlemen and 800 souldiers and all the Ordnance and Baggage was also taken The news of this being brought to the King of Scotland encreased his former disorders and some few days after he dyed leaving an infant Daughter but newly born to succeed him The Lords that were taken Prisoners were brought to London where after they had been charged in Council how unkindly they had used the King they were put in the keeping of some of the greatest quality about Court But the Earl of Cassillis had the best luck of them all For being sent to Lambâ—th where he was a Prisoner upon his parole Cranmer studied to free him from the darkness and fetters of Popery in which he was so successful that the other was afterwards a great Promoter of the Reformation in Scotland The Scots had been hitherto possessed with most extraordinary prejudices against the Changes that had been made in England which concurring with the ancient Animosities between the two Nations had raised a wonderful ill opinion of the Kings proceedings And though the Bishop of St. Davids Barlow had been sent into Scotland with the Book of the Institution of a Christian Man to clear these ill impressions yet his endeavours were unsuccessful The Pope at the instance of the French King and to make that Kingdom sure made David Beaton Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews a Cardinal which gave him great Authority in the Kingdom so he with the rest of the Clergy diverted the King from any correspondence with England and assured him of Victory if he would make War on such an Heretical Prince The Clergy also offered the King 50000 Crowns a-year towards a War with England and possessed all the Nation with very ill thoughts of the Court and Clergy there But the Lords that were now Prisoners chiefly the Earl of Cassillis who was best instructed by his Religious Host conceived a better opinion of the Reformation and carried home with them those seeds of knowledg which produced afterwards a very fruitful Harvest On all these things I have dwelt the longer that it might appear whence the inclination of the Scotish Nobility to Reform did take its first rise though there was afterwards in the Methods by which it was advanced too great a mixture of the heat and forwardness that is natural to the Genius of that Countrey When the news of the King of Scotlands death and of the young Queens birth that succeeded him came to the Court the King thought this a very favourable conjuncture to unite and settle the whole Island But that unfortunate Princess was not born under such happy Stars though she was Mother to him in whom this long-desired Union took effect The Lords that were then Prisoners began the motion and that being told the King he called for them to Hampton-Court in the Christmas-time and said now an opportunity was put in their hands to quiet all troubles that had been between these two Crowns by the Marriage of the Prince of Wales to their young Queen In which he desired their assistance and gave them their Liberty they leaving hostages for the performance of what was then offered by them They all promised their Concurrence and seemed much taken with the greatness of the English Court which the King always kept up not without affectation they also said they thought God was better served there than in their own Countrey So on New-years-day they took their journey towards Scotland but the sequel of this will appear afterwards A Parliament was summoned to meet the two and twentieth of Ianuary which sate to the 12th of May. So the Session begun in the 34th and ended in the 35th year of the Kings Reign from whence it is called in the Records the Parliament of the 34th and 35th year Here both the Temporality and Spirituality gave great Subsidies to the King of six shillings in the Pound to be paid in three years They set forth in their Preambles The expence the King had been at in his War with Scotland and for his other great and urgent occasions by which was meant a War with France which broke out the following Summer But with these there passed other two Acts of great importance to Religion The Title of the first was An Act for the advancement of True Religion and abolishment of the contrary The King was now entring upon a War so it seemed reasonable to qualifie the severity of the late Acts about Religion that all might be quiet at home Cranmer moved it first and was faintly seconded by the Bishops of Worcester Hereford Chichester and Rochester who had promised to stick to him in it At this time a League was almost finished between the King and the Emperour which did again raise the Spirits of the Popish Faction They had been much cast down ever since the last Queens fall But now that the Emperor was like to have an Interest in English Councils they took heart again and Gardiner opposed the Arch-Bishops motion with all possible earnestness And that whole Faction fell so upon it that the timorous Bishops not only forsook Cranmer but Heath of Rochester and Skip of Hereford were very earnest with him to stay for a better opportunity But he generously preferred his Conscience to those arts of Policy which he would never practise and said he would push it as far as it would go So he plied the King and the other Lords so earnestly that at length the Bill passed though clogg'd with many Provisoes and very much short of what he had designed The Preamble set forth that there being many dissensions about Religion the Scriptures which the King had put into the hands of his People were abused by many seditious persons in their Sermons Books Playes Rithmes and Songs from which great Inconveniences were like to arise For preventing these it was necessary to establish a Form of sincere Doctrine conformable to that which was taught by the Apostles Therefore all the Books of the Old and New Testament of Tindals Translation which is called Crafty False and Vntrue are forbidden to be kept oâ— used in the Kings Dominions with all other Books contrary to the Doctrine set forth in the year 1540. with
Punishments and Fines and Imprisonment upon such as sold or kept such Books But Bibles that were not of Tindals Translation were still to be kept only the Annotations or Preambles that were in any of them were to be cut out or dashed and the Kings Proclamations and Injunctions with the Primmers and other Books Printed in English for the instruction of the people before the year 1540 were still to be in force and among these Chancers Books are by name mentioned No Books were to be Printed about Religion without the Kings Allowance In no Playes nor Enterludes they might make any Expositions of Scripture but only reproach Vice and set forth virtue in them None might read the Scripture in any open Assembly or expound it but he who was Licensed by the King or his Ordinary with a Proviso that the Chancellors in Parliament Judges Recorders or any others who were wont in publick occasions to make Speeches and commonly took a place of Scripture for their Text might still do as they had done formerly Every Noble-man or Gentle-man might cause the Bible to be read to him in or about his House quietly and without disturbance Every Merchant that was a Housholder might also read it But no Woman nor Artificers Apprentices Journeymen Serving-men under the degree of Yeomen nor no Husbandmen or Labourers might read it Yet every Noble Woman or Gentlewoman might read it for her self and so might all other persons but those who were excepted Every person might read and teach in their Houses the Book set out in the year 1540. with the Psalter Primmer Paternoster the Ave and the Creed in English All Spiritual persons who preached or taught contrary to the Doctrine set forth in that Book were to be admitted for the first conviction to renounce their errors for the second to abjure and carry a Faggot which if they refused to do or fell into a third offence they were to be burnt But the Laity for the third offence were only to forfeit their Goods and Chattels and be liable to perpetual Imprisonment But these offences were to be objected to them within a year after they were committed And whereas before the Party accused was not allowed to bring Witnesses for his own Purgation this was now granted him But to this a severe Proviso was added which seemed to overthrow all the former favour that the Act of the six Articles was still in the same force in which it was before the making of this Act. Yet that was moderated by the next Proviso That the King might at any time hereafter at his pleasure change this Act or any Provision in it This last Proviso was made stronger by another Act made for the due execution of Proclamations in pursuance of a former Act to the same effect of which mention was made in the 31st year of the Kings Reign By that former Act there was so great a number of Officers of State and of the Kings Houshold of Judges and other persons to sit on these Trials that those not being easily brought together the Act had never taken any effect Therefore it was now appointed that nine Counsellors should be a sufficient number for these Trials At the passing of that Act the Lord Montjoy protested against it which is the single Instance of a Protestation against any publick Bill through this Kings whole Reign The Act about Religion freed the Subjects from the fears under which they were before For now the Laity were delivered from the hazard of burning and the Spirituality were not in danger but upon the third Conviction They might also bring their own witnesses which was a great favour to them Yet that high power which was given the King of altering the Act or any parts of it made that they were not absolutely secured from their fears of which some instances afterwards appeared But as this Act was some mitigation of former severities so it brought the Reformers to depend wholly on the Kings Mercy for their Lives since he could now chain up or let loose the Act of the six Articles upon them at his pleasure Soon after the end of this Parliament a League was sworn between the King and the Emperour on Trinity Sunday Offensive and Defensive for England Calais and the places about it and for all Flanders with many other particulars to be found in the Treaty set down at large by the Lord Herbert There is no mention made of the Legitimation of the Lady Mary but it seems it was promised that she should be declared next in the Succession of the Crown to Prince Edward if the King had no other Children which was done in the next Parliament without any reflections on her Birth and the Emperor was content to accept of that there being no other terms to be obtained The Popish party who had set up their rest on bringing the King and Emperour to a League and putting the Lady Mary into the Succession no doubt prest the Emperor much to accept of this which we may reasonably believe was vigorously driven on by Bonner who was sent to Spain an Ambassador for concluding this Peace by which also the Emperor gained much for having engaged the Crowns of England and France in a War and drawn off the King of England from his League with the Princes of Germany he was now at more leisure to prosecute his designs in Germany But the negotiation in Scotland succeeded not to the Kings mind though at first there were very good appearances The Cardinal by forging a Will for the dead King got himself and some of his party to be put into the Government But the Earl of Arran Hamilton being the nearest in blood to the young Queen and being generally beloved for his Probity was invited to assume the Government which he managed with great moderation and an universal applause He summoned a Parliament which confirmed him in his Power during the Minority of the Queen The King sent Sir Ralph Sadler to him to agree the Marriage and to desire him to send the young Queen into England And if private ends wrought much on him Sadler was empowered to offer another Marriage of the Kings second Daughter the Lady Elizabeth to his Son The Earl of Arran was himself inclinable to Reformation and very much hated the Cardinal So he was easily brought to consent to a Treaty for the Match which was concluded in August By which the young Queen was to be bred in Scotland till she was ten years of age but the King might send a Nobleman and his Wife with other persons not exceeding 20 to wait on her And for performance of this six Noblemen were to be sent from Scotland for Hostages The Earl of Arran being then Governor kept the Cardinal under restraint till this Treaty was Concluded But he corrupting his Keepers made his escape and joyning with the Queen Mother they made a strong faction against the Governor all the Clergy joyned with the
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
with the French King the very next day being the 19th of September which is set down at large by the Lord Herbert On the 30th of September the King returned into England in October following Bulloign was very near lost by a surprize but the Garrison put themselves in order and beat back the French Several Inroads were made into Scotland but not with the same success that the former Expedition had For the Scots animated with supplies sent from France and inâ—â—amed with a desire of revenge resumed their wonted courage and beat back the English with considerable loss Next year the French King resolving to recover Bulloign and to take Calais that so he might drive the English out of France intended first to make himself Master of the Sea And he set out a great Fleet of an hundred and fifty greater Ships and sixty lesser ones besides many Gallies brought from the Streights The King set out about an hundred Ships On both sides these were only Merchant Ships that were hired for this War But after the French Fleet had looked on England and attempted to Land with ill success both in the Isle of Wight and in Sussex and had engaged in a Sea-fight for some hours they returned back without any considerable action Nor did they any thing at Land But the Kings Fleet went to Normandy where they made a descent and burnt the Countrey So that this year was likewise glorious to the King The Emperor had now done what he long designed And therefore being courted by both Crowns he undertook a Mediation that under the Colour of Mediating a peace he might the more effectually keep up the War The Princes of Germany saw what mischief was designed against them The Council of Trent was now opened and was condemning their Doctrine A League was also concluded between the Pope and the Emperor for procuring Obedience to their Canons and Decrees And an Army was raising The Emperor was also setting on foot old quarrels with some of the Princes A firm Peace was concluded with the Turk So that if the Crowns of England and France were not brought to an Agreement they were undone They sent Ambassador to both Courts to mediate a Peace With them Cranmer joyned his endeavours but he had not a Cromwel in the Court to manage the Kings temper who was so provoked with the ill Treatment he had received from France that he would not come to an Agreement nor would he restore Bulloign without which the 〈◊〉 woâ—ld hear of no Peace Cranmer had at this time almost prevailed with the King to make some further steps in a Reformatiâ—â— But 〈◊〉 who was then Ambassadour in the Emperours Coâ—â—â— being advertised of it wrote to the King That the Emperour â—ould certainly joyn with France against him if he made any further Innovation in Religion This diverted the King from it and in August this year the only great Friend that Cranmer had in the Court died Charles Duke of Suâ—â—â—lk who had long continued in the height of favor which was always kept up not only by an agreement of humours between the King and him but by the constant success which followed him in all his exploits He was a Favourer of the Reformation as far as could consist with his interest at Court which he never endangered upon any account Now Cranmer was left alone without friend or support Yet he had gained one great Preferment in the Church to a man of his own mind The Arch-Bishoprick of York falling void by Lee's death Robert Alrich that was Bishop of Landaff was promoted to that See in Ianuary Kitchin being made Bishop of Landaff who turned with every Change that was made under the three succeeding Princes The Arch-Bishop of York set about the Reforming of things in his Province which had layn in great confusion all his Predecessors time So on the third of March he took out a Licence from the King for making a Metropolitical Visitation Dell that was Bishop of Worcâ—stâ—r had resigned his Bishoprick the former year the reason of which is not set down The Bishop of Rochester Heath was Translated to that See and Henry Holbeach that favoured the Reformation was made Bishop of Rochester And upon the Translation of Sampson from Chichester to Coventry and Litchfield Day that was a Moderate man and inclinable to Reformation was made Bishop of that See So that now Cranmer had a greater Party among the Bishops than at any time before But though there were no great Transactions about Religion in England this year there were very remarkable things done in Scotland though of a different nature which were the burning of Wishart and some months after that the killing of Cardinal Beaton the account of both which will not I hope be Ingrateful to the Reader Mr. George Wishart was descended of a Noble Family he went to finish his studies in the University of Cambridge where he was so well instructed in the Principles of true Religion that returning to Scotland Anno 1544. He Preached over the Countrey against the Corruptions which did then so generally prevail He stayed most at Dundee which was the chief Town in thâ—se parts But the Cardinal offended at this sent a threatning Message to the Magistrates upon which one of them as Wishart ended one of his Sermons was so obsequious as to forbid him to Preach any more among them or give them any further trouble to whom he answered That God knew he had no design to trouble them but for them to reject the Messengers of God was not the way to escape trouble when he was gone God would send Messengers of another sort among them He had to the hazard of his Life Preached the word of Salvation to them and they had now rejected him but if it was long well with them he was not led by the Spirit of Truth and if unlooked for trouble fell on them he bade them remember this was the Cause of it and turn to God by Repentance From thence he went to the Western parts where he was also much followed But the Arch-Bishop of Glasgow giving order that he should not be admitted to Preach in Churches he Preached often in the fields and when in some places his followers would have forced the Churches he checkt them and said it was the word of Peace that he Preached and therefore no blood should be shed about it But after he had stayed a month there he heard that there was a great Plague in Dundee which broke out the fourth day after he had left it upon which he presently returned thither and Preached oft to them standing over one of the Gates having taken care that the Infected persons should stand without and those that were clean within the Gate He continued among them and took care to supply the poor and to visit the sick and do all the Offices of a faithful Pastor in that extremity Once as he ended his
pass that he was believed a Prophet as well as a Saint And the Reformation was now so much opened by his Preaching and that was so confirmed by his death that the Nation was generally possessed with the love of it The Nobility were mightily offended with the Cardinal and said Wisharts death was no less than Murder since the Clergy without a Warrant from the Secular Power could dispose of no mans Life So it came universally to be said that he now deserved to die by the Law yet since he was too great for a Legal Tryal the Kingdom being under the feeble Government of a Regency it was fit private persons should undertake it and it was given out that the killing an Usurper was always esteemed a commendable Action and so in that state of things they thought secret practices might be justified This agreeing so much with the temper of some in that Nation who had too much of the heat and forwardness of their Countrey a few Gentlemen of Quality who had been ill used by the Cardinal conspired his death He was become generally hateful to the whole Nation and the Marriage of his Bastard Daughter to the Earl of Crawfords eldest Son enraged the Nobility the more against him and his carriage towards them all was insolent and provoking These offended Gentlemen came to St. Andrews the 29th of May and the next Morning they and their attendants being but twelve in all first attempted the Gate of his Castle which they found open and made it sure and though there were no fewer than an hundred reckoned to be within the Castle yet they knowing the passages of the House went with very little noise to the Servants Chambers and turned them almost all out of doors and having thus made the Castle sure they went to the Cardinals door He who till then was fast asleep suspecting nothing perceived at last by their rudeness that they were not his friends and made his door fast against them So they sent for fire to set to it upon which he treated with them and upon assurance of Life he opened the door but they rushing in did most cruelly and treacherously Murder him A Tumult was raised in the Town and many of his friends came to rescue him but the Conspirators carryed the dead body and exposed it to their view in the same Window out of which he had not long before lookt on when Wishart was burnt which had been universally censured as a most indecent thing in a Churchman to delighâ— in such a Spectacle But those who condemned this Action yet acknowledged Gods Justice in so exemplary a punishment and reflecting on Wisharts last words were the more confirmed in the opinion they had of his Sanctity This Fact was differently censured some justified it and said it was only the killing of a mighty Robber others that were glad he was out of the way yet condemned the manner of it as treacherous and inhumane And though some of the Preachers did afterwards fly to that Castle as a Sanctuary yet none of them were either Actors or Consenters to it it is true they did generally extenuate it yet I do not find that any of them justified it The exemplary and signal ends of almost all the Conspirators scarce any of them dying an ordinary death made all people the more inclined to condemn it The day after the Cardinal was killed about 140 came into the Castle and prepared for a Siege The House was well furnished in all things necessary and it lying so near the Sea they expected help from King Henry to whom they sent a Messenger for his Assistance and declared for him So a Siege following they were so well supplyed from England that after five months the Governor was glad to treat with them apprehending much the footing the English might have if those within being driven to extremities should receive a Garrison from King Henry They had the Governor also more at their mercy for as the Cardinal had taken his Eldest Son into his house under the pretence of educating him but really as his Fathers Hostage designing likewise to infuse in him a violent hatred of the new Preachers so the Conspirators finding him in the Castle kept him still to help them to better terms A Treaty being agreed on they demanded their pardon for what they had done together with an Absolution to be procured from Rome for the killing of the Cardinal and that the Castle and the Governors Son should remain in their hands till the Absolution was brought over Some of the Preachers apprehending the Clergy might revenge the Cardinals death on them were forced to fly into the Castle but one of them Iohn Rough who was afterwards burnt in England in Queen Maries time being so offended at the licentiousness of the Souldiers that were in the Castle who were a reproach to that which they pretended to favour left them and went away in one of the ships that brought Provisions out of England When the Absolution came from Rome they excepted to it for some words in it that called the killing of the Cardinal Crimen irremissibile an unpardonable crime by which they said the Absolution gave them no security since it was null if the Fact could not be pardoned The truth was they were encouraged from England so they refused to stand to the Capitulation and rejected the Absolution But some ships and Souldiers being sent from France the Castle was besieged at Land and shut up also by Sea and which was worst of all a Plague broke out within it of which many died Upon this no help coming suddenly from England they were forced to deliver up the place on no better terms than that their Lives should be spared but they were to be Banisht Scotland and never to return to it The Castle was demolished according to the Canon Law that appoints all places where any Cardinal is killed to be razed This was not compleated this year and not till two years after only I thought it best to joyn the whole matter together and set it down all at once In November following a New Parliament was held where toward the expence of the Kings Wars the Convocation of the Province of Canterbury granted a continuation of the former Subsidy of six shillings in the pound to be payed in two years But for the Temporality a Subsidy was demanded from them of another kind There were in the Kingdom several Colledges Chappels Chantries Hospitals and Fraternities consisting of Secular Priests who enjoyed Pensions for saying Mass for the Souls of those who had endowed them Now the belief of Purgatory being left indifferent by the Doctrine set out by the Bishops and the Trade of redeeming souls being condemned it was thought needless to keep up so many Endowments to no purpose Those Priests were also generally ill-affected to the Kings proceedings since their Trade was so much lessened by them Therefore many of them had been dealt
might not leave his young Son involved in a War of such consequence Peace was concluded in Iune which was much to the Kings honour though the taking and keeping of Bulloign which by this Peace the King was to keep for eight years cost him above 1300000 pounds Upon the peace the French Admiral Annebault came over to England And now again a Resolution of going on with a Reformation was set on foot for it was agreed between the King and the Admiral That in both Kingdoms the Mass should be changed into a Communion and Cranmer was Ordered to draw a Form of it They also resolved to press the Emperor to do the like in his Dominions otherwise to make War upon him But how this Project failed does not appear The Animosities which the former War had raised between the two Kings were converted into a firm Friendship which grew so strong on Francis's part that he never was seen glad at any thing after he had the news of the Kings death But now one of the Kings angry fits took him at the Reformers so that there was a new Prosecution of them Nicholas Shaxton that was Bishop of Salisbury had been long a Prisoner but this year he had said in his Imprisonment in the Counter in Bread-street That Christs natural Body was not in the Sacrament but that it was a Sign and Memorial of his Body that was crucified for us Upon this he was endicted and condemned to be burnt But the King sent the Bishops of London and Worcester to deal with him to recant which on the 9th of Iuly he did acknowledging That that year he had fallen in his old age in the Heresie of the Sacramentaries But that he was now convinced of that error by their endeavours whom the King had sent to him And therefore he thanked the King for delivering him both from Temporal and Eternal fire and subscribed a Paper of Articles which will be found in the Collection Upon this he had his pardon and discharge sent him the 13 of Iuly and soon after preached the Sermon at the burning of Anne Askew and wrote a Book in defence of the Articles he had subscribed What became of him all Edward the 6ths time I cannot tell But I find he was a cruel prosecutor and Burner of Protestants in Queen Maries days Yet it seems those to whom he went over did not consider him much for they never raised him higher than to be Bishop Suffragan of Ely Others were also Endicted upon the same Statute who got off by recantation and were pardoned But Anne Askews Trial had a more bloody Conclusion She was nobly descended and educated beyond what was ordinary in that age to those of her Sex But she was unfortunately married to one Kyme who being a violent Papist drave her out of his House when he found she favoured the Reformation So she came to London where information being given of some words that she had spoken against the Corporal presence in the Sacrament she was put in Prison upon which great applications were made by many of her friends to have her let out upon Bail The Bishop of London examined her and after much pains she was brought to set her hand to a Recantation by which she acknowledged That the natural Body of Christ was present in the Sacrament after the Consecration whether the Priest were a good or an ill man and that whether it was presently consumed or reserved in the Pix it was the true Body of Christ. Yet she added to Her subscription that she believed all things according to the Catholick Faith and not otherwise With this the Bishop was not satisfied but after much adoe and many importunate addresses she was Bailed in the end of March this year But not long after that she was again apprehended and examined before the Kings Council then at Greenwich where she seemed very indifferent what they did with her She answered them in general words upon which they could fix nothing and made some sharp reparties upon the Bishop of Winchester Some liked the wit and freedom of her discourse but others thought she was too forward From thence she was sent to Newgate where she wrote some devotions and Letters that shew her to have been a woman of most extraordinary parts She wrote to the King That as to the Lords Supper she believed as much as Christ had said in it and as much as the Catholick Church from him did Teach Upon Shaxtons Recantation they sent him to her to prevail with her But she in stead of yielding to him charged his Inconstancy home upon him She had been oft at Court and was much favoured by many great Ladies there and it was believed the Queen had shewed kindness to her So the Lord Chancellor examined her of what Favour or Encouragement she had from any in the Court particularly from the Dutchess of Suffolk the Countess of Hertford and some other Ladies But he could draw nothing from her save that one in Livery had brought her some money which he said came from two Ladies in the Court But they resolved to extort further Confessions from her And therefore carrying her to the Tower they caused her to be laid on the Rack and gave her a taste of it Yet she confessed nothing That she was rackt is very certain for I find it in an Original Journal of the Transactions in the Tower written by Anthony Anthony but Fox adds a passage that seems scarce credible the thing is so extraordinary and so unlike the Character of the Lord Chancellor who though he was fiercely zealous for the old Superstition yet was otherwise a great person it is that he commanded the Lieutenant of the Tower to stretch her more but he refused to do it and being further prest told him plainly he would not do it The other threatned him but to no purpose so the Lord Chancellor throwing off his Gown drew the Rack so severely that he almost tore her Body asunder yet could draw nothing from her for she endured it with unusual Patience and Courage When the King heard this he blamed the Lord Chancellor for his Cruelty and excused the Lieutenant of the Tower Fox does not vouch any Warrant for this so that though I have set it down yet I give no entire credit to it if it was true it shews the strange influence of that Religion and that it corrupts the Noblest natures yet the poor Gentlewomans being Rackt wrought no pity in the King towards her for he left her to be proceeded against according to the Sentence she was carried to the Stake in Smithâ—ield a little after that in a Chair not being able to stand through the Torments of the Rack There were brought with her at the same time one Nicolas Belenian a Priest Iohn Adams a Taylor and Iohn Lassels one of the Kings Servants it is likely he was the same person that had discovered
Queen Howard's incontinency for which all the Popish Party to be sure bore him no good will They were all convicted upon the Statute of the Six Articles for denying the Corporal presence of Christ in the Sacrament When they were brought thither Shaxton to compleat his Apostasie made a Sermon of the Sacrament and inveighed against their Errors That being ended they were tyed to the Stake and then the Lord Chancellor sent and offered them their pardon which was ready passed under the Seal if they would recant But they loved not their lives so well as to redeem them by the loss of a good Conscience and therefore encouraging one another to suffer patiently for the Testimony of the truth so they endured to the last and were made Sacrifices by fire unto God There were also two in Sâ—ffolk and one in Norfolk burnt on the same account a little before this But that party at Court having incensed the King much against those Hereticks resolved to drive it further and to work the ruin both of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and of the Queen Concluding that if these attempts were successful they should carry every thing else They therefore renewed their Complaints of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and told the King That though there were evident proofs ready to be brought against him yet because of his Greatness and the Kings Carriage upon the former Complaints none durst appear against him But if he were once put in the Tower that men might hope to be heard they undertook to bring full and clear Evidences of his being a Heretick So the King consented That he should be the next day called before the Council and sent to the Tower if they saw cause for it And now they concluded him ruined But in the night the King sent Sir Anthony Denny to Lambeth to bring the Arch-Bishop to speak with him And when he came the King told him what Informations had been brought against him and how far he had yielded to them that he should be sent to the Toâ—er next day And therefore desired to hear from himself what he had to say upon it Cranmer thanked him that he had not left him in the dark to be surprised in a matter that concerned him so neerly He acknowledged the Equity of the Kings proceedings and all that he desired was That he might be brought to make his answer And that since he was to be Questioned for some of his Opinions Judges might be assigned who understood those matters The King heard this with astonishment wondering to see a man so little concerned in his own preservation But pleasantly told him he was a Fool that look'd to his own safety so little For did he think that if he were once put in Prison abundance of â—alâ—e witnesses would not be suborned to ruin him Therefore since he did not take care of himself he would look to it And so he ordered him to appear next day before the Council upon their Summons and when things were objected to him to say that since he was a privy Councellor he desired they would use him as they would look to be used in the like case And therefore to move that his Accusers might be brought face to face and things be a little better considered before he was sent to the Tower And if they refused to grant that then he was to appeal personally to the King who intended to be absent that day and in token of it should shew them the Kings Seal-Ring which he wore on his finger and was well known to them all So the King giving him his Ring sent him privately home again Next Morning a Messenger of the Council came early and Summoned him to appear that day before the Council So he went over but was long kept waiting in the Lobby before he was called in At this unusual sight many were astonished But Doctor Buts the Kings Physician that loved Cranmer and presumed more on a diseased King than others durst do went and told the King what a strange thing he had seen The Primate of all England waiting at the Council-door among the foot-men and Servants So the King sent them word that he should be presently brought in which being done they said That there were many Informations against him that all the Heresies that were in England came from him and his Chaplains To which he answered as the King had directed him But they insisting on what was before projected he said he was sorry to be thus used by those with whom he had sate so long at that Board so that he must appeal from them to the King And with that took out the Kings Ring and shewed it This put them in a wonderful confusion but they all rose up and went to the King who checkt them severely for using the Arch-Bishop so unhandsomly He said he thought he had a wiser Council than now he found they were He protested by the Faith he owed to God laying his hand on his Breast That if a Prince could be obliged by his Subject he was by the Arch-Bishop and that he took him to be the most faithful Subject he had and the person to whom he was most beholding The Duke of Norfolk made a trifling excuse and said They mean't no harm to the Arch-Bishop but only to vindicate his Innocency by such a Tryal which would have freed him from the aspersions that were cast on him But the King answered he would not suffer men that were so dear to him to be handled in that fashion He knew the Factions that were among them and the malice that some of them bore to others which he would either extinguish or punish very speedily So he commanded them all to be Reconciled to Cranmer Which was done with the outward Ceremony of taking him by the hand and was most real on his part though the other party did not so easily lay down the hatred they bore him This I place at this time though Parker who related it names no year nor time in which it was done but he leads us very near it by saying it was after the Duke of Suffolks death and this being the only time after that in which the King was in an ill humor against the Reformers I conclude it fell out at this time That Party finding it was in vain to push at Cranmer any more did never again endeavor it Yet one Design failing they set on another against the Queen She was a great Favourer of the Reformers and had frequently Sermons in her Privy-Chamber by some of those Preachers which were not secretly carryed but became generally known When it came to the Kings ears he took no notice of it And the Queen carryed her self in all other things not only with an exact conduct but with that wonderful care about the Kings person which became a Wife that was raised by him to so great an honour he was much taken with her So that none
Father were committed to the Tower That which was most insisted on was their giving the Arms of Edward the Confessor which were only to be given by the Kings of England This the Earl of Surrey justified and said they gave their Arms according to the opinion of the Kings Heraulds But all excuses availed nothing for his Father and he were designed to be destroyed upon reasons of State for which some colours were to be found out The Earl of Surrey being but a Commoner was brought to his Tryal at Guildhall and put upon an Inquest of Commoners consisting of nine Knights and three Esquires by whom he was found guilty of Treason and had Sentence of death passed upon him which was executed on the 19th of Ianuary at Tower-Hill It was generally condemned as an Act of high injustice and severity which loaded the Seimours with a popular Odium that they could never overcome He was much pitied being a man of great parts and high courage with many other Noble Qualities But the King who never hated nor ruined any body by halves resolved to compleat the misfortunes of that Family by the Attaindor of the Father And as all his Eminent Services were now forgotten so the Submissions he made could not allay a displeasure that was only to be satisfied with his Life and Fortune He wrote to the King Protesting his Innocency That he had never a thought to his prejudice and could not imagine what could be laid to his Charge He had spent his whole Life in his Service and did not know that ever he had offended any person or that any were displeased with him except for prosecuting the breakers of the Act about the Sacrament of the Altar But in that and in every thing else as he had been always obedient to the Kings Laws so he was resolved still to obey any Laws he should make He desired he might be examined with his Accusers face to face before the King or at least before his Council and if it did not appear that he was wrongfully accused let him be punished as he deserved In Conclusion he begged the King would have pity on him and restore him to his favour taking all his Lands or Goods from him or as much of them as he pleased Yet all this had no effect on the King So he was desired to make a more formal Submission which he did on the 12th of Ianuary under his hand ten Privy Councellors being Witnesses In it he confessed First his discovering the Secrets of the Kings Council Secondly his concealing his Sons Treason in using to give the Arms of St. Edward the Confessor which did only belong to the King and to which his Son had no Right Thirdly That he had ever since his Fathers death born in the first quarter of his Arms the Arms of England with a difference of the Labells of Silver that are the proper Arms of the Prince which was done in prejudice of the King and the Prince and gave occasion for disturbing or interrupting the Succession to the Crown of the Realm This he acknowledged was high Treason he confessed he deserved to be attainted of high Treason and humbly begged the Kings Mercy and Compassion He yielded to all this hoping by such a Submission and Compliance to have overcome the Kings displeasure but his Expectations failed him A Parliament was called the reason whereof was pretended to be the Coronation of the Prince of Wales But it was thought the true cause of calling it was to Attaint the Duke of Norfolk for which they had not colour enough to do it in a Tryal by his Peers Therefore an Attaindor by Act of Parliament was thought the better way So it was moved that the King intending to Crown his Son Prince of Wales desired they would go on with all possible haste in the Attaindor of the Duke of Norfolk that so these Places which he held by Patent might be disposed of by the King to such as he thought fit who should Assist at the Coronation And upon this slight pretence since a better could not be found The Bill of Attaindor was read the first time on the 18th of Ianuary And on the 19th and 20th it was read the second and third time And so passed in the House of Lords and was sent down to the Commons Who on the 24th sent it up also passed On the 27th the Lords were ordered to be in their Robes That the Royal assent might be given to it which the Lord Chancellor with some others joyned in Commission did give by vertue of the Kings Letters Patents And it had been executed the next Morning if the Kings death had not prevented it Upon what grounds this Attaindor was founded I can only give this Account from the 34th Act of the first Parliament of Queen Mary in which this Act is declared null and void by the Common Law of the Land for I cannot find the Act it self upon Record In the Act of Repeal it is said That there was no special matter in the Act of Attaindor but only general words of Treasons and Conspiracies and that out of their care of the preservation of the King and the Prince they passed it But the Act of Repeal says also That the only thing with which he was charged was For bearing of Arms which he and his Ancestors had born both within and without the Kingdom both in the Kings presence and in the sight of his Progenitors which they might Lawfully bear and give as by good and substantial matter of Record it did appear It is also added That the King dyed after the date of the Commission That the King only empowered them to give his Assent but did not give it himself And that it did not appear by any Record that they gave it That the King did not Sign the Commission with his own hand his Stamp being only set to it and that not to the upper but the nether part of it contrary to the Kings custom All these particulars though cleared afterwards I mention now because they give light to this matter As soon as the Act was passed a Warrant was sent to the Lieutenant of the Tower to cut off his head the next Morning but the King dying in the night the Lieutenant could do nothing on that Warrant And it seems it was not thought advisable to begin the new Kings Reign with such an Odious Execution And thus the Duke of Norfolk escaped very narrowly Both Parties descanted on this differently The Conscientious Papists said it was Gods just Judgment on him who had in all things followed the Kings pleasure oftentimes against his own Conscience That he should smart under that Power which himself had helped so considerably to make it be raised so high The Protestants could not but observe an hand of God in measuring out such a hard measure to him that was so heavy on all those poor people that were
questioned for Heresie But Cranmers carriage in this matter was suitable to the other parts of his Life for he withdrew to Croydon and would not so much as be present in Parliament when so unjust an Act was passed and his absence at this time was the more considerable since the King was so dangerously ill that it must be concluded it could be no slight Cause that made him withdraw at such a time But the Duke of Norfolk had been his constant Enemy therefore he would not so much as be near the publick Councils when so strange an Act was passing But at the same time the Bishop of Winchester was officiously hanging on in the Court and though he was forbid to come to Council yet always when the Councellors went into the Kings Bed-Chamber he went with them to the door to make the World believe he was still one of the number and staying at the door till the rest came out he returned with them But he was absolutely lost in the Kings Opinion There is but one other step of Forreign business in this Reign which was an Embassy sent over by the Duke of Saxony to let the King know of the League between the Pope and the Emperor for the Extirpation of Heresie And that the Emperor was making War on him and the other Princes in pursuance of that League Therefore he desired the Kings Assistance But at the same time the Emperor did by his Agents every-where disown that the War was made upon a Religious Account And said it was only to maintain the Rights of the Empire which those Princes had affronted So the King answered that as soon as it did appear to him that Religion was the cause of the War he would Assist them But that which made this so involved was That though at Rome the Pope declared it was a Holy War and ordered Prayers and Processions to be made for Success yet the Emperor in all his Declarations took no notice of Religion He had also divided the Protestant Party so that some of them joyned with him and others were Neutrals And when in Germany it self this matter was so little understood it was easie to abuse Strangers by giving them a wrong Account of it The King was now overgrown with corpulency and fatness so that he became more and more unwieldy He could not go up or down stairs but as he was raised up or let down by an Engine And an old sore in his Leg became very uneasie to him so that all the humors in his Body sinking down into his Leg he was much pained and became exceeding froward and intractable to which his inexcusable severity to the Duke of Norfolk and his Son may be in a great measure imputed His Servants durst scarce speak to him to put him in mind of his approaching end And an Act of Parliament which was made for the security of the Kings Life had some words in it against the Foretelling of his death which made every one afraid to speak to him of it lest he in his angry and imperious humors should have Ordered them to be Endicted upon that Statute But he felt nature declining apace and so made the Will that he had left behind him at his last going into France be written over again with â—his only difference That Gardiner Bishop of Winchester whom he had appointed one of the Executors of his Will and of the Councellors to his Son till he came of Age was now left out Of which when Sir Anthony Brown put the King in mind apprehending it was only an Omission he answered That he knew Gardiners temper well enough and though he could Govern him yet none of them would be able to do it and that he would give them much trouble And when Brown at another time repeated the motion to the King he told him if he spake more of that he would strike him out of his Will too The Will was said to be Signed the 30th of December It is Printed at large by Fuller and the most Material parts of it by Heylin So I need say little of it only the most signal Clause in it was That he excluded the Line of Scotland out of the Succession and preferred the two Daughters of the French Queen by Charles Brandon to them And this leads me to discover several things concerning this Will which have been hitherto unknown I draw them from a Letter written to Sir William Cecil then Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth afterwards Lord Burleigh by William Maitland of Leithingtoun Secretary of State to the Queen of Scotland This Maitland was accounted a man of the greatest parts of any in his Nation at that time though his Treachery in turning over to the Party that was against the Queen very much blemished his other Qualities but he expiated his fault by a real Repentance which appeared in his returning to his duty and losing all afterwards in her quarrel His Letter will be found in the Collection The Substance and design of it is to clear the Right his Mistress had to the Crown of England in case the Queen should die without Heirs of her Body Therein after he had answered other Objections he comes to this of the Will To it he says That according to the Act of Parliament the Kings Will was to be Signed with his own hand but this Will was only Signed by the Stamp Then the King never Ordered the Stamp to be put to it He had been oft desired to Sign it but had always put it off but when they saw his death approaching one William Clark servant to Thomas Hennage put the Stamp to it and some Gentlemen that were waiting without were called in to Sign it as Witnesses For this he appeal'd to the deposition of the Lord Paget and desired the Marquess of Winchester and Northampton the Earl of Pembroke Sir William Petre Sir Henry Nâ—vil Sir Maurice Berkley Sir Anthony Denny Doctor Buts and some others might be examined and that their Depositions might be entred in the Chancery He also appealed to the Original Will by which it would appear That it was not Signed but only Stamped and that not being according to the Act of Parliament which in such extraordinary things must be strictly taken the Will was of no force Thus it appears what vulgar Errors pass upon the World And though for seventy five years the Scotish Race has enjoyed the Crown of England and after so long a possession it is very superfluous to clear a Title which is universally acknowledged yet the Reader will not be ill pleased to see how ill-grounded that pretence was which some managed very seditiously during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth for excluding that Line But if this Will was not signed by the King other Grantâ— was certainly made by him on his death-bed one was to the City of London of 500 Marks a year for endowing an Hospital which was called Christs
Hospital and he order'd the Church of the Franciscans a little within Newgate to be opened which he gave to the Hospital This was done the 3d of Ianuary Another was of Trinity Colledg in Cambridg one of the Noblest Foundations in Christendom He continued in a decay till the 27 of the moneth and then many signs of his approaching end appearing few would adventure on so unwelcom a thing as to put him in mind of his change then imminent but Sir Anthony Denny had the honesty and courage to do it and desired him to prepare for death and remember his former life and to call on God for mercy through Jesus Christ. Upon which the King expressed his grief for the Sins of his past Life yet he said he trusted in the mercies of Christ which were greater than they were Then Denny asked him if any Churchman should be sent for and he said if any it should be Arch-Bishop Cranmer and after he had rested a little finding his Spirits decay apace he ordered him to be sent for to Croydon where he was then But before he could come the King was Speechless So Cranmer desired him to give some sign of his dying in the Faith of Christ upon which he squeezed his hand and soon after died after he had Reigned 37 years and 9 months in the six and fiftieth year of his age His death was kept up three dayes for the Journals of the House of Lords shew that they continued reading Bills and going on in business till the 31st and no sooner did the Lord Chancellor signify to them that the King was dead and that the Parliament was thereby dissolved It is certain the Parliament had no being after the Kings breath was out so their sitting till the 31st shews that the Kings death was not generally known all those three dayes The reasons of concealing it so long might either be that they were considering what to do with the Duke of Norfolk or that the Seymours were laying their matters so as to be secure in the Government before they published the Kings Death I shall not adventure on adding any further Character of him to that which is done with so much Wit and Judgment by the Lord Hâ—rbert but shall refer the Reader wholly to him only adding an account of the blackest part of it the Attaindors that passed the last 13 years of his life which are comprehended within this Book of which I have cast over the Relation to the Conclusion of it In the latter part of his Reign there were many things that seem great severities especially as they are represented by the Writers of the Roman party whose relations are not a little strengthned by the faint excuses and the mistaken accounts that most of the Protestant Historians have made The King was naturally impetuous and could not bear provocation the times were very ticklish his Subjects were generally addicted to the old Superstition especially in the Northern parts the Monks and Friers were both numerous and wealthy the Pope was his implacable Enemy the Emperor was a formidable Prince and being then Master of all the Netherlands had many advantages for the War he designed against Enâ—land Cardinal Pole his kinsman was going over all the Courts of Christendom to perswade a League against England as being a thing of greater necessity and merit than a War against the Turk This being without the least aggravation the state of affairs at that time it must be confessed he was sore put to it A Superstition that was so blind and headstrong and Enemies that were both so powerful so spiteful and so industrious made rigour necessary nor is any General of an Army more concerned to deal severely with Spies and Intelligencers than he was to proceed against all the Popes adherents or such as kept correspondence with Pole He had observed in History that upon much less provocation than himself had given not only several Emperors and forreign Princes had been dispossessed of their Dominions but two of his own Ancestors Henry the 2d and King Iohn had been driven to great extremities and forced to unusual and most indecent submissions by the means of the Popes and their Clergy The Popes power over the Clergy was so absolute and their dependence and obedience to him was so implicite and the Popish Clergy had so great an interest in the superstitious multitude whose consciences they governed that nothing but a stronger passion could either tame the Clergy or quiet the People If there had been the least hope of impunity the last part of his Reign would have been one continued Rebellion therefore to prevent a more profuse effusion of blood it seemed necessary to execute Laws severely in some particular instances There is one calumny that runs in a thread through all the Historians of the Popish side which not a few of our own have ignorantly taken up That many were put to death for not swearing the Kings Supremacy It is an impudent falshood for not so much as one person suffered on that account nor was there any Law for any such Oath before the Parliament in the 28th year of the Kings Reign when the unsufferable Bull of Pope Paul the 3d engaged him to look a little more to his own safety Then indeed in the Oath for maintaining the successiono f the Crown the Subjects were required under the pains of Treason to swear that the King was supream head of the Church of England but that was not mentioned in the former Oath that was made in the 25th and enacted in the 26 year of his Reign It cannot but be confessed that to enact under pain of death that none should deny the Kings Titles and to proceed upon that against offenders is a very different thing from forcing them to swear the King to be the Supream Head of the Church The first instance of these Capital proceedings was in Easter-Term in the beginning of the 27th year of his reign Three Priors and a Monk of the Carthusian Order were then endited of Treason for saying that the King was not Supream head under Christ of the Church of England These were Iohn Houghton Prior of the Charter-house near London Augustin Webster Prior of Axholme Robert Laurence Prior of Bâ—vâ—ll and Richard Reynolds a Monk of Sion this last was esteemed a learned man for that time and that Order They were tried in Westminster-Hall by a Commission of Oyer and Terminer they pleaded not guilty but the Jury found them guilty and judgment was given that they should suffer as Traitors The Record mentions no other particulars but the writers of the Popish side make a splendid recital of the courage and constancy they expressed both in their Tryal and at their Death It was no difficult thing for men so used to the Legend and the making of fine stories for the Saints and Martyrs of their Orders to dress up such Narratives with much pomp But as their pleading Not
Guilty to the Endictment shews no extraordinary resolution so the account that is given by them of one Hall a Secular Priest that died with them is so false that there is good reason to suspect all He is said to have suffered on the same account but the Record of his Attaindor gives a very different relation of it He and Robert Feron were endited at the same time for having said many spiteful and Treasonable things as that the King was a Tyrant an Heretick a Robber and an Adulterer that they hoped he should die such a death as King Iohn and Richard the 3d died that they looked when those in Ireland and Wales should invade England and they were assured that three parts of four in England would be against the King they also said that they should never live merrily till the King and the Rulers were plucked by the Pates and brought to the Pot and that it would never be well with the Church till that was done Hall had not only said this but had also written it to Feron the 10th of March that year When they were brought to the Bar they at first pleaded Not Guilty but full proof being brought they themselves confessed the Enditement before the Jury went aside and put themselves on the Kings mercy upon which this being an imagining and contriving both War against the King and the Kings death judgment was given as in cases of Treason but no mention being made of Ferons death it seems he had his pardon Hall suffered with the four Carthusians who were hanged in their habits They proceeded no further in Easter-Term but in Trinity-Term there was another Commission of Oyer and Terminer by which Humphrey Middlemore William Exmew and Sebastian Nudigate three Monks of the Charter-house near London were Endited of Treason for having said on the 25 of May that they neither could nor would consent to be obedient to the Kings Highness as true lawful and obedient Subjects to take him to be Supream Head on Earth of the Church of England They all pleaded not-Guilty but were found Guilty by the Jury and Judgment was given When they were condemned they desired that they might receive the body of Christ before their death But as Judge Spelman writ the Court would not grant it since that was never done in such cases but by Order from the King Two dayes after that they were Executed Two other Monks of that same Order Iohn Rochester and Iames Wolver suffered on the same account at York in May this year Ten other Carthusian Monks were shut up within their Cells where nine of them dyed the tenth was hanged in the beginning of August Concerning those persons I find this said in some Original Letters that they had brought over into England and vented in it some Books that were written beyond Sea against the Kings Marriage and his other proceedings which being found in their house they were pressed to peruse the Books that were written for the King but obstinately refused to do it they had also been involved in the business of the Maid of Kent for which though all the Complices in it except those whom suffered for it were pardoned by Act of Parliament yet such as had been concerned in it were still under jealousie and it is no wonder that upon new provocations they met with the uttermost rigor of the Law These Tryals made way for two others that were more Signal of the Bishop of Rochester and Sir Thomas More The first of these had been a Prisoner above a year and was very severely used he complained in his Letters to Cromwell that he had neither Cloaths nor fire being then about fourscore This was understood at Rome and upon it Pope Clement by an Officious kindness to him or rather in spite to King Henry declared him a Cardinal and sent him a Red-hat When the King knew this he sent to Examine him about it but he protested he had used no endeavours to procure it and valued it so little that if the Hat were lying at his feet he would not take it up It never came nearer him than Picardy yet this did precipitate his ruin But if he had kept his opinion of the Kings Supremacy to himself they could not have proceeded further He would not do that but did upon several occasions speak against it so he was brought to his Tryal on the 17th of Iune The Lord Chancellor the Duke of Suffolk and some other Lords together with the Judges sate upon him by a Commission of Oyer and Terminer He pleaded not-Guilty but being found Guilty Judgment was passed on him to die as a Traitor but he was by a Warrant from the King beheaded Upon the 22d of Iune being the day of his Execution he dressed himself with more than ordinary care and when his man took notice of it he told him he was to be that day a Bridegroom As he was led to the place of Execution being stopt in the way by the croud he opened his new Testament and prayed to this purpose that as that Book had been his companion and chief comfort in his imprisonment so then some place might turn up to him that might comfort him in his last passage This being said he opened the Book at a venture in which these words of St. Iohns Gospel turned up This is Life eternal to know thâ—e the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent So he shut the Book with much saisfaction and all the way was repeating and meditating on them When he came to the Scaffold he pronounced the Te Deum and after some other devotions his head was cut off Thus dyed Iohn Fisher Bishop of Rochester in the 80th year of his Age. He was a Learned and devout man but much addicted to the superstitions in which he had been bred up And that led him to great severities against all that opposed them He had been for many years Confessor to the Kings Grand-Mother the Countess of Richmonâ— and it was believed that he perswaded her to these Noble designs for the advancement of Learning of Founding two Colledges in Cambridge St. Iohns and Christs Colledge and Divinity Professors in both Universities And in acknowledgment of this he was chosen Chancellor of the University of Cambridge Henry the 7th gave him the Bishoprick of Rochester which he following the rule of the Primitive Church would never change for a better he used to say his Church was his Wife and he would never part with her because she was poor He continued in great favour with the King till the business of the Divorce was set on foot and then he adhered so firmly to the Queens cause and the Popes Supremacy that he was carryed by that headlong into great Errors as appears by the business of the Maid of Kent Many thought the King ought to have proceeded against him rather upon that which was a point of State than upon
the Imposition of hands so they raised their Order or Office so high as to make it equal with the Order of a Bishop But as they designed to extol the Order of Priesthood so the Canonists had as great a mind to depress the Episcopal Order They generally wrote for preferment and the way to it was to exalt the Papacy Nothing could do that so effectually as to bring down the Power of Bishops This only could justifie the Exemptions of the Monks and Friers the Popes setting up Legantine Courts and receiving at first Appeals and then Original causes before them together with many other Encroachments on their Jurisdiction All which were unlawful if the Bishops had by Divine right Jurisdiction in their Dioceses Therefore it was necessary to lay them as low as could be and to make them think that the Power they held was rather as Delegates of the Apostolick See than by a Commission from Christ or his Apostles So that they looked on the declaring Episcopal Authority to be of Divine right as a blow that would be fatal to the Court of Rome and therefore they did after this at Trent use all possible endeavours to hinder any such Decision It having been then the Common stile of that Age to reckon Bishops and Priests as the same Office it is no wonder if at this time the Clergy of this Church the greatest part of them being still leavened with the old superstition and the rest of them not having enough of spare-time to examine lesser matters retained still the former phrases in this particular On this I have insisted the more that it may appear how little they have considered things who are so far carryed with their zeal against the established Government of this Church as to make much use of some passages of the Schoolmen and Canonists that deny them to be distinct Offices for these are the very dregs of Popery the one raising the Priests higher for the sake of Transubstantiation the other pulling the Bishops lower for the sake of the Popes Supremacy and by such means bringing them almost to an equality So partial are some men to their particular conceits that they make use of the most mischievous Topicks when they can serve their turnâ—punc not considering how much further these Arguments will run if they ever admit them Ad Page 255. line 28. The Princes of Germany did always press the King to enter into a Religious League with them the first League that was made in the year 1536 was conceived in general terms against the Pope as the Common Enemy and for setting up true Religion according to the Gospel But they did afterwards send over Ambassadors to treat about particulars and they having presented a Memorial of these there were Conferences appointed between them and some Bishops and Divines of this Church I find no Divines was sent over hither but Frederick Miconius Minister of Gotha by whom Melanthon who could not be spared out of Germany sent several Letters to the King the fullest and longest of them will be found in the Collection It is all to this purpose to perswade the King to go on vigorously in the Reforming of Abuses according to the word of God The King sent over the particulars which they proposed in order to a perfect agreement to Gardiner who was then at Paris Upon which he sent back his Opinion touching them all the Original of which under his own hand I have seen but it relates so much to the other Paper that was sent him which I never saw that without it his meaning can hardly be understood and therefore I have not put it in the Collection The main thing in it at which it chiefly drives is to press the King to finish first a Civil League with them and to leave those particulars concerning Religion to be afterwards treated of The King followed his advice so far as to write to the German Princes to that effect But when the King declared his resolution to have the six Articles established all that favoured the Reformation were much alarmed at it and pressed their friends in Germany to interpose with the King for preventing it I have seen an Original Letter of Hains Dean of Exeter in which he laments the sad effects that would follow on that Act which was then preparing that all the Corruptions in the Church rose from the establishing some points without clear proofs from Scripture he wished the Germans would consider of it for if the King and Parliament should make such a Law this was a President for the Emperor to make the like in the Diet of the Empire Neither were the German Ambassadors backward in doing their friends in England all the service they could for after they had held several conferences with these that were appointed by the King to treat with them they finding they could not prevail with them wrote a long and Learned Letter to the King against the taking away the Chalice in the Sacrament and against private Masses and the Celibate of the Clergy with some other abuses which the Reader will find in the Collection as it is Copied from the Original which I have seen To this I have added the Answer which the King wrote to it He employed Tonstall Bishop of Duresm to draw it for I have seen a rude draught of a great part of it written with his hand By both these compared together every indifferent Reader will clearly see the force and simplicity of the Arguments on the one hand and the art and shuffling that was used on the other side As soon as the Act was past notwithstanding all their endeavours to the contrary they in an Audience before the King represented the great concern their Masters would have when the King on whom they had relyed so much as the Defender of the Faith should proceed with the severity expressed in that Act against those that agreed with them in Doctrine and pressed the King earnestly to put a stop to the Execution of it The King promised he would see to it and that though he judged the Act necessary to restrain the Insolence of some of his Subjects yet it should not be Executed but upon great provocation he also proposed the renewing a Civil League with them without mentioning matters of Religion To this the Princes made answer that the League as it was at first projected was chiefly upon a design of Religion and therefore without a common consent of all that were in their League they could not alter it they lamented this passing of the late Act but writ their thanks to the King for stopping the Execution of it and warn'd him that some of his Bishops who set him on to these courses were in their hearts still for all the old Abuses and for the Popes Supremacy and were pressing on the King to be severe against his best Subjects that they might thereby bring on a design which they could not hope
The Laws made in England against Hereticks p. 25. Vnder Richard the 2d ibid. Vnder Henry the 4th ibid. And Henry the 5th p. 26 Heresie declared by the Kings Iudges p. 27 Warhams proceeding against Hereticks ib. The Bishop of London's proceedings against them p. 29 The Progress of Luthers Doctrine p. 30 His Books were Translated into English p. 31 The King wrote against him ibid. He replyed ibid. Endeavours to suppress the New Testament p. 32 Sir Thomas More writes against Luther ibid. Bilney and others proceeded against for Heresie ibid. BOOK II. Of the Process of Divorce between King Henry and Queen Katherine and of what passed from the 19th to the 25th year of his Reign in which he was declared Supream Head of the Church of England THe beginning of the Sute of Divorce p. 34 Prince Arthur Marryed the Infanta ibid. And died soon after p. 35 A Marriage proposed between Henry and her ibid. It is allowed by the Pope ibid. Henry Protested against it p. 36 His Father disswaded it ibid. Being come to the Crown he Marries her ibid. Shâ— bore some Children but only the Lady Mary lived ibid. Several Matches proposed for her p. 37 The Kings Marriage is questioned by Forreigners ibid. Anno 1527. He himself has Scruples concerning it ib. The Grounds of these p. 38 All his Bishops except Fisher condemn it ibid. The reasons of State against it p. 39. Wolsey goes into France ibid. The Kings fears and hopes ibid. Arguments against the Bull p. 40 Calumnies cast on Anne Boleyn p. 41 They are false and ill-contrived p. 42 Her Birth and Education p. 43 She was contrâ—cted to the Lord Piercy p. 44 The Divorce moved for at Rome ibid. The first Dispatch concerning it ibid. Anno 1528. The Pope granted it p. 47 And gave a Bull of dispensation p. 48 The Popes craft and policy ibid. A subtile method proposed by the Pope p. 49 Staphileus sent from England p. 50 The Cardinals Letters to the Pope p. 57 A fuller Bull is desired by the King ibid. Gardiner and Fox are sent to Rome p. 52 The Bull desired by them ibid. Wolsey's earnestness to procure it p. 53 Campegio declared Legate p. 54 He delaies his Iourney ibid. The Pope grants the Decretal Bull p. 55 Two Letters from Anne Boleyn to Wolsey ibid. Wolsey desires the Bull may be seen by some of the Kings Council p. 56 The Emperor opposes the Kings business p. 57 A Breve is found in Spain ibid. It was thought to be forged ibid. Campegio comes to England p. 58 And lets the King see the Bull ibid. But refuses to shew it to others ibid. Wolsey moves the Pope that some might see it ibid. But in vain p. 59 Campana is sent by the Pope to Engl. p. 60 The King offers the Pope a Guard ibid. The Pope inclines to the Emperor ibid. Threatnings used to him p. 61 Anno 1529. HE repents the sending over a Bull ibid. But feeds the King with Promises p. 62 The Popes sickness p. 63 Wolsey aspires to the Papacy Ibid. Instructions for promoting him p. 64 New motions for the Divorce p. 65 The Pope Relapses dangerously ibid. A new Dispatch to Rome p. 66 Wolseys Bulls for the Bishoprick of Winton p. 67 The Emperor Protests against the Legates ib. Yet the Pope promises not to recal it ibid. The Legates write to the Pope p. 68 Campegio led an ill life p. 69 The Emperor moves for an Avocation ibid. The Popes Dissimulation p. 70 Great contests about the Avocation ibid. The Legates begin the Process p. 72 A severe charge against the Queen ibid. The King and Queen appear in Court ibid. The Queens speech p. 73. The King declares his scruples ibid. The Queen Appeals to the Pope p. 74 Articles framed and witnesses examined ib. An Avocation prest at Rome ibid. The Pope joyns with the Emperor p. 75 Yet is in great perplexities ibid. The Avocation is granted p. 76 The Proceedings of the Legates ibid. Campegio adjourns the Court p. 77 Which gave great offence ibid. Wolseys danger ibid. Anne Boleyn returns to Court p. 78 Cranmers Opinion about the Divorce p. 79 Approved by the King p. 80 Cardinal Wolsey's fall ibid. The meanness of his temper p. 81 He is Attached of Treason ibid. He dies his Character p. 82. A Parliament called ibid. Complaints against the Clergy p. 83 The Kings debts are discharged ibid. The Pope and the Emperor unite p. 84 The Womens peace ibid. Anno 1530. The Emperor is Crowned at Bononia ib. The Vniversities consulted in the Kings sute of Divorce p. 85 The answers from Oxford and Cambridge p. 86. D. Crook Imployed in Venice p. 87 Many in Italy wrote for the Divorce p. 88 It was opposed by the Pope and the Emperor p. 89 No Money given by the Kings Agents ibid. Great Rewards given by the Emperor p. 90 It is determined for the King at Bononia Padua Ferrara and Orleance p. 91 At Paris Bourges and Tholose p. 92 The Opinions of some Reformers ibid. And of the Lutherans p. 94 The King will not appear at Rome ibid. Cranmer offers to defend the Divorce p. 95 The Clergy Nobility and Gentry write to the Pope for the Divorce ibid. The Popes answer to them p. 96 A Proclamation against Bulls ibid. Books written for the Divorce p. 97 Reasons out of the Old and New Testament ibid. The Authorities of Popes and Councils p. 98 And the Greek and Latine Fathers p. 99 And Canonists p. 100 Marriage is Compleat by Consent ibid. Violent Presumptions of the Consummation of the former Marriage ibid. The Popes Dispensation of no force p. 101. Bishops are not to obey his Decrees p. 102 The Authority of Tradition ibid. The Reasons against the Divorce p. 103 Answers made to these p. 104 The Queen is intractable p. 105 Anno 1531. A Session of Parliament ibid. The Clergy found in a Premunire p. 106 The Prerogatives of the Kings of England in Ecclesiastical affairs ibid. The Encroachments of Popes ibid. Statutes made against them p. 107 The Popes endeavoured to have those repealed p. 109 But with no effect p. 111 The Clergy excused themselves p. 112 Yet they submit and acknowledg the King Supream Head of the Church ibid. The King Pardons them p. 113 And with some difficulty the Laity ibid. One Attainted for Poysoning ibid. The King leaves the Queen p. 114 A disorder among the Clergy ibid. The Pope turns to the French p. 115 And offers his Niece to the Duke of Orleance ibid. The Turk invades the Empire p. 116 Anno 1532. THe Parliament complains of the Spiritual Courts ibid. They reject a Bill concerning Wards p. 117 An Act against Annates ibid. The Pope writes to the King p. 118 The Kings answer ibid. Sir Edward Car sent to Rome p. 119 His Negotiation there p. 120 He corrupts the Cardinal of Ravenna ibid. The Process against the King at Rome p. 121 A Bull for new Bishopricks ibid. The Pope desires
the King would submit to him p. 122 A new Session of Parliament ibid. A Subsidy is voted p. 123 The Oaths the Clergy swore to the Pope and to the King ibid. Chancellor More delivers up his Office p. 124 The King meets with the French King ibid. Eliot sent to Rome p. 125 The King Marries Anne Boleyn p. 126 New Overtures for the Divorce ibid. Anno 1533. A Session of Parliament ibid. An Act against Appeals to Rome ibid. Arch-Bishop Warham dies p. 127 Cranmer succeeds him ibid. His Bulls from Rome p. 128 His Consecration ibid. The Iudgment of the Convocation concerning the Divorce p. 129 Endeavours to make the Queen Submit p. 130 But in vain ibid. Cranmer gives Iudgment p. 131 Censures that pass upon it ibid. The Pope united to the French King p. 133 A Sentence against the Kings proceedings ibid. Queen Elizabeth is born p. 134 An Enterview between the Pope and the French King ibid. The King submits to the Pope ibid. The Imperialists oppose the agreement p. 135 And procure a definitive Sentence p. 136 The King resolves to abolish the Popes Power in England ibid. It was long disputed ibid. Arguments against it from Scripture p. 137 And the Primitive Church p. 138 Arguments for the Kings Supremacy p. 140 From Scripture and the Laws of England p. 141 The Supremacy explained p. 142 Pains taken to satisfie Fisher p. 143 Anno 1534. A Session of Parliament ibid. An Act for taking away the Popes Power p. 144 About the Succession to the Crown p. 145 For punishing Hereticks p. 147 The Submission of the Clergy ibid. About the Election of Bishops p. 148 And the Maid of Kent p. 149 The Insolence of some Friers p. 151 The Nuns speech at her death p. 152 Fisher is dealt with Gently p. 153 The Oath for the Succession taken by many p. 154 More and Fisher refuse it p. 155 And are proceeded against p. 156 Another Session of Parliament p. 157 The Kings Supremacy is Enacted ibid. An Act for Suffragan Bishops ibid. A Subsidy is granted p. 158 More and Fisher are Attainted ibid. The Progress of the Reformation p. 159 Tindal and others at Antwerp send over Books and the New Testament ibid. The Supplication of the Beggars p. 160 More answers and Frith replyes p. 161 Cruel proceeding against Reformers p. 162 Bilney's Sufferings p. 163 The Sufferings of Byfield p. 164 And Bainham p. 165 Articles abjured by some ibid. Tracy's Testament p. 166 Frith's Sufferings p. 167 His Arguments against the Corporal presence in the Sacrament ibid. His Opinion of the Sacrament and Purgatory for which he was condemned p. 169 His Constancy at his death p. 170 A stop put to Cruel proceedings p. 171 The Queen favoured the Reformers ibid. Cranmer Promoted it ibid. And was Assisted by Cromwell p. 172. A strong party against it ibid. Reasons used against it ibid. And for it p. 173. The Iudgment of some Bishops concerning a General Council p. 174 A speech of Cranmers of it ibid. BOOK III. Of the other Transactions about Religion and Reformation during the rest of the Reign of King Henry the 8th Anno 1535. THe rest of the Kings Reign was troublesome p. 179 By the practises of the Clergy p. 180 Which provoked the King much ibid. The Bishops swear the Kings Supremacy p. 181. The Franciscans only refuse it p. 182 A Visitation of Monasteries ibid. The Instructions of the Visitors p. 184 Injunctions sent by them p. 185 The State of the Monasteries in England and their Exemptions p. 186 They were deserted but again set up by King Edgar p. 187 Arts used by the Monks ibid. They were generally corrupt p. 188 And so grew the Friers p. 189 The Kings other reasons for suppressing Monasteries ibid. Cranmers design in it p. 190 The Proceedings of the Visitors ibid. Some Houses resigned to the King p. 191 Anno 1536. QVeen Katherine dies ibid. A Session of Parliament in which the lesser Monasteries were suppressed p. 193 The reasons for doing it ibid. The Translation of the Bible in English designed p. 194 The reasons for it ibid. The opposition made to it p. 195 Queen Anns fall driven on by the Popish party p. 196 The King became jealous p. 197 She is put in the Tower p. 198 She confessed some Indiscreet words p. 199 Cranmers Letters concerning her p. 200 She is brought to a Tryal p. 201 And Condemned p. 202 And also Divorced p. 203 She prepares for Death p. 204 The Lieutenant of the Tower's Letters about her ibid. Her Execution p. 205 The Censures made on this ibid. Lady Mary is reconciled to her Father and makes a full Submission p. 207 Lady Elizabeth is well used by the King p. 208 A Letter of hers to the Queen p. 209 A New Parliament is called ibid. An Act of the Succession p. 210 The Pope endeavours a reconciliation p. 211 But in vain ibid. The Proceedings of the Convocation p. 213 Articles agreed on about Religion p. 215 Published by the Kings Authority p. 217 But variously censured p. 218 The Convocation declared against the Council Summoned by the Pope p. 219 The King publishes his reasons against it p. 220 Cardinal Pool writes against the King ibid. Many Books are written for the King p. 221 Instructions for the dissolution of Monasteries p. 222 Great discontents among all sorts p. 223 Endeavours to qualifie these ibid. The people were disposed to Rebel p. 224 The Kings Injunctions about Religion p. 225 They were much censured p. 226 A Rising in Lincoln-shire p. 227 Their Demands and the Kings Answer ibid. It was quieted by the Duke of Suffolk p. 228 A great Rebellion in the North ibid. The Duke of Norfolk was sent against them p. 230 They advance to Doncaster ibid. Their Demands p. 231 The Kings Answer to them p. 232 Anno 1537. THe Rebellion is quieted p. 233 New risings soon dispersed p. 234 The chief Rebels Executed ibid. A New Visitation of Monasteries p. 235 Some great Abbots resign ibid. Confessions of horrid crimes are made p. 237 Some are Attainted p. 238 And their Abbies Suppressed p. 240 The Superstition and Cheats of these Houses discovered p. 242 Anno 1538. SOme Images publickly broken ibid. Thomas Beckets shrine broken p. 243 New Injunctions about Religion p. 245 Inâ—ectives against the King at Rome ibid. The Popes Bulls against the King ibid. The Clergy in England declared against these p. 248 The Bible is Printed in English p. 249 New Injunctions ibid. Prince Edward is born p. 250 The Complyance of the Popish party p. 251 Lambert appealed to the King p. 252 And is publickly tryed ibid. Many Arguments brought against him p. 253 He is condemned and burnt p. 254 The Popish party gain ground ibid. A Treaty with the German Princes p. 255 Bonners dissimulation ibid. Anno 1539. A Parliament is called p. 256 The six Articles are proposed ibid. Arguments against them p. 257 An Act passed for them p. 258 Which is variously
done or attained there shall hang meerly upon the Emperor's Will Consent and Arbitre and therefore nothing is now or hereafter to be procured that may tend to any Act to be done in decision of the Cause or otherwise there or which may bring the adverse Party to any advantage to be taken by the favour or partiality that the same may have in that Court but to convert and employ all your suit to that thing which may be to the most convalidation and surety of the Process and things to be done here as well by attaining as ample large and sufficient words clauses and sentences as ye can get for ampliation of the new Commission As for the defeating of any thing that may be procured to the impeachment of the Process thereof and the corroboration of the things to be passed and done by virtue of the same And amongst other things whereas ye with these last Letters sent the Pope's Pollicitation for the non-inhibition or avoking of the Cause the ratifying and confirming of the Sentence by us his Legates herein to be given and other things mentioned in the same ye shall understand that the said Pollicitation is so couched and qualified as the Pope's Holiness whensoever he will may resile like-as by certain Lines and Annotations which in the Margin of a Copy of the said Pollicitation I send you herewith ye shall perceive more at large And therefore after your other suits for the ampliation of the new Commission if any such may be attained brought unto as good a purpose as ye can ye shall by some good way find the mean to attain a new Pollicitation with such or as many of the words and additions newly devised as ye can get which ye may do under this form and colour that is to say to shew unto the Pope's Holiness by way of sorrow and doleance how your Courier to whom ye committed the conveyance of the said Pollicitation so chanced in wet and water in the carriage thereof as the Pacquet wherein it was with such Letters as were with the same and amongst other the Rescripts of Pollicitation were totally wet defaced and not legible so as the Pacquet and Rescript was and is detained by him to whom ye direct your Letters and not delivered amongst the other unto the King's hands and unless his Holiness of his goodness unto you will grant you a double of the said Pollicitation ye see not but there shall be some notable blame imputed unto you for not better ordering thereof to the conservation of it from such chance And thus coming to a new Pollicitation and saying ye will devise it as near as ye can remember according to the former ye by your Wisdoms and namely ye Mr. Stevins may find the means to get as many of the new and other pregnant fat and available words as is possible the same signed and sealed as the other is to be written in Parchment the politick handling whereof the King's Highness and I commit unto your good discretions for therein as ye Mr. Stevins know resteth a great strength and corroboration of all that shall be done there in decision of the King 's said Cause and as ye write may be in manner as beneficial to the King's purpose as the Commission Decretal And to the intent ye may the better know how to proceed in this Business I advertise you that the King's Highness hath now received fresh Letters out of Spain answering to those sent by Curson jointly with a Servant of the Queens for exhibition of the Original Brief here of whose expedition you Mr. Stevins were privy before your departure The Letters were of sundry dates the last whereof is the 21 of April at which time the Emperor was at Caesar Augusta upon his departure towards Barselona In effect the Emperor minding by his departure thither and other his Acts to make a great demonstration of his coming into Italy who is to nothing as the King's Ambassadours write more unmeet and unfurnished to that voyage not having any Gallies there but three which lay on dry Land unrigged as they have done a long time passed none Assembly of the States of that Land none order provision of Victual towardness in conscription of Men of War or appearance of such thing but that his going to Barselona is chiefly under pretext to attain certain old Treasure there remaining and to give the better reputation to his Affairs in Italy As to the matter of Peace and Truce he seemeth not so alien from it but that he would under colour thereof be glad to separate and dis-join other from the sincerity of confidence that is between them working somewhat with the French King which he himself confesseth to be but abuses On the other side he maketh overture of Peace or Truce to be had with the King's Highness apart and in the mean time entertaineth the Pope's Holiness as one whom won from the residue of the Confederates he thinketh himself most assured of Howbeit in all this his Business ye may constantly affirm that his Compasses cannot prevail in any thing that may be excogitate to the separation of the King's Highness and the French King who so entirely proceed together that the Emperor coming or not coming into Italy the said French King intendeth to prosecute him in the place where his Person shall be To whom the King's Highness now sendeth the Duke of Suffolk with the Treasurer of his honourable Houshold who if the Pope will not really and actually intend to the maintaining of the Peace coming to the convention of his Holiness moved as the case shall require shall be furnished of a substantial number of Men of War out of his Realm to the assistance of the said French King if the Emperor happen to descend in Italy So as his things there be not like to be in such surety as might bring the Pope's Holiness to this extremity of fear and respect And all the Premisses touching this knowledg had out of Spain and the French King's Interest with the King's Concurrence as afore It shall be well done ye declare to the Pope's Holiness whereby peradventure the same shall be removed from some part of his said overmuch respect to that part As to sending of the Brief the Emperor refusing to send it into England sheweth some towardness of sending it to Rome minding and intending to have the King's Matter decided there and not here howbeit all be but vain Collusions For as ye shall perceive by such things as be extracted out of the Letters of the King's Orators Resident in Spain a Copy whereof I send you herewith the more the said Breve cometh into light and knowledg the more falsities be deprehended therein and amongst other one there is specially to be noted making if it be true a clearer and manifest proof of the same Falsity which because if it were perceived by the adverse Party or any of their Friends Counsellors or Adherents it
within this Realm other or otherwise than hereafter in this present Act is declared And that no manner Person nor Persons hereafter to be named elected presented or postulated to any Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick within this Realm shall pay the said Annates or First-Fruits for the said Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick nor any other manner of Sum or Sums of Mony Pensions or Annates for the same or for any other like exaction or cause upon pain to forfeit to our said Sovereign Lord the King his Heirs and Successors all manner his Goods and Chattels for ever and all the Temporal Lands and Possessions of the same Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick during the time that he or they which shall offend contrary to this present Act shall have possess or enjoy the Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick wherefore he shall so offend contrary to the form aforesaid And furthermore it is enacted by Authority of this present Parliament That if any Person hereafter named and presented to the Court of Rome by the King or any of his Heirs or Successors to be Bishop of any See or Diocess within this Realm hereafter shall be letted deferred or delayed at the Court of Rome from any such Bishoprick whereunto he shall be so represented by means of restraint of Bulls Apostolick and other things requisite to the same or shall be denied at the Court of Rome upon convenient suit made any manner Bulls requisite for any of the Causes aforesaid any such Person or Persons so presented may be and shall be consecrated here in England by the Arch-Bishop in whose Province the said Bishoprick shall be so alway that the same Person shall be named and presented by the King for the time being to the same Arch-Bishoprick And if any Persons being named and presented as aforesaid to any Arch-Bishoprick of this Realm making convenient suit as is aforesaid shall happen to be letted deferred delayed or otherwise disturbed from the same Arch-Bishoprick for lack of Pall Bulls or other to him requisite to be obtained in the Court of Rome in that behalf that then every such Person named and presented to be Arch-Bishop may be and shall be consecrated and invested after presentation made as is aforesaid by any other two Bishops within this Realm whom the King's Highness or any of his Heirs or Successors Kings of England for the time being will assign and appoint for the same according and in like manner as divers other Arch-Bishops Bishops have been heretofore in ancient time by sundry the King 's most noble Progenitors made consecrated and invested within this Realm And that every Arch-Bishop and Bishop hereafter being named and presented by the King's Highness his Heirs or Successors Kings of England and being consecrated and invested as is aforesaid shall be installed accordingly and shall be accepted taken reputed used and obeyed as an Arch-Bishop or Bishop of the Dignity See or Place whereunto he so shall be named presented and consecrated requireth and as other like Prelates of that Province See or Diocess have been used accepted taken and obeyed which have had and obtained compleatly their Bulls and other things requisite in that behalf from the Court of Rome And also shall fully and entirely have and enjoy all the Spiritualities and Temporalities of the said Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick in as large ample and beneficial manner as any of his or their Predecessors had or enjoyed in the said Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick satisfying and yielding unto the King our Sovereign Lord and to his Heirs and Successors Kings of England all such Duties Rights and Interests as before this time had been accustomed to be paid for any such Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick according to the Ancient Laws and Customs of this Realm and the King's Prerogative Royal. And to the intent our said Holy Father the Pope and the Court of Rome shall not think that the pains and labours taken and hereafter to be taken about the writing sealing obtaining and other businesses sustained and hereafter to be sustained by the Offices of the said Court of Rome for and about the Expedition of any Bulls hereafter to be obtained or had for any such Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick shall be irremunerated or shall not be sufficiently and condignly recompensed in that behalf And for their more ready expedition to be had therein it is therefore enacted by the Authority aforesaid That every Spiritual Person of this Realm hereafter to be named presented or postulated to any Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick of this Realm shall and may lawfully pay for the writing and obtaining of his or their said Bulls at the Court of Rome and ensealing the same with Lead to be had without payment of any Annates or First-Fruits or other charge or exaction by him or them to be made yielden or paied for the same five pounds Sterling for and after the rate of the clear and whole yearly value of every hundreth pounds Sterling above all charges of any such Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick or other mony to the value of the said five pounds for the clear yearly value of every hundreth pounds of every such Arch-Bishoprick or Bishoprick and not above nor in any other wise any things in this present Act before written notwithstanding And forasmuch as the King's Highness and this his High Court of Parliament neither have nor do intend to use in this or any other like cause any manner of extremity or violence before gentle courtesie or friendship ways and means first approved and attempted and without a very great urgent cause and occasion given to the contrary but principally coveting to disburden this Realm of the said great exactions and intolerable charges of Annates and First-Fruits have therefore thought convenient to commit the final order and determination of the Premisses in all things unto the King's Highness So that if it may seem to his high wisdom and most prudent discretion meet to move the Pope's Holiness and the Court of Rome amicably charitably and reasonably to compound other to extinct and make frustrate the payments of the said Annates or First-Fruits or else by some friendly loving and tolerable composition to moderate the same in such wise as may be by this Realm easily born and sustained That then those ways and compositions once taken concluded and agreed between the Pope's Holiness and the King's Highness shall stand in strength force and effect of Law inviolably to be observed And it is also further ordained and enacted by the Authority of this present Parliament That the King's Highness at any time or times on this side the Feast of Easter which shall be in the Year of our Lord God a thousand five hundred and three and thirty or at any time on this side the beginning of the next Parliament by his Letters Pattents under his Great Seal to be made and to be entred of Record in the Roll of this present Parliament may and shall have full power and liberty to declare by the said Letters
Patents whether that the Premisses or any part clause or matter thereof shall be observed obeyed executed and take place and effect as an Act and Statute of this present Parliament or not So that if his Highness by his said Letters Patents before the expiration of the times above-limited thereby do declare his pleasure to be That the Premisses or any part clause or matter thereof shall not be put in execution observed continued nor obeyed in that case all the said Premisses or such part clause or matter as the King's Highness so shall refuse disaffirm or not ratifie shall stand and be from henceforth utterly void and of none effect And in case that the King's Highness before the expiration of the times afore-prefixed do declare by his said Letters Patents his pleasure and determination to be that the said Premisses or every clause sentence and part thereof that is to say the whole or such part thereof as the King's Highness so shall affirm accept and ratifie shall in all points stand remain abide and be put in due and effectual execution according to the purport tenour effect and true meaning of the same and to stand and be from henceforth forever after as firm stedfast and available in the Law as the same had been fully and perfectly established enacted and confirmed to be in every part thereof immediately wholly and entirely executed in like manner form and effect as other Acts and Laws The which being fully and determinately made ordained and enacted in this present Parliament And if that upon the foresaid reasonable amicable and charitable ways and means by the King's Highness to be experimented moved or compounded or otherwise approved it shall and may appear or be seen unto his Grace that this Realm shall be continually burdened and charged with this and such other intolerable Exactions and Demands as heretofore it hath been And that thereupon for continuance of the same our said Holy Father the Pope or any of his Successors or the Court of Rome will or do or cause to be done at any time hereafter so as is above rehearsed unjustly uncharitably and unreasonably vex inquiet molest trouble or grieve our said Sovereign Lord his Heirs or Successors Kings of England or any of his or their Spiritual or Lay-Subjects or this his Realm by Excommunication Excomengement Interdiction or by any other Process Censures Compulsories Ways or Means Be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That the King's Highness his Heirs and Successors Kings of England and all his Spiritual and Lay-Subjects of the same without any scruples of Conscience shall and may lawfully to the honour of Almighty God the encrease and continuance of vertue and good example within this Realm the said Censures Excommunications Interdictions Compulsories or any of them notwithstanding minister or cause to be ministred throughout this said Realm and all other the Dominions or Territories belonging or appertaining thereunto All and all manner Sacraments Sacramentals Ceremonies or other Divine Services of the Holy Church or any other thing or things necessary for the health of the Soul of Mankind as they heretofore at any time or times have been vertuously used or accustomed to do within the same and that no manner such Censures Excommunications Interdictions or any other Process or Compulsories shall be by any of the Prelates or other Spiritual Fathers of this Region nor by any of their Ministers or Substitutes be at any time or times hereafter published executed nor divulged nor suffered to be published executed or divulged in any manner of ways Cui quidem Billae praedictae ad plenum intellectae per dictum Dominum Regem ex assensu Autoritate Parliamenti praedicti taliter est Responsum Le Roy le Volt Soit Baille aux comunes A cest Bille Les comunes sont assentes MEmorand quod nono die Julii Anno Regni Regis Henrici vicesimo quinto idem Dominus Rex per Literas suas Patentes sub magno sigillo suo sigillat Actum praedictum ratificavit confirmavit actui illo assensum suum regium dedit prout per easdem Literas Patentes cujus tenor sequitur in haec verba magis apte constat Here follows the King's Ratification in which the Act is again recited and ratified XLII The King 's last Letter to the Pope A Duplicate To the Pope's Holiness 1532. AFter most humble commendations and most devout kissing of your blessed Feet Albeit that we have hitherto differred to make answer to those Letters dated at Bonony the 7 th day of October which Letters of late were delivered unto us by Paul of Cassali Yet when they appear to be written for this Cause that we deeply considering the Contents of the same should provide for the tranquillity of our own Conscience and should purge such Scruples and Doubts conceived of our Cause of Matrimony We could neither neglect those Letters sent for such a purpose nor after that we had diligently examined and perpended the effects of the same which we did very diligently noting conferring and revolving every thing in them contained with deep study of mind pretermit ne leave to answer unto them For sith that your Holiness seemeth to go about that thing chiefly which is to vanquish those Doubts and to take away inquietations which daily do prick our Conscience insomuch as it doth appear at the first sight to be done of Zeal Love and Piety we therefore do thank you of your good will Howbeit sith it is not performed in Deed that ye pretend we have thought it expedient to require your Holiness to provide us other Remedies wherefore forasmuch as your Holiness would vouchsafe to write unto us concerning this Matter we heartily thank you greatly lamenting also both the chance of your Holiness and also ours unto whom both twain it hath chanced in so high a matter of so great moment to be frustrated and deceived that is to say That your Holiness not being instructed nor having knowledg of the Matter of your self should be compelled to hang upon the Judgment of others and so put forth and make answers gathered of other Men being variable and repugnant among themselves And that we being so long sick and exagitate with this same Sore should so long time in vain look for Remedy which when we have augmented our aegritude and distress by delay and protracting of time ye do so cruciate the Patient and Afflicted as who seeth it should much avail to protract the Cause and thorough vain hope of the end of our desire to lead us whither ye will But to speak plainly to your Holiness Forasmuch as we have suffered many Injuries which with great difficulty we do sustain and digest albeit that among all things passed by your Holiness some cannot be laid alledged nor objected against your Holiness yet in many of them some default appeareth to be in you which I would to God we could so diminish as it might appear no default
monumenta literas scripturas censuras conclusiones Magistrales opiniones consilia assertiones affirmationes tractatus foedera pacis processus res alias caetera promissa coram nobis in dicta causa respective habita gesâ—a facta exhibita producta Necnon ex eisdem diversis aliis ex causis considerationibus argumentisque probationum generibus variis multiplicibus validis quidem efficacibus quibus animum nostrum hac in parte ad plenum informavimus plene evidenter invenimus comperimus dictum Matrimonium inter praefatos Illustrissimum Potentissimum Principem Dominum nostrum Henricum Octavum ac Serenissimam Dominam Catharinam ut praemittitur contractum consummatum nullum omnino invalidum fuisse esse Divino Jure prohibente contractum consummatum extitisse Idcirco nos Thomas Archiepiscopus Primas Legatus antedictus Christi nomine primitus invocato ac solum Deum prae oculis nostris habentes pro nullitate invaliditate dicti Matrimonii pronunciamus decernimus declaramus ipsumque praetensum Matrimonium fuisse esse nullum invalidum ac Divino Jure prohibente contractum consummatum nulliusque valoris aut momenti esse sed viribus firmitate juris caruisse carere praefatoque Illustrissimo Potentissimo Principi Henrico Octavo Serenissimae Dominae Catharinae non licere in eodem praetenso Matrimonio remanere pronunciamus decernimus declaramus ipsosque IllustrissimuÌ„ Potentissimum Principem Henricum Octavum ac Serenissimam Dominam Catharinam quatenus de facto non de jure dictum praetensum Matrimonium ad invicem contraxerunt consummarunt ab invicem separamus divorciamus atque sic separatos divorciatos necnon ob omni vinculo Matrimoniali respectu dicti praetensi Matrimonii liberos immunes fuisse esse pronunciamus decernimus declaramus per hanc nostram sententiam definitivam sive hoc nostrum finale Decretum quam sive quod ferimus promulgamus in his scriptis In quorum praemissorum fidem testimonium has literas nostras testimoniales sive praesens publicum sententiae vel Decreti instrumentum exinde fieri ac per Notarios Publicos subscriptos scribas actuarios nostros in ea parte specialiter assumptos subscribi signari nostrique sigilli appensione jussimus fecimus communiri He likewise passed Iudgment confirming the King's Marriage with Queen Ann at Lambeth May 28 1533. which is in the same Inspeximus Act 5. Anno Regni 25. XLVIII An Act concerning the Deprivations of the Bishops of Salisbury and Worcester WHere before this time the Church of England by the King 's most noble Progenitors and the Nobles of the same have been founded ordained and established in the Estate and degree of Prelatie Dignities and other Promotions Spiritual to the intent and purpose that the said Prelates and other Persons having the said Dignities and Promotions Spiritual continually should be abiding and Reseants upon their said Promotions within this Realm and also keep use and exercise Hospitality Divine Services teaching and preaching of the Laws of Almighty God to such Persons as were and have been within the precinct of their Promotions or Dignities for the Wealth of the Souls of their Givers and Founders greatly to the honour of Almighty God Of the which said Spiritual Persons the King's Highness and his most noble Progenitors have had right honourable and well-learned Personages apt meet and convenient for to guide and instruct his Highness and his most noble Progenitors in their Counsels concerning as well their Outward as Inward Affairs to be devised and practised for the utility and preservation of this Realm by reason whereof the Issues Revenues Profits and Treasure rising and coming of the said Spiritual Promotions and Dignities were and should be spent employed and converted within this Realm to the great profit and commodity of the King's Subjects of the same And where also by the laudable Laws and Provisions of this Realm before this time made it hath been ordained used and established that no Person nor Persons of whatsoever Estate Degree or Quality he or they were should take or receive within this Realm of England to Farm by any Procuracy Writ Letter of Attorney Administrations by Indenture or by any other Mean any Benefice or other Promotion within this Realm of any Person or Persons but only of the King 's true and lawful Subjects being born under the King's Dominions And also that no Person or Persons of what estate and degree soever he or they were by reason of any such Farm Procuracie Letter of Attorney Administration Indenture or by any other mean as is aforesaid should carry conveigh or cause to be carried and conveighed out of this Realm any Gold Silver Treasure or other Commodity by Letter of Exchange or by way of Merchandise or otherwise for any of the Causes aforesaid to the profit or commodity of any Alien or other Stranger being born out of this Realm having any such Promotion Spiritual within the same without license of the King's Highness by the advice of his Council as by the same Laws Statutes and Provisions more plainly at large it may appear which said laudable Laws Statutes and Provisions were made devised and ordained by great policy and foresight of the King 's most noble Progenitors the Nobles and Commons of this Realm for the great profit utility and benefit of the same to the intent that the Gold Silver Treasure Riches and other Commodity of the same by the occasion aforesaid should not be exhausted employed converted and otherwise transported out of this Realm and Dominions of the same to the use profit and commodity of any Stranger being born out of this Realm or the Dominions of the same But only to be spent and used and bestowed within the same to the great comfort and consolation of the Subjects of this Realm Notwithstanding which said wholsome Laws Statutes and Provisions the King's Highness being a Prince of great benignity and liberality having no knowledg nor other due information or instruction of the same Laws Statutes and Provisions heretofore hath nominated and preferred and promoted Laurence Campegius Bishop of Sarum with all the Spiritual and Temporal Possessions Promotions and other Emoluments and Commodities in any wise belonging or appertaining to the same And also hath nominated preferred and promoted Hierome being another Stranger born out of the King 's said Realm and Dominions to the See and Bishoprick of Worcester with all the Spiritual and Temporal Promotions and other Emoluments and Commodities in any wise belonging or appertaining to the same Which said two Bishops and namely the Bishop of Sarum nothing regarding their Duties to Almighty God nor their Cures of the said Bishopricks eversith or for the more part of the time of their said Promotions or Profections into the same have been and yet be resident dwelling
pleasure Item If the said Commissioners have but one County in charge then to certifie the said Chancellor in form aforesaid and there to remain till they know further of the King's pleasure VII Injunctions given by the Authority of the King's Highness to the Clergy of this Realm IN the Name of God Amen In the Year of our Lord God one thousand five hundred thirty six and of the most noble Reign of our Sovereign Lord Henry the Eighth King of England and France the 28 Year and the day of I Thomas Cromwel Knight Lord Cromwel Keeper of the Privy-Seal of our said Sovereign Lord the King and Vicegerent unto the same for and concerning all his Jurisdictions Ecclesiastical within the Realm visiting by the King's Highness's Supream Authority Ecclesiastical the People and Clergy of this Deanery of by my trusty Commissary lawfully deputed and constitute for this part have to the glory of Almighty God to the King's Highness's honour the publick Weal of this his Realm and encrease of Vertue in the same appointed and assigned these Injunctions ensuing to be kept and observed of the Dean Parsons Vicars Curates and Stipendaries resiant or having cure of Soul or any other Spiritual Administrations within this Deanery under the pains hereafter limited and appointed The first is That the Dean Parsons Vicars and other having cure of Soul any-where within this Deanery shall faithfully keep and observe and as far as in them may lie shall cause to be observed and kept of other all and singular Laws and Statutes of this Realm made for the abolishing and extirpation of the Bishop of Rome's pretensed and usurped Power and Jurisdiction within this Realm And for the establishment and confirmation of the King's Authority and Jurisdiction of the same as of the Supream Head of the Church of England and shall to the uttermost of their Wit Knowledg and Learning purely sincerely and without any colour or dissimulation declare manifest and open for the space of one quarter of a year next ensuing once every Sunday and after that at the least-wise twice every quarter in their Sermons and other Collations that the Bishop of Rome's usurped Power and Jurisdiction having no establishment nor ground by the Law of God was of most just causes taken away and abolished and therefore they owe unto him no manner of obedience or subjection and that the King's Power is within his Dominion the highest Power and Potentate under God to whom all Men within the same Dominions by God's Commandment owe most loyalty and obedience afore and above all other Powers and Potentates in Earth Item Whereas certain Articles were lately devised and put forth by the King's Highness's Authority and condescended upon by the Prelates and Clergy of this his Realm in Convocation whereof part are necessary to be holden and believed for our Salvation and the other part do concern and teach certain laudable Ceremonies Rites and Usages of the Church meet and convenient to be kept and used for a decent and politick order in the same the said Dean Parsons Vicars and other Curats shall so open and declare in their said Sermons and other Collations the said Articles unto them that be under their Cure that they may plainly know and discern which of them be necessary to be believed and observed for their Salvation and which be not necessary but only do concern the decent and politick order of the said Church according to such Commandment and Admonition as hath been given unto them heretofore by Authority of the King's Highness in thaâ— behalf Moreover That they shall declare unto all such as be under their Cure the Articles likewise devised put forth and authorized of late for and concerning the abrogation of certain superfluous Holy-days according to the effect and purport of the same Articles and perswade their Parishioners to keep and observe the same inviolable as things honesty provided decreed and established by common consent and publick Authority for the Weal Commodity and Profit of all this Realm Besides this to the intent that all Superstition and Hypocrisie crept into divers Mens hearts may vanish away they shall not set forth or extol any Images Reliques or Miracles for any superstition or lucre nor allure the People by any inticements to the pilgrimages of any Saint otherwise than is permitted in the Articles lately put forth by the Authority of the King's Majesty and condescended upon by the Prelates and Clergy of this his Realm in Convocation as though it were proper or peculiar to that Saint to give this Commodity or that seeing all Goodness Health and Grace ought to be both asked and looked for only of God as of the very Author of the same and of none other for without him it cannot be given But they shall exhort as well their Parishioners as other Pilgrims that they do rather apply themselves to the keeping of God's Commandments and fulfilling of his Works of Charity perswading them that they shall please God more by the true exercising of their bodily Labour Travail or Occupation and providing for their Families than if they went about to the said Pilgrimages and that it shall profit more their Souls health if they do bestow that on the Poor and Needy which they would have bestowed upon the said Images or Reliques Also in the same their Sermons and other Collations the Parsons Vicars and other Curats aforesaid shall diligently admonish the Fathers and Mothers Masters and Governors of Youth being within their Cure to teach or cause to be taught their Children and Servants even from their Infancy their Pater Noster the Articles of our Faith and the Ten Commandments in their Mother Tongue And the same so taught shall cause the said Youth oft to repeat and understand And to the intent that this may be the more easily done the said Curats shall in their Sermons deliberately and plainly recite of the said Pater Noster the Articles of our Faith and the Ten Commandments one Clause or Article one day and an other another day till those be taught and learnt by little and shall deliver the same in writing or shew where printed Books containing the same be to be sold to them that can read or will desire the same And thereto that the said Fathers and Mothers Masters and Governors do bestow their Children and Servants even from their Childhood either to Learning or some other honest Exercise Occupation or Husbandry exhorting counselling and by all the ways and means they may as well in their said Sermons and Collations as otherwise perswading the said Fathers Mothers Masters and other Governors being under their Cure and Charge diligently to provide and foresee that the said Youth be in no manner-wise kept or brought up in idleness lest at any time afterwards they be driven for lack of some Mystery or Occupation to live by to fall to begging stealing or some other unthriftiness forasmuch as we may daily see through sloth and
arca aurea in Civitate Cantuarien servabantur postquam ipsum Divum Thomam ad majorem Religionis contemptum in judicium vocari tanquam contumacem damnari ac proditorem declarari fecerat exhumari comburi ac cineres in ventum spargi jussit omnem plane cunctarum gentium crudelitatem superans cum ne in bello quidem hostes victores saevire in mortuorum cadavera soliti sunt adhaec omnia ex diversorum Regum etiam Anglorum aliorum Principum liberalitate donaria ipsi arcae appensa quae multa maximi pretii erant sibi usurpavit nec putans ex hoc satis injuriae religionis intulisse Monasterium Divo illi Augustino a quo Christianam fidem Angli acceperunt in dicta civitate dicatum omnibus Thesauris qui etiam multi magni erant spoliavit sicut se in belluam transmutavit ita etiam belluas quasi socias suas honorare voluit feras videlicet in dicto Monasterio expulsis Monachis intromittendo genus quidem sceleris non modo Christi fidelibus sed etiam Turcis inauditum abominandum 4. Cum itaque morbus iste a nullo quantumvis peritissimo medico alia cura sanari possit quam putridi membri abscissione nec valeret cura hujusmodi absque eo quod nos apud Deum causam hanc nostram efficiamus ulterius retardari ad dictarum literarum quas ad hoc ut Henricus Rex ejusque Complices Fautores adhaerentes consultores sequaces etiam super excessibus per eum novissime ut praefertur perpetratos intra terminum eis quoad alia per alias nostras literas praedictas respective praefixas se excusare alias poenis ipsis literis contentas incurrant extendimus ampliamus publicationem deinde Deo duce ad executionem procedere omnino statuimus Et quia a fide dignis accepimus quod si ipsarum praesentium literarum publicatio Diep Rothomagen vel Boloniae Ambianen Dioec Oppidis in Franciae aut Civitate Sancti Andreae seu in Oppido Callistren Sancti Andreae Dioec in Scotiae Regnis vel in Thuamien Antiferten Civitatibus vel Dioec Dominii Hiberniae fiat non solum tam facile ut si in locis in dictis literis expressis fieret sed facilius ipsarum literarum tenor ad Henrici aliorum quos concernunt praesertim Anglorum notitiam deveniret Nos volentes in hoc opportune providere motu scientia potestatis plenitudine praedictis decernimus quod publicatio literarum superius inserâ—arum quarum insertioni superius factae ac ipsis Originalibus quoad validitatem publicationis seu executionis praesentium fidem adhiberi volumus in duobus ex locis praesentibus literis expressis alias juxta supra insertarum praesentium literarum tenore facta etiam si in locis extra Romanam Curiam in dictis praeinsertis literis specificatis hujusmodi publicatio non fiat perinde Henricum Regem alios quos concernunt praesertim Anglos afficiat ac si Henrico Regi aliis praedictis praesertim Anglis personaliter intimatae fuissent 5. Quodque praesentium transumptis juxta modum in praeinsertis literis expressum factis tam in judicio quam extra eadem fides adhibeatur quae Originalibus adhiberetur si forent exhibitae vel ostensae 6. Non obstantibus Constitutionibus Ordinationibus Apostolicis necnon omnibus illis quae in dictis literis voluimus non obstare caeterisque contrariis quibuscunque 7. Nulli ergo omnino hominum liceat hanc paginam nostri Decreti voluntatis infringere vel ei ausu temerario contraire Si quis autem hoc attentare praesumpserit indignationem Omnipotentis Dei ac Beatorum Petri Pauli Apostolorum ejus se noverit incursurum Dat. Romae apud S. Petrum Anno Incarnationis Dominicae 1538. decimo sexto Kal. Januarii Pontificatus nostri anno quinto X. The Iudgment of some Bishops concerning the King's Supremacy An Original THe words of St. Iohn in his 20 th Chap. Sicut misit me Pater ego mitto vos c. hath no respect to a King 's or a Princes Power but only to shew how that the Ministers of the Word of God chosen and sent for that intent are the Messengers of Christ to teach the Truth of his Gospel and to loose and bind sin c. as Christ was the Messenger of his Father The words also of St. Paul in the 20 th Chap. of the Acts Attendite vobis universo gregi in qua vos Spiritus Sanctus posuit Episcopos regere Ecclesiam Dei were spoken to the Bishops and Priests to be diligent Pastors of the People both to teach them diligently and also to be circumspect that false Preachers should not seduce the People as followeth immediately after in the same place Other places of Scripture declare the highness and excellency of Christian Princes Authority and Power the which of a truth is most high for he hath power and charge generally over all as well Bishops as Priests as other The Bishops and Priests have charge of Souls within their own Cures power to minister Sacraments and to teach the Word of God to the which Word of God Christian Princes knowledg themselves subject and in case the Bishops be negligent it is the Christian Princes Office to see them do their duty T. Cantuarien Ioannes London Cuthbertus Dunelmen Io. Batwellen Thomas Elien Nicolaus Sarisburien Hugo Wygorn I. Roffen XI Injunctions to the Clergy made by Cromwell IN the Name of God Amen By the Authority and Commission of the excellent Prince Henry by the Grace of God King of England and of France Defensor of the Faith Lord of Ireland and in Earth Supream Head under Christ of the Church of England I Thomas Lord Cromwel Privy Seal and Vice-gerent to the King 's said Highness for all his Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical within this Realm do for the advancement of the true honour of Almighty God encrease of Vertue and discharge of the King's Majesty give and exhibit unto you these Injunctions following to be kept observed and fulfilled upon the pains hereafter declared First That ye shall truly observe and keep all and singular the King's Highness Injunctions given unto you heretofore in my Name by his Graces Authority not only upon the pains therein expressed but also in your default after this second monition continued upon further punishment to be straitly extended towards you by the King's Highness Arbitriment or his Vice-gerent aforesaid Item That ye shall provide on this side the Feast of next coming one Book of the whole Bible of the largest Volume in English and the same set up in some convenient place within the said Church that ye have Cure of whereas your Parishioners may most commodiously resort to the same and read it the charge of which Book shall be ratably born between you the Parson and the Parishioners aforesaid that is
Regni Regis Henrici Octavi trigesimo secundo XXIV A Proclamation ordained by the King's Majesty with the advice of his Honourable Council for the Bible of the largest and greatest Volume to be had in every Church devised the sixth day of May the 33 year of the King 's most gracious Reign WHereby Injunctions heretofore set forth by the authority of the King 's Royal Majesty Supream Head of the Church of this his Realm of England it was ordained and commanded amongst other things That in all and singular Parish-Churches there should be provided by a certain day now expired at the costs of the Curats and Parishioners Bibles containing the Old and New Testament in the English Tongue to be fixed and set up openly in every of the said Parish Churches the which godly Commandment and Injunction was to the only intent that every of the King's Majesties loving Subjects minding to read therein might by occasion thereof not only consider and perceive the great and ineffable Omnipotent Power Promise Justice Mercy and Goodness of Almighty God but also to learn thereby to observe God's Commandments and to obey their Sovereign Lord and High Powers and to exercise Godly Charity and to use themselves according to their Vocations in a pure and sincere Christian Life without murmur or grudging By the which Injunctions the King 's Royal Majesty intended that his loving Subjects should have and use the commodities of the reading of the said Bibles for the purpose above rehearsed humbly meekly reverently and obediently and not that any of them should read the said Bibles with high and loud Voices in time of the Celebration of the Holy Mass and other Divine Services used in the Church or that any his Lay-Subjects reading the same should presume to take upon them any common Disputation Argument or Exposition of the Mysteries therein contained but that every such Lay-man should humbly meekly and reverently read the same for his own instruction edification and amendment of his Life according to God's Holy Word therein mentioned And notwithstanding the King 's said most godly and gracious Commandment and Injunction in form as is aforesaid his Royal Majesty is informed That divers and many Towns and Parishes within this his Realm have neglected their duties in the accomplishment thereof whereof his Highness marvelleth not a little and minding the execution of his said former most godly and gracious Injunctions doth straitly charge and command That the Curats and Parishioners of every Town and Parish within this his Realm of England not having already Bibles provided within their Parish Churches shall on this side the Feast of All-Saints next coming buy and provide Bibles of the largest and greatest Volume and cause the same to be set and fixed in every of the said Parish Churches there to be used as is afore-said according to the said former Injunctions upon pain that the Curat and Inhabitants of the Parishes and Towns shall loose and forfeit to the King's Majesty for every month that they shall lack and want the said Bibles after the same Feast of All-Saints 40 s. the one half of the same forfeit to be to the King's Majesty and the other half to him or them which shall first find and present the same to the King's Majesties Council And finally the King 's Royal Majesty doth declare and signify to all and singular his loving Subjects that to the intent they may have the said Bibles of the greatest Volumn at equal and reasonable prices his Highness by the advice of his Council hath ordained and taxed That the Sellers thereof shall not take for any of the said Bibles unbound above the price of ten shillings and for every of the said Bibles well and sufficiently bound trimmed and clasped not above twelve shillings upon pain the Seller to lose for every Bible sold contrary to his Highness's Proclamation four shillings the one Moiety thereof to the King's Majesty and the other Moiety to the finder and presenter of the Defaulter as is aforesaid And his Highness straitly chargeth and commandeth That all and singular Ordinaries having Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction within this his Church and Realm of England and Dominion of Wales that they and every of them shall put their effectual endeavours that the Curats and Parishioners shall obey and accomplish this his Majesties Proclamation and Commandment as they tender the advancement of the King 's most gracious and godly purpose in that behalf and as they will answer to his Highness for the same God save the KING XXV An Admonition and Advertisement given by the Bishop of London to all Readers of this Bible in the English Tongue TO the intent that a good and wholsome thing godly and vertuously for honest intents and purposes set forth for many be not hindred or maligned at for the abuse default and evil behaviour of a few who for lack of discretion and good advisement commonly without respect of time or other due circumstances proceed rashly and unadvisedly therein and by reason thereof rather hinder than set forward the thing that is good of it self It shall therefore be very expedient that whosoever repaireth hither to read this Book or any such-like in any other place he prepare himself chiefly and principally with all devotion humility and quietness to be edified and made the better thereby adjoining thereto his perfect and most bounden duty of obedience to the King's Majesty our most gracious and dread Soveraign Lord and supream Head especially in accomplishing his Graces most honorable Injunctions and Commandments given and made in that behalf And right expedient yea necessary it shall be also that leaving behind him vain Glory Hypocrisy and all other carnal and corrupt Affections he bring with him discretion honest intent charity reverence and quiet behaviour to and for the edification of his own Soul without the hindrance lett or disturbance of any other his Christian Brother evermore foreseeing that no number of People be specially congregate therefore to make a multitude and that no exposition be made thereupon otherwise than it is declared in the Book it self and that especially regard be had no reading thereof be used allowed and with noise in the time of any Divine Service or Sermon or that in the same be used any Disputation contention or any other misdemeanour or finally that any Man justly may reckon himself to be offended thereby or take occasion to grudg or malign thereat God save the KING XXVI Injunctions given by Bonner Bishop of London to his Clergy INjunctions made by the consent and authority of me Edmond Bonner Bishop of London in the Year of our Lord God 1542 and in the 34 Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord Henry the Eighth by the Grace of God King of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and supream Head here in Earth next under God of the Church of England and Ireland All which and singular Injunctions by the Authority
Mary the French Queen younger Daughter of Hen. 7. and of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk so as it is thought the Queen my Soveraign and all others by course of Inheritance be by these Circumstances excluded and fore-closed So as it does well become all Subjects such as I am so my liking is to speak of Princes of their Reigns and Proceedings modestly and with respect yet I cannot abstain to say that the Chronicles and Histories of that Age and your own printed Statutes being extant do contaminate and disgrace greatly the Reign of that King in that time But to come to our purpose what equity and justice was that to disinherit a Race of Forreign Princes of their possibility and maternal right by a municipal Law or Statute made in that which some would term abrupt time and say that that would rule the Roast yea and to exclude the right Heirs from their Title without calling them to answer or any for them well it may be said that â—he injury of the time and the indirect dealing is not to be allowed â—ut since it is done it cannot be avoided unless some Circumstances material do annihilate the said limitation and disposition of the Crown Now let us examine the manner and circumstances how King Hen. 8. was by Statute inabled to dispose the Crown There is a form in two sorts prescribed him which he may not transgress that is to say either by his Letters Patents sealed with his Great Seal or by his last Will signed with his hand for in this extraordinary case he was held to an ordinary and precise form which being not observed the Letters Patents or Will cannot work the intent or effect supposed And to disprove that the Will was signed with his own hand You know that long before his death he never used his own signing with his own hand and in the time of his Sickness being divers times pressed to put his hand to the Will written he refused to do it And it seemed God would not suffer him to proceed in an Act so injurious and prejudicial to the right Heir of the Crown being his Niece Then his death approaching some as well known to you as to me caused William Clarke sometimes Servant to Thomas Henneage to sign the supposed Will with a stamp for otherwise signed it was never and yet notwithstanding some respecting more the satisfaction of their ambition and others their private commodity than just and upright dealing procured divers honest Gentlemen attending in divers several Rooms about the King's Person to testifie with their hand-writings the Contents of the said pretended Will surmised to be signed with the King 's own hand To prove this dissembled and forged signed Testament I do refer you to such Trials as be yet left First The Attestation of the late Lord Paget published in the Parliament in Queen Mary's time for the restitution of the Duke of Norfolk Next I pray you on my Sovereigns behalf that the Depositions may be taken in this Matter of the Marquess of Winchester Lord Treasurer of England the Marquess of Northampton the Earl of Pembroke Sir William Petre then one of King Henry's Secretaries Sir Henry Nevill Sir Maurice Barkley Doctor Buts Edmond Harman Baker Iohn Osborn Groom of the Chamber Sir Anthony Dennis if he be living Terris the Chirurgion and such as have heard David Vincent and others speak in this case and that their Attestations may be enrolled in the Chancery and in the Arches In perpetuam rei memoriam Thirdly I do refer you to the Original Will surmised to be signed with the King 's own hand that thereby it may most clearly and evidently appear by some differences how the same was not signed with the King's hand but stamped as aforesaid And albeit it is used both as an Argument and Calumniation against my Sovereign to some that the said Original hath been embezelled in Queen Mary's time I trust God will and hath reserved the same to be an Instrument to relieve the Truth and to confound false Surmises that thereby the Right may take place notwithstanding the many Exemplifications and Transcripts which being sealed with the great Seal do run abroad in England and do carry away many Mens minds as great presumptions of great variety and validity But Sir you know in cases of less importance that the whole Realm of England Transcripts and Exemplifications be not of so great force in Law to serve for the recovery of any thing either real or personal And in as much as my Soveraign's Title in this case shall be little advanced by taking exceptions to others pretended and crased Titles considering her precedency I will leave it to such as are to claim after the issue of Hen. the 7 th to lay in Bar the Poligamy of Charles Brandon the Duke of Suffolk and also the vitiated and clandestine Contract if it may be so called having no witness nor solemnization of Christian Matrimony nor any lawful matching of the Earl of Hertford and the Lady Katharine Lastly The semblably compelling of Mr. Key and the Lady Mary Sister to the Lady Katherine And now Sir I have to answer your desire said somewhat briefly to the Matter which indeed is very little where so much may be said for to speak truly the Cause speaketh for it self I have so long forborn to deal in this matter that I have almost forgotten many things which may be said for Roboration of her Right which I can shortly reduce to my Remembrance being at Edinburgh where my Notes are So that if you be not by this satisfied upon knowledg from you of any other Objection I hope to satisfy you unto all things may be said against her In the mean time I pray you so counsel the Queen your Soveraign as some effectual reparation may follow without delay of the many and sundry traverses and dis-favorings committed against the Queen my Sovereign as the publishing of so many exemplifications of King Henry's supposed Will the secret embracing of Iohn Halles Books the Books printed and not avowed the last Summer one of the which my Mistris hath sent by Henry Killigrew to the Queen your Soveraign The Disputes and Proceedings of Lincolns-Inn where the Case was ruled against the Queen my Soveraign The Speeches of sundry in this last Session of Parliament tending all to my Soveraigns derision and nothing said to the contrary by any Man but the Matter shut up with silence most to her prejudice and by so much the more as every Man is gone home setled and confirmed in his Error And Lastly The Queen your Soveraign's resolution to defend now by Proclamations all Books and Writings containing any discussion of Titles when the whole Realm hath engendred by these fond proceedings and other favoured practisâ—s a setled opinion against my Soveraigns to the advancement of my Lady Katherines Title I might also speak of an other Book lately printed and set abroad in this last Session containing
many Untruths and weak Reasons which Mr. Wailing desired might be answered before the Defence were made by Proclamation I trust you will so hold hand to the Reformation of all these things as the Queen my Soveraign may have effectual occasion to esteem you her Friend which doing you shall never offend the Queen your Mistris your Country nor Conscience but be a favourer of the Truth against Errors and yet deserve well of a Princess who hath a good heart to recognize any good turn when it is done her and may hereafter have means to do you pleasure For my particular as I have always honoured you as my Father so do I still remain of the same mind as one whom in all things not touching the State you may direct as your Son Thomas Cecil and with my hearty commendations to you and my Lady both I take my leave From Striveling the 14 th of Ianuary 1566. FINIS AN APPENDIX Concerning some of the Errors Falshoods IN SANDER's Book OF THE English Schism AN APPENDIX THose who intend to write Romances or Plays do commonly take their Plot from some true piece of History in which they fasten such Characters to Persons and Things and mix such Circumstances and secret Passages with those publick Transactions and Changes that are in other Histories as may more artificially raise these passions and affections in their Readers minds which they intend to move than could possibly be done if the whole story were a meer fiction and contrivance and tho all Men know those tender passages to flow only froâ— the invention and fancy of the Poet yet by I know not what charâ— the greatest part that read or hear their Poems are softned and sensibly touched Some such design Sanders seems to have had in his Book which he very wisely kept up as long as he lived he intended to represent the Reformation in the foulest shape that was possible to defame Queen Elizabeth to stain her Blood and thereby to bring her Title to the Crown in question and to magnify the Authority of the See of Rome and celebrate Monastick Orders with all the praises and high characters he could devise And therefore after he had writ several Books on these Subjects without any considerable success they being all rather filled with foul calumnies and detracting malice than good Arguments or strong sense he resolved to try his skill another way so he intended to tell a doleful Tale which should raise a detestation of Heresie an ill Opinion of the Queen cast a stain on her Blood and disparage her Title and advance the honour of the Papacy A Tragedy was fitter for these ends since it left the deepest impressions on the graver and better affections of the mind the Scene must be laid in England and King Henry the Eighth and his three Children with the changes that were in their times seemed to afford very plentiful Matter for a Man of wit and fancy who knew where he could dextrously shew his Art and had boldness enough to do it without shame or the reverence due either to crowned Heads or to Persons that were dead Yet because he knew not how he could hold up his Face to the World after these discoveries were made which he had reason to expect this was concealed as long as he lived and after he had died for his Faith that is in Rebellion which I shall shew is the Faith in his stile this Work of his was published The stile is generally clean and things are told in an easy and pleasant way only he could not use his Art so decently as to restrain that malice which boiled in his Breast and often fermented out too palpably in his Pen. The Book served many ends well and so was generally much cried up by Men who had been long accustomed to commend any thing that was useful to them without troubling themselves with those impertinent Questions whether they were true or false yet Rishton and others since that time took the Pencil again in their hands and finding there were many touches wanting which would give much life to the whole Piece have so changed it that it was afterwards reprinted not only with a large continuation that was writ by a much more unskilful Poet but with so many and great additions scattered thorough the whole Work whereby it seemed so changed in the vamping that it looked new If any will give themselves the trouble to compare his Fable with the History that I have written and the certain undoubted Authorities I bring in confirmation of what I assert with the slender and for the most part no Authorities he brings they will soon be able to discern where the Truth lies but because all People have not the leisure or opportunities for laying things so critically together I was advised by those whose Counsels directed me in this whole Work to sum up in an Appendix the most considerable Falshoods and Mistakes of that Book with the Evidences upon which I rejected them Therefore I have drawn out the following Extraction which consists of Errors of two sorts The one is of theâ—e in which there is indeed no malice yet they shew the Writer had no â—â—ue information of our Affairs but commits many Faults which tho they leave not such foul imputations on the Author yet tend very much to disparage and discredit his Work But the others are of an higher guilt being designed Forgeries to serve partial ends not only without any Authority but manifestly contrary to Truth and to such Records as in spite of all the care they took in Q. Mary's time by destroying them to condemn Posterity to Ignorance in these Matters are yet reserved and serve to discover the falshood of those Calumnies in which they have traded so long I shall pursue these Errors in the series in which they are delivered in Sanders his Book according to the Impression at Colen 1628 which is that I have I first set down his Errors and then a short confutation of them referring the Reader for fuller information to the foregoing History 1. Sanders says That when Prince Arthur and his Princess were bedded King Henry the 7 th ordered a grave Matron to lie in the Bed that so they might not consummate their Marriage This is the ground-work of the whole Fable and should have been some-way or other proved But if we do not take so small a circumstance upon his word we treat him rudely and who will write Histories if they be bound to say nothing but Truth But little thought our Author that there were three Depositions upon Record point blank against this for the Dutchess of Norfolk the Viscount of Fitswater and his Lady deposed they saw them bedded together and the Bed blessed after they two were put in it besides that such an extravagant thing was never known done in any place 2. Sanders says Prince Arthur was not then fifteen years of Age and was sick of a
lingring Disease The Plot goes on but scurvily when the next thing that is brought to confirm it is contradicted by Records Prince Arthur was born the 20 th of September in the year 1486 and so was 15 years old and two months passed at the 14 th of November 1501 in which he was married to the Princess and was then of a lively and good Complexion and did not begin to decay till the Shrovetide following which was imputed to his excesses in the Bed at the Witnesses deposed 3. He says Upon the motion for the marrying of his Brother Henry to the Princess it was agreed to by all that the thing was lawful It was perhaps agreed on at Rome where Mony and other political Arts sway their Counsels but it was not agreed to in England for which we have no meaner Author than Warham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who when examined upon Oath deposed that himself then thought the Marriage was not honourable nor well-pleasing to God and that he had thereupon opposed it much and that the People murmured at it 4. He says There was not one Man in any Nation under Heaven or in the whole Church that spake against it The common Stile of the Roman Church calling the See of Rome the Catholick Church must be applied to this to bring off our Author otherwise I know not how to save his Reputation Therefore by all the Nations under Heaven must be understood only the Divines at Rome tho when it came to be examined they could scarce find any who would justify it all the most famous Universities Divines and Canonists condemned it and Warham's Testimony contradicts this plainly besides the other great Authorities that were brought against it for which see lib. 2. from pag. 91. to pag. 103. 5. He says The King once said He would not marry the Queen Here is a pretty Essay of our Authors Art who would make us think it was only in a transient discourse that the King said he would not marry Queen Katherine but this was more maturely done by a solemn Protestation which he read himself before the Bishop of Winchester that he would never marry her and that he revoked his consent given under Age. This was done when he came to be of Age see pag. 36. it is also confessed by Sanders himself 6. He says The Queen bore him three Sons and two Daughters All the Books of that time speak only of two Sons and one Daughter but this is a flourish of his Pen to represent her a fruitful Mother 7. He says The King had sometimes two sometimes three Concubines at once It does not appear he had ever any but Elizabeth Blunt and if we judge of his Life by the Letters the Popes wrote to him and many printed Elogies that were published then he was a Prince of great Piety and Religion all that while 8. He says The Lady Mary was first desired in marriage by Iames the 5 th of Scotland then by Charles the 5 th the Emperor and then Francis asked her first for the Dolphin then for the Duke of Orleance and last of all for himself But all this is wrong placed for she was first contracted to the Dolphin then to the Emperor and then treated about to the King of Scotland after that it was left to Francis his choice whether she should be married to himself or his second Son the Duke of Orleance So little did our Poet know the publick Transactions of that time 9. He says She was in the end contracted to the Dolphin from whence he concludes that all Forreign Princes were satisfied with the lawfulness of the Marriage She was first of all contracted to the Dolphin Forreign Princes were so little satisfied of the lawfulness of the Marriage that tho she being Heir to the Crown of England was a Match of great advantage yet their Counsellors excepted to it on that very account that the Marriage was not good This was done in Spain and she was rejected as a Writer who lived in that time informs us and Sanders confesses it was done by the French Ambassadour 10. He says Wolsey was first Bishop of Lincoln then of Duresme after that of Winchester and last of all Arch-Bishop of York after that he was made Chancellor then Cardinal and Legate The order of these Preferments is quite reversed for Wolsey soon after he was made Bishop of Lincoln upon Cardinal Bembridge his death was not only promoted to the See of York but advanced to be a Cardinal in the 7 th year of the King's Reign And some months after that he was made Lord Chancellor and seven years after that he got the Bishoprick of Duresme which six years after he exchanged for Winchester He had heard perhaps that he enjoyed all these Preferments but knowing nothing of our Affairs beyond hear-say he resolved to make him rise as Poets order their Heroes by degrees and therefore ranks his Advancement not according to Truth but in the method he liked best himself 11. He says Wolsey first designed the Divorce and made Longland that was the King's Confessor second his motion for it The King not only denied this in publick saying That he himself had first moved it to Longland in Confession and that Wolsey had opposed it all he could but in private discourse with Grinaeus told him he had laboured under these scruples for seven years septem perpetuis annis trepidatio Which reckoning from the year 1531 in which Grinaeus wrote this to one of his Friends will fall back to the year 1524. long before Wolsey had any provocation to tempt him to it 12. He says In the year 1526 in which the King was first made to doubt of his Marriage he was resolved then whom to marry when he was once divorced But by his other Story Ann Boleyn was then but fifteen years old and went to France at that Age where she staied a considerable time before she came to the Court of England 13. He says The King spent a year in a private search to see what could be found either in the Scriptures or the Pope's Bull to be made use of against his Marriage but they could find nothing In that time all the Bishops of England except Fisher declared under their Hands and Seals that they thought the Marriage unlawful for which see pag. 38. and upon what Reasons this was grounded has been clearly opened pag. 97. 14. He says If there were any ambiguities in the Pope's first Letters meaning the Bull for dispensing with the marriage they were cleared by other Letters which Ferdinand of Spain had afterwards procured These other Letters by which he means the Breve bear date the same day with the Bull and so were not procured afterwards There were indeed violent presumptions of their being forged long after even after the Process had been almost an year in agitation But tho they helped the matter in
some lesser Particulars yet in the main Business Whether Prince Arthur did know his Princess they did it a great prejudice for whereas the Bull bore that by the Queens Petition her former Marriage was perhaps consummated the Breve bears that in her Petition the Marriage was said to be consummated without any perhaps 15. He says The King having seen these second Letters both he and his Council resolved to move no more in it The Process was carried on almost a year before the Breve was heard of and the forgery of it soon appeared so they went on notwithstanding it 16. He says The Bishop of Tarby being come from France to conclude the Match for the Lady Mary was set on by the King and the Cardinal to move the exception to the lawfulness of the marriage There is no reason to believe this for that Bishop tho afterwards made a Cardinal never published this which both he ought to have done as a good Catholick and certainly would have done as a true Cardinal when he saw what followed upon it and perceived that he was trepanned to be the first mover of a thing which ended so fatally forthe Interests of Rome 17. He says The Bishop of Tarby in a Speech before the King in Council said That not he alone but almost all Learned Men thought the King's Marriage unlawful and null so that he was freed from the Bond of it and that it was against the Rules of the Gospel and that all Forreign Nations had ever spoken very freely of it lamenting that the King was drawn into it in his Youth It is not ordinary for Ambassadors to make Speeches in King's Counâ—cils But if this be true it agrees ill with what this Author delivers in his third Page That there was not a Man in the whole Church nor under Heaven that spoke against it otherwise the Bishop of Tarby was both an impudent and a foolish Man 18. He says Upon the Pope's Captivity Wolsey was sent over to France with 300000 Crowns to procure the Pope's liberty Hall Hollingshead and Stow say He carried over 240000 pounds Sterlin which is more than thrice that sum 19. He says Two Colleagues were sent in this Ambassy with the Cardinal His greatness was above that and none are mentioned in the Records 20. He says Orders followed him to Callais not to move any thing about the King's Marriage with the French King's Sister the King having then resolved to marry Ann Boleyn This agrees ill with what he said pag. 9. that a year before the King was resolved whom to marry 21. He says King Henry that he might have freer access to Sir Boleyn's Lady sent him to France where after he had stayed two years his Lady was with Child of Ann Boleyn by the King This Story was already confuted see pag. 41 42. And in it there are more than one or two lies 1. Sir Thomas Boleyn went not Ambassador to France till the 7 th year of the King's Reign And if two years after that Ann was born which was the 9 th of his Reign she must then have been but ten years old at this time 2. Tho he had sent him upon his first coming to the Crown this could not be true for two years after admit her to be born that is Anno 1511 then a year before this which was Anno 1526 she was fifteen years old in which Age Sanders says she was corrupted in her Father's House and sent over to France where she staid long But all this is false For 3. She was born two years before the King came to the Crown in the year 1507. and if her Father was sent to France two years before it was in the year 1505. 4. The King being then Prince was but fourteen years old for he was born the 28 th of Iune in the year 1491 in which Age there is no reason to think he was so forward as to be corrupting other Mens Wives for they will not allow his Brother when almost two years elder to have known his own Wife As for the other pieces of this Story that Sir Thomas Boleyn did sue his Lady in the Spiritual Court that upon the King 's sending him word that she was with Child by him he passed it over that the King had also known her Sister and that she had owned it to the Queen that at the fifteenth year of Ann's Age she had prostituted her self both to her Fathers Butler and Chaplain that then she was sent to France where she was at first for some time concealed then brought to Court where she was so notoriously lewd that she was called an Hackney that she afterwards was kept by the French King that when she came over into England Sir Thomas Wiat was admitted to base privacies with her and offered to the King and his Council that he himself should with his own Eyes see it And in fine that she was ugly mishaped and monstrous are such an heap of impudent Lyes that none but a Fool as well as a Knave would venture on such a recital And for all this he cites no other Authority but Rastal's Life of Sir Thomas More a Book that was seen by none but himself and he gives no other evidence that there was any such Book but his own Authority Nor is it likely that Rastal ever writ More 's Life since he did not set it out with his Works which he published in one Volume Anno 1556. It is true More 's Son in Law Roper writ his Life which is since printed but there is no such Story in it The whole is such a piece of lying as if he who forged it had resolved to out-do all who had ever gone before him for can it be so much as imagined that a King could pursue a design for seven years together of marrying a Woman of so scandalous a Life and so disagreeable a Person and that he who was always in the other extream of Jealousie did never try out these Reports and would not so much as see what Wiat informed Nor were these things published in the Libels that were printed at that time either in the Emperor's Court or at Rome All which shew that this was a desperate contrivance of Malicious Traitors against their Soveraign Queen Elizabeth to defame and disgrace her And this I take to be the true reason why none made any full answer to this Book all her time It was not thought for the Queen's honour to let such Stuff be so much considered as to merit an answer So that the 13 14 15 16 17 and 18 pages are one continued Lye 22. He says Sir Thomas Boleyn hearing the King intended to marry his supposed Daughter came over in all haste from France to put him in mind that she was his own Child and that the King bade him hold his peace for a Fool for an hundred had lien with his Wife as well as he but
whosesoever Daughter she was she should be his Wife and upon that Sir Thomas instructed his Daughter how she should hold the King in her toils Sir Thomas must have thought the King had an ill memory if he had forgot such a Story but the one part of this makes him afraid that the King should marry his Daughter and the other part makes him afraid they should miss their hopes in it Not to mention how little likely it is that a King of such high vanity would have done that which the privatest Person has an aversion to I mean the marrying the Daughter of one whom they know to be a common Prostitute 23. He says Wolsey before his return from France sent Gambara to the Pope desiring him to name himself Vicar of the Papacy during his captivity This was not done till almost a year after this and the motion was sent by Staphileus Dean of the Rota for which see pag. 50. 24. He says None but ill Men and ignorant Persons wrote against the Marriage but all learned and good Men wrote for it The whole Doctors of the Church in all Ages were against it and no Doctor ancienter than Cajetan could ever be found to have writ for it 25. He says That tho great endeavours were used to perswade Sir Tho. More of the unlawfulness of the marriage all was in vain Is it probable that the King would have made him Lord Chancellor when he was so earnest in this business if he had not known that he would have gone along with him in it By one of his Letters to Cromwel out of the Tower it appears that he approved the Divorce and had great hopes of success in it as long as it was prosecuted at Rome and founded on the defects in the Bull. And in the 22 d year of the King's Reign when the Opinions of the Universities and the Books of Learned Men were brought to England against the Marriage he carried them down to the House of Commons and made read them there after which he desired they would report in their Country what they had heard and seen and then all Men would openly perceive that the King had not attempted this matter of his Will and Pleasure but only for the discharge of his Conscience More was a Man of greater integrity than to have said this if he had thought the Marriage good so that he has either afterwards changed his mind or did at this time dissemble too artificially with the King 26. After a long flourish about the King 's secret fears and apprehensions and the perplexities the Cardinal was in which must pass for a piece of his Wit that is to say Lying for he knew none of their thoughts He says That Gardiner and Sir Francis Brian were sent to the Pope together Gardiner being then Secretary of State In this there are only three gross mistakes First Gardiner was not sent with the first Message to the Pope Secretary Knight carried it 2. Sir Francis Brian went never to Rome with Gardiner It is true a year after the commencing the Sute Sir Francis Brian was sent to Rome and about a month after him Gardiner was also sent so tho they were both together at Rome yet they were not sent thither together 3. Gardiner was not Secretary of State but was Wolsey's Secretary when he went first to Rome and was made a Privy Counsellor when he was sent thither the second time and was not Secretary of State till some months after his return from his Journey the last time 27. He says They made the Pope believe that the Queen would willingly retire into a Monastery This was on the contrary a contrivance of the Popes who thought it the easiest way to bring the Matter to a good issue but in England they had no hopes of it and so always diverted the motion when it was proposed by the Pope 28. He says ' The Pope said he would consult with some Cardinals and Divines and do all that he could lawfully do to give the King satisfaction Upon the first motion of it the Pope frankly granted the King's desire and gave a Bull with a Commission upon it And only consulted some Cardinals about the methods of doing it And did assure the King that he would not only do every thing that could be granted in Law or Justice but whatsoever he could grant out of the fulness of his Power It is true afterwards when the Pope changed his measures and resolved to agree with the Emperor he pretended he understood not these things himself but would needs turn it over upon the Cardinals and Divines 29. He says All the Cardinals were of a mind that the Marriage was good Cardinal Sanctorum Quatuor by the force of that mighty Argument of 4000 Crowns changed his mind All the other Cardinals were forward in granting the King's desires for which he wrote them a Letter of Thanks 30. He says The Pope granted the Commission to the two Legats not doubting but it was true that had been told him of the Queens readiness to go into a Monastery The Pope knew she would not yield to any such thing but when he granted that Commission he sent with Campegio a Decretal Bull annulling the Marriage and sent afterwards a promise never to avocate the Process but to confirm what Sentence the Legats should give tho soon after he broke his promise most signally And since he had often dispensed with others for breaking their Faith he might think that it was hard to deny him the same priviledg for himself 31. He says The Pope understanding that the Queen did not consent to the Propositions that were made and that he had been abused sent after Campegio when he was on his Journey that he should not proceed to a Sentence without a new order The Pope sent Campana to England after Campegio to assure the King he would do every thing for him that he could do out of the fulness of his Power And ordered the same Person to charge Cardinal Campegio to burn the Decretal Bull which he had sent by him In all which the Pope as appears by the Original Letters was only governed by politick Maxims and considered nothing but the dangers himself was like to fall in tho Sanders would perswade us he was ready to run the hazard of all these 32. He says The King by his Letters to the Pope did at the same time that he was moving scruples about his own Marriage transact about a Dispensation for a marriage betwixt his own natural Son the Duke of Richmond and his Daughter the Lady Mary Tho the whole Dispatches at that time both to and from Rome be most happily preserved there is not the least mention of any such design and can any body think that if any such motion had been made the Pope would not have taken great advantages from it and that these Letters would not
have been afterwards published But this Sanders thought was a pretty embellishment of his Fable and of a piece with this is his next 33. He says The King did under his own hand confess he had known Boleyn's Sister Mary and desired the Pope would dispence with his marrying Ann notwithstanding that The falshood of this appears from the recital of it And how came it that these Letters were not published Nor is there any mention of this in all the Dispatches I have seen And it is not possible that in so many conferences which the English Ambassadors had with the Pope these two things should never have been discoursed of And can it be thought credible that at the same time when the King pretended such scruples and troubles of Consciences he could be guilty of so much folly and impudence as to put himself thus in the Pope's Mercy by two such demands This was a forgery of Cardinal Pole's which Sanders greedily catched to dress up the Scene 34. From page 34 to 42 there is a trifling account given of the Reasons brought against the Marriage which Sanders answers manfully and fights couragiously against the Man of Straw he had set up But if that be compared with what has been opened in the History it will appear how lame and defective his account is 35. He says Clarke Bishop of Bath and Wells Tonstal Bishop of London and West Bishop of Ely writ for the lawfulness of the King's marriage All the Bishops except Fisher had a year before this given it under their Hands and Seals that the King's marriage was unlawful and in all the Memorials of that time Fisher is the only Bishop I find mentioned to have writ for it Tonstall was also soon after translated to Duresme which none that have considered that King's temper will think could have been done if he had interposed in so tender a Point against what the King so vehemently desired 36. He says That Abel Powel Fetherston and Ridley also writ for the marriage This is not likely of the second and third for they being afterwards attainted of Treason no such Books were objected to them but the Crime charged on them was only that they said the King's marriage with Q. Katharine was good 37. He says All things appeared clear in the Trial before the Legats in behalf of the Marriage so that they could give no Sentence against such full evidence as was brought for it This is said without any regard to Truth for all the Matter of Fact that had been alledged was clearly proved for the contrary side It was proved that Prince Arthur married the Queen violent presumptions appeared of his consummating the Marriage It was also proved that the King was under age when the Bull was obtained and that the Petitions given in his Name upon which the Bull was granted were false That the King had not desired it but when he came of Age he had protested against it And that there was no hazard of a War between Spain and England the preventing which was the chief reason set down in the Bull that permitted it So that all that had been informed at Rome as to matter of Fact was fully proved before the Legats by clear Instruments and many and noble Witnesses 38. He puts a long bold speech in Campegio's Mouth who was far from assuming such freedom but lived licentiously in England in all manner of disorders of which both he and his Bastard Son were guilty And by dissembling and other Arts perswaded the King to delay the Process from day to day giving him full assurances that in conclusion he should obtain what he desired and by such means he gain'd time and drew out the Trial till the Pope had ended his Treaty with the Emperor and then he served him an Italian trick by adjourning the Court. 39. He says Some Doctors being corrupted with the King's Mony declared for him but those were none of the most learned The King ordered those he sent not to give or promise any thing to any Person till they had delivered their Opinion freely upon which some of them wrote to him that they would answer upon their heads that they had followed his Orders in that particular 40. He says These Determinations were published in the names of the Universities to deceive the World by a false representation of so great Authorities Were the publick Seals of the Universities put to their determinations after a long debate all being required to deliver their Consciences upon Oath and done with the unanimous consent of the whole faculty in some places false representations This was done in Italy in Padua Bononia Ferrara and Millan under the Pope and the Emperors Eye and within their Dominions 41. He says Endeavours were used to corrupt the University of Colen and some others in Germany for which great sums were offered and that the King was at a vast expence in it Crooks accompts shew that his expence in Italy was very inconsiderable And who can imagine that when Paris Padua and Bononia had declared for the King he would be much concerned for Colen or any other University in Germany Those who will believe Sanders and such Authors as he quotes Cochleus and an unknown Bishop of Brasile may if they will 42. He says In Oxford the King not being able to obtain a satisfactory answer in that Matter eight Students of the University broke into the place where the Seal was laid and put it to an Answer which passed for the determination of the University The Lord Herbert says there was an Original Instrument passed which he saw by which the University did appoint a Committee of 33 Doctors and Batchelors of Divinity to examine the Questions proposed by the King and to set the Seal of the University to any Answer that they should agree on and these did afterwards give a Resolution against the lawfulness of the Marriage 43. He tells a long Story of the King's endeavours to gain Reginald Pole and that he came over to England and being much pressed by his Kindred to comply with the King he went to him fully purposed to have done it but could not speak a word to him till he resolved to talk to him in another stile and then he found his tongue and spake very freely to the King who put his hands sometimes to his Poynard intending to have killed him but was overcome with the simplicity and humility of his Discourse and so the King continued his Pension to him and gave him leave to go back to Padua This is another pretty adventure of one of the Hero's of the Romance but has this misfortune in it that it is all without any proof for as none of the Books of that time ever mention it so neither did Pole himself pretend to have carried so in his Book tho written with the most provoking insolence that was possible In it he mentions
his going over to England but not one word of any such discourse with the King And King Henry was not a Man of such a temper as to permit one of Pole's quality to go out of England and live among his Enemies and continue his Pensions to him if he had to his face opposed him in a Matter he laid so much to heart 44. He says Fisher of Rochester and Holman Bishop of Bristol wrote for the Marriage There was no Bishoprick nor Bishop of Bristol at that time nor thirteen years after 45. Many are reckoned up who wrote for the Marriage in all Nations These are neither to be compared in number nor authority to those who wrote against it an hundred Books were shewed in Parliament written by Divines and Lawyers beyond Sea besides the determinations of twelve of the most celebrated Universities in Europe The Emperor did indeed give so great Rewards and such good Benefices to those who wrote against the King that it is a wonder there were not more Writers of his side 46. He says That upon Warham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury's death the Earl of Wiltshire told the King that he had a Chaplain who was at his House that would certainly serve the King in the matter of his Divorce upon which Cranmer was promoted Cranmer was no stranger to the King at this time he was first recommended by the King to the Earl of Wiltshire to be kept in his House but was in Germany when Warham died and made no haste over but delayed his Journey some months It is true he was of the mind that the King ought to be divorced but this was not out of servile compliance for when the King pressed him in other things that were against his Conscience he expressed all the courage and constancy of mind which became so great a Prelate 47. He say's That Cranmer being to swear the Oath of Obedience to the Pope before he was consecrated did protest to a Publick Notary that he took it against his will and that he had no mind to keep his Faith to the Pope in prejudice to the King's Authority He did not protest that he did it unwillingly nor was it only to a Notary but twice at the high Altar he repeated the Protestation that he made which was to this effect That he intended not thereby to oblige himself to any thing contrary to the Law of God the King's Prerogative or the Laws of the Land nor to be restrained from speaking advising or consenting to any thing that should concern the Reformation of the Christian Faith the Government of the Church of England and the Prerogative of the Crown and Kingdom 48. He says Cranmer did in all things so comply with the King's Lusts that the King was wont to say he was the only Man that had never contradicted him in any thing he had a mind to Cranmer was both a good Subject and a modest and discreet Man and so would obey and submit as far as he might without sin yet when his Conscience charged him to appear against any thing that the King pressed him to as in the matter of the six Articles he did it with much resolution and boldness 49. He says The King going over to Calais carried Ann Boleyn secretly with him He carried her over in great state having made her Marchioness of Pembroke and in the publick Interview between him and Francis she appeared with all possible splendor 50. He says After the King's return from France he brought the Action of Premunire against all the Clergy This is an Error of two years for so long before this Voyage to France was that action begun and the Clergy about 28 months before had made their submission and obtained their pardon in March 1531 which appears by the printed Statutes and the King went over to France in September 1532 so that it is clear Sanders never looked for any verification of what he wrote 51. He says The King by an unheard-of Tyranny and a new Calumny brought this Charge against the Clergy These Laws upon which the Charge was founded had been oft renewed they were first made under Edward the First by reason of the Papal Encroachments that gave the rise to them they were oft confirmed by Edward the Third Richard the Second Henry the Fourth and Henry the Fifth with the concurrence of their Parliaments so the Charge was neither new nor tyrannical 52. He says The Clergy submitted to the King being betrayed by their Metropolitanes Cranmer and Lee. The submission was made two years before Cranmer was Arch-Bishop in March 1531 and Cranmer was Consecrated in March 1533. but at that time Warham sate in Canterbury as for Lee he opposed it for some time 53. He says The whole Clergâ— petitioned the King to forgive their Crime according to that Supreme Power which he had over all the Clergy and Laity within his Kingdom from whence the King's Counsellors took occasion afterwards to call him Supreme Head The Clergy did in the Title of their Submission call the King in formal terms Supreme Head of the Church and Clergy of England as far as by the Law of Christ is lawful to which Fisher with the rest of the Convocation subscribed And all this was done when More was Chancellor 54. He says When the King went to marry Ann Boleyn he perswaded Rowland Lee made soon after Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield to officiate in it assuring him he had obtain'd a Bull for it from Rome which was then lying in his Cabinet Upon which Lee giving credit to what he said did marry them This is another trial of Sander's wit to excuse Lee who tho at this time he complied absolutely with the King yet did afterwards turn over to the Popish Party therefore to make him look a little clean this Story must be forged But at that time all the World saw that the Pope and the Emperor were so linked together that Lee could not but know that no such thing was possible And he was so obsequious to the King that such Arts were needless to perswade him to any thing the King had a mind to 55. For five pages he runs out in repetition of all those foul Lyes concerning Ann Boleyn by which he designed both to disgrace the Reformers who were supported by her and to defame her Daughter Queen Elizabeth which have been before confuted after that he says Queen Katharine with three Maids and a small Family retired into the Country She had both the respect of a Princess Dowager and all the Jointure contracted to her by Prince Arthur so she could not be driven to that straitness but this must go for an Ornament in the Fable 56. He says It was concluded that Cranmer might be more free to pass Sentence that there should be an Oath imposed on the Clergy for paying the same Obedience to the King that they had paid the Pope
upon which he tells a long formal Story for two pages That it was resolved to draw Fisher into it to swear Obedience to the King in all Ecclesiastical Causes with that exception as far as is lawful according to the Word of God which he did and perswaded others to do it and upon this Cranmer taking the New Oath went and pronounced judgment for Divorce There is not one tittle of this true for there was no Oath sworn about the King's Supremacy at this time The Story of Fisher is that which was done by the Convocation two years before Cranmers preferment nor was there any Oath taken then or at this time It is true two years after this Gardiner Stokesley and many other Bishops did of their own accord take such an Oath but there was no Law for it till the 28 th year of the King's Reign 57. He says One Richard Risey or Rouse according to the Records was hired by Ann Boleyn to poison Fisher. Rouse was boiled alive for poisoning the Bishop's Family but did not discover any that set him on it Which none can think but he would have done if the Queen had hired him to it and had then deserted him to perish in so horrid a manner 58. He says Cranmer being by Authority of Parliament freed from his Oath to the Pope and bound by a new one to the King went now confidently to pronounce Sentence The Parliament did not put down the Pope's Authority for eight months after this and appointed no new Oath till three years after For Cranmer sat in Judgment as Primate of England and Legate of the Apostolick See 59. He says Cranmer carried some Bishops with him and having cited the Queen without hearing her he gave sentence against the Marriage Gardiner Stokesly Clark and Longland the Bishops of Winchester London Bath and Lincoln went with him He could not hear the Queen when she would not appear but he examined all the Instruments and Evidences that had been brought in the whole Process 60. He says The Pope would not proceed against the King till he met with the French King at Marseilles but that the English Ambassadors did there carry so insolently that Francis was ashamed of their behaviour and desired the Pope to proceed against the King as he thought fit and that he should never defend him more but should be against him Here the Romance goes on too grosly for the Pope and the French King agreed at Marseilles to bring this matter to an issue the Pope declared he thought the King's Cause was just and right and promised if the King would send a full submission to Rome he would give sentence in his favours Upon which the French King sent over the Bishop of Paris who prevailed with the King to do it tho this afterwards came to nothing It is true Bonner who was always officious and forward when there was any thing to be got by it being sent to Marseilles by the King to deliver an Appeal in the King's Name to the Pope to the next General Council and perhaps knowing nothing of the private Transactions between the Pope and the French King it being a Secret of too great importance to be communicated to such a hot-brain'd Man did deliver his Message to the Pope in such provoking language that the Pope talked of throwing him into a boiling Cauldron and he was fain to fly for it 61. He says The Pope returning to Italy after he had again most carefully reviewed the whole Cause gave sentence This was so precipitated that they would not stay six days beyond the time which they prefixed for the return of the Messenger that was sent to England but dispatched that which by the forms of their Court should have been done in three Consistories all in one day 62. He says Upon this Sentence the King being enraged did command Queen Katharine to be only called Princess and declared her Daughter the Lady Mary a Bastard Both these were done five months before the Pope's Sentence and soon after the Sentence was pronounced by Cranmer And these were the natural consequences of it for the Marriage being annulled neither could she be longer a Queen nor her Daughter Princess any more 63. He says The King imprisoned F. Forest a Franciscan Observant a most holy and learned Man for contradicting Latimer when he was enveighing against the Pope's Authority Concerning this Forest I have seen an Original Letter of one List a Frier of the same House a year after this that says Forest was a great scandal to their House and was very ignorant and that tho he had been much against the King in his Marriage yet he had then insinuated himself into his favour of which many of the House who were for the King's Cause had great apprehensions In the same Letter he writes how cruel they were against any of their Brethren who they thought discovered any thing that was done among them and that one Rainscroft a Brother whom they suspected to have informed what passed among them was cruelly used and kept in Prison till he died which he chiefly imputes to Forest. This Friar swore the King's Supremacy and yet at the same time was perswading others not to do it and being questioned upon it said He took the Oath only with his Outward but not with his Inward Man and for that and his denying the Gospel he was burnt as an obstinate Heretick 64. He says Abell Powel and Fetherston were put in Prison because they consulted with the Maid of Kent This is only charged upon the former of these but the two latter are not accused of any such thing 65. He says Elizabeth being born the 8 th of September but five months after the King had publickly married her Mother could not be the lawful issue of that Marriage This is a malacious Lye for himself confessed that the King was married to her Mother the 14 th of November the former year between which and the 8 th of September there were ten months nor was the King ever after that married publickly to the Queen For what he calls a publick Marriage was only the shewing her openly as Queen But the design of this Lye is so visible that it needs not be opened 66. He says The King's Daughter Mary who was then present could never be induced to think she was the King's Child In the former page he said Mary was sent to her Mother and now forgetting himself too soon he says she was present when Elizabeth was born What Mary's thoughts were none can tell but she publickly acknowledged Her to be her Sister tho she did not use her as one 67. He says Elizabeth Barton who was famed for her sanctity and six with her who thought she was inspired by the Holy Ghost were accused in Parliament Those six knew that she was not inspired and that all that was given out about her was a
contrivance of theirs who had instructed her to play such tricks as was proved by their own Confessions and other Evidences 68. He says They all died very constantly and on the Margent calls them seven Martyrs The Nun her self acknowledged the Imposture at her death and laid the heaviest weight of it on the Priests that suffered with her who had taught her the Cheat so that they died both for Treason and Imposture And this being Sander's Faith as appeared by his Works they were indeed Martyrs for it 69. He says More and Fisher having examined her could see no ground to think she was acted by a Fanatical Spirit as it was given out It was not given out that she was acted by a Fanatical Spirit for that had been more honest but her Spirit was cheating and knavery More cleared himself and looked on her as a weak Woman and commonly called her the Silly Maid But Fisher did disown her when the Cheat was discovered though he had given her too much encouragement before 70. He says The thing she prophesied came to pass which was that Mary should be Queen of England The thing for which She and her Complices were attainted of Treason was that she said If the King married Ann Boleyn he should not be a King a month longer and not an hour longer in the sight of God and should die a Villains death But it did not serve Sander's ends to tell this 71. He says The day she suffered many of the Nobility came and swore to the Succession of the Issue of the King's marriage with Queen Ann before the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Lord Chancellor and Cromwel Both Houses of Parliament did in the House of Lords take that Oath on the day of their Prorogation which was the 30 th of March as appears by the second Act of the next Session and the Nun with her Complices did not suffer till the 21 of April after 72. He says The Franciscans of the Observance chiefly two Fathers in London Elston and Payton did both in their Sermons and publick Disputes justifie the King's marriage with Q. Katharine Elston and Payton were not of London but of Greenwich They compared the King to Achab and said in the Pulpit to his face The Dogs should lick his Blood with many other such virulent Expressions But to rail at a Prince with the most spiteful reproaches that could be was a part of Sanders's Faith and so no wonder those pass for Confessors when Elizabeth Barton and her Complices are reckoned Martyrs 73. He says Tonstal Bishop of Duresme was ordered by the King's Messengers not to come to the Session of Parliament 26 Regni in which the King's Supremacy was established In this he is safer than in some other Stories for the Journals of that Session are lost so the falshood of this cannot be demonstrated yet it is not at all likely that he who justified all that was done in the former Session in which the Pope's Power was put down the nomination of Bishops annexed to the Crown a Reformation of Ecclesiastical Laws appointed to be made in defence of all which he wrote afterwards was now so scrupulous as to be ordered to stay at home But Tonstal suffering imprisonment in Edward the Sixth's time it was fit to use some art to shew that he was unwillingly brought to comply with the King 74. He to shew God's Judgments on the chief Instruments that served the King says That the Duke of Norfolk was by the King condemned to perpetual imprisonment This bewrays palpable ignorance since he was attainted of High Treason the very day before the King's death and should have suffered the next day if the King's death had not prevented it But since he will descant on the Providence of God he should rather have concluded that his escaping so narrowly was a sign of God's great care of him 75. In the Session of Parliament that met the third of November as he describes it which was the 26 th year of the King's Reign he says Mary the King's Daughter was illegitimated and all her honours were transferred on Elizabeth and the Pope's Power put down This shews he never looked on our publick Statutes otherwise he had seen that these Acts passed in the former Session 76. He says When the King sent his Ambassadours to the French Court Francis would not so much as hear them give a justification of the King's proceedings How true this can be the World may judg since these two Kings continued in a firm Alliance eight years after this And Francis did often treat both with him and the Princes of Germany about these things and was inclined to do almost all that he did 77. He says The Lutherans did so abominate the grounds of his separation from Rome that they could never be induced to approve it for which he cites Cochleus an Author of his own kidney They did condemn the King's first marriage as unlawful and thought the Pope's Dispensation had no force and so far they approved it But they had this singular Opinion that he should have continued unmarried as long as Q. Katharine lived Yet in that they were so modest that they only desired to be excused as to the second Marriage which considering that Queen Ann favoured their Doctrine and that by an absolute compliance with what the King had done they might have secured his Protection to themselves whom otherwise they provoked highly is an evidence of a strict adhering to what their Consciences dictated that cannot be sufficiently commended 78. He says The King made many write Apologies for what he did which some did willingly being tainted with Heresie others unwillingly and for fear as Gardiner and Tonstall In this he shews how little judgment he had of the nature of things when he thinks to excuse their writing for the King as extorted by force To have done it thorough Error and Mistake was much the softer excuse but to make them Men of such prostituted Consciences as not only to subscribe and swear but to write with Learning and Zeal and yet against their Consciences represents them guilty of unexpressible baseness Indeed Gardiner was a Man like enough to write any thing that might please the King but Tonstall was a Man of greater probity than to have done so unworthy a thing upon any account whatsoever But since he mentioned Writers he should have named Longland Bishop of Lincoln Stokeley Bishop of London and above all Bonner who did officiously thrust himself into the debate by writing a Preface to Gardiner's Book with the greatest vehemence that could be But the Blood he shed afterwards did so endear him to this Author that all past Faults were forgiven and to be clean forgotten 79. He says Five Martyrs suffered because they would not swear the King's Supremacy according to the Law that was then passed There was no such Law made at that time nor
correspondence with the King fell to the ground with her but he may well cite Cochleus an Author of the same honesty with himself from whose writings we may with the like security make a judgment of Forreign Matters as we may upon Sanders's testimony believe the account he gives of English Affairs 90. He tells us among other things done by the King and picks it out as the only instance he mentions of the King's Injunctions that the People should be taught in Churches the Lord's Prayer the Ave the Creed and the Ten Commandments in English It seems this Author thought the giving these Elements of Religion to the People in the vulgar Tongue a very heinous Crime when this is singled out from all the rest 91. That being done he says there was next a Book published called Articles appointed by the King's Majesty which were the six Articles This shews that he either had no information of English Affairs or was sleeping when he wrote this for the Six Articles were not published soon after the Injunctions as he makes it by the same Parliament and Convocation but three years after by another Parliament They were never put in a Book nor published in the King's Name they were Enacted in Parliament and are neither more nor less than 25 lines in the first Impression of that Act so far short come they of a Book 92. He reckons up very defectively the differences between the Church of Rome and the Doctrine set forth by the King's Authority but in one point he shews his ordinary wit for in the sixth particular he says He retained the Sacrament of Order but appointed a new Form of Consecrating of Bishops This he put in out of malice that he might annul the Ordinations of that time but the thing is false for except that the Bishops instead of their Oaths of Obedience to the Pope which they formerly swore did not swear to the King there was no other change made and that to be sure is no part of the Form of Consecration 93. He resolved once to speak what he thought was Truth tho it be treasonable and impious and says Upon these changes many in Lincolnshire and the Northern parts did rise for Religion and the Faith of Christ. This was indeed the motive by which their Seditious Priests misled them yet he is mistaken in the time for it was not after the six Articles were published but almost three years before it Nor was it for the Faith of Christ which teaches us to be humble subject and obedient but because the King was removing some of the corruptions of that Faith which their false Teachers did impiously call the Faith of Christ. 94. He says The King did promise most faithfully that all these things of which they complained should be amended This is so evidently false that it is plain Sanders resolved dextrously to avoid the speaking of any sort of Truth for the King did fully and formally tell them he would not be directed nor counselled by them in these Points they complained of and did only offer them an Amnesty for what was past 95. Then he reckons up 32 that died for the defence of the Faith They were attainted of Treason for being in actual Rebellion against the King and thus it appears that Rebellion was the Faith in his sense and himself died for it or rather in it having been starved to death in a Wood to which he fled after one of his rebellious Attempts on his Soveraign in which he was the Pope's Nuncio 96. He says The King killed the Earl of Kildare and five of his Uncles By this strange way of expressing a legal Attainder and the execution of a Sentence for manifest Treason and Rebellion he would insinuate on the Reader a fancy that one of Bonner's cruel fits had taken the King and that he had killed those with his own hand The Lord Herbert has fully opened that part of the History from the Records that he saw and shews that a more resolved Rebellion could not be than that was of which the Earl of Kildare and his Uncles were guilty But because they sent to the Pope and Emperor for assistance the Earl desiring to hold the Kingdom of Ireland of the Pope since the King by his Heresie had fallen from his Right to it Sanders must needs have a great kindness for their memory who thus suffered for his Faith 97. He says Queen Iane Seimour being in hard labour of Prince Edward the King ordered her Body to be so opened by Surgeons that she died soon after All this is false for she had a good Delivery as many Original Letters written by her Council that have been since printed do shew but she died two days after of a distemper incident to her Sex 98. He sets down some Passages of Cardinal Pole's Heroical Constancy which being proved by no Evidence and not being told by any other Writer whom I ever saw are to be lookt on as the flourishes of the Poet to set off his Hero 99. He would perswade the World that the Marquess of Exceter the Lord Montacute and the rest that suffered at that time died because they were believed to dislike the King 's wicked Proceedings and that the Countess of Sarum was beheaded on this single account that she was the Mother of such a Son and was sincerely addicted to the Catholick Faith and that she was condemned because she wrote to her Son and for wearing in her Breast the Picture of the five Wounds of Christ. The Marquess of Exceter pretended he was well satisfied with the King's Proceedings and was Lord Stewart when the Lords Darcy and Hussie were tried and he gave judgment against them But it being discovered that he and other Persons approved of Cardinal Pole's proceedings who endeavoured to engage all Christian Princes in a League against the King pursuant to which they had expressed themselves on several occasions resolved when a fit opportunity offered it self to rebel it was no wonder if the King proceeded against them according to Law And for the Countess of Sarum tho the legality of that Sentence passed against her cannot be defended yet she had given great offence not only by her correspondence with her Son but by the Bulls she had received from Rome and by her opposing the King's Injunctions hindring all her Tenants to read the New Testament or any other Books set out by the King's order And for the Picture which was found among her Cloaths it having been the Standard of the Rebellion and the Arms of England being found on the other side of it there was just ground to suspect an ill design in it 100. He says The Images which the King destroyed were by many wonderful Works of God recommended to the Devotion of the Nation All the wonder in these Works was the knavery of some jugling Impostors and the simplicity of a credulous multitude of
after him 111. He tells many Reasons why the King had a mind to put away Ann of Cleve But in this as in other things he betrays a profound ignorance of that time for every Body knew that the King from the first time he saw her disliked her and that he never consummated the Marriage This is a Subject not fit to be long dwelt on but if any will compare the account I give of this Matter from the Records with Sander's Tale they will see that he wrote at random and did not so much as know publick Transactions 112. He says The King had promised to the Emperor That he would no longer continue in the Smalcaldick League but Cromwel counterfeited the King's Hand to a new confirmation of it which coming to the Emperor's knowledg he challenged the King of it and sent him over a Copy of it upon which the King disowned it and cast it on Cromwel and that this was the cause of his fall This I believe is one of Sander's dreams there is not one word of it in Cromwel's Attainder nor do I find the least shadow of this in some Original Letters which he wrote to the King for his Pardon in which he answers many of the things laid to his Charge Nor is it likely he would adventure on so bold a thing with such a King nor could the Emperor have that Writing in his power as long as the King lived for it is not to be imagined how he could come by it till he had taken the Duke of Saxony Prisoner which was after this King's death 113. He says When Cromwel was put to death the King proceeded to the Divorce of Ann of Cleve The Divorce was judged by the Convocation eight days before Cromwel's death and confirmed in Parliament which was dissolved before he suffered 114. He says The King sent to her to tell her he had a mind to be separated from her and tho he could proceed more severely against her since he knew she was an Heretick yet for her Families sake he left it to her self to devise any reason for their Divorce upon which she came next day to the Senate which may be either the King's Council or the Parliament and confessed she had been married to another before she was married to the King and thereupon by the Authority of Parliament he was divorced and within eight days married Katharine Howard There are but six gross Errors in this Period 1. The King sent not any message to her nor came there any answer from her till the Sentence of Divorce was quite passed 2. In the Original Letter which those he sent to her wrote to him from Richmond it appears that they used no threatnings to her but barely told her what was done to which she acquiesced 3. She never came from Richmond in all that Process and so made no such declaration in the Senate 4. She did not say that she was married to another but only that she had been contracted to the Prince of Lorrain when she was under Age. 5. The Parliament did not dissolve the Marriage but only confirmed the Sentence of the Convocation 6. The King did not marry Katharine Howard before the 8 th of August and the Divorce was judged the 10 th of Iuly a month wanting two days 115. He says The King had consummated the Marriage for seven months together There were but six months between his Marriage and the Divorce and in all that while as they bedded but seldom so there were very clear Evidences brought that it was not consummated 116. He says The King sent the Bishop of Winchester and Sir Henry Knevet to the Diet of the Empire who were ordered to propose to the Emperor That the King might be again reconciled to the See of Rome to which he adds his Conscience did drive him but since the King would not confess his past Crimes nor do penance for them nor restore the Goods of the Church it came to nothing This is another Ornament of the Fable to shew the Poet's wit but is as void of Truth as any passage in Plantus or Terence is For the King was all his life so intractable in that Point that the Popish Party had no other way to maintain their Interest with him but to comply not without affectation in that Matter and when an Information was given against Gardiner for his holding some correspondence with the Pope's Legate at the Diet he got the Man who had innocently discovered it to be put in Prison and said it was a Plot against him to ruin him which he needed not be so sollicitous about if his Instructions from the King had allowed him to enter on such a Treaty 117. He runs out in a long digression upon the King 's assuming the Title of King of Ireland to shew that the Kings of England only hold Ireland by the Pope's Donation In this Sanders shews his Art he being to carry the Standard of Rebellion in that Kingdom to blast the King 's Right to it He acknowledges the Crown of England had the Dominion of Ireland with the Title of Lord of Ireland about 400 years And certainly if so long a possession does not give a good Title and a prescription against all other Pretenders most of the Royal Families in Christendom will be to seek for their Rights But he says It was given by the Pope to King Henry the Second and yet he confesses that he had conquered some parts of it before that Grant was sent him by Hadrian the Fourth Certainly King Henry the Second had as good a right to take it as Pope Hadrian had to give it nor was the King's accepting the Pope's Donation any prejudice to his Title for things extorted or allowed upon a publick Error can have no force when that is openly discovered If then the Superstition of those Ages made that the Pope's Donation was a great help to any Pretender it was no wonder that Kings made use of it but it were a wonder indeed if they should acknowledg it after the Trick is known and seen by all 118. After this and a Satyr against Queen Elizabeth for assuming the Title Defender of the Faith and a long enumeration of the exactions in the last years of this Reign in which tho there is Matter enough for severe complaints yet many of the Particulars he mentions are without any proof and must rest on the Author's credit which by this time the Reader will acknowledg is not very great Another long discourse of some length follows of the misfortunes of the Duke of Norfolk and of all that served the King in his Divorce and in the following Actions of his Life from which he infers that these were effects of a Curâ—e from Heaven upon all that he did and on all those that assisted him But as the Inference is bad so he forgot to mention those Noble Families that were raised in
Bishops and Divines concerning the Functions and Divine Institution of Bishops and Priests 321 365 6. A Letter of Melanthons to perswade the King to a further Reformation 329 367 7. A Letter written by the German Ambassadors to the King against the taking away of the Chalice and against private Masses and the Celibate of the Clergie 332 ibid 8. The King's Answer to the former Letter 396 ibid 9. A Letter written by the King to his Bishops directing them how to instruct the People 360 368 10. Arguments given by Tonstal to the King to prove Auricular Confession to be of a Divine Institution with some Notes on the Margent written with the King 's own hand 363 369 11. A Letter of the King 's to Tonstall in Answer to the former Paper 366 ibid 12. A Definition of the Catholick Church corrected with the King 's own hand 367 370 FINIS Errata in the Collection of Records PAge 21. Line 4. compendio read Compendio P. 19. l. 32. huic r. hic P. 21. l. 23. datum r. datam P. 65. l. 30. before to r. than P. 38. l. 5. and take r. to take l. 22. gentily r. generally P. 111. the Marginal Note should stand 6 lines higher P. 1 4. l. 14. for r. her l. 15. Word r. were P. 128. l. 12 13 14 15 the Comma's are all wrong placed P. 137. l. 42. other r. Oath P. 154. l. 19. as if dele as P. 157. l. 12. here r. have P. 190. l. 18. our r. your P. 220. l. 5. Quest. 3. r. Quest. 9. P. 269. l. 47. Variety r. Verity P. 285. l. 19 28 r. 18. P. 305. l. 30. in any r. many P. 311. l. 41. and r. that P. 317. l. 26. say-men r. Lay-men l. 45. refuge r. refuse P. 322. l. 30. only r. every P. 335. l. 35 36. fides lis r. fidelis Literal Faults or escapes in the Punctuation are left to the Reader 's Correction King Henry's Succession to the Crown Apr. 22. 1509. He proceeds against Dudley and Empson * Hall says the same day L. Herbert says the day following Hall He holds a Parliament Ian. 21. 1510. Aug. 18. His great Expence His Affairs beyond Sea A War with France Aug. 24. Octob. 2. 1513. Aug. 7. 1514. A Peace and a Match with France Oct. 9. Lewis dies Ian. 1. 1515. Lady Mary Betrothed to the Dolphin Octob. 8. 1518. Emperour dies Ian. 12. 1519. Charles Elected Iune 28. 1520. The Emperor comes to England May. 26. Iune 7. Iuly 10. A second War with France Leo. 10. dies Dec. 1. 1521. Adrian chosen Pope Ian. 9. 1522. He dyed Septemb. 14. 1523. Clement the 7th chosen Novemb. 19. 1522. Emperor Landed at Dover May. 26. The Emperor contracted to the Kings Daughter Iune 19. May 6. 15â—7 Mar. 18. 1526. The Clementine League May. 22. 1526. September 20 1527. Rome taken and sack't May 16. Iuly 11. Decemb. 9. The Kings success against Scotland Sept. 9. 1513. His Counsels at home 1509. Ian. 21. 1510. Feb. 4. 1512. Cardinal Wolseys rising Cavendish life of Wolsey MSS. in Biblioth Nob. D.G. Pierpoint Octob. 1513. a Rest. temp 4. March 5 Regni 1 part Rot pat b Novemb. 6 Regni 1. part R. P. c Aug. 28.10 Regni 1 part R. P. d Decemb. 7.13 Regni 3 part R. P. e April 30.15 Reg. 2 part R. P. f May 4.20 Reg. 1. part R. P. May 15 5â—â— Reg. 1. Part. Rot. pat April 1515. Lady Mary died Iun. 23. 1533. Iâ—n 17.18 Reg. Rot. Paâ— Duke Rich. died Iâ—n 22. â—536 He was bred a Scâ—olar The Kings Prerogative in Ecclesiastical matters Cusâ—odia Temporalitatis Râ—stitutâ—o Temporalitatis Collect Numb 15. License to the Prior of Peterburg Novemb 3.1 Part. 5 â—â— Reg. Rot. Pat. A Contest about the EcclesiasticalImmunity Killways Reports Made Clerke Octob. 29. 1. Reg. Rot. Pat. Part. 1o. Iournal Procerum 7 Hâ—n 8. Parliamentumâ—2 â—2 Dâ—â—e 1515. Iohanne Tylor Iâ—râ—s Pontificii Doct. Clerico Parliamentorum Domini Râ—gis â—â—dem tempore Prolocutore Convocationis Cleri quod raro accidit Iâ— hoc Parliamento Convocatione periculosi â—imâ— seditiones exortâ—â—â—ent inter Clâ—â—um Secâ—lâ—râ—m pâ—tâ—â—tatem â—â—per libertatiâ—â—s Ecclesiasticis quodam Fratre Minore nomine Standish omniam malorum miniâ—â—ro ac stimulatore Hali. and Fox * Hunne hanged in Prison And his body burned Dec. 20. 1514. April 3. The King obliged the Popes highly and was much courâ—ed by them Collect. Numb 2 d. Treaty-Rolls 3 Reg. 19 April 1512. 1521. October 11. L. Herbert A Bull for Reforming the Clergy 10 Iune 1519. L. Herbert and Article 29. of his Impeachment The Cardinal's Pride Polydore Virgil He designs a Reformation And a Suppression of Monasteries The Calling of Convocations Collect. Numb 3 d. Collect. Numb 4 th Regist. Tonst Fol. 33 34. Collect. Numb 5th Of the State of the Monasteries Rot. Pat. 11. Hen. 8. Part. 1. The Cardinal's Colledges The Bull and Royal Assent 14. Reg. 2. Part. Rot. Pat. The Firsâ— beginning of Reformation in England The Cruelties of the Church of Rome Fitz-Herbert de Nat. Breviâ—â— The Laws of England against Hereticks Under Rich. the 2d Cook 's Institutes 3. part chap. 5. of Heresie 6 to Rich. 2. 1 Part. Numb 52. Rot. parl Another Law under King Henry the 4th Herbert's Natura Brevium Hall 5th year of Edw. 4th Warham's Proceedings against Hereticks Regist. Warham Fol. 164. Fitz-Iames Bishop of London his proceeding against Hereticks Fol. 4. The Progress of Luther's Doctrin Fox The King writes against Luther 1522. October 23. Reg. Tonstall Fol. 45. with which that in Fox agrees exactly Collect. numb 6th The beginning of the Suit of Divorce The Marriage of Prince Arthur to the Infanta of Spain 1501. See the Depositâ—ons of Witnesses in L. Herbert Prince Arth. his Death Apr 2. 1502. Bacons Henry the 7th Consultations about a second Marriage of the Infanta to his Brother Warham's Deposition in L Herbert It is allowed by the Pope Collections Numb first Upon political reasons L. Herbert Henry Protests against it Iun. 27. 1505. Collect. Num. 2d Morison His Father also disswaded it Apr. 22. 1509 K. Henry VII dies Henry being come to the Crown Marries her Iun. 3 They are Crowned Iune 24. Son born Ian. 1. 1511. dies Feb. 22. another born and dies Nov. 1514. Lady Mary born Feb. 19. 1516. 1â—27 1518. Treaty Rolls 10. Reg. His Daughter Mary Contracted to the Dolphin October 11. Afterwards to the Emperor Iun. 22. 1522. Offer'd to Scotland Sept. 1524. again to France April 30. 1527. For K. Francis himself or for his Son the Duke of Orleance The Kings Marriage questioned by Forreigners The King himself Scruples it Sanderus de Schism Angl. In his Letter to Bucer Sept. 10. 1531. in MSS. R. Smith The grounds of his Scruples All his Bishops except Fisher declare it unlawful Cavendish his liâ—e of Wolsey The dangers that were like to follow from it Wolsâ—y went into France 1527. Iuly 11. The Kings fears hopes about it L.
Herbert The Arguments against the Bull. Wolsey's advice to the King 1527. Aug. 1. Sanders his story about Anne Bolâ—yn examined For this he ciâ—es Rastal's life of Sir Tho. Moor a Book that was never seen by any body else Anti-Sanderus 1501. March 10. 1509. Feb. 12. 1511 1514. Septemb. 23 6 to Regn. 1515. Cambd. Iâ— apparatâ— ad Hiâ—t Eliz. Reg. 1528. Her Birth 1514. and Breeding Her coming to England L. Herbert Title and Duplex Cavendish says she was very young Camden She is contracted to the Lord Piercy Cavendish Life of Wolsey 1527. L. Herbert 1527. The King moved for his Divorce at Rome The first dispatch about it Collect. Numb 3 d. The Pope grants it when he was in Prison Collect. Numb 4th Pope escaped Decemb. 9. And being at liberty gives a Bull for it The Pope's craft policy And the measures that governed them 1528. Collect. Numb 5th The method proposed by the Pope Collect. Numb 6th Staphileus sent from England His Instructions Cotton Libr. Vitel. B. 10. Ian. 8. Duplicates corrected by the Cardinal's Hand The Cardinals Letterâ— by him A Larger Bull desired by the King Gardiner and Fox sent to Rome With Letters from the King Collect. Numb 7th and the Cardinal Collect. Numb 8th Collect. Numb 9th The substance of the Bull desired by them Collect. Numb 10th 1527. Rot. Paâ— 2 dâ— Pars. Regn. 10. The Cardinals Earnestness in this matter Collect. Numb 11th Collect. Numb 12. Campegio declared Legate Collect. Numb 10. Wolsey writes to him to haste over May 7. May 23. The Pope grants a Decretal Bull Anti-Sanderus L. Herbert Two Letters of Anne Boleyn's to Wolsey A Postscript of the Kings to him 1528. Collect. Numb 14th The Cardinal's Colledges finished Octob. 30. More Monasteries were to be suppressed The Emperor opposâ—s the Kings suit A Breve found out in Spain Collect. Numb 15th Presumptions of its being forged Campegio comes into England And showes the King the Bull But refuses to let it be seen to the Council * Collect. Numb 16th Collect. Numb 17th Wolsey's endeavour at Rome that it might be showed But all in vain The Pope sends Campana to England Collect. Numb 18th New Ambassadors sent to Rome With other overtures Collect. Numb 19th A Guard of 2000 men offered to the Pope The Pope resolved to unite himself to the Emperor Being frightned with the threats of the Imperialists 1529. Ian. 3. Repents his granting the Decretal Kings Letter to the Cardinal Ian. 8th Ian. 9. 1529. Ian. 15. But feeds the King with high promises The Pope sickens Ian. 27. Cardinal Wolsey's intrigues for the Papacy Feb. 6th Collect. Numb 20. The Kings Instructions for the Election Numb Feb. 20. New propositions about the Divorce Collect. Numb 21. The Popes relapse April 6. another Dispatch to Rome Collect. Numb 2.2 1528. 1529. The Cardinals Bulls for the Bishoprick of Winchester The Pope inclines to joyn with the Emperor Who protests against the Legates Commission May 15. Collect Numb 23. The Pope promised not to recal but to confirm it The Legates write to the Pope Collect. Numb 24. Campegio's ill life Pelerin In glese April 6. The Emperor presses for an Avocation Which the Kings Ambassadors oppose much The Popes deep dissimulation Collect. Numb 25th Collect. Numb 26th The Pope complains of the Florentines Iune 5. Iune 13. Great Contests about the Avocation Iune 23. Collect. Numb 27. Iune 28. The Legateâ— sit in England Orig. Iourn Cott. Libr. Vitel B. 12. A severe charge against the Queen Quod stulte facit si contendit cum Rege quod â—ale illi successit in faetibus de Brevi acsuspicione falsitatis The King and Queen appear in Court * Fidelis servi insideli subdito Responsio Collect. Numb 28. The Queen's Speech The King gives the account of his Scruples The Queens Appeal Articles drawn by the 〈◊〉 Upon which witnesses are examined The proâ—eâ—dings at 〈…〉 〈◊〉 this is 〈◊〉 from 〈…〉 Iune 2â— and 30. Iuly 8 and 9. The Pope agrees with the Emperor Collect. Numb 29th Yet is in great perplexities Iuly 26. The Avocation is granted Collect. Numb 30th The proceedings of the Legates All things are ready foâ— a Sentence Campegio Adjourned the Court. Which gives great offence Wolsey's danger Aug. 4. Sept. 23 in a Letter from the Cardinal Secetary to Cromwell Anne Boleyn returns to Court Cranmers proposition about the Kings Divorce Approved by the King The meanness of his Temper The King still â—avoured him He is afterwards attached for Treasoâ— And dies His Character A Parliament called Hall The House of Commons complains of the Bishop of Rochester Some Bills past reforming the abuses of the Clergy One Act discharging the King of his debts Collect. Numb 31. The Pope and the Emperor firmly united Iâ—n 20. The womens peace Aug. 5. 1530. The Emperors Coronation at Bononia Florence taken Aug. 9. Popes Nephew made Duke of it Iuly 17. 1531. Siege of Vienna rais'd Octob. 13. 1529. Emperor Crown'd King of Lombardy Feb. 22. 1530. Rom. Emp. Feb. 2. The King consults his Universities about his Divorce Lord Herbert out of the Record April 4. 1530. v. Wood. p. 8.257 Lib. 1 0. p. 225. Collect. Numb 32. And at Cambridge Feb. Though with great difficulty Crooke employed in Venice Crooks Negotiation taken from many of his Original Letters Cott. Libr. Vitel B. 13. Many â—n Italy write for the Kings cause Feb. 18. Though the Pope and Emperor discourâ—ged them Iuly 4. Aug. 7. Septemb. 16. Iuly 28. Aug. 5. No Money nor bribes given for subscriptions 〈◊〉 7. Fâ—b 8. Only some small acknowledgments Feb. 22. Feb. 9. Septemb. 16. But great Rewards given by the Emperor Septemb. 29. Feb. 18. March 29. 1530. May 26. Iâ—nâ— 2â— They Determined for the King at 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1â—th At Padua Iuly 1st Collect. Numb 33. And Ferrara Sept. 29th And in Orleance April 7. At Paris of the Canonists May 25th Of the Soâ—bon Iâ—ly 2d At Angiers May 7th At Bourges Iune 10th And Tâ—â—lose Octob. 1st Collect. Numb 34. Ian. 28th his Orig. Let. Cott. Libr. Otho C. 10. Pelerine Iâ—glise Grineus employed amongst the Reformed in Switzerland Whose Letters are in a MSS. in R. Smiths Libr. The Opinions of Oâ—colompadius Bâ—cer Phrygion Zuinglius And Calvin Epist. 384. Lord Herb. from an Orig. Let. Sept. 18. 1530. The opinion of the Lutheran Divines Instructions sent by Dr. Barns to Cromwel Cott. Lib. Vâ—tel B. 13. They condemn the Kings first Marriage but are against a second Collect. Numb 35. Fox The King refuses to appear at Rome Cranmer offers to maintain the Kings cause The Nobility Clergy and Commons of England write to the Pope In the life of Wolseâ— This Letter and the answer are Printed by the Lord Herbert The Popes answer A Proclamation against Bulls from Rome Lord Herb. Books written for the Kings cause Otho C. â—0 ibidem Visp B. 5. Coâ—lect Numb 36. The grounds of it in the old Testament Lev. 18 20· Lev. 18.2 4.5.6.21 v. 17.24.26 v. 24.25 Lâ—v.
over to England But is much disliked by the King 1539. 1540. But yet Marries her And could never love her A Parliament called Where Cromwel speaks as Lord vice-gerent 1540. He is made Earl of Essex The Suppression of the Knights of St. Iohn at Ierusalem Cromwel◠〈◊〉 The King in love with Mistress Katharine Howard 1539. Cranmers friendship to Cromwel Journal Procâ—â— Parag. 58. Item Billa attincâ—â—rae Tâ—â—me Cromwel Comitis Essex de crimine Herisis Laesae Majestatis per Communes de novo concepta Allâ—nsa 〈◊〉 cum praâ—isione eidem annexa Quae quidem Billa 1º 2 do 3 â—io lecta est provisio ejusdem concernens Dâ—canatum Wellensem â—er lecta est communi omnium Procâ—rum consensu nemine discrepante expedita simul cum ea referebatur Billa Attiâ—cturae quae prius missa erat in Doâ—â—â— Communium Cromwels attaindor Collect. Numb 16. Censures past upon it The King designs a divorce from his Queen It 's referred to the convocation Collect. Numb 17. Collect. Numb 18. Reasons pretended for it 1540. Convocation agreed to it Collect. Numb 19. It is censured Collect. Numb 17. 1529. Report made to the Parl. The Queen consents to it Collect. Numb 20. An Act about the Incontinence of Priests Another about Religion 1540. Subsidies granted by thâ— Clergy And Laiety Cromweâ—s Death His Character Designs against Cranmer A Commission sits about Religion An Explanation of Faith 1539. Cranmers Opinion about it They explain the Apostles Creed 1540. The seven Sacraments With greaâ— maturity Collect. Numb 21. 1539. The ten Commandments 1540. The Lords Prayer The Ave Maria Free-will Justification Good Works All this set forth in a Book And published by the Kings Authority It is variously censured Corrections of the Mass-Book and other Offices Ex M S S. D.D. Stillingflâ—â—t A Persecution of Protestants Of Barnes and others Collect. Numb 22. Who were condemned in Parliament Their Speeches at the Stake Bonners cruelty New Bishopricks â—ounded Collect. Nâ—mb 23. Cranmer's design miscarries These Foundations censured 1541. The State of the Court at this time The Bible in English set up in all Churches Collect. Numb 24. Collect. Nuâ—b 25. 1541. Aâ—tiq Brit. in Râ—g Pâ—lo A Rule about Churchmens housekeeping * Bellaria The King goes to â—ork An account of the State of Scotland The beginings of Learning there And of the Reformation Arch-Bishop Spotswood Lesley Spotswood The Clergy were both ignorant and cruel Hamilton's sufferings The Kings Conâ—essor favâ—urs the Reâ—ormation Forrest's sufferings A further persecution in Sâ—otland The progress of the Reâ—ormation Lesley Buchanan * Regni Angliâ—i Vicarius The King wholly guided by the Clergy Two other Martyrs The Queens ill life is discovered And confessed by her self and others 1542. A new Parliament called 1542. The Act about the Queen Censures pasâ— uponit Act about Hospitals c. The Papists design to suppress the English Bible 〈◊〉 Injuâ—ctions Coll. Numâ— 26. The manner of Preaching at that time Plays and Erâ—erludes then actâ—d War between England and Scotland Duke of 〈◊〉 inroad into Scotlanâ— The Scotish Army defeated Many Prisoners taken 1543. 1543. A new Parliament Cranmer promotes a Reformation An Act â—bout it A League between the King and Emperor A Treaty for a match with the Queen of Scotland The different Interests there The French party prevails A War with France A new persecution of Protestants 〈◊〉 great ingeniousness Three burnt at Windsor Their Persecuters are perjured A Conspiracy against Cranmer 〈…〉 His Christian â—emper of wind 1544. 1544. A new Parliament Act about the Successioâ— 1542. Act against Conspiracies Collect. Numb 27. 1544. The Wars against Sâ—otlanâ— succesfulâ— Colâ—ect Numb 2â— 1545. 〈…〉 1545. The German 〈…〉 peace Church resentments given to Informers 〈◊〉 suffâ—rings in Sâ—â—â—land Spotswood A Parliament sits Chapters and Chanteries given to the King The Kings speech to the Houses The King confirms the Rights of the Universities 1546. Peace with France A new design for Reformation Shaxtons Apostacy Collect. Numb 23. The troubles of Anne Askew She endures the Râ—ck And is burnt with some others A new design against Crâ—nmâ—â— The Kâ—ngs great â—aâ—e of him Antiqu. Brit. in vita Cranmer Another design against the Queen The causes of the Duke of Norfolks disgrace 1547. The Earl of Surrey Executed The Dukes submission to the King 1547. The Parliament meets The Duke of Norfolk Attainted His death prevented by the Kings Fox The Emperors designs against the Protestants The Kings sickness Collect. Numb 30. His latter will a Forgery 1542. 1547. An account of the Kings severities against the Popish Party Some 〈◊〉 executed for denying the Kings Supremacy And Hall a Priest for conspiring against the King Three other Monks Exeâ—â—â—d 1535. Fishers Tryal and death His Character His Character A â—aindors afâ—â—â— the Rebâ—llâ—on was quâ—â—â—d 1537. Hall Censures past upon it 1538. Forrests equivocation and Heresie Hall 1538. The proceedings against Cardinal Pools friends 1539. Some Attaindors without hearing the parties 1539. 4 Instit. 37.38 1540. 1535. The Conclusion Câ—llect Aâ—denda 〈◊〉 1. Colâ—ect Addenda Nâ—mb 2. Collect. Addenda Nâ—mb 3. Collect. Addenda Numb 4. Collect. Addenda Numb 5. Collect. Addenda Numb 6. Collect. Addenda Numb 7. Collect. Addenda Numb 8. Collect. Addenda Numb 9. Collect. Addenda Numb 10. Collect. Addenda Numb 11. Collect. Addenda Numb 12. Treat Rolls Registrum Warhami Fol. 26. Tonst Regist. Fol. 33. Regist. Fitz-Williams Anno Dom. 1523. Regist. Cuthberti Tonstall Folio 40 Regist. Tonst Fol. 138. Cott. libr. Vitel. B. 12. Cotton Libr. Vitell. B. 12. Cotton libr. Vitellius B. 9. Cotton Libr. Vitell. B. 10 Cotton Libr. Vâ—â—el B. 10. Cotton libr. Vitel. â— 10. Cotton libr. Vitel. B. 10. Câ—tt libr. Vitel. B. 10. Cotton Libr. Vitell. B. 10. Cotton Libr. Vitel. B. 12. Cott. libr. Vitel. B. 10. Cotton Libr. Vitell. B. 10. Cotton Libr. Vitel. B. 10. Cotton libr. Vitel. B. 10. Cotton Libr. Vitel. B. 12. Cotton Libr. Vitell. B. 10. Cotton libr. Vitel. B. 10. Cotton Libr. Vitell. B. 10 Cotton Libr. Vitel. B. 10. Cotton libr. Vitel. B. 11. Cotton Libr. Vitell. B. 11. Cotton Libr. Vitell. B. 11. Cotton Libr. Vitell. B. 11. Cotton Libr. Vitell. B. 11. Cotton Libr. Vitel. B. 11 Cotton libr. Vitel. B. 11. Cotton libr. Vitel. B. 11. Cotton Libr. Vitell. B. 11. Cotton Libr. Vitell. B. 13. Cotton Libr. Vitel. B. 13. Cotton Libr. Vesp. B. 5. Ex M S. D. Petyt Cotton Libr. Vitel. B. 13. Cotton Libr. Vitel. B. 13. This is all written with his own hand and was sent over by him to the King Cotton Libr. Vitel. B. 13. Cotton Libr. Vitel. B. 13. Cotton Libr. Vitel. B. 13. In an Inspeximus Rot. Pat. 25. Reg. 2 d. Paâ—t Cotton Libr. Cleopat E. 4. Cott. Libr. Cleop. E. 4. Cott. Libr. Cleop. E. 4. Anno Regni 28. Regni 27. Regni 28. Regni 29. Regni 30. * In the Houses of this Order there were Cloisters for both Sexes St. Gilbert L. of Semperingham founded it
was thought to be over yet it returned again upon him insomuch that the Physicians did suspect he was poisoned Then followed all the secret Caballings and Intrigues which are ordinary in that Court upon such an occasion The Collonna's and the other Imperialists were very busie but the Cardinal of Mantua opposed them and Farnese who was then at his house in the Countrey came to Rome and joyned with Mantua and these of that Faction resolved that if the Spanish Army marched from Naples toward them they would dispence with that Bull which provides that the Succeeding Pope should be chosen in the same place where the former died and would retire to some safe place Some of the Cardinals spoke highly in favour of Cardinal Wolsey whom if the Ambassadors did not flatter and lie grosly in their Letters from which I draw these Informations they reverenced as a Deity And the Cardinal of Mantua it seems proposing him as a Pattern would needs have a Particular account of his whole Course of Life and expressed great esteem for him When Gardiner was come as far as Lions he wrote the Cardinal word that there went a Prophecy that an Angel should be the next Pope but should die soon after He also gave Advice that if the Pope died the Commission for the Legates must needs expire with him unless they made some Step in their Business by a Citation of Parties which would keep it alive but whether this was done or not I cannot find The Cardinals Ambition was now fermenting strongly and he resolved to lay his Project for the Popedom better than he had done before His Letter about it to Gardiner and the Kings Instructions to his Ambassadors are Printed by Fox and the Originals from which they are taken are yet extant He wrote also another Letter to the Ambassadors which the Reader will find in the Collection But because the Instructions show what were the methods in choosing Popes in those days by which it may be easily gathered how such an Election must needs recommend a man to Infallibility Supremacy and all the other Appendages of Christs Vicar on Earth I shall give a short Summary of them By his Letter to his Confident Gardiner he commits the thing chiefly to his care and orders him to employ all his parts to bring it to the desired issue sparing neither Presents nor Promises and that as he saw mens Inclinations or affections led them whether to publick or private Concerns so he should govern himself towards them accordingly The Instructions bear that the King thought the Cardinal the fittest person to succeed to the Papacy they being advertised that the Pope was dead that the French King did also of his own Motion offer his Assistance to him in it and that both for publick and private ends the Cardinal was the fittest Therefore the Ambassadots are required with all possible earnestness and vigour to promote his Election A Schedule of the Cardinals names is sent them with marks to every one whether he was like to be present or absent favourable indifferent or opposite to them It was reckoned there could be but 39 present of which 26 were necessary to choose the Pope Of these the two Kings thought themselves sure of 20. So 6 was all the number that the Ambassadors were to gain and to that number they were first to offer them good reasons to convince them of the Cardinals fitness for the Papacy But because humane frailty was such that reason did not always take place they were to promise Promotions and Sums of Money with other good Rewards which the King gave them Commission to offer and would certainly make them good besides all the great Preferments which the Cardinal had that should be shared among those who did procure his Election The Cardinals of their Party were first to enter into a firm bond to exclude all others They were also to have some Creatures of theirs to go into the Conclave to manage the Business Sir Gregory Cassali was thought fittest for that Service And if they saw the adverse party too strong in the Conclave so that they could carry nothing then Gardiner was to draw a Protestation which should be made in name of the two Crowns and that being made all the Cardinals of their Faction were to leave the Conclave And if the fear of the Emperors Forces overawed them the Ambassadors were to offer a Guard of 2 or 3000. men to secure the Cardinals and the French King Ordered his Armies to move if the Spanish Troops did move either from Naples or Millan They were also to assure them that the Cardinal would presently upon his Election come and live at Rome and were to use all endeavours to gain the Cardinal de Medici to their Faction but at the same time to assure the Florentines that Wolsey would assist them to exclude the Medici out of the Government of their Town and State They were also to have a strict eye upon the motions of the French Faction lest if the Cardinal were excluded they should consent to any other and refuse to make the Protestation as it was desired But to oblige Campegio the more it was added that if they found all hopes of raising the Cardinal of York to vanish then they should try if Campegio could be Elected and in that case the Cardinals of their Faction were to make no Protestation These were the Apostolical Methods then used for choosing a Successour to St. Peter for though a Successour had been chosen to Iudas by lot yet more Caution was to be used in choosing one for the Prince of the Apostles But when the Cardinal heard that the Pope was not dead and that there was hope of his recovery he wrote another long Letter to the Ambassadors the Original of which is yet extant to keep all their Instructions about a new Pope very secret to be gaining as many Cardinals as they could and to take care that the Cardinals should not go into the Conclave unless they were free and safe from any fears of the Imperial Forces But if the Pope recovered they were to press him to give such orders about the Kings Business that it might be speedily ended and then the Cardinal would come and wait on the Pope over to Spain as he had proposed And for the Apprehensions the Pope had of the Emperors being highly offended with him if he granted the Kings desire or of his coming into Italy he needed not fear him They knew whatever the Emperor pretended about his obligation to protect his Aunt it was only for reason of State but if he were satisfied in other things that would be soon passed over They knew also that his design of going into Italy was laid aside for that year because he apprehended that France and England would make War on him in other places There were also many Precedents found of Dispensations granted by Popes in like cases And
given to me of God and by our said Soveraign Lord the King's Majesty I exhort require and also command all and singular Parsons Vicars Curats and Chantry Priests with other of the Clergy whatsoever they be of my Diocess and Jurisdiction of London to observe keep and perform accordingly as it concerneth every of them in vertue of their Obedience and also upon pains expressed in all such Laws Statutes and Ordinances of this Realm as they may incur and be objected against them now or at any time hereafter for breaking and violating of the same or any of them First That you and every of you shall with all diligence and faithful obedience observe and keep and cause to be observed and kept to the outermost of your Powers all and singular the Contents of the King's Highness most gracious and godly Ordinances and Injunctions given and set forth by his Graces Authority and that ye and every of you for the better performance thereof shall provide to have a Copy of the same in writing or imprinted and so to declare them accordingly Item That every Parson Vicar and Curat shall read over and diligently study every day one Chapter of the Bible and that with the gloss ordinary or some other Doctor or Expositor approved and allowed in this Church of England proceeding from Chapter to Chapter from the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew to the end of the New Testament and the same so diligently studied to keep still and retain in memory and to come to the rehearsal and reâ—ital thereof at all such time and times as they or any of them shall be commanded thereunto by me or any of my Officers or Deputies Item That every of you do procure and provide of your own a Book called The Institution of a Christian Man otherwise called the Bishops Book and that ye and every of you do exercise your selves in the same according to such Precepts as hath been given heretofore or hereafteâ— to be given Item That ye being absent from your Benefices in cases lawfully permitted by the Laws and Statutes of this Realm do suffer no Priest to keep your Cure unless he being first by you presented and by me or my Officers thereunto abled and admitted And for the more and better assurance and performance thereof to be had by these presents I warn and monish peremptorily all and singular Beneficed Parsons having Benefices with Cure within my Diocess and Jurisdiction that they and every of them shall either be personally resident upon their Benefices and Cures before the Feast of St. Michael the Arch-Angel now next ensuing or else present before the said Feast to me the said Bishop my Vicar-General or other my Officers deputed in that behalf such Curats as upon examination made by me or my said Officers may be found able and sufficient to serve and discharge their Cures in their absence and also at the said Feast or before shall bring in and exhibite before my said Officers their sufficient Dispensations authorized by the King's Majesty as well for non-residence as for keeping of more Benefices with Cure than one Item That every Parson Vicar and other Curats once in every quarter shall openly in the Pulpit exhort and charge his Parishioners that they in no wise do make any privy or secret contract of Matrimony between themselves but that they utterly defer it until such time as they may conveniently have the Father and Mother or some other Kinsfolks or Friends of the Person that shall make such Contract of Matrimony or else two or three honest Persons to be present and to hear and record the words and manner of their Contract as they will avoid the extream pains of the Law provided in that behalf if they presumptuously do or attempt the contrary Item That in the avoiding of divers and grievous Offences and Enormities and specially the most detestable sin of Adultery which oft-times hath hapned by the negligence of Curats in marrying Persons together which had been married before and making no due proof of the death of their other Husbands and Wives at the time of such Marriages I require and command you and monish peremptorily by these presents all manner of Parsons Vicars and Curats with other Priests being of my Diocess and Jurisdiction that they nor any of them from henceforth do presume to solemnizate Matrimony in their Churches Chappels or elsewhere between any Persons that have been married before unless the said Parson Vicar Curat or Priest be first plainly fully and sufficiently informed and certified of the Decease of the Wife or Husband of him or her or of both that he shall marry and that in writing under the Ordinaries Seal of the Diocess or place where he or she inhabited or dwelt before under pain of Excommunication and otherwise to be punished for doing the contrary according to the Laws provided and made in that behalf Item That ye and every of you that be Parsons Vicars Curats and also Chauntry-Priests and Stipendiaries do instruct teach and bring up in Learning the best ye can all such Children of your Parishioners as shall come to you for the same or at the least to teach them to read English taking moderately therefore of their Friends that be able to pay so that they may thereby the better learn and know how to Believe how to Pray how to live to God's pleasure Item That every Curat do at all times his best diligence to stir move and reduce such as be at discord to Peace Concord Love Charity and one to remit and forgive one another as often and howsoever they shall be grieved or offended And that the Curat shew and give example thereof when and as often as any variance or discord shall happen to be between him and any of his Cure Item Where some froward Persons partly for malice hatred displeasure and disdain neglect contemn and despise their Curats and such as have the Cure and Charge of their Souls and partly to hide and cloak their leud and naughty living as they have used all the Year before use at length to be confessed of other Priests which have not the Cure of their Souls Wherefore I will and require you to declare and show to your Parishioners That no Testimonials brought from any of them shall stand in any effect nor that any such Persons shall be admitted to God's Board or receive their Communion until they have submitted themselves to be confessed of their own Curats Strangers only except or else upon arduous and urgent Causes and Considerations they be otherwise dispensed with in that behalf either by me or by my Officers aforesaid Item That whereupon a detestable and abominable practice universally reigning in your Parishes the young People and other ill-disposed Persons doth use upon the Sundays and Holy-days in time of Divine Service and preaching the Word of God to resort unto Ale-houses and there exerciseth unlawful Games with great Swearing Blasphemy Drunkenness and