The Pope promises to satisfy the King ibid But proceeds hastily to a Sentence Pag. 102 Arguments for rejecting the Pope's Power Pag. 103 And for the Kings Supremacy Pag. 106 The Clergy submit to it Pag. 108 1534. The Pope's Power condemned in Parliam Pag. 109 The Act of the Succession Pag. 110 An Act concerning Hereticks Pag. 111 The Submission of the Convocation Pag. 112 An Act for the Election of Bishops Pag. 113 The Attainder of the Nun of Kent Pag. 114 All swear the Oath of Succession Pag. 119 Fisher Bishop of Rochester is in trouble ibid But is very obstinate Pag. 121 More and Fisher refuse the Oath ibid Another Session of Parliament establishes the King's Supremacy Pag. 123 The Progress of the Reformation in Engl. Pag. 125 The Supplication of the Beggars Pag. 127 Frith writes against Purgatory Pag. 128 A Persecution set on by More Pag. 129 Bilney 's Martyrdom ibid Frith 's Sufferings Pag. 133 A stop put to further Cruelties Pag. 135 The Interest the Reformers had at Court Pag. 136 Others oppose them much Pag. 137 The Opinion of some Bishops of a General Council Pag. 138 Heads of a Speech of Cranmer's Pag. 139 The state of England at that time Pag. 141 1535. A General Visitation proposed Pag. 144 Instructions and Injunctions for it ibid The state of the Monasteries in England Pag. 146 Some Houses surrendered to the King Pag. 150 1536. Queen Katherin's Death Pag. 151 The lesser Monasteries suppressed Pag. 152 A Translation of the Bible designed Pag. 153 Queen Ann Boleyn 's Fall Pag. 155 Her Trial Pag. 159 And Execution Pag. 162 Censures past upon it Pag. 164 Lady Mary 's Submission to the King Pag. 165 The Act of the Succession Pag. 167 The Pope desires a Reconciliation with the K. Pag. 168 Acts against the Pope's Power ibid The Convocation examines some Points of Religion Pag. 169 Articles of Religion agreed on Pag. 172 Which are variously censured Pag. 174 Other Alterations proposed Pag. 175 The King protests against all Councils called by the Pope Pag. 178 Card. Pool writes against him Pag. 179 The lesser Monasteries seized on Pag. 181 Which gave a general discontent Pag. 182 Injunctions given by the King Pag. 184 A Rebellion in Lincolnshire Pag. 186 Another in Yorkshire Pag. 187 They are every where quieted Pag. 191 Greater Monasteries surrendered Pag. 193 Some Abbots Attainted Pag. 196 The Impostures of some Images discovered Pag. 200 Becket 's Shrine broken Pag. 201 The Pope thunders against the King Pag. 203 The English Bishops assert the King's Supremacy and explain the Nature of the Power of the Church Pag. 205 The Bible set out in English and new Injunctions Pag. 208 Prince Edward born Pag. 209 Lambert is condemned and burnt for denying the Corporal Presence Pag. 210 Treaties with the German Princes Pag. 213 1539. The Act of the six Articles Pag. 215 Censures past upon it Pag. 219 An Act for the suppressing the Monasteries Pag. 220 An Act for new Bishopricks Pag. 222 An Act for Proclamations Pag. 224 Some Attainted without being heard Pag. 225 The King's kindness to Cranmer Pag. 226 Bishops hold their Sees at the Kings Pleasure Pag. 228 All the Monasteries supprest Pag. 229 A Treaty for a Match with Ann of Cleve Pag. 233 The King marries her but never likes her Pag. 234 The Knights of St. John suppressed Pag. 236 A new Parliament Pag. 235 Cromwel 's Fall Pag. 238 His Attaindor Pag. 240 Censures past upon it Pag. 241 The King's Marriage annull'd Pag. 242 Cromwel 's Death Pag. 246 A Book of Religion set out by the Bishops Pag. 247 The Explanation of Faith Pag. 248 And of the Sacraments Pag. 250 The Book is publisted Pag. 253 Barns ard others fall into Trouble Pag. 255 And burnt Pag. 257 New Sees founded Pag. 260 1541. The Bible set up in Churches Pag. 262 The Affairs of Scotland Pag. 264 A Persecution set on foot in Scotland Pag. 269 The Queen 's ill Life is discovered Pag. 271 1542. A design to suppress the Bible Pag. 274 Bonner's Injunctions ibid The way of Preaching at that time Pag. 275 A War with Scotland Pag. 279 1543. A Parliament called Pag. 280 An Act about Religion ibid Affairs in Scotland Pag. 282 Some burnt at Windsor Pag. 284 Cranmer 's Ruine is designed Pag. 286 1544. The Act of the Succession Pag. 288 The King makes War on France and Scotland Pag. 290 The King takes Bulloign Pag. 291 1545. Wishart burned in Scotland Pag. 292 Cardinal Beaton is murdered Pag. 294 Chantries given to the King Pag. 296 1546. A Peace with France Pag. 297 Ann Aiscough and others burnt Pag. 298 Designs against Cranmer Pag. 300 And against the Queen Pag. 301 The Duke of Norfolk's Fall Pag. 303 1547. The Earl of Surrey executed Pag. 304 The Duke is Attainted in Parliament Pag. 305 The King's Sickness Pag. 307 And Death Pag. 308 His Severities against Papists Pag. 309 The Carthusians in particular Pag. 310 Fisher 's Sufferings Pag. 311 More 's Death and Character Pag. 312 Attainders after the Rebellions Pag. 314 Forrest burnt for Heresy Pag. 315 Cardinal Pool's Friends Attainted Pag. 316 Some Attainted without being heard ibid The Conclusion Pag. 319 BOOK II. Of the Life and Reign of King Edward the Sixth KIng Edward 's Birth and Education Pag. 1 King Henry's Testament Pag. 2 A Protector chosen Pag. 4 Bishops take out Commissions ibid A Creation of Noblemen Pag. 5 Laymen had Ecclesiastical Dignities Pag. 7 Some take down Images Pag. 8 Arguments for and against it Pag. 9 The King's Funeral Pag. 12 Soul Masses examined ibid The Coronation Pag. 14 The Chancellour turned out Pag. 15 Protectors Patent Pag. 17 The Affairs of Germany ibid The Council of Trent Pag. 19 Divisions in England Pag. 20 The Visitation of all Churches Pag. 23 Censures on the Injunctions Pag. 26 The War with Scotland Pag. 28 The Battel of Musselburgh Pag. 31 The Success of the Visitation Pag. 32 A Parliament meets Pag. 35 An Act of Repeal ibid An Act about the Sacrament Pag. 36 An Act concerning the Nomination of Bishops Pag. 37 An Act against Vagabonds Pag. 39 An Act for dissolving the Chantries Pag. 40 The Convocation sits ibid The Affairs of Germany Pag. 43 Differences between the Protector and the Admiral Pag. 45 1548. The M. of Northampton 's Divorce Pag. 48 Some Ceremonies abrogated Pag. 49 A new Office for the Communion Pag. 52 Auricular Confession examined Pag. 54 Gardiner is imprisoned Pag. 56 A new Liturgy composed Pag. 58 The new Offices Pag. 61 Private Communion Pag. 62 Censures past on the Common-Prayer Book Pag. 63 All Preaching was for some time restrained Pag. 64 Affairs in Scotland Pag. 65 Affairs in Germany Pag. 67 1549. A Session of Parliament Pag. 69 An Act for the Marriage of the Clergy ibid An Act confirming the Liturgy Pag. 72 An Act for Fasting Pag. 73 The Admirals Attainder Pag. 74 A new Visitation Pag. 77 Disputes concerning Christs Presence
all who gave Livings by Simoniacal bargains were declared to have forfeited their right of Patronage to the King A great charge was also given for the strict observation of the Lords Day which was appointed to be spent wholly in the service of GOD it not being enough to hear Mass or Mattins in the Morning and spend the rest of the Day in drunkenness and quarrelling as was commonly practised but it ought to be all imployed either in the duties of Religion or in acts of Charity only in time of Harvest they were allowed to work on that and other Festival days Direction was also given for the bidding of Prayers in which the King as Supreme head the Queen and the Kings Sisters the Protector and Council and all the Orders of the Kingdom were to be mentioned they were also to pray for departed souls that at the last day we with them might rest both body and soul There were also Injunctions given for the Bishops that they should preach four times a year in their Diocesses once in their Cathedral and thrice in any other Church unless they had a good excuse to the contrary that their Chaplains should preach often and that they should give Orders to none but those that were duly qualified These were variously censured The Clergy were only impowered to remove the abused Images Censures on ths Injunctions and the People were restrained from doing it but this authority being put in their hands it was thought they would be slow and backward in it It had been happy for this Church if all had agreed since that time to press the Religious observation of the Lords Day without starting needless questions about the Morality of it and the obligation of the fourth Commandment which has occasioned much dispute and heat and when one Party raised the obligation of that duty to a pitch that was not practicable it provoked others to slacken it too much and this produced many sharp reflections on both sides and has concluded in too common a neglect of that day which instead of being so great a bond and instrument of Religion as it ought to be is become generally a day of idleness and loosness The Corruptions of Lay Patrons and Simoniacal Priests have been often complained of but no Laws nor Provisions have ever been able to preserve the Church from this great mischief which can never be removed till Patrons look on their right to nominate one to the charge of Souls as a trust for which they are to render a severe account to God and till Priests are cured of their aspiring to that charge and look on it with dread and great caution The bidding of Prayers had been the custome in time of Popery for the Preacher after he had named his Text and shewed what was to be the method of his Sermon desired the People to joyn with him in a Prayer for a blessing upon it and told them likewise whom they were to pray for and then all the People said their Beads in silence and he kneeling down said his and from that this was called the bidding of the Beads In this new direction for them Order was given to repeat always the Kings Title of Supream Head that so the People hearing it often mentioned might grow better accustomed to it but when instead of a bidding Prayer an immediate one is come generally to be used that enumeration of Titles seems not so decent a thing nor is it now so necessary as it then was The prayer for departed souls was now moderated to be a prayer only for the consummation of their happiness at the last day whereas in King Henry's time they prayed that God would grant them the fruition of his presence which implied a Purgatory The Injunctions to the Bishops directing them to give Orders with great caution pointed out that by which only a Church can be preserved from Errors and Corruptions for when Bishops do easily upon recommendations or emendicated Titles confer Orders as a sort of favour that is at their disposal the ill effects of that must be fatal to the Church either by the Corruptions that those vicious Priests will be guilty of or by the Scandals which are given to some good minds by their means who are thereby disgusted at the Church for their sakes and so are disposed to be easily drawn into those Societies that separate from it The War with Scotland was now in consultation The War with Scotland but the Protector being apprehensive that France would engage in the quarrel sent over Sir Fr. Brian to congratulate with the new King to desire a confirmation of the last Peace and to complain of the Scots who had broken their Faith with the King in the matter of the Marriage of their Queen The French King refused to confirm the Treaty till some Articles should be first explained and so he disowned his Fathers Embassadour and for the Scots he said he could not forsake them if they were in distress The English alledged that Scotland was subject to England but the French had no regard to that and would not so much as look on the Records that were offer'd to prove it and said they would take things as they found them and not look back to a dispute of two hundred years old This made the English Council more fearful of engaging in a War which by all appearance would bring a War on them from France The Castle of St. Andrews was surrendred and all their Pensioners in Scotland were not able to do them great fervice The Scots were now much lifted up for as England was under an Infant King so the Court of France was governed by their Queen Dowagers Brothers The Scots began to make Inroads on England and Descents on Ireland Commissioners were sent to the Borders to treat on both sides and the Protector raised a great Army which he resolved to command in person But the meeting on the Borders was soon broke up for the Scots had no Instructions to treat concerning the Marriage and the English were ordered to treat of nothing else till that should be first agreed to And the Records that were shewed of the Homage done by the Scottish Kings to the English had no great effect for the Scots either said they were forged or forced from some weak Princes or were only Homages for their Lands in England as the Kings of England did Homage to the Crown of France for their Lands there They also shewed their Records by which their Ancestors had asserted that they were free and independent of England The Protector left Commissions of Lieutenancy to some of the Nobility August and devolved his own power during his absence on the Privy Council and came to the Borders by the end of August The Scots had abandoned the Passes so that he found no difficulty in his March and the small Forts that were in his way were surrendred upon Summons When the English advanced to
were fit to be made and by what steps they should proceed It was thought fit to begin with the Communion in both kinds Now did the Exiles The Impatience of some that had fled beyond Sea return again and some zealous People began in many places to break Images and set up King Edward's Service again Upon this the Queen ordered that the Litany and other parts of the Service should be said in English and that no Elevation should be used in the Mass but required her Subjects by Proclamation 27 Decemb. to avoid all Innovations and use no other forms but those that she kept up in her Chappel till it should be otherwise appointed in Parliament She ordered her Sister's Funeral to be performed with the ordinary Magnificence White Bishop of Winchester that Preached the Sermon not only extolled her Government much but made severe Reflections on the present state of affairs for which he was confined to his House for some time Many Sees were now vacant So one of the first things that came under Consultation was the finding out fit Men for them Dr. Parker was pitched on as the fittest for the See of Canterbury He had been Chaplain to Anne Boleyn Parker refuses the See of Canterbury long and had been imployed in instructing the Queen in the Points of Religion when she was young He was well known to Sir Nicolas Bacon and both he and Cecyl gave so high a Character of him that it meeting with the Queen 's particular esteem made them resolve on advancing him but as soon as he knew it he used all the Arguments he possibly could against it both from the weakness of his Body and his unfitness for so great a charge He desired that he might be put in some small Benefice of 20. Nobles a Year So far was he from aspirings to great Wealth or high Dignities and as Cranmer had done before him he continued for many Months so averse to it that it was very hard to overcome him Such Promotions are generally if not greedily sought after yet at least willingly enough undertaken but this looked liker the practises in Ancient than Modern times In the best Ages of the Church instead of that Ambitus which has given such scandal to the World in later times it was ordinary for Men to flye from the offer of great Preferments and to retire to a Wilderness or a Monastery rather than undertake a charge which they thought above their Merit or Capacity to discharge And this will still shew it self in all such as have a just sense of the Pastoral care and consider the discharging that more than the raising or enriching themselves or their Families And it was thought no small honour to the Reformation that the two chief Instruments that promoted it Cranmer and Parker gave such evidences of a Primitive Spirit in being so unwillingly advanced The Seals were taken from Heath and put in Bacon's hands Bacon made Lord Keeper who was declared Lord Keeper and had all the Dignity and Authority of the Chancellors Office without the Title which was perhaps an effect of his great Modesty that adorned his other great qualities As he was Eminent in himself so he was happy in being Father to the Great Sir Francis Bacon one of the chief Glories of the English Nation On the 13th The Queen is Crowned of January the Queen was Crowned When she entred into her Chariot at the Tower she offered up an humble acknowledgment to God for delivering her out of that Lions Den and preserving her to that Joyful Day She passed through London in great Triumph and received all the expressions of Joy from her People with so much sweetness as gained as much on their Hearts as her Sisters sowrness had alienated them from her Under one of the Triumphal Arches a Child came down as from Heaven representing Truth with a Bible in his hand which she received on her Knees and kissed it and said she preferred that above all the other Presents that were that Day made her She was Crowned by Oglethorp Bishop of Carlisle for all the other Bishops refused to assist at it and he only could be prevailed on to do it They perceived that she intended to make changes in Religion and though many of them had changed often before yet they resolved now to stick firmer to that which they had so lately professed and for which they had shed so much Blood The Parliament was opened on the 25th A Parliament is called of January Bacon made a long Speech both concerning matters of Religion and the State of the Nation He desired they would examine the former Religion without heat or partial affection and that all reproaches might be forborn and extreams avoided and that things might be so setled that all might agree in an Uniformity in Divine Worship He laid open the errours of the former Reign and aggravated the loss of Calais but shewed that it could not be easily recovered He made a high Panegyrick of the Queen but when he shewed the necessities she was in he said she would desire no supply but what they should freely and chearfully offer The House of Commons began at a Debate Whether the want of the Title of Supream Head in the enumeration of the Queen's Titles made a Nullity in the Writs by which this and some former Parliaments had been summoned but they concluded in the Negative The Treaty at Cambray stuck chiefly at the restitution of Calais and King Philip for a great while insisted so positively on it that he refused to make Peace on other terms The Peace at Cambray England had lost it by a War in which they engaged on his account so in honour he was bound to see to it But when the hopes of his marrying the Queen vanished and when he saw she was going to make changes in Religion he grew more careless of her Interests and told the English Ambassadours that unless they would enter into a League for keeping up the War six Years longer he must submit to the necessity of his affairs and make Peace So the Queen listned to Propositions sent her from France She complained of the Queen of Scotland's assuming the Title and Arms of England It was answered that since she carried the Title and Arms of France she had no reason to quarrel much on that account She saw she could not make War with France alone and knew that Philip had made a separated Peace She had no mind to begin her Reign with a War that would probably be unsuccessful or demand Subsidies that would be so grievous as that thereby she might lose the affections of her People The loss of Calais was no reproach on her but fell wholly on her Sister's Memory and since she intended to make some changes in matters of Religion it was necessary to be at quiet with her Neighbours Upon this she resolved to make Peace with France on the best terms
that could be obtained It was agreed that at the end of eight Years Calais should either be restored or 500000. Crowns should be payed the Queen yet if during that time she made War either on France or Scotland she was to forfeit her right to Calais Aymouth in Scotland was to be rased and all differences on the Borders there were to be determined by some deputed on both sides this being adjusted a General Peace between the Crowns of England France and Spain was concluded and thus the Queen being freed from the dangerous consultations that the continuance of a War might have involved her in was the more at liberty to settle matters at home The first Bill Acts past in Parliament that was brought to try the Temper of the Parliament was for the Restitution of the Tenths and First-fruits to the Crown against this all the Bishops protested but that was all the opposition made to it By it not only that Tax was of new laid on the Clergy but all the Impropriated Benefices which Queen Mary had surrendred were restored to the Crown After this The Commons pray the Queen to marry the Commons made an Address to the Queen desiring her to choose such a Husband as might make both her self and the Nation happy She received this very kindly since they had neither limited her to time nor Nation but declared that as hitherto she had lived with great satisfaction in a single state and had refused the Propositions that had been made her both in her Brothers and Sisters reign so she had no Inclination to change her course of life If ever she did it she would take care that it should be for the good and to the satisfaction of her People She thought she was married to the Nation at her Coronation and looked on her People as her Children and she would be well contented if her Tombstone might tell Posterity Here lies a Queen that reigned so long and lived and dyed a Virgin There was little more progress made in this matter save that a Committee was appointed by both Houses to consider what should be the Authority of the Person whom the Queen might happen to marry but she sent them a Message to proceed to other affairs and let that alone A Bill for the Recognition of her Title to the Crown was put in Her Title to the Crown acknowledged It was not thought necessary to Repeal the Sentence of her Mothers Divorce for the Crown purged all defects and it was thought needless to look back unto a thing which could not be done without at least casting some reproach on her Father so it was in general words Enacted That they did assuredly believe and declare that by the Laws of God and the Realm she was their lawful Queen and was rightly and lineally descended This was thought a much wiser way than if they examined the Sentence of Divorce that past upon the Confession of a Precontract which must have revived the remembrance of things that were better left in silence Bills were put in for the English Service Acts concerning Religion for reviving King Edward's Laws and for annexing the Supremacy again to the Crown To that concerning the Supremacy two Temporal Lords and nine Bishops with the Abbot of Westminster dissented It was proposed to revive the Law for making the Bishops by Letters-Patents as was in King Edward's time but they choosed rather to revive the Act for Electing them made in the 25. Hen. 8. They revived all Acts made against the Pope's power in King Henry's time and repealed those made by Queen Mary They enacted an Oath for acknowledging the Queen Supream Governour in all causes and over all Persons Those that refused it were to forfeit all Offices that they held either in Church or State and to be under a disability during life If any should advance the authority of a Foreign Power for the first offence they were to be fined or imprisoned for the second to be in a Praemunire and the third was made Treason The Queen was also impowered to give Commissions for Judging and Reforming Ecclesiastical matters who were limited to judge nothing to be Heresie but what had been already so judged by the authority of the Scriptures or the first four General Councils All Points that were not decided either by express words of Scripture or by those Councils were to be referred to the Parliament and Convocation The Title of Supream Head was changed partly because the Queen had some scruples about it and partly to moderate the opposition which the Popish party might otherwise make to it and the refusing the Oath was made no other way Penal but that all Offices or Benefices were forfeited upon it which was a great mitigation of the severity in King Henry's time The Bishops are said to have made several Speeches against this in the House of Lords but that which goes under the name of Heath's Speech must be a forgery for in it the Supremacy is called a new and unheard of thing which could not have flowed from one that had sworn it so often both under King Henry and King Edward Tonstall came not to this Parliament and he was so offended with the Cruelties of the last Reign that he had withdrawn himself into his Diocess where he burnt none himself upon that it was now thought that he was so much alienated from those Methods that some had great hopes of his declaring for the Reformation Heath had been likewise very moderate nor were any burnt under him Upon the power given the Queen to appoint some to Reform and direct all Ecclesiastical matters was the Court called the High Commission Court founded which indeed was nothing but the sharing that authority which was in one Person in King Henry's time into many hands for that Court had no other authority but that which was lodged formerly in Cromwell as the King's Vicegerent and was now thought too great to be trusted to one Man Great complaints were made of seditious Sermons preached by the Popish Clergy Preaching without Licence forbidden upon which the Queen followed the Precedent that her Sister had made and forbid all Preaching excepting only by such as obtained a Licence under the Great Seal for it She likewise sent an Order to the Convocation requiring them under the pains of a Praemunire to make no Canons Yet the lower House in an Address to the upper House declared for the Corporal Presence and that the Mass was a Propitiatory Sacrifice and for the Supremacy and that matters of Religion fell only under the Cognisance of the Pastors of the Church The greatest part of both Universities had also set their hands to all these Points except the last This it seems A publick Conference about Religion was the rather added by the Clerks of Convocation to hinder a publick Conference which the Queen had appointed between the Bishops and the Reformed Divines It was first
they did cruelly and treacherously murder him and laid out his Body in the same Window from which he had looked on Wisharts Execution Some few justified this Fact as the killing of a Robber and Murderer but it was more generally condemned by all sorts of People even by those who hated him most yet the Accomplishment of Wishart's Prediction made great Impressions on many On the other hand it was afterwards observed that scarce any of the Conspirators died an ordinary Death They kept out the Castle and about 140 came in to them and they held it near two Years being assisted both by Mony and Provisions that were sent from England They had also the Govenour at their Mercy for they kept his eldest Son whom the Cardinal had taken into his Care for his Education An Absolution was brought from Rome and a Pardon was offered them and at last being straitned both at Sea and Land they rendred the Place upon Assurance of Life This Infamous Action was a great Blemish upon the Reformers who tho they did not directly justify it yet extenuated it and gave it some Countenance for two of them went in and preached to the Garrison in the Castle In England a Parliament met Chantries given to the King in which as the Spiritualty gave a Subsidy of six Shillings in the Pound payable in two Years so the Temporalty not only gave a Subsidy for the War but confirmed all the Surrenders that had been made of Chantries Chappels Colledges Hospitals and other Foundations for saying Masses for departed Souls and they empowered the King during his Life to grant Commissions for seizing on the rest of them Yet the King found this was like to give new Discontent to the Gentry to whom these belonged so he made but a small Progress in it and many were reserved to his Sons Courtiers to feed on The King dismissed the Parliament with a long Speech In which after he had thanked them for their Bills he exhorted them to Charity and Concord in matters of Religion and to forbear all Terms of Reproach such as Papist and Heretick he complained much of the Stifness of some Church-men and of the Indiscretion of others who both gave ill Example and sowed the Seeds of Discord among the Laity He as God's Vicar thought himself bound to see these things corrected he reproved the Temporalty for the ill use they made of the Scripture for instead of being taught out of it to live better and to be more charitable to one another they only railed at one another and made Songs out of it to disgrace those that differed from them so he exhorted them to serve God and love one another which he would esteem the best Expression of their Duty and Obedience to him The King had appointed a Distribution of 550 l. a year in several Cathedrals for the Poor and about 400 l. for High-ways so this Year some Bishops were appointed to see whether those Payments were made as he had ordered or not The Universities were now in danger of having their Colledges supprest but upon their Applications to the King they were delivered from their Fears Now came on the last Year of this Reign A Peace with France the War with France was this Year unsuccesful but upon the Earl of Surrey's being recalled and the Earl of Hartford's being sent in his room things turned a little This raised such Animosity between those two Lords that they became fatal to the former The two Kings were at last brought to consent to a Peace the main Article of it was that within eight Years Bulloigne should be delivered up the taking and keeping of which cost England 1300000 l. Upon this Peace Annebault the French Admiral was sent over Ambassadour The Council of Trent was now sitting Pool was made a Legate to do the King the more Spite the Emperour and the Pope governed it as they pleased so the two Crowns resolved to unite more firmly particularly it was proposed that the Mass should be turned to a Communion and Cranmer was ordered to prepare the Office for it But this was too great a Design for two old Kings to accomplish There was at this time a new Prosecution of those that denied the Corporal Presence in the Sacrament Anne Aiscough and others burnt Shaxton was accused of some Words about it but he abjured and complied so entirely that soon after he preached the Sermon at the burning of Anne Aiscough he made no noise all King Edward's time yet in Queen Mary's Reign he was a Persecutor of Protestants but was so little esteemed that tho he had been Bishop of Salisbury he was raised no higher than to be Bishop Suffragan of Ely Several other Persons were at this time endicted upon the same Statute but most of them recanted Anne Aiscough stood firm she was descended from a good Family and had been well educated but was unhappily married for her Husband being a violent Papist drove her out of his House when he discovered her Inclinations to the Reformation she was put in Prison on the account of the Sacrament but signed a Recantation and so was set at Liberty yet not long after she was committed again upon a new Complaint and was examined before the Privy Council but answered with extraordinary Resolution yet it was thought by some that she was too forward in her manner of speaking she had been much at Court and it was believed she was supported by some Ladies there so in order to the Discovery of this she was carried to the Tower and rack'd yet she confess'd nothing Wriothesly was present and commanded the Lieutenant of the Tower to draw the Rack a little more but he refused to do it upon which the Chancellour laid aside his Gown and drew it himself with so much Force as if he had intended to rend her Body asunder and the Effects of this were so violent that she was not able to go to Smithfield but was carried thither in a Chair when she was burnt Two others were also condemned on the same account and Shaxton to compleat his Apostacy after he had in vain endeavoured to perswade them to abjure preached the Sermon at their Burning in which he inveighed severely against their Errors The Lord Chancellour came to Smithfield and offered them their Pardons if they would recant but they chose rather to glorify God by their Deaths than to dishonour him by so foul an Apostacy There were two burnt in Suffolk and one in Norfolk on the same account this Year But the Popish Party hoped to have greater Sacrifices offered up to their Revenge Designs against Cranmer They had laid a Train last Year for Cranmer and they had laid one now for the Queen They perswaded the King that Cranmer was the Source of all the Heresy that was in England but the King's Partiality to him was such that none would come in against him So they desired that he might be once
present only their Decrees were to be brought to him to be Signed before they should be Inrolled This being done without any authority from the Protector and the other Executors was thought a high Presumption since he did hereby devolve on others that trust which was deposited in his hands Upon this some Lawyers complained to the Protector and they seem'd also apprehensive of a design to change the Common Laws which was occasioned by the Decrees made by the Civilians that were more suted to the Imperial than to the English Laws The Judges being desired to give their opinions made report That what the Chancellour had done was against Law and that he had forfeited his place and might be imprisoned for it during pleasure But he carried it high he threatned both the Judges and Lawyers and when it was urged that he had forfeited his place he said he had it from the late King who had likewise named him one of the Executors during his Sons minority But it was answered That the major part had power over any of the rest otherwise one of them might rebel and pretend he could not be punished by the rest He being driven out of that was more humble and acknowledged he had no Warrant for granting the Commission he thought by his Office he might lawfully do it he asked Pardon for his offence and desired he might lose his place with as little disgrace as was possible and then it was resolved on by the rest to take the Seal from him and to Fine him as they should afterwards think fit So he being suffered to go home with the Seal the Lord Seimour and some others were sent to demand it of him He was also confined to his house and kept under the terrour of an Arbitrary Fine But upon giving a Bond of 4000 l. to be payed upon demand he was freed from his confinement Yet he was not put out of the trust of the King and the Government for it seems the Council did not look on that as a thing that was in their power to do Soon after this the Protector took a Patent for his Office under the Great Seal March Protectors Patent then in the keeping of the Lord St. John by which he was confirmed in his Authority till the King should be eighteen years of Age he was also authorized to bring in new Councellours besides those enumerated in the Patent who are both the Executors and the Councellours nominated by the late King The Protector with so many of the Council as he thought meet were empowered to administer the affairs of the Kingdom but the Council was limited to do nothing without his Advice and Consent And thus was he now as well established in his Authority as Law could make him He had a Negative on the Council but they had none on him and he could either bring his own creatures into it or select a Cabinet Council out of it as he pleased And the other Executors having now delivered up their Authority to him were only Privy Councellors as the rest were without retaining any singular authority peculiar to them as was provided by King Henry's Will The first business of consequence that required great consideration The affairs of Germany was the Smalcaldick War then begun between the Emperor and the Princes of that League the effects of which if the Emperor prevailed were like to be not only the extirpating of Lutheranism but his being the absolute Master of Germany which the Emperor chiefly designed in order to an Universal Monarchy but disguised it to other Princes to the Pope he pretended that his design was only to extirpate Heresie to other Princes he pretended it was only to repress some Rebels and denied all design of suppressing their new Doctrines which he managed so artificially that he divided Germany it self and got some Lutheran Princes to declare for him and others to be Neutrals and having obtained a very liberal supply for his Wars with France and the Turk for which he granted an Edict for liberty of Religion he made Peace with both those Princes and resolved to imploy that Treasure which the Germans had given him against themselves That he might deprive them of their chief Allies he used means to engage King Henry and Francis the First in a War but that was chiefly by their Interposition composed And now when the War was like to be carried on with great Vigour they lost both those Princes for as Henry died in January so Francis followed him into another World in March following Many of their Confederates began to capitulate and forsake them and the divided command of the Duke of Saxe and the Landgrave of Hesse lost them great advantages the former year in which it had been easie to have driven the Emperor out of Germany but it fell often out that when the one was for engaging the other was against it which made many very doubtful of their success The Pope had a mind to engage the Emperor in a War in Germany that so Italy might be at quiet and in order to that and to Imbroil the Emperor with all the Lutherans he published his Treaty with him that so it might appear that the design of the War was to extirpate Heresie though the Emperor was making great protestations to the contrary in Germany He also opened the Council of Trent which the Emperor had long desired in vain but it was now brought upon him when he least wished for it for the Protestants did all declare that they could not look upon it as a free General Council The Council of Trent since it was so entirely at the Popes devotion that not so much as a Reformation of some of the grossest abuses that could not be justified was like to be obtained unless clogged with such Clauses as made it ineffectual Nor could the Emperor prevail with the Council not to proceed to establish the doctrine and condemn Heresie but the more he obstructed that by delays the more did the Pope drive it on to open the eyes of the Germans and engage them all vigorously against the Emperor yet he gave them such secret assurances of tollerating the Ausburg Confession that the Marquess of Brandenburg declared for him and that joyned with the hopes of the Electorate drew in Maurice of Saxe The Count Palatine was old and feeble the Archbishop of Colen would not make resistance but retired being condemned both by Pope and Emperor and many of the Cities submitted And Maurice by falling into Saxe forced the Elector to separate from the Landgrave and return to the defence of his own Dominions This was the state of the affairs in Germany so it was a hard point to resolve on what answer the Protector should give to the Duke of Saxe's Chancellor whom he sent over to obtain an Aid in Money for carrying on the War It was on the one hand of great importance to the safety of England to preserve
excessively and did much mischief Hail-stones of a huge bigness fell in some places Intermitting Fevers were so Universal and Contagious that they raged like a Plague so that in many Places there were not People enough to reap the Harvest all which tended to encrease the aversion to the Government and that disposed the Queen to hearken to overtures of Peace This was projected between the Bishop of Arras and the Cardinal of Lorrain who were the chief Favourites to the two Kings and were both much set on extirpating Heresie which could not be done during the continuance of the War the Cardinal of Lorrain was more earnest in it because the Constable who was the Head of the Faction against the House of Guise was suspected to favour it and his three Nephews the Coligny's were known to encline to it The King of France had also lost another Battel this Year at Gravelin which made him desire a Peace for he thought the driving the English out of France did compensate both that and his loss at St. Quintin So both those Princes reckoned they had such advantages that they might make Peace with honour and they being thus disposed to it a Treaty was opened at Cambray Philip in his own disposition was much inclined to extirpate Heresie and the Brothers of Guise possessed the King of France with the same Maximes which seemed more necessary because Heresie had then spread so much in that Court that both the King and Queen of Navarre declared themselves for the Reformation and great numbers in the Publick Walks about Paris used to assemble at Nights and sing David's Psalms in Verse The King of Navarre was the first Prince of the Blood and so was in great consideration for his rank but was a weak Man His Queen was the wonder of her Age both for great Parts Eminent Vertues and a most Extraordinary sense of Religion There was an Edict set out forbiding this Psalmody but the dignity of these crowned Heads and the Numbers of those that were engaged in it made it seem not advisable to punish any for it at least till a general Peace had been first made In April was the Dauphin married to the Queen of Scotland The Dauphin and Queen of Scotland married which was honoured by an Epithalamium writ by Buchanan reckoned to be one of the rarest Pieces of Latine Poetry The Deputies sent from Scotland were desired to offer the Dauphin the Crown of Scotland in the Right of his Wife But they said that exceeded the bounds of their Commission so they only promised to represent the matter to the States of Scotland but could not conceal the aversion they had to it Soon after Four of the Seven that were sent over died and the Fifth escaped narrowly It was generally suspected that they were poisoned when the rest returned to Scotland an Assembly of the States was called in which it was agreed to allow the Dauphin the Title of King but with this Proviso that he should have no power over them and that it was only a bare Title which they offered him This was appointed to be carried to him by the Earl of Argile and the Prior of St. Andrews who had been the chief Sticklers for the French Interest in hopes of the Queen Regents Protection against the rage of the Bishops in matters of Religion In England A Parliament in England a Parliament was called the 5th of November the Queen being ill sent for the Speaker of the House of Commons and laid before him the ill condition of the Nation and the necessity of putting it in a posture of defence But the Commons were so ill satisfied with the Conduct of affairs that they could come to no resolution so on the 14th of that Month twelve of the chief Lords of both Estates came down to the House of Commons and desired them to grant a Subsidy to defend the Nation both against the French and Scots but the Commons came to no conclusion till the Queen's death on the 17th put an end to the Parliament Her false Conception and the Melancholy that followed it The Queens Death which received a surcharge from the loss of Calais brought her into an ill habit of body and that turned to a Dropsie which put an end to her unhappy Reign in the forty-third year of her Age after she had reigned five Years four Months and eleven Days Sixteen hours after her Cardinal Pool died in the fifty ninth year of his Age. He left Priuli a Noble Venetian that had lived twenty six years in an entire friendship with him his Executor but as Pool had not studied to heap up much Wealth so Priuli who had refused a Cardinal's Hat rather than be obliged thereby to lose his Company gave it all away and reserved nothing to himself but his Breviary and Diary Pool was a learned humble Pool's Death and Character prudent and moderate Man and had certainly the best notions of any of his Party then in England but he was almost alone in them so that the Queen whose temper and principles were fierce and severe preferred the bloody Counsels of Gardiner and Bonner to the wiser and better methods which he proposed And though his superstition for the See of Rome continued still with him yet his Eyes were opened in many things his being Legate at Trent and his retirement at Viterbo had both enlightned and composed his mind and that joyned to the Probity and sweetness of his Temper produced great effects in him his Character deserves the more to be enlarged on because there were no others of the Clergy at that time concerning whom even a partial Historian can find much good to relate for their temporising and dissimulation in the changes that were made and their Cruelty when power was put in their hands were so scandalous that it is scarce possible to write of them with that softness of stile that becomes an Historian The Queen had been bred to some more than ordinary knowledge The Queens Character A froward sort of Vertue and a Melancholy Piety are the best things that can be said of her she left the Conduct of Affairs wholly in the hands of her Council and gave her self up to follow all the dictates and humours of the Clergy and though she esteemed Pool beyond them all yet she imputed the moderateness of his Counsels rather to his Temper than to his Judgment and perhaps thought that the Pope who pressed all Princes to set up Courts of Inquisition for extirpating of Heresie was more likely to be Infallible than the Cardinal and as Princes were required by the fourth Council in the Lateran to extirpate Hereticks under the pain of forfeiting their Dominions so the Pope had set out a Decree this Year by the advice of all his Cardinals confirming all Canons against Hereticks declaring that such Princes as fell into Heresie did thereby forfeit all their Rights without any special sentence and that
refuses the See of Canterbury Pag. 343 1559. Bacon made Lord Keeper The Queen is crowned Pag. 344 ibid. A Parliament is called The Peace at Cambray Pag. 345 346 Acts past in Parliament Pag. 347 The Commons pray the Queen to marry ibid. Her Title to the Crown acknowledged Pag. 348 Acts concerning Religion Pag. 349 Preaching without Licence forbidden Pag. 351 A publik Conference about Religion ibid. Arguments for and against Worship in an unknown Tongue Pag. 352 The English Service is again set up Pag. 355 Speeches against it by some Bishops Pag. 356 Many Bishops turned out Pag. 358 The Queen enclined to keep Images in Churches Pag. 360 A general Visitation ibid. The high Commission Court Pag. 362 Parker is very unwillingly made Arch-bishop of Canterbury Pag. 363 The other Bishops consecrated Pag. 365 The Fable of the Nags-Head confuted Pag. 366 The Articles of the Church published Pag. 367 A Translation of the Bible Pag. 368 The Want of Church Discipline Pag. 369 The Reformation in Scotland Pag. 370 It is first set up in St. Johnstown Pag. 372 The Queen-Regent is deposed Pag. 375 The Queen of England assists the Scots Pag. 376 The Queen-Regent dies ibid. A Parliment meets and settles the Reformation Pag. 377 The Q of England the Head of all the Protestants Pag. 378 Both in France and the Netherlands Pag. 379 381 The excellent Administration of Affairs in England ibid. Severities against the Papists were necessary Pag. 285 Sir F. walsingh Account of the steps in which she proceeded ibid. The Conclusion Pag. 386 ERRATA BOOK I. PAge 20. line 5. stop read step Page 45 l. 17. if he said read he said if P. 47. l. 6. dele any P. 60. l. 18. after determine dele l. 19. after same d. P. 61. l. implored r imployed P. 64 l. 9. formerly r. formally P. 81. mar l. 4. after the r. King and the. P. 82. l. 2. enacted r. exacted P. 89. l. 23. King the r. the King P. 92. l. 6. or r. of P. 93. l. 3.9 r. 11. P. 95. l. 8. big a r. a big P. 99. l. 19. new r. now l. 29. after this r. was P. 109. l. 6. he r. the. P. 121. l. 2. after so r. was P. 130. l. 3. for r. but. P. 131. l. 16. after and r. he with P. 133. l. 9. after was r. given P. 135. l. 22. being r. were P. 139. l. 30. after were r. to P. 141. l. ult near r. now at P. 181. mar l. 3. cited in r. seized on P. 184. l. 2. had it r. it had P. 196. l. 26. del once P. 205. l. 12. before the r. as P. 217. l. 11. before the r. this P. 237. l. 31. some r. since P. 242. l. 25. her will r. his will P. 243. l. 5. after for r. since P. 257. l. 14. after Abel r. P. 260. l. 16. del are P. 291. l. 11. corrupting r. reforming Book 2. P. 13. l. 15. had r. been P. 30. l. 34. 20th r. 10th P. 53. l. 22. so r. for P. 103. l. 25. not r. nor P. 111. l. 13. after all r. his P. 188 l. 15. del then P. 199. l. 31. in r. on Book 3. P. 301. l. 20. hew r. new P. 321. l. 16. after most r. part P. 312. l. 2. Peru r. Pern l. some r. the same P. 317. l. 12. 80000 r. 8000. Book 4. P. 354. l. 28. and P. 356. l. 7. Ferknam r. Fecknam AN A BRIDGMENT OF THE History of the Reformation OF THE Church of ENGLAND LIB I. Of the Beginnings of it and the Progress made in it by King Henry the Eighth THe Wars of the two Houses of York and Lancaster The Vnion of the two Houses of York Lancast in K H. VIII had produced such dismal Revolutions and cast England into such frequent and terrible Convulsions that the Nation with great joy received Henry the Seventh Book I. who being himself descended from the House of Lancaster by his marriage with the Heir of the House of York did deliver them from the fear of any more Wars by new Pretenders But the covetousness of his Temper the severity of his Ministers his ill conduct in the Matter of Britaign and his jealousy of the House of York not only gave occasion to Impostors to disturb his Reign but to several Insurrections that were raised in his time By all which he was become so generally odious to his People that as his Son might have raised a dangerous competition for the Crown during his Life as devolved on him by his Mother's death who was indeed the Righteous Heir so his death was little lamented April 22 1509. He disgraces Empson and Dudley And Henry the Eighth succeeded with all the Advantages he could have desired and his disgracing Empson and Dudley that had been the cruel Ministers of his Fathers Designs for filling his Coffers his appointing Restitution to be made of the Sums that had been unjustly exacted of the People and his ordering Justice to be done on those rapacious Ministers gave all People hopes of happy Times under a Reign that was begun with such an Act of Justice that had indeed more Mercy in it than those Acts of Oblivion and Pardon with which others did usually begin And when Ministers by the King's Orders were condemned and executed for invading the Liberties of the People under the Covert of the King's Prerogative it made the Nation conclude that they should hereafter live secure under the Protection of such a Prince and that the violent Remedies of Parliamentary Judgments should be no more necessary except as in this case to confirm what had been done before in the ordinary Courts of Justice The King also either from the Magnificence of his own Temper He is very liberal or the Observation he had made of the ill Effects of his Father's Parsimony did distribute his Rewards and Largesses with an unmeasured Bounty so that he quickly emptied his Treasure 1800000 l which his Father had left the fullest in Christendom But till the ill Effects of this appeared it raised in his Court and Subjects the greatest Hopes possible of a Prince whose first Actions shewed an equal mixture of Justice and Generosity At his first coming to the Crown the Successes of Lewis the Twelth in Italy made him engage as a Party in the Wars with the Crown of Spain His Success in the Wars He went in Person beyond Sea and took both Terwin and Tournay in which as he acquired the Reputation of a good and fortunate Captain so Maximillion the Emperor put an unusual Complement on him for he took his pay and rid in his Troops But a Peace quickly followed upon which the French King married his Younger Sister Mary but he dying soon after Francis the first succeeded and he renewing his Pretensions upon Italy Henry could not be prevailed on to ingage early in the War till the Successes of either Party should discover which of the sides was the
Arthur and Katherine the Infanta of Spain She came into England was married in November but on the second of April after the Prince died They were not only bedded in Ceremony the night of the Marriage but continued still to lodg together and the Prince by some indecent Rallery gave Occasion to believe that the Marriage was consummated which was so little doubted that some imputed his too early end to his excess in it After his Death his younger Brother was not created Prince of Wales till ten Months had past it being then apparent that the Princess was not with Child by the late Prince Women were also set about her to wait on her with the Precaution that is necessary in such a Case so that it was generally believed that she was no Virgin when the Prince died Henry the seventh being unwilling to restore so great a Portion as two hundred thousand Ducats proposed a second Match for her with his Younger Son Henry Warham did then object against the Lawfulness of it yet Fox Bishop of Winchester was for it and the Opinion of the Pope's Authority was then so well established that it was thought a Dispensation from Rome was sufficient to remove all Objections Decemb. 1503. so one was obtained grounded upon a desire of the two young Persons to marry together for preserving Peace between the Crowns of England and Spain by which the Pope dispensed with it notwithstanding the Princess's Marriage to Prince Arthur which was as is said in the Bull perhaps consummated The Pope was then in War with Lewis the twelfth of France and so would refuse nothing to the King of England being perhaps not unwilling that Princes should contract such Marriages by which the Legitimation of their Issued epending on the Pope's Dispensation they would be thereby obliged in Interest to support that Authority upon this a Marriage followed the Prince being yet under Age but the same day in which he came to be of Age he did by his Father's Orders make a Protestation that he retracted and annulled his Marriage Henry the seventh at his Death charged him to break it off entirely being perhaps apprehensive of such a return of Confusion upon a controverted Succession to the Crown as had been during the Wars of the Houses of York and Lancaster but upon his Death Henry the Eighth being then eighteen Years of Age married her She bore him two Sons who died soon after they were born and a Daughter Mary that lived to reign after him Matches proposed for his Daughter but after that the Queen contracted some Diseases that made her unacceptable to the King so all hope of any other Issue failing several Matches were proposed for his Daughter the first was with the Dauphin then she was contracted with the Emperor and after that a Proposition was made for the King of Scotland and last of all a Treaty was made with Francis the first either for himself he being then a Widower or for his second Son the Duke of Orleans to be determin'd at his Option upon which the Bishop of Tarbe was sent over Ambassador to conclude it he made an Exception that the Marriage was doubtful and the Lady not legitimate which had been likewise made by the Cortes of Spain by whose Advice the Emperor broke the Contract upon that very account so that other Princes moving Scruples against a Marriage with his Daughter the Heir of so great a Crown the King began to make some himself or rather to publish them for he said afterwards he had them some Years before Yet the Cardinal's hatred to the Emperor was look'd on as one of the secret Springs of the King's Aversion to his Aunt which the King vindicating him in publick afterwards did not remove that being considered only as a Court Contrivance The King seemed to lay the greatest Weight on the prohibition in the Levitical Law of marrying the Brother's Wife The King has some scruples concerning his Marriage and he being conversant in Thomas Aquinas's Writings found that he and the other Schoolmen look'd on those Laws as Moral and for ever binding and that by Consequence the Pope's Dispensation was of no force since his Authority went not so far as to dispence with the Laws of God All the Bishops of England Fisher of Rochester only excepted declared under their Hands and Seals that they judged the Marriage unlawful The ill Consequences of Wars that might follow upon a doubtful Title to the Crown were also much considered or at least pretended It is not probable that the engagement of the King's Affections to any other gave the rise to all this for so prying a Courtier as Wolsey was would have discovered it and not have projected a Marriage with Francis's Sister if he had seen the King prepossessed It is more probable that the King conceiving himself upon the point of being discharged of his former Marriage gave a free scope to his Affections which upon that came to settle on Anne Bolleyn The King had reason enough to expect a quick and favourable dispatch of his business at Rome where Dispensations or Divorces in Favour of Princes used to pass rather with regard to the Merits of the Prince that desired them than of the Cause it self His Alliance seemed then necessary to the Pope who was at that time in Captivity Nor could the Emperour with any good colour oppose his Suit since he had broken his Contract with his Daughter upon the account of the doubtfulness of the Marriage The Cardinal had also given him full Assurances of a good Answer from Rome whether upon the knowledg he had of that Court and of the Pope's temper or upon any promise made him is not certain The Reasons gathered by the Canonists for annulling the Bull of Dispensation upon which the Divorce was to follow in course were grounded upon some false suggestions in the Bull and upon the Protestation which the King had made when he came to be of Age. In a word they were such that a favourable Pope left to himself would have yielded to them without any scruple Anne Bolleyn was born in the year 1507 and went to France at seven years of Age and returned twelve years after to England She was much admired in both Courts and continued to live without any Blemish till her unfortunate Fall gave occasion to some malicious Writers to defame her in all the Parts of her Life She was more beautiful than graceful and more chearful than discreet She wanted none of the Charms of Wit or Person and must have had extraordinary Attractives since she could so long manage such a King's Affection in which her being with Child soon after the Marriage shews that in the whole course of seven years she kept him at a due distance Upon her coming to England the Lord Piercy being then a Domestick of the Cardinals made love to her and went so far as to engage himself some way to
on the same piece of Paper it appears he was then privy to the Kings Design of marrying her and intended to advance himself yet higher by his merits in procuring her the Crown This Year he settled his two great Colledges and finding both the King and People much pleased with his converting some Monasteries to such uses he intended to suppress more and to convert them to Bishopricks and Cathedral Churches which the Pope was not willing to grant the Religious Orders making great Opposition to it but Gardiner told him it was necessary and must be done so a power for doing it was added to the Legates Commission At this time the Queen engaged the Emperor to espouse her Interests which he did the more willingly because the King was then in the Interests of France and to help her Business a Breve was either found or forged the last is more probable of the same date with the Bull that dispensed with her Marriage But with stronger Clauses in it to answer those Objections that were made against some defects in the Bull though it did not seem probable that in the same Day a Bull and a Breve would have been granted for the same thing in such different strains The most considerable Variation was That whereas the Bull did only suppose that the Queens Marriage with Prince Arthur was perhaps Consummated the Breve did suppose it absolutly without a perhaps This was thought to prejudice the Queen's Cause as much as the Suspicion of the Forgery did blemish her Agents In October Campegio comes into England Campegio came into England and after the first Complements were over he first advised the King to give over the Prosecution of his Suit and then counselled the Queen in the Pope's Name to enter into a Religious Life and make Vows but both were in vain and he by affecting an Impartiality almost lost both sides But he in great measure pacified the King when he shewed him the Bull he had brought over for annulling the Marriage yet he would not part with it out of his hands neither to the King nor the Cardinal upon which great Instances were made at Rome that Campegio might be ordered to shew it to some of the King's Counsellors and to go on and end the business otherwise Wolsey would be ruined and England lost Yet all this did not prevail on the crafty Pope who knew it was intended once to have the Bull out of Campegio's hands and then the King would leave him to the Emperour's Indignation But tho he positively refused to grant that yet he said he left the Legates in England free to judge as they saw Cause and promised that he would confirm their Sentence The Imperialists at Rome pressed him hard to inhibit the Legates and to recall the Cause that it might be heard before the Consistory The Pope declined this motion and to mollify the King he sent Campana one of his Bed-chamber Campana sent to deceive the King over to England with Complements too high to gain much Credit He assured the King that the Pope would do for him all he could not only in Justice and Equity but in the fulness of his Power And that tho he had reason to be very apprehensive of the Emperour's Resentments yet that did not divert him from his Zeal for the King's Service for if his resigning the Popedome would advance it it should not stick at that He also was ordered to require the Legates to put a speedy end to the business but his secret Instructions to Campegio were of another strain he charged him to burn the Bull and to draw out the matter by all the delayes he could invent Sir Francis Brian and Peter Vannes were dispatched to Rome with new Propositions to try whether if both the King and Queen took Religious Vowes so that their Marriage were upon that annulled the Pope would engage to dispence with the King's Vow or grant him a License for having two Wives Wolsey also offered in the King's Name to settle a Pay for 2000 Men that should be a Guard to the Pope and to procure a Restitution of some of his Towns on which the Venetians had seized But the Pope did not care to have his Guards payed by other Princes which he looked on as a putting himself in their hands He was in fear of every thing that might bring a new Calamity upon him and was now resolved to unite himself firmly with the Emperour by whose means only he hoped to reestablish his Family at Florence The Pope resolved to unite with the Emperour and ever after this all the use he made of the King's Earnestness in his Divorce was only to draw in the Emperour to his Interests on the better Terms The Emperour was also then pressing him hard for a General Council of which besides the aversion that the Court of Rome had to it he had particular reason to be afraid for being a Bastard he was threatned with Deposition as uncapable by the Canons of the Church to hold such a Dignity The Pope proposed a Journey incognito to Spain and desired Wolsey to go with him for obtaining a General Peace But in secret he was making up with the Emperour and gave his Agents Assurances that tho the Legates gave Sentence he would not confirm it So the King 's Correspondents at Rome wrote to him to set on the War more vigorously against the Emperour for he could expect nothing at Rome unless the Emperour's Affairs declined The Pope went on cajoling those the King sent over and gave new Assurances that tho he would not grant a Bull by which the Divorce should be immediately his own Act yet he would confirm the Legates Sentence so he resolved to cast the Load wholly upon them if he said he did it himself a Council would be called by the Emperour's means in which his Bull would be annulled and himself deposed which would bring on a new Confusion and that considering the footing Heresy had got would ruine the Church The Pope inclined more to the dissolving the Marriage by the Queen's taking Vowes as that which could be best defended but the Cardinal gave him notice that the Queen would never be brought to that unless her Nephews advised it At this time The Pope's Sickness the Pope was taken suddenly ill and fell in a great Sickness upon which the Imperialists began to prepare for a Conclave But Farnese and the Cardinal of Mantua opposed them and seemed to have Inclination for Wolsey Whom as his Correspondents wrot to him they reverenced as a Deity Upon this he sent a Courier to Gardiner Wolsey's aspiring then on his way to Rome whith large Directions how to manage the Election It was reckoned that the King of France joyning heartily with the King of which he seemed confident there were only six Cardinals wanting to make the Election sure and besides Summes of Mony and other Rewards that were to be
England Audley the Chancellour dying at this time Wriothesly that was of the Popish Party was put in his place And Dr. Petre that was hitherto Cranmer's Friend was made Secretary of State So equally did the King keep the Ballance between both Parties and being to cross the Seas he left a Commission for the Administration of Affairs during his Absence to the Queen the Archbishop the Chancellour the Earl of Hartford and Secretary Petre And if they should have any occasion to raise any Force he appointed the Earl of Hartford his Lieutenant He gave order also to Translate the Prayers and Processions and Litanies into the English Tongue which gave the Reformers some hopes again that he had not quite cast off his Designes of corrupting such Abuses as had crept into the Worship of God And they hoped That the Reasons which prevailed with the King for this would also induce him to order a Translation of all the other Offices into the English Tongue The King crossed the Sea with great Pomp The King takes Bulloign the Sails of his Ship being of Cloth of Gold He sat down before Bulloign and took it after a Siege of two Months It was soon after very near being retaken by a Surprise but the Garison being quickly put in order beat out the French Thus the King returned Victorious and was as much flattered for taking this single Town as if he had conquered a Kingdom The Inroads that were made into Scotland this Winter were Insuccessful The King of France set out a Fleet of above 300 Ships and the King set out a hundred Sail On both sides they were only Merchant-men hired upon this Occasion The French made two Descents upon England but was beat back with loss The English made a Descent in Normandy and burnt some Towns The Princes of Germany saw their Danger if this War went on for the Pope and Emperour had made a League for procuring Obedience to the Council that was now opened at Trent The Emperour was raising an Army tho he had made Peace both with the King of France and the Turk and was resolved to make good use of this Opportunity the two Crowns being now in War So the Germans sent to mediate a Peace between them but it stuck long at the business of Bulloign Lee Archbishop of York died this Year Holgate was removed from Landaffe thither who in his Heart favoured the Reformation Kitchin was put in Landaffe who turned with every Change that was made Heath was removed from Rochester to Worcester and Holbeach was put in Rochester Day was made Bishop of Chichester All those were moderate Men and well disposed to a Reformation at least to comply with it This Year Wishart was burnt in Scotland Wishart burnt in Scotland He was Educated at Cambridge and went home the former Year In many places he preached against Idolatry and the other Abuses in Religion He stayed long at Dundee but by the means that Cardinal Beaton used he was driven out of that Town and at his Departure he denounced heavy Judgments on them for rejecting the Gospel He went and preached in many other places and Enterance to the Churchs being denied him he preached in the Fields He would not suffer the People to open the Church Doors by Violence for that he said became not the Gospel of Peace which he preached to them He heard the Plague had broke out in Dundee within four Days after he was banished so he returned thither and took care of the Sick and did all the Offices of a faithful Pastor among them He shewed his Gentleness towards his Enemies by rescuing a Priest that was coming to kill him but was discovered and was like to have been torn in pieces by the People He foretold several extraordinary things particularly his own Sufferings and the spreading the Reformation over the Land He preached last in Lothian and there the Earl of Bothwel took him but promised upon his Honour that no harm should be done him yet he delivered him to the Cardinal who brought him to St. Andrews and called a Meeting of Bishops thither to destroy him with the more Solemnity The Governour being much prest to it by a Worthy Gentleman of his Name Hamilton of Preston sent the Cardinal word not to proceed against him till he should come and hear the Matter examined himself But the Cardinal went on and in a publick Court condemned him as an Heretick upon several Articles that were objected to him which he confessed and offered to justify The Night after that he spent in Prayer next Morning he desired he might have the Sacrament according to Christ's Institution in both kinds but that being denied him he consecrated the Elements himself and some about him were willing to communicate with him He was carried out to the Stake near the Cardinal's Palace who was set in State in a great Window and looked on this sad Spectacle Wishart declared that he felt much Joy within himself in offering up his Life for the Name of Christ and exhorted the People not to be offended at the Word of God for the sake of the Cross After the Fire was set to and was burning him he said This Flame hath scorched my Body but hath not daunted my Spirits and he foretold that the Cardinal should in a few days be ignominiously laid out in that very place where he now sate in so much State but as he speak that the Executioner drew the Cord that was about his Neck so strait that these were the last Words The Clergy rejoyced much at his Death Cardinal Beason is murdered and extolled the Cardinal's Courage for proceeding in it against the Governours Orders But the People look'd on him as both a Prophet and a Martyr It was also said that his Death was no less than Murder since no Writ was obtained for it and the Clergy could burn none without a Warrant from the Secular Power so it was inferred that the Cardinal deserved to dy for it and if his Greatness set him above the Law then Private Persons might execute that which the Governour could not do Such Practices had been formerly too common in that Kingdom and now upon this occasion some Gentlemen of quality came to think it would be an Heroical Action to conspire his Death His Insolence had rendred him generally very hateful so private and publick Resentments concurring twelve Persons entred into a fatal Engagement of killing him privately in his House On the 30th of May they first surprized the Gate early in the Morning and tho there were an hundred lodged in the Castle yet they being asleep they came to them apart and either turned them out or shut them up in their Chambers Having made all sure they came to the Cardinal's Chamber-door he was fast asleep but by their Rudeness he was both awakened and perceived they had a design on his Life Upon the assurance of Life he opened his Door but
the other Executors had treated with Ambassadours apart had made Bishops and Lord-Lieutenants without their knowledge had held a Court of Requests in his House had embased the Coin had neglected the Places the King had in France had encouraged the Commons in their late Insurrections and had given out Commissions and proclaimed a Pardon without their consent that he had animated the King against the rest of the Council and had proclaimed them Traitors had put his own Servants armed about the King's Person By these it appears the Crimes against him were the effects of his sudden exaltation that had made him too much forget that he was a subject but that he had carried his greatness with much Innocence since no acts of Cruelty Rapine or Bribery were objected to him for they were rather errours and weaknesses than Crimes His embasing the Coin was done upon a common mistake of weak Governments who flye to that as their last refuge in the necessity of their affairs In his Imprisonment he set himself to the study of Moral Philosophy and Divinity and writ a Preface to a Book of Patience which had made great Impressions on him His fall was a great affliction to all that loved the Reformation and that was increased because they had no reason to trust much to the two chief Men of the party against him Southampton and Warwick the one was a known Papist and the other was lookt on as a Man of no Religion and both at the Emperor's Court and in France it was expected that upon this revolution matters of Religion would be again set back into the posture in which King Henry had left them The Duke of Norfolk and Gardiner hoped to be discharged and Bonner lookt to be re-established in his Bishoprick again and all People began to fall off much from the new service but the Earl of Warwick finding the King was zealously addicted to the Reformation quickly forsook the Popish party and seemed to be a mighty promoter of that work A Court of Civilians was appointed to examine Bonner's Appeal and upon their report the Council rejected it and confirmed the Sentence that was past upon him But next The Emperor will not assist them foreign affairs come under their care They suspected that Paget had not dealt effectually with the Emperour to assist them in the preservation of Bulloign so they sent over Sir Tho. Cheyney to try what might be expected from him they took also care of the Garrison and both encreased it and supplied it well Cheyney found the same reception with the Emperour and had the same answer that Paget got The Emperor prest him much that matters of Religion might be again considered and confest that till that were done he could not assist them so effectually as otherwise he would do so now the Council found it necessary to apply to the Court of France for a Peace The Earl of Southampton left the Court in great discontent he was neither restored to his Office of Chancellour nor was he made one of the six Lords that were appointed to have the charge of the King's Person this touched him so much that he died not long after of grief as was believed In November A Session of Parliament a Session of Parliament met in which an Act was past declaring it Treason to call any to the number of Twelve together about any matter of State if being required they did not disperse themselves other Riotous Assemblies were also declared felonious the giving out of Prophecies concerning the King or Council was also made Penal Another Law was made against Vagabonds the former Statute was repealed as too severe and Provisions were made for the relief of the Sick and Impotent and Imploying such as could work The Bishops made a heavy complaint of the growth of Vice and Impiety and that their power was so much abridged that they could not repress it so a Bill was read enlarging their Authority but it was thought that it gave them too much power yet it was so moderated that the Lords past it But the Commons rejected it and instead of it sent up a Bill that impowered XXXII who were to be named by the King the one half of the Temporalty and the other of Spiritualty to compile a body of Ecclesiastical Laws within three years and that these not being contrary to the Common or Statute Law and approved of by the King should have the force of Ecclesiastical Laws of the 32. Four were to be Bishops and as many to be Common Lawyers Six Bishops and six Divines were impowered to prepare a new form of Ordination which being confirmed under the Great Seal should take place after April next Articles were also put in against the Duke of Somerset with a Confession signed by him But some objected that they ought not to proceed The Duke of Somerset fined but restored to favour till they knew whether he had signed it voluntarily or not and some were sent to examine him he acknowledged he had done it freely but protested that his errours had flowed rather from Indiscretion than Malice and denied all treasonable designs against the King or the Realm he was fined in 2000 l. a year in Land and in the loss of all his Goods and Offices He complained of the heaviness of this Censure and desired earnestly to be restored to the Kings favour and promised to carry himself so humbly and obediently that he should make amends for his past follies which was thought a sign of too abject a mind others excused it since the power and malice of his Enemies was such that he was not safe as long as he continued in Prison he was discharged in the beginning of February soon after he had his pardon and did so manage his interest in the King that he was again brought both to the Court and Council in April But if these submissions gained him some favour at Court they sunk him as much in the esteem of the World The Reformation was now A Progress in the Reformation after this confusion was over carried on again with vigour The Council sent Orders over England to require all to conform themselves to the new service and to call in all the Books of the old Offices An Act past in Parliament to the same effect one Earl six Bishops and four Lords only dissenting all the old Books and Images were appointed to be defaced and all prayers to Saints were to be struck out of the Primers published by the late King A Subsidy was granted and the King gave a General Pardon out of which all Prisoners on the account of the State and Anabaptists were excepted In this Session the Eldest Sons of Peers were first allowed to sit in the House of Commons The Committee appointed to prepare the Book of Ordination finished their work with common consent only Heath Bishop of Worcester refused to sign it for which he was called before the
Council and required to do it but he still refusing The Book of Ordinations put out was sent to Prison This was thought hard measure to punish one for not concurring in a thing not yet setled by Law Heath was a Complier who went along with the changes that were made but was ready upon the first favourable conjuncture to return back to the old superstition It was found that in the Ancient Church there was nothing used in Ordinations but Prayer and Imposition of hands the Additions of Anointing and giving consecrated Vestments were afterwards brought in And in the Council of Florence it was declared that the Rite of Ordaining a Priest was the delivering the Vessels for the Eucharist with a power to offer Sacrifices to God for the Dead and Living which was a Novelty invented to support the belief of Transubstantiation So all these additions were cut off and Ordination was restored to a greater simplicity and the form was made almost the same that we still use only then in ordaining a Priest the Bishop was to lay one hand on his Head and with the other to give him a Bible and a Chalice and Bread in it In the Consecration of a Bishop the form was the same that we still retain only then they kept up the custom of giving the Bishop a staff saying these words Be to the Flock of Christ a Shepherd In the middle of the sixth Century the Anointing the Priests hands was begun in France but was not used in the Roman Church for two Ages after that In the eighth Century the Vestments were given with a special blessing impowering Priests to offer Expiatory Sacrifices then their Heads were Anointed and in the tenth Century the belief of Transubstantiation being received the Vessels for the Sacrament were delivered It is evident from the several forms of Ordination that the Church did not believe it self tied to one manner and that the Prayer which in some Ages was the Prayer of Consecration was in other Ages esteemed only a Prayer preparatory to it There were some sponsions promised as a Covenant to which the Ordination was a Seal The first of these was that the Persons that came to receive Orders professed that they believed they were inwardly moved to it by the Holy Ghost If this were well considered it would no doubt put many that thirst after Sacred Offices to a stand who if they examine themselves well dare not pretend to that concerning which perhaps they know nothing but that they have it not and if they make the answer prescribed in the Book without feeling any such motion in their heart they do publickly lye to God and against the Holy Ghost and have no reason to expect a blessing on Orders so obtained But too many consider that only as a Ceremony in Law necessary to make them capable of some Place of Profit and not as the Dedication of their Lives and labours to God and to the gaining of Souls It were happy for the Church if Bishops would not think it enough barely to put these questions but would use great strictness in examining before hand the motives that set on those who come to be Ordained Another sponsion is that the Priests shall teach the People committed to their charge and exhort them both in private and publick and visit the sick By this they plight their faith to God for the care of Souls to be managed by them in person and upon that they must find the Pastoral care to be a load indeed and so will neither desert their Flocks nor hire them out to weak and perhaps scandalous Mercenaries In which the faultiness of some have brought a blemish on this Church and given scandal to many who could not have been so easily perswaded to divide from it if it had not been that they were prejudiced by such gross and publick abuses The Council was now much perplexed with the business of Bulloign and though they had opposed the delivering it up by the Protector yet that end being served in pulling him down they were convinced of the necessity of doing it and so were induced to listen to the proposition that one Guidotti made for a Treaty He was imployed by the Constable Monmorancy and gave them assurances that as soon as that was ended the French King would engage on the behalf of the opprest Princes of the Empire At this time Pope Paul the Third died Pool chosen Pope but lost it In the Conclave that followed Cardinal Farnese set up Cardinal Pool whose wise behaviour at Trent had raised his esteem much it also appeared that though he was of the Emperours faction yet he did not serve him blindly Some loaded him both with the imputations of Lutheranism and of Incontinence The last would not have hindred his advancement much though true yet he fully cleared himself of it But the former lay heavier for in his retirement at Viterbo where he was Legate he had given himself much to the study of Controversies and Tranellius Flaminio and others suspected of Lutheranism had lived in his house and in the Council of Trent he seemed favourable to some of their opinions but the great sufferings both of himself and Family in England seemed to set him above all suspicions When the party for him had almost gained a sufficient number of Suffrages he seemed little concerned at it and did rather decline than aspire to that dignity And expressed a pitch of Philosophy on this occasion that was more suitable to Ancient than Modern patterns When a full number had agreed and came to adore him according to the ordinary Ceremony he received it with his usual coldness and that being done in the night he said God loved light and therefore advised them to delay it till day came The Italians among whom Ambition passes for the Character of a great mind looked on this as an unsufferable piece of dulness so the Cardinals shrunk from him before day and chose de Monte Pope who reigned by the name of Julius the Third His first promotion was very extraordinary for he gave his own Hat to a Servant that kept his Monkey and being askt the reason of it he said He saw as much in his Servant to recommend him to be a Cardinal as the Conclave saw in him to induce them to chuse him Pope But others imputed this to an unnatural affection for him Embassadours were sent over to France the Lord Russel Paget made also a Lord and some others to settle the Treaty of Peace They were ordered in the first place to ask the delivery of the Scottish Queen A Treaty with France and payment of the perpetual Pension but the French would not treat about these their Master intended to marry the Scottish Queen to the Dauphin and would not be tributary to another Prince or pay a perpetual Pension but they offered a sum of money for Bulloign things stuck a little at the razing the Fortifications in
the English should continue to use the forms of their own Church but the fire was not thereby quenched for Knox and some other hot spirits began to make exceptions to some parts of the Liturgy and got Calvin to declare on their side upon which some of them retired to Geneva Another contest arose concerning the censuring of Offenders which some said belonged only to the Minister and others thought that the Congregation ought to be admitted to a share in it Great animosities were raised by these debates which gave scandal to the strangers among whom they lived and made many reflect on the Schisms of the Novatians and Donatists that rent the Churches of Africk the one during the Persecutions and the other immediately after they were over In England Pool made Archbish of Canterbury Pool was Consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury the day after Cranmer was burnt which gave occasion to many to apply the words of Elijah to him Thou hast killed and taken possession A Week after that he came into London in great state and had the Pall put about him by Heath in Bow-Church and after that he made a cold Sermon concerning the beginning the Use and Vertues of the Pall without either Learning or Eloquence for it was observed that he had so far changed his stile which in his Youth was too luxuriant that it was now become flat and had neither Life nor Beauty in it The Pall was a device of the Popes in the 12th Century in which they began first to send those Cloaks to Archbishops as a Badge of their being the Pope's Legates born The Queen had founded a House for the Franciscans of the Observance in Greenwich last Year More Religious Houses This year she founded Houses for the Franciscans and Dominicans in London as also a House for the Carthusians at Skeen and a Nunnery at Sion She also converted the Church of Westminster into an Abbey And that way might be made to the restoring Religious Orders she took care to have all the Reports Confessions and other Records that tended to the dishonour of their Houses be rased So that no Memory might remain of them to the next Age. For this end she gave a Commission to Bonner and others to search all Registers and to take out of them every thing that was either against the See of Rome or the Religious Houses and they executed this Commission so carefully that the steps of it appear in the defectiveness of all the Records of that time yet many things have escaped their diligence This Expurgation of theirs was compared to the rage of the Heathens in the last Persecution who destroyed all the Books and Registers that they could find among the Christians The Monks of Glassenbury were in hope to have got their House that had been dedicated to the honour of Joseph of Arimathea raised again they desired only the House and a little Land about it which they resolved to Cultivate and did not doubt but the People of the Countrey would contribute towards their subsistence and it is probable that the like designs were set on foot for the other Houses and it was not to be doubted but that as soon as they had again infused in the Nation the belief of Purgatory they would have perswaded those that held their Lands especially if they could come near them when they were dying to deliver themselves from the sin and punishments of Sacriledge by making restitution It is true the Nobility and Gentry were much alarmed at these proceedings and at the last Parliament many in the House of Commons laid their Hands on their Swords and declared that they would not part with their Estates but would defend them Yet all that intended to gain favour at Court made their way to it by founding Chantries for Masses to be said for them and their Ancestors and took out Licences from the Queen for making those Endowments A Truce was now concluded between France and Spain for five years The Pope sets on a War between France and Spain but the Violent Pope broke it He was offended at the House of Austria and chiefly at Ferdinand's assuming the Title of Emperour without his consent he used to say that all Kingdoms were subject to him that he would suffer no Prince to be too familiar with him and that he would set the World on fire rather than be driven to do any thing below his Dignity He pretended that he had reformed the abuses of his own Court and that he would in the next place reform all the abuses that were in other Courts of which he ordered a great Collection to be made when he was prest to call a Council he said he needed none for he himself was above all and the World had already seen twice to how little purpose it was to send about Sixty weak Bishops and Forty Divines that were not the most learned to Trent he resolved it should never meet there any more but he would call one to sit in the Lateran he signified this to the Ambassadours of Princes only in courtesie for he would ask advice of none of them but would be obeyed by them all and if Princes would send none of their Prelates thither he would hold a Council without them and would let the World see what a Pope that had courage could do This imperious humour of his made him talk sometimes like a mad man He intended as was believed to raise his Nephew to be King of Naples and in order to that he sent one of his Nephews to France to absolve the King from the Truce which he had sworn and promised to create what Cardinals that King would nominate if he would make War on Spain though to the Queen's Ambassadours and all others at Rome he gave it out that he would mediate a Peace between the Crowns for a Truce did not sufficiently secure the quiet of Europe The French King was too easily perswaded by the Instigation of the Pope and the House of Guize to break his Faith and begin the War The Pope also began it in Italy and put the Cardinals of the Spanish faction in Prison and threatned to proceed to Censures against King Philip for protecting the Colonnesi who were his particular Enemies He made some Levies among the Grisons that were Hereticks but said he lookt on 'em as Angels of God and was confident God would convert them The Duke of Alva had that Reverence for the Papacy that he took Arms against the Pope very unwillingly He could have taken Rome but would not and for the places that he took he declared he would deliver them up to the next Pope It gave great scandal to the World to see the Pope set on so perfidious a breach of Truce and it was thought strange that in the same Year a Great Prince in the 56. Year of his Age should retire to a Monastery and that one bred a Monk and 80. Years old should set
Wars lasted near 30. Years for in all that time notwithstanding some Intervals of Peace the seeds of War were never so rooted out but that they were ready to spring up upon every new occasion In this the Queen Interposed and supported the Protestant Party sometimes with Men but oftner with Money so that she had near the half of that Kingdom depending on her In the Netherlands a long continuance of civil Wars almost on the same account gave her the like advantages The King of Spain And in the Netherlands by endeavouring to set up the Courts of Inquisition in those Provinces and by keeping some Spanish Troops among them and other excesses in his Government contrary to the Articles of the Laetus Introitus provoked them so much that they shook off his Yoke and were supported by the Aid and Money which the Queen sent them So that the Queen met with such a Conjuncture of affairs in the Dominions of those Princes that were next her of whom only she had reason to be afraid as scarce any Prince ever had In foreign Parts The excellent administration of affairs in England she was the Arbiter of Christendom and at home things were so happily managed Trade did so flourish and Justice was so equally distributed that she became the wonder of the World She was Victorious in all her Wars with Spain and no wonder for it appeared signally in the ruine of the great Armada which Spain lookt on as Invincible that Heaven fought for her She reigned more absolutely over the Hearts than the Persons of her Subjects She always followed the true Interests of her People and so found her Parliaments always ready to comply with her desires and to grant her Subsidies as often as she called for them and as she never asked them but when the occasion for them was visible so after they were granted if the state of her affairs changed so that she needed them not she readily discharged them Rome and Spain set many Engines on work both against her Person and Government but she still lived and triumphed In the first ten Years of her Reign the Papists were so Compliant that there was no stir made about matters of Religion Pope Pius the fourth condemned the madness of his Predecesfor in that high and provoking Message which he sent her and therefore he attempted a reconciliation with her at two several times and offered if she would joyn her self to the See of Rome that he would annul the sentence against her Mothers Marriage and confirm the English service and the Communion in both kinds But she refused to enter into any Treaty with him Pius the fifth that succeeded him in that Chair resolved to contrive her death Catena as is related by him that writes his Life The unfortunate Queen of Scotland was forced to take Sanctuary in England where it was resolved to use her well and restore her to her Crown and Countrey But her own officious friends and the frequent Plots that were laid for taking away the Queens life brought on her the Calamities of a long Imprisonment that ended in a Tragical death which though it was the greatest blemish of this Reign yet was made in some sort justifiable if not necessary by the many Attempts that the Papists made on the Queen's Life and by the Deposition which Pope Pius the fifth thundred out against Her from which it was inferred that as long as that Party had the hopes of such a Successor the Queen's Life was not safe nor her Government secure This led her towards the end of her Reign Severities against the Papists were necessary to greater severities against those of the Roman Communion of which a Copious Account is given by Sir Francis Walsingham that was for so many Years imployed either in foreign Embassies or in the secrets of State at home that none knew better than he did the hidden springs that moved and directed all Her Councils He writ a long Letter to a French man giving him an account of all the severities of the Queen's Government both against Papists and Puritans The substance of which is Sir Fr. Walsingham's account of the steps in which she proceeded That the Queen laid down two Maximes of State the one was not to force Consciences the other was not to let factious practices go unpunished because they were covered with the pretences of Conscience At first she did not revive those severe Laws past in her Father's time by which the refusal of the Oath of Supremacy was made Treason but left her People to the freedom of their thoughts and made it only Penal to extol a foreign Jurisdiction She also laid aside the word Supream Head and the refusers of the Oath were only disabled from holding Benefices or Charges during their Refusal Upon Pius the Fifth's Excommunicating her though the Rebellion in the North was chiefly occasioned by that she only made a Law against the bringing over or publishing of Bulls and the venting of Agnus Dei's or such other Love-tokens which were sent from Rome on design to draw the Hearts of Her People from her which were no Essential parts of that Religion so that this could hurt none of their Consciences But when after the 20th Year of her Reign it appeared that the King of Spain designed to Invade her Dominions and that the Priests that were sent over from the Seminaries beyond Sea were generally employed to corrupt the Subjects in their Allegiance by which Treason was carried in the Clouds and Infused secretly in Confession Then pecuniary Punishments were inflicted on such as withdrew from the Church and in Conclusion she was forced to make Laws of greater rigour but did often mitigate the severity of them to all that would promise to adhere to her in case of a Foreign Invasion As for the Puritans as long as they only inveighed against some abuses as Pluralities Non residence or the like it was not their Zeal against those but only their Violence that was condemned When they refused to comply with some Ceremonies and questioned the superiority of Bishops and declared for a Democracy in the Church they were connived at with great gentleness But it was observed that they affected Popularity much and the Methods they took to compass their ends were judged dangerous and they made such use of the aversion the Nation had to Popery that it was visible they were in a hazzard of running from one Extream to another They set up a New Model of Church-Discipline which was like to prove no less dangerous to the Liberties of private Men than to the Sovereign Power of the Prince Yet all this was born with as long as they proceeded with those expressions of duty which became Subjects But afterwards when they resolved to carry on their Designs without waiting for the consent of the Magistrate and entred into Combinations when they began to defame the Government by ridiculous Pasquils and