plaid and that the Cardinal was to be entreated not to insist on the restoring of Church Lands rather to confirm the Lords and Gentry in their present possessions And to that end a Petition is prepared to be presented in the name of the Convocation to both their Majesties that they would please to intercede with the Cardinal in it Which Petition being not easie to be met withall and never printed heretofore is here subjoyned according to the tenour and effect thereof in the Latine Tougne WE the Bishops and Clergy of the Province of Canterbury assembled in Convocation during the sitting of this Parliament according to the antient custom with all due reverence and humility do make known to your Majesties That though we are appointed to take upon us the care and charge of all those Churches in which we are placed as Bishops Deans Archdeacons Parsons or Vicars as also of the Souls therein committed to us together with all Goods Rights and Privileges thereunto belonging according to the true intent and meaning of the Canons made in that behalf and that in this respect we are bound to use all lawfull means for the recovery of those Goods Rights Privileges and Jurisdictions which have been lost in the late desperate and pernicious Schism and to regain the same unto the Church as in her first and right estate Yet notwithstanding having took mature deliberation of the whole matter amongst our selves we cannot but ingenuously confesse that we know well how difficult a thing if not impossible it is to recover the said Goods unto their Churches in regard of the manifold unavoidable Contracts Sales and Alienations which have been made about the same and that if any such thing should be attempted it would not onely redound to the disturbance of the publick peace but be a means that the unity in the Catholick Church which by the goodnesse of your Majesties had been so happily begun could not obtain its desired effect without very great difficulty Wherefore preferring the publick good and quiet of the Kingdom before our own private commodities and the salvation of so many souls redeemed with the precious blood of Christ before any earthly things whatsoever and not seeking our own but the things of Jesus Christ we do most earnestly and most humbly beseech your Majesties that you would graciously vouchsafe to intercede in our behalf with the most reverend Father in God the Lord Cardinal Pole Legat à Latere from his Holinesse our most serene Lord Pope Julius the third as well to your most excellent Majesties as to the whole Realm of England that he would please to settle and confirm the said Goods of the Church either in whole or in part as he thinks most fit on the present occupants thereof according to the powers and faculties committed to him by the said most serene Lord the Pope thereby preferring the publick good before the private the peace and tranquillity of the Realm before sutes and troubles and the salvation of Souls before earthly treasures And for our parts we do both now and for all times comming give consent to all and every thing which by the said Lord Legate shall in this case be finally ordained and concluded on humbly beseeching your Majesties that you would gratioâ—sly vouchsafe to perswade the said Lord Cardinal in our behalf not to show himself in the Premises too strict and dâ—fficult And we do further humbly beseech your Majesties that you would please according to your wonted goodnesse to take such course that our Ecclesiastical Rights Lâ—berties and Jurisdictions which have been taken from us by the iniquity of the former times and without which we are not able to discharge our common duties either in the exercise of the pastoral Office or the cure of souls committed to our trust and care may be again restored unto uâ— and be perpetually preserved inviolabâ—e both to us and our Churches and that all lawes which have been made to the prejudice of this our jurisdiction and other Ecclesiastical liberties or otherwise have proved to the hindrance of it may be repeated to the â—â—nour of God as also to the temporal and spiritual profit not only of your said most excellent Majesty but of all the Realm giving our selves assured hope that your most excellent Majesties according to your singular pieâ—y to almighty God for so many and great benefits received from him will not be wanting to the necessities of the Kingdom and the occasions of the Churches having cure of souls but that you would consider and provide as need shall be for the peace thereof Which Petition being thus drawn up was humbly offered to the Legate in the name of the whole Convocation by the Lord Chancellor who was present at the making of it the Prolocutor and six others of the lower house And it may very well be thought to be welcome to him in regard it gave him some good colour for not touching on so harsh a stâ—ing as the restoring of Church lands Concerning which he was not ignorant that a message had been sent to the Pope in the name of the Parliament to desire a confirmation of the sale of the lands belonging to Abbies Chanteries c. or otherwise to let him know that nothing could be granted in his behalf And it is probable that they received some fair promises to that effect in regard that on the New years day then next following the Act for restoring the Pope's supremacy was passed in both houses of Parliament and could not but be entertain'd for one of the most welcome New years Gifts which ever had been given to a Pope of Rome What the Pope did in retribution we are told by Sleidan in whom we find that he confirmed all those Bishops in their several Sees which were of Catholick perswasions and had been consecrated in the time of the Schism as also that he established such new Bishopricks which were erected in the time of King Henry the 8th and made good all such mariages as otherwise might be subject unto dispute He adds a confirmation also which I somewhat doubt of the Abby lands and telleth that all this was ratified by the Bull of Pope Paul the 4th He dispensed also by the hand of the Cardinal with irregularity in several persons confirmed the Ordination and Institution of Clergy men in their Callings and Benefices legitimated the children of forbidden mariages and retified the processes and sentences in matters Ecclesiastical Which general favours notwithstanding every Bishop in particular except only the Bishop of Landaff most humbly sought and obtained pardon of the Pope for their former errour not thinking themselves to be sufficiently secured by any general dispensation how large soever And so the whole matter being transacted to the content of all parties the poor Protestants excepted only on Friday the 25th of January being the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul there was a general and solemn Procession throughout
which are herein mentioned and by degrees also did they the Te Deum the Magnificat and the Nunc dimittis Concerning the Position of the holy Table it was ordered thus viz. That no Altar should be taken down but by oversight of the Curat of the Church or the Church-wardens or one of them at the least wherein no riotous or disoâ—dered manner was to be used and that the holy Table in every Church be decently made and set in the place where the Altar stood and there commonly covered as thereto belongeth and as should be appointed by the Visitors and so to stand saving when the â—ommunion of the Sacrament is to be administred at which time the same shall be so placed in good sort within the Quire or Chancel as whereby the Minister may be more conveniently heard of the Communicants in his Prayer and Ministration and the Communicants also more conveniently and in more number communicate with the said Minister And after the Communion done from time to time the said holy Table to be placed where it stood before Which permission of removing the Table at Communion-times is not so to be understood as the most excellent King Charls declared in the case of St. Gregories as if it were ever left to the discretion of the Parish much less to the particular fancy of any humorous person but to the judgment of the Ordinary to whose place and function it doth properly belong to give direction in that point both for the thing it self or for the time when and how long as he may find cause By these Injunctions she made way to her Visitation executed by Commissioners in their several Circuits and regulated by a Book of Articles printed and published for that purpose Proceeding by which Articles the Commissioners removed all carved Images out of the Church which had been formerly abused to superstition defacing also all such Pictures Paintings and other monuments as served for the setting forth of feigned Miracles and this they did without any tumult and disorder and without laying any sacrilegious and ravenous hands on any of the Churches Plate or other Utensils which had been repaired and re-provided in the late Queens time They enquired also into the life and doctrine of Ministers their diligence in attending their several Cures the decency of their apparel the respect of the Parishioners towards them the reverent behaviour of all manner of persons in Gods publiâ—k worship Inquiry was also made into all sorts of crimes haunting of Taverns by the Clergy Adultery Fornication Drunkenness amongst those of the Laity with many other things since practised in the Visitations of particular Bâ—shops by means whereof the Church was setled and confirmed in so good an order that the work was made more easie to the Bishops when they came to govern than otherwise it could have been But more particularly in Londâ—â— which for the most part gives example to the rest of the Kingdom the Visitors were Sir Richard Sackvile father to â—homas Earl of Dorset Mr. Robert Hern after Bishop of Winchester Dr. Hâ—ick a Civilian and one Salvage possibly a Common Lawyer who calling before them divers persons of every Parish gave them an Oath to enquire and present upon such Articles and 〈◊〉 as were given unto them In persuance whereof both the Commissionâ—rs and the People shewed so much forwardness that on St. Bartholomews day and the morrow after they burned in St. Paul's Church-yard Cheap-side and other places of the City all the Roods and other Images which had been taken out of the Churches And as it is many times supposed that a thing is never well done if not over-done so hapned it in this case also zeal against superstition had prevailed so far with some ignorant men that in some places the Coaps Vestments Altar-cloaths Books Banners Sepulchres and Rood-lofts were burned altogether All matters of the Church being thus disposed of it will be time to cast our eyes on the concernments of the civil State which occurred this year in which I find nothing more considerable than the overtures of some Marriages which had been made unto the Queen Philip of Spain had made an offer of himself by the Count of Feria his Ambassadour but the Queen had heard so much of the disturbances which befell King Henry by marrying with his brothers wife that she had no desire to run into the like perplexities by marrying with her sisters husband and how he was discouraged from proceeding in it hath been shewed already Towards the end of the Parliament the Lords and Commons made an humble Addresse unto her in which they most earnestly besought her That for securing the peace of the Kingdom and the contentation of all her good and loving subjects she would think of marrying not pointing her particularly unto any one man but leaving her to please her self in the choice of the person To which she answered That she thanked them for their good affections and took their application to her to be well intended the rather because it contained no limitation of place or person which had they done she must have disliked it very much and thought it to have been a great presumption But for the matter of their sure she lets them know That she had long since made choice of that state of life in which now she lived and hoped that God would give her strength and constancy to go throw with it that if she had been minded to have changed that course she neither wanted many invitations to it in the reign of her brother not many strong impulsions in the time of her sister That as she had hitherto remained so she intended to continue by the grace of God though her Words compared with her Youth might be thought by some to be far different from her meaning And so having thanked them over again she licensed them to depart to their several businesses And it appeared soon after that she was in earnest by her rejecting of a motion made by Gustavus King of Sweden for the Prince Ericus for the solliciting whereof his second son John Duke of Finland who succeeded his Brother in that Kingdom is sent Ambassador into England about the end of September Received at Harwich in Essex by the Earl of Oxford and the Lord Robert Dudley with a goodly train of Gentlemen and Yeoman he was by them conducted honourably towards London where he was met by the Lords and Gentlemen of the Court attended through the City on the 5th of Octobâ—r to the Bishop of Winchesters house in Souâ—hwark there he remained with his Train consisting of about fifty persons till the Easter following magnificently feasted by the Queen but otherwise no farther gratified in the buâ—â—ness which he came about than all the rest who both before and after tried their fortunes in it The next great business of this year was a renewing of the Peace with the crown of France agreed on at the Treaty near the
Sir John Mason Master of the Requests R. Bowes Master of the Rolls Most of which had formerly subscribed the answer to a Letter which came to them from the Princesse Mary on the ninth of July and were all pâ—â—doned for so doing except Cranmer only Now the Tenor of the said 〈◊〉 was as followeth In the name of our Soveraign Lady Mary the Queen to be declared to the Duke of Northumberland and all other his Band of what degree soever they be YOu shall command and charge in the Queens Highness name the said Duke to disarm himselfe and the cease all his men of war and to suffer no part of his army to do any villany nor any thing contrary to the peace and himself to forbear his comming to this City untill the Queens pleasure be expressedly declared unto him And if he will shew himselfe like a good quiet subject we will then continue as we have begun as humble suitors to our Soveraign Lady the Queen's Highnesse for him and his and for our selves And if he do not we will not fail to spend our lives in subduing of him and his Item Ye shall declare the like matter to the Marquesse of Northampton and all other Noble men and Gentlemen and to all men of war being with any of them Item Ye shall in all places where ye come notifie it If the Duke of Northumberland do not submit himselfe to the Queens Highnesse Queen Mary he shall be accepted as a Traytor And all we of the Nobility that were Counsellors to the late King will to the utmost portion of our power persecute him and his to their afterconfusion The Pursuivant having communicate his Instructions found none more ready to obey them then the Duke himselfe who had before dismist his forces and now prepared for his departure from that place though to what he knew not But as he was pulling on his boots he was first slaid by some of the Pensioners who being drawn into the action against their wils resolved to have him in a readinesse to bear witnesse to it and after taken into custody by Slegg a Serjeant The businesse being in dispute another Packet comes from the Lords of the Council by which all parties were required to depart to their severall dwellings the benefit whereof the Duke laid claim to for himself and was accordingly left by them at his own disposal And so he passed that night in some good assurance that he should fare no worse than the rest of the Council who had engaged him in the same cause and by whose order he had undertaken the command of that Army In the mean time the Earl of Arundell had done his errand to the Queen to so good a purpose that he was presently dispatched with Order to seize upon him Who coming to Cambridge the next morining found him preparing for his journy laid hold upon him and committed him to the charge of some of the Guard It is reported that the Duke had no sooner seen the Earle of Arundell but he fell down upon his knees and besought him to be good unto him humbling himselfe before him with more abjectednesse than formerly he had insulted over him with pride and insolence By safe but easie journies he is brought unto the Tower on the 25 day of July together with the Earl of Warwick the Earle of Huntington the Lord Hastings the Lord Ambrose and the Lord Henry Dudley two of Northumberlands younger sons Sir Andrew Dudly the Duke's brother Sir John Gates and Henry Gates his brother Sir Thomas Palmer who formerly had served his turn in the destruction of the Duke of Sommerset and Dr Sandys Vice Chancelor of the University of Cambridge Followed the next day after by the Marquesse of Northampton Dr Nicholas Ridley Bishop of London the Lord Robert Dudley another of Northumberland's sons and Sir Robert Corbet who having made their Applications to the Queen at Framingham found there no better entertainment than if they had been take in some act of Hostility The 27 day brings in Sir Roger Chomley Chief Justice of the Kings Bench and Sir Edward Mountague Chief Justice of the Common Pleas the Duke of Suffolk and Sir John Cheek on the morrow after shutting up the Arrer But the Duke of Suffolk stayed not long for being considered in himself as an easie person of whom they were to fear no danger and otherwise no more in fault than the rest of the Council he was released again within three dayes after to the great comfort of his daughter the late queen Jane who would have died dayly for her Father though but once for her self But so it fared not with the Duke of Northumberland a more dangerous person who together with John Earl of Warwick his eldest son and William Marquesse of Northampton was brought to their tryal on the eighth of August before Thomas Duke of Norfolk then sitting as Lord High Steward in Westminster Hall The Duke being brought unto the bar humbled himself with great reverence before his Peers professing his faith and allegiance to the Queen against whom he confessed he had so grievously offended that he intended not to speak any thing in his own defence But having been trained up to the study of the Laws in his younger dayes he desired the judgement of the Court in these two points First Whether any man doing any act by Authority of the Princes Councel and by warrant of the Great Seal of England and doing nothing wâ—thâ—â—t the same might be charged with treason for any thing which he might do by warrant thereof And secondly which pinched then his Judges to some purpose Wheâ—her any such persons as were equally culpable in the crime and those by whose Letters and Commandments he was directed in all his doings might sit as Judges and passe upon his trial as his Peers Whereunto it was answered by the Court with advice of the Judges First That the Great Seal which â—e preâ—ended 〈◊〉 his warrant was not the Seal of the lawful Queen of the Realm but thâ— Seâ— of 〈◊〉 â—â—surper who had no authority and therefâ—re could bâ— no warrant to him And secondly That if any were as deeply to be touched in the case as himself yet so long as nâ— attainder was upon Record against them they were looked upon by the Law as persons capable of passing upon any tryal and not to bâ— challenged by any in that respect but only at the Prince's pleasure Which being delivered by the Court in point of Law the Duke conceived that it would be to no purpose for him to plead Not Guilty and thereupon confessed the Indictment as the other two prisoners also did they all received judgement in the usual form On the pronouncing whereof he besought the Lords to move the Queen that she would be gratious to his sons who might be able to do good service in the time to come considering that they went not with him of their own free will but only in
him they sent him Prisoner to the Fleet where he remained from the twenty fifth of September till the seventh of January the King's Commissioners proceeding in the mean time without any disturbance With less aversness but with success not much unlike was the business entertained by Dr. Edmond Bonner then Bishop of London whom the Commissioners found far more tractable then could have been expected from a man of so rough a Nature and one so cordially affected to the Church of Rome The Commissioners Authorised for this Imployment were Sir Anthony Cook and Sir John Godsal Knights John Godsal Christopher Nevinson Doctours of the Laws and John Madew Doctour in Divinity who sitting in St. Paul's Church on the first day of September called before them the said Bishop Bonner John Royston the renowned Polydore Virgil and many other of the Dignitaries of the said Cathedral to whom the Sermon being done and their Commission openly read they ministred the Oath of the King's Supremacy according to the Statute of the thirty first of King Henry the Eighth requiring them withall to present such things as stood in need to be Reformed Which done they delivered to him a Copy of the said Injunctions together with the Homilies set forth by the King's Authority received by him with Protestation that he would observe them if they were not contrary to the Law of God and the Statutes and Ordinances of the Church Which Protestation he desired might be enrolled amongst the Acts of the Court But afterwards considering better with himself as well of his own Danger as of the Scandal and ill Consequents which might thence arise he addressed himself unto the King revoking his said Protestation and humbly submitting himself to His Majestie 's Pleasure in this manner following Whereas I Edmond Bishop of London at such time as I received the King's Majestie 's Injunctions and Homilies of my most Dread and Sovereign Lord at the Hands of His Highness Visitours did unadvisedly make such Protestation as now upon better consideration of my Duty of Obedience and of the evil Example that might ensue unto others thereof appeareth to me neither Reasonable nor such as might well stand with the Duty of a most humble Subject for so much as the same Protestation at my Request was then by the Register of the Visitation Enacted and put in Record I have thought it my Duty not onely to declare before your Lordships that I do now upon better consideration of my Duty renounce and revoke my said Protestation but also most humbly beseech your Lordships that this my Revocation of the same may be in like wise put in the same Records for a perpetual Memory of the Truth most humbly beseeching your Good Lordships both to take order that it may take effect and also that my former unadvised doings may be by your good Mediations pardoned of the King's Majesty Edmond London This humble carriage of the Bishop so wrought upon the King and the Lords of the Council that the edg of their displeasure was taken off though for a terrour unto others and for the preservation of their own Authority he was by them committed Prisoner to the Fleet. During the short time of whose Restraint that is to say on the Eighteenth day of the same Moneth of September the Letany was sung in the English Tongue in Saint Paul's Church between the Quire and the High Altar the Singers kneeling half on the one side and half on the other And the same day the Epistle and Gospel was also read at the High Mass in the English Tongue And about two Moneths after that is to say on the seventeenth day of November next following Bishop Bonner being then restored to his former Liberty the Image of Christ best known in those Times by the name of the Rood together with the Images of Mary and John and all other Images in that Church as also in all the other Churches of London were taken down as was commanded by the said Injunctions Concerning which we are to note That though the Parliament was then sitting whereof more anon yet the Commissioners proceeded onely by the King's Authority without relating any thing to that High Court in this weighty Business And in the speeding of this Work as Bishop Bonner together with the Dean and Chapter did perform their parts in the Cathedral of Saint Paul so Bellassere Arch-Deacon of Colchester and Doctour Gilbert Bourn being at that time Arch-Deacon both of London and Essex but afterwards preferred by Queen Mary to the Bishoprick of Bath and Wells were no less Diligent and Officious in doing the like in all the Churches of their Respective Jurisdictions according to the Charge imposed upon them by his Majestie 's Visitours In the mean time whilst matters were thus calmly Acted on the Stage of England all things went no less fortunately forward with the Lord Protectour in his War with Scotland in which he carried himself with no less Courage and Success when it came to blows then he had done with Christian Prudence before he put himself on the Expedition For having taken Order for his Forces to be drawn together he thought it most expedient to his Affairs to gain the start in point of Reputation with his very Enemies by not ingaging in a War untill they had refused all Terms of Peace And to this end a Manifest is dispatched unto them declaring the Motives which induced him to put this Kingdom into a posture of Arms. In which he remembred them of the Promises Seals and Oaths which by publick Authority had passed for concluding this Marriage That These being Religious Bonds betwixt God and their Souls could not by any Politick Act of State be dissolved untill their Queen should attain unto years of Dissent Adding that The Providence of God did therein manifestly declare it self in that the Male-Princes of Scotland failing the Kingdom was left unto a Daughter and in that King Henry left onely one Son to succeed That These two Princes were agreeable both for Years and Princely Qualities to be joyned in Marriage and thereby to knit both Realms into One That This Vnion as it was like to be both easily done and of firm continuance so would it be both profitable and Honourable to both the Realms That Both the Easiness and Firmness might be conjectured for that both People are of the same Language of like Habit and Fashion of like Quality and Condition of Life of one Climate not onely annexed entirely together but severed from all the World besides That as these are sure Arguments that both discended from one Original so by Reason that Likeness is a great Cause of Liking and of Love they would be most forcible Means both to joyn and hold them in one Body again That Profit would rise by extinguishing Wars between the two Nations by Reason whereof in former times Victories abroad have been impeached Invasions and Seditions occasioned the Confines of both Realms lay'd wast
According to the Return of whose Commissions it would be found no difficult matter to put a just estimate and value on so great a Gift or to know how to parcell out proportion and divide the Spoil betwixt all such who had before in hope devoured it In the first place as lying nearest came in the Free-Chapel of Saint Stephen Originally Founded in the Palace at Westminster and reckoned for the Chapel-Royal of the Court of England The whole Foundation consisted of no fewer then thirty eight Persons viz. one Dean twelve Canons thirteen Vicars four Clerks six Choristers besides a Verger and one that had the Charge of the Chapel In place of whom a certain Number were appointed for Officiating the daily Service in the Royal-Chapels Gentlemen of the Chapel they are commonly called whose Saâ—aries together with that of the Choristers and other Servants of the same amounts to a round yearly Sum and yet the King if the Lands belonging to that Chapel had been kept together and honestly â—aid unto the Crown had been a very rich Gainer by it the yearly Rents thereof being valued at 1085 l. 10 s. 5 d. As for the Chapel it self together with a Clolyster of curious Workmanship built by John Chambers one of the King's Physicians and the last Master of the same they are still standing as they were the Chapel having been since fitted and imployed for an House of Commons in all times of Parliament At the same time also fell the College of St. Martin's commonly called St. Martin's le Grand scituate in the City of London not far from Aldersgate first founded for a Dean and Secular Canons in the time of the Conquerour and afterwards privileged for a Sanctuary the Rights whereof it constantly enjoyed without interruption till all privilege of Sanctuary was suppressed in this Realm by King Henry the Eighth But the Foundation it self being now found to be Superstitious it was surrrendred into the hands of King Edward the Sixth who after gave the same together with the remaining Liberties and Precincts thereof to the Church of Westminster and they to make the best of the King's Donation appointed by a Chapter held the seventh of July that the Body of the Church with the Quire and Iles should be Leased out for fifty years at the Rent of five Marks per Annum to one H. Keeble of London excepting out of the said Grant the Bells Lead Stone Timber Glass and Iron to be sold and disposed of for the sole Use and Benefit of the said Dean and Chapter Which foul Transaction being made the Church was totally pulled down a Tavern built in the East part of it the rest of the site of the said Church and College together with the whole Precinct thereof being built upon with several Tenements and let out to Strangers who very industriously affected to dwell therein as the natural English since have done in regard of the Privileges of the place exempted from the Jurisdiction of the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London and governed by such Officers amongst themselves as are appointed thereunto by the Chapter of Westminster But for this Sacrilege the Church of Westminster was called immediately in a manner to a â—ober Reckoning For the Lord Pâ—otectour thinking it altogether unnecessary that two Cathedrals should be Founded so near one another and thinking that the Church of Westminster as being of a late Foundation might best be spared had cast a longing eye upon the goodly Patrimony which remained unto it And being then unfurnished of an House or Palace proportionable unto his Greatness he doubted not to finde room enough upon the Dissolution and Destruction of so large a Fabrick to raise a Palace equal to his vast Designs Which coming to the ears of Benson the last Abbot and first Dean of the Church he could beâ—hink himself of no other means to preserve the whole but by parting for the present with more then half the Estate which belonged unto it And thereupon a Lease is made of seventeen Manours and good Farms lying almost together in the County of Glocester for the Term of ninety nine years which they presented to the Lord Thomas Seimour to serve as an Addition to his Manour of Sudeley humbly beseeching him to stand their Good Lord and Patron and to preserv them in a fair Esteem with the Lord Protectour Another Present of almost as many Manours and Farms lying in the Counties of Glocâ—â—ster Worcester and Hereford was made for the like Term to Sir John Mason a special Confident of the Duke's not for his own but for the use of his Great Master which after the Duke all came to Sir John Bourn principal Secretary of Estate in the time of Queen Mary And yet this would not serve the Turn till they had put into the Scale their Manour of Islip conferred upon that Church by King Edward the Confessour to which no fewer then two hundred Customary Tenants owed their Soil and Service and being one of the best wooded things in those parts of the Realm was to be granted also without Impeachment of Wast as it was accordingly By means whereof the Deantry was preserved for the later Times how it succeeded with the Bishoprick we shall see hereafter Thus Benson saved the Deanery but he lost himself â—or calling to remembrance that formerly he had been a means to surrender the Abby and was now forced on the 〈◊〉 Dilapidating the Estate of the Deanery he fell into a great disquiet oâ—â—â—nd which brought him to his death within few Moneths after To whom succeeded Doctour Cox being then Almoner to the King Chancellour of the University of Oxford and Dean of Christ-Church and afterwards preferred by Queen Elizabeth to the See of Ely I had not singled these two I mean St. Martin's and St. Stephen's out of all the rest but that they were the best and richest in their several kinds and that there was more depending on the Story of them then on any others But Bad Examples seldome end where they first began For the Nobility and inferiour Gentry possessed of Patronages considering how much the Lords and Great men of the Court had improved their Fortunes by the suppression of those Chanteries and other Foundations which had been granted to the King conceived themselves in a capacity of doing the like by taking into their hands the yearly Profits of those Benefices of which by Law they onely were entrusted with the Presentations Of which abuse Complaint is made by Bishop Latimer in his Printed Sermons In which we finde That the Gentry of that Time invaded the Profits of the Church leaving the Title onely to the Incumbent and That Chantery-Priests were put by them into several Cures to save their Pâ—nsions pâ—g 38. that many Benefices were let out in Fee-Farms pag. 71 or given unto Servants for keeping of Hounds Hawks and Horses and for making of Gardens pag. 91 114. And finally That the Poor Clergy being kept to some
enjoying all those Rights and Privileges which formerly he stood possessed of in this Kingdom For the passing of which Bill into Act the King and Queen vouchsafed their presence as soon as it was fitted and prepared for them not staying till the end of the Session as at other times because the businesse might not suffer such a long delay It was upon the 24 th of November that the Cardinal came first to London and had his Lodgings in or near the Court till Lambeth house could be made ready to receive him Having reposed himself for a day or two the Lords and Commons are required to attend their Majesties at the Court where the Cardinal in a very grave and eloquent speech first gave them thanks for being restored unto his Country in recompence whereof he told them that he was come to restore them to the Country and Court of Heaven from which by their departing from the Church they had been estranged He therefore earnestly exhorts them to acknowledge their errors and cheerfully to receive that benefit which Christ was ready by his Vicar to extend unto them His Speech is said to have been long and artificial but it concluded to this purpose That he had the Keys to open them a way into the Church which they had shut against themselves by making so many Laws to the dishonour and reproach of the See Apostolick on the revoking of which Laws they should â—ind him ready to make use of his Keys in opening the doors of the Church unto them It was concluded hereupon by both Houses of Parliament that a Petition should be made in the name of the Kingdom wherein should be declared how â—orry they were that they had withdrawn their obedience from the Apostolick See and consenting to the Statutes made against it promising to do their best endeavour hereafter that the said Laws and Statutes should be repealed and beseeching the King and Queen to intercede for them with his Holiness that they may be absolved from the Crimes and Censures and be received as penitent children into the bosom of the Church These things being thus resolved upon both Houses are called again to the Court on St. Andrews day where being assembled in the presence of the King and Queen they were asked by the Lord Chancellor Gardiner whether they were pleased that Pardon should be demanded of the Legat and whether they would return to the Unity of the Church and Obedience of the Pope Supream Head thereof To which when some cryed Yea and the rest said nothing their silence was taken for consent and so the Petition was presented to their Majesties in the name of the Parliament Which being publickly read they arose with a purpose to have moved the Cardinal in it who meeting their desires declared his readinesse in giving them that satisfaction which they would have craved And having caused the Authority given him by the Pope to be publickly read he showed how acceptable the repentance of a sâ—nner was in the sight of God and that the very Angels in Heaven rejoyced at the conversion of this Kingdom Which said they all kneeled upon their knees and imploring the mercy of God received absolution for themselves and the rest of the Kingdom which Absolution was pronounced in these following words Our Lord Jesus Christ which with his most precious blood hath redeemed and wash'd uâ— from all our sins and iniquities that he might purchase unto himself a glorious Spouse without spot or wrinckle and whom the Father hath appointed Head over all his Church He by his mercy absolve you And we by Apostolick Authority given unto us by the most holy Lord Pope Julius the 3 d his Vicegerent here on earth do absolve and deliver you and every of you with the whole Realm and the Dominions thereof from all Heresie and Schism and from all and every Judgment Censures and Pains for that cause incurred And also we do restore you again unto the unity of our Mother the holy Church as in our Letters more plainly it shall appear In the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost Which words of his being seconded with a loud Amen by such as were present he concluded the days work with a solemn Procession to the Chapel for rendring Prayers and Thanks to Almighty God And because this great work was wrought on St. Andrews day the Cardinal procured a Decree or Canon to be made in the Convocation of the Bishops and Clergy that from thenceforth the Feast of St. Andrew should be kept in the Church of England for a Majus Duplex as the Rituals call it and celebrated with as much solemnity as any other in the year It was thought fit also that the actions of the day should be communicated on the Sunday following being the second of December at St. Paul's Crosse in the hearing of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and the rest of the City According to which appointment the Cardinal went from Lambeth by water and landing at St. Paul's Wharf from thence proceeded to the Church with a Cross two Pillars and two Pole-axes of silver born before him Received by the Lord Chancellor with a solemn Procession they â—arried till the King came from Westminster Immediately upon whose comming the Lord Chancellor went into the Pulpit and preached upon on those words of St. Paul Rom. 13. Fratres scientes quia hora est jam nos de somno surgerâ— c. In which Sermon he declared what had been done on the Friday before in the submission which was made to the Pope by the Lords and Commons in the name of themselves and the whole Kingdom and the Absolution granted to them by the Cardinal in the name of the Pope Which done and Praiers being made for the whole Estate of the Catholick Church the company was for that time dismissed And on the Thursday after being the Feast of St. Nicholas day the Bishops and Clergy then assembled in their Convocation presented themselves before the Cardinal at Lamboth and kneeling reverently on their knees they obtained pardon for all their Perjuries Schisms and Heresies From which a formal Absolution was pronounced also that so all sorts of people might partake of the Pope's Benediction and thereby testifie their obedience and submission to him The news whereof being speedily posted over to the Pope he caused not onely many solemn Processions to be made in Rome and most parts of Italy but proclaimed a Jubile to be held on the 24th of December then next comming For the anticipating of which solemnity he alleged this reason That it became him to imitate the father of the Prodigal child and having received his lost son not onely to expresse a domestical joy but to invite all others to partake thereof During this Parliament was held a Convocation also as before was intimated Bonner continuing President of it and Henry Cole Archdeacon of Ely admitted to the office of Prolocutor They knew well how the Cards were
other Ecclesiastical Orders declaring them moreover to be no members of the Church and therefore to be committed to the secular powers to receive due punishment according to the Tenor of the temporal Laws According to which Sentence they were both degraded on the 15 th of October and brought unto the Stake in the Town-ditch over against Baliol College on the morrow after where with great constancy and courage they endured that death to which they had been pre-condemned before they were heard Cranmer was prisoner at that time in the North-gate of the City called Bocardo from the top whereof he beheld that most dolefull spectacle and casting himself upon his knees he humbly beseeched the Lord to endue them with a sufficient strength of Faith and Hope which he also desired for himself whensoever he should act his part on that bloody Theater But he must stay the Popes leisure before he was to be brought on the Stage again The Queen had been acquainted with such discoutses as had passed betwixt the Pope and her Ambassadors when they were at Rome and she appeared desirous to have gratified him in his demands But the Kings absence who set sail for Calais on the fourth of September and the next morning took his journey to the Emperor's Court which was then at Bâ—uxels rendred the matter not so feasible as it might have been if he had continued in the Kingdom For having called a Parliament to begin on the 21 of October she caused many of the Lords to be dealt withall touching the passing of an Act for the restoring of all such Lands as had belonged unto the Church and were devolved upon the Crown and from the Crown into the hands of privat persons by the fall of Monasteries and other Religious Houses or by any other ways or means whatsoever But such a general aversâ—ess was found amongst them that she was advised to desist from that unprofitable undertaking Certain it is that many who were cordially affected to the Queens Religion were very much startled at the noise of this Restitution insomuch that some of them are said to have clapt their hands upon their swords affirming not without some Oaths that they would never part with their Abbey-Lands as long as they were able to were a sword by their sides Which being signified to the Queen it seemed good to her to let fall that sute for the present and to give them good example for the time to come by passing an Act for releasing the Clergy from the payment of first Fruits and Tenths which had been formerly vested in the Crown in the Reign of her Father Against which when it was objected by some of the Lords of the Council that the state of her Kingdoms and Crown Emperial could not be so honourably maintained as in former times if such a considerable part of the Revenue were dismembered from it she is said to have returned this answer That she prefetted the salvation of her Soul before ten such Kingdoms She procured another Act to be passed also which very much redounded to the benefit of the two Universities inhibiting all Purveyors from taking up any provisions for the use of the Court within five miles of Oxon or Cambridge by meanâ— whereof those Markets were more plentifully served with all sorts of Provisions than in former times and at more reasonable rates than otherwise they could have been without that restraint In her first Parliament the better to indear her self to the common subject she had released a Subsidie which was due unto her by an Act of Parliament made in the time of King Edward the sixth And now to make her some amends they gave her a Subsidie of four shillings in the Pound for Lands and two shillings eight-pence in the pound for Goods In the drawing up of which Act an Oath which had been formerly prescribed to all manner of persons for giving in a just account of their estates was omitted wholly which made the Subsidie sinck beneath expectation But the Queen came unto the Crown by the love of the people and was to do nothing to the hazard of their affections which she held it by At the same time was held a Convocation also for summoning whereof a Writ was issued in the name of the King and Queen to the Dean and Chapter of the Metropolitical Church of Canterbury the See being then vacant by the attaindure of Archbishop Craâ—â—er Bonnâ—r presides in it as before Boxhall then Warden of Winchester preacheth though not in the capacity at the opening of it and Doctor John Christoperson Dean of Norwich is chosen Prolotor for the House of the Clergy But the chief businesse done therein was the granting of a Subsidie of six shillings in the pound to be paid out of all their Ecclesiastical Promotions in three years then following Nor was it without reason that they were enduced to so large a grant The Queen â—ad actually restored unto them their First-fruits and Tenths though at that time the Crown was not in such a plentiful condition as to part with such an annual income And she had promised also as appears by the Records of the Convocarion to render back unto the Church all such Impropriations Tithes and portion of Tithes as were still remaining in the Crown For the disposing of which Grant to the best advantage the Cardinal-Legat at the Queens desire had conceived an Instrument which was then offered to the consideration of the Prolocutor and the rest of the Clergy it was proposed also by the Bishop of Elie that some certaâ—n learned men might be chosen out of the House to review all the antient Canons to fit them to the present state of the Church and were they sound any thing defective in them to sâ—pply that defect by making such new Câ—nons and Constitutions as being approved of by the Lords should be made obligatory to the Clergy and the rest of the Kingdom This was well mov'd and serv'd to entertain the time but I find nothing in pursuance of it But on the other side the Prolocutor bringing up the Bill of the Subsidies in the end of October propounds three points unto their Lordships which much conduced to the establishment and advantage of the prejudiced Clergy The first was That all such of the Clergy as building on the common report that the Tenths and First fruits were to be released in the following Parliament had made no composition for the same with her Majesties Officers might be discharged from the penalty inflicted by the Laws in that behalf The second That their Lordships would be pleased to intercede with the Lord Cardinal-Legat for setling and confirming them in their present Benefices by some special Bull. The third That by their Lordships means an Act may be obtained in the present Parliament for the repealing of the Statute by which the Citizens of London which refused to make payment of their Tithes were to be ordered at the discretion of the
symitry which showed it selfe in all her features and what she carried on that side by that advantage was over-ballanced on the other by a pleasing sprightfulnesse which gained as much upon the hearts of all beholders It was conceived by those Great Critticks in the schooles of Beauty that love which seemed to threaten in the eyes of Queen Jane did only seem to sport it selfe in the eyes of Queen Ann that there was more Majesty in the Gaâ—b of Queen Jane Seimour and more lovelinesse in that of Queen Ann Bollen yet so that the Majesty of the one did excell in Lovelyness and that the Lovelinesse of the other did exceed In majesty Sir John Russell afterwards Earle of Bedford who had beheld both Queens in their greatest Glories did use to say that the richer Queen Jane was in clothes the fairer she appeared but that the other the richer she was apparrelled the worse she looked which showes that Queen Ann only trusted to the Beauties of Nature and that Queen Jane did sometimes help her selfe by externall Ornaments In a word she had in her all the Graces of Queen Ann but Governed if my conjecture doth not faile me with an evener and more constant temper or if you will she may be said to be equally made up of the two last Queens as having in her all the Attractions of Queen Ann but Regulated by the reservednesse of Queen Katharine also It is not to be thought that so many rare perâ—ections should be long concealed from the eye of the King or that love should not worke in him it's accustomed effects of desire and hope In the prosecution whereof he lay so open to discovery that the Queen couâ—d not chuse but take notice of it and intimated her suspitioâ—s to him as appeares by a letter of hers in the Scrinia Sacra Iâ— which she signifies unto him that by hastning her intended death he would be left at liberty both before God and man to follow his affection already setled on the Party for whose sake she was reduced unto that condition and whose name she could some while since have pointed to his Grace not being ignorant of her suspicions And it appeared by the event that she was not much mistaken in the Mark she aimed at For scarce had her lementable death which happened on the nineteenth of May prepared the way for the Legitimating of this new affection but on the morrow after the King was secretly married to Mistress Seimour and openly showed her as his Queen in the Whitsontide following A Marriage which made some alteration in the face of the Court in the advancing of her kindred and discountenancing the Dependants of the former Queen but otherwise produced no change in Affaires of State The King proceeded as before in suppressing Monasteries extinguishing the Popes Authority and â—ltering divers things in the face of the Câ—uâ—ch which tended to that Reformation which after followed For on the eighth of June began the Parliament in which here past an Act for tâ—e finall extinguishing of the Power of the Popes of Rome Cap. 10. And the next day a Convocation of the Bishops and Clergy managed by Sir Thomas Cromwell advanced about that time unto the Title of Lord Cromwell of Wimbledon and made his Majesties Viccar Generall of all Ecclesiast â—all Matâ—ers in the Realme of England By whose Authority a book was published after Mature debate and Deliberation under the name of Articles Devised by the Kings Highness in which mentioned â—ut three Sacraments that is to â—ay Baptisme Penâ—ance and the Lords Supper Besides which book there were some Acts agreed upon in the Convocation for diminishing the superflâ—ous number of Holy dayes especially of such as happened in the time of Harvest Sâ—gnified afterwards to the people in certain Injunctions published in the Kings name by the new Viccar Generall as the first fruits of his Authority In which it was ordained amongst other things that the Curates in every Parish Church should teach the People to say the Lords Prayer the Creed the Ave-Mary and the Ten Commandments in the English Tongue But that which seemed to make most for the Advantage of the new Queen and her Posterity if it please God to give her any was the unexpected death of the Duke of Richmond the Kings naturall Son begotten on the body of the Lady Talboiâ— So dearly cherished by his Father having then no lawful Issuâ—-male that in the sixth yeare of his Age An. 1525. he created him Earl of Nottingham and not long after Duke of Richmond and Sommerset preferred him to the Honourable office of Earle Marshall elected him into the Order of the Garter made him Lord Admirall of the Royall Navy in an expedition against France and finally Affianced him to Mary the daughter of Thomas Howard Duke of Norâ—olk the most â—owerfull Subject in the Kingdom Now were these all the favours intended to him The Crown it selfe being designed him by the King in default of Lawfull Issue to be procreated and begotten of his Royall Body For in the Act of the Succession which past in the Parliament of this year the Crown being first setled upon the Issue of this Queen with the remainder to the Kings issue lawfully begotten on any following wife whatsoever there past this clause in favour of the Duke of Richmond as it was then generally conceived that is to say That for lack of lawfull heires of the Kings body to be procreated or begotten as is afore limitted by this Act it should and might be lawfull for him to confer the same on any such Person or Persons in Possession and Remainder as should please his Highnesse and according to such Estate and after such manner â—orme fashion order and condition as should be expressed declared named and lâ—mitted in his said Letters Patents or by his last Will the Crown to be enjoyed by such person or persons so to be nominated and appointed in as large and ample manner as if such Person or Persons had been his Highnesse Lawfull Heires to the Imperiall Crown of this Realm And though it might please God as it after did to give the King some Lawfull Issue by this Queen yet took he so much care for this naturall son as to enable himselfe by another Clause in the said Act to advance any person or persons of his most Royall Blood by Letters Patents under the Great Seale to any Title Stile or Name of any Estate Dignity or Honour whatsoever it be and to give to them or any of them any Castles Honours Mannours Lands Tenements Liberties Franchiefes or other Hereditaments in â—ee simple or Fee â—tail or for terme of their lives or the life of any of them But all these expectations and Provisions were to no effect the Duke departing this life at the age of 17 yeares or thereabouts within few dayes after the ending of this Session that is to say on the 22th day of July Anno 1536. to the
For notwithstanding all these Motives the See remained where it was and the Bishop continued in that See till this present year in which he was made use of amongst many others by the Lord Protectour for Preaching up the War against Scotland For which and many other good Services already passed but more to be performed hereafter he was Translated to this See on the death of Knight but the precise Day and Time thereof I have no where found But I have found that being Translated to this See he gratified the Lord Protectour with a Present of eighteen or nineteen Manours which antiently belonged unto it and lying all or most part of them in the County of Sommerset seemed very conveniently disposed of for the better Maintainance of the Dukedom or rather of the Title of the Duke of Sommerset which he had took unto himself More of which strange Donations we shall finde in others the more to be excused because there was no other means as the Times then were to preserve the whole but by advancing some part thereof to the Spoil of others Anno Regni Edw. Sexti 2o. An. Dom. 1547 1548. THe Parliament ending on the twenty fourth day of December as before was said seems to have put a stop to all Publique Businesses as if it had been done of purpose to give the great Ministers of State a time of breathing But no sooner was the year begun I mean the second year of the King but that a Letter is sent from the Arch-Bishop to Doctour Bonnâ—r Bishop of London requiring him in the name of his Majesty and the Lords of his Council to proceed unto the Reformation of such Abuses as were therein mentioned and to give Order for the like to the rest of the Suffragans By antient Right the Bishops of London are accounted Deans of the Episcopal College and being such were by their place to signifie the pleasure of their Metropolitane to all the Bishops of the Province to execute his Mandates and disperse his Missives on all Emergency of Affairs as also to preside in Convocations or Provincial Synods during the vacancy of the See or in the necessary absence of the Metropolitane In which Capacity and not out of any Zeal he had to the Reformation Bishop Bonner having received the Arch-Bishop's Letters communicateth the Contents thereof to the rest of the Suffragan-Bishops and amongst others to Doctour Thomas Thirlby then Bishop of Westminster in these following words My very Good Lord AFter my most hearty Commendations These are to Advertise your Good Lordship that my Lord of Canterbury's Grace this present 28th of January sent unto me his Letters Missive containing this in Effect That my Lord Protectour's Grace with advice of other the King's Majestie 's Honourable Privy Council for certain Considerations them moving are fully resolved that no Candles shall be borne upon Candlemassâ— day nor also from henceforth Ashes or Palms used any longer requiring Me thereupon by his said Letters to cause Admonition and Knowledg thereof to be given unto your Lordship and other Bishops with celerity accordingly In consideration whereof I do send at this present these said Letters to your Good Lordship that you thereupon may give Knowledge and Advertisement thereof within your Diocess as appertaineth Thus committing your Good Lordship to Almighty God as well to fare as your Good heart can best desire Written in haste at my House in London the said 28th of January 1547 8. Such was the Tenour of this Letter the Date whereof doth very visibly declare that the Counsel was as suddain as the Warning short For being Dated on the 28th of January it was not possible that any Reformation should be made in the first particular but onely in the Cities of London and Westminster and the parts adjoyning the Feast of Purification following within five days after But yet the Lords drove on so fast that before this Order could be published in the remote parts of the Kingdom they followed it with another as little pleasing to the main body of the People concerning Images which in some places of the Realm were either not taken down at all as was required the year before by the King's Injunctions or had been re-advanced again assoon as the first Heats of the Visitation had began to cool Which because it cannot be expressed more clearly then in the Letters of the Council to the Lord Arch-Bishop and that the Reader be not troubled with any Repetitions I shall commit the Narrative thereof to the Letters themselves which are these that follow AFter Our Right Hearty Commendations to Your Good Lordship where now of late in the King's Majestie 's Visitations amongst other Godly Injunctions Commanded generally to be observed through all parts of this His Highness Realm One was set forth for the taking down of such Images as had at any time been abused with Pilgrimages Offerings or Censes albeit that this said Injunction hath in many parts of the Realm been quietly obeyed and executed yet in many other places much strife and contention hath risen and dayly riseth and more and more increaseth about the execution of the same Some men being so Superstitious or rather Willfull as they would by their good Wills retain all such Images still though they have been most manifestly abused And almost in every place is Contention for Images Whether they have been abused or not And whilst these men go on on bothsides contentiously to obtain their minds contending whether this Image or that Iâ—age hath been Offered unto Kissed Censed and otherwise abused Paris have in some places been taken in such sort as further Inconveniences be like to ensue if remedy be not found in time Considering therefore that almost in no place of this Realm is any sure quietness but where all Image be clean taken away and pulled down already to the intent that all Contention in every part of this Realm for this matter may be clearly taken away and the lively Image of Christ should not contend for the dead Imaâ—es which be things not necessary and without the which the Churches of Christ continued most Godly many years We have thought good to signifie unto you that his Highness Pleasure with the Advice and Consent of Vs the Lord Protectour and the rest of the Council is That immediately upon sight hereof with as convenient diligence as you may you shall not onely give Order that all the Images remaining in any Church or Chapel within your Diocess be removed and taken away but also by your Letters signifie unto the rest of the Bishops within your Province this his Highness pleasure for the like Order to be given by them and every of them within their several Diocesses And in the Execution hereof We require both you and the rest of the said Bishops to use â—uch forâ—-sight as the same may be quietly done with as Good satisfaction of the People as may be From Sommerset Place the 11th of Febr.
till Michaelmass-Day An. 1547. At what time and for some time after Doctour Barlow who succeeded Knight was actually Bishop of St. Davia's and therefore Farrars could not be Consecrated to that See some weeks before I finde again in a very good Authour that Doctour Farrar was the first Bishop made by Letters Patents without Capitular Election which could not be till after the end of the last years Parliament because till then the King pretended not to any such Power of making Bishops And Thirdly if Bishop Barlow had not been Translated to the See of Wells till the year 1549. as Bishop Godwin saith he was not it must be Barlow and not Farrars who first enjoyed the benefit of such Letters Patents because Barlow must first be removed to Wells before the Church of St. Davia's was made void for Farrars So that the Consecration of Farrars to the See of St. David's being placed by the Canons of that Church in an Information made against him on the fifth of September it must be on the fifth day of September in this present year and neither in the year 1547. as the Acts and Monuments make it nor in the year 1549. as in Bishop Godwin Anno Regni Edw. Sexti 3 o. An. Dom. 1548 1549. THere remains yet one Act of this Parliament which we have not spoke of but of a different nature from all the rest I mean the Act for the Attainder of the Lord Thomas Seimour whose Tragedy came on but now though the Ground thereof was laid in the former year The occasion much like that of the two great Ladies in the Roman Story Concerning whom it is related by Herodian that when the Emperour Commodus was unmarried he permitted his Sister Lucilla whom he had bestowed on Pompeianus a Right Noble Senatour to have a Throne erected for Her on the Publick Theatre Fire to be borne before Hâ—r when she walked abroad and to enjoy all other Privileges of a Princâ—'s Wife But when Commodus had Married Crispina a Lady of as great a Spirit though of lower Birth Lucilla was to lose her place and to grow less in Reputation then before she was This so tormented her proud heart when she perceived that nothing could be gained by disputing the Point that she never lest practicing one mischief on the neck of another till she had endangered the young Emperour's life but utterly destroyed her self and all those friends whom she had raised to advance her Interess VVhich Tragedy the Names of the Actours being onely changed was now again played over in the Court of England Thomas Lord Seimour being a man of lofty Aims and aspiring Thoughts had Married Queen Katharine Parr the Relict of the King deceased who looking on him as the Brother of the Lord Protectour and being looked on as Queen Dowager in the eye of the Court did not conceive that any Lady could be so forgetfull of her former Dignity as to contend about the place But therein she found her self deceived for the Protectour's Wife a Woman of most infinite Pride and of a Nature so imperious as to know no rule but her own Will would needs conceive her self to be the better Woman of the two For if the one were widow to the King deceased the other thought her self to stâ—nd on the Higher ground in having all advantages of Power above her For what said She within Her self Am not I wife to the Protectour who is King in Power though not in Title a Duke in Order and Degree Lord Treasurer and Earl Marshal and what else he pleaseth and one who hath Enâ—obled His highest Honours by his late great Victory And did not Henry Marry Katharine Parr in His doting Days when he had brought himself to such a Condition by His Lusts and Cruelty that no Lady who stood upon Her Honour would adventure on Him Do not all Knees bow before Me and all Tongues celebrate My Praises and all Hands pay the Tribute of Obedience to Me and all Eys look upon Me as the first in State through whose Hands the Principal Offices in the Court and chief Preferments in the Church are observed to pass Have I so long Commanded him who Commands two Kingdoms And shall I now give place to Her who in her former best Estate was but Latimer's Widow and is now fain to cast Her self for Support and Countenance into the despised Bed of a younger Brother If Mr. Admiral teach his Wife no better Manners I am She that will and will choose rather to remove them both whether out of the Court or out of the World shall be no great mâ—tter then be out-shined in My own Sphere and trampled on within the Verge of my Jurisdiction In this Impatiency of Spirit she rubs into the Head of the Duke her Husband over whom she had obtained an absolute Mastery How much he was despised by the Lord Admiral for his Mildness and Lenity What secret Practices were on foot in the Court and Kingdom to bring him out of Credit with all sorts of People What â—tore of Emissaries were imployed to cry up the Lord Admiral as the Abler man And finally that if he did not look betimes about him he would he forthwith dispossessed of his Place and Power and see the same conferred on one of his own preferring This first begat a Diffidence in the Duke of his Brother's Purposes which afterwards improved it self to an estranging of Affection and at last into an open Breach But before Matters could proceed to the last Extremity the Queen died in Child-birth which happened September last 1648 being delivered of a Daughter who afterwards was Christened by the name of Mary A Lady of a mild and obliging Nature honoured by all the Court for her even Behaviour and one who in this Quarrel had been meerly passive rather maintaining what she had then seeking to invade the place which belonged not to her And here the Breach might have been closed if the Admiral had not ran himself into further Dangers by practicing to gain the good Affections of the Princess Elizabeth He was it seems a man of a strange Ambition in the choice of his Wives and could not level his Affections lower then the Bed of a Princess For an Essay whereof he first addressed himself to the Lady Mary Duchess of â—ichmond and Sommerset Daughter of Thomas Duke of Norfolk and Widow of Duke Henry before mentioned the King 's Natural Brother But she being of too high a Spirit to descend so low he next applied himself to the Wâ—dow-Queen whom he beheld as double Jointured one who haâ— filled her Coffers in the late King's Time and had been gratified with a Legacy of four thousand pounds in Plate Jewels and Mony which he had Means enough to compass though all other Debts and Legacies should remain unpaid And on the other side She looked on him as one of the Peers of the Realm Lord Admiral by Office Uncle to the King and Brother to
after another till they sunk to eight The French on the other side began as low at one hundred thousand but would be drawn no higher then to Promise two that being as they affirmed the greatest Portion which ever any of the French Kings had given with a Daughter But at the last it was accorded that the Lady should be sent into England at the French King's Charges when She was come within three Moneths of the Age of Marriage sufficiently appointed with Jewels Apparel and convenient Furniture for Her House That at the same time Bonds should be delivered for Performance of Covenants at Paris by the French and at London by the King of England and That in case the Lady should not consent after She should be of Age for Marriage the Penalty should be one hundred and fifty thousand Crowns The perfecting of the Negotiation and the settling of the Ladie 's Joynture referred to such Ambassadours as the French King should send to the Court of England Appointed whereunto were the Lord Marshal of France the Duke of Guise the President Mortuillier the Principal Secretary of that King and the Bishop of Perigeux who being attended by a Train of 400. men were conducted from Graves-end by the Lord Admiral Clinton welcomed with Great Shot from all the Ships which lay on the Thames and a Vollie of Ordnance from the Tower and lodged in Suffolk-Place in South-wark From whence attended the next day to the King's House at Richmond His Majesty then remaining at Hampton-Court by reason of the Sweating Sickness of which more anon which at that time was at the Highest Having refreshed themselves that night they were brought the next day before the King to whom the Marshal presented in the name of his Master the Collar and Habit of St. Michael being at that time the Principal Order of that Realm in testimony of that dear Affection which he did bear unto him greater then which as he desired him to believe a Father could not bear unto his Natural son And then Addressing himself in a short Speech unto His Highness he desired him amongst other things not to give entertainment to Vulgar Rumours which might breed Jealousies and Distrusts between the Crowns and that if any difference did arise between the Subjects of both Kingdoms they might be ended by Commissioners without engaging either Nation in the Acts of Hostility To which the King returned a very favourable Answer and so dismissed them for the present Two or three days being spent in Feasting the Commissioners on both sides settled themselves upon the matter of the Treaty confirming what had passed before and adding thereunto the Proportioning of the Ladie 's Jointure Which was accorded at the last to the yearly value of ten thousand Marks English with this Condition interposed that if the King died before the Marriage all her Pretensions to that Jointure should be buried with him All Matters being thus brought unto an happy Conclusion the French prepared for their Departure at which Time the Marshal presented Monsieur Boys to remain as Legier with the King and the Maâ—quess presented Mr. Pickering to be his Majestie 's Resident in the Court of France And so the French take leave of England rewarded by the King in such a Royal and Munificent Manner as shewed he very well understood what belonged to a Royal Suitour those which the French King had designed â—or the English Ambassadours not actually bestowed till all things had been fully settled and dispatched in England hardly amounting to a fourth part of that Munificence which the King had shewed unto the French Grown confident of his own Security by this new Alliance the King not onely made less Reckoning of the Emperour 's Interposings in the Case of Religion but proceeded more vigorously then before in the Reformation the Building up of which upon a surer and more durable Bottom was contrived this year though not established till the next Nothing as yet had been concluded positively and Dogmatically in Points of Doctrine but as they were to be collected from the Homilies and the Publick Liturgie and those but few in Reference to the many Controversies which were to be maintained against the Papists Anabaptists and other Sectaries of that Age. Many Disorders had grown up in this little time in the Officiating the Liturgie the Vestures of the Church and the Habit of Church-Men began by Calvin prosecuted by Hooper and countenanced by the large Immunities which had been given to John a Lasco and his Church of Strangers And unto these the change of Altars into Tables gave no small Encrease as well by reason of some Differences which grew amongst the Ministers themselves upon that Occasion as in regard of of that Irreverence which it â—bred in the People to whom it made the Sacrament to appear less Venerable then before it did The People had been so long accustomed to receive that Sacrament upon their Knees that no Rule or Canon was thought necessary to keep them to it which thereupon was not imprudently omitted in the Publick Rubricks The Change of Altars into Tables the Practise of the Church of Strangers and Lasco's Book in Maintainance of sitting at the Holy Table made maâ—y think that Posture best which was so much countenanced And what was like to follow upon such a Liberty the Proneness of those Times to Heterodoxies and Prophaness gave just cause to fear Somewhat was therefore to be done to prevent the Mischief and nothing could prevent it better then to reduce the People to their Antient Custome by some Rule or Rubrick by which they should be bound to receive it kneeling So for the Ministers themselves they seemed to be as much at a Loss in their Officiating at the Table as the People were in their Irreverences to the Blessed Sacrament Which cannot better be expressed then in the words of some Popish Prelats by whom it was objected unto some of our chief Reformers Thus White of Lincoln chargeth it upon Bishop Ridley to omit his prophane calling of the Lord's Table in what Posture soever scituated by the Name of an Oyster-Board That when their Table was Constituted they could never be content iâ—placing the same now East now North now one way now another untill it pleased God of his Goodness to place it quite out of the Church The like did Weston the Prolocutour of the Convocation in the first of Queen Mary in a Disputation held with Latimer telling him with Reproach and Contempt enough that the Protestants having turâ—ed their Table were like a Company of Apes that knew not which way to turn their Tails looking one day East and another West one this way and another that way as their Fancies lead them Thus finally one Miles Hubbard in a Book called The Display of Protestants doth report the Business How long say they were they learning to set their Tables to minister the Communion upon First they placed it aloft where the High
to the great Troubles in the Court began in the Destruction of the Duke of Sommerset but ending in the untimely death of this Hopeful King so signified as it was thought upon the Post-Fact by two strange Presages within the compass of this year and one which followed in the next The first of this year was a great and terrible Earthquake which happened on the twenty fifth of May at Croydon and some other Villages thereabouts in the County of Surrey This was conceived to have Prognosticated those Concussions which afterwards happened â—n the Court to the fall of the Great Duke of Sommerset and divers Gentlemen of Note and Quality who perished in the same ruin with him The last was of six Dolphins taken up in the Thames three of them at Queen Borough and three near Grenwich the least as big as any Horse The Rarity whereof occasioned some Grave men to dispence with their Prudence and some Great Persons also to put off their State that they might behold a Spectacle so unusual to them Their coming up so far beheld by Mariners as a Presage of foul weather at Sea but afterwards by States-Men of those Storms and Tempests which afterwards befell this Nation in the Death of King Edward and the Tempestuous Times of Queen Marie's Reign But the most sad Presage of all was the Breaking out of a Disease called the Sweating Sickness appearing first at Shrewsbury on the fifteenth of April and after spreading by degrees over all the Kingdom ending its Progress in the North about the beginning of October Described by a very Learned Man to be a new strange and violent Disease wherewith if any man were attached he dyed or escaped within nine hours of ten at most if he slept as most men desired to do he dyed within six hours if he took cold he dyed in three It was observed to Rage chiefly amongst men of strongest Constitution and years few aged Men or Women or young Children being either subject to it or dying of it Of which last sort those of most Eminent Rank were two of the Sons of Chaâ—ls Brandon both dying at Cambridg both Dukes of Suffolk as their Father had been before but the youngest following his dead Brother so close at the Heels that he onely out-lived him long enough to enjoy that Title And that which was yet most strange of all no Foreigner which was then in England four hundred French attending here in the Hottest of it on that King's Ambassadours did perish by it The English being singled out tainted and dying of it in all other Countries without any danger to the Natives called therefore in most Latine Writers by the name of Sudor Anglicus or The English Sweat First known amongst us in the beginning of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh and then beheld as a Presage of that troublesom and Laborious Reign which after followed the King being for the most part in continual Action and the Subjects either sweating out their Blood or Treasure Not then so violent and extreme as it was at the present such infinite Multitudes being at this time swept away by it that there died eight hundred in one week in London onely These being looked on as Presages we will next take a view of those sad Events which were supposed to be prognosticated by them beginning first with the Concussions of the Court by open Factions and ending in a Sweating Sickness which drew out some of the best Blood and most Vital Spirits of the Kingdom The Factions Headed by the Duke of Sommerset and the Earl of Warwick whose reconciliation on the Earl's part was but feigned and counterfeit though he had both given and taken Pledges for a faster Friendship The good success he found in his first attempt against the Duke when he degraded him from the Office of Lord Protectour emboldened him to make some further trial of his Fortune to which there could not be a stronger Temptation then the Servility of some Great Men about the Court in prostituting their affection to his Pride and Tyranny Grown absolute in the Court but more by the weakness of others then any virtue of his own he thought it no impossible matter to make that Weakness an improvement of his strength and Power And passing from one Imagination to another he fixed at last upon a Fancy of transferring the Imperial Crown of this Realm from the Royal Family of the Tudors unto that of the Dudlies This to be done by Marrying one of his Sons to the Lady Jane the eldest Daughter of Henry Lord Marquess Dorset and of the Lady Francis his Wife one of the Daughters and co-Heirs of Charls Brandon the late Duke of Suffolk by Mary Dowager of France and the beâ—t-beloved Sister of King Henry the Eighth In order whereunto he must first oblige the Marquess by some signal favour advance himself to such a Greatness as might render any of his Sons an agreeable match for either of the Marquess's Daughters and finally devise some means by which the Duke of Sommerset might be took out of the way whose life he looked on as the principal Obstacle to his great Aspirings By this Design he should not onely satisfie his Ambition but also sacrifice to Revenge The Execution of his Father in the first year of the Reign of the late King Henry would not out of his mind and by this means he might have opportunity to execute his just vengeance on the King's Posterity for the unjust Murther as he esteem'd it of his innocent Father Confirmed in these Resolves by Sir John Gates Lieutenant of the Band of Pensioners who was reported afterwards to have put this Plot into his Head at the first as he stood to him in the prosecution of it to the very last The Privy Council of his own thoughts having thus advised the Privy Council of the King was in the next place to be made sure to him either obliged by Favours or gained by Flatteries those of most Power to be most Courted through a smooth Countenance fair Language and other thriving Acts of insinuation to be made to all Of the Lord Treasurer Paulet he was sure enough whom he had found to have so much of the Willow in him that he could bend him how he pleased And being sure of him he thought himself as sure of the Publick Treasure as if it were in his own Pockets The Marquess of North-hampton was Captain of the Band of Pensioners encreased in Power though not in Place by ranging under his Command as well the Light-Horse as the Men at Arms which had served at Bulloign With him the Earl had peeced before drew him into his first Design for bringing down the Lord Protectour to a lower Level but made him faster then before by doing so many good Offices to Sir William Herbert who had Married his Sister Which Herbert being son of Richard Herbert of Ewias one of the Bastards of William Lord Herbert of Ragland the first
French when they were in England the onely two great Charges which we finde Him at in the whole course of His Reign must be inconsiderable It was to no purpose for Him to look too much backward or to trouble Himself with enquiring after the ways and means by which He came to be involved in so great a Debt It must be now his own care and the endeavours of those who plunged Him in it to finde the speediest way for His getting out And first they fall upon a course to lâ—ssen the Expenses of His Court aâ—d Family by suppressing the Tables formerly appointed for young Lords the Masters of the Requests Serjeant at Arms c. which thought it saved some money yet it brought in none In the next place it was resolved to call such Officers to a present and publick Reckoning who either had embezelled any of the Crown Lands or inverted any of the King's Money to their private use On which course they were the more intent because they did both serve the King and content the People but might be used by them as a Scourge for the whipping of those against whom they had any cause of quarrel Amongst which I finde the new Lord Paget to have been fined six thousand pound as before was said for divers Offences of that nature which were charged upon him Bâ—aumont then Master of the Rolls had purchased Lands with the King's Money made longer Leases of some other Crown Lands then he was authorized to do by his Commission and was otherwise guâ—lty of much corrupt and fraudulent dealing For expiating of which Crimes he surrendred all his Lands and Goods to the King and seems to have been well befriended that he sped no worse The like Offences proved against one Whaley one of the King's Receivers for the County of York for which he was punished with the loss of his Offices and adjudged to â—tand to any such Fine as by his Majesty and the Lords of hâ—s Council shouâ—d be set upon him Which manner of proceeding though it be for the most part pleasing to the Common People and profitable to the Common-Wealth yet were it more unto the honour of a Pâ—ince to make choice of such Officers whom He thinks not likely to offend then to sacrifice them to the People and His own Displeasures having thus offended But the main Engine at this time for advancing Money was the speeding of a Commission into all parts of the Realm under pretence of selling such of the Lands Goods of Chanterys c as remained unsold but in plain truth to seize upon all Hangings Altar-Cloths Fronts Parafronts Copes of all sorts with all manner of Plate which was to be found in any Cathedral or Parochial Church To which Rapacity the demolishing of the foâ—mer Altars and placing the Communion Table in the middle of the Quires or Chancels of every Church as was then most used gave a very good hâ—â—t by rendring all such Furnitures rich Plate and other costly Utensils in a manner useless And that the business might be carryed with as much advantage to the King as might be He gave out certain Instâ—uctâ—ons under his Hand by which the Commissioners were to regulate themselves in their Proceedings to the advancement of the service Amongst which pretermitting those which seem to be Preparatoriâ—s onely unto all the rest I shall put down as many as I think material And that being done it shall be left to the Reader 's Judgment whether the King being now in the sixteenth year of his Age were either better studied in his own Concernments or seemed to be worse principled in Maâ—ters which concerned the Church Now the most Material of the said Instructions were these that follow 1. The said Commissioners shall upon their view and survey taken cause due Inventories to be made by Bills or Bookâ— indented of all manner of Goods Plates Jewels Bells and Ornaments as yet remaining or any wise forthcoming and belonging to any Churches Chapels Fraternities or Gilds and one part of the said Inventories to send and return to 〈◊〉 Privy Council and the other to deliver to them in whose hands the said Goods Plate Jewels Bells and Ornaments shall remain to be kept and preserved And thâ—y shall also give good Charge and Order that the same Goods and every part thereof be at all times forthcoming to be answered leaving nevertheless in every Parish-Church or Chapel of common resort one two or more Chalices or Cups according to the multitude of People in every such Church or Chapel and also such other Ornameâ—ts as by their discretion shall seem requisite for the Divine Service in every such place for the time 2. That because Information hath been made that in many Places great quantities of the said Plate Bells Jewels Ornaments hath been embezelled by certain private men contrary to his Majestie 's express Commandment in that behalf the said Commissioners shall substantially and justly enquire and attain the knowledge thereof by whose default the same is or hath been or in whose hands any part of the same is come And in that point the said Commissioners shall have good regard that they attain to certain Names and dwelling Places of every person or persons that hath sold alienated embezelled taken or carryed away or of such also as have counselled advised and commanded any part of the said Goods Plate Jewels Bells Vestments and Ornaments to be taken or carryed away or otherwise embezelled And these things they shall as certainly and duly as they can cause to be searched and understood 3. That upâ—n full search and enquiry thereof the said Commissioners four or three of them shall cause to be called before them all such persons by whom any of the said Goods Plate Jewels Bells Ornaments or any other the Premises have been alienated embezelled and taken away or by whose means and procurement the same or any part thereof hath been attempted or to whose hands or use any of the same or any profit for the same hath grown And by such means as to their discretions shall seem best cause them to bring into these the said Commissioners hands to Our use the said Plate Jewels Bells and other the Premises so alienated for the true and full value thereof certifying unto Our Privy Council the Names of all such as refuse to stand to or obey their Order touching their delivery or restitution of the same or the just value thereof To the intent that as cause and reason shall require every man may answer to his doings in this behalf 4. To these another Clause was added touching the moderation which they were to use in their Proceedings to the end that the effect of their Commission might go forward with as much quiet and as little occasion of trouble or disquiet to the Multitude as might be using therein such wise perswasions as in respect of the place and disposition of the People may seem to their Wisdoms most
been content to be lookers on in case they had not moved against Her Prevention in such Cases was the wholesomest Physick which therefore was to be administred with all speed that might be before those Companies encreased and were united under some Commander which might gain them the Reputation of a little Army little at first but like enough to become so midable to their Enemies if not broken in time Some Forces therefore to be sent under the Conduct and Command of some Person who was well affected to the Cause to scatter those small Companies before they grew unto an Head to seise upon the Lady Mary and bring Her with him to the Court where they knew well enough how to make sure of her For which Employment none more fit then the Duke of Suffolk who had the greatest Stock going in the present Adventure and whose affection to the Queen being raised out of the Bowels of Nature would prompt him to dispatch the Service with his utmost Diligence And because possibly the Lady Mary hearing of these Preparations might fly for safety into Flanders and create more Trouble to them there then She could at home it was thought necessary that such Ships as lay upon the Downs should be Commanded to attend on the Coast of Norfolk to intercept Her on the Way if peradventure she should think of flying to the Emperour's Court. So was it Counselled and Concluded But the matter could not be carried so close as not to come to the Queen's Knowledg to whom the least Drop of Her Father's Blood was far more pretious then all the Kingdoms in the World so that with Tears in Her Eys and Voice as mournfull as Her Face She besought such of the Lords as She conceived to be most tenderly affected towards Her to be Her Mediatours to the rest of the Council that Her Father might be suffered to remain with Her and that some other Man more exercised in Deeds of Arms might be sent out on that Employment Nor was the Motion made in vain For some there were who secretly had as great a Mind to put Northumberland upon the Service as She could be to have Her Father excused from it They saw how things were like to go and how generally the People were enclined to King Henrie's Children and could not promise to themselves any long Securiâ—y under that Power which they had put into the hands of a weak young Lady who must be altogether Governed by Duke Dudlie's Counâ—els Of whom they stood in so great Fear that none of them durst oppose his Doings or stear their Course unto that Point which most they aimed at and which they doubted not to gain if they could finde a Way to send him from the Council-Table No way more probable then this and this they meant to husband to the best advantage using their best Endeavours to perswade him to the Understanding of the present Service For who said they can be so proper as Tour Grace to undertake this Expedition into Norfolk where Your late Victories hath made Your Name so Terrible to all Sorts of People is may disperse them without Battail For should the Matter come to Blows which God prohibit what man so able as Your Self in the Art of War the Order of Encamping the putting of Your Men into such a Figure as may best suit with the Advantages which are offered to You and animating the mâ—st Cowardly Soâ—ldiers not onely by Your own Exemplary Valour but by strong Perswasions Whom have we in the Realm so dexterous in Point of Treaty so able to perswade the â—nemy to lay down Arms which is the Noblest Way of conquering the tâ—ue-born English if once it came unto Parle as they hoped it would Besides the Queen had made it Her most earnest Suit that Her Father might be spared to stay wâ—th Her till those Terours and Affrights were over and had moreover pointed out His Grace as the abler Man and more fit for Action then which what can be further said to prompt Your Grace to lay faâ—â— hold upon all opportunities for obliging Her who may hereafter finde so many Ways for obliging You. Swelled with vain Glory and tickled with the frequent mention of his dear Abilities he suffered Himself to be entreated to an Action of such Fame and Merit as that which they presented to â—im And signifying his Assent with a feigned Unwillingness he told them That He woulâ— make Ready his own Power on the morrow after not doubting but They would send Theirs with him or speed them after him That He must recommend the Queen unto Their Fidelity of whose Sacred Person he desired Them to be very tender All which they Promised him to do And having thus settled the Affairs they made the Queen acquainted in Northumberland's Presence with how great readiness he had took the danger of that Action upon himself to give Her the Contentment of eâ—joying Her Father's company till the present storm was over-blown who humbly thanked the Duke for so great a favour and chearfully desired him not to be wanting to the Publick and his personal safety That evening and the greatest part of the next day being spent in Raising men and making other necesâ—ary preparations for the Expedition he repairs again to the Court and once more putting them in mind of hasting their Forces and appointing New-Market for the place of their Rendez-vous he took his Leave of them in these Words or to this Effect My Lords said he I and these other Noble Personages with the whole Army that now goes forth as well for the behalf of You and Yours as for the Establishing of the Queen's Highness shall not onely aâ—venture our Bodies and Lives amongst the Bloody Strokes and Cruel Assaults of our Adversaries in the open Fields but also we do leave the Conservation oâ— our Selves Children and Families at home here with You as altogether committed to your Trust and Fidelity Whâ—m if we thought You would through Maâ—ice Conspiracy or Dissension leave us Your Friâ—nds in the Briars and betray us we could as well sundry ways fore see and provide for our own safe-guards as any of You by betraying us can do for Yours But now upon the onely Trust and Faithfulness of Your Honours whereof we think our selves most assured we do hazard our â—ives which Trust and Promise if You shall Violate hoping thereby of Life and Promotion yet shall not God count You innâ—cent of our Bloods neither acquit You of the Sacred Holy Oath of Allegiance made freely by You to this Virtuoâ—s Lady the Queen's Highness Who by Your and Our Enticement is rather of force placed therein then by Her own seeking and Request Consider also that God's Cause which is the Prefeâ—ment of His Word and the fear of the return of Popery hath been as Ye have heretofore always said the Original cause whereupon Ye even at the first motion granted Your good Wills and Consents thereunto as by Your
person which was the Marquis of Winchester Lord Treasurer of England the other twelve being two Earls six Lords and four Knights the sacred part thereof performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury assisted by the Bishops of London and Rochester the funeral Sermon being pâ—eached by the Bishop of London which tended much unto the praise and commendation of that famous Emperor By which solemnity as she did no small honor to the dead so she gave great contentment to the living also the people being generally much delighted with such glorious pomps and the Church of England thereby held in estimation with all forein Princes Nothing else memorable in this year but the comming out of certain books and the death of Caâ—vin Dorman an English fugitive first publisheth a book for proof of certain of the Articles denyed in Bishop Jewel's challenge encountred first by Alexander Nowel Dean of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul who first appeared in print against those of Lovain and is replyed upon by Dorman in a book entituled A Discovery of Mr. Nowel's untruths not published till the year next following But of more consequence to this Church was the death of Calvin by whose authority so much disorder and confusion was to be brought upon it in the times succeeding a name much reverenced not onely by those of his own party and perswasions but by many grave and moderate men who did not look at first into the dangers which ensued upon it His platform at Geneva made the onely pattern by which all reformed Churches were to frame their Government his Writings made the onely rule by which all Students in Divinity were to square their Judgments What Peter Lombart was esteemed to be in the Schools of Rome the same was Calvin reckoned in all those Churches which were reformed according to the Zuinglian doctrine in the point of the Sacrament But Hic Magister non tenetur as the saying was he was not so esteemed in England nor was there any reason why it should be so for though some zealous brethren of the Presbyteterian or Puritan faction appeared exceeding ambitious to wear his Livery and thought no name so honorable as that of Calvinist yet the sounder members of the Church the Royal and Prelatical Divines as the others called them conceived otherwise of him And the right learned Adrian Sararia though by birth a Dutch-man yet being once preferred in the Church of England he stomached nothing more than to be called Calvinian Anno Reg. Eliz. 7. A. D. 1564 1565. WE shall begin this year with the concernments of the Kirk of Scotland where Queen Eâ—izabeth kept a Stock still going the Returns whereof redounded more to her own security than to the profit and advantage of the Church of England The Queen of Scots was young poffessed of that Kingdom and next Heir to this first married to the Daulphin of France and sued to after his decease in behalf of Charls the younger son of the Emperor Maximilian as also of the Prince of Conde and the Duke of Bavaria But Queen Elizabeth had found so much trouble and danger from her first alliance with the French that she was against all Marriages which might breed the like or any way advance the power of that Competitor But on the contrary she commended to her the Earl of Leicester whom she pretended to have raised to those eminent honors to make him in some fort capable of a Queens affection Which proposition proved agreeable to neither party the Queen of Scots disdaining that unequal offer and Leicester dealing underhand with Randolph the English Resident to keep her still in that averseness He had foolishly given himself some hopes of marrying with Elizabeth his own dread Mistress interpreting all her favours to him to proceed from affection and was not willing that any Proposition for that purpose with the Queen of Scots should be entertained During these various thoughts on both sides the English began to be divided in opinion concerning the next heir to the Crown Imperial of this Realm One Hales had writ a discourse in favour of the House of Suffolk but more particularly in defence of the late marriage between the Earl of Hertford and the Lady Katherine for which he was apprehended and committed prisoner The Romish party were at the same time sub-divided some standing for the Queen of Scots as the next heir apparent though an alien born others for Henry Lord Darnlie eldest son to the Earl of Lenox born in the Realm and lineally descended from the eldest daughter of King Henry the 7th from whom the Queen of Scots also did derive her claim The Queen of Scots also at the same time grown jealous of the practices of the Lord James her bastard-brother whom she had not long before made Earl of Murrey and being over-powered by those of the Congregation was at some loss within her self for finding a fit person upon whose integrity she might depend in point of counsel and on whose power she might rely in point of safety After a long deliberation nothing seemed more conducible to her ends and purposes than the recalling of Matthew Earl of Lenox to his native Country from whence he had been forced by the Hamiltonians in the time of King Henry Being of great power in the West of Scotland from the Kings whereof he was extracted Henry conceived that some good use might be made of him for advancing the so much desired marriage between his onely son Prince Edward and the Infant-Queen The more to gain him to his side he bestowes upon him in marriage the Lady Margaret Dowglas daughter of Queen Margaret his eldest sister by Archibald Dowglas Earl of Angus her second husband of which marriage were born Henry Lord Darnly of whom more anone and Charls the second son whom King James created Earl of Lenox father of Arabella before remembred And that they might support themselves in the nobler equipage he bestowes upon him also the Mannor of Setrington with other good Lands adjoyning in the County of Yoâ—k passing since by the name of Lenox his Lands in the style of the people In England he remained above twenty years but keptâ— himself constant in all changes to the Church of Rome which made him the more estimable both with his own Queen and the English Papists Being returned into his Country he found that Queen so gracious to him and such a handsome correspondence with the chief Nobility that he sends for his two sons to come thither to him but leaves his wife behind in the Court of England lest otherwise Queen Elizabeth might take some umbrage or displeasure at it if they should all remove at once It was about the middle of February that the Lord Darnly came to the Court of Scotland Who being not full twenty years old of lovely person sweet behaviour and a most ingenuous disposition exceedingly prevailed in short time on the Queens affection She had now met with such a
man as might please her fancy and more secure her title to the Crown of England than any of the great Kings in Europe What then should hinder her from making up a mariage so agreeable to her so acceptable to the Catholick party in both Kingdoms and which she thought withall of so safe a condition as could create no new jealousies in the brest of Elizabeth But those of the Leicestrian faction conceived otherwise of it and had drawn most of the Court and Council to conceive so to For what could more secure the interess of the Queen of Scots than to corroborate her own Title with that of Darnly from which two what children soever should proceed they would draw to them many hearts in the Realm of England who now stood fair and faithful to their natural Queen In this great fear but made much greater of set purpose to create some trouble it was advised that the Queen should earnestly be intreated to think of mariage to the end that the succession might be setled in her own posterity that all Popish Justices whereof there were many at that time might be put out of Commission and none admitted to that office but such as were sincerely affected to the Reformed Religion that the old deprived Bishops which for the most part lived at liberty might be brought to a more close restraint for fear of hardning some in their errours and corrupting others with whom they had the freedom of conversation that a greater power might be conferred upon the English Bishops in the free exercise of their jurisdiction for suppressing all such Popish Books as were sent into England depriving the English Fugitives of all those Benefices in this Kingdom which hitherto they had retained and all this to be done without incurring the danger of a Premunire with which they were so often threatned by the common Lawyers It was advised also that for a counterpoise unto the Title of the Queen of Scots some countenance should be given to the House of Suffolk by shewing favour to the Earl of Hartford and the Lady Katherine and that to keep the ballance even with the Romish Catholicks some moderation should be used to such Protestant Ministers you may be sure the Earl of Leicester had a hand in this as hitherto had been opposiâ—e in external matters to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church here by Law established Nor was this mariage very pleasing to the Scots themselves the chief Lords of the Romish party who faithfully had adher'd to their natural Queen in all her former troubles conceived that some of them might be as capable of the Queens affections as a young Gentleman born in England and one that never had done any service which might enoble and prefer him before all the rest The Ministers exclaimed against it in their common preachings as if it were designed of purpose to destroy Religion and bring them under their old vassalage to the Church of Rome The Noble men and others of the Congregation who had sold themselves to Queen Elizabeth were governed wholly by her Counsels and put themselves into a posture of Arms to disturb the Maâ—ch the Edenburgers do the like but are quickly scatter'd and forc'd to submit themselves to their Queens good pleasure who was so bent upon her mariage with this young Nobleman that neither threatnings nor perswasions could divert her from it And thaâ— he might appear in some capacity fit for the mariage of a Queen she first confers upon him the Order of Knighthood and afterwards creats him Baron of Ardamanack Earl of Rosse and Duke of Rothsay which are the ordinary Titles of the eldest and second sons of Scotland In May she had convented the Estates of Scotland to whom she communicated her intention with the reasons of it Which by the greatest part of the Assembly seemed to be allowed of none but the Lord Ochiltrie opposing what the rest approved About the middle of July the mariage Rites were celebrated in the Royal Chapel by the Dean of Restairig and the next day the new Duke was proclaimed King by sound of Trumpet and declared to be associated with the Queen in the publick government The newes whereof being brought unto Queen Elizabeth she seemed more offended than indeed she was For well she knew that both the new King and the Earl his Father were men of plain and open natures not apt to entertain any dangerous counsels to the disturbance of her quiet that as long as she retained the Countesse with her who was the Mother of the one and the Wife of the other they seemed to stand bound to their good behaviour and durst act nothing to the prejudice of so dear a pledge but by the precipitation of this mariage the Queen of Scots had neither fortified her self in the love of her people nor in alliances abroad and that it could not otherwise be but some new troubles must break out in Scotland upon this occasion by which it would be made uncomfortable and inglorious to her And so it proved in the event for never was mariage more calamitous to the parties themselves or more dishonourable to that Nation or finally more scandalous to both Religions in nothing fortunate but in the birth of James the 6th born in the Palace of Edenborough on the 19th of July Anno 1566. solemnly Crowned King of the Scots on the same day of the Month Anno 1567. and joyfully received to the Crown of England on the 14th of March Anno 1602. In greater glory and felicity reigned the Queen of England Whose praise resounding in all Kingdoms of the North and West invited Caecille sister to the King of Sweden and wife of Christopher Marquisse of Baden to undertake a tedious journey both by land and sea from the furthest places of the North to see the splendor of her Court and observe the prudence of her Government Landing at Dover in the beginning of September they were there received by the Lord Cobham with a goodly train of Knights and Gentlemen at Canterbury by the Lady Cobham with the like honourable train of Ladies and Gentlewomen at Gravesend by the Lord Hunsdon with the band of Pensioners at London on the 11th of September by the Earl of Sussex and his Countesse who waited on them to the Lodging appointed for them Scaâ—â—e had she rested there four dayes when she fell into a new travel of which she was happily delivered by the birth of a son whom the Queen Christned in her own person by the name of Edwardus Fortunatus the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Duke of Norfolk being Sureties with her at the Font. She called him Edward with relation to the King her brother whose memory she dearly loved and Fortunatus in regard that he came so luckily into the world when his Mother after a most painful pilgrimage was safely come to pay her Devotions at that Shrine which she so much honoured Having remained here till the April