there was such an attempt of Nature that not only England but the World has reason to lament his being so early snatched away How truly was it said of such extraordinary Persons That their Lives are short and seldom do they come to be old He gave us an Essay of Vertue though he did not live to give a Pattern of it When the gravity of a King was needful he carried himself like an Old Man and yet he was always affable and gentle as became his Age. He played on the Lute he medled in Affairs of State and for Bounty he did in that emulate his Father though he even when he endeavoured to be too good might appear to have been bad but there was no ground of suspecting any such thing in the Son whose mind was cultivated by the study of Philosophy It has been said in the end of his Fathers Life A desiâ—n to create him Prince of Wales that he then designed to create him Prince of Wales For though he was called so as the Heirs of this Crown are yet he was not by a formal Creation invested with that dignity This pretence was made use of to hasten forward the Attainder of the Duke of Norfolk since he had many Offices for life which the King intended to dispose of and desired to have them speedily filled in order to the creating of his Son Prince of Wales King Henry dies In the mean time his Father died and the Earl of Hartford and Sir Anthony Brown were sent by the Council to give him notice of it being then at Hartford and to bring him to the Tower of London and having brought him to Enfield with his Sister the Lady Elizabeth they let him know of his Fathers death and that he was now their King On the 31st of January Jan. 31. the Kings Death was published in London and he Proclaimed King At the Tower his Fathers Executors King Edward came to the Tower with the rest of the Privy-Council received him with the respects due to their King So tempering their sorrow for the death of their late Master with their joy for his Sons happy succeeding him that by an excess of joy they might not seem to have forgot the one so soon nor to bode ill to the other by an extreme grief The first thing they did was the opening King Henry's Will King Henry's Will opened by which they found he had nominated sixteen Persons to be his Executors and Governours to his Son and to the Kingdom till his Son was eighteen years of age These were the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Lord Wriothesley Lord Chancellor the Lord St. John Great Master the Lord Russel Lord Privy-Seal the Earl of Hartford Lord Great Chamberlain the Viscount Lisle Lord Admiral Tonstall Bishop of Duresme Sir Anthony Brown Master of the Horse Sir William Paget Secretary of State Sir Edward North Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations Sir Edward Montague Lord chief-Chief-Justice of the Common-Pleas Judge Bromley Sir Anthony Denny and Sir William Herbert Chief Gentlemen of the Privy-Chamber Sir Edward Wotton Treasurer of Callice and Dr. Wotton Dean of Canterbury and York These or the major part of them were to execute his Will and to administer the Affairs of the Kingdom By their consent were the King and his Sisters to be disposed of in Marriage But with this difference that it was only ordered That the King should marry by their Advice but the two Sisters were so limited in their Marriage that they were to forfeit their Right of Succession if they married without their consent it being of far greater importance to the Peace and Interest of the Nation who should be their Husbands if the Crown did devolve on them than who should be the Kings Wife And by the Act passed in the 35th Year of King Henry he was empowered to leave the Crown to them with what limitations he should think fit To the Executors the King added by his Will a Privy-Council who should be assisting to them These were the Earls of Arundel and Essex Sir Thom. Cheyney Treasurer of the Houshold Sir John Gage Comptroller Sir Anthony Wingfield Vice-Chamberlain Sir William Petre Secretary of State Sir Richard Rich Sir John Baker Sir Ralph Sadler Sir Thom. Seimour Sir Richard Sowthwell and Sir Edmund Peckham The King also ordered That if any of the Executors should die the Survivors without giving them a Power of substituting others should continue to administer Affairs He also charged them to pay all his Debts and the Legacies he left and to perfect any Grants he had begun and to make good every thing that he had promised The Will being opened and read all the Executors Judge Bromley and the two Wottons only excepted were present and did resolve to execute the Will in all points and to take an Oath for their faithful discharge of that Trust Debate about choosing a Protector But it was also proposed That for the speedier dispatch of things and for a more certain order and direction of all Affairs there should be one chosen to be Head of the rest to whom Ambassadors and others might address themselves It was added to caution this That the Person to be raised to that Dignity should do nothing of any sort without the Advice and Consent of the greater part of the rest But this was opposed by the Lord Chancellour who thought that the Dignity of his Office setting him next the Arch-bishop of Canterbury who did not much follow Secular Affairs he should have the chief stroke in the Government therefore he pressed That they might not depart from the Kings Will in any particular neither by adding to it nor taking from it It was plain the late King intended they should be all alike in the Administration and the raising one to a Title or Degree above the rest was a great change from what he had ordered And whereas it was now said that the Person to be thus nominated was to have no manner of Power over the rest that was only to exalt him into an high Dignity with the less envy or apprehension of danger for it was certain great Titles always make way for high Power But the Earl of Hartford had so great a Party among them that it was agreed to the Lord Chancellor himself consenting when he saw his opposition was without effect The Earl of Hartford chosen that one should be raised over the rest in Title to be called the Protector of the Kings Realms and the Governour of his Person The next Point held no long debate who should be nominated to this high Trust for they unanimously agreed That the Earl of Hartford by reason of his nearness of Blood to the King and the great experience he had in Affairs was the fittest Person So he was declared Protector of the Realm and Governour to the Kings Person but with that special and express Condition that he should not do any Act
the Earl of Shrewsbury Sir Tho. Cheyney Sir John Gage Sir Ralph Sadler and the Lord chief-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
Melanchthon thought that the Ceremonies of Popery might be used since they were of their own nature indifferent Others as Amstorfius Illiricus with the greatest part of the Lutherans thought the receiving the Ceremonies would make way for all the errors of Popery and though they were of their own nature indifferent yet they ceased to be so when they were enjoyned as things necessary to Salvation But the Emperor going on resolutely many Divines were driven away some concealed themselves in Germany others fled into Switzerland and some came over into England When the news of the Changes that were made here in England were carried beyond Sea and after Peter Martyr's being with Cranmer were more copiously written by him to his friends Calvin and Mar. Bucer who began to think the Reformation almost opprest in Germany now turned their Eyes more upon England Calvin writ to the Protector Calvin writ to the Protector on the 29th of October encouraging him to go on notwithstanding the Wars as Hezekias had done in his Reformation He lamented the heats of some that professed the Gospel but complained that he heard there were few lively Sermons preached in England and that the Preachers recited their discourses coldly He much approves a set form of Prayers whereby the consent of all the Churches did more manifestly appear But he advises a more compleat Reformation he taxed the Prayers for the Dead the use of Chrisme and Extream Vnction since they were no where recommended in Scripture He had heard that the reason why they went no further was because the Times could not bear it but this was to do the Work of God by Political Maximes which though they ought to take place in other things yet should not be followed in Matters in which the Salvation of Souls was concerned But above all things he complained of the great impieties and vices that were so common in England as Swearing Drinking and Vncleanness and prayed him earnestly that these things might be looked after Bucer writ against Gardiner Martin Bucer writ also a Discourse congratulating the Changes then made in England which was translated into English by Sir Philip Hobbey's Brother In it he answered the Book that Gardiner had written against him which he had formerly delayed to do because King Henry had desired he would let it alone till the English and Germans had conferr'd about Religion That Book did chiefly relate to the Marriage of the Clergy Bucer shewed from many Fathers that they thought every Man had not the Gift of Chastity which Gardiner thought every one might have that pleased He taxed the open lewdness of the Romish Clergy who being much set against Marriage which was Gods Ordinance did gently pass over the impurities which the forbidding it had occasioned among themselves He particularly taxed Gardiner himself that he had his Rents payed him out of Stews He taxed him also for his state and pompous way of living and shewed how indecent it was for a Church-man to be sent in Ambassies and that St. Ambrose though sent to make Peace was ashamed of it and thought it unbecoming the Priesthood Both Fagius and he being forced to leave Germany upon the business of the Interim Cranmer invited them over to England and sent them to Cambridge as he had done Peter Martyr to Oxford But Fagius not agreeing with this Air died soon after a Man greatly learned in the Oriental Tongues and a good Expounder of the Scripture This being the state of Affairs both abroad and at home a Session of Parliament was held in England on the 24th of November Nov. 24. Parliament sits to which day it had been prorogued from the 15th of October by reason of the Plague then in London The first Bill that was finished was that about the Marriage of the Priests It was brought into the House of Commons the 3d of December read the second time on the 5th and the third time the 6th But this Bill being only that married Men might be made Priests a new Bill was framed that besides the former Provision Priests might marry This was read the first time the 7th the second time the 10th and was fully argued on the 11th and agreed on the 12th and sent up to the Lords on the 13th of December In that House it stuck as long as it had been soon dispatched by the Commons It lay on the Table till the 9th of February Then it was read the first time and the 11th the second time on the 16th it was committed to the Bishops of Ely and Westminster the Lord chief-Chief-Justice and the Attorney-General and on the 19th of Feb. it was agreed to the Bishops of London Duresme Norwich Carlisle Hereford Worcester Bristol Chichester and Landaff and the Lords Morley Dacres Windsor and Wharton dissenting It had the Royal Assent and so became a Law The Preamble sets forth An Act about the Marriage of the Clergy That it were better for Priests and other Ministers of the Church to live chast and without Marriage whereby they might better attend to the Ministry of the Gospel and be less distracted with secular cares so that it were much to be wished that they would of themselves abstain But great filthiness of living with other inconveniencies had followed on the Laws that compelled Chastity and prohibited Marriage so that it was better they should be suffered to marry than be so restrained Therefore all Laws and Canons that had been made against it being only made by humane Authority are repealed So that all Spiritual Persons of what degree soever might lawfully marry providing they married according to the Order of the Church But a Proviso was added that because many Divorces of Priests had been made after the six Articles were enacted and that the Women might have thereupon married again all these Divorces with every thing that had followed on them should be confirmed There was no Law that passed in this Reign with more contradiction and censure than this and therefore the Reader may expect the larger account of this matter The unmarried state of the Clergy had so much to be said for it Which was much enquired into as being a course of life that was more disengaged from secular cares and pleasures that it was cast on the Reformers every where as a foul reproach that they could not restrain their appetites but engaged in a life that drew after it domestick cares with many other distractions This was an Objection so easie to be apprehended that the People had been more prejudiced against the Marriage of the Clergy if they had not felt greater inconveniencies by the debaucheries of Priests who being restrained from Marriage had defiled the Beds and deflow'red the Daughters of their Neighbours into whose Houses they had free and unsuspected access and whom under the Cloak of receiving Confessions they could more easily entice This made them that they were not so much wrought on by the noise of
would consent to it so if he had married her without that the possibility of succeeding to the Crown was cut off by King Henry's Will And this Attempt of his occasioned that Act to be put in which was formerly mentioned for declaring the marrying the Kings Sisters without consent of Council to be Treason Seeing he could not compass that design he resolved to carry away the King to his House of Holt in the Country and so to displace his Brother and to take the Government into his own hands For this end he had laid in Magazines of Arms and listed about 10000 Men in several Places and openly complained that his Brother intended to enslave the Nation and make himself Master of all and had therefore brought over those German Soldiers He had also entred into Treaty with several of the Nobility that envied his Brothers greatness and were not ill pleased to see a breach between them and that grown to be irreconcilable To these he promised that they should be of the Council and that he would dispose of the King in Marriage to one of their Daughters the Person is not named The Protector had often told him of these things and warned him of the danger into which he would throw himself by such ways but he persisted still in his designs though he denied and excused them as long as was possible Now his restless ambition seeming incurable he was on the 19th of Jan. sent to the Tower The original Warrant Jan. 19. The Admiral sent to the Tower Signed by all the Privy Council is in the Council-Book formerly mentioned where the Earl of Southampton Signs with the rest who was now in outward appearance reconciled to the Protector On the day following the Admirals Seal of his Office was sent for and put into Secretary Smiths Hands And now many things broke out against him and particularly a Conspiracy of his with Sir W. Sharington Vice-Treasurer of the Mint at Bristol who was to have furnished him with 10000 l. and had already coined about 12000 l. false Money and had clipt a great deal more to the value of 40000 l. in all for which he was attainted by a Process at Common Law and that was confirmed in Parliament Fowler also that waited in the Privy Chamber with some few others were sent to the Tower Many complaints being usually brought against a sinking Man the Lord Russel the Earl of Southampton and Secretary Petre were ordered to receive their Examinations And thus the Business was let alone till the 28 of Feb. in which time his Brother did again try if it were possible to bring him to a better temper And as he had since their first breach granted him 800 l. a year in Land to gain his friendship so means were now used to perswade him to submit himself and to withdraw from Court and from all employment But it appeared that nothing could be done to him that could cure his ambition or the hatred he carried to his Brother And therefore on the 22d of Feb. a full report was made to the Council of all the things that were informed against him consisting not only of the Particulars formerly mentioned but of many foul misdemeanours in the discharge of the Admiralty several Pirates being entertained by him who gave him a share of their Robberies and whom he had protected notwithstanding the Complaints made by other Princes by which the King was in danger of a War from the Princes so complaining The whole Charge consists of 33 Articles which will be found in the Collection Collection Number 31. The Particulars as it is entred in the Council-Book were so manifestly proved not only by Witnesses but by Letters under his own Hand that it did not seem possible to deny them Yet he had been sent to and examined by some of the Council but refused to make a direct Answer to them or to Sign those Answers that he had made So it was ordered that the next day all the Privy Council except the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and Sir John Baker Speaker to the House of Commons who was engaged to attend in the House should go to the Tower and examine him On the 23d the Lord Chancellor with the other Councellors went to him and read the Articles of his Charge and earnestly desired him to make plain Answers to them excusing himself where he could and submitting himself in other things and that he would shew no obstinacy of Mind He answered them That he expected an open Trial and his Accusers to be brought face to face All the Councellors endeavoured to perswade him to be more tractable but to no purpose At last the Lord Chancellor required him on his Allegiance to make his Answer He desired they would leave the Articles with him and he would consider of them otherwise he would make no Answer to them But the Councellors resolved not to leave them with him on those terms On the 24th of Feb. it was resolved in Council that the whole Board should after Dinner acquaint the King with the state of that Affair and desire to know of him whether he would have the Law to take place and since the thing had been before the Parliament whether he would leave it to their determination so tender they were of their young King in a Case that concerned his Unkles Life But the King had begun to discern his seditious temper and was now much alienated from him The Council desired the King to refer the Matter to the Parliament When the Councellors waited on him the Lord Chancellor opened the Matter to the King and delivered his Opinion for leaving it to the Parliament Then every Councellor by himself spake his mind all to the same purpose Last of all the Protector spake he protested this was a most sorrowful business to him that he had used all the means in his power to keep it from coming to this extremity but were it Son or Brother he must prefer his Majesties safety to them for he weighed his Allegiance more than his Blood and that therefore he was not against the request that the other Lords had made and said if he himself were guilty of such offences he should not think he were worthy of life and the rather because he was of all Men the most bound to his Majesty and therefore he could not refuse Justice The King answered them in these words Who consented to it We perceive that there are great things objected and laid to my Lord Admiral my Unkle and they tend to Treason and We perceive that you require but Justice to be done We think it reasonable and We Will that you proceed according to your Request Which words as it is marked in the Council-Book coming so suddenly from his Graces Mouth of his own motion as the Lords might well perceive they were marvellously rejoyced and gave the King most hearty praise and thanks yet resolved that some of both Houses
time To those Sir Thomas Cheney Warden of the Cinque-Ports and Sir John Mason with the two Secretaries came over It was said that the French and Spanish Ambassadors had desired an Audience in some Place in the City and it was proposed to give it in the Earl of Pembrooks House who being the least suspected it was agreed to by the Duke of Suffolk that they should be suffered to go from the Tower thither They also pretended that since the Duke of Northumberland had writ so earnestly for new Forces they must go and treat with my Lord Mayor and the City of London about it But as soon as they were got out the Earl of Arundel pressed them to declare for Queen Mary And to perswade them to it he laid open all the Cruelty of Northumberland under whose Tyranny they must resolve to be enslaved if they would not now shake it off The other consenting readily to it they sent for the Lord Mayor with the Recorder and the Aldermen and having declared their Resolutions to them they rode together into Cheapside And proclaimed her Queen and there proclaimed Queen Mary on the 19th of July From thence they went to Saint Pauls where Te Deum was sung An Order was sent to the Tower to require the Duke of Suffolk to deliver up that Place and to acknowledg Queen Mary and that the Lady Jane should lay down the Title of Queen To this as her Father submitted tamely so she expressed no sort of Concern in losing that imaginary Glory which now had for nine days been rather a Burden than any Matter of Joy to her They also sent Orders to the Duke of Northumberland to disband his Forces and to carry himself as became an Obedient Subject to the Queen And the Earl of Arundel with the Lord Paget were sent to give her an account of it who continued still at Framingham in Suffolk The Duke of Northumberland had retired back to Cambridg The Duke of Northumberland submits and is taken to stay for new Men from London but hearing how Matters went there before ever the Councils Orders came to him he dismist his Forces and went to the Market-place and proclaimed the Queen flinging up his own Hat for joy and crying God save Queen Mary But the Earl of Arundel being sent by the Queen to apprehend him it is said That when he saw him he fell abjectly at his Feet to beg his favour This was like him it being not more unusual for such Insolent Persons to be most basely sunk with their Misfortunes than to be out of measure blown up with success He was on the 25th of July sent to the Tower with the Earl of Warwick his eldest Son With many more Prisoners who were sent to the Tower of London Ambrose and Henry two of his other Sons Some other of his Friends were made Prisoners among whom was Sir Thomas Palmer the wicked Instrument of the Duke of Somerset's fall who was become his most intimate Confident and Dr. Sands the Vicechancellor of Cambridg Now did all People go to the Queen to implore her Mercy She received them all very favourably except the Marquess of Northampton Dr Ridley and Lord Robert Dudley The first of these had been a submissive fawner on the Duke of Northumberland the second had incurred her displeasure by his Sermon and she gladly laid hold on any colour to be more severe to him that way might be made for bringing Bonner to London again the third had followed his Father's Fortunes On the 27th the Lords Chief Justices Cholmley and Montague were sent to the Tower and the day after the Duke of Suffolk and Sir John Cheek went after them the Lady Jane and her Husband being still detained in the Tower Three days after an Order came to set the Duke of Suffolk at liberty upon engagement to return to Prison when the Queen required it for it was generally known that he had been driven on by Dudley and as it was believed that he had not been faulty out of Malice so his great weakness made them little apprehensive of any Dangers from him and therefore the Queen being willing to express a signal Act of Clemency at her first coming to the Crown it was thought best to let it fall on him Now did the Queen come towards London being met on the way by her Sister Elizabeth The Queen enters London with a thousand Horse who had gathered about her to shew their Zeal to maintain both their Titles which in this late contest had been linked together She made her entry to London on the third of August with great solemnity and pomp When she came to the Tower the Duke of Norfolk who had been almost seven Years in it Gardiner the Bishop of Winchester that had been five Years there the Dutchess of Somerset that had been kept there near two Years and the Lord Courtney whom she made afterwards Earl of Devonshire that was Son to the Marquess of Exeter and had been kept there ever since his Father was Attainted had their Liberty granted them So now she was peaceably setled in the Throne without any effusion of Blood having broke through a Confederacy against her which seemed to be so strong that if he that was the Head of it had not been universally odious to the Nation it could not have been so easily dissipated She was naturally pious and devout even to superstition had a generous disposition of Mind but much corrupted by Melancholy which was partly natural in her but much increased by the cross Accidents of her Life both before and after her Advancement so that she was very peevish and splenetick towards the end of her Life When the Differences became irreconcilable between her Father and Mother She had been in danger in her Father's Time she followed her Mothers Interests they being indeed her own and for a great while could not be perswaded to submit to the King who being impatient of contradiction from any but especially from his own Child was resolved to strike a terror in all his People by putting her openly to death Which her Mother coming to know writ her a Letter of a very devout strain which will be found in the Collections Coll. Numb 2. In which She encouraged her to suffer chearfully to trust to God and keep her heart clean She charged her in all things to obey the King's Commands except in the Matters of Religion She sent her two Latin Books the one of the Life of Christ which was perhaps the famous Book of Thomas a Kempis and the other St. Jerom's Letter She bid her divert her self at the Virginals or Lute but above all things to keep her self pure and to enter into no treaty of Marriage till these ill times should pass over of which her Mother seemed to retain still good hopes This Letter should have been in my former Volumn if I had then seen it but it is no improper
Preacher from the Rage of the People It was said that their appeasing it so easily shewed what Interest they had with the People and was a presumption that they had set it on so without any further Proof the one was put in the Tower and the other confined to his House But now the deprived Bishops who were Bonner of London Gardiner of Winchester Tonstall of Duresm Heath of Worcester The Popish Bishops restored and Day of Chichester were to be restored to their Sees I have only seen the Commission for restoring Bonner and Tonstall but the rest were no doubt in the same strain with a little variation The Commission for Bonner bearing date the 22th of August was directed to some Civilians setting forth that he had petitioned the Queen to examine the Appeal he had made from the Delegates that had deprived him and that therefore the Sentence against him being unjust and illegal he desired it might be declared to be of no effect Upon which these did without any great hesitation return the Sentences void and the Appeals good So thus they were restored to their Sees But because the Bishoprick of Duresm was by Act of Parliament dissolved and the Regalities of it which had bin given to the Duke of Northumberland were now by his Attainder fallen into the Queen's hand She granted Tonstall Letters Patents erecting that Bishoprick again of new making mention that some wicked Men to enrich themselves by it had procured it to be dissolved On the 29th of August Commission was granted to Gardiner to give Licences under the Great Seal to such Grave The Consultations among the Reformed Doctors Learned and discreet Persons as he should think meet and able to preach God's Word All who were so licensed were qualified to preach in any Cathedral or Parochial Church to which he should think it convenient to send them By this the Reformers were not only out of hope to obtain any Licences but likewise saw a way laid down for sending such Men as Gardiner pleased into all their Pulpits to infect their People Upon this they considered what to do If there had been only a particular Inderdiction of some private persons the considerations of Peace and Order being of a more publick nature than the consequence of any one Man's open Preaching could be they judged it was to be submitted to but in such a case when they saw this Interdiction was general and on design to stop their mouths till their Enemies should seduce the People they did not think they were bound in Conscience to give Obedience Many of them therefore continued to preach openly others instead of Preaching in Churches were contented to have only the Prayers and other Service there but for instructing their People had private Conferences with them The Council hearing that their Orders had been disobeyed by some in London two in Coventry and one in Amersham they were sent for and put in Prison And Coverdale Bishop of Exeter and Hooper of Glocester being cited to appear before the Council they came and presented themselves on the 29th and 30th of August and on the first of September Hooper was sent to the Fleet and Coverdale appointed to wait their pleasure At this time the Popish Party growing now insolent over England began to be as forward in making Changes before the Laws warranted them as these of the Reformation had been in King Edward's time so that in many places they set up Images and the Latin Service with the old Rites again This was plainly against Law but the Council had no mind to hinder it but on the other hand encouraged it all they could Upon which Judg Hales The barbarous usage of Judg Hales who thought he might with the more assurance speak his mind having appeared so steadily for the Queen did at the Circuits in Kent give a Charge to the Justices to see to the execution of King Edward's Laws which were still in force and unrepealed Upon this he was without any regard to his former Zeal put first into the Marshalsea from thence he was removed to the Counter and after that to the Fleet where the good old Man was so disordered with the Cruelties that the Warden told him were contriving against all that would not change their Religion that it turned his Brain so that he endeavoured to have kill'd himself with a Penknife He was after that upon his Submission set at liberty but never came to himself again so he not being well looked to drowned himself This with the usage of the Suffolk-Men was much censured and from thence it was said that no Merits or Services could secure any from the Cruelties of that Religion And it appeared in another signal Instance how the Actions of Men were not so much considered as their Religion The Lord Chief Justice Mountague who had very unwillingly drawn the Letters Patents for the Lady Jane's Succession was turned out of his Place kept six weeks in Prison fined in a Thousand pounds and some Lands that had been given him by King Edward were taken from him tho he had sent his Son with Twenty Men to declare for the Queen and had a great Family of Seventeen Children six Sons and eleven Daughters whereas Judg Bromley that had concurred in framing the Letters Patents without any reluctancy was made Lord Chief Justice The true Reason was Bromley was a Papist in his heart and Mountague was for the Reformation In many other places where the People were Popishly affected they drove away their Pastors At Oxford Peter Martyr was so ill used that he was forced to fly for his safety to Lambeth where he could not look for any long protection Cranmer declared openly against the Mass since Cranmer himself was every day in expectation of being sent to Prison He kept himself quiet and was contriving how to give some Publick and Noble Testimonies to the Doctrine that he had so long professed and indeed had bin the chief promoter of in this Church But his quiet behaviour was laid hold on by his Enemies and it was given out that he was resolved to comply with every thing the Queen had a mind to So I find Bonner wrote to his Friend Mr. Lechmore on the 6th of September Bonners Insolence Coll. Numb 7. in that Letter which is in the Collection He gives him notice that the day before he had bin restored to his Bishoprick and Ridley repulsed for which he is very witty Ridley had a Steward for two Manours of his whose name was Ship-side his Brother-in-law upon which he plays as if he had bin Sheeps-head He orders Lechmore to look to his Estate and he should take care at the next Parliament that both the Sheepsheads and the Calves-heads should be used as they deserved He adds that Cranmer whom in scorn he calls Mr. Canterbury was become very humble and ready to submit himself in all things but that would not serve his turn and it
business which himself had so violently and servilely promoted The falsehood of that pretence of corrupting Vniversities has been shewn in the former Volumn but it was all they had now to say The laying it all upon Cranmer was as high a pitch of malice and impudence as could be devised for as Gardiner had been setting it on long before Cranmer was known to King Henry so he had been joyned with him in the Commission and had given his assent to the Sentence which Cranmer gave Nor was the Divorce grounded meerly upon Cranmers understanding of the Scriptures but upon the fullest and most studied Arguments that had perhaps been in any Age brought together in one particular case and both Houses of Convocation had condemned the Mariage before his sentence But because in the right of his See he was Legate to the Pope therefore to make the Sentence stronger it went only in his name though he had but a small share in it compared to what Gardiner had By this Act there was also a second Illegittimation brought on the Lady Elizabeth The Queens carries severely to the Lady Elizabeth to whom hitherto the Queen had been very kind using her on all occasions with the tenderness of a Sister but from this time forwards she handled her more severely It was perhaps occasioned by this Act since before they stood both equally illegittimated but now the Act that legitimated the Queen making her most certainly a Bastard in Law the Queen might think it now too much to use her as she had done formerly Others suggest a more secret reason of this distast The new Earl of Devonshire was much in the Queens favour so that it was thought she had some inclinations to marry him but he either not presuming so high or really having an aversion to her and an inclination to her Sister who of that moderate share of beauty that was between them had much the better of her and was nineteen years younger made his Addresses with more than ordinary concern to the Lady Elizabeth and this did bring them both in trouble as shall be afterwards shewn The next Bill that was sent from the Lords to the Commons The Laws made by King Edward repealed was for the repealing King Edward's Laws about Religion It was sent down on the 31st of October and argued six days in the House of Commons but in the end it was carried and sent back to the Lords The Preamble of it sets forth the great disorders that had fallen out in the Nation by the changes that had been made in Religion from that which their Fore-fathers had left them by the Authority of the Catholick Church thereupon all the Laws that had been made in King Edwards time about Religion were now repealed and it was Enacted that from the 20th of December next there should be no other Form of Divine Service but what had been used in the last year King of Henry the 8th leaving it free to all till that day to use either the Books appointed by King Edward or the old ones at their pleasure Another Act was passed which the Commons sent up to the Lords An Act against the affronting Priests against all those who by any overt Act should molest or disquiet any Preacher because of his Office or for any Sermon that he might have Preached or should any way disturb them when they were in any part of the Divine Offices that either had been in the last year of King Henry or should be afterwards set forth by the Queen or should break or abuse the holy Sacrament or break Altars Crucifixes or Crosses those that did any of these things should be presented to the Justices of Peace and be by them put in Prison where they should lye three Months or till they were penitent for their Offences and if any rescued them they should be liable to the same punishment But to this a Proviso was added by the Lords that this Act should no way derogate from the Authority of the Ecclesiastiâ—â—l Laws and Courts who might likewise proceed upon such Offences and a Certificate from the Ordinaries that such Offenders were punished by them being brought to the Justices of Peace they were to proceed no further or if the Justices made a Certificate that they had punished them according to Law the Ordinary might not punish them a second time But the Commons were now so heated that they sent up another Bill to the Lords against those who came not to Church nor to Sacraments after the old Service should be again set up the inflicting of the Punishments in these cases being left to the Ecclesiastical Courts This fell in the House of Lords not so much from any opposition that was made as that they were afraid of allarming the Nation too much by many severe Laws at once An Act against unlawful Assemblies Another Law was made for securing the publick Peace against unlawful and rebellious Assemblies that if any to the number of twelve or above should meet to alter any thing of Religion established by Law and being required by any having the Queens Authority to disperse themselves should continue after that an hour together it should be Felony or if that number met to break Hedges or Parks to destroy Deer or Fish c. and did not disperse upon Proclamation it should be Felony or if any by ringing of Bells Drums or firing of Beacons gathered the People together and did the things before mentioned it was Felony if the Wives or Servants of Persons so gathered caried Meat Money or Weapons to them it should be Felony and if any above the number of two and within twelve should meet for these ends they should suffer a years imprisonment empowering the Sheriffs or Justices to gather the Country for the resistance of Persons so offending with Penalties on all between eighteen and sixty that being required to come out against them should refuse to do it When this Act was known the People then saw clearly how they had been deceived by the former Act that seemed so favourable repealing all Acts of new Treasons and Felonies since there was so soon after it an Act passed that renewed one of the severest Laws of the last Reign in which so many things that might flow from sudden heats were made Felonies and a great many new and severe Proviso's were added to it The Queens discharge of the Subsidy was confirmed by another Act. The Marquess of Northampton's 2d Marriage is annulled There followed two private Acts which occasioned more Debate than the publick ones had done The one was the repeal of the Act that had confirmed the Marquess of Northamptons Marriage It was much argued in the House of Commons and on the 28th of November it was agreed to It contains that the Act of confirming the Divorce and the second Marriage was procured more upon untrue surmises and private respects than for any publick good and increase
be as wise sober gentle and temperate as any Prince that ever was in England and if he did not prove so he was content that all his Hearers should esteem him an impudent Lyar. The State of the Court continued in this posture till the next Parliament But great Discontents did now appear every-where The severe Executions after the last rising the Marriage with Spain and the overturning of Religion concurred to alienate the Nation from the Government This appeared no where more confidently than in Norfolk where the People reflecting on their Services thought they might have the more leave to speak There were some malicious Rumours spread that the Queen was with Child before the King came over This was so much resented at Court that the Queen writ a Letter to the Justices there which is in the Collection to enquire into those false Reports and to look to all that spread false News in the County Coll. Numb 14. The Earl of Sussex upon this examined a great many but could make nothing out of it It flowed from the officiousness of Hopton the new Bishop of Norwich who thought to express his Zeal to the Queen whose Chaplain he had long been by sending up the Tales of the Country to the Council Table not considering how much it was below the Dignity of the Government to look after all vain Reports Bonner's Carriage in his Visitation This Summer the Bishops went their Visitations to see every thing executed according to the Queen's Injunctions Bonner went his with the rest He had ordered his Chaplains to draw a Book of Homilies with an Exposition of the Christian Religion He says in his Preface to it that he and his Chaplains had compiled it but it is likely he had only the Name of it and that his Chaplains composed it Yet the greatest and indeed the best part of it was made to their hands for it was taken out of the Institution of a Christian Man set out by King Henry only varied in those Points in which it differed from what they were now about to set up So that concerning the Pope's Power since it was not yet established he says nothing for or against it The Articles upon which he made his Visitation will be found in the Collection Coll. Numb 15. and by these we may judg of all the other Visitations over England In the Preface he protests he had not made his Articles out of any secret grudg or displeasure to any but meerly for the discharge of his Conscience towards God and the World The Articles were Whether the Clergy did so behave themselves in Living Teaching and Doing that in the judgment of indifferent Men they seemed to seek the Honour of God of the Church and of the King and Queen Whether they had been Married or were taken for Married and whether they were Divorced and did no more come at their Wives or whether they did defend their Marriages Whether they did reside keep Hospitality provide a Curat in their absence And whether they did devoutly celebrate the Service and use Processions Whether they were suspect of Heresy Whether they did haunt Ale-houses and Taverns Bowling-Allies or suspect Houses Whether they favoured or kept company with any suspect of Heresy Whether any Priest lived in the Parish that absented himself from Church Whether these kept any privat Conventicles Whether any of the Clergy was Vicious blasphemed God or his Saints or was guilty of Simony Whether they exhorted the People to Peace and Obedience Whether they admited any to the Sacrament that was suspect of Heresy or was of an ill Conversation an Oppressor or Evil-Doer Whether they admitted any to preach that were not licensed or refused such as were Whether they did officiate in English Whether they did use the Sacraments aright Whether they visited the Sick and administred the Sacraments to them Whether they did marry any without asking the Banes three Sundays Whether they observed the Fasts and Holy-Days Whether they went in their Habits and Tonsures Whether those that were ordained schismatically did officiate without being admitted by the Ordinary Whether they set Leases for many Years of their Benefices Whether they followed Merchandise or Usury Whether they carried Swords or Daggers in Times or Places not convenient Whether they did once every quarter expound to the People in the Vulgar Tongue the Apostles Creed Ten Commandments the Two Commandments of Christ for loving God and our Neighbour the Seven Works of Mercy Seven deadly Sins Seven principal Vertues and the Seven Sacraments These were the most considerable Heads on which he visited One thing is remarkable that it appears both by these No Reordination of those ordained in King Edwards Time and the Queen's Injunctions that they did not pretend to re-ordain those that had been ordained by the New Book in King Edward's Time but to reconcile them and add those things that were wanting which were the Anointing and giving the Priestly Vestments with other Rites of the Roman Pontifical In this Point of re-ordaining such as were ordained in Heresy or Schism the Church of Rome has not gone by any steady Rule For though they account the Greek Church to be guilty both of Heresy and Schism they receive their Priests without a New Ordination Yet after the time of the Contests between Pope Nicolaus and Photius and much more after the outragious heats at Rome between Sergius and Formosus in which the dead Bodies of the former Popes were raised and dragged about the Streets by their Successors they annulled the Ordinations which they pretended were made irregularly Afterwards again upon the great Schism between the Popes of Rome and Avignon they did neither annul nor renew the Orders that had been given But now in England though they only supplied at this time the Defects which they said were in their former Ordination yet afterwards wheâ— they proceeded to burn them that were in Orders they went upon the old Maxim That Orders given in Schism were not valid 〈◊〉 they did not esteem Hooper nor Ridley Bishops and therefore only dâ—grâ—ded them from Priesthood though they had been ordained by their own Forms saving only the Oath to the Pope but for those who were ordained by the new Book they did not at all degrade them supposing noâ—â—hey had no true Orders by it Bonner in his Visitation took great care to see all things were every where done according to the old Rules which was the main thing intended other Points being put in for form When he came to Hadham he prevented the Doctor who did not expect him so soon by two hours so that there was no ringing of Bells which put him in no small disorder And that was much encreased when he went into the Church and found neither the Sacrament hanging up nor a Rood set up thereupon he fell a railing swearing most intemperately calling the Priest an Heretick a Knave with many other such goodly words The
when they were proceeding so severely against Men for their Opinions to spare one that was guilty of so foul a Murder killing both Father and Son at the same time But it is strange that neither his Quality nor his former zeal for Popery could procure a change of the Sentence from the more infamous way of hanging to beheading which had been generally used to Persons of his Quality It has been said and it passes for a Maxim of Law That though in Judgments of Treason the King can order the Execution to be by cutting off the Head since it being a part of the Sentence that the Head shall be severed from the Body the King may in that Case remit all the other parts of the Sentence except that yet in Felonies the Sentence must be Executed in the way prescribed by Law and that if the King should order beheading in stead of hanging it would be Murder in the Sheriff and those that Execute it So that in such a Case they must have a Pardon under the Great Seal for killing a Man unlawfully But this seems to be taken up without good Grounds and against clear Precedents For in the former Reign the Duke of Somerset though condemned for Felony yet was beheaded And in the Reign of King Charles the first the Lord Audley being likewise condemned for Felony all the Judges delivered their Opinons that the King might change the Execution from hanging to beheading which was done and was not afterwards questioned So it seems the hanging the Lord Stourton flowed not from any scruple as to the Queens Power of doing it lawfully but that on this occasion she resolved to give a publick Demonstration of her Justice and Horror at so cruel a Murder and therefore she left him to the Law without taking any further care of him On the last of February he was sent from London with a Letter to the Sheriff of Wilt-shire to receive his Body and execute the Sentence given against him and his Servants which was accordingly done as has been already shewn Upon this the Papists took great advantage to commend the strictness and impartiality of the Queens Justice that would not spare so zealous a Catholick when guilty of so foul a Murder It was also said That the killing of Mens Bodies was a much less crime than the killing of Souls which was done by the Propagators of Heresie and therefore if the Queen did thus execute Justice on a Friend for that which was a lesser degree of Murder they who were her Enemies and guilty of higher Crimes were to look for no mercy Indeed as the Poor Protestants looked for none so they met with very little but what the Cardinal shewed them and he was now brought under trouble himself for favouring them too much it being that which the Pope made use of to cover his malice against him Now the War had again broken out between France and Spain and the King studied to engage the English to his assistance The Queen had often complained to the French Court that the Fugitives who left her Kingdom had been well entertained in France She understood that the practises of Wiat and of her other rebellious Subjects were encouraged from thence particularly of Ashton who went often between the two Kingdoms and had made use of the Lady Elizabeths Name to raise Seditions as will appear by a Letter that is in the Collection Collection Number 34. which some of the Council writ to one that attended that Princess She was indeed the more strictly kept and worse used upon that occasion But besides it so happened that this Year one Stafford had gone into France and gathered some of the English Fugitives together and with Money and Ships that were secretly given him by that Court had come and seized on the Castle of Scarborough from whence he published a Manifesto against the Queen that by bringing in the Spaniards she had fallen from her Right to the Kingdom of which he declared himself Protector The Earl of Westmorland took the Castle on the last of April and Stafford with three of his Complices being taken suffered as Traitors on the 28th of May. The Queen becomes jealous of the French His coming out of France added much to the Jealousie though the French King disowned that he had given him any assistance But Dr. Wotton who was then Ambassador there resolved to give the Queen a more certain discovery of the inclinations of the French that so he might engage her in the War as was desired by Philip He therefore caused a Nephew of his own to come out of England whom when he had secretly instructed he ordered him to desire to be admitted to speak with the French King pretending that he was sent from some that were discontented in England and desired the French Protection But the King would not see him till he had first spoken with the Constable So Wotton was brought to the Constable and Melvill from whose Memoirs I draw this was called to interpret The young man first offered him the Service of many in England that partly upon the account of Religion partly for the hatred they bore the Spaniards were ready if assisted by France to make stirs there The Constable received and answered this but coldly and said He did not see what Service they could do his Master in it Upon which he replied They would put Calais into his Hands The Constable not suspecting a Trick started at that and shewed great joy at the Proposition but desired to know how it might be effected Young Wotton told him there were a thousand Protestants in it and gave him a long formal Project of the way of taking it with which the Constable seemed pleased and had much discourse with him about it he promised him great Rewards and gave him directions how to proceed in the Design So the Ambassador having found out what he had designed to discover sent his Nephew over to the Queen who was thereupon satisfied that the French were resolved to begin with her if they found an opportunity Her Husband King Philip finding it was not so easie by Letters or Messages to draw her into the War came over himself about the 20th of May and stayed with her till the beginning of July And denounces War In that time he prevailed so far with her and the Council that she sent over a Herauld with a formal Denunciation of War who made it at Rhemes where the King then was on the seventh of June Soon after she sent over 8000 Men under the Command of the Earl of Pembroke to joyn the Spanish Army that consisting of near 50000 Men sate down before St. Quintin The Constable was sent to raise the Siege with a great Force and all the chief Nobility of France When the two Armies were in view of one another The great defeat given the French at St. Quintin the Constable intended to draw back his Army but by
ad tuam sive alicujus Comissariorum per te vigore hujus Commissionis jure deputandorum cognitione devolvi aut deduci valeant possunt examinand decidend Caeteraque omnia singula in Praemissis seu circa ea necessaria seu quomodolibet opportuna per ultra ea quae tibi ex sacris Literis divinitus Commissa esse dignoscuntur vice nomine Autoritate nostris exequend Tibi de cujus sana Doctrina Conscientiae puritate vitaeque morum integritate ac in rebus gerundis fide industria plurimum confidimus vices nostras cum potestate alium vel alios Commissarium vel Commissarios ad praemissa vel eorum aliqua surrogand substituend eosdemque ad placitum revocand tenore praesentium Committimus ac liberam facultatem concedimus teque licentiamus per praesentes ac nostrum beneplacitum duntaxat duraturatum cum cujuslibet congrue Ecclesiast coercionis potestate quacunque inhibitione ante dat praesentium emanata in aliquo non obstante tuam Conscientiam coram Deo strictissime onerantes ut summo omnium judici aliquando rationem reddere coram nobis tuo sub periculo corporali respondere intendis te admonentes ut interim tuum officium juxta Evangelii normam pie sancte exercere studeas ne quem ullo tempore unquam ad sacros Ordines promoveas vel ad curam animarum gerendam quovismodo admittas nisi eos duntaxat quos tanti tam venerabilis officii functionem vitae morum Integritas notissimis testimoniis approbata literarum scientia 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 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 Datum septimo die mensis Februarii Anno Dom. millesimo quingentesimo quadragesimo sexto Regni nostri Anno primo Number 3. The Councils Letter to the Justices of Peace An Original Cotton Libr. Titus B. 2. AFter our right hearty Commendations where the most Noble King of famous memory our late Soveraign Lord and Master King Henry the 8th whom God pardon upon the great Trust which his Majesty had in your virtous Wisdoms and good Dispositions to the Common-Wealth of this Realm did specially name and appoint you among others by his Commissions under his Great Seal of England to be Conservatours and Justices of his Peace within that his County of Norfolk Forasmuch as the same Commissions were dissolved by his decease it hath pleased the King's Majesty our Soveraign Lord that now is by the Advice and Consent of us the Lord Protector and others Executors to our said late Soveraign Lord whose Names be under-written to whom with others the Government of his most Royal Person and the Order of his Affairs is by his last Will and Testament committed till he shall be of full Age of eighteen Years to cause new Commissions again to be made for the conservation of his Peace throughout this Realm whereof you shall by this Bearer receive one for that County And for that the good and diligent execution of the Charge committed to you and others by the same shall be a notable Surety to the King our Soveraign Lord's Person that now is to whom God give increase of Vertue Honour and many Years a most certain Stay to the Common-Wealth which must needs prosper where Justice hath place and reigneth We shall desire you and in his Majesty's Name charge and command you upon the receit hereof with all diligence to assemble your selves together and calling unto you all such others as be named in the said Commission You shall first cry and call to God to give you Grace to execute this Charge committed unto you with all truth and uprightness according to your Oaths which you shall endeavour your selves to do in all things appertaining to your Office accordingly in such sort as all private Malice Sloth Negligence Displeasure Disdain Corruption and sinister Affections set apart it may appear you have God and the preservation of your Soveraign Lord and natural Country before your Eyes and that you forget not that by the same your Selves your Wives and your Children shall surely prosper and be also preserved For the better doing whereof you shall at this your first Assembly make a division of your selves into Hundreds or Wapentakes that is to say Two at the least to have especial eye and regard to the good Rule and Order of that or those Hundreds to see the Peace duly kept to see Vagabonds and Perturbers of the Peace punished and that every Man apply himself to do as his Calling doth require and in all things to keep good Order without alteration innovation or contempt of any thing that by the Laws of our late Soveraign Lord is prescribed and set forth unto us for the better direction and framing of our selves towards God and honest Policy And if any Person or Persons whom ye shall think you cannot Rule and Order without trouble to this Country shall presume to do the contrary upon your Information to us thereof we shall so aid and assist you in the execution of Justice and the punishment of all such contemptuous Offenders as the same shall be example to others And further his Majesty's Pleasure by the Advice and Consent aforesaid is That you shall take such Orders amongst you as you fail not once every six weeks till you shall be otherwise commanded to write unto the said Lord Protector and others of the Privy-Council in what state that Shire standeth and whether any notable things have happened or were like to happen in those Parts that you cannot redress which would be speedily met withal and looked unto or whether you shall need any advice or counsel to the intent we may put our hands to the stay and reformation of it in the beginning as appertains Praying you also to take order That every Commissioner in the Shire may have a Double or a Copy of this Letter both for his own better Instruction and to shew to the Gentlemen and such others as inhabit in the Hundreds specially appointed to them that every Man may the better conform himself to do Truth and help to the advancement of Justice according to their most bounden Duties and as they will answer for the contrary Thus fare you well From the Tower of London the 12th of February Your loving Friends E. Hertford T. Cantuarien Thomas Wriothelsey Cancel W. St. John J. Russell Anthony Brown Anthony Denny Cuth Duresme William Paget W.
Ex Libro Concilii Fol. 247. THis day the 17th of March the Lord Chancellor and the rest of the King's Council meeting in his Highness Palace of Westminster heard the Report of the Bishop of Ely who by the said Lords and others of the Council was sent to instruct and comfort the Lord Admiral after the hearing whereof consulting and deliberating with themselves of the time most convenient for the execution of the said Lord Admiral now attainted and condemned by the Parliament They did condescend and agree that the said Lord Admiral should be executed the Wednesday next following betwixt the hours of nine and twelve in the forenoon the same day upon Tower-Hill His Body and Head to be buried within the Tower The King's Writ as in such Cases as heretofore hath been accustomed being first directed and sent forth for that purpose and effect Whereupon calling to the Council-Chamber the Bishop of Ely they willed him to declare this their Determination to the said Lord Admiral and to instruct and teach him the best he could to the quiet and patient suffering of Justice and to prepare himself to Almighty God E. Somerset T. Cantuarien R. Rich Cancel W. St. John J. Russel J. Warwick F. Shrewsbury Thomas Southampton William Paget Anthony Wingfield William Petre. A. Denny Edward North. R. Sadler Number 33. Articles to be followed and observed according to the King's Majesty's Injunctions and Proceedings 1. THat all Parsons Vicars and Curats Ex MS. Dr. Johnson omit in the reading of the Injunctions all such as make mention of the Popish Mass of Chantries of Candles upon the Altar or any other such-like thing 2. Item For an Uniformity that no Minister do counterfeit the Popish Mass as to kiss the Lord's Table washing his Fingers at every time in the Communion blessing his Eyes with the Paten or Sudary or crossing his Head with the Paten shifting of the Book from one place to another laying down and licking the Chalice of the Communion holding up his Fingers Hands or Thumbs joined towards his Temples breathing upon the Bread or Chalice shewing the Sacrament openly before the distribution of the Communion ringing or sacrying Bells or setting any Light upon the Lord's Board at any time And finally to use no other Ceremonies than are appointed in the King's Book of Common Prayers or kneeling otherwise than is in the said Book 3. Item That none buy or sell the Holy Communion as in Trentals and such other 4. Item That none be suffered to pray upon Beads and so the People to be diligently admonished and such as will not be admonished to put from the Holy Communion 5. Item That after the Homily every Sunday the Minister exhort the People especially the Communicants to remember the poor Mens Box with their Charity 6. Item To receive no Corpse but at the Church-yard without Bell or Cross 7. Item That the Common-Prayer upon Wednesdays and Fridays be diligently kept according to the King's Ordinances exhorting such as may conveniently come to be there 8. Item That the Curats every sixth Week at the least teach and declare diligently the Catechism according to the Book of the same 9. Item That no Man maintain Purgatory Invocation of Saints the six Articles Bedrolls Images Reliques Lights Holy Bells Holy Beads Holy Water Palms Ashes Candles Sepulchres Paschal creeping to the Cross hallowing of the Font of the Popish manner Oil Chresme Altars Beads or any other such Abuses and Superstitions contrary to the King's Majesty's Proceedings 10. Item That within any Church or Chappel be not used any more than one Communion upon any day except Christmass-day and Easter-day 11. Item That none keep the Abrogate Holy-days other than those that have their proper and peculiar Service 12. Item That the Church-wardens suffer no buying nor selling gaming or unfitting Demeanour in Church or Church-yards especially during the Common-Prayer the Sermon and reading of the Homily 13. Item That going to the Sick with the Sacrament the Minister have not with him either Light or Bells Number 34. A Paper written by Luther to Bucer concerning a Reconciliation with the Zuinglians An Original Ex M S. Col. C. Ch. Cant. PRimo Ut nullo modo concedamus de nobis dici quod neutri neutros ante Intellexerunt Nam isto Pharmaco non medebimur tanto vulneri cum nec ipsi credamus utrimque hoc verum esse alii putabunt a nobis hoc fingi ut ita magis suspectam reddemus causam vel potius per totum dubiam faciemus cum sit communis omnium ut in tantis animorum turbis scrupulis non expedit hoc nomine addere offendiculum Secundo Cum hactenus dissenserimus quod illi signum nos Corpus Christi asseruerimus plane contrarii Nihilominus mihi videtur utile ut mediam ut novam statuamus sententiam qua illi concedant Christum adesse vere nos concedamus panem solum manducari Considerandum certe est quantam hic fenestram aperiemus in re omnibus communi cogitandi Orientium hinc fontes questionum opinionum * Here a word is wanting it is like it should be Occludendi _____ Ut tutius multo sit illos simpliciter manere in suo signo cum nec ipsi suam nec nos nostram partem multo minus utrique totum orbem pertrahemus in eam sententiam Sed potius irritabimus ad varias Cogitationes ideo vellem potius ut sopitum maneret dissidium in duabus istis sententiis quam ut occasio daretur infinitis questionibus ad Epicurismum profuturis Istis salvis nihil est quod a me peti possit nam ut ego hoc dissidium vellem testis est mihi Christus meus redemptum Corpore Sanguine meo Sed quid faciam Ipsi forte Conscientia bona sunt in altera sententia Feramus igitur eos si sinceri sunt liberabit eos Christus Dominus Ego contra captus sum bona mea Conscientia nisi ipsi mihi sum ignotus in meam sententiam ferant me si non possunt mihi accedere Number 35. The Sentence against Joan of Kent with the Certificate made upon it IN Dei Nomine Amen Nos Thomas Regist Cran. Fol. 175. permissione divina Cantuarien Archiepiscopus totius Angliae primas Metrapolitanus Thomas Smith Miles Willielmus Cooke Decanus de Arcubus Hugo Latimer Sacrae Theologiae Professor Richardus Lyell Legum Doctor illustrissimi invictissimi in Christo Principis Domini nostri Domini Edwardi sexti Dei Gratia Angliae c. per Literas suas Regias Patentes dat duodecimo die mensis Aprilis Anno Regni sui tertio contra te Joannam Bocher alias nuncupatam Joannam de Kente coram nobis super haeretica pravitate juxta secundum Commissionem dicti Domini nostri Regis detectam declaratam ac in ea parte apud bonos graves Notorie Publice
it What say you quoth I how do you understand this Article It should seem yes quoth d' Arras but we will speak with the Emperor in it and bring you an answer The words be plain quoth I and cannot be avoided Then in the seventh Article where it is said That the Prince requiring for his Aid Mony instead of Men must if the Invasion made by the Enemy cease restore the Mony again which remaineth And afterwards says That though the Invasion cease yet if he will follow the Enemy he may use the Aid for the time appointed in the Treaty saying in generality eo casu subsidiis auxiliaribus c. I asked Whether in those general words they mean not the Mony as well as the Men Wherupon they seemed to doubt and took a Note thereof to know the Emperor's Pleasure in the same In the ninth Article where it is treated for redress of Injuries done by one Subject to the other there we fell into a brawl of half an hour upon a Question that I moved viz. When they took Justice to be denied And their Answer was That we used none at all And here at length I fell into their manner of Arresting of one whole Nation upon a Knave Mariner's Complaint And he What Thieves our Nation was upon the Sea and Lawless People and that they never proceed to such Extremities but when their Subjects had been in England and Justice was denied That hath never been seen quoth I but if any of your Subjects think himself grieved streight he runneth to Monsieur le Protecteur and he by and by setting all the King's Affairs apart must attend to the Affairs of Monsieur le Mariniure or else home runneth he with open cry That he cannot have Justice in England and you streight believe and thereupon cometh these often Blusters And do you think it reason that Monsieur G. or you should attend to every private Man's Complaint you should then have a goodly Office No you send them to the ordinary Justices and so let that take place and way as it will but you will never impeach your self more with the Matter And reason quoth he but the Cause is not alike with you in England for there quoth he all things come to the Lord Protector 's Hand there is none other Judg or Justice used or cared for in the Realm no and his Letters sometimes not esteemed and that our Subjects fear full often and therefore of force they must resort to Monsieur Protecteur And this is not true quoth I and that Monsieur Hobbey knoweth my Lord Protector nor none of the Privy-Council meddle with no private Matters whosoever it be but only meddle with Matters of State leaving all other things to the ordinary course of Justice except only many times to gratify your Ambassador and to shew himself glad to nourish the Amity he troubleth himself with the Complaints of your Subjects which by St. Mary by my advice he shall do no more seeing it is so little considered but shall refer them to the common Justice Whither is that quoth he To the Admiralty quoth I. Marry a goodly Justice quoth he for so shall the poor Man's Cause be tried before his Adversary And why not tried in our Admiralty quoth I as well as in yours Nay quoth he both be naught indeed they were very ordinary Courts at the beginning of the redress of Matters upon the Sea but now they feel the sweet of the Gain such as they care little for Justice And here as well for relief of poor Men spoiled and robbed upon the Seas as to avoid Arrests and such other troublesome Proceedings on either side we fell to devising and came to this Point If the Princes for their parts upon their advertisement to the Emperor and we to your Grace shall like it that Commission sufficient be given by the Emperor to two of his Privy-Council to hear and determine by their discretion summary de pleno all Complaints by the King's Subjects here for criminal Causes upon the Sea and the King's Majesty to do the like to two of his Privy-Council for the Complaints in like case of the Emperor's Subjects And this was all was passed in open Conference saying That in the Discourse for the Confirmation in the Treaty by the Prince and their Countries as they seemed to shew the Emperor's readiness but yet not so resolved that the Prince should confirm the Treaty and that further any other thing should be done that he might reasonably do to declare his good Will to the entertainment and augmentation of his Amity and Affection to the King's Majesty So he alleaged divers Reasons why the Emperor should not seek to his Subjects to confirm his Treaties with Forreign Princes We alleaged the Example of the King and the French King in times past and what was said in that Case at C. _____ in the presence of himself de C. _____ and Chap. _____ Whereunto he answered That the State of France was more restrained than the Emperor's and that the French King could give no piece of his Patrimony nor bind his Country without the consent of his Parliament at Paris and the three Estates but he thought the King of England to have a greater Prerogative and the Emperor he was sure had a greater Prerogative and so had all his Ancestors and therefore would be loath now to put himself so far in their danger They were he said fifteen or sixteen Parliaments and if a thing should be proposed unto them whereof they had never heard the like before they would not only muse much at the Matter but they would have also the scanning of it and what would come of it the Emperor could not tell peradventure dash the Matter and so prejudice his Prerogative with them Yet now where he and his Ancestors do and have always passed Treaties with other Princes and bind their Subjects thereby without making them privy thereto it would by this means come to pass that from henceforth their Subjects would look to be privy to every Treaty which were not convenient marry for the Prince which shall succeed to confirm the Treaty he thought the Emperor could not take it but reasonable and doubted not to bring a good Answer in the same So as we see for this Point it will come to the confirmation of the King and the Prince and upon any condition or interpretation of the Treaty to them also wherein we intend to go forwards for so our Instruction beareth us unless that before the conclusion and shutting up of the Matter we hear from your Grace to the contrary The things being thus far passed and our open Talk at a Point and they ready to depart Monsieur d' Arras taking occasion as it seemed to stay because of the Rain took me aside and asked me if I would command him any other Service I answered No Service but Friendship and the continuance of his good Will to the King's
have been given always to all godly Princes in holy Scriptures by God himself that is that they should rule all Estates committed to their charge by God whether they be Ecclesiastical or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword the stubborn and evil Doers The Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Realm of England The Laws of this Realm may punish Christian Men with Death c. the Supream Head on Earth of the Church of England and Ireland The Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Realm of England The Civil Magistrate is ordained and approved by God and therefore is to be obeyed not only for fear of Wrath but for Conscience-sake Civil or Temporal Laws may punish Christian Men with Death for heinous and grievous Offences It is lawful for Christian Men at the Commandment of the Magistrate to wear Weapons and to serve in the Wars XXXVII The Goods of Christians are not common The Riches and Goods of Christians are not common as touching the Right Title and Possession of the same as certain Anabaptists do falsly boast Notwithstanding every Man ought of such things as he possesseth liberally to give Alms to the Poor according to his Ability XXXVIII It is lawful for a Christian to take an Oath As we confess that vain and rash Swearing is forbidden Christian Men by our Lord Jesus Christ and James his Apostle so we judg that Christian Religion doth not prohibit but that a Man may swear when the Magistrate requireth in a Cause of Faith and Charity so it be done according to the Prophet's teaching in Justice Judgment and Truth These Articles were left out in Queen Elizabeth's Time XXXIX The Resurrection of the Dead is not past already The Resurrection of the Dead is not past already as if it belonged only to the Soul which by the Grace of Christ is raised from the Death of Sin but is to be expected by all Men in the last Day for at that time as the Scripture doth most apparently testify the Dead shall be restored to their own Bodies Flesh and Bones to the end that Man according as either righteously or wickedly he hath passed this Life may according to his Works receive Rewards or Punishments XL. The Souls of Men deceased do neither perish with their Bodies They who maintain that the Souls of Men deceased do either sleep without any manner of sense to the Day of Judgment or affirm that they die together with the Body and shall be raised therewith at the last Day do wholly differ from the Right Faith and Orthodox Belief which is delivered to us in the Holy Scriptures XLI Of the Millenarians They who endeavour to revive the Fable of the Millenarians are therein contrary to the Holy Scriptures and cast themselves down headlong into Jewish Dotages XLII All Men not to be saved at last They also deserve to be condemned who endeavour to restore that pernicious Opinion That all Men though never so ungodly shall at last be saved when for a certain time appointed by the Divine Justice they have endured punishment for their Sins committed Number 56. Instructions given by the King's Highness to his right trusty and right well-beloved Cousin and Counsellor Francis Earl of Salop and Lord President of his Grace's Council resident in the North Parts and to all others hereafter named and appointed by his Highness to be of his said Council to be observed by the said Counsellors and every of them according as the same hereafter is declared FIrst Ex MS. Dr. Johnson His Majesty much desiring the Quietness and good Governance of the People and Inhabitants in the North Parts of this Realm of England and for the good speedy and indifferent administration of Justice to be there had betwixt Party and Party intendeth to continue in the same North Parts his Right Honourable Council called The King's Majesty's Council in the North Parts And his Highness knowing the approved Wisdom and Experience of his said Cousin _____ with his assured discretion and dexterity in the Execution of Justice hath appointed him to be Lord President of the said Council and by these Presents doth give unto him the Name of Lord President of the said Council with Power and Authority to call together all such as be or hereafter shall be named and appointed to be of the said Council at all times when he shall think expedient And otherwise by his Letters to appoint them and every of them to do such things for the Advancement of Justice and for the repression and punishment of Malefactors as by the Advice of such of the said Council as then shall be present with him he shall think meet for the furtherance of his Grace's Affairs and for the due Administration of Justice between his Highness Subjects And further his Majesty giveth unto the said Lord President by these Presents a Voice Negative in all Councils where things shall be debated at length for the bringing forth of a most perfect Truth or Sentence which his Highness would have observed in all Cases that may abide Advisement and Consultation to the intent that doubtful Matters should as well be maturely consulted upon as also that the same should not pass without the consent and order of the said Lord President And his Highness willeth and commandeth that all and every of the said Councellors named and to be named hereafter shall exhibit and use to the said Lord President all such Honour Reverend Behaviour and Obedience as to their Duty appertaineth and shall receive and execute in like sort all the Precepts and Commandments to them or any of them for any Matter touching his Majesty to be addressed or any Process to be done or served in his Grace's Name And his Highness Pleasure is That the said Lord President shall have the keeping of his Graces Signet therewith to Seal Letters Processes and all such other things as shall be thought convenient by the said Lord President or by two of the Council being bound by those Articles to daily attendance upon the said Lord President with his assent thereunto And to the intent the said Lord President thus established for the above-said Purposes may be furnished with such Numbers and Assistants as be of Wisdom Experience Gravity and Truth meet to have the Name of his Grace's Councellors his Majesty upon good advisement and deliberation hath elected those Persons whose Names ensue hereafter to be his Counsellors joined in the said Council in the North Parts with the said Lord President that is to say The right Trusty and well-beloved Cousins Henry Earl of Westmoreland Henry Earl of Cumberland his right Trusty and well-beloved Cuthbert Bishop of Duresme William Lord Dacres of the North John Lord Conyers Thomas Lord Wharton John Hind Kt. one of his Majesty's Justices of the Common-Pleas Edmond Moleneux Kt. Serjeant at Law Henry Savel Kt. Robert Bowes Kt. Nicholas Fairfax Kt. George Conyers Kt. Leonard Becquith Kt. William Babthorp Kt.
attendant in the House of him that shall retain them And the said Lord President and Council shall in every their General Sittings give special notice and charge That no Nobleman nor other shall retain any of the said Tenants and Farmers otherwise than is aforesaid Charging also the said Farmers and Tenants upon pain of the forfeiture of their Farms and Holds and incurring of his Majesty's further Displeasure and Indignation in no wise to agree to any such Retainers other than is before-said but wholly to depend upon his Highness and upon such as his Highness hath or shall appoint to be Officers Rulers or Directors over them And his Grace's Pleasure further is That in every such Sitting and in all other Places where the said Lord President and Council shall have any notable Assemblies before them they shall give strait Charge and Commandment to the People to conform themselves in all things to the observation of such Laws Ordinances and Determinations as be made passed and agreed upon by his Grace's Parliament touching Religion and the most Godly Service set forth in their own Mother Tongue for their Comforts And likewise to the Laws touching the abolishing of the usurped and pretended Power of the Bishop of Rome whose Abuses they shall so beat into their Heads by continual inculcation as they may smell and understand the same and may perceive the same to be declared with their Hearts and not with their Tongues only for a form And likewise they shall declare the Order and Determination taken and agreed upon for the Abrogation of certain vain Holy Days being appointed by the Bishop of Rome to blind the World and to persuade the same that they might make Saints at their pleasures and thereby through idleness do give occasion of the increase of many and great Vices and Inconveniences which Points his Majesty doth earnestly require and straitly commmand the said Lord President and Council to set forth with all dexterity and to punish extreamly for example all Offenders in the same And his Majesty willeth the said Council as he doubteth not but they will most earnestly set forth all such other Things and Matters as for the confirmation of the People in those Matters and other the King's Majesty's Proceedings and things convenient to be remembred be or shall be set forth or devised and sent unto them for that purpose Further his Highness Pleasure is That the said Lord President and Council shall from time to time make diligent inquisition of the wrongful taking in and inclosing of Commons and other Grounds and who be extream therein and in taking and exacting of unreasonable Fines and Gressomes and overing or raising of Rents and to call the Parties that have so evil used themselves therein before them and leaving all Respects and Affections apart they shall take such order for the Redresses of Enormities used in the same as the poor People be not oppressed but that they may live after their Sorts and Qualities And if it shall chance that the said Lord President and Council shall vary in Opinion either in the Law or for any Order to be taken in any Matter or Fact before them if the case be of very great Weight and Importance then the Opinion of the greater or more part of the number of Counsellors appointed to give continual attendance shall take place and determine the Doubt and if they be of like like number of Counsellors bounden to continual Attendance then that Party whereunto the Lord President shall give his Assent shall be followed and take place And if the Case and Matter be of great Importance and the Question of the Law then the Lord President and Council shall signify the Case and Matter to the Judges at Westminster who shall with diligence advertise them again of their Opinions therein And if the Matter be of great Importance and an Order to be taken upon the Fact then the said Lord President and Council attendant upon his Person upon the same whereupon they shall have knowledg again how to use themselves in that behalf And the said Lord President and Council shall take special regard upon complaint of Spoil Extortions or Oppressions to examine the same speedily that the Party grieved may have due and undelayed Remedy and Restitution And for want of Ability in the Offenders thereunto they to be punished to the Example of others And if any Man of what degree soever he be shall upon a good lawful and reasonable Cause or Matter and so appearing to the Lord President and Council by Information or otherwise demand Surety of Peace or Justice against any great Lord or Nobleman of that Country the said Lord President and Council shall in that case grant the Petition of the poorest Man against the richest or greatest Lord being of the Council or no as they should grant the same being lawfully asked against Men of the meanest sort degree and behaviour And forasmuch as it may chance the said Lord President to be sometime diseased that he shall not be able to travel for the direction of such Matters as then shall occur or to be called to the Parliament or otherwise to be imploied in the King's Majesty's Affairs or about other Business for good Reformation or Order within his Rule or for other reasonable cause by his discretion To the intent therefore that the said Council may be and remain ever full and perfect and that they may be at all times in the same one Person to direct and use all things in such and the same order sort and form as the said Lord President should and might do by virtue of the afore-said's Commissions and these Instructions his Majesty's Pleasure is That when the said Lord President shall be so diseased absent or letted as is before-said that he cannot conveniently supply his room himself that then he shall name and appoint one of the said Commissioners being appointed to give continual attendance to supply his Room for that season during his said Disease Absence or Lett and shall deliver the Signet to the Person so appointed to keep during the same time And the King's Highness during the same time giveth unto the said Person so appointed the Name of Vice-President which Name nevertheless he shall no longer continue than during the time that the said Lord President shall so be sick absent or letted as is before-said And his Majesty's Pleasure is That for the time only that any of the said Council as is before-said shall occupy the said Room and Place as a Vice-President that all the rest of the Council shall in all things use him in like sort and with like reverence as they be bound by those Injunctions to use the Lord President himself whereunto his Grace doubteth not but every of them will conform themselves accordingly And further his Majesty by these Presents giveth full Power and Authority to the said Lord President and Council That when the Condition of any Recognisance
said Realm to whose hands custody knowledg or possession any of the said Accompts Books Scroles Instruments or other Writings concerning the Premises or any part thereof did or is come giving streight charge and commandments to them and every of them to bring before you or two of you at their several appearance all and singular the said Accompts Books Writings and other the Premises whatsoever And them and every of them to charge by Oath or otherwise to make a true Certificate and Delivery of all and singular the said Premises to the hands of you or two of you commanding you or two of you to attend and execute the Premises with effect by all ways and means according to your Wisdoms and Discretions And of all and singular your doings therein Our Pleasure and Commandment is Ye shall make Certificate unto the most Reverend Father in God and our dearest Cousin Reginald Pool Lord Cardinal Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Metropolitan and Primate of England with diligence to the intent that further Order may be taken therein as shall appertain charging and commanding all and singular Justices of Peace Mayors Sheriffs Bayliffs Constables and all other Our Officers Ministers and Subjects to be aiding helping assisting and at Our Commandment in the due execution hereof as they tender Our Pleasure and will answer to the contrary at their perils In Witness whereof c. Witness the King and Queen at Greenwich the 29th day of December Per Regem Reginam Number 29. Cromwell's Commission to be Lord-Vicegerent in all Ecclesiastical Causes HEnricus Octavus Dei Gratia Angliae Franciae Rex Cotton Libr. Cleop. F. 2. Fidei Defensor Dominus Hiberniae ac in Terris Supremum totius Ecclesiae Anglicanae sub Christo Caput dilectis nobis A. B. C. D. Salutem In terris supremam Ecclesiae Anglicanae sub Christo Autoritatem etsi Regiae Nostrae dignitati ut praecellenti jam inde ab adepto primum divina disponente gratia hujus Regni nostri Angliae Sceptro jure nobis competierit nunc denuo exercere quodam modo impellimur nempe quum hi qui curam illius regimen sibi potissimum arrogabant suis potius ipsorum privatis commodis quam publicae illius saluti aut compendio consulentes eam tandem eo calamitatis tum nimia licentia in Officiis eiis commissis oscitantia tum suis malis exemplis devenire passi sunt ut non ab re metuendum sit ne illam Christus nunc suam non agnoscat sponsam Quamobrem nostrae Regiae excellentiae cui prima suprema post Deum Auctoritas in quoscunque hujus Regni nostri incolas nullo sexus aetatis ordinis aut conditionis habito discrimine sacro testante eloquio coelitus demandata est ex muneris hujusmodi debito potissimum incumbit dictam Ecclesiam vitiorum vepribus quantum cum Deo possumus purgare virtutum seminibus plantis conserere Porro cum hi qui in eadem de caeteris antehac censuram sibi vindicabant de se vero nullam a quovis mortalium haberi sustinebant tum aliis hominibus plura indies corrigenda committant tum ex eorum corruptis moribus majori prae caeteris sunt plebi offendiculo ut non immerito iidem bonorum omnium si boni malorum omnium si contra certissimi sint Authores Ab his igitur veluti fonte scaturigine ad universalem hujus Regni nostri Ecclesiae Anglicanae reformationem jure auspicandum esse duximus haud vanam spem habentes quod fonte primitus purgato purus deinde limpidus decurret rivus Caeterum quia ad singula hujus Regni nostri loca pro praemissis exequendis nos ipsi personaliter obire non valemus alios quorum Vicaria fide freti munus hujusmodi veluti per ministros exequamur qui quum vices nostras in ea parte suppleant in partem solicitudinis adstitimus vocamus Cum itaque nos alias praedilectum nobis Thomam Cromwell Secretarium nostrum primarium Rotulorum nostrorum Magistrum sive custodem Nostrum ad Causas Ecclesiasticas quascunque nostra Autoritate uti supremi capitis dictae Ecclesiae Anglicanae quomodolibet tractand seu ventiland atque ad exercend expediend exercend omnem omnimodam jurisdictionem Authoritatem sive potestatem Ecclesiasticam quae nobistanquam supremo capiti hujusmodi competit aut quovismodo competere possit aut debeat ubilibet infra Regnum nostrū Angliae loca quaecunque nobis subjecta Vicem gerentem Vicarium Generalem ac Commissarium specialem principalem cum potestate alium vel alios Commissarium sive Commissarios ad praemissa vel eorum aliqua ordinanda deputanda per alias literas nostras Patentes sigillo nostro majori communitas constituerimus deputaverimus ordinaverimus prout ex tenore literarum nostrarum hujusmodi plenius liquet Quia tamen ipse nostris totius hujus Regni nostri negotiis praepeditus existit quominus praemissa personaliter obire exequi possit Idem Thomas Cromwell Vicem gerens Vicarius generalis Officialis principalis noster hujusmodi vos A. B. C. D. prelibatos ad infra-scripta omnia singula vice nomine nostris exequenda Commissarios nostros deputaverit ordinaverit constituerit Nos igitur deputationem ordinationem constitutionem hujusmodi ratam gratam habentes ad visitandum tam in Capite quam in Membris de tam plena quam vacante quoties quando vobis opportunum visum fuerit omnes singulas Ecclesias etiam Metropoliticas Cathedrales Collegiatas Hospitalia quaeque Monasteria tam Virorum quam Mulierum Prioratas Preceptorias Dignitates Officia Domos Loca alia Ecclesiastica tam Scholaria quam Regularia exempta non exempta quaecunque infra Regnum nostrum Angliae Provincias Civitates Terras Dominia Loca nobis Subjecta ubicunque sita seu constituta cujuscunque Dignitatis Praerogativae Ordinis Regulae sive conditionis existant deque statu conditione eorundem tam in Spiritualibus quam in Temporalibus necnon vita moribus conversatione tam Praesidentium sive Praelatorum eorundem quocunque nomine dignitate etiamsi Archiepiscopali vel Episcopali praefulgeant quam aliarum personarum in eis degentium quarumcunque inquirendum inquiri faciendum Ac illos quos in ea parte curiosos vel culpabiles fore compereritis pro modo culpae hujusmodi corrigendi puniendi coercendi ac si delicti qualitas poposcerit officiis sive beneficiis suis pro tempore vel in perpetuum privandi amovendi vel ad tempus ab eisdem suspendendi fructus quoque redditus proventus Ecclesiarum Locorum hujusmodi si videbitur sequestrandos ac sub salvo tuto sequestro custodiri faciendos atque mandandō sequestrumque hujusmodi relaxandum ac computum calculum rationem de receptis
Triumphs would follow him but it was below him to be second to any So he engaged him to quarrel in every thing with the Protector all whose wary motions were ascribed to fear or dullness To others he said What friendship could any expect from a Man who had no pity on his own Brother But that which provoked the Nobility most Complaints against the Protector was the partiality the Protector had for the Commons in the Insurrections that had been this Summer He had also given great Grounds of jealousie by entertaining Forreign Troops in the Kings Wars which though it was not objected to him because the Council had consented to it yet it was whispered about that he had extorted that Consent But the noble Palace he was raising in the Strand which yet carries his Name out of the ruines of some Bishops Houses and Churches drew as publick an envy on him as any thing he had done It was said that when the King was engaged in such Wars and when London was much disordered by the Plague that had been in it for some Months he was then bringing Architects from Italy and designing such a Palace as had not been seen in England It was also said That many Bishops and Cathedrals had resigned many Mannours to him for obtaining his favour Though this was not done without leave obtained from the King for in a Grant of some Lands made to him by the King on the 11th of July in the second year of his Reign it is said That these Lands were given him as a Reward of his Services in Scotland Rot. Pat. 4. Par. 2. Reg. for which he was offered greater Rewards but that he refusing to accept of such Grants as might too much impoverish the Crown had taken a Licence to the Bishop of Bath and Wells for his alienating some of the Lands of that Bishoprick to him he is in that Patent called by the Grace of God Duke of Somerset which had not of late years been ascribed to any but Sovereign Princes It was also said That many of the Chantry Lands had been sold to his Friends at easie rates for which they concluded he had great Presents and a course of unusual greatness had raised him up too high so that he did not carry himself towards the Nobility with that equality that they expected from him All these things concurred to beget him many Enemies and he had very few Friends for none stuck firmly to him but Paget and Secretary Smith and especially Cranmer who never forsook his Friend All that favoured the old Superstition were his Enemies and seeing the Earl of Southampton heading the Party against him they all run in to it And of the Bishops that were for the Reformation Goodrich of Ely likewise joyned to them He had attended on the Admiral in his Preparations for death from whom it seems he drank in ill impressions of the Protector All his Enemies saw and he likewise saw it himself that the continuance of the War must needs destroy him and that a Peace would confirm him in his Power and give him time and leisure to break thorough the Faction that was now so strong against him that it was not probable he could master it without the help of some time So in the Council his Adversaries delivered their Opinions against all motions for Peace and though upon Pagets return from Flanders it appeared to be very unreasonable to carry on the War yet they said Paget had secret Instructions to procure such an Answer that it might give a colour to so base a Project The Officers that came over from these Places that the French had taken pretended as is common for all Men in such Circumstances that they wanted things necessary for a Siege and though in truth it was quite contrary as we read in Thuanus yet their Complaints were cherished and spread about among the People The Protector had also against the Mind of the Council ordered the Garrison to be drawn out of Hadingtoun and was going notwithstanding all their opposition to make Peace with France and did in many things act by his own Authority without asking thâ—ir advice and often against it This was the assuming a Regal Power and seemed not to be endured by those who thought they were in all Points his equals It was also said That when contrary to the late Kings Will he was chosen Protector it was with that special condition that he should do nothing without their consent and though by the Patent he had for his Office his Power was more enlarged which was of greater force in Law than a private Agreement at the Council Table yet even that was objected to him as an high presumption in him to pretend to such a vast Power Thus all the Month of September there were great Heats among them several Persons interposed to mediate but to no effect for the Faction against him was now so strong that they resolved to strip him of his exorbitant Power and reduce him to an equality with themselves The King was then at Hampton-Court where also the Protector was with some of his own Retainers and Servants about him which encreased the Jealousies for it was given out that he intended to carry away the King So on the 6th of October some of the Council met at Ely House the Lord St. John President Most of the Council separate from him the Earls of Warwick Arundel and Southampton Sir Edw. North Sir Richard Southwell Sir Edmund Pecham Sir Edw. Wotton and Dr. Wotton and Secretary Petre being sent to them in the Kings Name to ask what they met for joyned himself likewise to them They sate as the Kings Council and entred their Proceedings in the Council-Book from whence I draw the account of this Transaction These being met together and considering the disorders that had been lately in England the losses in Scotland and France laid the blame of all on the Protector who they said was given up to other Councils so obstinately that he would not hearken to the advises they had given him both at the Board and in private and they declared that having intended that day to have gone to Hampton-Court for a friendly communication with him he had raised many of the Commons to have destroyed them and had made the King set his Hand to the Letters he had sent for raising Men and had also dispersed seditious Bills against them therefore they intended to see to the safety of the King and the Kingdom So they sent for the Lord Major and Aldermen of London and required them to obey no Letters sent them by the Protector but only such as came from themselves They also writ many Letters to the Nobility and Gentry over England giving them an account of their Designs and Motives and requiring their assistance They also sent for the Lieutenant of the Tower and he submitted to their Orders Next day the Lord Chancellor the Marquess of Northampton
Anthony Nevill Kt. Thomas Gargrave Kt. Robert Mennel Serjeant at Law Anthony Bellasis Esquire John Rockely Doctor of Law Robert Chaloner Richard Morton and Thomas Eymis Esquires And his Highness by these Presents doth appoint the said Thomas Eymis to be Secretary to the said Council diligently and obediently to exercise the same Room as he shall be appointed by the said Lord President or by two of the Council whereof the one to be of the Quorum with the assent of the Lord President And his Highness Pleasure is That the said Lord President and two others of the said Council being of the Quorum shall be sworn Masters of the Chancery to the intent that every of them may take recognisance in such Cases as by the said Lord President or by two of the said Council being of the Quorum shall be thought convenient and the Case so requiring All which number of Councellors before specified as his Majesty doubteth not but that they and every of them according to his Grace's expectation and trust reposed in them will be at all times diligent and willing towards and ready to do unto his Grace such Service as they can devise or imagine may be best to his contentation and to the discharge of their Duties towards his Highness leaving apart all Respects and Affections in all Matters that may touch their nighest Kinsman Friend Servant Tenant or others when the same shall come in question before the same Lord President and Council So his Grace trusteth that every of the same will have such regard to Malefactors as appertaineth and to bring all such unto the said Lord President and Council when they shall be thereunto appointed or may otherwise do it of themselves informing the said Lord President and Council of their Offences as the same shall happen in place where they have Rule and Authority within the limits of their Commission And forsomuch as it should be very chargeable to many of the said Councellors if they should continually attend upon the said Lord President Council threfore his Highness of his Grace's Goodness minding to ease that Charge and to instruct every of the said Councellors how to demean themselves for their Attendance that is to wit who shall be bound to continual Attendance upon the same Council and who shall attend but at times most requisite at their pleasures unless the same Lord President shall require them to remain for a time for some weighty Affairs or Purposes the which Requests in such Cases every of them shall accomplish His Majesty therefore ordaineth that his Cousins the Earls of Westmoreland and Cumberland the Bishop of Duresme the Lord Dacres the Lord Conyers the Lord Wharton Sir John Hinde Sir Edmond Molineux Sir Henry Savell Sir Nicholas Fairfax George Conyers Anthony Nevil Knights Robert Mennel Serjeant at Law Anthony Bellasis John Rockbey Doctor of Law and Richard Norton shall not be bound to continual Attendance but to go and come at their pleasures unless they be required by the said Lord President to remain with him for a time for some weighty and great Causes which then they shall accomplish And further his Grace's Pleasure is that they shall be present at such of the general Sittings as shall be kept near unto their dwelling Places and at other Sittings and Places where they shall be commanded by the said L. President all Excuses set apart as appertaineth And because it shall be convenient that a Number shall be continually abiding with the said L. President with whom he may consult and commit the Charge and Hearing of such Matters as shall be exhibited unto him for the more expedition of the same his Highness by these Presents doth ordain that Sir Robert Bowes Sir William Babthorp Sir Leonard Becquith Sir Thomas Gargrave Knights Robert Chaloner and Thomas Eymis Secretary Esquires shall give their continual attendance on the said Lord President or at the least two of them and that none of them appointed to continual Attendance on the said Lord President shall depart at any time from him without his special License and the same not to exceed above six weeks at one season And his Highness by these Presents for the better entertainment of the said Lord President and Council of both sorts when they are or any of them shall be present doth give a yearly Stipend of 1000 l. by the Year to the said Lord President towards the Furniture of the Diet of himself and the rest of the said Councellors with such number of Servants as hereafter shall be appointed and allowed to every of them that is to wit every Knight being bound to continual Attendance four Servants and every Esquire being bound to like Attendance three Servants And his Highness ordaineth every of the said Councellors to sit with the said Lord President at his Table or in some other place in his House to be by him conveniently prepared for their Degrees and Behaviours and their Servants allowed as is before-said to have Sitting and Diet in the said Lord President 's Hall or in some other convenient place in his House And further his Highness of his meer Goodness and great Benignity for the better entreatment as well of such of the said Council as be not well able to forbear their own Affairs and attend upon the said Council without further help for the charge of the Horse-meat and Lodgings when they shall attend in Council to serve his Highness As for such others that might better themselves with their Learning and Policies if they were not detained there about his Grace's Affairs doth by these Presents limit and appoint to divers of the aforesaid Councellors hereafter named certain particular Fees as ensueth that is to say To Sir Robert Bowes Kt. in respect of his Attendance and towards his Horse-meat and other Charges an hundred Merks yearly to Sir William Babthorp Kt. for the like 50 l. yearly to Sir Leonard Becquith for the like causes an 100 Merks yearly to Sir Thomas Gargrave Kt. for the like 50 l. yearly to Robert Chaloner Esquire for the like 50 l. yearly to Richard Norton Esq for his Fee 40 l. to Thomas Eymis Secretary for the like yearly Fee 33 l. 6 s. 8 d. And further his Grace doth appoint one Messenger to serve the said Council who shall give continual attendance upon the said Lord President and have his Meat Drink and Lodging in the said Lord Presidents House and to have yearly for his Fee 6 l. 13 s. 4 d. And further his Grace's pleasure is That the said 1000 l. for the Lord President and all the said other Fees shall be paid yearly at the Feasts of the Annunciation of our Lady and St. Michael the Arch-Angel by even Portions of the Revenues of his Graces Lands in those parts and that for that purpose an Assignment and Warrant to be made to the Receiver General of his Grace's Revenues there And to furnish the said Lord President and Council
in all things with Authority sufficient to execute Justice as well in Causes Criminal as in Matters of Controversy between Party and Party his Majesty hath commanded and appointed two Commissions to be made out under his Grace's Great Seal of England by virtue whereof they shall have full Power and Authority in either Case to proceed as the Matter occurrent shall require And for the more speedy expedition to be used in all causes of Justice his Majesty's Pleasure is That the said Lord President and Council shall cause every Complainant and Defendant that shall have to do before them to put and declare their whole Matter in their Bill of Complaint and Answer without Replication Rejoinder or other Plea or Delay to be had or used therein which Order the said L. President and Council shall manifest unto all such as shall be Councellors in any Matter to be intreated and defined before them charging and commanding the said Councellors and Pleaders to observe this Order upon such Penalties as they shall think convenient as they will eschew the danger of the same and not in any ways to break it without the special License of the said Lord President and that only in some special Causes And further his Highness by these Presents doth give full Power and Authority to the said Lord President and Council as well to punish such Persons as in any thing shall neglect contemn or disobey their Commandments or the Process of the Council as all other that shall speak seditious Words invent Rumors or commit such-like Offences not being Treason whereof any Inconvenience might grow by Pillory cutting their Ears wearing of Papers Imprisonment or otherwise at their Discretions And the said L. President and Council at their discretions shall appoint Counsellors and other Requisites to poor Suitors having no Mony without paying Fees or other things for the same And his Highness giveth full Power and Authority to the said L. President Council being with him or four of them at the least whereof the said L. President Sir John Hind Sir Edmond Molineux Sir Robert Bowes Sir Leonard Becquith Sir Anthony Nevill Sir Thomas Gargrave Knights Robert Mennell and Robert Chaloner to be two with the Lord President to assess Fines of all Persons that shall be convict or indicted of any Riot how many soever they be in number unless the Matter of such Riot shall be thought unto them of such importance as the same shall be meet to be signified unto his Majesty to be punished in such sort by the Order of his Council attending upon his Grace's Person as the same may be noted for an Example to others And his Grace giveth full Power and Authority to the said Lord President and Council or four of them at the least whereof the Lord President and two others bound to continual Attendance to be three to Award and Assess Costs and Dammages as well to the Plaintiffs as to the Defendants by their discretions and to award execution of their Decrees and Orders and to punish the breakers of the same being Parties thereunto by their discretions All which Decrees and Orders the Secretary shall be bound incontinently upon the promulgation of the same to write or cause to be written in one fair Book which shall remain in the hands and custody of the said Lord President And to the intent it may appear to all Persons there what Fees shall be paid and taken for all Processes and Writings to be used by the said Council his Majesty therefore appointeth that there shall be a Table affixed in every place where the said Lord President and Council shall sit at any Sessions and a like Table to hang openly that all Men may see it in the Office where the said Secretary and the Clerks shall commonly sit and expedite the said Writings wherein shall be declared what shall be paid for the same That is to say For every Recognisance wherein one alone or more standeth bounden 12 d. for the cancelling of every like Recognisance 12 d. For the entring of every Decree 6 d. for the Copy of the same if it be asked 6 d. For every Letter Commission Attachment or other Precept or Process sent to any Person 4 d. For every Dismission before the said Council if it be asked 4 d. For the Copies of Bills and Answers and other Pleas for every ten lines reasonably writ 1 d. for the Examination of every Witness 4 d. And his Grace's Pleasure is That the Examination of Witnesses produced in Matters before the said Council shall be examined by such discreet Person and Persons as shall be thought convenient and meet by the said Lord President and two of the said Council bound to continual Attendance and that the said Lord President with such-like two of the said Council shall reform appoint and allow such Persons to write Bills Answers Copies or other Process in that Court as they shall think convenient over and beside the said Secretary and his two Clerks which Clerks also the said Lord President and Council shall reform and correct as they shall have cause and occasion In which Reformation and Appointments the said Lord President shall have a Voice Negative And for the more certain and brief determination of Matters in those parts his Majesty by these Presents ordaineth that the said Lord President and Council shall keep four general Sittings or Sessions in the Year every of them to continue by the space of one whole Month whereof one to be at York another at Kingston upon Hull one at New-Castle and another at Duresme within the limits whereof the Matters rising there shall be ordered and decreed if they conveniently so may be And they shall in every of the same Places keep one Goal Delivery before their departure from thence his Grace nevertheless referring it to their Discretions to take and appoint such other Place and Places for their said four general Sittings as they or the said Lord President with three of the Council bounden to continual Attendance shall think most convenient for the time and purpose so that they keep the full term of one Month in every such place if they may in any wise conveniently so do And forsomuch as a great number of his Majesty's Tenants and Farmers have been heretofore retained with sundry Persons by Wages Livery Badg or Connysance by reason whereof when his Grace should have had service of them they were rather at Commandment of other Men than according to their Duties of Allegiance of his Highness of whom they have their Livings his Majesty's Pleasure and express Commandment is That none of his said Council nor others shall by any means retain or entertain any of his Graces Tenants or Farmers in such sort as they or any of them should account themselves bounden to do him or them any other Service than as to his Highness Officers having Office or being appointed in Service there unless the same Farmers and Tenants be continually