Images c. This Preface indeed was published at London 1550. under the name of Wickliffe and hath generally passed for his But after all Wickliffe did not write it but the Author of the other old English Translation of the Bible For we have two Translations of the Bible made about that time one by Wickliffe the other by an unknown Person In the Preface the Author giveth several Specimens of his Translation of many difficult places of Scripture which agree not with Wickliff's but with the other Translation Further the Author of the Preface inveighs sharply against the Discipline and Members of the University of Oxford which it is certain Wickliffe would never have done for Reasons before mentioned That Wickliffe condemned praying to Saints we have only the Testimony of his Adversaries I will not affirm any thing at this time but I have reason to suspect the contrary Pag. 25. lin 27. Iohn Braibrook Bishop of London then Lord Chancellor viz. 26 Maii Anno 5. Ricardi 2. His name was Rober Braibrook and he was not Lord Chancellor until the Sixth Year of King Richard Pag. 35. lin 28. The two Prelates that were then in the Year 1503 between February and December in greatest esteem with King Henry the 7 th were Warham Archbishop of Canterbury and Fox Bishop of Winchester Warham was not translated from London to Canterbury till 1504. Ianuary 23. Pag. 88. lin 10. This the small Allowance made by the King to Crook his Agent in foreign Universities I take notice of because it is said by others that all the Subscriptions that he procured were bought So pag. 89. in imo Margine No Money nor Bribes given for Subscriptions This is endeavoured to be farther proved pag. 90. However it might be then thought necessary or useful to procure the Determinations of foreign Universities in favour of the Divorce of King Henry thereby the better to satisfie the Clergy at home and to justifie the Divorce abroad yet to those who know very well that this National Church had sufficient Authority to determine such a Controversie without consulting foreign Universities it will not be accounted a matter of any moment whether these were bribed or not I will not therefore scruple to set down the Testimonies of two undeniable Witnesses who lived at that time and could not but know the truth of the whole matter The first is of Cornelius Agrippa of whom the Historian himself giveth this Character Cornelius Agrippa a man very famous for great and curious Learning and so satisfied 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 died in Prison If this Great Person then had any partiality in this Cause it lay on the side of the King yet in one of his Books he hath these words Sed quis credidisset Theologos in rebus fidei conscientiae non solum amore odio invidia perverti sed nonnunquam etiam flecti conviviis muneribus abduci a vero nisi ipsi illius sceleris fidem fecissent in Anglicani Matrimonii damnatione Who would have believed that Divines in matters of Faith and Conscience are not only perverted by Love Hatred or Envy but also sometimes bribed by Banquets or drawn from the truth by Gifts unless themselves had given evident Proof of this Vileness in condemning the Marriage of the King of England The other is Mr. Cavendish an honest plain Gentleman first a Servant of Cardinal Wolsey afterwards highly obliged by King Henry He in writing the Life of his Master the Cardinal giveth this account of the whole matter It was thought very expedient that the King should send out his Commissioners into all Universities in Christendom there to have this Case argued substantially and to bring with them from thence every Definition of their Opinions of the same under the Seal of the University And thereupon divers Commissioners were presently appointed for this Design So some were sent to Cambridge some to Oxford some to Lovain others to Paris some to Orleance others to Padua all at the proper Costs and Charge of the King which in the whole amounted to a great Summ of Money And all went out of this Realm besides the Charge of the Embassage to those famous and notable Persons of all the Universities especially such as bare the Rule or had the Custody of the University Seals were fed by the Commissioners with such great Summs of Money that they did easily condescend to their Requests and grant their Desires By reason whereof all the Commssioners returned with their Purpose furnished according to their Commissions under the Seal of every several University Pag. 107. lin 5. For then about the time of Edward I. the Popes not satisfied with their other Oppressions did by Provisions Bulls and other Arts of that See dispose of Bishopricks Abbeys and lesser Benefices to Foreigners Cardinals and others that did not live in England This is a very wide mistake For the Popes did not then dispose of Bishopricks and Abbeys to Foreigners Cardinals and others that did not live in England The Popes did not give any Bishoprick of England to any Foreigner that did not live therein till about Thirty years before the Reformation when it was not done without the Kings good liking and in Vertue of some secret compact between them As for Abbeys from the first Foundation to their Dissolution the Popes never gave any one to a Foreigner not residing For Cardinal Abbots there never was any besides Cardinal Wolsey and of him it is well known that he had his Abbey from the gift of the King and lived in England The matter therefore complained of in the Preamble of the Act of Parliament 25 Edw. I. which the Historian inserteth was this That whereas Bishops and Abbots ought to be Elected by their several Chapters and Convents and these Elections to be confirmed by the King the Popes had taken upon them to Annul the Elections of Chapters and then to substitute whomsoever themselves pleased without a new Election or to dispose of them without expecting any Election yet still none of these were granted to Cardinals or to Foreigners not residing in England And whereas the Popes had usurped the Presentation of and given to Aliens although not residing other Benefices as Deanries Prebends and Parsonages which ought of right to belong to their proper Patrons against these Encroachments a Remedy was desired and provided in this Act. Several Foreigners had a little before this time been preferred to Bishopricks such as Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury Adomarus de Lesignan Bishop of Winchester Petrus de Aqua-blanca Bishop of Hereford But these came in by the Election of their several Chapters overawed thereto by the Power and Authority of King Henry III to whose Queen they were related by near Kindred and after all resided upon their Sees unless when diverted by Employment in the business of
is by him published manifests with how little care these publick Instruments have been transcribed for thus it ends praesentibus discretis viris M. W. Lyn. Curiae Cant. officii Thoma B. Archidiacono sanctarum in Ecclesiâ Lyne Utriusque Iuris Doctoribus Now to mistake and report falsly the dates of publick Instruments is not a matter of light moment For these will necessarily betray both Writers and Readers into infinite other mistakes while they endeavour to adapt things and the circumstances of them to the supposed but mistaken time of other Actions Besides all this it diminisheth the credit of any History so that in all other matters the Reader cannot safely rely upon it when he knows the negligence of the Historian in any part of it And as for the Collection of Records which make up one half of each Volume of this History they will be of little value if once there appears just reason to suspect the care or fidelity of the Transcriber I have not had opportunity or a curiosity to examine one half of the dates of times either in the History it self or in the Collection of Records but do assure the Reader that of those which I have examined I found near as many to be false as true Pag. 112. lin 4. The Popes Usurpations still increasing those Statutes of Proviso's and Premunire lay dead among the Records and several Cardinals had procured and executed a Legantine Power which was clearly contrary to them A competent knowledge of the History of the English Church would have prevented so large a mistake No Cardinals before Wolsey had procured and executed such Legantine Power in England since those Laws were made Cardinal Beaufort of Winchester indeed had procured it but could never execute it being inhibited by King Henry VI by the advice of Archbishop Chichley and forced to renounce his pretended Power As for the Legantine Power of the Archbishop of Canterbury which was claimed and exercised by them in Quality of Legati nati that was not in the least contrary to these Laws nor ever was so accounted being annexed perpetually to the See of Canterbury ever since the Year 1200 and always belonging to them without any new or distinct Bulls Pag. 121. lin 33. The old Cardinal of Ravenna was so jealous that the Ambassadors of the King were forced to promise him the Bishoprick of Chester one of the new Bishopricks designed to be erected in the Year 1532. with which he was well satisfied If in the Promises made by the Embassadors to the Cardinal the Historian found express mention of the new Erection of the Bishoprick of Chester promised to him we must submit Otherwise it is more probable that the Bishoprick desired by him and promised to him was the old Bishoprick of Lichfield which was then commonly called the Bishoprick of Chester and which was then likely to be void very shortly by the Death of Dr. Blithe an extreme Old man who died the following Year Pag. 128. lin 34. Cranmers Bulls for the Archbishoprick of Canterbury bear date the 21st of February 1533 By a tenth Bull dated the 2d of March the Pall was sent to him when these Bulls were brought into England Thomas Cranmer was on the 13th of March consecrated We have here another Instance of the little Exactness of the Historian in the dates of time I will not take Notice that the first Bulls in the the Original bear date the 21st of February 1532. For that is indeed 1533 to those who begin their Year on the first day of Ianuary But the tenth Bull sending the Pall to Cranmer is dated the 3d of March and he was consecrated the 30th of March. Pag. 129. lin 42. The most Learned Sir Henry Spelman hath in no place of his Collections of our Counsels considered the Constitution of the two Houses of Convocation and in none of our Records have I been able to discover of what Persons they were made up in the time of Popery and therefore since we are left to conjecture I shall offer mine to the learned Reader It is that none sate in the lower House but those who were deputed by the inferior Clergy and that Bishops Abbots mitred and not mitred and Priors Deans and Archdeacons sate then in the upper House of Convocation To which I am induced by these Reasons c. Sir Henry Spelman compleated only the first Volume of his Councils which reacheth to the Conquest Therein he had no opportunity to treat of this matter For we do not inquire of the Constitution of Convocations in the Saxon times but in the time immediately preceding the Reformation As for the second Volume of Councils which reacheth from the Conquest to the Reformation the Collection of it was only begun by Sir Henry Spelman but compleated and published by others without any tollerable Care or Skill No doubt Sir Henry knew very well the Constitution of our Convocations before the Reformation and so do all inquisitive Persons of our Nation however the Historian may think a discovery herein to be necessary to the Information of the Learned Reader If he knew it not he may be excused as a Foreigner Or if in none of our Records he were able to discover it that also may be excused For neither are all our Records kept at the Rolls nor did the multiplicity of business permit the Historian to attend long to the search of them but that he should proceed to offer his Conjecture and such a Conjecture as if he had industriously sought to do it he could not have made one more Erroneous We cannot but wonder since he had sufficient means of better Information Mr. Fulman hath observed that the Conjecture here proposed by the Historian doth not agree with what he had before delivered that Pole as Dean of Exeter was a Member of the lower House of Convocation This demonstrates the Error of the Historian but doth not Correct it It may be Corrected and the truth of the whole matter fully discovered from the Subscriptions of the Convocation held in the Year 1536. published by the Historian himself in the Addenda of this first part of his History wherein all the Members of the upper House subscribe apart and then all the Members of the lower House subscribed by themselves The Instrument of their Subscription is an Original which I did many years since transcribe and may be infallibly relyed on Therein it appears that the Bishops Abbots and Priors constituted the upper House and that all Deans Archdeacons Proctors of Clergy and Chapters of Cathedral Churches sate in the lower House of Convocation The Historian himself there summeth up all the Members of the lower House who then subscribed in this manner 24 Archdeacons 4 Deans of Cathedrals three Deans of Collegiate Churches 17 Procurators for the Clergy and one Master of a College viz. Provost of a Collegiate Church Such an Error could not easily have been committed by so accurate an
not left to the pleasure of the Abbot or Religious House to whom the Church belonged But the Bishops endowed the Vicarages with what proportion of Tithes and Emoluments they thought fit in many places reserved to the Vicar one half of all manner of Tithes and the whole Fees of all Sacraments Sacramentals c. in most places reserved to them not some little part of but all the Vicarage-tithes and in other places appointed to them an annual pension of Money In succeeding times when the first Endowments appeared too slender they encreased them at their pleasure Of all which our ancient Registers and Records give abundant testimony This was the case of all Vicarages As for those impropriated Livings which have now no settled Endowment and are therefore called not Vicarages but perpetual or sometimes arbitrary Curacies they are such as belonged formerly to those Orders who could serve the oure of them in their own persons as the Canons Regular of the Order of St. Austin which being afterwards devolved into the hands of Laymen they hired poor Curates to serve them at the cheapest rate they could and still continue to doe so Pag. 25. lin 28. Ridley elect of Rochester designed for that See by King Henry but not consecrated till September this Year 1547. If King Henry designed Ridley to be Bishop of Rochester he could not do it by any actual Nomination but only by Prophetical foresight of Longland's Death and Holbeach's Translation For the King died 1547 Ianuary 28th Longland of Lincoln died 1547. May 7th Holbeach of Rochester was elected to Lincoln 9th August So that until August there was no room for Ridley at Rochester Pag. 30. lin 17. The Form of bidding Prayer was used in the times of Popery as will appear by the Form of bidding the Beads in King Henry the 7th's time which will be found in the Collection The Form published by the Historian out of the Festival Printed Anno 1509. seemeth by the length of it and comparing it with another undoubtedly true Form to have been rather a Paraphrase or Exposition of the Form of bidding Beads I have therefore presented to the Reader a much shorter and ancienter Form taken out of an old written Copy Pag. 32. lin 13. Tonstall searching the Registers of his See found many Writings of great consequence to clear the Subjection of the Crown of Scotland to England The most remarkable of these was the Homage King William of Scotland made to Henry the Second by which he granted that all the Nobles of his Realm should be his Subjects and do Homage to him and that all the Bishops of Scotland should be under the Archbishop of York It was said that the Monks in those days who generally kept the Records were so accustomed to the forging of Stories and Writings that little Credit was to be given to such Records as lay in their keeping But having so faithfully acknowledged what was alledged against the Freedom of Scotland I may be allowed to set down a Proof on the other side for my Native Countrey copied from the Original Writing yet extant under the Hands and Seals of many of the Nobility and Gentry of that Kingdom It is a Letter to the Pope c. The ancient and allowed Laws of History exclude Partiality yet this Historian's great Concern for the Honour of his Countrey cannot well be called by any other name which hath induced him to publish and Instrument of the Nobility and Gentry of Scotland not at all relating to the History of our English Reformation If he thinketh that this Liberty ought to be allowed to him in recompence of the great Obligation he hath laid upon the English Nation for having so faithfully acknowledged what was alledged against the Freedom of Scotland we pretend that all Persons conversant in the History of our Nation did before this very well know all these Allegations and ten times as many of no less weight and that either he did not perfectly understand the Controversie or hath not so faithfully represented the Arguments of our side For King William did not herein make any new Grant to King Henry but only confirmed and acknowledged the ancient Dependence and Subjection of Scotland to England nor did he then first subject the Bishops of Scotland to the Archbishop of York but engaged that hereafter they should be subject to him as of right they ought to be and had wont to be in the time of the former Kings of England The Bishops of Scotland had been all along subject to the Archbishops of York but having about Eleven years before this obtained an Exemption of this Jurisdiction by a Bull of Pope Alexander the King of Scotland now undertook that they should not claim the benefit of that Exemption but be subject to the Church of England as formerly and the Bishops of Scotland also then present concurred with the King and promised for themselves although within a short time after they broke their Faith and procured a new and fuller Exemption from the Pope which Dempster placeth in the Year 1178. The Charter of King William before mentioned was made in 1175. But after all the Bishoprick of Galloway continued to be subject unto the Archbishop of York until towards the end of the Fifteenth Century when it was by the Pope taken from York and subjected to Glasgow then newly erected into an Archbishoprick Now whereas the Historian would invalidate the Authority of this Charter insinuating that it may justly be suspected to have been forged by the Monks because taken out of their Records and coming out of their Custody he may please to know that this very Charter may be found entire in the Printed History of Roger de Hoveden who was no Monk but a a Secular Clergy-man a Domestick of this King Henry attending him in all his Expeditions As for the pretence of the Nobility and Gentry of Scotland in their Letter written to the Pope Anno 1320. and published by the Historian it is not to be wondered if their minds being elated with unusual Success against our unfortunate King Edward II. they enlarged their Pretences and affected an independency from the Crown of England which their Forefathers never pretended to nor had themselves at any other time dared to arrogate All the principal Nobility and Gentry of Scotland had in the Year 1291. made as ample and authentick an Instrument of the Subjection of the Crown of Scotland to England as could be conceived before Edward had either Conquered or invaded their Countrey which Instrument Tonstall taketh notice of in his Memorial and this was indeed the most remarkable of all the Testimonies produced by Tonstall at least accounted by King Edward to be of so great moment that he sent a Copy of it under the Great Seal to every noted Abbey and Collegiate Church in England that it might be safely preserved and inserted into their several Annals It may be seen at length in the Printed History
Thomae Cranmer ultimi Archiepiscopi ejusdem de altâ proditione attincti adjudicati vacante notoriae dinoscitur pertinere Thus in particular beginneth the first Instrument of the Register Dated 1553. December 16. Long before his Degradation also the Pope had solemnly Excommunicated and Deposed Cranmer for Heresie for it did not concern him to take notice of the Pretence of High-Treason In the Bull of Provision to Cardinal Pole to the Archbishoprick of Canterbury dated 1555. December 11. Pope Paul saith that he had by a solemn Sentence Excommunicated and Deposed from the See of Canterbury filium iniquitates Thomam Cranmer olim Archiepiscopum Cantuar. ob notorias haereses This Bull sufficiently disproveth the Historians relation But that which is chiefly to be regarded herein is the Register of the Vacancy before mentioned which puts it beyond all doubt that the See of Canterbury became void immediately upon the Attainture of Cranmer and was at least in England so accounted Pag. 267. lin 25. The last thing I find done this Year 1553. was the restoring Veysey to be Bishop of Exeter which was done on the 28th of December In his Warrant for it under the Great Seal it is said that he for some just troubles both in Body and Mind had resigned his Bishoprick to King Edward to which the Queen now restored him The Register of Canterbury before-mentioned recordeth that Veysey was restored to his Bishoprick because he had been induced by fear to resign it in the time of King Edward The Author of Athenae Oxon. saith that he was forced to resign pro corporis metu 1551. August 14. and was restored by the Queens Patent bearing date 1553 September 28. Pag. 275. lin 1. Thus were seven Bishops all at a Dash turned out in the Year 1554. It was much censured that there having been Laws made allowing Marriage to the Clergy the Queen should by her own Authority upon the repealing those Laws turn out Bishops for things that had been so well warranted by Law And even the severest Popes who had pressed the Celibate most had always before they proceeded to deprive any Priests for Marriage left it to their Choice whether they would quit their Wives or their Benefices In the Commissions given by the Queen for the Deprivation of these Bishops and related by the Historian it is ordered to proceed against Four of them only for Marriage viz. York St. Davids Chester and Bristol but against the other Three viz. Lincoln Glocester and Hereford for other pretended misdemeanors Now in aggravating the Queens injustice in depriving them Summarily for their Marriage the Historian plainly mistaketh the Case For they were not ordered to be deprived simply for their Marriage but for having broken their Vows of perpetual Celibate and having married after a solemn Profession of Chastity This the Historian might have observed from the very Commission for the Deprivation of the Four first published by himself the words whereof are these Quia comperimus Robertum Archiepiscopum Ebor. Robertum Menev. Iohannem Cester Paulum Brostol post expressam professione in castitatis expressè ritè legitimè emissam cum quibusdam mulieribus nuptias de facto cum de jure non deberent contraxisse The Secular Clergy of England had never indeed made any Profession of Chastity at their Ordination But that all the Regulars did is notorious And however the severest Popes had before they proceeded to deprive any Secular Priests for Marriage left it to their Choice whether they would quit their Wives or their Benefices yet no such favour was ever allowed to the Regular Priests who had contracted Marriage but their Marriage was accounted an heinous Crime by reason of the Violation of their Vow included in it It may be therefore observed that the Queen giving Commissions at the same time for the Deprivation of the Four first and of the Three last Bishops ordereth the former to be deprived for their Marriage the later for their pretended misdemeanors having taken Grants of their Bishopricks from King Edward the Sixth with this Clause quamdiu bene se gesserint although two of the Three later Bishops were married and all the Four former Bishops had taken Patents from King Edward with the like Clause The reason of this diversity of proceeding was because the first Four were Regulars and the other Three were Seculars That the later were Seculars is well known and of the others Holgate of York had been Provincial of the Order of St. Gilbert of Sempringham Ferrar of St. Davids had been a Canon Regular of the Order of St. Augustin Bush of Bristol had been Provincial of the Order of Bon-hommes Bird of Chester had been Provincial of the Carmelites Of the three Secular Bishops viz. Lincoln Glocester and Hereford the two later were indeed married but of that the Queen taketh no notice in her Commission for their Deprivation although their Ecclesiastical Judges in depriving them thought fit to alledge their Marriage as one Cause of their Deprivation not in Vertue of the Queens Commission but of the Canon-Law which upon repeal of the Statutes for the Marriage of the Clergy recovered its former force in this Case Pag. 275. lin 24. For the Archbishop of York though he was now in March 1554. turned out yet he was still kept Prisoner till King Phillip procured his Liberty But his See was not filled till February next for then Heath had his Conge d'elire The Historian dateth the Queens Commission by Authority of which he supposeth Holgate to have been deprived on the 16th of March 1554. But the See of York was void before this For the Dean and Chapter of York assumed to themselves the Archiepiscopal Jurisdiction void by his Deprivation on the 8th of March 1554. He was discharged out of the Tower 1555. Ianuary 18. His See was not filled till Iune or Iuly of the Year 1555. For however the Conge d'elire might issue out in February Heath had not Possession of the Archbishoprick untill his Election was confirmed at Rome and his Bulls were published in England which Bulls were not dispatched till the 21st of Iune 1555. Pag. 275. lin 28. On or before the 18th of March this Year 1554 were those other Sees St. Davids Chester Bristol Lincoln Glocester Hereford declared Vacant The Register of Canterbury in which all these Deprivations are recorded testifieth that on the 20th of March 1554. the Bishops of Winchester London Chichester and Durham by Vertue of the Queens Commission directed to them pronounced the Sentence of Deprivation upon Iohn Taylor Bishop of Lincoln Ob nullitatem consecrationis ejus defectum tituli sui quem habuit à Rege Edwardo Sexto per literas patentes cum hâc clausulâ dum bene se gesserit upon Iohn Hooper Bishop of Worcester and Glocester Propter conjugium alia mala merita vitiosum titulum ut supra upon Iohn Harlowe Bishop of Hereford Propter conjugium Hoeresin