they continued still in that mind that they could not be offered by them as Mediators yet they ordered them to impart them unto the Emperor as News and carefully to observe his looks and behaviour upon their opening of every one of them But now the Kings death broke off this Negotiation The Kings sickness together with all his other Affairs He had last year first the Measels and then the Small-Pox of which he was perfectly recovered In his Progress he had been sometimes violent in his Exercises which had cast him into great Colds but these went off and he seemed to be well after it But in the beginning of January this year he was seized with a deep Cough and all Medicines that were used did rather encrease than lessen it upon which a suspition was taken up and spread over all the World so that it is mentioned by most of the Historians of that Age that some lingering Poison had been given him but more than Rumours and some ill-favoured Circumstances I could never discover concerning this He was so ill when the Parliament met that he was not able to go to Westminster but ordered their first meeting and the Sermon to be at White-hall In the time of his sickness Bishop Ridley preached before him and took occasion to run out much on Works of Charity and the obligation that lay on Men of high Condition to be eminent in good Works This touched the King to the quick So that presently after Sermon he sent for the Bishop His care of the Relief of the Poor And after he had commanded him to sit down by him and be covered he resumed most of the Heads of the Sermon and said he looked on himself as chiefly touched by it he desired him as he had already given him the Exhortation in general so to direct him how to do his duty in that Particular The Bishop astonished at this tenderness in so young a Prince burst forth in Tears expressing how much he was overjoyed to see such inclinations in him but told him he must take time to think on it and craved leave to consult with the Lord Major and Court of Aldermen So the King writ by him to them to consult speedily how the Poor should be relieved They considered there were three sorts of Poor such as were so by natural infirmity or folly as impotent Persons and Mad-men or Ideots such as were so by accident as sick or maimed Persons and such as by their idleness did cast themselves into poverty So the King ordered the Gray-friars Church near Newgate with the Revenues belonging to it to be a House for Orphans St. Bartholomews near Smith-field to be an Hospital and gave his own House of Bridewell to be a Place of Correction and Work for such as were wilfully idle He also confirmed and enlarged the Grant for the Hospital of St. Thomas in Southwark which he had erected and endowed in August last And when he set his Hand to these Foundations which was not done before the 26th of June this Year He thanked God that had prolonged his Life till he had finished that design So he was the first Founder of those Houses which by many great Additions since that time have risen to be among the Noblest in Europe He expressed in the whole course of his sickness great submission to the Will of God and seemed glad at the approaches of death only the consideration of Religion and the Church touched him much and upon that account he said he was desirous of Life About the end of May Several Marriages or beginning of June the Duke of Suffolks three Daughters were married The eldest Lady Jane to the Lord Guilford Dudley the fourth Son of the Duke of Northumberland who was the only Son whom he had yet unmarried The second the Lady Katharine to the Earl of Pembroke's eldest Son the Lord Herbert The third the Lady Mary who was crooked to the Kings Groom-Porter Martin Keys The Duke of Northumberland married his two Daughters the eldest to Sir Henry Sidney Son to Sir William Sidney that had been Steward to the King when he was Prince the other was married to the Lord Hastings Son to the Earl of Huntington The People were mightily inflamed against this insolent Duke for it was generally given out that he was sacrificing the King to his own extravagant ambition He seemed little to regard their Censures but attended on the King most constantly and expressed all the care and concern about him that was possible And finding that nothing went so near his Heart as the ruine of Religion which he apprehended would follow upon his death when his Sister Mary should come to the Crown He is perswaded to leave the Crown to the Lady Jane Upon that he and his Party took advantage to propose to him to settle the Crown by his Letters Patents on the Lady Jane Gray How they prevailed with him to pass by his Sister Elizabeth who had been always much in his favour I do not so well understand But the King being wrought over to this the Dutchess of Suffolk who was next in King Henry's Will was ready to devolve her Right on her Daughter even though she should come afterwards to have Sons So on the 11th of June Mountague that was Chief Justice of the Common-Pleas and Baker and Bromley two Judges Which the Judges at first opposed with the Kings Attorney and Solicitor were commanded to come to Council There they found the King with some Privy-Councellors about him The King told them he did now apprehend the danger the Kingdom might be in if upon his death his Sister Mary should succeed who might marry a Stranger and so change the Laws and the Religion of the Realm So he ordered some Articles to be read to them of the way in which he would have the Crown to descend They objected that the Act of Succession being an Act of Parliament could not be taken away by any such device yet the King required them to take the Articles and draw a Book according to them they asked a little time to consider of it So having examined the Statute of the first Year of this Reign concerning Treasons they found that it was Treason not only after the Kings death but even in his Life to change the Succession Secretary Petre in the mean while pressed them to make hast When they came again to the Council they declared they could not do any such thing for it was Treason and all the Lords should be guilty of Treason if they went on in it Upon which the Duke of Northumberland who was not then in the Council-Chamber being advertised of this came in great fury calling Mountague a Traitor and threatned all the Judges so that they thought he would have beaten them But the Judges stood to their Opinion They were again sent for and came with Gosnold added to them on the 15th of June The King was
Dutchess of Somerset should be so foolish as to think that she ought to have the precedence of the Queen Dowager Therefore I look upon this Story as a meer Fiction though it is probable enough there might upon some other accounts have been some Animosities between the two high-spirited Ladies which might have afterwards be thought to have occasioned their Husbands quarrel It is plain in the whole thread of this Affair that the Protector was at first very easie to be reconciled to his Brother and was only assaulted by him but bore the trouble he gave him with much patience for a great while though in the end seeing his factious temper was incurable he laid off Nature too much when he consented to his Execution Yet all along till then he had rather too much encouraged his Brother to go on by his readiness to be after every breach reconciled to him When the Protector was in Scotland the Admiral then began to act more avowedly and was making a Party for himself of which Paget took notice and charged him with it in plain terms He asked him why he would go about to reverse that which himself and others had consented to under their Hands Their Family was now so great that nothing but their mutual quarrelling could do them any prejudice But there would not be wanting officious Men to inflame them if they once divided among themselves and the Breaches among near Friends commonly turn to the most irreconcilable Quarrels Yet all was ineffectual for the Admiral was resolved to go on and either get himself advanced higher or to perish in the Attempt It was the knowledge of this which forced the Protector to return from Scotland so abruptly and disadvantageously for the securing of his Interest with the King on whom his Brothers Artifices had made some impression Whether there was any reconciliation made between them before the Parliament met is not certain But during the Session the Admiral got the King to write with his own Hand a Message to the House of Commons for the making of him the Governour of his Person and he intended to have gone with it to the House and had a Party there by whose means he was confident to have carried his business He dealt also with many of the Lords and Counsellors to assist him in it When this was known before he had gone with it to the House some were sent to him in his Brothers Name to see if they could prevail with him to proceed no further He refused to hearken to them and said That if he were cross'd in his attempt he would make this the blackest Parliament that ever was in England Upon that he was sent for by Order from the Council but refused to come Then they threatned him severely and told him the Kings Writing was nothing in Law but that he who had procured it was punishable for doing an Act of such a nature to the disturbance of the Government and for engaging the young King in it So they resolved to have sent him to the Tower and to have turned him out of all his Offices But he submitted himself to the Protector and Council and his Brother and he seemed to be perfectly reconciled Yet as the Protector had reason to have a watchful Eye over him so it was too soon visible that he had not laid down but only put off his high Projects till a fitter conjuncture For he began the next Christmas to deal Money again among the Kings Servants and was on all occasions infusing into the King a dislike of every thing that was done and did often perswade him to assume the Government himself But the sequel of this Quarrel proved fatal to him as shall be told in its proper place And thus ended the Year 1547. On the 8th of Jan. 1548. Jan. 8. next year Gardiner was brought before the Council Where it was told him that his former Offences being included in the Kings general Pardon he was thereupon discharged a grave admonition was given him to carry himself reverently and obediently and he was desired to declare whether he would receive the Injunctions and Homilies and the Doctrine to be set forth from time to time by the King and Clergy of the Realm He answered he would conform himself as the other Bishops did and only excepted to the Homily of Justification and desired four or five days to consider of it What he did at the end of that time does not appear from the Council-Book no farther mention being made of this matter for the Clerks of Council did not then enter every thing with that exactness that is since used He went home to his Diocess where there still appeared in his whole behaviour great malignity to Cranmer and to all motions for Reformation yet he gave such outward compliance that it was not easie to find any advantage against him especially now since the Councils great Power was so much abridged The Marquess of Northampton sues a Divorce for Adultery In the end of Jan. the Council made an Order concerning the Marquess of Northampton which will oblige me to look back a little for the clear account of it This Lord who was Brother to the Queen Dowager had married Anne Bourchier Daughter to the Earl of Essex the last of that Name But she being convicted of Adultery he was divorced from her which according to the Law of the Ecclesiastical Courts was only a separation from Bed and Board Upon which Divorce it was proposed in King Henry's time to consider what might be done in favour of the Innocent Person when the other was convicted of Adultery So in the beginning of King Edward's Reign on the 7th of May a Commission was granted to the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Duresme and Rochester this was Holbeack who was not then translated to Lincoln to Dr. Ridley and six more ten in all of whom six were a Quorum to try whether the Lady Anne was not by the Word of God so lawfully divorced that she was no more his Wife and whether thereupon he might not marry another Wife This being a new Case and of great importance Cranmer resolved to examine it with his ordinary diligence and searched into the Opinions of the Fathers and Doctors Ex MSS. D. Stillingfleet so copiously that his Collections about it grew into a large Book the Original whereof I have perused the greatest part of it being either written or marked and interlined with his own Hand This required a longer time than the Marquess of Northampton could stay and therefore presuming on his great Power without waiting for Judgment he solemnly married Eliz. Daughter to Brooke Lord Cobham On the 28th of Jan. Information was brought to the Council of this which gave great scandal since his first Marriage stood yet firm in Law So he being put to answer for himself said he thought that by the Word of God he was discharged of his tie to
make a match at Shooting and so taken Nudegates was called for as from my Lord his Master and taken likewise were John Seimour and David Seimour Arundel also was taken and the Lord Gray coming out of the Country Vane upon two sendings of my Lord in the morning fled at the first sending he said My Lord was not stout and if he could get home he cared for none of them all he was so strong But after he was found by John Piers in a Stable of his Man 's at Lambeth under the Straw These went with the Duke to the Tower this Night saving Palmer Arundel and Vane who were kept in Chambers here apart 17. The Dutches Crane and his Wife with the Chamber-keeper were sent to the Tower for devising these Treasons James Wingfield also for casting of Bills seditiously also Mr. Partridge was attaqued and Sir James Holcroft 18. Mr. Banister and Mr. Vaughan were attaqued and sent to the Tower and so was Mr. Stanhope 19. Sir Thomas Palmer confessed that the Gandarms on the Muster-day should be assaulted by 2000 Footmen of Mr. Vane's and my Lord 's hundred Horse besides his Friends which stood by and the idle People which took his part If he were overthrown he would run through London and cry Liberty Liberty to raise the Apprentices and R if he could he would go to the Isle of Wight or to Pool 22. The Dowager of Scotland was by Tempest driven to Land at Portsmouth and so she sent word she would take the benefit of the safe Conduct to go by Land and to see Me. 23. She came from Portsmouth to Mr. Whites House 24. The Lords sat in the Star-Chamber and there declared the Matters and Accusations laid against the Duke meaning to stay the minds of the People 25. Certain German Princes in the beginning of this month desired Aid in Cause of Religion 400000 Dollars if they should be driven to make shift by necessity and offered the like also if I entred into any War for them whereupon I called the Lords and considered as appeareth by a Scroll in the Board at Westminster and thereupon appointed that the Secretary Petre and Sir William Cecil another Secretary should talk with the Messenger to know the matter precisely and the Names of those would enter the Confederacy 28. The Dowager came to Sir Richard Cotton's House 29. She came from Sir Richard Cotton's to the Earl of Arundel to Dinner and brought to Mr. Brown's House where met her the Gentlemen of Sussex 30. She came and was conveied by the same Gentlemen to Guilford where the Lord William Howard and the Gentlemen of Surrey met her All this month the Frenchmen continued spoiling of the Emperor's Frontiers and in a Skirmish at Ast they slew 100 Spaniards 31. A Letter directed to Sir Arthur Darcy to take the charge of the Tower and to discharge Sir John Markham upon this that without making any of the Council privy he suffered the Duke to walk abroad and certain Letters to be sent and answered between David Seimour and Mrs. Poinings with other divers Suspicions 17. There were Letters sent to all Emperors Kings Ambassadors Noblemen Men and Chief Men into Countries of the late Conspiracy 31. She came to Hampton-Court conveied by the same Lords and Gentlemen aforesaid and two miles and an half from thence in a Valley there met her the Lord Marquess of Northampton accompanied with the Earl of Wiltshire Son and Heir to the Lord High Treasurer Marquess of Winchester the Lord Fitzwater Son to the Earl of Sussex The Lord Evers the Lord Bray the Lord Robert Dudley the Lord Garet Sir Nicholas Throgmorton Sir Edward Rogers and divers other Gentlemen besides all the Gentlemen Pensioners Men of Arms and Ushers Sewers and Carvers to the number of 120 Gentlemen and so she was brought to Hampton-Court At the Gate thereof met her the Lady Marquess of Northampton the Countess of Pembrook and divers other Ladies and Gentlewomen to the number of sixty and so she was brought to her Lodging on the Queen-side which was all hanged with Arras and so was the Hall and all the other Lodgings of Mine in the House very finely dressed and for this night and the next day all was spent in Dancing and Pastime as though it were a Court and great presence of Gentlemen resorted thither 26. Letters were written for because of this Business to defer the Musters of Gendarmory till the day of December November 1. The Dowager perused the House of Hampton-Court and saw some coursing of Deer 2. She came to the Bishop's Palace at London and there she lay and all her Train lodged about her 3. The Duke of Suffolk the Earl of Warwick Wiltshire and many other Lords and Gentlemen were sent to her to welcome her and to say on My behalf That if she lacked any thing she should have it for her better Furniture and also I would willingly see her the day following The 26th of October Crane confessed the most part even as Palmer did before and more also how that the place where the Nobles should have been banqueted and their Heads striken off was the Lord Paget's House and how the Earl of Arundel knew of the Matter as well as he by Stanhop who was a Messenger between them also some part how he went to London to get Friends once in August last feigning himself sick Hammond also confessed the Watch he kept in his Chamber at Night Bren also confessed much of this matter The Lord Strange confessed how the Duke willed him to stir me to marry his third Daughter the Lady Jane and willed him to be his Spie in all Matters of my Doings and Sayings and to know when some of my Council spoke secretly with Me this he confessed of himself November 4. The Duke of Suffolk the Lord Fitzwater the Lord Bray and divers other Lords and Gentlemen accompanied with his Wife the Lady Francis the Lady Margaret the Dutchesses of Richmond and of Northumberland the Lady Jane Daughter to the Duke of Suffolk the Marquess of Northampton and Winchester the Countesses of Arundel Bedford Huntington and Rutland with 100 other Ladies and Gentlewomen went to her and brought her through London to Westminster At the Gate there received her the Duke of Northumberland Great Master and the Treasurer and Comptroller and the Earl of Pembrook with all the Sewers and Carvers and Cup-bearers to the number of thirty In the Hall I met her with all the rest of the Lords of my Council as the Lord Treasurer the Marquess of Northampton c. and from the outer-Gate up to the Presence-Chamber on both sides stood the Guard The Court the Hall and the Stairs were full of Servingmen the Presence-Chamber Great-Chamber and her Presence-Chamber of Gentlemen And so having brought her to her Chamber I retired to Mine I went to her to Dinner she dined under the same Cloth of State at my left Hand at her rereward dined my Cousin Francis and
46. Anne r. Elizabeth 6th r. 4th p. 396. l. 44. for was so r. so was p. 412. l. 6. for five r. free EDWARDUS SEXTUS ANGLIAE GALLIAE HIBERNIAE REX R White sculp HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE Natus 12 Octob 1537. Regnare cepit 28 Januarij 15â—7 Obijt 6. to Julij 1553. Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crowne in S. t Pauls Church yard The Second Part OF THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE Church of England BOOK I. Of the Life and Reign of King Edward the Sixth EDward the Sixth King of England of that Name 1547. was the only Son of King Henry the 8th by his best beloved Queen Jane Seimour or St. Maur Daughter to Sir John Seimour who was descended from Roger St. Maur that married one of the Daughters and Heirs of the Lord Beauchamp of Hacche Their Ancestors came into England with William the Conqueror and had at several times made themselves considerable by the Noble Acts they did in the Wars * 1537. Oct. 12. Edward VI. born He was born at Hampton-Court on the 12th day of October being St. Edward's Eve in the Year 1537. * The Queen died on the 14th say Hall Stow Speed and Herbert on the 15th saith Hennings on the 17th if the Letter of the Physicians be true in Fullers Church Hist p. 422. Cott. libr. and lost his Mother the day after he was born who died not by the cruelty of the Chyrurgeons ripping up her Belly to make way for the Princes Birth as some Writers gave out to represent King Henry barbarous and cruel in all his Actions whose report has been since too easily followed but as the Original Letters that are yet extant shew she was well delivered of him and the day following was taken with a distemper incident to Women in that condition of which she died He was soon after Christened the Arch-bishop of Canterbury And Christned and the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk being his God-fathers according to his own Journal though Hall says the last was only his God-father when he was Bishopped He continued under the charge and care of the Women till he was six years old and then he was put under the Government of Dr. Cox and Mr. Cheek The one was to be his Preceptor for his Manners and the knowledge of Philosophy and Divinity The other for the Tongues and Mathematicks And he was also provided with Masters for the French and all other things becoming a Prince the Heir of so great a Crown His disposition He gave very early many indications of a good disposition to Learning and of a most wonderful probity of mind and above all of great respect to Religion and every thing relating to it So that when he was once in one of his childish diversions somewhat being to be reached at that he and his Companions were too low for one of them laid on the floor a great Bible that was in the Room to step on which he beholding with indignation took up the Bible himself and gave over his play for that time He was in all things subject to the Orders laid down for his Education and profited so much in Learning that all about him conceived great hopes of extraordinary things from him if he should live But such unusual beginnings seemed rather to threaten the too early end of a Life that by all appearance was likely to have produced such astonishing things He was so forward in his learning that before he was eight years old he wrote Latine Letters to his Father who was a Prince of that stern severity that one can hardly think those about his Son durst cheat him by making Letters for him He used also at that Age to write both to his God-father the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and to his Unkle who was first made Viscount Beauchamp as descended from that Family and soon after Earl of Hartford It seems Q. Catherine Parr understood Latin for he wrote to her also in the same Language But the full Character of this young Prince is given us by Cardan who writ it after his death and in Italy where this Prince was accounted an Heretick so that there was nothing to be got or expected by flattering him and yet it is so Great and withal so agreeing in all things to Truth that as I shall begin my Collection of Papers at the end of this Volume with his words in Latin Collection Number 1. so it will be very fit to give them here in English Cardanes Character of him All the Graces were in him He had many Tongues when he was yet but a Child Together with the English his natural Tongue he had both Latin and French nor was he ignorant as I hear of the Greek Italian and Spanish and perhaps some more But for the English French and Latin he was exact in them and apt to learn every thing Nor was he ignorant of Logick of the Principles of natural Philosophy nor of Musick The sweetness of his temper was such as became a Mortal his gravity becoming the Majesty of a King and his disposition suitable to his high degree In sum that Child was so bred had such Parts was of such expectation that he looked like a Miracle of a Man These things are not spoken Rhetorically and beyond the truth but are indeed short of it And afterwards he adds He was a marvelous Boy When I was with him he was in the 15th Year of his Age in which he spake Latin as politely and as promptly as I did He asked me what was the Subject of my Books de rerum Varietate which I had dedicated to him I answered That in the first Chapter I gave the true cause of Comets which had been long enquired into but was never found out before What is it said he I said it was the concourse of the light of wandring Stars He answered How can that be since the Stars move in different Motions How comes it that the Comets are not soon dissipated or do not move after them according to their Motions To this I answered They do move after them but much quicker than they by reason of the different Aspect as we see in a Christal or when a Rain-bow rebounds from the Wall for a little change makes a great difference of place But the King said How can that be where there is no Subject to receive that Light as the Wall is the Subject for the Rain-bow To this I answered That this was as in the Milky-way or where many Candles were lighted the middle place where their shining met was white and clear From this little tast it may be imagined what he was And indeed the ingenuity and sweetness of his disposition had raised in all good and learned Men the greatest expectation of him possible He began to love the Liberal Arts before he knew them and to know them before he could use them and in him
with a hot Iron on their Breast A great many Provisoes follow concerning Clerks so convict which shew that this Act was chiefly levelled at the idle Monks and Friars who went about the Country and would betake themselves to no employment but finding the People apt to have compassion on them they continued in that course of life Which was of very ill consequence to the State For these Vagrants did every where alienate the Peoples Minds from the Government and perswaded them that things would never be well setled till they were again restored to their Houses Some of these came often to London on pretence of suing for their Pensions but really to practise up and down through the Country To prevent this there was a Proclamation set out on the 18th of September requiring them to stay in the Places where they lived and to send up a Certificate where they were to the Court of Augmentations who should thereupon give order for their constant payment Some thought this Law against Vagabonds was too severe and contrary to that common liberty of which the English Nation has been always very sensible both in their own and their Neighbours particulars Yet it could not be denied but extream Diseases required extream Remedies and perhaps there is no punishment too severe for Persons that are in health and yet prefer a loitering course of life to an honest employment There followed in the Act many excellent Rules for providing for the truly poor and indigent in the several Places where they were born and had their abode Of which this can only be said That as no Nation has laid down more effectual Rules for the supplying the Poor than England so that indeed none can be in absolute want so the neglect of these Laws is a just and great reproach on those who are charged with the execution of them when such numbers of poor Vagabonds swarm every where without the due restraints that the Laws have appointed On the 6th of December the Bill for giving the Chantries to the King was brought into the House of Lords An Act giving the Chantries to the King It was read the second time on the 12th the third time on the 13th and the fourth time on the 14th of that Month. It was much opposed both by Cranmer on the one hand and the Popish Bishops on the other The late Kings Executors saw they could not pay his Debts nor satisfie themselves in their own pretensions formerly mentioned out of the Kings Revenue and so intended to have these to be divided among them Cranmer opposed it long For the Clergy being much empoverished by the Sale of the impropriated Tithes that ought in all reason to have return'd into the Church but upon the dissolution of the Abbies were all sold among the Laity he saw no probable way remaining for their supply but to save these Endowments till the King were of Age being confident he was so piously disposed that they should easily perswade him to convert them all to the bettering of the Condition of the poor Clergy that were now brought into extream misery And therefore he was for reforming and preserving these Foundations till the Kings full Age. The Popish Bishops liked these Endowments so well that upon far different Motives they were for continuing them in the state they were in But those who were to gain by it were so many that the Act passed the Arch-bishop of Canterbury the Bishops of London Duresme Ely Norwich Hereford Worcester and Chichester dissenting So it being sent down to the House of Commons was there much opposed by some Burgesses who represented that the Boroughs for which they served could not maintain their Churches and other publick Works of the Guilds and Fraternities if the Rents belonging to them were given to the King for these were likewise in the Act. This was chiefly done by the Burgesses of Linn and Coventry who were so active that the whole House was much set against that part of the Bill for the Guild-Lands Therefore those who managed that House for the Court took these off by an assurance that their Guild-Lands should be restored to them And so they desisted from their opposition and the Bill passed on the promise given to them which was afterwards made good by the Protector In the Preamble of the Act it is set forth That the great superstition of Christians rising out of their ignorance of the true way of Salvation by the death of Christ in stead of which they had set up the vain conceits of Purgatory and Masses satisfactory was much supported by Trentals and Chantries And since the converting these to godly uses such as the endowing of Schools Provisions for the Poor and the augmenting of Places in the Universities could not be done by Parliament they therefore committed it to the care of the King And then reciting the Act made in the 37th year of his Fathers Reign they give the King all such Chantries Colledges and Chappels as were not possessed by the late King and all that had been in being any time these five years last past as also all Revenues belonging to any Church for Anniversaries Obits and Lights together with all Guild-Lands which any Fraternity of Men enjoyed for Obits or the like and appoint these to be converted to the maintenance of Gramar-Schools or Preachers and for the encrease of Vicarages After this followed the Act giving the King the Customs known by the Name of Tonnage and Poundage besides some other Laws of Matters that are not needful to be remembred in this History Last of all came the Kings general Pardon with the common mon Exceptions among which one was of these who were then Prisoners in the Tower of London in which the Duke of Norfolk was included So all business being ended the Parliament was Prorogued from the 24th of December to the 20th of April following Acts that were proposed but not carried But having given this account of these Bills that were passed I shall not esteem it an unfruitful piece of History to shew what other Bills were designed There were put into the House of Lords two Bills that were stifled The one was for the use of the Scriptures which came not to a second reading The other was a Bill for erecting a new Court of Chancery for Ecclesiastical and Civil Causes which was committed to some Bishops and Temporal Lords but never more mentioned The Commons sent up also some Bills which the Lords did not agree to One was about Benefices with Cure and Residence It was committed but never reported Another was for the Reformation of divers Laws and of the Courts of Common-Law and a third was that married Men might be Priests and have Benefices To this the Commons did so readily agree that it being put in on the 19th of December and read then for the first time it was read twice the next day and sent up to the Lords on the 21st But
Translation into some Town of the Popes to which it was not likely the Imperialists would follow them and so at least the Council would be suspended if not dissolved For this Remove they laid hold on the first colour they could find One dying of a malignant Feaver it was given out and certified by Physicians that he died of the Plague so in all hast they translated the Council to Bologna Apr. 21. The first Session of Bologna The Imperialists protested against it but in vain for thither they went The Emperor was hereby quite disappointed of his chief design which was to force the Germans to submit to a Council held in Germany and therefore no Plague appearing at Trent he pressed the return of the Council thither But the Pope said it was the Councils act and not his and that their Honour was to be kept up that therefore such as stayed at Trent were to go first to Bologna and acknowledge the Council and they should then consider what was to be done So that now all the hope the Germans had was that this difference between the Pope and Emperor might give them some breathing and time might bring them out of these extremities into which they were then driven Upon these disorders the Forreign Reformers who generally made Germany their Sanctuary were now forced to seek it elsewhere So Peter Martyr in the end of November this Year was brought over to England by the Invitation which the Arch-bishop of Canterbury sent him in the Kings Name He was born in Florence where he had been an Augustinian-Monk He was learned in the Greek and the Hebrew which drew on him the envy of the rest of his Order whose Manners he inveighed oft against So he left them and went to Naples where he gathered an Assembly of those who loved to Worship God more purely This being made known he was forced to leave that Place and went next to Lucca where he lived in society with Tremellius and Zanchius But being also in danger there he went to Zurick with Bernardinus Ochinus that had been one of the most celebrated Preachers of Italy and now forsook his former Superstitions From Zurick he went to Basil and from thence by Martin Bucers means he was brought to Strasburg where Cranmers Letter found both him and Ochinus The Latter was made a Canon of Canterbury with a Dispensation of Residence and by other Letters Patents 40 Marks were given yearly to him and as much to Peter Martyr There had been this Year some differences between the English and French concerning the Fortifications about Bulloigne The French quarrel about Bulloigne The English were raising a great Fort by the Harbour there This being signified to King Henry by Gaspar Coligny afterwards the famous Admiral of France then Governour of the neighbouring Parts to Bulloigne it was complained of at the Court of England It was answered That this was only to make the Harbour more secure and so the Works were ordered to be vigorously carried on But this could not satisfie the French who plainly saw it was of another sort than to be intended only for the Sea The King of France came and viewed the Country himself and ordered Coligny to raise a Fort on a high Ground near it which was called the Chastilion Fort and commanded both the English Fort and the Harbour But the Protector had no mind to give the French a colour for breaking with the English so there was a Truce and further Cessation agreed on in the end of September These are all the considerable Forreign Transactions of this Year in which England was concerned But there was a secret contrivance laid at home of a high nature which though it broke not out till the next Year yet the beginnings of it did now appear The Protectors Brother Thomas Seimour was brought to such a share in his Fortunes The Breach between the Protector and the Admiral that he was made a Baron and Lord Admiral But this not satisfying his ambition he endeavoured to have linked himself into a nearer relation with the Crown by marrying the Kings Sister the Lady Elizabeth But finding he could not compass that he made his Addresses to the Queen Dowager Who enjoying now the Honour and Wealth the late King had left her resolved to satisfie her self in her next Choice and entertained him a little too early for they were married so soon after the Kings death that it was charged afterwards on the Admiral that if she had brought a Child as soon as might have been after the Marriage it had given cause to doubt whether it had not been by the late King which might have raised great disturbance afterwards But being thus married to the Queen he concealed it for some time till he procured a Letter from the King recommending him to her for a Husband upon which they declared their Marriage with which the Protector was much offended Being thus possessed of great Wealth and being Husband to the Queen Dowager he studied to engage all that were about the King to be his Friends and he corrupted some of them by his Presents and forced one on Sir John Cheek That which he designed was That whereas in former times the Infant Kings of England had had Governours of their Persons distinct from the Protectors of their Realms which Trusts were divided between their Unkles it being judged too much to joyn both in one Person who was thereby too great whereas a Governour of the Kings Person might be a check on the Protector he would therefore himself be made Governour of the Kings Person alledging that since he was the Kings Unkle as well as his Brother he ought to have a proportioned share with him in the Government About Easter this Year he first set about this design and corrupted some about the King who should bring him sometimes privately through the Gallery to the Queens Lodgings and he desired they would let him know when the King had occasion for Money and that they should not always trouble the Treasury for he would be ready to furnish him and he thought a young King might be taken with this So it happened that the first time Latimer preached at Court the King sent to him to know what Present he should make him Seimour sent him 40 l. but said he thought 20 enough to give Latimer and the King might dispose of the rest as he pleased Thus he gained ground with the King whose sweet nature exposed him to be easily won by such Artifices It is generally said that all this difference between the Brothers was begun by their Wives and that the Protectors Lady being offended that the younger Brothers Wife had the precedence of her which she thought belonged to her self did thereupon raise and inflame the differences But in all the Letters that I have seen concerning this Breach I could never find any such thing once mentioned Nor is it reasonable to imagine that the
made use of as a Pretence for many to leave their labour and gad idly about Upon complaint therefore made of it Ridley had a Letter sent to him from the Council against all preaching on working-days on which there should only be Prayers How this was submitted to then is not clear But it cannot be denied that there have been since that time excesses on all hands in this matter while some have with great sincerity and devotion kept up these in Market-Towns but others have carried them on with too much faction and a design to detract from such as were not so eminent in their way of preaching Upon these abuses while some Rulers have studied to put all such Performances down rather than to correct the abuses in them great contradiction has followed on it and the People have been possessed with unjust prejudices against them as hinderers of the Word of God and that opposition has kept up the zeal for these Lectures Which nevertheless since they have been more freely preach'd have of late years produced none of the ill effects that did follow them formerly when they were endeavoured to be suppressed And thus I end the Transactions about Religion this Year The rest of the Affairs at home were chiefly for the regulating of many abuses that had grown up and been nourish'd by a long continuance of War All the Forreign Soldiers were dismissed And though the Duke of Lunenburg had offered the King 10000 Men to his assistance and desired to enter into a Treaty of Marriage for the Lady Mary they only thanked him for the offer of his Soldiers of which they being now at peace with all their Neighbours had no need and since the Proposition for marrying the Lady Mary to the Infant of Portugal was yet in dependance they could not treat in that kind with any other Prince till that Overture was some way ended There were endeavours also for encouraging Trade and reforming the Coin And at the Court things began to put on a new Visage for there was no more any faction the Duke of Somerset and the Earl of Warwick being now joyned into a near alliance the Earls eldest Son the Lord Lisle marrying the Dukes Daughter so that there was a good prospect of happy times The Affairs of Scotland In Scotland the Peace being proclaimed the Government was now more entirely in the Hands of the Duke of Castelherault who gave himself up wholly to the Counsels of his base Brother who was Arch-bishop of St. Andrews And he was so abandoned to his pleasures that there was nothing so bad that he was ashamed of He kept another Mans Wife openly for his Concubine There were also many excesses in the Government Which things as they alienated all Peoples minds from the Clergy so they disposed them to receive the new Doctrines which many Teachers were bringing from England and prepared them for the changes that followed afterwards The Queen Mother went over into France in September pretending it was to see her Daughter and the rest of her Kindred there where she laid down the Method for the wresting of the Government of Scotland out of the Governours Hands and taking it into her own And of Germany The Emperor appointed a Diet of the Empire to meet in the end of July and required all to appear personally at it except such as were hindered by sickness of which they were to make Faith upon Oath And at the same time he proscribed the Town of Magdeburg But the Magistrates of that Town set out a large Manifesto for their own vindication as they had done the former Year They said they were ready to give him all the obedience that they were bound to by the Laws of the Empire they were very apprehensive of the mischiefs of a Civil War they were not so blind as to think they were able to resist the Emperors great Armies lifted up with so many Victories if they trusted only to their own strength they had hitherto done no act of hostility to any but what they were forced to for their own defence It was visible the true ground of the War of Germany was Religion to extinguish the Light of the Gospel and to subdue them again to the Papal Tyranny For the Artifices that were formerly used to disguise it did now appear too manifestly so that it was not any more denied But it would be too late to see it when Germany was quite oppressed In Civil Matters they said they would yield to the miseries of the time But St. Peter had taught them that it was better to obey God than Man and therefore they were resolved to put all things to hazard rather than to make Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience There were Tumults raised in Strasburg and divers other Towns against those who set up the Mass among them and generally all Germany was disposed to a Revolt if they had had but a Head to lead them The Emperor had also set out a very severe Edict in Flanders when he left it against all that favoured the new Doctrines as they were called But the execution of this was stopt at the intercession of the Town of Antwerp when they perceived the English were resolved to remove from thence and carry their Trade to some other Place When the Diet was opened the Emperor pressed them to submit to the Council which the new Pope had removed back to Trent Maurice of Saxâ— answered he could not submit to it unless all that had been done formerly in it should be reviewed and the Divines of the Ausburg Confession were both heard and admitted to a Suffrage and the Pope should subject himself to their Decrees and dispence with the Oath which the Bishops had sworn to him On these terms he would submit to it and not otherwise This was refused to be entred into the Registers of the Diet by the Elector of Mentz but there was no hast for the Council was not to sit till the next year The Emperor complained much that the Interim was not generally received to which it was answered by the Princes that it was necessary to give the People time to overcome their former prejudices All seemed to comply with him And Maurice did so insinuate himself into him that the Siege of Magdeburg being now formed and a great many Princes having gathered Forces against it among whom the Duke of Brunswick and the Duke of Mekleburg were the most forward yet he got himself declared by the Diet General of the Empire for the reduction of that Place and he had 100000 Crowns for undertaking it and 60000 Crowns a Month were appointed for the expence of the War He saw well that if Magdeburg were closely press'd it would soon be taken and then all Germany would be brought to the Emperors devotion and so the War would end in a slavery But he hoped so to manage this small remainder of the War as to draw great effects
Gods Word but she was sure that was not now Gods Word that was called so in her Fathers days He said Gods Word was the same at all times She answered She was sure he durst not for his Ears have avowed these things in her Fathers time which he did now and for their Books as she thanked God she never had so she never would read them She also used many reproachful words to him and asked him If he was of the Council He said not She replied He might well enough be as the Council goes now a-days and so dismissed him thanking him for coming to see her but not at all for offering to preach before her Sir Tho. Wharton one of her Officers carried him to a place where he desired him to drink which Ridley did but reflecting on it said He had done amiss to drink in a place where Gods Word was rejected for if he had remembred his Duty he should upon that refusal have shaken the dust off his Feet for a Testimony against the House and have departed immediately These words he was observed to pronounce with an extraordinary concern and went away much troubled in his mind And this is all I find of the Lady Mary during this Reign For the Lady Elizabeth she had been always bred up to like the Reformation and Dr. Parker who had been her Mothers Chaplain received a strict charge from her Mother a little before her death to look well to the instructing her Daughter in the Principles of true Religion so that there is no doubt to be made of her chearful receiving all the changes that had been established by Law The Designs of the Earl of Warwick And this is all that concerns Religion that falls within this Year But now a design came to be laid which though it broke not out for some time yet it was believed to have had a great influence on the Fall of the Duke of Somerset The Earl of Warwick began to form great Projects for himself and thought to bring the Crown into his Family The King was now much alienated from the Lady Mary the Privy-Council had also embroiled themselves so with her that he imagined it would be no hard matter to exclude her from the Succession There was but one reason that could be pretended for it which was that she stood illegitimated by Law and that therefore the next Heirs in Blood could not be barred their right by her since it would be a great blot on the Honour of the English Crown to let it devolve on a Bastard This was as strong against the Lady Elizabeth since she was also illegitimated by a Sentence in the Spiritual Court and that confirmed in Parliament so if their jealousie of the elder Sisters Religion and the fear of her revenge moved them to be willing to cut her off from the Succession the same reason that was to be used in Law against her was also to take place against her Sister So he reckoned that these two were to be passed over as being put both in the Act of Succession and in the late Kings Will by one error The next in the Will were the Heirs of the French Queen by Charles Brandon who were the Dutchess of Suffolk and her Sister Though I have seen it often said in many Letters and Writings of that time that all that Issue by Charles Brandon was illegitimated since he was certainly married to one Mortimer before he married the Queen of France which Mortimer lived long after his Marriage to that Queen so that all her Children were Bastards some say he was divorced from his Marriage to Mortimer but that is not clear to me The Sweating Sickness This Year the Sweating Sickness that had been formerly both in Henry the 7th and the late King's Reign broke out with that violence in England that many were swept away by it Such as were taken with it died certainly if they slept to which they had a violent desire but if it took them not off in twenty four hours they did sweat out the venom of the distemper which raged so in London that in one week 800 died of it It did also spread into the Country and the two Sons of Charles Brandon by his last Wife both Dukes of Suffolk died within a day one of another So that Title was fallen Their Sister by the half Blood was married to Gray Lord Marquess of Dorset So she being the eldest Daughter to the French Queen the Earl of Warwick resolved to link himself to that Family and to procure the Honour of the Dukedome of Suffolk to be given the Marquess of Dorset who was a weak Man and easily governed He had three Daughters the eldest was Jane a Lady of as excellent qualities as any of that Age of great Parts bred to Learning and much conversant in Scripture and of so rare a temper of mind that she charmed all who knew her in particular the young King about whom she was bred and who had always lived with her in the familiarities of a Brother The Earl of Warwick designed to marry her to Guilford his fourth Son then living his three elder being already married and so to get the Crown to descend on them if the King should die of which it is thought he resolved to take care But apprehending some danger from the Lady Elizabeths Title he intended to send her away So an Ambassador was dispatched to Denmark to treat a Marriage for her with that Kings eldest Son To amuse the King himself a most splendid Embassy was sent to France The King treats with the French King for a Marriage with his Daughter to propose a Marriage for the King to that Kings Daughter Elizabeth afterwards married to Philip of Spain The Marquess of Northampton was sent with this Proposition and with the Order of the Garter With him went the Earls of Worcester Rutland and Ormond the Lords Lisle Fitzwater Bray Abergaveny and Evers and the Bishop of Ely who was to be their Mouth With them went many Gentlemen of Quality who with their Train made up near 500. King Henry received the Garter with great expressions of Esteem for the King The Bishop of Ely told him They were come to desire a more close tie between these Crowns by Marriage and to have the League made firmer between them in other Particulars To which the Cardinal of Lorrain made answer in his way of speaking which was always vain and full of ostentation A Commission was given to that Cardinal the Constable the Duke of Guise and others to treat about it The English began first for Forms sake to desire the Queen of Scots But that being rejected they moved for the Daughter of France which was entertained but so that neither Party should be bound in Honour and Conscience till the Lady were twelve years of Age. Yet this never taking effect it is needless to enlarge further about it of which the Reader will find
all the Particulars in King Edwards Journal The King of France sent another very noble Embassy into England with the Order of St. Michael to the King and a very kind Message that he had no less love to him than a Father could bear to his own Son He desired the King would not listen to the vain Rumors which some malicious Persons might raise to break their friendship and wished there might be such a regulation on their Frontiers that all differences might be amicably removed To this the young King made answer himself That he thanked his good Brother for his Order and for the Assurances of his Love which he would always requite For Rumors they were not always to be credited nor always to be rejected it being no less vain to fear all things than it was dangerous to doubt of nothing and for any differences that might arise he should be always ready to determine them by reason rather than force so far as his Honour should not be thereby diminished Whether this Answer was prepared before-hand or not I cannot tell I rather think it was otherways it was extraordinary for one of fourteen to talk thus on the sudden But while all this was carrying on there was a design laid to destroy the Duke of Somerset He had such access to the King and such freedoms with him A Conspiracy against the Duke of Somerset that the Earl of Warwick had a mind to be rid of him lest he should spoil all his Projects The Duke of Somerset seemed also to have designed in April this Year to have got the King again in his power and dealt with the Lord Strange that was much in his favour to perswade him to marry his Daughter Jane and that he would advertise him of all that passed about the King But the Earl of Warwick to raise himself and all his Friends higher procured a great Creation of new Honours Gray was made Duke of Suffolk and himself Duke of Northumberland for Henry Piercy the last Earl of Northumberland dying without Issue his next Heirs were the Sons of Thomas Piercy that had been attainted in the last Reign for the York-shire Rebellion Pawlet then Lord Treasurer and Earl of Wilt-shire was made Marquess of Winchester and Sir William Herbert that had married the Marquess of Northampton's Sister was made Earl of Pembroke The Lord Russel had been made Earl of Bedford last year upon his return from making the Peace with the French Sir Tho. Darcy had also been made Lord Darcy The new Duke of Northumberland could no longer bear such a Rival in his greatness as the Duke of Somerset was who was the only Person that he thought could take the King out of his Hands So on the 17th of October the Duke was apprehended and sent to the Tower and with him the Lord Gray Sir Ralph Vane who had escaped over the River but was taken in a Stable in Lambeth hid under the Straw Sir Tho. Palmer and Sir Tho. Arundel were also taken yet not sent at first to the Tower but kept under Guards in their Chambers Some of his followers Hamond Nudigate and two of the Seimours were sent to Prison The day after the Dutchess of Somerset was also sent to the Tower with one Crane and his Wife that had been much about her and two of her Chamber-women After these Sir Tho. Holdcroft Sir Miles Partridge Sir Michael Stanhop Wingfield Bannister and Vaughan were all made Prisoners The Evidence against the Duke was That he had made a Party for getting himself declared Protector in the next Parliament which the Earl of Rutland did positively affirm and the Duke did so answer it that it is probable it was true But though this might well inflame his Enemies yet it was no crime But Sir Tho. Palmer though imprisoned with him as a Complice was the Person that ruined him He had been before that brought secretly to the King and had told him that on the last St. Georges day the Duke apprehending there was mischief designed against him thought to have raised the People had not Sir William Herbert assured him he should receive no harm that lately he intended to have the Duke of Northumberland the Marquess of Northampton and the Earl of Pembroke invited to Dinner at the Lord Pagets and either to have set on them by the way or to have killed them at Dinner that Sir Ralph Vane had 2000 Men ready that Sir Tho. Arundel had assured the Tower and that all the Gandarmoury were to be killed The Duke of Somerset hearing Palmer had been with the King challenged him of it but he denied all He sent also for Secretary Cecil and told him he suspected there was an ill design against him To which the Secretary answered if he were not in fault he might trust to his innocency but if he were he had nothing to say but to lament him All this was told the King with such Circumstances that he was induced to believe it The King is possessed against him and the probity of his disposition wrought in him a great aversion to his Unkle when he looked on him as a Conspirator against the Lives of the other Counsellors and so he resolved to leave him to the Law Palmer being a second time examined said That Sir Ralph Vane was to have brought 2000 Men who with the Duke of Somersets 100 Horse were on a Muster-day to have set on the Gendarmoury that being done the Duke resolved to have gone thorough the City and proclaimed Liberty Liberty and if his attempt did not succeed to have fled to the Isle of Wight or to Pool Crane confirmed all that Palmer had said to which he added That the Earl of Arundel was privy to the Conspiracy and that the thing had been executed but that the greatness of the Enterprise had caused delays and sometimes diversity of advice and that the Duke being once given out to be sick had gone privately to London to see what Friends he could make Hamond being examined confessed nothing but that the Dukes Chamber at Greenwich had been guarded in the night by many Armed Men. Upon this Evidence both the Earl of Arundel and the Lord Paget were sent to the Tower The Earl had been one of the chief of those who had joyned with the Earl of Warwick to pull down the Protector and being as he thought ill rewarded by him was become his Enemy So this part of the Information seemed very credible The thing lay in suspence till the first of December He is brought to his Trial. that the Duke of Somerset was brought to his Trial where the Marquess of Winchester was Lord Steward The Peers that judged him were twenty seven in number The Dukes of Suffolk and Northumberland the Marquess of Northampton the Earls of Derby Bedford Huntington Rutland Bath Sussex Worcester Pembroke and the Viscount of Hereford the Lords Abergaveny Audley Wharton Evers Latimer Borough Souch Stafford Wentworth
whom it was passed and had the Royal Assent In the Preamble it is set forth That Men are not at all times so set on the performance of Religious Duties as they ought to be which made it necessary that there should be set times in which labour was to cease that Men might on these days wholly serve God which days were not to be accounted holy of their own nature but were so called because of the Holy Duties then to be set about so that the Sanctification of them was not any Magical Vertue in that time but consisted in the dedicating them to Gods Service that no day was dedicated to any Saint but only to God in remembrance of such Saints that the Scripture had not determined the number of Holy-days but that these were left to the liberty of the Church Therefore they Enact That all Sundays with the days marked in the Calendar and Liturgy should be kept as Holy-days and the Bishops were to proceed by the Censures of the Church against the disobedient A Proviso was added for the observation of St. George's Feast by the Knights of the Garter and another That Labourers or Fisher-men might if need so required work on those days either in or out of Harvest The Eves before Holy-days were to be kept as Fasts and in Lent and on Fridays and Saturdays abstinence from Flesh was Enacted but if a Holy-day fell to be on a Mâ—nday the Eve for it was to be kept on Saturday since Sunday was never to be a Fasting-day But it was generally observed that in this and all such Acts the People were ready enough to lay hold on any relaxation made by it but did very slightly observe the stricter parts of it so that the liberty left to Trades-men to work in cases of necessity was carried further than it was intended to a too publick profanation of the time so sanctified and the other parts of it directing the People to a conscientious observing of such times was little minded On the 5th of March a Bill concerning the relief of the Poor was put into the House of Lords the Form of passing it has given occasion to some to take notice that though it is a Bill for taxing the Subjects yet it had its first birth in the Lords House and was agreed to by the Commons By it the Church-wardens were empow'red to gather charitable Collections for the Poor and if any did refuse to contribute or did disswade others from it the Bishop of the Diocess was to proceed against them On the 9th of March the Bishops put in a Bill for the security of the Clergy from some ambiguous words that were in the submission which the Convocation had made to King Henry in the 21st year of his Reign by which they were under a Praemunire if they did any things in their Courts contrary to the Kings Prerogative which was thought hard since some through ignorance might transgress Therefore it was desired that no Prelate should be brought under a Praemunire unless they had proceeded in any thing after they were prohibited by the Kings Writ To this the Lords consented but it was let fall by the Commons There was another Act brought in for the Marriage of the Clergy which was agreed to by the Lords An Act for the Marriagé of the Clergy the Earls of Shrewsbury Darby Rutland and Bath and the Lords Abergaveny Stourton Mounteagle Sands Windsor and Wharton protesting against it The Commons also passed it and it was assented to by the King By it was set forth That many took occasion from words in the Act formerly made about this matter to say that it was only permitted as Usury and other unlawful things were for the avoiding greater evils who thereupon spake slanderously of such Marriages and accounted the Children begotten in them to be Bastards to the high dishonour of the King and Parliament and the Learned Clergy of the Realm who had determined that the Laws against Priests Marriages were most unlawful by the Law of God to which they had not only given their Assent in the Convocation but Signed it with all their Hands These slanders did also occasion that the Word of God was not heard with due reverence whereupon it was Enacted That such Marriages made according to the Rules prescribed in the Book of Service should be esteemed good and valid and that the Children begot in them should be inheritable according to Law The Marquess of Northampton did also put in a Bill for confirming his Marriage which was passed only the Earl of Darby the Bishops of Carlisle and Norwich and the Lord Stourton dissented By it the Marriage is declared lawful as by the Law of God indeed it was any Decretal Canon Ecclesiastical Law or usage to the contrary notwithstanding This occasioned another Act That no Man might put away his Wife and marry another unless he were formerly divorced to which the Bishop of Norwich dissented because he was of opinion that a Divorce did not break the Marriage-Bond But this Bill fell in the House of Commons being thought not necessary for the Laws were already severe enough against such double Marriages By another Act the Bishoprick of Westminster was quite suppressed and re-united to the See of London but the Collegiate Church with it s exempted Jurisdiction An Act against Usury was still continued Another Bill was put in against Usury which was sent from the Lords to the Commons and passed by both and assented to By it an Act passed in Parliament in the 37th year of the late Kings Reign That none might take above 20 per Cent. for Money lent was repealed which they say was not intended for the allowing of Usury but for preventing further inconveniences and since Usury was by the Word of God forbidden and set out in divers places of Scripture as a most odious and detestable vice which yet many continued to practise for the filthy gain they made by it therefore from the first of May all Usury or gain for Money lent was to cease and whosoever continued to practise to the contrary were to suffer imprisonment and to be fined at the Kings pleasure This Act has been since repealed and the gain for Money lent has been at several times brought to several regulations It was much questioned whether these Prohibitions of Usury by Moses were not judicial Laws which did only bind the Nation of the Jews whose Land being equally divided among the Families by Lot the making gain by lending Money was forbid to them of that Nation yet it did not seem to be a thing of its nature sinful since they might take encrease of a Stranger The not lending Money on use was more convenient for that Nation which abounding in People and being shut up in a narrow Country they were necessarily to apply themselves to all the ways of Industry for their subsistence so that every one was by that Law of not lending upon use forced
Preacher from the Rage of the People It was said that their appeasing it so easily shewed what Interest they had with the People and was a presumption that they had set it on so without any further Proof the one was put in the Tower and the other confined to his House But now the deprived Bishops who were Bonner of London Gardiner of Winchester Tonstall of Duresm Heath of Worcester The Popish Bishops restored and Day of Chichester were to be restored to their Sees I have only seen the Commission for restoring Bonner and Tonstall but the rest were no doubt in the same strain with a little variation The Commission for Bonner bearing date the 22th of August was directed to some Civilians setting forth that he had petitioned the Queen to examine the Appeal he had made from the Delegates that had deprived him and that therefore the Sentence against him being unjust and illegal he desired it might be declared to be of no effect Upon which these did without any great hesitation return the Sentences void and the Appeals good So thus they were restored to their Sees But because the Bishoprick of Duresm was by Act of Parliament dissolved and the Regalities of it which had bin given to the Duke of Northumberland were now by his Attainder fallen into the Queen's hand She granted Tonstall Letters Patents erecting that Bishoprick again of new making mention that some wicked Men to enrich themselves by it had procured it to be dissolved On the 29th of August Commission was granted to Gardiner to give Licences under the Great Seal to such Grave The Consultations among the Reformed Doctors Learned and discreet Persons as he should think meet and able to preach God's Word All who were so licensed were qualified to preach in any Cathedral or Parochial Church to which he should think it convenient to send them By this the Reformers were not only out of hope to obtain any Licences but likewise saw a way laid down for sending such Men as Gardiner pleased into all their Pulpits to infect their People Upon this they considered what to do If there had been only a particular Inderdiction of some private persons the considerations of Peace and Order being of a more publick nature than the consequence of any one Man's open Preaching could be they judged it was to be submitted to but in such a case when they saw this Interdiction was general and on design to stop their mouths till their Enemies should seduce the People they did not think they were bound in Conscience to give Obedience Many of them therefore continued to preach openly others instead of Preaching in Churches were contented to have only the Prayers and other Service there but for instructing their People had private Conferences with them The Council hearing that their Orders had been disobeyed by some in London two in Coventry and one in Amersham they were sent for and put in Prison And Coverdale Bishop of Exeter and Hooper of Glocester being cited to appear before the Council they came and presented themselves on the 29th and 30th of August and on the first of September Hooper was sent to the Fleet and Coverdale appointed to wait their pleasure At this time the Popish Party growing now insolent over England began to be as forward in making Changes before the Laws warranted them as these of the Reformation had been in King Edward's time so that in many places they set up Images and the Latin Service with the old Rites again This was plainly against Law but the Council had no mind to hinder it but on the other hand encouraged it all they could Upon which Judg Hales The barbarous usage of Judg Hales who thought he might with the more assurance speak his mind having appeared so steadily for the Queen did at the Circuits in Kent give a Charge to the Justices to see to the execution of King Edward's Laws which were still in force and unrepealed Upon this he was without any regard to his former Zeal put first into the Marshalsea from thence he was removed to the Counter and after that to the Fleet where the good old Man was so disordered with the Cruelties that the Warden told him were contriving against all that would not change their Religion that it turned his Brain so that he endeavoured to have kill'd himself with a Penknife He was after that upon his Submission set at liberty but never came to himself again so he not being well looked to drowned himself This with the usage of the Suffolk-Men was much censured and from thence it was said that no Merits or Services could secure any from the Cruelties of that Religion And it appeared in another signal Instance how the Actions of Men were not so much considered as their Religion The Lord Chief Justice Mountague who had very unwillingly drawn the Letters Patents for the Lady Jane's Succession was turned out of his Place kept six weeks in Prison fined in a Thousand pounds and some Lands that had been given him by King Edward were taken from him tho he had sent his Son with Twenty Men to declare for the Queen and had a great Family of Seventeen Children six Sons and eleven Daughters whereas Judg Bromley that had concurred in framing the Letters Patents without any reluctancy was made Lord Chief Justice The true Reason was Bromley was a Papist in his heart and Mountague was for the Reformation In many other places where the People were Popishly affected they drove away their Pastors At Oxford Peter Martyr was so ill used that he was forced to fly for his safety to Lambeth where he could not look for any long protection Cranmer declared openly against the Mass since Cranmer himself was every day in expectation of being sent to Prison He kept himself quiet and was contriving how to give some Publick and Noble Testimonies to the Doctrine that he had so long professed and indeed had bin the chief promoter of in this Church But his quiet behaviour was laid hold on by his Enemies and it was given out that he was resolved to comply with every thing the Queen had a mind to So I find Bonner wrote to his Friend Mr. Lechmore on the 6th of September Bonners Insolence Coll. Numb 7. in that Letter which is in the Collection He gives him notice that the day before he had bin restored to his Bishoprick and Ridley repulsed for which he is very witty Ridley had a Steward for two Manours of his whose name was Ship-side his Brother-in-law upon which he plays as if he had bin Sheeps-head He orders Lechmore to look to his Estate and he should take care at the next Parliament that both the Sheepsheads and the Calves-heads should be used as they deserved He adds that Cranmer whom in scorn he calls Mr. Canterbury was become very humble and ready to submit himself in all things but that would not serve his turn and it
on the Dead or cast the burthen of it wholly upon her Sister But she assured them if ever she married she would make such a Choice as should be to the satisfaction and good of her People She did not know what credit she might yet have with them but she knew well she deserved to have it for she was resolved never to deceive them Her People were to her in stead of Children and she reckoned her self married to them by her Coronation They would not want a Successor when she died and for her part she should be well contented that the Marble should tell Posterity HERE LIES A QUEEN THAT REIGNED SO LONG AND LIVED AND DIED A VIRGIN She took their Address in good part and desired them to carry back her hearty thanks for the care the Commons had of her The Journals of the House of Lords are imperfect so that we find nothing in them of this matter yet it appears that they likewise had it before them for the Journals of the House of Commons have it marked that on the fifteenth of February there was a Message sent from the Lords desiring that a Committee of thirty Commoners might meet with twelve Lords to consider what should be the Authority of the Person whom the Queen should marry The Committee was appointed to treat concerning it but it seems the Queen desired them to turn to other things that were more pressing for I find nothing after this entred in the Journals of this Parliament concerning it On the ninth of February the Lords past a Bill for the Recognizing of the Queens Title to the Crown They recognize her Title to the Crown It had been considered whether as Queen Mary had procured a former Repeal of her Mothers Divorce and of the Acts that passed upon it declaring her Illegitimate the like should be done now The Lord Keeper said The Crown purged all defects and it was needless to look back to a thing which would at least cast a reproach on her Father the enquiring into such things too anxiously would rather prejudice than advance her Title So he advised that there should be an Act passed in general words asserting the lawfulness of her descent and her Right to the Crown rather than any special Repeal Queen Mary and her Council were careless of King Henry's Honour but it became her rather to conceal than expose his Weakness This being thought both Wise and Pious Council the Act was conceived in general Words That they did assuredly believe and declare that by the Laws of God and of the Realm she was their lawful Queen and that she was rightly lineally and lawfully descended from the Royal Blood and that the Crown did without all doubt or ambiguity belong to her and the Heirs to be lawfully begotten of her Body after her and that they as representing the Three Estates of the Realm did declare and assert her Title which they would defend with their Lives and Fortunes This was thought to be very wise Council for if they had gone to repeal the Sentence of Divorce which passed upon her Mothers acknowledging a Precontract they must have set forth the force that was on her when she made that Confession and that as it was a great dishonour to her Father so it would have raised discourses likewise to her Mothers prejudice which must have rather weakned than strengthened her Title And as has been formerly observed this seems to be the true reason why in all her Reign there was no Apology printed for her Mother There was another Act passed for the restoring of her in Blood to her Mother by which she was qualified as a private Subject to succeed either to her Grand-fathers Estate or to any others by that Blood But for the matters of Religion the Commons began The Acts that were passed concerning Religion and on the fifteenth of February brought in a Bill for the English Service and concerning the Ministers of the Church On the 21st a Bill was read for annexing the Supremacy to the Crown again and on the 17th of March another Bill was brought in confirming the Laws made about Religion in King Edwards time and on the 21st another was brought in That the Queen should have the Nomination of the Bishops as it had been in King Edwards time The Bill for the Supremacy was past by the Lords on the 18th of March the Archbishop of York the Earl of Shrewsbury the Viscount Mountacute and the Bishops of London Winchester Worcester Landaffe Coventry and Litchfield Exeter Chester and Carlisle and the Abbot of Westminster dissenting But afterwards the Commons annexed many other Bills to it as that about the Queens making Bishops not according to the Act made in King Edwards time but by the old way of Elections as it was Enacted in the 25th Year of her Fathers Reign with several Provisoes which passed in the House of Lords with the same dissent By it all the Acts past in the Reign of King Henry for the abolishing of the Popes Power are again revived and the Acts in Queen Maries time to the contrary are repealed There was also a Repeal of the Act made by her for proceeding against Hereticks They revived the Act made in the first Parliament of King Edward against those that spoke irreverently of the Sacrament and against private Masses and for Communion in both kinds And declared the Authority of Visiting Correcting and Reforming all things in the Church to be for ever annexed to the Crown which the Queen and her Successors might by her Letters Patents depute to any Persons to exercise in her Name All Bishops and other Ecclesiastieal Persons and all in any Civil Imployment were required to swear that they acknowledged the Queen to be the Supream Governour in all Causes as well Ecclesiastical as Temporal within her Dominions that they renounced all Forreign Power and Jurisdiction and should bear the Queen Faith and true Allegiance Whosoever should refuse to swear it was to forfeit any Office he had either in Church or State and to be from thenceforth disabled to hold any Imployment during Life And if within a Month after the end of that Session of Parliament any should either by discourse or in writing set forth the Authority of any Forreign Power or do any thing for the advancement of it they were to forfeit all their Goods and Chattels and if they had not Goods to the value of twenty Pounds they were to be Imprisoned a whole year and for the second offence they were to incur the Pains of a Praemunire and the third offence in that kind was made Treason To this a Proviso was added That such Persons as should be Commissioned by the Queen to Reform and Order Ecclesiastical Matters should judge nothing to be Heresie but what had been already so Judged by the Authority of the Canonical Scriptures or by the first four General Councils or by any other General Council in which such Doctrines
364. An Expedition against France pag. 365. Many strange Accidents ibid. A Treaty of Peace pag. 366. The Battel of Graveling ibid. Many Protestants in France ibid. Dolphin marries the Queen of Scots pag. 367. A Convention of Estates in Scotland ibid. A Parliament in England pag. 368. The Queens Sickness and Death pag. 369. Cardinal Pool dies ibid. His Character ibid. The Queens Character pag. 370. BOOK III. Of the Settlement of the Reformation of Religion in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths Reign QVeen Elizabeth succeeds pag. 373. And comes to London pag. 374. She sends a Dispatch to Rome ibid. But to no effect ibid. King Philip Courts her pag. 375. The Queens Council ibid. A Consultation about the Change of Religion pag. 376. A Method proposed for it pag. 377. Many forward to Reform pag. 378. Parker named to be Arch-Bishop of Canterbury ibid. 1559. Bacon made Lord Keeper pag. 380. The Queens Coronation ibid. The Parliament meets pag. 381. The Treaty at Cambray pag. 382. A Peace agreed on with France ibid. The Proceedings of the Parliament pag. 383. An Address to the Queen to marry pag. 384. Her Answer to it ibid. They Recognise her Title pag. 385. Acts concerning Religion ibid. The Bishops against the Supremacy pag. 386. The beginning of the High Commission pag. 387. A Conference at Westminster pag. 388. Arguments for the Latin Service pag. 389. Arguments against it pag. 390. The Conference breaks up pag. 391. The Liturgy corrected and explained pag. 392. Debates about the Act of Vniformity pag. 393. Arguments for the Changes then made pag. 394. Bills proposed but rejected pag. 395. The Bishops refuse the Oath of Supremacy pag. 396. The Queens gentleness to them ibid. Injunctions for a Visitation pag. 397. The Queen desires to have Images retained ibid. Reasons brought against it ibid. The Heads of the Injunctions pag. 398. Reflections made on them pag. 399. The first High Commission pag. 400. Parkers unwillingness to accept of the Archbishoprick of Canterbury pag. 401. His Consecration pag. 402. The Fable of the Nags-head confuted pag. 403. The Articles of Religion prepared pag. 405. An Explanation of the Presence in the Sacrament ibid. The Translation of the Bible pag. 406. The beginnings of the Divisions pag. 407. The Reformation in Scotland ibid. Mills Martyrdome pag. 408. It occasions great discontents pag. 409. A Revolt at St. Johnstoun pag. 410. The French King intends to grant them liberty of Religion pag. 411. But is killed ibid. A Truce agreed to ibid. The Queen Regent is deposed pag. 412. The Scots implore the Queen of England's Aid ibid. Leith besieged by the English ibid. The Queen Regent dies pag. 413. A Peace is concluded ibid. The Reformation setled by Parliament ibid. Francis the second dies ibid. The Civil Wars of France pag. 415. The Wars of the Netherlands pag. 416. The misfortunes of the Queen of Scotland pag. 417. Queen Elizabeth deposed by the Pope pag. 418. Sir Fr. Walsinghams Letter concerning the Queens proceeding with Papists and Puritans ibid. The Conclusion pag. 421. FINIS A COLLECTION OF RECORDS AND Original Papers WITH OTHER INSTRUMENTS Referred to in the SECOND PART OF THE History of the Reformation OF THE Church of England LONDON Printed by J.D. for Richard Chiswell 1680. The Journal of King EDWARD'S Reign written with his own Hand The Original is in the Cotton Library Nero C. 10. THe Year of our Lord 1537 was a Prince born to King Henry the 8th by Jane Seimour then Queen who within few days after the Birth of her Son died and was buried at the Castle of Windsor This Child was Christned by the Duke of Norfolk the Duke of Suffolk and the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Afterwards was brought up till he came to six Years old among the Women At the sixth Year of his Age he was brought up in Learning by Master Doctor Cox who was after his Almoner and John Cheeke Master of Arts two well-learned Men who sought to bring him up in learning of Tongues of the Scripture of Philosophy and all Liberal Sciences Also John Bellmaine Frenchman did teach him the French Language The tenth Year not yet ended it was appointed he should be created Prince of Wales Duke of Cornwal and Count Palatine of Chester At which time being the Year of our Lord 1547 the said King died of a Dropsie as it was thought After whose Death incontinent came Edward Earl of Hartford and Sir Anthony Brown Master of the Horse to convoy this Prince to Enfield where the Earl of Hartford declared to him and his younger Sister Elizabeth the Death of their Father Here he begins anew again AFter the Death of King Henry the 8th his Son Edward Prince of Wales was come to at Hartford by the Earl of Hartford and Sir Anthony Brown Master of the Horse for whom before was made great preparation that he might be created Prince of Wales and afterward was brought to Enfield where the Death of his Father was first shewed him and the same day the Death of his Father was shewed in London where was great lamentation and weeping and suddenly he proclaimed King The next day being the _____ of _____ He was brought to the Tower of London where he tarried the space of three weeks and in the mean season the Council sat every day for the performance of the Will and at length thought best that the Earl of Hartford should be made Duke of Somerset Sir Thomas Seimour Lord Sudley the Earl of Essex Marquess of Northampton and divers Knights should be made Barons as the Lord Sheffield with divers others Also they thought best to chuse the Duke of Somerset to be Protector of the Realm and Governour of the King's Person during his Minority to which all the Gentlemen and Lords did agree because he was the King's Uncle on his Mothers side Also in this time the late King was buried at Windsor with much solemnity and the Officers broke their Staves hurling them into the Grave but they were restored to them again when they came to the Tower The Lord Lisle was made Earl of Warwick and the Lord Great Chamberlainship was given to him and the Lord Sudley made Admiral of England all these things were done the King being in the Tower Afterwards all things being prepared for the Coronation the King being then but nine Years old passed through the City of London as heretofore hath been used and came to the Palace of Westminster and the next day came into Westminster-Hall And it was asked the People Whether they would have him to be their King Who answered Yea yea Then he was crowned King of England France and Ireland by the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and all the rest of the Clergy and Nobles and Anointed with all such Ceremonies as were accustomed and took his Oath and gave a General Pardon and so was brought to the Hall to Dinner on Shrove-sunday where he sat with the Crown on his Head with the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury
and the Lord Protector and all the Lords sat at Boards in the Hall beneath and the Lord Marshal's Deputy for my Lord of Somerset was Lord Marshal rode about the Hall to make room then came in Sir John Dimock Champion and made his Challenge and so the King drank to him and he had the Cup. At night the King returned to his Palace at Westminster where there was Justs and Barriers and afterward Order was taken for all his Servants being with his Father and being with the Prince and the Ordinary and Unordinary were appointed In the mean season Sir Andrew Dudley Brother to my Lord of Warwick being in the Paunsie met with the Lion a principal Ship of Scotland which thought to take the Paunsie without resistance but the Paunsie approached her and she shot but at length they came very near and then the Paunsie shooting off all one side burst all the overlop of the Lion and all her Tackling and at length boarded her and took her but in the return by negligence she was lost at Harwich-Haven with almost all her Men. In the month of * Should be March May died the French King called Francis and his Son called Henry was proclaimed King There came also out of Scotland an Ambassador but brought nothing to pass and an Army was prepared to go into Scotland Certain Injunctions were set forth which took away divers Ceremonies and Commissions sent to take down Images and certain Homilies were set forth to be read in the Church Dr. Smith of Oxford recanted at Pauls certain Opinions of the Mess and that Christ was not according to the Order of Melchisedeck The Lord Seimour of Sudley married the Queen whose name was Katherine with which Marriage the Lord Protector was much offended There was great preparation made to go into Scotland and the Lord Protector the Earl of Warwick the Lord Dacres the Lord Gray and Mr. Brian went with a great number of Nobles and Gentlemen to Barwick where the first day after his coming he mustered all his Company which were to the number of 13000 Footmen and 5000 Horsemen The next day he marched on into Scotland and so passed the Pease then he burnt two Castles in Scotland and so passed a streight of a Bridg where 300 Scots Light-Horsemen set upon him behind him who were discomfited So he passed to Musselburgh where the first day after he came he went up to the Hill and saw the Scots thinking them as they were indeed at least 36000 Men and my Lord of Warwick was almost taken chasing the Earl of Huntley by an Ambush but he was rescued by one Bertivell with twelve Hagbuttiers on Horseback and the Ambush ran away The 10th day of September the Lord Protector thought to get the Hill which the Scots seeing passed the Bridg over the River of Musselburgh and strove for the higher Ground and almost got it but our Horsemen set upon them who although they stayed them yet were put to flight and gathered together again by the Duke of Somerset Lord Protector and the Earl of Warwick and were ready to give a new Onset The Scots being amazed with this fled theirwayes some to Edinburgh some to the Sea and some to Dalkeith and there were slain 10000 of them but of Englishmen 51 Horsemen which were almost all Gentlemen and but one Footman Prisoners were taken the Lord Huntley Chancellor of Scotland and divers other Gentlemen and slain of Lairds 1000. And Mr. Brian Sadler and Vane were made Bannerets After this Battel Broughtie-craig was given to the Englishmen and Hume and Roxburgh and Heymouth which were Fortified and Captains were put in them and the Lord of Somerset rewarded with 500 l. Lands In the mean season Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester was for not receiving the Injunctions committed to Ward There was also a Parliament called wherein all Chaunteries were granted to the King and an extream Law made for Vagabonds and divers other things Also the Scots besieged Broughty-craig which was defended against them all by Sir Andrew Dudley Knight and oftentimes their Ordnance was taken and marred YEAR II. A Triumph was where six Gentlemen did challenge all Comers at Barriers Justs and Tournay and also that they would keep a Fortress with thirty with them against an hundred or under which was done at Greenwich Sir Edward Bellingam being sent into Ireland Deputy and Sir Anthony St. Leiger revoked he took O-Canor and O-Mor bringing the Lords that rebelled into subjection and O-Canor and O-Mor leaving their Lordships had apiece an 100 l. Pension The Scots besieged the Town of Haddington where the Captain Mr. Willford every day made issues upon them and slew divers of them The thing was very weak but for the Men who did very manfully Oftentimes Mr. Holcroft and Mr. Palmer did Victual it by force passing through the Enemies and at last the Rhinegrave unawares set upon Mr. Palmer which was there with near a thousand and five hundred Horsemen and discomfited him taking him Mr. Bowes Warden of the West-Marches and divers other to the number of 400 and slew a few Upon St. Peter's day the Bishop of Winchester was committed to the Tower Then they made divers brags and they had the like made to them Then went the Earl of Shrewsbury General of the Army with 22000 Men and burnt divers Towns and Fortresses which the Frenchmen and Scots hearing levied their Siege in the month of September in the levying of which there came one to Tiberio who as then was in Haddington and setting forth the weakness of the Town told him That all Honour was due to the Defenders and none to the Assailers so the Siege being levied the Earl of Shrewsbury entred it and victualled and reinforced it After his departing by night there came into the Outer Court at Haddington 2000 Men armed taking the Townsmen in their Shirts who yet defended them with the help of the Watch and at length with Ordnance issued out upon them and slew a marvellous number bearing divers Assaults and at length drove them home and kept the Town safe A Parliament was called where an Uniform Order of Prayer was institute before made by a number of Bishops and learned Men gathered together in Windsor There was granted a Subsidy and there was a notable Disputation of the Sacrament in the Parliament-House Also the Lord Sudley Admiral of England was condemned to Death and died in March ensuing Sir Thomas Sharington was also condemned for making false Coin which he himself confessed Divers also were put in the Tower YEAR III. Hume-Castle was taken by Night and Treason by the Scots Mr. Willford in a Skirmish was left of his Men sore hurt and taken There was a Skirmish at Broughty-craig wherein Mr. Lutterell Captain after Mr. Dudley did burn certain Villages and took Monsieur de Toge Prisoner The Frenchmen by night assaulted Boulingberg and were manfully repulsed after they had made Faggots with Pitch Tar Tallow Rosin
make your Party stronger for your Purposes aforesaid to the danger of the King's Majesty's Person and great peril of the State of the Realm 16. It is Objected and laid to your Charge That you have retained young Gentlemen and hired Yeomen to a great multitude and far above such number as is permitted by the Laws and Statutes of the Realm or were otherwise necessary or convenient for your Service Place or Estate to the fortifying of your self towards all your evil Intents and Purposes to the great danger of the King's Majesty and peril of the State of the Realm 17. It is Objected and laid to your Charge That you had so travailed in that Matter that you had made your self able to make of your own Men out of your Lands and Rules and other your Adherents 10000 Men besides your Friends to the advancement of all your Intents and Purposes to the danger of the King's Majesty's Person and the great peril of the State of the Realm 18. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you had conferred cast and weighed so much Mony as would find the said 10000 Men for a Month and that you knew how and where to have the same Sum and that you had given warning to have and prepare the said Mass of Mony in a readiness to the danger of the King's Majesty's Person and great peril to the State of the Realm 19. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you have not only before you married the Queen attempted and gone about to marry the King's Majesty's Sister the Lady Elizabeth second Inheritor in remainder to the Crown but also being then let by the Lord Protector and others of the Council sithence that time both in the life of the Queen continued your old labour and love and after her death by secret and crafty means practised to atchieve the said purpose of marrying the said Lady Elizabeth to the danger of the King's Majesty's Person and peril of the state of the same 20. It is Objected and laid to your Charge That you married the late Queen so soon after the late King's Death that if she had conceived streight after it should have been a great doubt whether the Child born should have been accounted the late King 's or yours whereupon a marvellous danger and peril might and was like to have ensued to the King's Majesty's Succession and Quiet of the Realm 21. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you first married the Queen privately and did dissemble and keep close the same insomuch that a good space after you had married her you made labour to the King's Majesty and obtained a Letter of his Majesty's Hand to move and require the said Queen to marry with you and likewise procured the Lord Protector to speak to the Queen to bear you her favour towards Marriage by the which colouring not only your evil and dissembling Nature may be known but also it is to be feared that at this present you did intend to use the same practice in the marriage of the Lady Elizabeth's Grace 22. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you not only so much as lay in you did stop and lett all such things as either by Parliament or otherwise should tend to the advancement of the King's Majesty's Affairs but did withdraw your self from the King's Majesty's Service and being moved and spoken unto for your own Honour and for the Ability that was in you to serve and aid the King's Majesty's Affairs and the Lord Protectors you would always draw back and feign Excuses and declare plainly that you would not do it Wherefore upon the discourse of all these foresaid things and of divers others it must needs be intended that all these Preparations of Men and Mony the attempts and secret practices of the said Marriage the abusing and perswading of the King's Majesty to mislike the Government State and Order of the Realm that now is and to take the Government into his own hands and to credit you was to none other end and purpose but after a Title gotten to the Crown and your Party made strong both by Sea and Land with Furniture of Men and Mony sufficient to have aspired to the Dignity Royal by some hainous Enterprize against the King's Majesty's Person to the subversion of the whole State of the Realm 23. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you not only had gotten into your hands the strong and dangerous Isles of Silly bought of divers Men but that so much as lay in your power you travailed also to have Londay and under pretence to have victualled the Ships therewith not only went about but also moved the Lord Protector and whole Council that you might by publick Authority have that which by private fraude and falshood and confederating with Sharington you had gotten that is the Mint at Bristol to be yours wholly and only to serve your Purposes casting as may appear that if these Traiterous Purposes had no good success yet you might thither conveigh a good Mass of Mony where being aided with Ships and conspiring at all evil Events with Pirats you might at all times have a sure and safe Refuge if any thing for your demerits should have been attempted against you 24. It is also Objected and laid unto your Charge That having knowledg that Sir William Sharington Kt. had committed Treason and otherwise wonderfully defrauded and deceived the King's Majesty nevertheless you both by your self and by seeking Council for him and by all means you could did aid assist and bear him contrary to your Allegiance and Duty to the King's Majesty and the good Laws and Orders of the Realm 25. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That where you owed to Sir William Sharington Kt. a great sum of Mony yet to abet bear and cloak the great falshood of the said Sharington and to defraud the King's Majesty you were not afraid to say and affirm before the Lord Protector and the Council that the same Sharington did owe unto you a great Sum of Mony viz. 2800 l. and to conspire with him in that falshood and take a Bill of that feigned Debt into your custody 26. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That you by your self and Ministers have not only extorted and bribed great Sums of Mony of all such Ships as should go into Island but also as should go any other where in Merchandise contrary to the Liberty of this Realm and to the great discouragement and destruction of the Navy of the same to the great danger of the King's Majesty and the State of the Realm 27. It is Objected and laid unto your Charge That where divers Merchants as well Strangers as Englishmen have had their goods piratously robbed and taken you have had their Goods in your hands and custody daily seen in your House and distributed among your Servants and Friends without any restitution to the
desiring no State no Condition nor no meaner degree of living but such as your Grace shall appoint me knowledging and confessing That my State cannot be so vile as either the extremity of Justice would appoint unto me or as mine Offences have required or deserved And whatsoever your Grace shall command me to do touching any of these Points either for things past present or to come I shall as gladly do the same as your Majesty shall command me Most humbly therefore beseeching your Mercy most gracious Soveraign Lord and Benign Father to have pity and compassion of your miserable and sorrowful Child and with the abundance of your inestimable Goodness so to overcome mine Iniquity towards God Your Grace and Your whole Realm as I may feel some sensible Token of Reconciliation which God is my Judg I only desire without other respect To whom I shall daily pray for the preservation of Your Highness with the Queens Grace and that it may please him to send You Issue From Hunsdon this Thursday at eleven of the Clock at Night Your Graces most humble and obedient Daughter and Handmaid MARY Number 4. Another of the same strain confirming the former An Original MOst humbly obediently and gladly Cotton Libr. Otho C. 20. lying at the Feet of Your most Excellent Majesty my most dear and benign Father and Soveraign Lord I have this day perceived Your gracious Clemency and merciful Pity to have overcome my most unkind and unnatural Proceedings towards You and Your most Just and Vertuous Laws The great and inestimable Joy whereof I cannot express nor have any thing worthy to be again presented to Your Majesty for the same Your fatherly Pity extended towards me most ingrately on my part abandoned as much as in me lie but my poor Heart which I send unto Your Highness to remain in Your Hand to be for ever used directed and framed whiles God shall suffer life to remain in it at Your only pleasure most humbly beseeching Your Grace to accept and receive the same being all that I have to offer which shall never alter vary or change from that Confession and Submission which I have made unto Your Highness in the presence of Your Council and other attending upon the same for whose preservation with my most gracious Mother the Queen I shall daily pray to God whom eft-soons I beseech to send You Issue to his Honour and the Comfort of Your whole Realm From Hounsdon the 26th day of June Your Grace's most humble and obedient Daughter and Handmaid MARY Number 5. Another Letter written to her Father to the same purpose An Original Cotton Libr. Otho C. 20. MY bounden Duty most humbly remembred to Your most Excellent Majesty Whereas I am unable and insufficient to render and express to Your Highness those most hearty and humble thanks for Your gracious Mercy and fatherly Pity surmounting mine Offences at this time extended towards me I shall prostrate at Your most noble Feet humbly and with the very bottom of my Stomach beseech your Grace to repute that in me which in my poor Heart remaining in Your most noble Hand I have conceived and professed towards Your Grace whiles the Breath shall remain in my Body that is that as I am now in such merciful sort recovered being more than almost lost with mine own Folly that Your Majesty may as well accept me justly Your bounden Slave by Redemption as Your most humble faithful and obedient Child and Subject by the course of Nature planted in this Your most noble Realm so shall I for ever persevere and continue towards Your Highness in such uniformity and due obedience as I doubt not but with the help of God Your Grace shall see and perceive a will and intent in me to redouble again that hath been amiss on my behalf conformably to such Words and Writings as I have spoken and sent unto Your Highness from the which I will never vary during my Life trusting that Your Grace hath conceived that Opinion of me which to remember is mine only comfort And thus I beseech our Lord to preserve Your Grace in Health with my very natural Mother the Queen and to send you shortly Issue which I shall as gladly and willingly serve with my Hands under their Feet as ever did poor Subject their most Gracious Soveraign From Hunsdon the 8th day of July Your Grace's most humble and obedient Daughter and Handmaid MARY Number 6. A Letter written by her to Cromwell containing a full Submission to the King's Pleasure in all the Points of Religion An Original GOod Mr. Secretary how much am I bound unto you Cotton Libr. Otho C. 10. which have not only travelled when I was almost drowned in folly to recover me before I sunk and was utterly past recovery and so to present me to the face of Grace and Mercy but also desisteth not sithence with your good and wholesome Counsels so to arm me from any relapse that I cannot unless I were too wilful and obstinate whereof now there is no spark in me fall again into any danger But leaving the recital of your Goodness apart which I cannot recount For answer to the Particularities of your Credence sent by my Friend Mr. Wriothsley First Concerning the Princess so I think I must call her yet for I would be loth to offend I offered at her entry to that Name and Honour to call her Sister but it was refused unless I would also add the other Title unto it which I denied not then more obstinately than I am now sorry for it for that I did therein offend my most gracious Father and his just Laws And now that you think it meet I shall never call her by other Name than Sister Touching the nomination of such Women as I would have about me surely Mr. Secretary what Men or Women soever the King's Highness shall appoint to wait on me without exception shall be to me right-heartily and without respect welcome albeit to express my mind to you whom I think worthy to be accepted for their faithful Service done to the King's Majesty and to me sithence they came into my Company I promise you on my Faith Margaret Baynton and Susanna Clarencieux have in every condition used themselves as faithfully painfully and diligently as ever did Women in such a case as sorry when I was not so conformable as became me as glad when I enclined any thing to my Duty as could be devised One other there is that was sometime my Maid whom for her Vertue I love and could be glad to have in my Company that is Mary Brown and here be all that I will recommend and yet my estimation of this shall be measured at the King's Highness my most merciful Father's pleasure and appointment as Reason is For mine Opinion touching Pilgrimages Purgatory Reliques and such-like I assure you I have none at all but such as I shall receive from him that hath mine whole Heart
who took down the dead Body of our Saviour Christ from the Cross and lieth buried in Glassenbury and him most heartily we beseech with us to pray unto Christ for good success unto your Honourable Lordship in all your Lordships Affairs and now especially in this our most humble Request that we may do the same in Glassenbury for the King and Queens Majesties as our Founders and for your good Lordship as a singular Benefactor Your Lordships daily Beadsmen of Westminster John Phagan John Nott. William Ailewold William Kentwyne Number 31. A Letter from Sir Edward Carne from Rome shewing how the Pope dissembled with him concerning a General Peace An Original PLeaseth it your most Excellent Majesty to be advertised Ex Chartophylac Regio That Francis the Post arrived here upon Corpus Christi Day with your Majesty's most gracious Letters as well for the expedition of the Bishopricks of Winchester and Chester as also for his Holiness beside with your most gracious Letters of the 30th of March to me According to the purport whereof I sued for Audience at his Holiness Hands the next day following whereof I had Answer That I should come to his Holiness viz. the sixth of this and being with his Holiness after the delivery of your Majesty's most gracious Letters with your Majesty's humble Commendations After he had read your Majesty's Letter in the presence of the most Reverend Lord Cardinal Morone he said how much he was bound to that Blessed Queen and most Gracious and Loving Daughter that had written to him so gratefully and humbly saying That he would keep that Letter to be read openly in the Consistory before all the most Reverend Lords his Brethren and said that he was much bound to his Legat there to make that good Report of him to your Majesty Whereupon I declared unto him your Majesty's Pleasure according to my Instructions with such Thanks and Congratulations as your Pleasure was I should use to his Holiness with the rest of my Instructions leaving no part thereof undeclared and spoken Whereunto he said That his Affection to that blessed Queen making a Cross upon your Majesty's Name contained in the Letter was not neither could be as much as the goodness of her Majesty required but this your Majesty should be sure of he said that his good Affection and good Will should not only continue but encrease to the utmost to the satisfaction of your Majesty in all that may lie in him And as touching the Peace to be had perfectly betwixt the Emperor's Majesty and the King 's most Excellent Majesty and the French King he was wondrous glad to hear that your Majesty's furtherance should not want in helping to bring the Truce late concluded to a perfect Peace And of his part he said that he sent two Legats for that purpose for his discharge towards God Or else he said if he should overpass and not declare unto them the great Necessities of the Common-Weal of all Christendom to have a perfect Peace God would impute his silence therein unto him being appointed over his Flock here as he is For he said it is more than time to be doing therein considering that the Realm of Polonia doth so waver and that the King there neither can nor dare being compassed with naughty Sects round about him do any thing against them And likewise the King of Romans about him They call upon his Holiness for help and some Provision for Amendment which thing he cannot do without a General Council which he said cannot be well done unless the said Peace be made for though there be an Abstinence from War yet the grudg of the Doings heretofore and the incertainty of Peace will be an occasion to keep Men of War and the one shall be in mistrust of the other in such sort as the Passages cannot be sure for those that should come to the said Council Therefore he will travel as much as is possible for him to have a Peace without the which it will not be possible to do any good in the Council His Holiness is minded to have the General Council here in St. John Latarenense and thinks it the most meetest Place for divers Considerations which he declared For it is the Head Church of Christendom and there hath been divers times many wholsome and Holy Councils in times past And for that this City is Communis Patria and free to all the World to resort to freely trusting that all Necessaries shall come hither both by Sea and Land And also forasmuch as in divers Councils begun in times of his Predecessors little good could be done and Men thought that more good might have been done if the Pope had been present himself in the said Councils therefore his Holiness would be present himself in this Council which he cannot being in a manner decrepit for Age in case it were kept far here-hence he not being able to travel for Age unless it be kept here where he trusteth to be himself in Person And for to conclude this Matter in such sort as the necessity of Christendom requireth he hath dispatched the two Legats de Latere suo at this present wherein he knoweth that your Majesty may do more than any others and doubteth not but your Majesty will so do Concluding that God hath preserved your Majesty to help all the World whereunto I said That there should not want neither good Will neither any other thing that your Majesty might do for the furtherance thereof As touching the Provisions of Winchester and Chester it shall be done with all the speed that may be And his Holiness hath promised all the favour that he can conveniently shew for your Majesty's sake It must have somewhat longer time for that the Process made there by my Lord Legat's Grace for to try the Yearly Value of Winchester must be committed to certain Cardinals for to report in the Consistory before the new Tax can be made but there shall be no time lost for it shall be diligently sollicited Also concerning the Pention to my Lord Cardinal's Grace of a thousand Pounds Sterling Yearly the Pope his Holiness will assign it according to your Majesty's Pleasure so that all shall be done therein with all the speed that may be God willing wherein the most reverend Lord Cardinal Morone who rejoiceth much in your Gracious Letters sent to him to his great comfort doth travel as he is most ready always in all that toucheth your Majesty or any of your most noble Realms As concerning the Occurents here since my last Letters of the fifteenth of the last be none other but that the Cardinal de Caraffa departed here-hence towards France the fourteenth of the last with divers Antiquities to be presented to the French King Some say here that part of his Charge is to move the French King to take the Dukedom of Paleano in his Protection as he hath Parma and Mirandula There be a great number of
through the Merits and Death of our Saviour Jesus Christ To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all Glory and Empire now and for ever Amen Imprinted at London in Pauls Church-Yard by Richard Jugge Printer to the Queen's Majesty Cum Privilegio Regiae Majestatis * Number 12. Sir Walter Mildmay's Opinion concerning the keeping of the Queen of Scots October 26. 1569. at Windsor Castle An Original The Question to be considered on is Whether it be less perilous to the Queen's Majesty and the Realm to retain the Queen of Scots in England or to return her home into Scotland IN which Question these things are to be considered On the one side What Dangers are like to follow if she be retained here and thereupon if so avoiding of them it shall be thought good to return her then what Cautions and Provisions are necessary to be had On the other side are to be weighed the Dangers like to follow if she be returned home and thereupon if for eschewing of them it shall be thought good to retain her here then what Cautions and Provisions are in that Case necessary Dangers in retaining the Queen of Scots Her unquiet and aspiring Mind never ceasing to practise with the Queen's Subjects Her late practice of Marriage between the Duke of Norfolk and her without the Queen's knowledg The Faction of the Papists and other Ambitious Folks being ready and fit Instruments for her to work upon The Commiseration that ever followeth such as be in misery though their Deserts be never so great Her cunning and sugred entertainment of all Men that come to her whereby she gets both Credit and Intelligence Her practice with the French and Spanish Ambassadors being more near to her in England than if she were in Scotland and their continual sollicitation of the Queen for her delivery the denial whereof may breed War The danger in her escaping out of Guard whereof it is like enough she will give the Attempt So as remaining here she hath time and opportunity to practise and nourish Factions by which she may work Confederacy and thereof may follow Sedition and Tumult which may bring peril to the Queen's Majesty and the State Finally it is said That the Queen's Majesty of her own disposition hath no mind to retain her but is much unquieted therewith which is a thing greatly to be weighed Cautions if she be returned To deliver her into the Hands of the Regent and the Lords now governing in Scotland to be safely kept That she meddle not with the State nor make any alteration in the Government or in Religion That by sufficient Hostages it may be provided that neither any Violence be used to her Person nor that she be suffered to Govern again but live privately with such honourable Entertainment as is meet for the King of Scots Mother That the League Offensive and Defensive between France and Scotland be never renewed That a new and perpetual League be made between England and Scotland whereby the Queen's Majesty may shew an open Maintenance and Allowance of the King's Authority and Estate and of the present Government so as the Scots may wholly depend on her That the Regent and the Lords of Scotland do make no composition with the Scots Queen neither suffer her to marry without consent of the Queens Majesty That the Faults whereof she hath been accused and her declining and delaying to Answer that Accusation may be published to the World the better to discourage her Factious Party both here and in Scotland Dangers in returning Her The manner how to deliver her Home with the Queen's Majesty's Honour and Safety is very doubtful For if she be delivered in Guard that came hither free and at liberty how will that stand with the Queen's Honour and with the Requests of the French and Spanish Kings that have continually sollicited her free delivery either into Scotland or France or if she die in Guard either violently or naturally her Majesty shall hardly escape slander If again she be delivered home at Liberty or if being in Guard she should escape then these Perils may follow The suppressing of the present Government in Scotland now depending upon the Queen's Majesty and advancing of the contrary Faction depending upon the French The alteration of Religion in Scotland The renewing of the League Offensive and Defensive between France and Scotland that hath so much troubled England The renewing of her pretended claim to the Crown of this Realm The likelyhood of War to ensue between France Scotland and Us and the bringing in of Strangers into that Realm to our annoyance and great charge as late Experience hath shewed The supportation that she is like to have of the French and Spanish Kings And though Peace should continue between England and Scotland yet infinite injuries will be offered by the Scots Queen's Ministers upon the Borders which will turn to the great hurt of the Queen's Majesty's Subjects or else to her greater Charges to redress them for the change of the Government in Scotland will change the Justice which now is had unto all Injury and Unjustice The likelyhood she will revoke the Earl Bothwell now her Husband though unlawful as it is said a Man of most evil and cruel Affection to this Realm and to his own Country-men Or if she should marry another that were a-like Enemy the Peril must needs be great on either side And albeit to these Dangers may be generally said That such Provision shall be made by Capitulations with her and by Hostages from the Regent and the Lords of Scotland as all these Perils shall be prevented To that may be answered That no Fact which she shall do here in England will hold for she will alleage the same to be done in a Forreign Country being restrained of Liberty That there is great likelyhood of escape wheresoever she be kept in Scotland for her late escape there sheweth how she will leave no way unsought to atchieve it and the Country being as it is greatly divided and of nature marvellously Factious she is the more like to bring it to pass Or if the Regent by any practice should yield to a composition or finding his Party weak should give over his Regiment Then what assurance have we either of Amity or Religion That the Regent may be induced to do this appeareth by his late secret Treaty with the Duke of Norfolk for her Marriage without the Queen's Majesty's knowledg And though the Regent should persevere constant yet if he should be taken away directly or indirectly the like whereof is said hath been attempted against him then is all at large and the Queen of Scots most like to be restored to her Estate the Factions being so great in Scotland as they are so as the Case is very tickle and dangerous to hang upon so small a Thread as the Life of one Man by whom it appeareth the whole at this present is contained And touching the