one another by the known Laws of the Land which neither Acts of Parliament nor the last Will and Testament of the King Deceased were of power to alter That the young Queen of Scots was an Alien born by Consequence uncapable of any Inheritance in the Realm of England and had besides preferred the Alliance of the French before that of His Majesty which rendered Her as unworthy as she was uncapable That for the better carrying on of that Blessed Work of Reformation the Peace and Happiness of His People the preventing of all Emergent Mischiefs and His own everlasting Fame it was not possible to make a more happy Provision then by transferring the Crown to the Lady Jane a Lady of such Excellent Virtues as were sufficient to adorn the Richest Diadem That there was no Question to be made but that His Majesty knew as well as any the admirable qualities of that Matchless Lady Her Zeal to the Religion here by Him established the agreeableness of Her Conversation with His own Affections and could not but conceive that Nation to be infinitely happier then all others which might fall under the Command of so mild a Government And finally That he was bound by His Duty to God the Light of His own Conscience and the Love He had to all His Subjects to lay aside all Natural Affections to His Father's House in respect of that great Obligation which He had to God's Glory and the true Religion following therein the Example of our Lord and Saviour who looked both for his Brothers and Sisters amongst his Disciples without relating to his nearest Kindred by Joseph or Mary By these Suggestions and Inducements he much enclined the King to hearken to his Propositions For furtherance whereof he caused such as were about Him to entertain Him with continual Discourses of the Divine Perfections and most Heavenly Graces of the Lady Jane the high Esteem in which She was with all the Subjects for Her Zeal and Piety the everlasting Fame which would wait upon Him by providing such a Successour to enjoy the Crown in whom Virtues would survive to succeeding Ages Then which no Musick could sound sweeter in the Ears of the King whom he knew to have an affectionate Sympathy with that Excellent Lady as being much of the same Age brought up in the same Studies as near to Him in the sweetness of Her Disposition as She was in Blood and of a Conversation so agreeable to Him as if They had been but the same Person in divers Habits And they all plied their Game so cunningly that the weak King not being able to withstand so many Assaults did at last condescend to that which he found not onely most conformable to their Importunities but to His own Affections also Order was taken thereupon that an Instrument should be drawn in due Form of Law for the transposing of the Crown to the Children of the Lady Frances Duchess of Suffolk and Daughter to Mary the French Queen one of the Sisters of King Henry His Majeâ—tie's â—â—ther In which Instrument nothing was to be defective which either could be drawn from the Grounds of Law or the Rules of Polity to justifie and endear the Action In drawing up whereof there was none thought fitter to be used then Sir William Cecil one of the Chief Secretaries of Estate who having before served Dudlie's Turn against his old Master the Duke of Sommerset was looked on as the Readiest Man for the present Service The Pretensions taken from the Law for excluding the King's two Sisters from the Right of Succession were grounded First Upon the Invalidity of their Mother's Marriage both being made void by Legal Sentences of Divorce and those Divorces ratified by Acts of Parliament In which the said two Sisters were declared to be illegitimate and consequently uncapable of any of those Favours which were intended to them by the Act of Succession made in the thirty fifth year of the late King Henry or by the last Will and Testament of that King which was built upon it In the next Place it was pretended that the said two Sisters Mary and Elizabeth being but of half Blood to the King now Reigning admitting them to have been born in lawfull Wedlock were not in any Capacity by the Common-Law the old good Law of England to be Heirs unto Him or to Succeed in any Part of that Inheritance which came unto Him by His Father It was considered also that by the known Rules and Principles of the Common-Law no manner of Person was Inheritable to any Estate of Lands or Tenements in the Realm of England who was not born under the King's Allegiance as King of England but in the case of Naturalization by Act of Parliament Which seemed to be a sufficient Bar against all Titles and Demands for the Line of Scotland although derived from Margaret the Eldest Daughter of King Henry the Seventh And whereas the Lady Frances Duchess of Suffolk might seem both by the Law of Nature and the Right of Succession to have precedency in Title before her Daughter yet was no Injury offered to her in regard that she was willing to pass by all her Personal Claims for the Preferment of her Children Which Pretermissions of the Mother were neither new nor strange in the Succession to the Crown of this Kingdom Not new because the like was done by Maud the Emperess for the Advancement of her Son King Henry the Second nor strange because it hâ—d been lately practised in the Person of the Lady Margaret Countess of Richmond in giving Way to the Preferment of King Henry the Seventh the first King of the House now Regnant The Reasons or Pretexts which seemed to be built on Polity and Point of State were first the unavoydable Danger of Reducing this Free and Noble Realm under the Vassalage and Servitude of the Bishop of Rome if either of the King 's two Sisters in their several Turns should marry with a Foreign Prince of that Religion or otherwise by the Transport of their own Affections submit their Scepters to the Pope It was considered also That by such Marriages not onely many Foreign Customs and Laws would be introduced but that there might follow an Abolishment of those Antient Laws upon which the Native Rights of all the Subjects seemed to have dependance Besides that possibly the Realm might hereby be annexed to some greater Kingdom of which in time it would be reckoned for a Member and consequently be reduced unto the Form of a Province to the utter Subversion of the Antient Dignity and Estate thereof Which whensoever it should happen it was neither impossible nor improbable that the People upon a just Sence of the Indignities Pressures might elect some popular and seditious man to be their King who to countenance his own unworthiness obscurity would little regard what Contumelie he cast upon the falling Family of the Kings before him To which perchance some further Countenance might be
carried prisoner to the Court from thence committed to the Tower arraigned at Westminster on the 15th of March and executed on the 11th of April having first heard that no fewer than 50 of his accomplices were hanged in London and Bret with 22 more in several places of Kent It can not be denied but that the restitution of the Reformed Religion was the matter principally aimed at in this Rebellion through nothing but the Match with Spain appeared on the outside of it Which appears plainly by a Book writ by Christopher Goodman associated with John Knox for setting up Presbytery and Rebellion in the Kirk of Scotland in which he takes upon him to shew How far Superioâ—r Magistrates ought ot be obeyed For having filled almost every Chapter of it with railing speeches against the Queen and stirring up the people to rebel against her he falleth amongst he rest upon this expression viz. Wyat did but his duty and it was but the duty of all others that profess the Gospel to have risen with him for maintenance of the same His cause was just and they were all Traytors that took not part with him O Noble Wyat thou art now with God and those worthy men that dyed in that happy enterprise But this Book was written at Geneva where Calvin reigned To whom no pamphlet could be more agreeable than such as did reproach this Queen whom in his Comment upon Amoz he entituleth by the name of Porserpine and saith that she exceeded in her cruelties all the devils in hell Much more it is to be admired that Dr John Poynct the late Bishop of Winchester should be of Counsel in the plot or put himself into their Camp and attend them unto the place where the carriage brake Where when he could not work on Wiat to desist from that unprofitable labour in remounting the Cannon he counselled Vauham Bret and others to shift for themselves took leave of his more secret friends told them that he would pray for their good success and so departed and took ship for Germany where he after died The fortunate suppressing of these insurrections secured the Queen from any fear of the like dangers for the present And thereupon it was advised to make use of the opportunity for putting the Church into a posture when the spirits of the opposite party were so crush'd and broken that no resistance could be looked for Articles therefore are sent into every Diocess and letters writ unto the several and Respective Bishops on the 3d. of March to see them carefully and speedily put in execution The Tenour of which Articles were as followeth 1. That every Bishop and his Officers with all other having Ecclesiastical jurisdiction shall with all speed and dilâ—gence and all manner of ways to them possible put in execution all such Canons and Ecclesiastical Laws heretofore in the time of King Henry the 8th used within this Realm of England and the Dominions of the same not being directly and expresly contrary to the Laws and Statutes of this Realm 2. That no Bishop or any his Officer or other person hereafter in any of their Ecclesiastical writings in processe or other extra-judicial acts do use or put in this clause or Sentence Regia Auhoritate fulcitus 3. That no Bâ—â—â—op nor any his Officers or other person do hereafter exact or demand in the admessien of any person to any Ecclesiastical Promotion Order or Office any Oâ—â—h touching the primacy or succession as of late few years past haâ—h been accâ—stomed and used 4. That every Bishop and his Officers with all other persons have a vigilant eye and use special diligence and foresight that no person be admitted or received to any Ecclesiastical function Benefice or Office being a Sacramentary infected or defamed with any notable kind of Heresie or other great crime and that the said Bishop do stay and cause to be staid as much as lyeth in him that Benefices and Ecclesiastical promotions do not notably decay or take hinderance by passing or confirming of unreasonable Leases 5. That every Bishop and all other persons aforesaid do diligently travail for the reprâ—ssing of Heresies and notable crimes especially in tâ—e Clergy duely correcting and punishing the same 6. That every Bishop and all other persons aforesaid do likewise travail for the condemning and repressing of corrupt and naughty opinions unlawful Books Ballads and other pernitious and hurtful devices engeâ—driâ—g hatred and discord amongst the people And that Schoolmasters Teachers and Preachers do exercise and use their offices and duties without Teaching Preaching or setting forth any evil and corrupt doctrine and that doing the contrary they may be by the Bishop and his said Officers punished and removed 7. That every Bishop and all other person aforesaid proceeding summarily and with all celerity and speed may and shall deprive or declare deprived and remove according to their learning and discretion and such persons from their Benefices and Ecclesiastical promotions who contrary to the state of their Order and the laudable custome of the Church have maried and used women as their wives or otherwise notably and slanderously disordered or abused themselves sequestring also during the sayd processe the fruits and profits of the said Benefices and Ecclesidstical promotions 8. That the said Bishop and other persons aforesaid do use more lenity and clemency with such as have maried whose wives be dead than with others whose women do yet remain alâ—ve And likewise such Priests as with the consent of their wives or women openly in the presence of the Bishop do professe to abstain to be used more favourable In which case after th Penance effectually done the Bishop according to his discretion and wisdome may upon just consideration receive and admit them again to their former administrations so it be not in the same place appointing them such a portion to live upon to be paid out of their Benefice whereof they be deprived by the discretion of the said Bishop or his Officer as he shall think may be spared of the same Benâ—fice 9. That every Bishop and other person aforesaid do foresee that they suffer not any â—â—ligious man having solemly professed chastity to continue with his woman or wife but that all such persons after deprivation of their Benefice or Ecclesiastical promotion be also divorced every one from his said woman and due punishment otherwise taken for the offence therein 10. Item That every Bishop and all other persons aforesaid do take Order and direction with the â—arishioners of every Benefice where Priests do want to repair to the next Parish for divine Service or to appoint for a convenient time till other better provision may be made one Curate â—o serve alienis vicibus in divers Parishes and to allot the said Curaâ—e for his labour some part of the Benefice which he so serveth 11. That all and all manner of Processions in the Church be used frequently and continued after the old Order of the Church
some decent Trimming And might not these be handsomly converted unto private uses to serve as Carpets for their Tables Coverlids to their Beds or Cushions to â—heir Chairs or Windows Hereupon some rude People are encouraged under-hand to beat down some Altars which makes way for an Order of the Counciâ—-Table to take down the rest and set up Tables in their places Followed by a Commission to be executed in all parts of the Kingdom for seising on the Premises to the use of the King But as the Grandees of the Court intended to defraud the King of so great a Booty and the Commissioners to put a Cheat upon the Court-Lords who employed them in it So they were both prevented in some places by the â—oâ—ds and Gentry of the Countrey who thought the Altar-Cloths together with the Copes and â—late of their several Churches to be as necessary for themselves as for any others â—his Change drew on the Alteration of the former Liturgâ— reviewed by certain Godly Prelates reduced almost into the same Form in which now it stands and confirmed by Parliament in the 5th and 6th years of this King but almost as unpleasing to the Zuinglian Faction as the former was In which Conjuncture of Affairs dyed King Edward the Sixth From the beginning of whose Reign the Church accounts the â—poche of a Reformation All that was done in oâ—der to it under Henrâ— the Eight seemed to be accidental onely and by the by rather designed on private Ends then out of any setled purpose to â—eform the Church and therefore intermitted and resumed again as those Ends had variance But now the Work was carried on wiâ—h a constant Hand the Prelates of the Church co-operating with the King and his Council and each contriving with the other for the Honour of it Scarce had they brought it to this pass when King Edwaâ—d dyed whose Death I cannot reckon for an Infelicity to the Church of England For being ill-principled in himself and easily inclined to embrace such Counsels as were offered to Him it is not to be thought but that the rest of the Bishopricks before sufficiently empoverished muâ—t have followed Durham and the poor Church be left as destitute of Lands and Ornaments as when she came into the World in Her Natural Nakedness Nor was it like to happen otherwise in the following Reign if it had lasted longer then a Nine Day 's Wonder For Dudley of Northumberland who then ruled the Roast and had before dissolved and in hope devoured the Wealthy Bishâ—prick of Durham might easily have possessed himself of the greatest part of the Revenues of York and Carlisle By means whereof He would have made himself more absolute on the North-side of the Trent then the poor Titular Queen a most virtuous Lady could have been suffered to continue on the South side of it To carry on whose Interess and maintain Her Title the poor remainder of the Church's Patrimony was in all probability to have been shared amongst those of that Party to make them sure unto the side But the Wisdom of this great Achitophel being turned to foolishness He fell into the Hands of the Publick Hang-man and thereby saved himself the labour of becoming his own Executioner Now MARY comes to Act Her Part and She drives on furiously Her Personal Interess had strongly byassed Her to the Church of Rome On which depended the Validity of Her Mother's Marriage and consequently Her own Legitimation and Succession to the Crown of this Realm And it was no hard matter for Her in a time unsettled to Repeal all the Acts of Her Brother's Reign and after to restore the Pope unto that Supremacy of which Her Father had deprived Him A Reign Calamitous and unfortunate to Her Self and Her Subjects Unfortunate to Her Self in the loss of Calais Calamitous to Her Subjects by many Insurrections and Executions but more by the effusion of the Bloud of so many Martyâ—s For though she gave a Check to the Rapacity of the former Times yet the Professours of the Reformation paid dearly for it whose Bloud she caused to be poured forth like Water in most parts of the Kingdom but no where more abundantly then in Bonner's Slaughter-House Which being within the view of the Court and under Her own Nose as the Saying is must needs entitle Her to a great part of those Horrid Cruelties which almost every day were acted by that bloudy Butcher The Schism at Frankâ—oâ—t took beginning in the same time also occasioned by some Zealots of the Zuinglian Faction who needs must lay aside the use of the Publick Liturgie retained by all the rest of the English Exiles the better to make way for such Forms of Worship as seemed more consonant to Calvin's Platform and the Rules of Geneva Which woful Schism so wretchedly begun in a Foreign Nation they laboured to promote by all sinister Practises in the Church of England when they returned from Exile in the following Reign The miserable Effects whereof we feel too sensibly and smartly to this very day But the great Business of this Reign related to the restitution of the Abbey-Lands end eavoured earnestly by the Queen and no less strenuously opposed by the then present Owners who had all the reason in the World to maintain that Right which by the known Laws of the Land had been vested in them For when the Monasteries and Religious Houses had been dissolved by several Acts of Parliament in the time of King Henry the Lands belonging to those Houses were by those Acts conferr'd upon the King and His Successours Kings and Queens of England Most of which Lands were either exchanged for others with the Lords and Gentry or sold for valuable Consideration to the rest of the Subjects All which Exchanges Grants and Sales were passed and Confirmed by the King's Letters Patents under the Great Seal of England in due Form of Law Which gave unto the Patentees as good a Title as the Law could make them This was well known unto the Pope and He knew well upon what ticklish Terms He stood with the Lords and â—ommons then Assembled in Parliament whom iâ— He did not gratifie with some Signal Favour He could not hope to be restored by them to His former Power for being deprived of His Supâ—emacy by Act of Parliament in the Time of King HENRY He could not be restored unto it but by Act of Parliamâ—nt in the time of Queen MARY and no such Ast could be obtained or compassed for Him without a Confirmation of Church-â—ands to the present Owners To which Necessity Pope Julius being forced to submit Himself He issueth a Decree accompanied with some Reasons which might seem to induce Him to it for confirming all such Lands on the present Occupants of which they stood possessed justo Titulo by a Lawful Title And this was onely reckoned by him for a Lawful Title First that they were possessed of the said Lands juxta Leges hujus Regni pro
for pressing him to the disinheriting of his foâ—mer children But whether this were so or not certain it is that his last wife being a proud imperious woman and one that was resolved to gain her own ends upon him never leâ—t plying him with one suspition after anoâ—her till in the end she had prevâ—iled to have the greatest part of his lands and all his Honourable Titles setled on her eldest son And that she might make sure work of it she caused him to obtaine a private Act of Parliament in the 32. yeare of Henry the Eighth Anno 1540. for entailing the same on this last Edward and the Heires male of his body So easie was he to be wrought on by those that knew on which side he did lie most open to assaults and batteries Of a farr different temper was his brother Thomas the youngest sonne of Sir John Seimour of a daring and enterprising nature arrogant in himselfe a dispiser of others and a Contemner of all Counsells which were not first forged in his own brain Following his sister to the Court he received the Order of Knighthood from the hands of the King at such time as his brother was made Earle of Hartford and on May day in the thirtieth yeare of the Kings Reign he was one of the Challengers at the Magnificent Justs maintained by him and others against all comers in the Pallace of Westminster in which together with the rest he behaved himselfe so highly to the Kings contentment and their own great Honoâ—r that they were all severally rewarded with the Grant of 100. Marks of yearely rent and a convenient house for habitation thereunto belonging out of the late dissolved order of Saint John oâ— Iâ—rusalem Which being the first foundation of his following greatness proved not sufficient to support the building which was raised upon it the Gentleman and almost all the rest of the challengers coming within few yeares after to unfortunate ends For being made Lord Seimour of Sudley and Lord High Admirall of England by King Edward the sixth he would not satisfie his ambition with a lower marriage then the widow of his deceased Soveraign aspiring after her death to the bed of the Princes of Elizabeth the second daughter of the King Which wrought such Jealousies and distrusts in the Head of his brother then being Lord Protector of the King and Kingdom that he was thereupon Arraigned Condemned and Executed of which more anon to the great joy of such as practised to â—ubvert them both As for the Barrony of Sudley denominated from a goodly Mannor in the County of Glâ—câ—ster it wasâ— ancâ—ently the Patrimony of Harrold the eldest Son of Ralph d' Mont. the son of 〈◊〉 Medantinuâ— or d' Mount and of Goda his wife one of the daughters of Ethilred and sister of Edmond sirnamed â—roâ—side Kings of England whose Posterity taking to themselves the name of Sudley continued in possession of it till the time of John the last Baron of this name and Famiâ—y VVhose daugâ—ter Joane conveyed the whole estate in marriage to Sir William Botteler of the Family of Wemm in Shropshire From whom deâ—cended Ralph Lord Botteleâ— of Sudley Castle Chamberlain of the Houshold to King Henry the sixth by whom he was created Knight of the Garter and Lord High Treasurer of England And though the greatest part of this Inheritance being devided between the sisters and co-heires came to other Families yet the Castle and Barony of Sudley remained unto a male of this house untill the latter end of the Reign â—f King Henry the eighth to whom it was escheated by the Attainder of the last Lord Botteller whose greatest Crime was thought to be this goodly Mannor which some greedy Courtiers had an eye on And being fallen unto the Crown it was no hard matter for the Lord Protector to estate the same upon his brother who was scarce warmed in his new Honour when it fell into the Crown again Where it continued all the rest of King Edwards Reign and by Queen Mary was conferred on Sir John Bruges who derived his Pedigree from one of the said sisters and co-heires of Ralph Lord Botteler whom she ennobled by the Title of Lord Chaundos of Sudley As for Sir Henry Seimour the second son of Sir John Seimour he was not found to be of so fine a metall as to make a Courtier and was therefore left unto the life of a Country Gentleman Advanced by the Power and favour of his elder Brother to the oâ—der of Knighthood and afterwards Estated in the Mannours of Marvell and Twyford in the County of Southhampton dismembred in those broken times from the see of Winchester To each of these belonged a Park that of the first containing no less then foure miles that of the last but two in compass the first being also Honoured with a goodly Mancion house belonging anciently to those Bishops and little inferiour to the best of the Wealthy Bishopricks There goes a story that the Priest Officiating at the Altar in the Church of Ouslebury of which Parish Marvell was a part after the Mass had been abolished by the Kings Authority was violently dragged thence by this Sir Henry beaten and most reproachfully handled by him his servants universally refusing to serve him as the instruments of his Rage and Fury and that the poore Priest having after an opportunity to get into the Church did openly curse the said Sir Henry and his posterity with Bell Book and Candle according to the use observed in the Church of Rome Which whether it were so or not or that the maine foundation of this Estate being laid on Sacrilidge could promise no long blessing to it Certain it is that his posterity are brought beneath the degree of poverty For having three Nephewes by Sir John Seâ—mour his only Son that is to say Edward the eldest Henry and Thomas younger sons besides severall daughters there remaines not to any of them one foot of Land or so much as a penny of money to supply their necessities but what they have from the Munificence of the Marquesse of Hartford or the charity of other well disposed people which have affection or Relation to them But the great ornament of thisâ— house was their sister Jane the only daughter of her father by whose care she was preferred to the Court and service of Queen Ann Bollen where she outâ—shined all the other Ladies and in short time had gained exceeding much on the King a great admirer of Fresh Beauties and such as could pretend unto no command on his own affections Some Ladies who had seen the pictures of both Queenes at White Hall Gallery have entertained no small dispute to which of the two they were to give Preheminence in point of beauty each of them having such a plentifull measure of Perfections as to Entitle either of them to a Superiority If Queen Ann seemed to have the more lively countenance Queen Jane was thought to carry it in the exact
these that follow IN the name of God and of the Glorious and blessed Virgin our Lady St. Mary and of all the Holy Company of Heaven We Henry by the Grace of God King of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith and in Earth immediately under God the Sùpreme Head of the Church of England and Ireland of that name the eighth Calling to our remembrance the great gifts and benefits of Almighty God given unto us in this Transitory life give unto him our most lowly and humble thanks acknowledging our selves insufficient in any part to deserve or recompence the same But feare that we have not worthily received the same and considering further also that we be as all mankinde are mortall and borne in sin believing neverthelesse and hoping that every Christian creature living here in this Transitotory and Wretched World under God dying in stedfast and perfect Faith endeavouring and exercising himselfe to execute in this life time if he have leisure such good deeds and charitable workes as Scripture commandeth and as may be to the Honour and pleasure of God is Ordained by Christ's Passion to be sacred and attain eternall Life of which number we verily trust by his Grace to be one And that every creature the more high that he is in Estate Honour and Authority in this World the more he is bound to love serve and thank God and the more diligently to endeavour himselfe to do good and charitable works to the Laud Honour and Praise of Almighty God and the Profit of his soul We also calling to remembrance the dignity Estate Honour Rule and Governance that Almighty God hath called us to in this World and that neither we nor any other creature mortall knoweth the place time when nor where it shall please Almighty God to call him out of this Transitory World Willing therefore and minding with Gods grace before our passage out of the same to dispose and order our latter Mind Will and Tâ—stament in that sort as we trust it shall be acceptable to Almighty God our only Saviour Jesus Christ and all the Holy Company of Heaven and the due satisfaction of all Godly brethren in Earth Have now being of whole and perfect mind adhering wholly to the right Faith of Christ and his Doctrine repenting also our old and detestable life and being in perfect will and mind by his Grace never to returne to the same and such like And minding by Gods Grace never to vary therefrom as long as any remembrance truth or inward knowledge doth or may remaine within this mortall body most humbly and heartily do commend and bequeath our soul to Almighty God who in person of the Son redeemed the same with his most pretious body and blood in time of his Passion And for our better remembrance thereof hath left here with us in his Church Militant the Consecration and Administration of his most pretious Body and Blood to our no little Consolation and Comfort if we as thankfully accept the same as he lovingly and undeservedly on mans behalfe hath ordained it for our only benefit and not his Also we do instantly require and desire the blessed Virgin Mary his Mother with all the Holy Company of Heaven continually to pray for us whilest we live in this World and in the time of passing out of the same that we may the sooner attain everlasting life after our departure out of this transitory life which we do both hope and claime by Christs Passion And for my body when the soul is departed shall then remaine but as a Cadaver and so returne to the vile matter it was made of were it not for the Crown and Dignity which God hath called us unto and that we would not be counted an infâ—inger of honest Woâ—ldly Policies and Customes when they be not contrary to Gods Lawes we would be content to have it buried in any place accustomed for Christian â—olkes were it never so vile for it is but ashes and to ashes it shall returne Neverthelesse because we would be loath in the Reputation of the people to do injury to the Dignity which we are unworthily called unto we are content and also by these presents Our Last Will and Testament is to will and order that our body be buried and interred in the Quire of our Colledge of Windsor middle way between the stalls and the High Altar and there to be made and set as soon as conveniently may be done after our decease by our Executors at our costs and charges if it be not done by us in our life-time an Honourable Tomb for our bones to rest in which is well onward and almost made therefore already with a faire Grate about it in which we will also that the bones of our true and loving wife Queene Jane be put also And that there be provided ordained and set at the cost and charge of us or of our Executors if it be not done in our life time a convenient Altar Honourably prepared and apparrelled with all manner of things requisite and necessary for dayly Masse there to be said perpetually while the World shall endure Also we Will that the Tombs and Altars of King Henry the sixt and also of King Edward the fourth our great Vncle and Grandfather be made more Princely in the same place where they now be at our charge Which care being taken for his Tomb he gives order that all Divine Offices accustomed for the dead should be duly Celebrated for him that at the removall of his body to Windsor 1000. Marks should be distributed amongst the poore to the end that they might pray for the remission of his sins and the Wealth of his soule that a Revenue of 600 pound per Annum be setled on the Deane and Chapter of Windsor for performance of the uses in the Will expressed and more particularly for the maintainance of thirteen poore Gentlemen to be called the Poore Knights of Windsor at the rate of twelve pence by the day to each of them with a see of 3 l. 6 s. 8 d. yearly to be superadded unto him which should be chosen the Head and Goverâ—our over all the rest And that being done he proceeds to the entailing of the Crown in this manner following And as concerning the Order and disposition of the Imperiall Crown of this Realm of England and Ireland with our Title of France and all Dignities Honours and Preheminences Prerogatives Authorities and Jurisdictions to the same annexed or belonging and for the sâ—re Establishment of the Succession of the same And also for a full and plaine gift Disposition Assignement Declaration Limitation and appointment with what Conditions our Daughters Mary and Elizabeth shall severally have hold and enjoy the said imperiall Crowne and other the like Premises after our Decease and for default of issue and Heires of the severall bodyes of us and of our Son Prince Edward lawfully begotten And also for a full Gift Disposition Assignement Declaration
towards London where he was Proclaimed King with all due Solemnities He made his Royal Entry into the Tower on the last of January Into which He was conducted by Sir John Gage as the Constable of it and there received by all the Lords of the Council who with great Duty and Affection did attend His comings and waiting on Him into the Chamber of Presence did very chearfully swear Allegiance to him The next day by the general consent of all the Council the Earl of Hartford the King's Uncle was chosen Governour of His Person and Protectour of His Kingdomes till He should come unto the Age of eighteen years and was Proclaimed for such in all parts of London Esteemed most fit for this high Office in regard that he was the King's Uncle by the Mothers side very near unto Him in Blood but yet of no capacity to succeed in the Crown by reason whereof his Natural Affâ—ction and Duty was less easie to be over-carried by Ambition Upon which Gâ—ound of civil Prudence it was both piously and prudently Ordained by Solon in the State of Athens That no man should be made the Guardian unto any Orphan to whom the Inheritance might fall by the Death of his Ward For the first Handselling of his Office he Knighted the young King on the sixth of February Who being now in a capacity of conferring that Order bestowed it first on Henry Hoble-Thorn Lord Mayor of London and presently after on Mr. William Portman one of the Justices of the Bench being both dubbed with the same Sword with which He had received the Order of Knighthood at the hands of His Vncle. These first Solemnities being thus passed over the next care was for the Interment of the Old King and the Coronation of the New In order to which last it was thought expedient to advance some Confidents and Principal Ministers of State to higher Dignities and Titles then before they had the better to oblige them to a care of the State the safety of the King's Person and the preservation of the Power of the Lord Protectour who chiefly moved in the Design Yet so far did self-Interest prevail above all other Obligations and tyes of State that some of these men thus advanced proved his greatest Enemies the rest forsaking him when he had most need to make use of their Friendship In the first place having resigned the Office of Lord High Chamberlain he caused himself to be created Lord Seimour and Duke of Somerset Which last Title â—ppâ—rtaining to the King's Progenitours of the House of Lancaster and since the expiring of the Beauforts conferred on none but Henry the Natural Son of the King decealed was afterwards charged upon him as an Argument of his aspiring to the Crown which past all doubt he never aimed at His own turn being thus unhappily served the Lord William Parr Brother of Queen Katherinâ— Parr the Relict of the King deceased who formerly in the thirty fifth of the said King's Reign had been created Earl of Essex with reference to Ann his Wife Daughter and Heir of Henry Bâ—urchier the last Earl of Essex of that House was now made Marquess of Northampton in reference to her Extraction from the Bohunes once the Earls thereof John Dudly Viscount L'isle and Knight of the Garter having resigned his Office of Lord Admiral to gâ—â—tifie the Lord Protectour who desired to confer that place of Power and Trust on his younger Brother was in Exchange created Lord High Chamberlain of England and Earl of Warwick Which Title he affected in regard of his Discent from the Beauchamps who for long time had worn that Honour from whom he also did derive the Title of Viscount L'isle as being the Son of Edmond Sutton alias Dudley and of Elizabeth his Wife Sister and Heir of John Gray Viscount L'isle discended by the Lord John Talbot Viscount L'isle from Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick and Dame Elizabeth hisâ— Wife the direct Heir of Waren Lord L'isle the last of the Male Issue of that Noble Family In the next place comes Sir Thomas Wriothsley a man of a very new Nobility as being Son of William Wriothsley and Grand-Child of John Wriothsley both of them in their Times advanced no higher then to the Office of an Herald the Father by the Title of York the Grand-father by that of Garter King at Arms. But this man being planted in a warmer Sun grew up so fast in the esteem of King Henry the Eight that he was first made Principal Secretary afterwards created Baron of Tichfield advanced not long after to the Office of Lord Chancellour And finally by the said King installed Knight of the Garter An. 1545. For an addition to which Honours he was now dignified with the Title of the Earl of South-hampton enjoyed to this day by his Posterity These men being thus advanced to the highest Titles Sir Thomas Seimour the new Lord Admiral is Honoured with the Stile of Lord Seimour of Sudeley and in the beginning of the next year made Knight of the Garter prepared by this accumulation of Honours for his following Marriage which he had now projected and soon after compassed With no less Ceremony though not upon such lofty Aims Sir Richard Rich another of the twelve which were appointed for Subsidiaries to the great Council of Estate by the King deceased was prefered unto the Dignity of Lord Rich of Leez in Essex the Grand-father of that Robert Lord Rich who by King James was dignified with the Title of Earl of Warwick Anno 1618. In the third place came Sir William Willoughby discended from a younger Branch of the House of Eresby created Lord Willoughby of Parham in the County of Sussex And in the Rear Sir Edmond Sheffield advanced unto the Title of Lord Sheffield of Butterwick in the County of Lincoln from whom the Earls of Moulgrave do derive themselves All which Creations were performed with the accustomed Solemnities on the seventeenth of February and all given out to be designed by King Henry before his death the better to take off the Envy from the Lord Protectour whom otherwise all understanding people must needs have thought to be too prodigal of those Honours of which the greatest Kings of England had been so sparing For when great Honours are conferred on persons of no great Estates it raiseth commonly a suspicion amongst the people That either some proportionable Revenue must be given them also to the impoverishing of the King or else some way left open for them to enrich themselves out of the purses of the Subject These Preparations being dispatched they next proceed unto the Coronation of the King performed with the accustomed Rites on the twentieth of the same Moneth by Arch-Bishop Cranmer The Form whereof we finde exemplified in a Book called The Catalogue of Honour published by Thomas Mills of Canterbury in the year 1610. In which there is nothing more observable then this following Passage The King saith he being brought
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
notwithstanding that they differed from the Government and Forms of Worship Established in the Church of England All which and more He grants by His Letters Patents bearing Date at Lâ—ez the Lord Chancellour's House on the twenty fourth of July and the fourth year of His Reâ—gn Which Grant though in it self an Act of most 〈◊〉 Compassion in respect of those Strangers yet proved the occasion of no small disturbance to the Proceedings of the Church and the quiet ordering oâ— the State for by suffering these men to live under another kind of Government and to Worship God after other Forms then those allowed of by the Laws proved in effect the 〈◊〉 up of one Altar against another in the midst of the Church and the erecting â—f a Common-Wealth in the midst of the Kingdom So much the more unfortunately peâ—â—itted in this present Conjuncture when such a Repâ—ure began to appear amongst our selves as was made wider by the coming in of these Dutch Reformerâ— and the Indulgence granted to them as will appear by the follâ—wing Story of John Hooper designed to the Bishoprick of Glocester which in brâ—ef was this John Hooper the designed Bishop of Glocester being bred in Oxford studious in the Holy Scriptures and well-affected unto those Beginnings of the Reformation whiâ—h had been countenanced by King Henry about the time of the Six Articles found himself so much in danger as put upon him the necessity of forsaking the Kingdom Settling himself at Zurich a Town of Switzerland he acquaints himself with Bulliâ—ger a Scholar in those Times of great Name and Note and having staiâ—d there till the Death of King Henry he returned into England bringing with him some very strong Affections to the Nakendness of the Zuinglian or Helvetian Churches though differing in Opinion from them in some Points of Doctrine and more especially in that of Predestination In England by his constant Preaching and learned Writings he grew into great Favour and Esteem with the Earl of Warwick by whose procurement the King most Graciously bestowed upon him without any seeking of his own the Bishoprick of Glocester which was then newly void by the Death of Wakeman the last Abbot of 〈◊〉 and the first Bishop of that See Having received the King's Letters Patents for his Preferment to that Place he applies himself to the Arch-Bishop for his Consecration concerning which there grew a difference between them For the Arch-Bishop would not Consecrate him but in such an Habit which Bishops were required to wear by the Rules of the Church and Hooper would not take it upon such Conditions Repairing to his Patron the Earl of Warwick he obtains from him a Letter to the Arch-Bishop desiring a forbearance of those things in which the Lord Elect of Glocester did crave to be forborne at his hands implying also that it was the King's desire as well as his that such forbearance should be used It was desired also that he would not charge him with any Oath which seemed to be burthenous to his Conscience For the Elâ—ct Bishop as it seems had boggled also at the Oath of paying Canâ—nical Obedience to his Metropolitan which by the Laws then and still in force he was bound to take But the Arch-Bishop still persisting in the Denyal and being well seconded by Bishop Ridley of London who would by no meanes yield unto it the King himself was put upon the business by the Earl of VVarwick who thereupon wrote to the Arch-Bishop this ensuing Letter RIght-Reverend Father and Right-Trusty and VVell-Beloved VVe Greet you well VVhereas VVe by the Advice of Our Council have Calaen and Chosen Our Right-VVell-Beloved and VVell-VVorthy Mr. John Hooper Professour of Divinity to be Our Bishop of Glocester as well for his Great Learning Deep Judgment and Long Study both in the Scriptures and other Profound Learning as also for his Good Discretion Ready Vtterance and Honest Life for that kind of Vocation c. From Consecrating of whom VVe understand you do stay because he would have you omit and let pass certain Rights and Ceremonies offensive to his Conscience whereby you think you should fall in Praemunire of Our Laws VVe have thought Good by Advice afore-said to dispence and discharge you of all manner of Dangers Penalties and Forfeitures you should run into and be in in any manner of way by omitting any of the same And this Our Letters shall be your sufficient Warrant and Discharge therefore Given under Our Signet at Our Castle of Windsore the fifth day of August in the fourth year of Our Reign This Gracious Letter notwithstanding the two Bishops wisely taking into consideration of what Danger and Ill Consequence the Example was humbly craved leave not to obey the King against his Laws and the Earl finding little hope of prevailing in that suit which would not be granted to the King leaves the new Bishop to himself who still persisting in his Obstinacy and wilfull Humour was finally for his Disobedience and Contempt committed Prisoner and from the Prison writes his Letters to Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr for their Opinion in the Case From the last of which who had declared himself no friend to the English Ceremonies he might presume of some Encouragement but that he had any from the first I have no where found The contrary whereunto will appear by his Answer unto John à Lasco in the present Case whereof more anon In which condition of Affairs Calvin addresseth his Letters to the Lord Protectâ—ur whom he desireth to lend the man an helping hand and extricate him out of those Perplexities into which he was cast So that at last the Differences were thus compromised that is to say That Hooper should receive his Consecration attired in his Episcopal Robes that he should be dispensed withall from wearing it at ordinary times as his dayly Habit but that he should be bound to use it when soever he Preached before the King in his own Cathedral or any other place of like Publick Nature According to which Agreement being appointed to Preach before the King he shewed himself apparelled in his Bishop's Robes namely a long Scarlet Chimere reaching down to the ground for his upper Garment changed in Queen Elizabeth's Time to one of Black Satten and under that a white Linen Rochet with a Square Cap upon his head which Fox reproacheth by the name of a Popish Attire and makes to be a great cause of Shame and Contumeliâ— to that Godly man And possibly it might be thought so at that time by Hooper himself who from thenceforth carried a strong Grudg against Bishop Ridley the principal man as he conceived and that not untruly who had held him up so closely to such hard Conditions not fully reconciled unto him till they were both ready for the Stake and then it was high time to lay aside those Animosities which they had hereupon conceived on against another But these thingâ— happened not I mean his Consecration
Execution â—ft-times happily supplyeth former Defects Recâ—llect Your selves then and so make use of Your Authority that the Princess Mary the undoubtedly Lawfully Heir may publickly be Proclaimed Queen of England c. No other way but this as the Case now stands to recover our lost Honours and preserve the State The Earl of Pembroke was a man altogether unlettered but so well skilled in humouring King Henry the Eighth that he had raised Himself to a great Estate for whâ—ch he could not but express some sense of Gratitude in doing good Offices for his Children And having formerly been suspected to have had too great a part in Northumberland's Counsels he conceâ—ved himself obliged to wipe off that Stain by declaring his Zeal and Resolution in the Cause of the Princess And therefore assoon as the Earl of Arundel had concluded his Speech he very chearfully professed that he approved and would subscribe the Proposition and therewithall laying his Hand upon his Sword he signifiâ—d his Readiness and Resolution to defend the Lady Marie's Cause against all Opponents The rest of the Lords encouraged by these good Examples and seeing nothing but apparent Danger on all sides if they did the contrary came to a speedy Conclusion with them and bound themselves to stand together in Defence of the late King's Sisters against all their Enemies Which being thus so generously and unanimously agreed upon a Messenger is presently dispatched to the Lord Mayour requiring him to repair to Baynara'â—-Castle within an hour and to bring with him the Recorder and such of the Aldermen of the City as to him seemed best Who being come accordingly at the time appointed their Lordships told them in few words as well their Resolution as their Reason of it and so desired their Company to Cheap-side-Cross to Proclaim Queen Mary Which said without any further Dispute about the Title they rode all together in good order through Saint Paul's-Church-Yard till they came to the Gate which openeth into the Street where they found such Multitudes and Throngs of People whom the Noise of such a Confluence at Baynard's-Castle and the going down of the Lord Mayour and Aldermen had drawn together that they could hardly force a Way through them to come to the Cross. But being come thither at the last though with much ado Sir Christopher Barker Knight of the Bath and Principal King at Arms Proclaimed by the Sound of Trumpet the Princess Mary Daughter of King Henry the Eighth and Queen Kaharine His Wife to be the Lawfull and Undoubted Queen of England France and Ireland Defender of the Faith adding thereto that Sacred Title of Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England which She retained till the beginning of the following Parliament and then rescinded all those Acts by which it had been formerly united to the Crown of this Realm The Proclamation being ended they went together in a Solemn Prâ—cession to Saint Pauâ—'s Church where they caused the Te Deum to be sung with the Rights accustomed and so dismissed the Assembly to their several dwellings Being returned to Baynard's-Castle the Earl of Arundel and the Lord Paget are presently dispatched to Framlingham with thirty Horse to give the Queen a Narrative of their whole Proceedings Some Companies are also sent to assure the Tower and to Command the Duke of Suffolk to discharge the Family and Attendants of the Lady Jane to signifie unto Her that She must lay aside the Name and Title of Queen and suffer Her Self to be reduced to the Rank of a private Person All which he readily obeyed as easily subject to Despair as before he had been swelled with Ambitious Hopes and the next day adjoyns himself to the rest of the Counâ—il subscribing amongst others to such Instructions as were to be dispatched to the Duke of Northumberland for the disbanding of his Forces and carâ—ying himself like an obedient and dutifull Subject as he ought to do But there was little need of this last Message and none at all of the other Foâ— the noise of these loud Acclamâ—â—ions which were made at the Proclaiming of the new Queen passing from one Street to another came at last to the Tower â—efore the Message had been sent to the Duke of Suffolk where they were heard by the â—ady Jane now no longer Queen with such Tranquility of Mâ—nd and Composedness of Countenance as if she had not been concerned in the Alteration She had before received the offer of the Crown with as even a Temper as if it had been nothing but a â—arland of Flowers and now She lays aside the thought thereof with as much contentedness as She could have thrown away that Garland when the sent was gone The time of her Glories was so short but a nine Days wonder that it seemâ—d nothing but a Dream out of which She was not sorry to be awakened The Tower had been to Her a Prison rather then a Court and interrupted the Delights of Her former Life by so many Terrours that no day passed without some new Alarms to disturb Her Quiet She doth now know the worst that Fortune can do unto Her And having always feared that there stood a Scaffold secretly behind the Throne She was as readily prepared to act her Part upon the one as upon the other If Sorrow and Affliction did at any time invade Her Thoughts it was rather in reference to Her Friends but most of all unto Her Husband who were to be involved in the Calamity of Her Misfortunes then upon any Apprehensions which She had for Her Self And hereunto the bringing in of so many Prisoners one day after another gave no small Encrease brought hither for no other Reason but because they had seemed forward in contributing towards Her Advancement In the middest of which Disconsolations the restoring of the Duke Her Father to his former Liberty gave some Repose unto Her Mind whose Sufferings were more grievous to Her then Her own Imprisonment And then to what a miserable Extremity must his Death have brought Her And though the Attainder and Death of the Duke of Northumberland â—hich followed very shortly after might tell Her in Effect what She was to trust to yet She was willing to distinguish betwixt his Case and Her own betwixt the Principal and the Accessaries in the Late Design In which Respect She gave Her self no improbable Hopeâ— thâ—â— possibly the like Mercies which was shewed to Her Father might possibly be extended unto others and amongst others to Her Husband as innocent as Her self from any open Practice against the Queen And who could tell but that it might descend on Her self at last whom no Ambition of Her own had tempted to the acceptation of that Dangerous Offer which She beheld as the greatest Errour of Her Life and the onely Stain of all â—er Actions But neither the Queen's Fears nor the publick Justice of the Land could so be satisfied It was held Treason to accept of a Kingdom
Her Reign but of nine Days and no more Her Life not twice so many years as She Reigned days Such was the end of all the Projects of the two great Dukes for Her Advancement to the Crown and their own in Hers. To which as She was raised without any Blows so She might have been deposed without any Blows if the Ax had not been more cruel on the Scaffold then the Sword in the Field The Sword had never been unsheathed but when the Scaffold was once Erected and the Ax once sharpened there followed so many Executions after one another till the Death of that Queen that as Her Reign began in the Blood of those who took upon them the Puâ—suit of this Lady's Title so was it stained more fouly in the Blood of 〈◊〉 as were Maâ—tyred in all parts for Her Religion To the Relation of which 〈◊〉 Deaths and Martyrdoms and other the Calamities of that Tragical and unpâ—â—â—perous Reign we must next proceed The Parentage Birth and first Fortunes of the Princesse ELIZABETH The second Daughter of King Henry the Eighth before her coming to the CROWN With a true Narrative of the first Loves of King Henry the Eighth to Queen Anne Bollen The Reasons of his alienating of his first affections and the true causes of her woful and calamitous death ELIZABETH the youngest daughter of King Henry the 8th was born at Greenwich on the 7th of September being the Eve of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary 1533. begotten on the body of Queen Anne Bollen the eldest daughter of Thomas Bollen Earl of Wiltshire and of Elâ—zabeth his wife one of the daughters of Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk and Earl Marshal of England The Family of the Bollens before this time neither great nor antient but highly raised in reputation by the marriage of the Lady Anne and the subsequent birth of Queen Elizabeth the first rise thereof comming out of the City in the person of Sir Geofrey Bollen Lord Mayor of London Anno 1457. which Geofrey being son of one Geofrey Bollen of Sulle in Norfolk was father of Sir William Bollen of Blickling in the said County who took to wife the Lady Margaret daughter and one of the heirs of Thomas Butler Earl of Ormond brother and heir of James Butler Earl of Wiltshire Of this marriage came Sir Thomas Bollen above mentioned imployed in several Embassies by King Henry the Eighth to whom he was Treasurer of the Houshold and by that name enrolled amongst the Knights of the Garter Anno 1523. advanced about two years after being the seventeenth of that King to the style and title of Viscount Rochfort and finally in reference to his mothers extraction created Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond 1529. But dying without issue male surviving the title of Ormond was restored to the next heir male of the Butlers in Ireland and that of Wiltshire given by King Edward the 6th to Sir William Paules being then great Master of the Houshold And as for that of Viscount Rochfort it lay dormant after his decease till the 6th of July Anno 1621. when conferred by King James on Henry Cary Lord Hunsâ—on the son of John and Grandchild of Henry Cary whom Queen Elizabeth in the first year of her Reign made Lord Cary of Hunsdon he being the son and heir of Sir William Cary one of the Esquires of the body to King Henry the 8th by the Lady Mary Bâ—llen his wife the youngest daughter and one of the Coheirs of the said Thomas Bollen Viscount Rochfort and Earl of Wiltshire Such being the estate of that Family which became afterwards so fortunate in the production of this Princess to the Realm of England we must in the next place enquire more particularly into the life and story of Queen Anne her Mother Who in her tender years attending on Mary the French Queen to the Court of France was by her Father after the return of the said Queen placed in the retinue of the Dutchess of Alanzone the beloved sister of King Francis where she not only learnt the language but made her self an exact Mistriss both of the Gaities and Garb of the great French Ladies She carried such a stock of natural graces as render'd her superlatively the most admired beauty in the Court of France and returned thence with all those advantages which the civilities of France could add to an English beauty For so it hapned that her Father being sent with Sir Anthony Brown Anno 1527. to take the oath of the French King to a solemn league not long before concluded betwixt the Crowns resolved to bring back his daughter with him to see what fortunes God would send her in the Court of England Where being Treasurer of the houshold it was no hard matter for him to prefer her to Queen Katherines service on whom she waited in the nature of a Maid of Honour which gave the King the opportunity of taking more than ordinary notice of her parts and person Nor was it long before the excellency of her beauty adorned with such a gracefulness of behaviour appeared before his eyes with so many charms that not able to resist the assaults of Love he gave himself over to be governed by those affections which he found himself unable to Master But he found no such easie task of it as he had done before in bringing Mrs Elizabeth Blunt and others to be the subjects of his lusts all his temptations being repelled by this vertuous Lady like arrows shot in vain at a rock of Adamants She was not to be told of the Kings loose love to several Ladies and knew that nothing could be gained by yielding unto such desires but contempt and infamy though for a while disguised and palliated by the plausible name and Courtly Title of a Princes Mistriss The humble and modest opposition of the Lady Gray to the inordinate affections of King Edward the 4th advanced her to his bed as a lawful wife which otherwise she had been possessed of by no better title than that of Jane Shore and his other Concubines By whose example Mistriss Bollâ—n is resolved to steer her courses and not to yield him any further favours than what the honour of a Lady and the modesty of a virgin might inoffensively permit to so great a King But so it chanced that before her coming back from the Court of France the King began to be touched in conscience about his marriage with the Queen upon occasion of some doubts which had been cast in the way both by the Ministers of the Emperour and the French King as touching the legitimation of his daughter Mary Which doubts being started at a time when he stood on no good terms with the Emperour and was upon the point of breaking with him was secretly fomented by such of the Court as had advanced the party of Francis and sought alwaies to alienate him from the friendship of Charles Amongst which none more forward than Cardinal Wolsie who
with Excommunication in that publick Audience for which they were committed to the Tower on the fifth of April The rest of the Bishops were commanded to abide in London and to give bond for their appearance at the Council-Table whensoever they should be râ—quired And so the whole Assembly was dismist and the conference ended before it had been well begun the Lord Keeper giving to the Bishops this sharp remembrance Sincâ— said he you are not wâ—lling that we should hear you you shall very shortly hear from us Which notwithstanding produced this good effect in the Lords and Commons that they conceived the Bishops were not able to defend their Doctrin in the points disputed which made the way more easie for the passing of the publick Liturgy when it was brought unto the Vote Two Speeches there were made against it in the House of Peers by Scot and Fecknam and one against the Queens Supremacy by the Archbishop of York but they prevailed as little in both points by the power of their Eloquence as they had done in the first by their want of Arguments It gave much matter of discourse to most knowing men that the Bishops should so wilfully fall from an appointment to which they had before agreed and thereby forfeit their whole Cause to a Condemnation But they pretended for themselves that they were so straightned in point of time that they could not possibly digest their Arguments into form and order that they looked upon it as a thing too much below them to humble themselves to such a Conference or Disputation in which Bacon a meer lay-man and of no great learning was to sit as Judge and finally that the points had been determined already by the Catholick Church and therefore were not to be called in question without leave from the Pope Which last pretence if it were of any weight and moment it must be utterly impossible to proceed to any Reformation in the state of the Church by which the power and pride of the Popes of Rome may be any thing lessened or that the corruptions of the Church should be redressed iâ— it consist not with their profit For want of time they were no more straightned than the opposite party none of them knowing with what arguments the other side would fortifie and confirm their cause nor in what forms they would propose them before they had perused â—heir reciprocal Papers But nothing was more weakly urged than their exception against the Presidency of Sir Nicholas Bacon which could not be considered as a matter either new or strange not strange because the like Presidency had been given frequently to Cromwel in the late Reign of King Henry the 8th and that not only in such general Conferences but in several Convocations and Synodical meetings Not new because the like had been frequently practised by the most godly Kings and Emperors of the Priâ—â—itive times for in the Council of Chalceâ—on the Emperor appointed certain Noblemen to sit as Judges whose names occur in the first Action of that Counâ—il The like we find exemplified in the Ephesine Council in which by the appointment of Theodosius and Vulentinian then Roman Emperors Candidianus a Count Imperial sate as Judge or President who in the managing of that trust over-acted any thing which was done by Cromwel as Vicar-General to that King or Bacon was impowered to do as the Queens Commissioner No such unreasonable condescention to be found in this as was pretended by the Bishops and the rest of that party to save themselves from the guilt and censure of a Tergiversation for which and other their contempts we shall find them called to a reckoning within few months after In the Convocation which accompanied the present Parliament there was little done and that little which they did was to little purpose Held under Bonner in regard of the Vacancy of the See of Canterbâ—ry it began without the ordinary preamble of a Latine Sermon all preaching being then prohibited by the Queens command The Clergy for their Prolocutor made choice of Doctor Nicholas Harâ—sâ—ield Archdeacon of Canterbâ—ry a man of more ability as his works deâ—lare than he had any opportunity to make use of in the present service The Aâ—t of the submission of the Clergy to King Henry the 8th and his Successors Kings of England had been repealed in the first year of Queen Mary so that the Clergy might have acted of their own authority without any license from the Queen and it is much to be admired that Bonner White or Watson did not put them to it but such was either their feaâ— or modesty or a despair of doing any good to themselves and the cause that there was nothing done by the Bishops at all and not much more by the lower Clergy than a declaration of their judgment in some certain points which at that time were conceived fit to be commended to the sight of the Parliament that is to say 1. That in the Sacrament of the Altar by vertue of Christs assisting after the word is duly pronounced by the Priest the natural body of Christ conceived of the Virgin Mary is really present under the species of Bread and Wine as also his natural Blood 2. That after the Câ—nsecration there remains not the substance of Bread and Wine not any substance save the substance of God and Man 3. That the true body of Christ and his Blood is offered for a propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and the dead 4. That the supream power of feeding and governing the militant Church of Christ and of confirming their brethren is given to Peter the Apostle and to his lawful Successors in the See Apostolick as unto the Vicars of Christ. 5. That the authority to handle and define such things which belong to Faith the Sacraments and Discipline Ecclesiastical hath hitherto ever belonged and onely ought to belong unto the Pastors of the Church whom the holy Spirit hath placed in the Church and not unto Lay-men These Articles they caused to be engrossed so commended them to the care and consideration of the Higher House By Bonner afterwards that is to say on the 3d. of March presented to the hands of the Lord Keeper Bacon by whom they were candidly received But they prevailed no further with the Queen or the House of Peers when imparted to them but that possibly they might help forwards the disputation which not long after was appointed to be held at Westminster as before was said It was upon the 8th of May that the Parliament ended and on the 24th of June that the publick Liturgy was to be officiated in all the Churches of the Kingdom In the performanâ—e of which service the Bishops giving no encouragement and many of the Clergy being backward in it it was thought fit to put them to the final test and either to bring them to conformity or to bestow their places and preferments on more tractable persons The Bishops at that time
City of Cambray in which all differences were concluded also between France and Spain all other Articles being accorded the restitution of Calais to the Queen of England seemed the onely obstacle by which the general peace of Christendom was at the point to have been hindred But the Queen either preferring the publick good before private interest or fearing to be left alone if she should stand too obstinately upon that particular came at the last to this agreement viz. That Calais should remain for the tearm of eight years then next following in the hands of the French that at the end of the said tearm it should be deliveâ—ed unto the English or otherwise the French King should pay unto the Queen the sum of 500000 Crowns According unto which Agreement Peace was proclaimed in London on the 7th of April between the Queens Majesty on the one part and the French King on the other as also between her and the King Dolphin with his wife the Queen of Scots and all the Subjects and Dominions of the said four Princes The Proclamation published by Garter and Norrey Kings at Arms accompanied with three other Heralds and five Trumpeters the Lord Mayor and Aldermen in their Scarlet Gowns being present on horseback But long the French King lived not to enjoy the benefit of this general Peace unfortunately wounded in Paris at a Tilt or Tournament by Count Monâ—gomery of which wound he shortly after died on the 10th of July leaving be hind him four sons Francis Charls Henry and another Francis of which the three first according to their seniority enjoyed that Kingdom And though she had just cause to be offended with the young King Francis for causing the Queen of Scots his wife to take upon her self the Title and Arms of England yet she resolved to bestow a royal Obsequy on the King deceased which was performed in St. Paul's Church on the 8th and 9th of September in most solemn manner with a rich Hearse made like an Imperial Crown sustained with eight pillars and covered with black Velvet with a Valence fringed with gold and richly hanged with Scâ—tcheous Pennons and Banners of the French Kings Arms the principal mourner for the first day was the Lord Treasurer Paulet Marquis of Winchester assisted with ten other Lords Mourners with all the Heralds in black and their Coat-Armours uppermost The divine Offices performed by Doctor Matthew Parker Lord elect of Canterbury Doctor William Barlow Lord elect of Chichester and Doctor Iâ—hn Scory Lord elect of Hereford all sitting in the Throne of the Bishop of London no otherwise at that time than in hoods and Surplices by whom the Derige was executed at that time in the English toung The Funeral Sermon preached the next morning by the Lord of Hereford and a Communion celebrated by the Bishops then attired in Copes upon their Surplices At which time six of the chief mourners received the Sacrament and so departed with the rest to the Bishops Palace where a very liberal Entertainment was provided for them By which magnificency and the like this prudent Queen not onely kept â—er own reputation at the highest amongst forein Princes but caused the greater estimation to be had by the Catholick party of the Religion here established Anno Reg. Eliz. 2. A. D. 1559 1560. WE must begin this year with the Consecration of such new Bishops as were elected to succeed in the place of those which had been deprived the first of which was that of the most reverend Doctor Matthew Parker elected to the See of Canterbury on the first of August but not consecrated till the 17th of December following That Dignity had first been offered as is said by some to Doctor Nicholas Wotton Dean of Canterbury and York who grown in years and still a well-willer to the Pope desired to be excused from undertaking of a charge so weighty And some say it was offered unto Whitehead also who had been Chaplain to Anne Bollen the Queen's mother but he returned the like refusal though on other grounds as more inclined by reason of his long abode in Calvin's Churches to the Presbyterians than the Episcopal form of Government and it was happy for the Church might have been betrayed by his dissaffection that he did refuse it The Chair being better filled by Parker another of Queen Bollen's Chaplains but better principled and of a far more solid judgment in affairs of moment The Congeâ—d ' sleiur which opened him the way to this eminent Dignity bears date on the 18th day of July within few days after the deprivation of the former Bishops to satisfie the world in the Queens intention of preserving the Episcopal Government And therefore why the consecration was deferred so long maybe made a question some think it was that she might satisfie her self by putting the Church into a posture by her Visitation before she passed it over to the care of the Bishops others conceive that she was so enamoured with the power and title of Supream Governess that she could not deny her self that contentment in the exercise of it which the present Interval afforded For what are Titles without Power and what pleasure can be took in Power if no use be made of it And it is possible enough that both or either of these considerations might have some influence upon her But the main cause for keeping the Episcopal Sees in so long a vacancy must be found else-where An Act had passed in the late Parliament which never had the confidence to appear in print in the Preamble whereof it was declared That by dissolution of Religious Houses in the time of the late King her Majesties father many Impropriations Tithes and portions of Tithes had been invested in the Crown which the Queen being a Lady of a tender conscience thought not fit to hold nor could conveniently dismember from it without compensation in regard of the present low condition in which she found the Crown at her comming to it And thereupon it was enacted that in the vacancy of any Archbishoprick or Bishoprick it should be lawful for the Queen to issue out a Commission under the Great Seal for taking a survey of all Castles Mannors Lands Tenements and all other Hereditaments to the said Episcopal Sees belonging or appertaining and on the return of such surveys to take into her hands any of the said Castles Mannors Lands Tenements c. as to her seemed good giving to the said Archbishops or Bishops as much annual Rents to be raised upon Impropriations Tithes and portions of Tithes as the said Castles Mannors Lands c. did amount unto The Church Lands certified according to the antient Rents without consideration of the Casualties and other Perqâ—isites of Court which belonged unto them the Retribution made in Pensions Tithes and portions of Tithes extended at the utmost value from which no other profit was to be expected than the Rent it self Which Act not being to take effect
both Religions and finally amongst many other particulars that neither the Queen of Scots nor the French King should from thenceforth assume the Titles and Arms of England Which Articles being signed and confirmed for both Kingdoms the French about the middle of July take their leave of Scotland and the English Army at the same time set forward for Barwick being there disbanded and dismissed to their several dwellings Followed not long after by the Earls of Morton and Glencarn in the name of the rest of the Congregation sent purposely to render to the Queen their most humble thanks for her speedy prosperous assistance and to desire the continuance of her Majesties favours if the French should any more attempt to invade their Country Assured whereof and being liberally rewarded with gifts and presents they returned with joy and glad tydings to the Congregation whom as the Queen had put upon a present confidence of going vigorously on in their Reformation so it concerned them to proceed so carefully in pursuance of it as might comply with the dependence which they had upon her First therefore that she might more cordially espoâ—se their quarrel they bound themselves by their subscription to embrace the Liturgy with all the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England which for a time remained the onely form of Worship for the Kirk of Scotland when and by whose means they receded from it may be shown hereafter In the next place they cause a Parliament to be called in the month of August according to the Articles of the Pacification from which no person was excluded who either had the right of Suffrage in his own capacity or in relation to their Churches or as returned from their Shrevalties or particular Burroughs of which last there appeared the accustomed number but of the Lords Spiritual no more than six Bishops of thirteen with thirteen Abbots and Priors or thereabouts and of the Temporal Lords to the number of ten Earls and as many Barons By whose Authority and consent they passed three Acts conducing wholly to the advantage of the Reformation the first whereof was for abolishing the Popes Jurisdiction and Authority within the Realm the second for annulling all Statutes made in former times for maintenance of Idolatry and Superstition and the third for the punishment of the Sayers and Hearers of the Masse To this Parliament also some of the Ministers presented A Confession of the Faith and Doctrine to be believed and professed by the Protestants of the Kirk of Scotland modelled in many places by the Principles of Calvin's Doctrine which Knox had brought with him from Geneva but being put unto the Vote it was opposed by no more than three of the Temporal Lords that is to say the Earl of Atholl and the Lords Somervil and Borthwick who gave no other reason for it but that they would believe as their fathers did The Popish Prelates were silent in it neither assenting nor opposing Which being observed by the Earl-Marshal he is said to have broke out into these words following Seeing saith he that my Lords the Bishops who by their learning can and for the zeal they should have to the truth ought as I suppose to gainsay any thing repugnant to it say nothing against the Confession we have heard I cannot think but that it is the very truth of God and that the contrary of it false and deceivable Doctrine Let us now cross over into Ireland where we shall find the Queen as active in advancing the reformed Religion as she had been in either of the other Kingdoms King Henry had first broke the ice by taking to himself the Title of Supream Head on earth of the Church of Ireland exterminating the Popes authority and suppressing all the Monasteries and Religious Houses In matters doctrinal and forms of Worship as there was nothing done by him so neither was there much endeavoured in the time of King Edward it being thought perhaps unsafe to provoke that people in the Kings minority considering with how many troubles he was elsewhere exercised If any thing were done therein it was rather done by tolleration than command And whatsoever was so done was presently undone again in the Reign of Queen Mary But Queen Elizabeth having setled her affairs in England and undertaken the protection of the Scots conceived her self obliged in point of piety that Ireland also should be made partaker of so great a benefit A Parliament is therefore held on the 12th of January where past an Act restoring to the Crown the antient jurisdiction over all Ecclesiastical and Spiritual persons By which Statute were established both the Oath of Supremacy and the High Commission as before in England There also past an Act for the Uniformity of Common Prayer c. with a permission for saying the same in Latine in such Church or place where the Minister had not the knowledge of the English Tongue But for translating it into Irish as afterwards into Welsh in the 5th year of this Queen there was no care taken either in this Parliament or in any following For want whereof as also by not having the Scriptures in their native language most of the natural Irish have retained hitherto there old barbarous customes or pertinaciously adhere to the corruptions of the Church of Rome The people by that Statute are required under several penalties to frequent their Churches and to be frequent at the reading of the English Liturgy which they understand no more than they do the Mass. By which means the Iâ—ish was not only kept in continual ignorance as to the Doctrines and Devotions of the Church of England but we have furnished the Papists with an excellent Argument against our selves for having the Divine Service celebrated in such a language as the people do not understand There also past another Statute for restoring to the Crown the first fruits and twenty parts of all Ecclesiastical promotions within that Kingdom as also of all impropriat Parsonages which there are more in number than those Rectories which have cure of souls King Henry had before united the first fruits c. to the Crown Imperial but Queen Mary out of her affection to the Church of Rome had given them back unto the Clergy as before was said The like Act passed for the restitution of all such lands belonging to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem as by that Queen had been regranted to the Order with the avoidance of all Leases and other grants which had been made by Sir Oswald Massingberd the lâ—te Lord Prior of the same Who fearing what was like to follow had voluntarily forsook the Kingdome in the August foregoing and thereby saved the Queen the charge of an yearly pension which otherwise he might have had as his Predecessors had before him in the time of King Henry During the Reign of which King a Statute had been made in Ireland as in England also for the electing and consecrating of
Bishop of St. Asaph translated thither the 21 of May 1561. as he was by another of the same name Dr. Thomas Davis within few months after The Province of York being thus fitted with a new Archbishop it was not long before the consecration of Dr. James Pilkinton to the See of Durham which was performed by the hands of his own Metropolitan on the second of March at whose first coming to thaâ— See he found it clogged with an annual pension of 1000. l. to be paid into her Majesties Exchequer yearly towaâ—d the maintenance of the Garison in the Town of Barwâ—ck first laid upon this Bishoprick when that Town seemed to be in danger of such French forces as had been brought into that Kingdom or otherwise might fear some practice of the popish party for the advancing of the interess of the Queen of Scots The Bishops Tenants were protected in their corn and cattel by the power of this Garison and consequently the more inabled to make just payment of their rents and it was thought to be no reason that the Queen should be at the sole charge of protecting his Tenants and he enjoy the whole benefit of it without any disbursement But this was only a pretence for raising some revenue to the Crown out of that rich patrimony the pension being still châ—rged upon it though the Garison was removed in the first of King James On the same day that is to say the second of March Dr. John Best was consecrated Bishop of Carlisle after the See had been refused by Bernard Gâ— phin Parson of Houghton in the Spring betwixt Dâ—rham and Newcastle The offer made him with relation to his brother George a man much used in many imployments for the State but on what ground declined by him is not well assured Whether it were that he was more in love with the retirements of a private life or that he could not have the bird without he yielded to the stripping of it of the most part of its feathers as it came to Best may be sooner questioned than resolved And finally on the 4th of May comes in the consecration of Mr William Dâ—wnham the Queens Chaplain when she was but Princess and afterwards made one of the Prebendaries of St Peter's in Westminster to the See of Chester by this preferment recompensed for his former services By which last care the vacant Sees were all supplyed with learned Pastors except Oxon Glocester and Bristol Of which we shall speak more in the following year But neither this diligence and care in filling all the vacant Sees with learned Pastors nor the Queens Proclamation for banishing all Anabaptists and other Sectaries which had resorted hither out of other Countries could either free the land from those dangerous inmates or preserve the Church from the conâ—agion of their poysonous doctrines Too many of those Fanatical spirits still remained behind scattering their tares and dispersing their blasphemous follies amongst simple people In which number they prevailed so far upon More and Geofrys that the first profess'd himself to be Christ the last believed him to be such and did so report him Continuing obstinate in this frenzy Geofrys was committed prisoner to the Marshaâ—sea in the Burrough of Souâ—hwark and More to the house of mad men commonly called Bethlem without Bishops Gate in the City of London Where having remained above a year without shewing any sign of their repentance Geofrys was whipt on the â—0th of April from the said Marshaâ— sea to Bethlem with a paper bound about his head which signified that this was William Geofrys a most blasphemous Heretick who denyed Christ to be in Heaven At Bethlem he was whipt again in the presence of More till the lash had extorted a confession of his damnable error After which More was stript and whipt in the open streets till he had made the like acknowledgement confessing Christ to be in Heaven and himself to be a vile miserable and sinful man Which being done they were again remitted to their several prisons for their further cure At which the Papists made good game and charged it on the score of the Reformation as if the Principles thereof did naturally lead men to those dreams and dotages Whereas they could not chuse but know that Christ our Saviour prophesied of the following times that some should say lâ—e here is Christ and others would say loe there is Christ that Simon Magus even in the dayes of the Apostles assumed unto himself the glorious Title of the great power of God that Menander in the age next following did boldly aâ—rogate to himself the name of Christ and finally that Montanus when the Church was stored with Learned and Religious Prelates would needs be taken and accounted for the holy Ghost Or if they think the Reformation might pretend unto more perfection than the Primitive times they should have looked no farther back than to King Henry the 3d. in whose Reign the Popes authority in England was at the highest and yet neither the Pope by his authority nor by the diligence of his Preachers and other Ministers could so secure the Church from Mores and Geoffrys but that two men rose up at that very time both which affirmed themselves to be Jesus Christ and were both hanged for it And as Montanus could not go abroad without his Maximiâ—â—a and Priscilla to disperse his dotages so these impostors also had their female followers of which the one affirmed her self to be Mary Magdalen and the other that she was the Virgin Mary So that the Reformation is to be excused from being accessary in the least degree to these mens heresies or else the Apostolical Age and the Primitive times yea and the Church of Rome it self which they prize much more must needs come under the necessity of the like condemnation Nor did the Zuinglian Gospellers or those of the Genevian party rejoyce much less at a most lamentable accident which hapned to the cathedral Church of St. Paul on the fourth of June on which day about four or five of the clock in the afternoon a fearful fire first shewed it self near the top of the Steeple and from thence burnt down the Spire to the stone-work and Bells and raged so terribly that within the space of four hours the Timber and Lead of the whole Church and whatsoever else was combustible in it was miserably consumed and burnt to the great terror and amazement of all beholders Which Church the largest in the Christian world for all dimensions contains in length 720 foot or 240 Taylors yards in breadth 130 foot and in heighth from the pavement to the top of the roof 150 foot The Steeple from the ground to the cross or Weather-cock contained in height 520 fooâ— of which the square Tower onely amounted to 260. the Pyramid or Spire to as many more Which Spire being raised of maâ—â—ie Timber and covered over with sheets of Lead as it was the more apt to
end whereof he was restored to liberty by the death of the Lady who died a prisoner in the Tower And though the Lady Francis Dutchess of Suffolk might hope to have preserved her self from the like Court-thunder-claps by her obscure marriage with Adrian Stokes who had bin Gentleman of the Horse to the Duke her husband yet neither could that save her from abiding a great part of the tempest which fell so heavily upon her and all that family that William the nephew of this Earl by Edward Viscount Beauchamp his eldest son was prudently advised by some of his friends to procure a confirmation of his grand-fathers honors from the hand of King James which without much difficulty was obtained and granted by his Majesties Letters Patents bearing date the 14th of May in the 6th year of his Reign But such was the fortune of this House that as this Earl being newly restored unto the Title of Hertford by the great goodness of the Queen incurred her high displeasure and was thereupon committed prisoner for his marriage with the Lady Katherine Gray the onely heir then living of Mary the youngest daughter of King Henry the 7th so William above mentioned being confirmed in the expectancy of his grand-fathers honors by the like goodness of King James was committed prisoner by that King for marrying with the Lady Arabella daughter and heir of Charls Earl of Lennox descended from the eldest daughter of the said King Henry Such were the principal occurrences of this present year relating to the joynt concernments of Church and State In reference to the Church alone nothing appears more memorable than the publishing of an elegant and acute Discourse entituled The Apology of the Church of England first wait in Latin by the right reverend Bishop Jewel translated presently into English French Italian Dutch and at last also into Greek highly approved of by all pious and judicious men stomached by none excepting our own English fugitives and yet not undertook by any of them but by Harding only who had his hands full enough before in beating out an answer to the Bishopâ— challenge By him we are informed if we may believe him that two Tractats or Discourses had been writ against it the one by an Italian in the Tongue of that Country the other in Latine by a Spanish Bishop of the Realm of Naples both finished and both stopped as they went to the Press out of a due regard â—orsooth to the Church of England whose honour had been deeply touched by being thought to have approved such a lying unreasonable slanderous and ungodly Pamphlet which were it true the Church was more beholden to the modesty of those Spaniards and Italians than to our own natural English But whether it were true or not or rather how untrue it is in all particulars the exchange of writings on both sides doth most plainly manifest In general it was objected That the Apology was published in the name of the Church of England before any mean part of the Church were privy to it as if the Author either were ashamed of it or afraid to stand to it that the Inscription of it neither was directed to Pope nor Emperor nor to any Prince not to the Church nor to the General Council then in being as it should have been that there was no mans name seâ— to it that it was printed without the privilege of the Prince contrary to the Law in that behalf that it was allowed neither by Parliament nor Proâ—lamation nor agreed upon by the Clergy in a publick and lawful Synod and therefore that the Book was to be accounted a famous Libel and a scandalâ—us Writing To which it was answered in like Generals by that learned Prelate That the profession of the Doctrine contained in it was offered unto the whole Church of God and so unto the Pope and the Council too if they were any part or member of the Church that if names be so necessary he had the names of the whole Clergy of England to confirm that Doctrine and Harding's too amongst the rest in the time of King Edward that for not having the Princes privilege it might easily be disproved by the Printer that it was not conceived in such a dark corner as was objected being afterwards imprinted at Paris in Latine and having since been translated into the French Italian Dutch and Spanish Toungs that being sent afterwards into France Flanders Germany Spain Poland Hungary Denmark Sweden Scotland Italy Naples and Rome it self it was tendred to the judgment of the whole Church of God that it was read and seriously considered of in the convent of Trent and great threats made that it should be answered and the matter taken in hand by two notable learned Bishops the one a Spaniard and the other an Italian though in fine neither of them did any thing in it and finally that certain of the English Papists had been nibling at it but such as cared neither what they writ nor was cared by others And so much may suffice in general for this excellent Piece to the publishing whereof that learned Prelate was most encouraged by Peter Martyr as appears by Martyr's Letter of the 24th of August with whom he had spent the greatest part of his time when he lived in Exile And happy had it been for the Church of England if he had never done worse offices to it than by dealing with that reverend Bishop to so good a purpose But Martyr onely lived to see the Book which he so much longed for dying at Zurick on the 12th day of November following and laid into his grave by the Magistrates and People of that Town with a solemn Funeral Nothing remains for the concluding of this year but to declare how the three vacant Bishopricks were disposed of if those may say to be disposed of which were still kept vacant Glocester was onely filled this year by the preferment of Mr. Râ—chaâ—d Cheny Archdeacon of Hereford and one of the Prebendaries of the Collâ—giat Church of St. Peter in Westminster who received hâ—s Episcopal consecration on the 19th of April Together with the See of Glocester he held that of Bristol in commendam as did also Bullingham his Successor that is to say the Jurisdiction with the Profits and Fees thereof to be exercised and enjoyed by them but the temporal Revenue of it to continue in the hands of some hungry Courtiers who gnawed it to the very bone in which condition it remained under the two Bishops till the year 1589. when the Queen was pleased to bestow the remainders of it together with the title of Bishop on Doctor Richard Flesher Dean of Peterborough whom afterwards she preferred to the See of London And as for Oxon it was kept vacant from the death of King the first Bishop of it who died on the 4th of December 1557. till the 14th of October 1567. at which time it was conferred on Dr. Hugh Curwyn Archbishop of Dublin
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
of ordinary attendance about his Person which was on the same Day when his Father was created Duke For whereas most men gave themselves no improbable hopes that betwixt the Spring time of his life the Growing season of the year and such Medicinal applications as were made unto him the disease would wear it self away by little and little yet they found the contrary It rather grew so fast upon him that when the Parliament was to begin on the first of March the Lords Spiritual and Temporal were Commanded to attend him at White-Hall instead of waiting on him from thence to Westminster in the usual manner Where being come they found a Sermon ready for them the Preacher being the Bishop of London which otherwise was to have been Preached in the Abby-Church and the Great Chamber of the Court accomodated for an House of Peers to begin the Session For the opening whereof the King then sitting under the Cloth of State and all the Lords according to their Ranks and Orders he declared by the Lord Chancellor Goodrick the causes of his calling them to the present Parliament and so dismist them for that time A Parliament which began and ended in the Month of March that the Commissions might the sooner be dispatched to their several Circuits for the speedier gathering up of such of the Plate Copes Vestments and other Furnitures of which the Church was to be spoyled in the time of his sickness Yet in the midst of these disorders there was some care taken for advancing both the honour and the interest of the English-Nation by furnishing Sebastian Cabol for some new discoveries Which Sebastian the Son of John Cabol a Venetian born attended on his first imployment under Henry the seventh Anno 1497. At what time they discovered the Barralaos and the Coasts of Caenada now called New-France even to the 67½ degree of Northern Latitude Bending his Course more toward the South and discovering a great part of the shoars of Florida he returned for England bringing with him three of the Natives of that Country to which the name of New-Found-Land hath been since appropriated But finding the KING unhappily Embroyled in a War with Scotland and no present Encouragements to be given for a further Voiage he betook himself into the service of the KING of SPAIN and after fourty years and more upon some distast abandoned SPAIN and offered his service to this KING By whom being made Grand Pilot of England in the year 1549. he animated the English-Merchants to the finding out of a passage by the North-East Seas to Cathay and China first enterprised under the Conduct of Sr. Hugh Willoughby who unfortunately Perished in the Action himself and all his Company being Frozen to Death all the particulars of his Voiage being since committed to Writing as was certified by the Adventures in the year next following It was upon the twentith of May in this present year that this Voiage was first undertaken three great Ships being well manned and fitted for the Expedition which afterwards was followed by Chancelour Burrought Jackman Jenkinson and other noble Adventurers in the times Succeding Who though they failed of their Attempt in finding out a shorter way to Cathay and China yet did they open a fair Passage to the Bay of S. Nicholas and thereby layd the first foundation of a Wealthy Trade betwixt us and the Muscovites But the KING'S Sickness still encreasing who was to live no longer then might well stand with the designs of the DVKE of Northumber-land some Marriages are resolved on for the Daughters of the DVKE of Suffolk in which the KING appeared as forward as if he had been one of the Principalls in the Plot against him And so the matter was Contrived that the Lady IANE the eldest Daughter to that DVKE should be Married to the Lord Guilford Dudly the fourth Son then living of Northumberland all the three Elder Sons having Wives before that Katherine the second Daughter of Suffolk should be Married to the Lord Henry Herbert the Eldest Son of the Earl of Pembrock whom Dudly had made privy to all his Counsels and the third Daughter named Mary being Crook-Backed and otherwise not very taking affianced to Martin Keys the KING'S Gentleman-Porter Which Marriages together with that of the Lady Katherine one of the Daughters of Duke Dudly to Henry Lord Hastings Eldest Son of the Earl of Huntington were celebrated in the end of May or the beginning of June for I finde our Writers differing in the time thereof with as much Splendour and solemnity as the KING' 's weak Estate and the sad Condition of the Court could be thought to bear These Marriages all solemnized at Dâ—rham House in the Strand of which Northumberland had then took possession in the name of the Rest upon a Confidence of being Master very shortly of the whole Estate The noise of these Marriages bred such Amazement in the Hearts of the common People apt enough in themselves to speak the worst of Northumberland's Actions That there was nothing left unsaid which might serve to shew their hatred against him or express their Pity toward the KING But the DVKE was so little troubled at it that on the contrary he resolved to Dissemble no longer but openly to play his Game according to the Plot and Project which he had been Hammering ever â—ince the Fall of the DVKE of Somerset whose Death he had Contrived on no other Ground but for laying the way more plain and open to these vast ambitions The KING was now grown weak in Body and his Spirits much decaied by a languishing Sickness which Rendred him more apprehensive of such fears and Dangers as were to be presented to him then otherwise he could have been in a time of strength In which Estate Duke Dudly so prevailed upon him that he conâ—ented at the last to a transposition of the Crown from his natural sisters to the Children of the Dutchess of Suffolk Confirming it by Letters Patents to the Heirs Males of the Body of the said Dutchess And for want of such Heirs Males to be Born in the lifetime of the KING the Crown immediately to descend on the Lady IANE the eldest Daughter of that House and the Heirs of her Body and so with several Remainders to the rest of that Family The carriage of which Business and the Rubs it met with in the way shall be reserved to the particular story of the Lady IANE when she is brought unwilling upon the Stage there on to Act the part of a Queen of England It sufficeth in this place to note that the KING had no sooner caused these Leters Patents to passe the Seal but his Weakeness more visibly encreased then it did before And as the KING'S Weakeness did encrease so did the Northumberland's Diligence about him for he was little absent from him and had alwaies some well-assured to Epy how the State of his Health changed every Hour And the more joyful he