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
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
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
their Provinces the Stile of which will be found in the Collection It differs in nothing from what is now in use but that the King did not prefix the day requiring them only to be Summoned to meet with all convenient speed and the Arch-Bishops having the King's pleasure signified to them did in their Writs prefix the day Other Convocations were called by the Arch-Bishops in their several Provinces upon great Emergencies to meet and treat of things relating to the Church and were Provincial Councils Of this I find but one and that called by Warham in the first year of this King for restoring the Ecclesiastical Immunities that had been very much impaired as will appear by the Writ of Summons But the Cardinal did now as Legate issue out Writs for Convocations In the year 1522. I find by the Register there was a Writ issued from the King to Warham to call one who upon that Summoned it to meet at St. Pauls the 20 th of April But the Cardinal prevailed so far with the King that on the 2 d. of May after he by his Legantine Authority dissolved that Convocation and issued out a Writ to Tonstall Bishop of London to bring the Clergy of Canterbury to St. Peter's in Westminster there to meet and reform Abuses in the Church and consider of other important Matters that should be proposed to them What they did towards Reformation I know not the Records being lost But as to the Kings Supply it was proposed That they should give the King the half of the full value of their Livings for one year to be paid in Five years The Cardinal laid out to them how much the King had merited from the Church both by suppressing the Schism that was like to have been in the Papacy in Pope Iulius his time and by Protecting the See of Rome from the French Tyrannie but most of all for that excellent Book written by him in Defence of the Faith against the Hereticks and that therefore since the French King was making War upon him and had sent over the Duke of Albany to Scotland to make War also on that side it was fit that on so great an occasion it should appear that his Clergy were sensible of their Happiness in having such a King which they ought to express in granting somewhat that was as much beyond all former Presidents as the King had merited more from them than all former Kings had ever done But the Bishops of Winchester and Rochester opposed this For they both hated the Cardinal The one thought him ungrateful to him who had raised him The other being a man of a strict Life hated him for his Vices Both these spake against it as an unheard-of Tax which would so oppress the Clergy that it would not be possible for them to live and pay it and that this would become a Precedent for after-times which would make the condition of the Clergy most miserable But the Cardinal who intended that the Convocation by a great Subsidy should lead the way to the Parliament took much pains for carrying it thorough and got some to be absent and others were prevailed on to consent to it And for the fear of its being made a Precedent a Clause was put in the Act That it should be no Precedent for after-times Others laughed at this and said It would be a Precedent for all that if it once passed But in the end it was granted with a most glorious Preamble and by it all the Natives of England that had any Ecclesiastical Benefice were to pay the full half of the true value of their Livings in Five years and all Forreigners who were Beneficed in England were to pay a whole years Rent in the same time out of which number were excepted the Bishops of Worcester and Landaffe Polidore Virgil Peter the Carmelite Erasmus of Roterdam Silvester Darius and Peter Vannes who were to pay only as Natives did This encreased the hatred that the Clergy bore the Cardinal But he despised them and in particular was a great Enemy to the Monks and looked on them as idle mouths that did neither the Church nor State any Service but were through their scandalous Lives a reproach to the Church and a burden to the State Therefore he resolved to suppress a great number of them and to change them to another Institution From the days of King Edgar the State of Monkery had been still growing in England For most of the Secular Clergy being then Married and refusing to put away their Wives were by Dunstan Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and Ethelwald Bishop of Winchester and Oswald Bishop of Worcester who were all Monks turned out of their Livings There is in the Rolls an Inspeximus of King Edgars Erecting the Priory and Convent of Worcester which bears date Anno 964. Edgari 6 to on St. innocents-Innocents-day Signed by the King the Queen Two Arch-Bishops Five Bishops Six Abbots but neither Bishoprick nor Abbey are named Six Dukes and Five Knights but there is no Seal to it It bears that the King with the Council and Consent of his Princes and Gentry did Confirm and Establish that Priory and that he had Erected 47 Monasteries which he intended to encrease to 50. the number of Jubilee and that the former Incumbents should be for ever excluded from all pretensions to their Benefices because they had rather chosen with the danger of their Order and the prejudice of the Ecclesiastical Benefice to adhere to their Wives than to serve God Chastly and Canonically The Monks being thus setled in most Cathedrals of England gave themselves up to Idleness and Pleasure which had been long complained of but now that Learning began to be restored they being every-where possessed of the best Church-Benefices were looked upon by all Learned-men with an evil eye as having in their hands the chief encouragements of Learning and yet doing nothing towards it they on the contrary decrying and disparaging it all they could saying It would bring in Heresie and a great deal of mischief And the Restorers of Learning such as Erasmus Vives and others did not spare them but did expose their Ignorance and ill Manners to the world Now the King naturally loved Learning and therefore the Cardinal either to do a thing which he knew would be acceptable to the King or that it was also agreeable to his own Inclinations resolved to set up some Colledges in which there should be both great Encouragements for eminent Scholars to prosecute their Studies and good Schools for teaching and training up of Youth This he knew would be a great honour to him to be lookt upon as a Patron of Learning and therefore he set his heart much on it to have Two Colledges the one at Oxford the other at Ipswich the place of his Birth well constituted and nobly Endowed But towards this it was necessary to suppress some Monasteries which was thought every-whit as justifiable
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
that Greatness But while the War went on the Emperor did cajole the King with the highest Complements possible which always wrought much on him and came in person into England to be installed Knight of the Garter where a new League was Concluded by which beside mutual assistance a Match was agreed on between the Emperor and the Lady Mary the Kings only Child by his Queen of whom he had no hopes of more Issue This was sworn to on both hands and the Emperor was obliged when She was of Age to marry Her Per verba de praesenti under pain of Excommunication and the forfeiture of 100000 Pounds The War went on with great success on the Emperors part especially after the Battel of Pavia in which Francis his Army was totally defeated and himself taken Prisoner and carried into Spain After which the Emperor being much offended with the Pope for joyning with Francis turned his Arms against him which were so successful that he besieged and took Rome and kept the Pope prisoner Six Months The Cardinal finding the publick Interests concur so happily with his private Distastes engaged the King to take part with France and afterwards with the Pope against the Emperor his Greatness now becoming the Terror of Christendome for the Emperor lifted up with his success began to think of no less than an Universal Empire And first that he might unite all Spain together he preferred a Match with Portugal to that which he had before Contracted in England and he thought it not enough to break off his sworn Alliance with the King but he did it with an heavy Imputation on the Lady Mary for in his Council it was said that she was illegitimate as being born in an unlawful Marriage so that no Advantage could be expected from her Title to the Succession as will appear more particularly in the Second Book And the Pope having dispensed with the Oath he Married the Infanta of Portugal Besides though the King of England had gone deep in the Charge he would give him no share in the Advantages of the War much less give him that Assistance which he had promised him to recover his Ancient Inheritance in France The King being irritated with this manifold ill usage and led on by his own Interests and by the offended Cardinal joyned himself to the Interests of France Upon which there followed not only a firm Alliance but a personal Friendship which appeared in all the most obliging expressions that could be devised And upon the Kings threatning to make War on the Emperor the French King was set at liberty though on very hard terms if any thing can be hard that sets a King out of Prison but he still acknowledged he owed his Liberty to King Henry Then followed the famous Clementine League between the Pope and Francis the Venetians the Florentines and Francis Sforza Duke of Milan by which the Pope absolved the French King from the Oath he had sworn at Madrid and they all united against the Emperor and declared the King of England Protector of the League This gave the Emperor great distaste who complained of the Pope as an ungrateful and perfidious person The first beginning of the storm fell heavy on the Pope for the French King who had a great mind to have his Children again into his own hands that lay Hostages in Spain went on but slowly in performing his part And the King of England would not openly break with the Emperor but seemed to reserve himself to be Arbiter between the Princes So that the Colonna's being of the Imperial Faction with 3000 men entered Rome and sack't a part of it forcing the Pope to fly into the Castle of St. Angelo and to make peace with the Emperor But as soon as that fear was over the Pope returning to his old arts complained of the Cardinal of Colonna and resolved to deprive him of that Dignity and with an Army entred the Kingdom of Naples taking divers places that belonged to that Family But the Confederates coming slowly to his Assistance and he hearing of great forces that were coming from Spain against him submitted himself to the Emperor and made a Cessation of Arms but being again encouraged with some hopes from his Allies and by a Creation of 14 Cardinals for Money having raised 300000 Duckats he disowned the Treaty and gave the Kingdom of Naples to Count Vaudemont whom he sent with forces to subdue it But the Duke of Bourbon prevented him and went to Rome and giving the Assault in which himself received his mortal wound the City was taken by Storm and plundered for several days about 5000 being killed The Pope with 17 Cardinals fled to the Castle St. Angelo but was forced to render his person and to pay 400000 Duckats to the Army This gave great offence to all the Princes of Christendome except the Lutherans of Germany but none resented it more loudly than this King who sent over Cardinal Wolsey to make up a new Treaty with Francis which was chiefly intended for setting the Pope at Liberty Nor did the Emperor know well how to justifie an Action which seemed so inconsistent with his Devotion to the See of Rome yet the Pope was for some months detained a Prisoner till at length the Emperor having brought him to his own terms ordered him to be setat liberty but he being weary of his Guards escaped in a disguise and owned his Liberty to have flowed chiefly from the Kings endeavours to procure it And thus stood the King as to forreign affairs he had infinitely obliged both the Pope and the French King and was firmly united to them and engaged in a War against the Emperor when he began first to move about his Divorce As for Scotland the near Alliance between him and Iames the Fourth King of Scotland did not take away the standing Animosities between the two Nations nor interrupt the Alliance between France and Scotland And therefore when he made the first War upon France in the Fourth year of his Reign the King of Scotland came with a great Army into the North of England but was totally defeated by the Earl of Surrey in Floudon field The King himself was either killed in the Battel or soon after so that the Kingdom falling under Factions during the Minority of the new King the Government was but feeble and scarce able to secure its own quiet And the Duke of Albany the chief Instrument of the French Faction met with such opposition from the Parties that were raised against him by King Henry's means that he could give him no disturbance And when there came to be a lasting peace between England and France then as the King needed fear no trouble from that Warlike Nation so he got a great Interest in the Government there And at this time Money becoming a more effectual Engine than any the War had ever produced and
the more The matter was such that by the Canon-Law it could not be denied For to grant an Avocation of a Cause upon good reason from the Delegated to the Supreme Court was a thing which by the course of Law was very usual And it was no less apparent that the Reasons of the Queens appeal were just and good But the secret and most convincing Motives that wrought more on the Pope than all other things were that the Treaty between him and the Emperor was now concerted Therefore this being to be published very speedily the Pope thought it necessary to avocate the matter to Rome before the publication of the Peace lest if he did it after it should be thought that it had been one of the secret Articles of the Treaty which would have cast a foul blot upon him Yet on the other hand he was not a little perplexed with the fears he had of losing the King of England he knew he was a man of an high Spirit and would resent what he did severely And the Cardinal now again ordered Dr. Bennet in his name and as with tears in his eyes lying at the Popes feet to assure him that the King and Kingdom of England were certainly lost if the Cause were Avocated Therefore he besought him to leave it still in their hands and assured him that for himself he should rather be torn in pieces joynt by joynt than do any thing in that matter contrary to his Conscience or to Justice These things had been oft said and the Pope did apprehend that ill effects would follow for if the King fell from his Obedience to the Apostolick See no doubt all the Lutheran Princes who were already bandying against the Emperor would joyn themselves with him and the Interests of France would most certainly engage that King also into the Union which would distract the Church give encouragement to Heresie and end in the utter ruin of the Popedom But in all this the crafty Pope comforted himself that many times threatnings are not intended to be made good but are used to terrifie and that the King who had written for the Faith against Luther and had been so ill used by him would never do a thing that would sound so ill as because he could not obtain what he had a mind to therefore to turn Heretick he also resolved to caress the French King much and was in hopes of making Peace between the Emperor and him But that which went nearest the Popes heart of all other things was the setting up of his Family at Florence and the Emperor having given him assurance of that it weighed down all other considerations Therefore he resolved he would please the Emperor but do all he could not to lose the King So on the 9th of Iuly he sent for the Kings Ambassadors and told them the Process was now so far set on in England and the Avocation so earnestly pressed that he could deny it no longer for all the Lawyers in Rome had told him the thing could not be denied in the common course of Justice Upon this the Ambassadors told him what they had in Commission to say against it both from the King and the Cardinal and pressed it with great vehemence So that the Pope by many sighs and tears showed how deep an impression that which they said made upon him he wished himself dead that he might be delivered out of that Martyrdom and added these words which because of their savouring so much of an Apostolical Spirit I set down Wo is me no body apprehends all those evils better than I do But I am so between the Hammer and the Forge that when I would comply with the Kings desires the whole storm then must fall on my head and which is worse on the Church of Christ. They did object the many promises he had made them both by word of mouth and under his hand He answered He desired to do more for the King than he had promised but it was impossible to refuse what the Emperor now demanded whose Forces did so surround him that he could not only force him to grant him Iustice but could dispose of him and all his Concerns at his pleasure The Ambassadors seeing the Pope was resolved to grant the Avocation pressed against it no further but studied to put it off for some time And therefore proposed that the Pope would himself write about it to the King and not grant it till he received his answer Of all this they gave Advertisement to the King and wrote to him that he must either drive the matter to a Sentence in great haste or to prevent the affront of an Advocation suspend the Process for some time They also advised the searching all the Packets that went or came by the way of Flanders and to keep up all Campegio's Letters and to take care that no Bull might come to England for they did much apprehend that the Avocation would be granted within very few days Their next Dispatch bore that the Pope had sent for them to let them know that he had Signed the Avocation the day before But they understood another way that the Treaty between the Emperor and him was finished and the Peace was to be proclaimed on the 18th of Iuly and that the Pope did not only fear the Emperor more than all other Princes but that he also trusted him more now On the 19th of Iuly the Pope sent a Messenger with the Avocation to England with a Letter to the Cardinal To the King he wrote afterwards All this while Campegio as he had Orders from the Pope to draw out the matter by delays so did it very dextrously And in this he pretended a fair excuse that it would not be for the Kings honour to precipitate the matter too much lest great advantages might be taken from that by the Queens Party That therefore it was fit to proceed slowly that the world might see with what Moderation as well as Justice the matter was handled From the 25th of Iune the Court Adjourned to the 28th ordering a second Citation for the Queen under the pains of Contumacy and of their proceeding to examine Witnesses And on the 28th they declared the Queen Contumacious the second time and examined several Witnesses upon the Articles and Adjourned to the 5th of Iuly on that day the Bull and Breve were read in Court and the Kings Council argued long against the validity of the one and the truth of the other Upon the grounds that have been already mentioned in which Campegio was much disgusted to hear them argue against the Popes Power of granting such a Dispensation in a matter that was against a Divine Precept alledging that his Power did not exend so far This the Legates over-ruled and said that that was too high a point for them to judg in or so much as to hear argued and that the Pope himself was the only
sometimes made by the Emperors and sometimes confirmed by them Pope Hadrian in a Synod decreed that the Emperor should choose the Pope And it was a late and unheard of thing before the dayes of Gregory the 7th for Popes to pretend to depose Princes and give away their Dominions This they compared to the pride of Anti-Christ and Lucifer They also argued from Reason that there must be but one Supream and that the King being Supream over all his Subjects Clergy-men must be included for they are still Subjects Nor can their being in Orders change that former relation founded upon the Law of Nature and Nations no more than Wives or Servants by becoming Christians were not according to the Doctrine of the Apostles discharged from the Duties of their former Relations For the great Objection from those Offices that are peculiar to their Functions It was answered that these notwithstanding the King might well be Supream Head for in the Natural body there were many vital motions that proceeded not from the Head but from the Heart and the other inward parts and vessels and yet the Head was still the chief seat and root of Life So though there be peculiar functions appropriated to Church-men yet the King is still Head having Authority over them and a Power to direct and coerce them in these From that they proceeded to show that in England the Kings have allwayes assumed a Supremacy in Ecclesiastical matters They began with the most Ancient Writing that relates to the Christian Religion in England then extant Pope Elentherius Letter to King Lucius in which he is twice called by him Gods Vicar in his Kingdom and he writ in it that it belong'd to his Office to bring his Subjects to the Holy Church and to maintain protect and govern them in it Many Laws were cited which Canutus Ethelred Edgar Edmond Athelstan and Ina had Enacted concerning Church-men many more Laws since the Conquest were also made both against appeals to Rome and Bishops going out of the Kingdom without the Kings leave The whole business of the Articles of Clarendon and the Contests that followed between King Henry the 2d and Thomas Becket were also opened And though a Bishops Pastoral care be of Divine Institution yet as the Kings of England had divided Bishopricks as they pleased so they also converted Benefices from the Institution of the Founders and gave them to Cloisters and Monasteries as King Edgar did all which was done by the Consent of their Clergy and Nobility without dependance on Rome They had also granted these Houses Exemption from Episcopal Jurisdiction so Ina exempted Glastenbury and Offa St. Albans from their Bishops visitation and this continued even till the dayes of William the Conqueror for he to perpetuate the Memory of the Victory he obtained over Harald and to endear himself to the Clergy founded an Abbey in the Field where the Battel was fought and called it Battel-Abbey and in the Charter he granted them these words are to be found It shall be also free and quiet for ever from all subjection to Bishops or the Dominion of any other persons as Christs Church in Canterbury is Many other things were brought out of King Alfreds Laws and a speech of King Edgars with several Letters written to the Popes from the Kings the Parliaments and the Clergy of England to show that their Kings did always make Laws about Sacred matters and that their Power reach't to that and to the persons of Church-men as well as to their other Subjects But at the same time that they pleaded so much for the Kings Supremacy and Power of making Laws for restraining and Coercing his Subjects it appeared that they were far from vesting him with such an absolute Power as the Popes had pretended to for they thus defined the extent of the Kings Power To them specially and principally it pertaineth to defend the Faith of Christ and his Religion to conserve and maintain the true Doctrine of Christ and all such as be true Preachers and setters forth thereof and to abolish Abuses Heresies and Idolatries and to punish with corporal pains such as of malice be the occasion of the same And finally to oversee and cause that the said Bishops and Priests do execute their pastoral office truly and faithfully and specially in these points which by Christ and his Apostles was given and Committed to them and in case they shall be negligent in any part thereof or would not diligently execute the same to cause them to redouble and supply their lack and if they obstinately withstand their Princes kind monition and will not amend their faults then and in such case to put others in their rooms and places And God hath also commanded the said Bishops and Priests to obey with all humbleness and Reverence both Kings and Princes and Governors and all their Laws not being contrary to the Laws of God whatsoever they be and that not only propter Iram but also propter Conscientiam that is to say not only for fear of punishment but also for Discharge of Conscience Thus it appears that they both limited obedience to the Kings Laws with the due Caution of their not being contrary to the Law of God and acknowledged the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in the discharge of the Pastoral Office committed to the Pastors of the Church by Christ and his Apostles and that the Supremacy then pretended to was no such Extravagant Power as some imagine Upon the whole matter it was Concluded that the Popes Power in England had no good Foundation and had been managed with as much Tyranny as it had begun with Usurpation the Exactions of their Courts were every-where heavy but in no place so intolerable as in England and though many complaints were made of them in these last 300 years yet they got no ease and all the Laws about Provisors were still defeated and made ineffectual Therefore they saw it was impossible to moderate their proceedings so that there was no other Remedy but to extirpate their pretended Authority and thenceforth to acknowledge the Pope only Bishop of Rome with the jurisdiction about it defined by the Ancient Canons and for the King to re-assume his own Authority and the Prerogatives of his Crown from which the Kings of England had never formally departed though they had for this last Hundred years connived at an Invasion and Usurpation upon them which was no longer to be endured These were the Grounds of casting off the Pope's Power that had been for two or three years studied and enquired into by all the Learned men in England and had been debated both in Convocation and Parliament and except Fisher Bishop of Rochester I do not find that any Bishop appeared for the Popes Power and for the Abbots and Priors as they were generally very ignorant so what the Cardinal had done in suppressing some Monasteries and what they now heard that the
what Law the order of Ecclesiastical Constitution is bounden and let them not think those words of the Apostle to be his but rather the words of Christ himself Opinor requiri Consecrationem quandam hoc est impositionem manuum Orationem jejunium c. tamen nusquam hoc munere fungi posse nisi ubi Magistratus invitet jubeat aut permittat By Scripture there is no Consecration of Bishops and Priests required but only the appointing to the Office of a Priest cum Impositione manuum Consecration of Bishops and Priests I read not in the New Testament but Ordinatio per manuum Impositionem cum Oratione is read there as in the places above and the only appointment as I think is not sufficient Praeter vocationem ceu designationem externam quae vel a Principe fit vel a populo per electionem suffragia requiritur Ordinatio alia per manuum impositionem idque per Verbum Dei Besides the appointing to the Office it appeareth that in the Primitive Church the Apostles used certain Consecration of the Ministers of the Church by imposition of Hands and Prayer Acts 6. and with Fasting Acts 14 c. The Office of Priesthood is too dangerous to set upon when one is but appointed only Therefore for the confirmation of their Faith who take in hand such charge and for the obtaining of farther Grace requisite in the same Consecration was ordained by the Holy Ghost and hath been always used from the beginning Deputation to the Office is not sufficient to make a Priest or a Bishop as appeareth by David and Solomon who deputed the 24 above-mentioned to their Offices yet they made none of them Priests nor any other The appointing to the Office per manuum Impositionem is in Scripture and the Consecration of them hath of long time continued in the Church There is a certain kind of Consecration required which is imposition of the Bishops hands with Prayer and the appointing only is not sufficient To the twelfth I suppose that there is a Consecration required as by Imposition of Hands for so we be taught by the ensample of the Apostles In the New Testament is required to the making of a Bishop Impositio manuum cum Oratione which I take for Consecration and Appointment unto the Office is not sufficient for King David 1 Chron. 24. did appoint 24 to be Bishops who after were consecrated so that both the Appointment and the Consecration be requisite Respondent Eboracens Londinens Carliolens Leighton Tresham Robertâ—onus Edgeworth Curren Dayns Oglethorp Consecrationem esse requisitam Redmanus ait eam receptam esse ab Apostolis atque a Spiritu Sancto institutam ad conferendam gratiam Dayus Roffens Symmons aiunt Sacerdotium conferri per manuum impositionem idque ê Scripturis Consecrationem vero diu receptam in Ecclesia Coxus Institutionem cum manuum impositione sufficere neque per Scripturam requiri Consecrationem Robertsonus addit supra alios nusquam hoc munere fungi posse quempiam nisi ubi Magistratus invitet jubeat aut permittat In the twelfth Question where it is asked Whether in the New Testament be required any Consecration of a Bishop or only appointing to the Office be sufficient The Bishop of St. Davids saith That only the appointing Dr. Cox That only appointing cum manuum Impositione is sufficient without Consecration The Bishops of York London Duresme Carlisle Drs. Day Curren Leighton Tresham Edgworth Oglethorp say That Consecration is requisite Dr. Redmayn saith That Consecration hath been received from the Apostles time and institute of the Holy Ghost to confer Grace My Lord of Rochester Dr. Day and Symmons say That Priesthood is given per manuum impositionem and that by Scripture and that Consecration hath of long time been received in the Church 13. Question Whether if it fortuned a Christian Prince Learned to conquer certain Dominions of Infidels having none but temporal learned Men with him if it be defended by God's Law that he and they should Preach and Teach the Word of God there or no And also make and constitute Priests or no Answers IT is not against God's Law but contrary they ought indeed so to do and there be Histories that witnesseth that some Christian Princes and other Laymen unconsecrate have done the same To the thirteenth To the first part of this Question touching Teaching and Preaching the Word of God in case of such need we think that Laymen not ordered not only may but must preach Christ and his Faith to Infidels as they shall see opportunity to do the same and must endeavour themselves to win the Miscreants to the Kingdom of God if that they can for as the Wise Man saith God hath given charge to every Man of his Neighbour and the Scripture of God chargeth every Man to do all the good that he can to all Men And surely this is the highest Alms to draw Men from the Devil the Usurper and bring them to God the very Owner Wherefore in this case every Man and Woman may be an Evangelist and of this also we have example But touching the second part for case of Necessity As we neither find Scripture nor Example that will bear that any Man being himself no Priest may make that is to say may give the Order of Priesthood to another and authority therewith to minister in the said Order and to use such Powers and Offices as appertaineth to Priesthood grounded in the Gospel So we find in such case of need what hath been done in one of the ancient Writers altho this authority to ordain after form afore-mentioned be not to Laymen expresly prohibited in Scripture yet such a prohibition is implied in that there is no such authority given to them either in Scripture or otherways for so much as no Man may use this or any other authority which cometh from the Holy Ghost unless he hath either Commission grounded in Scripture or else Authority by Tradition and ancient use of Christ's Church universally received over all To the thirteenth and fourteenth following I think that necessity herein might either be a sufficient Rule and Warrant to determine and order such Cases considering that tempore necessitatis mulier baptizat laicus idem facit audit confessionem or else that God would inspire in the Princes heart to provide the best and most handsome Remedy therein And hard were it peradventure to find such great necessity but either in the train of the said Prince or in the Regions adjoining thereunto there might be had some Priests for the said purposes or finally That the Prince himself godlily inspired in that behalf might for so good purposes and intents set forth the Act indeed referring yet this thing to the better judgment of others To the thirteenth and fourteenth following I never read these cases neither in Scripture nor in
the Doctors and therefore I cannot answer unto them by Learning but think this to be a good Answer for all such Questions viz. Necessitas non habet Legem It is to be thought that Christ may call as it pleaseth him inwardly outwardly or by both together So that if no Priest might be had it cannot be thought but that a Christian Prince with others learned inwardly moved and called might most charitably and godlily prosecute that same their Calling in the most acceptable Work which is to bring People from the Devil to God from Infidelity to true Faith by whatsoever means God shall inspire In hoc casu existimarem accersendos verbi Sacramentorum Ministros si qui forent vicini quin si nulli invenirentur Principem illum Christianum haberemus pro Apostolo tanquam missum a Deo licet externo Sacramento non esset commendatus quum Deus Sacramentis suis non sit alligatus To the thirteenth and fourteenth following It is not against God's Law that the Prince and his learned temporal Men may Preach and Teach and in these cases of extream Necessity make and institute Ministers In this case as I think the Prince and other temporal learned Men with him may by God's Law Teach and Preach the Word of God and Baptize and also the same Necessity standing elect and appoint Men to those Offices In summa necessitate Baptizare praedicare possunt debent haec etenim duo necessaria sunt media ad salutem at ordinare ut conjectura ducor non debent sed aliunde Sacrificos accersire quos si habere nequeant Deus ipse cujus negotium agitur vel oraculo admonebit quid faciendum erit vel necessitas ipsa quae sibiipsi est Lex modum Ordinandi suggeret ac suppeditabit I think they might in such case of Necessity for in this case the Laymen made the whole Church there and the authority of preaching and ministring the Sacraments is given immediately to the Church and the Church may appoint Ministers as is thought convenient There be two Stories good to be considered for this Question which be written in the 10 th Book of the History Ecclesiastick the one of Frumentius who preached in India and was after made Priest and Bishop by Athanasius And the other Story is of the King of the Iberians of whom Rufâ—ine the writer of the Story saith thus Et nondum initiatus Sacris fit suae gentis Apostolus Yet nevertheless it is written there That an Ambassad was sent to Constantine the Emperor that he would send them Priests for the further establishment of the Faith there The Prince and his temporal learned Men might and ought in that necessity to instruct the People in the Faith of Christ and to baptize them ut idem rex sit suae gentis Apostolus and these be sufficient for the Salvation of his Subjects But as concerning other Sacraments he ought to abide and look for a special Commission from Almighty God as Moses had or else to send unto other Regions where Priests or Bishops may be had and else not to meddle Examples in Eccles. Hist. lib. 10. cap. 1. de Frumentio cap. 2. de Ancilla captiva quae convertit gentem Hiberorum cujus captivae monitis ad Imperatorem Constantinum totius gentis legatio mittitur res gesta exponitur Sacerdotes mittere exorantur qui coeptum erga se Dei munus implerent c. I think that in such a necessity a learned Christian Prince and also temporal Men learned be bound to preach and minister either Sacraments so that the same Ministers be orderly assigned by the High Power and the Congregation I say to the first part That such a King and his temporal learned Men not only might but were also bound to preach God's Word in this case And as to the second part I say That if there could no Bishop be had to Institute the Prince might in that of necessity do it To the thirteenth I suppose the Affirmative thereof to be true Quamvis potestas clavium residet praecipue in Ecclesia In such a case I do believe that God would illuminate the Prince so that either he himself should be made a Bishop by internal working of God as Paul was or some of his Subjects or else God would send him Bishops from other parts And as for preaching of the Word of God the Prince might do it himself and other of his learned Subjects altho they were no Priests In prima parte Quaestionis Conveniunt omnes etiam laicos tali rerum statu non solum posse sed debere docere Menevens Thirlebeus Leightonus Coxus Symmons Tresham Redmanus Robertsonus etiam potestatem Ministrandi Sacramenta Ordinandi Ministros concedunt illis Eboracens hanc prorsus potestatem denegat Coren credit Principem Divinitus illuminandum consecrandum fore in Episcopum interne aut aliquem ex suis Pauli exemplo Simile habet Herefordensis Carliolensis Dayus nihil respondet de Ordinandis Presbyteris in hac necessitate In the thirteenth Concerning the first part Whether Laymen may Preach and Teach God's Word They do all agree in such a case That not only they may but they ought to teach But in the second part touching the Constituting of Priests of Laymen my Lord of York and Doctor Edgworth doth not agree with the other they say That Laymen in no wise can make Priests or have such Authority The Bishops of Duresme St. Davids Westminster Drs. Tresham Cox Leighton Crayford Symmons Redmayn Robertson say That Laymen in such case have authority to minister the Sacraments and to make Priests My Lords of London Carlisle and Hereford and Dr. Coren think That God in such a case would give the Prince authority call him inwardly and illuminate him or some of his as he did St. Paul 14. Question Whether it be forefended by God's Law that if it so fortune that all the Bishops and Priests of a Region were dead and that the Word of God should remain there unpreached and the Sacrament of Baptism and others unministred that the King of that Region should make Bishops and Priests to supply the same or no Answers IT is not forbidden by God's Law To the fourteenth In this case as we have said in the next Article afore Teaching of the Word of God may be used by any that can and would use it to the Glory of God and in this case also the Sacrament of Baptism may be ministred by those that be no Priests which things altho we have not of Scripture yet the universal Tradition and practice of the Church doth teach us And peradventure contract of Matrimony might also be made the Solemnization thereof being only ordained by Law positive and not by any ground either of Scripture or of Tradition altho for very urgent causes the said Solemnization is
to be observed when it may be observed but that the Princes may not Make that is may not Order Priests nor Bishops not before Ordered to minister the other Sacraments the ministry whereof in Scripture is committed only to the Apostles and from them derived to their Successors even from the Primitive Church hitherto and by none other used we have answered in the thirteenth Article Vt supra Quaest. 13. Vt supra Quaest. 13. Not only it is given of God to Supream Governours Kings and Princes immediate under them to see cause and compel all their Subjects Bishops Priests with all others to do truly and uprightly their bounden Duties to God and to them each one according to his Calling but also if it were so that any-where such lacked to do and fulfil that God would have done right-well they might by the inward moving and calling of God supply the same Huic Quaestioni idem Respondendum quod priori arbitror Vt supra Quaest. 13. To this case as to the first I answer That if there could no Bishops be had to order new Priests there by the Princes assignation and appointment then the Prince himself might ordain and constitute with the consent of the Congregation both Priests and Ministers to Preach and Baptize and to do other Functions in the Church Si ab aliis Regionibus Sacerdotes haberi non poterint opinor ipsum Principem deputare posse etiam Laicos ad hoc Sacrum Officium sed omnia prius tentanda essent ut supra To this I think may be answered as to the last Question before howbeit the surest way I think were to send for somâ— Ministers of the Church dwelling in the next Regions if they might be conveniently had Likewise as to the next Question afore If the King be also a Bishop as it is possible he may appoint Bishops and Priests to minister to his People but hitherto I have not read that ever any Christian King made Bishop or Priest I make the same answer as to the 13th Question is made To the fourteenth I suppose the Affirmative to be true in case that there can no Bishops nor Priests be had forth of other Countries conveniently In this case I make answer as before That God will never suffer his Servants to lack that thing that is necessary for there should either from other parts Priests and Bishops be called thither or else God would call inwardly some of them that be in that Region to be Bishops and Priests Fatentur ut prius omnes Laicos posse Docere Eboracens Symmons Oglethorp negant posse Ordinare Presbyteros tamen concedit Eboracens baptizare contrahere Matrimonia Edgworth tantum baptizare posse nam sufficere dicit ad salutem Alii omnes eandem potestatem concedunt quam prius Roffens non aliud respondet his duabus Quaestionibus quam quod necessitas non habeat Legem In the fourteenth they agree for the most part as they did before That Lay-men in this case may teach and minister the Sacraments My Lord of York Dr. Symmons and Oglethorp say They can make no Priests altho Symmons said they might minister all Sacraments in the Question before Yet my Lord of York and Edgworth do grant That they may Christen The Bishops of London Rochester and Dr. Crayford say That in such a case Necessitas non habet Legem 15. Question Whether a Man be bound by Authority of this Scripture Quorum Remiseritis and such-like to confess his secret deadly sins to a Priest if he may have him or no Answers A Man is not bound by the authority of this Scripture Quorum Râ—miseritis and such-like to confess his secret deadly Sins to a Priest although he may have him To the fifteenth This Scripture is indifferent to secret and open Sins nor the authority given in the same is appointed or limited either to the one or to the other but is given commonly to both And therefore seeing that the Sinner is in no other place of Scripture discharged of the confession of his secret Sins we think that this place chargeth him to confess the secret Sins as well as the open To the fifteenth I think that as the Sinner is bound by this authority to confess his open sins so also is he bound to confess his secret sins because the special end is to wit Absolutionem a peccato cujus fecit se servum is all one in both cases And that all sins as touching God are open and in no wise secret or hid I think that confession of secret deadly sins is necessary for to attain absolution of them but whether every Man that hath secretly committed deadly sin is bound by these words to ask Absolution of the Priest therefore it is an hard Question and of much controversy amongst learned Men and I am not able to define betwixt them but I think it is the surest way to say that a Man is bound to Confess c. I think that by the mind of most ancient Authors and most holy Expositors this Text Quorum Remiseritis peccata c. with other-like serveth well to this intent That Christian Folk should confess thâ—â— secret deadly sins to a Priest there to be assoiled without which mean there can be none other like Assurance Opinor obligare modo aliter conscientiae illius satisfieri nequeat I cannot find that a Man is bound by Scripture to confess his secret deadly sins to a Priest unless he be so troubled in his Conscience that he cannot be quieted without godly Instruction The Matter being in controversy among learned Men and very doubtful yet I think rather the truth is That by authority of this Scripture Quorum Remiseritis c. and such-like a Man is bound to confess his secret deadly sins which grieve his Conscience to a Priest if he may conveniently have him Forasmuch as it is an ordinary way ordained by Christ in the Gospel by Absolution to remit sins which Absolution I never read to be given sine Confessione praeviâ Confitenda sunt opinor etiam peccata abdita ac secreta propter Absolutionem ac conscientiae tranquillitatem praecipue pro vitanda desperatione ad quam plerumque adiguntur multi in extremis dum sibi ipsis de remissione peccatorum nimium blandiuntur nullius dum sani sunt censuram subeuntes nisi propriam I think that altho in these words Confession of privy Sins is not expresly commanded yet it is insinuated and shewed in these words as a necessary Medicine or Remedy which all Men that fall into deadly sin ought for the quieting of their Consciences seek if they may conveniently have such a Priest as is meet to hear their Confession Where there be two ways to obtain remission of Sin and to recover Grace a Man is bound by
which see page 224. which being so openly discovered nothing that had shame in it could speak of them as our Author does 101. He says Six and twenty Carts drawn with Oxen were loaded with the Riches taken from Becket's Shrine whom he makes a most glorious Martyr that died for the defence of the Faith and was honoured by many Miracles after his death Other Writers have sufficiently shewed what a perfidious ingrateful and turbulent Priest he was All these were Vertues in our Author's Opinion and Ingredients in his Faith But he has in this accompt of the Riches of that Shrine gone beyond himself having by a figure of speech very familiar to him called Lying increased two Chests see page 224. to 26 Cart Loads 102. He says The Sentence which P. Paul gave out against the King was affixed in some Towns both in France Flanders and Scotland from which he infers that both the Emperor the French and the Scotch King did consent to that Sentence In this he designed an eminent piece of service to the Apostolick See to leave on Record an Evidence that three Sovereign Princes had acknowledged the Pope's Power of deposing Kings But he did ill to name the proofs of his Assertion and had done better to have said simply that it was so than to have founded it on so ill grounds as if the affixing Papal Bulls in a place were an evidence that the Princes in whose Dominions it was done consented to it He might with the same reason have concluded that Q. Elizabeth consented to the Sentence against her self which it is very like will not be easily believed tho the Bull was affixed in London But all those very Princes whom he names continuing to keep up their correspondence with the King as well after as before this Sentence is a much clearer demonstration that they despised the Pope's Sentence 103. He says The King by his own Authority threw all the â—egging Orders out of their Houses The falshood of this has appeared already for they resigned their Houses to the King and of these Resignations tho many were destroyed yet near an hundred are still extant 104. He says The Parliament in the year 1539 gave the King all the great Monasteries The Parliament passed no such Act all that they did was only to confirm the Grants made or to be made by these Houses to the King It was their Surrenders that cloathed the King with the Right to them All the Tragical Stories he tells us that followed upon this are founded on a false Foundation 105. He sets down a Form of a Resignation which he says All the Abbots and many Religious Persons were made to Sign and set their Seals to it Among all the Resignations which are yet extant there is not one in this Form for which see page 238. 106. He says The King's Commissioners who went about getting Hands to that Form made them believe in every House that all the rest had signed it and so by that and other persuasions prevailed with many to set their Hands to it If all the Subscriptions had been procured about the same time such Arts might be suspected but in a thing that was three years a-doing these tricks could not have served their turn 107. He says They told the Monks that tho the King might by virtue of the Act of Parliament seize on their Houses and Rents yet he desired rather to do it with their good-will In this there are two Errors First Most of these Houses were resigned to the King before the Act of Parliament see page 235. and next the Act of Parliament only confirmed their Deeds but did not give their Houses to the King 108. He says The Abbots of Glassenbury Colchester and Reading suffered Martyrdom because they refused to set their hands to that Writing There was no such Writing ever offered to them nor was there any Law to force them to resign so they could not suffer on that account but they were Martyrs for Sander's Faith for they were attainted by a legal Trial of High Treason 109. He tells a long Story of Whitting Abbot of Glassenbury's being brought up to London to be prevailed with to set his hand to the Surrender Which he still refusing to do was sent back and tho a Book against the King's Divorce was found among his Papers which was laid there by those who searched for it yet that was past over in a chiding but as he went home hearing there was a meeting of the County at Wells he went thither and as he was going up to his place on the Bench he was called to the Bar to answer some things that were to be objected to him He was amazed at it and asked what the matter was but one told him he needed fear nothing for some-what was only to be done for form to terrify others Upon which he was condemned and sent away to his Abbey little thinking he was so near his end but when he came near it a Priest was sent to him to take his Confession for they told him he must die immediately he beg'd a day or two's respite but in vain so they hanged him up in his Habit on the top of the Hill near his Abbey and quartered him and all this was done in one day This Book came out in Forreign Parts and was printed at Rome in the Reign of Sixtus the Fifth who took great pleasure in such Executions as he describes this to have been which may fall oft out where the lives of the Subjects are wholly at the Prince's Mercy But to tell such tales of England which is so famed over the World for the safety and security the Subjects enjoy and for the regular and legal proceedings in all Trials especially of Life and Death was a great Error in the Poet for the decorum of the Laws and Customs of a place must be observed when any Nation is made the Scene of a Fable But as nothing like this can be done by the Law of England so there was nothing of it in this Case The Jury that sate on him were Men of great credit in the Country when he died he acknowledged his Offences and with appearance of repentance begged God's Pardon and the King 's see page 239. 110. After many bitter Invectives against Cromwel for which I could never see good evidence tho I cannot disprove them by any convincing Arguments he says That he advised the King to make a Law that Persons might be Convented and Condemned in absence and without being heard and that this Law first of all fell upon himself There was no such Law ever made only the Parliament by their Supream Authority did Attaint some in that manner but no other Court might do it Nor was this first applied to Cromwel for an year before his Attainder the Countess of Sarum with a great many more were so attainted tho she did not Suffer till a year
lingring Disease The Plot goes on but scurvily when the next thing that is brought to confirm it is contradicted by Records Prince Arthur was born the 20 th of September in the year 1486 and so was 15 years old and two months passed at the 14 th of November 1501 in which he was married to the Princess and was then of a lively and good Complexion and did not begin to decay till the Shrovetide following which was imputed to his excesses in the Bed at the Witnesses deposed 3. He says Upon the motion for the marrying of his Brother Henry to the Princess it was agreed to by all that the thing was lawful It was perhaps agreed on at Rome where Mony and other political Arts sway their Counsels but it was not agreed to in England for which we have no meaner Author than Warham Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who when examined upon Oath deposed that himself then thought the Marriage was not honourable nor well-pleasing to God and that he had thereupon opposed it much and that the People murmured at it 4. He says There was not one Man in any Nation under Heaven or in the whole Church that spake against it The common Stile of the Roman Church calling the See of Rome the Catholick Church must be applied to this to bring off our Author otherwise I know not how to save his Reputation Therefore by all the Nations under Heaven must be understood only the Divines at Rome tho when it came to be examined they could scarce find any who would justify it all the most famous Universities Divines and Canonists condemned it and Warham's Testimony contradicts this plainly besides the other great Authorities that were brought against it for which see lib. 2. from pag. 91. to pag. 103. 5. He says The King once said He would not marry the Queen Here is a pretty Essay of our Authors Art who would make us think it was only in a transient discourse that the King said he would not marry Queen Katherine but this was more maturely done by a solemn Protestation which he read himself before the Bishop of Winchester that he would never marry her and that he revoked his consent given under Age. This was done when he came to be of Age see pag. 36. it is also confessed by Sanders himself 6. He says The Queen bore him three Sons and two Daughters All the Books of that time speak only of two Sons and one Daughter but this is a flourish of his Pen to represent her a fruitful Mother 7. He says The King had sometimes two sometimes three Concubines at once It does not appear he had ever any but Elizabeth Blunt and if we judge of his Life by the Letters the Popes wrote to him and many printed Elogies that were published then he was a Prince of great Piety and Religion all that while 8. He says The Lady Mary was first desired in marriage by Iames the 5 th of Scotland then by Charles the 5 th the Emperor and then Francis asked her first for the Dolphin then for the Duke of Orleance and last of all for himself But all this is wrong placed for she was first contracted to the Dolphin then to the Emperor and then treated about to the King of Scotland after that it was left to Francis his choice whether she should be married to himself or his second Son the Duke of Orleance So little did our Poet know the publick Transactions of that time 9. He says She was in the end contracted to the Dolphin from whence he concludes that all Forreign Princes were satisfied with the lawfulness of the Marriage She was first of all contracted to the Dolphin Forreign Princes were so little satisfied of the lawfulness of the Marriage that tho she being Heir to the Crown of England was a Match of great advantage yet their Counsellors excepted to it on that very account that the Marriage was not good This was done in Spain and she was rejected as a Writer who lived in that time informs us and Sanders confesses it was done by the French Ambassadour 10. He says Wolsey was first Bishop of Lincoln then of Duresme after that of Winchester and last of all Arch-Bishop of York after that he was made Chancellor then Cardinal and Legate The order of these Preferments is quite reversed for Wolsey soon after he was made Bishop of Lincoln upon Cardinal Bembridge his death was not only promoted to the See of York but advanced to be a Cardinal in the 7 th year of the King's Reign And some months after that he was made Lord Chancellor and seven years after that he got the Bishoprick of Duresme which six years after he exchanged for Winchester He had heard perhaps that he enjoyed all these Preferments but knowing nothing of our Affairs beyond hear-say he resolved to make him rise as Poets order their Heroes by degrees and therefore ranks his Advancement not according to Truth but in the method he liked best himself 11. He says Wolsey first designed the Divorce and made Longland that was the King's Confessor second his motion for it The King not only denied this in publick saying That he himself had first moved it to Longland in Confession and that Wolsey had opposed it all he could but in private discourse with Grinaeus told him he had laboured under these scruples for seven years septem perpetuis annis trepidatio Which reckoning from the year 1531 in which Grinaeus wrote this to one of his Friends will fall back to the year 1524. long before Wolsey had any provocation to tempt him to it 12. He says In the year 1526 in which the King was first made to doubt of his Marriage he was resolved then whom to marry when he was once divorced But by his other Story Ann Boleyn was then but fifteen years old and went to France at that Age where she staied a considerable time before she came to the Court of England 13. He says The King spent a year in a private search to see what could be found either in the Scriptures or the Pope's Bull to be made use of against his Marriage but they could find nothing In that time all the Bishops of England except Fisher declared under their Hands and Seals that they thought the Marriage unlawful for which see pag. 38. and upon what Reasons this was grounded has been clearly opened pag. 97. 14. He says If there were any ambiguities in the Pope's first Letters meaning the Bull for dispensing with the marriage they were cleared by other Letters which Ferdinand of Spain had afterwards procured These other Letters by which he means the Breve bear date the same day with the Bull and so were not procured afterwards There were indeed violent presumptions of their being forged long after even after the Process had been almost an year in agitation But tho they helped the matter in
some lesser Particulars yet in the main Business Whether Prince Arthur did know his Princess they did it a great prejudice for whereas the Bull bore that by the Queens Petition her former Marriage was perhaps consummated the Breve bears that in her Petition the Marriage was said to be consummated without any perhaps 15. He says The King having seen these second Letters both he and his Council resolved to move no more in it The Process was carried on almost a year before the Breve was heard of and the forgery of it soon appeared so they went on notwithstanding it 16. He says The Bishop of Tarby being come from France to conclude the Match for the Lady Mary was set on by the King and the Cardinal to move the exception to the lawfulness of the marriage There is no reason to believe this for that Bishop tho afterwards made a Cardinal never published this which both he ought to have done as a good Catholick and certainly would have done as a true Cardinal when he saw what followed upon it and perceived that he was trepanned to be the first mover of a thing which ended so fatally forthe Interests of Rome 17. He says The Bishop of Tarby in a Speech before the King in Council said That not he alone but almost all Learned Men thought the King's Marriage unlawful and null so that he was freed from the Bond of it and that it was against the Rules of the Gospel and that all Forreign Nations had ever spoken very freely of it lamenting that the King was drawn into it in his Youth It is not ordinary for Ambassadors to make Speeches in King's Counâ—cils But if this be true it agrees ill with what this Author delivers in his third Page That there was not a Man in the whole Church nor under Heaven that spoke against it otherwise the Bishop of Tarby was both an impudent and a foolish Man 18. He says Upon the Pope's Captivity Wolsey was sent over to France with 300000 Crowns to procure the Pope's liberty Hall Hollingshead and Stow say He carried over 240000 pounds Sterlin which is more than thrice that sum 19. He says Two Colleagues were sent in this Ambassy with the Cardinal His greatness was above that and none are mentioned in the Records 20. He says Orders followed him to Callais not to move any thing about the King's Marriage with the French King's Sister the King having then resolved to marry Ann Boleyn This agrees ill with what he said pag. 9. that a year before the King was resolved whom to marry 21. He says King Henry that he might have freer access to Sir Boleyn's Lady sent him to France where after he had stayed two years his Lady was with Child of Ann Boleyn by the King This Story was already confuted see pag. 41 42. And in it there are more than one or two lies 1. Sir Thomas Boleyn went not Ambassador to France till the 7 th year of the King's Reign And if two years after that Ann was born which was the 9 th of his Reign she must then have been but ten years old at this time 2. Tho he had sent him upon his first coming to the Crown this could not be true for two years after admit her to be born that is Anno 1511 then a year before this which was Anno 1526 she was fifteen years old in which Age Sanders says she was corrupted in her Father's House and sent over to France where she staid long But all this is false For 3. She was born two years before the King came to the Crown in the year 1507. and if her Father was sent to France two years before it was in the year 1505. 4. The King being then Prince was but fourteen years old for he was born the 28 th of Iune in the year 1491 in which Age there is no reason to think he was so forward as to be corrupting other Mens Wives for they will not allow his Brother when almost two years elder to have known his own Wife As for the other pieces of this Story that Sir Thomas Boleyn did sue his Lady in the Spiritual Court that upon the King 's sending him word that she was with Child by him he passed it over that the King had also known her Sister and that she had owned it to the Queen that at the fifteenth year of Ann's Age she had prostituted her self both to her Fathers Butler and Chaplain that then she was sent to France where she was at first for some time concealed then brought to Court where she was so notoriously lewd that she was called an Hackney that she afterwards was kept by the French King that when she came over into England Sir Thomas Wiat was admitted to base privacies with her and offered to the King and his Council that he himself should with his own Eyes see it And in fine that she was ugly mishaped and monstrous are such an heap of impudent Lyes that none but a Fool as well as a Knave would venture on such a recital And for all this he cites no other Authority but Rastal's Life of Sir Thomas More a Book that was seen by none but himself and he gives no other evidence that there was any such Book but his own Authority Nor is it likely that Rastal ever writ More 's Life since he did not set it out with his Works which he published in one Volume Anno 1556. It is true More 's Son in Law Roper writ his Life which is since printed but there is no such Story in it The whole is such a piece of lying as if he who forged it had resolved to out-do all who had ever gone before him for can it be so much as imagined that a King could pursue a design for seven years together of marrying a Woman of so scandalous a Life and so disagreeable a Person and that he who was always in the other extream of Jealousie did never try out these Reports and would not so much as see what Wiat informed Nor were these things published in the Libels that were printed at that time either in the Emperor's Court or at Rome All which shew that this was a desperate contrivance of Malicious Traitors against their Soveraign Queen Elizabeth to defame and disgrace her And this I take to be the true reason why none made any full answer to this Book all her time It was not thought for the Queen's honour to let such Stuff be so much considered as to merit an answer So that the 13 14 15 16 17 and 18 pages are one continued Lye 22. He says Sir Thomas Boleyn hearing the King intended to marry his supposed Daughter came over in all haste from France to put him in mind that she was his own Child and that the King bade him hold his peace for a Fool for an hundred had lien with his Wife as well as he but