THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF Great Britain FROM THE Birth of our SAVIOUR untill the Year of our LORD 1667. With an exact Succession of the Bishops and the memorable Acts of many of them TOGETHER With an Addition of all the English Cardinals and the several Orders of English Monks Friars and Nuns in former Ages Historia vitae nostrae Magistra Bodin LONDON Printed for Philip Chetwin and to be Sold by most Book-sellers 1674. Honoratissimis D no. HENRICO TVLSE Aequiti Aurato Senatori Vicecomiti Londonensi JACOBI READING PETRO RICH. RICHARDO HOW JOHANNI SHORTER In Agro Surriensi Armigeris Viris summi Candoris Pietatis ac Literarum fautoribus hunc Librum in perpetuum observantiae Testimonium D. D. D. G. G. TO THE READER THere is no greater Priviledge bestowed by the Lord upon one Nation above others than in the free use of the Sacred Scriptures and Ordinances Israel had much advantage above the Gentiles chiefly or principally because unto them were committed the Oracles of God the word of grace the Covenant of life and peace Rom. 3.2 S. Paul els-where reckoning up the Priviledges of Israel mentioneth this in several expressions as prime Priviledge The Covenants the giving of the Law and the Promises Rom. 9 4. all which are comprehended under the Oracles and word of God So saith the Psalmist Psal 147.19 20. He sheweth his word unto Jacob his statutes and his judgements unto Israel he hath not dealt so with any nation and as for his judgements they have not known them He make's no mention of the Tabernacle or Temple the Ark of the Covenant the altar of burnt-offering the golden altar of incense the Ordinance of Circumcision c. though in these they were priviledged above other Nations but he singleth out this as a prime priviledge that he shewed them his word his statutes and judgements How deeply then is this nation of ours even England indebted to God to whom the Lord hath committed his holy Oracles how much are we bound to him for this unspeakable gift And herein the singular goodness of God to this nation is much to be observed not enely in visiting it with the Gospel for these last hundred years and more but also in giving it the light of the Gospel very early even in the Apostles dayes Divers Writers of good credit do testifie that even in those dayes the Britan's in our Isle did consent to Christian Religion and pulickly professed it in their Churches as well as other parts of the World The Authors of the Theatre of Great Britain Theatr. Magn. Brit. speaking of the Antiquity of the Christian Faith in Britain testifie in this manner As we have searched the first foundation of our Faith so neither want we Testimonies concerning the continuance of the same in this Land until following Posterities although the injury of Time and War have consumed many Records for the Britan's that were daily strengthened in their received Faith by the Doctrine of many Learned and godly Men left not their First-love with the Church of Ephesus but rather took hold of the Skirts as the Prophet speaketh Zech. 8.23 until the Tortures of Martyrdom cut them off by death And those Fathers even from the Disciples themselves held a Succession in Doctrine notwithstanding some Repugnancy was made by the Pagans and Preached the Gospel with good success even till the same at length went forth with a bolder countenance by the favourable Edicts of Adrian Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius Euseb Eccl. Hist l. 4. c. 9. Emperours of Rome as Eusebius hath Noted and in Britain was established by King Lucius so called as some Learned Men have observed because a Prince of great lustre and glory the Light of the Gospel breaking forth in this our Isle in such a perspicuous manner by his Conversion that all Christian Churches took notice thereof Of whom a great Antiquary thus speaketh Lucius in Christum credit Vsserius de Brit. Eccles Primord p. 56. Christoque dicatas Ecclesias dotat distinctas ordinat urbes Geoffery of Monmouth tells us that King Lucius being Baptized together with his Subjects destroyed the Temples of Idols and Dedicated them to the onely living God enlargeing and augmenting them Bishop Godwin saith Godwin de de convers Britan. we have great cause with all thankfulness to Celebrate the Memory of that Excellent Prince King Lucius by whom God did not onely bless this Land with so clear knowledge of the truth but in such sort did it as thereby He hath purchased unto the same the Title of Primogenita Ecclesiae the most Antient and first begotten of all the Churches in the world for that although Christ was Preached els-where privately in many other Nations long before the time of King Lucius yet of all Nations Britain was the first that with publick approbation of Prince and State received the Profession of Christian Religion Of the Teachers of those times John Bale hath these verses Sic ut erat Celebris c. As were the Britan's famous for their Zeal To Gentile Gods whilst such they did adore So when the Heavens to Earth did Truth reveal Blest was that Land with Truth and Learnings store Whence British Plains and Cambreas desart-ground And Cornwal's Crags with glorious Saints abound The common consent of our Protestant Writers is that in this time I now speak of and from the beginning of Christianity here Britain never wanted Preachers of the true Faith And when the persecuting Emperour 's Reigned and persecution raged not onely in the Eastern parts but in Italy France and other Countreys in the Continent near unto us this our Island as another world was almost quite free thereof both before and after until the nineteenth year of Dioclesian in which there was a general persecution of Christians Gild. lib. de excid Conqu Britan. as Gildas and others after him do witness in that it ever had Kings not so depending on the persecuting Emperours and so far from the Name and Nature of persecutors that they ever were friends and favourers of Christians And for this cause many that were persecuted for Christianity in other Countries fled hither for refuge where for themselves they might more quietly enjoy the Liberty of their Conscience and Religion and for others desirous to be instructed in the Truth thereof and not kept back with such terrours of persecution as in other Countries they might with more confidence and boldness and with great hope of fruit and encrease Preach and Teach it unto them This was a preparative to a more general Conversion of this Nation to Christianity which followed afterwards This Island was also the more quiet in respect of the situation remote distance and separation from the rest of the chief commanding places of the Roman Empire The Name England some derived from the manner of the situation of this Island in the West and North for that Eng in the Antient Teutonick Tongue
year of the Reign of Kymbeline King of Britain Divers Writers of note do tell us Baron Annal. Tom. 1. An. 61. Usser de Brit. Eccles primord c. 1. p. 7. Parker de vetust Eccl. Britan. p. 2 3. Fox Act. Monum vol. 1. Sir H. Spelm. Concil Tom. 1. Per Josephum Evangelii lucerna primum in Britania accensa est Georg. Major that the Gospel was preached and received in this Land even in the days of the Apostles Baronius and the Learned Archbishop Vsher tell us that St. Peter came into Britain in the twelfth year of the Emperour Nero and staid a long time here many being by him illightned Nicephorus saith that Simon Zelotes carried the Doctrine of the Gospel unto the Western Sea and to the Britannick Islands The Learned Archbishop Matthew Parker Bishop Godwin Mr. Camden and others do assert that St. Paul himself that great Apostle of the Gentiles Preached the Gospel to this Island after his enlargement from his first captivity at Rome where some say he continued Preaching five years And this say they he did at the instigation of Claudia a Noble British Woman Gildas our own Countrey-man Polydor Virgil Mr. Fox Sir Henry Spelman and many others tell us that Joseph of Arimathea that Holy Man after he had buried the body of Christ in his own Tomb came into this Island and Preached the Gospel here being sent hither by Philip and James the Apostles That he was in this Land is confirmed not onely by divers Histories but also by Antient Monuments Baleus alledgeth many other witnesses It doth not appear that the first Preachers of the Gospel in Britain did so much as touch at Rome much less that they received any command or commission thence to convert Britain which should lay an Eternal obligation of gratitude on this Island to the Sea of Rome Insomuch that Parsons himself flyes at last to this slight and slender shift That albeit St. Joseph came not immediately from Rome yet he taught in this Island the Roman Faith whereof St. Paul hath written to the Romans themselves that your Faith is spoken of through the whole World Rom. 1.8 Hereby the Jesuite hopes to keep on foot the engagement of this Island to Rome Fuller Church Histor lib. 1. for her first conversion But why should he call the Christian Religion the Roman Faith rather than the Faith of Jerusalem or the Faith of Antioch seeing it issued from the former and was received and first named in the latter City before any spark of Christianity was kindled at Rome as Dr. Fuller well observeth CENT II. WE read that the Gospel in our Land had the countenance of publick Authority through the gratious providence of God very early Omnium Provinciarum prima Britannia publicitus Christi nomen recipit Sabellic Enn. 7. l. 5. A Learned Writer speaking of the dignity of this Nation saith That of all the Provinces of the Roman Empire yea it seemeth of the whole World this Island of Great Britain did first receive the Gospel by publick Authority Lucius King of Britain was the first Christian King we read of in Ecclesiastical Stories He embraced the Faith about an hundred and fifty years after the death of Christ It is said of this King Lucius that at first he shewed himself an enemy to the Christians but observing the holiness of their lives he was enclined to embrace the Christian Faith but was held off for a time partly by the Heathenish superstition of his Ancestors wherein he had been bred up and partly because he found the Christians reputed infamous by the Romans then the Lords of a great part of the World under whom it seemeth he was a tributary King but being afterward informed that many of the Nobles or Senators of the Romans had embraced the Christian Religion he made an open profession of it and made a notable reformation in his Dominions Moreover he being much taken with the Miracles which he beheld truly wrought by pious Christians was the more drawn to embrace their Religion and sent Elvanus and Meduinus men of known Piety and Learning in the Scriptures to Eleutherius Bishop of Rome with a Letter requesting several things of him but principally that he might be instructed in the Christian Faith Eleutherius returneth him this Answer That having recâ—â—ved in his Kingdom the Law and Faith of Christ Holinsh descr of Brit. c. 7. Annals of England by John Stow. and having now the Old and New Testaments he should by a Council of his Realm take Laws from thence to govern thereby That he was the Vicar of God in his Kingdomes That the People and Nations of the Kingdom of Britain were His even His children That such as were divided he should gather them together unto the Law of Christ his holy Church unto peace and concord and should cherish maintain protect govern and defend them c. When Christian Religion first was publickly received and established in this Land by King Lucius here were then of Heathen institution eight and twenty Flamines and three Archflamines The places of the Flamines the King turned to so many Bishopricks the places of the Archflamines to so many Archbishopricks the one at London translated afterward to Canterbury the other at York the third at Caerleon in Wales where seaven of those Bishopricks with this Archbishoprick were remaining when Austin the Monk came into England Here were Temples also builded for the worship of Paynim-gods of which he made Churches for the service of Jesus Christ Thomas Rudbourn a Moâ—â—â—â— Winchester Moratus an old British Writer and others testifie that 〈◊〉 was Bishop of Winchester and all the possessions of the â—gaâ— â—es there were conferred upon him and his Clergy which were â—o ample that even about the City all the Lands within twelve miles of it on all sides were belonging unto it containing in number 32 Villages And thus the Britains had for their greatest glory the happiness to see and enjoy the first Christian Prince in the World It is reported that King Lucius was the Founder of St. Peter's Church at Cornhil in London placing therein one Thean an Archbishop and that the Metropolitan See continued in a succession of Archbishops there about 400 years until the coming of Austin the Monk who translated the Archbishop's seat from London to Canterbury In that Church was a Table wherein is written that King Lucius founded the same Church to be an Archbishop's See and that it so endured the space of 400 years There are the name of these Archbishops of London Thean Elvanus Cadar Obinus Conan Paladius Stephen Iltut Theodwyn or Dedwin Thedrid Hilary Restitutus Guertelinus or Guitelinus Fastidius Vodinus Theonus c. Elvanus built a Library near St. Peter's Church in Cornhil he was a Godly Learned and Grave Man brought up in the School of Joseph of Arimathea and Converted many of the Druydes to the Christian Faith Bishop Godwin saith That the Archbishoprick
as well as in the Modern doth signifie narrow strait or a nook And a Portugal alluding thereunto hath this verse Anglia terra ferax fertilis Angulus Orbis Insula praedives quae toto vix eget orbe A fruitful Angle England Thou Another world art said An Island rich and hast no need of other Countrie 's aid And although after this many errours in Doctrine and corruptions in Worship crept in more and more into our Church and the Pope encroaching by degrees the Churches of God in this Land did much degenerate as they did in other Nations so that in Process of time the whole world wondered after the Beast and they Worshipped the Beast saying who is like unto the Beast Revel 13.3 4. Yet even in the darkest times when our Church suffered the greatest Ecclipse when her Silver was become Dross and her Wine was mixed with Water it pleased God then to raise up some eminent Persons to stand up for the Defence of the Truth in this Nation and to discover the impostures of the Church of Rome Yea how many were there that suffered Martyrdom for the Gospel here in England who detested Image-worship and other abominations in the dayes of King Henry the fourth King Henry the fift and others afterward long before Luther was born These and the like in other Nations may be called the forlorn Hope who did obequitare Antichristi castra ad pugnam elicere advance up to and ride round about the camp of Antichrist and provoke him to the main-fight What wonderfull deliverances hath God wrought for this Church and Nation in several ways When King Henry the eighth did renounce the Pope's Supremacy what plots were framed by diverse Princes against this Land to ruine it and how gratiously did the Lord protect his people here from such a storm though then he had but a very little flock in this place When Queen Mary matched with Philip of Spain in what apparent danger was this Land to fall into miserable servitude and bondage under the Iron-yoak of the Spainard's which diverse nations that have been subject to them have found intolerable The blind and bloody zeal of Queen Mary was likely to have rooted out all the plants of God's right hand in this Land and so have banished hence the true Church and Gospel of Christ and so to have shut this Kingdom out of the bounds of the Church There was great expectation of Issue by that Marriage between the Spanish Prince and Queen Mary who Her self also was a Spaniard by the Mother's side and Solemn Forms of Thanksgiving and Prayer were made for Her Conception and safe delivery and besides an Act passed in Parliament that if Queen Mary died in Child-bed King Philip should have the Government of this Land during the Child's Nonage and if these things had succeeded into what misery might this Land have fallen And besides had an Issue of that Marriage lived to Reign over England together with other Dominions of the Spaniard what had England been but an Inferiour Tributary Province to be Governed as it pleased the Spanish Nation even as was attempted in the Low-Countreys with Devilish cruelties to say nothing of their horrible Massacres in the West-Indies But here see the wonderful goodness of God who dwelt in the midst of this Church as a Refuge All this was prevented Queen Marie's supposed Conception vanished She was soon taken away by death and King Philip of Spain had no longer any Interest in England Queen Elizabeth a Noursing-mother to this Church Succeeded She was born September the seventh 1533. One calleth Her Angliae Delitias Mason consecr Epis Angl. Europae Sydus Mundi Phoenicem c. the joy of England the Star of Europe the Phoenix of the World a Glass of God's Providence and the Mirrour of His Mercy And as if the Devil had presaged what a scourge She would prove to the Roman greatness and suggested it to Pope Clement the seventh he is said to have made a Peremptory Decree against Her whilst She was in Her Mother's belly This Pope himself being the Bastard of Julian de Medicis a Florentine he avowed to make Her illegitimate and uncapable of the Crown The like did Pope Paul the third attempt viz. To make that Royal Princess illegitimate when She was but two years Old But as the Lord blessed Her then so he did wonderfully preserve her all her Sister's Reign when many plots were laid to take away her life But as Seneca told Nero it was impossible for him to kill that man that must be his heir so it was impossible for the malice of hell to accomplish the death of the Lady Elizabeth whom the only-wise God had appointed to be her Sister's Heir Ecclesiae Anglicanae reformationem desperasset aetas praeterita admiratur praesens obstupescet futura Scultet Annal. So great a Reformation She wrought in England that one saith of it The Gospel had a swift passage here by diligent Preaching by Printing good Books by translating the holy Scriptures into the Vulgar Tongue by Catechizing youth by publick disputations by recording the Martyrs such a thing as even the former age had even despaired of the present age admireth and the future shall stand amazed at It is evident that the Almighty God who delighteth to shew his power in Weakness was pleased in this Renowed Queen and her brother King Edward to let the world see what great things he was able to effect by a Child and a Woman But what a multitude of plots were contrived for the destruction of Queen Elizabeth when the next heir to the Crown was a Papist and an enemy to the truth of Christianity and married to the Prince of France so that had these plots succeeded England in all probability had been subjected to France in point of Civil Government and to the Roman power in matters of Religion Admire again the singular goodness of God in protecting Queen Elizabeth and whilst the enemies of the Church were seeking ruine in the destruction of Her Royal Person the French King that had Married the next heir to the English Crown dieth and leaveth her a Widow without Issue and she not many years after became a prisoner So eminent was Queen Elizabeth that Thuanus a professed Roman Catholick but very ingenious said he heard the old Dutchess of Guise whose sons were of the greatest Enemies that Queen Elizabeth had to say that she was faelicissima gloriosissima faemina a most happy and a most glorious Woman We know who made her to differ and that she had not any thing which she had not received from above therefore let us give the praise of all to God who appointed her I am perswaded to build the old wast places to raise up the foundations of many generations she found the Kingdom weak she left it strong she found it poor she left it rich they that were enemies to her and the Gospel which they professed and
due Election the deprived Prior thereupon Appealed to the Pope and Court of Rome where he expected to be restored with great confidence but to shew how much more prevalent Money then was in that corrupt Court than Justice this intruder was confirmed and he returned after great expence frustrate of his expectation having some Manors assigned him for his support during life out of which the Pope had an annual pension of 365. Marks to support his Table The Jews of Lincoln having crucified a Christian Child to the great dishonour and disgrace of Jesus Christ the King appointed special Justices diligently to enquire of and severely to punish this grand offence by his Patent and Commission The King this year fearing some designs against him from Rome issued a Writ to the Barons and Bailiffs of Dover and to the Wardens of the Cinque-ports not to permit any Clerks to pass out of their respective Ports beyond the Seas unless he would first take an Oath that if he went to the Court of Rome he should demand nor require nothing against the King's Crown and Dignity nor the Pope's grant or Ordinance concerning the Realm of Sicily And the King by his Letters Patents constituted two distinct Proctors in the Court of Rome concerning the affairs of the Kingdom of Sicily and other occasions there to be transacted The Pope had a greater share in the Disme than the King who could dispose of none of it but by His and Rustand's consents He likewise issued his Mandate to the Sheriff of Kent to provide a speedy passage at Dover for Rustand the Pope's Agent and to defray the charges of it which should be allowed him The King understanding the Archbishop's and Bishops designes intended to be prosecuted in a Council of the Bishops of his Province which Archbishop Boniface had convocated against his Crown Dignity Courts Judges c. Prohibited him and them to meet therein under pain of forfeiting their Temporalties The Archbishop and Bishops notwithstanding these Writs met and proceeded in their Convocation in a very presumptuous manner as those fifty Articles then drawn up and tendered to the King and their Papal decrees in pursuit of them will most evidently demonstrate They were tendered to the King by the Archbishops and Bishops for which they resolved to contend to the uttermost These Constitutions are collected and Printed in John de Aton quoting Lindewood who cites and glosseth upon most of them under several Titles in the Margin of every one of them where you may peruse them with his Canonical gloss These were made Anno Dom. 1261. What Procurations the Archbishop of Messana arrived in England this year as the Pope's Legate exacted and extorted from the Bishops and Abbots with great violence and what injuries the Archbishop of Canterbury did to the Bishop of Rochester you may read in Matthew Paris The King and his Council resolving to banish the Poictovin Clergy-men out of the Nation and not to imprison them in England issued a Writ to the Constables of the Castles of Winton and Dover of the banishment and transportation of the Archdeacon of Winton out of the Realm and to see he carried away no Moneys with him In the 42 year of this King the Friers Minorites sent a Petition to King Henry to confirm their intrusion into St. Edmonds by his second Charter not deeming the Pope's Bull they had got sufficient which the Abbots and Monks contemned and set at naught The King to satisfie the Pope's demands and the easier to get in the Dismes the Pope had granted him to gain Sicily which the Archbishop Bishops and Religious Persons in England refused to pay assigned thirty thousand Marks thereof to the Pope Godfry de Kimeton Dean of York was elected Archbishop of that See and forced to travel to Rome for his Confirmation Fulco Bishop of London died of the Plague and Wengham then Chancellor of England notwithstanding his insufficiency and want of learning and Knowledge in Divinity procured Letters Patents from King Henry by advice of his Council in imitation of the Pope's Commendae's then grown very common to hold and retain all his former Ecclesiastical Dignities and Benefices whereof the King was Patron together with his Bishoprick for so long time as the Pope should please to grant him a dispensation whose dispensation alone would not bar the King to present to those Dignities and Benefices being all void in Law by making him a Bishop He had the like Patent to retain his Benefices and Ecclesiastical preferments in Ireland This is the first Patent of a Commenda retinere granted by the King to any Bishop Elect The first Patent of a Commenda retinere granted by the King to any Bishop elect saith Mr. Prynne being made by the advice of his Lords and Judges which makes it more considerable The King in the 44th year of his Reign issued a Writ to the Barons of Dover and other Ports to search for and apprehend all Italian Clerks and Lay-men and all others that should bring any Bulls from Rome prejudicial to him and his Realm and not to permit any to arrive with Horse and Armes in the Realm without his special License and to arrest all such as should there Land till they received further order from him The Bishop of St. David's and his Clerks complaining to the King how much the priviledges of their Churches Monasteries Houses Goods and Persons were violated in Wales in an hostile manner throughout his Diocess issued out a Writ and Prohibition to his Officers for their future protection and indemnity against such injuries and oppressions Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury being an Alien and forced to fly out of the Kingdom by the Barons was upon a Treaty between the King and his Barons permitted to return into England upon certain conditions The King and the Barons having by common consent entred into Articles of Agreements under their hands and referred themselves therein to the determination of the French King or the Pope's Legate the King thereupon constituted three Proctors to conclude and consent on his behalf to whatever should be therein agreed submitting himself to the Legate's Ecclesiastical Censures and Excommunication to compell him to the performance thereof During the Wars between the King and his Barrons diverse Vicars and Parsons desirous to reside upon their Cures so as they might be protected from violence therein the King thereupon granted protections to those who desired them An Oxford Jew having in contempt of Christ and Christian Religion in a solemn Procession there held by the University cast down and broken the Crucifix carried before them and escaping and the Jews not producing his Body as the King ordered them the King thereupon commanded the Sheriff of Oxford by several Writs to seize the Bodies and Goods of all the Jews in Oxford till they gave sufficient security at their proper costs to erect a beautifull high Marble Cross with the Images of Christ on the one side and
it would be to the King and Queen how gainful to himself in regard both of his foul and of his temporal being putting him in good hope that he should not only have his life but be restored again to his ancient Dignity c. if he would but subscribe his name to a piece of Paper which was made ready for his hand By these and the like alluring temptations he was prevailed upon to sign the Writing in which were briefly comprehended the chief points of Doctrine defended in the Church of Rome and by him formerly condemned both in publick and in private But all this could not save him from being made a Sacrifice to revenge and avarice The Queen had still a vindicative spirit against him for the injury which she conceived had been done to her Mother and the Cardinal who hitherto had enjoyed the profits of the See of Canterbury as an Usufructuary was altogether as solicitous for getting a right and title to them as sole proprietary No way to pacifie one and to satisfie the desires of the other but by bringing him when he least looked for it to the fatal Stake And thither they brought him and first he retracts his retraction and after punisheth that hand which had subscribed it by holding it forth into the flame and suffering it to be consumed before the rest of his body had felt the fire The residue of his body being burnt to ashes his heart was found entire and untouched in the midst of the cinders which possibly may serve as a witness for him that his heart stood fast unto the Truth though with his hand he had subscribed some Popish errors Cardinal Pool received Consecration to the See of Canterbury the very next Sunday after Cranmer's death No fewer than two hundred are reported to have been burnt by bloody Bonner the most eminent of all which number was Mr. John Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester who though of Gardiner's Diocess was condemned by Bonner Gardiner being well enough contented to find out the Game and leave it to be followed by that bloody Hunter Dr. John Christopherson Bishop of Chichester is recorded to have burnt ten in one fire at Lewis and seventeen others at several times in sundry places among which was Richard Woodman of Warbleton in Sussex that notable Martyr and four at Mayfield viz. John Hart Thomas Ravensdal a Shoomaker and a Collier Harpfield Archdeacon of London and Thornton the Suffragan of Dover are said to have poured out blood like water The same is said of Griffin of Rochester and Downing Chancellor of Norwich The same character is given of Bishop Bayn of Coventry and Litchfield who burned many faithful Ministers and others In all the Province of York I find none brought to the Stake but George Marsh of Chester condemned thereto by Bishop Coles Besides the burning of Bishop Farrar at Carmarthen by Bishop Morgan and of Rawlins and White at Cardiff by Bishop Kitching No great cruelty seems to have been acted in the four Welsh Diocesses In the Diocess of Exeter Wells Peterborough and Lincoln though this last the greatest in the Kingdom I find mention but of one a piece of two in that of Ely and of no more than three apiece in that of Bristol and Sarisbury for at Newbury were burnt that famous Julius Palmer with two others Doctor Tunstal Bishop of Durham was in Queen Maries time no great persecutor his Bishoprick had dayes of quiet under him When Mr. Russel a Preacher was brought before him and Doctor Himner his Chancellor would have had him examined more strictly the Bishop stayed him saying Hitherto we have had a good report among our Neighbours I pray you bring not this mans blood upon my Head The Bishop of Carlisle also was a man of a moderate temper The Pope had published a Bull in print Anno 1556. in which he threatened excommunication to all persons that kept any Church-lands unto themselves as also all Princes and Magistrates that did not put the same in execution Which though it did not edifie much in the Realm of England yet it found more obedience in that of Ireland in which a Parliament being called in June 1557. there passed an Act for repealing of Statutes Articles and Provisions made against the See of Rome since the twentieth year of King Henry the Eighth and for abolishing of several Ecclesiastical possessions conveyed to the Laity as also for the extinguishment of First-fruits and Twentieth parts no more than the yearly payment of the Twentieth part having been laid by Act of Parliament upon the Clergy of Ireland in the first and last clause whereof as they followed the example of the Realm of England so possibly they might have given a dangerous example to it in the other point if by the Queens death which followed shortly after King Philip and the Popes had not lost all their power and influence on the English Nation by means whereof there was no farther progress in the Restitution of the Abbey-lands no more re-edifying the old Religious houses and no intention for the founding any new Cardinal Poole having visited his own Diocess and given out divers printed Articles to shew his great care for the suppressing the growth of Heresie sent his Commissioners to Cambridge who interdicted the two Churches wherein Martin Bucer and Paulus Fagius had been interred and the Writ being taken out de comburendo Haeretico and being come down and sent to the Mayor of Cambridge on February 6. the two dead Bodies were taken out of their Graves and being laid in their Coffins on mens shoulders were carried to the Market-place with a guard of men well armed and weaponed chained unto several posts as if still alive the wood and fire put to them and their Bodies burned together with so many of their Books as could be gotten which were cast into the same flames also Queen Mary now engageth in her Husband's quarrel and King Philip having made up an Army of thirty five thousand Foot and twelve thousand Horse besides a thousand Horsemen four thousand Footment and two thousand Pioners sent out of England under the command of the Earl of Pembrook sate down before St. Quintin the chief Town of Piccardy On August the tenth the Battels joyn in which the French were vanquished and their Army routed the Constable of France the Prince of Mantua the Duke of Montpensier and Longueville with six others of the prime Nobility and many others of less note being taken prisoners The Duke of Anguien the Viscount Turin most of the Foot-Captains and the common Souldiers to the number of two thousand five hundred were slain upon the place King Philip stormed St. Quintin on the eighteenth day After which service the English finding some neglect from King Philip desired to be dismissed into their Country which was indulged unto them By whose dismission King Philip could do no action of importance in the rest of the War But the Queen shall pay dearly
under the burden of that payment and the twentieth part of those which were not To which the Bishop added at several times the sum of nine hundred pound one shilling eleven pence the Dean and Chapter one hundred thirty six pound thirteen shillings four pence By all which and some other little helps the work was carried on so fast that before the end of April 1566. the Timber-work of the Roof was not onely fitted but compleatly covered And now the Pope's Nuncio being advanced already in his way to England as far as Flanders expecteth the Queen's pleasure touching his admittance for the Pope could not be taken off from sending his Nuncio to the Queen with whom he conceived himself to stand upon termes of Amity But the Queen persevered in her first intent affirming she could not treat with the Bishop of Rome whose authority was excluded out of England by consent of Parliament The greatest obstacle to the Nuncio's coming was partly laid by the indiscretion of some Papists in England and partly by the precipitancy of the Pope's Ministers in Ireland for sundry ill-disposed persons upon the noise of the Nuncio's coming not onely brake the Laws made against the Pope and his Authority but spread abroad slaunderous reports that the Queen was at the point to change her Religion and alter the government of the Realm Some also had practised with the Devil by Conjurations Charms and casting of Figures to be informed in the length of her Majesties Reign And on the other side the Pope's Legate being at the same time in Ireland joyned himself to some desperate Traitors who stirred up rebellion there and as much as in him was had deprived the Queen of all Right and Title to that Kingdom Upon which grounds it was carried clearly at the Council-boord against the Nuncio notwithstanding the Intercession of the French the Spaniard or the Duke of Alva Yet notwithstanding the Emperor Ferdinand sends to perswade the Queen to return to the old Religion at least that she would set apart some Churches to the use of the Catholicks To whom she answered That she had setled her Religion on so sure a Bottom that she could not easily be changed And for granting Churches to the Papists it did not consist with the Polity and good Laws of the Land Then divers abuses arising in the Church Archbishop Parker found it necessary to have recourse unto the power which was given to him by the Queen's Commission and by a clause of the Act of Parliament For the Vniformity of Common-Prayer and service in the Church c. As one of the Commissioners for causes Ecclesiastical he was authorized with the rest of his Associates To reform redress order correct and amend all such Errors Heresies Schismes Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities whatsoever as might from time to time arise in the Church of England And in the passage of the Act forementioned it was provided That all such Ornaments of the Church and the Ministers thereof should be retained as were in the Church of England by Authority of Parliament in the second year of King Edward the Sixth untill further order should be taken therein from the Queen's Majesty c. And also if there shall happen any contempt or irreverence to be used in the Rites of the Church by the misusing of the Orders of the said Book of Common-Prayer the Queen might by the advise of the Commissioners or Metropolitan ordain or publish such further Ceremonies or Rites as should be most for the advance of God's glory the edifying the Church c. Hereupon the Archbishop by the Queen's consent and the advice of some of the Bishops sets forth a certain Book of Orders to be diligently observed and executed by all persons whom it might concern Heylin Hist of Q. Elizab. An. Reg. 3. In which it was provided That no Parson Vicar or Curate of any exempt Church should from thenceforth attempt to conjoyn by solemnization of Matrimony any not being of his or their Parish-church without good Testimony of the Bains being ask'd in the several Churches where they dwell or otherwise were sufficiently Licensed That no other days should be observed as Holy-days and Fasting-days but onely such as be expressed in the Calendar lately set forth by the Queen's Authority That neither the Curates or Parents of Children which are brought to Baptism should answer for them at the Font but that the antient use of Godfathers and Godmothers should still be retained and that in all such Churches in which the steps to the Altar were not taken down the said steps should remain as before they did That the Communion-Table should be set in the said place where the steps then were or had formerly stood and that the Table of the Decalogue should be fixed upon the wall over the said Communion-Table This year the Merchants Tailors School in London was founded first by the Master Wardens and Assistants of the Company of Merchants Tailors whence it had the name and by them founded for a Seminary to St. John's in Oxford built and endowed at the sole costs of one of their Livery But of a far more private nature was the Foundation of another Grammar School in the Town of Sandwich built at the charge of Sir Roger Manwood and endowed with forty pound per annum The Council of Trent being now opened it was said in that Council that iâ— was good to let the Protestants alone and not name them alledging the danger of moving ill humors in a Body which was then quiet To give a safe conduct to the English-men which neither They nor any of them did require were a great indignity They were content it should be given to the Scots because their Queen would demand it but so as that the demand should first be made But the English Protestant Bishops would not venture themselves into that Council on such weak assurance considering how ill the safe conduct had been formerly kept to John Hus and Jerom of Prague at the Council of Constance And the Queen kept the Papal party safe from gadding thither Then Scipio a Venetian Gentleman formerly acquainted with Master Jewel whil'st he was a Student at Padua wrote now an expostulating Letter unto him being lately made Bishop of Sarisbury in which he much admireth that England should send no Ambassador nor Letter nor Message to excuse their Nation 's absence from the General Appearance of Christianity in that Council c. Bishop Jewel returned him such an Answer that neither Scipio himself nor any other of that party durst reply upon him The Answer is to be found at large at the end of the History of this Council Translated by Sir Nathanael Brent At this time it was advised by Lewis Prince of Conde the Cardinal Chastilion and other principal leaders of the Protestant party in France that they should put themselves under the protection of the Queen of England who had not long before so seasonably relieved
mingled among them and Voted joyntly in their Consultations as the Earl of Pembrook the Lord Say The most Learned Antiquary Mr. Selden Mr. Francis Rouse Mr. Bulstrode Whitlock c. Commissioners from Scotland were also joyned with them as the Earl of Lothian the Lord Lauderdale the Lord Warriston of the Nobility others of the Clergy as Mr. Alexander Henderson Mr. Gelaspy c. Fuller Church Hist Ad An. 1643. Doctor Twisse Preached the first Sermon at the meeting of the Assembly though the Schools not the Pulpit was his proper Element witness his Controversal writings and in his Sermon he exhorted them Faithfully to discharge their high calling to the glory of God and honour of his Church He much bemoaned That the Royal Assent was wanting to give encouragement to them yet he hoped That by the efficacy of their fervent Prayers it might in due time be obtained and that a happy union might be procured betwixt him and the Parliament Sermon ended the Ordinance was read by which was declared the Cause Ground and Intent of their Convention namely to consult with the Parliament for the setling of Religion and Church-government Of an hundred twenty elected but sixty nine appeared And of the first of Royalists Episcopal in their judgements very few appeared and scarce any continued any time in the House save Doctor Daniel Feately alledging privately several reasons for their departure Dr. Twisse is now chosen Prolocutor and Mr. Henry Robrough and Mr. Adoniram Bifield their Scribes and Notaries And now their good success next to the Parliament's is publickly prayd for by the Preachers in the City and Books dedicated unto them under the Title of the most Sacred Assembly and four shillings a day sallary was allowed them and the Chamber of Jerusalem the fairest in the Deans lodgings where King Henry the Fourth died was the place where these Divines did daily meet together His Majesty looks on this as a strange and unparallell'd encroatchment on his Royal Prerogative to which alone the calling of such Assemblies did belong by the Laws of the Realm And thereupon by his Proclamation of June 22 1643. being just ten days after the date of the Ordinance by which the Assembly was indicted Bibl. Regia p. 331. He inhibits all and every person named in that Ordinance under several pains from assembling together for the end and purpose therein set down declaring the Assembly to be illegal and that the Acts thereof ought not to be received by any of his good Subjects as binding them or of any Authority with them Which Prohibition notwithstanding most of the Members authorized by that Ordinance assembled as was before declared One of the first publick Acts which they performed was the humble presenting of a petition to both Houses for the appointing of a solemn Fast to be generally observed And presently a Fast is appointed and accordingly kept on the following Friday Master Bowles and Master Newcomen whose Sermons were after Printed Preaching on the same The King summons the Lords and Commons to Oxford to attend there on January 22. then next following Being come scarce were they setled in their several Houses when they were entertained with an hot Alarum made by the coming in of the Scots with a puissant Army The Scots had thrived so well by the former service as made them not unwilling to come under the pay of such bountiful Masters And knowing well in what necessity their dear Brethren in England stood of their assistance they were resolved to husband that necessity to their best advantage The English must first enter into Covenant with them for conforming of this Church with that c. In the first branch of it it was to be Covenanted between the Nations That all endeavours should be used for the preservation of the Reformed Religion in the Church of Scotland both in Doctrine Discipline and Government Directory for worship and Catechizing And in the second That in like manner they endeavour without any respect of persons the extirpation of Popery Prelacy that is Church Government by Archbishops Bishops their Chancellors and Commissaries Deans Deans and Chapters Archdeacons and all other Ecclesiastical Officers depending on that Hierarchy c. But by whomsoever it was framed his Majesty saw that it aimed at the subversion of the present Government Therefore looking on it as a dangerous combination against himself the established Religion and the Laws of this Kingdom for the bringing in of Forreign Forces to subvert them all saith Doctor Heylin interdicted all his Subjects from imposing or taking the same as they would answer the contrary at their perils Which Proclamation bearing date on October 9. came out too late to hinder the taking and enjoying of this Covenant where the restraint thereof had been most necessary for it had been solemnly taken by all the Members of the House of Commons and the Assembly of Divines at St. Margarets in Westminster on September 25. and within two days after it was Administred with no less solemnity to divers Lords Knights Gentlemen Colonels Officers Souldiers and others residing in and about the City of London a Sermon being Preached by Mr. Coleman to justifie the piety and legality of it and finally enjoyned to be taken on the Sanday following in all Churches and Chappels of London within the lines of Communication as afterwards by all the Kingdom in convenient time No sooner was this Covenant taken but to let the Scots see that they were in earnest a further impeachment consisting of ten Articles were prepared against the Archbishop of Canterbury In the Assembly of Divines some concurred not with the major part and were therefore stiled Dissenting Brethren These men crave a Toleration to be indulged them who since their return out of the Low-countries had fallen upon gathering of Congregations in or about the City of London and they excused for being concluded by the votes of the Assembly But the Presbyterians highly opposed their Toleration they tax the dissenting Brethren for Singularity and some moved their ejection out of the Assembly except in some convenient time they would comply therewith The Dissenters seasonably presented an Apologetical Narrative to the Parliament stiled by them The most sacred refuge or Asylum for mistaken and misjudged innocence Herein they petitioned pathetically for some favour whose conscience could not joyn with the Assembly in all particulars concluding with that pityful close That they pursued no other Interest or design but a subsistence be it the poorest and meanest in their own land as not knowing where else with safety health and livelyhood to set their feet on earth and subscribed their names Thomas Goodwin Philip Nye Sidrach Symson Jeremiah Burroughs William Bridge These Petitioners found such favour with some potent persons in Parliament that they were secured from farther Trouble and afterwards grew able not onely to encounter but invade all opposers yea to open and shut the door of preferment to others Dr.
resolves upon an union of England and Scotland and an incorporating of both Nations into one Common-wealth This was much opposed and remonstrated against by the Scotch Kirk but in vain Anno 1652. began the War with Holland An Act was passed entitled An Act against unlicensed and scandalous Books and Pamphlets and for the better regulating of Printing Anno 1653. The Officers of the Army consult about change of Government on April 20. Cromwel Lambert Harison and eight Officers more of the Army entred the House of Commons and after a short speech made by Cromwel shewing some reasons for the necessity of their dissolution he declared them dissolved and required them to depart but the Speaker would not leave the Chair till Harison pulled him out by the Arm. Then Cromwel commanded the Mace to be taken away and no more to be carried before him Then they caused the doors of the Parliament House to be locked up and placed a Guard thereon to prevent the reassembling of the Members The first thing done after this change was to constitute a Council of State of the chief Officers of the Army These agreed upon the several persons all over England to form a new Representative and a summons was sent to every one of them in the name of Oliver Cromwel Captain General of all the Forces c. to take upon them the trust to which they were summoned and to meet at Whitehall on July 5. These assembled at the time appointed and went to the Parliament House and chose Mr. Rouse made by the late Parliament Provost of Eaton to be their speaker This mock-Parliament called by some the little Parliament aimed at the new modelling both of Magistracy and Ministry but the Ministry and the maintenance thereof by Tithes they arraigned as an Antichristian Constitution Having passed an Act abâ—ut Marriages Births and Burials on December 12. Rouse the Speaker told the House That their sitting was no longer necessary and presently went out of the House with the Mace before him and many others following him he came to White-hall and there resigned to Cromwell the Instrument by him formerly delivered to them at their first sitting About four dayes after the Officers of the Army had prepared an Instrument or Systeme of Government on which the foundation of a new Dominion was to be erected and they entreated Oliver Cromwell to accept of the Government under the Title of Protector of the Common-wealth of England Scotland and Ireland He accepted it and was that day at one of the clock in the afternoon Installed at Westminster The Protector 's Council being chosen and established he makes a peace with the Dutch and with the Queen of Sweden Spain Portugal and France seek Cromwel's friendship As to the state of Religion at this time in England one thus describes it Flagellum or the life and death of O. C. p. 144. The Orthodox Protestants were wholly suppressed and yet some Reverend persons as Doctor Usher Archbishop of Armagh and Doctor Brownrigg the Bishop of Exeter received some shews of respect and reverence from the Protector which he more manifestly declared afterward in the Funeral-expence of the Learned Archbishop Usher and this to captate a reputation of his love to Scholars and the meek modest and vertuous Clergy The Presbyterian was rather tolerated than countenanced and yet such of them as would comply with his Court-greatness became his Favourites for others of them he cared not pleasingly expressing himself how he had brought under the pride and arrogance of that Sect making those that would allow no liberty to others to sue for it themselves The Independents and Anabaptists he loved and preferred by turns and was most constant to them as the men that would support his Vsurpation Only he could by no means endure the Fifth Monarchy-men though by their dotages he had raised himself to this height Therefore Feak and Rogers Preachers were by him committed to prison Feak to Windsor and Rogers to Carisbrook in the Isle of Wight But it is said he set Mr. Kiffin the Anabaptist whom he had taken out of design into his favour with the party at variance with Feak to the raising of a fewd between them the ballance of his security in the Govâ—rnment The like he did between the Presbyterian and the Independent a subdivided Schism from the Church of England as the other were from Independency And it was observed that in most great Towns and Cities in England he placed an Independant Minister and a Presbyterian together that the one might ballance the other The Kirk of Scotland at this time had the wings of her Authority very much clipped if not quite taken away by the dissolution of the General Assembly which was done by Colonel Morgan at Aberdeen where they were assembled Mr. Andrew Cant and the rest of them in vain protesting against the Action The like disturbance they had afterwards at Edenburgh from Lieutenant Colonel Cotterel The Marquess of Argyle to keep up his Reputation with the Church of Scotland seemed much troubled at this proceeding against the Assemblies and interceded with the Protector for the liberty of the Church wherein he had good success and the Church of Scotland was indulged with the exercise of Religion and a great part of their Jurisdiction and Discipline They were restrained in little more than the power of keeping General Assemblies their Presbyteries being permitted to convene and the rigour of Excommunication for whereas before persons excommunicated were not only excluded from the communion of the Kirk but had all their Estates confiscated till their reconciliation This latter part was not now to be executed but to please the Ministers for the restraint of their power the maintenance of Scholars in Universities of Scotland was encreased and many priviledges were granted to them The Government and security of the Kingdom of Ireland was the next care of the Protector and his Son-in-law Lieutenant General Fleetwood is made Deputy of Ireland About this time an Ordinance was published for the Trial and Approbation of Ministers wherein Doctor Thomas Goodwyn Philip Nye Hughes Abridgement of all Acts and publick Ordinances part 2. Hugh Peters Mr. Manton and divers others were named Commissioners It was ordained That every person who should after March 25. 1654. be presented nominated chosen or appointed to any Benefice called a Benefice with cure of Souls or to preach any publick Lecture in England or Wales should before he be admitted to such Benefice or Lecture be adjudged and approved of by the Persons forenamed to be a Person for the Grace of God in him his holy and unblameable Conversation and also for his knowledge and utterance able and fit to preach the Gospel And that after the said twenty five of March no person but such as should upon such approbation be admitted by the said persons should take any publick Lecture having a stipend legally annexed thereunto or take or receive any such
also taken from him and given to a sure Confider and one Major Wildman a great Leveller was taken at Marleborough enditing and drawing Declarations against the Protector so the danger from the Army was soon suppressed About the same time a Book was published called Killing no Murther wherein it was urged That it was most lawful just necessary and honourable to kill the Protector and this printed with the name of one Allen a disbanded Leveller but so politely written that it intimated a more exact and curious hand that framed it Whosoever was the Author it scared Cromwel almost out of his Wits This made him most suspitiously fearful so that he began to dread every person or strange face he saw which he would anxiously and intently view for an Assassinate that Book perpetually running in his mind It is said it was his constant custom to shift and change his Lodging to which he passed through twenty several Locks and out of which he had four or five wayes to avoid pursuit June iwenty six 1657. Then followed the Protector 's Instalment in a more solemn manner in Westminster-hall than before and the Speaker of the Parliament Sir Thomas Widdrington in the name of the Parliament presented to him a Robe of Purple-velvet a Bible Sword and a Scepter and having made a Speech thereupon the Speaker took the Bible and gave the Protector his Oath Mr. Manton Minister then of Covent-Garden made a Prayer wherein he recommended the Protector Parliament Council the Forces by Sea and Land Government and People of the three Nations to the protection of God Which being ended the Heraulds by Trumpets proclaimed Cromwell Protector of England Scotland and Ireland and the Dominions thereunto belonging requiring all persons to yield him due obedience Then were the attempts of the Royal Party in behalf of his Majesty betrayed and discovered to the Protector and Sir Henry Slingsby Doctor Huet Minister of St. Gregories by Pauls in London Mr. Mordant and others are imprisoned and brought to trial before an High Court of Justice set up under the Presidentship of Commissioner Lisle Sir Henry and the Doctor were the two first that were brought to trial and both of them sentenced to die as Traitors the first upon the bare testimony of those three men who had so treacherously circumvented him which in vain he pleaded the other as a Mute disowning the Authority of the Court and thereupon denying to plead On the eighth of June 1658. they were beheaded on Tower-hill Afterwards on July the seventh Colonel Edward Ashton and John Bettley were hanged and quartered the first in Tower-street the other in Cheapside Cromwell was now again adorned with another success and triumph by the defeat of the Spanish Army and surrender of Dunkirk into his hands Lockart his Kinsman and General of the English Forces being made Governor thereof In August 1658. the Protector was taken sick at Hampton-court having not been well in mind some time before troubled with the last distracted words of his beloved Daughter Cleypole who died on the sixth day of August which went near to his heart After a weeks time his Disease began to shew very desperate symptomes wherefore he was removed to White-hall where his Chaplains kept Fasts for his recovery but having declared his Son Richard his Successor he died on Friday September the third at three of the Clock in the Afternoon The deceased Protector 's Will concerning his Successor being imparted to the Council and chief Officers of the Army they all consent to the election of his Son Richard and the President and whole Council went at once to congratulate him and to condole his Fathers death Then was he proclaimed by the City of London and chief Officers of the Army After the Proclamation the Lord Mayor presented his Sword to him which he presently returned and after some Ceremonies passed the Council and many Officers of the State and of the Army being present Nathanael Fiennes one of the Commissioners of the Great Seal administred an Oath unto him A Gentleman was sent into Ireland who was chief Governor of that Kingdom to acquaint Henry Cromwell with the present posture of Affairs in England and Mr. Thomas Clarges was sent into Scotland to General Monk to see how he stood affected to Richard's advancement Then Addresses were made to the Protector from all parts of the Nation and the Army of Scotland submit to what was was done in England Addresses were also made to the young Protector from all the Regiments of the Army in England Scotland and Ireland and other parts After the pompous solemnity of the Funerals of the late Protector the new Protector summoned a Parliament to meet at Westminster on January twenty seven he endeavours to new model his Council but the Army grows jealous of him and censure him and the factious part of the Army had many seditious meetings and he is perswaded to resign the command of the Army to Fleetwood which he refuseth The General Council of Officers as they called themselves met in Fleetwood's House where they acted with as much formality as if they had been the supreme Legislators of the three Kingdoms At length things came to this issue the young Protector was forced to sign a Commission to Commissioner Fiennes for the dissolving of the Parliament and a Proclamation came forth in the Protector 's name to publish the dissolution of the Parliament Soon after whilst many of the Superiour Officers of the Army met at Wallingford-house in further consideration of a Module of Government Supplem to Sir Rich. Baker's Hist the inferiour Officers being the most numerous assembled in the Chappel at St. Jame's having Doctor Owen and other Independent Ministers to assist at their Devotion and at last declared their forwardness to restore the latter part of the long Parliament and to restore Lambert and the rest of the Officers to their Commands who had been displaced by Oliver Cromwel for disaffection to him Several Colonels were removed from their Regiments and others put in their rooms as likewise Governours of Towns and other Officers Lambert being thus brought again into the Army recovereth much of his former power Then a Declaration of the Officers of the Army was drawn up which invited the Members of the long Parliament who had sate till April the twentieth 1653. to return to the exercise and discharge of their trust They accept of the Invitation and take their places in the House General Monk seems to consent to what was done in England They publish their Intentions by Declaration viz. That they are resolved by God's assistance to endeavour to secure and establish the property and Liberties of the people without a single Person Kingship or House of Peers and shall vigorously endeavour the carrying on of Reformation so much desired to the end there may be a godly and faithful Magistracy and Ministry upheld and maintained in the Nations c. The Officers of the Army
and in the mean-time send many Expostulatory Letters to Sir Arthur Haslerigg then at Newcastle urging the breach of Covenant and the union between the two Nations which availed nothing The Scots having been routed at Muscleburgh they came to a Battel at Dunbar where the whole Army was defeated by Cromwel of the Scots there were slain in the Battel four thousand and nine thousand were taken prisoners with all their Ammunition bag and baggage and ten thousand Armes The Scots after this loss quitted Leith and Edinburgh whereof the next day Cromwel took possession and the King retired to St. Johnstons where the Committee of Estates were assembled The Scots ascribed this overthrow of the Army to their admitting the King into Scotland before he had given full satisfaction to the Kirk in what they required of him and began very much to impose upon him and remove from his Person the most Faithful and Loyal of his Servants The King departs secretly from St. Johnstons in discontent to the Lord Dedup's house near Dundee The Estates at St. Johnstons send Major General Montgomery to fetch the King back the King returns with him to St. Johnstons where a grand Convention is held and divers of the Royal Nobility are received into the favour of this Assembly Cromwel fortifieth Lieth and lays close siege to Edinburgh Castle Mr. John Guthry Mr. Patrick Gelespy Mr. Samuel Rutherford with many other Ministers withdrew from the Assembly at St. Johnstons and in print remonstrated in the name of themselves and the Western Churches against the present proceedings and with these Colonel Ker Straughan the Laird of Warreston Sir John Chiesly and Sir James Stuart and others Confederated By this division Cromwel's Conquest was made very easie and his fomenting that Rent in their Church made their subjection to his Authority more lasting than otherwise it would have been The King was desirous to compose this disorder or at least to prevent the dividing so great a Force as was under Ker and Straughan from his Service and to that end the Earl of Cassels the Lord Broody and Mr. Robert Douglas the Minister were sent to treat with them but they were somewhat averse to a composure yet they declared against any conjunction with Cromwel professing equally against Malignants as they called the King 's Loyal Subjects and Sectaries Soon after Colonel Ker being defeated was taken prisoner by Major General Lambert Mr. Rutherford wrote divers consolatory Letters to him during his imprisonment both in Scotland and in England Edinburgh Castle was surrendered by Dundasse the Governor Son in Law to old Leven upon conditions unto Cromwel on December 24. 1650. Shortly after all the Forts on this side of Sterling were taken by the English The King was solemnly Crowned at Scoone near unto St. Johnstons the accustomed place of the Coronation of the Kings of Scotland his Coronation being celebrated with loud Acclamations Bonfires shooting off of Guns and with as much pomp and Ceremony as the present State of things would permit About the beginning of June the Parliament of Scotland ended Addition to Sir Ric. Bakerâ— Chron. having before their dissolution given large Commissions and Instructions for the pressing of men in all parts of the Kingdom beyond Fife and in the Western parts for a new Army which was to consist of 15000 Foot and 3000 Horse and Dragoons Then was the intended rising in Lancashire unfortunately disapointed Anno 1651 by the taking of a Ship at Ayx in Scotland which had been bound to the Earl of Darby in the Isle of Man and the seizing of Mr. Berkinhead an Agent in the business by whose Letters all was detected and thereupon were apprehended Mr. Thomas Cook of Grays-Inn Mr. Gibbons a Tailor and Mr. Potter an Apothecary together with Mr. Christopher Love Mr. William Jenkin Mr. Thomas Case Dr. Roger Drake and some other Presbyterial Ministers who were brought before a High Court of Justice and tried for their lives and about the latter end of July Potter Gibbons and Mr. Love were sentenced to death and a while after Gibbons and Love were executed After the defeat of Sir John Brown by Lambert and the taking of Brunt-Island and Inchgarvy-Castle by the English Cromwel resolved to set upon St. Johnstons which after one days siege he gained Hereupon the King leaves Scotland and enters England with his Army by the way of Carlile on August 6. 1651. At his first entrance upon English ground he was Proclaimed King of Gâ—eat Britain at the Head of the Army with great Acclamations and shooting off the Canons on August 22. he came to Worcester The Earl of Darby coming with Forces to the King was routed by Colonel Lilburn Cromwel having with the conjunction of the Militia of divers Counties drawn together an Army of fifty thousand men surroundeth the City of Worcester Duke Hamilton who behaved himself with undaunted courage received a shot on his thigh whereof presently after he died The King's Army being over-powred they were forced to retreat into the City and many of Cromwel's Army got in with them About seven at night the Cromwellians gained the Fort Royal at which time his Majesty left the City passing out at St. Martin's gate accompanied with about Sixty Horse of the chiefest of his Retinue The Town was taken and miserably plundered There were slain in the Field in the Town and in Pursuit some two thousand and about eight thousand were taken prisoners in several places most of the English common men escaping by their Shibboleth But at Newport there were taken in the pursuit the Earls of Lauderdale Rothes Carnworth Darby Cleveland Shrewsbury the Lord Spyne Sir John Pakington Sir Ralph Clare Sir Charles Cunningham Colonel Graves Mr. Richard Fanshaw Secretary to the King and many others Six Colonels of Horse eight Lieutennant Colonels of Foot six Majors of Horse thirteen Majors of Foot thirty seven Captains of Horse seventy two Captains of Foot fifty five Quarter-masters eighty nine Lieutenants There were taken also some general Officers with seventy six Cornets of Horse ninety nine Ensignes of Foot ninety Quarter-masters eighty of the King's Servants with the King's Standard which he had set up when he summoned the Countrey the King's Coach and Horses and Collar of S S. but the King's person God wonderfully preserved delivering him from the Hand of all his Enemies and after many difficulties he is safely transported from Bright-helmston in Sussex into France by Tattersall Cromwel comes with his prisoners to London and having left Lieutennant General Monk in Scotland Sterling with the Castle was surrendred unto him and Dundee was taken by Storm and soon after St. Andrews Aberdeen with other Towns Castles and Strong places either voluntarily submitted or rendred upon summons The Earl of Darby was beheaded at Bolton in Lancashire The Isles of Man and Jersey c. are surrendred to the Parliament The Isle of Barbadoes is yielded up to Sir George Ascough Now the Parliament of England