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
they would have added that he had a Nose on his Face Pag. 22. lin 10. The Monks being thus setled in most Cathedrals of England So also p. 187. lin 20. King Edgar converted most of the Chapters into Monasteries This surely was wrote at adventure Mr. Fulman had before observed that the Monks were not setled in half the Cathedrals of England To which I may add that they were then setled in no more than two Cathedrals viz. Winchester and Worcester Nor were any more Chapters converted into Monasteries in the time of King Edgar The married Clergy were then indeed ejected out of Ely and Monks planted in their Room But that Church was not a Cathedral until near 140 years after Afterwards indeed about the end of the eleventh Age Monks were setled in some other Cathedrals or Episcopal Sees fixed in Monasteries to omit one Cathedral viz. that of Canterbury in which Monks were introduced in the beginning of the same Age. But after all far from being setled in most Cathedrals they were setled in no more than Nine viz. Canterbury Winchester Duresm Worcester Rochester Ely Norwich Bath and Coventry The Church of Carlisle indeed was possessed by Regulars but those were Canons not Monks Pag. 22. lin 10 15. The Monks being thus setled gave themselves up to idleness and pleasure having in their hands the chief Encouragments of Learning and yet doing nothing towards it but on the contrary decrying and disparaging it all they could This is a very hard Censure to pass upon a whole Order of men who were once very honourable but always serviceable in the Church On the contrary after they were thus setled viz. by Dunstan Ethelwald and Oswald in the Reign of Edgar they set themselves in with great Industry to restore Learning and root out that universal Ignorance which had then prevailed in England and effectually performed it Insomuch as whereas before that time scarce any Secular Priest in England could read or write a Latin Epistle within few years as Elfric a learned Disciple of Ethelwald boasteth the face of things was so changed by the endeavours of Dunstan and his Master Ethelwald that Learning was generally restored and began to flourish At that time and long after the Monasteries were the Schools and Nurseries of almost the whole Clergy as well Secular as Regular For the Universities if there were any were then very mean Societies and the whole Learning of the Nation was then in a manner confined to their Cloysters As the Universities increased they gradually decreased yet still retained and cultivated Learning till about the middle of the 13 th Age when the Mendicant Orders arose who by their Hypocrisie jugling Tricks and extraordinary Industry ran down both them and the Secular Clergy Within two hundred years the Mendicants became contemptible and then both the Monks and the Seculars began to recover their ancient Credit and long before the Reformation had made great progress in the Restauration of Learning They had all along brought up their Novices in Learning every Great Monastery having for that purpose a peculiar Colledge in one of the Universities and even to the time of their Dissolution they continued to bring up great numbers of Children at School at their own Charge for the Service of the Church and immediately before the Reformation many of the great Monasteries were so many Nurseries of Learning and the Superiors of them very Learned themselves and Promoters of Learning in others Such were Kidderminster Abbot of Winchelcomb Goldwell Prior of Canterbury Voche Abbot of St. Austins Wells Prior of Ely Holbeach Prior of Worcester Islip Abbot of Westminster Webbe Prior of Coventry and many others I do not hereby Apologize for the Laziness of the Monks in the middle Ages but maintain that both in the time of Edgar and some time after and immediately before the Reformation they deserved a contrary Character to what the Historian giveth of them and that even in the worst times they were far from being Enemies and Opposers of Learning as he would have it believed Pag. 22. lin 31. To suppress some Monasteries was thought as justifyable as it had been many Ages before to change Secular Prebends into Canons Regular This is not so accurately expressed the conversion of Secular Prebendaries into Canons Regular the Historian supposeth to have been made often and in many Churches But it was never done save in one Cathedral Church of England that of Carlisle Secular Prebendaries had in several Churches been changed into Monks But Monks are a distinct Order from Canons Regular Pag. 23. lin 12. Wickliffe was supported by the Duke of Lancaster the Bishops could not proceed against him till the Duke of Lancaster was put from the King and then he was condemned at Oxford It might have become Varillas very well to have wrote this of Wickliffe but such a mistake is unworthy of an accurate and Reformed Historian who ought especially to take care of doing justice to the Memory of that Great man Far from being condemned at Oxford during his own Life or the Life of the Duke of Lancaster his Person was had in great Esteem and Veneration at that University to the last and his Writings for many years before and after his Death were as much read and studied there as of Aristotle or the Master of the Sentences Nay so much concerned was that University for his Reputation that near twenty years after his Death hearing that false Reports had been spread abroad in foreign Parts as if Wickliffe had been convicted of Heresie in England and his Body thereupon disinterred and burnt the Chancellor and Senate of the University published a Manifesto wherein they gave to him a great Character of Learning and Piety called him a valiant Champion of the Faith and declared that he had never been convicted of Heresie nor his Body disinterred Absit enim quod tantae probitatis virum c. Indeed four years after this the Authority of the Pope and King concurring with the restless Endeavours of Archbishop Arundel several of his Writings were condemned and burnt at Oxford and eighteen years after this his Body was taken up and burned Pag. 23. lin 13. Many Opinions are charged upon Wickliffe but whether he held them or not we know not but by the Testimony of his Adversaries It seemes the Historian knew not any certain means of gaining Information of Wickliff's true Opinions but when he would include all others in the same Ignorance of them we must desire to be excused We have as many of the Works of Wickliffe yet extant as if Printed together would make four or five Volumes in Folio And whether so many Books be not sufficient to teach us his Opinions let the Reader judge Pag. 23. lin 16. Wickliffe translated the Bible out of Latin into English with a long Preface before it in which he reflected severely on the Corruptions of the Clergy condemned the worshipping of Saints and
directed to the Bishop of Lichfield in whose Diocess it was Seated which Bishop until the Division of his Diocess and Erection of a new Bishoprick at Chester was in writing and in common Speech as often called the Bishop of Chester as of Lichfield as is well known to those who are acquainted with the State of the English Church before and at the Reformation Pag. 267. lin 1. The Popish party used all the Arts possible to insinuate themselves into the King And therefore to shew how far their Compliance would go Bonner Bishop of London took a strange Commission from the King on the 12th of November this Year 1539. Whether the other Bishops took such Commissions from the King I know not But I am certain there is none such in Cranmers Register and it is not likely if any such had been taken out by him that ever it would have been razed After he had taken this Commission Bonner might well have been called one of the Kings Bishops When the Historian wrote this surely he little thought that he should publish in the Second part of his History a like Commission taken from King Edward VI. by Cranmer For whosoever compareth the two Commissions will find that they are not only alike but the very same mutatis mutandis only with this difference as the Historian himself forgetting what he had here wrote is forced to own that there is no mention made of a Vicar General in the Commission of Edward VI. to Cramner as was in that of Henry VIII to Bonner there being none after Cromwell advanced to that Dignity Now it is very injurious to the Memory of Cranmer first to represent this Action of Bonner as a vile unworthy Compliance and then afterwards to say that Cranmer did the same thing For what difference is there between taking such a Commission from King Henry and taking the like from King Edward unless it be that it seemeth somewhat more colourable to take it from a Man than from a Child Nor can any excuse be raised from the necessity imposed by the Act of Parliament made 1547 December 20th of which an Account is given afterwards For Cranmer had taken out his Commission on the 7th of Frebruary preceding But neither is it true that Cranmer did not take such a Commission from King Henry VIII For the Order of Council related by the Historian to have been made in the beginning of the Reign of King Edward VI. plainly implyeth the contrary requiring the Bishops to take out new Commissions of the same Form with those they had taken out in King Henry's time in obedience to which Order Cranmer took out his Commission before mentioned If no such Commission taken by Cranmer from King Henry be now found in his Register it doth not thence follow that none was taken by him For his Register is imperfect in many places Indeed he took out such a Commission from King Henry long before Bonner For in the Collections of Dr. Yale who could not but know the Truth herein having been in the time of Cranmer an eminent Advocate in Doctors Commons and afterwards principal Registrary and Vicar-General to Archbishop Parker I find a Transcript of this Commission agreeing exactly with that of Bonner published by the Historian mutatis mutandis and this note subjoyned Tales licentias acceperunt Thomas Archiepiscopus Cantuarmense Octobri 1535. Edwardus Archiep. Eborac Iohannes Episcopus Lincoln 13. Octobr. 1535. Iohannes Episcopus London 19. Octobr. 1535. Stephanus Episcopus Winton eodem Anno Cuthbertas Episcopus Dunelm 10 Novemb. 1535. c. Pag. 268. lin 9. I will not presume to determin so great a Point of Law whether the Abbots sate in the House of Lords as being a part of the Ecclesiastical State or holding their Lands of the King by Baronages It is the known and avowed Constitution of our Nation that the Convocation of the Clergy doth constitute the first Estate therein This being premised it is manifest that Bishops and consequently Abbots also sate in Convocation as a part of the Ecclesiastical State and must therefore sit in the House of Lords under some other Quality which can be no other than that of their Baronage Pag. 268. lin 21. Generally Coventry and Burton viz. the Priory of Coventry and Abbey of Burton were held by the same man as one Bishop held both Coventry and Lichfield though two different Bishopricks I will not take notice of the Historians oversight in making Coventry and Lichfield two different Bishopricks for that Mr. Fulman had before observed but of his Error in affirming Coventry and Burton to have been generally held by the same man He might with as much truth have said that the Archbishopricks of Canterbury and York were generally held by the same man What gave occasion to this enormous mistake I cannot conceive Burton and Coventry were no more related than any other two Abbeys neither was one a Cell of the other nor had the one any Dependance upon the other At the end of the Annals of Burton Printed some time since at Oxford may be found an exact List of the Abbots of that House from the first Foundation to the Dissolution of it In Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire may be seen a like Catalogue of the Priors of Coventry If these two be compared it will be found that from beginning to end they are made up of different Persons not so much as any one name of the one Catalogue occurring in the other Pag 300. lin 25. Two years after this viz. after September 1541 the Abbey of Osney in Oxford was converted into a Bishoprick a Deanry and six Prebends And the Monastery of St. Austins in Bristol was changed into the same use The Cathedral Church of Osney was founded by the King's Charter dated 1542. September 1. And Paul Bush Bishop of Bristol was consecrated 1542. Iune 25th So that the Historian is mistaken when he referreth the Foundation of both these Bishopricks to the end of the Year 1543. Pag. 300. lin 49. Then the Priories at most Cathedrals such as Canterbury Winchester Duresm Worcester Carlisle Rochester and Ely were also converted into Deanries and Colleges of Prebends If by most Cathedrals are to be understood most of the Cathedrals of England that is not true For if to those he had added Norwich he had named all But if by that Term are to be understood most of those old Cathedrals which were founded anew at this time then it is trifling For in all the old Cathedrals which were then founded anew the Priories were thus changed Pag. 301. lin 43. 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 Nicholas indeed officiously intruded himself into that matter by sending afterwards a Confirmation of what was done The Erection of a new Bishoprick at Ely was
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
it into his Collection for the Curiosity of the thing as himself saith It was also published by Mr. Prynn in his Tryal of Archbishop Laud. I will further add that it is more correct in Utenhovius than in the Transcript which is the Case of all th◠Instruments and Memorials published by him which I have had occasion to compare either with the Originals or with other Copies Pag. 251. lin 2. Cox was without any good colour turned out both of his Deanry of Christ-Church and his Prebendary at Westminster He was put into the Marshalsea but on the 19th of August 1553. was discharged Cox had no Prebendary the Historian would have said Prebend at Westminster but besides his Deanry of Christ-Church Oxford was Dean of Westminster and Prebendary of Windsor of all which he was deprived about this time The cause of his Deprivation was probably supposed to have been that he had acted in favour of Queen Iane. For being a considerable Person in King Edward's Court at the time of his Death and having been much employed even in State Affairs he could not well avoid to be concerned in that matter if he were then present at Court He was married indeed at this time But I do not think that was alledged as a Cause of his Deprivation For they did not yet proceed to deprive the married Clergy until some Months after this Pag. 252. lin 28. On the Fourth of October 1553. Holgate Archbishop of York was put in the Tower no cause being given but heinous Offences only named in General I fear that Holgate by his imprudent Carriage if not by worse Actions had brought a Scandal on the Reformation Most if not all the Persons highly instrumental in the Reformation were eminent for Vertue but the probity of Holgate may justly be suspected For in the Council-Book of King Edward I find this Order made on the 23d of November 1551. A Letter to the Archbishop of York to stay his coming up hither till the Parliament Also a Letter to Sir Tho. Gargrave and Mr. Chaloner and Dr. Rouksby to search and examine the very truth of the matter between the Archbishop of York and one Norman who claimeth the said Archbishop's Wife to be his Wife to which end the Supplication of the said Norman is sent to them enclosed It is to be lamented indeed that such occasions of Scandal were given by any eminent Persons of our Church although to say the truth Holgate acted very little in the Reformation but when they are given they ought not to be dissembled by an Historian out of favour or affection to any Party To represent only the laudable Actions of men is to write an Elogy or Apology or Panegyrick or whatever other Name it may assume the name of History it ought not to claim And after all such Scandals if indeed this were justly so are no more prejudicial to the Honour of the Church of England at and since the Reformation than the scandalous Impurities of Walter Bishop of Hereford Stanly Bishop of Ely and many others were to the Honour of the same Church before the Reformation I know whither the learned Author of the Defence of Priest-Marriages published by Archbishop Parker intends the Case of Holgate when he saith I mean not to justifie the universal sort of the married Bishops and Priests in all their light and dissolute Behaviour whatsoever it hath been in any of them from the highest to the lowest I think that I may speak it of the Conscience of some married Bishops and Priests in England that they do as much lament the light Behaviour shewed and escaped by some of them in the Libertee that was granted them of Law and Parliament as they that be most angry and out of patience with them and beside forth bewail the dissolute Behaviour of a great meany of their best beloved and wish as hartely all Offendicles and Slaunders rooted out both sortes of the Clergie It should seem that in the Imprisonment of Holgate this was alledged as one of those hainous Offences which were the pretended cause of it For in the Instrument of his Deprivation it is said that he was for his Marriage committed to the Tower and deprived Pag. 257. lin 16. On the 3d. of November 1553. Archbishop Cranmer with others were brought to their Tryal He was Arraigned and Condemned of Treason at Guild-Hall London on the 13th of November according to Stow and Grafton Pag. 257. lin 28. And now after his Attainture Cranmer was legally devested of his Archbishoprick which was hereupon void in Law But it being now designed to restore the Ecclesiastical Exemption and Dignity to what it had been anciently it was resolved that he should still be esteemed Archbishop till he were solemnly degraded according to the Canon Law which was done in the middle of February 1556. So that all that followed upon this against Cranmer was a Sequestration of all the Fruits of his Archbishoprick himself was still kept in Prison This if true would be a matter of great moment and make a considerable change in the History of our Church But really it is a meer Fiction For immediately after his Attainture the See of Canterbury was declared void and the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury thereupon assumed the Administration of the Spiritual Jurisdiction of the Archbishoprick as in other Cases of Vacancy The Attainture was compleated in the middle of November 1553. and on the 16th of December following the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury gave out Commissions to several Persons for the Exercise of the Archiepiscopal Jurisdiction in their Names and by their Authorities The Chapter continued in Possession of this Jurisdiction till the Publication of Cardinal Poles Bulls of Provision to the Archbishoprick viz. till the beginning of the Year 1556. and during that time gave Commissions to the several Officers and Judges of the Courts of the Archbishoprick had the spiritual Jurisdiction of all vacant Bishopricks gave Institution to all Benefices in them and in the Diocess of Cunterbury gave Commissions for the Consecration of Bishops c. of all which Acts done a peculiar Register was made Entituled Vacatio sedis Metropoliticae Christi Cantuar. post depositionem Thomae Cranmer nuper Archiepiscopi Cantuar. primo de crimine laesae Majestatis Authoritate Parliamenti convicti deinde ob varias haereses Authoritate sedis Apostolicae depositi degradati Seculari brachio traditi post remò in alma Universitate Oxoniensi igne consumpti sub anni Domini 1553 1554 1555. regnorum vero Philippi Mariae Regum c. During this time all Acts and Instruments begin with these words Nocholaus Wotton utriusque juris Doctor Decanus Ecclesiae Cathedralis Metropolitices Christi Cantuar. ejusdem Ecclesiae Capitulum ad quem quos omnis omnino da Iurisdictio Spiritualis Ecclesiastica quae ad Archiepiscopum Canturiensem sede plenâ pertinuit ipsa sede jam per Attincturam