Clergy had so disproportionable a share by way of excess in the Lands of the Kingdom yet when in 17 Edw. II. it came to the point that the Order of the Templars for their wickedness was overthrown the Parliament then wherein many of those no doubt that made the Statute of Mortmain were present would not give the Lands and Possessions of the Templars to the King or the Lords of whom they were holden but ordain'd that they should go to the Order of the Hospital of St. John's of Jerusalem then lately erected for the defence of Christendom and the Christian Religion Edward le Bruce brother to Robert le Bruce King of Scots invadeth the North parts of Ireland with 6000 Men and accompanied with many great persons of the Nobility conquer'd the Earldom of Ulster gave the English many overthrows and prevail'd so victoriously that he caus'd himself to be crown'd King of Ireland His Soldiers in the mean time burn Churches and Abbies with the People whom they found in the same sparing neither Man Woman nor Child And most wickedly entring into other Churches spoil'd and defac'd the same of all such Tombs Monuments Plate Copies and other Ornaments as they found there He thus prevailing and the Irish much revolting to him the Archbishop of Armagh blesseth and encourageth the English Army against him Whereupon they joyn'd battle overthrew the whole Power of the Scots slew 2000 of their Men and amongst them this their King Edward le Bruce himself King Edw. III. to begin his Wars with France in An. 1337. taketh all the Treasure that was laid up in the Churches throughout England for the defence of the Holy Land Speed p. 190. And whereas there were anciently in England many Cells and Houses of Religion 110 they were counted and more belonging to greater Monasteries beyond the Seas fraught with Aliens and Strangers especially French-men and those of the Orders of Clunis and Cistertien King Edward III. at his entry into his French Wars An. 1337 Regni 12. partly fearing that they might hold intelligence with his Enemies but seeking chiefly to have their Wealth toward the payment of his Soldiers confiscated their Goods and Possessions letting their Priories and Lands to farm for Rent and selling some of them right out to others of his Subjects Yet like a Noble and Religious Prince touch'd with remorse when the Wars were ended viz. An. 1361 regni 35. he granted them all save those few that he had put away back again unto them by his Letters Patents as freely as they had formerly enjoy'd them And divers of those that were purchas'd by his Subjects were by them new-founded and given back to Religious Uses This act of the King 's was a precedent of singular Piety yet was it but a lame Offering not an Holocaust He gave back the Possessions but he retain'd the Profits which he had taken for 23 Years Speed p. 211. King John whom they so much condemn did more than this if he had done it as willingly He restor'd the Lands with the Damages But let not this good King want the charitable Commendation due unto his Piety though having dipt his Hands in this We be driven by the course of our Argument to observe what after befell to him and his Off-spring There be some things saith ... are sweet in the Mouth but bitter in the Belly pleasant at the beginning but woful in the end If these Priories and their Churches were of that nature the sequel verifies the Proverb The middle part of the King's Life was most fortunate and victorious yea all the while that these things were in his Hands even as if God had bless'd him as he did Obed-Edom 1 Sam. 6. 10. whilst the Ark was in his House and had the King then dy'd he had been a most glorious pattern of earthly Felicity But the Wheel turn'd and his Oriental Fortunes became Occidental The Peace he had concluded with France for the solace of his Age brake out again into an unfortunate War Many of his Subjects there rebell Gascony in effect is lost Afflictions at home fall upon him in sequence his Son Lionel Duke of Clarence dieth without Issue-male and when he had greatest need of his renowned Son the Prince of Wales miracle of Chivalry and the Anchor of his Kingdom him even then did God take from him his Court and Nobles discontented and in Faction himself and all things much misgovern'd by his Son the Duke of Lancaster and others of that part who by the Parliament are therefore remov'd from him and by him recall'd notwithstanding to the grief of all the Kingdom Thus he dieth leaving his unweildy Scepters to the feeble Arms of a Child of Eleven Years old King Richard II. whose lamentable History for the honour of Kings is best unspoken of But so unfortunate he was among his other Calamities that he was not only deposed by his unnatural Subjects but imprison'd and murther'd dying without Issue and leaving an Usurper possessor of his Kingdoms which kindled such Fuel of Dissention as consum'd almost all the Royal Line and Ancient Nobility of the Kingdom by the Civil War between the Houses of York and Lancaster To return to the Restitution made by King Edw. III. of the Priories-Alien An Historian termeth it A rare Example of a just King it being seldom seen that Princes let go any thing whereon they have once fasten'd But this King having made a Door in this manner into the freedom and possession of the Church all the Power he had either ordinarily or by Prerogative could not now so shut it up but that this Precedent would for ever after be a Key to open it at the pleasure of Posterity which was well seen not long after For in the Parliament An. 9. of King Richard II. The Knights and Burgesses with some of the Nobility being in a great rage as John Stow saith against the Clergy for that William Courtney the Archbishop would not suffer them to be charged in Subsidy by the Laity exhibited a Petition to the King that the Temporalities might be taken from them saying That they were grown to such Pride that it was Charity and Alms to take them from them to compell them thereby to be more meek and humble And so near the Parliament-men thought themselves the point of their desire that one promised himself thus much of this Monastery another so much of another Monastery And I heard saith Tho. Walsingham one of the Knights deeply swear that of the Abbey of St. Albans he would have a thousand Marks by the Year of the Temporalities But the King hearing the inordinate crying out on the one side and the just defence on the other deny'd his consent and commanded the Bill to be cancell'd Stow p. 479. Two valiant Esquires John Shakel and Robert Hauley having taken the Earl of Dene Prisoner at the Battel of Nazers in Spain and receiv'd his Son Hostage for performing Conditions between
apud Malmes de gest Reg. lib. 1. p. 28. Sed fusiùs apud Baron in An. 745. nu 5. Ceolred King of the Mercians or Midland England was guilty also of spoiling Monasteries and defiling of Nuns and was the first with Osred before named that since the entrance of Austin brake the Privileges granted by the Saxon Kings unto Monasteries and for these sins saith Boniface and the other Bishops in the said Epistle Justo judicio Dei damnati de culmine regali hujus vitae abjecti immaturâ terribili morte praeventi c. For Ceolred as those that were present did testifie being at a great Feast among his Earls that Evil Spirit which before had mov'd him to do such wickedness struck him there with Madness and in that case he dy'd Impenitently the same Year that Osred his fellow in Sacrilege was murder'd viz. An. 716. Epist. praedict Beda in Epit. It seemeth his Line was also extinct Ethelbald the next Successor of Ceolred in the Kingdom of Mercia succeeded him also in his wicked Courses He forbeareth lawfull Marriage but liveth Adulterously with the Nuns and breaking the Privileges of Churches and Monasteries taketh away also their Substance which gave the occasion that Boniface Arch-bishop of Mentz and other German Bishops wrote the foremention'd Epistle unto him desiring him to mend his course and the wrongs he had done which like a good King he willingly did and at a Council holden at Clovesho now call'd Cliff in Kent acknowledging his Sin did also by his Charter restore what he had taken or broken with an Overplus and founded the Monastery of Crowland yet so was the hand of God upon him that in a War unwisely begun he was treacherously Slain by Bartred alias Beornred and the Kingdom by him usurp'd Epist. praedict Stow pag. 88. Bar. 742 nu 16. Celsus Veronensis THat many rare and excellent Men and all Nations attributed the fortunate Success of the Turks against the Venetians as the loss of their Island Cubaea the lamentable success of their Expedition of Achaia his last Victory which made his way broader and his enterance easier the Death and Calamity of their Euripus many think and affirm that God of his righteous and just Judgment hath brought upon you for your insolent Taxing and Polling of Holy Things belonging to the Church and your injurious troubling of the Estate of Religion pag. 212. Compilation and Pilling of Holy Things pag. 214. New and unusual Taxing and Tolling of the Church pag. 215. How many Victories Conquests Sports happy Events have you had in these so long Wars since you invented this strange and pestilent Counsel to lay violent Hands on Church Goods and Holy Things dedicated to God which Impiety believe me will not help you one whit in these your great Dangers and extream Necessity pag. 219. That the Captivity of Constantinople was from the discord and departing from the Church of Rome pag. 215. The Pisans Kingdom prosper'd by Sea and Land till they laid wicked and violent Hands on the Church and the Ministers of the high God Ibid. Caesar would not suffer his Sword hung up as a Spoil gotten from him in the Church of Avernia to be pull'd down Vita ejus pag. 219. Mithridates in the Life of Lucullus notably afflicted by Diana pag. 226. Historius Banish'd taken Captive by the barbarous the City burnt over his Head his Life always in danger fell into a most deadly Contagion his Tongue eaten out of his Head with Worms and miserably died Evagr. Hist. lib. 1. pag. 169. Lastly Propound unto your selves the late Example of Philip Maria when he had good Success in all his Affairs and all things fell out with him as well as he could wish At length he gave over himself to such a madness that all fear set apart he challeng'd Church Goods to himself But mark how duly he suffer'd worthy Punishment being wearied with continual Wars he not only lost a great part of his own Dominions his Enemies besieging him even hard unto his Walls but also he suffer'd dangerous and grievous Diseases so that he being blind led a most sorrowful life a long time after But what became of his Empire and by what means his Noble Family is now clear extinguish'd and no Succession left at all it may easily appear to every Man the thing being so fresh in Memory Cels. Veron pag. 241. Frederick II. made Emperor by Innocent III. having taken the Cross against the Christian Enemies even then feared not wickedly to take away the Goods of the Church to employ them profanely but made a Sacrilegious pact with the mighty King of Egypt the Soldan concerning the suppressing of Religion and Religious Houses but he did not long escape the just Vengeance of God for after he had spoil'd many Cities after many Dissensions had with the Church of Rome after he had devour'd many Temples after many most cruel and barbarous Sacrileges having his own Son in a jealousie that he affected the Empire he shut him up in most filthy Dungeons till he dy'd And he feeling the great and grievous censure of the Church as the righteous God had appointed was Strangled by his own Son Manfredus most cursedly Celsus of Verona pag. 289. The Princes of Carraria in like Impiety when they began once wickedly to challenge to themselves the ordering of those things which belong only to the Holy Function by reason of the Pestilent Counsel they had taken very soon after lost the famous City Patavium most strong by Situation and free which was thought almost to be invincible Cels. of Ver. pag. 239 240. Eudo alias Oda Duke of Aquitane not able to resist Charles Martel draweth an excessive Army of Saracens out of Spain unto his aid They being come into France waste all places and burn down the Churches as far as to Poictiers Charles Martel assisted by the Hand of God encountreth them and slayeth three Hundred seventy five Thousand others say three Hundred eighty Thousand of them together with their King Abdyrama losing not above an Hundred and Fifty of his own Men. Then Eudo himself reconcil'd to Charles spoileth the Camp of the Saracens and destroyeth the rest But fighting again with Charles in Gascony loseth both his Dukedom of Aquitane and his Life his Sons also Gaifer and Haimald are overcome and the Saracens wholly beaten out of France Sigeb An. 730 732. Guil. de Nanges Blond 10. Decad. 1. Platin. The Normans under Ragenarius their Captain besides other Sacrileges spoil the Church of St. Germans by Paris and attempting to cut down some of the Firr Beams to repair their Ships three of them attempting it are dasht in pieces Another hewing a Marble Pillar with his Sword to overthrow some part of the Church had his Hand like Jeroboam's dried up and the haft of his Sword stuck so to it as it parted not without the Skin Many were stricken with Blindness and as
he went to this place to visit the Prince whom they called the King of Bohemia My Son seeing what the King was about and how he had prophaned the Church by making it a Store-house said to my Lord Craven That he fear'd it might be ominous to the King my Lord answer'd I will tell him what you say and turning to the King said This Gentleman fears this that your Majesty doth will not be prosperous to you the King answered That was but a Conceit and so pass'd it over But mark what follow'd upon it The King within a few Months after passing in a Bark with the Prince his eldest Son over the Delf of Harlam his Boat was casually stemm'd and overturn'd by a Barge that met him in the Night and tho' he himself with great difficulty was sav'd yet that hopefull Prince his Son had not that wofull happiness to be drowned right-out but after he was drench'd in the Water and gotten upon the Mast of the Bark wherein they perish'd he was there most miserably starv'd with Cold and frozen to Death And the Father himself while he lamented the death of his Son was by an unusual death of Princes taken away by the Plague laying thus the first Stone of his unfortunate Building like that of the Walls of Jericho in the death of his eldest Son and prevented in the rest by his own death God's Judgments are his Secrets I only tell Concurrences The other German Princes persecuted with the Sword and spoil'd of their Liberties How carefull the Heathens were not to misuse things consecrated to Almighty God When the Philistines had taken the Ark they with all Reverence plac'd it in the House of their God Dagon and fearing to keep it return'd it back with Oblations So Nabuchodonosor having taken away the holy Vessels of the Temple abused them not to prophane uses but kept them religiously in the House of his God And when Belshazar and his Kingdom was by the Justice of God extinguished for abusing of them and that thereby they came to the Hands of Cyrus in the Conquest of Babylon he understanding that they belonged to the Temple of God in Jerusalem would not be owner of them but sent them back to Jerusalem St. Jerom notes on Dan. 5. Quam diu vasa fuerunt in idolis Babylonicis non est iratus Dominus videbantur enim rem Dei secundum pravam quandam opinionem tamen divino cultui consecrâsse postquam autem humanis usibus divina contaminant statim poena sequitur post sacrilegium Most remarkable is the Piety of the Heathen King Darius 2 Macab 1 34 who hearing of the Pit wherein the holy Fire had been hid by the Prophet Jeremy and being turn'd into Water was after a long time taken thence by Nehemiah for the kindling of the Altar-Fire he caused the very place wherein these sanctified things had once been laid to be walled about and as holy Ground to be for ever sequestred from Prophanation Pompey the Great having taken the City Jerusalem by force and broken into the Temple seeing the inestimable Treasure and Riches thereof would neither take nor suffer any â—hing to be taken thence but commanded all things to be cleansed and the Sacrifices to be continued as they were formerly The Copy of His Majesty's Letter to the Vniversity of Oxon touching Glebe Tythes in Parsonages impropriated to be reduced to the sufficient and incumbent Minister as is here mention'd before James Rex RIght trusty and well belov'd We greet you well the Zeal that Religion might be well planted in this Realm and all other our Dominions hath caused Vs to enter into Consideration of all means that might best serve to the furtherance hereof Wherein finding that no one thing is a greater impediment than want of competent living to maintain Learned Men in such places of our Kingdom where the ordinary Benefit of the Vicarages doth not suffice and the Parsonages are impropriate and in Lay-mens Hands We have found that there could not be a readier way to supply that defect than if those Impropriations of Tythes might be converted again to the right use for which they were at present instituted wherein by God's Grace we have a purpose to do in such of of them as now are or shall be in Our Hands whatsoever Our State may well bear By which Example of Ours we presume to induce all others possess'd of the like to imitate Vs as far as with their Ability they may In the mean time We have consider'd that to give beginning to so good a work none were more fit than the Colleges in the Vniversities who being so eminent Members of Our State and having divers of them many such Impropriations and some of them also a desire as We are inform'd to provide for such persons out of such Livings as shall fall within their powers to dispose their Example should have great efficacy into all good men in this sort to advance the Glory of Christ's Gospel And because there may occur in the performance hereof some such particular difficulties as are unknown to Vs We have thought good before We entred further into it to recommend this Matter to your Consideration requiring you Our Chancellour and in your absence the Vice-Chancellour and Heads of Houses to assemble your selves and such discreet Men of all the Colleges as you shall think meet for such a Consultation and to propose that matter amongst you and to consider and set down some speedy course how upon the Expiration of the Years in being of any Lease of Tythes or Glebe impropriate the same may afterwards be so devised as Ecclesiastical Persons bred in the Houses to whom the same do belong respectively may be maintain'd and enabled to execute their Functions and yet the College provided of such things as are necessary for maintaining the same whereof We have no intention to wish any prejudice knowing well how fit it is that they be supported by all good means whatsoever of which your Deliberation and Resolution We do require you to advertise Vs with as convenient speed as you may both by Writing under your Hands and by some discreet Persons to be sent to Vs or Our Council to make Report of your doings therein Given under Our Sign at our Castle of Windsor the 10th of July 1603 in the first Year of the Reign of England France and Ireland and of Scotland 30th CHAP. VIII The particulars of divers Monasteries in Norfolk whereof the late Owners since the Dissolution are extinct or decayed or overthrown by Misfortunes and grievous Accidents ABout the Year I suppose 1615 or 1616 I described with a Pair of Compasses in the Mapp of Norfolk a Circle of 12 Miles the Semi-diameter according to the Scale thereof placing the Center about 24 the chief Seat of the Yelvertons within this Circle and the Borders of it I inclosed the Mansion-houses of about 24 Families of Gentlemen and the sight of as many Monasteries
reigning after him taken Prisoner by Pharaoh Nechoh and dying in Egypt his second Son Jehoiakim succeeding taken also Prisoner by Nebuchadnezzar Jerusalem spoiled and he his Princes People Treasure and Golden Vessels of the Temple all carried to Babylon and all for Idolatry 2 King 24. 2. 25. 1. For Jehoram's Idolatry Jerusalem is taken he with his Wives and Treasure and all his Sons save the Youngest slain and himself after a long tormenting Disease hath his Guts fall out 2 Chron. 21. 17 18 19. So Amaziah seeth Jerusalem defaced the Temple spoiled his Treasure carried away and himself a Prisoner and being restored driven out by Treason and slain at last 2 Chr. 25. 14 c. I will wade no farther in this Kind of Sacrilege which is never pass'd over in Scripture but with some Remarkable Punishments Our Country I hope doth not at this Day know it SECT III. Of the other Sorts of Sacrilege commonly so called as of Time Persons Function Place and other things consecrated to the Worship of God And first of Time in profaning the Sabbath I Come now to the second Part which indeed is that which the Schoolmen and Canonists only call Sacrilege as tho' the former were of too high a Nature to be express'd in this Appellation so exorbitant a Sin as that no Name can properly comprehend it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Warring against God and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a direful Violence upon Divine Majesty a superlative Sacrilege The other and common Kind of Sacrilege is as was said a violating mis-using or a putting away of things consecrated or appropriated to Divine Service or Worship of God It hath many Branches Time Persons Function Place and materially Omne illud saith Th. Aquinas quod ad irreverentiam rerum sacrarum pertinet ad injuriam Dei pertinet habet Sacrilegii rationem 2 a2 ae qu. 99. art 1. This Description of Sacrilege may well enough be extended further than Aquinas did perhaps intend it to the former or superlative Kind Sacrilege of Time is when the Sabbath or the Lord's Day is abused or profaned This God expresly punish'd in the Stick-gatherer Some Canonists seem not to reckon this under the common Kind of Sacrilege Soto de justitia jure lib. II. qu. 4. fol. 50. 6. So that in all that followeth we shall run the broken Way of the Schoolmen and Canonists SECT IV. Sacrilege of Persons that is Priests and Ministers consecrated to the Service of God and the Punishments thereof SAcrilege against the Person is when Priests or Ministers of God's Divine Service are either violated or abused Again Fear the Lord and honour his Priests Ecclus 7. 29 31. For he beareth the iniquity of the congregation to make an atonement for them before the Lord Deut. 8. 17. For the Levite is separate to the Lord to minister unto him to bless thee in his name Deut. 10. 8. therefore when Micah had got a Levite into his House he rejoiced and said I know that the Lord will be good unto me seeing I have a Levite to my priest Judg. 17. 13. Touch not mine anointed nor do my prophets no harm Psal. 105. 15. Mine anointed that is not my Kings nor my Priests and Deut. 12. 19. Beware that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth Beware saith God as intimating Danger and Punishment to hang over their head that offered otherwise and what not for wronging the Levite a thing too impious but for not loving and cherishing him all the days of thy Life I must here note as it cometh in my way the remarkable Justice and Piety of Pharaoh towards his Idol Priests that when by reason of the Famine he had got and bought unto himself all the Money Cattle Lands Wealth and Persons of the Egyptians yet stretched he not forth his Thoughts to the Lands or Persons of his Priests but commiserating their Necessity allowed them a ... at his own Charge that they might both live and keep their Lands Gen. 47. 22. Musculus hereupon infers Quantum sacrilegium est in nostris principibus negligi legitimos probosque sacrorum ministros How great a Sacrilege is it in our Princes that the good and lawful Ministers of Holy things are thus neglected It is to be noted That as Micah expected a Blessing from God for entertaining an Idolatrous Levite into his House so Pharaoh's Piety towards his Priests wanted not a Blessing from God upon his House though God hated both the Idolaters and Idolatry it self Let us see how Sacrilege in this Kind hath been punished The Benjamites of Gibeah wronging a Levite villainously in abusing his Wife Judg. 19. 25. Gibeah is therefore destroyed with Fire and Sword above 26000 valiant Men of the Benjamites slain and the whole Tribe almost wholly rased out of Israel with their Cities and Castles Ch. 20. Jeroboam making Golden Calves driveth the Priests of the Lord out of Israel and makes himself other Priests not of the Tribe of Levi for this he is overthrown by Abiah King of Judah and 500000 of his Men slain his Son taken from him and his Posterity threatned to be swept away like Dung and those of them that died in the city to be eaten of dogs those in the fields by the fowls of the air 2 Chron. 13. 9. 1 King 14. 10. Jeroboam also stretched but out his hand against the Prophet to have him apprehended and it is presently withered 1 Kings 13. 4. Joash commanded Zacharias Son of Jehoiada the Priest to be slain in the court of the Lord's house this done he is overcome the next Year following by the Aramites all his Princes are slain his Treasure and the Spoil is sent to Damascus himself left afflicted with great Diseases and at last murthered in his bed by his servants 2 Chron. 24. 21 c. Zedekiah King of Judah casteth Jeremy the Prophet first into Prison then for a season into the Dungeon and useth him harshly Jer. 32. 3. 37. 21. 38. 9. He and those that counselled him to it are overthrown by Nebuchadonosor Jerusalem taken his Sons slain before his Eyes and then his Eyes put out and the People carried captive to Babylon but Jeremiah himself is set at liberty and well intreated by his Enemies the Chaldaeans Jer. 39. 1 c. SECT V. Sacrilege of Function by usurping the Priests Office and the Punishment thereof SAcrilege of Function is when those that are not called to the Office of Priesthood or Ministry do usurp upon it So Gideon made an Ephod that is a Pontifical Ornament of the Tabernacle not at Shilo but in his own City Ophra whereby the Israelites fell to worship it or as others think that he made all the things of the Tabernacle whereby the People were drawn to worship there and not to go to Shilo where the Tabernacle was This saith the Text was the Destruction of Gideon and his House for his Son Abimelech rising against his Brethren
terrible Fire broke out of an House and spreading suddenly over a great part of the Town the whole Company was disperst and only the Monks left to end the Office begun The Funeral notwithstanding proceeded afterwards in great Solemnity the Bishops and Abbots of Normandy attending it But when the Mass was done and that the Bishop of Ebroscen at the end of his Sermon had desired all that were present to pray for the dead Prince and charitably to forgive him if he had offended any of them one Anselm Fitz-Arthur rising up said aloud The Ground whereon ye stand was the floor of my Father's House and the Man for whom ye make Intercession took it violently from him while he was Duke of Normandy and founded this House upon it I now therefore claim my own and forbid him that took it away by violence to 〈◊〉 covered with my Earth or to be buried 〈◊〉 my Inheritance The Bishops and Nobility hearing this and understanding it to be true by the Testimony of others presently compounded with the Party in fair manner giving him 60 s. in Hand for the place of Burial and promising a just Satisfaction for the rest for which he received afterwards a 100 l. in Silver by consent of Henry the Conqueror's Son This Blur being thus wiped away they proceeded to put the Corps into the Tomb or Coffin prepared by the Mason whereupon another followed very loathsome for it being too short and strait as they strove violently to thrust the Corps into it the fat Belly not being Boweled burst in pieces and vapoured forth so horrible a savour as the smoak of Frankincense and other Aromaticks ascending plentifully from the Censers prevail'd not to suppress it but both Priest and Company were driven tumultuously to dispatch the Business and get them gone Thus much of the Disasters touching the Person of the Conqueror To which may be added that his very Death proceeded from a violent Accident happening unto him in the Sacking of Medant where the heat and heaviness of his Armour and the extream clamor upon his Soldiers wrought as was reported a Dissolution of his Entrails à ruina intestinorum ejus liquefacta saith Gemeticensis for tho' he liv'd a while after yet he languish'd till his Death But note by the way that he who had in his Life-time destroy'd so many Churches and Burying-places being dead although he were so great a King yet he wanted the Office of his Children Friends and Servants to carry him to Church or to take care of his Burial that being carried thither by others the very Fire wherewith he had devoured certain Churches interrupted his Passage that being come to the Church he that had put so many by their places of Burial was now put by his own And lastly that when the place of his Burial was obtain'd for Money it happened fatally that it was too strait to receive him as tho' the Earth of the Church which he had so grievously injured were unwilling to open her Mouth to entertain him But after all difficulties Did he not rest quiet at last Reason would he should for the Grave is Asilum Requiei the Sanctuary of Rest and he did enjoy it for many Ages Yet the Bishop of Bajeux in the Year 1542. opened his Tomb and brought to light his Epitaph hidden in it Graven upon a Gilded-plate of Brass But in the Year 1562. certain French Soldiers with some English that under the Conduct of the Chastillon took the City of Caen and fell to spoiling of Churches there did barbarously break down and deface the Monument of this great King and as tho' the Malus Genius of the Churches which himself had destroy'd still pursued him with Revenge did take out his Bones and cast them away Verst p. 184. What befel these Soldiers that thus rifled Churches appeareth not obscurity and oblivion do conceal them But the lamentable end of the Chastillon himself that suffered this Outrage is very notorious in the Massacre of Paris To come to his Posterity his Sons were four all of them at times in War amongst themselves Robert the eldest deprived of his Birth-right the Crown of England first by his Brother William then by his Brother Henry who also took from him his Dutchy of Normandy put out his Eyes and kept him cruelly in Prison till the Day of his Death His only Son Richard hunting in the New-Forest was slain in the Life of his Father by an Arrow shot casually as Florentius Wigorneinsis reporteth Others name him Henry and say he was hanged there like Absalom by the Hair of the Head Be it one or both the Death was violent and in the New-Forest But thus Robert died without Issue nothing prospering with him as Stow noteth after his Father Cursed him Richard second Son of the Conqueror Duke of Beorne as Stow saith died also in the same Forest in the fifteenth Year of his Father upon a pernicious Blast that happened on him but Gemeticensis lib. 11. c. 9. saith with a blow of a Tree William Rufus the third Son was contaminate as well with his own as his Fathers Sacrilege for he would part with no Bishoprick that came into his Hands without Money for it by reason whereof he had lying upon his Hand for want of Chapmen thirteen Bishopricks at the time of his Death He was also slain in the same Forest An. with an Arrow out of the Quiver of God shot casually by Sir Walter Tyrell and as Florentius reporteth in the very self-same place where a Church did stand till the Conqueror destroy'd it He also died without Issue Gemeticens lib. 7. cap. 9. Henry the fourth Son being King Hen. I. abstain'd as I imagine Hunting in the New-Forest but God met with him in another Corner for having but two Sons William legitimate and Richard natural they were in the fifteenth Year of his Reign both drowned with other of the Nobility coming out of France and himself dying afterward without Issue Male in the Year 1135. gave a period to this Norman Family Here I must observe as elsewhere I have done that about the very same point of time viz. 68 Years wherein God cut off the Issue of Nebuchadnezzar and gave his Kingdom to another Nation after he had invaded the holy Things of the Temple About the very same point of time I say after the Conqueror had made this Spoil of Churches did God cut off his Issue Male and gave his Kingdom to another Nation not of Normandy but Bloys Inter An. 1061. An. 1070. Vrsus Abbot was made Sheriff of Worcester by William the Conqueror and building a Castle in Worcester near the Monastery cut a part of the Church-yard into the Dike of his Castle which Aldred the Arch-Bishop of York seeing said to him Hatest thou Urse have thou God's curse unless thou takest down this Castle and know assuredly that thy Posterity shall not long inherit this Ground of St. Mary ' s. He foretold
flowed into it by Act of Parliament the next year following being the 33d of his Reign to the Number one and other of But as the Red-sea by the miraculous Hand of God was once dried up so was this Sea of Wealth by the wastfull Hand of this Prince immediately so dried up as the very next year viz. Regni 34. the Parliament was drawn again to grant him a great Subsidy for in the Statute-book it is so stiled and this not serving his turn he was yet driven not only to enhance his Gold and Silver-money in Anno 36 but against the Honour of a Prince to coin base Money and when all this served not his turn in the very same year to exact a Benevolence of his Subjects to their grievous Discontent Perceiving therefore that nothing could fill the gulf of his effusion and that there was now a just cause of great expence by reason of his Wars at Bulloign and in France they granted him in the 37th Year 2 Subsidies at once and four Fifteens and for a Corollary all the Colleges Free-Chapels Chantries Hospitals c. before-mentioned in Number 2374. upon confidence that he should dispose them as he promised solemnly in the Parliament to the Glory of God who in truth for ought that I can hear had little part thereof The next year was his fatal Period otherwise it was much to be feared that Deans and Chapters if not Bishopricks which have been long levelled at had been his next design for he took a very good Say of them by exchanging Lands with them before the Dissolution giving them rackt Lands and small things for goodly Manners and Lordships and also Impropriations for their solid Patrimony in finable Lands like the exchange that Palamedes made with Glaucus much thereby encreasing his own Revenues as he took 72 from York besides other Lands Tenements Advowsons Patronages c. in the 37th of his Reign which are mentioned particularly in the Statute 37. Henry VIII cap. 16. He took also 30 and above as I remember in the 27th Year from the Bishop of Norwich whom he left not that I can learn one Foot of the goodly Possessions of his Church save the Palace at Norwich and how many I know not in the 37th Year also from the Bishop of London I speak not of his prodigal Hand in the Blood of his Subjects which no doubt much alienated the Hearts of them from him But God in these eleven Years space visited him with 5 or 6 Rebellions In Lincolnshire Anno 28 and 3 one after another in Yorkshire Anno 33 one in Somersetshire Anno 29 and again in Yorkshire Anno 33. And though Rebellions and Insurrections are not to be defended yet they discover unto us what the displeasure and dislike was of the common People for spoiling the Revenues of the Church whereby they were great losers the Clergy being mercifull Landlords and bountifull Benefactors to all Men by their great Hospitality and Works of Charity Thus much touching his own Fortunes accompanying the Wealth and Treasure gotten by him as we have declared by confiscating the Monasteries wherein the prophetical Speech that the Archbishop of Canterbury used in the Parliament 6. Henry IV. seemeth performed That the King should not be one farthing the richer the next Year following II. What happened to the King's Children and Posterity Touching his Children and Posterity after the time that he entered into these Courses he had two Sons and three Daughters whereof one of each kind died Infants the other three succeeding in the Crown without Posterity His base Son the Duke of Richmond died also without Issue and as the Issue of Nebuchodonosor was extinct and his Kingdom given to another Nation the 68th Year after he had rifled the Temple of Jerusalem and taken away the holy Vessels so about the same period that King Henry VIII began to sack the Monasteries with their Churches and things dedicated to God was his whole Issue extinct Male and Female base and legitimate and his Kingdom transferred to another Nation and therein to another Royal Family which is now His Majesty's singular happiness that had no hand in the like depredation of the Monasteries and Churches of that Kingdom there committed by the tumultuous if not rebellious Subjects Contrary as it seems to the good liking of our late Sovereign King James who as is reported said that if he had found the Monasteries standing he would not have pulled them down not meaning to continue them in their superstitious Uses but to employ them as Chorah's censers to some godly purposes Wherein most piously he declared himself both in restoring as I hear some Bishopricks and divers Appropriations in Scotland and also by moving the Universities of England to do the like as by his gracious Letter doth appear which shall here following be expressed in the end So his Grandfather King James the 4th of Scotland when he was solicited by Sir Ralph Sadler then Embassador from King Henry to augment his Estate by taking into his Hands the Abbies James refus'd saying What need I take them into mine Hands when I may have any thing I require of them And if there be Abuses in them I will reform them for there be a great many good Which was a wise answer and if King Henry had done the like here he might have had an immense and ample Revenue out of the Monasteries and old Bishopricks while they enjoyed their Lands being a third part of the Kingdom as appears by Doomsday-Book by way of First-fruits Tenths Pensions and Corrodies yearly that he should never have needed at any time to ask one Subsidy of his Subjects To return where we left off having spoken of the extinguishment of the Issue of King Henry whereof the immortally renown'd Princess Queen Elizabeth was the golden period Let us cast our Eyes upon the principal Agents and Contrivers of this Business III. What happen'd to the Principal Agents The Lord Cromwel was conceived to be the principal mover and prosecutor thereof both before and in the Parliament of 27 and 37 Hen. VIII and for his good service impenso impendendo upon the 18th of April before the beginning of the Parliament of 31 which was on the last of the Month he was created Earl of Essex and his Son Gregory made Lord Cromwell yet e're the Year was past from the end of the Parliament of 31 he fell wholly into the King's Displeasure and in July 32 he was attainted and beheaded professing at his Death that he had been seduc'd and dy'd a Catholick His Son Gregory Lord Cromwell being as I said made a Baron in the life time of his Father and invested with divers great Possessions of the Church supported that new risen Family from utter ruine but his Grandchild Edward Lord Cromwell wasting the whole Inheritance sold the head of his Barony Oukham in Rutlandshire and exchanging some of the rest all that remained with the E. of Devonshire for