Pope the whole matter to whom the Pope writeth againe wee are not a little disquieted in our spirits for your sake being our most déere Brother remember that the Apostles departed away reioycing from the face of the Councell receiue consolation that wâ may reioice with you in the Lord who hath preserued you in this distresse to the corroboration of the Catholick verity and God through his punishment of afflicâions hath wiped away the blot of your offences that they might not be called to account in the day of Iudgement bee not greeued that you are appealed to the Apostolike Sea which to vs is gratefull and accepted draw not you backe spare not to follow the appeale for the authoritie of the Church of Rome tendreth your constancie our diligence shall bee to preserue the right and preheminence of your Church to you as one working for the Church a constant and valiant Champion I thought good especially to premonish you neither for aduersitie nor whatsoeuer happens renounce not the right and dignitie of your Church The Archbishop sitting with his Crosse in his hand as before was not abashed at al that was the King sent for him presently to render account for thirty thousand markes and fruits and reuenewes of the Realme in the time when he was Chancellor he answered the King knew how often hee had made reckonings of those things and that Henry his Sonne and heyre with all the Barrons and the Lord chiefe Iustice of England told him was frée and quit to god and holy Church from all receipts computations on the Kings behalfe and so taking his discharge entred into his office for other accounts he would make none when his answere was brought to the King he required the Barons to doe their office who adiudged him to be apprehended and laid in prison the King sent the Earl of Cornwall and Deuonshire and the Earle of Leicester to shew him his Iudgement to whom he said heare my Sonne and good Earle how much the soule is more precious then the body so much ought you to obey me rather then your terrene King no Law doth permit the child to condemne their Father wherefore to auoide all your iudgements before you all I appeale to the Sea Apostolicke and as for you my fellow Bishops which rather obey man then God you also I call and claime to the Iudgement of the Pope and I doe depart from you as from the enemies of the Catholick Church and of the authoritie of the Apostolicke Sea whilst they returned this answere to the King the Archbishop passed through the throng and tooke horse holding the bridle in one hand and his Crosse in the other the Courtiers followed saying tarrie Traytor and héere thy Iudgement the vtmost gate being locked one of his seruants found a bunch of Keyes trying them found the right and opened the gate he went to the house of the Cannons where hee did lie and calling to him the poore where they could be found after supper he caused a bed to be made him betwixt two Altars but whilst the King was at supper he changed his garments and named himselfe Derman and made an escape to the Sea and taking ship sayled into Flanders and thence iournied vnto France the King sent the Bishop of London and the Earle of Arundell vnto the King of France to require him not to receiue the Archbishop nor retaine him in his Dominion and that he would be a meanes to the Pope not to shew any familiaritie vnto him but the French King contrarie to the Kings Letters and request not only harboured and cherished him but writ to the Pope intreating him vpon all loues as euer he would haue his fauour to tender the cause of the Archbishop Becket The King sent another ambassage to Pope Alexander by the Archbishop of York the Bishops of London Winchester Chichester Exeter with other Doctors and Clarkes with the Earle of Arundel with certaine moe Lords and Barrons they were friendly accepted at the Popes Court the next day following the Pope sitting in the Consistorie with his Cardinals when the Ambassadours were called for the hearing of Beckets matter and the Bishops euery one in order had made his Oration the Pope did not accept some of their spéeches and disdained some wherefore the Earle of Arundell disdained in this manner spake Though I am vnlettered and cannot vnderstand what these Bishops haue said neither can vtter my minde in that tongue which they haue done yet I must declare the cause of my sending as well as I may which was not to contend with or iniury any man especially in presence of such a one at whose beck all the world doth stoope but our Legacie is to present in the presence of the whole Church of Rome the deuotion and loue of our King which hee euer had and still hath towards you and that it might the better appeare to your excellencie hee hath appointed for the furniture of this Legacy his greatest and cheefest subiects of such worthines and parentage that if hee could haue found greater in his Realme hee would haue sent them for the reuerence of your person and holy Church of Rome I might adde more which your Sainctitude hath already proued the harty fidelity of our King towards you who at the entrance to his Kingdome submitted himselfe and all his wholly to your will and pleasure and wee beleeue there is none more faithfull in Christ then he nor more deuout to God nor more moderate in kéeping the vnity of peace neither doe I deny touching the Archbishop of Canterbury a man not vnfurnished with gifts in his calling being both sage and discréete sauing that hee seemeth to some more quick and sharpe then needeth if this blot had not beene the King and he had not discented then both the temporaltie and spiritualty might haue flourished one with the other in much peace vnder so worthy a Prince and so vertuous a pastor therefore our message and supplication to your vigilant prudence is that through your fauour and wisedome the neck of this discention may be broken and reformation of vnitie and loue by some good meanes may be sought But the Pope would not condiscend to their sute which was to haue two Legates sent from his popish side into England to examine and take vp the controuersie betweene the King and the Archbishop but because Becket was absent hee willed them to tarry his comming vp for hee being absent hee would in no case procéede against him but they alledged there time appointed to be ended and hauing other lets they could not waite for the comming of Becket and so returned back there cause frustrated without the Popes blessing to the King Within foure dayes after Becket commeth to the Popes Court offered the pope a scroule of the custome and ordinances of the King the Pope condemned and cursed the most part of them and blamed Becket for so much yeelding to them at the beginning yet
destruction that is comming towards you and your Realmâ Prince Lodowicke hath sworne a great oath and sixtéene of his Earles and Nobâes are of ãâã with him that if he obtaine the Crowne of England he will âanish and depriue of their Lands and goods all that hâ now findeth to goe against their leach King and are Traytors to him vpon my Faith nâw lying at Gods mercie I was one that was ãâã to the same and with teares he said take héede in time your King for a ãâã hath kept you vnder but if Lodowicke preuaile he will put you from all hee had them kéepe his counceâl and so he dyed This trobled the Barons and seeing withall ãâã Prince Lodowicke obtained by warres he gaue to French men in spite of them saying they were but Traytors They at length concluded to submit themselues ãâ¦ã neuer drunke before I trust this Wassell shall make all England glad and dranke a great draught thereof the king pledged him the Munke went away and ãâã buâst out and hee dyed and had euer after thrée Monkes to sing continually Masse for his Soule confirmed by their generall Chapter I would you would see how religiously they bestow heir confessions absolutions and Masses King Iohn feeling himselfe not well asked for Symon the Monke they answered he was dead then the tooke his Chariot and departed and dyed within three dayes He admonished that his Sonne Henry would learne by his example to be genâle and leuing to his natiue people He being imbalmed his bowels were burââed in Crompton Abbey his Soldiers âolded his Corps triumphantly in Armour and honourably buried him in the Cathedrall Church or Worcester hauing raigned 17. yeares 6. monethâ and odde daies After whose death the Princes Lords Barons and strangers that were on the kings part with the Councell of the Legate Gualdo proclaimed Henry his sonne king and at Gloster with the Earle there they annointed and Crowned him King bâ the Legate Gualdo assisted with the Bishops of Winchester and Bath and called him Henry the third The Pope sent with all spéede that they should mightily stand âith the young king being but ten yeares old and defend England with Armâur and his thundring curses against Lodowicke Hée confirmed his Legat Gualdo and committed to his discretion all that appertained to his Office none to appeale from him Hee compelled the Prelates to bée sworne to the young King and punished them which refused Thâ Bishop of Winchester laid a heauie talke vpon his beneficed men to helpe the king in his warres Gualdo left not one beneficed man vnpunished that had taken part with the French King In this yeare Gualdo was sent for home to Rome for by this time he had welfaâoredly vnladen the purses of the Clergie men and returned with all his bags well stuffed leauing Cardinall Pandulfe behind him to supply his Baliwicke The Bishop of Lincolne not long before paid 1000. markes for recouery of his Office and an hundred markes to the Legate for his goodwill so were other holy Prelates and Priests taught by his example Inocentius Pope condemned Almeriâus a worthy Bishop for an hereticke for teaching and holding against Images also he condemned the Doctrine of Ioachim Abbas as before for heresie He brought in first the paying of priuie tyâhes and the receiuing once at Easter and the reseruation of the Sacrament and the going before it with a bell and a light He stirred vp Otho against Phillip the Emperour because he was elected without his will whereupon followed much slaughter in Germany and against Otho which he had made Emperour he set vp Fredericke king of Ciâle and caused the Archbishop of Mayence to excommunicate him and depose him of his Empire for which cause the Princes of Germany did inuade his Bishopricke and burned his possession all was because Otho held certaine Cities Townes and Câstles which the Pope said belonged to him In his time came the order of Blacke Friers called the Preaching Fryers it began of one Dominicke a Spaniard who after he had Preached ten yeares against the Albigenses and others that held against the Pope comming to Lateran desired to haue his Order of Preaching Fryers confirmed which the Pope refused vntill hee dreamt that the Church of Lateran was readie to fall vntill Dominicke came and propped it vp with his sholders and so preserued it The Pope waking called Dominicke to him and grânted his request Dominicks mother being great with child dreameâ she had a wolfe in her wombe which had a burning torâch in his mouth the which dreame the Preachers of that order aduance to their glory In his time came vp the order of the Minorits of one Frances an Italian hee left off shooes had but one cote of vile cloth and an hempen cord about his middle and so apparelled his Disciples teaching them to fulfill the perfection of the Gospell walke in pouertie and holy simplicitie this rule was confirmed by Pope Innocent Many Nobles and others in Rome builded manflons for him and his disciples he was likewise strâât to his flesh leauing clothes in winter he ãâã himselfe in Ice and snow he called pouerty his Lady he kept nothing ouer night he was so desirous of Martyrdome that he went to Siria to the Soldaâ who receiued him honourably it is written that Christ and his Saints marked him with fiue wounds These Franciscans or begging Fââers though they haue but one Rule they haue many Orders there by 101. seueral sorts of Friers and Nunnes which the reader if he be disposed may see in the booke at lârge with their names Fol 70. Hildegardis a Nunne a Prophetesse liued in the yeare 1170. She reprehendeth grieuously the abhominations of the lâues of the Spiritual Papists the contempt of their Office and destruction of Gods children with these words Now is the Law neglected amongst the Spirituall which neglâct to Preach and to doe good things The masters and Prelates sleepe and neglâct Iustice. The Church appeared to her in the shape of a ãâã her face ãâã with dirt and her ãâã rent complaining that the Priests did not shine ouer the people neither in Doctrine not example but contrary did driue the innocent lambe from them that Ecclesâasticall order grew worse and worse and Priests destroyed the law of God and did not teach it and prophââeth to them Gods heauie wrath and punishments She prophesieth likewise of the reformation of Religion and saith it shall be most godly saying Then shall the Crowne of the Apostolicall honour bee deuided because there shall be found no religion amongst them and the name of that dignity shall bée despised and they shall sât ouer them other men and other Archbishops and the Apostolicall order shall haue scarce Rome and a âew other Countries thereabout vnder his Crownâ and this shall be done partly be warâes and partly by a common consent of Spirituall and Seculer persons then Iustice shall florish and men shall honestly apply themselues to the
the Priests and Canons of the Cathedrall Church of Yorke become Monkes within the Churchyard he erected another Church of our Lady replenishing it with Monkes and there he kept his seat and was euer conuersant whereby the other Church was desolate and all the people gathered where the Bishop was so they were faine for shame and contempt either to relinquish the house or become Monkes so did Ethelwolfe driue out the Canons and Priests out of the Monasterie of Hide in Winchester and placed his Monkes so in Oxford and Mildune and diuerse places more seculer Priests and their wiues were expelled âo giue place to Monkes The Monkes of the primitiue time did differ from the Monkes of the middle time and from our Monkes of the latter age The name and order of Monkes began 300. yeares after Christ Basilius Magnus was one of the first institutors and commenders of that Superstition Cassianus maketh mention of a certaine Monastery in Thebaid wherein were 5000. Monkes vnder the gouernment of one Abbot and héere also in England mention is made before of Bangor wherein were 2200. Monkes vnder one mans ruling in the yeare 596. but these were such as either by tyranny of persecution were driuen into desart places or else of their owne deââtion ioyned with Superstition for the loue they had to Spirituall contemplation and hatred of the wicked world withdrew themselues from all company hauing all things common these were Lay-men leading a stricter kinde of life then others as Saint Augustine Lerome and others testifie one thing pertaineth to the Monkes and another thing to the Clergie the Clergie fed the flocke and the monkes are fed It appeareth also by the forth Canon of the Councell of Calcedon that Monkes should not meddle with matters of the Church And Leo in his 62. Epistle doth forbid Monkes and lay-men to bée admitted to preach They differed from the Monkes of the middle age in thrée points First they were bound to no strict apparell or dyet or any thing else Secondly they were but Lay-men onely being of a stricter life then the rest and had nothing to doe in Ecclesiasticall matters vntill Pope Boniface the 4. gaue them authoritie Thirdly though many of the Monkes of the first age liued single from wiues yet some of them were maried and none of them were forbidden from mariage Athanasius in his Epistle ad Pracontium saith hee knew Monkes and Bishops maried men and fathers of children Yet though the former Monkes were better then the latter yet amongst them superstition beganne to créepe into the Church by the subtiltie of Satan and all for the ignorance of frée iustification by Faith in Christ as for example One Abbot Moses testifieth of himselfe that hee so afflicted himselfe with fasting and watching that hee felt no appetite to meate and could not sleepe that hee prayed to God to giue him a little sléepe some péece of the night This Cassianus doth testifie Cap. 7. Cola. â Hée saith also of an olde Hermite that made a vowe hée would neuer eate without some guest sometimes fasted thrée or foure dayes for lacke of guestes One Mucius to declare his obedience to the Abbot did not sticke at the commaundement of the Abbot to cast his sonne into the water not knowing whetherany were there to saue him from drowning preferring the Abbots commaundement before the commaundement of God And Basilius Magnus and Nazeanzenus with immoderate austeritie did so plucke downe themselues that when they were called to bee Bishoppes they were not able to sustaine the laboure thereof After these Monks followed Monkes of the middle Age who increased both in number and Superstition from their dennes in Wildernesses the approched to great townes where they had solemnâ Monasteries founded by Kings Queenes Kings Daughters and rich Consuls for the remedie of their Soules remission and the redemption of their sinnes the good of their Fathers posâerities of their Country and the Honour of our Lady and lightly it was for some murder or great sinne In which monasteries they abounded in wealth and riches and did swimâe in Superstition and Pharisaicall hypocrisie being yoaked in all their doings to certaine obseruations in watching in sleeping in rising in praying in walking in talking in looking in tasting in touching in gestures and in their Uestures and the number of their Sects were diuerse some after Basilius rule went in wâiteâ some after Benicts rule went in blacke some after Hieromes rule their white cloth girt with leather girdles some Gregorians copper coloured some Gray monkes some ware a coate of male vpon their hare bodies with a blacke cloke thereupon some had white rochets vpon a blacke cote some cloke coule and cap all blewe some Charter monkes wearing heire-cloth next their body some Flagillants went in long linnen shirts with an open place in the backe where they beate themselues with scourges on the bare shinne euery day before the people till the bloud ranne downe saying it was reuealed by an Angell that in scourging themselues so within thirtie daies and twelue houres they should be made so pure from sinne as they were when they first receiued bapâisme some Iesuits with a white girdle and a russet coule with enumerable more Orders they were so subiect to seruile rules that no part of Christian libertie remained amongst them and so drowned in Superstition that they lost Christs religion and the sence of mân King Edgar reduced England into a full and perfect Monarchie hee would suffer no man of what degree soeuer he were to daâly out his lawes without punishment in all his time there was neither priuie picker nor open theefe for if any were a âheefe he was sure to leese his life He coused Ludwallus Prince of Wales to pay him yearely for tribute 300. wolues whereby within foure yeares a wolfe could scarce be found in England and Wales He had in readinesse 3600. ships of warre and in the Sommer 1200. kept the East Seas so many the West Seas and so many the South Seas in the winter he ãâ¦ã Progresse ouer the Land to sée how his Lawes were kept that the poore should not be opprest by the mightie In the 13. yeare of his raigne eight Kings that were vnder him of which the King of Scots was one came to him to Chester and did him Homage next day in a royaltie he caused the eight kings euery one rowing with an Oare to cary him in a boâe vp and downe the riuer to the Church of Saint Iohn and vnto his Palace againe in token that he was Lord of so many Prouinces He sent one Ethelwold an Earle of his priuie Counsell to sée Elfrida daughter of the Duke of Somerset whose beautie was commended vnto him who tolde the King all things contrary and after maried her the King came to see her her husband had prayed her to put on her worst apparell and disgrace her selfe as much as shee could but she set her selfe forth as gloriously as she
wounded for obeying their liege King came and were absolued of their owne Bishops but the Spirituall men were compelled to séeke their absolution of the Pope Some of the Clergie were not pleased that the King should be absolued vntill the King had payed all which any of the Clergie should demaund and complained of the Popes Legate that he was too partiall for the King in the matter of restitution and because he went with the Kings Officers to the Cathedrall Churches Abbyes Priories and other Churches vacant and appointed two Iucumbants to euery place one for the King and the other for the parties and commonly compelled the election to passe vpon him whom the king nominated The Archbishop called a Councell at Oxford some would not tary séeing the confysion thereof others reuiled the king most spiâefully behinde his backe saying he ought to bée taken for no Gouernour of theirs that it grew to a grieuous tumult and most grieuous commotion In this years Pope Inocent held the Councell at Rome called Lateran it was pretended to be for the râformation of the Church Uniuersall and to haue the holy Land recouered from the Turtes but it was because the Doctrine of the Truth which they call Hereâââ begin to ãâã very high by reason whereof the Empârour Otho and many other Priestes and their Countries were excommunicated In this Councell he established by publique Deerce that the Pope should haue the correction of all Christian Princes and that no Emperour should bee admitted except he were sâorne to him and Crowned of him Item that whosoever spake euâil of the Pope should be punished in Hell with eternall damnation Item Transubstantiation was first inuented brought in and a Pix ordâined to couer the bread and bell to be rung bâfore it when it went abroad and the Masse to bée made equall with Christs Gospell Item the Act was established and ratified of compelling Priests to abiure lawfull mââiage Marke how the Priests and their adherents were plagued for handling king Iohn so Stephen Lancton Archbishop of Canterbury in this Councell was excommunicated of Pope Inocent with all thâse Bishops Preâlates Priests Barons and Commons which had béene of Councell with him in the former Rebellion and when the Archbishop had ãâã instant sute to be absolued the Pope answered I sweare by Saint Peter thou shalâ not so soone obtaine thy absolution for thou hast hurt the king of England and iniured âuch the Church of Rome He was also suspended from Church saying Masse or exercising other Ecclesiasticall Office because he would not execute the Popes curse vpon the said Rebellious Barons and cursed all the other rebels with bâll bookâ and candle and they appealed to the generall Councell In the same yeare many were summoned to Rome because they would not consent to the Kings deposing and submitting to the Pope Thus the whole Realme was miserably deuided into two factious some Lords and Gentlemen a great number followed the King and loued his doings Others fled to the French King desiring of him his eldest sonne Lodowicke and they would elect him their King and that he would send with him a mightie Armie to subdue the King but as certaine Lords and Barons were chusing Lodowicke for their king the Pope sent a Cardinall to stop their rash and cruell attempts charging the French king vpon his alegiance with all possible power to âauour and deâend King Iohn of England his Feodaây or Tenant Tho French king answered The Realme of England was neuer yet part of Peters patrimony neither now is nor euer should be No Prince may pledge or giue away his Kingdome without the lawfull consent of his Barons If the Pope shall seâ vp such a president he shall at his pleasure bring all Christian Princes and their Kingdomes to naught Though he be my aduersary I much lament that he ââth brought the noble ground and Quéene of Prouinces vnder miserable ãâã The chiefe of his Lords standing by cryed by the bloud of God in whome we hope to be saued we will sticke in this Article to the loosing of our heads that no King may put his âand vnder tribute and make his Nobilitie captiue seruants Lodowicke ãâã that his purposed iourney might not vs let for the Barons haue elected mee and I will not loose my right but fight for it to death and I haue friândes there to which the King answered not belike doubting somewhat because he saw all ãâã of the Priests that they might liue licentiously in wealth frée from the Kings yoake The same time a such treasons and conspiracies were wrought by Clergie men that the King knew not where to finde trustie friends At length he went to Douer looking for ayde from other quarters to whom resorted a wonderful number of men from Flanders ãâã Holland and many other parts It was reported the Pope writ to them to aâde him First bâcause he submitted his kingdome to his protection and he had taken vpon him the ãâã of the white Crosse to winne againe Ierusalem Thirdly because he had gotten by him England and Ireland and was like to loose both Upon the Aââânciation day of our Lady hee âooke vpon him his voyagâ againâââhe Turkes to recouer Ierusalem He told his seruants ãâã did prospeââ with him since he submitted himselfs and his kingdomes to the Church of Rome In this yeere one Simon Langton was chosen ãâã of Yorke but he was deposed by the Pope because he was brotheâ to Stephen ârchbishop of ãâã wââm the Pope hated hauing brought him vp of naught and âound him so ãâã and he places the Bishop of ãâã in his âoome The ãâã night the Pope renewed his curse vpon the king of France his ãâã for vsurping vpon king Iohn and against the said Simon Langton and Geruas Hobruge for prouoking him to the same with wonâerfull ãâã cousing the âels to ring caâles to be ââghted and doores opened the ãâ¦ã to be red committing them wholy to the Deuâl and communded the âishops and ãâã to poblish it through the whole Realme to the âerrour of all subiects The ãâã Simon and Geruais derâââd him and appealed vnto the ãâã all Councell for Lodowicke and themselues The Magestrates and citizens of London did likewise ãâ¦ã at the Popes commandements and kept company with the excommunicated at âable and Church in contempt of the Pope and ãâã Lodowicke at ãâã taking himselfe king made Simon Langton higâ Chancellour and Geruais Hobruge his chiefe Preacheâ vy whose daily Preaching the Barâââ and Citizens bring excommunicated caused all the Church doores to be opened and ãâã sung and Lodowicke was sit for them in all paints About this time Cardinall Pandulphus was made Bishop of Norwich for gathering Peter ãâã an old âillage of the Pope other great labours âone by him for the Pope About this time one Uicont of Meinn a ãâã man which came ouer with Lodowicke felll ââcke and called to him certaine English Baronâ and said I pittie the
also lampes tapers and such other things profit nothing 8 That no Images should be set vp to bee worshipped âp the Scriptures and therefore they are to be taken downe in Churches 9 That Matrimony is prohibitâd to no kindâ of men by the worde but euery whoremonger is by the word sequestred from the Communion of the Church 10 That single life vnchast filthy is most vnséemely for priesthood The Bishops would not come but sent their Diuines then the disputation was begun by Swinglius Oecolampadius Bucer Capito Blaurer and diuers others defended the Conclusions Amongst others Conrado Treger an Austine Fryer of great fame impugned them who at last when hee sought for help besides the Scriptures the Masters of the Disputations would not suffer him so to doe Wherefore hee departed out of the place the disputations ended the foresaid conclusions were approued by the common consent of the most part and were ratified obserued in Berâe and proclaimed by the Magistrate in sundry places thereabouts and Masses Altars and Images abolished in all places and immediately after was the like reformation at Constance and after at Geneua Pope Clem 7. in this yéere conspired with the Uenetians raised a great army and proclaimed war against the Emperor about the possession of Italy the Empââror sent his army to Millaine tooke the City Castle marching towards Rome took it spoiled it besieged Pope Clement with his Cardinals in mount Adrian and took the pope who could not be ransomed vnder 40000. Floreines This Pope bare great hatred against the Family of the Columni because it was imperiall and threatned the Cardinall thereof to take away his Cardinals hat who answered if he so did he would put on a helmet to ouerthrow the Popes triple Crowne Our Cardinall of England hearing of the captiuitie of his father the Pope stirred vp the King all he might fight with the Emperour and defend the Faith and he should receiue a great reward of God The King answered he was sorie for it but where you would haue me defend the Faith I assure you this warre is not for thâ Faith but for temporall possessions I and my people can by no meanes rescue him but if any treasure may helpe him take that which seemeth to you conuenient Then the Cardinall made out of the Kings treasure twelue score thousand pounds which he carried ouer the Sea with him then the Cardinall sent his commission to all Bishops commanding fastings and solemne processions to be had wherein they did sing the Letany after this sort Sancta Maria ora pro Clemente Papa Sancte Petre ora pro Clemente Papa c. The Cardinall passing the Seas went out of Callice with the Bishop of London the Lord Sandes the Kings Chamberlaine the Earle of Derby Sir Henry Gilford Sir Thomas Moore with many other Knights and Esquires to the number of one thousand and two hundred horses hauing in his carriage foure score Wagons and threescore Mules and Sumpter Horses he bestowed great summes of money in hyring Souldiers and furnishing out the French Kings armie and appointed certain English Captains in the K. of Englands name to go against the Emperor to rescue the Pope hee caused Clarentius king at Armes to ioyne with the French Herald openly to defie the Emperor wherupon ensued great troubles in England Spain the low Countries of Flanders Brabant and Zeland all which his priuie policies and treasons were shortly after known to the King In this yeare a Iew in Constantinople was baptized and became Christian which thing vehemently exasperated the Turks against him and fearing it should be some detriment to their Mahumeticall law they sought to kill him which they did and cast his dead carkasse into the stréets commanding that none should burie it Wherin the glorie of Christ appeared for the dead corps lying there nine daies was as fresh coloured without corruption or smell as if it had bin aliue whereat the Turks being astonished took it vp and buried it The Cardinall hauing defied the Emperour as before and made him displeased with the King of England he further whispered in the Kings eare that the Emperour had euill intreated and imprisoned the Kings Embassadours in Spaine by which meanes the Emperours Embassadour in England was imprisoned and his goods seised vntill Letters came to the contrarie and then he was set at libertie When the Embassadour complained vnto the Cardinall hee layed all the fault vpon Clarentius and that Clarentius had defied the Emperour without the Kings knowledge by the request of the Herald of France and that at his returne he should lose his head at Callice Clarentius hearing hereof came priuily into England and was brought vnto the King before the Cardinall knew it to whom he shewed the Cardinalls commission and their gentle intreatie When the King heard hereof and had mused a while he said O Lord Iesus hee that I trusted most told me all these things contrary well Clarentius I will be no more so light of credence And from thence the King neuer put any more trust in the Cardinall Some write that the Cardinall did beare the Emperour such malice because when the Pope was imprisoned as before the Cardinall wrote vnto the Emperour to make him Pope and he sent him an answere that pleased him not whereupon he writ menacing Letters vnto him that if he would not make him Pope hee would make such a rufling betwixt Christian Princes as was not this hundred yéers before to make the Emperour repent yea though it cost the whole Realme of England the Emperour returned him answere bidding him looke well vnto it lest through his doings it should cost him the Realme of England indeede Thus King Henry came to the Title of Defender of the Faith When Luther had vtterd the abomination of the Pope and his Clergie and diuers books were com into England Our Cardinall to find a remedie for it sent to Rome for this title of Defender of the Faith After the Uicar of Croydon preached that the K. would not lose it for all London and twenty miles about it When this glorious title was come from Româ the Cardinall brought it to the King at Gréenwich and although the King had read it yet in the morning were all the Lords and Gentlemen sent for that could be to come and receiue it with honor In the morning the Cardinall went thorough the backside to the Frier obseruants and som went round about and met him from Rome part met him halfe way and some at Court gate and the King met him in the Hall and brought him into a great chamber where was a seat prepared on high for the King and Cardinall Whilst the Bull was read with all pompe wise men laughed then the King went into his Chappâll to heare masse the Cardinall being inuested to sing masse the Earle of Essex brought the bason of water the Duke of Suffolke gaue the asasy the Duke of Northfolk
of such a kindred that she might haue liued in great prosperity if she would rather haue followed the world then Christ at the day of her execution she was brought into Smithfield in a chaire because she could not goe on her feete by meanes of her torments she was tyed by the middle with a chaiâe that held vp her body then Doctor Shaxton began his Sermon Anne Askew hearing and answering againe vnto him where hee sayd well she confirmed the same where hee iaid amisse she said hee speaketh without booke There was at the same time three burned with her One Nicholas Belemy a Priest of Shropshire Iohn Adams a Taylor and Iohn Lacels Gentleman of the Court and Kings houshold Wrisley Lord Chancellor the old Duke of Norfolke the Earle of Bedford and the Lord Mayor Wrisle sent Anne Askew the Kings Pardon if shee would recant she said the came not thither to deny her Lord and master Then were the Letters likewise offered vnto the others who in like maner followed the constancie of the woman Wherevpon the Mayor commanded the fire to bee put vnto them Sir George Blage of the Priuy Chamber was imprisoned condemned and should haue been burned but that the King pardoned him For saying the Masse auailâth neither quick nor the dead being asked what then it was good for he said belike to keep a horse from stumbling The troubles of Katherine Parre Henry the eight his last Wife for the Gospel by the meanes of Gardiner and others A Yéere after the King came from Bullen he was informed that the Quéens Katherine Parre was much giuen to the reading and study of âhe Scriptures and that shee had retained diuers godly learned Preachers to instruct her therein with whom shee vsed priuately to conferre and in the afternoones one of them made collation to her her Ladies and Gentlewomen and others disposed to heare in which Sermons they oftentimes touched the abuses in the Church and often shee would debate with the King touching Religion and perswade him as hee had to the glory of GOD and his eternall fame bâgunne a godly worke in banâshing that monstrous Idoll of Rome so hee would purge his Church from the dregges thereof wherein was yet great superstition And though the King in the later end grew oppânionate and would not bee taught nor contended withall by Argument yet towards her he refrained his accustomed manner for neuer handmaide sought more to please her Mistresse then she to please his humour and she was of such singular beauty fauâur and comely personage wherein the King was greatly delighted but Gardiner Bishop of Winchester Wrisley Lord Chancelor and others of the Kings Priuy Chamber practised her death that they might the better stop the passage of the Gospell and hauing taken away the patronesse of the professors of the truth they might inuade the remainder with fire and sword but they duâst not speake to the King touching her because they saw the King loued her so well At length the King was ââcke of a sore legge which made him very froward and the Queene being with him did not faile to vse all occasions to mooââ him zealâusly to proceed in the reformation of the Church The King shewed some tokens of mislike and broke off the matter and knit vp the Arguments with gentle words and after plâasant talke she tooke her leaue The Bishop of Winchester beeing there the King immediately vpon her departure vsed these words It is a good hearing when women become such Clarks and much to my comfort to come in mine old age to be taught by my Wife Then the Bishop shewed a mislike that the Queene would so much forget her selfe to stand in Argument with his Maiestie whose Iudgement and Diâinitie hee extolled to his face aboue Princes of that and other ages and of Doctors professed in Diuinitie and that it wss vnseemely for any of his Subiects to argue with him so malapertly and that it was gréeuous to all his Councelors and Seruants to heare the same inferring how perilous it hath euer been for a Prince to suffer such insolent words of a Subiect who as they are bold against their Soueraignes words so they want not will but strength to ouerthwart them in deeds Then the Religion by the Queene so stiffely maintained did dissolue the politick gouernâment and made the peoples opinions so odious and perillous vnto the Princes estate that they daâe affââme that the greatest Subiect in the Land defendeth those arguments which they doe yet he said he would not neither durst without good warranty from his Maiestie speake his knowledge in the Queenes cause though many apparant reasons made for him and such as his duety and zeale to his Maiesâies preseruation would not licence him to conceale though the vttering thereof through her and her faction might be his dâstruction and theres which tendred his Maiesties safety without his Maiestie would be his protector which if hee would doe hee with others of his faithfull Councelors could disclose such Treasons cloked with heresies that his Maiestie should casâly perceiue how perilous a matter it is to cherish a Serpent within his owne bosome and he crept so farre into the King at that time that he and his fellowes filled the Kings mistrustfull minde with such feares that the King gaue them warrant to consult together about drawing of Articles against the Queene wherein her life might be touched Then they thought it best at first to begin with such Ladies as she most esteemed and werâ priuy to all her doing as the Lady Harbert after Countesse of Pembroâke the Queenes Sister and the Lady Iane and the Lady Tirwit all of her Priuy Chamber and to accuse them vpon six Articles and to search there Closets and Coffers that they might finde somewhat to charge the Queene and that being found the Queâne should bee taken and carried in a Barge by night to the Tower of which aduice the King was made priuy by Gardiner and the Lord Chancelor to which they had the Kings consânt and the time and place appointed This purpose was so finely handled that it grew within few daies of the time appointed and the poore Quâene suspected nothing but after her accustomed manner visited the King stillâââ deale with him touching Religion as before After the King brake the whole practise to one Doctor Wendy one of his Physitions telling him that hee would no longer bee troubled with such a Doctresse as shee was but charged him vpon his life not to vtter it to any But it came to passe that the Bill of Articles drawne against the Queene and subscribed with the Kings owne hand falling from the bâsome of one of the Councell was found of some godly person and brought to the Queene who seeing it fell into a great agony and Melancholy The King hearing what perill of life she was in sent his Phisition vnto her and the said Doctor Wendy perceiuing the matter by her words brake with
death as fruitfull seede hath taken such fruit in some that it is yet a linely and diligent preaching vnto some against superstition and Idolatry vsed in their Churches The tragicall History of the worthy Duke of Sommerset KIng Edward had three vnckles by his mothers side Edward Thomas Henry Semer Edward was made protector of the Realme and Thomas was made high Admirall of the same so long as they were ioined together in amitie they preserued themselues and the King and the Common-wealth Sir Thomas Semer high Admirall married Queene Katherine late wife of King Henry as you haue heard betwixt the said Queene and the Dutchesse of Somerset there fell great displeasure And therevpon in the behalfe of their wiues grudge began betweene the brethren after it was laid vnto the Lord Admirals charge that hee purposed to destroy the yong Kingâ and transâate the Crowne vnto himselfe and for the same he was attainted and condemned and did suffer at Tower Hill the twentith of March one thousand fiue hundred forty and nine many reported that the Duchesse of Sommerset had wrought his death whereby it came to passe whether by Gods iust iudgement or no In October after that there was great consultation amongst the Lords in the house of Maister Yorke and at Baynards Castle and in the Lord Mayor of Londons house against the Lord Protector remaining then with the King at Hampton Court The King with his Councell hearing thereof first Secretary Peter with the Kings message was sent vnto them whom the Lords retained still with them making no answer wherevpon the Lord Protector writ vnto them that the King was informed of your assembly wherefore we sent Maister Secretary Peter vnto you His Maiestie and wee of his Councell héere doe not a little maruell that you stay héere âhe said M. Peter and haue not answered his Maiesty and we are sory to sée your doings bent with violence to bring the King and vs to these extremities which if you will take no other way we intend with violence to defend with death and to put it in Gods hand who giueth victory as it pleaseth him as touching priuate matters âo auoide the effusion of Christian bloud and to preserue the Kings Maiesties person his Realme and Subiects you shall finde vs agréeable to any reasonable conditions that you will require for wee esteemâ the Kings wealth and tranquilitie of the Realme more then other worldly things yea then our life praying them to send their determinate answere by Maister Peter or some other Notwithstanding this Letter the Lords persisted still in their purpose and took aduice to kéep themselues in the Citie of London as strong as they might and willed the Mayor and Aldermen to prouide a substantiall watch by night and by day for the safegard of the Citie and gates Then they demanded fiue hundred men to ayde them to fetch the Lord Protector out of Windsor from the King and they published a Proclamation against the said Protector to this effect First that the Protector by his euill gouernment was the cause of all the sedition that of late happened within the Realme and of the losses of the Kings ordinance in France and that it appeared by the building of his sumptuous houses in the time of the Kings warre that he sought his owne glory that he esteemed nothing the graue counsell of the Councellors that he had sowed diuisions betwéen the Nobles Gentlemen and Commons That the Nobles assembled themselues only to cause the protector to haue liued within limits to haue put such order for the surety of the King as was fit That the protector slandered the Councell vnto the King and that hee was a great traytor and therefore the Lords defired the Citie Commons to ayde them to take him from the King Then the King sent a Letter vnto the Mayor and Citizens commanding them to ayde him with a thousand men out of their Citie well armed and to send them with all speed vnto the Castle of Windsor These contrary commandements comming both at one instant vnto the Mayor Citizens of London it séemed very doubtfull to them which way to take at the last stepped vp a Citizen George Studlaw and said I remember in the time of Henry the third the Barons as the Lords doe now demanded ayde of the Mayor and Citizens of London and the Citie ayded them against the King and it came to an open battell and the Lords preuailed against the King and took the King and his son prisoners and vpon certaine conditions the King his Son were restored againe and the King openly granted his pardon to the Lords and Citizens it was ratified by Act of Parliament but it was neuer forgotten during the Kings life the Liberties of the Citie were taken away and strangers appointed to be our gouernors and the Citizens giuen away body and goods and from one persecution vnto another were most miserably afflicted such it is to enter into the wrath of a Prince for Salomon saith the wrath of a Prince is death Therefore I would councell the Lords with vs to make sute to the King that he would please to heare the complaints that may be iustly proued against the L. Protector and I doubt not but this matter will be pacified and that the King nor yet the Lords haue cause to seeke for further ayde neither we to offend any of them both Then the Lords sent Sir Philip Hobby with their Letter of credence vnto the King beséeching him to giue credit to that which he should say who so handled the matter that the Lord Protector was commanded from the Kings presence and shortly committed to warde in the Castle of Windsor The same day the Lords of the Councell resorted vnto the King and the next day they brought the Lord Protector vnto the Tower Shortly after the Lords resorted vnto the Tower and there charged the Lord Protector with sundry Articles the effect of them is contained in the proclamation aforesaid and although these purposes of man intended the spilling of his life and the Lord so ordered the matter by the meanes of the Kings so laboring for his vnkle that in short while he was let out of the Tower and continued at liberty two yeares and two daies After he was againe apprehended committed againe to the Tower after hee was brought to Westminister Hall to be arraigned and there was charged with felony treason he put himselfe to be tried by his Péeres who discharged him of treason but they accounted him guilty of Felony for purposing the death of the Duke of Northumberland and others and was returned vnto the Tower againe When he was brought to his execution vpon tower Hill he came with the same gesture which he vsed changing neither voice nor countenance and knéeling down he commended himselfe to God and his prayers ended he turned toward the people as it were with a certaine fatherly loue to children and said Dearely
send an armie to restore the Roman Religion in England he would pray that the Roman armie might preuaile in that case and in that faith he would spend ten thousand millions of liues if hee had them whereupon hee was likewise condemned to bee hanged drawne and quartered Robert Sutton Priest was indited for the same treasons he said the Quéen was supreme gouernour within her Highnesse Dominions ouer all persons but not ouer all causes he was found guiltie and had his iudgement as the rest It was proued that Welden was sent ouer into the Low-countries to kill the Earle of Leicester who apprehended him and sent him ouer into England to which he answered he had done nothing but as a Catholike Priest ought to doe by the direction of our most holy Father the Pope being the head of the Church who onely hath authority ouer all persons and in all causes Ecclesiasticall and in this Roman Religion I will die Then he prayed all Catholikes to pray for him and so mumbling certaine Latin prayers he died The other likewise died as obstinate traytors as himselfe Doctor Lopez Stephano de Ferrera de Gama Manuell Lewis Tyuaco Portugalls DOctor Lopez was fauourably receiued into the Quéens house a long time as one of her physitians the other two were Portugalls lately receiued to the seruice of the King of Spain yet colourably resorting into this Realme Lopez confessed that hee was of late yeares allured secretly to doe seruice vnto the King of Spaine and from one of his Priuie Councell he receiued a Iewell of gold of good value garnished with a large Diamond and a large Rubie and afterward he assented to take away the Quââns life by poysoning vpon reward promised him of fifty thousand crownes for which purpose hee sent a messenger ouer to Callice to confer with the Count âuents for this practise and that after he sent an other messenger vnto Ibarra the King of Spaines Secretary and to the said Count Fuentes promising to poison the Queene if âhee might haue the fifty thousand crownes that were offered deliuered vnto him and he confessed the other two were his messengers in the aforesaid messages and conspired with him to execute the same and they all confessed that the stay that it was not done proceeded much against their mindes for want of the deliuerie of the said fifty thousand crownes which was promised by a day But the King of Spaine finding fault that the messenger which should carry the money was too base a fellow to be trusted wââh so much deferred the sending thereof but after billes of Exchange were deliuered by the Count Fuentes for the money by the direction of the King of Spaine at the very instant when it should haue been done it pleased God of his goodnesse towards her Maiestie to suffer this conspiracie to be very happily diâcouered by the diligence of one of the Lords of her Maiesties Priuy Councell so all the thrée offenders were taken with their Letters and writings expressing their owne actions and Councels and the directions of the King of Spaines Councellors and the other two confessed the like in effect as Lopez had done wherevpon they were all three condemned for treason and executed accordingly Manuel Lewis repented at his death and prayed God that all those things that are atchieued by the King of Spaâne against the Quéenes Maiestie might take none effect and that all the treasons which are wrought may bee discouered that God would prolong the life of the Quéenes Maiestie as shee deserueth and her faithfull subiects desire Edmund Yorke and Richard Williams NOt long after Lopez his treason another like conspiracie was concluded at Bruxells to murder the Queene whereof Stephano Ibarra the King of Spaines Secretary procuring the sâme to bee done by the said Yorke and Williams and others and Hugh Owen an English Rebell a Spanish Pentioner deliuered vnto the said Yorke an assignation in writing subscribed by the said Secretarie Ibarra his hand for assurance of payment of forty thousand crownes to bee giuen vnto him from the King of Spaine if hee would kill the Queene or if hee would assist Richard Williams or any other that should haue performed the same and the assignation was deliuered vnto Holt a Iesuit an old English Rebell who produced the Sacrament and kissed iâ and sware in the presence of Yorke and other Rebels that he would surely pay the same Money vnto him as soone as the fact should be committed and vpon this matter were three seuerall consultations of Englishmen being Rebels and Fugitiues and Pentioners of the King of Spaine The names of the principall parties of the consultations are William Stanley the said Holt a Iesuit Thomas Throgmorton the said Hugh Owen Doctor Gifford Doctor Worthington Charls Paget one Tipping Edward Garret and Michaell Moody but bâ Gods good prouidence the said Yorke and Williams were taken comming into England and confessed the whole matter as aforesaid Holt said to Yorke many Englishmen haue failed to perform this enterprise but if it should not be performed by you he would after imploy strangers in it Patricke Cullen an Irishman HE was likewise a Pentioner of the King of Spaine and a Fencer he was perswaded by William Stanley and one Iaques who was his Lieutenant and one Shirwood and the said Holt to come secretly into England and to kill her Maiestie and he assented thereunto and had thirty pound of Stanley Iaques towards his iourney with offer of great reward and comming into England he was taken and by good proofes charged there with he confessed the same in the manner as is before here expressed Richard Hesketh HEe was a Gentleman of Lancashire well acquainted with the Lord Strange he was sent into England by Cardinall Allen William Stanley and Thomas Worthington to intice Ferdinand the Lord Strange sonne and heire to the Earle of Darby to take vpon himselfe the title to be heire vnto the crowne of England and to shew him the opinion of the Cardinall and many others that he should take vppon him the title of King with assurance of treasure and forreine forces to maintaine the same which the said Hesketh did very diligently performe with many reasons as he was instructed but the Lord Strange being at Heskeths comming newly Earle of Darbie by the death of his father was so wise and dutifull that he stayed Hesketh who vpon the Earles report was apprehended and confessed the whole matter wheupon he was condemned and shewed great repentance and cursed his instructors and was executed SQVIRE THis Uiper Squire was likewise sent by the inticement of the aforesaid Serpentine generation beyond Sea to kill her Maiestie his plot was to so poyson the pummell of her Saddle that if she did lay her hand vpon it her whole bodie should be therewith poysoned but by the sure prouidence of God which euer did preserue her and âoreshew vnto her all her dangers to the preuention of them this practise came
his own seruants with him Yet it pleased God after many strokes on all hands to giue his maiesties seruants the victory the said E. of Gowry being striken dead with a stroke through y â hart which the said sir Io Ramsey gaue him without once crying vpoÌ God the rest of his seruants dung ouer the staires with many hurts as ân like maner y â said sir Tho Erskin ãâã Hugh Hereis sir Iohn Ramsey were all thrââ very sore hurt and wouâded But al the time of this âight the D. of Lânnox the Earl of Mar the rest of his Maieâties traine âere striking with great hammerâ at the vtter doore whârby his maiesty paâât vp to the chamber with the said M. Alexander which also he had lockt in his by-comming with his maiesty to the chamber but by reason of the strength of the said double doore âhe whole wall being likewise of boords and yéelding with the strokesâ it did bide theâ ãâã space of half an houre more before they could break it â hauâ entreââe who ãâ¦ã with his maiesty found beyond their expectation his Maiesty deliuered from so imminent a perill the said late Earle the principall conspirator lying dead at his Maiesties âéet Immediatly thereafter his maiesty knéeling down on his knées in the middest of his own seruants they all kneeling round about him his maiesty out of his own mouth thanked God of that miraculous deliuerance and victory assuring himselfe that God hath preserued him from so dispaiâed a peril for the perfecting of some greater work behind to his glory and for procuring by him the weale of his people y â God had committed to his charge In the first beginning of the Kings Maiesties raign ouer England William Watson William Clarke Seminary Priests and George Brooke brother vnto the Lo Cobham had most traiterously deuised a plot whereby the Kings person should haue bâen surprised and the whole kingdome ouerthrowne and they had entised to the imbracing their trayterous Machinations Anthony Copley Gentleman Sir Griffin Markam Knight the Lord Cobham the Lord Gray Sir Walter Rawleigh and others But before they had brought their Conspiracies vnto âffect the Lord of his accustâmed goodnes and carefulnes ouer his Maiestie made all their Conspiracies apparant vnto the King and his Councell and about the middest of Iuly in the first yeare of his Highnes raigne proclamations were made out for the apprehension of them whereby they were taken and in Nouâmber after they were all condemned of High Treason and the nine and twenty day of Nouember the two Priests were executed and sir dayes after George Brooke was âeheaded and the ninth of December Sir Griffin Markam and the Lord Cobham and the Lord Gray after they had been seuerally brought vpon the scaffold in the Castle of Winchester and had made their Confessions and prepared themselues likewise seuerally to die vpon the sudden the Kings warrant written with his own hand was there deliuered vnto Sir Beniamin Tichborne high Sheriffe of Hampshire commanding him to stay execution these three and Sir Water Rawleigh were returned priâoners vnto the Tower the fifteenth of December The Gunpowder Treason THomas Pearcy Robert Catesby Thomas Winter others in the last yeare of the raigne of Q. Elizabeth by the inââigation of certaine Iesuites practised with thâ King of Spain to send a well âurnished Army vpon England promising him great ayde to entertaine them at their arriuall at Milford Hauen and to that purpose the King promised to ãâã them fifây thousand pound for leuying of horse and foote and preparation of Munition in England to second them but whilst this was in a manner concluded Q. Elizabeth dyed the King of Spaine vpon certaine knowledge that K. Iames was established dispatchâd his Ambassadors and Commissioners for England âor coâfirmation of a lasting Peace between them yet neuerthelesse the said Rob. Catesby sent Tho Winter againe to the King of Spaine to resolicite their former proiect but the King answered him your old Quéens is dead with whom I had wars and you haue a new King with whom I haue euer bin in good peace and amity and for continuance thereof I haue sent my speciall Commissioners and vntill I sée what will become thereof I will not hearken vnto any other course whatsoeuer When Winter returned and made this knowne vnto Catesby Pearcy and the rest then they began to cast about what they might doe of themselues to aduance the Romance Catholick Religion but first they would see the euent of the first Parliament if that would mittigate any former Lawes and try what good the Conclusion of Peace with Spaine would doe vnto them before they attempted any further but when they perceiued that neither Parliament nor publike Peace sorted in any part to their desire and that the Peace concluded was rather a more ready meanes for the Law to procéed against them then otherwise because the Peace concerned onely the Amitie of Christian Princes for the generall good of Christendome without any particular or priuat respect then Catesby told the rest he had a deuice in his head that should free them and the rest of the English Catholiques from their oppressions and when he had found out âit Ministers for execution of his deuice after they had taken oath and Sacrament for secresie hee told them hee had deuised the meane to vndermine and blow vp the Parliament house at the instant when the King Queene Prince Peeres and Commons were all assembled which proiect they presently embraced and forthwith Pearcy hired certaine lodgings close to the Parliament house and then they appointed Miners who with great difficultie digged and vndermined a part of the wall but after a while they vnderstood that the Uaât right vnder the Parliament house was to bee let to hyre then Guydo Fawkes went and hyred it this Fawkes was late a Souldiour in Flanders and for this purpose was sent for who by consent of the rest changed his namâ and was called Iohn Iohnson Maister Pearcies man after they had hyred the Uaut theâ secretly conuayed into it thirty and sir barrels of powder and couered them all ouer with Billets and Faggots âbout ten daies before the Parliamânt should begin an vnknowne party in the Euening met a seruant of the Lord Mounteagles in the streât and deliuered him a Letter charging him speedily to giue it vnto his Lord which he did when his Lord had read it and obserued the dangerous cântents with a speciall caueat not to appeare the first day of Parliament he was amazed and forthwith deliuered it to the Earle of Salisbury the Kings Principall Secretary a chiefe Counselor of Estate when the Earle had iudiciously obserued the strange Phrase and Tenor thereof with the terrible threats therein against the whole State he acquainted the Lord Chamberlain therewith and then they cânioined vnto them the Lord Admirall the Earles of Worcester and Northampton who instantly consulted what was
CHRISTS VICTORIE OVER SATHANS TYRANNIE WHERIN JS CONTAINED A CATALOGVE OF ALL CHRISTS FAITHFVLL SOVLDIERS THAT THE DIVELL either by his grand Captaines the EMPEROVRS or by his most deerly beloued sonnes and heyres the POPES haue most cruelly Martyred for the TRVTH WITH ALL THE POYSONED DOCTRINS WHEREWITH THAT GREAT REDDE DRAGON hath made drunken the Kings and Inhabitants of the Earth with the confutations of them TOGETHER WITH ALL HIS TRAYTEROVS PRACTISES AND DESIGNES AGAINST ALL CHRISTIAN Princes to this day especially against our late Queen ELIZABETH of famous memorie and our most religious Soueraigne Lord King IAMES Faithfully abstracted out of the Book of Martyrs and diuers other Books By Thomas Mason Preacher of Gods Word LONDON Printed by George Eld and Ralph Blower 1615. To the most Reuerend Father in GOD the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury his GRACE PRIMATE and METROPOLITAN of all England and one of his MAIESTIES most Honourable Priuie Councell And to the Right Honourable SIR EDVVARD COKE Lord Cheefe Iustice of England and one of his Maiesties most Honorable Priuie Councell THOMAS MASON wisheth all Happinesse in this Life and eternall Felicitie in the world to come MOST Reuerend and Right Honorable zealous Lords your daily and faithfull Orator being a professed Soldiour vnder Christs Banner in the behalfe of his spouse against Antichrist I could busie my selfe in no office so profitable for the Church and hurtfull vnto Antichrist as to gather together the bullets which haue been shot at him by Christs Souldiours in times past that now his children may shoote them at him againe with great facilitie And whereas venerable M r Fox of worthy memory hath gathered into one Booke the Acts and Monuments of the Church vnto his time one of the most profitablest Bookes that is for Gods Children except the Bible a Club able to beate downe the Popish Tower of Babell Yet what with the labour of reading so large a volume together with the deareness of the price thereof few that haue the Booke reade it ouer and the most part of men are not able to buy it whereby very little profit ariseth thereof vnto the Church I haue according to my power pared off the barke of this Club and made it tractable for all sorts of people they may buy it with little charge and peruse it with small paines and I dare promise them that they shall reape as much profit by reading this abridgement as by reading of the Booke at large I haue willingly omitted no matter of substance Here the Reader may see the cruelty of the Emperors vnto the Primitiue Church and whom they put to death and the manner of their deathes during the first ten Persecutions and how and when Christianitie began in this Realme And what successe it hath had at all times and when by what occasion and by whom most of the Monasteries and Cathedrall Churches of this Realme were builded and how when and by whom all points of Popery came into the Church and how the Pope hath exalted himself against Emperors Kings what iniuries he hath done to them With the Treasons Conspiracies that Papists haue practised against those that the Lord hath annointed vnto this day The Reader may also heere see the innumerable multitude of the Saints of God that the Papists haue from time to time murdered in all Countries for the testimonie of the Truth With all the points of Religion that the Martyrs did defend vnto death and all the reasons that the Papists vsed against their Arguments and how cruelly they handled them with many other most profitable things After I had done this Booke I was discouraged from putting of it to Print by reason I found another had abridged the Booke of Martyrs before me but when I perceiued it was done but superficially for all the points of Religion that the Martyrs defended or Papists obiected were omitted which disputations I chiefly labour to set forth therevpon I was resolued to goe forward When I had begun to quote all the Authors from whence M r Fox had his proofes for them that the Emperors put to death the Quotations were almost as large as the Story and made it very vnpleasant wherefore in most places for breuitie I haue omitted them leauing them that would see the proofes to the Book at large I haue herein abridged many bookes but especially the Booke of Martyrs as the Papists cannot abide the booke of Martyrs of all bookes so much more will they hate my booke which hath so truely and briefely discouered all their shame not onely out of that booke but out of diuers other bookes Wherefore most Reuerend and Right Honorable Lords your manifest dislike that you beare against the wickednes and falshood of Antichrist hath imboldned me to be an humble sutor vnto your Lordships to bee the Patrons of this my Booke and that you would vouchsafe to defend and further it by your Spirituall and Temporall Powers to the honour of Christ the great dishonour of Antichrist and the vnspeakeable benefit of Gods Children So with my hartie prayers I commit both your Honors your soules bodies and all that you haue vnto the safe preseruation of Christ Iesus and his holy Angels Your Lordships daily Oratour THOMAS MASON Preacher of Gods word in Odiham in the County of Southampton whose Father was Heire vnto S r IOHN MASON sometime a Priuy Councelor vnto Queene ELIZABETH THE EPISTLE VNTO THE RBADER EVen as the Reuelation and other places of Scriptures good Reader doâ foretell Antichrist to come so this Historie declareth the fulfilling of those prophecies in all points all the Martyrs died in this faith that the Pope is Antichrist I could bethink my selfe of no instruction so profitable for the reading of this Booke as to giue thee a few rules to manifest vnto thee that the Popedome is that Antichrist which I will endeuor to declare vnto thee by these rules following first by his outward place of abode secondly by his inward and spirituall throne thirdly by his doctrine fourthly by his conditions fiftly by the height breadth length and ruine of his Kingdome I will but open the way vnto thee this Booke shall proue by experience my sayings to be true Touching his outward seate Reuel 17. 18. it is the Citie that then did raigne ouer the Kings of the earth which was Rome the place is also described in the ninth verse to be compassed about with seuen mountaines This Booke shall proue that Rome hath seuen mountaines about it In the same verse this Citie hath had fiue kings that were then falne another King did raign which was the Emperour when the Reuelation was made and another was to come afterward This book shall teach thee that the seuen Kings signifie seuen maner of Gouernments in Rome of which fiue was falne the Emperour then raigned and after the Pope should raigne there so the Holy Ghost hath pointed out Rome as plainly as can be the place of Antichrists Kingdome
two children Serapia and Salma were likewise martired Hadriana at Eleusina in Athens sacrifising to the gentiles Gods gaue all men liberty to kill the Christians wherevpon Quadracus Bishop of Athens and Aâstydes â Philosopher Serenus Granus a great Noble man wâote Apologies for the Christians so lâarnedly laâing out their innocency that the Emperour wrot to the Proconsull of Asia henceforth to exercise no more cruelty vpon the Christians thus for a time they had some quiet Antonius Pius succeeded Hadrian the rage of the Heathen ceased not to persecute the Chrâstians but the Emperours affection toward them appeared by an Edict of his to the Commons of Asia to âay the rage against the Christians exâeât they offended the laow of the Empire willing them to consider their patience in torments and bouldnesse in Earthquakes and Tempests when others quaked This Edict was proclamed at Ephesus in the publicke assembly of all Asia which applased the tempest of perâecution in his dayes The fourth Persecution AFter him succéeded M Antonius Verus many Christians in his time suffred diuers torments at Smirna some were whipped that their âeines appeared and their bowels were seene and after they were set vpon sharpe shelles taken out of the Sea and nayles and thornes set for them to goe vppon and then throwne to beasâs to be deuoured amongst whom Germanicus suffred so constantly that they admirâd him Policarpus a Disciple to the Apostles 86. yeares a preacher 70. yeares placed by St. Iohn in Smirna these persecutions beeing begunne hee hid himselfe with a few of his company and continued night and day in supplication for the peace of the congregation .3 dayes before his apprehension he dreamed his bed was suddenly consumed with fire vnder him which hee interpreted that hee should suffer martirdome by fire and beeing found by the pursuers hee intertained them cheerfully made them diâe and desired an houres respit to pray which he did in such sort that they which heard him were astonied then they brought him to the Citty vppon an Asse where Irenarcus Herodes and his father Nicetes met him caused him to come into their Chariot and perswaded him to doe sacrifice but when hee would not they gaue him rough words and thrust him downe the Chariot that he might breake hiâ legs but he went merrily to the place appoynted where there came a voyce from Heauen to comfort him the Proconsull disswaded him from the faith and willed him to say with them destroy these naughty men who with constant countenance beheld the whole multitude looking vp to heauen said thou thââ it is that will destroy these wicked men then the Proconsuâl was âarneââ with him and said take thine Oth and defie Christ I will discharge thee who answered these foure score and sixe yeares I haue béene his seruant and hee hath not hurt me how then may I speake euill of my Lord and King which hath thus preserued me and when they could not preuaile by perswasions nor threatnings he was commanded to be cast to the Lion but because the Lion had his prey already the people with one voyce required that he might be burned and when they would haue nayled him to the stake with iron hoopes he said hee that hath giuen me strength to abâde the fire shall also giue me power that I shall not stirre in this fire which when they onely bound him hee praysed God and testified his faith the fire seemed to the beholders to compasse the body like a vayle which seemed like gold and siluer and yéelded a plesant smell the fire not consuming his body one thrust him in with a sword whereby so much blood issued out of his body that it quenched the fire after the body was taken and burned At that time suffred twelue that came from Philadelphia with diuers other as Metrodorus a Minister and Pionius a worthy man who after grieuous torments were burned and Carpus Papylus and Agothonica a woman were put to death at Pergamopolis in Asia Felicitas with her seauen Children suffred at Roome the first was whipped and prest to death the second and third had their braines broken out the fourth was cast downe head-longe and had his necke broken the other thré were beheaded and left the mother slaine with the sword At this time Iustinus the learned Piilosopher suffred who wrote appologies to the Senate of Rome the Emperour and Liefetenant of the Citty for the Christians hee preuayled so much with Antonius Pius that he stayed the persecution in Asia he vanquished Crescens a Philosopher in reueng whereof hee procured his death Under this Tyrant also suffered Ptolomeus and Lucius for confessing Christ in Alexandriaâin Egyptâ a vicious infidell whose wife was vicious but conuerted by Ptolameus and departed from her vicious husband wherefore in reuenge hee suborned a Centurion to accuse him who beeing brought before Vrbanus hee condemned him to death and Lucius a Christian blaming the Iudge therefore was with him also martired also Concordus a Minister of Spoletum because hee would not sacrifice to Iupiter but spate in his face after sundry torments hee was beheaded Diuers other martires suffred vnder this tyrant as Symetricus Florellus Pontianus Alexander Caius Epipodus Victor Corona Marcellus and Valerian who were killed because they would not sacrifice to Idols Under this Tyrant suffred diuers Martirs at Uienna and Lions in France amongst whom Vetius Zacharias Sanctus Maturus Attallus Blandina Alexander and Alcibiades are chiefly renowned Vetius Epagathus for reprouing the cruell sentence of the Iudge against the Christians and making an apology for them was martired hee was called the aduocate of the Christians At that time Photinus Deacon to the Bishop of Lyons about 90. yeares old was first beaten then cast into prison where hee dyed within two dayes Blandina was fastened to a stake and cast to beasts to bée deuoured but none would touch her so they put her in Prison vntill another time Attalus was brought forth with one Alexander a Phrigian Phisition who because hee encouraged the Christians before the Iudge died most patiently broyled in an iron chaire After Blandina and one Ponticus but fifteene yeares ould was brought forth the child dyed with extremity of torments Blandina after whipping gridirons and beasts was cast into a nette and throwne vnto a wild Bull and so gored to death they would not suffer the dead bodies to bee buried the causes why these Persecutions were so sharpe was because the Ethnicks being seruants to the Christians by threatning for feare said the Christians kept the feast of Thiestes and incest of OEdipus with other haiuous crimes Meleto Bishop of Sardis and Claudius Apolinaris Bishop of Hierapolis exhibited Apologies vnto these Emperours for the Christians so did Athenagoras a Philosopher and Legate of the Christians whereby the persecution for the same time was stayed others thinke that if was by a miracle in the Emperours Campe for when the soldiers wanted water fiue dayes and
very good but none almost froÌ the first to the last which was not either slain in war or murdred in peace or constrained to make himselfe a Monk whether it were the iust iudgment of God because they had violently dispossessed the Brittains they were not only vexed of the Danes conquered of the Normans but more cruelly deuoured themselues Ethelbert King of Cambridgeshire Norffolke and Suffolke came peaceably to King Offa for dispousage of Athilrid his Daughter and by the Councel of King Offa his Wife was secretly beheaded Wherevpon Offa through repentance made the first peter-pence to be giuen to S. Peters Church at Rome One Lothbrooke a Dane of the Kings blood being a hauking by the Sea-side in a little Boat was cast by weather vpon the Coast of Norffolke and being brought to King Edmund he retained him in great fauour at length he was priuily murdered by one Bericke which being knowne Bericke was sent away in Lothbrookes Boate without tackling and was driuen into Denmarke and being séene in Lothbrookes Boate and examined of Lothbrooke he falsely said the King had killed him Wherevpon Iugner and Hubba Lothbrookes Sonnes gathering an Army of Danes inuauaded first Northumberland then Norffolke and sent to King Edmund to deuide his Treasures to him and be subiect to him else he would dispossesse him of his âingdome he answered he would not be subiect to a Pagan Duke vnlesse before hee become a Christian then the Danes besiedged his house but he fled and pitched a fielde with them but the Danes preuailing he fled to the Castle of Halesdon where they tooke him and bound him to a stake and shot him to death Seauen or eight Kings are highly commended in the Histories for leauing there Kingdomes and becomming Moonkes but they are more to be discommended for leauing their calling wherein they might so much benefite the Church There were foure Persecutions in England before Austen came into England the first vnder Dioclesian the second by the inuading of Gnarius and Melga one captaine of the Hunnes the other of the Picts after they had slaughtered 11000. Uirgines as before made a rode into Brittaine hearing it wanted strength and murdered Christians and spoiled Churches without mercy the third by the Saxons who destroyed Christs Saints and the Churches vntill Aurelius Ambrosius restored again the Churches the fourth Gurmundus King of the Affricans ioyned with the Saxons and wrought much grieuance to the Christians of the Land which persecution remained to the time of Ethelbert the fift King of Kent In the tâme of Ethelbert the faith was receiued of the Saxons by this meanes Gregory Bishop of Rome seeing Brittaine Children to be sould in Rome very beautifull vnderstanding what Country they were of pittied that the Country which was so beautifull and angellicall so to be subiect to the prince of darkenes Wherefore he sent thither Austen with about forty Preachers with him and when they were apaled and would haue turned backe again Gregory emboldned and comforted them with his Letter so they came to the I le of âhenet in Kent Ethelbert as before was King of Kent he had married one Berda a French Woman vpon condition shee should vse the Christian Religion with one Lebardus her Byshop Austen sent to the King signifying hee was come from Rome bringing with him glad tydings to him and all his people of life and saluation if he would so willingly hearken vnto it as he was gladly come to preach it vnto him The King hauing heard of this Religion by his Wife came to the place where Austen was Austen against his comming erected a Banner of the Crucifire such then was the grosenesse of the time and preached to him the word of God the King promised they should haue all things necessary and none should molest them and gaue them frée leaue to preach to his subiects and conuert whom they might to the Faith When they had this comfort of the King they went with procession to Canterbury singing Alleluia with the Letany that was vsed at Rome in the great plague We beséech thée O Lord in all thy mercies that thy fury and anger may cease from this Citty and from thy holy house for we haue sinned Alleluia they continued in the same Citty preaching and baptizing in the old Church of S. Martine where the Quéene was wont to resort vntill the King was conuerted at length the King séeing their myracles and their godly conuersation he heard them gladly and was conuerted in the thirty sixe yeare of his raigne Anno 586. After him innumerable daily were adioyned vnto the Church whom the King did specially imbrase but compelled none then the King gaue Austen a place for his Byshops Sea at Christs Church in Canterbury and builded the Abbey there where after Austen and all the Kings of Kent were buried which now is called S. Austine Then Austen by the commandement of Gregory went into France to the Bishop of Arelatensis to be consecrated Arch-byshop and so was then Austen sent to Gregory so declare how they had sped and to be resolued of diuers questions how Bishops should behaue themselues towards their Clarke of offerings and Ceremonies and what punishment for stealing Church goods and such like to no great purpose therefore if thou béest disposed to sée them I referre thee to the Booke at large Gregory after he had sent resolutions to these questions sendeth moreouer more Coadiutors as Melitus Iustus Paulinus and Ruffianus with Books and implements necessary for the English Church and in reward of Austines paines he sent him a Pal onely to be vsed at the solemnity of the Masse and granteth two Metropolitane Seas London and Yorke but granted to Austen during his life to be cheefe Arch-bishop of all the Land and that they should not destroy the idolatrous Temples but conuert them to Christian vses and that Austine should not be proud of the myracles that God wrought by him that he should remember they were not done for him but for their conuersion whose saluation God sought thereby Then he wrote to King Ethelbert first hee praysed GOD then the King by whom it pleased God to worke such goodnesse of the people then exhorted him to perseuer in his profession and to be zealous therein to conuert the multitude and destroy Idolatry and to gouerne them in holinesse of conuersation according to the Emperor Constantinus the Great comforting him with the promises of life and reward to come Austine receiuing his Pall as aboue said and of a Monke being made an Arch-Byshop hee made two Metropolitanes as Gregorie commaunded then Austine assembled the Byshops and Doctors of Brittaine in this assembly hee charged the Byshoppes that they should preach the Word of GOD with him also that they should reforme certaine rites and vsages in the Church especially for keeping of Easter and baptizing after the manner of Rome the Scots and Brittaines would not agree thereto refusing to leaue the custome which
the Britainâ King which with a mightie Host came against him There is much commendation in writing of this Oswalds zeale in religion and piety towards the poore he sent into Scotland for a Bishop called Aydanus a famous Preacher as he preached to the Saxons in the Scottish tongue the King vnderstanding the Scotish tongue he disdained not to preach and expound the same to his Nobles in the English tongue King Oswald being at Dinner on Easterday one brought him word there was a great company of pâre people in the streets which asked almes of him be commaunded the meate prepared for his owne Table to be caried vnto them and brake a siââer Platter in pieces and senâ it amongst them by his meanes Kinigillus King of the West Saxons was conuerted to Christs Faith and after he had raigned 9. yeares he was slaine by the said Penda who was after slaine by Osway brother to Oswald and succeeded him in his Kingdome together with his Cosin Oswine This Oswine gaue Aydanus the Scotish Bishop aforesaid a principall Horse with the trappers and appurtenances and as he wâs riding vpon this kingly horse a poore man craued his charity who hauing nothing else to giue him gaue him his horâe garnished as he was wherefore as he came to Dinner he King chiâe him he answereâ O King set you more prise by a horse then by Chrâst Then the King prayed him to forgiue him and he would not hencefoorth finde fault with him for giuing away any of his Treasure then Aydanus wept and being asked wherefore he wept he answered for that this King cannot liue long this people is nto worthy to be âuled by such a Prince which shortly came to passe for Osway caused him traterously to be slaine One Benedict a great man with Osway that brought vp Bede from his youth âorsooke Oswayes house and all his kindred to serue Christ he was the first that brought vp the Arte of glazing in windowes About this time there was a Counsell bolden at Steâne-halt for the right obseruing of Easterday King Osway began with an Oration that it was necessary âor such as serued one God to liue in an vniforme order and such as looked for one kingdom in Heauen should not differ in celebration of heauenly Sacraments then by his commandement Colman Bishop said he receiued the order of keeping Easter the 14. day of the first Moneth from his Auncesters Forefathers and from Iohn Euangelist to which at the Kings commandement Wilfride answered Easter is kept alwaies on the Sunday as we keepe it in Rome where Peter and Paul taught in Italy France Affrick Egypt Greece and in all the world I will not reproue Saint Iohn which kept the rights of Moses Law according to the letter the Church being yet Iewish in many points they could not reiect Images inuented of the Diuell which all beleeuers ought of necessitie to detest least they should offend the Iewes therefore Saint Paul circumcized Tymothy therefore he shaued his head and Sacrificed in the Temple all this was done onely to eschew the offence of the Iewes Therefore âames said to Paul Thou âéest brother how many thousand Iewes doe beleeue yet all are zealous of the old Law yet since the Gospell was preached it is not lawfull for the faithfull to be circumcized nor to offer Sacrifices of carnal things to God but Peter remembring that the Lord did rise from death the first day after the Sabbath instituted Easter on that day and not according to the Law and though your forefathers were holy men what is their fewnesse being but a corner of an Iland to be preferred before the vniuersall Church of Christ Then said the King Did the Lord giue the kingdome of Heauen vnto Peter And they both answerâd yea then the King concluded being Saint Peter is the Doore-keeper of Heauen I will obey his Orders in euery point least when I come to the gates of Heauen hee shut them against mee and with this simple reason they consented Ethelwood preached vnto the people in Southsax and conuerted them to Christ in the time of whose baptizing the raine which before they lacked three yeares was giuen them plenteously whereby there great famine slacked About this time the detestable sect of Mahomet began to take place which well agrées with the number of that beast signified in the Reuelation 666. Of Mahomet came the Kingdome of the Haarines now called Saracens to whom he gaue many Lawes they must pray Southward Friday is their Sunday called the day of Venus he permitted them to haue as many Wiues as they were able to maintaine and as many Concubines as they list they must abstaine from wine excepâ on solemne daies âhey were to worship one onely God Omnipotent Moses and the Prophets were great but Christ was greatest being borne without mans seede and taken vp into the Heauen with many such Lawes at length the Sarasins were wholly conquered by the Turkes Theodorus was sent into England by Vitellianus Pope and diuerse other Monks with him to set vp Latine Seruice in England and Masâes Cerimonies Letanies and other Romish ware he was made Archbishop of Canterbury and began to play the Rex in placing and displacing Bishops at his pleasure He held a Prouinciall Counsell at Therford the contents thereof were the vniformitie of keeping Easter that no Bishop should intermeddle in anothers Diâcesse that Monasteries should be free from Iurisdiction oâ Bishops that Monks should keepe the obedience they first promised and not goe from one Monastery vnto another without leaue of the Abbot that none of the Clergy should be receiued in another Diocesse without Letters Commendatory of his Bishop that foraine Bishops and Clergy men should be content with the hospitality offered them and not meddle in any Bishops Iurisdiction without his permission that once a yeare a Prouinciall Sinod should be kept that no Bishop should preferre himselfe before another but according to his time of consecration that as the people increased so the number of Bishops should be augmented The next yeare was the sixt generall Counsell of Constance where this Theodore was present vnder Pope Agatho Mariage there was permitted to the Greeke Priests and forbidden to the Latine in this Counsell the Latine Masse was first openly said by Iohn Portuensis the Popes Legate Colfride Abbot of Shirwin in Northumberland writ to Naitonus King of Picts that shauen Crownes was necessarie for all Priests and Monks for restraint of their lusts and that Peter was shauen in remembrance of the Passion of Christ so we must weare the signe of his Passion on the toppe of our head as euery Church beareth the holy Crosse in the front thereof that by the defence of that banner it be kept from euill Spirits and exhorted him to imitate the Apostolike Churches and when he died the Prince of the Apostles would open Heauen gate to him whereat the King reioyced and knéeling downe thanked God that
agree this Constitution being begun Anno 997. was after established in Germany by Otho 1002. which order remaineth to this day After the death of King Edward Egelred his younger brother raigned in his steade vpon his Coronation a cloud was scene through the Land one halfe like bloud the other halfe like fire shortly after the third yeare of his raigne the Danes ariued in sundry places of this Land and did much spoyle and retyred to their ships againe and about the same time a great part of London was consumed with fire The King besieged the Bishoppe of Rochester Dunstone required the King for Saint Andrewes sake to giue ouer the siege yet he would not depart vntill the king had of him 100. lib. of gold The Danes séeing the hatred of the Subiects against the King rose againe and ãâã great harme in many places in England that the King granted them great summes of money for peace and a sore sicknesse of the bloudy Flix and hot Feuours fell amongst the people of which many dyed and a like murren amongst the beasts and for lacke of Iustice many théeues and bribers were in the Lanâ Not long after the Danes inuaded the land againe in such sort that the King was so séeke in which Coste he should first withstand them and was compelled to appease them with great summes of money and for lacke of a good Goâernour many things perisheâ in the Land for the King gaue himselfe to Lechery and polluting his Subiects disinheritiâg them and causing them with great summes to redaââe the same againe ãâã payed the Danes tribute yearely which was called Dane-gilt which tribute increaseâ from 10000. lib. yearely and in fiue or sixe yeares it came to 40000. lib. yearely âdricke Duke of Mercia and Alfrike Admirall of the Ships warned the Danes ãâã whatsoeuer the King deuised against them wherefore the king put out the eyes of thâ Admirals sonne and of the two sonnes of Duke Edricke The Danes thus preuailing were so proud they forced the Husbandmen to ploâ and sows their lands and the whilst would sit at home with their wiues and daughters and fared of the best when the Husbandmen fared but scantly of their owne they were glad to please them and call them Lord Danes which after was turned to a name of ââproby when they rebuked another they called him Lurdaine The king in the 21. yeare of his raigne maried Emma the Daughter of Richard Duke of Normandy which Mariage inhaunâed the Kings minde that hee sent secret and strait Commissions to the Rulers of euery towne in England that vpon ãâã Brices day at an houre appointed the Danes should be suddenly slaine and so it waâ performed Then Swanus king of Denmarke hearing of this slaughter of the Danes with a great Hoste and Nauie came into England and did much spoyle but at length he was met with of Duke Vskatell and beaten and many of the Danes slaine wherefore they returned to Denmarke The next yeare Swanus entred into the Land againe and spoyled the Contry and euer when as he heard of the Kings Hoste comming he tooke ship againe and went to aâ other part of the Contry and when the King would méete him by Sea he would fly or else bribe the Admirall so they brought the Englishmen into vnspeakeable misery that the king was faine to giue them 30000. lib. for peace But after Swanus broke couânant and landed in Northumberland with a great Hoste proclaiming himselfe King caused the Earle with the Rulers of the contry to sweare him fealty so he Conquered through the Contry and tooke pledges of them He tooke Winchester and Oxford and came to London hearing the King was there he went into Kent and conquered Canterbury where he fired the citie and slew 900. Monke of the Abbey of Saint Augustines and 8000. of the men and women of the Citie and they stoned Elphegus ââshoppe of Canterbury to death at Grinewich because hee would not giue them 3000. lib. The King for feare sent his wife Emma and his two sonnes Alfred and Edward ãâã the Duke of Normandy after the King fled to the Isle of Wight and went thence ãâã to Normandy to his wife Swanus teared exceeding impositions vpon the people and required a great summe of money of Saint Edmunds lands which being dânyed him because the Land was frée he spoyled the Contry despising the Martyre and menaâing the place of his Sepulchre wherefore the people fell to prayer and fasting so that shortly after Swanus suddenly crying and yelling amongst his Knights dyed wherfore Canutus his sonne ruling as King after his father builded the Abbey of S. Edmundsbury our Saint Edmonds Sepulchre and ditched their Land with a great ditch ordained a House of Monks there and gâue them their auâtient freedomes After that it was vsââ that the Kings of England when they were crowned offered their Crownes to Saint Edmonds shrine and bought them againe King Eldred hearing the death of Swanus returned into England Canutus fled to Sandwich and cutting off the noses and hands of the pledges which his Father left ãâã him sayled into Denmarke The next yeare Canutus returned againe with a great Host and forced the people to be sworne vnto him and giue him pledges In this season King Eldred died at London after he had raigned 38. yeares and was buried in Paules After whose death the most part chose Canutus the King of the Danes King generally all the Clergie men choose him but the Citizens of London and certaine Nobles choose Edmund the eldest sonne of Egelred King who for his hardinesse to indure labour was surnamed Ironside Betwixt these two martiall Princes many great battels were sought with no great difference of victory at length by rensent they two onely tryed the quarell in the fight of both Hosts and when they had assayed each other with sharpe words and strokes they both agréed and kissed each other and diuided the Land betweene them and during their liues loued as brethren Shortly after one of the sonnes of Duke Edricus aforesaid killed King Edmund after hée had raigned two yeares Hee left two sonnes behinde him Edmund and Edward whom the wicked Duke tooke from their mother shee not knowing of her husbands death and presented them to Canutus saying Aue Rex solus Canutus sent them to his brother Swanus King of Sweueland to be âlaine but hée sent them to Solamon King of Hungary where Edmund maried the Kings Daughter and dyed and Edward was maried to Agatha the daughter to the Emperour Henry the fourth Then Canutus held a Parliament established the Crowne to himselfe hee disdained euer after those whom he found false to their natiue King some of them he exiled some he beheaded and some died suddenly by the punishment of God and wicked Duke Edrike was beheaded anâ his head set vpon London bridge In the meane time Swaynus his brother King of Denmarke dyed and the Land fell to Canutus
hee ãâã toither and tooke possession thereof and returned and maried Emmalate wife of Egelred by whom he had a sonne called Hardyknight He held a Parliament at Oxford where it was agreed that Englishmen and Danes should hold the Lawes made by King Edgar Then the Danes begun to be Christians and Canutus went to Rome and returned He gouerned the Lând 20. yeares and left two sonnes Harold and Hardeknight which was made King of Denmarke in his Fathers time Harold called Harefore for his swiftnesse succéeded him hee banished his Stepmother Emma and tooke away her goods and Iewels Hardeknight King of Demmarke succéeded him and when he had raigned two yeares being merry at Lambeth he was suddenly strucke dumbâ and died being the last king of the Danes that raigned in England In the time of these Danish Kings there was one Godwine an Earle in England when the aforesaid two sânnes of King Egelred Alfred and Edward came from Normandy to England to visit their mother Emma and brought with them a great company of Normaines this Godwine hauing a Daughter named Godith whom he thought to haue maried to Edward and made him king Hee perswaded the king Hardeknight that the Normaines should be slaine and gat authoritie to order the matter himselfe Wherefore hée met them at Guildowne with a company of English Souldiers slewe almost all the Normaines winding their gots out of their bellyes and put out the eyes of Alfred the eldest brother and sent him to the Abby of Elie where hée fed him with bread and water vntill shorty after hée dyed Edward escaped to his mother who fearing Godwine sent him againe into Normandy This cruell fact to the Normaines séemeth to bée the cause why the Iust Iudgement of God shortly after Conquered the English Nation by the Normaines After the death of king Hardeknight last king of the Danes the Lords sent into Normandy for the aforesaid Edward yonger sonne of Quéen Emma to take possession of the Realme who came with a few Normaines and was crowned at Winchester He maried Godith Daughter of Earle Godwine hee ruled with much wisdome and ãâã 24. yeares In his time his mother Emma was accused to be too familier with Alwine Bishopââ Winchester by the councell of Godwine they were committed to prison many of ãâã Bishops laboured for them to the King but Robert Archbishop of Canterbury stoppââ their suâe saying How dare you defend her shée hath defâmed her sonne the ãâã and taken her lerâerous Lemman the Bishop she is accused to bee consenting to âhe death of her sonne Alfred and procured poyson for her sonne Edward it she will ãâã bare footed for her selfe foure steps and for the Bishop fiue vpon nine ãâ¦ã if she escape harmelesse they shall be afâoyled she agreed theris then the âing and many Nobles being present she was led blindfold to the place where Irons lay burning hote and passed the nine shares vnhurt when they opened her eyes and she sâe her selfe past the paine she kneeled downe and gaue thankes to God then the King asked her forgiuenesse but the Archbishop fâed into Normandy The said cruell ãâã Godwine tooke bread and eate it in witnesse that he was not guilty of the death of Alfred the Kings brother but as soone as hee had receiâed the bread he was choked at the table before the king at Winsor and he was conueyed to Winchester and buried Harold the second sonne of Godwine succeeded Edward who was the last King of the Sâxâns Then the Kings soâne of Denmarke came into England with 300. ships who entred the North and claymed the Land the Lords of the country rose against them but the Danes had the victory then Hârold gaue them a great battell and got the victory and slew the King of Denmarkes sonne After this victory Harold waxed proud and couetous and would not diuide the prây to his Knights but kept it to himselfe Whereas Harold had sworne to William Duke of Normandy after the death of King Edward to take possession of the Kingdome of England to his vse according to the will of King Edward that the Duke of Normandy should succéede him The Duke sent to him admonishing him of the Couenants that were agréed vpon betwixt them Harald answered thus That such a nice foolish promise ought not to be holden concerning the Land of another without the consent of the Lords of the same especially because neede and dread compelled him thereto Whereupon Duke William prepaired his Armie and sent to Pope Alexander concerning his Title and âoiage the Pope confirmed him in the same and sent him a Banner And they tooke shipping with a great company and landed at Hastings in Sussex the Normans and Harald ioyned battell in the place where afâter was builded the Abby of Battell in Sussex where the Normaines obtained the victory through the Iust Prouidence of God where Harold was wounded in the left eye with an arrowe and incontinently dyed when hee had raigned nine yeares and was buryed at Walâome This Duke William and King Edward were by the Fathers side Cosen Germaynes After this Gregory the first succeeded Siluester the second he sate 4. yeares ãâã moneth and 8. dayes Pope By the testimony of Stella Benno and Platina and many others he was a Sorceâer and was exalâed to the Papacy by the Deuill vpon this condition that after his death he should giue himselfe to the Deuill He demaunded of the Deuill how long he should ânioy his Popedome Hee answered Untill thou say Masse in Ierusalem thou shalt liue At length the Pope in Lent saying Masse in the Temple of the Holy Crosse which Church vnknowne to him was called Ierusalem then hee knewe hee should dye then repenting hee confessed his fault before all the people âfâer him succeeded Iohn the 19. which brought in the Feast of All-Soules to bee celebrated next after All-Saints day by the meanes of Odilo Abbot of Clânake This Abbot thinking that Purgatory should bee in Mount Eâna dreamed vppon a time that hâe by his Masâes had dâliuered diuerse Souâes from thence saying that hee heard the voyces and lamentatious of Dâuils crying out for that the Soules were taken from them by Masses and Dirges funârall Pope Iohn the 20. succeeded him and after him Sergius the 4 after him Benedictus the 8. then Iohn the 12. who was prâmoted by Arte Magicke of diuerse Sorcerers He brought in the fast of Saint Iohn Baptist eauen and of Saint Laurence After him followed Pope Benedictus the 9. aspiring to his Papacie by Magicke practising Inchaâtments and Conâârations in words he resisted the Emperour Henricus the third sonne of Conradus and placed in his roome Peââus King of Hungary After for feare of Henricus he was faine to sell his Seaâ so Gratianus called Gregorie the sixt for 1500. lib. at which time there was three Popes in Rome together raigning one against another Benedictus the 9. Siluester the 3. Gregorius the 6. for which
the fight of Beckets Church he lighted went barefoote to his toombe whose steps were found bloudy by the roughnâsse of the stones and receiued a whip with a rod of euery Monke of the Cloister whereby thou maist see the lamentable superstition and ignorance of those dayes and the slauery that Kings and Princes were brought too vnder the Popes Clergy the same yeere almost the whole Citie of Canturbury was consumed with fire and the said Minster church cleane burnt The next yeare in a conuocation of Bishops Abbots and other of the Clergie at Westminster there was great discention betwixt the two Arch-bishops whether Yorke must beare his Crosse in the Dioces of Canterbury and whether the Bishopricks of Lincoln Chichester Worcester and Hereford were of the sea of York Wherefore the one appealed the other vnto the presence of the Pope How much better had it beene if the Supremacie had remained in the King whereby much trauell and great wastfull expences had bin saued and there cause morâ indifferently and more spéedily decided Diuers of Glocester in the Dioces of York were excommunicated by the Archb. of Canterbury because being summoned they refused to appeare a Cardinall by the Kings procurement was sent from Rome to make peace by the meanes of the King it was agreed that Canterbury should release his claime to Glocester and absolue the Clarks thereof the bearing the crosse and other matters was referred to the other Bishops and a league of truce for fiue yeares betwixt them The next yeare Henry the second denided the Realme into six parts ordained thrée Iustices of assise on euery part to the first Norfolk Suffolk Cambridge shire Huntingdon-shire Buckingham-shire Essex Hereford-shire to the second Lincoln-shire Nottingham-shire Derby-shire Stamford-shire Warwick-shire Northampton-shire Leicester-shire Thirdly Kent Surry South-hampton-shire Sussex Berk-shire Oxford-shire Fourthly Heriford-shire Glocester-shire Worcester-shire Salop-shire Fiftly Wilt-shire Dorcester-shire Sommerset-shire Deâân-shire Cornwall Euerwick-shire Richmond-shire Lancaster Copland Westmâr-land Northumberland Cumberland In this yéere the Archbishop of Canterbury made thrée Arch-deacons where there was but one and the K. granted the pope that no Clarke should be called before a temporall Iudge except for his offence in the Forrest or his lay-fée that he holdeth and that no Bishopricke or Abbey should remaine but one yeere in the Kings hands without great cause This yeare there was great controuersie betwixt the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Abbot of S. Austen he being Elect whether the Bishop should come to his house to consecrate him or he to come to the Metropolitan church of Canterbury to be consecrated The âbbot appealed to the audience of the Pope and went thither with a fat purse procured letters to the Bishop of Worcester to command the Arch-bishop to consecrat him in his Monastery because it did properly belong to the Iurisdiction of Rome should do so likewise to his successors without exception of obedience if the ârchb refuse to doe it then he should doe it the Archb. vnderstanding it loth to yéeld vsed policy he watched a time when the Abbot was froÌ home came to the Monastery with all things appointed for the busines called for the Abbat to be consecrated the Abbot not being at home he fained himself not a little gréeâed wherevpon the Abbot was disappointed faine to fill his purse a new make a new course to Rome to the Pope of whom he receiued his consecration This yéere a Cardinal was sent into England as few yéeres there was not one sent to get mâny he was to make peace betwixt the Archbishops of York Canterbury who kept a Councel at Westminster to which all the chiefe of the Clergy resorted with great confluence Yorke thinking to preuent Canterbury came first and placed himselfe on the right hand of the Cardinall Canterbury seeing the first place taken refused to take the second Yorke alledged the old Decree of Gregory by whom this order was taken betwixt these two Metropolitans that he that should be first in election should haue the preheminence in dignity and goe before the other From words they went to blowes Canterbury hauing more seruants was to strong for Yorke plucked him from the right hand of the Cardinall treading on him with their feet that it was well hee escaped aliue his Robes were all rent from his back this Noble Romane Cardinall which should haue ended the strife committed himselfe to flight the next day Yorke shewed his Rochet to the Cardinall to testifie his wrong and appealed and cited the Archbishop of Canterbury and certaine of his men to the Pope The kingdome of England in the Henry this second his time extended so farre as hath not béen seene The King of Scots with all the Lords spirituall and temporal did him homage for them and their successors Ireland England Normandie Aquitane Gaunt c. Unto the mountaine of Pireni in the vtmost parts of the Ocean in the Brittish sea protector of France and offered to bée King of Ierusalem by the Patriarke and Master of the Hospitall there which he refused alledging his great charge at home and it might be his sonnes would rebell in his absence The fame of his wisedome manhood riches was so renowned through all quarters that messengers came from the Emperor of Rome and from the Emperour of Constantinople and from many great Kings Dukes and other great men to determine questions of strife and aske councell of him he raigned thirty fiue yéeres and hauing great warres yet neuer set tribute or taxe vpon his subiects nor first fruits nor appropriations of benefits vpon the Clergy yet his treasure beeing weighed by King Richard his Sonne after his death weighed 900000. pounds besides Iewels and Houshold-stuffe of which 11000. pounds came by the death of Robert Arch-bishop of Yorke for hee had procured a Bull of the Pope that if any Priest dyed without Testament he should haue all his goods His Sonne Henry whom he ioyned with him in his Kingdome and at his Coronation serued him as a Steward and set the first dish at the Table renouncing the name of King the Archbishop of Yorke sitting at the right hand of the young King he told him he might greatly reioyce being no King had such an Officer as he had the young King disdaining his words said My Father is not dishonored for I am a King and a Quéenes Sonne and so is not he He tooke Armes with the French King against his Father and persecuted him but after hee had raigned a few yeares died in his youth by the iust iudgement of God After his death his Sonne Richard called Cor-de-Lyon rebelled against his Father and Iohn his youngest Sonne did not degenerate from his Brothers steps the said Richard brought his Father to such distresse of body and minde that for thought he fell into an Ague and within fouâe daies dyed Richard méeting his Corps beginning to wéepe the bloud burst out of the
Kings nose at the comming of his Sonne giuing a monstration that he was Author of his death His Children after his death worthily rewarded for their vnnaturalnesse lost all they had beyond the Sea which their Father had gotten Alexander Pope decréed that no Arch-bishop should receiue the Pall vnlessâ hée first sware obedience to the Pope These be the words in Englâsh of the giuing of the Pall. To the honour of Almighty God and of blessed Mary the Uirgin and of blessed S. Peter and S. Paul and of our Lord Pope and of the holy Church of Rome and of the Church committed to your charge we giue you the Pall taken from the body of Saint Peter as a fulnesse of the Pontificall Office which you may weare within your own Church vpon certain daies expressed in the priuiledgeâ of the said Church granted by the Sea Apostolike This Pall ought to bee asked with great instance and within thrée moneths without which Pall he is not Arch-bishop but may be deposed The same Pall must be burned with him when hee dyeth and when it is giuen some priuiledge must be giuen with it or the old renewed the Arch bishops pay swéetly for it Euery Bishop must sweare to be obedient to Saint Peter the Apostolike Church of Rome and to the Pope to doe nothing whereby either of them or any member of them may be impaired nor helpe counsell or consent vnto any so doing not to vtter their councell any way sent to them to any body to their hurt to retaâne and maintaine the Papacy and the Regalities of S. Peter against all men honorably to intreat the Popes Legats going and comming and helpe them in all necessities to be ready to come to a Sinod being called without any lawfull let to visite the Pallace of the Apostles euery third yeare by himselfe or a Messenger except otherwise licensed by the Pope not to sell giue or lease out any the possessions of his Church without the Popes license So God helpe him and the Holy Ghost By this Oath the Byshop could do nothing but what the Pope would in generall councels which was the corruption of them Besides this it was decreed in the said councell of Rome by 310. Byshops by Pope Alexander that none should haue spirituall promotion except he were of full age and borne in wedlocke that no Parish-Church should be voyd aboue sixe moneths that none within orders should meddle with temporal businesses that priests shall haue but one Benefice that Bishops be charged to find the Priest a liuing vntill he be promoted That open Usurers shall not communicate at Easter nor be buried within the Church yard That nothing shall be taken for ministring Sacraments or burying Item that euery Cathedrall Church should haue a Maister to teach Children fréely without taking any thing for the same In this Councell the vow of Chastity was laid vpon Priests Thomas Becket and Bernard were canonized for Saints In this yeare Richard the eldest Sonne of Henry the second succeeded his Father at which time Clement sat Pope succéeding Gregory who died a little before for sorrow for losse of the Holy Crosse by the Popes meanes He and Fredericke the Emperor and Phillip the French King went with their Armies to Palestina atchieuing the recouery of the Holy Land Richard in this iourney gat Cyprus Acon Ptolemayda Surrah For preparation for this iourney hee sold Lordships Castles Offices Liberties Priuiledges Byshopprickes c. He said he would sell London if he could finde one able to buy it Many Bishops purchased to their Bishopprickes diuers Lordships The Bishop of Winchâster purchased Werregraue Meues The Bishop of Duresme Hadberge with all their appurtenances for 500. markes and purchased the whole Prouince of the King for his owne and himselfe to be made Earle of the same In this Kings daies there fell a great dissention in the Church of Yorke betwixt the Arch-bishop of Yorke and the Deane because euening Song was begunne before the Arch-bishoppe came his Grace comming into the Quire was angry because they tarryed not for him and commaunded the Quire to stay the Deanâ and Treasurer willed them to fing on the Quire left and recanted and begun againe The Treasurer not to take the foyle caused the lights to be put out so the euening Song ceased for the Popish euening Song is blind without light though the Sunne shine neuer so bright His Grace suspended the whole Church from Diuine seruice vntill the parties had made him amends The next day being Ascention day the Deane and Treasurer would make no sarâsfaction the people would haue fallen vpon them if his Grace had not let them The Deane was faine to flye to his House and the Treasurour to Saint Williams Tombe for succour The Byshop excommunicated them and the Church was suspended from Seruice that day Thus much of the Heroicall câmbat betwixt these Ecclesiasticall persons King Richard in his iourney aforesaid talked with Abbot Ioachim of his Uisions and Prophesies especially of Antichrist hee expounded vnto him the place in the Reuâlation There be seuen Kings fiue are fallen one is now another not yet com He said they were seuen Persecutors of the Church Herod Nero Domitianus Maxentius Mahomet Turka the last which is not yet come was Antichrist which is already borne at Rome and should bee there exalted into the Apostolike Sea as the Apostle faith He is an Aduersary and exhalteth himselfe aboue all that is called GOD then the wicked man shall bee reuealed and the Lord shall consume him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him with the brightnesse of his comming Why said the King I thought Antichrist should haue béene borne in Antiâch or Babylon and of the Tribe of Dan and ruled in Ierusalem thrée yeares and a halfe and disputed against Enoch and Elias and put them to death and then died himselfe and that sixty daies of repentance should be giuen to them that were seduced by his preaching When King Richard went his iourney he committed the Custody of his Realme principally to the Byshop of Duresme and the Bishop of Ely and to two Lay men The two Byshops fell at variance for superiority at length this order was taken by the King that Duresme should haue vâder his custody from Humber is the Scottish Seas Ely was ordained Chancellor hauing vnder his gouernment from the said stood of Humber all the South parts besides but Ely beeing more ambitious so practised with the King and his Ambassadors sending his Letters to the Pope obtained the authority Legatiue vpon the whole Realm of England and became so ambitious and proud that all the Realme cryed out of him he beeing intollerable vnto the Cleargy and Layty He assembled a generall Councell at London in colour for Religion but it was for his owne pompe and oppression of the Clergy and Layty wonderfully oppressing the Commons Hee vsed âo ride with thousand Horses Noble-mens Sonnes were glad to be his
Slaues He married his Cosens Neeces and kinswomen I will not say his Daughters vnto the best Barons and Earles yet his Grand-father was a poore plowman and his Father a Cow-heard and hauing thus tyrannously abused his office fearing examination fled with a few of his trusty seruants to Douer Castle to haue stolne beyond Sea and comming in a womans apparell with a peâce of cloth vnder his arme and a mete rod in his hand being taken vpon suspâtion his Kercheefe plucked off his Balaams marke or shauen Crowne appeared the people wondred raiâed and spit on him and drew him some by the armes some by the legges ouer the Sea sands vntill they brought him to a darke Seller with shame enough to be kept till the Councell âent for him to the Tower of London where he was âxamined depriued and banished the Realme after restored by King Richard and sent to Rome but died by the way As King Richard returned from the Holy Land driuen by diââresse of weather about the parts of Austria he was taken in Synaca by Hubald Duke of the same countrey and sold to the Emperour for 60000. marke the Emperour writ of the matter to the King of France that hee might reioyce with ãâã at lenâth King Richard was ransomed for 140000. Crownes and as he was comming into England besieging a Castle in Pictauia tooke his deadly wound and being sick amongst others Fulco Archbishop of Roane came to him who said to the King O mighty King thou hast thrée Daughters very vicious prouide good Husbands for them least thou incurre great damage and thâ vtter ruine the King called him lying and mocking hypocrite saying all the world knoweth I haue no daughters he answerd yes if it pâease your Grace I meane greedy couetousnâsse mischieuous pride filthy âuxury againe I say O King beware of them and get them marriages Wherevpon the King calling his Lords and Barrons âââlaring the matter to them and said wherefore heere before you all I giue my Daughter swelling pride vnto the proud Templers to Wife and my Daughter gréedie Auaricâ vnto the couetous and Cistertian Monkes and last of all tây filthy Daughter Luxury to the ryotous Prelates of the Church whom I thinke vâry meete for them The King not long after departed without issue and Iohn his Brother raigned after him the Arch-bishop putting his crowne vpon his head swearing him to deâend the Church and his good lawes and destroy the euill and except he thought in his minde to doe this he charged him not to presume to take vpon him this dignitie On Iohn Baptist day next after he went to Normandy where he was royalây receiued and a truce made betwixt him and the French King and the Earle of Flanders and all the Lords of France that were in league with King Richard camâ to him and were sworne vnto him Not long after the French King made Arthur Knight and tooke homage of him for Normandy Brittaine and all his possessions beyond the Sea and promised him help against King Iohn after the French King and King Iohn with their Nobles spake together an houre the French King asked him much land for himselfe and King Arthur whâch he would not gâant but departed in wâath The same yeere a Legate came into France and commanded the King vpon paine of interdiction to deliuer one Peter out of prison which was elected to a Bishoprick who was deliuered the same Legate came into England and commanded King Iohn vpon paine of interdiction to deliuer the Arch-bishop whom hee had kept in prison two yeares which the King denied vntill he had payed him six thousand markes because hee had tooke him in harnesse in a field against him and he swore him hee should neuer beare harnesse against a Christian man This time King Iohn his wife were diuorced because they were in the third degrée of kindred and after by the Councell of the French King was married vnto the Daughter of the Earle of Anguilla and then Arthur of Brittan did homage for Brittaine and other his possessions to King Iohn This time was strife betwixt the King and the Archbishop of Yorke because he would not suffer the Sheriffe to do such affaires as he had to d ee in his Dioces for the King and excommunicated the Sheriffe and would not go with the King into Normandy to make the marriage betwixt the French Kinges Sonne and his Néece The King of France required King Iohn to depart with all his Landes in Normandy and Pictauia c. vnto Arthur his Nephew else hee would warre against him which he denying the next day the French King with Arthur set vpon certaine of his Towns and Castles in Normandy but he was so repulsed of the English who followed so néere and so inforced vpon them that they took Arthur and many other Prisoners and left none to beare tydings home This Arthur was the Sonne of Geffery the elder Brother of King Iohn Geffery was the third Son of Henry the second and Iohn was his fift Son Arthur being taken was brought to the King home he exhorted him with many gentle words to leaue thâ King of France and incline to his Unclâ hee stoutly required the kingdome of England with all things thereunto belonging to bee restored to him as lawfull heire of the Crowne Whereupon he was committed to the Tower of Roane wherâ he finished his life No Story agréeth certainly how whether by leaping into the Ditch or no. The next yeare King Iohn lost all his possessions in Normandy by the force of the French King This yeare grew great dissention about chusing the Archbishop of Canterbury the younger sort of the Monkes there at midnight and before the old Arch-bishop was buried and without the Kings assent elected one Renald sending hâm to the Pope charging him vpon his oath to be secret but he reuealed the matter whereby the rest of the Monkes sent priuily to Rome and sent to the King for hâs assânt to chuse an Archbishop the King granted their petition desiring them to shew âauour to Iohn Gray Bishop of Norwich which they did and elected him and the King sent to Rome at his owne charge to haue this election ratified âhe Suffragans of Canterbury sent likewise to Rome to haue both those elections frustrated because their assents were not to them The next yeare the Pope dâcided the matter betwiât the Monkes and Suffrigans pronouncing with the Monks charging the Suffragans and Bishop to meddle no more with that election The next yeare the Pope decided the controuersie betwixt the younger Monkes and the elder Monkes and condemned both their elections commaânding them to chuse Steuen Langton Cardinall of Saint Chrisogone for their Arch-bishop they said they durst not for feare of the King and that it was preiudiciall to their liberties He in a fury said We will you to know that we haue full power ouer the Church of Canterbury and
the land and that you receiue Stephen Archbishop into his dignity and the Prior of Canterbury and his Monkes and yeeld againe to the Archbishop all his Lands and rents and Sir yet moreouer that you shall make such restitution to them as the Church shall thinke good The King answered he would gladly grant their request touching the Prior and Monkes of Canterbury but touching the Archbishop let him giue vp the Archbishopricke and I will giue him some other Bishopricke vpon this condition I will admit him otherwise not Then one of them said holy Church was neuer wont to disgrade Archbishop without reasonable cause but to correct Princes that were disobedient to her What now quoth the King threaten you me They said You haue told vs what is in your heart now we will tell you what is in the Popes will He hath wholly interdicted and accursed you for your wrongs to holy Church and the Clergy and we doe accurse all those that shall common with you hereafter and we assoyle all Earles Barons Knights and others from their homage fealty and seruice they should doe to you and to confirme this we giue power to the Bishops of Winchester and Norwich and the same power ouer Scotland we giue vnto the Bishops of Rochester and Salisbury and in Wales wee giue the same power to the Bishops of Saint Dauid Landaffe and Saint Assaph And we send throughout all Christendome to all Bishops to accurse all that helpe and comfort you in any néede And we aââoyle all your aduersaries and command them to warrâ with you and with all that are enemies to the Church Then the king answered What may you doe more They said we say to you in verbo Dei that no heire of yours after this day may be crowned Then the King sware if hee had knowne their newes hee would haue kept them out this tweluemonth Upon this occasion Pope Inocent commanded ageine in paine of his great curse that none should obey King Iohn nor kéepe company with him to eate drinke common or Councell with him or his seruants to doe him any seruice at bed boord hall or stable But the greater part that sled from him by this meanes of diuerse and sundry diseases that yeare died Betwixt England and France that yeare fell great amitie but false to the bitter betraying of England Further the Pope with his Cardinals gaue sentence definitiue that King Iohn should be deposed from his Regal Seat and promised Phillip the French King full remission of all his ãâã and cleare possession of the Realme of England vnto him and his heirs if he did either kill him or expel him Moreouer he wrote vnto other Nations that they should take vpon them the badge of the Crosse and reuenge him of the manifold iniuries done to the vniuersall Church by the cursed Tuâke and Pagan King Iohn The next yeare the French King manned with the Bishops Monkes Prelates and Priests and their seruants began his attâmpt in hope of the Crowne of England but the English Nauie tooke 300. of the French Kings ships loaden with wheat wine meate flesh Armour and other necessaties for warre and burnt 100. within the Hauen and tooke the spoyle of them The Priests of England prouided them a false prophet one Peter Wakeâield they noysed daily amonst the Commons that Christ had twise appeared to him in shape of a childe betwixt the Priests hands once at Yorke and againe at Pomfret and breathed saying Peace peace peace and that he was rapt in spirit and hee saw the âoyes of Heauen and sorrowes of Hell He prophecied of King Iohn that he should raigne no longer then âscention day within the yeare of our Lord 1213. Being asked the question he could not tell whether he should be slaine expelled or of himselfe giue ouer the Crowne but he was sure he nor none of his stocke should raigne that day once fiââshed The King laughed thereat when he sawe himselfe out of dangeâ He prated thereof at large so that they which lâned the King apprehended him and put him in prison the King not knowing therof the fame hereof went through the whole Realme and the more becauâe he was imprisoned When the prophesied Ascention day was came King Iohn commaunâed his Regal Tent to be spred abroad in the open field and passed the day with his Noble Councel and men of Honour in the greatest solemnity that euer hee did before When that day was passed withall his enemies turned it to an alâgoricall vnderstanding and said He is no King for the Pope raigneth and not he yet raigned he stil and his sonne after him to proue the prophet alyer And because this false prophet had troubled the Realme peruerted the people raised the Commons against the King and was caried ouer the Sea by the Prelates and gaue incouragement to the French King to inuade the Land the King commaunded the false prophet should be hanged and his sonne least any more should rise of his race At length the King seeing himselfe so compassed with enemies and treasons and great danger that was like to follow especially fearing the French King was inforced to submit himselfe to that execrable monster and Antichrist of Rome conuerting his Land into the patrimony of Saint Peter as many other had done before him for hee was sure though not without shame being vnder his protection no forraine Potentate was able to subdue him King Iohn made a Letter obligatory to the Pope in this manner Whereas wee haue grieuously offended God and our mother Church of Rome and our body and Realme is not a sufficient satisfaction to him that humbled himselfe on the Crosie for vs through Councell of the noble Earles and Barons we freely grant vnto God and the Apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul and to our mother Church of Rome and to our holy Father Pope Inocent the third and all the Popes that come after him all the Realme and patronage of the Churches of England and Ireland with all the appurtenances for the remission of our sinnes and the helpe of our kinsfolkes soules and of all Christian Soules so that henceforth we will hold as Farmer to her Mother Church doing fealtie to the Pope and his successors Wee will doe homage to the Popes Legate as it were in the Popes presence paying âor all manner of Custome which we shoâld doe for the said Realmes yearely 1000. markes of siluer sauing to vs and our heires our Iustices and our Franchises and other realties that appertaine to our Crowne And for the assurance hereof we binde our successors and heires that if any of our heires shall goe against these things and being warned will not an end he shall then loose the foresaid Realmes for euermore But before the releaâment of the Interdiction the king was compelled to giue ouer his Crowne and Scepter to the Antichrist of Rome for fiue dayes and to receiue it at another Cardinals hands Then all that had their hearts
twentie yeares he was deposed and being in prison was striken in with a hot Spit After whom succeeded Edward the third in whose raigne Calis was first wonne and after the French King taken Prisoner and brought into England and ransomed for 3000000. Florens At which time happened the great conflict betwixt the Townes-men of Oxford and the Uniuersitie whereof a remembrance remaineth to this day In whose raigne two Friers Minorites were burned in Auignion and in his raigne was Maister Iohn Wiclife Reader of Diuinity in Oxford THE FIFT PART OF THE ECCLESIASTICALL History containing the Actes of Martyrs ALthough the Holy Ghost raised vp many before Wickliffe to vanquish the great errors which daily did preuaile in the world as Berengarius Bruno of Aniow Oklens the second Valden Marsilius of Padoâ Iohn of Gandauo Okchammus with diuers others of that schoole yet because they were not very famous nor notable we will begin at Wickliffe at whose time the furious fire of persecution seemed to take his originall In those great and troubelous times and horrible darknes of ignorance what time there séemed in a manner to bee no one so little sparke of pure doctrine remaining this foresaid Wickliffe by Gods prouidence sprang vp throgh whom the Lord would first waken and raise vp againe the world which was ouermuch drowned in the déepe streames of humane traditions when hee had long time professed Diuinitie in Oxford and perceiuing the true doctrine of Christs Gospel to bee adulterate with so many filthy inuentions of Bishops sects of Monkes and dark errors first he began to touch the Sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ in which he tooke much paines protesting in open schoole that it was his purpose to call back the Church from her Idolatry in this point but this sore could not bee touched without the great griefe of the whole world first the whole glut of Mânkes and Fryers were mad with him fighting for their altars panches and bellies after them the Priests after them the Bishops took the matter in hand at last when there power seemed not sufficient to withstand the truth which then was breaking out they ran whollâ to the thunder-bolts of the Bishop of Rome against them all this valiant Wickliffe happely maintained the cause of the Sacrament prouing it by Scriptures and the ancient Doetors hee refused the Doctors since the thousand yeares after Christ saying that after these yeares Satan was loosed and the life of man hath been most subiect to errors and that the simple and plaine truth doth appeare and consist in the Scriptures when all humane traditions must be referred he proued most stoutly in the Sacrament the substance with bread the accident not to be present As long as King Edward the third liued he was well enough defended by him against all there woluish cruelty yet in the last yeare of his raigne hee was taken by the Bishop of Canterbury at the instigation of the Pope and put to silence in presence of the Duke of Lancaster and the Lord Henry Piercy yet after by the fauour of certaine Noble-men he kept not long silence but King Edward being dead Pope Gregory neuer ceased to moue King Richards minde by his Letters Bishops and Bulles to persecute Wickliffe and his adherents by this meanes the examination of Wickliffe being at hand before the Bishops of Canterbury and London a certaine Noble man called Lewis Clifford comming in amongst the Bishops commanded them that they should not proceede with any definâtiue sentence against Wickliffe wherewith they were so amazed and their combes so cut that they had not a word in their mouthes to answere and when the Bishops and Wickliffe were come together in the Archbishops Chappell at Lambeth the Citizens and common people of London by force brake in vpon them and disturbing the Session were not afraid to intreat in the cause of Wickliffe by which meanes he escaped after hee had made a short protestation to be a true Christian and to professe and defend the law of Christ as long as hee breathed and if hee should erre hee would aske God forgiuenes and submit himselfe to the correction of our holy Mother the Church and that hee wouâd set forth in writing the Articles hee was now accused for the which to death hee would defend which all Christians especially the Pope and all Priests âught to defend for vnderstand the conclusions after the sence of the Scriptures and holy Doctors and I am ready to expound them if they seeme contrarie to the faith The first conclusion of IOHN WICKLIFFE exhibited in the Conuocation of certaine Bishops at Lambeth 1 THat none but Christ was ordained and not Peter and all his off-spring politiquely to rule ouer the world for euer for in the 1 Cor. 15. Then shall the end come when he shall deliuer vp his kingdome to God his Father when hee shall haue made voide all princely dominion it seemeth probable that they defraud her of her reward and vniustly defer to take vengeance vpon the body of the diuell which he hath deserued 2 The substance of the second was that by no power any writing was to be canonized contemning the Scripture this was spoke to one that commended mans writing and contemned the Scripture 3 That euery man in grace iustifying hath not onely right to all things but aboue all the good things of God as appeareth by the 24. of Mathew verily hee shall make him ruler ouer all his goods and in the eight to the Romans God spared not his Sonne but gaue him for vs how then did hee not giue vs all things with him this allureth vs to loue God that hath chosen vs to so many great and true riches 4 None can giue any temporall Dominion or gift but as the Minister of God the Apostle saith Iesus Christ was a Minister let not his Uicar then which should be a seruant of seruants be ashamed to vse the ministerie of the Church for his pride of seculer Dominion with his worldly stile seemeth blasphemie and the aduancement of Antichrist especially where they repute the Scriptures as cockle and the determination of all controuersies of Scripture in themselues 5 As sure as God is the Temporall Lords may lawfully and meritoriously take away the riches from the Church when they doe offend yet I say that it is not lawfull to doe it by the authoritie of the Church and for lacke of some spirituall gouernour and in case when the Ecclesiasticall Minister being strayed from the Catholique faith is to be corected and punished 6 The Uicar of Christ is not able by his Buls of himselfe not by the consent of his colledge to make a man the more able or disable a man that ought to procéed of God but he onely in the Name of God to notifie to the Church whom God hath enabled else he is as presumptuous as Lucifer for in the 1. Cor. 3. All our sufficiency commeth of God 7
and valiant Champion of the Faith vanquishing by the force of Scripture all such who by wilfuâl beggery blasphemed Christs Religion neither was he conâict of heresie or burned by our prelates after his buriall God forbid our Prelates should condemne a man of such honesty for an heretick who amongst all the rest of our Uniuersitie had written in Logick Philosophy Diuinity Morality and the Speculatiue arte without pâare In witnes whereof we seale this testimonial with our common Seale 5. October 1406. Iohn Hus hauing read ouer Wickliffes Bookes concludeth by many infallible presumptions and reasons that hee was no Heretick but in the number of the saued and that it was a foolish consequent because the number of Prelates and Clergy in England France and Boheme doe count him for an Heretick that therefore he is one like is the reason for burning of his bookes for in the first Chapter of the Booke of Machabees they burned the Bookes of the Lord and tore them and whosoeuer was found to haue or vse them was put to death by the Kings commandement if this argued the wickednes of the bookes then the Law of God was wicked so likewise of the burning of S. Gregories bookes and of diuers other good men it followeth not because the Scribes and Pharisies condemned Christ as an Heretick that therefore he was one so Iohn Chrysostome was twice condemned an Hereticke by the Bishops and Clergy Besides the Articles afore there were other Articles gathered out of his Bookes which his malicious aduersaries peruersly collecting and maliciously expounding did exhibit to the Councell of Constance They sinne in Simony that be hired by temporal liuings to pray for others The prayer of the Reprobate preuaileth for no man Hallowing of Churches confirmation of children the Sacrament of orders bee reserued to the Pope and Bishops onely for temporall lucre Graduation and Doctor-ships in Uniuersities and Colledges as they bee vsed conduce nothing to the Church The excommunication of the Pope and his Prelates is not to be feared because it is the censure of Antichrist Such as founded Monasteries offend and all such as enter into them be members of the Diuell A Deacon or Priest may teach Gods word without the authority of the apostolike Sea They that enter into Monasticall Order or Religion are vnable to keep Gods commandements or to come to heauen except they returne The Church of Rome is the Synagogue of Satan neither is the Pope the immediate vicar of Christ nor of the Apostles The decretals of the popes be Apocripha and seduce from the faith of Christ and the Clergy that study them be fooles It is not necessarie to saluation to beleeue the Church of Rome to be supreme âead ouer all Churches It is but folly to beleeue the Popes pardons All othes made for any contract or ciuill bargaine betwixt man and man bée vnlawfull Benedick Francis Dominick Bernard and al other that haue béen patrons of priuat religions except they haue repented with such as entred into the same be in damnable state and from the pope vnto the lowest nouis they are all hereticks Thus you haue the whole summe of Wickliffes Articles albeit not as hee vttered them but as his froward aduersaries collected them out of his writings if some of them séeme hard or strange thinke it rather to be imputed to their euill will then to his good meaning as it might appeare if his bookes had now been extant but this is certaine howsoeuer his Articles were taken of the euill disposed with all good men he was highly fauoured and had in such estimation for his profound knowledge and great learning that all forren Nations were moued with his authoritie especially the Bohemians had him insuch reuerence that Iohn Hus the greatest doer in the Uniuersitie of Prage tooke profit of his Doctrine and openly defended his Articles Wickliffes Doctrine came into Bohemia by reason of a Student of Bohemia that was at Oxford being of Noble stock who returning to Prage carried certaine bookes of Wickliffes with him De realibus vniuersalibus De ciuili iure et Diuino De Ecclesia De questionibus varââs contra clerum c. a Noble man of Prage builded a Church called Bethelem giuing lands to it and finding two preachers euery day to preach to the people of the which Iohn Hus was one hee beeing familiar with the yong man reading and perusing these bookes tooke such pleasure and fruit thereby that he defended and commended them in schooles and sermons commending him for a good man wishing when he died to be there placed where his soule was We think it worth labour to shew certaine prophesies whereby so many persâcutions were figured and first the aforesaid Abbot Ioachim told King Richard as hée went to Ierusalem that the last of the seuen Kings spoken of in the Reuelation was Antichrist and that at that present hee should be bred at Rome and be exalted into the apostolick Sea according to the Apostle hee is exalted aboue all that is called God hee was in the yeare 1290. And in the Prophesie of Hildegardis afore mentioned she saith in the yeare 1200. the Doctrine of the Apostles and Iustice which God appointed to spirituall Christians beganne to war flack and doubtfull but this womanly time shall not so long continue as it hath done Bishop Fluensius doubted not openly to preach that Antichrist was borne in his daies Biâh Gerardus in the yeare of our Lord 1239. in his Book of the preseruation of Gods seruants doth coniecture Antichrist to be at hand by the rarity of prophesie and the gift of curing Hierome Sauanorol 69. yeares before prophesied that Italy shall be plagued by the scourge of God for the manifold sinnes thereof amongst the Princes as well Ecclesiasticall as secular and when the Cities of Rome and Florence are ouerthrowne then shall the Church bee renewed which shall happen very shortly and the Turkes and the Mauritanians shall bee conuerted vnto the knowledge of Christ and that one should passe the Alpes like vnto Cyrus and hee shall subuert all Italy I thinke it lacketh not his prophesie which happened in the yeare of our Lord 1501. that throughout all Germany there was scene vpon mens garments Crosses crownes of thornes similitude of Nailes and drops of bloud fâll from heauen and oftentimes they fell within the houses insomuch that many women wore the same long time vpon their railes One Iohn a Franciscane Fryer in the yeare of our Lord 1346. fore-shewed that the Ecclesiasticall order should suffer much through the Ambitious auarice and pride of the Pope wherevpon Pope Clement the sixt cast him in the prison One Manfredus a Dominick Frier fore-shewed that Antichrist should rise vp in his time after the yeare of our Lord 1300. and should fully rage ouer the godly and that there should be persecution in the Church and hee said that the Cloyster Monkes did falsifie the Doctrine of Christ that the sacrifice of the Altar
body of Christ really which was Sacramentally vâed in the Church Hee was caâyed to the place of execution and included in â Pipe or Tunne The Prince the eldest Sonne of King Henry was present hee endeauoured to saue him pârswading him from his opinions adding often threatnings which might haue daunted any mans stomacke but this valliant Champion of Christ neglâcting the Princes faire words âather determined to suffer any torments then so great Idolatry Beeing inclosed in the Pipe hee was tormentâd by the raging of the fâre and miserably roaring in the middest thereof the Prince beeing moued came to him againe commaunded the fâre to bee taken away comforted him and promised him life and a yearely stypând during his life if âee would consent to his Councell But beeing more inflamed with the Spirit of God thân with any earthly desire hee continued vnmoueably in his former minde The Prince commaunded him to bee put in againe and that after hee should looke for no grace So this Lay-man persâuered inuincible vnto the end not without a great and cruell battell but with so much the more tryumph and victorie As soone as King Henry the fift was Crowned at the same time the Lord Cobham was cast into the Towre the Bishoppes and Prelates came to the King complaining that they and the whole Clergie were despised and their censurâs and Sacraments not regarded and all iending to vtter ruine and decay and all by suffering of Heretickes which holde assemblyes in secret places aâd corners which if it were any longer suffered would ouerthrowe the Common-wealth Whereupon the King held a Parliament at Lecester and made an act that they that held Wicliffes opinion were Heretickes and Traytors and to bee hanged and burned The Bishops beeing armed herewith exercised wonderfull crueltie against many guiltlesse men amongst which besides the Lord Cobham whose Story is deferred was Sir Roger Acton Knight Iohn Browne Gentleman and Iohn Beuerley a Preacher who were condemned by the Lawe aforesaid and crowned with the double Martyrdome of hanging and burning at Saint Gyles iâ the Field At that time there was 36. together all of Noble and gentle bloâds condemmed by the Bishops for Heretickes whom this cruell Lawe draue vnto the ãâã Also one Iohn Claydon a Currier and Richard Turmine a Baker were burned in Smithfield I passe ouer such whom Iohn Mayor in his sixth Booke reporteth to be condemned for Heretickes in the yeare 1447. amoâst which such as were found most constant were burned About the same time a Fryer Minor an English-man being Ambassador of Pope Benedict 13. vnto Scotland if he had not escaped by flight had beene burned for certaine herisies that were laid against him About this time was a Sermon written whether by Wickliffe or Thorpe or any other it is vncertaine it is mentioned to be in the yeare 1388. Christ likeneth the Kingdome of Heauen to a Housholder that went in the morning to hyre Worke-men into his Uineyard so did he about the third houre the sixt houre and the ninth and the eluenth and as he found men standing idle Hee said to them Why stand you beere vn-occupyed goe into my Vineyard and that which is duty I shall giue you and when the day was ended he called his Steward and bad him giue euery man a penny This Housholder is Christ head of the Church on Earth which calleth in diuers ages as in the time of Nature he called by inspiration Abell Enoch Noah Abraham and diuers others In the time of the olde Law Moses Dauid Esau Ieremy with the Prophets In the time of Grace the Apostles Martyrs Confessors and Uirgines some in youth some in middle age some in the latter dayes it is to labour in his Uineyard which is his Church as there be diuers Officers in trimming of the maternall Uine no lesse néedfull in the Church be these thrée Officers Priest-hood Knight-hood and Laborers The Priests must cut away the branches of sinne with the Sword of Gods Word the Knights must maintaine Gods Word the Teachers thereof and the Land from wrongs and Enemies the Labourers must by their sore sweat get sustenance for themselues and others if Priests want the people for want of Gods Word all will grow wilde in vices and dye ghostly and were not men to rule people Théeues and Enemies would so increase that none could liue in peace and were it not for Labourers Priests and Knights must be Artificers Plough-men and Heard-men or else die for want of sustenance as the great Clarke Auicenna saith euery vnreasonable Beast if he haue that which belongs to Nature can liue of himselfe alone But if there were but one man in the World if he had all the goods in the World yet for default he would dye or his life worse then if he were not because that which is prepared for mans sustenance must be altered or else it accordeth not with him therefore he saith it is very needfull to haue men of diuers trades and callings This should be a great cause that euery calling should loue and not hate one another and this I dare say that they which doe not diligently labour in some one necessary calling or other when the day of reckoning shall come which is the end of this life as he liued without trauell so shall hee want the reward of the Penny the endlesse ioyes of Heauen and be cast into Hell Wherefore if thou be a labouring man doe it truelie if thou be a Seruant be subiect feare to displease thy Maister for Christs sake if thou be a Marchant deceiue not thy Brother in chaffering if a King defend the poore and needy if a Iudge goe not to the right hand for fauour nor to the left for hate If thou be a Priest instruct the ignorant praise the obedient and reprooue the disobedient to God for in the end of the world you shall euery one haue a reward a good or a bad then Christ wil say to euery of these three States Come giue a reckoning of thy Bayliwicke First Priests that haue cure of Soules shall bee called and they shall answer for themselues and others The second is Temporall Lords shall answere for themselues and others The third Baily shall account but for himselfe or at least haue lesse charge then the other and euery one shall answere three questions How entrest thou How rulest thou How liuest thou To the Priest how entrest thou by Truth or Symony God or the Deuill for that thou wouldst labour in thy calling or for that thou wouldst bee richly arrayed Answere in thy conscience to thine offence now or thou shalt ere it be long answere to GOD and I aske the question why men set their Children to schoole whether for their worldly aduancement or to make them the better to know GOD and serue him They set them to the Law not to be Ministers of Iustice to defend the poore but because it is a meanes to make them great men
whereof whosoeuer shall drinke shall not thirst euerlastingly That the Bohemians haue done as they ought in that they haue sought the Fountaines of this water at the Councell and now at length giuen eare to their Mother now ought hatred to cease Armor be laid aside and warre reiected the Fathers would louingly heare them in their owne cause requiring them that they would willingly receiue the Councels of the sacred Synod whereunto all faithfull Christians ought to consent and agree if they will be partakers of eternall life This Oration was commended of the Fathers The Bohemians answered they had neither contemned the Church nor Councels and that they are come to manifest their innocency before the whole Church and required open audience where the Laity may bee present their request was graunted them and being demanded in what points they did differ from the Church of Rome they propounded foure Articles 1 First all such as would be saued ought of necessity to receiue Communion vnder both kinds of Bread and Wine 2 All ciuill rule and dominion to be forbidden to the Cleargy by the Law of God 3 That the preaching of the Word of God is free for all men and in all places 4 Open crimes are in no wise to bee suffered for the auoiding of greater euill One affirmed hee heard sundry things of the Bohemians offensiue to Chrstian eares one of them was that they should preach that the inuention of begging Friers was diabolicall Then Procopius said it is not vntrue for if neither Moses nor the Partriarcks before him nor after him the Prophets nor in the new Lawe Christ nor his Apostles did institute the orders of begging Friers who doubteth but the Diuels inuented them and that they are the worke of darknesse all the Councell derided him and Cardinall Iulianus laboured to prooue that not onely the Decrees of the Patriarcks Prophets Christ and his Apostles but also the Decrees which the Church should ordaine to be the workes of God yet the order of begging Fryers may seeme to be taken out of some part of the Gospell the Bohemians chose foure Ministers to dispute for them and the Councell chose foure the disputation continued fifty daies many things were alledged on both parts which we will discourse more at large when we come to the Councell of Basill The History of the most valiant and worthy Martyr of Christ S r Iohn Old-Castle Knight Lord Cobham AFter the true seruant of Christ Iohn Wickliffe six and twenty yeares most valiantly had battelled with the great Antichrist of Europe and his disguised hosts of annointed hypocrites to restore the Church againe to the puritie of the Gospell and was departed hence in Christ Anno 1387. he left a number of godly Disciples against whom Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury was as fierce as euer Pharaoh Antiochus Herod and Cayphas and hauing called a Councell about the matter they concluded it was not possible for them to make whole Christs coate without seame meaning thereby their patched Popish Synagoue vnlesse certaine great men were wrought out of the way which were chiefe maintainers of the Disciples of Wickliffe amongst whom the Lord Cobham was complained of for a mighty maintainer of suspected preachers in London Rochester Hereford that he not onely sent them thither but maintained them with force and armes and that hee beleeued otherwise of the Sacrament of the Altar of penance of pilgrimages of Image worshipping and of Ecclesiasticall power then the Church of Rome taught and it was concluded that proces should goe against him but first they would know the Kings minde wherevpon the Archbishop with his Bishops and a great part of the Clergy went to the King and gréeuously complained against the Lord Cobham the king desired them in respect of his Noble stock they should fauorably deale with him and that if it were possible they should reduce him to the vnity of the Church without rigour and promised he would seriously common the matter with him Anon the King sent for the Lord Cobham and secretly admonished him to submit himselfe to his mother the holy Church he answered I am ready to obey to you most worthy Prince for I know you an appointed minister of God but touching the Pope and spiritualtie I owe them neither sute nor seruice for I knowe by the Scripture he is great Antichrist the sonne of perdition the aduersary of God the abhomination standing in the Holy Place when the King heard this he would talk no more with him and when the Archbishop resorted to him againe he gauâ him full authoritie to cite him examine him and punish him then the Arch-bishop sent his chiefe somner to his house with citation when he came thither he durst not enter his gates without licence but returned without doing his message then the Archbishop got one Iohn Butler doore kâeper of the Kings Priuy Chamber to go with his Somner who went to the Lord Cobham shewing him it was the Kings pleasure that he should obey the said citation he answered that in no case he would consent to those most diuelish practises of the Priests after hee sent another citation to bee hanged vpon the Cathedrall Church doore of Rochester and because hee appeared not excommunicated him and when he heard that he derided his proceedings hee threatned the seculer power with curses and interdictions if they did not assist him against that seditious Apostata Scismatick and Heretick troubler of a publike peace enemy of the Realme and aduersarie of holy Church then he writ a Christian profession of his Faith and signed sealed it wherin he answered foure of the chiefest articleâ that the Archbishop laid against him then he took a copy thereof and went to the King it agréed in all points with the Apostles Créede and moreouer that Christ is the onely head of the Church and that all that haue béen or shall be saued are members of his holy Church that it is seuered into thrée estates Priesthood Knight-hood and Commons and that it is Gods will that one should ayde and not destroy the other the priests secluded from all worldlinesse should conforme their liues vnto the example of Christ and his Apostles euermore occupied in teaching and preaching the Scriptures purely in giuing wholesome Councell of good liuing vnto the other two degrees of men more modest also more louing and lowly in spirit should they be then any other sort of people in Knight-hood are all they that beare sword by Law of office these should defend Gods lawes so that the Gospel were purely taught reforming their liues according to the same and secluding all false preachers they ought rather to hazard their liues then suffer wicked decrees to blemish the word of God and let the frée passage thereof whereof heresies and scismes sprung for they spring of nothing else as I suppose which Constitutions craftily creepe in by hypocriticall lies for aduantage they ought also to preserue Gods people from oppressors
and Ludney within the space of three or foure yeares 120. men and women which sustained great vexation for the profession of Christs Faith whose names are recited in the booke at large the Articles that were generally obiected against them were That auriculer confession is not to bee made vnto a Priest but vnto God because no Priest hath no power to absolue a sinner That no Priest can make the body of Christ in the Sacrament and that material bread remaineth after consecation That euery true Christian man is a Priest to God That none is bound vnder paine of damnation to Lent or other dayes prohibited That the Pope is Antichrist and his Prelates Antichrists disciples and that the Pope hath no power to binde and lose on earth and that it is lawfull to doe any worke except sinne vpon the holy daies That Priests may haue wiues lawfully That the Communications of the Prelates are not to be regarded That it is not lawfull to sweare in priuate causes That men ought no goe on Pilgrimage nor giue honour vnto Images of the Crosse of our Lady or other Saints That holy water hath no more vertue then other water That the death of Thomas Becket was neither holy nor meritorious That relickes as dead mens bones ought not to be worshipped or digged out of graues or set vp in Shrines That prayers made in all places are acceptable to God That men ought not to pray to any Saints but onely to God That bels and ringing in the Church were ordained to fill the Priests purses That it is no sinne to withstand the Ecclesiasticall precepts That the Catholicke Church is only the Congregation of the elect they did so agree in vniforme faith that whatsoeuer one did hold all did maintaine William White being a follower of Iohn Wickliffe yet laboured continually vnto the glory of his spoute Christ by reading writing and preaching The principall points of his Doctrine were these which he was forced to recant at Canterbury That men should seeke for forgiuenesse of sins only at Gods hands that the wicked liuing of the Pope and his holinesse is nothing else but a diuelish estate and heauie yoke of Antichrist therfore an enemy to Christs truth that men ought not to worship Images or other Idolatrous paintings nor the holy men which are deade That the Romish Church is the figtree that Christ cursed because it brought forth no fruit of the true belief That such as weare Coules or are annointed and shorne are the Lance-knights and soldiers of Lucifer and that all of them because their lamps are not burning shal be shut out when the Lord Christ shall come after his said recantation he was much more stronger in Christ and confessed his errour and offence and busying himselfe in preaching and conuerting the people to the doctrine of Christ in Norfolke he was apprehended by vertue of the Kings letters aforesaid and brought before the Bishop of Norwich by whom hee was contemned of 30. Articles and burned the said yeare in Norwich who was of so deuout and holy life that all the people had him in great reuerence One Margery wright confessed if any Saints were to be prayd vnto she would rather pray vnto him then any other when he was come to the stake thinking to open his mouth to exhort the people one of the Bishops seruants strooke him in the mouth Thus he receiued the Crowne of Marterdome to the grife of all good men in Norfolke his wife following his steps by âer teaching confirmed many in the trueth Wherefore shee suffered much trouble and punishment that yeare By the saide Bishoppe the same yeare also was burned father Abraham of âolchester and Iohn Waddon Priest for the like Article Amongst them that were arrested and caused to abiure in this yeare as aforesaid was Thomas Pie and Iohn Mendham of Aldborâough who being conuicted vpon diuerse Articles before mentioned were ioyned penance sixe whippings about the ãâã Church of Alborrough before a solemne Procession sixe seuerall Sundaies and three whippings three seueral Market daies about the Market Place of ãâ¦ã heads necks legs and feete bare their bodies onely couered with their ãâã and breeches either of them carying a taper in his hand of a pound waighâ which tâpe the last Sunday after the Penance ãâã they should deuoutly offeâ vnto the high Altar of the Church of Alborrough at the time of the âffeâtory of the high Masse and that going about the Market plâce aforesaid they shal make foure stays euery one to receiue deuoutly thrée whips and if they would not obey this monition they were to be cited to appeare before the Bishop to shew cause why they should not bee excommunicated and to receiue such punishment as Iustice shall prouide in that behalfe this was their ãâ¦ã of penance howbeit some were often more cruelly handled and after banished out of the Dioces and others were more straâly vsed by lâng imprisonment whereof we will briefly rehearse one or two for example Iohn Beuerley alias Batâile a labourer hauing lyeâ long in Irons and hauing nothing proued against him the Commissary made him sweare that euery yeare after he would confesse is slune once a yeare vnto his Curate and receiue the Sacrament at Easter and for his penance the Friday and Saturday next following hee should fast brâad and water and vpon the Saturday be whipped from the Bishops Palace ãâã Norwich about all the streets and the Market place hauing in his hand a waxe candle of two pence to offer to the Image of the Trinitie after he had done his penance and because he had eaten flesh on Easter day and was not shriuen in Lent nor receiued on Easter day the Iudge inioyned him he should fast Tuesday Wednesday and Friday in Whitsun weeke hauing but one meale a day of Fish and other white meates and depart out of the Dioces and neuer come there againe Iohn Skilley of Flixton Miller was forced to abiure for holding the Articles aforesaid and for receiuing certaine godly men into his house had a most sharpe penance seauen yeares imprisonment in the Monastery of Langly and to fast with bread water euery Friday and to appeare euery Wednesday in the beginning of Lent and euery Munday and Thursday for two yeares after the seauen yeares before the Bishop his successor and Commissary in the Cathedrall Church of Norwich together with other penitântiaries to doe open penance for his offence diuerse others the same yeare were forced to abiuration and penance In this next yeare in the same Register were sixteene or seauenteene that were examined and did penance likewise amongst whom was Iohn Baker otherwise called Vsher Tunstall who for hauing a booke with the Pater noster Aue and Creede in English and for other Articles of Fasting Confession and inuocation was constrained to abiure and doe such penance as others did before him Another was Margerie Baâkster wife of Willam Backster against whom one Ioane Cliffe and
six women with the Lord of the place to be condemned for Hereticks because they said since Peter none was true Uicar of Christ but they onely which followed the pouerty of Christ. Hee condemned of heresie George the King of Boheme and depriued him made his whole stocke to be reiected and gaue his Kingdome to Mathias King of Panonia Pope Alexander the sixt succéeded him Hee receiued two thousand Florens for poisoning Gemen the Turkes brother at Rome Hee sent for help of the Turkes against the French King He was vngratefull to the Cardinals that chose him He commanded Marcinellus one of them to haue his hands and tongue cut off for speaking against his vices After sitting with his Cardinals and the rich Seâators of Rome at dinner his man vnawares bringing a wrong Bottle vnto him he with his Cardinals about him were poisoned In his time the Angel which stood on the top of the Popes Church was beaten down with thunder which thing seemed to declare the ruine of the Pope-dome Pius the third succéeded Pope after him Iulius the second passing all other in iniquitie as he was going to warre he cast the keyes of S. Peter into the riuer Tybris saying being the keyes of Peter would not serue him to his purpose he would take himselfe to the sword of Paul By this Iulius partly with warre partly with cursings in seuen yeares 200000. Christians were destroyed he got many Citties out of Princes hands by bloudshed when he was made Pope he tooke an oath to haue a Councel within two yeares but breaking his Oath he was occupied in warres whervpon nine of his Cardinals departed from him and appointed a Councell at Pâsa they alledged the cause for that the Pope was forsworne and that they had diuers other crimes to accuse him of purposing to remooue him from his seate which hee had obtained through bribes and ambition Iulius commanded vnder great paine that none obeyed them the next yéere he called a Councell The French King seeing the Pope take part with the Uenetians against him called a Councell at Thurin in which Councell they agréed that the Pope ought not to war against any Prince without cause and that it was lawfull for the King to defend himselfe against him and that vniust excommunications were not to bée feared After the King sent to the Pope the decrées of the Councell who accursed the French King with all his Kingdome and the next yeare after this warlike Pope dyed The lamentable handling of RICHARD HVN who was priuily murdered in Lolards Tower in London HVN had a Child died in his house the Curate claiming the bearing-shéet for a Mortuarâ Hun answered The Infant had no property therein whereupon he was cited to the Spirituall Court he sued the Curate in a Premunire and then the Priests of mallice accused him of heresie and brought him to Lolards Tower where he was found dead hanging by the necke in a girdle of silke The Bishop of London called Richard Fitziames and Doctor Horsey his Chancelor said âe hanged himselfe and the Temporalty said he was murdered The Coronor summoned a Iury and viewed the body and many times they were with the Kings Councell and heard their opinions but in the mean season the Bishop burnt the dead carkase in Smithfield to the abhomination of the people but after the matter had beeâe heard by the Kings Iudges and after by the Kings Councell the King being present at lasâ Doctor Horsey the Chancelor and one Charles the Bel-ringer of Pauls anâ Ioseph the Bishops Somner were indicted of murder and the said Charles being in the Tower of London of his owne frée will said that Maister Chancelor deuised and wrote with his own hand all the heresies that were laid to Huns charge and that when Richard Hunne was slaine Iohn Bell-ringer bare vp a Waxe Candle and I went next to him and Maister Chancelor came vp last and Hunne was lying in his bed and Maister Chancelor said Lay hands on the Theefe and so all we murdered him and I put the girdle about his necke and Iohn Bell-ringer and I did heaue him vp and maister Chancelor pulled the girdle ouer the staple and so Hun was hanged The said Charles told Iulian Little his maid he killed him by putting a Wyer vp into his nose Before that time the Chanceller commaunded to be put vpon Huns necke a great coller of Iron with a great Chaine which is to heauy for any man or beast to weare and long to endure And before Huns death the Chanceller came into the Lolards Tower and kneeled downe before Hunne holding vp his hands and asked him forgiuenesse of all he had done and must doe to him And on the Sonday before the night in which he was destroyed he caused the Penitentiary of Paules to go to Hun and say a Gospell and make for him Holy Water and Holy bread and giue him which was done The Bishop did all he could by word or writing to the King and Cardinals and the Councell to smother the matter affirming that he hanged himselfe and that the Iury was forsworne and that the said Charles spoke that which he had done as before by reason of durance of imprisonment and that if the King and Councel should fauour this matter he should not be able to goe abroad for Heretickes and by the meanes of him and the spiritualty and money the Chancelor caused the Kinges Atturney to confesse on his arraignement him not to be guilty so he escaped to Excester and for shame neuer durst after come to London The Historie of Doctor VVESALIANVS THis Wesalia was complained vpon to Piorherus Archbishop of Mentz by the Thomists which is an Order holding of Thomas de Aquino The Bishop made him answer he should giue vp all his workes and writings which he had made and preached This being done they deuided them amongst themselues that euery man might finde out what errours and heresies they could His Articles and opinions were these That all men be saued fréely and through méere grace by faith in Christ Iesus frée-will to be nothing only that we should beléeue the word of God and not the glosse of any man or fathers that the word of God is to be expounded by the collation of one place with another that Prelats haue no authoritie to make lawes or expound the Scriptures by any peculiar right more then another that mens traditions as Fastings Feasts long prayers Pilgrimations and such like are to be reiected Extream vnction and confirmation to be reproued confession and satisfaction to be reprehended the primacy of the Pope he also affirmed to be nothing Upon which Articles this Wesalia by a generall assembly was condemned and his books to be burned He bring required of the Councell what he thought of the Uicar of Christ in earth He said he beléeued that Christ left no such Uicar in earth for ascending into heauen hee said Behold I am with you c. By
may rout It is a saying in Italy as soone as a Priest receiueth râsure the Diuell entereth into him It is a saying in Germany the neerer Rome the further from God and that all euill beginneth in Nomine Domine alluding vnto the Popes Bulles and when Bulles come from Rome binde well pour purses He that goeth once to Rome séeth a wicked man hee that goeth twice knoweth him he that goeth thrice bringeth him home with him The Court of Rome neuer regardeth the sheepe without the wooll Once were wooden Chalices and golden Priests now we haue golden Chalices and wooden priests Once Christians had blind Churches light hearts now they haue light Churches and blind hearts Many are worshipped for Saints in heauen whose soules bee burning in Hell It was a saying in France foure hundred yeâres before this time that Satan was let loose at Rome to destroy the whole Church Thomas Beckeâ writ to the Cardinals that it was a common Prouerb that there is no right in Rome By these and such like innumerable Sayings it doth appeare what Iudgements the people had in those dayes of the Romish Clergy which was of GOD as a secret prophesie that Religion should bee restored shortly as it came to passe in this yeare one thousand fiue hundred and sixteene in which yeare Doctor MARTINE LVTHER first beganne to write before whom Picus Mirandola and Laurentius Valla and last of all Erasmus Roterodamus had somewhat broken the way before and had shaken the Monkes houses but LVTHER gaue the stroke and plucked downe the foundation all by opening one veine long hid before wherein lyeth the touchstone of all truth and Doctrine as the onely origine of our saluation which is our free Iustification by our Faith only in Christ the laborious trauels and constant preachings of this worthy man because they are at large in the History of Iohn Sleydan I neede not to stand thereon Luther was borne in Isleben in Saxony hee was a Student in the Uniuersitie of Magdâburge and Erford where Veselus was an old man as before is mentioned of whom it seemeth to bee that Luther speaketh of an Old Man there of whom hee learned many things touching Faith and hee thus expressed vnto him the Article of remission of sinnes wee may now generally beleeue onely that sinnes are and haue been remitted to some as the Diuels beléeue they were remitted to Peter or Dauid but that Gods expresse commandement is that euery man should beléeue particularly his sinnes are forgiuen and this is confirmed by Saint Bernard in his Sermon vpon the annunciation adde that thou beléeuest thy sinnes are forgiuen thée this is the Testimonie that the Holy Ghost giueth thee in thy heart and this is that the Apostle saith a man is freely iustified by Faith by whose words Luther said hee was strengthned and at last by prayer and reading he perceiued that Doctrine more euidently After hee began to expound the Epistle to the Romanes and the Psalmes so Diuinely that hee seemed to all the faithfull and learned a shining light which beganne to cleere after the long cloudy sky hee shewed the difference betwixt the Lawe and the Gospell Hee confounded the errour that then raigned in the Schooles and Sermons teaching that men merite remission of sinnes by their proper workes and were iust before GOD by outward Discipline as thâ Pharisies taught But Luther expressely shewed that sinnes are freely remitted for the loue of the Sonne of GOD and that wee ought faithfully to embrace this bountifull gift His life was likewise correspondent to his profession whereby it appeared his words were not lip-labour but proceeded from the heart whereby many notable personages consented with him in his opinions at this time Luther altered nothing in the ceremonies but taught this onely doctrine as the principall of all others to wit the Doctrine of Repentance of remission of sinnes of Faith of true comfort in time of aduersitie euery man receiued good taste of this sweet Doctrine A Dominick Frier named Tecell caused the Popes indulgences to be carried and sold about the Coontreâ Luther beeing moued with the blasphemous Sermons of this shamelesse Frier set vp certaine positiâns against Indulgences openly vpon the Temples This Frier hoping to obtaine the Popes blessing assembled certaine Monkes and sophisticall Diuines and commaunded them to write something against Luther and in his Sermons he taught that Luther was an heretick and worthy to bee burned and he burned Luthers positions and the Sermon he writ against indulgences This forced Luther to intreat more amply of things and to maintaine the truth Frederick Duke of Saxony in the presence of the Emperor besought Erasmus his opinion if Luther had erred he answered his opinions were good but he desired he would moderate his stile Now Luther the plainer to expresse the doctrine of repentance of remission of sinnes of Faith and of Indulgences Hee added also these matters the difference of Diuine and humane Lawes the Doctrine of the vse of the Lords Supper of Baptisme and vowes touching the Question of the Popes power Eckius was the Author thereof to the intent to inflame the wrath of the Pope and Princes against Luther Upon this the Supper of the Lord was published to be vsed in both kindes priuate Masse was omitted and the Monasteries abandoned but this alteration was by Carolastadius in the absence of Luther He held in contempt the seditious Doctors of that time as Monetarius and the Anabaptists but especially the horâed Bishops of Rome who arrogantly affirmed that Saint Peter had not onely the charge to teach the Gospell but to gouerne common-weales In the yeare of our Lord one thousand fiue hundred and one and twenty Luther entred into Wormes being sent for by the Emperour Charles the fift King of Spaine and Arch-Duke of Austrich who in the first yeare of his Empire made an assembly of Princes in his regall Citie And whereas Luther had published three yéeres before certaine new propositions to be disputed on at Wittenberge against the tyrannie of the Pope which were torne in péeces and burned by the Papistes Wherevpon they began to tend to vprore and yet Luther maintained openly his cause against the Clergy Wherevpon by the solicitation of the Romaine Legates LVTHER was sent for by the Herauld of Armes with Letters of safe conduct by the Emperour and Princes wherevpon hee came as before and was visited of many Earles Barons Knights Gentlemen Priests and the Comminaltie who frequented his lodging vntill night He came contrarie to the expectation of many and of his aduersaries for they thought he would not come because his bookes a few dayes before were condemned by publique proclamations and many perswaded him not to submit himselfe to any danger who answerd since I am sent for I am resolued to enter into Worms in the name of our Lord Iesus Christ though I knew there were so many Diuels to resist me as there be tiles to couer
place more then in England as shall be declared In the yeare 1517. one Cardinall Campeius was sent as Ambassador into England to gather money for warre against the Turke the Cardinall of Yorke caused him to send to Rome that hee might be ioyned in Legacie with him and sent him red cloth for his seruants that he might come moâe gloriously at euery towne hee was receiued with procession accompanied with Lords and Gentlemen at Black heath the Duke of Northfolke with a number of Prelates Knights and Gentlemen met him richly appareled and in the way hee was brought into a Tent of cloth of gould where bâ put on his Cardinalls Robes and tooke his Mule towards London this Cardinall had eyght Mules laden the Cardinall of Yorke thinking them not sufficient for his State sent him twelue mules more w t empty Coffers couered with red the next day these twelue Mules were led through the Citty as though they had beene laden with treasure and other necessaries to the great admiration of all men but passing through Cheapeside the people pressing to behold them one of the Mules broke his coller and ranne vppon the other Mules and they running together ouerthrew diuers of their burthens and so there shewed the Cardinalls treasure with great laughter and scorne oâ many and the boyes and girles gathered vp peeces of meate and bread and rosted egges horse showes and old store of such baggage crying out behold here is my Lord Cardinalls treasure and the Mulers greatly ashamed gathered vp their treasure as well as they could and went forward then hee was brought to the Cardinall of Yorke and then to the King this Cardinall of Yorke at all times at dinner and supper was serued with his Seruitoures kneeling and many Noble men of England wayted vppon him such was his monstrous pride Such as were forced to abiure in King Henry the eyght his raigne after the first begining of Luther because there is a great many and nothing but their bare name ricited I referre thee to the booke at large IHon Coines alias Laueland was detected for contemning the Sacrament of the Altar and because he receaued not at Easter who after died at St. Martins Robert Ward Shoomaker of St. Brids Parish in Fleetstreet detected by thrée wittnesses for holding opinions against the Sacrament of the Altar died in the Counter of âredstreet Mathew Ward Marchant-venturer committed to the Counter in Breadstreet for that he being Priest was married and kept company with his wife and because he was a Sacramentary and despised auriculer confession and priuate Masses and defended the Communion to bee ministred to the Lay people in both kinds and maintaining that Priests ought to haue wiues Herman Peterson and Iames Gossen Taylers Duch-men were committed to the Counter in Breadstréete because the said Iames was not confessed in Lent nor receiued at Easter which he said came by the counsell of the said Herman which councelled him rather to giue thrée or foure pence to the poore then to be shrieuen Thomas Lancaster imprisoned in the Counter in the Poultry for bringing in prohibited bookes Iohn Wilcocke a Scottish Frier committed to the Fléete for preaching against Confession and Holy-water against praying to Saints and against Purgatory that Priests might haue wiues and that the people ought not to pray for soules departed Also Iohn Goodale was prisoner there Nicholas South committed to Newgate for not being shrieuen in Lent nor receiued at Easter There was apprehended for heresie in Couentry Robert Hatchets Shomaker one Wrigsham a Glouer one Lansdâll a Hosier with thrée others and one Mistris Smith a Widdow because they taught their children and families the Lords praier the Beleefe and the ten Commandements in English they were imprisoned some in places vnder-ground some in Chambers and other places after they were sent to Blackstocke Abbey where they were imprisoned whilst they were there their Children were sent for before one Stafford Warden of the Gray-Fryers in Couentry who examined them of their beleefe and what errors their Fathers had taught them charging them vpon paine of death which their Fathers should suffer that they no waies meddle with the Pater-noster Creede and ten Commandements in English which is heresie After their Fathers were brought againe to Couentry where foure yeares before they had borne Faggots in the Church and Market The Bishops and Doctors they and the said Gentlewoman before them who told them they should weare Faggâts portraied in their cloaths to signifie they were hereticks Robert Hatchets answered we desire no more but the Lords prayer ten Commandements and Creed in English which I am sure euery Christian ought to haue Wherupon they were iudged all to be burned except the Gentlewoman who was pardoned and because it was euening and her sight dim the Somner offered to go home with her as he led her he heard somewhat rattle in her sleene and taking it from her and looking vpon it he found it was the Lords Prayer the Creed and ten Commaundements in English so he brought her backe againe to the Bishop where she was presently condemned and burned with the sixe before There was another in Couentry called Robert Silkes which escaped from taking and two yeares after was taken in Kent and sent to Couentry and burned Then the Sheriffes went to their houses and tooke all their goods and Chattels to their owne vse leauing their wiues and children nothing to liue by Henry Voz and Iohn Escy two yong Austen Fryers were disgraded because they would not deny the doctrin of the Gospel called Lutheranisme they thanked God for deliuering them from that abhominable priesthood and making them Priests of his holy order and that he had receiued them as a sacrifice of a sweet odor The greatest error they were accused of was that men ought only to trust in God because meÌ are Lyers They went ioyfully to the place of execution protesting they died for the glory of God and the Gospell beleeuing in the Sonne of God saying This is the day we long desired being in their shirts they ioyfully imbrased the stake praysing God singing Psalmes and making testimony of their Faith A Doctor seeing their iolity bid them take heed so foolishly to glorifie themselues they answered God forbid we should glory in any thing but the Crosse of Christ Another councelled them to haue God before their eies they answered We trust we carry him truly in our hearts When the fire was kindled at their feete one of them said me thinkes you strew Roses at my feete Henry being demaunded whether Luther had seducâd him Yea said he as Christ seduced his Apostles He said also that it was contrary to Gods Law that the Cleargy should be exempt from the iurisdiction of the Christian Magistrate and that Byshops haue no power but only to preach the word of God They were burned at Bruxels after their death their Monastery was dissolued at Antwerp Their President was called
the Lords put a book of articles against the Cardinall that he procured the Legat without the Kings consent whereby he took away the right of all Bishops that in all writings to Rome and other Princes he wrote Ego Rex meus that he standered the Church of England to be brought into a reprobate sense sending to Rome to be Legat to reforme the Church and carried the great Seale with him to Flanders and that without the kings consent he sent commission to conclude a league betwéen the King and the Duke of Florence and that hauing the French pocks he presumed to come and to breathe on the King and that hee had caused the Cardinalls Hat to be put on the Kings coyne that he had sent innumerable substance to Rome to obtaine his Dignities to the great impouerishment of the Realme with many other things The princely possessions and great pride of the Clergie in those dayes did not only farre excéede the measure of subiects but surmounted the estates of Kings and Princes In Henry the fourth his dayes the Temporalties in the possessions of the Clergie of England amounted to three hundred twentie two thousand marks by the yeare And it appeareth by a Libell giuen to Henry the eight compiled by one Master Fish that the Cleargie had gotten into their hands more then the third part of the lande of the Realme and the goodliest Lordships Mannors and Territories are theirs besides the tenth part of corne and all things else and seruants wages and they looke so narrowly to their tythes that they will haue the tenth egge or else the good wife getteth no rights at Easter and shall be taken as an herâticke beside what they get by their foure offering dayes prouing of wills priuie tythes offerings to pilgrimages and at their first Masses euery one that is buried must pay somewhat for Masses and Dirges to be sung for them else they will accuse their frinds and executors for hereticks What money get they for mortuaries by hearing confessions and yet will keepe no Councell by hallowing of Churches Altars Superaltars Chappels and Bels by cursing men and absoluing them againe for money What a multitude of money gather the Pardoners in a yeare by cyting men to the Court and releasing them for money and what abundance the begging Friers get yearly There be two and fifty thousand parish Churches in England and euery house in the Realme payeth a pennie a quarter to euery of the fiue sârts of begging Friers which is twenty pence yearely for euery house in England And the number of the Clergie reckoned with men women and children of the Laieâie are but one of foure hundred and their substance draweth nigh to the halfe of the whole substance of the Realme and they doe nothing therewith but exempt themselues from the obedience of your grace and translate all power to themselues and that your subiects may rebell against yon and be vnder them as they did vnto your noble predecessor King Iohn they then interdicted the Realme wherefore your Realme hath stood tributarie not to any temporall Prince but to a cruell diuellish bloud-sucker drunken in the bloud of the Saints and Martyrs euer since and what doe they more nothing but apply themselues to haue to doe with euery mans wife daughter or mayde that Cuckoldrie and baudry should raigne amongst your subiects that no man should know his child and that their bastards should inherite euery mans possessions they haue made an hundred thousand idle whoores in your Realme which would haue gotten their liuing honestly had not their superfluous riches inticed them to vncleanenesse and idlenesse they catch the pâcks or be burnt or the leprosie and beare it vnto another yea some one of them shall boast amongst his fellowes that he hath had to do with an hundred women When they haue intised mens wiues vnto them they spend away their husbands goods and make the women runne away from their husbands and runne away themselues with the wife and goods bringing man and wife and children to idlenesse theft and beggerie Who is able to number the broad bottomlesse Ocean full of euils that this sinfull generation may lawfully and vnpunished bring vpon vs Who is shee that will worke for three pence a day when she may haue at least twentie pence a day to fleepe an houre with a Frier Monke or Priest and who will labour for foure pence a day that may haue at least twelue pence a day to be bawde to one of these What a sort are there that marrie Priests Lemans but to cloake the Priests incontinencie and that they may liue of Priests for their labour and who is he though he be grieued neuer so sore for the death of his Ancestor rauishment of his wife or his daughter robberie trespasse maime debt or any other offence dare lay it to their charge by any way of action if he do then by and by he is accused of heresie and except he beare a faggot they will excommunicate him and then all his Actions be dashed Notwithstanding the statute to Mortmayne they doe daily get into their hands more lands the Kingdome of the bloud-suckers is like to preuaile aboue your Kingdome for to them is giuen daily out of you Kingdome and that which is once giuen them neuer commeth from them againe What Kingdome can indure that âuer giueth and receiueth nothing again All their colour for their gathering these things into their hands is that they pray for vs to deliuer our soules out of Purgatorie without whose prayers and especially the Popes pardon we could neuer be deliuered thence but the truth is there is no Purgatorie but it is a thing inuented by the couetousnesse of the spiritualtie And if there were a Purgatorie if the Pope can deliuer them there with money he can deliuer them without and if hee can deliuer one he can deliuer all and so destroy Purgatorie and then is he a cruell tyrant without all charitie if he keepe them in prison and paine vntill men will giue him money They will not let the New Testament goe abroad in the mother tongue lest their cloaked hypocrisie and that their cruelty vncleanenesse and vnmercifulnesse be seeue and that they seeke not Christs honour but their own that remission of sins are not giuen for the Popes pardon but for Christ by true faith in him And except your Maiestie suffer their hypocrisie to be disclosed the people will think you take away their liberty from them to buy their soules out of Purgatorie by giuing to the spiritualtie as their predecessors haue done therefore let their hypocrisie be vttered and that shall be more speedfull in this matter then all the lawes that possibly can be made The Author of this Booke was fled to Tindall where he wrote this Booke for feare of the Cardinall when the King had read this he caused his Wife to send for him home he was brought to the King and after he had
communed with him and was afraid to goe home the King deliuered him his Signet for a Token to deliâer to the Cardinall that he should not trouble him The Cardinall answered Though this discharged him yet he had no discharge for his Wife and sent for her and had troubled her if herâDaughter had not béene sicke of the plague of which sicknesse the said Fish within halfe a yeare after dyed and she marryed one Baynham which after was martyred as followeth in this Story To preuent the spreading abroad of this Libell there was a prohibition sent out ây the Bishop of London for calling in this the New Testament and diuers other Books translated into English the names whereof because they are many I omit and leaue you to the booke at large King Henry about the twentith yeare of his raigne made an Oration vnto his Commons that though it had pleased God to send him a faire Daughter of a Noble woman and of him begotten to our great comfort and ioy yet it hath beene told vs by diuers great Clarks that neither she is Our lawfull Daughter nor her Mother Our lawfull wife but that we liue together abhominably in open adultery and when our Ambassadors were last in Fraunce motion was made that the Duke of Orleans should marry our said Daughter One of the chiefe Councellors said it were well done to know whether she be his lawfull Daughter or no because hee begat her on his brothers Wife which is directly against Gods Law Thinke you my Lords that these words touch not my body and soule and that it doth not daily and hourely trouble my Conscience I doubt not but euery one of you would seek remedy when the perill of your soule and losse of your inheritance is laid vnto you For this cause I haue asked Councell of the greatest Clarkes in Christeâdome and for this cause I haue sent for this Legate as a man indifferent to know the truth and settle my conscience and if the Queene be adiudged by the Lawe to bee my lawfull Wife it would be the most acceptable thing in my life both to cleere my conscience and for the good qualities which I know to bee in her besides her Noble parentage as almost this twenty yéeres I haue tried so that if I went to mary againe the mariage lawfull I would choose her before all women if the marriage proue vnlawfull I shall sorrow the departing from so good a Lady and louing a companion but much more lament that I haue so long liued in Adultery and haue no true heyre of my body to inherit this Realme Therefore I require you to make our minde knowne to our Subiects that they may pray for vs. The Quéene hearing thereof answered it was a great maruell that they would make question of this now after they had béene married twenty yeares and no question in the meane time and that all the learned at the time of the marriage did conclude it was lawfull and that both their fathers being so wise did not foresee it if there had béene any such doubt and the King my father sent to Rome and with great costs obtained a dispensation that I beeing one brothers wife procarâally knowne might without scruple of conscience marry with the other brother lawfully which licence vnder lead I haue yet to shewe but I may thanke you my Lord Cardinall onely for this trouble this is of malice because I haue wonâred at your high pride and abhorred your voluptuous liuing and little regarded your târanny and for the malice you beare to my Nephew the Emperour because he would not make you Pope by force and the Quéene appealed to the Pope The King to try out the matter sent first to the Pope then to most part of alâ Uniuersâties first the Pope sent his two Legats Wolsey and Campeius to hearâ and decide the Case they cited the King and Quéene personally to appeare or else by Proctors at the day the Legats with their crosses axes and pillers were set the King was ready to heare the determination requiring to haue an end notwithstanding from month to month they detracted the matter vntill August the King not taking it well to bee so vsed sent the Dukes of Northfolke and Suffolke vnto the Legats requiring them to hasten an end and to deferre no longer it is the manner of Rome about the beginning of August during the Dogge dayes to haue a solemne vacation in which neither Schooles bee vsed nor any Terme kept Cardinall Campeius pretending the order of Rome whereof he was a member answered hee neither could nor would goe against the ordinance thereof and before October he would procéed no further in the cause tâe Dukes séeing their pretended excuses and that by no wayes they would be intreated burst out in open defiance the Duke of Suffolke clapping his hands on the table sware by the Masse there neuer came Legate or Cardinall from Rome to doe good in England so in anger they departed from the Cardinall the King for quietnesse was content to tarryâ vntill October but before October came Campeius was called home by letters frâm the Pope so the matter was left vndiscussed the King seeing himselfe thus deluded sent againe to Pope Clement desiring to hâue an answere of the cause the Popâ would take a pause and after send him word Twelue Uniuersities agreed in one consent that the mariage was vnlawfull and repugnant to the word of God and that no man is able to dispence with it but nothing was heard of from Rome wherefore the King assembling his Parliament sent the Lord Chancellour with twelue of the vpper house to notiââe the determinations of the Colleages as afore said vnto the lower house And the same yearâ the King sent out a Proclamation for the abollishing of the Pope and establishing of the Kings Supremacy and hee brake off with the Cardinall and caused him to be attainted in Premuâire and to bee apprehended and the Clergy maintaining thâ power Legatiue of the Cardinall incurred the like premunire wherefore the Spirituall Lords were called by processe into the Kings Bench to answere but beforâ the day of appearence they submitted themselues to the King offered him an hundred thousand pounds to pardon them by Act of Parliament and offered him the Title of Supreme head of the Church of England which they would neuer confesse beâore whereby the Pope by the prouâdence of God lost his whole Iurisâiction anâ Supremacy in England Patricke Hamelton a Scottish man hee was of the Kings bloud and family beeiââ of the most ancient and Noble stocke and name in Scotland was of the Uniuersity of Marpurge in Germany he openly procéeding so intreated and iudged of matters of the Church with such praise as passed the expectation of his age that he made the common people and learned to admire him Francis Lambert in his Preface Dââicatory maketh mention of him then he tooke a companion with him and retââned home
that they should in no wise pray for them no more then they would for a Dog whereat Frith smiling desired the Lord to forgiue him and so departed About this time High Latimer was inhiâited by the Bishop of London to preach in his Dioces and yet after he preached in the Precinât of the Fryers Augustines of London The Lady Anne of Bullen although she was not yet married to King Henry yet she was in great fauour and daily she inclined the Kings mind more more against the Papists so that the same yeare the King and certaine of his Lords came into the Parliament house and he complained of the Cleargy that they were but halfe his Subiects yea and scarse our Subiects for their oath to the Pope at their consecration is cleane contrary to that which they make to vs and he deliuârâd to the Parliament the coppies of both their oaths These Oaths being thus receiued and âpened to the people were the occasion that the Pope lost al his iurisdiction in England shortly after The matter falling out more and more against the Pope Sir Thomas Moore a great maintainer of the Pope was driuen to resigne his Chancelorship â deliuer vp the great seale into the Kings hands After whom succéeded Sir Thomas Audley kéeper of the great seale a great fauorer of Christs Religion Lady ANNE of Bullen WIthin short time after the King married the Lady Anne Bullen Mother to Quéene Elizabeth who was the secret ayder and comforter of al the Professors of the Gospell and her almes shewed her life was accordingly which was a hundred gownes wéekly and other apparell yearely before she was married both to men women she also gaue much priuate almes to the widdowes and poore hoâsholders continually vntill she was apprehended And she euer gaue thrée or foure pounds at a time to them to buy them Kine and sent her Sub-almner about to the Townes where she lay that the Parisheners should make a bâll of all the poore housholders in thâir parish and some parishes receiued 7. 8. or 10. pounds to buy Kine withall Also she maintained many lâarned men in Cambridge so did the Earle of Wiltshirâ her Father and the Lord Roch her Brothâr and she brought them in fauour with âing Henry She caried alwaies about her a little purse out of which she was wont daily to scatter abroad some almes to the needy thinking no day well spent wherein none had fared the better for her She kept her Maids and such as were about her imployed in making shirts and smocks for the poore but the Lady Dowager beeing deuorced made the Pope to curse the King and interdict the realme In the meane time Queene Anne beinâ great with child in the next yeare following was crowned with high solemnity at Westminster and not long after brought to âed at Greenewich of the faire Lady Elizabeth The Lord Maior of London and his Brethren with forty cheefe Cittizens were commanded to be present with all the Nobles and Gentlemen The Kings Palace and all the wals to the Fryers were hanged with Arras ââd the Friers Church The Font war of Siluer and stood in the midst of the Church thrée steps high which was couered with fine linnen and diuers Gentlemen with aprones and towels about their necks gaue attendance about it Ouer the Font hung a faire Canopy of Crimson Sattin fringed with Gold The holy Maid of Kent CErtaine Monkes put into the heads of many of the Kings Subiects that they had Râuelation of God and his Saints that he was highly displeased with king Henry for the diuorcement of the Lady Katherine and surmised that God had reuealed vnto a Nun called Elizabeth Barton whom they called the Holy Maid of Kent that if the King did diuorce her he should not be King of this Realme one month after and not one day nor houre in Gods fauour She would shew marueilous alteration of her visage and body as if she had béene wrapt in a trance and inspired of God She spoke against sinne and reprooued the Gospell which she called heresies and spoke diuers things to the reproach of the King and Quéene and to the establishing of Idolatry Pilgrimage and derogation of Gods glory The Archbishop the Lord Cromwell and Maister Hugh Latimer with great labour found out her naughtinesse and condemned her and put her to death with certaine of her councell VVILLIAM TRACY Esquire A Little before this time William Tracy of Todington in Gloster-shire made his Will that he would haue no funerall pomp at his burying nor Masse and said that he trusted in God only and hoped by him to be saued and not by any Saint His Executor brought the Will to the Bishop of Canterbury that then was to proue it which he shewed to the Conuocation and they iudged him to be taken vp and burned as an heretick and sent a commisson to Doctor Parker Chancelor of Worcester to execute their sentence who accomplished the same The King hearing thereof sent for the Chancelor who laid the fault on the Bishop yet it cost him three hundred pount erâ he could haue a pardon The storie of twenty foure burned at Paris IN this yearâ were diuers writings set vp in Paris vpon the Porches and gates against the Masse and other papisticall superstitions whereupon many were apprehended and cast into prison but twenty foure were executed in seuerall places of the Citie of Paris The bearer of the Popes curse and interdictment against King Henrie and the Realme durst not come into the Realme with it but set it vp in Dunkerk in Flanders the king hearing thereof took great displeasure against the said Princesse Dowager and so stomacked the matter that the next yeare he called a Parliament and caused it to be prouided by sufficient Acts that the Pope should be vtterly abolâsht and himselfe to be establisht supreme head of the Church at which thing Sir Thomas Moore the Bishop of Rochester grudged and would not consent vnto it but openly resisted the same wherefore they were condemned of treason and headed at Tower-hill Likewise three Charter-Monks were hanged drawne and quartred at Tyburne for speaking trayterous words against the Kings Maiestie This yere the King set forth a Proclamation for the abolishing of the vsurped power and iurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome wherein is declared that not onely the secular men granted him this iurisdiction but all the spiritualty in the Conuocation house vnder their seales wherin also he signified that he had addressed Letters vn-the Bishops of the Diocesse straitly commanding them that forthwith the sincere word of God should be preached euery Sonday and Holy-day vnto the people and Our stile and iurisdiction of supreme head appertayning onely to our Crowne and Dignity royall to be publisht and that the Popes vsurped name should be put out of all prayers masses or other books except it be to his reproach The life and storie of M. William Tindall FIrst he
was Schoolemaster to one Master Welch and for translating certain religious books into English and for arguing with a certain Priest that often vsed to his Masters house and confounding diuers points of their religion by the word of God he was pursued glad to go out of the Realme into Germany and there translated the Bible into English compiled diuers other books sânt them into England wherby the dore and light vnto the Scriptures was daily more and more opened which before was many years closed in darknesse from thence he went to Aâtwarp and had his abiding there and was lodged about a yeare in the house of one Thomas Poynets an English man which kept a house of English Merchants then came thither one Henry Philips hauing a seruant waiting on him M. Tindall became acquainted with him and had great confidence in him and had him often to dinner and supper with him and got him a lodging in M. Poynets house At length Philips wânt to the high Court of Bruxelles to betray M. Tindall and procured to bring from thence with him the Procurator generall with othâr Officers which was not done with small charges from whom soeuer it came After Philips returning would haue M. Tindall to dine with him then hee desired M. Tindall to lend him fortie shillings which he did he told Philips he could not diâe with him for he was bid forth to dinner and he should goe with him And going forth to dânner Philips hauing appointed the officers in the way he gaue them a signe that this was he they should apprehend then they took him and brought him to the Procurator generall who sent him to the Casâle of Filford and the Procurator generall went to Poynets house and sent away all that was there of M. Tindals The said Poynets and certain Merchants went ouer into England and got letters from the Coâncell for M. Tindals deliuery vpon the deliuery wherof to the Councel of Bruxelles M. Tindall should haue bin deliuered vnto him which when Philips vnderstood he accused Poynets âo be an heretick and a receiuer of such caused him to be apprehended kept 13. or 14. wéeks in prison but he escaped by night and got into England but M. Tindall was condemned and the same morning as he was had to the fire he deliuered a letter to the chiefe Kéeper of the Castle which the Kéeper himselfe brought to Poynets house who compared him to be fellow to the Apostles being in prison both for his conuersation and conuerting and preaching to the peoâle M. Tindall hearing by certaine Merchants what wonderfull feats a Iugler did he desired thâm that he might be present also at supper to see him play his parts accordingly the supper was appointed and the Merchants with Tindall were there present The Iugler being desired to vttâr his cunning shâwed all that he could do but all was in vaine at last with his labour sweating and toyle he saw nothing would go forward he confessed there was some man present at supper which disâurbed his doings For his letters that he wrote I refer thée to the book at large if thou dispose to sée them The Lord Cromwell keeper of the Kings priuie Seale Uicegerent of all the Kings iurisdiction ecclâsiasticall sent out certaân iniuncâions by the Kângs authoritâ for the preaching thâ word of God for the bâtter publishing of the kings supremaâââ against idols ãâã on pilgrimage trusâing in saints and to abrogate diuers holy-daies and for reformation to be had in diuers othâr ecclesiastical matters In the begiââg of this year the most noble and worthy Lady Queen Anne of Bullen after she had liued Qâââne three âears was cast into the Tower together with her brother the Lord Rochford and diuers others which shortly after were executed The words of the Queene at the time of her death Good Christian people I ame come hither to die I am iudged therto by the law therefore I will not speake against it I pray God preserue the King for there was neuer a gentler Prince and to me he was euer a good soueraigne and I râquire euery one to iudge the best of my cause so â take my leaue of the world and of you all desiring you to praââor me Then she kneeled down and said Into thy hands I commend my soule Iesus receiue my soule diuers times vntill her head was striken off Fiue burned in Scotland SEauen years after Patrick Hamelton aforesaid there were fiue burned in Edenborough the chief Citie in Scotland two were Dominican Friers one Priest one Cannon and one Gentleman adiudged by the Archbishop of S. Andrewes Petrus Chappeâanus and the Franciscan Friers whose labour is neuer wanting in such matters The murther of ROBERT PACKINGTON HEe was a rich Mercer dwelling in Cheap side and was one of the âurgesses of the Parliament for the Citie of London and had spoken against the couetousnesse and cruelty of the Clergie wherefore he was had in contempt with them therfore one Doctor Vincent Deane of Paules hired a stranger for sixtie crownes to kill him which he did in this manner this Packington vsed by foure of the clocke euery morning to go to a Church neare Cheap-side and in a mistie morning tâe hyred stranger shot him and killed him with a gunne as he crossed the street This could not be knowne vntill the death of the Deane then he repented the fact at his death and confessed it to his ghostly father In this yeare the Kings Maiestie by his Uicegerent the L. Cromwell sent out againe certaine Iniunctions vnto the Spiritualty for the reformation of religion for the maintenance of reading the Bible in English and for taking downe of Images with such other like The history of Iohn Lambert alias Nicolson BEing beyond Sea by reason of the persecution here he returned hoping the time had bin amended by the means of Quéen Anne and Cromwell and the abolishing of the Pope he became a Schoolemaster and being present at a Sermon preached by Doctor Taylor one that was a Bishop in K. Edwards time and died in the Tower in Queen Maries time after the Sermon hee vttered diuers arguments to the Preachers and desired to be resolued Taylor alledged businesse and desired him to write his minde which he did The first was vpon The cup is the new Testament and if these words doe not change neither the cup nor the wine into the new Testament by like reason the words spoken of the bread should not turn it corporally into the body of Christ. The second it is not agreeable to a naturall body to be in âwo or more places ot one time therfore Christ hauing a naturall bodie cannot be in heauen on the right hand of his father and in the Sacrament Thirdly a naturall body cannot be without his forme and conditions as he cannot be without substance iâ the Sacrament there is no forme and condition of the body of Christ no not
for that being besides his wits by chance he came into a Church where a Priest was saying masse and was come to the holding vp and shewing the Sacrament Collins in like manner took vp a little Dogge holding it ouer his head shewing him vnto the people wherefore hee was condemned and burned and the Dogge with him LEYTON and PVTTEDVE LEyton was a Monke of Aye in Suffolke and was burned at Norwich for speaking against a certaine Idoll which they of Aye were wont to carry about in processions and for affirming both kindes in the Sacrament and Puttedue comming into a Church merily taunted the Priest that after he had drunke vp all the wine alone he blessed the hungry people with the empty Chalice wherefore hee was condemned and burned Cowbridge THis Cowbridge came of a good stocke his auncestors euen from Wickliffes time hetherto had been alwaies fauourers of the Gospell and addicted to the setting sorth thereof in English Hee was borne in Colchester his Father was head Bayly thereof hee was burned at Oxenford for affirming that euery poore Priest being neuer so poore and needy being of a good conâersation hath as great power and authoritie in the Church of God and ministration of the Sacraments as the Pope or any other Bishops they almoststerued him whilst hee was in prison in Bocardo and a little before his examination they promised him meate if at his execution he would say such things as they would minister vnto him which he promised to do whereupon he was well cherished and recouered some part of his sense When he was come to execution contrary to their expectation often times calling vpon the Name of the Lord Iesuâ with great quietnesse and méeknesse he yéelded his spirit into the hanâs of the Lord. This yeare one Peter a Germaine and another with him constantly indured death by the fire at Colchester for the Lords Supper Fryer Forrest hanged for Papistry HE was an obseruant Fryer and had secretly in confessiâns declared to certaine of the Kings Subiects in confessions that the King was not supreame head of the Church and being examined how he could say the King was not supreme head being sworne to the contrary he answered he took his oath with his outward man and his inward man neuer consented thereto he was further accused of diuers damnable Articles conuicted after he was hanged in Smithfâeld aliue in chaines by the arme-holes and middle and fire made vnder him and so he was consumed to death There was a scaffold prepared for the Priuy Cauncell and the Nobles to sit on to graunt him pardon if he repented there was also a Pulpit where Mâster Hugh Latimer Bishop of Worcester declared his errours and conâuted them by Scripture with many exhortations to repent but he would neither heare nor speak A little before the execution a great Image was brought out of Wales to the gallows which was called Daruell Gatheren whom the Welch-men much worshipped and had a prophesie amongst them That this Image should set a whole Forest on fire which took effect for he set this Forest on fire consumed him to nothing When the Frier saw the fire comming vnto him he took hold on the ladder and would not let it goe but died so vnpatiently as neuer did any that put his trust in God Certaine Iniunctions giuen out in the thirtieth yeare of King HENRIES raigne AGainst printing and bringing from beyond Sea any books and offering to sell them without acquainting the King or some of his Councell first vpon paine of forfeyting their goods and chattels and their bodies to be imprisoned at the Kings pleasure That there shall none argue about the Sacrament of the Altar vpon paine of death and loosing their goods except it be the learned in Diuinity in their schooles and appoyâted places for such matters And that holy bread holy water and procession creeping to the Crosse setting vp of lights before the Corpus Christi bearing of candles on Candlemas day Puriââcation of women deliuered with childe offâring of Chrisomes kéeping of the foure offering dayes paying their Tithes these to be obserued vntill the King doe abrogate any of them Married Priests to be counted Laymen and loose their Spirituall promotion That all Cleargy men should diligently in their cures preach and teach the people the glory of God and the truth of his word declaring the difference betwixt the things that God commands and the rightes and ceremonies then vsed least the people thereby grow into further superstition And that Thomas Becket was a trayâor and not a saint his Images to be plucked downe in euery place and his holy dayes not to bee kept and that the Anthiphens Collects and prayers to him be not read but raced out of the bookes Launcelot Iohn a Painter Gyles Germaine Iohn Painter and Gyles Germaine were accused of Heresie and whilst they were ãâã examination at London before the Bishoppe and other Iudges by chance there came one of the Kings guarde one Launcelot a tall man and of as goodly a mind hee standing by séemed by his gesture to fauour the cause and the poore men whereuppon he was apprâhended examined and condemned with them and the next day at ââue of the clocke in the morning was burned in St. Giles in the fields Sir Iohn Bortrucke a Scotish Knight his confutation of certaine Arcicles vpon which hee was condemned by the Cardinall and most of the Nobles and chiefe of Scotland FIrst touching the Popes Supremacy these holy ones magnisse their Lord as common theâues preâerre their Captaines calling them euery where most honest men for it is euident that none in the whole world is giuen to more ryot noâ séeketh more gréedily to all kind of delicates and wantonnesse and aboundeth with al vices as treason murther rapine and all kind of such euills as He. And where they affirme him to bee Christ Uicar on earth it shall appeare that he cannot exercise more power then other Bishops for whereas they say Peter had power ouer the Apostâes and consequently ouer the whole Church the which power succéeds to the Bishop of Rome but by the Scriptures wee may easily sée how ãâã they lie in the Councell in the 15. of the Acts Peter heard them speake theiâ minds receaued their Iudgment and followed their decree is this to haue powâr ouer others and in his first Epistle writting to the Bishops and Pasâors he saith â beséech the Bishops and Pastors which are amongst you for so much as I my selfe ãâã also a Bishop and witnesse of the afflitions of Christ partaker of the glory which shall be reuealed that they diligently feed the flocke committed vnto them why then doe they challenge the authority of S. Peter which he neuer acknowledged in himselfe I doubt not but it Peter were here he would rebuke their madnes as Moses did Iosua which was so zealous towards him And in the eight of the Acts he is
Cardinall signifying that he would drowne himselfe and to leaue his clothes there and another Letter to the Mayor of the Towne to search for him in the water because he had a Letter written in parchment wrapt in wax about his neck for the Cardinal which would teach all men to beware of him vpon this they were seuen daies a searching for him but he went to London in a poore mans apparell and thence to Anwerpe to Luther and there answered all the Bishops of the Realme and made a Booke called acta Romanorum pontificum and another Booke with a supplication to King Henry When it was told the Cardinall he was drowned he said perit memoria eius cum sonitu but this lighted vpon himselfe for shortly after he poyso-himselfe In the beginning of the Raigne of Quéene Anne he and others came againe into England and continued a faithfull Preacher in the Citie of London and in her Graces time well entertained and promoted and after sent by King Henry the eight Ambassador to the Duke of Cleaue for the marriage of the Lady Anne of Cleaue betwéene the King and her and was well accepted vntill Gardiner came out of France but then neither Religion nor the Queene prospered nor Cromwell nor the preachers Then followed alteration in marriage vntill hee had grafted the marriage into another stocke by the âccasion whereof hee began his bloudy worke Soone after Doctor Barnes and his Brethren were carried to the King to Hampton Court to be examined But the King seeking meanes of his safety bad him goe home with Gardiner and confer with him they not agréeing Gardiner sought opportunitie to dispatch Barnes and the rest as he had done by the Queâne the Lady Anne of Cleue and the Lord Cromwell and he appointed them three to preach thrée Sermons at the Spittle which were baites to minister iust occasion of their condemnations A hen they were sent for to Hampton Court and from thence carried vnto the Tower and came not thence but to their deathes Then the Protestants went beyond Sea Priests were diuorced from there Wiues certaine Bishops deposed and other good men denied Christ and bore Faggots then they were put to dâath without iudgement a Papist and a Protestant were laid vpon one hurdle and drawn to Smithfield This was Winchesters deuise to colour his tyrany Then Barnes hid the Sheriffe beare him witnes he died Christianly and Charitably and prayed them all to pray for him and if the dead may pray for the quick we will pray for you so they forgaue their enemies and kissed one another and stood hand in hand at the stake vntill the ââre came and so rested in Christ. The same day one Powell Fetherstone and Abel were hanged drawne and quartered in the same place for denying the Kings Supremacie and maintaining the Kings marriage with the Lady Katherine Dowager The reason was because as one halfe of the Councell being Papists called vpon Barnes Garet and Hierome to be executed so the other part of the Councell called vpon these thrée Papists to be executed In this yéers a Boy one Richard Mekins but fiftéene yeares old was burned in Smithfield for speaking somewhat against the Sacrament of the Altar In like manner Richard Spencer Priest leauing his papistry married a Wife and got his liuing by day-labour Hee was burnt in Salisbury because hee was thought to hold opinion against the Sacrament and one Andrew Hewet was burned with him About this time Cardinall Poole Brother to the Lord Mountegew was attainted of high treason and fled to Rome where he was made Cardinall of Saint Mary Cosmoden where he remained vntill Quéene Maries time Stokely Bishâp of London and Tunstone Bishop of Duresme writ to him to perswade him to abandon the Supremacy of the Pope and to conforme himselfe to the Religion of his King which Letter thou maist reade in the Booke at large which sufficiently proueth the Pope not to be supreme head of the Church but because this Doctrine is as sufficiently proued in other places I omit to abridge it In this yeere the King by the aduice of his Councell sent forth a Decree for the setting vp the Bible in the great volume in euery parish Church in England This yeare Iohn Porter a Taylor a lusty yong man was by Bonner Bishop of London cast into Newgate for reading in the Bible in Paules Church where he was miserably famished to death About this time Iohn Longland Bishop of Lincolne burned two vpon one day one Thomas Barnard and the other Iames Morton the one for teaching the Lords Prayer in Englâsh and the other for kéeping the Epistle of Saint Iames in English In this yeare the Kings Maiestie vnderstanding that all Idolatry and vainâ pilgrimages were not vtterly abolished within these Dominions directed his Letters vnto the Archbishop of Canterbury for the spéedy amendment of the same Anthony Pierson Priest Robert Testwood singing man Henrie Finmore Taylor and Iohn Marbeck singing man were burned at VVindsor THese Articles were obiected against Pierson that he had said Euen as Christ once hanged betweene two theeues so when he is holden vp betwixt the Priests handes he hangs betwixt two theeues except the Priest sincerely preach Gods word That he preached that Christ should not be eaten as he did hang vpon the Crossâ with his flesh torne and the bloud running about their mouthes but he was to be eaten this day that we might also feed on him to morrow and next day and continually and that he was of more power after his resurrection then he was before That Christ sitting amongst his Disciples commended the Scriptures vnto them when he said This is that bread this is that body of Christ so when hee brake bread and bade them deuide it amongst them and eate it for it was his bodie and likewise the cup saying This is my bloud hee signified to vs that wee should receiue the Scriptures and distribute them vnto the people It was obiected against Finmore that he had said that the Sacrament of the Altar was but a similitude and that if it were God he had eaten twenty Gods in his life He condemned Testwood for iesting with the Priest when he lifted vp the host saying Ho take héed that he fall not That Marbeck with his owne hands had writ notes out of certaine Authors which were repugnant to the masse and sacrament of the Altar and that he said The Masse was impure and defiled with much vngodlinesse and it spoyleth God of his honour and that the eleuation of the sacrament represents the Calues of Ieroboam and is worse Idolatrie then those were and that therein Christ was counted a mocking-stock There was a fift man named Bennet vnto whose charge it was laid that hée should say the daily Masses vsed in the Church were superfluous and that it were sufficient the seuenth day were kept holy Bennet and Marbeck were pardoned by the King the other thrée stoutly suffered
are forbid the Booke binder answered is not the holy Bible as good as these goodly pictures the Bishop of Air sayd I renownce my part of Paradice if he bee not a Lutheran let him bee tryed what hee is then the Book-binder was caried into prison and a company of ruffins cryed a Lutheran to the fire with him and owne strucke him with his fist another pulled him by the beard so that hee was al imbrued with bloud the morrow hee was brought before the Bishops hee iustified the selling of the Bibles and said There was no Nation but had the Byble in their owne language Will you forbid and hide that which Christ hath commaunded to bee published Did not Christ giue power to his Apostles to speake all manner of tongues to the end that his Gospell might be taught to euery Creature in euery language And why doe you forbid this Booke aâd buy such prophane painting What cruelty is this to take the nourishment from poore soules but you shall giâe account heereof which call sweete sower and sower sweete you bee rather the Priests of Bacchus and Venus then Pastors of the Church Then he was condemned to be burned the same day and to haue two Bybles hang one before and another behind to signifiâ the cause of his death The Byshoppes twice raised an Army at their owne charges to execute the aforesaid arrest but their enterprises were let by one meanes or other and the King hearing the confession of this Faith of Merindole and finding that it did agree in all points to the Word of God gaue them their pardon Some of the Byshoppes resort to them to get them to recant but they prooued their Religion so agreeable to the Word that many Doctors were conuerted to their opinions and confessed they neuer learned so much in all their time as by hearing them Their Children were so well taught and they questioned and answered one another so diuinely that the Doctorâ confessed they had not heard Arguments so well answered in the diuinity Schooles Yet notwithstanding in this yeare the twelfth of Aprill Iohn Miners President of the Councell of Aygues called the Senate and read the Kings Letters which the Cardinall had obtained for that purpose and commaunded them to execute the sentence Now euery where hee had mustred men for the English Warres but he vsed them for this purpose and tooke vp more Souldiours out of euery Towne and they had ayde sent them out of the Popes Dominions First they set vpon the Uillage about Merindoll and destroyed and burned them the Merindolins seeing their cruelty left their houses and fled into the Woods carrying their Children vpon their Shoulders and Armes then it was showed vnto them that Miners came with all his whole power to destroy them then the men went away and left the women and children with som to looke to them hoping they would shew mercie to them whom when the souldiers found they abstained from slaughter but when they had spoyled them of their money and victuals they lead them away Their purpose was to handle them more shamefully but that they were let with a Captaine of horse-men so they left the women and droue away the booty there were fiue hundred women Miners burned Merindoll and finding there but one yong man he âaused him to be tyed to a tree and shot in with Dagges then he went to Cabriers and perswaded the townsmen to open the gates promising they should haue no hurt but when they were let in they slew both man woman and childe Miners shut fortie women into a âarne of straw set it on fire and kept them in till they were all burned The number slaine within the towne and without were eight hundred the infants that escaped their furie were baptized againe of their enemies Then they took the town of Costa and serued it so and many maids and women being lead into a Garden of the Castle they rauished them all and when they had kept them a day and a night they handled them so beastly that the mayds and them with child died shortly after In the meane time the Merindoles and diuers others that wandred in the woods and mountains were either sent to the Gallies or were slaine Many also died for hunger fiue and twenty hid themselues vnder a rocke and they smothered and burned them so that no kinde of cruelty was omitted notwithstanding diuers which had escaped came to Geneua and other places neere The persecution in Callice with the martyrdome of George Bucket alias Adam Damlip THis Adam Damlip had bin a great Papist and Chaplaine to the Bishop of Rochester he iournyed to Rome thinking to haue found all godly and sincere religion where he found as he confessed such blasphemy of God contempt of Christs true religion loosenesse of life and abomination and filthinesse that he abhorred to tarrie there any longer although he was greatly requested by Cardinall Poole to continue there to reade three Lectures euery weeke in his house offering him great entertainment which he refused and returning home the Cardinall gaue him a French crowne And wayting at Callice for passage into England William Steuens and Thomas Lancaster desired him to reade there two or three dayes and got him license of the Lord Lisle the Kings Deputie of the towne and the license of Iohn Butler the Commissary When he had preached three or foure times he was wel liked so that they hyred him to preach there and twenty dayes or more euery morning at seuen of the clocke he preached learnedly and plainely the truth of the blessed Sacrament of Christs body and bloud mightily inueighing against all Papistrie but especially against transubstantiation the propitiatorie sacrifice of the masse declaring how popish himselfe was and how by the detestable wickednesse that he did see vniuersally in Rome he was returned and become an enemie to all Papistre He came at last to speake against the Pageant or picture set forth of the resurrection in Saint Nicholas his Church that it was meere Idolatrie and illusion of the French-men before Callice was English Then there came a commission to the Lord Deputy the Commissary and others to search whether there were three Hosts lying vpon a Marble stone besprinkled with bloud as was put in writing vnder a Bull and Pardon and that if they found it not so that immediatly it should be pulled downe and so it was for they breaking vp a stone in the corner of the Tombe in stead of three Hosts found souldred in the Crosse of Marble lying vnder the Sepulchre three plaine Counters which they had pointed like vnto Hosts and aboue that was the tippe of a Sheeps tayle which Damlip shewed to the people the next day which was Sonday out of the Pulpit And after they were sent by the Lord Deputie to the King Then the Prior of the white Friers and one of the Lord Lisle his Chaplains contradicted his Sermons and caused him to be sent
for to Cranmer and Steuen Gardiner and others before whome hee did so constantly defend the doctrine which he had taught that Cranmer being yet but a Lutheran maruelled excéedingly at it and said that the Scripture knew no such terme of transubstantiation Then the other Bishops threatned him to whom he promised the next day to deliuer them all in writing which he had formerly preached in Callice In the meane time he had secret intimation giuen him by Cranmer that if hee appeared the next day he should be sure to be committed whereupon he sent them his Faith with the arguments thereupon in writing and he went aside into the West countrey Then the King was certified that there were many diuersities of opinions in Calice tending to the danger thereof Whereupon Doctor Champion and M. Garnet who after was burned were sent ouer to preach to them where he preached the same true Doctrine which Adam Damlip had done After them one William Smith Curate of our Ladies Parish in Callice preaching earnestly inuaying against Papistry and wilfull ignorance exhorting them to imbrace the word and not to contemne it least Gods wrath fall vpon them which followeth the contempt of his holy word At length the said Lord Lisle which was Bastard to King Edward the fourth which maintained Damlip as before by the intising of his wicked wife the Lady Honora she being thereunto prouoked by Sir Thomas Palmer and Iohn Rockwood Esquire these with seauen others wrote very haynous Letters vnto the King and Councell against diuers of the Towne of Calice Whereupon diuers of them were often punished in Callice and many of them sent for ouer into England and were âorely imprisoned and punished and had not escaped the fire but by the Kings pardon The aforesaid Adam Damlip taught Schoole about some two yeares in the West Country after he was apprehended and brought vnto Stephen Gardiner who committed him to the Marshalsie where he continued two yeares and for his honest behauiour hee was beloued of the whole house and especially of the kéeper and he did much amongst the common sort of the prisoners in reprouing vice Then being resolued rather to loose his life then not to suffer his talent to be vsed to Gods glory by being detained in prison Wherevpon he sent an Epistle to Gardiner And then by the Bishops commandement hee was had to Callice where first hee layed vnto his charge heresie but because all such offences before such a day were pardoned by an Act of Parliament then for the receiuing of the aforesaid French Crowne of Cardinall Poole as you heard before he was condemned of Treason in Callice cruelly put to death beeing hanged drawne and quartered At his death Sir Raph Ellerker Knight Marshall there would not suffer him to declare his Faith or cause he died for but bad the executioner dispatch the Knaue and said he would not away before he saw the Traytors heart out but shortly after in a skirmish with the Frenchmen at Bullen he was slaine and his enemies cut off his members and cut the heart out of his body and so left him a terrible example of the Iustice of God vpon all bloudy persecutors The said Lord Lisley with the others as before vniustly charging them of Callice with sedition and heresie were all shortly after either greatly out of the Kings fauour and committed vnto prison or else by desperate deathes died I will recite but Rockwood the chiefe stirrer of the afflictions aforesaid who at the last breath staring and raging cryed he was damned and being bid to aske God mercie he cried out All too late for I haue sought malitiously the deaths of a number of the Towne which in my heart I thought to be honest men which words he vsed when thirteene were carried in Irons into England when one told him he neuer saw men of such honesty so sharply corrected and taking it so ioyfully Rockwood then leaping scoffingly said All too late and the vnder Marshall suddenly fell downe in the Councell Chamber and neuer spake A labouring man hauing heard Damplip said Hee would neuer beleeue that Priests could make the Lords bodie at their pleasure whereupon hee was condemned by one Haruy a Commissary who said he was an heretick and should die a vile death The poore man answered he was no heretick but in the faith of Christ and said Whereas thou sayest I shall die a vile death thou shalt die a viler death shortly and so it came to passe for within halfe a yeare the said Haruy was hanged drawne and quartred in Callice for treason DODDE alias SCOT HEe was taken in Callice with certaine Germane bookes about him and being examined thereupon and standing constantly to the truth hee was condemned and burned there VVILLIAM BVTTON HEe being a souldier of Callice merrily asked a Papist Whether one that were suddenly taken might not occupie one of the Popes pardons in stead of a broken paper and another question Whether the world might better want Dogs then Popish Priests and answered it that if there were no Dogs we could make no more but if there lacked ignorant Priests we might soone make too many of them There came a black Frier to Callice with the Popes pardons who for 4. pence would deliuer a soule out of Purgatorie this Button asked him if the Pope could deliuer soules out of Purgatorie the Frier said there is no doubt of that then he said Why doth he not of charity deliuer all the sâules thereout for which cauâe he was accused vnto the Commissary who chafing called him heretick then said Button If the Pope can deliuer soules out of Purgatorie and will not of charitiâ doe it then would God the King would make me Pope for surely I would deliuer all out without money Whereupon the Commissary made him beare a Billet and procured his wages which was sixe pence a day to be taken from him then he went vnto the King and declared the whole matter who after gaue him eight pence a day In Nouember after the King had subdued the Scots and ioyning with the Emperour had inuaded France and had got the Towne of Bullen he summoned a Parliament in which was granted him besides subsidies of money all Colledges Chanteries Free Chappels Hospitals Fraternities Guilds and perpetuities of stipendary Priests to be disposed at his will and pleasure They being thus giuen to him by act of Parliament in December the next Lent Doctor Crome preached in the Mercers Chappell amongst other reasons to induce the people from the vaine reasons of Purgatorie he said It Trentalls and Masses could auaile the soules in Purgatorie then did not the Parliament well in giuing away Monasteries Colledges and Chanteries which serued principally to that purpose but if the Parliament did well as no man could denie then it is plaine that such Chanteries and priuate masses confer nothing to relieue them in Purgatorie This Dilemma was insoluble but at Easter next they brought him in
question for it and so handled him that they made him to recant or else they would haue dissolued him and his argument in the fire ANNE ASKEW AFter she had bin many times examined and she had answered so wisely that though she had affirmed the truth of the Sacrament yet none could touch her for her arguments by the law Then she wrote her minde of the Sacament as followeth I perceiuâ deare friends in the Lord that you are not yet perswaded of the truth in the Lords Supper because Christ sayth Take eate this is my bodie but he giuing the bread as an outward signe to be receiued with the mouth hee meant in perfect beléefe they should receiue his body which should die for the people and to thinke his death the onely saluation of their soules The âread and Wine were left vs for a Sacramentall communion of the benefite of his death and that we should be thankefull for the grace of redemption And in the closing thereof he sayth This doe in remembrance of me so often as you eate and drinke or else we should haue béene forgetfull of that we ought to haue in daily remembrance and also been vnthankefull therefore we ought to pray to GOD for the true meaning of the Holy Ghost touching this communion for the letter slayeth and the spirit giueth life In the sixth of Iohn all is applied vnto âaith and in 1. Cor. 4. The things which are seene are temporall but the things which are not seene are euerlasting and in the third of the Hebrewes Christ ruleth ouer his house whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and reioycing of hope vnto the end and the dead Temple is not his house Wherefore to day if you will heare his voice harden not your hearts Her confession in Newgate CHrist took the bread saying to his Disciples Take eate this is my body which shall be broken for you meaning his body the bread but a signe and Sacrament and so he said He would break downe the Temple and in three dayes build it vp againe signifying his body by the Temple although there be many that cannot perceiue the true meaning thereof for the vayle that Moses put euer his face before the children of Israell remayneth to this day but when God shall take it away then shall these blinde men see For it is plainly expressed in the Historie of Bell O King saith Daniell be not deceiued for God will be worshipped in nothing that is made with hands of men O what stiffe-necked people are these that will alwayes resist the Holy Ghost as their fathers haue done Truth is layde in prison Luk. 21. The law is turned to wormwood Amos 6. and there can no right iudgement goe forth Esay 59. Her condemnation THey said I was an heretick and condemned by the law if I would stand to my opinion I said touching my Faith I said and wrote to the Councell I would not deny because I knew it true then they would knowe whether I would denie the Sacrament of Christs bodie and bloud I answered yea for the same Sonne of GOD that was borne of the blessed Uirgin Mary is now glorious in the heauens and will come againe at the last day as he went vp and that which you call your God is a peece of bread and for more proofe thereof let it lie in a boxe but thrée monthes and it will be mouldy and turne to nothing that is good therefore I am perswaded it is no God Then they willed me to haue a Priest and then I smiled then they asked mee if it were not good I sayd I would confesse my faults vnto God for I was sure hee would heare me with fauour and so we were condemned by the quest This was my beléefe which I wrote to the Councell that the Sacramentall bread was left vs to bee receaued with thanksegiuing in the remembrance of his death the onely remedy of our soâles recouery and thereby we also receaue the whole benefit of his passion then they would needs know whether the bread in the boxe were God or no I sayd God is a spirit and will bee worshipped in spirit and truth then they sayd will you plainely deny Christ to bee in the Sacrament I answered I beléeue the eternall sonne of God not to dwell there in witnes whereof I recited againe the history of Bell and the 7. and 17. of the Acts and the 24 of Mathew concluding I neither wish death nor feare it God haue the praise thereof with thankes then she wrâte to the Lord Chancelour and the King but it preuayled not After she was sent from Newgate to the Tower then Maister Rich and one of the Councell charged me vppon mine obedience to shew vnto them if I knew any of my Sect I answered I knew none they asked me of my Lady Suffolke my Lady Sussex my Lady Hereford my Lady Denny and my Lady Fitzrallins I sayd if I should pronounce any thing against them I am not able to proue it they said the King was informed I could name if I would a great number of my sect I sayd the King was as well deceaued in that behalfe as dissembled with in other matters Then they commanded mee to shewe how I was maintayned in the Counter and who willed me to stick to mine opinion I sayd there was none did strengthen me therein and I was maintayned in the Counter by the meanes of my Mayde for she made mone vnto the Prentises and they by her did send mee money but who they were I know not Then they sayd diuers Gentlewomen gaue me money but I know not their names then they said many Ladies sent me money I answered there was a man in a blew cote deliuered me ten shillings and said my Lady of Hereford sent it me and another in a Uiolet cote gaue me eyght shillings and sayd my Lady Denny sent it mee but I am not sure who sent it me then they said there were of the Councell which did maintaine mee and I said no. Then they put mee vpon the Racke and kept me there a long time because I would not confesse any Gentlewomen or Ladies on my opinion and because I did not cry my Lord Chancelor and Sir Iohn Baker tooke paines to racke me with their owne hands vntill I was nie dead Then the Liefetennant caused mee to be loosed from the racke and incontinently I swounded and they recouered me againe after I sat two houres reasoning with my Lord Chancâllor vppon the bare floure where with flattering words hee perswaded me to leaue my opinions but God gaue mee grace to perseuere and will doe I hope then I was brought to bed with as painefull bones as euer pacient Iob then my Lord Chancellor sent me word if I would leaue mine opinions I should lacke nothing if I would not I should to Newgate and be burned I sent him word againe I would die rather then breake my faith She was borne
her touching the said Articles deuised against her and gaue her warning of that mischiefe which hanged ouer her head beséeching her to be secret and to conforme her selfe to the Kings minde and no doubt she should finde him gracious After the King came to her himselfe vnto whom after she had vttered her griefe how it was for feare his Maiestie had forsaken her hee so refreshed her with comfortable words that she began to recouer Then shee commanded her Ladies to conuay away her Bookes which were against the Law and then she went to the King he courteously welcomed her and entred into talke of Religion séeming desirous to be resolued of the Queene of certaine doubts The Queene perceiuing to what purpose this his talke tended your Maiestie doth well know quoth shee and I am not ignorant of what great weaknesse by our first Creation is allotted to vs women to bee subiect vnto man as our head from which head all our direction must proceed and as God made man after his own Image that being indued with more speciall gifts of perfection might bee stirred to meditate heauenly things and obay his commandements so he made woman of man of whom and by whom she is to bee commanded and gouerned whose womanly weaknesse ought to bee tolerated and ayded that by his wisedome such things as be lacking in her might be supplied Therefore your Maiestie being so excellent in ornaments of wisedome and I so much inferiour in all respects of Nature Why doth your Maiestie in such defuse causes of Religion require my Iudgement which when I haue vttered said what I can yet I must and will referre my Iudgement in this and all causes to your Maiesties wisedome as my onely Anker supreme head and the gouernor heere in earth next vnto God Not so by Saint Mary said the King you are become a Doctor late to instruct vs. Shee answered your Maiestie hath much mistaken mee who haue euer thought it preposterous for the woman to instruct her husband but rather to learn of him and where I haue beene bold to hold talke with your Maiestie wherein there hath seemed some difference in opinion I haue not done it to maintaine opinion but to minister talke that your Maiestie might with lesse griefe passe the paine of your infirmitie being attentiue to your talke and that I might receiue some profit by your Maiesties learned Discourse wherein I haue not missed any part of my desire alwaies referring my selfe in such matters to your Maiestie âhen said the King tendeth your Argument to no worse end then wee are now as perfect friends as euere we were and he imbraced her and kissed her saying it did him more good to heare these words then if he had heard newes of a hundred thousand pound fallen to him On the day that was appointed for the aforesaid Tragedy the King went into his Garden whether the Queene being sent for came onely the three Ladies aboue named waiting on her with whom the King was as pleasant as euer hee was in his life In the middest of his mirth the houre appointed being come the Lord Chancelor commeth into the Garden with forty of the Kings guard at his heâles with purpose to take the Queene with the three Ladies to the the Tower whom the King sternely beholding called him to him who on his knees whispered to the King the King cal'd him knaue arrant knaue and beastly foole and commanded him to auant out of his presence which words the Quéene heard though they were low spoken then he departed with his traine the whole mould of his deuice broken The Queene seeing the King so chaâed spoke for the Lord Chancellor Ah poore soule quoth hee thou little knowest how euill hee deserueth this grace at thy hands he hath been towards thee sweet heart an arrant knaue and so let him goe If King Henry had liued hee and the French King had been at this point within halfe a yeere after to haue changed the Masse in both their Realmes into a Communion as wee now vse it and also vtterly to haue extirped the Popes vsurped power out of both their Realmes and they ment to exhort the Emperour to doe the like in Flanders and his other countreyes or else to breake off from him and herein quoth the Archbishop Cranmer the King willed mee to pen a forme thereof to be sent to the French King but that it was letten by the death of King Henry When the Bishops had brought ANNE ASKEVV and her fellow Martyrs to death being now in their triumph as the Pharisies were when they had killed Christ they deuised how to euer read the truth for euer wherevpon they made a strait Procâamation authorised by the Kings ãâã for abolishing of the Scripture and all other English Bookes which miâht gââe light to the setting forth of Gods Word and the grace of the Gospell which thou maist see in the Booke at large which no doubt had done much hurt in the Church amongst the godly in bringing them to danger or keeping ãâã in blindnes had not the shortnes of the Kings daies stopped the malignant purposes of the Prâlatâs causing the King to leaue that to the people by his death which by his life he would not grant for within foure monethes after the proclamation he deceased the eight and thirty yeare of his raigne The History touching the Persecutions in Scotland Deane Thomas Forret THis Deane Thomas Forret preached euery Sunday in his parish vpon the Epistle and Gospell which was nouelây in Scotland to see any preach but the Black Friâr or the Gray Wherefore the Friers enuied him and accused him to the Bishop of Donkelden as an heretick which shewed the mysteries of the Scripture vnto the vulgar people to make the Clergy detestable The Bishop sending for him said my Ioy Deane Thomas I leue you well â am informed you preach the Epistle and Gospel euery Sunday and that you take not the Cow for mortuarie nor the vpper Cloth for Crisome of your parishioners which is very preiudiciall to the Church men My ioy Deane Thomas take your Cow and your vpper Cloth and preach not euery Sunday for in so doing you will make the people thinke we should preach likewise But when you finde a good Epistle or a good Gospell that setteth forth the lâbertie of the Church preach that and let the rest be Thomas answered my parishioners pay me my duetiâs willingly and wâe agree well and where your Lordship saith it is too much âo preach euery Sonday I thinke it too little and also would wish that your Lordship would doe the like nay nay we are not ordained to preach M. Forret and where your Lordship speaketh of a good and an euill Epistle I could neuer finde none but good Then spake my Lord I thanke God I neuer knew what the Old New Testament ment Wherevpon grew a prouerb you are like the Bishop of Dunkelden that knâw neither new
Latine VVALTER MILL AMongst the rest of the Martirs of Scotland the constancy of Walter Mill is not to be passed in silence out of whose Ashes sprang thousands of his opinion who chose rather to dye then to bee any longer ouer-trodden with the cruââl beastly and ignorant Byshops Abbots Monkes and Fryers and scone after his Martyrdome the Congregation began to debate true Religion against the Papists He climbing vp into a Pulpet to be examined before the Bishops they séeing him so weake partly by age and partly trauell and euill intreatment that hee could not climbe vp without helpe they thought they should not haue heard him but when he spake he made the Church sound with great stoutnesse that the Christions reioyced and the Aduersaries were ashamed At first hee knéeling praying long and was commaunded to rise and answere his Articles calling him Sir Walter Mill He said he ought to obay God more then Men and where you call me Sir Walter call me Walter for I haue bin ouer long one of the Popes Knights Oliphant What think you of Priests marriage Mille. I hold it a blessed band for Christ made it free to all men but you abhorre it and take other mens wiues and daughters you vow chastitie and breake it Paule hade rather marrie then burne the which I haue done for God neuer forbade marriage to any estate or degrée Oliph Thou sayest there is not seuen Sacraments Mille. Giue me the Lords Supper and Baptisme and take you the rest and if there be seuen why omit you one of them to wit marriage and giue your selues to whoredeme Oliph Thou art against the blessed Sacrament of the Altar Mill. If a King bid many to a feast and when they sit downe to eate he turn his back to them and eate vp all himselfe doth he not mock them euen so do you mock the people eating and drinking the Sacrament and giuing them none the Sacrament of God is not to be taken carnally but spiritually and stands in faith onely Your masse is wrong for Christ was once offered vpon the Crosse for mans trespasse and will neuer be offered againe Oliph Thou deniest the office of a Bishop Mill. I affirme those which you call Bishops doe not the workes of Bishops but liue after their sensuall pleasures and take no care for the flocke nor yet regard the word of God but desire to be honoured and called Lords Oliph Thou speakest against pilgrimages Mill. I say it is not commaunded in Scripture and that there is no greater whoredom in no places then at your pilgrimages except in common Brothell-houses Oliph Thou preachest priuatly in houses and openly in fields Mill. Yea man and in the Sea also sayling in a ship Oliph If thou wilt not recant I will pronounce sentence Mill. You shall know that I will not recant for I am corne and not chaffe I will not be blowne away with the winde nor burst with the flaile but I will abide both When sentence was pronounced and he to be deliuered to the temporall Iudge his constancie so moued the hearts of many that the Prouost of the Towne Patricke Learmond though he were Steward of the Bishops regalitie refused to bee his temporall Iudge and the Bishops Chamberlaine being therewith charged would not take vpon him so vngodly an office the Bishops seruants could get neuer a cord in the whole towne for money to tye him to the stake withall nor a Tarre barrell to burne him when he came to the stake He said to Oliphant Put me vp with thy hands and take part in putting me to death for by Gods law I am forbidden to lay hands on my selfe Then he put him vp with his hands and he ascended gladly saying Introibo ad altare Dei and desired he might speake to the people which was denied him they saying he had spoken too much already Then some of the yong men committed the burners and the Bishops their Masters to the Diuell and bade him speake what he pleased Then after he had prayed standing vpon the coales said I die onely for the defence of the faith of Christ for the which the faithfull Martyrs haue offered themselues gladly before being assured after the death of their bodies of eternall felicitie And I praise God he hath called me of his mercie amongst the rest of his seruants to seale vp his truth with my life therefore as you will escape eternall death be not seduced with the lies of Priests Monks Friers and the rest of that Sect but depend onely vpon the death of Iesus Christ and his mercie that you may in the time to come be deliuered from condemnation All the while the multitude greatly mourned perceiuing his mighty patience constancie and boldnesse whereby their hearts were so much enkindled and inflamed that he was the last Martyr that died in Scotland euer after for religion After this by Gods iust iudgement in the same place where Walter Mill was burned the Images of the great Church of the Abbey which passed in number and costlines were burned in time of reformation Heere followeth in the booke of Martyrs the names of diuers which were omitted by him in King Henrie the eighth his time and an instrument of the Popes definitiue sentence against Henrie the eighth for his diuorse with Katharine Dowager and the instrument of the Bull of Pope Leo against Martin Luther and his answer to it in which for breuitie sake I leaue thee to the booke at large if thou be disposed to see them and also the last Will and Testament of King Henry and the manner of his death A Storie of certain Friers in France in the Citie of Orleance in the yeare 1534. THe Mayors wife of the Citie prouided in her Will that she should be buried without any pompe or solemnitie for the Bell did vse to warne euery one to pray for the dead corps and when it is carried forth all or the most part of the begging Friers goe before it with Torches and Tapers and the more pompe is vsed the greater is the concourse of people but this woman would none of this gears the which buriall of hers her husband performed according as she required in her Will. Then one Colman and Steuen Arras Doctors of Diuinitie and the first a Coniurer set a young man which was a nouice ouer the Uault of the Church and when they came according to their vse to Mattins at mid-night he made a wonderfull noyse and shrieking then this Colman went to crossing and coniuring but the other aboue would not speake and being charged to make a signe whether he were a dumbe spirit or no hee ratled and made a great noyse againe Then they tolde some of the chiefest of the Citie what a heauie chance had happened and intreated them to come to their seruice at night When they were there and the seruice begunne he aloft made a great noyse being demaunded what he would he made signes he could not speake
and for his contempt and misdemeanor deposed Gardener Bishop of Winchester with Tunstall Bishop of Durham were cast into the Tower for their disobedience In this time of King Edward vnder this noble Protectoâ this one commendation is proper vnto them that amongst all the Popish âort of whom some priuily stâle out of the Realme manie were craftie dissemblers some open aduersaries â yet there was not one that lost his life during the whole time of the Raigne of this King for any matter of Religion Papist or Protestant except lone of Kentan English woman and one George a Dutchman who died for certaine Articles not necessarie to be rehearsed THOMAS DOBBE THis man in the beginning of King Edwards Raigne comming from S. Iohns Colledge in Cambridge to London as he passed through Paules Church there was a Priest at Masse at the South side of the Church being at the eleuation this yong man repleate with godly zeale pittying the ignorance and Idolatry of the people in honouring that which the Priest lifted vp he exhorted the people not to honour that visible bread as God which was neither God nor ordained of God to be honoured wherefore he was apprehended by the Mayor and accused to the Bishop of Canterburie and was committed to the Counter in Bread-stréete where shortly falling sicke he died whose pardon was obtained of the Lord Protector if he had liued IOHN HVNNE IN the first yeare of the Kings raigâe one Master Lewnax of Wresell and his wife sent this Iohn Hunne their seruant vnto the Bishop of Canterbury for denying the flesh and bloud of Christ to be really in the Sacrament of the Altar and saying he would neuer vaile his Hatte to it if he should be burned for it and that if he should heare masse he should be damned But because I finde nothing done therein I leaue it When this godly yong Prince was peaceably established in his Kingdome and had a godly wise and zealous Councell about him especially the Duke of Sommerset he earnestly desired the aduancement of the true honour of God and planting of sincere Religion and the sâppressing of all Idolatry Superstition and hypocrisie throughout his Dominions Following the good example of the good King Iosias and being he found most of his Lawes repugnant to his zealous enterprise He by the aduice of his wise and Honorable Councell of his own regall authoritie did prosecute his godly purpose vntill by consent of the whole estate of Parliament he might establish a more free and vniforme order and those certaine wiâe learned and discreet personages for Commissioners generally to visit all the Bishopricks of this Realme to vnderstand and redresse the abuses of the same and diuided them into seuerall companies and assigned them seuerall Diocesses to be visited appointing to euery company one or two godly Preachers which should preach to the people at euery Sessions the true Doctrine of the Gospell of Christ and exhort them to all loue and obedience of the same and earnestly dehort them from their old superstition and wonted Idolatry and that they might the more orderly be directed in this their Commission there were deliuered vnto them certaine iniunctions and Ecclestasticall orders drawne out by the Kings learned Councell the which they should both inquire of and also command in his Maiesties behalfe to be thenceforth obserued of euery person to whom they did seuerally appertaine within their seuerall circuits the which Iniunctions if thou beest disposed for to reade I leaue thee for breuitie to the Booke at large Now during the time the Commissioners were in their circuits about diligent execution of their godly and zealous orders of the King and Councell deâiring a further reformation as well in Ecclesiasticall as in Ciuill gouernment appointed a Parliament to be summoned on the fourth of Nouember in the first yeare of his raigne which continued vntill the twenty foure day of December then next following Whereby he caused to be enacted that all Acts of Parliaments and Statutes touching menciâning or any wise concerning Religion or opinions to wit the Statute of the first yeare of Richard the second and the statute made in the second yeare of the raign of Henry the fift and the statute madâ in the fiftéenth yeare of the raigne of Henry the eight concerning the punishments and reformation of Hereticks and Lolards and the sixe Articles made in the thirty one yeare of Henry the eight and the statute made in the thirty thrée year of Henry the eight against the bookes of the old and new Testament in English and the printing and vttering of English or bookes writings and preaching the Scriptures an another Statute in the 35. yeare of Henry the eyght touching the qualification of the Statâte of sixe Articles and aâl and euery other Act or Acts of Parliament concerning Doctrine or matters of Religion should from thenceforth bee repealed and of none effect by occasion whereof all his godly subiects abiding within the Realme had free liberây to professe the gospell and those beyond Sea wer not onely licensed to retârne home but incouraged bouldly and faithfully to trauell in their calling so that God was much glorified and the people edified And in this Parliament it was enacted that the Sacrament should be ministred in both kinde and letters missiue were sent frâm the Councell to the Bishops of the Realme concerning the communion to bee ministred in both kinds and from Bishop to Bishop as thou maist sée in the booke at large Another Parliament was assembled in the second yeare of his Raigne beginning vppon the foorth day of Nouember 1548. continuing vntill the 14. day of March wherein a booke in English intituled the Booke of Common prayer and administration of the Sacraments and other Rightes and Ceremonies of the Church after the vse of the Church of England was concluded vppon by the Clergy which his highnesse receauing with great comfort did exhibiââ it vnto the Lords and Commons of the Parliament who for the honour of God and great quietnesse which by the grace of God should ensue vppon that one vniforme right and order in such Common prayer rites and externe Ceremonies to bee vsed throughout England Wales Calice and the Marches of the same authoriseâ the sayd Booke by Act of Parliament and set great penalty vpon them that woâld bee disobeâient thereto as is to be seene in the booke at large Aâso the mariage of Priests was authorized by the sayd Parliament by these procéedings and the Iniunctions which thou maiest see in the book at large thou maiest well perceaue the great zeale of the King and the Lord Protector in reformation of tâue Religion and also the lingring slacknesse on the other side of others especially of the Bishops and old Popish Curats by whose cloked contempt and wilfull winking the Booke of Common prayers was long after the publishing thereof very irreuerently vsed throughout many places of this Realme which when the King by diuers
complaintes vnderstood hee wrote spéedily to all the Bishope of the Realme for the spéedy redresse thereof and because Bonner was one of the backwardest hee was peremtorâly admonished vnder paine of depriuation to preach the next Sunday three weekes after the date there of at Paules Crosse none but such Doctrine as was appoynted him in the said Iniuntion and should preach the same Doctrines euery quarter of a yeare yearely âf sicknesse or some reasonable cause did not let Secondly you your selfe in person shall from henceforth celebrate the Communion at the high Altar in Paules euery such dayes as your Predecessors were wont to sing Masse The Popish Priests grudging and mourning to see their old Popâsh Church of Rome to decay ceased not by all subtile and sinister meanes first vnder Gods name and the Kings and vnder colour of religion to perswade the people to rebellion This first burst out in Cornwell and Deuonshire of whom the chiefe Gentlemen Captaines were Humfrey Arundell Esquire Iames Rosogan Iohn Rosogan Iohn Walkock Iohn Payne Thomas Vnderhill Iohn Soleman and William Segar There were eâght Priests gouernours of the Campes and principall stirrers besideââ multitude of other Popish Priests there was ten thousand stout traytors in this rebellion Commotions likewise beganne to broyle in Oxford-shire Yorke-shire and especially in Northfolke and Suffolke these aforesaid hearing thereof tooke courage hoping they should well âaue fortiâied the same quarrell their intent was to inuade the Citty of Exeter and twise they burned the gates thereof but gayned thing but shotte beeing put from Exeter they fell on spoyling and robbing where or howsoeuer they might catche then laying their heads together they consulted of certaine Articles to be sent vp to the King as followeth First they would haue that their Curats should minister the Sacrament of baptisme at all times of néede as well in the weeke dayes as on the holydayes and their Children confirmed of the Bishop whensoeuer wee resort to him Secondly because they did constantly beléeue that in the Sacrament after consecration there is the very body and blood of Christ and no substance of bread and wine remaineth therefore we will haue the Masse celebrated as in times past without any man communicating with the Priests because many presuming vnworthâây to receiue the same put no difference betwixt the Lords body and other bread and wée will haue the consecrated body of our Lord reserued in our Churches Thirdly wée will haue holy bread and holy water in remembrance of Christs body and blood Fourthly we will that our Priests shall sing and say with an audible voyce Gods seruice in the Quire of the Parish Churches and not to haue it set forth as a Christmas play Fiftly because Priests be men dedicated to God to celebrate the blessed sacraments and preaching of Gods word wee will that they shall liâe chast without marriage Sixtly we will the sixe Articles shall stand in force To which Articles the King did particularly answer and set forth reasons against them in writing and shewed that he would spend his life and all that hee had to maintaine the Godly reformation which was begun yet hee offred them pardon if they would desist from the deceitfull counsell of the séekers of dissention who sought for nothing els but to vndâe them their wiues and children and if they would not be moued to repentance with his fatherly kindnes shewed vnto them hee would procéed against them as against the Heathen with force and Armes Aâd because they would not accept mercy Sir Iohn Russell Knight Lord priuy seale was sent by the King and councell against them and next to him were ioyned Sir William Harbert Sir Iohn Paulet Sir Hugh Paulet Sir Thomas Speck with the Lord Gray and others Thus the Lord Priuy seale accompanied with the Lord Gray aduancing his power against the rebells yet by Gods prouidence they gaue them the repulse who recouering themselues againe encountred the second time the Lord priuy seale but by Gods helpe they with their whole cause of false religion were vtterly vanquished the popish rebells not onely lost the field but a great part of them lost their liues lying slaine the compasse of two miles diuers were taken as Humphry Arundell Berry Thomas Vnderhill Iohn Soleman William Seger and two Priests Tempson and Barret and two Mayors Henry Bray and Henry Lee with diuers mo all which afterward were executed These rebells to make their part more sure by the presence of their consecrated God brought with them vnto the Battaile the pixe vnder his Canopy riding and in a Cart neither was there lacking Masses Crosses Banners Candlestickes with Holy-bread and Holy-water plenty to defend them from Diuells and all enemies which could not saue them from their enemies but both the consecrated God and all the trumpery about him was taken in the Cart leaâing a Lesson of better experience how to put their confidence in such vaine Idolls Like vnto this was the field of Musclebrough fought in Scotland the yeare before this when the Scots incamping theÌselues against the Lord Protector the Kings power sent into Scotland they likwise brought into the field the Gods of their Altars with Masses Crosses Banners and all their popish stuffe hauing great affiance therein to haue a great day against the English army as to mans indgement might seeme not vnlike The number of the Scots armie farre excéeded ours but the arme of the Lord so turned the viâtory that the Scots in the end with all their Masses and Trinkets were put to the worsâ of whom were slaine betweene thirtéene and fourtéene thousands and not passing a hundred English men The cause of this warre was because the Scots had promised King Henry the eight that the yong Scottish Queeâe should marry with King Edward which promise they afterward brake and payed therefore and this victory was the same day and houre when the Images were burned openly in London There was the like commotion in Oxford and Buckingham but that was soon appeased by the Lord Gray of whom two hundred were taken and twelue of them ringleaders deliuered to him where of certaine were executed In Norfolk the parts thereabouts the Marquesse of Northampton was sent to represse the rebellion who was appointed to kéep the field and passages to stop them from victuals whereby they might the sooner be brought to acknowledge their fault and séeke pardon who pined himselfe within the Citie of Norwich but the Rebels pressed vpon the Citie and at length obtained it yet there was but a hundred on both sides slaine and the Lord Shefield then the Earle of Warwick was sent against them by whom the confused rabble was ouerthrown to the number of foure thousand and both the Kets chiefe stirrers of that Commotion were put to death and one of them hanged in chains In this yeare likewise the like commotion began at Semer in the North-riding of Yorke shire and continued in the East-riding of
the same and there ended The principall doers thereof were William Ombler Thomas Dale with one Steuenson They intended to stirre in two places at one instant seuen miles from the other and at the first rush to destroy such Gentlemen and men of substance as fauoured the Kings proceedings and to set the Beacons on fire to bring the people together and hauing the ignorant people assembled then to poure out their poyson beginning with such as they thought were pinched with pouerty and vnwilling to labour therefore the more readie to follow the spoyle of rich mens goods blowing in their eares that Gods seruice was now quite laide aside and new inuentions neither good nor godly put in their stead feeding them with faire promises to reduce into the Church againe their olde ignorance and abominable Idolatrie Putting this practise in execution they took one M. White and one Clopton and one Sauage a Marchant of Yorke and one Bery and cruelly murdred them and tookâ away all that was about them then they ranged from Towne to Town and inlarged their âand leauing in no towne any men aboue the age of 16. yeares vntill they had gathered about 3000. Then came the Kingâ pardon to them which Ombler conâumelioâsly refused and perswaded others so to dâe and some excepted thereof but shortly after Ombler as he was riding from towne to towne to charge all the Constables and Inhabitants in the Kings Namo to resort to Humumby hee was taken and imprisoned at âorke After him Thomas Dale and Henry Barton Iohn Dale Robert Wright William Peacocke Wetherell and Edmund Buttry busie stirrers in this sedition as they trauelled from place to place to draw people vnto their faction were likewise apprehended and committed to Ward and after executed at Yorke The King of France bearing of the Insurrections of the Kings Subiects in diuers places supposing to take the time he made inuasion against the Iles of Iersey and Gernesey and thought to haue surprised the Kings Ships in the said Iles with his shippâs and Gallies but he was so hotly saluted with the Kings Ships in the Iland that the French-men lost at least a thousand men and their Shippes and Gallies were so spoyled as they were forced to returne home and not able to come out againe and they brought into one Towne in one vessell at least sixty Gentlemen to be burned and the King gaue out a speciall inhibition that none should speake of the successe of that iourney so the arme of God mercifully fought for King Edward his Seruant to defend and deliuer him from so many hard dangers all in one yeare which is worthy of all posterity to be noted The examination of Bonner THE King sent forth his Commission vnder his broad Seale to the Byshop of Canterbury and the Bishoppe of Rochester and other trusty personages and Councelors appointing and authorising them to examinine the Bishoppe of London and to procéed against him according to law and Iustice either to suspention excommunication committing to prison or depriuation if the qualitie of the offence so required At Bonners first entring into the place within the Arch-bishops house at Lambeth where the Arch-bishop and the other Commissioners sat to be examined hée kept his hat on his head making as though he saw them not vntill one bad him reuerence the Commissioners then laughingly he said What my Lords are you there by my troth I saw you not No said the Archbishop you would not sée well quoth he you sent for me haue you any thing to say to me Yea said the Commissioners we haue authority to call you to account for your Sermon you made lately at Pauls Crosse because you did not preach to the people the Articles you were commanded to preach vpon Then said Bonner In good Faith my Lord I would one thing were had in meâereuerence then it is What is that said the Archbishop The blessed Masse quoth he you haue written well of the Sacrament I maruell you doe no more honour it The Arch-bishoppe said If you thinke I haue wrote well of it it is because you vnderstand it not Bonner said I thinke I vnderstand it better then you that wrote it The Archbishop replyed he would easily make a Childe of ten yeares old vnderstand therein as much as you And when they had called forth Maister Latimer and Iohn Hooper Preachers to propound such matter as they had to say against him he hearing them speake fell to scorning and taunting them calling one Goose and the other Woodcocke and denying their accusation to be true Whereupon the Arch-Byshop asked him whether hee would credit the people there present and because many of them that were there were at his Sermon The Arch-Bishoppe stood vp and read the Article of the Kinges authority during his young age saying vnto them How say you my Maisters did my Lord of London preach this Article they answered No no Then Bonner deridingly said Will you beléeue this fond people Then was shewed forth a âill of Complaint exhibited vnto the King by the said Maister Latimer and Iohn Hooper which was read Then Bonner prayed that the Bill of Complaint should be deliuered vnto him which when he had pervsed he said it was so generall as hee could not directly answere vnto it The Arch-bishop said the speciall cause was because he had transgressed the Kinges commaundement in not setting forth in his last Sermon at Paules Crosse the Kinges Hignesse Royall power in his minority and for the proofe thereof hee called Maister LATIMER and IOHN HOOPER to whom BONNER saide As for this Merchant Latimer I haue wincked at his euill doings a great while but I haue âore to say to him héereafter But as touching this Merchant Hooper I haue not séene him before howbeit I haue heard much of his naughtie preaching Then he said Ah my Lord now I sée the cause of my trouble is not for the matter you pretend but because I did preach in my late Sermon the true presence of the most blessed body and blood of our Sauiour Iesus Christ to bée in the Sacrament of the Altar And as for these my accusers they are notorious euill persons and notable Hereticks and Seducers especially touching the Sacrament of the Altar and most of all this Hooper for whereas I preached that after consecration of the Sacrament there is the selfe same body and blood of Christ in substance that was hanged vpon the Crosse hee in the afternoone hauing a great rabblement with him of his damnable Sect did preach to the people erroniouslie against it and vntruely expounded my wordes for whereas I said the same substance that was hanged vpon the Crosse hee like an Asse as he is an Asse indéede turned the word That into As saying That I said as it hanged vpon the Crosse Then the Arch-Bishoppe demaunded of him whether Christ were in the Sacrament Face Nose Mouth Eyes Armes and Lips with other lineaments of the bodie whereat Bonner shooke
his head and said I am right sorry to heare your Grace to speake those words which you haue done Hee appeared seauen times before the said Commissioners and euer vsed verie vnreuerent vncomely and frowarâ words and behauiours towards the Commissioners and others and hee still shifted off the matter by subtile dilatories and friuolous cauiling about the Law and with facing and rayling vpon the Denouncers that hee thought to countenance out the matter before the people But to conclude for all his subtile craftie cautels and tergiuersations hée was iustlie imprisoned and in the end most lawfullie depriued The first trouble of the Lord Protector was presentlie after the depriuation of Bishop Bonner but shortly after hee was deliuered out of the same by the mighty working of GOD the tractation whereof shall bee delayed vntill the time of his second trouble which was two yeares after The vulgar people hearing of the apprehension of the Lord Protector they began to brute abroad that now they should haue their Latine Seruice the holy Bread and holy Water and their other Ceremonies againe Wherefore straite commaundement was sent to the Bishops of the Dioces to warne the Parsons Uicars Curats and Church-wardens of euerie Parish to deliuer vp all Antiphoners Missalls Grayles Processionals Manualls Legends Pyes Portuasies Iournals and Ordinals and all other Bookes of Seruice the hauing whereof might be any let vnto the Seruice that now is set forth in English commaunding all such persons as should be found disobedient in this matter to be committed to ward And because many refused to pay towardes the finding of Bread and Wine for the Communion whereby the Communion in many places was omitted the Byshops had charge for the redresse héereof and to punish such as refused so to doe In this yeare Letters were sent for the taking downe of Altars in Churches and setting vp a Table in the steed thereof vnto Nicholas Ridley who being Byshop of Rochester before was made Bishop of London in Bonners place The Storie of STEPHEN GARDNER Bishop of Winchester VVHereas the Kinges Maiestie made a generall visitation as before is said and appointed certaine iniunctions to be generally obserued they were obediently receiued and reuerently executed of all men of all sorts sauing onely of the Bishop of Winchester who by conference with others by open protestations and Letters also shewed such a wilfull disobedience therein as might haue bred much trouble Wherefore he was sent for before the Councell before whom he denied to receiue the said Articles and so misused himselfe before them that he was sent to the Fléete but vpon promise of conformity hee was set at liberty againe then he set forth such matters as bred more contention in that Shire then in all the Realme againe and he caused all his Seruants to bée secretly armed and harnised to withstand such as he thought to haue béene sent by the Councell into those parts and when Preachers were sent into that Countrey by the Councell to preach the Word of GOD the Bishop to disappoint and disgrace them and to hinder his Maiesties procéedings did occupy the Pulpit himselfe and in his Sermons would warne the people of such new Preachers and to imbrace no other Doctrine then that which he had taught them Wherefore being sent for againe before the Councell yet in the end vpon his second promise of conformity they left him at libertie willing him to remaine at his house at London yet he began afresh to ruffle and meddle in matters that touched the Kings Maiesty Whereupon being once againe admonished be promised againe conformity and that he would declare his conscience to be well satisfied with the Kings procéedings to the satisfaction and good quiet of others but at the day appointed he did speake of certaine matters contrary to expresse commaundement of the King and in the Articles whereuâto he had agreed before hee vsed such a manner of vtterance as was vâry like there presently to haue stirred a great tumult and in great matters touching the pollicy of the Realme hee so handled them that he shewed himselfe a very seditious man and that in the presence of his Maiestie the Lords of the Councelâ and of such an audience as the like thereof hath not béene séene whereupon he was committed to the Tower and after iustly depriued for his obstinaey therein Hee wrote a Letter vnto Maister Vaghan in defence and prayse of Images which the Lord Protector answered very learnedly as thou mayst sée in the Booke at large He wrote another Epistle wherein hee first rayled and findeth fault with the Paraphrase of Erasmus which he calleth a Booke of abhomination secondlie hée sheweth that he can in no case away with the Homily of saluation set out by the Archbishop of Canterbury which Article marueâlously vexeth his Spirit His third purpose whereunto his Letters cheefely draw is to insinuate the Lord Protector that no alteration should bee made of Religion during the time of the Kings minority but to let all thinges stand as King Henrie had left them The iudgement of Doctor REDMAN on his death-bed touching certaine points of Religion 1 THE Sea of Rome in this last daies is a sinke of all euill 2 Purgatory as the Schoolemen vsed it was vngodly and there was no such kind kind of Purgatory as they phantasied 3 That the offering vp of the Sacrament in Masses and treutals for the sins of the dead is vngodly 4 That the wicked are not partakers of the body of Christ but receiue the outward sacrament only 5 That the sacrament ought not to be carried about in procession for it is taught what is the vse of it by these words Take eate and drink doe this in remembrance of mee 6 That nothing which is séen in the sacrament or perceiued with any outward sense is to be worshipped 7 That we receiue not Christs body corporally that is to say grossely like other meats and like as the Capernayts did vnderstand it 8 That we receiue Christs body so spiritually that neuerthelesse truly 9 Touching transubstantiation there is not in any of the olde Doctors any good ground and sure proofe thereof or any mention of it as farre as euer he could perceiue neither that he doth sée what could be answered to the obiections made against it 10 Being asked of Master Wilkes what that was which was lifted vp betwixt the Priests hands he answered that he thought that Christ could be neither lifted vp nor downe 11 That Priests may by the law of God marrie wiues 12 That as only faith doth iustifie so that doth signifie a true a liuely and a faith resting in Christ and imbracing Christ and this is true godly sweet and comfortable doctrine so that it be so taught that the people take nonâ occasion of carnall libertie 13 That workes had their reward and crown but they did not deserue eternall life and the kingdome of God no not the workes of grace for euerlasting
beloued friends I am brought hether to suffer death albeit I neuer offended against the King in word nor deed and haue alwaies béene as faithfull as any man vnto this Realme but because I am by Law condemned to die to testifie my obedience which I owe vnto the Lawes I am come hither to suffer death Wherefore I thanke God that he hath giuen me this time of repentance who might so suddenly haue béen taken with death that I could not haue acknowledged God nor my selfe I would something put you in minde of the Christian Religion which so long as I was in authoritie I did alwaies diligently set forth and I reioice therein sith now the state of Christian Religion commeth most neere to the order of the Primatiue Church which I esteeme as a great benefit of God to me and vnto you most heartily exhorting you all that you will most thankefully imbrace it set out the same in your liuing which if you do not no doubt great calamitie will follow Upon these words there was heard a terrible noise as it had beene of some great tempest from aboue as if a great deale of Gun-powder being inclosed in an armory hauing caught fire had violently broke out or as if a great company of horsemen had been running together vpon them whereby the people were so amazed that they ranne away sâme into Ditches and Puddles and some into the houses others with their Halberts fell vnto the ground Crying out Iesus saue vs Iesus saue vs and those which tarried in their places knew not where they were It happened heere euen as when the officers of the High Priests came to take Christ They runne back and fell to the ground in so great slaughter of Dukes within this few yeares there were neuer so many weeping eyes at one time and the people seeing Sir Anthony Browne ride to the Scaffold they coniectured that the King had sent his Unkle pardon therefore with great reioycing they cast vp their caps and cryed out pardon pardon is come God saue the king Thus the good Duke although he was destitute of mans help yet hee saw before his departure in what great loue and fauour he was with all men Then said the Duke dearely beloued friends there is no such matter as you vainely beleeue Therefore I pray you be contented with my death which I most willingly suffer let vs ioine in prayer for the King vnto whom I haue alwaies shewed my selfe a faithfull Subiect and haue béen most diligent to seeke the commoditie of the whole Realme at which words all the people cryed out and said it was most true And praying for the King and Councell and exhorting the people to obedience forgiuing all his enemies and desiring forgiuenes of them which heâ had offended and praying them to beare witnes he died in the faith of Christ. Then he knéeled downe and prayed and rising againe without any trouble of minde he tooke them all on the Scaffold by the hand and bid them all farewell when he lay vpon the block he called thrice on the name of Iesus saying Lord Iesus saue me And as the name of Iesu was repeating the third time in a moment he was bereft both of head and life The Lady MARY THe King his Councell had much trauell by Letters and messengers to reduce the Lady Mary to obedient conâormitie of Religion yet she would not be reclaimed from her owne singuler opinion fixed vpon custome to giue any indifferent hearing vnto the word and voice of verity the which set will of the said Lady Mary the yong King and also his Father King Henry right well perceiuing they were both much displeased against her insomuch that not only her brother did sequester her in his Will but also her owne father considering her inclination did conceiue such a hate against her that for a great space he did seclude her from the title of Princesse yea and seemed so greatly incensed against her that he was fully purposed to haue procéeded further with her as it is reported had not the intercession of Thomas Cranmer the Archbishop reconciled the King againe to fauour and pardon his owne daughter And about the eighth of September 1552. Doctor Ridley Bishop of London went to visit the Lady Mary and was gently entertained of Sir Thomas Wharton and other her officers About eleuen of the clocke the Lady Mary came forth of her chamber of presence then the Bishop saluted her Grace and said he was come to doe his dutie vnto her Grace she thanked him and for a quarter of an houre talked with him pleasantly and said she knew him when he was Chaplain to her father and remembred a Sermon that he made before her father at the Lady Clintons marriage and so dismissed him to dine with her officers After dinner the Bishop being called resorted againe vnto her Grace then said the Bishop Madam I come not only to doe my duety to sée your Grace but also to offer my selfe to preach before you on Sonday next if it please you to heare me she said I pray make the answere your selfe for you know the answere well enough but if I must make answere this shall be your answere The doore of the Church shall be open for you if you come but neither I nor none of mine shall heare you The Bishop said Madam I trust you will not refuse GODS word She answered I cannot tell what you call GODS word that is not GODS word now that was GODS word in my fathers dayes The Bishop said GODS word is one in all times but it hath beene better vnderstood and practised in some ages then in others She said you durst not for your eares haue auouched that for GODS word in my fathers dayes that now you doe as for your new books I thanke GOD for it I neuer read none of them nor neuer will doe After many bitter words against the forme of Religion then established and against the gouernment of the Realme and the lawes made in the young yeares of her brother which she said she was not bound to obey vntill her brother came to perfect age and then affirmed she would obey them Then she asked him whether he were one of the Priuie Councell he answered no you might well enough quoth she as the Councell goeth now-a-dayes so she concluded that she thanked him for his gentlenesse to come and see her but for your offering to preach before me I thank you neuer a whit Then was the Bishop brought by Sir Thomas Wharton vnto the place where he dined who desired him to drinke after he had drunke he looked very sadly and brake out in these words Surely I haue done amisse in that I haue drunke in that place where GODS word hath beene offered and refused whereas indeed if I had beene mindfull of my duety I ought not to haue stayed but to haue departed immediatly and to haue shaken off the dust of my feete for a
testimony against this house Touching the disputations of Peter Martyr Martin Bucer and Paulus Phagius because they are only touching the Sacrament which is so often handled in this book for breuitie I referre thee to the book at large The decease of King EDWARD ABout a yeare and a halfe after the death of the Duke of Sommerset King Edward died entring into the seuenteenth yeare of his age and in the seuenth yeare of his raigne As the time approached that it pleased Almighty God to call this yong King from vs which was on the sixth day of Iuly about thrée houres before his death his eyes being closed speaking to himselfe and thinking none had heard him he made this prayer as âolloweth LOrd God deliuer me from this miserable and wretched life and take me amongst thy chosen howbeit not my will but thy will be done for I commit my spirit vnto thee O Lord thou knowest how happie it were for me to be with thée yet for thy chosens sake send me life and health that I may truly serue thes O my Lord GOD blesse thy people and saue thine inheritance O Lord saue thy chosen people of England O my GOD defend this realme from Papistrie and maintain thy true religion that I and my people may prayse thy holy name for thy Sonne Iesu Christs sake Then he turned his face and séeing who was by him he said vnto them are you so nigh I thought you had beenâ further off then smilingly he said I was praying to God The last words he spake were these I am faint Lord haue mercie vpon me and take my spirit And thus he yeelded vp the Ghâst leauing a wofull kingdome behinde vnto his sister THE TENTH BOOK WHEREIN is contained the most memorable things done in the Raigne of Queene MARY KIng Edward by his Testament did appoint Lady Iane daughter of the Duke of Suffolk whose mother was Mary second sister of King Henry who was first wife to the French King and after to the said Duke to succeed him in his Kingdome all the Councell and chief Nobilitie the Mayor of London and all the Iudges and chiefe Lawyers sauing Iudg Hales subscribed therto who stood for Q. Mary The matter thus concluded King Edward died when he was sixteene yeares of age then the said Iane was proclaymed Queene at London and other Cities she was about the age of King Edward in learning and wit she might be compared with the Uniuersitie men which haue taken many degrees of the schooles Then Queen Mary wrote to the Councel that they should proclaime her Quéen and she would pardon them for that which was done they answered her that by the Diuorse betwixt King Henry and her mother she was made illegitimate and vnheritable to the Crowne Then she speeded her selfe farre from the Citie hoping vpon the Commons whereupon the Councell sent forth the Duke of Northumberland with other Lords and Gentlemen with an Armie the Guard assisting the Duke Mary withdrew her selfe into Northfolke and Suffolke where she knew the Duke was hated and there gathering such aide of the Commons as she might kept her selfe in Fremingham Castle to whom Suffolk-men resorted and promised her their aide if she would not alter the religion which her brother had established to which she agreed with such promises as no man could haue misdoubted her and thus being guarded with the power of the Gospellers she vanquished the Duke and all that came against her But after the Suffolk-men making supplication vnto her Grace for performance of her promise she answerd You shall one day well perceiue that members must obey their head and not looke to rule the same and one Dobbe a Gentleman for aduertising her of her promise by humble request was three times set in the pillorie to be a gasing-stock to all men others deliuered her books and supplications out of the Scripture to exhort her to continue the doctrine then established who were sent to prison The Councell at London vnderstanding that the Ladie Marie increased in puisance and the peoples hearts mightily bent vnto her they turned their song and proclaymed for Quéen the Lady Mary eldest daughter of K. Henry the eight and appointed by Parliament to succeed King Edward dying without issue the Duke of Northumberland with some of his sonnes were left destitute at Cambridge as also the Earle of Huntingdon who were arrested and brought to the Tower as Traytors Then the Quéen came to the Tower where the Lady Iane and the Lord Gilford her husband were imprisoned fiue months but the Duke within a moneth was beheaded with Sir Iohn Gates and Sir Thomas Palmer the Papists promised the Duke pardon if he would openly recant vpon the Scaffold which in hope of pardon he did and yet he was beheaded whose recantation the papists published not a little reioycing at his conuersion but Sir Thomas Palmer confessed his faith in the Gospell and was sorie that he had not liued more Gospell-like Steuen Gardner was released out of the Tower and made Bishop of Winchester and Lord Chancellor and Poynets displaced and Bonner restored to his Bishoprick againe and Ridley displaced and Day made Bishop of Chichester and Storie put out and Heath made Bishop of Worcester and Hooper committed to the Fleet and Vesie to Exeter and Couerdale put out Doctor Ridley Bishop of London had preached against Quéen Mary in Queene Ianes time shortly after the Sermon Queen Mary was proclaymed then he went to the Queen to salute her who dispoyled him of his Dignities and sent him to the Tower vpon a halting horse Then Queen Mary directed forth an inhibition by proclamation that no man should preach or reade openly in Churches the word of God One Bourne who after was Bishop of âath preached at Paules Crosse so much in the praise of Bonner being there present and in dispraise of King Edward that his words sounded euill to the hearers which caused them to murmur and stirre insomuch that the Maror and others feared an vprore one hurled a dagger at the Preacher who for feare pulled in his head Master Bradford stood forth and appeased the people and after he and Rogers conducted the Preacher safe into the Grammer-schoole but shortly after they were both rewarded with burning The next Sonday the preacher at the Crosse was guarded with the Queenes Guard then men withdrew themselues from the Sermon and the Mayor took order that the ancients of al Companies should be present lest the Preacher should be discouraged with his small auditorie Cranmer Archbishop of Canterburie assisted with Peter Martyr and a few others offered to defend the doctrine of the booke of Common Prayer by the Scriptures and Doctors but whilst they hoped to come to disputation the Archbishop and others were imprisâned but Peter Martyr was suffered to return from whence he came The first day of October the Queen was crowned and the tenth day a Parliament began where Taylor Bishop of Lincolne
that they instruct the children to answer the Priest at Masse Shee sent likewise a commandement to the Lord Mayor of London with the foresaid Articles to bee carefull with all his power for the performance thereof Then the Queene sent forth a Proclamation that the strangers which in King Edwards time were receiued into England for Religion should ãâã driuen out of the Realme Wherevpon Peter Martyr Ioannes Alasco vnckle to the King of Poland and many others were banished and many English men also fled into Germany and were scattered in diuers places where by Gods proâidence they were sustained and entertained with great fauour to the number of eight hundred persons The twenty fiue of March the Lord Courtney and Lady Elizabeth were susspected to consent to Wiats conspiracy and therevpon apprehended and commitâto the Tower This was a politicke practice of Steuen Gardiner which alwaies was an enemy to Lady Elizabeth Wyat at his deatâ protested to the people that the Lord Courtney and Lady Elizabeth were cleare from all suspition of Commoâion but Doctor Weston cryed to the people beleeue him not âor hee confessed otherwise before vnto the Coââcell The same day it was told in the Parliament house that Wiat desired the Lord Courtney to confesse the truth as he had done before One Cut a Prentice of London was sent for by Gardiner vnto the Star-chamber for that he should say that Wiat was constrained by the Councell to aâcuse the Lady Elizabeth and the Lord Courtney to be consenters to his risâng When the Mayor brought him thither Gardiner beganne to declare how miraculously God had brought the Queene to the Crowne the whole Realme in a manner beeing against her and it was that shee might reduce this Realme ouerwhelmed with heresies to the Catholike faith and where she lâued the Lady Elizabeth tenderly and deliuered the Lord Courtney out of prison yet they conspired trayterously against her with Wyat as he confessed yet there are some in London which reported that Wyat was constrayned by the Councell to accuse them yet you my Lord Mayor haue not seene the same punished The partie is here said the Mayor Gardner said punish him according to his deserts and take heed to your charge the Citie of London is a whirle-poole of euill rumors The Londoners not fauouring the Queens proceedings to their displeasure summoned a Parlament at Oxford because they would be forward in the Queens businesse but after it was holden at Westminster where her marriage with king Philip was agreed vpon Bonner being Uicegerent of the Conuocation in his Oration said that Priests were like the Uirgin Mary as she by fiue words conceaued Christ so the Priest by fiue words loth make the very body of Christ and as immediatly vpon the consent of Mary Christ was all whole in her womb so immediatly after the consecration the bread is transubstantiated into the very body of Christ and as the Uirgin layed Christ in the âanger so the Priest lifteth vp the body of Christ and carryeth it and as Mary was sanctified before she conceiued so the priest is ordained anointed before he doe consecrate for a lay-man though he be neuer so holy and do speak the same words yet he cannot consecrate Therefore the dignitie of Priests passeth the dignity of Angels for no Angell can make the body of Christ whereby the least Priest can doe more then the greatest Angell therefore Priests are to bee âonoured before Kings and Princes and Nobles for a Priest is higher then a King happier then an Angell and maker of his Creator The effect of the communication between Doctor Ridley and Secretary Bourne and others at the Lieutenants table at the Tower Feckham WHo so doth not beleeue that which Scripture doth affirme is an âeretick as in the Sacrament of the Altar Mathew Marke Luke and Paul affirme there to bee Christs body and none denieth it therefore to hold the contrarie is heresâe Ridley Whereas is a multitude of affirmations in scripture and where is one affirmation all is one in scripture that which is spoken by one of the Euangelists is as true as that which is spoken by al for it is not in Scripture as in witnesse of men where the number is credited more then one and where you speake of so many affirming without negation of any if you take their words and leaue their meaning they affirme that you take Feck What circumstances can you shew that should moue to thinke of any other sense then as the words plainely say Rid. By the next sentence Doe this in remembrance of me and you may as well say the Bread is turned into Christs mysticall body as that it is turned into his naturall body for Paule speaking of the mysticail body saith Many are one Bread and one body because they are partakers of one Bread Feck This is confârmed by antiquity vnity and vniuersality for none before Beringarius did euer doubt of this then said Master Secretary these be great matters what say you to that Feck As for Unity I doe beléeue it if it be with veritie and as for Antiquity at the first Christs Faith was truely taught by Christ and his Apostles and by many good men which did succeed next them and touching the Sacrament I am perswaded these old writers before the vsurping of the Sea of Rome doe all agree if they bee well vnderstood in this truth as for vniuersalitie if may haue two meanings one that from the beginning in all ages hath beene allowed or it may be vnderstood for the multitude of our age or of any other singular age Maister Secretarie What authors haue you of the Sacrament to make a figure Ridley Tertullian saith This is my body that is to say a figure of my body And Gelasius saith the substance of bread remaineth And Origen saith that which is sanctified as touching the matter passeth away in the draught and I maruell Fecnam will alledge Melancton for we agree there is in the Sacrament but one materiall substance and he saith there are two Maister Secretarie You say truth but we reade that in the old time the Sacrament was so reuerenced that the Catecumeni and many more were forbiddân to be present Rid. Truth Sir there were some called Audients some Penitents some Catechumeni and some Euergumeni which were commanded to depart Maister Sectetarie How then can you make but a figure of the Sacrament as the Lord of Canterburies booke doth Rid. Me thinkes it is not charitably done to beare the people in hand that any man doth so lightly esteeme the Sacrament as to make it but a figure which that booke doth deny as appeareth by that booke most plainely And as for mee I say whosoeuer receiueth the Sacrament receiueth with it life or death as S. Augustine saith manduca vitam bibe vitam Maister Pope I doe beleeue the reall body of Christ is in the Sacrament and I pray God I may euer so beleeue and how can it
because it was according to the word of God the order of the primate church The other is euill because though some good Latine words be in it yet was it but as it were a little hony and milke with a great deale of poison to drinke vp all In the afternoone he being ready to preach againe to the Bishop where was Sir Iohn Mordant Boner âaid vnto his charge the breaking of the proclamation and also heresie but his Charitie was content to let alone the Treason But hee would proue him an heretick and all such as taught the administration of the Sacraments and the order of the Primitiue Church are most pure that come neerest to the order of the Primatiue Church for the church was then in her infancy and could not abide that perfection which was after to bee furnished with ceremonies Sanders answered Saint Augustine saith ceremonies were at first ordained for the weake infirmitie of man therefore it was a token of the more perfection of the primatiue Church that it had âew ceremonies and a token of the ãâã of the Church papisticall because it had so many ceremonies ãâã blasphemous some vnsauourie and some vnproââtable Then the Bishop bade him write what he beléeued of transubstantiation which he did saying My Lord you séeke my bloud and you shall haue it I pray God you may be baptized in it that you may after loath bloud-sucking and become a better man this writing the Bishop kept to cut his throate with Then the Bishop sent him to the Lord Chancellor who kneeling before him the Lord Chancellor said How happeneth it that you haue preached contrary to the Quéens Proclamation Saunders answered as he was admonished by Ezechiel because he saw perrilous times at hand he exhorted his parishioners to perseuer in those things which they had learned for by the example of the Apostles we must obey God before man we doe only professe the sinceritie of the word which although it be now forbidden vs to preach with our mouthes yet our bloud hereafter shall manifest the same The Bishop said carrie away this frensie foole to prison Saunders answered hee thanked God he had giuen him a place of rest where he might pray for the Bishops conuersion Saunders tolde one that lay with him in prison that in the time of his examination he was wonderfully comforted and receaued a taste of the communion of Saints a pleasant refreshing did issue from euery part of his bodie to his heart and from thence into all parts againe He continued in prison a yeare and three moneths and then he was sent for before the Lord Chancellor who offered him his pardon if he would recant which because he refused he was condemned vpon his opinion against the Sacrament with his hand in writing vnto Bonner as before is related Then he was carried vnto Couentrie and one night he was put into the common Gaole amongst other prisoners where he slept little but spent the night in prayer and instruction of others the next day he was ledde to execution into the Parke without the Citie going in olde gowne and a shirt bare-footed and as he went he oftentimes fell flat on the ground and prayed When he was come nigh to the place the officer told him he was one of them that marred the realme with heresie wherefore thou hast deserued death yet if thou wilt reuoke thine heresies the Quéen hath pardoned thée Then answered Saunders It is not I nor my fellow Preachers that haue hurt the realme but it is your-selfe and such as you are which alter Gods word for I hold no heresies bnt the doctrine of God and Christ vnto euerlasting life and so full swéetly he slept in the Lord. He wrote many godly letters to Diuines during the time of his imprisonment which thou mayest sée in the booke at large The martyrdome of IOHN HOOPER Bishop of Worcester ABout the beginning of the six Articles in the time of King Henry the eighth being in danger for religion he went beyond Sea where he was louingly entertained at Basill and at Zurick of Master Bullinger his singular friend where he married his wife which was a Burgundian and in the raign of King Edward he repaired home amongst many other English exiles who being come to London vsed to preach twise or at least once euery Sonday and at his Sermons the Church would be so full that none could enter further into the doores thereof hee was in tongue eloquent in Scriptures perfect in paines indefatigable after hee was called to preach before the King and soone after made Bishop of Gloster in that office he continued two yeares and behaued himselfe so well that his very enemies except it were for good doings and sharpe correcting of sinne could find no fault with him and after that he was made Bishop of Worcester hee sustained much vexation about his inuesting because he would not weare the Priestly vestures In his Bishops palace in euery corner there was fauour of honest conuersation and reading of the Scriptures there was no Courtly roysting or idlenes no pompe at all no dishonest word nor swearing euery day he had to dinner a certaine number of poore folke of the Citie by course and before dinner they were examined by him or his Deputies of the Lords Prayer the Articles of their Faith and ten Commandements In Queene Maries time hee was one of the first that was sent for to London by a Purseuant The Bishop of Winchester receiued him very approbriously rayling and rating him accused him of religion and committed him to the fleete The next yeare hee was sent for before the Bishop of Winchester of London of Durham of Landaffe and of Chichester where after hee had suffered many checkes taunts and mockes that he could not be suffered to make any answere because hee said hee would not goe from his Wife and that hee beleeued not the corporall presence in the Sacrament he was depriued of his Bishopricks By his committance he was to haue the liberty of the Fleete and when hee had payed fiue pound for his liberty the Warden complained to Gardiner and made him to bee committed close prisoner a quarter of a yeare then hee had libertie to come to dinner and supper and presently to returne to his Chamber without speaking to his friends the Warden and his Wife would euer bee picking quarrels with him and after one quarter of the yeare fell out with him about the Masse Then the Warden obtained of Gardiner that he should bee put into the Wardes where hee continued a long time hauing nothing to lye on but a rotten Couering with few Fethers in it On the oneside was the stinke and filth of the house on the other side the stinking Towne ditch so that the stinke infected him with diuers diseases and beeing very sicke hee cried for help but the warden when he hath knowne me ready to dye and poore men haue called to help him he hath
and leauing one Richard Yeoman a godly Priest in his cure which after was burned at Norwich He tooke his iourney with one Iohn Hull his seruant There was in the towne of Hadley one Alcocke who after Richard Yeoman was driuen away vsed dayly to reade a Chapter out of the Bible and to say the English Letany in Hadley Church they sent him vp to London and there he died being in prison in Newgate When Gardiner saw Doctor Taylor according to his custome hee called him knaue traytor hereticke with many villanous reproches My Lord quoth he I am neither Traytor nor Hereticke but a true Subiect and faithfull Christian My Lord you are but a Mortall man I trow if I should be affraid of your Lordly looks Why feare you not God How dare you look any Christian man in the face séeing you haue forsaken the truth denyed Christ and his word contrary to your owne oath and writing With what countenance will you appeare before the Iudgement seat of Christ to answere your oaths to Henrie the eight and Edward the sixt Gardiner answered that was Herods oath vnlawfull and therefore worthy to bee broken I haue done well in breaking it and I thanke God I am come home vnto our Mother the Catholike Church and the Pope hath dispenced with me and so I would thou shouldst do Taylor Should I approue those lies errors superstitions and Idolatries that the Pope and his company this day approued nay God forbid let the Pope returne to Christ and his word and leaue Idolatry and then will we turne to him the Pope nor no man else can assoyle you of that oath I sée quoth Gardiner thou art a very knauish foole Taylor said leaue your reyling my Lord it is not séemely for you That art a married man quoth the Bishop Taylor said I thanke GOD that I am and I haue nine Children and I thanke GOD for the ordaining of Matrimonie that wee should not liue in Aduâtery Gardiner Thou wouldst not suffer Masse in Hadley Taylor I am parson of Hadly and it is against law and reason that any should infect my flocke with Popish Idolatrous Masse Then said the Bishop thou art a blasphemous heretick to blaspheme the blessed Sacraments and put off his Cap and against the Masse which is a Sacrifice for the quick and the dead Taylor Christ dyed for our Redemption which is a sufficient propitiatory Sacrifice vnto saluation for al beléeuers and no Priest can any more offer him and we néed no other propitiatory sacrifice therefore the Fathers called the Communion Eucharistia which signifieth thankes-giuing Then said the Bishop thou shalt confesse it a Sacrifice propitiatory for the quick and the dead ere thou and I haue done and commaunded him to bee sent to the Kings Bench. Then Taylor knéeled downe and saide Good Lord I thanke thee and from the tyrannie of the Pope and all his detestable errors Idolatries and abhominations good LORD deliuer vs and GOD be praysed for King Edward so he was carried vnto the Kings Bench where hee lay in Prison almost two yeares Being in Prison he spent his time in Prayer Preaching and Writing withâin few daies after were diuers learned and godlyâmen in sundry Connârieâ in England committed to prison for Religion so that almost all the Prisons in England were right Christian schooleâ and Churches so that there was no greater comfort to Christian harts then to come to the Prisons Now were placed in Churches blind Masse-mângers with their Lattine babling and apish ceremonies who like cruell Wolues spared not to murder all such that did but whisper against Popery the godly Preachers were other fled or committed to Prison where as Lambes they waited when the Butchers should call them to slaughter Maister Bradford that deuout and vertuons Preacher who was a miracle or our time was in the Kings Bench Taylor exhorted him to constant perseuerance vnto the end Maister Bradford praised God he had such a comfortable Prison-fellow Taylor told his Friends that came to sée him that GOD had graciouslie prouided for him for to send him where he found such an Angell of God to bée his comforter After Taylor had lyne in Prison a while hee was sent for and depriued because he maintained Priests marriage and would not bee separated from his Wife And after a yeare and thrée quarters when they had gotten the lawes put down that were made by King Henry the eight and King Edward against the Pope They sent for Taylor before my Lord Chancellor and either Commissioners the effect of whose communication with him he described himselfe as followeth First my Lord Chancellor said you amongst other are sent for to enioy the King and Queenes mercie if you will rise againe with vs from the fall which we geâerallie haue receiued in this Realme from the which we are deliuered miraculousliâ If you will not you shall haue Iudgement To this I answered That so to rise should bee the greatest fall that euer I could receiue for I should fall from Christ vnto Anti-christ I will not decline from the Religion which was in King Edwards daiâs which is according to the word of God as long as I liue My Lord Chancellor asked me whether I had read his âooke vpon the Sacrament I said I had read it He asked mee how I liked it My Lord said I there are many things farre ãâã from GODS truth in that Booke then he cal'd me varlet I said that was as bad as foole then he called me ignorant Béelebrow I said My Lord you wrote a Booke De vera obedientia I would you had béen constant in that for you neuer did declare a good conscience as I heard of but in that Booke How like you that said my Lord I wrote against Priests mariage but y â pleaseth not such as thou art I answered their procéedings now against Priests mariages is against naturall Law Ciuill Law Canon Law generall Councels Canons of the Apostles ancient Doctors and Gods Lawes Then because I would not turne I was sent to prison againe After Doctor Taylor Maister Bradford and Maister Sanders were called to appeare before my Lord Chancellor and other Commissioners where because they would not yéeld to papistry they were condemned and sentence was read against Taylor They reioyced that they were worthy to suffer for Christe Word and truth and they stoutly said vnto the Bishops GOD the righteous Iudge will require our bloud at your handes and the proudest of you all shall repont this receiuing againe of Antichrist and the tyranny you shew against Christes flocke So Taylor was sent to the Clinke hee said vnto the people that flocked about to sée him as he was going GOD bée praised good people I am come away from them vndefiled and will cenfirme the truth with my ââoud And at night hee was carryed vnto the Counter in the Poultrey where hee lay seauen nights Bonner came to the prison to him to disgrade him he said Maister
vnto death a rare example to be had in admiration of all parents where the naturall affection of parents were ouercome with godlines wâo like the holy mother in the Machabees incouraged their sonne as much as they could to goe through valiantly reioicing with wonderfull gladnes and either of them dranke vnto him confirming him in the Lord I cannot tell whether I should praise the vertue of the Sonne or of the Parents William Pygot Steuen Knight and Iohn Lawrence AT the same time that Tomkins and Hunter were examined as before these three likewise were examined before Boner the same reasons Articles and perswasions that were vsed to them were vsed vnto these also and they made all answeres alâke and when by neither flatterie nor threatning they could bee brought from the truth they were condâmned and were carried into Essex to bee burned William Pigot burned at Braintree Steuen Knight was burned at Mauldân who at the stake kneeled downe and said this prayer O Lord Iesu for whose loue I âeaue this life and desire bittâr death with the losse of all earthly things âather then to abide the blasphemie of thy name or to obay men breaking thy Commandements where I might liue in wealth to worship a false God I chose rather the torment of this body and haue counted all things but dung that I mighâ winns thee which death iâ dearer to me then thousands of Gold and Siluer such loue hast thou laide vp in my brests that I huâger for thee As the wounded Deare desâreth the soyââ sând âhy holy comforter to ayde comfort and strengthen meâ a weake peece of earth empty of all strength of it selfe of thy great loue thou âast bidden me to this banquet accounted mee worthâ to drinke of ãâã owne cup amongst thine eleâtâgiue me strength against this âhine elemânt which is most irkesome to my sight that it may be swéet and pleasant to my minde that I may passe through this fire into thy âosoâe according vnto thy pâomiâe accept this sacrifice for thy deare Sonne Iesus Christ his sake for whose Testimony I offer it with all my heart forgiue me my sinnes as I forgiue the world sweet Sauiour spread thy wings ouer me O holy Ghost by whose inspiration I am come hither conduct me to euerlasting life Lord into to thine hands âcommend my spirit Amen Iohn Lawrence was brought to Colchester and not bâeing able to goe for his legges were so sore worne with his Irons in prison and his body so weakened with euill keeping hee was faine to be brought vnto the fire in a chayre At his burning the yong children came about the fire and cryed Lord strengthen thy seruant and keep thy promise which manifesteth Gods glory which writ this in the hearts of these little ones and their parents are to bee commended that brought them vp from their youth in the feare and knowledge of God Gods Iudgement vpon the Parson of Arundell VPon Shroue-Sunday the Parson of Arundell besides Canterbury declared vnto the people all such Articles as were set forth by the authority of the pope and commandement of the Bishops of this Realme and when he had done he thanked God that euer he had liued to see that day and straightway he fell suddeâly out of the pulpit and neuer spake after The historie of Iudge Hales SIr Iames Hales as before tooke Queene Maries part and would not subscribe to haue any other Quéene though all the rest had subscribed to Edward the sixts Will. He was an vpright and conscionable Iudge To these his gifts and qualities were linked sincere affection to the Gospell of Christ shewing himselfe a true Gospeller by word and deed At the beginning of Queene Maries raigne the masse not being restored by law diuers Priests presumed to say masse and they were indited at the aââises before Iudge Hales and he gaue order therein as the law required wherefore when the terme came he comming to doe his office was sent for by Gardner Lord Chancellor to whom he iustified that he did it both by the iustice of the law and of his conscience wherein he was fully bent to stand in triall to the vtmost that can be obiected and it therein I haue done any iniury let me be iudged by the law for I will séeke or desire no better defence for my selfe considering chiefly that it is my profession Ah Sir said the Chancellor you be very quicke and stoute in your answers it seemeth that which you did was more of will fauouring your opinion of Religion against the seruice now vsed then for any occasion of zeale of iustice seeing her Highnesse doth set it forth as yet but withing all her subiects to imbrace it accordingly My Lord quoth Hales I doe but shew my selfe as I am bound in loue to God and obedience to the Quéenes Maiestie in whose cause willingly for iustice sake I did of late as your Lordship knoweth aduenture as much as I had and as for my religion I trust it is such as pleaseth God wherein I am ready to aduenture both my life and substance if I be called thereto and for lack of mine owne power and will the Lords will be fulfilled Shortly after he was committed vnto the Kings Bench then he was committed to the Counter in Breadstréete and from thence he was conuayed to the Fléet where he endured most constantly for the space of three weeks and when thus in diuers prisons being tossed and wearied he could in no wise be subdued there was in the prison where he was a Gentleman of Hampshire called Foster who ââing suborned by the Bishops vsed all kinde of perswasions whereby hee might draw him from the truth which at length he brought to passe then next morning early the Bishop of Chichester came to him into the prison to comfort him therein and after Iudge Portman came to him but as soone as he had yeelded to them he ârew into such an extreame desperation by the worme of his conscience that hee eat little meat that night When supper was done he gate him straight to bedde where he passed the night with much anxietie of mind about six of the clocke in the morning he sent his man for a cup of béere his man was no sooner gone but with a pen-knife he wounded himselfe in diuers places and would haue killed himselfe but that his man méeting the Butler at the chamber doore returned presently into the chamber and let his Master from destroying himselfe Upon this Cranmer straight-way took occasion to call the doctrine of the Gospell openly in the Star-chamber the doctrine of desperation M. Hales being within a while after deliuered getteth himselfe home to his house whether it was for feare that if he should againe professe the Gospell he should be imprisoned againe and burned and begger all his posterity or if he should go to hearing of masses he should doe worse hauing all things set in order a good while before that pertained vnto his
Sacrament Ridley preached at Paules Crosse that the Diuell beleeued better then you for he beleeued Christ is able to make of stones bread and you will not beleeue Christs body is in the sacrament yet thou buildest thy faith vpon them Haukes What they haue done I know not but what they do I know I build my faith vpon no man If these and many more should recant yet will I stand to that which I haue said and then they departed The next day Doctor Chadsey comming to the Bishop I was sent for into the Garden Bonner He thinketh there is no Church but in England and Germany I said and you thinke there is no Church but at Rome Chad. How say you to the Church of Rome I said it is a Church of a sort of vicious Cardinals Priests Monks and Friers which I will neuer credit nor beleeue then he said what say you to the Pope Haukes From him and all his detestable enormities good Lord deliuer vs he said so we may say from King Henry the eighth and all his detestable enormities good Lord deliuer vs. Bonner He will not come into the Chappell he cannot abide the masse nor the sacrament nor any seruice but in English then Chadsey said Christ neuer spake English Haukes Neither spake he in Lattine but alwaies in such a tongue as they vnderstood And Saint Paule saith Tongues profit nothing if a Pipe or a Harpe make no certaine sound who can prepare himselfe to battaile So if wee heare a tongue that we vnderstand not we receiue no profit Bonner The Catholike Church ordred that the Latine seruice should serue thorow the whole world that they might pray in one tongue that there be no strife I say this did your Councels of Rome Chad. You are to blame to reprooue the Councells through the whole World Haukes Saint Paule reproueth them saying If any preach any other Doctrine then that which I haue taught doe you hold him accursed Then he said hath any preached to you any other Doctrine I said yes since I came into this house I haue beene taught praying to Saints and to our Lady and to trust in the Masse holy Bread and holy water and in Idols he said they taught him not amisse in that I said cursed bee he that teacheth me so and I will not credit him nor beléeue him Chad. What be those Idols you are offended with I said the Crosse of wood Siluer Copper or Gold c. Boner I say euery Idoll is an Image but not euery Image an Idoll if it be an Image of a false God it is an Idoll but if an Image be made of God himselfe it is no Idoll but an Image Haukes Lay your Images of your true God and of your false God together and both your Image and Idoll haue hands and feele not eyes and see not feete and goe not mouthes and speake not so there is no difference Chad. God forbid I should reioice in any thing but in the crosse of Christ I asked him whether he vnderstood Paul so he answered me not Boner When can we haue a godlier remembrance when wee ride by the way then to see the Crosse I said if it were such profit why did not Christs Disciples take it vp and set it on a pole and carry it in procession with Salua festa dies Chadsey said it was taken vp Haukes You say Elenor tooke it vp and she sent a peece of it to a place of Religion where I was with the visiters at the dissolution and we called for the peece of the crosse which was so esteemed and had robbed so many and made them commit Idolatry and it was but a peece of a Lath couered ouer with Copper and double gilded as it had béen cleane gold Then the Bishop cryed fye on him and hey left me And Chadsey said it was pitty I should liue and I said I had rather die then liue in this case The Bishop after writ somewhat that hee should set his hand too and there was in it that I Thomas Lankes had talked with mine Ordinarie and with certaine good godly and learned men Hee answered hee would not grant them to bee good godly and learned men After also hee told the Bishop as for your cursings raylings and blasphemings I care not for them for I know the mothes and wormes shall eate you as they eate Wooll or Cloth and at length with diuers others in the month of Iune hee was condemned and beeing carried into Essex at Cophall by martyrdome he changed his life His friends priuily desired him that in the middest or the flame he would shew some token that they might bee certaine whether the paine were so great that one cannot keepe his minde constant therein which hee promised to doe and if it were tolerable to hold vp his hands ouer his head and when his breath was taken away his skin drawne together his fingers consumed in the fire and all men looked that hee would giue vp the Ghost Hee mindfull of his promiseâ made did lift vp his hands halfe burned and burning with heate aboue his head to the liuing God euen on a sodaine and with great reioicing striketh them three times together by which thing contrarie to all mens expectation béeing seene there followed so great reioycing and cry of the multitude as though heauen and earth would haue come together and presently he sunke downe and gaue vp the Ghost THOMAS WATS HE was of Billerica in Essex beeing brought to the Bishop of London hee put certaine Articles to him The effect of the answere whereof followeth That he hath and doth beleeue that Christs body is in heauen and no where else and that hee will neuer beleeue that Christs body is in the Sacrament and that the Masse is full of Idolatry and abhomination neuer instituted by Christ and that he neuer did nor doth beleeue that a Priest can absolue him of his sinnes but he beleeueth it is good to aske councell at the Priests mouth and he confessed that he said openly in the sessions that all that is now vsed and done in the church is abhominable hereticall and scismaticall and altogether naught And he doth beleeue that the Pope is a mortall enemy to Christ his Church and that hee prayeth as Tooly did that we may be deliuered from the tyrannie of the Pope and all his enormities And after he had been many times brought before Boner and his company and the Bishop perceiuing neither his threatnings nor flattering promises nothing to preuaile he condemned him and after he was carried to Chemes-ford there most patiently and constantly sealed his faith with his bloud by most cruell fire The morning before hee died hee said words to this effect to his Wife and Children Wife and good Children I must now depart from you henceforth I know you no more but as the Lord hath giuen you to mee so I giue you againe vnto the LORD whom I charge you to obay
Therefore much more where there is so great a multitude but in generall Councels Masse hath been approued and vsed therefore it is good Ridley It is true that where so many be gathered together in Christs name it is not credible but two or three be gathered together in his name but if there be an hundreth good two hândreth bad being the Decrees Ordinances goe according to most voices what can the lesse number of voices preuaile It is a common prouerbe often the greater part ouercommeth the better but it is impossible that any such Councell of good men allowed such a Masse as ours was of late in a strange tongue and stuffed with so many absurdities errors and superstitions for as there is no agreement betwixt light and darknes Christ and Beliall so superstition and sincere religion will-worship and pure worship in spirit and truth can neuer agree together Latimer Touching generall Councels I refer you to your owne experience in our Parliaments and Conuocations the most part in my time did bring forth the six Articles because then the King would so haue it After the most part did repeale the same because our good Iosias would so haue it The same Articles now again the most part hath restored because the Queene will haue it after this sort most commonly are mens proceedings Anto. If in generall Councels men should not folow most voâces then should the church haue no certaine rule to determin waighty matters but it is not to be beléeued that Christ would leaue the Church destitute of so necessary a help Rid. Christ the most louing spouse of his espouse the Church did giue vnto it abundantly all things necessary to saluation but so that the Church should kéep her selfe within the obedience of his commandements and not to séek any thing as necessary to saluation which he teacheth not and for determination of all controuersies in Religion Christ hath left vnto the Church Moses and the Prophets which he willeth the church to aske councell of and all the New Testament that which is hard in Moses and the Prophets is reuealed in them so that wee haue no need to say who shall clime vp to heauen or who shall goe downe into the deepe to tell vs what is needfull to be done Christ hath done both and commanded ãâ¦ã ãâã the word of Faith and if we walke diligently therein by his spirit we shall ãâ¦ã out the truth and obtaine euerlasting life As in Esay 8. Shall men-aske ãâ¦ã of the dead for the liuing Let them goe vnto the Law the Testament ãâ¦ã Christ Ioh. 5. biddeth vs Search the Scriptures And Hierom saith Ignorance ãâ¦ã scriptures is mother of errors vpon the 25. of Mathew and in another place he saith the knowledge of the scriptures is the food of euerlasting life and we read not that Christ in any place hath âaid so great a burden vpon the members of his Church that he hath commanded them to go vnto the vniuersal Church it is true that Christ gaue vnto his Church some Apostles and some Prophets some Euangelists some Shepheards and Teachers to the edifying of the Saints vntill we all come vnto the vnity of Faith But that all out of all parts of the world should méet together in Councell to define the Articles of faith it is not commanded of Christ. Lat. There is diuersitie betwixt things pertaining to God or Faith and politick and ciuill matters for in the first we must stand only to the scriptures which are able to make vs perfect vnto saluation if by study and prayer we vnderstand them and the most prudent men of the world are least apt to vnderstand them but in ciuill matters being wee know not otherwise how to maintaine common peace and quiet they doe ordaine that the most part shall take place Anto. It is perilous to attempt any new thing in the Church vnto which the example of the Prophets of Christ and of the Apostles are contrarie for in their time all things were most corrupt the people were miserably giuen to superstition the Priests despised the law of God yet we neuer read that the Prophets made any schismes and Christ haunted the Temples and taught in them daily Peter and Iohn went into the Temple at the ninth houre of prayer Paule after the reading of the law desired to say some thing vnto the people neyther Christ nor his Apostles did refuse to pray with others to sacrifice or be partaker of Moses law Ridley The Prophets Christ nor the Apostles did not communicate with the people in any kind of worshipping forbidden by the law or repugmant to the word Saint Augâstine in his Epistle Ad Ianuarium speaking of the ceremonies of the Iewes he saith They were burdens of the law which were deliuered by the word of God and not by the presumptions of men but now the ceremonies are of men and contrary to the word of God and therefore not to be borne In the story of Tobias when all other went to the golden calues of Ieroboam to worship hee alone went to the Temple of the Lord to worship In the third of Kings the man of God threatned terrible plagues to the Priest of Bethell and to the Altar which Ieroboam had made which came to passe by King Iosias The Prophets vehemently rebuked the people still for going a whoreing with their Hill-Altars and this was the chiefe cause wherefore the false Prophets ceased not to maligne the true Prophets therefore they beate them and banished them How otherwise can you vnderstand the saying of S. Paul What concord hath Christ with Beliall the beleeuer with the Infidel the temple of God with Idols for we are said to be Gods temple because God dwelleth in vs wherfore we are bidden to come out seperat our selues from them and to touch no vncleane thing and God will receiue vs and be our Father and we shall be his Sonnes and Daughters In the 12. of Iudith she would not defile her selfe with the meats of the wicked The Machabees died manfully in the defence of the Law S. Augustine saith If we praise the Machabees for their stoutnesse for the Law of Moses how much more ought we to suffer all things for our baptisme and the Lords supper which the Masse vtterly abolisheth and corrupteth Anto. I perceiue you are so obstinatly wedded vnto your owne opinion that no wholsome counsels can draw you to a better mind therefore you must be handled by the lawes and be either compelled thereto or suffer the punishment of the Law he that refuseth to obey the lawes of the realme is an enemy to his Country This is the readiest way to stir vp ciuill wars it is better you should beare your owne âânne then the common quiet to bee disturbed how can you say you will bee the Quéenes subiects when you openly professe you will not kéepe her lawes Ridl It is true he that will not obey the Gospell must be
that she should not be purified before she did suffer thinking she should be damned if she died vnpurified Master Bilney and Master Latimer told her that the law was made for the Iewes and not for vs and how women be as well in the fauour of God before purification as after And when they had brought her into a good way they shewed her the Kings pardon and let her goe Many moe like good matters were wrought by him but the more his vertues and good doings began to be knowne the more his aduersaries began to spurn against him One Doctor Redman of great authoritie in Cambridge séeing the boldnesse of Master Latimer in setting abroad the Gospell he wrote to him earnestly requiring him for charities sake not to stand so much in his owne conceit nor to preferre his singular iudgement in matters of religion and controuersies before so many learned men and the whole Catholike Church hauing neither the word of God nor the testimony of any authentike writer to make for you consider you are but a man therfore lying and vanity may quickly bleare your eyes which doth somtime transforme it selfe into an Angell of light suffer not the Church to take offence by the hardnes of your heart let not the vnitie of Christs coat without seame be torne asunder trust not in your owne wisdome To which he answered it is enough for me that Christs sheepe heare no mans voyce but Christs you haue no voyce of Christ against me for my part I haue a heart that is readie to hearken to any voyce of Christs that you can bring me so fare you well and trouble me not any more from the talking with the Lord my God At length M. Latimer was called before the Cardinall for heresie by the procurement of his aduersaries where he was content to subscribe to such articles as were propounded vnto him After he was appointed for one of them that laboured for the Kings supremacie and remaining at Court he preached often in London after at the sute of the Lord Cromwell he was benefââed at West-Kingston in Wilshire where he was very diligent in teaching his diligence extended also to all the countrey round about but there also he could not escape without enemies It so chanced that hee preaching vpon the Uirgin Marie he proued that Christ was her Sauiour Certaine Popish Priests being therewith offended drew Articles against him concerning the matter of our Ladie of praying vnto Saints and of Purgatorie to which Articles he answered in effect as followeth 1 To reproue certaine Priests and beneficed men which giue so much to our Lady as though she had not bin saued by Christ which is the sauiour of her and of all that be or shall be saued I did reason that either she was a sinner or no sinner if a sinner then she was deliuered from sinne by Christ or if she were no sinner she was preserued from sinne by him so he was her Sauiour which way soeuer you take it 2 Images of Saints are called Saints to pray to these Saints is Idolatrie Saints in heauen doe of Charity pray for vs but we are not commanded to pray to them for Christ only is a holy Mediator for them and vs. 3 The scurfe must be taken away from pilgrimage before it be good to wit superstition Idolatrie false faith and trust in the Image debts must be paide restitutions made wife and children prouided for duety to our poore neighbours discharged and when it is at best beâfore it be vowed it néed not be done for God commandeth it not 4 I said the Aue maria was a greeting which the Angel brought from God to the Uirâ in Marie but I said it was not a prayer as the Pater noster which our Sauior Christ made and bade vs say for a prayer not adding that we should say ten or twenty Aue Mariaes with it 5 The torment of hell is not a materiall fire no more then it is a materiall stinging of a worme or snake but a metaphor signifying the paine torment anguish griefe miserie sorrow and heauines inexplicable and intollerable whose nature and condition none can tell 6 That the soules that are not in hell are in as great ioy as soules can be and cannot be put from eternall ioy and suffer no paine of charitie they pray for vs and haue no need that we should pray for them and besides this there is no other Purgatorie I had rather be there then in the Bishop of Londons prison though they call the fire thereof neuer so hote yet if the Bishop with his two fingers can put away some of the fire and a Friers Cowle the fourth part thereof and Scala Coeli altogether I will neuer found Abbey Colledge or Chauntery for that purpose Prouision for Purgatorie hath brought thousands to hell debts haue not beene paide nor lands and goods euill gotten restored poore people are suffered to perish for want and all to builde religious houses to deliuer out of Purgatorie and to pay for Dirges Masses and ringing of Bells to carrie vs to hell withall who can purge pilgrimage from Idolatrie and Purgatorie from robberie but he shall be in suspition of heresie As for Pilgrimage you would wonder what iugling there is to get Money withall I dwell by the way and you would admire how they come by flockes out of the West Countrey to many Images but cheefâly to the blood of Hayles and they beléeue verily it is the blood of Christs body shed vpon Mount Caluarie for our saluation and that the sight of it doth certifie them out of doubt that their sinnes are forgiuen and they are in state of saluation If you should common with them comming and going what faiths they haue you would wonder they cannot away with forgiuing their enemies and reconciling themselues vnto their Brethren for the sight of that blood doth quite them for the time they that did violently and miraculously plucke the blood out of Christs body by whipping and wounding him saw his blood and yet were not thereby in cléere life Christ doth suffer the Diuell to vse his craftie fashion for our probation it were very little thanke to beléeue well if nothing should mooue vs to beléeue superstitiously it was not in vaine when Christ had taught vs truly that he had vs beware of false Prophets These points following his Aduersaries preached y â Christs blood is not sufficient without the blood of Martyrs Magdalene did not know Christ to be God before his Resurrection there can be now no Idolatry Rome cannot be destroyed the Pope is Lord of all the World whatsoeuer he doth is well done Pater noster is to be said vnto Saint Peter Pater noster is but a beggerly prayer Aue Maria is infinitly better there must be twentie Aue Mariaes for one Pater noster Aue Maria was before Pater noster and shall bee after it was not necessary that the scriptures should be written Christ
that he was commended by the Ambassadors to the king for his singular wisedome grauitie and learning that he wonne such great credit that he was alone sent Ambassador to the Emperour to debate this businesse but the Emperour refused to determine the matter but remitted the whole question to the Popes court after he was sent to Rome Ambassadour to the Pope where he behaued himselfe with âo lesse diligence that he compelled the Popes chiefe diuines by arguments to grant the mariage to be against the law but yet by the dispensation of the Pope it might be made lawfull Warram Archbishop of Canterbury dying he was sent for by king Henrie and made Archbishop of Canterbury then came in the question of the Popes supremacy and all the weight of the businesse was chiefly laid vpon Cranmers shoulders he therefore alone receiued answered and confuted all the obiections of the Papists he proued that the Popes Lordship was not brought in by any authoritie of Scriptures but by ambitious tyranny and that the chiefest power on earth belonged to the Emperor to kings and Potentates to whom the Pope Cardinals Bishops Priests by Gods commandement were no lesse subiect then other men and therefore it were best by the consent of the king and other estates the ambitious Lordship of the Pope being driuen out of England should keepe it selfe within his owne Italy as a riuer is kept within his bankes which was performed by act of Parliament then by little and little he reformed the Church into a more wholesome discipline of Christ and laboured to banish the Popes errours heresies and corruptions and he obtained of the king that certaine learned men should make a booke of Ecclesiasticall institutions which was called the Bishops Booke then the abolishing of Monasteries began to be talked of the kings desire was that all the Abbey lands should come vnto his coffers the Archbishop and others would haue them imployed to other good vses whereby the king being bent against Cranmer especially by the instigation of Gardiner Bishop of Winchester which sought all occasions to hinder the Gospel he set forth the 6. Articles by full consent of Parliament which contained the summe of Popish religion What slaughter by the space of 8. yeares these Articles made is already declared but after he forgoing his anger with the Archbishop séeing he stood against him in conscience not in stubburnesse he began to fauour him and thought to haue taken away the 6. Articles and reformed other matters if he had liued but Cranmer and the Lord protector brought it to passe in king Edwards dayes his story how he was vsed in Quéene Maries reign is mentioned before and his disputations at Oxeford and how he was condemned there and left in prison vntill this time And because the sentence was voyde in law because it was giuen by persons excommunicated for they were not then absolued by the Pope nor his authoritie receiued in the realme therefore there was a new commission sent from the Pope for the conuiction of Cranmer Latimer and Ridley and the Bishop of Glocester was appointed the Popes delegate and after they had condemned Latimer and Ridley as before is said The said Legate and his company being set in Saint Maries Church apparelled in his Pontificalibus as if the Pope in person had bene there the Bishop of Canterbury was brought before them putting off his cappe he did obeysance to the king and quéenes proctors then looking in the Legats face he put on his bonnet againe making no obedience toward him wherefore the Bishop sayd vnto him that it might beséeme him well waying the authoritie which he did represent to doe his duety to him he answered hee had sworne neuer to admit the Pope into this Realme and therefore he would commit nothing by signe or token which might argue his consent to the reâeiuing of him and that he did it not to any contempt of his person Then the Legate made an eloquent oration to put him in remembrance that from a meane gentleman he was raised to bee a Princes Ambassadour and further to be Archbishop and Primate of the Realmealmost 30 yeares and sâ farre in trust with the king that he made him president of his councel and after left him in speciall trust for the gouernement of the young Prince during his minoritie such blessing God had giuen him whilest he continued in the Catholicke faith He exhorted him on the other side to consider how he was now fallen from his dignities and officices and in high displeasure of the King and Quéene iudged to die for high treason and all these things to haue happened vnto him only because he had seuered himself from the Sea of Rome and was become a father of new deuised religion and although your estate is so miserable that the meanest in this assembly will not change his condition and calling with you yet further he was like to fall by the iust iudgement of God into hell and euerlasting damnation if he did not repent of his errours and schismes whilest he had time of repentance whereunto he exhorted him earnestly repeating many places of Christs mercies to them that repent and shewed that to returne to the Church was the oâely way to saue both body and soule and I doubt not but the King and Quéene will perdon your condemnation of treason if you will returne vnto the Church and forsake your opinions which I desire you to do Then Cranmer desired license to speake which was gently granted him first he made protestation that hee did not answere to him as to a lawfull Iudge because he was deputed for the Pope but to giue a reason of his faith which God hath commanded him to doe to euery one that shall demand a reason thereof Then he said My Lord you haue learnedly put me in remembrance of many things touching my selfe which I will not answere I acknowledge Gods goodnesse vnto me and thanke him as heartily for this estate that now I am in as euer I did for the time of my prosperity shewing that his greatest griefe was to sée the Popes Iurisdiction restored to England againe Alas what hath the Pope to do in England whose lawes are so farre different from the Lawes of this realme that whosoeuer sweareth to both must néedes incurre periury in the one And I am heartily sorry to thinke that her grace the day before her Coronation tooke an oath to obserue the lawes of this realme and also tooke an oath to the Bishop of Rome promising to maintaine that Sea which was impossible but shee must néeds be forsworne in the one And as for the matter of Heresie wherewith you charge mee I call God to witnesse I know none which I maintaine but if it be heresie to deny the Popes authority and the religion which the sea of Rome hath published vnto the world these latter yeares then all the ancient Fathers of the primitiue Church the Apostles and Christ himselfe
that he stood alwayes in one place without mouing of his members with his eyes vpward he off repeated his vnworthy right hand saying Lord Iesus receiue my spirit and so gaue vp the Ghost Agnes Potten and another woman ONe was the wife of Robert Potten of Ipswich in Suffolke the other the wife of Michael Trouchfield of the same towne shoemaker they were burned at Ipswich the 16. of February for denying the sacrament of the Altar their constancy in burning was wonderfull they earnestly exhorted the people to credit and lay hold vpon the word of God and to dispise the institutions of the Romish route with all their superstitions and rotten religion Robert Spicer William Coberley Maundrel THese three were burned at one stake in Salisbury what their confessions were and by whom they were condemned it appeareth not Robert Draks Minister William Tims Ioyner Richard Spurge Fuller Iohn Cauell Weauer George Ambrose Fuller and Thomas Spurge Fuller THese sixe were burned at one fire in Smithfield the foure and twentieth day of Aprill they were all of Essex and sent at diuers times by the Lord Rich to Gardner who sent them to prison where they remained a yeare almost and then they were sent to Bonner to whom they all denied the reall presence in the Sacrament of the Altar after they were all sent for vnto the Consistorie first Tims was sent for and exhorted to conformity he answered we haue béene brought hither this day for Gods word which we haue beene taught by the Apostolike Preachers in King Edwards time whom you haue murthered because they preached the truth and they haue sealed their doctrine with their bloud whom I will follow Then Bonner perswaded them not to stand to the litterall sense of the Scriptures but to vse the interpretation of the Fathers Then Tims said what haue you to maintaine the reall presence of Christ in the Sacrament but only the bare letter We haue quoth Bonner the Catholike Church no said he the Popish Church of Rome for which you be periured and the Sea of Rome is the Sea of Antichrist therefore to that Church I will neuer consent I confesse Christ is present with his Sacraments but with your Sacrament of the Altar he is neither present corporally nor spiritually for as you vse it it is a detestable Idoll Then the Bishop séeing his constant boldnes condemned him Then Robert Draks was called and being exhorted to returne to the Church of Rome he said he vtterly defied it and all the workes thereof euen as I defie the diuell and all his workes then was he likewise condâmned Then Thomas Spurge was demaunded if he would returne to the Catholike Church and then he called the rest and vpon the like demands he receiued the like answers so they had all their iudgements and deliuered vnto the Sherife and after burned as before Iohn Hullier Minister HEe was burâed at Cambridge vpon the second day of Aprill for the professing of Christs Gospell vnder Thurlby Bishop of Ely and his Chancellor only a Praâer and a Letter of his are recorded his Letter is to proue the Romish Church Antichrist and exhorteth from dissembling with God and the world in comming to masse Christopher Lister Minister Iohn Mace Iohn Spencer Simon Ioyne Richard Nicoll and Iohn Hamond THese six were burned together at Colchester in Essex where the most part of them did inhabite the eight and twentieth day of Aprill Bonner now waxing wearie made a very quicke dispatch with these for as soone as they were deliuered by the Earle of Oxford and other Commissioners vnto Iohn Kingstone the Bishops Register Bonner caused them to be brought vnto his house at Fulham where in the open Church he ministred vnto them articles to which they answered alike as followeth That the Church of Rome is the malignant Church and no part of the Cathotholike Church and that they beleeue not the doctrine thereof and that they beléeue there be no mo but two Sacraments in the Church of Christ to wit Baptisme and the Lords Supper that they learned the truth of their profession by the doctrine set forth in King Edwards time and therein they would continue as long as they liued they refused to be partakers of the Sacrament of the Altar because it was vsed contrary to Gods word and glorie they said the Popes authoritie was vsurped and that he was an oppressor of Christs Church and Gospell and that he ought not to haue any authoritie in England and that they vtterly abhorred the Sea of Rome for putting downe the booke of God and setting vp the Babylonicall Masse with all the rest of Antichrists merchandise and that after consecration there remaineth in the Sacrament Bread and Wine as well as before and that the reall flesh and bloud of Christ is not in it and that the Masse is not propitiatorie neither for the quick nor for the dead but méere Idolatry and abomination And in the afternoone when they would not recant they were condemned and burned as before Margaret Ellice Hugh Lauerock an old lame man and Iohn Apprice a blind man SHe was of great Bursteed in Essex and was sent to Bonner by Sir Iohn Mordant Knight and Edmund Tyrrell Esquire she died in Newgate the thirtéenth of May being condemned to be burned before Hugh Lauerocke an old lame man and Iohn Apprice a blinde man when they were examined answered in effect as Christopher Lister Iohn Mace and others before mentioned had done after they were brought to the Consistoriâ and being perswaded to recant their opinions of the Sacrament Hugh Lauerock said I will stand to my answere I cannot finde in the Scriptures that the Priests should lift vp ouer their heads a cake of bread then Bonner asked Iohn Apprice what he would say he answered your doctrine that you set forth is so agreeable with the world and imbraced of the world that it cannot be agreeable with the Scriptures and ye are not of the Catholike Church for ye make lawes to kill men and make the Queene your executioner whereupon they were condemned and sent to Stratford the Bow and there burned the âifteenth of May at their deaths Hugh Lauerock comforting Iohn Apprice said be of good comfort my brother for my Lord of London is our good Physitian he will heale thée of thy blindnes and me of my lamenesse Katharine Hutte widdow Elizabeth Tharnell and Ioane Hornes IN the yeare 1556. these were burned in Smithfield were sent to Bonner with Margaret Ellice and the blinde and lame man for denying the reall presence in the Sacrament of the Altar and for calling the Masse an Idoll Katharine Hutte being required to recant and say her minde of the Sacrament said I denie it to be a God because it is a dumbe God and made with mens handes Ione Hornes said if you can make your God to shedde bloud or to shew any condition of a liuely body then will I beleeue you but it is
sicke and died and one Maister Simonds the Commissary commanded straightly that she should not be burâed in any Christian buriall Wherevpon her friends were faine to bury her vnder a mote side Mother Benet THis old woman likewise was persecuted from Whetherset by the aforesaid Mendlesam because she would not goe vnto the Masse and other beggerly ceremonies and returning home secretly vnto her house shee dyed most ioifully but Sir Iohn Tyrill and the said Maister Simonds Commissionary would not let her be buried in the Church-yard but her graue was made by the high-way side Her husband would say vnto her that if shee had been sparing they might haue been worth a hundred markes more then they were She would answere O man be content I cannot barrell my Butter and keepe my Cheese in the Chamber to waite a great price and let the poore want and so displease God but let vs be rich in good workes so shall we please God and haue all good things giuen vs. William Harris Richard Day and Christian George THe twenty sixe day of May these were burned at Colchester in Essex when they were brought vnto the stake and had ioyfully and feruently made their prayers the fire was set vnto them in the midst of the fire they triumphantly praised God The same Christian Eagles Husband had another Wise named Anne which likewise suffered for the truth with the aforesaid thirteene at Stratâord the Bow after he married another Wife and they both were laid in prison for the truth where they remained vntill the death of Queene Marie and were deliuered by Queene Elizabeth Henry Pond Reynald Estland Robert Southam Mathew Richarby Iohn Floyd Iohn Holiday Roger Holand THe twenty seauen of Iune these with others to the number of forty Men and Women were assembled together in a field by Islington at Prayer and meditating vpon the word of God at length the Constable of Islington with sixe or seauen others came vnto them and bad them deliuer their Bookes and bad them stand and not depart then they were carried vnto Sir Roger Cholmeley by the way all sauing two and twenty escaped which were sent to Newgate where word was sent to them by Alexander the Kéeper that if they would heare Masse they should all bee deliuered seauen of them escaped though not without much trouble and two to wit Mathew Withers and Thomas Tyler died the rest were burned as before They answered that they were not at Church since Lattine seruice was deuised becauâe it was against the Word of GOD and that Idolatry was committed in créeping to the Crosse and because the Churches were furnished with Idols and because they beléeued the Sacrament of the Altar to be an Idoll and because the Customes Rites and Ceremonies of the Church then vsed are not agréeable vnto Gods word They said that they beléeued that no Priest had power to remit siâs and that those that knéele vnto the Sacrament and worship it commit Idolatry Reynald Estland refused to be sworne to answer alleadging that to end a strife an oath is lawfull but to begin a strife an oath is not lawfull thus they standing vnto their answeres and refusing to acknowledge the Doctrine of the Romish Church they were all together condemned The aforesaid Roger Holand was a Merchant Taylor of London he was sometime Prentice vnto one Maister Kempton at the Blacke Boy in Watling-stréete In his prentiship hee was a Papist and very licentious and hauing plaid away thirty pounds of his Maisters Money he purposed to haue conueyed himselfe beyond Sea but a religious Maid in the house vnderstanding his minde lent him thirty pounds to saue his credit and made him premise her to refuse all leud and wilde company and all swearing and âibaâory talke and to leaue Papistry and to resort euery day vnto the Lecture of Alhollowes and to the Sermon of Paules euery Sunday and to cast away all his Papistry Bookes and to pray to God for remission of sinnes and grace to feare and breake his lawes and then shall God kéepe thée and send thée they harts desire Halfe a yeare after God wrote such a changing in this man that he was become an earnest professor of the truth and detested all Papistry and euill company then he repayred vnto Lancashire vnto his Father and brought diuers good Bookes with him and bestowed them vpon his friends so that his father and others began to âast the Gospell and to detest the Masse Idolatry and superstition and his father giuing him a stocke of Money he maried the aforesaid Maid called Elizabeth and hauing a childe by her in the first yeare of Quéen Mary he caused Maister Rose to baptise his Child in his house and being âone into the Country to conuey away the Child that the Papists should not haue it in their annointing hands hee was bewrayed and Bonner caused his goods to be seased vpon and vsed his wife most cruelly after this he remained closely in the Citty vntill he was taken as before When hee came before Bonner who was acquainted with his friends and for his friends sake and his he perswaded him what he could to Papistry and a Kinsman of his standing by said I thanke your good Lordship your Honor meaneth good vnto my Cozen I pray God he haue grace to follow your councell Holand Sir you craue of God you cannot tell what I beseech God to open your eyeâ to sée the light of his word Then the Bishop and others perswaded him to submit himselfe vnto my Lord before he were entred into the Booke of contempt Holand I neuer meant but to submit my selfe vnto the Magistrate as I learne of Saint Paul in the 13. to the Romaines Chedsey I sée you are not an Anabaptist Holand The Papists and the Anabaptists agrée in this point not to submit themselues vnto any other Prince or Magistrate then those that must first bee sworne to maintaine them and their doings Bonner I perceiue you will not be rul'd by any good councell for any thing that either I or your friends or any other can say Holand I may say vnto you my Lord as Saint Paul said vnto Foelix and to the Iewes It is not vnknowne vnto my Maister vnto whom I was Prentise that I was of your blind Religion vntill the latter end of King Edwaâds raigne hauing that liberty vnder your auriculer confession that I made no conscience to sinne but trusted in the Priests absolution and hee for money did some pennance for me which after I had giuen I cared no more what offence I had done no more the Priest cared after he had got my money whether hee fasted with Bread and Water for me or no so I accounted Letchery swearing and other vices no offtence of danger as long as I could for my Money haue them absolued I so frailty obseruedây our Rules of Religion that I would haue Ashes vppon Ashwednesday though I had vsed neuer so much wickednesse at night and
an other Englishman of Southampton and diuers others condemned for Religion as well Frenchmen as Spaniards vpon a Scaffold ouer against the inquisition where they were condemned and they most cruelly burned him for his most constant Faith Hee shewed such a cheerefull countenance patience and gladnes in the flames of fire that the tormentors said that the Diuell had his soule before he came vnto the fire there sufferâd with him another Englishman and thirteene more One a Nun another a Frier constant in the Lord. Iohn Baker and William Burgate THey were both Englishmen and apprehended the second of Nouember at Cales in Spaine and were burned at Siuill Marke Burges and William Hooker THey were both Englishmen Burges was Maister of a Ship called the Minion He was burned at Lysborne in Portugall Hooker was about sixteene yeares old and was stoned vnto death of certaine yong men in the Citie of Siuill for the confession of his Faith Franciscus Euzenas wrote to Philip Melancton as followeth In Sant Lucar in Spaine dwelt a Brabander called Rochus a maker of Images Hee liked not his science because he maintained Idolatry yet he was âaine to vse it for maintenance for excellent workmanship he was commended of all men Upon a time he had framed the Image of our Lady in wood with singular dexteritie setting it out to be sold One of the Inquisitors offered money for it He answered he had rather breake it then to sell it at his price Hee bid him breake it if he dare At which word he flung a toole at the Image and blemished the face thereof By and by he was carried away vnto prison May I not said he make and marre mine owne worke as I thinke good perhaps I did not well like the countenance of it and therefore did intend to make it better vnto my minde Notwithstanding within three daies he was carried vnto the stake and burned because he was an heretick against the blessed Lady Touching the Treatise and names of them who by reason of persecution weââ forced to forsake their houses and goods in the time of Quéene Mary I haue omitted it and the Reader that is desirous to reade them may repaire to the booke at large Likewise I haue omitted the Treatise concerning such as were scourged and whipped by the Papists in the true cause of Christs Gospell because all the Stories of them be elsewhere in the Booke Likewise touching the story of such as by the prouidence of God haue been preserued from danger in the time of persecution I referre the Reader to the booke at large THE ACTS THAT HAPPENED in the flourishing Raigne of Queene ELIZABETH HAUING by the power of Almightie God truely displayed the cruell practises of Queene Maries Raigne now orderly comming to the flourishing and long wished for Raigne of the most vertuous and religious Queene Elizabeth who can number the singular ornaments and noble graces giuen of God vnto this so princely a Lady and puisant Princesse the mildnes of her Nature the clemencie of her Royall estate the peaceablenes of her Raigne who a Uirgine so mildely ruled her subiects kept all things in order quieted forraine Nations recouered townes inlarged her Kingdome nourisheth and reconcileth amitie vniteth hearts and loue with forraine enemies helpeth neighbours reformed Religion quenched persecution Shee was feared with loue and loued with feare how can we but giue vertue her commendations which in all persons as Plato saith stirreth vp great loue but especially in a Prince and what cause haue all wee Englishmen to render most ample thankes to the mercifulnes of God who hath granted conserued and aduanced vnto the Seate Regall of this Realme so good godly and vertuous a Queene such a chosen instrument of his clemencie through whom wee cannot deny but that God hath made amends and recompence now vnto England for the cruell dayes that were before for as then moderation had no place but all was ruled by rigour Contrary now clemencie hath all the operation as then was no end of butcherly killing now is no bâginning of spilling any drop of bloud She came in like a mother not like a stâpdame like a Lambe not liâe a Lyon First iâ begin with her princely birth beâing borne at Greenewich Annâ 1534. of the victorious Prince King Henry the eight and of the Noble and most vertuous Lady Queene Anne her mother Sheâ was Christened in the Gray-Friers Church of Greenewich hauing vnto her Godfather Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury after shee was committed vnto godly Tutors vnder whose institution her Grace did so greatly increase in vertue and knowledge of learning so that she vnderstood all tongues and spake all languages she was well learned in the liberall arts and sciences and her noble brest was gernished with all vertue councell and wisedome that none of her Councell could goe beyond her maiestie it is wonderfull in euery mans conscience to behold in that age that sâxe in such state and fortune in so great occasions so many entisements in all these to refaine so sober conuersation so temperate condition such mildnes of manners such humblenesse of stomack such clemencie in forgiuing such trauelling in studie Tully saith a good man in other places is no matter but in Asia to keepe a sober and temperate life that is indéed a matter praise worthy But shee in thâ middest of Asia did so much degenerate from all Asia as hath not lightly been in Europa Her first schoolemaister reported of her to a friend of his that he learned euery day more of her then she of him which hee expounded thus I teach her words quoth he and she teacheth me things I teach her tongue to speake and her modest and maidenly life teacheth me to doe for I think she is the best disposed of any in Europe and an Italian that was her teacher said he found in her tâo qualities which are neuer lightly yâke-fellowes in one woman which are a singular wit and a maruellous meeke stomack But none of her princely qualities are more worthy of commendations thââ her Christian patience shewed in her afflictions and her incredible clemencie declared towards her enemies for though she was such a high Princes and a Kings Daughter and a Queenes Sisâer and heyre apparant vnto the Crowne could she not escape without the ârosse Yea her troubles were far aboue the condition of a Kings Daughter for there was no more behinds to make a very Iphigenia of her but her offring vp vpon the Altar of the Scaffold It was no small iniury that shee suffered in the Lord Protectors dayes by certaine venemous vipers And after the death of King Edward the Councell sought to defeate both her and her Sister from the naturall inheritance and right of the Crowne And in the daies of Queene Mary into what trouble of minde and feare of death was she brought vnto First with âands of haânished men to bee fetched vp as a great Traytor and clapped into the
Tower and to bee tâssed from thence from prison to prison from post to piller at length also she was prisoner iâ her owne house garded with a sort of cut-throates which euer gaped for the spoilâ of her In the beginning of Quéene Maries Raigne the Lady Elizabeth and the Lord Courtenay were charged with false suspition of Sir Thomas Wiats rising and the Lady Elizabeth being at her house at Ashredge Quéene Mary sent her two Lords and Sir Iohn Williams afterward Lord Tame with their retinue and troupes of horsemen to the number of two hundred and fifty who found her sore sick in her bed and very feeble and weake of body and at ten of the clock at night they rushed into her Chamber without leaue whereat her Grace beeing not a little amazed She said my Lords is your hast such that it might not haue pleased you to haue come to morrow in the morning They answered that they came from the Queene for her and that she must be at London the seuenth day of that month she answered that no Creature was more glad then shee to come vnto her Maiesty and that she was sorry she was not able to goe with them they answered That their Commission was such that we must needs bring you with vââliue or dead In conclusion they willed her to prepare against the morning at nine of the clocke to goe with them and on the next day morrow at the time prescribed they had her forth as she was very faint and féeble and in such case that she was ready to sound thrée or foure times betweene them From Ashridge all sicke in the Litter she came vnto Redborne where shee was garded all night from thence to Saint Albons to Sir Raphe Rowlets house where she tarriâd all night both feeble in body and comfortlesse in minde from thence shee came to Maister Dodds house at Mimmes where also they remained all night and from thence to Highgate where she being very sicke tarried all night and next day During which time of her abode there came many Purseuants and Messengers from the Court vnto the Lords but about what I cannot tell from thence shee was conuayed vnto the Coârt where she was straitwaies shut vp and kept as close prisoner a fortnight The Friday before Palmesunday the Bishop of Winchester with nineteene others of the Priuy Councell came vnto her Grace and bârdened her with Wiats Conspiracy which she vâterly deniâd then they charged her with the busines made by Sir Peter Carew and the rest of the Gentlemen of the West country which also shee vtterly denied Then they told her that it was the Queenes pleasure that shee should goe vnto the Tower vntill the matââr were further tryed Then shee desired them to bee a meane vnto the Queeâe that shee would be gracious vnto her declaring that sheee was innocent in all the matters wherein they had burdened her and that shee was a true woman vnto to the Queene in thought word and deede that shee might not be committed vnto so notorious and dolefull a place The Lords answered that there was no remedy for the Queene was determined that she should goe vnâo the Tower wherewith the Lords departed with their hats hanging ouer their eyes but about an houre after foure of the aforesaid Lords of the Councell with the Guard who warding the next chamber vnto her secluded all her Gentlemen Yeomen Ladies and Gentlewomen one Gentleman Usher thrée Gentlewomen and two Groomes of her Chamber were appointed in their roomes by the Quéene to giue attendance vpon her that none should haue accesse vnto her At which time there was 100. of Northen souldiers in white coats watching aboât the Gardens all night and two Lords with their bands companies watched in the hall The next day two Lords of the Councell certified her Grace that forthwith she must goe vnto the Tower the Barge being prepared for her the tyde now readie which tarrieth for no body but she got leaue of the Earle of Sussex which was one of the two to tarrie till day to write to the Q. and he promised to deliuer it contrary to the will of the other the next day being Palm-sonday about nine of the clock she took her Barge with the said two Lords houering vpon the water an boure because they could not shoot the Bridge when they did shoot the bridge the stârn of the ãâã strook vpon the ground the fall was so bigge the water so shallow then her Grace desired the Lords that she might not land at the staires where al traytors offendors vse to land whiâh they would not grant then she protested that here steppeth as true a subiect as euer was towards the Queens highnesse and before thee O God I speak it hauing none other friends but only thee when she came into the Tower she rested her selfe vpon a colde stone the Lieutenant said Madam you were best come out of the raine for you sit vnwholsomly she answered it was better to sit there then in a worse place for God knoweth I know not whether you will bring me then her Gentleman Usher wept and she asked him what his meaning was in that be vsed her so vncomfortably so she went into the prison and the doores were locked and boulted vpon her then she called to her Gentleman for her booke desiring God in no wise to suffer her to build her foundation vpon the sands but vpon the rocke whereby all blasts of blustering windes should not hurt her the Lords consulting about her straight keeping the Lord of Sussex said My Lords let vs take héed that we doe no more then our Commission will warrant vs whatsoeuer shall or may happen hereafter for shee was the King our Masters daughter whereunto they all agreed and departed It would make a strange storie to recite what examinations and rackings of poore men there were to finde out that knife which should cut her throate what gaping amongst the Lords of the Clergie to see the day wherein they might wash their white Rochets in her innocent bloud but most especially Steuen Gardner Bishop of Winchester then Lord Chancellor and then rulâr and gouernour of the rost who within few dayes after came vnto her with diuers of the Councell and very strictly examined her about a purpose that she had to remoue to her house at Donnington Castle and likewise they examined Sir Iames Acroft about the same matter She answered what is that to the purpose my Lords but that I may go vnto mine owne houses at all times but my Lords you doe examine euery meane prisoner concerning mee wherein you doe me excéeding great iniurie I beseech you ioyne not me in this sort with any of these offendors When they were departing Sir Iames Acroft knâeled downe and said hee was sorie to bee brought as a witnes against her Grace and that hee had beene meruâiâously tossed and examined touching her Highnes but I take GOD to
secret friend to submit her selfe vnto the Quéen which would be to her great commoditie she answered she would not submit her selfe vnto them which she had not offended if I haue offended I craue no mercy but law I would I were as cléere out of the perrill of mine eâemies as I know my selfe out of the danger of the law About this time there was great consulting amongst the Bishops and Gentlemen touching a marriage for her Grace which some of the Spaniards wished to be with some stranger that she might goe out of the Realme with her portion then a Lord said that the King should neuer haue quiet Common-wealth in England except her head were striken from her shoulders the Spaniards answered God forbid that their King and Master should consent to such a mischiefe From that day the Spaniards neuer left good perswasions vnto the King that he should neuer obtaine the like honour as he should in deliuering the Lady Elizabeth out of prison whereby at length she was happily released of the same Shortly after she was sent for to Hampton Court Sir Henry Benifield and his souldiers with the Lord of Tame and Sir Ralph Chamberlaine guarding of her the first night she came to Ricot the next to M. Dormers house and so to Colbrook where she lay at the George all night as she came thither thréescore of her Gentlemen and Yeomen met her which had not séene her Grace a long season before but they were commanded in the Quéens name to depart the towne and shée was not suffred to speak with them that night al her men were taken from her but her Gentleman vsher thrée Gentlewomen and two Grooms one of her Wardrop the next day her Grace entred Hampton Court where she lay a fortnightere euer any had recourse vnto her at length came the Lord William Howard to âer who vsed her Grace maruellous hanourably she requested him to be a meane that shée might speak with some of the Councell Not long after came to her Gardner Bishop of Winchester the Lord Arundel the Lord of Shrewsbury and Secretary Peter who with great humility humbled themselues vnto her Grace My Lords quoth she I am glad to sée you for me thinks I haue bin kept a great while from you desolatly alone wherefore I would desire you to be a meane to the King and Quéens Maiesties that I may be deliuered from prison wherein I haue bin kept a long space Then Gardner knéeled down and requested her to submit her selfe to the Quéen and then he doubted not but her Maiestie would be good vnto her she answerd rather then she would do so she would lie in prison all the dayes of her life adding that she craued no mercy but the law if euer she did offend her Maiesty in thought word or déed and in yeelding I should confesse my selfe to be an offendor which I neuer was towards her Maiesty by occasion wherof the King and Quéen might euer hereafter conceiue an ill opinion therefore it were better for me to lie in prison for the trâth then to be abroad and suspected of my Prince So they departed promising to declare her message to the Quéân The next day Gardner came again vnto her Grace and knéeling down declared that the Quéen maruailed that she would so stoutly vse her selfe not confessing âo haue offended so that it should séeme the Quéens Maiesty wrongfully to haue imprisoned her Grace Nay quoth she the Quéen may punish me as it pleasâth her Nay quoth Gardner her Maiesty willed me to certifie you that you must tell her another tale ere that you be at liberty her Grace answered that she had as liue be in prison with honesty and truth as to be abroad suspected of hâr Maiesty this I will stand vnto for I will neuer bely my selfe Then he knéeled down and said then your Grace hath aduantage of me and other the Lords for your long imprisonment I take God to record quoth she I séeke no vantage at your hands for your so dealing with me then the other kneeled downe and desired her Gracâ that all might be forgotten and so they departed A seuen-night after the Queenâ sent for her at ten of the clocke at night then she desired her Gentlemen and Gentlewomen to pray for her for that she coâld not tell whether she should euer seâ them againe When she came vnto the Queâne she kneeled downe and desired God to preserue her Maiestie not in any wise doubting but that she should proue her selfe as true and faithfull a subiect towards her Maiestie as euer did any and therefore she desired her Maiestie so to iudge of her and said she should not ând other of her whatsoeuer report had gone of her the Queen answered you will not confesse your offence bât stand stoatly in your truth I pray God it may so fall out It it do not quoth she I desire no fauour nor pardon at your Maiesties hands Wel said the Queene you stiffely still perseâere in the truth belike you will not confesse but that you haue bâene wrongfully punished I must not say so if it please your Grace to you why then said the Queene belike you will vnto others no quoth she I haue borne the burden and must beare it I humbly beseech your Maiestie to haue a good opinion of me and to thinke me to be your true subiect not only hitherto but as long as life lasteth and so they parted with a few comfortable words in English but what she said in Spanish God knoweth It is thought that King Philip was there behinde a cloth and not seene and that he shewed himselfâ a very friend vnto that matter Thus her Grace went vnto her lodging againe aâd the seuen-night after she was released of Sir Henry Benifield and was set at libertie from imprisonment she went into the Countrey and had appointed to goe with her Sir Thomas Pope one of the Queens Councellors M. Gage one of her Gentlemen Ushers And thus straightly was she looked vnto all the time of Q. Maries raigne Then there came vnto her house Maister Ierningham and Norris Gentleman Usher Quéene Maries Men who tooke from her Grace Mistris Ashly to the Fléet and thrée other of her Gentlewomen vnto the Tower which was no little trouble vnto her Grace saying That shee thought that they would fetch all away in the end but God be praysed shortly after was fetched away Gardiner whereby the life of this so excellent a Princesse the wealth of all England was preserued for the said wicked Gardner had long laboured his wits and bent all his deuises to bring this our deere Soueraâgne out of the way as by his words and doings did well appeare After the death of this Gardner followed the death also and dropping away of other her enemies whereby by little and little her iâopardy decreased and more gentle entertainmant did daily grow vnto her vntill in the moneth of Nouember the seauenteenth day
fittest to be done omitting neither time diligence or industry all which noâwithstanding they could not as yet finde out the depth of this mysterie and were therefore much troubled in minde bâcause the appointed day of parliament drew neare which was Tuesday the 5. of Nouember vpon the Saturday before the King being returned from hunting the said Lords acquainted his Highnesse with what had past and when his Maiesty had well noted the strange contents of the Letter which purported the sodaine ruine of the State the King said notwithstanding the small respect and slight regard which might bee giuen to Libels scattered abroad yet thâs was more quicke and pithy then was vsuall in Libels and willed them to search in all places as well not dayly frequented as of vsuall repayre and concerning any forraine disturbance or inuasion hee well knâw the present force and preparation of all Christian Princes and that whatsoeuer practise of treaâon was now in hand it must be perâormed in some vnsuspected place and by some homâ-bred traytors therevpon new search was made in all places about the Court and the Parliament house but could not as yet finde any thing worthy their labours all which âearchâs were performed with such silence and discretion as there rose no manner of suspition eyther in Court or City the Lord Chamberlaine whose office it most concerned neuer rested day nor night and the night before the Parliament as Sir Thomas Kneuet with others scowted about the parliament house espied a fellow standing in a corner very suspitiouâly and asked him his name what hee was and what he did there so late who answered very bluntly hiâ name was Iohn Iohnson Master Pearcies man and keeper of his lodgâings Sir âhomas Kneuet continued still his search in all places thereabouts and returning thither againe found him lingring there still searched him and found vnder his cloke a close Lanthorne and a burning Candle in it and about him other signes of suspition that hee stood not there for any good then the Knight entered the Uaââ where they found the powder couered with Billets and Fagots as afore-said and then the Lord Chamberlaine caused the Traytor to be bound and being now about three a clocke in the morning âee went vnto the King and with exceeding gladnesse told his Maiestie the Treason was discouered and preuented and the Traytor in hold the King desired to see Fawkes who when hee came before the King vsâd like trayterous and audacious speeches as hee did at his first apprehension affirming himselfe was the onely man to performe the Treason saying it sore vexed him that the deed was not done and for that time would not confesse any thing touching the rest of the Conspirators but that himselfe onely and alone was the contriuer and practiser of this Treason Betweene fiue and six a clocke in the morning the Councell gaue order to the Lord Mayor of London to looke to the City and in very calme manner to set ciuill watch at the Citie gates signifying therewithall that there was a plot of Treason discouered and that the King would not goe to Parliament that day and the same day in thâ afternoone the manner of the Treason was by Proclamation made known vnto the people for ioy wherof there was that night as many bonsires in and about London as the stréetes could permit and the people gaue humble and hearty thankes vnto almighty God for their King Countries right blessed escape Within thrée dayes after two other proclamations were made signifying vnto the people who were the chiefe conspirators with commandement to apprehend Pearcy and Catesby to take them aliue if it were possible which said Pearcy and Catsby were gone to Holbach in Warwickshire to méet Winter Gaunt and others where vnder pretence of a great hunting they meant to raise the country and surprise the Lady Elizabeth from the L. Harington whom they meant to proclaime Queens and in whose name they meant to enter into Armes being perswaded that the King the Prince and Duke of Yorke were by that time blowne vp in the Parliament house but when they knew their treason was known and preuented and saw the Kings forces round about the house so as they could not escape Pearcy and Catesby very desperately issued forth and fighting back to back were both slain with one Musket shot Saturday the ninth of Nouember the King went to Parliament where in the presence of the Queene the Prince the Duke of Yorke the Ambassadors of the King of Spaine and the Arch-duke and all the Lords Spirituall and Temporall and Commons of the same hee made a very solemne oration manifesting the whole complot of this Treason The 27. of Ianuary at Westminster were arraigned Thomas Winter Guydo Fawkes Robert Keyes and Thomas Bates for plotting to blow vp the Parliament house digging in the mine taking oath and Sacrament for secresie c. and Robert Winter Iohn Graunt Ambrose Rookewood for being acquainted with the treason afterward giuing their full consent thereunto and taking oath and Sacrament for secresie and sir Euerââd Digby for being made acquainted with the said Treason yeelding assent and taking his corporall oath for secresie all which inditements were prooued against them and by themselues confessed and therevpon had iudgement giuen them to bee drawne hanged and quartered their limbes to bee set vpon the Citie gates and their heads vpon the Bridge according to which sentence the thirtieth of Ianuary Sir Euerard Digby Robert Winter Iohn Graunt and Bates were executed at the West end of Paules Church and the next day after the other foure were executed in the Parliament yard six of the eight acknowledged their guiltinesse in this horrible treason and dyed very penitently but Graunt and Keyes did not so Out of these and many other destructions the Lord of his aboundant mercie hath deliuered his most faithfull Seruant and our dread Soueraigne King Iames and still will preserue him according to his promise so long as he putteth his trust in him and it is not to be doubted but God hauing giuen him the Spirit of confidence in him and also fortified and builded vp this his hope and trust by the experience of ennumerable preseruations of his person and Statâe and such ones as could be attributed to no meanes but onely to Gods handy workes Nay I will conclude by the warrant of Gods word that it is impossible for the Diuell by any temptation in the world to steale this heauenly treasure out of his Royall heart no more then he could steale it out of Iob his heart for although from them that haue not the true grace of God that which they haue shall be taken from them yet according to Christs promise which is truth it self he that hath truly Gods Spirit be it in neuer so little manner more shall be giuen him and that which he hath shall neuer be taken from him And touching these blessed Realmes of Great Brittaine and Ireland ouer
clatter out the like at the same time and in the same termes The first of August the Monke goes out of Paris towards Saint Cloud vpon his departure they take aboue two hundred of the cheefe Cittizens and others Prisoners whom they knew to haue goods friends and credite with the Kinges partie as a precaution to redeeme that cursed murderer in case he were taken before or after the deed In his way hee was taken by the Regiment of Coublan which was then in gard telling them that hee went then vnto his Maiestie to let him vnderstand something which concerned his seruice Coublan caused him to be conducted by two Souldionrs vnto the Kinges quarter which was at Saint Cloud commaunding him that if happely the King were not there they should bâing him to some one of the Counsell Whom the Monke giues to vnderstand that the first President and other of the Kinges Seruants had sent him to aduertise him that there is a good number of Partisans at Paris who if it please his Maiestie to giue them a day and houre will keepe him a Port open And to purchase the more credit vnto his wordes he shewes a certaine Paper written in Italian Characters the which hee said was a Letter of credit from the first President accompanied with a Pasport from the Garle of Brienne signed Charles Leuxemburge and faines that he had obtained it to goe out of Paris vndâr colour of going to Orleance and that he had many priuate instructions which he might not deliuer but to his Maiesty alone The King beeing aduertised by La Guesle the Proctour Generall commaunds he should bee brought the next day but hee is examined first by Portaile The next day being come to the Kings lodging they were called by Du Iotall the first Grâome of his Chamber At the first La Guesâe caused the Iacobin to stay neere the doore and taking his Papers hee presents them vnto his Maiestie who hauing read them commaunds the Iacobin should approach whom he asked what hee would say to whom hee answered That it was a secret thing Some distrust made La Guesle to speake beeing betwixt the King and him Speake aloud said hee twice or thrice there is not any one héere but the King trusts His Maiestie seeing him make diffâcultie to speake commands him againe to approach The Baron of Bellegard Maister of the Kinges Horse and La Guesle who were alone in the Chamber retired two or three paces The King bends his eare but instead of hearing what hee expected this wretch drawes a Knife out of his sleeue made of purpose thrusts his Maiestie into the bottome of the bellie and there leaues the Knife in the wound The King drawes it forth and with some striuing and strugling of the Monke strikes him aboue the eye many ranne in at this noyse and in the heat of choller killing this vile and cruell Monster of men preuented the true discouery and finding out of this enterprise and the authors and actors thereof worthy to be noted with a perpetuall blot of disloyalty and treason The Phisitions held that the wound was curable and the same day the King did write of this attempt and of his hope of recouery to the Gouernours of Prouinces to forraigne Princes and to his Friends and confederats But feeling that the King of Kings had otherwise determined of his life he did first comfort himselfe in foreséeing that the last houres of his crosses should bee the first of his felicities Then lamenting his good and faithfull Seruants who suruiuing should finde no respect with those whose mindes had beene so abandoned to mischiefe as neither the feare of God nor the dignity of his person could disswade them from this horrible sacriledge One thing said he doth comfort me that I read in your faces with the gréefe of your hearts and the sorrow of your soules a godly and commendable resolution to contiuâe vnited for the preseruation of that which remaines whole of my estate and the reuenge which you owe vnto the memory of him who hath loued you so déerely I séeke not the last curiously leauing the punishment of mine enemies vnto God I haue learned in this schoole to forgiue them as I doe with all my heart But as I am cheefely bound to procure peace and rest vnto this realm I coniure you all by that inuiolable Faith which you owe vnto your Country that you continue firme and constant defenders of the Common liberty and that you neuer lay downe Armes vntill you haue purged the Realme of the troubles of the publike quiet Thus and other such things hee spake as the last pangs of death carried him within few houres vnto another world By his death he extinguished the second parcel of the third Race of Capets in the branch of Valois leauing the Crown to the third Royall branch of Burbons whervnto the order of the Fundamentall Law did lawfully call him And thus you may see the damnable proiects and dissignes of these Iesuiticall Popish Spirits against the Lord and his annointed The death of Henry the fourth HENRY the fourth King of France of the Royall Race of the Burbons who for his famous rescues and victories and martiall exploits had purchased vnto himself amongst his owne Subiects the sur-name of Great whose life and actions future ages may reade with admiration was likewise trayterously murdered by the disloyall and vngodly practises of the Papists A Parliament being holden at Paris haning disanulled the Buls of Cardinall Caietans Legation and other Bulls come from Rome the first of March together with their procéedings excommunications and fulminations made by Marcellin Landriano tearming himselfe the Popes Nuntio The said Bulls and all their procéedings an edicts being burnt in the Market place which contained a pardon of that most cruell paracide on Henry the third lately murthered the King was first therefore excommunicated by Pope Gregory the 4. of that name Afterward the Iesuits vnderstanding that the King did purpose something against them for the cruell murder committed on the person of the late King and for other their exorbitant and deuillish practises daily intended and contriued the Deuill stirres vp another of his deerely beloued Sonnes to murder his Maiestie on this manner following On Friday the day after the Quéenes Coronation the King being aduertised of some omninous prediction he went into his Chamber and fell on his knees and prayed and thus he did thrée times in the end he went and walked in the Gallery vntill dinner time After dinner many Noble-men came into his Chamber and began to tell some tales to put him out of his melancholly humor and to make him laugh hauing âmiled a little with the rest being by nature of a pleasant disposition in the end he said We haue laughed enough for Fryday we may well weep on Sunday Héereupon he sent to the Arcenall at foure of the clocke whereupon they say that the Duke of Uendosme told him that he
had beene warned to beware of the foureteenth day yet making no account thereof hee went downe into the Court whereas a man of a meane condition detained him a quarter of an houre then hee went into his Caroch by the Duke of Espernon who satâ in the first place of the Boote vppon the Kinges right hand Montbazon the Marshall Lauardin La Force and Praulin being followed by two Foote-men and one of his Guard on horsebacke hauing commaunded Mounsier de Vitry and the rest of his Guard to stay behinde Being betwixt the draw-bridge and the poole this miserable wretch who watched his opportunity drew néere vnto the Caroch on the right side thinking his Maiesty had béene there but seeing he was on the left hand and hearing them commaund the Coachman to go on he went the néerest way by the narrow lanes and met with his Maiesty in the stréet called Ferroneire neere vnto S. Innocents Church wher staying to make way for a Cart to passe the King leaned downe on the one side towards Mounsier Esperââon pressing him to reade a letter without spectacles The Duke of Montbazon turned towards them and one of the footmen was busie tying vp his garter on the other side so as this monster had opportunity to stab the King into the left paâ but the wound was not great whereupon crying out O my God I am wounded he gaue him mâanes to giue him a second blow which was mortal the knife entring betweene the fift and sixt rib it cut asunder the veine leading vnto the hart and the wound was so déepe as it entred into caua vena the which was piercâd wherewith the King did presently spit blood losing all apprehension and knowledge for any thing they could perceiue They had great diffâculty to saue the murderer from killing presently yet in the end hee was conuaied to the house of Retz The King was carried backe vnto the Louure vpon the way they met with the Dolphin who went to take the ayre but they caused him to returne and be caried into the Quéenes Chamber The King was laid vppon a Couch in his Cabinet whereas presently after he gaue vp the Ghoast In that these Papisticall and trayterous attempts tooke effect vnto the murthering of these two French Kings when the Lord of his infinite goodnesse still preserued Quéene Elizabeth and our now dread Soueraigne King Iames from so many and from more dangerous practises It may certainly be concluded that if they had no worse feared the Papists then they did and put their trust in God as wel as they and had according to their example purely purged their Realmes from Papistry the sure prouidence of God would haue beene as sure their Castle strong hold and defence as it was to them and their Realmes at all times and in all occasions and needs NOw by the especiall Grace of God and the assistance of his blessed Spirit I haue sayled vnto my expected Port al laud and praise and thanks therefore be giuen vnto the Father the Son and Holy Ghost And I most hartily beseech him that this Booke may beget in the Readers a true dislike of all ceremonies superstitions and false Doctrines of Papistry and to make them truely zealous of Gods word and commandements O Lord conuert all Papists that belong vnto thee and hasten according to thy promises to gather all Kings together to destroy the Popedome in the meane time grant all Kings Princes and others Grace to beware of him that he corrupt not the soules of them nor their subieces nor hurt their persons or estates And lastly I beséech thee to gather together the number of thine elect and hasten thy comming to iudgement that thou maâst take thy beloued Spouse from the miseries of this World vnto thy eternall glory prepared for her com Lord Iesus come quickly FINIS An Alphabeticall Table containing the principall matters and all the Martyrs that suffered for the truth from the Primitiue Church to the end of Queene Mary A AGrippa cast into prison by Tyberius page 2 Andrew Peters Brother crucified 3 Anthia martyred 5 Ant. Pius Edict in fauour of the Christians Ibid Attalus burned on an Iron chaire 6 Aurelius fauours the Christians 9 Affaires of the Church of England and Scotland beginning with King Lucius 19 Austin with aboue forty Preachers sent into England 22 He goes in procession to Canterbury Ibid. Consecrated Arch-bishoppe in France by the commandement of Gregory 23 He assembled the Bishoppes charging them to preach the word of God Ibid Hee baptiseth 10000. in the Riuer Swale on Christmas day 24 His death Ibid. Abbaies erected 29 Alfride opprest by the Danes his misery hee makes Dunwolphus a Swineheard Bi. of Winchester he is comforted by Gods prouidence and ouercomes the Danes causing them to be christned 33 Adelstane crowned King at Kingstone forceth the Brittaines to pay him tribute sends his Brother to Sea in an old Boate builds Monasteries for the release of his sins 35 Anselme Archbishop of Canterbury accuseth Henry the first King of England to the Pope he is turned out of his Bishopricke and goods 50 Anacletus Pope 51 Arnulphus a Priest put to death for preaching against the Auarice and incontinency of the Cleargy 51 Adrian the fourth an Englishman Pope 52 Choakt with a fly 54 Auarice of the Popish Prelats 80 Amadeus Duke of Sauoy chosen Pope 138 Abraham of Colchester burned for maintaining the truth 142 Alexander the sixt poysons the Turkes brother for 2000. Florins 151 Abiurations in Henry the eight his time referred to the Booke at large 126 Adulphus Clarbachus burned for maintaining the truth at Colen 170 Articles against Cardinall Wolsey 171 Andrew Hewit a Prentise burned for maintaining Frâths opinions 183 Anne of Bullen her charitable good works 184 Articles agreed vpon in Parliament 196 Abell hanged for the supremacy 200 Anthony Pierson burned at Windsor 201 Adam Damlip his persecution and martirdome at Callis 205 Anne Askew her confession condemnation persecution and martyrdome 207. 208. Adam Wallace martired in Scotland for holding the masse to be Idolatry 215 Altars in Churches puld downe 226 Anne Potten burned the next after Samuel for professing the truth 290 Anthony Burward of Callice for saying the Sacrament of the Altar was an Idoll burned at Canterbury 291 Alexander the Keeper of Newgate his crueltie to M. Philpot and his man 311 Agnis South about the Sacrament of Penance condemned and burned 314 Anne Albright for denying the realty in the Sacrament condemned and burned Ibid. Agnes Potten burned at Ipswich 320 Adam Foster Husbandman Martyr 326 Askin a constant Martyr 327 Alice Potkins starued to death 329 Agnes Stamley burned 331 Alexander Horsman Martyr 332 Ambrose died in Maidstone Goale 339 Agnes Siluerside alias Smith condemned 340 Agnes Banger martyred 348 Anne Try Martyr 349 Alexander Lane Martyr 362 Alexander Gouch martyred Ibid Alice Driuers a constant Martyr Ibid. Alice Snoth burned at Canterbury 365. B BArtholmew crucified and beheaded
at Bury Ibid. Iohn Denley martired Ibid. Iohn Newman burned 284. Iohn Wade dyed in prison and was buried in the fields 285. Iohn Leishord Martyr Ibid. Iohn Trunchfield Martyr 290. Iames Tutty of Breachley burned 291. Iohn Gorway martyred at Lichfield Ibid. Iohn Glover persecuted 292. Iohn Webbe burned at Canterbury 304 Iames Gore died in prison at Colchester Ibid Iohn Philpot accused of herisie after twice examination comitted to Bonners cole house his third examination before Bonner his fourth examination before the Bishoppes his ninth examination he is condemned and brought to Newgate his patient and constant end from folio 304 to folio 312. Iohn Tucson burned in Smithfield 312 Isabell Foster burned in Smithfield Ibid. Iohn Warne burned in Smithfield Ibid. Iohn Warne of Tenterden in Kent about the Sacrament of the Altar condemned 314. Ioane Sole of Harton about the Sacrament of the Altar and auriculer confession condemned 315 Ioane Cotmer burnt at Canterbury Ibid. Iohn Cauel burned in Smithfield 321. Iohn Huillier Minister burnt at Cambridge 321 Iohn Mace burned at Colchester 322 Iohn Spencer burned at Colchester Ibid. Iohn Hammon burned at Colchester Ibid. Iohn Ap Rice a blind man burned at Stratford the Bow Ibid. Ioane Hornes martyred 323. Iohn Hartpoole burned at Rochester Ibid. Ioane Bache widdow burned at Rochester Ibid. Iohn Osward martyred at Lewis 324. Iohn Clement Wheelewright persecuted Ibid. Iohn Colstocke of Wellington for denying the reall presence forced to recant 326. Iohn Norres dies in the Kings Bench and buried on the backside Ibid. Iohn Carelesse of Couentry after long imprisonment and many examinations dies in the Kings bench 327. Iohn Guyn a constant Martyr ibid Iulines Palmer a godly Preacher in K. Edwards dayes martyred ibid. Iohn Forman martired 328 Ioane West burned Ibid. Iohn Hart martyred 329 Iohn Clarke pined to death in the Castle in Canterbuây Ibid. Iohn Archer of Cranbrooke weauer pined to death at Canterbury ibid. Iohn Philpot of Tenterden Martyr 330 Iohn Bradbridge of Staplehurst Martir 332 Ioane Mannings of Maidstone in Kent Martyr Ibid. Iohn Fishcocke burnt at Canterbury Ibid. Iames Morris martyred at Lewis Ibid. Iohn Iohnson about the Sacrament condemned 340. Iohn Thurston a constant confessor of Iesus Christ dyed in Colchester Castle 341. Iohn Cures Shoomaker of Sisam in Northamptonshiâe burned 343. Iames Aâstoo burned at Islington 345. Iohn Ioyes of Lezfield in Suffolke martired 349 Iohn Forman Martyr Ibid. Iohn Weauer Martyr Ibid. Iohn Milles Martyr Ibid Iohn Hart Martyr Ibid. Iohn Osward Martyr Ibid. Iohn Ashdon Martyr Ibid. Iohn Hallingsdale burned in Smithfield 351. Iohn Rowth Minister for affirming the Pope to bee very Antichrist after many persecutions for the truth burned Ibid. Iohn Deuenish burned in Smithfield 354. Ioane Seaman persecuted for the truth of the Gospell 356 Iohn Floyd Martyr 357 Iohn Holyday Martyr ibid Iohn Slade burned at Brainford 359 Iohn Vale died in prison and buried in a dunghill 360 Iohn Alcocke cast into a dungeon dies and is buried in a dunghill 361 Iohn Cook Sawier burned at S. Edmunds Burie 362 Iames Asley Martyr ibid. Iohn Dauid burned at Bury 362 Iohn Sharpe burned at Bristow 365 Iohn Cornford burned at Canterbury ibid. Iohn Herst burned at Canterbury ibid. Iohn Baker burned at Siuill in Spaine 366 K. KNights of Rhodes instituted 51 Katharine Par Henry the eighth his last wife her troubles for the Gospell 209 Kathaerine Knoches and her two daughters martyred for the truth 228 Katharine Hut widdow Martyr 323 Katharine Knight alias Tinley burned at Canterbury 365 L. LVcan put to death 2 Lawrence broiled 12 Licinius ioyned with Constantine calls learning the vice of Princes hangs Theodorus on a crosse 16 Lucius his letters to Elutherius Bishop of Rome 20 London burnt 39 Lurdanes why so called 40 Letters between the Emperour and the Pope 53 Lewes the French Kings sonne comes into England and takes himselfe to be King 77 Lodouicus King of Hungary drowned in a bog 167 Leyton for affirming both kindes in the Sacrament burned at Norwich 191 Lancelot one of the guard burned 192 Lady Iane beheaded 236 Latimer Bishop of Worcester sent to dispute at Oxford 242 Lawrence Sanders Parson of Al-hallowes in Breadstreet his examination Martyrdome 252 M. MArke the Euangelist burned 3 Matthias stoned ibid. Mahomets beginning and lawes 26 Monasteries erected 29 Martin crowned Pope the Emperor on foote leading a horse on the right hand and the Marquesse of Brandenburg on the left hand 112 Margery Bacâster for disswading the people froÌ Idolatry and superstition sore troubled 143 Martin Luther a stout champion of the church against the Pope his History 154 Matthew Ward about the Sacrament committed to the Counter 161. Myracle of a Iew Christned in Constantinople 160 Mekins a boy burned in Smithfield 200 Mustle borow field where thirteen or fourteene thousand Scots were slaine 224 Mary Queene of England 234 Morgan a Iudge troubled in conscience for sentencing the Lady Iane fals mad and dies 239 Marsh accused to haue taken the Pixe and crucifixe out of the Sepulcher he and his Wife committed to the Counter 243 Margery Polley widdow burned at Tunbrigde 281 Michael Trunchfields wife burned in Ipswich about the Sacrament 320 Mantrell burned at Salisbury Ibid. Margaret Ellis condemned to bee burned but died in Newgate 322 Martin Hunt imprisoned in the Kings Bench for the truth dies and is buried in the backeside 326 Mother Tree martyred 328 Mathew Bradbridge of Tenderden martyred 330 Margaret Hide burned in Smithfield 331 Margery Awstoo burned at Islington 345 Margaret Thurstone martyred at Colchester 348 Margery Mearing for affirming the Masse to be abhominable burned 353 Mother Bennet an ancient woman persecuted for the truth 356 Matheâ Râcârby Martyr 357 Marke Burges burned at Lisbon in Portugall 166. N. NEro Caesar. 2 Nunneries erected 27 Normans aduanced in Church and Common-wealth 44 Nicholas Canon pennanced and thrise whipped 144 Nine millions of gold leuied in Fraunce of the Prelats in fourteen yeare 146 Nicholas South committed to Newgate for not being shriuen in Lent 161 New Testament translated into English by William Tindall 167 Nicholas Chamberlaine burned at Colchester 274 Nichlas Haââ burned at Rochester 281 Nicholas Finall of Tenderden Martyr 330 Nicholas White burned at Canterbury 332 Nicholas Paâdue burned at Canterb. ibid. Nicholas Holden Martyr 349 Nicholas Burton Merchant of London cruelly persecuted and burned at Cadix in Andalousia 366 O. OSwald by praier vnto God ouercoms Cadwallo 25 Ostright rauisheth the wife of Brâwer a Nobleman in reuenge wherof he cals in the Danes 32 Otho the Emperour puts out Pope Iohns eyes and hangs Cressentius the Consull 39 Old-Castle Lord Cobâam his historie 131. the King secretly admonisheth him to submit himselfe to the holy Church his answere thereto the Archbishop sends his Sumâer to him with a sitâtion he is arrested and sent to the Tower 133. his later examination and answere to the Archbishops questions 135. 136. hee is led againe to the Tower and
escapes into Wales he is condemned of heresie and treason and drawne to S. Giles in the fields hanged by the middle burned 137 Oâcolampadius testimony of diuers good men 166 Oldman of Buckingham burned for eating Dacon in Lent 181 Ombler a rebell in the North refuseth the kings pardon is afterward taken and executed at Yorke 224 P. PIlât slew himselfe vnder Tiberius 2 Parmenias put to death 3 Persecution the first by Domitius Nero. ibid. Persecution the second by Domitian ibid. Persecution the third vnder Trayanus 4 Phocas Bishop of Pontus cast in a hote Furnace ibid. Persecution the fourth vnder Antonius Verus 6 Polyâarpus his constancie and death ibid. Persecution the fift vnder Pertinax 7 Parmachus with his wife and children put to death 9 Persecution the sixt vnder Maximinus ibid. Persecution the seuenth vnder Decius ibid. Persecution the eighth 12 Persecution the ninth vnder Aurelian 13 Persecution the tenth vnder Dioclesian 14 Paulâs Church in London built by Ethelbert K. of Kent 21 Phocas kils Mauritius the Emperor 24 Popes work masteries against the Greek Emperors 27 Paschalis Pope dies 50 Popes Pall instituted 69 Pope by his policy leuies a great summe of money in England 83 Prophecies of the Popes persecutions 91 Pope Martins death 137 Pope Eugenius the fourth 138 Paule Craws a Bohemian for holding Wickliss opinions deliuered to be burnt 144 Printing the ruine of the Pope and Antichrist inuented in Germany 145 Philip Norrice an Irishman sore troubled for the truth 147 Pope a Weauer in Eye martyred about the Sacrament 148 Peake burned in Ipswich for giuing a Sacrament cake to a Dog ibid Pius the second Pope his prouerbes 150 Paulus secundus Pope a hater of learning learned men 151 Petrus Ruerrius in two years spent 200000. flârins permitteth the Cardinals to play the Sodomits the three hote moneths ibid. Prodigies and Prophecies shewing the fall of Antichrist 154 Petrus Flistedius burned at Collen 170 Packington a fauourer of Tindall deceiues the Bishop of London 171 Patrick Hamilton a Scottish man of the bloud royall burned for the truth 175 Pauy a persecutor hanged himselfe 182 Puttedue for taunting a Priest condemned and burnt 191 Peter a German burnt at Colchester about the Lords Supper Ibid. Powell hanged for denying the kings supremaciy 200 Persecution in Callice 204 Persecution in Scotland 218 Peter Martyr banished for religion out of England 239 Priest of Canterbury saies Masse one day and the next preacheth against it 243 Philip Prince of Spaine lands at Southhampton maried at Winchester 245 Priests doe penance at Paules Crosse. 246 Procession through London for their conuersion to the Catholick Religion 249 Patrick Packington martyred 284 Persecution at Wenson in Suffolke 323 Persecution at Mendlesam Suffâlke ibid. Persecution in Couentry and Lichfield 329 Philip Humphreys burned at Berry 362 Q QVeene Mary crowned Qâarrels betweene the Spaniards English about two whoores 248 Queeene Mary said to be with child Ibid. R RAâenna giuen to the Popes by Pipinus king of France Richard Ceuâr de Lyons rebellion against his Father 69 Richard the first King of England 70 Richard the second deposed 95 Richard Turmin a Baker burned in Smithfield 104 Rebels ouerthrowne and executed 223 Ridley made Bishop of London 226 Redman his iudgement rouching certain points of Religion on his death-bed 227 Ridley Bishop of London visits the Lady Mary and offers to preach before her which shee refuseth 233 His conference in the Tower with Secretarie Bourne 240 241 He is sent to Oxford to dispute 242 His report of the vanity of the disputation at Oxford ibid. Rose a Minister with thirtie men and women taken at communion in Bow Church-yard 248 Rowland Taylor Doctor his disputtation with Gardner his cruell vsage and constant Martyrdome 255 Robert Farrar Bishop of â Dauids in Wales for reâusing to subscribe to certaine Popish articles burned at Caârnaruan 260 Rawlins White burned in Cardiff 261 Richard Hooke for the truth ended his life at Chichester 284 Richard Collier burned at Canterbury ibid. Richard Wright burned at Canterbury ibâd Robert Smith his examination and conference with Boâner and martyrdome 285. to 289. Robert Samuel a godly preacher burned 290 Roger Coo burned at Yâxford in Suffolk 291 Robert Swater of Hith burned at Canterbury ib. Robert Glouer Gentleman burned at Couentry 292 Robert Picot Painter burned at Ely 293 Ridley Bishop of London his parentage carried to Oxford like a traytor his conferencâe with Antonian his protestation against the Popes authoritie his prayer at his Martyrdom from folio 292. to 303. Robert Spicer burned at Salisbury 32â Robert Drakes burned in Smithfield Richard Spurge Fuller burned in Smithfield for denying the reall presence Ibid. Richard Nicoll burned at Colchester 322 Robert Bacon a persecutor and an enemy to the truth 323 Robert Lawson Linnen Weauer Martyr 326 Robert Bernard martyred for the truth at Aye Ibid. Richard Woodman his martyrdome 332 Ralphe Hardin a persecuter of George Eagles hanged 342 Richard Crashfield his examination and martyrdome Ibid. Ralphe Alberton his examination before Bonner and martyrdome at Islington 345 Richard Roth burned at Islington Ibid Richard Gibson burned in Smithfield 351 Richard Day burned at Colchester 357 Raynald Eastland Martyr Ibid Robert Southam Martyr Ibid Roger Holland Marchant taylor his conference with Bonner his prophesie of the ceasing of persecution and martyrdome 357. 358. 359 Robert Miles burned at Brainford 359 Richard Yeoman persecuted and martyred 360 Robert Miles alias Palmer burned at S. Edmundsbury 362 S SEneca put to death 2 Stephen martyred 3 Simon burned Ibid Simon Zelotes crucified Ibid Simon the Brother of Iude sâaine Ibid. Sulpitius and Seruilia martyred 4 Simpronissâ with her seuen sonnes martyred 5 Seuerus the Emperor slaine at Yorke 8 Sands of the Sea as easie to bee numbered as the names of those that suffered vnder Decius 10 Six thousand six hundred and sixty Christian souldiers martyred vnder Mauritius 14 Simon Zelotes spread the Gospell in Britaine 19 Sinode at Aquisgrane 31 Swanus spoile and cruelty 40 His sudden death ibid. Steuen Langhton Archbishop of Canterbury 77 Sauânoralâa a learned Monk of Florence burnt and his ashes cast into the Riuer 147 Sixtus the fourth Pope builds Stewes of both kinds in Rome reduceth the Iubilee from 50 to 25. years institutes the feasts of our Lady canonizeth Bonauenture Francis for Saints 151 Scholler of Abbeuill burned for taking the host from the Priest at masse 162 Solimans Letter to the great master of Rhodes ibid. Senate of Bearne assigne disputation and propound their Articles 168 Soliâan the Turkish Emperour enters into Austria with a great Army and besiegeth Vienna 171 Schisme in Holland about the Pater-nâster 216 Stories of certaine Friers of Orleance in France 218 Storie of certaine Monks of Sueuia 219 Sanders declaration for disputation 244 Steuen Knight his martyrdom and his prayer at his death 264 Steuen Harwood burned at Stratford for the truth 289 Simon Ioyne burned at Colchester 322
Doctor I would you would remember your selfe and turne to your holy Mother the Church and I will sue for your pardon Taylor answered I would you and your fellowes would turne to Christ as for me I will not turne to Antichrist Then Bonner had him put on the Uestures to bee disgraded but hee would not when they were put vpon him he put his handes by his side and said How say you my Lord am not I a goodlie Foole How say you my Maisters it I were in Cheape-side should I not haue Boyes enough to laugh at these apish toyes and toying trumperie and when the Bishoppe should strike him vpon the breast with his Crossier Staffe his Chaplaines said Strike him not my Lord for he will surely strike you againe That I will said hee for it is our Sauiour Christes cause so the Byshoppe laid his cursâ oll him but strucke him not When he came to Maister Bradford for they both lay in one Chamber hee told him laughinglie how he had made the Bishop affraid to strike him that night his Wife his Sonne Thomas and his man Iohn Hull were suffered to sup with him after Supper he thanked GOD that hee had giuen him strength to abide by his holie Word Then he said vnto his Sonne My deare Sonne God giue thee his Spirit truly to serue Christ to learne his word and to stand by it all thy life my Sonne feare God fly sinne pray to him and apply thy booke and sée thou be obedient vnto thy Mother cherish the poore and count that try chéefe riches is to be rich in aâmes Then he said my deare Wife be steadfast in the âeare and loue of God be not defiled with Popish Idolatries wee haue béene faithfull yoke-fellowes together the Lord will reward you for your faithfulnesse towards me I now must be taken from you and I would aduise you to marrie with some honest man that feareth GOD he will prouide such a one for you and he will bee a mercifull Father to you and your Children whom I pray bring vp in the feare of God and learning and kéep them from Romish Idolatry then with wéeping feares they prayed together and kissed each other The next day he was carried away towards Hadley to be burned there diuers Gentlemen and Iustices came to him there who laboured him to returne vnto the Romish Religion shewed him his pardon and promised him great promotions yea a Bishoprick if he would but all was vaine for he had not builded his Rocke vpon the sands in perill of euery winde but on the sure Rocke Christ. When hee went through Hadley to execution the stréetes being full they cried out with lamentable voyces Ah good Lord there goeth our Shepheard from vs that hath so faithfully taught vs so fatherly cared for vs and so godly gouerned vs what shall wee poore scattred Lambes doe What shall become of this wicked world good Lord comfort him wherefore the people were fore rebuked and Doctor Taylor euer said to the people I haue preached vnto you Gods word and truth and am come this day to seale it with my blood Comming against the Almes-heuses he cast to the poore people all the Money which remained of that which good people had giuen vnto him in Prison for his Liuing was taken away from him so soone as he was put in Prison so that hee was sustained during the time of his imprisonment by the charitable Almes of good people When he saw the place of execution and the multitude of people that were gathered together then said he thanked be God I am euen at home They had clipped his head ill-fauoredly like a Fooles head by Bonners perswasions when he was disgraded when he came there all the people said God saue thée good Maister Doctor Taylor Iesus strengthen you the Holy Ghost comfort you When he would haue spoken vnto the people one or other thrust a tipstaffe in his month then he desired license of the Sheriffe to speake but he denied him and had him remember his promise made vnto the Councell It was a common fame that the Councell sent for such as were condemned and threatned them they would cut their tongues out except they would promise them at their deathes to kéepe silence and not to speake vnto the people When he was in his Shirt hee was set in a Pitch Barrell to bee burned then he said with a loud voyce Good people I haue taught you nothing but GODS Word and those Lessons which I haue taken out of GODS blessed Booke I am therefore come hither this day to seale it with my blood then one Homes a Yeoman of the Gard who had vsed him verie cruelly all the way gaue him a great stroke on the head The Sheriffe called one Richard Doningham a Butcher to set vp the Faggots but he would not then he got others and one of them called Warwicke cruellie cast a Faggot at him and brake his face that the blood ranne downe Doctor Taylor said Ah friend I haue harme enough what néedeth this When the fire was set to him he said Mercifull Father of Heauen for Iesus Christs sake receiue my Soule into thy hands and so stood still without either crying or moouing with his hands folded together vntill one Soyce strucke him vpon the head that the Braines fell out and his Corps fell into the Fire and was burned The foureteenth of February the Lord Chanceller and the Bishops caused the Image of Thomas Becket to be set vp ouer the Mercers Chappeâl doore in Cheape-side in London in the forme of a Bishop with Miter and Crosier within two dayes after his two blessing fingers were broken away and the next day his head was stricken off Whereupon many were suspected and one Maister Barnes Mercer being a Professor of the truth was charged therewith and he and three of his Seruants were committed to Prison and though it could not be proued against him he was bound in a great summe to builde it vp againe now and as often as it should be broken downe and to watch and keepe the same The next day after that it was set vp againe the head was the second time broken off then there was a Proclamation set forth that he that could tell who did it he should haue an hundred Crownes with thanks but it was not knowne who did it The vertuous and godly King Christianus King of Denmarke hearing of the captiuitie of Miles Couerdale whom hee knew by reason hee was in Denmarke in King Henry the eight his time and lamenting his dangerous case made intercession by Letters to Quéene Mary desiring the said Miles Couerdalo to be sent vnto him after the King had written two letters Queene Mary after long delay made full answer to the King of Denmarkes Letters by which prouidence of God Miles Couerdale was deliuered ROBERT FARRAR Bishop of Saint Dauids in Wales THis Bishop by the fauour of the Lord Protector was first promoted vnto that
Dignity he may well bee said twice marâired first for diuers iniuries and mollestations which he suffered most vnworthily of his enemies in King Edwards time after the fall of the Duke of Somerset and of his martydome in Queene Maries time His Aduersaries in King Edwards time were âames Constantine his Register to whom he gaue the Office by Patent and a Doctor of the Law and Canon of the Cathedrall Church of S. Dauids and a Chanter of the same They did exhibit to the Kings Councell certain Articles to the insent to blemish the Bishops credit and vtterly as they thought and made their boasts to pull him from his Bishopricke and bring him in a premunire The cheefe effect of their Articles which were fifty sixe was that he did not in his Proceâ that he made write the King supreame head of the Church and that he tollerated other superstitions and Idolatries After these wrangling Articles were giuen vp then the Bishop was called to answere the hearing whereof was committed vnto Sir Iohn Mason Knight and Doctor Woâton Then they had a Commission into the Country where they examined sixscore and seauen witnesses and during the time of the examination of these witnesses the said Bishop was stayed at London because his aduersaries said if the Bishop should go into his Dioces he would let them of their proues During which trouble King Edward died and in Quéene Maries time another named Henry was made Bishop of S. Dauids who sent for the said Robert Farrar and committed him to prison and afterward declared vnto the saide Robert the great clemency that the King and Quéenes Highnesse pleasure was to bee offered vnto him if he would submit himselfe vnto the Lawes of this Realme and conforme himselfe vnto the vnity of the Catholike Church and séeing the said Robert made him no answere he ministred vnto him these Articles First whether he beleeue the marriage of Priests to be lawfull by the lawe of God and holy Church Secondly whether hee beleeued the very body and blood of Christ is really and substantially in the Sacrament without the substance of bread and wine Bishop Farrar would not answer vntill he saw a lawfull Commission so he was committed againe then he was called againe after and would answer no otherwise then as before whereupon he was pronounced Contuânax and for punishment thereof to be counted Pro confesso and committed him againe The next day of appearance the said Bishop Farrar craued time to answere and at the time did answer Then the foresaid pretensed Bishop gaue him a writing of certaine Articles to subscribe vnto adding to the Articles before that the Masse was a propitiatorie Sacrifice for the quicke and the dead and that the generall Councels neuer erred neither ãâã erre that a man is not iustified by Faith only but by Charity also and that the Catholike Church onely hath authoritie of interpreting of the Scriptures and to compound Controuersies and also to appoint such things as appertaine to publike discipline and that the Church is visible as a citty vpon a hill knowne vnto all men and not obscure and vnknowne as the hereticks of our age doe teach To these Articles he refused to subscribe affirming that they were inuented by man and pertaine nothing to the Catholick Faith Then he assigned him a day to assigne them affirmatiuely or negatiuely which he would not doâ but appeaâed vnto the Cardinall notwithstanding they gaue sentence against him When they had put the priestly vestures on him to disgrade him hee called them ragges and relicks of Rome When he was brought to exâcution in the Ciâie of Carmarden he was burned with Turffes and Soddes which was to him a more greeuous torment but praised be God he suffered it patiently The next moneth a godly man named Rawlins White was burned in Cardiffe in Wales THOMAS TOMKINS THomas Tomkins of Shordich in London Weauer was brought before Boner for all hitherto were condemned by Steuen Gardiner Lord Chancelor but hee being weary put off the rest vnto Boner of whom this Tomkins was the first who when by no meanes hee could bee driuen from the âruth Boner caused a burning Candle to be brought to him Then said he come on naughty knane if thou likest the torments of the fire so well I will make thee feele in this flame what it is to be burned then if thou be wise thou wilt change thy minde Then he commanded his right hand to be put into the fire but he indured the burning yet was not Bonet therewith contented but neuer rested vntill he had consumed the whole body to ashes in Smithfield He was condemned vpon these points First that his beleefe â that the body of Christ is not truely and verily in the Sacrament of the Altar but onely in heauen and so in heauen that it cannot be really in the Sacrament and although the Church aâ low the Masse a wholesome and profitable sacrifice yet my beliefe is that the Masse is full of Superstition and Idolatry and vnprofitable for my soule and the Sacrament of Baptisme ought to âee onely in the vulgar tongue and without such ceremonies as are vsed in the Latine Church and being exhorted to leaue his opinions Hee answered hee was brought vp in ignorance vntill now of late yeares and now I know the truth wherein I will continue vnto death and he said my Lord you would haue me forsake the truth and fall into error and heresie Then hee was condemned and deliuered vnto the Sheriffe who carried him to Newgate where hee remained most ioifull and constant vntill hee was conuayed to Smithfield and there sealed vp his Faith in the flaming fire The constant suffering of Higbed and Causon THese two were descended of worshipfull stocke in Essex which of all Shires was most fruitfull of Martyrs the one called Thomas Higbed of Horneden Hill the other Thomas Causon of Thunderst they were both in flourishing estate in riches and much more flourishing in godlines They were diuers times examined before Bonner and defended the truth valiantly and he and his fellowes did much labour to make them to recant but could not preuaile The substance of all their Arguments appeareth in a Confession that they wrote with their owne hands which was read in the Court of Paules before the Mayor and Sheriffes and all the people not without great sure before it could be licenced to be read First we beleeue and professe in Baptisme to forsake the Diuel all his works and all the vanities of the world and the lusts of the ãâã 2 We beleeue the Articles of our Faith and that wee are bound to walke in Gods Commandements all the daies of our life 3 We beléeue the Lords Prayer containeth all things necessarie for soule and body and that we are thereby taught onely to pray to our heauenly Father and is no Saint nor Angell 4 We beléeue there is a Catholick Church euen the Communion of Saints builded vpon