Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	county_n	sir_n	william_n	10,508	5	8.2906	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62991	Historical collections, out of several grave Protestant historians concerning the changes of religion, and the strange confusions following in the reigns of King Henry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, Queen Mary and Elizabeth : with an addition of several remarkable passages taken out of Sir Will. Dugdale's Antiquities of Warwickshire, relating to the abbies and their institution.	Touchet, Anselm, d. 1689?; Hickes, George, 1642-1715.; Dugdale, William, Sir, 1605-1686.	1686 (1686)	Wing T1955; ESTC R4226	184,408	440

began to build new Altars and set up the Mass So fared it now with the Zealots among the Protestants who measuring the Queens Affections by their own or else presuming that their Errors would be taken for an honest Zeal employed themselves as busily in the demolishing of Altars and defacing of Images as if they had been Licensed and commanded to it by some Legal Warrant It happened also that some of the Ministers who remained at home and others which returned in great numbers from beyond the Seas had put themselves into the Pulpits and bitterly enveighed against the Superstitions and corruptions of the Church of Rome The Papists accused the others of Heresies Schisms Innovation in the Worship of God For the Suppressing of which Disorders the Queen Commanded there should be no Disputes concerning Religion and that no Man of what Perswasion soever he was should be suffered to Preach in publick but only such as should be Licensed Which Command and Proclamation was so strictly observed that no Sermon was Preached at St. Paul's Cross or any Publick place in London till the Easter following At which time when the Preacher was to go into the Pulpit the Door was locked and the Key thereof not to be found So that a Smith was sent for to break open the Door and that being done the like necessity was found of cleansing and making sweet the place which by a long disuse had contracted so much filth and nastiness as rendred it unfit for a present Sermon By another Proclamation it was enjoyned That no Man of what quality or degree soever should presume to alter any thing in the State of Religion or innovate in any of the Rites and Ceremonies thereunto belonging But that all such Rites and Ceremonies should be observed in all Parish Churches of the Kingdom as were then used and retained in her Majesties Chappel until some further order should be taken in it Only it was permitted That the Litany should be said in the English Tongue as likewise the Epistle and Gospel at the time of High Mass which was accordingly done in all the Churches of London on the next Sunday after and by degrees in all the other Churches of the Kingdom Further than this She thought it not convenient to proceed at the present Only She Commanded the Priest or Bishop for some say it was the one and some the other who Officiated at the Altar in the Chappel Royal not to make any Elevation of the Sacrament the better to prevent the Adoration which was given to it which she could not suffer to be done in her sight without a most apparent wrong to her Judgment and Conscience Which being made known in other places and all other Churches being commanded to conform themselves to the Example of her Chappel the Elevation was forborn also in most other places And though there were no further progress made towards a Reformation by any publick Act or Edict yet secretly a Reformation in the Form of Worship and consequently in point of Doctrine was both intended and projected Thus far Dr. Heylyn ' Concerning ' the Policy used in making this Change This Relation is thus otherwise delivered by Sir Rich. Baker pag. 474. QUeen Elizabeth intending an Alteration of Religion would not do it all at once and upon the sudden but by little and little As at first she permitted only the Epistles and Gospels of the Day to be read at Mass in English But in all other matters they were to follow the Roman Rite and Custom until order could be taken for Establishing Religion by Authority of Parliament And a severe Proclamation was set out prohibiting all Disputations of Religion By which means She both put the Protestants in hope and put not Papists out of hope Yet privately She committed the Correcting of the Book of Common-Prayer set forth in the English Tongue under King Edward the Sixth to the care and diligence of Dr. Parker and others But the matter was carried on so closely that it was not communicated to any but the Marquess of Northampton the Earl of Bedford and Sir William Cecil Soon after this the use of the Lord's Supper in both kinds was by Parliament allowed And within Two or Three Months the Sacrifice of the Mass was abolished and the Liturgy in the English Tongue Established though as some say but with the difference of Six Voices in the House of Commons The next Month the Oath of Supremacy was offered to the Catholick Bishops and others and the Month following Images were removed out of the Churches broken and burnt By these degrees Religion in England was changed The Supremacy confirmed to the Queen As many of the Bishops as refused to take the Oath were presently deprived of their Bishopricks and Protestant Bishops put in the possession of them Thus Sir Rich. Baker relates this strange manner of changing Religion by degrees A necessary consequence of these Proceedings was a general Confusion in matters of Religion Which is thus set down by Howes upon Stow pag. 635. At this time the English Nation was wonderfully divided in Opinions as well in matters of Ecclesiastical Government as in divers Points of Religion by reason of Three Changes within the compass of Twelve years Every one of these varying from that which was Authorized by Henry the Eighth For King Henry assuming the Ecclesiastical Supremacy with the First Fruits and Tenths maintained Seven Sacraments with Obits and Mass for the Quick and Dead King Edward abolished the Mass Authorized a Book of Common-Prayer in English with Hallowing the Bread and Wine c. and Established only Two Sacraments Queen Mary restored all Things according to the Church of Rome reduced all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to the Papal Obedience with restitution of First Fruits and Tenths permitting nothing within her Realm and Dominions repugnant to the Roman Catholick Church Queen Elizabeth in Her First Parliament expelled the Papal Supremacy resumed the First Fruits and Tenths Suppressed the Mass and for the general Uniformity of her Dominions Established the Book of Common-Prayer in the English Tongue forbidding all others Thus Stow ' concerning these Prodigious Changes in Religion made by Publick Authority CHAP. III. Of the order of the Establishment of this last Change of Religion by Parliament And of a Speech made in Parliament in Opposition to the Queens Supremacy Dr. Heylyn pag. 107. NOw a Parliament draws on Summoned chiefly in reference to the Reformation which was therein to be established The Queens design in order to it could not be so closely carried but that such Lords and Gentlemen as had the managing of Elections in their several Counties retained such Men for Members of the House of Commons as they conceived most likely to comply with their intentions for a Reformation Amongst whom none appeared more active than the Duke of Norfolk the Earl of Arundel and Sir William Cecil In this Parliament there passed an Act for Restoring to the Crown the Tenths and

in the Truth so the Devil is ready to seduce us And I have been seduced But bear me witness That I die in the Catholick Faith of the holy Church And I desire you to pray for me that so long as life remains in this Flesh I waver nothing in my Faith Having said this he was presently beheaded Thus Howes This following Relation although it concerns not the shedding of Blood yet is very remarkable as manifesting how the King's Marriage with the Lady Anne of Cleve was in Parliament declared not lawful Which is thus related by Howes upon Stow Page 578. AFter the Death of the Lady Jane Seymour the King 's Third Wife He Married the Lady Anne of Cleve in the Two and thirtieth year of his Reign From which time the King not only continued his first Misliking of her but his hatred encreased more and more against her not only for want of beauty whereof at first he took exceptions but also for sundry other qualities whereof he secretly accused her As also he said that her body was unpleasant making great doubt that she was no Virgin when she came into England with divers other defects which he said he knew by her outward appearance to be in her And being thus so sore perplexed and desperate of redress he grew wondrous apt and willing to call in question any thing that might tend to the dissolving of this Marriage Within Eight dayes the King told his Physicians his further cause of grief That she was loathsome to him in Bed and that her Body was foul and out of order The King being thus tormented in Body and Mind knew not how to ease himself until he had procured a speedy Divorce Which was thus effected Certain Lords came down into the Lower-House of Parliament expresly declaring the causes why this Marriage was not Lawful And in conclusion the matter was by the Convocation clearly determined that the King might lawfully marry where he would and so might she It appears clearly in the Record what moved the King to this Marriage For these are his words I declare that when the first Communication was had with me about this Marriage I was glad to hearken to it trusting to have some assured Friend by it I much doubting at that time both the Emperor France and the Bishop of Rome Thus Stow. The King 's Fifth Wife Catherine Howard put to death for Adultery As appears by this Relation Baker page 514. THe King was informed of the Queens dissolute life first before her Marriage with one Francis Dereham and since her Marriage with one Thomas Culpepper of the King's Bed-Chamber Whereupon Sir Tho. Wrioths●…ey was sent to the Queen at Hampton-Court to charge her with these Crimes and discharging her Houshold to cause her to be conveighed to Syon The Delinquents being examined Dereham confessed that before the King's Marriage with the Lady Catherine there had been a pre-contract between him and her But when once he understood of the King 's good liking to her he then waved it and concealed it for her preferment These Gentlemen were arraigned and had Judgment to die as in cases of Treason They were drawn from the Tower to Tyburn Where Culpepper was beheaded and Dereham hanged and dismember'd The Lord William Howard and the Lady Margaret his Wife Catherine Tilney and Alice Bestwold Gentlewomen Joan Bulmer Anne Howard Wife to Henry Noward the Queens Brother with divers others were all condemned for Misprision of Treason in concealing the Queens misdemeanour and adjudged to forfeit all their Lands and Goods during life and to remain in perpetual Prison The Lords and Commons in Parliament Petitioned the King That he would not vex himself with the Queens Offences and that both she and the Lady Rochford might be Attainted by Parliament And that to avoid protracting of time he would give his Royal Assent to it under the Great Seal without staying for the end of the Parliament Also that Dereham and Culpepper having been Attainted before by the Common-Law might be Attainted likewise by Parliament All which was Assented unto by the King After this the Queen and the Lady Rochford were beheaded on the Green within the Tower It is certainly said that after her Condemnation She protested to Dr. White Bishop of Winchester her last Confessor That as for the Act for which She was condemn'd She took God and his holy Angels to witness upon her Souls Salvation that She died guiltless Thus of the putting to death of his Wives Here follows an unheard of Cruelty of Bloodshed for Religion in these times of Confusion and Change of Religion ONe Lambert was accused for denying the real presence in the Sacrament who Appeal'd to the King and the King was content to hear him Whereupon a Throne was set up in the Hall of the King's Palace at Westminster for the King to sit And when the Bishops had urged their Arguments and could not prevail then the King took him in hand hoping perhaps to have the Honor of converting an Heretick when the Bishops could not do it and withal promised him pardon if he would recant But all would not do for he remained obstinate the King miss'd his Honor and the Delinquent his Pardon Being shortly after drawn to Smithfield and burnt Baker page 412. Two more were for the same cause burnt Baker in the same page Dr. John Fisher Bishop of Rochester and Sir Thomas Moor expresly denyed at Lambeth before the Archbishop of Canterbury to take the Oath of Supremacy and thereupon were both beheaded Bishop Fisher was much lamented as being reputed a man both learned and wise and of good life Sir Thomas Moor was both learned and very wise His Devotion was such that he used to wear a Shirt of Hair-cloth next his skin for a perpetual Penance And oftentimes in the Church he would put on a Surplice and help the Priest at Mass Which he did not forbear to do when he was Lord Chancellor of England as one time the Duke of Norfolk coming to the Church found him doing it Baker page 406. Sir William Peterson Priest late Commissary of Calais and Sir William Richardson Priest of St. Maries in Calais were both there drawn hang'd and quarter'd in the Market-place for the Supremacy Stow page 579. Dr. Wilson and Dr. Samson Bishop of Chichester were sent to the Tower for relieving certain Prisoners who had denyed to Subscribe to the King's Supremacy And for the same offence Richard Farmer Grocer of London a rich and wealthy Citizen was committed to the Marshalsea and after arraigned and attainted in a Praemunire and lost all his Goods his Wife and Children thrust out of doors Stow page 580. Robert Barns Dr. of Divinity Thomas Gerrard Parson of Honey-lane and William Jerom Vicar of Stepney-Heath Bachelors in Divinity Also Edward Powel Thomas Able and Richard Fetherston all Three Doctors were drawn from the Tower of London to West Smithfield The Three First were drawn to a Stake and there

Father Who looked upon it as an Argument of God's displeasure as being much offended at this Second Marriage He then began to think of His ill Fortune with both His Wives both Marriages subject to cispute and the Legitimation of both His Daughters likely to be called in question in the time succeeding He must therefore cast about for another Wife of whose Marriage and his Issue by Her there could rise no controversie His eye had carried him to a Gentlewoman in the Queens Attendance on the enjoying of whom he so fixed his Thoughts that he had quite obliterated all remembrance of his former Loves Whereupon He began to be as weary of Queen Annes Gayeties and Secular humor as formerly of the Gravity and Reservedness of Queen Katharine And causing many eyes to observe her Actions they brought him a Return of some particulars which he conceived might give him a sufficient ground to proceed upon The Lord Rochfort her own Brother having some Suit to obtain by her means of the King was found whispering to her on her Bed when she was in it which was interpreted for an act of some dishonor done or intended to be done to the King in the aggravating whereof with all odious circumstances none was more forward than the Lady Rochfort her self It was observed also That Sir Henry Norris Groom of the Stool to the King had entertained a very dear affection for her not without giving himself hopes of succeeding in the King's Bed if she chanced to survive Him And it appeared that she had given him opportunity to make his Affection known and to acquaint her with his hopes which she expressed by twitting him in a frolick humor with looking after dead mens shoes Weston and Breerton both Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were observed also to be very diligent in their Services and Addresses to her which were construed more to proceed from Love than Duty Out of all these Premises the King resolved to come to a conclusion of His aims and wishes A Solemn Tilting was maintained at Greenwich at which both the King and Queen were present the Lord Rochfort and Sir Henry Norris being principal Challengers Here the Queen by chance let fall her Handkerchief which was taken up by one of her supposed Favourites who stood under the Window whom the King perceived to wipe his face with it This taken by the King to have been done of purpose he thereupon leaves the Queen and all the rest and goes immediatly to Westminster Rochfort and Norris are the next day committed to the Tower and the Queen likewise After which Breerton and Weston with Mark Smeton one of the King's Musicians were commited on the same occasion These persons being thus committed and the cause made known the next care was to find sufficient evidence for their condemnation It was objected That the Queen growing out of hope of having any issue Male by the King had used the company of the Lord Rochfort Norris Breerton Weston and Smeton involving her at once in no smaller crimes than Adultery and Incest It appears by a Letter of Sir William Kingston Lieutenant of the Tower that he had much communication with her when she was his Prisoner in which her language seemed to be broken and distressed betwixt tears and laughter She exclaimed against Norris as if he had accused her It was further signified in that Letter that she named some others who had obsequiously applyed themselves to her Love and Service acknowledging such passages as shewed she had made use of very great liberties The conclusion of this Business was That both the Queen and the rest of the Prisoners were all put to death So died this great Lady one of the most remarkable Mockeries and Disports of Fortune which these last ages have produced raised from the quality of a private Lady to the Bed of a King Crowned on the Throne and Executed on the Scaffold the Fabrick of her Power and Glory being Six years in Building but cast down in an instant The splendor and magnificence of her Coronation seeming to have no other end but to make her the more glorious Sacrifice at the next Alteration But her death was not the chief mark the King aim'd at If she had only lost her Head though with the loss of her Honor it would have been no Bar to her Daughter Elizabeth from Succeeding her Father in the Throne Now he must have his Bed free from all such pretensions the better to draw on the following Marriage It was therefore thought necessary that she should be separated from his Bed by some other means than the Ax or Sword and that He should be legally separated from her in a Court of Judicature when the Sentence of Death had deprived Her of all means as well as of all manner of desire to dispute the point It doth not appear in Record upon what ground this Marriage was dissolved All which occurs in reference to it is a Solemn Instrument under the Seal of the Archbishop Cranmer by which that Marriage is declared on good and valid Reasons to be null and void Which Sentence was pronounced at Lambeth in the Presence of most of the great Men of that time and approved by the Prelates and Clergy assembled in their Convocation and lastly confirmed by Act of Parliament In which Act there also passed a Clause which declared the Lady Elizabeth to be Illegitimate Thus far Dr. Heylyn concerning her Mother Now because the Relation here made concerning this Queen belongs to the Reign of King Henry the Eighth I think it will not be altogether improper to insert a Speech made in that Kings Reign which did not come to my hands time enough to be put into its proper place A Speech made in the Upper House of Parliment by Dr. John Fisher Bishop of Rochester in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth in opposition to the Suppressing of the lesser Monasteries My Honored Lords THis is the place where your glorious and noble Progenitors have paternized the Kingdom from oppression Here is the Sanctuary where in all Ages but this of ours our Mother Church found still a sound Protection I should be infinitely sorrowful that from you that are so lovely Branches of antiquity and Catholick Honor the Catholick Faith should be so deeply wounded For God's and your own Goodness sake leave not to Posterity so great a blemish that you were the First and only those that give it up to ruine Where there is Cause you nobly punish and with Justice but beware of infringing so long continued Priviledges or denying the Members of the Church the parts of their Advantage that is enjoyed by every private Subject The Commons shoot their Arrows at our Livings which are the Motives that conceit us or make us to be conceived guilty Is all the Kingdom innocent and we only faulty that there is no room left for other Considerations far more weighty The Diligence Devotion and Liberality of

Auricular Confession is expedient and necessary to be retained and continued used and frequented in the Church of God For the which most Godly study pain and travel of His Majesty and determination and resolution of the Premises His humble and obedient Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled not only render and give unto His Highness their most high and hearty Thanks and think themselves most bound to Pray for the long continuance of his Graces most Royal Estate and Dignity And being also desirous that his most Godly enterprize may be well accomplished and brought to a full end and perfection and so Established that the same might be to the Honor of God and after to the common Quiet Unity and Concord to be had in the whole Body of this Realm for ever Do most humbly beseech His Royal Majesty that the Resolution and Determination above written of the said Articles may be established and perpetually perfected by the Authority of this present Parliament It is therefore Ordained and Enacted by the King our Sovereign Lord and by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and by the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That if any Person or Persons within this Realm of England or in any other of the Kings Dominions do by Word Writing Printing Ciphering or any otherwise Publish Preach Teach Say Affirm Declare Dispute Argue or Hold any Opinion 1. That in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar under the Form of Bread and Wine after the Consecration thereof there is not present really the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ conceived of the Virgin Mary or that after the said Consecration there remains any Substance of Bread or Wine or any other Substance but the Substance of Christ God and Man or likewise to Publish Preach Teach Say Affirm Declare Dispute Argue or Hold Opinion that in the Flesh under the Form of Bread there is not the very Blood of Christ or that with the Blood under the Form of Wine there is not the very Flesh of Christ as well apart as though they were both together or by any the means abovesaid or otherwise do Preach Teach Declare or Affirm the said Sacrament to be of other Substance than is abovesaid or do by any means Contemn Deprave or Despise the said Blessed Sacrament that then such Person or Persons so offending shall be deemed and adjudged Hereticks and that every such offence shall be judged manifest Heresie and that every such Offender and Offenders shall therefore have and suffer Judgment Execution Pain and Pains of Death by way of Burning without any Abjuration Clergy or Sanctuary and their Estates to be Confiscated to the King as in Cases of High Treason 2. And moreover if any do obstinately Affirm Uphold Maintain or Defend that the Communion of the Blessed Sacrament in both kinds that is to say in Form of Bread and also of Wine is necessary for the health of Man's Soul or that it ought or should be Given and Administred to any Persons in both kinds or that it is necessary so to be taken or received by any Person other than Priests being at Mass and Consecrating the same 3. Or that any Man after having received the Order of Priesthood may marry 4. Or that any Man or Woman who hath advisedly vowed or professed Chastity or Widowhood may marry 5. Or that Private Masses be not lawful or not laudable or should not be celebrated had nor used in the Realm nor be not agreeable to the Laws of God 6. Or that Auricular Confession is not expedient and necessary to be retained and continued used and frequented in the Church of God Such Persons are to suffer pains of death as in cases of Felony without any benefit of Clergie or Priviledge of Church or Sanctuary and shall forfeit all their Lands and Goods as in cases of Felony Thus far out of the same Book CHAP. IV. Of another Effect of this Change which was a horrid Effusion of Blood QUeen Anne Boleign who had been the first occasion of this Change of Religion was beheaded Whereof there is this Relation Baker pag. 407. It was now the Twenty eighth year of King Henries Reign When there were solemn Justs at Greenwich from whence the King suddenly departed and came to Westminster Whose sudden departure struck amazement into many but to the Queen especially And not without cause For the next day the Lord Rochford her Brother and Henry Norris were brought to the Tower Prisoners Whither also the same day was brought Queen Anne her self Who at the Tower-gate fell on her knees beseeching God to help her as she was innocent of that whereof she was accused Soon after this she was arraigned in the Tower and found guilty and had Judgment pronounced Immediately the Lord Rochford her Brother was likewise Arraigned Who together with Henry Norris Mark Smeton William Brierton and Francis Weston all of the King's Privy-Chamber about matters touching the Queen were beheaded on Tower-hill Within Two days Queen Anne her self on a Scaffold upon the Green within the Tower was also beheaded At her death she spake these words God save my Master and Sovereign the King the most Goodliest Noblest and Gentlest Prince that is and grant him that he may long Reign over you which words she spake with a smiling countenance which done she kneeled down and the Hangman of Calais smote off her head at one stroke For her Religion she was an earnest Professor and one of the first Counternancers of the Gospel The Crimes for which she died were Adultery and Incest She had many Enemies as being a Protestant and perhaps in that respect the King himself not greatly her Friend For though he had excluded the Pope yet he continued a Papist still Her Death cast upon King Henry a dishonorable Imputation Insomuch that whereas the Protestant Princes of Germany had resolved to chuse him for Head of their League after they heard of this Queens Death they utterly refused him Thus far Sir Rich. Baker The next day after her Death the King Married the Lady Jane Seymour Stow Page 573. In the next place Thomas Cromwel who had been the grand Promoter of this business was likewise beheaded Whereof thus writes Howes upon Stow page 508. THomas Cromwel Earl of Essex being in the Council-Chamber was suddenly apprehended and committed to the Tower of London and soon after attainted of Heresie and High Treason When he was brought to the Scaffold on Tower-hill to be executed he spake these words I pray you that be here to bear me witness that I die in the Catholick Faith not doubting in any Article of my Faith or in any Sacrament of the Church Many have slandered me and reported that I have been an A better of such as have maintained evil Opinions which is untrue But I confess that like as God by his holy Spirit does instruct us

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 on the East-part of it the rest of the Scituation of the said Church and College together with the whole Precinct thereof being built upon with several Tenements But for this Sacriliege the Church of Westminster was called immediately to a sober reckoning For the Lord Protector thinking it altogether unnecessary that two Cathedrals should be Founded so near together and conceiving 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 unfurnish'd of a House or Palace proportionable to his Greatness he doubted not to find 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 that Church he could bethink himself of no other means to preserve the whole than by parting for the present with more than half the Estate which belonged unto it And thereupon a Lease is made of Seventy Mannors 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 Seymour to serve as an Addition to his Mannor of Sudeley humbly beseeching him to stand their good Lord and Patron and to preserve them in a fair esteem with the Lord Protector Another Present of almost as many Mannors and Farms lying in the Counties of Glocester Worcester and Hereford was made for the like term to Sir John Mason a special Confident of the Dukes 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 State in the time of Queen Mary And yet this would not serve the turn till they had put into the Scale their Mannor of Islip conferred upon the Church by King Edward the Confessor to which no fewer than Two hundred customary Tenants owed their Soyl and Service and being one of the best Woody things in these parts of the Realm was to be granted also without impeachment of Wast as it was accordingly By means whereof the Deanery was preserv'd for the latter times How it succeeded with the Bishoprick we shall see afterwards Thus Benson saved the Deanery but he lost himself For calling to remembrance that formerly he had been a means to Surrender the Abbey and was now forc'd on the necessity of Dilapidating the Estate of the Deanery he fell into a great disquiet of Mind which brought him to his Death within some Months after The reason of selecting these two Free-Chappels out of all the rest was because there was more depending on the story of them than of any others Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning the College of St. Martins Bad Examples seldom end where they first begin For the Nobility and inferior Gentry possessed of Patronages considering how much the Lords and Great Men of the Court had improv'd their Fortunes by the Suppression of Chantries and other Foundations which had been granted to the King conceiving themselves in a capacity to do the like by taking into their Hands the yearly profits of such Benefices of which by Law they only were entrusted with the Presentations Of which Abuse complaint is made by Bishop Latimer who says That the Gentry of that time invaded the Profits of the Church leaving the Title only to the Incumbent and that Chantry-Priests were put by them into several Cures to save their Pensions That many Benefices were let out in Fee-Farm or given unto Servants for keeping of Hounds Hawks and Horses and for making of Gardens And finally That the poor Clergie being kept to some sorry Pittance were forc'd to put themselves into Gentlemens Houses and there to serve as Clerks of the Kitchin Surveyors Receivers c. Bishop Latimer in his Printed Sermons Page 38. 71. 91. 114. All which Enormities though tending so apparently to the Dishonour of God and Disgrace of Religion were generally connived at by the Lords and others because they could not question those who had so miserably invaded the Churches Patrimony without condemning of themselves Thus Dr. Heylyn relates these Prodigious Sacrilieges CHAP. VI. Of the Sacrileges committed in the Building of Sommerset-House and of the starting up of New Sects and other Occurrences of this Year Dr. Heylyn Page 72. Anno Regni Edwardi Sexti 3. THE Protector intending to Erect a Magnificent Palace was bought out of his Design of building it on the Deanery and Close of Westminster and therefore cast his Eye upon a piece of Ground in the Strand on which stood Three Episcopal Houses and one Parish-Church The Parish Church Dedicated to the Virgin Mary the Houses belonging to the Bishops of Worcester Lichfield and Landaff All these he takes into his hands the Owners not daring to oppose and therefore willingly consenting to it Having clear'd the place and finding that more materials would be wanting than the demolished Churches and Houses could afford he resolv'd to take down the Parish-Church of St. Margarets in Westminster and to turn the Parishioners for Celebrating all Divine Offices into some part of the Nave or main Body of the Abbey Church But the Work-men had no sooner advanced their Scaffolds when the Parishioners gathered together in great multitudes with Bows and Arrows Staves and Clubs and other such Weapons which so terrified the Work-men that they ran away in great amazement and never could be brought again upon that Employment Upon this he conceiv'd it would be a safer undertaking to fall upon St. Paul's the Bishop then standing on his good behavior and the Dean and Chapter of that Church as of all the rest being no better in a manner by reason of the last Act of Parliament than Tenants at Will of their great Landlords And upon this he employs Work-men to take down the Cloyster of Paul's on the North-side of the Church and a piece of curious Work round about the Cloyster with a Chappel that stood in the midst of the Church-yard also the Charnel-House that stood upon the South-side of it now a Carpenters-yard with the Chappel Timber and Monuments therein which were all beaten down the Bones of the Dead carried into Finsbury-fields and the Stones converted to this Building and the vacant places filled up afterwards with Dwelling-Houses Moreover the Church of St. John of Jerusalem near Smith-field was undermined and blown up with Gunpowder and the Stones applied to this Spacious Building Likewise Barking Chappel near the Tower of London and the College-Church of St. Martins le Grand nigh the Shambles and St. Ewens within Newgate also the Parish-Church of St. Nicholas in the Shambles were pulled quite down Such was the Ground and such the Materials of the Dukes