prayed in general for their quiet Rest and their speedy Resurrection Yet these Prayers growing as all superstitious devices do to be more considered some began to frame an Hypothesis to justifie them by that of the Thousand Years being generally exploded And in St. Austin's time they began to fancy there was a state of punishment even for the Good in another Life out of which some were sooner and some later freed according to the measure of their Repentance for their Sins in this Life But he tells us this was taken up without any sure ground and that it was no way certain Yet by Visions Dreams and Tales the belief of it was so far promoted that it came to be generally received in the next Age after him and then as the People were told that the Saints interceded for them so it was added that they might intercede for their departed Friends And this was the Foundation of all that Trade of Souls-Masses and Obits Now the deceased King had acted like one who did not believe that these things signified much otherwise he was to have but ill reception in Purgatory having by the subversion of the Monasteries deprived the departed Souls of the benefit of the many Masses that were said for them in these Houses yet it seems at his death he would make the matter sure and to shew he intended as much benefit to the Living as to himself being dead he took care that there should be not only Masses and Obits but so many Sermons at Windsor and a frequent distribution of Alms for the relief of the Poor But upon this occasion it came to be examined what value there was in such things Yet the Arch-bishop plainly saw that the Lord Chancellor would give great opposition to every motion that should be made for any further alteration for which he and all that Party had this specious pretence always in their Mouths That their late Glorious King was not only the most learned Prince but the most learned Divine in the World for the flattering him did not end with his Life and that therefore they were at least to keep all things in the condition wherein he had left them till the King were of Age. And this seemed also necessary on Considerations of State For Changes in matter of Religion might bring on Commotions and Disorders which they as faithful Executors ought to avoid But to this it was answered That as their late King was infinitely learned for both Parties flattered him dead as well as living so he had resolved to make great Alterations and was contriving how to change the Mass into a Communion that therefore they were not to put off a thing of such consequence wherein the Salvation of Peoples Souls was so much concerned but were immediately to set about it But the Lord Chancellor gave quickly great advantage against himself to his Enemies who were resolved to make use of any Error he might be guilty of so far as to ease themselves of the trouble he was like to give them The Kings Funeral being over The Creation of Peers order was given for the Creation of Peers The Protector was to be Duke of Somerset the Earl of Essex to be Marquess of Northampton the Viscount Lisle to be Earl of Warwick the Lord Wriothesley Earl of Southampton beside the new Creation of the Lords Seimour Rich Willoughby of Parham and Sheffield the rest it seems excusing themselves from new Honours as it appeared from the Deposition of Paget that many of those on whom the late King had intended to confer Titles of Honour had declined it formerly 1547. Feb. 20. Coronation On the 20th of Feb. being Shrove-Sunday the King was Crowned by the Arch-bishop of Canterbury according to the form that was agreed to The Protector serving in it as Lord Steward the Marquess of Dorset as Lord Constable and the Earl of Arundel as Earl Marshal deputed by the Protector A Pardon was proclaimed out of which the Duke of Norfolk Cardinal Pole and some others were excepted The first Business of importance after the Coronation The Lord Chancellor is removed from his Office was the Lord Chancellors fall Who resolving to give himself wholly to Matters of State had on the 18th of Feb. put the Great Seal to a Commission directed to Sir Richard Southwell Master of the Rolls John Tregonnel Esq Master of Chancery and to John Oliver and Anthony Bellasis Clerks Masters of Chancery setting forth that the Lord Chancellor being so employed in the Affairs of State that he could not attend on the hearing of Causes in the Court of Chancery these three Masters or any two of them were empowered to execute the Lord Chancellors Office in that Court in as ample manner as if he himself were present only their Decrees were to be brought to the Lord Chancellor to be Signed by him before they were Enrolled This being done without any Warrant from the Lord Protector and the other Executors it was judged a high presumption in the Lord Chancellor thus to devolve on others that Power which the Law had trusted in his Hands The Persons named by him encreased the offence which this gave two of them being Canonists so that the common Lawyers looked upon this as a President of very high and ill consequence And being encouraged by those who had no good will to the Chancellor they petitioned the Council in this Matter and complained of the evil consequences of such a Commission and set forth the fears that all the Students of the Law were under of a Change that was intended to be made of the Laws of England The Council remembred well they had given no Warrant at all to the Lord Chancellor for the issuing out any such Commission so they sent it to the Judges and required them to examine the Commission with the Petition grounded upon it Who delivered their Opinions on the last of Feb. That the Lord Chancellor ought not without Warrant from the Council to have set the Seal to it Feb. 28. and that by his so doing he had by the Common Law forfeited his Place to the King and was liable to Fine and Imprisonment at the Kings pleasure March 6. This lay sleeping till the sixth of March and then the Judges Answer being brought to the Council Signed with all their Hands they entred into a debate how far it ought to be punished The Lord Chancellor carried it very high and as he had used many Menaces to those who had petitioned against him and to the Judges for giving their Opinions as they did so he carried himself insolently to the Protector and told him he held his Place by a better Authority than he held his That the late King being empow'red to it by Act of Parliament had made him not only Chancellor but one of the Governours of the Realm during his Sons Minority and had by his Will given none of them Power over the rest to throw
all the Particulars in King Edwards Journal The King of France sent another very noble Embassy into England with the Order of St. Michael to the King and a very kind Message that he had no less love to him than a Father could bear to his own Son He desired the King would not listen to the vain Rumors which some malicious Persons might raise to break their friendship and wished there might be such a regulation on their Frontiers that all differences might be amicably removed To this the young King made answer himself That he thanked his good Brother for his Order and for the Assurances of his Love which he would always requite For Rumors they were not always to be credited nor always to be rejected it being no less vain to fear all things than it was dangerous to doubt of nothing and for any differences that might arise he should be always ready to determine them by reason rather than force so far as his Honour should not be thereby diminished Whether this Answer was prepared before-hand or not I cannot tell I rather think it was otherways it was extraordinary for one of fourteen to talk thus on the sudden But while all this was carrying on there was a design laid to destroy the Duke of Somerset He had such access to the King and such freedoms with him A Conspiracy against the Duke of Somerset that the Earl of Warwick had a mind to be rid of him lest he should spoil all his Projects The Duke of Somerset seemed also to have designed in April this Year to have got the King again in his power and dealt with the Lord Strange that was much in his favour to perswade him to marry his Daughter Jane and that he would advertise him of all that passed about the King But the Earl of Warwick to raise himself and all his Friends higher procured a great Creation of new Honours Gray was made Duke of Suffolk and himself Duke of Northumberland for Henry Piercy the last Earl of Northumberland dying without Issue his next Heirs were the Sons of Thomas Piercy that had been attainted in the last Reign for the York-shire Rebellion Pawlet then Lord Treasurer and Earl of Wilt-shire was made Marquess of Winchester and Sir William Herbert that had married the Marquess of Northampton's Sister was made Earl of Pembroke The Lord Russel had been made Earl of Bedford last year upon his return from making the Peace with the French Sir Tho. Darcy had also been made Lord Darcy The new Duke of Northumberland could no longer bear such a Rival in his greatness as the Duke of Somerset was who was the only Person that he thought could take the King out of his Hands So on the 17th of October the Duke was apprehended and sent to the Tower and with him the Lord Gray Sir Ralph Vane who had escaped over the River but was taken in a Stable in Lambeth hid under the Straw Sir Tho. Palmer and Sir Tho. Arundel were also taken yet not sent at first to the Tower but kept under Guards in their Chambers Some of his followers Hamond Nudigate and two of the Seimours were sent to Prison The day after the Dutchess of Somerset was also sent to the Tower with one Crane and his Wife that had been much about her and two of her Chamber-women After these Sir Tho. Holdcroft Sir Miles Partridge Sir Michael Stanhop Wingfield Bannister and Vaughan were all made Prisoners The Evidence against the Duke was That he had made a Party for getting himself declared Protector in the next Parliament which the Earl of Rutland did positively affirm and the Duke did so answer it that it is probable it was true But though this might well inflame his Enemies yet it was no crime But Sir Tho. Palmer though imprisoned with him as a Complice was the Person that ruined him He had been before that brought secretly to the King and had told him that on the last St. Georges day the Duke apprehending there was mischief designed against him thought to have raised the People had not Sir William Herbert assured him he should receive no harm that lately he intended to have the Duke of Northumberland the Marquess of Northampton and the Earl of Pembroke invited to Dinner at the Lord Pagets and either to have set on them by the way or to have killed them at Dinner that Sir Ralph Vane had 2000 Men ready that Sir Tho. Arundel had assured the Tower and that all the Gandarmoury were to be killed The Duke of Somerset hearing Palmer had been with the King challenged him of it but he denied all He sent also for Secretary Cecil and told him he suspected there was an ill design against him To which the Secretary answered if he were not in fault he might trust to his innocency but if he were he had nothing to say but to lament him All this was told the King with such Circumstances that he was induced to believe it The King is possessed against him and the probity of his disposition wrought in him a great aversion to his Unkle when he looked on him as a Conspirator against the Lives of the other Counsellors and so he resolved to leave him to the Law Palmer being a second time examined said That Sir Ralph Vane was to have brought 2000 Men who with the Duke of Somersets 100 Horse were on a Muster-day to have set on the Gendarmoury that being done the Duke resolved to have gone thorough the City and proclaimed Liberty Liberty and if his attempt did not succeed to have fled to the Isle of Wight or to Pool Crane confirmed all that Palmer had said to which he added That the Earl of Arundel was privy to the Conspiracy and that the thing had been executed but that the greatness of the Enterprise had caused delays and sometimes diversity of advice and that the Duke being once given out to be sick had gone privately to London to see what Friends he could make Hamond being examined confessed nothing but that the Dukes Chamber at Greenwich had been guarded in the night by many Armed Men. Upon this Evidence both the Earl of Arundel and the Lord Paget were sent to the Tower The Earl had been one of the chief of those who had joyned with the Earl of Warwick to pull down the Protector and being as he thought ill rewarded by him was become his Enemy So this part of the Information seemed very credible The thing lay in suspence till the first of December He is brought to his Trial. that the Duke of Somerset was brought to his Trial where the Marquess of Winchester was Lord Steward The Peers that judged him were twenty seven in number The Dukes of Suffolk and Northumberland the Marquess of Northampton the Earls of Derby Bedford Huntington Rutland Bath Sussex Worcester Pembroke and the Viscount of Hereford the Lords Abergaveny Audley Wharton Evers Latimer Borough Souch Stafford Wentworth
not applied to these Images So in King Henry's time that temper was found that such Images as had been abused to Superstition should be removed and for other Images external Worship such as kneeling censing and praying before them was kept up but the People were to be taught that these were not at all intended to the Image but to that which was represented by it And upon this there was much subtle arguing Among Cranmers Papers I have seen several Arguments for a moderate use of Images But to all these they opposed the second Commandment as plainly forbidding all visible Objects of Adoration together with what was in the Scriptures against the Idolatry of the Heathens and what the Fathers had written against the Gentiles And they added that how excusable soever that practice might have been in such dark and barbarous Ages in which the People knew little more of Divine Matters than what they learned from their Images yet the horrible abuses that followed on the bringing them into Churches made it necessary now to throw them all out It was notorious that the People every where doted on them and gave them Divine Honour Nor did the Clergy who were generally too guilty themselves of such abuses teach them how to distinguish aright and the Acts of Worship that were allowed were such that beside the scandal such Worship had in it and the danger of drawing People into Idolatry it was in it self inexcusable to offer up such external parts of Religious Adoration to Gold or Silver Wood or Stone So Cranmer and others being resolved to purge the Church of this abuse got the worst part of the Sentence that some had designed against the Curate and Church-wardens to be mitigated into a Reprimend and as it is entred in the Council Books In respect of their submission and of some other Reasons which did mitigate their offence These were Cranmers Arguments against Images they did pardon their Imprisonment which was at first determined and ordered them to provide a Crucifix or at least some painting of it till one were ready and to beware of such rashness for the future But no mention is made of the other Images The carriage of the Council in this matter discovering the inclinations of the greatest part of them Many begin to pull down Images and Dr. Ridley having in his Lent-Sermon preached against the Superstition that was generally had to Images and Holy Water it raised a great heat over England So that Gardiner hearing that on May-day the People of Portsmouth had removed and broken the Images of Christ and the Saints writ about it with great warmth to one Captain Vaughan that waited on the Protector and was then at Portsmouth He desired to know whether he should send one to preach against it though he thought that was the casting Precious Stones to Hogs or worse than Hogs as were these Lollards He said that Luther had set out a Book against those who removed Images At which Gardiner is much offended and himself had seen them still in the Lutheran Churches and he thought the removing Images was on design to subvert Religion and the state of the World he argues for them from the Kings Image on the Seal Caesars Image on the Coin brought to Christ the Kings Arms carried by the Heralds he condemns false Images but for those that were against true Images he thought they were possest with the Devil Vaughan sent his Letter to the Protector with one from Gardiner to himself who finding the reasoning in it not so strong but that it might be answered wrote to him himself That he allowed of his zeal against Innovations The Protector writ to him about it The Letters are in Fox's Acts and Monuments but that there were other things that needed to be looked to as much Great difference there was between the Civil respect due to the Kings Arms and the Worship given to Images There had been a time in which the abuse of the Scriptures was thought a good reason to take them from the People yea and to burn them though he looked on them as more sacred than Images which if they stood meerly as Remembrancers he thought the hurt was not great but it was known that for the most part it was otherwise and upon abuse the Brazen Serpent was broken though made at Gods Commandment and it being pretended that they were the Books of the People he thought the Bible a much more intelligible and useful Book There were some too rash and others too obstinate The Magistrate was to steer a middle Course between them not considering the Antiquity of things so much as what was good and expedient Gardiner writ again to the Protector complaining of Bale and others who published Books to the dishonour of the late King and that all were running after Novelties and often inculcates it that things should be kept in the state they were in till the King were of Age and in his Letters reflects both on the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Duresme for consenting to such things Gardiner writ to Ridley who had preached against Images But finding his Letters had no effect on the Protector he wrote to Ridley That by the Law of Moses we were no more bound not to have Images than not to eat Blood-Puddings Image and Idol might have been used promiscuously in former times as King and Tyrant were yet there was a great difference between these according to the Notions we now have He cites Pope Gregory who was against both adoring and breaking them and says the Worship is not given to the Image so there is no Idolatry but to him represented by it and as the sound of Speech did by the Ear beget Notions in us so he did not see but the sight of an Image might stir up devotion He confessed there had been abuses as there is in every thing that is in Mens Hands he thinks Imagery and Graving to be of as good use for instruction as Writing or Printing and because Ridley had also preached against the Superstition of Holy Water to drive away Devils he added That a Vertue might be in Water as well as in Christs Garment St. Peters Shadow or Elisha's Staff Pope Marcellus ordered Equitius to use it and the late King used to bless Cramp-Rings both of Gold and Silver which were much esteemed every where and when he was abroad they were often desired from him This Gift he hoped the young King would not neglect He believed the Invocation of the Name of God might give such a Vertue to Holy Water as well as to the Water of Baptism For Ridley's Answer to this I never saw it so these things must here pass without any Reply though it is very probable an ordinary Reader will with a very small measure of common Sense and Learning see how they might have been answered The thing most remarkable here is about these Cramp-Rings which King Henry
the Earl of Shrewsbury Sir Tho. Cheyney Sir John Gage Sir Ralph Sadler and the Lord Chief-Justice Montague joyned with them Then they wrote to the King a Letter Collection Number 41. which is in the Collection full of expressions of their duty and care of his Person complaining of the Duke of Somerset's not listening to their Councils and of his gathering a Force about him for maintaining his wilful doings they owned that they had caused Secretary Petre to stay with them and in it they endeavoured to perswade the King that they were careful of nothing so much as of his preservation They also wrote to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and to Sir William Paget to see to the Kings Person and that his own Servants should attend on him and not those that belonged to the Duke of Somerset But the Protector hearing of this disorder had removed the King to Windsor in all hast and had taken down all the Armour that was either there or at Hampton-Court and had armed such as he could gather about him for his preservation The Council at London complained much of this that the King should be carried to a Place where there were no Provisions fit for him So they ordered all things that he might need to be sent to him from London And on the 8th of October they went to Guild-hall when they gave an account of their Proceedings to the Common-Council of the City and assured them they had no thoughts of altering the Religion as was given out by their Enemies but intended only the safety of the King and the Peace of the Kingdom and for these ends desired their assistance The City of London joyns with them The whole Common-Council with one Voice declared they thanked God for the good intentions they had expressed and assured them they would stand by them with their Lives and Goods At Windsor when the Protector understood that not only the City but the Lieutenant of the Tower of whom he had held himself assured had forsaken him he resolved to struggle no longer and though it is not improbable that he who was chiefly accused for his protecting the Commons might have easily gathered a great Body of Men for his own preservation yet he resolved rather to give way to the Tide that was now against him So he protested before the King and the few Councellors then about him that he had no design against any of the Lords and that the Force he had gathered was only to preserve himself from any violent attempt that might be made on his Person he declared that he was willing to submit himself The Protector offers to treat and submit and therefore proposed that two of those Lords should be sent from London and they with two of those that were yet about the King should consider what might be done in whose determination he would acquiesce and desired that whatsoever was agreed on should be confirmed in Parliament Hereupon there was sent to London a Warrant under the Kings Hand for any two of the Lords of the Council that were there to come to Windsor with twenty Servants a-piece who had the Kings Faith for their safety in coming and going and Cranmer Paget and Smith wrote to them to dispose them to end the matter peaceably and not follow cruel Councils nor to be misled by them who meant otherwise than they professed of which they knew more than they would then mention This seemed to point at the Earl of Southampton On the 9th of October the Council at London encreased by the accession of the Lord Russel the Lord Wentworth Sir Anthony Brown Sir Ant. Wingfield and Sir John Baker the Speaker of the House of Commons For now those who had stood off a while seeing the Protector was resolved to yield came and united themselves with the prevailing Party so that they were in all two and twenty They were informed that the Protector had said that if they intended to put him to death the King should die first and if they would famish him they should famish the King first and that he had armed his own Men and set them next to the Kings Person and was designing to carry him out of Windsor and as some reported out of the Kingdom upon which they concluded that he was no more fit to be Protector But of those words no proofs being mentioned in the Council-Books they look like the forgeries of his Enemies to make him odious to the People The Council ordered a Proclamation of their Proceedings to be printed and writ to the Lady Mary and the Lady Elizabeth acquainting them with what they had done They also wrote to the King as will be found in the Collection acknowledging the many bonds that lay on them in gratitude both for his Fathers goodness to them and his own to take care of him Collection Number 4â— They desired he would consider they were his whole Council except one or two and were those whom his Father had trusted with the Government that the Protector was not raised to that Power by his Fathers Will but by their choice with that condition that he should do all things by their advice which he had not observed so that they now judged him most unworthy of these Honours therefore they earnestly desired they might be admitted to the Kings Presence to do their duties about him and that the Forces gathered about his Person might be sent away and the Duke of Somerset might submit himself to the Order of Council They also wrote to the Arch-bishop and Sir William Paget which is in the Collection charging them as they would answer it Collection Number 43. that the Kings Person might be well looked to that he should not be removed from Windsor and that he should be no longer guarded by the Duke of Somersets Men as they said he had been of which they complained severely but by his own sworn Servants and they required them to concur in advancing the desire they had signified by their Letter to the King protesting that they would do with the Duke of Somerset as they would desire to be done by and with as much moderation and favour as in honour they could so that there was no reason to apprehend from them such cruelty as they had mentioned in their Letters These were sent by Sir Philip Hobbey who was returned from Flanders and had been sent by the King to London on the day before Upon this Cranmer and Paget as is entred in the Council-Book perswaded both the King and the Protector to grant their desire The Protectors Servants were dismissed and the Kings were set about his Person And Cranmer Paget and Smith wrote to the Council at London that all they had proposed should be granted They desired to know whether the King should be brought to London or stay at Windsor and that three of the Lords might be sent thither who should see all things done according to their
Gods Word but she was sure that was not now Gods Word that was called so in her Fathers days He said Gods Word was the same at all times She answered She was sure he durst not for his Ears have avowed these things in her Fathers time which he did now and for their Books as she thanked God she never had so she never would read them She also used many reproachful words to him and asked him If he was of the Council He said not She replied He might well enough be as the Council goes now a-days and so dismissed him thanking him for coming to see her but not at all for offering to preach before her Sir Tho. Wharton one of her Officers carried him to a place where he desired him to drink which Ridley did but reflecting on it said He had done amiss to drink in a place where Gods Word was rejected for if he had remembred his Duty he should upon that refusal have shaken the dust off his Feet for a Testimony against the House and have departed immediately These words he was observed to pronounce with an extraordinary concern and went away much troubled in his mind And this is all I find of the Lady Mary during this Reign For the Lady Elizabeth she had been always bred up to like the Reformation and Dr. Parker who had been her Mothers Chaplain received a strict charge from her Mother a little before her death to look well to the instructing her Daughter in the Principles of true Religion so that there is no doubt to be made of her chearful receiving all the changes that had been established by Law The Designs of the Earl of Warwick And this is all that concerns Religion that falls within this Year But now a design came to be laid which though it broke not out for some time yet it was believed to have had a great influence on the Fall of the Duke of Somerset The Earl of Warwick began to form great Projects for himself and thought to bring the Crown into his Family The King was now much alienated from the Lady Mary the Privy-Council had also embroiled themselves so with her that he imagined it would be no hard matter to exclude her from the Succession There was but one reason that could be pretended for it which was that she stood illegitimated by Law and that therefore the next Heirs in Blood could not be barred their right by her since it would be a great blot on the Honour of the English Crown to let it devolve on a Bastard This was as strong against the Lady Elizabeth since she was also illegitimated by a Sentence in the Spiritual Court and that confirmed in Parliament so if their jealousie of the elder Sisters Religion and the fear of her revenge moved them to be willing to cut her off from the Succession the same reason that was to be used in Law against her was also to take place against her Sister So he reckoned that these two were to be passed over as being put both in the Act of Succession and in the late Kings Will by one error The next in the Will were the Heirs of the French Queen by Charles Brandon who were the Dutchess of Suffolk and her Sister Though I have seen it often said in many Letters and Writings of that time that all that Issue by Charles Brandon was illegitimated since he was certainly married to one Mortimer before he married the Queen of France which Mortimer lived long after his Marriage to that Queen so that all her Children were Bastards some say he was divorced from his Marriage to Mortimer but that is not clear to me The Sweating Sickness This Year the Sweating Sickness that had been formerly both in Henry the 7th and the late King's Reign broke out with that violence in England that many were swept away by it Such as were taken with it died certainly if they slept to which they had a violent desire but if it took them not off in twenty four hours they did sweat out the venom of the distemper which raged so in London that in one week 800 died of it It did also spread into the Country and the two Sons of Charles Brandon by his last Wife both Dukes of Suffolk died within a day one of another So that Title was fallen Their Sister by the half Blood was married to Gray Lord Marquess of Dorset So she being the eldest Daughter to the French Queen the Earl of Warwick resolved to link himself to that Family and to procure the Honour of the Dukedome of Suffolk to be given the Marquess of Dorset who was a weak Man and easily governed He had three Daughters the eldest was Jane a Lady of as excellent qualities as any of that Age of great Parts bred to Learning and much conversant in Scripture and of so rare a temper of mind that she charmed all who knew her in particular the young King about whom she was bred and who had always lived with her in the familiarities of a Brother The Earl of Warwick designed to marry her to Guilford his fourth Son then living his three elder being already married and so to get the Crown to descend on them if the King should die of which it is thought he resolved to take care But apprehending some danger from the Lady Elizabeths Title he intended to send her away So an Ambassador was dispatched to Denmark to treat a Marriage for her with that Kings eldest Son To amuse the King himself a most splendid Embassy was sent to France The King treats with the French King for a Marriage with his Daughter to propose a Marriage for the King to that Kings Daughter Elizabeth afterwards married to Philip of Spain The Marquess of Northampton was sent with this Proposition and with the Order of the Garter With him went the Earls of Worcester Rutland and Ormond the Lords Lisle Fitzwater Bray Abergaveny and Evers and the Bishop of Ely who was to be their Mouth With them went many Gentlemen of Quality who with their Train made up near 500. King Henry received the Garter with great expressions of Esteem for the King The Bishop of Ely told him They were come to desire a more close tie between these Crowns by Marriage and to have the League made firmer between them in other Particulars To which the Cardinal of Lorrain made answer in his way of speaking which was always vain and full of ostentation A Commission was given to that Cardinal the Constable the Duke of Guise and others to treat about it The English began first for Forms sake to desire the Queen of Scots But that being rejected they moved for the Daughter of France which was entertained but so that neither Party should be bound in Honour and Conscience till the Lady were twelve years of Age. Yet this never taking effect it is needless to enlarge further about it of which the Reader will find
to emply his Money in the way of Trade or Manufacture for which they were sure to have vent since they lay near Tyre and Sidon that were then the chief Places of Traffick and Navigation of the World and without such Industry the Soil of Judea could not possibly have fed such vast numbers as lived on it So that it seemed clear that this Law in the Old Testament properly belonged to that policy Yet it came to be looked on by many Christians as a Law of perpetual obligation It came also to be made a part of the Canon Law and Absolution could not be given to the breakers of it without a special faculty from Rome But for avoiding the severity of the Law the invention of Mortgages was fallen on which at first were only Purchases made and let back to the owner for such Rent as the use of the Money came to so that the use was taken as the Rent of the Land thus bought And those who had no Land to sell thus fell upon another way The Borrower bought their Goods to be payed within a Year for instance an hundred and ten Pound and sold them back for a Sum to be presently laid down as they should agree it may be a hundred Pound by this means the one had a hundred Pound in hand and the other was to have ten Pound or more at a years end But this being in the way of Sale was not called Usury This Law was look'd on as impossible to be observed in a Country like England and it could not easily appear where the immorality lay of lending Money upon moderate gain such as held proportion to the value of Land provided that the perpetual Rule of Christian Equity and Charity were observed which is not to exact above the proportion duly limited by the Law and to be merciful in not exacting severely of Persons who by inevitable accidents have been disabled from making payment This digression I thought the more necessary because of the scruples that many good and strict Persons have still in that matter Another Act passed both Houses against all Simoniacal Pactions A Bill against Simony the reservation of Pensions out of Benefices and the granting Advowsons while the Incumbent was yet alive It was agreed to by the Lords the Earls of Derby Rutland and Sussex the Viscount Hereford and the Lords Mounteagle Sands Wharton and Evers dissenting But upon what reason I do not know the Bill was not assented to by the King who being then sick there was a Collection made of the Titles of the Bills which were to have the Royal Assent and those the King Signed and gave Commission to some Lords to pass them in his Name These abuses have been oft complained of but there have been still new contrivances found out to elude all Laws against Simony either bargains being made by the Friends of the Parties concerned without their express knowledge or Bonds of Resignation given by which Incumbents lie at the mercy of their Patrons and in these the faultiness of some Clergy-men is made the colour of imposing such hard terms upon others and of robbing the Church oftentimes by that means There was a private Bill put in about the Duke of Somersets Estate which had been by Act of Parliament entailed on his Son in the 23d Year of the last Kings Reign A Repeal of the Entail of the Duke of Somersets Estate On the third of March it was sent to the House of Commons Signed by the King it was for the Repeal of that Act. Whether the King was so alienated from his Unkle that this extraordinary thing was done by him for the utter ruine of his Family or not I cannot determine but I rather incline to think it was done in hatred to the Dutchess of Somerset and her Issue For the Estate was entailed on them by that Act of Parliament in prejudice of the Issue of the former Marriage of whom are descended the Seimours of Devon-shire who were disinherited and excluded from the Duke of Somersets Honours by his Patents and from his Estate by Act of Parliament partly upon some jealousies he had of his former Wife but chiefly by the power his second Wife had over him This Bill of Repeal was much opposed in the House though sent to them in so unusual a way by the King himself And though there was on the 8th of March a Message sent from the Lords that they should make hast towards an end of the Parliament yet still they stuck long upon it looking on the breaking of Entails that were made by Act of Parliament as a thing of such consequence that it dissolved the greatest security that the Law of England gives for property It was long argued by the Commons and was fifteen several days brought in At last a new Bill was devised and that was much altered too it was not quite ended till the day before the Parliament was dissolved But near the end of the Session a Proviso was sent from the Lords to be added to the Bill confirming the Attainder of the Duke and his Complices It seems his Enemies would not try this at first till they had by other things measured their strength in that House and finding their interest grew there they adventured on it but they mistook their measures for the Commons would not agree to it In conclusion the Bill of Repeal was agreed to But whereas there had been some Writings for a Marriage between the Earl of Oxfords Daughter and the Duke of Somersets Son and a Bill was put in for voiding these upon a division of the House the 28th of March there were sixty eight that agreed and sixty nine that rejected it so this Bill was cast out By this we see what a thin House of Commons there was at that time the whole being but 137 Members But this was a natural effect of a long Parliament many of those who were at first chosen being infirm and others not willing to put themselves to the charge and trouble of such constant and long attendance It is also from hence clear how great an interest the Duke of Somerset had in the affections of the Parliament The Commons refuse to attaint the Bishop of Duresme by Bill Another Bill gave a more evident discovery how hateful the Duke of Northumberland was to them The Bishop of Duresme was upon some complaint brought against him of misprision of Treason put into the Tower about the end of December last year What the Particulars were I do not find but it was visible that the secret reason was that he being Attainted the Duke of Northumberland intended to have had the Dignities and Jurisdiction of that Principality conferred on himself so that he should have been made Count Palatine of Duresme Tonstall had in all Points given obedience to every Law and to all the Injunctions that had been made but had always in Parliament protested against the changes in
induced because his Brother who had great power over him and was a violent and ambitious Man was then so sick that there was no hope of his Life He had also received Letters from France in such a Stile that he saw he must either lay down the Government or not only lose the Honour and Pension he had there but be forced to struggle for what he had in his own Country Whether the French understood any thing by their Spies in the Court of England that it had been proposed there to perswade him to pretend to the Crown and were therefore the more earnest to have the Government out of his Hands I do not know but though I have seen many hundreds of Letters that passed in those times between England and Scotland I could not find by any of them that he ever entred into any Treaty about it It seems his base Brother had some thoughts of it For when he was so far recovered that he could enquire after news and heard what his Brother had done he flew out in a passion and called him a Beast for parting with the Government since there was none but a _____ Lass between him and the Crown I set down his own words leaving a space void for an Epithete he used of the young Queen scarce decent enough to be mentioned There had been a great Consultation in France what to do with the Queen of Scotland Her Unkles pressed the King to marry her to the Dolphin For thereby another Kingdom would be added to France which would be a perpetual Thorn in the side of England She had also some Prospect of succeeding to the Crown of England so that on all accounts it seemed the best Match in Europe for the Dolphin But the wise Constable had observed that the Spaniards lost by their Dominions that lay so remote from the chief Seat of their Government though these were the richest Countries in Europe namely Sicily Naples Millain and the Netherlands and wisely apprehended that France might suffer much more by the accession of such a Crown which not only was remote but where also the Country was poor and the People not easily governed It would be a vast charge to them to send Navies and to pay Armies there The Nobility might when they would by confederating with England either shake off the French Government or put them to a great expence to keep it so that whereas Scotland had been hitherto by a Pension and sometimes by a little assistance kept in a perpetual alliance with France he apprehended by such a Union it might become their Enemy and a great weight on their Government This the Constable pressed much both out of his care of his Masters Interest and in opposition to the House of Guise He advised the King rather to marry her to some of his Subjects of whom he was well assured and to send her and her Husband home into Scotland by which means the perpetual amity of that Kingdom might be preserved on easie terms But the King was so possessed with the notion of the Union of that Crown to France that he gave no ear to this wise advise thinking it flowed chiefly from the hatred and enmity which he knew the Constable bore the Family of Guise This the Constable himself told Melvil from whose Narrative I have it The Queen Mother of Scotland being possessed of the Government found two great Factions in it The Head of the one was the Arch-bishop who now recovering and finding himself neglected and the Queen governed by other Councils set himself much against her and drew the Clergy for the most part into his Interests The other Faction was of those who hated him and them both and inclined to the Reformation They set up the Prior of St. Andrews who was their young Queens natural Brother as their Head and by his means offered their Service to the Queen now made Regent they offered that they would agree with her to send the Matrimonial Crown to the Dolphin and consent to the Union of both Kingdoms only they desired her protection from the violence of the Clergy and that they might have secretly Preachers in their Houses to instruct them in the Points of Religion This Offer the Queen readily accepted of and so by their assistance carried things till near the end of her Regency with great moderation and discretion And now the Affairs of Scotland were put in a Channel in which they held long steady and quiet till about six years after this that upon the Peace with the King of Spain there were cruel Councils laid down in France and from thence sent over into Scotland for extirpating Heresie But of that we shall discourse in its proper place The Affairs of Germany As for the Affairs of Germany there was this year a great and sudden turn of things there with which the Emperor was surprized by a strange supineness that proved as fatal to him as it was happy to the Empire though all the World besides saw it coming on him Upon the delivery of Magdeburg Maurice of Saxe's Army pretending there was an Arrear due to them took up their Winter Quarters near Saxe in the Dominions of some Popish Princes where they were very unwelcome Guests The Sons of the Landgrave being required by their Father pressed the Duke of Saxe on his Honour to free their Father or to become their Prisoner in his room since they had his faith for his liberty so he went to them and offered them his Person but though he did not trust them with his whole design yet he told them so much that they were willing to let him go back The Emperors Counsellors were allarumed with what they heard from all hands And the Duke of Alva well known afterwards by his cruelties in the Netherlands advised him to send for Maurice to come and give an account of all those suspitious passages to take the Army out of his hands and to take such securities from him as might clear all the jealousies for which his carriage had given great cause But the Bishop of Arras was on the other hand so assured of him that he said the giving him any suspition of the Emperors distrust might really engage him into such designs and that such deep Projects as they heard he was in were too fine conceits for Dutch drunken Heads He also assured them he had two of his Secretaries in Pension so that he was advertised of all his motions But the Duke of Saxe came to know that those his Secretaries were the Emperors Pensioners and dissembled it so well that he used them in all appearance with more confidence than formerly he held all his Consultations in their presence and seemed to open his heart so to them that they possessed the Bishop with a firm confidence of his sincerity and steadiness to the Emperors Interests Yet his lingering so at the Town of Magdeburg with the other dark Passages concerning him made
Place to mention it here At Court many were afraid to move the King for her both the Duke of Norfolk and Gardiner look'd on and were unwilling to hazard their own Interests to preserve her But as it was now printed And was preserv'd by Cranmer's means and both these appealed to Cranmer was the only Person that would adventure on it In his gentle way he told the King that she was young and indiscreet and therefore it was no wonder if she obstinately adhered to that which her Mother and all about her had been infusing into her for many Years but that it would appear strange if he should for this Cause so far forget he was a Father as to proceed to Extremities with his own Child that if she were separated from her Mother and her People in a little time there might be ground gained on her but to take away her Life would raise horror through all Europe against him By these means he preserved her at that time After her Mother's Death in June following she changed her note She submitted to her Father for besides the Declaration she then signed which was inserted in the former part of this Work she writ Letters of such submission as shew how expert she was at dissembling Three of these to her Father and one to Cromwell I have put in the Collection in which she Collect. Numb 3 4 5 6. with the most studied Expressions declaring her sorrow for her past stubbornness and disobedience to his most just and vertuous Laws implores his Pardon as lying prostrate at his Feet and considering his great Learning and Knowledg she puts her Soul in his Hand resolving that he should for ever thereafter direct her Conscience from which she vows she would never vary This she repeats in such tender words that it shews she could command her self to say any thing that she thought fit for her ends And when Cromwell writ to her to know what her Opinion was about Pilgrimages Purgatory and Reliques she assures him she had no Opinion at all but such as she should receive from the King who had her whole Heart in his keeping and he should imprint upon it in these and all other Matters whatever his inestimable Vertue high Wisdom and excellent Learning should think convenient for her So perfectly had she learned that stile that she knew was most acceptable to him Having copied these from the Originals I thought it not unfit to insert them that it may appear how far those of that Religion can comply when their Interest leads them to it From that time this Princess had been in all Points most exactly compliant to every thing her Father did And after his Death she never pretended to be of any other Religion than that which was established by him So that all that she pleaded for in her Brother's Reign was only the continuance of that way of Worship that was in use at her Father's Death But now being come to the Crown that would not content her yet when she thought where to fix she was distracted between two different Schemes that were presented to her On the one hand Gardiner and all that Party were for bringing Religion back to what it had been at King Henry's Death and afterward The Designs for changing Religion by slow degrees to raise it up to what it had been before his breach with the Papacy On the other hand the Queen of her own Inclination was much disposed to return immediately to the Union of the Catholick Church as she called it and it was necessary for her to do it since it was only by the Papal Authority that her Illegitimation was removed To this it was answered that all these Acts and Sentences that had passed against her might be annulled without taking any notice of the Pope Gardiner's Policy Gardiner finding these things had not such weight with her as he desired for she looked on him as a crafty temporizing Man sent over to the Emperor on whom she depended much to assure him that if he would perswade her to make him Chancellor and to put Affairs into his Hands he should order them so that every thing she had a mind to should be carried in time But Gardiner understood she had sent for Cardinal Pool so he writ to the Emperor that he knew his Zeal for the Exaltation of the Popedom would undo all therefore he pressed him to write to the Queen for moderating her heat and to stop the Cardinal 's coming over He said that Pool stood Attainted by Law so that his coming into England would allarm the Nation He observed that upon a double account they were averse to the Papacy The one was for the Church Lands which they had generally bought from the Crown on very easie terms and they would not easily part with them The other was The fear they had of Papal Dominion and Power which had been now for about 25 Years set out to the People as the most intollerable Tyranny that ever was Therefore he said it was necessary to give them some time to wear out these Prejudices and the precipitating of Councils might ruin all He gave the Emperor also secret Assurances of serving him in all his Interests All this Gardiner did the more warily because he understood that Cardinal Pool hated him as a false and deceitful Man Upon this the Emperor writ to the Queen several Letters with his own hand which is so hardly legible that it was not possible for me or some others to whom I shewed them to read them so well as to copy them out and one that was written by his Sister the Queen of Hungary and signed by him is no better but from many half Sentences I find that all was with a design to temper her that she should not make too much hast nor be too much led by Italian Counsels Upon the return of this Message the Seal which had been taken from Goodrick Bishop of Ely and put for some days in the keeping of Hare Master of the Rolls was on the 13th of August given to Gardiner who was declared Lord Chancellor of England He is made Chancellor and the conduct of Affairs was chiefly put in his hands So that now the measure of the Queen's Councils was to do every thing slowly and by such sure steps as might put them less in hazard The Duke of Northumb. and others Tried The first thing that was done was the bringing the Duke of Northumberland to his Trial. The old Duke of Norfolk was made Lord High Steward the Queen thinking it fit to put the first Character of honour on him who had suffered so much for being the Head of the Popish Party And here a subtle thing was started which had been kept a great Secret hitherto It was said the Duke of Norfolk had never been truly attainted and that the Act against him was not a true Act of Parliament so that without
infer that this would soon grow up to an extream Persecution so that above a thousand Persons fled beyond Seas most of them went in the company and as the Servants of French Protestants who having come over in King Edwards time were now required as the Germans had been to return into their own Country The Council understanding this took care that no Englishman should escape out of their hands and therefore sent an Order to the Ports that none should be suffered to go over as Frenchmen but those who brought Certificates from the French Embassador Among those that had got over some eminent Divines went who either having no Cures or being turned out of their Benefices were not under such ties to any Flock so that they judged themselves disingaged and therefore did not as Hirelings leave their Flock to the Persecution then imminent but rather went to look after those who had now left England The chief of these that went at first were Cox Sanders Grindal and Horn. Cox was without any good colour turned out both of his Deanery of Christ-Church and his Prebendary at Westminster He was put into the Marshalsea but on the 19th of August was discharged Sancts was turned out for his Sermon before the Duke of Northumberland at Cambridge On what account Grindal was turned out I know not Horn soon after he got beyond Sea printed an Apology for his leaving his Country he tells that he heard there was some Crimes against the State objected to him which made him come up from Duresm to clear himself It was said that three Letters had been written to him in the Queens name requiring him to come up and intimating that they were resolved to charge him with contempt and other points of State He protests that he had never received but one which was given him on the Road but seeing how he was like to be used he withdrew out of England upon which he takes occasion in that discourse to vindicate the Preachers in King Edwards time against whom it was now objected that they had neglected Fasting and Prayer and had allowed the People all sorts of Liberty This he said was so false that the ruling Men in that time were much offended at the great freedom which the Preachers then took so that many of them would hear no more Sermons and he says for himself that though Tonstal was now his great enemy he had refused to accept of his Bishoprick and was ill used and threatned for denying to take it All these things tended much to inflame the People The Queen rewards those who had served her Therefore great care was taken first to oblige all those Noblemen who had assisted the Queen at her coming to the Crown since a grateful acknowledgment of past Services is the greatest encouragement both to the same Persons to renew them to others to undertake the like upon new occasions The Earl of Arundel was made Lord Steward Sir Edward Hastings was made Master of the Horse and afterwards Lord Hastings Sir John Gage Lord Chamberlain Sir John Williams who had Proclaimed the Queen in Oxford-shire was made Lord Williams and Sir Henry Jerningham that first gathered the Men of Norfolk about her was made Captain of her Guard but Ratcliff Earl of Sussex had done the most considerable Service of them all for to him she had given the chief Command of her Army and he had managed it with that Prudence that others were thereby encouraged to come in to her Assistance so an unusual Honour was contrived for him that he might cover his head in her Presence which passed under the Great Seal the second of October he being the only Peer of England in whom this Honour was ever conferred as far as I know The like was granted to the Lord Courcy Baron of Kingsale in Ireland whose Posterity enjoy it to this day but I am not so well informed of that Family as to know by which of our Kings it was first granted The Queen having summoned a Parliament to the tenth of October was Crowned on the first of that month by Gardiner who with ten other Bishops all in their Mitres Coaps and Crosiers performed that Ceremony with great Solemnity The Queen is Crowned and discharges all Taxes Day preaching the Coronation Sermon who it seems was accounted the best Preacher among them since he was ordered to Preach both at the late Kings Funeral and now again at the Coronation But Gardiner had prepared a Largess of an extraordinary nature for the Queen to distribute that day among her People besides her general Pardon he caused a Proclamation to be published which did set forth that whereas the good Subjects of England had always exhibited Aid to their Princes when the good of the Publick and Honour of the Realm required it and though the Queen since her coming to the Crown found the Treasury was marvelously exhausted by the evil Government of late years especially since the Duke of Northumberland bare Rule though she found her self charged with diverse great sums of her Father and Brothers Debts which for her own Honour and the Honour of the Realm she determined to pay in times convenient and reasonable yet having a special regard to the welfare of of her Subjects and accounting their loving hearts and prosperity the chiefest Treasure which she desired next to the Favour and Grace of God therefore since in her Brothers last Parliament two Tenths two Fifteenths and a Subsidy both out of Lands and Goods were given to him for paying his Debts which were now due to her she of her great Clemency did fully pardon and discharge these Subsidies trusting her said good Subjects will have loving consideration thereof for their parts whom she heartily requires to bend themselves wholly to God to serve him sincerely and with continual Prayer for the honour and advancement of the Queen and the Common-Wealth A Parliament summoned And thus matters were prepared for the Parliament which was opened the tenth of October In the Writ of Summons and all other Writs the Queen retained still the Title of Supream Head Taylor Bishop of Lincoln and Harley Bishop of Hereford came thither resolving to justifie their Doctrine Most of the other reformed Bishops were now in Prison for besides these formerly mentioned on the fourth of October the Arch-Bishop of York was put in the Tower no cause being given but heinous Offences only named in general When the Mass begun it is said that those two Bishops withdrew and were upon that never suffered to come to their Places again Bishops violently thrust out for not worshiping the Mass But one Beal the Clerk of the Council in Queen Elizabeths time reports this otherwise and more probably that Bishop Taylor took his place in his Robes but refusing to give any reverence to the Mass was violently thrust out of the House He says nothing of Harley so it is probable that he followed the other The
from Rome This Storm against Pool went soon over by the Peace that was made between Philip and the Pope of which it will not be unpleasant to give the Relation The Duke of Guise having carried his Army out of Italy the Duke of Alva marched towards Rome and took and spoiled all Places on his way When he came near Rome all was in such confusion that he might have easily taken it but he made no assault The Pope called the Cardinals together and setting out the danger he was in with many Tears said he would undauntedly suffer Martyrdome which they who knew that the trouble he was in flowed only from his restless ambition and fierceness could scarce hear without laughter The Duke of Alva was willing to treat A Peace made between the Pope and the King of Spain The Pope stood high on the Points of Honour and would needs keep that entire though he was forced to yield in the chief matters he said rather than lose one jot that was due to him he would see the whole World ruined pretending it was not his own Honour but Christs that he sought In fine the Duke of Alva was required by him to come to Rome and on his Knees to ask pardon for invading the Patrimony of the Church and to receive Absolution for himself and his Master He being superstitiously devoted to the Papacy and having got satisfaction in other things consented to this So the Conqueror was brought to ask pardon and the vain Pope received him and gave him Absolution with as much haughtiness and state as if he had been his Prisoner This was done on the 14th of September and the news of it being brought into England on the 6th of October Letters were written by the Council to the Lord Major and Aldermen of London requiring them to come to St. Pauls where high Mass was to be said for the Peace now concluded between the Pope and the King after which Bonfires were ordered One of the secret Articles of the Peace was the restoring Pool to his Legatine Power The beginnings of a War between England and Scotland War being now proclaimed between England and France the French sent to the Scotish Queen Regent to engage Scotland in the War with England Hereupon a Convention of the Estates was called But in it there were two different Parties Those of the Clergy liked now the English Interest as much as they had been formerly jealous of it and so refused to engage in the War since they were at Peace with England They had also a secret dislike to the Regent for her kindness to the Heretical Lords On the other hand those Lords were ready enough to gain the protection of the Regent and the favour of France and therefore were ready to enter into the War hoping that thereby they should have their Party made the stronger in Scotland by the entertainment that the Queen Regent would be obliged to give to such as should fly out of England for Religion Yet the greater part of the Convention were against the War The Queen Regent thought at least to engage the Kingdom in a defensive War by forcing the English to begin with them Therefore she sent D'Oisel who was in chief command to fortifie Aymouth which by the last Treaty with England was to be unfortified So the Governour of Berwick making Inroads into Scotland for the disturbing of their Works upon that D'Oisel began the War and went into England and besieged Warke Castle The Scotish Lords upon this met at Edenburgh and complained that D'Oisel was engaging them in a War with England without their consent and required him to return back under pain of being declared an Enemy to the Nation which he very unwillingly obeyed But while he lay there the Duke of Norfolk was sent down with some Troops to defend the Marches There was only one Engagement between him and the Kers but after a long dispute they were defeated and many of them taken The Queen Regent seeing her Authority was so little considered writ to France to hasten the Marriage of her Daughter to the Dolphin for that he being thereupon invested with the Crown of Scotland the French would become more absolute Upon this a Message was sent from France to a Convention of Estates that sate in December to let them know that the Dolphin was now coming to be of Age and therefore they desired they would send oversome to treat about the Articles of the Marriage They sent the Arch-bishop of Glasgow the Bishop of Orkney the Prior of St. Andrews who afterwards was Earl of Murray the Earls of Rothes and Cassils the Lord Fleeming and the Provosts of Edenburgh and Mountrose some of every Estate that in the Name of the three Estates they might conclude that Treaty These Wars coming upon England when the Queens Treasure was quite exhausted it was not easie to raise Money for carrying them on They found such a backwardness in the last Parliament that they were afraid the supply from thence would not come easily or at least that some favour would be desired for the Hereticks Therefore they tried first to raise Money by sending Orders under the Privy Seal for the borrowing of certain Sums But though the Council writ many Letters to set on those Methods of getting Money yet they being without if not against Law there was not much got this way so that after all it was found necessary to summon a Parliament to assemble on the 20th of January In the end of the Year the Queen had Advertisements sent her from the King that he understood the French had a design on Calais but she either for want of Money or that she thought the place secure in the Winter did not send these Supplies that were necessary and thus ended the Affairs of England this Year In Germany there was a Conference appointed The Affairs of Germany to bring matters of Religion to a fuller settlement Twelve Papists and twelve Protestants were appointed to manage it Julius Pflugius that had drawn the Interim being the chief of the Papists moved that they should begin first with condemning the Heresie of Zuinglius Melancthon upon that said it was preposterous to begin with the condemnation of errors till they had first setled the Doctrines of Religion Yet that which the Papists expected followed upon this for some of the fiercer Lutherans being much set against the Zuinglians agreed to it This raised heats among themselves which made the Conference break up without bringing things to any issue Upon this occasion Men could not but see that Artifice of the Roman Church which has been often used before and since with too great success When they cannot bear down those they call Hereticks with open force their next way is to divide them among themselves and to engage them into Heats about those lesser matters in which they differ hoping that by those animosities their endeavours which being united would
Workmen already gone to Fortify Paleano Neptuno and Rocca del Papa and certain Captains appointed and gone thither also The Legat to the Emperor's Majesty and the King's Majesty departed the 30th of the last The Ambassador of Polonia is returned towards his Master His Petition as I am informed to his Holiness was to have License for Priests to Marry and all Lay-folk to receive the Communion Sub utraque specie in the Realm of Polonia and certain Dismes upon the Clergy to be spent against the Turk His Answer as I hear was in general with relation of all such Matters to the General Council Also there came hither four Ambassadors very honourably from the State of Genua with the Obedience of that State to his Holiness Which Ambassador did visit me delaring the good Will Amity and Service that the said State bare towards the King and your most Excellent Majesty desiring me advertise your Majesty thereof The 24th of the last the Pope his Holiness kept the Anniversary of his Coronation I was warned to be at the Chappel by the Officers appointed for that purpose Also one of his Holiness Gentlemen was sent to invite me to dine with his Holiness that day At my coming to the Court the Ambassador of Portugal being there at his Holiness coming forth would have kept the Place amongst all the Ambassadors from me that I was wont to stand in that is next the French Ambassador And next to me would be the Ambassador of Polonia I came to the Ambassador of Portugal as gently as I could and for that he would not give me my Place I took him by the Shoulder and removed him out of that Place saying That it was your Majesty 's Ambasdor's Place always Beneath me he would not stand neither next me he should not for the Ambassador of Polonia who claimed next to me Whereupon the Portugal went and complained to the Duke of Paleano who went streight to the Pope and after him went the said Ambassador of Portugal to him himself His Holiness willed him to depart therehence He desired that I should depart likewise And thereupon the Duke came to me saying That the Pope his Pleasure was I should depart also I asked him Why He said That his Holiness to avoid dissention would have me to depart I told him I made no Dissention for if the other would keep his own Place and not usurpe upon the Place that always the Ambassors of England in times past were wont to be in he might be in quiet and suffer me to be in quiet likewise and not to seek that seemed him not All this Year he never sought it till now why now I cannot tell but he may be sure he shall not have it of me unless your Majesty command it Also the Master of the Houshold with his Holiness said That I was invited and that Portugal was not but came upon his own head I am much bound to the Marquess he was very angry with the Portugal being his Brother to attempt any such thing against your Majesty's Ambassador and sent to me as soon as he heard of it Indeed he was not there I kept my Place from him sending him to seek his Place in such sort that all the Ambassadors thought it well done and others that were indifferent said no less I told the Duke that I would not lose a jot of your Majesty's Honour for no Man For it is the Place of Ambassadors of England nigh a thousand Years before there was any King in Portugal Other Occurents here be none And thus I beseech Almighty God to conserve your most Excellent Majesty in long and most prosperous Life From Rome the 9th of June 1556. Your Majesty's most Humble Subject and Poor Servant Edward Carne Number 32. A Commission for a severer way of proceeding against Hereticks PHilip and Mary by the Grace of God King and Queen of England Rot. Pat. in Dorso Rot. 3 4. Phil. Mar. 2 p. Spain France both Sicills Jerusalem and Ireland and Defenders of the Faith Arch-Dukes of Austria Duke of Burgundy Millain and Brabant Counts of Harspurge Flanders and Tyroll To the Right Reverend Father in God Edmond Bishop of London and to the Reverend Father in God Our right trusty and right well-beloved Counsellor Thomas Bishop of Ely and to Our right trusty and right well-beloved William Windsor Kt. Lord Windsor Edward North Kt. Lord North and to Our trusty and right well-beloved Counsellors John Bourne Kt. one of Our chief Secretaries John Mordaunt Knight Francis Englefield Kt. Master of our Wards and Liveries Edward Walgrave Kt. Master of Our great Wardrobe Nicholas Hare Kt. Master of the Rolls in our Court of Chancery and to Our trusty and well-beloved Thomas Pope Kt. Roger Cholmley Kt. Richard Read Kt. Thomas Stradling Kt. and Rowland Hill Kt. William Rastall Serjeant at Law Henry Cole Clark Dean of Pauls William Roper and Randulph Cholmley Esquires William Cooke Thomas Martin John Story and John Vaughan Doctors of Law Greeting Forasmuch as divers devilish and clamourous Persons have not only invented bruited and set forth divers false Rumours Tales and seditious Slanders against Us but also have sown divers Heresies and Heretical Opinions and set forth divers seditious Books within this our Realm of England meaning thereby to move procure and stir up Divisions Strife Contentions and Seditions not only amongst Our loving Subjects but also betwixt Us and Our said Subjects with divers other outragious Misdemeanours Enormities Contempts and Offences daily committed and done to the disquieting of Us and Our People We minding and intending the due punishment of such Offenders and the repressing of such-like Offences Enormities and Misbehaviours from henceforth having special trust and confidence in your Fidelities Wisdoms and Discretions have authorized appointed and assigned you to be our Commissioners and by these presents do give full Power and Authority unto you and three of you to enquire as well by the Oaths of twelve good and lawful Men as by Witnesses and all other means and politick ways you can devise of all and sundry Heresies Heretical Opinions Lollardies heretical and seditious Books Concealments Contempts Conspiracies and of all false Rumours Tales Seditious and Clamorous Words and Sayings raised published bruited invented or set forth against Us or either of Us or against the quiet Governance and Rule of Our People and Subjects by Books Letters Tales or otherwise in any County City Burrough or other Place or Places within this Our Realm of England and elsewhere in any Place or Places beyond the Seas and of the bringers in Users Buyers Sellers Readers Keepers or Conveyers of any such Letters Books Rumour or Tale and of all and every their Coadjutors Counsellors Consorters Procurers Abetters and Maintainers Giving to you and three of you full Power and Authority by vertue hereof to search out and take into your hands and possession all manner of heretical and seditious Books Letters Writings wheresoever they