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A45326 The life & death of that renowned John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester comprising the highest and hidden transactions of church and state, in the reign of King Henry the 8th, with divers morall, historicall and political animadversions upon Cardinall Wolsey, Sir Thomas Moor, Martin Luther : with a full relation of Qu. Katharines divorce / carefully selected from severall ancient records by Tho. Baily ... Hall, Richard, 1535 or 6-1604.; Henry VIII, King of England, 1491-1547. Testamentum.; Bayly, Thomas, d. 1657? 1655 (1655) Wing H424; ESTC R230 97,933 254

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it was his secret place of Prayer This Coffer thus fenced about and in so private a place and close unto him every man beleived verily that some great Treasure had been stored up in that same Coffer wherefore because no indirect dealing might be used in defrauding the King in a matter of so great cons●quence a● this was thought to be wherefore witnesses were solemnly called to be present so the Coffer was broken up before them and much paines was taken in ●breaking up th● Coffer but when it was open they found within it instead of gold and silver which they looked for a shirt of haire and two or three whips wherwith he used full often to punish himself as some of his Chaplaine● and Servants have often reported that were neere about him and curiously marked his doings and other treasure than that found they none at all But when report was made to him in his prison of the opening of that coff●r he was very sorry for it and said that if hast had not made him forget that and many things else ●●ose things had not been to be found there at that time After this good B●shop was recovered to some better strength by the help of his Physitians and that he was more able to be carried abroad he was on Thursday the 17. of Iune brought to the Kings Bench at Westminster from the Tower with a huge number of Holberts Bills and other weapons about him and the Ax of the Tower born before him with the edge from him as the manner is and because he was not yet so well recovered that he was able to walk by land all the way on foot he rode part of the way on horseback in a black cloth gown the rest he was carried by water for that he was not well able to ride thorough for weaknesse As soon as he was come to Westminster he was there pres●nted at the Barre before the said Commissioners being all set ready in their places against his coming whose names were these Sir Thomas Audely Knight Lord Chancellor of England Charles Duke of Suffolk H●nry Earle of Comberland Thomas Earle of Wiltshire Thomas Cromwell Secretary Sir Iohn Fitz. Iames Chief Iustice of England Sir Iohn Baldwin Chief Justice of the Common-pleas Sir William Pawlet Sir Richard Lyster Chief Baron of the Exchequer Sir Iohn Port Sir Iohn Spilman and Sir Walter late Justices of the Kings Bench and Sir Anthony Fitzherbert one of the Justices of the Common-pleas Being thus presented before these Commissi●ners he was commanded by the name of Iohn Fisher late of Rochester Clerk otherwise called Iohn Fisher Bishop of Rochester to hold up his hand which he did with a most cheerfull countenance and rare constancy then was his Indictment read which was very long and full of words but the effect of it was thus that he maliciously treacherously fals●ly had said these words The King our soveraigne Lord is not Supreme head in the earth of the Church of England and b●ing read to the end it was asked him whether he was guilty of this Treason or no whereunto he pleaded Not guilty Then was a Jury of twelve men being Free-holders of Middlesex called to try this Issue whose names were these Sir Hugh Vaughan Knight Sir Walter Langford Knight Thomas Burbage Iohn Nudygate William Browne Iohn Hewes Iasper Leak Iohn Palmer Richard Henry Young Henry Lodisman Iohn Elrington and George Heveningham Esquires These twelve men being sworne to trie whether the prisoner were guilty of this Treason or no at last came forth to g●ve evidence against him Mr Rich the secret and close Messenger that passed between the King and him as ye have read before who openly in the presence of the Judges and all the people there assembled deposed and swore that he heard the Prisoner say in plaine words within the Tower of London that he believed in his conscience and by his learning he assuredly knew that the King neither was nor by right could be Supreme head in earth of the Church of Engl. When this blessed Father heard the accusations of this most wretched false person contrary to his former oath promise he was not a little astonied thereat wherefore he said to him in this menner Mr. R●ch I cannot but mervaile to hear you come in and beare witnesse against me of these words knowing in what secret manner you came to me but suppose I so said unto you yet in that saying I commited no Treason for upon what occasion and for what cause it might be said your self doth know right well and therefore being now urged said he by this occasion to open somewhat of this matter I shall desire my Lords and others here to take a little patience in hearing what I shall say for my self This man meaning Mr. Rich came to me from the King as he said on a secret message with commendations from his Grace declaring at large what a good opinion his Majesty had of me and how sorry he was of my trouble with many more words than are here needfull to be recited because they tended so much to my praise as I was not onely ashamed to hear them but also knew right well that I could no way deserve them at last he broke with me of the matter of the Kings Supremacy lately granted unto him by Act of Parliament to the which he said although all the Bishops in the Realme have consented except your selfe alone and also the whole Court of Parliament both spirituall and temporall except a very few yet he told me that the King for better satisfaction of his owne conscience had sent him unto me in this s●cret manner to know my full opinion in the matter for the great aff●●nce he had in me more than any other he ad●ed further that if I would herein frankly and freely advertise his Maj. my knowledge that upon certificate of my misliking he was very like to retract much of his former doings and make satisfaction for the same in case I should so advertise him when I had heard all his message and considered a little upon his words I put him in minde of the new Act of Parliament which standing in force as it doth against all them that shall di●●ctly say or do any thing that is against it might thereby ●ndanger me very much in case I should utter unto him any thing that were offensive against the Law to that he told me that the King willed him to assure me on his honour and in the word of a King that whatever I should say unto him by this his secret messenger I should abide no danger no perill for it neither that any advntage should be taken against me for the same no although my words were never so directly against the Statutes seeing it was but a declaration of my minde secretly to him as to his owne person and for the messenger himselfe he gave me his faithfull promise that he would never utter
taken as undoubtedly true si●cere and perfect which Marriage carrying with it the soveraign imfortunity of all second Marriages being compleated the same Parliament enacted a Statu●e which declared the establishment of the Kings succession in the imperiall Crowne to be upon the issue which he was to have by the present Queene Anne ratifying whatsoever the foresaid Archbishop of Canterbury had decreed and disinheriting the issue which the King had by the foresaid Lady Katharine from all title to the foresaid Crowne and Government or that if any person of what state and condition soever shall by writing printing or any exteriour Act or Deed procure or doe any thing to the prejudice slander disturbance or de●ogation of the said Matrimony or the issue growing of the same every such person shall be deemed and adjudged as an high Traitour and suffer such punishment as in case of high Treason is provided and for the better keeping of this Act the Kings Majesty together with his Counsellours of their owne authority framed an O●th upon the breaking up of this Parliament which was upon the 30. day of Ma●ch and tendred it the same day to all the Lords both spirituall and temporall as likewise to all the Commons and was to be tendred to whom the Commissioners for the same purpose should call before them the words of which Oath were these viz. Ye shall swear to beare Faith Truth and all Obedience onely to the Kings Majesty and to his heires of his body and of his most dear and entirely beloved wife Queen Anne begotten and to be begotten and further to the heires of our Soveraigne Lord according to the limitation made in the Statute for surety of his succession in the Crown of this Realm mentioned and contained and not to any other within this Realme nor to any other forraign Authority or Potentate whatsoever and in case any Oath be made or hath been made by you to any person or persons that then ye doe repute the same as vaine and annihilate and that to your cunning wit and utmost endeavours ye shall observe keep maintain and defend the said Act of Succession all the whole effects and intents thereof and all other Acts and Statutes made in confirmation and for ex●cution of the same or any thing therein contained and this ye shall do against all manner of persons of what estate dignity degree or condition soever they be and in no wise do or attempt nor to your power suffer to be done or attempted directly any thing or things privily or openly to the let hindrance danger or derogation thereof or if any part of the same by any manner of meanes or any manner of pretences So help you God and all his Saints and the holy Evangelist Which Oath all the Lords both spirituall and temporall took except the Bishop of Rochester who absolutely refused it So the Parliament was ended But The said Bishop had not been 4 daies quiet within his Palace of Rochester but a Letter came to him from the Archbishop of Canterbury together with other of the Commissioners willing him personally to appear before them in the said Archbishops house by a certain day expressed within the Letter all excuses set a part And CHAP. XIX 1. The Bishop of Rochester summoned to appear before the Archbishop of Canterbury 2. Sir Thomas M●or and Dr. Wilson committed for refusing the Oath 3. The Bishop of Rochester sent to the Tower for the same cause 4. A Parliament is called wherein the Bishops imprisonment was voted lawfull 5. The Supremacy of the Church conferred upon the King c. by Act of P●●liament absolutely and w●●●out the fo●mer clause 6. An Act 〈◊〉 Parliament making i● treason to deny the King to be supreme head of the Church NOw was the thing come to passe which was no●hing terrible to him because it was foreseen wherefore he first makes his Will and leaves severall L●gacies to divers persons and uses as to Michael house in Cambridge where he received his Education to St. Iohns Colledge to the Poore to some of his 〈…〉 to all his Servants whom he leaves weeping behinde him whiles the rest followed him lam●nting his condition in his journey towards Lambeth Passing thorough the City of Rochester there were a mult●tude of p●ople gathered together both citizens and countreymen to whom he gave his benediction riding by them all the while b●●eheaded some crying that they should never see him again others denouncing woes unto them that were the oc●asions of his troubles others crying out against the wickednesse of the times and all of them lamenting and bewailing that wh●ch was their miserie and his glory Thus he passed on his way till he came to Sutors hill twenty miles from Rochester on the top whereof he rested himself descending from his horse and causing to be brought before him such victuals as he had caused to be brought thither for that purpose he said he would now make use of his time and dine in the open aire while as he might after which dinner he chearfully took his horse and came to London the same night The day of his appearance being come he presented himselfe before the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth the Lord Audely Chancelour of England Thomas Cromwell the Kings Secretary and the rest of the Commissioners authorised under the great Seale of England to call before them whom they pleased and to tender unto them the foresaid Oath then sitting at Lambeth where at the same tune the Bishop met with Sir Thomas Moore who welcomed and saluted the Bishop in these termes Well met my Lord I hope we shall meet in Heaven to which the Bishop replyed This should be the way Sir Thomas for it is a very strait gate we are in There had been Doctor Wilson sometime the Kings Confessor who together with Sir Thomas Moore had both of them refused the Oath a little before the B●shops coming for which the Knight was committed for the present to the custody of the Abbot of Westminster as the Doctor had been formerly committed to the Tower of London at which time also the Clergie of London were warned to appeare about the same businesse who all of them took the Oath at the same time Then was it that the B●shop of R●chester was called before the Archb●shop c. who putting the B●sh●p in remembrance of the Act which was made by the late Parliament wh●ch had provided an O●th to be administred to all persons within this R●alm concerning the establ●shment of the Succession c. how all the Lords both spirituall and temporall had taken the said Oath onely himself excepted how grievo●sly his Majesty was offended with him therefore how he had g●ven strict charge to himself and the rest of the Commissioners to call him before them and to tender unto him the Oath once more presented unto him the Oath laying it before him and demanded of him what he would say thereto the good man p●rusing
said a few prayers which were not long but fervent and devout which being ended he laid his head down on the middle of a little block where the Executioner being ready with a sharp and heavy Ax cut asunder his slender neck at one blow which bled so abundantly that many wondred to see so much blood issu● out of so slender and leane a body As concerning the Head the Executioner put it into a bag and carried it away with him meaning to have set it on the Bridge that night as he was commanded The Lady Anne Bullein who was the chief cause of this holy mans death had a certain desire to see the head before it was set up whereupon being brought unto her she beheld it a space and at last contemptuously said these or the like words Is this the head that so often exclaimed against me I trust it shall never do no more harm with that striking it upon the mouth with the back of her hand hurt one of her fingers upon a tooth that stuck somewhat more out than the rest did which finger after grew sore and putting her to pain many dayes after was nevertheless cured at last with much difficulty But after it was healed the mark of the hurt place remained to be seen when her own head was not to be seen upon her shoulders This may seem strange as a rare example of cruell boldness in that sex which by nature is fearfull and cannot behold such spectacles and therefore argueth no doubt a wonderfull malice which she by likelihood bare to the holy man living that could thus cruelly use his head being dead Then the Executioner stripping the body of his shirt and all his clothes he departed thence leaving the headless carkasse naked upon the Scaffold where it remained after that sort for the most part of that day saving that one for pity and humanity sake cast a little straw over his privities about eight of the clock in the evening commandment came from the Kings Commissioners to such as watched about the dead body for it was still watched with many halberds weapons that they should cause it to be buried Whereupon two of the watchers took it upon a holbert between them and so carried it to a Church-yard there hard by called Alh Barkin where on the Northside of the Church hard by the wall they digged a grave with their halberds and therein without any reverence tumbled the body of this holy Prelate all naked and flat upon his belly without either shirt or other accustomed thing belonging to a christian mans buriall and so covered quickly with earth And this was done on the day of St. Albane the Pro●omartyr of England being Tuesday the 22. of Iune in the year of ou● redemption 1535. and in the 27. year of the Kings reigne after he had lived full threescore and sixteen years nine moneths and odde daies The next day after his burying the head being parboyled was pricked upon a pole and set on high upon London Bridge among the rest of the holy Carthusians heads that suffered death lately before him And here I cannot omit to declare unto you the miraculous sight of this head which after it had stood up the space of fourteen dayes upon the bridge could not be perceived to wast nor consume neither for the weather which then was very hot neither for the parboyling in hot water but grew daily fresher and fresher so that in his life-time he never looked so well for his cheeks being beautified with a comely red the face looked as though it had beholden the people passing by and would have spoken to them which many took for a miracle that Almighty God was pleased to shew above the course of nature in this preserving the fresh and lively colour in his face surp●ssing the colour he had being alive whereby was noted to the world the innocence and holinesse of this blessed Father that thus innocently was content to lose his head in defence of his Mother the holy Catholique Church of Christ wherefore the people coming daily to see this strange sight the passage over the bridge was so stopped with their going and coming that almost neither cart nor horse could passe and therfore at the end of fourteen daies this Executioner was commanded to throw downe the head in the night-time into the R●ver of Thames and in the place thereof was set the head of the most blessed and constant Martyr Sir Thomas Moore his Companion and fellow in all his troubles who suffered his passion the 6. day of Iuly next following And touching the place of his buriall in Barkin Church yard it was well observed at that time by divers worthy persons of the nations of Italy Spain and France that were then abiding in the Realme and more diligently noted and wrote the course of things and with lesse fear and suspition then any of the Kings subjects might or durst doe that for the space of seaven yeares after his buriall there grew neither leaf nor grasse upon his grave but the earth still remained as bare as though it had been continually occupied and trodden When by common fame this bloudy Execution was blown and spread abroad straight way the name of King Henry begun to grow odious among all good people not onely in his own Realm at home but also among all forreign Princes and Nations abroad through Christendome insomuch that Paul the third then Pope of Rome with great grief signified these doings by severall Letters to all the Christian Princes openly detesting the outrage of King Henry in committing such a wicked and manifest injury not onely against the freedome and priviledge of the Church of Rome but also against the whole state of Christs universall Church for the which in short space after he pronounced the terrible sentence of Excommunication against him Likewise the most noble and christian Emperour Charles the fifth at such time as Sir Thomas Moore was beheaded and word th●●eof brought to him sent speedily for Sir Thomas Eliot the Kings Embassadour there 〈◊〉 with him and asked him whether he heard any such newes or no who answered him that he heard no such thing yes said the Emperour it is true and too true that Sir Thomas Moore is now executed to death as a good Bishop hath lately been before and with that giving a sigh said alas what meant the K. to kill two such man for said he the Bishop was such a one as for all purposes I think the King had not the like agai●●● in all his R●alm neither yet was to be matched through Christendome so that said he the King your Master hath in killing that Bishop killed at one blow all the Bishops in England And Sir Thomas Moore said he was well known for a man of such profound wisdome cunning and vertue that if he had been towards me as he was towards the King your Master I had rather have lost the best City in all