to go to Cambridge for trying who were the Fautors of Heresie there But he as Legate did inhibite it upon what grounds I cannot imagine Which was brought against him afterwards in Parliament Art 43. of his Impeachment Yet when these Doctrines were spread every-where he called a meeting of all the Bishops and Divines and Canonists about London where Thomas Bilney and Thomas Arthur were brought before them and Articles were brought in against them The whole process is set down at length by Fox in all Points according to Tonstall's Register except one fault in the Translation When the Cardinal asked Bilney whether he had not taken an Oath before not to preach or defend any of Luthers Doctrines he confessed he had done it but not judicially judicialiter in the Register This Fox Translates not lawfully In all the other particulars there is an exact agreement between the Register and his Acts. The sum of the proceedings of the Court was That after examination of Witnesses and several other steps in the Process which the Cardinal left to the Bishop of London and the other Bishops to manage Bilney stood out long and seemed resolved to suffer for a good Conscience In the end what through human infirmity what through the great importunity of the Bishop of London who set all his Friends on him he did abjure on the 7 th of December as Arthur had done on the 2 d. of that Month. And though Bilney was relapst and so was to expect no mercy by the Law yet the Bishop of London enjoyned him Penance and let him go For Tonstall being a man both of good Learning and an unblemisht life these Vertues produced one of their ordinary effects in him great moderation that was so eminent in him that at no time did he dip his hands in Blood Geoffrey Loni and Thomas Gerard also abjured for having had Luther's Books and defending his Opinions These were the proceedings against Hereticks in the first half of this Reign And thus far I have opened the State of Affairs both as to Religious and Civil concerns for the first 18 years of this Kings time with what Observations I could gather of the dispositions and tempers of the Nation at that time which prepared them for the Changes that followed afterwards The End of the First Book THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE Church of England BOOK II. Of the Process of Divorce between King Henry and Queen Katharine and of what passed from the Nineteenth to the Twenty fifth year of his Reign in which he was declared Supreme Head of the Church of England KING Henry hitherto lived at ease and enjoyed his pleasures he made War with much honour and that always produced a just and advantageous Peace He had no trouble upon him in all his affairs except about the getting of Money and even in that the Cardinal eased him But now a Domestick trouble arose which perplexed all the rest of his Government and drew after it Consequences of a high nature Henry the 7 th upon wise and good considerations resolved to link himself in a close Confederacy with Ferdinand and Isabella Kings of Castile and Arragon and with the House of Burgundy against France which was looked on as the lasting and dangerous Enemy of England And therefore a Match was agreed on between his Son Prince Arthur and Katharine the Infanta of Spain whose eldest Sister Ioan was Married to Philip that was then Duke of Burgundy and Earl of Flanders out of which arose a triple Alliance between England Spain and Burgundy against the King of France who was then become formidable to all about him There was given with her 200000 Duckats the greatest Portion that had been given for many Ages with any Princess which made it not the less acceptable to King Henry the Seventh EFFIGIES CATHARINAE PRINCIPIS ARTHURI VXORIS HENRICO REGI NUPTAE H. Holbeâ—n Pinxit R. White Sculp 1486. Nata 1501. Nov. 14. Arthuro nupsit 1509. Iun. 3. Henrico Regi nupsit 1526. toro exclusa 1533. May. 23 incesti damnata 1536. Ian. 8. obijt Printed for Rich Chiswell at the Rose Crown in St Pauls Church yard The Infanta was brought into England and on the 14th of Nov. was Married at St. Pauls to the Prince of Wales They lived together as man and wife till the 2d of April following and not only had their Bed solemnly blest when they were put in it on the night of their Marriage but also were seen publickly in Bed for several days after and went down to live at Ludlow-Castle in Wales where they still Bedded together But Prince Arthur though a strong and healthful youth when he Married her yet died soon after which some thought was hastened by his too early Marriage The Spanish Ambassador had by his Masters order taken proofs of the Consummation of the Marriage and sent them into Spain the young Prince also himself had by many expressions given his Servants cause to believe that his Marriage was consummated the first night which in a youth of Sixteen years of Age that was vigorous and healthful was not at all judged strange It was so constantly believed that when he dyed his younger Brother Henry Duke of York was not called Prince of Wales for some considerable time Some say for one Month some for 6 Months And he was not created Prince of Wales till 10 Months were elapsed viz. in the February following when it was apparent that his Brothers wife was not with Child by him These things were afterwards looked on as a full Demonstration being as much as the thing was capable of that the Princess was not a Virgin after Prince Arthur's Death But the reason of State still standing for keeping up the Alliance against France and King Henry the 7th having no mind to let so great a Revenue as she had in Jointure be carried out of the Kingdom it was proposed That she should be married to the younger Brother Henry now Prince of Wales The two Prelats that were then in greatest esteem with King Henry the 7th were Warham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Fox Bishop of Winchester The former delivered his opinion against it and told the King that he thought it was neither honourable nor well-pleasing to God The Bishop of Winchester perswaded it and for the Objections that were against it and the Murmuring of the people who did not like a Marriage that was disputable lest out of it new Wars should afterwards arise about the Right of the Crown the Popes Dispensation was thought sufficient to answer all and his Authority was then so undisputed that it did it effectually So a Bull was obtained on the 26 of Decemb. 1503 to this effect that the Pope according to the greatness of his Authority having received a Petition from Prince Henry and the Princess Katharine Bearing That whereas the Princess was Lawfully Married to Prince Arthur which was
advantages a man of his temper would draw from it Warham was Lord Chancellour the first seven years of the Kings Reign but retired to give place to this aspiring favourite who had a mind to the great Seal that there might be no interfering between the Legantine and Chancery Courts And perhaps it wrought somewhat on his vanity that even after he was Cardinal Warham as Lord Chancellour took place of him as appears from the Entries made in the Journals of the House of Peers in the Parliament held the 7th year of the Kings Reign and afterwards gave him place as appears on many occasions particularly in the Letter written to the Pope 1530 set down by the Lord Herbert which the Cardinal subscribed before Warham We have nothing on record to shew what a Speaker he was for all the Journals of Parliament from the 7th to the 25th year of this King are lost but it is like he spoke as his Predecessor in that Office Warham did whose speeches as they are entred in the Journals are Sermons begun with a Text of Scripture which he expounded and applyed to the business they were to go upon stuffing them with the most fulsome flattery of the King that was possible The next in favour and Power was the Lord Treasurer restored to his Fathers honour of Duke of Norfolk to whom his Son succeeded in that Office as well as in his hereditary honours and managed his Interest with the King so dexterously that he stood in all the Changes that followed and continued Lord Treasurer during the Reign of this King till near the end of it when he fell through Jealousie rather than guilt this shewed how dexterous a man he was that could stand so long in that imployment under such a King But the chief Favourite in the Kings pleasures was Charles Brandon a Gallant graceful Person one of the strongest men of the Age and so a fit match for the King at his Justs and Tiltings which was the manly diversion of that time and the King taking much pleasure in it being of a robust Body and singularly expert at it he who was so able to second him in these Courses grew mightily in his favour so that he made him first Viscount Lisle and some Months after Duke of Suffolk Nor was he less in the Ladies favours than the Kings for his Sister the Lady Mary liked him and being but so long Married to King Lewis of France as to make her Queen Dowager of France she resolved to choose her second Husband her self and cast her eye on the Duke of Suffolk who was then sent over to the Court of France Her Brother had designed the Marriage between them yet would not openly give his Consent to it but she by a strange kind of Wooing prefixed him the Term of four days to gain her Consent in which she told him if he did not prevail he should for ever lose all his hopes of having her though after such a Declaration he was like to meet with no great difficulty from her So they were Married and the King was easily pacified and received them into favour neither did his favour die with her for it continued all his life but he never medled much in business and by all that appears was a better Courtier than States-Man Little needs be said of any other Person more than will afterwards occur The King loved to raise mean Persons and upon the least distaste to throw them down and falling into disgrace he spared not to sacrifice them to publick discontents His Court was magnificent and his Expence vast he indulged himself in his pleasures and the hopes of Children besides the Lady Mary failing by the Queen he who of all things desired issue most kept one Elizabeth Blunt by whom he had Henry Fitzroy whom in the 17th year of his Reign he created Earl of Nottingham and the same day made him Duke of Richmond and Sommerset and intended afterwards to have put him in the Succession of the Crown after his other Children but his death prevented it As for his Parliaments he took great care to keep a good understanding with them and chiefly with the House of Commons by which means he seldom failed to carry Matters as he pleased among them only in the Parliament held in the 14th and 15th of his Reign the Demand of the Subsidy towards the War with France being so high as 800000 lib. the 5th of mens goods and lands to be paid in Four years and the Cardinal being much hated there was great Opposition made to it for which the Cardinal blamed Sir Thomas More much who was then Speaker of the House of Commons and finding that which was offered was not above the half of what was asked went himself to the House of Commons and desired to hear the reasons of those who opposed his Demands that he might answer them but he was told the Order of their House was to reason only among themselves and so went away much dissatisfied It was with great difficulty that they obtained a Subsidy of 3 s. in the lib. to be paid in four years This disappointment it seems did so offend the Cardinal that as no Parliament had been called for Seven years before so there was none summoned for Seven years after And thus stood the Civil Government of England in the 19th year of the Kings Reign when the Matter of the Divorce was first moved But I shall next open the State of Affairs in Reference to Religious and Spiritual Concerns King Henry was bred with more care than had been usually bestowed on the Education of Princes for many Ages who had been only trained up to those Exercises that prepared them to War and if they could read and write more was not expected of them But learning began now to flourish and as the House of Medici in Florence had great honour by the Protection it gave to learned men so other Princes every-where cherished the Muses King Henry the 7th though illiterate himself yet took care to have his Children instructed in good letters And it generally passes current that he bred his second Son a Scholar having designed him to be Arch-Bishop of Canterbury but that has no foundation for the Writers of that time tell that his Elder Brother Prince Arthur was also bred a Scholar And all the Instruction King Henry had in Learning must have been after his Brother was dead when that Design had vanished with his life For he being born the 18th of Iune 1491. and Prince Arthur dying the Second of April 1502. he was not full eleven years of Age when he became Prince of Wales at which Age Princes have seldom made any great progress in Learning But King Henry the 7th judging either that it would make his Sons Greater Princes and fitter for the Management of their Affairs or being jealous of their looking too early into business or their pretending to the Crown
perhaps consummated by the Carnalis Copula who was dead without any issue but they being desirous to Marry for preserving the Peace between the Crowns of England and Spain did Petition his Holiness for his Dispensation therefore the Pope out of his care to maintain peace among all Catholick Kings did absolve them from all Censures under which they might be and Dispensed with the Impediment of their Affinity notwithstanding any Apostolical Constitutions or Ordinances to the contrary and gave them leave to Marry or if they were already Married he Confirming it required their Confessor to enjoyn them some healthful penance for their having Married before the Dispensation was obtained It was not much to be wondred at that the Pope did readily grant this for though very many both Cardinals and Divines did then oppose it yet the Interest of the Papacy which was preferred to all other Considerations required it For as that Pope being a great Enemy to Lewis the 12th the French King would have done any thing to make an Alliance against him firmer so he was a War-like Pope who considered Religion very little and therefore might be easily perswaded to Confirm a thing that must needs oblige the succeeding Kings of England to maintain the Papal Authority since from it they derived their Title to the Crown little thinking that by a secret Direction of an over-ruling Providence that Deed of his would occasion the extirpation of the Papal Power in England So strangely doth God make the Devices of Men become of no effect and turn them to a contrary end to that which is intended Upon this Bull they were Married the Prince of Wales being yet under Age. But Warham had so possessed the King with an aversion to this Marriage that on the same day that the Prince was of Age he by his Fathers command laid on him in the presence of many of the Nobility and others made a Protestation in the hands of Fox Bishop of Winchester before a publick Notary and read it himself by which he Declared That whereas he being under Age was Married to the Princess Katharine yet now coming to be of Age he did not confirm that Marriage but retracted and Annulled it and would not proceed in it but intended in full form of Law to void it and break it off which he declared he did freely and of his own accord Thus it stood during his Fathers life who continued to the last to be against it and when he was just dying he charged his Son to break it off though it is possible that no consideration of Religion might work so much on him as the apprehension he had of the troubles that might follow on a controverted Title to the Crown of which the Wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster had given a fresh and sad Demonstration The King being dead one of the first things that came under Consultation was that the young King must either break his Marriage totally or conclude it Arguments were brought on both hands but those for it prevailed most with the King So six weeks after he came to the Crown he was Married again publickly and soon after they were both Crowned On the first day of the year she made him a very acceptable new-years gift of a Son but he dyed in the Februâ—ry thereafter She miscarried often and an other Son dyed soon after he was born only the Lady Mary lived to a perfect Age. In this state was the Kings Family when the Queen leâ—t bearing more Children and contracted some diseases that made her person unacceptable to him but was as to her other Qualities a vertuous and grave Princess much esteemed and beloved both of the King and the whole Nation The King being out of hopes of more Children declared his Daughter Princess of Wales and sent her to Ludlow to hold her Court there and projected divers Matches for her The first was with the Dolphin which was agreed to between the King of France and him the 9th of Novemb. 1518. as appears by the Treaty yet extant But this was broken afterwards upon the Kings Confederating with the Emperor against France and a new Match agreed and sworn to between the Emperor and the King at Windsor the 22 of Iune 1522. the Emperor being present in person This being afterwards neglected and broken by the Emperor by the advice of his Cortes and States as was formerly related there followed some Overtures of a Marriage with Scotland But those also vanished and there was a second Treaty begun with France the King offering his Daughter to Francis himself which he gladly accepting a Match was Treated and on the last of April it was agreed that the Lady Mary should be given in Marriage either to Francis himself or to his second Son the Duke of Orleance and that Alternative was to be determined by the two Kings at an Enterview that was to be between them soon after at Calais with forfeitures on both sides if the Match went not on But while this was in agitation the Bishop of Tarbe the French Ambassador made a a great demur about the Princess Mary's being illegitimate as begotten in a Marriage that was contracted against a Divine precept with which no humane Authority could Dispense How far this was secretly concerted between the French Court and ours or between the Cardinal and the Ambassador is not known It is surmised that the King or the Cardinal set on the French to make this exception publickly that so the King might have a better Colour to justifie his suit of Divorce since other Princes were already questioning it For if upon a Marriage proposed of such infinite advantage to France as that would be with the Heir of the Crown of England they neverâ—heless made Exceptions and proceeded but coldly in it it was very reasonable to expect that after the Kings Death other Pretenders would have disputed her Title in another manner To some it seemed strange that the King did offer his Daughter to such great Princes as the Emperor and the King of France to whom if England had fallen in her Right it must have been a Province for though in the last Treaty with France she was offered either to the King or his second Son by which either the Children which the King might have by her or the Children of the Duke of Orleance should have been Heirs to the Crown of England and thereby it would still have continued divided from France yet this was full of hazard for if the Duke of Orleance by his Brothers Death should become King of France as it afterwards fell out or if the King of France had been once possessed of England then according to the maxime of the French Government that whatever their King acquires he holds it in the Right of his Crown England was still to be a Province to France unless they freed themselves by Arms. Others judged that the
the Army was ill advised so his giving a Commissâ—on to Oliver Sinclar â—hat was his Minion to command in Chief did extreamly disgust the Nobility They loved not to be commanded by any but their King and were already weary of the insolence of that Favourite who being but of ordinary birth was despised by them so that they were beginning to separate And when they were upon that occasion in great disorder a small body of English not above 500 Horse appeared But they apprehending it was the Duke of Norfolks Army refused to fight and fell in confusion Many Prisoners were taken the chief of whom were the Earls of Glencairn and Cassillis the Lords Maxwell Sommervell Oliphant Gray and Oliver Sinclar and about 200 Gentlemen and 800 souldiers and all the Ordnance and Baggage was also taken The news of this being brought to the King of Scotland encreased his former disorders and some few days after he dyed leaving an infant Daughter but newly born to succeed him The Lords that were taken Prisoners were brought to London where after they had been charged in Council how unkindly they had used the King they were put in the keeping of some of the greatest quality about Court But the Earl of Cassillis had the best luck of them all For being sent to Lambâ—th where he was a Prisoner upon his parole Cranmer studied to free him from the darkness and fetters of Popery in which he was so successful that the other was afterwards a great Promoter of the Reformation in Scotland The Scots had been hitherto possessed with most extraordinary prejudices against the Changes that had been made in England which concurring with the ancient Animosities between the two Nations had raised a wonderful ill opinion of the Kings proceedings And though the Bishop of St. Davids Barlow had been sent into Scotland with the Book of the Institution of a Christian Man to clear these ill impressions yet his endeavours were unsuccessful The Pope at the instance of the French King and to make that Kingdom sure made David Beaton Arch-Bishop of St. Andrews a Cardinal which gave him great Authority in the Kingdom so he with the rest of the Clergy diverted the King from any correspondence with England and assured him of Victory if he would make War on such an Heretical Prince The Clergy also offered the King 50000 Crowns a-year towards a War with England and possessed all the Nation with very ill thoughts of the Court and Clergy there But the Lords that were now Prisoners chiefly the Earl of Cassillis who was best instructed by his Religious Host conceived a better opinion of the Reformation and carried home with them those seeds of knowledg which produced afterwards a very fruitful Harvest On all these things I have dwelt the longer that it might appear whence the inclination of the Scotish Nobility to Reform did take its first rise though there was afterwards in the Methods by which it was advanced too great a mixture of the heat and forwardness that is natural to the Genius of that Countrey When the news of the King of Scotlands death and of the young Queens birth that succeeded him came to the Court the King thought this a very favourable conjuncture to unite and settle the whole Island But that unfortunate Princess was not born under such happy Stars though she was Mother to him in whom this long-desired Union took effect The Lords that were then Prisoners began the motion and that being told the King he called for them to Hampton-Court in the Christmas-time and said now an opportunity was put in their hands to quiet all troubles that had been between these two Crowns by the Marriage of the Prince of Wales to their young Queen In which he desired their assistance and gave them their Liberty they leaving hostages for the performance of what was then offered by them They all promised their Concurrence and seemed much taken with the greatness of the English Court which the King always kept up not without affectation they also said they thought God was better served there than in their own Countrey So on New-years-day they took their journey towards Scotland but the sequel of this will appear afterwards A Parliament was summoned to meet the two and twentieth of Ianuary which sate to the 12th of May. So the Session begun in the 34th and ended in the 35th year of the Kings Reign from whence it is called in the Records the Parliament of the 34th and 35th year Here both the Temporality and Spirituality gave great Subsidies to the King of six shillings in the Pound to be paid in three years They set forth in their Preambles The expence the King had been at in his War with Scotland and for his other great and urgent occasions by which was meant a War with France which broke out the following Summer But with these there passed other two Acts of great importance to Religion The Title of the first was An Act for the advancement of True Religion and abolishment of the contrary The King was now entring upon a War so it seemed reasonable to qualifie the severity of the late Acts about Religion that all might be quiet at home Cranmer moved it first and was faintly seconded by the Bishops of Worcester Hereford Chichester and Rochester who had promised to stick to him in it At this time a League was almost finished between the King and the Emperour which did again raise the Spirits of the Popish Faction They had been much cast down ever since the last Queens fall But now that the Emperor was like to have an Interest in English Councils they took heart again and Gardiner opposed the Arch-Bishops motion with all possible earnestness And that whole Faction fell so upon it that the timorous Bishops not only forsook Cranmer but Heath of Rochester and Skip of Hereford were very earnest with him to stay for a better opportunity But he generously preferred his Conscience to those arts of Policy which he would never practise and said he would push it as far as it would go So he plied the King and the other Lords so earnestly that at length the Bill passed though clogg'd with many Provisoes and very much short of what he had designed The Preamble set forth that there being many dissensions about Religion the Scriptures which the King had put into the hands of his People were abused by many seditious persons in their Sermons Books Playes Rithmes and Songs from which great Inconveniences were like to arise For preventing these it was necessary to establish a Form of sincere Doctrine conformable to that which was taught by the Apostles Therefore all the Books of the Old and New Testament of Tindals Translation which is called Crafty False and Vntrue are forbidden to be kept oâ— used in the Kings Dominions with all other Books contrary to the Doctrine set forth in the year 1540. with
Father were committed to the Tower That which was most insisted on was their giving the Arms of Edward the Confessor which were only to be given by the Kings of England This the Earl of Surrey justified and said they gave their Arms according to the opinion of the Kings Heraulds But all excuses availed nothing for his Father and he were designed to be destroyed upon reasons of State for which some colours were to be found out The Earl of Surrey being but a Commoner was brought to his Tryal at Guildhall and put upon an Inquest of Commoners consisting of nine Knights and three Esquires by whom he was found guilty of Treason and had Sentence of death passed upon him which was executed on the 19th of Ianuary at Tower-Hill It was generally condemned as an Act of high injustice and severity which loaded the Seimours with a popular Odium that they could never overcome He was much pitied being a man of great parts and high courage with many other Noble Qualities But the King who never hated nor ruined any body by halves resolved to compleat the misfortunes of that Family by the Attaindor of the Father And as all his Eminent Services were now forgotten so the Submissions he made could not allay a displeasure that was only to be satisfied with his Life and Fortune He wrote to the King Protesting his Innocency That he had never a thought to his prejudice and could not imagine what could be laid to his Charge He had spent his whole Life in his Service and did not know that ever he had offended any person or that any were displeased with him except for prosecuting the breakers of the Act about the Sacrament of the Altar But in that and in every thing else as he had been always obedient to the Kings Laws so he was resolved still to obey any Laws he should make He desired he might be examined with his Accusers face to face before the King or at least before his Council and if it did not appear that he was wrongfully accused let him be punished as he deserved In Conclusion he begged the King would have pity on him and restore him to his favour taking all his Lands or Goods from him or as much of them as he pleased Yet all this had no effect on the King So he was desired to make a more formal Submission which he did on the 12th of Ianuary under his hand ten Privy Councellors being Witnesses In it he confessed First his discovering the Secrets of the Kings Council Secondly his concealing his Sons Treason in using to give the Arms of St. Edward the Confessor which did only belong to the King and to which his Son had no Right Thirdly That he had ever since his Fathers death born in the first quarter of his Arms the Arms of England with a difference of the Labells of Silver that are the proper Arms of the Prince which was done in prejudice of the King and the Prince and gave occasion for disturbing or interrupting the Succession to the Crown of the Realm This he acknowledged was high Treason he confessed he deserved to be attainted of high Treason and humbly begged the Kings Mercy and Compassion He yielded to all this hoping by such a Submission and Compliance to have overcome the Kings displeasure but his Expectations failed him A Parliament was called the reason whereof was pretended to be the Coronation of the Prince of Wales But it was thought the true cause of calling it was to Attaint the Duke of Norfolk for which they had not colour enough to do it in a Tryal by his Peers Therefore an Attaindor by Act of Parliament was thought the better way So it was moved that the King intending to Crown his Son Prince of Wales desired they would go on with all possible haste in the Attaindor of the Duke of Norfolk that so these Places which he held by Patent might be disposed of by the King to such as he thought fit who should Assist at the Coronation And upon this slight pretence since a better could not be found The Bill of Attaindor was read the first time on the 18th of Ianuary And on the 19th and 20th it was read the second and third time And so passed in the House of Lords and was sent down to the Commons Who on the 24th sent it up also passed On the 27th the Lords were ordered to be in their Robes That the Royal assent might be given to it which the Lord Chancellor with some others joyned in Commission did give by vertue of the Kings Letters Patents And it had been executed the next Morning if the Kings death had not prevented it Upon what grounds this Attaindor was founded I can only give this Account from the 34th Act of the first Parliament of Queen Mary in which this Act is declared null and void by the Common Law of the Land for I cannot find the Act it self upon Record In the Act of Repeal it is said That there was no special matter in the Act of Attaindor but only general words of Treasons and Conspiracies and that out of their care of the preservation of the King and the Prince they passed it But the Act of Repeal says also That the only thing with which he was charged was For bearing of Arms which he and his Ancestors had born both within and without the Kingdom both in the Kings presence and in the sight of his Progenitors which they might Lawfully bear and give as by good and substantial matter of Record it did appear It is also added That the King dyed after the date of the Commission That the King only empowered them to give his Assent but did not give it himself And that it did not appear by any Record that they gave it That the King did not Sign the Commission with his own hand his Stamp being only set to it and that not to the upper but the nether part of it contrary to the Kings custom All these particulars though cleared afterwards I mention now because they give light to this matter As soon as the Act was passed a Warrant was sent to the Lieutenant of the Tower to cut off his head the next Morning but the King dying in the night the Lieutenant could do nothing on that Warrant And it seems it was not thought advisable to begin the new Kings Reign with such an Odious Execution And thus the Duke of Norfolk escaped very narrowly Both Parties descanted on this differently The Conscientious Papists said it was Gods just Judgment on him who had in all things followed the Kings pleasure oftentimes against his own Conscience That he should smart under that Power which himself had helped so considerably to make it be raised so high The Protestants could not but observe an hand of God in measuring out such a hard measure to him that was so heavy on all those poor people that were
Conjuncture of affairs knowing that few would come to it and so they might carry things as they pleased But the World was now awake the Scriptures were again in mens hands and people would not be so tamely couzen'd as they had been Then he shewes how unsafe it was for any English man to go to Mantua how little regard was to be had to the Popes safe Conduct they having so oft broken their Oaths and Promises He also shew's how little reason he had to trust himself to the Pope how kind he had been to that See formerly and how basely they had requited it And that now these Three years past they had been stirring up all Christian Princes against him and using all possible means to create him trouble Therefore he declared he would not go to any Council called by the Bishop of Rome but when there was a General peace among Christian Princes he would most gladly hearken to the motion of a true General Council and in the mean-while he would preserve all the Articles of the Faith in his Kingdom and sooner lose his Life and his Crown than suffer any of them to be put down And so he protested against any Council to be held at Mantua or any where else by the Bishop of Romes Authority That he would not acknowledg it nor receive any of their Decrees At this time Reginald Pool who was of the Royal Blood being by his Mother descended from the Duke of Clarence Brother to King Edward the Fourth and in the same degree of kindred with the King by his Fathers side was in great esteem for his Learning and other Excellent vertues It seems the King had determined to breed him up to the greatest dignity in the Church and to make him as Eminent in Learning and other acquired parts as he was for Quality and a Natural Sweetness and Nobleness of temper Therefore the King had given him the Deanery of Excester with several other dignities towards his maintenance beyond Sea and sent him to Paris where he stayed several years There he first incurred the Kings displeasure For being desired by him to concur with his Agents in procuring the Subscriptions and Seals of the French Universities he excused himself yet it was in such terms that he did not openly declare himself against the King After that he came over to England and as he writes himself was present when the Clergy made their Submission and acknowledged the King Supream Head In which since he was then Dean of Exeter and kept his Deanry several years after that it is not to be doubted but that as he was by his place obliged to sit in the Convocation so he concurred with the rest in making that Submission From thence he went to Padua where he lived long and was received into the Friendship and Society of some celebrated persons who gave themselves much to the Study of Eloquence and of the Roman Authors These were Centareno Bembo Caraffa Sadoletti with a great many more that became afterwards well known over the World But all those gave Pool the Preheminence and that justly too for he was accounted one of the most Eloquent men of his time The King called him oft home to assist him in his affairs but he still declined it at length finding delays could prevail no longer he wrote the King word that he did not approve of what he had done neither in the matter of his Divorce nor his separation from the Apostolick See To this the King answered desiring his reasons why he disagreed from him and sent him over a Book which Doctor Sampson had writ in defence of the Proceedings in England Upon which he wrote his Book De unione Ecclesiastica and sent it over to the King and soon after Printed it this year In which Book he condemned the Kings Actions and pressed him to return to the obedience he owed the See of Rome with many sharp reflections but the Book was more considered for the Author and the Wit and Eloquence of it than for any great Learning or deep reasoning in it He did also very much depress the Royal and exalt the Papal Authority He compared the King to Nebuchadonosor and addressed himself in the Conclusion to the Emperor whom he conjured to turn his Arms rather against the King than the Turk And indeed the indecencies of his expressions against the King not to mention the scurrilous Language he bestows on Sampson whose Book he undertakes to answer are such that it appears how much the Italian Air had changed him and that his Converse at Padua had for some time defac'd that generous temper of mind which was otherwise so natural to him Upon this the King desired him at first to come over and explain some passages in his Book But when he could not thus draw him into his toyles he proceeded severely against him and devested him of all his Dignities but these were plentifully made up to him by the Popes bounty and the Emperors He was afterwards rewarded with a Cardinals hat but he did not rise above the degree of a Deacon Some believe that the Spring of this opposition he made to the King was a secret affection he had for the Lady Mary The publishing of this Book made the King set the Bishops on work to write Vindications of his Actions which Stokesley and Tonstal did in a long and Learned Letter that they wrote to Pool And Gardiner published his Book of true obedience To which Bonner who was hot on the scent of Preferment added a Preface But the King designed sharper tools for Pool's punishment Yet an Attaindor in absence was all he câ—uld do against himself But his Family and kindred felt the weight of the Kings displeasure very sensibly But now I must give an account of the dissolution of the Monasteries pursuant to the Act of Parliament though I cannot fix the exact time in which it was done I have seen the Original Instructions with the Commission given to those who were to visit the Monasteries in and about Bristol All the rest were of the same kind They bear date the 28th of April after the Session of Parliament was over and the report was to be made in the Octaves of St. Michael the Arch-Angel But I am inclined to think that the great concussion and disorder things were in by the Queens death made the Commissioners unwilling to proceed in so invidious a matter till they saw the Issue of the new-Parliament Therefore I have delayed giving any account of the Proceedings in that matter till this place The Instructions will be found in the Collection The Substance of them was as follows The Auditors of the Court of Augmentations were the persons that were employed Four or any Three of them were Commissioned to execute the Instructions in every particular Visitation One Auditor or Receiver and one of the Clerks of the former Visitation were to call for Three discreet persons in