a more pleasant tune from barking for food to the blessing of those who procured it Nor let any censure this a digress from my History for though my estate will not suffer me with * Job 29. 15. Job to be eyes to the blind and feet to the Iame I will endeavour what I can to be a Tongue for the Dumbe SECTION XI To the Noble Lady Elianor Roe relict to the Honorable Sr. Thomas Roe Madam I finde that my name-sake * * Hackluits voyages 3. part pag. 825. Thomas Fuller was Pilot in the ship called the Desire wherein Captain Cavendish surrounded the world Far be it from me to compare these my weak undertakings to his great adventures Yet I may terme this my Book the Desire as wherein I desire to please and profit all justly to displease none Many rocks and storms have I passed by Gods blessing and now am glad of so firme an Anchorage as a Dedication to your Ladiship I believe Madam none of your Sex in our Nation hath travelled farther them your self Yet this Section of our History may afford you a rarity not seen before I know you have viewed the Tombe of St. Polycarpus but here the Herse is presented unto you of one whose death cannot be paralell'd in all particulars 1. LAtely certain Delegates from the Vniversity of Oxford pleaded their Priviledges before the Committee of Parliament Anno Regis Carol. 24. that they were onely Visitable by the King Anno Dom. 1648. and such who should be deputed by him Great alterations by the Visiters in Oxford But their allegations were not of proof against the Paramount power of Parliament the rather because a passage in an Article at the Rendition of Oxford was urged against them wherein they were subjected to such a visitation Whereupon many Masters were ejected their Places new Heads of Houses made and soon after new Houses to those Heads which produced great alteration 2. Come we now to the Church-part of the Treaty in the Isle of Wight Clergiemen meeting in the Isle of Wight as the sole Ecclesiastical matter remaining Anno Dom. 1648. Here appeared of the Divines chosen by the King Anno Regis Eliza. 24. James Vsher Arch-Bishop of Armagh Brian Duppa Bishop of Salisbury Doctor Sanderson Doctor Shelden Doctor Henry Ferne As for Doctor Brounrig Bishop of Exeter when on the way he was remanded by the Parliament because under restraint and it was reported that D. Prideaux Bishop of Worcester wanted the more the pitty wherewith to accommodate himself for the journey M r Steven Marshall M r Joseph Caryll M r Richard Vines and M R Lazarus Seaman were present there by appointment from the Parliament 3. It was not permitted for either side All matters managed in writing personally to speak but partly to prevent the impertinencies of orall debates partly that a more steddy aime might be taken of their mutual Arguments all things were transacted in scriptis His Majesty consulted with his Chaplains when he pleased The Kings Writings were publickly read before all by M r Philip Warwick and M r Vines read the Papers of his Fellow-Divines the substance whereof we come here to present 4. His Majesty began The effect of his majesties first paper the effect of whose first Paper was to prove Octo. 2. that the Apostles in their own persons by Authority a Joh. 20. 21. derived from Christ exercised their power in Ordinations giving Rules and Censures 2. That Timothy and b Tit. 1. 5. Titus by Authority derived from the Apostles did or might actually exercise the same power in the three Branches specified 3. That the Angels of the seven Churches Rev. 2. 3. where so many persoae singulares of such as had a Prelacy as well over Pastors as People From the premises his Majesty inferred that our Bishops succeed to the function of the Persons afore named The rather because the same plainly appeareth out of the History of the Primitive Church the writings of Ignatius and other ancient Authors In conclusion his Majesty desired to be satisfied from them what were the Substantials of Church-government appointed by Christ and his Apostles and in whose hands they are left and whether they binde to a perpetual observation thereof or may upon occasion be altered in whole or in part 5. The next day the Parliament-Divines put in their Answer to the Kings Paper The Parliament-Divines answer thereunto wherein they confessed Octo. 3. that the places of Scripture cited by him proved in those Persons by him named a power respectively to do the three things specified But they utterly denied that the foresaid Persons were Bishops as distinct from Presbyters or exercised the Government in that sense 1. To the Instance of the Apostles they answered that they had an extraordinary calling and so nothing thence can be inferrred to prove modern Bishops 2. That Timothy and Titus were Evangelists and the f 2 Tim. 4. 5. first is expressly so termed nor could they be Bishops who resided not in one Diocess but often removed from place to place 3. That the denomination of the Angels of the Churches being Allegorical no firme Argument can be taken thence nor weight laid thereon Besides those Epistles of S. John though directed to One were intended to the whole body of the Church They denyed that the Apostles were to have any successours in their Office affirming but two standing Officers in the Church Presbyterians Deacons They cited Philippians I. I. I Tim. 3. 8. for the proof thereof where there is no mention of Bishops as distinct from Presbyters but of the two Orders only of Bishops or Presbyters and Deacons 6. As for the succeeding ages to the Apostles seeing Scripture reacheth not unto them they can but beget a humane Faith which is uncertain and fallible Besides such the darkness of those Times in respect of Church-History that little certainty can be thence extracted Yet it appeareth in Clement himself that he useth the same word for Bishop and Presbyter and as for Ignatius his Epistles little credit is to be given unto them 7. Lastly there is a great difference between Primitive Episcopacy and the Present Hierarchie as much enlarged in their Power and Priviledges by many Temporal accessions whereof no shaddow or pretence in Scripture In conclusion they humbly besought his Majesty to look rather to the Original of Bishops in holy Writ then to their succession in Humane History 8. As to the point of Substantials in Church Government appointed by Christ wherein his Majesty desired satisfaction the return was short and generall that such Substantials were in the Scripture not descending to any particulars Whether out of policy foreseeing it would Minister matter of more debate or obedience to the Parliament as aliene from the work they were designed for who were only to oppose Episcopacy as qualified in the Bill presented to his Majesty 9. Three days
Now though the said Sir Reginald did modestly decline the Pope's Honour for want of Maintenance yet had he at that time no fewer then forty three Knights Fees held of his Castle of Dunstar I have nothing else to adde herein save that the ancient Armes of the Mohuns viz. a hand in a Maunch holding a Flower de luce in that Age more fashionable then a Rose in Heraldry seems to relate to this occasion which their Family afterward changed into a Sable Crosse in the Atchievements in the Holy land born at this day by the truely honourable the Lord Mohun Baron of Oakehampton as descended from this Family 28. This year died Robert Grouthead 38 Bishop of Lincoln 1254 born at Stodebrook in Suffolk The death of Bishop Grouthead Natalibus pudendis saith my c Bishop Godwin in Catalogue of Linc. Bish. Authour of Shamefull extraction intimating suspicion of Bastardy though the parents rather then the child have caused a blush thereat He got his Surname from the greatness of his head having large Stoage to receive and store of Braines to fill it bred for a time in Oxford then in France a great and generall Scholar Bale reckoning up no fewer then two hundred books of his making and a great opposer of the Popes oppression which now grew intolerable 29. For it appeared by inquisition made the last year The Popes fume against this good Bishop that the Ecclesiasticall Revenues of Italians in England whereof many were Boyes more Blockheads all Aliens amounted per annum unto threescore and ten thousand Marks whereas the Kings Income at the same time was hardly d Matthew Paris in Anno 1552. twenty thousand Bishop Grouthead offended thereat wrote Pope Innocent the fourth such a Iuniper Letter taxing him with extortion and other vitious practices that his Holiness brake out into this expression VVhat meaneth this doting old man surdus absurdus thus boldly to controll our actions By Peter and Paul did not our innate ingenuity restrain us I would confound him and make him a prodigie to the whole world Is not the King of England our Vassall yea our Slave to imprison and destroy what persons we please to appoint 30. The Pope being in this pelt quenched by a Spanish Cardinall Aegidius a Spanish Cardinall thus interposed his gravitie It is not expedient my Lord to use any harshness to this Bishop We must confesse the truths which he saith He is a holy man of a more Religious life then any of us yea Christendome hath not his equall a great Philosopher skilled in Latine and Greek a constant reader in the Schools Preacher in the Pulpit lover of Chastity and loather of Simony 31. Thus the Pope took wit in his anger Grouthead the peoples though not the Pope's Saint and Grouthead escaped for the present though Bale reporteth that he died excommunicate and deprived of his Bishoprick Popish e Iohn Burie Mat. Paris Mat. Westminster Mr. Fabian Authours confidently report a strange vision or rather a passion of Pope Innocent the fourth whom Grouthead appearing after his death so beat with many blows it seems he had a heavy hand as well as a great head that the Pope died thereof soon after No wonder therefore if his successours would not Canonize this Robert who notwithstanding was a Saint though not in the Popes yet in the peoples Calendar many miracles being ascribed unto him and particularly f Godwin in his Catalogue of Bishops Discontents begin in England that a sweet oyl after his death issued out of his monument which if false in the litterall may be true in a mysticall meaning Solomon observing that a good name is as oyntment poured out 32. England began now to â—urfet of more then thirty yeares Peace and Plenty which produced no better effects then ingratitude to God and murmuring at their King Many active spirits whose minds were above their means offended that others beneath them as they thought in Merit were above them in Employment Anno Dom. 1254 cavilled at many errours in the Kings Government Anno Regis Henrici 3. 38 being State-Donatists maintaining the perfection of a Commonwealth might and ought to be attained A thing easie in the Theory impossible in the Practice to conform the actions of mens corrupted natures to the exact Ideas in mens Imaginations 33. Indeed they had too much matter whereon justly to ground their Discontents Grounded on too much occasion partly because the King distrusting his Natives imployed so many French Forrainers in places of power and profit partly because he had used such indirect courses to recruit his Treasuries especially by annihilating all Patents granted in his Minority though indeed he was never more in his Full-age then when in his Non-age as guided then by the best counsell and forcing his Subjects to take out new ones on what Terms his Officers pleased In a word an a Roger Wendover Authour then living complaineth that Iustice was committed to men unjust the Laws to such who themselves were Out-laws and the keeping of the Peace to injurious people delighting in Discords 34. After many contests betwixt the King and his Subjects which the Reader may learn from the Historians of the State four and twenty prime persons were chosen by Parliament to have the supreme inspection of the Land A Title without power onely lest to the King which soon after to make them the more cordiall passed a decoction and were reduced to three and they three in effect contracted to one Simon Mountfort Earle of Leicester the Kings Brother in Law The King himself standing by as a Cypher yet signifying as much as his ambitious Subjects did desire These to make sure work bound him with his solemn Oath to submit himself to their new-modelled Government 35. Here the Pope charitable to relieve all distressed Princes interposed his power The Pope freely gives his curtesies for money absolving the King from that Oath as unreasonable in it self and forced upon him His Holinesse was well paid for this great favour the King hereafter conniving at his Horse-Leeches Legates and Nuncioes sucking the bloud of his Subjects with intolerable Taxations Thus was it not altogether the Flexibility of King Henry but partly the Flexion of his Condition I mean the altering of his occasions which made him sometimes withstand and otherwhiles comply with the Popes extortion Thus alwayes the Popes Curtesies are very dear and the Storm it self is a better Shelter then the Bramble fleecing such Sheep as fly under the shade thereof 36. Mean time the King having neither Coyn nor Credit Sad case when the Royall Root is no better then a sucker having pawn'd his Iewels mortgag'd all his Land in France and sold much of it in England wanting where withall to subsist lived on Abbeys and Prioreys till his often coming and long staying there made what was welcome at the first quickly to become
our leave of this Bishop whosoever considers the vast buildings and rich endowments made by this Prelate besides his expence in repairing the Cathedral at Winchester will conclude such atcheivements unpossible for a Subject until he reflect on his vast Offices of preferments being Bishop of Winchester Rector of S t Martins Le Grand holding twelve Prebends in Comendam with it Anno Dom. 1392. Lord Privy-Seal Chancellor and Treasurer of England besides other places of meaner consequence Anno Regis Ric. 2. 16. Wardens Rich. Toneworth Nich. Wickam Tho. Cranely Rich. Malsorde Jo. Bouke Will. Escot Nich. Osylbury Tho. Chaundler Walt. Hill Will. Porter Jo. Reade Jo. Younge Jo. London Hen. Cole Ral. Skinner Tho. White Mart. Culpepper George Rives Arth. Lake Pink. Stringer Marshal Benefactors M r Rawlins S r Rich. Read K t. D r Newman D r Reeve Ward D r Martin Rob. Bell. D r Smith Bishops Will. Warham Arch-Bish of Cant. Will. Wainffet Bish of Winchester Jo. White Bish of Winchester Tho. Bilson Bish of Winchester Will. Knight Bish of Bath Wells James Turbervil Bish of Exeter Rob. Sherbourne Bish of Chichester Arth. Lake Bish of Bath and Wells Learned Writers Tho. Harding Tho. Nele Nich. Sanders Nich. Harpsfield Will. Reynolds * He was brother to Doct John Reynolds the great protestant Tho. Hide Jo. Marshall Tho. Stapleton Jo. Fenne Rich. White * He wrote a History of England Jo. Pits All violent maintainers of the Popish Religion S r HEN. WOOTTON D r Tooker Dean of Lichfield D r James Cook Arch-Dec of Winch. S r. Tho. Rives besides other elegant works for his VICARS PLEA S r James Hassee S r Hen. Martin D r Merideth Dean of Wells ARTHUR LAKE Bish of Bath and Wells William Twisse John White One may defie the suspicion of flattery if adding D r Harris the reverend Warden of Winchester D r Rich. Zouch not beholden to his Noble extraction for his Repute founded on his own worth and Books reprinted beyond the Seas D r Merick late Judg of the Prerogative but it is better to leave the characters of their worth to the thankfullness of the next Age to describe 32. Lately the Popes usurpation was grown so great Good Laws in due season in intrenching on the Crown that there was an absolute necessity seasonably to retrench his usurpation For albeit the Kings of England were as absolute in their demeans their Prelacy and Clergie as learned their Nobility as valiant and prudent their Commons as free and wealthy Anno Dom. 1393. as any in Christendom Yet had not some Laws of Provision now been made England had long since been turned part of S t Peters Patrimony in demeans Yea the Scepter wrested out of their Kings hands her Prelates made the Popes Chaplains and Clerks Nobility his servants and vassals Commons his slaves and villaines had not some seasonable Statutes of Manumission been enacted 33. For now came the Parliament wherein the Statute was enacted The Maul-Popes Statute of premunire which mauled the Papal power in England Some former laws had pared the Popes nailes to the quick but this cut off his fingers in effect so that hereafter his hands could not grasp and hold such vast summes of money as before This is called the Statute of PREMUNIRE and let not the Reader grudg the reading therof which gave such a blow to the Church of Rome that it never rcovered it self in this Land but dayly decayed till its finall destruction VVHereas the Commons of the Realm in this present Parliament have sued to our redoubted Lord the King grievously complaining that whereas the said our Lord the King and all his liege people ought of right and of old time were wont to sue in the Kings Court to recover their Presentments to Churches prebends and other benefices of holy Church to the which they had right to present the Conisance of Plea of which Presentment belongeth onely to the Kings Court of the old right of his Crown used and approved in the time of all his Progenitors Kings of England And when judgment shall be given in the same Court upon such a Plea and Presentment the Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Spiritual persons which have Institution of such Benefices within their jurisdictions be bound and have made Execution of such Judgments by the Kings commandements of all the time aforesaid without interruption for another Lay person cannot make such execution and also be bound of right to make execution of many other of the Kings commandements of which right the Crown of England hath been peaceably seised as well in the time of our said Lord the King that now is as in the time of all his Progenitors till this day But now of late divers Processes be made by the Bishop of Rome and censures of Excommunication upon certain Bishops of England because they have made execution of such commandements to the open disherison of the said Crown and destruction of our said Lord the King his Law and all his Realm if remedie be not provided And also it is said and a common clamor is made that the said Bishop of Rome hath ordained and purposed to translate some Prelates of the same Realm some out of the Realm and some from one Bishoprick into another within the same Realme without the Kings assent and knowledg and without the assent of the Prelates which so shall be translated which Prelates be much profitable and necessary to our said Lord the King and to all his Realme By which translations if they should be suffered the Statutes of the Realm should be defeated and made void and his said liege Sages of his Councel without his assent and against his will carried away and gotten out of his Realm and the substance and treasure of the Realm shall be carried away and so the Realm destitute as well of Councel as of substance to the final destruction of the same Realm And so the Crown of England which hath been so free at all times that it hath been in no earthly subjection but immediately subject to God in all things touching the realitie of the same Crown and to none other should be submitted to the Pope the Laws Statutes of the Realm by him defeated avoided at his will in the perpetual destruction of the Soveraigntie of the King our Lord his Crown his Regalitie of all his Realm which God defend And moreover the Commons aforesaid say that the things so attempted be clearly against the Kings Crown and Regality used and approved of the time of all his Progenitors Wherefore they and all the liege Commons of the same Realm will stand with our said Lord the King and his said Crown and his Regalitie in the cases aforesaid and in all other cases attempted against him his Crown and his Regalitie in all points to live and to die And moreover they pray the King and him require by way of justice that he would
conscience Yea for the present such the reverence to his integrity no punishment was imposed upon him 57. Merks was conceived in the judgment of most moderate men Activity will he tampering abundantly to have satisfied his conscience with his speech in Parliament But how hard is it to stop an active soul in its full speed He thought himself bound not onely to speak but do yea and suffer too if called thereunto for his Soveraign This moved him to engage with Henry Hot-spur and other discontented Lords against King Henry on whose defeat this Bishop was taken prisoner and judicially arraigned for high Treason 58. This is one of the clearest distinguishing characters A Bishop not triable by his Peers betwixt the Temporal and Spiritual Lords that the former are to be tried per pares by their Peers being Barons of the Realm the later are by Law and custome allowed a Trial onely by a Jury of able and substantial persons Such a Mr Selden in a late small Treatise of Parliaments men found Bishop Merks guilty of Treason for which he was condemned and sent prisoner to S t Albans 59. The King would gladly have had a fair riddance of this Bishop A seasonable expedient whom he could not with credit keep here nor send hence As to deprive him of life it was dangerous in those dayes when some Sacredness was believed inherent in Episcopal persons Here his Holiness helpt the King with an handsom expedient to salve all matters by removing Merks to be Bishop of b Godwin in his Bishops Samos in Grecia I finde three Grecian Islands of the same name and a critick c Carolus Stephanus in dictionario poetico complaineth they are often confounded The best is it is not much material of which of them Merks was made Bishop having onely a Title to sterve in state without a penny profit thereby But before his translation was compleated he was translated into another world The End of the Fourteenth CENTURY SECT II. Anno Regis TO Sir GERRARD NAPIER OF Dorcet-shire Anno Dom. BARONET I Have read that a Statute was made to retrench the number of great mens keeping their Reteiners in the Reign of King Hen. 7 th and that politickly done in those nutinous times to prevent Commotions lest some popular person should raise a little Army under the covert of his great Attendance A Law improved to Rigor though certainly as all other penal Statutes intended but to terrour insomuch that the Earl of Oxford more meriting of King Hen. 7 th then any other subject was even * Lord Verulum in his Life p. 211. delivered to the Kings Atturney and as report saith Fined fifteen thousand Marks for exceeding the proportion legally allowed I confess we live in as dangerous dayes and affording as great jealousies as those But I have cause to be right glad as deeply concerned therein that though a Statute hath forbidden many to depend on one none hath prohibited one to depend on many Patrons But any Author of a Book may multiply them Sance-number as driving on no hurtful design but onely the protection of his own endeavours On this account I tender these my Labours unto you knowing the very Name of NAPIER acceptable to all Scholars ever since the Learned Laird of Marchistowne no stranger to your bloud as I am informed by his Log-arithmes contracted the pains and so by consequence prolonged the time and life of all imployed in Numeration 1. KIng Henry being conscious that he had got and did keep the Crown by a bad Title Hen 4 10. counted it his wisest way 1408. to comply with the Clergie King Henry bloudy against â—oor Christians yt 〈◊〉 his Regal power against the Popes encroachments whose present power was not onely useful but needful for him To gain their favour he lately enacted bloudy Laws for the extirpation of poor Christians under the false notion of Hereticks a Statute 2 of Hen. 4. c. 15. condemning them to be burnt A torment unheard of in such cases till that time and yet it appeareth that the Pope in this Age was not possest of so full power in England whatsoever the Catholicks pretend but that this politick Prince kept the reins though loose in his own hand For in this b 1 Henry 4 th fol. 19. time it was resolved that the Popes Collector though he had the Popes Bull for that purpose had no jurisdiction within this Realm and that the Arch-Bishops and Bishops of England Anno Dom. 1408. were the Spiritual Judges in the Kings behalf Anno Regis Hen. 4. 10. As it was also a Statute 2 Hen. 4. cap. 3. enacted if any person of Religion obtained of the Bishop of Rome to be exempt from obedience regular or ordinary he was in a premunire Yea this very Statute which gave power to a Bishop in his Diocess to condemn an Heretick plainly proveth that the King by consent of Parliament directed the proceedings of the Ecclesiastical Court in cases of Heresie so that the Pope even in matters of Spiritual cognizance had no power over the lives of English subjects 2. The first on whom this cruel Law was hanselled William Sautre the protomertyr of English protestants was William Sautre formerly parish Priest of S t Margaret in the town of Lin but since of S t Osith in the City of London This was he whose Faith fought the first Duell with Fire it self and overcame it Abel was the first Marry of men S t Stephen the first of Christian men S t Alban the first of British Christians and this Sautre the first of English Protestants as by Prolepsis I may terme them Scriveners use with gaudy flourishes to deck and garnish the initial characters of Copies which superfluous pains may be spared by us in adorning this leading letter in the pattern of patience seeing it is conspicuous enough in its self died red with its own bloud Some charge this Sautre with fear and fickleness because formerly he had abjured those Articles for which afterwards he died before the Bishop of Norwich But let those who severely censure him for once denying the truth and do know who it was that denied his Master thrice take heed they do not as bad a deed more then four times themselves May Sautre's final Constancy be as surely practised by men as his former Cowardliness no doubt is pardoned by God Eight Errours were laid to his charge in order as followeth 1. Imprimis He saith that he will not worship the Cross on which Christ suffered but onely Christ that suffered upon the Cross 2. Item That he would sooner worship a temporal King then the aforesaid wooden Cross 3. Item That he would rather worship the bodies of the Saints then the very Cross of Christ on which he hung if it were before him 4. Item That he would rather worship a man truly contrite then the Cross
Vniversitas praedicta solvant teneantur folvere ipsi Domino nostro Regi Henrico haeredibus suis mille Libras legalis Monetae Angliae Concordat cum Originali GULIELMUS RYLEY Afterwards the King confirmed the same with the consent of the Lords and Commons in Parliament as in the Tower Rouls doth plainly appear 27. See we here the grand difference The effect of the Statute of Praemunire betwixt the Popes power in England before and after the Statute of Praemunire Before it his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was authentical and his Bulls received next to Canonical Scripture Since that Statute hath broken off their best Seals wherein they crosse the Royall Power and in all things else they enter into England mannerly with good King by your leave Sir or else they were no better then so much waste Parchment 28. This doth acquaint us with a perfect Character of King Henry the fourth Farwell to K. Henry the fourth who though curteous was not servial to the Pope And * Fourth book of his Instit of the Jurisd of Courts page 228. S r Edward Cook accounteth this his Oxford action though unwilling to transcribe the Instrument for the tediousness thereof a noble act of Kingly power in that Age and so we take our farwell of King Henry the fourth not observed as all English Kings before and after him to have erected and endowed any one intire house of Religion as first or sole Founder thereof though a great Benefactor to the Abby of Leicester and Colledg of Fotheringhay in Northamptonshire his Picture is not so well known by his Head as his Hood which he weareth upon it in an antick fashion peculiar to himself 29. At the Commons Petition to the King in Parliament Chaumberdakyns banished England that all Irish begging-Priests Hen. 5 1413 called * Rotuli in Turre in hoc anno The death of T. Arundel Chaumberdakyns should avoid the Realm before Michaelmas next 1. they were ordered to depart by the time aforesaid upon pain of loss of goods and imprisonment during the Kings pleasure 30. I had almost forgotten that just a moneth before the death of King Henry the Fourth Thomas Arundel Arch-Bishops of Canterbury expired famished to death not for want of food but a throat to swallow it such the swelling therein that he could neither speak nor eat for some dayes I may safely report what others observe how he who by his cruel Canons forbad the food to the soul and had pronounced sentence of condemnation on so many innocents was now both starv'd and strick dumb together Henry Chichely succeeded him in the place whose mean birth interrupted the Chain of Noble Arch-Bishop his two predecessors and successors being Earls sons by their extraction 31. The Prelates and Abbots especially The Clergie jealous of King Henries activity began now to have the activesoul of King Henry in suspition For working heads are not so willing to follow old wayes Hen. 5 1414. 2. as well-pleased to find out new ones Such a medling soul must ne sent out of harms-way If that the Clergie found not this King some work abroad he would make them new work at home Had his humor happend to side with the Lollards Anno Regis Hen. 2 8. Henry the fifth would have saved King Henry the Eight much pains in demolishing of Monasteries Anno Dom. 1414. 32. Hereupon the Clergie cunningly gave vent to his Activity Divert it on a war in France by divertting it on a long warre upon the French where his Victories are loundly sounded forth by our State Historians A warre of more credit then profit to England in this Kings Reigne draining the Men and Money thereof Thus Victorious Bayes bear onely barren Berries no whit good for food and very little for Physick whilst the Peaceable Olive drops down that precious liquor making the face of man to shine therewith Besides what this King Henry gained his Son as quickly lost in France Thus though the Providence of Nature hath priviledged Islanders by their entire position to secure themselves yet are they unhappy in long keeping their acquisitions on the Continent 33. Now began the Tragedy of Sir John Oldcastle The sad story of Sir John Oldcastle so largely handled in Mr. Fox that his pains hath given Posterity a Writ of Ease herein He was a vigorous Knight whose Martiall Activity wrought him into the affections of Jone f Camd. Brit. in Kent D la Pole Baronesse of Cobham the Lord whereof he became sed quaere whether an Actuall Baron by her Marriage 34. As for the Opinions of this Sir John Oldcastle His belief they plainly appear in his Belief which he drew up with his own hand and presented it first to the King then to the Archbishop of Canterbury wherein some things are rather coursely then falselie spoken He knew to speak in the Language of the Schools so were the meetings of the Wicklivists called but not scholastically and I believe he was the first that coyned and last that used the distinction of the Church Militant divided into Priest-hood Knight-hood and Commons which had no great harm therein as he explained it As for * In his 3 conversion Persons his charging him with Anabaptistical Tenets it is pitty that the words of a plain meaning man should be put on the Wrack of a Jesuites malice to extort by deduction what never was intended therein 35. But a worse accusation is charged on his Memory He is charged of Treason that he was not onely guilty of Herese but Treason But by the way it appeareth that Lolardisme then counted Heresie was made Treason by Statute and on that account Heresie and Treason signifie no more then Heresie and then Heresie according to the abusive language of that Age was the best serving of God in those dayes But besides this a very formal Treason is laid to this Lords account in manner following It is laid to his charge that though not present in the person with his Councel he encouraged an Army of Rebels no fewer then twenty thousand which in the dark thickets expounded in our Age into plain pasture of S t Giles Fields nigh London intended to seize on the Kings Person and his two Brothers the Dukes of Bedford and Glocester Of this numerous Army thirty six are said to be hang'd and burnt though the Names of three are onely known and S r Roger Acton Knight the onely person of quality named in the design 36. For mine own part The Author intricated I must confess my self so lost in the Intricacies of these Relations that I know not what to assent to On the one side I am loath to load the Lord Cobhams memory with causless crimes knowing the perfect hatred the Clergie in that Age bear'd unto him and all that look d towards the reformation in Religion Besies that 20000 men should be brought into the field
in the Sanctuary in Westminster and very pathetical he was in the perswading her to part with him haply on a point of conscience as fearing if denied some injury would be offered to the prejudice of the Church and therefore more willing himself to wooe him from her with eloquence then that others should wrest him thence with violence Yet he is generally conceived innocent here in as not as yet suspecting any fraud in the Duke of Glocester except any will say that it was a fault in him that so great a States-man was no wiser then to have been deceived by his dissimulation 3 But of the inferiour Clergie D r Shaw a popular preacher made himself infamous to all posterity Shaws shameless Sermon His Sermon at S t Pauls Cross had nothing but the text and that in the a Eccles 23. 25. Spuria vitulamina non agent radices alias Apocrypha good therein as consisting of two parts defaming of the dead and flattering of the living making King Edward far worse then he was and Duke Richard far better then ever he would be He made King Edward the fourth and the Duke of Clarence both to be bastards and Duke Richard onely right begotten so proclaiming Cicilie his Mother still surviving for a whore all being done by secret instructions from Duke Richard himself who hereby gave a worse wound to his Mothers credit then that which at his birth he caused to her body being as it is commonly reported cut out from her With Shaw we may couple another brawling cur of the same litter Pynkney the Provincial of the Augustinian Friâ—rs who in the same place used so loud adulation he lost his credit conscience and voice altogether These two were all and they too many of the Clergie whom I finde actively ingaging on his party whilest multitudes of the Lairy sided with him So that thorough the popularity of the Duke of Buckingham the Law-learning of Catesby the City-interest of Shaw then Lord Major of London and brother to the preacher the rugged rigor of Ratclifse and the assistance of other instruments in their several spheres the Queens kindred were killed Ric. 3 1. the Lord Hastings murdered King Edward and his Brother imprisoned and at last Richard Duke of Glocester elected King of England The sumptuous Coronation of King Richard 4. His Coronation was performed with more pomp then any of his Predecessours as if he intended with the glory thereof so to dazle vulgar eyes that they should not be able to see the shame of his usurpation Indeed some of our English Kings who by undoubted right succeeded to the Crown accounted their Coronation but a matter of course which did not make but manifest them to be Kings and so less curious in the pompous celebration thereof But this Usurper apprehended this ceremony more substantial and therefore was most punctual in the observation of it causing all the Nobility who held Lands in grand Soveraignty to do their service in state amongst whom Richard Dimock Esquire hereditary Champion by tenure with a safe piece of valour having so many to back him cast down his Gauntlet challenging any that durst oppose the title of King Richard and for ought I do know to the contrary he afterwards made his challenge good in Bosworth field And because sure binde sure finde he is said and his Queen to be Crowned again in York with great solemnity 5. Soon after followed the murder of King Edward King Edward and his brother stifled and his Brother Richard Duke of York It was high time they should set when another already was risen in the throne By a bloudy bloudless death they were stifled with pillows and then obscurely buried The uncertainty of their interment gave the advantage to Perkin Warbeck afterwards to counterfeit Richard Duke of York so like unto him in age carriage stature feature favour that he wanted nothing but success to make him who did but personate Duke Richard to pass current for the person of Duke Richard 6. After this bloudy act Anno Regis Ric. 3. 2. King Richard endeavoured to render himself popular Anno Dom. 1484 First by making good Laws in that sole Parliament kept in his Reign King Richard vainly endeavoureth to ingratiate himself by makeing good Laws Benevolence malevolence which formerly the subjects unwillingly willing had paid to their Soveraign power where it requests commands it not being so much thank-worthy to grant as dangerous to deny it he retrenched and reduced to be granted onely in Parliament He regulated Trading which the Lombards and other foraigners had much ingrossed to the detriment of the English Nation Now although all people carry much of their love and loyaltie in their purses yet all this would not ingratiate this Usurper with them the dullest nostrils resenting it done not for love of vertue but his own security And that affects none which all palpably discover to be affected 7. Next he endeavoured to work himself into their good will As also by building of Monasteries by erecting and endowing of Religious Houses so to plausiblelize himself especialy among the Clergy Thus he built one far North at Middleham and and a College in the Parish of a Stows Survey of London in Tower street Ward Alhallows-Barking hard by the Tower as if he intended by the vicinity thereof to expiate those many murders which he therein had committed Besides he for his time dis-Forested Whichwood in Camâ—dens Bâ—â—â—â—an Oxford shire pag 374. out of John Rouse Oxford-shire then far more extended then in our Age which his brother Edward had made Forest to the great grievance of the Country thereabouts Yet all would not do the people being more patient for an injury done by King Edward then thankful for the favour this Richard bestowed upon them He is said also to have given to Queens College in Cambridg c Stow in his Annals p. 470. five hundred marks of yearly rent though at this time I believe the College receives as little benefit by the Grant as Richard had right to grant it For it was not issued out of his own purse but given out of the lands of his enemy the unjustly proscribed Earl of Oxford who being restored by Henry the seventh made a resumption thereof 8. Duke Richard was low in stature Art hath done more for King Richard then ever nature did crook-backed with one shoulder higher then the other having a prominent gobber-tooth a war-like countenance which well enough became a souldier Yet a modern d e George Buck Esqu a claw-back to Crook-back Author in a Book by him lately set forth eveneth his shoulders smootheth his back planeth his teeth maketh him in all points a comly and beautiful person Nor stoppeth he here but proceeding from his naturals to his morals maketh him as vertuous as handsome which in some sense may be allowed to be true concealing most denying some defending others
do much unto whom Christ gave the i Speeds Chro. in H. 8. p. 766. Keys of the Kingdom of heaven hath no power to give a dispensation to any man to contract such Marriage In witness whereof we confirm this our judgment both under the Seal of our University as also with the Seal of our Colledg of Doctors of Divinity and have subscribed it in the Cathedral Church of Bonony this tenth of June in the year of our Lord 1530. 21. k De schismate Anglic. p. 60 61. Sanders hath little to say against so many and clear decisions of the Universities The Recusancy of other Universities onely he tels us that all the Kings Agents had not equal success in their Negotiations and particularly that one Hutton the Kings instrument herein could not bow those of Hamborough and Lubeck to express themselves against the Marriage But surely these two places were onely Gymnasia for I finde them not mentioned amongst the Dutch Universities Also he saith that Richard Crook another of the Kings Emissaries prevailed nothing on many Germane Professors and particularly he praiseth the University of Colen for their recusancy therein As for such who subscribed on the Kings side he pretends that Bribes bought their judgments as if our King Henry had learnt from King l Eccles 10. 19 Solomon that Money recompenceth all things The best is the cleanly hands of the Court of Rome had never no doubt any bribes sticking to their fair fingers But though that Englsh Angels flew over to foraign Universities yet there lieth a real distinction betwixt a Bribe and a Boon freely bestowed not to bow and bias their opinions but to gratifie their pains and remunerate their industry in studying of the point 22. As for our English Ambassadours at Rome Cranmer travelleth into Germany finding themselves onely fed with delaies no wonder if they were sharp set to return home All came back again save D r. Cranmer who took a journey to the Emperours court in Vieâ—â—a Here he grew acquainted with Cornelius Agrippa who had written a Book of the Vanity of Sciences having much of the Sciences but more of the vanity in himself Here also he conversed with many great Divines and satisfied some of them out of Scripture and Reason which formerly were unresolved in the unlawfulness of the Kings Marriage 23. A Parliament was now called The Clergy 〈…〉 praemunire wherein the Clergie were found guilty of a Praemunire 1531 because they had too much promoted the Papal interest and acted by vertue of his power to the damage and detriment of the Crown of England whereupon being willing to redeem their whole estates forfeited by 〈◊〉 they were glad to commute it into a summe of money the Clergy of the Province of Canterbury alone bestowed on the King one hundred thousand pounds to be paid by equal portions in the same year say some in four years say others and that in my opinion with more probability 24. But the King would not be so satisfied with the payment of the money Acknowledg the 〈…〉 of the Church except also they would acknowledg him to be Supreme Head of the Church This was hard meat and would not easily down amongst them however being thoroughly debated in a Synodical way both in the upper and lower houses of Convocation they did in fine agree on this expression cujus Ecclesiae Anglicanae singularem Protectorem unicum supremum Dominum quantum per Christi leges licet supremum caput ipsius Majestatem recognoscimâ—s 25. This thus consented unto Confirmed by Act of Parliament and subscribed by the hands of the Clergie as appears at large in the Records and Acts of the Convocation and so presented to the King in the name of his Clergie was afterwards confirmed by Parliament and incorporated into a solemn Act for the ratification thereof 26. During these transactions The death of Arch Bishop Warham William Warham 1532 Arch-Bishop of Canterbury ended his life 23. Aug. 23. A politick person well learned in the Laws generally reputed a moderate man though specially towards his latter end a still and silent persecutor of poor Christians He was first Parson of Barly in Hertford-shire as appears by an a Weavers Funeral Mon. inscription in that Church thence rising by degrees to great preferment In his Will he requested his Successour not to sue his b Antiq. Brit. pag. Executors for Dilapidations as having expended some thousands of pounds in repairing his several Palaces We verily believe his request was granted seeing Cranmer was free from all exacting in that kinde Sede vacante John Stokesly Bishop of London was President in the Convocation 27. Messengers are sent into Germany for Thomas Cranmer Cranmer sent for and unwilling accepteth the Arch-Bishoprick to finde him out and fetch him home with all possible speed the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury waiting his acceptance thereof The Post easily doth the first but Cranmer prolonged his journey by c Fox Acts Mon. p. 1703. seven weeks at the least hoping that in the mean time the King might forget him and confer the place on another being really unwilling to imbrace the preferment having aliquid intus something within him which reluctated against those superstitions through which he must wade in the way thereunto But there lieth no Nolo Episcopare against King Henry his Volo te Episcopum esse It being as mortal to refuse favours from him as to offer injuries to him Cranmer therefore now come home must in his own defence be Arch-Bishop who to serve the King and salve his own conscience used the expedient of a Protestation whereof hereafter 28. The Philosoper gives us this note of direction A preparative to Cranmers just defence whereby to finde out a vertue viz. that it is accused by both Extremes Thus Liberality is charged by Prodigals to be Covetousness by Covetous men to be Prodigality By the same proportion Cranmer appears a worthy Prelate taxed by Papists to be an Heretick by others no Papists as guilty of Superstition We will endeavour his just defence conceiving the Protestants cause much concerned therein the Legality of his Consecration having an influence on all the Bishops made by him Anno Regis Hen. 8 23. that of the Bishops making an impression on the Priests and Deacons by them ordained Anno Dom 1532 and their rightful ordination deriving validity to the Sacraments by them administred to all the members of the Church of England 29. A Papist a Becan contro Angl. c. 4. q. 9. n. 6. objects Cranmer lawfully consecrated non fuit consecratus ab ullo Episcopo sed à solo Rege intrusus that he was consecrated by no Bishop but thrust in by the King alone The falseness whereof doth appear on publick Record still to be seen in the Register being solemnly consecrated by John b Regist Cramn fol. 5.
but exacted them in the notion of a Rent and Tribute due to the Pope his Master 52. This is that Polidore Virgil Be-lawrelleth the Quire of Wells who was Dignitary of the Cathedral of Wells and as I take it Archdeacon of Taunton on the Quire whereof he bestowed Hangings flourished with the Lawrel Tree and as I remember wrote upon them SUNT POLIDORI MUNERA VIRGILII But would he had spared his benefaction to the Church of Wells on condition he had been no Malefactor to the Church of England yea to Religion and Learning in generall if it be true what commonly is reported 53. For he wrote a Latine History of Britain A Malefactour to Posterity for burning MS. from the Original of the Nation untill Anno Dom. 153. the yeare of King Henry the eighth out of many rare Manuscripts which he had collected together Now partly to raise the reputation of his own Writings that he might seem no lazie Transcriber partly to render himself out of the reach of confutation being suspected not over-faithfull in his Relation he is said to have burnt all those rare Authours which he could compasse into his possession Thus Tyrant-like he cut down those stairs whereby he ascended the Throne of his own knowledge If this be true the World may thank Polidore Virgil for his work de Inventione Rerum but have cause to chide not to say curse his Memory for his Act de Perditione Librorum 54. I have met with a paper of Verses Two-edged Verses which like a two-edged Sword cut on both sides plainly at Polidore Virgil but obscurely at a later Plagiary and in my opinion not unworthy to be inserted Leyland's supposed Ghost Am I deceiv'd or doth not Leyland's Ghost Complain of wrong sustained after death As Virgil's Polidore accus'd his host The Tracian King for cruell breach of Faith And Treasures gain'd by stopping of his breath Ah greedy Gardian t' enjoy his goods Didst plunge his Princely Ward into the floods Am I deceiv'd or doth not Leyland's spirit Complain with th' Ghosts of English Notaries Whom Polidorus Virgil robb'd of merit Bereft of Name and sacks of Histories While wetch he ravisht English Libraries Ah! wicked Book-thief whosoever did it Should One burn all to get one single Credit Am I deceiv'd or doth not Leyland's spirit Make heu cry for som Book-treasure stealth Rifling his works and razing Name Merit Whereby are smother'd a Prince-given wealth A Learned Writer's Travel Wits and Health All these he spent to doe his Countrey pleasure O save his name the world may know his treasure I am deceivd for Leylands ghost doth rest From plaints crys with souls of blessed men But Heaven and Humane Laws cannot digest That such rare fruits of a laborious Pen Came to be drown'd in such a thanklesse Den. Thus Heaven and all Humanity doth sue That Leyland dead may have his Titles due Who this second Plagiarie was complained of for plundering Leyland if the Reader cannot conjecture I will not tell such the honour I bear to his admirable performances though herein not to be excused 55. Papal power thus extinguished in England How Papal power in England was cantoned it is worth our enquiry where the same for the future was fixed which we finde not intirely setled in any One but according to justice and equity divided amongst many Sharers therein 56. And first God first had his share Give unto God the things which are Gods What the Pharisees said was true in the Doctrine though false in the Use thereof as applied to our Saviour whom they mistook for a meer man * Mark 7. Who can forgive sins but God alone This paramount power no lesse blasphemously than arrogantly usurped by the Pope claiming an absolute and authoritative pardoning of Sins was humbly and justly restored to the high God of Heaven 57. Restitution was made to the second Person in the Trinity Christ his due of that Universal jurisdiction over the whole Church as belonging to Christ alone 1 Pet. 2. 25. who is the Sheepherd and Bishop of our souls and a badge of Antichrist for the Pope proudly to assume the same 58. To the Holy Ghost was restored that Infallibility The holy Spirit his portion which to him doth properly pertain as being the Spirit of Truth which neither will deceive nor can be deceived John 15. 26. 16. 23. and which hath promised to lead his Church in generall into all Truth but never fixed any inerrability on any particular person or succession of single persons whatsoever 59. And now give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's The King comes to claim His own right The King assumes his share what the Kings of Judah his Predecessours in Soveraignty had by the Word of God and Christian Emperours by the practise of the Primitive times did possesse In order whereunto the Parliament did notifie and declare that Ecclesiastical power to be in the King which the Pope had formerly unjustly invaded Yet so that they reserved to themselves besides other priviledges which we leave to the Learned in the Law the confirming power of all Canons Ecclesiastical so that the person or property of Refusers should not be subjected to temporal penalty without consent of Parliament 60. Of this power thus declar'd in the King part thereof He kept in Himselfe as to call and dissolve Convocations at His pleasure to grant or deny them Commission to debate of Religion to command Archbishops and Bishops to be chosen in vacant Sees to take order for the due Administration of the Word and Sacraments 61. The other part of power Ecclesiastical the King passed over to the Archbishop of Canterbury as His Substitute first to grant Faculties in cases not repugnant to the Law of God necessary for Honour and Security of the King formerly wont to be remedied in the See of Rome Secondly to determine Causes Ecclesiastical in his Court whence lay an Appeal to the Court of Delegates c. 62. The representative Clergie had power by the King's leave to make Canons and Constitutions whilst each Bishop in his respective Diocesse Priest in his Parish were freer than formerly in execution of their Office acquitted from Papal dependance 63. Lastly every English Lay-Man was restored to his Christian Birth right namely to his judgment of practical discretion in perusing the Scriptures in his own Language formerly swallowed up in the Ocean of the Pope's Infallibility Thus on the depluming of the Pope every bird had his own feather in the partage whereof what he had gotten by sacriledge was restored to God what by Usurpation was given back to the King Church and State what by Oppression was remitted to particular Christians SECTION III. Ann. Reg. TO Master HENRY BARNARD Ann. Dom. LATE OF LONDON Merchant THough lately you have removed your habitation into Shropshire My pen is resolved to follow after and finde you out Seeing the
his plain Prayer which he immediately after made His Prayer whereby his Speech may be interpreted too long here to insert but set down at large in Mr. Fox and which speaketh him a true Protestant And if negative Arguments avail ought in this matter no superstitious crossing of himself no praying to Saints no desiring of prayers for him after his death c. may evidence him no Papist in the close of his life Indeed Anti-Cromwellists count this controversie of the Religion he died in not worth the deciding no Papists conceiving the gain great to get him on their side and some Protestants accounting the losse as little to part with him However this right ought to be done to his Memory in fixing it on its own principles and not mis-representing the same to posterity 28. Remarkable is that passage in his Speech Heaven is just in Barths injustice wherein he confesseth himself by Law condemned to die because a story dependeth thereupon Not long agoe an Act had passed in Parliament That one might be attainted of Treason by Bill in Parliament and consequently lose his life without any other legal triall or being ever brought to answer in his own defence The Lord Cromwell was very active in procuring this Law to passe insomuch that it is generally believed that the Arme and Hammer of all King Henry's Power could never have driven on this Act thorough both Houses had not Cromwell first wimbled an hole for the entrance thereof and politickly prepared a major part of Lords and Commons to accept the same For indeed otherwise it was accounted a Law injurious to the liberty which reason alloweth to all persons accused and which might cut out the tongue of Innocency it self depriving her of pleading in her own behalf Now behold the hand of Heaven It hapned that this Lord first felt the smart of this rod which be made for others and was accordingly condemned before ever he was heard to speak for himself Nec lex est justior ulla Quam necis artifices arte perire suâ Most just it is that they bad Laws who make Should themselves first of their own Laws partake Thus those who break down the banks and let in the stream of Arbitrary power be it into the hands of Prince or People are commonly the first themselves which without pity are drowned in the deluge thereof 29. Thus farre I have swome along with the winde and tide of all our English Historians Yet the Lord Cromwell by a great person acquitted herein in charging of Cromwell herein But I finde one * Sir Edward Coke Part 4. of Institut in Jurisdiction of Courts p. 37. Authour of strong credit such he needs to be who swims against the stream acquitting the said Lord deriving his intelligence from Sir Thomas Gawdie a grave Judge then living who acquainted him as followeth King Henry commanded the L. Cromwell to attend the Chief Justices and to know whether a man that was forth-coming might be attainted of high Treason by Parliament and never called to his answer The Judges answered That it was a dangerous question and that the high Court of Parliament ought to give examples to inferiour Courts for proceeding according to justice and no inferiour Court could doe the like and they thought the high Court of Parliament would never doe it But being by the expresse commandement of the King and pressed by the said Earl to give a direct answer they said That if he be attainted by Parliament it could not come in question afterwards whether he was called or not called to answer and the Act of Attainder being passed by Parliament did binde as they resolved The party against whom this was intended was never called in question but the first man after the said resolution that was so attainted and never called to answer was the said Earl of Essex whereupon that erroneous and vulgar opinion amongst our Historians grew That he died by the same Law which he himself had made 30. But His exemplary gratitude grant this Lord Cromwell faulty in this and some other actions in the main he will appear a worthy person and a great instrument of God's glory in the reforming of Religion and remarkable for many personal eminencies Commonly when men are as in a moment mounted from meannesse to much wealth and honour first they forget them selves and then all their old friends and acquaintance Whereas on the contrary here gratitude grew with his greatnesse and the Lord Cromwell conferred many a courtesie on the Children from whose Fathers Master Cromwell had formerly received favours As he was a good Servant to his Master so was he a good Master to his Servants and fore-seeing his own full which he might have foretold without the Spirit of Prophesie some half a year before he furnished his Men which had no other lively-hood to subsist by with Leases Pensions and Annuities whereby after his death they had a comfortable maintenance 31. One so faithfull to his Servants His care for his Children cannot be suspected for an Infidel in not providing for his family of his own children It was not therefore his ambition but providence that on the same day wherein he was created Earle of Essex he procured Gregory his Son which otherwise had been then but a Lord by courtesie to be actually made Baron Cromwell of Oke-ham Which honour because inherent in the Son was not forfeited on his Father's attainture but descends at this day on his Posterity 32. We will conclude his story with this remarkable instance of his humility An eminent instance of his humility Formerly there flourished a notable family of the b Camdens Brit. in Lincoln-shire Cromwells at Tattershall in Lincoln-shire especially since Sir Ralph Cromwell married the younger Sister and Coheir of William the last Lord Deincourt Now there wanted not some flattering Heraults excellent Chemists in Pedegrees to extract any thing from any thing who would have entituled this Lord Cromwell to the Armes of that antient Family extinct in the issue male thereof about the end of King Henry the sixt His answer unto them was That he would not weare another mans coat for fear the right owner thereof should pluck it off over his ears and preferred rather to take a new coate viz. * See Vincent in the Earles of Essex AZure Or a Fess inter three Lyons rampant Or a Rose Gules betwixt two Chaughes proper being somewhat of the fullest the Epidemical dissease of all Armes given in the Reign of Henry the eighth 33. After the execution of the Lord Cromwell Men of different judgment meeting at their death the Parliament still sitting a motly execution happened in Smithfield three Papists hanged by the Statute for denying the King's supremacy and as many Protestants burnt at the same time and place by vertue of the six Articles dying with more pain and no lesse patience Papists Protestants Edward Powell
Isabell Sackvile Lady Prioresse of Clarkenwell is an eminent instance of longevity in this kinde For 1. In the one and twentieth of King Henry the seventh she was a * To be seen in the pedegree of the Barl of Dorset Weaver fun Mon. pag. 429. Nun in Clarkenwell-Priory when a Legacy was bequeathed her as Niece by William Sackvile Esquire and must be then conceived fifteen years of age 2. She was the last Prioresse of Clarkenwell at the dissolution thereof 3. She died in the twelfth of Queen Elizabeth as appears by her Epitaph in Clarkenwell-Church and by Computation must be allowed Eighty years of age But farre older was that Monk or Nun I am * Attested by 〈◊〉 Pymme's Kinsman to Godfrey Bp. of Gloucester See his printed Paper assured of the Story not the Sex to whom Living in or neer Hampshire Mr. John Pymme then an Officer in the Exchequer paid the last payment of his Pension about the fift year of King James SECTION VI. DOMINO THOMAE TREVOR Juniori Equiti Aurato MVlti sunt praeproperi Haeredes qui nimiâ parentum vivacitate cruciantur Hi languidâ expectatione macrescunt postquam Rura Paterna spe vanâ devoraverant At Tu è contra Venerandi Patris tui Canitiem si fieri posset immortalem reddere conaris cum eam perpetuo Obsequio humilime colas quo efficacius Kardiacum ad Senectutem ejus elongandam nequit confici Non in Patris sed â—undi senescentis Annos inquiris cum Historiâ plurimum delecteris cujus ope si Praeterita cum Praesentibus conferantur conjectura de Futuris statui potest quo nomine hoc opus nostrum tibi non ingratum fore confido Deus â—e Lectissimâmque Conjugem beat prole patrizante non tam privato commodo quà m Bono Publico ne Respulica tantarum virtutum Haeredi destituatur Of the Erection Officers Vse Continuance and Abolishing of the Court of Augmentation DUring the scuffling for Abbey-land Augmentation Court when erected in the 27 year of King Henry the eighth the Court of Augmentation was set up by Act of Parliament to be a Court of Record and to have an authentick Great Seal besides a Privie Seal and several Officers appointed for management thereof with large fees allowed unto them I finde the same exemplified in a fair Vellum Manuscript which lately was Archbishop Parkers since the Lord Cokes whence I transcribed as followeth Sir Rich Sackvile Chancellor three hundred pounds yearly Fee forty pounds Diet and six shillings eight pence for every Seale Sir Jo Williams Treasurer three hundred and twenty pounds Fee Sir Will Cavendish Treasurer of the King's Chamber one hundred pounds Fee one hundred pound Dyet and ten pounds Boat-hire Sir Thomas Moyle Sir Walter Mildmay Generall Receivers to each two hundred pounds Fee and twenty pounds Diet. Rich Goodrich Attorney one hundred pounds Fee and twenty marks Diet. Jo Gosnall Solicitor eighty pound Fee Diet twenty marks Besides Masters and Surveyors of the woods Clerks Keepers of Records Ushers Messengers Assistants Carpenter and Mason to the Court Auditors Receivers Surveyors Woodwards for every County the totall summe of their Fees yearly amounting unto Seven thousand two hundred forty nine pounds ten shillings and three pence This Catalogue by the persons mentioned therein seems taken towards the end of Edward the sixt when the Court began to decline 2. It belonged unto this Court to order The imployment of the Offiâ—eâ—s in this Court survey and govern sell let set all Manours lands tenements rents services tythes pensions portions advowsons patronages and all hereditaments formerly belonging to Priories and since their dissolution to the Crown as in the printed Statute * An. 17 HeÌ„ 8. cap. 27. more largely doth appear All persons holding any Leases Pensions Corodies c. by former grants from the Covents came into the Court produced their Deeds and upon examination of the validity thereof had the same allowed unto them And although providence for themselves and affection to their kindred prompted many Fryers and Covents foreseeing their rottering condition to antedate Leases to their friends just at the dissolution yet were they so frighted with fear of discovery that very few frauds in that kinde were committed The Court was very tender in continuing any Leases upon that least legall consideration 3. But after some continuance of this Court Motives for the dissolution of this Court the King 's urgent occasions could not stay for the slow coming in of money from the yearly Revenues of Abbey-land insomuch that He was necessitated to sell out-right a great part of those Lands for the present advance of Treasure and thereby quickly was the Court of Augmentation diminished The King therefore took into consideration to dissolve it as superfluous wherein the Officers were many their Pensions great Crown profits thereby small and Causes therein depending few so that it was not worth the while to keep up a Mill to grinde that grist where the Toll would not quit cost It was therefore resolved to stop up this by stream that all causes therein should run in the antient channell of the former Courts of Westminster 4. Indeed in the 7 of King Edw. 6. Finally dissolved in the first year of Queen Mary a doubt did arise amongst the Learned in the Laws whether the Court of Augmentation the Commencement whereof was first had by authority of Parliament would legally be dissolved extinguished and repealed by the King's Letters Patents And the Officers thereof wonder not if they stickled for their own concernments did zealously engage on the Negative Wherefore it was enacted by Parliament That the King during His naturall life had present power by His Letters Patents to alter unite annex reduce or dissolve any of those new erected Courts by His own Letters Patents And the same Act was confirmed in the first year of Queen Mary when the short-lived Court of Augmentation was dissolved as which from the birth thereof 1535 to the extinguishing 1553 survived but eighteen years The Lands of Chanteries free Chappels and Colledges dissolved KIng Henry the eighth his expences like sandy ground Prodigality alwaies wanteth suddenly suckt up the large shower of Abbey lands and little signe or shew was seen thereof yea such the parching thirst of his pressing occasions that still they called aloud for more moysture for whose satisfaction the Parliament in the 38 year of His Reign put the Lands of all Colledges Chanteries and free Chappels in His Majesties full disposition 2. This King made three meals King Henry's three meals on Abbey-lands or if you will one meal of three courses on Abbey-lands besides what Cardinal Wolsey the King's Taster herein had eat before-hand when assuming smaller Houses to endow his two Colledges 1. When Religious Houses under two hundred pounds a yeare â— Anno 1535 were granted to Him by the Parliament 2. When all greater Monasteries â— 1538 3. When Colledges Chanteries and Free
that point that he any way went about to abridge her Royall Authority 5. Secondly And filly taxing of his train he taxeth him for his extraordinary traine of above sixty men-servants though not so extravagant a number if his person and place be considered who were all trained up to martiall affaires and mustred almost every week his stable being well furnished with store of great Horses But was it a fault in those martiall dayes when the invasion of a Forraign Foe was daily suspected to fit his Family for their own and the Kingdomes defence Did not * Gen. 14. 14. Abraham that heavenly Prophet and holy Patriarch arme his Trained Servants in his owne house in his victorious expedition against the King of Sodome Yea if Church-men of an Anti-prelaticall spirit had not since tampered more dangerously with training of Servants though none of their owne both Learning and Religion had perchance looked at this day with a more cheerefull countenance 6. Whereas it intimates Whitgifts care of and love to Scholars that this Arch-bishop had been better imployed in training up Scholars for the Pulpit than Souldiers for the Field know that as the Latter was performed the former was not quitted by him Witnesse many worthy preachers bred under him in Trinity Colledge and more elsewhere relieved by him Yea his Bounty was too large to be confined within the narrow Seas Beza Drusius and other forraigne Protestant Divines tasting freely thereof Nor was his Liberality onely a Cisterne for the present age but a running River from a fresh Fountaine to water Posterity in that Schoole of Croydon which he hath beautifully built and bountifully endowed More might be said in the vindication of this worthy Prelate from his reproachfull penne But I purposely forbeare the rather because it is possible that the learned Gentleman since upon a serious review of his own Work and experimentall Observation of the passages of this Age may be more offended with his owne writing herein than others take just exception thereat 7. Arch-bishop Whitgift was buried at Croydon His buriall and Successour 1604. Mar. 27. March 27. The Earle of Worcester and Lord Zouch his Pupills attending his Herse and Bishop Babington his Pupill also made his Funerall Sermon chusing for his Text 2 Chron. 24. 15 16. and paralleling the Arch-bishops life with gracious Jehoida Ann. Reg. Jac. 2 Ann. Dom. 1604. Richard Bancroft Bishop of London brought up in Jesus Colledge succeeded him in the Arch-bishoprick whose actions in our ensuing History will sufficiently deliver his character without our description thereof 8. Come we now to the Parliament assembled A beneficiall Statute for the Church amongst the many Acts which passed therein none more beneficiall for the Church than that which made the King himselfe and his Successors incapable of any Church-land to be conveyed unto them otherwise than for three lives or twenty one years Indeed a Statute had formerly been made the thirteenth of Queen Eliz. which to prevent finall Alicnation of Church-land did disable all subjects from accepting them But in that Statute a Liberty was left unto the * Because it was noâ— forbidden in the Statute in expresse words Crown to receive the same It was thought fit to allow to the Crown this favourable exception as to the Patron generall of the whole English Church and it was but reason for the Soveraign who originally gave all the Loafe to the Church on occasion to resume a good Shiver thereof 9. But he who shuts ninety nine gates of Thebes A conâ—rivance by the Crowne to wrong the Church and leaveth one open shuts none in effect Covetousnesse shall I say an apt Scholar to learne or an able Master to teach or both quickly found out a way to invade the Lands of the Church and evade the Penalty of the Law which thus was contrived Some Potent Courtier first covertly contracts with a Bishop some whereof though spirituall in Title were too temporall in Truth as more minding their Private Profit than the Publique good of the Church to passe over such a proportion of Land to the Crowne This done the said Courtier begs the Land of the Queen even before her Highnesse had tasted thereof or the lipps of her Exchecquer ever touched the same and so an Estate thereof is setled on him and his Heires for ever And thus Covetousnesse came to her desired end though forced to go a longer journey and fain to fetch a farther compasse about 10. For instance Two eminent instances of former Alienation of Bishopprick-Lands Doctor Coldwell Doctor of Physique and Bishop of Sarisbury gave his Sea a very strong Purge when he consented to the Alienation of Shiâ—bourn Manour from his Bishoprick Indeed the good old man was shot between Wind and Water and his consent was assaulted in a dangerous joincture of time to give any deniall For after he was elected Bishop of Sarisbury and after all his Church-preferments were disposed of to other persons yet before his election was confirmed past a possibility of a legall reversing thereof Sir W. Rawleigh is importunate with him to passe Sherborne to the Crowne and effected it though indeed a good round rent was reserved to the Bishoprick Presently Sir Walter beggeth the same of the Queen and obtained it Much after the same manner Sir Killegrew got the Mannour of Crediton a bough almost as big as all the rest of the Body for the Church of Exeter by the consent of Doctor Babington the Bishop thereof 11. To prevent future wrong to the Church in that kinde Severall censuâ—es on this new Statute it was now enacted That the Crowne it selfe henceforward should be incapable of any such Church-land to be conveyed unto it Yet some were so bold as to conceive this Law void in the very making of it and that all the obligation thereof consisted not in the strength of the Law but onely in the Kings and his Successors voluntary obedience thereunto Accounting it injurious for any Prince in Parliament to tye his Successors who neither can nor will be concluded thereby farther than it stands with their owne convenience However it was to stand in force till the same power should be pleased to rescind it But others beheld this Law not with a Politick but Religious Eye conceiving the King of Heaven and the King of England the Parties concerned therein and accounting it Sacriledge for any to alienate what is given to God in his Church 12. Thus was the King graciously pleased to binde himself for the liberty of the Church K. JAMES a great Churchlover He knew full well all Courtiers and especially his owne Countrey-mens importunity in asking and perhaps was privy to his owne impotency in denying and therefore by this Statute he eased himselfe of many troublesome Suitors For hereafter no wise man would beg of the King what was not in his power to grant and what if granted could
to the rule of Faith and monstrous blasphemy 9. That Christ was not before the fulness of time except by promise 10. That Christ was not God otherwise than an anointed God 11. That Christ was not in the form of God equal with God that is in substance of God but in righteousness and giving salvation 12. That Christ by his Godhead wrought no miracle 13. That Christ is not to be prayed unto For maintaining these Opinions Legate had long been in prison in Newgate yet with liberty allowed him to go abroad not contented wherewith he openly boasted and often threatned to sue the Court which committed him for reparations for false imprisonment so that his own indiscretion in this kinde hastened his execution 10. For hereupon Bishop King finally convented him in the Consistory of S. Paul's Condemned for an obstinate Heretick And that worthy Prelate foreseeing that his proceedings herein would meet with many listening eares prying eyes and prating tongues chose many reverend Bishops able Divines and learned Lawyers to assist him So that the Consistory so replenished for the time being seemed not so much a large Court as a little Convocation Mar. 3. By the counsell and consent of these by his definitive sentence he pronounced decreed and declared the foresaid Bartholomew Legate an obdurate contumacious and incorrigible Heretick And by an Instrument called a SIGNIFICAVIT certified the same into the Chancery delivering him up unto the Secular power the Church-Keyes in such cases craving the help of the Civil Sword Mar. 11. Whereupon King JAMES with His Letters dated March 11 under the Privy-Seal gave order to the Broad-Seal to direct the Writ de Haeretico comburendo to the Sheriffs of London for the burning of the foresaid Legate 11. Now as the Bishop herein surrendred Legate to the Secular Power Quaeâ—es left to Lawyers to decide my Ecclesiasticall History in like manner resignes him to the Civil Historian together with all the doubts difficulties and legall scruples attending on or resulting from his Condemnation Let the Learned in the Law consider on what Statute the Writ for his Burning was grounded whether on those old Statutes enacted in the Reignes of RICHARD the II and HENRY the IV or on the branch of some other new Statute to that effect Let them satisfie us how farre those Lawes were repealed in 1 mo ELIZABETHAE and how farre they still stand in force as though not to pretended Lollardisme yet to Blasphemy Let them examine the Judgment of the Learned i De natura breâ—ium fol. 269. 2. Fitz-Herbert whether sound in his assertion That Hereticks before the Writ of their burning be issued out against them must first be convicted of Heresie before a Provinciall Convocation whilst others affirm That they being convicted before their Ordinary sufficeth provided it be for such Opinions which Convocations have formerly condemned for Hereticall 12. To Smithfield he was brought to be burned Legate burnt in Smithfield Mar. 18. See here it is neither the pain nor the place but only the cause makes a Martyr In this very Smithfield how many Saints in the Marian-daies suffered for the testimony of Jesus Christ Whereas now one therein dyeth in his own blood for denying him Vast was the Conflux of people about him Never did a scare-fire at midnight summon more hands to quench it than this at noon-day did eyes to behold it At last refusing all mercy he was burned to ashes And so we leave him the first that for a long time suffered death in that manner And oh that he might be the last to deserve it 13. In the next moneth Edward Wightman of Burton upon Trent Wightman worse than Legate April 11. convicted before Richard Neile Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield was burned at Litchfield for sarre worse Opinions if worse might be than Legate maintained Mary Magdalene indeed was once possessed with seven Devils but ten several Heresies were laid to Wightman's charge namely those of k So reckned up in the Warrant for his burning Ebion Cerinthus Valentinian Arrius Macedonius Simon Magus Manes Manichaeus Photinus and of the Anabaptists Lord What are we when God leaves us Did ever man maintain one Heresie and but one Heresie l Jude 6. Chains of darkness we see have their links and errors are complicated together 14. God may seem well-pleased with this seasonable Severity The successe of this severity For the fire thus kindled quickly went out for want of sewell I mean there was none ever after that openly avowed these Hereticall Doctrines Onely a Spanish Arrian who condemned to die was notwithstanding suffered to linger out his life in Newgate where he ended the same Indeed such burning of Hereticks much startled common people pitying all in pain and prone to asperse justice it self with cruelty because of the novelty and hideousnesse of the punishment And the purblinde eyes of vulgar judgments looked onely on what was next to them the suffering it self which they beheld with compassion not minding the demerit of the guilt which deserved the same Besides such being unable to distinguish betwixt constancy and obstinacy were ready to entertain good thoughts even of the Opinions of those Hereticks who sealed them so manfully with their blood Wherefore King JAMES politickly preferred that Hereticks hereafter though condemned should silently and privately waste themselves away in the Prison rather than to grace them and amuze others with the solemnity of a publick Execution The death of Master Sâ—tton Founder of that famous Hospitall which in popular judgments usurped the honour of a persecution 15. I finde no eminent Divine or Scholar deceased in this year Onely one whose bounty made many of both kindes ended his life namely Richard Sutton the Phoenix of our Age and sole Founder of Charter-Hospitall Esquire born of Gentile Parentage at Knaith in Lincolnshire In his youth bred a Souldier gaining both wealth and credit by his valour but afterwards embracing a more peaceable Profession of a Merchant This his Foundation he called The Hospitall of King JAMES all discreet Subjects having learned this lesson from politick Joab calling m 2 Sam. 12. 28. Rabbah after the name of King David to entitle their Soveraigne to the honour of their Atchievements which are of extraordinary proportion Children not yet come to and Old men already past helping of themselves have in this Hospitall their souls and bodies provided for The latter must be decayed Gentlemen the most proper Objects of Charity as whose ingenious spirits are most sensible of want and most unable to provide for themselves 16. It is utterly improbable that it will ever come within the compasse of my power to found any place for pious uses The severall Manours belonging thereunto All wherein my weak ability can expresse its forwardnesse is to honour the Charity of others and for the present Alphabetically to methodize the Manours which Master Sutton in several
be in the Commission of the Peace nor Judges in Temporall Courts 3. Nor sit in the Star-Chamber nor be Privy-Counsellors The two last branches of this Bill passed by generall consent not above two dissenting But the first branch was voted in the Negative wherein all the Bishops gave their own voices for themselves Yet had their suffrages been secluded and the question only put to the lay-Lords it had been carried for the Bishops by sixteen decisive June 8 76. After some dayes debate the Lords who were against the Bishops protested that the former manner of voting the Bill by branches was unparlamentary and illegall Wherefore they moved the House that they should be so joyned together as either to take the Bill in wholly or cast it all out Whereupon the whole Bill was utterly cast out by many voices had not the Bishops as again they did given their suffrages in the same 77. Master Maynard made a Speech in the Committee of Lords against the Canons At last wholly cast out made by rhe Bishops in the last Convocation therein with much learning indeavouring to prove 1. That in the Saxons times as Malmesbury Hoveden Sir Henry Spelman c. doe witnesse Lawes and constitutions Ecclesiasticall had the confirmation of Peers and sometimes of the People Mr. Maynards Speech against the Canons to which great Councells our Parliaments doe succeed 2. That it appears out of the aforesaid Authors and others that there was some checking about the disuse of the generall making of such Church Lawes 3. That for Kings to make Canons without consent of Parliament cannot stand because built on a bad foundation viz. on the Popes making Canons by his sole Power so that the groundwork not being good the superstructure sinketh therewith 4. He examined the Statute 25 of Henry 8 avouching that that clause The Clergy shall not make Canons without the Kings leave implyeth not that by his leave alone they may make them Lastly he endeavoured to prove that these Canons were against the Kings Prerogative the Rights Liberties and Properties of the Subject insisting herein on severall particulars 1. The first Canon puts a penalty on such as disobey them 2. One of them determineth the Kings Power and the Subjects right 3. It sheweth that the Ordinance of Kings is by the Law of Nature and then they should be in all places and all alike 4. One of the Canons saith that the King may not be resisted 5. Another makes a Holy Day whereas that the Parliament saith there shall be such and no more This his Speech lost neither life nor lustre being reported to the Lords by the Bishop of Lincoln a back friend to the Canons because made during his absence and durance in the Tower 78. One in the House of Commons heightned the offence of the Clergy herein Severall judgments of the Clergyes offence into Treason which their more moderate adversaries abated into a Premunire Many much insisted on the Clarks of the Convocation for presuming being but private men after the dissolution of the Parliament to grant subsidies A Bill read against the High-Commission and so without Law to give away the estates of their fellow-subjects 78. A Bill was read to repeal that Statute of 1 Eliz. whereby the High-Commission Court is erected This Bill afterwards forbad any Archbishop Bishop c. deriving power from the King to Assesse or inflict any pain penalty amercement imprisonment or corporall punishment for any ecclesiasticall offence or transgression Forbidding them likewise to administer the Oath Ex officio or give Oath to Church-Wardens Sides-men or any others whereby their own or others offences should be discovered DIGNISSIMO DOM. THOMAE FISHER BARONETTO CUM Insignia tua Gentilitia intueor Anno Regis Carol 16 Anno Dom. 1640 non sum adeò Heraldicae Artis ignarus quin probè sciam quid sibi velit Manus illa Scutello inserta Te scilicet Baronettum designat cùm omnes in illum Ordinem cooptati ex Institutione sua ad * * Seldenus in titulis Honoris Vltoniam Hiberniae Provinciam forti dextrâ defendendam teneantur At sensum praeter hunc vulgarem alium latiorem quoad meipsum laetiorem Manui illi expansae quae in tuo Clypeo spectabilis subesse video Index est summae tuae Munificentiae quo nomine me tibi divinctissimum profiteor 1. OMitting matters of greater consequence The High-Commission Court put down know that the Bill against the High-Commission June 24 was the third time read in the House of Lords and passed it which some dayes after was confirmed by his Majesty Thus the edge of the Spiritual Sword as to discipline was taken away For although I read of a Proviso made in the House of Lords that the generall words in this Bill should extend only to the High-Commission Court and not reach other Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction yet that Proviso being but writen and the Statute printed all coercive power of Church Consistories were taken away Mr. Pim triumphed at this successe crying out Digitus Det it is the finger of God Anno Dom. 1641 that the Bishops should so supinely suffer themselves to be surprised in their power Anno Regis Caroli 16 Some disaffected to Episcopy observed a Justice that seeing many simple souls were in the high Commission Court by captious interrogatories circumvented into a self-accusation an unsuspected clause in this Statute should abolish all their lawfull authority 2. The Bishop of Lincoln brought up a Bill to regulate Bishops and their jurisdiction The Bill for Regulation of Bishops consisting of severall particulars July 2 1. That every Bishop being in his Diocesse not sick should preach once every Lords day or pay five pounds to the poor to be levyed by the next Justice of Peace and distresse made by the Constable 2. That no Bishop shall be Justice of Peace save the Dean of Westminster in Westminster and St. Martines 3. That every Bishop should have twelve assistants besides the Dean and Chapter four chosen by the King four by the Lords and four by the Commons for jurisdiction and ordination 4. That in all vacancies they should present to the King three of the ablest Divines in the Diocesse out of which his Majesty might choose one to be Bishop 5. Deans and Prebends to be resident at the Cathedralls but sixty dayes 6. That Sermons be preached therein twice every Lords day once every Holy day and a Lecture on Wednesday with a salary of 100. Marks 7. All Archbishops Bishops Collegiate Churches c. to give a fourth part of their fines and improved rents to buy out Impropriations 8. All double beneficed men to pay a moiety of their benefice to their Curates 9. No appeal to the Court of Arches or Audience 10. Canons and Ecclesiasticall capitulations to be drawn up and fitted to the Lawes of the Land by sixteen learned men chosen six by the King
Venerable Bede 167 14 Henry of Erphurt 169 15 Annals of Lichfield 175 16 Marianus Scotus 177 17 Ralph de Balduâ— 178 18 Iohn Bale 179 19 Polydor Virgil. Anno Dom. 108 182 20 Chron. Brit. Abbrev. 183 21 Roger de VVendover 184 22 Matth. Paris Westminster 185 23 Hector Boethius 187 24 Martin Polonus 188 25 Saxon Annals 189 26 Iohn Harding 190 Here is more then a Grand-Iury of Writers which neither agree in their Verdicts with their Fore-man nor one with another there being betwixt the first the last Paulus Iovius Iohn Harding ninetie years distance in their Account This with other Arguments is used not onely to shake but shatter the whole reputation of the Story And we must endeavour to clear this Objection before we go farther which is shrewdly pressed by many For if the two Elders which accused Susanna were condemned for Liars being found in two Tales the one laying the Scene of her Incontinency under a a Susanna verse 54. and 58. Mastick-tree the other under an Holme-tree why may not the Relation of Lucius be also condemned for a Fiction seeing the Reporters thereof more differ in Time then the forenamed Elders in Place seeing when and where are two circumstances both equally important and concerning in History to the Truth of any action 3. But we answere The History of K. Lucius not disproved by the dissension of Authors concerning the time thereof That however Learned men differ in the Date they agree in the Deed. They did set themselves so to heed the Matter as of most moment being the Soul and Substance of History that they were little curious not to say very careless in accurate noting of the Time which being well observed doth not onely add some lustre but much strength to a relation And indeed all Computation in the Primitive time is very uncertain there being then and a good while after an Anarchy as I may terme it in Authours their reckoning of years because men were not subject to any one soveraign Rule in accounting the year of our Lord but every one followed his own Arithmetick to the great confusion of History and prejudice of Truth In which age though all start from the same place our Saviour's Birth yet running in severall ways of account they seldome meet together in their dating of any memorable Accident Worthie therefore was his work whoever he was who first calculated the Computation we use at this day and so set Christendome a Copy whereby to write the date of actions which since being generally used hath reduced Chronology to a greater Certainty 4. As for their Objection Lucius might be a British King under the Roman Monarchy That Lucius could not be a King in the South of Britain because it was then reduced to be a Province under the Roman Monarchy It affects not any that understand how it was the Roman b Veâ—us jampridem recepta populi Romani consuetudo ut haberet instrumenta â—ervitutis Reges Tacitus in vita Agricolae custome both to permit and appoint Pettie Kings in several Countries as Antiochus in Asia Herod in Iudea Dtotaurus in Sicilie who under them were invested with Regal Power Dignity And this was conceived to conduce to the state and amplitude of their Empire Yea the German Emperour at this day Successour to the Roman Monarchy is stiled Rex Regum as having many Princes and particularly the King of Bohemia Homagers under him As for other inconsistents with truth which depend as Retainers on this Relation of King Lucius they prove not that this whole Story should be refused but refined Which calleth aloud to the Discretion of the Reader to fan the Chaffe from the Corne and to his Industry to rub the Rust from the Gold which almost of necessity will cleave to matters of such Antiquity Thus conceiving that for the main we have asserted King Lucius we come to relate his History as we finde it 5. He being much taken with the Miracles which he beheld truly done by pious Christians Lucius sendeth to the Bishop of Rome to be instructed in Christianity fell in admiration of 167 and love with their Religion and sent Elvanus and Meduinus men of known Piety and Learning in the Scriptures to Eleutherius Bishop of Rome with a Letter requesting several things of him but principally that he might be instructed in the Christian Faith The reason why he wrote to Rome was because at this time the Church therein was she can ask no more we grant no less the most eminent Church in the World shining the brighter Anno Dom. 167 because set on the highest Candle-stick the Imperial City We are so far from grudging Rome the Happiness she once had that we rather bemoan she lost it so soon degenerating from her primitive Purity The Letter which Lucius wrote is not extant at this day and nothing thereof is to be seen save onely by reflection as it may be collected by the Answer returned by Eleutherius which such an one as it is it will not be amisse here to insert 6. Ye require of us the Roman Laws This translation of the letter of Eleutherius is transcribed out of Bishop Godwin in his Catalogue of Bishops and the Emperours to be sent over unto you which you would practice and put in ure within your Realm The Roman Laws and the Emperours we may ever reprove but the Law of God we may not Ye have received of late through Gods mercy in the Kingdom of Britain the Law and Faith of Christ Ye have with you within the Realm both parts of the Scriptures out of them by Gods grace with the Councell of the Realm take ye a Law and by that Law through Gods sufference rule your Kingdome of Britain There is some variety between this and that of M r. Fox For you be God's Vicar in your Kingdom The Lords is the Earth and the fulness of the world and all that dwell in it And again according to the Prophet that was a King Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity therefore God hath anointed thee with the Oile of gladness above thy fellows And again according to the same Prophet O God give Iudgement unto the King and thy Righteousness unto the Kings Sonne He said not the judgement and righteousness of the Emperour but thy Iudgement and Righteousness The Kings Sonnes be the Christian people and folk of the Realm which be under your Government and live and continue in peace within your Kingdome As the Gospel saith Like as the Hen gathereth her Chickens under her wings so doth the King his people The people and the folk of the Realm of Britain be yours whom if they be divided ye ought to gather in concord and peace to call them to the Faith and Law of Christ to cherish and a In the Latin it is Manu tenere maintain them to rule and govern them so as
Theophilus kept a Synod against S t. Chrysostome the Oak which notwithstanding is notoriously known to have been a populous Suburb of the City of Chalcedon 3. At the first Sessions of this Synod there was a very thin Appearance of the Britans The British Clergy refuse submission to the Pope of Rome of whom Augustine demanded that they should mutually contribute with him their Paines to convert the Heathen in Britain and that they should submit to the Pope and embrace an Uniformity with the Romish Rites especially in the Celebration of Easter What their Answer was it is pitty it should be delivered in any other Words then what the Abbot of Ranchor being the Mouth for the rest represented as followeth and let it shift as well as it can for its own authenticalness BId ispis a diogel i chwi ynbod ni holl vn ac arral yn vuidd ac ynn ostingedig i Eglwys Duw ac ir Paab o Ruvam ac i Boob Kyar grisdic n dwyuel y garu pawb yn i radd mewn kariad parfaich ac ihelpio pawb o honaunt ar air a guec-thred i vod ynn blant yDaw ac amgenach wyddod nc hwn nidadwen i vod ir neb yr yddeck chwi y henwi yn Paab ne in Daad o Daad yw glemio ac ywo ovunn ar uvyddod hivn idden in yn varod yw rodde ac yw dalu iddo ef ac i pob Krisdion yn dragwiddol He uid yry dym ni dan lywodrath Esoob Kaerllion ar Wysc yr hien ysidd yn oligwr dan Duw ar nom ni y wuenthud i ni gadwr fordd ysbrydol BE it knovvn and vvithout doubt unto you Copied exactly many yeares since by S r. Henry Spelman out of an ancient British manuscript of Mr. Peter Mostons a Welch Gentleman Spelman's Concilia pag. 108. that vve all are and every one of us obedient and subjects to the Church of God and to the Pope of Rome and to every godly Christian to love every one in his degree in perfect Charity and to help every one of them by vvord and deed to be the children of God and other Obedience then this I do not knovv due to him vvhom you name to be Pope nor to be the Father of Fathers to be claimed and to be demanded And this Obedience vve are ready to give and to pay to him and to every Christian continually Besides vve are under the government of the Bishop of Kaerlion upon Uske vvho is to oversee under God over us to cause us to keep the vvay spirituall See we here the Pedigree of the British Church which the shorter the ancienter the fewer Steps it had the higher it reached They were subject in Spirituall matters to the Bishop of Caer-lion and above him unto God without any subordination unto the Pope so that it was more then a Presumption that Religion came into Britain not by the Semicircle of Rome but in a Direct Line from the Asiatick Churches We must not forget that though many yeares since the Archiepiscopal See of the Britans was removed from Caer-lion to S t. Davids yet it still retained the Title of Caer-lion as of the first and most famous place 4. A late Papist much impugneth the Credit of this Manuscript as made since the Dayes of King Henry the eighth and cavilleth at the VVelsh thereof The Cedit of this Manuscript impugneth as modern and full of false Spelling He need not have used so much Violence to wrest it out of our Hands who can part with it without considerable Losse to our selves or Gain to our Adversaries for it is but a Breviate or Abstract of those Passages which in Bede and other Authours appear most true of the British refusing Subjection to the See of Rome Whilest therefore the Chapter is Canonicall it matters not if the Contents be Apocrypha as the Additions of some wel-meaning Scribe And though this VVelsh be far later then the Dayes of Abbot Dinoth and the English added in the originall later then the VVelsh yet the Latin as ancienter then both containeth nothing contrary to the sense of all Authours which write this Intercourse betwixt Augustine and the VVelsh Nation 5. But this Synod in fine proved ineffectuall The Synod proves ineffactual the British Bishops refusing to submit and Augustine to communicate with them without such Submission Whereupon at Augustine's motion a Blind man was publickly presented amongst them on whom the British Bishops practised in vain with their Prayers to restore him to his Sight which at the Request of Augustine to God was a Bede's Eccles Hist lib. 2. c. 2. presently and perfectly performed This Miracle convinced the Britans that Augustine was in the right for the criticall Observation of Easter But yet they could not absque suorum consensu ac licentia without the National Consent of their own People and principall Elders therein renounce their ancient Customes to embrace new Practices Indeed as for their submitting to Augustine's Jurisdiction they apprehended it unsafe for the present and mischievous for the future having another Civil Government under Kings of their own and suspecting his Spirituall Power might in processe of time intrench upon their Temporall Liberty 6. Departing hence The Dialogue betwixt the British Bishops and the Anchoret the Britans repaired to an Aged Anchoret charactered by Beda to be sanctus prudens holy and wise and none would wish his Counseller better qualified and craved his Advise how hereafter they should behave themselves in the next Synod wherein they had promised to give Augustine a meeting which out of our Authour may thus be Dialogue-wise digested British Bishops Anchoret Brit. B. Are we bound to desert our Traditions at the Preaching of Augustine Anch. If he be a Man of God follow him Brit. B. But how shall we be able to make Triall thereof Anch. The b b Matth. 11. 29. Lord saith Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart If therefore this Augustine be Milde and Humble in heart it is credible that he himself beareth the Yoke of Christ and tendereth the same to be born of you but if he be Cruel and Proud it appeareth that he is not of God neither ought ye to heed what he saith Brit. B. But how shall we make Discovery hereof Anch. Contrive it so that he his may come first into the Place of the Synod And if he rise up when you draw near unto him hear him then obediently knowing him for a Servant of Christ but if he slighteth you and vouchsaseth not to rise up unto you seeing you are moe in Number let him be slighted by you Armed with these Instructions the British Bishops advance to the second Synod Where Augustine Pontifically sitting in his Chair at their Entrance entertained them onely with Neglect and Contempt which by the Britans was accordingly requited 7. Herein that stately Prelate forgot S t. Gregorie's Precept to him Proud â—iotrephes
Augustine Not c See his answer to Augustine's third question to proceed too rigorously in the Alteration of Ceremonies but to allow a Latitude according to Time and Place Oh for a little in him of S t. Paul's Temper who was d 1 Cor. 9. 22. made all things to all men that by all means he might gain some Had Augustine's Joynts been suppled with the Oyl of Humility one bended Knee might probably have bowed many Hearts unto him whereas now he lost their Affections Pride being an unwinning Quality rendering the Proud party scorned by his Betters hated by his Equals feared perchance by his Inferiours but loved by None Had not he who is said to have cured the Blind need to have his own Eies opened herein Who though he be commonly called Augustine the lesse in distinction from his Name-sake Father S t. Augustine of Hippo yet may be allowed Augustine the great if a Measure be taken from the Dimensions of his Pride and Haughtinesse 8. We passe now from this Augustine's Pride Augustine's Prophesie to his Prophesie who enraged at the British Bishops for denying Subjection unto him flatly fell a menacing them that seeing they would not submit to his Motion and joyn with him in Preaching to the Saxons soon after they should feel the force of their Enemies Sword and be suddenly confounded by those whom they would not endeavour to convert Which accordingly came to passe 9. For not longafter 603 alias Ethelfride the Pagan King of Northumberland The massacre of the Monks of Baugor having conquered Chester invaded VVales and bade the Britans battel Amongst them was a Regiment of the Monks of Bangor 605 all naked and unarmed save with Tears and Pâ—ayers whole Vollies whereof they discharged to Heaven for the good Successe of their Country-men being all by themselves upon an Advantage of Ground and one Brockmaile a Britan as Captain of their Life-guard had a Company of Souldiers to defend them Ethelfride being informed that these Monks prayed against him concluded them to be his effectual Enemies though otherwise offering him no Hostility and fiercely falling on them put twelve hundred of them to the Sword fifty onely escaping Brockmaile most basely deserting them whom he was set to defend 10. But here some Birds sing a different Note from the rest Augustine suspected to be their murderer which must be listened unto namely such Authours considerable for their Number Antiquity Gravity and Learning who accuse this Augustine for the Designer of the Death and Destruction of these innocent British Monks so that he cunningly foretold what he himself cruelly intended to fulfill Thus well might Iezabel who a Revel 2. 20. calleth herself a Prophetesse certainly foreshew the death of Naboth for denying his Vine-yard to Ahab when she had purposely before-hand packed and plotted the same An heavy Accusation if true that Augustine to use my b M r. Abraham Wheelock is his notes on Bede pag. 115. Friend's Expression Gregorii Vicarius should be Gregis sicarius Ecclesiae futurae Anglicanae Conversor should be praesentis Britannicae everfor so that instead of a Prophets Reward he deserved the Punishment of a Murderer But to clear this point conceive we a Grand-Jury of four and twenty judicious Readers empannelled before whom the Memory of Augustine is indicted of Murder and Witnesses produced on both Sides Let none censure me if in these Proceedings my Pen failes in legal Formalities such Exactnesse not being by me intended but onely some general Conformity with a Law-triall to fix the History in our Fancies with more Pleasure and Delight 11. The Bill first was solemnly read Witnesses produced against him running to this effect That Augustine the Monk commonly called the English Apostle not having the Feare of God before his Eyes out of fore-thought Malice feloniously did plot project and contrive the Murther of twelve hundred Monks of Bangor by soliciting Ethelbert the Christian King of Kent to move Ethelfride the Pagan King of Northumberland with force of Armes to kill and slay the Monks aforesaid c. An Accusation so hainous that at first it filled the whole Jury with Silence Horrour and Amazement till afterwards they recollected themselves to attend unto the following Witnesses 1. Ieffery Monmouth whose Welsh Bloud was up as concern'd in the Cause of his Country-men Ethelbert King of Kent said c Manuscript in pub lib. Cantab pag. 167. he when he saw the Britans disdaining to yield Subjection to Augustine and that they scorned to be subject to himself stirred up the Northumberlanders and other Saxon Princes that gathering a great Army against the City of Bangor they should go forth to destroy the Abbot Dionoth and the other Clergy who had formerly slighted them 2. Thomas Gray an old d Cited in Iewel 's Apolog part 1. pag. 11. Chronicler as it is written in French brought in this Evidence That Augustine being refused of the Christian Britans enflamed Ethelbertus King of Kent to levy his Power and to war against them himself being also in company as in the old Abstract of Chronicles is recorded and marching with him towards the Slaughter Where they had no more regard of Mercy then a Wolf hath upon a Sheep 3. Nicolus Trivet Anno Dom. 603 a Dominican who wrote some three hundred years since a Sir Henry Spelman's Councills pag. 111. deposed That Ethelbert King of Kent being highly offended incited Ethelfride King of Northumberland and other petty Saxon Kings because they had contemned Augustine in the Council c. 4. Elsebiensis Monachus commenting on those words of Merlin Delebitur iterum Religio Religion shall again be destroyed thus b Manusâ—r in Bennet Coll. Librar Camb. expoundeth them This was afterwards fulfilled either by Gormund or by Augustine who caused twelve hundred Monks to be slain at Bangor in Wales because they obeyed him not in a Councill These Testimonies much moved the Jury who notwithstanding reserved their other Eare as it became Honest men to hearken to the Depostions in Augustine's behalf 12. Amongst these Testimonies in his behalf that of c Eccles Hist lib. 2. cap. 2. editione VVholochiana Bede was most materiall Sicque completum est praesagium sancti Pontificis Augustini quamvis ipso jam multo antè tempore ad coelest a regna sublato ut etiam temporalis interitus ultionem sentirent perfidi quòd oblata sibi perpetuae salutis consilia spreverant Which words for it is seasonably remembred all Pleas must now be in English may thus be translated And so the prophesy of holy Bishop Augustine was fulfilled although himself long before that was taken out of this Life to the Kingdome of Heaven that also the treacherous People might feel the Revenge of Temporal Ruine because they had despised the Counsells of Eternall Salvation offered unto them 13. Much Difference arose hereabouts The Paragraph in Bede's testimony questioned the rather because
another man's sent from Guichelm King of the VVest-Saxons with an envenomed Dagger sought to kill King Edwine when Lilla one of his Guard foreseeing the Blow and interposing himself shielded his Sovereign with his own Body yea deaded the Stroak with his own Death Loyalty's Martyr in a Case which is likely to find moe to commend then imitate it on the like occasion Edwine notwithstanding slightly hurt was very sensible of the Deliverance and promised that if he might conquer the treacherous VVest-Saxon King with his Adherents he would become a Christian And though there be no indenting and conditional capitulating with God who is to be taken on any terms yet this in a Pagan was a good step to Heaven and Paulinus was glad he had got him thus far especially when in Earnest of the Sincerity of his Resolution he consigned over his infant-Daughter f Idem ibidem Eansled to be baptized whom Paulinus christened with twelve moe of the Queen's Family Well the VVest-Saxon King was quickly overcome and all his Complices either killed or conquered and yet King Edwine demurred to embrace Christianity But he communicated with the sagest of his Counsell with whom he had daily Debates being loth rashly to rush on a matter of such Moment And truly that Religion which is rather suddenly parched up then seasonably ripened doth commonly ungive afterwards Yea he would sit long alone making company to himself and silently arguing the Case in his own Heart being partly convinced in his Iudgement of the Goodnesse of the Christian Religion and yet he durst not entertain Truth a lawfull King for fear to displease Custome a cruell Tyrant 41. Amongst the many Debates he had with his Counsell about altering his Religion The speech of Coify the Priest two Passages must not be forgotten whereof one was the Speech of Coify the prime Pagan-Priest Surely said g Bede Eccles Hist lib. 2. cap. 13. he these Gods whom we worship are not of any Power or Efficacy in themselves for none hath served them more conscientiously then my self yet other men lesse meriting of them have received moe and greater Favours from their hand and prosper better in all things they undertake Now if these were Gods of any Activity they would have been more beneficiall to me Anno. Dom. 626 who have been so observant of them Here the Reader will smile at Coify his Solecisme wherein the Premisses are guilty of Pride as the Inference thereon of Errour and Mistake If he turn Christian on these termes he will be taught a new Lesson how not onely all outward things happen alike to good and bad to a Eccles 9. 2. him that sacrificeth as to him that sacrificeth not but also that b 1 Pet. 4. 17. Iudgement beginneth at the house of God and the best men meet with the worst Successe in Temporal matters However God was pleased to sanctifie this mans Errour as introductory to his Conversion and let none wonder if the first Glimmering of Grace in Pagans be scarce a degree above Blindnesse 42. Better The Courtier 's Comparison in my opinion was the plain Comparison which another namelesse Courtier made at the same time Mans life said c Idem ibid. he O King is like unto a little Sparrow which whilest your Majesty is feasting by the Fire in your Parlour with your royall Retinue flies in at one VVindow and out at another Indeed we see it that short time it remaineth in the House and then is it well sheltred from VVind and VVeather but presently it passeth from Cold to Cold and whence it came and whither it goes we are altogether ignorant Thus we can give some account of our Soul during it's abode in the Body whilest housed and harboured therein but where it was before and how it fareth after is to us altogether unknown If therefore Paulinus his Preaching will certainly inform us herein he deserveth in my opinion to be entertained 43. Long looked for comes at last 627 King Edwine almost three yeares a Candidate at large of Christianity Edwine converted and baptized cordially embraceth the same and with many of his Nobles and Multitudes of his Subjects is solemnly baptized by Paulinus in the little Church * Bede Eccles Hist lib. 2. cap. 14. of S t Peters in York hastily set up by the King for that purpose and afterward by him changed into a firmer and fairer Fabrick Thus as those Children which are backward of their Tongues when attaining to Speech pronounce their words the more plainly and distinctly so Edwine long yea tedious before his turning to Christianity more effectually at last embraced the same And when it was put to the Question what Person most proper to destroy the Heathen Altars Coify the chief Priest tendered his Service as fittest for the purpose solemnly to demolish what he had before so superstitiously adored Down go all the Pagan Altars and Images at God-mundingham now Godmanham a small d Camden's Britannia Village in the East-Riding of Yorkshire and those Idols with their Hands were so far from defending themselves that their mock-Mouths could not afford one word to bemoan their finall Destruction 44. VVhen thou art converted The East-Angles converted to Christianity strengthen thy Brethren was the personall Precept given to e Luk. 22. 32. Peter but ought generally to be the Practice of all good men as here it was of King Edwine restlesse untill he had also perswaded Earpwald King of the East-Angles to embrace the Christian Faith Indeed Redwald Earpwald's Father had formerly at Canterbury to ingratiate himself with King Ethelbert professed Christianity but returning home he revolted to Paganisme at the instance of His f Bede Hist Ecc. l. 2. c. 15. Wife So great is the Power of the Weaker Sex even in matters of Religion For as Bertha and Edelburge the Queens of Ethelbert and Edwine occasioned and expedited the Conversion of their Husbands Kingdomes so here a Female-instrument obstructed that holy Design Yea Redwald afterwards in the same Church set up a g 2 Kings 17. 41. Samaritane-mongrel-Religion having Altare h Bede ut prius Arulam a Communion-Table and an idolatrous Altar in the same Temple You cannot be partakers saith the i 1 Cor. 10. 21. Apostle of the Lords Table and of the table of Devils that is You cannot lawfully conscionably comfortably but de facto it may be done was done by Bedwald in this his miscellaneous Religion 45. But three yeares after 630 the Conversion of the East-Angles was more effectually advanced by King Sigebert The Religion and learning of King Sigebert Brother and after the death of Earpwald his Successour in the Kingdome This Sigebert had lived an Exile in France Anno. Dom. 630 and got the benefit of Learning by his Banishment For wanting accommodations to appear in Princely Equipage he applyed himself the more close to his Studies seeing that
consecrated by Ithamar alone Bishop of Rochester the first English Bishop consecrating the first English Arch-Bishop Let no Sophister cavill with his thread-bare Maxime Nihil dat quod non habet and therefore a single Bishop could not conferre Archiepiscopal Power but leave it to the Canon-Lawyers to decide what may be done in case of Extremity Mean time how causelesse is the Caption of the Papists c Sanders de Schism pag. 297 at the Consecration of Matthew Parker because no Arch-Bishop though four Bishops was present thereat Seeing though an Arch-Bishop be requisite ad Dignitatem Bishops will suffice ad Honestatem and a single Bishop as d Bede Hist lib. 3. p. 217. Ithamar here may be effectuall ad essentiam of an Archiepiscopal Consecration No wonder therefore if Evagrius was acknowledged a legitimate Bishop by the e Binnius Tom. 1. p. 579. in Notis in Epist 17. Innocentis primi Wolphere's murther of his two Sons Pope himself though contrary to the Rigour of the Canon consecrated by f Theodoret. lib. 5. cap. 23. Paulinus alone Deus-dedit answered his Name A good Arch-Bishop is Gods Gift and for nine yeares and more ruled the Church to his great Commendation 86. A barbarous Murther was committed by Wolphere 662 King of Mercia who understanding that his two Sons Wulfade and Rufine had embraced Christianity cruelly slew them with his own Hands But afterwards repenting of so soul a Fact he himself turned Christian and in Testimony thereof finished the fair Fabrick of the Monastery at Peterborough begun by Peada his Brother The whole Story thereof was till lately set forth in Painting and Poetry such as it was in the Glass-windows round about the Cloisters of Peterborough Wulfade pray'd Chad that ghostly Leach The Faith of Christ him for to teach 87. And now The making of Glasse brought first into England having fallen on the mention of Glasse be it seasonably remembred that just at this time one Benault a forrain Bishop but of what place I find not brought the Mystery of making Glasse into England to the great Beautifying of our Churches and Houses the Eyes being the Grace of the Body as Windows are of Buildings I conceive his Invention was White Glasse alone more ancient then Painted Glasse in this Island as Plain-song is much seniour to all Descanting and running of Division 88. The Paroxisme continued and encreased Scotish Bishops dissent from others in keeping Easter betwixt the Scotish Bishops headed after Aidan's Death by Finan Bishop of Holy-Island and such who celebrated Easter after the Roman Rite The later so bitterly detested the former Anno Dom. 662 that they would not receive Consecration of them or Imposition of Hands as if their very Fingers ends were infected with Schisme for dissenting from Rome Yea they would neither give the Sacrament of the Euacharist to them nor receive it from them and yet they never quarrelled at or questioned the validity of Baptisme conferred by them seeing Bishop Finan christened the King of the East-Saxons and all his Subjects Some what more moderate were the Scots or Quartadecimans in their Cariage to the other seeing S t. Chad Scotized in his Judgement refused not Consecration from Wyni Bishop of Winchester though one of the contrary Opinion 89. Nor was this Controversie consined to Cloisters and Colledges This controversy spreads into private families but derived it self from the Kings Court down into private Families Thus Oswy King of Northumberland was of the Scotish Perswasion whilest his Queen and eldest Son were of the Romish Opinion in Celebration of Easter One Board would not hold them whom one Bed did contain It fell out so sometimes that the Husband 's Palm-Sunday was the Wife's Easter-day and in other Families the Wife fasted and kept Lent still whilest her Husband feasted and observed Easter Say not that Wife deserved to fast alwayes who in so indifferent a Ceremony would not conform to her Husband's Judgement For Consciences in such kinds are to be led not drawn Great was the Disturbance in every great Family onely the Poor gained by the Difference causing a Duplicate of Festivalls two Easters being kept every year in the same House 90. To compose this Controversie if possible a Councill was called at Streanch-Hall now Whitby in Yorkshire by the procurement of S t. Hilda 663 Abbess therein A Councell is called to compose this controversie Here appeared amongst many others For the Romish Easter VVilfride an Abbot a zealous Champion Romanus a Priest very hot in the Quarrel And others Moderatours Hilda the Abbess of Streanch-Hall S. Cedd Bishop of London propending to the Scotish but not throughly perswaded For the Scotish Easter S t. Coleman Bishop of Holy-Island who succeeded Finan in that place But Baronius and Binnius will in no case allow this for a Councill though elsewhere extending that name to meaner Meetings onely they call it a Collation because forsooth it wanted some Council-Formalities all Bishops not being solemnly summoned but onely some Voluntiers appearing therein Besides as there was something too little so something too much for a Canonicall Councill Hilda a Woman being Moderatresse therein which seemed irregular 91. In this Councill Wilfride his prevailing argument or Collation call it which you please after much arguing pro and con VVilfride at last knockt all down with this Argument That the Romish Celebration of Easter was founded on the Practice of S t. Peter Prince of the Apostles and Porter of Heaven King Oswy hearing this was affrighted who had rather anger all the other eleven Apostles then offend S t. Peter one so high in Power and Place for fear as he said left coming to Heaven-gate S t. Peter should deny him a Cast of his Office and refuse to let him into Happinesse S t. Coleman being on the other side was angry that so slight an Argument had made so deep an Impression on the King's Credulity And to manifest his Distaste after the Councill was broken up carried all those of his own Opinion home with him into Scotland One Tuda succeeded him in his Bishoprick of Holy-Island the first of that See that conformed himself in this Controversie to the Romish Church and died in the same year of the Plague 92. As for VVilfride His intended but disappointed preferment he was well rewarded for his Paines in this Councill being presently promoted to be Bishop of York which since Paulinus his Death was no longer an Arch-Bishop's but a plain Bishop's See But though appointed for the place by King Oswy Anno Dom. 663 he refused Consecration from any English Bishops being all irregular as consecrated by the schismaticall Scots onely VVyni late Bishop of VVinchester now of London was ordained canonically but lately he had contracted just Shame for his Simony in buying his Bishoprick Over goes VVilfride therefore to Rome for Consecration and stayes there so long that in his Absence the King put S t.
thither or whilest they are so considerable in themselves as to command their own Entertainment Whereas this distressed King his Company was beheld not onely as Uselesse and Expensive but Dangerous as likely to draw with it the Displeasure of the Saxon Kings his Enemies on his Entertainer But it seems Cadwallader had better Friends in Heaven 685 then any he found on Earth if it be true what confidently is reported that an c Lewes Owen his running Register pag. 17. Angel appeared unto him advising him to go to Rome there to take on him the Habite of a Monk and spend the remainder of his Life Here he purchased Lands all by the foresaid Angelicall Direction built an House after his Death converted into an Hospitall and by his Will so ordered it that certain Priests of his own Country should for ever have the Rule and Government thereof These were to entertain all VVelsh-Pilgrims with Meat Drink and Lodging for the space of a moneth and to give them a certain Summe of Money for a viaticum at their Departure towards their Charges in returning to their own Country 105. Many a year did this Hospitall flourish in good Plenty Since injuriously taken from the VVelsh till the middle of Queen Elisabeth her Reign when fair the Revenues belonging and few the VVelsh-Pilgrims repairing thereto This made Father Parsons with the rest of our English Iesuites cast an envious eye thereon who would never be quiet until they had obtained of Pope Gregory the 13. to eject the old British and unite this Hospitall to the English Colledge at Rome This no doubt stirred up the VVelsh bloud of D r. Morris D r. Lewes D r. Smith M r. Griffith who in vain stickled to the utmost of their Power to continue this Foundation to their Country-men In my poor Opinion seeing an Angel is said to direct in the Founding and endowing of this Hospitall it was but fit that either the same Angel appearing again Anno Dom. or some other of an higher or at least equall Dignity and Degree in the Celestiall Hierarchie should have altered the Use and confirmed the Alienation thereof But of this more a Vide Annum Domini 1569. The Ecclesiasticall Laws of King Ina. hereafter 106. Ina 692 King of the VVest-Saxons about this time set forth his Saxon Laws translated into English by M r. Lambert Eleven of his Laws concerned Church-matters Kings in that Age understanding their own Power the Pope having not as yet intrenched on their just Prerogative These Constitutions were concluded on by the King through the Perswasion of Kenred his Father Hedda and Erkenwald his Bishops and all his Aldermen and wise Senatours of the People Let none wonder that Ina in his Preface to these Laws termeth Erkenwald His Bishop whose See of London was properly under the King of the East-Saxons For he might call him his in Affection whose Diocese was in another King's Possession Ina highly honouring Erkenwald for his Piety and therefore inviting him forward of himself to all Goodnesse to be present at the passing of these Laws Besides b Iac. Usser Arch. Armach de Brit. Eccles primord p. 394 some assign Surrey as part of the Kingdome of the VVest-Saxons Probably at this present Ina's Puissance sallied over the Thames and London might be reduced into his Honorary-Protection But see here a Breviate of his Church-Laws 1. That Ministers c S r. Henry Spelman his Councils pag. 182. c. observe their appointed form of living 2. That every Infant be baptized within thirty dayes after his Birth on the Penalty of his Parents forfeiting thirty shillings and if the Child chance to die before he be baptized all his Estate 3. If the Servant doth any Work on the Lords day at the Masters Command the Servant shall be d The Latine Liber esto may not onely import a freedome from fault but also that such a slaâ—e-servant should be manumis'd from servitude See the following 113. paragraph acquitted and the M r. pay thirty shillings But if he did that work without his Masters Command let him be beaten or redeem it with Money c. A Priest offending in this kind was to be double punished 4. The First-fruits of Seeds were to be paid to the Church on the Feast of S t. Martin on the Penalty of fourty shillings besides the payment of the said First-fruits twelve times over 5. If any deserving Stripes shall flie to a Church his Stripes shall be forgiven him If guilty of a Capitall Crime he shall enjoy his Life but make Recompence according to what is right and due 6. Fighters in the King's Court to lose their Goods and to be at the King's Mercy for their Life Such as fight in the Church to pay 120 shillings If in the house of an Alderman 60 shil c. 7. Such as falsifie their Witnesse or Pawn in the presence of the Bishop to pay 120. shillings 8. Severall Penalties of Money imposed on those that should kill a Stranger 9. Such as are breakers of the Peace in the Town of the King or Arch-Bishop punishable with one hundred and twenty shillings in the Town of an Alderman eight shillings in the Town of one of the King's Servants sixty shillings c. 10. First-fruits of all Seeds were to be paid by House-keepers as due to that place wherein they themselves were resident on the day of Christ's Nativity 11. What Summes of Money are to be paid by such who have killed their God-fathers or God-sons In this last Law expresse Provision is made Episcopi filius si occidatur in case the Son of a Bishop be kill'd a Passage impertinently alledged by some for the Proof of Bishops married in that Age seeing neither Sons natural nor conjugal but onely spirituall at the Font are thereby intended Now let the learned in the Law render the Reason why Murder in that Age was not punishable with Death but might be bought off with Money 107. A great Council for so it is tituled was held at Becanceld by VVithred Anno Dom. 694 King of Kent Women present at the great Council of Becanceld and Bertuald Arch-Bishop of Britain so called therein understand him of Canterbury wherein many things were concluded in favour of the Church Five Kentish Abbesses namely Mildred Etheldred Aete Wilnolde and Hereswide were not onely present but subscribed their Names and Crosses to the Constitutions concluded therein And we may observe that their Subscriptions are not onely placed before and above all Presbyters but also above a S r. Henry Spelman's Councills pag. 190. Romish braggs of S t. Andre ' s Chastity Botred a Bishop but of what Diocese not specified present in this great Council It seems it was the Courtesy of England to allow the upper hand to the weaker Sex as in their Siting so in their Subscriptions 108. We will conclude this Century with the miraculous Holiness of Ethelreda or S t.
of much Uncleannesse it being appliable to them what the Apostle speaketh of others d Ephes 5. 12. It is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret And one may justly admire how these Canonists being pretended Virgins could arrive at the knowledge of the Criticismes of all Obscenity so that chast Love may lye seven and seven yeares in the undefiled Marriage bed and be utterly ignorant what the Language of Lust meaneth in such filthy Canons Yea when such Love by the help of an Interpreter shall understand the same it would blush for Shame were it not that that Red would be turned into Palenesse as amazed at so horrid Uncleanness 25. Some five yeares after 755 Kenulphus The Charter of Kenulphus to the Abbot of Abbington King of West-Saxons conferred large Priviledges on the Monastery of Abbington We will recite so much of his e Cited by Stanford l. 3. fol. 111. and this Charter was pleaded primo Hen. 7. fol. 23. 25. Charter as concerns us because usefull to shew the Power which Kings in that Age had in Ecclesiasticall Matters Kenulphus Rex c per liter as suas patentes consilio consensu Episcoporum Senatorum gentis suae largitus fuit Monasterio de Abbindon in Comitatu Barke ac cuidam Richino tunc Abbati Monasterii c. quandam ruris sui portionem id est quindecim Mansias in loco qui à ruricolis tunc nuncupabatur Culnam cum omnibus utilitatibus ad eandem pertinentibus tam in magnis quam in modicis rebus in aeternam haereditatem Et quod praedictus Richinus c. ab omni Episcopali jure in sempiternum esset quietus ut inhabitatores ejus nullius Episcopi aut suorum Officialium jugo inde deprimantur sed in cunctis rerum eventibus discussionibus causarum Abbatis Monasterii praedicti decreto subjiciantur Ita quod c. Kenulphus King c. by his Letters Patents with the advice and consent of the Bishops and Counsellours of His Country hath given to the Monastery of Abbindon in the County of Barks and to one Richine then Abbot of the Monastery c. a certain portion of his land that is to say fifteen Mansions in a place which then of the Inhabitants was called Culnam with all Profits to the same belonging as well in great as mean matters Anno Dom. 755 as an inheritance forever And that the aforesaid Richine c. should be for ever acquit from all Episcopal jurisdiction that the Inhabitants thereof be thenceforth oppressed with the yoke of no Bishop or his Officials but in all events of matters and discussions of causes they be subject to the decree of the Abbot of the aforesaid Monastery So that c. From this Charter S t. Edward a His Reports part 5. fol. 9. Cook the Kings Attorney inferreth that King Kenulphus had Ecclesiasticall Jurisdiction in himself in that he had power to discharge and exempt this Abbot from the Iurisdiction of the Bishop Which Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction was alwayes invested in the Imperiall Crown of England and therefore the Statute made under Henry the eighth concerning the Kings Spirituall Authority was not introductory of a new Law but declaratory onely of an old 26. But Father Parsons for he it is who stands under the Vizard of the Catholick Divine The Cavills of Parsons against S t. Edw. Cook confuted in a Book wrote of set purpose against Master Attorney in this point will by no means allow King Kenulphus any Ecclesiasticall Power but by many Fetches seeks to evade so pregnant a Proof Arg. 1. First he b Catholick Divine alias Parsons in his answer to the Kings Attorney p. 95 96 c. pleadeth that in this Charter Kenulphus did not exempt the Abbot from all Iurisdiction Spirituall of the Bishop but from some Temporall Interest or Pretense which perhaps the Bishop of the Diocese claimed over the Lordship of Culnam Answ Perhaps commend not his Modesty but thank his Guiltinesse for his timorous Assertion saith he but how doth this appeare for he bringeth no proof and if he affirmeth it on free cost we can confute it as cheap by denying it Arg. 2. Secondly saith he the King exempted the Abbot ab omni Episcopali jure that is from all Right of the Bishop and not Iurisdiction Answ Sharp Wit to cut so small a Mote in two parts for no purpose seeing jus and Iurisdiction are often known to import the same sense Arg. 3. Thirdly he objecteth the words no way seem fitly to agree to be spoken of the Bishops Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction which run thus That the Abbot should be quiet from the Bishops Right and that the Inhabitants from thenceforward should not be oppressed by the Yoke of the Bishops officers Answ Why what Incongruity but that these words may be spoken as they are of Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction Is the word Yoke too course a Phrase to be applied to the Bishops Spirituall Power as they sometimes did manage it I appeale to those who felt it for no Yoke is heavy to him that puts it on but to those who bear it Mark by the way the word he rendereth Officers is in the Charter not Officiarii Lay-Latine but Officiales which is Church-language and the very dialect of the Court-Christian and should be translated Officials to whom Bishops committed their Spirituall Power But Parsons knew well how to lay his Thumb on what he would not have seen Arg. 4. Fourthly Howsoever it were it is manifestly false saith he that this Ecclesiasticall Iurisdiction of King Kenulphus was derived from his Crown it might be he had it from the Pope which is most likely Answ Which is most unlikely for no Clause in the Charter relates to any delegate power and yet such a Passage might easily have been inserted yea could not justly have been omitted if he had claimed his Iurisdiction by Deputation from the Pope Arg. 5. Lastly which he saith seemeth to convince the whole matter and decide the very Case one a Harpsfield Hist Aug. seculo primo c. 9. ex Mariano Scoto Rethurus Abbot of Abbington went afterwards to Rome to obtain confirmation of the Priviledges of his Monastery from the See Apostolick Answ What of this This post-fact of Rethurus argues no Invalidity in Kenulphus his former Grant but rather shews the over-Officiousnesse of a pragmaticall Abbot who to ingratiate himself with the Pope craved of him what he had before Yea such cunning Compliance of the Clergy with his Holinesse by degrees fixed in him a supposed Ecclesiasticall Power paramount which really he never had nor rightly ever ought to have See here the King's Power in Church-matters in conferring Ecclesiasticall Priviledges and this single Threed we will twist with another Instance so strong that the Iesuites Art shall be unable to break it in sunder 27. By the Constitution of Augustine 758 first Arch-bishop of Canterbury
a Pope and a Prince over-match for a Prelate he would not strive to keep what must be taken away from him 4. The commodious Situation of Lichfield almost in the Navell of the Land and where should the highest Candlestick stand the Metropolitan Cathedrall but in the middest of the Table whereas Kent it self was but a Corner whence it taketh it's Name and Canterbury seated in the Corner of that Corner a remote Nook thereof 5. The Antiquity of Lichfield in Christianity Anno Dom. 790 where the British Church suffered a Massacre a Vide supra Cent. 4. par 8. from the Pagans three hundred yeares before S t. Augustine's coming to Canterbury witnesse the name of the place being another Helkath-hazzurim b 2 Sam. a. 16. or Field of strong men where so many VVorthies died for the Testimony of the Truth On these and other considerations Aldulph was made the first and last Arch-bishop of Lichfield though others make Humbert and Higbert his Successours in that Dignity and six Suffraganes viz. VVorcester Hereford Leicester Sidnacester Helmbam and Dunwich subjected to his Jurisdiction Yet was not the Archiepiscopall See removed as some seem to conceive but communicated to Lichfield Canterbury still retaining it's former Dignity and part of it's Province the Bishops of London Rochester VVinchester and Sarisbury continuing still subject unto him 35. King Offa having settled an Arch-bishoprick at Lichfield his next Design was to enshrine the Corps of S t. S t. Alban's body enshrined Alban five c Vita Offae secundi annexed to the new Edition of M. Paris p. 28. hundred and seven years had passed since his Death and plain Buriall For as Iohn Baptist the last Martyr before Christ and S t. Steven the first Martyr after him were fairly interred by their Friends and Followers without any more adoe so the Corps of S t. Alban were quietly committed to the Earth and there some Centuries of yeares peaceably reposed But now Offa they say was admonished in a Vision to bestow more publick Sepulture upon him A Starre we know directed to the place of Christ's Birth whereas a bright d Ibid. p. 26. Beam say the Monks discovered the place of S t. Alban's Buriall A Beam suspected by some shot by him who can turn himself into an Angell of Light because gaining so much by their Superstition Then was Alban's Body in pompous manner taken up enshrined and adored by the Beholders No wonder then if the Danes now invaded the Dominious of the English seeing the English invaded the Prerogative of God diverting the Worship due to him alone to the rotten Relicks of Dead men And henceforth the old Romans City of Verulam lost it's Name under the new Saxon Town of S t. Albans 36. King Offa went to Rome 794 and there confirmed and enlarged to Pope Adrian the Gift of Peter-pence Peter-pence re-confirmed to Rome what Ina King of the VVest-Saxons had formerly bestowed For this Favour the Pope granted him that no Englishman for Penance imposed should be banished out of his own Countrey 37 But bold Beggars are the Bane of the best Bounty Gift no debt when grown so impudent that what at first was given them for Almes in processe of time they challenge for Rent Some call this a Tribute Badge of Subjection of England to the See of Rome among whom is Polydore Virgil once Collectour of those Peter-pence in England But blame him not for magnifying his own Office who had be owned this Money as indeed it was given in frank-Almonage had then appeared no better then a gentle Beggar whereas now he hopes to advance his Employment to a nobler Notion 38. Offa having done all his work at Rome 795 namely procured the Canonization of S t. Alban The Royall foundation of S t. Albans Abbey the Absolution of his own Sins and many Murders and visited and endowed the English Colledge there returned home fell to found the Monastery of S t. Albans bestowing great Lands and Liberties upon it as freeing it from the Payment of Peter-pence Episcopall Iurisdiction and the like This is alleadged and urged by our Regians to prove the Kings Paramount Power in Ecclesiasticis seeing none can give save what they are formally or eminently possessed of And whereas Papists plead that Offa had fore-requested the granting of these Priviledges from the Pope no mention at all thereof appears in the Charter e Amongst S t. Tho. Cotton his Manuscripts and is exemplified in Weaver his Fun. Mon. p. 99. of his Foundation here too large to insert but that all was done by his own absolute Authority Next year Offa ended his Life buried at Bedford on that Token that the River Ouse swelling on a suddain swept his Corps clean away Canterbury recovereth it's former dignity 39. Offa being dead 799 down fell the best Pillar of Lichfield Church to support the Archiepiscopality thereof Anno Dom. 799 And now Canterbury had got Athelard a new Arch-bishop Anno Regis who had as mcuh Activity to spare as his Predecessour Iambert is said by some to want Wherefore he prevailed with Kenulph King of Mercia and both of them with Leo the new Pope to restore back the Archiepiscopall See to Canterbury as in the next Century was perfectly effected 40. We will conclude this Century with two eminent men to leave at last a good Rellish in the memory of the Reader now flourishing therein Learned Alcuinus confuteth Image-worship The one Alcuinus or Albinus it being questionable whether he were more famous for Venerable Bede who was his Master or Charles the Great who was his Scholar whilest it is out of doubt that he is most honoured for his own Learning and Religion And because English-men may be presumed partiall in the praise of an English-man hear what a Character a learned a Trithemius Abbas lib. de Script Ecclesiasticis fol. 61. Forreigner gives of him Vir in divinis scriptis eruditissimus in saecularium literarum peritia nulli suotempore secundus Carmine excellens Prosa But he got himself the greatest credit by opposing the Canons of the second Nicene Council b R. Hoved. Annal. part 1. p. 405. wherein the superstitious Adoration of Images was enjoyned These Canons some seven years since were sent by Charles the Great to King Offa to be received of the English who notwithstanding generally distasted and rejected them the aforesaid Alcuinus writing a learned Epistle against the same He was fetcht by Charles his Scholar calling him his Delicious Master where he first founded the Vniversity of Paris and died Abbot of S t. Martins in Tours 41. The other was Egbert Egbert the first fixed Monarch of England who in this very year made himself sole Monarch of England 800 True it is Egberti primi Monarche Anglie 1 in the Saxon Heptarchy there was generally one who out-powered all the rest But such
the Prior in the Vestiary Leth win the Sub-Prior in the Refectory Pauline in the Quire Herbert in the Quire VVolride the Torch-Bearer in the same place Grimketule and Agamund each of them an hundred yeares old in the Cloisters These faith my c Iugulphus pag. 866. Author were first examinati tortured to betrary their Treasure and then exanimati put to death for their Refusall The same VVriter seems to wonder that being killed in one place their Bodies were afterwards found in another Surely the Corse removed not themselves but no doubt the Danes dragged them from place to place when dead There was one ChildMonk therein but ten yeares old Turgar by name of most lovely Looks and Person Count Sidroke the younger pittying his tender yeares all Devills are not cruell alike cast a Danish d In Latine Collobium Peterbarough Monks killed Monastery burned Coat upon him and so saved him who onely survived to make the sad Relation of the Massacre 20. Hence the Danes marched to Medeshamsted since called Peterborough where finding the Abbey-gates locked against them Anno Regis Etheltedi 4 they resolved to force their Entrance Anno Dom. 870 in effecting whereof Tulba Brother to Count Hubba was dangerously wounded almost to Death with a Stone cast at him Hubba enraged hereat like another Doeg killed Abbot Hedda and all the Monks being fourscore and four with his own hand Count Sidroke gave an Item to young Monk Turgar who hitherto attended him in no wise to meet Count Hubba for fear that his Danish Livery should not be found of proof against his Fury Then was the Abbey set on Fire which burned fifteen dayes together wherein an excellent Library was consumed Having pillaged the Abbey and broke open the Tombes and Coffins of many Saints there interred these Pagans marched forwards into Cambridgeshire and passing the River Nine two of their VVagons fell into the Water wherein the Cattell which drew them were drowned much of their rich Plunder lost and more impaired 21. Some dayes after A heap of Martyrs the Monks of Medeshamsted were buried altogether in a great Grave and their Abbot in the middest of them a Crosse being erected over the same where one may have four yards square of Martyrs Dust which no place else in England doth afford Godric Successour to Theodore Abbot of Crowland used annually to repair hither and to say Masses two dayes together for the Souls of such as were entombed One would think that by Popish Principles these were rather to be prayed to then prayed for many maintaining that Martyrs go the nearest way to Heaven sine ambage Purgatorii so that surely Godric did it not to better their Condition but to expresse his own Affection out of the Redundancy of his Devotion which others will call the Superfluity of his Superstition 22. The Danes spared no Age The cruel Martyrdome of King Edmond Sex Condition of people such was the Cruelty of this Pagan unpartial Sword With a violent Inundation they brake into the Kingdome of the East-Angles wasted Cambridge and the Countrey thereabouts burnt the then City of Thetford forced Edmond King of that Countrey into his Castle of Framling ham who perceiving himself unable to resist their Power came forth and at the Village of Hoxon in Suffolk tendered his Person unto them hoping thereby to save the Effusion of his Subjects Blouds Where after many Indignities offered unto him they bound him to a Tree and because he would not renounce his Christianity shot him with Arrow after Arrow their Cruelty taking Deliberation that he might the better digest one Pain before another succeeded so distinctly to protract his Torture though Confusion be better then Method in matters of Cruelty till not Mercie but want of a Mark made them desist according to the a Camden's Britan in the description of Suffolk Poets Expression Iam loca Vulneribus desunt nec dum furiosis Tela sed hyberna grandine plura volant Room wants for Wounds but Arrows do not fail From Foes which thicker fly then winter Hail After-Ages desiring to make amends to his Memory so over-acted their part in shrining sainting and adoring his Relicks at Bury S t. Edmonds that if those in Heaven be sensible of the Transctions on Earth this good Kings Body did not feel more Pain from the Fury of the Pagan Danes then his Soul is filled with holy Indignation at the Superstition of the Christian Saxons 23. However the VVest-Saxon King Ethelbert behaved himself bravely fighting King Ethelbert his prayer-victory with various Successe nine b William Malmesbury De Gestis Regum Anglorum lib. 2. pag. 42. Battels against the Danes though ninety nine had not been sufficient against so numerous an Enemy But we leave these things to the Historians of the State to relate We read of an c Gen. 31. 52. Heap of Stones made between Iacob and Laban with a mutuall Contract that neither should passe the same for Harm Thus would I have Ecclesiasticall and civil Historians indent about the Bounds and Limits of their Subjects that neither injuriously incroach on the Right of the other And if I chance to make an Excursion into the matters of the Common-wealth it is not out of Curiosity or Busybodinesse to be medling in other mens Lines but onely in an amicable way to give a kind Visit and to clear the mutuall Dependence of the Church on the Common-wealth Yet let me say that this War against the Danes was of Church-concernment for it was as much pro aris as pro focis as much for Religion as civil Interest But one War must not be forgotten Importunate Messengers brought the Tidings that the English were dangerously ingaged with the Danes at Essendune haply Essenden now in surrey and likely to be worsted King Ethelhert was at his Devotions which he would not omit nor abbreviate for all their Clamour No suit would he hear on Earth till first he had finished his Requests to Heaven Then having performed the part of pious Moses in the a Exod. 17. 11 Mount he began to act valiant Ioshua in the Valley The Danes are vanquished leaving Posterity to learn that time spent in Prayer is laid out to the best Advantage 24. But alas King Ethelbert heart-broken with grief this Danish Invasion was a mortal VVound 871 Dedecus Saxonica fortitudinis 5 the Cure whereof was rather to be desired then hoped for Ease for the present was all Art could perform King Ethelbert saw that of these Pagans the more he slew the more they grew which went to his valiant Heart Grief is an heavy Burthen and generally the strongest Shoulders are able to bear the least proportion thereof The good king therefore withered away in the Flower of his Age willingly preferred to encounter rather Death then the Danes for he knew how to make a joyfull End with the one but endless was his Contest with the other according
was by him preferred to be Arch-bishop of Canterbury 889 then a miserable place A generall Contribution to Rome and Ierusalem as hardly recovered from the late Sacking of the Danes By the Kings command he called the Clergy of England together and made a Collection of Almes to be sent to Rome and Ierusalem and Athelm Arch-bishop of York was imployed in the Journey going personally to the aforesaid Places to see the Contribution there faithfully delivered and equally distributed 44. About the end of this Century died worthy King Alfred 900 remarkable to Posterity on many Accounts Death of King Alfred whereof this not the least That he turned Davids Psalms into English so that a Royall Text met with a Royall Translatour He left his Crown to Edward his Sonne commonly called the Elder farre inferiour to his Father in Skill in but not so much in his Love to good Literature Indeed he had an excellent Tutour Asserius Menevensis Arch-bishop of S t. Davids the faithfull Writer of his Fathers Actions supposed by some Bishop of Sherburn which is denied by b Iames Usher de Brit. Eccles primor in Iâ—dice Chronolog p. 1177. Weak Guardians God wote others though one of the same name was some yeares before as inconsistent with Chronologie 45. As for principall Clergy-men extant at this time we take speciall notice of two the one Berthulf Bishop of VVinchester made one of the Guardians of the Realm against the Incursion of the Danes the other Halard Bishop of Dorchester advanced also into the same Employment But alass what weak Guardians were these to defend the Land which could not secure their own Sees And in what Capacity save in Prayers and Teares were they Able to make any Resistance for now the Danes not onely affailed the Skirts and Out-sides of the Land but also made Inrodes many miles into the Continent thereof Insomuch that VVinchester lay void six and Sherburn seven yeares such the Pagan Fury that none durst offer to undertake those Places 46. True it is The wofull estate of the English the English oftentimes in Battell got the Advantage of them when the Pagan Danes being conquered had but one way to shift for themselves namely to counterfeit themselves Christians and embrace Baptisme but no sooner had they got Power again into their hands but that they turning Apostates were ten times more cruell then ever before Thus successively was the Land affected with Sicknesse Recovery and Relapses the peoples Condition being so much the more disconsolate because promising a Continuance of Happinesse to themselves upon their Victories they were on their Overthrows remanded to the same if not a worse Condition 47. It is strange to observe the Alternations of Successe between the English and Danes The commendable temper of King Alfred and King Edward how exactly they took their Turns God using them to hold up one another whilest he justly beat both Mean time commendable the Temper of late King Alfred Anno Dom. 900 and present King Edward Anno Regis it being true of each of them Si modo Victus erat ad crastina bella parabat Si modo Victor erat ad crastina bella timebat If that it happ't that Conquered was he Next day to fight he quickly did prepare But if he chanc't the Conquerour to be Next day to fight he wisely did beware But these things we leave to the Historians of the State to prosecute and confine our selves onely to matters of Ecclesiasticall cognizance THE TENTH CENTURY Anno Regis Iacobo Langham Anno Dom. Armigero amplissimi Senatoris Londinensis Primogenito DEcimam hanc Centuriam tibi dedicandam curavi quòd Numerus Denarius semper aliquid augustum sonet Sic in Papicolarum Globulis quibus preculas suas numerant decimus ut Decurio aliis magnitudine praestat At dices Centuria haec inter Ecclesiasticos audit infelix cùm suâ tantùm Obscuritate sit illustris Quid Tibi igitur Felicissimo Viro cui laetum Ingenium lauta Haereditas cum infelici Seculo Verbo expediam Volui Nomen Tuum Historiae meae hic praetendi ut instar Phosphori Lectores in hac tenebrosa Aetate oberrantes splendoris sui Radiis dirigat Percurras quaeso insequentes paginas nihil Scientiae aliquid Voluptatis tibi allaturas Quo cum nemo sit in ipsis Elegantiarum apicibus Latinior probe scio Te perquam suaviter risurum cum Diploma Edvardinum nimia Barbarie scatens perlegeris 1. AT this time there was a great Dearth of Bishops in the Land Edvardi Senioris 3 which lasted for seven yeares as long as the Famine in Aegypt during which time 904 there was no Bishop in all the West parts of England England interdicted by the Pope for want of Bishops Pope Formosus was foully offended hereat and thereupon cum magna a Archiv Cant. in Regist Priorat Eccles Cant. fol. 3. b. Iracundia Devotione with much Passion and Piety by his Curse and Excommunication interdicted King Kingdome and all the Subjects therein We cannot but gaze at the Novelty of this act as we conceive a leading Case in this kind whilest the skilfull in the Canon Law can give an account of the Equity of the Popes Proceedings why all should suffer for some the guiltlesse with the guilty and have the VVord and Sacraments taken from them for the want of Bishops in other places Otherwise the Punishment seemeth unjust in the rigid justice thereof and if not heavier larger then the Offence and beareth no Proportion with common Equity Christian Charity and Gods Proceedings who saith the soul that sinneth shall dye 2. Not withstanding The Character of those this excommunicating of K. Edward bythe Pope is highly urged by a In his answer to the Lord Cooks Report pag. 136. cap. 6. Parsons Kings on whom the Pope most improved himself to prove the Popes Power in England over Princes Anno Dom. 904 according to his constant Soloâ—cisme clean through the tenure of his Book Anno Regis Edvardi Sen. 3 to reason à Facto ad Ius arguing from the Popes barely doing it that he may justly do it We deny not but that in this Age active and ambitious Popes mightily improved their Power upon five sorts of Princes First on such as were lazy and voluptuous who on condition they might enjoy their Sports and Delights for the present cared not for their Posterity Secondly on such as were openly vicious and so obnoxious to Censure who would part with any thing out of the apprehension of their Guiltinesse Thirdly on such as were tender and easie-natured who gave not so much out of Bounty to give as out of Bashfulnesse to deny the Popes Importunity Fourthly on those of a timorous spirit who were affrighted with their own Fancies of the Popes Terriblenesse and being captivated unto him by their own Fear they ransomed themselves at what Price
he pleased Lastly on pious Princes whose blind Zeal and misled Devotion thought nothing too precious for him in which from we rank this Edward the Elder then King of England And it is worth our observing that in point of Power and Profit what the Popes once get they ever hold being as good at keeping as catching so that what one got by Encroching his Successour prescribed that Encrochment for a Title which whether it will hold good in matter of Right it is not for an Historian to dispute 3. But to return to our Story The Pope pleased and England absolved again We are glad to see Malmesbury so merry who calleth this Passage of the Popes interdicting England Iocundum memor atu pleasant to be reported because it ended so well For Pleigmund Arch-bishop of Canterbury posted to Rome bringing with him honorifica munera such Ushers will make one way through the thickest Croud to the Popes Presence informing his Holinesse that Edward King of England in a late-summoned Synod had founded some new and supplied all old vacant Bishopricks Pacified herewith the Pope turned his Curse into a Blessing and ratified their Elections The worst is a learned b Sir Henry Spelman in Conciliis pag. 389. Pen tells me that in this Story there is an inextricable Errour in point of Chronology which will not suffer Pope Formosus and this King Edward the Elder to meet together And Baronius makes the Mistake worse by endeavouring to mend it I have so much Warinesse as not to enter into that Labyrinth out of which I cannot return but leave the Doubt to the Popes Datarie to clear proper to him as versed in such matters The same c Idem ibidem Pen informs me that the sole way to reconcile the Difference is to read Pope Leo the fifth instead of Pope Formosus which for Quietnesse I am content to do the rather because such a Roaring Curse best beseems the mouth of a Lion 4. Hear now the names of the seven Bishops which Pleigmund consecrated in one day Vacant Bishopricks supplied and new erected a great dayes-work and a good one if all were fit for the Function Fridstan Bishop of Winchester a Learned and Holy man Werstan of Shireburn Kenulfe of Dorchester Beornege of Selsey Athelme of VVells Eadulfe of Crediton in Devon and Athelstan in Cornwall of S t. Petrocks These three last VVestern Bishopricks were in this Council newly erected But S t. Petrocks had never long any settled Seat being much in motion translated from Bodman in Cornwall upon the wasting of it by the Danes to S t. Germans in the same County and afterward united to Crediton in Devonshire This Bishoprick was founded principally for the reduction of the rebellious Cornish to the Romish Rites who as they used the Language so they imitated the Lives and Doctrine of the ancient Britans neither hitherto King Edward in a new Synod confirms his fathers constitutions nor long after submitting themselves to the See Apostolick 5. A Synod was called at Intingford where Edward the Elder and Guthurn King of the Danes in that part of England which formerly belonged to the East-Angles onely confirmed the same d Lambert in his Saxon Laws and Sir Henry Spelman in his Councils pag. 390. ecclesiasticall Constitutions which Alured Edwards Father with the said Guthurn had made before Here the curious Palats of our Age will complain of Crambe that two Kings with their Clergy should meet together onely actum agere to do what was done to their hands But whilest some count all Councils idle which do not add or alter others will commend their Discretion Anno Regis Edvardi Sen. 5 who can discern what is well ordered already Anno Dom. 906 approve their Policie in enjoyning such things unto others and principally praise their Piety for practising them in themselves And whosoever looks abroad into the world with a judicious Eye will soon see that there is not so much need of New Laws the Multitude whereof rather cumbers mens Memories then quickens their Practise as an absolute necessity to enforce Old Laws with a new and vigorous Execution of them 6. And now King Edward 14 remembring the pious Example of his Father Alfred in founding of Oxford 915 began to repair and restore the University of Cambridge Cambridge University repaired by King Edward For the Danes who made all the Sea-coasts of England their Haunt and kept the Kingdome of the East-Angles for their Home had banished all Learning from that place Apollo's Harp being silenced by Mars his Drum till this Kings Bounty brought Learning back again thither as by his following Charter may appear In a a Charta extat in MS. codice qui Cantabrigiae est in Aula Clarensi ejusdem meminit Tho. Rudburn nec non Ioh. Rossus nomine D. Iesu Christi Ego Edwardus Dei gratia Rex Anglorum divino compulsus amore praecepto Joannis Apostolicae Sedis Episcopi ac Pleigmundi Cantuar. Archiepisc consilio omnium Sacerdotum Principum meae Dominationis universa singula Privilegia Doctoribus Scholaribus Cantabrigiae nec non servientibus eorundem uti ab olim viguit indesinenter Mater Philosophiae reperitur in praesenti Fons Clerimoniae à me data seu ab Antecessoribus meis quomodo libet concessa stabili jure grata rata decerno durare quamdiu vertigo Poli circa Terras atque Aequora Aethera Syderum justo moderamine volvet Datum in Grantecestria anno ab Incarnatione D. 915. venerabili Fratri Frithstano Civitatis Scholarium Cantabrig Cancellario Doctori per suum c. The Credit of this Charter is questioned by some because of the barbarous Stile thereof as if an University were disgraced with honourable Priviledges granted unto it in base Latine But know that Age was so poor in Learning it could not go to the Cost of good Language Who can look to find a fair Face in the hotest parts of Aethiopia Those Times were ignorant and as it is observed of the Country-people born at the Village of b Camden's Brit. in Leicestershire pag. 517. Carlton in Leicestershire that they have all proceeding from some secret cause in their Soil or Water a strange uncouth VVharling in their Speech so it was proper to the persons writing in this Age to have a harsh unpleasant grating Stile and so much the sowrer to Criticall Eares the more it is sweetned with an affected Rhythm though a Blemish yet a Badge of their genuine Deeds which were passed in those times 7. Hear also what Iohn Rouse an excellent Antiquary The Testimony of Iohn Rouse concerning K. Edward's repairing of Cambridge furnished by King Edward the fourth with Privacy and Pension to collect the Monuments of this Land alleageth to this purpose Who being bred in Oxford and having written a Book in confutation of those which deduce the Foundation of this Vniversity from
Cantaber may be presumed will allow Cambridge no more then what in right is due unto her He speaking of c Baleus Cent. 8. numero 53. King Edward the Elder out of an ancient Table and Chronicle of Hyde Abbey by VVinchester which himself by the favour of the Abbot perused reporteth of the Restauration of decayed Cambridge at this time in manner as followeth Ioh. Rossus in lib. de Regibus Propterea ad Clerimoniam augmentandam sicut Pater suus Oxoniam sic ipse ab antiquo cum caeteris Studiis generalibus suspensam desolatam destructam Cantabrigiam iterum ad primam Gloriam erexit nec non ibi Aulas Studientium Doctorum Magistrorumque Cathedras Sedilia ut dilectissimus Cleri nutritor amator defensor suis sumtibus erigi fabricari praecepit Ab Oxonia namque Vniversitate quaÌ„ Pater suus nobilis Rex erexerat Magistros ArtiuÌ„ quas liberales vocamus pariter in sacra Theologia Doctores advocavit ibique ad leg enduÌ„ formaliter docenduÌ„ invitavit Therefore for the augmentation of Clerk like Learning as his Father had done to Oxford so he again raised up Cambridge to her first Glory which for a long time with other generall Schools had been suspended desolate and destroyed as also Anno Dom. 915 like a most loving Nourisher of the Clergie Anno Regis Edvardi Sen. 14 he commanded that Halls for Students Chairs and Seats of Doctors and Masters should there be erected built on his own proper Charges for he called from Oxford Universitie which his noble Father the King had erected Masters of those Arts which we call liberall together with Doctors in holy Divinity and invited them there formally to read and teach 8. Have we here Cambridge presented in a three-fold Condition Cambridge represented in a three-fold estate First what she had been long before King Edward's time fairly flourishing with Learning Secondly in what case he found her desolate and decayed Then then Cup of Cambridge was at the bottom her Breasts dry and her Sun in an Eclipse She was saith Rosse suspended not by the power of any Popes Keyes as the word may import but by the force of Pagan Swords who here interrupted the exercise of Acts and publick Lectures as in Spain Germany and other Forrein Parts places appointed for Learning had shared in the like Calamity Thirdly in what condition Edward left her under whom as under the Father of the Act Cambridge it self did then Commence and take a new Degree Happy this Edward who like a wealthy Landlord had two Nurseries of choice Fruit so that if the one by any sad accident chanced to faile he could supply it from the other without being beholding to his Neighbours This was the Love betwixt the two Sisters what either had neither could want and Oxford which lent now borrowed another time as in due place shall appear If the same Authour a In his Catalogue of the Earles of Warwick elsewhere calleth this king Edward Founder of Cambridge it is by an easie and obvious Errour because a totall Repairer doth amount to a partiall Founder Nor doth Cambridge regret thereat seeing Gratefull Expressions which had rather transgresse in the Excesse then the Defect may in Courtesy call their Mender their Maker 9. Athelstan his Son succeeded King Edward The principall Laws enacted in the Council at Greatlea being much devoted to S t. Iohn of Beverley 924 on whose Church he bestowed a Freed-Stool Athelstani 1 with large Priviledges belonging thereunto Many Councils were kept in this Kings Reign at Excester Feversham Thunderfield and London all of them of uncertain Date But one held at Greatlea is of greatest account for the Lawes therein enacted 928 the principall here insuing 5 1. That the kings Officers should truely pay Tithes out of his Demesnes as well of his quick Cattel as dead Commodities 2. That Cyricsceat that is First-fruits of Seeds be duely payed to God in his Church 3. That the Kings Officers maintain one Poore-body in the Kings Villages and in case none be found therein fetch him from other places Christ saith The poor you have alwayes with you The Church in generall is well stockt with them though some particular Parish may want such as are in Want If any would know the Bill of Fare allowed these poore people It was monthly a Measure of Meale una Perna a Gammon of Bacon A Ramm worth a Groat four Cheeses 30. Pence on Easter-Wednesday to buy them Cloaths 4. That Monyers wilfully corrupting the Coyn and found guilty have their Hands cut off and nailed to the Mint-house Every Burrough was allowed one Mint therein but besides these Hastings one Cirencester one Shaftsbury two Wareham two Exeter b So in the Saxon Manuscript though in libro Iormâ—â—lensi by mistake Oxonia is put for Exonia Two Hampton two Lewes two Rochester three Winchester six Canterbury seven viz For the King four For the Arch-bishop two For the Abbot one London eight Most of these places were anciently in the West-Saxon Kingdome Anno Regis Athelstani 5 to whom the English Monarchs were most favourable Anno Dom. 928. in doubling their Priviledge of Coynage but single in other places of greater Capacity 5. That such who were tryed by Ordall should ceremoniously be prepared thereunto with the solemn manner of managing that Tryall 6. That no Buying or Selling be on the Lords-Day This took not full effect for many yeares after for Henry a Camden ' s Brit. in Sussex the first granted to Battel Abbey a Market to be kept on that Day lately at the motion of Anthony Marquess Montacute by Act of Parliam removed to another Day 7. That one convicted of Perjurie shall be trusted no more on his Oath nor be buried in Holy earth except restored by the Bishop on his Penance 8. That Witches confessing themselves to have killed any be put to death Such as were suspected and denied the Fact might be tried by Ordall which was done either by Fire whereof hereafter or by Water Of the later Mergator una ulna dimidia in sune which I thus understand Let the Party be tied to a Rope and drencht an Ell and half above his own Height And this is the first footstep we find of Swimming of Witches for which no Law save Custome at this day and that whether just in it self and satisfactory as a means proportionable for the discovery of the Truth is not my work to determine Whosoever desires to have more exact Information of this Council may repair to Sir Henry b In his Councils pag. 396. sequentibus Dignities and degrees amongst the Saxons Spelman where he may receive plentifull Satisfaction 10. Onely I must not omit one Passage in this Council acquainting us with the Herauldry of that Age and the Distances and Degrees of Persons collected from their VVeers or VVeer-Glids that is Taxes and
suspect that Dunstan who could blow Coals elsewhere as well as in his Furnace though at distance vertually or rather viciously present had a Finger yea a Hand therein Heart-broken with these Rebellions 958 King Edwin died in the Flower of his Age. 5 Edgati 1 24. Edgar succeeds him Dunstan recalled by King Edgar and takes a double Bishoprick and recalls Dunstan home 959 receiving him with all possible Affection 2 Yea now Dunstan's Stomack was come down and he could digest a Bishoprick which his Abstemiousness formerly refused And one Bishoprick drew down another VVorcester and London not successively but both a-breast went down his Conscience Yea never Age afforded more Pluralist Bishops In this Kings reign Letine held b Vid. Antiq. Britan. p. 83. Lincoln and Leicester oswald a great Monk-monger of whom hereafter held York and VVorcester Aldulph his Successour in both Churches did the like pardoned yea praised for the same though Woolstan because no favourer of Monks is reproved for the like Plurality Thus two men though doing the same thing do not the same thing Bigamy of Bishopricks goes by Favour and it is condemnable in one what is commendable in another Anno Regis Edgari 2 Odo Severus Anno Dom. 959 Arch-bishop of Canterbury being ceremoniously to consecrate Dunstan Bishop of VVorcester used all the Formalities fashionable at the Consecration of an a Antiq. Britan ibidem Arch-bishop And being reproved for the same he answered for himself That he foresaw that Dunstan instantly after his death would be Arch-bishop of Canterbury And therefore a compendious way to spare Paines he onely by a provident Prolepsis ante-dated his Consecration Surely whosoever had seen the decrepit age of Odo the affection of King Edgar to Dunstan the affection of Dunstan to Dignity needed no extraordinary prophetical Spirit to presage that on the supposition of Dunstan's surviving him he should succeed him in the Arch-bishoprick of Canterbury 25. Yea King Edgar was so wholly Dunstanized Oswald's Law to eject secular Priests that he gave over his Soul Body and Estate to be ordered by him and two more then the Triumvirate who ruled England namely Ethelwald Bishop of Winchester and Oswald Bishop of Worcester This Oswald was the man who procured by the Kings Authority the Ejection of all Secular Priests out of Worcester and the placing of Monks in their Room which Act was called Oswald's Law in that Age. They might if it pleased them have stiled it Edgar's Law the Legislative Power being then more in the King then in the Bishop This Oswald's Law afterwards enlarged it self over all England Secular Priests being thrown out and Monks every where fixed in their rooms till King Henry the eighth his Law outed Oswald's Law and ejected those Drones out of their Habitations 26. King Edgar violated the Chastity of a Nun at Wilton Dunstan's disciplining of king Edgar Dunstan getting notice thereof refused at the Kings Request to give him his Hand because he had defiled a Daughter of God as he termed her Edgar hereby made sensible of his Sin with Sorrow confessed it and Dunstan now Arch-bishop of Canterbury enjoyned him seven years Penance for the same Monks endeavour to inforcea mock-Parallel betwixt David and Edgar Nathan and Dunstan herein Sure I am on David's profession of his Repentance Nathan presently pronounced Pardon b 2 Sam. 12. 13 the Lord also hath put away thy Sin thou shalt not die consigning him to be punished by God the Principall using an Undutifull Son Treacherous Servants and Rebellious Subjects to be the Instruments thereof but imposing no voluntary Penance that David should by Will-worship undertake on himself All that I will adde is this If Dunstan did septennary Penance to expiate every mortall Sin to use their own Termes he committed he must have been a Methusalah extremely aged before the day of his Death 27. More commendable was Dunstan's Carriage towards an English Count 12 who lived incestuously with his own Kinswoman 969 Dunstan admonished him once And carriage towards an incestuous Count. twice thrice nothing prevailed whereupon he proceeded to Excommunicate him The Count slighted his Excommunication conceiving his Head too high for Church-Censures to reach it King Edgar falsly informed desires Dunstan to absolve him and is denied Yea the Pope sends to him to the same Purpose and Dunstan persists in his c Osbern in vita Dunstani Refusall At last the Count conquered with Dunstan's Constancy and the sense of his own Sin came into a Nationall Council at Canterbury where Dunstan sate President active therein to substitute Monks in the places of Secular Priests on his bare Feet with a Bundle of Rods tendering himself to Dunstan's Chastisement This wrought on Dunstan's mild Nature scarce refraining from Teares who presently absolved him 28. Three things herein are remarkable Observations thereon First that Bribes in the Court of Rome may purchase a Malefactor to be innocent Secondly that the Pope himself is not so infallible but that his Key may misse the Lock and he be mistaken in matter of Absolution Thirdly that men ought not so with blind Obedience to obey his pretended Holinesse but that if with Dunstan here they see just Cause to the contrary it is no Mortall Sin to disobey his Commands 29. The Apprentiship of Edgar's Penance long since expired Edgar's Canons why by us here related he flourished in all Monarchicall Lustre sole Founder of many Co-founder of more Benefactor to most Abbeys in England Anno Dom. 969 And as he gave new Cases to most Monasteries repairing their outward Buildings so he gave new Linings to all Anno Regis Edgari 12 substituting Monks in stead of the Secular Priests whom he expelled Many Ecclesiasticall Canons were by him ordained which at large are presented in S t. Henry Spelman and which I have neither List nor Leisure to recount in this my History Our Women have a Proverb It is a sad Burden to carry a dead mans Child and surely an Historian hath no heart to take much Pains which herein are Pains indeed to exemplify dead Canons dead and buried long since as most relating to Monkery this Age wherein we live being little fond of Antiquity to know those things which were antiquated so many yeares since 30. Now though the Devotion of King Edgar may be condemned to be byassed to Superstition Edgar a most triumphant King yet because the Sincerity of his Heart sought to advance Gods Honour according to the Light in those dark dayes he appears one of the most puissant Princes that ever England enjoyed both in Church and Common-wealth I have read in a most fair and authentick guilded a Extant in the precious Library of S r. Tho. Cotton Manuscript wherein he stileth himself Gods Vicar in England for the ordering Ecclesiasticall matters a Title which at this day the Pope will hardly vouchsafe to any
this Land till at last after a personall Duel fought the Land was equally divided betwixt them A division wherewith both seemed neither were well pleased seeing the least whole head cannot be fitted with the biggest half Crown all or none was their desire Edm. Iron side teacherously slain Canutus at last with his Silver Hand was too hard for the other his Iron Side who by his promised Bribes prevailed with one Edrick to kill this his Corrivall which being performed he was fairely advanced with a h Others say he was beheaded Canutus his cruelty Halter It would spoil the Trade of all Traytours Canuti 1 if such Coyn onely were currant in paying their Rewards 5. Canutus or Knot the Dane from whom a Bird in Lincolnshire is so called 1017 wherewith his Palate i Draitons Poly-olbion pag. 112. was much pleased bathed himself in English Bloud whom at this distance of time we may safely term a Tyrant so many Murthers and Massacres were by him committed For his Religion as yet he was a Mungrel betwixt a Pagan and a Christian though at last the later prevailed especially after his Pilgrimage to Rome In his passage thither 14 he went through France 1031 where understanding that the people paid deep Taxes Converted into charity he disburst so much of his own money in their behalf that he brought their k Rodulph de Diceto column 468. Taxes to be abated to one l Iohannes Bromton in leg Canuti column 912. He goeth to Rome half An Act of Pitty in a Prince without Precedent done to Forrainers It is vain for the English to wish the like Curtesy from the King of France partly because England lies not in their way to Rome partly because they are fuller of Complements then Curtesie 6. Coming to Rome 16 Canutus turned Convert 1033 changing his Condition with the Climate shewing there many expressions of Devotion Much he gave to the Pope and something he gained from him namely an Immunity for Archbishops Returneth improved in devotion from their excessive Charges about their Pall and some other Favours he obtained for his Subjects After his return into his own Country he laid out all the remainder of his dayes in Acts of Charitie in founding or enriching of religious Houses Anno Dom. and two especially Anno Canuâ—i Saint Bennets in the Holm in Norfolk and Hyde Abbey near VVinchester 7. To this latter he gave a Crosse so costly for the Metall The paramount Crosse of England for richness and curious for the Making 1035 that one yeares a Camdens Briton in Hantshire revenues of his Crown was expended on the same 18 But the Crosse of this Crosse was that about the Reign of King Henry the sixth it was b Idem ibidem King Canutus his Humility burnt down with the whole Monastery in a Fire which was very suspicious to have been kindled by intentionall Malice This Canutus towards the latter end of his Reign never wore a Crown resigning up the same to the Image of our Saviour he was also famous for a particular act of Humility done by him on this occasion 8. A Parasite and sooner will an hot May want Flies Commands the Sea then a Kings Court such Flatterers sought to puffe up King Canutus with an opinion of his Puissance as if because England and Norway therefore Aeolus and Neptune must obey him In confuting of whose falsehood Canutus commanded his Chair of State to be set on the Sea-shore nigh South-Hampton and settled himself thereon Then he c Hen. Huntington in vita Canuti But in vain imperiously commanded the Waves as a Fence which walled that Land belonging unto him to observe their due Distance not presuming to approach him The surly Waves were so far from obeying they heard him not who listned onely to the Proclamation of a higher Monarch d Iob 38. 11 Hither shalt thou come and no further and made bold to give the Kings Feet so course a Kisse as wetted him up to the Knees 9. On this accident King Canutus made an excellent Sermon His Sermon thereon First adoring the infinite Power of God sole Commander of the Winds and Waves Secondly confessing the frailty of all Flesh unable to stop the least Drop of the Sea Thirdly confuting the Profanenesse of Flatterers fixing an infinite Power in a finite Creature As for the Laws made by King Canutus His Laws why omitted we have purposely omitted them not so much because many large and ordinarily extant but chiefly because most of Civil Concernment Haroldi Harefoot 1 10. Two of his Sons succeeded him Harold Harefoot succeeded him more known by their handsome Sur-names 1036 then any other Desert First his base Son taking advantage of his Brothers absence called from his Swiftnesse Hardy Canuti 1 Harold Harefoot belike another e 2 Sam. 2. 18 Then Hardy Canutus Asahel in Nimblenesse but Hares-heart had better befitted his Nature 1040 so cowardly his disposition Then his legitimate Sonne called Hardy Canute more truely bloudy Canute eminent for his Cruelty With him expired the Danish Royall Line in England leaving no Issue behind him and opening an Opportunity for the banished Sonne of King Ethelred to recover the Crown whose ensuing Reign is richly worth our description Mean time it is worth our observing in how few yeares the Danish Greatnesse shrank to nothing and from formidable became inconsiderable yea contemptible Indeed Canutus was one of extraordinary Worth and the Wheel once moved will for a time turn of it self Had Harold his Son by what way it skilled not been one of a tolerable disposition he might have traded in Reputation on the Stock of his Fathers Memory But being so very mean considerable onely in Cruelty his Fathers Worth did him the Disadvantage to render his Vnworthynesse the more conspicuous Besides when Hardy Canute his Brother succeeded him and though better born shewed himself no better bred in his inhumane Carriage it caused not onely a Neuseation in the people of England of Danish Kings but also an appetite yet a longing after their true and due Soveraign 11. Edward the Confessour Anno Regis Edvardi confessoris 1 youngest Son of King Etherlred Anno Dom. 1042 his elder Brethren being slain Edward the Confessour becomes King of England and their Children fled away came to be King of England I understand not the Ceremony which I read was used to this Edward whilest as yet saith a Monkish a Father Hierome Porter in the flowers of the lives of the Saints pag. 2. Authour properly enough in his own Language he was contained in the weak Cloisters of his Mothers VVomb at which time the Peers of the Land sware Allegiance unto him or her the Sex as yet being unknown before he was born Indeed I find that Varanes his Child was crowned King whilest yet in his
Mothers Body b Agathias lib. 4. applicata ad Vterum Corona But what Solemnity soever was done to this Hans-en-Kelder it did not afterwards embolden him to the Anticipation of the Crown attending till it descended upon him 12. A worthy King The original of our Common Laws no less pious to God then just to Man For whereas formerly there were manifold Laws in the Land made some by the Britans others by the Danes others by the English swelling to an unmeasurable Number to the great Mischief of his Subjects he caused some few of the best to be selected and the rest as captious and unnecessary to be rejected Hence say some they were called the Common Laws as calculated for the common Good and no private persons Advantage 13. It is admirable No hostile Danes appear in England how the Danes in this Kings Reign were vanished away They who formerly could scarce be numbered in England they were so many could now scarce be numbered they were so few and those living quietly with their English Neighbours As for forrein invading Danes in this Kings Reign as I cannot see them so I will not seek them glad of their Room and Riddance Indeed once I meet with an Assay of them in a Navy bound to infest England but their King being casually drowned as he entred his own Fleet put an end to their Hopes and our Feares for that Designe 14. Emma 4 King Edward's Mother 1046 being suspected too familiar with Alwin Bishop of VVinchester The manner of Ordall by fire under the colour of Devotion put herself to be tryed by Ordall whereof this the manner Nine Plow-shares glowing hot were laid on the Ground one foot distant from another the party suspected was to be brought blind-folded and bare-footed to passe over them if he chanced to step in the Intervalls or on the hot Iron unhurt he was pronounced Innocent otherwise condemned for an Offender An unjust Law wherein the Tryers had no Precept the Tryed no Promise Must Innocence be ruin'd as often as Malice would wrong it if Miracle would not rescue it This was not a way to try man but tempt God As just a Trying by Fire as that of our modern Witches by Water This Tryall Queen Emma admirably underwent not sensible of the Plow-shares till past them saying to such as led her Oh when shall I come to the place of my Purgation 15. By what Power this was performed Queen Emma her miraculous purgation I will not dispute finding amongst the c Strab. Geog. lib. 5. Plin. lib. 7. cap. 2. Heathens a City Feronia twenty miles from Rome under mount Soracte where the Inhabitants possessed with a spirit of a Deity therein worshipped usually walked upon burning Coales without any Harm Onely I wonder that Bishop Alwin equally suspected and equally innocent with Emma should not profer himself to the like Triall But perchance the prudent Prelate remembred that such barbarous Customes though kept up amongst the Common People were forbidden by the ancient Canons as also by the Letter of Pope Stephen the fifth which about the year eight hundred eighty and seven he wrote to Humbert Bishop of Mentz And now Emma who went willingly on this sad Errand did the Businesse for them both and cleared their Credits The Church of Winchester got well hereby viz. nine Mannours which Queen Emma bestowed thereon in Commemoration of her Deliverance 16. King Edward the Confessour was married to the devout Lady Edith A Wife no Wife his Wife in Minde but not in Body in Consent not Act being onely as my Authour saith an Abishag to the King Strange that two Persons if loving each other in the prime of their yeares should light on so happy a Temper as mutually to warm not to heat one another which the Wife-men in our Age will account difficult Anno Dom. 1046 and the Wanton impossible Anno Regis Edvardi Confessoris 4 Such will say if this was true that King Edward pass'd as great a Triall as Queen Emma his Mother and that his Ordall was as hard as hers was painfull 17. Was it not pity Yet was there not a cause but the World should have more of the Breed of them who were so godly a Couple Let Basenesse be barren and Cruelty childlesse Pious persons deserve a double Portion in that Charter of Fruitfulnesse a Gen. 1. 28. Multiply and encrease Yea the English Crown now wanting an Heir and for Default thereof likely to fall to Forreiners might I will not say have tempted but have moved King Edward to the Knowledge of his Wife But whilest Papists crie up this his incredible Continency others easily unwonder the same by imputing it partly to his Impotence afflicted with an Infirmitie partly to the Distaste of his Wife whom he married onely for Coveniencie and to the Distrust of her Chastity on suspition whereof he confined her to the Monasterie of Whore-well as I take it in Hamshire 18. But grant Queen Edith a chast Woman The good daughter of a bad father as she is generally believed Daughter she was to a wicked Father Earle Godwin by name whence the Proverb Sicut spina rosam genuit God winus Editham From prickly stock as springs a Rose So Edith from Earle Godwin grows little ill being written of the Daughter and no good of the Father Indeed King Edward was Father-in-law-ridden who feared Earle Godwin rather then trusted him as who with a long train of his Power could sweep many Dependents after him This Godwin like those Sands near Kent which bear his name never spared what he could spoile but swallowed all which came within his compass to devoure Two Instances whereof because both belonging to Church-matters we will relate 19. He cast a cavetous Eye on the fair Nunnery of Berkley in Glocestershire Godwin's device to get Berkley Nunnerie and thus contrived it for himself He left there an handsome young man really or seemingly sick for their Charity to recover who quickly grows well and wanton He is toying tempting taking such Fire and Flax quickly make a Flame The Sisters loose their Chastity and without taking Wife in the way are ready to make Mothers The young man if sick returns to Earle Godwin in Health leaving the healthfull Nuns sick behind him The same hereof fills the Country flies to Court is complained of by Earle Godwin to the King Officers are sent to enquire they return it to be true the Nuns are turned out their House and Lands forfeited both bestowed on Earle Godwin surprized VVeaknesse being put out and designing VVickednesse placed in the room thereof Surely King Edward knew nothing of Godwin's Deceit herein otherwise it was unjust that the Whores should be punished and the principall Pander rewarded 20. At another time he had a mind to the rich Mannour of Boseham in Sussex Another trick to gain the mannour of Boseham and complemented it out
Cure or secretly unsatisfied what manner and measure of Belief is required according to the Modell whereof Health is observed to come sooner or later or openly offended with the e Gu. Tucker in Charismate cap. 7. pag. 96. Sign of the Crosse which was used to be made by the Royall Hands on the Place infected Anno Dom. All which Exceptions fall to the ground Anno Regis Edvardi Confessoris 24 when it shall be avowed that notwithstanding the Omission of such Ceremonies as requisite rather to the Solemnity then Substance of the Cure the bare Hands of our Kings without the Gloves Jan. 4. as I may term it of the aforesaid Circumstances have effected the healing of this Disease 33. Hereupon some make it a clear Miracle Many make the Cure miraculous and immediately own Gods Finger in the Kings Hand That when the Art of the Physitian is posed the Industry of the Chirurgion tired out the Experience of both at a Losse when all humane Means cry craven then that Wound made by the Hand of God is cured by the hand of his Vice-gerent Hath Heaven indued Vegetables the worst and weak est of living Creatures with cordiall Qualities yea hath it bestowed pretious Properties on dull and inanimate Waters Stones and Mineralls insomuch that such are condemned for Silly or Sullen for Stupid or Stubborn as doubt thereof And shall we be so narrow-hearted as not to conceive it possible that Christian men the nobiest of corporeall Creatures Kings the most eminent of all Christian men Kings of Britain the First-Fruits of all Christian Kings should receive that peculiar Priviledge and sanative Power whereof daily Instances are presented unto us See here the vast Difference betwixt Papists and Protestants How do the former court those Miracles which fly from them and often in default of Reall ones are glad and greedy to hug and embrace empty Shadows of things falsly reported to be done or fondly reputed to be Miracles Whereas many Protestants on the contrary as in the matter in hand are scrupulous in accepting Miracles truely tendered unto them But although our Religion firmly founded on and safely senced with the Scriptures need no Miracles to confirm or countenance the truth thereof yet when they are by the hand of Heaven cast into our Scales not to make our Doctrine Weight but as superpondium or an Over-plus freely bestowed sure they may safely without Sin be received not to say can scarce be refused without at least some suspicion of Neglect Ingratitude to the Goodnesse of God 34. Nor will it be amisse here to relate a Passage which happened about the middest of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth The ingenuousconfession of a Catholick after Pope Pius did let fly his Excommunication against her There was a stiffe Roman Catholick as they delight to term themselves otherwise a man well accomplished and of an ingenuous Disposition who being cast into Prison I conceive for his Religion was there visited in an high degree with the Kings Evil. And having with great Pain and Expence but no Successe long used the advice of Physitians at last he humbly addressed himself unto the Queens Majestie by whom with Gods help he was compleately cured And being demanded What news a Gu Tucker in Charismate cap. 6. pag. 92. I perceive said he now at last by plain experience that the Excommunication denounced by the Pope against her Majestie is in very deed of none effect seeing God hath blessed her with so great and miraculous a Vertue 35. This mention of Queen Elizabeth there is a magnetick Vertue in Stories Queen Elizabeth why displeased with the people in Gloce stershire for one to attract another minds me of a Passage in the beginning ofher Reign Making her Progresse into Glocestershire people affected with this Discase did in uncivil Crowds presse in upon her Insomuch that her Majestie betwixt Anger Grief and Compassion let fall words to this effect Alasse poor people I cannot I cannot cure you it is God alone that can doe it Which words some interpreted contrary to her Intent and Practice continuing such Cures till the day of her Death an utter renouncing and disclaiming of any Instrumentall Efficacy in her self Whereas she onely removed her Subjects Eyes from gazing on her to look up to Heaven For mens Minds naturally are so dull and heavy that instead of traveling with their Thanks to God the Cause of all Cures they lazily take up their Lodging more then half-way on this side mistaking the Dealer for the Giver of their Recovery It follows not therefore that the Queen refused to heal their Bodies because carefull in the first place to cure their Souls of this dangerous Mistake A Princesse who as she was a most exact Demander of her Due observed seldome or never to forgive her greatest Favourites what they owed her so did she most punctually pay her Ingagements to others as to all men so most especially to God loth that he should lose any Honour due unto him by her unjust Detaining thereof 36. The Kings of France share also with those of England in this miraculous Cure And Laurentius reports The Kings of France cure the Kings Evil. that when Francis the first King of France was kept Prisoner in Spain he notwithstanding his Exile and Restraint daily cured infinite Multitudes of people of that Disease according to this Epigram Hispanos inter sanat Rex Choeradas estque Captivus Superis gratus ut ante fuit The Captive King the Evil cures in Spain Dear as before he doth to God remain So it seemeth his Medicinall Quality is affixed not to his Prosperity but Person so that during his Durance he was fully free to exercise the same 37. Thus farre we patiently hear Laâ—â—rentius falsely denies the Kings of England power in curing the Kings Evil. and sufficiently credit this Authour but can no longer afford him either Belief or Attention when he presumeth to tell us that the Kings of England never a De mirabill strumarum curatione c. 2. cured the Kings Evill a Vertue appropriated onely to his Majestie of France Onely he confesseth that long ago some of our English Kings of the Anjouan Race descended from Ieffery Plantagenet did heal the Falling Sicknesse with certain Consecrated Annulets a Custome long since difused Thus he seeks to deprive our Princes of their Patrimoniall Vertue and to make them Reparations instead of their sanative Power whereof they are peaceably possest to them and their Heires holding it of God in chief with assigning them an old Leaâ—e where the Title at the best was litigious and the Term long ago expired But the Reader may be pleased to take notice that this Laurentius was Physician in ordinary to King Henry the fourth of France and so had his Judgement herein bowed awry with so weighty a Relation Flattery being so catching a Disease wherewith the best Doctors of Physick may sometimes be
infected To cry quits with him Doctor Tucker Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth in a Treatise he wrote of this Subject denyeth the Kings of France ever originally cured this Evil but per aliquam b In his charismate cap. 6. pag. 84. Propaginem by a Sprig of Right derived from the primitive Power of our English Kings under whose Jurisdiction most of the French Provinces were once subjected 38. Between these two Authours The indifferent Opinion violent in Opposition haply we may find the Truth whose constant Dwelling-place is pleasantly seated in a moderate Vale betwixt two swelling Extremes For it plainly appeareth by uncontroulable Arguments and Evidences that both the Crowns of England and France have for many years been invested with this miraculous Gift yet so that our English Kings are the elder Brothers in the Possession thereof For if S t. Lewes King of France who was contemporary with our King Henry the third was the c So witnesseth Andrew Chasne ae French Authour and others first of that Royall Race which healed this Evil his Cradle was more then 160 yeares after the Cossin of our Edward the Confessour from whom as is aforesaid our Kings derive this soveraign Power by constant Succession But methinks my Book in this Discourse begins to bunch or swell out and some will censure this Digression for a Struma or tedious Exuberancy beyond the just Proportion of our History wherefore no more hereof onely I will conclude with two Prayers extending the first to all Good people That Divine Providence would be pleased to preserve them from this painfull and loathsome Disease The second I shall confine to my self alone not knowing how it will suit with the Consciences and Judgements of others yet so as not excluding any who are disposed to joyn with me in my Petition namely That if it be the Will of God to visit me whose Body hath the Seeds of all Sicknesse Anno Dom. 1066 Jan. 4. and Soul of all Sins with the aforesaid Malady Anno Regis Edvardi Confessoris 24 I may have the Favour to be touched of his Majesty the Happiness to be healed by him and the Thankfulness to be gratefull to God the Authour and Gods Image the Instrument of my Recovery I 'le onely adde this short Story and then proceed A little before these Wars began a Minister not over-loyally affected was accused and was like to have been troubled for this Passage in his Sermon that Oppression was the Kings Evil. But being called to answer it before the Commissioners he expounded his own words that he meant Oppression was the Kings Evil not that the King caused it but onely cured it and alone in this Land could remedy and redresse the same 39. King Edward dying Childlesse Harold usurpeth the Crown caused by his affected Chastity 1066 left the Land at a Losse for an Heir in a direct Line Haroldi 1 opened a Door to the Ambition of Collaterall Pretenders Indeed the undoubted Right lay in Edgar Atheling Son to Edward the Out-law Grand-child to Edmond Iron-side King of England But he being tender in Age and as it seems soft in Temper and of a forrein Garb because of his Education in Hungary his most potent Alliance in Germany out of Distance to send him seasonable Assistance was passed by by the English Nobility These chose Harold to be King whose Title to the Crown is not worth our deriving of it much less his relying on it But having endeared Martiallists by his Valour engaged Courtiers by his Bounty and obliged all sorts of People by his Affability he was advanced to the Crown by those who more considered his Ability to defend then his Right to deserve it 40. William Duke of Normandy was Competitour with Harold William Duke of Normandy twisteth many weak Titles together who supplying in Number what he wanted in Strength of his Titles claimed the Crown by Alliance Adoption and Donation from Edward the Confessour though he was as unable to give and bequeath as VVilliam being a Bastard in the Strictnesse of Saxon Laws was uncapable to receive it But his Sword was stronger then his Titles and the Sins of the English more forceable then either to deliver that Nation now grown as Authours observe intolerably vicious into his Subjection So that in a pitch'd Field he overcame and killed King Harold with the prime of the English Nobility a just Punishment on their Perjury for their deserting their Lawfull Prince and such as survived were forced either to hold the Stirrup or Lackey by the Side of many a mean-born Norman mounted to Places of Profit and Honour This was the fifth time wherein the South of this Island was conquered first by Romans secondly by Picts and Scots thirdly by Saxons fourthly by the Danes and fifthly by the Normans This mindeth me of the Prophet Elisha's speech to a 2 Kings 13. 19. Ioash King of Israel Thou shouldest have smitten Syria 5. or 6. times then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it It seemeth five may but six must dispatch a People God hath already smitten this Island five times with a Rod of Forrein Invasion let us beware the sixth time that finall fatall Number for fear it prove the last and utter Confusion and Destruction of our Nation 41. Thus King VVilliam came in by Conquest William rebateth his conquering Sword with Composition though in the later part of his Reign growing more mild and moderate he twisted his Right of Victory with Composition as such who have ravished a Woman against her will endeavour afterwards to make her Reparation by Wooing and Wedding her whom formerly they had wronged so with Love to cover their Lust by the most excusable way of Marriage So King VVilliam though he had forced this Land yet afterwards not so much out of Remorse as Policy to suppresse frequent Tumults and procure Security to himself and Successours is said to have closed with the Commons in a fair way of Agreement restoring many ancient Priviledges unto them Thus though Conquest was more honourable for his Credit Composition was comfortable for his Conscience and accounted most safe for his Posterity Witnesse that judiciall Sentence which King William in open Court pronounced against himself adjudging the Lord of a Camden ' s Britannia in Norfolk Sharnborn in Norfolk Anno Regis Haroldi 1 being an English-man Anno Dom. 1066 true owner of that Mannour contrary to that Grant wherein he had formerly bestowed it on one Warren a Norman Herein the Conquerour confessed himself conquered submitting his Arbitrary Power and Pleasure to be regulated by Justice and the ancient Rights of English-men 42. But what Impression the Norman Victories made on the State Abreviate of the Doctrine of England in these Ages before the Norman Conquest let Politicians observe what Change it produced in the Laws we leave to the Learned of that Faculty to prosecute whilest
which was worse a prison liv'd in him being streightned in his own bowels towards himself For pretending poverty he denied himself necessaries being afterwards discovered to carry a Key about his Neck which opened to infinite treasure so that none would lavish pitty on him who starv'd in store and was wilfully cruel to himself 5. A f Sir John Davys in his Irish report case 〈◊〉 Praemunite fol. 87 89. learned lawyer hath observed The Popes first 〈◊〉 of the Crown of England that the first encroachment of the Bishop of Rome upon the liberties of the Crown of England was made in the time of King William the Conqueror For the Conqueror came in with the Popes Banner and under it won the battle which got him the Garland and therefore the Pope presumed he might boldly pluck some flowers from it being partly gain'd by his countenance and Blessing Indeed King William kindly entertained these Legats sent from Rome so to sweeten the rank savor of his coming in by the sword in the nostrils of religious men pretending what he had gotten by power he would keep by a pious compliance with his Holiness But especially he did serve the Pope to be served by him that so with more ease and less envie he might suppress the English Clergie But although this politick Prince was courteous in his complemental addresses to the See Apostolick Yet King William invested ecclesiastical pesons yet withall he was carefull of the main chance to keep the essentials of his Crown as amongst others by these four remarkable particulars may appear 6. First he g Annal Eccl. 〈◊〉 M. S. 〈◊〉 Mr Gelden in his â—ntes on 〈◊〉 pag. 14. retained the ancient custom of the Saxon Kings investing Bishops and Abbots by delivering them a Ring and a Staff whereby without more ado they were put into plenary possession of the power and profit of their place Yea when Arch-Bishop Lansrank one so prevalent that he could perswade King William to any thing provided that the King himself thought it fitting requested William to bestow on him the donation of the Abbey of Saint Augustine in Canterbury the King refused saying that he would keep all pastoral h Gervasius Dorobernensis M. S. cited ibid. Staves in his own hand Wiser herein then his successors who parted with those Staves wherewith they themselves were beaten afterward 7. Secondly being demanded to do Fealty for his Crown of England 1078. to Gregory the seventh Pope of Rome And refuseth to do Fealty to the Pope he returned an answer as followeth 12. In English EXcellentissimo i M S codex epislolarum Lansranci cited by Sr John Davys in his Irish reports of Praemunire fol 89. Sanctae Ecclesiae Pastori Gregorio gratia Dei Anglorum rex dux Normannorum Willielmus salutem cum amicitia Hubertus Legatus tuus Religiose Pater ad me veniens ex tua parte me admonuit quatenus tibi successoribus tuis fidelitatem facerem de pecunia quam antecessores mei ad Romanam ecclesiam mitere solebant melius cogitarem Vnum admisi alterum non admisi Fidelitatem facere nolui nec volo quia nec ego promisi nec antecessores meos antecessoribus tuis id fecisse comperio Pecunia tribus sermè annis in Galli is me agente negligenter collecta est Nunc vero divina misericordia me in regnum meum reverso quod collectum per praefatum Legatum mittitur Et quod reliquum est per Legatos Lanfranci Archiepiscopi fidelis nostri cum opportunum fuerit transmittetur Orate pro nobis pro statu Regni nostri quia antecessores vestros dileximus vos prae omnibus sincerè diligere obedienter audire desideramus TO Gregory the most excellent Pastor of the holy Church William by the grace of God King of the English Duke of the Normans wisheth health and desireth k Or remembreth his love to him his friendship Religious Father your Legat Hubert coming unto me admonished me in your behalf in asmuch as I should do fealty to you and your successors and that I should take better care for the payment of the money which my predecessors were wont to send to the Church of Rome One thing I have granted the other I have not granted Fealty I would not do nor will I because I neither promised it neither do I finde that my predecessors ever did it to your predecessors The money for almost three years when I was abroad in France hath been but negligently collected But now seeing by divine mercy I am returned into my Kingdom what is gathered is sent by the aforesaid Legat and the arrears which remain shall be sent by the messengers of Lanfrank our faithful Arch-Bishop in time convenient Pray for us and for the good state of our Kingdom because we have loved your predecessors and do desire sincerely to love and obediently to hear you above all others It is strange on what pretence of right the Pope required this Fealty was it because he sent King William a consecrated Banner that under the colour thereof he endeavoured to display his power over all England as if the King must do him homage as a Banneret of his creation or because he had lately humbled Henry the fourth the German Emperour he thought that all Kings in like manner must be slaves unto him the Pope being then in his Vertical height and Dog-dayes of the heat of his Power But wee need no further inquiry into the cause of his Ambition when we read him to be Gregory the seventh otherwise Hisdebrand that most active of all that sate in that Chair Surely he sent this his demand rather with an intent to spie then hope to speed therein so to sound the depth of King William whom if he found shallow he knew how to proceed accordingly or else he meant to leave this demand dormant in the Deck for his successors to make advantage thereof who would claim for due whatsoever they challenged before However so bold an asker never met with a more bold denier Soon did King William finde his spirits who formerly had not lost but hid them for his private ends England's Conqueror would not be Romes Vassal and hee had Brain enough to deny what the other had Brow to require and yet in such wary language that he carried himself in a religious distance yet politick parity with his Holiness 8. Thirdly King William ordereth the power both of Pope and Arch-Bishop in his own Dominion King William would in no wife suffer any one in his Dominion to acknowledge the Bishop of Rome for Apostolical without his a Eadmerus Hist Nov. lib. 1. pag 6. command or to receive the Popes Letters except first they had been shewed unto him As for the Arch-Bishop of CANTERBURY Primate of England though by his own authority he might congregate Councels of Bishops and fit President in them
yet the King permitted him to appoint or prohibit nothing but what was according to His own will and pleasure and what the King had b Idem ibid. ordained before 9. Lastly Barons not to be excommunicated without the Kings command King William suffered no Bishop to excommunicate any of his Barons or Officers for adultery incest or any such hainous crime except by the Kings Command first made acquainted with the same Here the word Baron is not to be taken in that restrictive sense to which the modern acception hath confined it onely for such of the higher Nobility which have place and Votes in Parliament but c J. Selden Sptcilegium ed Eadmeium pag 168. generally for such who by Tenure en cheef or in Capite as they term it held land immediately of the King And an English d Robert of Glocester Poet counted the Virgil of his age and the Ennius in ours expresseth as much in his Rythmes which we here set down with all the rust thereof without rubbing it off remembring how one e Camdens Elizabeth Anno 1584. John Throkmorton a Justicer of Cheshire in Queen Elizabeth's dayes for not exhibiting a judicial Concord with all the defects of the same but supplying or filling up what was worn out of the Authentical Original was fined for being over officious and therefore take them with their faults and all as followeth The berthe was that noe man that of the King huld ought In Chief or in eni Servise to Manling were throught Bote the wardenis of holy Chirch that brought him thereto The King lede or his Bailifes wat he had misdoe And loked verst were thei to amendment it bring And bote by wolde by their lebe doe the Manling And a grave f Radulphus de diceto sub Anno 11â—3 Author gives a good reason why the King must be inform'd before any of his Barons be excommunicated lest otherwise saith he the King not being certified thereof should out of ignorance unawares communicate with persons excommunicated when such Officers of His should come to kiss His hand be called to his Councel or come to perform any personal attendance about Him Hitherto we have seen how careful the Conqueror was in preserving His own right in Church-matters We will conclude all with the Syllogisme which the g L. Cooks Reports fift part de Jure Regis Ecclesiastico fol. 10. Oracle of the Common-Law frameth in this manner It is agreed that no man onely can make any appropriation of any Church having cure of souls being a thing Eccelesiastical and to be made to some person Ecclesiastical but he that hath Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction But William the first of himself without any other as King of England made appropriation of Churches with cure to Ecclesiastical persons as by many instances may appear Therefore it followeth that He had Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction And so much concerning King William's policy in doing justice to His own power Proceed we now to His bounty confirming old and conferring new favors upon the Church and Clergie 10. First whereas before his time the Sheriff and Bishop joyntly kept their Courts together especially at the two solemn times Bishops jurisdictions first severed from the Sheriffs about Easter and Michaelmas King William in favour of the Clergie assigned the Bishops an a See this cleared by Mr Selden in his notes on Ead. merus pag. 167. entire jurisdiction by themselves wherein they should have cognizance of all causes relating to Religion I say relating to Religion a latitude of a cheverel extension adequate almost to the minde of him that will stretch it out and few Ecclesiastical Judges would lofe what might be got by measuring Now formerly whilest the power of Sheriff and Bishop went hand in hand together in the same Court neither could much outstrip other but but since they were severed the Spiritual power far outwent its old mate improving his own by impairing the Secular Courts and henceforward the Canon-law took the firmer footing in England Date we from hence the squint-eies of the Clergie whose sight single before was hereafter divided with double looks betwixt two objects at once the Pope and the King to put him first whom they eyed most acting hereafter more by forrain then domestick interest 11. A learned pen makes a just complaint The contest betwixt Commen and Canon Law how onely to be reconciled that b Lord Bacen in his advancement of Learning pag. 463. Aphorisme 96. Courts which should distribute peace do themselves practice duels whilest it is counted the part of a resolute Judge to enlarge the priviledge of his Court A grievance most visible in contest betwixt the Common and the Canon Law which as if they were stars of so different an Horizon that the elevation of the one necessitated the depression of the other lie at catch and wait advantages one against another So that whilest both might continue in a convenient and healthful habitude if such envious corrivalitie were deposed now alternately those Courts swell to a tympany or waste to a consumption as their Judges finde themselves more or less strength'ned with power or befriended with favour A mischief not to be remedied till either that mutual consent or a predominant power to both impartially state their jurisdictions rightly seting down the land-marks thereof and binding their proceedings not to exceed their bounds which would both advance learning and expedite the execution of Justice 12. To return to King William King William his Charter to the Clergie As He conferred power on so he confirmed profit to the Clergie Witness his c See it at large in Mr. Selden of tythes cap. 8. pag. 225. Charter granting them thorowout England tythes of calves colts lambs milk butter cheese woods meadows mills c. Which Charter is concluded 't is the strong hem keeps all the cloth from reveling out Qui decimam detinuerit per justitiam Episcopi Regis si necesse fuerit ad redditionem d Others read it adigatur Let him be compelled â—rguatar Who shall detain his tythes by the power of the Bishop and King if need be let him be argued into the payment thereof And Kings arguments we know are unanswerable as aâ— authoritate carrying power and pehalties with them This Charter might seem to give the tenth loaf of all the bread in the land into the hands of the English Clergie But the municipal laws which were afterwards made did so chip and pare this loaf with their Modus decimandi that in many places Vicaridges especially a small shiver of bread fals to the share of the Minister not enough for his necessary maintenance 13. And here Two contrary characters of King William to make a short but needful digression I finde in eminent Writers two contrary characters of King William Some make him an arrand Tyrant ruling onely by the Magna Charta of his own will oppressing all English without cause
or measure No author need to be alledged for the avouching thereof the thing being author for it self being so notoriously known and generally believed Others make him to quit his title by Conquest and hold the Crown partly by Bequest from King Edward the Confessor whose good laws he is said to confirm Leges boni Regis Edvardi quas Gulielmus bastardus postea e See Mr Selden ut suprd confirmavit and partly by compact with his people Yea the Chronicles of Lichfield make him to call a Parliament in effect I mean a Meeting of his Clergie and Nobility in a great Councel where as if he had turn'd perfect English-man he conformed his practice to their ancient constitutions 14. Should I interpose between these opposite parties to reconcile them Our endeavours to compass the difference probably the blows from both sides would fall heavy on my charitable indiscretion Yet thus far I will be bold to say such confirmation of King Edward's law if made by King William probably was rather oral and verbal then real and effectual But if real certainly it was not general but limited to some particular place as the Province of Kent the English land of Goshen which alone enjoyed the light of liberty though rather gotten by them then given unto them But if any will contend that this confirmation was general they must confess it done in the later end of his Reign King William when yong lov'd honor when old ease when yong to conquer when old to enjoy Age will make all to stoop as here it bowed him to a better compliance with his people However this his confirmation of King Edward's Laws was not such as either gave general content to or begat assured confidence in the English perchance because but a personal act and but partially done and no whit obligatory of his posterity This made the English press so importunately though in vain to William Rufus the King's son and successor for a re-confirmation of King Edward's Laws which had been needless as being the same with actum agere or rather dacum petere had the former grant from King William his father been conceived sufficient for their security 15. As for King William's particular bounty to Battle-Abby in Sussex King William his bounty to Battle-Abby which he founded it bare better proportion to the dignity of the giver 15. then to the deserts of the receivers 1081. For besides those priviledges formerly a In the first paragr of this book mentioned he gave it all the land within a league of the site thereof He ordered that no forreiner should be obtruded on their Abbey but in every vacancy one of their own Covent should be elected Abbot thereof except which heavens forbid no fit person should be found therein for that preferment Nor should the Abbot be forced to appear at any Synod or meeting except pleased of himself so to do These and many moe immunities he confirmed to that foundation in such an imperious stile as if therewith he meant to bluster all future Princes and King Henry the eighth among the rest into a perfect obedience unto his commands Especially with that clause in his Charter Nullus Successorum meorum violare praesumat But dead King's Charters though they have tongues to threaten yet have no teeth to bite especially when meeting with an equal after-after-power to rescind them 16. The more the pitty His hard dealing with the Students at Oxford that such drones lazy Abby-lubbers went away with the honey whilest the industrious Bees were almost starved I mean the Scholars of Oxford For at the coming in of the Conqueror the Students in Vniversity-Colledg formerly founded by King Alfred were maintained by pensions yearly paid them out of the King's Exchequer which provision was then conceived both most honourable as immediately depending on the Crown and less troublesome issuing out in ready coine free from vexatious suits casualties of Tenants and other incumbrances But now King William who loved that the tide of wealth should flow into but not ebb out of his coffers detained and denied their b Ex monumentis Gollegii Vniversitatis exhibitions Yea the King pick'd a quarrel with them because they sought to preserve and propagate the English tongue which the King designed to suppress and to reduce all to the French Language And yet the French speech was so far from final prevailing in this Kingdom that it was fain at last to come to a composition with the English tongue mixed together as they remain at this day Save that in termes of Law Venarie and Blazon the French seemeth foly to command The Scholars thus deprived of their pensions liv'd on the charity of c Br. Twine in Antiq Academ Oxon. pag. 215. such as lov'd the continuance of their native tongue Their Latin was then maintained by their English though surely it was no small disturbance to their studies meerly to depend for their subsistence on the arbitrary alms of others 17. Pass we now from King William unto Lanckfranck Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Lanckfranck most kindley treated by the Pope next the King then the most considerable person in our Ecclesiastical History To Rome he went with Thomas elect of York and Remigius of Lincoln all three for confirmation from the Pope in their preferment Pope Alexander treated Lanckfranck so civilly that a stranger if beholding the passages betwixt them haply might have mistook Lanckfranck for the Pope and the Pope for the Petitioner His Highness honoured him as his Master cujus studio sumus in illis quae scimus imbuti by whose care said he we have been instructed in those things whereof we have knowledg 18. Then Lanckfranck charged Thomas in the presence of the Pope His charge against Thomas elect of York as canonically uncapable of that Arch-Bishoprick because the son of a Priest And yet by Lanckfrancks leave no Canon can be produced then in force to debar Priests sons from preferment though some few years after in the Councel of Clermont such a prohibition was made And therefore a Novorum lib. 1. pag. 7. Eadmerus speaking of Lanckfranck calumniatus est Thomam coram Papâ in the proper acception of his words speaks more truth then he was aware of or probably did intend But Lanckfranck being a Privado to the Popes projects and as well to the intentions as the actions of the Church of Rome might by a Prolepsis antedate this objection against Thomas using it for the present as a rub to retard him which some years after was constituted a legal obstacle to exclude any Priests son from promotion But even when that Canon some years after was made the Pope was not so cruel as thereby fully and finally to exclude all Priests sons from Church dignity but onely to shut them out for a time that they might stand at the door and knock I mean with the chink of their money and at
is a great deal when it must be taken from a new-shorne sheep so pilled and polled were all people before with constant exactions Such whom his hard usage forced beyond the seas were recalled by his Proclamation So that his heavy leavies would not suffer them to live here and his hard Laws would not permit them to depart hence And when the Clergy complain'd unto him to be eased of their burdens I beseech you said he have ye not coffins of gold and silver for dead mens bones intimating that the same treasure might otherwise be better imployed 36. The streams of discord began now to swell high variance between the King and Anselme betwixt the King and Arch-Bishop Anselme flowing principally from this occasion At this time there were two Popes together so that the Eagle with two heads the Arms of the Empire might now as properly have fitted the Papacy for the present Of these the one Guibertus I may call the Lay-Pope because made by Henry the Emperor the other Vrban the Clergy-Pope chosen by the Conclave of Cardinals Now because like unto like King William sided with the former whilest Anselme as earnestly adhered to Vrban in his affections desiring to receive his Pall from him which the King resused to permit Hereupon Anselme appealed to his Pope whereat King William was highly offended 37. But Their several pleadings and present reconcilement because none are able so emphatically to tell their stories and plead their causes as themselves take them in them in their own words The King Objected The custome from my Father's time hath been in England that no person should appeal to the Pope without the Kings license He that breaketh the customs of my Realm violateth the power and Crown of my Kingdom He that violateth and taketh away my Crown is a Traytor and enemy against me Anselme Answered The Lord hath discussed this question Give unto Cesar the things that are Cesars and unto God the things that are Gods In such things as belong to the terrene dignities of temporal Princes I will pay my obedience but Christ said Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church c. Whose Vicar he ought to obey in spiritual matters and the fetching of his Pall was of that nature At last an expedient was found out that Anselme should not want his Pall nor fetch it himself from Rome being by the King's consent brought to him by Gualter Pope Urban's Legate whom the King at last was fain to acknowledg and so all things for the present reconciled 38. But the wound betwixt them was rather skinned over They disagree again then perfectly healed and afterwards brake out again the King taking occasion of displeasure at Anselmes backwardness to assist him in his expedition into Wales Whereupon Anselme desired a second journey to Rome there to bemoan and probably to relieve himself by complaint to the Pope But the King stopt his voyage affirming that Anselme had led so pious a life he need crave no absolution at Rome and was so well stored with learning that he needed not to borrow any counsel there Yea said the King Vrban had rather give place to the wisdom of Anselme then Anselme have need of Urban In fine after much contesting Anselme secretly stole out of the Realm and the King seized all his goods and lands into his own coffers Three years was he in exile somtimes at Lions sometimes at Rome welcome wheresoever he came and very serviceable to the Church by his pious living painfull preaching learned writing and solid disputing especially in the general Councel of Bar where he was very useful in confuting and condemning the errours of the Greek-Church about the Procession of the Holy Spirit 39. King Rufus was a hunting in New-Forest 14. Aug. 2. which was made by King William 1100 his Father King Rufus his death not so much out of pleasure or love of the game as policy to clear and secure to himself a fair and large landing-place for his forces out of Normandy if occasion did require Here then was a great devastation of Towns and Temples the place being turned into a wilderness for Men to make a Paradise for Deer God seemed displeased hereat for amongst other Tragedies of the Conquerors family acted in this place Rufus was here slain by the glancing of an arrow shot by S r Walter Tirrel An unhappy name to the Kings of England this man casually and another wilfully S r James Tirrel employed in the murthering of King Edward the fifth having their hands in royal bloud Now it is seasonably remembred that some yeers since this King William had a desperate disease whereof he made but bad use after his recovery and therefore now Divine Justice would not the second time send him the summons of a solemn visitation by sickness but even surprized him by a sudden and unexpected death 40. Thus died King William Rufus His hurial and character leaving no issue and was buried faith my a John Bromton pag. 997. Author at Winchester multorum Procerum conventu paucorum verò planctu many Noble-men meeting but few mourning at his funerals Yet some who grieved not for his death grieved at the manner thereof and of all mourners Anselme though in exile in France expressed most cordial sorrow at the news of his death A valiant and prosperous Prince but condemn'd by Historians for covetousness cruelty and wantonness though no woman by name is mentioned for his Concubine probably because thrifty in his lust with mean and obscure persons But let it be taken into serious consideration that no pen hath originally written the life of this King but what was made by a Monkish pen-knife and no wonder if his picture seem bad which was drawn by his enemy And he may be supposed to fare the worse for his opposition to the Romish usurpation having this good quality to suffer none but himself to abuse his Subjects stoutly resisting all payments of the Popes imposing Yea as great an enemy as he was conceiv'd to the Church he gave to the Monks called De Charitate the great new Church of S t Saviours in Bermondsey with the Manor thereof as also of Charlton in Kent 41. Henry Beauclarke Henry the first succeedeth Rufus and is crowned his brother succeeded him in the Throne one that crossed the common Proverb The greatest Clerks are not the wisest men being one of the most profoundest Scholars and most politick Princes in his generation He was Crowned about four dayes after his brothers death Anno Dom. 1100. At that time Anno Regis Hen. 1. the present providing of good swords was accounted more essential to a Kings Coronation then the long preparing of gay clothes Such preparatory pomp as was used in after-ages at this Ceremony was now conceived not onely useless but dangerous speed being safest to supply the vacancy of the Throne To ingratiate himself to
they have honest persons witnesses of their Conversation 3. That no Arch-Deaconries be let out to farm 4. That all Arch-Deacons be Deacons 5. That no Arch-Deacon Priest Deacon or * Aliâ—er being Canonical Canon marry a wife or retain one being married unto him and that every sub-Deacon who is not a Canon if he have married after his Profession made of Chastity be bound by the same Rule Here what a grave Author Anno Regis Hen. 1 3. almost of the same Age Anno Dom. 1102. saith of this Constitution a Henricus Huntingdon Historiaâ—um lib. 7. pag. 217. Hoc quibusdam mundissimum visum est quibusdam periculosum nè dum munditias viribus majores Sacerdotes appeterent in immunditias horribiles ad Christiani nominis summum dedecus inciderent And as Jordan wanting a Vent or Influx like other Rivers into the Ocean loseth its Current at last in a filthy lake or dead sea of its own making So it was to be feared that these men now debarr'd that remedy for their weakness which God who best knew the Constitution of his own Creatures hath Provided setled themselves in some unclean wayes and most mortal filthiness occasion by this prohibition 6. That a Priest so long as he keeps unlawful Conversation with a Woman understand his own Wife is not legal nor rightly celebrateth the Mass nor is his Mass to be heard if he celebrate it 7. That none be admitted to the Order of Sub-Deacon or upwards without the profession of Chastity 8. That the Sons of Priests be not made heirs to the Church of their Fathers 9. That no Clerks be Provosts or Proctors of Secular matters or JUDGES IN BLOUD This is the reason saith the Appendix to b Pag. 746. in Catalogo Religiosarum Aedium Harpsfield reporting is no approving of his judgment why Bishops being arraigned for their Lives are not to be tried by their Peers but by a jury of ordinary men because debarred by their Canons to be Judges of Lay-Peers in like cases and therefore it was conceiv'd unfitting that they should receive that honour which they could not return 10. That Priests should not go to Publick Drinkings nec ad * Hence probably the Proverb He is in a merry Pin. pinnas bibant not drink at Pins This was a Dutch trick but now used in England of Artificial Drunkenness out of a Cup marked with certain Pins and he accounted the Man who could nick the Pin drinking even unto it whereas to go above or beneath it was a forfeiture 11. That the Garments of Clergie-men be of one colour and their Shooes according to order 12. That Monks and Clerks that have cast off their Order either return thereto or be excommunicated 13. That Clerks have CROWNS PATENT so that their shaving be conspicuous to the beholder 14. That Tythes be given to none but to Churches 15. That Churches or Prebends be not bought 16. That new Chappels be not made without the consent of the Bishop 17. That no Church be Consecrated until necessaries be provided for the Priest and Church 18. That Abbots make no Knights and that they eat and sleep in the same house with their Monks except some necessity forbid It appeareth it was the Ancient Custom of Abbots in this Age to make Knights Thus c Ingulsus pag. 512. Edict Londin Brando the Abbot of S t Edmunds-bury Knighted Heward his Nephew having first confessed his sins and received absolution Indeed in those dayes mens mindes were so possessed that they thought nothing well and fortunately done but what came from Church-men Whereupon he that was to be made a Knight first offered his sword upon the Altar and after the Gospel read the Priest put the sword first hallowed upon the Knights neck with his d Camdens Brit. pag. 173. Benedictum and so having heard Mass again and received the Sacrament he became a lawful Knight And seeing the HOLY WAR now was begun Anno Dom. 1105 no wonder if Church-men made Knights Anno Regis Hen. 16. And that Age conceived that a Knights Sword dipt in Holy water was well tempered and became true metal indeed Why Abbots were now prohibited to confer this honor the cause is not rendred Whether because it made KNIGHTWOOD too common or that this Priviledg was reserved onely for higher Prelates such as Bishop and Arch-Bishop were or that it was an incroachment upon the Royal dignity it being as proper for Kings to ordain Priests as for Abbots to dub Knights This is most sure that notwithstanding this Canon a J. Selden ad Eadmer specilegium pag. 207. King Henry the first some years after granted and King John confirmed to the Abbot of Reading the power of Knighting persons with some cautions of their behaviour therein 19. That Monks enjoyn no Pennance to any without permission of their Abbot and that onely to such persons whereof they have cure of Souls 20. That Monks and Nuns be not God-fathers or God-mothers 21. That Monks hold no Lands in Farm 22. That Monks take no Churches by the Bishops and that they spoyl not such as are given unto them of the Revenues but so that the Priests serving in those Cures and the Churches might be provided with necessaries 23. That Faith in way of marriage pledged secretly and without witness betwixt man and woman be of no effect if either party do deny it 24. That Criniti such as wear long hair be so shaven that part of their Ears may appear and their Eyes not be covered Criniti are opposed to Tonsi extended to all Lay-persons If any demand how it came within the cognizance of the Church to provide about their trimming which might well have been left to the parties pleasure and his Barbars skill know this Canon was built on the Apostles Words b 1 Cor. 11. 14. doth not even nature it self teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him And the Church forbad whatsoever was a Trespass against Christian decency c De excid Britan. fo1 6. Gildas giveth this Character of the Picts Furciferos magis vultus pilos quam Corporum pudenda vestibus tegentes that they covered rather their Thievish Eyes with their hair then their shame with Cloaths which Ruffin-like custom of long hair now used by the Normans was here justly restrained 25. That parties akin to the Seventh Generation be not coupled in marriage and that persons so coupled remain not in Marriage and if any be privy to this Incest and not declare it let him know himself to be guilty of the same crime This brought much Grist to the Popes Mill for Dispensations As secular Princes used to stop travellers on common Bridges or at the entrance of Gates not with intent finally to forbid their going further but ot receive Tole or Custom for their passing by So the Pope prohibited these degrees in marriage not absolutely ot hinder such matches but
to receive large summes of money for his leave after whose faculties obtained if such marriage were against the Law of God men did sin not with less guiltiness but more Expences 26. That the Bodies of the Dead be not carried to be buried out of their own Parishes so that the Parish Priest should lose his due unto him 27. That none out of a rash novelty which we know to have happened exhibit reverence of Holiness to any Bodies of the Dead fountains or other things without Authority from the Bishop 28. That none persume hereafter what hitherto men used in England to sell Men like bruite Beasts Anno Dom. 1102. This Constitution as all others which concerned the Subjects Civil right found not general obedience in the Kingdom For the proceedings of the Canon Law were never wholly received into practice in the Land but so as made subject in whatsoever touched temporals to secular Laws and national Customs And the Laytie at pleasure limited Canons in this behalf Nor were such sales of servants being mens proper goods so a See Mr Selden spicileg ad Eadmerum pag. 208. weakned with this prohibition but that long after they remained legal according to the Laws of the Land 29. That the sin of Sodometry both in Clergie and Laytie should be punished with heavy Censures Remarkable that the same Synod which forbad Priests Marriage found it needful to punish Sodometry an Italian Vice beginning now to be naturaliz'd in England For those who endeavour to make the way to heaven narrower then God hath made it by prohibiting what he permits do in event make the way to hell wider occasioning the committing of such sins which God hath forbidden We may further observe that the plaister now applied to the rotten sore of Sodometry was too gentle too narrow and too little time laid on Too gentle for whereas the sin is conceived to deserve death it was onely slubber'd over that the party convict of this Wickedness if in Orders was admitted to no higher honour and deposed from what he had till restored again on his repentance Too narrow if it be true what one observes that b Bale in the Acts of English Votaries second part chap. 74. MONKS as neither merely Lay nor Priests were not threatned with this Curse where all was hidden in Cloysters Lastly too little time laid on for whereas at first it was constituted that such Excommunication of Sodomites convicted should solemnly be renewed every Lords Day this short-liv'd Canon did die in the birth thereof and Anselme himself c Eadmerus ut prius postponi concessit suffered it to be omitted on pretence that it put beastly thoughts into many mens mindes whose corruption abused the punishment of sin in the provocation thereof whilest others conceive this relaxation indulged in favour to some great offenders who hardened in Conscience but tender in Credit could not endure to be so solemnly publickly and frequently grated with the shame of the sin they had committed So much for the Constitutions of that Synod wherein though Canons were provided for Priests Cap a Pe from the shavnig to the shooes yet not a syllable of their instructing the people and preaching Gods word unto them We must not forget that men guilty of Simony in the first Canon are not taken in the Vulgar acception for such as were promoted to their places by money but in a new coyned sence of that word for those who were advanced to their Dignities by investiture from the King which gave occasion to the long and hot Broil happening betwixt King Henry and Anselme which now we come to relate 4. The King commanded him to Consecrate such Bishops 4. as he lately had invested 1103 namely An selme refuseth to consecrate the Kings Bishops William of Winchester Roger of Hereford c. which Anselme refused because flatly against the Canon newly made in the Councel of Rome by Pope Vrban that any who had their entrance by the Authority of temporal Princes should be admitted to Bishopricks Hereupon the King enjoyned Gerard Arch-Bishop of York to Consecrate them who out of opposition to Anselme his Competitour was as officious to comply with the King King as the other was backward Anno Dom. 1105. hoping thereby to hitch his Church a degree the higher Anno Regis Hen. 16. by help of his Royal Favour Here hapned an unexpected accident For William Bishop of Winchester refused Consecration from the Arch-Bishop of York and resigned his staff and ring back again to the King as illegally from him This discomposed all the rest For whereas more then the moity of Ecclesiastical persons in England were all in the same condemnation as invested by the King the very multitude of offenders would have excused the offence if loyal to their own cause Whereas now this defection of the Bishop of Winchester so brake the ranks and maimed their entireness that their cause thereby was cast by their own confession and so a party raised among them against themselves 5. Soon after Anselme sent to Rome the King was contented that Anselme should go to Rome to know the Popes pleasure herein But one none of the Conclave without a prophetical spirit might easily have foretold the resolution of his Holiness herein never to part with power whereof how injuriously soever though but pretendedly possessed Anselme for his complyance with the Pope herein is forbidden to return into England while the King seiseth on his temporalities 6. However The king parts with his investing of Bishops not log after 1106. by mediation of friends 7. they are reconciled the King disclaiming his right of Investitures a weak and timerous act of so wise and valiant a Prince whose Predecessors before the Conquest held this power though some time loosely in their own hands and his Predecessors since the Conquest grasp'd it fast in their fist in defiance of such Popes as would finger it from them Whereas now he let it go out of his hand whilest his Successors in vain though with a long arme reach't after it to recover it And now Anselme who formerly refused consecrated all the Bishops of vacant Sees amongst whom Roger of Sarisbury was a prime person first preferred to the Kings notice because he began prayers quickly and caded them speedily for which quality he was commended as fittest for a Chaplain in the Camp and was not unwelcome to the Court on the same account 7. Anselme having devested the King of investing Bishops one of the fairest roles in his Ward-robe did soon after deprive the Clergie of one half of themselves Anselme forbids Priests marriage For in a solemn Synod he forbad Priests Marriage wherein 1107 as charitably we believe 8. his intentions pious and commendable and patiently behold his pretences specious and plausible so we can not but pronounce his performance for the present injurious and culpable and the effects thereof
for the future pernicious and damnable And here we will a little enlarge our selves on this subject of so high concernment 8. It is confessed on all sides Onely by a Church Constitution that there is no express in Scripture to prohibit Priests Marriage a In. 2. ◠q all 88. art 11. Thomas and b Lib 7. de Justitia quaest 5. aru◠2. Scotus commonly cross as if reason enough for the later to deny because the former affirmed it do both such the strength of truth agree herein Onely Ecclesiastical Constitutions forbid them Marriage And though many Popes tampered hereat none effectually did drive the nail to the head till Hildebrand alias Gregory the seventh the better man the better deed finally interdicted Priests Marriage However his Constitutions though observed in Italy and France were not generally obeyed in England till Anselme at last forbad Married Priests to officiate or any Lay-people under pain of censure to be present at their Church-service 9. Herein he proceeded on two erroneous principles Grounded on double error One that all men have or may have if using the means the gift of Continencie Wherein they do not distinguish betwixt 1. Common gifis which God bestoweth on all his servants Jude v. 3. Common salvation 2. Proper gifts thus the c 1 Cor. 7. 7. Apostle when he had wished al like himself that is able to contain he immediately addeth Anno Regis Hen. 18. But every man hath his proper gift of God one after this manner and another after that His other false supposition is That Marriage is either inconfistent with or at least impeditive to the purity of Priestly profession 10. The falsnefs whereof appeareth by the precedent of Henoch Paramount holiness in a married person in whom met the threefold capacity of King Priest and Prophet Yet his Marriage remitted not the reins of his Princely power hindered not the performance of his Sacerdotal function rebated not the edg of his Prophetical spirit for a Gen. 5. 22. He walked with God and begat sons and daughters He made not a prayer the less for having a childe the more and let us be but alike holy with Enoch and let others be more holy with Anselme 11. Wherefore when the b Cor. 7. 33. Apostle saith He that is married careth for the things which are of this world how he may please his wife St Paul expounded therein he describeth not that height of God-pleasing which Marriage ought and in it self may and by Enoch was improved but expresseth such faults which through humane corruption too commonly come to pass Which are vita mariti non matrimonii uxoris non uxoratus flowing neither from the essence nor from the exercise of Marriage but onely from the depraved use thereof which by Gods assistance and mans best endeavours may be rectified and amended 12. It is therefore falsly charged on Marriage quà Marriage And marriage defended that it is an hinderance to Hospitality starving the poor to feed a family It is confessed it would break Marriage if caeteris paribus she should offer to vie bounty with Virginity onely she may equal Virginity in cheerfulness of her giving and in the discreet choise of fit objects whereon to bestow it Yet give me leave to say in a married family there be commonly most mouthes and where most mouthes there probably most bread is eaten and where most bread is eaten there certainly most crums fall beneath the table so that the poor are feasted by those fragments If any rejoyn that single folke bestow their almes not by crums but whole loaves the worst I wish is that poor people may finde the truth thereof Nor doth the having of children quà children make men covetous seeing Solómon saw a man c Eccles 4. 8. who had neither childe nor brother yet his eye was not satisfied with riches On the other side I finde two in one and the same d Gen. 33. 9. 11. Chapter professing they had enough viz. Esau and Jacob both of them married both of them parents of many children 13. And here well may we wonder at the partiality of the Papists over-exalting Marriage in the Laity A Monks verses as bald as his crown to a Sacrament and too much depressing the same in Priests as no better then refined fornication Yea some have made Virginity the corn and Marriage the cockle which is a wonder that they should be of several kindes seeing Virginity is but the fruit and Marriage the root thereof But amongst all the foul mouthes belibelling Marriage one rayling Rythmer of Anselmes age bore away the bell drinking surely of styx instead of Helicon and I am confident my translation is good enough for his bald verses e Found in Ramsey Abbey in a Treatise De Monicatu cited by John Bale O malè viventes versus audite sequentes Vxores vestras quas odit summa potestas Linquite propter eum tenuit quit morte trophaeum Quod si non facitis inferni claustra petetis Christi Sponsa jubet nè Presbyter ille ministret Qui tenet uxorem Domini quia perdit amorem Contradicentes fore dicimus insipientes Non ex rancore loquor haec potius sed amore O ye that ill live attention give unto my following rhythmes Your wives those dear mates whom the highest power hates see that ye leave them betimes Leave them for his sake who a conquest did make and a crown and a cross did acquire If any sayno I give them to know they must all unto Hell for their hire The Spouse of Christ forbids that Priest his ministerial function Because he did part with Christ in his heart at his marriage-conjunction We count them all mad if any so bad as daring herein to contest Nor is it of spight that this I indite but out of pure love I protest Where did this rayling Monk ever read that God hated the wives of Priests And did not the Church of Rome at this time come under the character of that defection describbed by the a 1 Tim. 4. 1. Apostle That in the latter times some should depart from the fatih sorbidding to marry c. 14. These endeavour as they are deeply concerned to wipe off from themselves this badge of Antichrist by pleading that 1. They forbid Marriage to 2. They force Priesthood on no man Onely they require of those who freely will enter into the Priesthood to vow virginity and command such to part with their wives who were formerly entered into Orders 15. All which is alledged by them but in vain Well stopped up seeing marriage may be forbidden either directly or consequentially For the first none well in their wits consulting their credit did ever point-blank forbid marriage to all people Such would be held as hostes humani generis enemies of man-kinde in their destructive doctrines Nor did any ever absolutely as it followeth in the same text
Sons having much of the Mother in them grew up as in Age in obstinacy against him His Subjects but especially the Bishops being the greatest Castle mongers in that Age very stubborn and not easily to be ordered 54. Mean time one may justly admire What became of Maud the Empress than no mention in Authors is made of nor provisions for Maud the Kings Mother surviving some years after her Son's Coronation in whom during her life 〈◊〉 lay the real right to the Crown 〈◊〉 Yet say not King Henries policy was little in preferring to take his Title from an Usurper by adoption rather then from his own Mother the rightful heir by succession and his piety less in not attending his Mothers death but snatching the Scepter out of her hand seeing no Writer ever chargeth him with the least degree of undutifulness unto her Which leadeth us to believe that this Maud worn out with age and afflictions willingly waved the Crown and reigned in her own contentment in seeing her Son reign before her 55. Those who were most able to advise themselves 1. are most willing to be advised by others 1155. as appeared by this politick Prince The body of the Common-Law compiled Presently he chuseth a Privy Councel of Clergie and Temporalty and refineth the Common Laws Yea towards the end of his Reign began the use of our Itiâ—erant Judges The platform hereof he fetch'd from France where he had his education and where Charles the Bald some hundred of years before had divided his Land into twelve parts assigning several Judges for administration of Justice therein Our Henry parcelled England into six Divisions and appointed three Judges to every Circuit annually to visit the same Succeeding Kings though changing the limits have kept the same number of Circuits and let the skilful in Arithmetick cast it up whether our Nation receiveth any loss by the change of three Judges every year according to Henry the second 's Institution into two Judges twice a year as long since hath been accustomed 56. The Laws thus setled King Henry cast his eye on the numerous Castles in England 2. As a good reason of State formerly perswaded the building 1156. so a better pleaded now for the demolishing of them Castles demolished William the Conqueror built most of them and then put them into the custody of his Norman Lords thereby to awe the English into obedience But these Norman Lords in the next generation by breathing in English ayre and wedding with English wives became so perfectly Anglized and lovers of Liberty that they would stand on their guard against the King on any petty discontentment If their Castles which were of proof against Bowes and Arrows the Artillery of that Age could but bear the brunt of a sudden assault they were priviledged from any solemn Siege by their meanness and multitude as whose several beleguerings would not compensate the cost thereof Thus as in foul bodies the Physick in process of time groweth so friendly and familiar with the disease that they at last side together and both take part against Nature in the Patient so here it came to pass that these Castles intended for the quenching in continuance of time occasioned the kindling of Rebellion To prevent farther mischief King Henry razed most of them to the ground and secured the rest of greater consequence into the hands of his Confidents if any ask how these Castles belong to our Church-History know that Bishops of all in that Age were the greatest Traders in such Fortifications 57. Thomas Becket Thomas Becket L. Chancellor of England born in London and though as yet but a Deacon Arch-Deacon of Canterbury Doctor of Canon-Law bred in the Universities of Oxford Paris Bononia was by the King made Lord Chancellor of England During which his office who braver then Becket None in the Court wore more costly clothes Anno Dom. 1158. mounted more stately steeds made more sumptuous feasts kept more jovial company brake more merry jests used more pleasant pastimes In a word he was so perfect a Lay-man that his Parsonages of Bromfield and S t Mary-hill in London with other Ecclesiastical Cures whereof he was Pastor might even look all to themselves he taking no care to discharge them This is that Becket whose mention is so much in English and miracles so many in Popish writers We will contract his acts in proportion to our History remitting the Reader to be satisfied in the rest from other Authors 58. Four years after His great reformation being made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury upon the death of Theobald 1162 Becket was made by the King 8. Arch-Bishop of Canterbury The first Englishman since the Conquest and he but a mongrel for his mother was a Syrian the intercourse of the Holy-War in that age making matches betwixt many strangers who was preferred to that place And now if the Monks their writing his life may be believed followed in him a great and strange Metamorphosis Instantly his cloaths were reformed to gravity his diet reduced to necessity his company confined to the Clergie his expences contracted to frugality his mirth retrenched to austerity all his pastimes so devoured by his piety that none could see the former Chancellor Becket in the present Arch-Bishop Becket Yea they report that his clothes were built three stories high next his skin he was a Hermite and wore sack-cloth in the midd he had the habit of a Monk and above all wore the garments of an Arch-Bishop Now that he might the more effectually attend his Archiepiscopal charge he resigned his Chancellors place whereat the King was not a little offended It added to his anger that his patience was daylie pressed with the importunate petitions of people complaining that Becket injured them Though generally he did but recover to his Church such possessions as by their covetousness and his predecessors connivence had formerly been detained from it 59. But A stubborn defender of the vicious Clergy against secular Magistrates the main matter incensing the King against him was his stubborn defending the Clergie from the secular power and particularly what a great fire doth a small spark kindle that a Clerk having killed and stolen a Deer ought not to be brought before the Civil Magistrate for his punishment Such impunities breeding impieties turned the house of God into a den of thieves many rapes riots robberies murders were then committed by the Clergie If it be rendered as a reason of the viciousness of Adonijah that his father never said unto him a 1 King 1. 6. Why doest thou so No wonder if the Clergy of this age were guilty of great crimes whom neither the King nor his Judges durst call to an account And seeing Ecclesiastical censures extend not to the taking away of life or lim such Clerks as were guilty of capital faults were either altogether acquitted or had onely penance inflicted upon
them a punishment far lighter then the offence did deserve Indeed it is most meet in matters meerly Ecclesiastical touching the Word and Sacraments Clergy-men be onely answerable for their faults to their spiritual superiors as most proper and best able to discern and censure the same And in cases criminal it is unfit that Ministers should be summoned before each proud pettish petulant pragmatical secular under-officer However in such causes to be wholly exempted from civil power is a priviledge which with reason cannot be desired of them nor with justice indulged unto them Sure I am Abiathar though High-Priest was convented before and deposed by Solomon for his practising of treason And S t Paul saith Rom. 13. 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers 60. To retrench these enormities of the Clergy 1164. the King called a Parliament at Clarendon 10. near Sarisbury and not in Normandy He incurs the Kings displeasure as Mr Fox will have it intending with the consent of his great Councel to confirm some severe Laws of his Grand-father King Henry the first To these Laws See them at large in Mat. Paris sixteen in number Becket with the rest of the Bishops consented and subscribed them But afterwards recanting his own act Anno Regis Hen. 2 10. renounced the same Anno Dom. 1164 Let not therefore the crime of inconstancy be laid too heavily to the charge of Arch-Bishop Cranmer first subscribing then revoking popish articles presented unto him seeing this his name-sake Thomas and predecessor Becket without any stain to his Saintship retracted his own act upon pretence of better information But so highly was Becket offended with himself for his subscription that in revenge for some moneths he suspended himself from all Divine Service his pride and laziness both before and after suspended him from ever preaching and would not be present thereat Hereafter let none hope for more favour from this Arch-Bishop then their fact may deserve seeing he cannot rationally be expected to be courteous to others who was so severe unto himself The best was in this his suspension the knot was not tied so hard as to hurt him who in case of necessity as he had bound so he could loose himself though for the more state of the matter Pope Alexander * Fox his Mon. see the letter at large pag. 269. himself was pleased solemnly to assoil him from his suspension Mean time Becket both in his suspension and absolution most highly offended King Henry who every day the more was alienated from and incensed against him 61. During Beckets abode about Clarendon The vanity of Beckets path he is reported every morning to have walk'd from his lodging some miles to the Kings Palace Where the ground say they called Beckets path at this day presenteth it self to the eyes of the beholders but most quick-sighted if looking through Popish spectacles with the grass and grain growing thereon in a different hew and colour from the rest A thing having in it more of report then truth yet more of truth then wonder the discolourations of such veins of earth being common in grounds elsewhere which never had the happiness of Becket his feet to go upon them 62. But oh He flieth beyond Sea without the Kings consent If Becket's feet had left but the like impression in all the wayes he went how easie had it been for all mens eyes and particularly for our pen to have track'd him in all his travels Who not long after without the consent of the King took Ship sail'd into Flanders thence travelled into the Southern parts of France thence to Pontiniack thence to Senes abiding seven years in banishment But though he served an apprentiship in exile he learned little humility thereby onely altering his name for his more safety from Becket to Derman but retaining all his old nature remitting nothing of his rigid resolutions 63. Now to avoid idleness How employed in his banishment Becket in his banishment variously employed himself First in making and widening breaches between Henry his native Soveraign 11. and Lewis the French King 1165. Secondly in writing many voluminous a See them exemplified at large in Stapleton De Tribus Thomis letters of expostulation to Princes and Prelates Thirdly in letting flie his heavy excommunications against the English Clergie namely against Roger Arch-Bishop of York Gilbert Foliot Bishop of London a learneder man them himself Joceline Bishop of Sarisbury and others His chief quarrel with them was their adherence to the King and particularly because the Arch-Bishop presumed to Crown Henry the King's Son made joynt-King in the life of his Father a priviledge which Becket claimed as proper to himself alone Fourthly in receiving comfort from and returning it to Pope Alexander at Beneventum in Italy 13. Sameness of affliction bred sympathy of affection betwixt them 1167. both being banished the Pope by Frederick Barbarossa the Emperour for his pride and insolency as our Becket smarted for the same fault from King Henry Here also Becket solemnly resigned his Arch-Bishoprick to the Pope as troubled in conscience that he had formerly took it as illegally from the King and the Pope again restored it to him whereby all scruples in his minde were fully satisfied 64. But afterwards by mediation of friends Is reconciled to the King Becket's reconciliation was wrought and leave given him to return into England However the King still retained his temporals in his hand Anno Dom 1167. on weighty considerations Anno Regis Hen. 2. 13. Namely to show their distinct nature from the spirituals of the Arch-Bishoprick to which alone the Pope could restore him Lay-lands being separable from the same as the favour of secular Princes and Becket's bowed knee must own the Kings bountiful hand before he could receive them Besides it would be a caution for his good behaviour 65. Caelum non animum Returns as obstinate as he went over Travellers change climates 1170. not conditions 16. Witness our Becket stubborn he went over stubborn he staied stubborn he return'd Amongst many things which the King desired and he denied he refused to restore the Excommunicated Bishops pretending he had no power indeed he had no will and that they were Excommunicate by his Holiness Yea he instead of recalling his old added new Excommunications and that thunder which long before rumbled in his threatnings now gave the crack upon all those that detained his temporal revenues a Parte posteriâ—â—i Henrici secundi pag. 521. Roger Hoveden reports that upon Christmas-day the better day the better deed he Excommunicated Robert de Broc because the day before he had cut off one of his horses tailes Yea he continued and encreased his insolence against the King and all his subjects 66. Here the King let fall some discontented words Is slain by four Knights in his own Church which
Acts and Monum pag. 493. two hundred and seventy They might well have been brought up to four hundred and made as many as Baals lying Prophets though even then one Propher of the Lord one Micaiah one true miracle were worth them all 70. It is almost incredible The blinde superstition of people what multitudes of people flock'd yearly to Canterbury which City lived by Beckets death especially on his Jubilee or each fifty years after his enshrining No fewer then an hundred c Wil. Somner ut priùs pag. 249. thousand we finde it in words at length and therefore a cipher is not mistaken of English and forrainers repaired hither And though great the odds in hardness between stones and flesh there remains at this day in the marble the prints of their superstition who crept and kneeled to his shrine The revenues whereof by peoples offerings amounted to more then six hundred pounds a year And the same accomptant when coming to set down what then and there was offered to Christ's or the High-Altar dispatcheth all with a blanke Summo Altari nil Yea whereas before Beckets death the Cathedral in Canterbury was called Christ's Church it passed afterwards for the Church of S t Thomas verifying therein the complaint of d John 12. 13. Mary Magdalen Sustuleruat Dominum They have taken away the Lord. Though since by the demolishing of Beckets shrine the Church and that justly hath recovered his true and ancient name SECT II. DOMINO JOANNI WYRLEY DE WYRLEY-HALL In Com. Stafford Equiti Aurato LEx Mahometica jubet ut Turcarum quisque mechanicae arti incumbat Hinc est quòd vel inter Ot tomanicos Imperatores hic faber ille Sartor hic totus est in baltheorum * * Edw. Sandys in suis peregrinationibus bullis ille in Sagittarum pennis concinnandis prout quisque suà indole trahatur Lex mihi partim placet partim displicet Placet industria nè animi otii rubigine obducti sensim torpescerent Displicet ingenuas mentes servili operi damnari cùm humile nimis sit abjectum At utinam vel lex vel legis aemula consuetudo inter Anglos obtineret nt nostrates nobiles ad unum omnes meliori literaturae litarent Hoc si fiat uberrimos fructus Respublica perceptura esset ab illis qui nunc absque Musarum cultu penitus sterilescunt Tu verò Doctissime Miles es perpaucorum hominum qui ingenium Tuum nobilitate premi non sinis sed artes ingenuas quas Oxonii didicisti juvenis vir assiduè colis Gestit itaque Liber noster Te Patrono quo non alter aut in not andis mendis oculatior aut in condonandis clementior 1. EVen amongst all the stripes given him since the death of Becket 20. none made deeper impression in King Henry's soul 1174. then the undutisulness of Henry The undutisulness of young King Henry his eldest Son whom he made the foolish act of a wise King joynt-joynt-King with himself in his life time And as the Father was indiscreet to put off so much of his apparel before he went to bed so the Son was more unnatural in endeavouring to rend the rest from his back and utterly to difrobe him of all Regal power The Clergie were not wahting in their plentiful censures to impute this mischance to the King as a Divine punishment on Beckets death that his natural Son should prove so undutiful to him who himself had been so unmerciful to his spiritual father Anno Dom. 1174. But this rebellious childe pass'd not unpunished Anno Regis Hen. 2. 20. For as he honoured not his Father so his dayes were sew in the land which the Lord gave him And as he made little account of his own father so English Authors make no reckoning of him in the Catalogue of Kings This Henry the third being wholly omitted because dying during the life of his Father 2. But Richard made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury before this Henries death Richard Prior of Dover who divided Kent into three Arch-Deaconries was made Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Indeed the place was first profered to Robert Abbot of Becco in Normandy Sequents of three if he had accepted it Anselme Theobald and this Robert who in the compass of seventy years out of the same Abby were made Arch-Bishops of Canterbury but he refused it as ominous to succeed Becket in his Chair lest he should succeed him in his Coffin and preferr'd a whole skin before an holy Pall. But Richard accepting the place is commended for a milde and moderate man being all for accommodation and his temper the best expedient betwixt the Pope and King pleasing the former with presents the latter with compliance This made him connive at Jeffery Plantaginet his holding the Bishoprick of Lincoln though uncanonicalâ—ess on uncanonicalness met in his person For first he was a bastard Secondly he was never in orders Thirdly he was under age all which irregularities were answered in three words The Kings Son This was that Jeffery who used to protest by the royaltie of the King his Father when a stander by minded him to remember the honesty of his Mother 3. A Synod was call'd at Westminster The controversy betwixt Canterbury York for precedency the Popes Legat being present thereat 1176. on whose right hand sat Richard 22. Arch-Bishop of Canterbury as in his proper place When in springs Roger of York and finding Canterbury so seated fairly sits him down on Canterburie's lap a baby too big to be danced thereon yea Canterbury his servants dandled this lap-childe with a witness who pluck'd him thence and buffeted him to purpose Hence began the brawl which often happened betwixt the two Sees for precedency though hitherto we have pass'd them over in silence not conceiving our selves bound to trouble the Reader every time those Arch-Bishops troubled themselves And though it matters as little to the Reader as to the Writer whether Roger beat Richard or Richard beat Roger yet once for all we will reckon up the arguments which each See alledged for its precedencie Canterburies Title 1. No Catholick person will deny but that the Pope is the fountain of spiritual honor to place and displace at pleasure He first gave the Primary to Canterbury Yea whereas the proper place of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in a general Councel was next the Bishop of S t Ruffinus Anselme and his successors were advanced by Pope Vrban to sit at the Popes right foot as alterius orbis Papa 2. The English Kings have ever allowed the Priority to Canterbury For a Duarchie in the Church viz. two Arch-Bishops equal in power being inconsistent with a Monarchy in the State Anno Regis Hen. 2. 22. they have ever countenanced the superiority of Canterbury Anno Dom. 1176. that the Church-government might be uniform with the Commonwealths 3. Custome hath been accounted a King in all
by him Prophet is become dross and here was the change of Glaucus and Diomedes made as in the sequel of the History will appear 14. Yet we find not that this Fee-farme of a thousand Marks was ever paid either by K. John or by his Successours but that it is all runne on the score even unto this present day Not that the Pope did remit it out of his free bounty but for other Reasons was rather contented to have them use his power therein Perchance suspecting the English Kings would refuse to pay it he accounted it more honour not to demand it then to be denied it Or it may be his Holiness might conceive that accepting of this money might colourably be extended to the cutting him off from all other profits he might gain in the kingdome The truth is he did scorn to take so poor a revenue per annum out of two kingdoms but did rather endeavour to convert all the profits of both Lands to his own use as if he had been seised of all in Demesnes 15. At the same time The proud carriage of Pandulphus to the King King John on his knees surrendred the Crown of England into the hands of Pandulphus and also presented him with some money as the earnest of His subjection which the proud Prelate trampled under his d Matt. Paris pag. 237. feet A gesture applauded by some as shewing how much his Holinesse whom he personated slighted worldly wealth caring as little for King Johns coin as his Predecessour Saint e Acts 8. 20. Peter did for the money of Simon Magus Anno Dom. 1213. Others Anno Regis Joh. 14. and especially H. Arch-Bishop of Dublin then present were both grieved and angry thereat as an intolerable affront to the King and there wanted not those who condemn'd his pride and hypocrisie knowing Pandulphus to be a most greedy griper as appeared by his unconscionable oppression in the Bishoprick of Norwich which was afterwards bestowed upon him And perchance he trampled on it not as being money but because no greater summe thereof Five dayes namely Ascension-day and four dayes after Pandulphus kept the Crown in his possession and then restored it to King John again A long eclipse of Royall lustre and strange it is that no bold Monk in his blundring Chronicles did not adventure to place King Innocent with his five dayes reigne in the Catalogue of English Kings seeing they have written what amounts to as much in this matter 16. Now all the dispute was Peter the prophet hanged whether unjustly disputed whether Peter of Wakefield had acquitted himself a true prophet or no The Romiz'd faction were zealous in his behalf Iohn after that day not being King in the same sense and Soveraignty as before not free but feodary not absolute but dependent on the Pope whose Legate possess'd the Crown for the time being so that his prediction was true in that lawfull latitude justly allowed to all Prophesies Others because the King was neither naturally nor civilly dead condemn'd him of forgery for which by the Kings command he was dragg'd at the horse-tail from Corf-Castle and with his sonne a Matt. Paris Vt prius hang'd in the Town of Wareham A punishment not undeserved if he foretold as some report that none of the line or linage of King Iohn should after be crowned in England of whose off-spring some shall flourish in free and full power on the English Throne when the Chair of Pestilence shall be burnt to ashes and neither Triple-Crown left at Rome to be worne nor any head there which shall dare to wear it 17. Next year the Interdiction was taken off of the Kingdom The Interdiction of England relaxed and a generall Jubilee of joy all over the Land 1214. Banish'd Bishops being restored to their Sees 15. Service and Sacraments being administred in the Church as before But small reason had King Iohn to rejoyce being come out of Gods Blessing of whom before he immediately held the Crown into the Warm Sunne or rather scorching-heat of the Popes protection which proved little beneficiall unto him 18. A brawl happened betwixt him The Popes Legate arbitrates the arrears betwixt the King and Clergy and the banished Bishops now returned home about satisfaction for their Arrears and reparation of their damages during the Interdiction all which terme the King had retained their revenues in his hands To moderate this matter Nicolas a Tusculane Cardinal and Legat was imployed by the Pope who after many meetings and Synods to audit their Accounts reduced all at last to the gross summe of fourty thousand Marks the restoring whereof by the King unto them was thus divided into three payments 1. Twelve thousand Marks Pandulphus carried over with him into France and delivered them to the Bishops before their return 2. Fifteen thousand were paid down at the late meeting in Reading 3. For the thirteen thousand remaining they had the Kings Oath Bond and other Sureties But then in came the whole crie of the rest of the Clergy who stayed all the while in the Land bringing in the Bills of their severall sufferings and losses sustained occasioned by the Interdiction Yea some had so much avarice and little conscience they could have been contented the Interdiction had still remained untill all the accidentall damages were repaired But Cardinall Nicolas averred them to amount to an incredible summe impossible to bee paid and unreasonable to be demanded adding withall that in generall grievances private men may be glad if the main be made good unto them not descending to petty particulars which are to be cast out of course as inconsiderable in a common calamity Hereupon and on some other occasions much grudging Anno Regis Joh. 16. and justling there was Anno Dom. 1214. betwixt Stephen Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and the Legat as one in his judgement and carriage too propitious and partiall to the Kings cause 19. The remnant of this Kings Reign The Barons rebel against King John afforded little Ecclesiastical Story but what is so complicated with the Interest of State that it is more proper for the Chronicles of the Common-wealth But this is the brief thereof The Barons of England demanded of King John to desist from that arbitrary and tyrannical power he exercised and to restore King Edwards Laws which his great Grand-father King Henrie the first had confirmed to the Church and State for the general good of his Subjects yea and which he himself when lately absolved from the sentence of Excommunication by Stephen Arch-Bishop of Canterburie had solemnly promised to observe But King John though at the first he condescended to their requests afterwards repented of his promise and refused the performance thereof Hereupon the Barons took up Armes against him and called in Lewis Prince of France son to Philip Augustus to their assistance promising him the Crown of England for his reward 20.
Henry so quickly recovered his Kingdom he recovered the entire possession of his Kingdom many things concurring to expedite so great an alteration First the insolency of the French disobliging the English by their cruelty and wantonness Secondly the inconstancy of the English if starting loyalties return to its lawful Soveraign may be so termed who as for their own turns they call'd in Lewis so for their turns they cast him out Thirdly the innocence of Prince Henry whose harmless age as it attracted love to him on his own account so he seemed also hereditarily to succeed to some pitty as the Son of a suffering Father Fourthly the wisdom and valor counsel and courage of William Earl of Pembroke Anno Regis Hen. 3 1. his Protector who Anno Dom. 1217. having got the French Lewis out of his covert of the City of London into the champion field so maul'd him at the fatal battel of Lincoln that soon after the said Lewis was fain by the colour of a composition to qualifie his retreat not to say his flight into the honour of a departure Lastly and chiefly the Mercy of God to an injured Orphan and his Justice that detained right though late yet at last should return to its proper owner 26. But it were not onely uncivil Our Principal design in writing this Kings life but injurious for us to meddle with these matters proper to the pens of the civil Historians We shall therefore confine our selves principally to take notice in this Kings Reign as of the unconscionable extortions of the Court of Rome on the one side to the detriment of the King and Kingdom so of the defence which the King as well as he could made against it Defence which though too faint and feeble fully to recover his right from so potent oppression yet did this good to continue his claim and preserve the title of his priviledges until his Son and Successors in after-ages could more effectually rescue the rights of their Crown from Papal usurpation 27. Indeed at this time many things imboldened the Pope not over-bashful of himself to be the more busie in the collecting of money Occasions of the Popes intolerable extortions First the troublesomness of the times and best fishing for him in such waters Secondly the ignorance of most and the obnoxiousness of some of the English Clergie Now such as had weak heads must finde strong backs and those that led their lives loose durst not carry their purses tied or grudg to pay dear for a connivence at their viciousness Thirdly the minority of King Henry and which was worse his non-age after his full-age such was his weakness of spirit and lowness of resolution Lastly the Pope conceiving that this King got his Crown under the countenance of his excommunicating his enemies thought that either King Henrie's weakness could not see or his goodness would winke at his intolerable extortions which how great soever were but a large shiver of that loaf which he had given into the Kings hand Presuming on the premisses Gualo the Popes Legat by his Inquisitors throughout England collected a vast summe of money of the Clergie for their misdemenours Hugo Bishop of Lincoln paying no less for his share then a thousand a Mat. Paris pag. 299. marks sterling to the Pope and an hundred to this his Legat. Yet when this Gualo departed such as hated his dwelling here grieved at his going hence because fearing a worse in his room chusing rather to be suck'd by full then fresh flies hoping that those already gorg'd would be afterwards less greedy 28. And being now to give the Reader a short account of the long Reign of this King A new design I shall alter my proceedings embracing a new course which hitherto I have not nor hereafter shall venture upon Wherein I hope the variation may be not onely pleasant but profitable to the Reader as scientifical and satisfactory in it self namely I will for the present leave off consulting with the large and numerous Printed or Manuscript Authors of that Age and betake my self only to the Tower-Records all authentically attested under the hands of William Ryley Norroy keeper of that pretious Treasury 29. When I have first exemplified them Good Text what ere the Comments I shall proceed to make such observations upon them as according to my weakness I conceive of greatest concernment being confident that few considerables in that Age which was the crisis of Regal and Papal power in this Land will escape our discovery herein 30. Onely I desire a pardon for the premising of this Touch of State-matters Serenity in the State At this instant the Common-wealth had a great serenity as lately cleared from such active spirits who nick-named the calme and quiet of Peace a sloth of Government Such Falcatius de Brent and others Anno Dom. 1214. who had merited much in setting this Henry the third on the Throne and it is dangerous when Subjects conferr too great benefits on their Sovereigns Anno Regis Hen. 3 7. for afterwards their mindes are onely made capable of receiving more reward not doing more duty These were offended when such Lands and Castles which by the heat of War had unjustly been given them by Peace were justly took away from them finding such uprightness in the King that his Power of Protection would not be made a wrong doer But now the old stock of such male-contents being either worne out with age or ordered otherwise into Obedience all things were in an universal tranquillity within the first seven years of this Kings Reign THOMAE HANSON Amico meo Anno Regis Anno Dom. DIsplicet mihi modernus Scribendi Mos quo Monumenta indies exarantur Literae enim sunt fugaces ut quae non stabili manu penitus Membranis infiguntur sed currente Calamo summam earum Cuticulam vix leviter praestringunt Hae cum saeculum unum alterum duraverint vel Linceis oculis lectu erunt perdifficiles Haud ita olim Archiva in Turre Londinensi Rotulis Scaccario c. deposita in quibus ingens Scribarum cura justa Membranarum firmitas Atramentum vere Aethiopicum integra Literarum lineamenta ut Calamus Praeli Aemulus videatur Ita adhuc vigent omnia in illis quae trecentis ab hinc Annis notata ut Is cui Characteris Antiquitas minus cognita nuperrime descripta judicaret Ex his nonnulla decerpsi ad Rem nostram facientia ea Tibi dedicanda curavi quem omnes norunt Antiquitatis Caniciem venerari Quo in Ducatus Lancastrensis Chartulis custodiendis nemo fidelior perlegendis oculatior communicandis candidior HEre we begin with the Kings Precept to the Sheriff of Buckinghamshire Henriâ— 3. 7 considerable for the Rarity thereof 1214 though otherwise but a matter of private concernment A remarkable writ of the King to the Sheriff of Buckinghamshire Vic. Bucks
Precipimus tibi quod Emme de Pinkney ux Laur. Pinkney qui excommunicatus est eo quod predict Emmam affectione maritali non tractavit eid Emme rationabil Estover invenias donec idem Laur. Vir suus eam tanquam suam tractaverit To the high Sheriff of Buckinghamshire We command you concerning Emme de Pinkney Wife of Laurence Pinkney who is excommunicated because he did not use the foresaid Emme with Affection befitting a Husband that you find for the said Emme Estover in reasonable proportion untill the said Laurence her Husband shall use her as becometh his Wife Of this Laurence Pinkney I can say nothing onely I find his Family ancient and Barons of a Camden Brit. in Northamptonshire Weedon in Northamptonshire Anno Dom. 1214. It seemeth strange he should be excommunicated for not loving usage of his Wife Anno Regis Henrici 3. 7 no Incontinencie appearing proved against him except his carriage was Cruell in a high degree By Estover in our Forrest Towns we only understand A certain allowance of Wood though the extent of the word be far larger importing Nourishment or maintenance in Meat and Cloth as a learned b Bracton lib. 3. Tract 2. c. 18. num 1. Lawyer hath observed This it seems being denied by her husband the King enjoyneth the Sheriff that he should appoint the said Emme Pinkney reasonable Alimony in proportion no doubt to her Portion and her Husband estate 2. Next we take notice of a Writing which the King sent over to the Archbishop of Dublin A remarkable prohibition of Papal appeales and which deserveth the Readers serious perusall 1215 8 REX c Claus S. Henr. 3. numb 24. in dorso Dublin Archiepiscopo Justiciario Hiberniae Salutem Ad ea que vobis nuper nostris dedimus in Mandatis ut nobis rescribertis quatenus fuisset processum in Causa Nicolai de Felda qui contra Abbatem Canonicos S ti Thomae Dublinensis in Curia nostra coram Insticiariis nostris petiit duas Carrucatas Terrae cum pertinentiis in Kelredhery per assisam de morte Antecessoris cui etiam coram eisdem Insticiariis objecta fuit Bastardia propter quod ab ipsis Insticiariis nostris ad vos fuit transmissus ut in Foro Ecclesiastico de ejus Bastardia five Legitimitate agnosceretis nobis per litteras vestras significastis quod cum in Foro ivili Terram predictam peteret per litteras nostras de morte Antecessoris versus memoratos Abbatem Canonicos objecta ei fuit nota Bastardie quare in foro eodem tunc non fuit ulterius processum Memoratus etiam Nicolaus de mandato Insticiariorum nostrorum in Foro Ecclesiastico corā nobis volens probare se esse Legitimum testes produxit publicatis attestationibus suis post diuturn altercationes disputationes tam ex parte Abbatis quam ipsius Nicolai cum ad calculum diffinitive d Noc diphthongs in old Records Sententie procedere velletis comparuerunt due Puelle minoris etatis filie Ricardi de la Feld patris predicti Nicolai appellaverunt ne ad sententiam ferendam procederetis quia hoc in manifestum earum verteretur prejudicium Eo quod alias precluderetur eis via petendi hereditatem petitam nec possit eis subveniri per restitutionem in integrum Unde de consilio vestrorum prudentum ut dicitis Appellationi deferentes causam secundum quod coram nobis agitata est DOMINO PAPE transmisistis instructam De quo plurimum admirantes non immerito movemur cum de Legitimitate predicti Nicolai per restium productiones attestationum publicationes plene nobis constet vos propter appellationem Puellarum predictarum contra quas non agebatur vel etiam de quibus nulla fiebat mentio in assisa memorata nec fuerunt alique partes illarum in causa predicta sententiam diffinitivam pro eo distulstis pronunciare male quasi nostrum declinantes examen volentes ut quod per nostram determinandum esset jurisdictionem dignitatem Anno Regis Henric◠3. 8 ad alienam transferretur dignitatem Anno Dom. 1215 quod valde perniciosum esset exemplo Cum etiam si adeptus esset praedictus Nicholaus possessionem terrae praedictae per assisam praedictam beneficium Peticionis Haereditatis praedictis puellis plane suppeteret in Curia nostra per Breve de Recto maxime cum per litteras de morte Antecessoris agatur de possessione non de proprietate ex officio vestro in casu proposito nihil aliud ad vos pertinebat nisi tantū de ipsius Nicholai Legitimitate probationes admittere ipsum cum litteris vestris Testimonialibus ad Iusticiarios nostros remittere De consilio igitur Magnatum fidelium nobis assistentium vobis mandamus firmiter injungentes quatenus non obstante appellatione praemissa non differatis pro eo sentenciare ipsum ad Iusticiarios nostros remittentes cum litteris vestris testimonialibus ut eis de loquela postmodum agitata postmodum possint secundum legem consuetudinem terrae nostrae Hiberniae Justiciae plenitudinem exhibere Teste Rege apud Glocester 19. die Novembris 3. The summe of this Instrument is this The effect of the Instrument One Nicholas de Feld sueing for a portion of ground detained from him by the Abbot of S t. Thomas in Dublin founded and plentifully endowed in memory of Thomas Becket had Bastardy objected against him The clearing hereof was by the Kings Iudges remitted to the Courts Ecclesiasticall where the said Nicholas produced effectuall proofs for his Legitimation But upon the appeal of two minor-daughters of the Father of the said Nicholas who never before appeared and who if wronged had their remedy at Common-Law by a VVrit of Right the matter was by the Arch-bishop of Dublin transferred to the Court of Rome 4. The King saith in this his Letter Appeale to the Pope prohibited that he did much admire thereat and though all Interests expresse themselves to their own advantage intimates the Act not usuall And whereas he saith that the example would be pernicious it seems if this were a leading case the Kings desire was it should have none to follow it peremptorily injoyning the Arch-bishop notwithstanding the aforesaid Appeal to the Pope to proceed to give Sentence on the behalf of the said Nicholas not to derive the Kings undoubted right to a forreign Power 5. Indeed the Kings of England were so Crest-fallen The time makes it the more remarkable or rather Crown-fallen in this Age that the forbidding of such an Appeal appeareth in him a daring deed Est aliquid prodire tenus Essayes in such nature were remarkable considering the inundation of the Papall Power Green Leaves in the depth of VVinter may be more then full Flowers from the same root in the Spring It seems some Royall
6. Rex dilecto sibi in Christo Archidiacono Glouc. 25 Salutem 1241 Significavimus etiam viva voce exposuimus Magistro P. Rubeo Nuncio Domiin Papae quod non est intentionis nostrae nec etiam volumus aliquatenus sustinere quod vel viros Relligiosos vel Clericum aliquem ad contributionem faciendam ad opus Domini Papae compellant Et ideo vobis mandamus inhibentes districte ne ad mandatum ip sius Magistri Petri vel suorum viros religiosos seu Clericos ad contributionem praedictam faciendam aliqua censura Ecclesiastica compellatis Scituri quod si secus egeritis nos contra vos tanquam perturbatorem Pacis Ecclesiasticae quam conservare tenemur modis quibus expedire viderimus procedemus Teste Rege apud Glouc. 11. die Iunij The King to his beloved in Christ the Archdeacon of Glocester Greeting We have signified also by word of mouth have declared to M r. P. Rubeus Nuncio to the Lord the Pope that it is not our intention nor will we any wayes endure it that they shall compell Religious Men or any Clerk to make a contribution to supply the occasions of the Lord the Pope And therefore we command you strictly forbidding that at the command of the same M r. Peter or any of his officers you compel not any Religious Men or Clerks by any Ecclesiasticall censures to make the aforesaid Contribution Knowing that if you do otherwise we shall proceed against you by means we shall think fit as against the Disturber of the Peace of the Church which we are bound to preserve Witnesse the King at Glocester the 11. of Iune By the way a Nuncio differed from a Legate almost as a Lieger from an extraordinary Ambassodour who though not so ample in his power was as active in his progging to advance the profit of the Pope his Master 23. This Instrument acquainteth us with the Method used by him in mannaging his money matters A free-forced gift Such as refused to pay his demands were proceeded against by Church Censures suspension excommunication c. The cunning Italian to decline to odium imploying the Archdeacons to denounce the same in their respective Iurisdictions Yet this went under the notion of a voluntary contribution Anno Dom. 1241 as free as fire from Flint forced with Steel and strength out of it Anno Regis Henrici 3. 25 24. Whereas the King counted himself bound to preserve the Peace of the Church Spoken like a King the words well became his mouth They seem to me to look like DEFENDER OF THE FAITH as yet but in the Bud and which in due time might grow up to amount to as much For though every Christian in his calling must keep the peace of the Church Kings have a coercive power over the disturbers thereof 25. This Royal resolution Say and do best to resist the oppressing of his Subjects was good as propounded better if performed I find no visible effect thereof but we may believe it made the Popes Mil go the slower though it did not wholy hinder his grinding the faces of the Clergy This Patent is dated from Glocester more loved of King Henry then London it self as a strong and loyal City where he was first crowned and afterwards did often reside 26. Amongst the thousands of pounds which the Pope carried out of England A Pension given by the Pope to an English Earile I meet onely with three hundred Marks yearly which came back again as a Private Boon bestowed on an English Knight Sir Reginald Mohun by Pope Innocent the fourth then keeping his Court at Lyons in France And because these are vestigia sola retrorsum it will not be amisse to insert the whole Story thereof as it is in an ancient French Manuscript pertaining to the Family of the Mohuns Quant Sire Reinalda voit Ceo faitz il passa a la Court de Rome que adonques fuist a Lions purconfirmer ratifer sa novelle Abbay a grand honor de liu a touz joues fuist en la Courte le deniergne en quaresme quant lenchaunce loffice del messe Laetare Ierusalem al quen jour lusage de la Court este que la poistoille doa a plus valiant a plus honorable home qui puit estre trovez en la deste Courte une Rose ou une floretta de fin or donquez ilz sercherent tote le Courte entroverent Cesti Reinald pur le plus noble de tou te la Courte a oui le Pape Innocent donna Celle rose ou florette dor la Papa lui Damanda quil home il fuisten son pais il respondi simple bacheleri bean fitz fetz la pape Celle rose on florette unquez ne fuist donez fo rs an Rois ou an Dukes an a Countese pour ceo nous voluns que vous sons le Counte de Est Ceo est Somerset Reinald respondi Aist O Saincts piere ieo nay dout le mom meinteyner lapos soille donques lui dona ducent mariz per annum receiver sur Cantee saint Paule de Londres de ces deneires d'Engleterre pour son honor mainteyner de quen donna il reporta Bulles que enquore aurent en plomps c. en semblement odue moltes dis aultres bulles confirmatione de sa novelle Abbay de Newham a pres quen jour il porta la rose ou florette en les armes It is as needless as difficult to translate this Bull verbatim being of base obsolete and ill-pointed French sufficeth it that this is the summe thereof The Pope used on the Lords day called Laetare Ierusalem solemnly to bestow a consecrated Rose on the most Honorable persons present at Masse with his Holinesse Enquiry being made the Rose was conferred on Sir Reginald Mohun as the best extracted in the present Congregation But seeing that Rose used alwayes to be given to Kings Dukes and Earles at least the lowest form of Coronetted Nobility in that Age his Holinesse understanding the same Sir Reginald to be but a plain Knight Bachelour created him the Earle of Est that is saith this Bull of Somerset and for the better support of his Honour he allowed him three hundred Marks out of the pence of England understand the Peter-Pence as the most certain Papal Revenue in the Land By this Bull the same Sir Reinald was made a Count Apostolick whereby he had the Priviledges to appoint publick Notaries and to legitimate Bastards on some Conditions King Henry the third was so far from excepting against this Act that he highly honoured him And yet Master Camden sometimes a In his Brit. in Somersetshire acknowledgeth sometimes denieth b In his Eliz. in the case of Count Arundel There are rich who make themselves poor him for an English Earle Not that I accuse him as inconstant to himself but suspect my self not well attaining his meaning therein 27.
fight one with another whilest they have either Bull or Bear before them to bait the common foe imploying that fury which otherwise would be active against those of their own kinde This diversion of the English souldiery gave a vent to their animosities which otherwise would have been mutually mis-spent amongst themselves 5. Great at this present was the Popes power in England The Popes present power in England improving himself on the late tumuâ—tuous times and the easiness of King Henry his nature insomuch that within these last seven years ex plenitudine or rather ex abundantia superfluitate potestatis he had put in two Arch-Bishops of Canterbury Robert Kilwarby and John Peccam against the mindes of the Monks who had legally chosen others Probably the third time would have created a Right to the Pope and his Holiness hereafter prescribe it as his just due had not King Edward seasonably prevented his encroachment by moderating his power in England as hereafter shall appear Mean time we are called away on a welcome occasion to behold a grateful object namely the Foundation of one of the first and fairest Colledges in Christendom 6. For in this year Walter de Merton Merton Col. in Oxford founded Bishop of Rochester and Chancellour of England 1274. finished the Colledge of his own name in Oxford 3. This Walter was born at Merton in Surrey and at Maldon in that County had built a Colledg which on second thoughts by Gods counsel no doubt he removed to Oxford as it seems for the more security now if the Barons Wars then some fifteen years since in height Anno Regis Ed. 1. 3. and heat Anno Dom. 1274 were as it is probable any motive of this Vranslation it was one of the best effects which ever so bad a cause produced For otherwise if not removed to Oxford certainly this Colledg had been swept away as Rubbish of superstition at the Dissolution of Abbies 7. Amongst the many Manors which the first a Brian Twyn Ant. Acad. Ox. p. 319. Founder bestowed on this Colledge A Manor in Cambridg given thereunto one lay in the Parish of S t. Peters and West suburbe of Cambridge beyond the Bridg anciently called Pythagoras house since Merton Hall To this belongeth much good Land thereabout as also the Mills at Grantchester mentioned in Chaucer those of Merton Colledg keeping yearly a Court Baron here Afterwards King Henry the sixth took away for what default I finde not this Manor from them and bestowed it upon his own Foundation of Kings b Caius Hist Cant. Acad. p. 68. Colledg in Cambridge But his successor Edward the fourth restored it to Merton Colledg again It seemeth equally admirable to me that Holy King Henry the sixth should do any wrong or Harsh Edward the fourth do any Right to the Muses which maketh me to suspect that there is more in the matter then what is generally known or doth publickly appear 8. S t Henry Savill the most learned Warden of this Colledg Merton his Monument renewed three hundred and more years after Mertons death plucked down his old Tombe in Rochester Church near the North wall almost over against the Bishops Chair and built a neat new Monument of Touch and Alabaster whereon after a large inscription in Prose this Epitaph was engraven Magne senex titulis Musarum sede sacrata Major Mertonidum maxime progenie Haec tibi gratantes post saecula sera nepotes En votiva locant marmora sancte Parens And indeed malice it self cannot deny that this Colledg or little Vniversity rather doth equal if not exceed any one Foundation in Christendom for the Famous men bred therein as by the following Catalogue will appear Wardens 1. Pet. Abyngdon 2. Rich. Warbisdon 3. Jo. de la More 4. Jo. Wantinge 5. Rob. Trenge 6. Gul. Durant 7. Jo. Bloxham 8. Jo. Wendover 9. Ed. Beckingham 10. Tho. Rodburne 11. Rob. Gylbert 12. Hen. Abingdon 13. Elias Holcot 14. Hen. Sever. 15. Jo. Gygur 16. Ric. Fitz-James 17. Tho. Harper 18. Rich. Rawlins 19. Rowl Philips 20. Jo. Chamber 21. Hen. Tindal 22. Tho. Raynolds 23. Jac. Gervase 24. Jo. Man 25. Tho. Bickley 26. HEN. SAVILL 27. S t Nathaneel Brent 28. D r Goddard Bishops Rob. Winchelsey Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Ann. 1294. Simon Mepham Arch-Bishop of Cantebury Ann. 1327. Simon Isslip Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Anno 1349. John Kemp Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Anno 1462. Ralph Baldock Bishop of London Anno 1305. Henry Gower Bishop of S r Davids Ann. 1328. William Read Bishop of Chichester Ann. 1369. Robert Gilbert Bishop of London Anno 1435. Thomas Rodebrun Bishop of S t Davids Ann. 1440. John * He was prevost also of Kings Col. in Cambridg Chadworth Bishop of Lincoln Ann. 1452. John Marshal Bishop of Landast Anno 1478. Rich. Fitz-James Bishop of London Ann. 1500. William Siveyer Bishop of Durham Ann. 1502. Richard Raulins Bishop of S t Davids Ann. 1523. John Parkehurst Bishop of Norwich Ann. 1560. Thomas Bickley Bishop of Chichester Ann. 1585. George Carleton Bishop of Chichester 1626. Benefactors John Williot bred in this Col. D. D. Chancellour of Oxford founded the Portionists Hall and exhibitions Will. Read an excellent Mathematician built the Library Thomas Rudburne Warden built the Tower over the Gate Richard Fitz-James Warden built the Wardens Lodgings Henry Abingdon Warden gave Bells to the Church Richard Rawlins wainscoted the inside and covered the roof thereof with Lead Thomas Leach S r THO. BODLEY D r Wilson M r John Chambers sometime Fellow of Eaton Doctor Jervice Doctor Jesop S r HEN. SAVIL Learned Writers 1. ROGER BACON a famous Physitian 2. JOHN DUNCE Scotus 3. WALTER BURLEY 4. WILLIAM OCHAM 5. THO. BRADWARDINE Arch-Bishop of Canterbury 6. John Gatisden 7. Dumbleton 8. Nicholas Gorrham 9. William Grysant Father to Grimoald Grysant Pope by the name of Urbane the fift 11. Roger Switzet 12. JOHN WICLEP Henry Caffe an able Scholar but unfortunate S r THO. BODLEY who built Oxford Library S r HEN. SAVIE S r Isaac Wake University Orator and Embassadour to Venice Henry Mason who worthily wrote De Ministerio Anglicano John Greaves an excellent Mathematician D r Peter Turner active in composing the new Statutes of the University * The Living passed over in silence I purposely Omit such as still and may they long survive whereof some as D r Edward Reynolds D r John Earles D r Francis Cheynel M r Doughty M r Francis is Rowse c. have already given the world a Testimony of their great Learning and endowments Others may in due time as D r Higgs late Dean of Lichfield D r Corbet c. And surely M r John Hales formerly Greek Professor will not envy Christian man-kinde his Treasury of Learning nor can conceive that onely a Sermon owned under his name can satisfie the just expectation from him of the Church and Common-wealth * The Original of Postmasters There is
a By-Foundation of Postmasters in this House a kinde of Colledg in the Colledg and this Tradition goeth of their Original Anciently there was over against Merton Colledg a small un-endowed Hall whose Scholars had so run in arrears that their opposite neighbours out of charity took them into their Colledg then but nine in number to wait on the Fellows But since they are freed from any attendance and endowed with plentiful maintenance M r Willet being the first Benefactor unto them in that nature whose good example hath provoked many to follow his liberality These most justly conceive themselves much honoured in that Bishop Jewel was a postmaster before removed hence to be Fellow of Corpus Christs Colledg We take our farewell of this House when we have told it consisted lately viz. 1635. of one Warden twenty one Fellows fourteen a The same I conceive with the Postmasters Scholars besides Officers and Servants of the foundation with other Students the whole number being eighty 9. Come we now to the Kings retrenching the Popes power The Church ready to eat up the Common-wealth grown so exorbitant in England A principall part whereof consisted in the multitude of Monasteries daylie increasing in wealth and all at the Popes absolute devotion If posterity had continued at this rate to build and endow Religious Houses all England would in short time have turned one entire and continued Monastery and the inhabitants thereof become either Friers or Founders Where then should be any Souldiers to fight the Kings battels Seamen to steer his ships Husbandmen to plough the Kings land or rather any land of his to be ploughed by husbandmen 10. Besides The mischief of Mortmain to the Crown though these Friers had a living-hand to take and receive from any they had Mortmaine a dead-hand to restore and return any profit to the King again Yea such alienation of lands in Mortmaine setled on Monasteries which as Corporations neither married nor died afforded neither Wards Marriages Reliefs nor Knights-service for the defence of the Realm in a word enriched their private coffers impoverished the publick Exchequer It was not therefore such a dead band which could feed so many living mouthes as the King for his state and safety must maintain Wherefore for the future he restrain'd such unlimited Donatives to Religious Houses 11. Ignorance makes many men mistake meer transcripts for Originals This Law not new but renewed So here the short-fighted vulgar sort beheld the Kings Act herein as new strange and unprecedented whereas indeed former times and forein Princes had done the like on the same occasion First we finde some countenance for it in a Exod 36. 6. Scripture when Moses by proclamation bounded the overflowing bounty of the people to the Tabernacle And in the Primitive times Theodosius the Emperor although most loving and favourable to the Clergie made a Law of A Mortisation or Mortmain to moderate peoples bounty to the Church Yet a great Father Jerome by name much disliked this Act as appears by his complaint to Nepotian of that Law I am ashamed to say it the Priests of Idols Stage-players Coach-men and common Harlots are made capable of inheritance and receive Legacies only Ministers of the Gospel and Monkes are barred by Law thus to do and that not by Persecutors but by Christian Princes But that passionate Father comes off well at last neither do I complain of the Law but I am sorry we have deserved to have such a Law made against us 12. b In his 31. Epist S t Ambrose likewise expresseth much anger on the same occasion out of his general zeal for the Churches good Ambrose angry with Mortmaine But had the aforesaid Fathers men rather pious then politick good Church-men no States-men seen the Monasteries swollen in revenues from an inch in their dayes to an ell by peoples fondness yea dotage on the four sorts of Friers in King Edwards Reign they would no doubt instead of reproving have commended his and the neighbouring Kings care for their Common-wealths 13. For the like laws for limiting mens liberality The Statute of Mortmaine were lately made in Spain and France and now at last followed by King Edward according to the tenour ensuing WHere of late it was provided Anno Dom. 1279. that religious men should not enter into the fees of any without licence and will of the chief Lords of whom such fees be holden immediately Anno Regis Ed. 〈◊〉 7. Nov. 4. And notwithstanding such religious men have entered as well into their own sees as in the fees of other men approprying and buying them and sometime receiving them of the gift of others whereby the services that are due of such fees and which at the beginginning were provided for defence of the Realme are wrongfully without own and the chief Lords do leese their Escheats of the same we therefore to the profit of our Realm intending to provide convenient remedy by the advice of our Prelates Earls Barons and other our subjects being of our Councel have provided made and ordained That no person Religious or other whatsoever he be that will buy or sell any Lands or Tenements or under the colour of Gift or Lease or that will receive by reason of any other title whatsoever it be Lands or Tenements or by any other Craft or Engine will presume to appropriat to himself under pain of forfeiture of the same whereby such Lands or Tenements may any wise come into Mortmaine We have provided also That if any person religious or other do presume either by Craft or Engine to offend against this Statute it shall be lawful to us and other chief Lords of the Fee immediately to enter in the land so aliened within a year from the time of their alienation and to hold it in fee and as Inheritance And if the chief Lord immediately be negligent and will not enter into such Fee within the year then it shall be lawful to the next chief Lord immediate of the same Fee to enter in the said land within half a year next following and to hold it as before is said and so every Lord immediate may enter into such Land if the next Lord be negligent in entering into the same Fee as is aforesaid And if all the chief Lords of such Fees being of full age within the four Seas and out of prison be negligent or slack in this behalf we immediately after the year accomplished from the time that such purchases Gifts or Appropriations hap to be made shall take such tenements into our hand and shall enfeoffe others therein by certain Services to be done to Us for the defence of our Realm saving to the chief Lords of the same Fees their Wardes and Escheats and other Services thereunto due and accustomed And therefore we command you that ye cause the foresaid Statute to be read before you and from henceforth to be kept firmly and observed
thy sorceries and the great abundance of thine inchantments And it seemes they still retained their old wicked wont Secondly Poisoning To give the Jews their due this was none of their faults whilest living in their own land not meeting with the word in the whole Bible It seems they learnt this sin after their disperson in other Nations and since are grown exquisite in that art of wickedness Thirdly Clipping of money Fourthly Counterfeiting of Christians hands and seals Fifthly Extortion A Jew occasioned a mutiny in London by demanding from a poor Christian above two shillings for the use of twenty shillings for one week being by proportion no less then five hundred and twenty pounds per annum for every hundred Sxthly Crucifying of the children of Christians to keep their hands in ure always about Easter So that the time pointed at their intents directly in derision of our Saviour How sufficiently these crimes were witnessed against them I know not In such cases weak proofs are of proof against rich offenders We may well believe if their persons were guilty of some of these faults their estates were guilty of all the rest 47. Now although it passeth for an uncontrolled truth Jews say others not cast out but craved leave to depart that the Jews were by the King violently cast out of the Land yet a great a Sir Ed. Coke Lawyer states the case much otherwise viz. that the King did not directly expel them but only prohibit them to put money to use which produced a petition from them to the King that they might have leave to depart the Land a request easily granted unto them some will say it is all one in effect whether one be starved or stabbed death inevitably following from both as here the Jews were famished on the matter out of England usury being their meat and drink without which they were unable longer to subsist However this took off much from the Odium of the act that they were not immediately but only indirectly and consequentially banished the Realm or rather permitted a free departure on their own petition for the same As for the sad accident that some hundreds of them being purposely shipped out of a spightful design in a leaking vessel were all drowned in the Sea if true it cannot but command compassion in any Christian heart 48. It is hardly to be believed The King gets incredible wealth forfeited by the Jews what vast sums of wealth accrewed to the King 1293 by this call it ejection 21. or amotion or decesion of the Jews He allowed them only bare viaticum to bear their charges and seised on all the rest of their estates Insomuch that now the King needed not to listen to the counsel of William Marsh Bishop of Bath and wells 1294 and Treasurer of England but therein speaking more like a Treasurer then a Bishop advising him 22. if in necessity to take all the plate and money of Churches a Polydore Virgil and Monasteries therewith to pay his souldiers The poor Jews durst not go into France whence lately they had been solemnly banished but generally disposed themselves in Germany and Italy especially in the Popes territories therein where profit from Jews and Stews much advance the constant revenues of his Holiness 49. King Edward having done with the Jews King Edward arbitrator betwixt Bailiol and Bruce began with the Scots and effectually humbled them and their country This the occasion Two Competitors appearing for the Crown of Scotland John Bailiol and Robert Bruce and both referring their title to King Edward's decision he adjudged the same to Bailiol or rather to himself in Bailiol For he enjoyned him to do homage unto him and that hereafter the Scotish Crown should be held in fealty of the English Bailiol or his necessity rather his person being in King Edward's power accepted the condition owning in England one above himself that so he might be above all in Scotland 1295 But 23. no sooner was he returned into his own Kingdom and peaceably possessed thereof but instantly in a Letter of defiance he disclaimeth all former promises to King Edward appealing to the Christian world whether his own inforced obedience were more to be pitied or King Edward's insolence improving it self on a Princes present extremitics more to be condemned 50. Offended hereat He proveth Malleus Scotorum King Edward 1297 advanceth into Scotland 25. with the forces he formerly intended for France Power and policy make a good medly and the one fareth the better for the other King Edward to strengthen himself thought fit to take in the title of Robert Bruce Bailiols corrival hitherto living privately in Scotland pretending to settle him in the Kingdom Hereupon the Scots to lessen their losses and the English victories b G. Buchanan 〈◊〉 Scot. libro octavo 〈◊〉 affirm that in this expedition their own Country-men were chiefly conquered by their own Country-men the Brucian party assisting the Englsih Sure it is that King Edward took Barwick Dunbar Sterling Edenbrugh the Crown Scepter and out of Scone the Royal Chair and prophetical Marble therein And though commonly it be observed that English valour hopefully budding and blossoming on this side of Edenburgh-Frith is frost-bitten on the North thereof yet our victorious Edward crossing that sea took Montross and the best Counties thereabout In a word he conquered almost all the Garden of Scotland and left the wilderness thereof to conquer it self Then having fetled Warren Earl of Survey Vice-Roy thereof and made all the Scotish Nobility Doughty Douglas alone excepted who was committed to prison for his singular recusancy swear homage unto him and taking John Bailiol captive along with him he returned triumphantly into England The End of the Thirteenth CENTURY CENT XIV TO CLEMENT THROCKMORTON the Elder OF Haseley in Warwick-shire Esq LEt other boast of their French bloud whilest your English family may vie Gentry with any of the Norman Extraction 1. For Antiquity four Monosyllables being by common pronuntiation crouded into your name THE ROCK MORE TOWN 2. For Numerosity being branched into so many Counties 3. For Ingenuity charactered by †Brit. in Warwick shire Camden to be FRUITFUL OF FINE WITS whereof several instances might be produced But a principal consideration which doth and ever shall command my respect unto your person is your faithful and cordial friendship in matters of highest concernment whatever be the success thereof to the best of my Relations which I conceived my self obliged publickly to confess 1. AMidst these cruel Wars Ed. 1. 29. betwixt the English and Scots 1301. Pope Boniface the eighth The Pope challengeth Scotland as peculiar to himself sent his Letters to King Edward requiring him to quit his claim and cease his Wars and release his prisoners of the Scotch Nation as a people exempt and properly pertaining to his own Chappel Perchance the Popes right to
name And this in effect is confessed by the most learned and ingenious Orator b Sir Isaac Wake in his Rex Platonicus pag. 2â—9 210. of that University Indeed we finde one Robert Bacon who died Anno One thousand two hundred fourty eight a Learned Doctor and Trithemius stileth John Baconthorpe plain Bacon which addeth to the probability of the former assertion However this confounding so many Bacons in one hath caused Anticronismes in many Relations For how could this Bacon ever be a reader of Philosophy in Brasen-Nose Colledg Founded more then one Hundred years after his death so that his Brasen head so much spoken of to speak must make time past to be again or else these inconsistences will not be reconciled Except any will salve it with the Prolepsis of Brasen-Nose Hall formerly in the place where the Colledg is now erected I have done with the Oxford Bacons only let me add that those of Cambridg Father and Son Nicholas and Francis the one of Bennet and the other of Trinity Colledg do hold absit in vidia the Scales of desert even against all of their name in all the world besides 19. John Duns Scotus succeeds Duns Scotus why so called who some will have called Scotus ob c Sixtut Senensis profundi ssimam dicendi obscuritatem from his profound obscurity in writing Indeed there was one Heracletus to whom cognomen Scotinon d Seneca in Epist fecit orationis obscuritas but others conceive him so called either from Scotland his Country or John Scott his father Nor was he called Duns as some will have it contractedly from Dominus but from the place of his Nativity though three Kingdoms earnestly engage to claim him for their Country-man England It is thus written at the end of his Manuscript works in Merton Colledg in Oxford Three Kingdoms lay claim to his birth whereof he was Fellow Explicit a Camd. Brit. in Northumberland Lectura a Subtilis in Vniversitate Parisiensi Doctoris Joannis Duns nati in quadam villula parochiae de Emidon vocata Dunston in Comitatu Northumbriae pertinente Domui Scholarium de Merton-hall in Oxonia Scotland Although John Scott dissembled himself an English-man to finde the more favour in Merton Colledg living in an age wherein cruel Wars betwixt England and Scotland yet his Tomb erected at Colen is bold to tell the truth whereon this Epitaph b Arch-Bish Spotswood in his History of the Church of Scotland Scotia me genuit Anglia suscepit Gallia edocuit Germania tenet Besides the very name of Scotus a voweth him to be a Scotch-man Ireland He is called Joannes Duns by abbreviation for Dunensis that is born at * Hugh Cavel in vita Scoti Dounâ— an Episcopal See in Ireland where Patricius Dubricius and S t Columba lie interred And it is notoriously known to Criticks that Scotus signifieth an Irish-man in the most ancient exception therof I doubt not but the Reader will give his verdict that the very Scotiety of Scotus belongeth to England as his Native Country who being born in Northumberland which Kingdom in the Saxon Heptarchie extended from Humber to Edenburgh Frith it was a facile mistake for Foreiners to write him a Scotch-man on his Monument As for the name of Scotus it is of no validity to prove him that Country-man as a common-Sir-name amongst us as some four years since when the Scotch were injoyned to depart this Land one M r English in London was then the most considerable Merchant of the Scotch Nation The sad manner of Scotus his death is sufficiently known who being in a fit of a strong Apoplexie was by the cruel kindness of his over-officious friends buried whilest yet alive and recovering in the grave dashed out his brains against the Coffin affording a large field to such wanton wits in their Epigrams who could make sport to themselves on the sad accident of others 20. I had almost over-seen John Baconthorpe Low but learned Baconthorpe being so low in stature as but one remove from a Dwarfe of whom one saith Ingenio c Johannes Trissa Nemausensis in libro de viris illustribus magnus corpore parvus erat His wit was Tall in body small Insomuch that Corpus non tulisset quod ingenium protulit his body could not bear the Books which his brain had brought forth Coming to Rome being sent for by the Pope he was once hissed d Baleus in ejus vita at in a Publick Disputation for the badness forsooth of his Latin and pronunciation but indeed because he opposed the Popes power in dispencing with Marriages contrary to the Law of God whose e Jacobus Calcus Papiensis judgment was afterwards made use of by the defenders of the divorce of King Henry the eight 21. William Occam sided with Lewis of Bavaria against the Pope Occam a â—â—list 〈◊〉 maintaining the Temporal power above the Spiritual he was fain to flie to the Emperour for his safety saying unto him Defende me gladio ego te defendam verbo Defend me with thy sword and I will defend thee with my word This Occam was Luthers chief if not sole School-man who had his works at â— is fingers end loving him no doubt the better for his opposition to the Pope 22. Robert Holcot was not the meanest amongst them Holcots sudden death who died of the Plague at Northampton just as he was reading his Lectures on the seventh of Ecclesiasticus wherein as many Canonical truths as in any Apocrypha chapter and although as yet in his publick reading he was not come to the last verse thereof so proper for mortality wee may charitably believe he had seriously commented thereon Bale descript 〈◊〉 Cent. fift pag. 434. in his private meditations Whatsoever thou takest in hand remember the end and thou shalt never do amiss 23. Thomas Bradwardine bringeth up the rear The just praise of Tho. Bradwardine though in learning and piety if not superiour equal to any of the rest witness his worthy book against Pelagianisme to assert the freeness of Gods grace in mans conversion which he justly intituleth De causa Dei of Gods cause for as God is a Second in every good cause so he is a Principal in this wherein his own honour is so nearly concerned And though the Psalmist saith plead thine own cause O Lord yet in this age wherein Miracles are ceased God pleadeth his cause not in his Person but by the proxie of the tongues and pens hands and hearts of his Servants This Bradwardine was afterwards Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and how highly esteemed let Chaucer * In the Nuns Prieststale tell you But I ne cannot boult it to the bren As can the holy Doctour S t Austin Dr Boece or the Bishop Bradwardin This testimony of Chaucer by the exact computation of time written within forty years after Bradwardines death which addeth much to his honour
Kenelworth to perswade him to resign sign the Crown though having no other design Anno Dom. 1326. then the Kings safety therein He hoped that in this tempest the casting out of the Lading Anno Regis Ed. secun 19â— would save the Hulke of the Ship and the surrendring of the Scepter secure the Kings person 22. With John Stratford let me couple Robert de Baldock though no Bishop And a Loyal Priest-Chancelour a Bishops mate as a Priest and Chancelour of England This man unable to assist resolved to attend the King and was taken with him in Wales Hence was he brought up to London and committed to Adam Tarleton Bishop of Hereford Here the shadow of Tarleton Miter if pleased to put forth his power might have secured this his Guest-prisoner from any danger whereas on the contrary it is more then suspicious that he gave a signall to the tumultouous people to seize his person For he was dragged to Newgate and there payed his life for his Loyalty yet was never heard to complain of the dearnesse of his penyworth If any violence was secretly offered unto his person he might endure it the more patiently having read * St. Mat. 10. 24. that the Disciple is not above his Master nor the servant better then his Lord. This Baldock was a good Justicer nor charged in our Chronicles with any misdemeanour save faithfulnesse to an unfortunate Master and his Memory will travers his Innocence as confessing the Fact but denying any fault therein 23. But we have more then a good number of such Bishops W. Reinolds unthankful to the King which ungratefully sided with the Queen against her Husband and their Soveraign Walter Reynolds Arch-Bishop of Canterbury leads their Van preferred to that See at the Kings great importunity and by the Pope his Power of Provision On the same token that a Far better Man Thomas Cobham by name Deane of Salisbury so learned and pious a person that he was generally called the good Clergy-men legally elected by the Commons was put by by the Pope to make room for this Reinolds He afterwards complied with the Queen his new Mistress against his old Master active to perform his desires This some seek in vain to excuse by pleasing Her imperious spirit and this Arch-Bishops fearfulness alleadging that cowardlinesse is rather a defect in nature then default in Morality 24. A word by the way of the nature of the Popes provisions lately mentioned which now began to be a general grievance of our Nation The nature of the Popes provisions When any Bishoprick Abbots place Dignity or good Living Aquila non capit muscas was like to be void the Pope by a profitable Prolepsis to himself predisposed such places to such successors as he pleased By this devise he defeated when so pleased the Legal election of all Convents and rightful presentation of all Patrons He took up Churches before they fell yea before they ever stumbled I mean whilst as yet no suspition of sicknesse in Incumbents younger and healthier than his Holiness himself Yea sometimes no Act of Provision was entered in scriptis in the Court only the Pope was pleased to say by word of mouth and who durst confute him he had done it So that Incumbents to Livings who otherwise had a rightful Title from their Patrons were to purchase their peace glad to buy of the Popes provisions Yea his Holiness sold them aforehand to several persons so that not he who gave the first but the most Money carried away the preferment 25. Next we take notice of Henry Burwash Bishop of Lincoln Hen. Bishop of Lincoln bad lately restored to the favour of King Edward and by him lately esteemed Yet no sooner did the Queen appear in the field with an army against him but this Bishop was the first and for wardest who publiquely repaired unto Her This Burwash was he who by meere might against all right and reason took in the Land of many poor people without making also the least reparation therewith to compleat his Park at Tinghurst These wronged persons though seeing their own Bread Beef and Mutton turned into the Bishops Venison durst not contest with him who was Chancelour of England though neither Law Anno Regis Ed. secun 18 nor equity in this his Action Anno Do. 13 m only they loaded him with curses and execrations This mindeth me of a Modern accident when some twenty years since a Knight went about injuriously to inclose the Commons of a Town and demanded of his Builiffe what the railing in of the same would amount to to whom his servant answered that if he would take in the Commons the Countrey would find him railings as here they did this injurious Bishop Otherwise let me say that inclosures made without oppression are a grand inriching both to private persons and to the Common-wealth 26. Here let the Reader smile or frown Smile or frown I am resolved to write what I find recorded in a * Godwin in the Bishop of Lincoln Grave Author deriving it no doubt from good intelligence This Bishop Burwash is said after his death to have appeared to one of his former familiar friends apparelled Like a Forester all in Green a with his Bow and Quiver of Arrows and his Bugle horn hanging by his side to him he complained that for the injuries done by him to poor whilst living he was now condemned to this penance to be the Park-keeper of that place which he so wrongfully had enclosed He therefore desired him to repair to the Canons of Lincoln and in his name to request them that they would take order that all hedges being cut down and Ditches filled up all might be reduced to their property and the poor men be restored to their inheritance It is added moreover that one W. Batheler was imployed by the Canons aforesaid to see the premises performed which was done accordingly 27. This pretended Apparition seems inconsistent with the nature of Purgatory A grave foolery as usually by Papists represented to people Surely the smoake thereof would have sooted his Green suit and the Penance seems so slight and light for the offence as having so much liberty and pleasure in a place of Command Some Poets would have fancied him rather conceived himself turned Acteon-like into a Deere to be daily hunted by his own Hound guilt of Conscience untill he made restistution But it seems there be degrees in Purgatory and the Bishop not in the Prison itself but only within the Rules thereof priviledged to go abroad whether on his Parel or with his Keeper uncertain till he could procure Suffrages for his Plenary relaxation 28. Adam Tarlton Bishop of Hereford A Divell preaching is the last we will insist on born in that City where afterward he became Bishop yet not honoured but hated and feared in the place of his Nativity He was the grand Engineer and contriver of all
Edward the Fourth procured of him the Priory of Sherbourn in Hampshire and Queen Mary by her intercession prevailed with King Charles for the perpetual Patronage of certain Benefices in the same County 23. Nor let not our Virgin Queen be forgotten Queen Elizabeths singular bounty as in effect Refoundresse of this from the third year of her reign being informed that the Title of the Foundation thereof with the lands thereunto belonging were in question and subject to eviction by Act of Parliament conferred a sure Estate of the same 24. I meet in the Records of the Tower Rouls This Colledg parted between two Arch-bishops with a passage concerning this Colledg and though I do not perfectly understand I will exemplifie it And * Ex Rot. Parl. Henrici quarti anno 13. a little after upon divers matters moved between the said Arch-bishop and the Arch-Bishop b Henry Bowet of York upon certain priviledges pretended by the said Arch-Bishop of York in the Colledge called QUEEN-HALL in the Vniversity of Oxford The said Arch-Bishop of Canterbury in presence of the King and of the Lords promised a Tho. Arundel that if the said Arch-Bishop of York could sufficiently show any Priviledge or specially of Record wherefore the said Arch-Bishop of Canterbury ought not to use his Visitation of the said Colledge he would then abstain Saving to himself alwaies the Visitation of the said Schollars abiding in the said Colledge according to the judgement and decrees made and given by K. Richard the second and by our Lord K. Henry that now is as in the * See this recorded at larg in the next Book p. 164. Record thereof made thereof more plainly is declared It seems hereby so far as I can apprehend this Colledge was so parted betwixt the two Metropolitans that the dead Moity viz. the Lands and Revenues thereof belonged to the inspection of the Arch-Bishop of York whilst the living half namely the Schollars especially in matters concerning their Religion pertained to the Visitation of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Provosts Anno Regis Ed. tertii 12. Richard de Retteford John de Hotham Henry Whitfield Thomas de Carlile Roger Whelndale Walter Bell. Rowland Byris William Spenser Thomas Langton Christ Bainbridge Edward Rigge John Pantry William Denyse Hugh Hodgeson Thomas Francis Lancelot Shaw Alane Scot. Barthol Bowse field Henry Robinson Henry Airy Barnabas Petter Christopher Potter Gerard Langbain Benefactors Anno Dom. 1346 Robert Langton Thomas Langton Edmund Grindal Christo Bainbridge William Fettiplace Henry Robinson Henry Ayrie Bishops Henry Baufort Bp. of Winchester and Cardinall of St. Eusebias Christopher Bainbridge Arch-Bishop of York and Cardinal of St. Praxes Henry Robinson Bp. of Carlile Barnabas Potter Bp. of Carlile Learned Writers 1 John Wickliffe Bailiol Merton and Queens colledges claim him and all perchance rightly at several times 2 John de Trevisa of whom hereafter anno 1397. This house hath lately been happy in learned Lawyers Sir John Banks Sir Ro. Berkley Sir Tho. Tempest Atturney General of Ireland Judg Atkins courteous to all men of my profession and my self especially Sr. Thomas Overbury Christopher Potter in his excellent work of Charity Mistaken * Eminent for his review of the Council of Trent GERARD LANGBAIN THOMAS BARLOVV So that at this present are maintained therein one Provost fourteen Fellows seven Schollars two Chaplains two Clerks and other Students about 160. 25. In the mean time the Pope was not idle The Pope makes use of the Kings absence but laid about him for his own profit Knowing King Edward could not attend two things at once And therefore whilest he was busied about his wars in France his Holinesse bestirred him in England cropping the flowers of the best Livings in their bud before they were blown Yea in a manner he may be said to seethe the Kid in the Mothers milk So that before Livings were actually void He provisionally pre-provided Incumbents for them and those generally Aliens and his own Countreymen 26. Though late 15 the King got leisure to look on his own Land 1343 where he found a strange alteration The Statute of provisions reasonably made for as France lately was made English by his Valour England was now turned Italian by the Popes Covetousnesse In prevention therefore of future mischief this Statute of Provision was made whereby such forestalling of Livings to Forrainers was forbidden 27. Our Authors assign another accidentall cause of the Kings displeasure with the Pope Mans anger worketh Gods pleasure namely That when his Holinesse created twelve Cardinals at the request of the King of France He denied to make one at the desire of this King of England Surely it was not reasonable in proportion that his Holinesse giving the whole dozen to the King of France might allow the advantage to the King of England However betwixt both this statute was made to the great enriching of the Kingdom and contentment of the Subjects therein 28. Yet this Law Statures of Provisions not presently obeyed of Provisions as all others did not at the first making meet with present and perfect obedience The Papal party did struggle for a time till at last they were patient per-force finding the Kings power predominant True it is this grievance did continue and was complained of all this and most of the next Kings Reign till the Statute of praemunire was made Anno Dom. 1345. which clinted the naile which now was driven in Anno Regis Ed. tertii 15. So that afterwards the Land was cleared from the incumbrance of such Provisions 29. A good Author tells us Papal power in England declines Habent Imperia suos Terminos huc cùm venerint sistunt retrocedunt ruunt Empyres have their bounds whither when they come they stand still they go back they fall down This is true in respect to the Papal power in England It went forward untill the Statute of Mort-maine was made in the reign of King Edward the first It went backward slowly when this Statute of provisions swiftly when this Statute of Praemunire was made It fell down when the Papacy was abolished in the reign of King Henry the eighth 30. Three years after the statute against the Popes Provisions was made The Pope takes wit in his anger the King presented unto him Thomas Hatlife to be Bishop of Durham 1346 one who was the Kings Secretary 21 and when this is all is said that can be in his commendation as utterly devoid of all other Episcopal qualifications However the Pope confirmed him without any dispute or delay and being demanded why he consented to the preferment of so worthlesse a person he answered that rebus sic stantibus if the King of England had presented an Ass unto him he would have confirmed him in the Bishoprick Indeed as yet his Holiness was in hope that either the K. would revoke the foresaid statute or else
that the Clergy ingrossed all Secular Offices and thereupon presented the insuing Petition to the King according to this effect insisting only in the substance thereof 42. And because that in this present Parliament it was declared to our Lord the King 45 by all the Earls 1370 Barons Ex Rot. Parl. in Turr. Lond. in 45. Ed. tertii and Commons of England that the Government of the Kingdom hath been performed for a long time by the men of Holy Church which are not * Justifiables in the French Originals 〈◊〉 whether whether not able to do justice or not to be justified in their imployment as improper for it justifiable in all cases whereby great mischiefs and damages have happened in times past and more may happen in time to come in disheriting of the Crown and great prejudice of the Kingdom for divers causes that a man may declare that it will please our said Lord the King Anno Dom. 1370 that the Laymen of the said Kingdom which are sufficient and able of estate Anno Regis Ed. tertii 45. may be chosen for this and that no other person be hereafter made Chancelour Treasurer Clerk of the Privy Seale Barons of the Exchequer Chamberlains of the Exchequer Controler and all other great Officers and Governours of the said Kingdom and that this thing be now in such manner established in form aforesaid that by no way it may be defeated or any thing done to the contrary in any time to come Saving alwaies to our Lord the King the Election and removing of such Officers but that alwaies they be Lay-men such as is abovesaid 43. To this Petition the King returned The Answer in effect a denial that he would ordain upon this point as it shall best seem to him by the advice of his good Councel He therefore who considereth the present power of the Clergy at the Councel-Table will not wonder if all things remained in their former Condition till the Nobility began more openly to favour John Wickliff his Opinions which the next Book God willing shall relate 44. We will close this with a Catalogue of the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury Simon Mepham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Contemporary with King Edward the third and begin with Simon Mepham made Arch-Bishop in the first year of his reign so that the Crown and the Mitre may seem in some sort to have started together only here was the odds the King was a young yea scarce a man whereas the Arch-Bishop was well stricken in years Hence their difference in holding out the King surviving to see him buried and six more whereof four Simons inclusively heart-broken as they say with grief For when John Grandison Bishop of Exeter making much noise with his Name but more with his Activity refused to be visited by him the Pope siding with the Bishop Mepham so resented it that it cost him his life 45. John Stratford was the second John Sratford his successor Consecrated first Bishop of Winchester on the Lords day whereon it was solemnly sung many are the afflictions of the Righteous whereof he was very apprehensive then and more afterwards when his own experience had proved a Comment thereon Yet this might comfort him whilst living and make others honour his memory that a good Conscience without any great crime generally caused his molestation For under King Edward the second he suffered for being too loyall a Subject siding with the King against the Queen and her Son and under King Edward the third he was molested for being too faithfull a Patriot namely in pittying his poor Countreymens taxations for which he was accused for correspondency with the French and complying with the Pope Pope and King of France then blowing in one Trumpet whereat King Edward was highly incensed 46. However Stratford did but say what thousands thought His last his best dayes viz. that a peace with France was for the profit of England especially as proffered upon such honourable conditions This the Arch-Bishop was zealous for upon a threefold accompt First of Pietie to save the effusion of more Christian blood Secondly of Policie suspecting successe that the tide might turn and what was suddenly gotten might be as suddenly lost Thirdly on Charity sympathizing with the sad condition of his fellow Subjects groaning under the burthen of Taxes to maintain an unnecessary war For England sent over her wealth into France to pay their victorious Souldiers and received back again honour in exchange whereby our Nation became exceeding proud and exceeding poor However the end as well as the beginning of the Psalm was verified of this Arch-Bishop the Lord delivereth them out of all dying in great honour and good esteem with the King a strong argument of his former innocence 47. The third was Tho. Bradwardine Tho. Bradwardine the third Arch-bishop whose election was little lesse then miraculous For Commonly the King refused whom the Monks chose the Pope rejected whom the Monks and King did elect whereas all interests met in the choise of Bradwardine Yea which was more the Pope as yet not knowing that the Monks and the King had pre-elected him of his own accord as by supernaturall instinct appointed Bradwardine for that place who little thought thereon Thus Omne tulit punctum and no wonder seeing he mingled his profitable Doctrines with a sweet and amiable conversation Camden in Eliz. indeed he was skilled in School Learning which one properly calleth Spinosa Theologia and though some will say can figgs grow on thorns yet his thorny Divinity produced much sweet devotion 48. He was Confessor to king Edward the third whose miraculous victories in France The best Arch-Bishop of that See some impute more to this mans devout prayers Then either to the Policy or Prowess of the English Nation He died before he was inthronized few moneths after his consecration though now advanced on a more Glorious and durable Throne in Heaven where he hath received the Crown from God who here defended the * He wrote de Causae Dei Cause of God I behold him as the most pious man who from Anselm not to say Augustine to Cranmer sat on that Seat And a better St. Thomas though not sainted by the Pope then one of his predecessors commonly so called 49. Simon Islip was the fourth Simon Islip next Arch-Bishop a parcimonious but no avaricious man thrifty whilst living therefore clandestinely Inthronized and when dead secretly interred without any solemnity Yet his frugality may be excused if not commended herein because he reserved his estate for good uses founding Canterbury Colledge in Oxford Excipe Merton Colledge Thus generally Bishops founders of many Colledges therein denominated them either from that Saint to whom they were dedicated or from their See as Exeter Canterbury Durham Lincoln putting thereby a civil obligation on their Successors to be as Visitors so Benefactors thereunto This Canterbury Colledge is now
his naval-victory nigh Sluce and land-conquest at Chresce Poictiers and elsewhere Yet his atchievements in France were more for the credit then commodity honour then profit of England For though the fair Provinces he Conquered therein seem'd fat enough to be stewed in their own liquor I mean rich enough to maintain themselves yet we finde them to have suck'd up much of our English sauce to have drain'd the money and men of this land to defend them This made King Edward to endeavour to his power to preserve his people from Popish extortions as knowing that his own taxes did burthen and the addition of those other would break the backs of his Subjects He was himself not unlearned and a great favourer of learned men Colledges springing by paires out of his marriage-bed namely Kings-Hall founded by himself in Cambridg and Queens-Colledg by Philippa his wife in Oxford He lived almost to the age and altogether to the infirmities of King David but had not with him a virgin Abishag a virgin-Concubine to heat him Anno Regis Ed. 3. 51. but which is worse in his decrepit age kept Alice Pierce a noted strumpet to his own disgrace and his peoples disprofit For she like a bad tenant which holding an expiring lease without impeachment of waste cares not what spoil he maketh thereon sensible of what ticklish termes she stood on snatch'd all she could rape and rend unto her self In a word the bad beginning of this King on the murder of his Father must be charged on his Mothers and Mortimers account The failings at his end may be partly excused by the infirmities of his age the rather because whilest he was himself he was like himself and whilest master of his own actions he appeared worthy of all commendations Ric. 2 1. Richard the second his Grand-childe by Edward the Black Prince succeeded him being about twelve years of age and lived under his Mothers and Uncle's tuition 13. A Parliament was called a Westminster Laity bandying against the Clergie in Parliament wherein old bandying betwixt the Laity and the Clergie The former moving a Ex Rotulis in Terre Londinensi primo Ricardi 2. That no officer of the Holy Church should take pecuniary sums more or less of the people for correction of sins but onely injoyn them spiritual penance which would be more pleasing to God and profitable to the soul of the offender The Clergie stickled hereat for by this craft they got their gain and no greater penance can be laid on them then the forbidding them to impose money-penance on others But here the King interpos'd That Prelates should proceed therein as formerly according to the laws of the Holy Church and not otherwise Yea many things passed in this Parliament in favour of the Clergie as that That all Prelates and Clerks shall from henceforth commence their suits against purveyers and buyers disturbing them though not by way of crime by actions of trespass and recover treble damages Also That any of the Kings Ministers arresting people of the Holy Church in doing Divine Service shall have imprisonment and thereof be ransomed at the Kings will and make gree to the parties so arrested 14. About this time Wicliffe was summoned personally to appear before Simon 2 Arch-Bishop of Canterbury 1378 and the rest of the Bishops Wicliff wonderfully preserved from prosecution in his Chappel at Lambeth He came accordingly and now all expected he should be devoured being brought into the Lions Den. When in comes a Gentle-man and Courtier one b Antiq. Bit. pag. 258. Fox p. 505. Lewis Clifford on the very day of examination commanding them not to proceed to any definitive sentence against the said Wicliffe Never before was the Bishops served with such a prohibition all agreed the messenger durst not be so stout with a Mandamus in his mouth but because back'd with the power of the Prince that imployed him The Bishops struck with a panick fear proceeded no farther the rather because the messenger so rudely rushed into the Chappel and the person of this John Wicliffe was so saved from heavie censure as was once the doctrine of his c Mark 11. 32. godly name-sake for they feared the people Onely the Arch-Bishop summoned a Synod at London himself preaching at the opening thereof We finde nothing of his Sermon but his Text was excellent Watch and pray Four constitutions he made therein d Linwoods provincials lib. 5. fol. 183. three whereof concerned Confession grown now much into discredit and disuse by Wicliffs doctrine and therefore conceived more needfull to press the strict observation thereof 15. In the Parliament Transactions in the Parliament of Glocester kept at Glocester this same year the Commons complained that many Clergy-men under the notion of Sylva caedua lop-wood took tythes even of timber it self Requesting that in such cases prohibitions might be granted to stop the proceedings of the Court-Christian It was moved also that Sylva caedua though formerly accounted wood above twentie years old might hereafter be declared that which was above the growth of e Ex Rot. in Terre Londin 2 Richardi 2. parte primâ numero 45. ten years and the same to be made free from tythes But this took no effect the King remitting things to their ancient course To cry quits with the Commons in their complaints the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury enveigh'd as bitterly of the Franchises infringed of the Abby-Church of Westminster wherein Robert de Hanley Esquire with a servant of that Church were both despightfully and horridly slain therein at the high Altar Anno Dom. 1378. even when the Priest was singing high Mass Anno Regis Ric. 2 2. and pathetically desired reparation for the same 16. Some of the Lords rejoyned on their parts Sanctuaries shrewdly shaken that such sanctuaries were abused by the Clergie to protect people from the payment of their due debts the aforesaid Hanlay being slain in a quarrel on that occasion And whereas upon the oathes and examination of certain Doctors in Divinity Canon and Civil Law it appeared that immunity in the Holy Church were onely to be given to such who upon crime were to lose life or limb the same was now extended to priviledg people in actions of account to the prejudice of the creditor They added moreover that neither God himself saving his perfection nor the Pope saving his Holiness nor any Lay-Prince could grant such priviledg to the Church and the Church which should be the favourer of vertue and justice a Ex Rot. Tur. Londin 2. Ric. 2 part 2 num 28. ought not to accept the same if granted The Bishops desired a day to give in their answer which was granted them but I finde not this harsh string touch'd again all this Parliament haply for fear but to make bad musick thereon Complaints were also made against the extortion of Bishops Clerks who when they should take
a Godwin Catal of Bps. in S. Davids Treasurer of England In whom the King much confided though T. Walsingham be pleased to dash his Memory that he was the cause of much mischief His Sir-Name speaks him English by extraction and he was of no remarkable activity He might be English or Welch by his Name but I believe the latter A man of merit sent by the King into Germany to give satisfaction of King Henries proceedings Second of that Christian and Sirname Bishop of that See a Welchman no doubt he was sent saith T. Walsangham to Spain to give account of the Kings proceedings Very loyal at the present but after his return home he sided with Owen Glendowre But though the English at this time were so severe against the Welch King Henry the seventh born in the bowels of Wales at Pembroke and assisted in the gaining of the Crown by the valour of his Country-men some years after plucked down this partition-wall of difference betwixt them admitting the Welch to English Honours and Offices as good reason equality of merits should be rewarded with equality of advancement 14. Sir John Tiptoff made afterwards Earl of Worcester put up a Petition to the Parliament The Petition of the Lords and Commons to the King against Lollards touching Lollards which wrought so on the Lords that they joined a Petition to the King Anno Regis Hen. 4 14. according to the Tenour following To our most redoubted and gracious Soveraign the King YOur humble * * Contracted by my self exactly keeping the words out of the Original Son HENRY PRINCE OF WALES and the Lords Spiritual and Temporal in this present Parliament humbly shew That the Church of England hath been and now is endowed with temporal possessions by the gifts and grants as well of your Royal Progenitours as by the Ancesters of the said Lords Temporal to maintain Divine Service keep Hospitality c. to the Honour of God and the souls health of your Progenitors and the said Lords Temporal Yet now of late some at the instigation of the Enemy against the foresaid Church and Prelates have as well in publick Sermons as in Conventicles and secret places called Schools stirred and moved the people of your Kingdom to take away the said temporal Possessions from the said Prelates with which they are as rightly endowed as it hath been or might be best advised or imagined by the Laws and Customes of your Kingdom and of which they are as surely possessed as the Lords Temporal are of their inheritances Wherefore in case that this evil purpose be not resisted by your Royal Majestie it is very likely that in process of time they will also excite the people of your Kingdom for to take away from the said Lords Temporal their possessions and heritages so to make them common to the open commotion of your people There be also others who publish and cause to be published evilly and falsly among the people of your Kingdom that Richard late King of England who is gone to God and on whose soul God thorow his Grace have mercy is still alive And some have writ and published divers false pretended prophecies to the people disturbing them who would to their power live peaceably Serve God and faithfully submit and obey you their Liege Lord. Wherefore may it please your Royal Majestie in maintenance of the honour of God conservation of the Laws of the holy Church as also in the preservation of the estate of You your Children Anno Regis Hen. quart 14. and the Lords aforesaid and for the quiet of all your Kingdom to ordain by a Stature in the present Parliament by the assent of the Lords aforesaid and the Commons of your Kingdom that in case any man or woman of what estate or condition they be preach publish or maintain hold use or exercise any Schools if any Sect or Doctrine hereafter against the Catholick faith either preach publish maintain or write a schedule whereby the people may be moved to take away the Temporal Possessions of the aforesaid Prelates or preach and publish that Richard late King who is dead should still be in full life or that the Fool in Scotland is that King Richard who is dead or that publish or write any pretended Prophesies to the commotion of your people That they and every of them be taken and put in Prison without being delivered in Bail or otherwise except by good and sufficient mainprise to be taken before the Chancellour of England c. 15. See we here the Policy of the Clergie The Prince made a party against Wicklivites who had gained Prince Henry set as a Transcendent by himself in the Petition to their side entring his Youth against the poor Wicklivites and this Earnest engaged him to the greater Antipathy against them when possest of the Crown 16. Observe also the Subtilty of the Clergie in this medley Petition Complication or Royal and Prelatical interest interweaving their own interest with the Kings and endeavouring to possess him that all the Adversaries to their Superstitions were Enemies also and Traytors to his Majesty 17. Now as Conventicles were the Name of disgrace cast on Wicklivists their Schools Schools was the terme of Credit owned by the Wicklivists for the place of their meeting Whether because f Acts 19. 9. the School of Tyrannus wherein S t Paul disputed was conceived by them Senior in Scripture to any material Church Or that their teaching therein was not in intire discourses but admitted as in the Schools of interlocutory opposition on occasion 18. By Lollards all know the Wicklivites are meant Lollards why so called so called from h Trithemius in Chron. Anno 1315. Walter Lollardus one or their Teachers in Germany and not as the i Of S. Aug. Cont. M. S. Anno 1406. Monk alluded quasi lolia in ar â Domini flourishing many years before Wickliffe and much consenting with him in judgment As for the word Lollard retained in our Statutes since the Reformation it seems now as a generical name to signifie such who in their opinions oppose the setled Religion of the Land in which sense the modern Sheriffs are bound by their Oath to suppress them 19. The Parenthesis concerning King Richard Who is gone to God and on whose Soul God through his Grace have Mercy is according to the Doctrine of that Age. For they held all in Purgatory gone to God A charitable parenthesis because assured in due time of their happiness yet so that the suffrages of the Living were profitable for them Nor feared they to offend King Henry by their charitable presumption of the final happy estate of King Richard his professed Enemy knowing he cared not where King Richard was so be it not living and sitting on the English Throne 20. As for the report of King Richards being still alive King Richard why believed alive it is strange any
dicti Concilii inibi statui ac ordinari contigerit Promittentes promittimus bona fide nos ratum gratum firmum perpetuò habiturum * * Habiturum in M.S. totum quicquid per dictos Ambassiatores Oratores Procuratores nostros aut majorem partem eorundem actum factum seu gestum fuerit in praemissis in singulis praemissorum hoc idem cum de super hiis certiorati fuerimus quantum ad nos Christianum Principem attinet executioni debitae curabimus demandare In cujus rei testimonium has liter as nostras fieri fecimus patentes Dat. July 10. 1. sub Magni Sigilli nostri testimonio in Palatio nostro West 10 die Julii Per Concilium THe King to all whom c. Greeting a The Latin running on all in one continued sentence we are sain to divide it into many for the mere clearness Know that according to the Decrees of the late Council of Constance the present Council of Basil is actually celebrated under the Most Holy Father Lord Eugenius the fourth Pope We being often instigated to be present at the same Councel not onely on the behalf of the same Councel by their Orators especially dispatched to us for that purpose but also by the Letters Apostolical and Imperial and the Letters of very many other Fathers of the Holy Mother Church and of Secular Princes And we desiring to be present thereat to the praise of God prosperity of the Holy Mother Church and her desired Honour and chiefly for the exaltation of the Catholick Faith being on just reason hindred with many and several occasions cannot as we would be personally present thereat Wherefore by these presents we constitute make and depute the venerable Fathers Robert Bishop of London Philip Bishop of b A City in Normandy Lisieux John Bishop of Rochester John Bishop of Baieux Bernard Bishop of Aix and our most dear Cousin Edmund Earl of Morton our beloved Nicolas Abbot of Glasto William Abbot of S t Maries in York and William Prior of Norwich and our beloved and trusty Henry Broumflete Knight M r Thomas Broun Doctor of Laws Dean of Sarum John Colluelle Knight M r Peter Fitz-Maurice D. D. and M r Nicholas David Arch-Deacon of Constance Licentiat in both Laws our Ambassadours Orators true and undoubted Proctors Actors Factors and special Messengers Giving and we give to them and the greater part of them Power and Command as well general as special in our Name and for Us to be present in the same Councel to treat debate and conclude as well of these things which may concern the support of the Orthodox Faith the Pacification of Kings and Princes as also upon either a perpetual Peace or else a Cessation from War betwixt Us and Charles of France our Adversary Impowring them also to treat commune and appoint moreover to consent and if need be dissent in those things which shall happen there to be established and ordained according to the deliberations of the aforesaid Councel Promising and we do promise on good faith that whatsoever shall be acted done or managed in the premisses and every one of them by our aforesaid Ambassadors Orators and Proctors or the greater part of them we shall have and account for ratified welcome and firm for ever Habiturum in M. S. And when we shall be certified of and upon the same we shall care to command the due execution so far as appertaineth to Us and a Christian Prince In witness whereof We have made these our Letters Patent Given under our Great Seal being our witness in our Palace at Westminster July 10. So eminent an Instrument of so great importance must not pass without some of our observations thereupon 2. The Councel of Basil is said to be assembled according to the Decrees of the late Councel of Constance Why the Pope declines general Councels in our age wherein it was constituted that within so many years a General Councel should be called For seeing the Church was subject to contract Rust in Doctrine and manners frequency of Councels was conceived the best way to scoure the same But the Pope lately hath willingly forgotten this Canon no General Councel being called since that of Trent wherein all the Power and profit of the Pope was secured under the Notion of Articles of the Faith since which time his Holiness thought it not safe to tamper with a new Councel as which might impair but could not improve his condition 3. See we here fourteen Ambassadours sent to Basil England must send four might send more Bishops to a general Councel Bishops 5. Earl 1. not that he was to vote in the Councel but onely behold the transactions thereof Abbots 2. Prior 1. Knights 2. Doctor in Divinity 1. Doctors of Law 2. all Interests being in them represented When therefore we read in Roger Hoveden and a Simon Dunelmen others ad generale Concilium Domini Papae quatuor Episcopi de Anglia tantùm Romam mittendi sunt onely four English Bishops are to be sent to Rome to a general Councel of the Pope understand it that such a number is sufficient England needed to send but so many though if pleased might send more confined by no other command save the Kings free discretion And seeing Basil was little above the half way to Rome the journey being shorter the more messengers were imployed 4. The three French Bishops sent by the King English puissance in France speak the great Command which King Henry as yet had in France especially if as I take it by Aquensis Aix be mentioned scited in the furthermost parts of Provence though even now the English power in France was a waining 5. John Langdon the learned Bishop of Rochester Bishop of Rochester here mentioned was John Langdon intruded by the Pope into that Bishoprick to the apparent prejudice of the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury For the Bishop of Rochester was accounted Canterburies Chaplain to whom he owed his Spirituals and Temporals as his Patron and founder though now the Pope contrary to the Arch-Bishops will and right forced this Langdon into the place But indeed he was a learned man dying this year in his Embassie at Basil and deserved far better preferment then the poor Bishoprick of Rochester But yet as some observe of Taylors that they make the largest garments when they have the least cloath allowed them so the poor Bishoprick of Rochester hath fared better then many richer Sees seeing Sacriledg would never feed on so bare a pasture 6. Observe the Method in the Nomination of these Commissioners Precedents for precedency wherein no wonder if the Bishops precede so great an Earl was it not fit that reverend Fathers should be placed before a dear Cousin besides the employment being of Church concernment Spiritual persons carried it clear in the race of dignity More strange it is to finde herein a
desperately say his foes fell in the midst of his enemies and his corps were disgracefully carried to Leicester without a rag to cover his nakedness as if no modest usage was due to him when dead who had been so shameless in his cruelty when alive The Crown ornamental being found on his head was removed to the Earls and he Crowned in the field and Te Deum was solemnly sung by the whole Army 15. Soon after King Henry married the Lady Elizabeth Hen. 7 1. eldest Daughter unto King Edward the fourth Henry the seventh his sixfold title to the Crown whereby those Roses which formerly with their prickles had rent each other were united together Yea sixfold was King Henry his title to the Crown First Conquest Secondly Military election the Souldiers crying out in the field King Henry King Henry Thirdly Parliamentary Authority which setled the Crown on Him and His Heirs Fourthly Papal confirmation his Holiness forsooth concurring with his religious complement Fifthly Discent from the House of Lancaster But that all know was but the back-door to the Crown and this Henry came in but by a window to that back-door there being some bastardy in his pedigree but that was salved by post-legitimation Sixthly Marriage of King Edwards Daughter the first and last being worth all the rest Thus had he six strings to his bow but commonly he let five hang by and onely made use of that one which for the present he perceived was most for his own advantage Yet for all these his Titles this politick Prince thought fit to have his Person well secured and was the first King of England who had a standing Guard to attend him 16. Thomas Bourchier Cardinal 2. and Arch-Bishop of Canterbury 1586 had the honour first to marry The death of Arch-Bishop Bourchier then to Crown King Henry and the Lady Elizabeth And then having sitten in a short Synod at London wherein the Clergie presented their new King with a tenth quietly ended his life having sate in his See two and thirty years He gave an hundred and twenty pounds to the University of Cambridg which was joyed with another hundred pounds which M r Billingforth Master of Bennet Colledg had some years before given to the said University and this joint stock was put into a Chest called at this day the Chest of Billingforth and Bourchier and Treasurers are every year chosen for the safe keeping thereof 17. John Morton born say some at Beare John Morton succeeded him but more truly at S t Andrews Milbourne in Dorcet-shire where a worshipful family of his name and lineage remain at this day succeeded him in the See at Canterbury He was formerly Bishop of Elie and appointed by Edward the fourth one of the Executors of his Will and on that account hated of King Richard the third the Excutioner thereof He was as aforesaid imprisoned because he would not betray his trust fled into France returned and justly advanced by King Henry first to be Chancellor of England and then to be Arch-Bishop of Canterbury 18. Now began the Pope to be very busie by his Officers A gift not worth the taking to collect vast summes of money in England Anno Dom. 1486 presuming at the Kings connivance thereat Anno Regis Hen. 7 2. whom he had lately gratified with a needless Dispensation to Legitimate his Marriage with the Lady Elizabeth his Cousin so far off it would half pose a Herald to recover their Kindred For 1. Edward the third on Philippa his Queen begat 2. Lyonel Duke of Clarence who on Elizabeth his Lady begat 3. Philippa on whom Edward Mortimer Earl of March begat 4. Roger Earl of March who on begat 5. Anne on whom Richard Plantagenet Duke of York begat 6. Edward the fourth king of England who on Elizabeth woodvile begat 7. Elizabeth his Eldest Daughter who was married unto 2. John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster who of Katharine Swinford begat 3. John de Beaufort Duke of Somerset who on begat 4. John Beausort Duke of Somerset who on Marg. Beauchamp begat 5. Margaret on whom Edmund Tuther Earl of Richmond begat 6. Henry Earl of Richmond afterwards 7 th of that name King of England Neither Law Divine or Civil forbad marriage at this distance but the Pope would be over-officious both to oblige the King and interest himself as if no Princes could well be married except the Pope had a finger in joining their hands together 19. Exorbitancies of Sanctuaries retreuched More material to the King was the help of his Holiness 1487 to regulate the exorbitancies of abused Sanctuaries 3. In this age could an offendor get such an house over his head he accounted himself instantly innocent though not is conscience yet as to outward punishment the Kings enemies once Sanctuaried daring him no less then the Jebusites in their strong fort of Sion defied David a 2 Sam. 5. 6. Though shalt not come in hither The Pope therefore in favour of the King and indeed of equity it self ordered 1. b Lord Verulam in Hen 7. pag. 39. That if any Sanctuary man did by might or otherwise get out of Sanctuary privily and commit mischief and trespass and then come in again he should lose the benefit of Sanctuary for ever after 2. That howsoever the person of the Sanctuary man was protected from his Creditors yet his goods out of Sanctuary should not 3. That if any took Sanctuary for cause of Treason the King might appoint him keepers to look to him in Sanctuary Surely had the King been pleased to interpose his own power he might have reformed these abuses but he thought fitter to make use of the Popes Spiritual artillery against these Spiritual Castles of Rebellion that he might not seem to intrench on their lawful priviledges having formerly at least in pretence appeared a great Patron of Sanctuaries and a severe punisher of the unjust infringers thereof On which account this King who was never uxorious husband nor over-dutiful son in law confined the Queen Dowager his wives Mother to a Religious House in Bermansey because three years since she had surrendred her two Daughters out of the Sanctuary at Westminster Anno Regis Hen. 7 4. to Richard Duke of York Anno Dom. 1488 20. A Synod was holden by Arch-Bishop Morton at London Two Synods at London wherein the Luxury of the London a Antiquit. Brit. Pag. 298. Clergie in cloaths that City alwayes the staple of bravery with their frequenting of Taverns was forbidden such Preachers also were punished who with popular applause enveighed against Bishops in their absence the next year also a Synod was called but little therein effected but vast summes of money granted by the Clergie to the King 21. John Giglis an Italian Italians good at getting and holding about this time imployed by the Pope 5. got an infinite mass of money 1489 having power from
distanced but the breadth of the Street from S t Pauls Church The Mercers made Overseers thereof should not be intrusted to the inspection of his successors the Dean and Chapter of Pauls but committed to the care of the Company of the Mercers for the managing thereof But f In his Epistle unto Jodocus Jonâ—s Erasmus rendreth a good reason from the mouth and minde of Collet himself who had found by experience many Lay-men as consciencious as Clergy-men in discharging this trust in this kinde conceiving also that whole Company was not so easie to be bowed to corruption as any single person how publick and eminent soever 16. For my own part Out of provident prescience I behold Collets act herein not onely prudential but something Prophetical as foreseeing the ruine of Church-lands and fearing that this his School if made an Ecclesiastical Appendent might in the fall of Church-Lands get a bruise if not lose a limb thereby 17. William Lily was the first School-master thereof by Collets own appointment An excellent Scholar born at Odiam in Hampshire and afterward he went on Pilgrimage as far as g Pitzaeus de Ang. Scriptor pag. 697. Jerusalem In his return through Italy he applied himself to his studies And because some perchance would be pleased to know the Lilies of Lily I mean his Teachers and Instructers know that John Sulpitius and Pomponius Sabinus two eminent Criticks were his principal informers Returning home into his native Country well accomplished with Latin Greek and all Arts and Sciences he set forth a Grammer which still goes under his name and is universally taught all over England 18. Many were the Editions of this Grammer â—is Grammer 〈◊〉 the first forth Anno 1513. Anno Dom. 1519 when Pauls School was Founded as appears by that instance Anno Ragis Hen. 8 11. Meruit sub Rege in Galliâ relating to Maximilian the German Emperour who then at the Siege of Therovenne in Flanders fought under the banner of Kings Henry the eighth taking an a Godwins Annals pag. 16. hundred crowns a day for his pay Another Edition Anno 1520. when audito Rege Doroberniam proficisci refers to the Kings speedy journey into Canterbury there to give entertainment to Charles the fifth Emperour lately landed at Dover 19. Formerly there were in England almost as many Grammers as Schoolmasters And privileged by authority children being confounded not onely with their variety but sometimes contrariety thereof rules being true in the one which were false in the other Yea which was the worst a boy when removed to a new School lost all he had learned before whereupon King Henery endeavoured an uniformity of Grammer all over his Dominions that so youths though changing their School-masters might keep their learning This was performed and William Lilies Grammer enjoyned universally to be used Astipend of four pounds a year was allowed the Kings Printer for Printing of it and it was penall for any publickly to teach any other I have been told how larely Bishop Buckeridge examining a Free-School in his Diocess of Rochester the Scholars were utterly ignorant of Lilies rules as used to others whereat the Bishop exclaimed what are there Puritans also in Grammer 20. I deny not but some since have discovered blasted leaves in out Lily observing defects and faults therein and commendable many persons pains in amending them however it were to be desired that no needless variations be made and as much left of Lily as may be The rather because he submitted his Syntaxis to the judgment of b Pitzaeus ut prius Erasmus himself so that it was afterward printed amongst his works Indeed Quae Genus was done by Thomas Robinson and the Accidens as some will have it by other Authors after Lily was dead and Prince Edward born of and for whom it was said Edvardus is my proper name And thus we take out leave both of Lily and Pauls-School flourishing at this day as much as ever under the care of M r John Langly the able and Religious School-master thereof 21. King Henry had lately set forth a Book against Luther King Henry writes against Luther endeavouring the confutation of his opinions as novel and unfound None suspect this Kings lack of learning though many his lack of leisure from his pleasures for such a design however it is probable some other Gardner gathered the flowers made the collections though King Henry had the honour to wear the posie carrying the credit in the title thereof 22. To require his pains Stiled by the Pope Desender of the Faith the Pope honoured him and his successors with a specious title A Defender of the c Jude 3. Faith Indeed it is the bounden Duty of every Christian earnestly to contend for the faith which once was given to the Saints but it is the Dignity of few men and fewer Princes to be able effectually to appear in Print in the Vindication thereof 23. There is tradition His Jesters reply that King Henry's Fool though more truly to be termed by another name coming into the Court and finding the King transported with an unusual joy boldly asked of him the cause thereof to whome the King answered it was because that the Pope had honoured him with a stile more eminent then any of his Ancestours O good Harry quoth the Fool let Theu and I defend one another and let the faith alone to defend it self Most true it is that some of his Successors more truly deserved the Title then he to whom it was given who both learnedly then solidly engaged their pens in the asserting of true Religion 24. At this time Wolsey his unlimited power and pride though King Henry wore the sword Cardinal Wolsey bare the stroke albo're the Land being Legate de Latere by vertue whereof he visited all Churches and Religious Houses even the Friers Observants themselves notwithstanding their stoutness and stubbornness that first d Fox Acts Monumnets opposed him Papal and Royal power met in him being the Chancellor of the Land Anno Regis Hen. 8 13. and keeping so many Bisshopricks in Commendam Anno Dom. 1521 his yearlie income is said to equal if not exceed the Revenues of the Crown 25. The more the pitty that having of his own such a flock of preferment nothing but the poor mans a 2 Sam. 12 3. Ewe-lamb would please him He was the first confoundder of abbies so that being to Found two Colledges he seised on no fewer then fourty small Monasteries turning their inhabitants out of house and home and converting their means principally to a Colledg in Oxford This alienation was confirmed by the present Pope Clement the seventh so that in some sort his Holiness may thank himself for the demolishing of Religious Houses in England 26. For the first breach is the greatest in effect 16. And Abbies having now lost their Virginity
the silken flie wherewith Anglers cheat the fishes was onely given out to tempt King Henry to a longer patience and quiet expectation of the event Octo. 22. But by this time Queen Katharine had privately prevailed with the Pope to advoke the cause to Rome as a place of more indifferency for a plea of so high concernment Whereupon Campegius took his leave of the King and returned into Italy 49. The Papists tell us Love-Letters of King Hen. kept in the Vatican that Cardinal Campegius sent over before him some amatorious Letters which passed written with the Kings own hand betwixt him and his dear Nan as he termed her These are said to import more familiarity then chastity betwixt them and are carefully kept and solemnly shewn in the Vatican to strangers especially of the English Nation though some suspect them to be but forged For though the King had wantonness enough to write such Letters yet Anna Bollen had wit and warmess too much to part with them It would more advance the Popish project could they shew any return from her to the King accepting his offers which they pretend not to produce Our Authors generally agree her deâ—â—alls more inflamed the Kings desires For though perchance nothing more then a woman was wish'd by his wilde sancy yet nothing less then an husband would content her conscience In a word so cunning she was in her chastity that the farther she put him from her the nearer she fastened his affections unto her 50. Still was the Kings cause more delaied in the Court of Rome No haste to end the Kings cause at Rome If a melancholick School-man can spin out a speculative controversie with his Pro's and Con's to some quires of paper where the profit is little to others and none to himself except satisfying his curiosity and some popular applause no wonder if the Casuists at Rome those cunning Masters of Defence could lengthen out a cause of so high concernment and so greatly beneficial unto them For English silver now was current and out gold volant in the Popes Courts whither such masses of money daily were transported England knew not certainly what was expended nor Rome what received herein Yea for seven years was this suit depending in the Popes Court after which Apprentiship the Indentures were not intended to be cancelled but the cause still to be kept on foot it being for the interest to have it alwayes in doing and never done For whilest it depended the Pope was sure of two great friends but when it was once decided he was sure of one great foe either the Emperour or our King of England 51. It was a Maxime true of all men King and Queen hoth offended with Wolsey but most of King Henry Omnis mora properanti nimia He who would have not onely what but when he would himself was vexed with so many delayings deferrings retardings prorogations prolongations procrastinations betwixt two Popes as one may say Clement that was and Wolsey that would be So that all this while after so much adoe there was nothing done in his business which now was no nearer to a final conclusion then at the first beginning thereof Yea now began Cardinal Wolsey to decline in the Kings favour suspecting him for not cordial in his cause and ascribing much of the delay to his backwardness herein More hot did the displeasure of Queen Katharine burn against him beholding him as the chief engine who set the matter of her Divorce first in motion 52. Be it here remembred that in perswading the Kings Divorce Wolsey looks two wayes in this design Wolsey drave on a double design by the recess of the Kings love from Queen Katharine to revenge himself of the Emperour by the access of his love to Margaret of Alenson to oblige the King of France Thus he hoped to gain with both hands and presumed that the sharpness of his two-edged policy should cut on both sides when God to prevent him did both blunt the edges and break the point thereof For instead of gaining the love of two Kings he got the implacable anger of two Queens of Katharine decaying and Anna Bollen increasing in the Kings affection Let him hereafter look but for few fair dayes when both the Sun-rising and setting frowned upon him SECT II. TO M r THOMAS JAMES OF BUNTINGFORD IN Hertford-shire COrner Stones two walls meeting in them are polished with the more curiosity and placed with more carefulness So also corner bones as I may say which do do double duty and attend the service of two joynts in the Elbow and Knee are rarely fixed by the providence of Nature This Section being in the turning of Religions the going out of the Old and coming in of the New ought to have been done with most industry difficultie meeting therein with dark instructions However I have endeavoured my utmost though falling short of the merits of the matter and doubt not but you will be as candid in the perusing as I have desired to be careful in the writing thereof KKnow now in the next year Anno Regis Hen. 8 22. the Lords in Parliament put in a Bill of fourty four particulars against Wolsey Anno Dom. 1530. The most material was his exercising of power-Legative Accused in Parliament and well defended by Mr Cromwel his servant without leave to the prejudice of the Kings Crown and Dignity The Bill is brought down into the House of Commons where M r Cromwel then Servant to the Cardinal chanced to be a Burgess Here he defended his Master with such wit and eloquence that even those who hated the Client yet praised the Advocate who pleaded in his behalf This was the first time that publick notice was taken of Cromwel his eminent parts and advantagious starting is more then half the way in the race to preferment as afterwards in him it came to pass As for Wolsey though at this time he escaped with life and liberty yet were all his goods of inestimable value confiscated to the King and he outed of most of his Ecclesiastical promotions 2. Court-favourites Prefeâ—red 〈…〉 to York when it is once past noon Anno Dom. 1530 it is presently night with them Anno Regis Hen. 8 22. as here it fared with wolsey His enemies of whom no want follow the 〈◊〉 given unto him For they beheld him rather in a Sown then as yet dead in the Kings favour and feared if his submission should meet with 〈◊〉 remembrance of his former services they might produce his full 〈◊〉 to power and dignity The rather because the Cardinal was cun 〈◊〉 to improve all to his own advantage and the King as yet not cruel 〈◊〉 too perfect in that lesson afterwards His enemies would not trust the Cardinal to live at London nor at Winchester within fifty miles thereof but got the King to command him away to York sending him thither whither his conscience
long since should have sent him namely to visit his Diocess so large in extent and reside therein 3. Indifferent men thought that he had enough 〈…〉 his Foes that too much onely himself that too little was left unto him Pride accounts the greatest plenty if without Pomp no better then Penury Yet he had the whole revenues of York Arch-Bishoprick worth then little less then four thousand pounds yearly besides a large Pension paid him out of the Bishoprick of Winchester Was not here suel enough had thee not been too much fire within such his covetousness and ambition 4. Earthly Kings may make men humbled He states it at York God alone humble Wolsey began to state it at York as high as ever before in proportion to his contracted revenues Preparation is made in a Princely equipage for his Installation attracting envie from such as beheld it All is told unto the King and all made worse by telling it complaining Wolsey would never leave his pride till life first left him His old faults are revived and aggravated and the King incensed afresh against him 5. The Earl of Northumberland by the Commission from the King Arrested of Treason and dieth Arrested him of high-Treason in his own chamber at Cawood By slow and short journeys he setteth forward to London meeting by the way with contrary messages from the King Sometimes he was tickled with hopes of pardon and preserment sometimes pinched with fears of a disgraceful death so that he knew not how to dispose his minde to Mirth or Mourning Age and anguish brought his disease of the dysentery the pain lying much in his guts more in his heart Especially aftger S r William Kingston was sent unto him who being Lieutenant of the Tower seemed to carry a restraint in his looks Coming to Leicester he died being buried almost as obscurely as he was born 6. I know not whether or no it be worth the mentioning here Wolseys credulity befooled with dubious Prophecy however we will put it on the adventure that Cardinal Wolsey in his life time was inform'd by some Fortune-tellers that he should have his end at Kingston This his credulity interpreted of Kingston on Thames which made him alwayes to avoid the riding through that Town though the nearest way from his house to the Court. Afterwards understanding that he was to be committed by the Kings express order to the charge of S r Anthony Hen. Lord Howard in his Book against Prophesies chap. 28. fol. 130. Kingston it struck to his heart too late perceiving himself deluded by that Father of Lies in his homonymous prediction 7. Anna Bollen did every day look fairer and fiarer in the King's eyes The King deluded with delays at Rome whilest the hopes of his marriage with her seemed every day farther and farther from him For the Court at Rome meddled not with the merits of the causse but fell upon by-points therein of lesser concernment Yea they divided his case into three a Hist of Councel of Trent pag. 69. and twenty particulars whereof the first was Whether Prince Arthur had carnal knowledg with the Lady Katharine This bare about a years debate so that according to this proportion King Henry would be not onely past marrying but past living before his cause should be decided This news put him into a passionate pensiveness the rather because meeting with sadness here many populous places in England and Cambridg particularly being at the present visited with the sickness 8. But it is an evil plague which brings no body profit On this occasion D r Cranmer retired to Waltham with two of his Pupils Doct. cranmet comes to Waltham the sons of M r Cressey a name utterly extinct in that Town where God hath fixed my present habitation long before the memory of any alive But consulting Weavers a In Essex Pag. 645. But see the former part of Cranmers life until this time in our History of Cambridg Funeral-Monuments of Waltham-Church more truly then nearly by him composed I finde therein this Epitaph Here lyeth Jon and Jone Cressy On whose soulys Jesu havmercy Amen It seems paper sometimes in more lasting then brass all the ancient Epitaphs in that Church being defac'd by some barbarous hands who perchance one day may want a grave for themselves 9. The King coming to Waltham Is imployed by the King to the Pope D r Fox his Chaplain and Almoner afterwards Bishop of Hereford is lodged in M r Cressy 's house Discoursing about the Kings Divorce Cranmer conceived that the speediest course was to prove the unlawfulness of his Match by Scripture whence it would follow that the Pope at first had no power to dispence therewith and that the Vniversities of Christendom would sooner and truer decide the case then the Court of Rome This passage Fox reports to the King who well pleased thereat professes that this man had the b Fox Acts Mon. 1861. Sow by the right ear An ear which the King never left worrying till he had got it off and effected his will therein Cranmer being sent for comes to the King who very lovingly entertains him Indeed he was a most comely person having an amiable eye and as the soul sees much by the eye so is it much seen in them and pleasing countenance as by his lively c Which I have seen at Chesthunt in the house of Sir Tho. Docres done as I take it by Hans Holbein Picture doth appear Glad was the King to see more to hear him enlarge himself on the former subject that it was above the Popes power to dispense with Gods work in the Kings case And now what fitter Nurse for the Childe then the own Mother what person more proper to manage this matter then Cranmer himself who first moved it The King resolves and Cranmer consents he should be sent to the Pope there to make God his possition Leave we Cranmer for a time preparing himself for his long journey and come briefly to state the Kings Controversie out of Gods Word and several Authors who have written thereof 10. It plainly appears that a marriage with a Brothers wife is unlawful Marriage with Brothers Wives twice forbidden in Scripture because expresly forbidden LEVIT 18. 16 Thou shalt not uncover the Nakedness of thy Brothers Wife it is thy Brothers Nakedness Wherein we have 1. A Prohibition Thou shalt not uncover the Nakedness of thy Brothers Wife See all these Laws are made to men it being presumed that the weaker sex whose part it is to take not tender accept not offer love would be so modest as not to adventure of themselves on any incestuous act except first solicited by men thereunto 2. The Reason thereof It is thy Brothers Nakedness God could according to his Dominion peremptorily have forbidden the same without rendring a reason of his Prohibition but that men might pay the more willing obedience to his Law
them shall be stoned to death and she punished for an Adulteress he for humbling his Neighbours wife Be then the Lady Katharine known or unknown by Prince Arthur due Benevolence is the effect not the cause of Marriage which was completed before God and they two made one flesh when solemnly joyned together in the face of the Congregation 16. Such a Marriage with a Brothers wife No Christian utility inconsistent with honesty thus appearing against the Law of God it is strange that any should maintain that Publica honestas publique honesty was the onely obstacle of this marriage which obstruction say they by the Popes dispensation was removed because Publica Utilitas the Publick Profit was greater that redounded by permitting this match Now suppose this all the obstacle the Position is dangerous and unfound For first Christians are not sensible of utility as falsely so called which stands at distance with Publick Honestie Secondly the publikness of the Profit was not adaequate to the publickness of the Scandal The Profit or State-benefit thereby onely extended to the Crowns of England and France as concerned therein whilest the Scandal dilated it self to the People of all Christian Provinces justly offended thereat And although we confess that in this respect the world is narrower to Princes then to private persons as not affording so fit matches unto them yet Kings have no Commission to enlarge themselves herein by the actual breach of Gods Commandment 17. Thus far the summe of the sense of Protestants and others Armies of writers pro con in this point no fewer then an hundred Authors Anno Dom. 1530 writing at this time against this Marriage Anno Regis Hen. 8 22. all which were produced by the King in the next Parliament Yet very many Papists professed their judgments in print on the contrary side both English and outlandish Divines and to give them their due brought very plausible Arguments Of all these John Fisher Bishop of Rochester led the Front whom some Catholicks call S t John because beheaded like the Baptist though on contrary accounts John Baptist for saying it is b Mark 6. 18. not lawful John Fisher for saying it is lawful for thee to have thy Brothers Wife * We order them by the seniority of their writing John Holiman John Clerke Cuthbert Dunstall Nicholas West Bishop of Bristol Bath Wells London Ely Thomas Abel Edward Powel Richard Featherstone Ridley Englishmen and Canonists Francis Royas Alphonse de Veruez Alphonse de Castro Sepulveda Spaniards Cardinal Cajetan Lewes Nugrola Italians Egwinarus Baro Franciscus Duarenus Convanus c Properly people of France living betwixt the Rivers of Garumna and Sequana Celtae Alvarus Gometius John Cochlaeus Portuguese High-German Ludovicus à Schora a Low-Countryman Erasmus a greater Scholar then Divine was very doubtful in his judgment herein He is made by some modern Apocalyptical Commentaries to be the Angel flying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as they will have it in a middle distance betwixt Heaven and Earth which how it agrees to the Text I know not It alludeth well to his dubious posture betwixt different opinions in Religion and particularly in this Controversie sometimes being for King Henry and sometimes against him herein 18. Return we to Cranmer employed now in his Embassie to Rome Cranmer accompanies others in an Embassie to Rome The state whereof lay on Thom. Bullen Earl of Wilt-shire but the strength of it as to the disputing part on D r Cranmer D r Stokesley D r Carne D r Bennet c. so that a little University of Learned men went along thither These were well armed with Arguments being to carry a challenge to all the Canonists at Rome Coming thither they found the Pope in his Grandetza proffering his Toe to them which none offered to kiss save the unmannerly Spaniel to say no worse of him to the Earl of Wilt-shire whom the Jesuit calls a d Father Floud See Mason de minist Ang. pag. 157. Protestant-Dog for biting the Popes Toe But let him tell us what Religion those Dogs were of which eat up e 2 Kings 9. 36. Jezebel the harlot The Earl presented the Pope a Book of Cranmers penning proving Gods Law indispensable with by the Pope A Book as welcome to his Holiness as a prison beholding his own power therein limited and confined Promise was made of a publick Disputation but never performed Onely the Pope who is excellent at the making of nothing something by the solemn giving thereof made Cranmer supreme Penitentiary an empty Title throughout all his Dominions This was onely to stay his stomach for that time in hope of a more plentiful Feast hereafter if Cranmer had been pleased to take his repast on any Popish preferment 19. Mean time King Henry imployed his Agents to the Universities in several parts of Christendom Foreign Universities determine for the King to found their judgments in the matter of his Marriage Some report that Reginald Poole then living at Paris was practised upon by promise of preferment to act the University there in favour of the King but he being a perfect Katharinist declined the employment S r Richard Morisin a learned Knight was used by the King in Germany a Hollinsh in Hen. 8. pag. 923. Edmund Bonner afterwards Bishop of London employed in Italy and William Langée a Native French-man made use of in his own Countrey so that ten of the Universities subscribed the Case that it was above the Popes power to dispense with the positive Law of God 1. Cambridg 2. Oxford England May 3. b 2. Paris 4. c 7. June The Faculty of Paris 5. Orleans France 6. d 1. Tholouss 7. e 1. Anjou 8. f 10. Bituriges 〈◊〉 France 9. g 10. July Bononia 10. h 2. Octo. Padua Italy Wonder not herein at the silence of many Dutch Vniversities Wittemberg Heidelberg Tubing Bazil that they interposed not their opinions herein for these having formerly utterly exploded the Popes power were conceived partial and therefore incompetent Judges in this point Wherefore the King onely solicited such Universities in this his Case which as yet remained in fast and firm obedience to the See of Rome 20. Of all the Universities declaring for the Popes inability to dispence with Gods positive command The bold Declaration of the University of Bononia most bold and daring because largest fullest clearest was that of Bononia the chief City in Romandiola a Province of Peters Patrimony and that City the Popes retiring place Nor can I omit the conclusion of their Declaration We confidently do hold and witness that such Marriage is horrible accursed and to be cried out upon and utterly abominable not onely for a Christian man but for an Infidel unfaithful or heathen and that it is prohibited under grievous pains and punishments by the Law of God of Nature and of man and that the Pope though he may
distinction out of Scotus which the Arch-Bishop more valued then all which he had before more pertinently alledged out of the Old and New Testament 51. King Henry wrote a fair and large Letter to the Convocation of York King Henry his answer to York Convocation too long here to be inserted though otherwise I have a good a Communicated unto me by my good friend Dr Littleton Copy thereof wherein the King began mildly to make the passage for his Supremacy into their consciences by a Rational and Argumentative way He disclaimed all design by fraud to surprize or by force to captivate their judgments but onely to convince them of the Truth and Equity of what he desired He b It is printed in the second part of the Cabal declavered the sence of Supreme Head of the Church though offensive in the sound to ignorant ears claiming nothing more thereby then what Christian Princes in the Primitive times assumed to themselves in their own Dominions so that it seems he wrought so far on their affections that at last they consented thereunto 52. Here I wonder at the cavil of the Papists A couseless cavil which being so causleses should be so clamorous accusing us to have a c Harding against Jewel Parliament Religion a Parliament Faith a Parliament Gospel and d Scultingus another addeth Parliament Bishops and a Parliament Clergy Whereas upon serious examination it will appear that there was nothing done in the Reformation of Religion save what was acted by the Clergy in their Convocations or grounded on some Act of theirs praecedent to it with the advice counsel and consent of the Bishops and most eminent Church-men confirmed upon the Postfact and not otherwise by the Civil Sanction according to the usage of the best and happiest times of Christianity 53. By the same proportion in the dayes of Queen Mary the Popish Religion The Cavil retorted might have been stiled a Parliament Religion because after the same had been debated on and concluded of in the Convocation it was confirmed by the Queen Lords and Commons by the Act of Parliament SECT III. Anno Regis To the Right Worshipful Anno Dom. Sir RICHARD SHVGBOROVGH OF SHUGBOROUGH in Warwick-shire MAster Haward returned this answer to Queen Mary demanding the causes of his coming to Court that it was partly to see Her Highness and partly that Her Highness should see him an answer which though more witty then Court-like yea more blunt then witty she took in good part You will not be offended at this my Dedication partly that I may know you partly that I may be known unto you Besides being informed that you love to have your Hospital Table handsomly attended with Ancient Servitors I presumed that this Section containing much of memorable Antiquity would not be unwelcome unto you 1. NOw though nothing was done in matters of Religion Hen. 8 25. but what was fairly and largely discussed 1533 first by the most Learned of the Clergy The Clergie bind themselves to the King yet this year the Clergy in the Convocation so submitted themselves to the King that each one severally promised in verbo Sacerdotis never henceforth to presume to alledg claim or put in ure any new Canons unless the Kings most Royal Assent might be had unto them and this soon after the same was ratified by Act of Parliament 2. And here it will be worth my pains A fourfold sort of Convocations and the Readers perusal to observe the differences between English Synods or Convocations which may eminently be distinguished into four ranks such as were 1. Called before the Conquest Anno Regis Hen. 25 2. Called since the Conquest but before the Statute of Praemunire was made 3. Called after the aforesaid Statute but before another made in the Reign of King Henry the eighth wherein the Clergie were bound up for doing ought without the Royal assent 4. Called after the twenty fifth year of the Reign of King Henry the eighth These did plainly differ in the several manners of their meeting and degrees of power of their acting in Spiritual matters 3. As for Councels Kings Acted in Church matters before the Conquest called before the Conquest whilest the Popes power had not as yet Lorded it over the Kings of England the Kings ever were if not in person in power present thereat as by perusing S r Henry Spelmans Councils plainly doth appear Yea matters both of Church and Common-wealth were often dictated and concluded in the same Meeting Communi consensutam Cleri quam a Sir Henry Spelman Anno 605. pag. 118. Populi Episcoporum procerum comitam nec non omnium Sapientum Seniorum populorumque totius Regni 4. For the second sort called after the Conquest Of the second sort of Convocations but before the Statute of Praemunire the Arch-Bishops of Canterbury or York used-upon all extraordinary and immergent cases toties quoties as their own discretions adjudging necessary or convenient to assemble the Clergie of their respective Provinces at what place they pleased dontinuing Convocations in them so long or dissolving them as soon as they pleased And this they did either as Metropolitans or Primates or as Legati Nati to the Pope of Rome without any leave from the King afore obtained and such Canoas and Constitutions then and there concluded on were in that Age without any further Ratification obligatory to all subjected to their jurisdiction Such were all the Synods from Lanckfranck to Thomus Arundel in whose time the Satute of Praemunire was enacted 5. A Third sort of Convocation succeeds For after the Statute of Praemunire was made Of the third sort of Convocations which did much restraine the Papal power and subject it to the Laws of the Land when Arch-Bishops called no more Convocations by their sole and absolute command but at the pleasure of the King as oft as his necessities and occasions with the distresses of the Church did require it Yea now their meetings were by vertue of a Writ or Precept from the King and it will not be amiss here to exemplifie the form thereof 6. REX The form of ancient Writs of Convocations c. Reverendissimo in Christo Patri A. Canturiensi Archiepiscopo totius Angliae primati Apostolicae sedis legato salutem Quibusdam arduis urgentibus negotiis defensionem securitatem Ecclesiae Anglicanae ac pacem tranquillitatem bonum publicum desensionem Regni nostri subditorum restrorum ejusdem concernentibus vobis in fide dilectione quibus nobis tenemini rogando mandamus quatenus praemissis debito intuitu attentis ponderatis universos singulos Episcopos nostrae Provinciae ac Decanes Praecores Ecclesiarum Cathedralium Abbates Priores alios Electivos Exemptos non Exemptos Nec non Archidiaconos Conventus Capitula Collegia totumque Clerum cujuslibet Dioeceseos
the Truth hand to hand by dint of Scripture the Sword and Buckler thereof by God's appointment the Pope took off all his Adversaries at distance with those Guns of Hellish Invention his Infallibility and Universall Jurisdiction so that no approaching his presence to oppose him but with certainty of being pre-condemned 28. Now seeing the Complaints of the conscientious in all Ages The power of a Nationall Church well improved against the Errors in the Romish Church met with no other entertainment than frowns and frets and afterwards fire and fagot it came seasonably into the mindes of those who steered the English Nation to make use of that power which God had bestowed upon them And seeing they were a National Church under the civil command of one King He by the advice and consent of his Clergie in Convocation and great Council in Parliament resolved to reform the Church under His inspection from grosse abuses crept into it leaving it free to other Churches either to follow His example or continue in their former condition and on these terms was the English Reformation first advanced 29. But the Romanists object Objection to the contrary that England being first converted to Christianity by the zeale and care of the Church of Rome when Pope Gregory the great sent Augustine over to preach here cannot not onely without great Ingratitude but flat Undutifulnesse depart from the Church which first taught it true Religion It is answered Answer 1. First this Argument reacheth not west of Severne into Wales where the antient Britains by generall confession were converted before the time of Augustine Secondly Answer 2. this first favour received from Rome puts not on England so strict and servile an obligation of perpetual continuance that she may and must not serve God without asking her leave It ties England onely to a faire and gratefull respect which she alwaies tender'd till the Insolency of the Church of Rome made Us unwilling to pay and Her unworthy to receive it Thirdly Answer 3. some strength may be allowed to this Objection if Rome could be proved the same in Doctrine and Discipline when under the Reign of King Henry the eighth England divided it self from it with Rome when in the time of Gregory the great it was converted by God's blessings on his endeavours But since that time the Church of Rome hath been much corrupted in Opinions and practise easie to prove but that it is not the set work of our History 30. But again the Papists object 2. Objection of the Romanists that the most judicious Protestants doe ingeniously confesse that the Church of Rome maintaineth all the Fundamentals of Religion England therefore cannot be excused from Schisme for dividing from that Church which by their own confession still retaineth the true Foundation of Christianity 31. It is answered The Answer if some Protestants be so civil in their censures on Papists it appears thereby though they have left Rome they have not lost their courtesie nor their Charity But grant which is disputable the Errours of the Church of Rome not Fundamental they are Circa-Fundamental grating on the very Foundation Besides we are bound to avoid not onely what is deadly but what is hurtful not onely what may destroy the life but what may prejudice the health of our Souls But our Adversaries persist to object 3. Objection that our Reformation took its rise from King Henry's pride to pluck down a Power which crossed His designes from His covetousnesse to compasse the Revenues of Abbey and from His wantonnesse to exchange His old Embracings for new ones Well therefore may the English blush at the Babe when they behold its Parents and be ashamed of their Reformation considering the vitious Extraction thereof Answ The Answer Malice may load the Memory of K. Henry about His demerit yet grant the charge true that bad inclinations first moved Him to the Reformation yet He acted therein nothing but conformable to the Law Divine and Humane It is usuall with God's wisdome and goodnesse to suffer Vice to sound the first Alarum to that fight wherein Virtue is to have the Victory Besides King Henry's Reformation hath since been Reformed by successive Princes of England who cannot justly be taxed with any vitious reflexion therein 32. It remaineth that we take notice of the moderation of the Reformers The moderation of Reformers who being acted not with an Opposition to all which the Papists practised but with an Affection to Truth disclaimed onely the Ulcers and Sores not what was sound of the Romish Church retaining still what was consonant to Antiquity in the Four first Generall Councels 33. Matters thus ordered The Conclusion of the Contest had the Romanists been pleased to joyn with us there had been no complaining of Schisme either in their Streets or ours But such their pride and peevishnesse to persist obstinate to this day incense many people who listen more to the loudnesse than weigh the justnesse of Complaints accusing us of wilfull Separation But the Premisses well considered England may say to Rome * Gen. 38. 29. Pharez the breach be upon thee who with * 2 Kings 11. 14. Athaliah crying Treason treason being her self the prime Traytour taxeth us with Schisme when she the onely Schismatick 34. We enter now on a subject The Popes revenues out of England which we must not omit such is the concernment thereof in our History yet which we cannot compleat so intricate the nature thereof and so short and doubtfull our intelligence therein namely to give a generall estimate particulars being impossible of the Papall Revenues of England 35. Here be it premised that I humbly conceive Greatest under King Hen. 3. the Pope's Income ran the highest in England under King Henry the third and King Edward the first before the Statute of Mortmaine and after it that of Premunire was made for these much abated his Intrado And although I deny not but under King Henry the eighth he might receive more Money as then more plentifull in England yet his profit formerly was greater if the standard of Gold and Silver be but stated proportionably 36. However the vast summes Rome received hence at the time of Reformation Popes profit by sale of Trinkets will appear by the insuing commodities For first Agnus Dei's this is here set by Synecdoclie to signifie all Popish Trinkets Medals consecrated Beads c. which I as little know what they be as Papists why they use them Of these were yearly brought over from Rome into England as many as would fill the shop of a Habberdasher of Holy Wares Now though their prices were not immediately paid into the Pope's purse but to such his subordinate Officers who traded therein Yet they may be accounted part of the Papall Revenues the King hath what the Courtiers have by His consent and if such trading was not permitted unto them the
onely spared the Church in Peterborough but also advanced it into a Cathedral If so it was civilly done of Him not to disturb Her in Her grave whom He had so disquieted in Her bed The news of Her departure was not unwelcome to Queen Anna Bollen who though too good a Christian to desire Her death was too wife a woman to be over-sorrowfull for the same seeing formerly She was the King's Wife but by sequestration the true possessour of His bed being yet alive whereas now c Gen. 26. 22. Rehoboth She conceived God had made room for her 20. This Anna Bollen was great-grand-childe to a Citizen The character of Queen Anna Bollen Sir Jefferie Bollen Lord Major of London grand-childe to Sir William Bollen Knight who lived respectedly in his Countrey daughter to Thomas Bollen Earle of Wiltshire a great Courtier and she had Her birth in England blood by her d Daughter to Thomas Earl of Ormond Grand-mother from Ireland and breeding in France under Mary the French Queen so that so many relations meeting in Her accomplished Her with an acceptable behaviour to all qualities and conditions of people Of an handsome person and beautifull face and therefore that e Sanders de Schismate Anglicano pen that reports Her lean-visaged long-sided gobber-toothed yellow-complexioned with a wen in her neck both manifests his malice and disparageth the judgement of King Henry whom all knew well read in books and better in beauties who would never have been drawn to so passionate a love without stronger load-stones to attract it This Queen remembring how Her Predecessour lost the King's love with her over-austerity tuned Her self to a more open and debonaire behaviour even generally to all with whom She conversed Which being observed by Her adversaries was improved by them to Her overthrow so that She but for a very short time had the sole and peaceable possession of Her Husband In a word She was a great Patronesse of the Protestants Protectour of the persecuted Preferrer of men of merit among whom Hugh Latimer a bountifull Reliever of the poor and the happy Mother of Queen Elizabeth 21. On the eighth of June began a short The first reformed Convocation but sharp Parliament dissolved the eighteenth of July following effecting much in little time June 8. matters it seems being well prepared afore-hand 9. and the House assembled not to debate but doe the King's desires The parallel Convocation began the day after being one new-modelled and of a fashion different from all former Convocations Therein the Lord Cromwell prime Secretary sate in state above all the Bishops as the King's Vicar or Vicegerent-Generall in all spirituall matters Deformi satis spectaculo saith my f Godwâ—â—â—'s Annals Anno Dom. 1536. Authour indocto Lacio coetui praesidente sacratorum Antistitum omnium quos ante haec tempora Anglia unquam habuisset doctissimorum In one respect that place had better become the person of King Henry than this Lord His Proxie all allowing the King a very able Scholar But Cromwell had in power and policie what he lacked in learning if he may be said to lack it who at pleasure might command the borrowing thereof from the best brains and pens of those of his own partie in the Convocation 22. This Convocation consisted of two Houses The silence in the Abbots of the Convocation the Lower of the Clerks and Proctours of their respective Cathedrals and Diocesses with the Deans and Arch-Deacons therein the Upper of the Bishops with the Lord-Abbots and Priors I mean so many of them as voted as Barons in Parliament as may appear by their several g Concordatum erat per Honorandum virum Cromwell Reverendos Epiâ—copos Abbates Priores Domus superioris Acta Convocationis celebrat An. 1536. fol. antepenul â— subscriptions However I finde not the Abbots active in any degree in canvassing matters of Religion Whether this proceeded from any desire of ease their laziness being above their learning or out of humility counting it more proper to permit such disputes to the sole disposall of the Bishops as most concern'd therin or out of fear loth to stickle on religion knowing on what ticklish terms they stood For in this very Parliament all Abbies which could not dispend 200 li. a year were dissolved and bestowed on the King and those rich Abbots which had more than so many thousands yearly knew that Maxime in Logick to be true Magis minùs non variant speciem More and lesse doe not alter the kinde and might say with him on the Crosse They were in the same condemnation though as yet the sentence was not passed upon them 23. We will observe the daily motions in this Convocation The Diurnal of this Convocation as with mine own hand I have faithfully transcribed them out of the Records Hugh Latimer Bishop of Worcester June 16. made the Latine-Sermon taking for his Text h Luke 16. 8. The children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light On the Friday following Richard Gwent Arch-Deacon of London was presented and confirmed Prolocutour in this Convocation On the same day Master William Peter Doctor of the Laws came into the House as deputed from his Master the Lord Cromwell who could not be present because of his greater employment in Parliament This Dr. Peter claimed the highest place in the House as due to his Master the Lord Cromwell i Records of Cant. An. Dom. 1536. fol. 9. petiit dictum locum sibi tanquam Procuratori dicti Magistri and he shall I say requested or required the same precedencie as due to him being his Proctour and obtained it accordingly without any dispute Though some perchance might question whether a Deputie's Deputy as one degree farther removed might properly claim His place 21. who was primitively represented Next Wednesday came in the Lord Cromwell in person and having judiciously seated himself above all tendred unto them an Instrument to be publickly signed by all the Convocation concerning the nullitie of the King's marriage with the Lady Anna Bollen 24. Some ten daies before Cranmer solemnly divorceth Anna Bollen from the King Archbishop Cranmer at Lambeth had held an open Court in the presence of Thomas Audley Lord Chancellour Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolke and most of the Privie Councel Wherein the King and Queen were cited to appear as they did by their Proxies Doctor Richard Sampson being the Kings and Doctor Nicholas Wootten the Queens Then proceeded the Archbishop to discusse the validity of their marriage and at the last by his definitive Sentence pronounced the same invalid frustrate and of none effect No particular cause is specified in that Sentence still extant in the Record and though the Judge and Court seemed abundantly satisfied in the Reasons of this Nullitie yet concealing the same unto themselves they thought not fit to communicate this treasure to
Brit. pag. 658. Hichins was martyred at Fylford in Flanders born about Wales bred first in Oxford then in Cambridge after School-master to the children of Mr. Welch a bountifull house-keeper in Glocester-shire To his house repaired many Abbots of that County as indeed no one Shire in England had half so many mitred ones which voted in Parliament and Clergy-men whom Tyndal so welcomed with his discourse against their superstitions that afterwards they preferred to forbear Master Welch his good cheer rather than to have the sower sauce therewith Master Tyndal's company But this set their stomachs so sharp against him that he was forced to quit Glocester-shire and tender his service to Cuthbert Tunstall Bishop of London a great Scholar himself and therefore probable to prove a Patron to learned man Him Tyndal presented in vain with an Oration out of Isocrates which he had translated into English But though he sued for himself in two tongues Greek and English both proved ineffectual the Bishop returning That he had moe already than he could well maintain On this denial over hasts Tyndal beyond the seas and after much travelling sixeth at last at Antwerp where he became Clerk to the Company of English Merchant-Adventurers 38. Here he began with the New Testament as of most concernment to mans salvation and with the help of John Frith the Baruch to this Jeremie translating it out of the Greek Original He translateth the New and most part of the Old Testament finished printed and published it Then he proceeded to the old and accomplished it from Genesis to Nehemiah inclusively but translated none of the Prophets save e Bal. ut pritùs Jonah being prevented by death I presume he rendred the Old Testament out of the Latine his best friends not intituling him to any skill at all in the Hebrew And remarkable it was that sailing to Hamborough to print the Pentateuch he lost all his Books and Copies by f Fox Martyrol vol. 2. pag. 364. shipwrack which doubled his pains in re-translating it But here he lighted on the help of Miles Coverdale afterward Bishop of Exeter to assist him and safely they went thorough their work even when the Sweating-sicknesse swept away thousands in the City with a generall mortality As if the usefull sweating of their brains were a preservative against the hurtfull sweating of their bodies And indeed painfulnesse in a lawfull calling is the best antidote against a publick infection 39. Yet none will deny Faults in his Translation confessed and excused but that many faults needing amendment are found in his Translation which is no wonder to those who consider First such an undertaking was not the task for a man but men Secondly no great design is invented and perfected at once Thirdly Tyndal being an exile wanted many necessary accommodations Fourthly his skill in Hebrew was not considerable yea generally Learning in Languages was then but in the insancie thereof Fiftly out English tongue was not improved to that expressivenesse whereat at this day it is arrived However what the undertook was to be admired as glorious what he performed to be commended as profitable wherein he failed is to be excused as pardonable and to scored on the account rather of that Age than or the Authour himself Yea Tyndal's pains were usefull had his Translation done no other good than to help towards the making of a better our last Translators having in expresse charge from King JAMES to consult the Translation of Tyndall 40. But when the Testament of Tyndal's Translation came over into England Tyndal and his Translation both martyred with fine oh how were the Popish Clergie cut to the heart How did their blear-eyes smart at the shining of the Gospel in a vulgar Tongue Downe must their Dagon if this Arke be set up down their Diana if Paul be permitted to preach to the people Some said that the Bible ought not to be translated some that it could not be that it was g Fox u◠piùs impossible Others that the translating thereof would make men rebell against the King and why I pray seeing they shall read therein h Rem 13. 1. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers c. and many other places pressing obedience Some were not so much angry with the Text as with Tyndal's Comment his Preface before and Notes upon the same In fine they did not onely procure his Book to be publickly burnt in Paul's Church-yard but also their malice which hath long arms to reach at such distance contrived and effected the strangling and burning of Tyndal in Flanders 41. Bale calleth him the Apostle of the English And indeed A parallel betwixt S. Paul and Tyndal some generall parallel farre be it from me to enforce it to an absolute conformity may be observed betwixt Saint Paul and out Tyndal S. Paul withstood and defeated the power of j Acts 13. 8. Elymas the Sorcerer Tyndal with the grace and gravity of his company put a k Fox p. 367. Magician out of countenance being brought thither to shew a cast of his skill by inchanting S. Paul in Thyatira converted his l Acts 16. 33. Jaylour and all his houshold Tyndal during his year and half durance converted his keeper his daughter m Fox ut priùs and other of family Saint Paul was in perils by waters in perils by robbers in perils amongst n 2 Cor. 11. 26. false brethren so was Tyndal whom one Philips pretending much friendship by cunning insinuation betrayed to his destruction We take our leaves of Tyndal with that testimony which the Emperour's Procurator or Attorney-General though his adversary gave of him Homo fuit doctus pius bonus He was a learned a godly and a good-natur'd man SECTION IV. TO CLIFFORD CLIFTON Esquire I Know not of what place properly to name and inscribe you whether of Middlesex Ann. Dom. where you have your present Dwelling or of Nottingham-shire Ann Reg. whence first you fetched your Name or from Derby-shire and other neighbouring Counties wherein you are Heire apparent to a fair Inheritance I envie not your deserved Happinesse but onely observe it is almost as difficult to fix a rich man as a begger the one for his variety the other for his want of habitation But be you styled from what Place you please be pleased also to accept this expression of my service unto you All that I will adde is that seeing two Antient and Honourable Families the one of Norman the other of Saxon extraction have met in your name may their joynt Virtues de united in your nature CReat the Kings profit at this time from the Office for the ' Receipt of Tenths and First fruits The beginning of the First-fruits Office which was now first set up in London 1537. and somthing must be observed of the original thereof Hē 8. 29. Such moneys formerly were paid to the
Pope who as Pastor Pastorum claimed Decimas Decimarum Entituling himself thereunto partly from Abraham a Priest paying o Gen 14. 20 Heb. 7. 4. Tithes to Melchizedeck the high Priest partly from the Levites in the Mosaical Law paying the Second Tithes that is the Tithes of their Tithes to the Priest Thus shall you offer an heave offering unto the Lord of all your p Num. 18. 28. Tithes which ye receive of the children of Israel and ye shall give thereof the Lords heave-offering to Aaron the Priest Hereupon the Pope had his Collectors in every Diocesse who sometimes by Bills of Exchange but generally in specie to the great impoverishing of the Land yearly returned the Tenths and First-fruits of the English Clergie to Rome 2. But the Pope being now dead in England the King was found his Heir at Common Law Commissioners imployed to 〈◊〉 all Ecclesistical preferments as to most of the power and profit the other had usurped But now as the Clergie changed their Land lord so their Rents were new rated and I believe somewhat raised Commissioners being imployed in all Counties the Bishop of the Diocesse being alwaies one of them to valew their yearly revenue Ann. Dom. 1537. that so their Tenths and First-fruits may be proportioned accordingly These Raters were the chiefest persons in all Counties under the degree of Barons and I had a project to presence their names as of men of unquestionable extraction none as yet standing on the ruins of Abbies to heighten their mean birth into the repute of Gentility Surrey Nicholas Carew Knights Matthew Broun Thomas Stidolfe Esquire John Banister Gentleman Huntingdon-shire Richard Sapcot Knights Lawrence Taylard John Gostwick Esquires John Goodrick Devon-shire William Courtney Knights Thomas Dennis John Birnall Major of Exeter John Hull Auditors William Simonds John Ford Auditors John Southcote Somerset-shire William Stourton Kn t s John Horsey Andrew Lutterell Thomas Speke Esq s. Hugh Powlet Henry q In this method they are named Capel Knight William Portman Gent. Roger Kinsey Auditor Stafford-shire John Talbot Knights John Gifford Walter Wrotley Esquire John Wrotely Gentleman Cheshire John Holford Knight Peter Dutton Knight George Booth Esq s. Thomas Aston Richard Ligh William Brereton But my designe failed when I found the return of the Commissioners names into the Office so defective that in most Counties they are wholly omitted 3. These Commissioners were impowered by the King Instructions given to the Commissioners to send for the Scribes and Notaries of all Bishops and Arch-Bishops and Arch-deacons to swear the Receivers and Auditors of Incumbents to view their Register-books Easter-books and all other writings and to use all other waies to know the full value of Ecclesiastical preferments with the number and names of Persons enjoying the same They were to divide themselves by Three and Three allotting to every number so many Deaneries and to enquire the number and names of all Abbies Monasteries Priories Brotherships Sisterships Fellowships c. Houses religious and conventual as well r Transcribedwith my owne hand out of the original in the Office CHARTER-HOUSE as others these carthusians being specified by name because proudly pretending priviledges of Papal exemption and meeting together to certifie into Exchequer at the time limited in their Commission the true value of such Places or Preferments Herein Reparations Fees of in t ſ No Clerk in the Office cou'd read this word were not to be deducted but perpetual Rents Pensions Alms Synods Fees paid out yearly to Persons were to be allowed 4. This being a work of time exactly to perform Some yeares spent in the work took up some years in the effecting thereof Devon-shire and Somer set were done in the twenty-seventh Staffordshire and many other Countries in the thirty-fourth of King Henry the eighth and most of Wales not till the reign of King Edward the sixt Yea I am credibly informed that in Ireland to which Kingdome such Commissions were afterwards extended the Commissioners partly tired with their troblesome work partly afraid to pass the dangerous hill of Rushes in Irish Sleue Logher never came into the County of Kerry the South-west extremity of that Island So that the Clergie thereof though the poorest of the poorest in Ireland enjoy this priviledge that they are presently put into their Livings or Benefices rather without any payments 5. But no such favour was allowed to any place in England where all were unpartially rated Vicaridges why so high-rated and Vicaridges valued very high according to their present revenue by personal Perquisites In that Age he generally was the richest Shepherd who had the greatest flock where Oblations from the living and Obits for the dead as certainly paid as Predial Tithes much advanced their Income In consideration whereof Vicaridges mostly lying in Market-Towns and populous Parishes where set very high though soon after those Obventions sunk with superstition And the Vicars in vain desired a proportionable abatement in the King's book which once drawn up were no more to be altered 6. Now Queen Mary a Princesse Q Mary remits Tenths and First-fruits whose conscience was never purse-ridden as one who would go to the cost of Her own principles did by Act of Parliament exonerate acquit and discharge the Clergie from all First-fruits As for Tenths the same * 2 3 Phil Mary cap. 4. Statute ordereth them to be paid to Cardinal Poole who from the same was to pay the Pensions allowed by Her Father to Monks and Nuns at the dissolution of Abbies yet so that when such persons who were but few and aged all named in a Deed indented should decease all such paiments of the Clergie reserved nomine decimae should cease and be clearly extinct and determined for ever 7. But Her Sister Q. Elizabeth succeeding Her Q. Elizabeth resumeth them and finding so fair a flower as First fruits Tenths fallen out of Her Crown was careful quickly to gather it up again and get it re-sett therein A Princesse most to forgive injuries but inexorable to remit debts who knowing that necessitous Kings are subject to great inconveniences was a thrifty improver of Her treasure And no wonder if She were exact though not exacting to have Her dues from the Clergie who herein would not favour her grand favourite Sir Christopher Hatton who by the way was Master of this first-fruits Office and was much indebted unto Her for moneys received All which arrears Her Majesty required so severely and suddainly from him that the grief thereof cost his life I say this Queen in the first of Her t See the Stat. 1 Eliz. cap. 4. Reign resumed first-fruits and tenths onely with this case to Parsonages not exceeding ten marks and Vicaridges ten pounds that they should be freed from first-fruits A clause in this Statute impowering the Queen to take all that was due unto Her from the first day of this Parliament was so
improved by her Officers in the Exchequer who sometimes have none of the softest palms to those that fall into their hands that many Ministers were much vexed thereby Yea one u M. Parker Ant. Brit. in vitâ Reginalldi Peli observeth that the courtesie intended to the Clergie by Q. Mary in remitting their tenths proved in event an injury to many so vexed about their arrears 8. In vain have some of late beaved at this Office which is fastned to the State The state profit and policy of this Office with so considerable a revenue as it advanced thereunto by tenths and first-fruits The former certain the latter casuall as depending on the uncertain deaths of Iucumbents and such as succeed them Many indeed accuse such payments as Popish in their original But could that be superstitious which was pluckt down by Queen Mary and set up again by Queen Elizabeth Besides suppose them so in their first foul fountain since being shifted yea strained through the hands of Protestant Kings Tenths have their old property altered and acquire no doubt a new purity to themselves And the Advocates for this Office doe pertinently plead that there ought to be a badge of subjection * Some say such a vectigal from the Clergie is mentioned in Bede of the Clergie to the Secular power by publick acknowledgement of their dependence thereon which by such payments is best performed 9. John Lambert John Lambert condemned and why aliàs Nicolson bred in Cambridge had lately been much persecuted by Archbishop Warham about some opinions he held against the corproal presence in the Sacrament And now being fallen into fresh troubles on the same account 1538. to make the quicker work following the precedent of S. Paul appealing to Caesar he appeals to the King Who having lately taken upon him the title of the Supreme head of the Church of England He. 8. 20. Nov. 10. would shew that head had a tongue could speak in matters of Divinity In White-hall the place and day is appointed where an ACT-ROYAL was kept the King himselfe being the Opponent and Lambert the Answerer and where His Highnesse was worsted or wearied Arch-bishop Crammer w Fox Acts Mon. supplied His place arguing though civilly shrodely against the truth and his own private judgment 10. Was not this worse than keeping the clothes of those who killed S. Stephen Cranmer's unexcusable cowardly dissimulation seeing this Archbishop did actually cast stones at this Martyr in the Arguments he urged against him Nor will it excuse Cranmer's cowardise and dissimulation to accuse Gardiner's craft and cruely who privily put the Archbishop on this odious act such Christian courage being justly expected from a person of his parts and place as not to be acted by another contrary to his own conscience I see not therefore what can be said in Cranmer's behalf save onely that I verily hope and stedfastly believe that he craved God's pardon for this particular offence and obtained the same on his unfained repentance And because the face of mens faults is commonly seen in the glasse of their punishment it is observable that as Lambert now was burnt for denying the corporal presence so Cranmer now his Opponent was afterwards condemned and died at Oxford for maintaining the same opinion which valour if sooner shewn his conscience had probably been more cleared within him and his credit without him to all posterity 11. A match being now made up by the Lord Cromwel's contrivance Dutch-men broach strange opinions betwixt King Henry and the Lady Anne of Cleve Dutch-men flockt faster than formerly into England Many of these had active souls so that whilest their hands were busied about their manufactures their heads were also beating about points of Divinity Hereof they had many rude notions too ignorant to manage them themselves and too proud to crave the direction of others Their mindes had a bystream of activity more than what sufficed to drive on their Vocation and this waste of their souls they imployed in needlesse speculations and soon after began to broach their strange opinions being branded with the general name of Anabaptists 24. These Anabaptists for the main are but Donatists now dips and this year their name first appears in our English Chronicles for I * Stoe in his Chron p. 576. read that four Anabaptists three men and one woman all Dutch bare faggots at Paul's Crosse and three daies after a man and woman of their sect was burnt in Smithfield 12. It quickly came to the turn of Queen Anne of Cleve to fall Queen Anne of Cleve why divorced if not into the displeasure out of the dear affection of King Henry the eighth 27. Hē 8. 31. She had much of Katharine Dowager's austerity 1539. little of Anna Bollen's pleasant wit lesse of the beauty of Jane Seamour Some feminine impotency that She answered not Her creation was objected against Her though onely Her precontract with the Son of the Duke of Lorraine was publickly insisted on for which by Act of Parliament now sitting She was solemnly divorced 13. King Henry durst not but deal better with Anne of Cleve than with such His Wives The reparations the King made her which were His native Subjects not so much for love of Her Ann. Dom. 1539. as for fear of Her Brother the Duke of Cleve Ann. Regis Hē 8. 31. considerable if not much in Himself in His union with the Protestant Princes of Germany Wherefore He restored Her all Her Jewels assigned Her precedencie above all English save His own that should be Queen and Children graced Her with a new-devised stile of His adopted Sister by which from henceforward He saluted Her in His Letters and She in Answer subscribed Her self allotted Her Richmond-House for Her retirement with an augmentation of means for Her maintenance And now let Her be glad that She escaped so well seeing all which had reference to King Henry's bed came off gainers if savers of their own lives and reputations She returned no more into Her own Countrey but living and dying Anno a Stow's Funerall Monuments p. 513. 1557. in England was buried in Westminster Church at the head of King Sebert in a Tomb not yet finished none other of King Henry's Wives having any and this Anne but half a Monument 14. In the last Parliament Reformation goes backwards Reformation running a race with Superstition hardly carried it by the heads-length but it was hoped that in this new Parliament now sitting true Religion would run her Rivall quite out of distance Whereas alas it not onely stood still but went backwards the SIX ARTICLES being therein enacted that whip with six knots each one as heavily laid on fetching blood from the backs of poor Protestants 15. K. Henry was much blamed for passing this Act. King Henry justly blamed Indeed Power and Profit being the things politick Princes chiefly desire King
though perchance wisely for the State not warily for himself Indeed it is impossible for such Officers managing not onely multitudes but multiplicity of matters but that in some things they must mistake As in c Prov. 10. 19. many words there wanteth not iniquity so in the Actours of many affairs faults are soon found out He was also accused to set at liberty certain persons not capable of it for granting Licenses and Commissions destructive to the King's authority for being guilty of Heresie himself and favouring it in others Trayterous speeches were also charged upon him spoken two years before in the Church of S. Peter's in the Poor in Broad street the avouchers thereof pretending that as hitherto they had concealed them for love of themselves fearing Cromwel's greatnesse so now for the love of the King they revealed the same Indeed on the first manifesting of the King's displeasure against him the foes of Cromwel had all their mouthes open and his friends their mouthes shut up 24. The mention of S. Peter's in Broad-street An injurious Act to many poor people charged on the Lord Cromwell mindeth me of a passage not unworthy to be recited of an injury offered by this Lord Cromwell to many poor men in the same Parish And because every one is best able to tell his own tale take it in the words of John d Survey of London p. 187. Stow being himself deeply concerned therein The Lord Cromwell having finished his house in Throgmorton-street in London and having some reasonable plot of ground left for a garden caused the pales of the gardens adjoyning to the North part thereof on a sudden to be taken down two and twenty foot to be measured forth-right into the North of every man's ground a line there to be drawn a trench to be cast a foundation laid and an high brick-wall to be builded My father had a garden there and there was an house standing close to his South-pale this house they loosed from the ground and bare upon rowlers into my father's garden two and twenty foot ere my father heard thereof no warning was given him nor other answer when he spake to the Surveyors of that work but that their Master Sir Thomas commanded them so to doe no man durst goe to argue the matter but each man lost his land and my father paid his whole rent which was six sâ—illings eight pence the year for that half which was left Thus much of mine own knowledge have I thought good to note that the sudden rising of some men causeth them to forget themselves I am moved the rather to believe our Authour herein because elsewhere he alloweth this Lord his deserved praise for his virtues and especially his Hospitality affirming e Survey of London p. 74. he had often seen at the Lord Cromwell's gate above two hundred persons served twice every day with meat and drink sufficient Nor can I see what may be said in excuse of this oppression except any will plead that Abimelech's servants violently f Gen. 21. 26. took away the wells from Abraham and yet Abimelech himself never knew more or lesse thereof 25. As for the passionate expressions of Cromwell The worst passionate Speech objected against him a g Sir I. Strode of Parubam in Dorcet-shire Knight aged well-nigh eighty whose Mother was Daughter to the Lord Cromwell's Son hath informed me That the principall passage whereon the Lord's enemies most insisted was this It being told the L. Cromwell that one accused him for want of fidelity to the King Cromwell returned in passion Were he here now I would strike my dagger into his heart meaning into the heart of the false Accuser and therein guilty of want of charity to his fellow-subject not of loyaltie to his Sovereign But seeing the words were a measuring cast as uttered though not as intended to whom they should relate the pick-thank Repeater avowed them uttered against the King Himself So dangerous are dubious words and ambiguous expressions when prevalent power is to construe and interpret the meaning thereof 26. Ten daies after his Arrest His Speech on be scaffold he was attainted of high Treason in Parliament and brought on the Scaffold the next week to execution Here he spake the following words unto the people which the Reader is requested the more seriously to peruse July 19. that thereby he may be enabled to passe if concerned therein his verdict in what Religion this Lord died I Am come hither to die 29. and not to purge my selfe as some think peradventure that I will For if I should so doe I were a very wretch and miser I am by the law condemned to die and thank my Lord God that hath appointed me this death for mine offence For since the time that I have had years of discretion I have lived a sinner and offended my Lord God for the which I aske him heartily forgivenesse And it is not unknown to many of you that I have been a great traveller in this world and being but of base degree I was called to high estate and since the time I came thereunto I have offended my Prince for the which I aske Him heartily forgivenesse and beseech you all to pray to God with me that he will forgive me And now I pray you that be here to bear me record I die in the Catholick Faith not doubting in any Article of my faith no nor doubting in any Sacrament of the Church Many have slandered me and reported that I have been a bearer of such as have maintained evil opinions which is untrue But I confesse that like as God by his Holy Spirit doth instruct us in the truth so the Devil is ready to seduce us and I have been seduced but bear me witnesse that I die in the Catholick Faith of the Holy Church And I heartily desire you to pray for the King's Grace that He may long live with you in health and prosperity and that after Him His son Prince Edward that goodly impe may long reign over you And once again I desire you to pray for me that so long as life remaineth in this flesh I waver nothing in my faith And so making his Prayer c. The generall terms wherein this his Speech is couched hath given occasion for wise men to give contrary censures thereof Fox in his Marginall Note on this Speech pag. 515. A true Christian Confession of the Lord Cromwell at his death Lord Herbert in the Index of his History under C. Cromwell died a Roman-Catholick notwithstanding he had been such a destroyer of the Church True it is so warie were Cromwell's expressions that Luther and Bellarmine might in their own persons have said the same without any prejudice to their own principles and many conceive that the most which these his words amount to will but make him an six-Articles Protestant 27. But let Cromwell's politick Speech be in part expounded by
those daies deserveth not ivie in cur Age. Now seeing by the rules of justice and the Kings own appointment His Debts were to be paid before His Legacies and seeing many of His personall debts remained unsatisfied till the daies of Queen Elizabeth probably most of these Legacies were never paid especially to inferiour persons As if it were honour enough for them to have such summs bequeathed unto though never bestowed upon them 53. Whereas mention in this Will of a Monument well onwards and almost made Monument made for the King by the Cardinal it is the same which Cardinal Wolsey built For King Henry and not for himself as is commonly reported Wherefore whereas there goeth a tale That King Henry one day finding the Cardinal with the workmen making His Monument should say unto him Tumble your self in this Tomb whilest you are alive for when dead you shall never lie therein it is a meer fiction the Cardinal originally intending the same for the King as appeareth by the ancient Inscription * Godwin in Hen 8. p. 200. thereupon wherein King Henry was stiled LORD not KING of Ireland without addition of supreme Head of the Church plainly shewing the same was of antient date in the daies of the Cardinal 54. Whereas the Lady Mary and Elizabeth Why His Nieces more at liberty than his Daughters Their marriages are so severely conditioned that if made without consent of the Councell They were to forfeit Their right to the Crown men interpret it as provided in terrorem and not otherwise Yet this clause was it which afterwards put so plausible a pretence on Wiat his rebellion which though made of rotten cloth had notwithstanding a good colour thereon Now whereas the King's Nieces the Daughters to Mary His younger Sister were not clogg'd in this His Will with such restrictions concerning their Marriages the plain reason was because both of them were already married before this Will was made Frances the elder to Henry Gray Marquesse Dorset afterward Duke of Suffolke and Eleanour the younger to Henry Clifford Earl of Cumberland 55. The Portion of but ten thousand pounds a piece left to His two Daughters Ten thousand pounds the portion of a Princesse was not much unproportionable to the value of money as it went in that Age though a summe small for such an use in our daies And I have heard that Queen Elizabeth being informed that Doctor Pilkington Bishop of Durham had given ten thousand pounds in marriage with his Daughter and being offended that a Prelates daughter should equal a Princesse in portion took away one thousand pounds a year from that Bishoprick and assigned it for the better maintenance of the Garrison of Barwick 56. Very much of His own abitrarinesse appears in this Will of King Henry Much of arbitrarinesse in this Will entalling the Crown according to His own fancie against all right and reason For first how unjust was it that His female issue by Queen Katharine Parr His last Wife had He had any should inherit the Crown before Mary and Elizabeth His eldest Daughters by His former Wives If Mary and Elizabeth were not His lawfull Children how came They by any right to the Crown If His lawfull Children why was Their birth-right and seniority not observed in succession Well it was for Them that Henry Fitz Roy His naturall Son but one of supernaturall and extraordinary endowments was dead otherwise some suspect had He survived King Edward the sixth we might presently have heard of a K. Henry the ninth so great was His Fathers affection and so unlimited His power to preferre Him 57. But the grand injury in this His Testament is The Scotish Line quite left out That He quite passeth over the Children of Margaret His eldest Sister married into Scotland with all Her issue not so much as making the least mention thereof 58. Great indeed when this Will was first made was the antipathy which for the present possessed Him against the Scotch with whom then He was in actual warre though at other times when in good humour very courteous to His kinred of that extraction For most sure it is that when Margaret Douglas His Sisters Daughter was married to Math. Earle of Lenox He publickly professed That in case His own Issue failed He should be right glad some of Her body should sacceed to the Crown as it came to * Henry Lord Darly her Son Father to King James passe 59. Of the eleven Witnesses Legatees Witnesses in Kings Will. whose names are subscribed to His Will the nine first are also Legatees therein and therefore because reputed Parties not sufficient Witnesses had it been the Will of a private person But the Testaments of Princes move in an higher sphere than to take notice of such Punctilloes and forraigners being unfit to be admitted to such privacies domesticall Servants were preferred as the properest Witnesses to attest an Instrument of their Lord and Master 60. It is but just with God that He who had too much of His Will done Little of His Will performed when living should have the lesse when dead of His Testament performed The ensuing Reformation swept away the Masses and Chantery Priests founded to pray for His soul The Tombs of Henry the sixth and Edward the fourth the one the last of Lancaster the other the first of Yorke the Titles of both which Houses met in this Henry remain at this day in statu quo priùs without any amendment Where by the way seeing in this Will King Henry the sixth is styled his Uncle I cannot make out the relation in the common sence of the word except any will say that Kings Uncles as their Cousins are oft taken in a large and favourable acception But the main wherein His Will missed the intent is in that the Scotch Line neglected and omitted by Him ordinary Heirs are made in Heaven Heirs to Crowns in the Heaven of Heavens came in Their due time to the Throne Their undoubted Right thereunto recognized by Act of Parliament 61. After the making of this his Will His disease and the manner of His death He survived a full Month falling immediately sick He had sesque corpus a body and half very abdominous unweldy with fat and it was death to Him to be dieted so great His appetite and death to Him not to be dieted so great His corpulency But now all His humours repaired to one place and setled themselves in an old sore in His thigh which quickly grew to be greatly enflamed Here flame met with fire the anguish of the sore with an hot and impatient temper so that during his sickness few of His Servants durst approach His presence His Physicians giving Him over desired some who tendred the good of His soul to admonish Him of His estate But such who could flie with good tidings would not halt to Him with ill newes Besides lately a Law was made That
well as the single Arrows seeing perchance other Societies led lives not more religious but lesse examined 4. But the first terrible blow in England given generally to all Orders The first stroke at the root of Abbeys was in the Lay Parliament as it is called which did wholly Wicclifize kept in the twelfth year of King Henry the fourth wherein the c Thomas Walsingbam Nobles and Commons assembled signified to the King that the temporal possessions of Abbots Priors c. lewdly spent within the Realm would suffice to finde and sustain 150 Earls 1500 Knights 6200 Esquires 100 Hospitals more than there were But this motion was maul'd with the King 's own hand who dashed it personally interposing Himself contrary to that character which the jealous Clergie had conceived of Him that coming to the Crown He would be a great d Being heard to say That Princes had too little and Religious men too much Holinshed pag. 514. enemy to the Church But though Henry Plantagenet Duke of Lancaster was no friend to the Clergie perchance to ingratiate himself with the people yet the same Henry King of England His interest being altered to strengthen Him with the considerable power of the Clergy proved a Patron yea a Champion to defend them However we may say that now the Axe is laid to the root of the tree of Abbeys and this stroke for the present though it was so farre from hurting the body that it scarce pierced the bark thereof yet bare attempts in such matters are important as putting into peoples heads a feasibility of the project formerly conceived altogether impossible 5. Few yeares after The objection of covetousness against Abbeys though not answered â—vaded by Archb. Chichesly namely in the second year of King Henry the fift another shreud thrust was made at English Abbeys but it was finely and cleverly put aside by that skilfull State-Fencer Henry Chichesly Archbishop of Canterbury For the former Bill against Abbeys in full Parliament was revived when the Archbishop minded King Henry of His undoubted Title to the fair and flourishing Kingdome of France Hereat that King who was a spark in Himself was enflamed to that designe by this Prelates perswasion and His native courage ran fiercely on the project especially when clapt on with conscience and encouragement from a Church-man in the lawfulnesse thereof An undertaking of those vast dimensions that the greatest covetousnesse might spread and highest ambition reach it self within the bounds thereof If to promote this project the Abbeys advanced not onely large and liberall but vast and incredible summes of money it is no wonder if they were contented to have their nails pared close to the quick thereby to save their fingers Over goes K. Henry into France with many martiall spirits attending him so that putting the King upon the seeking of a new Crown kept the Abbots old Mitres upon their heads and Monasteries tottering at this time were thank a politick Archbishop refixed on the firm foundations though this proved rather a reprieve than a pardon unto them as will afterwards appear Of the suppression of alien Priories NExt followed the dissolving of alien Priories The originall of Pâ—ioâ—â—es aliens of whose first founding and severall sorts something must be observed When the Kings of England by Conquest or Inheritance were possessed of many and great Territories in France Normandy Aquitaine Picardy c. many French Monasteries were endowed with lands in England For an English kitchen or larder doth excellently well with a French hall And whilst forreigners tongues slighted our Island as barren in comparison of their own Countrey at the same time they would lick their lips after the full-fare which our Kingdome afforded 2. Very numerous were these Cells in England relating to forreign Abbeys scattered all over the Kingdome One John Norbury erected two for his part the one at Greenwich the other at Lewesham in Kent Yea e Cambd. Brit. in Lancashire Roger de Poictiers founded on in the remotest corner of the Land in the Town of Lancaster the richest of them all for annuall income was that which f Idem in Lincoln-shire Tuo Talbois built at Spalding in Lincoln shire giving it to the Monks of Angiers in France g Harpsfield in Catal. religiosarum â— Edium fol. 761. valued at no lesse than 878 lib. 18s 3d. of yearly revenue And it is remarkable that as one of these Priories was granted before the Kings of England were invested with any Dominion in France namely Deorhirst in Glocester shire h Camb Brit. in Glocester-shire assigned by the Testament of Edward the Confessour to the Monastery of S. Denis neer Paris so some were bestowed on those places in forreign parts where our English Kings never had finger of power or foot of possession Thus we read how Henry the third annexed a Cell in Thredneedle-street in i Harpsfield ut priùs pag 763. London to S. Anthony in Vienna and neer Charing-Crosse there was another annext to the Lady Runciavall in Navarre Belike men's devotion in that Age look'd on the world as it lay in common taking no notice how it was sub-divided into private Principalities but proceeded on that rule k 1 Cor. 10. 28. The earth is the Lord's and the fulnesse thereof and Charity though wandring in forreign parts counted it self still at home because dwelling on its proper pious uses 3. These alien Priories were of two natures some had Monks with a Prior resident in them Alien Priories of two natures yet not Conventuall but dative and removable ad nutum of the forreign Abbey to which they were subservient Others were absolute in themselves who though having an honorary dependence on and bearing a subordination of respect unto French Abbeys yet had a Prior of their own being an intire body of themselves to all purposes and intents The former not unlike Stewards managing profits for the behoof of their Master to whom they were re sponsible The later resembling retainers at large acknowledging a generall reference but not accomptable unto them for the revenues they received Now both these kindes of Priories peaceably enjoyed their possessions here even after the revolt of those Principalities from the Crown of England yet so that during open hostility and actuall warre betwixt England and France their revenues were seised and taken by the King and restored again when amity was setled 4. But King Richard the second and King Henry the fourth not so fair as their predecessours herein not onely detained those revenues in time of peace but also diverted them from their proper use and bestowed them on some of their Lay-servants So that the Crown was little enriched therewith especially if it be true what Arundell Archbishop of Canterbury averred in the house of Commons to the face of the Speaker That these Kings l Antiq. Brit. pag. 274. were not half a mark the wealthier for those rents thus
assumed into their hands And a Synod of the Clergie in the last of Henry the fourth petitioned the King That Lay-men might not invade the possessions of alien Priories * Harpsfield Hist Ang. saet decimo quinto â—ep octavo but those Foundations might be furnished Native English substituted in their rooms whose request by reason of the King's death ensuing took no effect But this doth intimate though I had rather learn than teach in so dark a point that those alien Priories still stood undissolved by Act of State with a possibility to revert to their former use and though the King had fastned upon their profits by his absolute power yet as yet they were not setled and established in the Crown by Act of Parliament 5. But in the fourth year of King Henry the fift Their dissolution in the heat and height of His Warres with France all such Priories alien as were not Conventuall were by Act of m Parliament Rolls Rastall titul Monasteries Parliament dissolved and bestowed on the King It being conceived unsafe that men moving according to a forreign interest having their affections leading them beyond the seas and their actions following when befriended with secresie should be maintained in this Kingdome Besides it tended to the manifest detriment of the State that such should transport our coyn and commodities into an enemies Countrey without returning a proportionable profit to the Common-wealth Other alien Priories which were Conventuall survived untill the general mortality of English Monasteries These alien Priories were not conceived to have such a temptation to disloyalty as the others having their absolute subsistence here and though the Monks therein were strangers in respect of their birth they were counted Naturalized in a manner in regard of their education and livelyhood 6. The dissolving of these Priories The dangerous influence of this predent made a dangerous impression on all the rest Say not that English Abbeys were unconcerned because these strangers being rather suckers than branches of their tree their growing was a burthen and their pruning off a benefit thereunto for though Aliens in their Countrey they were Allies in their Cause there being an affinity betwixt all religious Foundations And now here was an Act of State for precedent That without sin of Sacriledge such Donations might be dissolved Use was made hereof beyond the Kings intention who in this act not covetous but politick aiming rather to secure than enrich Himself whereas now some Courtiers by His bounty tasting on the sweet of Abbey-lands made their break-fasts thereon in the time of Henry the fift which increased their appetites to dine on the same in the daies of King Henry the eighth not so glutted but they could sup on the reversions left in the Reign of K. Edward the sixt SECTION III. To the Honourable the Lady MARY FOUNTAINE MADAM THough none can expect Courtship many will require Congruity from me Such will charge me with a great Impropriety for dedicating a discourse of Monks and Friers to your Ladiship where some passages of their wantonnesse may occasion your blushing for them who never blushed for themselves But know it done by design that you may plainly perceive how far Marriage-chastity transcended forced and pretended virginity or if you please how much a springing Fountain is better than a standing-Pool soon subject to putrefaction Your Family though not a Nunnery may be a Religious house seeing God hath multiplied you into a whole Convent I mean the fourteen Children which you have at this present I say have for this reason is rendred why the Children of Job after his restitution were not doubled unto him as his Cattle were because they were utterly foregone his Children onely gone before on which account those six removed from you into a better world still remain yours God in due time translate you and your worthy Husband in a good old age into the same Place of Happiness Of Cardinal Wolsey's ominous suppressing of forty lesser Monasteries therewith to build two Colledges VAst were the revenues of Cardinal Wolsey Wolsey's wealth and want if we account both his Wives and Concubines I mean the place whereon he resided and Churches he held in Commendam being at the same time the Pope's Legate à latere Archbishop of Yorke Chancellor of England Bishop of Winchester Abbot of S. Albans besides other meaner preferments Yet he found a Eccles 5. 11. Solomon's observation true When goods encrease they are encreased that eat them Insomuch that his magnificent mind was poor in his plenty in the midst of his wealth wanted means to compass his vast designs Wherefore intending to erect two fair Colledges one where he was born in Ipswich the other where he was bred in Oxford and finding himself unable to endow them at his own charges he obtained license of Pope Clement 7 â—h An. 1525 to suppress forty smaller Monasteries in England and to lay their old land to his new foundations w ch was done accordingly For the Cardinal thought that these petty Houses like little sparks of diamonds were inconsiderable in themselves whereas they would make a fair show if all put together into two jewels only his two Colledges and he carry away all the credit thereof 2. An action condemned by the conscientious in that Age Wolsey his act justly censured accounting it essentiall to charity that the thing given be the proper goods of the Donour Cast thy bread saith b Eccles 11. 1. Solomon upon the water It must be thy bread otherwise though c Prov. 9. 17. stollen bread may be pleasant to men it is nauseous and distastfull to the God of heaven who in such cases will not be the receiver though man be the thief solemnly disavowing the acceptance of such donations witnesse his own words d Isa 61. 8. I hate robbery for burnt offering 3. Plead not in the Cardinal's excuse Fig leaves to coveâ— it in vain that the houses by him suppressed were of small value it being as great yea greater sacriledge to invade the widows mite than the large gifts which the rich Priests cast into Corban because their bounties were but superfluous wenns whilst hers was an essentiall limb yea as our Saviour e Luke 21. 4. observes the whole body of her estate As probably some of those poor Foundations were erected by Founders like those of f 2 Cor. 8. 3. Macedonia to their power and beyond their power willing of themselves As for the poor people formerly living in these then-dissolved houses they may be presumed more religious than others that were richer poverty being a protection for their piety and they unable to go to the cost of luxurious extravagancies I finde not what provision was afterward made for these helplesse souls thrust out of house and home so that it is suspitious that the Cardinal notwithstanding his prodigious hospitality made moe beggars than ever he relieved 4. Others alledge
Letters of others so as to gain any money into their hands thereby be punishable by Pillory e Statute 33 of Henry 8 Imprisonment or any other corporall penalty under death at the discretion of the Judge yea if it be Treason for any to forge the King's Signe Manual Privy Signet f Statute â— Mary or Privy Seale How great a guilt doe they contract who falsifie the Signature of the high God of Heaven Miracles being of that nature whereby he immediately impresseth his own Power and Presence on that which is so supernaturally brought to passe 8. I know what such Forgers plead for themselves viz That they have a good intent therein to beget The forgers Plea continue or increase a reverence to Religion and veneration to the Saints and Servants of God so to raise up vulgar fancies to the highest pitch of piety Wherefore as Lycurgus made a Law not that Theft should be death but death to be caught in their Thieving so these conclude counterfeiting Miracles no fault but when done so bunglingly that it is detected conceiving otherwise the glory accreweth to God by their hypocrisie 9. But Consuted what saith the Holy Spirit * Job 13. 7. Will you speak wickedly For God and talk deceitfully For Him will you accept his Person will you yet contend for God Doe you so mock him shall not his Excellency make you affraid Yea so farre is such fraud from adding repute to Religion that being found out it disposeth men to Atheisme and to a suspition of the truth even of the reall Miracles in Scripture 10. The pretended causes of which Miracles are generally reduceable to these two heads The forgery in Relicts and the Cross especially 1. Saints Relicts 2. Saints Images How much forgery there is in the first of these is generally known So many pieces being pretended of Christ's Crosse as would load a great Ship but amongst all of them commend me to the Crosse at the Priory of Benedictines at Bromeholme in Northfolke the Legend whereof deserveth to be inserted Queen Hellen they say finding the CROSSE of Christ at Jerusalem divided it into nine parts according to the nine Orders of Angels of one of these most besprinkled with Christ's blood she made a little Crosse and putting it into a box adorned with pretious stones bestowed it on Constantine her Son This Relict was kept by his Successours until Baldwin Emperour of Greece fortunate so long as he carried it about him but slain in fight when forgetting the same after whose death Hugh his Chaplain born in Northfolke and who constantly said Prayers before the Crosse g Joh. Capgrave in the Life of K. Edmond stole it away Box and all brought it into England and bestowed it on Brome-holme in Northfolke It seems there is no felony in such wares but catch who catch may yea such sacriledge is supererogation By this Crosse thirty nine dead men are said to be raised to life and nineteen blinde men restored to their sight It seems such Merchants trade much in odde numbers which best fastneth the fancies of folk whilst the smoothnesse of even numbers makes them slip the sooner out of mens memories 11. Chemnisius h In his Exam. Con. trid cap. de imag pag. 1. affirmeth from the mouth of a grave Author False teeth of Apollonia That the teeth of Saint Apollonia being conceived effectuall to cure the Tooth-ach in the Reign of King Edward the sixt when many ignorant people in England relied on that receit to carry one of her teeth about them the King gave command in extirpation of superstition That all her teeth should be brought in to a publick Officer deputed for that purpose and they filled a Tun therewith Were her stomack proportionable to her teeth a County would scarce afford her a meals meat 12. The English Nuns i Anatomie of the Nuns of Lisbon at Lisbon doe pretend False Arms of Tho. Becket That they have both the Arms of Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury and yet Pope Paul the third in a publick Bull set down by Sanders k De schis Angl. lib. 1. pag. 171. doth pitifully complain of the cruelty of King Henry the eighth for causing the bones of Becket to be burnt and the ashes scattered in the winde the solemnity whereof is recorded in our Chronicles and how his Armes should escape that Bonfire is to me incredible 13. The late mentioning of Apollonia curing the Tooth-ach mindeth me of the Popish designing of Saints Saints their severall imployments some to be Physicians of diseases and others Patrons of occupations S. Sebastian cureth the Plague S. Petronel the Fever S. Macurine the Frensie S. Maine the Scab S. Genow the Gout S. Clare the Sore-eyes S. Crepin protects Shoomakers S. Roch the Coblers S. Wendelin the Shepherds S. Pelaud protects Neatherds S. Anthony the Swineherds S. Gertrude the Rat-catchers S. Honor the Bakers S. Eloy the Smiths S. Luke the Painters S. Nicholas the Marriners S. Hubert the Hunters S. Lue the Lawyers Not to speak of S. Anne proper to help people to lost goods S. Leonard said to open the doors of Goales and make Prisoners fetters fall off and pity it is that he should shew a cast of his office to any save to honest Persons in durance Expect not from me a reason why such Saints are Patrons to such Professions superstitious fancy being all the Authour thereof Otherwise were Judgment consulted with Luke should be Tutelar to Physicians as his proper calling though perchance he entertained Painting also as a quality for delight and accomplishment 14. Now most Miracles may be called Conventual Miracles why most in Covents Monks being more dexterous thereat than Secular Priests because their Covents afforded greatest conveniency of contrivance with more heads and hands to plot and practice therein And this may be conceived one main cause which justly incensed Divine jealousie against them and in due time advanced the destruction of Monasteries because fathering the issue of earth or Hell to be the off-spring of Heaven intituling their monstrous delusions to be miraculous operations Of false Miracles many broods whereof were hatched in Monasteries SUch false Miracles are reducible to two Ranks A Dichotomy of Miracles 1. Reported but never done 2. Done but not true Miracles as either the Product of Nature Art or Satanicall Machination 2. Of the former Reported not done whose being is onely in report were many thousands whose Scene for the better countenancing thereof is commonly laid at distance both of Time and Place These like the stuffe called Stand-farre-off must not have the beholder too near lest the coursnesse thereof doth appeare Thus any redish liquor especially if neer the eyes of the Image of a Saint is reported blood any whitish moisture especially if near the breast of the Image of a she-Saint is related to be milk Though both of them neither more nor lesse true than what
the Kings power but flattered into them by the apprehension of their own profit For many lands of subjects either naturally bald or newly shaven of their woods were commuâ—ed for Granges of Abbeys which like Satyres or Salvages were all over grown with trees and timber besides other disadvantages both for quantity and quality of ground as enhaunced for old rent Oh! here was the Royall Exchange 6. Lastly Unconscionable under-sale of Abbey-lands by sale at under-rates Indeed it is beneath a Prince enough to break His state to stoop to each Virgate and rod of ground Pedlar-like to higgle for a toy by retail and all Tenants and Chapmen which contract with Kings expect good bargains yet Officers entrusted to manage the revenue of the Crown ought not to behold it abused out of all distance in such under-valuations Except any will say He is not deceived who would be deceived and King Henry for the reason aforesaid connived at such bargains wherein rich Meadow was sold for barren Heath great Oaks for Fewell and Farms for revenue passed for Cottages in reputation But for farther instruction we remit the Reader to that information i Weaver's funerall Mon. pag. 125. presented to Queen Elizabeth by a man in authority though namelesse of the severall frauds and deceipts offered the Crown in this kinde But the motion rather drew odium on the Authour than brought advantage to the Crown partly because of the number and quality of persons concerned therein and partly because after thirty years the owners of Abbeys were often altered And though the chamber be the same yet if the guests be a new company it is hard for the host from them to recover his old arrearages Yea by this time when the foresaid information was given in the present possessors of much Abbey-land were as little allied to those to whom King Henry granted them as they to whom the King first passed them were of kin to the first Founders of those Monasteries Of the actions of policie pietie charitie and justice done by King Henry the eighth out of the revenues of dissolved Abbeys WE would not willingly be accounted like those called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst the Jewes Good as well as bad must be observed in mixt actions whose office it was onely to take notice of the blots or blemishes the defects and deformities in sacrifices We would not weed King Henry's actions in His dissolving of Abbeys so as onely to mark the miscarriages and misdemeanous therein Come we to consider what commendable deeds this King did raise on the ruines of Monasteries 2. First K. Henry augmented the Crown-revenues He politickly increased the revenues of the Crown and Dutchie of Lancaster on which He bestowed the rich Abbey of Fourness in that County with annexing much land thereto and erecting the Court of Augmentations whereof largely hereafter for the more methodicall managing thereof though alas what the Crown possessed of Abbey-land was nothing to what He passed away Surely had the revenues of Monasteries been entirely kept and paid into the Exchequer there to make an Aerarium sacrum or Publick treasurie it is questionable whether the same had been more for the ease of the Subject or use and honour of the Soveraigne 3. Secondly Founded five new Bishopricks He piously founded five Bishopricks de novo besides one at West-minster which continued not where none had been before For though antiently there had been a Bishops Seat at Chester for a short time yet it was then no better than the Summer-house of the Bishop of Lichfield onely during the life of one Peter living there which now was solemnly made a Bishoprick for succession and four others namely Bishops See Diocesse assigned it Taken from the Bishoprick of 1. Oxford 2. Bristoll 3. Peterborough 4. Gloucester 5. Chester 1. Oxford shire 2. Dorset and some part of Gloucester shire 3. Northampton shire and Rutland 4. Gloucester-shire the rest 5. Chester Lancaster and Richmond shire 1. Lincolne 2. Sarisbury 3. Lincolne 4. Worcester 5. Lichfield and York Such who are Prelatically perswaded must acknowledge these new foundations of the King 's for a worthy work Those also of contrary judgment will thus farre forth approve His act because had He otherwise expended these Abbey-lands and not continued them to our times in these new Bishopricks they had not been in being by their late sale to supply the Common-wealth 4. Thirdly Monks places turned into Prebends where He found a Prior and Monks belonging to any antient Cathedral-Church there He converted the same into a Dean and Prebendaries as in 1. Canterbury 2. Winchester 3. Elie. 4. Norwich 5. Worcester 6. Rochester 7. Duresme 8. Carlile I dare not say that He entirely assigned though a good a Godwin in Henry the 8. Anno 1539. Nothing was taken away Authour affirmeth it all or the most part of those Priorie-lands to these His new foundations However the expression of a late b Dr. Montague Bishop of Norwich is complained of as uncivil and untrue that King Henry took away the sheep from that Cathedral and did not restore so much as the trotters unto it 5. Fourthly Grammar-schools founded by Him He charitably founded many Grammar-schools great need whereof in that Age in this Land as in Canterbury Coventry Worcester c. allowing liberall salaries to the Masters and Ushers therein had they been carefully preserved But sometimes the gifts of a bountifull Master shrink in the passage thorough the hands of a covetous Steward 6. Fiftly Hospitalls by Him conferr'd on London He charitably bestowed Gray Friers now commonly called Christ-Church and the Hospital of S. Bartholomew in London on that City for the relief of the poor thereof For the death of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolke His beloved Brother-in-Law happ'ning the July before so impressed King Henry with a serious apprehension of His own mortality such the sympathy of tempers intimacie of converse and no great disparity of age betwixt them that He thought it high time to bethink Himself of His end and to doe some good work in order thereunto Hereupon on the 13 of January following Anno c Stows Survey of London pag. 417. 1546. He bestowed the said Hospitals on the City a gift afterwards confirmed and enlarged by King Edward the sixt 7. Sixtly Trinity College in Cambridge and Professors places by Him endowed He built and endowed the magnificent Colledge of Trinity finished Kings-Colledge Chappell-in Cambridge and founded Professours places for Languages Physick Law and Divinity in both Universities as in the proper place thereof shall hereafter largely appear 8. Seventhly Leland employed by Him to survey collect and preserve Antiquities He employed John Leland a most learned Antiquary to perambulate and visit the ruines of all Abbeys and record the Memorables therein It seems though the buildings were destroyed King Henry would have the builders preserved and their memories transmitted to
antient amongst the Barons to the degree and dignity of Viscounts wherein that it may long flourish in plenty and happinesse is the daily prayer of Your Honours most obliged Servant THOMAS FVLLER THE Church-History OF BRITAIN KING HENRY the eighth Jan. 28. though dying excommunicate in the Church of Rome The hopefull beginning of King Edward had notwithstanding His Obsequies solemnly performed at Paris in France 1546. 7. by the command of Francis the French a Godwin in Edvardo â—exto pag. 158. King presuming so much on His own power and the Pope's patience otherwise such courtesie to His friend might have cost Him a curse to Himself Then began King Edward His Son Ann. Reg. Ed. 6. 1. to reign scarce ten years old Ann. Dom. full of as much worth as the model of His age could hold No pen passeth by Him without praising Him though none praising Him to His full deserts Yea Sanders himself having the stinch of his railing tongue over-sented with the fragrant ointment of this Prince's memory though jeering His for His want of age which was God's pleasure and not King Edward's fault and mocking Him for His Religion the others highest honour alloweth Him in other respects large commendations 2. No sooner was He come to the Crown Peace and prosperity to the Protestants in England but a peaceable dew refreshed Gods inheritance in England formerly patched with persecution and this good Angel struck off the fetters from many Peters in prison preserving those who were appointed to die Onely Thomas Dobbie Fellow of S. Johns in Cambridge committed to the Counter in Bread street and condemned for speaking against the Masse died of a natural death in respect of any publick punishment by Law inflicted on him but whether or no any private impression of violence hastened his end God alone knoweth His speedy death prevented the b Fox Acts Mon. Vol. 2. pag. 655. pardon which the Lord Protectour intended to send him Divine Providence so ordering it that he should touch not enter see not taste behold not reap benefit on earth of this Reformation Other Confessours which had fled beyond sea as John Hooper Miles c Senders de Schis Anglic. lib. 2. pag. 230. Coverdale c. returned with joy into their Countrey and all Protestants which formerly for fear had dissembled their religion now publickly professed the same Of these Archbishop Cranmer was the chiefest who though willingly he had done no ill and privately many good offices for the Protestants yet his cowardly compliance hitherto with Poperie against his conscience cannot not be excused Ann. Dom. 1546-47 serving the times present in his practice Ann Reg. Ed. 6 1. and waiting on a future alteration in his hopes and desires 3. Edward Semaure Commissionners sent into several Counties with Instructions to reform the King's Uncle lately made Lord Protectour Jan. 28. and Duke of Somerset ordered all in Church and State He by the King's power or if you please the King in his protection took speedy order for Reformation of Religion And being loth that the people of the Land should live so long in errour and ignorance till a Parliament should be solemnly summoned which for some Reasons of State could not so quickly be call'd in the mean time by His own Regall power and authority and the advise of His wise and honourable Counsell chose Commissioners and sent them with Instructions into severall parts of the Kingdome for the rooting out of superstition the substance whereof thirty six in number we have here presented The King's Injunctions 1. That all Ecclesiasticall persons observe the Lawes for the abolishing the pretended and usurped power of the Bishop of Rome and confirmation of the Kings authority and supremacie 2. That once a Quarter at least they sincerely declare the Word of God disswading their people from superstitious fancies of Pilgrimages praying to Images c. exhorting them to the works of faith mercy and charitie 3. That Images abused with Pilgrimages and offerings thereunto be forthwith taken down and destroyed and that no more wax-Candles or Tapers be burnt before any Image but onely two lights upon the high Altar before the Sacrament shall remain still to signifie that Christ is the very light of the world 4. That every Holy day when they have no Sermon the Pater noster Credo and Ten Commandements shall be plainly recited in the Pulpit to the Parishioners 5. That Parents and Masters bestow their Children and Servants either to learning or some honest occupation 6. That such who in Cases exprest in the Statute are absent from their Benefices leave learned and expert Curates 7. That within three Months after this Visitation the Bible of the larger volume in English and within twelve Months Erasmus his Paraphrase on the Gospel be provided and conveniently placed in the Church for people to read therein 8. That no Ecclesiasticall persons haunt Ale-houses or Taverns or any place of unlawfull gameing 9. That they examine such who come to confession to them in Lent whether they can recite their Creed Pater noster and ten Commandements in English before they receive the blessed Sacrament of the Altar or else they ought not to presume to come to Gods board 10. That none be admitted to preach except sufficiently licensed 11. That if they have heretofore extolled Pilgrimages Reliques worshipping of Images c. they now openly recant and reprove the same as a common errour groundlesse in Scripture 12. That they detect and present such who are Letters of the Word of God in English and Fautours of the Bishop of Rome his pretended power 13. That a Register-Book be carefully kept in every Parish for Weddings Christnings and Burialls 14. That all Ecclestasticall persons not resident upon their Benefices and able to dispend yearly twenty pounds and above shall in the presence of the Church-Wardens or some other honest men distribute the fourtieth part of their revenues amongst the poor of the Parish 15. That every Ecclesiasticall person shall give competent exhibition to so many Schollers in one of the Universities as he hath hundred pounds a year in Church promotions 16. That the fift part of their Benefices be bestowed on their Mansion-houses or Chancells till they be fully repaired 17. That he readeth these Injunctions once a Quarter 18. That none bound to pay Tithes detain them by colour of Duty omitted by their Curates and so redoub one wrong with another 19. That no person henceforth shall alter any Fasting-day that is commanded or manner of Common Prayer or Divine Service otherwise then specified in these Injunctions untill otherwise ordered by the Kings authority 20. That every Ecclesiasticall person under the degree of Batchelour of Divinity shall within three Months after this Visitation provide of his own the New Testament in Latine and English with Erasmus his Paraphrase thereon And that Bishops by themselves and their Officers shall examine
put on a civil account Good policie Injunction 23. to avoid contention about places Indeed peoples pride herein consisted in pretended humility which the Injunction at large termeth a fond Courtesie For in a mock-practise of the Apostles * Rom. 12. 12. precept in honour preferring one another they strained courtesie to goe last Where by the way I conceive that accounted the highest place which was next the Crosse bearer or next the Priest carrying the Host Quaere whether in the 24 Injunction labouring in time of Harvest on Holy-daies and Festivals relateth not onely to those of Ecclesiasticall constitution as dedicated to Saints or be inclusive of the Lords day also Mr. Calvin in his Letter to the Lord * pag. 187 188. Protector Mr. Calvin dissents disliketh the praying for the dead and this is one of those things which he termed tolerabiles ineptias Englished by some tolerable fooleries more mildly by others tolerable unfitnesses In requital whereof Bishop Williams was wont to say That Master Calvin had his tolerabiles morositates And thus moderately did our first Reformers begin Moderation 〈◊〉 farre as the subject they wrote on would give them leave for as carefull Mothers and Nurses on condition they can get their Children to part with knives are contented to let them play with raitles So they permitted ignorant people still to retain some of their fond and foolish Customes that they might remove from them the most dangerous and destructive Superstitions Come we now to give in a List of such principall Books which in the Reign of this King and His Father The Protestant Library as Preparatory to and Introductive of Reformation And to bring them high enough we will begin with HEN 7th Prayers printed by the Commandements of the moost hye and vertuous Princesse our lyege Lady Elizabeth by the grace of God Quene of England and of France and also of the right hye and moost noble Princesse Margarett mother to our Soveraign Lord the King c. without the year when printed HEN 8th The Institution of a Christian man contayneng the Exposition of the Commune Crede of the seaven Sacraments of the ten Commandements and of the Pater noster and the Ave Maria Justification and Purgatory London by Tho Barthelet 1537. A necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christen man set furthe by the Kynges Majestie of England c. London by Tho Barthelet 1543. HEN 8th Henry the eighth his Epistle to the Emperour Christen Princes and all true Christen men desiring peace and concord amonges them Against the power of the Pope and concerning a Generall Councell London by Tho Barthelet 1538. A Protestation made for the most mighty and most redoubted King of England c. and his hole Counsell and Clergie wherein is declared that neither His Highnesse nor His Prelates neyther any other Prince or Prelate is bound to come or send to the pretended Councell that Paul Bishop of Rome first by a Bull indicted at Mantua a Citie in Italy and now alate by an other Bull hath proroged to a place no man can telle where London by Tho Barthelet 1537. Articles devised by the Kinges Highnes Majestie to stablishe Christen quietnes and unitie amonge us and to avoyde contentious opinions which Articles be also approved by the consent and determination of the hole Clergie of this Realme Lond Tho Barthelet 1536. Injunctions to the Clergie 1536. M. Sc. Articles devised by the holle consent of the Kinges most honourable Counsayle His Graces licence opteyned thereto not only to exhorte but also to enfourme His loving Subjects of the trouth London Tho Barthelet 1533. Orarium seu libellus Precationum per Regiam Majestatem Clerum Latinè editus Ex officina Richard Graftoni 1545. Pia Catholica Christiani hominis institutio Londini apud Thomam Barthelet 1544. Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticarū ex authoritate primum Regis Hen 8. inchoata deinde per Regem Edw 6. provecta c. Londini ex officina Jo Day 1571. EDW 6th Injunctions given by the most excellent Prince Edward the sixt by the grace of God King of England France and Ireland Defendor of the Fayth and in yearthe under Christ of the Church of England and of Ireland the Supreeme Hedde to all and singuler His loving Subjects aswell of the Clergie as of the Laietie By R. Grafton 1547. Articles to be enquired of in the Kynges Majesties visitation By Rich Grafton Cum privilegio Communion book translated into French for Jersey and Garnesey 1553. EDW 6th The Booke of Common-Prayer and Administration of Sacraments c. London 1549. 1552. The forme and manner of making and consecrating Bishops Priests and Deacons 1552 1549. The Copie of a Letter sent to all those Preachers which the Kings Majestie hath licensed to preach from the Lord Protectors Grace and others of the Kinges Majesties most Honourable Councell The 23 of May 1548. Catechismus brevis Christianae disciplinae summam continens omnibus ludimagistris authoritate Regiâ commendatus Londini 1553. Articuli de quibus in Synodo Londinensi 1552. ad tollenda◠opinionum dissensionem consensum verae religionis firmandum inter Episcopos alios eruditos atque pios viros-convenerat Regia similiter authoritate promulgati Londini The Primer or Booke of Prayers translated out of Hen the 8 ths Orarium London by Rich Grafton 1547. Certain Sermons viz the first part of the Church Homilies appointed by the Kinges Majestie to be read everie Sonday and Holy day c. 1549 1547. A Primer or Booke of private Prayer c. in the 7 yeare of Ed 6. Ex officina Wilhelmi Seres 1552. The order of the Communion with the Proclamation London by Rich Grafton 1548. Q. MARIE The Primer in Latin and English after the use of Sarum London 1555. Edm Bonners Catechisme 1555. with Homelies composed by H. Pendleton and Jo Harpesfield London 1555. These are the principall State-books which that Age produced not mentioning such as numberlesse which private persons set forth onely I cannot as yet recover the Lord Cromwell's Catechisme except it be concealed under another name amongst the Books aforementioned 4. Come we now to the Liturgie which in the Reign of K. Henry the eighth was said or sung all in Eatine save only the Creed Pater noster and ten Commandements put into English by the Kings command Anno 1536. Nine years after viz 1545 the Letanie was permitted in English and this was the farthest pace which the Reformation stept in the Reign of King Henry the eighth Ann. Dom. 1547. But under His son King Edward the sixt a new form of Divine worship was set forth in the vulgar Tongue which passed a threefold purgation The first Edition of the Liturgie or Common-Prayer The 2 d Edit of the Liturgy or Common-Prayer The 3 d Edit of the Liturgy or Common-Prayer In the first year of King Edward the sixt it was recommended to the care
Reign wherein no Church-matter was medled with save that therein a Subsidie granted by the Clergy was confirmed Such moneys being the Legacie of course which all Parliaments fairly coming to a peaceable end bequeath to their Sovereign As for the Records of this Convocation they are but one degree above blanks scarce affording the names of the Clerks assembled therein Indeed they had no Commission from the King to meddle with Church-businesse and every Convocation in it self is born deaf and dumb so that it can neither hear complaints in Religion nor speak in the redresse thereof till first Ephata be thou opened be pronounced unto it by Commission from Royall Authority 9. Now The true reason thereof the true reason why the King would not intrust the diffusive body of the Convocation with a power to meddle with matters of Religion was a just jealousie which He had of the ill affection of the major part thereof Ann. Dom. 1553. who under the fair rinde of Protestant profession Ann. Reg. Ed. 6. 7. had the rotten core of Romish superstition It was therefore conceived safer for the King to relie on the ability and fidelity of some select Confidents cordiall to the cause of Religion than to adventure the same to be discussed and decided by a suspitious Convocation 10. However Forty two Articles of Religion and the Kings Catechisme this barren Convocation is intituled the parent of those Articles of Religion fourty two in number which are printed with this Preface Articuls de quibus in Synodo Londinensi Anno Domini 1552. inter Episcopos alios eruditos viros convenerat With these was bound a Catechisme younger in age as bearing date of the next year but of the same extraction relating to this Convocation as authour thereof Indeed it was first compiled as appears by the Kings Patent prefix'd by a single Divine * ◠pio quodam crudito viro conscipto in the Kings Patent Consented and not consented to by the Convocation charactred pious and learned bu◠afterwards perused and allowed by the Bishops and other learned men understand it the Convocation and by Royall Authority commended to all Subjects commanded to all School Masters to teach it their Scholars 11. Yet very few in the Convocation ever saw it much lesse explicitly consented thereunto but these had formerly it seems passed over their power I should be thankfull to him who would produce the originall instrument thereof to the select Divines appointed by the King in which sense they may be said to have done it themselves by their Delegates to whom they had deputed their authority A case not so clear but that it occasioned a cavill at the next Convocation in the first of * See more thereof in the next year Queen Mary when the Papists therein assembled renounced the legality of any such former transactions Pretious King Edward the sixt now changed his Crown of Gold for one of Glory July 6. we will something enlarge our selves The death of K. Edward the sixt who was not cut out of His Mothers belly as is commonly reported to give posterity His true Character never meeting more virtues in so few years For His Birth there goeth a constant tradition that Caesar-like He was cut out of the belly of His Mother Jane Seymour though a great person of Honour deriving her Intelligence mediately from such as were present at Her Labour assured me of the contrary Indeed such as shall read the calm and serene style of that Letter which I have seen written though not by for that Queen and signed with Her own Signet after Her delivery cannot conjecture thence that any such violence was offered unto Her But see the Letter RIght trusty and welbeloved Queen Ianes Letter after Her Delivery to the Lords of the Councell We greet you well and forasmuch as by the inestimable goodnesse and grace of Almighty God We be delivered and brought in Childe-bed of a PRINCE conceived in most lawfull Matrimony between my Lord the Kings Majestie and Vs. Doubting not but that for the love and affection which you bear unto Vs and to the Common-wealth of this Realm thi◠knowledge shall be joyous and glad tidings unto you We have thought good to certifie you of this Iame To the intent ye might not onely render unto God condigne thanks and praise for so great a benefice but also continually pray for the long continuance and preservation of the same here in this life to the honour of God joy and pleasure of my Lord the KING and Vs and the universall weal quiet and tranquility of this whole Realm a a Extant in Sir Tho. Cottons Library sub Ner. cap. 10. ¶ Given under our Signet at my Lords Manour of Hampton-Court the 22 day of October And although this Letter was soon after seconded with b Extant ibid. another of a sadder subject here inserted subscribed by all the Kings Physitians yet neither doth that so much as insinuate any impression of violence on Her person as hastening Her death but seems rather to cast the cause thereof on some other distemper THese shall be to advise your Lordships of the Queens estate Yesterday afternoon She had a natural Lax A sadder Letter of Her Physitians unto them by reason whereof She began to lighten and as it appeared to amend and so continued till towards night All this night She hath been very sick and doth rather appare than amend Her Confessour hath been with Her Grace this morning and hath done that to his office appertaineth and even now is preparing to minister to Her Grace the Sacrament of Unction ¶ At Hampton-Court this Wednesday morning at eight a clock Your Lordships at Commandement Thomas Cutland Robert Karhold Edward Bayntam John Chambers Priest William Butts George Owen Impute we here this Extreme Unction administred to Her partly to the over-officiousness of some superstitious Priest partly to the good Ladies inability perchance insensible what was done unto her in such extremity otherwise we are confident that Her judgment when in strength and health disliked such practices being a zealous Protestant Which Unction did her as little good as the twelve Masses said for Her soul in the City of London at the Commandement of the Duke of Norfolk whether he did it to credit their Religion with the countenance of so great a Convert or did it out of the Nimiety of his own Love and Loyaltie to the Queen expressing it according to his own judgment without the consent if not against the will of the Queens nearest kindred 12. But leaving the Mother Prince Edw. towardlinesse in learning let us come to the Son who as he saith of himself in the Manuscript of His Life was for the first six years bred and brought up amongst the Women and then consigned to masculine Tuition under Doctor Richard Cox and Sir John Cheekè who taught Him Latine and John Belmain who
and Protestants wring their hands which our fathers found begun our selves see hightened and know not whether our children shall behold them pacified and appeased 4. But now a Parliament began at Westminster Alteration of Beligion enacted by the Parliament Wherein the Laws of King Henry the eighth against the See of Rome were renewed Jann 25. and those of King Edward the sixth in favour of the Protestants revived and the Laws by Queen Mary made against them repealed Uniformity of Prayer and Administration of Sacraments was enacted with a Restitution of first fruits Tenths c. to the Crown For all which we remit the Reader to the Statutes at large It was also enacted that whatsoever Jurisdictions Priviledges anâ— Spiritualls preeminences had been heretofore in Vse by any Ecclesiasticall Authority whatsoever to visit Ecclesiasticall men and Correct all manner of Errors Hereâ—es Schisms Abuses and Enormities should be for ever annexed to the Imperiall Crown of England if the Queen and her Successours might by their Letters patents substitute certain men to exercise that Authority howbeit with proviso that they should define nothing to be heresie but those things which were long before defined to be Heresies out of the Sacred Canonicall Scriptures or of the four Oecumenicall Councills or other Councills by the true and proper sence of the Holy Scriptures or should thereafter be so defined by authority of the Parliament with assent of the Clergy of England assembled in a Synod That all and every Ecclesiasticall Persons Magistrates Receivers of pensions out of the Exchequer such as were to receive degrees in the Vniversities Wards that were to sue their Liveries and to be invested in their Livings and such as were to be admitted into the number of the Queens servants c. should be tyed by oath to acknowledge the Queens Majesty to be the onely and supreme Governour of her Kingdoms the Title of Supreme head of the Church of England liked them not in all matters and causes as well spiritual as temporal all forrain Princes and Protestants being quite excluded from taking Cognizance of Causes within her Dominions 5. But the Papists found themselves much agrieved at this Ecclesiasticall Power Papists exceptions against the Queens Supremacy declared and confirmed to be in the Queen they complained that the simplicity of poore people was abused the Queen declining the Title Head and assuming the name Governour of the Church which though less offensive was more expressive So whil'st their ears were favoured in her waving the word their souls were deceived with the same sence under another Expression They cavilled how King a Sanders de Schismate Anglicano lib. 3. pag. 316. Henry the eighth was qualified for that Place and Power being a Lay-man King Edward double debarr'd for the present being a Lay-childe Queen Elizabeth totally excluded for the future being a Lay-woman b Hart against Rainolds pag. 673. They object also that the very c In Praefat. centur 7. writers of the Centuries though Protestants condemne such Headship of the Church in PRINCES and d Upon the 7. of Amos 3. The same how defended by Protestant Divines Calvin more particularly sharply taxeth Bishop Gardiner for allowing the same Priviledge to KING Henry the eighth 6. Yet nothing was granted the Queen or taken by her but what in due belonged unto her according as the most learned and moderate Divines have defended it For e Rainolds against Hart pag. 38. first they acknowledged that Christ alone is the Supreme Soveraign of the Church performing the Duty of an head unto it by giving it power of life feeling and moving and f Ephes 1. 22. him hath God appointed to be head of the Church and Col. 2. 19. by him all the body furnished and knit together by joynts and bands encreaseth with the encreasing of God This Headship cannot stand on any mortall shoulders it being as incommunicable to a Creature as a Creature is incapable to receive it There is also a peculiar Supremacy of Priests in Ecclesiasticall matters to preach the Word minister the Sacraments celebrate Prayers and practise the discipline of the Church which no Prince can invade without usurpation and the sin of Sacriledge for Incense it self did stink in the Nostrils of the God of heaven and h 2 Chr. 26. 19 provoked his Anger when offered by King Vzziah who had no calling thereunto Besides these there is that power which Hezekiah exercised in his Dominions Commanding the Levites and Priests to do their Duty and the People to serve the Lord. And to this power of the Prince it belongeth to restore Religion decayed reforme the Church Corrupted protect the same reformed This was that supremacy in Causes and over Persons as well Ecclesiasticall as Civil which was derived from God to the Queen annexed to the Crown disused in the dayes of her Sister whose blinde zeal surrendred it to the Pope not now first fixed in the Crown by this act of State but by the same declared to the Ignorant that knew it not cleared to the scrupulous that doubted of it and asserted from the Obstinate that denied it 7. As for Calvin How Dr. Rainolds answereth the exceptions to the contrary he reproveth not Reader it is D r. Rainolds whom thou readest the title of head as the Peotestants granted it but that sense thereof i against Hart pag. 673. which Popish Prelates gave namely Stephen Gardiner who did urge it so as if they had meant thereby that the King might do things in Religion according to his own will and not see them done according to Gods will namely that he might forbid the Clergie Marriage the laytie the Cup in the Lords Supper And the truth is that Stephen Gardiner was shamelessly hyperbolicall in fixing that in the King which formerly with as little Right the Pope had assumed Whether he did it out of mere flattery as full of adulation as superstition equally free in sprinkling Court and Church holy-water and as very a fawning Spaniel under King Henry the eighth as afterwards he proved a cruel Blood-hound under Queen Mary his Daughter Or because this Bishop being in his heart disaffected to the Truth Anno Dom. 1557. of set purpose betrayed it in defending it Anno Regin Eliza. 1. suting King Henries vast Body and Minde with as mighty yea monstrous a power in those his odious instances straining the Kings Authority too high on set purpose to break and to render it openly obnoxious to just exception The Centuriatoâ—s also well understood do allow and a Idem ibidem Confess the Magistrates Jurisdiction in Ecclesiasticall matters though on good reason they be enemies to this Usurpation of unlawfull power therein But I digresse and therein Transgresse seeing the large profecution hereof belongs to Divines 9. But Sanders taketh a particular exception against the Regular passing of this Act Sunders 〈…〉 Elizabeth shewing much Queen-Craft in
Fecknam whence he fetcht his name Bred a Benedictâ—ne Monke in the Abbey of Evesham where he subscribed with the rest of his Order to the resignation of that house into the hands of King Henry the eighth Afterwards he studied in Oxford then applied himself first to Bell Bishop of Worcester and after his death to Bonner of London where he crossed the Proverb like Master like Man the Patron being Cruel the Chaplain Kinde to such who in Judgement dissented from him he never dissembled his religion being a zealous Papist and under King Edward the sixth suffered much for his Conscience 35. In the Reign of Queen Mary His Courtesy to Protestants he was wholy imployed in doing good offices for the afflicted Protestants from the highest to the lowest The Earle of Bedford and who afterwards were of Warwick and Leicester tasted of his kindnesse so did S r John Cheek yea and the Lady Elizabeth her self So interposing his interest with Queen Mary for her enlargement that he incurred her Graces displeasure Hence it is that Papists complain that in the reign of Queen Elizabeth he reaped not a Cropp of Courtesie proportionable to his large seed thereof in the dayes of Queen Mary 36. Queen Mary afterwards preferred him from being Dean of Pauls Made Abbot of Westminster a Sanders de schismate Ang. in the Reign of Q. Mary to be Abbot of Westminster which Church she erected and endowed for Benedictine Monks of which order fourteen only could be found in England then extant since their dissolution which were unmarried unpreferred to Cures and unaltered in their opinions These also were brought in with some difficulty at first and opposition for the Prebendaries of Westminster legally setled in their places would not resigne them till Cardinall Poole partly by compulsion partly by compensation obteined their removall 37. Queen Elizabeth coming to the Crown Q. Elizabeth send eth for him and prossers him preferment sent for Abbot Fecknam to come to her whom the messenger found setting of Elmes in the Orchard of Westminster Abbey But he would not follow the messenger till first he had finished his Plantation which his friends impute to his soul imployed b Reinerius in Apost Bened. pag. 235. in mysticall meditations that as the Trees he there set should spring and sprout many years after his decease So his new Plantation of Benedictine Monks in Westminster should take root and flourish in defiance of all opposition which is but a bold conjecture of others at his thoughts Sure I am those Monks long since are extirpated but how his Trees thrive at this day is to me unknown Coming afterwards to the Queen what discourse passed betwixt them they themselves knew alone some have confidently guessed she proffered him the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury on condition he would conform to her laws which he utterly refused 38. In the Treaty between the Protestants and Papists primo Elizabethae Kindly used in restraint he was present but in what capacity I cannot satisfie my self Surely more then a Disputant amongst whom he was not named Yet not so much as a Moderator And yet his judgement perchance because Abbot and so principall man in that place was c â—Fox Acts Mon. asked with respect and heard with reverence His Moderation being much commended Now although he was often confined sometimes to the Tower sometimes to friends houses and died it seems at last in restraint in Wisbeeich Castle Yet generally be found fair usage from the Protestants He built a Conduit in Holborn and a Crosse in Wisbeeich and relieved the poor wheresoever he came So that Flies flock not thicker about spilo honey then beggars constantly crouded about him 39. Abbot Fecknam thus being dead A recruit of English Benedictines made after Fecknams death the English Benedictines beyond the seas began to bestirr themselves as they were concerned about the continuation of their Order we know some maintain that if any one species or kinde of Creatures be utterly extinct the whole Univers by Sympathy therewith and consciousnesse of its own imperfection will be dissolved And the Catholicks suspected what a sad consequence there would be if this Ancient Order of English Black Monks should suffer a totall and finall defection The best was Vnus homo Nobis there was one and but one Monke left namely Father Sigebert Buckley and therefore before his death provision was made for others to succeed him and they for fear of failing disposed in severall Countries in manner following In Rome 〈…〉 In Valladolit in Spain 1. Father Gregory Sayer 2. Father Thomas Preston 3. Father Anselme of Manchester 4. Father Anthony Martin commonly called Athanasius 1. Father Austine S t. John 2. Father John Mervin 3. Father Marke Lambert 4. Father Maurice Scot. 5. Father George Gervis From these nine new Benedictines the whole Order which hung formerly on a single string was then replenished to a competent and since to a plentifull number 40. Hitherto our English Papists affectionately leaned not to say fondly doâ—â—d on the Queen of Scots 〈…〉 promising themselves great matters from her towards the advancing of their Religon But now they began to fall off in their 〈◊〉 partly because beholding her a confined person unable to free her self and more unlikely to help others partly because all Catholicks come off with losse of life which practized her enlargement As for her Son the King of Scots from whom they expected a settlement of Popery in that land their hopes were lately turned into despairs who had his education on contrary principles 41. Whereupon hereafter they diverted their eyes from the North to the West Unto the King of Spain expecting contrary to the course of nature that their Sun should rise therein in magnifying the might of the King of Spain and his zeal to propagate the Roman Catholick faith And this was the practise of all Jeâ—uites to possess their English proselytes with high opinions of the Spanish power as the Nation designed by Divine providence to work the restitution of their Religion in England 42. In order hereunto Pretending a 〈◊〉 the Crown of England and to hearten their Countrimen some for it appears the result of severall persons employed in the designing and effecting thereof drew up a Title of the King of Spains to the English Crown are much admired by their own party as slighted by the Queen and her Loyall Subjects for being full of falsehoods and forgeries Indeed it is easie for any indifferent Herauld so to derive a pedigree as in some seeming probability to intitle any Prince in Christendome to any Principality in Christendome but such will shrink on serious examination Yea I beleeve Queen Elizabeth might pretend a better Title to the Kingdoms of Leon and Castile in Spain as descended by the house of Yorke from Edmond Earl of Cambridge and his Lady Coheir to King Peter then any Claime that the King of Spain could
of the burden thereof 7. Great at this time was the Calm in the English Church the Brethren not endeavoring any thing in Opposition to the Hierarchie A Quiet in the English Ch and the cause thereof This some impute not to their Quienesse but Wearinesse because so long they had in vaine seeked to cast off that Yoke from them Besides they did not so much practise for the Present as project for the Future to procure hereafter an Establishment of their Ecclesiasticall Government For they beheld the Queenes old Age as a Taper of Virgin Wax now in the Socket ready to be extinguished which made them addresse and apply themselves with all diligence to IAMES King of Scotland the Heire apparent to the Crowne as to the rising Sun whom they hoped will be more favourable to their Proceedings Hopes not altogether groundlesse whilest they considered the Power of the Presbytery in the Church of Scotland where Bishops though lately restored to their place were so restrained in their Power that small was their Command in Church-affaires which made the Brethren in England thence to promise Great matters to themselves but with what successe shall be seen hereafter As for Mr. Thomas Cartwright the Chiefraine of that Party in England we finde him at this time growing rich in the Towne of Warwick there Master of an Hospitall by the Benevolence and Bounty of his Followers where he preached f Sir Geo Paul in the life of Arch-bishop Whitgiss p. 54 very temperately according to his Promise made to the Arch-bishop 8. Some ascribe this his Mildnesse to his old Age and Experience Severall Reasons assigned of Mr. Cartwright's Moderation it being commonly observed Ann. Reg. Bliz. 44. that in Controversies of this kinde Ann. Dom. 1602 Men when they consult with their owne Gray haires begin to abate of their Violence Others conceive that Arch-bishop Whitgift had conquered him with his kindnesse having formerly procured him both his Pardon Dismission out of all his Troubles so that his Coales of Courtesies heaped on Mr. Cartwright's Head made the good Metall the Ingenuity in him to melt into Moderation For in hs Letters written with his owne hand March 24. Anno 1601. he confesseth himself much obliged unto him vouchsafing him the style of A RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD AND HIS LORD THE ARCH-BISHOP'S GRACE OF CANTERBURY which Title of GRACE he also often yeildeth him throughout his Letters acknowledging his g Sir George Paul ut prius Bond of most humble Duty so much the straiter because his Grace's Favour proceeded from a frank Disposition without any desert of his owne Others and that not improbably doe think that Mr. Cartwright grew sensible with Sorrow how all Sects and Schismes being opposite to Bishops Brownists Barrowists c. did shroud and shelter themselves under his Protection whom he could neither reject with Credit nor receive with Comfort seeing his Conscience could not close with their enormous Opinions and his Counsell could not regulate their extravagant Violences which made him by degrees decline their Party Yet for all this there want not those who will maintaine that all this while Mr. Cartwright was not more remisse but more reserv'd in his Judgement being still as sound but not as sharpe in the cause out of Politick intents like a skilfull Pilot in a great Tempest yeilding to the Violence of a storme therewith to be carried away contrary to his intents for the present but waiting when the Wind should soone turne about to the North and blow him and his a prosperous Gale according to their Desires 9. What his opinions were The Character of Mr. Cartwr may appeare by the Premises and his life may be presumed most pious it concerning him to be strict in his Conversation who so stickled for the Reformation of all abuses in the Church An excellent Scholar pure Latinist his Travels advantaging the ready use thereof accurate Grecian exact Hebraician as his Comments on the Proverbs and other Works doe sufficiently testifie But the Master-piece of all his Writings was that his Confutation of the Rhemish Translation of the New Testament into ENGLISH at the Importunity of many Ministers of London and Suffolk and Sir Francis Walsingham the Queens Secretary Mr. Cartwright's especiall Patron gave him an h See the Preface of M. Cartwright's Book hundred pounds to buy him Books and incourage him in that Work However the setting forth thereof was stopped by Arch-bishop Whitgift probably we may conceive because some Passages therein did glance at and gird the Episcopall Discipline in England and after it had layn thirty yeares neglected it was first set forth Anno 1618. and then without either Priviledge or Licence except any will say that Truth is a Licence for it selfe In a word no English Champion in that Age did with more Valour or Successe charge and rout the Romish Enemy in matters of Doctrine But when that Adversary sometimes was not in the field then his active spirit fell foul in point of Discipline with those which otherwise were of his own Religion 10. The same yeare proved fatall to many other eminent Clergie-men Bishop Westphaling Dean Nowel Mr. Perkins Gr Sayer and Will 〈◊〉 depart this World and I hope without offence I may joyne them together their Bodies at the same time meeting at the Grave though their mindes before had parted in different Opinions 1. Herbert Westphaling Bishop of Hereford though perchance his Ambiguous Death is more properly referred to the last yeare brought up in Christ-church in Oxford being the first Bishop of that Foundation a Man of great Piety of Life and of such i Godwin de Prasulibus Anglia p. 546. Gravity that he was seldome or never seene to laugh leaving no great but a well gotten Estate out of which he bequeathed twenty pounds per annum to Jesus Colledge in Oxford 2. Alexander Nowell Doctor of Divinity and Deane of S. Paul's in London borne in Lancashire bred in Oxford afterwards fled into Germanie in the reigne of Queen Mary He was the first of k Donald upon in his Life English Exiles that returned in the dayes of Q. Elizabeth And I have read how in a Parliament he was chosen Burgess of a Town of Cornwall But his Election pronounced void because he was a Deacon A Man of a most Angelicall Life and Deep Learning A great Defender of Justification by Faith alone and yet a great Practiser of Good Works witnesse l Gamblen's Elizabeth in Anno 2602. two hundred pounds a year rent for the maintenance of thirteen Students bestowed on Brazen-nose Colledge wherein he had his Education A great honourer of the Marriage of the Clergie and yet who lived and died single himselfe An aged Man of 90. yeares of age yet fresh in his youthfull Learning yea like another Moses his eyes were not dimme nor did he ever make use of m Hugh Holland in his Icones
quickly be perused and yet then no such effigiation was therein discovered which some nineteen weeks after became visible about the nineteenth of September following Surely had this pregnant straw gone out its full time of fourty weeks it would have been delivered of a perfect picture indeed whereas now miscarrying before that time wonder not if all things were not so complete therein 54. For the face therein was not so exact Not perfectly done as which might justly intitle heaven to the workmanship thereof Say not it was done in too small a scantling to be accurate for Deus est maximus in minimis Gods exquisitenesse appears the most in q Exod. 8. 18. modells Whereas when Witnesses were examined about this mock-miracle before the Archbishop of Canterbury Francis Bowen deposed that he believed that a good Artisan might have drawn one more curiously and Hugh Griffith himself attested that it was no more like Garnet than to any other man who had a beard and that it was so small none could affirm it to resemble him adding moreover that there was no glory or streaming raies about it which some did impudently report 55. However Garnet's beâ—tification occasioned by this mock-miracle this inspirited straw was afterward copied out and at Rome printed in pomp with many superstitious copartments about it as a coronet a crosse and nails more than ever were in the originall Yea this miracle how silly and simple soever gave the ground-work to Garnet's beatification by the Pope some moneths after Indeed Garnet complained before his death That he could not expect that the Church should own him for a Martyr and signified the same in his Letter to his dear Mistresse Anne but for her sirname call her Garnet or Vaux as you please because nothing of religion and onely practices against the State were laid to his charge It seemed good therefore to his Holinesse not to canonize Garnet for a solemn Saint much lesse for a Martyr but onely to beatificate him which if I mistake not in their heavenly heraldrie is by Papists accounted the least and lowest degree of celestiall dignity and yet a step above the Commonaltie or ordinary sort of such good men as are saved This he did to qualifie the infamie of Garnet's death and that the perfume of this new title might out-sent the stench of his treason But we leave this Garnet loth longer to disturb his blessednesse in his own place and proceed to such Church-matters as were transacted in this present Parliament 56. Evil manners prove often though against their will the parents of good laws Acts against Papists in Parliament but principally the Oath of Obedience as here it came to passe The Parliament begun and holden at Westminster the fifth of November and there continued till the 27 of May following enacted many things for the discovering and repressing of Popish Recusants extant at large in the printed Statutes Whereof none was more effectuall than that Oath of Obedience which every Catholick was commanded to take the form whereof is here inserted The rather because this Oath may be termed like two of Isaac's r Gen. 26. 20. 21. wells Esek and Sitnah Contention and Hatred the subject of a tough controversie versie betwixt us and Rome about the legall urging and taking thereof Protestants no lesse learnedly asserting than Papists did zealously oppose the same The form of which Oath is as followeth I A. B. doe truly and sincerely acknowledge professe testifie and declare in my conscience before God and the world That our Soveraigne Lord King James is lawfull and rightfull King of this Realm and of all other His Majesties Dominions and Countreys and that the Pope neither of himself nor by any authority of the Church or See of Rome or by any other means with any other hath any power or authority to depose the King or to dispose any of His Majesties Kingdomes or Dominions or to authorize any forraign Prince to invade or annoy Him or His Countâ—â— or to discharge any of His subjects of their allegiance and obedience to His Majestie or to give licence or leave to any of them to bear armes raise tumult or to offer any violence or hurt to His Majesties Royall Person State or Government or to any of His Majesties subjects within His Majesties Dominions Also I doe swear from my heart that notwithstanding any declaration or sentence of Excommunication or deprivation made or granted or to be made or granted by the Pope or his Successours or by any authority derived or pretended to be derived from him or his See against the said King His Heires or Successours or any absolution of the said subjects from their obedience I will bear faith and true allegiance to His Majestie His Heires and Successours and Him and Them will defend to the uttermost of my power against all conspiracies and attempts whatsoever which shall be made against His or Their Persons Their Crown and Dignity by reason or colour of any such sentence or declaration or otherwise and will doe my best endeavour to disclose and make known unto His Majestie His Heires and Successours all treasons and traiterous conspiracies which I shall know or hear of to be against Him or any of Them And I doe farther swear That I doe from my heart abhorre detest and abjure as impious and hereticall this damnable doctrine and position That Princes which be excommunicated or deprived by the Pope may be deposed or murthered by Their subjects or any other whatsoever And I do believe and in conscience am resolved that neither the Pope nor any person whatsoever hath power to absolve me of this Oath or any part thereof which I acknowledge by good and full authority to be lawfully ministred unto me and doe renounce all Pardons and Dâ—spensations to the contrary And all these things I doe plainly and sincerely acknowledge and swear according to these express words by me spoken and according to the plain and common sense and understanding of the same words without any equivocation or mentall evasion or secret reservation whatsoever And I doe make this recognition and acknowledgment heartily willingly and truly upon the true faith of a Christian So help me God This Oath was devised to discriminate the pernicious from the peaceable Papists Sure binde sure finde And the makers of this were necessitated to be larger therein because it is hard to strangle equivocation which if unable by might to break will endeavour by slight to slip the halter 57. No sooner did the newes thereof arrive at the ears of his Holiness The Pope his two Breve's against this Oath but presently he dispatcheth his Å¿ See K. James his Works pag. 250. Breve into England prohibiting all Catholicks to take this Oath so destructive to their own souls and the See of Rome exhorting them patiently to suffer persecution and manfully to endure martyrdome And because report was raised that the Pope wrote this
for a private Motto amongst themseves Solvat Ecclesia Let the Church pay for all Bancroft then Bishop of London arriving at the notice thereof findes on inquirie that the Queen was passing a considerable parcell of Church-land unto them the Prelate stops the business with his own and his friends interest leaving these Gallants to pay the shot of their pride and prodigality out of their own purses Adde to this that I am credibly informed from a good hand how in the daies of King JAMES a Scotch-man and a prevalent Courtier had swallowed up the whole Bishoprick of Durham had not this Archbishop seasonably interposed his power with the KING and dashed the designe George Abbot succeeded Bancroft in Canterbury The new Translation of the Bible finished by the Command of King Iames and care of some chosen Divines of whom largely hereafter 48. And now after long expectation and great desire came forth the new Translation of the Bible most beautifully printed by a select and competent number of Divines appointed for that purpose not being too many lest one should trouble another and yet many lest in any things might haply escape them Who neither coveting praise for expedition nor fearing reproach for slacknesse seeing in a business of moment none deserve blame for convenient slownesse had expended almost three years in the work not onely examining the channels by the fountain Translations with the Originall which was absolutely necessary but also comparing channels with channels which was abundantly usefull in the Spanish Italian French and Dutch Languages So that their industrie skilfulnesse piety and discretion hath therein bound the Church unto them in a debt of speciall remembrance and thankfulness These with a Gen. 29. 10. Jacob rolled away the Stone from the mouth of the Well of Life So that now even Rahel's weak women may freely come both to drink themselves and water the flocks of their families at the same 49. But day shall sooner lack a night to attend it The causlesse Cavil the Papists thereat and the Sun-shine be unseconded with the sullen shade than a glorious action shall want Detractors to defame it The Popish Romanists much excepted hereat Was their Translation say they good before Why doe they now mend it Was it not good Why then was it obtruded on the People These observe not that whilst thus in their passion they seek to lash the Protestants their whips flie in the faces of the most learned and pious Fathers especially Saint Jerome who not content with the former Translations of the Septuagints Aquila Symachus and others did himself translate the Old Testament out of the Hebrew Yea their cavil recoils on themselves and their own Vulgar Translation whereof they have so many and different Editions b Loca ad Octo millia annotata atque emendata à nobis sunt Isâ—d Clarius in in Praes Bibl. Sacrosanct Edit Venctik 1542. but which in the following Edition is left out Isidorus Clarius a famous Papist first a Frier afterward a Bishop observed and amended as he said eight thousand faults in the vulgar Latine And since his time how doth the Paris Editions differ from the Lovaine and Hentenius his from them both How infinite are the differences many of them weighty and materiall of that which Pope Clement the eighth published from another which Sixtus Quintus his immediate Predecessour set forth Thus we see to better and refine Translations hath been ever counted a commendable practice even in our Adversaries 50. Besides this They take exceptions at the severall senses of words noted in the Margine the Romanists take exception because in this our new Translation the various senses of words are set in the Margin This they conceive a shaking of the certainty of the Scriptures such variations being as succours to be pruned off because they rob the stock of the Text of its due credite and reputation Somewhat conformable whereto Pope c Sixtus Quintus Praes Bibl. Sixtus Quintus expresly forbade that any variety of Readings of the vulgar Edition should be put in the Margin But on serious thoughts it will appear that these Translators affixing the diversity of the meaning of words in the side Colume deserve commendations for their modesty and humility therein For though as d On the Second Thes 2. cap. Saint Chrysostome observeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things that are necessary to salvation are plainly set down in the Scriptures yet seeing there is much difficulty and doubtfulnesse not in Doctrinall but in matters of lesse importance fearfulness did better beseem the Translators than confidence entring in such cases a caution where words are of different exceptions 51. Some of the Brethren were not well pleased with this Translation Some Brethren complain for lack of the Geneva Annotations suspecting it would abate the repute of that of Geneva with their Annotations made by English Exiles in that City in the daies of Qu. Mary dedicated to Qu. Elizabeth and Printed with the generall liking of the People above thirty times over Yea some complained That they could not see into the sense of the Scripture for lack of the spectacles of those Geneva Annotations For although a good Translation is an excellent Comment on the Bible wherein much darknesse is caused by false rendring of it and wherein many seeming Riddles are read if the words be but read Expounded if but truly Rendred Yet some short Exposition on the Text was much desired of the People But to say nothing of the defects and defaults of the Geneva Annotations though the best in those times which are extant in English those Notes were so tuned to that Translation alone that they would jarre with any other and could no way be fitted to this new Edition of the Bible Leave we then these worthy men now all of them gathered to their Fathers and gone to God however they were requited on earth well rewarded in Heaven for their worthy work Of whom as also of that Gracious KING that employed them we may say Wheresoever the Bible shall be preached or read in the whole world there shall also this that they have done be told in memoriall of them 52. And as about this time some perchance overvalued the Geneva Notes Doctor H in Oxford 〈◊〉 inveigheth against the Geneva Nâ—tes out of that especial Love they bare to the Authors and Place whence it proceeded so on the other side some without cause did slight or rather without charity did slander the same For in this or the next yeare a Doctor in solemn assembly in the University of Oxford publickly in his Sermon at St. Maries accused them as guilty of misinterpretation touching the Divinity of Christ and his Messiahship as if Symbolizing with Arrians and Jewes against them both For which he was afterwards suspended by Doctor Robert Abbot Propter conciones publicas minùs orthodoxas offensionis plenas But more properly hereof God
willing hereafter in our particular History of Oxford We will proceed to Report a memorable Passage in the Low-Countreys not fearing to lose my way or to be censured for a wanderer from the English Church-story whilst I have so good a Guide as the Pen of King JAMES to lead me out and bring me back again Besides I am affraid that this Alien Accident is already brought home to England and though onely Belgick in the Occasion is too much British in the Influence thereof SECTION IV. To EDWARD LLOYD Esq RIvers are not bountiful in Giving but just in Restoring * * Eccles 1. 7. their Waters unto the Sea However they may seem gratefull also because openly returning thither what they Secretly received thence This my Dedication unto you cannot amount to a Present but a Restitution wherein onely I tender a Publick acknowledgment of your Private courtesies conferred upon me KING JAMES took into His Princely care the seasonable suppression of the dangerous Doctrines of Conradus Vorstius Dangerous Opinions broached by Conradus Vorstius This Doctor had lived about 15 years a Minister at Steinford within the Territories of the Counts of TECKLENBOURG BENTHEM c. the Counts whereof to observe by the way were the first in Germany not in dignity or Dominion but in casting off the Yoke of Papacie and ever since continuing Protestants This Vorstius had both written and received severall Letters from certain Samosetenian Hereticks in Poland or thereabouts and it hapned that he had handled Pitch so long that at last it stuck to his Fingers and became infected therewith Hereupon he set forth two Books the one entit'led TRACTATUS THEOLOGICUS DE DEO dedicated to the Land-Grave of Hessen the other EXEGESIS APOLOGETICA printed in this year and dedicated to the States both of them facred with many dangerous Positions concerning the Deity For whereas it hath been the labour of the Pious and Learned in all Ages to mount Man to God as much a smight be by a Sacred adoration which the more humble the more high of the Divine Incomprehensiblenesse this Wretch did Seek to Stoop GOD to Man by debasing his Purity assigning him a materiall Body confining his Immensity as not being every where shaking his Immutability as if his will were subject to change darkning his Omnisciency as uncertain in future Contingents with many more monstrous Opinions fitter to be remanded to Hell than committed to writing Notwithstanding all this the said Vorstius was chosen by the Curators of the University of Leyden to be their Publick Divinity-Professour in the Place of Arminius lately deceased and to that end his Excellency and the States Generall by their Letters sent and sued to the Count of TECKLENBOURG and obtained of him that Vorstius should come from Steinford and become Publick-Professour in Leyden 2. It hapned that His Majesty of Great Britain Reasons moving K. James to Oppose him being this Autumne in His hunting-Progresse did light upon and perused the aforesaid Books of Vorstius And whereas too many doe but Sport in their most serious Employment He was so serious amidst His Sports and Recreations that with Sorrow and Horrour He observed the Dangerous Positions therein determining speedily to oppose them moved thereunto with these Principall Considerations First the Glory of God seeing this e In His Declaration against Vorflius p. 365. ANTI-St JOHN as His Majesty terms him mounting up to the Heavens belched forth such Blasphemies against the Divine ineffable Essence and was not a King on Earth concerned when the King of Heaven was dethroned from his Infinitenesse so farre as it lay in the Power of the treacherous Positions of an Heretick Secondly charity to His next Neighbors and Allies And lastly a just fear of the like Infection within His own Dominions considering their Vicinity of Situation and Frequency of intercourse many of the English Youth travelling over to have their Education in Leyden And indeed as it hath been observed that the Sin of Drunkenness was first brought over f See Camden's Elizabeth anno 1581. into England out of the Low Countries about the midst of the Reign of Queen ELIZABETH before which time neither generall Practice nor legall punishment of that vice in this Kingdome so we must Sadly confesse that since that time in a Spiritual Sense many English Souls have taken a cup too much of Belgick wine Whereby their Heads have not onely grown dâ—zie in matters of lesse moment but their whole Bodies stagger in the Fundamentals of their Religion 3. Hereupon King JAMES presently dispatched a Letter to Sir Ralph Winwood The States entertain not the motion of K. James against Vorstius according to just expectation his Ambassadour resident with the States willing and requiring him to let them understand how Infinitely he should be displeased if such a Monster as Vorstius should receive any advancement in their Church This was seconded with a large Letter of His Majesties to the States dated October the 6 to the same effect But neither found that Successe which the KING did earnestly desire and might justly expect considering the many Obligations of the Crown of England on the States the Foundation of whose Common-wealth as the Ambassadour told them was first cemented with English blood Several Reasons are assigned of their non-concurrence with the KING's motion The Curators of Leyden-University conceived it a disparagement to their Judgments if so neer at hand they could not so well examine the Soundnesse of Vorstius his Doctrine as a forraign Prince at such a distance It would cast an aspersion of Levity and Inconstancy on the States solemnly to invite a Stranger unto them and then so soon recede from their Resolution An Indignity would redound to the Count of Tecklenbourg to slight that which so lately they had sued from him The Opposition of Vorstius was endevoured by a male-contented Party amongst themselves disaffected to the Actions of Authority who distrusting their own strength had secretly solicited His Majesty of Great Britain to appear on their Side That as King JAMES his motion herein proceeded rather from the Instance of others than His own Inclination so they gave out that He began to grow remisse in the matter carelesse of the Successe thereof That it would be injurious yea destructive to Vorstius and his Family to be fetcht from his own home where he lived with a sufficient Salarie promised better Provisions from the Landgrave of Hessen to be Divinity Professour in his Dominions now to thrust him out with his Wife and Children lately setled at Leyden That if Vorstius had formerly been faulty in unwarie and offensive Expressions he had since cleared himself in a new Declaration 4. For Vorstius gives no satisfaction in his new Declaration lately he set forth a Book entituled A Christian and modest Answer which notwithstanding by many was condemned as no Revocation but a Repetition of his former Opinions not lesse pernitious but more plausible
with sophistical Qualifications So that he was accused to aime neither at the Satisfaction of the Learned Ann. Dom 1611. Ann. Regis Jac. 9 whom he had formerly offended nor the Safety of the Ignorant whom he might hereafter deceive but meerly his own Security for the present His grand Evasion was this That what he had wrote before was but probably propounded not dogmatically delivered But alas how many silly Souls might easily be infected mistaking his slenting Problemes for downright Positions In a word he took not out any Venome but put in more Honey into his Opinions which the corruption of Mans Nature would swallow with more greedinesse And how dangerous it is for wit-wanton Men to dance with their nice Distinctions on such Mysticall Precipices where Slips in jest may cause deadly Downfalls in earnest the Roman Orator doth in part pronounce Mala est impia consuetudo contra Deum disputandi sive seriò id fit sive simulatè 5. Now King JAMES being as little Satisfied in Judgment with the Writings of Vorstius in his own Defence K. James setteth forth a Declaration against Vorstius siâ—st written in French Since by His leave Translated into English and amongst His other Works as ill pleased in Point of Honour with the doings of the States in return to His Request gave Instructions to His Ambassadour to make Publick Protestation against their Proceedings which Sir Ralph Wynwood in Pursuance of his Masters Command most solemnly performed Nor did His Majesties Zeal stop here with Joash King of Israel smiting onely but thrice and then desisting but after His Request Letter and Protestation had missed â—heir Desired effect He wrote in French a Declaration against Vorstius A Work well beseeming the DEFENDOR OF THE FAITH by which Title to use His Ambassadours Expression He did more value Himself than by the Style of KING OF GREAT BRITAIN Once I intended to present the Reader with a Brief of His Majesties Declaration till deterred with this Consideration that although great Masses of Lead Tinne and meaner Metals may by the extraction of Chymists be epitomized and abridged into a Smaller quantity of Silver yet what is altogether Gold already cannot without extraordinary damage be reduced into a Smaller Proportion And seeing each word in His Majesties Declaration is so pure and pretious that it cannot be lessened without losse we remit the Reader to the same in His Majesties Works And so take our Leave of Verstius for the present whose Books by the KING's Command were publickly burnt at St. Paul's Crosse in London and in both Universities 6. But leaving this Outlandish let us come to our English Vorstius though of farre lesse Learning The character of Bartholomew Legate of more Obstinacy and dangerous Opinions I mean that Arrian who this year suffered in Smithfield His name Bartholomew Legate native County Essex person comely complexion black age about fourty years Of a bold spirit confident carriage fluent tongue excellently skilled in the Scriptures and well had it been for him if he had known them lesse or understood them better whose ignorance abused the Word of God therewith to oppose God the Word His conversation for ought I can learn to the contrary very unblameable And the poyson of Hereticall Doctrine is never more dangerous than when served up in clean cups and washed dishes 7. King JAMES caused this Legate often to be brought to Him Discourse beâ—twixt K. James and Legate and seriously dealt with him to endevour His conversion One time the KING had a designe to surprize him into a Confession of Christs Deity as His Majesty afterwards declared to a right reverend g James Archbishop of Armagh from whose mouth I had the Relation Prelate by asking him Whether or no he did not daily pray to Jesus Christ Which had he acknowledged the KING would infallibly have inserted that Legate tacitly consented to Christs Divinity as a searcher of the hearts But herein His Majesty failed of His expectation Legate returning That indeed he had prayed to Christ in the daies of his ignorance but not for these last seven years Hereupon the KING in choler spurn'd at him with His foot Away base Fellow saith He it shall never be said that one stayeth in My presence that hath never prayed to our Saviour for seven years together 8. Often was he covented before the Bishops in the Consistory of St. Pauls Bishop King gravâ—llâ—â—h him with a place of Scripture where he persisted obstimate in his Opinions flatly denying the Authority of that Court. And no wonder that he slighted the power of earthly Bishops denying the Divinity of Him Who is h 1 Pâ—t 2. 25. The Shepheard and Bishop of our souls The dispatation against him was principally managed by John King Bishop of London who gravelled and utterly confuted him with that place of Scripture John 17. 5. And now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was This Text I say was so seasonably alledged so plainly expounded so pathetically enforced by the eloquence and gravity of that Bishop qualities wherein he excelled that it gave marvellous satisfaction to a multitude of people there present that it is conceived it happily unproselyted some inclinable to his Opinions though Legate himself remained pertinatious both against the impressions of Arguments and Scripture daily multiplying his enormous Opinions It is the happinesse nature indulgeth to monsters that they are all barren whereas on the contrary monstrous positions are most procreative of the like or worse than themselves 9. Before we set down his pestilent Opinions Wholsome caution premised before the naming of Legate's blasphemies may Writer and Reader sence themselves with prayer to God against the infection thereof lest otherwise touching such pitch though but with the bare mention defile us casually tempting a temptation in us and awaking some corruption which otherwise would sleep silently in our souls And if notwithstanding this our caution any shall reap an accidental evil to themselves by reading his damnable Opinions my pen is no more accessary to their harm than that Apothecarie is guilty of murder if others out of a licourish curiosity kill themselves with that poyson which he kept in his shop for soveraigne use to make Antidotes thereof His damnable Tenets were as followeth 1. That the Creed called the Nicene Creed and Athanasius Creed contain not a Profession of the true Christian Faith 2. That Christ is not God of God begotten not made but begotten and made 3. That there are no Persons in the Godhead 4. That Christ was not God from everlasting but began to be God when he took flesh of the Virgin Mary 5. That the world was not made by Christ 6. That the Apostles teach Christ to be Man onely 7. That there is no generation in God but of creatures 8. That this assertion God to be made Man is contrary
and nice-conscienced Elects scrupled to be consecrated by him He gave during his own life Twenty pounds a year to the Man's Widow which was not long a Widow as quickly re-maried He kept a Monethly-Fast on a Tuesday as the day whereon this casualty befell in a word this Keeper's death was the Archbishop's mortification 18. A project against the Clergy to get money At this time the KING's Exchequer grew very low though Lionel Cransield Lord Treasurer and Earl of Middlesex neglected no means for the improving thereof In order whereunto Reader let this Story passe into thy belief on my credit knowing my selfe sufficiently assured thereof a Projector such necessary evils then much countenanced informed His MAJESTY of a way whereby speedily to advance much Treasure And how for sooth was it Even that a new Valuation should be made of all Spiritual preferments which now in the King's Books passed at Under-tates to bring them up to or near the full value thereof This would promote both the casual fines as I may term them of First-fruits and the Annual rent of Tenths to the great advantage of the Crown The KING sent to the Lord Treasurer demanding his judgment thereof 19. Declined by the Lord Treasurer The Treasurer returned His MAJESTY an Answer to this effect so near as I can remember from the mouth of a Noble person then present Sir You have ever been beheld as a great Lover and Advancer of Learned men and You know Clergy-mens education is chargeable to them or their friends Long it is before they get any preferment which at last generally is but small in proportion to their pains and expences Let it not be said that You gained by grinding them other waies lesse obnoxious to just censure will be found out to furnish your occasions The KING commended Cranfield as doing it only for triall adding moreover I should have accounted thee a very knave if encouraging Me herein and so the project was blasted for the present as it was when it budded again propounded by some unworthy instrument in the Reign of King CHARLES 20. Who is truly excused I know some will suspect the Treasurer more likely to start than crush so gainful a design as who by all waies means sought to encrease the royal Revenue I know also that some accuse him as if making his Master's wings to molt thereby the better to feather his own nest Indeed he raised a fair estate and surely he will never be a good Steward for his Master who is a bad one for himself Yet on due and true enquiry it will appear that though an High power did afterwards prosecute him yet his innocence in the main preserved him to transmit a good estate to his posterity So that much of truth must be allowed in his * Frequent in his House at Copâ—hall Motto PERDIDIT FIDES he was lost at Court for his fidelity to K. JAMES in sparing His Treasure and not answering the expensivenesse of a great Favourite 21. The L. Bacon outed â—or Bâ—ibery A Parliament was call'd Jan. 20. wherein Francis Bacon L d Chancellor was outed his Office for Bribery the frequent receiving thereof by him or his was plainly proved Yet for all his taking just and unjust he was exceedingly poor and much indebted Wherefore when motion was made in the House of Commons of Fining him some thousand of pounds Sir Fr. S. a noble Member standing up desired that for two Reasons his Fine might be mitigated into fourty shillings First because that would be payed whereas a greater summe would onely make a noise and never be payed Secondly the shame would be the greater when such his prodigality that he who had been so large a taker in his Office was reduced to such penury that forty shillings should be conceived a sufficient Fine for his Estate But it was fine enough for him to lose his Office remitted to a mean and private condition 22. None can character him to the life An 〈…〉 his character save himself He was in parts more than a Man who in any Liberal profession might be whatsoever he would himself A great Honourer of antient Authors yet a great Deviser and Practiser of new waies in Learning Privy Counsellor as to King JAMES so to Nature it self diving into many of her abstruse Mysteries New conclusions he would dig out with mattocks of gold silver not caring what his experience cost him expending on the Trials of Nature all and more than he got by the Trials at the Barre Posterity being the better for his though he the worse for his own dear experiments He and his Servants had all in common the Men never wanting what their Master had and thus what came flowing in unto him was sent flying away from him who in giving of rewards knew no bounds but the bottome of his own purse Wherefore when King JAMES heard that he had given Ten pounds to an under-keeper by whom He had sent him a Buck the KING said merrily I and He shall both die Beggars which was condemnable Prodigality in a Subject He lived many years after and in his Books will ever survive in the reading whereof modest Men commend him in what they doe condemn themselves in what they doe not understand as believing the fault in their own eyes and not in the object 23. Bishop Williams made Lord Keeper All stood expecting who should be Bacon's Successour in the Chancery Sure he must be some man of great and high abilities otherwise it would seem a valley next a mountain to maintain a convenient and comely level in that eminent Place of Judicature Now whilst in common discourse some made this Judge others that Sergeant Lord Chancellor King JAMES made Dr. Williams lately and still Dean of Westminster soon after Bishop of Lincolne Though the KING was the principal July 10. the Duke of Buckingham was more than the instrumental advancer of him to the title of Lord Keeper in effect the same in Place and Power with the Lord Chancellor 24. Some causlesly offended The KING's choice produced not so much dislike as general wonder Yet some cavilled at Doctor Williams his Age as if it were preposterous for one to be able for that Office before antient and as if one old enough for a Bishop were too young for a Chancellor Others questioned his abilities for the Place Could any expect to reap Law where it was never sown who can apply the remedy whilst he is ignorant in the malady Being never bred to know the true grounds and reasons of the Common Law how could he mitigate the rigour thereof in difficult cases He would be prone to mistake the severity of the Common Law for cruelty and then unequal equity and unconscionable conscience must be expected from him Besides the Place was proper not for the plain but guarded Gown and the Common Lawyers prescribed for six * Yet Sir Ch.
to be improved 3. The necessity of hâ—s friendship at this time was onely fancied â—y such as desired it Besides the King of heaven must not be offended that the King of Spain may be pleased 4. Though Truth it selfe be stronger than falsehood yet generally the Promoters of falsehood are more active and sedulous than the Advancers of Truth Besides it is just with God upon the granting of such an unlawfull Toleration to weaken the converting power of Truth and strengthen the perverting power of Falsehood giving the English over to be deluded thereby 5. The world hath ever consisted of more fools than wise people such who carry their judgment more in their eyes than in their brains Popery being made Inscious to peoples senses too probably would court many to the imbracing thereof 6. It is no policie to let in the Wolfe meerly on designe to make the Shepherds more watchfull Rather on the contrary Protestant Ministers would be utterly disheartned in the performance of their place when the Parishioners were countenanced to desert them without any punishment 7. If the Papists already have what they would have let them be contented therewith Why desire they any more but indeed there is a grand difference betwixt a States winking at their wickednesse for a time and a formall and finall tolerating thereof During the former Catholicks sin on their own account and at their own peril the Laws though not executed standing in full force against them but a publick Toleration of their Superstition adopts the same to become the Act of the English Nation Here it would be tedious to recite the Texts of Scripture some more The Pulpit is loud against the Toleration some lesse proper to the purpose alledged by severall persons against the Toleration Ann. Dom. 1623. Ann. Regis Ja 21. some Typicall Thou a Deht 22. 10. shalt not plow with an Oxe and an Asse Some Historicall Gods Children must not speak two tongues Ashdod and b Neh. 13. 24. Hebrew Some Doctrinall We must not doe evil that good c Rom. 3. 8. may come thereof The best was the Toleration bare date with the Spanish Match with which it was propounded and agitated advanced expected desired by some opposed suspected detested by others and at last both together finally frustrated and defeated 3. Now was His Majestie informed His Majesties care to regulate Preaching that it was high time to apply some cure to the Pulpits as sick of a Sermon-surfeit and other exorbitances Some medled with State-matters and generally by an improper Transposition the Peoples duty was preached to the King at Court the Kings to the People in the Countrey Many shallow Preachers handled the profound points of Predestination wherein pretending to guide their flocks they lost themselves Sermons were turned into Satyrs against Papists or Non Conformists 4. To represse the present and prevent future mischiefs in this kinde His Majestie issued out His Directions to be written fair in every Registers Office whence any Preacher if so pleased might with his own hand take out Copies gratis paying nothing for d Cabala part 2. pag. 191. expedition Herein the King revived the primitive and profitable order of Catechizing in the afternoon better observed in all other Reformed Churches than of late in England according to the tenour ensuing Most Reverend Father in God His Directions right trusty and entirely beloved Counsellour We greet you well FOrasmuch as the abuses and extravagancies of Preachers in the Pulpit have been in all times repressed in this Realm by some Act of Councill or State with the advice and resolution of grave and learned Prelates Insomuch that the very licensing of Preachers had beginning by an Order of Star Chamber the eighth day of July in the 19 th year of the Reign of King Henry the eighth our Noble Predecessour And whereas at this present divers young Students by reading of late Writers and ungrounded Divines doe broach many times unprofitable unsound seditions and dangerous Doctrines to the scandall of the Church and disquiet of the State and present Government We upon humble representations unto Us of these inconveniencies by your selfe and sundry other grave and reverend Prelates of this Church as also of our Princely care and Zeal for the extirpation of Schisme and dissention growing from these seeds and for the setling of a religious and peaceable Government both in Church and Common wealth doe by these Our speciall Letters straitly charge and command you to use all possible care and diligence that these Limitations and Cautions herewith sent unto you concerning Preachers be duly and strictly from henceforth put in practice and observed by the several Bishops within your Jurisdiction And to this end Our pleasure is that you send them forthwith Copies of these Directions to be by them speedily sent and communicated unto every Parson Vicar Curate Lecturer and Minister in every Cathedrall or Parish Church within their severall Diocese and that you earnestly require them to employ their utmost endeavours in the performance of this so important a businesse letting them know that We have a speciall eye unto their proceedings and expect a strict account thereof both of you and every one of them and these Our Letters shall be your sufficient Warrant and discharge in that behalf Give under our Signet at Our Castle of Windsor the 4 th of August in the twentieth year of Our Reign Directions concerning Preachers sent with the Letter 1. THat no Preacher under the degree and calling of a Bishop or Dean of a Cathedral or Collegiate Church and they upon the Kings dayes and set Festivals doe take occasion by the expounding of any Text of Scripture whatsoever to fall into any set Discourse or Common place otherwise than by the opening the Cohaerence and Division of the Text which shall not be comprehended and warranted in essence substance effect or naturall in ference within some one of the Articles of Religion set forth 1562. or in some of the Homilies set forth by authority of the Church of England not onely for the help of the Non-Preaching but withall for a Pattern and Boundary as it were for the Preaching Ministers And for their further instructions for the performance hereof that they forthwith reade over and peruse diligently the said Book of Articles and the two Books of Homilies 2. That no Parson Vicar Curate or Lecturer shall preach any Sermons or Collation hereafter upon Sundaies and Holidaies in the afternoon in any Cathedrall or Parish Church throughout the Kingdome but upon some pare of the Catechisme or some Text taken out of the Creed ten Commandments or the Lords Prayer Funeral Sermons onely excepted and that those Preachers be most encouraged and approved of who spend the Afternoons exercise in the examination of Children in their Catechisme which is the most antient and laudable custome of teaching in the Church of England 3. That no Preacher of what title
soever under the degree of a Bishop or Dean at the least doe from henceforth presume to preach in any popular Auditory deep points of Predestination Election Reprobation or of the Universality Efficacy Resistibility or Irresistibility of GODS grace but leave those themes rather to be handled by the Learned men and that moderately and modestly by way of Use and Application rather than by way of Positive Doctrines being fitter for the Schools than for simple Auditories 4. That no Preacher of what title or denomination soever from henceforth shall presume in any Auditory within this Kingdome to declare limit or bound out by way of Positive Doctrine in any Lecture or Sermon the Power Prerogative and Jurisdiction Authority or Duty of Sovereign Princes or otherwise meddle with matters of State and the differences between Princes and the People than as they are instructed and precedented in the Homilies of Obedience and the rest of the Homilies and Articles of Religion set forth as before is mentioned by publique Authority but rather confine themselves wholly to those two heads of faith and good life which are all the subjects of the antient Sermons and Homilies 5 That no Preacher of what title or denomination soever shall presume caussesly or without invitation from the Text to fall into bitter investives and undecent railing speeches against the persons of either Papists or Puri tans but modestly and gravely when they are occasioned thereunto by the Text of Scripture free both the Doctrine and the Discipline of the Church of England from the aspersions of either Adversaries especially where the Auditory is suspected to be tainted with the one or the other infection 6. Lastly that the Archbishops and Bishops of the Kingdome whom His Majestie hath good cause to blame for their former remisness be more wary and choice in their licensing of Preachers and revoke all Grants made to any Chancellour Official or Commissary to passe Licences in this kinde and that all the Lecturers throughout the Kingdome of England a new body severed from the antient Clergy as being neither Parsons Vicars nor Curates be licensed henceforward in the Court of Faculties but onely from a Recommendation of the party from the Bishop of the Diocese under his hand and seale with a Fiat from the L. Archbishop of Canterbury a Confirmation under the Great Seal of England And that such as doe transgresse any one of these Directions be suspended by the Bishop of the Diocesse or in his default by the Archbishop of the Province ab Officio Beneficio for a year and a day untill his Majestie by the advice of the next Convocation shall prescribe some farther punishment 5. No sooner were these the Kings Declarations dispersed into every Diocesse Various censures on the Kings Letters but various were mens opinions thereof Some counted it a cruell act which cut off half the preaching in England all afternoon-ermons at one blow Others thought the King did but Uti jure suo doing not onely what in justice He might but what in prudence He ought in this juncture of time But hear what I have heard and read in this case Objections Answers 1. Christ grants Ministers their Commission Go teach all Nations S. Paul corroborates the same Preach the word be instant in season out of season Man therefore ought not to forbid what God enjoyns 2. This is the way to starve soules by confining them to one meale a day or at the best by giving them onely a messe of milk for their supper and so to bed 3. Such as are licensed to make Sermons may be intrusted to choose their own Texts and not in the Afternoons to be restrained to the Lords Prayer Creed and ten Commandements 4. In prohibiting the preaching of Predestination man makes that the forbidden fruit which God appointed for the tree of life so cordial the comforts contained therein to a distressed conscience 5. Bishops and Deans forsooth and none under their dignity may preach of Predestination What is this but to have the word of God in respect of persons As if all discretion were confined to Cathedral men and they best able to preach who use it the least 6. Papists and Puritans in the Kings Letters are put into the same ballance and Papists in the prime scale first named as preferred in the Kings care chiefly to secure them from Invectives in Sermons 7. Lecturers are made such riddles in the Kings Letters reduceable to no Ministerial function in England Whereas indeed the flower of piety and power of godlinesse flourished most in those places where such Preachers are most countenanced 1. Ministers if commanded not at all to speak or teach in the name of Jesus are with the Apostles to obey God rather than man But vast the difference betwixt a total prohibition and as in this case a prudential regulation of preaching 2. Milk catechetical Doctrine is best for babes which generally make up more than a moyety of every Congregation 3. Such restraint hath liberty enough seeing all things are clearly contained in or justly reducible to these three which are to be desired believed and performed 4. Indeed Predestination solidly and soberly handled is an antidote against despair But as many ignorant Preachers ordered it the cordial was turned into a poyson and therefore such mysteries might well be forborn by mean Ministers in popular Congregations 5. It must be presumed that such of necessity must be of age and experience and may in civility be believed of more than ordinary learning before they attained such preferment Besides Cathedrall Auditories being of a middle nature for understanding as beneath the University so above common City and Country Congregations are fitter for such high points to be preached therein 6. The Kings Letter looks on both under the notion of guilty persons Had Puritans been placed first such as now take exception at their post-posing would have collected that the King esteemed them the greatest offenders 7. Lectures are no creatures of the Church of England by their original like those mixed kinds little better than monsters in nature to which God as here the State never said multiply and encrease and therefore the King had just cause to behold them with jealous eyes who generally supplanted the Incumbents of Livings in the affections of their Parishioners and gave the greatest growth to Non-conformity These Instructions from His Majestie were not pressed with equall rigour in all places seeing some over-active Officials more busie than their Bishops tied up Preachers in the Afternoon to the very letter of the Catechisme questioning them if exceeding the questions and answers therein as allowing them no liberty to dilate and enlarge themselves thereupon 6. Expect not of me a particular account of the politick intricacies touching the Spanish Match A needlesse subject waved or no Match rather First because Spanish and so alien from my subject Secondly because the passages thereof are so largely and publickly in print
Thirdly because in fine it proved nothing though kept on foot so long till K. James by endeavouring to gain a Daughter-in Law had in effect lost His own Daughter Her Husband and Children being reduced to great extremities 7. Truly K. James never affected his Son in Law 's acceptance of the Bobemian Crown A Crown not joyed in nor promised Himself any good successe thence though great the hope of the German Protestants therein Indeed some of them were too credulous of a blinde Prophesie commonly currant amongst them POST TER VIGINTI CESSABIT GLORIA QUINTI Expecting the ending of the Austrian Family sixty years being now expired since the death of Charles the fift but discreet persons slighted such vanities and the Quinti had like to have proved the extirpation of Frederick fift of that name Palatine of Rhyne had not God almost miraculously lately countermanded it 8. Yea K. Iames accused by some K. James privately foretold to some principal persons that this matter would prove the ruine of his Daughter There want not some who say That he went about to virefie his own Prediction by not sending seasonable succours for their assistance who had He turned His Embassies into Armies might probably have prevented much Protestant misery 9. Others excuse K. James Defended by others partly from the just hopes He had to accommodate all interests in a peaceable way partly from the difficulty of conveying effectual forces into so farre distant a Countrey 10. Mean time both the Palatinates were lost Both the Palatinates lost the Upper seized on by the Emperour the Neather but higher in value by the King of Spaine the City of Heidelberg taken and plunder'd and the inestimable Library of Books therein carried over the Alpes on Mules backs to Rome Each Mule laded with that learned burthen had a silver-plate on his forehead wherein was engraven FERO BIBLIOTHECAM PRINCIPIS PALATINI Now those Books are placed in the Popes Vatican entituling Protestants to visit the place who one day may have as good successe as now they have just right to recover them 11. As for the Palatinate Land of Promise Now Land of Performance Satyricall tongues commonly called it the Land of Promise so frequently and so solemnly was the restitution thereof promised to King James fed only with delayes which amounted to mannerly denials Since it hath pleased God to turn this Land of Promise into a * The nether Palatinate Land of Performance the present Palatine being peaceably possessed thereof 12. Prince Charles Prince Charles goes to Spain with the Duke of Buckingham lately went privately through France where He saw the Lady whom afterwards He married into Spain It is questionable whether then more blamed K. James for sending him or afterwards blessed God for his safe return Sumptuous his entertainment in the Spanish Court where it was not the Kings fault but Kingdomes defect that any thing was wanting He quickly discovered the coursness of fine-pretending wares at distance are easily confuted neer hand that the Spanish State had no minde or meaning of a Match as who demanded such unreasonable Liberty in education of the Royall Off-spring in case any were born betwixt them and other Priviledges for English Papists that the King neither could nor would in honour or conscience consent thereunto However Prince Charles whose person was in their power took his fair farewell with courteous compliance 12. Though He entred Spain like a private person His return * Sept. 12. He departed it like Himself and the Son of his Father * The Reader is requested to pardon our short setting back of time a stately Fleet attending Him home Foul weather forced them to put in at the Isse of Syllie the parings of England South-west of Cornwall where in two daies they fed on more and better flesh than they found in Spain for many moneths Octob. 5. 6. Soon after He arrived at Portesmouth and the next day came to London to the great rejoicing of all sorts of people signified by their bonefires ringing of bells with other externall expressions of joy 13. King James now despaired of any restitution The Palatinate beheld desperate especially since the Duke of Bavaria was invested in the upper Palatinate and so His Son-in-Laws Land cantoned betwixt a Duke a King and an Emperour Whose joynt consent being requisite to the restoring thereof One would be sure to dissent from the seeming-consenting of other two Whereupon King James not onely broke off all treaty with Spaine but also called the great Councill of his Kingdome together 14. Indeed An happy Parliament the Malecontents in England used to say That the King took Physick and called Parliaments both alike using both for meer need and not caring for either how little time they lasted But now there hapned as sweet a compliance betwixt the King and his Subjects as ever happen'd in mans memory the King not asking more than what was granted Both Houses in the Name of the whole Kingdome promising their assistance with their lives and fortunes for the recovery of the Palatinate A smart Petition was presented against the Papists and order promised for the education of their Children in true Religion 15. As for the Convocation contemporary with this Parliament The Convocation large Subsidies were granted by the Clergie otherwise no great matter of moment passed therein I am informed Doctor Joseph Hall preached the Latine Sermon and Doctor Donne was the Prolocutor 16. This is that Doctor Donne Doctor Donne Prolocutor born in London but extracted from Wales by his Mother-side great-great Grandchilde to Sir Thomas More whom he much resembled in his endowments a great Traveller first Secretary to the Lord Egerton and after by the perswasion of K. James and encouragement of Bishop Morton entred into Orders made Doctor of Divinity of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge and Dean of S. Pauls whose Life is no lesse truly than elegantly written by my worthily respected friend Mr. Isaac Walton whence the Reader may store himself with further information 17. A Book was translated out of the French Copie A Book falsly fathered on I. Casaubon by Abraham Darcye intituled The Originall of Idolatry pretended made by Dr. Isaac Casaubon dead ten years before dedicated to Prince Charles but presented to King James and all the Lords of the Councill A Book printed in French before the said Isaac Casaubon was born whose name was fraudulently inserted in the Title-page of the foregoing Copie 18. Merick Casaubon his Son then Student of Christs-Church The falshood detected by Letter informed King James of the wrong done to his Father by making him the Authour of such a Book contrary to his Genius and constant profession being full of impertinent allegations out of obscure and late Authors whom his Father never thought worthy the reading much lesse the using their Authority His Majestie was much incensed hereaâ— and Doctor
c pag. 6â— better so also longer than King Solomon 8. Left the world most resolved most prepared embracing his Grave for his Bed 9. Reigning gloriously with God in Heaven 10. Whilest his body was interred with all possible solemnitie in King Henry the seventh his Chappell Be it here remembred that in this Parallel the Bishop premised to set forth Solomon not in his full proportion faults and all but half-faced imagine lusca as Apelles painted Antigonus to conceal the want of his eye adding that Solomons vices could be no blemish to King James who resembled him onely in his choicest vertues He concluded all with that verse Ecclesiasticus 30. 4. Though his Father die yet he is as though he were not dead for he hath left one behinde him that is like himself in application to his present Majestie 4. Some Auditors Exceptions taken at his Sermon who came thither rather to observe than edifie cavill than observe found or made faults in the Sermon censuring him for touching too often and staying too long on an harsh string three times straining the same making eloquence too essentiall and so absolutely necessary in a King that the want thereof made Moses in a manner f pag. 16. refuse all Government though offered by God that no g pag. 5. man ever got great power without eloquence Nere being the first of the Caesars qui alienae facundiae eguit who usurp'd another mans language to speake for him Expressions which might be forborn in the presence of his Sonne and Successor whose impediment in speech was known to be great and mistook to be greater Some conceived him too long in praising the passed too short in promising for the present King though saying much of him in a little and the Bishops Adversaries whereof then no want at Court some took distaste others made advantage thereof Thus is it easier and better for us to please one God than many men with our Sermons However the Sermon was publiquely set forth by the Printer but not the express command of his Majestie which gave but the steddier Mark to his enemies noting the marginall notes thereof and making all his Sermon the text of their captious interpretations 5. Now began animosities to discover themselves in the Court Discontents begin in the Court. whose sad influences operated many years after many being discontented that on this change they received not proportionable advancement to their expectations Anno Regis Car. 1. 1 Anno Dom. 1625 It is the prerogative of the King of Heaven alone that he maketh all his Sonnes Heires all his Subjects Favourites the gain of one being no losse to the other Whereas the happiest Kings on Earth are unhappy herein that unable to gratifie all their Servants having many Suitors for the same place by conferring a favour on one they disoblige all other competitors conceiving themselves as they make the estimate of their own deserts as much if not more meriting the same preferment 6. As for Doctor Preston he still continued Dr Preston a great favourite and increased in the favor of the King and Duke it being much observed that on the day of King James his death he h Sâ—e his Life pag. 503. rode with Prince and Duke in a Coach shut down from Theobalds to London applying comfort now to one now to the other on so sad an occasion His partie would perswade us that he might have chose his own mitre much commending the moderation of his mortified minde denying all preferment which courted his acceptance verifying the Anagram which a i Mr Ayâ—â— of Lincolns Inn. friend of his made on his name Johannes Prestonius Enstas pius in honore Indeed he was conceived to hold the Helme of his own partie able to steere it to what point he pleased which made the Duke as yet much to desire his favor 7. A booke came forth called Appello Caesarem made by M. Mountague He formerly had been Fellow of Kings Colledge in Cambridge Mr. Mountague his character at the present a Parson of Essex and Fellow of Eaton One much skilled in the Fathers and Ecclesiasticall Antiquity and in the Latin and Greek Tongues Our great k Mr. Selden in his book De Diâ—s Syris pag. 361. Antiquarie confesseth as much Graecè simul Latinè doctus though pens were brandished betwixt them and vertues allowed by ones adversarie may passe for undeniable truths These his great parts were attended with tartnesse of writing very sharp the neb of his pen and much gall in his inke against such as opposed him However such the equability of the sharpnesse of his style he was unpartiall therein be he antient or modern writer Papist or Protestant that stood in his way they should all equally taste thereof 8. Passe we from the Author to his Book Settâ—th forth his Appellâ— Caesaâ—em whereof this was the occasion He had lately writen satyrically enough against the Papists in consutation of The Gagger of Protestants Now two Divines of Norwich Dioces M r. Yates and M r. Ward informed against him for dangerous errours of Arminianisme and Poperie deserting our cause in stead of defending it M. Mountague in his own vindication writes a second Book licensed by Francis White Dean of Carlile finished and partly printed in the reign of James to whom the Author intended the dedication But on King James his death it seems it descended by succession on King Charles his Sonne to whom M r. Mountague applyed the words which Ockam once used to Lewes of Bavier Emperour of Germanie Domine Imperator defende me gladio ego te defendam calamo Lord Emperour defend me with thy Sword and I will defend thee with my Pen. Many bitter passages in this his Book gave great exception whereof largely hereafter 9. On Sunday being the twelfth of June Queen Mary her first arrival at Dover about seven of the clock at night June 12. Queen Marie landed at Dover at what time a piece of Ordinance being discharged from the Castle flew in fitters yet did no bodie any harm Moe were fearfull at the presage than thankfull for the providence Next day the King coming from Canterburie met her at Dover whence with all solemnitie she was conducted to Sommerset-House in London where a Chappell was new prepared for her devotion with a Covent adjoyning of Capuchin-Friers according to the Articles of her Marriage 10. A Parliament began at London The King rescueth Mr. Mountague from the House of Commons wherein the first Statute agreed upon was for the more strict observation of the Lords-day Which day as it first honoured the King His Reign beginning thereon so the King first honoured it by passing an Act for the greater solemnitie thereof Anno Regin Caroli 1 The House of Commons fell very heavie on M r. Mountague for many bitter passages in his Book who in all probability had now been severely censured but that
flying into the Kings quarters for safety he staid at home till his Bishoprick left him roused from his Swans-nest at Fulham for a bird of another feather to build therein 50. Dr. Laud Arch-bishop Laud presses conformity formerly Archbishop in power now so in place after the decease of Bishop Abbots this yeer kept his metropoliticall visitation hence-forward conformity was more vigorously pressed than before Insomuch that a Minister was censured in the High-Commission for this expression in a sermon That it was suspicious that now the night did approach because the shadows were so much longer then the body and ceremonies more in force then the power of godliness And now many differences about divine worship began to arise whereof many books were writen pro and con So common in all hands that my pains may be well spared in rendering a particular account of what is so universally known So that a word or two will suffice 51. One controversy was about the Holiness of our Churches Our Churches succeed not to the Temple but Synagogues some maintaining that they succeed to the same degree of sanctity with the Tabernacle of Moses Temple of Solomon which others flatly denyed First because the Tabernacle and Temple were and might be but one at a time whil'st our Churches without fault may be multiplyed without any seâ— number They both for their fashion fabrick and utensils were jure divino their Architects being inspired whil'st our Churches are the product of humane fancy Thirdly God gloriously appeared both in the Tabernacle and Temple only gratiously present in our Churches Fourthly The Temple was a type of Christs Body which ours are not More true it is our Churches are heirs to the holyness of the Jewish Synagogues which were many and to whom a reverence was due as publiquely destined to divine service 52. Not less the difference about the manner of adoration to be used in Gods-House Adoration towards the Altar which some would have done towards the Communion-Table as the most remarkable place of Gods presence Those used a distinction between bowing ad altare towards the Altar as directing their adoration that way and ad altare to the Altar as terminating their worship therein the latter they detested as Idolatrous the former they defended as lawfull and necessary such a * Mal. 1. 7. slovenly unmannerlynes had lately possessed many people in their approaches to Gods House that it was high time to reform 53. But such as disliked the gesture Disliked by many could not or would not understand the distinction as in the Suburbs of Superstition These allowing some corporall adoration lawfull yea necessary seeing no reason the Moity of Man yea the Totall Sunne of Him Anno Regis Caroli 13 Anno Dom. 1637 which is visible his Body should be exempted from Gods service except such a Writ of Ease could be produced and proved from Scripture But they were displeased with this adoration because such as injoyn it maintain one kinde of reverence due to the very place another to the Elements of the Sacraments if on the Table a third to God himself these severall degrees of reverence ought to be rayled about as well as the Communion-Table and cleerly distinguished lest that be given to the Creature which belongs to the Creator and such as shun profanation run into Idolatry 54. A controversy was also started about the Pasture of the Lords Board Communion-Table or Altar the last name beginning now in many Mens mouths to out the two former Some would have it constantly fixed with the sides East and West ends North and South on a graduated advance next the East-wall of the Chancell citing a Canon and the practise in the Kings-Chappell for the same Others pressed the Queens injunctions that allowing it at other times to stand but not Altar-wise in the Chancell it ought to be set in the body of tâ—e Church when the Sacrament is celebrated thereon 55. Such the heat about this Altar till both sides had almost Sacrificed up their mutual charity thereon and this controversy was prosecuted with much needless animosity This mindeth me of a passage in Cambridge when King James was there present to whom a great Person complained of the inverted situation of a Colledge-Chappell North and South out of designe to put the House to the cost of new building the same To whom the King answered It matters not how the Chappell stands so their hearts who goe thither be set aright in Gods service Indeed if moderate men had had the managing of these matters the accommodation had been easy with a little condescension on both sides But as a small accidentall heat or cold such as a healthfull body would not be sensible of is enough to put him into a fit who was formerly in latitudine febris so mens minds distempered in this age with what I may call a mutinous tendency were exasperated with such small occasions which otherwise might have been passed over and no notice taken thereof June 14. Wednesday Mr William Prinne 56. For now came the censure of Mr. Prinne Dr. Bastwick and Mr. Burton and we must goe a little backwards to take notice of the nature of their offences a The perpetuity of the regenerate man his estate Mr. William Prinne born about Bath in Gloucestershire bred some time in Oxford afterwards Utter-Baraster of Lincolns-Inn began with the writing of some usefull and Orthodox Books I have heard some of his Detractours account him as only the hand of a better head setting forth at first the endeavours of others Afterwards he delighted more to be numerous with many then ponderous with select quotations which maketh his Books to swell with the loss oft-times of the Reader sometimes of the Printer and his Pen generally querulous hath more of the Plaintiff then of the Defendant therein 57. Some three yeers since he set forth a Book called Histriomastrix or the Whip of Stage-players Accused for libelling against the Bishops Whip so held and used by his hand that some conceived the Lashes thereof flew into the face of the Queen her self as much delighted in Masques For which he was severely censured to lose his EARES on the Pillory and for a long time after two removalls to the Fleet imprisoned in the Tower Where he wrote and whence he dispersed new Pamphlets which were interpreted to be Libells against the established Discipline of the Church of England for which he was indited in the Star-chamber 58. Dr. John Bastwick by vulgar errour generally mistaken to be a Scotchman was born at Writtle in Essex Dr. Bastwick his accusation bred a short time in Emanuell-Colledge then travailed nine yeers beyond the Seas made Dr. of Physick at Padua Returning home he practised it at Colchester and set forth a Book in Latine wherein his Pen commanded a pure and fluent style entituled Flagellum Pontificis Episcoporum Latialium But it seems
Apocrypha was read in Churches viz. about sixty Chapters for the first lesson from the 28. of September till the 24. of November Canonicall Scripture is alone appointed to be read in the Scotch Liturgy one day alone excepted viz. All Saints day when Wisdome the 3 and Ecclesiasticus the 14 are ordered for Morning and Evening Praier on the same token there wanted not such who said that those two Chapters were left there to keep possession that all the rest might in due time be reintroduced Secondly The word Priest therein declined The word Priest often used in the English Liturgy gave offence to many in so much that c Cartwright in his Admonition 3. cap. 1. division one writeth To call us Priests as touching our office is either to call back again the old Priesthood of the Law which is to deny Christ to be come or else to keep a memory of the Popish Priesthood of abomination still amongst us besides we never read in the New-Testament that the word Priest as touching office is used in the good part Whereupon to prevent exception it was mollified into Presbyter in the Scotch Rubrick 97. The names of sundry Saints omitted in the English Scotch Saints inserted into the Kalender are inserted into the Scotch Kalender but only in black letters on their severall daies according to the form following January February March 11 David King 13 Mungo Bishop in Latin Kentigernus 18 Colman 11 Constantine the 3. King 17 Patrick 20 Cutbert April May. June 1 Gilbert Bishop 20 Serfe Bishop  9 Columba July August September 6 Palladius  18 Ninian Bishop 25 Adaman Bishop October November December  16 Margaret Queen 27 Ode Virgin 4 Droftane Some of these were Kings all of them Natives of that Countrey Scotch and Irish in former ages being effectually the same and which in probability might render them to the favor of their countrey-men some of them as Coleman c. zealous opposites to the Church of Rome in the celebration of Easter 98. But these Scotch Saints were so farr from making the English Laturgy acceptable Alterations of Addition in the Scotch Liturgie that the English Liturgy rather made the Saints odious unto them Such the Distasting alterations in the Book reduceable to 1. Additions 2. Omissions 3. Variations 4. and Transpositions To instance in the most materiall of the first kinde 1. In the Baptisme these words are inserted d Fol. 106. pag. 2. Sanctifie this fountain of water thou which art the Sanctifier of all things Which words are enjoyned to be spoken by the Minister so often as the water in the Fount is changed which must be at least twice a moneth 2. In the Praier after the Doxologie and before the Communion this Passage expunged by the English Reformers out of our Liturgy is out of the Ordinary of Sarum inserted in the Scotch Praier Book And of thy almighty c fol. 102. pagina 1. goodnesse vouchsafe so to blesse and sanctify with thy word and holy word these thy gifts and Creatures of Bread and Wine that they may be unto us the body and blood of thy most dearly beloved Sonne from which words saith the Scotch Author all f Bayly in his Canterburians Self-conviction pag. Papists use to draw the truth of the Transubstantiation 3. He that Celebrateth is injoyned to cover that which remaineth of the consecrated Eleents with a faire linen Cloth or Corporall g fol. 103. pag. 2. a word unknown to vulgar Eares of either Nations in other sense then to signify an under-officer in a foot Company and complained of to be purposely placed here to wrap up therein all Romish superstition of Christs Carnall Corporall presence in the Sacrament 4. In the Praier for the State of Christs Church Militant these words are added And h folio 98. pagina 1. we also blesse thy holy name for all those thy servants who having finished their course in faith doe now rest from their labours And we yeeld unto thee most high praise and hearty thanks for the wonderfull grace and vertue declared in all thy Saints who have been the choice vessells of thy grace and the lights of the world in their severall generations most humbly beseeching thee that we may have grace to follow the example of their stedfastnesse in thy faith and obedience to thy holy commandements that at the day of the generall Resurrection we and all they which are of the mysticall body of thy Sonne may be set on his right hand and hear that his most joyfull voice Come yee blessed c. 99. Amongst the Omissions none more complained of than the deleting these words The most materiall omission in the delivery of the bread at the Sacrament Take i fol. 103. pag. 2. and eat this in remembrance that Christ dyed for thee and feed on him in thine heart by faith with thanksgiving A passage destructive to Transubstantiation as diverting Communicants from Carnall Munducation and directing their Soules to a spirituall repast on their Saviour All which in the Scotch Liturgy is cut off with an Amen from the Receiver The Variations and Transpositions are of lesse moment as where the money gathered at the offer ory distributable by the English Liturgy to the poor alone hath a moyety thereof assigned the Minister therewith to buy him books of holy Divinity and some praiers are transposed from their place and ordered elsewhere whereat some doe take no small exception Other smaller differences if worth the while will quickly appear to the curious perusers of both Liturgies 100. Pass we now from the constitution of the book The discontented condition of the Scorch Nation when the Liturgy was first brought unto them to the condition of the Scotch Nation in this unhappy juncture of time when it was imposed upon him For it found them in a discontented posture and high Royalists will maintain that murmuring and muting against Princes differ only in degree nor in kinde occasioned on severall accounts 1. Some years since the King had passed an Act of revocation of Crown Lands aliened in the minority of his Ancesters whereby much land of the Nobility became obnoxious to forfeiture k The Kings declaration at large pag. 6. And though all was forgiven again by the Kings clemency and nothing acted hereby to the prejudice of any yet it vexed some to hold that as remitted by the Kings bounty wherein they conceived themselves to be before unquestionably estated 2. Whereas many formerly in Scotland were rather Subjects than Tenants rather Vassalls than Subjects Such the Land-lords Princely not to say Tyranniolly power over them the King had lately freed many from such dangerous dependence Especially in point of payment of Tythes to the Lords of the Erection equivalent to our English lay Impropriators but allowing the Land lords a valuable consideration according to the purchases l Idem pag. 9. of that Countrey whereby the
King got the smiles of those who were most in number but the frowns of such who were greatest in power 3. Many were offended that at the Kings Coronation some six yeares agoe and a Parliament following thereon an act of ratification was passed concerning the Church her liberties and priviledges which some complained of was done without Plurality of Suffrages 4. Some Persons of honor desiring higher Titles m 〈…〉 were offended that they were denyed unto them whilst his Majesty conferred them on others There want not those also who confidently suggest it to Posterity that Pensions constantly payed out of the English Exchequer in the Reign of King James to some principall pastors in the Scottish Church were since detained So also the bounty of boons was now restrained in the Reign of King Charles which could not fall so freely as in the dayes of his father the Cloud being almost drained adding moreover that the want of watering of Scotland with such showers made them to chap into such Clefts and Chinks of Parties and Faâ—ions disaffected to the Kings proceedings 101. To increase these distempers some complain how justly The Book bears the blame of all their own Countrey-men best know of the pride and pragmaticainess of the Scotch Bishops who being but Probationers on their good behaviour as but reintroduced by King James offended the ancient Nobility with their medleing in State matters And I finde two principally accused on this account Doctor Forbes Bishop of the new Bishoprick of Edenburg and Doctor Welderburne Bishop of Dumblane Thus was the Scotch Nation full of discontents when this Book being brought unto them bare the blame of their breaking forth into more dangerous designs as when the Cup is brim full before the last though least superadded drop is charged alone to be the cause of all the running over 102. Besides the Church of Scotland claimed not only to be Independent The Scotch Church standeth on the termes of its own independency free as any Church in Christendome a Sister not Daughter of England but also had so high an opinion of its own puritie that it participated more of Moses his platform in the Mount than other Protestant Churches being a reformed reformation So that the practice thereof might be directory to others and she fit to give not take write not receive copies from any Neighbouring Church destring that all others were like unto them save only in their afflictions 103. So much for the complained of burden of the book Arch-Bishop Land accused as principall Composer of the Book as also for the sore back of that Nation gauled with the aforesaid grievances when this Liturgy was sent unto them and now we must not forget the hatred they bare to the hand which they accused for laying it upon them Generally they excused the King in their writings as innocent therein but charged Archbishop Laud as the principall and Doctor n Bayly ut pri pag. 102. Cosins for the instrumentall compiler thereof which may appear by what we read in a Writer o Idem pag 95. 96. of that Nation afterwards imployed into England about the advancing of the Covenant betwixt both Nations and other Church affaires This unhappy Book was his Gracet invention if he should deny it his own deeds would convince him The manifold letters which in this Pestiferous affaire have passed betwixt him and our Prelates are yet extant Anno Dom. 1637 If we might be heard Anno Regis Caroli 13 we would spread out sundry of them before the Convocation-House of England making it clear as the light that in all this designe his hand had ever been the prime stickler so that upon his back mainly nill he will he would be laid the charge of all the fruits good or evill which from that Tree are like to fall on the Kings Countries Surely if any such evidence was extant we shall hear of it hereafter at his arraignment produced and urged by the Scotch-Commissioners 10. But leaving the Roots to lye under the Earth The tumult at Edenborough at the first reading the book let us look on the Branches spreading themselves above ground July 23. Sunday and passing from the secret Author of this Book behold the evident effects thereof No sooner had the Dean of Edenborough began to read the Book in the Church of St. Gyles in the presence of the Privy-Councell both the Archbishops divers Bishops and Magistrates of the City but presently such a Tumult was raised that through clapping of hands cursing and crying one could neither hear nor be heard The Bishop of Edenborough indeavoured in vain to appease the Tumult whom a Stool aimed to be thrown at him had killed p The Kings laâ—ge declaration pag. 23. if not diverted by one present so that the same Book had occasioned his Death and prescribed the form of his buriall and this Hubbub was hardly suppressed by the Lord Provost and Bayliffs of Edenborough 105. This first Tumult was caused by such More considerable persons engaged in the cause whom I finde called the Skum of the City considerable for nothing but their number But few dayes after the cream of the Nation some of the highest and best quality therein ingaged in the same cause crying out God defend all those who will defend Gods cause and God confound q The Kings large declaration pag. 37. the Service-Book and all the maintainers of it 106. The Lords of the Councell interposed their power Octob. 17. and to appease all parties issued out a Proclamation to remove the Session much like to our Term in London to Lithgou The occasion of the Scotch covenant This abated their anger as fire is quenched with Oile seeing the best part of the Edenburgers livelyhood depends on the Session kept in their City yea so highly were the People enraged against Bishops as the procurers of all these Troubles that the Bishop of Galloway passing peaceably along the street towards the Councellâ—House was way-layed r Kings large declaration pag. 35. in his coming thither if by divine Providence and by Frances Stewart Sonne to the late Earl of Bothwell he had not with much adoe been got within the dores of the Councell-House Indeed there is no fence but flight nor counsell but concealement to secure any single parâ—y against an offended multitude 107. These troublesome beginnings afterwards did occasion the solemn League and Covenant The Authors excuse why not proceeding in this subject whereby the greatest part of the Nation united themselves to defend their Priviledges and which laid the foundation of a long and wofull War in both Kingdomes And here I crave the Readers pardon to break off and leave the prosecution of this sad subject to Pens more able to undertake it For first I know none will pity me if I needlesly prick my fingers with meddling with a Thistle which belongs not unto me Secondly I
others grumbling at it as too much for what by them was performed And now what place more proper for the building of Sion as they propounded it then the Chamber of Jerusalem the fairest in the Deans Lodgings where King Henry the fourth died and where these Divines did daily meet together 7. Be it here remembred The superadded Divines that some besides those Episcopally affected chosen to be at this Assembly notwithstanding absented themselves pretending age indisposition c. as it is easie for able unwillingness to finde out excuses and make them probable Fit it was therefore so many evacuities should be filled up to mount the Meeting to a competent number and Assemblies as well as Armies when grown thin must be recruited Hence it was that at severall times the Lords and Commons added more Members unto them by the name of the Super-added Divines Some of these though equall to the former in power were conceived to fall short in parts as chosen rather by the affections of others then for their own abilities the Original members of the Assembly not overpleased thereat such addition making the former rather more then more considerable 8. One of the first publick Acts The Assemblies first petition for a fast which I finde by them performed was the humble presenting of a Petition to both Houses for the appointing of a solemn fast to be generally observed And no wonder if their request met with fair acceptance and full performance seeing the Assemblies Petition was the Parliaments intention and this solemn suite of the Divines did not create new but quicken the old resolutions in both Houses presently a Fast is appointed July 21. Frid. and accordingly kept on the following Friday M r Boules and M r Newcomen whose sermons are since printed preaching on the same and all the rest of the particulars promised to be taken into speedy consideration 9. It was now projected to finde out some Band or Tie The Covenent entreth England for the streighter Vnion of the English and Scotish amongst themselves and both to the Parliament In order whereunto the Covenant was now presented This Covenant was of Scottish extraction born beyond Tweed but now brought to be bred on the South-side thereof 10. The House of Commons in Parliament The Covenant first taken and the Assembly of Divines solemnly took the Covenant at S t. Margarets in Westminster 11. It was ordered by the Commons in Parliament that this Covenant be forthwith printed and published Commanded to be printed 12. Divers Lords Taken by Gentlemen Knights Gentlemen Collonels Officers Souldiers and others Sept. 27. Wed. 29. Frid. then residing in the City of London met at S t Margarets in Westminster and there took the said Covenant M r Coleman preaching a Sermon before them concerning the piety and legality thereof 13. It was commanded by the authority of both Houses Enjoyned all in London that the said Covenant on the Sabbath day ensuing Frid. Octo. 1. Sund. should be taken in all Churches and Chappels of London within the lines of Communication and thoroughout the Kingdom in convenient time appointed thereunto according to the Tenour following A Solemn league and Covenant for Reformation and defence of Religion the honour and happiness of the King and the peace and safety of the three Kingdomes of England Scotland and Ireland WE Noblemen Barons Knights Gentlemen Citizens Burgesses Ministers of the Gospel and Commons of all sorts in the Kingdom of England Scotland and Ireland by the providence of God living under one King and being of one Reformed Religion having before our eyes the glory of God and the advancement of the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ the honour and happiness of the Kings Majesty and his posterity and the true publick liberty safety and peace of the Kingdom wherein every ones private condition is included And calling to minde the Treacherous and Bloody Plots Conspiracies attempts and Practises of the enemies of God against the true Religion and the professors thereof in all places especially in these three Kingdoms ever since the Reformation of Religion and how much their rage power and presumption are of late and at this time encreased and exercised whereof the deplorable estate of the Church and Kingdom of Ireland the distressed estate of the Church and Kingdom of England the dangerous estate of the Church and Kingdom of Scotland are present and publick Testimonies We have now at last after other means of Supplications Remonstrances Protestations and sufferings for the preservation of our selves and our Religion from utter ruine and destruction according to the commendable practises of these Kingdoms in former times and the example of Gods people in other nations after mature deliberation resolved and determined to enter into a mutual solemn League and Covenant wherein we all subscribe and each one of us for himself with our hands lifted up to the most High God do swear That we shall sincerely really and constantly through the grace of God endeavour in our several places and callings the preservation of the reformed Religion in the Church of Scotland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government against our common enemies the Reformation of Religion in the Kingdoms of England and Ireland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government according to the word of God and the example of the best reformed Churches and shall endeavour to bring the Churches of God in the three Kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in Religion Confession of Faith form of Church-Government directory for Worship and Catechizing That we and our posterity after us may as Brethren live in faith and love and the Lord may delight to dwell in the midst of us That we shall in like manner without respect of persons endeavour the extirpation of Popery Prelacie that is Church-government by Arch-Bishops Bishops their Chancellours and Commissaries Deans Deans and Chapters Arch-Deacons and all other Ecclesiastical Officers depending on that Hierarchie Superstition Heresie Schism Prophaneness and whatsoever shall be found to be contrary to sound Doctrine and the power of godliness lest we partake in other mens sins and thereby be in danger to receive of their plagues and that the Lord may be one and his name one in the three Kingdomes We shall with the same sincerity reality and constancy in our several Vocations endeavour with our estates and lives mutually to preserve the Rights and priviledges of the Parliaments and the due liberties of the kingdomes and to preserve and defend the Kings Majesty his person and authority in the preservation and defence of the true Religion and liberties of the Kingdoms that the world may bear witness with our consciences of our loyalty and that we have no thoughts or intentions to diminish his Majesties just power and greatness We shall also with all faithfulness endeavour the discovery of all such as have been or shall be Incendiaries Malignants or evill instruments
by hindering the Reformation of Religion dividing the King from his people or one of the Kingdomes from another or making any faction or parties amongst the people contrary to this League and Covenant that they may be brought to publick trial and receive condign punishment as the degree of their offences shall require or deserve or the supream Judicatories of both Kingdoms respectively or others having power from them for that effect shall judge convenient And whereas the happiness of a blessed peace between these Kingdoms denied in former times to our progenitours is by the good providence of God granted unto us and hath been lately concluded and setled by both Parliaments we shall each one of us according to our place and interest endeavour that they remain conjoyned in a firme peace and union to all posterity and that justice may be done upon the wilfull opposers thereof in manner expressed in the precedent Article We shall also according to our places and callings in this common cause of Religion liberty and peace of the Kingdoms assist and defend all those that enter into this league and Covenant in the maintaining and pursuing thereof and shall not suffer our selves directly or indirectly by whatsoever combination perswasion or terrour to be divided and withdrawn from this blessed Conjunction and union whether to make defection to the contrary part or to give our selves to a detestable indifferency or neutrality in this cause which so much concerneth the glory of God the good of the Kingdomes and honour of the King but shall all the dayes of our lives zealously and constantly endeavour to continue therein against all opposition and promote the same according to our power against all lets and impediments whatsoever and what we are not able of our selves to suppress or overcome we shall reveal and make known that it may be timely prevented or removed All which we shall do as in the sight of God And because these Kingdoms are guilty of many sins and provocations against God and his Son Jesus Christ as is too manifest by our present distresses and dangers the fruits thereof We profess and declare before God and the world our unfeined desire to be humbled for our own sins and for the sins of these Kingdoms especially that we have not as we ought valued the inestimable benefit of the Gospel that we have not laboured for the purity and power thereof and that we have not endeavoured to receive Christ in our hearts nor to walk worthy of him in our lives which are the causes of other sins and transgressions so much abounding amongst us and our true and unfeined purpose desire and endeavour for our selves and all others under our charge both in publick and in private in all duties we owe to God and man to amend our lives and each one to goe before another in the example of a real reformation that the Lord may turn away his wrath and heavie indignation and establish these Churches and Kingdoms in truth and peace And this Covenant we make in the presence of Almighty God the searcher of all hearts with a true intention to perform the same as we shall answer at the great day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed most humbly beseeching the Lord to strengthen us by his Holy Spirit to this end and to bless our desires and proceedings with such success as may be deliverance and safety to his people and encouragement to other Christian Churches groaning under or in danger of the yoak of Anti-Christian Tyranny to joyn in the same or like Association and Covenant to the glory of God the enlargement of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ and the peace and tranquillity of Christian Kingdoms and Commonwealths We listen not to their fancy who have reckoned the words in the Covenant six a Rev. 13. 19. hundred sixty six Preface and Conclusion as only circumstantial appendants not accounted and esteeme him who trieth it as well at leisure aliàs as idle as he that first made the observation Much less applaud we their paralel who the number in branches agreeing compare it to the superstitious and cruel Six Articles enacted by King Henry the Eighth But let us consider the solid and serious exceptions alledged against it not so light and slight as to be puffed away with the breath of the present age but whose weight is likely to sink them down to the consideration of posterity 14. First Exceptions general to the whole seeing this Covenant though not as first penned as Prosecuted had heavie penalties inflicted on the refusers thereof such pressing is inconsistent with the nature of any Contract wherein consent not constraint is presumed In a Covenant men should go of their own good 〈◊〉 or be led by perswasions not drawn by frights and fears much less driven by forfeits and punishments 15. Secondly Made without the Kings consent Subjects are so far from having the express or tacit consent of the King for the taking thereof that by publick Proclamation he hath forbidden the same Now seeing Parents had power by the b Num. 30. 6. law of God to rescind such vows which their children made without their privity by the equity of the same law this Covenant is void if contrary to the flat command of him who is Parens Patriae 16. Many words occur in this Covenant Full of doubtful words some obsure others of doubtfull meaning viz. Common enemies Best-Reformed-Churches Malignants Highest Judicatories of both Kingdomes c. Untill therefore the obscure be cleared the doubtfull stated and fixed the same cannot as it ought be taken in judgement Exceptions to the Preface Therein it is suggested that Supplications Remonstrance Protestations to the King were formerly used which proving ineffectual occasioned the trying of this Covenant Anno Dom. 1643. Anno Regis Carol. 19. as the last hopefull means to preserve Religion from ruine c. Now seeing many joyned neither with their hands nor hearts in presenting these writings such persons scrupled this Covenant which they cannot take in truth because founded on the failing of the aforesaid means to the using whereof they concurred not in the laast degree 17. It is pretended in the Preface Pretended ancient yet unprecedented that this Covenant is according to the commendable practice of these Kingdoms in former times Whereas indeed it is new in it self following no former Precedents a grand Divine a a Phil. Nye Covenant with Narrat pag. 12. of the Parliament-party publickly professing that We read not either in Divine or Hamane Histories the like Oath extant in any age as to the matter persons and other circumstances thereof Exceptions to the First Article 18. They are unsatisfied to swear Cannot be taken knowingly to maintain the Preservation of the Reformed Religion of Scotland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government as being ignorant such their distance thence and small intelligence there of the particulars thereof
idle Monks may fitly be compared 8. To repair the damage lately done by Montgomerie to the Towne of Cambridge Hen. 1. 2 King Henry the first bestowed many priviledges thereon 1101 which the University is so far from repining Cambridge first made a Corporation she rejoyceth thereat For well may the jewel delight to be put in an handsome cabinet He freed the Town from the power of the Sheriff making it a Corporation upon the payment of one hundred and one marks yearly into the Exchequer which summe the Sheriff paid before for his profits out of the Towne when it was under his jurisdiction Besides whereas the Ferrie over the river Grant was a vagrant before even any where where passengers could get wastage over by authority and custome it now began to be fixed neer Cambridge which brought much trading and concourse of people thereunto 9. About this time Barnwell 4 that is 1103 Childrens-well a Village within the precincts of Cambridge The original of Midsummer Fair. got both the name thereof and a Faire therein on this occasion Many little k Liber â—arnwellensis children on Midsummer or S t. John Baptists eve met there in mirth to play and sport together Anno Dom. Their company caused the confluence of moe and bigger boys to the place Anno Regis Hen. 1 Then bigger than they even their Parents themselves came thither to be delighted with the activity of their children Meat and drink must be had for their refection which brought some victualling-booths to be set up Pedlers with toys and trifles cannot then be supposed long absent whose packs in short time swelled into Tradesmens stalls of all commodities Now it is become a great Faire and as I may term it one of the Townsmens Commencements wherein they take their degrees of wealth fraught with all store of Wares and nothing except buyers wanting therein 10. Jews at this time came first to Cambridge Jews their first coming to Cambridge and possessed a great part of the Town 1106 called the Jewrie at this day 7 â—â—und-Church in the Jewrie is conjectured by the rotundity of the structure to have been built for their Synagogue Much like whereunto for fabrick and fashion I have seen another at Northhampton where Jews about the same time had their Seminarie Some will say Cambridge an inland Town of small trading was ill chosen by these Jews for their Seat where the poor Scholars if borrowing from these Userers were likely to bring but small profit unto them But let it suffice that the Jewes chose this place whom no Christians need advise for their own advantage Here their carriage was very civil not complained of as elsewhere for cruel crucifying of Christian children and other enormities 11 Now the Reader is requested seriously to preuse the following passage as faithfully transcribed out of an excellent l P Blaesensts in his addiâ—ament to the Hâ—st of Ingulâ—â—uâ— author Cambridge restored to Learning by the Abbot of Crowland and of high concernment in this our History Joffred Abbot of Crowland sent over to his manour of Cotenham nigh Cambria 1109 Gislebert his fellow Monk 10 and professour of Divinity with three other Monks who following him into England being throughly furnished with Philosophical Theorems and other primitive sciences repaired daily to Cambridge and having hired a certain publique Barne made open profession of their sciences and in short space of time drew together a great company of Scholars 12 But in the second yeere after their coming A grain of Seed soon grown a Tree the number of their Scholars grew so great 1110 as well from out of the whole countrie as the town 11 that the biggest house and barn that was or any Church whatsoever sufficed not to contain them Whereupon sorting themselves apart in several places and taking the Universitie of Orleance for their pattern early in the morning Monk Odo a singular Grammarian and satyrical Poet read Grammar unto boyes and those of the younger sort assigned unto him according to the doctrine of Priscian and Remigius upon him At one of the clock Terricus a most wittie and subtle Sophister taught the elder sort of young men Aristotles Logick after the Introductions of Porphyrie and the Comments of Averroes At three of the clock Monk William read a Lecture in Tullies Rhetorick and Quintilians Flores But the great Master Gilbert upon every Sunday and Holy-day preached Gods word unto the People And thus out of this little fountaine which grew to be a great river we see how the Citie of God now is become enriched and all England made fruitfull by meanes of very many Masters and Doctors proceeding out of Cambridge in manner of the holy Paradise c. 13 Thus Author writ some fifty yeeres after the coming of these Crowland Professors to Cambridge The time of this Authors writing so that who seriously considereth how learning there from a contemptible occasion by small meanes in so short a time improved it selfe to so great an height will conclude much of Providence therein and we may observe according to Scripture expression m 2 Chron. 29 36. God had prepared the people for the thing was done suddenly 15 But some adversaries to the antiquity of Cambridge An apparent injury offâ—red to Cambridge represent and improve this action much to her disadvantage as if newly now and not before she began to be an Universitie Objecting that if Scholars were at Cambridge before the coming of those foure Professors thither they shewed small civilitie in giving those strangers no better entertainment to whom they should have said as once n Gen. 24. 32 Laban to Abrahams servant Come in ye blessed of the Lord wherefore stand you without welcoming them to their Halls Hostles Chambers Studies with the best fare their present condition afforded Especially seeing Scholars of all men are soonest acquainted the sameness of profession commonly making them familiar at the first sight It seems therefore that at their coming thither either Cambridge had no Scholars in her or her Scholars had no manners in them yea had not read so much as Tullie his Offices to teach them civilitie to strangers professing learning but suffered them to live and read in a Barn by themselves 15. In answer hereunto She is vindicated from sucâ—aâ— traduce heâ— may the Reader be pleased to take into his impartial consideration the following particulars 1 Not much more then twenty yeeres since that mischievous man Robert of Montgomerie had dispoyled Cambridge And no wonder if the Blackbirds were slow in flying back to their nests which had been so lately destroyed 2. Yet a racemation at least of Scholars either remained in Cambridge all that plundring time or return'd soon after it For we finde King Henry the first o Caius in Hist Cantab. in the second of his Reign by order commanding some Civilians
effectually Earle of Cambridge Anno Dom. by the ensuing evidence doth sufficiently appear It is a Å¿ Extant among the Records of the Earls of Oxford cited at large by Augustine Vincent in hâ— Correction of Bâ—â—â—ks errours pag. 393. Grant made by Mâ—uld the Emperesse Daughter of King Henrie the first unto Aubery de Vere afterward Earl of Oxford part whereof so much as concerns the present point we have here transcribed translated and commented on conceiving it to contain some criticisms in History and Heraldry worthy observation Concedo quòd sit Comes de Cantebruggescire 10 habeat inde tertium denâ—ium sicut Comes debet haberâ— 1144 Itâ— dico si Rex Scotiae non habet illum Comitatum Et si Rex habuerit perquiram illud ei ad posse meum per Escambium Et si non potero tunc do 〈◊〉 concede quòd sit Câ—mes de quolibet quatuor Comitatuum subserptorum viz. Oxenfordscire Berkscire Wiltscire Dorsetscire per consilium considerationem Comitis Glocestriae frairis mei Comitis Gaufridi Comitis Gilberti I grant that he be Earl of Cantbruggshire and that he have from thence the third penny as the Earl ought to have So I say if the King of Scotland hath not that Earldom And if the King hath it I shall to my power procure it him by exchange And if I cannot then I give and grant unto him that he be Earl of which he will of the four Earldoms subscribed namely Oxfordshire Berkshire Wiltshire and Dorsetshire by the counsel and advise of the Earl of Glocester my brother and of Earl Geofrey and of Earl Gilbert The date of this Grant is uncertain but from the hand of her brother the Earl of Glocester subscribed thereunto we collect that it must be before the yeer 1146 wherein the said Earl ended his life 21. Out of this Grant observe Observations collected from this Grant First That though Steven de facto was King of England yet the right was in this Mauld the Emperesse Betwixt these two for many yeers it was catch who catch may both in gaining of places and giving of Honours as successe befriended them Secondly That Earls in that age were Earls indeed not meerly titular but substantiall as receiving the third penny I humbly conceive it of the Crown-revenues therein of the County whence they had their honour Thirdly Kings of Scotland accounted it no abatement to their Crown-Royall to we are with it an English Coronet holding in Commendam as I may say with their own Crown one or moe of English Earldoms As here King David held Cambridge in his own and Huntingdon in right of his Wife Fourthly As the Counties of Cambridge and t See Câ—mdens Britan. in Hunting donshire Huntingdon soon after the Conquest were united under one Comes or Earl so they two onely of all Shires in England remain under one Vicecomes or Sheriff at this day Fifthly Queen Mauld earnestly endeavoured in compliance no doubt with the desires of her favorite Aubery de Vere to confer the County of Cambridge upon him as a place of principal honour above the four other Counties proffered unto him Sixthly The honour of the title of Cambridge arose from the famous University therein otherwise the foresaid Aubery if consulting his profit would cleerly have preferred either Oxfordshire Berkshire Wiltshire or Dorsetshire as greater in extent and therefore returning by the third penny therein larger revenues Lastly Seeing a good title of Cambridge could not be made to him as prepossessed by the Scotch King Aubery was contented with and thankfull for Oxford as the other famous University in England which title his noble and most ancient family enjoyeth at this day 22. Nigellus or Neale 11 second Bishop of Ely 1145 having first obtained a faculty from the Pope Nigellus his foundation in Cambridge â—ounded â—n Hospitall for u Godwin in Epist. â—â—ie pag. 3â—6 Canons regular in Cambridge in the place where now S t. John's Colledge is erected Hee is said to have endowed the same with an hundred and fourty pound by the yeer Anno Dom. yeerly rent Anno Regis Hen. 2 which it so in that age was a vast proportion 23. Roger of Hereford Roger of Hereford Student in Cambridge so named because born there 1170 studied at this time in Cambridge 16 became an admirable Astronomer Philosopher and Chymist diving much into the mysteries of metals He wrote many books of Astronomy and Astrologie which for a long time were kept in Cambridge Librarie but not extant I fear at this day Yet the Oxford w â—â—ri Twine Apolog. lib. 2. pag. 219. Antiquarie will by no means allow this Roger a Student in Crambridge as who flourished before the coming of the Crowland Professors thither but whether more credit may be hung on this single Twine than on the twisted testimonie of Leland Bale and Pitz all agreeing both in his education at Cambridge and flourishing in this Age be it reported to any ingenuous Reader 24. There happened a merciless fire in Cambridge A merciless fire onely so pitifull as to goe out when no more fewell was left to feed the furie thereof 1174 Most of the Churches in the town then built of wood 20 and therefore the more combustible were burnt in part and Trinity-Church wholly x Caius Hist Contab consumed Hence it was that for time to come the Steeple thereof was firmly built of free-stone to prevent by Gods goodnesse the return of the like casualty 25. A sad accident happened this yeer at y Matth. Paris in Anno 1209 pag. 228. Oxford Oxford deserted and partly removed to Cambridge A Clergie-man 1208 and Student in that University K John 9 casually kill'd a woman and fled upon it The Maior of the City with other officers search after him light on three of his Chamber-fellows both innocent and ignorant of the fact committed These they injuriously thrust into Prison and some dayes after King John a back friend to the Clergie as continually vexed with their constant opposition commanded them to be executed in contempt saith my Author of Ecclesiastical libertie Offended hereat three thousand Students at once left Oxford as well Masters as Scholars It a quòd nec unus ex omni Universitate remansit So that not one remain'd of all the Universitie Of these some removed to Cambridge some to Reading so that in this total eclipse of learning therein Oxford was left emptie for a season 26. John of S t. John of St. Omers a Poet bred in Cambridge Omers studied about this time at Cambridge 1209 By his surname I should have conjectured him a Forainer of Artois 10 had not my z Baleus Cent. 3 pag. 261. Author assured me that he was born in Norfolk Yea when a Monk of Peterburgh bred also in Cambridge had with his Iatyrical
exeant infra quindecim dies postquam hoc clamatum fuerit Et si ultra terminum illum inventi fuerint in eadem villa hujusmodi Clerici capiantur in prisonam nostram mittantur Teste meipso apud Oxon. 3 Maii Anno Regni nostri 15. Thus the Sheriff was impowered with a Posse Comitatus to redresse this grievance May 3 but whether or no with a Velle Comitatus I know not Sure I am these Clerks-no-Clerks disturbed the University for many yeers after 36. The Townesmen of Cambridge began now most unconscionably to raise and rack the rent of their houses wherein the Scholars did sojourn The unconscionablenes of the Townsmen Every low Cottage was high valued Sad the condition when Learning is the Tenant and Ignorance must be the Landlord It came at last to this pass that the Scholars wearied with exactions were on the point of departing to finde a place where they might be better accommodated on more reasonable conditions 37. Here the King seasonably interposed his power Regulated by the Kings Letters appointing 1231 that two Masters of Arts and two honest Townsmen should be deputed as Chancellors 15 conscientiously to moderate the rigour of covetousnesse And seeing Scholars would hire as cheap and Townsmen would let as dear as they could the aforesaid four persons indifferently chosen out of both Corporations were to order the price betwixt both according to the tenor of the Kings Letter ensuing Rex f f The same Letters in effect were often confirmed by the King in the 50 year of his Reign Majorì Ballivis Cantabr salutem Satis constat vobis quòd apud villam nostram Cantabr studendi causae è diversis patribus tam cismarinis quà m transmarinis Scholarium confluit multitudo quod valde gratam habemus acceptamus cum exemplum toti Regno nostro commodum non modicum honor nobis accrescat vos specialiter inter quos fideliter conversantur studentes non mediocriter gaudere debetis laetari Audivimus autem quòd in hospitiis vestris locandis tam graves onerosi estis scholaribus inter vos commorantibus quòd nisi mensurabiliùs modestiùs vos habueritis erga ipsos in hac parte exactione vestra faciente oportebit ipses villam vestram exire studio suo relicto à terra nostra recedere quod nullatenus vellemus Et ideo vobis mandamus firmiter injungentes quatenus super praedictis hospictis locandis vos mensurantes secundū consuetudinem Universitatis per duos Magistros dues probes legales homines de villa◠nostra ad hoc assignandos hospicia praedicta taxari secundū corum taxationem ea locari permittatis taliter vos gerentes in hac parte ne si secus egeritis propter quod ad nos debeat clamor pervenire ad hoc manum apponere debeamus Teste meipso apud Oxon. tertio die Maii anno regni nostri xv ✚ Ex Rotulo claus de anno xv Regis Henrici tertii in dors in Turre London Ex. per Guil. Ryley See we here Cambridge appeareth not as an infant of yesterday but a grave Matron of great age witnesse those words according to the custom of the University which shew her gravity and gray hairs at the time of the date thereof 38. This was the first original of the Taxatores or Taxers in Cambridge The original of Taxers so called at first from taxing prizing or rating the rents of houses Their name remains but office is altered at this day For after the bounty of Founders had raised Halls and Colledges for Scholars free abode their liberality gave the Taxers a Writ of ease no more to meddle with the needless prizing of Townsmens houses However two Taxers are still annually chosen whose place is of profit and credit as employed in matters of weight and to see the true gage of all measures especially such as concern the victuals of Scholars For where the belly is abused in its food the brains will soon be distempered in their study 39. Turnaments and Tilting of the Nobility and Gentry were commonly kept at Cambridge The ill 〈◊〉 of Turnament◠to the great annoyance of the Scholars Many sad casualties were caused by these meetings though ordered with the best caution Armes and leggs were often broken as well as spears Much lewd people waited on these assemblies light Housewives as well as light Horsmen repaired thereunto Yea such the clashing of swords the ratling of Arms the sounding of trumpets the neighing of horses the shouting of men all day-time with the roaring of riotous Revellers all the night that the Scholars studies were disturbed safety endangered lodging straightned charges enlarged all provisions being unconscionably enhanced In a word so many war-horses were brought hither that Pegasus himself was likely to be shut out For where Mars keeps his Term there the Muses may even make their Vacation 40. The King being complained to thereof 29 did plainly shew 1245 that he preferred the quiet of the University before the profit of the Town of Cambridge Forbidden within five miles of Cambridge gaining much money by these meetings And therefore by his Letters he enjoined that no Tilting should be kept within five miles of Cambridge And yet so stout and sturdy were martial men in that age that they hardly obeyed him Yea I finde one * Ex Arch◠is Acad. Cant. 〈◊〉 ganter descript impensts R. Harrei ex Turre Londinenst Ralph de Kamois a bold Chevalier who notwithstanding the premisses kept a riotous Tilting in the very town of Cambridge but soon after he was deeply fined for his high contempt on the paiment whereof and his humble submission before the Earls of Cornwall Lecester and Norfolk he was forgiven 41. Let us look on these Turnaments unrelated to Cambridge as they were in themselves Mothers of misrule and we shall finde them the mothers constantly of misrule commonly of mischief Their very use in their first constitution was no better tham an abuse to cover malice under the cloak of manhood and merriment Many brought personal grudges some family-feuds into the field with them fewer returned than went forth as either casually cut off or intentionally murdered 42. One instance of the former out of many A sad chance though full twenty four miles from Cambridge Gilbert Mareshall Earl of Pembroke a potent Peer of the Land proclaimed a disport of Turnament of running on Hors-back with Launces in defiance of the Kings Authority who had inhibited the same at Ware in g Camdens Brit. in Hertfordshire Hertford-shire under the name forsooth of Fortune as if Providence had nothing to doe in such wild recreations But so it fortuned that this Gilbert cast bruised and kild by his own horse soon ended the mirth of the meeting Call it not therefore cowardise but conscience and charity in the Church which taking these Turnaments no better
but finde him a Mecaenas and grand favourer of Learned men For when the School of b Ascham Câ—â—nend Epist fol. 210. Idem fol. 208. Sedbury in the North belonging to S t Johns in Cambridg was run to ruine the Lands thereof being sold and embezeled S r Anthony procured the reparation of the Schoole and restitution of their means firmly setling them to prevent future alienation Hear what character c M r Ascham gives of him Religio Doctrina Respublica omnes curas tuas sic occupant ut extra has tres res nullum tempus consumas Religion Learning Common-wealth so employ all thy cares that besides these three things you spend no other time Let then the enemies if any of his memory abate of this character to what proportion they please pretending it but the Orators Rhetorical Hyperbole the very remainder thereof which their malice must leave will be sufficient to speak S r Anthony a worthy and meriting Gentleman I finde an excellent Epitaph made on him by one the Learned'st of Noblemen His Epitaph made by the Lord Howard and Noblest of Learned men in his age viz. Henry Howard Earl of Surrey and eldest son to the Duke of Norfolk worthy the Reader his perusal Vpon the Death of Sir Anthony a Weavers Funeral Monuments p. 852. Denny Death and the King did as it were contend Which of them two bare Denny greatest love The King to shew his love 'gan far extend Did him advance his betters far above Neer place much wealth great honour eke him gave To make it known what power Princes have But when Death came with his triumphant gift From worldly cark he quit his wearied ghost Free from the corps and straight to Heaven it lift Now deem that can who did for Denny most The King gave wealth but fading and unsure Death brought him bliss that ever shall endure Know Reader that this Lord made this Epitaph by a Poetical Prolepsis otherwise at the reading thereof who would not conceive that the Author surviv'd the subject of his Poem Whereas indeed this Lord died beheaded 1546. in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth whom S r Anthony out-lived being one of the Executors of his Will Nor was it the worst piece of service he performed to his Master when all other Courtiers declining the employment he truly acquainted him with his dying-condition to dispose of his soul for another world S r Anthony died about the second of Edward the sixth His issue by Dame Joan his wife Dame Joan his Wife surviving him Daughter she was to S r Philip Champernoon of Modbury in Devon-shire a Lady of great beauty and parts a favourer of the Reformed Religion when the times were most dangerous She sent eight shillings by her man in a Violet coat to Anne b Fox Acts Monuments fol. 1239. Aschough when imprisoned in the Counter a small sum yet a great gift so hazardous it was to help any in her condition This Lady Joan bought the Reversion in Fee of Waltham from King Edward the Sixth paying three thousand and hundred pounds for the same purchasing therewith large priviledges in Waltham-Forest as by the Letters Patents doth appear She bare two Sons to S r Anthony Henry Denny Esquire of whom hereafter the second S r Edward who by Gods blessing Queen Elizabeths bounty and his own valour atchieved a fair estate in the County of Kerry in Ireland which at this day is if any thing in that woful war-wasted Countrey can be enjoyed by his great Grandchild Arthur Denny Esq of Tralleigh The condition of Waltham Church from the Dissolution of the Abby untill the Death of King HENRY the Eighth HAving the perusal of the Church-Wardens accounts wherein their Ancient expences and receits are exactly taken fairly written and carefully kept I shall select thence some memorable Items to acquaint us with the general devotion of those dayes Know then there were six Ordinary Obits which the Church-wardens did annually discharge viz. For Thomas Smith and Joan his wife on the sixteenth of January Thomas Friend Joan and Joan his wives on the sixteenth of February Robert Peest and Joan his wife on the tenth of April Thomas Towers and Katharine his wife the six and twentieth of April John Breges and Agnes his wife the one and thirtieth of May. Thomas Turner and Christian his wife the twentieth day of December The charge of an Obit was two shillings and two pence and if any be curious to have the particulars thereof it was thus expended To the Parish-Priest four pence to our Ladies-Priest three pence to the Charnel-Priest three pence to the two Clerks four pence to the Children these I conceive Choristers three pence to the Sexton two pence to the Bell-man two pence for two Tapers two pence for Oblation two pence Oh the reasonable rates at Waltham two shillings two pence for an Obit the price whereof in Saint Pauls in London was fourty shillings For forsooth the higher the Church the holier the service the dearer the price though he had given too much that had given but thanks for such vanities To defray the expences of these Obits the parties prayed for or their Executors left Lands Houses or Stock to the Church-Wardens Thomas Smith bequeathed a Tenement in the Corn-Market and others gave Lands in Vpshire called Pater-noster-Hills others ground elswhere besides a stock of eighteen Cows which the Wardens let out yearly to farm for eighteen shillings making up their yearly accounts at the Feast of Michael the Arch-Angel out of which we have excerpted the following remarkable particulars Anno 1542. the 34 th of HENRY the 8 th Imprimis For watching the Sepulchre a groat This constantly returnes in every yearly account though what meant thereby I know not I could suspect some Ceremony on Easter-eve in imitation of the Souldiers watching Christs grave but am loath to charge that Age with more superstition then it was clearly guilty of Item Paid to the Ringers at the coming of the Kings Grace six pence Yet Waltham Bells told no tales every time King Henry came hither having a small house in Rome-land to which he is said oft privately to retire for his pleasure Item Paid unto two men of Law for their counsel about the Church-leases six shillings eight pence Item Paid the Attorney for his Fee twenty pence Item Paid for Ringing at the Prince his coming a penny Anno 1543. the 35 th of HENRY the 8 th Imprimis Received of the Executors of S r Robert Fuller given by the said S r Robert to the Church ten pounds How is this man degraded from the Right Honourable the Lord Abbot of Waltham the last in that place to become a poor S r Robert the title of the meanest Priest in that age Yet such his charity in his poverty that besides this legacy he bequeathed to the Church a Chalice a The Church-wardens account Anno 1556. silver and gilt which they
favoured by W. Rufus ibid. had a chief Justicor â—ver them p. 84. ¶ 33. a High priest or Presbyter ¶ 35. their griping usurie p. 85. ¶ 36 c. unfortunate at Feast and Frayes p. 86. ¶ 40. eruelly used by K. Henry the 3d. ¶ 43. Misdomeanours charged on them p. 87. ¶ 46 cast out of the land by K. Edward the first 47. though others say they craved leave to depart ibid c. ILTUTUS abused by Monkish for geries C. 6. ¶ 8. IMAGE-WORSHIP first setled by Synod in England C. 8. ¶ 9 10. injoyned point-blank to poore people to practice it b. 4. p. 150. ¶ 40. IN A King of the West-Saxons his Ecclesiasticall Laws C. 7. ¶ 106. he giveth Peter-Pence to the Pope C. 8. ¶ 13. INDEPENDENTS vide dissenting Brethren Sr. Fra. INGLEFIELD a Benefactour to the English Coll. at Valladolit b. 9. p. 87. yea to all English Papists p. 108. ¶ 20. St. JOHNS COLLEDGE in Cambridge founded by the Lady Margaret Hist of Cam. p. 94. ¶ 11. the Masters Bishops c. thereof p. 94 95. St. JOHNS COLL. Oxford founded by Sr. Tho. White b. 8. S. 3. ¶ 44. The Presidents Bishops Benefactours c. thereof ¶ 45. King JOHN receives a present from the Pope b. 3. p. 48. ¶ 4. returns him a stout answer 5. for which the whole Kingdome is interdicted p. 49. ¶ 6 7 c. his Innocency to the Popes injustice ¶ 9. by whom he is excommunicated by name ¶ 10. yet is blessed under his curse ¶ 11. his submission to the Pope p. 51. ¶ 13. resigning his Crown ibid. his unworthy Embassey to the King of Morocco p. 53. ¶ 21. lamentable death ¶ 22. and character ¶ 23. JOSEPH of ARIMATHEA said to be sent into Britain C. 1. ¶ 11. his drossy History brought to the Touch ¶ 12. severall places assigned for his buriall ¶ 14. the Oratours of Spain in the councill of Basel endeavour to disprove the whole story b. 4. p. 180. ¶ 8. whose objections are easily answered p. 181. ¶ 9. IRELAND excludeth their own Articles and receiveth the 39 Articles of England b. 11. p. 149. ¶ 46. ITALIANS had in England seventy thousand Marks a year of Ecclesiasticall revenues b. 3. p. 65. ¶ 29. held the best livings and kept no Hospitalitie b. 4. p. 138. ¶ 17. William JUXON Bishop of London made Lord Treasurer b. 11. p. 150. ¶ 48. his commendable carriage ¶ 49. K. Q. KATHARINE de Valois disobeyeth her Husband b. 4. p. 170. ¶ 46. therefore never buried ¶ 47 48. Q. KATHARINE Dowager for politick ends married to King Henry the eighth b. 5. p. 165. ¶ 6. on what score the match was first scrupled by the King p. 171. ¶ 36 37 c. her Speech p. 173. her character and death b. 5. p. 206. ¶ 19. KATHARINE HALL founded by Robert Woodlark Hist of Camb. p. 83. ¶ 40. in strictnesse of Criticisme may be termed Aula bella ¶ 41. KEBY a British Saint fixed in Anglesey C. 4. ¶ 25. KENT the Saxons Kingdome therein when beginning how bounded C. 5. ¶ 17. first converted to Christianity by Augustine the Monk b. 2. C. 6. ¶ 11. the Petition of the Ministers of Kent against subscription b. 9. p. 144. KENULPHUS King of the West-Saxons his Charter granted to the Abbey of Abbington proving the power of Kings in that Age in Church matters b. 2. p. 101. ¶ 25. notwithstanding Persons his objections to the contrary ¶ 26. putteth down the Arch bishoprick of Lichfield KETTS Robert and William their Rebellions b. 7. p. 339. ¶ 2. their execution p. 397. ¶ 15. The KINGS EVILE a large discourse of the cause and cure thereof C. 11. p. 145 146 147. John KING Dean of Christ-Church b. 5. p. 170. present at Hampton-Court conference b. 10. p. 7. when Bishop of London graveleth Legate the Arrain p. 62. ¶ 8. condemneth him for a Heretick p. 63. ¶ 10. his cleare carriage in a cause of great consequence p. 67. ¶ 24 25. his death p. 90. ¶ 31. and eminencies in defiance of Popish falshood ¶ 32. 33. Henry KING made Bishop of Chichester b. 11. p. 194. KINGS HALL built by King Edward the third Hist of Camb. p. 39. ¶ 46. three eminences thereof ¶ 47. KINGS COLLEDGE founded by K. Henry the sixth Hist of Camb. p. 73. John KNEWSTUBS minister of Cockfield in Suffolk b. 9. p. 135. ¶ 16. a meeting of Presbyterians at his house ibidem against conformities at Hampton-Court conference b. 10. p. 7. his exceptions propounded p. 16 and 17. shrewdly checkt by King James p. 20. a Benefactour to Saint Johns Colledge Hist of Camb. p. 95. ¶ 15. KNIGHTS of the Garter their Institution qualifications hubilliments Oath and orders by them observed how their places become vacant b. 3. p. 116. KNIGHTS anciently made by Abbots b. 3. p. 17 18. untill it was forbidden by Canon ibidem Mr. KNOT the Jesuit his causelesse Cavills at Mr. Sutton confuted b. 10. p. 65. ¶ 17 c. John KNOX chosen their minister by the English Exiles at Frankford b. 8. S. 3. ¶ 1. opposed in his discipline by Dr. Cox ¶ 3 4. accused for treacherous speeches against the Emperour ¶ 5. forced to depart Frankford to the great grief of his party ibidem L. Arthur LAKE Bishop of Bath and Wells his death and character b. 11. ¶ 45. LAMBETH Articles by whom made b. 9. p. 229. ¶ 23. nine in number p. 230. various judgements of them p. 231. ¶ 24 c. LANCASTER and York houses the Battels betwixt them for the Crown Place Time number slain and Conquerour b. 4. p. 186 and 187. LANCK-FRANCK made Arch-bishop of Canterbury b. 3. ¶ 4. most kindly treated by the Pope ¶ 17. to whom he accuseth Thomas elect of York and Remigius elect of Lincoln ¶ 18 19. his return and imployment ¶ 20. Hugh LATIMER a violent Papist History of Cambridge p. 102. ¶ 33. converted by Bilney ¶ 34. his Sermon of Cards p. 103. ¶ 38. preacheth before the Convocation b. 5. p. 207. ¶ 23. deprived of his Bishoprick of Worcester p. 231. ¶ 18. why he assumed it not again in the Reign of King Edward the sixth b. 7. p. 405. ¶ 28. his judgement of the contemners of common prayer p. 426. ¶ 17. William LAUD made Bishop of St. Davids b. 9. p. 90. ¶ 30. a great Benefactour to St. Johns in Oxford b. 8. p. 40. ¶ 45. accused by the Scotch for making their Liturgy b. 1â— p. 163. prepares for his death b. 11. p. 215. ¶ 68. his Funerall speech and burial p. 216. ¶ 69 70. his birth breeding and character p. 216 217 218 219. LAURENTIUS Arch-bishop of Cant. reconcileth the British to the Romish Church in the Celebration of Easter C. 7. ¶ 27. intending to depart England iâ— rebuked in a vision ¶ 34 35. LECHLADE or LATINELADE a place where Latine was anciently taught Cent. 9. ¶ 30. Thomas LEE or LEAH a prime Officer imploied in the dissolution of
Henry had already attained both by his partial Reformation Power by abolishing the Pope's usurpation in His Dominions Profit by seizing on the lands and goods of suppressed Monasteries And thus having served His own turn His zeal wilfully tired to goe any farther and onely abolishing such Popery as was in order to his aforesaid designes He severely urged the rest on the practice of His Subjects 16. Herein he appeared like to Jehu King of Israel Compared with King Jehu who utterly rooted out the forraign Idolatry of BAAL fetcht from the Zidonians and almost appropriated to the family of Ahab but still worshipped the CALVES in DAN and BETHEL the state-Idolatry of the Kingdome So our Henry though banishing all out-landish superstition of Papall dependance still reserved and maintained home bred Popery persecuting the Refusers to submit thereunto 17. For The six bloody Articles by the perswasion of Bishop Gardiner in defiance of Archbishop Cranmer and the L. Cromwell with might and main opposing it it was enacted 1. That in the Sacrament of the Altar after consecration no substance of bread or wine remaineth but the naturall body and blood of Christ 2. That the Communion in both kindes is not necessary ad salutem by the law of God to all persons 3. That Priests after Orders received may not Marry by the Law of God 4. That Vows of Chastity ought to be observed 5. That it is meet and necessary that private Masses be admitted and continued in Churches 6. That auricular Confession must be frequented by people as of necessity to salvation Laws bad as penned worse as prosecuted which by some Bishops extensive interpretations were made commensurate to the whole body of Popery 18. Indeed The L. Cromwel's designe miscarrieth the Lord Cromwell unable to right his own had a designe to revenge himself on the opposite party by procuring an Act That Popish Priests convict of Adultery should be subject to the same punishment with Protestant Ministers that were married But Gardiner by his greatnesse got that law so qualified that it soon became lex edentula Ann. Reg. Hē 8. 32. whilst the other remained mordax death being the penalty of such who were made guilty by the six Articles though Nicholas Shaxton of Salisbury Ann. Dom. 1540. and Hugh Latimer of Worcester found the especial favour to save themselves by losing of their Bishopricks 19. And now began Edmond Bonner 〈…〉 aliàs Savage most commonly called by the former but too truly known by the later name newly made Bishop of London to display the colours of his cruelty therein which here I forbear to repeat because cited at large by Mr. Fox For I desire my Church-History should behave it self to his Book of Martyrs as a Lieutenant to its Captain onely to supply his place in his absence to be supplemental thereunto in such matters of moment which have escaped his observation 20. Match-makers betwixt private persons seldome finde great love for their pains Cromwell fal's into the Kings displeasure and peoples hatred betwixt Princes often fall into danger as here it proved in the L. Cromwell the grand contriver of the King's marriage with Anne of Cleve On him the King had conferred Honours so many and so suddainly that one may say The crudities thereof lay unconcted in his soul so that he could not have time to digest one Dignity before another was poured upon him Not to speak of his Mastership of the Jewel-house he was made Baron Master of the Rolls the Kings Vicar-general in spiritual matters Lord Privie-Seale Knight of the Garter Earle of Essex Lord Great Chamberlaine of England And my b Camdens Brit. in Essex p. 454. Authour observeth that all these Honours were conferred upon him in the compasse of five years most of them possessed by him not five moneths I may adde and all taken from him in lesse than five minutes with his life on the scaffold 21. This was the cause why he was envied of the Nobility and Gentry Why Cromwel was deservedly envied being by birth so much beneath all by preserment so high above most of them Besides many of his advancements were interpreted not so much Honours to him as Injuries to others as being either in use improper or in equity unfit or in right unjust or in conscience unlawfull for him to accept His Mastership of the Rolls such who were bred Lawyers conceived it fitter for men of their profession As for the Earldome of Essex conferred upon him though the title lately became void by the death of Bourchier the last Earl without Issue-male and so in the strictnesse of right in the King 's free disposal yet because he left Anne a sole Daughter behinde him Cromwel's invading of that Honour bred no good blood towards him amongst the kinred of that Orphan who were honourable and numerous His Lord great Chamberlainship of England being an Office for many years Hereditary in the Antient and Honourable House of Oxford incensed all of all that Family when beholding him possessed thereof His Knighthood of the Garter which custome had appropriated to such who by three degrees at least could prove their Gentile descent being bestowed on him did but enrage his Competitours thereof more honourably extracted As for his being the King's Vicar-General in Spiritual matters all the Clergie did rage thereat grutching much that K. Henry the substance and more that Cromwell His shadow should assume so high a Title to himself Besides Cromwel's name was odious unto them on the account of Abbies dissolved and no wonder if this Sampson plucking down the pillars of the Popish-Church had the rest of the structure falling upon him July 9. These rejoiced when the Duke of Norfolke arrested him for Treason at the Councel-Table whence he was sent Prisoner to the Tower 22. And now to speak impartially of him Cromwell's admirable parts though in prison If we reflect on his parts and endowments it is wonderfull to see how one quality in him befriended another Great Scholar he was none the Latine Testament gotten by heart being the master-piece of his learning nor any studied Lawyer never long-living if admitted in the Inns of Court nor experienced Souldier though necessity cast him on that calling when the Duke of Burbone besieged Rome nor Courtier in his youth till bred in the Court as I may call it of Cardinal Wolsey's house and yet that of the Lawyer in him so helped the Scholar that of the Souldier the Lawyer that of the Courtier the Souldier and that of the Traveller so perfected all the rest being no stranger to Germany well acquainted with France most familiar with Italy that the result of all together made him for endowments eminent not to say admirable 23. It was laid to his charge Articles charged upon the Lord Cromwell First that he had exceeded his Commission in acting many things of high conseqsence without acquainting the King therwith dealing therein