proper judge in that And it was odds but he would judge favourably for himself The Court Adjourned to the 12th and from that to the 14th On these days the Depositions of the rest of the Witnesses were taken and some that were ancient Persons were examined by a Commission from the Legates and all the Depositions were published on the 17th other instruments relating to the Process were also read and verified in Court On the 21th the Court saâ—e to conclude the matter as was expected and the Instrument that the King had Signed when he came of Age protesting that he would not stand to the Contract made when he was under Age was then read and verified Upon which the Kings Council of whom Gardiner was the chief closed their Evidence and summed up all that had been brought and in the Kings name desired Sentence might be given But Campegio pretending that it was fit some interval should be between that and the Sentence put it off till the 23th being Friday and in the whole Process he presided both being the ancienter Cardinal and chiefly to show great equity since exceptions might have been taken if the other had appeared much in it so that he only sate by him for form But all the Orders of the Court were still directed by Campegio On Friday there was a great appearance and a general expectation but by a strange surprize Campegio Adjourned the Court to the 1st of October for which he pretended that they sate there as a part of the Consistory of Rome and therefore must follow the Rules of that Court which from that time till October was in a Vacation and heard no Causes And this he averred to be true on the word of a true Prelate The King was in a Chamber very near where he heard what passed and was inexpressibly surprized at it The Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk were in Court and complained much of this delay and pressed the Legates to give Sentence Campegio answered that what they might then pronounce would be of no force as being in Vacation-time but gave great hopes of a favourable Sentence in the beginning of October Upon which the Lords spake very high And the Duke of Suffolk with great Commotion Swore by the Mass that he saw it was true which had been commonly said That never Cardinal yet did good in England and so all the Temporal Lords went away in a fury leaving the Legates Wolsey especially in no small perplexity Wolsey knew it would be suspected that he understood this before-hand and that it would be to no purpose for him either to say he did not know or could not help it all Apologies being ill heard by an enraged Prince Campegio had not much to lose in England but his Bishoprick of Salisbury and the reward he expected from the King which he knew the Emperor and the Pope would plentifully make up to him But his Collegue was in a worse condition he had much to fear because he had much to lose For as the King had severely chid him for the delays of the business so he was now to expect a heavy storm from him and after so long an Administration of Affairs by so insolent a Favourite it was not to be doubted but as many of his Enemies were joyning against him so matter must needs be found to work his ruin with a Prince that was Alienated from him Therefore he was under all the disorders which a fear that was heightned by Ambition and Covetousness could produce But the King govern'd himself upon this occasion with more temper than could have been expected from a man of his humour Therefore as he made no great show of disturbance so to divert his uneasie thoughts he went his Progress Soon after he received his Agents Letter from Rome and made Gardiner who was then Secretary of State write to the Cardinal to put Campegio to his Oath whether he had revealed the Kings Secrets to the Pope or not And if he Swore he had not done it to make him Swear he should never do it A little after that the Messenger came from Rome with a Breve to the Legates requiring them to proceed no further and with an Avocation of the Cause to Rome together with Letters Citatory to the King and Queen to appear there in Person or by their Proxies Of which when the King was advertised Gardiner wrote to the Cardinal by his order That the King would not have the Letters Citatory executed or the Commission discharged by vertue of them but that upon the Popes Breve to them they should declare their Commission void For he would not suffer a thing so much to the prejudice of his Crown as a Citation be made to appear in another Court nor would he let his Subjects imagine that he was to be Cited out of his Kingdom This was the first step that he made for the lessening of the Popes Power Upon which the two Cardinals for they were Legates no longer went to the King at Grafton It was generally expected that Wolsey should have been disgraced then for not only the King was offended with him but he received new Informations of his having juggled in the business and that he secretly advised the Pope to do what was done This was set about by some of the Queens Agents as if there was certain knowledge had of it at Rome and it was said that some Letters of his to the Pope were by a trick found and brought over to England The Emperor lookt on the Cardinal as his inveterate Enemy and designed to ruin him if it was possible nor was it hard to perswade the Queen to concur with him to pull him down But all this seems an artifice of theirs only to destroy him For the earnestness the Cardinal expressed in this matter was such that either he was sincere in it or he was the best at dessembling that ever was But these suggestions were easily infused in the Kings angry mind so strangely are men turned by their affections that sometimes they will believe nothing and at other times they believe every thing Yet when the Cardinal with his Colleague came to Court they were received by the King with very hearty expressions of kindness and Wolsey was often in private with him sometimes in presence of the Council and sometimes alone once he was many hours with the King alone and when they took leave he sent them away very obligingly But that which gave Cardinal Wolsey the most assurance was that all those who were admitted to the Kings privacies did carry themselves towards him as they were wont to do both the Duke of Suffolk Sir Thomas Boleyn then made Vis-count of Rochford Sir Brian Tuke and Gardiner concluding that from the motions of such Weather-cocks the air of the Princes affections was best gathered Anne Boleyn was now brought to the Court again out of which she had been dismissed for some
of them than to direct their belief by them The King leaned neither to the right nor to the left hand neither to the one nor the other Party but set the pure and sincere Doctrine of the Christian Faith only before his eyes And therefore was now resolved to have this set forth to his Subjects without any corrupt mixtures and to have such decent Ceremonies continued and the true use of them taught by which all abuses might be cut off and Disputes about the Exposition of the Scriptures cease that so all his Subjects might be well instructed in their Faith and directed in the reverent worship of God and resolved to punish severely all transgressors of what sort or side soever they were The King was resolved That Christ That the Gospel of Christ and the truth should have the victory And therefore had appointed some Bishops and Divines to draw up an Exposition of those things that were necessary for the Institution of a Christian-man Who were the two Arch-Bishops the Bishop of London Duresm Winchester Rochester Hereford and St. Davids and Doctors Thirleby Robertson Cox Day Oglethorp Redmayn Edgeworth Crayford Symonds Robins and Tresham He had also appointed others to examine what Ceremonies should be retained and what was the true use of them who were the Bishops of Bath and Wells Ely Sarum Chichester Worcester and Landaff The King had also commanded the Judges and other Justices of the Peace and persons commissioned for the Execution of the Act formerly passed to proceed against all transgressors and punish them according to Law And he Concluded with an high Commendation of the King whose due praises he said a man of far greater Eloquence than himself was could not fully set forth The Lords approved of this Nomination and ordered that these Committees should sit constantly on Mundays Wedensdays and Fridays and no other days they were to sit in the afternoon But their Proceedings will require so full a Relation that I shall first open the other Affairs that passed in this Session and leave these to the last On the 14th of April the King created Cromwel Earl of Essex the Male line of the Bourchiers that had carryed that Title being extinguished This shews that the true Causes of Cromwels fall must be found in some other thing than his making up the Kings Marriage who had never thus raised his Title if he had intended so soon to pull him down On the 22d of April a Bill was brought in for Suppressing the Knights of St. Iohn of Ierusalem Their first Foundation was to be a Guard to the Pilgrims that went to the Holy Land For some Ages that was extolled as the highest expression of devotion and reverence to our Saviour to go and view the places of his abode and chiefly the places where he was Crucified Buried and ascended to Heaven Upon which many entred into a Religious Knighthood who were to defend the Holy Land and conduct the Pilgrims Those were of two sorts The Knights-Templars and Hospitallers The former were the greater and richer but the other were also very considerable The Popes and their Clergy did every-where animate all Princes and great persons to undertake expeditions into these parts Which were very costly and dangerous and proved fatal to almost all the Princes that made them Yet the belief of the pains of Purgatory from which all were delivered by the Popes Power who went on this Expedition such as dyed in it being also reckoned Martyrs wrought wonderfully on a blind and Superstitious Age. But such as could not go were perswaded That if on their death-beds they vowed to go upon their recovery and left some Lands to maintain a Knight that should go thither and fight against the Infidels it would do as well Upon this great and vast Endowments were made But there were many Complaints made of the Templars for betraying and robbing the Pilgrims and other horrid abuses which may reasonably be believed to have been true though other Writers of that Age lay the blame rather on the Covetousness of the King of France and the Popes malice to them Yet in a General Council the whole Order was Condemned and Suppressed and such of them as could be taken were cruelly put to death The Order of the Hospitallers stood yet did not grow much after that They were beaten out of the Holy-Land by the Sultans and lately out of the Isle of Rhodes and were at this time in Malta Their great Master depended on the Pope and the Emperor so it was not thought fit to let a House that was subject to a Forreign Power stand longer And it seems they would not willingly Surrender up their House as others had done Therefore it was necessary to force them out of it by an Act of Parliament which on the 22d of April was read the first time and on the 26th the 2d time and on the 29th the third time by which both their House in England and another they had in Kilmainam in Ireland were suppressed great pensions being reserved by the Act to the Priors a 1000 lib. to him of St. Iohns near London and 500 Marks to the other with very considerable allowances for the Knights which in all amounted near to 3000 lib. yearly But on the 14th of May the Parliament was Prorogued to the 25th and a vote passed that their Bills should remain in the State they were in Upon their next mâ—eting as they were going on in their business a great Change of Court broke out For on the 13th of Iune at the Council Table the Duke of Norfolk in the Kings name challenged the Lord Cromwel of high Treason and Arresting him sent him Prisoner to the Tower He had many Enemies among all sorts of persons The Nobility despised him and thought it lessened the greatness of their Titles to see the Son of a Black-Smith raised so many degrees above them His aspiring to the Order of the Garter was thought inexcusable vanity and his having so many places heaped on him as Lord Privy Seal Lord Chamberlain of England and Lord Vice-gerent with the Mastership of the Rolls with which he had but lately parted drew much envy on him All the Popish party hated him out of measure The Suppression of the Abbies was laid wholly at his door The Attaindors and all other severe proceedings were imputed to his Counsels He was also thought to be the person that had kept the King and the Emperor at such distance And therefore the Duke of Norfolk and Gardiner beside private Animosities hated him on that account And they did not think it impossible if he were out of the way to bring on a Treaty with the Emperor which they hoped would open the way for one with the Pope But other more secret reasons wrought his ruin with the King The fear he was in of a Conjunction between the Emperor and France did now abate For he understood that it went no further
potuit potest non aliter Necnon ad inquirenduÌ„ per te vâ—l alium seu alios ad id per te deputanduÌ„ sive deputandos tam ex officio mero mixto quam promoto super quorumcunque excessibus criminibus seu delictis quibuscunque ad forum Ecclesiasticum spectantibus infra Dioc. London ac dilinquentes sive criminosos juxta comperta per te in ea parte per Licita Juris remedia pro modo culpae prout natura qualitas delicti poposcerit coercendum puniendum caeteraque omnia singula in Praemissis ceu aliquo praemissorum aut circa ea necessaria seu quomodolibet opportuna ac alia quaecunque Autoritatem Jurisdictionem Episcopalem quovismodo respiciend concernend praeter ultra ea quae tibi ex Sacris Literis divinitus commissa esse dignoscantur vice nomine Autoritate nostris exequendum Tibi de cujus sana doctrina conscientiae puritate vitaeque morum integritate ac in rebus gerendis fide industria plurimum confidimus vices nostras cum potestate alium vel alios Commissarium vel Commissarios ad praemissa seu eorum aliqua surrogandi substituendi eosdemque ad placitum revocand tenore praesentium committimus ac liberam facultatem concedimus Teque licentiam per praesentes ad nostri beneplaciti duntaxat duraturas cum cujuslibet congruae Ecclesiasticae coercionis potestate quacunque inhibitione in te datam praesentium emanata in aliquo non obstante Tuam Conscientiam coram Deo strictissime onerantes ut summo omnium judici aliquando rationem reddere coram nobis tuo cum periculo corporali respondere intendis te admonentes ut interim tuum officium juxta Evangelii normam pie sancte exercere studeas ne quem ullo tempore unquam vel ad sacros ordines promoveas vel ad curam animarum gerend quovis modo admittas nisi eos duntaxat quos ad tanti tam venerabilis Officii functionem vitae morum integritas certissimis testimoniis approbata literarum scientiae aliae qualitates requisitae ad hoc habiles idoneos clare luculenter ostenderint declaraverint Nam ut maxime compertum cognitumque habemus morum omnium Maxime Christianae Religionis corruptelam a malis Pastoribus in populum emanasse sic ut veram Christi Religionem vitaeque morum emendationem a bonis Pastoribus iterum delectis assumptis in integrum restitutum iri haud dubie speramus In cujus rei testimonium praesentes Literas nostras inde fieri Sigilli nostri quo ad Causas Ecclesiasticas utimur appensione jussimus Communiri Dat. 12. die mensis Novemb. Anno Dom. 1539. Regni nostri Anno 31. XV. The King's Letters Patents for printing the Bible in English HEnry the Eighth c. To all and singular Printers and Sellers of Books within this our Realm and all other Officers Ministers and Subjects these our Letters hearing or seeing Greeting We let you wit That being desirous to have our People at all times conveniâ—nt give themselves to the attaining the knowledg of God's Word whereby they will the better honour him and observe and keep his Commandments and also do their Duties better to us being their Prince and Sovereign Lord And considering that this our Zeal and Desire cannot by any mean take so good effect as by the granting to them the free and liberal use of the Bible in our own natural English Tongue so unless it be foreseen that the same pass at the beginning by one Translation to be perused and considered The frailty of Men is such that the diversity thereof may breed and bring forth manifold Inconveniences as when wilful and heady Folk shall confer upon the diversity of the said Translations We have therefore appointed our right trusty and well-beloved Counsellor the Lord Cromwell Keeper of our Privy-Seal to take for us and in our Name special care and charge that no manner of Person or Persons within this our Realm shall enterprise attempt or set in hand to print any Bible in the English Tongue of any manner of Volum during the space of five years next ensuing after the Date hereof but only all such as shall be deputed assigned and admitted by the said Lord Cromwell The 13 Novemb. Tricesimo primo Regni XVI The Attainder of Thomas Cromwell Item quaedam alia petitio formam cujusdam actus attincturae in se continens exhibita est suae Regiae Majestati in Parliamento praedicto cujus tenor sequiâ—ur in haec verba IN their most humble-wise shewing to your most Royal Majesty the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and all your most loving and obedient Subjects the Commons in this your most High Court of Parliament assembled That where your most Royal Majesty our Natural Sovereign Lord is justly lawfully and really entituled to be our sole Supream Head and Governour of this your Realm of England and of the Dominions of the same to whom and to none other under God the Kingly Direction Order and Governance of your most loving and obedient Subjects and People of this your Realm only appertaineth and belongeth And the which your most loving and obedient Subjects your Highness prudently and quietly without any manner of disturbance by a long time most graciously hath preserved sustained and defended And your Highness for the Quietness Wealth and Tranquillity of your said humble and obedient Subjects hath made and ordained divers and many most godly vertuous and wholsome Laws and for due execution of the same hath not desisted to travel in your own most Royal Person to support and maintain as well the Laws of Almighty God as the Laws by your Highness made and ordained by due and condign execution of the same Laws upon the Transgressors offending contrary to the same And your Majesty hath always most vertuously studied and laboured by all ways and all means to and for the setting forth thereof in such wise as it might be most to the Honour Glory and Pleasure of Almighty God and for the common accord and wealth of this your Realm and other your Dominions And for the true execution of the same hath elected chosen and made divers as well of your Nobles as others to be of your most honourable Council as to the honour of a Noble Prince appertaineth And where your Majesty hath had a special trust and confidence in your said most trusty Counsellors that the same your Counsellors and every of them had minded and intended and finally purposed to have followed and pursued your most Godly and Princely Purpose as of truth the more number hath most faithfully done Yet nevertheless Thomas Cromwell now Earl of Essex whom your Majesty took and received into your trusty Service the same Thomas then being a Man of very base and low degree and for singular favour trust and confidence which your Majesty bare and had
it a very ancient Tradition as appeareth by Cyp. de Vnct. Chrism To the eighth Question I say That Confirmation of them that be baptized is found in Scripture but cum Chrismate it is not found in Scripture but it was used cum Chrismate in the Church soon after the Apostles time as it may evidently appear by the cited Authors The laying of the Bishops hands upon them that be christened which is a part of Confirmation is plainly in Scripture and the Unction with Chrisme which is another part hath been observed from the Primitive Church and is called of St. Austin Sacramentum Chrismatis Unction of the Sick with Oil and the Prayer is grounded expresly in Scripture Conveniunt omnes Confirmationem cum Chrismate non haberi in Scripturis Eboracens Tresham Coren Day Oglethorpe Edgworth Leighton Symmons Redman Robinsonus Confirmationem in Scripturis esse contendunt caeterum Chrisma esse traditionem Apostolicam addit Robertsonus ubi fieri desierat miraculum Consecrandi Spiritus Sancti Ecclesia Chrismate signi externi loco uti coepit Convenit illi Londinens Carliolens putat usum Chrismatis ex Scripturis peti posse Putant omnes tum in hoc Articulo tum superiori Impositionem manuum esse Confirmationem In the eighth they do agree all except it be the Bishop of Carlile That Confirmatio cum Chrismate is not found in Scripture but only Confirmatio cum manuum Impositione And that also my Lord of St. Davids denieth to be in Scripture as we call it a Sacrament My Lord of Carlâ—le saith That Chrisma as touching the confection and usage thereof hath a ground to be derived out of Scripture The other say That it is but a Tradition 3. Question Whether the Apostles lacking a higher Power as in not having a Christian Kâ—ng among them made Bishops by that necessity or by Authority given by God Answers ALL Christian Princes have committed unto them immediately of God the whole Cure of all their Subjects as well concerning the Administration of God's Word for the Cure of Souls as concerning the ministration of things Political and Civil Governance And in both these Ministrations they must have sundry Ministers under them to supply that which is appointed to their several Offices The Civil Ministers under the King's Majesty in this Realm of England be those whom it shall please his Highness for the time to put in Authority under him As for Example The Lord Chancellor Lord Treasurer Lord Great Master Lord Privy Seal Lord Admiral Majors Sheriffs c. The Ministers of God's Word under his Majesty be the Bishops Parsons Vicars and such other Priests as be appointed by his Highness to that Ministration As for Example The Bishop of Canterbury the Bishop of Duresme the Bishop of Winchester the Parson of Winwick c. All the said Officers and Ministers as well of that sort as the other be appointed assigned and elected and in every place by the Laws and Orders of Kings and Princes In the admission of many of these Officers be divers comely Ceremonies and Solemnities used which be not of necessity but only for a good order and seemly fashion for if such Offices and Ministrations were committed without such solemnity they were nevertheless truly committed And there is no more Promise of God that Grace is given in the committing of the Ecclesiastical Office than it is in the committing of the Civil Office In the Apostles time when there was no Christian Princes by whose Authority Ministers of God's Word might be appointed nor Sins by the Sword corrected there was no Remedy then for the correction of Vice or appointing of Ministers but only the consent of Christian Multitude among themselves by an uniform consent to follow the advice and perswasion of such Persons whom God had most endued with the Spirit of Counsel and Wisdom And at that time forasmuch as the Christian People had no Sword nor Governour amongst them they were constrained of necessity to take such Curats and Priests as either they knew themselves to be meet thereunto or else as were commended unto them by others that were so replete with the Spirit of God with such knowledg in the profession of Christ such Wisdom such Conversation and Counsel that they ought even of very Conscience to give credit unto them and to accept such as by them were presented and so sometimes the Apostles and others unto whom God had given abundantly his Spirit sâ—nt or appointed Ministers of God's Word sometimes the People did choose such as they thought meet thereunto and when any were appointed or sent by the Apostles or others the People of their own voluntary Will with thanks did accept them nor for the Supremity Empire or Dominion that the Apostles had over them to command as their Princes and Masters but as good People ready to obey the advice of good Counsellors and to accept any thing that was necessary for their edification and benefit To the ninth We find in Scripture that the Apostles used the Power to make Bishops Priests and Deacons which Power may be grounded upon these words Sicut misit me vivens Pater sic ego mitto vos c. And we verily think that they durst not have used so high Power unless they had had Authority from Christ but that their Power to ordain Bishops Priests or Deacons by Imposition of Hands requireth any other Authority than Authority of God we neither read in Scripture nor out of Scripture To the ninth I think the Apostles made Bishops by the Law of God because Acts 22. it is said In quo vos Spiritus Sanctus posuit Nevertheless I think if Christian Princes had been then they should have named by Right and appointed the said Bishops to their Rooms and Places I think that the Apostles made Bishops by Authority given them from God That Christ made his Apostles Priests and Bishops and that he gave them Power to make others like it seemeth to be the very trade of Scripture Opinor Apostolos Authoritate Divina creasse Episcopos Presbyteros ubi Publicus Magistratus permittit Altho the Apostles had no authority to force any Man to be Priest yet they moved by the Holy Ghost had authority of God to exhort and induce Men to set forth God's Honour and so to make them Priests The Apostles made that is to say ordained Bishops by authority given them by God Ioh. 20. Sicut misit me vivens Pater ita ego mitto vos Item Ioan. ult Act. 20. and 1 Tim. 4. Paulus ordinavit Timotheum Titum praescribit quales illi debeant ordinare 1 Tim. 1. Tit. 1. Apostoli autoritate mandato Dei ordinabant ac instituebant Episcopos petita ac obtenta prius facultate a Principe ac Magistratu ut opinor qui tum praeerat Christ gave his Apostles authority to make other Bishops and
that Greatness But while the War went on the Emperor did cajole the King with the highest Complements possible which always wrought much on him and came in person into England to be installed Knight of the Garter where a new League was Concluded by which beside mutual assistance a Match was agreed on between the Emperor and the Lady Mary the Kings only Child by his Queen of whom he had no hopes of more Issue This was sworn to on both hands and the Emperor was obliged when She was of Age to marry Her Per verba de praesenti under pain of Excommunication and the forfeiture of 100000 Pounds The War went on with great success on the Emperors part especially after the Battel of Pavia in which Francis his Army was totally defeated and himself taken Prisoner and carried into Spain After which the Emperor being much offended with the Pope for joyning with Francis turned his Arms against him which were so successful that he besieged and took Rome and kept the Pope prisoner Six Months The Cardinal finding the publick Interests concur so happily with his private Distastes engaged the King to take part with France and afterwards with the Pope against the Emperor his Greatness now becoming the Terror of Christendome for the Emperor lifted up with his success began to think of no less than an Universal Empire And first that he might unite all Spain together he preferred a Match with Portugal to that which he had before Contracted in England and he thought it not enough to break off his sworn Alliance with the King but he did it with an heavy Imputation on the Lady Mary for in his Council it was said that she was illegitimate as being born in an unlawful Marriage so that no Advantage could be expected from her Title to the Succession as will appear more particularly in the Second Book And the Pope having dispensed with the Oath he Married the Infanta of Portugal Besides though the King of England had gone deep in the Charge he would give him no share in the Advantages of the War much less give him that Assistance which he had promised him to recover his Ancient Inheritance in France The King being irritated with this manifold ill usage and led on by his own Interests and by the offended Cardinal joyned himself to the Interests of France Upon which there followed not only a firm Alliance but a personal Friendship which appeared in all the most obliging expressions that could be devised And upon the Kings threatning to make War on the Emperor the French King was set at liberty though on very hard terms if any thing can be hard that sets a King out of Prison but he still acknowledged he owed his Liberty to King Henry Then followed the famous Clementine League between the Pope and Francis the Venetians the Florentines and Francis Sforza Duke of Milan by which the Pope absolved the French King from the Oath he had sworn at Madrid and they all united against the Emperor and declared the King of England Protector of the League This gave the Emperor great distaste who complained of the Pope as an ungrateful and perfidious person The first beginning of the storm fell heavy on the Pope for the French King who had a great mind to have his Children again into his own hands that lay Hostages in Spain went on but slowly in performing his part And the King of England would not openly break with the Emperor but seemed to reserve himself to be Arbiter between the Princes So that the Colonna's being of the Imperial Faction with 3000 men entered Rome and sack't a part of it forcing the Pope to fly into the Castle of St. Angelo and to make peace with the Emperor But as soon as that fear was over the Pope returning to his old arts complained of the Cardinal of Colonna and resolved to deprive him of that Dignity and with an Army entred the Kingdom of Naples taking divers places that belonged to that Family But the Confederates coming slowly to his Assistance and he hearing of great forces that were coming from Spain against him submitted himself to the Emperor and made a Cessation of Arms but being again encouraged with some hopes from his Allies and by a Creation of 14 Cardinals for Money having raised 300000 Duckats he disowned the Treaty and gave the Kingdom of Naples to Count Vaudemont whom he sent with forces to subdue it But the Duke of Bourbon prevented him and went to Rome and giving the Assault in which himself received his mortal wound the City was taken by Storm and plundered for several days about 5000 being killed The Pope with 17 Cardinals fled to the Castle St. Angelo but was forced to render his person and to pay 400000 Duckats to the Army This gave great offence to all the Princes of Christendome except the Lutherans of Germany but none resented it more loudly than this King who sent over Cardinal Wolsey to make up a new Treaty with Francis which was chiefly intended for setting the Pope at Liberty Nor did the Emperor know well how to justifie an Action which seemed so inconsistent with his Devotion to the See of Rome yet the Pope was for some months detained a Prisoner till at length the Emperor having brought him to his own terms ordered him to be setat liberty but he being weary of his Guards escaped in a disguise and owned his Liberty to have flowed chiefly from the Kings endeavours to procure it And thus stood the King as to forreign affairs he had infinitely obliged both the Pope and the French King and was firmly united to them and engaged in a War against the Emperor when he began first to move about his Divorce As for Scotland the near Alliance between him and Iames the Fourth King of Scotland did not take away the standing Animosities between the two Nations nor interrupt the Alliance between France and Scotland And therefore when he made the first War upon France in the Fourth year of his Reign the King of Scotland came with a great Army into the North of England but was totally defeated by the Earl of Surrey in Floudon field The King himself was either killed in the Battel or soon after so that the Kingdom falling under Factions during the Minority of the new King the Government was but feeble and scarce able to secure its own quiet And the Duke of Albany the chief Instrument of the French Faction met with such opposition from the Parties that were raised against him by King Henry's means that he could give him no disturbance And when there came to be a lasting peace between England and France then as the King needed fear no trouble from that Warlike Nation so he got a great Interest in the Government there And at this time Money becoming a more effectual Engine than any the War had ever produced and
to go to Cambridge for trying who were the Fautors of Heresie there But he as Legate did inhibite it upon what grounds I cannot imagine Which was brought against him afterwards in Parliament Art 43. of his Impeachment Yet when these Doctrines were spread every-where he called a meeting of all the Bishops and Divines and Canonists about London where Thomas Bilney and Thomas Arthur were brought before them and Articles were brought in against them The whole process is set down at length by Fox in all Points according to Tonstall's Register except one fault in the Translation When the Cardinal asked Bilney whether he had not taken an Oath before not to preach or defend any of Luthers Doctrines he confessed he had done it but not judicially judicialiter in the Register This Fox Translates not lawfully In all the other particulars there is an exact agreement between the Register and his Acts. The sum of the proceedings of the Court was That after examination of Witnesses and several other steps in the Process which the Cardinal left to the Bishop of London and the other Bishops to manage Bilney stood out long and seemed resolved to suffer for a good Conscience In the end what through human infirmity what through the great importunity of the Bishop of London who set all his Friends on him he did abjure on the 7 th of December as Arthur had done on the 2 d. of that Month. And though Bilney was relapst and so was to expect no mercy by the Law yet the Bishop of London enjoyned him Penance and let him go For Tonstall being a man both of good Learning and an unblemisht life these Vertues produced one of their ordinary effects in him great moderation that was so eminent in him that at no time did he dip his hands in Blood Geoffrey Loni and Thomas Gerard also abjured for having had Luther's Books and defending his Opinions These were the proceedings against Hereticks in the first half of this Reign And thus far I have opened the State of Affairs both as to Religious and Civil concerns for the first 18 years of this Kings time with what Observations I could gather of the dispositions and tempers of the Nation at that time which prepared them for the Changes that followed afterwards The End of the First Book THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE Church of England BOOK II. Of the Process of Divorce between King Henry and Queen Katharine and of what passed from the Nineteenth to the Twenty fifth year of his Reign in which he was declared Supreme Head of the Church of England KING Henry hitherto lived at ease and enjoyed his pleasures he made War with much honour and that always produced a just and advantageous Peace He had no trouble upon him in all his affairs except about the getting of Money and even in that the Cardinal eased him But now a Domestick trouble arose which perplexed all the rest of his Government and drew after it Consequences of a high nature Henry the 7 th upon wise and good considerations resolved to link himself in a close Confederacy with Ferdinand and Isabella Kings of Castile and Arragon and with the House of Burgundy against France which was looked on as the lasting and dangerous Enemy of England And therefore a Match was agreed on between his Son Prince Arthur and Katharine the Infanta of Spain whose eldest Sister Ioan was Married to Philip that was then Duke of Burgundy and Earl of Flanders out of which arose a triple Alliance between England Spain and Burgundy against the King of France who was then become formidable to all about him There was given with her 200000 Duckats the greatest Portion that had been given for many Ages with any Princess which made it not the less acceptable to King Henry the Seventh EFFIGIES CATHARINAE PRINCIPIS ARTHURI VXORIS HENRICO REGI NUPTAE H. Holbeâ—n Pinxit R. White Sculp 1486. Nata 1501. Nov. 14. Arthuro nupsit 1509. Iun. 3. Henrico Regi nupsit 1526. toro exclusa 1533. May. 23 incesti damnata 1536. Ian. 8. obijt Printed for Rich Chiswell at the Rose Crown in St Pauls Church yard The Infanta was brought into England and on the 14th of Nov. was Married at St. Pauls to the Prince of Wales They lived together as man and wife till the 2d of April following and not only had their Bed solemnly blest when they were put in it on the night of their Marriage but also were seen publickly in Bed for several days after and went down to live at Ludlow-Castle in Wales where they still Bedded together But Prince Arthur though a strong and healthful youth when he Married her yet died soon after which some thought was hastened by his too early Marriage The Spanish Ambassador had by his Masters order taken proofs of the Consummation of the Marriage and sent them into Spain the young Prince also himself had by many expressions given his Servants cause to believe that his Marriage was consummated the first night which in a youth of Sixteen years of Age that was vigorous and healthful was not at all judged strange It was so constantly believed that when he dyed his younger Brother Henry Duke of York was not called Prince of Wales for some considerable time Some say for one Month some for 6 Months And he was not created Prince of Wales till 10 Months were elapsed viz. in the February following when it was apparent that his Brothers wife was not with Child by him These things were afterwards looked on as a full Demonstration being as much as the thing was capable of that the Princess was not a Virgin after Prince Arthur's Death But the reason of State still standing for keeping up the Alliance against France and King Henry the 7th having no mind to let so great a Revenue as she had in Jointure be carried out of the Kingdom it was proposed That she should be married to the younger Brother Henry now Prince of Wales The two Prelats that were then in greatest esteem with King Henry the 7th were Warham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Fox Bishop of Winchester The former delivered his opinion against it and told the King that he thought it was neither honourable nor well-pleasing to God The Bishop of Winchester perswaded it and for the Objections that were against it and the Murmuring of the people who did not like a Marriage that was disputable lest out of it new Wars should afterwards arise about the Right of the Crown the Popes Dispensation was thought sufficient to answer all and his Authority was then so undisputed that it did it effectually So a Bull was obtained on the 26 of Decemb. 1503 to this effect that the Pope according to the greatness of his Authority having received a Petition from Prince Henry and the Princess Katharine Bearing That whereas the Princess was Lawfully Married to Prince Arthur which was
the more The matter was such that by the Canon-Law it could not be denied For to grant an Avocation of a Cause upon good reason from the Delegated to the Supreme Court was a thing which by the course of Law was very usual And it was no less apparent that the Reasons of the Queens appeal were just and good But the secret and most convincing Motives that wrought more on the Pope than all other things were that the Treaty between him and the Emperor was now concerted Therefore this being to be published very speedily the Pope thought it necessary to avocate the matter to Rome before the publication of the Peace lest if he did it after it should be thought that it had been one of the secret Articles of the Treaty which would have cast a foul blot upon him Yet on the other hand he was not a little perplexed with the fears he had of losing the King of England he knew he was a man of an high Spirit and would resent what he did severely And the Cardinal now again ordered Dr. Bennet in his name and as with tears in his eyes lying at the Popes feet to assure him that the King and Kingdom of England were certainly lost if the Cause were Avocated Therefore he besought him to leave it still in their hands and assured him that for himself he should rather be torn in pieces joynt by joynt than do any thing in that matter contrary to his Conscience or to Justice These things had been oft said and the Pope did apprehend that ill effects would follow for if the King fell from his Obedience to the Apostolick See no doubt all the Lutheran Princes who were already bandying against the Emperor would joyn themselves with him and the Interests of France would most certainly engage that King also into the Union which would distract the Church give encouragement to Heresie and end in the utter ruin of the Popedom But in all this the crafty Pope comforted himself that many times threatnings are not intended to be made good but are used to terrifie and that the King who had written for the Faith against Luther and had been so ill used by him would never do a thing that would sound so ill as because he could not obtain what he had a mind to therefore to turn Heretick he also resolved to caress the French King much and was in hopes of making Peace between the Emperor and him But that which went nearest the Popes heart of all other things was the setting up of his Family at Florence and the Emperor having given him assurance of that it weighed down all other considerations Therefore he resolved he would please the Emperor but do all he could not to lose the King So on the 9th of Iuly he sent for the Kings Ambassadors and told them the Process was now so far set on in England and the Avocation so earnestly pressed that he could deny it no longer for all the Lawyers in Rome had told him the thing could not be denied in the common course of Justice Upon this the Ambassadors told him what they had in Commission to say against it both from the King and the Cardinal and pressed it with great vehemence So that the Pope by many sighs and tears showed how deep an impression that which they said made upon him he wished himself dead that he might be delivered out of that Martyrdom and added these words which because of their savouring so much of an Apostolical Spirit I set down Wo is me no body apprehends all those evils better than I do But I am so between the Hammer and the Forge that when I would comply with the Kings desires the whole storm then must fall on my head and which is worse on the Church of Christ. They did object the many promises he had made them both by word of mouth and under his hand He answered He desired to do more for the King than he had promised but it was impossible to refuse what the Emperor now demanded whose Forces did so surround him that he could not only force him to grant him Iustice but could dispose of him and all his Concerns at his pleasure The Ambassadors seeing the Pope was resolved to grant the Avocation pressed against it no further but studied to put it off for some time And therefore proposed that the Pope would himself write about it to the King and not grant it till he received his answer Of all this they gave Advertisement to the King and wrote to him that he must either drive the matter to a Sentence in great haste or to prevent the affront of an Advocation suspend the Process for some time They also advised the searching all the Packets that went or came by the way of Flanders and to keep up all Campegio's Letters and to take care that no Bull might come to England for they did much apprehend that the Avocation would be granted within very few days Their next Dispatch bore that the Pope had sent for them to let them know that he had Signed the Avocation the day before But they understood another way that the Treaty between the Emperor and him was finished and the Peace was to be proclaimed on the 18th of Iuly and that the Pope did not only fear the Emperor more than all other Princes but that he also trusted him more now On the 19th of Iuly the Pope sent a Messenger with the Avocation to England with a Letter to the Cardinal To the King he wrote afterwards All this while Campegio as he had Orders from the Pope to draw out the matter by delays so did it very dextrously And in this he pretended a fair excuse that it would not be for the Kings honour to precipitate the matter too much lest great advantages might be taken from that by the Queens Party That therefore it was fit to proceed slowly that the world might see with what Moderation as well as Justice the matter was handled From the 25th of Iune the Court Adjourned to the 28th ordering a second Citation for the Queen under the pains of Contumacy and of their proceeding to examine Witnesses And on the 28th they declared the Queen Contumacious the second time and examined several Witnesses upon the Articles and Adjourned to the 5th of Iuly on that day the Bull and Breve were read in Court and the Kings Council argued long against the validity of the one and the truth of the other Upon the grounds that have been already mentioned in which Campegio was much disgusted to hear them argue against the Popes Power of granting such a Dispensation in a matter that was against a Divine Precept alledging that his Power did not exend so far This the Legates over-ruled and said that that was too high a point for them to judg in or so much as to hear argued and that the Pope himself was the only
another Wife keeping the Queen still Zuinglius confutes that and says If the Marriage be against the Law of God it ought to be dissolved But concludes the Queen should be put away honourably and still used as a Queen and the Marriage should only be dissolved for the future without Illegitimating the Issue begotten in it since it had gone on in a publick way upon a received error But advises that the King should proceed in a Judiciary way and not establish so ill a President as to put away his Queen and take another without due form of Law Dated Basil 17th of Aug. There is a second Letter of his to the same purpose from Zurick the first of September There is also with these Letters a long paper of Osianders in the form of a Direction how the Process should be managed There is also an Epistle of Calvins published among the rest of his Neither the date nor the person to whom it was directed are named Yet I fancie it was written to Grineus upon this occasion Calvin was clear in his judgment that the Marriage was null and that the King ought to put away the Queen upon the Law of Leviticus And whereas it was objected that the Law is only meant of Marrying the Brothers wife while he is yet alive he shews that could not be admitted for all the prohibited degrees being forbidden in the same style they were all to be understood in one sense Therefore since it is confessed that it is unlawful to Marry in the other degrees after the death of the Father Son Uncle or Nephew so it must be also a sin to Marry the Brothers wife after his death And for the Law in Deuteronomy of Marrying the Brothers wife to raise up seed to him he thought that by Brother there is to be understood a near Kinsman according to the usual phrase of the Hebrew tongue and by that he reconciles the two Laws which otherwise seem to differ illustrating his Exposition by the History of Ruth and Boaz. It is given out that Melancthon advised the Kings taking another wife justifying Polygamy from the old Testament but I cannot believe it It is true the Lawfulness of Polygamy was much controverted at this time And as in all controversies newly started many crude things are said so some of the Helvetian and German Divines seem not so fierce against it though none of them went so far as the Pope did who did plainly offer to grant the King Licence to have two wives and it was a motion the Imperialists consented to and promoted though upon what reason the Ambassador Cassali who wrote the account of it to the King could not learn The Pope forbade him to write about it to the King perhaps as Whisperers enjoyn silence as the most effectual way to make a thing publick But for Melancthons being of that mind great evidences appear to the contrary for there is a Letter of Osianders to him giving him many reasons to perswade him to approve of the Kings putting away the Queen and Marrying another the Letter also shews he was then of opinion that the Law in Leviticus was Dispensable And after the thing was done when the King desired the Lutheran Divines to approve his second Marriage they begged his excuse in a writing which they sent over to him so that Melanâ—â—hon not allowing the thing when it was done cannot be imagined to have advised Polygamy before hand And to open at once all that may clear the sense of the Protestants in the Question when some years after this Fox being made Bishop of Hereford and much inclined to their Doâ—ctrine was sent over to get the Divines of Germany to approve of the Divorce and the subsequent Marriage of Anne Boleyn he found that Melancthon and others had no mind to enter much into the Dispute about it both for fear of the Emperor and because they judged the King was led in it by dishonest affections they also thought the Laws in Leviticus were not Moral and did not oblige Christians and since there were no Rules made about the Degrees of Marriage in the Gospel they thought Princes and States might make what Laws they pleased about it yet aâ—ter much Disputing they were induced to change their minds but could not be brought to think that a Marriage once made might be annulled and therefore demurred upon that as will appear by the Conclusion they passed upon it to be found at the end of this volume All this I have set together here to give a right representation of the judgments of the several parties of Christendome about this matter It cannot be denyed that the Protestants did express great sincerity in this matter such as became men of conscience who were acted by true Principles and not by maxims of Policie For if these had governed them they had struck in more compliantly with so great a Prince who was then alienated from the Pope and in very ill terms with the Emperor so that to have gained him by a full Compliance to have protected them was the wisest thing they could do and their being so cold in the matter of his Marriage in which he had engaged so deeply was a thing which would very much provoke him against them But such measures as these though they very well became the Apostolick See yet theâ— were unworthy of men who designed to restore an Apostolick Religion The Earl of Wiltshire with the other Ambassadors when they had their Audience of the Pope at Bononia refused to pay him the submission of Kissing his foot though he graciously stretched it out to them but went to their Business and expostulated in the Kings name and in high words and in Conclusion told the Pope that the Prerogative of the Crown of England was such that their Master would not suffer any Citation to be made of him to any forreign Court and that therefore the King would not have his cause tryed at Rome The Pope answered that though the Queens Sollicitor had pressed him to proceed in the Citation bâ—th that her Marriage being further examined might receive a new Conâ—irmation for silencing the Dispuâ—es about it and because the King had withdrawn himself â—rom her yet if the King did not go further and did not innovate in Relâ—gion the Pope was willing to let the matter rest They went next to the Emperor to justifie the Kings Proceedings in the Suit of the Divorce But he told them he was bound in honour and justice to â—uppâ—rt his Aunt and that he would not abandon her Cranmer offered to maintain what he had written in his Book but whether they went so far as to make their Divines enter into any Discourse with him about it I do not know This appears that the Pope to put a Complement on the King declared Cranmer his Paenitentiary in England He having stayed some months at Rome after the Ambassadors were gone
final Determination was to be made without any further Process and in every Process concerning the King or his Heirs and Successors an Appeal should lie to the upper House of Convocation where it should be finally Determined never to be again called in question As this Bill passed the sense of both Houses of Parliament about the Kings Marriage did clearly appear but in the Convocation the business was more fully debated The Convocation of the Province of Canterbury was at this time destitute of its Head and principal Member For Warham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was dead since August last year He was a great Canonist an able States-man a dextrous Courtier and a favourer of Learned men He always hated Cardinal Wolsey and would never stoop to him esteeming it below the Dignity of his See He was not so peevishly engaged to the Learning of the Schools as others were but set up and encouraged a more generous way of Knowledge yet he was a severe persecutor of them whom he thought Hereticks and enclined to believe idle and Fanatical people as will afterwards appear when the Impostures of the Maid of Kent shall be related The King saw well of how great importance it was to the designes he was then forming to fill that See with a Learned Prudent and resolute man but finding none in the Episcopal Order that was qualified to his mind and having observed a native simplicity joyned with much courage and tempered with a great deal of wisdom in Dr. Cranmer who was then Negotiating his business among the Learned men of Germany he of his own accord without any adresses from Cranmer designed to raise him to that Dignity and gave him notice of it that he might make hast and come home to enjoy that reward which the King had appointed for him But Cranmer having received this did all he could to excuse himself from the burden which was coming upon him and therefore he returned very slowly to England hoping that the Kings thoughts cooling some other person might step in between him and a Dignity of which having a just and primitive sense he did look on it with fear and apprehension rather than joy and desire This was so far from setting him back that the King who had known well what it was to be importuned by ambitious and aspiring Churchmen but had not found it usual that they should decline and fly from Preferment was thereby confirmed in his high opinion of him and neither the delays of his Journey nor his Intreaties to be delivered from a Burden which his Humility made him imagine himself unable to bear could divert the King So that though six moneths elapsed before the thing was settled yet the King persisted in his Opinion and the other was forced to yield In the end of Ianuary the King sent to the Pope for the Bulls for Cranmers Promotion and though the Statutes were passed against procuring more Bulls from Rome yet the King resolved not to begin the breach till he was forced to it by the Pope It may be easily imagined that the Pope was not hearty in this Promotion and that he apprehended ill consequences from the Advancement of a Man who had gone over many Courts of Christendom disputing against his Power of Dispensing and had lived in much Familiarity with Osiander and the Lutherans in Germany Yet on the other hand he had no mind to precipitate a Rupture with England therefore he consented to it and the Bulls were expedited though instead of Annates there was onely 900 Ducats paid for them They were the last Bulls that were received in England in this Kings Reign and therefore I shall give an account of them as they are set down in the beginning of Cranmers Register By one Bull he is upon the Kings Nomination promoted to be Archbishop of Canterbury which is directed to the King By a second directed to himself he is made Archbishop By a third he is absolved from all Censures A fourth is to the Suffragans A fifth to the Dean and Chapter A sixth to the Clergy of Canterbury A seventh to all the Laity in his See An eighth to all that held Lands of it requiring them to receive and acknowledge him as Archbishop All these bear Date the 21th of February 1533. By a ninth Bull dated the 22th of February he was ordained to be consecrated taking the Oath that was in the Pontifical By a tenth Bull dated the second of March the Pall was sent him And by an eleventh of the same Date the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of London were required to put it on him These were the several Artifices to make Compositions high and to enrich the Apostolick Chamber for now that about which S. Peter gloried that he had none of it neither silver nor gold was the thing in the world for which his Successors were most careful When these Bulls were brought into England Thomas Cranmer was on the 13th of March consecrated by the Bishops of Lincoln Exeter and S. Asaph But here a great Scruple was moved by him concerning the Oath that he was to swear to the Pope which he had no mind to take and Writers near that time say the dislike of that Oath was one of the motives that made him so unwillingly accept of that Dignity He declared that he thought there were many things settled by the Laws of the Popes which ought to be reformed and that the Obligation which that Oath brought upon him would bind him up from doing his Duty both to God the King and the Church But this being communicated to some of the Canonists and Casuists they found a temper that agreed better with their Maxims than Cranmers sincerity which was that before he should take the Oath he should make a good and formal Protestation That he did not intend thereby to restrain himself from any thing that he was bound to either by his Duty to God or the King or the Countrey and that he renounced every thing in it that was contrary to any of these This Protestation he made in S. Stephens Chapel at Westminster in the hands of some Doctors of the Canon Law before he was consecrated and he afterwards repeated it when he took the Oath to the Pope by which if he did not wholly save his Integrity yet it was plain he intended no Cheat but to act fairly and above board As soon as he was consecrated and had performed every thing that was necessary for his Investiture he came and sate in the Upper House of Convocation There were there at that time hot and earnest Debates upon these two Questions Whether it was against the Law of God and Indispensable by the Pope for a man to marry his Brothers Wife he being dead without Issue but having consummated the Marriage And whether Prince Arthur had consummated his Marriage with the Queen As for the first it was brought first into the Lower
House of Convocation and when it was put to the Vote 14 were for the Affirmative 7 for the Negative one was not clear and another voted the Prohibition to be Moral but yet dispensable by the Pope In the Upper House it was long debated Stokesly Bishop of London arguing for the Affirmative and Fisher Bishop of Rochester for the Negative The Opinions of 19 Universities were read for it and the oneHouse being as full as the other was empty 216 being present either in person or by Proxy it was carried in the Affirmative Nemine contradicente those few of the Queens party that were there it seems going out For the other Question about the Matter ofFact it was remitted to the Faculty of the Canon Law it being a matter that lay within their Stâ—dies whether the Presumptions were violent and such as in the course of Law must be look'd on as good Evidences of a thing that was secret and was not capable of formal proof They all except five or six were for the Affirmative and all the Upper House confirmed this the Bishop of Bath and Wells onely excepted In this account it may seem strange that there were but 23 persons in the Lower House of Convocation and 216 in the Upper House It is taken from an unquestioned Authority so the Matter of Fact is not to be doubted The most Learned Sir Henry Spelman has in no place of his Collection of our Councils considered the Constitution of the two Houses of Convocation and in none of our Records have I been able to discover of what persons they were made up in the Times of Popery and therefore since we are left to conjecture I shall offer mine to the learned Reader It is that none sate in the Lower House but those who were deputed by the inferiour Clergy and that Bishops Abbots Mitered and not Mitered and Priors Deans and Archdeacons sate then in the Upper House of Convocation To which I am induced by these two Reasons It is probable that all who were declared Prelates by the Pope and had their Writ to sit in a General Council had likewise a right to come to the Upper House of Convocation and sit with the other Prelates And we find in the Tomes of the Councils that not onely Abbots and Priors but Deans and Archdeacons were summoned to the fourth Council in the Lateran and to that at Vienna Another Reason is that their sitting in two Houses for in all other Nations they sit together looks as if it had been taken from the Constitution of our Parliament in which all that have Writs personally sit in the Lords House and those who come upon an Election sit in the Lower House So it is not improbable that all who were summoned personally sate in the Upper House and those who were returned with an Election sate in the Lower House of Convocation This Account of that Convocation I take from that Collection of the British Antiquities which is believed to have been made by Matthew Parker who lived at that time and was afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury But the Convocation Books being burnt there are no Records to be appealed to yet it is not to be supposed that in a Matter of Fact that was so publick and well known any man especially one of that high Rank would have delivered Falshoods while the Books were yet extant that would have disproved them The Church of England having in her Representative made such a full Decision nothing remained but to give Judgment and to declare the Marriage Null The thing was already determined onely the Formality of a Sentence Declarative was wanting But before they proceeded to that a new Message was sent to the Queen to lay all that had passed before her and to desire her to acquiesce in the Opinions of so many Universities and Learned Men. But she still persisted in her Resolution to own her Marriage and to adhere to her Appeal till the Pope should judge in it And when it was told her that the King would settle the Joynture that she was to have by his Brother and that the Honour of Princess of Wales should still be paid her she rejected it But the new Queen was now with child and brought forth Queen Elizabeth the 7th of September this year from which looking backwards nine moneths to the beginning of December it shews that she must have been married at or before that time for all the Writers of both sides agree that she was married before she conceived with child The King therefore thought not fit to conceal it much longer so on Easter Eve she was declared Queen of England It seems it was not thought needful at that time to proceed to any further Sentence about the former Marriage otherwise I cannot see what made it be so long delayed since the thing was in their power now as well as after And it was certainly a preposterous Method to judge the first Marriage Null after the second was published So that it seems more probable they did not intend any Sentence at all till afterwards perhaps upon Advertisements from beyond Sea they went on to a formal Process Nor is it unlikely that the King remembering the old Advice that the Pope sent him once to marry a second Wife and then to send for a Commission to try the matter which the Pope was willing to confirm though he would not seem to allow it originally resolved to follow this Method for the Pope was now closing with Francis from which Union the King had reason to expect great Advantages Whatsoever were the Reasons of the Delay the Process was framed in this Method First Cranmer wrote to the King that the World had been long scandalized with his Marriage and that it lay on him as his Duty to see it tried and determined therefore craved his Royal Leave to proceed in it Which being obtained both the King and Queen were cited to appear before the Archbishop at Dunstable the 20th of May and the Archbishop went thither with the Bishops of London Winchester Gardiner Bath and Wells and Lincoln and many Divines and Canonists That place was chosen because the Queen lay then very near it at Ampthill and so she could not pretend ignorance of what was done and they needed not put many days in the Citation but might end the Process so much the sooner On the 10th of May the Archbishop sate in Court and the King appeared by Proxy but the Queen appeared not Upon which she was declared Contumax and a second Citation was issued out and after that a third But she intended not to appear and so she was finally declared Contumax Then the Evidences that had been brought before the Legates of the Consummation of the Marriage with Prince Arthur were read After that the Determinations of the Universities and Divines and Canonists were also produced and read Then the Judgments of the Convocations of both Provinces were also
vehemency nor could they silence him till the King himself commanded him to hold his peace And yet all that was done either to him or Peto was that being called before the Privie Council they were rebuked for their insolence by which it appears that King Henry was not very easily inflamed against them when a crime of so high a Nature was so slightly passed over Nor was this all but the Fathers that were in the Conspiracy had confederated to publish these Revelations in their Sermons up and down the Kingdom They had also given Notice of them to the Popes Ambassadors and had brought the Maid to declare her Revelations to them they had also sent an account to Queen Katharine for encouraging her to stand out and not submit to the Laws of which Confederacy Thomas Abel was likewise one The thing that was in so many hands could not be a secret therefore the King who had despised it long ordered that in Nouember the former year the Maid and her Complices Richard Master Doctor Bocking Richard Deering Henry Gold a Parson in London Hugh Rich an observant Frier Richard Risby Thomas Gold and Edward Twaites Gentlemen and Thomas Laurence should be brought into the Star-Chamber where there was a great appearance of many Lords they were examined upon the premises and did all without any rack or torture confess the whole Conspiracy and were adjudged to stand in Pauls all the Sermon time and after Sermon the Kings Officers were to give every one of them his Bill of Confession to be openly read before the people which was done next Sunday the Bishop of Bangor preaching they being all set in a Scaffold before him This publick manner was thought upon good grounds to be the best way to satisfie the people of the Imposture of the whole matter and it did very much convince them that the cause must needs be bad where such methods were used to support it From thence they were carryed to the Tower where they lay till the Session of Parliament but when they lay there some of their Complices sent messages to the Nun to encourage her to deny all that she had said and it is very probable that the reports that went abroad of her being forced or cheated into a Confession made the King think it necessary to proceed more severely against her The thing being considered in Parliament it was judged a Conspiracy against the Kings Life and Crown So the Nun and Master Bocking Deering Rich Risby and Henry Gold were Attainted of high Treason And the Bishop of Rochester Thomas Gold Thomas Laurence Edward Twaites Iohn Adeson and Thomas Abell were judged guilty of misprision of Treason and to forfeit their goods and Chattels to the King and to be imprisoned during his pleasure and all the Books that were written of her Revelations were ordered to be sent in to some of the chief Officers of State under the pains of Fine and Imprisonment It had been also found that the Letter which she pretended to have got from Mary Magdalen e was written by one Hankherst of Canterbury and that the door of the Dormitorie which was given out to be made open by miracle that she might go into the Chappel for Converse with God was opened by some of her Complices for beastly and carnal ends But in the Conclusion of the Act all others who had been corrupted in their Allegiance by these impostures except the persons before named were at the earnest intercession of Queen Anne pardoned The two Houses of Parliament having ended their business were prorogued on the 29th of March to the 3d of November and before they broke up all the Members of both Houses that they might give a good example to the Kings other Subjects swore the Oath of Succession as appears from the Act made about it in the next Session of Parliament The Execution of these persons was delayed for some time it is like till the King had a return from Rome of the Messenger he had sent thither with his Submission Soon after that on the 20 of April the Nun and Bocking Master Deering Risby and Gold Rich is not named being perhaps either dead or pardoned were brought to Tiburn The Nun spake these words Hither I am come to die and I have not been only the cause of mine own death which most justly I have deserved but also I am the cause of the death of all those persons which at this time here suffer And yet to say the truth I am not so much to be blamed considering that it was well known to these learned men that I was a poor wench without Learning and therefore they might easily have perceived that the things that were done by me could not proceed in no such sort but their capacities and Learning could right well judge from whence they proceeded and that they were altogether feigned but because the thing which I feigned was profitable to them therefore they much praised me and bore me in hand that it was the Holy-Ghost and not I that did them and then I being pussed up with their praises fell into a certain pride and foolish fantasie with my self and thought I might feign what I would which thing hath brought me to this case and for the which now I cry God and the Kings Highness most heartily Mercy and desire you all good people to pray to God to have mercy on me and on all them that here suffer with me On all this I have dwelt the longer both because these are all called Martyrs by Sanders and that this did first provoke the King against the Regular Clergy and drew after it all the severities that were done in the rest of his Reign The foulness and the wicked designs of this Imposture did much alienate people from the Interest of Rome and made the other Acts both pass more easily and be better received by the people It was also generally believed that what was now discovered was no new practice but that many of the Visions and Miracles by which Religious Orders had raised their Credit so high were of the same Nature and it made way for the destroying of all the Monasteries in England though all the severity which at this time followed on it was that the Observant Friers of Richmont Greenwich Canterbury Newark and Newcastle were removed out of their Houses and put with the other Gray-Friers and Augustin-Friers were put in their Houses But because of the great name of Fisher Bishop of Rochester and since this was the first step to his ruin it is necessary to give a fuller account of his carriage in this matter When the cheat was first discovered Cromwell then Secretary of State sent the Bishops Brother to him with a sharp reproof for his carriage in that business but withal advised him to write to the King and acknowledge his offence and desire his pardon which he knew the King considering his Age and sickness
Denique quum intelligam Dominum Lautrek nonnihil mirari quod Regiae Majestatis istic agentes nullam suorum mandatorum partem cum eo conâ—erunt ad eum nunc scribo nonnulla Domino Roberto Jernyngham ei exponenda committo concernentia actiones cum Ferrariae Duce alia quaedam eodem Domino Lautrek significans vos missos esse ad dictas causas juvandas Pontificis liberationem promovendam quemadmodum ex literarum ad Dominum Jernyngham exemplo cognoscetis expediens itaque fuerit ut prae se feratis vos dictae rei gratia missos esse ne forsan Dominus Lautrek in falsam aliquam conjecturam aut suspicionem incideret quae communibus rebus nocere posset in vestrarum quoque actionum impedimentum redundare Illud deinde reticere nolui quod si ullo pacto vobis liceat ad Sanctissimi Domini nostri praesentiam accedere nihil omittatis in favorem gratiam Reverendi Domini Datarii de cujus animo nihil dubitamus comparandam eique asseretis quod quum in nostris omnibus occurrentiis illius opera ac Patrocinio semper usi fuerimus ipse vero tanta semper side ac sedulitate omnia effecerit quae nobis grata optata esse cognovit ut nostram omnem operam suis rebus reddiderit promptissimam suae utilitatis exaltationis cupidissimam Quocirca haec Regia Majestas hac in re qua nullam magis cordi habet nec gravioris momenti quicquam sibi accidere posse judicat ex animi sui sententia conficienda post Sanctissimum Dominum nostrum in Domino Datario spem omnem collocavit qui ex hac occasione si operam suam ad optatum usque exitum interponere non gravetur Regiae Majestatis animum pectus sic omni ex parte promerebitur ut dicta Majestas non solum omnia curatura sit quae ex Domini Veronensis commodo ornamento fuerint sed eam etiam munificentiam gratitudinem addet quae majorem vel integram partem a captivitate Redemtionis persolvendae compensabit In me vero non aliam fidem amicitiam experietur quam ab ullo fratre posset expectare Et bene valete Londini ex meis Aedibus Die quinto Decemb. M. D. XXVII Vester tanquam frater Amantiss T. Cardinalis Eborac Rome Ian. 1. 1528. IV. Two Letters of Secretary Knights to the Cardinal and the King giving an account of his Conference with the Pope about his Divorce Taken from the Originals PLease it your Grace to understand That immediately upon the receipt of your Graces Letters severally directed unto Mr. Gregory and me he and I resorted unto the Pope his Holiness making congraâ—ulation of his restitution unto liberty on yours and his behalf to his singular comfort and consolation and so much the more because that I was the first that made like salutation in any great Princes Name He being well assured that I spake the same on the behalf of his two chief sincere unfeigned Friends Wherefore with great high thanks and long discourse with rehearsal of the King 's and your Merits and Acts in most vertuous and Catholick manner employed for his restitution and your continual and effectual study how the See Apostolique might recover the pristine Reputation and Dignity He confirmed as much as I had spoken After this Mr. Gregory and I entred into our Charge shewing at length the high deserts of the Princes and Realm of England the devotion of the same towards the Church how expedient it was as well for the See Apostolique as for the said Realm to foresee and provide that all occasions of Dissension and War were extinct and put away which for lack of Heir Male of our Sovereign's Line and Stem should undoubtedly follow with other considerations at length contained in our Instructions We desired his Holiness to commit the knowledg of the Dispensation that was obtained in time of Iulius of famous memory for Matrimony to be had between the King and the Widow Relict late of Prince Arthur and that we might have it in form as that was that your Grace sent hither His Holiness answered That our sayings had great likelihood of truth for lacking of Issue Male of the King's Stem considering the nature of Men being prone unto Novelties and disposed unto Parties and Factions The Realm of England would not only enter into their accustomed Divisions but also would owe or do small devotion unto the Church Wherefore his Holiness was right well content and ready to adhibit all Remedy that in him was possible as this time would serve And because he was not expert in making of Commissions he would consult with the Cardinal Sanctorum Quatuor and use his advice which we should shortly know We perceiving that the obtaining of our Charges after the King 's and your Graces pleasure depended much upon the Advice of Sanctorum Quatuor did prevent his going unto the Pope and delivering your Grace's Letters with Recommendations accordingly we desired him to be good and favourable unto our Requests in the King's behalf and for the better obtaining of our desires we promised to see unto him with a competent reward And this communication had we shewed unto him the Commission which he said could not pass without perpetual dishonour unto the Pope the King and your Grace and a great part of such Clauses as be omitted he hath touched and laid reason for the same in a Writing which I do send unto your Grace with this Considering his great Experience Wisdom Learning and the entire affection that he beareth unto the King and your Grace and that it was far from the King's desire and nothing for your purposes that I should first have sent the said Cardinal's Sayings unto your Grace and abide answer and eft-soons prevent to do the same Considering also that the said King desireth a Commission convenient and sufficient we desired him to make the minute of one which he gladly did When it was made the Pope said That at his being in the Castle of St. Angelo the General of the Observants in Spain required his Holiness in the Emperor's Name not to grant unto any Act that might be preparative or otherwise to Divorce to be made between the King and the Queen and moreover desired an Inhibition that the said Cause should not come in knowledg before any Judg within the King's Dominions The Pope answered that Inhibitio non datur nisi post litem motam And as unto the first his Holiness was content if any like thing were demanded to advertise the Emperor before that he did let it pass and this was in a manner for his Holiness being in Captivity But his Holiness being yet in Captivity as your Grace reports and esteemeth him to be as long as the Almaines and Spaniards continueth in Italy he thought if he should grant this Commission that he should have the Emperor his perpetual Enemy