England which original is in that famous Library of Sir Robert Cotton out of which Sir James Ware that learned Antiquary tanscribed the same Within few years after that the Act of Supremacy had past in Ireland we do find a Letter written by George Browne to the Lord Cromwell complaining of the Clergy how they fell off from what had past and how the Bishop of Rome had contrived matters against the then Reformation Collected by Sir James Ware out of an old Registry some time in the custody of Adam Loftus Hugh Corwins Successor and also Archbishop of Dublin Right Honourable and my singular good Lord. I Acknowledge my bounden Duty to your Lordships Good will to me next to my Saviour Christs for the Place I now possess I pray God give me his Grace to execute the same to his G lory and his Highness's Honour with your Lordships Instructions The People of this Nation be zealous yet blind and unknowing most of the lergy as your Lordship hath had from me before being ignorant and not able to speak right Words in the Mass or Liturgy as being not skilled in the Latin Grammar so that a Bird may be taught to speak with as much sense as several of them do in this Country These sorts though not Scholars yet are crafty to cozen the poor Common People and to dissuade them from following his Highness's Orders George my Brother of Armagh doth underhand occasion Quarrels and is not active to execute his Highness's Orders in his Diocess I have observed your Lordships Letter of Commission and do find several of my Pupils leave me for so doing I will not put others in their Livings till I do know your Lordships Pleasure for it is meet I acquaint you first the Romish Reliques and Images of both my Cathedrals in Dublin of the Holy Trinity and of St. Patricks took off the Common People from the true Worship but the Prior and the Dean find them so sweet for their Gain that they heed not my Words Therefore send in your Lordships next to me an Order more full and a Chide to them and their Canons that they might be removed Let the Order be that the Chief Governours may assist me in it The Prior and Dean have written to Rome to be encouraged and if it be not hindred before they have a Mandate from the Bishop of Rome the People will be bold and then tugg long before his Highness can submit them to his Graces Orders The Country Folk here much hate your Lordship and despitefully call you in their Irish Tongue the Blacksmiths Son The Duke of Norfolk is by Armagh and that Clergy desired to assist them not to suffer his Highness to alter Church Rules here in Ireland As a Friend I desire your Lordship to look to your Noble Person for Rome hath a great kindness for that Duke for it is so talked here and will reward him and his Children Rome hath great Favours for this Nation purposely to oppose His Highness and so having got since the Act passed great Indulgences for Rebellion therefore my hope is lost yet my Zeal is to do according to your Lordships Orders God keep your Lordship from your Enemies here and in England Dublin the 3d. Kalends April 1538. Your Lordships at Commandement George Browne To the Lord Privy Seal his Honourable good Loraships Ex Autographo Soon after this Letter had been written News came to the Castle of Dublin that the Bishop of Rome had sent over a Bull of Excomunication of all those who had or shall own the Kings Supremacy within the Irish Nations whichcaused the Archbishop to write accordingly Right Honourable MY Duty premised it may please your Lordship to be advertised sithence my last there has come to Armagh and his Clergy a private Commission from the Bishop of Rome prohibiting His Gratious Highness's people here in this Nation to own his Royal Supremacy and joyning a Curse to all them and theirs who shall not within forty days confess to their Confessors after the publishing of it to them that they have done amiss in so doing the substance as our Secretary hath translated the same into English is thus I A B. from this present hour forward in the presence of the holy Trinity of the Blessed Virgin Mother of God of St. Peter of the holy Apostles Archangels Angels Saints and of all the holy Host of Heaven shall and will be always obedient to the holy See of St. Peter of Rome and to my holy Lord the Pope of Rome and his Successors in all things as well spiritual as temporal not consenting in the least that his holiness shall lose the least Title or Dignity belonging to the Papacy of our Mother Church of Rome or to the Regality of St. Peter I do vow and swear to maintain help and assist the just Laws Liberties and Rights of the Mother Church of Rome I do likewise promise to confer to defend and promote if not personally yet willingly as in ability able either by Advice Skill Estate Mony or otherwise the Church of Rome and her Laws against all whatsoever resisting the same I further how to oppugn all Hereticks either in making or setting forth Edicts or Commands contrary to the Mother Church of Rome and in case any such to be moved or composed to resist it to the uttermost of my power with the first convenience and opportunity I can possible I count and value all Acts made or to be made by Heretical Powers of no force or worth or be practised or obeyed by my self or by any other Son of the Mother Church of Rome I do further declare him or her Father or Mother Brother or Sister Son or Daughter Husband or Wife Vncle or Aunt Nephew or Neece Kinsman or Kinswoman Master or Mistress and all others nearest or dearest Relations Friend or Acquaintance whatsoever accursed that either do or shall hold for the time to come any Ecclessastical or Civil power above the Authority of the Mother Church or that do or shall obey for the time to come any of her the Mother of Churches Opposers or Enemies or contrary to the same of which I have here sworn unto so God the Blessed Virgin St. Peter St. Paul and the holy Evangelists help c. His Highness Vice Roy of this Nation is of little or no power with the old Natives therefore your Lordship will expect of me no more than I am able This Nation is poor in Wealth and not sufficient now at present to oppose them It is observed that ever since His Highness's Ancestors had this Nation in possession the old Natives have been craving Foreign Powers to Assist and Rule them and now both English Race and Irish begin to oppose your Lordships Orders and do lay aside their National old Quarrels which I fear will if any thing will cause a Foreigner to invade this Nation I pray God I may be a false Prophet yet your good Lordship must
Papists these promises vanished and then began the Romish Church not only to undo what King Henry and his Son King Edward had reformed but to prosecute the Reformers and Reformed with Fire and Faggot But to our purpose upon the 11 th of November Anno 1553. she recalled Sir James Crofts and sent over Sir Anthony St. Leger Lord Deputy into Ireland This Sir Anthony had not been half a year Chief Governour of Ireland before Queen Mary revoked the Title of Primacy from George Browne expulsing Hugh Goodacre out of the Archbishopric of Armagh and recalling George Dowdall to his See and restoring him to the Primacy of all Ireland as formerly which Title hath ever since stood firm in Armagh without any Revocation either by Queen Elizabeth or by any of her Successors George Browne upon this Revocation was by George Dowdall expulsed and not thought fit to continue in his See of Dublin as being a married man and it is thought had he not been married he had been expulsed having appeared so much for the Reformation in both these former Kings days upon the expulsing of this George Browne all the Temporalities belonging to the Archbishoprick were disposed of unto Thomas Lockwood then Dean of Christ Church in Dublin It having been an antient Custom ever upon the Translation or Death of any of those Archbishops to deposite the Temporalities into the hands of the Priors formerly of that Cathedral when it was a Priory and called by the name of the Cathedral of the Blessed Trinity And it is observable the last Prior became the first Dean upon the alteration as aforesaid The See of Dublin after this Expulsion lay vacant for two years or thereabouts until Hugh Corrin alias Corwine was placed therein This Hugh was borne in Westmoreland a Doctor of the Law being formerly Archdeacon of Oxford and Dean of Hereford he was consecrated Archbishop of Dublin in the Cathedral of St. Pauls in London on the 8 th of September Anno 1555. He after upon the 13 th of the same Month was by Queen Mary made Chancellor of Ireland and upon the 25 th of the said September he received this Letter from the Queen directed to Thomas Lockwood the Dean of Christ-Church it being an antient custome formerly to recommend the Archbishop whensoever constituted for that See to the Prior of that said Cathedral Queen Maries Letter to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church in Dublin to receive the Archbishop of Dublin honourably and with due respect Copia vera ex Libro nigro Sanctae Trinitatis Dublinii MARY the Queen TRusty and wellbeloved We greet you well and for asmuch as the Right Reverend Father in God our Right trusty and wellbeloved Counsellor the Archbishop of Dublin being lately chosen for that See reparieth speedily to that our Realm of Ireland as well to reside upon the Cure of his Bishoprick which now of long time hath been destitute of a Catholick Bishop as also to occupy the Office of our high Chancellor of that our Realm albeit we have good hopes ye will in all things of your selves carry your selves towards him as becometh you yet to the intent he might the better govern the Charge committed unto him to the Honour of Almighty God and for the remain of our Service We have thought fit to require and charge you that for your part ye do reverently receive him honour and humbly obey him in all things as appertaineth to your Duties tending to Gods glory our Honour and the Common-weal of that our Realm whereby ye shall please God and do us acceptable Service Given under our Signet at our Mannor of Greenwich the 25 th of September in the second and third years of our Reign To our trusty and well beloved the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral of Christ Church within our Realm of Ireland I have here inserted this Letter upon two accounts first as being a Record remaining in the Cathedral secondly because there hath been some discourse of late whether the Archbishop of Dublin had power herein or whether it was upon King Henrys Mutation made a Deanery as Whitehall Chappel is and no Cathedral but by this Letter it shews it is both still a Cathedral and subject to the Archbishop of Dublin George Browne lived not long after the Consecration of this Hugh Corwine yet I have among my Manuscripts a Writting of a Papist who would fain have perswaded the world that this George Browne dyed through Joy having had a Bull from the Pope to be restored to his See of Dublin which must needs be false upon this account of Sir James Wares who writeth these very words of him in his Book entituled De Praesulibus Hiberniae pag. 120. 1554. Circa tempus Georgius Browneys quod conjugatus esset per Dowdalluâ—â— Archiepiscopum Armachanum alios Delegatos ex Authoritatus est otherwise the Pope if he had granted such a Bull must likewise have dispensed with his Marriage it being contrary to the Romish Tenents for Bishops to marry Having related thus much of George Browne and of Ecclesiastical matters during his life we shall proceed a little further concerning a short Sermon of his preached unto the people in Christ Church upon the first Sunday after Easter anno 1551. being a Copy of the same given to Sir James Ware Knight by Anthony Martin late Bishop of Meath who formerly was Tutor to the said Sir James Ware when he was a Student in Trinity Colledge Dublin The TEXT Psal 119. Ver. 18. Open mine eyes that I may see the wonders of thy Law THe wonders of the Lord God have for a long time been hid from the children of Men which hath hapned by Rome's not permitting the common people to read the holy Scriptures for to prevent you that you might not know the comfort of your Salvation but to depend wholly on the Church of Rome they will not permit it to be in any tongue but in the Latin saying that Latin was the Roman Tongue But the wonderful God inspired the holy Apostles with the knowledge of all Languages that they might teach all people in their proper Tongue and Language which caused our wise King Henry before his death to have the holy Scriptures transcribed into the English Tongue for the good of his Subjects that their eyes may be opened to behold the wondrous things out of the Law of the Lord. But there are false Prophets at this instant and will be to the end of the World that shall deceive you with false Doctrines expounding this Text or that purposely to confound your understandings and to lead you captive into a wilderness of Confusion whom you shall take as your friends but they shall be your greatest enemies speaking against the Tenents of Rome and yet be set on by Rome these shall be a rigid people full of fury and envy But to prevent these things that are to come observe Christ and his Apostles Let all things be done with with
decency with mildness and in order servently crying unto God Open thou mine eyes that I may behold the wondrous things out of thy Law then should you rightly keep the Law and the Prophets It is the part of a Prince to be wise for he hath a great Charge to Rule and govern a Nation Your late King foreseeing Rome and her Pope's intentions how that he intended to inslave his Subjects and to keep them in the state of ignorance consulted with the Learned of his Realm knowing that Youth might quickly be wrought on therefore he prepared before his death a wise and Learned sort of Counsellors for his Sons Overseers not trusting to one or two but to several that he might the better Rule his people whose eyes the Lord God Almighty hath opened betimes to behold his wondrous works Though the words of my Text be plainly thus Open thou mine eyes the meanest of you that hear me have eyes but the true meaning of the words is Endue us with understanding for a Fool hath eyes and sees men women beasts birds and other things but yet wants understanding So when we say Open thou our eyes we desire the Lord God to instruct and teach us the knowledge of his Laws When you were lately led in blindness your eyes beheld the Images that then stood in several of the Monasteries and Churches until they were removed yet all this while were your understandings blinded because ye believed in them and placed your trust in them Suppose an Artist or Workman make an Image either of Man or Woman and at last a Clergy man of Rome give it such a name calling it St. Peter or St. Paul or St. Mary or St. Anne must not that man though he behold his own handy work and knows in his heart that it was his own work blind and void of and understanding of the Law of God and of the wondrous things that are contained in the Law of the Lord Yes surely he must be blind and void of Reason and of the true Faith that would worship the same The Workman carved the Eyes but these Eyes see not he likewise carved the Ears but they hear not the Nose and it smells not the Mouth and it neither breaths nor speaks the Hands they feel not the Feet but they stand stâ—â—k still How therefore can your prayers be acceptable unto this Image that sees you not approaching towards it that hears you not when you pray to it that smells not the sweet smells be they of Myrrhe or Frankincense burning before it How can it absolve you when the mouth is not able to say Thy sins are forgiven thee And if you place a certain sum of Money in the palm of the hand of that Image come you again to morrow the Money it is true shall find a customer but the Image never the wiser who took it and if you desire to have it come unto you it cannot without help therefore the Workman that made this Image is as blind as deaf as dumb and as void of sense as the Image it self and so be ye all that put your trust in them Therefore of late new Artificers by springs have made artificial ones which for a certain time shall move and ye shall believe it to be real and certain But beware good people for they be but lying wonders purposely that ye may break the Law of God And thus hath the Devil devised a lying wonder that ye may be deluded to break the Law of the Lord which is Thou shalt not make unto thy self any Graven Image O Lord open thou our Eyes our Ears and our Understanding that we may behold the wondrous things that are in thy Law The Law of God is an undefiled Law Oh! why should we be so wicked then as to defile that Law which the Almighty God hath made so pure without blemish Jesus came to fulfil the Law and not to abolish the Law But there are a new fraternity of late sprung up who call themselves Jesuits which will deceive many who are much after the Scribes and Pharisees manner Amongst the Jews they shall strive to abolish the truth and shall come very near to do it for these sorts will turn themselves into several forms with the Heathen an Heathenist with Atheists an Atheist with the Jews a Jew and with the Reformers a Refomade purposely to know your intenations your minds your hearts and your inclintions and thereby bring you at last to be like the fool that said in his heart there was no God These shall spread over the whole World shall be admitted into the Council of Princes and they never the wiser Charming of them yea making your Princes reveal their hearts and the secrets therein unto them and yet they not perceive it which will happen from falling from the Law of God by neglect of fulfilling of the Law of God and by winking at their sins yet in the end God to justifie his Law shall suddenly cut off this Society even by the hands of those who have most succour'd them and made use of them so that at the end they shall become odious to all Nations They shall be worse than Jews having no resting place upon the Earth and then shall a Jew have more favour than a Jesuite Now to arm you all good Christians against these things that are to come lest ye be led into temptation Cry unto the Lord your God and heartily pray that he would be so merciful unto you as to open the eyes of your understanding that you may behold the wonders and pleasantness that is in his Law Which God of his mercy grant that you may all do Thus concluding with the Acts and Deeds of this Reverend Father we shall end with Queen Maries Designs how she intended to have persecuted the Protestants in Ireland but by Providence prevented as you shall further know by this following Relation being averred by several sufficient persons as well Ecclesiastical as Civil Qu. Mary having dealt severely with the Protestants in England about the latter end of her Reign signed a Commission foâ— to take the same course with them in Ireland and to executâ— the same with greater force she nominates Doctor Cole one of the Commissioners sending the Commission by this Doctor who in his Journey coming to Chester the Mayor of that City hearing that Her Majesty was sending a Messenger into Ireland and he being a Churchman waited on the Doctor who in discourse with the Mayor taketh out of a Cloak-bag a Leather Box saying unto him Here is a Commission that shall lash the Hereticks of Ireland calling the Protestants by that title The good Woman of the House being well affected to the Protestant Religion and also having a Brother named John Edmonds of the same then a Citizen in Dublin was much troubled at the Doctors words but watching her convenient time whilst the Mayor took his leave and the Doctor complementing him down the stairs she opens the Box and takes the Commission out placing in lieu thereof a Sheet of paper with a Pack of Cards the Knave of Clubs faced uppermost wrapt up The Doctor coming up to his Chamber suspecting nothing of what had been done put up the Box as formerly The next day going to the Waterside wind and Weather serving him he sails towards Ireland and landed on the Seventh of October 1558. at Dublin then coming to the Castle the Lord Fitz Walters being Lord Deputy sent for him to come before him and the Privy Council who coming in after he had made a Speech relating upon what account he came over he presents the Box unto the Lord Deputv who causing it to be opened that the Secretary might read the Commission there was nothing save a pack of Cards with the Knave of Clubs uppermost which not only startled the Lord Deputy and Council but the Doctor who assured them he had a Commission but knew not how it was gone then the Lord Deputy made answer Let us have another Commission and we will shuffle the Cards in the mean while The Doctor being troubled in his mind went away and returned into England and coming to the Court obtained another Commission but staying for a wind at the waterside news came unto him that the Queen was dead and thus God preserved the Protestants in Ireland This being a Copy of Richard Earl of Cork his Memorials as also of Henry Vsher sometime Lord Primate of Armagh being also entred amongst Sir James Wares Manuscripts who hath often heard the late James Vsher Nephew to the said Henry and also Primate of Armagh avert the same and wondred that Mr. Fox had not inserted it in his Acts and Monuments there is yet living a reverend Father of the Church Henry now Lord Bishop of Meath who can affirm this Relation from the said James Vsher late Lord Primate of all Ireland Upon the recalling of the Lord Fitz Walters into England Queen Elizabeth who succeeded her Sister dscoursing with the said Lord concerning several passages in Ireland amongst other discourses he related the aforesaid passage that had hapned in Ireland which so delighted the Queen that Her Majesty sent for the good Woman named Elizabeth Edmonds but by her Husband named 〈…〉 gave her a Pension of Forty pound durantâ— vitae for saving 〈◊〉 Protestant Subjects of Ireland FINIS George Cromer then Arch bishop of Armagh The form of their Confession to their Popish Priest
Historical Collections OF THE CHURCH IN IRELAND DURING The Reigns of K. Henry VIII Edward VI. and Q. Mary WHEREIN Are several material Passages omitted by other Historians concerning the Manner how that Kingdom was first converted to the Protestant Religion and how by the special Providence of God Dr. Cole a bloody Agent of Q. Mary was prevented in his Designs against the Protestants there Set forth in the Life and Death of GEORGE BROWNE sometime Arcbishop of Dublin who was the first of the Romish Clergy in Ireland that threw off the Popes Supremacy and forsook the Idolatrous Worship of of Rome with a Sermon of his on that Subject Printed at London and sold by Randal Tayler 1681. The Reformation of the Church of Ireland in the Life and Death of GEORGE BROWNE sometime Archbishop of Dublin c. GEORGE BROWNE by Birth an Englishman of the Order of St. Augustine in London and Provincial of the Fryars of the same Order in England being a Man of a meek and peaceable Spirit was preferr'd to the Archiepiscopal See of Dublin by King Henry the Eighth and consecrated before his Arrival into Ireland by Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury two other Bishops assisting him viz. John then Bishop of Rochester and Nicholas then Bishop of Sarubury on the 19th of March Anno 1535. The Reverend James Vsher late Primate of Armagh amongst his Memorials of Ireland gives this holy Father this Description George Browne was a Man of a cheerful Countenance in his Acts and Deeds plain down right to the poor merciful and compassionate pitying the state and condition of the Souls of the People advising them when he was Provincial of the Augustine Order in England to make their applications soly to Christ which Advice coming to the Ears of Henry the 8th he became a Favourite and upon the decease of John Allen late Archbishop of Dublin became his Successor within five years after that he had enjoyed that See he much about the time that King Henry the 8th began to demolish the Priories Abbeys and Monasteries formerly Built by the Romish Clergy within these His Majesties Dominions of England and Ireland caused all Superstitious Reliques and Images to be removed out of the two Cathedrals in Dublin and out of the rest of the Churches within his Diocess he caused the Ten Commandements the Lords Prayer and the Creed to be placed being gilded and in Frames about the Altar in the Cathedral of Christ-Church in Dublin he was the first that turned from the Romish Religion of the Clergy here in Ireland to embrace the Reformation of the Church of England for which Fact he was by Queen Mary laid aside and his Temporality taken from him yet he patiently endured Affliction for the Truth to the end Upon the Reformation of King Henry 8th in England and at his Renouncing the Papal Power or Supremacy of Rome the Lord Thomas Cromwell then Lord Privy Seal wrote unto George Browne then Archbishop of Dublin signifying from his Highness then terming the King by that Title that he was fallen absolutely from Rome in Spiritual matters within his Dominion of England and how it was his Royal Will and Pleasure to have his Subjects there in Ireland to obey his Commands as in England nominating the said George Browne Archbishop one of his Commissioners for the Execution thereof who in a short space of time wrote to the Lord Privy Seal as followes My mosâ— Honoured Lord YOur humble Servant receiving your Mandate as one of His Highness's Commissioners hath endeavoured almost to the danger and hazard of this temporal life to procure the Nobility and Gentry of this Nation to due obedience in owning of his Highness their supream Head as well Spiritual as Temporal and do find much oppugning therein especially by my Brother Armagh who hath been the main oppugner and so hath withdrawn most of his Suffragans and Clergy within his See and Jurisdiction he made a Speech to them laying a Curse on the people whosoever should own his Highness Supremacy saying that Isle as it is in their Irish Chronicles Insula sacra belongs to none but to the Bishop of Rome and that it was the Bishop of Romes Predecessors gave it to the Kings Ancestors There be two Messengers by the Priests of Armagh and by that Archbishop now lately sent to the Bishop of Rome Your Lordship may inform his Highness that it is convenient to call a Parliament in this Nation to pass the Supremacy by Act for they do not much matter his Highness's Commission which your Lordship sent us over This Island hath been for a long time held in Ignorance by the Romish Orders and as for their Secular Orders they be in a manner as ignorant as the people being not able to say mass or pronounce the Words they not knowing what they themselves say in the Roman Tongue the Common people of this Isle are more zealous in their Blindness than the Saints and Martyrs were in Truth at the beginning of the Gospel I send to you my very good Lord these things that your Lordship and his Highness may consult what is to be done It is feared O Neal will be ordered by the Bishop of Rome to oppose your Lordships Order from the Kings Highness for the Natives are much in Numbers within his Powers I do pray the Lord Christ to defend your Lordship from your Enemies Dublin 4. Kalend. Decembris 1535. The Year following a Parliament was called in Ireland the Lord Leonard Grey being then King Henry's Vice-Roy of that Nation in which George Browne then being not many Months above a Year in his Archipiscopal Chair in Dublin stood up and made this short Speech following My Lords and Gentry of this His Majesties Realm of Ireland BEhold your Obedience to your King is the Observing of your God and Saviour Christ for He that High Priest of our Souls paid Tribute to Cesar though no Christian greater Honour then surely is due to your Prince His Highness the King and a Christian one Rome and her Bishops in the Fathers days acknowledged Emperors Kings and Princes to be Supream over their Dominions nay Christs own Viâ—ans And it is as much to the Bishop of Romes shame te deny what their precedent Bishops owned therefore his Highness claims but what he can justifie the Bishop Elutherius gave to St. Lucius the first Christian King of the Britains so that I shall without scrupling vote his Highness King Henry my Supream over Ecclesiastick matters as well as Temporal and Head thereof even of both Isles England and Ireland and that without Guilt of Conscience or sin to God and he who will not pass this Act as I do is no true Subject to His Highness This Speech of George Browne startled the other Bishops and Lords so that at last through great difficulty it passed upon which Speech Justice Brabazon seconded him as appears by his Letter to the Lord Thomas Cromwell then Lord Privy Seal of
pardon my opinion for I write it to your Lordship as a Warning Dublin May 1538 Your humble and true Servant George Browne To the Lord Privy Seal with speed Upon the Feast of St. John Baptist following the said Geoâ—ge Browne seized on one Thady ô Brine one of the Order of â—t Francis who had Papers from Rome as follows being sent to the Lord Privy Seal by a Special Messenger My Son ô Neal THou and thy Fathers were all along faithful to the Mother Church of Rome His Holiness Pau◠〈◊〉 Pâ—â—e and the Council of the holy Fathers there have laâ—ely found out a Prophecy there remaining of one St. Lacâ—rianus an 〈◊〉 Bishop of Cashell wherein he saith That the Mother Church of Rome falleth when in Ireland the Catholic faith is ovâ—â—â—â—me Therefore for the Glory of the Mother Church the Honour of St. Peter and your own Secureness suppress Heresie and his Holiness's Enemies for when the Roman Faith there perisheth the See of Rome falleth also therefore the Council of Cardinals have thought fit to encourage your Country of Ireland as a sacred Island being certified whilst the Mother Church hath a Son of worth as your self and of those that shall succour you and joyn therein that she will never fall but have more or less a holding in Britain in spite of fate Thus having obeyed the Order of the most sacred Council we recommend your Princely Person to the holy Trinity of the Blessed Virgin of St. Peter St. Paul and of all the heavenly Host of Heaven Amen Romae 4 Kalend. May 1538. Episcopus Metensis Upon further Examinations and searches made this Thade ô Birue was pillor'd and confined a prisoner until His Highness's further Order for his Tryal but News coming over that he must be Hanged he made himself away in the Castle of Dublin on the Eve of the Feast of St. James yet his dead Corps was carried to the Gallows Green and hanged up and after there buried but it was said by the Register of St. Francis Monastry of Dublin that they brought him from thence and buried him in that Monastry George Brown having enjoyed the See of Dublin seven years or thereabouts King Henry the 8 th upon the Dissolution of the Abbeys Priorys and Monastrys here in Ireland changed the Priory of the Blessed Trinity of Dublin into a Deanery and Chapters since which Mutation it hath generally bore the Name of Christ Church Upon this Alteration as it appears upon Record this Cathedral consisted of a Dean and Chapters a Chanter a Treasurer six Vicars Chorals and two Singing Boys allowing to them two 45 l. 6 s English durame bene placito which Sum his Daughter Queen Mary confirmed for ever having confirmed the Deanery yet with Alterations as she was a Romanist This Catheral continued after this said form though not in Popery even until King James his days who then altered all what King Henry and his Daughter had done and upon this second Alteration he constituted a Dean a Chanter a Chancellor a Treasurer three Prebends six Vicars Chorals and four Singing Boys ordering likewise that the Archdeacon of Dublin should have a Place in the Quire and a Vote in the Chapters As for a further Description of this Cathedral we shall omit it having reserved the same for a large Narrative of the sald Cathedral in a Book which is ready for the Press entituled The Amiquities of the City of Dublin King Henry the 8 th deceasing and his hopeful Offspring King Edward the 6 th succeeding within a short space after his Royal Fathers Death that hopeful Prince by the Advice of his Privy Council began to consider what good Effects the Translation of the holy Bible had done also how much it had enlightened the Understanding of his Subjects they altered the Liturgy Book from what King Henry had formerly printed and established causing the same to be printed in English commanding the same to be read and sung in the several Cathedrals and Parish Churches of England for the common Benefit of the Nobility Gentry and Commonalty and that his Subjects of Ireland might likewise participate of the same Sweetness he sent over Orders to his Vice Roy Sir Anthony St. Leger then being Lord Deputy of that Nation that the same be forthwith there in Ireland observed within their several Bishopricks Cathedrals and Parish Churches which was first observed in Christ Church at Dublin on the Feast of Easter 1551. before the said Sir Antbony George Browne and the Mayor and Bayliffs of Dublin John Lockwood being then Dean of the said Cathedral The Translation of the Copy of the Order for the Liturgy of the Church of England to be read in Ireland runs as follows EDWARD by the Grace of God c. Whereas our Gratious Father King Henry the 8th of happy memory taking into consideration the Bondage and heavy Yoak that his true and faithful Subjects sustained under the Iurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome as also the Ignorance the Commonalty were in how several fabulous Stories and lying Wonders missed our Subjects in both our Realms of England and Ireland grasping thereby the means thereof into their hands also dispensing with the Sins of our Nations by their Indulgenses and Pardons for Gain purposely to cherish all evil Vices as Robberies Rebellions Thefts Whoredoms Blasphemy Idolatry c. He our Grations Father King Henry of happy memory hereupon dissolbed all Priors Monastrys Abbeys and other pretended Religious Houses as being but Nurseries for Vice or Luxury more than for sacred Learning He therefore that it might more plainly appear to the World that those Orders had kept the light of the Gospel from his People he thought it most fit and convenient for the Preservation of their Souls and Bodies that the holy Scriptures should be Translated Printed and placed in all Parish Churches within his Dominions for his faithful Subjects to encrease their knowledg of God and of our Saviour Iesus Christ We therefore for the general Benefit of our well-beloved Subjects Vnderstandings when ever assembled or met together in the said several Parish Churches either to pray or to hear Prayers read that they may the better joyn therein in Vnity Hearts and Voice have caused the Liturgy and Prayers of the Church to be translated into our Mother Tongue of this Realm of England according to the Assembly of Divines lately met within the same for that purpose We therefore Will and Command as also Authorize you Sir Anthony S. Leger knight our Vice-Roy of that our kingdom of Ireland to give special notice to all our Clergy as well Archbishops Bishops Deans Archdeacons as others our Secular Parish Priests within that our said Kingdom of Ireland to perfect execute and obey this our Royal Will and Pleasure accordingly Given at our Mannor of Greenwich Febr. 6. in the Fifth year of our Reign E. R. To our trusty and well-beloved Sir Anth. St. Leger Knight our Chief Governour of our Kingdom of Ireland