of which they were lately driven and were now setled in Malta They were under a great Master who depended on the Pope and the Emperour But some they could not be brought to surrender of their own accord as others had done it was necessary to suppress them by Act of Parliament Another House which they had in Ireland was also suppressed and Pensions were reserved for the Priors and Knights On the 14th of May the Parliament was Prorogued to the 25th a Vote having past that the Bills should continue in the State they were in On the 12th of June Cromwel's Fall there was a sudden turn at Court for the Duke of Norfolk arrested Cromwel of High Treason and sent him Prisoner to the Tower He had many Enemies The meanness of his Birth made the Nobility take it ill to see the Son of a Black-Smith made an Earl and have the Garter given him besides his being Lord Privy Seal Lord Chamberlain of England Lord Vicegerent and a little while before he had also the Mastership of the Rolls All the Popish Clergy hated him violently They imputed the Suppression of Monasteries and the Injunctions that were laid on them chiefly to his Counsels And it was thought that it was mainly by his means that the King and the Emperour continued to be in such ill Terms The King did now understand that there was no agreement like to be made between the Emperour and Francis for it stuck at the matter of the Dutchy of Milan in which neither of them would yield to the other and the King was sure they would both court his Friendship in case of a War and this made him less concerned for the Favour of the German Princes So now Cromwel's Counsels became unacceptable With this a secret Reason concurred The King did not only hate the Queen but was now come to be in Love with Katherine Howard Neece to the Duke of Norfolk which both raised his Interest and deprest Cromwel who had made the former Match The King was also willing to cast upon him all the Errours that had been committed of late and by making him a Sacrifice he hoped he should regain the Affections of his People The King had also Informations brought him That he secretly encouraged those that opposed the six Articles and discouraged those who went about the Execution of it His Fall came so suddenly that he had not the least Apprehension of it before the Storm brake on him He had the common Fate of all disgraced Ministers his Friends forsook him and his Enemies insulted over him only Cranmer stuck to him and wrote earnestly to the King in his Favours He said he found that he had always loved the King above all things and had served him with such Fidelity and Success that he believed no King of England had ever a faithfuller Servant And he wished the King might find such a Councellour who both could and would serve him as he had done So great and generous a Soul had Cranmer that was not turned by changes in his Friends Fortunes and would venture on the displeasure of so Imperious a Prince rather than fail in the Duties of Friendship But the King was now resolved to ruine Crom wel and that unjust Practice of Attainting without hearing the Parties Answer for themselves which he had promoted too much before was now turned upon himself He had such Enemies in the House of Lords that the Bill of Attainder was dispatched in two days being read twice in one day Cranmer was absent and no other would venture to speak for him But he met with more Justice in the House of Commons for it stuck ten days there And in Conclusion a new Bill was drawn against him and sent up to the Lords to which they consented and it had the Royal Assent In it they set forth His Attainder That tho the King had raised him from a base State to great Dignities Yet it appeared by many Witnesses that were Persons of Honour that he had been the most Corrupt Traitor that ever was known That he had set many at Liberty that were condemned or suspected of Misprision of Treason That he had given Licences for transporting out of the Kingdom things prohibited by Proclamation And had granted many Passports without search made That he had said he was sure of the King That he had dispersed many Erroneous Books contrary to the Belief of the Sacrament And had said That every Man might Administer it as well as a Priest That he had licensed many Preachers suspected of Heresy And had ordered many to be discharged that were committed on that account and had discharged all Informers That he had many Hereticks about him That above a Year before he had said The preaching of Barns and others was good And that he would not turn tho the King did turn but if the King turned he would fight in Person against him and all that turned And drawing out his Dagger he wisht that might pierce him to the Heart if he should not do it he had also said If he lived a year or two longer it should not be in the King's Power to hinder it He had likewise been found guilty of great Oppression and Bribery And when he heard that some Lords were taking Counsel against him he had threatned that he would raise great stirrs in England For these things he was Attainted both of High Treason and Heresy A Proviso was added for securing the Church of Wells of which he had been Dean This was lookt on as very hard Measure It was believed Censures past upon it That he had at least Verbal Orders from the King for the Licences and Orders that were complained of and perhaps he could have shewed some in Writing if he had been heard to make his Answers Bribery seemed to be cast on him only to render him odious but no Particulars were mentioned Nor was it credible That he could have spoken such Words of the King as were alledged especially when he was in the height of his Favour and if he had spoken them above a Year before it is not to be imagined that they could have been so long kept secret and what was said of his drawing out a Dagger look'd like a design to affix an overt Act to them This being done The King's Marriage annulled The King went on to move for a Divorce An Address was moved to be made to him by the Lords that he would suffer his Marriage to be examined Cranmer and others were sent down to desire the Concurrence of the Commons and they ordered 20 of their number to go along with the Lords who went all in a body to the King He granted their desire the matter being concerted before So a Commission was sent to the Convocation to discuss it Gardiner opened it to them and they appointed a Committee for the Examination of Witnesses The Substance of the whole Evidence amounted to these Particulars
King that he resolved to reward those he intended to raise another way and he appointed that Estate to be kept entire and the Kings distemper increasing on him he at last came to a resolution that the E. of Hartford should be made a Duke be made both Earl Marshal and Lord Treasurer the Earl of Essex a Marquess Lisle and Wriothesly Earls and Seimour Rich Sheffield St. Leger Willoughby and Danby Barons with Revenues in Lands to every one of them and the Earl of Hartford was to have the first good Deanery and Treasurership and the four best Prebends that should fall in any Cathedral But though the King had resolved on this and had ordered Paget to propose it to the Persons concerned yet his Disease increased so fast on him that he never finished it and therefore he ordered his Executors to perform all that should appear to have been promised by him The greatest part of this was also confirmed by Denny and Herbert to whom the King had talked of it and had shewed the design of it in writing as it had been agreed between Paget and him So the Executors being concerned in this themselves it may be easily supposed that they determined to execute this part of their trust very faithfully Yet the King being then like to be engaged in Wars they resolved neither to lessen his Treasure nor Revenue but to find another way for giving the Rewards intended by the King which was afterwards done by the sale and distribution of the Chantry Lands The Castle of St. Andrews was then much pressed so they sent down by Balnaves the Agent of that party 1180 l. for the pay of the Garrison they gave also pensions to the chief supporters of their Interest in Scotland to some 250 to others 200 l. or less according to their interest in the Countrey The King received the Ceremony of Knighthood from the Protector and Knighted the Mayor of London the same day The grant of so many Ecclesiastical Dignities to the Earl of Hartford Lay-men had Ecclesiastical Dignities was no extraordinary thing at that time for as Cromwel had been Dean of Wells so diverse other Lay-men were provided to them which was thus excused because there was no cure of Souls belonging to them and during vacancies even in times of Popery the Kings had by their own Authority by the Right of the Regale given Institution to them so that they seem'd to be no Spiritual imployments and the Ecclesiasticks that had enjoyed them had been a lazy and sensual sort of men so that their abusing those Revenues either to luxury or to the enriching their kindred by the spoils of the Church had this effect that the putting them in Lay hands gave no great scandal and that the rather because a simple tonsure qualified a man for them by the Canons These foundations were at first designed for a Nursery to the Diocess in which the young Clergy were to be educated or for a retreat to those who were more speculative and not so fit for the service of the Church in the active parts of the Pastoral care so it had been an excellent design to have reformed them and restored them to the purposes for which they were at first intended And it was both against Magna Charta and all Natural Equity to take them out of the hands of Church-men and give them to those of the Laity But it was no wonder to see men yet under the influence of the Canon Law commit such errors At the same time an accident fell out Some take down Images that made way for great changes the Curate and Church-wardens of St. Martins in London were brought before the Council for removing the Crucifix and other Images and putting some Texts of Scripture on the Walls of their Church in the places where they stood They Answered That they going to repair their Church removed the Images and they being rotten they did not renew them but put places of Scripture in their room They had also removed others which they found had been abused to Idolatry Great pains was taken by the Popish party to punish them severely for striking terrour into others but Cranmer was for the removing of all Images which were set up in Churches expressly contrary both to the Second Commandment and to the practice of the Christians for diverse ages Arguments for and against it And though in compliance with the gross abuses of Paganism there was very early much of the Pomp of their worship brought into the Christian Church yet it was long before this crept in At first all Images were condemned by the Fathers then they allowed the use of them but condemned the worshipping of them and afterwards in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries the worshipping of them was after a long contest both in the East and West in which there were by turns General Councils that both approved and condemned them at last generally received and then the reverence for them and for some in particular that were believed to be more wonderfully enchanted was much improved by the cheats of the Monks who had enriched themselves by such means And it was grown to such a height that Heathenism it self had been guilty of nothing more absurd towards its Idols and the singular vertues in some Images shewed they were not worshipp'd only as Representations for then all should have equal degrees of veneration paid to them And since all these abuses had risen meerly out of the bare use of them and the setting them up being contrary to the command of God and the nature of the Christian Religion which is simple and Spiritual it seemed most reasonable to cure the disease in its root and to clear the Churches of Images that so the people might be preserved from Idolatry These Reasons prevail'd so far that the Curate and Wardens were dismissed with a Reprimand they were required to beware of such rashness for the future and to provide a Crucifix and till that could be had they were ordered to cause one to be painted on the Wall Upon this Dr. Ridley being to preach before the King inveighed against the superstition towards Images and Holy Water and there was a general disposition over all the Nation to pull them down which was soon after effected in Portsmouth Upon that Gardiner made great complaints he said the Lutherans themselves went not so far for he had seen Images in their Churches he argued from the Kings face on the Coyn and Great Seal for the use of Images and that the Law of Moses did no more bind in this particular than in that of abstaining from Blood He distinguished between Image and Idol as if the one which he said was only condemned was the representation of a False God and the other of the True and he thought that as words conveyed by the Ear begat devotion so Images by the conveyance of the Eye might have the same effect on the mind He also
thought a vertue might be both in them and in Holy Water as well as there was in Christ's Garments Peter's Shadow or Elisha's Staffe And there might be a Vertue in Holy Water as well as in the Water of Baptism He also mentioned the Vertue that was in the Cramp-Rings blessed by the late King which he had known to be much esteemed and sought after and he hoped their young King would not neglect that gift But to these things which Gardiner wrote in several Letters the Protector perhaps by Cranmer's direction wrote answer that the Bishops had formerly argued much in another strain that because the Scriptures were abused by the vulgar Readers therefore they were not to be trusted to them and so made a pretended abuse the ground of taking away that which by Gods special appointment was to be delivered to all Christians This did hold much stronger against Images that were forbidden by God The Brazen Serpent set up by Moses by Gods own direction was broken when abused to Idolatry for that was the greatest corruption of Religion possible And the Civil respect payed to the Kings Image on a Seal or on the Coyn did not justifie the dotage upon Images But yet the Protector acknowledged he had reason to complain of the forwardness of the people that broke down Images without authority This was the first step that was made in this Reign towards a Reformation of which the sequel shall appear afterwards Orders were sent to the Justices of the Peace to look well to the Peace and Government of the Nation to meet often and every six weeks to advertise the Protector of the state of the County to which they belonged The Funerals of the deceased King were performed with the ordinary Ceremonies at Windsor The Kings Funeral One thing gave those that hated him some advantages his Body was carried the first day to Sheen which had been a Nunnery and there some of the moisture and fat dropt through the Coffin and to make it a compleat accomplishment of Peyto's denunciation that Dogs should lick his Blood it was said the Dogs next day licked it This in a Corpulent man was so far from a wonder that it had been a wonder if it had been otherwise and was a certain sign of nothing but the Plummers carelesness and their weakness and malice that made such Inferences from it The King left six hundred pounds a year to the Church of Windsor for Priests to say Mass for his Soul every day and for four Obits a year and Sermons and distribution of Alms at every one of them and for a Sermon every Sunday and a maintenance for thirteen poor Knights which was setled upon that Church by his Executors in due form of Law The Pomp of this Endowment now in a more Inquisitive Age led people to examine the usefulness of Soul Masses and Obits Soul Masses examined Christ appointed the Sacrament for a commemoration of his Death among the living but it was not easie to conceive how that was to be applied to departed Souls For all the good that they could receive seemed only applicable to the prayers for them but bare Prayers would not have wrought so much on the people nor would they have payed so dear for them It was a clear project for drawing in the wealth of the World into their hands In the Primitive Church there was a Commemoration of the Dead or an Honourable Remembrance of them made in the daily Offices and for some very small faults their names were not mentioned which would not have had done if they had looked upon that as a thing that was really a relief to them in another state But even this custome grew to be abused and some inferred from it that departed Souls unless they were signally pure passed through a Purgation in the next life before they were admitted to Heaven Of which St. Austin in whose time the opinion was beginning to be received says that it was taken up without any sure ground in Scripture But what was wanting in Scripture proof was supplied by Visions Dreams and Tales till it was generally received King Henry had acted like one that did not much believe it for he was to expect no good usage in Purgatory from those Souls whom he had deprived of the Masses that were said for them in Monasteries by destroying those Foundations Yet it seems he intended to make sure work for himself so that if Masses could avail the departed Souls he resolved to have his share of it and as he gratified the Priests by this part of his Endowment so he pleased the people by appointing Sermons and Alms to be given on such days Thus he died as he had lived swimming between both perswasions And it occasioned no small debate when men sought to find out what his opinions were in the controverted points of Religion For the esteem he was in made both sides study to justifie themselves by seeming to follow his sentiments the one party said he was resolved never to alter Religion but only to cut off some abuses and intended to go no further than he had gone They did therefore vehemently press the others to innovate nothing but to keep things in the state in which he left them till his Son should come of Age But the opposite party said that he had resolved to go a great way further and particularly to turn the Mass to a Communion and therefore Religion being of such consequence to the Salvation of Souls it was necessary to make all the haste in Reformation that was fitting and decent The Coronation But now the diversions of the Coronation took them off from more serious thoughts The Protector was made Duke of Somerset the Earl of Essex Marquess of Northampton the Lords Lisle and Wriothesley Earls of Warwick and Southampton Seimour Rich Willoughby and Sheffield were made Barons In order to the Kings Coronation the Office for that Ceremony was reviewed and much shortned One remarkable alteration was that formerly the King used to be presented to the people at the corners of the Scaffold and they were asked If they would have him to be their King Which looked like a rite of an Election rather than a Ceremony of Investing one that was already King This was now changed and the people were desired only to give their assents and good will to his Coronation as by the duty of Allegiance they were bound to do On the twentieth of February he was Crowned and a General Pardon was proclaimed out of which the Duke of Norfolk Cardinal Pool and some others were excepted The Chancellour The Chancellour turned out who was lookt on as the head of the Popish party gave now an advantage against himself which was very readily laid hold on He granted a Commission to the Master of the Rolls and three Masters of Chancery of whom two were Civilians to execute his Office in the Court of Chancery as if he were
the Council went no further only after this her Mass was said so secretly that she gave no publick scandal From Copthall where this was done she removed and lived at Hunsden and thither Ridley went to see her She received him very civilly and ordered her Officers to entertain him at dinner But when he begged leave to Preach before her she at first blusht but being further prest she said he might Preach in the Parish Church but neither she nor her Family would be there He asked her if she refused to hear the word of God She answered they did not call that Gods word now that they had called so in her Fathers days and that in his time they durst not have said the things which they then Preached And after some sharp and reproachful discourse she dismist him Wharton one of her Officers as he conducted him out made him drink a little but he reflecting on that blamed himself for it for he said when the Word of God was rejected he ought to have shaken off the dust of his Feet and gone away The Kings Sister Elizabeth did in all things conform to the Laws for her Mother at her death recommended her to Dr. Parker's care who instructed her well in the Principles of Christian Religion The Earl of Warwick began now to form great designs of bringing the Crown into his Family The Earl of Warwick's designs The King was alienated from his Sister Mary and the Privy Council had imbroiled themselves with her and so would be easily engaged against her The pretence against both the Sisters was the same that they stood illegitimated by two Sentences in the Spiritual Courts confirmed in Parliament So that it would be a disgrace to the Nation to let the Crown devolve on Bastards And since the fears of the Eldests revenge made the Council willing to exclude her the only reason on which they could ground that must take place against the second likewise And therefore though the Crown was provided to them both by Act of Parliament and the late Kings Will yet these being founded on an Errour that was indispensable which was the baseness of their descent they ought not to take place They being laid aside the Daughters of the French Queen by Charles Brandon stood next in the Act and yet it was generally believed that they were Bastards For it was given out that Brandon was secretly married to one Mortimer at the time that he married the French Queen and that Mortimer out-lived her so that the issue by her was Illegitimate The Sweating Sickness did this year break out in England with such Contagion that eight hundred died in one week of it in London those that were taken with it were inclined much to sleep and all that slept died but if they were kept awake a day they did sweat it out Charles Brandon's two Sons by his last Wife died within a day one of another His eldest Daughter by the French Queen was married to the Marquess of Dorset a good but weak man and so he was made Duke of Suffolk They had no Sons their eldest Daughter Jane Gray was thought the wonder of the age So the Earl of Warwick projected a Match between her and his fourth Son Guilford his three elder Sons being then married And because the Lady Elizabeth was like to stand most in the way care was taken to send her out of England and a Match was treated for her with the King of Denmark A splendid Message was sent to France A Treaty for a Marriage to the King with the Order of the Garter The Marquess of Northampton carried it three Earls the Bishop of Ely and five Lords were sent with him and above two hundred Gentlemen accompanied them They were to make a Proposition of Marriage for the King with a Daughter of France The Bishop of Ely made the first Speech and the Cardinal of Lorrain answered him it was soon agreed on yet neither Party was to be bound either in Honour or Conscience till the Lady should be of Years to give consent A noble Embassy was sent in return from France to England with the Order of Saint Michael They desired in their Master's name the continuance of the King's friendship and that he would not be moved by Rumors that might be raised to break their Alliance The young King answered on the sudden that Rumours were not always to be believed nor always to be rejected for it was no less vain to fear all things than to doubt of nothing if any differences hapned to arise he should be always ready to determine them rather by reason than by force so far as his Honour should not be thereby diminished This was thought a very extraordinary answer to be made by one of Fourteen on the sudden There was at this time a great Creation of Peers The Duke of Somerset's fall Warwick was made Duke of Northumberland the blood of the Piercies being then under an Attainder Pawlet was made Marquess of Winchester Herbert was made Earl of Pembroke and a little before this Russel had been made Earl of Bedford and Darcy was made a Lord. There was none so likely to take the King out of Northumberlands hands as the Duke of Somerset who was beginning to form a new Party about the King so upon some Informations both the Duke of Somerset his Dutchess Sir Ralph Vane Sir Tho. Palmer Sr Tho. Arundel several others of whom some were Gentlemen of Quality and others were the Dukes servants were all committed to the Tower The committing of Palmer was to delude the World for he had betrayed the Duke and was clapt up as a Complice and then pretended to discover a Plot He said the Duke intended to have raised the People and that Northumberland Northampton and Pembroke having been invited to dine at the Lord Pagets he intended to have set on them by the way or have killed them at Dinner that Vane was to have 2000. Men ready Arundel was to have seized on the Tower and all the Gendarmoury were to have been killed All these things were told the young King with such Circumstances that he too easily believed them and so was much alienated from his Uncle judging him guilty of so foul a Conspiracy It was added by others that the Duke intended to have raised the City of London one Crane confirmed Palmers testimony and both the Earl of Arundel and Paget were also committed as Complices On the first of December His Trial the Duke was brought to his Trial The Marquess of Winchester was Lord Steward and 27. Peers sat to judge him among whom were the Dukes of Suffolk and Northumberland and the Earl of Pembroke The particulars charged on him were a design to seize on the King's Person to imprison the Duke of Northumberland and to raise the City of London it seemed strange to see Northumberland sit a Judge when the crime objected was a design against his life
to God On the 22. The Duke of Somerset's Execution day of January the Duke of Somerset was executed at Tower-Hill the substance of his Speech was a Vindication of himself from all ill designs he confessed his private sins and acknowledged the mercies of God in granting him time to Repent he declared that he had acted sincerely in all he did in matters of Religion while he was in power and rejoyced for his being Instrumental in so good a work he exhorted the People to live sutably to the doctrine received among them otherwise they might look for great Judgments from God As he was going on there was an unaccountable Noise heard which so frighted the People that many run away Sir Anthony Brown came up riding towards the Scaffold which made the Spectators think that he brought a Pardon and this occasioned great shouts of Joy but they soon saw their mistakes so the Duke went on in his Speech He declared his chearful submission to the will of God and desired them likewise to acquiesce in it he prayed for the King and his Council and exhorted the People to continue obedient to them and asked the forgiveness of all whom at any time he had offended Then he turned to his private devotions and fitted himself for the blow which upon the signal given severed his Head from his Body He was a Man of extraordinary Virtues of great candor and eminent Piety he was always a promoter of Justice and a Patron of the oppressed He was a better Captain than a Counsellor and was too easie and open-hearted to be so cautious as such times and such Imployments required It was generally believed all this Conspiracy for which he and the other Four suffered was only a forgery all the other Complices were quickly discharged and Palmer the chief Witness became Northumberlands particular confident and the indiscreet words which the Duke of Somerset had spoken and his gathering armed Men about him was imputed to Palmer's artifices who had put him in fear of his life and so made him do and say those things for which he lost it His four friends did all end their Lives with the most solemn protestations of their Innocence and the whole matter was lookt on as a contrivance of Northumberlands by which he lost the affections of the People entirely Some reflected on the Attainder of the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Surrey's death occasioned likewise by a Conspiracy of their own Servants in which it was thought this Duke was too active He was also much censured for his Brothers death He had raised much of his Estate out of the spoils of Bishops Lands and his Palace out of the Ruines of some Churches and to this some added a remark that he did not claim the benefit of his Clergy which would have saved him and since he had so spoiled the Church they imputed it to a particular Judgment on him that he forgat it But in this they were mistaken for in the Act by which he was condemned it was provided that no Clergy should purge that Felony In Germany The affairs of Germany Maurice began this year to form a great design He enter'd into correspondences not only with the Princes of Germany but also with France and England and having given intimations of his designs for the liberty of Germany and the security of the Protestant Religion to some that had great credit in Magdeburg he brought that Town to a surrender and having made himself sure of the Army he quartered his Troops in the Territories of the Popish Princes by which they were all much alarmed only the Emperour did not apprehend the danger till it was too late for him A quarrel fell in between the Pope and the King of France about Parma The Pope threatned if that King would not restore Parma he would take France from him Upon that the Council being now again opened at Trent the King of France protested against it and declared that he would call a National Council in France and would not obey nor receive their Decrees The Emperor still pressed the Germans to send Embassadours and Divines to Trent The Council began with the points about the Eucharist and it was ordered that these should be handled according to the Scriptures and Ancient Authors the Italians did not like this and said the bringing many quotations was only an Act of Memory and that way would give the Lutherans great advantages The sublime speculations of the Schools together with their terms were much safer Weapons to deal with A Safe-Conduct was demanded from the Council for the Emperours Conduct was not thought sufficient since at Constance John Hus and Jerome of Prague were burnt though they had the Emperours Safe-Conduct The Council of Basil had granted a very full one to the Bohemians so the Lutherans demanded one in the same form but though one was granted yet it was in many things short of that The Elector of Brandenburg sent an Embassadour to Trent who made a general Speech of the respect his Master had for them The Legates answered and thanked him for submitting to their Decrees of which the Embassadour had not said a word but when he expostulated about it the Legates said they answered him according to that he ought to have said and not to that he did say The Council decreed the manner of Christs presence to be ineffable and yet added that Transubstantiation was a fit term for it for that was a notion as unconceivable as any that could be thought on Then they decreed the necessity of Auricular Confession that thereby Priests might keep a proportion between Penances and Sins which was thought a mockery for the trade of slight Penances and easie Absolutions for the greatest sins shewed there was no care taken to adjust the one to the other The Embassadour of the Duke of Wirtemberg came and moved for a Safe-Conduct to their Divines to come and maintain their Doctrine The Legates answered they would enter into no disputes with them but if they came with an humble mind and proposed their scruples they would satisfie them Embassadours from some Towns arrived at Trent and those sent by the Duke of Saxe were on their way upon which the Emperour ordered his Agents to gain time and hinder the Council to proceed in their decisions till those were heard but all he could prevail in was that the Article concerning the Communion in both kinds was postponed till they should come The day after the Duke of Somerset's execution a Session of Parliament was assembled A Session of Parliament The first Act they past was about the Common-Prayer-Book as it was now amended To it only one Earl two Bishops and two Lords dissented The Book was appointed to be every where received after All-hallows next The Bishops were required to proceed by the censures of the Church against such as came not to it they also authorized the Book of Ordinations and
day before the dissolution of the Parliament The Lords added a Proviso confirming the Duke of Somerset's Attainder but that was cast out by the Commons Some Writings had been sealed with relation to a Marriage between the Earl of Hartford the Dukes Son and the Earl of Oxford's Daughter and the Lords sent down a Bill voiding these but upon a division in the House of Commons 68. were for it and 69. were against it so it was cast out The House was now thin when we find but 137. Members in it but that is one of the effects of a long Parliament many grow infirm and many keep out of the way on design and those who at their first Election were the Representatives of the People after they have sat long become a Cabal of Men that pursue their own Interests Tonstall is imprisoned more than the Publick Service Tonstall Bishop of Durham upon some Informations was put in Prison in the former year The Duke of Northumberland intended to erect a great Principality for his Family in the North and the accession of the Jurisdiction of the County Palatine which is in that See seemed so considerable that he resolved to ruine Tonstall and so make way for that He complied in all the changes that were made though he had protested against them in Parliament he writ also for the Corporal Presence but with more Eloquence than Learning He was a candid and moderate Man and there was always a good correspondence between Cranmer and him and now when the Bill was put in against him he opposed it and protested against it by which he absolutely lost the Duke of Northumberland but all the Popish complying Bishops went along with it There were some Depositions read in the House of Lords to justifie it but when the Bill with these was sent down to the Commons they resolved to put a stop to that way of condemning Men without hearing them so they sent a Message to the Lords that he and his Accusers might be heard face to face and that not being done they let the Bill fall By these Indications it appeared that the House of Commons had little kindness for the Duke of Northumberland Many of them had been much obliged to the Duke of Somerset so it was resolved to have a new Parliament and this which had sat almost five years was on the 15th of April dissolved The Convocation did confirm the Articles of Religion A Reformation of Ecclesiastical Laws prepared that had been prepared the former year and thus was the Reformation of Worship and Doctrine now brought to such perfection that since that time there has been very little alteration made in these But another Branch of it was yet unfinished and was now under consultation touching the Government of the Church and the rules of the Ecclesiastical Courts Two Acts had passed in the former reign and one in this impowering XXXII to revise all the Laws of the Church and digest them into a body King Henry issued out a Commission and the Persons were named who made some progress in it as appears by some of Cranmer's Letters to him In this Reign it had been begun several times but the Changes in the Government made it be laid aside Thirty two were found to be too many for preparing the first draught so Eight were appointed to make it ready for them These were Cranmer and Ridley Cox and Peter Martyr Traheron and Taylor and Lucas and Gosnold two Bishops two Divines two Civilians and two Common Lawyers but it was generally believed that Cranmer drew it all himself and the rest only corrected what he designed Haddon and Cheek were imployed to put it in Latine in which they succeeded so well and arrived at so true a purity in the Roman stile that it looks like a work of the best Ages of that State before their Language was corrupted with the mixture of barbarous terms and phrases with which all the later Writings were filled but none were more nauseously rude than the Books of the Canon-Law The Work was cast into fifty one Titles perhaps it was designed to bring it near the number of the Books into which Justinian digested the Roman Law The Eight finished it and offered it to the XXXII who divided themselves into Four Classes every one was to offer his Corrections and when it had past through them all it was to be offered to the King for his Confirmation but the King died before it was quite finished nor was it ever afterwards taken up yet I shall think it no useless part of this work to give an account of what was intended to be done in this matter as well as I relate what was done in other things The first Title of it was concerning the Catholick Faith The heads of it it was made Capital to deny the Christian Religion The Books of Scripture were reckoned up and the Apocrypha left out The four first General Councils were received but both Councils and Fathers were to be submitted to only as they agreed with the Scriptures The second enumerates and condemns many Heresies extracted out of the Opinions of the Church of Rome and the Tenets of the Anabaptists and among others those who excused their lives by the pretence of Predestination are reckoned up 3. The judgment of Heresie was to lye in the Bishops Court except in exempted places Persons suspected might be required to purge themselves and those who were convicted were to abjure and do Penance but such as were obstinate were declared Infamous and not to have the benefit of the Law or of making Testaments and so all Capital proceedings for Heresie were laid aside 4. Blasphemy against God was to be punished as obstinate Heresie 5. The Sacraments and other parts of the Pastoral Charge were to be decently performed 6. All Magick Idolatry or Conjuring was to be punished arbitrarily and in case of obstinacy with Excommunication 7. Bishops were appointed once a Year to call all their Clergy together to examine them concerning their Flocks and Itinerant Preachers were to be often imployed for visiting such Precincts as might be put under their care 8. All Marriages were to be after asking of Banes and to be annulled if not done according to the Book of Common Prayer Corrupters of Virgins were to marry them or if that could not be done to give them the third part of their Goods and suffer Corporal punishment Marriages made by force or without consent of Parents were declared null Polygamy was forbid and Mothers were required to suckle their Children 9. The degrees of Marriage were setled according to the Levitical Law but spiritual kindred was to be no barr 10. A Clergy-man guilty of Adultery was to forfeit his Goods and Estate to his Wife and Children or to some pious use and to be banished or Imprisoned during life a Layman guilty of it was to forfeit the half and be banished or Imprisoned during life Wives that were
Title of Queen she submitted with as much greatness of mind as her Father shewed of abjectness They sent also Orders to Northumberland to dismiss his Forces and to obey the Queen and the Earl of Arundel and the Lord Paget were sent to carry these welcome tidings to her When Northumberland heard of the Turn that was in London without staying for Orders he discharged his Forces and went to the Market-place at Cambridge where he was at that time and proclaimed the Queen The Earl of Arundel was sent to apprehend him and when he was brought to him he fell at his Feet to beg his favour for a mind that has no ballance in it self turns insolent or abject out of measure with the various changes of fortune He and three of his Sons and Sir Tho. Palmer that was his wicked Instrument against the Duke of Somerset were all sent to the Tower Now all People went to implore the Queen's favour and Ridley among the rest but he was sent to the Tower for she was both offended with him for his Sermon and resolved to put Bonner again in the See of London Some of the Judges and several Noblemen were also sent thither among the rest the Duke of Suffolk but three days after he was set at liberty He was a weak Man and could do little harm so he was pitched on as the first Instance towards whom the Queen should express her Clemency She came to London on the 3d. of August She comes to London and on the way was met by her Sister Lady Elizabeth with a thousand Horse whom she had raised to come to the Queen's assistance When she came to the Tower she discharged the Duke of Norfolk the Dutchess of Somerset and Gardiner of whose Commitment mention has been formerly made as also the Lord Courtney Son to the Marquess of Exeter who had been kept there ever since his Fathers Attainder whom she made Earl of Devonshire And thus was she now peaceably setled on the Throne notwithstanding that great Combination against her which had not been so easily broken if the Head of it had not been a Man so Universally distastful She was a Lady of great Vertues Her former life she was strict in her Religion to superstition her Temper was much corrupted by Melancholy and the many cross accidents of her life increased this to a great degree She adhered so resolutely to her Mothers Interests that it was believed her Father once intended to have taken her Life upon which her Mother wrote a very devout Letter to her charging her to trust in God and keep her self pure and to obey the King in all things except in matters of Religion She sent her two Latine Books for her entertainment Saint Jerome's Epistles and a Book of the Life of Christ which was perhaps the famous Book of Thomas à Kempis The Kings displeasure at her was such that neither the Duke of Norfolk nor Gardiner durst venture to intercede for her Cranmer was the only Man that hazarded on it and did it so effectually that he prevailed with him about it But after her Mothers death she hearkned to other Counsels so that upon Anne Boleyn's fall she made a full submission to him as was mentioned before She did also in many Letters which she writ both to her Father and to Cromwell Protest great sorrow for her former stubornness and declared that she put her Soul in his hand and that her Conscience should be always directed by him and being asked what her Opinion was concerning Pilgrimages Purgatory and Reliques she answered that she had no Opinion but such as she received from the King who had her whole heart in his keeping and might imprint upon it in these and in all other matters whatever his inestimable Vertue high Wisdom and excellent Learning should think convenient for her So perfectly had she learned the stile that she knew was most acceptable to her Father After that she was in all points obedient to him and during her Brothers Reign she set up on that pretence that she would adhere to that way of Religion that was setled by her Father Two different Schemes were now set before her Gardiner and all that had complied in the former times moved that at first she should bring things back to the state in which they were The Counsels then laid down when her Father died and afterwards by easie and slow steps she might again return to the obedience to the See of Rome But she her self was more inclined to return to that immediately she thought she could not be legitimated any other way and so was like to proceed too quick Gardiner finding that Political Maximes made no great Impression on her and that he was lookt on by her as a crafty temporising Man addressed himself to the Emperour who understood Government and Mankind better and undertook that if he might have the Seals he would manage matters so that in a little time he should bring all things about to her mind and that there was no danger but in her precipitating things and being so much governed by Italian Counsels for he understood that she had sent for Cardinal Pool The People had a great Aversion to the Papal authority and the Nobility and Gentry were apprehensive of losing the Abbey Lands therefore it was necessary to remove these prejudices by degrees He also assured the Emperour that he would serve all his Interests zealously and shewed him how necessary it was to stop Cardinal Pool who stood Attainted by Law In this he was the more earnest because he knew Pool hated him The Emperour upon this writ so effectually to the Queen to depend on Gardiner's Counsels that on the 13th of August he was made Lord Chancellour and the conduct of affairs was put in his hands The Duke of Norfolk being now at liberty pretended that he was never truly attainted and that it was no legal Act that had past against him and by this he recovered his Estate all the Grants that had been made out of it being declared void at Common Law He was made Lord Steward for the Trial of the Duke of Northumberland Northumberlands Trial and his Son the Earl of Warwick and the Marquess of Northampton All that they pleaded in their own defence lay in two points the one was whether any thing that was acted by Order of Council and the authority of the Great Seal could be Treason The other was whether those that were as guilty as they were could sit and judge them The Judges answered that the Great Seal or Privy Council of one that was not lawful Queen could give no Authority nor Indemnity and that other Peers if they were not convicted by Record might judge them These Points being determined against them they pleaded Guilty and submitted to the Queens Mercy So Sentence past upon them and the day after that Sir John Gates Sir Tho. Palmer and some others were tried and
York and that Courts of Justice should be set up there they desired that some Acts of Parliament might be repealed that the Princess Mary might be restored to her Right of Succession and the Pope to his wonted Jurisdiction that the Monasteries might be again set up that Audley and Cromwell might be put from the King and that some of the Visitors might be imprisoned for their Bribery and Extortion But these being rejected the Rebels took heart again upon which the Duke of Norfolk advised the King to gentle Methods he in his Heart wished that all their Demands might be granted and the Ld Darcy did accuse him afterwards as if he had encouraged them to make them The King sent him a general Pardon without any Exceptions to be made use of as he saw Cause The Rebels finding that with the loss of time they lost Heart resolved to fall upon him and beat him from Doncaster but at two several times in which they had resolved to pass the River such Rains fell out as made it unpassable which was magnified as next to a Miracle and made great Impressions on the Rebels Minds The King sent a long Answer to their Demands he assured them he would live and dye in the Defence of the Christian Faith but the Rabble ought not to prescribe to him and to the Convocation in that matter he answered that which concerned the Monasteries as he had done to the Men of Lincolnshire For the Laws a Multitude must not pretend to alter what was established he had governed them now 28 Years his Subjects had enjoyed great Safety and been very gently used by him in all that time It was given out that when he began to raign he had many of the Nobility in his Council and that he had then none but Men meanly born this was false for he found but two Noble-Men of his Council and at present there were 7 Temporal Lords and 4 Bishops in it It was necessary to have some that knew the Law of England and Treaties with Forreign Princes which made him call Audley and Cromwell to the Board If they had any Complaints to make of any about him he was ready to hear them but he would not suffer them to direct him what Counsellours he ought to employ nor could they judg of the Bishops that were promoted who were not known to them he charged them not to believe Lies nor be governed by Incendiaries but to submit to his Mercy On the 9th of December he signed a Proclamation of Pardon without any Restrictions When this was known They are every-where quieted and the Rage of the People cooled they were willing to lay hold on it and all the Artifices that some of the Clergy and their Leaders could use had no other Effect but to draw as many together as brought them under new Guilt and made them forfeit the benefit of the King's Pardon Many came in and renewed their Oaths of Allegiance and promising all Obedience for the future Ask was invited to the Court and well used by the King on design to learn from him all the secret Correspondencies they had in the other parts of the Kingdom for the Disposition to Rebel was general only they were not all alike forward in it It was in particular believed that the great Abbots cherished it for which some of them were afterwards attained Darcy pleaded his great Age being then fourscore and the Eminent Service he had done the Crown for fifty Years together and that he was forced for his own Preservation to go along with the Rebels but yet he was put in Prison This gave the Clergy Advantages to infuse it in the People that the Pardon would not be well kept So 8000 run together again and thought to have surprized Carlile but the Duke of Norfolk fell on them and routed them and by Martial Law hanged their Captains and 70 other Persons Others thought to have surprized Hull but were likewise routed and many of them were hanged Many other little Risings were quickly dispersed and such was the Duke of Norfolk's Vigilance that he was every where upon them before they could grow to any Number and before the end of January the Country was absolutely quieted Ask left the Court without leave but was soon retaken and hanged at York The Lord Darcy and Hussy were arraigned at Westminster and condemned by their Peers the one for the Yorkshire and the other for the Lincolnshire Insurrections Darcy was beheaded on Tower-hill his old Age and former Services made him to be much lamented Hussy was beheaded at Lincoln Darcy accused the Duke of Norfolk but he desired a Trial by Combate upon it yet the Services he had lately done were such that the King would not seem to have any Jealousy of him After these and several other Executions were over the King proclaimed a General Oblivion in July by which the Nation was again put in a quiet Condition and this threatning Storm was now quite dissipated As soon as it was over the King went on more resolutely in his Design of suppressing the Monasteries for he was now less apprehensive of any new Commotions after so many had been so happily quasht and that the chief Incendiaries had suffered A new Visitation was appointed to enquire into the Conversation of the Monks The greater Monasteries resigned to the King to examine how they stood affected to the Pope and how they promoted the King's Supremacy They were likewise ordered to examine what Impostures might be among them either in Images or Relicks by which the Superstition of the credulous People was wrought on Some few Houses of greater value were prevailed with the former Year to surrender to the King Many of the Houses that had not bin dissolved tho they were within the former Act were now supprest and many of the greater Abbots were wrought on to surrender by several Motives Some had been faulty during the Rebellion and so to prevent a Storm offered a Resignation Others liked the Reformation and did it on that account some were found guilty of great Disorders in their Lives and to prevent a shameful Discovery offered their Houses to the King and others had made such Wasts and Dilapidations that having taken Care of themselves they were less concerned for others At St. Albans the Rents were let so low that the Abbot could not maintain the Charge of the Abby At Battel the whole Furniture of the House and Chappel was not above an 100 l. in value and their Plate was not 300 l. In some Houses there was scarce any Plate or Furniture left Many Abbots and Monks were glad to accept of a Pension for Life and that was proportioned to the value of their House and to their Innocence The Abbots of St. Albans and Tewkesbury had 400 Marks a Year The Abbots of St. Edmondsbury was more innocent and more resolute The Visitors wrote that they found no Scandals in that House but at last
the Bishop to be proceeded in by him only with the assistance of his Clergy and this fatal errour then committed has not yet met with an effectual regulation Another Act was made against idle Vagabonds An Act against Vagabonds that they should be made slaves for two years by any that should seize on them This was chiefly designed against some Vagrant Monks as appears by the Proviso's in the Act for they went about the Countrey infusing in the People a dislike of the Government The severity of this Act made that the English Nation which naturally abhors slavery did not care to execute it and this made that the other Proviso's for supplying those that were truly indigent and were willing to be imployed had no effect But as no Nation has better and more merciful Laws for the supply of the Poor so the fond pity that many shew to the common Beggars which no Laws have been able to restrain makes that a sort of dissolute and idle Beggars intercept much of that Charity which should go to the relief of those that are indeed the only proper objects of it An Act for dissolving the Changries After this came the Act for giving the King all those Chantries which the late King had not seized on by Vertue of the Grant made to him of them Cranmer opposed this much for the poverty of the Clergy was such that the State of Learning and Religion was like to suffer much if it should not be relieved and yet he saw no probable Fond for that but the preserving these till the King should come to be at Age and allow the selling them for buying in of at least such a share of the Impropriations as might afford some more comfortable subsistence to the Clergy yet though he and seven other Bishops dissented it was past After all other Acts a General Pardon but clogged with some Exceptions came last some Acts were proposed but not past one was for the free use of the Scriptures others were for a Court of Chancery in Ecclesiastical Causes for Residence and for a Reformation of the Courts of Common Law The Convocation fits The Convocation sat at the same time and moved that a Commission begun in the late Reign of thirty two Persons for reforming the Ecclesiastical Laws might be revived and that the inferiour Clergy might be admitted to sit in the House of Commons for which they alledged a Clause in the Bishops Writ and Ancient Custome and since some Prelates had under the former Reign begun to alter the form of the Service of the Church they desired it might be brought to perfection and that some care might be had of supplying the poor Clergy and relieving them from the Taxes that lay on them This concerning the inferiour Clergy's sitting in the House of Commons was the subject of some debate and was again set on foot both under Queen Elizabeth and King James but to no effect Some pretended that they always sat in the House of Commons till the submission made in the former Reign upon the suit of the Praemunire but that cannot be true since in this Convocation 17. years after that in which many that had been in the former were present no such thing was alledged It is not clear who those Proctors of the Clergy that sat in Parliament were if they were the Bishops assistants it is more proper to think they sat in the House of Lords No mention is made of them as having a share in the Legislative Authority in our Records except in the 21. of Richard the 2d In which mention is made both of the Commons the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Proctors of the Clergy concurring to the Acts then made which makes it seem most probable that they were the Clerks of the lower House of Convocation When the Parliament met antiently all in one Body the inferiour Clergy had their Writs and came to it with the other Freeholders but when the two Houses were separated the Clergy became also a distinct body and gave their own Subsidies and medled in all the concerns and represented all the grievances of the Church But now by the Act made upon the submission of the Clergy in the last Reign their power was reduced almost to nothing so they thought it reasonable to desire that either they might have their Representatives in the House of Commons or at least that matters of Religion should not pass without the assent of the Clergy But the raising the Ecclesiastical authority too high in former times made this turn that it was now depressed as much below its just limits as it was before exalted above them as commonly one extreme produces another It was resolved that some Bishops and Divines should be sent to Windsor to finish some Reformations in the publick Offices for the whole lower House of Convocation without a contradictory Vote agreed to the Bill about the Sacrament But it is not known what opposition it met with in the Upper House A Proposition being also set on foot concerning the lawfulness of the Marriage of the Clergy thirty five subscribed to the affirmative and only fourteen held the Negative And thus ended this Session both of Parliament and Convocation And the Protector being now established in his power and received by a Parliament without contradiction took out a new Commission in which besides his former authority he was impowered to substitute one in his room during his absence In Germany the Princes of the Smalcaldick League were quite ruined The affairs of Germany the Duke of Saxe was defeated and taken Prisoner and used with great severity and scorn which he bare with an invincible greatness of mind The Landgrave was perswaded to submit and had assurances of liberty given him but by a trick unbecoming the greatness of the Emperour he was seized on and kept Prisoner contrary to faith given upon this all the Princes and Towns except Magdeburg and Brome submitted and purchased their pardon at what terms the Conquerour was pleased to impose The Bishop and Elector of Colen withdrew peaceably to a retirement in which after four years he died and now all Germany was at the Emperours mercy Some Cathedrals as that at Ausburg were again restored to the Bishops and Mass was said in them A Diet was also held in which the Emperor obtain'd a Decree to pass by which matters of Religion were referred wholly to his care The Pope instead of rejoycing at this blow given the Lutherans was much troubled at it for the Emperour had now in one Year made an end of a War which he hoped would have Imbroiled him his whole life so that Italy was now more at his mercy than ever and it seemed the Emperour intended to inlarge his Conquests there for the Pope's Natural Son being killed by a Conspiracy the Governour of Milan seized on Placentia which gave the Pope some jealousie as if the Emperour had been privy to
the English Pale Monluc Bishop of Valence being then in Scotland went over thither to engage them to raise new Commotions but that had no effect while he was there his lasciviousness came to be discovered by an odd accident for a Whore was brought to him by some English Friars and secretly kept by him but she searching among his Clothes fell on a Glass full of somewhat that was very odoriferous and drank it off which being discovered by the Bishop too late put him in a most violent passion for it had been given him as a Present by Soliman the Magnificent when he was Ambassadour at his Court It was call'd the richest balm of Egypt and valued at 2000. Crowns His rage grew so boisterous that all about him discovered both his Passion and Lewdness at once The Reformation was set up in the English Pale but had made a small progress among the Irish This Year Bale was sent over to labour among them He was a busie Writer and was a Learned zealous Man but did not write with the temper and decency that became a Divine Goodaker was sent to be Primate of Armagh and he was to be Bishop of Ossory Two Irish Men were also promoted with them who undertook to advance the Reformation there The Archbishop of Dublin intended to have ordained them by the old Pontifical and all except Bale were willing it should be so but he prevailed that it should be done according to the new book of Ordinations after that he went into his Diocess but found all there in dark Popery and before he could make any Progress A Change in the Garter the King's death put an end to his designs There was a change setled in the Order of the Garter this Year A Proposition was made the former year to consider how the Order might be freed from the Superstition that was supposed to be in it St. George's fighting with a Dragon lookt like a Legend forged in dark Ages to support the humour of Chivalry then very high in the world The story was neither credible in it self nor vouched by any good Author nor was there any of that name mentioned by the Ancients but George the Arrian Bishop that was put in Alexandria when Athanasius was banished Some Knights were appointed to prepare a Reformation of the Order and the Earl of Westmorland and Sir Andrew Dudley were this Year Installed according to the New Model It was appointed to be called in all time coming the Order of the Garter and no more the Order of St. George instead of the former George there was to be on the one side of the Jewel a Man on Horseback with a Bible on his Swords point On the Sword was written Protectio and on the Bible Verbum Dei and on the Reverse a Shield and Fides written upon it to shew that they would maintain the Word of God both with offensive and defensive Weapons but all this was reversed by Queen Mary and the old Statutes were again revived which continue to this day There was at this time a strict enquiry made into the accounts of all Northumberlands severity who had been imployed in the former part of this Reign for it was believed that the Visitors had embezel'd much of the Plate of the Churches and these were the Creatures of the Duke of Somerset which made Northumberland prosecute them more vehemently On none did this fall more severely than on the Lord Paget who was not only fined in 6000 l. but was degraded from the Order of the Garter with a particular mark of Infamy on his Extraction yet he was afterwards restored to it with as much honour He had been a constant friend to the Duke of Somerset and that made his Enemies execute so severe a Revenge on him Northumberland was preparing matters for a Parliament and being a Man of an Insolent temper no less abject when he was low than lifted up with prosperity he thought extream severity was the only way to bring the Nation easily to comply with his administration of affairs but this though it succeeded for some time yet when he needed it most it turned violently upon him for nothing can work on a free People so much as Justice and Clemency in the Government A great design was setled this Year Trade flourishes much which proved to be the foundation of all that Wealth and Trade that has since that time flourished so much in this Nation Henry the III. had been much supported in his Wars by the assistance he got from the Free-Towns of Germany in recompence of which he gave them great Priviledges in England They were formed here in a Corporation and lived in the Still Yard near London-Bridge They had gone sometimes beyond their Charters which were thereupon judged to be forfeited but by great Presents they purchased new ones They traded in a Body and so ruined others by under selling them and by making Presents at Court or lending great Summs they had the Government on their side Trade was now rising much Courts began to be more Magnificent so that there was a greater consumption particularly of Cloth than formerly Antwerp and Hamburgh lying the one near the mouth of the Rhine and the other at the mouth of the Elbe had then the chief Trade in these Parts of the World and their Factors in the Still-Yard had all the Markets in England in their hands and set such Prices both on what they imported or exported as they pleased and broke all other Merchants to such a degree that the former Year they had shipped 44000. Clothes and all the other Traders had not shipped above 1100. So the Merchant-adventurers complained of the Still-Yard Men and after some hearings it was judged that they had forfeited their Charter and that their Company was dissolved nor could all the applications of the Hanse Towns seconded by the Emperour's Intercession procure them a new Charter But a greater design was proposed after this was setled which was to open two free Mart Towns in England and to give them such Priviledges as the free Towns in the Empire had and by that means to draw the Trade to England Southampton and Hull were thought the fittest This was so far entertained by the young King that he writ a large Paper ballancing the conveniencies and inconveniencies of it but all that fell with his Life This year Cardan Cardan in England the great Philosopher of that Age past through England as he returned from Scotland The Archbishop of St. Andrews had sent for him out of Italy to cure him of a Dropsie in which he had good success but being much conversant in Astrology and Magick he told him he could not change his fate and that he was to be hanged He waited on King Edward as he returned and was so charmed with his great knowledge and rare qualities that he always spake of him as the rarest Person he had ever seen and after his death
only as a Paper of News and so ordered their Ambassadours to communicate them to the Emperour But the King's death broke off this Negotiation He had contracted great Colds by Violent Exercises which in January setled in a deep Cough and all Medicines proved ineffectual The Kings sickness There was a suspicion taken up and spred over all Europe that he was poisoned but no certain grounds appear for justifying that During his sickness Ridley preached before him and among other things run out much on works of Charity and the duty of Men of high condition to be Eminent in good works The King was much touched with this so after Sermon he sent for the Bishop and treated him with such respect that he made him sit down and be covered then he told him what Impression his Exhortation had made on him and therefore he desired to be directed by him how to do his duty in that matter Ridley took a little time to consider of it and after some consultation with the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London he brought the King a Scheme of several Foundations one for the sick and wounded another for such as were wilfully idle or were mad and a third for Orphans so he endowed St. Bartholomew's Hospital for the first Bridewell for the second and Christ's Church near Newgate for the third and he enlarged the Grant he made the former year for St. Thomas's Hospital in Southwark The Statutes and Warrants relating to these were not finished before the 26. of June though he gave order to make all the hast that was possible and when he set his hand to them he blest God that had prolonged his life till he finished his designs concerning them These Houses have by the good Government and great Charities of the City of London continued to be so useful and grown to be so well-endowed that now they may be well reckoned among the Noblest in Europe The King bore his sickness with great submission to the will of God The Patents for the succession to the Crown and seemed concerned in nothing so much as the state that Religion and the Church would be in after his death The Duke of Suffolk had only three Daughters the eldest of these was now married to Lord Guilford Dudley the second to the Earl of Pembroke's eldest Son and the third that was crooked to one Keys The Duke of Northumberland for strengthning his Family married also his own two Daughters the one to Sir Henry Sidney and the other to the Earl of Huntington's eldest Son He grew to be much hated by the People and the jealousie of the King 's being poisoned was fastened on him But he regarded these things little and resolved to improve the fears the King was in concerning Religion to the advantage of Lady Jane The King was easily perswaded to order the Judges and his Learned Council to put some Articles which he had signed for the succession of the Crown in the common form of Law They answered that the Succession being setled by Act of Parliament could not be taken away except by Parliament yet the King required them to do what he commanded them But next time they came to the Council they declared that it was made Treason to change the Succession by an Act past in this Reign so they could not meddle with it Mountague was chief Justice and spake in the name of the rest Northumberland fell out in a great passion against him calling him Traitor for refusing to obey the King's commands for that is always the language of an Arbitrary Minister when he acts against Law But the Judges were not shaken by his threatnings so they were again brought before the King who sharply rebuked them for their delays but they said all that they could do would be of no force without a Parliament yet they were required to do it in the best manner they could At last Mountague desired they might have a Pardon for what they were to do that being granted all the Judges except Gosnald and Hales agreed to the Patent deliver'd their Opinions that the Lord Chancellor might put the Seal to it and that then it would be good in Law yet the former of these two was at last wrought on so Hales was the only Man that stood out to the last who though he was a zealous Protestant yet would not give his Opinion against his Conscience upon any consideration whatsoever The Privy Councellours were next required to set their hand to it Cecyl in a Relation he writ of this transaction says that hearing some of the Judges declare so positively that it was against Law he refused to set his hand to it as a Privy Councellour but signed it only as a Witness to the King's subscription Cranmer stood out long he came not to Council when it was past there and refused to consent to it when he was prest to it for he said he would never have a hand in disinheriting his late Master's Daughters The young dying King was at last set on him and by his Importunity prevailed with him to do it and so the Seal was put to the Patents The King's distemper continued to encrease so that the Physicians despaired of his Recovery A confident Woman undertook his Cure and he was put in her hands but she left him worse than she found him and this heightned the jealousie of the Duke of Northumberland that had introduced her and put the Physicians away At last to Crown his designs he got the King to write to his Sisters to come and divert him in his sickness and the matter of the Exclusion had been carried so secretly that they apprehending no danger had begun their Journey In the 6th of July The Kings death and Character the King felt death approaching and prepared himself for it in a most devout manner He was often heard offering up Prayers and Ejaculations to God Particularly a few Moments before he died he prayed earnestly that God would take him out of this wretched life and committed his Spirit to him he interceded very fervently for his Subjects that God would preserve England from Popery and maintain his true Religion among them soon after that he breathed out his Innocent Soul being in Sir Henry Sidney's arms Endeavours were used to conceal his death for some days on design to draw his Sisters into the snare before they should be aware of it but that could not be done Thus died Edward the VI. in the sixteenth Year of his Age. He was counted the wonder of that time he was not only Learned in the Tongues and the Liberal Sciences but knew well the state of his Kingdom He kept a Table-Book in which he had writ the Characters of all the eminent Men of the Nation he studied Fortification and understood the Mint well he knew the Harbours in all his Dominions with the depth of Water and way of coming into them He understood foreign
Europe in a Flame The next Year Pool sent Ormaneto with some English Divines to visit Cambridge A Visitation of the Universities They put the Churches in which the Bodies of Bucer and Fagius lay under an Interdict They made a Visitation of all the Colledges and Chappels in which Ormaneto shewed great Integrity and without respect of Persons he chid some Heads of Houses whom he found guilty of misapplying the Revenues of their Houses The two dead Bodies were burnt with great solemnity They were raised and cited to appear and answer for the Heresies they had taught and if any would answer for them they were required to come The Dead said nothing for themselves and the living were afraid to do it for fear of being sent after them so Witnesses were examined and in conclusion they were condemned as obstinate Hereticks and the dead Bodies with many Heretical Books were all burnt in one Fire Peru was Vice-Chancellour at this time and happened to be in some Office four years after when by Queen Elizabeth's Order publick honours were done to the Memory of these Learned Men and he obeyed both these Orders with so much zeal that it appeared how exactly he had learned the Lesson so much studied in that Age of serving the time After this there was a Visitation of all the Colledges in Oxford and there it was intended to act such Pageantry on the body of Peter Martyr's Wife as had been done at Cambridge But she that could speak no English had not declared her Opinions so that Witnesses could be found to convict her of Heresie yet since it was notoriously known that she had been a Nun and had broken her Vow of Chastity they raised her Body and buried it in a Dunghill but her Bones were afterwards mixed with Saint Frideswide's by Queen Elizabeth's Order The Justices of Peace were now every where so slack in the Prosecution of Hereticks A severe Inquisition of Hereticks that it seemed necessary to find out other Tools So the Courts of Inquisition were thought on These were set up first in France against the Albigenses and afterwards in Spain for discovering the Moors and were now turned upon the Hereticks Their power was uncontrolable they seised on any they pleased upon such Informations or Presumptions as lay before them They managed their Processes in secret and put their Prisoners to such sorts of Torture as they thought fit for extorting Confessions or Discoveries from them At this time both the Pope and King Philip though they differed in other things agreed in this that they were the only sure means for extirpating Heresie So as a step to the setting them up a Commission was given to Bonner and twenty more the greatest part Lay-men to search all over England for all suspected of Heresie that did not hear Masse go in Processions or did not take Holy bread or Holy water they were authorised three being a Quorum to proceed either by Presentments or other Politick ways they were to deliver all they discovered to their Ordinaries and were to use all such means as they could invent which was left to their discretions and Consciences for executing their Commission Many other Commissions subalterne to theirs were issued out for several Counties and Diocesses This was looked on as such an advance towards an Inquisition that all concluded it would follow ere long The burnings were carried on vigorously in some places and but coldly in most parts for the dislike of them grew to be almost Universal In January More burnings six were burnt in one Fire at Canterbury and four in other parts of Kent 22. were sent out of Colchester to Bonner but it seems Pool had chid him severely for the Fire he had made of thirteen the last Year so he writ to Pool for directions The Cardinal imployed some to deal with the Prisoners and they got them to sign a Paper in general words acknowledging that Christ's Body was in the Sacrament and declaring that they would be subject to the Church of Christ and to their lawful Superiours And upon this they were set at liberty by which it appeared that Pool was willing to have accepted any thing by which he might on the one hand preserve the Lives of those that were informed against and yet not be exposed to the rage of the Pope as a favourer of Hereticks In April three Men and one Woman were burnt in Smithfield In May three were burnt in Southwark condemned by White the new Bishop of Winchester and three at Bristoll Five Men and nine Women were burnt in Kent in June and in the same Month six Men and four Women were burnt at Lewis In July two were burnt at Norwich and in August ten were burnt in one day at Colchester They were some of those 22. that were by Pool's means discharged but the Cruel Priests informed against them and said the favour shewed to them had so encouraged all others that it was necessary to remove the scandal which that mercy of the Cardinals gave and to make Examples of some of them In August one was burnt at Norwich two at Rochester and one at Litchfield One Eagle that went much about from place to place from which he was called Trudge-over was condemned as a Traytor for some words spoken against the Queen But all this Cruelty did not satisfie the Clergy they complained that the Magistrates were backward and did their duty very negligently upon which severe Letters were written to several Towns from the Council-board and zealous Men were recommended to be chosen Mayors in sundry Towns In September three Men and one Woman were burnt at Islington and two at Colchester one at Northampton and one at Laxefield a Woman was burnt at Norwich a Priest with thirteen other Men and three Women were burnt at Chichester In November three were burnt in Smithfield Rough a Scotchman that had a Benefice in K. Edward's time kept a private Meeting at Istington but one of the Company being corrupted discovered the rest so they were apprehended as they were going to the Communion and he and a Woman were burnt in December so 79. were burnt in all this year This Year a horrid Murder of one Argol The Lord Stourton hanged and his Son was committed by the L. Stourton and some of his Servants who after they had butchered them in a most barbarous manner buried them fifteen Foot deep in the ground The Lord Stourton was a zealous Papist and had protested against all the Acts that had past in King Edward's time yet the Queen not only would not pardon him but would not so much as change the Infamous death of hanging into a beheading not because the Prerogative extends not so far as some have without reason asserted for both the Duke of Somerset condemned in the Reign of King Edward and the Lord Audley condemned under King Charles the First for Felony were beheaded but the Queen resolved in this case to
they asserted her right and she promised to maintain the true Religion and the Laws of the Land This was not received with the shouts ordinary on such occasions A Vintners Boy expressed some scorn when he heard it for which he was next day set on a Pillory and his Ears were nailed to it to strike terror in the rest Many descanted variously on this Proclamation Censures past upon that Those who thought that the King had his power immediately from God said that then it must descend in the way of Inheritance and since the King 's two Sisters were both under sentences of illegitimation they said the next Heir in blood must succeed and that was the young Queen of Scotland but she being of the Church of Rome claimed nothing upon the sentence against Queen Mary esteeming it unlawful and null yet afterwards she made her claim against Queen Elizabeth Others said that though a Prince were named immediately by God yet upon great reasons he might alter the Succession from its natural course for so David preferred Solomon to Adonijah In England the Kings claimed the Crown by a long Prescription confirmed by many Laws and not from a divine designation and therefore they inferred that the Act of Parliament for the Succession ought to take place and that by vertue of it the two Sisters ought to succeed and it was said that as the King could limit the Prerogative so he could likewise limit the succession It was also said that Charles Brandon's Issue by the French Queen was unlawful because he was then married to one Mortimer yet this was not declared in any Court and so could not take place Others said if the Right of blood could not be cut off why was the Scotch Queen cut off and her being born out of the Kingdom could not exclude her as an Alien for though that held in other cases yet it was only a Provision of Law which could not take away a Divine right and by special Law the King's Children were excepted It was also urged that the Dutchess of Suffolk ought to be preferred to her Daughter who could only claim by her Right and though Maud the Empress and Margaret Countess of Richmond had not claimed the Crown but were satisfied that their Sons two Henries the second and seventh should reign in their right yet it was never heard that a Mother should quit her right to a Daughter that of the half blood was said to be only a rule in Law for private Families and that it did not extend to the Crown The power of limiting the succession by Patent or Testament was said to be only a Personal trust lodged in King Henry the Eighth and that it did not descend to his Heirs so that King Edward's Patents were thought to be of no force The severity against the Vintners Boy in the beginning of a Reign founded on so doubtful a Title Many turn to Queen Mary was thought a great errour in Policy and it seemed to be a well grounded Maxime that all Governments ought to begin with acts of Clemency and affect the love rather than the fear of the People Northumberland's proceeding against the Duke of Somerset upon so soul a Conspiracy and the suspicions that lay on him as the Author of the late Kings untimely death begat a great aversion in the People to him and that disposed them to set up Queen Mary She gathered all in the neighbouring Counties about her The Men of Suffolk were generally for the Reformation yet a great Body of them came to her and asked her if she would promise not to alter the Religion set up in King Edward's days she assured them she would make no changes but should be content with the private Exercise of her own Religion Upon that they all vowed that they would live and dye with her The Earl of Sussex and several others raised Forces for her and proclaimed her Queen When the Council heard this they sent the Earl of Huntington's Brother to raise Men in Buckinghamshire and meet the Forces that should be sent from London at Newmarket The Duke of Northumberland was ordered to Command the Army Northumberland marches against her He was now much distracted in his thoughts It was of equal Importance to keep London and the Privy Councellours steady and to conduct the Army well A misfortune in either of these was like to be fatal to him So he could not resolve what to do there was not a Man of spirit that was firm to him to be left behind and yet it was most necessary once to dissipate the Force that was daily growing about Queen Mary The Lady Jane and the Council were removed to the Tower not only for state but for security for here the Council were upon the matter Prisoners He could do no more but lay a strict charge on the Council to be firm to Lady Jane's Interests and so he marched out of London with 2000. Horse and 6000. Foot on the 14th of July but no acclamations or wishes of success were to be heard as he past through the Streets The Council gave the Emperor notice of the Lady Jane's succession and complained of the disturbance that was raised by Queen Mary and that his Ambassadour had officiously medled in their affairs But the Emperour would not receive their Letters Ridley was appointed to preach up Queen Jane's Title and to animate the People against Queen Mary which he too rashly obeyed But Queen Mary's Party encreased every day Hastings went over to her with 4000. Men out of Buckinghamshire and she was proclaimed Queen in many places And now did the Privy Council begin to see their danger and to think how to get out of it The Earl of Arundel hated Northumberland The Marquess of Winchester was dextrous in shifting sides for his advantage The Earl of Pembroke's Son had married the Lady Jane's Sister which made him think it necessary to redeem the danger he was in by a speedy turn To these many others were joyned They pretended it was necessary to give an Audience to the foreign Ambassadours who would not have it in the Tower And the Earl of Pembroke's House was pitched upon he being least suspected They also said it was necessary to treat with the Lord Mayor and Aldermen for sending more Forces to Northumberland concerning which he had writ very earnestly When they got out they resolved to declare for Queen Mary The Council declares for her and rid themselves of Northumberland's uneasie Yoke which they knew they must bear if he were victorious They sent for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen and easily perswaded them to concur with them and so they went immediately to Cheapside and proclaimed the Queen on the 19th of July and from thence they went to St. Paul's where Te Deum was sung They sent next to the Tower requiring the Duke of Suffolk to quit the Government of that place and the Lady Jane to lay down the
Laws of God and the Practice of the Universal Church to declare their Bishopricks void as they were indeed already void And thus were seven of the Reformed Bishops turned out at a dash It was much censured that those who had married according to a Law then in force which was now only repealed for the future should be deprived for it and this was a new severity for in former times when the Popes were most set against the Marriage of the Clergy it was put to their option whether they would part with their Wives or with their Benefices but none were summarily deprived as was now done The other Bishops without any form of Process or special matter objected to them were turned out by an Act of meer Arbitrary Government And all this was done by vertue of the Queens being Head of the Church which though she condemned as a sinful and sacrilegious power yet she now imployed it against those Bishops whose Sees were quickly filled with Men in whom the Queen confided Goodrick died this Year It seems he complied with the change now made otherwise he that put the Seal to Lady Jane's Patents could not have escaped the being questioned for it He was an ambitious Man and so no wonder if earthly considerations prevailed more with him than a good Conscience Scory that was Bishop of Chichester renounced his Wife and did Penance for his Marriage but soon after he fled beyond Sea and returned in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign so that his Compliance was the effect of his weakness and fears Barlow resigned Bath and Wells and a Book of recantation was published in his name containing severe reflections both on the Reformers and on the Reformation it self but it is not certain whether it was writ by him or was only a forgery put out in his Name for if he turned so heartily as the strain of that Book runs it is not likely that he would have been put from his Bishoprick but he fled beyond Sea yet it seems both Scory and he gave great offence by their behaviour for though they were the only surviving Reformed Bishops when Queen Elizabeth succeeded yet they were so far from being promoted that they were not so much as restored to their former Sees but put in meaner ones By all these deprivations and resignations there were sixteen new Bishops made which made no small change in the face of the English Church Now the Old Service was every where set up in which Bonner made such hast that before the Royal Assent was given to the Bill for it he began the Old Service and Processions The first opening of it was somewhat strange for it being on Saint Katherine's day the Quiristers went up to the Steeple and sung the Anthem there according to the Custom for that Day Great numbers of the Clergy were summarily deprived for being Married they were estimated by Parker to be 12000. and most of them were judged upon common fame without any Process but a Citation and many being then in Prison yet were Censured and put out for Contumacy and held guilty Many Books were written against the Marriage of the Clergy and the accusing them of Impurity and sensuality on that account was one of the chief Topicks used by the Popish Clergy to disgrace the Reformers which made some recriminate too indecently and lay open the filthiness of the Unmarried Clergy and those that were called Religious who led most irregular lives in particular it was said Bonner had no reason to be a friend to that state for he was the Bastard of a Bastard and his Father though a Priest begat him in Adultery On the 2d of April a Parliament met A new Parliament but the most considerable Members were before-hand corrupted by Gardiner who gave them Pensions some 200. and others 100 l. a Year for their Voices The first Act that past was declaratory that all the Prerogatives and Limitations which by Law belonged to the Kings of England were the same whether the Crown fell into the hands of a Male or a Female The secret of this was little known some were afraid there was an ill design in it and that it being declared that she had all the authority which any of her Progenitors ever had it might be inferred from thence that she might pretend to a right of Conquest A proposition to make the Queen absolute and so seize on the Estates of the English as William the Conqueror had done But it was so conceived that the Queen was put under the fame limitations as well as acknowledged to have the same Prerogatives with her Progenitors The secret of this was afterwards discovered A projecting Man that had served Cromwell and loved to meddle much had been deeply engaged both in Lady Jane's business and in the late Insurrection and was now in danger of his life so he made application to the Emperour's Ambassadour and by his means obtained his Pardon He offered a Project that the Queen should declare that she succeeded to the Crown by the Common-Law but was not tied by the Statute-Law which did only bind Kings and therefore a Queen was not obliged by it thus she might pretend to be a Conqueror and rule at pleasure and by this means might restore both Religion and the Abbey-Lands and be under no restraint This the Ambassadour brought to the Queen and prayed her to keep it very secret But she disliked it yet she sent for Gardiner and charged him to give her his Opinion of it sincerely as he would answer to God for it at the Great Day He read it carefully and told her it was a most pernicious contrivance and beg'd her not to listen to such Plat-forms which might be brought her by base Sycophants Upon that she burnt the Paper and charged the Ambassadour not to bring her any more such Projects This gave Gardiner great apprehensions of the mischiefs that Spanish Counsels might bring on the Nation and so he procured the Act to be made by which the Queen was bound by the Law as much as her Ancestors were He also got an Act to be past ratifying the Articles of the Marriage with strong clauses for keeping the Government entirely in the Queen's hands that so Philip might not take it on him as Henry the VII had done when he married the Heir of the House of York for as he set up a Title in his own Name and kept the Government in his own hands so the Spaniards began to reckon a descent from John of Gaunt which made Gardiner the more cautious and it must be confessed that the preserving the Nation out of the hands of the Spaniards was almost only owing to his care and wisdom The Bishoprick of Durham was again restored after a vigorous resistance made by those of Gateside near Newcastle The Attainders of the Duke of Suffolk and Fifty-eight more for the late Rebellion were confirmed The Commons sent up four several Bills
against Lollard's one confirming the Act of the six Articles and others against Erroneous Opinions but they were all laid aside by the Lords for the corrupted Members in the lower House were officious to shew their Zeal for Spain and Popery Another Bill was sent up by them that the Bishop of Rome should have no authority to trouble any for possessing Abbey Lands But it was said this was preposterous to begin with a limitation of the Pope's authority before they had acknowledged that he had any power at all in England and that would come in more properly after they had reconciled the Nation to him During this Parliament New disputations at Oxford with Cranmer the Convocation sat and that they might remove the objections that some made to the Disputations at their last meeting that the ablest Men of the Reformers were kept in Prison while that cause was debated they sent a Committee of their ablest men to Oxford to dispute with Cranmer Ridley and Latimer who were also sent thither The Points to be disputed about were Transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the Mass When Cranmer was brought before them and they exhorted him to return to the unity of the Church he answered that he was always for that Unity which could consist with truth They fell into a long dispute concerning the words of the Institution that they must be true for Christ was Truth and was then making his Testament many Passages of the Fathers were also alledged against him it was said that he had translated many things falsly out of the Fathers in his Book and the Prolocutor called him often an Vnlearned and Impudent Man But he carried himself with that gravity and mildness that many were observ'd to be much affected at it and to weep he vindicated his sincerity in his Book he shewed that Figurative speeches were true and when the Figures were clearly understood they were likewise plain he said the Sacrament was effectually and really Christs Body as it was broken on the Cross that is his Passion effectually applied to us The whole action was carried with such hissing and insulting and ended with such shouts of Triumph as if Cranmer had been quite baffled that it was visible there was nothing intended but to abuse the ignorant People and make them believe he was run down Ridley was brought out next day he began with deep Protestations of his sincerity and that he had changed the Opinion he had been bred up in meerly upon the force of Truth he argued from the Scriptures that speak of Christs leaving the World and sitting at the right hand of God and that the Sacrament was a Memorial which good and bad might equally receive that it was against the Humane Nature to swallow down a living Man that this Opinion was contrary to the humanity of Christ and was a new Doctrin unknown to the Fathers and brought into the Church in the later Ages Smith argued against him from Christ's appearing to Saint Stephen and to Saint Paul that he might be in more places at once Ridley said Christ might either come down and appear to them or a Representation might be made of him but he could not be both in Heaven and Earth at once Many of Chrysostome's expressions were alledged but he said these were Rhetorical figures and to be explained by other plainer passages The dispute was carried on with the same Insultings that had been used the Day before and in conclusion Weston the Prolocutor said they saw the Obstinacy Vain-glory and Inconstancy of that Man but they saw likewise the force of Truth so he bid them cry out with him Truth has the Victory upon which that was ecchoed over and over again by the whole Assembly Latimer was brought out next Day he told them he was Fourscore Years old and not fit for disputing so he would declare his Opinion and then leave them to say what they pleased He thought the Sacrament was only a Memorial of Christ all who fed on Christ had Eternal life and therefore that feeding could not be meant of the Sacrament since both good and bad received it he said his Memory was much impaired but his Faith was founded on the Word of God so though he could not dispute well yet his Faith was firmly rooted Upon this there were extraordinary shouts raised and during the whole Debates the noise and disorder was such that it lookt liker a Countrey Game than a Dispute among Divines four or five spoke oft at once so that it was not possible to hear what they said much less to answer it The Committee of Convocation condemned them all as obstinate Hereticks and declared them to be no Members of the Church They appealed from their Sentence to the Judgment of God and expressed great joy in the hopes they had they should glorifie God by dying for his Truth Cranmer sent a Petition to the Council complaining of the disorder of these Disputes and of hudling them up in such hast that it was visible nothing was intended by them but to shuffle up things so that the World might be more easily abused with the name of a Disputation But this was not delivered for it was intended to keep up this boasting that the Champions of the Reformation were publickly baffled It was also resolved to carry some of the Prisoners that were in London to Cambridge and there to erect new Trophies in the same manner they had done at Oxford Upon this three of the imprisoned Bishops and seven Divines signed a Paper by which they declared that they would engage in no dispute except it were in Writing unless it were in the presence of the Queen or the Council or before either of the Houses of Parliament It was visible the design of disputing was not to find out the Truth otherwise it had been done before these Points had been so positively determined but now there was no benefit to be expected by it nor could they look for fair dealing where their Enemies were to be their Judges nor would they suffer them to speak their minds freely and after so long an Imprisonment their Books and Papers being kept from them they could not be furnished to answer many things that might be objected to them Then they added a short account of their Perswasions in the chief points of Controversie which they would be ready to defend on fair and equal terms and concluded with a charge to all People not to Rebel against the Queen but to obey all her Commands that were not contrary to the Law of God In July The Pr. of Spain lands and marries the Queen Prince Philip landed at Southampton when he set foot to Land he drew his Sword and carried it a little way naked in his hand This was interpreted as a sign that he intended to rule by the Sword but his friends said it imported that he would draw his Sword for the defence of the Nation The Mayor of