some artifices used to illude that purpose had not changed her mind She had scarce liv'd to the third year of her age when she was promised in marriage to the Daulphine of France with a Portion of 333000 Crowns to be paid by her Father and as great a Joynture to be made by the French King Francis as ever had been made by any King of that Country And so far did the businesse seem to be acted in earnest that it was publickly agreed upon in the treaty for the Town of Tournay that the Espousals should be made within four months by the said two Kings in the name of their children in pursuance whereof as the French King sent many rich gifts to some leading men of the Court of England to gain their good liking to this League so he sent many costly Presents to the Princesse Mary the designed wife if Princes could be bound by such designations of the heir of France But war beginning to break out between the French and the Spaniards it was thought fit by Charles the fifth being then Emperour of Germany and King of Spain to court the favour of the English for the obtaining whereof his neernesse to Queen Katherine being sister to the Queen his Mother gave him no small hopes Upon this ground he makes a voyage into England is royally feasted by the King installed solemnly Knight of the Order of the Garter in the Castle of Windsor and there capitulates with the King amongst other things to take to wife his daughter Mary as soon as she should come to the years of marriage it was also then and there agreed that as soon as she was twelve years old the Emperour should send a proxie to make good the contract espouse her per verba de praesenti in the usual form that in the mean time the King of England should not give her in marriage unto any other that a dispensation should be procured from the Pope at the charge of both Princes in regard that the parties were within the second degree of consanguinity that within four months after the contract the Princesse should be sent to the Emperour's Court whether it were in Spain or Flanders at the sole charge of the King of England and married within four dayes after her comming thither in the face of the Church her portion limited to 400000 crowns if the King should have no issue male but to be inlarged to 600000 crowns more if the King should have any such issue male to succeed in the Kingdom A jointure of 50000 crowns per annum to be made by the Emperour the one part thereof to be laid in Flanders and the other in Spain and finally that if either of the said two Princes should break off this marriage he should forfeit 400000 crowns to the party injured And now who could have thought but that the Princesse Mary must have been this Emperour's wife or the wife rather of any Prince then one that was to be begotten by this Emperour on another woman though in conclusion so it hapned As long as Charles had any need of the assistance and friendship of England so long he seemed to go on really in the promised marriage and by all means must have the Princesse sent over presently to be declared Empresse and made Regent of Flanders But when he had taken the French King at the battel of Pavia sackt Rome and made the Pope his prisoner he then conceived himselfe in a condition of seeking for a wife elsewhere which might be presently ripe for marriage without such a tedious expectation as his tarrying for the Princesse Mary must needs have brought him And thereupon he shuts up a marriage with the Lady Issabell Infanta of Pâ—lugull and daughter to another of his Mother's â—isters For which being questioned by the King he layes the blame upon the importunity of his Council who could not patiently permit him to remain unmarried till the Princesse Mary came to age and who besides had caused a scruple to be started touching her illegitimation as being born by one that had been wife to his elder brother King Henry thereupon proceeds to a new treaty with the French to whom his friendship at the time of their King's captivity had been very useful which is by them as cheerfully excepted as by him it had been franckly offered She had before been promised to the Daulphin of Francâ— but now she is design'd for the second son then Duke of Orleance who afterwards by the death of his elder brother succeeded his father in the Crown But whilst they were upon this treaty the former question touching her legitimation was again revived by the Bishop of Tarbâ—e one of the Commissioners for the French which though it seem'd not strong enough to dissolve the treaty which the French were willing to conclude as their affairs then stood upon any conditions yet it occasioned many troubles in the Court of Engâ—and and almost all Christendome besides For now the doubt being started a second time and started now by such who could not well subsist without his friendship began to make a deep impression in the mind of the King and to call baâ—k such passages to his remembrance as otherwise would have been forgotten He now bethinks himselfe of the Protestation which he had made in the presence of Bishop Fox before remembred never to take the Lady Katherine for his wife looks on the death of his two sons as a punishment on him for proceeding in the marriage and casts a fear of many inconveniences or mischiefs rather which must inevitably befall this Kingdome if he should dye and leave no lawful issue to enjoy the Crown Hope of more children there was none and little pleasure to be taken in a conversation which the disproportion of their years and a greater inequality in their dispositions must render lesse agreeable every day then other In this perplexity of mind he consults his Confessor by whom he was advised to make known his griefs to Cardinal Wolsie on whose judgement he relied in most other matters which hapned so directly to the Cardinal's mind as if he had contrived the project The Emperour had lately cross'd him in his suit for the Popedome and since denied him the Archbish prick of Tâ—ledo with the promise whereof he had before bound him to his side And now the Cardinal resolves to take the opportunity of the King's distractions for perfecting his revenge against him In order whereunto as he had drawn the King to make peace with France and to conclude a marriage for his daughter with the Duke of Orleance so now he hopes to separate him from the bed of Katherine the Emperour's Aunt and marry him to Madam Rhinee the French Queens sister who afterwards was wife to the Duke of Ferrara About which time the picture of Madam Margaret the sister of King Francis first married to the Duke of Alanzon was brought amongst others into
said Church to have been deceived in that what he before had taught them and to be sorry for delivering such Doctrine to them But these men might pretend some Warrant from the King's Injunctions which they might conceive it neither fit nor safe to oppose and therefore that it was the wisest way to strike Sail betimes upon the shooting of the first Warning-Piece to bring them in But no man was so much before hand with Authority as one Doctour Glasier who as soon as the Fast of Lent was over and it was well he had the Patâ—ence to stay so long affirmed publickly in a Sermon at Saint Paul's Cross That The Lent was not ordained of God to be Fasted neither the Eating of Flesh to be forborn but that the same was a Politick Ordinance of men and might therefore be broken by men at their pleasures For which Doctrine as the Preacher was never questioned the Temper of the Times giving Incouragement enough to such Extravagancies so did it open such a Gap to Carnal Liberty that the King found it necessary to shut it up again by a Proclamation on the sixteenth of January commanding Abstinence from all Flesh for the Lent then following But there was something more then the Authority of a Minour King which drew on such a General Conformity to these Injunctions and thereby smoothed the way to those Alterations both in Doctrine and Worship which the Grandees of the Court and Church had began to fashion The Lord Protectour and his Party were more experienced in Affairs of State then to be told That All great Counsels tending to Innovation in the Publick Government especially where Religion is concerned therein are either to be back'd by Arms or otherwise prove destructive to the Undertakers For this cause he resolves to put himself into the Head of an Army as well for the security of His Person and the Preservation of his Party as for the carrying on of the Design against all Opponents And for the Raising of an Army there could not be a fairer Colour nor a more popular Pretence then a War in Scotland not to be made on any new emergent Quarrel which might be apt to breed suspicion in the Heads of the People but in Pursuit of the great Project of the King deceased for Uniting that Realm by the Marriage of their young Queen to His onely Son to the Crown of England On this pretense Levies are made in all parts of the Kingdom great store of Arms and Ammunition drawn together to advance the service considerable Numbers of Old Souldiers brought over from Bulloign and the Peeces which depended on it and good Provision made of Shipping to attend the Motions of the Army upon all occasions He entertained also certain Regiments of Walloons and Germanes not out of any great Opinion which he had of their Valour though otherwise of good Experience in the Wars but because they were conceived more likely to enforce Obedience if his Designs should meet with any Opposition then the Natural English But in the first place Care was taken that none of the neighbouring Princes should either hinder his Proceedings or assist the Enemy To which end Doctour Wotton the first Dean of Canterbury then Resident with the Queen Dowager of Hungary who at that time was Regent of the Estates of Flanders for Charls the Fifth was dispatched unto the Emperour's Court there to succeed in the place of Doctour Bonner Bishop of London who together with Sir Francis Bryan had formerly been â—ent Embassadours thâ—ther from King Henry the Eighth The Principal part of his Employment besides such matters as are incident to all Ambassadours was to divert the Emperour from concluding any League with France contrary to the Capitulations made between the Emperour and the King deceased but to deal with him above all things for declaring himself an Enemy to all of the Scotish Nation but such as should be Friends to the King of England And because some Remainders of Hostility did still remain between the English and the French notwithstanding the late peace made between the Crowns it was thought fit to sweeten and oblige that People by all the acts of Correspondence and friendly Neighbourhood In Order whereunto it was commanded by the King's Proclamation That Restitution should be made of such Ships and Goods which had been taken from the French since the Death of King Henry Which being done also by the French though far short in the value of such Reprisals as had been taken by the English there was good hope of coming to a better understanding of one another and that by this Cessation of Arms both Kings might come in short time to a further Agreement But that which seemed to give most satisfaction to the Court of France was the performance of a solemn Obsequie for King Francis the First who left this Life on the twenty second day of March and was Magnificently Interred amongst His Predecessours in the Monastery of Saint Dennis not far from Paris Whose Funerals were no sooner Solemnized in France but Order was given for a Dirige to be sung in all the Churches in London on the nineteenth of June as also in the Cathedral Church of Saint Paul in the Quire whereof being hung with black a sumptuous Herse had been set up for the present Ceremony For the next day the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury assisted with Eight other of the Bishops all in their Rich Mitres and other their Pontificals did sing a Mass of Requiem the Funeral Sermon being preached by Doctour Ridley Lord Elect of Rochester who if he did his part therein as no doubt he did could not but magnifie the Prince for His Love to Learning Which was so great and eminent in Him that He was called by the French L' pere des Arts des Sciences and The Father of the Muses by some Writers of other Nations Which Attributes as He well deserved so did He Sympathize in that Affection as he did in many other things with King Henry the Eighth of whose Munificence for the Encouragements of Learning we have spoke before This great Solemnity being thus Honourably performed the Commissioners for the Visitation were dispatched to their several Circuits and the Army drawn from all parts to their Rendez-vous for the War with Scotland Of which two Actions that of the Visitation as the easiest and meeting with a People which had been long trained up in the Schole of Obedience was carried on without any shew of Opposition submitted to upon a very small Dispute even by some of those Bishops who were conceived most likely to have disturbed the business The first who declared his aversness to the King's Proceedings was Dr. Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester who stomaching his being left out of the Lift of the Council appeared more cross to all their doings then other of his Order For which being brought before their Lordships and not giving them such satisfaction as they looked for from
Ricot in reference perhaps to his fatheâ—s suffering in the cause of her mother from whom descended Francis Lord Norris advanced by King James to the Honors of Viscount Tame and Earl of Berkshire by Letters Patens bearing date in January Anno 1620. After him on the 7th of April comes Sir Edward North created Baron of Charâ—eleg in the Country of Cambridge who having been Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations in the time of King Henry and raised himself a fair Estate by the fall of Abbyes was by the King made one of his Executors and nominated to be one of the great Councill of Estate in his Son's Minority Sir John Bâ—ugis brings up the rear who being descended from Sir John Chandois a right noble Banneret and from the Bottelers Lords of Sudley was made Lord Chandois of Sudley on the 8th of April whiâ—h goodly Mannor he had lately purchased of the Crown to which it was Escheated on the death of Sir Thomas Seymour Anno. 1549. the Title still enjoyed though but little else by the seventh Lord of this Name and Family most of the Lands being dismembred from the House by the unparallel'd Impudence to give it no worse name of his elder brother Some Bishops I find consecrated about this time also to make the stronger party for the Queen in the House of Peers no more Sees actually voided at that time to make Rome for others though many in a fair way to it of which more hereafter Hooper of Glocester commanded to attend the Lords of the Council on the 22 of August and committed prisoner not long after was outed of his Bishoprick immediately on the ending of the Parliament in which all Consecrations were declared to be void and null which had been made according to the Ordinall of King Edward the 6 th Into whose place succeeded James Brooks Doctor in Divinity sometimes Fellow of Corpus Christi and Master of Bâ—liol Colledge in Oxon employed not long after as a Delegat from the Pope of Rome in the proceedings against the Archbishop of Canterbury whom he condemned to the stake To Jaylor of whose death we have spoken before succeeded Doctor John White in the See of Lincoln first School-master and after Warden of the Colledge near Winchester to the Episcopall See whereof we shall find him translated Anno 1556. The Church of Rochester had been void ever since the removall of Doctor Story to the See of Chichester not suffered to return to his former Bishoprick though dispoiled of the later But it was now thought good to fill it and Maurice Griffin who for some years had been the Archdeacon is consecrated Bishop of it on the first of April One suffrage more was gained by the repealing of an Act of Parliament made in the last Session of King Edward for dissolving the Bishoprick of Durham till which time Doctor Cuthbert Tunstall though restored to his Liberty and possibly to a good part also of his Churches Partimony had neither Suffrage as a Peer in the House of Parliament not could act any thing as a Bishop in his own Jurisdiction And with these Consecrations and Creations I conclude this year An. Reg. Mar. 2º An. Dom. 1554 1555. THe next begins with the Arrivall of the Prince of Spain wafted to England with a Fleet of one hundred and sixty sail of Ships twenty of which were English purposely sent to be his Convoy in regard of the warrs not then expired betwixt the French and the Spaniards Landing at Southampton on the 19 th of July on which day of the month in the year foregoing the Queen had been solemnly proclaimed in London he went to Winchester with his whole Retinue on the 24 th where he was received by the Queen with a gallant Train of Lords and Ladies solemnly married the next day being the Festival of St. James the supposed Tutelary Saint of the Spanish Nation by the Bishop of Winchester at what time the Queen had passed the eight and thirtieth year of her age and the Prince was but newly entred on his twenty seventh As soon as the Marriage-Rites were celebrated Higueroa the Emperors Embassador presented to the King a Donation of the Kingdoms of Naples and Cicily which the Emperor his father had resigned unto him Which presently was signified and the Titles of the King and Queen Proclaimed by sound of Trumpet in this following Style PHILIP and MARY by the grace of the God King and Queen of England France Naples Jerusalem Ireland Defenders of the Faith Princes of Spain and Cicily Arch-Dukes of Austria Dukes of Millain Burgundy and Brabant Counts of Ausperge Flanders and Tirroll c. At the proclaiming of which Style which was performed in French Latine and English the King and Queen showed themselves hand in hand with two Swords born before them for the greater state or in regard of their distinct Capacity in the publick Government From VVinchester they removed to Basing and so to VVindsor where Philip on the 5 th of August was Installed Knight of the Garter into the fellowship whereof he had been chosen the year before From thence the Court removed to Richmond by land and so by water to Suffolk-place in the Burrough of Southwark and on the 12 th of the same month made a magnificent passage thorow the principal streets of the City of London with all the Pomps accustomed at a Coronation The Triumphs of which Entertainment had continued longer if the Court had not put on mourning for the death of the old Duke of Norfolk who left this life at Framingham Castle in the month of September to the great sorrow of the Queen who entirely loved him Philip thus gloriously received endeavoureth to sow his Grandure to make the English sensible of the benefits which they were to partake of by this Marriage and to engratiate himself with the Nobility and People in all generous ways To which end he caused great quantity of Bullion to be brought into England loaded in twenty Carts carrying amongst them twenty seven Chests each Chest containing a Yard and some inches in length conducted to the Tower on the second of October by certain Spaniards and English-men of his Majesties Guard And on the 29 th of January then next following ninety nine Horses and two Carts laden with Treasures of Gold and Silver brought out of Spain was conveyed through the City of the Tower of London under the conduct of Sir Thomas Grosham the Queens Merchant and others He prevailed also with the Queen for discharge of such Prisoners as stood committed in the Tower either for matter of Religion or on the account of Wyaâ—'s Rebellion or for engaging in the practice of the Duke of Northumberland And being gratified therein according unto his desire the Lord Chancellor the Bishop of Ely and certain others of the Councill were sent unto the Tower on the 18 th of January to see the same put in execution which was accordingly performed to the great joy
of the Prisoners amongst which were the Archbishops of York ten Knights and many other persons of name and quality But nothing did him greater honour amongst the English than the great pains he took for procuring the enlargment of the Earl of Devonshire and the Princesse Elizabeth committed formerly on a suspition of having had a hand in Wyaâ—'s Rebellion though Wyat hâ—â—ettly disavowed it at the time of his death It was about the Feast of Easter that the Earl was brought unto the Court where having obtained the leave to travell for which before he had petitioned in vain he pass'd the Seas cross'd France and came into Italy but he found the air of Italy as much too hot for him as that of England was too cold dying at Padua in the year 1556. the eleventh and last Earl of Devonshire of that noble Family About ten days after his enlargement followed that of the Princesse Elizabeth whose comming to the Court her entertainment with the Queen and what else followed thereup on we shall see hereafter But we have run our selves too far upon these occasions and therefore must look back again on that which followed more immediately on the Kings reception the celebrating of whose Marriage opened a fair way for the Cardinals comming so long expected by the Queen and delayed by the Emperour by whom retarded for a while when he was in Italy and openly detained at Dilling a Town in Germany as he was upon his way towards England From thence he writes his Letters of Expostulation representing to the Emperor the great scandal which must needs be given to the Churches enemies in detaining a Cardinal-Legat Commissioned by his Holinesse for the peace of Christendom and the regaining of a Kingdom Which notwithstanding there he stayeth till the Articles of the Marriage were agreed on by the Queen's Commissioners and is then suffered to advance as far as Brussells upon condition that he should not passe over into England till the consummation of the Marriage The Interim he spends in managing a Treaty of Peace betwixt the Emperour and the French which sorted to no other effect but onely to the setting forth of his dexterity in all publick businesses And now the Marriage being past the Emperour is desired to give him leave to come for England and Pole is called upon by Letters from the King and Queen to make haste unto them that they might have his presence and assistance in the following Parliament and in the mean time that they might advise upon such particulars as were to be agreed on for the honour and advantage of the See Apostolick Upon the Emperor's dismission he repairs to Calais but was detained by cross winds till the 24 th of November at which time we shall find the Parliament sitting and much of the businesse dispatched to his hand in which he was to have been advised with The businesse then to be dispatched was of no small moment no lesse than the restoring of the Popes to the Supremacy of which they had been dispossessed in the time of King Henry For smoothing the way to which great work it was thought necessary to fill up all Episcopall Sees which either Death or Deprivation had of late made vacant Holgate Archbishop of York had been committed to the Tower on the 4 th of October Anno 1553. from whence released upon Philips intercession on the 18 th of January Marriage and Heresie are his crimes for which deprived during the time of his imprisonment Doctor Nicolas Heath succeeded him in the See of York and leaves the Bishoprick of VVorcester to Doctor Richard Pates who had been nominated by King Henry the Eighth Anno 1534. and having spent the intervening twenty years in the Court of Rome returned a true servant to the Pope every way fitted and instructed to advance that See Goodrich of Elie left his life on the 10 th of April leaving that Bishoprick to Doctor Thomas Thurlby Bishop of Norwich one that knew how to stand his ground in the strongest tempest and Doctor John Hopton heretofore Chaplain and Controuler of Queen Mary's Houshold when but Princess onely is made Bishop of Norwich Barlow of VVells having abandoned that dignity which he could not hold had for his Successor Doctor Gilbert Bourn Arch-Deacon of London and Brother of Sir John Bourn principal Secretary of Estate Sufficiently recompenced by this preferment for the great danger which he had incurred the year before when the Dagger was thrown at him as he preached in St. Paul's Church-yard Harley of Hereford is succeeded by Purefew otherwise called Wharton of St. Asaph who had so miserably wasted the Patrimony of the Church in the time of King Edward that it was hardly worth the keeping For the same sins of Protestantism and Mariage old Bujh of Briâ—â—ow and Bira of Chester the two first Bishops of those Sees were deprived also the first succeeded to by Holiman once a Monck of Reading the last by Coles sometimes Fellow of Magdalen and afterwards Master of Baliol College in Oxon. Finally in the place of Doctor Richard Sampson Bishop of Coventry and Liâ—hfield who lest this life on the 25th of September Doctor Radolph Bayne who had been Hebâ—ew Reader in Paris in the time of King Francis was consecrated Bishop of that Church a man of better parts but of a more inflexible temper than his Predecessor And now the Parliament begins opened upon the 11 th of November and closed on the 16 th of January then next following It had been offered to consideration in the former Session That all Acts made against the Pope in the Reign of King Henry might be declared null and void for the better encouragement of the Cardinal to come amongst us But the Queen had neither eloquence enough to perswade nor power enough to awe the Parliament to that Concession Nothing more hindred the designe than general fear that if the Popes were one restored to their former power the Church might challenge restitution of her former possessions Do but secure them from that fear then Pope and Cardinals might come and welcome And to secure them from that fear they had not onely the promise of the King and Queen but some assurance underhand from the Cardinal-Legat who knew right well that the Church Lands had been so chopped and changed by the two last Kings as not to be restored without the manifest ruine of many of the Nobility and most of the Gentry who were invested in the same Secured on both sides they proceed according to the King's desires and passe a general Act for the repealing of all Statutes which had been made against the Power and Jurisdiction of the Popes of Rome But first they are to be intreated to it by the Legate himself for the opening a way to whose reception they prepared a Bill by which he was to be discharged of the Attainture which had passed upon him in the year 1539. restored in Blood and rendred capable of
and the magnificent Procession of the Knights of the Garter he takes his leave of the King and Queen is re-conveyed unto his lodging and on the 3d. of May embarks for Russiâ— accompanied with four good ships well frought with Merchandise most proper for the trade of that Country to which they were bound The costly presents sent by him from the King and Queen to the Russian Emperour and those bestowed upon himself I leave to be reported by him at his coming home and the relation of John Stow in his Annals of England fol. 630 Nor had I dwelt so long upon these particulars but to set forth the ancient splendor and magnificence of the State of England from which we have so miserably departed in these latter times Worse entertainment found an agent from the French King at his coming hither because he came on a worse errand Stafford an English Gentleman of a Noble Family having engaged himself in some of the former enterprises against this Queen and finding no good fortune in them retired with divers others to the Court of France from whence they endeavoured many times to create some dangers to this Realm by scattering and dispersing divers scandalous Pamphlets and seditious papers tending to the apparent defamation of the King and Queen And having got some credit by these practices amongst the Ministers of that King he undertakes to seize upon some Fortress or Port Town of England and put the same into the hands of the French In prosecution of which plot accompanied with some English Rebels and divers French Adventurers intermingled with them he seizeth on the strong Castle of Scurborough in the Coâ—nty of York From thence he published â— most traiterous and seditious Manifest in which he trayterously affirmed the Queen neither to be the Rightful Queen of this Realm nor to be worthy of the Title affirming that the King had brought into this Realm the number of twelve thousand Spaniards who had possess'd themselves of twelve of the best Holds in all the Kingdome upbraiding the Queen with her misgovernment and taking to himself the Title of Protector of the Realm of England But the Queen being secretly advertised of the whole design by the diligence of Dr Nicholas Wotton Dean of Canterbury who was then Ambassador in that Court Order was taken with the Earl of Westmorland and other Noble men of those parts to watch the Coasts and have a care unto the safety of those Northern Provinces By whom he was so closely watch'd and so well attended that having put himself into that Castle on the 24th he was pulled out of it again on the last of April from thence brought prisoner unto London condemned of Treason executed on the Tower Hill May 28. and on the morrow after three of his accomplices were hanged at Tyburn cut down and quartered But as it was an ill wind which blowes no body good so this French Treason so destructive to the chief conspiratours redounded to the great benefit and advantage of Philip. He had for three years borne the Title of King of England without reaping any profit and commodity by it But being now engaged in war with King Henry the 3d. though in pursute rather of his fathers quarrels than any new ones of his own he takes this opportunity to move the Queen to declare her self against the French to assist him in his war against that King for the good of her Kingdoms It was not possible for the Queen to separate her interest from that of her husband without hazarding some great unkindness if not a manifest breach between them She therefore yields to his desire and by her Proclamation of the 7th of June chargeth that King in having an hand not only in the secret practices of the Duke of Northumberland but also in the open rebellion of Wâ—at and his confederates She also laid unto his charge that Dudley Ashton and some other male contents of England were entertained in the house of his Ambassadors where they cotrived many treasons and conspiraâ—ies against her and her Kingdom that flying into France they were not only entertained in the Court of that King but relieved with pensions Finally that he had aided and encouraged Stafford with shipping men mony and munition to invade her Realm thereby if it were possible to dispossess her of her Crown She therefore gives notice to her subjects that they should forbear all traffick and commerce with the Realm of France from which she had received so many injuries as could admit no reparation but by open war And that she might not seem to threaten what she never intended she causeth an army to be raised consisting of one thousand horse four thousand foot and two thousand pioners which she puts under the command of the Earl of Pembrook and so dispatcheth them for Flanders to which they came about the middle of July King Philip had gone before on the 6th of that month and all things here were followed with such care and diligence that the army staid not long behind but what they did falls not within the compass of this present year All which remains to be remembred in this present year relates unto such changes and alterations as were made amongst the Governors of the Church and the Peers of the Realm It hath been signified before that White of Lincoln had prevailed by his friends in Court to be translated unto Winchester as the place of his Nativity and Education To whom succeeded Dr Thomas Watson Master of St John's College in Cambridge and Dean of Durham elected to the See of Lincoln before Christmass last and acting by that name and in that capacity against the dead body of Martin Bucer To Day of Chichester who deceased on the 2d of Aug. in the beginning of his year succeeded Dr John Christopherson a right learned man Mr of Trinity College in Cambridge and Dean of Norwich elected about the same time when the other was and acting as he did against Bucer and Fagius as also did Dr Cuthbert Scot who at that time was actually invested in the See of Chester upon the death of Dr â—oats the preceding Bishop And finally in the place of Aldrick Bishop of Carlisle who died on the 5th of March 1555. Dr Owen Oglethorp President of Magdalen College in Oxon and Dean of Windsor receives Consecration to that See in that first part of this year but the particular day and time thereof I have no where found Within the compass of this year that is to say the 4th year of the Reign of this Queen died two other Bishops Salcot or Capon Bishop of Salisbury and Chambers the first Bishop of Peterborough to the first of which there was no successor actually consecrated or confirmed for the reasons to be shewed anon in the Reign of this Queen But to the other succeeded Dr David Pool Dr of both laws Dean of the Arches Chancellor to the Bishop of Lichfield and Arch-Deacon of Derby elected
the Grant of the said Chanteries Free-Chapels c. came to take Effect In the mean time It will not be amiss to shew that these Chanteries consisted of Salaries allowed to one or more Priests to say daily Mass for the Souls of their deceased Founders and their Friends Which not subsisting on themselves were generally Incorporated and United to some Parochial Collegiate or Cathedral Church No fewer then 47. in Number being found and Founded in Saint Paul's Free-Chapels though Ordained for the same Intent were Independent of themselves of stronger Constitution and Richer Endowment then the Chanteries severally were though therein they fell also short of the Colleges which far exceeded them both in the Beauty of their Building the number of Priests maintained in them and the Proportion of Revenue allotted to them All which Foundations having in them an Admixture of Superstition as Pre-supposing Purgatory and Prayers to be made for Deliverance of the Soul from thence were therefore now suppressed upon that Account and had been granted to the late King upon other Pretences At what time it was Preached at Mercers-Chapel in London by one Doctour Cromer a Man that wished exceeding well to the Reformation That If Trentals and Chantery-Masses could avail the Souls in Purgatory then did the Parliament not well in giving away Colleges and Chanteries which served principally for that purpose But if the Parliament did well in dissolving and bestowing them upon the King which he thought that no man could deny then was it a plain Case that such Chanteries and private Masses did confer no Relief on the Souls in Purgatory Which Dilemma though it were unanswerable yet was the matter so handled by the Bishops seeing how much the Doctrine of the Church was concerned therein that they brought him to a Recantation at Saint Paul's Cross in the June next following this Sermon being Preached in Lent where he confessed himself to have been seduced by naughty books contrary to the Doctrine then received in the Church But the Current of these Times went the other way and Cromer might now have Preached that safely for which before he had been brought into so much trouble But that which made the greatest Alteration and threatened most danger to the State Ecclesiastical was the Act entituled An Act for Election of Bishops and what Seals and Styles shall be used by Spiritual Persons c. In which it was Ordained for I shall onely repeat the Sum thereof That Bishops should be made by the King's Letters Patents and not by the Election of the Deans and Chapters That all their Processes and Writings should be made in the King's Name onely with the Bishop's Teste added to it and sealed with no other Seal but the King 's or such as should be Authorised and Appointed by Him In the Compounding of which Act there was more Danger couched then at first appeared By the last Branch thereof it was plain and evident that the Intent of the Contrivers was by degrees to weaken the Authority of the Episcopal Order by forcing them from their Strong-hold of Divine Institution and making them no other then the King's Ministers onely His Ecclesiastical Sheriffs as a man might say to execute His Will and disperse His Mandates And of this Act such use was made though possibly beyond the true intention of it that the Bishops of those Times were not in a Capacity of conferring Orders but as they were thereunto enpowered by especial Licence The Tenour whereof if Sanders be to be believed was in these words following viz. The King to such a Bishop Greeting Whereas all and all manner of Jurisdiction as well Ecclesiastical as Civil flows from the King as from the Supreme Head of all the Body c. We therefore give and grant to thee full Power and Liceâ—ce to continue during Our Good Pleasure for holding Ordination within thy Diocess of N. and for promoting fit Persons unto Holy Orders even to that of the Priest-hood Which being looked on by Queen Mary not onely as a dangerous Diminution of the Episcopal Power but as an Odious Innovation in the Church of Christ â— She caused this Act to be repealed in the first Year of Her Reign leaving the Bishops to depend on their former claim and to act all things which belonged to their Jurisdiction in their own Names and under their own Seals as in former Times In which Estate they have continued without any Legal Interruption from that time to this But in the first Branch there was somewhat more then what appeared at the first sighâ— For though it seemed to aim at nothing but that the Bishops should depend wholly on the King for their preferment to those great and eminent Places yet the true Drift of the Design was to make Deans and Chapters useless for the time to come and thereby to prepare them for a Dissolution For had nothing else been intended in it but that the King should have the sole Nomination of all the Bishops in His Kingdoms it had been onely a Reviver of an Antient Power which had been formerly Invested in His Predecessour's and in all other Christian Princes Consult the Stories and Records of the Eâ—der Times and it will readily appear not onely that the Romane Emperours of the House of France did nominate the Popes themselves but that after they had lost that Power they retained the Nomination of the Bishops in their own Dominions The like done also by the German Emperours by the Kings of England and by the Antient Kings of Spain the Investiture being then performed Per Annulum Baculum as they used to Phrase it that is to say by delivering of a Ring together with a Crosier or Pastoral Staff to the Party nominated Examples of which Practice are exceeding obvious in all the Stories of those Times But the Popes finding at the last how necessary it was in order to that absolute Power which they ambitiously affected over all Christian Kings and Princes that the Bishops should depend on none but them challenged this power unto themselves declaring it in several Petit Councels for no less then Simony if any man should receive a Bishoprick from the Hands of his own Natural Prince From hence those long and deadly Quarrels begun between Pope Hildebrand and the Emperour Henry the Fourth and continued by their Successours for many years after From hence the like Disputes in England between Pope Vrban the Second and King William Rufus between Pope Innocent and King Iâ—hn till in the end the Popes prevailed both here and elsewhere and gained the point unto themselves But so that to disguise the matter the Election of the future Bishop was committed to the Prior and Convent or to the Dean and Chapter of that Cathedral wherein he was to be Installed Which passing by the Name of Free Elections were wholly in a manner at the Pope's Disposing The Point thus gained it had been little to their Profit if they had
so unreasonably presâ—'d and the Bishops thinking themselves neglected because unseasonably denied Thus stood they siâ—ent for a time each Party looking sadly on the apprehension of those Extremities which this Dispute had brought upon them as certainly the Picture of Unkindness is never represented in more lively Colours then when it breaks out betwixt those who are most tenderly affected unto one another The Bishops thereupon withdrew admiring at such great Abilities in so young a King and magnified the Name of God for giving them a Prince of such Eminent Piety This being made known unto the Council it was thought necessary to dismiss the Emperour's Embassadour with such an Answer as should both give the English time to fetch off their Goods and let his Master have the â—â—st of the Winter to allay his Heats It was therefore signified unto him That The King would shortly send an Ageâ—t to reside with the Emperour Authourised and â—â—strâ—cted in all particulars which might beget a right Vnderstanding between both Princes Thus answered he returns to the Emperour's Court whom Wotton shortly after followeth â—ufficiently Instructed To desire the Emperour to be less violent in his requests and to Advertise him That The Lady Mary as She was His Couâ—sin so She was the King's Sister and which is more His Subject â— That seeing the King was a Sovereign Prince without dependency upon any but God it was not reason that the Emperour should intermeddle either with Ordering His Subjects or directing the Affairs of His Realm But so far he was Authourised to offer That whatsoever favour the King's Subjects had in the Emperour 's Dominions for their Religion the same should the Emperour 's Subjects receive in England Further then this as the King his Master would not go so it would be a lâ—st labour to desire it of him This was enough to let the Emperour see how little his Threats were feared which made him the less forward in sending more Which Passages relating to the Princess Mary I have lai'd together for the better understanding how all matters stood about this time betwixt Her and the King though possibly the sending of Wotton to the Emperour might be the Work of the next year when the King's Affairs were better setled then they were at the present For the King finding the extraordinary Coldness of the Emperour when his assistance was required for Defence of Bulloign and the hot Pursuit of his Demands of a Toleration for the Family of the Lady Mary conceived it most expedient for His Affairs to unite Himself more strongly and entirely in a League with France For entrance whereunto an Hint was taken from some Words which fell from Guidolti at the Treaty of Bulloign when he propounded That in stead of the Queen of Scots whom the English Commissioners demanded for a Wife to their King a Daughter of the French King might be joyned in Mariage with Him affirming merrily That If it were a dry Peace it would hardly be durable These Words which then were taken onely for a Slight or Diversion are now more seriously considered as Many times the smallest Overtures produce Conclusions of the greatest Consequence A Solemn Embassie is thereupon directed to the Court of France the Marquess of Northhampton nominated for the Chief Embassadour associated with the Bishop of Ely Sir Philip Hobby Gentleman-Usher of the Order Sir William Pickering Sir Thomas Smith Principal Secretary of State and Sir John Mason Clerk of the Council as Commissioners with him And that they might appear in the Court of France with the greater Splendour they were accompanied with the Earls of Arundel Rutland and Ormond and the Lords L'isle Fitz-water Abergavenny Bray and Evers with Knights and Gentlemen of Note to the number of six and twenty or thereabouts Their Train so limited for avoiding of contention amongst themselves that no Earl should have above four Attendants no Baron above three nor any Knight or Gentleman above two a piece the Commissioners not being limited to any number as the others were Setting forwards in the Moneth of June they were met by the Lord Constable Chastition and by him Conducted to the Court lying at Chasteau Bryan the nearer to which as they approached theÌ„ greater was the concourse of the French Nobility to attend upon them Being brought unto the King then being in his Bed-chamber the Marquess first presented him in the name of his King with the Order of Saint George called The Garter wherewith he was presently Invested by Sir Philip Hobby who being an Officer of the Order was made Commissioner as it seemed for that purpose chiefly rewarded for it by that King with a Chain of Gold valued at two hundred pounds and a Gown richly trimmed with Ayglets which he had then upon his back This Ceremony being thus performed the Bishop of Ely in a short Speech Declared How desirous his Master was not onely to continue but to encrease Amity with the French King that for this end He had sent the Order of The Garter to be both a Testimony and Tye of Love between them to which purpose principally those Societies of Honour were first devised Declaring that they had Commission to make Overtures of some other matters which was like to make the Concord betwixt the Kings and their Realms not onely more durable but in all expectation perpetual and thereupon desired the King to appoint some persons enabled with Authourity to Treat with them To which it was Answered by the Cardinal of Lorrain in the name of that King That his Master was ready to apprehend and embrace all Offers tending to encrease of Amity and the rather for that long Hostility had made their new Friendship both more weak in it self and more obnoxious unto Jealousies and Distrusts and therefore promised on the King's behalf that Commissioners should be appointed to Treat with them about any matters which they had in Charge In pursuance whereof the said Cardinal the Constable Chastilion the Duke of Guise and others of like Eminent note being appointed for the Treaty the English Commissioners first prosecute their Old Demand for the Queen of Scots To which it was Answered by the French That they had parted with too much Treasure and spent too many Lives upon any Conditions to let Her go and that Conclusion had been made long before for her Marriage with the Daulphin of France The English upon this proposed a Marriage between their King and the Lady Elizabeth the Eldest Daughter of France who after was Married to Philip the Second to which the French Commissioners seemed very inclinable with this Proviso notwithstanding That neither Party should be bound either in Conscience or Honour untill the Lady should accomplish twelve years of Age. And so far Matters went on smoothly but when they came to talk of Portion there appeared a vast difference between them The English Commissioners ask no more then fifteen hundred thousand Crowns but fell by one hundred thousand
holy Sacraments and partly for the Apparel of all persons Ecclesiastical by vertue of the Queens Majesties Letters commanding the same the 15th day of January c. And that they might be known to have the stamp of Royal Authority a Preface was prefixed before them in which it was expressed That the Queen had called to her remembrance how necessary it was for the advancement of God's glory c. for all her loving subjects of the state Ecclesiastical not onely to be knit together in the bonds of Uniformity touching the ministration of Gods Word and Sacraments but also to be of one decent behaviour of outward aparel that by their distinct habits they might be known to be of that holy vocation whereby the greater reverence might beâ— given unto them in their several Offices that thereupon she had required the Metropolitan by her special Letters that upon conference had with such other Bishops as were authorised by her Commission for causes Ecclesiastical some order might be took whereby all diversities and varieties in the premises might be taken away And finally that in obedience unto her commands the said Metropolitan and the rest there named had agreed upon the Rules and Orders ensuing which were by her thought meet to be used and followed Now in these Articles or Advertisements it was particularly enjoyned amongst other things That all Archbishops and Bishops should continue their accustomed Aparel that all Deans of Cathedral Churches Masters of Colleges all Archdeacons and other dignitaries in Cathedral Churches Doctors Batchelors of Divinity and Law having any Ecclesiastical Living should wear in their common apparel abroad a side Gown with sleeves streight at the hand without any cuts in the same and that also without any falling cape and to wear tippets of â—arsnet as was lawful for them by Act of Parliament 24 Hen. 8. That all Doctors of Physick or any other faculty having any Living Ecclesiastical or any other that may dispend by the Church 100 Marks he to be esteemed by the fruits or tenths of their Promotions or all Prebendaries whose promotions are vallued at 20 l. and upward to wear the like habit that they or all Ecclesiastical persons or other having any Ecclesiastical Living do wear the cap appointed by the Injunctions and no hats but in their journeyings that they in their journeys do wear the cloaks with sleeves put on and like in fashion to their Gowns without gards welts or cuts that in their private houses or studies they use their own liberty of comely apparel that all inferiour Ecclesiastical persons shall wear long gowns of the fashion aforesaid and caps as before is described that all poor Parsons Vicars and Curaâ—s do endeavour themselves to conform their aparel in like sort so soon and as conveniently as their abilities will serve for the same provided that their ability be judged by the Bishop of the Diocess and if their ability will not suffer them to buy them long gowns of the form aforesaid prescribed that then they shall wear their short gowns as before expressed that all such peâ—â—ons as have been or be Ecclesiastical and serve not the Ministry or have not accepted or shall refuse to accept the Oath of obedience to the Queens Majesty do from henceforth wear none of the said aparel but to go as meer lay-men till they be reconciled to obedience and who shall obstinately refuse to do the same be presented by the Ordinary to the Commissioners for causes Ecclesiastical and by them to be reformed accordingly But this belongs more properly to the year next following To return therefore where we left the next considerable action which followed on the Queens reception at Cambridge but more considerable in the consequents than in the act it self was the preferring of Sir Robert Dudley the second son then living to the Duke of Northumberland to the Titles of Lord Denbigh and Earl of Leicester which honour she conferred on him on Michaelmas day with all the Pomps and ceremonies thereunto accustomed She had before elected him into the Order of the Garter made him the Master of her Horse and Chancellor of the University of Oxon suffered him to carry a great sway in all affairs both of Court and Council and given unto him the fair Mannor of Denbigh being conceived to be one of the goodliest Territories in England as having more Gentlemen of quality which owes sure and service thereunto than any other whatsoever in the hands of a subject And now she adds unto these honors the goodly Castle and Mannor of Kenelworth part of the patrimony and possession of the Dutchy of Lancaster Advanced unto which heighth he ingrossed unto himself the disposings of all Offices in Court and State and of all preferments in the Church proving in fine so unappeasable in his malice and unsatiable in his lusts so sacrilegious in his rapines so false in promises and trecheâ—ous in point of trust and finally so destructive of the rights and properties of particular persons that his little finger lay far heavier on the English subjects than the loins of all the Favorites of the two last Kings And that his monstrous vices most insupportable in any other than himself might either be connived at or not complained of he cloaks them with a seeming zeal to the true Religion and made himself the head of the Pâ—ritan faction who spared no pains in setting forth his praises upon all occasions making themselves the Tromparts to this Bragadocio Nor was he wanting to caresse them after such a manner as he found most agreeable to those holy hypocrites using no other language in his speech and letters than pure-scripture phrase in which he was become as dextrous as if he had received the same inspirations with the sacred Pen-men Of whom I had not spoke so much but that he seemed to have been born for the destruction of the Church of England as may appear further in the prosecution of the Presbyterian or Puritan History whensoever any able Pen shall be exercised in it But leaving this Court-Meteor to be gazed on by unknowing men let us aâ—tend the Obsequies of the Emperor Ferdinand who died on the 〈…〉 of 〈…〉 in the year now being leaving the Empire and the rest of his Dominions to Mâ—xâ—milian his eldest son whom he had before made King of the Râ—mans A Pâ—ince he was who had deserved exceeding well of the Queen of England and she resolved not to be wanting to the due acknowledgment of so great a merit the after-noon of the second day of October and the fore-noon of the third are set apart by her command for this great solemnity for which there was erected in the upper part of the Quire of the said Church a goodly Heâ—se richly garnished and set forth all the Quire being hanged with black cloth adorned with rich Scutcheons of his Arms of sundry sorts At the solemnization of which Funeral there were twelve Mourners and one that presented the Queens
grave and buried in a common dunghil About the same time also such strangers as were gathered together into the Church of John Alasco not only were necessitated to forbear their meetings but to dissolve their Congregation and to quit the Countrey Such a displeasure was conceived against them by those which governed the affairs that it was no small difficulty for them to get leave for their departure and glad they were to take the opportunity of two Danish ships and to put themselves to sea in the beginning of winter fearing more storms in England than upon the Ocean And so farwel to John Alasco It was an ill wind which brought him hit her and worse he could not have for his going back The like haste made the French Protestants also And that they might have no pretence for a long stay command was sent unto the Mayor of Rie and Dâ—ver on the 16th of September to suffer all French Protestants to cross the seas except such only whose names should be signified unto them by the French Ambassadors But notwithstanding these removes many both Dutch and French remained still in the Kingdom some of which being after found in Wiat's Army occasioned the banishing of all the rest except Denizens and Merchants only by a publick Edict At which time many of the English departed also as well Students as others to the number of 300. or thereabouts hoping to find that freedome and protection in a forein Country which was denied them in their own The principal of those which put themselves into this voluntary exile were Katherine the last wife of Charls Brandon Duke of Suffoâ—k Robert Bertye Esquire husband to the Dutchess the Bishops of Winchester and Wells Sir Richard Morison Sir Anthony Cook and Sir John Cheek Dr Cox Dr Sanays and Dr Grindall and divers others of whom we shall hear more hereafter on another occasion Of all these things they neither were not could be ignorant in the Court of Rome to which the death of Edward had been swiftly posted on the wings of fame The newes of the succession of Queen Mary staid not long behind so much more welcome to Pope Julius 3d. who then held that See because it gave him some assurance of his re-admission into the power and jurisdiction of his predecessors in the Realm of England For what less was to be expected considering that she was brought up in the Catholick Religion interessed in the respects of her mother and Cosen in the first degree unto Charles the Emperour In the pursuance of which hopes it was resolved that Cardinal Pole should be sent Legate into England who being of the Royal blood a man of eminent learning and exemplary life was looked on as the fittest instrument to reduce that Kingdome The Cardinal well knowing that he stood attainted by the Lawes of the Land and that the name of Henry was still preserved in estimation amongst the people thought it not safe to venture thither before he fully understood the state of things He therefore secretly dispatcheth Commendonius a right trusty Minister by whom he writes a private Letter to the Queen In which commending first her perseverance in Religion in the time of her troubles he exhorteth her to a continuance in it in the days of her happiness He recommended also to her the salvation of the souls of her people and the restitution of the true worship of God Commendonius having diligently inform'd himself of all particulars found means of speaking with the Queen By whom he understood not only her own good affections to the See Apostolick but that she was resolved to use her best endeavours for re-establishing the Religion of the Church of Rome in all her Kingdomes Which being made known unto the Cardinal he puts himself into the voyage The newes whereof being brought to Charls who had his own design apart from that of the Pope he signified by Dandino the Pope's Nuncio with him that an Apostolick Legate could not be sent into England as affairs then stood either with safety to himself or honour to the Church of Rome and therefore that he might do well to defer the journy till the English might be brought to a better temper But the Queen knowing nothing of this stop and being full of expectation of the Cardinals coming had called a Parliament to begin on the 10th of October In which she made it her first Act to take away all Statutes passed by the two last Kings wherein certain offences had been made High Treason and others brought within the compass of a Premunire And this she did especially for Pole's security that neither he by exercising his Authority nor the Clergy by submitting to it might be intangled in the like snares in which Cardinal Wolsie and the whole Clergy of his time had before been caught It was designed also to rescind all former Statutes which had been made by the said two Kings against the jurisdiction of the Pope the Doctrine and Religion of the Church of Rome and to reduce all matters Ecclesiastical to the same estate in which they stood in the beginning of the Reign of the King her Father But this was looked upon by others as too great an enterprise to be attempted by a woman especially in a green estate and amongst people sensible of those many benefits which they enjoyed by shaking off their former vassalage to a forein power It was advised therefore to proceed no further at the present than to repeal all Acts and Statutes which had been made in derogation to the Doctrine of the Church of Rome in the time of her brother which being passed in his minority when all affairs were carried by faction and strong hand contrary to the judgement of the best and soundest part of the Clergy and Laity might give a just pretence for their abrogation till all particulars might be considered and debated in a lawful Synod According to which temperament the point was carried and the Act pass'd no higher than for Repeaâ—ing certain Statutes of the time of King Edward by which one blow she felled down all which had been done in the Reformation in seven years before For by this Act they took away all former Statutes for Administring the Communion in both kinds for establishing the first and second Liturgie for confirming the new Ordinal or form of consecrating Archbishops and Bishops c. for abrogating certain Fasts and Feastivals which had been formerly observed for authorizing the marriage of Priests and Legitimation of their children not to say any thing of that Statute as not worth the naming for making Bishops by the King's Letters Patents and exercising their Episcopal jurisdiction in the King's name only So that upon the matter not only all things were reduced to the same estate in which they stood at Edward's coming to the Crown but all those Bishops and Priests which had maried by authority of the former Statutes were made uncanonical and consequently obnoxious to
her than Philip Prince of Spain A Prince in the verdure of his years and eldest son to the most Mighty Emperour Charles the 5th by whom the Netherlands being laid to England and both secured by the assistance and power of Spain this nation might be render'd more considerable both by sea and land than any people in the world To this last Match the Queen was carefully sollicited by the Bishop of Winchester who neither loved the person of Pole nor desired his company for fear of growing less in power and reputation by coming under the command of a Cardinal Legate To which end he encouraged Charles the Emperour to go on with this mariage for his son not without some secret intimation on his Advice for not suffering Pole to come into England if he were suffered to come at all till the Treaty were concluded and the Match agreed on According whereunto the Lord Lamoralle Earl of Edgmond Charles Earl of Lalain and John 〈◊〉 Mount Morency Earl of Horn arrived in England as Ambassadors from the Emperour In the beginning of January they began to treat upon the mariage which they found so well prepared before their coming that in short time it was accorded upon these conditions 1. That it should be lawful for Philip to assume the Title of all the Kingdoms and Provinces belonging to his wife and should be joint Governour with her over those Kingdoms the Privileges and Customes thereof always preserved inviolate and the full and free distribution of Bishopricks Benefices Favours and Offices alwayes remaining intire in the Queen 2. That the Queen should also carry the Titles of all those Realms into which Philip either then was or should be afterwards invested 3. That if the Queen survived Philip 60 thousand pounds per annum should be assigned to her for her joynture as had been formerly assigned to the Lady Margaret Sister to King Edward the 4th and Wife to Charles Duke of Burgundy 4. That the Issue begotten by this mariage should succeed in all the Queens Dominions as also in the Dukedom and County of Burgundy and all those Provinces in the Neatherlands of which the Emperour was possessed 5. That if none but daughters should proceed from this mariage the eldest should succeed in all the said Provinces of the Neatherlands provided that by the Counsel and consent of Charles the son of Philip by Mary of Portugal his first wife she should make choice of a husband out of England or the Neatherlands or otherwise to be deprived of her right in the succession in the said estates and Charles to be invested in them and in that cafe convenient portions to be made for her and the rest of the daughters 6. And finally That if the said Charles should depart this life without lawful issue that then the Heir surviving of this mariage though female only should succeed in all the Kingdoms of Spain together with all the Dominions and Estates of Italy thereunto belonging Conditions fair and large enough and more to the advantage of the Realm of England than the Crown of Spain But so it was not understood by the generality of the people of England many of which out of a restless disposition or otherwise desirous to restore the reformed Religion had caused it to be noised abroad that the Spaniards were by this accord to become the absolute Lords of all the Kingdom that they were to have the managing of all affairs and that abolishing all the ancient Laws of the Realm they would impose upon the land a most intolerable yoke of servitude as a conquered Nation Which either being certainly known or probably suspected by the Queen and the Council it was thought fit that the Lord Chancelor should make a true and perfect declaration of all the points of the Agreement not only in the Presence Chamber to such Lords and Gentlemen as were at that time about the Court and the City of London but also to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and certain of the chief Commoners of that City purposely sent for to the Court upon the occasion Which services he perform'd on the 14th and 15th days of January And having summarily reported all the Articles of the capitulation he shewed unto them how much they were bound to thank God That such a Noble Worthy and Famous Prince would vonchsafe so to humble himself as in this mariage to take upon him rather as a subject than otherwise Considering that the Queen and her Council were to Rule and Govern all things as they did before and that none of the Spaniards or other strangers were to be of the Council nor to have the custody of any Castles Forts c. nor to have any office in the Queen's house or elsewhere throughout the Kingdom In which respect it was the Queens request to the Lords and Gentlemen That for her sake they would most lovingly receive the said Prince with â—oy and honour and to the Lord Mayor and the Citizens That they would behave themselves to be good subjects with all humility and rejoycing Which declaration notwithstanding the subjects were not easily satisfied in those fears and jealousies which cunningly had been infused into them by some popular spirits who greedily affected a change of Government and to that end sowed divers other discontents amongst the people To some they secretly complained That the Queen had broke her promise to the Suffolk men in suppressing the Religion setled by King Edward the 6th to others That the mariage with the Prince of Spain was but the introduction to a second vassalage to the Popes of Rome sometimes they pitied the calamity of the Lady Jane not only forcibly deposed but barbarously condemned to a cruel death and sometimes magnified the eminent vertues of the Princess Elizabeth as the only blessing of the Kingdom and by those Articles prepared the people in most places for the act of Rebellion And that it might succeed the better nothing must be pretended but the preservation and defence of their Civil Liberties which they knew was generally like to take both with Papists and Protestants but so that they had many engines to draw such others to the side as either were considerable for power or quality The Duke of Suffolk was hooked in upon the promise of re-establishing his daughter in the Royal throne the Carews and other Gentlemen of Devonshire upon assurance of marying the Lord Courtney to the Princess Elizabeth and setting the Crown upon their heads and all they that wished well to the Reformation upon the like hopes of restoring that Religion which had been setled by the care and piety of the good King Edward but now suppressed contrary to all faith the promise by the Queeâ— and her Ministers By means of which suggestions and subtil practices the contagion was so generally diffused over all the Kingdom that if it had not accidently broke out before the time appointed by them it was conceived by many wise and knowing
till Michaelmass-Day An. 1547. At what time and for some time after Doctour Barlow who succeeded Knight was actually Bishop of St. Davia's and therefore Farrars could not be Consecrated to that See some weeks before I finde again in a very good Authour that Doctour Farrar was the first Bishop made by Letters Patents without Capitular Election which could not be till after the end of the last years Parliament because till then the King pretended not to any such Power of making Bishops And Thirdly if Bishop Barlow had not been Translated to the See of Wells till the year 1549. as Bishop Godwin saith he was not it must be Barlow and not Farrars who first enjoyed the benefit of such Letters Patents because Barlow must first be removed to Wells before the Church of St. Davia's was made void for Farrars So that the Consecration of Farrars to the See of St. David's being placed by the Canons of that Church in an Information made against him on the fifth of September it must be on the fifth day of September in this present year and neither in the year 1547. as the Acts and Monuments make it nor in the year 1549. as in Bishop Godwin Anno Regni Edw. Sexti 3 o. An. Dom. 1548 1549. THere remains yet one Act of this Parliament which we have not spoke of but of a different nature from all the rest I mean the Act for the Attainder of the Lord Thomas Seimour whose Tragedy came on but now though the Ground thereof was laid in the former year The occasion much like that of the two great Ladies in the Roman Story Concerning whom it is related by Herodian that when the Emperour Commodus was unmarried he permitted his Sister Lucilla whom he had bestowed on Pompeianus a Right Noble Senatour to have a Throne erected for Her on the Publick Theatre Fire to be borne before Hâ—r when she walked abroad and to enjoy all other Privileges of a Princâ—'s Wife But when Commodus had Married Crispina a Lady of as great a Spirit though of lower Birth Lucilla was to lose her place and to grow less in Reputation then before she was This so tormented her proud heart when she perceived that nothing could be gained by disputing the Point that she never lest practicing one mischief on the neck of another till she had endangered the young Emperour's life but utterly destroyed her self and all those friends whom she had raised to advance her Interess VVhich Tragedy the Names of the Actours being onely changed was now again played over in the Court of England Thomas Lord Seimour being a man of lofty Aims and aspiring Thoughts had Married Queen Katharine Parr the Relict of the King deceased who looking on him as the Brother of the Lord Protectour and being looked on as Queen Dowager in the eye of the Court did not conceive that any Lady could be so forgetfull of her former Dignity as to contend about the place But therein she found her self deceived for the Protectour's Wife a Woman of most infinite Pride and of a Nature so imperious as to know no rule but her own Will would needs conceive her self to be the better Woman of the two For if the one were widow to the King deceased the other thought her self to stâ—nd on the Higher ground in having all advantages of Power above her For what said She within Her self Am not I wife to the Protectour who is King in Power though not in Title a Duke in Order and Degree Lord Treasurer and Earl Marshal and what else he pleaseth and one who hath Enâ—obled His highest Honours by his late great Victory And did not Henry Marry Katharine Parr in His doting Days when he had brought himself to such a Condition by His Lusts and Cruelty that no Lady who stood upon Her Honour would adventure on Him Do not all Knees bow before Me and all Tongues celebrate My Praises and all Hands pay the Tribute of Obedience to Me and all Eys look upon Me as the first in State through whose Hands the Principal Offices in the Court and chief Preferments in the Church are observed to pass Have I so long Commanded him who Commands two Kingdoms And shall I now give place to Her who in her former best Estate was but Latimer's Widow and is now fain to cast Her self for Support and Countenance into the despised Bed of a younger Brother If Mr. Admiral teach his Wife no better Manners I am She that will and will choose rather to remove them both whether out of the Court or out of the World shall be no great mâ—tter then be out-shined in My own Sphere and trampled on within the Verge of my Jurisdiction In this Impatiency of Spirit she rubs into the Head of the Duke her Husband over whom she had obtained an absolute Mastery How much he was despised by the Lord Admiral for his Mildness and Lenity What secret Practices were on foot in the Court and Kingdom to bring him out of Credit with all sorts of People What â—tore of Emissaries were imployed to cry up the Lord Admiral as the Abler man And finally that if he did not look betimes about him he would he forthwith dispossessed of his Place and Power and see the same conferred on one of his own preferring This first begat a Diffidence in the Duke of his Brother's Purposes which afterwards improved it self to an estranging of Affection and at last into an open Breach But before Matters could proceed to the last Extremity the Queen died in Child-birth which happened September last 1648 being delivered of a Daughter who afterwards was Christened by the name of Mary A Lady of a mild and obliging Nature honoured by all the Court for her even Behaviour and one who in this Quarrel had been meerly passive rather maintaining what she had then seeking to invade the place which belonged not to her And here the Breach might have been closed if the Admiral had not ran himself into further Dangers by practicing to gain the good Affections of the Princess Elizabeth He was it seems a man of a strange Ambition in the choice of his Wives and could not level his Affections lower then the Bed of a Princess For an Essay whereof he first addressed himself to the Lady Mary Duchess of â—ichmond and Sommerset Daughter of Thomas Duke of Norfolk and Widow of Duke Henry before mentioned the King 's Natural Brother But she being of too high a Spirit to descend so low he next applied himself to the Wâ—dow-Queen whom he beheld as double Jointured one who haâ— filled her Coffers in the late King's Time and had been gratified with a Legacy of four thousand pounds in Plate Jewels and Mony which he had Means enough to compass though all other Debts and Legacies should remain unpaid And on the other side She looked on him as one of the Peers of the Realm Lord Admiral by Office Uncle to the King and Brother to
threatned more Danger then the other To which Request He did not onely refuse to hearken except the King would promise to restore the Catholick Religion as He called it in all His Dominions but expresly commanded that neither His Men noâ— Ammunition should go to the Assistance of the English An Ingratitude not easie to be marked with a fitting Epithete considering what fast Friends the Kings of England had alwaies been to the House of Burgundy the Rights whereof remained in the person of Charles with what sums of Money they had helped them and what sundry Wayâ— they had made for them both in the Nether-Lands to maintain their Authority and in the Realm of France it self to increase their Power For from the Marriage of Maximilian of the Family of Austriâ— with the Lady Mary of Burgundy which happened in the year 1478. unto the Death of Henry the Eight which fell in the year 1546 are just threescore and eight years In which time onely it was found on a just account that it had cost the Kings of England at the least six Millions of Pounds in the meer Quarrels of that House But the French being more assured that the English held some secret Practice with the Emperour then certain what the Issue thereof might be resolved upon a Peace with EDVVARD in hope of getting more by Treaty then he could by Force To this end one Guidolti a Florentine is sent for England by whom many Overtures were made to the Lords of the Council not as from the King but from the Constable of France And spying with a nimble Eye that all Affairs were governed by the Earl of Warwick he resolved to buy him to the French at what price soever and so well did he ply the Business that at the last it was agreed that four Ambassadours should be sent to France from the King of England to treat with so many others of that Kingdom about a Peace between the Crowns but that the Treaty it self should be held in Guisnes a Town belonging to the English in the Marches of Calice In pursuance whereof the Earl of Bedford the new Lord Paget Sir William Peter Principal Secretary of Estate and Sir John Mason Clerk of the Council were on the twenty first of January dispatched for France But no sooner were they come to Calice when Guidolâ—i brings a Letter to them from Mounsieur d' Rochpot one of the four which were appointed for that Treaty in behalf of the French In which it was desired that the English Ambassadours would repair to the Town of Bulloign without putting the French to the Charge and Trouble of so long a Journey as to come to Guisnes Which being demurred on by the English and a Post sent unto the Court to know the pleasure of the Council in that particular they received word for so the Oracle had directed that they should not stand upon Punctilioes so they gained the point nor hazard the Substance of the Work to preserve the Circumstances According whereunto the Ambassadours removed to Bulloign and pitch'd their Tents without the Town as had been desired for the Reception of the French that so they might enter on the Treaty for which they came But then a new Dâ—fficulty appeared for the French would not cross the Water and put themselves under the Command of Bulloign but desired rather that the English would come over to them and fall upon the Treaty in an House which they were then preparing for their Entertainment Which being also yielded to after some Disputes the French grew confident that after so many Condescensions on the part of the English they might obtain from them what they liâ—ted in the main of the Business For though it cannot otherwise be but that in all Treaties of this Nature there must be some Condescendings made by the one or the other yet he that yields the first inch of Ground gives the other Party a strong Hope of obtaining the rest These Preparations being made the Commissioners on both sides begin the Treaty where after some Expostulations touching the Justice or Injustice of the War on either side they came to particular Demands The English required the payment of all Debts and Pensions concluded on between the two Kings deceased and that the Queen of Scots should either be delivered to their Hands or sent back to Her Kingdom But unto this the French replyed That the Queen of Scots was designed in Marriage to the Daulphin of France and that She looked upon it as an high Dishonour that their King should be esteemed a Pensioner or Tributary to the Crown of England The French on the other side propounded That all Arrears of Debts and Pensions being thrown aside as not likely to be ever paid they should either put the higher Price on the Town of Bulloign or else prepare themselves to keep it as well as they could From which Proposals when the French could not be removed the Oracle was again consulted by whose Direction it was ordered in the Council of England That the Commissioners should conclude the Peace upon such Articles and Instructions as were sent unto them Most of them ordinary and accustomed at the winding up of all such Treaties But that of most Concernment was That all Titles and Claims on the one side and Defences on the other remaining to either Party as they were before the Town of Bulloign with all the Ordnance found there at the taking of it should be delivered to the French for the Sum of four hundred thousand Crowns of the Sun Of which four hundred thousand Crowns each Crown being valued at the Price of six Shillings and six Pence one Moity was to be paid within three days after the Town should be delivered and the other at the end of six Moneths after Hostages to be given in the mean time for the payment of it It was agreed also in relation to the Realm of Scotland That if the Scots razed Lowder and Dowglass the English should raze Rox-borough and Aymouth and no Fortification in any of those places to be afterwards made Which Agreement being signed by the Commissioners of each side and Hostages mutually delivered for performance of Covenants Peace was Proclaimed between the Kings on the last of March and the Town of Bulloign with all the Forts depending on it delivered into the power of the French on the twenty fifth day of April then next following But they must thank the Earl of Warwick for letting them go away with that commodity at so cheap a Rate for which the two last Kings had bargained for no less then two Millions of the same Crowns to be paid unto the King of England at the end of eight years the Towns and Territory in the mean time to remain with the English Nor was young Edward backward in rewarding his Care and Diligence in expenditing the Affair Which was so represented to him and the extraordinary Merit of the Service so highly magnified
Moor and Fisher executed as before was said for the refusal of that oath The Kings cause all this while depended in the Court of Rome not like to be determined for him and yet the Pope not willing to declare against him till by the solicitation of the Emperour and for the vindication of the honour of the See Apostolick he seemed to be necessitated to some acts of rigour which at last proved the total ruine of his power and party in the Realm of England For the new Queen considering that the Pope and she had such different interesses that they could not both subsist together resolved upon that course which Nature and self-preservation seem'd to dictate to her But finding that the Popes was too well intrenched to be dislodged upon a sudden it was advised by Cromwel made Mr of the Rols on her commendation to begin with taking in the out-works first which being gained it would be no hard matter to beat him out of his trenches In order whereunto a visitation is begun in the month of October 1535. in which a diligent enquiry was to be made into all Abbies Priories and Nunneries within the Kingdome Cromwel himself Dr Lee and others being named for Visitors Who governing themselves according to certain instructions of their own devising dismist all such religious persons as were under the age of â—4 or otherwise were willing to relinquish their several houses shutting up such from going out as were not willing to accept the benefit of that permission all such religious persons as departed thence to be gratified by the Abbot or Prior with a Priests Gown and forty shillings in mony and all Nuns to be put into a secular habit and suffered to go where they would They took order also that no men should go into the houses of women nor women into the houses of men but only for the hearing of Divine Service making thereby that course of life less pleasing unto either Sex than it had been formerly They also inventaried or else directly â—ook away the Relicts and chief Jewels out of most of the said Monasteries or Religious houses pretending that they took them for the Kings use but possibly keeping them for their own And having made a strict and odious inquisition into the lives of all the Votaries of both Sexes they return'd many of them guilty of exorbitant luâ—ts and much carnal uncleanness representing their offences in such multiplying glasses as made them seem both greater in number and more horrid in nature than indeed they were And in the February following was held a Parliament in which all Monasteries Priories and other Religious houses under the yearly value of 200l were granted unto the King and his heirs for ever The number of the Houses then suppressed were said to be 376 their yearly Rents then valued at the sum of thirty two thousand pounds and upwards their movable goods as they were sold at Hood's penny-worths amounting to one hundred thousand pounds and more The Religious persons thus despoiled of their Estates either betook themselves to some of the greater Houses of their several Orders or went again into the world and followed such secular businesses as were offered to them towards the getting of their livings Much lamentation made in all parts of the Country for want of that relief and sustenance which the poor of all sorts received daily from their hospitality and for the want of that employment which they found continually in and about those Houses in their several Trades insomuch that it was commonly thought that more than ten thousand persons as well Masters as Servants had lost their livelyhoods by that act of suppression To the passing whereof the Bishops and the Mitred Abots which made the prevalent part of the House of Peers contributed their Votes and Suffrages as the other did whether it were out of pusillanimity as not daring to appear in behalf of their brethren or out of a weak hope that the Rapacity of the Queen and her Ministers would proceed no farther it is hard to say Certain it is that by their improvident assenting to the present Grant they made a rod for their own backs as the saying is with which they were sufficiently scourged within few years after till they were all finally whipt out of the Kingdom though the new Queen for whose sake Cromwel had contrived the plot did not live to see it For such is the uncertainty of human affairs that when she thought her self most safe and free from danger she became most obnoxious to the ruine prepared for her It had pleased God on the eighth of January to put an end unto the calamities of the vertuous but unfortunate Queen into whose Bed she had succeeded the news whereof she entertained with such contentment that she caused her self to be apparalled in lighter colours than was agreeable to the season or the sad occasion Whereas if she had rightly understood her own condition she could not but have known that the long life of Katherine was to be her best preservative against all changes which the Kings loose affections or any other alterations in affairs of State were otherwise like to draw upon her But this contentment held not long for within three weeks after she fell in travail in which she miscarried of a Son to the extream grief of the Mother and discontent of the Father who looked upon it as an argument of Gods displeasure as being as much offended at this second Marriage as he was at the first He then began to think of his ill forâ—une with both his Wives both Mariages subject to dispute and the Legitimation of his daughter Elizabeth as likely to be called in question in the time succeeding as that of Mary in the former He much therefore cast about for another wife of whose marriage and his issue by her there could arise no conâ—roversie or else must die without an heir of his own body or leave the Crown to be contended for by those who though they were of his own body could not be his heirs His eye had carried him to a Gentlewoman in the Queens attendance of extraordinary beauty and superlative modesty on the enjoying of whom he so fixed his thoughts that he had quite obliterated all remembrance of his former loves As resolute but more private in this pursute than he was in the former yet not so private but that the Queen so piercing are the eyes of Love and Jealousie had took notice of it and signified her suspitions to him of which more anon In the mean time she was not wanting in all those honest arts of Love Obsequiousness and Entertainment which might endear her to the King who now began to be as weary of her gaities and jocular humor as formerly of the gravity and reservedness of Katherine And causing many eyes to observe her actions they brought him a return of some particulars which he conceived might give him a sufficient ground to
excommunication of the Queen of England The Emperour had his aims upon her being at that time solicitous for effecting a mariage betwixt her and Charles of Inspruch his second son of which his Ministers entertained him with no doubtful hopes In contemplation of which mariage on the first notice which was given him of this secret purpose he writ Letters both to the Pope and to the Legates in which he signified unto them that if the Council would not yield that fruit which was desired that they might see an union of all Catholicks to reform the Church at least they should not give occasion to the Hereticks to unite themselves more which certainly they would do in case they proceeded so against the Queen of England by means whereof they would undoubtedly make a league against the Catholicks which must needs bring forth many great inconveniences Nor did this Admonition coming from a person of so great authority and built on such prudential reasons want its good effect Insomuch that both the Pope desisted at Rome and revoked the Commission sent before to the Legates in Trent But the Ministers of the King of Spain would not so give over the Archbishop of Otranto in the Realm of Naples keeping the game on foot when the rest had left it And because he thought the proposition would not take if it were made only in relation to the Queen of England he proposed a general anaâ—heâ—atizing of the Hereticks as well dead as living Luther and Zuinglius and the rest which he affirmed to be the practice of all Councils in the Primitive times and that otherwise it might be said that the Council had laboured all this while in vain To which it was replyed by one of the Legates that diveâ—s times required different Counsels that the differences about religion in those elder times were between the Bishops and the Priests that the people were but as an accessory that the Grandees either did not meddle or if they did adhere to any Heresie they did not make themselves Heads and Leaders But now all was quite contrary for now the Hereticks Ministers and Preachers could not be said to be heads of the Sects but the Princes rather to whose interess their Ministers and Preachers did accommodate themselves that he that would name the true Heads of Hereticks must name the Queens of England and Navarr the Prince of Conde the Elector Palatine of the Reine the Elector of Saxonie and many other Dukes and Princes of Germany that this would make them unite and shew they were sensible of it and that the condemnation of Luther and Zuinglius only would so provoke them that some great confusion would certainly arise and therefore they must not do what they would but what they could seeing that the more moderate resolution was the better After which grave and prudent Answer it was not long before the conclusion of the Council which ended on the 3d. of December had put an end to all those practices or designs which otherwise might have much distracted the peace of Christendom and more particularly the tranquillity of the Realm of England And so I take my leave of the Council of Trent without making any other character or censure of it than that which is given by the Historian that is to say That being desired and procured by godly men to reunite the Church which then began to be divided it so established the schism and made the party so obstinate that the discords are become irreconcilable that being managed by Princes for the Reformation of Ecclesiastical Discipline it caused the greatest deformation that ever was since Christianity began that being hoped for by the Bishops to regain the Episcopal authority usurped for the most part by the Pope it made them lose it altogether and brought them into a greater servitude and on the contrary that being feared and avoided by the See of Rome as a â—otent means to moderate the exorbitant power of the Pope mounted from small beginnings by divers degrees unto an unlimited excess it hath so established and confirmed the same over that part which remaineth subject to it that it never was so great nor so soundly rooted Anno Reg. Eliz. 6. A. D. 1563 1564. HAving dispatched our businesse in France and Trent we shall confine our selves for so much of our Story as is to come to the Isles of Britâ—ain In the fouth part thereof the plague brought out of France by the Garison souldiers of Newhaven had so dispersed it self and made such desolation in many parts of the Realm that it swept away above 20000 in the City of London Which though it seemed lesse than some great plagues which have hapned since yet was it the greatest at that time which any man living could remember In which regard as Michaelmas Term was not kept at all so Canâ—lemas Term then following was kept at Hartford the houses in London being not well cleansed nor the air sufficiently corrected for so great a concourse Under pretence whereof the Council of the King of Spain residing in Brussels commanded Proclamation to be made in Antwerp and other places that no English ship with cloths should come into any parts of the Low Countries Besides which they alleged some other causes as namely the raising of Impost upon goods as well inwards as outwards as well upon English men as upon strangers c. But the true reason of it was because a Statute had been passed in the first year of the Queen by which divers Wares and Commodities were forbidden to be brought into this Realm out of Flanders and other places being the Manufactures of those Countries to the end that our own people might be set on work as also that no English or stranger might ship out any white cloths undrest being of price above 4 l. without special licence But at the earnest sute of the Merchant Adventurers the Queen prohibited the transporting of Wool unwrought and the Cloth-Fleet was sent to Embden the principal City in East Fruzland about Easter following where it was joyfully received and where the English kept their Factory for some years after And though the Hanse Towns made such friends in the Court of the Emperour that the English trade was interdicted under the pretence of being a Monopoly yet by the constancy of the Queen the courage of the Merchants and the dexterity of their Agents they prevailed at last and caried on the trade themselves without any Competitours The apprehension of this dealing from the Council of Spain induced the Queen to hearken the more willingly to a peace with France Which she concluded upon terms of as good advantage as the times would bear the demand for Calais being waved till the eight years end at which it was to be restored unto her by the Treaty of Cambray Which peace was first Proclaimed before her Majesty in the Castle of Windsor the French Ambassador being present and afterwards at London on the
person which was the Marquis of Winchester Lord Treasurer of England the other twelve being two Earls six Lords and four Knights the sacred part thereof performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury assisted by the Bishops of London and Rochester the funeral Sermon being pâ—eached by the Bishop of London which tended much unto the praise and commendation of that famous Emperor By which solemnity as she did no small honor to the dead so she gave great contentment to the living also the people being generally much delighted with such glorious pomps and the Church of England thereby held in estimation with all forein Princes Nothing else memorable in this year but the comming out of certain books and the death of Caâ—vin Dorman an English fugitive first publisheth a book for proof of certain of the Articles denyed in Bishop Jewel's challenge encountred first by Alexander Nowel Dean of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul who first appeared in print against those of Lovain and is replyed upon by Dorman in a book entituled A Discovery of Mr. Nowel's untruths not published till the year next following But of more consequence to this Church was the death of Calvin by whose authority so much disorder and confusion was to be brought upon it in the times succeeding a name much reverenced not onely by those of his own party and perswasions but by many grave and moderate men who did not look at first into the dangers which ensued upon it His platform at Geneva made the onely pattern by which all reformed Churches were to frame their Government his Writings made the onely rule by which all Students in Divinity were to square their Judgments What Peter Lombart was esteemed to be in the Schools of Rome the same was Calvin reckoned in all those Churches which were reformed according to the Zuinglian doctrine in the point of the Sacrament But Hic Magister non tenetur as the saying was he was not so esteemed in England nor was there any reason why it should be so for though some zealous brethren of the Presbyteterian or Puritan faction appeared exceeding ambitious to wear his Livery and thought no name so honorable as that of Calvinist yet the sounder members of the Church the Royal and Prelatical Divines as the others called them conceived otherwise of him And the right learned Adrian Sararia though by birth a Dutch-man yet being once preferred in the Church of England he stomached nothing more than to be called Calvinian Anno Reg. Eliz. 7. A. D. 1564 1565. WE shall begin this year with the concernments of the Kirk of Scotland where Queen Eâ—izabeth kept a Stock still going the Returns whereof redounded more to her own security than to the profit and advantage of the Church of England The Queen of Scots was young poffessed of that Kingdom and next Heir to this first married to the Daulphin of France and sued to after his decease in behalf of Charls the younger son of the Emperor Maximilian as also of the Prince of Conde and the Duke of Bavaria But Queen Elizabeth had found so much trouble and danger from her first alliance with the French that she was against all Marriages which might breed the like or any way advance the power of that Competitor But on the contrary she commended to her the Earl of Leicester whom she pretended to have raised to those eminent honors to make him in some fort capable of a Queens affection Which proposition proved agreeable to neither party the Queen of Scots disdaining that unequal offer and Leicester dealing underhand with Randolph the English Resident to keep her still in that averseness He had foolishly given himself some hopes of marrying with Elizabeth his own dread Mistress interpreting all her favours to him to proceed from affection and was not willing that any Proposition for that purpose with the Queen of Scots should be entertained During these various thoughts on both sides the English began to be divided in opinion concerning the next heir to the Crown Imperial of this Realm One Hales had writ a discourse in favour of the House of Suffolk but more particularly in defence of the late marriage between the Earl of Hertford and the Lady Katherine for which he was apprehended and committed prisoner The Romish party were at the same time sub-divided some standing for the Queen of Scots as the next heir apparent though an alien born others for Henry Lord Darnlie eldest son to the Earl of Lenox born in the Realm and lineally descended from the eldest daughter of King Henry the 7th from whom the Queen of Scots also did derive her claim The Queen of Scots also at the same time grown jealous of the practices of the Lord James her bastard-brother whom she had not long before made Earl of Murrey and being over-powered by those of the Congregation was at some loss within her self for finding a fit person upon whose integrity she might depend in point of counsel and on whose power she might rely in point of safety After a long deliberation nothing seemed more conducible to her ends and purposes than the recalling of Matthew Earl of Lenox to his native Country from whence he had been forced by the Hamiltonians in the time of King Henry Being of great power in the West of Scotland from the Kings whereof he was extracted Henry conceived that some good use might be made of him for advancing the so much desired marriage between his onely son Prince Edward and the Infant-Queen The more to gain him to his side he bestowes upon him in marriage the Lady Margaret Dowglas daughter of Queen Margaret his eldest sister by Archibald Dowglas Earl of Angus her second husband of which marriage were born Henry Lord Darnly of whom more anone and Charls the second son whom King James created Earl of Lenox father of Arabella before remembred And that they might support themselves in the nobler equipage he bestowes upon him also the Mannor of Setrington with other good Lands adjoyning in the County of Yoâ—k passing since by the name of Lenox his Lands in the style of the people In England he remained above twenty years but keptâ— himself constant in all changes to the Church of Rome which made him the more estimable both with his own Queen and the English Papists Being returned into his Country he found that Queen so gracious to him and such a handsome correspondence with the chief Nobility that he sends for his two sons to come thither to him but leaves his wife behind in the Court of England lest otherwise Queen Elizabeth might take some umbrage or displeasure at it if they should all remove at once It was about the middle of February that the Lord Darnly came to the Court of Scotland Who being not full twenty years old of lovely person sweet behaviour and a most ingenuous disposition exceedingly prevailed in short time on the Queens affection She had now met with such a