Arthur and Katherine the Infanta of Spain She came into England was married in November but on the second of April after the Prince died They were not only bedded in Ceremony the night of the Marriage but continued still to lodg together and the Prince by some indecent Rallery gave Occasion to believe that the Marriage was consummated which was so little doubted that some imputed his too early end to his excess in it After his Death his younger Brother was not created Prince of Wales till ten Months had past it being then apparent that the Princess was not with Child by the late Prince Women were also set about her to wait on her with the Precaution that is necessary in such a Case so that it was generally believed that she was no Virgin when the Prince died Henry the seventh being unwilling to restore so great a Portion as two hundred thousand Ducats proposed a second Match for her with his Younger Son Henry Warham did then object against the Lawfulness of it yet Fox Bishop of Winchester was for it and the Opinion of the Pope's Authority was then so well established that it was thought a Dispensation from Rome was sufficient to remove all Objections Decemb. 1503. so one was obtained grounded upon a desire of the two young Persons to marry together for preserving Peace between the Crowns of England and Spain by which the Pope dispensed with it notwithstanding the Princess's Marriage to Prince Arthur which was as is said in the Bull perhaps consummated The Pope was then in War with Lewis the twelfth of France and so would refuse nothing to the King of England being perhaps not unwilling that Princes should contract such Marriages by which the Legitimation of their Issued epending on the Pope's Dispensation they would be thereby obliged in Interest to support that Authority upon this a Marriage followed the Prince being yet under Age but the same day in which he came to be of Age he did by his Father's Orders make a Protestation that he retracted and annulled his Marriage Henry the seventh at his Death charged him to break it off entirely being perhaps apprehensive of such a return of Confusion upon a controverted Succession to the Crown as had been during the Wars of the Houses of York and Lancaster but upon his Death Henry the Eighth being then eighteen Years of Age married her She bore him two Sons who died soon after they were born and a Daughter Mary that lived to reign after him Matches proposed for his Daughter but after that the Queen contracted some Diseases that made her unacceptable to the King so all hope of any other Issue failing several Matches were proposed for his Daughter the first was with the Dauphin then she was contracted with the Emperor and after that a Proposition was made for the King of Scotland and last of all a Treaty was made with Francis the first either for himself he being then a Widower or for his second Son the Duke of Orleans to be determin'd at his Option upon which the Bishop of Tarbe was sent over Ambassador to conclude it he made an Exception that the Marriage was doubtful and the Lady not legitimate which had been likewise made by the Cortes of Spain by whose Advice the Emperor broke the Contract upon that very account so that other Princes moving Scruples against a Marriage with his Daughter the Heir of so great a Crown the King began to make some himself or rather to publish them for he said afterwards he had them some Years before Yet the Cardinal's hatred to the Emperor was look'd on as one of the secret Springs of the King's Aversion to his Aunt which the King vindicating him in publick afterwards did not remove that being considered only as a Court Contrivance The King seemed to lay the greatest Weight on the prohibition in the Levitical Law of marrying the Brother's Wife The King has some scruples concerning his Marriage and he being conversant in Thomas Aquinas's Writings found that he and the other Schoolmen look'd on those Laws as Moral and for ever binding and that by Consequence the Pope's Dispensation was of no force since his Authority went not so far as to dispence with the Laws of God All the Bishops of England Fisher of Rochester only excepted declared under their Hands and Seals that they judged the Marriage unlawful The ill Consequences of Wars that might follow upon a doubtful Title to the Crown were also much considered or at least pretended It is not probable that the engagement of the King's Affections to any other gave the rise to all this for so prying a Courtier as Wolsey was would have discovered it and not have projected a Marriage with Francis's Sister if he had seen the King prepossessed It is more probable that the King conceiving himself upon the point of being discharged of his former Marriage gave a free scope to his Affections which upon that came to settle on Anne Bolleyn The King had reason enough to expect a quick and favourable dispatch of his business at Rome where Dispensations or Divorces in Favour of Princes used to pass rather with regard to the Merits of the Prince that desired them than of the Cause it self His Alliance seemed then necessary to the Pope who was at that time in Captivity Nor could the Emperour with any good colour oppose his Suit since he had broken his Contract with his Daughter upon the account of the doubtfulness of the Marriage The Cardinal had also given him full Assurances of a good Answer from Rome whether upon the knowledg he had of that Court and of the Pope's temper or upon any promise made him is not certain The Reasons gathered by the Canonists for annulling the Bull of Dispensation upon which the Divorce was to follow in course were grounded upon some false suggestions in the Bull and upon the Protestation which the King had made when he came to be of Age. In a word they were such that a favourable Pope left to himself would have yielded to them without any scruple Anne Bolleyn was born in the year 1507 and went to France at seven years of Age and returned twelve years after to England She was much admired in both Courts and continued to live without any Blemish till her unfortunate Fall gave occasion to some malicious Writers to defame her in all the Parts of her Life She was more beautiful than graceful and more chearful than discreet She wanted none of the Charms of Wit or Person and must have had extraordinary Attractives since she could so long manage such a King's Affection in which her being with Child soon after the Marriage shews that in the whole course of seven years she kept him at a due distance Upon her coming to England the Lord Piercy being then a Domestick of the Cardinals made love to her and went so far as to engage himself some way to
instruct their Hearers in the Fundamentals of Religion of which they had known little formerly This made the Nation run after these Teachers with a wonderful Zeal but they mixed too much Sharpness against the Friars in their Sermons which was judged indecent in them to do tho their Hypocrisy and Cheats did in a great measure excuse those Heats and it was observed that our Saviour had exposed the Pharisees in so plain a manner that it did very much justify the treating them with some Roughness yet it is not to be denied but Resentments for the Cruelties they or their Friends had suffered by their means might have too much Influence on them This made it seem necessary to suffer none to preach at least out of their own Parishes without Licence and many were licensed to preach as Itinerants There was also a Book of Homilies on all the Epistles and Gospels in the Year put out which contained a plain Paraphrase of those Parcels of Scripture together with some practical Exhortations founded on them Many Complaints were made of those that were licensed to preach and that they might be able to justify themselves they began generally to write and read their Sermons and thus did this Custom begin in which what is wanting in the heat and force of Delivery is much made up by the strength and solidity of the Matter and has produced many Volumes of as excellent Sermons as have been preached in any Age. Plays and Enterludes were a great Abuse in that time in them Mock-Representations were made both of the Clergy and of the Pageantry of their Worship The Clergy complained much of these as an Introduction to Atheism when things Sacred were thus laught at and said They that begun to laugh at Abuses would not cease till they had represented all the Mysteries of Religion as ridiculous The graver sort of Reformers did not approve of it but political Men encouraged it and thought nothing would more effectually pull down the Abuses that yet remained than the exposing them to the scorn of the Nation A War did now break out between England and Scotland at the Instigation of the King of France A War with Scotland King Henry set out a Declaration pretending that the Crown of Scotland owed Homage to him and cited many Precedents to shew that Homage was done not only by their Kings but by consent of the States for which Original Records were appealed to The Scots on the other hand asserted that they were a free and independent Kingdom that the Homages antiently made by their Kings were only for Lands which they had in England and that those more lately made were either offered by Pretenders in the case of a doubtful Title or were extorted by Force And they said their Kings could not give up the Rights of a free Crown and People The Duke of Norfolk made an In-road into Scotland with 20000 Men in October but after he had burnt some small Towns and wasted Teviotdale he returned back to England In the end of November an Army of 15000 Scots with a good Train of Artillery was brought together They intended to march into England by the Western Road. The King went to it in Person but he was at this time much disturbed in his Fancy and thought the Ghost of one whom he had unjustly put to death followed him continually he not only left the Army but sent a Commission to Oliver Sinclare then called his Minion to command in chief This disgusted the Nobility very much who were become weary of the Insolence of that Favourite so they refused to march and were beginning to separate While they were in this Disorder 500 English appeared and they apprehending it was a fore Party of the Duke of Norfolk's Army refused to fight so the English fell upon them and dispersed them they took all their Ordinance and Baggage and 1000 Prisoners of whom 200 were Gentlemen The chief of these were the Earls of Glencarn and Cassilis The News of this so over-charged the Melancholy King that he died soon after leaving only an Infant Daughter newly born to succeed him The Lords that were taken were brought up to London and lodged in the Houses of the English Nobility Cassilis was sent to Lambeth where he received those Seeds of Knowledg which produced afterwards a great Harvest in Scotland The other Prisoners were also instructed to such a degree that they came to have very different Thoughts of the Changes that had been made in England from what the Scotish Clergy had possessed them with who had encouraged their King to engage in the War both by the assurance of Victory since he fought against an Heretical Prince and the Contribution of 50000 Crowns a Year The King's Death and the Crowns falling to his Daughter made the English Council lay hold on this as a proper Conjuncture for uniting the whole Island in one therefore they sent for the Scotish Lords and proposed to them the marrying the Prince of Wales to their young Queen this the Scots liked very well and promised to promote it all they could And so upon their giving Hostages for the performing their Promises faithfully they were sent home and went away much pleased both with the Splendor of the King's Court and with the way of Religion which they had seen in England A Parliament was called A Parliament called in which the King had great Subsidies given him of six Shillings in the Pound to be paid in three Years A Bill was proposed for the advancement of true Religion by Cranmer and some other Bishops for the Spirits of the Popish Party were much fallen ever since the last Queen's Death yet at this time a Treaty was set on foot between the King and the Emperour which raised them a little for since the King was like to engage in a War with France it was necessary for him to make the Emperour his Friend Cranmer's Motion was much opposed and the timorous Bishops forsook him yet he put it as far as it would go An Act about Religion tho in most Points things went against him By it Tindall's Translation of the Bible was condemned as crafty and false and also all other Books contrary to the Doctrine set forth by the Bishops But Bibles of another Translation were still allowed to be kept only all Prefaces or Annotations that might be in them were to be dashed or cut out All the King's Injunctions were confirmed No Books of Religion might be printed without Licence there was to be no Exposition of Scripture in Plays or Enterludes none of the Laity might read the Scripture or explain it in any publick Assembly But a Proviso was made for publick Speeches which then began generally with a Text of Scripture and were like Sermons Noblemen Gentlemen and their Wives or Merchants might have Bibles but no ordinary Woman Tradesman Apprentice or Husbandman might have any Every Person might have the Book set out by the
the Council went no further only after this her Mass was said so secretly that she gave no publick scandal From Copthall where this was done she removed and lived at Hunsden and thither Ridley went to see her She received him very civilly and ordered her Officers to entertain him at dinner But when he begged leave to Preach before her she at first blusht but being further prest she said he might Preach in the Parish Church but neither she nor her Family would be there He asked her if she refused to hear the word of God She answered they did not call that Gods word now that they had called so in her Fathers days and that in his time they durst not have said the things which they then Preached And after some sharp and reproachful discourse she dismist him Wharton one of her Officers as he conducted him out made him drink a little but he reflecting on that blamed himself for it for he said when the Word of God was rejected he ought to have shaken off the dust of his Feet and gone away The Kings Sister Elizabeth did in all things conform to the Laws for her Mother at her death recommended her to Dr. Parker's care who instructed her well in the Principles of Christian Religion The Earl of Warwick began now to form great designs of bringing the Crown into his Family The Earl of Warwick's designs The King was alienated from his Sister Mary and the Privy Council had imbroiled themselves with her and so would be easily engaged against her The pretence against both the Sisters was the same that they stood illegitimated by two Sentences in the Spiritual Courts confirmed in Parliament So that it would be a disgrace to the Nation to let the Crown devolve on Bastards And since the fears of the Eldests revenge made the Council willing to exclude her the only reason on which they could ground that must take place against the second likewise And therefore though the Crown was provided to them both by Act of Parliament and the late Kings Will yet these being founded on an Errour that was indispensable which was the baseness of their descent they ought not to take place They being laid aside the Daughters of the French Queen by Charles Brandon stood next in the Act and yet it was generally believed that they were Bastards For it was given out that Brandon was secretly married to one Mortimer at the time that he married the French Queen and that Mortimer out-lived her so that the issue by her was Illegitimate The Sweating Sickness did this year break out in England with such Contagion that eight hundred died in one week of it in London those that were taken with it were inclined much to sleep and all that slept died but if they were kept awake a day they did sweat it out Charles Brandon's two Sons by his last Wife died within a day one of another His eldest Daughter by the French Queen was married to the Marquess of Dorset a good but weak man and so he was made Duke of Suffolk They had no Sons their eldest Daughter Jane Gray was thought the wonder of the age So the Earl of Warwick projected a Match between her and his fourth Son Guilford his three elder Sons being then married And because the Lady Elizabeth was like to stand most in the way care was taken to send her out of England and a Match was treated for her with the King of Denmark A splendid Message was sent to France A Treaty for a Marriage to the King with the Order of the Garter The Marquess of Northampton carried it three Earls the Bishop of Ely and five Lords were sent with him and above two hundred Gentlemen accompanied them They were to make a Proposition of Marriage for the King with a Daughter of France The Bishop of Ely made the first Speech and the Cardinal of Lorrain answered him it was soon agreed on yet neither Party was to be bound either in Honour or Conscience till the Lady should be of Years to give consent A noble Embassy was sent in return from France to England with the Order of Saint Michael They desired in their Master's name the continuance of the King's friendship and that he would not be moved by Rumors that might be raised to break their Alliance The young King answered on the sudden that Rumours were not always to be believed nor always to be rejected for it was no less vain to fear all things than to doubt of nothing if any differences hapned to arise he should be always ready to determine them rather by reason than by force so far as his Honour should not be thereby diminished This was thought a very extraordinary answer to be made by one of Fourteen on the sudden There was at this time a great Creation of Peers The Duke of Somerset's fall Warwick was made Duke of Northumberland the blood of the Piercies being then under an Attainder Pawlet was made Marquess of Winchester Herbert was made Earl of Pembroke and a little before this Russel had been made Earl of Bedford and Darcy was made a Lord. There was none so likely to take the King out of Northumberlands hands as the Duke of Somerset who was beginning to form a new Party about the King so upon some Informations both the Duke of Somerset his Dutchess Sir Ralph Vane Sir Tho. Palmer Sr Tho. Arundel several others of whom some were Gentlemen of Quality and others were the Dukes servants were all committed to the Tower The committing of Palmer was to delude the World for he had betrayed the Duke and was clapt up as a Complice and then pretended to discover a Plot He said the Duke intended to have raised the People and that Northumberland Northampton and Pembroke having been invited to dine at the Lord Pagets he intended to have set on them by the way or have killed them at Dinner that Vane was to have 2000. Men ready Arundel was to have seized on the Tower and all the Gendarmoury were to have been killed All these things were told the young King with such Circumstances that he too easily believed them and so was much alienated from his Uncle judging him guilty of so foul a Conspiracy It was added by others that the Duke intended to have raised the City of London one Crane confirmed Palmers testimony and both the Earl of Arundel and Paget were also committed as Complices On the first of December His Trial the Duke was brought to his Trial The Marquess of Winchester was Lord Steward and 27. Peers sat to judge him among whom were the Dukes of Suffolk and Northumberland and the Earl of Pembroke The particulars charged on him were a design to seize on the King's Person to imprison the Duke of Northumberland and to raise the City of London it seemed strange to see Northumberland sit a Judge when the crime objected was a design against his life
affairs so well that the Ambassadours that were sent into England published very extraordinary things of him in all the Courts of Europe He had great quickness of apprehension but being distrustful of his Memory he took Notes of every thing he heard that was considerable in Greek Characters that those about him might not understand what he writ which he afterwards Copied out fair in the Journal that he kept His Virtues were wonderful when he was made believe that his Unkle was guilty of conspiring the death of the other Counsellours he upon that abandoned him Barnaby Fitzpatrick was his Favourite and when he sent him to travel he writ oft to him to keep good Company to avoid excess and Luxury and to improve himself in those things that might render him capable of Imployment at his return He was afterwards made Lord of Upper Ossory in Ireland by Queen Elizabeth and did answer the hopes that this excellent King had of him He was very merciful in his nature which appeared in his unwillingness to sign the Warrant for burning the Maid of Kent He took great care to have his debts well paid reckoning that a Prince who breaks his Faith and loses his Credit has thrown up that which he can never recover and made himself liable to perpetual distrust and extreme contempt He took special care of the Petitions that were given him by poor and opprest People But his great zeal for Religion crowned all the rest It was not only an angry heat about it that acted him but it was a true tenderness of conscience founded on the love of God his Neighbors These extraordinary qualities set off with great sweetness and affability made him be universally beloved by all his People Some called him their Josias others Edward the Saint and others called him the Phoenix that rise out of his Mothers ashes and all People concluded that the sins of England must have been very great since they provoked God to deprive the Nation of so signal a blessing as the rest of his Reign would have by all appearance proved Ridley and the other good Men of that time made great lamentations of the Vices that were grown then so common that Men had past all shame in them Luxury Oppression and a hatred of Religion had over-run the higher rank of People who gave a countenance to the Reformation meerly to rob the Church but by that and their other practices were become a great scandal to so good a work The inferiour sort were so much in the power of the Priests who were still notwithstanding their outward Compliance Papists in heart and were so much offended at the spoil they saw made of all good endowments without putting other and more useful ones in their room that they who understood little of Religion laboured under great prejudices against every thing that was advanced by such tools And these things as they provoked God highly so they disposed the People much to that sad Catastrophe which is to be the subject of the next Book BOOK III. Book III 1553. THE LIFE and REIGN OF Queen MARY BY King Edward's death Qu. Mary succeeds the Crown devolved according to Law on his Eldest Sister Mary who was within half a days Journey to the Court when she had notice given her by the Earl of Arundel of her Brother's death and of the Patent for Lady Jane's succession and this prevented her falling into the Trap that was laid for her Upon that she retired to Framlingham in Suffolk both to be near the Sea that she might escape to Flanders in case of a misfortune and because the slaughter that was made of Kets People by Northumberland begat him the hatred of the People in that Neighbourhood Before she got thither she wrote on the 9th of July to the Council and let them know she understood that her Brother was dead by which she succeeded to the Crown but wondred that she heard not from them she knew well what Consultations they had engaged in but she would pardon all that was done to such as would return to their duty and proclaim her Title to the Crown By this it was found that the Kings death could be no longer kept secret so some of the Privy Council went to Lady Jane and acknowledged her their Queen The news of the King's death afflicted her much and her being raised to the Throne rather encreased than lessened her trouble She was a very extraordinary Person both for Body and Mind She had learned both the Greek and Latine Tongues to great perfection and delighted much in study She read Plato in Greek and drunk in the Precepts of true Philosophy so early that as she was not tainted with the levities not to say Vices of those of her Age and condition so she seemed to have attained to the practice of the highest notions of Philosophy for in those sudden turns of her condition as she was not exalted with the prospect of a Crown so she was as little cast down when her Palace was made her Prison The only passion she shewed was that of the Noblest kind in the concern she exprest for her Father and Husband who fell with her and seemingly on her account though really Northumberland's ambition and her Father's weakness ruined her She rejected the offer of the Crown when it was first made her she said she knew that of right it belonged to the late King's Sisters and so she could not with a good Conscience assume it but it was told her that both the Judges and Privy Councellours had declared that it fell to her according to Law This joyned with the Importunities of her Husband who had more of his Father's Temper than of her Philosophy in him made her submit to it Upon this XXI Privy Councellours set their hands to a Letter to Queen Mary letting her know that Queen Jane was now their Soveraign and that the Marriage between her Father and Mother was null so she could not succeed to the Crown and therefore they required her to lay down her Pretensions and to submit to the settlement now made and if she gave a ready obedience to these Commands they promised her much favour The day after this they proclaimed Jane But Lady Jane Gray is proclaimed In it they set forth That the late King had by Patent excluded his Sisters that both were illegitimated by sentences past in the Ecclesiastical Courts and confirmed in Parliament and at best they were only his Sisters by the half blood and so not inheritable by the Law of England There was also cause to fear that they might marry strangers and change the Laws and subject the Nation to the Tyranny of the See of Rome Next to them the Crown fell to the Dutchess of Suffolk and it was provided that if she should have no Sons when the King died the Crown should devolve on her Daughter who was born and married in the Kingdom Upon which
officious Courtiers are apt to do often without any good Grounds so that Silence was made an Argument of her Guilt and that she could not be defended But perhaps that was an effect of the Wisdom of the Ministers of that time who would not suffer so nice a Point upon which the Queen's Legitimation depended to be brought into dispute The day after Anne Boleyn's Death the King married Jane Scimour who gained more upon him than all his Wives ever did But she was happy that she did not out-live his Love to her Lady Mary was advised upon this turn of Affairs Lady Mary 's Submission oo the King to make her Submission to the King she offered to confess the Fault of her former Obstinacy and in General to give up her Understanding entirely to the King but that would not satisfy unless she would be more particular so at last she was prevailed with to do it in the fullest Terms that could be desired She acknowledged the King to be the Supream Head on Earth under Christ of the Church of England and did renounce the Bishop of Rome's Authority and promised in all things to be obedient to the Laws that were made which she said flowed from her inward Belief and Judgment and in which she would for ever continue and she did also acknowledg that the King's Marriage with her Mother was by God's Law and Man's Law unlawful and incestuous all this she writ with her own Hand and subscribed it upon which she was again received into Favour and an Establishment was made for a Family about her in which 40 l. a quarter was all the Allowance for her Privy Purse so great was the Frugality of that time Lady Elizabeth continued to be educated with great Care and was so forward that before she was four Years old she both wrote a good Hand and understood Italian for there are Letters extant written by her in that Language to Queen Jane when she was with child in which she subscribed Daughter On the 8th of June the Parliament met A Farliament meets which shews that it was summoned before the Justs at Greenwich The Chancellour told them that the King had called them to settle the Succession of the Crown in case he should dye without Children lawfully begotten and to repeal the Act made concerning his Marriage with Queen Anne It seems the Parliament was not at first easily brought to comply with these things and that it was necessary to take some pains to prepare them to it For the Bill of Succession was not put in till the 30th of June but then it was quickly dispatched without any Opposition by it the Attainder of Queen Anne and her Complices is confirmed both the Sentences of Divorces pass'd upon the King 's two former Marriages were also confirmed and the Issue by both was illegitimated and for ever excluded from claiming the Crown by Lineal Descent And the Succession was established on the King's Issue by his present Queen or any whom he might afterwards marry But it not being fit to declare who should succeed in default of that lest the Person so named might be thereby enabled to raise Commotions in Confidence of the King's Wisdom and Affection to his People they left it to him nominate his Successors either by Letters Patents or by his last Will signed by his Hand and promised to obey the Persons so nominated by him It was declared Treason to maintain the Lawfulness of his former Marriages or of his Issue by them and it was made not only Treason but a forfeiture of the Right of Succession if any of those whom the King should name in default of others should endeavour to get before them The Scots complained of this Act and said their Queen Dowager being King Henry's Eldest Sister could not be put by her Right after the King 's lawful Issue But by this the King was now made Master indeed and had the Crown put entirely in his Hands to be disposed of at his Pleasure and his Daughters were now to depend wholly on him He had it also in his Power in a great measure to pacify the Emperour by providing that his Kinswoman might succeed to the Crown Pope Clement the 7th Pope Paul the 3d proposes a Recoaciliation with the King was now dead and Farnese succeeded by the Name of Paul the 3d who after an unsuccesful Attempt which he made for reconciling himself with the King when that was rejected and Fisher was beheaded thundered out a most terrible Sentence of Deposition against him Yet now since both Queen Katherine and Queen Anne upon whose account the Breach was made were out of the way he thought it a fit time to try what might be done and ordered Cassali to let the King know that he had always favoured his Cause when he was a Cardinal that he was driven very much against his Mind to pass Sentence against him and that now it would be easy for him to recover the Favour of the Apostolick See But the King instead of hearkening to the Proposition Acts against the Pope's Power got two Acts to be pass'd The one was for the utter extinguishing the Pope's Authority and it was made a Premunire for any to acknowledg it or to perswade others to it And a strict Charge was given to all Magistrates under severe Penalties to enquire after all Offenders By another all Bulls and all Priviledges flowing from them were declared null and void only Marriages or Consecrations made by virtue of them were excepted All who enjoyed Priviledges by these Bulls were required to bring them into the Chancery upon which the Arch-bishop was to make them a new Grant of them and that being confirmed under the Great Seal was to be of full force in Law Another Act pass'd explaining an Exception that was in the Act for the Residence of all Incumbents by which those who were at the Universities were dispensed with upon which many went and lived idlely there It was therefore now declared that none above the Age of fourty except Heads and publick Readers should have the Benefit of that Proviso and that none under that Age should be comprehended in it except they performed their Exercises Another Act pass'd in Favour of the King's Heirs if they should Reign before they were of full Age that they might any time before they were 24 repeal by Letters Patents all Acts made during their Minority All these things being concluded the Parliament after it had sate six Weeks was dissolved The Convocation examines some points of Religion The Convocation sate at the same time and was much imployed for the House of Lords was oft adjourned because the Spiritual Lords were busy in the Convocation Latimer preached the Latine Sermon he was the most celebrated Preacher of that time the Simplicity of his matter and his Zeal in expressing it being preferred to more elaborate Composures They first confirmed the Sentence of the Divorce of
freedome of Speech but being much cried down he said they were a company of men who had dissembled with God and the World in the late Reign and were now met together to set forth false devices which they were not able to maintain Theodoret's words were much and often insisted on so Weston answered if Theodoret should be yielded to them they had an hundred Fathers on the other side Cheyney shewed out of Hesychius that the custome of Jerusalem was to burn so much of the Elements as was not consumed And he asked what it was that was burnt One answered it was either the Body of Christ or the substance of Bread put there by Miracle at which he smiled and said a reply was needless When much discourse had past Weston asked if the House were not fully satisfied to which the Clergy answered Yes but the Spectators cried out No No for the doors were opened then Weston asked the five Disputants if they would answer the Arguments that should be put to them Ailmer said they would not enter into such a Disputation where matters were so indecently carried They proposed only the Reasons why they could not joyn with the Vote that had been put concerning the Sacrament but unless they had fairer Judges they would go no further Weston broke up all by saying You have the Word but we have the Sword rightly pointing out that wherein the strength of both fides consisted It is not to be doubted but that the Popish party pretended they had the Victory for that always the stronger side does upon such occasions Yet it was visible that this dispute was not so fairly carried as those were in King Edward's days in which for near a year before any change was made there were publick disputes in the Universities which were more proper places for them than a Town full of noise and business The question was also here determined first and then disputed And the presence and favour of the Privy Council did as much raise the one party as it depressed the other In the end of this year Veysey was again repossessed of the See of Exeter Coverdale being now a Prisoner in the Tower In the beginning of the next year a great Embassy came from the Emperour The Treaty of Marriage begun to agree the conditions of the Marriage between his Son and the Queen Gardiner took care to have extraordinary ones granted both to induce the Parliament more easily to consent to it and to keep the Spaniards from being admitted to any share in the Government that so he might keep it in his own hands But the Emperour was resolved to grant every thing that should be asked It was agreed that the Government should be entirely in the Queen and that though Pr. Philip was to be named in all Writs and his Image was to be on the Coin and Seals yet the Queens hand alone was to give authority to every thing without his No Spaniard was to be capable of any Office No change was to be made in the Law nor was the Queen to be required to go out of England against her will Nor might their issue go out of England but by the consent of the Nobility The Queen was to have of Jointure 40000 l. out of Spain and 20000 l. out of the Netherlands If the Queen had a Son he was to inherit Burgundy and the Netherlands as well as England if Daughters only they were to succeed to her Crowns and to have such portions from Spain as was ordinary to be given to Kings Daughters The Prince was to have no share in the Government after her death And the Queen might keep up her League with France notwithstanding this Match But this did not satisfie the Nation Which provokes some to rebel which lookt on these offers only as baits to hook them into slavery The severities of the Spanish Government in all the Provinces that were united to that Crown and the monstrous Cruelties exercised in the West Indies were much talkt of and it was said England must now preserve it self or be for ever inflaved Carew and Wiat undertook to raise the Countrey the one in Cornwall and the other in Kent and the Duke of Suffolk promised to raise the Midland Counties for the disposition to rise was general and might have been fatal to the Queen if there had been good heads to have led the people But before it grew ripe the design was discovered and upon that Sir Peter Carew fled to France Wiat gathered some men about him Wiat's Rebellion and on the twenty fifth of January he made Proclamation at Maidstone that he intended nothing but to preserve the Nation from the yoke of strangers and assured the people that all England would rise The Sheriff of Kent required him under pain of Treason to disperse his Company but he did not obey his Summons One Knevet raised a body of men about Tunbridge and marched towards him but was intercepted and routed by a force commanded by the Duke of Norfolk who was sent with two hundred Horse and six hundred Londoners to dissipate this Insurrection but some that came over from Wiat as deserters perswaded the Londoners that it was a common cause in which they were engaged to maintain the liberty of the Nation So they all went over to Wiat. Upon this the Duke of Norfolk retired back to London and Wiat who had kept himself under the defence of Rochester-Bridge advanced towards it The Duke of Suffolk made a faint attempt to raise the Country but it did not succeed and he was taken and brought to the Tower The Queen sent the offer of a Pardon to Wiat and his men but that not being received by them she sent some of her Council to treat with him He was blown up with his small success and moved that the Queen would come to the Tower of London and put the command of it into his hands till a new Council were setled about her So it appeared there was no Treaty to be thought on The Queen went into London and made great protestations of her love to her people and that she would not dispose of herself in Marriage but for the good of the Nation Wiat was now four thousand strong and came to Southwark but could not force the Bridge of London He was informed the City would all rise if he should come to their aid but he could not find Boats for passing over to Essex so he was forced to go to the Bridge of Kingston On the fourth of February he came thither but found it cut yet his men mended it and he got to Hide Park next morning His men were weary and disheartned and now not above 500 so that though the Queens forces could have easily dispersed them yet they let them go forward that they might cast themselves into their hands He marched through the Strand and got to Ludgate where he hoped to have found the Gate opened but