more honorable with them and more becomming good Christians then the Sword and Fortune of a Conqueror in comanding In which most Christian posture I leave them to proceed Titulus Tertius THe last and greatest tempest against poor English Catholikes was raised by Queen Elizabeth This not onely shook the foundations of the Church which had been so lately repaired by the most Catholike Princess Queen Mary but proceeded so far as humane policy and power could to extirpate the very name and memory of Catholike Religion in England Camd. in Elizab. And this as it were in an instant and without noise For as her own Historian Camdeu reporteth it was done Sine sanguine sudore No man unless perhaps it were Master Secretary Cecil did so much as sweat in the bringing in of New Religion nor was any mans blood I mean at the first beginning drawn about it The Christian world stood amazed at the first news of such a sudden alteration Both because Religion had been so lately and so solemnly restored by Parliament as also because the Queen her self that now was always professed her self so much Catholike during the Reign of her Sister She constantly every day heared Mass saith the same Camden and beside that ad Romanae Religionis normam soepius confiteretur went often to Confession as other Roman Catholikes did Yea saith Sir Francis Ingleseild when she was upon other matters sometimes examined by Commissioners from the Queen she would her self take occasion to complain that the Queen her Sister should see me to have any doubt of her Religion and would thereupon make Protestation and Swear that she was a Catholike The Duke of Feria's Letter to King Philip is yet extant to be seen wherein is certified that the Queen had given him such assurance of her beleefe and in particular concerning the point of Real Presence that for his part he could not beleeve she intended any great Alteration in Religion The same profession also she made to Monsieur Lansack as many Honorable Persons have testified and at her Coronation she was Consecrated in all points according to the Catholike maner and anointed at Mass by the Bishop of Carlile taking the same Oath to maintain Catholike Religion the Church and Liberties thereof as all other her Catholike Predecessors Kings and Queens of England had ever done Concerning the grounds which moved her to make this Alteration so much contrary to the expectation and judgement of Christendom we shall speak in due place This was manifest that the long sickness of Queen Mary gave her great advantage time both to deliberate and draw all platforms into debate to prepare instruments in readiness for all designs and to make choise of the fittest and surest Counsellors such as were most likely to advance her ends Neither did she seem to value her Honor overmuch in order to the bringing about of her chief design For in open Parliament after her intentions for a change began to be discovered she protested that no trouble should arise to the Roman Catholikes Horas Preface of Queen Elizab. for any difference in Religion Which did much abate the opposition which otherwise might probably have been made by the Catholike party and put the Clergy themselves in some hopes of Fair quarter under her Government She knew full well that a Prince alone how Sovereign soever could not establish a new Religions in his Kingdom but that it must be the work of a Parliament to give Authority and Countenance to a business of that nature Therefore to win the Bishops and the rest of the Catholikes in Parliament to silence at least she was content to use policy with them and promise them fair as Monsieur Mauvissieir hath well observed Les memoir de Mons. Mich. Castelnau who was a long time Embassador heer from the French King and curiously noted the passages of those times Add hereunto That when the Act for Supremacy was revived which was always the great Wheel of these Motions whereas by King Henry's Law both Bishops and Barons stood in danger thereof as the examples of Sir Thomas Moor Lord Chancellor of England and Doctor Fisher Bishop of Rochester had shewen in this Parliament the Queen was content to exempt the Lords and Barons absolutely from the Oath as they in King Edward the Sixths time had exempted themselves and to leave the Rigor of it onely upon the Clergy and Commons She also thought good to qualifie the Stile somewhat viz. from Supream Head changing it into Supream Governor which though it altered not the sence yet it abused some into a beleef that the Queen pretended not unto so much in matters Ecclesiastical as the King her Father had done Beside we are to remember that King Henry by pulling he Abbyes had much weakned the power of the Clergy in Parliament having deprived them of the Votes of no less then Five and twenty Abbots who constantly sat in Parliament in the quality of Barons And lastly it is well known The Lower House of Parliament it self as they call it was so calmly spirited in those times that they used not much to oppose what their good Lords of the upper House liked All which things considered and that too many of the Catholikes both Lords and others thinking it better wisdom to purchase their future security by present silence then to expose themselves to trouble and vexation afterward by opposing that which they feared they should not be able to hinder therefore either but faintly resist or quietly absent themselves who can wonder if the whole business were carried with ease upon such promises of the Queen and by the industry and craft of Sinon alias Secretary Cecil who had the chief Management of it in his hands By his advise it was thought fitting that the Noble Earl of Arundel should for a time be abused with some hopes of marrying the Queen who thereupon by the interest which he had in the house of Peers ingrosed into his own hands the Proxies or voices of so many of them who thought good to be absent as when time came served the Queens turn exceedingly well The duke of Norfolk Son in law to Arundel but now a Widower was already exasperated against the Pope because he might not have dispensation to marry his Kins-woman and therefore it was no hard matter to joyn him with Arundel The Queen had also against this time either made or advanced in dignity and consequently in interest certain new Lords whom she knew to be favorers of her design viz. William Lord Parr was made Marquis of Northampton a good Speaker and a Politick man Edward Seymour Son to the late Duke of Sommerset was made Viscount Beauchamp and Earl of Hartford Sir Thomas Howard was made Viscount Bindon Sir Oliver Saint John Lord St. John of Bletso Sir Henry Cary Lord Hunsdon She had also as much weakened the Catholikes party by discharging from the Counsel-Table many of the old Counsellors
the Boors who made such havock for a while in Germany by their conspiracies and especially against the Clergy did not onely pretend the Gospel and the Liberty of the Gospel for their doings but did even appeal therein to Luther himself Ad Lutheri judicium prâ—vocaverant They appealed saith he to Luthers judgement Not to urge what Erasmus hath to this effect Hyperaspist advers Lutherum nor what Menno Simonius an Anabaptist acknowledgeth in his Book De cruce Christi Quà m sanguinolentas seditiones Lutherani c. What bloody Riots and Murthers the Lutherans have committed for some years past to maintain theâ—r Doctrine And as to that part of the Objection that Luther did reprove yea write against the Boors it is the poorest fallacy of all He did it but how With such calumniating and taxing of the Princes themselves as they could be little secured by his writing and the Boors as little discouraged He did it but when When it was too late when he could forbear no longer when he found himself generally censured and murmured at by the Nobility and better sort of people as an occasion at least if not an Instrument and Fautor of those mischeifs Lastly He did it but when When he saw the Boors go down that they were not likely to maintain their quarrel nor to go through with their work then indeed he left them in the Bryers wisely enough though they appealed to him though they used yea alledged his own Homilies and Sermons for what they did though they were all for Reformation all for Liberty all against the Church of Rome and against Bishops yea and that their very word in the Field was Vivat Evangelium Let the Gospel flourish Hitherto we have discoursed cheifly of Luthers doctrinal extravagancies and touched upon the evil practises or fruits thereof onely in such men as either for the privateness and meanness of their condition being all of them Boors Peasants and rude Country people or for the unsuccessfulness of their designs are generally disclaimed Such as neither Luther nor any of his followers will readily own I come now to give a further instance of the mischief which the doctrine and doings of this man brought upon Germany in a business which was publikely owned not by Luther onely but by many of the Princes themselves who for the defence of his new Doctrine and protection of his wretched person bandied themselves against the Emperor their Sovereign Lord and against the general body of the Empire of which they were both Members and Subjects and by the Publike Laws whereof themselves in that relation ought to have been governed The beginning proceedings and issue of which confederacy was briefly thus Old John Frederick Elector and Duke of Saxony the Landsgrave of Hessen with some others already caught with the Liberty and other advantages which they made of Luthers new doctrine besides an old and inveterate emulation in most of them against the House of Austria which then was and still is Imperial first enter a League at Smalcald which is a Town of Hessia upon the Frontiers of Saxony onely as they pretended for their own defence and to maintain their Religion and Liberties against such men as would invade or persecute them We must observe here first That the Religion spoken of was a Religion but then newly and privately taken up of themselves contrary to that which was publikely received and acknowledged in the Empire and by vertue or rather pretext whereof they were obliged to do and suffer to be done many things which were expresly contrary to the Constitutions of the Empire which Constitutions the Emperor together with themselves were by oath solemnly bound to observe and see observed In this League were also comprehended the Duke of Wittemberg and some of the Imperial Towns They renewed it again at Franckfort and after that again at Auspurgh confirming it with a general and solemn Protestation of what their opinions were in matter of Religion which Protestation being then exhibited unto the Emperor in their names the Title or Sirname of Protestants became thenceforward appropriate to that party After this viz. Anno 1536. Suspecting some opposition would be made against them by the Emperor and other States of Germany for such proceedings and not willing to be taken at unawares by him they bring viz. themselves first of all an huge Army into the Field commanded by the yong Duke of Saxony John Frederick his Father being dead and the Landsgrave of Hessen with resolution by force of Arms to finde or make themselves right as they called it The Duke of Wittemberg the Imperial Towns Auspurgh Vlm Strasburgh and Franckfort sent them aid The Count Palaâ—ine of the Rhine had levyed Two hundred horse for them but upon better thoughts revoked them when they were upon their march The Duke of Brunswick and his sons the Duke of Luneburgh the yong Marquess of Baden the Prince of Anhalt the Counts of Furstenburgh and Mansfield joyned with them either in person or power Surius in Chron. Their Army consisted of about Seventy thousand fighting men and among them Seven thousand and seven hundred at least were Horse they had an hundred and twelve Cannon and Field pieces with such an infinite quantity of all sorts of Provisions as gave them an assured hope and confidence of Victory The eyes of all Princes were upon this action and Germany it self trembled in expectation of the event and success of such an Army prepared as they saw to swallow up the Emperor if they could and to subvert the whole Government and Religion of the Empire I mean that Religion and Government which was then established and had stood so established many hundred years before the Fathers or Grand-fathers of any of those Princes now in Arms to destroy it were born The Emperor had onely God and a just cause on his side for his friends those I mean who openly and avowedly appeared for him were few viz. The King of the Romans his Brother the Duke of Bavaria and the Duke of Cleve For though Duke Maurice of Saxony followed him yet in regard of his affinity with the Landsgrave whose Son in law he was as also for his Religion being a Lutheran he could not but be suspected However it pleased God notwithstanding this huge Army of the Princes that the Emperor became Master of the Field with a most compleat and signal Victory yea which was an accident more rare the two Generals Saxony and Hessen both of them became prisoners and their whole Army was defeated The yong Duke of Saxony a person much honored and pittied had his life given him with some connivence for his Religion yet his impregnable Fort at Gotha was demolished and the Electorate with all the Lands thereunto belonging were bestowed by the Emperor upon Duke Maurice The like mercy for life was shewed the Landsgrave who after some time obtained his liberty also The Duke of Wittemberg for Two hundred
Flanders and to take upon him the protection of the Low-Countries That Aldegund a great Incendiary was in Germany solliciting a party there with like eagerness So that they laboring on all sides to offend the King shall it not be lawful for his Majestie to provide for his own necessarie defence but he must be taxed with Tyranny Certainly it is a most unequal censure and argueth much more partiality then reason D' Alva could be no cause of those disorders which made his coming necessary for they all preceded his coming The Regent notwithstanding all her mildeness yet was at last forced to deal with them by Arms and having by that means once reduced them yet they are insolent and factious still and to bring their evil purposes to effect they seek to Forreign Princes for aid Who can wonder then if the Duke finding their distempers such as that gentle proceâ—dings did rather aggravate then allay the malady did make his War with some rigor It was no more then necessity and the general malice with which they had possessed the people against him compelled him to do for his own safety In the Passion week presently after his coming there was a Conspiracy to kill him whiles he was at his Devotions at the Monastery of the Green Vally in the Forest of Sauve not far from Brusels Monsieur Risot Carli Villars with Seven hundred Horse and Five hundred Foote were designed to do it when the Duke the Nobles and all his followers should be at Mass and with fire and instruments devised for the purpose to burn both men and Monastery and Church good and bad friends and enemies all together as the two Guidons confessed Such another business was intended also at Brussels against the Spaniards Mich. ab Isselt de bell Belg. as both Petit Mendoza and others testifie Neither did their malice much cease when he was recalled For as that Noble Lord the Duke of Areschot discovered and advised Don John there was a Plot to have surprized his person of which the Prince of Orange was reported to be the chief manager and another to kill him at Namur by Radcliff and Grey two Englishmen I enquire not who set them on work Latet anguis in herbâ it s a business not to be look't into too far And did not those Calvâ—nists at Antwerp as finely contrive to have blown up that famous Duke of Parma as he should be going along the High Street with all the chief State of the Country attending on him So that 't is cleer how strange soever they make of it Protestants may be charged with Assassinats and Treasons as well as others Thus were the occasions and first beginnings of the Nether-Landish tumults To discourse a little of the chief Author Actor and upholder of them we are to know The Prince of Orange who signally deserves that Character was a very popular and no less politick man and beside a great House-keeper which qualities especially the last very acceptable to that sort of people stood him in no smal stead in order to his designs The house of Nassau in Germany was Ancient and Honorable but advanced in this Country chiefly by marriages This William his Father falling to Lutheranism Charls the Fifth Emperor out of a Princely affection to him took from his Father and commended him to the care and Education of Mary Queen of Hungary his Sister Afterwards he admitted him to be of his Bedchamber Then made him General of his Horse and after that raised him to be Leivetenant General of the Army And yet further to endear his obligation to him when he was to â—â—nd the Imperial Crown to his Brother Ferdinand he made choise of him as a man of most Trust and commended him likewise very much to his Son King Philip notwithstanding diverse often warned him to take heed that he nursed not a Snake in his Bosom to these favors we may adde how much the Emperor favored his match with the Count of Burens Daughter and Heir who was his first Wife and by whom he was highly advanced and that he procured Rhenatus of Challon Prince of Orange to make this William his Heire when the President Schorus was wholly against him These things considered and also the many favors and great trust which King Philip also shewed to have in him committing so many and so great Governments to his charge and fidelity viz. Holland Zealand Vtrecht and Burgundy as hath been said it might seem impossible almost that any thing should corrupt his Loyalty The first visible disgust he took was upon the Kings going into Spain The Prince being then a Widower aspired to marry with the Princess Christerna Dutchess of Lorrain Cousin Germane to the King and labored also that she might be made Governess of the Provinces in the Kings absence to the intent that by such Alliance he might in effect sway the whole Government of the Provinces himself a thing indeed for which he had gaped a long time and stood competitor with Count Egmond But the King preferring the Dutchess of Parma he lost both his hopes and his Wife Upon this grew his first hatred against D' Alva and the Cardinal Granvellan by whose Counsels he supposed the Dutchess of Parma was preferred So as Ambition and Pride being indeed the true internal motives of his discontent Religion and the Common-wealths interest must be made the Mantle to hide it Hereupon he marrieth into the house of Saxony which was already Lutheranized and sets Brederode and his fellows to work as we have seen already Then labors to make a difference between Granvellan and Egmond although the former had been his good friend in many matters of importance practiseth what he can to hinder the coming in of D' Alva nor did he ever after that repulse concerning the Dutchess of Lorrain shew himself wel affected to the Kings affairs nor content with any favors But after all this that hath been already recited he invades Frizeland directs Lumay to possess himself of Brill and what else he could in Holland gives order to his Brother Scheremberg to make himself master of Zutphen and himself maketh Saras Governor of Flushing Wherein to note it by the way the World took notice of a great oversight in the Duke d' Alva to neglect a place of so great importance so long and to suffer it to be invested by the Enemy In a word I may wel conclude he was the great Wheel whereupon the whole State of the Confederates affairs turned It is true he did once seek to be reconciled to the King by intercession of the Emperor and Duke of Bavier but not being able to procure it modo formâ as he desired he grew desperate in his resolutions though he met with ill success in all things for a long time and could finde no harbor but Holland That Country indeed being now become through his means a receptacle for all Religions afforded him a place of retreat not
Tenure A certain Hollander in a third defence which he hath written of the united Provinces calls the King Raptorem Hereticum notorium Spoyler and Notorious Heretick and therefore to be set upon and driven out of his Kingdom by a general League and Vnion of all the forces of all Protestant Princes and States of Christendom But hoc tantum defuit this onely was wanting to advance their Calumnies against His Majestie to the height of impudence Never was the King of Spain called Heretick by man since he deserved the title of Catholike and it could not be done now but by one whose Malice and Heresie together had corrupted his judgement unto madness Nor is it to much better purpose that which they say concerning other Princes and States viz. That they have been acknowledged and treated by forreign Princes as Free States above thirty years That time will not serve for Prescription and if it would Prescription always pleadeth some other Title and possession bonâ fide beside neither of which can they pretend without blushing Neither can the opinion of forreign Princes make their bad claym better it may give some reputation indeed to an usurper but not any Title of right And as in a bad quarrel bravely defended not the cause but the success gains the credit so it is their prosperity and not the justice of their cause which doth them honor Beside it is not true that Princes have so reputed them To Negotiate with them under a quality which they will assume is one thing and really to adjudge that quality as due to them is another They offered the Sovereignty of these Provinces to Queen Elizabeth but she refused them The world doth not think it was out of any Favor to King Philip that she did so but because she knew they offered something more then their own and she was not willing to give her own people such a bad President against her self And when for private ends and some reasons of State she was content for a while to take upon her the charge and title of Protectress of the poor distressed States c. it was observed the business was most earnestly promoted by them who were now as willing to be rid of the * E. Leicester Son as when time was the Marquis of Winchester had been to be rid of the * Duke of Northumberland Camden Father This is upon record that Aversata est Regina the Queen could never endure the offer of the Sovereignty of those Provinces Neither was Sir Noel Caron in her time ever acknowledged Embassador but Agent But to joyn issue with them more neerly let us here what Damhouderius Praxis Crimin c. 132. a famous Lawyer and their own Countryman saith Seditiosi sunt qui moliuntur conspirationem c. Seditious persons saith he are such as hatch or foment Conspiracies against the Governors and Lievtenants of the Provinces that procure unlawful meetings or assemblies of the people or cause any Tumults in the Towns What is this but an Endictment drawn against the States considering their practises not onely against the Person of D' Alva but of Don John himself the Duke of Parma c. their many and tumultuous meetings at Breda Osterweal Saint Trudens their encouraging yea incensing the Genses throughout all the Provinces lastly with their defence and holding of Harlem Alemar Leyden and other places by force of Arms Again Chap. 82. he teacheth that to make a War just there must be first a just cause Second honest intention Third Authority of the Prince or Supream Magistrate Sine quâ without which saith he 't is Treason to make War That same Sine quâ of his might make the States tremble if they reflect upon it For in all their Wars they neither had good cause nor good colour Their Religion and Liberties were all secured to them by the pacification at Gaunt by the perpetual Edict by the Articles of the Treaty of Colen which were all quietly enjoyed without disturbance by such of the Provinces as would conform to them Their Sovereign was known to be His Catholike Majestie and for their good intention as no man could judge of it but by their actions so it appeared cleerly to be onely to sow dissention among the people and through factions and discord to arm them by degrees against the supream Magistrate under colour of Religion And the Prince of Orange most disloyal of all other because being a person of Honor and so highly entrusted by the King he betrayed that great trust reposed in him and made a War by his own Authority and that of his faction against the King Although he had neither Office nor any kinde of Command in the Low-Countries but what he had under the Wings of the Eagle and the Authority of the Lyon All his Belgick Lands he held in Fee of the Duke of Burgundy as his leige-Leige-Lord he did Homage and Fealty for them and knew that a Sovereign gives Law as well as offices to his Subjects Besides Claudius le Brun Process Crimin another famous Lawyer addeth this viz. That whosoever surprizeth Towns Castles Forts without order of his Sovereign as the Prince caused Lumay to do in Holland and as Voorst and Barland did Flushing by which the peace of the Country is broken or who attempteth against the life of his Sovereigns Lievtenant it is Treason And these are judgements which all Europe do consent in decrees of reason and principles of Government which must not be called in question if the States of Holland themselves do permitt them to be disputed they must never expect Peace Order or any setled obedience in their Country So that by Law 't is cleer in what case the States do stand for thus breaking the peace of Christendom in those times and being cause of the effusion of so much Christian blood as hath been shed in that quarrel Now concerning any liberty which the Gospel Holy Scriptures or any principles of true Religion may be supposed to give them to use such proceedings against the Sovereign Prince I shall not enter into any Theological dispute with them as being beside my purpose which is onely to shew matter of opinion and matter of Fact in this controversie of obedience due to the Supream Civil Magistrate And therefore because I write onely to English men I shall content my self onely with the judgement of Doctor Bilson against them He was a great Divine and a great Prelate of the Church of England and chosen on purpose to write on this Argument by the greatest Statesman of that time and he wrote cum privilegio of the State and with the general approbation of the English Church Shall a King Christian Subject c. saith he be deposed if he break his promise and Oath at Coronation in any of the Covenants and Points which he promiseth He answers in the Margin No. The breach of Covenants is not deprivation and gives this reason
The people may not break with their Princes so often as they break with God And afterward Subjects saith he cannot depose their Princes to whom they must be Suâ—ject for Conscience sake This is Doctrine we see quite contrary to the Aphorisms of Holland and to the Divinity that is now currant at Rochel Now as private subjects may not by Gods Law depose their Princes so are they forbidden to take Arms against them and the reason hereof is invincible For saith Doctor Bilson he that may fight may kill and War against the Prince and killing of the Prince are of consequence inevitable The Apostles saith he obeyed Tyrants that commanded all things against Religion And in those things which were commanded against God they did submit themselves with meekness to endure the Magistrates pleasure but not to obey his will Lastly and most of all to the purpose he concludeth if the Laws of the Land appoint the Nobles as next to the King to assist him in doing right and to withhold from doing wrong then are they Licensed by mans Laws to interpose themselves but in no case to deprive the Prince where the Scepter is inherited And because some of good judgement have been lead into that error that the Dukes of Burgundy had not full Power or Sovereignty in the Netherlands I will send them to School to all the Lawyers Records Stories and which is most infallible to the practise and Common Laws of the Country and unto Bodin Bodin derep and satisfie my self to alledge here that Ancient and Honorable Counsellor of our Nation the Lord Chancellor Egerton who in his Oration for the Postnati saith thus P. 71. The Dukes of Burgundy were absolute Princes and had Sovereign power in their Countries And King Henry the Eighth had as absolute power when his Stile was Lord of Ireland as when he was King For the difference of Stile makes not the difference of Sovereignty I conclude therefore upon the grounds of all Law Divine and Humane and as you have seen upon a full view and examination of all their pretenses complaints excuses c. that as their usurpation at first was without warrant so they continue the possession with as little conscience That all their Pleas are either Nullities or Forgeries and they have indeed no better title then what success and their Cannon gives them And that all forreign Soldiers that assist them knowing the injustice of their cause and that the War is so utterly unlawful do incur Mortal Sin and danger of damnation and may as justly be reproved as King Josaphat was for helping and assisting Ahab Look to the end for it is certainly fearful and we must know that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I write not this as an Enemy to the Country I hold it a Peerless County for the goodly Townes Wealth Traffick Strength and Fertility in so small a Circuit nor for any personal quarrels nor for any corruption or assentation in regard of the match with Spain but onely for the truth of the story which induced me together with the danger of the President and the manifold injuries that were done to Religion For though I remembred the general dislike that they have of our government their dealing with the Queens Officers and how unkindly of old they used my Lord Willoughby as his Apology testifieth and of late what complaints our Merchants Adventurers in their Books have made of their ill usage by them at Moske at the East-Indies c. what contempt they shewed when the Duty of Sixteen Herrings was demanded in his Majesties right ☜ for Fishing upon the Coast of Scotland presuming no less then to imprison him that demanded it and many such like matters yet seeing the State is not moved why should I be offended And when I say The State I mean not the people onely but especially the King to whom Holland is most obliged and more particularly for Two Singular and Royal Favors such as might in reason require some reciprocal return of thankfulness and breed in them good Blood good Affections and also good Language The first was in restoring to them the Keyes which did open and lock up their Province and this not for any reward but a restitution onely of part of his due The second for the Free permission of their Fishing upon the English Coast wherein they yearly employ above Thirty thousand persons who are set on work by it and above Four thousand Busses Doggerboats Galliots and Pinks to their exceeding great benefit and enrichment which is not a liberty they have by any Law as some men pretend but a priviledge or permission rather of royall Grace and Favor And Grotius may prove without any mans contradiction Mare Liberum in this sense as the Kings Highway is Free for every man to walk that is to go and come but he shall never be able to prove that Fishing is Free that is to say taking away the profit upon another Princes Coast without leave of the Prince first had and obtained T is true they have had the boldness to do this for a long time without leave but they may hap to finde at last the longest time they can pretend will not serve them for prescription And thus much for our new Masters and no very good Neighbors The High and Mighty States of the United Provinces of the Netherlands Titulus Quintus PALATINISM OR The Troubles in BOHEMIA AND THE PALATINATE About Religion BOhemia is the last Stage of the Scene of Forreign Tragedies or Tumults for Religion to which I am now going yet so as I must take the Palatinate in my way an unfortunate Province of late which in the space of an Hundred years hath changed Religion no less then Five times and yet as it seems never learned well that part of Religion which is not the least principle concerning Obedience But of this wee shall cease to wonder when we think of Paraeus Gracerus and some other Divines that have possessed the Chaire there and of the Schools of the new discipline which are open Paraeus in his Commentary upon the Thirteenth ad Romanos teacheth plainly Subditi possunt suos reges deponere c. That Subjects may depose their Princes for Tyranny c. Tyranny is contrary to the very end and being of Government and therefore where it is Universal and general and no other redress to be found it is capable of the less dispute onely it is not to be determined by private persons especially of his Robe which yet most commonly they do or when they compel their Subjects to Idolatry By compelling to Idolatry he means if the Prince maintains Mass Confession Priesthood and other the Service and Religion of the Catholike Church as all Catholike Princes are bound to do by their Oath or indeed with these men if they maintain any other Religion then pure Calvinism it is to compel to Idolatry This is the sentence which he pronounceth against the Emperor
which tasted of the severity of those Laws were not a little insolent and prone to attempt Yet that she was withal a Princess very merciful is manifest by her compassion shewn to such as deserved not well of her that is To the Dutchess of Somerset to Sir John Cheek who had been the principal corrupter of King Edward her Brothers Infancy to Sir Edward Montague Lord Cheif Justice who had both counselled and subscribed to her disinheriting to Sir Roger Ch lmley to the Marquis of Northampton to the Lord Robert Dudly to Sir Henry Dudly to Sir Henry Gates c. who stood all of them attainted and the Duke of Suffolk All which persons were very obnoxious to Her Justice she knew very well they neither affected Her Religion nor Title They were already her prisoners in the Tower yet she released them all But for all this the Zealots of her time would not be quieted nor suffer her to enjoy any quiet They Libel against the Government of Women they pick quarrels and murmur at her marriage they publish invectives and scurrilous Pamphlets against Religion yea they forbear not to conspire and plot Her Deprivation out of a desire to advance Her Successor to the Crown under whom every Calvinist expected a Golden Age. The austerities and abstinences which Catholike Religion prescribed and which the Queen by Authority of Parliament had but lately reduced and was her self very exemplary in the observation of them were not much pleasing to some Gallants about the Court nor to many others both in City and Country whose affections were better satisfied with the Liberties of the former Age and therefore desired some change of this But among other Instruments of mischeif that Book written by Goodman intituled Of Obedience was a most pernicious Incentive among the commons teaching expresly Ad Nobil Scot. P. 94. That Queen Mary deserved to be put to death as a Tyrant and a Monster And that other of Knox with whom the Zealots of England did correspond too much where he hath among many other of like nature this passage Illud aud actèr affirmaverim c. This I dare boldly say saith he the Nobility Magistrates Judges and whole people of England were bound in Conscience not onely to oppose and withstand the proceedings of that Jesabel Mary whom they call their Queen but even to have put her to death and all her Priests with her After this Sir Thomas Wyat takes up Arms for which Master Fox worthily Chronicles him marches his Army like another Cyrus as some called him over Shâ—oters-Hill threatning both the Court and the City Prince and People And for this Goodman in his Book Of Obedience commends him saith He did but his duty and that it was the duty of all who professed the Gospel to have risen with him This was their doctrin then And though it be said That Goodman recanted his opinion in Queen Elizabeths days it was perhaps onely that part of it which opposed the Government of Women And if he did it absolutely what doth it prove but the inconstancy of such men and how easily they can conform themselves to times that favor them and of what spirit they are under the cross and affliction Wyats pretence was particoloured looking as he would seem both at Religion and bonum Publicum in his opposing the Queens marriage with Spain as both Holinshead and Stow agree They that suppose it to have been meerly upon a civil account are confuted by the Queen her self in her Speech at Guildhal where she tells the City That she had sent divers of her Counsel to Wyat to demand the Reasons of his Insurrections and that they found The business of the marriage was onely a cloak to cover Religion which was the thing principally aimed at For he urged also to have the Tower delivered to him to have power to nominate and chuse new Counsellors declaring plainly That he would not trust but be trusted But Master Fox is plain in the case for he confesseth of all that Rabble which followed Wyat That they conspired among themselves for Religion and made Wyat their cheif The marriage was looked upon by them onely as an accessory thing and a means to strengthen that which they meant to overthrow and eo nomine for that respect onely it was to be hindred Upon this account William Thomas a Gospeller of those times conspireth to kill the Queen and at his death is so far from repenting of such a foul intention That he glorieth to die for the good of his Countrey Yea the Faction grew so tumultuous and bold That Doctor Pendleton was shot at in the very Pulpit Preaching at Pauls and Master Bourn had a Dagger thrown at him in the same place the multitude being so disorderly That the Lord Major himself had much ado to quiet them and the Lords of the Counsel were forced to come thither the next Sunday with a guard to keep things in order and to prevent further combustions which were feared At Westminster upon Easter-day a desperate fellow wounded the Priest as he was at Mass in Saint Margarets Church there After this they found out a Perkin Warbeck and brought him upon the Stage one Wilâ—iam Fetherston counterfeiting King Edward whom the world and some of themselves especially knew well enough to be dead on purpose to amuze the Queen and disturb the State There was one Cleber sometimes a Pedant living at Yakesly in Norfolke put to death for a conspiracy against the Queen Vdal Staunton Peckham and Daniel were committed for the same crime for which and for attempting to rob the Exchequer and her Treasury and also for Heresie they had their desert Not to speak of the Treasons of Dudley and Ashton set on by the French In Devonshire Sir Peter and Sir Gawin Cary great Protestants together with Sir Thomas Denny took arms to impede King Philips arrival in England possessed themselves for some time of Excester Castle but afterward seeing things go contrary to their expectation they made an escape by getting over into France Thomas Stafford coming well instructed from Genevah made Proclamations publickly in several places of the Kingdom that Queen Mary was not lawful Qeen was unworthy to reign and to abuse the people further gave out no less boldly then falsly that already Twelve of the best fortified places in England were committed to the Spaniards Upon which pretense Bradford Proctor Streachly and he surprize the Castle of Scarborough in Yorkshire a Fort of singular strength which they would hold against the Spaniards they should have said against their Queen and Sovereign but they lost it and their heads beside Henry Duke of Suffolk one to whom the Queen had given life before being Father to the Lady Jane and a privy Counsellor in those Treasons of Northumberland fled into Leicestershire with the Lord Gray making Proclamation against the Queens marriage but not being able to raise a Commanding Army as he hoped was compelled
Honor and Strength of the Nation Titulus Secundus HItherto Schisme and Sacriledge annexed to it chiefly reigned but the second plague was the utter ruin and extinction of Religion For by abuse of the name and authority of King Edward the very Church it self was entirely subverted Religion absolutely changed Heresie introduced and established in the full open and publike profession thereof And we might say the craft and malice of the Devil whose work it is to corrupt true Religion confound States herein most perfectly appeared For though indeed the way to Heresie and all publike disorder were sufficiently levelled and made plain by King Henry the Eighth who onely by reason of his greatness and imperious cruelty was fit to begin such a work yet Religion it self was suffered to stand a while longer at least in the general and more visible parts of it he knowing well that all could not be effected at once and that it was necessary for him to seduce States as he doth souls gradatìm by degrees opportunity and succession of time And being also confident that if those forts of Piety and true Christian-Catholike Devoâ—â—on that is the Religious Houses were once-razed the Church in England brought under a Lay head and by consequence the sheep made Governors of their Shepherds he should easily upon a second attempt there and by some other hand overthrow Religion it self King Henry at his death had appointed by will sixteen Executors who during the minority of his Son King Edward should be as it were his Guardians and Counsellors for the better governing of the Realm Among these one who made himself afterward Principal was the Lord Edward Seymour Earl of Hartford who being the Kings Uncle by the Mother-side procured himself in a short time to be made Protector and by that means gat as he thought a dispensation from his Joynt Executorship with the others and demeaned himself now in all things concerning the Affaires of the Realm as their Superior A thing which King Henry least of all intended rather he had provided with as much caution as was possible against the encroaching of any one upon the rest under any title or pretence soever But this was the way to bring about some furthâ—â— designes intended by that Party which advanced the Protector to that dignity and which the other and more honest part of the Councel did not either so providently foresee or so faithfully resist as they ought to have done One of the first things which the Protector set on foot after the Protectorship was secured to him was Innovation of Religion abolishing the Old Catholike and introducing a New under the title of Reformation Not so much out of any great preciseness that was ever observed in him or devotion that he was thought to have more one way then another but because he was thirsty and desired to drink to the bottom of the Cup which in King Harries time it seems he had but onely tasted There was yet some Game in his eye which he intend-to bring into Toyls viz. some few remains of Church-Lands Collegiate-Lands and Hospitals which he could not compass or draw into possession by any Engine better then that pretence of reforming Religion Cranmer that unworthy Arch-Bishop of Canterbury was his Right Hand and chief Assistant in the work although but a few months before he was of King Harries Religion yea a Patron and Prosecutor of the Six Articles To this end viz. the more to amuze the people and as they thought to give some strength and countenance to what they meant to set up a couple of strangers Religious men indeed by profession but such as were long since run from their Orders that is Peter Martyr and Bucer must be sent for as far as Germany and placed in the Divinity Chairs at Cambridge and Oxford That the world might see how contrary not onely the Pastors of the Church and Clergy but even all the learned men in both the Universities and of the whole Kingdom generally were to his proceedings By these two Apostate Friers together with Cranmer Ridley Latimer and some others was a new Liturgie framed and the old abolished together with that Religion which had been so many hundreds of years observed in this Nation with great happiness and honour The Protector though powerful of himself by abuse and pretence of the Kings name in all things which he did although the King were but a Child of nine years old was yet well seconded by the Duke of Northumberland and by the Admiral his onely Brother by the Marquis of Northampton c. all of them persons seemingly at least much inclined to Reformation and by them he overbore all the rest that opposed him or were any thing contrary to his designs As there were many both eminent and wise men and equally intrusted in the publike affairs with himself could things have been carried rightly In particular the Lord Privy Seal the Lord St. John of Basing Bishop Tonstall Sir Anthony Brown and that wise Secretary Sir William Paget but most especially the Noble Chancellor the Lord Wriothsley a man of singular experience knowledge prudence and who deserveth to be a Pattern to his Posterity far to be preferred before any new Guides But being made Earl of Southampton though it neither won him to the Faction nor contented nor secured him yet he stood thâ— more quiet and made no great opposition to their doings All things now grew to confusion there remained no face nor scarce the name of Catholike Church in England and though there were great multitudes of men well affected to the old Religion and discontented that the Church should be thus driven into the Wilderness and forced to lurk in Corners Yet did they shew loyalty obedience and love to the publike Peace notwithstanding They took up no Arms they raised no Rebellion not so much as against the shadow of a King or the usurper of his Royal name The Protector in the mean time goeth on with his work which is principally to enrich himself with the Remains of the Church having long before as 't is said tasted the sweetness of such Morsels in the Priory of Aumesbury He now seizeth two Bishops houses in the Strand and of them buildeth Sommerset house which as the world saw quickly reverted and slipt out of his hands After this he procureth an Act to be made whereby all Colledges remaining all Chantries Free Chappels and Fraternities were suppressed and given to the King And how greedily he entered into the Bishop of Bath and Wells his Houses and Manors that Church will never be able to forget Notwithstanding that Bishop Bourn afterward by his industry recovered something but nothing to the spoiles and wast which was made Nor was he satisfied with this For shortly after contrary to all Law to King Henries will and against his own Covenants those I mean which he entred to his Advancers when they made him Protector He committed the Lord Chancellor
Wriothsley to the Tower deposed Bishop Tonstal both from the Counsel from his Bishoprick viz. of Durham as thinking it a seignory too Stately for a man of Religion And therefore he dissolved it and brought it within the Survey of the Exchequer that is into his own power but as it was observed he never prospered after However the Act it self was most inexcusably unjust and tyrannical being so directly contrary to Law as appeared beside what hath been alledged before by 1. Ed. 3. chap. 2. where the King dâ—clareth That the Lands of Bishops ought not to be seized into the Kings hands and that what had been done in that kinde in his Fathers days was by advise of evil Counsel and hereafter should not be so But his sins now grew towards ripeness Therfore having also deprived and committed Doctor Gardiner the Bishop of Winchester dissolved the Colledge of Stoke fleeced all the Cathedral Churches in England and added unto the guilt of Sacriledge many other outrages oppressions and crimes under the Nonage of a Pupil King without any check or opposition save onely in the business of the Earldom of Oxford which he was not able to devour as he desired at last in the midst of his carriere and after he had sentenced and put to death his own and onely Brother the Lord Admiral chiefly as 't is supposed upon the instigations of an ambitious or malicious Wife he was himself arraigned for High Treason and ill governing of the Realm as may be seen by the Articles of his Attainder in Stow and thereupon condemned and executed on the twenty second day of January in the year of our Lord 1552. When the Brothers were gone viz. the Protector and Admiral Dudley Duke of Northumberland comes upon the Stage a man whose ambition and policy though unperceived had ruined both of them but especially the Protector whose chief Adversary he was and the principal contriver of the Charge against him which in brief referred unto these Heads 1. That he had subverted all Laws 2. That he had broke the orders appointed by King Henry the Eighth for his Sons good 3. That he held a Cabinet-Councel and by it transacted the publike and chief Affairs of State without the advice of his Fellow-Counsellors 4. Lastly That he observed not the Conditions upon which he was made Protector which were to do nothing in the Kings Affairs without consent of the rest of the Executors Upon these Rocks the Protector perished not without the manifest judgement of God for much injustice which he had committed in the time of his Government especially in the business of Religion and of the Church and Northumberland for a while prevailed This man though he were all otherwise in his heart yet thought fitting to seem a little more precisely religious then the Protector intending thereby to assure himself of the affections of such people as were more Zealously affected to new Religion The Protector looking onely at present proffit caâ—â—d to humor them in that point no further â—â—en might serve his own turn But Northumberland had other designs in his head which were no less then to advance his own Family to the Crown and to ruin the right Heirs And therefore to ingratiate himself more with the Common people in the year 1552. he causeth the Liturgy or book of Common prayer to be the second time Reformed and Purged of certain ceremonies and orders offensive to that sort of people which he desired to please and so to be published This project stood him in much stead among others of the Nobility it gained him the Duke of Suffolk who from henceforward seemed wholly to be at Northumberlands Devotion and to steer his course after the others compass Being a Potent man and the greatest Precisian of those times unless perhaps they dissembled both of them upon the same account But because the Lord Treasurer Paulet Marquis of Winchester was more like to cross theâ—â—â—mply with them therefore it is resolved to remove him out of the way And to that end Northumberland observing that it was the Treasurers custom sitting at the Counsel Table if at any timâ— he were suddenly called up to the King to make such hast thâ—t he commonly left his Spectacles behindâ— him he procured them once to be so sweetly anointâ—d and perfumed before his return that at his next putting them on they cost him his Nose and scaped very narrowly with his Life which yet with much adoe was saved and the Treasurer lived to make the Duke his good friend some part of requital as the event shewed Not long after this King Edward falleth sick whereupon designes growing now to maturity the Duke procures his Son Guildford Dudly to be married to the Lady Jane Grey Daughter to the Dutchess of Suffolk one who had a remote title to the Crown But they meant to advance it by their power The Lady her self being also studiously affected to the Protestant Religion and for that respect they doubted not to finde favors and assistants enough But therein their count failed them At the same time thâ— Earl of Pembrokes Son was married to the Lady Katharine another Daughter of the Duke of Suffolk And the Earl of Huntingdons Son to one of Northumberlands own Daughters All which marriages were solemnized upon one day at Durham House in the Strand And after them King Edward lived not long It is said that the Apothecary who poisoned him for the horror of the offence and disquietness of his Conscience drowned himself and that he Laundress which washed his Shirt lost the Skin of her Fingers But this is certain thâ—re are some yet living in Court who can tell how many weeping Eyes they have seen for the untimely and Treacherous loss of such a Prince See Heyward Hist Edw. 6. But the pretence and zeale of Religion which these men shewed did so overshadow all things for a time that not many could discern their impiety The Oration which Nortâ—umberland made to the Lords in the Tower when he was upon his departure for Cambridge to proclaim his Daughter in Law Lady Jane Queen doth shew what a Fox he was and how far he could both descend and dissemble to compass his ends Goodw. Annals Howbeit in his way the Justice of God met him For the people the Suffolk men especially sticking faithfully to the right Heir and their lawful Sovereign Queen Mary he was quickly deserted by all men apprehended and received at Tower-hil the due reward of his Treason and other sins with the loss of his head And so we see those two Lords of Misrule or Reformation if it must be called so that is to say the Protector Duke of Sommerset and this man Duke of Northumberland Born both of them for the Scourge and ruin of the Catholike Church in England by a just vengance of Heaven proved at last as it were Butchers and Executioners of one another undid their several Families and endangered the whole Realm
such as she thought would oppose themselves viz. the Lord Chancellor Heath Arch-Bishop of York the Lord Paget Lord Privy Seal the Secretary Boxhal Sir Francis Inglefeild and others in whose rooms were placed Sir Nicholas Baecon The new Marquis of Northampton The Earl of Bedford Sir Anthony Cave Sir Francis Knolls Rogers Parry and Secretary Cecil She depoâ—ed many of the old Judges made new Justices of the Peace and lastly concerning the Election of Knights and Burgesses for the Parliament ensuing she took such order by the great diligence and cunning of her Instruments in all the Counties that she wanted not a competent party ready to close with her design in that House Besides this to remove all scruples as much as might be out of the peoples heads and to make them think that the same Religion and Service continued still which was so lately before reestablished by Parliament and that all the alteration made was but onely the turning of the Leiturgy out of Latine into English for their better understanding she provided that in the Common-prayer-book there should be some part of the old frame still upheld some Collects Prayers and Anthemes of the old Missal some of the ancient Ecclesiastical Habits for Divine Service as Copes Surplices c. some Ceremonies as the Sign of the Cross Adoration and Bowing at the name of Jesus The Organs also and ancient manner of Singing their Matins and Even song was retained especially in her own Chappels and in most of the Cathedral and Collegiate Churches of the Kingdom The Title Authority and Jurisdiction of Bishops was also preserved with some considerable Grace and Dignity in the State together with most part of the Revenues of which at that present the Cathedral Churches were seized By which dexterous management of affairs the Common people were instantly luld asleep and complyed to every thing and it became not so hard a matter for the Queen to excuse her self even to those forreign Princes who expected otherwise at her hands As she did particularly to the Secretary D' Assonville who was sent by King Philip out of Flanders to Congratulate her advancement to the Crown By this time the Common-Prayer-Book was framed according to the Queens appointment by certain Commiâ—â—â—oners authorised for that purpose The principal whereof were Doctor Matthew Parker after advanced to the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury having been formerly as some say Chaplain to Her Highness Edmund Grindal afterwards Bishop of London Horn of Winchester Whitehead May Bill and Sir Thomas Smith Dr. of the Civil Law The Liturgy was framed according to the Model of that which the English strangers had used at Franckford in the year 1554. and varied not much from that which Northumberland had caused to be published towards the latter end of King Edward the Sixth By the Nobility that were meerly English Protestants as the Marquis of Northampton Earl of Bedford Lord Gray of Pytgo Secretary Cecil and others it was well approved and the estabishing thereof by Parliament very much urged But those who had tasted of Genevah and were more affected with Calvins Model both disliked and opposed it either not knowing or not regarding the Queens reasons of State in the business Sir William Cecil as we said was now Secretary of State a Politick man and one that knew well enough how much this alteration would advance him his industry carried all before him Howbeit his fortunes were yet but low having onely the Parsonage of Wimbledon and some few Lands about Stamford to subsist upon Therefore in his Letter to the Lord Marquis of Northampton who was his Mecaenâ—s in the year 1560. upon the birht of his son Sir Robert Cecil he desires the Marquis being the Lord Treasurer to move the Queen in his behalf for some means and maintenance for his G. C. as he calld them who were so likely to be famous in England afterward Sir Nicholas Bacon was his Brother in Law and another chief Engin of State a man of somewhat a deeper judgement in the knowledge of the Laws and a more plausible Orator I must not forget in this Catalogue of State-Engins the Lord Robori afterwards famously known by the name of Leicester who to possess the Queens favor solely had already discarded Sir William Pickening though formerly viz. in meaner fortune a favorite and no uncourtly Gentleman Nor yet Sir Nicholas Throgmorton nor Sir Francis Walsingham nor Sir Thomas Smith who were all with the rest prime instruments of this Action intimate Counsellors in the business and posseâ— ng wholly the ears and grace of the Queen sate as chief Pilots at the Storâ— guiding the the course both of Church and Common-wealth at their pleasure All of them at this instant big with hopes of Prefermâ—nt Honor and great Offices which they were sure to loose who held them under Queen Mary Though many men wondered how Master Sâ—cretary Cecil could so easily forget his Beads and his Breviary wherewith with he so exquisitely counterfeited a Catholik in Queen Maries time that Cardinal Poole himself was deceived by him so far as to do him many friendly Offices towards her Majestie which as by the event appeared he did not much deserve Their great and indeed onely pretence or reason for the Change was Reason of State The Queens safety Scilicet This they had all of them but especially Secretary Cecil wrought strongly into her Majesties apprehension Camd. in Elizab. Actum esse de eâ si Pontificiam Authoritatem in quâcunque re agnosceret she was but a lost Princess say they if she acknowledged the Popes authority in any thing For Duo Pontifices Two several Popes already had pronounced her Mothers marriage with the King to be unlawfull and Null It may be thought her Mothers Conscience did likewise pronounce the same sentence in her own Brest otherwise why did she being ready to go to the place of Execution so solemnly entreat and charge the Lady Kingst n Speed Chron. to go to the Princess Mary and upon her knees in her name to ask pardon of her for all the wrongs she had done her protesting that until this were done she could not dye in peace But upon this ground the Statesmen of those times conclude it necessary that the Queen should alter Religion Invest her self with the Sovereignty of all Power and banish that Authority out of the Realm which had presumed to declare her Majestie Illegitimate This Counsel how prosperous soever it proved in the event through Gods permission and how speciously politick soever it might be made to seem by the Arguments and Rhetorick of those men who for their own ends and interests desired a change yet Really it could not but be full oâ— dâ—nger both to thâ— Queen and thâ— Realm but espâ—cially to the Queen who if she had pleasâ—d might have secured her self of her own particular fears by some better way For hereby the Sentence of Excomunication in some sort necessarily issuing upon her