Attainted in a 〈…〉 nire and not long after by the counsel of Thomas Cromwel who â—â—d formerly sollicited the Cardinal's Business iâ— the Legantine Court involves the whole Body of the Clergy in the same Crime with him By the Instigations and â—â—â—swasions of this man he requires the Clergy to acknowledge Him for Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England nor that any new Canons or Constitutions could be made or executed otherwise than by his Consent and Allowance Thus the King being grown more confident in the Equity and Justice of his Cause by the Determinations of most of the Universities abroad and his own Clergy at home and wanting no Encouragement from the French King for the promoting of his business he advanced Anne Bollen to the Honour of Marchioness of Pembroke took her to Wife and gave Order for her being inaugurated Queen By this Marriage as we have already said was born the Lady Elizabeth And shortly after the said Marriage contracted with Queen Katharine was by the Authority of the Parliament judged void and incestuous and this with Queen Anne lawful and agreeeable to the Word of God the Crown to be entayled on the Kings Heirs Males to be begotten on her Body and for default oâ— such Issue on the Princess Elizabeth and Queen Katharine's Daughter the Lady Mary was declared illegitimate an Oath was likewise devised in defence of the said Succession and some Persons executed for the refusal of that Oath And Pope Paul the Third designing to renew His Sentence against this Marriage the States of the Realm assembled in Parliament confirmed what the Clergy had before declared that is That the King was Supream Head of the Church of England with all manner of Authority to reform Errors Heresies and Abuses in the same However She had scarce been fully married three Years than that miscarrying of a Son the King grew extreamly discontented looking upon it as an Argument of Gods displeasure as being as much offended at this second Marriage as he was at the first And though she used all lawful Arts of Love and Entertainment for the inflaming his Passion he grew as weary of her gay and merry Humour as he had been formerly at the Gravity and Reservedness of Katharine So that falling in love with Jane Ser 〈…〉 one of the Queens Maids of Honour and a person of extraordinary Peâ—â—â—y He put in practice all the cruel Acts that His Jealousie and Aversion to the present Queen could inspire him with and at length to make way for his New Passion he caused Queen Ann to be brought to her Tryal as being accused of Adultery and Incest And being condemned though she made so good a defence as perswaded all the world of her Innocenee she went to the Scaâ—fold with great Chearfulness Praying most fervently for the King and asserting her Innocence to the very last The King the very next day after marryeth Jane Seymour and causeth a Solemn Instrument to pass under the Seal of the Arch-bishop of Canterbury by which the Marriage with Anne Bollen is declared null and void and the Lady Elizabeth the only Issue of this Marriage to be illegitimate which Sentence was pronounced at Lambeth on the 17th of May following in the presence of several of the Principal Ministers Nobility and Clergy and was afterwards confirmed by Authority of Parliament Queen Jane fell in labour of Pri 〈…〉 Edward and died presently after the Prince was brought into the World who was cut out of her Womb and succeeded his Father in his Kingdom The King being little concerned at his Wives Death looks out for New Amours both in France and Italy that he might thereby procure Friends and strengthen himself by Alliances For that he was grown fearful of the Nobility lest they who had already influenced several Commotions and Rebellions at home should likewise joyn with a foreign Enemy for which reason he caused several of them to be executed He likewise put frequently to Death Religious Men for their stiff and resolute Asserting the Pope's Authority and causeth the great as well as he had already done the small Abbeys to be demolished and confiscated their Wealth to his own use which he did by reason of vicious Lives and dissolute Courses they led in those Religious Houses and he likewise causeth the Protestants to be burned as Hereticks by a Law called the six Articles made against those who â—mpugned the Doctrine of the Church of Rome touching Transubstantiation one â—ind of the Eucharist the unmarried life of Priests Vows private Mass and Auricular Confession By these means being grown terrible to his own Subjects and being looked upon as Tyrannical by Foreigners he was both rejected by Mary of Lorrain Daughter to the Duke of Guise whom he demanded in marriage and was Rival therein to James King of Sootland and likewise by Christiana of Denmark Dutchess of Millain Neece to Charles the 5th who declared That she would willingly give an Arm but was loth to purchase with her Head the Honour and Happiness of being Queen of England At length after much difficulty he obtained Anne of Cleve to Wife while he made it his business to acquire the friendship of the Protestants in Germany But she far from being charming was accused of certain Female Weaknesses and having likewise formerly been betrothed to the Duke of Lorraine's Son he put her away and married Katharine Howard Daughter to Edmund Howard and Neece to the Duke of Norfolk Whom within a year after he caused to be beheaded as convicted of Incontinency before Marriage and took to Wife Katharine Parr the Daughter of a Knight whom he left a second time a widow And now finding that the intemperance of his Youth had much decayed his Body and being inraged against the French for that they had underhand given Aid to the Scots against the English he made a League with the Emperour Charles against the most Christian King thereupon designing to invade France and thought convenient to settle first the Succession to which end he proposed to the two Houses of Parliament that if he and his Son Prince Edward should decease without Issue first the Lady Mary and if she should fail of Issue then the Lady Elizabeth should succeed to the Crown But in case all these should die without issue that then the Crown of England should be devolved upon those whom he should assign it to either by his Letters Patents or by his last Will and Testament which was unanimously agreed to and enacted upon pain of high Treason After his reâ—â—â—â— home from the taking of Bolloign finding his Exchequer drained by that Expedition and England distracted through the new Opinions that daily arose and the People dissatisfied to see the Wealth of the Land exhausted to so little Advantage their Ancient Structures demolished the Blood of the Nobility and others both Papists and Protestants promiscuously spilt and the Countrey incumbred with a Scottish War taking all these
in the Courts of the various Princes and States but more particularly her Minister at the Court of Spain was ordered to represent unto that King how sensible she was of the Humanities she had received from him in the time of her Persecution and Troubles Instructions were likewise dispatched to Sir Edw. Harne the English Agent at the Court of Rome to acquaint the Pope with Queen Mary's Death and her succeeding upon the Throne with a desire that they might mutually receive all good Offices from one another But the Pope's Answer was in the usual rigorous Stile of that Court That the Kingdom of England was held in Fee of the Apostolick See that she could not succed being illegitimate that he could not contradict the Declaration of Clement the Seventh and Paul the Third that it was a great Boldness to assume the Name and Government of it without him yet being desirous to shew a fatherly Affection if she will renounce her Pretensions and refer her self wholly to his free Dispositions he will do whatsoever may be done with the Honour of the Apostolick See But the Queen having made him this Complement did not think of having any Answer nor was she much concerned when she had In the mean time King Philip having had notice of Queen Mary his Wife's Death he caused his Ambassador the Count of Feria to propose a Match between Queen Elizabeth and himself promising to procure a Dispensation from the Court of Rome These offers put the Queen into great perplexity as thinking it but an ill return to reject a Prince who had done her such Kindnesses during her Troubles And the French King was no less concerned fearing lest this Kingdom being again united to the Spaniard his Dominions must at length have buckled under so great a Power Wherefore he used all his Endeavours to put a Stop to the Dispensation at the Court of Rome and to all the other Places that might be made towards this Match elsewhere But he might have spared himself these Troubles for Queen Elizabeth never designed to enter into any such Marriage well knowing she would thereby have acknowledged her self to have been born in unlawful Wedlock and likewise considering that the Marriage of a Woman with her deceased Sister's Husband is prohibited by Sacred Authority as well as the Marriage of a man with his Brother's Widow and therefore unlawful notwithstanding the Pope's Dispensation wherefore she putteth off King Philip by degrees and with all the Civility and Circumstance imaginable Now many who were imprisoned upon the Account of Religion were set at Liberty at which time a merry Gentleman of the Court petitioned her in Favour of the Evangelists who had been so long imprisoned in a Latin Translation that they might be set at Liberty and walk abroad as formerly in the English Tongue To whom she immediately replyed in this manner That he should first endeavour to know the Minds of the Prisoners who possibly desired no such Liberty as was demanded Now the Queen being extreamly desirous of promoting the Protestant Religion she consulted with her most trusty Counsellors how that Religion might be established and the Popish abolished causing all Dangers to be well poised that might arise on this occasion and the Means and Expedients that might be used for the preventing and avoiding them Hereupon she put into the Principal Courts of Judicature and Offices of Trust such Persons as were well known to be of the Protestant Religion or inclined to it and did the same in the Commission of the Peace in every County The Dangers that might be expected from abroad were either from the Bishop of Rome by his Excommunication and exposing the Kingdom to any Invasion or from the French King who in such a Juncture might have broke off the Treaty of Peace at Cambray and make War upon the English in Favour of the Queen of Scots not only as Enemies but likewise as they are pleased to call the Protestants as Hereticks and might have procured Scotland to have done the same being at that time at his Devotion or from the Irish a People extreamly bigotted to Popery and always very ready to break out into a Rebellion Now as for the Thunder-bolts of Rome they were looked upon as things not at all to be dreaded but was resolved that in case the French made any offers of a Peace they were to be accepted if they did not then offers were to be made to them by reason that such a Peace would also comprehend Scotland but however to stick close to and give all manner of Aid and Countenance to those of the Reformed Religion both in France and Scotland that the Garrisons in Ireland and upon the Borders of Scotland should be better manned and fortified and that the Treaties with the House of Burgundy should be confirmed and friendship continued with the Spaniard And now having provided against all Mischances that might happen from abroad she proceeded to do all that might conduce towards the advancement and setling of the Protestant Religion at home by ordering that none should be chosen into any Colledges of both Universities but Protestants and that all Roman Catholick Presidents Heads and Masters should be put out and removed both from thence and all other Schools of the Land and for the curbing the rash zeal of both Parties she caused two Proclamations to be published by one of which it was commanded That no man of what Perswasion soever he was in Points of Religion should be suffered from thence forward to preach in publick but only such as should be licensed by her Authority and that all such as were so licensed or appointed should forbear preaching upon any Point which was matter of Controversie and might conduce rather towards the exasperating than the calming of mens Passions Which Proclamation was observed with all the care and strictness imaginable By the other Proclamation it was ordered That no Man of what Quality or Degree soever should presume to alter any thing in the state of Religion or innovate in any of the Rites and Ceremonies thereunto belonging but that all such Rites and Ceremonies should be observed in all Parish Churches of the Kingdom as were then used and retained in her Majesties Chappel until â—ome further Order should be taken in it Only it was permitted and withal required That the Litany the Lords Prayer the Creed and the Ten Commandments should be said in the English Tongue and the Epistle and the Gospel at the time of the High Mass should be said in English which was accordingly performed in all the Churches of the Kingdom She likewise ordered the Divine who officiated in her Chappel not to make any Elevation of the Sacrament for the abolishing the Popish Superstitious manner of adoring it which she could not endure should be done in her Sight as being wholly contrary to her Judgment and Conscience And then she proceeded to the reviewing and correcting of the former Liturgy
all the French Forces should immediately depart out of Scotland except sixty men only to bâ— left in Dunbar and as many in the Fo 〈…〉 of Nachkeeth that they should be transported for their greater Security in English Bottoms that all matters of Religio 〈…〉 should be referred to the following Parliament that an Act of Oblivion should be passed for the Indemnity of all who ha 〈…〉 borne Arms on either side that a general Bond of Love and Amitâ— should bâ— made betwixt the Lords and their 〈…〉 râ—nts of both Religions And 〈…〉 amongst many other Particulars That n 〈…〉 ther the Queen of Scots nor the French King should from thence forward 〈…〉 the Titles and Arms of England 〈…〉 Articles being signed for both Kin 〈…〉 the French 〈…〉 Scotland 〈…〉 English Army being returned home was thereupon disbanded Shortly after which the Earls of Morton and Glencarn were sent by the Congregation to pay their most 〈…〉 mble Thanks and Acknowledgments to â—er Majesty for her ready and successful Assistance and to implore the Continuation of her Favour and Protection in case they should be invaded by the French or any other Enemies Whereof having received gracious Assurances and being 〈…〉 obly entertained and bountifully rewarded with Gifts and Presents they returned with such Joy and Satisfaction to â—he Congregation that for these Reasons and for the further engaging her Protection they obliged themselves by their Subscription to embrace the Liturgy with all the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England which for a time remained the only Form of Worship retained in the Kirke of Scotland After which they caused a Parliament to be called in Pursuance of the Articles of the Pacification from which no Person w 〈…〉 ed who had any Right of Suff 〈…〉 ose Authority three Acts pa 〈…〉 g wholly to the promoting and establishing of the Reformation The first was for the abolishing the Pope's Jurisdiction and Authority within that Realm the second For the annulling all Statutes made in former Times for maintenance of Idolatry and Superstition and the third for the Punishments of the Sayers and Hearers of Mass. And now let us return to England where the Earl of Arrain being recommended by the Protestants of Scotland for a Husband to Queen Elizabeth by that means to have united the two Crowns this Match was handsomly rejected by her and with great Commendation of the Person The like Address was made by the King of Denmark in Favour of Adolph Duke of Holstein a Prince who had gained great Honours by the Wars and who came himself over for that purpose but was dismissed by the Queen with the Honour of the Garter and a yearly Pension whereby she bound him for ever to her Interests At home Sir William Pickering the Earl of Arundel and Robert Dudley the Duke of Northumberland's younger S 〈…〉 statter'd themselves with the hopes 〈…〉 taining unto the Honour of being her Husband In the mean time the Lord Vicount Montacute the Queens Ambassador in Spain represents to that King the Necessity of the Scotish War endeavours to free the Scots from all Aspersions of Rebellion proving though a zealous Catholick that the Religion that was now introduced into England was wholly consonant to the Sacred Scriptures and the four first General Councils and demanded that the League of Burgundy might be renewed Whereto that King replyed That the confirming of the League was in no wise necessary bemoaneth the Change of Religion in England is troubled at the Expedition into Scotland sendeth back the Order of the Garter and taketh unkindly some Repulses in things of small Moment and though he gave some necessary Cautions as to Clauses to be inserted in the Treaty of Edenborough and for a while opposed the French Practiâ—â— at Rome who endeavoured to proâ—â—â—rt Queen Elizabeth to be excommunicated yet his Ministers incensing him 〈…〉 more and more against the Engl 〈…〉 Affronts were offered to the Queens Ambassador at his Court and he is likewise said to have then endeavoured to perswade the new elected Pope to thunder out his Bulls of Excommunication against her Majesty But the Court of Rome being sensible how little she valued those empty Crackers instead of complying with the Spaniard sent to her the Abbot Vincentio Papalia with secret Instructions and fawning Letters whereof you have here an Abstract To our most dear Daughter Elizabeth Queen of England OUR most dear Daughter in Christ greeting and Apostolical Benediction How greatly We do desire according as our Pastoral Office requireth to take care of your Salvation and to provide as well for your Honour as the Establishment of your Kingdom both God the Searcher of our Hearts knoweth and you your self may understand by the Instructions which we have given to this Our beloved Son Vincentio Papalia Abbot of St. Saviour a man known unto you and of Us well approved to be by him imparted unto You. We do therefore most Dear Daughter exhort and admonish your Highness again That rejecting bad Councellors â—â—â— love not you but themselves and serve their own Deâ—â—â—s You would take the Fear of God to counsel and acknowledging the time of your Visitation oâ—ey Our Fatherly Admonitions and wholsome Advices and promise to your self all things concerning Us which you shall desire of Us not onely for the Salvation of your Soul but also for the establishing and confirming of your Royal Dignity according to the Authority Place and Function committed to Us by God who if you return into the Bosoâ— of the Church as We wish and hope you will are ready to receive you with the same Love Honour and Rejoycing wherewith that Father in the Gospel received his Son who returned unto him although our Joy shall be so much the greater than his in that he rejoyced for the Salvation of one onely Son but You drawing with you all the people of England shall not only by your own Salvation but also by the Salvation of the whole Nation replenish Us and all our Brethren in General whom God willing you should hear shortly to be congregated in an Oecumenical and General Council for abolishing of Heresies and the whole Church with joy and gladness Yea you shall also glad Heaven it self and purchase â—y somemorable a Fact admirable Glory to your Name and much more renowned than that Crown you wear But of this matter the same Vincentio shall treat with you more at large and shall declare unto you our Fatherly affection whom we pray your Highness that you will graciously receive diligently hear and give the same Credit to his Speech which you would do to Our Self Given at Rome at Saint Peters c. The 1.5 day of May 1560. In our first year Notwithstanding all this Cajoslery Queen Elizabeth kept firm to her Motto viz. Always the same insomuch that the Pope was deceived in his hopes The proposals that the Pope is said to have designed to have made by this Abbot were That he would
Circumstances to heart and being grown extraordinary Corpulent he died of a Virulent Inflammation in his Leg in the beginning of the Year 1547. He was succeeded by Prince Edward his Son though not fully ten years old of whose Person the Earl of Hartford his Unkle was made Governour and Protector of the Kingdom until he should have attained the Age of Eighteen years and as such was proclaimed in all Parts of London It was under his happy Government that the English gained a great Victory over the Scots whilst they were demanding with Sword in hand the performance of a Treaty touching a Match between King Edward and Mary Queen of Scotland the severe Law of the Siâ— Articles and others were repealed that were made by Henry the Eighth against the Protestants those for abolishing the Pope's Authority are confirmed the Mass is abrogated Images are taken out of Churches the Books of both Testaments printed in English Divine Service celebrated in the same Tongue and both kinds ministred in the Sacraments At which the Romanists being inraged they put in practise all their Arts for the making a stop to such fair beginnings caused Dissention to be sowed amongst the Nobility and thereby the loss of several considerable Places both in France and Scotland promoted Tumults Factions debasing of Money and all other things that might stir up the People to Rebellion procured the Protector to be accused condemned and beheaded for Felony and at length removed the King himself by an untimely Death whether by Poyson or otherwise is uncertain apprehending and hating him for his extraordinary Virtues which much surpassed what could have been expected from his tender years During these sad Occurrences the Duke of Northumberland being â—ound by the Papists to be the fittest Instrument for the effecting their Designs as being of their own Religion under a Protestant Mask they made Use of him for the bringing about their Ends by sowing Distraction in the Nation by setting the Protector and his Brother Thomas Seymour at variance which he effected through a Female Emulation between the Dutchess of Somerset the Protector 's Wife and the Queen Dowager the Wife of Thomas And amongst other Articles of High Treason that were laid to Thomas his charge was that of intending to seize the King and of taking the Lady Elizabeth the King's Sister to Wife But she being wholly ignorant of this business and freeing her self from all suspicion and advancing towards a mature Age she was not onely extremely beloved by the King her Brother who never call'd her by any other Name than his sweet Sister Temperance but likewise by the Nobility and the whole Nation in general King Edward by the Practices of the Duke of Northumberland having declared the Lady Jane Gray for his Successor she was immediately after his Decease publickly proclaimed Queen of England and for the maintaining her in that Degree pretensions were put forward as first the Invalidity of the Lady Mary's and Elizabeth's Mother's Marriage both being made void by Legal Sentences of Divorce and those Divorces ratified by Acts of Parliament which Acts of the Lady Mary's and Lady Elizabeth's Illegitimation were never duely repealed Notwithstanding that the King their Father had by the same Act declared that they should succeed in order after Edward the Sixth in case he failed of Issue Secondly It was pretended that these two Sisters being but of half Blood to the Deceased King admitting them to have been born in lawful Wedlock were not in a capacity by the Common Law to be Heirs unto him or to succeed in any part of that Inheritance which came un-unto him by his Father Now the Lady Jane's Mother being the Lady Frances Daughter and one of the Co-heirs of Charles Brandon the late Duke of Suffolk by Mary his Wife Queen Dowager to Lewis the Twelfth of France and youngest Daughter to King Henry the Seventh Grand-father to King Edward now deceased Now I say the Lady Frances her Mother might seem both by the Law of Nature and the Right of Succession to have precedency in Title before her yet she received no injury because she was willing to pass by all her personal Claims for the Preferment of her Daughter It was also given out that Henry the Eighth by his last Will and Testament conveyed the Title of the Crown to the Lady Jane Gray and moreover Politick Reasons and Pretexts were used as that there was an unavoidable danger of reducing this Kingdom under the Vassalage and Servitude of the Bishop of Rome in case either of the King 's two Sisters should marry with a Foreign Prince of that Religion or otherwise of themselves revoke the Bishop of Rome's Authority and subject the English to a Popish Yoke But through the extraordinary Affection the Nobility and Commons had for the Daughters of King Henry the 8th this great Storm was dispersed within the space of twenty dayes to the fatal End of the Duke of Northumberland and the Lady Jane and the Lady Mary was proclaimed Queen throughout all England And at her coming to London with an Army the Lady Elizabeth met her with five hundred Horse notwithstanding the offers that had been made her by the Duke of a vast Sum of money and certain Lands if she would resign her Title to the Crown lest she should fail her Sister 's and her own Cause which was then in hand Queen Mary caused in the first Parliament that she held all those Acts to be repealed that had been made against the Marriage of Queen Katharine her Mother and King Henry the 8th and the Marriage was judged to be agreeable to the Laws of God and to all intents valid and available The same Form also of Religion and Service of God and Administration of the Sacraments which had been in use at the Death of Henry the 8th were re-established however without any acknowledgment or mention at all of the Pope's Authority notwithstanding all the Efforts of the Queen and Cardinal Pool for the Parliament were very unwilling to admit and acknowledge the Authority of the Bishop of Rome which was now shaken off Neither would they suffer that the Queen should lay down the Title of Supream Head of the Church of England unto which most of the Nobility Bishops and Commons had sworn to Henry the 8th his Heirs and Successors But the Queen was very desirous to lay down this Title as believing that her Pretensions to the Crown had no better Foundation than the Authority of the Bishop of Rome who had maintained her Cause after that her father had procured her to be declared Illegitimate And indeed at this time the apprehensions of the English were so great of Popery and of being inslaved by it's means and by the Match that was concluded with Phillip to the Yoke of Spain as that it caused some to break out into Rebellion as Wyat and others But notwithstanding the Papists had got their will by procuring after much opposition the Roman
which she committed to the Care of several learned moderate and judicious Divines and Gentlemen but she only acquainted four of the Members of her Privy Council with this Project About this time the Funeral of the Deceased Queen was solemnized with very great state in the Abby of Westminster and the like Ceremony was performed within a few days after for the Death of that Great Emperour Charles the 5th who having two Years before resigned the Empire to his Brother and all his other vast Dominions to his Son abandoned all the Grandeurs of this World and retired into a Monastery where he wholly devoted himself to God and his Service But notwithstanding the State of these Solemnities was extraordinary in it's kind yet was it far short of the Splendour and Majesty that attended her Coronation And as a Preparation thereunto she restored some to their former and raised others to new Honours Having performed which she was Conducted with extraordinary Pomp and Triumph from the Tower through the City of London to Westminster with incredible Joy and Acclamations and behaving her self with so Graceful Modest and yet Majestick an Air that as it caused Tears of Joy to fall from some so it inspired the Hearts of all with Prayers and Thanksgivings but nothing charmed them more than her accepting of an English Bible richly Bound which was presented to her from one of the Pageants by a Child representing Truth At the sight whereof she kiss'd both her hands and with both her hands she receiv'd the Book and then laid it to her Bosom intimating that it should be the nearest of all things to her heart being fuller of acknowledgment to the City for that Excellent Present than for all the rest she had received from them that day in â—uch Abundance and promised to be diligent in the reading of it By which and sundry other such like Pious Acts she perfectly gained the Affections of all the Spectators and by their means the Hearts of all her other Subjects The next day after this Cavalcade she was Crowned at Westminster by the Bishop of Carlile all the other Bishops refusing to perform that Office as fearing the Pope's Displeasure and the Fall or at least some Alteration of the Catholick Religion in this Kingdom which they were resolved not to Conform themselves to Her Devotion was so great that every Morning as soon as she was up she spent some time in Prayer and besides at the appointed hours she went constantly to her private Chappel In Lent she was Cloâ—thed in Black after the antient manner hearing constantly anâ— attentively the Sermons though she many times said That she had rather talâ— with God devoutly by Prayer than heaâ— others speak eloquently of his Divine Majesty As touching the Cross the Blesseâ— Virgin and the Saints she had no contemptible Opinion nor ever spoke otherwise of them than with Reverence noâ— would allow others to speak irreverently oâ— them And by the Parliament it was unanimously enacted That the Lady Elizabeth was by the Law of God the Common Law of England and the Statutes of the Realm the most Certain Lawful and Undoubted Queen of England but however without repealing the Statute where in her Father had Excluded her from thâ— Succession or without making any Act 〈…〉 the Validity of her Mothers Marriage oâ— which her Title principally depended For which Sir Nicholas Bacon then Lo 〈…〉 Keeper was condemned of Imprudenâ— and Neglect on whose Judgment the Queen wholly depended in matters 〈…〉 Law seeing it had been objected by somâ— against Queen Mary and for that reasoâ— her Ministers had been careful to have it repealed in what concerned her self But Bacon not only knew the old Law Maxime That the Crown takes away all the defects and stops in blood and that from the time the Queen did assume the Crown the Fountain was cleared and all Attainders and corruption of blood discharged And besides he possibly thought it more prudent that the Queen Mother's Marriage should pass as a thing unquestionable and no ways subject to dispute than to ground it upon the inconstancy of Acts and Statutes There pass'd also an Act for the restoring to the Crown the Tenths and first Fruits first setled upon it in the time of King Henry the Eighth and afterwards remitted by Queen Mary There likewise passed an Act for the Dissolution of all those Monasteries Convents and Religious Orders as had been Founded and Established by the late Queen In the passing of these Acts there was little Opposition but when they came to debate of the Act of Supremacy it seemed to several a thing both strange and contrary to Nature and Policy that a Woman should be declared Supream Head on Earth of the Church of England whereupon an Expedient was found out to satisfie their Cavils and remove all Obstructions by putting in Governour instead of Head the Act being couched in these Terms That whatsoever Jurisdictions Priviledges and Spiritual Preheminences had been heretofore in use by any Ecclesiastical Authority whatsoever to visit Ecclesiastical men and correct all manner of Errors Heresies Schisms Abuses and Enormities should be for ever annexed to the Imperial Crown of England That the Queen and her Successors might by their Letters Patents substitute certain men to exercise that Authority Provided that they should define nothing to be Heresie but those things which were long before defined to be Heresies out of the Sacred Canonical Scriptures or the first four Oecumenical Councils or other Councils by the true and proper sence of the Holy Scriptures or should thereafter be so defined by Authority of Parliament with Assent of the Clergy of England assembled in a Synod that all and every Ecclesiastical Persons Magistrates Receivers of Pensions out of the Exchequer such aâ— were to receive Degrees in the Universities Wards that were to sue their Liveries and to be invested in their Livings and such as were to be admitted into the Number of the Queens Servants c. should be obliged by Oath to acknowledge the Queens Majesty to be the only and Supream Governour of her Kingdoms in all Matters and Causes as well Spiritual as Temporal all Forreign Princes and Potentates being wholly excluded from taking Cognisance of Causes within her Dominions This Act was stifly opposed by nine Bishops and only two Temporal Lords who were the Earl of Shrewsbury and Anthony Brown Vicount Montacute who had been sent in the time of Queen Mary to tender Obedience to the Apostolick See But were joyfully and unanimously assented to by the far major part of the House of Commons the Papists complaining that the Votes had been surprised and that the Duke of Norfolk the Earl of Arundel and Cecil had by cunning procured Voices in favour of those Acts. Now Men differing so much in points of Religion it was ordered by Proclamation that no man should speak unreverently of the Sacrament and both kinds were allowed to be administred But notwithstanding that a
for his Interest in the Netherlands that it should be in the Hands of the English than possessed by the French On the contrary the French maintained that Calice alone was not sufficient to satisfie the Damages the English had done them in helping the Spaniards to take their Towns many places in Brittany having been burn'd by the English Fleet their Ships taken their Trade interrupted and vast Sums of Money spent in hindring an Invasion of the English But the Spaniard in the mean while having discovered Queen Elizabeth's Aversion to a Match with him the Paces she had made towards the introducing the Reformed Religion and her Resolution to treat with the French without Communication first had with him he grew faint and fell off from promoting the English Pretensions which being perceived by Queen Elizabeth and fearing that she should be abandoned if she continued any longer in her demands upon that Point or else preferring Publick Good before Private Interest she came at length to this Agreement That the French King should peaceably enjoy for the Term of eight years the Town of Calice with the Appurtenances and sixteen great Pieces of Ordnance and that when that term was expired he should restore the same with the Town to Queen Elizabeth or otherwise should pay unto the Queen the Sum of five hundred thousand Crowns In Consequence of which Accommodation Peace was proclaimed on the 17th of April between the Queens Majesty on the one part and the Most Christian King on the other as likewise between her and the King Dauphin with his Wife the Queen of Scots and all the Subjects and Dominions of the said four Princes The People were however dissatisfied with this Peace in regard that Calice was not restored and laid the blame thereof upon the Bishops and other Papists But the French King lived not long to enjoy the Benefit thereof he being killed at a Turnament in Paris by the Count de Montgomery and though his eldest Son and Successor Francis caused the Queen of Scots his Wife to assume the Title and Arms of England yet she resolved to bestow a Royal Obsequy on the King deceased which was accordingly performed in St. Paul's Church in a most Solemn manner The Parliament being now to be dissolved the House of Commons made an humble Address unto her in which they most earnestly besought her that for securing the Peace of the Kingdom and the Satisfaction of all her good and loving Subjects she would think of marrying without particularizing to her any one man but leaving to her the Choice of the Person Whereto she made Answer That she was obliged to them for their good Affections and took their Application to her to be well intended and the rather because it contained no Limitation of Time or Person which had it done she should have disliked it very much and have looked upon it as a very great Presumption That she had long since made choice of the State of Life wherein she then lived and hoped that God would give her Strength and Constancy to go thorough with it that if she had been inclined to have changed that Course she neither wanted many Invitations to it in the Reign of her Brother nor many strong Impulsions in the time of her Sister Moreover says she to satisfie you I have already joyned my self in Marriage to a Husband namely the Kingdom of England and behold continued she which I marvel you have forgotten the Pledge of this my Marriage and my Wedlock with my Kingdom and thereupon took the Ring off her Finger wherewith at her Coronation she had in a set Form of Words given her self in Marriage to her Kingdom And then making a Pause And do not said she upbraid me with miserable lack of Children for every one of you and as many as are Englishmen are Children and Kinsmen to me of whom if God deprive me not which God forbid I cannot without injury be accounted Barren And then having promised she would take a Husband in case the good of the State should so require she licensed them to depart to their several Businesses The Queen Coming through the City in Triumpâ— The Return of the Gospell The Poolling down burning of Popish Images Shortly after which came the Duke of Finland as Ambassador from the King of Sweden to propose a Marriage between Her Majesty and Prince Ericus that King 's Eldest Son and this Ambassadour having been magnificently treated by the Queen was at length dismissed with the same Success as all the rest who before and after came upon that Errand And now the Emperour and the Catholick Princes interceeded with the Queen by several Letters that such Bishops as were displaced might meet with a kind Usage and that the Papists might be allowed Churches by themselves in Cities Whereto she made Answer Although those Popish Bishops have insolently and openly repugned against the Laws and Quiet of the Realm and do now obstinately reject that Doctrine which most part of themselves under Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth had of their own Accord with Heart and Hand publickly in their Sermons and Writings taught unto others when they themselves were not private Men but publick Magistrates yet would she for so great Princes Sakes deal favourably with them though not without Offence to her own Subjects But grant them Churches to celebrate their Divine Offices in apart by themselves she cannot with the Safety of the Common-wealth and without wrong to her own Honour and Conscience Neither is there any Cause why she should grant them seeing England embraceth no new and strange Doctrine but the same which Christ hath commanded the Primitive and Catholick Church hath received and the Ancient Fathers have with one Voice and Mind approved And to allow Churches with contrary Rites and Ceremonies besides that it openly repugneth against the Laws established by Authority of Parliament were nothing else but to sow Religion out of Religion to distract good Men's Minds to cherish factious Men's Humours disturb Religion and Common-wealth and mingle Divine and Humane things Which were a thing indeed evil in Example worst of all to her own good Subjects hurtful and to themselves to whom it is granted neither greatly Commodious nor yet at all safe She was therefore determined out of her Natural Clemency and especially at their request to be willing to heal the private Insolency of a few by much Connivance yet so as she might not encourage their obstinate minds by Indulgence The Spaniard having lost all hopes of a Match between Queen Elizabeth and himself and fearing lest the Crown of England might happen to be joyned to the Scepter of France he perswaded the Emperour Ferdinand to propose one of his Sons for a Husband to Queen Elizabeth which accordingly he did by an Ambassadour whom he sent to that purpose but all to the same effect as the rest that had been before him In the mean time those of the Reformed
Religion in Scotland being weary of the French insolency and oppression and no longer able to endure the Idolatries and Impositions of the Church of Rome proceeded of their own Authority to a change in Religion and being influenced by the greatest Men in the Kingdom and stirr'd up by Knox in his Sermons they fell upon destroying all Altars and Images in several Places demolishing of some Religious Houses and burning of others And being countenanced and seconded by the Nobility they seize upon Perth and other places and assuming to themselves the Name of the Congregation they managed their own Affairs apart from the rest of the Kingdom and began to stand upon such high Terms as to pass an Act for the depriving the Queen Regent of all Place and Power in the publick Government Whereupon the Queen Regent to provide for her own security having already received some Forces out of France though not sufficient she desires and is assisted with farther Supplies Hereupon the Heads of the Congregation dispatch Melvin and Maitland Lord Secretary to the Queen of England making Complaints that since the Queen of Scots had been married to the Dauphin the Government of the Kingdom was changed all Places laid waste by Foreign Souldiers the highest Offices of the Kingdom were bestowed upon French-men the Castles and all other fortified Places put into their hands and the purer Money of the Realm was embased for their gain and that by these and such other like Contrivances the French made way for their seizing on the Crown of Scotland in case it happened otherwise than well with their Queen and therefore they implore her Succours and Assistance for the expulsion of that People who might otherwise be destructive and of ill Consequence to both Realms Whereupon this Affair being taken into consideration some were of Opinion that it was not safe for the Queen to condescend and comply with their desires but others were for the Queens granting them Succours considering that the French were making such extraordinary Preparations both in France and Germany of Men and Ammunition for to be transported into Scotland as were not only sufficient to subdue that Kingdom to their Wills but seemed to threaten an Invasion of England through that Door by their Contracting Alliances with other States and the French King's taking upon him the Title of England and therefore that the Queen was obliged both out of Piety and Prudence to give such assistance to the Scots as might hinder the French from taking possession of that Kingdom Hereupon great Preparations were made for this Expedition the Duke of Norfolk was appointed Lieutenant General in the Northern parts towards Scotland the Earl of Sussex who had been Deputy of Ireland in the late Queens time was sent back thither with Instructions for the preventing any Change in that Kingdom and the Queens Commissioners being met with those of the Scots at Berwick it was concluded and a League made to this Effect That whereas the French go against all right and reason to subdue Scotland and unite it to the Scepter of France the Queen of England shall take the Duke of Chastel-heraut Heir apparent to the Crown of Scotland and the Scotish Nobility and People unto her Protection as long as the French King hath Mary Queen of Scots in marriage and a year after She shall send an Army by Sea and Land with all Warlike provision to expel and exclude the French out of Scotland She shall not enter into Peace with the French but with condition that Scotland may enjoy her Ancient Liberty The Forts and Strong Holds recovered by the Aid of the English from the French shall forthwith be razed or else delivered into the hands of the Duke of Norfolk at his choice The English shall fortifie no Places in Scotland but by the Consent of the Duke of Chastel-heralt and the Nobility of Scotland The Confederates shall aid the English all they can they shall hold for Enemies all whosoever shall be Enemies to the English They shall not suffer the Kingdom of Scotland to be united to France by any other means than as they are now conjoyned by Marriage If England be invaded by the French on this side the Rivor Tine the Scots shall send two thousand Horse and a thousand Foot under the Queen of England's Pay But if it be invaded beyond the Tine they shall joyn with the English to assist them with all the Power they can make and that at their own Charges the space of thirty dayes as they use to do for the Defence of Scotland The Earl of Argyle Justicer General of Scotland shall do his best that the North part of Ireland be reduced into order upon certain Conditions on which the Lieutenant of Ireland and he shall agree Finally it is prescribed what both of them shall perform in case Mac Conel or other Hebridians shall attempt any thing in Scotland or Ireland For Confirmation of these Articles before such time as the English Army enter into Scotland Hostages shall be sent into England to be changed every Sixth or Fourth Month at the Choice of the Scots during the Marriage betwixt the French King and the Queen of Scots and a year after the Duke of Chastel-herault and the Confederate Earls and Parliamentary Barons shall ratifie these Articles by their hands and Seals within twenty days And withal for as much as the Queen of England undertaketh these things in no other respect than in regard of Amity and Neighbourhood to defend the Scots from the Yoke of servitude they shall make Declaration that they will yield Obedience to the Queen of Scots and the King her Husband in all things which shall not make for the taking away of their ancient Liberty In Consequence of this Agreement and of the publick Declarations of the French of their design to invade England an Army of six thousand Foot and three thousand Horse were sent into Scotland under the Command of the Lord Gray an expert Captain and some ships being sent to block up the Frieth of Edenborough they dispersed and put to flight some French Men of War that hovered upon that Coast. About the time that the English Army entred Scotland the French made Proposals and Promises of restoring Calice in case the Queen would recall her Forces Which she absolutely refused saying That she looked upon Calice as a poor Fisher Town in comparison of the safety and security of all Brittain Now the French seeing that the English had blocked up the Town of Leith by Sea and Land iâ— such â—â—â—â— as that there was no possibility of relieving it and finding themselves 〈◊〉 able to maintain their projects against 〈…〉 English Courages and Power the Fr 〈…〉 King proposeth a Peace and to that 〈…〉 sendeth Embassadours to Edenborough 〈…〉 confer and treat with Câ—cyl and Nicho 〈…〉 Wâ—tton Deaâ— of Canterbury and York 〈…〉 were sent thither as Commissioners 〈…〉 Queen Elizabeth who came at length to this Conclusion That
disanul the Sentence against her Mothers Marriage as unjust Confirm the English Liturgy by his Authority and grant the use of the Sacraments unto the English under both kinds upon condition she would joyn her self unto the Roman Catholick Church and acknowledge the Primacy of the See of Rome and an offer made of several Thousand Crowns to such persons as should perswade her to it In the mean time notwithstanding that the French King had promised to ratifie all that his Ministers should conclude at Edenborough yet he delayed or rather refused so to do upon several frivoulous Pretexts Now the Affairs of the Kingdom being in a more setled Posture Queen Elizabeth to promote and keep those of the Church from being corrupted caused two very seasonable Proclamations to be Published By the one she ordered the Anabaptists and such like Sects to depart the Realm within Twenty Days whether her Natural born Subjects or Foreigners upon very severe Penalties By the other she restrained a Sacrilegious sort of People who under the Specious Pretext of abolishing Superstition committed several Extravagances to the disadvantage of Honourable Families by defacing their Epitaphs and Coat Armours and to the Church by taking away the Bells and plucking away the Lead from the Roofs She likewise converted the Abby of Westminster into a Collegiate Church and repaired and reduced the Money which had been embased in the time of Henry the Eighth to the just value While that the Queen was busied in these Reformations both in Church and State there broke out a Rebellion in Ireland which was headed by John-O-Neal a Man of great Authority in that Kingdom but the Queen having sent some Forces thither out of England he was quickly obliged to submit himself to her Mercy Yet notwithstanding her Power and the love of her Subjects at home her Authority and Credit abroad and her Success every where yet the Queen of Scots though her Husband the French King was Dead refused to ratifie the Treaty of Edenborough maugre all the Sollicitations of the English Ambassadours to the Queen of Scots who were then at the Court of France to condole the Death of the late King her Husband During these Transactions the truly Learned and ever Famous Bishop Jewel in a Sermon Preached by him at St. Paul's Cross made this bold and noble Challenge That if any Learned Man amongst the Papists or all the Learned Men in the World could bring any one sufficient Proof or Sentence out of any Catholick Doctor or Father or General Council or Holy Scripture or any one Example in the Primitive Church whereby it may clearly and plainly be proved during the first six Hundred Years 1. That there was at any time any private Mass in the World 2. Or that there was any Communion Administred unto the People under one kind 3. Or that the People had their Common-Prayer in a strange Tongue that the People understood not 4. Or that the Bishop of Rome was then called an Universal Bishop or the head of the Universal Church 5. Or that the People were then taught to believe that Christs Body is Really Substantially Corporally Carnally or Naturally in the Sacrament 6. Or that his Body is or may be in a Thousand places or more at one time 7. Or that the Priest did then hold up the Sacrament over his Head 8. Or that the People did then fall down and worship it with Godly Honour 9. Or that the Sacrament was then or now ought to be hanged up under a Canopy 10. Or that in the Sacrament after the words of Consecration there remained only the Accidents and Shews without the Substance of Bread and Wine 11. Or that then the Priest divided the Sacrament into three parts and afterwards received himself all alone 12. Or that whosoever had said that the Sacrament is a Figure a Pledge a Token or Remembrance of Christs Body had therefore been judged for an Heretick 13. Or that it was lawful then to have Thirty Twenty Fifteen Ten or Five Masses said in one Day 14. Or that Images were then set up in the Churches to the intent that the People might Worship them 15. Or that the Lay People were then forbidden to read the Word of God in their own Tongue 16. Or that it was then lawful for the Priest to pronounce the Words of Consecration closely or in private to himself 17. Or that the Priest had then Authority to offer up Christ unto his Father 18. Or to Communicate and receive the Sacrament for another as they do 19. Or to apply the virtue of Christs Death and Passion to any Man by the means of the Mass 20. Or that it was then thought a sound Doctrine to teach the People that Mass ex opere operato that is even for that it is said or done is able to remove any part of our Sin 21. Or that any Christian Man called the Sacrament of the Lord his God 22. Or that the People were then taught to believe that the Body of Christ remaineth in the Sacrament as long as the Accidents of Bread and Wine remain there without Corruption 23. Or that a Mouse or any Worm or Beast may eat the Body of Christ for so some of the Papists have said and taught 24. Or that when Christ said Hoc est Corpus Meum the Word hoc pointed not the Bread but individuum vagum as some of them say 25. Or that the Accidents or Forms or Shews of the Bread and Wine be the Sacraments of Christ's Body and Blood and not rather the very Bread and Wine it self 26. Or that the Sacrament is a Sign or Token of the Body of Christ that lieth hidden under it 27. Or that Ignorance is the Mother and cause of true Devotion Which if they did he would be willing to yield and submit himself to whatsoever they should impose The Papists both at home and abroad were extreamly startled at this Challenge that was made in so publick a place and so great an Auditory and none of them durst enter into the Lists against him but only at a distance let fly some small Crackers at him which vanished immediately into Smoak until at length his old Acquaintance and School-Fellow Doctor Harding one of the most Learned Divines amongst the Catholicks took up the Cudgels against him but was so baffled by the Bishop that the Papists themselves acknowledged that they had not a Champion that could Oppose him During these Occurrences St. Paul's Steeple being burnt and the whole Church having received extraordinary dammage through the negligence of a Plummer the Queen not only contributed very largely her self towards it's Reparation but likewise took care that a Benevolence should be raised for the Compleating and bringing it to it 's former Lustre and Greatness Which Example and Zeal so encouraged the Clergy both of the Province of Canterbury and Diocess of London that the former contributed the fortieth part of their Benefices and the later the
thirtieth part of the Livings that were liable to the Benevolence and the twentieth part of those that were not By which means that Work was so hastned and furthered that in a short time it was compleated and finished In the mean time great Preparations were making for the opening and holding of the Council of Trent to which the Pope endeavoured to procure that Divines might be sent from England To which end he dispatched to the Queen a Nuncio who being come into the Low Countries stayed there in hopes of procuring leave to be admitted into England for that it was provided by an ancient Statute that the Pope's Nuncio should not come into this Realm without Leave first obtained But the Queen having absolutely refused to admit the Nuncio most of the Princes of Christendom endeavoured to perswade her by then Letters to refer her self in matters of Religion to the Occumenical Council of Trent Whereto she made Answer That she was very desirous of an Occumenical Council but she would not send Deputies to a Popish Council that she had nothing to do with the Bishop of Rome whose Authority was expelled England by Act of Parliament and that it did not belong to the Pope but to the Emperour to call Councils nor could nor would she acknowledge any greater Authority in him than in any other Bishop Much about this time the Queen of Scots being sollicited by the Popish Party to return into that Kingdom and being grown weary of France since the Death of the late King her Husband she caused Queen Elizabeth to be desired to grant her free passage thither pretending that she could not ratifie the Treaty of Edinborough without the Advice of the Nobility of Scotland But Queen Elizabeth suspecting that some dangerous Practises were contriving against England for the preventing them not only thought fit to deny her her Request but to send Sir Thomas Randolph into Scotland to exhort the Nobility to mutual Amity and to keep firm to the Promises he had made her and he found them and the Congregation so well resolved to adhere to her that she was under no Apprehensions from the Scottish Queen or her Party However it was judged safe to intercept her if possible in her passage thither To which end a Squadron of Men of War was fitted out though under other Pretexts yet the Queen of Scots her self by the favour of a great Fog escaped unperceived by the English and landed safe in Scotland though some of the Ships that attended her in that Voyage were taken and brought into England That Queen being now in Scotland sends an Envoy with Letters to Queen Elizabeth wherein she expressed a great deal of Love and Kindness to her as her dearest Friend and Sister and desired that all true and sincere Friendship and Correspondence might be maintained between them Queen Elizabeth receiving Letters at the same time to the same effect from most of the Nobility of that Kingdom But this was not the whole Errand of this Envoy for the Queen of Scots did likewise by him demand to be declared Heir Apparent to this Kingdom as being she said the surest way to continue Amity and Friendship between the two Crowns Whereto the Queen could not be prevailed with to make any other Answer than that she would do nothing to the Prejudice of her Cousin of Scotland's Title leaving the rest to be considered of at a Personal Conference that was to be held at York shortly after which Interview was however broken off by Popish Contrivances lest it might be a means towards the creating in the Queen of Scots an inclination to the Reformed Religion And now finding that tho' she had made all the fair offers imaginable to the Spaniard and treated the Guises with all possible Kindness and Honour yet her Ministers at the Courts of Spain and France instead of meeting with fair Returns and Civilities received affronts upon all Occasions wherefore though she had found her Treasure all exhausted yet she began to make all imaginable Warlike preparations for the security of her self and Subjects And amongst other her Provisions for that purpose having caused a many Pieces of great Ordnance of Iron and Brass to be cast God favouring all she undertook caused a most rich Vein of rich and Native Brass to be discovered at the same time as was likewise the Stone called Lapis Calaminaris first found out in England being very necessary for Brass Works Her Majesty caused likewise Gun-powder to be made here at home being the first that had been made in England the English before having been obliged to beg hard and pay dear for it to Foreigners She also caused the several Garisons belonging to the Kingdom to be better strengthened with new Works Men and Fortifications She likewise increased the Pay of the Souldiers and took Care to provide for those that had been maimed in the Service of the Land She added to and provided her Fleet with all manner of Necessaries making it the best Navy that ever belonged to Brittain insomuch that all Foreigners did truly term her The Restorer of the Glory of Shipping and the Queen of the North Sea She caused all manner of People to furnish themselves with Arms and to use Martial Discipline and Exercise She gave all manner of Encouragement to Husbandry and Tillage by permitting the Transportation of Grain And by a Proclamation she prohibited the Merchants from supplying the Emperour of Russia with Ammunition against the Polanderâ— and caused the Officers of her Exchequer to pay duely the Pensions to such Religious Men as had been cast out of Abbeys She revoked the Commissions of the Purveyors both for the Garrisons and Fleet and designed to have done the same with those of her Household She augmented the Stipends of the Judges And though she was extreamly liberal and bountiful to desert yet she took Care not to alienate the Domain In the mean time the Civil War broke forth in France the Faction and Family of the Guises aiming at that Crown they were sensible that they should never compass their Designs as long as the Hugonots were in Being wherefore they used all manner of means to extirpate those Protestants insomuch that they were forced to take Arms both in Defence of their Sovereign and themselves Now Queen Elizabeth well knowing the Practises of the House of Guise to advance the Interests and Pretensions of the Queen of Scots she supplyed the Protestants of that Kingdom with Money Corn and Ammunition for the Service of the French King and for the defending the Protestant Religion and hindring the Dukedom of Normandy from being possessed by the Guises who might from thence with more Ease have executed their Designs upon England She obliged her self to aid the Prince of Conde and his Associates who headed the Protestants with her Forces both by Land and Sea for the taking in of such Castles Towns and Ports as were possessed by the Faction of the House of Guise
of the young French King and the recovering of Calice they granted the Clergy one Subsidy and the Laity another with two Fifteens and Tenths During these Occurrences at home the Prince of Conde was intercepted and taken Prisoner in that memorable Battel of Dreux as was likewise Sir Nicholas Throgmorton who shortly after paying his Ransome was set at Liberty But the Admiral Chastillon Commanding both the English and French Forces had beetter Success by taking in of Caen and other considerable Places which so startled those of the Guisian Faction that they agreed unto an Edict of Pacification by which the French Princes were restored to their Kings favour Conde lured with hopes of the Lieutenancy General of France and a Marriage with the Queen of Scots the Hugonots allowed the free exercise of their Religion and all things setled for the present to their full satisfaction And having thus agreed among themselves and treacherously abandoned the English they join their Forces and contrive how to drive them out of New-haven in case they would not evacuate it upon demand Now sometime before this agreement the Hostages for Calice endeavoured to make their escape with Ribald a Famous Pilot who had been sent secretly into England for that purpose but were discovered and seized just as they were ready to take shipping The Queen having secret notice of the French designs upon New-haven offered to exchange it for Calice Which being refused War was Proclaimed on both sides And such an extraordinary great Fleet of the English scoured the Seas as not only shut up the French in their Havens but the Spaniards likewise and their Pyracies upon them being very great the Queen caused her Ambassadour to make Excuses at the Court of Spain and restrained them by Proclamation In the mean time New-haven being close Besieged and hard pressed by the French and the Pestilence raging horribly in the Town the English were forced to capitulate and render up that Place hoping that by leaving it they should escape the Plague but instead thereof they brought it with them into England where it sorely afflicted the whole Kingdom and especially the City of London where there dyed of it Twenty one Thousand one Hundred and thirty Persons The Fathers at Trent were very much displeased with Queen Elizabeth both for assisting the French Hugonots against their King and passing the Statute for Punishing all those who countenanced and maintained the Popes Authority within her Dominions which so incensed the Pope that he sent a Commission to those Fathers to proceed to an Excommunication of the Queen of England But the Emperour being by his Ministers sed with hopes of a Marriage betwixt the Queen and his Son the Arch-Duke Charles he by Letters to the Pope and his Legates disswaded them from proceeding to such Extremities and caused the Pope to revoke the Commission he had sent to his Legates in Trent Shortly after which that Council broke up but were so far from having re-united the Church that on the contrary the Breach was become greater and the Discords inreconcilable In the mean time the Cardinal of Lorrain fearing without any Reason a Match between Queen Elizabeth and Charles of Austria to divert it proposeth the said Charles for a Husband to his Neece the Queen of Scots who imparting this Business to Queen Elizabeth she advised her to marry but not the Arch-Duke and recommended to her for a Husband Robert Dudley and promised her That if she would marry him She should by Authority of Parliament be declared her Sister or Daughter and Heir of England in case she should dyeâ— without Issue But assoon as the Queen Mother and her Uncles in France had notice hereof they disswaded her from it promising if she would reject it and persist in the French Amity they would pay her her Dowry Money and lured the Scots with hopes of confirming their ancient Liberties and granting them new ones And though the Queen of Scots took all imaginable Care to gain the Love of her Subjects and keep them at Peace yet they insulted her frequently nor was she able to suppress the Commotions The Spaniard now grew daily more enraged against the English for that his Ambassador here had been confined to his House and subjected to Examinations and publick Reprehensions for that the English Privateers had invested the French upon the Coast of Spain and intended to set forth a Voyage to the West Indies And the King of Spain manifested his Displeasure by causing Proclamation to be made in Antwerp and other places though under Pretext of the Pestilence being in England that no English Ship with Cloaths should come into any part of the Low Countries causing the Goods of English men to be confiscated upon very light Causes and by new Edicts certain Merchandise were forbidden to be transported the Passage through the Low Country Provinces with Horses Salt Peter and Gunpowder out of Germany and Italy was forbidden Whereupon and at the earnest Suit of the Merchant-Adventurers the Queen prohibited the Transporting of Wool unwrought and the Mart or Staple of Cloaths or English Merchandizes was removed to Emden upon the River Ems in Friezland The Apprehension that these and other Circumstances gave the Queen of the Councils of Spain made her the more willingly hearken to a Peace with France which was concluded upon these Terms which were as advantageous as the Juncture would afford That neither Party should invade the other The one shall not aid any that invade the other Private Mens Facts shall bind themselves only Commerce shall be free Traytors and Rebels shall not be received Letters of Reprisal shall not be granted Injuries shall be buried in Oblivion Reservation of Rights and Titles also Actions Demands and Claims which they have or pretend to have one against the other respectively shall remain to them safe and whole and in like manner Defences and Exceptions shall be reserved A certain Sum of Money shall be repayed to Queen Elizabeth at times prefixed Upon the Payment of six hundred and twenty thousand Crowns the Hostages shall be delivered out of England and Throckmorton shall return free into his Country after Confirmation of the League Which Treaty being ratifyed on both sides the French King was invested with the Order of the Garter Being now at Peace with France and in fair-seeming Terms with the King of Stain she resolved to take the Diversion of a Progress in the Course of which she made a visit to Cambridge where she was received with all the Respect Ceremony and Acclamation imaginable and to her own as well as their extraordinary satisfaction and the like Honour she did to Oxford being attended with the same Circumstances Don Alvarze a Quadra Bishop of Aquila and Spanish Ambassadour here a Man zealously addicted to Popery had fed the Papists here with hopes of having the Romish Superstitions again restored in England and had been a Grand Promoter of the Distrusts and Dissatisfactions that were
Authority of Parliament To which Propositions the Queen of Scots replyed with a Proviso referring the fuller Answer to the Bishop of Ross her Ambassadour in England and to some other Delegates who afterwards granting some of the Propositions and rejecting others the Treaty came to nothing and things remained in the same state as they were in before Onely Queen Elizabeth as Head of all Britain by her Authority prorogued the Parliament of Scotland Whilst things were in this posture the Pope supplied the English Rebells and Fugitives with Monies and Philip of Spain contracted a Marriage with Anne of Austria Daughter to the Emperour Maximilian his own Neece by his Sister and she being to go by Sea from Zealand into Spain Queen Elizabeth to shew the Love and Respect she had for the House of Austria sent Sir Charles Howard with the Navy Royal to Convoy her through the British Sea And now Queen Elizabeth having compleated the Twelfth year of her Reign which some Wizzards had flattered the Papists that it would be her last the People out of their great Affection and Loyalty to her Majesty celebrated the 17th of November with all the Pomp Joy and Thanksgiving imaginable which was not only continued upon that day during her Life but even to this very day In Ireland a new Rebellion was contrived by the Earl of Thoumond and his Adherents which was disappointed when it was just ready to break out merely by the Earl's Suspicions of his being discovered whereupon he fled into France and confessing his Crimes and showing himself very penitent to the Queen's Ambassador there this Minister procured him his pardon and the Restitution of his Estate Soon after which Queen Elizabeth made a very magnificent Entry into the City of London for to go see the new Burse which Sir Thomas Gresham had newly built and in a solemn manner nam'd it the Royal Exchange with Sound of Trumpets and by the Voice of an Herald Shortly after which she created Sir William Cecyl Baron of Burghley There was at this time in England Delegates from the King of Scots of whom Queen Elizabeth having demanded that they should explain the Reasons they had for deposing their Queen whereupon they exhibited so insolent a Writing that the Queen could not read it without Indignation and told them That she did not see that they had any just Cause to treat their Queen after that manner and therefore desired they would immediately think of some means to allay the Dissentions of that Kingdom Hereupon several Propositions were again made them for the setting the Queen of Scots at Liberty which being rejected by the Scottish Delegates and Norfolk beginning a new his Practices in favour of that Queen and she her self corresponding and caballing with the Enemies of the Crown of England whereto they were both excited by Ridolpho the Pope's Agent that Queen had many of her Servants taken from her and she her self put under a stricter Confinement and a watching Eye was kept over the Duke to whom the Pope had promised great Assistance both of Money and Men in case he would raise a Rebellion assuring him That the King of Spain would aid him with four thousand Horse and six thousand Foot and that he had already deposited a hundred thousand Crowns and that he would be at all the Charge of the War But whilst these things were acting in England the Queen of Scots Party was very much oppressed in Scotland several of her principal Adherents being put to Death and their strongest Holds taken in In France was the Marriage now solemnized between Charles the Ninth the French King and Elizabeth of Austria Daughter to the Emperour Maximilian to Congratulate which the Lord Buckhurst was sent into France by Queen Elizabeth and was there received with all the Honours and Pomp imaginable and possibly the more in respect of a Motion that the French Court designed to make in favour of a Match between the Duke of Anjou and the Queen of England After the Lord Buckhurst had performed his Commission he returned home with great Presents and with one Cavalcantio a Florentine who had attended him in his Embassy This Cavalcantio being a prudent Person was entrusted by the Queen Mother of France to make a motion of this Match to Queen Elizabeth Which he accordingly performed and the Queen seemed to listen favourably to the Proposal for by this Match there should be added to the Kingdom of England the Dukedoms of Anjou Bourbon Avern and possibly the Kingdom of France it self Whereupon a Treaty was held in which the French proposed three Articles one concerning the Coronation of the Duke another concerning the joint Administration of the Kingdom a third concerning a toleration of his Religion whereto it was replyed that the two first Articles might in some sort be composed but hardly the third for though a contrary Religion might be tolerated between Subjects of the same Kingdom yet between a Wife and her Husband it seemed very incongruous and inconvenient however the matter was brought at length to this Conclusion that if the Duke would afford his presence with the Queen at Divine Service and not refuse to hear and learn the Doctrine of the Church of England he should not be compelled to use the English Rites but at his pleasure use the Roman not being expressly against the Word of God But they could not accommodate these Niceties insomuch that the Treaty was quite broak off after it had continued almost a Year But during these Occurrences it happened at Kinnaston in Herefordshire the ground was seen to open and certain Rocks with a piece of Ground removed and went forwards four days together carrying along great Trees and Sheep-Coats some with sixty Sheep in them and overthrew Rimnalstone Chappel the Depth of the whole where it first broke out is thirty Foot and the bredth of the Breach sixteen Yards also High-ways were removed near an hundred Yards with Trees and Hedg-rows and the like And now the Papists were plotting and contriving new Attempts against the Queen but they were all frustrated by the goodness of God and the Prudence of the Queen and the Loyalty and Zeal of her Ministers and Protestant Subjects Amongst others of those Devillish Instruments of Popery was the Bishop of Ross the Queen of Scots Ambassador who made it his whole Business to excite and stir up People to Rebellion He had laid several Plots for seizing Queen Elizabeth and freeing the Queen of Scots but they all failed him in the Execution But notwithstanding that Bishop had received so many checks for these Practices of his yet he continuing them to that degree as not only to pervert the Subjects from their Loyalty but even to Designs against the Queen's Life the Privy Council after mature Deliberation in the Business notwithstanding his Character thought fit he should be sent and kept close Prisoner in the Tower which was accordingly done as likewise with the Duke of Norfolk