Historical COLLECTIONS Out of several Grave Protestant Historians Concerning the CHANGES OF RELIGION AND The strange Confusions following In the Reigns of KING HENRY the Eighth EDWARD the Sixth QUEEN MARY and ELIZABETH With an Addition of several Remarkable Passages taken out of Sir Will. Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire relating to the Abbies and their Institution Published with Allowance LONDON Printed by Henry Hills Printer to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty for His Houshold and Chappel And for him and Matâ—… Turâ—…er at the Lamb in High holbourn 1686. THE PREFACE HAving perused several of our Histories of England and standing amazed to find in them That the Alteration of Religion here hath been totally carried on by worldly Interest I thought it would not be ungrateful to the Reader to have those various Passages concerning the Changes of Religion collected together out of those Histories for the informing him exactly how those Changes have been made And withal of the Beginning and Progress of Presbytery in this Nation and the Ground of Multiplying other Sects which hath been the cause of all our late Confusions I have laboured to connect these Passages together in as good an order as I think could be expected in matters â—…ulled out of such large volumns Much more might have been Collected concerning these matters out of diverse other Histories But I think the chief matters are here sufficiently handled which may satisfie the curiosity of any indifferent Reader To add more Authority to what shall be here taken out of Dr. Heylyns History of Reformation from whence the chiefest matters of these Collections are gathered I will here Insert a Passage out of the Preface of it by which it will appear what diligence he hath used in composing this History The words of the Preface are these IN this following History you will find more to satisfie your curiosity and inform your judgment then can be possibly drawn up in this general view As for my performance in this work In the first place I am to tell you that towards the raising of this Fabrick I have not borrowed my materials only out of vulgar Authors but searched into the Records of the Convocation consulted all such Acts of Parliament as concerned my purpose advised with many Forein Writers of great name and credit exemplified some Records and Charters of no common quality many rare pieces in the Cottonian Library and not a few Debates and Orders of the Council-Table which I have laid together in as good a form and beautified it with a trimming as agreeable as my hands could give it Thus Dr. Heylyn A Preamble to the following Collections concerning the great Kindness and good Correspondence between King Henry the Eighth and some Popes FIrst King Henry the Eighth for writing a Book against Luther received a Bull from the Pope whereby he had the Title given him to be Defender of the Faith for him and his Successors for ever The Relation concerning which Book and the Reception of it by the Pope is thus set down in the History of the Lord Herbert of Cherbury pag. 104. OUr King being at leisure now from Wars and delighting much in learning thought he could not give better proof either of his Zeal or Education then to write against Luther To this also he was exasperated That Luther had oftentimes spoken contemptuously of the learned Thomas of Aâ—…uin who yet was in so much requst with the King that he was therefore called Thomistious Hereupon the King compiles a Book wherein he strenuously opposed Luther in the point of Indulgences Number of Sacraments the Papal Authority and other particulars to be seen in that his work Entitled de Septem Sacramentis c. a principal Copy whereof richly bound being sent to Leo I remember my self to have seen in the Vatican Library The manner of the delivery whereof as I find it in our Records was thus Doctor John Clark Dean of Windsor our Kings Embassador appearing in full Consistory the Pope knowing the glorious Present he brought first gave him his cheek to kiss and then receiving the Book promised to do so much for the Approbation thereof as ever was done for St. Augustine or St. Hierome's Works Assuring him withal that the next Consistory he would bestow a publick Title on our King which having been heretofore privately debated among the Cardinals those of Protector Defensor Romanae Ecclesiae or Sedis Apostolicae or Rex Apostolicus or Orthodoxus produced they at last agreed on Defensor Fidei a Transcript of which Bull out of an Original sub plumbo in our Records I have here inserted Leo Bishop Servant of the Servants of God to his most dear Son Henry King of England Defender of the Faith All health and happiness God having called Us although infinitely unworthy of it to the Government of the whole Church We bend all Our thoughts to promote the Catholick Faith without which none can be saved and labour by all means as belongs to Our duty to make use of and promote all such helps as have been wisely ordained for the preserving the integrity of Christian Faith amongst all but most especially amongst Princes and to suppress the endeavours of those who labour to corrupt it by lies and false Doctrines And as other Bishops of Rome our Predecessors have been accustomed to confer special favours upon Catholick Princes according to the exigency of Times and Affairs Especially upon such as have not only remained unmovable in their Obedience to the Holy Roman Catholick Church with an entire Faith and servent Devotion in the tempestuous times and raging perfidious fury of Schismaticks and Hereticks But likewise as legitimate Children and stout Champions of the same Church have opposed themselves both temporally and spiritually against the mad fury of such Schismaticks and Hereticks as have opposed it So we also desire to extol your Majesty with condign and immortal Praises for your excellent and immortal works and actions in favour of Us and this Holy See where by Gods permission we are established and to grant you those things which may enable and engage you to have a care to preserve our Lords Flock from Wolves and to cut off with the material Sword rotten members that seek to infect the mystical Body of Christ confirming in the solidity of Faith the Hearts of such as waver or are in danger of falling When our beloved Son John Clark your Majesties Orator or Embassador deliver'd unto Us in Our Consistory before Our Venerable Brethren Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church and many other Prelates of the Roman Court a Book which your Majesty hath composed out of your great Charity and Zeal of Catholick Faith enflamed with a fervour of Devotion towards Us and this Holy See as a Noble and proper Antidote against the errors of divers Hereticks often condemned by this Holy See and lately raised up again by Martin Luther he then likewise further declared unto Us your Majesties desire that this
thereof Some of the Lutherans had given out on the former ground That the English had deservedly suffered the greatest Hardships both at home and abroad because they Writ and Spake so irreverently of the Blessed Sacrament Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning the Lutherans detesting an English Protestant Nothing occurring more in this Queens Reign as to these matters of Religion we will now give an Account of the years when these Changes were made with an Addition of some works of Piety done by Her and in Her time IN the First year of this Queens Reign All Bishops that had been deprived in the time of King Edward the Sixth were restored to their Bishopricks and the new removed Also this year on the Twenty seventh of August the Service was sung in Latin in St. Paul's Church The Pope's Authority being likewise by Act of Parliament restored in England and the Mâ—…ss Commanded in all Churches to be used In her Second year the Realm is Absolved and Reconciled to the Church of Rome and First Fruits and Tenths restored to the Clergy In her Third year Eight hundred English Protestants sorsook the Kingdom who fell into great Confusions amongst themselves being in other Countries In her Fourth year Monasteries were be gun to be re-edified In her Fifth year great endeavors were used by Sectaries to raise Sedition by Seditious Books and unlawful Meetings or Conventicles In her Sixth year She built Publick Schools in the University of Oxford Which being decayed in tract of time and of no beautiful Structure when they were at the best were taken down In place whereof but upon a larger extent of Ground was raised that Goodly and Magnificent Fabrick which we now behold Works of Piety The Queen restored a great part of the Abbey-Lands that were in her Possession In her First year Sir Thomas white then Mayor Erected a College in Oxford called S. John's College He also Erected Schools at Bristow and Reading and gave Two thousand pounds to the City of Bristow to purchase Lands the profits whereof to be employed for the benefit of young Clothiers In her Third year died Sir John Gresham late Mayor of London who Founded a Free-School at Holt in Norfolk and gave to every Ward in London Ten pounds to be distributed to the Poor Also to Maids-Marriages Two hundred pounds Cuthbert Tunstal Bishop of Durham Erected a goodly Library in Cambridge storing it with many Excellent both Printed and Written Books He also bestowed much upon Building at Durham at Alnewick and at Tunbridge Thus Sir Richard Baker Here you have had a short View of the great Zeal and Piety that was in this Nation during the Reign of this Queen And this delivered from the mouths of her Enemies the most zealous Protestants This Account being here ended we will now proceed to relate what Changes were made as to Religion in Queen Elizabeths time Wherein the Scene was totally Altered She following the Example of her Father and Brother in going on with the Destructions and Confusions begun by them The Last Part Of these HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS Concerning A Fourth Change of Religion Made for POLITICK ENDS And of the Occurrences concerning it In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth A Preamble BEfore we begin this Queens Reign we will following Dr. Heylyn's order first make a Relation out of him of the various Fortunes of her Mother Anne Boleign of whom thus he writes in his History of Reformation pag. 86. Anne Boleign from her tender years was brought up in the Court of France Who returning into England was preferred to be Maid of Honor to Queen Catherine In whose Service the King falls in Love with her But so long concealed his Affections that there was a great League contracted betwixt her and the young Lord Peircy Son to the Earl of Northumberland But that being broken off by the endeavors of Cardinal Wolsey and the King laboring for a Divorce from Queen Catherine that he might Marry her that also was sought to be obstructed by the Cardinal Which being understood by Mrs. Anne Boleign she seeks all ways for his destruction and prevailed so far with the King that he was presently Indicted and Attainted of a Praemunire and not long after by the Counsel of Thomas Cromwel who had sormerly been the Cardinals Solicitor in his Legatine Court envolves the whole Clergy in the same Crime with him And by perswasion of this man he requires of the said Clergy to acknowledge him for Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England and to make no new Canons and Constitutions not to Execute any such when made by his consent And having thus brought his own Clergy under his Command he was the less solicitous how his matters went in the Court of Rome concerning his Divorce Whereupon he privately Marries Mistris Anne Boleign And a long time after to wit Three or Four Months after the Birth of the Princess Elizabeth began a Parliament in which the Kings first Marriage was declared Unlawful and the Succession of the Crown settled upon His Issue by this Second Marriage An Oath being devised in maintenance of the said Succession and not long after Moor and Fisher were Executed for refusing to take that Oath The New Queen being thus settled and considering that the Pope and She had such different Interests that they could not subsist together She resolved to suppress his Power what she could But finding that the Pope was too well entrenched to be dislodged upon a sudden it was advised by Cromwel to begin with taking in the Outworks first which being gained it would be no hard matter to beat him out of his Trenches In order whereunto a Visitation is begun in which a diligent Enquiry was to be made into all Abbey's Priories and Nunneries within the Kingdom an Account of which Visitation and the Dâ—…ssolution of Abbeys hath been formerly given in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth But the New Queen for whose sake Cromwel had contrived that Plot did not live to see this Dissolution For such is the uncertainty of Humane Affairs that when she thought her Self most Secure and free from Danger She became most obnoxious to the ruine prepared for Her It had pleased God upon the Eighth of January to put an end unto the Calamities of the Virtuous but unfortunate Queen unto whose Bed she had succeeded The News whereof she entertained with such contentment that she caused her self to be apparelled in lighter Colours than was agreeable to the season or the sad occasion Whereas if she had rightly understood her own Condition She could not but have known that the long Life of Queen Catherine was to be her best preservation against all changes which the King 's loose Affections or any other Alteration in the Affairs of State were otherwise like to draw upon her But this Contentment held not long For within Three Weeks after She fell in Travail in which she miscarried of a Son to the extreme discontent of the
Book might be approved by Our Authority and withal in a copious Oration manifested unto Us that as your Majesty hath confuted the notorious Errors of the same Martin Luther from true and convincing Reasons and unanswerable Authorities of the holy Scriptures and Fathers so that you will be ready with all the Forces and Arms of your Kingdom to punish and prosecute all such as shall presume to follow or defend any of the said Opinions Whereupon we have with all care and diligence perused the same Book and finding it to contain admirable Doctrine and full of the Spirit of God do give God infinite thanks from whom proceeds every good and perfect Gift for having thus inspir'd your mind and enabled you by his Grace to compose this Work for the defence of his holy Faith against this raiser up of old condemned Errors and to the inviting of other Kings and Christian Princes to follow your example in protecting Orthodox Faith and Evangelical Truth now expos'd to great danger and many oppositions We upon this likewise judging it just and reasonable to confer all Honour and Praises upon such as have employ'd their pious Labours in the defence of the said Christian Faith do not only extol and magnifie approve and confirm by Our Authority what your Majesty hath with so much solid Learning and Eloquence written against the same Martin Luther but do likewise confer upon your Majesty such a Title of Honour that by it all the Faithful may understand both now and for all future times how grateful and acceptable this your Majesties Gift hath been unto Us especially offered at this time We who are the true Successor of St Peter whom Christ ascending up to Heaven lest as his Vicar upon Earth committing to him the care of his Flock We I say sitting in this holy See having with mature Deliberation considered of this business with Our Brethren do with their unanimous Counsel and consent grant unto your Majesty the Title of Defender of the Faith which We do by these presents confirm unto you commanding all the Faithful to give your Majesty this Title and when they write unto you after the word King to annex this other of Defender of the Faith And assuredly if the excellency and dignity of this Title and your singular merits be well weigh'd and considered We could not have thought of any name more Noble nor better agreeable to your Majesty then this which as often as you hear and read you will have occasion to reflect upon your own Virtue and Merit not becoming more proud thereby but according to your wonted Prudence rather more humble and more establish'd in the Faith of Christ and respect towards this holy See rejoycing in our Lord the Giver of all Good things and leaving unto your Posterity this perpetual and immortal monument of your Glory shewing them the way that if they desire to possess this Title they labour to do works of this kind and to imitate your Majesties example who having deserv'd so much from Us and this See We give you Our Benediction and also to your Wife and Children and all that shall be born of them In the name of him from whom We have receiv'd this Power Beseeching the Almighty who said By me Kings reign and Princes command and in whose Hands the Hearts of all Kings are that he will confirm you in this holy Resolutiand encrease your Devotion and make your Actions for the preservation of Faith so illustrious throughout the whole World That no Man may have occasion to judge that this Title is confer'd upon you in vain And lastly Our Prayer is That your Majesty having happily pass'd the course of this present life may be made partaker of Eternal Glory Dated at Rome at St. Peters c. Thus far my Lord Herberts History I will now relate some other favours shew'd to him by Popes HE receiv'd from Pope Clement a Rose of Gold for a Present The reception of it is thus related by Sir Rich. Baker page 391. Doctor Thomas Hannibal Master of the Rolls was receiv'd into London by Earls Bishops and diverse Lords and Gentlemen as Embassador from Pope Clement who brought with him a Rose of Gold for a Present to the King and on the day of the Nativity of our Lady after a Solemn Mass sung by the Cardinal of York the said Present was delivered to the King which was a Tree forged of fine Gold with Branches Leaves and Flowers resembling Roses Thus far Sir Rich. Baker ANother Present was sent him by Pope Julius whereof there is this Relation in the same History page 376. Pope Julius the second sent to King Henry a Cap of Maintenance and a Sword and being angry with the King of France tranferred by Authority of the Lateran Council the Title of Christianissimo from him upon King Henry which with great solemnity was published the Sunday following at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul Thus far Sir Rich. Baker CHAP. I. The First Ground of the change of Religion in England was the business of the Kings Divorce from Queen Catherine which when it came to be publickly examined the Queen made this following Speech THe Queen according to the Form being called upon to come into the Court made no Answer but rose out of her Chair and came to the King kneeling down at his Feet to whom she said The Queens Speech SIR IN what have I offended you or what occasion of displeasure have I given you intending thus to put me from you I take God to be my Judge I have been to you a true and humble Wife ever conformable to your Will and Pleasure never contradicting or gain-saying you in any thing being always contented with all things wherein you had any delight or took any pleasure without grudge or countenance of discontent or displeasure I lov'd for your sake all them whom you lov'd whether I had cause or no whether they were my Friends or my Enemies I have been your Wife these twenty years or more and you had by me divers Children and when you had me at first I take God to be my Judg that I was a Maid and whether it be true or no I put it to your own Conscience If there be any just cause that you can alledge against me either of dishonesty or matter lawful to put me from you I am content to depart to my shame and confusion and if there be none then I pray you to let me have Justice at your Hands The King your Father was in his time of such an excellent Wit that he was accounted amongst all men for Wisdom to be a second Salomon and the King of Spain my Father Ferdinand was accounted one of the wisest Princes that had reign'd in Spain for many years It is not therefore to be doubted but that they had gathered as wise Counsellors unto them of every Realm as to their Wisdoms they thought meet and I conceive that there were in
Auricular Confession is expedient and necessary to be retained and continued used and frequented in the Church of God For the which most Godly study pain and travel of His Majesty and determination and resolution of the Premises His humble and obedient Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled not only render and give unto His Highness their most high and hearty Thanks and think themselves most bound to Pray for the long continuance of his Graces most Royal Estate and Dignity And being also desirous that his most Godly enterprize may be well accomplished and brought to a full end and perfection and so Established that the same might be to the Honor of God and after to the common Quiet Unity and Concord to be had in the whole Body of this Realm for ever Do most humbly beseech His Royal Majesty that the Resolution and Determination above written of the said Articles may be established and perpetually perfected by the Authority of this present Parliament It is therefore Ordained and Enacted by the King our Sovereign Lord and by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and by the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That if any Person or Persons within this Realm of England or in any other of the Kings Dominions do by Word Writing Printing Ciphering or any otherwise Publish Preach Teach Say Affirm Declare Dispute Argue or Hold any Opinion 1. That in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar under the Form of Bread and Wine after the Consecration thereof there is not present really the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ conceived of the Virgin Mary or that after the said Consecration there remains any Substance of Bread or Wine or any other Substance but the Substance of Christ God and Man or likewise to Publish Preach Teach Say Affirm Declare Dispute Argue or Hold Opinion that in the Flesh under the Form of Bread there is not the very Blood of Christ or that with the Blood under the Form of Wine there is not the very Flesh of Christ as well apart as though they were both together or by any the means abovesaid or otherwise do Preach Teach Declare or Affirm the said Sacrament to be of other Substance than is abovesaid or do by any means Contemn Deprave or Despise the said Blessed Sacrament that then such Person or Persons so offending shall be deemed and adjudged Hereticks and that every such offence shall be judged manifest Heresie and that every such Offender and Offenders shall therefore have and suffer Judgment Execution Pain and Pains of Death by way of Burning without any Abjuration Clergy or Sanctuary and their Estates to be Confiscated to the King as in Cases of High Treason 2. And moreover if any do obstinately Affirm Uphold Maintain or Defend that the Communion of the Blessed Sacrament in both kinds that is to say in Form of Bread and also of Wine is necessary for the health of Man's Soul or that it ought or should be Given and Administred to any Persons in both kinds or that it is necessary so to be taken or received by any Person other than Priests being at Mass and Consecrating the same 3. Or that any Man after having received the Order of Priesthood may marry 4. Or that any Man or Woman who hath advisedly vowed or professed Chastity or Widowhood may marry 5. Or that Private Masses be not lawful or not laudable or should not be celebrated had nor used in the Realm nor be not agreeable to the Laws of God 6. Or that Auricular Confession is not expedient and necessary to be retained and continued used and frequented in the Church of God Such Persons are to suffer pains of death as in cases of Felony without any benefit of Clergie or Priviledge of Church or Sanctuary and shall forfeit all their Lands and Goods as in cases of Felony Thus far out of the same Book CHAP. IV. Of another Effect of this Change which was a horrid Effusion of Blood QUeen Anne Boleign who had been the first occasion of this Change of Religion was beheaded Whereof there is this Relation Baker pag. 407. It was now the Twenty eighth year of King Henries Reign When there were solemn Justs at Greenwich from whence the King suddenly departed and came to Westminster Whose sudden departure struck amazement into many but to the Queen especially And not without cause For the next day the Lord Rochford her Brother and Henry Norris were brought to the Tower Prisoners Whither also the same day was brought Queen Anne her self Who at the Tower-gate fell on her knees beseeching God to help her as she was innocent of that whereof she was accused Soon after this she was arraigned in the Tower and found guilty and had Judgment pronounced Immediately the Lord Rochford her Brother was likewise Arraigned Who together with Henry Norris Mark Smeton William Brierton and Francis Weston all of the King's Privy-Chamber about matters touching the Queen were beheaded on Tower-hill Within Two days Queen Anne her self on a Scaffold upon the Green within the Tower was also beheaded At her death she spake these words God save my Master and Sovereign the King the most Goodliest Noblest and Gentlest Prince that is and grant him that he may long Reign over you which words she spake with a smiling countenance which done she kneeled down and the Hangman of Calais smote off her head at one stroke For her Religion she was an earnest Professor and one of the first Counternancers of the Gospel The Crimes for which she died were Adultery and Incest She had many Enemies as being a Protestant and perhaps in that respect the King himself not greatly her Friend For though he had excluded the Pope yet he continued a Papist still Her Death cast upon King Henry a dishonorable Imputation Insomuch that whereas the Protestant Princes of Germany had resolved to chuse him for Head of their League after they heard of this Queens Death they utterly refused him Thus far Sir Rich. Baker The next day after her Death the King Married the Lady Jane Seymour Stow Page 573. In the next place Thomas Cromwel who had been the grand Promoter of this business was likewise beheaded Whereof thus writes Howes upon Stow page 508. THomas Cromwel Earl of Essex being in the Council-Chamber was suddenly apprehended and committed to the Tower of London and soon after attainted of Heresie and High Treason When he was brought to the Scaffold on Tower-hill to be executed he spake these words I pray you that be here to bear me witness that I die in the Catholick Faith not doubting in any Article of my Faith or in any Sacrament of the Church Many have slandered me and reported that I have been an A better of such as have maintained evil Opinions which is untrue But I confess that like as God by his holy Spirit does instruct us
Succession to the Crown in this Last Will that contrary to all Justice he totally Excluded the whole Scottish-Line Descended from the Lady Margaret his eldest Sister from all hopes of having their turns in it His Infirmity and the weakness it brought upon him confining him to his Bed he had a great desire to receive the Sacrament and being perswaded to receive it in the easiest posture sitting or raised up in his Bed he would by no means yield unto it but caus'd himself to be taken up and plac'd in his Chair in which he heard the greatest part of the Mass till the Consecration and then receiv'd the Blessed Sacrament on his Knees as at other times saying withal as Saunders relates the Story That if he did not only cast himself upon the Ground but even under it also he could not give unto the Sacrament the Honor that was due unto it The instant of his Death approaching none of his Servants though thereunto desir'd by his Physicians durst acquaint him with it till at last Sir Anthony Denny undertook that ungrateful Office which the King entertaining with less impatience than was looked for from him gave order that Archbishop Cranmer should be presently sent for But he being then at Croyden it was so long before he came that he found him speechless However applying himself to the Kings present condition and discoursing to Him on this Point That Salvation was to be obtain'd only by Faith in Christ He desired the King if he understood the effect of his words and believ'd the same that he would signifie so much by some Sign or other which the King did by wringing him gently by the Hand and shortly after died There is a sharp but shrewd Character of this King to wit That he never sparea Woman in his Lust nor Man in his Anger Sir Walter Rawleigh says of him That if all the Patterns of a Merciless Prince had been lost in the World they might have been found in this King Thus Dr. Heylyn I will here set down some Passages out of his last Will related by Dr. Heylyn pag. 23. By which it will appear how constant he was till his death in professing and maintaining these following Points of Catholick Doctrine to wit The Real Presence in the Sacrament Invocation of Saints and Prayer for the Dead The words of the Will are these WE most humbly and heartily recommend our Soul to God who in the Person of his Son redeemed us with his most precious Body and Blood And for our better remembrance thereof hath left here with us in his Church Militant the Consecration and Administration of his most precious Body and Blood We also instantly desire that the Blessed Virgin Mary with all the Holy Company of Heaven may continually pray for us whilst we live in this World and at our passing out of it that we may the sooner attain everlasting life We likewise further Ordain That there be a convenient Altar at Windsor honorably prepared with all things requisite and necessary for a daily Mass there to be said perpetually while the World should endure Moreover He gave Order That all Divine Offices accustomed for the Dead should be daily Celebrated for him And that at the removal of his Body to Windsor a Thousand Marks should be distributed amongst the Poor to pray for the Remission of his Sins and the good of his Soul Thus Dr. Heylyn An Account of his Wives Of Six Wives this King had Anne Boleign his Second Wife was beheaded for Incest with her own Brother The Third Jane Seymour being in Child-birth and in danger of death had her Belly ripp'd up to preserve the Child The Fourth Anne of Cleve was cast off within two or three Months The Fifth Catherine Howard was beheaded for Adultery Concerning his Sixth Wife thus writes Sir Rich. Baker Page 418. The Sixth Catherine Parre being an earnest Protestant was accused to the King to have Heretical Books in her Closet and this was so aggravated against her that they prevail'd with the King to Sign a Warrant to Commit her to the Tower with a purpose to have burnt her for Heresie This Warrant was committed to Wriothsley Lord Chancellor and he by chance letting it fall from him it was taken up and carried to the Queen who having read it went soon after to visit the King Being come to the King he presently fell into Talk with her about some Points of Religion demanding her Resolution therein But she knowing that his nature was not to be cross'd specially considering the case she was in made him answer That She was a Woman accompanied with many Imperfections but his Majesty was Wise and Judicious of whom she must learn as of her Lord and Head Not so by St. Mary said the King for you are a Doctor Kate to instruct us and not to be instructed by us as often we have seen heretofore Indeed Sir said She if your Majesty have so conceiv'd I have been mistaken For if heretofore I have held talk with your Majesty it hath been to learn some Point of your Majesty whereof I stood in doubt and sometimes that with my Talk I might make you forget your present infirmity And is it so says King Then we are Friends But nevertheless soon after upon a day appointed by the Kings Warrant for apprehending her the King being dispos'd to walk into the Garden took the Queen with him when all on the sudden the Lord Chancellor with Forty of the Guard came into the Garden with a purpose to apprehend her whom as soon as the King saw he stept to the Chancellor and calling him Knave and Fool bid him get him out of his Presence The Queen seeing the King so angry with him began to intreat him to whom the King said You little know what it is he came about Of my Word Sweet-heart he hath been a very Knave to Thee Thus the Queen was preserv'd who else had tasted of as bitter a cup as any of his former Wives had done Thus Sir Rich. Baker Now we will give an Account of the Years when these changes were made Sir Rich. Baker Page 425. IN the Eighth year of this King's Reign Luther began to Preach against the Authority of the Pope and to bring in a Reformation of Religion for repressing of whom the Council of Trent was called by Pope Paul the Third At the same time with Luther there arose also in the same Country other Reformers of Religion as Zuinglius Oecolampadius Melancthon c. whâ—… differing from Luther in some Points made the difference which is at this day of Lutherans and Protestants so call'd at first at Ausburgh for making a Protestation in defence of their Doctrine In his Two and twentieth year a Proclamation was set forth That no Person should purchase any thing from the Court of Rome and this was the first beginning of his Deserting the Church of Rome In his Three and twentieth year the Clergy
or Persons of what Estate Degree or Condition soever he or they be shall at any time after the First day of May willingly and wittingly eat any manner of Flesh after what manner or kind or sort it shall be ordered dressed or used upon any Friday or Saturday or upon any of the Ember-days or upon any day in the time commonly called Lent nor upon any such other day as is or shall be at any other time hereafter commonly excepted and reputed as a Fish-day within this Realm of England wherein it hath been commonly used to eat Fish and not Flesh Upon pain that every Person eating any manner of Flesh upon any of the said Days or Times prohibited by this Act shall forfeit for the said first offence Ten shillings and also suffer Imprisonment for the space of Ten days And during the time of his or her said Imprisonment shall abstain from eating of any manner of Flesh. Thus far the Act. Little or Nothing hath been hitherto done in this King's Reign as to Religion but pulling down and destroying Wherefore it is now time to Establish something Which is here done by that which immediately follows CHAP. IV. Of the Administring the Communion and of the Composing a Book of Common-Prayer Of which thus writes Dr. Heylyn page 57. SOme Bishops and others were Appointed by the King's Command to Consult together about one Uniform Order of Administring the Holy Communion in the English Tongue Who so ordered it That the whole Mass should proceed as formerly in the Latin Tongue even to the very end of the Canon and the receiving of the Sacrament by the Priest himself Which being ended they were to begin with an Exhortation in the English Tongue directed to all those that did intend to receive the Communion Which Exhortation began with these words Dearly Beloved in the Lord ye coming to this Holy Communion c. Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this strange medly in the Divine Service But notwithstanding the setting forth of this Uniform Order of Administring the Holy Communion yer there did arise a marvellous Schism and variety of Factions in Celebrating the Communion Service and Administring of the Sacrament and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church For some allowed of the King's proceedings others dissemblingly and patchingly used some part of them Many contemned them all Moreover it is observed in the Register-Book of the Parish of Petworth that many at this time affirmed that the most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar was of little worth So that in many places it was irreverently used and cast out of the Church and many other great Enormities committed Which they seconded by oppugning the Established Ceremonies as Holy-Water Holy-Bread and divers other Rites of the Seven Sacraments And yet these were not all the mischiefs which the time produced For in pursuance of this Schism many of those that had been licensed to Preach appeared as active in Preaching against the King's proceedings as many of the unlicensed Preachers had been found to be Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning these Confusions Upon this it was advised that a Publick Liturgy should be drawn and confirmed by Parliament which was accordingly done Now here it is to be observed that those who had the directing of this Business were before hand resolved that none but English Heads and Hands should be used therein lest otherwise it might be thought and perhaps objected That they rather followed the Example of some other Churches or were swayed by the Authority of those Forein Assistants than by the Word of God Certain it is that upon the very first reports of a Reformation here intended Calvin had offered his Assistance to Archbishop Cranmer as himself confessed But the Archbishop knew the man and refused the offer And it appears in one of Bishop Latimer's Sermons that there was a report about this time of Melancthon's coming But it proved only a report And though it was thought necessary for the better seasoning of the Universities in the Protestant Reformed Religion that Bucer and Peter Martyr should be invited to come over yet the Archbishop's Letter of Invitation sent to Bucer was not written till the 12th of October at which time the Liturgy then in hand being the chief Key of the Work of Reformation was in a very good forwardness and must be compleatly finished before he could so settle and dispose his affairs in Germany as to come for England And though Peter Martyr being either more at leisure or more willing to accept of the Invitation came many months before the other yet neither do we find him here till the end of November when the Liturgy had been approved of Nor was it likely that they would make use of such a man in Composing a Liturgy wherein they were resolved to retain a great part of the ancient Ceremonies who being made Canon of Christ's Church in Oxford and frequently present at Divine Service in that Church could never be prevailed with to put on the Surplice Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning the ground of setting out a Book of Common-Prayer CHAP. V. Of the Suppression of Chantries and other Foundations Whereof Dr. Heylyn gives this following Account page 60. WE must now attend the King's Commissioners dispatched into every Shire to take a Survey of all Colleges Free Chappels Chantries and Brotherhoods according to the return of Commissions it would be no difficult matter to put a just Estimate and Value on so great a Gift Or to know how to parcel out proportion and divide the Spoyl betwixt all such as had before in hope devoured it In the first place as lying nearest came in the Free Chappel of St. Stephen originally Founded in the Palace at Westminster reckoned for the Chappel-Royal of the Court of England The whole Foundation consisted of no fewer than Thirty eight Persons to wit One Dean Twelve Canons Thirteen Vicars Four Clerks Six Choristers besides a Verger and one that had charge of the Chappel There was likewise a certain number appointed for the officiating of the daily Service Gentlemen of the Chappel they were commonly called As for the Chappel it self together with a Cloyster of curious Workmanship built by John Chambers one of the Kings Physicians and the last Master of the same they are still standing as they were the Chappel having been since fitted and employ'd for a House of Commons in all times of Parliament Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this Chappel At the same time also fell the College of St. Martins scituated in the City of London not far from Aldersgate first founded for a Dean and Secular Canons in the time of the Conqueror This College was surrendred into the Hands of King Edward the Sixth who after gave the same to the Church of Westminster and they to make the best of the Kings Donation ordered That the Body of the Church with the Quire and Isles should be Leased out for Fifty years excepting out of the said Grant the Bells Lead Stone Timber Glass
be paid at her Marriage and in the interim Three Thousand pound per annum for Her personal maintenance Little or nothing more occurs of Her in the time of King Henry because there was little Alteration made in the face of Religion which might give Her any cause of Publick or personal dislike But when the great Alterations happened in the time of King Edward She then declared her Self more openly as She might more safely in opposition to the same Concerning which She thus declared Her self in a Letter to the Lord Protector and the rest of the Council Dated at Kenninghall June 22. Anno 1549. My Lord I Perceive by the Letters which I lately received from you and others of the Council That you be all sorry to find so little Conformity in me touching the observation of his Majesties Laws who am well assured that I have offended no Law unless it be a late Law of your own making which in my Conscience is not worthy the name of a Law both for the King's Honors sake and the wealth of the Realm and giving the occasion of an evil bruit throughout all Christendom besides the partiallity used in the same and as my Conscience is very well perswaded the offending God which passes all the rest But I am very well assured That the King his Father's Laws were allowed and consented to without Compulsion by the whole Realm both Spiritual and Temporal and all the Executors Sworn upon a Book to fulfil the same so that it was an Authorized Law And that I have obeyed and will do with the Grace of God till the King's Majesty my Brother shall have sufficient years to judge in this matter himself In this my Lord I was plain with you at my last being in the Court declaring to you at that time whereunto I would stand And now do assure you all the only occasion of my stay from altering my Opinion is for Two causes One principally for my Conscience The Other that the King my Brother shall not hereafter charge me to be one of those that were agreeable to such Alterations in his tender years And what fruits daily grow by such Changes since the death of the King my Father it well appears to every indifferent Person both to the Displeasure of God and Unquietness of the Realm Notwithstanding I assure you all I would be as loth to see his Highness take hurt or that any evil should come to this his Realm as the best of you all And none of you have the like cause considering how I am compelled by nature being his Majesties poor and humble Sister most tenderly to Love and pray for Him and to wish unto this Realm being born within the same all wealth and prosperity to God's Honor. And if any judge of me the contrary for my Opinions sake as I trust none does I doubt not in the end with God's help to prove my self as True a Natural and Humble Sister as they of the contrary Opinion with all their devices and altering the Laws shall prove themselves good Subjects I pray you my Lords and the rest of the Council no more to disquiet and trouble me with matters touching my Conscience wherein I am at a full point with God's help whatsoever shall happen to me intending with his Grace to trouble you little with any worldly suits But to bestow that short time I think to live in quietness praying for the King's Majesty and all you Heartily wishing that your Proceedings may be to God's Honor the Safeguard of the King's Person and quietness of the Realm And thus my Lords I wish unto you and all the rest as well to do as my self But notwithstanding this Letter no favor was to be hoped for from these Lords They signifying unto her how sensible they were of those Inconveniences which the Example of her Inconformity to the Laws Established was likely to produce amongst the rest of the Subjects And hereupon the Lord Chancellor and Secretary Peters were sent to her who after some Conferences brought her to the King at Westminster Here the Council declared unto her how long the King had permitted her the use of Mass and considering her Obstinacy was resolved now no longer to permit it unless She would put Him in hope of some Conformity in time To which She answered That her Soul was God's and touching her Faith as she could not change so she would not dissemble it Reply was made That the King intended not to constrain her Faith but to restrain the outward profession of it in regard of the danger the Example might draw After some like enterchanges of speeches the Lady was appointed to remain with the King When there arrived an Embassador from the Emperor with a threatning Message of War in case his Cosin the Lady Mary should be denied the Free Exercise of Mass. Hereupon the King presently advised with the Archbishop of Canterbury and with the Bishops of London and Rochester Who gave their Opinion that to give licence to sin was sin But to connive at sin might be allowed so it were not too long nor without hope of Reformation Then Answer was given to the Embassador That the King would send to the Emperor within a Month or Two and give him such Satisfaction as should be fit Upon this Earnest Soliciation of the Emperor it was declared unto her by the King with the consent of his Council That for his sake and her own also it should be suffered and winked at if she had the private Mass used in her own Closet for a season until she might be better informed But so that none but some few of her own Chamber should be present with her And that to all the rest of her House-hold the Service of the Church should be only used Whereupon Mallet and Barkeley Two of her Chaplains saying Mass promiscuously in her absence to her houshold-Servants were seized on and committed Prisoners Which first occasioned an exchange of Letters betwixt her and the King and afterwards more frequently between her and the Council One of which Letters to the Council touching this matter I will here insert taken out of Fox's Acts and Monuments Page 704. The Lady Mary to the Lords of the Council My Lords WHereas you writ that two of my Chaplains Dr. Mallet and Barkeley are Indicted for certain things committed by them contrary to the King's Majesties Laws and that a Process for them is also awarded or given forth and delivered to the Sheriff of Essex I cannot but marvel they should be so used considering it is done as I understand for sâ—…ying Mass within my House and although I have been of my self minded alwaies and yet am to have Mass within my House yet I have been advertised that the Emperor's Majesty also hath been promised that I should never be unquieted nor troubled for my so doing as some of you my Lords can witness Moreover the declaration of the said Promise was made to
Platform And others looked upon the Homilies as beggerly Rudiments scarce Milk for Babes But by no means to be looked upon as Meat for a stronger stomack In general thought by the Genevians and Zuinglian Gospellers to have too much in them of the Pope or too little of Calvin and therefore no way to be subscribed unto Of which number none so much remarkable as Father John Fox the Martyrologist who had before appeared in the Schism at Frankfort and left that Church when Cox had got the better in it to retire to Geneva Who being now called upon to subscribe that the opinion which was had of his parts and Piety might advance the work he is said to have appeared before the Bishop carrying the New-Testament in Greek with him before whom he spake these words To this Book I will subscribe and if this will not serve take my Prebend'ry at Salisbury the only Preferment which I hold in the Church of England and much good may it do you But notwithstanding this refractory Answer so much kindness was shewed to him that he both kept his resolution and place together The Genevians for the greater countenanceing of their inconformity had stirred up the most eminent Divines of the French and Zuinglian or Helvetian Churches to declare in favour of their doings And it appears also by remembrances in some Authors that Calvin apprehending some neglect from Mr. Secretary Cecill in making either no return or a return which signified nothing to his first Addresses had laid aside his care of the Church of England But Peter Martyr whilst he lived conceived himself to have some Interest in this Church in which he had enjoyed such a good preferment but more in some particular Persons and Members of it who seemed to depend upon his judgment and to ask counsel of him as their surest Oracle in which how much he countenanced the Faction in King Edward's time both by his Practice and Pen and what encouragement he gave them in this present Reign hath been shewn before But how much he was out-gone by Beza who next usurped a Super-intendency over all the Churches of this Island may be seen hereafter All that shall now be said of either of them or of altogether shall be briefly this That this poor Church might better have wanted their best helps in Points of Doctrine than have been troubled with their intermedlings in matter of Discipline Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning the Calvinists Dr Heylyn having little or nothing in the Fourth and Fifth year of this Queens Reign that belongs to the matter of these Notes we will pass to the 6th year CHAP. XII Of one Cartwright a great Promoter of Presbytery and of the Earl of Leicester and the death of Calvin Anno Reg. Eliz. 6. Dr. Heylyn pag. 164. THis Summer in a Progress the Queen came to Cambridge where were sown the seeds of those Divisions and Combustions with which the Church of England hath been continually distracted to this very day For so it happened that one Preston and Cartwright were appointed to hold a Disputation In which the First was both liked and rewarded by Her the Other receiving neither reward nor commendation Which so incensed the proud man that he retired to Geneva Where having throughly informed himself in all particulars both of Doctrine and Discipline wherein the Churches of that Platform differed from the Church of England he returned home with an intent to repair his credit or rather to get himself a name by raising such a fire and such combustions in the Church of England as never were to be extinguished but by the immediate hand of Heaven The next considerable Action which followed on the Queens Reception at Cambridge was the preferring of Sir Robert Dudley the Second Son then living of the Duke of Northumberland to the Titles of Lord Denbigh and Earl of Leicester She had before Elected him into the Order of the Garter made him Master of her Horse and Chancellor of the University of Oxon suffered him to carry a great sway in all Affairs both of Court and Council and given unto him the fair Mannor of Denbigh being conceived to be one of the goodliest Territories in England And now She adds unto these Honors the goodly Castle and Mannor of Kenelworth part of the parrimony of the Duchy of Lancaster Advanced unto which height he engrossed unto himself the disposing of all Offices in the Court and State and of all Preferments in the Church proving in fine so unappeasable in his Malice and unsatiable in his Lusts so Sacrilegious in his Rapines so false in Promises and treacherous in point of Trust And finally so destructive of the Rights and Proprieties of particular Persons that his Little Finger lay heavier on the English Subjects than the Loins of all the Favourites of the Two last Kings And that his Monstrous Vices most insupportable in any other but himself might either be connived at or not complained of he cloaks them with a seeming zeal to the true Religion and made himself Head of the Puritan Faction Who spared no pains in seting forth his praises upon all occasions Nor was he wanting to caress them after such a manner as he found most agreeable to those Holy Hypocrites using no other language in his Speech and Letters than pure Scripture-phrase in which he was become so dextrous as if he had received the same Inspirations with the Sacred Pen-men But notwithstanding the viciousness of this man yet the Queen laboured further to advance him even to a Marriage with the Queen of Scots As appears by this Relation of Dr. Heylyn pag. 169. Queen Elizabeth kept a Stock still going in Scotland the returns whereof redounded more to her own security than to the profit and advantage of the Church of England The Queen of Scots being now a Widow possessed of that Kingdom and next Heir to this Queen Elizabeth proposes to her a Marriage with the Earl of Leicester whom she pretended to have raised to those Eminent Honors to make him in some sort capable of a Queens Affections Which Proposition proved agreeable to neither party the Queen of Scots disdaining the unequal offer and Leicester dealing under-hand with Randolph the English Resident to keep her still in that aversness having given himself a hope of Marrying Queen Elizabeth interpreting all her Favors to proceed in order to it I had not spoken so much of this Earl of Leicester but that he seemed to have been born for the destruction of the Church of England as will appear by what shall be here said concerning the Presbyterians in this Queens Reign But leaving this Court-Meteor to be gazed on by unknowing men we will now conclude this Sixth year with that which was very advantageous to the Church of England to wit the Death of Calvin By whose Authority if he had lived longer much more Disorders and Confusions must have necessarily succeeded For his Name was much Reverenced not only by