in the Truth so the Devil is ready to seduce us And I have been seduced But bear me witness That I die in the Catholick Faith of the holy Church And I desire you to pray for me that so long as life remains in this Flesh I waver nothing in my Faith Having said this he was presently beheaded Thus Howes This following Relation although it concerns not the shedding of Blood yet is very remarkable as manifesting how the King's Marriage with the Lady Anne of Cleve was in Parliament declared not lawful Which is thus related by Howes upon Stow Page 578. AFter the Death of the Lady Jane Seymour the King 's Third Wife He Married the Lady Anne of Cleve in the Two and thirtieth year of his Reign From which time the King not only continued his first Misliking of her but his hatred encreased more and more against her not only for want of beauty whereof at first he took exceptions but also for sundry other qualities whereof he secretly accused her As also he said that her body was unpleasant making great doubt that she was no Virgin when she came into England with divers other defects which he said he knew by her outward appearance to be in her And being thus so sore perplexed and desperate of redress he grew wondrous apt and willing to call in question any thing that might tend to the dissolving of this Marriage Within Eight dayes the King told his Physicians his further cause of grief That she was loathsome to him in Bed and that her Body was foul and out of order The King being thus tormented in Body and Mind knew not how to ease himself until he had procured a speedy Divorce Which was thus effected Certain Lords came down into the Lower-House of Parliament expresly declaring the causes why this Marriage was not Lawful And in conclusion the matter was by the Convocation clearly determined that the King might lawfully marry where he would and so might she It appears clearly in the Record what moved the King to this Marriage For these are his words I declare that when the first Communication was had with me about this Marriage I was glad to hearken to it trusting to have some assured Friend by it I much doubting at that time both the Emperor France and the Bishop of Rome Thus Stow. The King 's Fifth Wife Catherine Howard put to death for Adultery As appears by this Relation Baker page 514. THe King was informed of the Queens dissolute life first before her Marriage with one Francis Dereham and since her Marriage with one Thomas Culpepper of the King's Bed-Chamber Whereupon Sir Tho. Wriothsâ—…ey was sent to the Queen at Hampton-Court to charge her with these Crimes and discharging her Houshold to cause her to be conveighed to Syon The Delinquents being examined Dereham confessed that before the King's Marriage with the Lady Catherine there had been a pre-contract between him and her But when once he understood of the King 's good liking to her he then waved it and concealed it for her preferment These Gentlemen were arraigned and had Judgment to die as in cases of Treason They were drawn from the Tower to Tyburn Where Culpepper was beheaded and Dereham hanged and dismember'd The Lord William Howard and the Lady Margaret his Wife Catherine Tilney and Alice Bestwold Gentlewomen Joan Bulmer Anne Howard Wife to Henry Noward the Queens Brother with divers others were all condemned for Misprision of Treason in concealing the Queens misdemeanour and adjudged to forfeit all their Lands and Goods during life and to remain in perpetual Prison The Lords and Commons in Parliament Petitioned the King That he would not vex himself with the Queens Offences and that both she and the Lady Rochford might be Attainted by Parliament And that to avoid protracting of time he would give his Royal Assent to it under the Great Seal without staying for the end of the Parliament Also that Dereham and Culpepper having been Attainted before by the Common-Law might be Attainted likewise by Parliament All which was Assented unto by the King After this the Queen and the Lady Rochford were beheaded on the Green within the Tower It is certainly said that after her Condemnation She protested to Dr. White Bishop of Winchester her last Confessor That as for the Act for which She was condemn'd She took God and his holy Angels to witness upon her Souls Salvation that She died guiltless Thus of the putting to death of his Wives Here follows an unheard of Cruelty of Bloodshed for Religion in these times of Confusion and Change of Religion ONe Lambert was accused for denying the real presence in the Sacrament who Appeal'd to the King and the King was content to hear him Whereupon a Throne was set up in the Hall of the King's Palace at Westminster for the King to sit And when the Bishops had urged their Arguments and could not prevail then the King took him in hand hoping perhaps to have the Honor of converting an Heretick when the Bishops could not do it and withal promised him pardon if he would recant But all would not do for he remained obstinate the King miss'd his Honor and the Delinquent his Pardon Being shortly after drawn to Smithfield and burnt Baker page 412. Two more were for the same cause burnt Baker in the same page Dr. John Fisher Bishop of Rochester and Sir Thomas Moor expresly denyed at Lambeth before the Archbishop of Canterbury to take the Oath of Supremacy and thereupon were both beheaded Bishop Fisher was much lamented as being reputed a man both learned and wise and of good life Sir Thomas Moor was both learned and very wise His Devotion was such that he used to wear a Shirt of Hair-cloth next his skin for a perpetual Penance And oftentimes in the Church he would put on a Surplice and help the Priest at Mass Which he did not forbear to do when he was Lord Chancellor of England as one time the Duke of Norfolk coming to the Church found him doing it Baker page 406. Sir William Peterson Priest late Commissary of Calais and Sir William Richardson Priest of St. Maries in Calais were both there drawn hang'd and quarter'd in the Market-place for the Supremacy Stow page 579. Dr. Wilson and Dr. Samson Bishop of Chichester were sent to the Tower for relieving certain Prisoners who had denyed to Subscribe to the King's Supremacy And for the same offence Richard Farmer Grocer of London a rich and wealthy Citizen was committed to the Marshalsea and after arraigned and attainted in a Praemunire and lost all his Goods his Wife and Children thrust out of doors Stow page 580. Robert Barns Dr. of Divinity Thomas Gerrard Parson of Honey-lane and William Jerom Vicar of Stepney-Heath Bachelors in Divinity Also Edward Powel Thomas Able and Richard Fetherston all Three Doctors were drawn from the Tower of London to West Smithfield The Three First were drawn to a Stake and there
Book might be approved by Our Authority and withal in a copious Oration manifested unto Us that as your Majesty hath confuted the notorious Errors of the same Martin Luther from true and convincing Reasons and unanswerable Authorities of the holy Scriptures and Fathers so that you will be ready with all the Forces and Arms of your Kingdom to punish and prosecute all such as shall presume to follow or defend any of the said Opinions Whereupon we have with all care and diligence perused the same Book and finding it to contain admirable Doctrine and full of the Spirit of God do give God infinite thanks from whom proceeds every good and perfect Gift for having thus inspir'd your mind and enabled you by his Grace to compose this Work for the defence of his holy Faith against this raiser up of old condemned Errors and to the inviting of other Kings and Christian Princes to follow your example in protecting Orthodox Faith and Evangelical Truth now expos'd to great danger and many oppositions We upon this likewise judging it just and reasonable to confer all Honour and Praises upon such as have employ'd their pious Labours in the defence of the said Christian Faith do not only extol and magnifie approve and confirm by Our Authority what your Majesty hath with so much solid Learning and Eloquence written against the same Martin Luther but do likewise confer upon your Majesty such a Title of Honour that by it all the Faithful may understand both now and for all future times how grateful and acceptable this your Majesties Gift hath been unto Us especially offered at this time We who are the true Successor of St Peter whom Christ ascending up to Heaven lest as his Vicar upon Earth committing to him the care of his Flock We I say sitting in this holy See having with mature Deliberation considered of this business with Our Brethren do with their unanimous Counsel and consent grant unto your Majesty the Title of Defender of the Faith which We do by these presents confirm unto you commanding all the Faithful to give your Majesty this Title and when they write unto you after the word King to annex this other of Defender of the Faith And assuredly if the excellency and dignity of this Title and your singular merits be well weigh'd and considered We could not have thought of any name more Noble nor better agreeable to your Majesty then this which as often as you hear and read you will have occasion to reflect upon your own Virtue and Merit not becoming more proud thereby but according to your wonted Prudence rather more humble and more establish'd in the Faith of Christ and respect towards this holy See rejoycing in our Lord the Giver of all Good things and leaving unto your Posterity this perpetual and immortal monument of your Glory shewing them the way that if they desire to possess this Title they labour to do works of this kind and to imitate your Majesties example who having deserv'd so much from Us and this See We give you Our Benediction and also to your Wife and Children and all that shall be born of them In the name of him from whom We have receiv'd this Power Beseeching the Almighty who said By me Kings reign and Princes command and in whose Hands the Hearts of all Kings are that he will confirm you in this holy Resolutiand encrease your Devotion and make your Actions for the preservation of Faith so illustrious throughout the whole World That no Man may have occasion to judge that this Title is confer'd upon you in vain And lastly Our Prayer is That your Majesty having happily pass'd the course of this present life may be made partaker of Eternal Glory Dated at Rome at St. Peters c. Thus far my Lord Herberts History I will now relate some other favours shew'd to him by Popes HE receiv'd from Pope Clement a Rose of Gold for a Present The reception of it is thus related by Sir Rich. Baker page 391. Doctor Thomas Hannibal Master of the Rolls was receiv'd into London by Earls Bishops and diverse Lords and Gentlemen as Embassador from Pope Clement who brought with him a Rose of Gold for a Present to the King and on the day of the Nativity of our Lady after a Solemn Mass sung by the Cardinal of York the said Present was delivered to the King which was a Tree forged of fine Gold with Branches Leaves and Flowers resembling Roses Thus far Sir Rich. Baker ANother Present was sent him by Pope Julius whereof there is this Relation in the same History page 376. Pope Julius the second sent to King Henry a Cap of Maintenance and a Sword and being angry with the King of France tranferred by Authority of the Lateran Council the Title of Christianissimo from him upon King Henry which with great solemnity was published the Sunday following at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul Thus far Sir Rich. Baker CHAP. I. The First Ground of the change of Religion in England was the business of the Kings Divorce from Queen Catherine which when it came to be publickly examined the Queen made this following Speech THe Queen according to the Form being called upon to come into the Court made no Answer but rose out of her Chair and came to the King kneeling down at his Feet to whom she said The Queens Speech SIR IN what have I offended you or what occasion of displeasure have I given you intending thus to put me from you I take God to be my Judge I have been to you a true and humble Wife ever conformable to your Will and Pleasure never contradicting or gain-saying you in any thing being always contented with all things wherein you had any delight or took any pleasure without grudge or countenance of discontent or displeasure I lov'd for your sake all them whom you lov'd whether I had cause or no whether they were my Friends or my Enemies I have been your Wife these twenty years or more and you had by me divers Children and when you had me at first I take God to be my Judg that I was a Maid and whether it be true or no I put it to your own Conscience If there be any just cause that you can alledge against me either of dishonesty or matter lawful to put me from you I am content to depart to my shame and confusion and if there be none then I pray you to let me have Justice at your Hands The King your Father was in his time of such an excellent Wit that he was accounted amongst all men for Wisdom to be a second Salomon and the King of Spain my Father Ferdinand was accounted one of the wisest Princes that had reign'd in Spain for many years It is not therefore to be doubted but that they had gathered as wise Counsellors unto them of every Realm as to their Wisdoms they thought meet and I conceive that there were in
Father Who looked upon it as an Argument of God's displeasure as being much offended at this Second Marriage He then began to think of His ill Fortune with both His Wives both Marriages subject to cispute and the Legitimation of both His Daughters likely to be called in question in the time succeeding He must therefore cast about for another Wife of whose Marriage and his Issue by Her there could rise no controversie His eye had carried him to a Gentlewoman in the Queens Attendance on the enjoying of whom he so fixed his Thoughts that he had quite obliterated all remembrance of his former Loves Whereupon He began to be as weary of Queen Annes Gayeties and Secular humor as formerly of the Gravity and Reservedness of Queen Katharine And causing many eyes to observe her Actions they brought him a Return of some particulars which he conceived might give him a sufficient ground to proceed upon The Lord Rochfort her own Brother having some Suit to obtain by her means of the King was found whispering to her on her Bed when she was in it which was interpreted for an act of some dishonor done or intended to be done to the King in the aggravating whereof with all odious circumstances none was more forward than the Lady Rochfort her self It was observed also That Sir Henry Norris Groom of the Stool to the King had entertained a very dear affection for her not without giving himself hopes of succeeding in the King's Bed if she chanced to survive Him And it appeared that she had given him opportunity to make his Affection known and to acquaint her with his hopes which she expressed by twitting him in a frolick humor with looking after dead mens shoes Weston and Breerton both Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber were observed also to be very diligent in their Services and Addresses to her which were construed more to proceed from Love than Duty Out of all these Premises the King resolved to come to a conclusion of His aims and wishes A Solemn Tilting was maintained at Greenwich at which both the King and Queen were present the Lord Rochfort and Sir Henry Norris being principal Challengers Here the Queen by chance let fall her Handkerchief which was taken up by one of her supposed Favourites who stood under the Window whom the King perceived to wipe his face with it This taken by the King to have been done of purpose he thereupon leaves the Queen and all the rest and goes immediatly to Westminster Rochfort and Norris are the next day committed to the Tower and the Queen likewise After which Breerton and Weston with Mark Smeton one of the King's Musicians were commited on the same occasion These persons being thus committed and the cause made known the next care was to find sufficient evidence for their condemnation It was objected That the Queen growing out of hope of having any issue Male by the King had used the company of the Lord Rochfort Norris Breerton Weston and Smeton involving her at once in no smaller crimes than Adultery and Incest It appears by a Letter of Sir William Kingston Lieutenant of the Tower that he had much communication with her when she was his Prisoner in which her language seemed to be broken and distressed betwixt tears and laughter She exclaimed against Norris as if he had accused her It was further signified in that Letter that she named some others who had obsequiously applyed themselves to her Love and Service acknowledging such passages as shewed she had made use of very great liberties The conclusion of this Business was That both the Queen and the rest of the Prisoners were all put to death So died this great Lady one of the most remarkable Mockeries and Disports of Fortune which these last ages have produced raised from the quality of a private Lady to the Bed of a King Crowned on the Throne and Executed on the Scaffold the Fabrick of her Power and Glory being Six years in Building but cast down in an instant The splendor and magnificence of her Coronation seeming to have no other end but to make her the more glorious Sacrifice at the next Alteration But her death was not the chief mark the King aim'd at If she had only lost her Head though with the loss of her Honor it would have been no Bar to her Daughter Elizabeth from Succeeding her Father in the Throne Now he must have his Bed free from all such pretensions the better to draw on the following Marriage It was therefore thought necessary that she should be separated from his Bed by some other means than the Ax or Sword and that He should be legally separated from her in a Court of Judicature when the Sentence of Death had deprived Her of all means as well as of all manner of desire to dispute the point It doth not appear in Record upon what ground this Marriage was dissolved All which occurs in reference to it is a Solemn Instrument under the Seal of the Archbishop Cranmer by which that Marriage is declared on good and valid Reasons to be null and void Which Sentence was pronounced at Lambeth in the Presence of most of the great Men of that time and approved by the Prelates and Clergy assembled in their Convocation and lastly confirmed by Act of Parliament In which Act there also passed a Clause which declared the Lady Elizabeth to be Illegitimate Thus far Dr. Heylyn concerning her Mother Now because the Relation here made concerning this Queen belongs to the Reign of King Henry the Eighth I think it will not be altogether improper to insert a Speech made in that Kings Reign which did not come to my hands time enough to be put into its proper place A Speech made in the Upper House of Parliment by Dr. John Fisher Bishop of Rochester in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth in opposition to the Suppressing of the lesser Monasteries My Honored Lords THis is the place where your glorious and noble Progenitors have paternized the Kingdom from oppression Here is the Sanctuary where in all Ages but this of ours our Mother Church found still a sound Protection I should be infinitely sorrowful that from you that are so lovely Branches of antiquity and Catholick Honor the Catholick Faith should be so deeply wounded For God's and your own Goodness sake leave not to Posterity so great a blemish that you were the First and only those that give it up to ruine Where there is Cause you nobly punish and with Justice but beware of infringing so long continued Priviledges or denying the Members of the Church the parts of their Advantage that is enjoyed by every private Subject The Commons shoot their Arrows at our Livings which are the Motives that conceit us or make us to be conceived guilty Is all the Kingdom innocent and we only faulty that there is no room left for other Considerations far more weighty The Diligence Devotion and Liberality of
began to build new Altars and set up the Mass So fared it now with the Zealots among the Protestants who measuring the Queens Affections by their own or else presuming that their Errors would be taken for an honest Zeal employed themselves as busily in the demolishing of Altars and defacing of Images as if they had been Licensed and commanded to it by some Legal Warrant It happened also that some of the Ministers who remained at home and others which returned in great numbers from beyond the Seas had put themselves into the Pulpits and bitterly enveighed against the Superstitions and corruptions of the Church of Rome The Papists accused the others of Heresies Schisms Innovation in the Worship of God For the Suppressing of which Disorders the Queen Commanded there should be no Disputes concerning Religion and that no Man of what Perswasion soever he was should be suffered to Preach in publick but only such as should be Licensed Which Command and Proclamation was so strictly observed that no Sermon was Preached at St. Paul's Cross or any Publick place in London till the Easter following At which time when the Preacher was to go into the Pulpit the Door was locked and the Key thereof not to be found So that a Smith was sent for to break open the Door and that being done the like necessity was found of cleansing and making sweet the place which by a long disuse had contracted so much filth and nastiness as rendred it unfit for a present Sermon By another Proclamation it was enjoyned That no Man of what quality or degree soever should presume to alter any thing in the State of Religion or innovate in any of the Rites and Ceremonies thereunto belonging But that all such Rites and Ceremonies should be observed in all Parish Churches of the Kingdom as were then used and retained in her Majesties Chappel until some further order should be taken in it Only it was permitted That the Litany should be said in the English Tongue as likewise the Epistle and Gospel at the time of High Mass which was accordingly done in all the Churches of London on the next Sunday after and by degrees in all the other Churches of the Kingdom Further than this She thought it not convenient to proceed at the present Only She Commanded the Priest or Bishop for some say it was the one and some the other who Officiated at the Altar in the Chappel Royal not to make any Elevation of the Sacrament the better to prevent the Adoration which was given to it which she could not suffer to be done in her sight without a most apparent wrong to her Judgment and Conscience Which being made known in other places and all other Churches being commanded to conform themselves to the Example of her Chappel the Elevation was forborn also in most other places And though there were no further progress made towards a Reformation by any publick Act or Edict yet secretly a Reformation in the Form of Worship and consequently in point of Doctrine was both intended and projected Thus far Dr. Heylyn ' Concerning ' the Policy used in making this Change This Relation is thus otherwise delivered by Sir Rich. Baker pag. 474. QUeen Elizabeth intending an Alteration of Religion would not do it all at once and upon the sudden but by little and little As at first she permitted only the Epistles and Gospels of the Day to be read at Mass in English But in all other matters they were to follow the Roman Rite and Custom until order could be taken for Establishing Religion by Authority of Parliament And a severe Proclamation was set out prohibiting all Disputations of Religion By which means She both put the Protestants in hope and put not Papists out of hope Yet privately She committed the Correcting of the Book of Common-Prayer set forth in the English Tongue under King Edward the Sixth to the care and diligence of Dr. Parker and others But the matter was carried on so closely that it was not communicated to any but the Marquess of Northampton the Earl of Bedford and Sir William Cecil Soon after this the use of the Lord's Supper in both kinds was by Parliament allowed And within Two or Three Months the Sacrifice of the Mass was abolished and the Liturgy in the English Tongue Established though as some say but with the difference of Six Voices in the House of Commons The next Month the Oath of Supremacy was offered to the Catholick Bishops and others and the Month following Images were removed out of the Churches broken and burnt By these degrees Religion in England was changed The Supremacy confirmed to the Queen As many of the Bishops as refused to take the Oath were presently deprived of their Bishopricks and Protestant Bishops put in the possession of them Thus Sir Rich. Baker relates this strange manner of changing Religion by degrees A necessary consequence of these Proceedings was a general Confusion in matters of Religion Which is thus set down by Howes upon Stow pag. 635. At this time the English Nation was wonderfully divided in Opinions as well in matters of Ecclesiastical Government as in divers Points of Religion by reason of Three Changes within the compass of Twelve years Every one of these varying from that which was Authorized by Henry the Eighth For King Henry assuming the Ecclesiastical Supremacy with the First Fruits and Tenths maintained Seven Sacraments with Obits and Mass for the Quick and Dead King Edward abolished the Mass Authorized a Book of Common-Prayer in English with Hallowing the Bread and Wine c. and Established only Two Sacraments Queen Mary restored all Things according to the Church of Rome reduced all Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction to the Papal Obedience with restitution of First Fruits and Tenths permitting nothing within her Realm and Dominions repugnant to the Roman Catholick Church Queen Elizabeth in Her First Parliament expelled the Papal Supremacy resumed the First Fruits and Tenths Suppressed the Mass and for the general Uniformity of her Dominions Established the Book of Common-Prayer in the English Tongue forbidding all others Thus Stow ' concerning these Prodigious Changes in Religion made by Publick Authority CHAP. III. Of the order of the Establishment of this last Change of Religion by Parliament And of a Speech made in Parliament in Opposition to the Queens Supremacy Dr. Heylyn pag. 107. NOw a Parliament draws on Summoned chiefly in reference to the Reformation which was therein to be established The Queens design in order to it could not be so closely carried but that such Lords and Gentlemen as had the managing of Elections in their several Counties retained such Men for Members of the House of Commons as they conceived most likely to comply with their intentions for a Reformation Amongst whom none appeared more active than the Duke of Norfolk the Earl of Arundel and Sir William Cecil In this Parliament there passed an Act for Restoring to the Crown the Tenths and
Auricular Confession is expedient and necessary to be retained and continued used and frequented in the Church of God For the which most Godly study pain and travel of His Majesty and determination and resolution of the Premises His humble and obedient Subjects the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled not only render and give unto His Highness their most high and hearty Thanks and think themselves most bound to Pray for the long continuance of his Graces most Royal Estate and Dignity And being also desirous that his most Godly enterprize may be well accomplished and brought to a full end and perfection and so Established that the same might be to the Honor of God and after to the common Quiet Unity and Concord to be had in the whole Body of this Realm for ever Do most humbly beseech His Royal Majesty that the Resolution and Determination above written of the said Articles may be established and perpetually perfected by the Authority of this present Parliament It is therefore Ordained and Enacted by the King our Sovereign Lord and by the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and by the Commons in this present Parliament Assembled and by the Authority of the same That if any Person or Persons within this Realm of England or in any other of the Kings Dominions do by Word Writing Printing Ciphering or any otherwise Publish Preach Teach Say Affirm Declare Dispute Argue or Hold any Opinion 1. That in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar under the Form of Bread and Wine after the Consecration thereof there is not present really the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ conceived of the Virgin Mary or that after the said Consecration there remains any Substance of Bread or Wine or any other Substance but the Substance of Christ God and Man or likewise to Publish Preach Teach Say Affirm Declare Dispute Argue or Hold Opinion that in the Flesh under the Form of Bread there is not the very Blood of Christ or that with the Blood under the Form of Wine there is not the very Flesh of Christ as well apart as though they were both together or by any the means abovesaid or otherwise do Preach Teach Declare or Affirm the said Sacrament to be of other Substance than is abovesaid or do by any means Contemn Deprave or Despise the said Blessed Sacrament that then such Person or Persons so offending shall be deemed and adjudged Hereticks and that every such offence shall be judged manifest Heresie and that every such Offender and Offenders shall therefore have and suffer Judgment Execution Pain and Pains of Death by way of Burning without any Abjuration Clergy or Sanctuary and their Estates to be Confiscated to the King as in Cases of High Treason 2. And moreover if any do obstinately Affirm Uphold Maintain or Defend that the Communion of the Blessed Sacrament in both kinds that is to say in Form of Bread and also of Wine is necessary for the health of Man's Soul or that it ought or should be Given and Administred to any Persons in both kinds or that it is necessary so to be taken or received by any Person other than Priests being at Mass and Consecrating the same 3. Or that any Man after having received the Order of Priesthood may marry 4. Or that any Man or Woman who hath advisedly vowed or professed Chastity or Widowhood may marry 5. Or that Private Masses be not lawful or not laudable or should not be celebrated had nor used in the Realm nor be not agreeable to the Laws of God 6. Or that Auricular Confession is not expedient and necessary to be retained and continued used and frequented in the Church of God Such Persons are to suffer pains of death as in cases of Felony without any benefit of Clergie or Priviledge of Church or Sanctuary and shall forfeit all their Lands and Goods as in cases of Felony Thus far out of the same Book CHAP. IV. Of another Effect of this Change which was a horrid Effusion of Blood QUeen Anne Boleign who had been the first occasion of this Change of Religion was beheaded Whereof there is this Relation Baker pag. 407. It was now the Twenty eighth year of King Henries Reign When there were solemn Justs at Greenwich from whence the King suddenly departed and came to Westminster Whose sudden departure struck amazement into many but to the Queen especially And not without cause For the next day the Lord Rochford her Brother and Henry Norris were brought to the Tower Prisoners Whither also the same day was brought Queen Anne her self Who at the Tower-gate fell on her knees beseeching God to help her as she was innocent of that whereof she was accused Soon after this she was arraigned in the Tower and found guilty and had Judgment pronounced Immediately the Lord Rochford her Brother was likewise Arraigned Who together with Henry Norris Mark Smeton William Brierton and Francis Weston all of the King's Privy-Chamber about matters touching the Queen were beheaded on Tower-hill Within Two days Queen Anne her self on a Scaffold upon the Green within the Tower was also beheaded At her death she spake these words God save my Master and Sovereign the King the most Goodliest Noblest and Gentlest Prince that is and grant him that he may long Reign over you which words she spake with a smiling countenance which done she kneeled down and the Hangman of Calais smote off her head at one stroke For her Religion she was an earnest Professor and one of the first Counternancers of the Gospel The Crimes for which she died were Adultery and Incest She had many Enemies as being a Protestant and perhaps in that respect the King himself not greatly her Friend For though he had excluded the Pope yet he continued a Papist still Her Death cast upon King Henry a dishonorable Imputation Insomuch that whereas the Protestant Princes of Germany had resolved to chuse him for Head of their League after they heard of this Queens Death they utterly refused him Thus far Sir Rich. Baker The next day after her Death the King Married the Lady Jane Seymour Stow Page 573. In the next place Thomas Cromwel who had been the grand Promoter of this business was likewise beheaded Whereof thus writes Howes upon Stow page 508. THomas Cromwel Earl of Essex being in the Council-Chamber was suddenly apprehended and committed to the Tower of London and soon after attainted of Heresie and High Treason When he was brought to the Scaffold on Tower-hill to be executed he spake these words I pray you that be here to bear me witness that I die in the Catholick Faith not doubting in any Article of my Faith or in any Sacrament of the Church Many have slandered me and reported that I have been an A better of such as have maintained evil Opinions which is untrue But I confess that like as God by his holy Spirit does instruct us
to make Deans and Chapters useless and thereby to prepare them for a Dissolution Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this Act of Parliament I will take leave here although it be not its proper place to insert an Act of Parliament of the third year of this King's Reign concerning the Form to be used in making of Bishops The words of the Act are these to wit THat such form and Manner of Making and Consecrating of Archbishops Bishops Priests and Deacons as by Six Prelates and Six other Learned Men or by the most number of them they being appointed and assigned by the King shall be devised for that purpose and set forth under the Great Seal shall be accounted as lawfully exercised and Used and no other Thus Dr. Heylyn page 82. concerning the Election of Bishops From this Alteration which was made in Parliament in reference to the making of Bishops and the way of Exercising their Authority we shall find in the Progress of this story That there was great Havock and Spoyl made of the Bishopricks themselves Two Examples and Testimonies whereof here immediately follow Related thus by Dr. Heylyn pag. 129. THe See of Lincoln being vacant it was kept void from August till the next June During which interval the Patrimony of that great and wealthy Bishoprick one of the richest in the Kingdom was so dismembred in it self so parcelled out for a prey to others That when the new Bishop was to be restored to his Temporals there was none of all his Mannors reserved for him but his Mannor of Bugden together with some Farms and Impropriations The rest was to be raised out of the Profits of his Jurisdiction Yet so that nothing was to be abated in his Tenths and First Fruits which were kept up according to their former value The second Example is this Doctor Barlow being made Bishop of Bath and Wells gratified the Lord Protector with a Present of Eighteen or Nineteen Mannors which anciently belonged unto it And lying all or most part of them in the County of Sommerset seemed very conveniently disposed of for the better maintenance of the Title of Duke of Sommerset which the Protector had taken to himself Many such strange Donations we shall find in others The more to be excused because there was no other Means as the times then were to preserve the whole but by advancing some part thereof to preserve the rest Thus Dr. Heylyn page 130. concerning these Bishopricks And thus far concerning the proceedings of this Parliament CHAP. III. Of several other Alterations in Religion made in the beginning of this Year Of which Dr. Heylyn gives this Account Page 54. Anno Regni Edwardi Sexti 2. NO sooner was this year begun but it was Ordered by the King and his Privy Council that no Candles should be born upon Candlemas-day nor Ashes or Palms used any longer The Lords drove this business on so fast That before this Order could be published in the remote parts of the Kingdom they followed it with another as little pleasing to the main Body of the People concerning the taking down of all Images which in some places of the Realm were either not taken down at all as was required the year before by the King's Injunctions or had been Re-edified again as soon as the first heats of the Visitation had began to cool Bishop Gardiner in a Letter of his signified his great dislike of some proceedings had at Portsmouth in taking down the Images of Christ and his Saints certifying withal That he had not only seen these Images standing in all the Churches of the Lutherans but that Luther himself had purposly written a Book against some men that had defaced them And therefore it may be well thought that Covetousness spurred on this business more than Zeal There being none of these Images so poor and mean the spoyl whereof would not afford some Gold and Silver if not Jewels also besides Censers Candlesticks and many other rich Utensils appertaining to them In which respect the Commissioners hereto Authorized were entertained in many places with scorn and railing and the further they went from London the worse they were handled Insomuch as that one of them as he was pulling down an Image in Cornwal was stabbed And though the Principal Offender was hanged which quieted all matters for a time yet the next year the storm broke out more violently than before not only to the endangering of the peace of those Western Counties but in a manner of all the Kingdom Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning the Zeal of the People about the taking down of Images Which great Commotions the Council could not but foresee as the most probable Consequents of such Alterations Especially when they are sudden and press'd too fast There being nothing of which People commonly are so tender as they are of Religion on which their happiness depends not only for this world but the world to come And therefore it concerned them in point of Prudence to let the People see that there was no intention to abolish all their ancient Ceremonies And in particular it was held expedient to give the generality of the Subjects some contentment in a Proclamation for the strict keeping of Lent and the Example of the Court in Pursuance of it For Dr. Glasier Preaching at Paul's Cross affirmed That Lent was not Ordained of God to be Fasted neither the eating of Flesh to be forborn But that the same was a Politick Ordinance of men and therefore might be broken by men at their pleasures Upon this there was no scarcity of those that cried down all the Observations of Days and Times even to the Libelling against that ancient and Religious Fast in most scandalous Rhymes Complaint whereof being made by Bishop Gardiner to the Lord Protector a Proclamation was set out by which all People were commanded to abstain from Flesh in the time of Lent and the King's Lenten-dyet was set out and served as in former times Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this Policy To Establish this more firmly there was this following Act of Parliament made concerning it Thus set down in the Statute Book FOrasmuch as divers of the King's Subjects have of late more than in times past broken and contemned such Abstinencies as have been used in this Realm upon Fridays and Saturdays Ember-days Vigils Lent and other accustomed times this Parliament considering that due and godly Abstinence is a means to Virtue and to subdue mens Bodies to their Soul and Spirit And considering withal that Fishers may thereby be more set a work and that by eating of Fish much Flesh shall be saved and encreased and also for divers other Considerations and Commodities of the Realm doth Enact and Ordain That all manner of Statutes Laws Constitutions and Usages concerning any manner of Fasting and Abstinence from any kind of meats heretofore in this Realm made or used shall lose their force and strength and be void and of no effect And also that no Person
and Iron to be sold and disposed of for the sole use and benefit of the said Dean and Chapter Which foul Transaction being made the Church was totally pulled down a Tavern built on the East-part of it the rest of the Scituation of the said Church and College together with the whole Precinct thereof being built upon with several Tenements But for this Sacriliege the Church of Westminster was called immediately to a sober reckoning For the Lord Protector thinking it altogether unnecessary that two Cathedrals should be Founded so near together and conceiving that the Church of Westminster as being of a late Foundation might best be spared had cast a longing Eye upon the goodly Patrimony which remained unto it And being then unfurnish'd of a House or Palace proportionable to his Greatness he doubted not to find room enough upon the Dissolution and Destruction of so large a Fabrick to raise a Palace equal to his vast Designs Which coming to the Ears of Benson the last Abbot and first Dean of that Church he could bethink himself of no other means to preserve the whole than by parting for the present with more than half the Estate which belonged unto it And thereupon a Lease is made of Seventy Mannors and good Farms lying almost together in the County of Glocester for the term of Ninety nine Years which they presented to the Lord Thomas Seymour to serve as an Addition to his Mannor of Sudeley humbly beseeching him to stand their good Lord and Patron and to preserve them in a fair esteem with the Lord Protector Another Present of almost as many Mannors and Farms lying in the Counties of Glocester Worcester and Hereford was made for the like term to Sir John Mason a special Confident of the Dukes not for his own but for the use of his Great Master which after the Duke all came to Sir John Bourn Principal Secretary of State in the time of Queen Mary And yet this would not serve the turn till they had put into the Scale their Mannor of Islip conferred upon the Church by King Edward the Confessor to which no fewer than Two hundred customary Tenants owed their Soyl and Service and being one of the best Woody things in these parts of the Realm was to be granted also without impeachment of Wast as it was accordingly By means whereof the Deanery was preserv'd for the latter times How it succeeded with the Bishoprick we shall see afterwards Thus Benson saved the Deanery but he lost himself For calling to remembrance that formerly he had been a means to Surrender the Abbey and was now forc'd on the necessity of Dilapidating the Estate of the Deanery he fell into a great disquiet of Mind which brought him to his Death within some Months after The reason of selecting these two Free-Chappels out of all the rest was because there was more depending on the story of them than of any others Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning the College of St. Martins Bad Examples seldom end where they first begin For the Nobility and inferior Gentry possessed of Patronages considering how much the Lords and Great Men of the Court had improv'd their Fortunes by the Suppression of Chantries and other Foundations which had been granted to the King conceiving themselves in a capacity to do the like by taking into their Hands the yearly profits of such Benefices of which by Law they only were entrusted with the Presentations Of which Abuse complaint is made by Bishop Latimer who says That the Gentry of that time invaded the Profits of the Church leaving the Title only to the Incumbent and that Chantry-Priests were put by them into several Cures to save their Pensions That many Benefices were let out in Fee-Farm or given unto Servants for keeping of Hounds Hawks and Horses and for making of Gardens And finally That the poor Clergie being kept to some sorry Pittance were forc'd to put themselves into Gentlemens Houses and there to serve as Clerks of the Kitchin Surveyors Receivers c. Bishop Latimer in his Printed Sermons Page 38. 71. 91. 114. All which Enormities though tending so apparently to the Dishonour of God and Disgrace of Religion were generally connived at by the Lords and others because they could not question those who had so miserably invaded the Churches Patrimony without condemning of themselves Thus Dr. Heylyn relates these Prodigious Sacrilieges CHAP. VI. Of the Sacrileges committed in the Building of Sommerset-House and of the starting up of New Sects and other Occurrences of this Year Dr. Heylyn Page 72. Anno Regni Edwardi Sexti 3. THE Protector intending to Erect a Magnificent Palace was bought out of his Design of building it on the Deanery and Close of Westminster and therefore cast his Eye upon a piece of Ground in the Strand on which stood Three Episcopal Houses and one Parish-Church The Parish Church Dedicated to the Virgin Mary the Houses belonging to the Bishops of Worcester Lichfield and Landaff All these he takes into his hands the Owners not daring to oppose and therefore willingly consenting to it Having clear'd the place and finding that more materials would be wanting than the demolished Churches and Houses could afford he resolv'd to take down the Parish-Church of St. Margarets in Westminster and to turn the Parishioners for Celebrating all Divine Offices into some part of the Nave or main Body of the Abbey Church But the Work-men had no sooner advanced their Scaffolds when the Parishioners gathered together in great multitudes with Bows and Arrows Staves and Clubs and other such Weapons which so terrified the Work-men that they ran away in great amazement and never could be brought again upon that Employment Upon this he conceiv'd it would be a safer undertaking to fall upon St. Paul's the Bishop then standing on his good behavior and the Dean and Chapter of that Church as of all the rest being no better in a manner by reason of the last Act of Parliament than Tenants at Will of their great Landlords And upon this he employs Work-men to take down the Cloyster of Paul's on the North-side of the Church and a piece of curious Work round about the Cloyster with a Chappel that stood in the midst of the Church-yard also the Charnel-House that stood upon the South-side of it now a Carpenters-yard with the Chappel Timber and Monuments therein which were all beaten down the Bones of the Dead carried into Finsbury-fields and the Stones converted to this Building and the vacant places filled up afterwards with Dwelling-Houses Moreover the Church of St. John of Jerusalem near Smith-field was undermined and blown up with Gunpowder and the Stones applied to this Spacious Building Likewise Barking Chappel near the Tower of London and the College-Church of St. Martins le Grand nigh the Shambles and St. Ewens within Newgate also the Parish-Church of St. Nicholas in the Shambles were pulled quite down Such was the Ground and such the Materials of the Dukes
Tomb of the Dead with his face toward the North. Which is to be observed the rather because this Curate hath found so many followers in these latter times For as some of the Preciser sort have of late left the Church to Preach in Woods and Barns c. and in stead of the old Days and Months can find no other Title for them than the First Second or Third Month of the Year and so of the Days of the Week c. So was it propounded not long since by some State Reformers That the Fast of Lent should be kept no longer between Shrove-tide and Easter but rather by some Act or Ordinance made for that purpose betwixt Easter and Whitsontide To such wild Fancies do Men grow when once they break those Bounds and neglect those Rules which wise Antiquity ordained for the Preservation of Peace and Order Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning these Confusions If it be asked What in the mean time was become of Bishops and why no care was taken for the Purging those peccant Humors It may be answered That the Wings of their Authority had been so clipped that it was scarce able to fly abroad The Sentence of Excommunication not having been in use since the first of this King Whether it were that Command was laid upon the Bishops by which they were restrained from the Exercise of it or that some other course was in agitation for drawing the Cognizance of all Ecclesiastical causes to the Court of Westminster or that it was thought inconsistent with that dreadful Sentence to be issued in the King's Name as it had been lately appointed by Act of Parliament it is not casie to determine But certain it is that at this time it was either abolished for the present or of no effect not only to the cherishing of these Disorders amongst the Ministers of the Church but to the great encrease of viciousness in all sorts of men Lechery saith Bishop Latimer is used in England and such Lechery as is used in no other part of the World And it is made a matter of sport a matter of nothing a laughing matter a Trifle not to be regarded not to be reformed Peter Martyr much bemoans the miserable condition of the Church for want of Preachers Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning these Disorders Altars taken down But the great business this year was the taking down of Altars The Principal Motive whereunto was the Opinion of some dislikes which had been taken by Calvin against the Liturgy and the desire of those of the Zuinglian Faction to reduce this Church unto the Nakedness and Simplicity of those Transmarine Churches which followed the Helvetian or Calvinian Forms and withal to abolish the thought of a Sacrifice But that the consideration of Profit did advance this work as much as any other if perchance not more may be collected from an Enquiry made about Two years after In which it was to be Interrogated What Jewels of Gold and Silver or Silver-Crosses Candlesticks Censers Chalices Copes and other Vestments were then remaining in any of the Cathedral or Parochial Churches or otherwise had been Embezzeled or taken away The leaving of one Chalice to every Church with a Cloth or Covering for the Communion-Table being thought sufficient Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this strange way of Reforming or rather Deforming all things Reasons given for the taking down of Altars The Reasons that were given for the doing of this were these First To with-draw the People from the Opinion of the Mass to the right use of the Lord's Supper The use of an Altar being to Sacrifice upon and the use of a Table to eat upon And therefore a Table to be far more fit for our feeding on him who was once only crucified and offered for us Secondly That in the Book of Common-Prayer the name of Altar and Lord's Board and Table are used indifferently without Prescribing any thing in the form thereof For as it is called a Table and the Lord's Board in reference to the Lord's Supper so it is called an Altar also in reference to the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving And so that the changing of Altars into Tables was no way repugnant to the Rules of the Liturgy Thirdly That Altars were erected for the Sacrifices of the Law which being now ceased the Form of the Altar was to cease together with them Fourthly That as Christ did Institute the Sacrament of his Body and Blood at a Table and not at an Altar so it is not to be found that any of the Apostles did ever use an Altar in the Ministration And finally That it is declared in the Preface to the Book of Common-Prayer That if any Doubt arise in the use and practising of the said Book that then to appease all such diversity the matter shall be referred unto the Bishop of the Diocess who by his discretion shall take order for the quieting of it Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning these Reasons Page 96. But the taking down of Altars being Decreed and Commanded a question afterwards did arise about the Form of the Lord's Board some using it in the form of a Table and some in the form of an Altar Ridley Bishop of London determined it for the form of a Table to abolish all memory of the Mass And upon this caused the Wall standing on the back-side of the Altar in the Church of St. Paul's to be broken down for an example to the rest But yet there followed no universal change of Altars into Tables in all parts of the Realm till the repealing of the first Liturgy in which the Priest is appointed to stand before the midst of the Altar in the Celebration and the establishing of the Second in which it is required That the Priest shall stand on the North-side of the Table which put an end to the Dispute Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning Altars CHAP. VIII Of the strange Confusion in all matters of Religion which this new Change of Religion caused no man yet knowing positively and dogmatically what he was to believe Dr. Heylyn Page 106. Anno Regni Edwardi Sexti 5. NOthing as yet had been concluded positively and dogmatically in Points of Doctrine but as they were to be collected from the Homilies and the Publick Liturgy and those but few in reference to the many Controversies which were to be maintained against the Sectaries of that Age Many Disorders having grown up in this little time in officiating the Liturgy the Vestures of the Church and the Habit of Church-men begun by Calvin prosecuted by Hooper and countenanced by the large Immunities granted to John a Lasco and his Church of Strangers And unto these the change of Altars into Tables gave no small encrease as well by reason of some differences which grew amongst the Ministers themselves upon that occasion as in regard of the irreverence which it bred in the People to whom it made the Sacrament to appear less venerable than before it did The People had been
be paid at her Marriage and in the interim Three Thousand pound per annum for Her personal maintenance Little or nothing more occurs of Her in the time of King Henry because there was little Alteration made in the face of Religion which might give Her any cause of Publick or personal dislike But when the great Alterations happened in the time of King Edward She then declared her Self more openly as She might more safely in opposition to the same Concerning which She thus declared Her self in a Letter to the Lord Protector and the rest of the Council Dated at Kenninghall June 22. Anno 1549. My Lord I Perceive by the Letters which I lately received from you and others of the Council That you be all sorry to find so little Conformity in me touching the observation of his Majesties Laws who am well assured that I have offended no Law unless it be a late Law of your own making which in my Conscience is not worthy the name of a Law both for the King's Honors sake and the wealth of the Realm and giving the occasion of an evil bruit throughout all Christendom besides the partiallity used in the same and as my Conscience is very well perswaded the offending God which passes all the rest But I am very well assured That the King his Father's Laws were allowed and consented to without Compulsion by the whole Realm both Spiritual and Temporal and all the Executors Sworn upon a Book to fulfil the same so that it was an Authorized Law And that I have obeyed and will do with the Grace of God till the King's Majesty my Brother shall have sufficient years to judge in this matter himself In this my Lord I was plain with you at my last being in the Court declaring to you at that time whereunto I would stand And now do assure you all the only occasion of my stay from altering my Opinion is for Two causes One principally for my Conscience The Other that the King my Brother shall not hereafter charge me to be one of those that were agreeable to such Alterations in his tender years And what fruits daily grow by such Changes since the death of the King my Father it well appears to every indifferent Person both to the Displeasure of God and Unquietness of the Realm Notwithstanding I assure you all I would be as loth to see his Highness take hurt or that any evil should come to this his Realm as the best of you all And none of you have the like cause considering how I am compelled by nature being his Majesties poor and humble Sister most tenderly to Love and pray for Him and to wish unto this Realm being born within the same all wealth and prosperity to God's Honor. And if any judge of me the contrary for my Opinions sake as I trust none does I doubt not in the end with God's help to prove my self as True a Natural and Humble Sister as they of the contrary Opinion with all their devices and altering the Laws shall prove themselves good Subjects I pray you my Lords and the rest of the Council no more to disquiet and trouble me with matters touching my Conscience wherein I am at a full point with God's help whatsoever shall happen to me intending with his Grace to trouble you little with any worldly suits But to bestow that short time I think to live in quietness praying for the King's Majesty and all you Heartily wishing that your Proceedings may be to God's Honor the Safeguard of the King's Person and quietness of the Realm And thus my Lords I wish unto you and all the rest as well to do as my self But notwithstanding this Letter no favor was to be hoped for from these Lords They signifying unto her how sensible they were of those Inconveniences which the Example of her Inconformity to the Laws Established was likely to produce amongst the rest of the Subjects And hereupon the Lord Chancellor and Secretary Peters were sent to her who after some Conferences brought her to the King at Westminster Here the Council declared unto her how long the King had permitted her the use of Mass and considering her Obstinacy was resolved now no longer to permit it unless She would put Him in hope of some Conformity in time To which She answered That her Soul was God's and touching her Faith as she could not change so she would not dissemble it Reply was made That the King intended not to constrain her Faith but to restrain the outward profession of it in regard of the danger the Example might draw After some like enterchanges of speeches the Lady was appointed to remain with the King When there arrived an Embassador from the Emperor with a threatning Message of War in case his Cosin the Lady Mary should be denied the Free Exercise of Mass. Hereupon the King presently advised with the Archbishop of Canterbury and with the Bishops of London and Rochester Who gave their Opinion that to give licence to sin was sin But to connive at sin might be allowed so it were not too long nor without hope of Reformation Then Answer was given to the Embassador That the King would send to the Emperor within a Month or Two and give him such Satisfaction as should be fit Upon this Earnest Soliciation of the Emperor it was declared unto her by the King with the consent of his Council That for his sake and her own also it should be suffered and winked at if she had the private Mass used in her own Closet for a season until she might be better informed But so that none but some few of her own Chamber should be present with her And that to all the rest of her House-hold the Service of the Church should be only used Whereupon Mallet and Barkeley Two of her Chaplains saying Mass promiscuously in her absence to her houshold-Servants were seized on and committed Prisoners Which first occasioned an exchange of Letters betwixt her and the King and afterwards more frequently between her and the Council One of which Letters to the Council touching this matter I will here insert taken out of Fox's Acts and Monuments Page 704. The Lady Mary to the Lords of the Council My Lords WHereas you writ that two of my Chaplains Dr. Mallet and Barkeley are Indicted for certain things committed by them contrary to the King's Majesties Laws and that a Process for them is also awarded or given forth and delivered to the Sheriff of Essex I cannot but marvel they should be so used considering it is done as I understand for sâ—…ying Mass within my House and although I have been of my self minded alwaies and yet am to have Mass within my House yet I have been advertised that the Emperor's Majesty also hath been promised that I should never be unquieted nor troubled for my so doing as some of you my Lords can witness Moreover the declaration of the said Promise was made to
Glory which by rash talk and words many have pretended And in so doing they should best please God and live without danger of the Laws and maintain the tranquillity of the Realm And furthermore for as much as it is well known That Sedition and false Rumors have been nourished and maintained in this Realm by the subtilty and malice of some evil-disposed Persons who take upon them without sufficient Authority to Preach and Interpret the Word of God after their own brains in Churches and other places both Publick and Private and also by playing Enterludes and Printing of false fond Books Ballads Rhymes and other lewd Treatises concerning Doctrine in matters now in Question Her Highness therefore strictly Charges and Commands That nothing in this kind be evermore Acted Thus Dr. Heylyn Relates Her moderate Proceedings as to Religion CHAP. III. A full Relation of the Reconciling this Nation to its former Obedience and Subjection to the Church of Rome Anno Reg. Mar. 2. Dr. Heylyn pag. 41. THe next work was the Reconciling this Nation to its former Obedience and Subjection to the Church of Rome But before the attempting this it was thought fit to remove one Difficulty which was most likely to hinder the progress of this Design The Difficulty was this There was a general fear That if the Popes were restored to their former Power the Church might challenge Restitution of her former Possessions Now to secure them against this Fear they had not only the Promise of the King and Queen but some Assurance underhand from the Cardinal Legat who knew right well that the Church Lands had been so chopped and changed by the Two last Kings as not to be restored without the manifest ruine of many of the Nobility and most of the Gentry who were invested in the same Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning this Obstacle Which being removed the work goes on The Relation whereof is thus delivered by Sir Rich. Baker Page 461. Cardinal Pool being sent for by the King and Queen came over into England from Rome as Legat à Latere Whereupon a Parliament being called and the King and Queen sitting there under a Cloth of State with the Cardinal on their right hand All the Lords Knights and Burgesses being present the Bishop of Winchester Lord Chancellor made a short Speech signifying the Presence of the Lord Cardinal and that he was sent from the Pope as his Legat à Latere to do a work tending to the Glory of God and the Benefit of them all which says he you may better hear from his own Mouth Thus Sir Rich. Baker Dr. Heylyn pag. 41. Then the Cardinal rose up and made a very grave and eloquent Speech First giving them Thanks for being restored unto his Country In recompence whereof he told them That he was come to restore them to the Country and Court of Heaven from which by their departure from the Church they had been estranged He therefore earnestly exhorts them to acknowledge their Errors and chearfully to receive the benefit which Christ was ready by his Vicar to extend unto them His Speech was said to have been long and Artificial but it concluded to this purpose That he had the Keys to open them away into the Church which they had shut against themselves by making so many Laws to the dishonor and reproach of the See Apostolick On the revoking of which Laws they should find him ready to make use of the Keys in opening of the door of the Church unto them It was concluded hereupon by both Houses of Parliament That a Petition should be made in the Name of the Kingdom wherein should be declared how sorry they were That they had withdrawn their Obedience from the Apostolick See and consented to the Statutes made against it promising to do their best endeavor hereafter That the said Laws and Statutes should be Repealed beseeching the King and Queen to intercede for them with his Holiness that they might be Absolved from their Crimes and Censures which they had incurred and be received as Penitent Children into the bosom of the Church These things being thus resolved upon both Houses are called again to the Court on Sr. Andrews day Where being Assembled in the Presence of the King and Queen they were asked by the Lord Chancellor Gardiner Whether they were pleased that Pardon should be demanded of the Legat and whether they would return to the Unity of the Church and Obedience of the Pope Supreme Head thereof To which they assenting the Petition was presented to their Majesties in the Name of the Parliament Which being publickly read they arose with a purpose to have moved the Cardinal in it who meeting their desires declared his readiness in giving them that Satisfaction which they would have craved And having caused the Authority given him by the Pope to be publickly read he shewed how acceptable the repentance of a Sinner was in the sight of God and that the very Angels in Heaven rejoyced at the Conversion of this Kingdom Which said they all kneeled upon their Knees and imploring the Mercy of God received Absolution for themselves and the rest of the Kingdom Which Absolution was pronounced in these following words viz. Our Lord Jesus Christ who with his most precious Blood hath redeemed and washed us from all our sins and iniquities that he might purchase to himself a glorious Spouse without spot or wrinkle and whom the Father hath appointed Head over all his Church He by his Mercy Absolve you And we by Apostolical Authority given unto us by his Holiness Pope Julius the 3d. his Vice-gerent here on Earth do Absolve and Free you and every one of you with the whole Realm and the Dominions thereof from all Heresie and Schism and from all and every Judgment Censures and Pains for that cause incurred and also we do restore you again to the Unity of our Mother the Holy Church as in our Letters more plainly it shall appear In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Which words of his being seconded by a loud Amen by such as were present he concluded that days work with a solemn Procession to the Chappel for rendring Prayers and Thanks to Almighty God And because this great work was wrought on St. Andrews day the Cardinal procured a Decree or Canon to be made in the Convocation of the Bishops and Clergy That from thenceforth the Feast of St. Andrews-day should be kept in the Church of England for a Majus Duplex as the Rituals call it and Celebrated with as much Solemnity as any other in the year It was thought fit also That the Actions of that Day should be communicated on the Sunday following at St. Paul's Cross in the hearing of the Lord Mayor Aldermen and the rest of the City According to which appointment the Cardinal went from Lambeth by Water and landing at St. Paul's-wharf from thence proceeded to the Church with a Cross two Pillars