make it known what they were Prestons Chantery THis was Founded by John Preston for two Priests to Sing Mass daily for the good Estate of Him the said John during this mortal Life and afterwards for the health of his Soul as also for the Souls of his Parents and Benefactors and all the Faithful Deceased Thus Mr. Dugdale Of Gilds or Fraternities The word Gild Proceeds from the Saxon word Gelo or Gilo which signifies Money because that such as were either for Charity Religion or Merchandize sake associated did cast their Money Goods yea and sometimes Lands together for the publick support of their own common charge These had their Annual Feasts â—…nd Neighbourly Meetings The First and most Ancient of these Gilds here in Coventry was Founded in the Fourteenth year of Edward the Third At which time the King granted Licence to the Coventry men That they should have a Merchants Gild and a Fraternity of Brethren and Sisters of the same in this Town with a Master or Warden thereof to be chosen out of the same Fraternity And that they might make Chantries bestow Alms do other works of Piety and Constituted Ordinances touching the same with all Appurtenances thereto And in the Seventeenth year Edward the Third gave leave to several to enter into a Fraternity and make a Gild consisting of themselves and such others as would joyn with them to the Honor of St. John Baptist. As also to purchase certain Lands Tenements and Rents for the Founding of a Chantry of Six Priests to Sing Mass every day in the Church of the Holy Trinity and St. Michael in Coventry for the Souls of the King's Progenitors and for the good Estate of the King Queen Isabel his Mother Queen Philippa his Wife and their Children As also of Walter Chesthunt and William De-Belgrave during their lives here on Earth and for their Souls after their departure hence and for the good Estate of the said John John Tho. Rich. Pet. and William and the rest of the said Gild with their Benefactors and likewise for the Soul of John Eltham late Earl of Cornwal and all of the Faithful Deceased Which Gild being so Founded within Two years after the same King Edward gave Licence to Queen Isabel his Mother to Give and Assign thereunto a parcel of Land to build thereupon a Chappel to the Honor of our Bâ—…essed Saviour and St. John Baptist for Two Priests to Sing Mass daily for the good Estate of the said King Edward Queen Isabel his Mother Queen Philippa his Wife Edward Prince of Wales and of the Brethren and Benefactors of the same Gild whilst they lived in this World and for their Souls after their Departure hence As also for the Soul of John of Eltham Earl of Cornwal and the Souls of the said Brethren and Benefactors with all the Faithful Deceased Thus Mr. Dugdale p. 119. There were great store of these and such like Pious Foundations throughout all England as appears by the same History All destroyed by King Henry the Eighth and his Son This Change being made something must necessarily be established in order to Religion CHAP. III. A Book of Religion Published THE Clergy held a Convocation in St. Paul's Church where after much disputing and debating of matters they Published a Book of Religion Entituled Articles Devised by the King's Highness c. In which Book is mentioned but Three Sacraments Baptism Eucharist and Penance The Articles contained in this Book were Six And by an Act of Parliament all were condemned for Hereticks and to be Burnt that should hold the contrary to them Asserting 1. That the Body of Christ was not really present in the Sacrament of the Eucharist after Consecration 2. That Priests entred into Holy Orders might Marry 3. That the Sacrament might not truly be Administred in one kind 4. That Vows of Chastity made upon mature deliberation were not to be kept That Private Masses were not to be used That Auricular Confession was not necessary in the Church Thus Sir Rich. Baker pag. 408. Here followeth the Act it self out of the Statute Book An Act of Parliament made in King Henry the Eighth's time for abolishing diversity of Opinions in certain Articles concerning Religion THe King 's Most Royal Majesty most prudently considering that by occasion of various Opinions and Judgments concerning some Articles in Religion great discord and variance hath arisen as well amongst the Clergy of this Realm as amongst a great number of the vulgar People And being in a full hope and trust that a full and perfect Resolution of the said Articles would make a perfect Concord and Unity generally amongst all His Loving and Obedient Subjects of His most Excellent Goodness not only Commanded that the said Articles should Deliberately and Advisedly by His Archbishops Bishops and other Learned Men of His Clergy be Debated Argued and Reasoned and their Opinions therein to be Understood Declared and Known But also most Graciously vouchsafed in his own Princely Person to come unto his High Court of Parliament and Council and there like a wise Prince of most high Prudence and no less Learning opened and declared many Things of most high Learning and great Knowledge touching the said Articles Matters and Questions for an Unity to be had in the same Whereupon after a great and long deliberate and advised Disputation and Consultation had and made concerning the said Articles as well by the consent of the King's Highness as by the Assent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and other Leaned Men of His Clergy in their Convocations and by the Consent of the Commons in Parliament Assembled it was and is finally resolved accorded and Agreed in manner and form following that is to say 1. First That in the most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar by the strength and efficacy of Christ's mighty Word it being spoken by the Priest is present really under the Forms of Bread and Wine the natural Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ conceived of the Virgin Mary and that after the Consecration there remains no substance of the Bread or Wine nor any other Substance but the Substance of Christ God and Man 2. That the Communion in both kinds is not necessary to Salvation by the Law of God to all Persons and that it is to be Believed and not Doubted but that in the Flesh under the Form of Bread is the very Blood and with Blood under the Form of Wine is the very Flesh as well apart as if they were both together 3. That Priests after the Order of Priesthood received may not Marry by the Law of God 4. That Vows of Chastity Widowhood c. are to be kept 5. That it is meet and necessary that Private Masses be continued and admitted in the King 's English Church and Congregation as whereby good Christian People orcering themselves accordingly do receive both Godly and Goodly Consolations and Benefits and it is agreeable also to God's Law 6. That
in the Truth so the Devil is ready to seduce us And I have been seduced But bear me witness That I die in the Catholick Faith of the holy Church And I desire you to pray for me that so long as life remains in this Flesh I waver nothing in my Faith Having said this he was presently beheaded Thus Howes This following Relation although it concerns not the shedding of Blood yet is very remarkable as manifesting how the King's Marriage with the Lady Anne of Cleve was in Parliament declared not lawful Which is thus related by Howes upon Stow Page 578. AFter the Death of the Lady Jane Seymour the King 's Third Wife He Married the Lady Anne of Cleve in the Two and thirtieth year of his Reign From which time the King not only continued his first Misliking of her but his hatred encreased more and more against her not only for want of beauty whereof at first he took exceptions but also for sundry other qualities whereof he secretly accused her As also he said that her body was unpleasant making great doubt that she was no Virgin when she came into England with divers other defects which he said he knew by her outward appearance to be in her And being thus so sore perplexed and desperate of redress he grew wondrous apt and willing to call in question any thing that might tend to the dissolving of this Marriage Within Eight dayes the King told his Physicians his further cause of grief That she was loathsome to him in Bed and that her Body was foul and out of order The King being thus tormented in Body and Mind knew not how to ease himself until he had procured a speedy Divorce Which was thus effected Certain Lords came down into the Lower-House of Parliament expresly declaring the causes why this Marriage was not Lawful And in conclusion the matter was by the Convocation clearly determined that the King might lawfully marry where he would and so might she It appears clearly in the Record what moved the King to this Marriage For these are his words I declare that when the first Communication was had with me about this Marriage I was glad to hearken to it trusting to have some assured Friend by it I much doubting at that time both the Emperor France and the Bishop of Rome Thus Stow. The King 's Fifth Wife Catherine Howard put to death for Adultery As appears by this Relation Baker page 514. THe King was informed of the Queens dissolute life first before her Marriage with one Francis Dereham and since her Marriage with one Thomas Culpepper of the King's Bed-Chamber Whereupon Sir Tho. Wriothsâ—…ey was sent to the Queen at Hampton-Court to charge her with these Crimes and discharging her Houshold to cause her to be conveighed to Syon The Delinquents being examined Dereham confessed that before the King's Marriage with the Lady Catherine there had been a pre-contract between him and her But when once he understood of the King 's good liking to her he then waved it and concealed it for her preferment These Gentlemen were arraigned and had Judgment to die as in cases of Treason They were drawn from the Tower to Tyburn Where Culpepper was beheaded and Dereham hanged and dismember'd The Lord William Howard and the Lady Margaret his Wife Catherine Tilney and Alice Bestwold Gentlewomen Joan Bulmer Anne Howard Wife to Henry Noward the Queens Brother with divers others were all condemned for Misprision of Treason in concealing the Queens misdemeanour and adjudged to forfeit all their Lands and Goods during life and to remain in perpetual Prison The Lords and Commons in Parliament Petitioned the King That he would not vex himself with the Queens Offences and that both she and the Lady Rochford might be Attainted by Parliament And that to avoid protracting of time he would give his Royal Assent to it under the Great Seal without staying for the end of the Parliament Also that Dereham and Culpepper having been Attainted before by the Common-Law might be Attainted likewise by Parliament All which was Assented unto by the King After this the Queen and the Lady Rochford were beheaded on the Green within the Tower It is certainly said that after her Condemnation She protested to Dr. White Bishop of Winchester her last Confessor That as for the Act for which She was condemn'd She took God and his holy Angels to witness upon her Souls Salvation that She died guiltless Thus of the putting to death of his Wives Here follows an unheard of Cruelty of Bloodshed for Religion in these times of Confusion and Change of Religion ONe Lambert was accused for denying the real presence in the Sacrament who Appeal'd to the King and the King was content to hear him Whereupon a Throne was set up in the Hall of the King's Palace at Westminster for the King to sit And when the Bishops had urged their Arguments and could not prevail then the King took him in hand hoping perhaps to have the Honor of converting an Heretick when the Bishops could not do it and withal promised him pardon if he would recant But all would not do for he remained obstinate the King miss'd his Honor and the Delinquent his Pardon Being shortly after drawn to Smithfield and burnt Baker page 412. Two more were for the same cause burnt Baker in the same page Dr. John Fisher Bishop of Rochester and Sir Thomas Moor expresly denyed at Lambeth before the Archbishop of Canterbury to take the Oath of Supremacy and thereupon were both beheaded Bishop Fisher was much lamented as being reputed a man both learned and wise and of good life Sir Thomas Moor was both learned and very wise His Devotion was such that he used to wear a Shirt of Hair-cloth next his skin for a perpetual Penance And oftentimes in the Church he would put on a Surplice and help the Priest at Mass Which he did not forbear to do when he was Lord Chancellor of England as one time the Duke of Norfolk coming to the Church found him doing it Baker page 406. Sir William Peterson Priest late Commissary of Calais and Sir William Richardson Priest of St. Maries in Calais were both there drawn hang'd and quarter'd in the Market-place for the Supremacy Stow page 579. Dr. Wilson and Dr. Samson Bishop of Chichester were sent to the Tower for relieving certain Prisoners who had denyed to Subscribe to the King's Supremacy And for the same offence Richard Farmer Grocer of London a rich and wealthy Citizen was committed to the Marshalsea and after arraigned and attainted in a Praemunire and lost all his Goods his Wife and Children thrust out of doors Stow page 580. Robert Barns Dr. of Divinity Thomas Gerrard Parson of Honey-lane and William Jerom Vicar of Stepney-Heath Bachelors in Divinity Also Edward Powel Thomas Able and Richard Fetherston all Three Doctors were drawn from the Tower of London to West Smithfield The Three First were drawn to a Stake and there
by Persons not responsible in which case the King as well as the Commissioners was to lose his Right But more was concealed by Persons not to be discovered who had so cunningly carried on the stealth that there was no tracing of their Foot-steps And some there were who being known to have such Goods in their Possession conceived themselves to be too great to be called in question and were connived at willingly by those that were but their equals and either were or meant to be Offenders in the same kind So that although some profit was hereby raised to the King's Exchequer yet the far greatest part of the Prey came to other hands Insomuch that many private Mens Parlors were hung with Altar-cloths their Tables and Beds covered with Copes instead of Carpets and Coverlets and many made Carowsing Cups of the Sacred Chalice as once Belshazzar Celebrated his drunken Feasts in the Sanctified Vessels of the Temple It was a sorry House not worth the naming which had not something of this Furniture in it though it were only a fair large Cushion made of a Cope or Altar-cloth to adorn their Windows or to make their Chairs appear to have somewhat in them of a Chair of State Yet how contemptible were these Trappings in comparrison of those vast Sums of Money which were made of Jewels Plate and Cloth of Tissue either conveighed beyond the Seas or sold at home and good Lands purchased with the Money nothing the more blessed to the Posterity of them that bought them for being purchased with the Consecrated Treasures of so many Churches Thus Dr. Heylyn CHAP. XII Of his last designed Sacriliege to wit The Suppression of Bishopricks and Collegiate Churches and particularly of his Suppressing the Bishoprick of Durham Dr. Heylyn pag. 132. BUt as the King was plunged in Debt without being put to any extraordinary Charges so was he decayed in his Revenue without selling any part of his Crown Lands toward the payment of it By the Suppressing of some and the Surrendring of other Religious Houses the Royal Intrado was so much encreased in the late King's time that for the better managing of it the King Erected first the Court of Augmentation and afterwards the Court of Surveyors But in short time by his own profuseness and the avariciousness of this King's Ministers it was so retrenched that it was scarce able to find work enough for the Court of Exchequer Whereupon followed the Dissolving of the said Two Courts in the last Parliament of this King Which as it made a loud noise in the ears of the People so did it put this jealousie into their minds That if the King's Lands should be thus daily wasted without any recruit he must at last prove burthensome to the common Subject Some course is therefore to be thought on which might pretend to an encrease of the King's Revenue And none more easie to be compassed than to begin with the Suppression of such Bishopricks and Collegiate Churches as either lay farthest off or might be best spared In reference whereunto it was concluded in a Chapter held at Westminster by the Knights of the Garter That from thenceforth the said most Noble Order of the Garter should be no longer entituled by the Name of St. George but that it should be called The Order of the Garter only and the Feast of the said Order should be Celebrated upon Whitsun-Eve Whitsun-Day and Whitsun-Munday and not on St. George's-day as before it was And to what end was this concluded and what else was to follow upon this Conclusion but the Dissolving of the Free-Chappel of St. George in the Castle of Windsor and the transferring of the Order to the Chappel of King Henry the Seventh in the Abbey of Westminster Which had undoubtedly been done and all the Lands thereof converted to some powerful Courtiers under pretence of laying them to the Crown if the King's death which happened within Four months after had not prevented the design and thereby respited that ruine which was then intended The like preservation hapned at the same time to the Church of Durham as liberally endowed as the most and more amply privilâ—…eged than the best in the King's Dominions The Bishops thereof by Charter and long Prescription enjoying and exercising all the Rights of a County Palatine in that large Tract of Ground which lies between the Tees and the Tyne the Diocess also containing all Northumberland of which the Bishops and the Priests had the greatest shares No sooner was Bishop Tonstal committed to the Tower but presently an eye was cast upon his Possessions Which questionless had followed the same fortune with the rest of the Bishopricks if one more powerful than the rest had not preserved it from being parcelled out as the others were on a strong confidence of getting it all unto himself After this the Earl of Northumberland to preserve himself gave unto the King the greatest part of his Inheritance and dying without Children not long after left his Titles also to the King 's disposing The Lands and Titles being thus fallen unto the Crown continued undisposed of till the Fall of the Duke of Sommerset when Dudley Earl of Warwick being created Duke of Northumberland doubted not but he should be able to possess himself in short time also of all the Lands of that Family To which Estate the Bishoprick of Durham and all the Lands belonging to it would make a fair Addition upon which grounds the Bishoprick of Durham being Dissolved by Act of Parliament under pretence of patching up the King's Revenue the greatest part of the Lands thereof were kept together that they might serve for a Revenue to the future Palatine But all these Projects failed in the Death of the King and the subsequent Death of this great Duke in the following Reign of Queen Mary Thus far out of Dr. Heylyn ' s History of Reformation concerning the strange Proceedings in this Change of Religion and the sad Effects of it An Appendix I will here end this King's Reign with a short Relation of this great Dukes Ambition and the King's Death Sir Rich. Baker pag. 445. THe Duke of Northumberland having procured the cutting off the Proctor's Head and being placed next the King had now gone a great way in his Design It only remaining to perswade King Edward to exclude his two Sisters from Succession in the Crown For that done his Daughter-in-law the Lady Jane would come to have Right for as to Pretenders out of Scotland or any other he made no great matter And now to work the King to this perswasion being in a languishing Condition not far from Death he inculcates to him how much it concerned him to have a care of Religion that it might be preserved in Purity not only in his own Life but also after his Death which would not be if his Sister the Lady Mary should Succeed and She could not be put by unless the other Sister the Lady Elizabeth
and observe St. Benets Rule as strictly as the Jews did the Law of Moses And at the length Odo D. of Burgnndy favoring their devout purposes bestowed on them certain Lands in a place called Cisteaux in the Bishoprick of Chalons where the said Abbot Robert with the rest for some time inhabited by example of whose strict and holy life in that Wilderness many began to do the like But in time the Covent at Molisme wanting a Pastor to govern them complained to Pope Urban shewing unto him the inconveniences that they sustained by reason thereof who having a paternal affection to both places commanded Abbot Robert to go back thither substituting some one of those Monks at Cisteaux to supply his room as Abbot there whereupon he constituted one Alberic to whom afterwards one Stephen an Englishman of great piety succeeded This plantation at Cisteaux was in the year 1098. as the same Author affirmeth with whom agreeth an ancient Chronical of the Church of Durham further manifesting that this Abbot Robert was an Englishman his sirname Harding and a Monk of Shirburne who in his younger years forsaking his habit went over into France for advancement of his knowledge in learning and coming to the Monastery of Molesme before mentioned was there shorne a Monk the second time and shortly after became Abbot Which Monks increased so much by the great conflux of Men to Cisteaux that from thence almost 500 Abbies of that Order were sprung within the compass of 55 years so that in a general Chapter held there by the Abbots and Bishops that were of that Rule it was ordained that from thenceforth there should be no more erected of that Order for their Monastries were built in Deserts and Woody places by their own proper handywork unto many whereof they gave special holy Names as Domus-Dei Clara-vallis Curia-Dei and the like Having said thus much of their original I shall add a word or two of the strictness in their Rule and so proceed with my discourse touching the further endowment of this Monastery First of their Habit they wear no Leather nor Linnen nor indeed any fine Woollen Cloth neither except it be in a journey do they put on any Breeches and then upon their return deliver them fair washt Having two Coats with Cowles in Winter time they are not to augment but in Summer if they please may lessen them In which habit they are to sleep and after Mattins not to return to their Beds For Prayers the hour of Prime they so conclude that before the Laudes it may be Day-break strictly observing their Rule that not one jot or tittle of their service is omitted Immediately after Laudes they sing the Prime and after Prime they go out performing their appointed hours in work what is to be done in the day they act by day-light for none of them except he be sick is to be absent from his Diurnal hours or the Compline When the Compline is finished the Steward of the House and he that hath charge of the guests go forth but with great care of silence serve them For Diet the Abbot assumes no more liberty to himself than any of his Covent every where being present with them and taking care of his flock except at meat in regard his Table is always with the strangers and poor people nevertheless wheresoever he eats is he abstemious of talk or any dainty fair nor hath he or any of them ever above two dishes of meat neither do they eat of fat or flesh except in case of sickness and from the Ides of September till Easter they eat no more than once a day except on Sundays no not on any Festival Out of the precincts of their Cloyster they go not but to work neither there or any where do they discourse with any but the Abbot or Prior. They unweariedly continue their Canonical hours not piecing any service to another except the Vigils for the decased They observe the Office of St. Ambrose so far as they could have perfect knowledge thereof from Millain and taking care of strangers or sick people do do devise extraordinary afflictions for their own bodies to the intent their own souls may be advantaged Which Rules were duly observed by the first Abbot and Covent but afterwards somewhat was abated of that austerity but their Habit is still white and nothing different in the fashion from the Monks of St. Benedict's Rule except a girdle which these wear about their middle The Black Friers pag. 367. col 2. This Order was begun by St. Dominick a Spaniard in the time of Pope Innocent the III who being at first a Canon with a few that he chose to be his companions instituted a new Rule of strict and holy living and lest they should grow sluggish in the service of God by staying at home in imitation of our blessed Saviour he appointed them to travel far and wide to preach the Gospel their Habit being a white Coat with a black Cloak over it which Order Honorius the III. who succeded Pope Innocent confirmed and Gregory the Ninth canonized him for a Saint In Anno 1221. 20 H. 3. they first came into England The White Friers pag. 117. col 1. The first institution of this Order as divers Authors affirm was Elias the Prophet at Mount-Carmell in Syria where living a retired life in the service of God he gave example unto many devout Anchorites to repair thither for solitude but these being disperst over the whole mountain in private Cells were at length by Almeric Bishop of Antioch reduced into one Covent at which time they elected cut of themselves a Superior and first began the Fountain of a Monastery where the Chappel of the blessed Virgin stood viz. near the foundation of Helias Howbeit the observance of this life began not till the days of Pope Alexander the Third about the year 1170. Nor till the time of Innocent the Third near 40. years after had they any direct Order that Albert Bishop of Jerusalem prescribed unto them thus living in the wilderness a form out of St. Basills Rule and a parti-colored Mantle of white and red such a one as Helyas the Prophet anciently used which afterwards Honorius the Third altered conceiving it not to be so proper and instead of the party-color appointed that it should be all white calling the Covent of these Friers the family of the Blessed Virgin in regard the white colour being least spotted doth best accord with Virginity But the first mention that I find of their propagating in this Realm is in anno 1250. 34 H. 3. at which time Sir John de Vescy of Alnwike in Northumberland a great Baron in those days returning from the holy-Holy-Land brought into England this Order of Friers and built for them a Monastery at Holme in Northumberland then a desert place and not unlike to Mount-Carmel before mentioned The Gray-Friers p. 113. col 1. First therefore as to their original we shall
And with thanks to God we know the way to Heaven to be as ready by Water as by Land and therefore we care not which way we go These Friars and all the rest of their Order were banish'd shortly after And after that none durst openly oppose themselves against the Kings affections Thus far Stow. Now more perfectly to Establish this Change It was Ordered That there should be Sermons Preached at Paul's-Cross against the Popes Supremacy Thus related by Howes upon Stow Pag. 571. Every Sunday at Paul's-Cross Preached a Bishop declaring the Pope not to be Supream Head of the Church Also in other Places of this Realm great Troubles were raised about Preaching namely at Bristow where Mr. Latimer preach'd and there preach'd against him one Mr. Hobberton and Dr. Powel So that there was great partakings on both sides insomuch that divers Priests and others set up Bills against the Mayor and against Mr. Latimer But the Mayor permitting Laymen to Preach caused divers Priests to be apprehended and put in Newgate with Bolts upon them and divers others ran away and lost their Livings rather than come into the Mayor's handling Thus Howes The King being thus Establish'd Head of the Church of England makes one Thomas Cromwel his Vicar General which is thus set down by Sir Rich. Baker Pag. 408. Thomas Cromwell Son to a Black smith in Putney being raised to High Dignities was lastly made Vicar General under the King in all Ecclefiastical Affairs who sate divers times in the Convocation-House amongst the Bishops as Head over them Thus Sir Richard Baker And thus far of the first beginning of this prodigious Change of Religion CHAP. II. Of the Dissolution of Abbeys being the first Effect of this Change of Religion Stow Pag. 572. THE King sent the said Cromwel and others to visit the Abbeys and Nunneries in England the said Cromwel being ordained Principal Visitor He put forth all Religious Persons that would go and all under the Age of Four and Twenty And after closed up the residue that would remain so that they should not come out of their places All Religious Men that departed the Abbot or Prior gave them for their Habit a Priests Gown and Forty Shillings in Money The Nuns had such Apparel given them as Secular Women wear and had liberty to go whither they would They took out of the Monasteries and Abbeys their Reliques and chiefest Jewels to the Kings use they said Thus Stow. Here follows a more particular Account of the Dissolution of these Abbeys The first Religious House that the King took into his hands was the Hospital of St. James near Charing-cross with all the Means to the same belonging compounding with the Sisters of the House who were to have Pensions during their lives And built in place of the said Hospital a Goodly Mansion retaining still the Name of St. James Stow p. 560. In a Parliament were granted to the King and his Heirs All Religious Houses in the Realm of England of the value of Two hundred pounds and under with all Lands and Goods to them belonging The Number of these Houses then suppressed were about Three Hundred Seventy Six and the value of their Lands then Thirty two thousand pounds and more by the Year The Moveable Goods as they were then sold at Robin-Hood's peny-worths amounted to more than Ten thousand pounds The Religious Persons that were in the said Houses were clearly put out whereof some went to other Greater Houses and some went abroad to the World It was saith my Author a pitiful thing to hear the lamentation that People in the Countrey made for them for there was great Hospitality kept amongst them and as it was thought more than Ten thousand Persons Masters and Servants lost their Living by the putting down of these Houses Thus Stoâ—…v Not long after by the means of the said Cromwel All the Orders of Friars and Nunns with their Cloysters and Houses were suppressed and put down First the Black-Friars in London the next day the White-Friars the Grey-Friars and the Monks of Charter-House and so all the others Thus Baker page 415. Here follows a particular Relation concerning the Shrine at Canterbury Thus deliver'd by Sir Rich Baker pag. 411. SAint Augustines Abbey at Canterbury was suppress'd and the Shrine and Goods taken to the Kings Treasury as also the Shrine of Thomas Becket in the Priory of Christs-Church was likewise taken to the Kings use This Shrine was built about a man's height all of Stone and then upwards of Timber plain within the which was a Chest of Iron containing the Bones of Thomas Becket Scull and all with the wound on his Head and the piece cut out of his Scull in the same wound These Bones by the Command of the Lord Cromwel were burnt The Timber-work of This Shrine on the out-side was covered with Plates of Gold Damasked with Gold-wyre which Ground of Gold was again cover'd with Jewels of Gold as Ten or Twelve Rings â—…ramped with Gold-wyre into the said Ground of Gold many of these Rings having Stones in them There were likewise Images of Angels Precious Stones and Great Pearls The Spoyl of which Shrine in Gold and Precious Stones fill'd two great Chests such as six or seven strong men could do no more than remove one of them at once out of the Church The Monks of that Church were commanded to change their Habits into the Apparel of Secular Priests Thus Baker The Knights of the Rhodes and Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in England and Ireland were utterly Dissolv'd and made void The King his Heirs and Successors to have and enjoy all the Mansion-House Church and all other Buildings and Gardens to the same belonging near to the City of London call'd the House of St. John of Jerusalem in England and also the Hospital-Church an House of Kilwarin in Ireland with all Castles Honours Mannors Measees Lands Tenements Rents Revenues Services Woods Downs Pastures Parks Warrens c. in England and Ireland with all the Goods Cattels c. Thus Stow pag. 579. Besides these Religious Houses there were likewise by Act of Parliament given the King All Colleges Chanteries Hospitals Free Chappels Fraternities Brother-hoods and Gilds The Number of Monasteries suppress'd were 645 besides 90 Colleges 110 Hospitals and of Chanteries and Free Chappels 2374. Thus Baker in the former page Now to give a more exact Account of the Grounds and Progress of the Dissolution of these Monasteries We will here insert a Discourse taken out of Mr. Dugdales Antiquities of Warwick-shire Pag. 801. where he treats of the Dissolution of a particular Monastery of Nunnes called Poles-worth and upon that occasion of the Dissolution of all other Monasteries in the Kingdom The Discourse is thus delivered I Find it left Recorded by the Commissioners that were imploy'd to take Surrender of the Monasteries in this Shire Anno 29. Hen. 8. viz. That after strict scrutiny not only by the fame of the Countrey but
the same time giving him a Subsidy of six shillings in the Pound to be paid out of their Spiritual Promotions poor Stipendiary Priests paying each of them six shillings eight pence to encrease the Sum which also was so soon consumed that the next year he press'd his Subjects to a Benevolence and in the following year he obtain'd the Grant of all Chantries Hospitals Colleges and Free-Chappels within the Realm though he lived not to enjoy the benefit of it Most true it is that it was somewhat of the latest before he cast his Eye on the Lands of Bishopricks though there were some that thought the time long till they fell upon them Concerning which there goes a story That after the Court-Harpies had devoured the greatest part of the Spoyl which came by the Suppression of Abbeys they began to seek some other way to satiate that greedy Appetite which the division of the former Booty had left unsatisfied And for the satisfying whereof they found not any thing so necessary as the Bishops Lands This to Effect Sir Thomas Seymour is employed as the fittest man being in Favor with the King and Brother to Queen Jane his most beloved and best Wife and having opportunity of access unto him as being one of his Privy Chamber And he not having any good affection to Archbishop Cranmer desired that the experiment should be try'd on him And therefore took his time to inform the King that my Lord of Canterbury did nothing but fell his Woods letting long Leases for great Fines and making havock of the Royalties of his Arch Bishoprick to raise thereby a Fortune to his Wife and Children Withal he acquainted the King That the Archbishop kept no Hospitality in respect of such a large Revenue and that in the Opinion of many wise men it was more convenient for the Bishops to have a sufficient yearly stipend out of the Exchequer than to be so encumbred with Temporal Royalties being so great a hinderance to their Studies and Pastoral Charge and that the Lands and Royalties being taken to his Majesties use would afford him besides the said Annual Stipends a great yearly Revenue The King considering of it could not think fit that such a plausible Proposition as taking to himself the Lands of Bishops should be made in vain only he was resolv'd to prey further off and not to fall upon the spoyl too near the Court for fear of having more partakers in the Booty than might stand with his profit And to this end he deals with Holgate preferred not long before from Landaff to the See of York from whom he takes at one time no fewer than Seventy Mannors and Townships of good old Rents giving him in exchange to the like yearly value certain Impropriations Pensions Tythes and Portions of Tythes but all of an extended Rent which had accrued to the Crown by the Fall of Abbeys Which Lands he laid by Act of Parliament to the Dutchy of Lancaster For which see 37 Hen. 8. Chap. 16. He dismembred also by these Acts certain Mannors from the See of London and others in like manner from the See of Canterbury but not without some reasonable Compensation for them And although by reason of his death which followed within a short time after there was no further Alienation made in his time of the Churches Patrimony yet having open'd such a gap and discovered this Secret that the Sacred Patrimony might be Alienated with so little trouble the Courtiers of King Edward's time would not be kept from breaking violently into it and making up their own Fortune in the spoyl of Bishopricks So impossible a thing it is for the ill Examples of Great Princes not to find followers in all Ages especially where Profit or Preferment may be furthered by it Thus Heylyn CHAP. VI. Of some other Passages concerning this King and likewise of his death HAving now prosecuted this Relation thus far and drawing to an end of it we will here insert a Passage out of Dr. Heylyn's History of Reformation Pag. 6. concerning King Henry the Eighth's Absolute Power of disposing of the Crown The words are these Anno Regni 28. In the Act of Succession which past in the Parliament of this year there is this Clause to wit That for lack of Lawful Heirs of the Kings Body it should and might be lawful for Him to confer the Crown on any such Person or Persons as should please his Highness and according to such Estate and after such Manner Form Fashion Order and Condition as should be Expressed Named Declared and Limited in his Letters Patents or by his Last Will The Crown to be enjoyed by such Person or Persons so to be nominated and appointed in as large and ample manner as if such Person or Persons had been his Highness's Lawful Heirs to the Imperial Crown of this Realm Thus Dr. Heylyn By this and what hath been said in these Collections it evidently appears that all Inheritances both Civil and Ecclesiastical as likewise the Lives of all men in the Reign of this King depended upon the Arbitrary Government of those times Now we must end this story concerning matters of Religion in this Kings Reign with a brief Relation of his Death with a Summary Account of his Wives and the years of his Reign The Relation of his Death is thus deliver'd by Dr. Heylyn in his History of Reformation Page 14. THe King having lived a voluptuous Life and too much indulged to his Palate was grown so corpulent or rather so over-grown with an unweildy burthen of Flesh that he was not able to go up Stairs from one Room to another but as he was hoised up by an Engine which filling his Body with foul and foggy Humors did both wast his Spirits and encrease his Passions In the midst of which Distempers it was not his least care to provide for the Succession of the Crown to his own Posterity At such time as he married Anne Bulleign He procur'd his Daughter Mary to be declar'd Illegitimate by Act of Parliament The like he also did by his Daughter Elizabeth when he had married Jane Seymour settling the Crown upon his Issue by the said Queen Jane But having no other Issue by her but Prince Edward and none at all by his following Wives he thought it a point of prudence to establish the Succession by more Stayes than one For which cause he procured an Act of Parliament in the 35 year of his Reign in which it is declared That in default of Issue of the said Prince Edward the Crown should be entail'd to the Kings Daughter the Lady Mary and the Heirs of her Body And so likewise to the Lady Elizabeth and the Heirs of her Body And for lack of such Issue to such as the King by his Letters Patents or his last Will in Writing should limit Of which Act of Parliament he being now sick and fearing his approaching end made such use in laying down the state of the
and the French another and on the Lord's Day so to divide the hours between them that the one might be no hindrance unto the other It hath been also said That there was another condition imposed upon them of being conform to the French in Doctrine and Ceremonies Which condition if it were imposed and not sought by themselves must needs be very agreeable to the temper and complexion of their principal Leaders who being for the most part of the Zuinglian Gospellers at their going hence became the great promoters of the Puritan Faction at their coming home The Names of Whittingham Williams Goodman Wood and Sutton who appeared in the head of this Congregation declare sufficiently of what Principles they were and how willing they would be to lay aside the face of an English Church and frame themselves to any Liturgy but their own The noise of this new Church at Frankfort occasioned Knox who after proved the great Incendiary of the Realm and Church of Scotland to leave his Sanctuary in Geneva in hope to make a better market for himself in that Congregation These Frankfort-Schismaticks desire That all Divine Offices might be executed according to the Order of the Church of Geneva which Knox would by no means yield to thinking himself as able to make a Rule for his own Congregation as any Calvin of them all Infinite were the Confusions which they had amongst themselves and from hence was the beginning of the Puritan Faction against the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church that of the Presbyterians against the Bishops or Episcopal Government and finally that also of the Independents against the Super-intendency of Pastors and Elders But Sorrow seldom goes alone for their Differing from the Government Form and Worship Established in the Church of England drew on an Alteration also in point of Doctrine Such of the English as had retired to Geneva employed themselves in setting out a New Translation of the Bible in the English-Tongue which afterwards they published with certain Marginal Notes upon it very Heterodox in point of Doctrine some dangerous and seditious in reference to the Civil Magistrate and some as scandalous in respect of Episcopal Government From this time the Calvinian Doctrine of Predestination began to be dispersed in English Pamphlets as the only necessary Orthodox and saving Truth Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning these Protestants But now leaving these Confusions the Effect of Schism we will here Relate a Princely Work of Piety done by the Queen CHAP. V. Of the Queens Resolution of Restoring Church-Lands and of what She did Actually Restore before Her Death Anno Reg. Mar. 4. Dr. Heylyn pag. 56. BEfore She undertook this Work She thought it necessary to Communicate her purpose unto some of the Council and therefore calling them to Her She is said to have spoken to them in these following words We have willed you to be called to Us to the intent you might hear of Me my Conscience and the Resolution of my Mind concerning the Lands and Possessions as well of Monasteries as of other Churches whatsoever being now in my Possession First I do consider that the said Lands were taken away from the Churches aforesaid in time of Schism and that by unlawful means such as are contrary both to the Law of God and of the Church For which cause my Conscience doth not suffer me to detain them And therefore I here expresly refuse either to claim or retain those Lands for Mine But with all my heart freely and willingly without all Paction or Condition here and before God I do Surrender and Relinquish the said Lands and Possessions or Inheritances whatsoever and renounce the same with this mind and purpose that order and disposition thereof may be taken as shall seem best liking to the Pope or his Legat to the Honor of God and Wealth of this our Realm And albeit you may object to Me again That the State of my Kingdom the Dignity thereof and my Crown Imperial cannot be Honorably Maintained and Furnished without the Possessions aforesaid Yet notwithstanding and so She had affirmed before when She was bent upon the Restitution of the Tenths and First Fruits I set more by the Salvation of my Soul than by Ten such Kingdoms And therefore the said Possessions I utterly refuse here to hold after that sort and Title And give most hearty Thanks to God who hath given me a Husband of the same mind who hath no less good Affection in this behalf than I my self Wherefore I Charge and Command That my Chancellor with whom I have conferred my Mind in this matter and you Four do â—…esort to morrow together to the Legat signifying to him the Premises in my Name And give your Attendance upon me for the more full declaration of the State of my Kingdom and of the aforesaid Possessions according as you your selves do understand the matter and can inform him in the same Upon this opening of Her Mind the Lords thought it reqâ—…isite to direct some course wherein She might satisfie Her desires to Her own great Honor and yet not Alienate too much at once of the publick Patrimony The Abbey of Westminster had been Founded for a Convent of Benedictin Monks by King Edward the Confessor valued at the Suppression by King Henry the Eighth at the yearly Sum of Three thousand Nine hundred Seventy seven pounds in good old Rents Anno 1539. At which time having taken to himself the best and greatest part of the Lands thereof he Founded with the rest a Collegiate Church consisting of a Dean and Secular Canons But now the Queen put into it a Convent of Benedictins consisting of an Abbot and Fourteen Monks which with their Officers were as many as the Lands then left upon it would well maintain A Convent of Observants being a reformed Order of Franciscan Friers had been Founded by King Henry the Seventh near the Mannor of Greenwich and was the first which felt the fury of King Henry the Eighth by reason of some open opposition made by some of the Friars in favour of Queen Catherine the Mother of the Queen now Reigning Which moved Her in a pious gratitude to re-edifie that ruined House and to restore as many as could be found of that Order to their old Habitations making up their Corporation with some new Observants to a competent number She gathered together also a New Convent of Dominican or Black-Friars for whom She provided a House in Smithfield in the City of London fitting the same with all conveniences both for the Divine Office as likewise for other necessary Uses At Syon near Brentford there had been anciently a House of Religious Women Nunns of the Order of St. Bridget dissolved as were all the rest by King Henry the Eighth Such of these as remained alive with the addition of some others who were willing to embrace that course of Life made up a competent number for a New Plantation These She restored likewise to their
thereof Some of the Lutherans had given out on the former ground That the English had deservedly suffered the greatest Hardships both at home and abroad because they Writ and Spake so irreverently of the Blessed Sacrament Thus Dr. Heylyn concerning the Lutherans detesting an English Protestant Nothing occurring more in this Queens Reign as to these matters of Religion we will now give an Account of the years when these Changes were made with an Addition of some works of Piety done by Her and in Her time IN the First year of this Queens Reign All Bishops that had been deprived in the time of King Edward the Sixth were restored to their Bishopricks and the new removed Also this year on the Twenty seventh of August the Service was sung in Latin in St. Paul's Church The Pope's Authority being likewise by Act of Parliament restored in England and the Mâ—…ss Commanded in all Churches to be used In her Second year the Realm is Absolved and Reconciled to the Church of Rome and First Fruits and Tenths restored to the Clergy In her Third year Eight hundred English Protestants sorsook the Kingdom who fell into great Confusions amongst themselves being in other Countries In her Fourth year Monasteries were be gun to be re-edified In her Fifth year great endeavors were used by Sectaries to raise Sedition by Seditious Books and unlawful Meetings or Conventicles In her Sixth year She built Publick Schools in the University of Oxford Which being decayed in tract of time and of no beautiful Structure when they were at the best were taken down In place whereof but upon a larger extent of Ground was raised that Goodly and Magnificent Fabrick which we now behold Works of Piety The Queen restored a great part of the Abbey-Lands that were in her Possession In her First year Sir Thomas white then Mayor Erected a College in Oxford called S. John's College He also Erected Schools at Bristow and Reading and gave Two thousand pounds to the City of Bristow to purchase Lands the profits whereof to be employed for the benefit of young Clothiers In her Third year died Sir John Gresham late Mayor of London who Founded a Free-School at Holt in Norfolk and gave to every Ward in London Ten pounds to be distributed to the Poor Also to Maids-Marriages Two hundred pounds Cuthbert Tunstal Bishop of Durham Erected a goodly Library in Cambridge storing it with many Excellent both Printed and Written Books He also bestowed much upon Building at Durham at Alnewick and at Tunbridge Thus Sir Richard Baker Here you have had a short View of the great Zeal and Piety that was in this Nation during the Reign of this Queen And this delivered from the mouths of her Enemies the most zealous Protestants This Account being here ended we will now proceed to relate what Changes were made as to Religion in Queen Elizabeths time Wherein the Scene was totally Altered She following the Example of her Father and Brother in going on with the Destructions and Confusions begun by them The Last Part Of these HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS Concerning A Fourth Change of Religion Made for POLITICK ENDS And of the Occurrences concerning it In the Reign of Queen Elizabeth A Preamble BEfore we begin this Queens Reign we will following Dr. Heylyn's order first make a Relation out of him of the various Fortunes of her Mother Anne Boleign of whom thus he writes in his History of Reformation pag. 86. Anne Boleign from her tender years was brought up in the Court of France Who returning into England was preferred to be Maid of Honor to Queen Catherine In whose Service the King falls in Love with her But so long concealed his Affections that there was a great League contracted betwixt her and the young Lord Peircy Son to the Earl of Northumberland But that being broken off by the endeavors of Cardinal Wolsey and the King laboring for a Divorce from Queen Catherine that he might Marry her that also was sought to be obstructed by the Cardinal Which being understood by Mrs. Anne Boleign she seeks all ways for his destruction and prevailed so far with the King that he was presently Indicted and Attainted of a Praemunire and not long after by the Counsel of Thomas Cromwel who had sormerly been the Cardinals Solicitor in his Legatine Court envolves the whole Clergy in the same Crime with him And by perswasion of this man he requires of the said Clergy to acknowledge him for Supreme Head on Earth of the Church of England and to make no new Canons and Constitutions not to Execute any such when made by his consent And having thus brought his own Clergy under his Command he was the less solicitous how his matters went in the Court of Rome concerning his Divorce Whereupon he privately Marries Mistris Anne Boleign And a long time after to wit Three or Four Months after the Birth of the Princess Elizabeth began a Parliament in which the Kings first Marriage was declared Unlawful and the Succession of the Crown settled upon His Issue by this Second Marriage An Oath being devised in maintenance of the said Succession and not long after Moor and Fisher were Executed for refusing to take that Oath The New Queen being thus settled and considering that the Pope and She had such different Interests that they could not subsist together She resolved to suppress his Power what she could But finding that the Pope was too well entrenched to be dislodged upon a sudden it was advised by Cromwel to begin with taking in the Outworks first which being gained it would be no hard matter to beat him out of his Trenches In order whereunto a Visitation is begun in which a diligent Enquiry was to be made into all Abbey's Priories and Nunneries within the Kingdom an Account of which Visitation and the Dâ—…ssolution of Abbeys hath been formerly given in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth But the New Queen for whose sake Cromwel had contrived that Plot did not live to see this Dissolution For such is the uncertainty of Humane Affairs that when she thought her Self most Secure and free from Danger She became most obnoxious to the ruine prepared for Her It had pleased God upon the Eighth of January to put an end unto the Calamities of the Virtuous but unfortunate Queen unto whose Bed she had succeeded The News whereof she entertained with such contentment that she caused her self to be apparelled in lighter Colours than was agreeable to the season or the sad occasion Whereas if she had rightly understood her own Condition She could not but have known that the long Life of Queen Catherine was to be her best preservation against all changes which the King 's loose Affections or any other Alteration in the Affairs of State were otherwise like to draw upon her But this Contentment held not long For within Three Weeks after She fell in Travail in which she miscarried of a Son to the extreme discontent of the
justified by the Practice of this English Synod in their requiring Assent and Obedience then is the Reformation rendred unlawful as likewise their Appeal to future Councils which can afford us no more just satisfaction than the fore-pass'd Here you have seen that for the Deciding this Controversie a General Council that is the most General that the Times would permit was Assembled in the West nay of These more than One as has been shewed A Substantial Conversion of the Elements and Real Presence declared to be the Sense of those Scriptures and a reverence suitable required in this great Mystery Not one Bishop in these Councils for any thing we know Dissenting and Those of the Eastern Churches Absent consenting in the same judgment What more can be done Ought not Sense Reason and Philosophy here be silenced And ought not such a Decree rather be Assented to than the contrary Decree of the fore-mentioned Synod called at London Now for a further Confirmation of This Doctrin I will here deliver Evident Testimonies of the most Eminent Fathers and Doctors of the Church concerning it A further COLLECTION Of Matters Relating to Monasteries And their DISSOLUTION Under King Henry the Eighth Of the Abbey of Combe and its Dissolution thus 't is related by Sir William Dugdale in his History of Warwickshire pag. 157. col 2. THus in great Glory plentifully Endowed stood this Monastery little less than Four hundred years till that King Henry the Eighth a Person whose sensual disposition suiting so right with that corrupt Age wherein he lived finding instruments fit for his Sacrilegious purposes contrived the Destruction of it and all the rest of those pious Foundations that his Ancestors and other Devout Persons had made of whose subtile practices for effecting that work I shall in a short corollary before I finish this Tract make some discovery Amongst which that general Survey and valuation by Commissioners from him in 26 th 〈◊〉 his Reign at Robin-hoods penniworths did not a little conduce thereto At which time this Monastery with all its Revenues over and above Reprises was certified to be worth 302 l. 15 s. 3 d. per Ann. Of their Hospitality to Strangers and great Charity in daily relief of poor people I need not descend to particulars our common Historians and the Tradition of such who were eyes witnesses thereof before that fatal subversion of those Houses may sufficiently inform the World I shall therefore only add what the Certificate upon the before mentioned Survey takes notice of touching this Abbey viz. That by their Foundation and a decree by a general Chapter of their Order they bestowed in Alms on Maunday Thursday every year 4 s. 8 d. in Money Ten Quarters of Rye made in Bread at 5 s. the Quarter Three Quarters of Malt made in Beer at 4 s. the Quarter and Three hundred Herrings at 20 d. the Hundred distributed to poor people at the Gate of the Monastery Their principal Officers being at that time these viz. Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk High Steward whose fee therefore was 5 Marks per Ann. which shews what respect the great Nobility had to those Religious persons William Wilcock Receiver general whose Fee was 6 l. per Ann. And Baldwin Porter Auditor his Fee being 40 s per Ann. And pag. 148. col 1. t is thus said As for the Curses which were usually pronounced by the Founders of these Religious houses whither they have attended those Violators of what they so Zealously and with Devout minds had Dedicated to Gods Service I will not take upon me to say But sure I am that after King Henry the Eighth had accomplished this work he thrived but a little as I shall elsewhere in particular observe And how long such Possessions have been enjoyed by those that had them they that have looked into the course of this World may easily see For this whereof I am now speaking it was by King Edward the Sixth first granted to John Earl of Warwick and to his Heirs 22 Junii 1 E. 6. and after his attainder whereof in Warwick I have spoke in 3 and 4. Ph. and M. Rob. Kelway had a Lease of the Site and divers Lands thereunto belonging for 40 years at the Rent of 196 l. 8 s. 1 d. And afterwards another for 60 years which Robert Kelway in 23 Eliz. died seized in fee of certain Lands belonging to this Monastery Anne the Wife of John Harrington Esq being his sole Daughter and Heir and then 30 years of Age. Of the Grey Friers in Coventry he gives this Relation concerning their Dissolution pag. 116. Col. 1. The next thing whereof I am to take notice in Relation to this Friery is King Henry the Eighth's Survey in 26 of his Reign At which time it did appear that they had no Lands or Tenements nor other Possessions Spiritual or Temporal but only a liberty in the Country to receive the Charity of good people This being so I expect that some may demand why it was not Dissolved in 27 H. 8. when the lesser Houses went to wrack Whereunto I answer that the Act for that purpose extendeth only unto Monks Chanons and Nuns But if it be asked why these were then so sheltred from the first storm the reason I think is apparent viz. There was nothing to be got by their ruin for as much as they had no endowment of Lands c. tho God was as much dishonored by the lewd lives of the Friers for want of good Government as the Preamble of that Act imports in case it say true as by any other whose Houses were certified to be of less value than 200 l. per Ann. which favor we see gave those poor Friers liberty to breath here a while longer in expectation of their Ruine viz. till 30 H. 8. that all the great Houses were dissolved In relation to Coventry Cross and the stately Monastery there demolished he writes thus pag. 96. Col. 1. But it was neither the Luster of their Beautiful Cross nor all those large and easie acquisitions that did any whit ballance the loss this City sustained by the Ruine of that great and famous Monastery and other the Religious Houses c. which had so lately preceded For to so low an Ebb did their trading soon after grow for want of such concourse of people that numerously resorted thither before that fatal dissolution that many Thousands of the Inhabitants to seek better lively-hoods were constrained to forsake the City insomuch as in 3 E. 6 it was represented to the Duke of Somerset then Protector by John Hales a person of great note in those days and whose memory is still famous here that there were not at that time above 3000 Inhabitants whereas within memory there had been 15000. Of the Dissolution of the aforesaid Monastery he thus continues pag. 105. Col. 1. But behold the Instability of these terrestrial things what the Pious Founder and all other its worthy Benefactors had with