years together for before two years elapsed there was a War proclaimed against France and when overtures were made for a Peace it appears by the Treaty-Rolls that the Earl of Worcester was sent over Ambassador And when the Kings sister was sent over to Lewis the French King though Sir Thomas Boleyn went over with her he was not then so much considered as to be made an Ambassador For in the Commission that was given to many persons of Quality to deliver her to her Husband King Lewis the 12 Sir Thomas Boleyn is not named The persons in the Commission are the Duke of Norfolk the Marquess of Dorchester the Bishop of Duresm the Earls of Surrey and Worcester the Prior of St. Iohns and Doctor West Dean of Windsor A year after that Sir Thomas Boleyn was made Ambassador but then it was too late for Anne Boleyn to be yet unborn much less could it be as Sanders says that she was born two years after it But the Learned Camden whose Study and Profession led him to a more particular knowledg of these things gives us another account of her birth He says that she was born in the year 1507. which was two years before the King came to the Crown And if it be suggested that then the Prince to enjoy her Mother prevailed with his Father to send her Husband beyond Sea that must be done when the Prince himself was not 14 years of Age so they must make him to have corrupted other mens wives at that Age when yet they will not allow his Brother no not when he was 2 years older to have known his own wife But now I leave this foul Fiction and go to deliver certain Truths· Anne Boleyn's Mother was Daughter to the Duke of Norfolk and Sister to the Duke that was at the time of the Divorce Lord Treasurer Her Fathers Mother was one of the Daughters and heirs to the Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond and her great Grand-Father Sir Geofry Boleyn who had been Lord Major of London Married one of the Daughters and Heirs of the Lord Hastings and their Family as they had mixed with so much great Blood so had Married their Daughters to very Noble Families She being but seven years old was carried over to France with the Kings Sister which shews she could have none of those deformities in her person since such are not brought into the Courts and Families of Queens And though upon the French Kings Death the Queen Dowager came soon back to England yet she was so liked in the French Court that the next King Francis his Queen kept her about her self for some years and after her death the Kings Sister the Dutchess of Alenson kept her in her Court all the while she was in France which as it shews there was somewhat extraordinary in her person so those Princesses being much celebrated for their vertues it is not to be imagined that any person so notoriously defamed as Sanders would represent her was entertained in their Courts When she came into England is not so clear it is said that in the year 1522. when War was made on France her Father who was then Ambassador was recalled and brought her over with him which is not improbable but if she came then she did not stay long in England for Camden says that she served Queen Claudia of France till her death which was in Iuly 1524 and after that she was taken into service by K Francis his Sister How long she continued in that service I do not find but it is probable that she returned out of France with her Father from his Embassy in the year 1527. when as Stow says he brought with him the Picture of her Mistress who was offered in Marriage to this King If she came out of France before as those Authors before-mentioned say it appears that the King had no design upon her then because he suffered her to return and when one Mistress died to take another in France but if she stayed there all this while then it is probable he had not seen her till now at last when she came out of the Princess of Alenson's service but whensoever it was that she came to the Court of England it is certain that she was much considered in it And though the Queen who had taken her to be one of her Maids of Honour had afterwards just cause to be displeased with her as her Rival yet she carried her self so that in the whole Progress of the Sute I never find the Queen her self or any of her Agents fix the least ill Character on her which would most certainly have been done had there been any just cause or good colour for it And so far was this Lady at least for some time from any thoughts of Marrying the King that she had consented to Marry the Lord Piercy the Earl of Northumberland's eldest Son whom his Father by a strange compliance with the Cardinals vanity had placed in his Court and made him one of his servants The thing is considerable and clears many things that belong to this History and the Relator of it was an Ear-witness of the Discourse upon it as himself informs us The Cardinal hearing that the Lord Piercy was making addresses to Anne Boleyn one day as he came from the Court called for him before his servants before us all says the Relator including himself and chid him for it pretending at first that it was unworthy of him to match so meanly but he justified his choice and reckoned up her birth and Quality which he said was not inferior to his own And the Cardinal insisting fiercely to make him lay down his pretensions he told him he would willingly submit to the King and him but that he had gone so far before many witnesses that he could not forsake it and knew not how to discharge his conscience and therefore he entreated the Cardinal would procure him the Kings favour in it Upon that the Cardinal in great rage said why thinkest thou that the King and I know not what we have to do in so weighty a matter yes I warrant you but I can see in thee no submission at all to the purpose and said you have matched your self with such a one as neither the King nor yet your Father will agree to it and therefore I will send for thy Father who at his coming shall either make thee break this unadvised bargain or disinherit thee for ever To which the Lord Piercy replyed That he would submit himself to him if his Conscience were discharged of the weighty burden that lay upon it and soon after his Father coming to Court he was diverted another way Had that Writer told us in what year this was done it had given a great light to direct us but by this relation we see that she was so far from thinking of the King at that time that she had
Duresm and Winchester and Thirleby and Richard Leighton Dean of York to examine the witnesses that day And the next day they received the Kings own Deposition with a long Declaration of the whole matter under Cromwels hand in a Letter to the King and the Depositions of most of the Privy Councellors of the Earl of Southampton the Lord Russel then Admiral of Sir Anthony Brown Sir Anthony Denny Doctor Chambers and Doctor Butts the Kings Physicians and of some Ladies that had talked with the Queen All which amounted to this that the King expected that the Precontract with the Marquess of Lorrain should have been more fully cleared That the King always disliked her and Marryed her full sore against his heart and since that time he had never consummated the Marriage So the substance of the whole evidence being considered it amounted to these three Particulars First That there had been a Contract between the Marquess of Lorrain and the Queen which was not sufficiently cleared for it did not yet appear whether these Espousals were made by the Parties themselves or in the words of the present tense Then it was said That the King having Marryed her against his will he had not given a pure inward and compleat consent And since a mans Act is only what is inward extorted or forced promises do not bind And Thirdly That he had never consummated the Marriage To which was added the great interest the whole Nation had in the Kings having more issue which they saw he could never have by the Queen This was furiously driven on by the Popish Party And Cranmer whether overcome with these arguments or rather with fear for he knew it was contrived to send him quickly after Cromwel consented with the rest So that the whole Convocation without one disagreeing Vote Judged the marriage null and of no force and that both the King and the Lady were free from the bond of it This was the greatest piece of Compliance that ever the King had from the Clergy For as they all knew there was nothing of weight in that praecontract so they laid down a most pernicious Precedent for invalidating all publick Treaties and Agreements since if one of the Parties being unwilling to it so that his consent were not inward he was not bound by it there was no safety among men more For no man can know whether another consents inwardly And when a man does any thing with great aversion to infer from thence that he does not inwardly consent may furnish every one with an excuse to break loose from all engagements For he may pretend he did it unwillingly and get his friends to declare that he privately signified that to them And for that argument which was taken from the want of Consummation they had forgotten what was pleaded on the Kings behalf 10 years before That consent without Consummation made a Marriage compleat by which they concluded that though Prince Arthur had not Consummated his Marriage with Queen Katherine yet his consent did so complete it that the King could not afterwards lawfully marry her But as the King was resolved on any terms to be rid of this Queen so the Clergy were also resolved not to incur his displeasure In which they rather sought for reasons to give some colour to their Sentence than past their judgment upon the strength of them This only can be said for their excuse that these were as just and weighty reasons as used to be admitted by the Court of Rome for a Divorce and most of them being Canonists and knowing how many Precedents there were to be found for such Divorces they thought they might do it as well as the Popes had formerly done On the 9th of Iuly Sentence was given Which was signed by both Houses of Convocation and had the two Arch-bishops Seals put to it of which whole Tryal the Record does yet remain having escaped the Fate of the other Books of Convocation The Original depositions are also yet extant Only I shall add here a reflection upon Cromwels misfortune which may justly abate the loftiness of haughty men The day after he was attainted being required to send to the King a full account under his hand of the business of his Marriage which Account he sent as will be found in the Collection he Concludes it with these abject words I a most woful Prisoner ready to take the death when it shall please God and your Majesty and yet the frail flesh inciteth me continually to call to your Grace for Mercy and Grace for mine offences And thus Christ save preserve and keep you Written at the Tower this Wednesday the last of Iune with the heavy heart and trembling hand of your Highness most heavy and most miserable Prisoner and poor slave Thomas Cromwel And a little below that Most Gracious Prince I cry for Mercy Mercy Mercy On the 10th of Iuly the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury reported to the House of Lords That the Convocation had judged the Marriage Null both by the Law of God and the Law of the Land The Bishop of Winchester delivered the Judgment in Writing which being read he enlarged on all the reasons of it This satisfied the Lords and they sent down Cranmer and him to the Commons to give them the same account Next day the King sent the Lord Chancellor the Duke of Norfolk the Earl of Southampton and the Bishop of Winchester to let the Queen know what was done who was not at all troubled at it and seemed not ill pleased They told her that the King would by Letters Patents Declare her his Adopted Sister and give her precedence before all the Ladies of England next his Queen and Daughters and assign her an Estate of 3000 lib. a year and that she had her choice either to live in England or to return home again She accepted the offer and under her hand declared her consent and approbation of the Sentence and chose to live still in England where she was in great honour rather than return under that disgrace to her own Countrey She was also desired to write to her Brother and let him know that she approved of what was done in her matter and that the King used her as a Father or a Brother and therefore to desire him and her other friends not to take this matter ill or lessen their friendship to the King She had no mind to do that but said it would be time enough when her Brother wrote to her to send him such an answer But it was answered That much depended on the first Impressions that are received of any matter She in conclusion said she would obey the King in every thing he desired her to do So she wrote the Letter as they desired it and the day following being the 12th of Iuly the Bill was brought into the House for annulling the Marriage which went easily through both Houses On the 16th
Hereticks in a little time Bird said doest thou marvel at that I tell thee it is no marvel for the great Master of all is an Heretick and such a one as there is not his like in the World By the same Act the Lord Hungerford was likewise Attainted The Crimes specified are that he knowing Bird to be a Traitor did entertain him in his house as his Chaplain that he ordered another of his Chaplains Sir Hugh Wood and one Doctor Maudlin to use Conjuring that they might know how long the King should live and whether he should be victorious over his Enemies or not and that these three years last past he had frequently committed the detestable sin of Sodomy with several of his Servants All these were Attainted by that Parliament The Lord Hungerford was Executed the same day with Cromwell he dyed in such disorder that some thought he was frenetick for he called often to the Executioner to dispatch him and said he was weary of Life and longed to be dead which seemed strange in a man that had so little cause to hope in his death For Powel Fetherstoun and Abell they suffered the same day with Barnes and his friends as hath been already shewn This year Sampson Bishop of Chichester and one Doctor Wilson were put in the Toâ—er upon suspition of correspondence with the Pope But upon their submission they had their pardon and liberty In the year 1541 five Priests and ten secular persons some of them being Gentlemen of Quality were raising a new Rebellion in Yorkshire which was suppressed in time and the Promoters of it being apprehended were Attainted and Executed and this occasioned the death of the Countess of Sarum after the Execution of the Sentence had been delayed almost two years The last instance of the Kings severity was in the year 1543 in which one Gardiner that was the Bishop of Winchesters kinsman and Secretary and three other Priests were tryed for denying the Kings Supremacy and soon after Executed But what special matter was laid to their charge cannot be known for the Record of their Attaindor is lost These were the proceedings of this King against those that adhered to the interests of Rome in which though there is great ground for just censure for as the Laws were rigorous so the Execution of them was raised to the highest that the Law could admit yet there is nothing in them to justifie all the clamors which that party have raised against King Henry and by which they pursue his memory to this day and are far short both in number and degrees of the cruelties of Queen Maries Reign which yet they endeavour all that is possible to extenuate or deny To Conclude we have now gone through the Reign of King Henry the 8th who is rather to be reckoned among the Great than the Good Princes He exercised so much severity on men of both perswasions that the writers of both sides have laid open his faults and taxed his cruelty But as neither of them were much obliged to him so none have taken so much care to set forth his good qualities as his Enemies have done to enlarge on his Vices I do not deny that he is to be numbered among the ill Princes yet I cannot rank him with the worst The End of the third Book and of the first Part. ADDENDA After some of the sheets of this History were wrought off I met with Manuscripts of great Authority out of which I have Collected several particulars that give a clear light to the proceedings in those times which since they came too late to my knowledg to be put in their proper places I shall here add them with refâ—râ—nces to the places to which they belong Ad Page 202. line 13. THere it is said that the Earl of Wiltshire Father to Queen Anne Boleyn was one of the Peers that Judged her In this I too Implicitly followed Doctor Heylin he seeming to write with more than ordinary care for the Vindication of that Queen and with such assurance as if he had seen the Records concerning her so that I took this upon trust from him The reason of it was that in the search I made of Attaindors I did not find the Record of her Tryal so I concluded that either it was destroyed by Order during her Daughters Reign or was accidentally lost since that time And thus having no Record to direct me I too easily followed the Printed Books in that particular But after that part of this History was wrought off I by chance met with it in another place where it was mislaid and there I discovered the error I had committed The Earl of Wiltshire was not one of her Judges these by whom she was tryed were the Duke of Suffolk the Marquis of Exceter the Earls of Arundell Oxford Northumberland Westmoreland Derby Worcester Rutland Sussex and Huntington and the Lords Audley Delaware Mountague Morley Dacres Cobham Maltravers Powis Mounteagle Clinton Sands Windsor Wentworth Burgh and Mordant in all twenty six and not twenty Eight as I reckoned them upon a Vulgar Error The Record mentions one particular concerning the Earl of Northumberland that he was taken with a sudden fit of sickness and was forced to leave the Court before the Lord Rochford was Tryed This might have been only Casual but since he was once in Love with the Queen and had designed to Marry her see Page 44 it is no wonder if so sad a change in her Condition did raise an unusual disorder in him When I had discovered the mistake I had made as I resolved to publish this free Confession of it so I set my self not without some Indignation to examine upon what Authority Doctor Heylin had led me into it I could find no Author that went before him in it but Sanders the chief design of whose writing was to defame Queen Elizabeth and to blast her Title to the Crown To that end it was no ill piece of his skill to perswade the World of her Mother lewdness to say that her own Father was convinced of it and condemned her for it And Doctor Heylin took this as he has done many other things too easily upon Sanders Testimony Ad Page 217. line 37. The Articles of Religion of which an abstract is there set down are indeed published by Fullâ—r but he saw not the Original with all the Subscriptions to it which I have had in my hands and therefore I have put it in the Collection with three other Papers which were soon after offered to the King by Cranmer The one is in the form of fifteen queries concerning some abuses by which the people had been deceived as namely by these Doctrines that without Contrition sinners may be reconciled to God that it is in the Power of the Priest to pardon or not to pardon sin at his pleasure and that Gods pardon cannot be obtained without Priestly Absolution Also he complained that the people
Clergy swore to the King and the Pope were read in the House of Commons but the Consequence of them will be better understood by setting them down The Oath to the Pope I Iohn Bishop or Abbot of A from this hour forward shall be faithful and obedient to S. Peter and to the holy Church of Rome and to my Lord the Pope and his Successors canonically entering I shall not be of counsel nor consent that they shall lose either Life or Member or shall be taken or suffer any violence or any wrong by any means Their Counsel to me credited by them their Messengers or Letters I shall not willingly discover to any person The Papacy of Rome the Rules of the holy Fathers and the Regality of S. Peter I shall help and maintain and defend against all men The Legat of the See Apostolick going and coming I shall honourably entreat The Rights Honours Privileges Authorities of the Church of Rome and of the Pope and his Successors I shall cause to be conserved defended augmented and promoted I shall not be in Council Treaty or any act in the which any thing shall be imagined against him or the Church of Rome their Rights Seats Honours or Powers And if I know any such to be moved or compassed I shall resist it to my power and as soon as I can I shall advertise him or such as may give him knowledge The Rules of the holy Fathers the Decrees Ordinances Sentences Dispositions Reservations Provisions and Commandments Apostolick to my power I shall keep and cause to be kept of others Hereticks Schismaticks and Rebels to our Holy Father and his Successors I shall resist and persecute to my power I shall come to the Synod when I am called except I be letted by a Canonical Impediment The Thresholds of the Apostles I shall visit yearly personally or by my Deputy I shall not alienate or sell my Possessions without the Popes counsel So God help me and the Holy Evangelists The Oath to the King I Iohn Bishop of A utterly renounce and clearly forsake all such Clauses Words Sentences and Grants which I have or shall have hereafter of the Popes Holiness of and for the Bishoprick of A that in any wise hath been is or hereafter may be hurtful or prejudicial to your Highness your Heirs Successors Dignity Privilege or Estate Royal. And also I do swear that I shall be faithful and true and faith and truth I shall bear to you my Sovereign Lord and to your Heirs Kings of the same of Life and Limb and yearly Worship above all Creatures for to live and die with you and yours against all people And diligently I shall be attendant to all your needs and business after my wit and power and your Counsel I shall keep and hold knowledging my self to hold my Bishoprick of you onely beseeching you of Restitution of the Temporalties of the same promising as before that I shall be a faithful true and obedient Subject to your said Highness Heirs and Successors during my Life and the Services and other things due to your Highness for the Restitution of the Temporalties of the same Bishopriâ—k I shall truly do and obediently perform So God me help and all Saints The Contradiction that was in these was so visible that it had soon produced a severe Censure from the House if the Plague had not hindered both that and the Bill of Subsidy So on the 14th of May the Parliament was prorogued Two days after Sir Thomas More Lord Chancellour having oft desired leave to deliver up the Great Seal and be discharged of his Office obtained it and Sir Thomas Audley was made Lord Chancellour More had carried that Dignity with great temper and lost it with much joy He saw now how far the Kings Designs went and though he was for cutting off all the Illegal Jurisdiction which the Popes exercised in England and therefore went cheerfully along with the Sute of Praemunire yet when he saw a tâ—tal Rupture like to follow he excused himself and retired from Business with a Greatness of Mind that was equal to what the ancient Philosophers pretended in such cases He also disliked Anne Boleyne and was prosecuted by her Father who studied to fasten some Criminal Imputations on him about the discharge of his Imployment but his Integrity had been such that nothing could be found to blemish his Reputation In September following the King created Anne Boleyne Marchioness of Pembroke to bring her by degrees up to the Heighth for which he had designed her And in October he passed the Seas and had an Enterview with the French King where all the most obliging Complements that were possible passed on both sides with great Magnificence and a firm Union was concerted about all their Affairs They published a League that they made to raise a mighty Army next year against the Turk but this was not much considered it being generally believed that the French King and the Turk were in a good Correspondence As for the matter of the Kings Divorce Francis encouraged him to go on in it and in his intended Marriage with Anne Boleyne promising if it were questioned to assist him in it And as for his appearance at Rome as it was certain he could not go thither in Person so it was not fit to trust the secrets of his Conscience to a Proxie The French King seemed also resolved to stop the payments of Annates and other Exactions of the Court of Rome and said he would send an Ambassador to the Pope to ask Redress of these and to protest that if it were not granted they would seek other remedies by Provincial Councils And since there was an interview designed between the Pope and the Emperor at Bononia in December the French King was to send two Cardinalsthither to procure Judges for ending the business in England There was also an interview proposed between the Pope and the French King at Nice or Avignon To this the King of England had some Inclinations to go for ending all differences if the Pope were well disposed to it Upon this Sir Thomas Eliot was sent to Rome with answer to a message the Pope had sent to the King from whose Instructions both the substance of the message and of the answer may be gathered The Pope had offered to the King that if he would name any indifferent place out of his own Kingdom he would send a Legate and two Auditors of the Rota thither to form the Process reserving only the Sentence to himself The Pope also proposed a Truce of three or four years and promised that in that time he would call a general Council For this message the King sent the Pope thanks but for the Peace he could receive no propositions about it without the concurrence of the French King and though he did not doubt the justice of a general Council yet considering the state of the Emperor's Affairs at that time
it there was no reason to apprehend any opposition from the Temporal Lords The Session was now near an end so they made haste and read it twice that day and the third time the next day and passed it The Contents of it were The Clergy acknowledged that all Convocations had been and ought to be assembled by the Kings Writ and promised in verbo Sacerdotii that they would never make nor execute any new Canons or Constitutions without the Royal assent to them and since many Canons had been received that were found prejudicial to the Kings Prerogative contrary to the Laws of the Land and heavy to the Subjects That therefore there should be a Committee of thirty two Persons sixteen of the two Houses of Parliament and as many of the Clergy to be named by the King who should have full power to abrogate or confirm Canons as they found it expedient the Kings assent being obtained This was confirmed by Act of Parliament and by the same Act all appeals to Rome were again condemned If any party found themselves agrieved in the Arch-Bishops Courts an appeal might be made to the King in the Court of Chancery and the Lord-Chancellor was to grant a Commission under the Great-Seal for some Delegates in whose determination all must acquiesce All exempted Abbots were also to appeal to the King and it concluded with a Proviso that till such Correction of the Canons was made all those which were then received should still remain in force except such as were contrary to the Laws and Customs of the Realms or were to the damage or hurt of the Kings Prerogative This Proviso seemed to have a fair colour that there might still be some Canons in force to govern the Church by but since there was no day prefixed to the Determination of the Commission this Proviso made that the Act never took effect for now it lay in the Prerogative and in the Judges breast to declare what Canons were contrary to the Laws or the Rights of the Crown and it was judged more for the Kings Greatness to keep the matter undetermined than to make such a Collection of Ecclesiastical Laws as should be fixed and unmoveable The last of the publick Acts of this Session that related to the Church was about the Election and Consecration of Bishops On the 4th of February the Commons sent up a Bill to the Lords about the Consecration of Bishops it lay on the Table till the 27th of February and was then cast out and a new one drawn On what reason it was cast out is not mentioned and the Journal does not so much as say that it was once read The new Bill had its second reading the 3d of March and on the 5th it was ordered to be Engross'd and on the 9th it was read the third time and agreed to and sent down to the Commons who returned it to the Lords on the 16th of March. The first part of it is a confirmation of their former Act against Annates to which they added that Bishops should not be any more presented to the Bishop of Rome or sue out any Bulls there but that all Bishops should be presented to the Arch-Bishop and Arch-Bishops to any Arch-Bishop in the Kings Dominions or to any four Bishops whom the King should name and that when any See was vacant the King was to grant a Licence for a new Election with a Letter missive bearing the name of the Person that was to be chosen and twelve days after these were delivered an Election was to be returned by the Dean and Chapter or Prior and Convent under their Seals Then the Person Elected was to swear Fealty to the King upon which a Commission was to be issued out for Consecrating and Investing him with the usual Ceremonies after which he was to do Homage to the King and be restored both to the Spiritualities and Temporalities of his See for which the King granted Commissions during the vacancy and whosoever refused to obey the Contents of the Act or acted contrary to it were declared within the Statute of Premunire There passed a private Act for depriving the Bishops of Salisbury and Worcester who were Cardinal Campegio and Ierome de Ghinuccii the former deserved greatter severities at the Kings hand but the latter seems to have served him faithfully and was recommended both by the King and the French King about a year before to a Cardinals Hat The Preamble of the Act bears that persons promoted to Ecclesiastical Benefices ought to reside within the Kingdom for preaching the Laws of Almighty God and for keeping Hospitality and since these Prelates did not that but lived at the Court of Rome and neglected their Diocesses and made the Revenues of them be carried out of the Kingdoms contrary to the intentions of the Founders and to the prejudice of the Realm 3000 l. being at least carried yearly out of the Kingdom therefore their Diocesses were declared vacant But now I come to the Act of the Attainder of Elizabeth Barton and her Complices which I shall open fully since it was the first step that was made to Rebellion and the first occasion of putting any to death upon this quarrel and from it one will clearly see the Genius of that part of the Clergy that adhered to the Interests of the Court of Rome On the 21th of February the Bill was sent up to the Lords and read the first time on the 26th it was read the second time and committed then the Witnesses and other Evidences were brought before them but chiefly she with all her Complices who confessed the Crimes charged on her It was reported and read the 6th of March the third time and then the Lords addressed to the King to know his pleasure whether Sir Thomas More and others mentioned in the Act as Complices or at least Concealers might not be heard to speak for themselves in the Star-Chamber As for the Bishop of Rochester he was sick but he had written to the House all that he had to say for his own excuse What presumptions lay against Sir Thomas More I have not been able to find out only that he wrote a Letter to the Nun at which the King took great exceptions yet it appears he had a mean opinion of her for in discourse with his beloved Daughter Mistress Roper he called her commonly the silly Nun. But for justifying himself he wrote a full account of all the entercourse he had with the Nun and her Complices to Cromwell but tho by his other printed Letters both to Cromwell and the King it seems some ill impressions remained in the Kings mind about it he still continued to justifie not only his intentions but his actions in that particular One thing is not unworthy of observation that Rastall who published his Works in Queen Maries time printed the second Letter he wrote to Cromwell yet did not publish that account which
Relicks without number were every-where discovered and most wonderful relations of the Martyrdome and other miracles of the Saints were made and read in all places to the people and new Improvements were daily made in a Trade that through the craft of the Monks and the simplicity of the people brought in great advantages And though there was enough got to enrich them all yet there was strange rivalling not only among the several Orders but the Houses of the same Order The Monks especially of Glassenbury St. Albans and St. Edmundsbury vied one with another who could tell the most extravagant stories for the honour of their House and of the Relicks in it The Monks in these Houses abounding in wealth and living at â—ase and in idleness did so degenerate that from the Twelfth Century downward their reputation abated much and the Priviledges of Sanctuaries were a general Grievance and oft complained of in Parliaments For they received all that fled to them which put a great stop to Justice and did encourage the most criminal offenders They became lewd and dissolute and so impudent in it that some of their farms were let for bringing in a yearly tribute to their Lusts nor did they keep Hospitality and relieve the poor but rather encouraged Vagabonds and Beggars against whom Laws were made both in Edward the 3d King Henry the 7th and this Kings Reign But from the Twelfth Century the Orders of Begging Friers were set up and they by the appearance of Severity and Mortification gained great esteem At first they would have nothing no real estates but the ground on which their House stood But afterwards distinctions were found for satisfying their Consciences in larger Possessions They were not so idle and lazy as the Monks but went about and Preached and heard Confessions and carryed about Indulgences with many other pretty little things Del's Rosaries and Pebles which they made the World believe had great vertue in them And they had the esteem of the people wholly engrossed to themselves They were also more formidable to Princes than the Monks because they were poorer and by consequence more hardy and bold There was also a firmer union of their whole Order they having a General at Rome and being divided into many Provinces subject to their Provincials They had likewise the Schooll-Learning wholly in their hands and were great Preachers so that many things concurred to raise their esteem with the people very high yet great Complaints lay against them for they went more abroad than the Monks did and were believed guilty of Corrupting Families The Scandals that went on them upon their relaxing the primitive strictness of their Orders were a little rectified by some Reformations of these Orders But that lasted not long for they became liable to much Censure and many visitations had been made but to little purpose This Concurring with their secret practices against the King both in the matter of his Divorce and Supremacy made him more willing to examine the truth of these reports that if they were found guilty of such scandals they might lose their credit with the people and occasions be ministred to the King to justifie the Suppression of them There were also two other Motives that enclined the King to this Counsel The one was that he apprehended a War from the Emperor who was then the only Prince in the World that had any considerable force at Sea having both great Fleets in the Indies and being Prince of the Netherlands where the greatest trade of these parts was driven Therefore the King judged it necessary to fortifie his Ports and seeing the great advantages of Trade which began then to rise much was resolved to encourage it For which end he intended to build many Havens and Harbors This was a matter of great charge and as his own revenue could not defray it so he had no mind to lay heavie Taxes on his Subjects therefore the Suppression of Monasteries was thought the easiest way of raising Money He also intended to erect many more Bishopricks to which Cranmer advised him much that the vastness of some Diocesses being reduced to a narrower compass Bishops might better discharge their duties and oversee their Flocks according to the Scriptures and the Primitive Rules But Cranmer did on another reason press the Suppression of Monasteries He found that their Foundations and whole State was inconsistent with a full and true Reformation For among the things to be reform'd were these Abuses which were essential to their Constitution such as the Belief of Purgatory of Redeeming Souls by Masses the worship of Saints and Images and Pilgrimages and the like And therefore those Societies whose interest it was to oppose the Reformation were once to be suppressed and then he hoped upon new Endowments and Foundations new Houses should have been erected at every Cathedral to be Nurseries for that whole Diocess which he thought would be more suitable to the primitive use of Monasteries and more profitable to the Church This was his Scheme as will afterwards appear which was in some measure effected though not so fully as he projected for Reasons to be told in their proper place There had been a Bull sent from Rome for dissolving some Monasteries and Erecting Bishopricks out of them as was related in the former Book in the year 1532. And it seems it was upon that Authority that in the year 1533. the Priory of Christs Church near Algate in London was dissolved and given to the Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas Audley not to make him speak shriller for his Master in the House of Commons as Fuller mistakes it for he had been Lord Chancellor a year before this was given him The Popes Authority not being at that time put down nor the Kings Supremacy set up I conjecture it was done pursuant to the Bull for the Dissolution of some Religious Houses but I never saw the Dissolution and so can only guess on what ground it was made But in the Parliament held the former year in which the Kings Grant of that House to the Lord Chancellor was confirmed it is said in the Preamble That the Prior and Convent had resigned that House to the King the 24th of February 23d Regni and had left their House but no mention is made upon what Reason they did it But now I come to Consider how the Visitors carryed on their Visitations Many severe things are said of their Proceedings nor is it any wonder that men who had traded so long in lies as the Monks had done should load those whom they esteemed the Instruments of their Ruin with many Calumnies By their Letters to Cromwell it appears that in most Houses they found Monstrous disorders That many fell down on their knees and prayed they might be discharged since they had been forced to make vows against their wills with these the Visitors dispensed and set them at liberty They found great
and his Gospel so if she be proved culpable there is not one that loveth God and his Gospel that ever will favour her but must hate her above all other and the more they favour the Gospel the more they will hate her For then there was never creature in our time that so much slandered the Gospel And God hath sent her this punishment for that she feignedly hath professed his Gospel in her mouth and not in heart and deed And though she have offended so that she hath deserved never to be reconciled unto your Graces favour yet Almighty God hath manifoldly declared his goodness towards your Grace and never offended you But your Grace I am sure knowledgeth that you haue offended him Wherefore I trust that your Grace will bear no less entire favour unto the truth of the Gospel than you did before Forsomuch as your Graces favour to the Gospel was not led by affection unto her but by zeal unto the truth And thus I beseech Almighty God whose Gospel he hath ordained your Grace to be Defender of ever to preserve your Grace from all evil and give you at the end the promise of his Gospel From Lanbeth the 3d day of May. After I had written this Letter unto your Grace my Lord Chancellor my Lord of Oxford my Lord of Sussex and my Lord Chamberlain of your Graces House sent for me to come unto the Star-Chamber and there declared unto me such things as your Graces pleasure was they should make me privie unto For the which I am most bounden unto your Grace And what Communication we had together I doubt not but they will make the true report thereof unto your Grace I am exceedingly sorry that such faults can be proved by the Queen as I heard of their relation But I am and ever shall be Your faithful Subject Your Graces most humble Subject and Chaplain T. Cantuariensis But Jealousie and the Kings new affection had quite defaced all the remainders of esteem for his late beloved Queen Yet the Ministers continued practising to get further evidence for the Tryal which was not brought on till the 12th of May and then Norris Weston Brereton and Smeton were tryed by a Commission of Oyer and Terminer in Westminster-Hall They were twice indicted and the indictments were found by two Grand Juries in the Counties of Kent and Middlesex The Crimes with which they were charged being said to be done in both these Counties Mark Smeton confessed he had known the Queen Carnally Three times The other Three pleaded not Guilty but the Jury upon the evidence formerly mentioned found them all Guilty and Judgment was given that they should be drawn to the place of Execution and some of them to be hanged others to be beheaded and all to be quartered as Guilty of high Treason On the 15th of May the Queen and her Brother the Lord Rochford who was a Peer having been made a Viscount when his Father was Created Earl of Wiltshire were brought to be Tryed by their Peers The Duke of Norfolk being Lord high Steward for that occasion With him sate the Duke of Suffolk the Marquess of Exeter the Earl of Arundel and Twenty Five more Peers of whom their Father the Earl of Wiltshire was one Whether this unnatural complyance was imposed on him by the Imperious King or officiously submitted to by himself that he might thereby be preserved from the Ruin that fell on his Family is not known Here the Queen of England by an unheard-of president was brought to the Bar and Indicted of high Treason The Crimes charged on her were that she had procured her Brother and the other Four to lye with her which they had done often that she had said to them that the King never had her heart and had said to every one of them by themselves that she loved them better than any person whatsoever Which was to the slander of the issue that was begotten between the King and her And this was Treason according to the Statute made in the 26th year of this Reign so that the Law that was made for her and the issue of her Marriage is now made use of to destroy her It was also added in the Indictment that she and her complices had conspired the Kings death but this it seems was only put in to swell the charge for if there had been any evidence for it there was no need of stretching the other Statute or if they could have proved the violating of the Queen the known Statute of the Twenty Fifth year of the Reign of Edward the Third had been sufficient When the Indictment was read she held up her hand and Pleaded not Guilty and so did her Brother and did answer the evidence was brought against her discreetly One thing is remarkable that Mark Smeton who was the only person that confessed any thing was never confronted with the Queen nor was kept to be an evidence against her for he had received his Sentence Three dayes before and so could be no witness in Law but perhaps though he was wrought on to confess yet they did not think he had confidence enough to aver it to the Queens face therefore the evidence they brought as Spelman says was the Oath of a Woman that was dead yet this or rather the Terror of offending the King so wrought on the Lords that they found her and her Brother Guilty and Judgment was given that she should be Burnt or Beheaded at the Kings pleasure Upon which Spelman observes that whereas Burning is the death which the Law appoints for a Woman that is attainted of Treason yet since she had been Queen of England they left it to the King to determine whether she should dye so infamous a death or be Beheaded but the Judges complained of this way of proceeding and said such a disjunctive in a Judgment of Treason had never been seen The Lord Rochford was also Condemned to be Beheaded and Quartered Yet all this did not satisfie the enraged King but the Marriage between him and her must be annulled and the issue illegitimated The King remembred an Intrigue that had been between her and the Earl of Northumberland which was mentioned in the former Book and that the then Lord Piercy had said to the Cardinal ' That he had gone so far before witnesses that it lay upon his Conscience so that he could not go back this it 's like might be some promise he made to Marry her per verba de futuro which though it was no Precontract in it self yet it seems the poor Queen was either so ignorant or so ill-advised as to be perswaded afterwards it was one though it 's certain that nothing but a Contract per verba de praesenti could be of any force to annul the subsequent Marriage The King and his Council reflecting upon what it seems the Cardinal had told him resolved to try what could be made of it and pressed the Earl of
Northumberland to confess a Contract between him and her But he took his Oath before the Two Arch-Bishops that there was no Contract nor promise of Marriage ever between them and received the Sacrament upon it before the Duke of Norfolk and others of the Kings Privy Council wishing it might be to his Damnation if there was any such thing concerning which I have seen the Original Declaration under his own hand Nor could they draw any Confession from the Queen before the Sentence for certainly if they could have done that the Divorce had gone before the Tryal and then she must have been tryed only as Marchioness of Pembroke But now she lying under so terrible a Sentence it is most probable that either some hopes of Life were given her or at least she was wrought on by the Assurances of mitigating that cruel part of her judgment of being Burnt into the milder part of the Sentence of Having her head cut off so that she confessed a Pre-contract and on the 17th of May was brought to Lambeth and in Court the afflicted Arch-Bishop sitting Judge some persons of Quality being present she confessed some just and lawful impediments by which it was evident that her Marriage with the King was not valid Upon which Confession the Marriage between the King and her was judged to have been null and void The Record of the Sentence is burnt but these particulars are repeated in the Act that passed in the next Parliament touching the Succession to the Crown It seems this was secretly done for Spelman writes of it thus It was said there was a Divorce made between the King and her upon her confessing a Precontract with another before her Marriage with the King so then it was then only talkt of but not generally known The two Sentences that were past upon the Queen the one of Attaindor for Adultery the other of Divorce because of a Precontract did so contradict one another that it was apparent one if not both of them must be unjust for if the Marriage between the King and her was null from the beginning then since she was not the Kings wedded Wife there could be no Adultery and her Marriage to the King was either a true Marriage or not if it was true then the annulling of it was unjust and if it was no true Marriage then the Attainder was unjust for there could be no breach of that Faith which was never 〈…〉 So that it is plain the King was resolved to be rid of her and 〈…〉 her Daughter and in that transport of his fury did not 〈◊〉 that the very method he took discovered the unjustice of his â—â—â—â—eedings against her Two days after this she was ordered to be Executed in the Green on Tower-Hill How she received these tidings and how stedfast she continued in the protestations of her Innocence will best appear by the following circumstances The day before she suffered upon a strict search of her past Life she called to mind that she had played the Step-Mother too severely to Lady Mary and had done her many injuries Upon which she made the Lieutenant of the Tower's Lady sit down in the Chair of State which the other after some Ceremony doing she fell down on her knees and with many tears charged the Lady as she would answer it to God to go in her name and do as she had done to the Lady Mary and ask her forgiveness for the wrongs she had done her And she said she had no quiet in her Conscience till she had done that But though she did in this what became a Christian the Lady Mary could not so easily pardon these injuries but retained the resentments of them her whole life This ingenuity and tenderness of Conscience about lesser matters is a great presumption that if she had been guilty of more eminent faults she had not continued to the last denying them and making protestations of her Innocency For that same night she sent her last message to the King and acknowledged her self much obliged to him that had continued still to advance her She said he had from a private Gentlewoman first made her a Marchioness and then a Queen and now since he could raise her no higher was sending her to be a Saint in Heaven She protested her Innocence and recommended her Daughter to his care And her carriage that day she died will appear from the following Letter writ by the Lieutenant of the Tower copied from the Original which I insert because the Copier imployed by the Lord Herbert has not writ it out faithfully for I cannot think that any part of it was left out on design Sir These shall be to advertise you I have received your Letter wherein you would have strangers conveyed out of the Tower and so they be by the means of Richard Gressum and William Cooke and Wytspoll But the number of strangers past not thirty and not many of those and the Ambassador of the Emperor had a Servant there and honestly put out Sir If we have not an hour certain as it may be known in London I think here will be but few and I think a reasonable number were best for I suppose she will declare her self to be a good woman for all men but for the King at the hour of her death For this morning she sent for me that I might be with her at such time as she received the Good Lord to the intent I should hear her speak as touching her Innocency alway to be clear And in the writing of this she sent for me and at my coming she said Mr. Kingston I hear say I shall not die aforenoon and I am very sorry therefore for I thought to be dead by this time and past my pain I told her it should be no pain it was so sottel And then she said I heard say the Executioner was very good and I have a little Neck ANNA BVLLEN REGINA ANGLIAE ELIZABETHAE REGINAE MATER Nata Ano. 1507 Nupsit An o 1532 Nov 14 Elix Filian peperit An o 1533 Sept. 7 Capite plexa Ano. 1536 May 19. Printed for Rich Chiswell at the Rose and Crown in St. Pauls Church yard and put her hands about it laughing heartily I have seen many men and also women Executed and that they have been in great sorrow and to my knowledge this Lady has much joy and pleasure in death Sir her Almoner is continually with her and had been since two a Clock after midnight This is the effect of any thing that is here at this time and thus Fare you well Yours William Kingston A little before Noon being the 19th of May she was brought to the Scaffold where she made a short Speech to a great company that came to look on the last Scene of this fatal Tragedy The chief of whom were the Dukes of Suffolk and Richmond the Lord Chancellor and Secretary Cromwell with the Lord Mayor the Sheriffs
the North. Therefore he resolved first to quiet Lincolnshire And as he had raised a great force about London with which he was marching in person against them so he sent a new Proclamation Requiring them to return to their obedience with secret assurances of mercy By these means they were melted away Those who had been carryed in the Stream submitted to the Kings mercy and promised all obedience for the future Others that were obstinate and knew themselves unpardonable fled Northward and joyned themselves to the Rebels there Some of their other Leaders were apprehended in particular the Cobler and were Executed But for the Northern Rebellion as the parties concerned being at a greater distance from the Court had larger opportunities to gather themselves into a huge Body so the whole Contrivance of it was better laid One Ask Commanded in chief He was a Gentleman of an ordinary condition but understood well how to draw on and Govern a Multitude Their march was called the Pilgrimage of Grace And to inveigle the people some Priests marched before them with Crosses in their hands In their Banners they had a Crucifix with the Five wounds and a Chalice and every one wore on his sleeve as the badge of the Party an Emblem of the Five wounds of Christ with the name Iesus wrought in the midst All that joyned to them took an Oath That they entered into this Pilgrimage of Grace for the love of God the preservation of the Kings person and issue the purifying the Nobility and driving away all base born and ill Counsellors and for no particular profit of their own nor to do displeasure to any nor to kill any for envy but to take before them the Cross of Christ his Faith the Restitution of the Church and the Suppression of Hereticks and their opinions These were specious pretences and very apt to work upon a giddy and discontented multitude So people flocked about their Crosses and Standards in great numbers and they grew to be 40000 strong They went over the Countrey without any great opposition The Arch-Bishop of York and the Lord Darcy were in Pomfret Castle which they yielded to them and were made to swear their Covenant They were both suspected of being secret Promoters of the Rebellion the latter suffered for it but how the former excused himself I cannot give any account They also took York and Hull but though they summoned the Castle of Skipton yet the Earl of Cumberland who would not degenerate from his Noble Ancestors held it out against all their force and though many of the Gentlemen whom he had entertained at his own cost deserted him yet he made a brave resistance Scarborough Castle was also long besieged but there Sir Ralph Evers that Commanded it gave an un-exampled instance of his fidelity and courage for though his provisions fell short so that for twenty days he and his men had nothing but bread and water yet they stood out till they were relieved This Rising in Yorkshire encouraged those of Lancashire the Bishoprick of Duresm and Westmoreland to Arm. Against these the Earl of Shrewsbury that he might not fall short of the Gallantry and Loyalty of his renownd Ancestors made head though he had no Commission from the King But he knew his zeal and fidelity would easily procure him a pardon which he modestly asked for the service he had done The King sent him not only that but a Commission to command in chief all his forces in the North. To his Assistance he ordered the Earl of Derby to march and sent Courtney Marquess of Exeter and the Earls of Huntington and Rutland to joyn him He also ordered the Duke of Suffolk with the force that he had led into Lincolnshire to lye still there lest they being but newly quieted should break out again and fall upon his Armies behind when the Yorkshire men met them before On the 20th of October he sent the Duke of Norfolk with more forces to joyn the Earl of Shrewsbury But the Rebels were very numerous and desperate When the Duke of Norfolk understood their strength he saw great reason to proceed with much caution for if they had got the least advantage of the Kings Troops all the discontents in England would upon the report of that have broken out He saw their numbers were now such that the gaining some time was their ruin for such a great Body could not subsist long together without much provisions and that must be very hard for them to bring in So he set forward a Treaty It was both honourable for the King to offer mercy to his distracted Subjects and of great advantage to his affairs for as their numbers did every day lessen so the Kings forces were still encreasing He wrote to the King that considering the season of the year he thought the offering some fair conditions might perswade them to lay down their Arms and disperse themselves Yet when the Earl of Shrewsbury sent a Herald with a Proclamation ordering them to lay down their Arms and submit to the Kings mercy Ask received him sitting in State with the Arch-Bishop on the one hand and the Lord Darcy on the other but would not suffer any Proclamation to be made till he knew the Contents of it And when the Herauld told what they were he sent him away without suffering him to publish it And then the Priests used all their endeavours to engage the people to a firm resolution of not dispersing themselves till all matters about Religion were fully setled As they went forward they every-where repossessed the ejected Monks of their Houses and this encouraged the rest who had a great mind to be in their old Nests again They published also many stories among them of the growing burdens of the 〈◊〉 Government and made them believe that Impositions would be laid on every thing that was either bought or sold. But the King hearing how strong they were sent out a general Summons to all the Nobility to meet him at Northampton the 7th of November And the forces sent against the Rebels advanced to Doncaster to hinder them from coming further southward and took the Bridge which they fortified and laid their forces along the River to maintain that Pass The Writers of that time say that the day of Battel was agreed on but that the night before excessive Rains falling the River swelled so that it was unpassable next day and they could not force the Bridge Yet it is not likely the Earl of Shrewsbury having in all but 5000 men about him would agree to a pitched Battel with those who were Six times his number being then 30000. Therefore it is more likely that the Rebels only intended to pass the River the next day which the Rain that fell hindred But the Duke of Norfolk continued to press a Treaty which was hearkned to by the other side who were reduced to great straits for their Captain would not suffer
of some disaffected Persons For when he came to the Crown there were none that were born Noble of his Council but only the Earl of Surrey and the Earl of Shrewsbury whereas now the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk the Marquess of Exeter the Lord Steward the Earls of Oxford and Sussex and the Lord Sands were of the Privy-Council And for the Spirituality the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Bishops of Winchester Hereford and Chichester were also of it And he and his whole Council judging it necessary to have some at the board who understood the Law of England and the Treaties with Forreign Princes he had by their Unanimous advice brought in his Chancellor and the Lord Privy-Seal He thought it strange that they who were but brutes should think they could better judg who should be his Counsellors than himself and his whole Council Therefore he would bear no such thing at their hands it being inconsistent with the duty of good Subjects to meddle in such matters But if they or any of his other Subjects could bring any just complaint against any about him he was ready to hear it and if it were proved he would punish it according to Law As for the complaints against some of the Prelates for preaching against the Faith they could know none of these things but by the report of others since they lived at such a distance that they themselves had not heard any of them preach Therefore he required them not to give credit to Lies nor be misled by those who spread such Calumnies and ill reports And he concluded all with a severe Expostulation adding that such was his love to his Subjects that imputing this Insurrection rather to their folly and lightness than to any malice or rancour he was willing to pass it over more gently as they would perceive by his Proclamation Now the people were come to themselves again and glad to get off so easily and they all chearfully accepted the Kings offers and went home again to their several dwellings Yet the Clergy were no way satisfied but continued still to practise amongst them and kept the Rebellion still on foot so that it broke out soon after The Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Shrewsbury were ordered to lie still in the Country with their Forces till all things were more fully composed They made them all come to a full submission and first to revoke all Oaths and Promises made during the Rebellion for which they asked the Kings Pardon on their knees 2ly To swear to be true to the King and his Heirs and Successors 3ly To obey and maintain all the Acts of Parliament made during the Kings Reign 4ly Not to take Arms again but by the Kings Authority 5ly To apprehend all Seditious persons 6ly To remove all the Monks Nuns and Friars whom they had placed again in the dissolved Monasteries There were also Orders given to send Ask their Captain and the Lord Darcy to Court Ask was kindly received and well used by the King He had shewed great conduct in Commanding the Rebels and it seems the King had a mind either to gain him to his service or which I suspect was the true Cause to draw from him a discovery of all those who in the other parts of the Kingdom had favoured or relieved them For he suspected not without cause that some of the great Abbots had given secret supplies of Money to the Rebels For which many of them were afterwards tryed and attainted The Lord Darcy was under great apprehensions and studied to purge himself that he was forced to a Compliance with them but pleaded that the long and important services he had done the Crown for fifty years he being then fourscore together with his great Age and Infirmity might mitigate the Kings displeasure But he was made Prisoner Whether this gave those who had been in Arms new jealousies that the Kings Pardon would not be inviolably observed or whether the Clergy had of new prevailed on them to rise in Arms I cannot determine But it broke out again though not so dangerously as before Two Gentlemen of the North Musgrave and Tilby raised a body of 8000 men and thought to have surprised Carlisle but were repulsed by those within And in their return the Duke of Norfolk fell upon them and routed them He took many prisoners and by Martial Law hanged up all their Captains and Seventy other Prisoners on the Walls of Carlisle Others at that same time thought to have surprised Hull but it was prevented and the leaders of that Party were also taken and Executed Many other Risings were in several places of the Countrey which were all soon repressed the ground of them all was that the Parliament which was promised was not called But the King said they had not kept conditions with him nor would he call a Parliament till all things were quieted But the Duke of Norfolks vigilance every-where prevented their gathering together in any great Body And after several un-succesful attempts at length the Countrey was absolutely quieted in Ianuary following And then the Duke of Norfolk proceeded according to the Martial Law against many whom he had taken Ask had also left the Court without leave and had gone amongst them but was quickly taken So he and many others were sent to several places to be made publick Examples He suffered at York others at Hull and in other Towns in Yorkshire But the Lord Darcy and the Lord Hussy were arraigned at Westminster and attainted of Treason The former for the Northern and the other for the Lincolnshire Insurrection The Lord Darcy was beheaded at Towerhill and was much lamented Every body thought that considering his Merits his Age and former services he had hard measure The Lord Hussy was beheaded at Lincoln The Lord Darcy in his Tryal accused the Duke of Norfolk that in the Treaty at Doncaster he had encouraged the Rebels to continue in their demands This the Duke denyed and desired a Tryal by Combate and gave some presumptions to shew that the Lord Darcy bore him ill-will and said this out of Malice The King either did not believe this or would not seem to believe it And the Dukes great diligence in the Suppression of these Commotions set him beyond all jealousies But after those Executions the King wrote to the Duke in Iuly next to Proclaim an absolute Amnesty over all the North which was received with great joy every body being in fear of himself and so this threatning storm was dissipated without the effusion of much blood save what the sword of justice drew At the same time the King of Scotland returning from France with his Queen and touching on the Coast of England many of the people fell down at his feet praying him to assist them and he should have all But he was it seems bound up by the French King and so went home without giving them any encouragement And thus ended
Beauty But he excused himself that he thought the thing was so far gone that it was decent to write as he had done The King lamented his condition in that Marriage and expressed great trouble both to the Lord Russel Sir Anthony Brown Sir Anthony Denny and others about him The last of those told him this was one Advantage that mean persons had over Princes That great Princes must take such Wives as are brought them whereas meaner persons go and chuse Wives for themselves But when the King saw Cromwel he gave his grief a freer vent to him He finding the King so much Troubled would have cast the chief blame on the Earl of Southampton for whom he had no great kindness And said when he found her so far short of what reports and Pictures had made her he should have stayed her at Callice till he had given the King notice of it But the Earls Commission being only to bring her over he said It had been too great a presumption in him to have interposed in such a manner And the King was convinced he was in the right So now all they had to insist on was the clearing of that Contract that had passed between her and the Marquess of Lorain which the Ambassadors who had been with the King had undertaken should be fully done and brought over with her in due form of Law So after the Lady was brought in great State to Greenwich the Council met and sent for the Ambassadors of the Duke of Cleves that conducted her over and desired to see what they had brought for clearing the breach of that Contract with the Marquess of Lorrain But they had brought nothing and made no account of it saying that the Contract was in their Minority when they could give no consent and that nothing had followed on it after they came to be of Age. But this did not satisfie the Kings Council who said these were but their words and they must see better proofs The Kings Marriage was Annulled with Anne Boleyn upon a pre-contract therefore he must not again run the like hazard So Olisleger and Hogâ—sden the Ambassadors from Cleve did by a formal Instrument Protest before Cromwel that in a peace made between their late Master Iohn Duke of Cleve and Anthony Duke of Lorrain one of the conditions was that this Lady being then under Age should be given in Marriage to Francis Son to the Duke of Lorrain who was likewise under Age which Treaty they affirmed they saw and read But that afterwards Henry de Groffe Ambassador of Charles Duke of Gueldres upon whose mediation that peace had been concluded declared in their hearing that the Espousals were Annulled and of no effect and that this was Registred in the Chancery of Clâ—ve of which they promised to bring an Authentical Extract within three Months to England Some of the Counsellors who knew the Kings secret dislike of her person would have insisted more on this But the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Duresm said if there was no more than that it could be no just hindrance to the Solemnization of the Marriage So the King seeing there was no remedy and being much pressed both by the Ministers of Cleve and by the Lord Cromwel Marryed her on the 6th of Ianuary But expressed so much aversion and dislike of her that every body about him took notice of it Next day the Lord Cromwel asked him how he liked her then He told him He was not every man therefore he would be free with him He liked her worse than he did He suspected she was no Maid and had such ill smells about her that he loathed her more than ever and did not believe he should ever consummate the Marriage This was sad news to Cromwel who knew well how delicate the King was in these matters and that so great a Misfortune must needs turn very heavy on him that was the chief Promoter of it He knew his Enemies would draw great advantages from this and understood the Kings temper too well to think his Greatness would last long if he could not induce the King to like the Queen better But that was not to be done for though the King lived five Months with her in that State and very oft lay in the Bed with her yet his Aversion rather encreased than abated She seemed not much concerned at it and as their Conversation was not great so she was of an heavy Composition and was not much displeased to be delivered from a Marriage in which she had so little satisfaction Yet one thing shews that she wanted not Capacity For she learned the English Language very soon and before her Marriage was Annulled she spoke English freely as appears by some of the Depositions There was an Instrument brought over from Cleve taken out of the Chancery there by which it appeared That Henry de Groffe Ambassador from the Duke of Gueldres had on the 15th of February in the year 1535. declared the Nullity of the former Contract in express words which are set down in high Dutch but thus put in Latine Sponsalia illa progressum suum non habitura I will not answer for the Latine ex quo dictus Dux Carolus admodum doleret propterea quaedam fecisset amplius facturus esset And Pallandus that was Ambassador from the Duke of Cleves in the Duke of Guelders Court wrote to his Master Illustrissimum Ducem Gueldriae certo scire prima illa Sponsalia inter Domicellam Annam fore inania progressum suum non habitura When this was shewed the King his Council found great exceptions to it upon the Ambiguity of the word Sponsalia it not being expressed whether they were Espousals by the words of the present or of the future tense and intended to make use of that when there should be a fit opportunity for it On the 12th of April a Session of Parliament was held The Journal shews that neither the Abbot of Westminster nor any other Abbot was present After the Lord Chancellor had opened the reasons for the Kings meeting them at that time as they related to the Civil Government Cromwel as Lord Vice-gerent spake next in the Kings name and said There was nothing which the King so much desired as a firm union among all his Subjects in which he placed his chief security He knew there were many Incendiaries and much Cockle grew up with the Wheat The rashness and licentiousness of some and the inveterate Superstition and stiffness of others in the Ancient Corruptions had raised great dissensions to the sad regret of all good Christians Some were called Papists others Hereticks which bitterness of Spirit seemed the more strange since now the Holy Scriptures by the Kings great care of his people were in all their hands in a Language which they understood But these were grosly perverted by both sides who studied rather to justifie their passions out
office licensed many that were suspected of Heresie to Preach over the Kingdom and he had both by word and in writing suggested to several Sheriffs That it was the Kings pleasure they should discharge many Prisoners of whom some were Indicted others apprehended for Heresie And when many particular complaints were brought to him of detestable Heresies with the names of the offenders he not only defended the Hereticks but severely checkt the Informers and vexed some of them by Imprisonment and other ways The particulars of all which were too tedious to be recited And he having entertained many of the Kings Subjects about himself whom he had infected with Heresie and imagining he was by force able to defend his Treasons and Heresies on the last of March in the 30th year of the Kings Reign in the Parish of St. Peters the poor in London when some of them complained to him of the new Preachers such as Barnes and others he said Their Preaching was good and said also among other things That if the King would turn from it yet he would not turn And if the King did turn and VERA EFFIGIES THOMAE CROMWELL ESSEXIAE COMITIS EQVES PERISCELIS H. Holbeâ—n pinxit R. White sculpsit Natus 1490 Regis vicarius Generalis 1536 Eques Periscelis 1537. Capite truncatus Iuly 18th 1540. Printed for Richard Chiswell at the Rose and Crowne in St Pauls Church yard all his people with him he would fight in the Fiâ—lâ— in his own person with his Sword in his hand against him and all others And then he pulled out his Dagger and held it up and said or else this Dagger thrust me to the heart if I would not die in that quarrel against them all and I trust if I live one year or two it shall not be in the Kings Power to resist or lett it if he would and swearing a great Oath said I would do so indeed He had also by Oppression and Bribery made a great Estate to himself and extorted much Money from the Kings Subjects and being greatly enriched had treated the Nobility with much contempt And on the last of Ianuary in the 31th year of the Kings Reign in the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields when some had put him in mind to what the King had raised him he said If the Lords would handle him so he would give them such a Break-fast as was never made in England and that the proudest of them should know it For all which Treasons and Heresies he was Attainted to suffer the pains of death for Heresie and Treason as should please the King and to forfeit all his Estate and goods to the Kings use that he had on the last of March in the 31st year of the Kings Reign or since that time There was added to this Bill a Proviso That this should not be hurtful to the Bishop of Bath and Wells and to the Dean and Chapteâ— of Wells with whom it seems he had made some exchanges of Lands From these particulars the Reader will clearly see why he was not brought to make his answer most of them relating to Orders and Directions he had given for which it is very probable he had the Kings Warrant And for the matter of Heresie it has appeared how far the King had proceeded towards a Reformation so that what he did that way was most likely done by the Kings Order But the King now falling from these things it was thought they intended to stifle him by such an Attaindor that he might not discover the secret Orders or directions given him for his own Justification For the particulars of Bribery and Extortion they being mentioned in general expressions seem only cast into the heap to defame him But for those Treasonable words it was generally thought that they were a Contrivance of his Enemies since it seemed a thing very extravagant for a Favourite in the height of his Greatness to talk so rudely And if he had been guilty of it Bedlam was thought a fitter place for his Restraint than the Tower Nor was it judged likely that he having such great and watchful Enemies at Court any such discourses could have layn so long secret Or if they had come to the Kings knowledg he was not a Prince of such a temper as to have forgiven much less imployed and advanced a man after such discourses And to think that during these fifteen months after the words were said to have been spoken none would have had the zeal for the King or the malice to Cromwel as to repeat them were things that could not be believed The formality of drawing his Dagger made it the more suspected for this was to affix an overt-Act to these words which in the opinion of many Lawyers was necessary to make words Treasonable But as if these words had not been ill enough some writers since have made them worse as if he had said He would thrust his Dagger in the Kings heart About which Fuller hath made another story to excuse these words as if they had not been meant of the King but of another But all that is founded on a mistake which if he had looked in the Record he had corrected Cromwels Fall was the first step towards the Kings Divorce For on the 24th of Iune he sent his Queen to Richmond pretending the Countrey air would agree better with her But on the 6th of Iuly a motion was made and assented to in the House of Lords that they should make an address to the King desiring him to suffer his Marriage with the Queen to be tryed Upon which the Lord Chancellor the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk the Earl of Southampton and the Bishop of Duresm were sent down to the Commons to represent the matter to them and to desire their concurrence in the Address To which they agreed and ordered twenty of their number to go along with the Peers So the whole House of Lords with these Commoners went to the King and told him they had a matter of great consequence to propose to him but it was of that Importance that they first begged his leave to move it That being obtained they desired the King would order a Tryal to be made of the validity of his Marriage To which the King consented and made a deep Protestation as in the presence of God that he should conceal nothing that related to it and all its circumstances And that there was nothing he held dearer than the Glory of God the good of the Common-wealth and the declaration of truth So a Commission was issued out to the Convocation to try it On the 7th of Iuly it was brought before the Convocation of which the Reader will see a fuller account in the Collection at the end than is needful to be brought in here The case was opened by the Bishop of Winchester and a Committee was appointed to consider it and they deputed the Bishop of
the Army was ill advised so his giving a Commissâ—on to Oliver Sinclar â—hat was his Minion to command in Chief did extreamly disgust the Nobility They loved not to be commanded by any but their King and were already weary of the insolence of that Favourite who being but of ordinary birth was despised by them so that they were beginning to separate And when they were upon that occasion in great disorder a small body of English not above 500 Horse appeared But they apprehending it was the Duke of Norfolks Army refused to fight and fell in confusion Many Prisoners were taken the chief of whom were the Earls of Glencairn and Cassillis the Lords Maxwell Sommervell Oliphant Gray and Oliver Sinclar and about 200 Gentlemen and 800 souldiers and all the Ordnance and Baggage was also taken The news of this being brought to the King of Scotland encreased his former disorders and some few days after he dyed leaving an infant Daughter but newly born to succeed him The Lords that were taken Prisoners were brought to London where after they had been charged in Council how unkindly they had used the King they were put in the keeping of some of the greatest quality about Court But the Earl of Cassillis had the best luck of them all For being sent to Lambâ—th where he was a Prisoner upon his parole Cranmer studied to free him from the darkness and fetters of Popery in which he was so successful that the other was afterwards a great Promoter of the Reformation in Scotland The Scots had been hitherto possessed with most extraordinary prejudices against the Changes that had been made in England which concurring with the ancient Animosities between the two Nations had raised a wonderful ill opinion of the Kings proceedings And though the Bishop of St. Davids Barlow had been sent into Scotland with the Book of the Institution of a Christian Man to clear these ill impressions yet his endeavours were unsuccessful The Pope at the instance of the French King and to make that Kingdom sure made David Beaton Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews a Cardinal which gave him great Authority in the Kingdom so he with the rest of the Clergy diverted the King from any correspondence with England and assured him of Victory if he would make War on such an Heretical Prince The Clergy also offered the King 50000 Crowns a-year towards a War with England and possessed all the Nation with very ill thoughts of the Court and Clergy there But the Lords that were now Prisoners chiefly the Earl of Cassillis who was best instructed by his Religious Host conceived a better opinion of the Reformation and carried home with them those seeds of knowledg which produced afterwards a very fruitful Harvest On all these things I have dwelt the longer that it might appear whence the inclination of the Scotish Nobility to Reform did take its first rise though there was afterwards in the Methods by which it was advanced too great a mixture of the heat and forwardness that is natural to the Genius of that Countrey When the news of the King of Scotlands death and of the young Queens birth that succeeded him came to the Court the King thought this a very favourable conjuncture to unite and settle the whole Island But that unfortunate Princess was not born under such happy Stars though she was Mother to him in whom this long-desired Union took effect The Lords that were then Prisoners began the motion and that being told the King he called for them to Hampton-Court in the Christmas-time and said now an opportunity was put in their hands to quiet all troubles that had been between these two Crowns by the Marriage of the Prince of Wales to their young Queen In which he desired their assistance and gave them their Liberty they leaving hostages for the performance of what was then offered by them They all promised their Concurrence and seemed much taken with the greatness of the English Court which the King always kept up not without affectation they also said they thought God was better served there than in their own Countrey So on New-years-day they took their journey towards Scotland but the sequel of this will appear afterwards A Parliament was summoned to meet the two and twentieth of Ianuary which sate to the 12th of May. So the Session begun in the 34th and ended in the 35th year of the Kings Reign from whence it is called in the Records the Parliament of the 34th and 35th year Here both the Temporality and Spirituality gave great Subsidies to the King of six shillings in the Pound to be paid in three years They set forth in their Preambles The expence the King had been at in his War with Scotland and for his other great and urgent occasions by which was meant a War with France which broke out the following Summer But with these there passed other two Acts of great importance to Religion The Title of the first was An Act for the advancement of True Religion and abolishment of the contrary The King was now entring upon a War so it seemed reasonable to qualifie the severity of the late Acts about Religion that all might be quiet at home Cranmer moved it first and was faintly seconded by the Bishops of Worcester Hereford Chichester and Rochester who had promised to stick to him in it At this time a League was almost finished between the King and the Emperour which did again raise the Spirits of the Popish Faction They had been much cast down ever since the last Queens fall But now that the Emperor was like to have an Interest in English Councils they took heart again and Gardiner opposed the Arch-Bishops motion with all possible earnestness And that whole Faction fell so upon it that the timorous Bishops not only forsook Cranmer but Heath of Rochester and Skip of Hereford were very earnest with him to stay for a better opportunity But he generously preferred his Conscience to those arts of Policy which he would never practise and said he would push it as far as it would go So he plied the King and the other Lords so earnestly that at length the Bill passed though clogg'd with many Provisoes and very much short of what he had designed The Preamble set forth that there being many dissensions about Religion the Scriptures which the King had put into the hands of his People were abused by many seditious persons in their Sermons Books Playes Rithmes and Songs from which great Inconveniences were like to arise For preventing these it was necessary to establish a Form of sincere Doctrine conformable to that which was taught by the Apostles Therefore all the Books of the Old and New Testament of Tindals Translation which is called Crafty False and Vntrue are forbidden to be kept oâ— used in the Kings Dominions with all other Books contrary to the Doctrine set forth in the year 1540. with
Cardinal to oppose the Match with England since they looked for ruine if it succeeded The Queen being a sister of Guise and bred in the French Court was wholly for their Interests and all that had been obliged by that Court or depended on it were quickly drawn into the Party It was also said to every body that it was much more the Interest of Scotland to match with France than with England If they were united to France they might expect an easie Government For the French being at such distance from them and knowing how easily they might throw themselves into the Armes of England would certainly rule them gently and avoid giving them great Provocations But if they were united to England they had no remedy but must look for an heavier yoke to be laid on them This meeting with the rooted Antipathy that by a long continuance of War was grown up among them to a savage hatred of the English Nation and being inflamed by the considerations of Religion raised an universal dislike of the Match with England in the greatest part of the whole Nation only a few men of greater Probity who were weary of the depredations and Wars in the Borders and had a liking to the Reformation of the Church were still for it The French Court struck in vigorously with their Party in Scotland and sent over the Earl of Lenox who as he was next in blood to the Crown after the Earl of Arran so was of the same family of the Stewarts which had endeared him to the late King He was to lead the Queens party against the Hamiltons Yet they employed another Tool which was Iohn Hamilton base Brother to the Governor who was afterwards Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews He had great power over his Brother who being then not above four and twenty years of age and having been the only lawful Son of his Father in his old age was never bred abroad and so understood not the Policies and arts of Courts and was easily abused by his base Brother He assured him that if he went about to destroy Religion by matching the Queen to an Heretical Prince they would depose him from his Government and declare him Illegitimate There could be indeed nothing clearer than his Fathers Divorce from his first Wife For it had been formerly proved that she had been married to the Lord Yesters Son before he married her who claimed her as his Wife upon which her Marriage with the Earl of Arran was declared Null in the year 1507. And it was ten years after that the Earl of Arran did Marry the Governors Mother Of which things the Original Instruments are yet extant Yet it was now said that that Precontract with the Lord Yesters Son was but a forgery to dissolve that Marriage and if the Earl of Lenox who was next to the Crown in case the Earl of Arran was Illegitimated should by the assistance of France procure a review of that Process from Rome and obtain a Revocation of that Sentence by which his Fathers first Marriage was annulled then it was plain that the second marriage with the issue by it would be of no force All this wrought on the Governor much and at length drew him off from the Match with England and brought him over to the French Interests Which being effected there was no further use of the Eaâ—l of Lâ—nnox so he finding himself neglected by the Queen and the Cardinal and abandoned by the Crown of France fled into England where he was very kindly received by the King who gave him in marriage his Neece Lady Margaret Dowglass whom the Queen of Scotland had born to the Earl of Angus her second Husband From which Marriage issued the Lord Darnly Father to King Iames. When the Lords of the French Faction had carried things to their mind in Scotland it was next considered what they should do to redeem the Hostages whom the Lords who were Prisoners in England had left behind them And for this no other Remedy could be found but to let them take their hazard and leave them to the King of England's mercy To this they all agreed only the Earl of Cassilis had too much Honour and Vertue to do so mean a thing Therefore after he had done all he could for maintaining the Treaty about the Match he went into England and offered himself again to be a Prisoner But as generous actions are a reward to themselves so they often meet with that entertainment which they deserve And upon this occasion the King was not wanting to express a very great value for that Lord. He called him another Regulus but used him better For he both gave him his Liberty and made him noble Presents and sent him and his Hostages back being resolved to have a severer reparation for the injury done him All which I have opened more fully because this will give a great light to the affairs of that Kingdom which will be found in the Reigns of the succeeding Princes to have a great intermixture with the affairs of this Kingdom Nor are they justly represented by any who write of these times and having seen some Original Papers relating to Scotland at that time I have done it upon more certain information The King of England made War next upon France The grounds of this War are recited by the Lord Herbert One of these is proper for me to repeat That the French King had not deserted the Bishop of Rome and consented to a Reformation as he had once Promised The rest related to other things such as the seizing our Ships The detaining the yearly Pension due to the King The Fortifying Ardres to the prejudice of the English pale The revealing the Kings secrets to the Emperor The having given first his Daughter and then the Duke of Guises Sister in Marriage to his Enemy the King of Scotland and his confederating himself with the Turk And Satisfaction not being given in these particulars a War is declared In Iuly the King married Katharine Parre who had been formerly married to Nevil Lord Latimer She was a secret Favourer of the Reformation yet could not divert a storm which at this time fell on some in Windsor For that being a place to which the King did oft retire it was thought fit to make some examples there And now the League with the Emperour gave the Popish Faction a greater interest in the Kings Counsels There was at this time a Society at Windsor that favoured the Reformation Anthony Person a Priest Robert Testwood and Iohn Marbeck Singing Men and Henry Filmer of the Town of Windsor were the chief of them But those were much favoured by Sir Philip Hâ—bby and his Lady and several others of the Kings Family During Crâ—â—â—els power none questioned them but after his fall they were looked on with an ill eye Doctor Londâ—n who had by the most servile Flatteries insinuated himself into Cromâ—el and was much employed
to the Commons with words to be put in or put out of it On the 6th the Commons sent it up with some alterations And on the 8th the Lords sent it down again to the Commons where it lay till the 17th and then it was sent up with their agreement And the Kings Assent was given by his Letters Patents on the 29th of March. The Preamble was That whereas untrue accusations and presentments might be maliciously contrived against the Kings Subjects and kept secret till a time were espied to have them by malice convicted Therefore it was Enacted That none should be Endited but upon a presentment by the Oaths of twelve men to at least three of the Commissioners appointed by the King and that none should be Imprisoned but upon an Enditement except by a special Warrant from the King and that all Presentments should be made within one year after the Offences were committed and if words were uttered in a Sermon contrary to the Statute they must be complained of within forty dayes unless a just cause were given why it could not be so soon Admittiâ—g also the parties Endited to all such Challenges as they might have in any other case of Felony This Act has clearly a Relation to the Conspiracies mentioned the former year both against the Arch-Bishop and some of the Kings Servants Another Act passed continuing some former Acts for revising the Canon-Law and for drawing up such a body of Ecclesiastical Laws as should have Authority in England This Cranmer pressed often with great vehemence and to shew the necessity of it drew out a short Extract of some passages in the Canon-Law which the Reader will find in the Collection to shew how undecent a thing it was to let a Volume in which such Laws were be studyed or considered any longer in England Therefore he was earnest to have such a Collection of Ecclesiastical Laws made as might regulate the Spiritual Courts But it was found more for the greatness of the Prerogative and the Authority of the Civil Courts to keep that undetermined so he could never obtain his desire during this Kings Reign Another Act passed in this Parliament for the remission of a Loan of Money which the King had raised This is almost copied out of an Act to the same effect that passed in the twenty first year of the Kings Reign with this addition That by this Act those who had got payment either in whole or in part of the Sums so lent the King were to repay it back to the Exchequer All business being finished and a general pardon passed with the ordinary exceptions of some Crimes among which Heresie is one the Parliament was Prorogued on the 29th of March to the 4th of November The King had now a War both with France and Scotland upon him And therefore to prepare for it he both enhanced the value of Money and embased it for which he that writes his vindication gives this for the reason That the Coin being generally embased all over Europe he was forced to do it lest otherwise all the Money should have gone out of the Kingdom He resolved to begin the War with Scotland and sent an Army by Sea thither under the command of the Earl of Hartford afterwards Duke of Somerset who landing at Grantham a little above Leith burnt and spoiled Leith and Edenburgh in which they found more riches than they thought could possibly have been there and they went through the Countrey burning and spoiling it every-where till they came to Berwick But they did too much if they intended to gain the hearts of that people and too little if they intended to subdue them For as they besieged not the Castle of Edinburgh which would have cost them more time and trouble so they did not fortifie Leith nor leave a Garrison in it which was such an inexcusable Omission that it seems their Counsels were very weak and ill laid For Leith being fortified and a Fleet kept going between it and Berwick or Tinmouth the Trade of the Kingdom must have been quite stopt Edinburgh ruined the Intercourse between France and them cut off and the whole Kingdom forced to submit to the King But the spoils this Army made had no other effect but to enrage the Kingdom and unite them so entirely to the French Interests that when the Eaâ—l of Lâ—nnâ—x was sent down by the King to the Western parts of Scotland where his Power lay he could get none to follow him And the Governor of Dunbritton Castle though his own Lieutenant would not deliver that Castle to him when he understood he was to put it in the King of Englands hands but drove him out others say he â—â—ed away of himself else he had been taken Prisoner The King was now to cross the Seas but before he went he studied to settle the matters of Religion so that both Parties might have some content Audley the Chancellor dying he made the Lord Wriothesley that had been Secretary and was of the Popish Party Lord Chancellor but made Sir William Petre that was Cranmers great friend Secretary of State He also committed the Government of the Kingdom in his absence to the Queen to whom he joyned the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Lord Chancellor the Earl of Hartford and Secretary Petre. And if there was need of any Force to be raised he appointed the Earl of Hartford his Lieutenant under whose Government the Reformers needed not fear any thing But he did another Act that did wonderfully please that whole Party which was the Translating of the Prayers for the Processions and Litaâ—ies into the English tongue This was sent to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury on the 11th of Iune with an Order that it should be used over all his Province as the Reader will find in the Collection This was not only very acceptable to that Party because of the thing it self but it gave them hope that the King was again opening his ears to motions for Reformation to which they had been shut now about six years And therefore they looked that more things of that nature would quickly follow And as these Prayers werâ— now set out in English so they doubted not but there being the same reason to put all the other Offices in the vulgar tongue they would prevail for that too Things being thus setled at home the King having sent his Forces over before him crossed the Seas with much pomp the Sails of his Ship being of Cloth of Gold He Landed at Calais the 14th of Iuly The Emperor pressed his marching straight to Paris But he thought it of more importance to take Bulloign and after two months Siege it was surrendred to him into which he made his Entry with great Triumph on the 18th of September But the Emperor having thus engaged those two Crowns in a War and designing while they should fight it out to make himself Master of Gâ—rmanâ— concluded a Treaty
durst adventure on making any complaints against her Yet the Kings distempers encreasing and his peevishness growing with them he became more uneasie and whereas she had frequently used to talk to him of Religion and defend the Opinions of the Reformers in which he would sometimes pleasantly maintain the Argument now becoming more impatient he took it ill at her hands And she had sometimes in the heat of discourse gone very far So one night after she had left him the King being displeased vented it to the Bishop of Winchester that stood by And he craftily and maliciously struck in with the Kings anger and said all that he could devise against the Queen to drive his resentments higher and took in the Lord Chancellor into the design to assist him They filled the Kings head with many stories of the Queen and some of her Ladies and said They had favoured Anne Askew and had Heretical Books amongst them and he perswaded the King that they were Traitors as well as Hereticks The matter went so far that Articles were drawn against her which the King Sigâ—ed for without that it was not safe for any to Impeach the Queen But the Lord Chancellor putting up that Paper carelesly it dropt from him And being taken up by one of the Queens Party was carryed to her Whether the King had really designed her ruin or not is differently represented by the Writers who lived near that time But she seeing his hand to such a Paper had reason to conclude her self lost Yet by advice of one of her Friends she went to see the King who receiving her kindly set on a Discourse about Religion But she answered that women by their first Creation were made subject to men and they being made after the Image of God as the Women were after their Image ought to instruct their Wives who were to learn of them and she much more was to be taught by his Majesty who was a Prince of such excellent Learning and Wisdom Not so by St. Mary said the King you are become a Doctor able to Instruct us and not to be Instructed by us To which she answered That it seemed he had much mistaken the freedom she had taken to argue with him since she did it partly to engage him in discourse and so put over the time and make him forget his pain and partly to receive Instructions from him by which she had profited much And is it even so said the King then we are friends again So he embraced her with great affection and sent her away with very tender assurances of his constant Love to her But the next day had been appointed for carrying her and some of her Ladies to the Tower The day being fair the King went to take a little air in the Garden and sent for her to bear him company As they were together the Lord Chancellor came in having about forty of the Guard with him to have arrested the Queen But the King stept aside to him and after a little discourse he was heard to call him Knave Fool and Beast and he bade him get him out of his Sight The Innocent Queen who understood not that her danger was so near studied to mitigate the Kings displeasure and interceded for the Lord Chancellor But the King told her she had no reason to plead for him So this design miscarried which as it absolutely disheartned the Papists so it did totally alienate the King from them and in particular from the Bishop of Winchester whose sight he could never after this endure But he made an humble Submission to the King which though it preserved him from further punishment yet could not restore him to the Kings favour But the Duke of Norfolk and his Son the Earl of Surrey fell under a deeper Misfortune The Duke of Norfolk had been long Lord Treasurer of England He had done great services to the Crown on many signal Occasions and success had always accompanied him His Son the Earl of Surrey was also a brave and noble person Witty and Learned to an high degree but did not command Armies with such Success He was much provoked at the Earl of Hertfords being sent over to France in his room and upon that had said That within a little-while they should smart for it with some other expressions that savoured of Revenge and a dislike of the King and a hatred of the Counsellors The Duke of Norfolk had endeavoured to ally himself to the Earl of Hertford and to his Brother Sir Thomas Seimour perceiving how much they were in the Kings favour and how great an Interest they were like to have under the succeeding Prince And therefore would have engaged his Son being then a Widower to Marry that Earls Daughter And pressed his Daughter the Dutchess of Richmond Widow to the Kings Natural Son to Marry Sir Thomas Seimour But though the Earl of Surrey advised his Sister to the Marriage projected for her yet he would not consent to that designed for himself nor did the Proposition about his Sister take effect The Seimours could not but see the Enmity the Earl of Surrey bore them and they might well be jealous of the Greatness of that Family which was not only too big for a Subject of it self but was raised so high by the dependence of the whole Popish Party both at home and abroad that they were like to be very dangerous Competitors for the chief Government of Affairs if the King were once out of the way whose disease was now growing so fast upon him that he could not live many weeks Nor is it unlikely that they perswaded the King that if the Earl of Surrey should marry the Lady Mary it might embroil his Sons Government and perhaps ruine him And it was suggested That he had some such high project in his thoughts both by his continuing unmarried and by his using the Armes of Edward the Confessor which of late he had given in his Coat without a Diminution But to compleat the Duke of Norfolks ruin his Dutchess who had complained of his using her ill and had been separated from him about four years turned Informer against him His Son and Daughter were also in ill terms together So the Sister Informed all that she could against her Brother And one Mrs Holland for whom the Duke was believed to have an unlawful affection discovered all she knew but all amounted to no more than some passionate Expressions of the Son and some Complaints of the Father who thought he was not beloved by the King and his Councellors and that he was ill used in not being trusted with the secret of affairs And all persons being encouraged to bring Informations against them Sr. Richard Southwell charged the Earl of Surreâ— in some points that were of a higher nature which the Earl denied and desired to be admitted according to the Martial Law to fight in his shirt with Southwel But that not being granted he and his
questioned for Heresie But Cranmers carriage in this matter was suitable to the other parts of his Life for he withdrew to Croydon and would not so much as be present in Parliament when so unjust an Act was passed and his absence at this time was the more considerable since the King was so dangerously ill that it must be concluded it could be no slight Cause that made him withdraw at such a time But the Duke of Norfolk had been his constant Enemy therefore he would not so much as be near the publick Councils when so strange an Act was passing But at the same time the Bishop of Winchester was officiously hanging on in the Court and though he was forbid to come to Council yet always when the Councellors went into the Kings Bed-Chamber he went with them to the door to make the World believe he was still one of the number and staying at the door till the rest came out he returned with them But he was absolutely lost in the Kings Opinion There is but one other step of Forreign business in this Reign which was an Embassy sent over by the Duke of Saxony to let the King know of the League between the Pope and the Emperor for the Extirpation of Heresie And that the Emperor was making War on him and the other Princes in pursuance of that League Therefore he desired the Kings Assistance But at the same time the Emperor did by his Agents every-where disown that the War was made upon a Religious Account And said it was only to maintain the Rights of the Empire which those Princes had affronted So the King answered that as soon as it did appear to him that Religion was the cause of the War he would Assist them But that which made this so involved was That though at Rome the Pope declared it was a Holy War and ordered Prayers and Processions to be made for Success yet the Emperor in all his Declarations took no notice of Religion He had also divided the Protestant Party so that some of them joyned with him and others were Neutrals And when in Germany it self this matter was so little understood it was easie to abuse Strangers by giving them a wrong Account of it The King was now overgrown with corpulency and fatness so that he became more and more unwieldy He could not go up or down stairs but as he was raised up or let down by an Engine And an old sore in his Leg became very uneasie to him so that all the humors in his Body sinking down into his Leg he was much pained and became exceeding froward and intractable to which his inexcusable severity to the Duke of Norfolk and his Son may be in a great measure imputed His Servants durst scarce speak to him to put him in mind of his approaching end And an Act of Parliament which was made for the security of the Kings Life had some words in it against the Foretelling of his death which made every one afraid to speak to him of it lest he in his angry and imperious humors should have Ordered them to be Endicted upon that Statute But he felt nature declining apace and so made the Will that he had left behind him at his last going into France be written over again with â—his only difference That Gardiner Bishop of Winchester whom he had appointed one of the Executors of his Will and of the Councellors to his Son till he came of Age was now left out Of which when Sir Anthony Brown put the King in mind apprehending it was only an Omission he answered That he knew Gardiners temper well enough and though he could Govern him yet none of them would be able to do it and that he would give them much trouble And when Brown at another time repeated the motion to the King he told him if he spake more of that he would strike him out of his Will too The Will was said to be Signed the 30th of December It is Printed at large by Fuller and the most Material parts of it by Heylin So I need say little of it only the most signal Clause in it was That he excluded the Line of Scotland out of the Succession and preferred the two Daughters of the French Queen by Charles Brandon to them And this leads me to discover several things concerning this Will which have been hitherto unknown I draw them from a Letter written to Sir William Cecil then Secretary of State to Queen Elizabeth afterwards Lord Burleigh by William Maitland of Leithingtoun Secretary of State to the Queen of Scotland This Maitland was accounted a man of the greatest parts of any in his Nation at that time though his Treachery in turning over to the Party that was against the Queen very much blemished his other Qualities but he expiated his fault by a real Repentance which appeared in his returning to his duty and losing all afterwards in her quarrel His Letter will be found in the Collection The Substance and design of it is to clear the Right his Mistress had to the Crown of England in case the Queen should die without Heirs of her Body Therein after he had answered other Objections he comes to this of the Will To it he says That according to the Act of Parliament the Kings Will was to be Signed with his own hand but this Will was only Signed by the Stamp Then the King never Ordered the Stamp to be put to it He had been oft desired to Sign it but had always put it off but when they saw his death approaching one William Clark servant to Thomas Hennage put the Stamp to it and some Gentlemen that were waiting without were called in to Sign it as Witnesses For this he appeal'd to the deposition of the Lord Paget and desired the Marquess of Winchester and Northampton the Earl of Pembroke Sir William Petre Sir Henry Nâ—vil Sir Maurice Berkley Sir Anthony Denny Doctor Buts and some others might be examined and that their Depositions might be entred in the Chancery He also appealed to the Original Will by which it would appear That it was not Signed but only Stamped and that not being according to the Act of Parliament which in such extraordinary things must be strictly taken the Will was of no force Thus it appears what vulgar Errors pass upon the World And though for seventy five years the Scotish Race has enjoyed the Crown of England and after so long a possession it is very superfluous to clear a Title which is universally acknowledged yet the Reader will not be ill pleased to see how ill-grounded that pretence was which some managed very seditiously during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth for excluding that Line But if this Will was not signed by the King other Grantâ— was certainly made by him on his death-bed one was to the City of London of 500 Marks a year for endowing an Hospital which was called Christs
the Supremacy which was matter of Conscience But the King was resolved to let all his Subjects see there was no Mercy to be expected by any that denyed his being Supream head of the Church and therefore made him and More two Examples for terrifying the rest This being much censured beyond Sea Gardiner that was never wanting in the most servile complyances wrote a vindication of the Kings proceedings The Lord Herbert had it in his hands and tells us it was written in elegant Latine but that he thought it too long and others judged it was too vehement to be inserted in his History VERA EFFIGIES THOMAE MORI QVONDAM TOTIUS ANGLIAE CANCELLARII DIGNISSIMI ET H. Holbein pinxit R. White sculpsit Natus 1482 Angliae Cancellarius 1529 Capite truncatus An 1535 Iuly 6. to Printed for Ric Chiswell at the Rose and Crowne in St. Pauls Church yard Thus did Sir Thomas More end his days in the 53d year of his age He was a man of rare vertues and excellent parts In his youth he had freer thoughts of things as appears by his Vtopia and his Letters to Erasmus but afterwards he became superstitiously devoted to the interests and passions of the Popish Clergy and as he served them when he was in Authority even to assist them in in all their cruelties so he employed his pen in the same cause both in writing against all the new opinions in general and in particular against Tindal Frith and Barnes as also an unknown Writer who seemed of neither party but reprooved the corruptions of the Clergy and condemned their cruel proceedings More was no Divine at all and it is plain to any that reads his writings that he knew nothing of Antiquity beyond the quotations he found in the Canon-Law and in the Master of the sentences only he had read some of St. Austins treatises for upon all points of Controversie he quotes only what he found in these Collections nor was he at all conversant in the critical learning upon the Scriptures but his peculiar excellency in writing was that he had a natural easie expression and presented all the opinions of Popery with their fair side to the Reader disguising or concealing the black side of them with great Art and was no less dextrous in exposing all the ill consequences that could follow on the Doctrine of the Reformers and had upon all occasions great store of pleasant tales which he applyed wittily to his purpose And in this consists the great strength of his Writings which were designed rather for the Rabble than for Learned men But for justice contempt of money humility and a true generosity of mind he was an example to the Age in which he lived But there is one thing unjustly added to the praise of these two great men or rather feigned on design to lessen the Kings honour that Fisher and he penned the book which the King wrote against Luther This Sanders first published and Bellarmin and others since have taken it up upon his Authority Strangers may be pardoned such errors but they are inexcusable in an English man For in Mores printed works there is a Letter written by him out of the Tower to Cromwel in which he gives an account of his behaviour concerning the Kings Divorce and Supremacy among other particulars one is that when the King shewed him his Book against Luther in which he had asserted the Popes Primacy to be of Divine right More desired him to leave it out since as there had been many contests between Popes and other Princes so there might fall in some between the Pope and the King therefore he thought it was not fit for the King to publish any thing which might be afterwards made use of against himself and advised him either to leave out that point or to touch it very tenderly but the King would not follow his counsel being perhaps so fond of what he had writ that he would rather run himself upon a great inconvenience than leave out any thing that he fancied so well written This shews that More knew that Book was written by the Kings own pen and either Sanders never read this or maliciously concealed it lest it should discover his foul dealing These Executions so terrified all people that there were no further provocations given and all persons either took the Oaths or did so dextrously conceal their opinions that till the Rebellions of Lincolnshire and the North broke out none suffered after this upon a publick account But when these were quieted then the King resolved to make the chief Authors and Leaders of those Commotions publick examples to the rest The Duke of Norfolk proceeded against many of them by Martial Law there were also Tryals at common Law of a great many more that were taken Prisoners and sent up to London The Lords Darcy and Hâ—ssie were tryed by their Peers the Marquis of Exceter sitting Steward And a Commission of Oyer and Terminer being issued out for the Tryal of the rest Sir Robert Constable Sir Iohn Bulmer and his Lady Sir Francis Pigot Sir Stephen Hamilton and Sir Thomas Piercy and Ask that had been their Captain with the Abbots of Whalley Ierveux Bridlington Lenton Woburn and Kingstead and Mackrall the Monk that first raised the Lincolnshire Rebellion with sixteen more were Indicted of high Treason for the late Rebellions And after all the steps of the Rebellion were reckoned up it is added in the Indictment that they had met together on the 17th of Ianuary and consulted how to renew it and prosecute it further being encouraged by the new Risings that were then in the North by which they had forfeited all the favour to which they could have pretended by vertue of the Indemnity that was granted in the end of December and of the pardons which they had taken out They were all found Guilty and had judgment as in cases of Treason divers of them were carryed down into Lincolnshire and Yorkshire and executed in the places where their Treasons were committed but most of them suffered at London and among others the Lady Bulmer whom others call Sir Iohn Bulmers harlot was burnt for it in Smithfield The only censure that passed on this was that advantages were taken on too slight grounds to break the Kings Indemnity and pardon since it does not appear that after their pardon they did any thing more than meet and consult But the Kingdom was so shaken with that Rebellion that if it had not bâ—en for the great conduct of the Duke of Norfolk the King had by all appearance lost his Crown And it will not seem strange that a King especially so tempered as this was had a mind to strike terror into the rest of his Subjects by some signal Examples and to put out of the way the chief leaders of that design nor was it to be wondered at that the Abbots and other Clergy-men who had been so active in
that Commotion were severely handled It was by their means that the discontents were chiefly fomented they had taken all the Oaths that were enjoyned them and yet continued to be still practising against the State which as it was highly contrary to the peaceable Doctrines of the Christian Religion so it was in a special manner contrary to the Rules which they professed that obliged them to forsake the World and to follow a Religious and Spiritual course of Life The next Example of justice was a year after this of one Forrâ—st an Observant Frier he had been as Sanders says Confessor to Queen Katharine but it seems departed from her interests for he insinuated himself so into the King that he recovered his good Opinion Being an ignorant and lewd man he was accounted by the better sort of that House to which he belonged in Greenwich a Reproach to their Order concerning this I have seen a large account in an Original Letter written by a Brother of the same House Having regained the Kings good Opinion he put all those who had favoured the Divorce under great fears for he proceeded cruelly against them And one Rainscroft being suspected to have given secret Intelligence of what was done among them was shut up and so hardly used that he dyed in their hands which was as that Letter relates done by Frier Forrests means This Frier was found to have denyed the Kings Supremacy for though he himself had sworn it yet he had infused it into many in Confession that the King was not the Supream Head of the Church Being questioned for these practices which were so contrary to the Oath that he had taken he answered that he took that Oath with his outward man but his inward man had never consented to it Being brought to his Tryal and accused of several Heretical opinions that he held he submitted himself to the Church Upon this he had more freedom allowed him in the Prison but some coming to him diverted him from the Submission he had offered so that when the Paper of Abjuration was brought him he refused to set his hand to it upon which he was judged an Obstinate Heretick The Records of these Proceedings are lost but the Books of that time say that he denyed the Gospel it is like it was upon that pretence that without the determination of the Church it had no Authority upon which several writers of the Roman Communion have said undecent and scandalous things of the holy Scriptures He was brought to Smithfield where were present the Lords of the Council to offer him his pardon if he would abjure Latimer made a Sermon against his errors and studyed to perswade him to recant but he continued in his former opinions so he was put to death in a most severe manner He was hanged in a chain about his middle and the great Image that was brought out of Walâ—s was broken to pieces and served for fewel to burn him He shewed great unquietness of mind and ended his Life in an ungodly manner as Hall says who adds this Character of him that he had little knowledg of God and his sincere truth and less trust in him at his ending In Winter that year a correspondence was discovered with Cardinal Pole who was barefaced in his Treasonable designs against the King His Brother Sir Geofrey Pole discovered the whole Plot. For which the Marquess of Exceter that was the Kings Cousin-german by his Mother who was Edward the 4ths Daughter the Lord Montacute the Cardinals Brother Sir Geofrey Pole and Sir Edward Nevill were sent to the Tower in the beginning of November They were accused for having maintained a correspondence with the Cardinal and for expressing an hatred of the King with a dislike of his proceedings and a readiness to rise upon any good opportunity that might offer it self The special matter brought against the Lord Montacute and the Marquis of Excetâ—r who were tryed by their Peers on the 2d and 3d of December in the 30th year of this Reign is that whereas Cardinal Pole and others had cast off their Alleageance to the King and gone and submitted themselves to the Pope the Kings mortal enemy the Lord Montacute did on the 24th of Iuly in the 28th year of the Kings Reign a few months before the Rebellion broke out say that he liked well the proceedings of his Brother the Cardinal but did not like the proceedings of the Realm and said I trust to see a change of this World I trust to have a fair day upon those Knaves that rule about the King and I trust to see a merry World one day Words to the same purpose were also charged on the Marquess the Lord Montacute further said I would I were over the Sea with my Brother for this World will one day come to stripes it must needs so come to pass and I fear we shall lack nothing so much as honest men he also said he had dreamed that the King was dead and though he was not yet dead he would die suddenly one day his Leg will kill him and then we shall have jolly stirring saying also that he had never loved him from his childhood and that Cardinal Wolsey would have been an honest man if he had had an honest Master And the King having said to the Lords he woulâ—â—eave them one day having some apprehensions he might shortly die that Lord said if he will serve us so we shall be happily rid a time will come I fear we shall not tarry the time we shall do well enough He had also said he was sorry the Lord Abâ—rgâ—â—â—â—y was dead for he could have made ten thousand men and for his part he would go and live in the West where the Marquess of Excâ—ter was strong and had also said upon the breaking of the Northern Rebellion that the Lord Darcy played the fool for he went to pluck away the Council but he should have begun with the head first but I beshrew him for leaving off so soon These were the Words charged on those Lords as clear discoveries of their Treasonable designs and that they knew of the Rebellion that brake out and only intended to have kept it off to a fitter opportunity they were also accused of Correspondence with Cardinal Polâ— that was the Kings declared Enemy Upon these points the Lords pleaded not Guilty but were found Guilty by their Peers and so Judgment was given On the 4th of December were Indicted Sir Geofrey Polâ— for holding Correspondence with his Brother the Cardinal and saying that he approved of his proceedings but not of the Kings Sir Edâ—ard Nevill Brother to the Lord Abergaveny for saying the King was a Beast and worse than a Beast George Crofts Chancellor of the Cathedral of Chichester for saying the King was not bâ—t the Pope was Supream head of the Church and Iohn Collins for saying the King would hang in Hâ—ll one day for the plucking down of
every of them other than the said Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex and his Heirs and all and every other Person and Persons claiming by the same Thomas Cromwell and to his use all such Right Title Entrie Possession Interest Reversions Remainders Lease Leases Conditions Fees Offices Rents Annuities Commons and all other Commodities Profits and Hereditaments whatsoever they or any of them might should or ought to have had if this Act had never been had nor made Provided always and be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid that this Act of Attainder ne any Offence ne other thing therein contained extend not unto the Deanery of Wells in the County of Sommerset nor to any Mannors Lands Tenements or Hereditaments thereunto belonging nor be in any wise prejudicial or hurtful unto the Bishop of Bath and Wells nor to the Dean and Chapter of the Cathedral Church of St. Andrew of Wells nor to any of them nor to any of their Successors but that the said Bishop Dean and Chapters and their Successors and every of them shall and may have hold use occupy and enjoy all and singular their Titles Rights Mannors Lands Tenements Rents Reversions and Services and all and singular other their Hereditaments Commodities and Profits of what nature kind or quality or condition soever they be in as ample and large manner and form as tho this Act of Attainder or any Offence therein mentioned had never been had committed nor made and that from hence-forth the Dean and his Successors Deans of the said Cathedral Church that hereafter shall be prefected elected and admitted to the same Shall by the Authority aforesaid be Dean of the said Cathedral Church fully and wholly incorporated with the Chapter of the same in as ample large and like manner and form to all intents and purposes as the Deans before this time hath been and used to be with the said Chapter of the said Cathedral Church of Wells And that the same Dean and Chapter and their Successors shall have occupy and enjoy all and singular their such Possessions Mannors Lands Tenements Rents Reversions and Services and all and singular their Hereditaments of what nature kind name or names they be called or known And shall be adjudged and deemed in actual and real possession and season of and in the same Premisses to all intents and purposes according to their old Corporation as tho this Act of Attainder or any thing clause or matter therein contained had never been had committed nor made This said Act of Attainder or any other Act Provision or any thing heretofore had or made to the contrary notwithstanding Cui quidem petitioni cum provisione praedict perlect intellect per dictum Dominum Regem ex Authoritate consensu Parliamenti praedicti sic Responsum est Soit faict come il est desiro Cromwell's Letter to the King concerning his Marriage with Ann of Cleve An Original To the King my most Gracious Sovereign Lord his Royal Majesty MOst Merciful King and most Gracious Sovereign Lord may it please the same to be advertised That the last time it pleased your benign Goodness to send unto me the Right Honourable Lord Chancellor the Right Honourable Duke of Norff. and the Lord Admiral to examine and also to declare unto me divers things from your Majesty among the which one special thing they moved and thereupon they charged me as I would answer before God at the dreadful day of Judgment and also upon the extreme danger and damnation of my Soul and Conscience to say what I knew in the Marriage and concerning the Marriage between your Highness and the Queen To the which I answered as I knew declaring unto them the Particulars as nigh as I then could call to remembrance Which when they had heard they in your Majesty's Name and upon like charge as they had given me before commanded me to write to your Highness the truth as much as I knew in that Matter which now I do and the very truth as God shall save me to the uttermost of my knowledg First After your Majesty heard of the Lady Ann of Cleves arrival at Dover and that her Journies were appointed toward Greenwich and that she should be at Rochester on New-years Even at night your Highness declared to me that you would privily visit her at Rochester upon New-years-day adding these words To nourish love which accordingly your Grace did upon New-years-day as is above-said And the next day being Friday your Grace returned to Greenwich where I spake with your Grace and demanded of your Majesty How ye liked the Lady Ann your Highness answered as me thought heavily and not pleasantly Nothing so well as she was spoken of saying further That if your Highness had known as much before as ye then knew she should not have come within this Realm saying as by the way of lamentation What Remedy Unto the which I answered and said I know none but was very sorry therefore and so God knoweth I was for I thought it a hard beginning The next day after the receipt of the said Lady and her entry made unto Greenwich and after your Highness had brought her to her Chamber I then waited upon your Highness into your Privy-Chamber and being there your Grace called me unto you saying to me these words or the like My Lord is it not as I told you say what they will she is nothing so fair as she hath been reported howbeit she is well and seemly Whereunto I answered and said By my Faith Sir ye say truth adding thereunto that I thought she had a Queenly manner and nevertheless was sorry that your Grace was no better content And thereupon your Grace commanded me to call together your Council which were these by name The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury the Dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk my Lord Admiral and my Lord of Duresme and my self to commune of these Matters and to know what Commissions the Agents of Cleves had brought as well touching the performance of the Covenants sent before from hence to Dr. Wotton to have been concluded in Cleves as also in the declaration how the Matters stood for the Covenants of Marriage between the Duke of Lorrain's Son and the said Lady Ann. Whereupon Olisleger and Hogeston were called and the Matters purposed whereby it plainly appeared that they were much astonished and abashed and desired that they might make answer in the next morning which was Sunday And upon the Sunday in the morning your said Counsellors and they met together early and there eft-soons was proposed unto them as well touching the Commission for the performance of the Treaty and Articles sent to Mr. Wotton as also touching the Contracts and Covenants of Marriage between the Duke of Lorrain's Son and the Lady Ann and what terms they stood in To which things so proposed they answered as Men much perplexed That as touching Commission they had none to treat concerning the Articles sent to
Mary the French Queen younger Daughter of Hen. 7. and of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk so as it is thought the Queen my Soveraign and all others by course of Inheritance be by these Circumstances excluded and fore-closed So as it does well become all Subjects such as I am so my liking is to speak of Princes of their Reigns and Proceedings modestly and with respect yet I cannot abstain to say that the Chronicles and Histories of that Age and your own printed Statutes being extant do contaminate and disgrace greatly the Reign of that King in that time But to come to our purpose what equity and justice was that to disinherit a Race of Forreign Princes of their possibility and maternal right by a municipal Law or Statute made in that which some would term abrupt time and say that that would rule the Roast yea and to exclude the right Heirs from their Title without calling them to answer or any for them well it may be said that â—he injury of the time and the indirect dealing is not to be allowed â—ut since it is done it cannot be avoided unless some Circumstances material do annihilate the said limitation and disposition of the Crown Now let us examine the manner and circumstances how King Hen. 8. was by Statute inabled to dispose the Crown There is a form in two sorts prescribed him which he may not transgress that is to say either by his Letters Patents sealed with his Great Seal or by his last Will signed with his hand for in this extraordinary case he was held to an ordinary and precise form which being not observed the Letters Patents or Will cannot work the intent or effect supposed And to disprove that the Will was signed with his own hand You know that long before his death he never used his own signing with his own hand and in the time of his Sickness being divers times pressed to put his hand to the Will written he refused to do it And it seemed God would not suffer him to proceed in an Act so injurious and prejudicial to the right Heir of the Crown being his Niece Then his death approaching some as well known to you as to me caused William Clarke sometimes Servant to Thomas Henneage to sign the supposed Will with a stamp for otherwise signed it was never and yet notwithstanding some respecting more the satisfaction of their ambition and others their private commodity than just and upright dealing procured divers honest Gentlemen attending in divers several Rooms about the King's Person to testifie with their hand-writings the Contents of the said pretended Will surmised to be signed with the King 's own hand To prove this dissembled and forged signed Testament I do refer you to such Trials as be yet left First The Attestation of the late Lord Paget published in the Parliament in Queen Mary's time for the restitution of the Duke of Norfolk Next I pray you on my Sovereigns behalf that the Depositions may be taken in this Matter of the Marquess of Winchester Lord Treasurer of England the Marquess of Northampton the Earl of Pembroke Sir William Petre then one of King Henry's Secretaries Sir Henry Nevill Sir Maurice Barkley Doctor Buts Edmond Harman Baker Iohn Osborn Groom of the Chamber Sir Anthony Dennis if he be living Terris the Chirurgion and such as have heard David Vincent and others speak in this case and that their Attestations may be enrolled in the Chancery and in the Arches In perpetuam rei memoriam Thirdly I do refer you to the Original Will surmised to be signed with the King 's own hand that thereby it may most clearly and evidently appear by some differences how the same was not signed with the King's hand but stamped as aforesaid And albeit it is used both as an Argument and Calumniation against my Sovereign to some that the said Original hath been embezelled in Queen Mary's time I trust God will and hath reserved the same to be an Instrument to relieve the Truth and to confound false Surmises that thereby the Right may take place notwithstanding the many Exemplifications and Transcripts which being sealed with the great Seal do run abroad in England and do carry away many Mens minds as great presumptions of great variety and validity But Sir you know in cases of less importance that the whole Realm of England Transcripts and Exemplifications be not of so great force in Law to serve for the recovery of any thing either real or personal And in as much as my Soveraign's Title in this case shall be little advanced by taking exceptions to others pretended and crased Titles considering her precedency I will leave it to such as are to claim after the issue of Hen. the 7 th to lay in Bar the Poligamy of Charles Brandon the Duke of Suffolk and also the vitiated and clandestine Contract if it may be so called having no witness nor solemnization of Christian Matrimony nor any lawful matching of the Earl of Hertford and the Lady Katharine Lastly The semblably compelling of Mr. Key and the Lady Mary Sister to the Lady Katherine And now Sir I have to answer your desire said somewhat briefly to the Matter which indeed is very little where so much may be said for to speak truly the Cause speaketh for it self I have so long forborn to deal in this matter that I have almost forgotten many things which may be said for Roboration of her Right which I can shortly reduce to my Remembrance being at Edinburgh where my Notes are So that if you be not by this satisfied upon knowledg from you of any other Objection I hope to satisfy you unto all things may be said against her In the mean time I pray you so counsel the Queen your Soveraign as some effectual reparation may follow without delay of the many and sundry traverses and dis-favorings committed against the Queen my Sovereign as the publishing of so many exemplifications of King Henry's supposed Will the secret embracing of Iohn Halles Books the Books printed and not avowed the last Summer one of the which my Mistris hath sent by Henry Killigrew to the Queen your Soveraign The Disputes and Proceedings of Lincolns-Inn where the Case was ruled against the Queen my Soveraign The Speeches of sundry in this last Session of Parliament tending all to my Soveraigns derision and nothing said to the contrary by any Man but the Matter shut up with silence most to her prejudice and by so much the more as every Man is gone home setled and confirmed in his Error And Lastly The Queen your Soveraign's resolution to defend now by Proclamations all Books and Writings containing any discussion of Titles when the whole Realm hath engendred by these fond proceedings and other favoured practisâ—s a setled opinion against my Soveraigns to the advancement of my Lady Katherines Title I might also speak of an other Book lately printed and set abroad in this last Session containing